The underground auction house of Virelia pulsed like a living beast.
Gold-lit chandeliers floated beneath a domed ceiling of stained crystal. Velvet seating curved around a circular stage while holographic displays rotated rare artifacts—hybrid relics of magic and machine.
Crime lords.
Assassins.
Syndicate heirs.
Every shadow in the room carried a price.
At the center platform, sealed inside a floating prism of reinforced glass, rested the night's most coveted prize.
The Heart of Seraphis.
A crystalline sphere no larger than a human heart. Soft silver light pulsed from its core like a quiet heartbeat.
Alive.
Watching.
Waiting.
Kael Dravien leaned forward in his seat.
The Black Vow Prince wore a tailored midnight suit threaded with faint metallic filaments. At his collar, the sigil of the Dravien clan burned softly—an emblem feared across half the underworld.
His voice cut through the room.
Calm.
Deadly.
"Five million credits."
The hall went silent.
Several bidders lowered their paddles instantly. No one liked bidding against the Black Vow Prince.
But silence lasted only a moment.
From the opposite side of the hall, a cloaked figure slowly stood.
Midnight fabric concealed their form, and a veil of illusion masked their face. Beneath the shadowed hood, faint neon-blue light glowed where eyes should be.
Then the voice came.
Soft.
Controlled.
Sharp enough to slice through the room.
"Ten million credits."
Gasps rippled across the chamber.
Someone dared challenge Kael Dravien.
Kael's storm-grey eyes lifted slowly.
They locked onto the masked bidder.
For a brief moment, the room faded away.
Because beneath that illusion—
he recognized the energy signature.
Hybrid.
Fairy-tech fusion.
Elaris.
"You don't know," Kael said quietly, "what fire you're stepping into."
Across the room, the cloaked figure tilted her head slightly.
Beneath the mask, Elaris Vein felt her pulse quicken.
The Heart of Seraphis pulsed again.
Stronger.
Calling to her blood.
Her lips curved faintly.
"To master fire," she said calmly, "one must first touch it."
The auction master swallowed nervously.
"Ten million credits… going once—"
He never finished.
The ceiling exploded.
Glass shattered like a rainstorm of knives.
Armored figures dropped through the broken dome—cybernetic wings flaring as they landed across the hall.
Storm rifles ignited.
Energy bolts tore through velvet walls.
Panic erupted instantly.
The Seraphis auction had just turned into a battlefield.
And somewhere inside the chaos—
Kael Dravien and Elaris Vein rose at the same time.