Chapter 136 Devil's Contract
Melissa walked into her room completely tired; she sunk into her bed immediately she reached her room. She didn't want to think about Margaret or Hance, all she wanted to do was just sleep. She'd been weary since the afternoon and using her Aura had sapped more of her strength away. She didn't know what she was thinking when she wanted to start interrogating Hance.
She wasn't a stranger to being mad but what had happened today was completely out of character, she was actually way calmer than that, and she cared for human feelings. Was she losing herself to all these pressures? Whatever it was though, she could think about it tomorrow. For now, she needed sleep.
"You are indeed a spoiled brat," she heard Richard say.
She glanced up a little as she felt him loosening up her shoes. She just imagined she hadn't changed from that large dress in the afternoon. She'd been stuck running a flight of dresses like Cinderella. She exhaled as Richard unbuckled her shoe and she shook her leg, so both fell off.
"Come sleep beside me," she said, in a grumbling tone.
"I can't sleep yet," he said, clearing the hair from her head, giving her a peck on the forehead.
"Why not?" She asked, though she was dozing off already, so the words came like a mumble. She didn't hear his reply or any other thing after that, she was already snoring softly. The breeze dulled her senses so bad that she slept like a log.
Her consciousness diffused and sank, the blankness of sleep morphing into an imaginary but vividly familiar realm. She was in the church again and the witch was sitting in front of her.
"We meet again," Melissa said this time with a smile.
"Have you found any information about my Clarissa?" She asked.
"Not yet, it is hard to find such info without knowing exactly who or what I am looking for, " she explained. She hadn't really been looking, there was nothing to look for per se. If she was going to find Clarissa, she would have to get rid of the Oracle once and for all.
"Ah," the witch smiled. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy," she exhaled.
Melissa looked at her, the witch felt awfully tired today, like she'd been going through lots of stress without a moment of sleep. She felt frail too, faint, like she wasn't really here. She wanted to speak but Diane spoke before her.
"We don't have much time today," she said. "I was telling you a story the last time we met. My story," she glanced up.
Melissa nodded. She remembered the story. Last time they had spoken about how they'd trusted a wolf and it had led to the demise of their population. She wanted to ask her then, how did the witches lose easily to just a single wolven attack? From what she'd heard about witches, they were literally forces of nature. Yet somehow half of them had died and were at the mercy of an ordinary werewolf.
Without voicing a word of concern, she let Diane continue. "Well after we were massacred, my daughter and I were captured and we were sealed in a prison for a while. Then the wolf came to us again and brought out a contract. We were to sign it with our blood, if we wanted to live." She looked at Melissa and smiled. Except it wasn't the kind of smile you make when things were going your way, it was a sad, solemn smile.
"We chose death, of course. We didn't need to read whatever that wolf wanted to do, he killed our people and thought he could scare us with death." She said. "I still regret not having signed that contract till this day, " she said.
"Why?" Melissa asked, a little anxious. "What happened next?" Her head was all over the place. She wanted to try and attach the story the witch was telling to any historical record she'd read so as to try and see if she could link them up. If she could, she would be able to gain more information by reading from the surrounding events. There was no way an event as big as this would happen that it wouldn't be recorded… At least that was that she thought.
"He took us to another dungeon and let us watch as a bunch of reapers he'd captured rip apart fifteen wolven kids- innocent kids, the eldest couldn't have been more than twelve. He then kept whispering in our ears. It is all your fault… you could have prevented this,"she paused, her voice came a little shaky. She sniffed.
"I realised it was indeed our fault. So I made him a deal. If he let my daughter go, I'd sign and help him. He accepted and I signed. Except, I didn't sign my own contract, I signed my daughter's. He'd switched up the contracts himself. And magical contracts were binding. It is only when the contractor breaks the signature or when its stipulations are met before it loses value," she exhaled. "I was since then put to sleep and I do not know how my daughter's been or anything."
Melissa squinted. "Wait, you mean you are still in captivity?" She asked.
"Yes," she replied.
"Then, how are you here?" She asked.
Diane smiled. "This is a part of my consciousness," the witch replied. "I was able to split my consciousness before being captured,"she said.
Melissa exhaled. She wasn't even surprised by what she said. She had seen a lot in the last couple of days to doubt anything. "So, your daughter is still working for them?"
"I hope,” she said with a frightened gaze.
"Time is up," the witch said at last. "We will meet again, I am sure of that," she said as the entire room crumbled into a void of blackness.
Melissa woke up with a start. It was morning already, she got off from her bed and decided to prepare for the day.