Days have passed since the incident with Eric abducting Carmen, for the time being, Gabriel would just sleep and watch tv all day long, Mak was bored and the best thing he could think of to kill some

time was to mess with Gabriel and Carmen, while Carmen and Gabriel were in the living room watching tv, Mak came by to do his part...

Mak-So...When are you two gonna hook up?

Gabriel-What?

Carmen-WHAT!?

Mak-I said...

Gabriel-We heard what you said, what is wrong with you?

Mak-Don't you think Carmen is a pretty girl?

Gabriel-That...That's not the point!

Carmen blushed at that moment and couldn't speak a word...

Mak-I mean there obviously is something between...

Gabriel=There is nothing between us, ok? Besides, I have Helen.

Mak-No you don't, she thinks you are dead, even if you see her again you won't do anything because you are a wuss.

Gabriel-I am gonna break your fucking skull.

Carmen-What is the problem with you two? Why are suddenly being so mean to Gabriel?

Mak-I am bored, there is nothing to do around here.

Gabriel-Why is that a bad thing?

Mak-Aren't you supposed to be the savior of the world? Why aren't you out doing some work?

Gabriel-Because I am like the police, it's better if I don't have to work, that means there is nothing bad going on.

Mak-You are lame.Hey, let's go out for a cup of coffee.

Gabriel-Me and you? Why would I want to do that?

Mak-Then go out with Carmen. She would love that.

Carmen-I...I wouldn't...mind if we went for a cup of coffee...

Mak-See?

Gabriel-Alright.

Carmen-(YEAH!)

Mak-Go and take a shower first, you stink.

Gabriel-You are one to talk.

After Mak's suggestion both Gabriel and Carmen went to get ready, meanwhile Mak walked to the lab where Kevin was working on something...

Mak-Hey doc?

Kevin-Hi Mak, where are the others?

Mak-Gabriel is taking Carmen out for coffee.

Kevin-I thought Gabriel had eyes only for that girl, Helen.

Mak-Yeah but let's be honest, what chance does he have to hook up with her?

Kevin-Why? Gabriel is a remarkable boy.

Mak-That's the problem, he is a boy, a shy dumb boy with extreme anger issues.

Kevin-Huh?

Mak-I'm telling you doc, his behavior is strange, have you heard the way he talks?

Kevin-Except the threats he makes on you?

Mak-That's it. He always said something about killing every time I said something that bothered him, lately, he has become way more temperamental.

Kevin-I am impressed Mak, I didn't know you knew that word.

Mak-That's not funny.

Kevin-I haven't noticed anything strange.

Mak-That's because you are in the lab all the time.When was the last time you slept in your bed instead of the one in the lab?

Kevin-I think it was 5 days ago...

Mak-See? What are you even doing in here?

Kevin-I have been talking to this Munderic guy you met the other day.

Mak-The warlock? Why?

Kevin-He said that he finished the seal on the axe. That reminds me...When were you going to tell me about this axe!?

Mak-Didn't Gabriel tell you about it?

Kevin-He failed to mention that when you guys came back.

Mak-Anyway, he finished it hah?

Kevin-Yes, the sealed item should arrive today, I would like to see Gabriel use it, do you mind telling them not to go out?

Mak-Carmen was excited about that doc. Can't you do this later?

Kevin-I guess it can twait until they are back, I had another idea though.

Mak-What kind of idea?

Kevin-Remember that dragon scale you had with you?

Mak-Yeah, those morons thought it was a dish.

Kevin-I was talking to Munderic about how we could use this scale in some way.

Mak-In what way?

Kevin-Munderic is teaching me some of these warlock rituals to infuse items with remnants of creatures.

Mak-It's not exactly warlock magic.

Kevin-Huh?

Mak-There are a lot of ways to infuse items, if I recall the ancient Greeks had a way too, using alchemy they could produce equipment of unmatched power.

Kevin-And when were you going to tell me about that?

Mak-You never asked.

Kevin-Anything else I should know about infusion?

Mak-There are plenty of ways, the most common one is by using magic.

Kevin-Magic?

Mak-Besides espers, humans don't have powers on their own, they must form contracts with other beings in order to wield some of their powers, warlocks were the ones that formed pacts with demons.

Kevin-I see...

Mak-Around the middle ages, people begun to discover the power of Elementals.

Kevin-Elementals?

Mak-Beings without any shape or form, they are the manifestations of nature's elements, fire, water, air and earth.By forming contracts with them people could wield the power of the four elements

Kevin-Yes...

Mak-These people were called Mages.The number of contracts they could form was limited and the amount of power they could produce was limited by the size of their inner Mana gate.

Kevin-What is this Mana gate?

Mak-Mana is the fifth element is some sort, it's the energy that forms the balance in nature. Every person has a mana gate and the size varies depending on the person, the bigger the gate, the more

power a mage could use, those capable enough could form contracts with more than one Elemental and thus by combining the elements they could use an extreme variety of other powers, like controlling

the weather by combining air and water to create thunderstorms.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Kevin-So any human can for a pact with things like that?

Mak-Yes, any person or creature can form a pact as long as the conditions are met.

Kevin-What are those conditions?

Mak-I don't know for sure, the methods to form contracts vary depending on the location, in some cultures they used animal spirits to harness their abilities, those were called Shamans, others

could invoke the power of nature itself in order to control plants, heal others and even change forms into animals, those were called Druids.

Kevin-So it's the same principle, just different kinds of beings...

Mak-Exactly, and the power that each kind gives is different and requires different methods, for warlocks to harness the power of demons they must pay price each time they cast a ritual.

Kevin-That doesn't seem very convenient.

Mak-Maybe, but demons are powerful, some can even burn down an entire country, of course, no one could ever pay the price for something like that.

Kevin-What currency would a demon accept?

Mak-Years of life, the soul of someone and even materialistic things like gold or precious metals and jewelry.

Kevin-The soul huh?

Mak-Don't be mistaken, everyone who makes a contract places their soul on the table.

Kevin-What?

At this point, Gabriel passed by the lab...

Gabriel-Hey, I am going with Carmen for coffee, we'll be back in a couple of hours.

Kevin-Ok Gabe, Carmen, have fun.

Gabriel and Carmen left the house and walked to the nearest coffee shop, meanwhile, Kevin was focused on what Mak had to say, it has been a very long time since someone sat down to listen to Mak since

every time he opened his mouth something vulgar or offensive was spoken...

Kevin-Continue.

Mak-As I said, all of these creatures that grant mortal humans power demand a soul. When you accept the power you sell your soul to the one who gave it to you. It's like a matter of religion.

Kevin-Huh?

Mak-When you form a pact you place all of your faith in that being, every one of them live in a different plain than this one, they use mortal souls to gain more power and to rise in their own

hierarchy of some sort, In other words, they get stronger with the number of souls they have collected.

Kevin-I see...But if demons are one of the most powerful, why would anyone sell his soul to a weaker being?

Mak-Because when a mortal dies his soul goes to the plain that it was devoted to. Hell isn't best place from what I have heard and demons are not very kind to them either.

Kevin-So if someone wants to infuse remnants of creatures with other materials what would that cost?

Mak-As I said, the safest and most common way would be magic since the Elemental lords aren't very fond of human souls, most of the time they are just bored and want to watch mortals kill each other

with the powers that they have given to them.

Kevin-And then demons are the bad ones?

Mak-I never said that Elemental lords are some kind of holy creatures either.

Kevin-Speaking of holy creatures. If there is a hell, that means there is a heaven, right?

Mak-I would presume...

Kevin-Presume?

Mak-I don't have any knowledge on anything concerning heaven and angels. These things aren't something that you see very often, there have been recorded sightings of angels though.

Kevin-Does that mean there is a god?

Mak-Maybe, we can't be sure of anything.

Kevin-Doesn't he know anything of what happens down on earth?

Mak-If what people say is true and he exists and he is that powerful I guess he does.

Kevin-Why would a powerful god let so many bad things happen then?

Mak-That's not a discussion to make right now. Go to an atheist forum for shit like that.

Kevin-And here I thought I could make a conversation with you...

Mak-Anything else? You said something about that dragon scale.

Kevin-I would like to infuse this dragon scale with steel to make a shield for Gabriel to use along with this axe, if we could use the same method to seal a shield like this axe Munderic was talking

about then Gabriel could have a full arsenal of powerful artifacts to help him.

Mak-That boy is a killing machine as it is. You haven't seen with your own eyes what he is capable of, didn't you listen to what Eric said the other day?

Kevin-Yeah, that was probably the same thing he did against Warren, we can't count on that though, even Gabriel isn't sure how he did it.

Mak-Or maybe he is lying to us.

Kevin-What?Why?

Mak-I told you that he has been acting strange lately, maybe we should be careful not to anger him too much.

Kevin-You are the one who is messing with him all the time.

Mak-These are just jokes.

Kevin-I would like to do some more research on what you told me and on infusion so if you don't mind getting out of my lab for now...

Mak-Fine, just squeeze the knowledge out of poor little Mak and then throw him out like a used tissue...

Kevin-Cut the drama.

Mak-I am going to watch tv.

So Kevin has found yet another reason to sit in the lab and as Gabriel and Carmen are out enjoying themselves, Kevin is doing research on what Mak told him about, by talking to Munderic via the

internet he might get some insight into infusion, Mak is a little worried that Kevin might try to put in use some of the information that he just learned but decided not to sweat over it, Kevin isn't

just any fool who would jump right in trouble, or is he?