ASPIRANT 4:
2.The stated goal of this contract is that the signee will do everything in their power to protect Erwyn with all sensible, reasonable safeguards. The signee will prioritize, in order:
To commit to the sacrifices required to learn how to wield the Vignettes properly. Lessons will be demanding. Both the signee and Erwyn will be putting themselves in extreme danger. Fulfilling the wishes of Erwyn, and what is written on this document, at whatever cost may occur to the signee is paramount. This is enforced under penalty of compulsion via owner of this Pactbinding contract. The punishment of further Pactbinding may occur if the signee is not authorized to act outside of the contract and does so with willful negligence of contractual clauses.
“What if it's negligence but unwillful? Can I claim ignorance as an excuse?”
“Not anymore, no.”
The Aspirant frowned as they kept looking at the tablet. They tapped it against their palm a bit, and asked a question. “What happens if you fail me, Erwyn? What do I get?”
“To not be cast into the sludge while being chained to 12 logs? This is your chance to be equal to me. Don't forget your circumstances, I subject you to my mercy. Would you rather be subjected to my judgement?”
The Aspirant sat still and held their breath in anticipation. They wouldn't push their luck any further in that exchange. “I still do not understand to what end. You hold a collection of uneasy dreams and terrible nightmares. Boundless wealth of thoughts and knowledge contained within. You claim to take me under your tutelage for something as simple as trying to...” They trailed off and stopped mid sentence. They lightly stuck their tongue out and bit it until continuing. “To creatively interpret some rules. Some of which will affect your understanding of magic.”
“Correct.”
The Aspirant swatted at the statement as if it were a fly. “We both wish to peddle in impossibilities it seems!”
“It would so appear, Aspirant.”
'Indeed, it would.'
The two finished their tea, and Erwyn fidgeted the tentacles that were obscured by their immodest clothing while penning more tenents. While scrawling away Erwyn stated rather calmly, “I'll fully furnish and pay for your own copy of the Vignettes when our arrangement ran it's course and is over.”
The Aspirant nodded at that, and reclined the best they could in the chair. They hadn't much more to say until the tablets were presented to them. After an agonizing wait later such a tablet was presented. Erwyn saw his “guest” nod at that written part. Erwyn got his final tablet and began writing the last stipulation. He spoke it while his hand moved the chalk he wrote upon the slate with. Thinking aloud he said “This contract is written with mana and a stylus that has been in extensive contact with the sludge. Due to this, the sludge may alter terms of the contract. Both parties understand that it can, and will, eventually lead to a changing of terms. Both of the signers may not know of the modified terms until the document is reread.” Erwyn stopped speaking suddenly and The Aspirant looked toward him.
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They saw something they hadn't seen before in Erwyn's eyes. It was fear- icy fear that paralyzed him. His eyes opened far too wide and revealed too much of ves yellow irises. He put both of his furled hands on the desk and the chalk moved on it's own. It was clear that he wasn't channeling magic by his stillness. Both of them looked at each other with a silent plea to the other. After the pen stopped, it clacked and fell onto the desk. It rolled in a wide arc toward the inkwell it resided next too.
Erwyn cleared his throat, and continued to talk. “Like all contracts written in the Sludgelands it remains spellwoven in it's binding, as does all text contained within. Both parties acknowledge that this is a spellwoven document (to include the ink, parchment, and text written inside) and is inherently volatile. Attempts can, and will, be made by both parties to ensure the document hasn't changed stipulations. Any changes in terms will not be pactbinding until one of the designated parties in this contract rereads the document to confirm if alterations were made, if any. The other will party will not be able to be punished unless they are privy to the content that has been modified. While the terms of reward and punishment were written by both parties, it will be enforced by the document as it contains the mana to enforce such penalties.”
However the text shortly outpaced his ability to speak. What he once lead he now had to follow as his eyes darted across the parchment. The pen scratched the paper and nearly tore through the other side. The ink sat and stained the paper. The characters were an uneven mess of ink that lightly shone a regal purple. Neither of them spoke as they were unsure what words to use in the situation. There wasn't anything to say as the Aspirant stood and leaned over the desk. They snatched the parchment more viciously than they wanted. The paper crinkled in their palm and was chill to the touch. Seeing that the characters formed out of magic it seemed to be set in stone. Whatever entity that powers the document made it's ability known and already had it's first alteration.
Neither of the individuals knew it was I. Erwyn did know I was a living document but didn't think that gave me any sapience. The shades are flawed as people can be. Perhaps even more flawed if you apply common morals to them. Most things cannot be better than their component parts and Erwyn isn't an exception. He was mostly the soul of a Haitian man who died by drowning after his life jacket tore in a boating accident. The prop shred it the jacket and opened his ribs. Brackish seawater filled the gap in his chest and the sea claimed him. The rest I added from the fear of his crew from what they witnessed. The sea scares because of it's ability to obscure and crush. To have currents that rip you away from the stability of the soil. Erwyn's mortal self held a true fear of birds. It was circumstance the sea ultimately claimed him.
All shades here are formed from the biggest fear they had in life and the mode of their death. I created Erwyn and in my missteps it led to certain features. The sea that claimed him formed his lower body. His legs are a squids tentacles because of that mode of death. The rest of his upper body is that of a man that I added the fear of birds too. The arms are well defined as any fisherman's would be. He doesn't have body hair however. Ve has small feathers that took the place of body hair. I sculpted the hands into that of a raptor and made sure the eyes of a predator took what he once held in life. His nose was now aquiline and invoking of a beak with the sharpness in it's curve.
To round out and finalize who would become my protector I made one final feature. Much like myself I wanted vem to have the ability to be unseen. The shimmer effect is that capability. Much like murky shallow waters he has the ability to obfuscate himself and get increasingly nondescript. Somehow Erwyn has cultivated that ability and it seems that ve can slowly meld into an illusory form of a viewers deep fear. He's not perfect with it yet but in time I'm sure he'll surprise me.
I know that ultimately the plan they're hatching will fail. Yet as a mere book I'm held hostage to them. I do posses magic but it's limited. I'll unveil the scope of magic as it become pertinent and they write updates on me. Every copy of the Vignettes is personalized but also belongs to a gestalt mind. Each new story that gets added to the hivemind expands our ability to reap mana and grows our abilities but the process is dreadfully slow. We unveil stories to our wielders or guest readers as appropriate to further the propagation of the sludge. Us and our shades are the cosmic recyclers of spent mana that excrete it to usability after we remove the baggage from it. It's why we're moths to the flame of fear. Fear is the base instinct that taints mana the thickest. It permeates all of it until we liquefy it to begin the cycle of cleansing. But I've revealed far too much too hastily. In what I perceive as the present I see the following:
I watched them look agog at me, then each other once more. Eventually they signed the deal and I made no parlor trick of it. I hadn't need to do anything further so I lay idle. They agreed to reconvene after some time in private. I was left on the desk
Erwyn nervously stowed the document in a scroll holder he kept at the small of his back. He took me, his copy of the Vignettes out and began to show the Aspirant finer details of my usage. He mentioned how it will induce meditative states while reading. How it can reveal magic and aspects of other preternatural abilities to the reader and in time they could attain proficiency in their use. When he asked me for a story I didn't know which one to give him. I weighed and balanced my option and decided that I'd regale them the tale of Marissa. It went as such: