Chapter 19: Ch 19 - Contract With Demons

“Priority check!” Kente said.

“Sure.” Marke said. “Priority one: everything is great. Priority two: should be safe here in the starting cave. Priority three…” Marke rubbed his chin. It was completely smooth. “Do we always start clean shaven? What’s up with that?” He asked.

“Priority Three: Self Care.” Kente said. “We’ve just had a traumatic experience. We need… cake. Scanning for cake. No cake present, Captain. Next best thing, Tai Chi?” Kente was being silly, and Marke felt his emotions driving him to silly also.

“Yes, Tai Chi.” Marke stood up, ignoring the System box. He started to activate the Grace skill but it wasn’t there anymore. That was a bit of a letdown. He took a deep breath and focused on his movements. He slowly began his movements. He tried to capture the weightless mountain feeling that Grace had shown him in the prison cell. His body felt different from the last one and it unbalanced him. He repeated his movements a couple more times but it didn’t feel as good as it had in the last realm, even before using Grace.

“Ok, good enough.” Marke said. “I’m ready to do stuff. Priority four: basket weaving. No wait, I mean ‘Hobbies’.” He looked around the cave but it was empty and had a smooth floor with no stones for juggling. “Hmmm. Let’s come back to Priority four later. Priority five: System Breaking. Let’s go!” Kente cheered.

Marke tried to wave away the box but it didn’t work. He walked towards the exit with his hands slightly in front of his face. No invisible force blocked him and he left the cave. Turning around, he saw that the cave was in the side of a tan cliffside that stretched up higher than he could see. Around him, he saw a forest of thin brown trees. “Hey, you’re right. This is the brown world. I definitely didn’t expect to have repeat realms.”

“The box text is different though.” Kente said. “Maybe it’s a copy-cat realm. Should we go find those poisonous mushrooms again?”

Marke scratched the back of his head. “It would be pretty embarrassing if the realm creator didn’t fix the exact thing that broke the realm last time. They could have stopped me from leaving the cave without a name, that would have been the simplest fix.” He shrugged and walked into the forest, trying to follow the same path as in his first visit to the brown realm. As Marke walked, Kente kept up a chant of, “Badgers, badgers, badgers, mushroom, MUSHROOM,” which had Marke laughing and struggling to remember which way to go. He tripped on a tree root and scratched his hand. A box popped up.

> You have taken damage

>

> ERROR no status sheet

The realm shattered.

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Marke opened his eyes and screamed, “Kente!”

After a moment, Kente replied. “I’m here, I’m here. I got sucked back to the shadow sea, I’m fine.”

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Marke sighed in relief and then growled in frustration. “Sudden realm breaks are so stressful. We deserve breaks in between realms. QuARK could have a whole program of credits to exchange for snacks and things.” He sat up and looked around. He was in another cave. This cave was pale yellow, like vanilla pudding cups. “Priority check, I guess. You want to take this one, Kente?”

“Sure.” Kente said. “Priority one: we’re fine. Priority two: no visible dangers. Priority three: Do Tai Chi.” Kente had clearly rhymed on purpose.

Marke frowned. “I just did Tai Chi.”

“That was in a completely different realm and any physiological benefits got wiped away when you dropped into this new body. Just do however much feels right.” Kente spoke firmly but lightly. Marke supposed Kente was right. He stood and went through a few motions. This body felt different again, but the Tai Chi was familiar. All in all, Marke had to admit that Kente was right and he shouldn’t skip Self Care.

“Priority four: I don’t see straw or stones. We could check outside. Priority five: there’s no System box yet.” Kente finished the priority check.

“Status.” Marke said. Nothing happened. “Help. Menu. Skills. Traits. Inventory?” Marke tried a bunch of words, but there was no response from the System. “Ok, the System will let us know when it wants us, I suppose. Let’s go find some straw for a hat.” Marke walked into the tunnel that let out of the cave. A box popped up.

> Welcome, Hero, to Realm AC7A – presented by the College of Comparative Demonic Writings and made possible by a generous grant from � � � � � � Eighth Lord of Pain. Please try to experience as many tortures as possible—your feedback is important to our research.

“Uh.” Marke said. “Oh.” Kente said. Marke stepped back slowly. The box disappeared. He stepped forward and the box appeared again. He retreated back to the yellow cave.

“Not a great start, that.” Kente said.

“No kidding.” Marke said. “This entire realm could be in opposition to Priority One.” He paced around the cave. “Maybe there is another way out of the cave.” He said desperately. He walked over to the cave wall and pushed on it. He ran his hands over every surface in the cave but didn’t find anything. Discouraged, he turned back to the tunnel.

“Perhaps the torture isn’t mandatory.” Kente said hopefully.

The box appeared again as Marke entered the tunnel. He tried to wave it away or tap on it but it didn’t move or react. He ducked to go under it. It looked the same from the back side, not even mirrored. Marke continued down the tunnel until a second box appeared.

> Realm AC7A is also brought to you by donations from Holy Destroyer Xathanael, Secondary Adjunct to the Ministry of Sand Department of Labor Relations. Please avoid all torture in order to sabotage the demonic research.

Marke and Kente stared at the second box for several seconds.

“That’s the terrible state of scientific research these days.” Kente said. “Everything has to be political, no more ‘Knowledge for knowledge’s sake’ I tell ya.” Marke laughed so long and hard that tears rolled down his face. When he finally stopped, he took another deep breath and let it out as he ducked under the second box. A third box popped up near the end of the tunnel and filled it completely.

> By walking through this barrier, you accept our terms and conditions. Read terms and conditions? (y/n)

“Pretty sure we don’t want to sign a contract with demons.” Kente said helpfully.

Marke read the box a few times. “Did they not run this past some lawyers? This is an obvious gap in their legal protection.” Marke lay down on the ground and rolled through the System box. When he was sure he had moved completely beyond the box, he stood and walked out of the tunnel.