Zay reached a short line of four people and quietly fell in at the back. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, two of the people were gone—the door at the front of the line had just closed.
"We have to make sure to buy the Nymar."
Zay overheard a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, like one he'd heard hours earlier. He turned to glance behind him and saw three people approaching—the same trio he'd seen earlier, the ones who had been talking about purchasing a Nymar for their boss.
'So, they saw the Nymar being wheeled into this place too?' Zay thought as he turned back around, hearing three sets of footsteps fall in line behind him.
The door at the front opened again, and the two people ahead of Zay entered. As they walked through, the door shut firmly behind them.
Only a few minutes passed before the door opened again, and this time Zay and one of the three men behind him were allowed in.
"Remember to buy the Nymar!" the other two called out in unison as the door closed once more.
Zay's eyes scanned the room immediately. It was dimly lit, the walls painted a dull grey, and the air was heavy with a faint scent of something sweat and damp fur. Along the perimeter and stretching down the center were large metal cages—each cage separated by narrow paths, like twisted aisles in a grotesque marketplace. Inside the cages were various beings: some were humanoid, others more beast than man, and a few were creatures Zay couldn't even remember existed. Some wore tattered clothes, others had collars around their necks, and several were chained at the wrists or ankles. Many stared with blank expressions, while others growled lowly or looked away in shame.
A large wooden table sat near the far wall, chipped and aged, with three individuals standing behind it. Each wore the same uniform: brown trench coats, black fedoras, and smooth brown masks with no visible eye holes.
One of them looked directly at Zay. "Is there any specific one you're looking for, sir?"
Zay met the man's gaze. "There isn't anything specific. I'm just looking to see if something catches my eye."
The man nodded and turned his attention to the person who had entered behind Zay. "Is there any specific one you're looking for, sir?"
The man nodded. "Call me Bronze. I heard you're selling a Nymar. I'm here for that."
The man in the trench coat stepped out from behind the table and eyed Bronze from head to toe. "Follow me. We do not want to waste time, right?"
Bronze gave a quick nod and followed him deeper into the room. They walked between the cages, turning into a narrow corridor formed by the enclosures. The man stopped in front of a particular cage and gestured toward it.
"There she is. A creature of the Nymar species."
Inside the cage stood a young woman who hissed softly upon hearing herself described that way, as a 'creature'. Her tongue glowed with an amber light, and the small scales along her arms lifted like sharp ridges. Her long, light green hair drifted in the air around her as if suspended underwater. Her eyes, bright purple with a faint grey outline glowing from her aura, met theirs with defiance.
She wore a sleeveless white dress with straps around her neck and a small collar above them. Thick steel chains bound her wrists together, with an additional chain connecting her arms to the ceiling, forcing them upright. The position was clearly painful—her arms trembled slightly from the strain of how long she had been restrained.
Bronze examined her silently for a moment, then let out a deep breath. "How long has she been in here?" he asked, glancing at the man in the trench coat.
The man paused as if searching his memory. "It has been four months since we acquired her."
"How much is she?"
"One hundred eighty-five gold."
Bronze lifted a gloved hand to his chin, rubbing it through the mask as he closed his eyes for a few seconds. Then he released a slow, heavy sigh.
"That works for me. Where do I pay and sign the paperwork?"
The man gestured toward the table. "The one in the middle will handle the payment. The one on the left will provide the necessary documents. I'll gather everything you'll need, including the collar, the aura concealment switch, and a book about Nymars—their habits, preferences, dislikes, and other useful details."
Bronze nodded and made his way back through the aisle of cages toward the table to begin the purchase. Meanwhile, the man in the trench coat walked toward a black marble door, opened it, and disappeared down the dark hallway beyond.
—
Zay watched as Bronze handed the man in the middle payment, then began to look around the room. He approached one of the cages and saw an elf with cloth wrapped tightly around her eyes, a collar fastened around her neck, and chains binding her wrists. She wore a tattered robe, her posture slouched and unmoving.
He parted his lips as if to speak but said nothing. Instead, he walked past the cage in silence. The next four cages held three elven men each, all seated or standing in silence, eyes distant. In the fifth cage, he saw a human with no noticeable features—no aura, no markings, nothing unusual.
'How strange. A normal human with no trace of aura at all, being kept here for sale?' The thought lingered uneasily in his mind. His stomach twisted slightly at the idea that someone so ordinary being held captive in a place crawling with Arbiters.
As he continued down the row of cages, he heard muffled screams from some prisoners—gags stuffed into their mouths, blindfolds tightly bound. One cage caught his attention: a woman with feline traits, though Zay couldn't identify her clan. There were many feline species, each with their own distinct bloodlines.
She had two long orange tails and dark emerald eyes. Her face was unreadable, emotionless, as she lay on the floor. Her flattened ears twitched slightly. Their eyes met for a brief moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came. Slowly, she turned her head and stared up at the harsh white light shining from the ceiling above.
'Sick bastards.'
Zay continued moving through the aisle of cages before reaching the end, where he met a wall made of red brick that stretched down to his left. He turned his body left and began to walk through the second aisle.
As he looked at each cage, he saw beasts in every one. A fox, a wolf, a creature that resembled an owl but had scales like a fish. He saw the fin of a shark on the shell of a turtle, and several other odd combinations of animals.
'Are they running experiments on animals to... combine two to make a new one?' Zay thought about this as he crouched down to see a cat with golden eyes, white fur, and the bushy tail of a fox.
"This one actually looks kind of cute," Zay whispered as he reached his gloved hand down and patted the head of the small cat inside the cage before standing up and continuing his walk.
Zay walked around for several minutes, trying to find anything in the building that might relate to this "Naomi Duskvine" person he was supposed to buy for his task.
'I think I'll just go up to the table and ask them directly about this "Naomi Duskvine" person. There's a chance I can just... do the purchase this way without ever even needing to do anything extra for it. Also the chance they don't have her but know the people who do. Either way, I think this might be the only option I have available to me.' he thought about this for a few seconds, unsure if this was the only choice, but he wasn't exactly fresh on other ideas either.
He saw the first man in the brown trench coat walking back to the table and getting behind Bronze. Zay decided he would just ask them directly, since he had no idea what to actually look for—no hair color, no description, no hint at who this person could be. All he knew was that he had to buy someone named Naomi Duskvine at the Sinners Night Market.
—
Zay heard a door open and turned his head slightly to see the man who had entered the marble door return with a box in his hands. He laid the box down onto the table and looked at Bronze.
"Everything you need to know about Nymars is inside that box. There's a book about them, the collar, the aura concealment switch, and I included two other books on their habits, enjoyments, preferences, dislikes, and some other details as well."
Bronze lifted the box after signing the last of the documents, officially becoming the owner of the Nymar.
"Well, I appreciate you boys a lot. There might be more business in the future from us. Can I collect her now?" he asked, looking at the man who had walked him to the Nymar, explained the process, and carried the box to the table.
"Oh, most definitely. Stay for just a moment while I go collect her from the cage. Do be warned... she might be a little irritated, a bit of rage built up, and most likely starving. Do with that as you will," the man said with a clear smile despite the mask over his face. He placed his hands together and began walking toward her cage.
Zay moved to the man in the middle of the table and looked up at the large figure.
"I have a question," he said, as the man looked down at Zay and responded after a moment of silence between them.
"Any questions about the purchasing of one of our species will be handled by Mr. Morison. I am simply here to conduct the payment process of each purchase," the man replied in a cold, stoic manner.
Zay nodded and stood there quietly, waiting for the original man to return from collecting the Nymar.