Chapter 162: Vex – The Gloomy Merchant!

The stall before them looked empty, just a long stretch of floating cloth covered in an assortment of peculiar wares.

They could seedark feathers that hummed faintly with mana, glass orbs that reflected nothing, and a series of tiny bottled shadows, each swirling as though alive. The space behind the stall, however, seemed to breathe. The air shimmered faintly, like heat over a black road.

Then…the eyes. Two luminous green eyes blinked open in the dark, slitted like a cat’s, the pupils narrowing as they adjusted to the dim moonlight. They hovered there for a moment, disembodied, staring directly into Albedo and Elara’s souls.

Elara nearly flinched. Albedo didn’t. He just stared back. Then, with a sigh so long it could have come from a grave, a small figure materialized beneath the eyes.

“…oh. It’s you again,” came the flat, unamused voice.

The figure was small, her height barely reaching Lilian’s waist, with noticeable purple fur all across her body that made it clear she wasn’t Human at all. Vex’s face was fixed in a very deadpan, unamused expression, with eyes that were large and striking luminous green, but shadowed by a lack of enthusiasm.

Her ears were long and drooped slightly, as if they couldn’t be bothered to stand up straight, and her deep, midnight blue hair had strands fall over her face, which she didn’t bother to push away.

Her expression was… indescribably done with everything.

Vex.

“Vex,” Lilian greeted warmly, unfazed by the gloom radiating off the little being, “Still brooding, I see.”

Vex blinked slowly, deadpan, “I’m not brooding. I’m existing. It’s different. Existing just… happens. Brooding requires effort.”

Lilian chuckled softly and leaned on the stall, her crimson eyes bright against the dimness, “Still the same as ever.”

“I’d say the same about you,” Vex murmured, shifting her hood back slightly. Her fur shimmered faintly in the spectral light, the edges of her form blurring slightly as if she wasn’t entirely bound to the physical realm, “Still dragging random people into my corner of misery,”

Lilian smiled teasingly, “Ignore her, she doesn’t mean it. That’s just how she… exists.”

Vex’s expression didn’t change. “No, I meant it. But it’s fine. You’re still alive. That’s punishment enough.”

Albedo, who had been quietly observing, finally spoke, “You have quite the attitude for a merchant.”

Vex turned her luminous eyes on him, “I have quite the disdain for small talk.”

Lilian snorted, covering her mouth, “Vex is… an acquired taste,” she said. “But she’s the best merchant in the Shadow Isles. She trades in things most others don’t even know exist.”

Vex gave a small shrug, resting her chin on her paw. “I used to. Now I just sell what people bring me. Mostly trinkets, regrets, bottled whispers, the usual.”

Elara tilted her head curiously, stepping closer to the stall. “Regrets?”

Vex flicked a finger toward a row of floating bottles along the back of the stall. Inside each one swirled a faintly glowing mist, blue or purple, constantly shifting shape. Some looked like faces for brief moments — sorrowful, pleading, lost.

“Souls who couldn’t move on leave… pieces of themselves behind,” Vex explained, her tone monotonous but oddly gentle, “These pieces can be anything, from memories, to techniques to help you in combat. What you get depends on your luck,”

Elara’s eyes widened, both horrified and fascinated. “You trade those?”

“People pay for everything,” Vex said with a shrug. “Especially for things they shouldn’t have.”

Lilian looked back at Albedo and Elara with a small smile. “See? Told you she’s one of a kind.”

Vex yawned then, a long, lazy sound that didn’t match the weight of the air around her, “Anyway. If you’re here to window shop, don’t. The Shadows are restless tonight. Buy something or move along.”

Lilian leaned over the counter, propping her chin on her hand. “Oh, come on, Vex. Be nice. These two are new to the Isles. You wouldn’t curse a first-time visitor, would you?”

Vex blinked a couple times as she heard that, looking Albedo and Elara up and down, her eyes faintly glowing as she did that.

While Elara couldn’t feel anything, Albedo could definitely feel a strange, alien like aura washing across his body for a couple seconds before spontaneously disappearing.

Then, as Vex’s eyes dimmed back to their natural states, she muttered flatly, “Probably not. Unless they ask for a discount. No discounts!”

Elara laughed nervously and Albedo smirked faintly.

“Relax,” Lilian said cheerfully, gesturing between them, “This is Albedo Neverwinter and Elara Vance, both exchange students from Zephyr Academy.Albedo’s a little too serious for his own good, and Elara’s… well, she’d probably dissect your lantern if you let her.”

“Lilian,” Elara hissed, cheeks coloring as she stared at the Vampire.

Vex’s eyes narrowed slightly, glancing between the two, “Hmm. Humans. Haven’t seen those in a while.” She leaned closer toward Albedo, her green eyes reflecting his faintly. “You smell like death.”

Elara stiffened, but Albedo’s expression remained calm, “I get that a lot.”

Vex tilted her head, “It’s not an insult. Death’s honest. The living lie more often. I’ve never heard a lie from a dead man,” the creature said and a brief silence followed.

Lilian’s amused smile softened a bit, her gaze flicking between the two of them. The air around the stall seemed thicker now, charged, but not hostile. Vex’s aura, though oppressive, wasn’t malicious. It was… heavy. Like grief turned tangible.

Then, with a small wave of her paw, several of the objects on her table and from underneath the table floated up into the air.

“Fine. You want to browse? Go ahead. Just don’t touch anything that breathes.”

Elara’s eyes widened. “…anything that breathes?”

Before Vex could answer, one of the trinkets on the edge of the table, a small cube of shifting black glass, exhaled softly, a faint puff of mist escaping from within. Elara took an immediate step back.

“Yeah,” Vex said flatly. “Like that.”

Lilian chuckled, brushing a lock of hair from her face. “Same as always.”

Lilian looked at the duo to explain, “That’s a Null Prism, an artifact formed from the body parts of an Ancient Void Beast. The product is extremely rare, and it’s used as a crystallized fragment of nothingness, which essentially means it’s used as a temporary nullifier.”

Albedo and Elara were intrigued as they heard that, and looked at Vex, who rolled her eyes.

“Same as always is a luxury. You wouldn’t believe how many idiots try to steal things here.” She flicked her paw again, and a small, feathered charm floated toward Albedo. It was dark silver, inscribed with faint runes that pulsed gently when it neared him.

“This one’s old,” Vex said quietly. “Came from a battlefield where the shadows still remember the screams. It binds to willpower. If you falter in purpose, it turns to dust. If you hold strong, it becomes part of you.”

Albedo caught it lightly, feeling the faint pulse beneath the metal. It vibrated like a heartbeat, his heartbeat.

“How much?” he asked.

Vex studied him for a moment. Then, very slowly, she smiled, a small, almost imperceptible curl of her lips.

“Depends,” she said softly. “What’s something you’d rather forget?”

Albedo’s expression didn’t change, but something flickered behind his eyes.

Lilian exhaled, half amused, half exasperated, “You and your trades, Vex.”

“It’s how this place works,” Vex replied simply. “Everything has a price. What you use for your transactions means nothing to the dead, and to people born in death like me,”

Elara, unable to help herself, finally asked, “So what happens to what you take? The memories, the emotions?”

Vex looked up at the sky, her voice distant, “In my stomach of course. As someone born from death, I use memories, emotions, feelings, things like that to get stronger,”

Elara and Albedo were quite shocked by that, with Elara whipping out her notebook to write that down due to her curiousity.

A strange silence followed. The market hummed faintly around them, the sound of distant spectral laughter mingling with the rustle of ghostly banners. Albedo placed the charm back down, his gaze steady.

“I’ll think about it,” he said.

Vex gave a small shrug, “Don’t take too long. Things here tend to… forget they exist, and I have better things to do than making them remember,”

Lilian smirked and stepped away from the stall, beckoning the others to follow. “Come on, you two. Let’s let her get back to her eternal despair.”

Vex gave a lazy wave, already turning back to her wares. “Bye, Lilian. Try not to die. Or do. Whatever.”

Lilian laughed, her crimson eyes gleaming under the ghost-light, “You too, Vex, we’ll be back soon probably,”

As the three of them walked away, Elara glanced back once. Vex was still there, small, still, and surrounded by impossible things. Yet somehow, she looked lonelier than anyone Elara had ever seen.

The glow in her eyes disappeared, and Vex vanished before their eyes, probably back to where she came from until the trio returned in case they wanted to purchase something.

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