As I wandered through it on my own, I realised the forest was a lot less like a terrestrial one than I’d thought. The trees were thin-limbed and covered in sharp edges. Small plants grew from within recesses in the trees while brightly coloured mosses seemed to cover almost everything.

Wondering if it was really such a good idea to be out here alone, I proceeded regardless and found a small clearing in the forest. I lifted the sword up over my head and tried a downward cut. It sliced through the air with a satisfying sound.

Nodding, I brought my new weapon in close. “So, you’re a magic sword, right? What sorts of things can you do?”

Despite the gravity of my situation, I was excited to find out what my new ally was capable of. I hadn’t really thought about having a magical sword of my own before, but it was pretty cool. Sure, it didn’t look flashy but that didn’t matter, so long as it had power.

The sword sighed out loud. Hearing a sword exhale was strange, especially given that it’s not like it had lungs or anything. I guess a sword talking in the first place is pretty weird.

“My strength is not what it once was, but I am far from powerless. As to what I can do… to put it simply I can conjure ice.”

Ice? It didn’t sound too great, but I was willing to take what I could get at this stage. “Alright. Show me then.”

Glowing with silver-black light, the sword vibrated in my hand while the hilt was ice cold to the touch. I guess it fit their theme, but I really could have done without the cold. It enough to make my bare skin immediately break out in goose bumps.

I swung the sword, with the point just above the ground, and it left a wall of ice behind. Though only chest high, the wall was more impressive than I would have thought. Unlike the clear, blue ice I’d been expecting it was black and covered in sharp barbs. Definitely not something I wanted to touch.

“That’s neat and all, but don’t you have anything more immediately useful for battle? You are a sword after all.”

“Not in this state. Most of my power is still dormant.”

“Okay, and how do we get it awaken then?”

“For that I require a great font of mana, far beyond what you’re capable of supplying. Conversing is also extremely tiring for me, so try not to make a habit of it. Now I must rest for a while.”

My arms were starting to go numb at this point so I told the sword to knock it off already. The glow and the cold emanating from the sword, along with the ice on the ground, vanished. It wasn’t the most impressive ability, but I could see it being useful.

Setting the sword aside, I rubbed my arms for warmth and took stock of my situation. From what I could tell so far, I was trapped here in the service of a Demon Lord. Someone who’d murdered several people in cold blood just to bring me here.

I frowned, for some reason I couldn’t manage much shock or alarm at this. Had I always been like this? No, I was pretty sure I’d been fairly normal back on earth. It must have something to do with whatever that demon had done to me.

I let out a crazed bark of laughter; stealing my freewill wasn’t enough? She also had to fuck with my mind? Maybe I should just kill myself, my chances of survival seemed pretty slim, anyway. And even if I did survive, what kind of life would I lead?

Despite the gloom that encompassed me, I don’t think I could actually do it. The situation seemed hopeless, but I didn’t want to give up. And some part of me didn’t want to abandon the demon. I laughed again. Was I that stupidly devoted to helping this terrible person? Or was this another part of whatever she’d done? I really hoped it was the latter, at least it wouldn’t be my fault then.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The voice came from just behind me. For an instant I thought it was the Demon Lord herself and I froze, but no it sounded nothing like her. Their voice was strange and garbled, it was almost like the sound of leaves rustling in the wind that had somehow been twisted into words.

I groped for my sword and looked back over my shoulder. A feminine figure composed of dried leaves stood behind me, with her hands on her hips.

“Err.” It was a good question, what the hell was I doing in a general sense. But I assumed they were referring to what I was doing right now. “Well, I got this new sword. And I thought I’d give it a try. I hope I didn’t do something wrong.”

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It never hurt to show a little courtesy to magical beings of unknown power, especially when you were keenly aware of how powerless you were. Faced with yet another unknown situation, my contemplation receded and my survival instincts took over.

“Admittedly, you didn’t break any rules exactly. But don’t you think it’s a bit rude to be doing magic in someone else’s forest?” The leaves shuddered in tandem to create the impression of shivering. “Particularly magic of such a loathsome sort. Do you have any idea how many plants and animals your ice killed?” She pointed to where the wall had been and what was now a strip of brown and dying vegetation.

“Sorry, I’ll be more considerate next time. I didn’t realize this was your forest.”

“Mine?” She laughed. It was a harsh, grating sound. I got the impression they were genuinely amused, and that was just the sound this form made when it laughed. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a while. It’s hard to believe, but I can see by your face that you’re telling the truth.”

I tried to maintain whatever trustworthy expression I was apparently making and she continued. “This forest and everything that dwells here belongs to Soarister. In a certain sense at least. It’s more that we’re under his protection than that we’re his slaves, in case you were wondering. He’s really quite nice.” She paused. “For a spirit. They can be a tad disconnected when it comes to folks like you us.”

I was surprised that she considered us to be the same type of ‘folks’, whatever that meant. “Soarister’s not like that though, he really makes an effort to listen.” The leaves shrugged. “When it suits him, anyway.”

It was nice to meet someone who was pleasant and happy to give information even if I was essentially talking to a bunch of leaves. In theory it seemed more insane than talking to a sword, but probably not by much. “He doesn’t have a problem with us travelling through the forest then?”

“Not really. So long as you stick to the outskirts and don’t kill anything. He doesn’t take too kindly to outsiders invading his home or pillaging it.”

I nodded. “I can imagine. No need to worry, I didn’t have any intention of doing something like that.”

“Then there should be no problem. Sorry if I surprised you earlier, I was expecting someone… different. Anyway, if you’re not going to cause any trouble, I should probably be going.”

“Wait. Uh, can I ask your advice about something? You seem like a reasonable person.” Or at least the most reasonable person I’d met in this world, for whatever that was worth.

“I don’t know about that last part, but sure, ask away. I’ll help ya out if I can.”

I’d intended to only give her a brief overview, but I found myself explaining everything that had happened since I woke up in my bed that fateful day. It felt good to explain the whole crazy situation to someone else.

For her part, the leaf-humanoid waited until I was done before speaking. “Wow, that’s a pretty shitty situation you’re in, huh?” She sounded both sympathetic and amused at the absurdity of it.

“Tell me about it, but what do you think I should do? You don’t happen to know some way I can get out of this whole binding or something, do you?”

“Nope.”

It was what I expected, but I still felt my heart sink. “Damn.”

“As for what you should do… Um, it sounds pretty complex but from what I can tell it seems like you basically have two choices; you can die and it’ll all be over, or you can try to change things.”

“How am I supposed to change things? It’s not like I can just magic my way out of the problem.”

“Yeah, and you don’t have to. Have you tried talking to this Demon Lord about this?”

I was about to say that there was no way that would work when she cut me off. “I get how that wouldn’t sound like a good idea, but from what you said she needs you. That should give you some room to negotiate things. But even if you can get a better deal for yourself, you’d better be prepared to hold up your end. I don’t know how useful any of that this, but I think that’s the best advice I can give you.”

“What if instead of making a deal she just takes away my free will altogether?” I wasn’t sure she could actually do that, but the prospect of it was terrifying.

The leaves hovered there, silent, for a few seconds. “Give me a little while, I’ll just go get something quickly and come right back, okay?”

I nodded, and I lost sight of the humanoid form almost immediately as it flew out of the clearing. It took maybe a few minutes before they came back and offered me what looked like a dried, withered berry. “What’s this?”

“I don’t know how much good if it’ll do you if she really can control you, but if you ever don’t want to go on just eat that. Anyway, I really should be going. Cathal, was it? I hope things go well, see ya.”

The leaves lost all cohesion and drifted to the ground, forming a mat of plant matter. I sighed at their sudden departure. I was already missing talking to them. Despite their unusual appearance, talking to them felt far more normal than anyone else I’d met up to this point.

I tried to think of a reason to stay here, but there was no use putting off what was to come. It wasn’t like there was much left to do out here in the forest, I’d learnt what I could about the sword. I’d hoped it might be able to transform me into a master swordsman, or at least a competent one.

It seemed I was going to have to depend on my own skill, or lack thereof. Even considering that my pact with the demon had improved my physical abilities… yeah, I was probably going to die if I had to fight anyone who knew how to use a sword.

I wish I could have drawn some confidence from having survived our encounters with the Paladin, but I was all too aware how lucky we’d been. My body had definitely become durable at least.

Maybe I’d just get beaten down and captured, instead of being killed. The captive of hostile demons, it wasn’t a very attractive prospect. Being the captive of a technically ‘friendly’ demon was bad enough. Maybe dying was the better choice after all. At least I had that option freely at hand now, with the berry safely tucked away in my pocket.

In bizarrely high spirits despite my pessimism, I returned to the demon’s shelter. The Demon Lord was standing there tapping her foot, clearly waiting for me. “About time. We were just getting ready to leave.”