"Shael! Slave Master," the long black-haired woman spoke, sharing a smile with the pig-faced man that showed they'd had previous dealings, ones that left her extremely satisfied.
"Lorety! Welcome. You came at a good time!"
"Slave Master! I come for my due!" The bald one spoke, her skin tanned, body muscled, her voice much softer than Voldrak expected. He wasn't surprised to see the man's squirrel-like cheeks scrunch up in disapproval as he turned his eyes on her.
"Yes! Yes! Flonda, right... I'll attend to you!" he replied in a dismissive tone, focusing his eyes back on the black-haired woman, who had a much slender frame.
"I need the best of the best!" she said, fierce determination in her tone. It made Voldrak doubt she was simply talking about the slaves as he watched the two turn to look at the rows of food-deprived people in front of them.
"The first three will do!" But he had barely spoken when the woman's skeptical eyebrow rose. "They look like they're on their last lives!"
"Yes! But their essence is the strongest. Unless... you'd prefer to buy them elsewhere," his voice dipped dangerously low, showing that he had something resembling a brain in his skull.
Two heartbeats passed before the woman, Lorety, shook her head, turning her attention to the three that had been pointed out, a look akin to disgust on her face as she eyed them from head to heel.
"Hurry up!" Flonda, the bald-headed one, snapped from behind. "Unlike you, I don't have all day."
"I'd hold that tongue if I were you! You're still going to die in the ring; don't make me bring forth the time of your death."
"Haa!" She barked out with a smile that showed all her teeth. "You wish!" Clenching her stone spear in her hand and rolling her shoulders to show she was ready to go, but the long black-haired woman no longer paid her any attention. Instead, her focus was settled on the first man in the row, her gaze flickering to the woman beside him, who was trembling so hard she looked like she was on the edge of a seizure.
Voldrak had no idea what was going on, but he wasn't about to shift his gaze away and miss even a second of it.
When Lorety knelt on the ground, Voldrak's gaze was on the man she knelt in front of. He was middle-aged and, although his skin was dirty with mud, he was tall, with eyes that seemed to have experienced more of life than the young woman beside her. He frowned, then smiled as he slowly pushed aside the piece of clothing on his lower body to reveal himself to her.
"If you want it that badly, then you might as well work for it." A trace of a frown flashed across Voldrak's features, his vision zoning deeper as he tried to figure out what was happening even before it did.
The woman smiled as she leaned forward and took him into her mouth, a slight grimace flashing across her face, one that quickly disappeared the next second as she doubled down.
Voldrak wasn't the only one watching, and from the blank look on their faces, he could see it wasn't a special affair, something that happened more often than it should. Barely a few seconds had passed when the slave loudly groaned, his head tossing back as he grabbed the back of her head, aggressively pushing her to take in all of him.
She didn't refuse, eagerly willing to choke on it, burying herself if that's what it took. Soon, she wasn't doing anything at all as the man began to thrust his hips forward aggressively, almost like he wanted it to hurt.
With the authority Voldrak sensed she held, and how strong she was, he was confident all it would have taken was a heavy slap to bring the pleasure-muddled man back to his senses. Yet, she didn't. He pushed, and she let him.
Placing both hands on her like she was merely a thing to be used for his pleasure, his desire heightened with every second as Voldrak watched her suck and lap at him like he was the sweetest thing she'd ever had.
Voldrak watched on with a cold glint in his eyes, even as he felt his mortal body slowly respond to the scene in front of him. But just before he could delve deeper into what he felt or hadn't felt for millennia, he noticed it.
It was subtle, something he should have noticed earlier. Even as the man's moans became louder and his groans deeper, his skin began to dry, almost like his life force was being slowly squeezed out of him.
His eyes sunk in, and soon he could barely stand, leaning against the kneeling woman on the ground—something she seemed to revel in. Moving faster than before, she was dedicated, knowing she was about to get what she wanted. Her tongue swirled as she tightened her jaws, a strange light in her eyes as she stared at the degenerating man. His body trembled, and she knew he was close, extremely close.
"Urghhhh!" He gasped and groaned loudly, his eyes snapping open as he raised his head to stare at the sky, lost in whatever pleasure he found there. But a second later, his heart thumped loudly enough to send a shiver through his entire body. His face wrenched in pain in a silent scream, one he would have unleashed if he could.
Lorety wiped her mouth, getting to her feet. She stretched out a hand and pushed him, and that was all it took to send him tumbling, his body scattering into dust before he even reached the ground.
Using all the dark energy he could muster, Voldrak focused his eyes on her, impressed at how easily she had taken in his pure essence and worked it into her bones and muscles, making them stronger—much stronger than before. Yet even as he watched her mumble words under her breath, Voldrak could tell about half of the energy was redirected somewhere else.
He raised his gaze and traced it up into the heavens. He was convinced that he was in the base realm unlike other realms that dwelt around each other...the only realm that existed far above the universe was the Immortal Realm.
Voldrak had no idea what the scheme was, but he had no intention of ignoring it. Someone was siphoning power from the mortal realm, something that should have been impossible!