14:10

"I'm back," Michael casually announced as he entered home. His mother, Mary, sat on the sofa, watching TV and snacking on her off day.

"Hi, sweety," she greeted him with a knowing smile. "Did you have too much fun? How come Eric had to inform me you're sleeping out?"

Michael feared his mother would discern the emotional turmoil he was in. As she spoke, he went straight to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and quickly washed the glass.

"I was busy, so I asked him," he replied, heading to his room. "I'm going to sleep. Don't call me."

Mary let out a light grunt, watching his retreating back. Though happy for her son, she wished he were more proactive about his future like his siblings. It wasn't the right time to rekindle the argument, and she returned her attention to the TV show he interrupted.

"Don't sleep too much. It's the middle of the day," she advised, lowering the TV's volume.

…

Michael's Room

"When are your father and brother set to arrive?" David asked, emerging from The Gray. Immediately, he drew four circles with a shimmering finger.

Michael wasn't surprised by David's sudden appearance. David had given him an abridged description of the space – a Dimension Type called "The Gray." Humans and other Entities used it to travel across the Dimension Type known as the "Material Dimension." As for the finger gesture, it was a simple Sound Block Spell, another version of the ones he cast in the coffee shop and on their way.

"My dad should be home around six. My brother is probably in his room sleeping."

"I checked all the rooms. Your mother is the only one at home."

"Then my brother is out and will return whenever."

"Well, it will make things easier for me. I know you're itching for answers and a solution to your predicament, but give me eight to ten minutes to lock access to The Gray in the space of your house, so no one else will pop in."

Without waiting for approval, David vanished back to The Gray. Besides the balcony, kitchen, and two bathrooms, the apartment boasted five more rooms, including the living room. Three of these were bedrooms—Mary and Peter's, Dan's, and Michael's. The fourth had once belonged to Lessa, Michael's older sister, but had since transformed into more of a storage or guest bedroom.

"A bit of a waste unless this place becomes our battlefield for the next forty-eight hours…"

In the kitchen, David retrieved a small bottle with triangular gray spikes from his trench coat, each the size of a fingernail. He selected four from the hundred or so contained in the bottle.

"To the East. To the West. To the North. To the South," he uttered in a low voice, ritualistically shoving each spike in a different direction into the air.

The spikes seamlessly merged with the fabric of space in the kitchen. Where they disappeared, gray lines and Runes spread for a moment, locking the access, in or out, to The Gray.

Having secured all the rooms except the living room, David returned to Michael's room, which also needed locking.

"I need you to distract your mother for two minutes while I lock the living room," he said, beginning the ritual to secure the access in Michael's room.

"Isn't it enough that you locked all the surrounding rooms?" Michael hesitated; facing his parents was the last thing he wanted at the moment.

"Those pursuing you can still enter your living room from the floor and ceiling of the apartments above and below. It might be troublesome since they have to go through reinforced concrete – everything is tougher in The Gray – but I doubt they mind."

"Please make it no longer than two minutes," Michael sighed, composed himself, and exited his room.

"Mom, I can't sleep. Help me cook something fast."

"You're a grown man-"

"Mom, I got a hangover-"

"Woo-ooh-ooh!"

"Seriously, Mom!"

"Alright, alright. Only because I pity my little boy and you made me laugh," Mary left the sofa. "What do you want?"

"Something light."

"Okay, sweetheart."

Ten minutes later, Michael returned to his room with a plate of an omelet sandwich.

"Funny mother. I miss mine…" David lamented. "You don't really have a hangover, so… can I eat that?"

"Go ahead," Michael's vigilance was too high for him to have an appetite.

With everything proceeding as David wanted, all that was left was for the man to examine the contract with the Demon – "Demonic Entity," an umbrella term Michael had learned on their way home for all organisms born in Dimension Type: "Demonic Dimension."

David finished the omelet sandwich in two big bites. "Lay on your bed. It'd be less uncomfortable." One thing he hadn't shared on the way was his method of seeing the contract he otherwise shouldn't be privy to. "Don't worry. It won't hurt. Close your eyes and rest your body. Inhale from your nose and exhale from your mouth," he guided Michael.

Standing by Michael's bed, David's grin stretched from ear to ear, literally. His mouth, the shape of his head, eyes, even skin vaguely transformed into an impression of a humanoid snake.

"Reverse Devour!"

His voice carried a mysterious might, complementing the presence he turned On and Off. The words were not said loudly, rather plainly. Their meaning...

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

'Did he trick me?!' Before Michael could react to this thought, something smooth and scaly was shoved into his mouth, down his throat, and spread throughout his body. It didn't choke him, nor hurt, as promised, but the sensation was invasive.

'We don't have long. This is an offensive Ability, after all,' David's voice echoed in Michael's head.

"Where-" Michael hysterically rose from the bed. The moment he didn't see David next to him was also the moment he realized where the other man was, which wasn't too inexplicable a conclusion, considering the last five days. "You entered my body!"

'Yes. Contracts of Demonic Transaction generally can only be seen by the Contractor and Client. Reverse Devour shouldn't be able to allow its user to see it. I, however, am a bit special for reasons that aren't relevant now. Continue to follow my instructions. I'm aware that you didn't know you can see the contract. As you are, you require a small boost. Oh-'

David's voice was cut off. Michael could still feel the invasive feeling, so he knew the man was still inside of him – the real disturbing thing in this entire ordeal if someone asks him – though it would never leave this room!

'That Thing inside of you caught me off-guard. Didn't think, in Its underdeveloped state, It can do much. That's promising. I'm fine, though.'

As his voice returned, Michael felt the String fiercely spinning at the center of his chest, somehow restricted.

'I'm going to use your eyes to see the contract. I'll channel a portion of Magick to them. All you have to do is concentrate on wanting to see the contract.'

Michael's blue eyes shone, leading them to burn and shed tears, reminiscent of cutting an onion.

"The contract..."

The recollection came to him clearer than any memory he ever recalled.

'The Demonic Entity called Itself "Deals Maker"?'

As David spoke, Michael noticed that he was seeing the contract floating in front of him. It wasn't tangible; he found out as he failed to grasp it.

"'A Deals Maker,' it said," part of the conversation that night that Michael remembered with or without David's help. "As in one of two or more. Type of Demonic Entity?"

'Not a type. A Group of Followers. It was forced to sign the Group's name instead of its. That's because your request was beyond its paygrade, hahaha. I see it... a "Grow" type power with zero accountability, in a sense. You must be a fiction enthusiast. And the outcome is the "Worm" in your chest.'

"Worm?!" Michael hastily skimmed through the contract. It was short with barely any clauses, just those brought up by him and the Deals Maker that night. 'I didn't see anything about a "Worm"!'

'Of course you didn't,' said David, giving away that while in his body he can also hear Michael's thoughts and that Michael also made the realization. 'Boobs. Not bad. Redheads are your favorite. They're my second. Brunette-'

"You said we don't have a lot of time!"

'Apologies. You're a small kid who just dealt with someone well above you. I got nostalgic, that's all. I have my answer and enough time left to give you a quick summary of how Demonic Transactions work, before I exit – necessary for my final point. People that are "down on their luck" unconsciously spread negative mental energy in their surroundings. The place they spend most of their time in has the highest concentration of negative mental energy, something even regular people can sense without fully understanding. If the concentration is sufficiently high and the person is desperate for any kind of help and knowingly brings about names and words that shouldn't be said carelessly, on very rare occasions, they may succeed in attracting a Demonic Entity to bargain with, at the best case. Haunt or even possess, at the worst.'

David employed his Magick to highlight the signature "Deals Maker."

'You were fortunate. You sold your soul, a monumentally idiotic choice, but it could've been worse. Demonic Entities that offer Demonic Transaction accomplish their side of the bargain either via their power or as a proxy of a Demonic Prince and Princess, King and Queen, or Sin. For example, if you asked for the power to execute immediate revenge, the Deals Maker could curse you with a power to do so, using its power and adding it upfront to the contract. Since your request was too big for it to accomplish, it used its connection to a greater form of Demonic Entity. As far as I'm aware, the Deals Makers are proxies to one or a couple of the Demonic Dimension's Apex, the Premier Demonic Titles: Prince and Princess, King and Queen, and Sin. Meaning, the Deals Maker you bargained with fulfilled your request using something belonging to a Demonic Entity of one of these Titles.'

"Does it imply that if I ever want to retrieve the rights to my soul, I'd need to face a Demonic Prince, Princess, King, Queen, or Sin?" In his heart, Michael hoped to grow his power to allow him to annul this abysmal clause of the Demonic Contract. Now he wasn't too sure he'd get the chance to live to tomorrow.

'Yes. But one problem at a time. Focus on what you received, the Worm,' the word was highlighted in the contract instead of "Deals Maker". 'It's much more than just the embodiment of your request. Getting something It is incredibly rare. No regular person has the capacity to accurately articulate the possessions of Demonic Entities, not even the chattels of those below Princes and Princesses. My only guess is that reading does pay off for developing flexible thinking. Michael,' the authority in David's voice brimmed in his head. 'Do as I say and don't halt no matter what happens. Answer me!'

"A- Alright!" It took a tiny stutter for Michael to get over the pressure from within.

'I'm going to release the Worm in your chest and exit your body. Don't pay attention to anything It does. I'll leave a portion of Magick for the contract to remain visible for you for a few seconds. Use those seconds to focus on the word "Worm" in the contract. It was Its Owner who wrote it when the contract was made. Traces of Their power linger in the word, a good opportunity to absorb your first and probably most important Insight!'

David finished, and Michael again felt the smoothness and scaliness moving inside him. Correspondingly, the String or "Worm" was released and charged to Michael's head. This time unobstructed by an invisible barrier, courtesy of said traces of power in the contract…

'Concentrate on the word Worm, not the String!' Michael directed all his effort into the feat. As a reader of cultivation novels, the concept of "Insights" wasn't lost on him. He couldn't be sure for certain that David's Insight and fiction's insight held the same meaning, then again… 'How many definitions can a word have?'

'Worm, Worm, Worm, Worm…'

He gauged the word. Not sensing anything particular about it, he could only keep reading and waiting. Meanwhile, the String breached his skull, darting among the vessels of his brain. It was very distracting. Michael's emotions began to stir, intense rage and passion, as last night, but as he kept reading…

'These emotions aren't mine,' the clarity painted a defined line between himself and the String. The ink was the word "Worm". 'Back,' uttered Michael at the String. Its movement, for the first time since it appeared in his body, ceased.

The cessation lasted no more than two seconds. There were barely motes of David's energy. The contract was about to vanish, there but hidden until the time Michael would be able to call it on his own. By then, the lingering traces of the String's former Owner would dissipate completely. The String either had consciousness or some form of instincts, since It started to move toward the vision of the contract in Michael's mind.

'I. Said. BACK!' Michael roared. It wasn't solely the voice in his head. Something else was at play this time, that the String seemed wary to disobey.

The first thing to dawn on Michael was a definite line, separating what emotions were his and what were the String's.

'I can see you. All of you. Where you hear, and you hear me,' after the separation of emotions, the second thing to dawn on Michael was the perfect appearance of the String.

It was in every shape and form a brown-looking worm. Like any you'd put on a hook and hurl into water.

'I won't say it again!' Michael's resolve steadily intensified. The separation of emotion was akin to differentiating a dream from reality.

The contract vanished. The String shook, angry, and returned to Michael's chest.

"Well done," David removed his hand from Michael's head. Back as a humanoid human. "The Worm, as frankly anything labeled 'Growth Type', is indeed a treasure befitting the most exalted Demonic Entities," he smirked. "You need to adjust. Check it..."

He rummaged in the cabinet, shaking his head upon finding "ritualistic items" in the bottom drawer. Picking the candle from Michael's ritual a few nights ago, he broke it into six pieces and launched them at Michael. "Catch."

Michael, who wasn't prepared, moved to protect his face, as he recognized the trajectory of the candle pieces. As they came closer, they seemed slower, enough to catch?

He attempted.

Leaving his face unprotected, his hands moved.

'One, two, three,' he simultaneously caught three pieces in his right hand and three in his left hand.

"Congratulations for gaining your first Insight and evolving it from the First Stage of In to the Second Stage of Sight," David clapped.