Deal with the Devil

As Lyns used soul sense on his sword he once again saw the two ghost like souls of Tim and Karo chained to the vial. They floated and let out unhuman shrills, which Lyns miraculously could understand. He was bewildered by the fact that soul sense could allow him to listen to the souls imprisoned inside his sword. The smaller soul which belonged to Tim from time to time screamed at the bigger soul.

"You murderer!!!

You killed my sworn brothers; I am glad for the chance to haunt you; our imprisonment is a blessing in disguise. This is the only revenge I am capable of in this state.

YOU DEMON!!!

YOU SHAMEFUL ABOMINATION!!"

The face of Tim's soul was distorted by his rage. Lyns was taken back by the scene.

'This is madness, magic is truly mysterious.' – thought Lyns.

The Demon looked extremely annoyed.

"SHUT THE FUK UP TIM!!!

How many times do I have to tell you?!

Firstly, if not for this goddamn sword even with my whimsy soul I could erase your existence permanently.

Secondly, we will probably spend an eternity here so stop whining about those idiots of yours, it won't bring them back." -shrilled the bigger soul.

After venting his anger, the soul turned towards Lyns and said:

"Woaw-Woaw such a fast learner you are. You might really have huge potential if you could learn soul sense so fast after awakening."

"State your business demon." -said Lyns with a dead serious face. He was shocked by the turn of events but based on all the information he had it was easy to put the pieces together. Contrary to common knowledge demons were very intelligent and even as a soul he could possess valuable information to Lyns, just the fact that he was the previous owner of the place, made it worth talking to him. He had a lot of questions and he still had no idea about his own position inside this world of grey dirt. The only thing sure was that after some time he had to leave this underground base, because his food won't last more than a few months.

The soul of demon spoke with an odd humorous vibe:

"Someone is sure to be tactful, hehe…

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Karo, I used to be a Mage, but unfortunate events led to my demise and I had become what an average man would call a demon."

"My name is Lyns." - he interrupted the monologue of Karo.

"Okay Lyns...

You seem to be very straight forward, so I will immediately state my deal.

By chance when I was still a mage who entered a very particular community, I learned about the existence of some techniques where one can imbue a soul inside a magically tempered empty but still living body.

I bet you have already guessed what I want to ask.

Now for our deal to be equal I will provide you with my knowledge and with my experience which could be of extreme value for someone on the very beginning of their magehood."

Lyns's all instinct told him something was incredibly fishy with the things Karo offered and with the compensation he wanted. Lyns was not too experienced, but he had good instincts and more importantly he was not retarded. Why would he believe every word of a demon who he personally slayed? Ridiculous to think that someone with such an evil personality should not have their own feelings of revenge.

"So? What do you think, Lyns pal?

I say you should just let old man Karo take care of you and you will become an unparalleled mage in no time. Besides, I will be your most reliable ally because my cause is dependent on you." - said Karo with a tone which sounded like when a lovely grandfather gives advice to his grandson. The slyness of Karo sent down a shiver on Lyns's spine, he absolutely could not trust this wicked soul.

"DON'T YOU LISTEN TO HIM!!!

HE IS PURE EVIL HE ONLY BRINGS DEATH AND SUFFERING!!!

DESTROY HIS SOUL DESTROY HIS HOPES" -screamed Tim's soul in fury.

Lyns was glad to have Tim here as a harsh reminder about Karo's evil nature, besides, it was also hard to ignore Tim's screams that made the communication with Karo hard.

"I need more time to consider your offer Mr. Karo." -said Lyns with a tone that gave Karo high hopes

"Take your time. Take your time. It's a decision of great importance, you must consider it carefully, dear Lyns." -answered the smiling soul of Karo immediately. 'This guy is a goner, I can already perceive his indecisiveness, he will absolutely agree. If I play my cards right, I can make him fully dependent on my advice. He might really find me a soul embedding method and a body, worst case scenario I will take his body, I just have to lead him into cultivation problems which he can't solve without me.' – these were the evil thoughts that the plotting demon had.

With a carefree attitude Lyns just threw the sword in the corner like it was a piece of rubbish. He was annoyed and disgusted by Karo's attitude. 'Sick murdering demon bastard.' thought Lyns.

He felt a bit cornered by the fact that he really had to rely on Karo to get out the grey dirt dessert, hence he decided to spend some time gathering information from the books he had.

Two weeks passed like a moment for Lyns, he lacked experience and knowledge, but not talent. He absorbed everything he read, like a sponge absorbs water. He spent half of every day training the magic spells he learnt, the other half with sleeping and reading. Lyns could execute almost every basic spell.

He was truly mesmerized by the art of magic. He found it incredibly beautiful to manipulate the energies of his soul to change the elements around him. He could conjure fire and water from thin air and control them with great precision, he was able to manipulate the lights and shadows around himself as he wished.

Lyns learned firm control over the energies of his soul, and he learned how to manipulate and use the energies of the world. The basic spells he learned were not powerful, they were more like tools for better quality life. Since he could conjure fire and water with magic, Lyns was able to have some quality hot showers that made his mood better from day to day.

He was so engrossed in his studies, he almost forgot about the pressing matter of food, the only thing that reminded him was the ever-declining reserves he had on the wagon. His calculations showed that only thirteen days of rations were left, so he had to leave a maximum of seven days later to have enough food for his trip back to the civilized environment.

He decided to learn the easiest basic attacking spells in the next five days, after that he will negotiate with the sealed demon soul.

The way of attacking on the basic level of magic consisted of only a handful of things, Lyns had to inscribe runes on a magic conductor. He chose the Bluestone which he was familiar with, the runes had to be imbued with the energies that the caster wanted to use. The Bluestone amplified the power of the basic spells stored inside the runes. It was an easy-to-use method, with the only negative point being the material consumption. General low-level spells alone didn't have any destructive potential but amplified with this technique they were strong and deadly. With not so much time Lyns could only make about 10 blue runestone.

The time had come, Lyns was supposed to continue the negotiation with Karo. He once more time went through the questions he wanted to ask, and he resolved himself not to be deceived by the sweet words of the demon. He picked up the sword and checked it with soul sense.

The demon's soul welcomed him warmly:

"Welcome back master Lyns.

Have you decided to accept my deal and begin your journey as the disciple of the great mage Karo?"

"Yes, I am willing to be your disciple, the great demon Karo." -replied Lyns immediately with a smile that was not a smile.

The sudden turn of events made the demon startled; he had prepared for weeks to make a friendly indeclinable offer to the naive youngster, Lyns's fast reply made him speechless.

Lyns was not experienced, but exceptionally talented, he had made a plan which built upon keeping distance and maintaining a business-like attitude. The first part succeeded when Karo was caught in an unexpected situation. He could state his first questions now and the demon would perhaps answer them in its confused state.