After a short stint in the Void by himself, Leland arrived at the Lord of Erupting Skies’ domain with a snap. His vision went white, his whole world consumed by a crack of lighting. Then came the thunder, blowing his eardrums and causing his head to spin. Before he knew it, he was falling, his consciousness slipping under the pounding in his head.

Something slammed into his underside, brushing him along as millions of drops of water raced him to the ground. It was bright, like the lightning moments ago, but subtler, bluer. Leland scrounged for safety, clawing his shaking nails into whatever it was he crashed into. At some point he stabilized, the rush of movement still threatening to pull him back into the air.

Near black clouds of rain echoed all around, each harboring a spark that could set the sky alight. Wind howled with a chilled emphasis, enough so that ice started to form across Leland’s back and neck. His eyes then went blurry, white still burned into his vision. He blinked, forcing himself to act. A purple halo came and went, bringing along Touch of Regeneration in record time – spell slinging was something the Huntress was forcing him to practice.

Leland first noticed he was on a flying creature when the thing spoke.

“Apologies for the rude reception.”

And it was, but Leland sure wasn’t going to acknowledge it. Instead he focused on balance, which firmly allowed him to view the creature .

Snakelike, it oscillated back and forth, gliding through the winds and clouds, uncaring of the cracks of lightning in the distance. A medium blue seeped from its scales, glowing with the brilliance of a bonfire the size of a barn. Turning, Leland couldn’t see the end of the great beast, finding its midsection vanished into the fog of the clouds.

“It’s okay…” Leland murmured, now looking ahead toward the giant’s mouth.

It was much closer, only spanning a short few steps from where Leland sat compared to the tail that could be miles back. Bearded, the great beast’s wide chin swiveled, guiding the rest of its body. Four branch-thick whiskers dragged against the wind, pushing away the swirls of magic rotating around the storm.

“So, Child of the Calamity, you finally found yourself riding on my back. What have you?” The voice boomed from its mighty maw like thunder.

“I-I-I’m looking to make a contract with you!” Leland yelled back, his voice sounding like a mouse squeaking in comparison.

The Lord of Erupting Skies didn’t have any difficulty hearing. “Indeed. What are your wishes?”

A bolt of lighting ripped through the sky, forcing the Lord to swerve around it. There was no thunder, however, the Lord canceled the deafening sound with nothing more than a sideways glance. It was absolute in its domain, not even the crying skies could compete.

“A-a movement ability or spell!” Leland eked out, his stomach backflipping. He dared not look overboard, his peripheral vision telling him all he needed to know.

There was no ground, only the storm.

“Of course. I have something that would do you well,” the Lord replied. “I have but one request, something only you may achieve, given the uniqueness of where you currently reside.”

A thought suddenly occurred to Leland. “I-if you have a way for my companions and I to return home, then I would rather barter for that!”

Why he didn’t think of such a thing before, he didn’t know. But now that he did, well, many Lords popped into his mind, all of which had some sort of domain over space. Maybe he could forge a contract for long-range teleportation?

A low rumble left the Lord’s throat. “I think not. I am not one to travel long distances quickly. I go where the storm goes. However slow, however fast.”

Leland had no doubts that the Lord could travel around the world many times over before he could even escape the Archon Valley. But he didn’t give voice to his thoughts.

“What is it you wish me to do, my Lord?”

“Mm, elegant are you? Well, my task offers no grace, only investigation. In what mortals call ‘the Archon Valley,’ there rains an eternal storm. I wish to know how it operates.”

“Y-you want me to research Archon magic?!”

“Bolts above, no. I wish only for you to observe it from the eye. The contract will provide me with what you see.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Leland swallowed. Speaking from experience, contracts that required his party to assist him or abandon him were a coin toss. Danger could be ever prevalent, and putting Sybil through that was quite frankly not wise. But then again, the Huntress was with them, and surely she’d assist in completing a quest if it meant a shiny new ability.

“I can give no promises!” Leland yelled. “The Archons may not like that I will be poking around!”

“Understandable,” the sky serpent replied, still swimming through the open sky like it was water. “I shall allow the contract to temporarily work while you are still within the Archon Valley. If you leave before my requirements are fulfilled, then the contract shall be broken and the spell returned. If completed, you may keep the spell for the remainder of your time.”

Leland didn’t see any reason not to accept the conditions. Worst case scenario, it’s too dangerous and he loses a contracted spell. Best case, well, a new toy.

“That is very reasonable, thank you!”

“Then good luck, Child of the Calamity. May our paths cross again one day!”

And like that, Leland was thrust into the Void, hurdling back toward his body.

He appeared with a silent shuffle, rolling over in his bedding back at camp. Letting out a groan, he realized he was wet, just like when he spoke with the Lord of Water. Did that mean his body did move, not just his mind?

“That was quick,” Isobel said from the side.

Leland looked over, finding the Huntress and Sybil staring at him like he had grown a second head. Curiously, they were in nearly the exact same spot before he left, broaching the question of just how long he was gone.

“How quick?” he asked, shedding his shirt and sticking it near the heat of the campfire.

Sybil looked away. “A few seconds.”

“Really? Fascinating… But ultimately useless.”

Isobel shook her head. “Kid, you could make a contract with a Lord mid-combat, turning the tide of battle if you wanted.”

Leland ignored the comment, knowing he would just get into an argument. Instead he pulled out his grimoire. It opened directly to the contract.

Cursed contract of the Lord of Erupting Skies:

Use: Gain access to the spell Erupting Steps. Only usable once per hour.

Erupting Steps : Your steps burst with erupting might, propelling you with the speed of the mightiest storm.

Return: Investigate the eternal storm within the Archon Valley from within the eye of the storm.

“Ready to see something cool?” he asked, pressing his palm into the page.

Quickly a halo formed above his head, along with blue-purple flickers of static around him. They arced off his skin, passing between his grimoire and halo, bouncing around until they fell inline with his feet. Then Leland stepped.

Lightning cracked from the heel, sending his knee rushing forward. Momentum pulled his other foot along, creating another bolt from that heel and redoubling the rush. Milky blue rippled across where he once stood, shocking the ground a miniature storm. Leland tried to stop, but instead he skidded off the loose dirt, and thus created another propelling bolt.

Again he was launched forward, skipping through the nearby woods until he crashed into a tree. A wake of electricity followed, ultimately ending at the same tree. He groaned, falling to his butt.

“Well kid, that was… something.”

If he could, Leland would have hidden behind the tree in embarrassment. But his feet still sparked and spit lightning.

“Get up,” Isobel continued. “You go again until you can’t.”

Leland did get up but only after a begrudging moment. Following the Huntress’ words of… tutelage, it only took fifteen minutes for him to get a handle on walking normally. Normally had devolved into just moving without launching across the wood, but Leland took it as a win despite stepping like he was wading through a swamp.

In a way, practicing with Erupting Steps was informative on two fronts. First, the spell had combat potential by providing Leland with a means of quickly repositioning. Further, the lighting wake his steps created was more than a light show. The puddles of electricity both shocked and harmed people who stepped within them, as Isobel confirmed.

She was quite giddy about that, actually, something both Leland and Sybil found disconcerting.

The second front was the degree to which the evolved Harbinger Halo curse worked with the spell.

Harbinger Halo: Binding

Type: Curse (Self)

Rank: 11 (Specialization: A)

Strike a dark accord with a presiding Lord, calling their aid.

Contracts last up to 20 minutes. If terminated early, the cool down period is decreased.

Up to 2 contracts may be acted upon at one time.

Contracts that produce direct spells, curses, abilities, incantations, and/or passive effects that deal with mana, may have lifeforce partially supplemented. Effects may vary.

After specializing in the halo for reaching rank two, all contracts were supposed to take on Leland’s lifeforce in some way or another. Erupting Steps was no different, taking on the hue of his violet magic with glee every ten steps.

After Isobel noticed, Leland solved the puzzle of the purple electricity by counting each step cautiously. Then, after a bit more testing, they found the purple lightning lashed out at nearby things, like actual lightning.

While this proved the spell to be more offensive capable, it also meant Leland could harm his friends if they were near enough. A double edged sword, one that he would have to be cautious of.

“So what did you have to give in return for lightning feet?” Isobel asked.

Leland brushed off the dirt now covering his elbows after falling again. “The Lord of Erupting Skies wishes for me to investigate that.” He pointed at the massive storm covering most of the Valley.

“Of course he does.”