Rojo* sat at his desk massaging his eyes.
"You mean to tell me he went after another pretty girl?" He asked tiredly. "Why do you need to tell me this now?"
"Two, not one." The servant corrected. "And they had connections to a powerful master, it seems."
"Is that why he hasn't come back?" Rojo asked worriedly, his tired grey eyes wrinkled by worry.
"We think so." The servant said. "The women and their make companion match the descriptions for the ones who offended the city lord."
"The ones who broke into the city lord's mansion and peeked at his daughter?" Rojo asked, getting out of bed.
"The same." The servant replied. "Not only that, but they seem to have apprehended him."
"Where?" Rojo demanded, fully awake and tense with worry.
"They, according to our source, checked in to the White Lotus Inn." The servant said. "The source is one of our most trusted, and has had the information verified."
"Good." Rojo said. "Bring two of our elders and exterminate them."
"Are you sure?" The servant asked. "Wh-"
"Don't question me." Rojo said, waving a hand in front of the servant's face. "I made my choice, and my decision is final."
"Alright." The servant swallowed his words and backed out of the room, saying, "I'll notify the two most loyal elders."
"Good." Rojo began pacing, waiting for the replies from the elders.
With every step his mind conjured images of what might have been happening to Verde at that point in time.
With every step worry chewed on his nerves a little more, making him feel irritable and annoyed at anyone and everyone.
It wasn't until the sky began to lighten before the two elders arrived and saluted him.
"We will go and rescue young master." The elder on the left said, clenching his fist and placing it on his heart while he bowed. "But when we return him, please teach him a lesson."
Rojo looked at the elder for a moment before understanding what he meant.
"I will." Rojo nodded gravely. "He needs to snap into the proper mindset of a cultivator. I'll send him to the Badlands."
The elder nodded, satisfied.
The elder on the right maintained the same posture, but didn't speak. He only nodded in aproval when Rojo said he'd send Verde to the Badlands.
"We'll return by noon." The left elder spoke once more. "Let's have tea then."
Rojo nodded and watched them depart with swift, but measured steps.
He glanced at his servant briefly.
"Do you think they'll be enough?" Rojo asked him.
"No." The servant admitted. "But they're the best we can do."
Rojo raised a hand to slap him, but stopped when he thought it through.
His servant pulled out a chair and gestured for him to sit.
Rojo sank into the chair, slumping forward.
"My son." He said quietly, staring at the desk in front of him. "Why must you be this way?"
"We can only pray he'll still be sane." The servant said, angering Rojo.
"And what do you mean by that?" He roared. "Do you want to jinx it?"
"No, master." The servant bowed his head. "But I truly hope the masters are lenient with him."
Meanwhile, the 'masters' that they had been talking about at length were just waking up.
Salem awoke to Alina stealing a kiss from him and Ruby stirring lightly.
He smiled, stroking their hair as they both woke themselves fully.
"What should we do with this dumbass?" Alina got right to buisness.
"Castrate him?" Ruby suggested.
Salem shrugged.
"Why don't we just leave him?" He asked. "That'll likely make them stop tailing us."
"Why?" Alina asked. "We basically kidnapped their young master."
"He came to us willingly." Salem chuckled. "And once they see he was only knocked out, I doubt they'd hold a grudge."
"Do we leave the mask on?" Ruby asked.
"No." Salem responded, changing the bonds and helmet to a blindfold, gag, and ropes. "This'll do."
He paused and smiled slightly.
"Let's give them something to chew on, shall we?" He asked them.
He used a shadow to grab a pebble from the cobbled street outside and proceeded to use his nanomachines to inscribe a phrase he thought would be mind-boggling to them.
Once he finished, he showed the stone to Alina and Ruby, proud of himself.
It read (In English, so they'd have trouble even reading it): "Open your eye."
"What does it say?" Ruby asked. "I can't read it."
"Oh yeah, you don't speak or write English." Salem remembered. "It reads: 'Open your eye.'"
"That sounds cryptic and strange." Alaina said. "What does it mean?"
"It's a reference to a belief from my former homeworld that humans had a third, metaphysical eye that could be used to peer into the true nature of things." Salem explained. "I'm curious to know what they'll do with this."
He set the stone next to Verde's foot and turned back to the two.
"Let's set up disguises." He said. "I don't want to have more of the men-who seem to come in droves-following us."
He sculpted a nanobot mask that turned Alina's beatiful face into a plain-looking and slightly pale face.
Ruby copied the mask and standing side-by-side, they looked like twins, just with different hair colours.
"Shall we leave?" Salem asked, opening the door for them.
Rojo-Red