Contracts of the Fallen

Reunited with the past

"You can stay longer if you need to" Henry urged. I was at the door of 'Clairvoyance' early the next day, with a bag full of enough food to outlast my lifetime. The family had given me almost all of their leftovers. I also had a friendship brace made of wool wrapped around my wrist from Grace. It was black and blue.

"I've already caused enough trouble, plus I have to meet up with someone today" I grinned. William was welling up with tears, and Henry was nodding solemnly. Grace was holding my hand tightly, her eyes icy. I lowered myself to her and cupped her cheeks.

"Thank you for being so wonderful Grace. You're a star" I said softly, kissing her cheek. She looked like she might cry. She held my hands on her cheeks. 

"Stay," She said. Her voice was high-pitched and gentle. 

"I'll come to visit, I promise" I grinned, picking her up and handing her over to William. "Thank you. Please tell Elizabeth I hope she feels better soon" The family nodded solemnly. You'd think I was going off to the war. 

"Bye!" I called, running down the street. I turned to suddenly see Elizabeth peeking through a gap in the upstairs curtain. I waved at her happily, before she vanished. I turned and started to head down the staircase. William had given me a hooded cloak to wear, just so I didn't get recognized. I needed to leave this place without any suspicion. 

I arrived at the gates with no issues, and the guard wiped away my stamp as I left. I'm guessing it would reset next time I visited then, if ever. I started running out into the fields, past the queue of waiting visitors and carts. My plan now was to find Alice, as I had no idea what to do next. She had told me she'd never see me again, but I wanted to try anyway, as I had no other goals now. The scroll had come up as blank every time I'd looked since yesterday. I hurried along the path, recognizing the archway of trees I'd passed through with William and Henry. They'd said It would've taken me 2 hours to reach Frosa from where I'd started. I just needed to pick up the pace and get back to that spot as soon as possible.

"Oh wow, you're alive" A smug voice chuckled. I'd blinked. And when my eyes had opened again, I was inside the forest. For a moment or two, my brain just stopped. The forest I'd arrived in.

"Livius!" I exclaimed, turning around the see the small body floating in front of me. 

"I'm honestly surprised you've survived this long, let alone complete the contract" He leaned close to me and smiled. "You want to know what to do next right?"

"Yes! Have I done what was needed? Can I go home?" I asked feverishly.

"Already?" Livius chuckled " You've got a lot more work to do until then." 

"But, the scroll comes up blank when I look at it" I retorted.

"You get a night to recover," Livius sighed "Did Allison not explain that?". I shook my head as he suddenly pulled some shrubbery aside. The Band Stand I'd initially met Alice on was behind the leaves. I ran forward in excitement, but nobody was there. 

"Where-" I began.

"She's in a congregation, she won't return for some time," Livius said, lowering himself to the ground. "But I can answer your questions. You get five because I'm very busy. Go"

"Um... How many contracts are there overall?" I asked instantly.

"I can't say. More than five at least" He answered.

"When I held Elias- I mean the first contract's hand, I saw a hellish world and their head decapitated. What was that?" I asked.

"You saw a vision of his death. It was showing you how he was going to die if you'd done nothing. It's supposed to give you hints" Livius said with boredom, checking his nails.