Stranger From a Strange Land (canceled)

Chapter IV: Hook, Line & Sinker

"Good morning, Deisuke!" I hear Aries say as she opens the curtains. My third day of living in a world that I dont know anything about. "We should go shopping for some basic supplies today" she says. I suppose she's right. I've barely eaten anything since I came here, and I could do with some food. I also got paid just recently, so we should be able to afford it. "I hope you're ready, because we're spending the day shopping!" She says. She's playful and ecstatic, constantly excited about things. It's refreshing compared to the stoic atmosphere of my boss. My old boss. Nobody's my boss now. I'm my own person, and I'll do what I want to do. And I want to go shopping. I get up, rubbing my eyes as I take in the fresh air. No global warming, no carbon emissions and no pollution. Compared to my old world, this place is perfect. Aries hands me my backpack, her beautiful blue eyes glistening in the light of the sun as she brushes her dark hair aside. She's actually very pretty, at least by my world's standards. "Let's go!" She says, and we leave the inn and enter town. The place seems pretty busy, and everything has a happy atmosphere about it. It feels great, and I'm starting to feel like I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life here. As we walk through town trying to find the market quarter, I begin to notice the sheer amount of women. " What's with all the ladies?" I ask. "In this world, the population leans heavily towards females, so much so that women make up more than half the workforce. It's different depending on which city you're in but that's how it is in most of them" she says. Sheesh. More than half the workforce? That's a bit rough. "Ah! Here we are!" She says, and the streets begin clotting with stalls. " We should be able to find what we're looking for here" she says, stopping at a stall. I can't help but notice that the street carries on into a large square, absolutely chocked full of market stalls. "Wouldn't it be easier to find it over there?" I ask, pointing at the square. "No, I'm sure we'll find it here" she says quickly. "You're the one who wanted to go on a shopping trip! So you'd better go all out!" I say, dragging her toward the town square. "Diesuke! Stop! You don't understand! We absolutely cannot go there!" She squirms. "I don't see why, it's just a damn market, Aries" I say. Then I see it. There, smack-dab in the middle of the square. A small wooden podium, with tons of rich looking people lined up in front of it. On that podium stands a man in a suit, and next to him is a helpless boy, bound by shackles and starved to death. The kid is totally helpless. It hurts my soul. He must only be about six, and he looks so confused. I feel terrible for him, but at the same time I feel a boiling rage build up inside me, and I let go of Aries' hand. "I tried to warn you" she says. There are many things I never thought I'd see, much less wanted to. And this is one of them. Slavery. The worst sin humanity can commit. Keeping other poor souls captive to do work for nothing out of sheer laziness or greed. I hate it. Right down to my core. I take one look at the faces of these rich pigs, but all I can see is the worst, greediest, most ugly, most evil and black-hearted monsters the world has ever seen. And what hurts me the most is that this sort of thing always finds a way to prosper. In my world, the modern equivalent was human trafficking, which was deemed highly illegal. But that didn't stop people from doing it. Some people are just so bad that they'd sacrifice their very own life to greed. It makes me sick to my stomach. "Deisuke?" Queries Aries, but im too focused on this god-awful auction. The boy gets sold for 600,000 gold pieces, and I can only hope his fate isn't bad. It baffles me how such an inhumane act can be considered legal in this world. "Don't do anything you'll regret" Aries says. "Let's just get what we're looking for and get out of here" I say. I can't stand being here any longer, and I really don't want to stay longer than I have to. This whole fiasco has soured my mood, but the best I can do about it is wash my eyes out with bleach and try to forget I ever saw it. I can't do anything about it right now, as much as it pains me to admit. Funny how no more than half an hour ago I was thinking that this world could be perfect. I suppose everything has its downsides. I overlooked the fact that where there's money, there is going to be crime, and that is set in stone. Humans are greed like that, and it's just nature. But it just really makes me sick how far people are willing to go to satisfy their lus my for money, whether it be desperation or pure greed, and slavery is the former. What will be, will be, and sometimes there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. All the other people in this square, they all look fine, normal and happy, but I know that deep inside, most of them feel just as strongly as I do. They've just learned to live with it, because they're totally powerless to stop it.