The Restored: Chapter Ten

Demonic Thrones, the demon equivalent to mortal archmages, fairy queens, archangels, and other such powers, were strange. They were called Thrones for a reason – they had literal, physical artifacts that represented their power, a complex weave of soulstuff that the person who possessed the throne could draw upon for power. 

I had seen the Throne of the Gambler through the illusions that Alyphize could project a handful of times, and I’d seen paintings of them during some of the courses I’d taken in school. Odril had projected memories of both the Throne that had spawned her, and the Throne of the Gambler as well. 

In all honesty, most of them were… Underwhelming. 

Oh, certainly, they were visually impressive. The Throne of the Gambler was made of gold, adorned with gemstones carved into the shape of dice, thin sheets of ivory carved to look like cards, and silver shaped into dueling blades. 

But none of the images I’d seen had conveyed the true depth of complex and powerful magic that they commanded, the thousands of deals needed to build up and coalesce the soulstuff together.

There was one thing that all of the Thrones I had seen had in common though: they were complete. 

The Throne in front of me wasn’t. 

The physical chair was completed, and it was beautiful. It was made of a dark, almost red colored wood, carved with elaborate patterns. Rather than using the pattern to hide spellforms, the spells had been highlighted as the design, transformed from simple runes and lines into a thing of beautiful complexity. There were elements of human magic, but also a great deal of demonic magic, and other parts that I didn’t entirely understand. ‘

The magic that was in the air around the Throne was clearly incomplete, but it was also beautiful. Thirteen circles of aura ringed the chair in dozens of interlocking circles, each one scripted delicately with intricate magic. Thousands of tiny orbs were hanging along the rings, and strands of spider silk thin aura ran from orb to orb, connecting them in a complex dance of power. 

Eleven of the rings were completely interlocked with the others, and were humming and pulsing with power, but the twelfth seemed to still be under construction, with some portions of it connected and buzzing, while other portions were dull, lacking orbs, lacking strings, or simply not humming with the same resonance as the rest of the construct. 

The thirteenth was a simple five pointed star, bounded by a containment circle, one of the oldest magical symbols in all of existence, but also one of the most potent. It drew power from the worlds around us to its five points, visible to the naked eye the moment it passed into the elaborate circles. The mortal and demon magic unified seamlessly, sinking into the Throne. 

The sight rivaled the complex spells that I had seen in Elucidate Labs, and it had presumably been created solely by the Contractor. 

Next to me, Jin was blinking as she took everything in, and Devi’s eyes darted from place to place wildly. She seemed almost afraid to blink, like if she missed out on anything, she would never forgive herself. 

“This is what is to become my Throne,” the Contractor said smoothly, walking into the ritual circle. “We should be able to talk freely here. If your employers or enemies are capable of piercing the weave of magic that lays around this room, then no magic short of the Eleven Thrones or Faerie Sovereigns will stop them.” 

“Why are you showing us this?” Jin asked, her tone bordering on accusatory. 

“Self-preservation,” the Contractor said flatly. “The wide scale damage that the Arenamaster and my wayward relative have managed thus far is dangerous already. If they fail, the damage to my Throne, and to me, would be immense. If they succeed…”

He traced one of the connections to a specific orb and plucked at it. 

“Well. The deal the Arenamaster brokered with me so long ago lacked some details, and it has taken me immense effort to unweave the damage she could cause. This is one of the few remaining strands that I have yet to clip. An approximation of a soul-forged link, tethering a swathe of claimed territory within the Wandering Path to–” 

“Wait, is the land actually claimed, or is it simply territory that she uses?” Devi interjected. The Contractor turned and tilted his head. 

“I am not certain. The Wandering Path’s magic is something that interested Alyphize, but I did not overmuch in learning the secrets of the dead realm. Does it matter?” 

“It matters a lot,” Devi said, shaking her head. “Claiming the land directly intermingles her aura with it, almost like a familiar bond, and it makes certain rules more flexible. There’s als–” 

She cut off abruptly, and I looked at her, only to see she hadn’t stopped at all. Her mouth was moving, but no sound came out. She sighed and shook her head, then spoke again, and this time, it was audible. 

“Sorry. Deals prevent me from saying too much about the empty realm’s magic,” she said. “Suffice it to say, there are a lot of differences, more than most realize.”

“I see,” the Contractor said. “I can say her aura is not interwoven with that realm in a manner akin to the Ligature’s transport system, but she does use it. Does this answer your question.” 

Devi’s eyes blazed with hope, and she nodded. 

“Then let’s cut to the heart of the matter,” Jin said. “What do you want for us to use it?” 

“I have done a great deal to unravel the deals and soulstuff knots that I share with the Arenamaster and my great-niece,” the Contractor said conversationally. “Unfortunately, it takes much more effort for me to undo a binding than it does to make it. Have you ever heard the story of the great knot?” 

I blinked, but nodded. 

“Sure, kind of. A djinn created a massive knot, infused with a great deal of their causal magic, and stated that whoever would unravel it would become king. A lot of people tried to untie it, but only made it tighter and more furled. Then one day a general came along, having fled his lands as the king had turned on him, and cut the knot in half with his sword. It apparently unraveled, and the guy went on to take the throne.” 

Though I had initially been confused at the seemingly abrupt shift in the conversation, by the time I finished, I knew where he was going. He was dancing around the point, probably in an attempt to keep his word and not break any of his contracts. 

Unlike fae, demons could lie. More relevantly, they could also break their contracts, but it cost them, and someone who operated under the title of the Contractor, and who wanted to create a Throne around the title would likely be a lot more bound than the average demon. 

“I will sever this connection for you, in exchange for letting us use it,” Devi said. “I can actually do you one better – I can completely rewrite that chunk of the Wandering Path.” 

My head whipped to her. As far as I knew, that was impossible – it was the reason so many people used it as a vault. 

“I would accept this,” the Contractor said, extending his hand. Devi shook it, and there was a flicker between them, then the Contractor smiled again, his confidence returning to him. 

“Wonderful. Take care to not damage the rest of my Throne. I am very near ascension. Take as much time as you need, but after it is done, please leave promptly. Now, you had a second reason for speaking to me?” 

Jin swallowed thickly and stepped up. I put my hand on her shoulder to steady her, and she took a breath before speaking up. 

“I want my bond severed. It was constructed similarly to the one that you made for Axel, and I don’t like my demon. He’s good with his battle skills and helping guide me, but he’s been trying to get me to kill people since I left the Arenamaster.” 

The Contractor’s smile grew wider as he watched her. 

“Why, I do believe that is doable,” he said. “I would be happy to, as a matter of fact, and to replace your demon with one of my own.” 

“I’m getting started while y’all talk about that,” Devi said, rolling up her sleeves to reveal the twining druidic tattoos covering her arms. The moment the Contractor nodded his assent, light began to build up around her arms as she pulled chalk from her pocket, and runes materialized over her eyes and fingers. 

“Why?” Jin asked. “A demon isn’t going to do something for nothing. Nobody does.” 

“I believe some demons of charity and hope would take great offense to that,” the Contractor said. “But you are correct that it is not in my nature. I will clarify. I am unwilling to untie the bond. It is too deep and too powerful, and unlike the bonds that I selected for my wayward niece while she operated within Elderglass, I did not create it.” 

“You selected Odril?” 

“I selected Odril, Keliathri, Lykilit, and Manijut, the demons for Mist, Zone, Deepwater, and Firefright,” the Contractor said mildly. “Interesting, is it not, that three quarters of my choices managed to turn on her before their death? Ah, well.”

“If you won’t unweave it, why break it?” Jin said, bowling over the discussion we were having. “It can’t be free or that much easier.” 

“It is not,” the Contractor agreed. “But in order to fully break one of the two-depth bonds like you and Axel have, the spell must either be unravelled, or the demon must die. I will take great pleasure in killing one of Alyphize’s selected demons, and giving you one of my own should help grow their power, your power, and my own, assisting me in improving my Throne. Furthermore, since you, Axel, and Devi –”

I noticed that he had shifted from calling us Mist and Egress to Axel and Devi, and mentally cursed myself for not noticing sooner. 

“Are all facing off against the Arenamaster, and I would like her to fail, then providing it benefits me. If you die, then my demon will still remain with me, and have gained a fractional amount of strength. It is a win-win for me to provide a bond. It will not be one of the deeper bonds, however, only a normal familiar compact.” 

I expected Jin to hesitate about sentencing her demon to death, but instead, her eyes flared red as he demon spoke through her. 

“If you think that you can take me, old failure of an Aspirant that you are, then you can try,” the voice rumbled. “I’ll break you like you broke your first attempt, then use the power to take this weak vessel and return to my mistress.” 

The Contractor's smile had a hint of mania as he clicked his fingers. 

“Well, let’s go. Devi, if you attempt to alter anything on the Throne other than our agreed upon deal, I will kill all of you.” 

He began walking up the stairs, and Jin’s eyes returned to normal as she began heading up behind him. I followed, and the Contractor led us to a large ritual room, filled with a complex circle. 

It was a massive pentacle, a five-pointed star bound by a circle. Within the central hexagon, a pentagram had been placed, its star completely unbound. The runes, sigils, lines, and circle were made of copper, inlaid into the floor, with threads of pewter, gold, and aluminium woven throughout. It had to have been expensive, since aluminium was difficult to create, worth almost as much as wood.  The entire setup made the back of my head itch slightly, as if a memory were attempting to unbury itself, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what. Obviously, it shared the same symbol as the Contractor’s Throne to be, but that wasn’t it…

The Contractor clicked his fingers and red light began to fill the demonic sigils on the floor, tracing from point to point. Power gushed from him, building quickly, and he turned to Jin. 

“All I need in order to begin is the name of your demon, dear girl.”