I watched as Rat traveled through the city to the noble home, presumably where the ring was. I caught glances at others who were as pathetic as Rat, lying in their filth but as we got closer to the noble's home I saw fewer people and more men covered in metal of varying sizes. Rat avoided these men but the few who noticed him seemed to ignore him. As we got to a large stone building close to one of the city walls, I saw men who seemed to have strings of magic woven throughout the metal and some glowed brighter than others. These looked tasty but Rat avoided them even more even entering shadow form to hide from them. Fear and flashes of images of people similar to Rat being killed by these men out in the open filled Rat's mind as the coward was afraid for his own life. He was so quick to show off my power against those men in that rotting building but he can't even imagine standing against these metal men. I'm almost tempted to force Rat to corner one of these men so I can taste their magic but the contract will probably stop so maybe next time I'm up here. Let's hope I get someone better than Rat but at the very least I've managed to carve out a good chunk of his mind to regain some of my strength, it seems as long as I don't cripple Rat the contract doesn't care what I do to him exactly but I rather not test the limits.

Rat finally reaches the big stone building, castle Redwood, based on what I've taken from Rat's mind. Some of the stone towers had a faint glow of magic but not much. Rat uses the shadow form to scale the wall despite the pain of the moonlight. The light burns but I can't fight it and am forced to endure the searing pain. I'm almost tempted to make Rat experience the pain he putting me through but I'll stay happy carving another part of his mind out of his skull. The memories and thoughts I'm scooping out aren't very filling but are enough to push the pain away. He finally reaches the top of the walls surrounding the castle and starts to scout about while avoiding the metal men. Knights, from what Rat knows, all have magic in their metal and some seem to glow brighter than the one down on the ground. Fear starts to spike in Rat, they are more active than they normally are as if something has alerted him. The fear soon becomes panic thinking they somehow knew he was coming and Rat starts to consider running away but I quickly destroy those thoughts. Reinforcing his greed and flaring his wounded pride was easier now with having consumed so much of him.

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With Rat's newfound courage, he sneaks past the patrols inside the walls and into the castle checking empty rooms for anything that might point to his golden ring. Certain areas have a faint glow of magic so I steer Rat away from those leading us face to face with a small human about the same size as Rat. A child, a child of Redwood based on the hair, Rat can tell with a glance. The child appears to be a smaller version of the noble that I've used to taunt Rat. Before the child can react Rat tackles them and covers their mouth so they can't scream. They thrash and make noise that lures the clangs of metal to our location. Out of the corner of Rat's vision, I see the moon's rays reflected by metal. Metal wrapped around this child's finger, yellow metal. A gold ring so similar to the one I was summoned for, it might even be the actual one so I flare all of Rat's attention and frustration to the ring. As Rat becomes blinded by his greed and anger he bites the child's finger that has the ring. Rat gives up any attempts to silence the child and runs away from the sound of metal with the child's finger and ring in his mouth. Rat is overjoyed having finally gotten his ring and I feel the same. I feel the contract loosen its hold on me and I'm almost tempted to eat what remains of Rat's mind but the glow of magic seems to grow ever brighter and start to circle Rat without him knowing. For the first time, I feel similar feelings as Rat, fear and even dread as the magic circles him. I tear one last chunk out of Rat's mind and yank on the contract pulling me out of him, sending me back home. The last thing I see of Rat is him running into several metal men all glowing brightly with magic.

I return to where I was before Rat, a barren wasteland devoid of life, summoned me. No imps or balls of light are in sight as I float across the floor. A land of rock and sand with a large ceiling that appears to be made of the same stone. No light is visible to burn me and nobody forcing me to follow them or to be restrained. Being here makes me realize how draining and how small I felt being with Rat with the only joy I felt was of eating his mind. The magic was also good but wasn't worth the trip. As I float to the ground I feel myself slow as my vision is filled with a green hue and my mind is filled with memories of Rat that I don't remember eating. I feel something trying to wrestle control so I start to discard many of those memories weakening their hold on me until I have something I can eat like I did to Rat's mind. Eating what remains drains me of the rest of my strength as I slow down until my mind can't think straight.