Avatar Auction (Avatar series #1)

  “Oh, no,” I say and step backward but, fall bumping my buttocks onto the floor. I cover my face seeing Nixie throwing her body at me holding her nails up. She lands on my stomach and clutches my blond hair. I push her face with my hands, even slap her cheeks but, the drunken woman is reckless. My right hand fumbles for something to use as a weapon, maybe a slipper and I grip something firmer. I manage to check what it is while Nixie is shaking my head by my hair. It’s a glass beer bottle. I want to toss it at her but, I still have a gentleman’s spirit, even in a woman’s body. I grasp the bottle neck and throw it against a glass wall. When she turns her head, astonished at the blast, I pull her necklace off, move backward and get it away from her.

  “You!” says Nixie, running to me. I run backwards until I reach a large door. I try to open it but, it’s locked. I use the key to open it, enter a dark room and quickly lock it.

  I place my hand on the door and exhale. I grope for a light on a wall and push the button. It gives me no light but, a ding-dong. It was a bell with a familiar sound. I lift my hand and touch a wooden ceiling and steel door in front.

  “It really works,” I whisper in delight. My BTT avatar took me to Hera’s house.

  CHAPTER 29

  I jump over the high wall and land down inside their garden where fireflies play. I tip toe towards Hera’s door. I helped her father when he built this house so, I know the structure that each room has an individual door from the outside. Her room is located on the right wing. I knock the door twice and wait for her response. No answer. Will she be sleeping or waiting to see the invader herself? I consider whispering “I am Cine Moon” but I give up, knowing it will sound more suspicious in my avatar’s voice.

  I look back to see if her parents woke up after hearing the bell. It’s deadly quiet. They might be deep-sleepers. Anyway it will be Hera who wakes them up before I take them to their motherland.

  I open her door quietly, expecting to see her sleeping on her bed, but I find it empty.

  Is she sleeping in the other room? I look around from left to right, leaving the door open for some light. Her room did not change much. She has a bed, a desk with a chair and a closet. I remember the closet that has four doorknobs. As I messed up when painting, I had to paint the backside and make it the front door. So, it has two doorknobs inside as well. Is she hiding there? I think and walk to the closet. I notice I was wrong as I hear breathing from my right. I turn to see her ready to attack me.

  “No, Hera,” I gasp, shaking my head and hastily walking backward to the opposite wall. She dashes towards me holding an academic divider. “It’s me, Cine Moon!” I shout but, it is subdued by her yell. She’s going to wake up her parents and hurt the invader at the same time. What a smart girl!

  I am stuck in a corner while her divider is about to prick my, no, my avatar’s neck. I crouch down quickly and run to the other side of the room while she’s trying to take out the divider stuck in the wall. I open the doors of the closet, jump in and tightly hold the knobs from inside. I hear her footsteps and clasp them even more firmly, expecting her to try opening the doors. But, she does not even touch the doorknobs, instead she immediately begins to spear the wooden doors randomly.

  “Father, mother, hurry up! We have a thief! Bring your weapons!” she shouts, piercing the closet non-stop. Why did I enter here? I regret with a fear that my fingers would be drilled.

  “Hera!”

  “Where’s the thief?”

  I hear her parents. They must be holding a saw. Hera’s father is an architect and I saw all the spiky tools he handled professionally. Oh, please, I don’t want to die here! Especially when I’m in a body of a stranger!

  “Step aside,” says Hera’s dad, calmly and firmly. I can feel he’s approaching. I hear his breath near me. There’s no more time to delay.

  “Listen! Listen to me! Hera and everyone, please! I’m Cine Moon! I’m General Moon!” I scream while it is quiet out there.

  “General Moon?” Mr. Lee asks.

  “She’s lying! She’s a woman! I saw her breasts!”

  “Yes, yes, she’s right. I’m a transgender!”

  “What?” all of them react.

  “So please, please, don’t attack me. I shouldn’t hurt my body, please!” It’s Cooper’s article!

  The door is being pulled from outside powerfully. I struggle but my avatar cannot win him over. As the doors fling open, I drop down onto the floor and see them surrounding me. I shrink, watching the weapons in their hands: a kitchen knife of Hera’s mom, a hammer of her father and her divider.

  “You have no weapon?” asks Hera’s dad.

  “No, no, no,” I answer swiftly covering my face, scared. I see Hera’s legs moving toward me through the gaps between my fingers. “Please don’t prick my face,” I beg with a shaking voice. Hera kneels in front of me then pulls my finger away from my face with her small fingers. She is not holding her weapon anymore.

  “You are really General Moon?”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened to your voice?”

  “I bought it as well.”

  “From the doctor?”

  “Yes.”

  Her face distorts woefully at my answer. “You’re terrible. How could you do this to me?” She begins weeping, punching me with her tiny fists. “Bring him back! Bring back my first love!”

  “Hera, don’t cry.” I embrace her and let her soak my bosoms. A tear rolls down my cheek as I think of sending them off to their motherland. Tonight will be the last night for her and me in STT.

  CHAPTER 30

  “It’s a revolution!”

  I hear a woman’s screech and following gun shots while I explain that I will take them out of the country now.

  “Revolution?” Hera looks up, startled.

  “I knew they would make it with their kids,” I murmur to myself. “Anyway, we have to hurry.”

  “But, General, are you sure you can time travel? Then why were you stuck in the closet a while ago?” asks Hera’s dad.

  “That’s a pertinent remark, sir. The truth is I forgot my new ability for a while. Hera was about to pierce my neck! I know it isn’t convincing at all. But we have to escape as soon as possible!”

  Hera’s mom nods. “I’ll only wear something above my lingerie and take a few things.”

  “Yes, how about you sir, do you have anything to take with you?”

  “No, I don’t think so. But maybe the money, they are buttons but still covered with gold.”

  “Okay, sir, please hurry.”

  He nods and follows his wife outside.

  I turn to Hera. She shakes her head “no”, fastening buttons of her jacket.

  “It’s December in Korea. It’s freezing.”

  I smile and kneel to look at her face to face. “Are you happy to leave?”

  “I think so.”

  “What’s that answer? Be clear.”

  “Make yourself clear first. You’re lying. This body isn’t yours. A person can’t be shorter with one surgery.”

  “It is possible here.”

  “You said only the rich can afford surgeries. How did you manage?”

  “His friend sold his life,” says a voice behind me.

  Freezing and emotionless. You know who that is. I stand up, fixing my eyes on him. Just then, doors behind him open and Hera’s parents come out.

  “Are you ready to leave?” asks Zeus turning back to them. Their eyes widen with amazement.

  “You! That’s him, General Moon. That’s the agent who brought us here!” exclaims Hera’s dad.

  “Right, he’s the man,” says Hera, “the cheat. Give everything back you fraud! That’s the money my parents earned working for several years!”

  “Hera, calm down,” I say, patting her.

  “I only did what Minister ordered. If you want, I can take you to her office so you can call her fraud directly. Then the schedule will be advanced. She planned to sell you if you produce five children. Yes, that’s w
hy your family is brought here. To supply more avatars or testers.”

  “Testers? We are not fucking lab rats,” says Hera.

  “I don’t like the way you talk to me. What do you think Cine Moon? Do you think I should inject a ‘bullet of manners’?” Zeus says, pushing his hand into his jacket. There must be the gun. I quickly pull her behind my back.

  “Why did you come back?” says Zeus, aiming the gun at me. “I planned to let you go.”

  You big fat liar. “How’s Gascon? Did you return his soul back to his body?”

  Zeus chuckles at my voice. “Of course, mademoiselle.”

  “Are you going to sell him as well?”

  “If Minister wants extra buttons, yes. But not for tonight. We already hunted for a bunch of roaches.”

  “The rebels?”

  “No. Minister said to calm them down with bullets only. You hear the gun shots? By the way don’t you want to know who were sold tonight? They were your friends as well.”

  “A bunch of roaches” and “my friends”.

  My eyes broaden.

  Zeus smirks. “Morning Call.” The next moment, I feel the cold muzzle of the gun on my right ear. “They were expecting you for their assembly. Which means… you definitely read their newspaper which means… you support their rebellious words. I don’t think that’s all. You were a wirepuller. You used Morning Call to augment your followers and to expand them even to MTT. How do I know? The boys. Cine and Moon. They were sons of the editor.”

  “What?”

  “Why act? You were intensifying your power, breeding post Cine Moons to prepare this revolt. And now you are going to flee, knowing your end?”

  “Wrong. I had no courage for that. You know everything about me!” Because my body was your avatar!

  Zeus snorts, hearing my mind. “Who knows what you were thinking? You learned how to deceive a mind reader from your BTT friend and sometimes acted without thinking ahead or giving me a hint. Look at Cooper. Look at how he fooled his bodylord in the Avatar Triathlon.”

  “Bodylord? You could never own him!”

  “Oh, yeah, how about you?” says Zeus, pulling my head down. His eyes carry insanity. “What kind of avatar are you, huh?” He pushes his gun into my mouth. I hear Hera’s gasp and hold her tightly, hoping that she does not do anything to provoke this mad man.

  I’m not your avatar anymore. I’m in a new body, I think clearly.

  He laughs at my words.

  “You’re really unpredictable. You are misunderstanding something very seriously…”

  “Zeus, we are done. The place was horrible wall-painted with Cine Moon,” says Bacchus as he appears in front of us. He rubs his eyes and rotates his neck. “I even felt teleport sick for the first time in my life after seeing all… Who’s this beauty?” he says, looking at me and licks his lips disgustingly. He is certainly drunk as he bows to a woman whose mouth is stuck with a muzzle.

  “Let me, let me introduce myself, Ms…”

  Zeus grunts at Bacchus, removes his gun from my mouth and shoves my head down to bow to him.

  “Hera,” she says, stretching her hand to Bacchus so calmly.

  “Hera?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is she your sister?” he asks her, pointing to me and gripping her hand to shake.

  “He’s my man.” Hera punctures his wrist with her divider. Oh, no. Bacchus pulls his hand out of hers and lifts it up to see the divider stuck in his wrist. He realizes that he was attacked and stretches the other hand to clasp Hera’s face. He will distort her face with one grip!

  “No!” I promptly rotate my body and embrace Hera to block his hand. I see Zeus’s hand has been separated, before I teleport out of this place. To the only place he can’t follow.

  CHAPTER 31

  We arrive in my domain. Even though I didn’t think of how my domain should look like, it is already fully constructed. It has an extra high ceiling, exquisite chandeliers, and chairs around a high table.

  “This place looks amazing. But it’s a little too cold, isn’t it?” says Hera.

  I pause at her word and look around. The floor, wall, and the table are made of ice. We are in a fabulous Eskimo house. I naturally scout around to find anything that is connected to Zeus. I must be affected by him when designing this domain. That’s all. I can’t feel his presence.

  “Hera, wait here. I’ll be back with your parents,” I say, before teleporting back to her house.

  She clutches my legs. “No, it’s dangerous! They were already captured by one of them. He had weapons as well.”

  That must be Ares. “Don’t worry. I brought you here, safely. I’ll come back with them.”

  “You better listen to her.”

  I freeze at the voice. How come?

  “How could I enter here?” Zeus says and walks toward us. “You are in my domain. Welcome.”

  Why am I here? I intended my domain, not his, before he could invite us. I moved first. Why did it happen? Is there anything I don’t understand?

  “You’re my avatar.”

  But I changed my body.

  He chuckles again then shakes his head as if he’s dealing with a helplessly stupid student. “I didn’t buy your body. I bought your soul.”

  “You bought my soul,” I repeat his words, dumbstruck.

  “That means regardless of how many times you change your body, you are still in my possession. You’re forever mine.”

  Questions remain. Where and when did he buy me? Is it before I erased my memory? And why did he try to hunt his own avatar? Is he really telling me the truth? Isn’t he using some kind of trick to fool me?

  “However you refuse, the fact does not change. You want some evidence?”

  I nod yes. I want to know the truth. I want to know the master of my life.

  “Amelia. Do you remember her?” says Zeus.

  Of course I remember the poor girl who was sold to the Avatar Auction after being shaved of her orange hair and starved as she refused eating. She really became a patient after being declared so. But what about Amelia?

  “Question here. How did you know about her?”

  I blink twice. How?

  “Who gave you the information? Who told you to meet her?”

  I try to evoke the morning. Visiting her was the first thing I did after having breakfast.

  “You just walked straight to the hospital and told the nurse that you were there for an investigation. The truth is, no one asked you to do such investigation.”

  I open my mouth to say no but, my lips clamp shut immediately. I see him gesturing me to close my mouth with his fingers. He’s controlling my body and movement. He smiles and goes on, “I wanted you to meet her, instead of me, because I knew she would tell you the truth but, not to me. That’s why I bought you. To track cockroaches hiding in your district. They appeared in front of you calling themselves your devotees… And there she is. Our next item.” He opens up his palm.

  “Give me the sinner.”

  CHAPTER 32

  No. No, I can’t send her!

  A sinner will be taken to the courtroom where the evil Judge awaits. But my hands and my legs move as he orders. I’m dragging her, walking toward Zeus holding a firm grip of her wrist. She struggles, hitting my arms and poking my fingers with her nails. Stronger, Hera! Stop me! I can’t even talk as I like. My eyes turned obedient and my lips politely curled. I now lift her and carry her in my arms as her feet resisted moving forward.

  “Wake up, General Moon! Wake up!” Hera cries and slaps my face. That’s it, Hera, give more force. Wake me up! But we are close enough to Zeus already that I kneel and hand Hera over to him.

  He thrusts his hand and strokes my chin. “Good job, dog.”

  I hear Hera’s groan and her angry voice. “What are you doing to him?” Then, a slap. I look up with amazement while Zeus’s focus shrinks for an instant by her assault. There I see Zeus back to the usual ice guy without a hint of mercy in his eyes. It’s a chance! I
catch the moment and grasp her to teleport out of the place. He will follow us but, she can avoid his angry raid even for a moment.

  Teleport! I order my avatar. Teleport, teleport, teleport!

  “No one can leave my domain without my consent,” says Zeus, lifting her up from my hands.

  “No, don’t do anything to Hera. Please! You can do anything to me,” I beg him, kneeling at his feet.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll do everything to you,” says Zeus coolly.

  “Don’t take her. Don’t take her!”

  “General, don’t worry about us. You did your best,” says Hera, disappearing from my view.

  CHAPTER 33

  Did I? Did I do my best to secure you? No, I didn’t, Hera!

  “Hera, I lost you right in front of my eyes… I let him take you…,” I bawl, falling to the ice floor.

  “Where’s Zeus inviting me here?”

  I turn back at the voice and see a woman in a doctor’s gown. She is grumbling in unrecognizable words, sitting in a chair next to the high table. She notices me and gives me a big smile.

  “Hey? Ms. Cine Moon!”

  I pause. “Why are you here?”

  I didn’t know she had any contact with other BTTs. Especially with Zeus.

  “He called me here.”

  I dash to her, shouting “Please help me!”

  “Are you asking me to save you from him?”

  “Please take me out of here. Please Chickie, he brought my friend. We should save her!”

  I hear a sigh behind me. I know without turning back. Zeus is back.

  “Why is he this stupid? Are you sure you didn’t help him cheating in the board exam?”

  “Of course not,” says Chickie casually.

  They look too friendly and comfortable with each other. Something’s strange.

  “Chickie, were you his friend?” Please say no!