‘Wheree ammm I.' Thorne slurred as he looked around again. Wasn’t he just in the truck? He had just finished his shift and was so tired. ‘Izzz this a dreamz.’ he thought, sluggishly looking around.
‘Is this Vlad or the gang.’ His face hardened as he tried to think more clearly, ‘This seems too elaborate for them. I don’t think they’re smart enough to plan such a thing, and even if they were, they wouldn’t do it just to screw around with me.’ sighing, Thorne revised his thoughts, ‘No, actually, they probably would.’
“Greetings, former citizens of Earth; you are all temporary property of the Valtear Galaxy Cluster Association and will shortly be transferred to the Arcane Spectrum testing area. Thank you for your cooperation!”
The monotone voice message intruded into Thorne’s’ mind. ‘Wait, how did I hear that?’ Upon this thought, Thorne quickly glanced around and found himself in a room. But it was more than just a room; the walls and roof were visible, and a pristine white material seemed to deaden his thoughts upon sight. ‘What is going on?’ Thorne’s thoughts slowed to a crawl as if his brain was suddenly clogged with thick mud. Yet even with this barrier, he sluggishly realized one more thing; he wasn’t alone. Surrounding Thorne was an uncountable number of humans. They were staring into oblivion, clearly docile and thoughtless, the mind-bending material incapacitating everyone, creating an endless expanse of human cattle.
No one spoke or even seemed to be aware of what was happening. The endless brigade of humans simply stood there and stared at the beautiful white wall.
‘whaz hapnin too mee?’ That was the final slurred thought before Thorne was taken by darkness once again.
“Esteemed guests, on this occasion the self-labeled planet, “Earth” yielded three thousand-two hundred-and-fifty-two humans with a talent for the Arcane Spectrum. Testing will begin shortly, starting bids will be determined by an impartial gold spectrum user. Unfortunately, no spectrum material was discovered on planet Earth. All non-spectrum, raw materials from Earth will be available for purchase through any Gold Spectrum user employee of the Valtear Galaxy Cluster Association. Thank you for participating in this auction!”
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Graald harumphed upon hearing the monotone voice, ‘Gold cultivators impartial.’ His thick eyebrows rose in disbelief, ‘Impartial my ass.’
Graald, a delegate of the Zupu Academy imposed a towering figure. He appeared middle-aged with short black hair and stubble puckering his chin. He stood at least 8 feet tall, and his expansive muscles were plainly visible through his tight-fitting amber jacket. And yet, despite the almost mystical physique and build of Graald, the most mysterious component of the man was something entirely unrelated to that.
It was instead, the small, amber-colored crystalloid diamond set in the middle of his forehead. Complimenting the crystal was a pair of bright amber eyes that were currently displaying utter boredom.
He was currently sitting alone in a VIP box of the massive auction hall. The walls were smooth mahogany wood, decorated with paintings of mighty warriors all boasting different colored crystals. Some warriors displayed in the paintings had amber crystals like Graald, while others possessed a crimson red crystal or a deep blue crystal. The only common theme among them all was that their crystal only had one color. Graald shifted his attention towards one of the paintings and in a bored manner as he examined it.
It was of a tall buff man wearing battered armor made of what seemed to be pure amber energy. He stood in a barren landscape in front of a massive futuristic city. He projected an amber shield made of pure energy with both hands which spanned hundreds of feet defending the city from countless attacks. Attacks made from fire, lighting, darkness, ice, water, and more flew at him, desperately desiring to break through the shield and reach the city. But the man held firm, and he would always stay firm— a legend to inspire future amber spectrum cultivators—immortalized in paint.
Graald looked away, seemingly uninspired, and absentmindedly gazed at nothingness.
‘The academy is really sending me on this wasteful mission; Any mortal could do this.’ He scowled as his arms crossed over his muscled chest.
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After a minute of annoyed silence, a voice berated Graald’s ears; “Attention delegates, the action will begin now. Thank you for your patience!”
“You better thank me.” He grumbled as he shifted his vision.
Suddenly, a pure black stage with an illuminated circular platform of glowing indigo appeared. In front of the circle was a raised basin with an orb laying in it. The orb contained dozens of colors, each taking up equal space. Suddenly, a middle-aged ginger man appeared in the indigo circle. The man was still unable to think clearly due to the effects of the strange material in the other room and just stood there like a zombie, mindless and still, while the robotic voice read out his description to all the delegates. “Collin Miller, age forty-six, sex male”
Then the voice spoke only to Collin and instructed him to place his hand on the orb.
He staggered forward and gently placed the palm of his hand on the orb and covered it. He then removed his hand and stepped back with no notable changes to himself. However, the orb did change, and greatly! Previously all colors shared the same amount. of space yet now about a sixth of the orb was a shining teal color while the rest of the colors disappeared.
Graald looked on, disinterested in this result while the voice read out the results of the test.
“Fifteen and a half percent talent in the teal spectrum of communication and clarity; Starting bid: ten thousand basic energy credits.” The same monotone voice exclaimed. “Ten thousand going once from the Tucana system administrative center, going once, going twice, sold, for ten thousand basic credits to the Tucana system administrative center!”
This action continued on; some humans were underwhelming, only achieving ten to twenty percent talent and being sold for a relatively cheap price. Some of the humans reached talent levels up to the fifties and sixties, which elicited quite a bit of interest from the wealthier delegates. Prices soared, and some of the humans sold for well over one hundred thousand Basic Energy Credits.
The highest-priced earthling had seventy-three percent talent in the green spectrum of nature and life, selling for three-hundred and sixty-five-thousand Basic Energy Credits after a heated action between two clans.
The proceedings bored Graald as he found himself still staring listlessly into space with no reprieve.
Just as it had been done before, another human was brought up to the stage. This time it was a relatively tall, well-built male. He had long, ugly brown hair, with a tanned, Caucasian complexion. The man staggered forward to the plate—his eyes glazed—as the robotic voice introduced him.
“Thorne Kramer, age twenty-four, sex male”
No movement was to be had, however, as Throne remained still. The dullness, while still present in his eyes, was overshadowed by one thing: anger and resilience.
Thorne—remaining rooted to his spot— began to exhibit signs of movement, and through much apparent difficulty, Thorne spoke, in a low gritty mumble “You will not control me”. Thorne could not see anything but the orb and had no comprehension of what was going on around him. But he did understand one thing; he was being controlled like a puppet and he would not allow that to happen.
As soon as the words were spoken Graald’s stupor of disinterest was broken, and he looked at Thorne with surprise. ‘How did he speak; did he resist the mind stoppage? No that’s not possible, right?’ It was then when Graald glanced in detail at Thorne and noticed his eyes, amber and red. Graald’s eyes widened immediately upon that sight and his body stiffened in unrestrained shock.
He was not the only one, all the high-level and VIP guests were immediately taken aback by Thorne’s eyes, and everyone had one common thought. ‘It can’t be…’
In the quiet auction hall, Thorne was watched with hawk eyes by everyone as he struggled against the control of the Valtear Galaxy Cluster. Then, as all of them expected, Thorne's foot began to move without his command. Thorne’s leg shook his muscles in a mighty internal battle. The leg inched forward, ready to take a step, but then stopped. Thorne strained and strained, not allowing it to go forward. The pain of fighting himself created an overwhelming pain, yet Thorne did not show any expression of pain. His face was a picture of stoicism, while underneath the mask of grit, he was locked in a messy and intensive battle.
“Implementing complete knockout of consciousness.”
Finally, the battle was over, and the vice spoke to everyone once again, yet the battle did not go unnoticed, and everyone’s attention was solely focused on Thorne.
“Fifty percent talent in the Amber Spectrum of endurance and stability, Fifty percent talent in the Red Spectrum of chaos and destruction. Starting bid: Five hundred thousand basic energy credits.”
Graald jumped up out of his chair and immediately placed a bid; ‘How is this possible? A dual spectrum and he has a combined talent of one hundred percent! I must secure him!’
“One million basic energy credits from the Zupu Academy going once, going twice, sold for one million basic energy credits to the esteemed Zupu Academy!”
Graald plummeted down in his seat and sighed in relief. ‘Thankfully this was a low-level auction, if not…’, he didn’t even want to imagine the price he would have to pay if there were any serious competitors.
Graald then tapped a button on his jacket sleeve and spoke with pure giddy excitement, “Report: A full talent dual spectrum amber and red, initial stage cultivator has been secured from a Valtear action.”
Graald looked down at the unconscious young man and beamed a radiant smile, maybe this mission wasn’t so bad after all.