“You’re bluffing,” Henry said. “I’ve watched this world from the void for thousands of years. I’m well aware that someone else is aware of your presence. They’ll look for you when you go missing, and then I shall be freed.”

“My mom will come,” Damien agreed. “But she’s going to be suspicious when she finds us locked inside my own runes. You won’t be able to answer her questions, so she’ll know I’m gone, one way or another.”

“I can just read your mind,” Henry said.

“No, you can’t.”

“What makes you think that?”

“You didn’t know about the barrier I made. I was thinking about it while you were controlling my body. You might be able to rip the information out of me, but the only thing keeping you here right now is my summoning circle. The moment I die, you're headed straight back to the void.”

Henry didn’t say anything for a few moments. The creature seemed to be listening to something out of one ear. Then he rubbed his forehead in a remarkably human motion.

“You could survive, you know. If you told your mother everything was fine when she came, she’d let us out. I’d even spare her life, too. Two humans living is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Do you really want to die a slow, agonizing death from dehydration?”

It was Damien’s turn to fall silent. As the blood trickled down his nose and dripped onto the floor, thoughts of what his life had been and what it could be flickered through his mind. He didn’t want to die, which was a feature shared by the vast majority of mortals.

“I’d even let you have your body back every once and a while,” Henry offered. “We could share.”

As if to prove his point, Henry released control of Damien. The boy sank to his knees, his hands trembling. His mouth was parched and his lips were dry. His nose ached terribly and the blood was making it difficult to breath. His eyes narrowed as he set his decision in stone.

“No. I – I won’t let you make others pay for my mistake. I don’t want to die, but neither does everyone else,” Damien said. He sat down and crossed his arms, forcing himself to ignore the terrified screaming that desperately longed to escape his lips. “You can have my body back. When my mom comes and realizes it’s not me in this circle, she’ll never trust anything I say. It’ll be too late. Enjoy your time in the Mortal Plane. My mom is going to be back any minute.”

Henry didn’t take back over Damien’s body, nor did he say anything.

“If my mom gets here and you aren’t in control, I’m going to tell her what happened,” Damien said, wiping some of the blood away from his lips.

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“You stubborn little mortal,” Henry spat, saying the last word like it was a curse. “Are you really this suicidal?”

Damien didn’t respond.

“Damn it, boy. I’ll arrive in the Mortal Plane, with or without you. You’re just stalling me until the next fool. You don’t get a second chance, you know. Mortals don’t come back. You’ve done no great deeds, so you’ll be sent to the Plane of the Dead. There’s no coming back from that. If I’m in control, you’ll live forever.”

Damien said nothing. Several more minutes passed. If anything, the injuries that had accumulated on the boy’s body were growing more painful as the adrenaline faded away into acceptance.

Henry yanked control of Damien’s body and shuffled over to the Summoner’s Almanac. He lifted it and tore through the pages, hunting for any method of release.

“There has to be a way to break the circle,” Henry snarled. “I will not go back to the void. I refuse!”

In his anger, his control over Damien’s body slipped.

“That book only has summoning methods and contracts in it,” Damien said with a weak laugh.

It was Henry’s turn to ignore Damien. His eyes scanned the pages at an impossible speed as he scanned the book desperately, searching for any possible way to avoid getting sent back to the void once again.

Henry forced Damien’s body to flip past several pages. Then he paused. Slowly, with a pained grimace, he went back a page.

“This,” Henry said, having Damien tap a page with a sore finger.

He was looking at the page, so Damien was able to see it as well. The page was near the back of the book. The word ‘obsolete’ had been written across the top of page in large, thick handwriting.

The pages contents were quite simple, even for Damien. It described a binding method that involved binding the summoner and their companion together completely. They shared their lifeforce, thoughts, and possibly more, depending on the strength of the bond. In addition, anyone involved with the bond would trade a large portion of their soul with each other.

More than half the page was covered with warnings noting the numerous ways that the bond had negatively affected the casters. When one of the two died, the other one would suffer severe backlash or, in the worst scenario, die as well. They were also unable to keep secrets from each other, as each had free access to the other’s mind.

However, there were several benefits. The first was that the summoner would be able to better learn the magic their companion could use. Since the souls of the summoner and their companion would be partially fused, they would also be unable to intentionally harm each other or go completely against one another’s wishes.

“Half of this page is covered with warnings about how bad of an idea it is to do this kind of bond,” Damien said. “This might actually be worse than dying. I don’t want to become you.”

“I promise it’s not worse than a millennia of boredom,” Henry said. “And, trust me. I have absolutely no desire to become a worthless mortal. We won’t become each other. I’m strong enough to keep that from happening. But, look! If we do this, we can both win. You get to live and I get to experience the mortal world, even if I don’t get to destroy it.”

Whatever Henry’s true intention was, the void creature had succeeded in planting the seed of hope in Damien’s heart. The boy picked the book up and scanned the page, searching for the loophole that Henry was trying to take advantage of.

“Don’t take too long!” Henry urged. “If your mother shows up, it’s game over.”

“I’m not going to make another deal with you until I’ve read what I’m getting into,” Damien snapped. “We both know what happened the first time I trusted you.”

“The circumstances are different!”

“Then you’ll be happy to take my terms,” Damien said. The information in the book was sparse, but he couldn’t find anything obviously wrong. That meant Henry was going to try to get him on the terms of the deal.