The lighting was dim. The walls were old stone, streaked with rust and black. Casper opened his eyes slowly. The first thing he felt was the cold. Second were the chains on his wrists.
He lifted his head a little. The restraints were tight, fastened to a wall behind him. The body that had been clean and free of scars was now dressed in shabby gray clothes. Prisoner clothes.
He stared into the empty space before him, trying to understand what was happening. A long silence, then… he remembered.
'I woke up in the forest… my body was clean… my heart was beating…'
Then he heard slow, confident footsteps approaching. Casper raised his gaze towards the bars. Behind them, the first features of the newcomer appeared.
A man in his forties. Tall. Wearing a dark coat with iron-edged cuffs, like old military garb with a fantasy twist. His shoulders were covered with armor carved with a symbol Casper didn't know. His hair was short and gray. His eyes were sharp as a blade. His features were taut and unmoving, as if his face had been carved from stone.
The officer asked in a low voice, as someone who already knew what would be said:
"Where are you from?"
Casper stared at him, then said calmly:
"From a far place… you wouldn't know it even if I told you."
The officer didn't seem surprised. He raised an eyebrow slightly, as if the answer confirmed something he suspected.
He looked at Casper up and down, then said:
"You were found in the forest naked. There are no nearby villages, no roads to any important place…"
He stepped half a pace closer and continued in a low voice:
"You're not from this world… is that correct?"
Casper smiled with empty eyes:
"You said it yourself."
The officer continued in a firmer tone:
"Evil spirits… always come from distant places. This is not new."
He turned slightly, as if he's speaking to the wall rather than Casper, then added:
"Thousands of years ago, a witch known as the Amber Witch cast a great curse on this world. She said that all cursed souls from other realms would be pulled here by force… to be purified or destroyed."
His gaze returned to Casper.
"So I don't care where you came from. As long as you're here, you are subject to our laws."
He stepped closer, his hand in his pocket.
"There are only two choices. Execution…"
He paused for a second.
"Or… you are given a chance at atonement. We send some of you to the Black Knights, a unit that operates in cursed regions, where most of them die after the first mission."
He tilted his head slightly.
"But the few who survive… they find meaning in their existence. Or at least, they die with honor."
He looked straight into Casper's eyes.
"What choice will you take, you who came from death?"
Casper asked in a hoarse voice:
"And what kind of missions do you send them on?"
The officer answered:
"The Black Knights are sent to places that ordinary soldiers refuse to enter. Haunted ruins. Cursed islands. Abandoned cities inhabited only by evil beings."
"You will face creatures like the Nogra, embodied spirits that absorb memory before killing the body. Or the Firemotes, burnt corpses that feed on the screams around them. There are also the Grimachs, humanoid beings who feed on the livers of their enemies while those enemies are still live."
He was silent for a moment, then said:
"We don't send the Black Knights to win. We send them because we don't want to send anyone else."
Casper gave a sidelong smile, looked at the restraints on his wrists, then said in a calm tone:
"I will die anyway, won't I?"
He raised his eyes to the officer again.
"But if I am going to die… I'd prefer to die while killing someone!"
The officer sighed slowly, then said:
"Most who chose to join said something similar… but no one said it with that smile."
Casper tilted his head slightly.
"Then… I accept."
Before he could finish his sentence, the system window appeared again before him:
[⚠︎ New system activated]
Classification: Black Soul – [☠︎ Forbidden]
Access level: Unstable
Status: Linked to contract
Current rank: Recruit in the Black Knights unit
Next mission: Loading…
Casper raised his eyebrows slightly as he examined the details.
"Oh?"
The officer noticed his gaze and asked suspiciously:
"What wrong?"
Casper looked at him and said flatly:
"This panel? No one else sees it, right?"
The officer didn't understand.
"Panel? What panel?"
Casper blinked slowly, looked again at the words hanging in the air, and smiled to himself in a low voice as if he's speaking to something invisible:
"Nice… this game is getting more entertaining."
The officer advanced steadily toward Casper, opened the cell door, and bent down to take hold of the chain fixed to the wall. Calmly, he released the first restraint, then the second. The wrists were freed, but the handcuffs remained in place, hanging on the skin.
The officer grabbed Casper's wrist and pulled his hand upward, then hauled him to his feet.
"Stand. We have no time."
He dragged Casper down the corridor. The light was dim and the walls were damp.
Casper spoke in his usual quiet voice:
"I would prefer to walk without being dragged, but… fine. Everything here is temporary, right?"
The officer didn't reply and kept walking.
They entered the reception room. The light there was a pale blue. On one of the chairs sat the girl with silver hair tied in two buns. She came looking for work, not only to hand over Casper.
The officer didn't waste time. He spoke directly and stern:
"We will need someone to accompany Casper on his missions with the Black Knights. We made this assignment into a job opportunity for you. The pay is very good… millions per mission."
The girl's eyebrows rose. She hesitated, then exploded with anger:
"What? You're joking? That psycho tried to assault me before. How do you expect me to accompany him?"
Casper raised his face with complete indifference. His voice came out calm as if he's explaining something routine:
"I didn't try to harass you. I wanted to kill you."
Silence fell. The faces around froze. The girl's color drained. Her eyes shone with a mix of anger and fear.
"What?!"
She shouted, then reached out as if to come closer and clarify, but she stopped herself.
The officer sighed:
"There is no place for personal revenge here. This is a job offer. Our reports say you need the money and that you have the discipline required. This decision is not emotional."
Behind Casper's shoulder, the system panel flashed briefly and lines began to appear:
[Escort Contract]
Duration: Mission by mission
Pay: 3,000,000 cash per mission (advance paid upon acceptance)
Safety clause: Armed escort required to remain within mission bounds
The girl looked at the officer, then at Casper.
"For the money only?"
Casper smiled half a smile, then said:
"For whatever reason you choose. I'll be polite. Or maybe I won't."
The last remark worsened the situation. The girl pressed her lips together, then said in a low voice filled with restrained will:
"I will accept… to watch you. Not to trust you. And not to be near you for a moment."
The officer nodded, took out a small document from his pocket, and handed it to her:
"Sign here. Training starts tomorrow."
Before she put her signature, the girl looked at Casper with sharp eyes.
"If you try anything, don't forget that you are weak and possess no magic!"
Casper looked at her and said simply:
"I promise. It will be entertaining."
The officer removed the handcuffs from Casper's hand, then gave him a pen. Casper took the pen in his right hand with hesitation. He signed his name with a slanted handwriting, then looked at the girl who had signed before him, her hand dropped the pen on the table. For a moment he imagined how that hand would look while bleeding.
A faint smile appeared on his mouth. No one noticed. While the officer collected the papers from him, his eyes studied the man's neck, the precise angle where the vein beat clearly.
He whispered to himself in a barely audible voice:
"Oh… how I've missed the sound of stabbing."
Then he lifted his head slowly. One look was enough to freeze the air in the room. The madness that had slept inside him for minutes… began to wake again.
The officer gathered the papers and arranged them on the table, then motioned to a soldier to return Casper to the cell. But Casper didn't move. He remained seated, his head tilted slightly watching the pen that was still on the table.
The officer said coldly:
"Stand."
Casper raised his eyes to him. He reached for the pen, lifted it between his fingers, and spun it as if it were a small knife. The officer stepped forward and grabbed Casper's arm to stop him.
But at that moment, Casper smiled a small smile and whispered in a low voice as if he's sharing a secret:
"Do you know how many veins are in the neck?"
The officer froze.
Casper laughed a short laugh, then placed the pen on the table gently and said:
"Don't worry… not today."
As the two soldiers approached to take him, his face still bore that smile no one could tell was a threat or a postponed promise.
On his way out, Casper passed beside the girl. He stopped for a second, leaned close enough for her to feel his breath on her ear, and whispered slowly:
"People's hearts… they beat secrets more than their words."
Then he walked away without looking at her, leaving a heavy silence behind. The soldiers finally led him out of the room. As soon as the door closed, murmurs began among those present.
"Did you see his eyes? There was no humanity in them."
"I swear he smiled at me, the smile of a madman!"
Outside the building, the rain had started to fall. Casper watched the raindrops fall on his face.
He smiled lightly and said to himself:
"The rain… how much it resembles blood when it cools."
Their footsteps hit the wet asphalt. Inside him, Casper's mind rebuilt the scene slowly… imagining how he would drive the pen into the officer's neck, how blood would slide on the paper instead of ink, and how he would sign again, but this time with real blood.
He paused for a moment. The two soldiers turned to look at him. He said in an oddly calm voice:
"Funny, isn't it? How something that binds you… can sometimes feel like an embrace."
Then he continued walking, while his eyes shone with a gleam that was not from the rain… but from a strange idea born just then.