Alister Kim knew that he was not the only one shocked. The drake skeleton he wanted was lowered from view, bought for an astronomical number of credits, only to be replaced by yet another drake skeleton.
You must think me a fool, Arson… I won’t fall for…
Alister thought a con was being run the moment he saw a second drake skeleton appear on screen, only to realize that the shape was different. The horns larger. The coloration of the bones vastly unique, and even the overall size of the skeleton was completely individual from the last dragon body presented.
“Hit the buyout button boy!” He didn’t want to miss his opportunity, yet the woman on screen started talking before Alister was even finish yelling.
“Sold to the highest bidder for 10 quintillion!” Even before the drake body begun to be lowered from view, Alister was already yelling at seven.
“I don’t care what it is boy, if a single bone is seen and you aren’t hitting the buyout button I will skin you alive and gut you like a bloody fish!”
“Yes sir!” Luckily for Alister, Seven was so afraid of what his father had just said, he’d already bought the next item, the moment the doors started to open and the buyout button became available. The woman onscreen eyes widened.
“Umm... the next item has already been sold for 25 quintillion credits, but I’ve been told to show all items, and since this is our third and final item for the day, I’d like to congratulate all who participated in today's auction,” said the woman on screen, as the third and final drake body being sold that day was presented in its entirety, before quickly being lowered.
“Did we win?” Seven turned to his adopted parents and smiled as a new hologram of a separate auctioneer appeared in the room in front of them all.
“Hello sir, as you have won the third auction today, I would like to present your winnings,” the hologram of the woman said with a bow in Alister’s direction. The man sighed in relief, before the amount of money he spent sunk in. He’d done fantastic as an immortal Cultivator, but still the amount of money was no small thing, it was more than his earnings for ten season cycles, but as he thought of what he’d be able to do with the skeleton, he smiled.
The elevator at the center of the suite opened, and the platform rose, full of guards surrounded a legless table, hovering with a crimson set of bones compiled as if the dragon that had once owned them lay sleeping. Alister’s wife gasped, the grip on his arm still impressive.
“Hello sir. Where would you like us to put your winnings? There is a safe within your room that would accommodate it, or if you have a large enough spacial inventory, we can either leave it on the table for you to decide how you’d like it handled, or put it wherever you please. As a respected guest of the BHC we have been instructed to even offer a secure transport to your residence if you live within the realm, or to an appropriate security team if you live off realm, it will be an additional cost for one of our security teams to transport to any residences off realm, but—" Alister waved a hand.
“Just over here will be fine, we will take care of it ourselves,” Alister said with a sparkle in his eyes as if he’d rolled back the clock on his life and begun to grow younger by the breath. The head guard nodded, pointing toward where Alister had gestured, and the group of guards behind him walked the hovering table over, and as a group bowed to him before heading back toward the elevator,.
“If you need anything else sir, please feel free to ask and we the BHC will make sure to complete any and all requests that we can… within reason, of course.” Alister smiled at the guard and nodded, and the elevator descended, leaving the group alone once more. Alister turned toward his son and smiled, clapping merrily.
“Now that, I have to admit, was absolutely fantastic service.” Seven nodded in his direction, Alister noting the strange look that passed across his son’s face for a fraction of a blink before it was gone, leaving him to feel as if it may have been a fiction of his imagination.
“Yeah… they even delivered it in no time flat,” said Seven, unaware that his tone was suspiciously void of its usual passion.
“This entire place was built by that boy of Jade’s, I’m sure they have portal systems running to every corner from top to bottom,” said Alister, ignoring his son’s strange attitude. The young man nodding as his gaze drifted back toward the elevator.
Seven had struggled to keep himself grounded since the raid on Alister Industries. He’d felt as if he was missing out on opportunities that were given to any one person only once in a lifetime, and that though he was the son of a rather powerful Cultivator, and had grown to love his adopted parents, his own life was still missing something. An element he couldn’t put a direct metaphorical finger on.
Even as his father grew more and more excited about the potential of his wife and son joining the Cultivation community, Seven, wondered if his orphan brothers and sisters were on a path toward the heavens themselves. One that may allow them to reach a peak that the Maiden’s own children would be envious of; a path toward godhood and beyond.
“So what’s next pops?” Seven looked back toward Alister and the man spread his arms wide before he spoke.
“We find a cultivation method to start our family legacy!”
…
Bernard and the young man he now knew was named Caspian Coin walked slow circles around the drake they’d bought. The older young man thought about how he wanted to go about using the bones to grow, as the younger was purely excited about owning such an item.
Though in many realms the skeleton in front of them was considered to be priceless, Caspian had paid the price in an instant. Bernard came from wealth, a culture of old money so fathomless that they’d owned realms rather than cities or kingdoms, yet the Coin family was so much more wealthy than even Bernard’s family had been at their peak, that Bernard’s ancestors borrowed from Caspian’s ancestors.
“So…?” Bernard looked up, pulled from his thoughts by the blonde haired green eyed Cultivator, taking in his features for the first time.
“What?” Caspian gestured toward the bones rather than speaking, and Bernard sighed, knowing what the young man was asking. The same question he’d been puzzling over since the drake skeleton had been delivered by armed guards.
“I have a few ideas, but I no longer have access to my sister’s libraries. The only way we are going to be able to use them without wasting the energy stored within, or failing, is with a Cultivation method to draw all the power from the bones efficiently. The efficacy will be ruined otherwise and at best we would gain minor abilities or bloodline attributes, rather than unrestrained affinities, or even an elemental dragon legacy, and trust me, we want the latter.” Caspian nodded, still matching Bernard’s pace around the floating table that’d been left in the center of the room by the BHC guards.
“So… what’s the move? Find your sister’s library or whatever? Buy a Cultivation method? What are we thinking?”
“People die everyday across the realms for a single one of these bones, let alone an entire skeleton, and the method to use them have been the catalyst for wars as old as time itself. And you think we can just buy one? No… I doubt that something like that is even possible, I’d honestly like to ask my Grandfather,” said Bernard.
“You say that, but we literally just bought an entire dragon’s skeleton. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t possible with the right credit amount. Sparks, with the right credit amount I’d dare say anything is possible.” Bernard laughed and crossed his arms before he sent a glare at Caspian.
“Didn’t you just say earlier that there was a gap between you and the most powerful Cultivators in this tournament and money couldn’t bridge the gap?”
“One, that was before I was the owner of a bloody drake skeleton, and secondly just because I believe that my money isn’t enough to bridge the gap between me and those freaks of nature, doesn’t mean that it is impossible with access to resources I don’t currently have. My parents are so sparking rich they don’t even try to grow more physically powerful now that they no longer age, they don’t see the point.”
The two continued to circle, and Bernard nodded. He could understand what Caspian was getting at, as his grandfather was the same type of individual as Caspian’s parents, only collecting power out of boredom and being a defier of heaven’s will. Carter Omni believed he could rebuild heaven itself with enough time and resources, so why couldn’t he and Caspian ascend beyond the freaks of nature as Caspian called them with the same.
“Are you going to make me ask again, or do you know someone we could call, some sort of black market contact? I mean, I have my own people, but you seem to know more about these things than I do,” Caspian stated smirking at Bernard, making him wish he could beat the young man senseless. Yet he knew that he needed allies above all else in his current situation, and a young man with Caspian’s wealth was beyond valuable, and since he’d freed Caspian he’d be lying if he didn’t admit that they got along well enough.
“We need to find my grandfather, and knowing him, he may even be watching this tournament, if I had to guess he’s either in the most expensive room in this building, has an entire habitation ship in the air space above the stadium or both,” said Bernard. Caspian laughed and shook his head.
“Carter Omni beat me to the penthouse suite, and he also has the largest habitation ship above the coliseum, so I doubt that your grandfather or whoever has the most expensive room here,” Caspian said with a laugh.
“Oh so GG does have the most expensive room here. Do you know where its located, we can go talk to him right now, I’m sure he’d love to see me,” Bernard said surprised. The shock that his grandfather was there written all over his face. Caspian froze, staring at Bernard almost as if the older young man had grown a second head.
“GG… are you trying to say that your grandfather is RaidCorp’s very own Carter Omni?”
“Yeah, have you met him?” asked Bernard heading toward the elevator. Caspian still frozen in shock completely unmoving from his position beside the Drake skeleton.
“What…!”
…
Arson knocked on Almarine’s door. After what he’d just earned, he wanted to offer the woman that raised him a gift.
Behind him was not a set of drake bones, valued in the quintillions, but a pure breed drake, not dead but alive and tamed as a house pet.
Arson, had to keep pushing the head of the creature nuzzling at the side of his head away. The creature oddly fond of him, and he had to admit that the gift was hard to give away.
He’d asked Jade to help him tame the beast as a pet for the orphan mother. To which she’d agreed without requirement or compensation, taking the time with her son, getting to train him in beast taming as payment enough.
Arson felt his mother often showed a slight jealousy toward Almarine, and after witnessing how he’d been taken from Jade through her own memories, Arson could understand the sentiment. He was loyal to the Orphan Mother in a way that she feared he’d never be able to extend to her, and though Arson would never deliberately show the truth of it to Jade, he still unintentionally doted on the woman who showed him how to walk, talk, learn, and fight for the things he loved.
Just count yourself lucky that these women love you, Arson. You can’t help the things you can’t control, just do your best to show them that they are both loved and respected.
“Hold on a moment!” A frenzy of sounds came from behind the door. Arson heard a hushed conversation, and wished that the runes he’d used to suppress sensory skills weren’t so advanced that even his closed eye dominion was incapable of piercing the privacy offered in the bedrooms of the coliseum, feeling the interaction behind the door to be… strange.
“Oh why hello there, if it isn’t the esteemed Arson,” yelled Winter opening the door, barely clothed, wearing a smile that made him roll his eyes at the man.
“Hey Uncle Winter, can I come in? I have a present for Almarine,” Arson said stepping aside to show the playful drake at his side. The man’s eyes going wide at the pure white creature flapping its wings playfully before it nuzzled Arson’s face once more.
“Mari, the boy is here and he’s lost his sparking mind!”
“What!”
“I said the boy is here and he’s lost his sparking mind. He’s brought you an endangered species as a bloody pet and somehow I know I’m going to pay for this, I sparking know it!”
“What!”
“Can I please come in? It will get ugly out here real fast, Uncle, if people see me out here with this thing,” Arson said nearly under his breath not wanting to draw any more attention than Winter’s yelling already had.
“Get in here, boy...” Winter stepped aside and Arson pulled the Drake the size of an incredibly large horse inside the suite.
“Hello my dear child, what has…” Almarine trailed off seeing the Drake behind Arson.
“You said house cats are for wannabe Cultivators, and Drakes are for the mighty, so I brought one for you, the mightiest woman I know.” Winter walked by smacking Arson in the back of the head to which he cursed at the man, who gave him a rude gesture with his finger as he walked by, closing Almarine’s mouth with the same digit, while making his way into the bathroom. Arson hoped he was going to put on more clothes.
“Arson I can’t take this, this is a gift a man should give his wife or his mother, or—“
“Or his grandmother?” Almarine’s gaze shot toward Arson who smiled at her.
“When did you figure that out,” Almarine asked squinting at him, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“My mother is brilliant, and… forgetful. I’m guessing it was supposed to be a secret. I don’t know why but I’ve been planning this since I figured it out. I know there is some weird history between you two, and I won’t press you to know the details, even though I know you two are still keeping something from me,” said Arson.
“Why not give this to Troy? She can’t fly and I’m sure she would love this,” Arson knew the woman was forcefully changing the subject and decided not to linger. What his elders kept from him, he would find out in time, yet what she’d shifted toward was a sore spot for Arson. The connection to Troy still oddly suppressed, yet in that moment he felt closer to Troy than he had in almost an entire season, wishing the feeling was due to her physical presence, and not the influx of having a conglomeration of Cultivators drawing immense amounts of mana toward the coliseum.
“Don’t get me started. I’ll rip the stars from the sky for Troy if and when she comes back, but until then I’m not going to continue to put my life on pause until she returns,” Arson said crossing his arms and looking away, not able to look his grandmother in the eyes as he told the lie. As everyday since she’d left his heart felt as if it beat more slowly as if the fuel that made it pump was being drained.
“Lies…”
“Whatever, just take the sparking Drake before I change my mind, and don’t give the beautiful creature a stupid name like Snowflake or something garbage like that,” Arson said strolling back toward the door.
“Thank you, boy,” said Almarine, who’d already closed the distance toward the creature petting the drake as the creature locked eyes with her.
“Arson, before you go, I need to know something. I believe I’ve raised you to be a strong young man who can be honest with me, and himself about his feelings,” said Almarine. Arson looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see the drake already on its back being scratched on its belly, kicking its hind legs as if running. A pur rumbling the ground.
“”Yes momma?”
“If you could say anyone thing to Troy right now, what would it be?” Arson looked away, and stayed silent as he thought to himself, before he spoke the simplest answer, knowing it to be true.
“I love you Troy. I know you need to be where you are, so know that my heart beats for you, and you alone, from this eternity into the next…” He left without another word and only saw the smile on Almarine’s face until the door behind him closed automatically, stopping him from hearing Troy’s own words in his direction.
“For every moment I am not with you, is a moment that time stays frozen, as there is no forward without you, my love, for we are eternity…” Troy said as she walked out of the bedroom she hid within. Winter exited the bathroom finally clothed, rolling his eyes at the young lovers' drama.
“Get a bloody room, will you,” said the man sticking a finger in his mouth as if being forced to gag. Troy glared at him, gesturing rudely, before she too stormed off, dawning her mask as she left.
“I hope you choke, old man. Love you, Momma Almarine. Later!"