— Where am I? Who… am I?
Shinji opened his eyes to a narrow alley, where humidity reigned and it was as cold as the harshest winters in Japan.
His drenched back pressed against cold, uneven stones, and the air had a stagnant smell of mud and black smoke.
The sky above him was as gray as the biting cold implied, although the sunlight partially illuminated the alley.
He tried to move. His arms, his legs, his muscles seemed to belong to him. Yet, he felt as old as this world.
He shivered. This sensation, he hadn't felt it in a long time. Since… he didn't know anymore.
An unknown, heavy sensation gripped his chest. Yet, it wasn't unknown. No. It was a fear buried within him, a memory he had lost.
He didn't recognize this place either, and yet, it too seemed familiar to his eyes.
— What is this place?
He stood up slowly. There was no trace of blood on his body, and he felt no pain. No sign of what he had been through.
— I'm dead…
It was a certainty. An intuition carved deep within him. But he had no memory of how.
He frowned. Nothing came back despite his efforts.
He lowered his eyes. A white cat, thin, had slipped into the entrance of the alley. Its gaze met Shinji's, then it vanished into the shadows.
Upon seeing it, just one word came back to him, a name.
— Neko…
Why was he thinking of this name when he couldn't even remember his own person?
A shiver ran through him. Then, a tear fell.
— Mom… Dad…
Those two words were all he had left, even their first names had been lost within him.
He slowly left the alley. The noises became clearer: several people were raising their voices, some louder than others, sums that kept rising.
— An auction? — thought Shinji, when he saw a stall to his right.
Above the stall was a wooden board on which unfamiliar letters were etched.
— Stygia meat? — murmured Shinji, unable to explain what allowed him to read what was written on that board, although he felt in his gut that it was no mere coincidence.
An old butcher was shouting at a man, probably his customer. A beef carcass on his shoulder. Dogs were barking, their gleaming fangs visible, locked in cages behind the stall.
He looked away, but a thought tormented his mind: barely out of the alley, fate showed him a meat stall, as if he had to make the noble gesture of feeding the cat, his first interaction with this world.
— A test…
He almost laughed at it. He, who had always rejected anything related to the divine, at least that's what his intuition made him think, but his laugh rang empty.
He walked on, following the sound of the crowd. He came upon a group of well-dressed people gathered, all their gazes fixed on what was at the center of the square, a wooden platform.
On it were men bearing the marks of an ancient war, but also women and children, all chained to one another in a heavy silence.
These people, who appeared to be this world's upper class, were shouting numbers, amounts that kept getting higher.
— Is that the auction?
It took him a while to understand, but once he realized that he was facing a slave auction, he nearly vomited.
There was no compassion in the gazes of the bidders. As if they were casually buying bread. But it wasn't bread they were buying in the middle of this market, it was the freedom of dozens of people who were worth no more than mere merchandise.
He stepped back and turned around as soon as he could to return to the alley. The humidity was less oppressive than the horror of what he had just witnessed.
— Is this what the afterlife is?
Once he reached the alley, the cat was no longer there, but a young girl was. She was crouched against a stone wall, trembling all over. Her arms wrapped around her knees as if she, too, was trying to escape the terror of what surrounded them.
Shinji approached, letting his instinct guide him.
— Are you okay?
She raised her eyes.
— I beg you… don't let them take me back…
Her voice was hoarse. Broken by sobs.
Before he could respond, increasingly loud footsteps could be heard.
Three men faced him. Their leader was massive, with a piercing gaze that unsettled Shinji.
— Get lost, he muttered. She's ours.
Shinji stepped back.
— That outfit… They're guards… And they let this auction happen at the market? murmured Shinji.
Although he didn't understand what was going on, he saw the fear in the little girl's eyes.
— Wait. Listen to me. She… she doesn't deserve this. I can… pay. Work. Do whatever you want.
Shinji had nothing on him, his promises rested only on a lie, no escape was possible if they saw through him.
They laughed.
— You, work for us, with that malnourished body?
He lowered his eyes. His own freedom was all he had to offer, and three against one, they had no reason to fear him.
Under the pressure of the guards, he pretended to search his pockets when he felt a blade. Despite the fabric separating his hand from the blade, he felt within himself that he had held this blade before dying. He was sure of it.
It was all that remained of his former self.
— How…?
Although his odds were already much better, he didn't dare draw it.
— Well, what are you waiting for? Are you paying us, or are you wasting our time for nothing? shouted the leader of the guards.
Despite his desire to play the savior, Shinji realized that at the crucial moment, he was only thinking of himself, of his own benefit.
He looked at the girl one last time so as not to regret his cowardice later. For him, it was better to face it now so that it wouldn't come back to haunt him later.
But the young girl was no longer crying, she was empty. All the hope she had carried within her had faded, she no longer expected anything from Shinji. This world hadn't taught her to believe in others, and Shinji was no exception after all.
— Damn it, the auction's over. Because of you, we couldn't get back in time. Show your face here again, and you're a dead man. — shouted one of the guards.
Shinji let them go… or rather, he did nothing to stop them.
When he turned around, the cat had returned. He sat down next to where the cat was.
— You saw me, didn't you?
— You saw how worthless I am…
He clenched his fists. Not only had he abandoned the young girl, but deep down, he was relieved to have been spared.
— I judged them, but I didn't do any better.
A puddle of water on the ground to his left showed his reflection, but he didn't have the courage to face himself. He looked away.
— If someone can hear me… give me a chance.
A voice in the distance shouted:
— That one's worth gold! Her body is unharmed! You should've brought her back sooner!
When he turned his head to see what was happening, his blood ran cold.
The young girl was chained, and an iron collar was placed around her neck. She was being forcibly grabbed by the arm by one of the guards, her feet no longer even touching the ground.
Shinji gripped the blade and ran, his footsteps echoing against the stone.
— I already abandoned her, what's happening to me?
His heart was pounding wildly. He was drowning in a black rage, against whom? He didn't even know anymore, himself, the guards. It didn't matter at that moment.
He reached the square. The three guards were there and had been joined by others.
Shinji finally decided that he couldn't survive in this world if he abandoned the first person who didn't seem to be the worst of humanity.
— Stop! he shouted. Give her back her freedom!
He had finally turned to face them when he brandished the blade in their direction.
The silence lasted a second. Then laughter erupted among the guards.
— Who do you think you are, seriously? Do you even know where you are?
Shinji didn't respond and charged without hesitation this time.
But he was neither trained nor fast. He only knew how to move because his body was used to it.
A first guard grabbed him mid-air and blocked his arm. A second landed a punch in his stomach.
Shinji collapsed, the blade falling at his feet.
— Seriously… said another. This kid wants to die or what? Must be another one of those fugitives from Thatreth.
They approached. But a deep, weary voice stopped them:
— Ten coins.
Silence followed this offer. A man had appeared behind them. Broad-shouldered. Apron stained with dried blood.
Shinji was certain. This man was the butcher he had seen earlier.
He approached the guards before placing a pouch on the ground.
— For him… and that blade.
The two guards shrugged, delighted with this offer for a piece of trash that would've brought them nothing, but their leader was more suspicious.
— Him, you could've had for free, so I assume it's the blade you're really interested in.
The butcher, after a moment of silence, replied:
— I know a blacksmith who might be interested in this blade; him, he doesn't interest me as much, but he could get me more blades if it wasn't a nomad who sold it to him.
He must have been in his fifties despite his robust physique.
But the leader of the guards, despite the butcher's experience, noticed that he was lying about the blade.
Despite the consistency in the butcher's voice, his eyes fixed on the blade betrayed him.
— I know the area well, there's no blacksmith around here. I don't know what game you're playing, but I accept. Take that trash and his blade and go back to your stall.
Shinji noticed that during all this time, he hadn't even looked at him. So he was telling the truth: only the blade mattered to him.
The butcher nodded before kneeling to pick up the blade. Shinji was still reeling from the guards' blows when he grabbed him by the collar like a sack of meat.
He waited until the guards were far enough away to finally confront him.
— This blade… How… you?
Shinji opened his mouth to defend himself, but he had no air left and lost consciousness.