Chapter 7: One Lucky Past

I shuddered a bit. What I said was a bad bluff I had no idea what she was capable of doing, but I imagine even if I was wrong she couldn't back out now, and lose face. She roared "fine you scum I will enjoy torturing you after this is done!" "Next question!" she said practically screaming "What is the most cherished ancestral treasure that is hidden in Zwhen?" This question just like the last was actually perfectly suited for me because luckily for me I had a friend that had studied many different legends that involved treasure. The only thing this question did was test my memory, and luck again, but thankfully I had no real need to worry about anything else because Noland would always irritate me by bragging about the stuff he picked up reading. With much to consider it would take a bit to think about the select piece of knowledge that I was being asked.

To start nobody, but grandpa had ever told me about Zwhen in the first place, and I only guessed it was the place he was talking about, but was never precisely told. The one person that had mentioned many of these relics in the past had also not known where many of them came from, but just knew descriptions based on old documentations. It seemed like I was in more of a bind than I had originally thought, and worst of all the woman in front of me seemed to realize it. She looked at me with a creepy crooked smile, and was waiting in anticipation for when she would get her chance to rip me apart. It was no use no matter how much I tried to think about it I couldn't even come close to guessing what this treasure may be. I refuse to die here, but I need a hint of some kind, or this really will be my grave.

I spoke up, "What can I-" she interrupted "Say anything that isn't an answer, and I will make sure to kill you where you stand." That quickly shut me up even if it was just a bluff, but wait kill.. hmm.. If I think this through piece by piece, and combine it with some of my own previous knowledge maybe I can come up with something. First of all dark elves are usually thought of as a very bloodthirsty race hence they are synonymous with the word "kill". I can also assume this relic is probably a weapon considering how violent the dark elves were normally, but again this just another assumption. If I combine these two trains of thought I can imagine that this weapon would practically radiate a thirst for blood. Lastly assuming this is correct I would imagine the weapon would have had to have seen battle many many times, and was probably used by a famous dark elven warrior.

I had narrowed it down a bit, but this still only limited my options since there were still a fair bit of dark elven warriors that had reached human ears. It seems I would need to limit it even further, I glanced at the woman's waist, and took a good look at her knives. This would be taking a huge risk, but I bet the weapon in question were knives too. My reasoning was because I imagined she was inspired by this person's story, and chose these knives as her weapons of choice too. These knives may have even been replicas for all I knew. There was only one famous dark elf warrior that used knives in combat, whose name was spread to my ears, and whose weapon was even famous in books. These knives that Noland talked about many years ago were wielded by Pyra Duskfall, and the first knife was named white void the other black void.

I finally had my answer, but I was no less nervous than before since this answer was nothing but an assumption based on assumptions. I nervously opened my mouth, "The ancestral treasure is two weapons white void, and black void wielded by Pyra Duskfall." The woman spoke up without thinking, "finally took forever kid now let's get to- correct." She didn't quite understand what came out of her own mouth. Once she realized she was livid, "W-wait a second you were clueless, and I gave you no hints this just isn't possible." This was my chance. What I said here could assure my victory. I laughed, "You think I ever needed a hint?" I shrugged, "I thought dark elves were supposed to be good at deceiving others?" This seemed to strike a nerve, but I continued "I guess that doesn't exactly help you pick up on when someone is acting, or not." It was time to play dirty "I guess you, and the rest of the dark elves are all the same after all just bottom dwellers, I had high hopes for Zwhen, but oh well."

She yelled "Listen here kid I have a question for a measly slime such as yourself what race are you again?" No amount of preparation could prepare me for what she just said, but it seemed my jabs had hit their mark. I only intended to make it hard for her to come up with a good question, but this was way outside what I had hoped for. I quickly spoke up before she caught on "Human!" I shouted. She seemed surprised by my sudden loss of composure, but then her face grew pale after a few seconds. Panic rushed over her face, and it quickly went from pale to red. It seemed that she caught on that this counted as a 5th, and final question, but it was too late.

She quickly tried to rush to grab her knives, but her hand stopped half way, and her mouth opened in a scared voice she said "correct." We started at each other for what seemed like forever both of us dared not speak, but after about 30 seconds the contract magic seemed to start working. The woman's neck seemed to be getting strangely brighter, and she began to scream like she was being burned alive. The burn looked like it was sering her skin down, and it looked like it was both burning her, and stealing much of her energy for this task. I ran over to her and stopped her from falling because the strain looked like it could be too much for someone to handle, but moments later the burning stopped. Where her skin had once been a fingerprint had taken its place, and then it hit me. I marked my fingerprint down at the start of this contract. I didn't realize how brutal contract magic was, and how the familiar was forever branded with this mark.

I looked down at the woman again, she was barely holding a conscious state, but looked like she wanted to say one last thing. She whispered, "I will never serve such an inferior being such as yourself, kill me while I sleep." She proceeded to close her eyes, and fall into a deep sleep, so I would need to watch over her here while she slept. I decided to cover her in some of the blankets I had brought with me even if she was as vile as they come. It seemed like the right thing to do. Noland really did know me better than anyone, and would often criticize me for my many faults. One being that I was a bit of a softie, and was quick to lend someone a hand even if they had burnt me only seconds ago. One thing that was also true however that I would need someone strong to accompany me on my travels because this experience had shown me how weak I truly was.

I did feel bad for the woman though being a familiar was worse than even slavery in some cases. The reason was because familiars were blinded by magic, and couldn't disobey direct orders. The reason for this was that the contract magic listened to the masters wishes, and the familiar was unable to resist doing anything, but what was ordered. One of the books I read from Noland's dad often depicted this magic as one of the most inhumane. Slaves would receive harsh punishment for disobeying orders in the form of physical pain, but this was still more preferred than the alternative. Masters may carelessly give an order like don't move, and shut up, but that would become a hellish fate worse than death for a familiar. One would not be able to so much as breathe in this state, and would suffocate because of their own masters stupidity. Masters must be very specific when giving orders, and above all else provide familiars with human decency.

It seems I would be sitting here for a while. I glanced over at the woman's face. It seemed like she was out cold, and would sleep at least for a couple hours. I got up and realized it had been awhile since I had eaten, or drank anything, and frankly that struggle had tired me out. I quickly realized there wasn't much to eat in my bag, but I was able to drink some more fresh water. Since we would be sharing supplies now I guess I would take her backpack off, and check for something to eat. She had water in here, torches, spare clothes, plenty of books/journals, and finally what looked like some food. I would close the backpack because it felt weird to dig through everything, but I took out what appeared to be fermented meat. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of meat, but after trying some it didn't taste gross, so I decided to have enough to fill myself. I decided to sit back down, and wait. I needed to be ready right away since I wasn't aware how contract magic truly worked, I could still die right away if I wasn't careful.