A cough escaped his lips, now he had been around a mighty long time, seen all manner of hell and usually been either the cause of or the focus of. This however, this was new, in all his uncountable years never had he expected anyone to beg for their life and offer to be his slave. Hell, he had plenty of others in the past in positions like this but NONE had ever offered to be his slave. None. Yet this little bat had just made the offer in exchange for her life.

Still regretting her words she also noted that those rueful worlds had caught her captor by surprise, even made him cough in surprise. She had nailed it, now just keep going! "I will be your slave if you dont kill me, letters! I can even fabricate letters to my family saying im fine! No one will ever know, i'll even tell them I am traveling the world, they'll never know or have a return address!" As she finished this another realization came to mind: HE could fabricate the letters on her behalf after the first few! Oh damn now what do I say...

Clever girl, he liked her, the sudden change of hope to worry on her face meant she just realized the same thing he already knew: He could fabricate the letters and just kill her, lost in a tragic shipwreck... Still, she was clever and he liked clever folks or at least he used too being utterly tactless himself. Hiding a grin that threatened to come to his face he decided to pretend he was unaware of that last fact of this newly proposed "deal" of theirs. Leaning forward and hissing into her face his words made her eyes pop: "Deal."

What have you gotten yourself into Shadow? The moment he hissed the word "deal" to her she knew her life was over, she might live a few horrible months, maybe a year... Then he would no longer need her, the crisis would be over and once again she would be expendable. What HAD made her offer that deal anyway? Was it the fact he was male and she was playing on it? Maybe so but it looked like he could care less, then again she had caught him looking her over or maybe that was simply... "Examing the goods before buying at the market" and by the moon she hoped to hell that was not the case. Looking back up all she saw was a pale hand reaching for her head and letting out a small scream all went black as she fell unconcious as it touched her.

If nothing else this should be a very... "Interesting" next few months was all he could think, his spell had put her out like a light and now all he had to do was get her back home. With a sigh he commanded the gargoyle to release her and gather the fallen materials and stuff them into a bag he conjured up. Sending the guardians back to their posts he carried the bag in one hand and floated her body in his magic with the other and started off. This was going to be a VERY interesting first month with his new "slave."

She woke with a start, jumping up screaming and thrashing, it had all been a bad dream! Just a bad dream! Then reality sunk in, she was in a pitch black room, stone, her scree told her no way out, she was simply sealed in a 5x6ft stone coffin. Her life as a slave was starting out just perfect... She thumped on the walls and shouted till she thumped on one side and the wall swung open, with a thud she fell out of the room into the light and looked around. All around her were tables, archaic lab equipment and other things she had no idea what they were. Brain in a jar, alchemical things? What looked like dried plants? Shadows eyes settled on a figure staring at her bemusedly over a table on the far side as it continued to riffle through her things. This was a lab, and that could be very bad for her health.

Staring at her face as it went from shock, curiosity and then to horror he decided it was time to pipe up. "Good, your awake, here is your first job slave bat: the shelves need put back in the closet and get all the cleaning equipment put away." The look on her face was priceless.

"Cleaning closet?" Turning to look back she realized that it was indeed a closet, stacked off to one side in the room were cleaning materials and shelves that had one been in the room. "You locked me in the cleaning closet?"

Letting out a sigh he stopped going over her journal "YES. I do not make a HABIT of keeping dangerous creatures and experiments locked in cages in my HOME. I had to have somewhere to put you so when you woke up you wouldn't immediately try to run away or break anything. Figured the cleaning closet would work, has a nice tight seal too so the chemical smells dont lea..." Dammnit why was he explaining himself to a slave? "Slave! Get your furry ass in gear and get that stuff put away!"

"I have a name asshole! Shadow Moon! And quit going through my diary!" Realization slapped her hard across the face as she finished shouting, she had not just told off just anypony, she had just told off the creature that "owned" her and could kill her at any moment she figured and by the look on his face, he just might.

A very interesting first month indeed... He had NEVER liked anyone talking back to him and being short tempered did not help matters any but being yelled at by his new slave...

Horror etched itself across her face as he slowly brought one finger up into the air while starring daggers at her. Well, this was it, puff your chest out, close your eyes and accept death with some dignity.

There never was any intention of killing her for this outburst, he found it quite funny in a way thought it still angered him but seeing her puff her chest out a bit, close her eyes, grimace and stand there shaking like a leaf made finishing his spell all the sweeter. A snap echoed in the room followed by a yelp as his spell shocked her rump resulting in her wings flaring and jumping into the air. Trying not to laugh he let out a growl at her "Back to work... Slave Shadow Moon."

That hurt, it was like getting zapped by a small lightning bolt when one flew too close to a rowdy one. Almost staring daggers back at him she caught herself and slammed her mouth shut before tempting fate again. Grabbing the first shelf and heaving it moved bit by bit, slowly being drug along as she worked it back into the cleaning closet. It took a while but she managed it and all he did was watch every now and then. After shelving the last of the strange jars of cleaning materials and closed the door and turned to her new "master" and coughed quietly.

Now what... Glancing up from his reading he studied Shadow: sweaty, worn and tired. Putting the materials away was all he DID have for her to do. Long ago he had created enough servants to take care of everything: laundry, cooking, cleaning, guarding... Hell he had been absently thinking on and off about what to have her do next the whole time while occasionally watching her struggle with the heavy shelves. Nothing had come to mind yet. Well, things HAD come to mind but those jobs were already filled or he simply did those things himself. The little bat just stood there quietly waiting further instructions, absently he thought a command for her to just sit for a bit before realizing that she was not one of the constructs who could just be "commanded" mentally. "SIT."

Simple enough, looking around though, finding a chair would be a problem, she made her way towards a chair before she was suddenly grabbed by unseen forced and plopped into a chair and swung around the room till she was sitting across from him. "When I give you an order carry it out QUICKLY." Faking a smile she nodded "yes masterrr....?"

Leaning back in his seat he eyed her, well he knew of one way to kill some time, get some answers and also learn a little about his new slave. "You will call me Master Valkardian." Then came the barrage of questions, height: 5'2", age: 20, family, friends, hometown, occupation, cutie mark: cave with a map and on and on. Shadow was fairly certain he was only half listening as he continued to thumb through her diary. What felt like an eternity finally ended and he stopped, dropped the little book on the table and stood rapidly. Shadow flinched thinking that something had not met his expectations but instead he waved her up. Simply pointing behind her he told her to follow the servants and bathe, change and be ready for further instructions.

What was behind her though, that made her freeze and the blood run cold, two skeletal creatures waiting quietly flanking the doorway, she had not heard anyone enter... Now she knew why... Hooves faltering she shakily walked forward, quick realization that THIS might be her fate if she angered him. Without a word one simply turned and left, the other waited, once in the hall the last followed behind her closely. "Still expecting me to make a run for it..." This thought hung with her as they guided her through the hallways, she had to admit the place was very fancy, wide halls, not very high ceilings though... Still, she had to admit the place was indeed VERY fancy. Elaborate carvings adorned the walls as well though after seeing what they depicted she quit looking: battles, carnage, death, destruction but also quite a few nice ones that appeared to tell the tale of how this place came to be... Sort of. That strange moss was growing in giant chandaleres above giving off a funny light that make it very easy to see and before long the leading skeleton stopped, swung open a door and stepped aside.

Now THIS was fancy, very, very, very fancy. This was what she expected a royal bathroom to look like, elaborate tile floors with various, what she assumed were cave flora and fauna depicted. Steam rose off the clear water which had an odd glow to it caused by the moss above. While Shadow stood there admiring the scene a skeleton of what looked like a weird lizard thing walked in carrying a bundle, presented it to her and left. Clothes, oh well, first a bath... And it proved to be the most relaxing she ever had, after just soaking in the hot water for a time she suddenly realized that "Master Valkardian" might come calling if she took too long. Then again, no skeletons had entered to usher her out either, it was spooky how they quietly stalked the hallway, she had passed a few on the way here, they simply wandered around carrying things, sweeping, dusting or just standing at doors waiting.

Slipping from the water and drying off she stared at the package that had been given to her, there was a stone table along the wall with towels and other things so she had left it there. Unwrapping the simple bundle her eyes nearly popped from her skull, he expected her to wear THIS?! Better question: what the HELL was he DOING with something like this in the first place?! Looking back to where she had left her clothes she found the pile gone, apparently while soaking one of the skeletons had checked in on her and taken her clothes away. Pulling the garments out and holding them up her face changed color just looking at it.

Valkardian had left the door to his study open so he could hear her, though the baths were a good distance off from his study (dampness wrecked havoc on his tomes) he had figured one of two things would happen. First, if she opened that ancient package first she would scream and try and run or two she would bathe first THEN scream and run. Either way, he could care less, she was his property now by her own admission. As such, if he could not put her ass to work then he would at least get to stare at her occasionally. Besides, that package had been left in storage for who knows how long after he would up with it when some damned fool had... Well that was a story for another time, she was on her way. Neither had she screamed and run nor refused to don it, the threat of death can do that, then again she WAS wrapped in a large towel as she stormed into his study escorted closely by his "servants."

Degrading, that's what this was... Maybe it would be best to have just accepted death back in the tunnel, no then she might be one of these skeletal servers. They didn't have their souls trapped in there did they? Oh pony gods she hoped not. On other hand she had bigger problems, he was staring at her over a massive book with a less than amused look on his face. Holding the towel a little tighter around her body she tried not to glare at him.

"You were to wear the clothes given to you not the TOWEL." With a motion of his hand the towel disappeared revealing her to him, he had to admit it fit quite well, then again the servant dedicated to keeping his wardrobe functioning had done a good job doing last minute alterations. He had eyeballed her properly and by the new look on her face as she desperately tried to cover herself with arms and wings. "SHOW ME." His voice was slow and hard but she got the point and with a mighty mental struggle showed him the outfit. To say it was skimpy was an understatement, more like "dancing harem girl." Still, he was a man not a woman so he had nothing stored away for anyone but himself to wear and he was not sharing his cloths with her, it would be too dangerous; especially with all the enchantments woven into his garments. Oh well, at least it fit so she would not be running around naked, that was a relief, it was distracting enough having her here.

Ogling, that's what he was doing the dirty bastard, he was ogling her! Well if he thinks she is going to dance or strip he can forget it, especially if he thinks she is going to sleep in bed with him! She knew how books went that had a girl like her dressed like this. Eyes shifting back to his hellishly large tome he waved her off and she was about to sigh in relief except for what came out next. "Take her to my chambers, you will sleep there, oh I dont want you damaging that, leave it on a hangar while you sleep or something..." Still waving his hand dismissively her jaw dropped. Like hell.

"Like TARTARUS I am going to sleep with you! I may be your slave but..." Her shouting caused him to look up, he had returned to his reading and his own thoughts after waving her off and now she was changing colors and shouting for some reason. Oh well, here we go again. "I can still just kill you and use you anyway." He beckoned at a skeletal servant but she did not take note of the gesture. Instead Shadows jaw dropped and a furious look crossed her face. "You SICK PERVERTED BASTARD!"