Conjurer

Orion blinked his blurry eyes as he forced himself to wake up. He couldn't remember where he was but the feeling he had been getting was that of tiredness.

The first thing to come into view was the blurry figure sitting across him. He blinked a few more times to clear his view, and the blurry figure became clear. It was a man in all body armor with a helmet sprawled with his back leaning to the pillar.

He woke up with a jerk as he realized where he was. He was still in his dream or the dream-like world. He quickly checked his body for injuries and was relieved to find he was totally fine.

There was a set of broken iron chains lying in his feet. So that's what he slashed with his sword. Realized Orion as he looked towards the armored figure sitting across him.

"You woke up…. You need much training to increase your courage if you are going to faint like earlier by only seeing me swinging the sword."

A deep, old, and rusty voice came from the Armor as Orion was looking around the barren dream scenery. He was surprised but not much, in one way it was similar to talking in someone's domain.

The man raised his hands to remove the helmet from his face, as Orion watched curiously. He had never seen his face earlier in his dreams. Because he was always wearing his full body armor.

The man inside the armor turned out to be an old man with deep wrinkles, there were several scars and marks on his face. His head was full of white hair. He put his helmet aside and turned his face to Orion. Now both of them were sitting leaning on their respective pillars facing each other.

"You must be confused!" The old man smiled.

Orion shook his head,

"More than that old man. But one thing I have learned from the past month is that nothing is weird and impossible in this world.

And someone would surely explain things to me. "

The old man laughed and patted his thigh.

"Marvelous, you are showing signs of your father. Calm in the face of a storm is a hard skill to learn and you are beginning to start out.

Ok, this time I am here to explain things to you.

First, you don't have to worry this is my domain, here all rules bend by my will. Secondly, yes I am the thing which everyone was speculating out, that your father must have thought about your future. "

He unsheathed his sword and stabbed in front of him in the ground and began his long explanation,

"I am Spirit or you could say a 'being' born out of collective belief much much older than present times. "

"Spirit? Whose spirit? "

"I am the Spirit of WAR." The old man nodded to Orion.

Then came the long monologue of the old man describing his existence to Orion. Basically, spirits came into origin from the collective belief which in turn shapes their character and power.

Even before humans gained self-awareness in this world they were fighting each other like every other animal. Because it was an essential part of life but when they became self-conscious creatures, these fights turned into well-thought-out Wars and Battles.

Since that ancient time, the spirit of War that is him was born. Not only he, several other spirits like that of agriculture, fertility etc. Came to existence. The beliefs of humans gave presence as well as distinct character to the spirits along with, the power. So this spirit was just like the man in the war, angry, brave, clever, and strong.

The old man began his life by taking part in battles. He was the spirit of war, so everything he had was in the war. In the meantime, many spirits evolved which soon began to gather followers to raise their power. They formed religions, amassing believers but he never did anything like this.

He believed as long as humans will remain they will fight, so he will remain. His duty and work were on the battlefield not on gathering followers. Thus, he continued to fight among humans but never tried to be their religious head.

There was no battle in that time in which he didn't take part. Sometimes as a puny soldier, sometimes salient general, sometimes in advancing troops, and sometimes in the looting squad. When the battle starts he appears but when it stops, he silently disappears in search of new battles.

Then came the time of Gods, Demons, and Devils. They were like an exotic millionaire in the game of hundreds which was being played between the spirits till now. The major religions began to rise, spirits followed the suit but with less power, they could never compete with Gods.

Some who tried to challenge the Gods died, removed from the world as their belief vanished. Some hid in the shadows, most of them took refuge from the gods, becoming less deity in their religions while some just accepted their fate.

The old man was different when the catastrophe for local spirits arrived; he was never concerned. He had never relied on the followers of religion, so he never had to fight against them. He still fought his battles, thousands of them, millions of them. That period was golden for him as his power rose so much he could even rock the so-called major pantheons by himself.

But then, came the downfall period of Gods. The convention of noninterference was signed. Gods and devils promised to not appear openly on earth and let humanity take their course without any interference.

He was still unconcerned because 'battles', they were never going to stop. Till now he had gathered so much power that he was no less than a minor God. He could remain alive to time immemorial.

"The Humans stopped waging wars."

It was an absurd statement in his mind but when signs of it began to show, he was confused for the first time. Modern Education, proper countries, democracies, globalization came into view as the world slowly felt the cruelty and horror of wars and distanced itself from them.

"So, what happened due to the stopping of war. You became old like this. "

Said Orion as he asked the old man.

He sighed,

"I'm still powerful but I need wars to maintain myself, to hold myself. The last major war was in 1945.

I am getting old and old from then. I may be a major deity, therefore, I will not die but this,"

He pointed to himself.

"This body, this individuality, this character will be dissolved forever. I will be left as the only general omnipresent will across the world, without my self-views or opinions. And without any followers to remember me, I will be forgotten in clouds of time."

Orion took a few seconds to process all this. He was confused if he was already dying then why did father choose him to create a bond between him and me.

"I know what you're thinking, brat. I may be old but I still have the power to go toe to toe with any God or Devil alike. These scars and skills honed in battle are much more reliable than those earned from these gods.

I never ever took any contract with any mortal before. Therefore, when your Father realized that you are not a born mage, he began to scour the world in the hope of finding a proper contract for you.

He came here after much scouting and difficult paths because even in the present gods, only a selected few knew about the presence of this Spirit of War with no followers.

He paid a great price to convince me to get you a contract from myself. So be grateful to your Dad."

Orion raised his eyebrows in thought. Did he really go through so much for me? And about being grateful, he was still not ready to think about it.

The old man lifted himself as he stood up. His armor creaked with voices with him stretching his arms. He removed his sword from the ground and gestured for Orion to stand up.

Orion stood up hurriedly and extended his hand as gestured by the Old Man. He sliced the palms of both of them with one slash as blood began to flow, then pressed their hands together and closed his eyes.

Orion did the same as he closed his eyes, waiting for something to happen.

"I, Cassis, the spirit of War and Battle, Helper of men, Epitome of destruction, Leader of Armies, Embodiment of Bravery, Master of Every Weapon....

Give the share of my domain to the Trudger Orion, the Primal Contract to be fulfilled in the name of omnipresent Nature in return demands proper Belief and commitment towards me and when help or similar is required, he would do his best of abilities."

Suddenly the words began to resonate in the mind of Orion as he felt he could understand the meaning and implications of each word uttered in the oath.

He sighed and felt relieved, feeling it was a straight contract without excessive demands, of course, since his father had sacrificed much to choose it for him.

"I Accept "

With his words, lightning flashed in the dim sky as the contract was completed. Orion felt his body filling with magic energy as his whole body began to crackle in satisfaction.

Every cell in his body was reforming itself to the stronger version by carrying out refinement. He felt himself gaining something but soon everything was over.

"What? Only this. What could I do now" asked Orion as he felt no drastic change in his body, except increased physical capacity.

The old man Cassis swiped his hand,

"That you have to discover yourself. And remember even if you are a conjurer now, don't be complacent and Trust no one, 'no one'."

To which Orion nodded. Then Cassis began to smirk,

"I think you are forgetting something. This is my domain therefore no time has passed in the real world. And there, you are on the verge of death."

The memories came flooding to him as he remembered the Mitugh and his assault. His eyes widened in shock he opened his mouth but before he could say anything he was wiped from this domain.