A snap from the slim finger of the lady statue echoed in the massive room. Time slowed and all the chosen vanished.
The cold ground awoke Liam in a daze. Darkness was all around. However, he felt exposed. He was being watched in the darkness. A pair of faint eyes stared at him from afar. Squinting his eyes, Liam cautiously stood up and tried to see what was watching him.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
As if reacting to Liam’s question, an onset of heavy pressure weighed down on Liam’s body. Powerful beings made their presences known.
The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy, and Liam nearly collapsed. He breathed heavily, feeling suffocated by the pressure.
Suddenly, movement in the darkness caught Liam’s eyes. The outlines of something large circled around him.
“Who are you! Identify yourselves!”
A loud voice replied, making Liam jump in fright.
“Little brat! You dare command us! I’d rip your soul out here and now had it not been for the agreement!”
The voice pierced deep into Liam’s soul palace, and he trembled.
Countless eyes and faint outlines of enormous beings and creatures appeared in the darkness. They eyed Liam with a scrutinizing gaze.
“Can’t you see he’s scared? Poor thing.”
Liam pushed back against the force and looked up. He couldn’t see the entities clearly. Not only were they translucent and blending in with the darkness, they were humongous. Liam could not see their faces.
However, he knew these beings were the ones Ms. Maribell mentioned. Breathing heavily, he built the courage to ask for a contract.
“Missus, could I… ask you for a contract? I need to …create a better life for my parents.”
A sympathetic voice replied, “young man, I pity you, but there’s not much I can do. We don’t not have any resonance.”
“Missus?! Hahaha! More like, old hag!”
An argument broke out ending with a man’s voice yelping in pain.
“I give! I give! It’s going to break!”
“Hmpf! You would learn well not to talk about a lady’s age!”
Liam held on, afraid to bother the two bickering entities, so he waited until they finished to ask again.
“Could someone please form a contract with me?”
A cascade of voices rippled across the dark expanse in reply.
“Hmm…he’s below my requirements. He doesn’t qualify.”
“He is no good. There’s nothing inside of him. He’s oddly empty.”
“Maybe some better clothes? I can give you better clothes.”
“What this? Can I eats it?”
“Weak. He can’t house any of my followers. No good.”
“His… flesh… looks soft…chewy.”
“I don’t know. There’s no resonance. Maybe, but there’s others much better.”
“...I will..NOT…HAHAHA”
“Boobless” *swipe*
“Fodder, this one…it’d be a waste to send an officer…not worth even the grunts”
“Where’s them handsome ones at?!.”
“I WANT MUSCLES! MUSCLEEESSS”
“Maybe as a slave or servant, but NEVER to be served.”
Endless amounts of entities moved around Liam, evaluating his worth. Not many were interested and had low valuations of him.
Liam only received poor critiques, overwhelming him with worry of not being able to contract anything. Struggling, he took out the ten origin crystals given to him by the Lazar Institute.
Barely able to lift his hands from the pressure of all the powerful entities, Liam trembled as he pulled the ten origin crystals from his pockets and offered them to the crowd of transparent figures.
“That’s it? Just the basic tribute? You’ll need more than that, boy, for anything from me.”
“Poor peasant. Where are the rich ones?”
“Gross. The stones kind of smell. Where did he get those from? Ew.”
“I might consider it, but…there’s just no compatibility…”
“OH! Handsome young man! You don’t have to pay me! I’ll be willing to go a round with you!”
“I won't make anything from that! Don’t you have anything else to add?”
The pressure was already too much for Liam to speak. He could only barely shake his head, indicating he didn’t have anything else.
“S’rry kid, but I need t’o make a living t’oo, yer knows?
“Bye bye!”
“Trash. I’d smite you if I could!”
The entities left one by one. Soon the comments died down. The voices slowly went away, and their heavy presence along with them.
Silence.
There was nothing making any noises left in the dark expanse. They all went elsewhere.
Liam panicked.
“Wait! Someone! Anyone! Please! Make a contract with me! I must make a contract! I must give my parents a better life! Please! Help me!”
Nothing.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Not one entity appeared or made a sound.
Liam fell to his knees. He did not want to give up. He did not want to wait another year. His parents were already struggling everyday. He wanted to help them now.
“I beg you! Please! Anyone! Anything! Please form a contract with me!”
Suddenly, a flickering blue screen appeared before Liam. As if mustering all its energy, the blue screen weakly answered Liam’s desperate pleas.
Ding!
$ys+‘em Not!fic@+!on …I..am..wil..ling..
The strange fading blue screen stunned Liam. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it seemed broken. Liam found this entity odd. All the other entities had talked to him with their voices.
“Why are you communicating like that? Who are you? ”
Another blue screen appeared.
Ding!
$ys+‘em Not!fic@+!on ....Ordi.nan.ce...Sy..st.em da.ma.ged…me.mor..y…fil.es..corrr.uupted…aux.ill.ar.y..func.ti.ons…de.grad.ing…los.I.ng..ene.r.gy…
Liam hesitated. He still didn’t know much about this entity called Ordinance. He could only obtain an average first summon at best to protect him and lead him to his goals. The one he was speaking to seemed to be dying and therefore had to be lower than average being..
“…I’m not sure if you can help me.”
$ys+‘em Not!fic@+!on
mu.st sur..vive…mus.t re.turn..Believe…wi.ll hel.p yo.u wi.ll not re.g.ret .. en.erg.y lo.w…fa.d.ing..
Liam still was unsure. Liam would have declined had there been another entity willing to, but nothing else responded.
The being seemed desperate. Liam could understand.
He already placed hopes and dreams on his second summon anyway. Waiting till next time didn’t guarantee a better summon too.
Liam sighed. “Alright, let's form a contract.”
Ding!
$ys+‘em Not!fic@+!on
Or..din..a.nc.e..I.s..wan.tin.g..to..for.m.. a cont..ra..ct…in.exch..an.g.e..fo.r..10..or.igin..cry.s.tals
[A..cc.e.pt] [De.cli.ne]
As soon as Liam selected “accept”, the 10 low-grade energy stones vanished from his hands. Liam felt a sudden weight in his soul palace.
Liam closed his eyes, focusing on his third eye. His soul palace glowed in a soft white light. The second souls house he had been accumulating his soul energy, pulsed with a vibrant silver light. All uninhabited soul houses were silver in color when empty.
Next beside his incomplete second soul house was Liam’s primal soul house. It was a bit smaller. However, it glowed with a deep ocean blue. Floating in the center was a faint and thin light blue notification screen.
Ding!
The sound brought Liam's mind back into the dark expanse.
$ys+‘em Not!fic@+!on
Mas.ter, the ori.gi.n stone.s are no.t enough. i wil.l still perish. Ple.ase authori.ze the absorbt.ion of the unin.habit.ed so.ul hous.e
Liam had to read the prompt twice. He could not believe what he just read.
He did not want his 6 years of effort consumed like nothing. His future second summon had all his hopes placed on it. But his new summon, Ordinance, sent popup after popup, requesting him for the origin energy his second soul house.
Liam gave in. His primal summon couldn’t be replaced. But he felt a huge loss. So much time would be needed to build his second soul house again.
“Do it.”
His second soul house was drained into his primal like being sucked through a straw. With all of his 6 years worth of work gone, it left an empty feeling in his soul palace and in his heart.
A more lively blue notification screen appeared, breaking him out of his depression.
Ding!
System Notification
1 new message from: Ordinance
Binding Ordinance to Primal Soul House…Completed
Market functions loading… partiality failed…
Inventory function loading…successful…
Analyze functions loading…partially failed…
Memory functions loading… partially failed…
Mapping functions loading… partially failed
Detection functions loading… partially failed
Host assistance package loading… failed
Evaluation:
Master! Ordinance is online! Thank you master! You have saved me from fading away!
There is inadequate origin energy to restore all system abilities. Please acquire more energy to restore the system functions!
Liam digested what he read from the blue notification window.
“Ordinance right? Can you explain to me what happened? Why did you need saving? And what are these “functions”?”
Ding!
Liam cut off Ordinance off midway of it popping up another notification window.
“Wait! Can you just tell me? As in speaking to me?”
A refined man’s voice echoed in the darkness.
“Yes master Liam. I can communicate with you through the notification window, speak to you aloud, or through your mind.”
Suddenly the voice stopped speaking out in the darkness, and spoke through Liam’s mind.
“For now it’s best we talk through your mind master. There are others lurking in the shadows, listening in on our conversation.”
Liam jerked his head around, now aware he wasn’t alone.
A deep bellow broke the silence. A giant humanoid being looked down at Liam from high above.
“HOW INTERESTING.
TOWER’S LITTLE MINION. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF MY ATTENTION, BUT YOU HAVE INTRIGUED ME.
I AM CURIOUS OF THE ONE YOU HAVE CONTRACTED. IT IS MUCH OLDER THAN I, BUT INSTEAD OF DIGNITY IN DEATH, IT CHOSE LIFE AND SHAME.
IT HAS BEEN EONS SINCE AN ENTITY HERE HAS FORGED A DIRECT CONTRACT WITH THEMSELVES AS A BOUNDED SUMMON.
IT IS DEEMED LOWLY FOR SUCH SUPREME BEINGS AS OURSELVES TO BIND TO INFERIOR LOWLY BEINGS. SUCH A TABOO. BUT STILL, IT CHOSE YOU OUT OF ALL OTHERS.
HOW STRANGE….HOW ODD… I LIKE IT! HAHAHAHA!!!”
The being bursted out laughing, causing Liam to cover his ears from the deafening voice. Liam couldn’t tell what the entity was thinking or wanted.
“BRING ME A SYMBOL OF THE DAEMOD AND THE SEPHARATH AND I SHALL GRANT YOU A CONTRACT WITH ONE OF MY FOLLOWERS. THE BETTER THE SYMBOL, THE BETTER THE CONTRACT!”
Another pause came from the being before it spoke again.
“FOR NOW, I SHALL REWARD YOU WITH SOME ADVICE FOR PEAKING MY INTEREST.
BE WARY OF THE TOWERS AND DUNGEONS.”