Chapter 205: The Hall Opens
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The rest of the day was quiet and nothing happened worth mentioning. The next day... Morning did not arrive gently in Slik City. It arrived like a coin dropped on stone.
The city woke in layers, first the labor routes and street vendors, then the guards and clerks, then the merchants and noble houses, and finally the predators who only moved when crowds formed thick enough to hide them.
Slik was a trade city in the lower domain, but it never truly belonged to mortals. It belonged to whoever could control flow, because in Null, flow was power. Flow of stones. Flow of artifacts. Flow of rumor. Flow of fear.
Today, all of that flow ran toward one place. It was Dawn House.
The auction building and the shop were the same structure, wide and old, built like a respectable merchant hall from the outside and like a small fortress inside. Its public entrance had polished stairs and decorative pillars, but the stone beneath those decorations was layered with practical reinforcement.
Old families did not survive the lower domain by trusting beauty. They survived by hiding their teeth under velvet.
By midmorning, the streets near the auction were already crowded.
Carts rolled up carrying sealed crates for buyers who planned to win. Beastkin guards stood in clusters, tails flicking irritably as they argued about where their masters should enter. Human nobles in expensive coats walked with thin smiles that never reached their eyes.
A group of dwarfish craftsmen shouted about "auction cheating" while already holding paperwork to cheat properly. City guards tried to maintain lane order, but the crowd was too thick to truly control. The best they could do was steer the worst chaos away from the main gate.
Inside the Dawn building, the atmosphere was sharper.
Servants moved quickly but quietly. There was no frantic running, no panicked screaming, because Elena did not allow it. She had been awake since the first hint of dawn light, and her presence in the halls had been like a silent whip. Floors were scrubbed twice. Curtains were checked. Lamps were refilled.
A certain section of the hall had been reinforced with additional hidden supports. Entry seals were tested. Emergency routes were inspected. Most importantly, the people who would stand near Sekhmet today were told one simple rule.
No mistakes.
Mira stood near the inner mirror panel in a simple black-and-white auction host outfit, not flashy enough to distract the room, not plain enough to look weak. Her hair was tied back cleanly, her posture straight, and her eyes steady in the way a person’s eyes became steady when they had decided fear would not be allowed to show.
She had been given her role only recently, but she carried it like someone who had always belonged on a stage, not because she loved attention, but because she understood responsibility. Her fingers held a small bell chain, the kind auction hosts used to signal transitions. The bell was not for decoration. It was the law.
Auri stood slightly behind her, wings concealed beneath a cloak that looked like normal assistant clothing. Her presence was quiet and unsettling. Most people would not notice her in a crowded hall, but anyone trained would feel her even if they did not understand why. She looked like a clerk, but her eyes looked like an executioner’s. She did not smile. She did not fidget. She did not exist for the crowd. She existed for Sekhmet.
Lily arrived before the gates fully opened.
She came through a side entrance used by high guests, wearing a dress that balanced elegance with mobility, because Lily was not foolish enough to wear something that prevented her from running if the world went wrong. Her hair was neatly styled, but her eyes were bright with a stubborn excitement she tried to hide behind noble calm.
She had insisted on being here early. She had insisted on walking through the building once to "inspect" it even though she was not staff. Elena had not argued. Elena rarely argued with Lily because arguing with Lily was like arguing with wind; it only made you tired.
Lily found Sekhmet in the private inner corridor near the owner’s seating route. He was wearing practical merchant noble attire, dark and controlled, not flashy, not poor. His coat fits him properly. Under it was the nightmare coat. His nightmare shoes were cleaned before he wore them today.
He looked like the heir of a house that belonged on this stage. Only his eyes betrayed that his life had not truly returned to normal. There was a steadiness to his gaze that came from surviving places where normal people died.
"You look like you are about to sell the whole city," Lily said, folding her arms as if she was judging his outfit.
Sekhmet glanced at her. His voice was calm. "Only the parts that can afford it."
Lily huffed, then smiled despite herself. She leaned closer slightly, lowering her voice. "Are you nervous?"
Sekhmet’s lips curved faintly. "If I say no, will you believe me?"
Lily narrowed her eyes. "No."
Sekhmet nodded. "Then yes."
Lily’s expression softened. For a moment, she looked like the girl who used to chase him around Slik City as a child. Then she remembered she was supposed to be noble and composed, so she straightened and spoke with authority she did not fully possess.
"Good. Be nervous. Nervous means you are not stupid."
Sekhmet looked at her. "That is the worst comfort I have ever heard."
Lily smiled wider. "You are welcome."
Elena appeared then, stepping into the corridor like she had always been there and had only now decided to become visible. Her eyes flicked over Sekhmet’s outfit, then over Lily’s, then over the corridor itself. She did not ask questions. She issued small instructions.
"Lily, do not stand in the main aisle," Elena said calmly. "If panic happens, you will be trampled."
Lily’s brows lifted. "Elena, that sounds like you are cursing me."
Elena’s tone remained steady. "It is not a curse. It is statistics."