The hoarse voice was familiar to everyone present in the auction room except for Max and the others journeying to the Pyramid jungle.
The sound of a cane tapping the ground grew louder with increasing footsteps.
Even before the owner of the voice had shown his face, Max could see the store owner shiver to the point where he was prone to pee his pants.
After the suspenseful announcement of his dramatic entry, the owner of the harsh voice stepped into the room, revealing his appearance to everyone. Max had expected him to look like some old man instead the figure that met his eyes was a middle-aged man with a high sense of fashion. Everything he was wearing at the moment was expensive and of good quality. The most appealing of his appearance was his black hair which was neatly combed back, greatly enhancing his handsome features.
"When did auctions start to hold without my notice?"
The question he had asked earlier on was thrown once again at them.
The store owner quickly threw himself on the ground before the man.
"Oh forgive me, Lord Hendrix. I felt you would consider buying such little amount of cores an insult to your name."
The man called Lord Hendrix kept on a straight face.
"When did buying Wehyn beast cores become an insult?" He asked. "Or did every one of you purposely not inform just so that one of you could have them to yourself? Knowing fully well that if I had partaken in the auction I would have bought it from the start."
"No, my Lord, it's nothing of that sought," Lord Dean who had ended the auction with the highest price bid began an explanation. "You see..."
"Hand it over, Dean," Lord Hendrix calmly spoke. He had a very contrasting personality when it came to expressions. At times his voice would pose anger while his voice would only give off an expressionless face.
"B-but m-my Lord..." Dean found himself stammering.
Lord Hendrix sighed and turned to the store owner.
"Who sold the beast cores?" He asked.
The store owner immediately got back on his feet and pointed in Max's direction.
"It's those kids," He said.
Lord Hendrix squinted his eyes as he looked at them from head to toe before speaking.
"The highest bidder gets it, right?"
"What was the highest bid?" He asked returning his gaze to the store owner.
"6000 gems, My Lord," The store owner replied.
"How 'bout I make it this way? I bid 10,000 gems."
All eyes widened to the widest of their imaginations.
*. *. *.
The door of the room slowly opened and a woman walked in. For the first in a week, she was looking good. Her eyes weren't swollen or red. Her hair wasn't messy to the point where she would be referred to as mentally unstable. She looked perfectly fine as she took slow but steady steps towards the bed on which a young boy lay with his eyes hidden underneath large V.R. goggles.
Strange how it was that his body was still in good shape and condition. He didn't look the least skinny or unfed. He looked like he had grown even more healthy ever since he had fallen unconscious.
Mrs. Addison took a deep breath and sat beside her son on the bed. Staring at his blank face even though she couldn't see his pretty eyes, she felt her heartache. She had spent just a few years earning the warmth of love from this boy before the distance between them was built upon the absence of their father they came to realize sooner than she had expected. Seeing him like this was too much for her to continue enduring. It was fine if he hated her, despised her, or whatever he felt towards her but she wished for only one thing at that moment. For her son to wake up. Kayla had grown even more distant from her as time flew by she barely ate food cooked by her mum nowadays. The poor girl was suffering in silence. She missed and loved her brother dearly and didn't want anything to happen to him.
"Max," She softly called.
She began. "I know I've been a bad mum. I know I've made so many mistakes that I wish to correct now. I regret the fact that this is now how life has turned out for the three of us. You both will never understand my plight now but I hope you will someday. Maybe it's true that I've been ignorant of my part but hear me out first. I mean I have many burdens deep down in my heart that make it so hard to breathe whenever I see the faces of my beautiful kids."
She sighed and blinked severally, in an attempt to push back the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. But they betrayed her and finally escaped as they poured down her cheeks in beads.
"I don't know what to feel right now. Should I just cry all day? Would that bring you back? I want to know because if that's possible I'll cry a bucket full for you if not a river. You and Kayla have always wanted to know about your dad but I just couldn't bring myself to tell you two anything. He was a handsome man."
She paused to relieve herself of sorrowful laughter.
"Well, that's one of the many reasons I fell in love with him. But he didn't seem to love me the way I did. He did say he loved me but his actions proved otherwise. It felt like he was toying with my feelings all the while. I gave birth to you and when I was pregnant with Kayla he abandoned us."
She paused to laugh once more.
"Anyone might think of me as a fool right now. Why didn't I say all this to you when you hadn't gotten into the game? Why am I saying this now that you can't hear or see me? I don't know the answer to that question myself. My life now is just as a result of my youthful exuberance those days."
"I strongly promise you, Max, once I manage to find a way to bring you back, I won't hesitate to tell you want you to want to know about your father."
*. *. *.
The whole place was swept clean with silence as all eyes remained on the middle-aged man with a cane.
"No one's going to bid higher?" Lord Hendrix raised an eyebrow. He turned to Lord Dean.
"Not even you Dean?"
Dean's eyes fell to the floor. Curse this man! Those beast cores would have been the best gift to create a weapon for his daughter's upcoming birthday. She had always wished of owning a weapon made from Wehyn cores. Now that he had finally gotten the chance, the stupid greedy man had snatched it from him. Not even he could easily bid a price higher than 10,000 gems. Lord Hendrix was the richest merchant in the city also making him the most powerful. In Bazaar Ville, wealth was what told of how powerful a person was.
"10,100 gems," Dean almost choked on his words.
"10,300 gems," A lady said.
Lord Hendrix smiled and shook his head.
"15,000 gems."
At the mention of such an amount, no one made another response and it was assumed that Lord Hendrix had won the auction.
"15,000 gems it is," The store owner quickly announced. As no one could oppose Hendrix with him also being the head of the town, the beast cores were retrieved from Dean and handed over to him. In the same way, was Dean given his gems back from Chase and in return, the group got a whooping amount of 15,000 gems.
"I guess that's a higher share for us," Roy smiled.
"3000 gems each," Chase said through his gem as he transferred each to each person.
"You kids come with me," Lord Hendrix commanded and began walking to where he had come from.
The group hesitated at first until the store owner nodded at them, signifying they should go with the man.
They followed the man behind till they reached a bridge.
"Are you kids hunters?" Lord Hendrix asked, not taking time to even look in their direction.
"We are players," Max answered.
"I see. Who's your master? Your sect leader?" Lord Hendrix continued asking questions.
Max had read a lot about sects in books and comics so he was familiar with the word and meaning.
"We are on our own individually," Max replied.
"And you were able to get the cores of not just a Wehyn but a dozen of them," Lord Hendrix slowly nodded. "Do you how much those cores are worth? They are worth a lot. So I've been thinking how about I make you fellows rich?"
"Sorry?" Cheryl asked.
Lord Hendrix sighed once again.
"Hmm...I see the power of poverty has taken completely over your senses that you have no idea what ' rich ' means."