Golden Goose began the countdown. “Going once, twice, thrice and the winner is Reyn!”
A new item appeared, it was a potion again. Golden Goose seemed to sigh. “Well, looks like we’re back to the potions again. This one will increase your base stats by 0.6. The starting bid is 1 coin.”
Poki fired immediately. “10 coins!”
Reyn wanted to fire back but stopped herself, she only had 18 coins left. Poki on the other hand still had 95 coins. Reyn gripped her clothes tighter. She needed to make Poki spend her coins. “11 coins!”
Knowing her advantage, Poki continued. “12 coins!”
Reyn steeled her resolve. “13 coins!”
Poki relaxed herself. “15 coins!”
Satisfied with the amount Poki spent, Reyn smiled a little and remained quiet. The countdown began. “Going once, twice, thrice and Poki is the winner!”
The seventh item appeared. No one was surprised at its appearance. Golden Goose began. “Another potion that will increase your base stats by 0.7. Starting bid is one coin like usual.”
Poki fired away immediately. “15 coins!”
Knowing she most likely won’t win item 9, Reyn gave the highest bid she could. “18 coins!”
Poki touched her lips in thought for a moment. “19 coins!”
Golden Goose honked. “Poki is the highest bidder and winner! Onto the next item!”
Item 8 appeared, it was another potion. Golden Goose didn't bother putting energy. “It’ll increase your base stats by 0.8.”
Reyn fired away. “18 coins!”
Poki fired back. “19 coins!”
Golden Goose honked. “Poki is the winner! Next item!”
Item 9 appeared, it was a potion like expected. Golden Goose fanned himself out of boredom. “It’ll increase your base stats by 0.9.”
Poki didn't hesitate and fired. “19 coins!”
Golden Goose honked. “Poki is the winner! Onto the final item. It better not be a potion!"
Item 10 appeared, it was a card. Reyn sighed as the math caught up; she should have bet 18 coins on item 6 instead of 15 coins. Things had moved too fast for her to keep track of the math. There was also the fact they weren't told how many coins the other had left.
Golden Goose began. “The card is called Dream Coffin. It can summon an invincible coffin that can fly at speeds based on your agility. It allows you to store an infinite amount of things in a space where time can be frozen or resumed. Since Poki has 23 coins left and Reyn has 18 coins left, Poki is the winner.”
A piece of paper appeared. “Thank you for your assistance Golden Goose, you may go now.”
Golden Goose honked and disappeared like an illusion. Another piece of paper appeared. “Here are your new stats, remember, only you can see them.”
-
Reyn
Strength: 1.9
Endurance: 1.9
Agility: 1.9
Card: Many Hands
-
-
Poki
Strength: 5.1
Endurance: 5.1
Agility: 5.1
Card: Dream Coffin
-
Poki relished the power within her body and turned to Reyn. “No hard feelings?”
Reyn shook her head with a smile. “No hard feelings, I enjoyed the auction. My only regret is I didn't bid 18 coins at item 6.”
Poki gave a chuckle. “There’s always a next time. Now let’s go back to the beach and test out our powers.”
The three were transported back onto the island. Mercy stretched himself. “Well that was enjoyable to watch.”
Poki looked at Mercy. “You remained quiet the whole time.”
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Mercy smiled, “There was nothing to say and I enjoyed the show more.”
A piece of paper appeared. “That’ll be all for today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Poki suddenly had a thought. “What about Aren?! Did she save her world?”
A piece of paper appeared. “Oh yeah, I forgot about her. Only brought her back to life, whether she saved her world is another question. Hmmmm, let me go check.”
The Host gazed upon Aren’s world. It was the world Mercy came from but ten years in the future. For the Host, time was but a line it could gaze anywhere upon.
Although the Host brought Mercy to the island, it did not know much of his world, only vague information that the Narrator filled out. From the Host perspective, Mercy’s world had quite a lot of mysteries. They were mysteries that the Host could see through if it wished but it did not.
The Host saw Aren coming back to life and clutching the gold coin Mercy gave her. It was the same gold coin with Mercy’s face on one side and Mante’s face on the other. It was actually the first ever gift Mercy received from his friend Mante.
Aren checked her shattered body and found that she was all fine. She was sure she had died. It seemed a miracle had happened though she couldn't remember how or why.
A short distance away was a man with his back turned. He was wearing a skull shaped helmet that had two downward horns and dark armored pants. He was half naked as Aren had shattered his dark body armor. The tattoo of a crimson centipede was wrapped around his right arm until its head stopped among seven white lilies under his clavicle.
His name was Mante, known as Demante to the world. Sensing Aren regain life, he turned. He was sure he had shattered her body with his punch. Perhaps she regained life because of the Overworld.
Mante looked up at the sky where the Overworld most likely was. He had already devastated the Underworld but could not find Mercy’s soul. Only place left to search was the Overlord, a place he doubted he could ever go to after death.
It is said when the world is in danger, the Overworld would open and Overbeings would descend to protect the world. After Mante’s battle with the Underworld King, the Under King, a battle that ended with the Under King’s death, Mante took the Underworld’s Heart and left. Without the Underworld’s Heart, the Underworld started tearing apart without its presence. Many Underbeings fled to the world above while others sought to take back the Heart of the Underworld from Mante to stabilize the Underworld.
After leaving the Underworld, Mante was met with hostility from a lone Aren. She had been sent by a prophet of this world to stop him from devastating the Overworld with the Underworld’s Heart and restore the Underworld’s Heart back to the Underworld.
If both the Heart of Space from the Underworld and Heart of Time from the Overworld were taken by Mante, the world would be at his mercy. To appease Mante, the world simply had to give him Mercy’s soul, something that was no longer in this world. With a prophecy that Mante would never meet Mercy after death already told, it was too late to change things. Mante would stop at nothing before he found Mercy again.
Aren dashed at ten times the speed of sound and slammed her fist into Mante’s helmet. The air shook and shattered. Mante was shot away into a mountain with an explosion of dirt and stone. Aren breathed heavily, it was a dirty sneak attack but she didn't care. She was too afraid to fight fair and too determined to run away without fighting to the bitter end.
Mante got up from the crater. His Raven hair and grey eyes revealed themselves. They were dull eyes but what stood out the most was half of his right face was burned and scarred up to the top of his head where hair no longer grew. It was a nasty, burned, and scarred face he got from fighting the deity of lightning, Litnis.
Mante rearranged his jaw and looked at Aren who was looking at him with fear. He looked at her left hand. There he saw the coin he had given Mercy. After Mercy died in his arms, he was sure he had burned Mercy’s body along with the coin.
Mante took a step and appeared in front of Aren using the Heart of Space. He grabbed her left wrist and looked at the coin. His voice was gentle and tired. "Where did you get this?”
Panicked, Aren tried to free herself but couldn't. She tried to move her Vitality Energy but couldn't as it was being suppressed by Mante’s Vitality Energy. She looked at the gold coin, she didn't know how she got it but it most likely had to do with her resurrection.
Mante pried the gold coin from her left hand and looked at Mercy’s smiling face. It was a face Mante etched into the coin when he was around fourteen years old. On the other side of the gold coin, Aren looked at the face on the gold coin and back at Demante’s face. Although Demante’s face was older and scarred, it did look like the detailed face on the gold coin.
Mante pocketed the gold coin and looked at Aren. “How did you get it?”
Knowing she was at his mercy, Aren could only answer so she could look for an opening to escape or fight back. “I don’t know, I just came back to life and it was in my hand.”
Mante stared at her. He let go of her hand and turned away. “Follow me.”
Aren wondered if she should run or sneak attack Demante. Remembering how her last sneak attack did nothing and how he was currently not going to kill her, she decided to follow him.
The Host turned its gaze away and went back to the Paradise Island. A piece of paper appeared. “Well… I just came back and it’s inconclusive. However, if I were to gaze upon a little bit of the future, she’ll be fine and her world will be… fine till a new threat shows up. Hmmmm, actually this new threat in the future is quite interesting. Oh well, just know she’s fine, later.”
The Host left. Mercy, Poki, and Reyn stared at each other. It wasn't a comforting answer but it was a decent answer. Mercy sighed and smiled, “It’s nice to know Aren will be fine. Guess my sacrifice wasn't in vain. I’ll get going now, I want to go fishing.”
Poki followed after Mercy, “Hold on, I want to fish too. I'll test the new powers later."
Reyn followed after, “Likewise.”
Mercy smiled softly, “Guess we’re all fishing together. Make sure not to be loud while fishing.”
The three headed deeper into the island. Poki picked a red flower and smelled it. The flower smelled fresh and firm. The droplets of water on it made it more beautiful. Reyn picked a red berry and ate it. Whether the berry was poisonous or not didn't matter since she could just respawn. The berry tasted bittersweet and its flesh was firm.
Hearing running water, the three continued and found a small shallow river. On the other side of the river, they found Pera and Aespia who were fishing together. The two sides studied each other. Sensing no ill intent, Pera continued fishing while Aespia looked warily at the three and shifted slightly toward Pera.
Seeing no complaints, Mercy snapped his fingers and a fishing rod appeared in his hand. It was a wooden fishing rod with a thin rope and steel hook. Mercy snapped his finger again and a piece of bread appeared. He covered the steel hook tightly with the bread and threw the hook into the water.
Reyn and Poki sat down. They clapped their hands and their own fishing rods appeared. Reyn's fishing rod was made of fine wood while Poki's fishing rod was of steel and its lines were coiled up on a reel.
The five castaways fished and gave glances at each other occasionally. The air was filled with silence that no one wanted to be the first to break. Among the brushes, a Green Turtle stared at the five. After a moment of indecision, it decided to swim towards Poki's group. The turtle was one of the Host’s assistants or pets, it was the Wise Turtle.
