Ashin saw the blood trickling from a corpse. Holding the lantern up to his face with shaken hands, Ashin emitted a whimper.

“Mother?”

It had all happened so fast. Flashes of memory assaulted his mind.

The house of liquid dust. The shades. A man invisible, barely noticeable- unless it was too late.

She was dying. The creatures that she had summoned were too weak to defend her. Ashin, with shaken hands, pressed her cold hand against his face.

“Mother? I’m here.”

She could barely smile. But she did.

“Ashin, I want you to get out of here as fast as you can, okay?”

“No. I won’t leave you here. If you’re going to die, I’m not going to let you die alone.”

She didn’t bother protesting. She died in his arms. Ashin, his entire body trembling, cried.

A figure entered the house. Ashin didn’t even bother to turn around.

“Ah, that poor thing. She was such a beautiful creature.”

Ashin turned around and lashed out. The figure, caught by surprise, stumbled backwards. This was all the time Ashin needed. Grasping the pact that bonded him to his creatures with his vital energy, Ashin made a mystic sign with his left hand and spread out the fingers in his right hand.

“I summon thee.”

A flash of bright light and an armored creature with an oxen head and a gigantic axe appeared. Snorting through his proportional nose, he brought back his axe and swung. The entire house cracked open like as if it was struck with lightning, the figure thrown backwards.

Ashin approached him slowly, eyes shining deep golden.

“Kill him.”

The oxen swung again, and the figure’s body was severed in half, dissipating into a cloud of haze. Ashin released the pact and the creature was dismissed, but his fatigue and his loss of vital energy were not. Ashin collapsed. Anger and fury coursed through him, anger at his mother’s death, anger at the fact that his revenge was so quickly granted, anger at the fact that he was tired, so tired that he couldn’t even stand. With heart-wrenching sobs sending spasms throughout his body, Ashin passed out and darkness overtook him.

--

Aishan awoke to the smell of burnt wood and baking bread. He felt the covers drop from chest level to hip level and found him in a spacious helmet shaped tent that was made out of bricks.

“Hello.”

Aishan eyes flittered to a jolly-faced, corpulent-built man who wore a baker’s hate and a white apron.

“I found you on the Bridge of Fear.”

“Did you- Did you save me?”

“Well young lad,” he said with a twinkle in his eye,” What do you think?”

The realization of what happened yesterday hit him. His eyes started to water up with tears, and his eyes stared of aimlessly into the air. A warm hand rested on his shoulder.

“Well?”

Aishan quickly recovered and looked him straight into the eyes.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

The man chuckled.

“No problem. Should I get you something to drink?”

After a period of slurps and lip-smacking, Aishan’s hunger and thirst were sated- the man had brought bread along with water. After a period of small talk, the atmosphere had settled down into a quiet, idyllic mood. Together, they listened to the birds chirping and the flow of a nearby stream. It was a sunny day and Tashin could see rolling green grass stretching out for miles with the exception of a long winding road.  

“Hey,” Aishan suddenly asked. “What do you do for a living?”

“Me?” said the man. “I bake. There’s a furnace right outside that I operate. But I also form bonds between creatures and humans. I’m assuming you are traveling soon, so I should give you a contract.”

“Oh,” exclaimed Aishan. “There’s no need. I already have one.”

“Can I see?”

Aishan took out parchment from his tunic; the same parchment he had used before and gave it to the man. It immediately burst into flames.

“Whoo! I say!” said the man, coughing at the smoke emitted and putting out the flame. “What you have there is a fake contract.”

“Fake?” asked Tashin. “It can’t be. I used it myself yesterday.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No real contract will burst into flames. What you summoned yesterday was weak, not even fit to be called a creature.”

Aishan’s thoughts reverted to what happened yesterday. Everything had been a blur, he had no recollection of what happened, except a faint memory of a cloud of haze…

“It can’t be!” Aishan suddenly blurted out. “It defeated a shade yesterday!”

“What!?” shouted the man. “Shades?”

And broke into a loud guffaw.

“I’ve never heard of a person survive a shade before, let alone kill one,” he sighed, wiping tears away from his eyes. “If you’re saying that parchment was a bond to a creature that could kill a shade and suddenly burst into flames, there are either two possibilities. One, you’re a nutcase. Two, you have such a pure vital energy that you managed to energize the monster to become stronger than a shade and break a contract. The second is something that is rarely heard of, even in legends. The only person capable of doing that was Tutankuman, and he had been training for years. I’m not sure what happened before I got you, but something has surely addled your brains.”

And he broke into a loud guffaw once again. Aishan found it wiser to keep his mouth shut.

In the end, Aishan was given two contracts-one to a mountain troll, and one to an archer. He was given a sword to carry around and a few days’ supplies of food.

“Thank you so much. I won’t forget this debt.”

“Nay, I’m sorry to see you go lad. No one had entertained me as much as you had. Anyway, follow the road all the way to the east. Whatever you do, do not part from it. You will eventually find a city by the name of Silver Bells. The moment you reach the city, tell the guard that the Baker sent you. I’m sure you’ll get on from there.”

And Aishan went on his way.