Mammon grinned with anticipation, yes, there was that spark of need that could set off a cascade of ambitions. Plus, it was a request that the demon had heard thousands of times before. But to celebrate this very first human to contact him in this new world, Mammon swore that he would make sure that this contract was special. He would do his utmost, on his pride as the CEO of Hell’s greatest corporations, to ensure that the boy’s experiences will be changed forever.

“I see,” Mammon answered simply, “And who or what do you want revenge against?”

The boy’s soul was starting to blaze with intense hatred, “It’s the local bullies, they’re a local group of criminals that just moved into our part of the city.”

Mammon nodded and put on a pitying face, “I see, and what did these so-called bullies do to you, oh little lordling?”

“Stop calling me that,” he frowned, “And they’ve been harassing the other orphans for months now. They’re invading all of our usual spots where we get our food, and they’re even reporting the weaker ones for loitering. They’ve set up patrols so we can’t even pickpocket to make a living! They’re even threatening to close down our orphanage because no one would adopt us anymore!”

Mammon blinked.

Was that it? He had thought that these gangsters killed the boy’s family or burned down his home, not just… literally bullying the weak for sport, and reporting them to the authorities. Were these even criminals in the first place? Sounded more like concerned citizens than anything else.

Which also led to a dilemma for the demon. Providing the boy with enough power to kill some no-name scum would be easy and a great way to get him addicted to the power over life and death. And better still, there’d be little to no repercussions for such actions, but letting him kill actual citizens this early on? Now that could prove troublesome, but no matter, Mammon missed these little puzzles that he had to think his way through.

“That’s awful!” the demon said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, “Surely this kind of behavior cannot be allowed to continue! Why don’t you tell me all about it so I can help you?”

The boy nodded, “They came last month, said something about a new ruler was in place and they wanted to make some changes. They started getting rid of the older folk first, I dunno where they took them, but they soon went after us as well.”

“So you decided to summon an… elemental to help out?” Mammon inquired, “Do you wish them all dead?”

The boy went wide-eyed at that suggestion. Ah, guess he was more innocent than first thought. Mammon had thought that someone growing up on the streets or in an orphanage would be more accustomed to the dark side of society, he had evidently guessed wrong.

“I’m kidding of course,” Mammon soothed, “Don’t take everything I saw so seriously! , We won’t kill anyone, why, that’d make me a demon!”

Wren frowned, “What’s a demon?”

There it was, the confirmation that demons were not around, or at least not widely known in this world. Mammon could feel his heart pump at all the things he could do here, but he calmed himself and focused on his current task.

“Oh, nothing, lordling, nothing,” he said again, “It’s a figure of speech common to us elementals. It means something not trustworthy.”

“Are you trustworthy?” the boy asked, he scrutinized Mammon further. Guess he wasn’t as naive as I first thought, although he still showed his age if he bothered asking such a useless question.

“Of course I am, Wren,” Mammon replied, “And to prove it, why don’t we sign a contract? You know what those are, right?”

The boy nodded slowly, “Yeah, I think they write one of those when people come to adopt us. But I can read a little, the sister taught us, but I can’t write good, ma’am.”

“It’s fine,” he continued, “I’ll tell you what’s on it, and you can just give me your thumbprint as a signature. How about it?”

“Well…” he thought, “What’s the, um, terms and stuff?”

Mammon produced a neat piece of paper from his robes and showed it to the boy. Of course, since he couldn’t read the thing, the gesture was mostly meaningless, but Mammon felt it necessary anyway. He then read off the contract, omitting the “useless” bits of information, naturally.

“Let’s see…” Mammon began, “The terms are simple, I’ll help you out with your revenge, and since I like you so much, I’ll even help you and your friends out of your current situation. Don’t you think you could do a lot more good with just a tiny bit of money in your pockets?”

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Wren thought about it for a moment before agreeing, “Well, sure… but we’d get in trouble if we pickpocket any more than necessary.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” the demon smiled, “Let me worry about how you can get the funds, we elementals have our ways.”

“Well, that’s fine I guess…”

“Good, so I’ll help you with revenge and get you some money to live off of, and in return…”

The boy looked on in anticipation.

“I’ll have you introduce me to this new world!” Mammon said with a smile. And your soul.

But he didn’t say that part out loud. Normally such deals would be highly illegal, with the feathered choir scrutinizing everything that Mammon did, but he hadn’t felt their presence at all since his arrival. He was almost certain that the rules for what he could do had lessened… a lot. That unspoken part was technically in the writing, in tiny, tiny font, but it was there. He can’t say that he’s breaking any rules then!

“Is that it?” the boy questioned, “That doesn’t seem very fair.”

Mammon laughed, “I’ll be the judge on whether that exchange is fair or not. But let me tell you, Wren, the elemental world is dreadfully dull, so taking some time to explore this one is a kind of vacation for us.”

“Oh, that makes sense, I supposed,” the boy replied. He was so deliciously naive, Mammon thought. There was so much that he could do with such a malleable material!

“So, how about it, Wren?” he asked, putting as much charm as he could into his new voice, “You get some revenge, some spending cash, and all I want in return is a little time off. Not a bad deal, if I say so myself!”

Mammon gave the boy his best grin and gestured for the boy to take and sign the contract, “So once again, how about it, Wren?”

He grabbed it from the demon, looking at the piece of exquisitely crafted paper with slight unease.

“I suppose so,” he said finally, “Do I just press my thumb on the bottom?”

Mammon produced a little pad of ink and placed it in front of the boy, “If you would be so kind.”

Wren nodded and dabbed his thumb on the pad, looked over the paper one last time, and finally pressed his digit down to seal the deal. Mammon smiled immediately as he felt the unmistakable bond of the contract established between them. Good, he was almost afraid that the rules he was so used to would be useless here in this new land.

“Perfect!” Mammon continued with a smile and stepped out of the little containment circle. It barely even made a fizzle when he forced his way through.

Wren looked a little shocked to see the other being left so easily, but he soon calmed down when he saw that Mammon was not there to harm him.

“Relax a little, lordling,” the demon said, “I’m on your side.”

“Sorry, I, um, I don’t know what to expect,” he muttered, “I never thought that the summoning would work.”

“Say, how did you know what to do when you can’t read all that well?”

Mammon assumed that summoning one of the highest members of Hell’s courts could not have been an easy ritual, yet here he was, summoned by a boy who could barely read. Clearly, there was something larger at play.

The boy in question held up the book for Mammon to see, and the demon gently took it from him to see what this thing was about. He casually flipped through a few pages, but he found that the book appeared all but blank to him. Whatever was preventing him from viewing its information was powerful if it could work against Mammon, which made it all the more strange that such an artifact could end up in the hands of some kid.

“There’s pictures that I followed,” the boy explained, “Um, the instructions are written in words that I can understand, and I guessed the stuff I couldn’t read.”

Mammon frowned further, that should be impossible. There was no way that an uneducated 12-year-old could simply make up and guess the instructions for such a complex summoning. More and more questions popped up, like where did the energy for his summons even come from, or why did it choose him of all beings? But those questions could wait, for now, Mammon had more pertinent things to do.

He handed Wren his little book back, “Thank you for letting me see your book. It’s quite the treasure, so make sure you take good care of it.”

“I know, ma’am,” he said nervously before taking the battered notebook back, “It’s the only thing I have from my family.”

Mammon nodded, “Then they left you something that is truly valuable.”

Wren looked at the book once more, lost in thought, before finally putting it away.

“I never thought about it like that,” he said slowly, “I thought it was some junk that my parents didn’t want. I… I guess they cared for me more than I thought.”

The demon went over and patted the boy on the back, soothing him, “And what happened to them, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Wren shivered at the physical contact but calmed down soon after. Mammon had that effect on people.

Slowly, he spoke, “I heard they died when all the crops died a ways back. At least that’s what the orphanage told me.”

“Well,” Mammon continued as more ideas sprang up, “I’ll help you find out more about what happened to them. I think you deserve to know the full story if they left you something like the book.”

“You can?” he asked, turning to face the demon, “That’d, um, that’d be nice.”

“Of course I can! And more besides. But for now, let’s get out of this dingy basement and I’ll get us something to eat. How about it?”

Wren hesitated, “I don’t have any money for food…”

Mammon laughed, “You let me worry about money. How about this, you wait here for a little bit, and I’ll be back with something nice to eat. You probably need to clean all this up, and I bet you’ll be starving once you’re done!”

“Um, you won’t leave me, right?”

Oh, this was perfect, Mammon thought, this boy was already starting to depend on him. It was almost too easy, but Mammon had grand plans for this lost puppy.

Mammon gave the boy his most reassuring smile, “We signed a contract, remember? I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he replied genuinely.

“Oh, and call me Mammon,” the demon answered with a wink, he subtly adjusted his form to be ever so slightly more feminine for the boy’s sake. “Or Mona for short.”

Without waiting for a response, Mammon went out of the tiny hovel and stepped out into the new world for the first time.