Book Three – Prologue – Part Two – An Unfortunate End

A year later, the newly elected Governor, Frankie Ost, introduced a plan that, on paper, was meant to raise funds for the town. In reality, it was to give the Mafia even more control. Roko, one of the few who knew the truth behind everything, was in the audience as the Governor began to speak to a large crowd that had gathered in the town square.

“We all know that those damn slaves are annoying to look at. You have to feed them, take care of them, keep them alive, and it gets very costly. That's why I have something to announce. It’s called RASP, or Rent A Slave Program. We will buy your slaves for a fair price. In return, you lose ownership. Instead, the slaves will be collectively owned by the town.”

“Why?” asked a man from the audience. He was planted there from the beginning to keep the conversation moving along.

“Excellent question. By paying a nominal fee and telling us what you want the slave for, they can be yours for the entire day. This way, you can do what you want to them without worrying about keeping them fed, clothed, and sheltered. This allows even the poorest of folks to help contribute for the greater good of the town. Just buy 'em, play with 'em, and return them by the end of the day. If you pay more, you can keep them for a week or even a month. We have the full authority and blessing of the church to go ahead with this.”

As if it was rehearsed, and it was, five key figures in the crowd began to cheer. Due to peer pressure and other societal issues, the rest of the audience started to cheer and clap, even if they were disgusted by what they saw.

No matter, we won’t use them. Some people thought as they believed they could ignore this new service.

But Frankie’s following sentence shook them.

“This service is mandatory. It’s not optional in the least. Let me clarify, it is mandatory for those who live in this town. Visitors will not be subjected to this rule, nor will they be forced to give up their slaves. Only if they decide to live here will the rules be enforced on them.”

Another plant spoke up. “What are the consequences?”

“If you refuse to participate, then you, yourself, will be considered an enemy of the town and become a slave. You will belong to the town and lose your rights as a person. No matter your social standing.”

Again, the same five people cheered, forcing a chain reaction of applause. It almost looked like a cult.

A few hours later, Roko walked to the hideout with a bag of coins.

“Uhh… Boss, why are you doing this?” asked Roko. He nervously twitched while a man in a black suit counted the dupla he had acquired from selling the Monotonia.

Sakdu stood up and walked over to a painting on the wall that depicted a Kobold who stood victorious in a bloody battle. Many corpses of various races laid at his feet. “Because Humans don’t deserve peace.  It's true that some Demi-Humans will be affected, but I plan to flood the town with Human slaves. What better way to get revenge than come to a town, fill the streets and hearts of those in control with poison, and watch as the town deteriorates until depravity is the only thing on their mind? Do you know the joy it brings me watching a Human beg and cry for one more Monotonia?”

“Aren’t they innocen—GGAAAFFF!!” Roko didn’t have time to finish his sentence before being tossed like a dead dog towards the wall. He landed on his arm and broke it.  After crying out in pain, Sakdu threw a chair at Roko, and he quickly became quiet.

“Do you wish to make a mockery out of me?!! I gave you a chance to make something of your fucking life, and this is how you repay me?! Begone, and don’t come back for a week. Pray my anger has subsided by then, so I won't be tempted to remove your Human head from your body.” Sakdu grabbed the bag of dupla his henchman had counted and stormed off to the back room. When the door opened, Roko  caught the tiniest glimpse of Annie. Her newly bald head was burnt black, and two white bandages covered her eyes. She was blind.  Fresh scars adorned her lips. The very last thing Roko saw was Sakdu picking Annie up by the neck and biting her one remaining ear off. The door shut, and Roko heard the sounds of pleasure.

In his desire for revenge, Sakdu made Annie into his personal Human slave. He forced her to do degrading tasks for a quarter of a Pink Monotonia. First, he had her wash her hair with oil before he set it on fire. Then, he promised she would have a whole half of a Pink Monotonia if she gouged out her eyes with a rusty razor. Like a dog wanting to please her master, she did it with a smile on her face and a heart full of pleasure because she knew the pain she felt would turn into ecstasy. As if that wasn’t enough, he tied a razor blade to a quarter of a Pink Monotonia and told her to swallow it.

“..Annie….?” Roko groaned as he struggled to stand. He glanced to his left and sighed when he saw the henchman had a knife out.

Fighting will be the stupidest thing right now. All of the boss's men and bodyguards are blessed by Major Gods. Hell, the fucker told me that himself.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m leaving. Be back in a week.” Roko stumbled his way out of the house that used to be Annie's and painfully made his way to a doctor’s office. “Still have a few thousand dupla in the bank….might as well have fun for the week. Yeah… That sounds good. If I play my cards right, I could be first in line for RASP. Ole Frankie said it opens tomorrow, right? Yeah, I think he did. And I think he said they had fifty or so slaves already ready to be rented.”

With vigor in his step, Roko jaunted off to the nearest doctor's office. After that, he planned on making his way to his favorite pleasure girl.  He wanted a slave, but the growing pressure in his pants needed to be released before then.

Two years after that, a large Kobold stood in front of a set of bars.

“Yeah, boss?” squeaked Roko. He timidly glanced up at an imposing figure.

The years hadn't been too kind for the man who had life by the horns. He made some dumb mistakes in the past year, but those were forgiven since they were somewhat minor. But then he committed a most horrible crime a few months ago. His luck had escaped him, and now he had to face his punishment.

“I’ll give you one chance to apologize. Are you up for it?”

Roko hopped off his stone bed, knocking over a brown bucket filled with shit and piss, and bowed down in front of the iron bars of his jail cell. “Please, boss, I’ll do anything you ask of me!! I want to serve you again!! Please allow me to sell the Monotonia again!!! Please, boss!! Please, boss!!!—AAHH!!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Sakdu kicked the bars, bending them as Roko scattered away to the wall. Crying and looking down, he was afraid he'd be beaten again as his mind wandered to the time Sakdu broke his legs. He didn’t have the pleasure of being under the effects of Pink Monotonia at the time.

“Boss, forgive me.  Please forgive me, boss!!” the whimpered shattered man.

For the longest time, Sakdu almost thought Roko was someone he could trust. He even thought about making him a Numbered—a leader in the Mafia. But then Roko embezzled twenty percent of the dupla he was supposed to pay. At the time, he thought he could get away with it because he had been a model henchman.

But he was so wrong. Sakdu always had someone watching. He was found out immediately and was sent to Sakdu’s personal prison, which was inside his new hideout.

His punishment was to be force-fed a different Monotonia every day for four months while being locked in a small cage, with the exception being when he had his legs broken. He was sober and conscious during that. In addition, he was given rotten food and dirty water every two days. His mind and body were warped by the repeated drug use, and it wasn’t all that rare for him to purposely break his thumbs or peel some skin off to experience pleasure once again.

“I just received a report from my men. Two females are coming this way. One is a Singi, all pink, and the other is a Human with black hair and red eyes. I know you’re blessed by a Major God of Earth, so I want you to go get them. They’re on their promotional quest, so they shouldn’t be but Rank 10. And quite poor at that, judging from their gear, so you shouldn’t have any trouble at all.”

“Yes, boss! Anything you say, boss!”

“I’m not done. I have a little game I want to play. Do what you want to the Human, but keep her alive. As for the Singi, do not hurt her in any way. Don’t even rip a single hair off of her head. If you do, I will tear you alive and feed you to Annie. I’m sure she’s starving. After all, she hasn’t been fed in a few days.”

“Right, boss!! I wouldn’t dream of it, boss!!!”

“You, give him some clothes, armor, and a sword. And give him ten or twenty of the recruits to go with him. They’ve been bitching that they wanted something to do, and now they have the chance.”

The man Sakdu spoke to nodded and went to get the equipment and men. Sakdu walked out of the dank cell and throughout the new hideout until he reached his throne.  It was made from the bones of Humans he had ripped out while they were still alive.

The room itself was two stories tall. If Sakdu stood up, he'd see over the brass railing and onto the floor below, where currently, three maids and two butlers were performing their weekly cleaning. The wall was painted red with paint mixed with the blood of Humans, Elves, Earth Elves, Singi, and Koena. Every few meters, there were small glass display boxes  nailed to the wall. Inside each of them was a heart that belonged to someone Sakdu had personally killed since arriving in Arcton.

It won’t be long now until we’re ready to move on to our ultimate goal. It’s been years since then, but Canary is finally in our sight. And HE lives there. My spies tell me he is married with children. How fortunate: wife for a wife, child for a child, city for a village... Canary will burn, and I will force you to watch.

He shook his head slightly. I need to finish up here, first. After all, there’s a lot to punish, and I need to prepare and call my army... Yet...my anger and hatred aren't satisfied...

“Roger,” Sakdu spoke.

The man on his left kneeled. He was an Elf with glasses, and he loved wearing a long white coat. Black hair covered the red earrings in his pointy ears. This Elf was the man responsible for the creation of Monotonia, as well as its various variants.

“Go with him, but camp out at the front gate. It shouldn’t take him more than three hours to get there and back, even with twenty men. If he fails or runs away, and the two girls make it to Arcton, observe them, and find out what you can. If you can get them alone, then snatch the Singi, and leave this letter for the Human. After that, send someone out to find that spineless bastard. Regardless if he fails, make sure that letter gets to the Human.” Sakdu activated Dimensional Storage and pulled out a sealed letter.

“Yes, it will be done,” replied the Elf. He grabbed the letter and opened his own Dimensional Storage.

“Good. If the Human fails my game, I want you to find her and bring her before me. What better way to punish her by watching her friend die right in front of her before we march? Then that woman will know what I felt then. Soon, every last Human will feel it,” Sakdu sinisterly smiled and stood up. Roger nodded and hopped the railing.  He landed gracefully and calmly left the base via the secret exit.

What’s a Human but a Human? They’re all the same, and they’re all responsible for the damage they cause. I know I’m doing what is right, but one last reminder is what I need. Hurry up, and fail this game, so my conquest of that shitty man, and everything he stands for, can begin.  I know I'm right, but I need that one last push. I'm right.  I know I am, Sakdu thought as he gripped the sides of his throne. His large fingers coarsely massaged the white bone that came from one of his many victims. It was as if he was a shaman: able to feel the fear and emotions that ran through these permanent reminders. The screams, the tears, the last-minute threats, and oaths of vengeance that fell on deaf ears... He remembered the taste of their flesh as he picked it from their very bones.

He believed Annie had outlived her usefulness, and he was now growing hungry. Walking to a particular room, Sakdu closed the door behind him as Annie, unaware of her fate, squirmed with delight as she thought it was time for her feeding.

“Annie, your serviceability has nearly run out. No matter, it seems you can’t even hear me. Regardless, I will allow you one final Pink Monotonia before I eat you.” Sakdu reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed that pink pill by using her nose to guide her. Even dogs couldn't snag on the scent it emitted.

Her mind was so far gone that she didn’t realize her recessed flesh was being eaten right off the bone. Even without the help of a Pink Monotonia, her sense of pain had disappeared, and pleasure was the only thing that filled her mind.

But when Annie swallowed the pill, the pleasure was multiplied.

She laid back and opened her legs while Sakdu prepared a skinning dagger coated with Red Scythe, a type of hot spice that dealt terrible damage when it touched flesh.

Her arms were the first to go, with their hunger-weakened bones snapping like a twig under a boot. Sakdu used his knife to skin the battered and bruised flesh like one would skin a deer.  Delicious red blood fell, staining his mouth, chin, and expensive black suit, but he didn't care. Before he ate the strips of meat, he jabbed Annie's arm bone into her opened mouth.  Her teeth did all they could to crush it, but they weren't strong enough.

Annie felt her pain multiply into pure pleasure when Sakdu bent down and bit her chin clean off.  The bone nosily crunched under his rugged teeth, and he unconsciously let off a moan after he swallowed.

Human flesh was his favorite food, and he enjoyed the sound bone made when he crushed it.

Picking her up with one hand, Sakdu held Annie upside down and placed her emaciated leg into his mouth.  He chomped down, sending another wave of pain disguised as pleasure to Annie's brain.  She came again, with piss dribbled down what remained of her legs until it flowed into her mouth via her missing chin.

Sakdu lost himself to his gluttony and threw Annie against the wall.  Her body splattered against the wall, and she screamed with pleasure.  After picking her up and throwing her back down, Sakdu forcibly ripped off her head and devoured it.  He moved on to her body, using his hands to rip apart her chest until he pulled out her heart and lungs.  Like an after-dinner dessert, he snacked on them in between flesh and bone.

She died unaware of what was happening, even though her body was violently shaking in pleasure. Her last thoughts weren’t of herself, or Roko, or even Sakdu. In fact, she didn’t even know who Roko was. Even though she used to be obsessed with him, he no longer had a place inside her mind.

The only thing that flashed through her mind was an image of a single pink pill. Then, her suffering ended, and she was no longer a part of this world.

It was late at night when Roger saw someone running towards the town entrance. Roko had left three hours ago, and it took about ninety minutes to catch up to where they estimated the Singi and Human pair would be at.

“That damn fool failed,” he said under his breath when he realized it was a Singi that ran by him. She had pink hair, pink ears, and a pink tail. It was the very same one that his boss wanted. But seeing as she was here by herself and not that Human, Roger surmised something had happened.

“He probably ran away,” he said to himself as he followed from a distance, “I heard her cry when she ran by me, but she didn’t sound sad. She actually sounded angry. If he did run away, he most likely took a route that led him away from the main road. I suppose it’s possible he killed the twenty men that went with him, but that’s a stretch. If that’s the case, then why the tears? I suppose it's not that common for Rank 10 parties to have differences. Especially considering how it’s probably their first major quest. Hmm…..”

Roger racked his brain as his mind was presented with a wide variety of possible explanations.

“Yes, the most likely truth is that he ran away, either killing the twenty or convincing them to follow, and the two girls had a fight while traveling. They never even met up with Roko. If that’s the case, then the Human would most certainly try to find the Singi to apologize. Perfect, I’ll just follow her and wait. The Singi made a lot of noise, and she was very noticeable, so it shouldn’t be hard for the Human to locate her."

Roger followed the pink Singi to a single inn and smiled devilishly.  After taking up a post near a wall, he only had to wait.

The bloodiest and most deadly week in Arcton's history was about to begin, and a girl with black hair and red eyes would be the center of it all.