An Otherworldly Stage (1)

“Crap.”

That was the only thing I could say, or do for that matter. It all happened so fast. The familiar feeling of contract magic spread as a void of white engulfed my body. The expanse seemed to stretch on infinitely, but I knew better. This was a teleportation spell, a rather powerful one at that.

Just a few minutes ago, I was streaming in my room, going about my usual day. If it had continued normally, I would’ve gotten to enjoy my girlfriend’s homemade noodles for dinner. That zesty sweet yet sour pasta sauce combined with the billowed, soft texture of farfalle always brought a smile to my face. And a bit of shredded parmesan on top? Absolutely heavenly. I couldn’t help but scowl at my current predicament.

Contract magic was one of the few spells that were complete mysteries. At its core, the spell enforced the terms, conditions, and penalties agreed upon by both parties. Sounded simple, right? Well, it wasn’t. What if someone had a term outside the purview of the other party? What if they added a penalty that could harm unrelated people? With such a loose description, contract magic could give anyone unlimited power by adding, ‘If Party B breaks any conditions within this contract, Party A will control the world.’

That’s where the mystery came in. Whether a contract was enforced seemed to be completely at random. The only way to verify its effects was to break the contract and incur the penalty. Generally, contracts with reasonable terms were more likely to be enforced, but ‘reasonable terms’ still didn’t explain anything. And now, with on4 forced onto me, I was beginning to doubt even that.

…well, what’s done is done, I thought after a few minutes. What else was I supposed to do? Life was unfair sometimes, very unfair, but you had to use it to your advantage. A streamer didn’t stop streaming just because something went awry. No, they improvised on the fly and made a new plan of attack.

So, let’s start with what I did know.

The email PAX sent me clearly mentioned that this was some sort of sponsorship opportunity. Whether they truly meant it was another story, but I had no other choice but to trust them for the moment. Therefore, I should think of this like any other sponsorship: for some ‘time’, I would be ‘promoting’ a ‘product’ with some ‘persona’ in exchange for ‘payment’.

The ‘product’ had to be wherever I was teleporting to. At least five minutes had passed since the spell was cast, so I was probably in transit to some far-away location. Where? Who knew. At best, somewhere on the same planet. At worst, another world. The latter seemed far more likely given the one-sided nature of the contract.

The remaining details were much more vague, so I had to make some assumptions.

Normally, my sponsors signed for a few months on average, a year at most. However, for this contract, the ‘time’ was most likely tied to the ‘promotion’. I wasn’t sure what PAX wanted me to accomplish, so I needed to get as much information as possible once I arrived. As a non-combat spellcaster, that was pretty dangerous work. However, I did go to university, even if it was only for one semester. Their training regiment was etched deep into my soul – an absolutely horrendous experience, but one that would come in handy.

As for my ‘persona’, they were usually crafted to match the ‘product’, not so brazen as the main character, but unique enough to be easily remembered. From what I could tell, the contract didn’t impose any restrictions on me or my spells, so I probably had free reign to create whoever I wanted. An adventurer, perhaps? Or maybe a detective. A merchant sounded interesting too. Though, preferably not inanimate objects or non-bipedal creatures. I liked being a person, thank you very much. In the end, it would have to wait until I finished my survey.

That left ‘payment’.

…

……

………

Yeah. No idea.

Returning home wasn’t really a ‘payment’ and more a term once the contract’s conditions were met, or at least I hope it was. If that was my ‘payment’, I would lose faith in contract magic more than I already had.

Still, what else could be my reward? It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of one. In fact, there were many. Too many. Way too many. How the hell was I supposed to narrow it down? It had better be worth the trouble PAX was putting me through.

Suddenly, the white void began to flicker with color, as if a veil of fog was being wiped away, indicating I had arrived at the ‘product’: the supposed destination of the contract. I took a deep breath, my hands trembling slightly. It was faint, but I sensed a large quantity of spellpower, and it only continued to grow as the layers peeled away. It wasn’t like the kind from other people. No, this felt more… raw, yet strangely refined at the same time. Still, it made the professors from university seem like children. And me? I was barely a light breeze.

“[Creation (Illusion) – Teleport]” On instinct, I cast a spell to teleport me back home. Well, technically, it was a spell that made it look like I teleported somewhere else, but I still hadn’t moved. All it did was make it seem like I cast a specific spell, hence the nature of the illusion. I used to cast a cloaking spell, but anyone could easily detect or strip away such invisibility. With a (fake) teleport spell, most people might be able to notice that someone teleported, but not that I was still there. Well except for combat spellcasters – those people were monsters. I wasn’t sure whether this would fool the source(s) of that insane amount of increasing spellpower, but I had to take a gamble.

The remaining dregs of the white void began to disappear. Come on, come on!

“Absolutely wonderful.”

Huh?

A distinct voice echoed in my ear, neither male nor female. It sounded almost familiar, but at the same time, I couldn’t remember hearing it before. It was close enough that I should’ve felt someone’s presence, but when I turned my head, nobody was there.

I subconsciously whispered, “Who are–”

“I look forward to your performance.”

And, before I could ask anymore questions, the void disappeared, as if it never existed at all.