Protesting [Private;Zeraldin]

Slaves were wide-spread across the Zou empire, and that was something that the majority of people knew about. In fact, that fact was kind of unavoidable, they were in every city, every town, every person with the slightest bit of money and aristocratic allusions to their person had at least one, but to have something there had to be a seller, or a place of procurement. 

You don't get a flower without either going to a florist or going into the forest to get the flower first hand. This was the same with slaves. You could go to another village and get people first hand by abducting someone, or you could simply go to a "house of procurement". 

These places were the hub of scum and villainy, where people were put onto display and people bid over their person. If they acted up, they were publicly whipped, beaten and abused. Sometimes that abuse was something much worse than normal violence. 

Alek knew these places all too well since he had been in them several times, being sold like a piece of meat to other people when he was no longer needed for his last job. 

Standing at the entrance to this hall, he kind of wanted to just set fire to the place, burning every scumbag in it alive. But, if he did that, the slaves would be killed as well. Instead, he was going to have to give a defter touch.

" I don't know what you are talking about pal, we may move certain "shipments" from country to country, but we do not know of any Fanalis being transported near here in the last month or so," a voice could be heard from inside of the room although who he was talking to or why this was brought up.

It was hard for Zeraldin to keep his cool when he was being lied to especially when he was given word that this was one of the places that Fanalis had gone through if they had been slaves. At the moment however he was fully cloaked except for his lower body and the excuse to deceive the idiot was because he was a foreign ambassador from another country.

The man began to tap his foot as the two men that surrounded him whispered something into his ear and the man chuckled," Well for a fee i could tell you the information you wanted but- ," the loud crashing of Zera's foot echoed through the room and partially through the hallway as he stood up and walked over to the man, at first his men would stand before him but they would soon be brushed aside violently as he grabbed the man and stared at him through the darkness of the cloak," you lying bastard!!!," from the outside point of view one could only see a man being knocked through a wall and a cloaked figure coming from out of it," I will find out where you are hiding the information i want or i will be eating you for dinner," the glowing yellow eyes would stare down at the man as he kicked him rather hard and sent him sliding near Zander.

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who was interfering with their operation. A cluttering and a loud swearing came from inside the offices, drawing Alek's attention and giving him a reason to come inside. 

Tossing his cloak's hood up to hide his face the same way that it had during the town invasion, he was about to enter before a hole was burst through the wall, sending a man flying through it. The man who had done it was apparently an angry Fanalis. 

Sighing, he moved his hand to his bo-staff's handle, yanking it off his belt and pressing the middle button, allowing it to grow to its full size in an instant. Now with a weapon, he stepped in between the angry Fanalis and the man that was on the floor. 

"Woah now, kid. You need to calm down; you're not just going to get what you want by shouting and screaming."

This might have seemed rather bizarre, as if he were protecting the man that was moving to hide behind him. 
"I don't know who you are, sir, but if you take out this miscreant, I will pay you good money! I have gold beyond your wildest dreaMS!!"

Halfway through his final word, Alek slammed down the staff on one of his legs, sending out a noise that made it clear that the bone had been shattered. 

"Don't talk to me like I'm your friend, slaver bastard. If it wasn't for the fact that this guy here was one of my people, I'd have let him continue berating you until you gave false answers."

Deciding that, considering the rumpus that the boy had just caused, there was no point in stealth any more, Alek pulled back his hood. He was clearly a Fanalis, older than Zera by a few years and with a body noticeably more Fanalis-like. 

"Now, kid." he said, speaking to Zera "Learn how to interrogate someone properly." Pressing his staff down on the shattered leg, the man squealed like a stuck pig "Wouldn't you like this to stop? I'm sure you're not enjoying yourself... just tell him what he wants to know and he'll be on his way."

Zera looked down at the man as he slowly made his way towards him with his eyes set on breaking this man in every way possible before being interrupted by someone. Looking at this person he would glare at them until they had spoke which had only fueled the already burning fire. His eyes only stared as the pathetic male plead for his life which only made him more angry at the situation.

At the surprise that this man in front of him was a fanalis, Zera would slowly remove his hood to show his blazing red hair and yellow eyes as he finally spoke," Why are you here," even in a fit of rage he would ask a question so typical as that. As much as he wanted to interrogate him there was no point when he was already in a mood that would result in him smashing through things.

The opening of doors would alert Zera as the sounds of men began to fill the hallway before one shouted something along the lines of "BOSS" and sent some of the men into a frenzy. He had even heard one make the suggestion of making them slaves on account that they were Fanalis and that...just wasn't a good idea. Glancing back at Alek he would simply give him a look," I don't care for interrogating at this point, too much prey standing in front of me to care. Do what you want with that piece of trash, but i am going to get my answers from them," cracking his knuckles he would step forward slowly as a wide grin appeared on his face.

An eyebrow clearly raised as the question was asked. The question... was uniquely stupid. 

"You are asking a Fanalis, one of the most commonly enslaved people on the planet, why he is at a slave-ring with a weapon and why he is beating the shit out of the owner? I don't see how you don't already know the answer."

The banter, however, was stopped almost instantly as a group of slavers ringed around the pair of them, telling them how they were going to end up being slaves. 

Alek could completely understand the fury that his young friend was feeling, as he was also feeling it. Gesturing for him to stop moving for a second, Alek pulled out the crossbow and loaded it with an arrow. 

"Okay, gentlemen. You're going to step away, and forget that you saw us here, or we're going to do some simple addition and subtraction. One arrow plus one idiot equals negative one life." His tone had a sardonic little twist to it, as if he was enjoying it. 

"You can't kill all of us."
"You'd be surprised." The single arrow that had been loaded shot into the ground behind them, exploding into a crimson fireball that lit up five of the eight people surrounding them, causing them to run around, flailing their arms in pure unbridled fear and agony. 

"I hope three's enough to get information out of." He said to his new 'friend', giving him a wink.

The first bit he didn't really care for nor did he want to answer it, but as it stood the man on the floor was either about to shit himself from the pain or he was scared shitless. Now when the men and funneled into the hallway a snicker would come from the man on the floor before busting out into a full laughter," Ohohoho now look who's the bad ass here, now you two little animal fucks are going to get it and when we are through with you, its going to be me you are crawling to for mercy," a swift kick to the man's face had shut him up rather quickly and even knocked him out.

Looking at the men he had mentally counted them and smiled as the burning flesh of the pitiful humans filled his nostrils," Oh yeah three is plenty...although make sure you pick out the scrawniest ones, i hear they snap so beautifully," taking a step forward he was ready to divide some of them in half or even into quarters but for now he would smile and lock eyes with the first one he saw.

Before the man could blink he would be face to face with the young Fanalis and soon face to knee and then on the floor as he weaved to another and grabbed him by the throat crushing it ever so slightly. The noise that his wind pipe began to make as his nails tore into his flesh and crushed it before dropping him and moving to another. Soon he would find himself piled on by a couple of them who thought that jumping on him like that was going to work.

A wild laugh could be heard as he threw them off of him and stomped on in the face," Now what were you saying!! Talking alot of shit for such a puny, frail human," knowing by now that the one he had stomped on was either dead or rearing it.

Animal fucks? Really? Maybe it was just this country, but there was something insane about the majority of the people that he had met ever since he had left the dungeon that actually made him ache occasionally for the common sense of his homeland. 

The ruler of this place was an asshole who seemingly only cared about getting more and more power for himself (which explained why there were some people who legitimately saw the Emperor as a demi-god) and the people in this country seemed to either be morally bankrupt or just ridiculously stupid. Or, in the case of these idiots, both. 

Snap so beautifully? What the hell... 
"and I thought I had issues." Alek thought, before turning around and slamming the butt of his bow into the first man's forehead, knocking him to the ground from the sheer strength of the blow. 

Stomping on the fallen over man's leg, he stopped him from going anywhere, before kicking the dagger away from him, letting it fly away across the ground, keeping it out of the man's range, making him both crippled and powerless. 

Turning around, he fired an arrow into another man's knee, making it impossible for the joint to bend properly, before pinning him to the ground with an arrow through the arm. 

However, despite the fact that he had taken the guards out, the next person that he pointed his bow at was... the other Fanalis. His face was clearly not one of sadistic pleasure like the other man seemed to have plastered all across his. Alek loved fighting, but this was insanity. 

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but you are so badly off the deep-end that it's ridiculous. 

We're targeted because they hate us. They hate us mainly because of the fact that they see us as mentally weak and physically useful, like any good slave. If you go around making us seem insane, you're going to make things worse for us."

The foot of Zera would be sitting on the skull of the man that he had just stomped into the ground as he looked around. It would seem that the ones that they were going to interrogate were fine more or less save for the ones that were on the floor cringing and even coughing up a little blood which he did not even care about.

Pulling his cloak back a bit he would turn around to see the bow pointing towards him as he raised a brow, still obviously not in his right mind. From the other Fanalis first sentence he would simply glare at him before waiting for him to finish. After he had finished speaking he would growl slightly," These damn humans have something of mine that i am looking for...and i am going to find them," stopping slightly he would look into the eyes of the Fanalis.

" I came here for it and i am not leaving without the information i require," with that he would walk over to one of the men who were at least conscience and picked him up," Where is your list of slaves that you have shipped from here between four months ago and the last month...my patience is thin," this man would know that he had meant business and was waiting on his answer.

The man would cough for a moment before looking around and pointing to a door, no words were said and for a moment he didn't care. Tossing the man onto the ground he would walk to the door as you could hear the rummaging and throwing things around before silence. A long silence took over before a loud growl came from the room and then the sound of something smashing," Dammit!," it seems his brothers weren't shipped from here either.

Walking out of the room he would look at the man who had been the one in charge, heavily deciding in his head if he should kill him and all the others or leave them be. Knowing now that this other Fanalis would not allow him to do so he would simply walk over to the Fanalis and hand him the list," Here,what i am looking for isn't here," if the man had something to say he would wait before walking off.

The man had attacked these people already, and so there was no more harm that was going to come from this little venture. However, the motives were still something that he had to uncover. He said that they had something that he wanted, some sort of information. 

Given the fact that he was getting this information from a slave house, he could safely assume that this was about a slave, and given the man's species, he very much doubted that it was something that he'd sold. Most likely, one of his friends or family had been taken. 

Waiting outside patiently as he rummaged through whatever contents of the building he was interested in, Alek finally saw him re-exit the building, clearly not contented with the information... or, lack thereof it appeared. Still, as he was given the list, he raised an eyebrow... 

Why was this man giving him information? There was something about him that he didn't quite trust honestly, but something was going on here that he hadn't fully understood yet. 

Either way, Alek's nature was getting in the way here. There was something about Alek that made him always end up being the guardian to idiots who seemed to be on a quest to get themselves killed. 

"Alright. It's clear you need a moral compass whilst you look for this if you don't want to end up in jail." He said, before offering the list back. "Now, I know you're probably going to be unwilling to take me on as a guide, but you're clearly not experienced enough in doing jobs like this, given by the fact that you would have been eaten alive by those guards if it wasn't for me. 

Thus, I'm offering my services as your guardian. If we're staying within the basic area, I can give you assistance. I'm an expert tracker of slavers, so if you're willing to have me alongside you, I can give you whatever aid you need. 

Of course, this is all based on the assumption you're willing to act within my moral code of conduct. As much as I enjoy killing a slaver or two, kill too many on the same "product line" and the others will hide like little bitches. Understand?"

Zera looked at the man for a moment and took the list back slowly as he looked down to it and sighed, mentally he was a wreck and this incident wasn't helping his mindset at all. For the moment however he would take the list and hold on to it while looking at the other Fanalis. While he spoke however he would turn around and look at the carnage and mayhem he had just did...all for his brothers.

His eyes would once again come back to the Fanalis and blink twice before speaking," How long has it been since you left our motherland? I will accept your offer but not as a... guardian," pausing for a moment he would nod," As a partner...do not take this the wrong way but as a fanalis you know how we...or some of us are. Your offer sounds good," keeping it simple he would extend his hand to shake his, a common gesture he had seen some of the humans do in the outside.

Wondering what these moral codes meant he would retract his hand back under his cloak and nod," what are these moral codes you speak of? And my name is Zeraldin...or Zera for short," making sure he at least knew his name he would wait for his answers.