Simon paced back and forth, sending worried glances over his shoulder at Sam, his closest friend, and the only person that had stayed with him throughout all of this.

He thought back to the beginning before this had happened before he had even imagined that something even close to this could’ve happened. He had been happy, a girlfriend, friends, a job, what more could a guy want?

Of course, he had been sent here, along with the rest of the human race apparently, they had been given a couple of mandates but only one really mattered to Simon.

Survive.

They had all been confused when they landed in the middle of this godforsaken hellhole of a dungeon. They had been even more confused when words had popped up, telling them that they needed to survive and that they only had ten minutes before the rest of the world could sense them.

Most thought they were hallucinating or that something along those lines was happening, others were happy and cheering, and still, others reacted with extreme fear. There were twenty of them back then, and Simon had been pretty confident, twenty people were more than enough to establish something and get back in contact with those in charge.

He had been shown the error in his ways a mere ten minutes after. Death had come quickly, within seconds monsters had swarmed--they were lucky to have had the foresight to find a defensible position, otherwise, Simon was sure that none of them would’ve lived, even then only five had made it past the first night, and within the first week it was only Sam and Simon.

They had levelled, fought, and levelled some more, surviving through a series of lucky accidents, intellect, skill, and raw martial power. He had thought that they had managed to carve a niche for themselves, a place of their own, he had thought they had achieved strength.

He was wrong, and now here they were, his best friend held hostage by a talking monster and Simon not knowing what in the fuck they could or should do. The Troll looked at him and grinned, “me wan mak deel human.”

Simon snorted, stupid motherfu-

He took a breath, and then another, and another, anger would get him nowhere and Sam was in danger. He just couldn’t shake the ominous feeling that the Troll gave off, a feeling that made him want to draw his sword and lope of the fuckers head, consequences be damned. Simons's hand twitched toward his sword before coming back to his side, fighting would get Sam killed.

Simon looked the Troll in the eye and said, “what do you want.” He was trying to judge the beast, see what it would reveal and see how stupid it was--words weren’t everything, after all, this place, more than any other taught him that. His encounter with the batlings stilled made him shudder, his almost encounter really.

The Troll spoke, “Me wan fwends. Yo be me mwoi fwend and I be yours, I let yo have yo friend.” Simon thought about it for a little while, it wasn’t a horrible offer other than the fact that nothing was keeping any of them to keep to it. In fact, Simon wasn’t even sure that he would keep it much less that Troll with that horrible aura.

On the other hand, he didn’t really have a choice. He looked the Troll in the eye and nodded, the Troll grinned and let go of Sam who stumbled over with a gasp. “Holy hell that Troll is strong, I barely managed.”

Simon glanced at the Troll who seemed to be thinking about something. He didn’t want to let his guard down just yet, especially not with this particular Troll. The Troll stepped forward and Simon couldn’t hold back a flinch, he also couldn't hold himself back from reaching for his sword.

The Troll didn’t seem to think much of it though and merely brought one of its clawed fingers to its hand and made a gash--dark blood oozed from the wound, thick and viscous, the Troll then reached up and grabbed something close to his eye, more blood came down from it, forming into the shape of a screaming goblinoid.

Simon flinched again and took step back when the Troll offered his hand to him, the blood oozing and dripping. Simon stared at it for a long second.

Drip.

Drip.

The blood barely made any noise but Simon heard each drop as if it was thunder.

Drip.

The Troll growled and pointed at Simons sword and then at Simons's hand--it was obvious what he wanted Simon to do. The Troll then pointed at Sam and made the same set of motions, and when nothing happened he took an aggressive step forward.

Drip.

Simon remembered the power that the Troll had brought to bear but he also remembered all of the friends he had lost to creatures of this things same race, he remembered the long hours spent running, hiding, and praying to who or whatever would listen.

Drip.

He turned to Sam who was fingering the bruising that he had got from the Troll, “Do we really want another enemy?”

Sam looked at him and sighed, his shoulders sagging, and his expression heavy, “Simon. I lost her to a Troll,” He looked at the Trolls bloodied hand “I don’t know Simon! I. Just. Don’t. Know.” His face crumpled and a tear fell from his eye, “I’m tired of this Simon. I’m so tired.” His shoulders hunched over further, and another tear fell. “Is a friend such a bad thing?” Sam said.

The Troll had already moved though, while they were talking he had darted forward and caught the tear before it could hit the ground. Then he pressed it into his palm. Words formed in Simons vision- a message from the system.

[A Soul Pact has been made between willing Parties {Sam} and Parties {Sapient Troll}. Pact classified as a pact of {Blood and Tears}. Pact mandates are as follows:

Both parties shall treat each other equitably, neither seeking to knowingly harm the other. Both parties shall be considered allies. All charisma debuffs removed. All status effects caused by one party to another have been cancelled. Both parties will be immune to certain skills and abilities the other party posses. Both parties will gain certain abilities of the other. These will be revealed in time. Both parties are under geas--{To Help a Friend In Need {Vice}] Both Parties are considered to have the condition {Soul Bonded}, this changes some of the content of both the mandates before and after. Should any party break this Pact through anything other than the Contest than let them be overcome.*

*Pain is the least of punishments.

[LET THE SOUL PACT BE FOREVER]

Simon gaped at the words in front of him, then looked to the Sam, and then looked angrily at the Troll.

“What the FUCK did you do?!” Simon growled and drew his sword, slashing at the Troll with blinding speed, his sword was met with anothers. Sam’s. Sam looked at him and shook his head. “What’s done is done.” Simon felt the fight leave with a whoosh. He sat down and sighed, putting his head in his hands. “Sam, what have you done?”

Sam sat down next to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I did this willingly, truly I did. While I will probably come to regret it, I did this willingly.”

Simon felt the pressure of all that had happened settle on his shoulders, and he slumped. “Aah.” He took a deep breath, hefted his sword and sliced his hand on it, then he looked up at the Troll and offered his hand.

The Troll seemed surprised but widened the gash on his hand, grabbed Simon’s hand and brought them together. Sure enough, words appeared in Simons vision and he was surprised to see that the words were different from what he had seen appear before.

[A Soul Contract has been made by willing Parties [Simon] and Parties [Sapient Troll]. Contact classified as {Blood Contract}. Pact Clauses are as follows:

Both parties shall treat each other equitably, neither seeking to knowingly harm the other. Both parties shall be considered allies. All charisma debuffs removed. All status effects caused by one party to another have been cancelled. Both parties will be immune to certain skills and abilities the other party posses. Both parties will be expected to help the other within reason or to repay the debt owed for said help. Both parties have condition {Soul Contracted} Should any party break this Pact through anything other than the Contest than let them be overcome.*

*Pain is the least of punishments.

[LET THE CONTRACT BE FULFILLED AND HONORED.]

Simon looked at the Troll and sighed. He had done what was needed. He had done what he had promised himself never to do. He had made a deal with the devil. A deal with a monster.

Only time would tell if he would come to regret it or not.