Auctioning

Marlowlia and Zeri had reached the next checkpoint and thus the next phase of the plan began. The auction room is scheduled to start at 21:00. I checked my old leather clock, 20:38. I had around 20 minutes left until the process would commence.

I propped myself up from a bench and continued down the main street of Nautilus until I reached the courthouse. But instead of heading inside. I went around the corner to the hair salon next door. Behind the hair salon were four muscular men with leather jackets that could barely hold in their biceps.

The shiny pants shone brightly and they lifted their sunglasses to look at me.

They surrounded me and I continued walking down the aisle with them still around me, following me.

"This way miss."

One of the men opened the door to another building which had a secret room. One man went with me and the other three stayed outside guarding the entrance.

He took out a pen and put it inside a hole which made a grinding sound. The stone wall started to move and opened up. Down the halls inside the stone walls, were bright lights and loud cheers. The man told me that I should go now and he resealed the stone wall.

I walked down the frigid stone corridors, and the cheers and voices became louder and louder until I reached a massive auditorium. It was the auction room where all types of items could be sold, legal or not.

People were seated throughout the room and all of them had price sticks that they could use to show their interested price.

The clock was 20:43, the auction would soon begin. I then saw Marlowlia in the corner of the auction room with new clothes. She was standing in the corner huddled up, trying to keep a low profile while having a traumatic expression. While Zeri was trying to hold on to her arm, she kept pushing away her.

Jeez, it already happened… well then. Let's commence our operation.

The clock struck 21:00 and the auctioneer came out and stood on a pedestal holding a wooden mallet.

Guards in orange vests would bring out humans, animals, items, and luxurious stones. People were exhilarated and jubilant. They gave out prices and competed with each other for slaves and items on the market.

Until a boy came up on the stage, he was weak and beaten. He hadn't been kept in the best shape but they probably tried wiping off all the blood to make him presentable.

Marlowlia's eyes opened wide when she saw the little boy.

It was the same boy that had run into her and stolen her wallet. She didn't say anything, she just stood there and watched. There was a silence moment throughout the auditorium. People whispered about how bad quality the boy was, he couldn't work or do anything why would they want to buy him?

The auctioneer looked at the crowd and asked if anyone was interested. But no one gave a second glance at the disheveled boy. The boy was just about to be guided away by guards.

"STOP! I will buy him, for 100 livis."

The auctioneer looked at me. He slammed his hammer into the table and told me that the boy was now mine for 100 livis.

The guards carried him away and told me to follow them to sign some papers.

Marlowlia noticed me walking by the stage and gave me a long stare before glancing away.

I sat in a room with the boy and a few other people, the guards, and a contractor.

Gave me a piece of paper that I was supposed to sign and abide by the rules of the contract.

The boy also had to sign the contract to complete the process and when all the paperwork had been done. The guards and contractor left me alone with the boy.

"You got 5 minutes with your slave."

I nodded and smiled before averting my eyes back on the boy.

"Listen, Adrian, I know who you are and I will get you home, I promise."

The boy went from a hopeless and despondent expression to eyes with a glimmer of hope.

"Really?! I will be able to see Mom again?"

"Yeppers, and I even bought medicine for her, you stole money from people to buy medicine for her didn't you?"

He looked down in guilt and he started touching his lips.

"Mommy told me not to steal, but she said that she didn't want to die. So I decided to steal for her!"

"I know you did, now let's get you back to mommy right?"

The eyes lightened up and was ecstatic. I smiled and gave a pat on his shoulders. Before we went out, I asked him if he still had the wallet he had stolen earlier.

He responded that the guys in orange suits took it when he got kidnapped. Then he said that he heard the orange guys say that there was a lot of money inside that wallet and they would be making bank.

The plan was to collect Fiviana and Oslovi back from the courthouse. But yet they haven't brought out either of them. So something happened…

The auction room went ballistic after hearing the news of an Aeon being sold on the market. There were cries of joy and excitement as they hadn't seen an Aeon ever before. But the auctioneer got notice that the Aeon had disappeared from the cage. Someone had stolen it.