Stroud closed his eyes to the bleak lobby, intent on entering his mindscape immediately. But as he arrived in the vast space, the desolate cries of the Cosmae echoed through his consciousness, destabilizing his normally steady hand.

The same issue had disrupted his efforts at engraving the previous night as well. Initially, he intended to shove the uneasy feeling into the mass of worries he already had, but he thought better of strengthening his fears and decided to come to terms with this one — if only because it was comparatively easy to unravel.

He already knew why the Cosmae’s predicament had disturbed him.

Here, in the Terram Vigari, there was no due process — no checks and balances... Because it was individual power that granted authority and not the other way around.

Common citizens of the Tristram Principality adhered to a set of laws, like most others. But some people unavoidably lived outside those bindings due to the presence of magic. Thus, rendering them a brittle shield for those who relied on their protection.

When the guard captain had arrived on the scene, he simply announced the Stray would be executed and that was that. No one who had been present at the time had the ability to say otherwise, even if the law was on their side.

Stroud could guess that there was more involved in the immediateness of the sentencing; a reason why the Cosmae were to receive no trial... Regardless, it made it all the more obvious to him — more real — that unlike in his old world, there were some existences here that paid no mind to societal rules or norms.

Lady Adelais was one such being. And he knew from the beginning that she had only given him the illusion of choice. There had only ever been one answer to her calling: serve.

As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, there was no denying her influence. If she wanted him dead — there was nothing that could protect him. He had the impression that the former Marchioness feared no organization or person in the reaches.

Stroud exhaled a shuddering breath as the supposed thief's screams dissipated, and his acceptance stabilized his quaking mind. He could only continue biding his time.

A loud creak suddenly alerted him to prying eyes, so Stroud rose to his feet. The large doors of the antechamber were pried half-open and the cloth-masked attendant urged him inside.

His familiarity with the Headmistress’ office did little to ease his nerves, but he managed to keep his back straight and his gaze forward — trained on the back wall.

As she had previously, Lady Adelais had him suffer through a few tense, cold moments before she finally acknowledged his presence: “I take it you’ve come to a decision.”

Stroud grimaced as he watched her punctuate whatever she had been writing with a satisfied tap of her quill. “I have… I am ready to take the binding oath and enter into your service, Headmistress.”

“Very well, you may approach the desk.” Lady Adelais’ thin fingers pushed the freshly completed document into the center of the table as he approached with short steps. The rug beneath his boots crunched softly with each footfall like it was covered in a layer of frost.

When he was close enough, Stroud finally got a good look at what she had been working on. It was a spell sigil — much to his surprise. And an exceedingly intricate one at that. Compared to the one in his possession, this sigil had deeper and more profound layers; and to his untrained eye, it almost looked like it was composed of multiple complex spells woven together rather than a singular, more detailed one.

“...What is this?” Distracted by his awe, Stroud couldn’t prevent the question from escaping his lips.

She returned his question with her own, “Are you familiar with the different classifications of runes?”

“I am not…” Stroud was still unable to tear his eyes away from the sigil, but his desire for new knowledge eventually won out and he diverted a portion of his attention to listen to her words.

“Well, there are three basic types: conversion, principle, and alteration. Typically, some combination of these three is used to form a spell…” Stroud could feel her inspecting his reaction carefully, but he was truly ignorant of most information related to spellcasting. “...However, there are a few runes that cannot be placed into any single one of those fields — because they incorporate aspects of all of them.”

That statement seemed completely contradictory to what she had just previously said. “Then… wouldn’t that just make them a sigil?”

Lady Adelais shrugged indifferently. “Some Magi argue that point, but most agree to acknowledge these anomalies as transcendent runes.” She held up a hand before Stroud could inquire further. “Of course, there’s a reason for this: Most of them can actually be combined together with other runes without spell bridges. Sigils, on the other hand, absolutely require bridges to be able to work together.”

Stroud nodded. He could see the distinction. “So then… this sigil…” he said, gesturing to the document, “contains a transcendent rune... or runes?”

“Correct.” Lady Adelais wore a pleased smile as she pointed to the central rune with her quill. “This is the principle rune for binding: Alliga. And I have connected it with the transcendent runes for oath and time — allowing us to form a contract.” She moved her hand across the page as she spoke, illuminating each component.

While grateful for the lesson, Stroud was unsure why she was taking the time to educate him on the topic — or if she was even telling the truth. His impression of binding oaths, from some further research these past few days, was that they were a verbal affair, sealed by blood. Maeve also hadn’t mentioned there was an actual spell involved when he’d probed her knowledge.

Stroud would have loved some more time to research these oaths again in order to ensure he wasn’t being taken advantage of, but now, that opportunity had passed him by. He didn’t imagine Lady Adelais would allow him to back out at this current juncture…

Soft laughter interrupted his train of thought. “I appreciate your caution, Stroud. I’ve seen too many ignorant young Magi in a hurry to sign away their futures. Because binding oaths are so commonplace among our ilk, people have a tendency to overlook the foundational details. They forget that these transcendent runes are calling on a higher power than we are capable of manipulating ourselves — making them more dangerous than we can fully comprehend.”

A spark of life flourished in the barrens of Lady Adelais’ eyes as she spoke. “These runes are absolute in nature. Do you understand? Defying any of the terms we are hereby agreeing to will break the binding between us and result in death for the offending party.”

Shivers crawled down Stroud’s spine. And for the first time since entering the room, they weren’t a result of the frigid temperature. “T-Then could you allow me a chance to study up on the runes? It wouldn’t take me more than another day or two…”

“No.” The blossoming excitement vanished from her face, replaced in short order by her cold and sharp mask. “I would never deceive anyone in my service — as you’ll come to appreciate. My requests and conditions are always made clear, and I always offer appropriate reparations. That is my code.”

“I… understand…” Stroud clenched his hands behind his back. Her code was honorable, in a sense. But he knew she could only afford to live by such standards because she had the strength to strong-arm anyone around her into compliance. Her orders were just as absolute as the spell that bound the two parties together…

“Good. The duration of this contract will be five years — the typical length of time it takes to complete an apprenticeship. Though, if Maeve becomes a First Order Magus before this time period is up, we can renegotiate if she desires to leave the Sanctum.”

After receiving a nod from Stroud, Lady Adelais continued, “The basic stipulations are that you will adhere to all orders or requests of mine during this period, and in exchange, I will pass along my family’s method for body strengthening and other suitable rewards for any tasks completed. Additionally, you must not reveal — to anyone — the secrets of the Adelais family or the Sanctum that I will disclose.”

“Very well…” Stroud exhaled a despairing sigh as reality and another bout of helplessness set in. He didn’t make any effort to hide his reluctance, but the headmistress paid him no mind as she procured a brush and a vial of clear liquid from her desk.

With practiced ease, she dipped the brush into the strange ink reeking of arcane might and traced it over the lines of the dark sigil.

Following the silent and tense completion of that step, she passed Stroud a thin needle.

His jaw clenched as he hovered over the contract, needle positioned above his pointer finger — copying her movements.

“Now… All we need to do is seal the contract with a drop of our blood and issue our vows out loud for the heavens to bear witness. I’ll lay out the terms and exact details of the contract, and when I indicate for you to speak, all you need to say is ‘I agree.’” No signs of anticipation or agitation were evident in Lady Adelais deft movements as she quickly pierced her finger and squeezed the bright crimson drop onto the sigil.

Stroud followed closely behind, and as their blood splattered, a boundless pressure descended on the room. It felt like a massive primordial beast was breathing down his neck as Stroud shakingly began to recite his oath. He was so distracted by the sudden arrival of the being nearly forgot to continue at a certain point.

What is this...? Could this be a higher being!?

Whatever or whoever it was, its power was certainly unfathomable. Stroud's breath grew haggard as his mind spiraled toward numerous different possibilities.

Is there really a realm of Gods or beings that transcend the limits of the world? Are they related in any to those who manage the afterlife?

...Is it possible to speak with them or contact them through ceremonies such as this?

It took an exceptionally icy glare from Lady Adelais to finally bring him back into focus. For now, Stroud could only temporarily swallow his questions and continue, but transcendent runes had definitely shot to the top of his list for future subjects of research.

With every word, the pressure built. And accompanying the pressure was a subtle but omnipresent sensation of being watched.

Stroud fought against the urge to glance around as his legs quivered like jelly. He had a feeling that his mind would be unable to remain intact should he meet the gaze of the being witnessing their contract.

Finally, as the last syllables of their chants echoed through the office, the contract glowed with an eerie, bloody light. The pressure vanished without a trace.

Releasing the breath he’d been holding in, Stroud looked down at the currently dull and faded sheet of parchment. Lady Adelais was already seated back in her chair, fingers casually reaching toward a stack of documents as if all that had just occurred was a fleeting illusion.

Almost as an afterthought, the woman glanced up briefly and tossed him a thin booklet that had been hiding behind her pile of work. “You may go,” she remarked dryly. “I will call for you sometime in the next few days, and you may return the journal then…”

Stroud’s mouth flopped open and closed like a fish out of water as he swallowed a reply. In the end, he simply tucked the journal into his coat before ducking out of the room.

***

“This better have been worth it…”

The loud thumping of a heart drowned out the hoarse muttering; each rapid beat traveling in a pulsing wave through the darkness.

Stroud’s trembling hands fumbled to light the candle at his bedside as anticipation surged momentarily to swallow his dread. His future would soon be revealed by the worn pages of the notebook resting atop the blankets beside him.

Hope or despair…

A small spark of light accompanied the swift scratching of a match, and quickly, his shaking fingers were transferred from their position hovering above the candle over to the book’s leather binding.

The title on the cover was written in a script that Stroud didn’t recognize, but his worst fears were allayed when he laid his eyes on the carefully scrawled notes in the first page’s margins.

Having seen Lady Adelais’ handwriting in her office, he knew that the annotations were not made by her. The letters flowed more flamboyantly and naturally than her steady and precise hand would allow.

This provided him some measure of comfort, but Stroud was unable to entirely subdue the squirming of the thorns deep in his chest. Moving carefully, his gaze traveled down the page as he consciously swallowed his saliva.

Blood Steeping.

That was the name given by the original translator to the body strengthening method described in the notebook. And overall, it was a fairly simple process once the ingredients were all gathered.

The difficulty instead lay in the gathering process: harvesting blood directly from the heart of live Spirit Beasts.

Stroud stifled a groan as he continued skimming through the short pages. His initial thought was that the Adelais family method would be similar to Old Witch Gau’s — gathering spiritual herbs to brew or distill a specialized elixir mainly comprised of Nura. While that idea wasn’t too far from the truth, the addition of the blood gave rise to a host of complications.

According to the translator’s notes, the potency and effects of the medicinal paste derived from Blood Steeping depended primarily on the characteristics and strength of the Spirit Beast that the blood was drawn from.

That meant he likely needed to find a beast of the Primal attribute if he wanted to achieve the best results. And he needed to somehow capture it alive…

He was also confident that Lady Adelais would offer him no assistance in this regard — unless he accumulated sufficient merits in her service, of course. But that was only the beginning. There were still many spiritual and mundane herbs necessary for extracting the potent lifeforce and essence from the heart blood.

In all likelihood, these herbs would be similarly expensive or difficult to find; and the ones marked as the most important — like the Vitum Leaf — would have their supply controlled by the Adelais family. Even though he had declared an oath not to disclose the secret of Blood Steeping, that didn’t mean no one could steal his copy of the method or that he couldn’t leak it in some roundabout way.

Therefore, he was confident that the Adelais’s would have the means to prevent their enemies from benefiting from the recipe they’d recovered.

Stroud could already picture the Headmistress gazing at him expressionlessly as she dangled the precious ingredients in front of his eyes while he jumped through all of her hoops. He clenched his jaw as he took out his own journal and copied down all the unfamiliar names of the mentioned herbs and the steps to carry out the steeping.

When he was all finished, he carefully hid away both books and inhaled a deep breath to calm himself. First, he needed to gain a comprehensive picture of the situation before he jumped to conclusions.

Ideally, he would be able to gather everything himself. He already had a good excuse to go asking around at some of the local suppliers of alchemical ingredients, and the hunters in the area would have more knowledge of the Spirit Beasts present in the region...

Stroud knew he wasn’t entirely without options. And he would be damned if he didn’t exhaust every one of them before completely bowing his head in front of the Marchioness.