'̸͖̎̽͗͆̔͝'̴̼͈̻͎̘̖̱̖͖̿̃̾̂͠'̷̨͕͔̗̘̠̃̔̃̆́͠ "̴̛̳̠̬̱̓́͛̿͑̀̚̕M̴͍̠̺̬̮̑̎̾̈́̒͗̚͘ǎ̴̛̪̮̭͆̈͑͜x̴̢̟͚̹̺͙͓̘́̉̔̀̆̌̕͝i̵̼̺̭̫̟͉̙̺͋̽̕m̸̧̡̠̦̺̭͓̀̓̚͝ů̵̥̝̬̞̈́̆ś̴̬̮͑̿̋̏̈́͊̌̀̚"̷̮̱̟͈͔̲͍̬͙͂̓̊͜ '̸͖̎̽͗͆̔͝'̴̼͈̻͎̘̖̱̖͖̿̃̾̂͠'̷̨͕͔̗̘̠̃̔̃̆́͠
*zzzzZZZZ-PANG!!!*
A flash of lights followed by a clap of thunder was heard. The light showed the sharp features of a man sitting in a dark room. The man sitting on his desk opened his eyes. His irises turned blood-red and his eyeball turned pure black.
"Urgh." He grunted and rested his head back on his chair exposing his adam's apple. The man smiled and felt the sudden surge of strength flow in his veins. The servant beside him almost lost his eyeballs at the scene before him.
"Y-young lord...S-s-someone...Y-your name." He didn't know what to say. The sudden loud bang shook his whole being, and he knew what it meant. The silver-haired on the seat seemed to be enthralled by something unseen.
"Chang'an...Tang Capital." The young lord slowly lifted a corner of his mouth. He was happy, though, it didn't look like that to the loyal dog looking at him. The loyal servant felt the hair on his nape stand up straight. He began slightly shaking. Oh, what a pity he is. He has never seen his master "smile" like that. It looked more like a sinister sneer to him which meant death.
'Good luck to that person.' The servant thought to himself. He has seen so many gruesome scenes that would never be erased from his memory. He wishes that it wasn't another person that his master would torture.
*Sigh* The girl that was on the other end needs luck on her side.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
It has been exactly a week. It's already the first day of wu yue (may). I tried to investigate where the aura came from but Iris stopped me.
"We don't even know what it is. If you present yourself like a meal in a platter you're as good as dead." She had a point. It must be something or someone dangerous for even the blood bell could sense it's aura from so far away. We couldn't pinpoint where it came from, it was too far from us. Within a week, we finished reading the diary. The first half of it wasn't written as a diary, but more like a note. Halfway through the book, the sentences were written in present-tense. The diary was very informative and we decided to keep it just in case, we placed a substitute back in the treasury just to make sure.
"Auction...should we go to the auction?" This made the little cat's ears perk up.
Iris didn't want to encounter any one of those mercenary people much less allow Ele to join them. But she knows deep in her heart that they'll encounter the, they have to. Iris knows for a fact that the "that" guy has something to do with the rip the have to fix.
"How?"
"Don't worry, I got that covered." She smirked, a smirk that the little kitty knows all too well. By "got it cover" she already has a plan and the kitty didn't have to do anything at all. Elle told the servants to relay a message to Aunt Yiyi that she wouldn't be able to attend lunch as well as dinner because it was her 'time of the month'. The maid understood immediately and even brought back feminine products and prepared a variety of essential oil during the evening bath just to prevent bloating.
"With the lie you made, you just made them more attentive to you, how are we gonna get out now?" Iris said she seemed to doubt her plan.
"Knock 'em out," Elle said as the maids prepared the hot bath inside the bathroom.
"What? How about the guard outside?" Iris asked. Elle carefully explained to her that they'll knock out the three of them, and lay them in a position that makes it look like they dozed off. Elle specifically knocked them out with a drug that's specifically for people with insomnia. After knocking them out she prepared a few things and chanted a spell. This was really fun for her since she doesn't have many limitations anymore, she has broadened her skills and knowledge in sorcery.
She applied a cream on her face that conceals her identity. No one would recognize her after interacting with her, it would seem as if she was just a passing memory that's easily forgotten. After making sure that the Dan elderly went out already, she soon went out as well.
The auction is held in Tiankong theatre (天空剧院). When the two of them arrived, the cat asked where they would get seats since it seems that it was already full. To the kitty's surprise, they were already reserved in a private balcony overlooking the theatre.
'Did you plan this long ago?' Iris asked as she walked with Elle. The kitty knows that her partner can sometimes be careless at making sudden decisions when it comes to her entertainment.
'Pft, nope.'
'Then how are able to reserve VIP seats in the last moment.'
'Simple, I just caused a little accident.' Iris knew what "little" meant. She had already guessed what her partner had done. She made a couple that was reserved for that room to have a little accident, it wasn't life-threatening, it was just a little incident that caused chaos and made the two break up.
'Hehe.' The girl knew what had happened to the two couple and when they notified the auction house that they wouldn't be attending anymore, the reserved area was free to grab. She bought it and was the sole owner of it, so whenever they held dramas or operas, the private area was all hers.
The two enjoyed the comfy sofa and a bowl of fruit all by themselves.
The auction started smoothly and a variety of precious gems and antiques worth millions. Half an hour passed and the girl was starting to get bored until she saw a large stone that was about 44 inches or 3 feet that had hieroglyphics carved into it. Both Iris and Elle sat straight up from their seats when they read the contents.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, for item 15, we have an ancient stone tablet from Egypt during the Pharaoh XXX's reign. This stone is..." The pair were waiting for the bidding to start so they can buy it.
"We'll start at a low price of 20,000 silver coins! Who would like-" The auctioneer was cut off by a girl's voice.
"20,000 thousand." She raised her hands gracefully, despite her height, she can be mistaken for a mature young woman.
"20 money now, 20 money now..." The auctioneer began reciting.
"21,000 thousand!" An old man who wanted to display it in his residence raised the prize by a thousand. Elle took a glance at the old man and raised the prize.
"30,000 thousand." This caused a ruckus among the nobles, who would pay a large sum of money just to attain a stone with carvings? They thought that the young lady was ridiculous and naive.
(Author: only if they knew what was written >w<)
"Going once, going twice, sold!" Elle smiled at their accomplishment. This will surely amount high when they exchange it in the XXX department. When the staff asked where they should put the item, she asked to bring it inside. When the item came in, packed safely. Elle started reading it. The stone tablet was a stelae, it was a copy of a decree from Ptolemy the fifth...It was the Rosetta stone. The little kitty got enthusiastic, it was written in three scripts-Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Greek. What was weird is why she found it here. The stone was supposed to be found during 1799 by a soldier in Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign.
She was in her own world, continuously reading the writings carved on the stone. It was a decree by Egyptian priests the anniversary of Ptolemy the fifth's coronation. Almost half an hour passed when she finished reading everything and her attention once again turned at the auctioneer. Her original motive was for entertainment and since this was a famous auction that happens every year, the possibility of seeing someone or something related to the "rip" was high. Who would've thought that they'd find the Rosetta stone? It was a sign that the flow of history was being changed. It wasn't supposed to be in China.
There was another stone that caught her eye. A stone as big as two of her fists.
"10,000 silver coins." It started at five thousand silver coins and she raised it to another five. The whole theatre began mocking the lady wasting her money. Why is she interested in useless stones?
Three pairs of eyes looked at the woman on the second-floor balcony. The man on the left thought that her actions were odd, can't she see that she's just throwing money away? Is it her way of showing off? The young woman, again, won another stone, a completely useless stone, however, the man sitting on the middle and right thought not.
"What's with that lady, even if it's the cheapest item it doesn't mean that she can just buy it. They are being scammed by the same people every year... what a stupid woman." The man said in an arrogant tone. The man next to him didn't say a thing and just cleaned her spectacles quietly.
"I wouldn't say that if I were you." A blonde young man smiled at him which sent chills on anyone's spine.
"Oh, don't tell me you're interested in her? Blergh." The man with glasses looked at his right and glared at the blonde man.
'You shouldn't have done that.' He gave him a look which the blonde man understood. He just smiled at him and shrugged it off. The young man on the left continued blabbering and mocking everyone downstairs especially the young girl. Money is everything after all, how can she just waste it?
"What nonsense is she doing now?" The man on the left continued to mock the woman until he saw a staff member handing her a big nail and hammer. He looked strangely at the woman on the second floor.
The young lady carefully pointed the large nail on the top of the stone and hit it with the hammer continuously and gently. It caused the stone to crack in half, she slowly chipped a small part on the top side of the stone and revealed something shiny. It was reflecting the dim lights inside the theatre. This piqued the three men's curiosity when the young girl smirked.
"A red diamond." The man in the middle arranged his glasses and leaned forward making sure that his sight wasn't getting worse. He was right, It was a red diamond! The rarest color of a diamond there is.
The man with blonde hair rested his head on his palm and observed the young woman. The young man's forehead slightly furrowed, whether he was planning something again or was interested, no one knows. The woman covered the stone with her handkerchief and told the staff member to pack the two things she bought.
The blonde man thought back when he first saw her earlier. It was odd how he couldn't retain her face in his memory, he had a photographic memory and hyperthymesia. She was an odd case. He can completely see and describe her features one by one, but he couldn't remember them altogether. It was the first time he experienced a conflict regarding memory.
The three arrived from XXX and was originally supposed to stay there for a couple more weeks, they had to handle a large sum of money loss. They had to rush because they were ordered to suddenly go straight to the Tang capital out of nowhere. The two men had no idea why, but the blonde man already grasped the situation. The storm they had when they were in the ship, a near-death experience the three of them had, was caused by a power surge. His guess was a bullseye, he didn't want to mention it to the two because of the lack of evidence.
They were now waiting for the other two. They decided to waste some time in the auction. He didn't think that he would see such a woman. After much thinking, the blonde guy came to the conclusion that...
'She knows sorcery...just like him.'