Chapter 130: Market Bid

A convergence had formed.

Lines of black prices spread under Austin Veyron’s feet. Each one represented what something was worth. Something he remembered. Something he could use to kill someone. A future conversation he would have with someone. The lines themselves did not bar entry to the auction platform. However, if someone crossed them, a deal would try to bind to their foot.

The attuned woman was drifting towards the heart shard.

"Get there before her," Veyra said.

Austin Veyron agreed. "We aren’t bidding or making deals."

"Anything we do here the market will try to put a price on," Vessa said, surveying the room full of broken prices. "We’ll have to name our prices before it names one for us."

Sable raised the crown shard. "Make the prices simple."

The platform rumbled as lines of price constructed from tags and black string stood up. They all had a coin for a face and a small set of scales in their hands.

NAME YOUR PRICES.

Rin took the first shot. When her arrow crossed the price line, it lashed out a ribbon at her.

"I’m the scout."

The ribbon hesitated. It didn’t understand the concept of taking a job title.

With her next shot, Rin broke a line near the auction platform. Veyra darted over and called out, "Shield." The price construct tried to grab her sword, but slipped off when she named the price.

Austin Veyron made his way across with Sable and Vessa.

"I choose," he said.

"Witness," Sable said.

"Deliver," Vessa said, her voice shaky.

The price constructs continued to offer them better deals. One told Veyra she could create an indestructible barrier around those she loved. Another told Sable she could erase her memories of the crown from the Hunger Emperor. Another told Rin she would know where all her enemies were before they could act. Austin Veyron was told he would never argue again. He would know who to save and who to let die.

His stomach growled.

A price of red wound around his ankle.

RULE THE MARKET. PAY IN DOUBT.

Veyra sliced through the line before Austin Veyron could accept the offer.

"My doubt isn’t something you can buy," Austin Veyron said.

The line twisted into a beast and flew towards his neck. Sable’s crown shard knocked it out of the air. The coins cracked open and displayed a mass of market prices.

SAVING SOMEONE IS AN OFFER.

Austin Veyron understood. The entire convergence was built on this one price. If they helped the woman, they would be paying a debt to Kharos. If they destroyed the shard, the market would charge their permit.

The heart shard grew brighter.

The forge agent melted into the platform but could still speak from within it.

"All offers must have a price. All lives saved are owned by whoever paid the price."

The woman was trying to escape her collar. "I don’t belong to either of you."

The heart shard twitched. Price lines backed away from the woman’s feet. It was the first time the market heard no from something it considered to be merchandise. Some of the silver writing along the platform struggled to decide if she was merchandise or witness.

"Can you sever your attunement once we reach you?" Vessa asked.

"I can hide from the market temporarily, but I won’t be able to remove myself from the offer while I’m wearing this."

Rin was able to reach the auction platform. More price constructs lined the way between her and the woman. She took three shots, pinning the price constructs to the floor with their scales. Veyra followed through the opening and slashed at the first price construct she saw.

Austin Veyron walked up to the woman’s collar.

More price lines circled around him.

PAY WITH A NAME. PAY WITH A MEMORY. PAY WITH HER LIFE.

That last price made him uneasy.

He named what he wanted to devour.

"The offer that says she owes us her life for being rescued. I want nothing to do with her information. Or anything the market has to say about her."

"Witnessed," Veyra shouted through the battle.

"Witnessed," Sable said.

Austin Veyron placed his hand on the silver collar.

DEVOUR activated. The price that was being offered was embedded in the collar. It also existed in the platform, the auction chairs, and the black coins the buyers were holding. Austin Veyron could taste the feeling of helping someone.

SAVING SOMEONE IS AN OFFER.

He devoured the offer.

The collar let out a piercing scream. It began to crack apart but did not shatter. Austin Veyron wasn’t devouring her attunement, just the price that stated she owed her life to them.

The collar popped open.

She picked it up off of the floor and tossed it at the shards that once held the heart. "I choose."

The shard lit up. For a brief moment, Austin Veyron was able to see her attunement to it. It wasn’t controlling her; it just allowed her to feel what the shard wanted.

"What can you do?" Vessa asked.

"I need a chance to silence the shard," she said, staring at the heart shard.

"I can silence it from the prices of the crown," Sable said.

Veyra turned to Austin Veyron. "What about you?"

He could devour the shard. DEVOUR was close enough to the source to allow him to. He could stop the convergence right now.

He stayed where he was.

"I can keep the market from putting a price on the silencing."

"Then I need your help," she said.

She placed her hand under the heart shard. The blue-black color started traveling up her neck and into the air. The shard began to lose its red tint as it faded. Sable slammed her shard into the platform, and a white crack split the price lines.

"THE ATTUNED WITNESS IS MERCHANDISE," the forge agent screamed.

"No," she said.

The room responded to her. A few of the buyers stood up from their chairs. They weren’t attacking, they just watched as the prices unraveled. There was no way for the market to name a price when someone refused to be priced.

The forge agent solidified itself next to the auction platform. Its red plated hand reached for the heart shard.

Veyra got there first. They clashed throughout the room. The agent was more powerful than its previous vessel, but Veyra kept pushing it away from the shard. Every step it took on the price lines weakened it.

"There’s a hole in the wall over there." Rin pointed to a small crack.

"That’s our exit," she said. "There’s no route that leads there, so there’s no price."

"If we leave that way, our permit will calculate a price to leave," Vessa said.

"If we don’t leave, it will name us a bigger price," Sable replied.

"I can silence the shard for ten breaths." The woman clenched her hands around the shard. "After that, it will name more offers."

Austin Veyron stood in the middle of the crack in the price lines. All the price lines began wrapping around him.

TAKE THE SHARD. PAY WITH YOUR LIFE.

His insides wanted to devour it. He could do it. He could gain that power and make Kharos afraid of him.

"Name your target," Veyra yelled.

Austin Veyron stared at the heart shard. He saw the woman and how she was controlling the shard. Then he looked at the hole in the wall.

"I want to devour the price the market has on the shard."

"Witnessed."

"Witnessed."

DEVOUR activated one last time. He devoured the words FOR SALE.

The price shattered. The shard fell out of the sky.

The woman caught it in her hands. As the blue-black color enveloped the shard, it lost its red tint and became a dull piece of metal.

The forge agent lunged at her.

Veyra stabbed through its torso. Sable severed the lines of commands from the crown shard. Rin’s last arrow pierced the agent’s head.

The forge agent crumbled into a pile of black coins. They evaporated before hitting the ground.

"GO!" Vessa yelled.

They all ran for the hole in the wall. One by one, they escaped. The wall tore open and revealed a small alley outside of the auction house. As they left, the market converged around them and collapsed.

The Night Market began to glow. Black coins appeared in their hands once again. Each one had the same price on them.

PRICE TO LEAVE: ONE NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE.

Vessa looked at the coins. "That’s too high of a price."

The woman tucked the heart shard into her shirt. "You can call me Nyra. Since I’m following you, I figure you should know my name."

Austin Veyron looked at the coins in his hand. Then he looked at the many alleys in Kharos.

Behind them something was pounding on the walls of the auction house. Over and over again. Something didn’t want to leave. His coin began to heat up, reminding him that he would have to pay the price.

They defeated the market.

It just moved its price to the exit.