Chapter 11 - The Nightmare Contract, Part 1

The next few days saw a tremendous change in House Tenebri's overall level of activity. All around the House's estate, its members were preparing for the coming contract in any way they could. Weapons and armor were gathered, rations were stockpiled, and prayers to Serapis became focused on finding success against the nightmares.

Veil focused on her studies even more intently, learning all that she could about the eldritch monsters that plagued the Dreamworld. Every new thing she learned steeled her resolve even more, and it showed in her training sessions, which she approached with that same resolve.

Arc, Evan, and Asma had their own preparations to make for the contract as well. Having to catch up on Serapeum's centuries-long history of conflict with the nightmares, they joined Veil in her studies on them. Nuha was more than happy to help the Andurunans learn, but not long after starting the lessons, it became clear that Arc had a bit of an advantage over the others.

"I know it's not the same language we're used to," he said, looking up from a scroll the group was busy reading, "but you're really having trouble reading this?"

Evan shrugged. "Hey, give us a break, Arc! It's still a new language after all, and not all of us were into reading old scrolls like you used to!"

Thankfully, unlike their difficulties with reading Serapean script, Evan and Asma excelled in their training sessions. Through days of practicing with his power, Evan figured out how to change the durability and density of his ball and chain while in use. At the same time, he practiced maneuvering the weapon as he changed its properties, allowing him a much better degree of control over it.

Not having a power of her own, Asma focused on honing her martial art skills. Now that she had nothing to hide from Master Sef, she used everything she knew in sparring sessions against him, even managing to best him from time to time. In addition, he would teach her Tai-sa-tib techniques to incorporate into her unique fighting style.

With the days passing and House Tenebri doing its best to prepare, eventually the starting day of the contract arrived. On that day, Adelin gathered everyone from the House who was expected to help, and together they made their final preparations for the contract.

"Still can't believe I'm getting dragged into this…" Kamal grumbled as he oversaw his slaves loading a fairly large groundcar. "I swear to Serapis, if the farm takes a hit to its productivity while I'm gone-"

"As with all of Serapis's trials, you will endure it, Walker Kamal," Adelin said. "And besides that, you do have someone to handle your responsibilities. Isn't that right, Slave Dom?"

Dom emerged from the groundcar in response to Adelin's voice. "That's right, Mistress. I'll make sure everything on the farm is well handled! I know it'll be rough, but taking on a Walker's duties is the least I could do for a Binding Offer, right?"

"And of course you had to make it a Binding Offer for him too… You better not fuck this up, Horns. If I come back and there's even one thing out of place-"

Kamal stopped speaking abruptly as a shadow claw found its way around his neck. Adelin gave him a quick glare before canceling her power out to let her subordinate continue speaking.

"I… I'll endure it."

Adelin nodded, and left Kamal and his slaves to finish their preparations. With that settled, she headed over to where Sef was handling his own duties. As soon as she arrived, she could see her husband was speaking with Mahir and a number of guards. Asma was next to Mahir, waiting patiently for Sef to finish.

Giving a warm, if brief, smile to her husband, Adelin turned her attention to his subordinates. Mahir was bowing as he took in every word from his Master's mouth. Asma was similarly bowing, and she wore a suit of basic leather armor along with a pair of heavy looking iron plates strapped to her left leg and the outermost of her left arms.

Adelin blinked as she looked at the slave's equipment. "Are you certain that armor is to your liking, Slave Asma? It seems rather… off-balance."

Asma looked up and nodded. "Yes, Mistress, this should be fine. Even without a springer to balance it out, I'm actually used to carrying shields like this."

"She's been using them well in our training sessions," Sef said. "I will admit, I was quite surprised to see how quickly she can move while equipped like that."

"It was certainly something to see, Mistress," Mahir said, looking up from his bow. "Even considering the apparent intent of Slave Asma's fighting style…"

Asma turned her head to face Mahir. "Don't worry, Master Mahir. I have no intention of using it against anything other than nightmares."

Mahir gave a nod to acknowledge Asma, then returned his attention to Sef.

"As I was saying, Hand Mahir, right now you should focus on your responsibilities. In my absence, you will be the effective head of House Tenebri's guards. I expect you to ensure the estate's defenses are well-maintained."

"Of course, Master. Just as you trained me to."

"Good. Then everything is in order between us." Sef nodded and gestured for Mahir and Asma to rise. "May Serapis smile on all of our efforts."

"Excellent. Now that that's settled, Sef, I believe it would be best for both of us to oversee the rest of the preparations. I must say, it's been far too long since we did something together…"

"It really has been a while, hasn't it? And to think, this time it will be killing nightmares! But besides that, you're right. There's still plenty more to take care of. Hand Mahir, you may now attend to your duties. Slave Asma, if you would follow us."

Mahir gave Sef a short bow. Asma did the same before moving to follow House Tenebri's leading couple, who shared a quick embrace before heading off. As they left, Mahir turned to face the estate's guards, who bowed before him as he started giving them their new orders.

Soon enough, the group arrived at another groundcar that was being loaded - this time with a number of scrolls from the House's archives. Veil, Nuha, Arc, and Evan were all hard at work loading the vehicle, with Nuha in particular checking a manifest scroll to make sure everything was in order.

Veil's frills perked up as she saw the group approaching. "Mistress Adelin! Master Sef! We've been taking care of the scrolls like you asked!"

"Still not really sure why we need all of this," Evan said, settling a crate of scrolls into the groundcar. "I mean, how much time are we gonna have to read all this stuff, anyway?"

"Well, I don't think we're going to be swarmed by nightmares the whole way," Arc said with a laugh, "and besides, we've still got a lot to learn about fighting them, after all."

Adelin gave the group a smile. "You're absolutely right, Slave Arc. The more information we have on hand, the easier this should be for all of us. And I'm certain educating some of the other Houses' members on nightmare extermination tactics would be a great help as well."

Nuha looked up from the manifest. "That's what you needed me for, right Mistress?"

"Of course, Servant Nuha. You've proven your capability for teaching with Veil and the others, and I'm sure you will be an excellent teacher for the other Houses' slaves as well."

"These slaves… Some of them are from House Mut, right? So that means we might have to see-"

"Walker Priya? Unfortunately, we will. Believe me, Veil, I am dreading seeing her again just as much as you are." Sef said, rubbing at the sleeve covering his left shoulder.

Arc blinked. "Priya? That's the one who tried to get you killed, right, Veil?"

"She tried to…" Asma turned to look at the Mistress. "Pardon me, Mistress, but we're just letting someone like that in on a delicate operation like this?"

Adelin sighed and nodded. "It is unfortunate, but she is one of House Mut's finest slave handlers. Her skills are a necessary asset to the contract, much like yours are. At the very least though, she will cooperate with us. House Mut has many problems, but it takes nightmare extermination contracts seriously."

"Serapis, I hope so. From everything I heard Veil say about her, I'll probably end up punching her right in the face if she doesn't!"

"Calm yourself, Slave Evan. The last thing I want is to have another incident because of her. In fact, I expect all of you to be on your best behavior during the contract. We're going to be facing nightmares after all. There's no need for us to be at each other's throats at the same time."

Everyone nodded and responded in unison. "Yes, Mistress."

"Good. Now then, Servant Nuha, I trust that the scrolls are all accounted for?"

"Yes, Mistress. Everything's right where it needs to be."

Nuha handed the manifest scroll to Adelin, who used her power to take it with a shadow claw. After looking through it and examining the crates in the groundcar, she nodded, returned the scroll, and ordered Asma to stay with Veil's group to help them with anything else. With that, she and Sef headed off to finish overseeing the preparations.

As she walked away from the groundcar with her husband at her side, Adelin felt a smile growing on her face. The smile remained as she saw the preparations she had set in motion all being completed. Once she and Sef finished making their rounds, she gave a quick glance up towards the estate's statue of Serapis and bowed gently towards it.

Serapis… Everything I've done thus far has led up to this moment. I swear, by my honor as one of your Daughters, I will make House Tenebri worthy of you.

—

With House Tenebri's preparations completed, they moved out with their convoy of four groundcars and headed to the meeting place on the western outskirts of Serapeum. Two of the groundcars were stocked with the rations and camping essentials that the House's members would be using to survive in the desert. One was stocked with scrolls, and the final one was the Mistress and Master's private groundcar.

Adelin frowned as she sat on one of the quilted benches inside the manekale-drawn vehicle. It had been all she could do to scrape even three meaningfully stocked groundcars together, and it still didn't feel like enough.

She knew full well that the other Houses were bringing at least twice as many groundcars each, and none of them had to be reserved for their heads. All of the Children of Serapis from the other Houses were well-off enough that they could send enough Hands and Walkers to avoid risking their own lives.

But even though she needed to come personally to bolster their numbers, Adelin made sure House Tenebri brought the best that it could. In total, they had six power users: Adelin herself, Sef, Kamal, Veil, Arc, and Evan. In addition, Sef brought Asma and a few of the estate's guards. In addition, some of the House's slaves and Servants were capable of holding their own in combat.

As the groundcar steadily came to a stop, Adelin was pulled from her thoughts. Veil's voice calling out quickly drew her attention as she stepped out and saw the reason for her excitement.

"Zahra!"

"Veil! It's great to see ya!"

Adelin couldn't help but smile as the two arena fighters hugged and exchanged greetings with each other. Behind them, she could see the groundcars that House Safak brought with them. True to her prediction, they brought enough with them to dwarf House Tenebri's contribution significantly.

And with all of those groundcars, there will no doubt be plenty of Safak's fighters looking for glory in this contract. They'll make up a good amount of the group's offensive force. And their healers will be crucial for keeping that force from failing…

As Adelin looked over House Safak's contributions, more groundcars slowly made their way in. These ones, however, were all adorned with the sigil of House Ardeo. In time, another familiar face emerged from the most lavish of the new vehicles, and she approached the group in the middle of the growing convoy.

"Mistress Tenebri, Veil. It's good to see you again. I'm glad to see you're both looking well," Chanda said, extending a feathered hand to Adelin.

"It's a pleasure to see you again as well, Hand Chanda," Adelin said, allowing Chanda to take her outstretched wing in something that approximated a handshake between them.

Once the two of them exchanged pleasantries, Adelin looked over House Ardeo's contribution to the contract. Their groundcars numbered in between the Tenebri and Safak groundcars, and the few dreamkeepers she could see among them all carried themselves with an air of devotion that Adelin had come to expect from the Reaper House.

House Ardeo brings quite a lot to this group, she mused. On top of their ritual expertise drawing Serapis's favor in prayer, their Reapers include a number of skilled trackers and scouts. On top of that, I believe a good number of them are healers as well…

A slender feline woman immediately recognizable as one of House Safak's Hands approached Adelin, interrupting her thoughts once again.

"So, Mistress Tenebri," the Hand asked, "how many other Houses can we expect to see in the group? Our Mistress only told us so much about the plan, after all."

"Did she now? Well, as it turns out, most of the group has already arrived. There are some other Houses involved, of course, but most of them will simply be maintaining our supply line. The only other House that will be involved in combat would be-"

"Heeeey! Addie! We're here!"

An all too familiar voice followed by a thundering sound accompanied by a host of raucous cries cut Adelin off. All of a sudden, a large number of groundcars approached the meeting place, all of which bore the same sigil of a circle bisected diagonally with a broken bone.

"…House Mut." Adelin said, resisting the urge to throw her wings up in frustration. Violent and irreverent, but as long as all of that force is being directed towards the nightmares…

The group watched as Priya descended from the manekale she was riding, which was also hauling a groundcar behind it. As the Walker stretched following her dismount, Adelin could see Veil gritting her teeth from having to see her again. Before she had a chance to say anything, Priya made her way over to the group.

Priya looked at Veil and let out a bemused whistle. "So! Heard you got yourself promoted to Servant! Heh, good for you! Really making me regret having tried to kill you way back then!"

"Y-yeah. Thanks."

To her credit, Veil avoided saying anything else. Unfortunately, Veil wasn't the only person in the group, and the others didn't have a caste difference to force them to hold their opinions back.

"You tried to…" Chanda muttered, sparing a brief glance back at Veil. "Oh, by Serapis. I'd heard House Mut was brutal, but to think you would go so far…"

"Eh, she survived, didn't she? And she's a Servant now! You ask me, she's doing fine! Me on the other hand? I had to waste months training up a new slave for execution matches because of her!"

"Training a… wait… you're Priya, aren't you?" Zahra asked, giving Priya a quick glare. "The slave handler who's so bad that House Safak refuses to send slaves to fight against House Mut?"

Adelin turned to face the House Safak Hand. "Wait… Is that true?"

The Hand nodded slowly. Adelin felt a familiar stab of regret for sending Veil to her first fight against House Mut.

"Hah! I'll take a bad reputation over none! But here I thought Safak was a fighting House! What's the harm in letting your tools get a little roughed up fighting ours?"

"Tools? Are you serious? I was one-"

Adelin felt her regrets, as well as a headache, growing as she watched on.

"Walker Priya, just because the Precepts say-"

"Whatever, that's just how House Ardeo-"

"Yeah, House Ardeo, and anyone with basic-"

Oh Serapis, I was hoping Veil would stay quiet…

"Veil's right, Priya! Imagine if you-"

"Hey, Mistress Priya doesn't have to-"

"Oh, great, now my own damn slaves are-"

"Hey, what's going on over- Wait, is that-"

"Stay back, Slave Evan. It's for the best that-"

"Hey, Master Tenebri! Back me up here! We used to-"

Wait, Sef? And did Priya just…

"Is… is that true, Master?"

"It's the past. My connections to-"

"To hell with that, Sef! You were-"

"Wait, so that means he's-"

"It's true! Married right out, and-"

"Enough!"

Adelin's halo flared into existence as she activated her power. In an instant, claws reached out from the shadows of everyone who was involved in the argument and grabbed hold of them, halting their movement. Just like that, the argument was silenced and she turned everyone to face her.

"I could excuse it when it was only a few of you, but this has gotten completely out of hand! Now, if I heard you all right, Walker Priya said something that she really shouldn't have, and now I feel some explanations are in order. If you all agree to be civil, Sef and I can explain everything."

Everyone nodded, and Adelin released them from the effects of her power. She looked around at the group, which now included a number of other dreamkeepers who had emerged from some of the groundcars. Most notably, Sef was among them, and he teleported to her side with a quick use of his own power.

"Sef, dear, do you want me to-"

Sef shook his head. "It's fine. I can start."

Without another word, Sef lifted the sleeve off of his left shoulder. On it, the sigil of House Mut was plain to see. Most of the crowd gasped as they saw it, with only the members of House Mut showing any different responses. Priya in particular was smirking.

Sef spoke up once the gasping died down. "Originally, I was a Son of Serapis born into House Mut. Even back then, it was a House with a ruthless reputation. But my original House's philosophies never fully sat well with me. Unfortunately as a male child, I could never take over the House's leadership to try and change that. But as it turns out, once I reached the age to be married into another House, I ended up meeting someone who took me away from my troubles."

Sef looked toward Adelin, who nodded and continued the story.

"Once the two of us were of the age for marriage, Sef and I ended up meeting. Houses Tenebri and Mut had known each other for a while before that, and I had expected him to be just as callous as any other from his House. But Sef challenged everything I thought I knew about House Mut. To say I was smitten by him, well, that's a bit of an understatement."

Sef nodded. "I felt the exact same. To me, Adelin was a radiant jewel who deserved more than the obscurity she had been born into. Her attempts to bring House Tenebri back to its days of glory, to bring such a change to the House she had been born into, struck at something in me. After a few months of courting, we knew Serapis meant for us to be together."

"When I offered to make him my husband, he agreed on the spot, and became Tenebri Sef from that point onward." Adelin said, looking at her husband with a smile.

"Indeed. I even had the caste tattoo on my right shoulder covered with the sigil of House Tenebri, as a show of devotion to my wife's House."

"Yeah, nevermind the marriage linking our Houses, once you tied the knot, you ended up trying to bury us in the past!" Priya sneered. "Like hooking up with Addie here was some kind of step up!"

"If you don't have enough self awareness to see any of the ways that it was, Walker Priya," Sef said, glaring at his former House member, "I doubt that you ever could."

"That's quite enough, both of you. There's no need to start this argument up all over again. Now, if you could all remember why we're out here to begin with…"

"Yeah, yeah. We're here to kill some nightmares, right? That's at least something House Mut can get behind!"

"I should certainly hope so, Walker Priya, otherwise I made a grave mistake bringing your House into this contract."

Priya laughed. "Addie, please! If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that nightmares deserve to die! Hell, that's the whole reason behind House Mut's philosophy in the first place!"

"Good. Then can I expect everyone to turn their aggression on the nightmares instead of each other?"

Adelin looked at the crowd. As each of them slowly nodded and voiced assent, she smiled.

"Excellent. Well then, now that everyone is assembled, I believe I should explain just what our Houses have been planning to do all this time…"

—

The contract's objective was to exterminate a den of nightmares somewhere between Serapeum and Bralgu. For the past few months, reports were coming in from the western half of Serapeum of increased nightmare activity in the desert. Uncertainty plagued the citizens of the west side, and multiple Houses took it upon themselves to assemble a raiding party to take care of the threat.

Since the exact location of the den was still unknown and based only on hearsay, the first step of the contract was to figure out where it was. The general consensus pointed towards the mountains at the western end of the Kirmigi Desert. As such, the convoy of groundcars made its way through the desert, headed toward the mountains.

Progress was steady, with the manekale-drawn vehicles passing over well known paths of solid ground. Dunes and overly rocky terrain were avoided, easing the convoy's travel time.

Whenever it came to a stop, the convoy was abuzz with activity. Reapers from House Ardeo would head out to comb the desert for clues to the nightmares' whereabouts. In the meantime, the group's fighters would train and prepare themselves. Rounds of sparring were conducted to keep the combatants in shape, with the group's power users in particular encouraged to use their gifts from Serapis in new and creative ways.

Anyone whose understanding of nightmares was lacking was encouraged to see Nuha to be educated. As expected, most of her new pupils ended up being slaves from the other Houses. In particular, House Mut's slaves were surprisingly open to education, though they were mostly content with rote memorization of the knowledge.

All the while, tongues of flame from Chanda's power hung in the air all over the convoy camp. Chanda herself was with the Reapers' scouting party, and any news they had would be instantly carried back to the camp through the flames.

If there was any dissent among the group concerning House Mut or Master Sef's history with them, it was kept well hidden. The revelation was certainly shocking to Veil, but she figured that with his marriage, any connection her Master had to his previous House didn't matter anymore. As for House Mut itself, she was fine working with them as long as she kept far enough away from Priya.

What was more important to Veil in the moment was keeping herself ready for a fight with any nightmares. To that end, the convoy's sparring sessions were an exciting way to keep her skills sharp, especially with the wide variety of opponents to choose from.

Her usual House Tenebri opponents and Zahra were all familiar options who were no less exciting to fight. House Safak also had plenty of other fighters Veil could have good clean fights with, and there were even some power users from House Ardeo who were eager to test themselves against her.

There were also opponents who Veil was hesitant to, or outright refused to fight. Near the top of that list were Kamal and any of Priya's slaves. Veil was certain a fight with any of them would end up much bloodier than anyone wanted to have to deal with. Thankfully, Kamal was more interested in taking his aggression out on other fighters, and Priya preferred to have her slaves practice drills to improve how they worked under her leadership.

Veil also shied away from fighting any of House Mut's members in general. If they were anything like Priya, she had good reason to avoid them. But at the very top of her list was an opponent that she would never have even imagined fighting against, much less even dared to attack. And one afternoon a few days into the contract, this opponent stood across from her, ready for a fight.

"Well, Tenebri Veil? I'd very much like to see how well I can manage against you."

Across from her, Mistress Adelin stood tall, her halo glowing over her head and the day-moon casting a long shadow in front of her. Around the two of them, a ring of groundcars made up the walls of the convoy camp's impromptu arena.

"Um, Mistress?" Veil asked. "Do we really have to fight? You're the last person I'd ever want to hurt with my power…"

"Well, Veil, I have no intention of throwing my weight around in this contract. I'm here to kill nightmares just as all of us are, but for that I must make sure my skills are up to the task."

"A-and you couldn't have chosen anyone else to fight? Maybe Master Sef?"

"Sef and I know each other's skills well enough. Sparring with him would hardly be a test. But your power is something I've never had to deal with before. It would be a good, novel experience for both of us."

"But, Mistress, what if I…"

A shadow claw came up from behind and rested on Veil's shoulder, briefly startling her.

"Don't worry about hurting me. I trust you, Tenebri Veil."

Veil let out a sigh as the shadow claw dissipated from her shoulder. "O-okay, Mistress. I'll do my best."

"That's all I have ever expected of you, Veil. Now then, let's get on with our fight!"

Mistress Adelin smiled, and her halo flared. At that moment, shadow claws burst forth from Veil's shadow, and she activated her own power in the next instant.

Before any of the claws could grab her, Veil summoned plasma balls around herself, brightening the ground around her and causing the shadow claws to vanish along with her shadow.

"Excellent reaction, dear!" The Mistress said, drawing closer to Veil. "But our fight's only just begun!"

Mistress Adelin spread her wings out, casting a wide shadow on the ground in front of her. With another flash of her halo, shadow claws began to reach out from her silhouette, all of which started rushing towards Veil.

Veil reacted quickly, summoning more plasma balls to meet her Mistress's attack. The claws themselves were easily destroyed by Veil's power, but as long as Mistress Adelin could make more of them to keep her shadow out of the light of Veil's plasma balls, the attack kept coming, keeping the two House Tenebri members in a deadlock.

Taking a quick look around herself, Veil avoided approaching any nearby shadows while sending out more plasma balls to try and get around her Mistress's defenses. Unfortunately for Veil, Mistress Adelin was paying just as much attention to her own surroundings.

Sending plasma balls around the wall of claws only resulted in them being intercepted by claws summoned from other shadows. Attempts to send plasma balls overhead were similarly thwarted, with the Mistress summoning more claws to intercept Veil's attacks using the shadows cast by her own hair, clothing, and body.

"Phew, your power's pretty hard to get through, Mistress!"

"I should hope so, Veil. I've spent a long time thinking of how to best use my blessing from Serapis! Now, if only I could find a way through yours-"

"Attention, everyone! Nightmares spotted northwest of camp! I repeat, nightmares to the northwest!"

While Veil and Mistress Adelin were stuck in their stalemate, a distressed voice echoed from the flames around the convoy camp.

Veil immediately canceled her power out. "Chanda! Sounds like they found something out there!"

"With that tone though," Mistress Adelin said, canceling out her own power, "I think that something might have found them instead…"

"Anyone ready to fight, please come quickly! We're outnumbered, and we need-"

Throughout the camp, the flames faded away along with Chanda's voice. Veil gasped and gave her Mistress a quick look.

"They're… Chanda…"

"Don't worry, Veil. She may still be okay, but there's no time to lose. The sooner we can get over there, the sooner we can make sure!"

Veil nodded, not wanting to spend another second talking about it. With that, she and Mistress Adelin rushed out from the ring of groundcars, headed northwest. From the urgency in Chanda's voice, there was no time to tell if anyone else would be showing up to help. As she ran with her Mistress, Veil clutched her prayer talisman and offered a voiceless prayer to Serapis.

Serapis, please let us get there in time… Please let Chanda and the others be okay…