Contractbound - Chapter 35 Encountering Danger

Graham was still sitting in his chair in the dark office with nine lit candlesticks on the desk in front of him. He had done some divination, but he still had to divine one last thing before he cleaned things up. He cleared his mind of any thoughts and concentrated on the burning flames in front of him. The candles that were placed in a formation resembling a sigil burned calmly, making it easier to concentrate. Graham repeated a question in his mind and watched the flames intently.

‘Where is the location of Marieke Odekirk?’

The usual darkness swept over the room and slowly, a blurry image appeared within the flames. It showed a large empty building, but the surrounding area was dark like it was night time. In the middle of the empty space, there was a woman standing motionless. Graham recognized the figure as Marieke’s, although he couldn’t see the face clearly because of the blurry image. Moments later, the image shifted to that of the color red; there was nothing else but that. After that, the image gradually disappeared and the room turned normal again, except for his head which was pounding; the headache that came with the overuse of divination had arrived.

Graham had a bad feeling about what his divination had shown him so he had to use his last attempt of the day to ensure his safety. He wrote a statement on a piece of paper.

‘Chasing Marieke Odekirk is dangerous.’

He wrote a broader statement on purpose so that he could judge the degree of danger by the rate of the paper being turned into ashes. He placed the bottom right corner of the paper over the candle flame and watched the flame consume it. It burned the whole paper relatively quickly, leaving nothing but ashes, indicating a positive response.

“It means it is very dangerous, but it won’t kill me.” he deduced while massaging his temples, and then the back of his head. The throbbing pain was bearable but it was still very unpleasant to get each time he had used up all his attempts.

Graham started cleaning up the desk and put away the candles in his drawer and once he was done, he muttered in regret, “If only divination attempts could carry over to the next day.”

…

On Friday afternoon in a building complex with windy and narrow alleyways and a busy crowd of people bustling about, a slender, hoodie-wearing woman with medium height was scurrying down the alley with hands in her pockets. Her expression was that of anger and hatred, her eyes reflected hints of sorrow. She looked extremely jealous of the people around her, especially those who had any kind of company around them. She kept walking rapidly towards a direction without carrying about bumping into other people because she could nimbly avoid them no matter how fast she was.

The woman stopped at a flat with the number 478 on it and rang the bell. Not long after, the door was opened and she entered it without taking off her hood.

“You look like a mess,” said the male homeowner gently, without any ill-intent. He was a tall man with blonde hair neatly combed back and a pair of glasses. He had a medium build and a good-looking face. His overall appearance made him exude a scholarly vibe.

“How can I not be?! The killer already claimed another victim and I haven’t found them!” said the woman rashly.

“I know you love Nora deeply, but you have to stay calm. You might lose yourself like this.” said the man again.

“You don’t know how I feel, Henry!” said the woman angrily and then went quiet.

“No, I don’t, but you and Nora are my friends, Marieke. I don’t want to lose both of you.” said the man whose name was Henry very patiently.

Marieke didn’t say anything for a while. They were both sitting across each other without saying anything for sometime before finally, Henry spoke.

“You have been very hot-headed since we were little. Nora was the exact opposite of you. She would cry when the sisters at the orphanage punished you because of your own mischief.” Henry said nostalgically, his voice carried a tone of sadness.

Marieke still stayed quiet, but she was listening to Henry’s words. Memories of her childhood came to her and drowned her anger with sadness. Tears welled from the bottom of her eyes and started running down her freckled cheeks. Henry saw his childhood friend’s expression and walked over to her side to offer her his shoulder. Marieke cried uncontrollably, letting all the sorrow that had built up in her heart out. The pain of losing someone dearest was unbearable for her.

“There… there…” said Henry while patting Marieke’s hair like he had done to Nora many times before when they were children.

The three of them had lived in an orphanage since they were very young, and had naturally become very close, even dependent, on each other, since they had no one else in this world to depend on. The orphanage that they lived in was not an ideal one either. It was a privately-owned orphanage with bad management, so a lot of the children there were mistreated, but since they didn’t know where else to go, they stayed in the orphanage until either they got adopted or they became too old to stay there.

“Thank you. You’ve always been the most level-headed out of the three of us,” said Marieke finally after she had stopped crying. Her cheeks were still wet with tears.

“You and Nora were both emotional, in a very different way. You would always get angry easily while Nora would cry easily. Remember when some bigger kids were bullying Nora but you saw them and beat them up?” said Henry who was trying to console her with beautiful memories.

“Of course I do. You told me to pretend to look hurt and then called the sisters. Those kids got in trouble because of that. The sisters didn’t believe that I could beat them up.” she said while smiling nostalgically.

After seeing that his childhood friend had calmed down, Henry changed the topic and spoke seriously, “I have found the location of the killer.”

Marieke’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “Really?! Tell me now! Do you also know their identity?!” she said loudly in both excitement and impatience.

“I couldn’t divine their identity. I’ll take you to the location since it is also my revenge. We’ll deal with the killer together.” Henry said with determination.

“Nora refused to be a Contractbound because she said she wouldn’t be able to handle the pain. Probably it was for the best, so she could die as a human.” Marieke said pitifully, and then her tone turned resolved, “Now it’s our job to make sure she rests in peace.”

Marieke and Henry got ready and then left the house. They went out to the street after traversing the windy alleyways of the Concrete to hail a public motor carriage. Henry told the driver where to go and the driver started driving right away. The two of them arrived at their destination much later, because of the distance.

They were in Oosteinde, the area where the slums were and there were a lot of abandoned factories. Henry’s crystal ball divination had pointed him out towards this area and now they just needed to find the right building where the killer was hiding.

It was a sunny afternoon, but the surrounding area felt strangely gloomy and chilly. There was nobody around in the area because normally people wouldn’t go there in the first place. There were only the occasional motor carriages driving by and some pedestrians passing by. The abandoned factories looked manacing like they were hiding dark secrets inside them. Many people had asked the government to repurpose the area, but nothing had been done up until now.

Henry and Marieke went behind a big factory far from the street and he sat down cross-legged on the concrete ground. He took out a big crystal ball from his backpack and smeared his own blood all over it. He then concentrated to start his divination.

‘Show us the building where the Pravitatem killer is hiding in.’

His blood got sucked by the ball and it formed an image within the crystal ball. It showed a big, abandoned building with broken windows. The image then zoomed out and showed the building from afar, with him sitting on the ground and Marieke standing near him not really far from the spot. The image then disappeared and Henry stood up and stuffed the crystal ball back in his backpack.

“It’s that building over there, isn’t it?” Marieke said with fiery eyes.

“Yes. Stay vigilant. We are dealing with a very dangerous individual.” said Henry with caution.

Henry took out a small metal plate and a short iron stick from his backpack and the two of them marched carefully towards the place shown in his divination. It was a big factory building, with a lot of empty space on the first floor which was visible from the doorless doorway. There were iron stairs leading to the open second floor that looked dark.

“Please, don’t!!”

They heard the sound of a man begging for mercy. They darted towards the source of the voice cautiously. It came from the second floor, from an empty office room. When they reached the place, there was a man with a giant illusory snake coiled around him, preventing him from moving. The man’s eyes were full of fear and horror. He wriggled about, trying to free himself but it was no use; the snake’s constriction was too tight and impossible to shake off, even though it was not real.

“Noooo!!!!”

Stab!

A giant dagger was pierced through the poor man’s heart from behind. He died quickly and his body burst into ashes, leaving three Contract scrolls behind and a small lump of flesh that was slowly forming from the ashes. The object looked clear like a crystal even though it was made of flesh. The illusory snake disappeared and a figure who had been standing behind the man gathered the scrolls and the object that the man left behind. The figure then looked at the two guests and spoke in a muffled voice which couldn’t be determined if it belonged to a man or a woman.

“So you two are the next ones who managed to pinpoint my location? And you are smart enough to come together unlike this man.”

Marieke took out a dagger from under her hoodie and got ready in battle position. Her eyes were full of hatred and vengeance towards the cloaked figure before her. Henry beat the iron plate using the short stick and the sound echoed in the spacious building.

Badum… badum…

“No chanting? So you’ve made a contract with a President?” said the figure mysteriously.

Marieke felt invigorated, like the blood in her body was boiling. She dashed towards the figure with a speed faster than her usual’s and tried to stab it.

Whoosh!

Hiss!

The dagger stabbed thin air. The figure had turned into countless snakes that went in every direction. Marieke stabbed the snake nearest her and it turned into ashes which disappeared slowly after.

Marieke then heard a murmur of someone chanting, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“I order you to be careful, Marieke!” said Henry loudly while still beating the drum, and then shouted towards the source of the murmur, “I demand that you stop chanting!”

However, it was too late. The chanting had been finished, and suddenly the room was shrouded in a thick mist that made people confused. The sound of the drum beating was muffled by the mist, so Marieke kept her guard up. Then, from the mist, she saw the cloaked figure slowly approaching, but something was strange. The figure was carrying a metal plate and a short stick, which made Marieke’s heart skip a beat. The figure then lifted the hood and revealed the face. It was Henry’s!

“!!” she couldn’t say anything in her shock. She felt betrayed and lost. The only other person she trusted in her life was actually the one who had killed her lover.

“Now, Marieke, come here and join me. The two of us can take revenge on the people who had made our childhood hell.” Henry said gently but convincingly.

“Go to hell!” she said angrily, then started chanting very quickly.

“I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare all of Henry Halback’s weapons mine!”

She made a swiping motion with her right hand and a lot of items appeared there. There was a metal plate, a short stick, a pocket knife, and a crystal ball, all of which could be used as a weapon by the person in front of her.

“So it was really you!” Marieke said in a rage after seeing the items that the cloaked figure before her possessed. Her emotion took over because of the feeling of extreme betrayal and anger. She followed her instinct to deal with the man who had taken her lover away.

She then threw Henry’s items far behind her and darted at him with her dagger ready to stab.

“Argh!!”

Without his weapons, Henry was defenseless, but his hard skin prevented him from being stabbed right through. Marieke then jumped on him and pinned him to the ground, which he tried to avoid but failed. After all, she was much faster than him although he was stronger. Marieke looked at Henry in the eyes with ever-increasing hatred, especially since Henry’s eyes only reflected malice but no regret.

Stab!

“!!”

She looked stabbed the defenseless Henry right in the neck and the blood in his throat prevented him from letting out a scream. His body then burst into flames and from the ashes, three contract scrolls were left behind. Among the ashes, an object started to form slowly. It was an object similar to the one that the previous man had left behind.