Tilly fought to keep his eyes from crossing as the hallway practically squirmed in front of them. The passage they followed seemed to defy logic at several turns, and at one point Tilly was even convinced they had completely a full rollercoaster loop. But, through it all, the Auditor led the way with an implacable steadiness, navigating the twists and turns of space with long-practiced grace. He did his best to keep his eyes fixed on her most of the time, but he found himself constantly forced to shut them for a few moments to keep from growing too dizzy to walk straight.

“Here we are,” Talia declared calmly as their path suddenly spit them out into a grand hall lined by many different-sized entryways. At its end was a huge gate, swung wide open with a banner hung over it that glowed with crawling scripts of enchantments.

“Be welcome, Leave in Peace” The huge stretch of the enchanted cloth announced.

Or at least Tilly thought that’s what it said. The letters themselves seemed to want to shift as soon as he turned his eyes away from them, and he almost immediately did because they were not the only ones arriving in the grand hall.

There were dozens of streams of guests being led by an Auction House employee. All moving toward the same large opening at its end. Tilly did everything he could to keep from gawking in those first few moments as he spotted a walking tree, a rolling pile of magma, and… Pikachu. Not something that looked like Pikachu, but actual Pikachu. He blinked a few times, floored by the breadth of beings displayed before him.

He had thought with the relative diversity present in the empire and by extension the newly formed Three-Fold Alliance, he had grown accustomed to living in the world that hosted the dreams and myths of men… but he was dead wrong. It was a huge challenge to keep the disdainful disinterested look on his face during that initial scan of the hall. It was a sobering moment for him to realize that the races present in the Alliance were only a small fraction of the life that called Nephesh home.

Even the hours-long review with Mochizuki the night before had not prepared him for this moment, but he kept his shoulders relaxed, and his mouth a thin, downward-tilted line. He had spent decades playing down any surprised reaction he had as an emergency responder, learning the hard way that staying calm in the field was always the first step to solving any problem, no matter how dire. So he clamped down on his expression now at the incredible sight and pulled his gaze back to Talia who had paused to glance back.

“If you would be so good as to follow me, I will lead you to your designated booth. Mingling is permissible, but you must be in place if you want to bid on the first round of goods. Bidding is set to begin in two hundred breaths,” she breathed, having artfully waited at their entrance into the hall to allow its grandeur to sink in. Tilly was sure she had a good idea of the effect this sight had on first-timers.

“Lead on. I do enjoy a good spectacle,” Tilly answered in what he hoped was an unconcerned tone. Their robed guide nodded and turned to flow forward into the intermingling streams of myth and legend as if it was just a walk through the park. Tilly did his best to tune out everything around him as he followed, masking his wonder with a bored expression. He could feel Mochizuki a step behind him but did not look back to check, knowing such a move would seem hesitant.

The weight of the crowd's presence began to push down on him as they approached and he was forced to flare his Aura slightly, leaning into the arrogance of the dragon. He refused to treat this like anything other than a mildly tolerable experience. As they entered the streams, Tilly felt the edges of his soul brush against some of the other beings moving toward the huge doors. The experience was jarring, but out of his peripherals, he saw that they showed no reaction to the aural contact. So he doubled down on his casual gait, mirroring their posturing.

He fought from shivering as a frigid presence pressed in on his Aura from behind and then had to bite the inside of his cheek as something that felt like tortured moaning leaned in on his psyche from the left. It was like walking through a metaphysical blender of tides and eddies of power, and it was everything he could do to keep walking straight.

‘Just keep moving. Make it to the booth.’ He repeated to himself as he kept his eyes on the robed figure in front of him, fighting to not look as more extraordinary creatures joined the stream headed to the door. Some called out to each other jovially, others spat expletives at the sight of some hated enemy, but none seemed overly aggressive. Above it all presided the heavy weight of the banner, radiating a magical authority that kept the consequences of violating the tradition of the Auction at the forefront of everyone's mind.

The stream passed under the banner and into the arena, spreading out as they entered a chamber the size of a football stadium. The walls and ceiling were lined with hundreds, if not thousands of openings. Each covered by a reflective window looking out over the arena floor. The main ground of the stadium was covered in planted flags depicting different symbols and creatures. At the center of it all was an ornate circular stage larger than a school auditorium.

The ground floor of the arena had a huge path circling the main auction area, and the stream of creatures that Tilly and Mochizuki had joined split off, each being led to a different stairway that opened up into the outer edge of the space. The pressure surrounding Tilly eased up, and he ratcheted up his sneer in response, swallowing down his sigh of relief as Talia cut through the field of flags, aiming for a smaller stairway, across the open expanse.

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Moving through the arena floor, they walked past numerous flags. One was covered in interlinking diamonds, and the next displayed a roaring lion reminding Tilly of some sort of heraldry. But they weren’t the only ones cutting through the flag area. A Beholder floated behind an Auction House worker about twenty paces to their right. On the other side of their trio stomped a Troll covered in jewelry. It reminded Tilly of a toddler throwing a tantrum as it barked something at his guide over and over. Tilly could make out the sounds, but the creature's accent was so thick that the automatic translation of this word might as well have been broken.

Risking a larger scan of the room, Tilly realized that not all in the arena were moving toward the stairways. He saw several small groups meeting up among the flags, their guides remaining at a respectful distance while they conversed. Some of the conversations seemed cordial, while others radiated the cold reality of suspicion.

Talia led them in a long arc around the central stage, where a few Auction House members busily made preparations for whatever items were about to be displayed. Then a humming chime sounded throughout the arena, and many heads, or in some cases appendages, turned toward the stage briefly before resuming their focus. Rising from the center stage was a figure wearing so many layers of robes that they might as well have been a pile of jewelry and cloth.

“Honored guests, the first round of today’s event begins shortly, please make your way to the assigned booths and make yourselves comfortable.” A quiet voice whispered through the room, reminding Tilly of the whisper of fabric rubbing against itself.

At that point, they were almost to the base of the stairs they had been aiming toward when a whispered conversation floated out from the arched opening.

“The old ways are dead! I have made my oath, and I will see him destroyed at all costs!” One voice whispered harshly,

“Curufin, Please! Listen to reason. You must turn away from this folly,” a second voice choked out in reply. Tilly wanted to slow as they came into view of the opening, not wanting to be seen interrupting. But Talia glided forward unconcerned, and he dutifully followed.

Two ethereal men looked up from their hunched conversation, and Tilly tensed as the one nearest, furrowed his brow, highlighting the all-black orbs and tear stains of advanced Corruption his eyes displayed. Tilly’s gaze shot away from the pair, failing to keep from looking guilty.

“Come away, my lord,” the clear-eyed one pleaded, placing a gentle hand on his Corrupted companion. The other flinched, then jerked his shoulder away from his friend, before turning and leaping up the stairs four at a time. The rejected man and their Auction guide belatedly followed.

The clear evidence of Corruption’s already present influence shook Tilly in a way he was not prepared for. He knew he would be meeting those on the other side of this conflict at this event, but he got the sense that whole other narratives were playing out around the arena. The fate of whole Factions where in the balance, and behind it all Corruption was weaving its binding net of chains, drawing more and more into its dark embrace.

Tilly had already seen hundreds of beings at this event, all representing Factions that could crush the Alliance in a direct conflict. How many more of the Powers present had already given in to the temptation of a rapid increase in power? What could the Alliance or even the Church do against them all?

Tilly hardly noticed as they turned off the stair to a small hallway, that led to an engraved door,

“I will return at the end of the event to guide you. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any of my order. Otherwise, you may participate in any way you deem fit, as long as you break none of our traditions.” Talia stated, gesturing toward the door, which opened to reveal a richly appointed room with assorted foods and two overstuffed leather chairs facing the window at the other end. Nodding absently in response, Tilly moved into the room.

“There is your control crystal, it will link to a flag once activated, and is untraceable. ‘May Fortune favor you,’” Talia concluded. With that, the door closed, and Mochizuki and Tilly were finally unobserved. Tilly turned toward the Lapin at a loss and found her suddenly gasping for breath hunching over as it she had just carried a great weight.

“Mochizuki! Are you ok?”

“Yes… That was… difficult for me,” she replied, slowly straightening as she doggedly moved toward the window with Tilly following after her in concern. Their view displayed the arena floor from a few stories up. Only a few groups remained in conference on the arena floor, and even catching her breath, Tilly could see the lapin’s ears perk up, trying to catch any conversations she could. After a few more moments, even those lingering few broke up and followed their guides to the various stairways.

“You activate our crystal and give me a moment. I need to record all that I have seen and heard” she continued, pulling out Shuji’s codex and opening it to a seemingly random page, before beginning to scratch out notes.

“Activate the crystal…” Tilly muttered to himself, turning back to the chairs, and finding a side table attached to the seat on the right, holding a faintly glowing sphere the size of a cue ball. He stepped gingerly toward the chair, and took a seat, finding the vantage point perfect to see the entirety of the arena floor, where flags were already beginning to magically float a few feet off the ground in what Tilly assumed was their starting position.

He reached over and touched the crystal, finding it warm. A stream of foreign mana caressed the Mana Pathway that ended in his hand, and he grasped it, forming something like a metaphysical handshake. The reaction was instinctual, but it must have been correct because the crystal started to hum in response.

A light formation spun to life above where Tilly’s hand rested, coalescing into the shape of a stylized dragon, eating its tail. Tilly snatched his hand back, but the image remained.

“I thought you said the flag assignments were random.” He complained, frowning at the image.

“That is what I was told,” Mochizuki said, glaring up from her notes at the image that felt too much like a coincidence to be anything of the sort.

“It changes nothing, we must proceed as planned, and hope we gain much more information and resources than we lose in the next few hours…” She added, trailing off before returning to her notes.

“Powers and their Representatives, I am pleased to announce the four thousand and sixty-second Plane-wide Auction is about to begin.” Whispered the same voice Tilly had heard after the chime.

“Please take your seats and claim your flags.”