Ch3: contract
It was dark everything was dark; he could not feel, touch, or smell anything. Everywhere he looked he was only met with darkness. He could feel himself panicking but, he was also unnaturally calm. It was a weird sensation but also pleasant. Suddenly he heard something being whispered in his ear.
"I love you" whispered this unknown voice.
It was such a sweet voice filled with love and care. He felt himself being drawn into that voice and a feeling he could not explain coursed through him. This unknown entity continued to repeat those same words "I love you" over and over. He continued to feel something unexplainable it made him want to embrace the owner of this voice to not let go and-
Before he could spend any more time trying to figure out what this unknown feeling was, he felt something grab him from behind. It felt as if a claw was holding him tight trying to bring him back to the world of the living. He was being pulled from the darkness it seemed further and further away and then finally-
"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Screamed the black-haired boy as he fell on the floor while tightly clutching his arm. Tears flowed down his eyes from the brutality he had just experienced. Screams of sheer agony could be heard everywhere in the surrounding area as the boy's mind replayed the memories that were eating away at his sanity.
The memories of the excruciating pain he felt whilst being ripped apart, it was something he had never even come close to feeling ever in his life. The way they bit on all of his extremities and pulled, trying to rip him apart. He attempted to stop the screaming but he just couldn't no matter how hard he tried. The memories just kept attacking his mind and he could only lay there and take it.
He remembered the way he was so weak he could do nothing but lay there while they feasted on their prey, how all he could do was stand there frozen in terror.
This all happened while he lay there on the floor, his body shaking in terror for the threat that was already gone. The memory of the sight where the monsters ended his life kept paralyzing his mind in fear while he fell into darkness, the darkness he might never come back from. Just when that was about to happen-
Out of nowhere, he felt a comforting warmth that made him feel safe and at peace. A bright light covered him and blinded him which resulted in him not being able to see a thing. He noticed the light was actually thousands of bright orbs just like the one he saw before but they were all different colors. After about half a minute they all disappeared out of his sight. However, now that he knew they were there he could feel them nearby observing him. After that, he was able to sit down and calm himself enough to think about his situation.
Suddenly he realized he could not feel the pain anymore. Now that he could think more clearly he was able to notice it. He slowly brought himself from the ground into a sitting position and looked at his arms. Looking at his arm he saw his tracksuit. His tracksuit looked just as it did when he went out to buy that evening; There was no blood or any tears on it. He looked at the rest of his tracksuit and saw that it was perfectly fine with no damages.
"W-what?" Confused Subaru lifted the sleeve of his tracksuit to check at his skin expecting blood to be dripping from various wounds. He was surprised to see that his skin, not unlike his tracksuit, was perfectly fine.
"What is going on?" he wondered as he was sure just a moment ago he was being ripped apart by multiple beasts and should be dead.
Just as that thought crossed his mind he started to panic and look around him in search of them. Once again he was confused (which seemed to be a common occurrence ever since he arrived at this strange place) when he saw nothing around him. It looked like all of what he just went through hadn't happened. As he was looking around he noticed it seemed that he was in the same spot he was in when he first appeared in this forest.
He quickly stood up and as he did this he noticed he still had the bags he bought at the convenience store in his hands. ["What I could have sworn I left this back when I went out to explore this forest,"] he wondered having recovered enough to be able to think again at his confusing situation.
[Why do I have the grocery bag? I was sure I left it here. How am I even back here anyways? I'm sure I left this place a while ago.] Just thinking of those monsters made him shudder, he did not want his mind to wander off again to those memories so he started thinking again in an attempt to avoid another panic attack.
"It's almost like I went back in time." His mind started going over everything he had seen so far to try to understand his predicament. Suddenly appearing in a forest after closing his eyes, those creatures that he had never seen or heard before, and the talking orb. There was only one explanation to all of this and that would be.
"I've been summoned to another world." If it had been him an hour ago he would have been excited for this turn of events. He would have thought of how he would be OP and his path to becoming a hero plus all the quests and the beautiful lady that would have summoned him to this new world. That's what he would have thought at least. Now he realizes how naive that line of thinking would have been, after all, he was not a hero that would defeat any monster that got in his way. No, he saw how powerless he had been against those beasts and he knew that if they appeared again the result would be the same.
As he was thinking that he wondered again. How he was back here?
He started running, this time in the opposite direction hoping to avoid a confrontation if possible but he knew it was unlikely, after all, the sound his screaming had made no doubt caught their attention. He planned to try to hide until it was nighttime so that he could sneak by them. He knew it wasn't the smartest plan but he had no other ideas on what to do.
After a few minutes of walking, he saw something He remembered seeing before. It was that blue orb he saw earlier.
Now from an outside perspective, you would wonder how did he know it was that specific one when he saw earlier there were thousands of them? What he would answer would be that he just knew. Somehow he could tell them apart, all of them as if he was thinking of people. It was almost as if he's already known them before. He doesn't know why but he wasn't complaining.
He remembered they were talking about something before the whole Beast fiasco. He then had a crazy theory on why he was back there at his "starting point" as he would call it. He decided to try and confirm something.
"Hey, do you remember me?" Asked Subaru while staring directly at the orb.
???: "Are you talking to me?" Asked the blue orb bewildered but curious much as a child would be.
"Yeah" he waited for a few seconds and asked, "do you know who I am?"
"No I've never seen you before, and how can you hear me?" They answered and asked in childlike curiosity.
[It seems I was right. It looks like she(it sounds like a female. He would assume they were and hope he was right.) does not remember me, plus I was back in that meadow, and I had my bags again in my hands... There is no other explanation. I went back in time!!! It seems that it's activated by my death as well] Was Subaru's thought process.
Right after this conclusion, Subaru started to remember his death and felt a chill travel down his body, but quickly did his best to get out of it. His mind would most likely break down if he thought too hard about it at this moment so he decided against it. "You're talking to me of course I can hear you," he said as if it was an obvious fact already accepting the fact that the orb could talk.
"No, I can't talk yet or at least should not be able to."
[Seems like they can't talk, am I hearing their thoughts?]
" Am I like hearing your thoughts or something?"
"maybe" was said in a mischievous tone.
"What are you anyway," He Asked hoping he did not come out as rude.
"A lesser spirit of water" They answered
"What are spirits," Asked Subaru, and as he said this he sat down beside a tree. It was a large brown tree probably around 15 meters high and was oddly comfortable.
He hoped nothing would attack him while he was here. He had probably walked far enough for now or at least he hoped he did. He also felt that if he kept walking he might encounter more of the beats in that direction.
"Spirits are beings that were made of mana. They can contract with someone and help them use magic. Also, they can evolve the more time passes and become more powerful. I think so at least. I heard it from one of the full spirits so I'm probably right."
Subaru hoped she was correct in her explanation. It would be annoying if this was false information but he decided to believe it for now. Although something she said caught his attention. [She said that they evolved as time passed right?] That raised a question and that question was-
"How old are you?"
"A few weeks old" was the answer and that answer surprised Subaru. he realized he was pretty much talking to a newborn right now. That also explained why they sounded so much like a child. It's because she was one!!!
Then she asked something that surprised him.
"Do you want to make a contract?" Out of nowhere, this question was asked to the boy.
"YOU CAN'T JUST DROP A BOMB LIKE THAT OUT OF NOWHERE." Screamed Subaru as he found himself surprised by the offer. After his little outburst, he gave himself a moment to process better what he was being asked.
"A...Contract" slowly repeated Subaru. She had said Contracts help the user with casting magic right? That would be helpful right now. As he thought that his mind went back to his death he decided he would accept the offer. He needed some type of protection after all and magic would be good for that task.
"Fine, what are your terms" he assumed contracts had terms because it was a contract. Pretty obvious if you asked him.
"You go first" Is all they said.
"U-Um ok, first you will help me cast magic and fight against enemies and second, we will take care of each other" He wasn't sure what more to say so he left it at that.
"What do you want then," he asked wondering what she could ask for. He was a bit nervous at this so he hoped it would be nothing bad for him.
"Mana" they answered enthusiastically.
"Is that it?" Asked a bewildered Subaru.
"You underestimate your affinity, your affinity will help me evolve in no time. You probably have the highest affinity any of us have ever seen."
"Oh" Well he could be glad for that. Although he still found himself confused he decided to go along with it for now. While he was going over their request he realized.
"Wait, I can use Magic?!?
After that revelation, Subaru took a few moments to calm himself and put that in his "questions for later" folder.
"Anyways let me start with Introductions."
Subaru got in a weird pose with his finger pointing towards the sky and looking straight at his now contracted spirit he said. "My name is Natsuki Subaru. I'm lost and broke beyond comparison. Nice to meet you." After a few seconds, he added "what's your name."
"I don't have one," She answered in a casual tone.
"You don't?!? No, that won't do"
Subaru commenced to think of a name and he decided on one.[ Aquarius is a nice name but it's too long, let me think a bit more.] After a few seconds, he said.
''I will call you Aqua then. Is that okay with you?"
"Aqua," They said as if testing the name. Subaru hoped she liked it. He thought it was a nice name at least.
A few moments of silence passed almost as if they were for dramatic effect. Then finally they answered "It's good I like it," she said In childish excitement. To be fair they were pretty much a child in age so Subaru figured that was about right.
"Well let's get along then," Said Subaru to his brand new companion.
Multiple lights appeared out of seemingly nowhere and Subaru was blinded for a second. When he was finally able to see again he saw it was multiple spirits of different colors and some were brighter than others. It looked like they had decided to now show themself in front of the boy. Subaru was not sure what sprang this development but decided he should probably say something to the spirits.
"U-um Hello everyone" With a hand scratching the back of his head he greeted them with a nervous smile.
-
A few hours passed and Subaru had yet to encounter any (Now finally knowing what they were after talking with various spirits) Malbeasts. It seems that his encounter with them had been unlucky because there were few of them around this part of the forest. Most of them lived in the deeper parts of it. This made him bitter at his luck because of course, it would let that happen. However, that is not all that happened.
He also had an unexpected development.
"So how are you guys doing?" asked Subaru to his now contracted 6 lesser spirits. It seemed like Aqua making a contract with him made other spirits decide to approach him. Most of them only wanted to talk but, Some of them (all of them happened to be lesser spirits and female although he did not pay attention to this detail.) wanted to form a contract with him with the same conditions as aqua.
It seemed that his affinity or whatever they called it was high unlike any they had ever seen before and so all they wanted was mana. Subaru accepted the terms and now he found himself contracted to 6 lesser spirits.
They were all a different affinity; one for each element, and not unlike aqua had no names. After some thinking, he decided to name them water(Aqua) earth( Gaia) fire(Ruby) ( Kazu )wind ( Lucy ) yang ( Luna) yin. He was proud of himself when they all accepted their new names.
He was also able to figure out some of their personalities in the past few hours. Both aqua and Kazu were like children. They liked getting praised and were childish. They also liked to move around a lot when they were talking with him.
Lucy was a tsundere because of course one of his spirits had to be a tsundere. He would make sure to mess around a lot with her. Gaia was the most normal out of the bunch. Subaru felt like she would be the one to keep Aqua and Kazu in check.
Ruby was next, she was shy but liked to talk to Subaru since it seemed she had already warmed up to him. Finally, Luna seemed to have something of an inferiority complex. Subaru was not aware of why but he would find out. He would make sure of that.
"Well I think we should get going," said Subaru as he started walking back the way he came from. These past few hours he had to spend them talking with the spirits and making the contracts he now had.
He'd learned that his spirits knew el-level spells but were not able to cast them just yet because they lacked the required mana. He also learned from the full-blown spirits that they were in kararagi and in one of the few Malbeast forests that existed in this city. This was where the lower and weakest Malbeast that did not have a bounty on their heads were at.
"Man I'm unlucky to have found myself in one of the only Malbeast forests. Said Subaru as he was further depressed and angry at his luck. "We need to be careful with the Malbeast then. since we can't use spells yet."
He had noticed they could not use cast spells as lesser spirits. Yes, they could help in healing, that was not what he needed right now. He was not mad or anything like that but thought it was unfortunate. They needed a way to kill the Malbeast but currently, they had none so he decided to be careful and try to avoid them.
A few more minutes of walking passed and Subaru was being careful not to make any sounds. He would rather not get attacked again by those dogs. Thank you very much. He realized he should probably make some small talk with his spirits. Just when he was about to say something Gaia had unexpectedly begun to glow brighter than she had just a few seconds ago.
"What are you doing Gaia?" Said Subaru to his spirit as she finally finished glowing. He noticed she was a bit brighter than before.
"I evolved," She answered in a surprised voice. Subaru answering with a confused "What" made her decide to elaborate further.
"It seems we underestimated your Spirit affinity. It's greater than we thought. It was capable of making me evolve into a quasi-spirit."
"I thought you guys said it took over 2 years to evolve. Is my affinity really that high?!?"
Receiving a "yes" as an answer he sighed and continued moving "This a good thing I guess." Now they could at least use Magic to defend themself should the need arise.
Surprised at such a rare feat, Aqua and Kazu yelled a bold "Congratulations!" in perfect unison. Luna and Ruby, being a lot more introverted, offered a simple and quiet "Well done". Lucy however only offered a huff and a sarcastic congrats.
Right after this Ruby, not unlike Gaia, also began to Evolve. After a few more seconds she had also become, a quasi Spirit.
Subaru stayed quiet for a few moments and then he decided to ask.
".. Are you sure this is not a common occurrence?"
They all answered no and when Subaru was seemingly going to say something else, he was able to hear footsteps coming in his direction.
Subaru knew who those footsteps belonged to. It was because he knew who they belonged to why he froze up. He had tried to avoid thinking about the memory of them as well as his brain that had been unconsciously blocking them as well.
But now that he had the Wolgrams on his mind again he could remember. He remembered how they bit him, how much it hurt, how he wanted to die. He remembered the desperation the way he was powerless to do anything the-
"SUBARU" Screamed all 6 of his spirits at the same time by using their mental link and bringing him back to the present.
"Wha?" Subaru said in a confused and disoriented tone.
"You were spacing out," Said Lucy worried "not that it matters or anything" she quickly added.
"You had a scared look on your face," said a worried Aqua.
Subaru taking a second to reorient himself was finally able to focus again. He thanked them for helping him snap out of his small breakdown.
"Thanks, girls" after saying that he got serious and asked, "do any of you know how many of them there are?"
"It's a pack of them," Said Kazu.
"How do you know?" Asked Subaru. He was honestly not expecting an answer so he was surprised that he received one.
"The wind" She simply answered.
"Ah" He wanted to ask questions about that but now was not the time for that.
Subaru ran back a few meters to give himself some space from where the Wolfgram would appear.
He was now in a space where he could see where the Wolgram would appear from those bushes in front of him from about 8 meters.
Subaru knew they needed a plan and so he thought for a few moments. As he did this he left his grocery bag on the ground. He was able to come up with a plan in those brief moments. It was a half-baked plan but he was confident it would work. At least he hoped it would.
"Alright then here's what we are going to do" He paused for a few seconds for dramatic effect mostly. But he also wanted to relieve the tension.
"Gaia and Ruby you're with me the rest of you go spot out they are and tell me how many of them there are." He needed Gaia and Ruby with him to use magic and the rest could scout out the area.
With his new companions by his side, Subaru felt much more confident than before and so he prepared himself.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah" They all answered in unison.
"Thank you," Said Subaru suddenly.
"Why?" Luna asked, a bit startled by the sudden thanks.
"For helping me come back earlier " Answered the back hair boy. He knew that he was losing himself to fear earlier and was very thankful for their help at snapping him out of it.
" I-It was no problem, that's our job as partners after all right?" Answered back ruby in a shy tone with the rest moving up and down as if nodding to those words.
"Well let's get going!" Said Subaru quickly before he fell into tears. It had been a while since he had someone that believed in him apart from his parents. Even then he felt as if he was not a good son and did not deserve them. Being trusted by others felt refreshing for the boy.
"Right" They answered in unison as they scattered across the field.
"Are guys ready" once again asked Subaru this time to both of his still present companions.
"Yes," They both answered at the same time.
"Alright, then let's do this." A few more seconds passed before he heard back from his spirits.
"There are 4 of them heading this way" Reported back Aqua who seemed to leave her childlike behavior aside in favor of a more serious one. Now that Subaru thought about it they all did the same. He wondered how he just noticed that and decided he would pay more attention in the future. He took a mental note of that and saved it for later in favor of getting back into the battle.
"Alright, thanks Aqua " Answering back he waited a few more seconds, and then finally the Wolfgram came out of the bushes that were in front of Subaru.
Remembering the spells they told him earlier when he met with the multiple Spirits. Subaru worked together with Gaia while visualizing the spell in his head and feeling the mana in his body ready he chanted.
"DONA!!"
An Earth wall 2 meters tall and a meter wide was cast 6 meters in front of Subaru.
The Wolgarm easily evaded the spell by splitting both ways 2 on each side.
But Subaru had been expecting this.
GOA! He chanted with Ruby's help burning one of the Wolgarm while making the one that was behind it stop for a moment. This gave him enough time to cast another "Dona" spell managing to put something in between them.
While this was happening on the other side of the wall The other two Wolgram had stopped for a moment after observing what had happened to the other two. Began once again to approach Subaru who used "GOA" to put a small fire in between them and giving him a chance to run back a few feet to prepare and cast.
EL DONA!!
The Wolgrams could do nothing as they were impaled by the multiple earth spikes that rose off the floor. They struggled to get out but it was to no avail as a few moments later they finally stopped struggling and ceased to live.
"Subaru there is one more," Said Kazu as Subaru was Observing and admiring what the spell had done. hearing her voice Subaru got back into focus and chastised himself because how could he forget about such a thing?
He chanted another "Dona" spell right under the Wolgram that was left. It had the desired effect as it lifted the beast off the ground and disoriented it. This was enough for Subaru to take the chance and finish it off.
"Eat this you stupid dog." Said Subaru as he chanted the final spell that would finally finish this battle.
Taking a deep breath he screamed with all of his might "GOA!!!"
The Malbeast could do nothing as the fireball hit and burned its flesh. As it hit the floor, at the same time it had ceased to live.
Subaru out of breath just stood there watching for a good minute. His spirits watched him just standing there doing nothing. They started getting worried and were about to say something to him until-
"Wow," Said the black-haired boy. "That was awesome but also terrifying. I have mixed feelings about that." He was excited by the prospect of using magic and how awesome it was to use the spells and others that could exist. but was also terrified to know that he could have died. He had also been afraid of facing the wolgram again after his earlier experience with them.
And just after thinking about that.
"HOW COULD I LET MYSELF BE DISTRACTED DAMMIT " Screamed Subaru in self-deprecation. He had been in a fight that could have cost him his life and got distracted?!? Sure it was his first time using magic so he was bound to be surprised and impressed but that was no excuse for that. He had been too careless and he was aware of it.
He then felt warmth around him that was comforting. It was much like the one that helped him when he was having a breakdown earlier that day. He noticed that unlike the one earlier this one felt more familiar and intimate than before.
Looking up he saw it was his spirits embracing him, or at least trying to, it was more of an awkward hug than anything. Although they said nothing out loud or throughout their mental link Subaru could feel the sentiment they tried to convey and he felt grateful for that.
He found his situation a bit funny. After all, if you told him one day ago that he would be comforted by sentient flying orbs he would have laughed and been excited at that prospect of a possible new world. Oh, what his life had become."
"Thanks, girls I really appreciate it" Answered Subaru to their act of kindness.
A few seconds later Subaru felt a hand on his shoulder.
???: Hello.
-Lugnica, Roswaal mansion
Inside one of the rooms inside the mansion was a man dressed in a questionable outfit. Somehow he still made it look fitting for a noble despite the odd choice of clothing. He was dressed in colorful attire with dark purple and light purple on each side. He was wearing a cape with black color on the outside and red on the inside. It also had blue on the bottom sections as well as a star on the border of the cape. He wore white globes that currently help a pen in his right hand. He was scribbling on some papers making sure the writing was small and even.
As he was switching papers, he sensed something coming from his hidden drawer. It was as if he was being called by it. He knew what this "something" was so decided to check what was happening.
Setting the pen down he had previously been using on his very expensive desk. He turned to open the drawer where this calling was coming from.
Opening the drawer it revealed a black book. taking the book out of its place in the drawer he opened said book and flipped the pages until he got to the most recent one written. Reading the new words scribed in the book he saw something that surprised but pleased him.
A smile formed on his face while one of his gloved hands lowered itself and tapped the desk in front of him while he whispered "interesting" to himself. Just as he was about to say something else he heard a knock coming from the other side of his door.
knock knock*
Knowing who was the one behind the door he answered "You can enter Ram." while putting the Black book back in the drawer. He knew how much the book irritated the maid and he decided he would put it away from her view this time.
He put the book away with such caution that one would think it was one if not his greatest possession.
The doors to his study were opened and they revealed someone walking in. She was dressed in a white and black maid outfit which indicated she was a maid of the mansion. She was quite short and had pink-haired that covered her left eye. She carried a tray that had a cup and a kettle on it.
"Your tea is ready Lord Roswaal." Said the maid now known as Ram as she poured the tea for her master to drink. She eyed him weirdly for a moment as her Lord looked delighted for some unknown reason but did not speak up, as it was not her place to do so. Once she had finished with her task she walked and exited the room closing the doors 2 wooden doors on her way out leaving her master alone once again in the luxurious room.
"It seems you have arrived a bit earlier than expected," Said the man who is now known as Roswaal with a delighted tone and smile. He picked up his pen and took a paper out of the many he had to sign once again and began the work that had been previously interrupted. Only now he was in a better mood than before.
"How Exciting" was said with a wide smile.
Thank you "LittleRunningDemon" for helping beta this chapter he helped a lot
Subaru has finally made a contract and is finally out of the forest. Or is he?
So yeah we are starting in Kararargi and don't worry I already have a good reason for Subaru going to lugnica. but this means from the next chapter forward some sloth if spoilers will be in place( If you haven't read it go read it It's really good.)
Roswaal has learned of Subarus presence. What has changed? Well, find out in the next episode of dra-
Ok, I will stop now. See you all at the next one and don't forget to leave a review and any criticism you might have