Forever

By Fantasy Cat

"The Blood Auction"

Through the tears he could not see that he was changing. All he could feel was a numb chill. All he could sense was blood and the scent of the soulless. They were the immortals that still had blood run freely without spilling, and lungs that could breath even in the most suffocating of areas. They were his enemies and now, the battle had been officially lost. After decades of battles and training, the remaining "soulless hunters" had fallen at his feet, and he could only watch himself bleed to what would hopefully be his death

But he did not die. In fact the wound healed quicker than he thought. He recalled the horrific events of the battle too immensely. Seven soulless were nipping at him and causing several wounds on his arms. He could feel their teeth suck into his flesh. The pain was more emotional than physical. Quickly he was able to fight it off. Now he realized what was happening and he found the shards of a broken mirror. His eyes were reddening. His worst fear to become his worst enemy had been confirmed. He closed his eyes again and saw that now they were orange-red, not pure red. The feeling in his body stopped.

It couldn't be true. It was never heard of to him. Being half-soulless, he could never be trusted by surviving human eyes. The soulless would know that he was still human. A rage of anger flowed inside of him and a scream of terror and fear echoed throughout the battle torn world. He would have the sudden urge to be among the evil and to be evil!

Soulless towns and even kingdoms sprang up all over the world. The half-human walked into one that was 15 miles away from where he transformed. He had to keep his eyes low for they would be a dead giveaway. Fortunately, he found a pair of sunglasses and used those to his advantage. He carefully walked around avoid all the stares. His clothes were torn up and the blood on his body had dried out. He could see the soulless walked around like normal humans trying on human clothes and selling parts of human bones and flesh as useful items.

Many of the soulless villagers were now gathering at one end of the town. The half-human thought best to enter with the crowd in hopes of learning more of the ways of the soulless. The crowds began to move massively down the road and through a wall. The crowd began to split and go sideways once they went passed. Then he noticed that they had entered a coliseum. He looked down at the coliseum floor. It seemed to be painted red but it was dried blood, perhaps from old battles. The half-human assumed that it must be one of their traditions involving blood and he took a seat.

He saw a soulless enter the coliseum grounds and everyone cheered. Some guards were behind him and were carrying a small child…a little girl. He wished that he did not ended up being seated close enough to see, the little girl's eyes were brown. And here this human was among hundreds of on-looking soulless.

The soulless on the coliseum floor was calling out "All bidders must be registered by the entrance gate before they are allowed to enter and battle. If you receive a wound from a bidder you are immediately disqualified. The human will be sold to the soulless bearing the most blood of their opponents. We shall began the auction in 10 minutes."

It didn’t take him that long to figure it out with so many voices around him. They were auctioning off this human girl for being extremely rare. The half-human was aware that humans were outnumbered for many years. He was surprised that children were still around in his generation.

He was being pushed out of his seat as he stood up to stretch. Numerous spectators around him were crawling out of their seats and towards the main gates. The half-human was forced to be among the crowd. Pushing was impossible especially since hopeful bidders were piling on top of one another.

"Any weapons sir?" Said a female soulless voice. She was asking this question to the half-human whom still hid behind his glasses. The half-human became startled as he found himself at the front of the bidder's line. He patted his hands to his sides to search for any weapons he had left from the war-front.

"A katana blade and a speed rifle," he said. The soulless marked a number on his head 2273 and he was pushed on into the arena of the coliseum.

It shocked him to see that the "auction" had already begun and it was crowded. He could not stop to ponder anymore after that. He saw three soulless charging with their crudely made weapons at him, but he was surprisingly quick enough to draw his katana across them. Their blood was on him, and that scored him some points. The thrill of the slash was a wonderful feeling that he wanted to do again and faster.

He went through the crowds of battling soulless slashing everything in sight and gathering their blood, and throughout it all, he barely felt tired. Hours had passed and he was among only a dozen or so left still fighting each other. He was covered in blood on his clothes and on his face. As two soulless decide to team up and go after him, he had the sudden urge to pull out his rifle. In 10 seconds all of them were gone, and only the sound of cheers deafened his ears.

"SOLD!!! An amazing fight," called out the soulless auctioneer. The half-human was now being led to the main entrance where several soulless and the girl were waiting for him. A couple of them approached him and began sniffing his body as well as his weapons. It made him nervous, and indeed the judges were slightly suspicious.

"This one has the blood of over 800 opponents," said one of the judges.

The auctioneer arrived behind the half-human. "I have never seen a blood auction won that quickly. Tell us your name so that you are known throughout our kingdom."

"It's Sterling," said the half-human. Truth being this was not his real name, for he feared to divulge anything that would make them suspicious of his human qualities.

The small brown-eyed girl was thrown to the ground in front of Sterling.

"So what plans do you have for her?" asked one of the soulless.

"I don't know," he said looking down at the girl. She hid herself in fear on the ground shivering with tears. Something inside of him suddenly dwelled, it felt like an urge had shocked his body. It almost felt like hunger.

"I sense you are hungry," said the auctioneer.

"What? No, not now," said Sterling nervously pondering how he knew.

"Yes, you may hold her until a special rare occasion then, or see if one of the royalties will buy her for a grand sum."

"I guess," he said. He slowly picked the crying girl up who no longer had the strength to stand up on her own.

"We can carry her for you to your village," said one of them. "To have so much blood, you must be living in a palace."

"No, that will be fine. I'll carry her." Sterling picked the skinny girl up and carried her over one shoulder. She was still crying from the fear as he walked out. Now the question was where was he and this young human going to go.