A pledge of the soul

Pandora gulped all of what could be her future regrets and misfortunes into a nod.

Like that, Nocte grabbed her hand and lifted it to his chest height, palm facing up, he unbended two fingers of his right hand above her wrist. And invoking sharp shadows from the tips, he slitted her wrist as if it was a knife.

Pandora recoiled at the instant sharp pain she perceived from her wrist, Nocte noticing that, moved his eyes to hers. She thought in that moment and there he would once again lick from her wound. But revealing to her mind, the still mysterious man let go of her hand and removed his other glove. Invoking once again the shadow knife he did the exact same cut on his left hand.

Swiftly placing the fresh cut on top of her wrist, making the two wounds contact each other.

Like that, Nocte removed his bleeding wrist from her and took Pandora’s stamp from her free hand.

“Now our blood is combined. The contract must be sealed with both our lifeblood bound together.”

Pandora was starting to feel lightheaded and faint. As if the direct contact with Nocte’s dark powered blood influenced her and she couldn’t hold the difference in their energy flow.

“You want me to stamp my wrist’s blood into the paper?” She said not noticing her voice’s sudden drowsiness.

But Nocte did notice the change in Pandora, once again he took her bleeding hand.

“Do you want me to do it?” He asked.

“What you take me for? I can stamp my own blood.”

Snatching the stamp from Nocte’s grip, Pandora rashly smeared the bottom of the stamp with her fresh wound. Now noticing her loose of self-control seeing how she messily did the job, she hastened to mark the parchment with her signature but couldn’t keep her stance in place with her growing dizziness.

Pandora fell to her knees.

Or at least that’s what she expected, but she never heard the thud coming from the floor and her body’s weight collapsing. The only thing that changed in her fall was the warmth that now remained on the lower part of her back, holding her from gravity’s due job.

Nocte was holding her with one hand wrapped around her waist.

“With your permission, lady Pandora. I’ll do it.” The demon calmly said, once again.

With Pandora still held in his arm, Nocte gently took, once again, the stamp from her. And placed Pandora’s unique blood signature mark onto the contract.

There it was, the fresh red inked seal conforming her name, her blood and his’. She stared blankly at the sealed contract as if nothing changed in herself other than the strength in her legs.

“Is that it?” She almost whispered, maybe to herself.

“Yes.”

Almost forgetting that Nocte was the one holding her, she returned her gaze to his’.

Their eyes encountering, perhaps something did change between them, in the world, something that made a permutation in it and would effect either for best or for worst.

Not being a Star Chosen would surely make something terribly happen in the balance between Crescentia and the Devil’s realm, she was obliged to finish the ritual for the sake of whatever could’ve happened to her or to the demon in front of her. But now wasn’t time to worry for the imminent consequences.

“Right… I need to get going.” Pandora tried to separate from Nocte’s hold, but he didn’t let go. She needed to leave and run for the main plaza, time was ticking and even running it would take her more than ten minutes to arrive.

“To The Gallerya, am I right, my lady?”

“Yes, so please let go.”

But Nocte didn’t let go, instead as swift as the cut he had made before, dark shadows enveloped him and her, imprisoning them into a bubble of dark magic and then she could see as much as the darkness around her, erasing even the close sight she had of Nocte, she was alone in the dark, cold bubble than made her want to hide in what last trace of light could be found. But there was none, so she shut her eyes off. Not making much of a difference, opened or closed, the darkness remained the same. She reached forward for something to hold on to in what left of the empty space, her hands shortly after grazing what felt like Nocte’s firm chest, though she couldn’t see if it was really him, she still gripped hard, not wanting to get lost in the ever lasting dark world that now was hers.

“Don’t be scared. I’ll always remain here, by your side, even out of sight. From now and always, your loyal servant, lady Pandora.”

The soft words she heard from the chest in front of her, felt real. Tied her down from the dark place that was swallowing her. The shadow man felt like every light that could be in the world.

For what felt like a second or two more, the coldness spread. Disrupting the silent world of her apartment, the crowd’s sudden chattering came to her senses.

Slowly opening her eyes, Pandora was no longer in her mess of apartment, she was in The Gallerya.

With a crowd surrounding her, all facing to her right. The world was no longer made from cold shadows, it was as if they never were. She still had her hands hardly gripped on Nocte’s jacket and he was, as always, calmly waiting. As she didn’t remove her hold from the man’s garment, he also held his on her low back. Both frozen into place.

The crowd remained still but was clearly not paying any attention to the man and woman that made a sudden appearance out of nowhere. Contemplating what was more important paying no heed to them.

The Star Chosen’s public ritual was being held.