The being on the other end answered according to the contract made years ago.
Back in the real world, I awoke from the trance to the accompaniment of a shattering dome spell as the arrows of darkness made their way toward my heart.
But that didn’t matter.
An eldritch energy exploded from me, an energy with a will to twist, corrupt, and unmake all it touches. With a titanic flex of my will, I forced it under control before it could start corrupting everything around me, myself included. The darkness itself was also gone in front of such power.
Then I opened my eyes. That was the hardest part. I could feel the blood seeping out of them as I gazed upon raw, unfiltered existence. The particles, other planes, and the knowledge of their workings lay bare before my eyes as I struggled to stop the information flow threatening to split my mind in half. Everything I wanted to know and should not be able to know was begging to be understood.
I could also see the creature in its small, plane-like nest, retreating, knowing something was wrong. Its form, previously layered in shadows, now clear to me alongside the very energy that made it.
I couldn’t hold out like that for long. It was a miracle I was still standing as I felt my focus slipping. One mistake, and it would be the end of me in the most gruesome way imaginable. I would be cursed to join the procession of pipers of Azathoth, keeping him slumbering until the stars are aligned. Not a fate I was eager for.
Opening my mouth, I fought with myself to get my muscles under control. The signals my brain sent to them were lost somewhere in the chaos.
I needed to focus.
I bit my cheek hard, the pain bringing my control back for a split second, enough to command my tongue to move. Finally, I managed to speak in the eldritch tongue of the abyss.
Squirming Void.
A strange, otherworldly magic circle with a crack in the middle, in colors no mortal being could describe, appeared behind me. Eight black tentacles squirmed from it, waiting for my command.
All I had in me was one attack.
The creature looked amused, thinking that its home plane would save it, that I couldn’t attack it unless I made my way to its lair.
But that was a mistake. This kind of magic originated in the void itself.
‘Rip’ was the short command I could muster, and the tentacles made their way to the target.
The creature realized too late, and its hubris was its demise. Arrows of shadow tried to block the attack, but in vain. The tentacles squirmed and crawled in a maddening dance forward, ignoring the laws of geometry as they arrived in the creature's nest. It tried to run, to exit anywhere, but a black appendage caught its leg. I could see my vision swim as my mind was screaming at me to let go, but I needed confirmation.
Once the leg was caught, the rest of the tentacles joined the first, grabbing onto any appendage they could. Then, in place of suckers, mouths filled with crooked teeth opened, biting into the creature and securing it in place.
The last thing I saw was a movement, every tentacle pulling in a different direction.
With my last remaining ounce of will, I ended the spell and let go of the contract. Then I lost my consciousness, hoping I was fast enough to wake up ever again.
Pain, that was my current state of existence, like the worst hangover of my life, times a thousand. I groaned. It was good news that I even woke up, but being alive at the moment didn't sound so great. A splitting headache, burning pain in my muscles, and an ache in my bones were battling for the first place in suffering caused.
With a grunt, I opened my eyes, thankfully not to be assaulted by light, meaning it was still night.
Good, that meant I wasn’t out for long.
I tried to move some of my magic, but the pain that assaulted me almost made me unconscious once again. My entire spiritual self was a massive mess with mana pathways twisted out of place by the strain of rapid spell casting and my last abyssal spell.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
First, I need to get my body back in working order.
Struggling and gritting my teeth through the pain, I finally managed to take one of the bottles from my belt and drink its contents. Now, it was time to lie still and let the potion do its work. As I lay on the floor, I started to think about what had just happened.
It was impossible. Two thousand years ago, when the Holy War, later renamed to the War of Tears, happened, Satan and the God of the bible ended up ripping apart all veins leading mana to our world.
But now there was one here. The dude should have died right over it, explaining how he became a spawn. Even though the vein was small, and by ancient standards, second-level spawn was one of the weakest. It should have been an impossible creature in this world.
After ‘The Shattering,’ as the event was called later, many scholars believed the world would heal itself like a body heals. No one knew how long it would take, but they waited for the old days to return. The outsider races, now trapped on Earth without access to the travel veins, began to go into hiding, and so did many creatures that required mana to survive, falling into hibernation. And over time, spanning hundreds of years, it became clear that the magic would never return.
Finally, the ancients changed their strategy, attempting to preserve what remained of their traditions. Many of them built tombs for themselves and their legacies, hidden by enchantments, waiting for a day when the mana outside would return and awaken them.
Many thought that to be wishful thinking.
But now that I think about it, my father must have known something. With the genetic material left from his body, he could create precisely one offspring. And he waited over 1300 years to do it, just for me to reach maturity precisely at the time when something like that happened.
Yeah, that's a huge coincidence, and I don't believe in those.
I’d have to ask my broker about that.
One thing was certain. Things were about to get much more exciting. It looked like my family's ancient ways would be making a comeback.
After about half an hour more of lying on the floor with my thoughts as my only company, I slowly sat up. My joints were stiff, and my head was pounding, but I could move.
Now, for the most important part. I took another potion and gulped it down. Then, I went into meditation. My spiritual world was a mess. The mana was all over the place, not under my control, but to my great relief, I saw no permanent damage.
After another half hour of getting my spirit under control, I was done. I wouldn't be casting any spells in the next few days, but the pain was more bearable now.
Next, I took out the potion with holy water and bone dust. Reluctantly, I took a swig to make sure there was no risk of possession if the attack didn't kill the thing entirely. The soothing, warm energy filled me, and… nothing happened.
I winced at the wasted resources and slowly got up to leave.
Even though it was still early in the morning, I took an Uber to my client's apartment to get the boring part over with. After arriving, I knocked on the door, and once someone came to open it, I reassured the client that the job was done and she didn’t have to worry.
After receiving an envelope with money, I went back outside and called my broker. It took a few seconds before I heard someone pick up the phone. I waited to see if he would start with an explanation, but after some silence, it was I who had to start the conversation.
So, I went right to the point. “Did you know about the veins?”
“The veins?” Came a confused answer.
I scrunched my eyebrows, trying to decide whether he was acting or genuinely confused.
“There was a connected mana vein in that place. And a spawn nest in it, I almost lost my life.”
“...oh,” my broker choked.
I silently waited for him to pick his words, as I could practically hear the torrent of thoughts on the other end.
“This case was unusual, so we accepted it. That's all. We didn't know anything.” He explained slowly.
I was still not sure. The Frumenterii had their own secrets, like everyone in the world of magic.
“So it was just a hunch?”
I could hear a bit of a groan from the other end.
“Look, this talk is not for the phone. Meet me at my place tomorrow at 1 pm.”
“Fine, see you then,” I said, and the call disconnected.
Well, it looks like I will get some answers tomorrow.
I returned home and collapsed into bed, dreading sleep. On the one hand, I knew I really needed it, but on the other hand, the power I used had its side effects. And as much as I was incapable of having nightmares, the night after invoking the contract was the only exception.
Well, sleep would find me anyway, and with a heavy heart, I closed my eyes.
That night, I dreamed of the unknowable. Of the dead stars and the loneliness churning between them. I meandered through massive black spires alongside processions of weird creatures with black chitin bodies and membranous wings. I played strange instruments in the halls of the slumbering one with the pipers as my haunting, otherworldly companions. And I drowned, slowly falling to the bottom of the ocean and into something deeper and darker as the city of otherworldly geometry started to reveal its spectral spires. Its ancient master, ready to open the gates for me.
I finally woke up on the floor, trying to cough up the non-existent water from my lungs. My fingertips were bloody from scratching the floor, as before waking up, I had tried to swim deeper and deeper into the dark, cold void.