Wish upon the Stars chapter 301

The rest of the day passed quickly, and at the end of the night I gave my last wish to one of the Beast Lord Initiates. I got three points of Might, bringing me to an even one hundred sixty. With that out of  the way we set out to meet with the others to attend the auction. Lament  was coming, along with her partner Falken, Sydney and Megan were  bringing Riley and the rest of their people, and we had the four with  us, along with Abel, Mel, Sloane, Beric, Croll, and the wolves. Even  Randall was able to come, since apparently the auction house was fucking  huge.

While all the other buildings were small and squat,  the auction house was a towering structure of black stone, even on the  outside. Looking up at the massive facade of the building, with its dark  stone columns and a pair of black stone lions perched out front, it was  hard not to be impressed. I had to keep pushing my definition of  impressive up a notch every time I saw something new down here.

Lament  met us out front, and standing next to her was a tired looking guy with  messy dark hair and brown eyes with dark circles around them. He looked  pale and kind of thin, but not in an unhealthy way, more in the way of  someone who never goes out or does anything. He had a spear with him  that he was leaning against like a staff, and his eyes were lidded like  he was about to fall asleep. I could see what Wren meant about him  usually being asleep, I got the impression that he was a lazy person  just from being around him.

Mordaunt appeared beside us,  Rahm at her heels, so quickly I almost didn't notice that she hadn't  been there all along. "You're here!" She said with a wide smile. "Oh  good, I was worried my guests wouldn't show up and that I would end up  looking stupid. Wasn't I Rahm?" The massive bandaged man didn't respond  in any appreciable way, but Mordaunt nodded like he had. "Oh, and you  brought more friends? Oh well, the more the merrier."

That  set off alarm bells. I'd been pretty sure that this was a trap before,  but that made me positive. Callie had explained to me when I told her my  suspicions that an easy test would be bringing more people. Mordaunt  had mentioned spots for the auction, and we'd clearly gone over what  she'd implied she was allotted. The fact that she didn't even blink at  that made it clear the slots had just been an excuse.

I  could have gotten the others in anyway, I was pretty sure, given my ties  to the WCP, but this had been a good test. Now we knew for sure she was  up to something, and to be on guard. Luckily, the four came with us,  and they would most likely be a huge asset in any fight. Maybe not quite  as much as Abel, but then again, maybe they would be since there were  four of them. Shooting Callie a look we followed Mordaunt as she led us  in.

The inside of the place was even bigger, of course,  and I was impressed by how fancy it was. Wall to wall black marble, with  luxurious thick rugs and several large marble counters, behind which  sat people in black and gold clothing that looked way nicer than pretty  much anything else in Doomtown. "So." I said as I saw the workers. "How  exactly is this place not constantly robbed? Because this looks like the  kind of place someone would break into and steal everything tat isn't  nailed down. And then steal the nails. Especially in a lawless shithole  like a dark district."

Granted  we were near the Robin, and I knew this part of town was nicer and  safer, but still, this whole thing seemed to rely on a preponderance of  force. Abel, of course, answered with a chuckle. "Because the WCP says  not to. Don't forget where we are. This entire lawless area exists at  the sufferance of the WCP leadership. If the bosses decided to clean  this out they could do it in an instant. The E-rankers have enough power  to raze this whole district. It's happened before. Places like this are  declared neutral areas and people listen, because they don't want to  die."

That...hadn't  occurred to me. I still had trouble viewing the WCP in the way that he  was talking about. But it made sense. They were a powerful and  terrifying organization, not just at a local level, but in general. The  fact that they were strong enough to force the Unity to allow them to  have a presence like this in the Conglomerate, when he was a literal god  and this was his territory, was evidence enough of that.

My  mentor stopped talking as he noticed someone off to one side, and his  eyes narrowed as I saw him tense up. I was shocked to see that, he  wasn't the type to be worried about other people, especially not down  here, but as his eyes focused on a tall, tanned man in worn clothing  with a thick beard, his body seemed to shift unconsciously into a  defensive stance. "Shit." He said heatedly. "Helix is here."

Helix  was an Ascendant Owen had mentioned, one of the old Titan Twenty from  Abel's day who got lost in one of Mad Madigan's mazes and had gone  slightly crazy. I remembered that clearly because Abel had described him  as 'scary', which wasn't a description I'd heard him use for many  things. Megan cleared her throat. "Slime hall is in attendance too."  Said the Wave Warren ringer, with a grimace.

One  by one, powerful people were noted. Some local, some not, some we'd  heard of, some we hadn't. Rayka Vale, another of Abel and Mel's old  competitors, Dread's daughter, an early F-ranker named Abomina, and the  child of Screaming Stevie who called himself the Wailing Win. As well as  a few people we knew like Cold Snap and Macgregor. The place gradually  filled with powerful Ascendants, and the combined weight of their Impact  gave it a strange and worrying feel.

One  of the workers, a man in a black and gold suit, stepped out from behind  a counter. "Ladies and Gentlemen. We will begin the auction in a few  hours, once all the parties have arrived. Feel free to chat amongst  yourselves, out here, or in the main auction room. There's also a side  area where you may sell some of your less exotic wares to raise funds  for the main event, should you feel it worthwhile. Please remember that  the Walking Silence Auction is a peaceful affair, and any attempts to  disrupt it will be met with harsh reprisals."

No  one looked even remotely interested in trying anything like that, given  the people guaranteeing the safety of this place. You'd need to be a  member of the five faction alliance to be willing to mess with the WCP  and none of them had a reason to try. Not for something this small and  out of the way. As he finished talking, he retreated behind the counter  again, letting everyone mingle.

Which  is how we were approached by someone I hadn't expected to see. Fisher,  who had actually rode his motorcycle into the auction house (which I  guess was fair since Jessie had ridden a bear) rolled up to us. "You."  He said faintly. "Members of the Academy. Wasn't expecting to see any  others at this thing. We aren't exactly at the right level. Most of the  Unity members here are the children of E-rankers."

He  didn't say it like an accusation, or like he even cared that much. Just  like a statement of fact, like he was telling us what the weather was  like. Despite being fairly scary for a G-ranker, he struck me as kind of  dull in some ways. Callie, ever the politician, smiled and held out a  hand. "We remember you too. I'm Nightstrike. This is Agria, Clockwork,  and my boyfriend Solomon. It's nice to see a classmate here. Will you be  taking place in the tournament?"

Because  he seemed a LOT stronger than he had during the scavenger hunt. It was  frankly worrying how quickly he'd managed to advance. Though to be fair,  he did have a hundred points of elixir potential to use, so that  probably helped. He gave a single sharp nod as an answer, and I had to  fight a smile, this guy was not talkative. Seeming to have gotten what  he wanted, he stared at us for a few seconds, then turned around and  rode off without another word.

"Cool  bike." Said Abel conversationally. "Weird kid. But cool bike. So you  guys want to go and check out the market before the auction. I know we  had certain things we needed to buy, but there are a few odds and ends  we could probably pick up there. If nothing else, Clockwork may be able  to find some more powerful items to use as materials." He  sounded...guarded. In a way I hadn't ever heard from him before.

Still,  it was a good idea, so we agreed, and headed off to the side section  where the suited man had pointed us all when announcing things. We could  see people setting up tables and stalls. Some with furniture supplied  by the auction and some they seemed to have brought with them. I saw  Mordaunt slip away, and resisted the urge to follow her. It was better  to stay in a group, and trailing the Darkling Institute member en masse  would draw attention I didn't want or need.

We  looked around for a while, and didn't see too much. I managed to find  an honest to gods space ring, but I couldn't justify buying it because  it would have cost a chunk of our funds for this whole trip. Though I  did manage to get a physically larger and much less spacious spatial  belt pouch for the three F-ranked chits we had outside the auction  funds. I suspected it would be well worth it when we got to the Moonsong  Glade.

Other  than that, we mostly just looked around, taking note of who was doing  the best business and how much they were making, so we could see who we  would be betting against. The whole affair had a feeling of tense unease  to it. Nothing overt, everyone tried to play relaxed, but there was  discomfort and worry bubbling under the surface. The puppies were the  only ones who seemed not to care about the tension, with Jin and Rolf  playing tag around the tables.

Surprisingly,  Celine even showed up, though rather than Martin and Sarah, she had a  dangerous looking elf in leather armor at her side, a female F-ranker  with purple hair and intense glacial blue eyes she introduced as Shana.  They joined up with the group, with Shana shooting suspicious looks at  the four and at Abel, obviously competent enough to tell that they were  threats.

Finally,  after a few hours, the man in the suit stepped back out, clearing his  throat. "Attention! May I have your attention!" Everyone turned to look  at him. "It is now time for the auction to begin. We expect everyone to  take their seats in an orderly fashion. Once all the guests have been  seated, we will begin the proceedings. Thank you." He turned and headed  into the large room full of seats where the auction would be taking  place.

We all  followed, slowly and deliberately, but trying our best to seem at ease.  Despite that, I felt my stomach clench. I didn't see Mordaunt anywhere.  I wasn't sure what was going on, but I suspected I wouldn't like it. At  the very least I hoped we could get through the auction first. Once  that was done we could worry about the rest of this. The question was,  what WAS the rest of this? What could she do in a place like this? And  why was I so worried, despite knowing how safe we should be?