The first thing Eitan noticed was the silence.
Not ordinary silence. Not the quiet of a room at night or the hush that came before dawn. This was something larger than that, something complete. It stretched in every direction without end, pressing against him until even his own breathing sounded strange.
He stood ankle-deep in black water.
No—when he looked down, the water barely moved around his feet at all. It reflected nothing. The surface was dark and still, as if it had never known wind. Above him hung a sky without stars, empty and endless.
Eitan turned slowly, eyes narrowing.
There was no shore.
No horizon worth trusting.
Only black water and that vast dead sky.
He stayed still for a moment, forcing himself to breathe evenly.
Then he said, "Where am I?"
A voice answered from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"In your mindscape."
Eitan's head lifted at once. "Who are you?"
For a moment, nothing replied.
Then the voice returned, calm and faintly amused.
"It does not matter who I am. What matters is what I can give you."
Eitan stared into the dark.
"That," he said after a pause, "definitely sounds like something a devil would say."
The voice gave a soft snort.
"Then tell me, mortal. Are you ready to make a deal with the devil?"
"No."
The answer came so easily that even the voice went quiet for a beat.
Eitan folded his arms. "I'm happy as I am."
The silence that followed felt almost offended.
Then the voice spoke again, slower this time.
"I can give you anything you want. Wealth. Power. Immortality. Authority beyond your species' imagination. Name it, and it may be yours."
Eitan let out a breath through his nose.
"Very generous," he said. "But no, thank you."
"You refuse too quickly."
"I'm sixteen, not stupid." He looked out over the black water, expression flat. "I may not know much about… this, whatever this is, but I know enough to understand that nothing comes for free."
Another soft sound from the darkness. Not quite a laugh. Not quite mockery.
"And what, exactly, do you think I would want from a puny mortal like you?"
Eitan's mouth moved a little.
"Good question. In that case, why don't we say goodbye now and never see each other again?"
The voice ignored that.
"Are you certain you want nothing?"
"Yes," Eitan said. Then he added, "Actually, no. I want to leave. Can you give me that?"
This time the voice laughed properly, though there was no warmth in it.
"Why should I?"
Eitan lifted a brow. "Didn't you just tell me you could give me anything?"
"You will return on your own when your mental energy is exhausted."
That made him pause.
"How long does that take?"
"An hour. Perhaps two."
Eitan looked up at the empty sky. "So we're stuck together for a while."
No answer.
He waited a second, then said, "I'm Eitan, by the way."
"I know."
"Of course you do." He nodded once. "Then why don't you introduce yourself?"
The voice went cool.
"You are not yet worthy of knowing my name."
That got an actual laugh out of him.
"Alright."
The dark water shifted once near his feet, though no wind touched it.
Eitan looked down, then back up. "You were in that pendant."
"Yes."
"Why?"
No answer.
He waited.
When none came, he asked, "Why were you in it?"
Still nothing.
The silence stretched long enough to become its own answer.
Eitan's eyes narrowed. "Why did you choose me?"
This time the voice responded.
"To form a covenant."
He repeated the word slowly. "A covenant."
"Yes."
"What kind of covenant?"
The voice seemed to straighten inside the dark itself, becoming subtly heavier.
"One that would make you my Herald."
Eitan did not speak at once.
Then, "And that means?"
"It means power," the voice said. "Power without measure, if you are worthy of bearing it."
He let that sit for a moment.
Then he asked the only question that mattered.
"And what would I have to do for you?"
A pause.
Then the answer came, simple and absolute.
"Conquer."
Eitan frowned. "Conquer what?"
"Everything."
That one word hung in the black silence between them.
Then Eitan shook his head.
"No."
The voice sharpened faintly. "You refuse too easily."
"I refuse because I'm not insane." He looked out across the starless sea, then back into the dark. "I have a good life. I have a happy family. I'm not interested in conquering anything, and I'm definitely not agreeing to something this absurd when I don't even know who—or what—you are."
Nothing answered him.
For a few seconds, only the silence remained.
Then the voice said, quieter now, "You are more stubborn than I expected."
"Yes."
That answer came quickly enough to make the voice go still again.
Somewhere in the darkness, something shifted.
At first Eitan thought it was the water.
Then cracks of pale light appeared in the sky above, thin and jagged, spreading across the black like fractures in glass.
He stepped back at once. "What is that?"
The whole mindscape trembled.
The water beneath his feet rippled for the first time.
Before he could say anything else, the unseen voice gave a sharp, contemptuous snort—and the spreading fractures halted. The trembling stopped. The sky sealed over as though nothing had touched it.
Eitan stared upward, then into the dark.
"What did you just do?"
The voice did not answer his question.
Instead, it said, colder now, "Why did you refuse?"
Eitan blinked. "What?"
"Countless beings would destroy themselves for the chance I offered you."
He almost smiled at that.
"Then go offer it to them."
The dark went still.
Then, slowly: "You think this is amusing."
"I think you're very pushy for someone claiming I should feel honored."
The voice exhaled in visible irritation now.
"You are an arrogant little mortal."
"And you," Eitan said, "sound exactly like every suspicious thing in every terrible story ever written."
The voice did not respond.
That only encouraged him.
"Let me guess. You're some ancient old man who died and escaped with his soul intact. Or some hidden supreme expert. Or maybe you're one of those beings who dump impossible trouble on a random person and call it destiny."
The silence darkened.
Eitan tilted his head slightly. "No? Then what are you?"
When the answer came, it was clipped.
"I am the spirit of that artifact."
He waited.
"And?"
"And the artifact grows stronger as its bearer expands his dominion. That is why I offered you covenant."
Eitan stared into the dark for a second.
Then his expression changed.
"Wait." He laughed softly, almost in disbelief. "An artifact spirit? A real one? What is this, one of those ridiculous stories where some absurd treasure gets fought over, space tears apart, and it lands in the wrong world?"
"Stop talking nonsense, mortal."
"Oh, this is incredible."
"Enough."
The single word cracked through the darkness hard enough to make the water stir.
Then the voice steadied itself and spoke again, smoother now.
"The terms are simple. Form a covenant with me. Become my Herald. Grow stronger. It is a rare opportunity for both of us."
Eitan's smile faded.
"Maybe," he said. "But how do I know any of what you're saying is true?"
The voice went silent.
He pressed on.
"I know nothing about magic. Nothing about artifacts. Nothing about covenants. For all I know, you could be lying through every word."
"You would know the truth of the bond once it is formed."
"That's convenient."
"It is reality."
"Maybe." Eitan looked out at the black sea. "I'm not saying no forever. But if I'm making any kind of contract with a thing hiding in my head, I have conditions."
The voice changed instantly.
"Tiny mortal. Do not push your luck."
That made him still.
The tone had become sharper, older, much less amused.
"Do you understand what is being placed before you? If you refuse, I may choose another."
Eitan's expression did not change.
"Then why don't you?"
Silence.
He waited.
When no answer came, he nodded once.
"That's what I thought."
The dark around him seemed to tighten.
"You overestimate yourself."
"Maybe. But if you could leave and choose someone else, I don't think you'd still be here trying this hard."
For the first time since the conversation began, the voice lost its smooth rhythm completely.
The silence that followed was not calm. It was restrained.
Then, very deliberately, it said, "What conditions?"
Eitan took a breath.
"First, everything you tell me has to be true. Not half-true. Not technically true. True."
The water around him stirred once.
"Second, I won't agree to anything that puts me or my family in danger."
By the end of that sentence, the air itself felt colder.
"And third," Eitan said, holding the darkness with a steadier gaze than he felt, "you tell me everything about your origin."
This time the answer came at once.
"No."
The black water shook under his feet.
"You are in no position to demand terms from me."
"Then there's no contract."
"You should be grateful for the chance I am offering."
"And you should find someone easier to fool."
The next silence felt dangerous.
When the voice spoke again, the calm was gone.
"Remain mortal forever, then, you ignorant fool."
The sky split open.
This time the fractures did not stop.
The black sea heaved beneath him. The darkness above shattered into violent lines of white and silver. The entire mindscape trembled like a world coming apart, and before Eitan could even fully react, the floor beneath his feet vanished.
For one sharp, terrible second, he felt himself hanging in empty ruin.
Then he fell into light.
---