Author's Preface
Chapter 6 — The First Contract
The bridge trembled slightly beneath Kael's feet.
Each step rang into the endless darkness below.
"...Why do I feel like this place wants to consume me?"
Aster answered calmly.
"It doesn't...it only judges you and feeling you have about being consumed... that's conscience."
"...That's somehow worse."
The old man smiled.
They kept on walking.
Soon... enough, the bridge came to an end .
Upfront...A circular platform floated alone within the endless darkness.
Its surface was covered in countless intricate Contract symbols.
The moment Kael stepped onto it...
Every symbol ignited.
A deep voice reverberated through the Vestibule.
Initiation Trial Commencing...
Objective: Establish Your First Contract...
The symbols rearranged themselves.
Black mist slowly gathered at the center of the platform.
It slowly formed the shape of a man.
Wait not a man exactly...a creature.
Its body looked as though it had been stitched together from torn pages of papers.
Its face was blank devoid of emotions
A rusted lock hung from Chains, where its heart should be...
Kael instinctively took a step back.
"What is that?"
Aster's eyes remained fixed on the creature.
"A Contract Wraith, a creature that possesses no will of it's own
"It's automated to simply enforce the Trial."
The Wraith raised its head.
Its blank face turned toward Kael.
A single line appeared where its mouth should have been.
«STATE YOUR CONTRACT.»
Kael blinked.
"...What?"
The creature repeated itself.
«STATE YOUR CONTRACT.»
"....Well I don't know any Contracts!"
He shouldn't have said that.
The Wraith lifted one hand.
As Black chains broke through the ground.
Kael barely jumped aside.
The chains slammed into the platform with enough force to shatter stone.
"Old man!"
Aster raised an eyebrow.
"Hmmm?.A little help?!"
"Sorry kiddo I can't."
Aster folded his arms towards his black cane.
"This Trial belongs to you and you only."
"Getting involved will likely make things worse."
Another chain shot toward Kael.
He manages to roll across the platform.
His heartbeat beat frantically inside his chest.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"
The Wraith spoke once more.
«STATE.»
«YOUR.»
«CONTRACT.»
Kael clenched his fists.
"...Damn it!"
Nothing happened.
Another chain.
He stumbled backwards.
His breathing ragged and rushed.
"I..."
"I don't know how!"
For the first time...
A transparent window appeared before his eyes.
---
Searching Ledger...
No beginner Contract found.
Searching Administrator Archive...
Access Denied.
Searching Emergency Authority...
Permission Revoked.
---
Kael stared in disbelief
" Am about to die."
"...Seriously?"
Another window appeared.
---
Error.
Original Database Missing.
Attempting Recovery...
---
"...Recover faster!"
The Wraith lunged at him with increased speed
A chain wrapped around Kael's arm.
Pain exploded throughout his body.
He screamed as he was thrown across the platform.
His shoulder struck the stone floor.
Crack..Blood slipped from his head and spread beneath him.
The System continued.
---
Recovery Failed.
Searching Corrupted Memory Fragments...
---
"...Fragments?"
A final message appeared like a way of salvation..
---
Fragment Located.
Contract Found.
Incomplete.
---
Words began writing themselves across Kael's sight.
:Contract: Borrowed Momentum»
:Cost: One month of your lifespan.»
Kael's pupils shrank
"wait a minute.....One month?"
Aster watched silently.
He couldn't see the messages.
He only saw Kael lying on the ground in a terrible condition.
"Does his ledger consider him not useful?"
The Wraith approached slowly.
Time ticked as tension arose quietly
Its chains dragged across the stone.
Closer and Closer.
Aster sighed.
"What a waste."
Kael gritted his teeth.
"...I don't have a choice."
"I accept."
Though it may cause him a month lifespan subtraction, what is that compared to him surviving this nightmare he's in.
The System paused.
---
Processing...
---
Then...
Everything froze.
The screen flickered violently.
ERROR.
Debt Transfer Failed...
Searching Alternative Debtor...
---
Somewhere else
A man sitting alone in a hospital suddenly frowned.
Without warning...his hair became noticeably grayer and his body became extremely weak.
He looked around in confusion.
"...What just happened to me?"
....
Back in the Vestibule...
Kael felt no strange pull..nor weakness or pain as he had expected.
"Did it fail."
The System spoke once more.
---
Debt Successfully Redirected.
Host Cost: 0
---
"Does that mean success cause if so then...so do something damnit."
Just as he thought he had failed
"...Huh?"
The Contract lit up.
A silver symbol appeared beneath his feet.
For one moment... Time paused.
Kael moved.
It wasn't that he was faster or stronger.
Just that his body simply borrowed the momentum of the entire platform.
He crossed twenty meters in an instant.
Bypassing the wraith.
Aster's interest was piqued.
"Oh... finally decided to do something."
"But according to his profile it says contract...this doesn't look like contract, rather combat.
The Wraith never reacted or simply wasn't aware of what just happened.
A blur briefly appeared on his back.
Kael's fist came crashing into the rusted lock on its chest.
His fingers cracked..it felt numb
CRACK.
The lock slowly shattered.
The creature quietly dissolved as it came ...into countless black pages that drifted silently into the void.
The Trial has come to an end..
The Vestibule was back to it's usual silence.
Kael's chest rose and fell rapidly.
"...I actually won."
He couldn't believe it
He takes a step off the platform...when an unbearable weakness caught him...his legs suddenly gave way.
"Whoa."
But he caught himself before going out completely.
His entire body felt strangely empty and very weak, as though something had been taken from him.
Aster walked onto the platform, his cane tapping softly against the black stone.
"...Congratulations.
He gazed on the platform were a miracle had just happened .
Then back to kael.
"No beginner Debtor should have defeated a Wraith with a single Contract except they are glitches."
"How did you do it."
Kael looked down at his own hands.
"...I think.i just got lucky."
But deep inside his head..he was screaming
"What the hell..."
"Hmmm...Luck it is then , stand up."
"We still have somewhere to go."
.....
Deep inside the hidden Administrator System...
A single line quietly appeared.
Debt Transfer Successful.
Victim Identity: Unknown.
Outstanding Balance Updated.