╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶
????
STORM OF SCYTHE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
Two of his activations did nothing, but the third one worked. It seemed there was a rhythm for using this contract. It had a delay between activations.
By pure luck, the third one hit directly on target, engulfing the oily girl in a cylinder of cuts as it decimated the tower chamber in a straight line.
She flew from the impact, high above the trees.
He leapt across the debris to catch her as fast as he could, slapping sliced trees off his path. He pushed himself faster and faster using all four of his limbs on every dent in the ground for grip. She was his singular focus, growing ever larger in his vision as he went.
He made it to her landing site before she did.
She splashed forth a curtain of oil as she came down and sparked it alight immediately.
He swiped his hand like he was swatting a fly.
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶
????
STORM OF SCYTHE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
The oil wall itself got sliced to a fine mist, sparks raining all around him. The storm of cuts engulfed her at point-blank range as she was already on a landing trajectory. She protected herself again, and got tossed higher by the impact. She missed her landing entirely.
He was already counting seconds to the next activation, having gotten used to the rhythm and this attack pattern already. The contract had a delay that would allow him to trap her mid air, hitting her from different angles.
Again!
AGAIN!
╭ ╰︶?? BRAHMARA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶
????
STORM OF SCYTHE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╰︶ACTIVATE ︶╯
He’d found her weakness. She didn’t have any way of controlling herself mid-air. Her oil spurts couldn’t move her enough to miss the large cylindrical column of storm of scythe.
She couldn’t protect herself from the second one as she did the first. She brought up her arms to shield her face. The sleeves of her bodysuit ripped to shreds as deep gashes cut her flesh to her bones.
She screamed as she crashed into the trees. He was already on his way, and he was on top of her before she could even lower her bleeding arms. He slammed a foot on her stomach. She managed to dodge it with a roll. He lowered his knee across her before she could slip away.
Pinning her down into the mud, He pointed his hand directly at her face. Ready to activate the contract point blank.
“I win!”
I WIN!
╭ ╰︶?? ERITHERIA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ATTRIBUTE INCREASED ╰︶
????
CHAOS +1
[10]
????
DESTRUCTION +2
[11]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SKILL ACCQUIRED ╰︶
????
ATTRIBUTE [CHAOS] REACHED
THE FIRST THRESHOLD OF [10]
??
WRECK [1]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
The girl looked at him through the gap in her bleeding arms, her eyes glowing like molten iron, all eight of her pupils dancing desperately for a way out. Her bodysuit was slipping off her in a mixture of thick oil and blood. He pushed his knee down hard, but it slipped off her and sank into the soil. He pushed her down with his hand, pushing her into the ground as she coughed blood.
He saw it then.
MY GOLD!!
MY GOLD!!
All her gold was mixing with her blood, disappearing into her wounds as he watched. She lifted a trembling hand towards him. He grabbed it like a twig and crushed it as oil erupted from her fingertips. She screamed again as he lifted her off the ground and slammed her onto the ground to break all her bones.
He flung her around like a dirty rag, hitting all the trees and the ground with her in a furious rage. She was wasting all the gold that he went through all this trouble to get.
All her limbs fell limp, and useless around the third slam. She was already passed out by the fourth, her orange eyes rolled back.
“MY GOLD! GIVE ME!”
MY GOLD! GIVE ME!
She still had at least half her gold left, it quickly mixed with two deep cuts on her torso. He had to swallow her fast. He wrapped all her broken limbs around her and lifted her over his head like a neatly wrapped sausage.
He opened his mouth wide.
Suddenly, all his muscles froze. He tried squeezing her dead with his hands, but he couldn’t move at all. Invisible chains wrapped all around him, tying him to the floor. He’d never seen the girl use chains. She was supposed to be the oily girl. There were no chains involved. He remembered something like this happening earlier before he swallowed a man who tried to trap him in this exact way.
He was much bigger back then, and he was stronger. This girl’s chains felt different. These were immovable. He felt hundreds of them wrapping around him like snakes, seeking every unoccupied part of his body.
“Good fight, baby boy. You had your fun,” the girl whispered menacingly through pained gasps. Her blood and oil poured out of her mouth into his as she spoke. Her eyes were wide open, all eight pupils trained directly on him.
She coughed, sandwiched between his fingers. He felt her chest heave on his fingers. She moved her arm, and he felt it slithering on his palm like a worm.
“Playtime’s over now... time to go back to your egg,” she whispered as she wrestled her right hand to a position under her chest where she could poke it out just enough. She curled her index and middle fingers, holding them under her thumb ready to spring them open towards him.
What’s going on!
WHAT’S GOING ON!
This wasn’t how she used her fire beam, she wasn’t holding her breath or shaping her hand into a nozzle. She was getting ready for something else.
“Sweet dreams...baby boy,” she said with a menacing giggle and sprung her two fingers.
For a tiny fraction of a second, he felt like someone drove a man-sized nail through his mouth with a boulder-sized hammer. His vision fractured like glass, and he saw her bloodied grin in every falling fragment.
When he came to, he found himself face down on the dirt. Strange insects were crawling right before his eyes, and he was seeing the same insect from more than one angle.
Everything hurt.
The pain that he felt was nothing like he’d felt before. There was a pit carved into his heart with no bottom. His limbs had all gone numb. He was trapped in his body with nowhere else to run. He couldn’t move a single muscle except his eyes.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The position he lay crumpled on the floor was unimaginable. His eyes were facing two different directions. On one, he saw his foot twisted the wrong way, and in the other, his hand lay limp, bones broken in several places, like beaten with hammers.
What am I?
WHAT... AM...
He saw it in a knot of gold veins on the lower half of his right eye.
╭────────────────────╮
?╭─ GOLD ─╮?
╰ 0 ╯
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
?╭─ AURA ─╮?
╰ 22,464,057 ╯
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
That wasn’t what he was wondering about. He could no longer tell if he was even human or not. He couldn’t tell if he had any structure, if all his flesh clung properly to his bones or if his head was where it was supposed to be. He felt ‘smeared’ like a wet painting.
I should be dead.
I...SH..DE...
He wanted to be dead too. The bottomless pit of pain scared him more than anything. The last time he felt anything like this was when he transformed into an octopus man under the neon sign that fell on him. In a way, this was even worse. He didn’t want to live this way, even if he survived this.
Kill me! Please!
K..P...
He begged the world, the tower or anything that could read his mind. As he did, he remembered his brother and sister. He regretted everything, his whole life that led up to this moment. He’d missed all the small turns that would’ve sent him on another path. He saw Kysa crying herself to sleep every day, and Kylan becoming a drug addict. This was the future he’d be leaving them with.
He would definitely leave them with it, if he could leave at all. He didn’t want a future where he’d be a twisted pancake hooked to life support. His siblings would have to get over his death, even if it they got there decades later. He was selfish, and he hoped they would understand. He loved them very much, so he never wanted them to ever end up in a situation where they would ever understand these exact thoughts.
He buried their faces deep in the pit. They didn’t matter anymore. He had to find a way to die faster.
He was almost relieved when he saw two oily feet walk in from the left. The oily girl was already up and walking. He didn’t remember all the details that put him in this situation, but he remembered fragments from their fight. It made no sense why it even happened. He’d broken all her bones over something childish. He’d been a different person, a different thing. She did something to him at the end of that fight, something that shattered him into several pieces in a split second.
“K...”
KIL...
He tried to speak to her, ask her to finish the job. He could only feel the left side of his mouth. The sound didn’t even come out. He felt his throat move, but it only hurt him even further. There was something else that he noticed. His mouth failed to say the word, but there was a voice inside his head that said it, anyway.
What the hell is this?
WA...TH...HE...IS...THI
There it was. He’d just begun to notice it. This wasn’t his voice at all. It was mimicking every word off his thoughts. He remembered the black egg. The king that he saw inside it. King swallowed him in a red world. He saw a sky full of stars in King’s stomach. He’d been the king all along. He realized this way too late, after swallowing and throwing up close to a hundred people and trying to beat the oily girl to death. He hadn’t really noticed the voice hiding under his own, or the thoughts that were buried right below his.
Get out! Get out!
GE...OU...
The oily girl crossed over to his right side, where his eye was facing a more horizontal angle. She was wearing an oil drenched black dress shirt four times her size. It hung loosely over her thin shoulders, unlike her bodysuit that clung to her skin.
She bent over and started rummaging around his twisted corpse looking for something. Her wet, oversized shirt blocked most of it, buttons brushing some unidentifiable part of his face somewhere.
“There it is,” she whispered, standing up. She adjusted her shirt and sat down on the ground next to him, placing something down where he could see it.
The black egg. It had pulsing back tendrils twisting around him, sinking into his flesh like a parasite.
“Hurts everywhere. You beat the shit outta me, sir,” she sighed, rotating her right shoulder joint. It popped loudly. “My joints keep sliding off their sockets. I healed all wrong in a hurry. Oil getting in the way. Ugh.”
She cracked her neck and winced when something else popped. “Ruined my bodysuit too. I had to strip this from one of the dead guys.” She shook the collar of her shirt. “It’s hard finding anything that works, you know. Everything just slides right off me.” She casually pulled the neckline to show him how easily this shirt would slide off her. She could easily wear it as an off-shoulder dress if she pulled it hard once.
“Anyway....” She turned and set her bright orange eyes on him. They both had one pupil each. She wasn’t mind hacking him anymore. “This whole thing went completely wrong. You look terrible, sir.”
You did it!
YO...DI..IT!!
He had no words to express the pure rage that burst out of him. He would’ve actually choked this brat to death if he still had arms that listened to him.
“ ...I’m really sorry. sir,” she said, her voice lower than before. “But I really didn’t know. I haven’t seen anything like that before. I didn’t know that fucked up baby was going to play you like an R/C toy... ”
She sighed, rubbing her forehead.
So that’s what happened!
TH...S W...HAP...D
“I have no idea why you started gulping people down all of a sudden, though,” she leaned back to a resting pose, as if they were relaxing at the beach discussing life.
“I saw you fighting everyone, I was running away, but you did the red voice domain thing, and just swallowed me! Gross! I’ve been in worse places though, so... it wasn’t too bad.”
She paused, thinking for a second.
“I saw something after I woke up and made you throw me up. See, you had this fricking Erynnis contract active—this one, I’ll show you.”
Her pupils dilated and divided into four as she casually mind hacked an image into his eyes.
╭ ╰︶?? ERITHERIA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ACTIVATION SUCCESS ╰︶
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ NAME ╰︶
????
NAMELESS
??
NOM LOR EKIN
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SENTIENCE ╰︶
????
100%
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ AURA ╰︶
????
22,464,057
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ACTIVITY ╰︶
????
AFFECTED BY: DROP OF TRUE LOVE
????
AFFECTED BY: DROP OF TRUE LOVE
????
AFFECTED BY: DROP OF TRUE LOVE
????
AFFECTED BY: DROP OF TRUE LOVE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
“I’ve actually never seen this one before,” she continued, “so I looked for it and found this. It’s not even a full contract.” Her pupils fluctuated as another image replaced the previous one. Arcen was more than frustrated.
He didn’t ask for this analysis, but this brat was going on and on about things that meant nothing to him as he was lying here twisted like a spider slammed with a slipper.
╭ ╰︶?? ERYNNIS ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CONTRACT ╰︶
????
DROP OF TRUE LOVE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ DUALITY ╰︶
????
LOVE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ TYPE ╰︶
????
SUB
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ PARENT CONTRACT ╰︶
????
TRUE LOVE
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ RANK ╰︶
????
FIRST
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ DESCRIPTION ╰︶
????
INDUCES A GENUINE
SENSE OF UNCONDITIONAL
AFFECTION IN A TARGET
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ CONDITIONS ╰︶
????
TARGET MUST HAVE
ABOVE 95% SENTIENCE
??
REQUIRES BLOOD
CONTACT
??
EFFECTS DISSIPATE
AFTER SEVENTY FOUR
SECONDS
??
EFFECT CAN STACK UP
TO SIX TIMES IF SIX
TIMES THE AMOUNT
OF BLOOD IS MIXED
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ COST ╰︶
????
90 AURA
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
“See, It’s not even a main contract. It’s a subcontract. The lowest tier. Costs like, nothing. It’s a weird one, don’t you think?” she asked, as if he cared about any of this.
“I think it costs so low because it’s not doing much. All it can do is make you feel all lovey dovey for like one minute, and it needs blood to do that! what a stupid subcontract! why would anyone climb a tower to get something like this done with Erynnis?”
She looked genuinely puzzled the more she spoke. Arcen could not be more annoyed with her. He never imagined his death to happen like this, trapped in his own body, having no choice but to listen to a twelve-year-old talk about bullshit that he didn’t understand.
I don’t care!
I DON CAR!
“Ah, I forgot you don’t know about these things. So, a subcontract is when you ask for a smaller piece of a bigger contract—”
God, kill me! please!
GO…. KIL… ME… PEAS
“—To ask for one, you have to meet the one that gave you the big one. Not easy. It’s mostly the top climbers that do it because they can sell these subcontracts to a lot of people. Some subcontracts can work outside towers as well if you register them with the GGC, so… ” she paused, tapping her lower lip. “I wonder if someone was selling a lot of true love, hmm? Now, why would anyone do that?”
Arcen heard her voice more distant as she went on and on, talking to herself like he was a plushie on her bed. The corners of his vision were darkening. His breath dragged on.
Death was coming, and it wasn’t coming fast enough.
He wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted now. The buried pictures of his siblings resurfaced. He felt fear ripple through him despite his resolve. He wished he got to see them one last time, tell them in words what he’d never been able to tell. He wanted one more movie night with them, one more hug with Kysa, play a game with his brother, he wanted to touch Gollum, visit his mother’s tree, he wanted to drink himself blind on a Saturday, go to work on Monday and wish Jenna good morning.
He hadn’t lived enough. He was leaving it all behind in a moment, disappearing forever.
He’d tried to do just that eight times before. None of them felt as bad as this one. He realized it too late, as bitter as he was, he was just older, and he’d slowly learned to live in the last eight years.
What a waste…
WHA…A…WAS…E
He was determined to die quietly just a few minutes ago. He couldn’t have been more wrong. He was actually going to die screaming.
╭ ╰︶?? ERITHERIA ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ ATTRIBUTE INCREASED ╰︶
????
TRUTH +1
[10]
????
DESPAIR +1
[11]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
╭────────────────────╮
︶╯ SKILL ACCQUIRED ╰︶
????
ATTRIBUTE [TRUTH] REACHED
THE FIRST THRESHOLD OF [10]
??
REVEAL [1]
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
“Is it time?” The oily girl asked, leaning towards his right eye. “It is!” she smiled pleasantly. “Don’t be scared, sir. I’ve helped people die before. I know what I’m doing. I’ll hold your hand. It’s just like going to sleep.”
Arcen couldn’t have imagined something he wanted less at this moment. She did it anyway. She grabbed his limp hand off the ground, wrangled it under her arm and wove her fingers between his. She lay down close enough for him to see the veins on her sclera, the oil oozing out of her skin pores.
She’d somehow found the perfect way to ruin his death. At this point, he couldn’t even hate her. It was impressive. It didn’t even matter what he felt about it anymore.
The world blurred as his fractured eyes lost focus, and he stopped trying to keep them open.
“I’ll fix you up, sir,” he heard her whisper as his eyelids fell across his irises. “Did I ever tell you we’re cousins you—“
What!
WH—
“∴∷???∷∵∴∵??∷??∷∵”
The hum grew louder in his ears, and gold veins burst into a blurry pattern that he could barely comprehend.
╭ ╰︶?? CHRONOS ?? ︶╯ ╮
╭────────────────────╮
YOU WERE ALWAYS AN
ENTERTAINING SPECIMEN
╰─────────╮╭────────╯
