Alex stared at the words within Glint’s card, waiting for sothing else. But sothing else never ca. That seed to be the extent of the ssage.
The Silver Conclave? Is that a person? A group? What do they have to do with Glint? Shit, I have so many goddamn questions.
He forcibly swallowed down his excitent. Getting ahead of himself was a bad idea. The card had made one thing clear. This was a contract. And that ant the power wasn’t free. It was a deal.
If he showed up looking like so snot-nosed brat with absolutely no idea as to what the hell he was doing — which was a rather apt description for his current position in comparison with the rest of the System — then this Silver Conclave would eat him alive.
I’ll be damned if I sign my soul away to the System’s equivalent of a shitty music managent company.
Alex cracked his neck. Then he summoned his tuxedo back over himself, covering his face with the bone canine mask once again. This wasn’t a eting that just anyone could show up to.
Just ‘Alex’ was nowhere near sufficient. He was going to need a persona… and one that he could throw away if things went really south.
Okay. How do I speak with this Conclave thing? Do I have to do sothing? There’s no way the Spatial Mirror just automatically accepted the offer or sothing, right?
Alex touched the surface of the mirror shard. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. The words just floated there, beneath the surface, in wait of recognition. He tilted his head slightly to the side.
“Do I have to say sothing?” Alex wondered. “Maybe a verbal confirmation, like, yes, I’m willing to hear the contract out?”
The Spatial Mirror changed the instant his words left his mouth. A ripple of darkness blood across the surface of the shard. It filled the entirety of the mirror within instants, turning it pitch black.
Then sothing shifted in Alex’s stomach. He felt the ground of his Mind Palace suddenly grow unsteady. The card in his hand started to tremble. A violent gale whipped past him with a howl. His eyes only had an instant to widen behind his mask before he found himself yanked off his feet and pulled into the darkness swirling within his own card.
Shadows slithered past him like rushing water. There was sothing more within them than just re absence of light. He could have sworn he saw eyes lurking within the empty dark, peering at him as he hurtled past their domains.
But before he could process what was happening for more than a few instants, Alex’s ass t a chair with enough force to send his heart up into his throat. It would have been a very uncomfortable landing if the chair hadn’t been quite so… comfortable.
The cushion beneath him could be described only as plump. And it wasn’t just beneath him. It felt like soone had deposited him into the gentle hold of a marshmallow cloud. This was, without a doubt, the most comfortable chair that Alex had ever sat on.
Disoriented thoughts rattled around in his head as he blinked furiously, trying to get sense of his surroundings without looking around like a terrified duckling.
He was in a room.
A surprisingly plain room. There was a large wooden table with a glossy polish sitting before him, laden with a rather respectable amount of assorted food ranging from salad to a dozen different kinds of tantalizing at still on the bones of creatures that he didn’t recognize.
Warm light flickered from several lanterns that floated in the air around him, illuminating the gray stone walls surrounding him. Several paintings depicting large scale battles adorned the walls, and there was a single window-covered curtain off to his left.
Alex’s eyes were almost instantly drawn to the only other person in the room. Sitting across the table from him was a man in beautiful silver… sothing. Alex couldn’t quite tell if it was armor or robes. It looked like soone had woven the moonlight itself into a sea of rippling hexagonal fragnts.
Each individual fragnt seed to be solid and sturdy, but there were so many of them and they’d been connected with machine-like precision to the point where they hung around the man’s body as easily as silk.
Only when Alex’s gaze made it to the man’s face did he realize that he was faced by no man at all. His ears were far too long. They ca to a sharp point and were almost twice the length of his head, sticking out at angles almost like antennae.
And that wasn’t where the oddities ended. The man’s mouth was about a size and a half too wide, running from one end of his jaw to the other without even being stretched into a smile. His skin was the color of a starless sky, so dark that it seed to absorb all the light that dared grow near him, which made the fanglike white teeth in his mouth glimr brighter in contrast.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The System made no moves to attempt to identify the man to Alex. Either he was wearing sothing that protected his identity — which was admittedly quite likely — or sothing else entirely was afoot.
“You accepted!” the man exclaid, rising slightly from his chair. He sounded considerably more surprised than Alex had expected. “Welco! Please, feel free to help yourself to anything.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. No matter how odd this was, he wasn’t going to let himself get caught off guard. He’d read more than enough to rember what happened when you ate so suspicious person’s food after getting summoned to a different world. That was doubly true when you were making a contract.
Is this so kind of fae bargain thing?
“A kind offer,” Alex said politely, choosing his words carefully. “But I am here today for a contract. Not for food.”
The man blinked. Then he nodded hurriedly.
“Of course. Forgive . It has been a long ti since I…” he paused, then shook his head. “No matter. Forget the food, then. Allow us to commune.”
The man hurriedly cleared so of the plates out of the way. He knocked a mug of so frothy liquid over in his haste. But, before it could even finish tipping over, the man’s hand blurred. He caught the mug, scooping its contents back up mid-air, and righted it back on the table.
His eyes darted over to Alex as he let out an awkward laugh.
“Oops,” he said. “I — uh, goodness. You know. Nerves. My apologies.”
Why does he sound more nervous than I am? Is this so kind of act?
“It’s… okay?” Alex half said, half asked. “Forget the food. Let’s just talk about the contract.”
And, specifically, what kind of thing you want from . I’m not giving up any autonomy. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. This guy is so powerful entity. Well, I’ll have to double check that. But assuming he is, I assu I have to give away a portion of the energy that Glint gets from his kills or so shit like that. As long as it’s reasonable, like 10% or sothing, I’m perfectly okay with it.
“Right. Yes. The contract,” the man said. He cleared his throat. Then he lowered himself back into his chair and gingerly interlaced his fingers in what was clearly a practiced motion. “Allow to properly introduce myself. My na is Ein’Zahl, the Silver Conclave.”
Ein’Zahl paused. It seed he expected that to an sothing to Alex.
Shit. If I make a deal, it’s probably got to be under an enforceable na, right? I don’t want to risk it.
“You can call Ash,” Alex said.
There was a short, awkward pause.
It imdiately beca clear to Alex that he’d missed sothing. Perhaps there were so kind of rules to contracts that he hadn’t been given the prir on. That would be just like the System.
Ein’Zahl shifted uncomfortably. “And you are offering a contract?”
“Depending on how this discussion goes,” Alex replied cautiously. “I think I’ll need to know more about you before I can offer anything at all.”
The other man almost seed to wince. But, a mont later, he nodded. “Of course. I expected as much. You wish to know my cri.”
His what, now?
“Yes,” Alex said. “Exactly.”
“I am imprisoned by for my involvent with the fall of the Bleak Dawn family,” Ein’Zahl said reluctantly. “My cris include the betrayal and slaughter of the 7th, 8th, and 9th Subsectors of Planet 220-12, and my term has roughly 8000 years remaining within it.”
Alex stared at Ein’Zahl.
Then he blinked, finally registering the one thing about the room that hadn’t quite yet clicked.
There was no door.
“Killing is a cri?” Alex asked, unable to stop himself. He’d offed quite a number of Outworlders himself and had no plans of stopping. If the System was going around locking people up…
Ein’Zahl’s eyes lit up. “That was my protest as well! But the Bleak Dawn’s allies saw things differently. I suppose I caused so degree of losses. The strong make the rules, and I was not stronger than their combined forces.”
Alex nodded, making sure to not lose his composure.
Holy shit. The System sent to make a contract with a mass murderer? One who took out multiple Subsectors entirely on his own? How fucking strong is this guy? And what the hell am I doing here, interviewing him over a cup of tea?
Sothing tells he might think that I’m a whole lot more powerful than I actually am. What exactly does he want from ? To get him out of here? To slaughter the people that trapped him here? I don’t think I can go up against a whole new Outworlder family.
“And what is it that you’re looking for?” Alex asked.
“You possess a connection to a monster that follows my Path,” Ein’Zahl said, swallowing heavily. Desire lit behind his eyes as he leaned forward, pressing his hands to the table. “I am bored. It has been over a thousand years since I cast traces of my soul out into the System in search of a contract offer. Please. Grant this chance.”
Alex paused.
Sothing was wrong. This whole thing was going opposite to his expectations. He’d been convinced that he would have to be the one doing the bargaining. But Ein’Zahl seed far more worried than Alex himself did.
Why does this feel like… no. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Not yet.
“Be specific,” Alex said. He couldn’t take chances here. The slightest misunderstanding could have disastrous consequences. “What do you desire?”
“It has been thousands of years since I have left this room. I want to see the outside world again,” Ein’Zahl said. He leaned even farther forward, his nostrils flaring in determination. “Give this contract. I promise you that I will not disappoint. You will not find another with a better tie to the vessel you are offering. I am more than happy to follow orders, provided you grant a body to see and feel with once again. Let control your monster, and I will slaughter all who stand in your way.”
Holy shit. I was completely wrong. This isn’t a bargain at all.
It’s a fucking job interview.
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