Over Vince's half-transformed, twitching body stood Adam and Jasper.
Deal? Another deal? Anything to live!
Back in his body, Vince was still in pain. Struggling, he tried to speak.
"P-P-Please… y-yes, I want to make a deal!"
His voice was haunting and raspy.
Vince tried to reach out his hand.
SLAP!
Adam quickly slapped it away. He bent over toward Vince's ear, his voice quiet but calm.
"Wait, wait, Salomon. We can't make a deal like this with no effects."
Adam chuckled, patting down his hands, then raised his voice.
"Salomon! The deal we'll take is this: I'll help you turn back into a human, not this horrible monster. But if I help you, you'll be bound to me. Who you are as a human will be even worse, like dirt on my boot. You'll do anything under my command, helping with tasks, killing if needed. But with that, you'll be welcomed into The Darken Ages!"
The Darken Ages? Vince thought, but Adam's voice cut him off.
"Oh, and we're not finished. The good news is that you can be human again and won't be a loose monster. You'll even be a Stacker. But since you disrespected The First Coming, any artifact you try to use or anything supernatural will be much worse than for a normal person. Using a spell or artifact will make your brain run wild, almost turn to mush, and in some cases be fatal. So be wise."
What… Are we serious? What kind of deal is this? Vince's thoughts burned. To go back to being human I have to be a slave to this guy! I don't want to be weak again! But I need to go back to Earth. I need to find out more about my father. I need to know about the other world I came from. I need to remember more about myself from my original Earth. Was I always meant to be useless? Was I always meant to be nothing? Was I truly a worm to begin with? No…
Images of his old world flashed in his mind, his childhood, reading before he took the drug. But one word echoed louder than everything else.
Human.
Human.
Human.
Adam already had his hand out for a shake, a pleading smile on his face. His brown eyes shone as his blond and brown hair glinted like light.
Vince hesitated for a second, then reached out his weak, fragile arm. He finally shook on it.
A huge grin appeared on Adam's face.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black lining of chains, half transparent.
Then Jasper reached into his pocket and tossed Adam a hand-written spell.
The spell was on a faded white piece of paper. Its field was plain but filled with black ink. In the center stood the drawing of a man and a woman.
The man was tall, floating in the air, screaming in pain. In the middle of his chest was a Stacker-like shape: one line connected to a cube, then another line to another cube, repeating like this five times. Next to him, the woman held his hand with the same symbol on her chest.
Both looked up at the sky. More ink bled upward, portraying a being in the air the humans could not see.
Adam quickly snatched the spell. He bent down, ripped one of Vince's hairs and then—
SNIPPPPPP!
Adam slid his fingers against Vince's skin and tore a chunk of his cheek as if it were paper.
Blood poured out as Vince tried to scream for help but couldn't.
Adam placed both the piece of skin and the hair onto the spell. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief.
With pride and order in his voice, Adam spoke:
"Please, mighty First Coming, forgive the unfathomable sins this man has done. My lord First Coming, wash him away and give him another chance as we grieve underneath our watch!"
The hand-spell began to glow white. As soon as it did, Adam placed the handkerchief over his head and over Vince, then brought the paper close to his lips.
The paper started to expand, glowing white. As soon as Adam let go, it began to float.
Vince's body started to twitch rapidly.
"First step is done!"
While the paper floated in the air, Adam grabbed the ghostlike chain and held it above the handkerchief.
Cold air burst against Adam; dirt and leaves began to spin around him.
Then Adam's eyes went blank and his skin went pale.
Another figure, identical to Adam but transparent, rose out of his body. This ghostlike Adam glowed faintly white at the edges.
In this ghost state, Adam floated above his real body.
He grabbed the chain hovering over his body's head and held it tightly.
Slowly, Adam drifted toward Vince's body. He lowered the chain to Vince's chest.
Vince's eyes shot open as he felt something stabbing into him, his soul being bound.
Then Vince's vision went black.