The Contract [Private, Jaquise]

[Tarot]

"Why, thank you," Roghon grinned and bowed, still a little uncoordinated, "I was a favorite student of Master Aelobius the Voider, after all." The wizard took his piece of charcoal and began drawing a circle on the floor. His Familiar was by now reforming itself from the myriad droplets that it had broken into upon hitting the wall. And apparently, the little creature was not too happy with Jaquise's choice.

"Ewwwwww a Darkfacer they are ugly cold heartless monsters who eat children trust me sir you are better off with someone dependable who will be there for you like a good honest Lightfacer like ME and I just happen to have a few cousins twice removed who are most likely still on Fyrden and would be more than happy to…"

"As you can see, Lightfacers and Darkfacers are very prejudiced against one another," Roghon said, not lifting his head from the circle-drawing effort. He had divided the area into sixteen slices, marking each intersection with special Summoning glyphs. He also traced a second inner circle within the first, adding yet more glyphs along its circumference.

"It is not prejudice Master Roghon it is fact pure simple fact nothing but fact," the Familiar talked back, showing a less submissive side for the very first time, "those conceived of darkness and born in darkness can only think and do dark things like the one Master Jom had or Mistress Iphne and they are both dead."

"And so are a lot of other people," the wizard sighed, and produced a sharp knife from his robes. "It sucks to have to hurt this body so soon." He made a tiny cut on his finger, and a drop of white ichor collected on the dead skin. He pressed the wound onto the surface of the circle, which began to glow softly at first, and then brighter and brighter. A peculiar oily smell, familiar to Summoners, invaded the place. The outer circle was now pulsing with blue, glowing energy.

"Stand back, we are casting our line into the Darkface." Indeed, a feeling of intense cold emanated from the portal. It was not long before a creature became visible. It wasn't on Mizahar just yet… it appeared to be under the circle, as if its surface had turned reflective like water. Its shape changed gently with the rippling waves in the blue energy, but it was pitch black, like a shadow in the darkest of nights.

"Your Darkfacer," Roghon smiled uncannily. The creature seemed to touch the portal's entrance, but did not manage to come further. It had no solid or fixed shape.

"World of many things," it spoke, "I want."

[Jaquise Emittere]

It took a moment for Jaq to realize the darkness changing with the rippling of blue energy was in fact the being that had been summoned. Even in his jacket the room seemed to have grown cold. A peculiar oily scent filled the room that caught Jaq's interest for a brief moment. When it spoke a shiver went up Jaq's spine. A memory both vivid and foggy sprung to mind of a beast whose form Jaq could not remember but which inspired fear even unrecognized. The mercenary almost ran out right there. Nothing but sheer stubbornness made him hold his grown. He was no longer that helpless fool Jaquise, he was Jaq the mercenary and damned if he was going to turn tail at the face of danger. The obstinate man took a step forward, careful not to get to close to the circle and stared down at the darkness in the mirror like portal. Jaq summoned his stubborn nature and began thinking of all the difficult situations he had survived, those he had found victory and those he had found defeat in both came to mind and they further bolstered his thoughts until fear was the furthest thing form his mind.

Staring into the mirror that revealed naught but shadow Jaq spoke. "I am Jaquise Emittere. I seek a familiar to bond with. If a bond is your goal as well then I would ask you questions to see if you are the one I seek. Do not lie about your abilities, for in falsehood I will find you wanting and have you dismissed. The one who arranged this meeting can confirm the truth of what you say. Do not lie about yourself. I am most willing to have you voided should I find that you have spoken lies about your personality and it becomes clear we are incompatible. To be fair I will allow you to question me as well on those same topics. My first question is this. What may I call you for the duration of this meeting."

[Tarot]

It was remarkably difficult to figure out what may pass through the mind of such a shadow-creature on the other side of the portal. Jaquise could deduce a few facts on his own, though. First, while the Familiars may be able to survive Fyrden's extreme conditions, life on the planet was still horrible. Second, the event of a wizard opening a gateway to acquire a Familiar was quite uncommon. These meetings were probably once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for the contacted party. Third, their way of thinking was still very much Fyrdenese. This creature most likely knew little of life on Mizahar as its only experience was with a disc of ice and shadow.

Jaquise still managed to get his point across… hopefully. Roghon noddedly slightly. His Familiar was stirring and rolling around in apparent disgust of the summoned creature. The shadow-thing shifted some more, as if digesting the meaning of the question. In the end, it answered in its whispered, androgynous voice.

"The name is 'I'," it said, though dubiously, as if unsure whether it had understood the question, since the answer was so obvious. "I have been alone since they spawned me, only calling myself and being called by myself. If it confuses the other, the other may call me anything."

"A wild one," Roghon murmured, "isolated even from its own ilk. I have heard it is somewhat rare. It will need to be taught everything about the world if you choose it. That's a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it."

"Annoying annoying annoying…" Roghon's Familiar kept repeating like a mantra.

"The others use strange words," the summoned being complained in its monotone voice. "Words of many things from a world of many things. I want the words also. I do not mind being with the other if I can be there."

[Jaquise Emittere]

Already Jaq could think of a number of advantages and disadvantages to choosing a Wild One as Roghon called them. Thinking of the being Jaq couldn't help but wonder how intelligent the other was. Its thought process was most definitely not human, and it appears that its isolation further enhanced the difference. Speaking to it might become a trial until both of them learned more about the other. A definite down side which would mean Jaq would have to be careful in dangerous situations. Words might be misinterpreted in a variety of lethal ways. And there was the why of the matter. Why had he been left alone.

Jaq felt sympathetic to the beings on the other side of the circle. Roghon had said that Darkfacers inhabited the desolate cold and dark half of the beings world. Even where he was he could feel a chill that sent shivers down his spine, a reaction to the cold air of ccourse. Sympathy had a place though, and going into a contract that would bind his soul to anther being was definitely not that place. "This one is hesitant to bind his fate to yours for fear of gaining a burden that would cost him his life or sanity." Jaq didn't mention the possible chance of finding a more ambitious being who would seek to become the dominant of the pair and thus also cost him his freedom. No need to give the other any ideas. "It is the reason for my caution and my questions." Jaq was careful to avoid looking at either Roghon or his familiar through out the sentence, but that did not keep him from hearing the mantra one of them had taken up. "A mental burden from an ill fitting pairing is just as dangerous as a physical one."

Now that he was here Jaq actually floundered for a moment. He hadn't been expecting the entirely alien thought process, although hindsight made it clear he should have. It wouldn't due to be seen hesitating though so Jaq voiced an early question he had. "Do you know why you have always been alone?" Another thought occurred to him as he asked the question and he voiced this one to. "Do you feel anger for your isolation?"

[Tarot]

The shade beneath the portal assimilated the contents of Jaquise's inquiries. It was not terribly easy to interview someone/something through the barrier, yet it was a necessity, for if admitted into Mizahar the creature would have to quickly bind to someone or face death.

There were a few seconds of near-silence, only broken by the incessant chatting of Roghon's own Familiar scoffing at the Darkfacer. After the pause, the Fyrdenese answered the first question tersely.

"Ate them. Put them in me. Became me."

And then the second.

"No. They made good choice."

Roghon's familiar stopped on his tracks, and his heated insults ceased altogether at the news. It quickly sought refuge in his master's sleeve, its blob form shivering lightly with fear.

"The world truly is a vast place," Roghon commented, "Familiars have cannibals in their midst, too. I had no idea. You got a strange one to bite, human. If it can really eat another Familiar, perhaps it can even absorb some of their qualities… but would you be able to keep it from going after any wizard with a pet in your surroundings?" It was an interesting dilemma, given that Roghon himself had a Familiar, and the fate of a dead creature was also shared by its owner. The shade thing stirred against the edge of the barrier.

"The other feeds my hunger, I feed the other's hunger."

[Jaquise Emittere]

It ate its own kind. It took several seconds for the thought to process and even then it was a hard concept to grasp. For some it would have been the physical implications of this statement that stumped them. The being appeared to be as solid as a fog, or the shadow of a fog to be a bit more accurate. For Jaq it was the moral implications. Sergane had been an honorable person, and made sure to instill the same morals into his son. Things like respecting women, fighting for the weak, and upholding the law. These were important thing to Sergane, which made his death all the more ironic Jaq supposed. He had heard of some people eating the flesh of their enemies, but that was normally after they killed them. Jaq could deal with that, even if he himself would never try it.

That being said there where only two questions for Jaq to ask now. The fact that he was alone meant that it had not been the aforementioned tradition of eating ones enemy being carried out. That either left a situation where it was necessary to survive, or simply an unusual taste. If the being answered one way then perhaps Jaq would have more to ask. The other way though and Jaq would ask Roghon to close the portal. "Did you have a choice in eating the others? And did you end their lives to consume them?" Jaq's hand unconsciously moved to his fake left eye, and felt the line of the scar from when he had lost it. Magic can be dangerous and sometimes it took moments like this for Jaq to remember that.

[Tarot]

The shade hesitated, though not because it feared rejection. Fear seemed beyond this creature's ability to feel. It was a pause it took to translate the question and understand it, as if it made little sense in that context. In the end, however, the being came up with an answer.

"That which is, is called nature. This much I know." It began, slowly, and the lack of interruptions from Roghon's familiar made the warehouse entirely silent in between its words. "The nature of I is to eat the others. It just happens. They become a part of I. Where one life ends and another life begins, neither I nor the others cannot tell."

"I think the word it's looking for is 'instinct'," Roghon said quietly, "the nature that admits no choice. I am not going to lie to you, this critter is going to be a lot of work and maybe even a liability if not kept on a tight leash, though it could be be a prized one in the right hands. It all depends on what kind of investment you are willing to make… and whether you are willing to risk this thing attacking my pitiful companion here, and in turn me attacking the both of you."

Roghon grinned, showing that he was not fully serious, though definitely half-serious. "Magic took that eye of yours, correct? This is really the same gamble, but the ante is way higher. So, do you want to meet another little guy or keep talking to this one?"

[Jaquise Emittere]

Jaq's hand, which had been running across the scars from his burns on his eye, dropped once more to his side. Roghon's tone of voice had left little doubt as to what would happen if he lost control of the being. His skill in voiding and summoning left little doubt as to what the outcome would be.

But those influenced Jaq's decision about as much as any other threat Jaq got, which was very little. More importantly was the fact that what the familiar described was both disturbing and chilling to the mercenary on several levels. He could accept that this being had little control over its hunger, he could accept that it had and probably will continue to feed on others in its world. That didn't mean he had to like it.

"I think I would like to speak to another." Jaq said as politely as he could manage, which was more then one would expect from a simple hired sword, but less then what was necessary to convince anyone that what he had learned didn't bother him. Even as he said it Jaq forced his gaze from the circle to Roghon.

[Tarot]

"Probably not a bad idea," the undead nodded. He moved his foot forward, stepping onto the circumference of the circle and interrupting its flow. For such a mystical science, the method for undoing it was rather mundane. The glowing light ceased all of a sudden, and the floor turned back into what it did best - being a floor. The vague oily smell was the only testament to what had transpired in the warehouse.

The Nuit shrugged. "Look, I don't mind you opening a few more portals to Fyrden, but I'm not overly fond of cutting up this new body. Our wounds don't close on their own, we have to patch them up or sear them shut. So, from now on, it's your blood we will be using. Unless you have any objections to learning a little Summoning? It's your lucky day, human. Some people would kill their ancestry to be in your shoes right now."

He pointed a pale finger at the inactive circle. There were sixteen points placed at regular interval on the border, each carrying a small glyph. "These are astral coordinates… we just learn them by heart. Each glyph is a digit. Coordinates in their basic form are sixteen digits, laid out counter-clockwise. Why counter-clockwise? Vectorial product, but don't let it bother you. Just remember, when you pull a screw out, that's how you turn the screwdriver. And you are trying to pull something out."

"Look now," Roghon pointed at one of the little inner circles, the one at the intersection of the four lines coming from the main axes. He was effectively teching Jaquise how to perform the Familiar summon even without his presence. Whether his motives were selfless or just wanted the mercenary not to rat him out, remained to be seen. "That point tells the circle where on the planet we cast our line. You will want to redraw those lines and circle to fish from another spot on Fyrden. We don't want to meet that little shade guy again, right? The upper half of the circle is the Fyrdenese Darkface. When you are done with the circle, cut your finger open and let a drop of your blood touch the circle. Concentrate. Focus. This universe will do the rest."

[Jaquise Emittere]

"Of course. It would not be good to ruin the very thing you came down here for would it." Jaq was pleasantly surprised by the lesson in summoning, though the fear of meeting that nasty thing his father had summoned so long ago threatened to overcome his mind once more. A few deep breaths helped keep it under control, but Jaq let it stay in a corner of his mind so as to remind him to be cautious.

When Roghon was finished with his explanation Jaq moved to redraw the lines on the right hemisphere of the circle. He made sure to keep them on the upper hemisphere of the circle so as to get another darksider and then when he was sure they were as straight as the ones the other mage had drawn drew a circle in the center. Then he took a few steps back to a point where he was sure he would not mistakenly screw up the circle and drew his sword out a few inches from its sheath. The sword was well oiled and did not make a sound as he did this. After drawing his thumb up the blade, receiving a small cut, Jaq held his hands out over the circle. For a few moments he did nothing but breathe. When he was sure all of his concentration was on the circle he knelt down and pressed the cut against the circle.

Secret :

Sorry it took so long.