Glenn winced under his mask as he felt a tickle in the back of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine. After a few seconds of traversing the darkness, he arrived at his destination, the black market.
"Going into an unstable rift ripping through space? That was such a good idea, Glenn. Such a good idea..." Nelg commented with a mocking tone, "...So, since when did you start having suicidal thoughts?"
'Ever since I've had to deal with Diamanes AND you, fucker,' Glenn spat back. Diamanes only laughed, deciding not to join the fray. Nelg remained speechless for a few seconds, before leaving to pout in a dark corner of Glenn's mind. The young man squinted under his mask as his eye adapted to the low brightness of the room, before widening suddenly.
He wasn't in a "room".
No, this was a cavern. A cavern that was somehow even bigger than the one he found the sleeping Blumar golem army in. And in the said cavern was an absurd amount of small booths, all in different colors and bearing different emblems, with an equally absurd amount of people of all kinds, dealing and trading. There were caged exotic beasts, be they monsters or...humans. Sahro smacked his lips, before turning toward his friend and patting him on the shoulder.
"Alright, let's try to not get ourselves in trouble. There are many, many..." The Black Heir drew a deep breath, "...many "noble" guys here, but there should also be many of them that might talk should they have any information about Redan."
Glenn nodded before rubbing his mask, wondering whether he would truly be able to find any information here. He threw a disgusted look at the slaves waiting to be sold, their dirty rags barely hiding their scrawny bodies. Each time they moved or turned their heads, the chains restraining them clattered, reminding him of his time in the Thorn's Cult's prison.
'Yeah, of course, slavery had to be a part of it. Shit...When in Rome, do like the Romans, right?'
'Who the hell are the Romans?' Diamanes asked confusedly. Glenn didn't even bother shaking his head and chose to invest his time in finding an interesting investigation target. There were many, between the slave traders, the dealers in illicit substances, and the shops with stolen weapons, blood still covering their blades.
"I'm spoilt for choice..." Glenn muttered, before shooting a thumbs-up at Sahro, who swiftly left to his own devices after making sure his friend was okay with his decision. The young man smacked his lips and slipped his hands in his pockets, hiding under his robe before heading for the nearest booth, a dealer of monster ingredients.
Well, that's what the sign above the booth advertised, and Glenn had no choice but to trust it since he did not know what all of this stuff was. He rubbed his chin, trying to imagine the origins of the materials. There were claws, teeth, pelts, or scaled skins, and bones, many bones. The dealer rubbed both of his hands together, his face hidden behind a tanned leather mask. His eyes weren't concealed by the mask, gleaming with greed as they looked at the potential client.
"Drakkens, griffons, undead, harpies, ogres, golems, whatever you want, I have it!" The dealer exclaimed as he opened his arms widely. Glenn didn't reply and gave one last glance, before heading for another shop. He couldn't even tell what the materials were and had even fewer ideas about how to process them. And it wasn't like he needed any gear currently, only...
Tap!
Glenn suddenly froze and turned back, the dealer coming back, the sharp nose under the white bandana smelling money. The young man sunk his hand in his dimensional pouch hidden under his robe, hanging right next to Nelg, his sword. He pulled a small sheet of paper and held it toward the dealer, who took it and read it carefully. His eyes widened and widened the more he read about the list. Finally, he grumbled in an unknown dialect and shook his head, handing back the list to Glenn.
"Sorry, we're all out on that stuff. Come next month, I'll remember your mask and order some. You need to pay a hundred gold coins in advance, though," the dealer grinned and held his hand out. Glenn looked at the outstretched hand silently, before turning away and leaving once and for all.
'Hey, I'm sure you'll find at least one ingredient!' Diamanes tried to encourage his host half-heartedly.
"If you're lucky, yeah. Luck isn't much of a thing we should hope for, though, heh..." Nelg added, making Diamanes laugh. Glenn ignored both of them and headed for a booth that looked much more interesting in his eyes: the artifact shop. The sole reason for his curiosity was what was written on a sign next to the shop: Fallen Pieces for sale!
"Fallen Pieces...Let's check this out."
This shop had pulled in many more customers compared to the previous one he checked out, with most of them dressed in ways that wouldn't give away their identities. Masks were commonplace, as were hoods and veils.
'It's a black market, so it kind of makes sense to hide yourself from others...' Glenn thought while rubbing the hilt of his longsword hanging from his waist. Diamanes suddenly sneered.
'Hah, you don't need to do any of that. I doubt there's anything or anyone that could threaten you here. Even that mage who ripped through space used an artifact, he was only a True Initiate like you. Well, a weaker you, of course. Much, much weaker.'
Glenn smacked his lips, his head leaning slightly to the side.
'...You know Diamanes, you never explained to me how you could judge other people's strength and all that. There's no way you could teach it to me, right?'
The entity laughed inside his host's mind, earning a sigh as a reward.
'Of course not. Well, nothing surprising.'
The young man made his way through the customers and arrived in front of the displayed wares. There were so many items in so many shapes and colors he didn't even know where to put his eyes. This shop's dealer was wearing a golden armor that made him look like a robot, with diamonds for eyes. The muffled voice behind the gold plates was the only proof that the seller wasn't a heartless machine.
"Our Emporium proposes many choices, from lost artifacts to Fallen pieces. As always, anything that couldn't be identified is priced at a single gold coin. For the rest, refer yourselves to the price tags," He said with a very professional tone. Glenn nodded unknowingly, ignoring the lost artifacts to focus instead on the Fallen Pieces. After all, they were supposedly scraps from other worlds. Perhaps he could find something from Earth—
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Holy shit, is that a mini-fridge?" Nelg suddenly muttered, shocked. Glenn froze as he looked for what Nelg was referencing. His jaw nearly fell off when he found said item.
Sitting there, priced at a single golden coin because they couldn't understand what used it had, was a mini-fridge with the logo "Frigidaire" on the side. Glenn rubbed his eyes, before glancing left and right. He moistened his lips, still at a loss to say anything. Finally, he looked up at the ceiling, squinting warily.
"...Is this a prank of yours, Onnea?" He muttered through his teeth, waiting for a few seconds for a reply he knew wouldn't come. He shook his head and without even thinking, took a gold coin out of his pouch and held it toward the dealer, who took it without saying a word. The young man was so confused to find an item so...foreign right in the middle of nowhere.
'First a revolver, next a mini-fridge...what am I going to find next?' Glenn thought with a small chuckle, wondering whether more items were coming from Earth. Unless there was some other advanced world with the Frigidaire brand producing mini-fridges. This seemed highly unlikely, but who knows? After all, it's powered with Mana, perhaps it was indeed made elsewhere. Elsewhere, meaning another world, or maybe another dimension? The young man still didn't know what exactly was the Moon Rift, and why it was spitting out Fallen Pieces and Fallen Ones.
Glenn pointed at the mini-fridge, the dealer nodding in reply.
"This is a mysterious item we recovered from a ruin in Thalassa. It seems like it can be fueled with Mana somehow, but we couldn't find what use it had. Are you sure you want to buy this product?" The merchant asked one last time. The young man nodded, upon which the seller took out a thin canvas bag and made the mini-fridge slip inside it, before handing it to Glenn. He took it silently, surprised at the lack of weight. The merchant seemed to notice the surprise under the mask, as he readily explained with prepared motions.
"Our Emporium offers a single-unit dimensional bag with a weightless option for every purchase over a gold coin. We treat our customers very preciously, you see," The merchant bowed his head slightly, before heading off to help another customer. Glenn walked off when he felt something in his breast pocket move by itself. He slipped his free hand in his robe, searching himself quickly to find the probably-sentient pebble lofted comfortably in his pocket.
'...It's a rock, it can't be comfortable, Glenn,' Diamanes said with a very patient tone as if he was speaking to a child. Glenn ignored him and threw the pebble up and down, before clenching it in his fist and stepping away from the Emporium. The pebble showed resistance and pulled in the Emporium's direction. Its strength was negligible, but Glenn was still reluctant to force too much on it.
'Image if I hurt our dear pebble friend here...' Glenn thought worriedly, before chuckling to himself.
'...I'm worrying about a stone. Is that it? Am I becoming insane? Finally?' He sighed before going back to the Emporium. He weighted the pebble in his hand, before throwing it toward the wares. Since it was such a little stone, no one remarked on it, and Glenn quickly lost sight of it as the crowd moved to check on a new item the dealer had just taken out.
"I mean, you already have three voices in your head, if that's not a testament to your insanity, I don't know what is," Nelg mocked sarcastically. Glenn sighed, refusing to elaborate further on that point. Sadly, Diamanes chose otherwise.
'I guess it's the end of the adventure for Pebble. May his...uhm, life? Yeah, may his life be long...' The entity saluted, considering the rock to have gone MIA. A sad music rang inside Glenn's mind, almost succeeding in making him flinch in surprise. The image of his armored self somehow playing violin within his mind appeared in his eyes, rendering him speechless.
A loud bang suddenly echoed near the shop, and the table holding the wares crumbled down, the wares slipping on the ground. The dealer jumped in front of the table, his golden armor gleaming under the dim light of the cavern. Steam suddenly came out of the interstices, and he raised his hand in front of him.
"Please stand back, or I shall act violently. I apologize for the inconvenience."
One man particularly badly disguised, his eyes and nose revealed and his mouth barely hidden under a dirty cloth shot out from the crowd and swooped a few artifacts from the ground, before running back into the crowd. The golden-armored dealer silently raised his palm and aimed at the thief. A puff of steam came out of it, almost instantly followed by a small projectile. It whistled in the air as it flew right into the thief's back. The projectile pierced right through the sloppy leather armor the thief was wearing. A second later, the thief fell on the ground, the stolen wares rolling on the ground. The bystanders didn't say a word as they watched the scene happen.
Sadly for Glenn, he had missed most of the action as he was busy dealing with the two very, very comical and very funny entities bothering him from inside his mind, playing music for the lost rock and chanting in his honor.
'May he be welcomed in Rockland, the paradise of all rocks, and find the rock of his life,' Diamanes prayed with a solemn tone.
"...They said he had a will of stone. They were right," Nelg sniffed sadly.
Diamanes and Nelg kept on going, driving Glenn crazy. Right in the middle of the banter, a small pebble rolled down and touched the young man's foot. The two voices died down, letting Glenn remark it. He kneeled and picked the pebble up, looking at it with a lost look.
'Oh.'
"...Is this the legendary story of the stone's revival?" Nelg whispered dramatically.
The pebble seemed to glow slightly with a new strange hue, but besides that, it seemed fine. Well, as fine as a rock can be. Glenn's eyes drifted away from the stone and went for the store, as well as the broken table. He looked back at the stone, pondering.
'No way this rock did this, right? It's a rock, how is it even moving?'
'Heh, rolling, duh,' Diamanes said mockingly. The young man serving as the annoying entity's host hesitated, before looking at the stone with a closer look.
He couldn't find anything new besides the fact that it was now shining slightly with a silver hue.
Glenn shrugged and was about to put the stone back in his pocket when a steely hand gripped his arm. The Emporium salesman grabbed him violently, his diamond eyes seemingly fixed on the young man's closed hand.
"I apologize sir, but I've just witnessed you picking something off the ground. I have to verify if that is not one of our wares..." His muffled voice conveyed a small hint of a threat, but Glenn didn't particularly feel in danger. He easily pulled his hand out of the steel grip, before opening it and showing the pebble. The seller remained silent for a few seconds, the silence broken by Glenn's sigh.
"This is a pebble. Do you want it? Is the Emporium interested in this shiny pebble?" Glenn asked with a sarcastic tone, the seller's lips remaining tightly sealed. The young man felt an opportunity presenting itself and he pressed on.
"Well, I can sell it to your Emporium, if it's so interesting to you," Glenn proposed, some people in the crowd surrounding them snickering in front of his arrogance. The Emporium dealer looked at the pebble for a few more seconds, before turning away and aiming his hand at the wares.
"Due to this unfortunate event, someone managed to steal a rare artifact made out of Crying Jade. It is a loss our Emporium refuses to bear, and so, we offer a free identified Fallen Piece of lower grade for the one who will find our missing artifact. It's a ring with the ability to change the weight of the bearer at will, and which possesses mind-scarring detriments. If anyone finds said artifact, present yourself to me. In the meanwhile, the Emporium shall close its doors for a few hours."
As soon as he pronounced these words, his golden glove trembled as a large cloud of steam came out of it. The wares dispersed on the ground suddenly rose in the air, before being vacuumed inside the glove. Glenn watched while silently rubbing the pebble in his breast pocket. He couldn't care less about the Crying Jade ring or the reward, no, right now there was only one thing in his mind.
Why the hell was the pebble heavier?