“You will be a great centerpiece. Huehuehue, I can see myself rolling in magic stones in the near future.” The Ashen-robed figure stated as his grin widened. “I shall name you Inops. A fine material indeed.”


    “Give your right hand here; I have to brand it.” A branding iron appeared out of seemingly nowhere in the Ashen-robed figure''s hand. At the tip of the branding iron was what seemed to be a snake that was eating its own tail, and the handle had some strange markings.


    The tip almost immediately began to turn light red from metallic grey. However, just as the iron was about to reach the palm, he paused.


    Inops could feel the figure''s gaze land on his right hand. “Those markings on you will surely draw a few eyes to this corner of the world… A minor world human bearing those marks… Fufufufu.” The man began to chuckle


    He then paused momentarily as his smile deepened, then continued, “All on a single human. This will cause those maniacs to go even more insane.”


    “I can’t ruin those priceless scars, a material from a different world bearing those markings… Truly fascinating.” The Ashen-robed figure began to chuckle.


    “Give me your left hand.” The Ashen-robed figure commanded.


    Inops could only imagine what would happen if he refused; who knew what other tools he could summon out of seemingly thin air?


    He lifted his hand, palm facing the metal bars of the cell, and the Ashen-robed figure immediately brought the branding iron to his palm.


    Inops head began to perspire with sweat. His eyes began to water, and tears flooded his face. His mouth opened for a scream, yet no noise escaped. His body began to convulse, and his fingers twitched, grasping at the air. The branding iron seared through his flesh as the scent of burning skin filled the air.


    “Ahhh, it is always thrilling to do the branding, although it was a bit disappointing that I didn''t hear those visceral screams that I usually do—though…the tears do soothe my soul.” The Ashen-robed figure smiled as he mocked Inops.


    “Well then, I guess I should prepare. You should go to sleep, my precious.” The figure then snapped his finger. Inops’s eyes began to droop as he almost instantly fell into a deep sleep.


    …


    When Inops regained consciousness, his cell had changed; he was now in a rolling cell with metal bars on all four sides.


    He could hear the screeching of wheels as his body wobbled–it appeared he was being transported somewhere.


    But there was some sort of draping that obscured his vision, and it was the color of blood.


    In the distance, he could hear the mumblings of something: “...now ladies and gentlemen, I may present you the crowning jewel of our Serpent Merchant Group’s bi-annual auction, a prized material for any aspiring mage.”


    Suddenly, the rolling cell screeched to a halt as the drapings flew off the rolling cell; his eyes widened as he looked at a man in front of him wearing a top hat and standing in front of a lectern.


    At least a few hundred people were in front of the lectern, each wearing a mask that only covered the top of their face. They all began to murmur as they eyed what they thought to be a ‘material.’


    The whole area looked like a theatre, and he was on the stage. Judging from the previous mumblings he had heard, he was the play that these people were bidding for.


    There were a few outcroppings of balconies on the sides of the theatre.


    “You all must be thinking, ‘What is so Unique about this material?’ As you all know, buying materials always comes with some inherent risk.” The man on the lectern spoke, his voice boomed


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    The man snapped his finger, Inops’s right arm rose by itself, and his palm faced the crowd.


    Murmurs instantly enveloped in the crowd.


    “Ho–How?!?”


    “The markings of the three cults?!”


    “Fufufufu My THERORIES WERE RIGHT?”


    The man at the lectern shouted, “Al-Alright, settle down. Now, some of you may be thinking that this could be just a maniac who did this to his palm. But worry not; he was captured in the minor world known as Earth.”


    He then chuckled and continued, “Let the bidding begin, starting at a thousand magic stones and adding a hundred stones to increase the bid.”


    Instantly, bids roared through the theatre, quickly reaching five thousand magic stones, whatever they were, but then a voice could be heard from one of the balconies, “Fifteen thousand magic stones.”


    The voice could cause chills to erupt through your body, the man at the lectern frowned somewhat and said, “A bid of fifteen thousand magic stones from the fortune weavers at Darkgold Tower.”


    When the man at the lectern said that, the crowd instantly quieted as one could even hear a pin drop.


    Then, another bid could be heard from another balcony: “Sixteen thousand magic stones”


    The man at the lectern''s frown turned into a slight smile. “Ah, the lucid weavers at Specter Tower coming in with a bid of Sixteen Thousand.”


    The room became even more silent as it was almost palpable; the people in the seats looked at each other, and shock filled their gazes with one another.


    None of this made sense. ‘Lucid Weavers? Fortune Weavers? Towers?’ His mind scrambled for answers, but only fragments of memory surfaced—skyscrapers reaching toward the sky, a city humming with artificial lights. Was that the ‘tower’ they meant?


    But when he tried to recall faces, there was only a void—shapeless figures with no eyes, no mouths. Just blank skin. His head throbbed at the effort, a sharp pain warning him not to dig deeper.


    Inops heard the voice representing Darkgold Tower yell out again: “Twenty Thousand magic stones.”


    The once-silent theatre instantly erupted in murmurs.


    “To think they actually would..”


    “They have grown in the past few years…”


    “Still— they are quite bold.”


    The man at the lectern''s smile grew even higher on his face. “Twenty thousand magic stones from the fortune weavers at Darkgold Tower!”


    When Inops looked at the balcony that housed the Specter Tower, he saw two people seated. They were having some sort of serious discussion. One looked enraged, and the other had a somewhat saddened expression.


    Their discussion lasted for more than thirty seconds as the man at the lectern''s voice could once more be heard, “Are there no more bids? If not, the material will go to Darkgold Tower in”


    “3”


    “2”


    “1”


    “SOLD! To the gentlemen at Darkgold Tower! We at the Serpent Merchant Group hope for your patronage at our next bi-annual auction!” The man at the lectern voice boomed through the theatre.


    He snapped his finger as the blood-colored drapings once again obscured his vision. He once again began to fall into a deep sleep.


    …


    Inops was jolted awake by someone poking the scars on his hand; he looked around and saw four people surrounding him, each wearing a black robe with gold outlining on the arm and legs.


    “A Fine material. I look forward to adding this to our collection.” One said, continued, “Perhaps he will be more useful than the others we bought last time.”


    Inops clenched his fist. Was he simply a ‘material’ to be used? Their words were filled with arrogant pride. The more he wanted to fight, the more helpless he felt. He was merely an object to be traded for some goal.


    “Hmm.. to stop any unfortunate accidents like last time, we should use some lucid weaving….” Another suggested.


    One then argued, “That was your fault! If you didn''t insert the Bloauth Heart, he wouldn’t have been able to escape his chains and overpower the apprentice!”


    A booming voice responded, “Then you shouldn’t have let an apprentice look over that valuable material!”


    “I’ll just put a seal in his mind, enough of these squabbles.” The final one spoke in a commanding tone. His eyes then turned from their original dark gold color to a pale blue color.


    “Praecipio tibi: me sequere. Sigillum Servi.,” his voice boomed as a faint blue hue erupted from his mouth, almost instantly rocketing towards Inops head.


    The spectral blue energy shot forward, striking Inops'' forehead like a dagger of frost. Ice-cold tendrils burrowed into his skull, wrapping around his thoughts like a tightening vice. A thousand needles stabbed into his mind. His body spasmed violently as darkness consumed his vision, swallowing him whole.