As soon as the gong sounded, a girl with her hands bound and her wings tied behind her back ran out of the cattle barn and into the house. Chihiro was terrified: she knew she'd overslept, but she hoped her master, as usual, slept longer. Chihiro knew how guardians of light like her were hated in the dark world. And she knew she could be killed for the slightest offense. She wasn't even allowed to call herself a slave: "cattle number 36"—that's what the brand on her thigh read. Chihiro ran into her master's room and stopped to catch her breath. Chihiro: "Cattle n-number 36 has arrived... to carry out any orders the m-master may ask..."