"Hello, you."
Neva looked directly at her Manifestation and saw a scarf covering his eyes, so she pulled it off. His eyes were open, but without any light, covered by a pale, glassy layer that suggested a still fog; a lost gaze that didn't focus on anything, like two open windows looking out onto an endless emptiness.
The Thief Manifestation was blind and could not see. For a Manifestation worth a fortune, blindness was a big and silly weakness.
"He is very beautiful," Neva thought as she placed her hand on the Manifestation's skin and felt his cracked skin.
Boom!
The sound was so loud that the Thief covered his ears and started screaming.
Neva jumped back in fear, then fell while thinking, "He has strong hearing, so that's how he makes up for his lost sight. But what was that? It must be the door, so I must hurry."
That was Elie behind that sound.
then she took out from her pocket a piece of paper that looked like it had been torn from a book, then she searched with her eyes for a long time until she spotted a piece of glass thrown on the ground.
"Found you."
Neva went and picked up the piece of glass, then looked at the paper which had two circles drawn on it in black ink. She pulled out the same kind of ink from her pocket—which she had brought from the same place she stole the paper—and drew the same two circles on the ground. After that, she drew a large circle around them and wrote the Thief's name three times.
"This will hurt," Neva thought as she held the piece of glass pointed towards her finger.
Neva cut her finger and let her blood drip onto the first circle. Then she went towards the Thief and placed the piece of glass on the skin of his foot.
"Please don't move."
And she cut his foot, but the Thief didn't scream or react at all, as if he had accepted his fate.
Neva took a little of his blood and poured it into the second circle. Then, she sat in the middle of the large circle, held the paper again, and began to read and repeat:
"I open my blood onto my silence,And break my chains from my body,I leave myself between shadow and light,Let the Manifestations hear me,And answer my call from behind the Veil."
She looked at the Thief and then continued:
"Oh Thief, answer my call. Oh Thief, answer my call. Oh Thief, answer my call."
Then she immediately lost consciousness and fell to the ground, while the Thief also fell to the ground.
Neva woke up to a strange coldness on her skin.
"Where am I?" Neva thought as she tried to warm her hands.
She got up slowly and found herself standing on a hard, darkish ground, with narrow cracks from which a faint, flickering light came out.
"So this is the Hidden Council. I didn't imagine it would be like this."
She turned her head. She saw nothing but a wide emptiness with no clear end, as if the place was swallowing every direction. She took a step and heard her voice echo as if it was in an empty hall.
"This is a bit scary. I must find the Thief now."
With every new movement, more details appeared; short pillars scattered randomly, and chains hanging from above, swinging lightly and making a metallic ringing sound.
"In the books, it was mentioned that every manifestation has its own special place to make the contract, but what would a special place for a Thief look like?"
As she moved forward, she saw a dark shape in the distance. She got closer until it became clear it was a small house, with rough walls and a half-open door. She heard no sounds from inside, but something pushed her to enter.
"This is the first house I've found here. The Thief must be here."
At the doorstep, she smelled old dust. She reached out her hand and pushed the door open further. The first room looked narrow, with broken furniture scattered around.
"He's not here. Let's keep searching." Neva was trying to trick herself to stop smelling the moldy smell there.
She passed through it with careful steps, then found a hallway leading to a larger hall.
The hall was different; its floor was clean, its walls were darker, and in its center stood a single chair. Sitting on it was a being that did not look like the thing that was in front of her a moment ago. It was the Thief, covered in a long black scarf, his head tilted slightly forward, and his thin fingers intertwined as if he was waiting. The masks hanging above his head moved slowly, switching places in silence.
Then the Thief spoke in a mighty, rough voice:
"Are you Neva?"
Neva had started to sweat, but she answered firmly:
"Yes, I am Neva, and I'm here to sign a contract with you."
"You're just a child....How do you know...I won't trick you in the contract...and just use you...like those...before you?" The Thief pointed with his hand towards the end of the hall, and a light turned on there.
Dozens of people were lying there, dead, most of them without facial features. One look at those bodies made Neva laughed.
She looked at the Thief with greater confusion and thought, "Does he really think he can trick me with this? He's stupid; even I can tell they're fake."
The Thief spoke again in a broken voice:
"You cannot... go back... if that is... what you're thinking. You must... complete the contract... or stay... here forever."
Neva laughed.
"I don't intend to go back without completing the contract anyway."
The Thief rose from his chair, then ordered Neva to follow him. They went out to a garden behind the house. Then the scary black garden turned into a beautiful green garden full of all kinds of roses.
"This is the garden of our palace," thought Neva, then she asked the Thief:
"How did you do this?"
The Thief answered calmly:
"I am a Thief...I stole that...from your memory...of course."
Neva was surprised, but before she could think or say anything, the Thief spoke:
"Would you like...to eat?"
Neva didn't understand if this was just an invitation to eat or something else, but she finally spoke:
"Huh? And what do you eat?"
The Thief turned towards Neva, and even though he was blind, she felt he was looking at her soul. Then he answered:
"Humans."