The being on the other end answered according to the contract made years ago.
Back in the real world, I awoke from the trance to the accompaniment of a shattering dome spell as the arrows of darkness made their way toward my heart.
But that didn't matter.
An eldritch energy exploded from me, an energy with a will to twist, corrupt, and unmake all it touches. With a titanic flex of my will, I forced it under control before it could start corrupting everything around me, myself included. The darkness itself was also gone in front of such power.
Then I opened my eyes, that was the hardest part. I could feel the blood seeping out of them as I gazed upon raw, unfiltered existence. The particles, other planes, and the knowledge of their workings lay bare before my eyes as I struggled to stop the information flow threatening to split my mind in half. Everything I wanted to know and should not be able to know was begging to be understood.
I could also see the creature in its small, plane-like nest, retreating, knowing something was wrong. Its form, previously layered in shadows, now clear to me alongside the very energy that made it.
I couldn't hold out like that for long. It was a miracle I was still standing as I felt my focus slipping. One mistake, and it would be the end of me in the most gruesome way imaginable. I would be cursed to join the strange procession of pipers of Azathoth, keeping him slumbering until the stars are aligned. Not a fate I was eager for.
Opening my mouth, I fought with myself to get my muscles under control. The signals my brain sent to them were lost somewhere in the chaos. I needed to focus. I bit my cheek hard, the pain bringing my control back for a split second, enough to command my tongue to move. Finally, I managed to speak in the eldritch tongue of the abyss.
Squirming Void.
A strange, otherworldly magic circle with a crack in the middle, in colors no mortal being could describe, appeared behind me. Eight black tentacles squirmed from it, waiting for my command.
All I had in me was one attack.
The creature looked amused, thinking that its home plane would save it and that I couldn't attack it unless I made my way to its lair, but that was a mistake. This kind of magic ignored rules concerning planes as it originated in the void itself. 'Rip' was the short command I could muster, and the tentacles made their way to the target.
The creature realized too late, and its hubris was its demise. Arrows of shadow tried to block the attack, but in vain. The tentacles squirmed and crawled in a maddening dance forward, ignoring the laws of geometry as they arrived in the creature's nest. It tried to run, to exit anywhere, but a black appendage caught its leg. I could see my vision swim as my mind was screaming at me to let go, but I needed confirmation.
Once the leg was caught, the rest of the tentacles joined the first, grabbing onto any appendage they could. Then, in place of suckers, mouths filled with crooked teeth opened, biting into the creature and securing it in place. The last thing I saw was a movement, every tentacle pulling in a different direction.
With my last remaining ounce of will, I ended the spell and let go of the contract. Then I lost my consciousness, hoping I was fast enough to wake up ever again.
***
Pain, that was my current state of existence, like the worst hangover of my life times thousand. I groaned. It was good news that I even woke up, but currently being alive didn't sound so great. A splitting headache, burning pain in my muscles, and an ache in my bones radiating to the rest of my body were battling for the first place in suffering caused.
With a grunt, I opened my eyes, thankfully not to be assaulted by light, meaning it was still night.
Good, that meant I wasn't out for long.
I tried to move some of my magic, but the pain that assaulted me almost made me unconscious once again. My entire spiritual self was a massive mess with mana pathways twisted out of place by the strain of rapid spell casting and my last abyssal spell. And that was really bad news, as I needed to do some magic to find out if the spawn had attempted possession before it died. The longer that state would persist, the harder it would be to get rid of a spirit later if it somehow survived long enough to try to attach itself to me, and I couldn't check for any signs of possession in my current state.
Okay, first, I need to get my body back in working order.
Struggling and gritting my teeth through the pain, I finally managed to take one of the bottles from my belt and drink its contents. Now, it was time to lie still and let the potion do its work. As I lay on the floor, I started to think about what had just happened.
It was impossible. Two thousand years ago, when the Holy War, later renamed to War of Tears happened, Satan and the God of the bible ended up ripping apart all veins leading mana to our world.
But now there was one. It should be somewhere right next to me. The dude actually died right on it, explaining how he became a spawn. Even though the vein was small, and by ancient standards, second-level spawn was one of the weakest. It should have been an impossible creature in this world.
After 'The Shattering,' as the event was called later, many scholars believed the world would heal itself like a body heals. No one knew how long it would take, but they waited for the old days to return. The fantasy races, now trapped on Earth without access to travel veins, started to go into hiding, and so did many creatures that needed mana to live, falling into hibernation. And with time, over hundreds of years, it became clear that the magic was never coming back.
The previously abundant energy started drying up. Any spell or enchantment used was burning through a finite resource. Finally, the ancients changed their strategy, trying to preserve what was left of their ways. Many of them built tombs for themselves and their legacies, hidden by enchantments, waiting for a day when the mana outside would return and awaken them.
But now we call it foolish, wishful thinking. After two thousand years, no one believed in any change for the better.
But a thought entered my mind. My father must have known something. With the genetic material left from his body, he could create precisely one offspring. And he waited over 1300 years to do it, just for me to reach maturity precisely at the time when something like that happened.
Yeah, that's a huge coincidence, and I don't believe in those.
I'd have to ask about that. My broker was a sworn family friend ever since I could remember, apparently owing quite a bit to my clan, although never telling me what exactly.
One thing was certain, things were about to get much more exciting. I made a fist, thinking of all the changes, and quickly regretted my show of excitement as pain shot through me. But that did not matter in the face of chaos and the new world that was about to come.
Looks like my family and its ancient ways will be making a comeback. I smiled to myself and cursed at the pain in my face immediately after.
***
After about half an hour more of lying on the floor with my thoughts as my only company, I slowly sat up. My joints were stiff, and my head was pounding, but I could move.
Now, for the most important part. I took a blue potion and gulped it down. Then, I went into meditation. My spiritual world was a mess. The mana was all over the place, not under my control, but to my great relief, I saw no permanent damage.
I could feel the soothing energy of the potion, and I started to direct it to get my magic under control. After half an hour more, I was done. I wouldn't be casting any spells in the next few days, but the pain from my spirit was more bearable now.
Next was the possession. I thought about checking myself, but in that state, I could miss something, and I had no intention of gambling with my soul. So, instead, I took out the potion with holy water and bone dust.
Reluctantly, I took a swig. The soothing, warm energy filled me, and… nothing happened. That means the attack completely obliterated the spawn. I was honestly almost pissed off that it didn't try to possess me as the potion wouldn't be wasted then.
With a sigh, I made my way towards the doors on the first floor. I would have to get the reward, talk with my broker, and start preparing. If the pathways to other planes are really healing, then I need to prepare and do it really seriously. The first item on my list was a base of operations with powerful security, which would cost a lot.
***
Even though it was still early morning hours, I took an Uber to my client's apartment to get the boring part over with. After arriving, I placed reflective dark glasses on my face to cover my eyes, not caring that it was still dark outside, and knocked on the doors.
"Well, miss, the job is done, the ghost is gone." I somehow mustered a smile once the owner opened.
"You look terrible." She said with wide eyes, upon seeing the state I was in.
I grimaced at her words.
"Um well, I-I'm sorry. I meant you look like you didn't sleep, not like you're terrible, you looked fine before." She tried to awkwardly explain.
I just stretched my hand to stop her awkward monologue. "The exorcism took much more than I thought, and the spirit was really strong, but I succeeded anyway. If you could please get the money, I would like to rest as soon as possible," I said in my best customer service voice.
After receiving an envelope without even counting it, I returned downstairs and called my broker on my way home. After a few beeps, I heard someone pick up the phone. I waited to see if he would start the conversation with an explanation.
"..."
"..."
There was a bit of silence between us, so I went right to the point. "Did you know about the veins?"
"The veins?" Came a confused answer.
I scrunched my eyebrows, trying to decide whether he was acting or genuinely confused. "There was a connected mana vein in that place. And a spawn nest in it, almost lost my life."
"...oh," my broker choked.
I silently waited for my broker to pick his words, as I could practically hear the torrent of thoughts on the other end.
"We suspected something was out of place, but nothing concrete. This case was interesting and out of the ordinary, so we took it. That's all." He explained slowly.
I was still not sure, the Frumenterii had their own secrets, like everyone in the world of magic. "You should've warned me, even if it was just a hunch."
I could hear a bit of a groan from the other end. "We really didn't know that would be a vein. Look, I think we know much less than you suspect us of. As you probably guessed, your father had some info, and we figured out that something big might happen since he finally created an heir, that's all. It was shot in the dark."
"Ok, let's say I believe you for now. So what's the plan?" I dropped the question for now.
"The rest of the talk is not for the phone. Meet me at my place tomorrow at 1 pm. We will talk then." The phone clicked.
Well, it looks like I will get some answers tomorrow.
I returned home and collapsed into bed, dreading sleep. On the one hand, I knew I really needed it, but on the other hand, the power I used had its side effects. And as much as I was incapable of having nightmares typically, the night after invoking the contract was the only exception.
Well, sleep would find me anyway, and with a heavy heart, I closed my eyes.
That night, I dreamed of the unknowable. Of the dead stars and the loneliness churning between them. I meandered through massive black spires alongside processions of weird creatures with black chitin bodies and membranous wings. I played strange instruments in the halls of the slumbering one with the pipers as my haunting, otherworldly companions. And I drowned, slowly falling to the bottom of the ocean and into something deeper and darker as the city of otherworldly geometry started to reveal its spectral spires. Its ancient master, ready to open the gates for me.
I finally woke up on the floor, trying to cough up the non-existent water from my lungs, my fingertips bloody from scratching the floor, as before waking up, I tried to swim down, deeper and deeper into the dark, cold void.