The deal brought me hope and a sense of power within the reach of my soul. No bit of doubt was given about my decision.
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—His head throbbing as he floated through an endless void, purple ethereal like formations in the distance, small amounts of stars a little less than a few feet away, still too far to touch.
Trying to shake off the throbbing feeling, reaching out for a star that floated closer than the others, leaving the group behind. The single star seemed to gravitate towards his outreaching hand.
The endless void seemed to then stretch around him, he awoke. His head instinctively shot up, the throbbing sensation still lingering. He took a deep breath to calm himself down then slowly climbed out of his bed.
[Cairo: …]
He looked at the window, covered by curtains, and looked at the crystal that gave off an orange hue. The light from the crack of curtains hitting the crystal perfectly, symbolizing that morning had come.
As he stood for a moment, thinking over the dream he'd had, he sighed and knew he had to move on with his life, he couldn't ponder this dream all day. He took the crystal off the wall, and put it in his palm, the chain it was connected to felt cool. He tightened his grip on the crystal, his daily life was about to begin, same time as always, after all he agreed to this when he took the deal.
[???: Why, good morning.]
The voice of a woman called out to him, dripping with a lustrous yet charming tone. He sighed, knowing that voice all too well.
[???: Well? Any targets today?]
[Cairo: None, well, as of now at least.]
He closes his eyes and feels a cool sensation come over him, as he slips away from his consciousness, his physical body falls over, now asleep. He sees a decorated room, oak wood flooring, a soft rug under his feet. The room is decorated with a few small tables, a collection of things on a shelf near him, he'd spent a lot of time in this room, everything in it quite familiar to him.
Standing there, the warmth of the rug, the smell of the fresh room, the oak wood, all of it felt oddly welcoming. Considering he had been here many times before, he didn't bask in that feeling very long, it was a usual feeling, one that he still wasn't all that used to. The windows, what little there were, only about two, pure white light shining through them, nothing from the outside let in. He glanced over at the shelf, all the items on it, he walked over and picked up a book. The book was covered with dust, likely just put on that shelf and never touched again. He blew off the book, dust flew into the air, the book finally let free from all the dust caked on top of it. The book itself had a red leather cover, some kind of gold symbol design on the front, it was quite a big book. Glancing at it, he thought it had about 250 pages.
[Cairo: I wonder why this book is even here, I can't read any of it.]
The inside of the book had writing and symbols that Cairo had never seen before, the pages were quite worn, it had to be an old book, some text was faded, and some pages ripped out.
He put the book down on the shelf, and noticed a woman standing in the corner of the room looking at him with a clear gaze. The woman, who is commonly known as "The Great Elf of Norikaei" to the people of Shigikara, she's a powerful elf, the most powerful of them all actually, though she died 700 years ago, her soul and the traces of dark magic she left behind still torment and hurt people of the current age. She's feared by everyone, even the strongest of people don't dare to speak of her out loud.
[???: Acting like you've never seen me, right? Typical for you]
The woman shrugs it off and pulls up a chair, offering it to Cairo as she sits down in front of one of the small tables around the room. Cairo takes his seat in front of her, and looks up to her.
[???: Hmm? Speak up, you haven't said a word, making a little elf like me feel like i'm being ignored here.]
Her pointy elf-like ears twitch, her presence enlivening, but there's something else in the room, a feeling that can't be described as much but agitating. The white light coming through the windows hit her figure, making her look nothing short of angelic, though she was the exact opposite of anything "angelic."
[Cairo: what do you know about that book over there?]
He points at the red leather book he had picked up earlier, maybe she'd know what it is.
[???: It's an old spell book, I used to practice spells out of that one, quite frequently actually, it's over 700 years old, most of the spells in the book are frowned upon, they are all quite useful though. My personal favorite spell out of that book is the "freeze no-love" spell, it essentially freezes someone until they're just a block of ice.]
Cairo looks at the table and watches a fork and a piece of cake appear in front of him. The white icing as a base, orange icing lining the bottom and the sides of the top, it smells like a cake he would get from a premium bakery. He takes the fork and stabs it into the cake, taking a bite of it, then looking back at the woman.
[???: You're welcome, Hope it tastes good.]
[Cairo: Is giving me cake your way of asking me to stay longer?]
Not so happy to talk with her more than necessary, he's a bit sceptical of what she could be wanting from him.
[???: Is it so bad for a little elf like myself to want to chat with her companion every so often? It's not like anyone will know anyways. You already know this room operates on a different time-frame than in reality, I made that clear when I first called your soul into this very room, don't you remember?]
The Great Elf of Norikaei, Asteria, is Cairo's companion. As both of them are companions, they meet quite frequently in this "Soul plane."
[Asteria: Won't you stay a bit and talk? You really have all day, you don't have any current targets, correct? So stay awhile if so.]
[Cairo: I don't have any current targets, no, so yes, I can stay here for a bit, if I really wanted to.]
Asteria then smiles at his words, a genuine smile from the bottom of her heart. Even though she's quite feared and could be coined as "demonic" or "pure evil," she does have somewhat of a heart. Her figure is also quite the opposite of "demonic" it's angelic if anything, her arms are long, skin is a little pale, there's a permanent light blush on her face, her hair is silver and grey, with a streak of orange running through it, it's fairly long, a little above waist length, and her eyes are a light orange color.
[Asteria: Does that mean you'll stay and talk for a bit?]
He knew that she wasn't all friendly and that she was actually somewhat of a manipulative elf, though she only manipulated people when she felt she needed something.
[Asteria: Well? Are you not going to talk to your little elf companion?]
She traces circles on the table with her finger while smiling at him, Cairo knowing how she is, and how she can mess with him, making it seem like she cares when in reality he knows she's only bluffing, he shakes his head and looks at her.
[Cairo: Well, elf, what would you like to talk about?]
[Asteria: How's everything going for you back in Shigikara? I've heard you talking to some pretty angry people lately]
She points at the orange crystal that's connected to a chain on his neck, with a sly knowing smirk on her face. She gave him that crystal back when they made the deal.
[Cairo: Ah, yeah, of course that's how you heard it.]
[Asteria: Of course that's how I heard it, a part of my soul is in it after all.]
[Cairo: Yeah, yeah, I just wish you wouldn't intrude on me and try and talk while I'm in the shower. I'd like some privacy, you know!]
A puzzled look fills her face then she blushes a bit. She forgot that happened, she shakes it off and looks at the orange crystal.
[Asteria: Yeah, yeah, my bad. Kind of your fault though, wearing the crystal in the shower, dumbass.]
[Cairo: Part of your deal was that I had to keep it on, and I have to keep it on for you to be able to talk to me from the soul plane anyways! so it's not my fault! You really piss me off sometimes you know.]
[Asteria: Eh, I would've thought you'd like a beautiful elf such as myself trying to talk to you while you're in the shower.]
[Cairo: Ok now you're just being full of yourself.]
[Asteria: Well, when you're a great elf like me, you grow a little bit of pride.]
[Cairo: …]
[Asteria: …]
[Cairo: What am I going to do now that I'm stuck with you forever?]
[Asteria: What? You don't like being stuck with an elf like me?]
[Cairo: Hey, I never complained about it. Just putting the facts out there.]
[Asteria: …]
[Cairo: …]
He looked at the window, nothing but bright light, there isn't really much reason to even look at the window, he merely did it as to hope for a change of subject. Asteria then stood up and walked over to a closet, she opened it and pulled out a staff. The staff had a white-wood color to it, curled off at the top. There was a piece of orange cloth on the staff, likely for looks, but it could also have another purpose.
She brought it over to the table, sat it down and then took her seat in front of Cairo.
[Cairo: So you just pull random stuff out of that closet?]
[Asteria: Rude. Hmph.]
Cairo feels a sharp pain in his stomach, it gets more intense, like 1000 needles stabbing his insides. He bellows over and puts his head on the table.
[Cairo: Ok, why the- why the hell would you do that, that hurt damnit.]
[Asteria: Are you really asking that? Jeez, you might just be oblivious.]
Cairo lifts his head, and bites his lip, he's a bit angry, but he won't lash out, not on Asteria at least.
[Cairo: Damn you, little elf.]
There isn't any malice or harmful intent behind what he said to her, and she knows that.
[Asteria: My bad, my bad. Didn't mean to do that.]
Asteria throws her hands up and makes a smug face, she doesn't take Cairo seriously, hardly ever.
The room is filled with a mix of things, the lingering feeling of agitation, simply known as the "evil" or "demonic" kind of presence that always comes off of Asteria. It constantly stays, even if it's in the background, Asteria's stuck with it.
Cairo stands up, blood drips onto the wood floor from his lip, he wipes it off, then looks over at the only door in the room, he walks towards the door and opens it. The creak from the door, loud, cuts through everything else going on in the room.
[Asteria: Going so soon? Well, alright then, goodbye.]
Cairo doesn't respond, he just walks through the door, not even looking back at Asteria.
He feels his consciousness slip back into reach, he opens his eyes, he's on the floor of his room. An instant transition back to his physical body.