"What's a Blood Pact?" I asked, staring at Lily.

"It's a magic contract that binds two people together."

"Why do we have to do a Blood Pact?"

"Because... you have something I want."

"..."

I paused, not understanding her.

"In exchange for me helping you get your revenge, Kei." Lily said. "You have to give me something in return."

Lily had been taking care of me the whole time, so I guess it was fine for me to give her what she wants. Although, I had no idea what it was.

"Sure, name your price." I said.

Lily paused.

"Your soul, mind and body." She said. "Bound to my ownership."

"...!"

I stared at her, but her face was absolutely serious. "That's..."

"Otherwise, we have no deal."

"...!"

I was thinking carefully about Lily's offer. Even though she was the one that had saved me and took care of me the whole time, did it make sense for me to sell her my soul, mind and body for my revenge?

"Why do you want that?" I asked Lily.

"That's none of your business."

"..."

She really wasn't giving me anything to work with here.

"So, what would it mean... if I gave you my soul, mind and body?"

"It means that you would have to bind those things to me. Essentially, you would belong to me, completely, for the rest of eternity. You will not answer to anyone else. You will not kneel before another. If this contract was to happen, I would become your everything."

...

I was hesitating...

But, she had done so much for me.

If it wasn't for her, I'd be dead.

And, it wasn't like I had much else to live for anyways. All I wanted was my revenge.

"Have you done this pact with anyone else before?" I asked.

"Never." Lily smiled, seeing that I was understanding her words. “This pact, should you accept it, would connect us through the spirits of Aere. I would have my duties that I owe to you, and you to mine. It is an unbreakable vow bounded by magic.”

“…”

I needed another moment to think.

…

Whatever. It wasn’t like I had anything else left for me.

Let’s just do it.

“I will do it.” I nodded solemnly.

She smiled, hearing my answer.

Suddenly, the air around us grew lighter, causing Lily’s hair to seemingly hover. I felt a strange feeling surging through my innards. I gasped, shocked by this new sensation, when a glowing circle appeared beneath us, shrouded in mysterious symbols that I couldn’t understand.

“I, Lilionel Estobel Zilich, call upon the spirits of Aere to grant thee to enter the Blood Pact with this one before me.”

Even though, Lily was speaking right in front of me, her words were directly resounding inside my head in a way that I had never experienced before. It was something that should had been an intrusive feeling, yet somehow, didn't.

Lilionel…

For some reason, that name seemed familiar to me…

“By this Blood Pact, I swear to do all that is in my power, even in my dying breath, to aid this one on his desire for vengeance. In exchange for this oath, this one shall henceforth and till eternity bound himself completely, soul, mind, and body, to my ownership.”

The shining circle on the floor was shifting, moving around in an erratic fashion as she spoke. I was lost, completely bewildered by the extent of sorcery she was displaying. This was the first time I was witnessing her magic like this.

“Kei…”

I looked up from the ground, hearing Lily’s voice, and found myself eye-to-eye with her lapis lazuli eyes, now glowing mystically. She reached a hand to me, then stopped, letting it hang in the air between us.

“Do you accept this Blood Pact, Kei?” Lily asked.

I thought about it for a second more. Now was probably the time for any last thoughts to come out. I had no idea whether this ‘magic contract’ that she was making was actually legitimate or not. For all I knew, this contract could just be a farce to simply sell off my soul and body for nothing in return. Perhaps, I was getting in way over my head here…

But, I stared into Lily's face.

I trusted her.

She was the one that had saved my life. I owed my life to her...

…

“I accept.”

As soon as the words left my lips, the wind around us got harsher, twirling in a whirlwind-like motion. At the same time, the air around us felt heavy and thick, as though a strange gravitational force was pulling me down, keeping me from flying off into the wind.

"Argh—!" I let out a short cry, wincing, as the wind that was twirling around us, cut me on the edges of my body, namely my back and the side of my arms that was out towards the wind. The wind sliced Lily in the same way as well, although she didn't react to the pain. Droplets of the blood from our wounds were spinning slowly around us, floating against the wind. They were mixing together around us, the droplets merging into one.

The circle underneath us was glowing brighter still, reaching a point where its light was shrouding my vision completely. In the last second before my vision faded, I saw Lily’s face smiling at me, and the sensation of her hand grabbing mine.

Then, all became black.

The sound of horse trotting was the first noise I heard when I finally awoke again. A slight bump on the surface on which I was lying on made my eyes flinch, but everything was still slowly coming back to me.

Reluctantly, I opened my eyes to see that I was lying on the seat of a carriage, and in front of me, on the opposite seat of the carriage, was Lily.She was wearing the same outfit as that day she found my body. White, lightly-armoured pants and top embellished with strange markings, hidden behind a dark cloak of unknown material, and boots with laces that ran to her shins.

She was looking out the window of the carriage, her chin resting firmly on her hand, a bored look on her face.

I shifted on the seat, groaning, then rose up gradually into a seating position.

Lily glanced at me momentarily, the bored look on her face did not change.

“You’re awake.” She said, then turned her eyes back to the outside of the carriage.

“Yeah…” I coughed slightly, finding my voice again. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel any different to before. I would had expected something to happen to me after entering into that strange contract. “So… when do I start getting superpowers?” I joked.

Lily glanced at me again, smirking. “Soon.” She shifted her posture so that she was now facing me, instead of the window. “But you’ll have to lick your master’s feet every time you want access to your powers.”

“Seriously?”

“No.” Lily sighed, shaking her head. “There are no superpowers. Did you listen to the terms of our contract?”

“Uh… yeah.” I said, then paused. Lily continued staring at me, and I realised she was waiting for me to repeat the terms. “I get my revenge, and you get my soul, mind, and body. Simple.” I said.

“Hmm…” Lily’s eyes softened, seeing that I got the correct answer. Then, she turned back to the window.

I felt a weird sensation on the inside of my right forearm, and I raised my arm up, lifting up my sleeves.

On the inside of my forearm was a faded sigil, lightly imprinted on my skin. It was a symbol of sorts, but I couldn't make any sense out of it. I blinked, rubbing the sigil with my other hand, but it wouldn't come off.

"Lily... what's this?" I asked, staring down at the sigil.

"Oh, that?" Lily turned an uninterested eye down at my forearm. "That's a sign of our contract."

...

I stared at the sigil.

I guess this was it then.

It's going to be on me forever.

I pulled up my sleeve, hiding the sigil again. I didn't really care. I had accepted that things were probably going to change after the Blood Pact.

“Lily…” I followed her eyes out to the window. We were travelling past a meadow of sorts, great mountains could be seen in the distance of the horizon, though that wasn’t where we were heading towards. “Where are we going?”

“The Rize Kingdom.” Lily replied shortly.

I had never actually been to our kingdom, despite living in the Rize territory my whole life. That was because my village was so secluded and distant away. To travel to Rize from the village would had probably taken two weeks by horse. A journey that I never had a reason for undergoing.

“And, why are we going there?” I asked.

“I have some errands to run.”

Lily didn’t say anything more, so I didn’t push on about what the errands were.

"So when are we going to find the demon that destroyed my village?" I asked.

Lily glanced at me. “You don’t have to worry, Kei. I’ll get you your revenge, even if that means me dying.”

“Okay...”

I trusted Lily, although there were some doubts at the back of my mind about whether she could actually help me out or not. The demon that had destroyed my village didn't seem like any ordinary demon. It must had been a very powerful one, to inflict that type of damage to the village.

“Do you know who the demon that attacked your village was?” Lily asked.

I froze, glancing up from my thoughts to look at Lily. “You... you know who it was?”

“Yes.”

“…!”

I stared at Lily, shocked.

“I could tell who it was just from a glance at your wounds. I just didn't know when was the right time for me to tell you.” Lily said. "Not any demon could had given you those wounds that you had."

"I'm... I'm ready now." I said, staring at her with anticipation.

"The demon's name is Balzard.”

“Balzard...?” I repeated.

“It was during the Great War between the three kingdoms of Zenora that Balzard was born. I guess it must had been over five hundred years ago now.” Lily said, glancing upwards as though she was thinking back. “Created from the darkness of mankind, when the world’s ground ran blood, and more than half of humanity’s population had been slain. An entity of pure hatred rose up from the abyss, galvanised by the worst parts of humanity.”

“…”

Even I knew about Balzard from fables I had learnt in school. I had always thought it was just a myth to scare kids into behaving, but to learn that it was now true? I had a hard time swallowing what Lily was saying.

“Eventually, Balzard became so strong, it took a place amongst the demon gods that ruled the underworld. Strange, because usually demon gods have always existed since the beginning of time.” Lily shook her head. “Anyways, the problem was that Balzard wasn’t living in the underworld, Balzard was running free amongst the mortal realm.”

“So how did they kill it...?”

“They didn’t.” Lily chuckled, surprising me. It didn’t seem like a right moment to laugh, when you’re talking about having to fight a demon god with your life on the line. “At the brink of extinction, the three kingdoms of Zenora agreed to a peace treaty, putting their differences aside, and casting away all their darkest emotions.”

“And?”

“It seemed that Balzard was fuelled by those dark emotions exhibited by humanity.” Lily said. “With the war ending, and the three kingdoms agreeing to an ‘alliance’,” Lily emphasised the word alliance in a sarcastic manner, “Balzard suddenly disappeared, never to be seen or heard of again.”

“…”

I fell silent for a moment, letting her words sink in. “Are you saying that this… ancient demon god… has arisen again,” I said, “and to defeat it, we should get the three kingdoms to come to another alliance?”

“Don’t be silly. The three kingdoms will never come to an alliance. The peace treaty constructed at the end of the Great War was just a temporary agreement.” Lily said. She leaned back against her seat, breathing out and making herself comfortable. “And it wouldn’t be fun that way either. We’re going to find Balzard and kill it with our own hands.”

“Killing a demon god...” My face darkened, thinking about the gravity of her words. Was that even possible? It seemed like a suicide mission, but it wasn't like I was going to say no. I would gladly die to get my revenge, and if that's not possible, I would settle for seriously injuring the demon god.

But...

Now, that I thought about it. It seemed selfish of me to drag Lily into my suicide mission.

What the hell was I thinking?

"Lily, I think this journey is too dangerous for you. You don't have to help me. I... I didn't think we would be facing a demon god. I am happy to do this alone."

Lily's eyes furrowed in annoyance. "What are you saying? If I let you go alone, you'll just walk into any demon without a second thought and die straight away."

"..."

I stared down at the floor of the carriage grimly.

"And stop being so depressing." Lily sighed at me. "It's like I'm at a funeral, sitting here with you."

I tried to smile at Lily. "Is this better?"

"Do a bigger smile."

I showed her my teeth, stretching my mouth upwards.

"Okay, that's just scary." Lily said. "You can stop now."

I let my smile fall down.

Lily was right... I had to stop being such a grouch!

"So, how are we going to kill a demon god?" I tried to crack a joke. "Garlic and crosses?"

"That's for a vampire."

"I-I know."

"And, that doesn't actually work."

"I know that too..."

Lily was taking my jokes as though I was serious. I wanted to try making her smile, but I didn't know how.

"Hey Lily, what—"

The carriage suddenly stopped, jerking me forward and I fell into Lily, landing face-first into her chest. There was little there to soften the impact.

“Arg—!” I minimised the lurch slightly by instinctively placing my hands out, my palms hitting the side of the carriage wall with Lily’s body in between my arms. My face however was still firmly planted on her chest as a result of the abrupt stop.

“Y-you…!” Lily’s face went completely red, and her knee shot up, hitting a sensitive spot.

“Gargh—!!” My body went stiff, and I fell down onto the carriage floor, rolling into a fetus position.

“How dare you touch your master like that?! Argh!” Lily’s face was still burning red. She got up from her seat, turning away from me and walked to the carriage door, opening it. “I’ll deal with you later…” Her shoulders were visibly shaking.

"I... I didn't mean to..." I groaned, but Lily was already out of the carriage.

The pain was making it hard for me to think, and I rolled around for a few more seconds before trying to get back up on my feet, grabbing onto the seats as support.

Gradually recovering, I stepped out of the carriage to peer outside.

“Lily?—” I started.

To my horror, I caught the glimpse of a pack of monstrous creatures standing in front of our carriage. They were much taller than the average human, perhaps twice as tall as a normal man. Green-skinned, and ugly beyond description. Lily was standing by the doorway of the carriage, glaring at these creatures.

Trolls! Those creatures were definitely trolls. I had saw what some looked like in the books taught at school. Obviously, I had never seen one in real life but there was no mistake. They wander around the lands, often looking for travellers or carriages to ravage. And it so happened, we were unlucky enough to cross by them!

They are known to be a merchant’s worst nightmare as described in the books, due to the amount of travel required for a merchant. That was one reason why I didn’t like to travel. Tthere must had been at least… six of them!

Why the hell was Lily just standing there looking at these creatures?!

She needs to move! Now!

I jumped out of the carriage, quickly making my way in front of Lily to draw the attentions of the troll. If I could manage to get them to follow me, then maybe Lily would be able to get away!

“Run, Lily!” I yelled. “I’ll distract them!”

She didn’t respond, but I didn’t have time to check on her. My focus was on the trolls.

The terrifying appearance of the trolls made my heart freeze, as they bared their fangs, opening their mouths wide, saliva drooping out. Some were holding battered clubs, covered in a sticky, red material.

One of the trolls laughed. “Does this human really think he can fight us?” Its voice was as ragged and unpleasant as its appearance, sounding like a cross between a pig snort and a wolf howl, although much louder and deeper.

I didn’t let their appearance faze me. I ran at the trolls head-on, screaming as I did.

“ARHH—!!”

At least this time I die, I can save Lily.

Suddenly, I heard Lily’s voice whispering behind me, and the trolls exploded right in front of me, sending me flying back with a powerful force.

I landed on my back, my ears ringing. A wave of blood flung into me, drowning me for a second, and I was instantly drenched.

“W-wha—” I coughed out the blood, gazing around me dazzled, as the place where the trolls stood now was just a pool of blood, gnarly bones and disembowelled organs. “What the fuck…?”

There was one remaining troll that was for some reason left alive. It was also just as confused as me. It glanced around at its fallen comrades, then turned to Lily. “Y-you—”

“Zos Es Nilac.”

Lily whispered under her breath, and the wind picked up around her, sending an ominous feeling down to the core of my spine. She was standing unarmed, her lapis lazuli eyes glowing enigmatically in a magical blue sheen.

“You bitch!” The troll roared in its deep, jagged voice, then charged for Lily, its club raised high in the air. “I’m going to tear you apart!”

It took one step before it froze, unable to continue further. Instead, a horrified expression overtook the troll’s face. I turned to see what the troll was looking at, it was staring behind Lily. My face also took a turn for shock.

Suspended in mid-air behind her was endless lines and lines of blue glowing sword-like objects, all of which were pointing at the troll’s exact direction. There must had been at least a thousand of these swords. Except, that the swords had no physical shape, seemingly ethereal in nature, but it was still unmistakably obvious that they were lethal.

The air around us became unnaturally quiet, no sounds of wind or breathing, despite the troll’s conspicuous snorting just mere moments ago. Lily raised one petite hand up amidst the deathly silence, and our eyes followed her hand, not daring to move.

“P-please, don’t! Spare me!” The troll dropped his club, realising the atmosphere of the situation. “I-I will become your servant, I will do anything you want!” The troll dropped to his knees, bowing before Lily. “I have money and treasures, lots of them! My brothers are all dead, you can have them all! I-I will lead you to them!

Lily smiled at the troll, her eyes glistening in its eerie blue glow. Then, her fingers snapped, and the swords shot forward instantaneously, each one a millisecond later than the other.

The first sword pierced into the troll with such force and intensity that the troll exploded on contact, sending pieces of flesh flying into the air. Each sword that came after, struck the flying pieces of flesh, disintegrating the troll’s existence completely and letting nothing left unscathed, not even a single strand of hair.

The explosion of the swords piercing the troll and striking into the ground was causing an unnatural earthquake, and I had to grip on to the floor violently, hoping that the ground beneath me wouldn’t break.

The ordeal lasted a whole minute, although it felt like a lifetime, and in the end, nothing was left of the troll, not even its blood, which must had been covered by the dust and debris that had piled up, reforming the ground.

I raised my head slowly, my heart racing, anticipating more explosions, but the air was now deathly quiet again.

Just what the fuck happened...

Did they all just...

I glanced over at Lily, staring at her. She didn't seem fazed at all, her eyes had its usual deadpan expression.

Lilionel...

Suddenly, I remembered why that name had sounded familiar to me. A first-person memory of a time in my childhood came to me. A book that I had found… hidden in the deepest corner of the village library…

The book was lying in front of me, and I was sitting cross-legged, staring down at the tattered book. It had no title, no pictures, and only was about a few pages long.

The book opened itself, its pages flipping, then stopped. On the page it stopped at, I found myself peering at the words hesitantly, a strange fear overwhelming me. It read:

Scattered, were the bodies.

Limbless, eyeless, endless pain.

A pallid plague exists in Zenora.

Wandering, roaming, a curse on all that cross its path.

Between realms of burning souls and singing angels.

Lies a sinister scourge.

With magic feared by mortals, demons, and gods, alike.

Beware a sorceress blessed by Aere…

No… the Witch…

Named Lilionel.

The memories rushed away, and I found myself back in the present time, staring up at Lily.

“You didn’t have to run right at them like that, Kei.” Lily approached me, the sound of her boots clattering lightly with each step. “Are you really looking to die that bad?”

"I..." I was just completely shocked by Lily's magic. "Thank... thank you, Lily... You saved me again..."

Lily stopped, then shook her head with a sigh. "I'll forgive you for before... just because I know you tried your best to protect me. Although, it was stupid as hell."

"..."

“Come on.” Lily gave me her hand, reaching down to me. “Let’s go.”

“Right…” I grabbed her hand, and pulled myself up from the ground.

That memory…

Could Lily be the Witch, Lilionel?!