Chapter 156: A contract

Aivena didn't come to conclusion, at least not in her journal. In the end, she shut the journal closed with a (frustrated?) huff and teleported away, leaving me to wait for her return.

To think—so much of my existence circled around her now. It was disturbing. Sometimes, I could easily imagine that there was nothing beyond the tiny piece of the world I could see from my cage. And I was only stuck there for about twenty days.

I didn't see Aivena again until next day, except for a brief visit when she left me some food and water. Again, of better quality than before—the food in question was an actual loaf of bread. No meat hid inside, but it was better than scraps from Aivena's meals: bare bones and apple cores.

When Aivena came to my cage again, she held a piece of paper. Her expression was hard to read, but was that anticipation in her eyes?

I regarded her with my usual tired wariness. Then, I took a better look at the glowing marks on the paper and my eyes widened. I recognised that thing—it was a contract paper. Did Aivena decide to force me into a contract, after all? She never did before—probably because of the futility of this. I would've never agreed to sign anything unless I thought I can wriggle my way out of it.

Too bad for us both—I was sure I would. If Aivena changed her mind on this, it was my chance.

'Pest… you remember the plan?'

'Oh yes! This will be a sacrifice I would be glad to make. The only one!'

"Devourer, do you know what this is?" Aivena lifted the piece of paper.

I shook my head. Aivena raised her brows, then shrugged. "Well, what else could I expect. Your level of civility is surprising as it is. This is contract paper, which allows creatures to sign magical contracts…"

She went into a diatribe explaining what contracts were and how they worked. I didn't listen closely, since I knew that all already: blah-blah-blah, speeding up stat drain if you break the contract, until you die from it.

"Do you understand anything that I said?" Aivena asked by the end of it. After I nodded, she pinched her lips, clearly not so sure, but moved on. "This is a contract I drafted. If you sign it, I will let you out of this cage."

She pushed the contract inside. The piece of paper that I originally thought to be small turned out to be folded several times. The entire contract was much longer than I originally expected, much more detailed, and much more full of words which meaning I couldn't understand. I wondered if it was intentionally made this way.

I read it all anyway, trying to understand what I could. It appeared to be pretty much a slave contract. A lot of the parts of it were just clauses about me not hurting Aivena, about the possible priority of some clauses and her orders, about me not trying to leave Aivena's secret valley, and so on and so on. It had a place for Aivena's—owner's—signature, but she didn't put hers in here yet.

Such a waste of paper and ink. I wrote a contract that worked just fine on a scrap of paper a couple of fingers long.

"You don't have to understand the entire contract. What you have to understand is that as long as you follow my commands to the letter, don't try to escape and don't try to harm me, I will let you walk around freely," Aivena said. She tapped her fingers on her hip with visible impatience. "Think about it, Devourer. You will most likely die by the gods' hands after I'm finished with you. In fact, I'm pretty much AM finished with you… with what I can do while I keep you in that cage. But if I had my safety assured by the contract, your life can stretch for much longer, and will be much more pleasant."

I made a show of gritting my teeth. "First the cage, then this?" I clenched my fist in genuine anger. It was very easy to feel anger when I looked at Aivena's arrogant face, coolly explaining why she thought I should become her slave. That bitch thought too highly of herself.

She shrugged. "Are you going to complain about the unfairness of your fate? World isn't fair to anyone. Whenever you gain something, someone loses it. There's no sense in thinking about the losers—that can only give you ulcers. I won, and you lost. I have you, and you don't have your freedom. Signing the contract won't take much more of it. Decide now. I won't wait forever."

I slammed my fist into the invisible wall of my cage, which immediately pushed it back. "Fine! You are right. It's not like I wasn't living like that." I snarled and grabbed the contract.

After a second, a name appeared on it. When it did, I crumpled the paper and threw it through the barrier in Aivena's direction. It passed through the barrier, where she caught and straightened it out.

"Huh? Toriaxius Magnificio Daresco The Best?" Aivena stared at me. "Is this your real name?"

I forced the triumphant grin that threatened to split my face down and turned it into a snarl. "What, did you think all that time that I was actually called Devourer?"

Aivena raised her brows. "Hm… I suppose this was, indeed, not probable. Very well. Your name is a no concern of my in any case, Devourer."

She put her hand on the contract. I saw the moment it accepted her name, the moment when the glow and the magic left the paper and the contract was complete. Aivena put the contract in her pocket and lifted her eyes at me again.

She licked her lips with a small, not promising anything good for me, smile. "Well. Now we can do some truly interesting experiments. I can't wait."