Free Web NovelChapter 10: The Contract [2]
’I made my decision.’
Mikael finally released the breath he had been holding with a slow exhale.
"I will sacrifice.... My Essence Core."
He kept his hands pressed on the magic circle as he released the last bits of his remaining essence.
For a heartbeat, silence prevailed as if the entire forest was holding its breath.
Suddenly, the red magic circle erupted, its red light flaring in every direction.
The seven candles placed on the outer magic circle shot upwards, transforming into pillars of roaring purple fire.
The colors around him turned saturated, and they started bleeding together as if some unseen hand had dragged a paintbrush across reality.
Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Orange, Indigo, Violet colors smeared together into a watercolor blur.
Trees wrapped around the sky, and the ground turned into the air.
Mikael felt himself falling upwards into an unknown space.
’This.... This is the Spirit World.’
This was the first time he was watching this scenery while contracting with a spirit.
He had never seen this on the monitor before while playing ’Eclipsed Realm’.
’What changed?’
’Did the game just forget to add this?’
’Is it because he is Mikael now? Or is he overthinking again, and is it simply because it’s a reality now?’
Just as he was thinking all this, he was back on the ground again.
The red magic circle grew brighter, and a red, translucent hand stretched outwards from it, like a striking serpent, piercing straight into Mikael’s sternum without causing any injury.
He felt a cold sensation in his sternum as the icy fingers of a red translucent hand wrapped around his Essence Core.
He felt the strength leaving his body, and in a single violent motion, it yanked out his spherical Essence Core from his sternum.
"Argh!!!"
A choked gasp escaped his mouth as he felt the tearing agony unlike anything he had experienced before.
His mouth stretched wide as his jaws strained to scream.
But his mouth was only able to make the sound of a choked, wet rasp.
His back arched forward in a violent spasm as his fingernails clawed at his own chest, scraping his flesh open.
His eyes rolled back with his veins bulging along his neck and temple, and he dropped to his knees.
After what seemed like an eternity of unending pain, it slowly began to fade away.
A stream of thin bile mixed with his blood surged up his throat, splattering across the glowing lines of the circle.
Through the haze of his torment, a grey translucent floating window appeared in front of him.
[You have lost your Essence Core]
[Essence: 0.9 → 0]
[You have sacrificed your Essence Core in exchange for a contract with a Creature of the Spirit World]
[Probability of Contracting with a Neutral Spirit increased from 10% to 90%] freewebnσvel.cѳm
Mikael blinked, reading along the lines with his blurry vision, and the next second, he found himself no longer on the ground.
But floating in the vast space of the Spirit World.
Pain from all of his injuries or from losing his essence core, all of it had vanished.
He looked at his hands, then at his whole body, which had turned completely translucent. freeweɓnøvel.com
He was in a spirit form.
[Searching for a Spirit Compatible with You... ]
At the same time, countless glowing red and blue spheres appeared, floating in front of him.
[.....]
[Spirit Compatible with You Found]
Then a glowing red sphere started floating towards him.
Mikael’s eyes widened in horror as he saw the red sphere floating towards him.
Blue Sphere represented the Neutral Spirits that are born in the spirit world.
But red spheres... red spheres represented the Spirits that were twisted remnants of a soul, shaped by extreme trauma or an unfulfilled wish that refused to let go.
The red glowing sphere glided closer and came to a halt right in front of him.
[Experiencing Spirit’s memories...]
The words flickered in front of him, leaving a bitter thought in his mind.
’Even after all that...’
’Even the 90% probability wasn’t enough...’
’My luck really needs to be studied...’
The funny thing was, he was also in this world because of his luck.
That was his last thought as darkness overtook him, swallowing his consciousness.
*****
Nearly 200 years ago.
In the Silverbrook town, situated in the Valerion Kingdom.
It was the town tucked in the valley where the river bends like a silver ribbon.
It was a beautiful, peaceful town of seven hundred people, with friendly residents who were always ready to help one another.
And crime was so rare that, over the past ten years, the worst reports had been nothing more than minor thefts.
The townsfolk liked to say that even the rain fell gently on Silverbrook.
As if the sky itself had decided this place deserved kindness.
And at the heart of that kindness was....
Liren Aldermere.
A young girl with long white hair that fell past her waist like spilled moonlight, eyes like a clear blue winter dawn.
And the Mayor’s eldest daughter.
What the townspeople loved most about her, though, was not her beauty, but the sound that drifted from the Mayor’s estate each evening...
The sound of her Violin.
Liren had an unnatural talent for the Violin.
People would slow their walk just to listen along the lane outside.
And on the stone garden wall beside her window, blue roses bloomed year-round.
She tended it herself.
Her Mother had planted the blue roses first when she was five.
And every year since then, she had coaxed more into the soil, taking care of it until the whole wall was now fully draped in blue roses.
She had a good life.
A gentle father, a caring mother, and her naughty but sweet little brother.
It was a gentle, peaceful life.
At the spring of Liren’s fifteenth year, a Traveler came to Silverbrook.
He arrived with a worn leather satchel and a pleasant smile as he introduced himself as a doctor named Dorian Voss.
Within just a week, he had cured old Harmen’s persistent cough, set young Della Pren’s broken wrist without leaving any mark behind, and countless other patients.
The town welcomed him with open arms, and he began living in Silverbrook.
Everyone respected and loved him.
Her father even helped him find a house despite his busy schedule as the Mayor.
But for some reason, Liren always felt a chill crossing her whenever she looked at him.
She didn’t understand why.
He had never been unkind to her -- in fact, they had not even spoken much.
Still, she just smiled politely at him and maintained her distance.
Three years passed in a blink.
Liren’s life continued in a gentle rhythm.
Until the night of her eighteenth birthday.
Her father threw a banquet for her coming-of-age ceremony and invited all the town.
Lanterns were strung between the oaks.
There was music, and laughter filled the air.
She even performed on her Violin, and the townsfolk adored every note.
Liren stood smiling in a white dress while Cael, her little brother, tugged her sleeve, and her father gave a speech that made her Mother cry.
She held this feeling close, hoping it would last forever.
Little did she know, the same hands that wove flowers into her hair would soon weave a crown of thorns for her.
*****
