Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 134 The Final Step 2

Seline tried to keep the grin off her face as she readied herself in front of the mirror, remembering how flustered and frustrated she had been just a few days ago, when she had been forced to hurry so that she could attend to the three whom she now thought of as gods, come to relieve her of a life without prospects that she had been pushed into without any other choice.

She frowned when she had caught herself thinking in this manner; in many ways, when she compared where she had come from to where she was now, she had always been satisfied, knowing that the distance she had traveled was something that very, very few would ever be capable of, but right now, with so much more waiting for her in the future, she found it hard to accept that she had completely been satiated with what she had had before.

If she was telling the truth, she would admit that she really did like this island, this room that she had had built to her taste, and this mansion that reminded her of her husband. He had been a sweet man, charming and loving despite the fact that she had only married him for his money, and although she had cried a lot of fake tears in front of his grave a decade ago, some had been real.

Hearing a knock on her door and knowing that it was time, she checked one last time to make sure that each and every strand on her head was in place, and each and every inch of her clothes had been carefully ironed. Happy with it all, she got up and walked to the right to greet whoever had come.

It was the old man, and for once, his pockmarked face did not seem as revolting is it always did. A smile was on it, making it seem just a tiny bit bearable, and it broadened when he took in her plunging neckline and the tight fit of the crimson gown around her hips.

He gave her a wink, then, as if to say that he knew what she was trying to do. Indeed, she would love nothing more but to be able to seduce one of the three so that she could fast-track her rise…and why should she be ashamed of using her merits to great effect in ways that the other two would never be able to do?

With a humph, she swept past him to the waiting servants. They would all be coming along in case extra help was needed to bring the object, whatever it was. They were soon outside, walking to the place where the three would be waiting, and in a few seconds, she saw the ranks of guards standing perfectly still in the hot sun, not even showing a hint of displeasure despite the fact that it must be boiling under all that leather.

It had been drilled into them that even a single mistake today would result in them ending the day as slaves. It was a fate that made all of them shudder, and so, she was confident that no matter what happened, there would be no problem from their side.

One of them nodded in her direction briefly, and all three set off to the teleportation matrix. The old man gave a quiet order that they should wait, and follow behind at a respectful distance, and that was what they did, marching along the red ground making as little noise as possible so that they would not disturb the eminent personalities in front.

Seline kept her eyes on them, intent on running forward and grabbing an opportunity to be of service if she found one, but she finally looked away after seeing that no such thing would happen. By then, the other two had caught up to her, and with a lopsided grin, the younger of the two said, “I wonder how much they’re going to pay us. It should definitely be more than everything in our vaults, cos they actually tipped a maid – a lowly maid!- with vajrams…so what should we do with it all?”

The old man snorted with disdain, always annoyed by the other’s immaturity. The only reason he was a leader was his father who had been a close friend, so controlling whatever retort he had been about to give, he said, “That’s not important, at the moment. I’ve been thinking about what we should do with the slaves. One option would be to go ahead with the purchases, and get some skilled folk here so that we can build a Refinery. The pits will be empty in a few weeks…so I see no manner in which they can be taught to do anything as sophisticated as what is required if we are to upgrade this town. The more I think of it, the more it seems that it is best to kill them all. To sell the slaves, we would have to allow outsiders to enter the island, and I don’t think the family will be happy with that. There is no reason whatsoever to even risk their displeasure in a matter that is so minor. In my opinion, this is the simplest solution.”

Seline felt a faint hint of alarm. No one knew her past, so no one also knew about the secret that she wasn’t really who she seemed to be on the surface. However, as always, it was important to keep up appearances, so with a scowl, she said, “Is that really necessary? It would be such a sunken investment! Let’s hold off on the decision. Maybe they can be used as servants…and maybe some of them can even learn to be refinery workers if tortured enough! We should think about it. If they turn out to be capable, we wouldn’t need to pay them. After all, they’ve been broken so thoroughly that they can never heal…so why waste all that effort we’ve put in?”

Her stomach roiled, just like it always did whenever she had to say such things, but if she had any intention of holding onto her position, she had known long back, itself, that she had to look as ruthless and uncaring as possible of those very people she had come from. Over the years, she had always tried to throw away this weakness, as it seemed sometimes, within her…but again and again, she kept trying to do something for them covertly, and succeeding only in the most minor way. Many nights, she would stay awake, knowing that all the slaves probably hated her and thought of her in the same way as they did the other two…but that didn’t stop her from continuing her attempts, no matter how many times she failed.

To convince the others of what she felt, she had had to sit through many torture sessions, even leading some to make it appear as if she wasn’t bothered by them, at all. She was convinced that these instances, more than anything must have solidified her image in the minds of the slaves…but at the moment, seeing that she was once again entering the spiralling stream of thoughts that never ended well, she pulled herself out as she had to have all her wits about her if she wanted to make use of any situation that might come up.

The old man grunted in response, then stayed quiet. Drool began to drip from the mouth of the other, as if he was dreaming of a future filled with crystals. She stayed calm and walked on, and soon, they were stepping through the teleportation matrix.

Only two or three guards had been left behind at the vaults. The rest were behind them, and soon, they had passed through two islands.

At the third, the three asked them to pause and walked forward. She stoon on her toes and peeked forward, suspecting that this was where the treasure would be handed over, but all she could see was a scrap of empty land outside the dome on the island which happened to be further inward than it usually was in most cases.

Something flashed near the elf, and she wondered whether it was some sort of a communication spell. The one who always spoke to them waved all of them over, and with a graceful smile on her face, she hastened her steps so that she would stay in front.

Due to a reason she couldn’t fathom, she suddenly found himself wishing that the mage was nearby, ready to protect her instead of drifting in the air of the town in the form of ashes.

Soon, they had been made to stand close together in a circle after being told that it had to be so to indicate to those who were coming that they were all friendly, and with bated breath, they waited.

Their vigil lasted only for a minute. The elf looked like he was intently staring into thin air in front of them, and suddenly, he straightened, as if he was done with whatever task he had set for himself. Another flash of light appeared in front of them all, sudden, but without a sound, and this one was so blinding that Seline was forced to close her eyes.

That uneasy feeling from before magnified, and all of a sudden… she blinked and saw that a ring of light had appeared all around them. It glowed for a few moments, then flew inward… and whoever it touched fell to the ground, unconscious.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing she could even try. When it went through her just a second later, she was instantly knocked out before she even hit the ground. The last thing she saw was the elf ripping away that star that had seemed so regal… and the other two slapping each other on their backs, as if extremely satisfied with a job well done.

What felt like an eternity later, she stirred, slowly growing awake. After what felt like an even longer time, vaguely, she could see all around her, and hear the sounds of something metallic clicking into place close by.

Soon, one of the three members of the eminent family appeared in her vision. He raised both his eyebrows when he saw her blinking groggily, but with a shrug, he bent down at her neck, her hands, and her legs.

The sensation of something cold, something rough that sucked away warmth pressing down on all three of these places jolted her completely awake. She then realized that she couldn’t move an inch. She looked down with horror to confirm the wild fear that had suddenly sprung up inside her…and when she saw that she had been right, that she was shackled in the same way that they always kept the slaves in the pits, she screamed, and kept screaming until her voice broke, and faded into nothingness.