Contract with the Pretender
What the hell is this place.
Jin took a step forward. But there was no ground beneath him.
No, it was there, yet it wasn't. It wasn't there, yet it seemed to be. How was he supposed to describe this? Still, every time he moved his foot, faint concentric ripples spread beneath him, so something had to be there.
Jin looked around. There was no horizon, no skyline. No boundary separating heaven and earth. In this world where front and back, left and right were all ambiguous, everything shimmered with a mysterious hue. Like the rainbow sheen on the surface of a soap bubble. Beautiful, yet so fragile that the world itself might pop at the slightest touch.
[How did you get here.]
The unfamiliar voice echoed again. Jin's eyes narrowed. Where the hell was this voice coming from? If he could at least tell the direction, he could prepare, but it was drilling straight into his head. Naturally, his nerves sharpened on instinct.
"Alright, come out and talk. If we're gonna chat, at least show your face."
[My, my.]
A low chuckle. Right after, something blurred and rippled on one side of Jin's vision. Like ink slowly spreading across water, the presence that had gently melted into the world took on tangible form.
The next moment, as if it had always been there, a stranger walked toward him with steady steps. Beneath smoothly shining black hair, eyes of unfathomable depth glowed quietly.
"Done?"
The man asked. Looking at the approaching stranger, Jin's first thought was: This bastard—why the hell is he so damn handsome? An appearance that transcended the mortal realm. Jin the cherished one versus the man who got kicked every day. Jin the hundred-billionaire versus the man drowning in hundred-billion debt. The man would win every single comparison.
So Jin glanced at the stranger, then at his own lower body in turn. This... isn't mine better? It just doesn't listen, but when it works, it works. Well, it can't really, but still, just by existing, its value...
"No answer again. Hey."
Snap, snap. Jin snapped back to his senses at the sound of fingers snapping. At the same time, the man's bright face filled his vision.
"Wow, shit."
"......? What the hell. This bastard's got some nerve."
Maybe the gaze scanning his face up and down annoyed him. The man added in an irritated voice.
"Did you call me out just for this, human?"
"Huh?"
Jin frowned at the sudden "human" remark. Then, not long after, he naturally realized.
"Oh, what, you're not human?"
"...What? Calling me human? What kind of boneheaded..."
Even his shocked face was handsome. Jin thought, Well, a dragon-like face like that would never be granted to a human. Strictly speaking, it would be more natural to feel the otherness from the dreamy background behind the man, but whatever.
"So who are you?"
"I asked first. What are you? Who are you to appear out of nowhere without permission? Didn't your ancestors tell you? Loopholes only work once..."
The trailing words gradually faded. Before he knew it, the man's gaze had narrowed thinly.
"...You're not that guy's descendant."
"That guy?"
The moment Jin asked back with a puzzled face—
Thud.
The man's palm touched his chest. It was there without him realizing, radiating a terrible chill.
"......!"
When he instinctively tried to back away, it was already too late.
Crunch.
His heart contracted as if grabbed. It froze. A cold foreign sensation spread from his chest. Pure white frost began covering his skin like a glass membrane.
This crazy bastard? Jin gritted his teeth. At the same time—
There was a force that kicked the door open with a bang! Gwangyeom, the one who reacted fastest whenever trouble broke out.
Whoosh!
Flames surged against the chill constricting his heart. The frozen nerves came back to life as if burning. At the same time, a heat haze like summer distorted the air.
Whoosh!
Explosively rising steam. With fighting spirit blazing throughout his body, Jin clenched his fist. A palm snatched the air, translucent flames gathering like a whirlwind inside—
Thud. With a powerful kick, his fist shot straight forward and struck the man's face hard.
BOOM!!
With a roar, the man slid backward. Jin didn't stop. Kicking the ground, he closed the distance and was about to throw a follow-up when—
Snap.
With the sound of fingers snapping, everything suddenly stopped. The shockwave's wind, the hazy steam scattering like a mirage, even Jin's body reaching for the man's face.
"......!"
A cold sensation flowed down his spine. A chill that froze even his fingertips in place. Jin's eyes looked down. Before he knew it, his body stood rooted like a dynamic sculpture, completely frozen.
A sensation from behind that could be felt even if invisible. The cold didn't stop at freezing him—it continued endlessly, reaching the very end of the unseen world. Jin's face twisted sharply. One flashy snap of fingers and the world freezes? What kind of ridiculous scale was this? Did he mess with the wrong guy? Should he apologize now? But that bastard hit first. Don't they know throwing the first punch in Downtown means a fight? Don't know? So what.
Unable to lift a finger, only his freely moving eyes rolled around to grasp the situation. From afar, the man approached steadily.
"...Such pure heat. You were Solard's successor."
As he said that, he was stroking his chin. The next moment, his deep gaze captured Jin.
"Ask. Has Marjie been destroyed?"
Unfortunately, Jin couldn't answer. Even his lips were stuck together. Thus, only his angry gaze burned with his inner thoughts. Destroyed my ass. I! With the family head's wife! Yesterday too! Huh?! Ate together! Huh?! Chatted cozily! Huh?!
Thus, while Jin boasted about his unhearable friendship—perhaps sensing the master's crisis—three energies rose like wildfire against the irresistible force.
Crackle, crackle crackle!!
Starting with Jajeon baring its fangs with fierce momentum,
Whoosh!
Gwangyeom slowly melted the frozen body,
Whoosh!
Holy power surged from the center of his chest in the form of a staff, "Pull me out, master!"
The man's expression watching this changed moment by moment.
"......Zahad? No, wait, wasn't it Solard?! It is? Wait, what? Holy power? What is this?"
The man rubbed his eyes at the lineup hard to believe was embedded in one human's mind.
"What the hell are you..."
He was muttering in a stunned voice.
"Hey! You bastard!"
Jin, who finally succeeded in melting his face, shouted loudly.
"Acting like we're introducing ourselves then throwing the first punch?"
Then his freed right arm grabbed the hilt at his chest hard! And the holy staff. The sacred club he pulled out after a long time swung around in Jin's hand, cutting through the air. At that reckless trajectory, the man took a step back and opened his mouth.
"It's a spell allowed to Marjie's master. How did you get it?"
"How did I get it! Dude, my friends worked their asses off until mold grew on their heads to decipher it. Why?!"
"Decipher...?"
The man's expression turned strange. Then he slowly added.
"Do you even know where this place is?"
"No."
"......"
At the confident answer, the man closed his mouth.
Thus—
The standoff between Jin groaning as he melted his body and the man quietly watching him continued, resulting in—
Snap.
A clear sound rang out. At the same time, the ice binding Jin disappeared as if washed away. The moment Jin, who momentarily lost balance, jerked his head up—
"I am Prision."
The sudden self-introduction stopped Jin in his tracks.
"The frost that never melts through eternity, the witness of the frozen pact, and the rightful judge who will usurp the throne of extreme cold."
At the continued explanation, Jin's face went blank. Prision is Prision. Why is the explanation so long? But this was something Jin said because he didn't know. If there had been a spirit mage here, he might have immediately knelt and offered worship.
The Pretender, Prision. He was an existence on a different level from ordinary spirits, a powerful ice spirit who had long coveted the spirit king's throne. A being whose shadow even the most dedicated spirit mages couldn't step on in a lifetime—or, in Jin's analogy, like a legendary Pokémon.
Of course, Jin, who had no way of knowing such facts, just answered with a reluctant face.
"...Jin Evernight."
At that, Prision nodded.
"Introductions are done. So, deciphering?"
At the trailing words that seemed to ask for the details, Jin's brows furrowed slightly. When he was turning people into frozen humans just moments ago, and now talking. If it were up to his temper, he'd want to charge in, but... he'll endure for the sake of Bingbaek.
Thus, Jin suppressed his anger and began explaining. The Eternal Dawn was lost, and in the process of restoring it, many things happened, and somehow it led to here—the story continued haphazardly.
"...Well, that's roughly how it happened."
At the sentence with the period, Prision gathered his eyebrows neatly.
"I see."
After a low mutter, a calmer gaze turned to Jin.
"Now it's my turn. If you have questions, ask. I'll answer."
"Hmm."
At the cooperative attitude, Jin raised his eyebrows as if surprised. Then slowly opened his mouth.
"Alright. Then first question, where is this place anyway?"
"My domain."
"Who are you?"
"I told you. I am Prision. The frost that never melts through eternity..."
"No, not that. Your identity. What is your identity."
Perhaps unused to being interrupted. For a moment, Prision made a face as if chewing shit, then slowly opened his mouth.
"The frozen pact's..."
"No."
"The one who should usurp the throne of extreme cold..."
"Ah, really no sense."
"A spirit......"
Only then did Jin clap his hands.
"Ah, you were a spirit? No wonder, something felt off. But it's on a different dimension from what Cecil summons."
Amid the rudeness flowing as naturally as breathing, a vein popped on Prision's forehead, and the next question followed naturally.
"Then, are you the one who created the Eternal Dawn?"
"...No. I only made a contract."
"A contract, what kind?"
"I granted some of my spirituality in exchange for a fair price. He was qualified enough."
Prision recited only the main points without detailed explanation. So Jin had no choice but to ask the ambiguous parts himself.
"Fair price? Maybe life?"
"What do you think I am. It was only mana. What you call Ice Age. It was quite valuable power even to me."
"Ah."
Jin nodded, recalling that the one who created the Ice Age was a half-spirit.
"Question, then what is the incantation of the Eternal Dawn for?"
"What kind of monkey-like question..."
Prision, who momentarily made a stunned expression, soon sighed and said.
"Naturally, it's the activation word that opens the path to my domain. However, since the contract between Marjie and me was close to a loophole, I warned not to use it twice. And you opened it."
"Ah. So that's why it was lost?"
"......?"
"Next question, why is it a loophole?"
"The contract between spirit and human, the moment true names are revealed, they become subordinate to each other. That's the way of spirit mages. But since both I and Marjie's head were only using each other, it could only be a loophole."
At that, Jin scratched his cheek. He didn't know exactly what this meant, but let's move on. It didn't seem particularly important either.
"Alright. Questions end here."
Jin, finishing the Q&A time, naturally continued.
"You've heard too, but the Eternal Dawn has already been lost for a while, and Marjie needs a new Eternal Dawn. Good. You said you need Ice Age too, right? With Bingbaek's mana, it should definitely satisfy—"
"Impossible."
"Huh?"
At the unexpected answer, Jin tilted his head, and Prision calmly added.
"Double contracts cannot exist."
"What do you mean."
"Just because an item is lost doesn't mean the contract is void. The contract between me and Marjie is still valid, and the artifact's whereabouts have no influence on it."
Originally, a contract with a spirit is an act subordinate to causality. It is a solid bond and shackle, sometimes leading to unexpected endings. For example, the reason Hwajeong Agni, contracted with Thea, reacts to the Face Collector wearing her human skin mask.
"Then what should I do?"
"Find it."
"Huh?"
"Rather, if it had outlived its usefulness, we could have started over from the beginning. But looking at it, it seems that's not the case. Then there's no choice."
"Then can't you at least tell me the location? If it exchanged power using the Eternal Dawn as a medium, couldn't you specify the location?"
"Would a loophole be called a loophole for nothing? It blocked all such subordinate acts, that's why it's a loophole. I don't even know how far I need to explain."
"This is driving me crazy."
This doesn't work, that doesn't work either. When Jin was scratching his innocent back of the head in a situation with no answer in sight—
"This should be enough answers, so shall we slowly move on to the main point?"
At Prision's continued words, Jin tilted his head.
"What main point. Weren't you saying contracts can't be made."
"For the Marjie family, yes. But you're different, aren't you. Jin Evernight."
"What?"
"Although your ability to resonate with spirits seems messed up, well, I'll help with that much."
"What nonsense......Guh!"
Jin gritted his teeth, looking down at his chest that had been pierced at some point. While feeling vividly the process of the cold hand slowly gripping his heart, Prision spoke at eye level close enough for breath to touch.
"Then take care of me. One blessed with mana."
A cold smile without malice. At the same time, the world stretches like taffy. In the blink of an eye, a force like flowing water swallows Jin, and the vast world shrinks to a single point far away. Rapidly crushing vision, fading consciousness, in that chaotic scene, only the translucent window was particularly clear.
Contracted with the Pretender, Prision.