4-Understand

  -July 31st, 1:00am.

  “I have to say, for a human you sure are causing quite a stir in this community of ours Daegon.” The white-haired teen remarked nonchalantly as he lounged on a plush couch. He was idly toying with my phone again. You would think obtaining such a trivial item would be - “Child’s play for such a creature.” His eyes, pure, unyielding alabaster, locked onto mine, creating a palpable tension in the air. There was a reason why he was known as 'Lord'. In fact, he’s the only being I’ve been told that goes by just Lord.

  “Uh, yeah. It’s been quite a, uh, great learning experience, L.” I replied hesitantly, averting my gaze. My encounters with him had been sporadic but memorable. I first noticed him wandering the streets at night, his striking white hair making him hard to miss. Once, I stumbled upon him in the midst of a heated argument, two menacing figures looming over him. Acting on impulse, I intervened, diffusing the situation before it escalated. Surprisingly, they backed off, though I couldn't fathom why at the time given their size advantage. Since then, our paths crossed more frequently, and we even shared a few warm meals together.

  L was an enigma, his peculiar cadence growing more refined over time. He despised confinement and roamed the Bastion freely. Perhaps because my own life revolved around scavenging the outskirts and vending my finds, our mutual affinity blossomed. In exchange for his companionship, I could only offer him occasional hearty meals. When I inquired about his name, he curtly said, "Call me L." Odd as it was, I took it in stride, sensing a guarded trust beneath his terse response. Even after my brush with death and the revelation of his true nature, he persisted with that singular moniker. Every time I see him now, I wonder what fate might have befallen those men had I not intervened.

  “Well, that’s good to hear. You’re rather useful and have great insight to the human realm, and I really wouldn’t want you ending up dead that quickly. It is your choice on how to live, after all. I’m sure your experiences at the Cryptid Delivery Services will be hugely beneficial to gain knowledge of their world though, if you last. Well, when they finally get around to giving you another job that is.” Lord spoke casually, turning his gaze back to the phone. “Do you think the CDS would benefit from such a device?”

  “I uh, well no. A lot of creatures block its usage, like Zylas, when they’re hunting. Their battery life while good for us, probably wouldn’t hold up on some of the more time-warping creatures you told me about. Plus, they’re prone to break rather easily in a lot of different ways, also prone to liquid damage. I don’t think someone like Jaskrim could easily use one without breaking it either, it’s rather small… I uh, just my opinion though L. I’m sure you could make it work if you wanted to…” I mumbled, my words trailing off as I contemplated aloud. My gaze flinched away from his intense stare, and a mischievous smirk danced across his face before he flipped my phone around with practiced ease.

  "Ah, you keep me grounded, Daegon. Your carefree spirit is a blessing, but it could also be your downfall if you're not cautious... Now, tell me about this Zylas situation. I've already spoken with her, but she was rather tight-lipped about the details." Lord then casually tossed my phone in my direction. It zipped through the air with startling speed and, despite my best efforts, bounced off my hands before landing screen-first on the marble floor. I hesitated, staring at it for a moment, then gingerly flipped it over. Not a single scratch marred its surface. “You should drop it again to make sure.”

  “Hell no! These are expensive!” I snapped instinctively. My eyes widened at my own blunt retort, and Lord burst into laughter.

  “No, no seriously. Drop it again. Throw it even.” Lord spoke between his fits of laughter. I really didn’t want to anger him so… I picked it up and chucked it at the wall behind him, with several clacks and clangs before it settled on the floor. Lord eventually composed himself before snapping his fingers, causing the phone to fly back toward me, slightly chilled to the touch. Miraculously, it remained unscathed.

  “Did you… Enchant it?” I asked, inspecting every side of my device. I couldn’t find a single mark. It was probably more durable than my work clothes.

  “Sure, let’s go with that term. Use it during work, you’re going to be my test subject. If it works out I might find a way to get more for the CDS. It could cut down on hiring costs.” Lord explained casually as he stretched and rose to his feet. “Now really, back to Zylas.”

  I hesitated a bit unsure where to begin or what exactly Lord wanted to know. There’s a very good chance he already knew about the contract Zylas and I signed. After all, we arrived here together. Glancing down at my hand, I remembered the contracts quite visible presence. Lord took immediate notice and walked over grabbing my hand to inspect it. His touch was numbingly cold, but it wasn’t painful.

  “Amours’ Folly… That explains a bit.” Lord remarked, his eyes gleaming with mischievous intent. “You do realize that this contract holds both of your lives in the balance while it’s in effect, right? As special as it is, you really need to be careful who you sign it with. This is normally done among beings as a form of dedicated teamwork, or mutually assured destruction in the worst-case scenario. Would you like to see what I mean? I promise it’ll be painless, mostly.”

  “Can you explain that a bit more beforehand? I, uh, don’t want to cause more problems than necessary.” I asked, feeling a mix of curiosity and apprehension. Lord's eyes flickered, and he gave me a warm smile before a guttural roaring sound echoed from somewhere beyond the double doors on our left. Returning my gaze to Lord, I saw my entire arm up to the shoulder covered in a pure crystalline structure. There was no pain, but I couldn’t move my arm. “Wha—”

  The doors to the room shattered into large chunks of shrapnel, and a fully transformed Zylas barreled full speed at Lord. Lord casually held out his hand as Zylas’ massive paw stopped mere inches from him, seemingly freezing her in place. The unadulterated bloodlust pouring out from her was enough that any normal person wouldn’t be able to physically breathe. Well, that’s what my mind told me I should be feeling at least, but for some reason next to Lord I felt calm. Beyond calm, if that was possible. This was… Nothing. I did flinch at how close Zylas ended up though, instinctively blocking my head with both my arms. Wait, Both? My arm was no longer covered in that crystalline structure. Instead, Zylas’ hand was covered in it, as it quickly shot up her arm and threatened to encase her head. The rune on my arm blazed with immense passion, and my mind surged into overdrive. I sucker-punched Lord. I would have at least, if he didn’t seem to already be several paces away back to the other couch.

  “Alright, alright, I’m done having my fun you two. I’m not here to interfere.” Lord said putting his hands up, still smiling. “Daegon just needed to know the extent of what you offered is all.”

  "YJ SJK DLS DJ VKGEXMC EXRR KY SJK—” Zylas screamed in a blind rage, her voice reverberating through the room. She took a massive step toward him, raising her once-encased arm in the air. However, she paused, returning to some form of reasoning. Slowly, the bloodlust in the area began to fade, or at least became directed at a singular target. She shot me a rather wicked glare, scrutinizing me from head to toe before giving a low growl and turning to leave

  Slowly, the bloodlust in the area began to fade, or at least became directed at a singular target. She shot me a rather wicked glare, scruitinizing me from head to toe before giving a low growl and turning to leave.

  “C-can’t you at least apologize to her, L?” I asked straightening back up a bit, processing the situation further. The contract seemed to keep each party intertwined with each other. When Zylas’ arm was encased, I felt she might be in danger. Surprisingly, I knew the cause of it and reacted without a single thought. That must be what he meant about… “A good part of Zylas’ contract is redundant. Truth, is the real deal she offered you. Because if either of you died, so would the other. Very clever.”

  “Oh, what a human concept.” Lord mused, amusement lacing his tone. Zylas paused, her ears twitching at our exchange. He walked back over to me with his hands behind his head and looked me over. I could feel him prying at my senses, curious as ever. “For you Daegon, I’ll do you one better. Just this once, though.”

  Reaching his arms into the air, Lord clapped twice, and all light vanished from the room. After another round of claps, light returned, revealing Zylas seated on the edge of an adjacent couch in her human form, studying herself with a trace of perplexity. Her previously shredded clothes appeared miraculously repaired; even the scattered shrapnel and far-off doors were restored—albeit with a crystalline embellishment. Beside her, Lord reclined on the couch, eyes fixed on the ceiling.

  “I’ll give you one th—” Lord began, before being cut off.

  “Lqfjeq sjkl gjm—” Zylas began, cutting Lord off before getting cut off herself.

  “If you want to be that hasty, I’ll give the choice to our good Daegon over here.” Lord said in a measured, almost monotonous tone. “That should suffice, no?”

  “What did she ask for?” I inquired, sensing the serious tension from Zylas despite Lord's mostly lackadaisical response.

  “Oh, nothing too important. I’ll give you until the end of that contract between you two to figure something out for her. Now go, I have duties to ignore.” Lord said with a yawn, waving me off.

  “Hopefully we can catch up when things are a bit nicer for both of us, L.” I spoke shifting around, as Zylas was already a step outside the door. Making my own way out, the hallway was devoid. I let out a rather long destressing groan before heading back the way we were originally lead. Taking a left down a hallway to go down some stairs, and into another hallway that would lead to the main hall. The building had non-Euclidean pathing, making it more about trusting where you were wanting to go than taking a specific path. As I was about to reach the main hall, I felt a rather strong grip on my shoulder before being thrown down an adjacent hallway. In a quick flurry of actions: I was violently picked up, tossed against the wall, and raised up by my throat with a solid punch landing in my diaphragm. It’s a bit of an understatement, but Zylas was not in a good mood and I could no longer breathe.

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  “HWZD ZLQ SJK BRJDDXMC HXDW DWQ RJLT SJK JLCZMXG NQZDPZC? VJL WJH RJMC? X HXRR LXB JKD SJKL XMDQYDXMQY AKYD VKGEXMC DLS RSXMC DJ NQ!” Zylas vehemently screamed still in human form, the rune on her hand glowing white hot as blood slowly drained from it. Despite my best efforts I couldn’t utter a sound, and grabbed onto the singular arm hoisting me up in an attempt to get her to stop. The pained look in her eyes, felt much deeper rooted and transcendent than I could hope to understand. Her grip tightened, and nails dug in, threatening to completely rip and tear everything between her hand. In this very moment, contract or not, there was nothing on this world that would stop her. I felt my consciousness begin to slip, and only one thing seemed to remain in my head. For once… It wasn’t fear.

  I tried to utter something again, but it didn’t work. My hand instinctively reached out and touched Zylas’ hand, causing the glowing and bleeding to stop. Seconds were stretched into agonizing minutes, vision began to blur, and darkness crept in at the edges. Suddenly I was allowed to gasp for air, as I collapsed to the ground.

  “Cancel the contract!” Zylas’ growling voice pierced through the haze of my regaining consciousness, as I desperately heaved. Each breath felt like fire in my lungs as I struggled to regain normalcy. “Get this fucking leash off me!”

  “W-wha—” I attempted to speak, but my throat rebelled against the effort, leaving my words choked and strained.

  “How long, when, did you plan all this with HIM!? I- Just, don’t even bother answering sjk, sjk, WKNZM! Aaagh!” Zylas screamed, her voice filled with fury as she walked back and forth in front of me. The throbbing of my bruised neck seemed to be in time with her steps.

  “Then… Make an amendment to the c-contract. I-I’ll also only tell… the truth from my side of things.” I managed to choke out, each word strained with pain. My hand trembled as it reached my neck, confirming the presence of blood. Zylas punched the wall above me twice, followed by the harrowing sounds of her claws scraping downward. Her gaze met mine as her claws ended up next to my head, locking me in a position I wasn’t able to move from already. Her eyes, wild and predatory, locked onto mine... “Reduce it to 2 hours. We must talk, we both must listen and understand each other…”

  The door slammed shut with a rumble behind us, knocking a deprecated frame off the wall. We were back in Zylas’ room. A loud crunch was heard; she seemed to have punched through something.

  “What’s your relation with Lord? DESPISE. How did you know I would make this contract, when did it turn into this leash? WORRY. WHEN did this all start! FRUSTRATION. Were you aware this was the end game of that night!? DISTRUST. DISGUST. BETRAYED.” Zylas machinegunned questions without hesitation. My head rang, echoing with each question, over and over and over until they dug into my very core. Holding a hand over my left eye, I turned around to face her. She was barely retaining her human form and kept herself between me and the door.

  “I didn’t know you would make a contract with me. In fact, I didn’t know what a contract wa—” I flinched at the contracts will to uphold the truth, regardless of intended reasoning. Quickly regaining myself, I glanced to my hand seeing the rune burn a brilliant red. Zylas began to grow- HATE, DECEIVED, CONFUSED, BETRAYED – but winced, allowing me to continue before she could move. “I mean to say non-human contracts. I didn’t know about these supernatural, this infernal contract or that there were others! I swear.”

  “Go on… Keep talking.” WORRY, CONCERN, CONFUSED, IMPLORE. Zylas said stepping forward, her eyes struggling to maintain their focus on mine. CONFUSED, ATTENTTIVE, DISTRESS. Since leaving that meeting with Lord, all of Zylas's hatred and frustration seemed to be directed squarely at me. Every event of the past month, every effort I made to keep my head down and resolve things, to find some semblance of reason or logic in the actions of these beings beyond my understanding... It all led to sleepless nights and hollow days, my worry turning into an obsessive need to survive. But Zylas, she had the strength to endure it all –

  Zylas suddenly recoiled as though under attack, clutching her head while still trying to maintain eye contact with me. But I found myself unable to discern her motives, or even to care, anymore. It was as if I was consumed by a fit of INSANITY. ALONE, thrust into SURVIVAL and the UNKNOWN. DREAD of tomorrow… broke a POWERLESS barrier holding back the only thing left repressed. EMOTION.

  “The last thing I wanted was to ever acknowledge you were actually real outside of my nightmares. You… You killed me! Your voice haunts my every step! I’m sure you relish in that fact, it’s what most of you predators feed on right? Nothing was planned! Not YOU killing me, not having any other choice but to sign that contract with YOU, not figuring out L isn’t just some random kid I get to treat to dinner on occasion. No, he’s some big fucking deal in your world! Nothing is NORMAL anymore! And, me putting a leash on YOU? That has to be the first joke of your existence! I don’t think anyone could do that. I didn’t have much of a life, I kept to myself, I didn’t want ANY of this!” I spouted out, - RAGE, ANGER, BROKENNESS - filling my words. She faltered and fell back against the door, her eyes breaking from mine. CONCERN, DISTRAUGHT, CONFUSED, REFLECTION.

  “Let’s keep going though, I don’t want this damned contract either! But the moment it’s over we both know the first thing you’re doing is finishing what you started! Oh right you can’t anymore; then you can just order anyone else in this haven of yours to do it right? I’m sure Luna would of, you came to ‘save’ me from her remember? You probably put her up to it. You couldn’t hunt me anymore so you found a way for someone else to! I’m human! Your prey! Remember!? What part of you thinks I’m capable of doing anything threatening to YOU anyways!?” I shouted, and shouted, kept pushing it all out until nothing remained… “Do you even understand how I feel, how humans feel?”

  I fell to my knees. Unable to see, unable to feel, unable to care... Why did I waste so much effort on a heartless creature...? SHAME… Nothing could change what was done, or what is to come. Our lives, my life, has already been decided. AGONY, HOPELESSNESS…

  I’m aware of fate more than most… ALONE.

  Many don’t get the chance to truly speak their mind before their end, I can at least feel easy about that. RELINQUISHED… I took a deep breath of the still, cold air of the room. Memories of looking up, through the moonlit trees… Tranquil, solitary peace, and the kissing wind dancing over my skin before fading to sleep… One last little enjoyment, before taking the next step forward. I exhaled. “Wait Daegon! I can’t pr—”

  “I’m willing to end this contract right now. Not everyone gets to decide things for themselves at the end… Lets just get this over with.”

  There was no response… Even after waiting, no response… I wiped my face, squinting through pained eyes. The room was darker, but I could make out the shape of Zylas sitting at the door in her full form, her head bowed and eyes closed. The rune on her hand glowed a fathomless purple. I moved to sit back, as the sensation of pins and needles flared up on my legs finally, causing me to kick them out from under me. That’s when – REFLECTION –, Zylas lifted her head opening her eyes.

  FAMILIAR

  Eyes are said to be the gateway to ones’ soul. Words, smith the characteristics hidden deep within and carry their purest intentions to others. The hardest part is understanding that hidden value, their true meaning meant…

  “Another day… TIME. REFLECTION. Reset the time back to our prior agreement… To give time to understand…” Zylas whispered, standing up and walking past me. A rather carefree flop came from behind me, and a large ruffling of pillows and blankets began. I couldn’t make out the words she said, but I felt their meaning.

  “Two days… Was it…?” Quietly I asked, standing up. The door had a distinct light shining through a fist-sized hole at head level. I began making my way towards it, unsure of my intentions or where to go. The burning blue flames flickered in my eyes, acknowledging another amendment has been made as I quietly opened and closed Zylas’ door behind me. Three lights, in fact, came from this side of the door. I was deep within my mind, at the core of something primal; Arguing, conflicting, questioning, with something that had nothing to gain, unable to retort.

  A hot, jarring pain made its way across my face snapping me back to reality. Three flames. Green eyes with hints of red, stared me down, filled with passion. Filled with care. “Don’t you forget those feelings. Don’t you forget.”

  Luna stood before me; her form was something mythical. Three tails, each with a lone floating barely sustaining fire. “Kitsune… Fox-kin, far from home. As kind, intelligent, and passionate as their beautiful exterior… An Empath…” Words I never thought Li-

  “Daegon.” Luna spoke adamantly, demanding my fullest attention. I could see tears on her face, but her eyes were steeled.

  “W-what.” I spoke trembling, unable to keep up with the rush of emotions and thoughts seemingly unlocked once again. Luna raised her hand and pressed a singular finger between my eyes. One word. It rang out, pushing every distraction gently aside in my head. A warm, caring embrace.

  “SLEEP”

  4-6,000 word mark after this.

  how are you feeling about the story thus far? Is the story delivering what you expected/wanted it to?

  This is a learning experience for myself, but that doesn't mean you have to sugarcoat anything! Also, congratulations for making it through the 30% mark of the Intro Arc!