“Garen, Tront! Buy me time! Strike its arms when it attacks the barrier!”

Hal barked his commands as quickly as he could, then immediately started chanting an incantation. Lightning sprung into existence and swirled on the tip of his staff.

The grendel slowly emerged from the darkness. Gregory's longsword protruded from its eye as a sickly yellow vitreous gel dripped out; the fiend glared for but a moment before it unleased a terrible bellow.

"Fuckin' hells! It got the captain too!" Garen yelled as he rushed into position.

The demon rushed forward and swung at Tront, its claw clashing against the barrier, unable to pierce through it. The knights swung in kind at the grendel’s outstretched arm, and Garen’s blade landed a deep cut. He grunted with exertion, but he couldn't yank it back out. The grendel howled again and ripped back its arm before biting the blade in half.

The creature unleased a visceral howl, swiping relentlessly at the barrier, bashing it again and again. The barrier managed to hold, each blow repulsed just like the last. Tront stumbled back, trembling in fear. He screamed, “We’re gonna die. It’s going to kill us. Oh god, help us!”

“Hold firm, fool! My spell is almost ready!” Hal attempted to reassure him as firmly and confidently as he could.

Hal's mind raced far faster than his body could keep up. Damn my age! Damn my weakness! It takes so long for me to prepare a spell of just this level! If I had the mana, I could unleash this much faster! This is bad… If I don’t land this just right… Just a little more…

“Call forth from the formless sky, let loose thy blinding flash of light, from afar, let all shudder at your roar…” Hal chanted, focusing upon the rabid beast before him.

The grendel stopped swinging at the barrier and looked at Hal with a malicious level of intelligence, while lightning swirled ferociously around his staff. Then, it squatted low before launching itself over the barrier.

It landed directly in front of Hal, blood and saliva dripping from its mouth onto the mage’s mortified face.

“T-t-t-THUNDERBOLT!” Hal stuttered as he cut his chant far too short.

There was no more time. He unleashed all the energy he had accumulated and it struck Gregory’s sword, sending the electricity straight into the demon. It screamed in agony, wildly swinging at Hal. The old man was thrown like a ragdoll as the claws raked through and eviscerated him, spilling out his guts and splattering fresh viscera across the bloodied cobblestone.

“HAAAAL! NOOOOO!!!” Diane screeched at the top of her lungs, her hands digging tightly into the carriage’s window as her eyes opened wide in horror. That old man had been the closest thing she had to a father.

Tront shrieked in terror; he spun around and stabbed with all his might, and managed to pierce the demon’s leg with his sword. The grendel howled again, and turned towards its prey that fled with all its might. Diane hurled herself from the carriage, pointing her hands towards the demon.

She cried out again and again in fury and pain, tears welling in her eyes. “Fireball! Fireball! Fireball! Please… Work! Work! FIREBALL!”

Without their swords and the protection of the barrier, Tront and Garen were less than lambs brought to slaughter before the monster. They tried to yell out something to her, but she couldn’t hear them. Her eyes were full of tears and her heart felt nothing but pain and rage.

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The world was darkness. Sendrien tried to raise his hand in front of his face... and still saw nothing. He scrunched his eyes sharply as he held his head, and then relaxed in the silence.

Appreciating the silence for a moment longer, he allowed himself a long sigh. When was the last time my mind felt so... quiet? What if the voice returned? Perish the thought.

His mind wandered in the silence. With the most pressing matters dealt with, he soon became troubled by a flood of his own thoughts. The hell did I get myself into to? That damn hero… I can’t remember if I was ever left in a state worse than this after a fight. Hell, I'll live, so I suppose it was worth it… Still, why did she seem so familiar?

He groaned at the thought, his hand tightening on his head with enough strength to draw a little more blood.

I wonder what this will be like? To do such a thing... A contract, huh. Me? I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to the games those cowards loved to play…

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Remember… I need to remember… what else did those fey bastards say about contracts? They can bind your souls, that I know for sure, but what else did they say? Contractors… should be able to sense each other, I think? Damn it, I should have paid more attention to those stupid details.

Dagon exhaled deeply and slowly, as invisible tendrils of mana danced outward from his body and flowed into the carriage. It twisted itself into something, but it was just so weak. Abysmal. Pathetic. There was hardly a trace of magic to it. Why?

The tendrils grew in strength as they probed deeper, and began to move away, and slowly took on a more concrete form of Diane’s silhouette. The magic circuits etched throughout her body began to alight, albeit dimly. Why are they empty? The tendrils of mana pressed into her mana circuits, shriveled and weak as they were from disuse, snaking their way towards a tiny blackened speck near her heart that emanated only the smallest amounts of blue mana.

Is this… her mana heart? It looked almost like… someone or something had blocked it up. A disease? A genetic disorder? Or something else?

“Unacceptable.” I muttered venomously. My first contract, and my contractor can’t even use magic?!

Maybe if I filled her mana heart to overflowing, it would burst through the blockage. Or would that hurt her? I’d only recovered a little bit, but even a small amount of my mana could be overwhelming to her. She was still such a small child. Ten years, was it? Sendrien’s grimace only deepened.

His hand darted down to clench his chest, as Dagon’s eyes shot open and his teeth clenched, withholding another groan. What the hell is this? This pain… no… this isn’t coming from my chest. It’s external. Is this a side-effect of the contract? Is this her pain? Why is she in pain?

Tendrils of mana scattered far and wide in a silent, invisible burst. Closing his eyes, the outlines of the village illuminated themselves in shadowy form.

Ah… I see the problem. Risks be damned, there’s no way I’ll break my promise and let this shitty little pissant kill my first contractor. Let's get this little lady some mana, yeah?

An unnatural fiendish grin crossed Dagon’s childish face, and the tendrils of mana began to swell, darken and flow with a hellish fervor. It’s as much as a pebble in a mountain range, but it’ll have to do.

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The grendel finished killing the two remaining knights.

It didn’t know why, it just knew that it had to fulfill his master’s will. Plus, these humans were both soft and crunchy. They sated his hunger. There was one left, and the horses.

Between them and the other remaining bodies, it would be able to feast for a little while longer. Maybe it could even grow some?

It turned around and saw the little girl screaming at him. She would make a nice treat. Only one thing left to do.

badump badump

The grendel froze. It had never felt anything like that before.

It looked at the little girl, its body shaking. It felt… fear?

This girl… why does she have an aura of death?

The rapidly growing dark cloud shook the grendel to its core, and it made it feel so small! A towering daemonic aura, and within it a face straight from the depths of hell—growing, spreading, and furiously emanating from this little girl! Steam burst from her soft, reddening flesh in unison with the growing cloud. At her hands, a glow formed, spiraling, coalescing, gathering into an effervescent ball of liquid flame. The heat from the flames was enough to sear the grendel from a dozen feet away. It turned, it wanted to run, but it was far too late.

“FIREBALL!”

The last thing it heard was the roar, the earth shaking beneath its feet. It couldn't escape. The ball of flame crashed into its back, sending searing flame through its flesh and bone as it carried the grendel several hundred feet down the road before it exploded, incinerating everything in indiscriminate fury. A light as bright as the sun flashed outward, follow by a tremendous roar. Shattered pieces of the village were sent hurtling into the forest beyond, their flames setting the forest ablaze.

Diane felt as if something exploded inside of her. Her entire body felt as if it was burning, energy roiling through her. She could hardly concentrate. Fire burst from her hands. Then a quarter of the village… was gone in flames.

And just as suddenly as it came, the overwhelming energy was gone. She felt empty, unable to concentrate, overtaken by extreme exhaustion. Diane collapsed, her body broiling as her vision shuddered into a thick haze.

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After the explosion quieted down, the coachman crawled out from under the carriage.

“W-w-what just happened? Is it gone?”

He looked around. The horses huddled together, frozen in fear. He decided it wasn't worth the time to investigate the village, and instead took the opportunity to re-harness the other horse. One last quick glance, and he saw Lady Diane collapsed on the ground. Her body was the only one not doused in its own blood, the last traces of steam fading away.

“Ah! My lady! Are yah hurt?”

He sprinted up to her and heard her labored breathing. With a grunt, he lifted the young child and placed her back inside the carriage. The dancing lights of the flames accentuated the deep red hue that consumed all her skin that could be seen.

I may be old, but I'll be damned if I just abandoned the young lady like this! Never underestimate a coachman's honor!

He puffed out his chest with a bit of pride. If nothing else, he would always see his clients to their destination, no matter what! Otherwise… well, he'd be out of a job. And he frankly had no idea how to do much else well enough to live off it. Nor could he take the blame for abandoning a noble. Even if that was what her father wanted… he and his family would still be executed just for that bastard to keep up appearances.

“Hiya! Move ye horses!”

The creatures whinnied and began an eager gallop out of the village; they were all too happy to put the place behind them as fast as they could.

The carriage jostled rapidly back through the broken gates and onto the worn road.

And tah make sure I keep my coachman's honor for a long time yet, I am NEVER doin' one-ah these dangerous jobs again!