Chapter 5: A Worthy Price

Lyra returned later that afternoon, her expression tight and her steps heavy, as if the weight of the world—or at least the market's unfairness—was pressing down on her shoulders. She dropped a small pouch of coins onto the table with a deliberate thud, the clink of metal barely masking the simmering irritation in her posture.

"They lowballed me," she said, crossing her arms tightly over her chest, her voice clipped. "The merchant barely glanced at the crystal before offering a price barely enough to cover the materials. Said he could get fire crystals cheaper from some supplier in the eastern districts."

I frowned, picking up the pouch and feeling its meager weight with a sinking sense of frustration. "That doesn't make sense. The quality we're producing is leagues above standard. Did you negotiate?"

"Of course I tried," she snapped, her voice sharp but not directed at me—more at the situation itself. "He just shrugged and said take it or leave it. I didn't have much of a choice."

I leaned back in my chair, tapping the pouch rhythmically against the table, the sound echoing my growing irritation. "We can't keep selling to someone who's not valuing our work. It's not sustainable. We need another way—someone who'll pay what it's worth."

Lyra's eyes narrowed, a spark of determination igniting in their depths. "You're right. That's why I didn't come straight back. I stuck around the market, listened to what people were saying. There's this… thing. An auction. Hidden, underground. They deal in rare magics, items that don't show up in shops. One guy was whispering about a fire crystal that sold for triple what we'd get at the stalls."

My fingers stilled, the pouch now resting heavily in my palm as I processed her words. "An auction? How do we even get in?"

She shrugged, but there was a glint in her eye—a familiar, calculating look that told me she'd already thought this through. "From what I gathered, it's invitation only, but they make exceptions for those with something worth selling. And from the way people were talking, our crystals would fit the bill."

I nodded slowly, the weight of the pouch suddenly feeling lighter as a plan began to take shape. "Then that's our next move. If we can get in front of the right buyers, we won't have to settle for scraps. We'll get what we're worth."

The alley twisted, narrow and dim, with walls so close I could've reached out and touched both sides at once. The smell of damp stone and something faintly metallic hung in the air. Lyra walked ahead of me, her steps confident despite the shadows that seemed to press in from all sides. She'd always been the one who knew how to navigate places like this, where the rules weren't written down but whispered in corners.

"This is it," she murmured, stopping beside a door that looked like it hadn't been opened in years. The wood was warped, the paint peeling, but there was a faint glow seeping through the cracks around the edges.

I shifted the satchel on my shoulder, feeling the weight of the crystals inside. They were restless, the energy within them humming faintly against my senses. "You're sure this is the place?"

Lyra smirked. "Do you have a better lead?"

Before I could answer, the door creaked open, and a man stepped out. He was tall, with a face that seemed carved from stone—sharp angles, cold eyes, and a posture that screamed authority. His gaze flicked over me, then settled on Lyra. "You're new."

"We have something to sell," Lyra said, her voice steady. She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the fire crystals, holding it up so the light from the door caught its surface. It glowed, a warm, vibrant red that seemed to pulse with life.

The man's expression didn't change, but his eyes lingered on the crystal a beat longer than necessary. "High purity," he said finally, his voice low. "Where'd you get it?"

"Made it," I said, stepping forward. The weight of his gaze shifted to me, and I forced myself to meet it without flinching. "We're looking for buyers who'll pay what it's worth."

He studied me for a moment, then nodded. "I'll take it. And if you can keep making them at this quality, I'll give you a price above market. Steady supply, no questions asked."

Lyra's eyes met mine, a flicker of triumph in them, but she kept her voice cool. "Deal."

In excitement I and Lyra returned home. I sat cross-legged on the floor of our tiny workshop, the air thick with the faint hum of energy. A cluster of mana crystals sat in front of me, their surfaces dim and lifeless. I pressed my palms against them, focusing on the currents of energy flowing through me. Fire crystals were one thing, but if we wanted to stand out, we needed something rarer. Something no one else could produce.

"Void crystals," I muttered, recalling the vague descriptions I'd read in the Academy's archives. They were said to bend space itself, a prized commodity for anyone involved in dimensional magic or high-end alchemy. The problem was, no one knew how to make them. Supposedly, they just appeared, formed in the remnants of collapsed rifts or ancient battlefield sites. But if I could convert mana into something like that…

The first attempt was a disaster. The mana I poured into the crystal cracked the lattice structure, leaving it blackened and useless. I cursed under my breath, tossing the ruined crystal aside. "Too much, too fast," I muttered, grabbing another one and adjusting my approach. This time, I funneled the energy slower, carefully shaping it into something denser, darker. The crystal flickered, a faint shadow swirling within it, but it still wasn't right. It felt like trying to capture smoke with my bare hands.

Across the room, Lyra's holo-terminal lit up, casting a soft blue glow. She leaned back in her chair, stretching her arms. "I'm heading into the Expanse," she said. "If we're dealing with high-end buyers, I need to level up. Can't have them thinking they can just muscle us out of the deal."

"Good call," I said, not looking up. My focus was on the next crystal in my hand, the way it seemed to resist the energy I was trying to mold. "Just… be careful. You know how it gets in there."

"I'm always careful," she shot back, her tone light but with an edge of seriousness. She strapped the neural interface to her temple, her fingers moving with practiced ease. "Besides, someone's got to keep us both alive while you're playing mad scientist."

I didn't respond, too absorbed in the work. The third crystal felt different in my hands, the mana flowing into it like water into a vessel. I concentrated, imagining the energy twisting, compressing, folding in on itself. The crystal darkened, the light around it bending as if sucked into a vortex. When I pulled my hands away, it shimmered faintly, a deep obsidian black with swirls of silver that pulsed like distant stars.

"Void crystal," I whispered, a grin spreading across my face. It wasn't perfect—it lacked the raw power of the legends—but it was close. Close enough to sell. Close enough to make us stand out.

Lyra's terminal chimed softly as she logged into the Expanse, her eyes closing as the connection took hold. I watched her for a moment, then turned back to the crystals, already planning the next batch. The demand was only going to grow, and we had to be ready.