I woke up to a sudden jolt. Snapping my eyes open I realized I was in a much darker and smaller space. This was most certainly not my room and there was a high chance I had been kidnapped. My breathing came rapidly at first, but gradually I calmed myself and analyzed the situation; then I reanalyzed it again. I was in a small cell that reeked of filth and my limbs were chained to one another. I was lying on the ground wearing nothing but a piece of sackcloth.

I sat up trying to remember what happened last night...I was in a 5 star hotel...no I was in a shelter house. I really couldn't tell the difference between those two and that was the moment I realized something was something terribly odd...not only was the grandness odd, the food too. And my body felt as heavy as lead after that...it all makes sense to me now. The place was the perfect honey trap, and I was the innocent bee. No government in the world extended such kindness to poor people, the luxurious shelter was used to lower my guard, the exotic delights were drugged...

Then somewhere down the corridor I hear a man saying something in hushed Portuguese. A moment later, the possibly same man who spoke appeared in front of me.

"English? Other?" he said with a heavy accent.

"English." I looked up at him. The man was about 5ft, and wore a red robe. His skin was tanned and he looked like he is in his mid-forties.

"You can call me Bruzu. I know you shocked. But let me explain everything during our little tour." He opened my jail cell and he signaled me to come out. And before I even know what was going on, I was standing outside my room.

"Follow me." He said with a huge plastered smile and I looked at him blankly for him to continue. He lad me down several corridors, into a large chamber. All around me were hundreds of men women and children in red robes socializing in the place. There was something terribly odd but I couldn't point a finger at it. There was a man carrying loads of weight on his back as he ate, and blind man playing a dice game. They weren't the only oddities, as a dozen children ran right past me, some were missing an ear, others an eye, one was even missing her nose.

"What is this place?" I asked decisively.

"Home. Home sweet home." He said with a dreamy voice.

"Who are you people?"

"We have many names, but we go by the name O Sacrifício."

The name gave me a bad feeling already, so I decided not to ask questions that would give away any information about me.

"Sorry for the rough coming. You are about to attend the ceremony soon, and you will become our brother. We are all happy! Deal?" he says, holding his smile in place.

"What ceremony and what is this place?" I asked as I scanned the chamber and realized my likelihood of escaping was drastically decreased. We were underground.

"Questions later, deal or no deal?" Bruzu asked again.

"I have no idea what you want me to exactly..."

"It will be wonderful! Success in life! Chance rare! You are lucky one!"

"Just slow down, perhaps you can take me to your leader..."

"For what?" the man smile dropped.

"I...I was wondering if your leader holds any answers..." I narrowed my eyes.

"Why didn't you say so!" he said, all plastered with smile again.

"Thank you!" I replied with false enthusiasm.

"Deal! I will be back in a short moment!" he clasped his hand together and returned me the same plastered smile.

A moment of the plastered smile passed and Bruzu asked, "I was thinking...where is your friend?"

I don't have any friends...oh he meant Iu.

"I don't know. I slept like dead weight." With nothing to betray, I gave him an honest reply.

"Feel free to explore this place, but don't go too far. You are an important member of the ceremony." He said as he turned around and left without even saying goodbye.

I wasn't going anywhere with those shackles anyways and being trapped in a chamber with a bunch of weirdoes made it impossible anyway. With nothing better to do I walked up to one of the pairs who appeared playing some sort of dice game, and I greeted them.

"So how's the game coming along?" I tried to use my casual voice.

One the older men turned and looked away me, his iris eyes were blank milky white. I narrowed my eyes. His game partner, this middle aged man, laughed. As he threw down the dice with his one remaining hand.

What the hell...

The old man turned back to his game again, as the two mumbled more Portuguese back and forth, none of which I understood, until all of a sudden the old man looked to me and mumbled something.

"I am just a bystander, I don't know anything." I turned and took my leave. After I was well out of earshot of everyone, I slumped against the ground and began planning my escape.

"Sol." Said a voice. For a moment I thought I was hallucinating, since we were the only ones in the chamber.

"Sol!" the voice shirked; then I realized it came from above. For brief moment, I couldn't believe I was seeing.

"Iu, is that you?" I stared at the bat hanging in the ceiling corner.

"Who else do you think it is?" Iu voice shrieked in my mind.

"So you can also morph into an animal...can you transform into a vehicle?"

"Can you transform into a sane person?"

"You got me again. So where were you last night?"

"Hiding."

"From...them?"

"Yes."

"What does a demon have to fear about humans?"

"There are forces even demons don't want to entangle with."

"Like what?"

"..."

"The silent treatment huh? That kills me, it really does."

"I can't be seen by them, but I will near you at all times." Iu said, as she flew out the chamber. A moment later a Bruzu emerged through the hallway.

"Boy, what is your name?" he asked.

"Sol."

"Let me tell you Sol, today is your lucky day!" he winked at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Come with me right now, please." It sounded more like an order than a request.

I followed him through a series of stairs and hallways then we stopped in front of a humongous pair of stone doors. Then Bruzu turned to face me and said:

"Just make the deal alright?"

"Will do my best." I said half heartily.

"Good, then go and shine boy." As he pushed open one side of the stone door, and signaled me to go in.