Ace stiffened from the neck up as Elric leaned in closer to his neck—seemingly unaware of the concept of personal space. Trying his hardest to avoid looking down, Ace focused on his surroundings instead.

Elric’s apothecary was a small circular cobblestone chamber, dimly lit by buzzing lights. The wooden shelves that lined one of the walls groaned under the weight of glass jars filled with colorful powders and liquids. The air was thick with the bitter taste of potions bubbling inside intricate glassware.

Elric pulled his head back, away from Ace’s neck. “Seems number 7 will be the closest for you.”

“Number 7?” Ace asked.

“To get rid of the chain, I need to replace the skin around your neck,” Elric explained. “When changing the skin I can only select from certain skin tones. Skin tone number 7 is the closest to yours.”

“If you’re transmuting the skin can’t you just make it any color?”

“Do you want me to fix you or not?”

“Just asking,” Ace said.

“Turn around,” Elric commanded.

Elric clenched the philosopher’s stone in his hand and placed his other hand on the back of Ace’s neck. “7, neck, skin, [Transmute].”

[ Pact Fulfilled! ]

[ Active Pacts: 0/2. ]

A chill shocked Ace’s neck, robbing it of all sensation. After a moment, the warmth from the rest of Ace’s body seeped back into his neck.

Elric pointed to a full-body mirror in one corner of the room. “You can check for yourself.”

Ace saw what looked like a scar encircled around his neck; the skin was slightly paler than his own.

“I made the edges jagged to look more like a scar,” Elric said.

“Will it always be this color?” Ace asked.

“Only for a month or two.” Elric opened a drawer and placed the philosopher’s stone inside. “Please wait outside. I’ll have a contact of mine come to pick you all up from my plane and return your party to Wishmoore.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Ace stepped out the apothecary’s door and into an endless sunny field of grass. Riven and Draxl sat in the grass and watched as Cili and Kai playfully chased each other through the grass, laughing. Nearby, Halvor and Galina lay next to each other, gazing up at the cloudless blue sky.

“Hey!” Riven called out. “Lookin good!”

“Thanks,” Ace said.

Everyone gathered into a circle and rested in the grass.

“So, what now?” Ace asked.

“We’ll probably stay together until we get out of Wishmoore,” Draxl said. “After that, it’s up to everyone else what they want to do. I’ll probably go my own way.”

“Hey if you find anything about, you know who, just let me know, okay,” Kai said.

“Sure man,” Draxl replied.

“On that topic, I think it’d be nice if we could all stay in touch after this,” Galina said.

“Me too!” Cili exclaimed. “I want to remember my first real adventuring party.”

“Aren’t artifacts that allow for long-distance communication really expensive?” Halvor asked.

“They are,” Riven said. “But, if we head for one of the bigger towns in Chapter 7 they should have an adventurer’s guild. Might not be a bad idea to do some odd jobs here and there to make some gold.”

“I’m cool with that. That sound good to everyone else?” Ace asked.

Everybody nodded their heads.

“Cool,” Ace said. “We’ll head for a big town, do some adventuring jobs, buy artifacts to let us all stay in touch, then … go our separate ways.”

As Ace finished speaking he scratched the back of his neck. The moment his fingers grazed the transmuted skin, a voice pierced into his mind.

Help me.

Ace’s head snapped to his left, his right, and behind him; he didn’t see anybody aside from his own party.

“Everything alright Ace?” Galina asked.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Just give me a moment.” Ace stepped out of earshot from the group. “Where are you, [Pact].”

[ A spirit has been found. ]

[ You desire the spirit to guide you to them. ]

[ The spirit has accepted your offer. ]

[ Pact Formed! ]

[ Active Pacts: 1/2. ]

Ace looked down to see a thin trail of shadow leaking out of his own, flowing toward Elric’s apothecary. “Hey, I’m going to go check something. I’ll be right back.”

Ace wandered off toward the apothecary. From the outside, it appeared like nothing more than a stubby cobblestone pillar. Ace’s feet clattered across the perimeter of cobblestone that surrounded the apothecary. He reached for the door, but pulled his hand back, when he saw that the shadow trailed off and around the building.

On the other side of the apothecary, opposite the door, Ace saw wisps of shadow leaking out like a black fog through one of the bricks in the wall. Ace pressed on the brick. It slid into the wall with a satisfying click. Ace stepped to the side as the ground beneath him opened up into a hallway that descended down to darkness.

“Hey!” Ace shouted.

“What?!” Riven shouted back.

“There’s a secret staircase. I’m going to check it out.”

“I wanna come!” Cili exclaimed.

“Behind you Cili,” Draxl said.

Kai tapped Cili on the shoulder. “Tag, you’re it.”

“You motherfucker!” Cili exclaimed.

“Cili is a little preoccupied. You might just want to go on your own,” Galina said.

“If I don’t come back out after a while, just come check on me,” Ace said.

Halvor gave Ace a thumbs-up. “Understood.”

Ace descended the staircase, the cold air biting at his skin. Infusions on the steps lit up, triggering dim lights to ignite along the ceiling. As he dragged his fingers along the rough stone wall, he was surprised by the lack of dust. The only sound was the echoes of Ace’s own footsteps.

At the bottom of the staircase, Ace arrived at a dark cobblestone chamber; an intricate sigil in the center of the room glowed in the darkness. As Ace stepped onto the floor, essence burst out from the sigil; thousands of tiny sparks hovered in the air illuminating the space. Ace’s eyes widened in horror as he glanced around the room. Bits of skin and blood were nestled in between the stone bricks. Iron bars ran along both sides of the room; the sparks of light didn’t pass into the numerous cages, so Ace couldn’t see what or who was inside.

“Are you the devil?”

Ace turned toward the voice that was as brittle as glass. The sunken eyes of a young boy emptily stared back at Ace. The boy’s hands clung to the bars; the sparks of essence illuminated his half an inch long fingernails. His hair was a mess, full of dirt and oil; his lips were cracked with blood.

Around the boy’s neck, his skin was discolored. In fact, the skin’s color was nearly identical to Ace’s, right down to the golden chain that was there just moments ago. Ace touched his neck, realizing the skin color of his transmuted skin matched that of the skin on the boy’s hands. A necklace rested around the boy’s neck; from the necklace hung a tiny piece of metal with the number 7 carved into it.

A malevolent cackling echoed through the room. Inside the cage behind Ace, the darkness began to take shape. Red slights sprung open into eyes as the Devil’s laughter grew silent.

“I know this child,” the Devil said.

Ace turned around. “What? How?”

“Well, he’s been praying to every god he knows. After they all failed, he started praying to me.”

Ace looked at the boy; his eyes were hollow. It was like staring into a mirror of his past self.

Ace wondered if he looked the same, on that day in Kaimen when he was about to be executed: entirely apathetic towards life.

“In case you're curious, I can read his intentions,” the Devil said. “The boy wants to cry. The only reason he isn’t, is that his body doesn’t have the water to spare.”

“Why?” Ace asked.

“Why what?”

“Why didn’t you help him?”

The Devil scoffed. “I did help him.”

“How?” Ace asked.

“You’re here,” the Devil replied matter-of-factly. “You’re my avatar. You help him. That was our deal, was it not?”

“How is this our deal?”

“You are meant to punish wicked avatars. You know what happened here. You know who did this. You know what must be done.”

“Who are you talking to?” The boy’s voice had somehow become even weaker.

Ace kneeled, so he would be at eye level with the boy. “Hi, what’s your name?”

“He calls me seven,” the boy said.

“Who does?”

“I don’t know. He has pointy ears.”

Ace gently grasped the boy’s ice-cold hands. “Are there any other people here?”

“Yeah, but they’re all asleep,” the boy said. “They all sleep all the time. It hurts less when you’re asleep. I’m the only one who stays awake, so I can pray, but that hasn’t been working.”

“Well, I’m here, so it did work,” Ace said.

“But I asked for help from the Devil. I feel like I did a bad thing asking for help from the Devil.” The boy’s voice cracked with guilt.

“No, no, no. I’m here now. That’s a good thing. The Devil wouldn’t hurt you. The Devil only punishes evil people.”

“They do?” the boy asked. “The man with pointy ears always gets angry with me whenever I pray. Are you going to punish me for that?”

“No, of course not. It’s not you that’s evil. It’s who did this to you,” Ace assured the boy.

“So you’re going to punish the man with pointy ears?” the boy asked.

Ace paused for a moment. “Yes.”

“Does that mean you’re the Devil?”

Ace shook his head. “No. The Devil and the gods don't appear to people. They don’t answer our prayers. They send people they trust to do it for them.”

A little bit of hope glimmered in the boy’s eyes. “So then who are you?”

“I’m Ace Lustres, [The Devil’s Advocate].”

[ You have invoked your epithet! ]

[ Your next skill will be dramatically enhanced. ]

[ Insufficient essence to grant additional benefits. ]