Once Igern finally left, Velvet went to repair the damaged spiderwebs with Hyde’s help.

“Getting Tristan’s security system would be reassuring…” She said. “Haha, she gave me her old alchemy set first, I got her old hut, and now I might get her old security system.”

“It almost feels like she's giving me hand-me-downs.”

“Well, they really are hand-me-downs.”

Velvet fell silent for a few seconds.

“Hyde! I am speaking to you!”

“Oh, I thought you were monologuing.” The spider said, unapologetic. “I haven’t seen you using the alchemy set yet.”

“I didn’t have time…” And when she did, there was already someone else taking care of doing potions, like Skogul. “Once the Devil’s Blood buff wears out, I’ll join some class.”

“Those Arhontissian mages are probably waiting for the buff to wear out before taking revenge. You need to hurry up.”

Of course. She wasn’t so naive to just expect them to forgive her and move on. They simply were biding their time.

But Velvet wasn’t the kind to just sit still and let herself be caught. No way.

Saying that, she still needed to sleep. A tired mind was easy to trick, after all.

…

From those three days she had been unconscious, she didn’t remember having any dreams. Not from the Chained Man, and not from Lothrigern.

The last thing she did was pull some chains from the dream to reality, just to seal Frenese. Those chains still surrounded the book, but she hadn’t checked if doing that had any effect on the dream.

Maybe the Chained Man has been freed. Velvet thought, before getting into bed, falling asleep.

…

Like always, the dream was pitch black and silent, the darkness enveloping her from all sides.

In the depths, she saw the Chained Man, motionless like always.

He didn’t look any different.

“Of course, I just used one chain. No way he felt it.” Velvet said, moving to the side.

Click.

A small force pulled from the center of her chest, making her stop moving.

The only visible thing in the dream was the Chained Man, so she was unable to see what pulled her.

Dragging her hand upwards, she touched something.

Neither hot nor cold, the temperature of the thing was the same as hers, which was the reason why she didn’t feel it until now.

Sliding her hand around the object, she had no doubt about what it was.

A chain. Pressed against the center of her chest, digging under, it crossed the sternum. Following the chain fragment, she realized it was connected to the Chained Man, or, at least, pointed to him.

Even when she pulled on it, it didn’t hurt, as if the chain had become part of her own body.

Slowly, she moved her hands, putting one at the center of her chest, and another at the furthest point of the chain she could reach.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

She took a step forward.

If it was a normal chain, doing so would allow her to collect a part of the chain, which would mean that the chain had a limited length, not going on forever, and that she could reach the Chained Man just by walking forward.

Unfortunately, the chain remained the same, and moved with Velvet.

So I still can’t go forward… but now I’m unable to go backwards. Did bringing the chains to the material realm to seal Frenese establish a connection?

As she thought of that, another chain started to appear, also from the center of her chest, just that, instead of going towards the Chained Man, it went to her right.

Like the previous time, she first pulled on it.

Click.

The chain strained, as if tied up to something.

The something in question reacted to her pull, slowly uncurling itself, raising its body.

Velvet felt the chain in her hand curving upwards, allowing her to more or less uncover the newcomer’s height, even when she didn’t see them.

Swallowing uncomfortably, she voiced out her conclusion. “Frenese?”

If bringing a part of the chain out was enough to form a connection from her to the Chained man, then it probably also connected her to Frenese.

Silence answered her. She didn’t know what was worse; seeing Frenese in person right in front of her, or not seeing him, but feeling his presence in the darkness.

Both were awful options.

The chains moved slightly to the sides, as if he was looking around, before lowering and ‘coiling’ once again.

Don’t ignore me just to go back to sleep… She pulled the chain once again. The Devil’s Deal prohibited them from harming each other (even when it was mostly for Velvet’s safety), and, since Andras’ name had power here, the deal probably remained in effect.

That being said, she didn’t dare to approach him. The Frenese in front of her wasn’t inside a book, and, even if she didn’t see him, she recalled perfectly his appearance, which allowed her to fill in the gaps made by the darkness.

“Frenese. Frenese.” She started doing small tugs to the chain. “Hey, hey hey hey.”

A low growl, who closely resembled a groan, came from the chain’s end. “For a knowledge mage, you seem to have forgotten what I did to the last mages who played with my seal.”

“I haven’t, but, as a knowledge mage, I also remember you had outside help for breaching the seal.”

Frenese got up once again, and Velvet forced herself to remain still so as to not take a step back.

He walked slowly around her, the chain moving together with him. Even when Frenese resembled a wolf, his skin was formed by leech-like tendrils, and he made a wet, raw meat squelch sound as he moved.

“Why do you think someone wanted to release you?” The dream was probably the best place to ask dangerous questions, since only the two would hear them.

She still didn’t know Udulluay’s intentions, and his help concealing her deal with Frenese didn’t mean he wouldn’t snitch to a third party. Someone like the Director.

She also wanted to see if he was open for conversation. To tell the truth, she wanted to ask if he knew anything about her dream, but doing so might provoke him to ask for one of the ten wishes.

“Why would anyone release a devil? To cause death and destruction. The name devil is not for show.” Frenese stopped his walk close to her shoulder, tempting her into turning to look at him. “The same reason anyone would make a deal with one.”

She didn’t move.

She wasn’t going to refute Frenese’s words, since he was right. If she got too pressed against a mage, ambushed or overpowered, she harbored no qualms about using one of the petitions for a power boost.

Velvet couldn’t afford losing.

For her, defeat meant to lose it all.

“We can simply hope there’s no need to reach that point.” She finally said.

“It always reaches that point.” Frenese said.

Both of them remained in silence for a while.

Playing with the chain, Velvet chose to ask. “What do you think about this place? About the Chained Man?”

Frenese moved, now standing behind her. “You don’t want my opinion, you want my knowledge.”

Velvet smiled, caught. “Is the knowledge you possess worth one wish?”

A wet noise answered her as the chain lowered. Frenese had laid down again, this time closer to her. “No. At most is an array of conjectures and snippets of information, not a real answer. But I won’t give them for free.”

She refrained from commenting. Still, what Frenese might consider conjectures and ideas wasn’t what Velvet considered as such. He was still a devil, old and wise.

And it wasn’t like she had anyone else to ask. Hyde didn’t know anything, and Lothrigern didn’t listen to her, having his own agenda.

Frenese’s conjectures might be the biggest step for Velvet.

“It’s a deal, then.”