The Covenant

“P-please! You have to help us!” The woman, blood splattered all over her, practically jumped onto Felix.

Annoyed, Velvet lightly scowled at her.

“What the hell do you want!?” Felix wasn’t any less bothered by her. He promptly shoved her off him.

“You have to help us! We were attacked! By one of those great wolves!”

Felix did not like the sound of that. Most of the creatures that were hit by the V-Bombs’ miasma were killed by the poison, but some had mutated, becoming exponentially more dangerous. The great wolves were one such mutation, being much bigger and more aggressive than a normal wolf.

This was the kind of situation Felix always tried to stay out of. “No good deed goes unpunished” was a motto of his, and these situations never ended well for do-gooders. Not to mention, after getting a better look at the woman, he saw she was wearing a Republican uniform. He had every reason to tell her to go and kick rocks. However…

Velvet had softened up a bit and now looked concerned. She peered up at Felix for guidance.

Damn it… Felix thought. He knew what the right choice was, but Velvet was practically begging him to do something. He didn’t want to play the hero, but he didn’t want to let down Velvet even more.

With a sigh, Felix reluctantly asked, “Fine, where is it?”

“Over there!” She pointed. “Please hurry!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Felix drew his pistol before running to go and help.

As Felix ran, he saw that Velvet was close behind him. Normally, living dolls would hover to move fast, but such a maneuver was mana intensive, so instead Velvet jumped along the ground, using only tiny amounts of mana to increase the speed and distance of those jumps. It was a very clever and cost-effective technique.

“Velvet, can you fight?”

“Yes, I can.”

“All right, those things are big and scary, but a clear shot to the head kills them easily. Hang back as I line up a shot, if I miss, stall it with magic, okay?”

“Understood.”

After passing over a hill, they saw it. The great wolf was massive, 12 feet long and 5 feet tall. It had just finished feasting on a man and had cornered two other people against a rock.

Drawing his gun, Felix aimed, lining up the monster’s head in his sights. As he squeezed the trigger, the wolf jutted its head out of the way, and the bullet only clipped it.

Felix cursed. The monster let out a loud, guttural growl in pain as it snapped its head towards him and started running. He fired off more shots, but none of them were fatal, and just as the beast lunged at him with a roar, a blinding light burst forth, slamming into the monster with an explosion, sending the great wolf flying and knocking over Felix.

Quick to recover, Felix got up, looking for his gun which flew out of his hand.

“Felix!” Velvet called out to him.

“Velvet! My gun, where is it!?”

“Felix, there’s no time for that! I can defeat that thing, but I need your help!”

“My help!?”

“Yes. Felix,” she took a second to catch her breath, “you must make a covenant with me!”

Felix’s eyes widened. Living dolls were capable of great magic, but magic requires mana which they don’t generate because they’re not organic. To solve this, living dolls create “covenants” with humans, allowing them to siphon off their mana instead.

“Hurry! We don’t have any time!”

Felix steadied himself, determination in his eyes. “All right.”

Velvet produced two rings. She passed the small one to Felix as she began her vow. “I, Velvet, pledge myself to thou, Felix, forevermore to be thy partner and thy strength. Whether tempest or famine, I shalt care for thou as if thou art myself as our fates art one from now ‘till the end.” When she was finished, she slipped the ring onto Felix’s finger.

Felix was shaking from both the adrenaline of the beast attack and the nervousness of entering a covenant with Velvet. His fear was climbing as he saw the great wolf starting to get up, but he steeled himself and began his vows. “I, Felix, pledge myself to thou, Velvet, forevermore to be thy master and thy protector.” He took Velvet’s hand in his as the monster drew near. “Whether tempest or famine, I shalt care for thou as if thou art myself as our fates art one from now ‘till the end.” As the beast lunged at them, he carefully slipped on her ring, and when it was fully on, a blinding light shone from both rings. 

A massive explosion rang out, and before Felix even knew it, the great wolf had been killed. Its head blown off and its upper body burnt to a crisp. He looked over at Velvet who stood in a battle stance, her arm outstretched. She was so tiny, yet she was capable of such power. Even she was shocked.

Dusting himself off and getting up, Felix said, “Nice job, Velvet.”

“Thank you…”

Without even bothering to check on the would-be victims, Felix started looking for his gun again. “Did you see where it went, Velvet?”

“Yes, I see it, right over there.”

“Ah, much obliged” Felix picked it up and holstered it as the young woman from earlier came running.

She gave her heartfelt appreciation, “Thank you for saving us.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Felix was already walking away. “Just get out of here.” He glanced at the dead body, mauled to death by the beast. ”And be sure to take care of your friend too.”

Velvet followed closely behind as they walked off into the distance.

***

Ava sat by the window of the headquarters of the New Republic’s Doll Corps, slowly nursing a cup of tea. Despite being a doll herself, she had worked her way up to deputy commander. She was currently awaiting the return of her scouts. The New Republic was running low on munitions, and especially dolls. If they were to win their war, they needed both, so she had sent several scouting units out into the wilds to look for those resources. Unfortunately, these efforts turned up mostly fruitless.

A knock at her door snapped her out of her thoughts. “Come in!”

The young woman who had begged Felix for help walked in. She saluted. “Captain of the fourteenth scouting division ready to report!”

“Yes.” Putting down her teacup, she asked, “How was your expedition?”

“Unfortunately, no munitions were discovered. However, we came into contact with a living doll.”

“A doll?” This could be big. Living dolls are even more valuable than simple guns and bullets. “Tell me more.”

“We were attacked by a great wolf. While we suffered a casualty, we were saved by a young man and a living doll. She had red eyes and black hair in twintails.”

Red eyes and black twintails… Ava’s mind immediately thought of her. She picked up her cup of tea before inquiring further. “What else do you know about her?”

“Um,” she had to think about it for a second, “I believe he said her name was Velvet.”