“What kind of deal?” Heidie asked the air, rain drizzling down onto her face as she tried to keep her thoughts as collected as possible through the pain and cold damp. Hope sprung up within her. Now she knew she was not alone here and there was the possibility of help. She had a chance after all!

Life was not going well at the moment. Broken bones and soaked clothing without medical help or shelter were immediate, life-threatening issues. Still, Heidie wasn’t planning on agreeing to anything without hearing it out first. Not the Apple Store EULA, not her college entry forms, and certainly not an unspecified deal offered by some dramatic voice speaking out of thin air in her time of need. Considering her injuries, Heidie was glad to be coherent at all. Still, despite her suspicions, A deal definitely sounded good and she didn’t have much leeway to bargain. Heidie was not enjoying herself so far. This situation sucked and she wanted out.

“A Contract in good faith” the voice replied calmly. “You will be healed. Long life, knowledge, and power beyond your wildest dreams shall be yours. In exchange, you will offer your soul and your service to me.” The voice paused and Heidie remained silent. Today had made it very clear that she had probably offended some elder god or sentient cosmic force. Her earlier hope and optimism simply a plotted device waiting to crush her deeper into despair. She did not like the sound of this contract; Not one single bit. Sensing her hesitation the deep voice rang out again, continuing its sales shtick. Heidie thought it sounded kinda like Darth Vader without the breathing sounds. “The very forces of life and death shall be at your command. I offer you nothing short of immortality.” Heidie continued to remain silent for a few moments longer. This sucked. The pain and damp were enough she wanted to curl up and die, not negotiate an obviously trap deal. Questions ran through her head. Questions she was not prepared to think about in her current state. What exactly constitutes a soul? What manner of service would be expected of me? Can you be more specific about the healing process? How long of a life are we talking here? Knowledge and power sound nice, Heidie thought, but if I’m bound as some eternal lavatory cleaner they’re not going to do me a lot of good.

“Nothing about that contract is defined.” Heidie complained with difficulty, her breath catching in pain. It was definitely cold here, Heidie shivered. Being waterlogged in this state was a disaster. She lay unmoved where she’d flopped on her back. She still clutched her phone, a safely waterproof model, looking up at the cloudy night sky as the rain continued to fuck up her already fucked day. “Literally everything about it is up to interpretation: your interpretation. I will agree to nothing without negotiation.” There was a moment of surprised silence from voice. Heidie did not wait long for a response.

“You are going to die here without me, child. This is not such a hospitable place that one such as you may survive it. Your injuries alone will likely see to your end. You will need my techniques to keep yourself alive.” The voice sounded taken aback and mildly amused.

“Death might be better than some unspecified eternal enslavement,” Heidie countered weakly. “I propose a counter offer”.

“I’m listening.” the voice said, maintaining a tone of amusement.

“Heal me.” Heidie said, feeling worse by the moment. “If you truly offer this in good faith, prove you have the power to fulfill your end, and we will negotiate when I’m not dying. Help me and I swear to you I will hear you out in good faith, and offer you any help I can reasonably perform to the best of my ability.” The voice rang out again,

“You have suspicious mind. A good trait. Brave too, to negotiate in the face of certain death” the voice said. “Very well.” Relief flooded Heidie’s mind. She felt like she was going into shock as she had finished her monologue. She was definitely feeling lightheaded now. “Don’t go falling asleep now, you may not wake again.” Heidie struggled to keep her eyes open. “To help you heal, you must allow me to enter your mind and bestow knowledge of a technique which shall save your life.You do not have the skill or knowledge to perform the technique, but you do have the mana. Your mana must fuel it, but I must guide the process. You must cede me brief control.” Heidie felt the mind itch again. Oh hell no. Heidie Melland wasn’t falling for this bullshit. That was a solid no on the mind control. She immediately tried to pin the itch down and resist in any way she could. Adrenaline kicked in, giving a second wind to the wounded college freshman. Anger fueled her struggle.

“Fuck your mother! I am not ceding control to you!” she gasped. Heidie generally tried to watch her language at her parents request, but this had been a bad day and language filters were dropping. A few feet away a severed head underneath a rowing machine scowled in annoyance as he encountered resistance trying to impart a diagram of a regeneration spell. This human was more obstinate and foul mouthed than he expected. Bothersome.

“I’m saving your life, human! Let me in!”

“No! Fuck you, you mind itching, odious, pig fucking pig-dog!” Heidie exploded in rage.

“LET ME IN!”

“Fuck you, shithead!! I’m gonna die as me!” Heidie exploded again despite the pain, “No body snatching Darth Vader wannabie mother--” The foul mouthed Heidie tirade was interrupted what she could only describe as a metaphysical brick surgically knocked her consciousness into unconsciousness. She began a dark nightmare about leading a raid in an old MMO and the chain of events that brought her parents to request she watch her language more.

“This would have been so much easier with your cooperation.” Lome’Matar muttered to himself, as he did his best to guide Heidie simultaneously through a mid-leveled regeneration spell and low leveled warming spell. Even with the absurd mana inefficiency from him puppeting the procedure with his mana-sense, causing a loss of nearly ten to one, Heidie’s massive reserves barely felt the loss. This one will be a monster. The Dread Necromancer of the demon world mused to himself with a vicious smile.