Chapter 321: Unexpected Terms
Alex stared at the words within Glint’s card, waiting for something else. But something else never came. That seemed to be the extent of the message.
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 excitement. Getting ahead of himself was a bad idea. The card had made one thing clear. This was a contract. And that meant the power wasn’t free. It was a deal.
If he showed up looking like some 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 management 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 meeting 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 something? There’s no way the Spatial Mirror just automatically accepted the offer or something, 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 something?” 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 bloomed across the surface of the shard. It filled the entirety of the mirror within instants, turning it pitch black.
Then something 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 something more within them than just mere 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 met 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 someone 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 meat 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… something. Alex couldn’t quite tell if it was armor or robes. It looked like someone had woven the moonlight itself into a sea of rippling hexagonal fragments.
Each individual fragment seemed 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 came 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 seemed to absorb all the light that dared grow near him, which made the fanglike white teeth in his mouth glimmer brighter in contrast.
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The System made no moves to attempt to identify the man to Alex. Either he was wearing something that protected his identity — which was admittedly quite likely — or something else entirely was afoot.
“You accepted!” the man exclaimed, rising slightly from his chair. He sounded considerably more surprised than Alex had expected. “Welcome! 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 remember what happened when you ate some suspicious person’s food after getting summoned to a different world. That was doubly true when you were making a contract.
Is this some 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 me. It has been a long time since I…” he paused, then shook his head. “No matter. Forget the food, then. Allow us to commune.”
The man hurriedly cleared some of the plates out of the way. He knocked a mug of some 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 some 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 me. I’m not giving up any autonomy. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. This guy is some powerful entity. Well, I’ll have to double check that. But assuming he is, I assume I have to give away a portion of the energy that Glint gets from his kills or some shit like that. As long as it’s reasonable, like 10% or something, 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 me to properly introduce myself. My name is Ein’Zahl, the Silver Conclave.”
Ein’Zahl paused. It seemed he expected that to mean something to Alex.
Shit. If I make a deal, it’s probably got to be under an enforceable name, right? I don’t want to risk it.
“You can call me Ash,” Alex said.
There was a short, awkward pause.
It immediately became clear to Alex that he’d missed something. Perhaps there were some kind of rules to contracts that he hadn’t been given the primer on. That would be just like the System.
Ein’Zahl shifted uncomfortably. “And you are offering me 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 seemed to wince. But, a moment later, he nodded. “Of course. I expected as much. You wish to know my crime.”
His what, now?
“Yes,” Alex said. “Exactly.”
“I am imprisoned by for my involvement with the fall of the Bleak Dawn family,” Ein’Zahl said reluctantly. “My crimes 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 crime?” 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 some 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 me 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?
Something tells me he might think that I’m a whole lot more powerful than I actually am. What exactly does he want from me? 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 me this chance.”
Alex paused.
Something 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 seemed 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 me 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 me a body to see and feel with once again. Let me 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.