The Contract

Aisha hesitated to take the first step towards the portal, and Damien proceeded to give her that push she needed to go forward. She felt herself guided through, and when they finally crossed safely to the other side, Aisha suddenly exhaled. She didn’t even notice she had been holding back her breath all this time.

The demon let go of Aisha, and the heels of his shoes clicked on the dark, tiled floor. She noted how fluid his motion was. If he weren’t a cunning demon, Aisha swore he would definitely be her type.

But he was a demon, so Aisha’s dream boy shouldn’t be someone like Damien. He was dangerous, and he wouldn’t flinch to kill if he had to. Why was she even thinking of that in the first place?

“Follow me,” Damien instructed her, “You will need to see the contract first and agree fully to its contents before signing. I don’t want to have you nagging me again in the future about tricking you.”

Aisha lagged behind as she took in the sudden shift of her environment. The fiery and damned streets of the city she traversed looked totally different from the grandeur of the place she treaded now. She wondered if this was the demon’s mansion.

The place was littered with sophisticated golden ornaments. Chandeliers with pretty crystals dangled above them, and the windows were stained glasses. Aisha looked behind her, and the portal slowly faded, leaving traces of tiny embers floating in the air as the symbols burned away.

She turned her head and a huge staircase that spiraled to the second floor greeted them. The banisters were of pure gold, while the carpet was plush and expensive-looking. The great hall was enormous, making her footsteps audibly echo louder as the heels of her boots clicked on the slick floor.

Her eyes darted all over until she noticed something dark lurking at the corners of the great hall. To some degree, the shadows looked like they were alive, moving from one place to another. She squinted her eyes and confirmed that it seems to be following her and Damien.

Aisha’s knees buckled, but she couldn’t tell if it was due to fear or more of a curiosity. Her eyes were fixated to the darkness. Voices began whispering in her head again, and she felt a certain pull towards the dark, but couldn’t think of any reason why.

What the heck were those shadows? Were they Damien’s magic? Or were they entirely something else out of his control? He didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps Damien just didn’t mind at all.

“Don’t lag behind, Aisha. Or else the darkness will eat you,” Damien warned her.

The voices stopped as soon as Aisha heard Damien’s voice. She was bewildered by the Harbinger’s warning, and she spun around with uneasiness in her heart. She almost reached out to him for comfort, but immediately withdrew her hand.

‘Why am I seeking comfort in a demon?’ she asked herself.

How unusual was it for her to feel a sense of dread, but at the same time, unconsciously reach out to him when something else scared her. Maybe it was because he saved her from those monsters. Was she having Stockholm Syndrome?

Aisha quickly followed Damien wherever he was leading her. Her eyes glanced back once in a while, and the shadow still lurked behind them. She shook her head and averted her attention to the Harbinger’s broad back, dismissing the fear that the shadows in his home gave her.

Aisha wondered what else lived in Damien’s abode. Perhaps they weren’t that threatening. Besides, what else could be more dangerous than a demon asking for your soul in a bet?

Eventually, Damien and Aisha arrived in his office. His table was littered left and right with papers left undone. Surprisingly, Aisha saw a modern device from the mess which resembled a laptop.

How seemingly weird. The house screamed extravagance of olden periods but then an object of modernity sat in a demon’s office. She admittedly did not see that one coming.

“Sit down,” Damien told her as an armchair materialized in front of his table with the wave of his hand.

Aisha sat gingerly, and the demon walked to his table. With a click of his fingers, the mess instantly cleared with only the important things left. A few papers, his laptop, and a quill.

Damien sat on his plush office chair and then leaned back. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Aisha was left confused about what she was supposed to do now. Did he suddenly fall asleep?

She fidgeted in her chair, making unnecessarily weird noises as she did so. After a few uncomfortably silent seconds, Damien opened his eyes and Aisha froze in the middle of crossing her legs. The demon regarded Aisha with great interest as he hummed and drummed his fingers.

The drumming put Aisha on edge until she couldn’t take the suspense anymore. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, stop that and just let me see the damn contract!” she burst out.

Damien stopped his drumming and a chuckle escaped from the depths of his throat. Aside from the girl’s peculiar existence, she also had some spicy kick to her attitude. The demon couldn’t help but become more invested in her.

“Alright,” Damien waved his hands and the laptop opened.

He began typing with seriousness for several minutes and then paused to recheck what he wrote. Damien nodded to himself, and then looked at Aisha. He clicked his fingers, and Aisha jumped in her seat as a scroll unexpectedly opened in front of her.

“Read it out loud,” he instructed her.

Aisha reached for the scroll and then began to pore over every single word written on it. She had thought it would be complicated, so as to confuse and trick her. But it was surprisingly simple with only three sections.

She cleared her throat, and then began reading the contract:

“One, the undersigned will have exactly one month to prove her worth to the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien, that she is worthy to return to the land of the living. The undersigned will prove her worth by serving him in the allotted month, showcasing her knowledge and skills as needed.

Two, the undersigned will live under the care of the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien, for the remainder of the trial period. If the undersigned hereby fails to prove her worth in the time allotted, the undersigned’s soul will serve for all eternity and be owned by the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien.

Three, the undersigned will serve the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien, as his assistant with Hell works. The undersigned’s scope will be housekeeping, paper works, and general wellbeing of the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien.

The undersigned hereby agrees to the three sections above, and surrender the undersigned’s soul to an eternity of servitude to the 4th Harbinger of Hell, Damien, should the undersigned not succeed with the said tasks above. If successful, the undersigned will return to the land of the living, unharmed and retain her identity.”

Aisha stopped reading and looked up to see Damien smiling with his dangerously playful piercing eyes. He leaned his elbow on the arm of his office chair and rested his chin on his palm. A quill floated towards Aisha, and Damien asked, “So what will it be, Aisha Yang? Will you gamble with me? Or would you rather be reborn as a lowly life form?”

Aisha gulped and took the quill, the point wavering above the paper. There were literally just millimeters left between her signing her soul off to the demon in front of her. Was she about to do the right thing?

It seemed like gambling with demons wasn’t such a good idea after all.