My mind swirled as I finished eating one of the crystals leaving nothing behind. I kept the bones of the large imp inside me, but the crystal's energy stained the bones, pushing out any energy from the imp. The growing impish thoughts fade away as my desire for violence changes with it. I can’t stop eating the second crystal as I feel myself lose my shape and flatten against the ground inside the circle. Before I flattened myself I could fit myself into anywhere and still be flat but now the top of myself is above the ground as I filled the bottom of the circle. I am about the height of a small imp’s ankle, just enough to cover the bones inside of myself. It reminds me of the melted sand the fire imp loves to make.
Before my mind was filled with thoughts of tearing apart the fire imp that burned me and scattering pieces of it across the lightless land but now a different idea floats through my mind. To make a mountain of imp bones and at the top, the fire imp drained all of its power and flames. Its skin stretched across its bones eyeless, the bringer of light and flame unable to see or feel it ever again. Their rage will only feed me as I strip the meat from their bones leaving just enough that it still exists knowing what I took from them.
My mind finally returns to normal and I see smoke circle me outside of the magic circle. “It seems you have finally finished eating the crystals. How many imps did you eat to lose your nature so badly?” Words came to me but I could not point out from what direction. “My home is filled with imps and nothing else. What am I supposed to eat?” I spoke for the first time, I rippled as the words flowed out. “You finally find your voice? You smelled old but when you were speaking to my summoner and couldn’t speak properly I thought you were some weakling. Shadow types are so weird.” The voice continued to talk so I just ignored it as I tried to float above the ground but instead, a ball of myself floated above myself. Before I could try to get the rest of myself off the ground the door opened and the man from before came into the room.
The smoke around the room condensed around the man. “Хуб, пас барои хӯрдани боқимондаи онҳо набояд мушкиле дошта бошад.” The man said after just staying in front of the circle inside of the smoke. “Well, it seems you have finally woke up. I have an offer for you.” The man offers stepping out of the smoke, closer to the circle. He pulls out another black crystal with streaks of purple inside of it. “You see we don’t want those imps in your layer as much as you do but it seems it’s a clan you're up against. So this should even the battlefield a bit. So in return for giving you this, you’ll be a thorn in their side.” As the human finished speaking I felt the power of a contract start to form over me but it seemed to be waiting for something. “For how long? What if I simply push them out of my home?” I ask the man not wanting to be under the thumb of a contract. “I highly doubt you could push them out but if you did you could forget about the duration otherwise 10 years sounds good.” The man says but something about how he talks makes emotions that taste like rage float in my mind. “10 years for a crystal? No.” I refuse as I feel the contract fade away.
The man's face falls and joy starts to float in my mind instead of rage. “Without this, I doubt you’ll even exist for a year. You’ll risk getting destroyed by those imps?” The man questions but the thought of being destroyed by the imps doesn’t stir anything in me, as long as I could eat the fire imp. The smoke circled the man for a while before circling me outside of the magic circle. “These don’t understand the nature of us that call the abyss home. How about a five-duration contract without needing to protect your layer and in return a way to hurt them and a way to keep yourself stable?” The voice from before asks but the pain of the contract still left scars in me from when I was forced to be contracted to Rat. “Then what do I need to do?” I ask the voice. “Just make sure the imps never make your home theirs. Don’t let their flames prosper while you still call it home.” The voice says as the smoke moves away from the circle and back to the man. “Are those terms better then? Honestly, I didn’t think you would need a reason to kill those imps but I’ll need to add another condition, if you are summoned by men wearing this symbol you will refuse, and if you can kill as many as you can.” The man says the power of the contract starts to hover over me. He raises fabric that has strange shapes on it. “2 crystals and a way to make myself stable while eating imps then yes.” I demand in return making the man breathe out loudly. “These are too damn expensive to give out on the maybe you’ll succeed. 1 crystal, a way to make yourself stable, and a way to make these crystals yourself.”
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I thought for a while being stared at by the man. He stares at the ball of myself floating above the rest of me on the floor. “Fine.” I accept as I feel the contract takes hold over. The man tosses the crystal into the circle and I start to eat the crystal as the man leaves the room again the smoke follows behind him. As I slowly broke pieces of the crystal I felt myself become more solid as the bottom part of me started to rise in size. I felt the magic circle strain as my body touched it. I switched my view to the ball above me and looked down at myself. It somehow reminded me of the melted sand that the fire imp was able to make but instead of carrying heat, it seemed to push and invade. The bones of the large imp floated to the top of me and they were stained black. I could no longer feel the trace of the imp’s energy instead finding them not nearly as constraining as before but I was unable to hide all of myself inside of the few bones I had.
As I continued to eat the crystal my mind continued to slow as something joined the violence I gained from the imps. The ball of myself slowly dripped back down as I could no longer maintain it and I became lost in my mind. Images of my home with massive holes in the sand filled with me as my power flowed out consuming any lights that appeared. The land became stained with my power and everything that walked across the sand was slowly drained until they collapsed where I would drag it back to the pools of myself. The desire of rage-filled violence slowly broke away being replaced with a new desire. Corruption. I did not know what the word meant but when I imagined it filled my mind with such joy that I did not care.
As my mind returned to normal I felt the magic circle that once held me wobble and crack but then fix itself. Over and over, each time it took longer to fix itself but soon the smoke and the man returned to the room. “It seems it’s about time for me to send you back. You have taken to that last crystal far better than I thought you would. I’m almost tempted to give you another but maybe you survive your 5 years. First, though I’ll tell you how to make these crystals. When you next reach the height of power that you can manage before falling asleep send the excess into the land. Once enough power is built up then crystals will start to form. Depending on your nature a variety of crystals will form but they all will be you but frozen. If you manage to grow stronger then it will become easier as the keys needed to further rise in power will become harder to find so creating crystals will help store your power for when you need it.” The man finished speaking and I lost track of his explanation. “Release my power into the air when I don’t need it?” I ask confused. “Basically yes.” The man breathes out again loudly before the smoke behind gets close to the circle.
“For stabilizing yourself I suggest capturing some of those wisps and instead of eating them right away let them bathe in your power. Eventually, their natures will change to mimic yours and you can eat them to stay stable. If you let a few escape then they will do it for you but they may become like you and try to fight back at your attempts to eat them.” The voice says and it makes far more sense to me than the man did. “What are wisps?” I ask the voice and an image of the balls of light that suddenly appear from nowhere pops into my mind. “What if the imps capture them? It would be a waste.” I asked the voice but it made a noise that filled my mind with joy. “Hahaha, let them. Let them poison themselves. While your nature doesn’t mix well with imps that means newer imps made from the wisps you make mimic you will be even weaker and easier to eat than before.” The voice says as images of imps that were slower and smaller than other imps popped into my mind.
I felt satisfied with their help but the idea of returning home to deal with those imps felt so draining. Before I could speak the man did something with his hands and I felt magic swirl outside of the weakening magic circle. I’m dragged down by the magic as I return to where I was before I was summoned. Before I could get accustomed to being home heat rose in the area as the sand was forcefully scattered by a ball of fire shot at me. It burns but not as nearly as before as I felt myself scatter with the sand. Above me in the sky, I see the flying fire from before with several balls of fire above it. Before I could think how to deal with it liquid sand started to surround me as I saw the first fire imp burning the sand. Thankfully to the ball of fire, some parts of me are scattered around, some outside of encircling liquid sand. Both fire imps screech out loud before pushing in to attack the majority of myself that was in the center of the encirclement. One thought filled my mind, ‘Their flames don’t hurt as much anymore.’