Auction of Souls: Fantasy GameLit RPG Series (Pixel Dust Book 3)

by David Petrie

  “It’s killing me. Every time you smile or brush up against me, my heart breaks a little. I want so bad for you to be real. To pick you up and hold you…” She trailed off.

  “And now I’m talking to an error.”

  Farn downed the rest of the cider, then slammed the mug on the bar before wandering off to look for a comfortable bench to pass the time. Finding one in a quiet spot on the side of the airship, she dropped into the seat, put her head back, and closed her eyes. A moment later, she felt something warm against her side.

  “That’s not fair.” Farn opened her eyes to find Echo resting her head on her shoulder.

  Eventually, she shook her head and wrapped her arm around the fairy, pulling her close and draping her cape over her shoulders. Then finally, she smiled.

  “I’m not sure how accurate our memories of her are, or how well the system represents her, but I hope Kira still wants to be this close when we find her.”

  Farn reached into her pouch and pulled out the locket she’d purchased at the auction, the one that Dalliance had said was dropped from a boss in Rend.

  “I can’t wait to give this to her.” Farn held it up, letting it dangle in front on the fairy to watch the avatar’s reaction.

  Echo’s eyes widened as she mouthed one word, “Home.”

  “Our home.” Farn thought back of their time in Rend, Kira’s favorite dungeon.

  She opened the pendant and pried out the photo it came with, some kind of royal portrait of Magnus Alderth, the fictional ruler of Rend from back before the city fell. The man smiled in the image as if thinking about the person he intended to give the locket to. Farn wondered what kind of smile she would make in a photo meant to be worn around Kira’s neck.

  That was when she noticed someone else in the picture, a small form standing at the edge as if captured in the frame by accident. Farn sat up straight without warning, almost knocking Echo off the bench beside her.

  She held the image closer, squinting before pulling out her journal and retrieving her inspector from its back cover.

  It can’t be, Farn thought as she held the glass window over the image and swiped it to enlarge the picture. Her mouth fell open as she recognized the mousy creature near the man’s feet. A jerobin, but not just any jerobin. No, it was one she recognized. It was the NPC from the shop where she had bought the rings that she shared with Kira. Farn glanced at Echo’s hand, still wearing her half of the item.

  At one point the rings had the power to save the fairy from a killing blow in exchange for Farn’s life, though now they were nothing more than jewelry, having been used up. Farn thought back, remembering how unique the NPC in the shop had been, a well-dressed old jerobin. His suit was identical to the one in the photo, though less worn than she remembered.

  She flipped to her journal’s mission log, finding the ongoing quest that she and Kira had activated when they had pledged their house’s loyalty to the fallen city.

  Reclaiming Rend.

  Farn slid her finger down the page to find the first step that they had been stuck on. All it said was ‘Locate a survivor of the fall.’ She let herself sink back into the bench in shock.

  “I’ve found one.”

  She clutched the photo in disbelief. The NPC that sold them their rings, at the Arcane Imports shop back in Valain, was the next step. For a moment, she almost ran off to tell the others, but then she remembered everything else. They didn’t have time to chase after quests or NPCs. That would have to wait.

  Farn sunk back into the bench, letting Echo curl up under her cape.

  “I hope she’ll be up for a quest when we find her.” She stared off into the night. “Because when I do, I’m bringing her home.”

  She tilted her head to rest her check on the avatar’s silver hair.

  “…and I’m never letting go.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Max took one last look at the star-filled sky from the Night Queen’s lower deck, then turned back to the hatch that lead up to the auction.

  “You coming?” He glanced back to Seven who had been sulking against the rail for the last few minutes. He didn’t blame her, not after having their entire situation dumped on her.

  “Yes.” She avoided making eye contact.

  “I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming.” Max pulled open the hatch and stepped aside to let Ginger and the rest of the party through.

  “I can’t get involved in all this.” Seven stepped through the hatch. “It’s not that I don’t want to help, but I’m an accountant, not a heroine. Things like saving the world and tracking down Nix are more than I’m capable of.”

  “You’ve handled yourself well so far.” Kegan waved Corvin and Piper on as he hung back to wait for Seven. The Leaf seemed to have built a rapport with her since bringing her in.

  “That’s true, you’ve survived the night so far.” Max nodded in agreement.

  “I feel like not getting myself killed yet is setting the bar a bit low.” Seven laughed sarcastically. “Honestly, I can’t even take care of my real-world responsibilities. I’m trying to be a good royal assistant here, but that’s just because I’ve been struggling to find a decent job for months. I was laid off a while back and my husband broke his hip shortly after.”

  “Oh damn.” Max stopped short.

  “He’s fine.” She waved away his concern. “But he worked for a roofing company and probably won’t be able to move the way he used to, so that’s over. Plus, we lost our insurance along with my job, so we’ve gone through our entire savings to pay the medical bills. At this point, we’ll default on the mortgage next month.” She lowered her head. “I can’t let that happen, so I have to prioritize my position with the Silver Tongues. I won’t bid against you at the auction, but that’s about all I can do. And I won’t tell Leftwitch anything about all this.”

  “That’s reasonable.” Max couldn’t help but sympathize. Until recently, he had struggled to make ends meet for as long as he could remember.

  Ginger turned to walk backward. “I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we understand where you’re coming from. If we could have avoided falling into this mess, we would have. Plus, I know what it’s like to struggle to get by.” She dropped back and slipped her arm around Max’s elbow to walk beside him. “Sometimes you just have to focus on the good and keep pushing forward.”

  That was when Larkin burst into the hallway, his head on a swivel. His face lit up as soon as he saw Max and Ginger.

  “There you are! I’ve been looking all over.” He stopped for a second, his vision sweeping across them, settling on their interlocked arms. “Hmm, I thought so.”

  “Well, you’ve found us.” Max ignored the comment. “You didn’t bring your dolls down here, did you?”

  “No, just the one.” He tapped the lantern hanging from his belt, covered by a black cloth. “The rest are safe and sound back in their trunks.”

  “How did you do that by the way?” Max had been wondering how the Rage class had commanded the dolls for the last hour.

  “I was wondering that too.” Ginger chimed in beside him.

  “I’m glad you asked.” A twinkle of excitement shined in the crafter’s eye. “It’s the lantern actually. I had originally constructed it to hold will-o-wisps so I could farm in the forest near Sierra. There’s a ton of great materials there, but the wisps always swarm if you stay in one spot for too long. The lantern just makes them think you’re one of them if you catch one in it. Works the same with the dolls. I just placed one of my favorite ones in here and their algorithm thinks I’m in charge.” He held the lantern up to his face and rubbed his cheek against it lovingly. “I feel terrible whenever they get destroyed, though.”

  “I hadn’t pegged you as the sentimental type.” Max took a step back, a little disturbed by Larkin’s continued nuzzling.

  The Rage class immediately dropped the lantern to his side. “Of course I’m sentimental. I worked hard designing each of their outfits. I can’t have t
heir clothes getting ruined. They are supposed to be for display only.”

  “Okaaaay…” Max raised one eyebrow, dragging out the word. “That’s an odd set of priorities.”

  “And speaking of odd,” Ginger pushed forward. “What is up with that disturbing mask you were wearing during the brawl?”

  “Yeah, is it what I think it is?” Max pointed at the man hesitantly, a little afraid of the answer.

  “Another great question.” Larkin reached into his pouch and pulled out the creepy item. “And yes, it’s exactly what you think it is; a pixie dust inhaler. I’m particularly proud of this experiment.” He dangled the mask from its neck strap. “I was making a batch of pixie bombs for you when I started wondering if the effect of Echo’s dust would be greater if it was ingested. Low and behold, I was right. With this mask, you can increase the potency and number of uses of a fairy’s dust.”

  “But doesn’t it feel…” Max cringed. “I don’t know, kind of wrong? It’s like you’re inhaling her magic. That’s about a step and a half from drinking her blood.”

  “So?” Larkin stared at him blankly, inviting an awkward silence to fall across the hallway.

  “Okay, then.” Ginger shuddered against Max’s side.

  “Anyway, we should get a move on.” Max began walking down the hall again, prompting Larkin to follow along with Seven. “Why were you looking for us, anyway?”

  “Oh, yes.” Larkin walked at casual pace. “There’s a bomb on board the airship.” Both Max and Ginger stopped short, nearly falling over when Seven ran into them.

  “What do you mean, a bomb?” Max caught himself on the wall.

  “Yeah, maybe lead with that next time.” Ginger threw her arm out in frustration.

  “Of course.” Larkin cleared his throat. “I meant to, but you asked interesting questions, and I enjoy explaining my ideas.”

  “Did someone say bomb?” Corvin’s tall ears flicked back as he turned around further down the hall.

  “Yes, an explosive.” Larkin casually removed his glasses and wiped them on his shirt sleeve. “And a particularly powerful one at that.”

  “How do you know there’s a bomb?” Seven’s voice rose an octave.

  Larkin breathed on the lens of his glasses and continued to clean them as he turned to Max. “Do you remember how you blew up the pyramid in Reliqua six months ago?”

  “Yeah.” Max stepped closer, resisting the urge to throttle the man.

  “Well, since you had used a couple thousand small explosives packed close together, you pointed out a potential problem in the game. One that could be exploited by others to disrupt Noctem’s cities. There was technically nothing stopping anyone from collecting an equally large number of cheap explosives and setting them off in a crowded entertainment district. So, after you showed people the destructive potential, people started buying bombs up by the hundreds.”

  “And?” Max beckoned at the Rage to draw out more.

  “And Checkpoint brought down a nerf on all explosive items. Essentially, stopping them from being able to set each other off by proximity. So now, if you set off one in a bag of a hundred, it won’t blow up the whole bag.” Larkin made a fist and opened it to pantomime a small explosion.

  “How is there a bomb on the ship, then?” Max had trouble following the crafter’s point.

  “Well, with Checkpoint taking that level of destruction away, people started looking for ways to get around the nerf. So when someone came to me and asked me to craft the most powerful explosive in Noctem, I might have obliged.”

  “Why would you do that?” Ginger’s eyes bulged.

  “Yeah,” Max spoke through his teeth, “why would you do that, Larkin?”

  “It was supposed to be impossible, and that sounded like a challenge.” The crafter gave a slight shrug. “What could I do?”

  “Okay,” Max lowered his head, not bothering to point out the flaws in his logic. “But what makes you think that the bomb is on the ship?”

  “Because the player who requested the item was that Rain class that Farn just killed up in the theater. The one that jumped from the balcony, Cassius.”

  Max and Ginger slowly turned to Seven at the same time.

  “That can’t be.” The royal assistant to the House of Silver Tongues shook her head. “Leftwitch sent Cassius here to make sure the fighting stopped and that the auction continued without disruption. Why would she do that if she knew there was a bomb on the ship?”

  “Or, she knows the bomb is in place to take out all of Noctem’s rulers and she wants to make sure they stay there. The auction might just be a convenient trap.” Max tapped a finger on his ammunition pouch. “That’s what I would do if I wanted to take over Noctem.”

  “But, why would she send me here if…” Seven’s face went white as she trailed off.

  Max assumed that the low-level mage had been sent to draw suspicion off the Silver Tongues, but he kept that part to himself. From the expression on her face, it looked like she had come to the same conclusion.

  “Wait a second.” Max turned back to Larkin. “What makes you so sure that the bomb is on board? Just because it was ordered by that Cass guy doesn’t mean the device was intended to be used here. Maybe Leftwitch just wanted to have a bomb to save for a rainy day.”

  “Well, I’m not completely irresponsible.” Larkin straightened the lapel of his vest. “I built in a notification system to ping its location once it was activated. Of course, I didn’t tell them that.”

  “Activated?” A chill ran down Max’s spine at the thought that he might be standing on top of the thing without knowing it. “Does it have a timer of some kind?”

  “Yes, I provided a variety of detention options. It seems that the one-hour countdown was chosen.”

  “Damn.” Ginger slapped a hand against her thigh. “That means it will go off right in the middle of the auction.”

  “Is there a chance that the PVP ban will protect us?” Kegan stepped in.

  “I don’t think so.” Larkin mimed punching something. “I put my hand through a window on my way down here and that did damage.”

  “Why would you do that?” Ginger eyed the crafter.

  “Curiosity, mostly. Things like that count as environmental damage and I’m pretty sure the bomb or at least the fall back to the ground does too.”

  “It doesn’t matter if it will or won’t hurt us.” Max slammed a fist into the wall. “Hell, it doesn’t matter if all of Noctem’s ruling houses fall. What matters is that we get a contract item that can trap Nix. So we can’t let anyone interfere with the auction either. Beyond that, all of Noctem can burn for all I care.” He felt Ginger flinch as he spoke but ignored it. “The bottom line is that if this bomb goes off, our chances of getting Nix will be as dead as we are.”

  “So what can we do?” Seven asked.

  Max arched an eyebrow at her. “We will need to search the ship and throw the bomb overboard. You, on the other hand, should probably check in with your boss. Because from the looks of things, you’re working for the villain.”

  “Oh god.” The Venom mage sunk a little. “I’m a henchman.”

  “Could be a hired goon?” Kegan offered.

  “That’s not better.” She glowered at him.

  Max started down the hall. “Either way, you may want to start thinking about finding a new boss.”

  After parting ways with Seven and the others, Max followed Ginger into the theater to warn the twins. Larkin trailed behind them until they found Grindstone.

  “No, put those over there.” The business-like elf directed what remained of the auction staff, while Dalliance attempted to adjust the curtains on the stage so that the burned portions were less visible. The cleanup effort seemed to be running behind as some of the other attendees had arrived and were waiting at the sides of the theater.

  Max’s chest tightened when he saw Nix. She was standing behind Aawil at the other side of the room. They both looked bored.

  Ginger s
tepped forward to get Grindstone’s attention. “Excuse me, there is a matter–”

  “Not now.” He cut her off, shoving a hand in her face.

  Max cringed as the Coin’s eye twitched.

  Note to self, don’t talk over Ginger.

  “I’m sorry, but this can’t wait,” she started again, a little louder.

  “It will have to.” Grindstone glanced at the time on his stat-sleeve. “We have to start the auction back up, and we have yet to salvage this auditorium after the destruction that players like you caused.” He gestured to one of the fallen chandeliers then immediately went back to what he was doing.

  Apparently the elf’s nerves were wearing thin.

  From the tension visible in Ginger’s back, it seemed that her patience was running out as well. Max decided to help, drawing a pistol. For a moment, he started to raise it above his head to fire it in the air. He lowered it back down just as fast, thinking better of it.

  Then he offered it to Ginger.

  “Ah, thank you, Max.” She took the gun by the handle and thrust it upward. The whole theater jumped in unison as she pulled the trigger.

  “What!” Grindstone spun back around, ready to lash into them for disrupting him again.

  “There’s a–” Ginger started to say just as a bit of plaster fell from the ceiling to land on her head. It burst into a cloud of dust that made her cough as she handed Max his gun back.

  “There’s a bomb on board.” Max shoved his pistol back into his holster. “We have an hour to find it before we all explode.”

  “About forty-five minutes actually.” Larkin peeked out from behind him, getting a blank stare from Grindstone.

  Max pushed past the elf as he processed the situation and stomped up onto the stage to address the room.

  “Okay, listen up, most of you don’t like me, and honestly, I don’t like most of you either. But it has been brought to my attention that there is a bomb on the ship that can kill all of us.”

  The crowd of attendees lining the side of the theater all started talking at once, to which Max responded by drawing his gun again and firing it in the air. He made sure to angle it so that nothing would fall on his head.