Contract: Allure Of The Demon General

For a single moment, the demon’s eyes registered something akin to shock. And then, it was gone, replaced by an expression of pure, insulted rage. His pride had been wounded. A low chuckle escaped his lips, the vibration rattling Heidi’s arm.

“Release them?” he cackled, his smirk returning, more a sneer than a smile. “Child, I am going to end them.”

He didn’t need to move. He simply looked to the sky. Above them, the air began to shimmer and distort. A colossal symbol glowing with the same orange as the cracks in his skin, began to form in the clouds. It was a sigil of immense power, and as it solidified, the weight on the valley floor intensified tenfold.

“I will not just kill them,” the demon’s voice boomed, echoing with the power of the sigil above. “I will crush this village, this mountain, and everyone in it into a fine dust.”

He looked directly at Heidi, his eyes burning with triumphant spite. A final wave of pure force erupted from his body. Heidi’s grip was torn away as she was thrown backward, losing consciousness. Baro, Keito, Corin… their exhausted bodies and minds could offer no resistance. They were all snuffed out like candles, collapsing to the ground, unconscious.

The village fell silent once more. The demon rose to his full height, the glowing shackles of the Goliaths fading as he drew some of their life force into himself to power his final spell. The great sigil in the sky pulsed, ready to unleash oblivion. He was the sole victor, the silent, kneeling forms of his puppets and the unconscious bodies of the heroes a testament to his absolute power.

But one person was still standing.

“No!”

The voice was a desperate scream. Elysia was on her feet, her body trembling from a mixture of terror and adrenaline. She was the only one left, a single, flickering candle against a coming tsunami of darkness. The pressure was agony, feeling as though her very bones were on the verge of cracking, but she refused to fall.

The gem on her forehead, which had’t glowed the entire fight, now flared with an intense, brilliant white light.

“I said… NO!” she screamed again, taking a single, agonizing step forward. She walked through the crushing pressure with gritted teeth, each movement a struggle. The ground cracked under her feet, not from the demon’s power, but from her own stubborn refusal to kneel. Her gem glowed brighter with each step, the pure, white light pushing back against the orange of the demon’s sigil.

The demon’s expression of arrogance faltered. It was replaced by a look he had not felt in millennia, confusion. He saw this small, insignificant mortal walking through an aura of pressure that had felled a Goliath juggernaut. He saw a light that was not of the moons, nor of the sun, nor of any magic he recognized. A power that stood in direct opposition to his own. His confusion turned into alarm.

The sigil in the sky wavered, then vanished, its power drawn back as the demon’s focus shifted entirely to the girl. He walked towards her, his own steps now cautious. He stopped directly in front of her and reached out, his long fingers gripping her chin, forcing her to look up at him. He peered down into her eyes, searching, trying to understand the impossible source of her strength.

And then, in the space between their faces, it appeared. Shimmering into existence, a spectral parchment unfurled. It was a contract, its surface covered in swirling runes, with an empty space at the bottom, waiting. Elysia stared, stunned into silence. The demon’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second before his cruel smirk returned, this time filled with a genuine interest. He let go of her chin.

“You’re quite interesting,” he said, his voice becoming something more personal, more curious. “I could crush you, of course. But that would be a rather boring end to such a surprising discovery.” He gestured to the unconscious forms around them. “I will spare this village. I will even release the Goliaths from my influence. But in return, I will be keeping a very close eye on you.”

The offer hung in the air, her freedom for the lives of everyone in the valley. But Elysia’s fear was gone, replaced by anger.

“No,” she said, her voice clear and strong. “I saw what you did to the Black Dragon. You demons use your power to cause pain, to turn good people into puppets. I’m not going to be your pet. I will not listen to your demands.”

The demon actually looked taken aback. He had offered her a deal, and she was trying to dictate the terms. He let out a long chuckle.

“Mortals,” he muttered, shaking his head. He looked from her defiant face to the shimmering, insistent contract.

“Fine, fine, fine,” he said, the words dripping with annoyance. “We’ll do it your way. A binding agreement. You have my word… or whatever.” He reached out a single, clawed finger and pressed it to one of the empty spaces on the contract.

A blinding light erupted from the parchment, engulfing the entire valley.

Heidi’s first sensation was the feeling of a cool breeze on her face. The crushing weight was gone. The red haze of her rage was gone. She pushed herself up, her body aching, her head throbbing. The first thing she saw was Elysia, standing over the demon, breathing heavily but standing tall. The demon himself was on one knee, and glowing, silver shackles, formed from the same light as the contract, were now clasped around his wrists. His pressure aura was gone, completely suppressed.

“Heidi!” A voice, choked with tears, called her name. She turned, and her heart seized. Her mother was running towards her, her face her own again, her eyes clear and filled with love. The other Goliaths were stirring, looking around in a daze, with no memory of their murderous rage, only a vague, unsettling feeling of lost time. Heidi ran to her mother, and the two embraced in a fierce, sobbing hug, the emotions inside Heidi finally breaking.

The rest of the day was a blur of tearful reunions and celebration. After a long discussion, and with no better options, they placed the now powerless and deeply annoyed demon in the village’s jail, a sturdy, stone lined cellar normally used for keeping meat cold through the summer. That evening, the Goliaths, in their infinite gratitude, held a feast for their saviors.

The air in the chieftain’s longhouse, which hours before had been the demon’s throne room, was now filled with the warmth of a roaring fire, the smell of roasting goat, and the booming, joyous laughter of a people given back their lives. Baro was in his element, arm wrestling a Goliath twice his size and winning, much to the delight of the crowd. Keito was in a quiet, intense conversation with Heidi’s mother, the village elder, learning the history of the mountain, and talking about what had went down. Corin sat by himself near the fire, trying his best to look aloof, but Elysia saw the small, pleased smile he was failing to hide. Elysia herself sat with Heidi, the two of them watching the celebration, a quiet, powerful bond of shared experience now forged between them.

Later that night, the feeling of safety began to fade. The group, now including Heidi, descended the stone steps into the makeshift jail. The demon, whose name they had learned was Kivaras, sat on a stone bench, the silver shackles on his wrists glowing softly in the torchlight. He looked up as they entered, his expression one of boredom.

“Come to gloat?” he asked, his voice raspy, all its previous power gone.

“We came for answers,” Keito said, his tone level. “What do you know of the convergence?”

Kivarus let out a short, humorless laugh. “And why, precisely, would I tell you anything? Your little light show has me… inconvenienced. But this convergence is far larger than one forgotten mountain. You’ve changed nothing.” He was standoffish, snobbish, and infuriating.

“Listen here, you horned goat!” Baro stepped forward, jabbing a thick finger at the demon. “You’re gonna start talking, or I’m gonna start getting creative with this axe!”

Kivarus just raised an eyebrow. “Oh, please. The berserker is threatening me. How terrifyingly novel. Go away, insects. Your buzzing is giving me a headache.”

They spent an hour trying to interrogate him, but it was useless. He met their questions with insults, their threats with bored sighs. They realized he would never willingly help them.

“There is one place,” Keito said as they walked back out into the cold night air. “The holy city of Sanctum Luminius. It is the heart of the faith of the Twin Moons on this continent. Not even a creature like him could speak a lie within its walls.”

The path was clear. They had their prisoner; now they needed a key to unlock the secrets in his head. The next morning, Heidi stood before her parents, her face set with a new resolve. Her mother held her hands, her eyes filled with both sadness and pride. The village was safe, but Heidi had seen a glimpse of the storm that was coming for the rest of the world. She found the others by the wagon they had prepared for their prisoner.

“I’m coming with you,” she said, her voice firm. “This started in my home. I’m going to see it to the end.”

No one argued. She was a part of their team now. The group had grown. They loaded the still shackled and

unamused demon into the back of a covered wagon. With the entire village of Oakenworth waving them a tearful, grateful farewell, they set out. Their new path led them down from the high peaks of the Hecaton Mountains, towards the distant, shining promise of the holy city of Sanctum Luminius.