Nestled inside the ancient box lay a single black glove, resting atop the velvet-lined interior. Intricate silver runes encircled the wrist, but the rest was largely unadorned.

Aric's brow furrowed in disappointment. After all that build-up, he'd been expecting something more impressive - a dagger, or a scepter, or even a mystical amulet. Something familiar that he’d read about in old fantasy books at the least.

"A glove? Are you serious?" he muttered.

Elara's eyes twinkled with laughter. "Appearances can be deceiving. Go on, put it on."

With a resigned sigh, Aric slid the glove onto his right hand. To his astonishment, the material immediately began reshaping itself, molding to conform perfectly to his fingers and palm. If nothing else, that was a pretty interesting attribute, especially as it would still have to be some kind of focus.

Magic is magic I guess Aric thought, accepting the situation.

Abruptly, a sharp stab of pain lanced through the palm of his hand. Crying out, he sank to his knees, clutching his wrist as the agony spread through his veins. His vision dimmed, edges going fuzzy.

"Aric!" Elara's voice sounded distant, muted.

Then everything went black.

----------------------------------------

Aric found himself floating in a void, neither fully conscious nor unconscious. Strange whispers and echoes surrounded him, he couldn't tell whether he was hearing things, or if they were just in his head. The longer the cacophony of overlapping sounds continued, the less aware Aric became. Time began to lose all meaning, as he floated there within that infinite gray.

Suddenly the sounds became silent, an almost unbearable silence stretched out after such a chaotic flurry of noise. The silence, though, was short-lived, as a thunderous voice boomed out of the darkness, so loud it made his bones vibrate. Or, at least what he thought were his bones.

"WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?"

Aric tried to respond but some force was suddenly constricting his chest, making it impossible to draw breath. He struggled for air against the invisible bonds.

The voice continued, reverberating through the void. "None in ten millennia have proven worthy to be my vessel. What makes you think you can command me, worm?"

Summoning all his strength, Aric choked out "I... am... Aric," His voice grew stronger as he continued, "Aric Blackveil, I am the last of my line, ripped from my own realm and brought here." He paused, feeling a slight break in the pressure bearing down on him.

This has to be magic, Aether, right? That's what's holding me in place. Maybe I can resist it he thought as he began trying to recall the feelings that had passed through him yesterday throughout his testing, even of the feeling of the wards in place around the perimeter of the town.

One similarity seemed to catch his mind of the way that both experiences resonated with him. A similarity that reminded him of a passage from a fantasy book he'd gotten his hands on as a child. The pulses of magic that he felt from the barriers always seemed to focus on the very core of his being, somewhere near his solar plexus. During the testing, that intrusive energy had borne down on the same place before something inside of him had pushed back. Maybe he could do the same here.

While the voice continued speaking, making some kind of threats that Aric was too preoccupied to fully understand, he tried to focus. Feeling for anything tangible in that space within him, and for just a moment, he found it.

There, in the center of his being was a pulsing pressure, faint, but there all the same. Aric began pushing, prodding on the near-physical sensation, willing this pulsating power out and into the gap that even now continued to circle his invisible bonds. With a gasping breath, he pushed, with everything in him, physically, and mentally, and was rewarded with a feeling like lightning ripping through his body. The invisible power snaked through him, forcing its way out of his seizing hands, and straight into the thing that held him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Continuing to force his will upon the hole in his transparent bindings, "I was brought here...against my will... by fate perhaps... I would not dare command," as he spoke, he felt the tethers loosening more rapidly, but he could also feel himself draining, but he refused to stop, "Not in a world I know so little about. But I also won't kneel down before you" he finally finished with a growl.

Silence met his declaration, as he continued fighting for every inch against his bindings. Finally, the voice spoke again, a hint of curiosity breaking through the disdain.

"You resist my spell... intriguing. Very well, I shall taste your offering and let that be the final judge of your worth."

Pressure flared against Aric's hand where the glove had pierced his palm but disappeared almost as quickly as it had come. A heartbeat passed in silence, then another. The tension seemed to dissolve as an unexpected squeal of delight broke the silence of the void.

Aric's vision cleared instantly, revealing a large gothic throne room. Black flames burned in sconces all along the wall, and skulls of beasts placed carefully along pedestals lined the pathway to the simple blackstone throne. All of that, Aric took in at a glance, as his vision was soon entirely focused on the stunningly beautiful woman standing before him.

Elegant black horns curled back from her temples, standing in stark contrast to the woman's alabaster skin. Her eyes seemed to shift between emerald and violet, shining brightly in the flickering torch light. Long jet-black hair flowed past the woman's shoulders, drawing the eye to the tight black dress she was wearing. How exactly she had gotten that on was beyond Aric. The top was filled out by a pair of firm breasts, pushed up at just the right angle to show off the barest hint of their curvature. Eyes continuing to trail down the woman's curves, they caught on her slender hips as the flicker of something drew Aric's attention. A tail? That was indeed a fluffy tail, slowly wagging back and forth behind her. Then she smiled shyly, revealing dainty fangs.

"Sorry for the whole ominous act!" she said sheepishly. "I'm Amseryl, but you can call me Amy." She curtsied gracefully. "It's been forever since anyone was worthy of my pact! I'm delighted to have found someone worthy of partnering with in you, Aric."

Eyes snapping back up to Amy's face, Aric tried to shake himself out of his stupor. What the hell was happening?

Before he could find a way to respond, she yawned delicately. "Using my powers has left me quite drained. I must rest now, but soon we shall speak again."

Darting forward, she planted a quick kiss on Aric's cheek that sent a spark of heat throughout his body. Then all went black once more.

----------------------------------------

Aric awoke with a gasp. He was lying on his back in the forest clearing he'd been in before, Elara knelt beside him with a look of concern etched across her face.

Why did she look so concerned again? Aric wondered groggily before the memories of putting on the glove and being ripped away from his body flooded back through him. Right, he had collapsed in agony.

"How long was I out?" Aric asked with a sinking suspicion in his stomach as he looked up at the afternoon sky.

She let out a weary sigh, "You were out for several hours, normally forming a bond with your focus is a much shorter process, given that they are only partially sentient objects. But it seems that I was right about just how powerful that artifact of yours really is," she finished with a smile. "Care to share what happened?"

Aric chuckled as she helped him get into a sitting position, it seemed like every day in this new world was going to bring some kind of unexpected twist. Once he had settled into a comfortable position against a tree, he began recounting his bonding experience with Amy with as much detail as he could remember. The experience was a little foggy still, but he'd never forget the beautiful woman he'd met in that strange place.

"You really are full of surprises," she said wryly, as she sat back, clearly replaying what Aric had told her. "Making a pact with a millennia-old demoness isn't an everyday occurrence you know."

Rubbing his still-tingling hand, Aric met her eyes incredulously. "I'm not sure anything we've seen since I got here could be described as normal!"

Elara just laughed. "No one said your path would be easy as an outsider to our realm. Especially not with that energy of yours. But if anyone can master that glove and its mistress, I suspect it's you."

The still lingering warmth radiating from his cheek made something inside of him want to agree with Elara on that. Bonding had been a truly terrifying experience, but even to someone new to this magical world, Aric knew that having a powerful demoness on his side could only be a good thing.