Entering the town, they could see that the cleanup efforts had already begun. There was no sign of bodies in the streets, though cries coming from some ruined buildings suggested that the grisly task was not completed. The smell of smoke was still everywhere, but there weren’t any fires visible.

“Where to first?” Kelsey asked. “Should we try to find your family?”

“What?” Anton exclaimed, startled. He’d been staring at the burned buildings. “No… I know… my family are adventurers, so we were all on the wall. I — know what happened to them.”

Kelsey gave him a long look. “Alright,” she said. “We can leave that until later. You’ll want to check out your house then?”

“I thought I was taking you to places you want to see,” he replied with some bitterness.

“Well it’s going to be a while before this place is ready for me to eat croissants on the boardwalk, so let's hold off on the tourist experience for now, OK? Show me your home.”

“Sure.” Anton started walking.

“Oh! Wait, there is something we need to do first.” At her words, Anton turned around and looked at her expectantly. “We need to test out how the geas is going to function.”

“Huh?” Anton said.

“Don’t worry, it will be really simple,” Kelsey said reassuringly. “You just stay here, and I’ll go…” she looked around. “To that shop that still has a sign. Do you see it? I’ll go there, stop for a moment, and then come back. You just need to stay here. Understand?”

“Yeah… but what’s this going to test?”

“You’ll see. Just remember, I’m going to come back. You just stay here.” She patted him on the shoulder and started walking off.

Anton watched her go, puzzled. When she’d gotten about ten yards away, the thought bubbled up.

Is she going to leave me?

The idea was ridiculous in more than one way. Why would he care if she did? And didn’t she say that she would be right back? Nevertheless, as she continued to walk away, the feeling grew.

I’m going to be left all alone.

To die.

I’ll die.

Before he knew it, he was running after her, catching up just as she reached the sign. “I’m here!” he gasped breathlessly. As soon as he caught up to her, he felt the fear fade away, to be replaced with embarrassment.

“What was that?” He asked, still gasping from his sprint. To her credit, Kelsey didn’t laugh at him. A few passersby were looking at him curiously, and he flushed.

“It’s hard to explain,” Kelsey said, “And I wasn’t sure it would work that way anyway. But now you’ve experienced it. You agreed to stay with me, right? That’s how the agreement is enforced.”

“I can’t go more than ten yards from you?”

“Now that you know about it, you’ll be able to resist it, to an extent.”

Anton didn’t know that he would. The geas had tapped into his fear, sending him back to last night… “How long?” He asked.

“Having trouble remembering what you agreed to?” Kelsey asked.

“I— No. I don’t.” While a lot of last night was blurred, their agreement was absolutely clear in his memory. Probably part of the enforcement.

You’ll take me where I want to go, advise me on what I need to know. And I’ll save you.

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

“But that doesn’t tell me how long the deal lasts.”

“Yeah, it does.” Kelsey grinned sheepishly. “Let's get moving, I want to be off the main street when you figure it out.”

Anton started walking, mulling it over in his head.

“It doesn’t say when it ends… so it doesn’t end? Is that it?”

“That’s about the size of it.”

Anton’s hand went for his sword before he remembered he lost it last night. “I made a deal that put me in eternal slavery?”

“Whoa there, kid! Let’s have this discussion somewhere a bit more private.” She dragged him into an empty building that had been gutted by fire. Anton let her, he didn’t want people to see him beat up what was apparently a young girl. Once they had some privacy, she turned and poked him in the chest.

“First of all. I can see you thinking that the deal ends if you kill me. And it does… but this body isn’t all of me. If you kill me, all that will happen is you’ll go running back to dungeon-me in a panic. Assuming I don’t kill you because you pissed me off, you’ll never get to leave.”

Anton grimaced. That was probably correct. He wasn’t going to get out of this that easily. Killing the dungeon… wasn’t feasible, not without another forty levels. Or an army.

“Second. You’re still free to do what you want, just restricted in a few significant ways. This deal could have been a lot worse for you.”

“Why didn’t you trick more out of me, then?” Anton asked. The rage was fading, replaced by a now familiar feeling of despair.

“I dealt for what I wanted,” Kelsey said firmly. “And thirdly, part of the enforcement is that the deal has to be fair. Or it doesn’t get made.”

“How is eternal servitude fair?” Anton exclaimed.

“What did you trade it for?” Kelsey asked with a wry grin.

“My…” Anton groaned. “My life.”

“Exactly. Now show me your home.”

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

Anton’s home still stood, but it wasn’t habitable. The door had been smashed in, and the place ransacked. The upper floor was a complete ruin, as the roof had caught fire. Like most of the houses in this district, the house had been brick and tile, but the roof timbers were still flammable. Collapsing the roof seemed to have put out the fire, so the house wasn’t completely burned down, but it was ruined.

Anton picked through the rubble for a bit before giving up and collapsing against a wall. Kelsey let him mope.

“If it’s alright with you,” she said. “I can store all this stuff away somewhere safe, give it back to you when there’s somewhere for you to put it.”

Anton didn’t object, so she started going through the house. Everything she touched disappeared. Burned beams, busted furniture, and all his remaining possessions. Anton watched them go and wondered if he would ever ask for them back.

“Whoops! Company.” Kelsey stopped what she was doing, and turned around, just as a familiar face came through the doorway.

“Anton?” Aris said when she saw him. “Anton! You’re alive!”

She started to run towards him but stopped when she saw Kelsey. “Um, who…?”

“Hi, I’m Kelsey,” Kelsey said, sticking out her hand. Aris looked confused but held out her own in response. Kelsey grabbed it and started shaking it up and down.

“I’m very pleased to meet you! Are you a friend of Anton’s?”

“Uh,” Anton interrupted. “Here, we hold our hands palm out to greet someone. It’s a… northern custom,” he said to Aris.

“Oh?” Kelsey said, letting go of Aris’s hand.

“Yeah, like this.” He held out his hand, and Aris matched the gesture. “If you know them, you can touch the palms, otherwise, you just want to hold them apart.” They touched palms, and he smiled involuntarily at the contact. “Are you alright, Aris?” he asked.

Her face fell. “My parents came through alright, but… they took my little sister.”

“Oh no, not Cheia.” He reached out and pulled her into an embrace. She put her face against his chest and started sobbing.

Kelsey didn’t interrupt, but she did take a few steps to put herself in his line of sight and gave him a quizzical look.

“Slavery,” he said flatly. “They take the younger women as slaves.”

Kelsey pursed her lips and frowned. She didn’t say anything as she watched Aris cry for a while. The young woman was quite pretty, Kelsey supposed, though she wasn’t really familiar with local beauty standards. Her hair was shoulder-length and quite richly curled. Like most of the locals, she had quite dark brown skin, but her eyes were a quite brilliant green.

“So…” Kelsey eventually said, once Aris had quieted. “Are you two together or…”

The two jumped apart, Aris apparently remembering that Kelsey was there. Anton was the one to answer while Aris stayed silent.

“Uh, well, we have an understanding,” he said, embarrassed. “I’m still paying off my parent's loan for my adventuring equipment, and getting money saved up for a home…” he trailed off, realising that his plans had been overturned by recent events.

Aris spoke up suddenly. “Your parents! I was looking for you because of…” she stopped choking up, and tried again. “Your family is in the Temple. They… recovered them, and they’re waiting for you before doing the final rites.”

Anton staggered back from her. “No… I’m not ready, I’m not…”

“They can’t wait forever,” Aris said reproachfully. “There are so many waiting.”

“I think we’re going to have to drag him,” Kelsey said thoughtfully. “C’mon Anton, you know you’ll regret it if you don’t say goodbye.”

She grabbed him by the arm. He tried to pull away, but what seemed like a casual grip was surprisingly strong. Aris grabbed his other arm, clinging on to him as she had before.

“Show me your family, Anton,” Kelsey said, and he felt his resistance fade away.