B.F.HUUPS
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Chapter 33. Bid
🕑 Added 2024-04-22 20:22:07 +0000 UTC“Come now, my dashing assistants,” Grand Sigy clapped and turned to the right, staring behind the curtains. A stream of women danced out a moment later in white burlesque outfits—all of them with goldfish heads. Three led the group, carrying a chest, whilst three more carried from behind, and another four on either side. The group placed the gold-encrusted chest at the center of the stage. The ones at the front lay down, holding their heads up atop their palms—whilst the rest smiled around the chest, taking stances to accentuate their curves.
“Sexy goldfish, didn’t have that on my bingo card,” Abe murmured.
“This might be our first item for the night, but I think many of you will take interest. Please, ladies, reveal the treasure.”
The goldfish ladies smiled and frayed jazz hands to the crowd as they dipped and lifted the chest’s lid together as a group.
Red satin lined the chest’s inside, with a rather uninteresting urn lying in the middle.
“The Urn of the Great Rawduc the Sleepless. This treasure is imbued with the great master of Mirage's spirit. A treasure of immense value for any budding dream master, and who knows what value such an urn might hold to the walking dead?” Grand Sigy said, smiling and nodding. “Shall we start the bidding at say, one thousand ducats?”
Immediately, paddles began to rise throughout the room.
“An urn?” Abe asked as he watched the man point out the paddles and repeat the ever-rising price tag.
“A sleepless dream master, something as close to him as his urn would contain a strong essence of his spirit. For the denizens of the Dreamscape trying to follow in his footsteps, it would provide great aid. And who knows, maybe a necromancer or flesh surgeon could mold it into something useful,” Miss Nia shrugged. “That is not my area of expertise, though.”
“Sold, to the golden Buddha from Shangri-La,” Grand Sigy said, pointing out the unmoving golden Buddha, assisted by robed cats that held a paddle for it and sat around it.
A chorus of angry grunts sounded from the rows of everliving priests and slayers, seemingly disgruntled by the sale of spiritual ashes—but nothing more came of it.
Seamlessly, the burlesque fish ladies smiled, hoisted the chest up, and carried it out, only to be followed by a new group of goldfish girls, who lay down a new chest as if part of some strange, aquatic, auction-house clockwork.
“Ladies,” Grand Sigy said, and they removed the lid.
Mist funneled out from the chest as the gold-trimmed lid was pulled away, revealing five monkey heads with the flesh of their skulls pulled back.
“The meat of these ancient monkey brains is said to be quite delectable for those who have developed a taste for it. Not only that, but these particular monkeys were once upon a time great sages, and the contents of their heads are said to contain not just power, but great knowledge.”
Abe reflexively sniffed, a sweet meaty scent hitting his nostrils that set his hairs on end, dilated his pupils, and sent his heart thumping through his chest.
“Someone’s hungry,” Miss Nia said, eyeing Abe from the side.
Clearing his throat, Abe tried to relax but found himself shuffling uncomfortably in his chair.
Paddles were shooting up across the room, and within moments the price had climbed above five thousand ducats.
“Prohitibly expensive,” Miss Nia sighed. “I would love to treat you, young Abraham, but I believe it would be best you earned such treasures. Besides, there are limits to my wealth.”
“I understand,” Abe said through gritted teeth and swallowed. He had noticed several others who he believed to be either wights or revenants amongst the crowd that seemed to have equal difficulty restraining themselves at the sight of the monkey brains. In the end, it sold for twelve thousand—to someone he believed to be a revenant, based on the strength of their energy.
With a clap of his hands, Grand Sigy brought out the next chest. The lid was removed to reveal several golden beetles, each about the size of a man’s palm.
“Golden Scarabs,” Grand Sigy said, waving his fingers mystifyingly. “If brought to tame, these little things can greatly empower their master. A symbiotic jewel, and a great treasure amongst necromancers and mummies.”
“More insects?” Abe’s brow rose. “Like my worms?”
“Similar, yes. Far more valuable and rare though. Those blood worms of yours are a rather primitive parasite used by weak necromancers to control their subjects. Those golden scarabs are like the king of parasitic insects, whilst you have the street urchin.”
Great, Abe sighed, and the worms began to stir within. Oh, you don’t like that, huh? I guess even worms around here have feelings. He could also feel fear coming from them, directed at the scarabs. Abe focused on the sensation emanating from the worms and there was no doubt. They were scared of them. He felt pretty confident that if he took on the scarabs or any other parasitic insect for that matter, they would battle it out with the worms, and only one would win.
“Miss Nia.”
“Yes?”
“I bought something from Bazaarbus called meat rot and fed it to the worms. Was that a good idea?”
“Meat rot?” Miss Nia nodded. “Nothing amazingly rare, but I would imagine out of reach of whatever meager finances you’ve managed to collect in Strigov. It is made by necromancers and flesh smiths—a process of concentrating and cursing meat. The final product greatly helps creatures like the worms you possess to evolve. At least through the early stages. I imagine you would need quite a bit of it, though. And they’ll want to be fed better things than meat rot as they evolve to higher stages, which will come at a higher price. But if you choose to try and keep them, you’ll have bigger things to worry about. They might not always accept their place as servants to your will. Not if they grow strong enough.”
“But if they can make me stronger?”
“Yes, I’m sure the power struggle all seems like a big rush to you right now. But remember, all of our bodies have limits, Abraham. You’ll learn that soon enough. By taking on one path, you may find the door to another closed.”
“Sold to the mommy in balcony E14 for thirteen thousand and four hundred ducats,” Grand Sigy said, pointing out a balcony across from them.
Abe narrowed his gaze and concentrated his ghoul vision on the shadowy booth across the theatre. He could see well in the dark at short distances, but from here it was a struggle. He did, however, spot the faint outline of the bandaged figure sitting between several skeletons. It turned its gaze on him and Abe hastily redirected his sight to the stage.
“Girls,” Grand Sigy clapped, and a new chest was brought out. “Feast your eyes on this one,” he said, clapping as blue light glowed from the chest.
“A sapphire pearl. This little treasure will carry anything to the next stage, dead, living, dreaming, you name it. Mark my words, I can guarantee that this little treasure can raise the right candidate to at least the fourth stage, otherwise known as the C-rank. Let's start the bidding at thirty thousand.”
“Now that is quite the treasure. It will likely go well beyond one hundred thousand, more than my entire treasury. A waste on someone like yourself. But there are many wealthy entities incapable of reaching the fourth stage who would spend a fortune on something like that.”
Abe nodded as his Mistress spoke, watching as paddles shot up and the price reached over three hundred thousand before settling.
“A remarkable price for a remarkable item,” Grand Sigy said as the chest was carried away. “Now, for the thirst of our three special treasures. This one is particularly close to my heart. A reverse hourglass. For the bearer of this extraordinarily rare item, time flows in reverse. An item of incomparable value for the soul who wishes they could go back in time and rewrite their mistakes. Let us start the bidding at one million ducats!”
“A million ducats,” Abe mouthed in disbelief.
“A trash item,” Miss Nia scoffed. “Weak minds live in the past. Only a fool would pay that much for such an item.”
Abe watched the crowd, paddles shot up, but he noticed how neither the vampire, the arch-lich’s proxy bidders, nor anyone else Abe had spotted as being particularly powerful seemed to show any interest in bidding. There however several figures in lavish attire, covered in shiny jewelry but giving off energy like that of a wight or revenant, and therefore not about C-rank—these were the figures bidding on the time. It climbed to 1.8 million before settling. And whilst the most expensive item so far, it hadn’t even doubled its starting bid—the first item to fail at that task.
“Thank you, ladies,” Grand Sigy said, clapping as they took the chest away. “We will now have a short interlude. Please, if you need refreshments now would be a great time to call our staff. When we resume, a new round of magnificent items will be displayed to dazzle even the pickiest of customers. Perhaps we’ll even see the infamous arch-lich raise his paddle, who knows.”
The curtains fell on the stage, masking Grand Sigy behind them as he finished speaking, and lights brightened the room.
“Entertained?” Nia turned to Abe with a smile as she sipped blood.
“Yeah, it’s certainly something,” he nodded.
