Nightmare Realm Summoner

No sooner than a few moments after Wind’s End had been put up for auction came a knock on the door behind Alex. He and Claire exchanged a glance. It looked like the seeds they’d sown were about ready to start sprouting.

“Come in,” Alex called.

Edward stepped into the room.

“I have a request from Room 4,” Edward said, inclining his head in greeting. “They have asked that you come to their room on account of a deal you arranged with them earlier. I am unaware of the terms of any deals discussed in confidence, but would you like to accompany me back to their room?”

Alex grinned. “I would like nothing more. Lead the way.”

***

Tiff and TryFinger were waiting for Alex when he walked through the door to their room. The rest of their group had all pressed themselves to the window overlooking the auction space, and one of them had a hand hovering over the wooden paddle, ready to start bidding.

Alex could hear that bidding had already gotten into full swing outside. The price of Wind’s End had risen to just over 2,000 Credits in the time it had taken him to get to their room. A part of him was a little surprised it hadn’t jumped up faster.

Then again, there wasn’t really much information about the weapon. Most people probably didn’t want to waste money on a mystery item that had a good chance of ending up completely worthless. Alex certainly wouldn’t have bothered paying much for it himself had Thorn not told them about its importance to him.

Hell, I’d think Thorn was baiting us into wasting money on this thing if he hadn’t also promised to stay out of the way for an item when we asked him to.

“Okay,” Tiff said, crossing her arms as the door sealed shut behind Alex. “You know why we called you here. Let’s cut to the chase. We’re willing to trust you on this.”

TryFinger nodded and gave Alex a grin. “After all, we came here knowing we probably wouldn’t be able to compete for anything too expensive. The Outworlders just have much better funding than we do. If there’s even a small chance that this item is actually useful… we’ve got to take it. A stroke of luck is the only way we’re going to come out really ahead here.”

Tiff sent him a look that made it clear the decision wasn’t entirely supported by everyone in the room, but she just looked back to Alex and let out a small sigh. “We’re just going to have to hope that those Outworlders weren’t screwing with you. Or that you aren’t screwing with us.”

“I wouldn’t go through all this effort to mess with anyone from 274-50,” Alex said. “I won’t go so far as to say we’re allies. But the Outworlders are our enemies. I’ve got better ways to get strong than being an asshole to the few people that managed to make it this far into the Apocalypse.”

“Tiff,” one of the men by the window called nervously. “It’s already at 3000 and slowing down. We need to bid fast if we want to get in before it’s too late.”

“Bid,” Tiff said without even looking back. “We’re ready.”

The man grabbed the paddle and lifted it into the air. “3500 Credits!”

“How much do you have?” Tiff asked, looking to Alex. “And what’s the rate? We’re not going into debt.”

“We already discussed that,” Alex replied. “We’re not looking to be loan sharks. If the price isn’t too high, then pay it back by letting us in on whatever benefits you get from that gem. If it is high… well, just try to pay the Credits back when you can. We’re not giving them to you for free. Just be reasonable and we won’t have an issue.”

“And if we aren’t?” Tiff asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Then we’ll find you and take it back,” Alex said simply. “Don’t make enemies where you don’t have to. There are enough of them already.”

“Told you,” TryFinger said with a snicker. “Just take things as they are, Tiff. He’s serious about this. It’s a fair offer.”

“You base everything off gut feelings. That isn’t how life works,” Tiff replied.

“It’s worked well so far,” TryFinger countered.

The woman just shook her head. Then she looked back to Alex. “Okay. How much can you lend us? We need to know how high we can safely bid. We’re not going to risk going into debt over this thing.”

“How much do you have?” Alex asked. The bidding price had continued to rise, and was now all the way up to 4,000 Credits. Room 4 was incrementally raising their bids by about 100 Credits at a time, but he could tell by the rising tension in the room that they were probably starting to approach their limit.

“5,200 Credits, roughly,” Tiff replied.

“We can support you through 10,000,” Alex said after a moment of thought. He didn’t want to risk spending more than that. Not when they hadn’t actually gotten anything that useful themselves yet. Absolution’s very kind donation — that they honestly hadn’t even really needed — would more than cover this and still leave them a little bit extra to spend.

“What?” Tiff asked.

“10,000,” Alex repeated absently, his attention mostly on the bidding process. Wind’s End had made its way up to 4,000 Credits. That had knocked out a few of the competitors. There were only a few people still in the running, and they were clearly starting to hesitate. It was becoming evident that most people didn’t think the risk of Wind’s End was quite worth it.

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Even Thorn wasn’t bidding too quickly. He probably didn’t want to let on how badly he wanted the item.

“10,000 Credits?” Tiff asked in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? You can spare as many Credits as we brought in the first place?”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

“Jesus,” Tiff muttered. “What the hell did you do to get so rich?”

“Killed a guy,” Alex said. “Among a few other things.”

Tiff blinked. Then she frowned. “Oh. Right.”

“Stop complaining and take the Credits already,” TryFinger said with a snicker. “We better do it before the price gets too high for us to keep at it.”

“Right,” Tiff said. She shook her head as if to throw off a stupor. Then she held her hand out. “If you would? Maybe we can start with just 1000 or 2,000 Credits. We might not need everything.”

Something tells me Thorn won’t let go of things so easily.

But Alex reached out and took her hand nonetheless, sending a mental command to his spatial ring. He’d only ever used it to send money when he was buying something. The general idea was probably the same, though. He just had to picture 2000 Credits leaving his ring and entering Tiff’s.

Sure enough, the magic worked just as expected. A stream of blue light twisted out and into the metal band around Tiff’s pointer finger. She released his hand, then looked back to the people by the window.

“We’ve got the funds. Clear until 7,200.”

“Seriously?” the one that wasn’t holding the paddle asked, turning back to her in surprise. “Deadass?”

“Deadass,” TryFinger said in a straight tone. “Let’s up the bidding. See if we can scare anyone out of the running.”

“5500 Credits!” the man with the paddle called.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the auction house paused to register the sudden jump in price.

“5,700,” Thorn called. There was definitely a faint note of displeasure in his voice. The corners of Alex’s mouth started to pull upward.

“6,000,” Room 4’s representative called.

The silence returned.

“6,100,” Thorn said.

It didn’t seem like anyone else was still in the running. All the other rooms had tapped out. Spending upwards of 6,000 Credits on what was going to amount to nothing more than a chance bet was too much of a risk for them, especially with the biggest portions of the auction still upcoming.

“You might need some more,” Alex observed.

Tiff grimaced. Then she held her hand back out. “Just give us the other 3,000. I don’t think we’re going to have a choice. Those Outworlders clearly want this thing. That alone is enough proof that it’s worth the effort. At least, I hope it is.”

“Only one way to find out,” Alex said, shaking her hand once more. A second stream of blue energy poured into Tiff’s ring. She looked slightly sick — which was a very stark contrast to the excitement on TryFinger’s features.

“Jump it up,” TryFinger said eagerly. “Go to 8,000. Show them we mean business.”

“Hold on,” Tiff said. “That’s a big jump. They might tap out at—”

“8,500!” TryFinger exclaimed. “You can’t beat me!”

“I’m not bidding against you, you idiot!” Tiff snapped. “We can’t just go throwing money around like we’re rich! Don’t forget our limit is at 10,000!”

“Bah,” TryFinger said. “You have to act rich if you want to be rich. And nobody is impressed by a normal run. You have to go hitless if you want people talking. 8,500! Do it!”

The man with the room’s paddle swallowed.

“8,500 Credits!” He called.

The Auction House went silent.

The real question is how badly Thorn wants this thing. If it’s the only thing that Myrmidan came here for, then there’s no way for TryFinger’s group to win this. But if they were hoping to buy anything else, then there’s a decent chance they get priced out.

A second passed. Another followed after it.

“Is that the final bid?” Sofia called. “If so—”

“8,800,” Thorn called. He was definitely angry now. Even though he was definitely measuring his words, even Alex could tell he was pissed to spend this much on Wind’s End. He’d probably been hoping to get a hold of it for cheap. That or he was running out of funds for this particular purchase.

“Jump it again,” TryFinger said with a huge, shit-eating grin. “Man, I love this. Buying stuff with someone else’s money is awesome. Go to 9,500.”

“We don’t have much leeway if—” Tiff started.

“Just do it,” TryFinger said. “Come on. What’s the worst that could happen? Besides, I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

Tiff sighed. Then she shrugged. “Screw it. Why not?”

“9,500!”

The call echoed through the room.

Several more seconds passed in silence. A part of Alex half expected Thorn to start cursing them out. But it seemed that he was far more in control of his thoughts than whoever had been in Room 3. He didn’t say a word.

“Any final bids?” Sofia asked slowly. She waited for a few seconds more. But the silence was all that met her. They’d gone past what Myrmidan was willing to pay. Sofia clapped her hands. “Sold! To Room 4!”

The paddle clattered to the table as the man holding it ran his hands through his hair. “Holy shit. We won it.”

“Ha!” TryFinger exclaimed. “I knew it! See? I’m always right!”

“9,500 Credits,” Tiff muttered. “Is that number even real? I could buy… I don’t even know what I could buy with that.”

“A cutlass with a blue gem in the pommel, I’d reckon,” Alex said.

Tiff glared at him. “Thank you. Very useful.”

“You’re welcome.”

Looks like we priced them out. And the best part is, Thorn has no damn idea that we were the ones that made it possible for Room 4 to buy this thing in the first place. That’s a riot. Maybe we can get him to pay us money to point him in the direction of who did this and start a fight between two Outworlder families. That would be funny.

Tiff let out a small laugh of disbelief. “Honestly, I can’t believe we won. Honestly, I half expected to leave here empty handed. I didn’t think it was possible to beat the Outworlders at anything. Even an auction.”

“It’s possible,” Alex said sharply. “And don’t forget it. Pretty much all the Outworlders are thieves. No matter what they want you to believe, they’re just cheating to get an advantage. That’s why the System makes opportunity for us to beat them. There aren’t many people that have made it this far. We need the ones that have to be strong enough.”

“Strong enough for what?” TryFinger asked.

Alex shook his head. “I don’t know. But something. Eventually, we’ll be in direct conflict with them. All of the Nativeworlders will. There are only so many resources here, even if it’s a Tier 1 world. And when that time comes… I’d much rather be sharing with people from Earth than them. So make sure you make it that far, yeah?”

TryFinger grinned. “Oh, we will. I’m not going down easy. We’ll get in contact with you once we figure out how the sword thing works. We know where to find you, after all. Mirrorwane.”

“It’s closed to Teleporters,” Alex warned.

“We’ll send a letter,” TryFinger said. “Don’t worry. I got a good feeling about it.”

Tiff sighed.

“I’ll wait for it, then. Good luck.” Alex chuckled. He turned for the door, reaching for the handle that was already forming in anticipation of his departure.

“You too,” TryFinger said. “I think you’re going to need it more than we are.”

Alex paused, his hand still on the handle.

“You got a feeling about that too?” he asked.

“Yup,” TryFinger replied. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Thanks,” Alex said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then he pulled the door open and stepped back into the hall. Successfully screwing the Outworlders was a nice side mission. But now it was time to focus on the real reason they’d come to the auction.

Getting his hands on some powerful items.

Well, that and screwing a few more Outworlders along the way.