My alarm woke me before Cier did. I looked at my hand, made sure the bag was secure on my belt, and put the fire out in that order. It was still a little dark, but not too dark. "Did you have any good dreams?" I asked.

"I dreamed you used the Avarice Fiend's crystal and went on a rampage." He said.

"Oh, and here I was having a dream where it was whispering sweet nothings in my ear." I remarked. "My dream ended with me chucking the thing in the forest."

"It was tempting us with our hopes and fears." Cier remarked. "Truly a devious force."

"Yeah."

We got on the horses and continued on our way back to Lissana's home.

"What kind of danger can be expected here?" I asked.

"Wild beasts, dangerous monsters, occasionally, dangerous people." He said. "If in the event we are in danger, I want you to run as far as you can. Do not attempt to help me, do not attempt to fight."

"I cannot promise that." I said. "If I can act in a way that can get us both away, I will take that chance."

"Why?" He asked. "What profit do you gain by doing this?"

"Not only do I gain favor from Lissana for helping you, I also keep one of the few people on this world I can trust alive. If, however, there is no chance for me to help you, and my escape is impossible, I can use our positions as leverage, stating that Lissana would potentially be willing to pay for our lives."

"That is a dangerous game, Rex." He said.

"If greed is a strong enough motivator, then they'll keep us alive long enough for at least one of us to come up with a counterattack."

He nodded. "And what would you do, bound and gagged?" He asked.

"Depends on the situation." I replied. "But worst case scenario, I'd allow them to target me for insolence so that you could try to break free of any restraints."

We rode on in silence until noon, where I scavenged some berries for us to snack on.

"Having a useful guide for what is edible and what is not is an absolute must, it seems." He mused.

"Yeah." I replied.

'If you were captured, what would you do to prevent me from being found?' The Avarice Fiend's voice spoke in my mind. 'What would you give?'

I found myself idly rubbing the bottom of the bag, though I couldn't touch the crystal, the idea that it was just out of reach was strangely intoxicating. The idea that, if I just tried a little harder, reached a little deeper, I might feel it. To be wrapped in warmth, strength, to never be alone again.

"Cier." I said. "I think it's time you carried the bag."

I took it off my belt and hesitated briefly before I handed it to him. His expression changed subtly, and for a moment, I wanted to take it back.

"Every sixty minutes, we will hand it off to the other." I said. "Failure to comply means one of us will need to take more extreme measures to retrieve it."

He nodded. "By Contract, every sixty minutes, we will trade this off, we will not fight, nor attempt to keep it to one. Is this an adequate Contract?" He asked.

"Yes." I said.

We shook hands. "Then this Contract is sealed." We both said.

That was how we rode the next five hours, every hour, we would trade the bag off, and while it didn't get rid of the longing, it took the pressure off.

I found myself idly touching my chest, where the crystal would go if I took it. I half expected to find myself wearing it.

We took a break, where Cier said, "I am going to have to break my part of the Contract." He said. "I admit, I opened the bag without thinking. As it stands now, I do not think we could willingly let it go, so against my better judgment, it is yours." It looked like an immense weight had lifted off of him, and then firmly onto me. "I am sorry."

"Promise me you will keep an eye on me." I said.

He nodded and we resumed riding.

'It's mine.' I thought with a mixture of relief and satisfaction. I rubbed my finger against the bag, against the round of the crystal. 'I could take it. When he isn't looking, I could take it.'

I was snapped out of it by the sight of ten Humans stepping out of the trees, all of them brandishing weapons.

"Stand and deliver!" One of them shouted.

"Cier, advise." I said.

"There is no point in fighting." He said. "We give them what we can."

There wasn't much I really wanted, but I would protect the crystal.

"We do not have much." I said. "But we will give you what we can, if you will let us pass unharmed."

They surrounded us, and a thought occurred to me as they rifled through our saddlebags.

"We are delivering the vestments of Initiates to the Dragon God's Temple to Lady Wyrashe on the behalf of the Archdrake." I said. "I do not think they would be of much use to you, so please at least allow us to keep those for delivery."

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"Hear that, boys?" One of the men asked. "We could sneak into the Temple and rob the place blind with these!"

Cier's eyes narrowed slightly, he understood what I was trying to pull.

"What's in this bag?" One of the men jabbed a dagger at the bag with the crystal in it.

"Chunks of wood." I said. "For kindling. Unless you need wood in a forest, I'm afraid it won't fetch much of a price."

"Turn it out." He said.

I took the bag from my belt and opened it. My heart thundered, it was in reach. Calmly, pinching the crystal carefully so it wouldn't fall out, I overturned the bag and let the wood fall out. I then shook it to show there was nothing in there.

"Blocks are pretty useful for starting fires." He said.

"If you whittle the blocks down and use the shavings as kindling, it'll make starting fires easier." I replied. I rested my left hand in my lap, the bag bunched up to conceal the crystal.

"Are you a Priest?" He asked, noticing my holy sigil.

"I am." I replied.

He cut his hand. "Heal me, then."

I let go of the bag and held onto my holy sigil. "Bahamut, Cleansing Flame, I ask that you look upon this man and heal his wound."

The spell was a waste, but it seemed to satisfy him.

"Why aren't you wearing those fancy vestments?" He asked.

"I spoke with Archdrake Basha regarding my fear that the vestments were only a barrier between we Priests and the commonfolk." I replied. "The state of one's clothing does not mean anything in the eyes of the Gods."

He smirked. "You may go, but that fancy dressed man is staying. I'm guessing Lady Wyrashe would pay a lot for him. Tell her, ten Autros for the servant, payment in one week, or he dies."

I looked at Cier, who nodded. "I do not wish for a holy man to fall for my sake." He said.

"May Bahamut keep you safe until you can be retrieved." I said.

They let me go, and I held the crystal in my hand. I rubbed my thumb against it, I felt enraptured.

'What will it be?' Avarice asked.

"I wish to make a Contract." I said. "But I will only make it if you draw away from me."

The euphoria faded, but that greed was still there. No matter what I did, I would be making a contract with Avarice. I needed to carefully word the terms.

"This is my Contract." I said. "I will grant you physical form, in return, you must abide by my desires, you must only ever allow me to move, you must not control me, and you must never prevent me from removing this crystal."

'A contract must be equal.' Avarice said. 'You must offer three more things.'

I took a deep breath. "I will put the crystal to my chest one full day every two weeks. I will allow you unrestricted access to my memories..."

'Offer to become one with me.' It said. I shivered. I could almost feel it holding me in its arms. Comfort, forever. "And I will become one with you." I said. I placed the crystal to my chest and red strands surrounded me, growing around me, covering me. I stroked the gem as my hands gently caressed it. The massive arms manifested and for a time, I lost myself in rapture.

The sound of music reached my ears, a bell shattering my reverie. I let go of the crystal and focused. My phone's alarm had gone off. I looked down at my hands, covered on the back with a black metallic carapace, with the insides uncovered, while they were meant to be covering my current weak point, and thus did not have a wide range for use, I could theoretically use them for anything. I took the dagger I'd gotten from when I'd fought the Avarice Fiend with the larger right arm and handed it to my smaller right arm. I held it in both hands, not only giving the weak spot defense, but also close range attack in the event one of the bandits from before got any bright ideas.

I stepped into the forest and walked along the road to the point where we'd been stopped, I could smell them, and as I could smell them, I could see where they had passed through. Right now, Cier was valuable to me, and I'd be damned if I let those bandits have him.

'Then it is a fortuitous arrangement.' Avarice said in my mind. He could not control me. 'But, that can be negated at any time. Give up a term, and I will give up one of mine.'

I followed the trail through the forest until night fell. I saw a ramshackle, yet fortified camp.

'What will you do when you rescue him?' Avarice asked. 'You have a Contract pledged, and nobody is capable of weaseling out of one. You know he cannot abide by such a union, for us to become one. Forever.'

"Shut up." I said. I used the larger, stronger arms to haul myself to the top of a tree, which gave me an unrestricted view of the camp.

'There are twenty-four in all.'

"Thanks." I said, which seemed to surprise Avarice. "I'm not going to ignore you when you're actually being helpful."

About all I had going for me was raw strength that I probably couldn't use properly.

'Rescind your prior requirement that I must only ever allow you to move, and we will move in tandem, a perfect engine of destruction.'

It made sense, I would remain in control without really sacrificing anything. "Only if you rescind my requirement to become one with you." I said.

'Perhaps, then the requirement that I be able to gaze into your memories?'

It wasn't a raw deal, so I agreed. While I didn't lose control, I did feel a greater deal of synchronicity with the Fiend's body, to the point that the larger arms no longer felt as alien. My body felt amazing.

'Our body feels amazing.' Avarice corrected. It was right, and I realized that my thoughtless acquiescence to its request had given it more leverage over me.

We let go and landed with a muffled thud. We strode toward the gate and we struck it twice before it broke. With a rush of euphoria, we rushed into the camp. Bandits attacked us, but they smelled of fear. It was not difficult to grab weapons, and the dagger we held was swiftly replaced with a shield. We laughed as we tore them apart with twin swords cutting the air as we moved.

I took a deep breath and released, allowing myself, and by extension, Avarice, to calm down. We strode toward a tent, where I could see Cier tied to a chair, with his hands bound behind his back, and his mouth stuffed with a gag. Avarice wanted to kill him, to prevent a potential threat to our union.

Cier looked at me with wide eyes.

"The Fiend must abide by my desires, it must always allow me control, and it cannot prevent me from removing the crystal." I said. "Do you trust me?"

With a sharp claw, I carefully cut the gag from him. "You said yourself that neither of us is fit to bear it." He said.

"I will need you to trust me." I said. "For the time being, it would be dangerous for me to remove the crystal, and for you to attempt to." I cut his bindings and he rubbed his wrists.

"You made a Contract." He said.

"I did." I said. "My part of the deal was to offer it a body, to wear it for a full day every two weeks, and to become one with it."

"Idiot." He said.

"The last one was said in a moment of weakness." I said. "But, since it has to abide by my desires, it cannot make me do anything I do not want to do. Namely, killing you, whom it sees as a threat."

He sighed. "We were both already compromised to begin with, I should not be surprised by this turn of events." He said. "They slaughtered my horse, regardless, and our belongings can at least be retrieved."

One of my hands had started to stroke the crystal of its own volition, I forced myself to stop.

"I had to abandon my horse to get here as I am." I replied, taking the shield away from my hands. I had to keep myself from trying to cover my weakness.

Cier reached toward it and I had to restrain myself. He touched it, and it felt like he was touching my naked body.

"Stop." I said. "That feels uncomfortable, and it makes me want to punch your face in."

"Noted." He said, pulling his hand away. I reached out with my own and held his. The extra sensitive fingertips registered how silky his gloves were.

"This is my hand." I said. He nodded, it seemed he understood that I was trying to tell him I was in control. He gathered what had been taken, plus some extra things. "Climb on my back." I said. "I can get us to my horse without too much issue."

He nodded and did so, and I started running. When we reached where I'd left my horse, we found it had been killed by something.

"Try to get some rest." I said to Cier. "While like this, I can run for miles. I'll keep you protected."

Very well." He said, and Avarice used his tendrils to essentially tie him to me. "That's... disconcerting." He remarked.

I kept running until we were out of the forest. I then spent some time walking.

'Such power, to do all that you could not do before.' Avarice stated. 'Why should you settle for anything less?'

'Because it's boring.' I replied. 'Why suddenly become powerful, and miss out on important character development, instead of go through the proper channels and gain a much more satisfying conclusion?"

'Life is short, you will die, so why not take what you can?'

'Because life is meaningless.' I replied. 'Indulging in the darker desires of others, what exactly have you gained? All of the others you have absorbed, where are they? Why settle for becoming one thing, when a mutual partnership would be better in the long run?'

'We can be together forever.'

'No. If you truly wish to be with me forever, we both must remain, equal, or nothing will come of it.'

I felt a sudden desire to break something, but it faded.

'Our Contract is sealed, is it not? What use is there in debating what is set in stone?'

I took a deep breath and held up a holly berry. Avarice freaked out at the startling revelation.

"Rescind the Contract, or I will eat this. We will both experience a painful death, and you will be left with a dead body as a vessel."

Avarice was silent, it understood that I was not going to be its puppet.

'The Contract will end upon you removing the crystal.' Avarice stated. I smiled, but I understood that it would be easier said than done. Avarice couldn't control me, but with how wonderful it felt to stroke my crystal, with how I was beginning to view this as my body, how would this end?

"It will end now." I decided as I took a deep breath. I grasped the crystal, and with my own hand, I tore it from me. The Fiend's body dissipated, which caused Cier to fall unceremoniously to the ground...