“ACH!” Aurelius yelped, waking from his sleep.

  He felt his body strangely stiff and weak, as if his joints were made of rusted steel. And he could sense his mind echo in his brain, as if separated from his body somehow.

  “Am I dead?” He rapped, feeling his body with his hands to see if he was intact and alive, and proceeded to jerk his head side to side to take a survey of his surroundings.

  “Calm down.” Sage Yeltz growled.

  Aurelius quickly recognised the room that they were in to be her office at the commission, and the soft, cushioned surface he was on to be the office couch.

  And as he looked around, he caught Mr. Tona’s eyes, who proceeded to smile widely and wave at Aurelius without a care in the world.

  “I’ve already added an extra seal to the bloody clown called Pultris. You’re fine for now.” Sage Yeltz said, crossing her legs and spreading her arms against the couch.

  “Are you ok, Aurelius?” Seraphine asked from her position behind Sage Yeltz, clearly concerned for Aurelius’s health.

  “The little runt should be fine.” Sage Yeltz replied on his behalf, shooting a glare at Aurelius.

  “I- Why are you replying for me?” Aurelius asked indignantly, clenching and unclenching his fist to ‘sync’ his movements with his mind again.

  “I feel as if I’ve been in a coma for the last month!” Aurelius yelled out in horror, clutching at his hair only to find his grip strength slipping away from him.

  “You’ve only been knocked out for 3 hours at most.” Sage Yeltz scoffed, rolling her eyes in complete indifference.

  “...Ok, but why do I feel like shit right now?!” Aurelius questioned again, getting slightly annoyed by the vagueness of the situation.

  “You were temporarily affected by Pultris’s spell to make a marionette out of you.” Mr. Tona explained with a smile on his face.

  “A marionette?!” Seraphine asked on behalf of Aurelius, apparently having not been privy to the information.

  “BY PULTRIS? I thought he was SEALED!” Aurelius complained in horror. He now understood the reason for the stiffness of his body, and became terrified.

  Pultris had almost taken over his body entirely! The result of such a terrifying spell was bound to have messed him up badly. While it would likely not be painful, he was aware that wind magic like this could change his personality forever, or give severe mental trauma.

  Aurelius’s outburst led to Sage Yeltz scratching at her face a little, apparently a little bit embarrassed by what she was about to say.

  “My fault...You were weaker than I expected.” She said, avoiding Aurelius’s glare with a small cough.

  “You said it was SAFE!” Aurelius cried out, his hands shaking slightly at the thought of almost having had his identity eroded.

  “It should be, at least most of the time.” Mr. Tona interjected kindly.

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  “Pultris is still an angel, and an angel imbued with more humanity than most spirits.” He explained, shrugging slightly at Aurelius’s horrified expression.

  “An Angel? You made Aurelius sign a contract with an angel? Am I supposed to be hearing this?” Seraphine asked in confusion, cupping her ears shut in the process.

  “Yes, yes, I need you to stay. I was going to need to talk to you about this bloody headache anyway.” Sage Yeltz said irritably.

  “Koff. Continuing on, given his sealed state as well, he’s less concerned about following the strict interpretations of contracts. He isn’t incentivised to do that unlike most spirits, you see.” Mr. Tona continued.

  “...What?” Aurelius asked in confusion.

  “I’m getting there, kid.” Mr. Tona said, waving his hands impatiently.

  “His aim this time was to kill Seraphine.” He stated matter-of-factly, making Seraphine flinch in horror in her spot.

  Sylven popped out of her coat pocket, peering at Mr. Tona with a venomous glare.

  “Pultris has access to the second layer magic, ‘Debuff’, and he has developed a way to compel actions from those who hear his songs.”

  “And it seems that he was able to use the contract to compel you to make a contract with him. A contract to turn you into his marionette.”

  “This is probably interpretable as not being ‘harm’ to the contractor, meaning that if he succeeded, we would have needed to borrow a vow-breaker so that you would be freed from his control."

  “How the hell is that not harm?!” Aurelius cried out in horror.

  “Wind magic is really about the interpretation , kiddo. And you didn’t make a contract with Pultris at the Angelic level, which could have eliminated the problem. Contracts at the angelic level force compliance at a shared interpretation level, see.” Mr. Tona explained, taking out a cigarette from his cigarette case in the process.

  “Do not smoke in my office, you dementia ridden old man.” Sage Yeltz growled, glaring at Mr. Tona’s hands.

  Mr. Tona raised his arms in a surrender pose in response, and snapped his fingers.

  And with that, the cigarette in his hand was replaced with… chewing tobacco.

  “...But why did he suddenly try to take control over Aurelius?” Seraphine asked, judging Mr. Tona from the corner of her eyes.

  “Oh, it’s probably got to do with you.” Mr. Tona said, making Seraphine do a double take at the statement.

  “Me? What did I do?” She asked indignantly.

  “Well, you’re a woman, Seraphine. The little shit is the most mentally unstable misogynist in the world. We’re barely keeping him sane with magic right now, so it’s not surprising that the dam burst with you.” Sage Yeltz replied, rubbing her temple tiredly.

  “Misogynist?” Seraphine asked, staring at Aurelius strangely.

  “No, I clearly mean the angel.” Sage Yeltz interjected, snapping her fingers to summon a document, which she promptly tossed over to her.

  “You see, Runae Aethernalis was a user of abstract earth magic. Second layer like you are.” She explained.

  “She was actually one of the last few Royals who wielded magic before the full effect of the Rodric Charter took effect.”

  “I expected some amount of a breakdown in him if I pitted you against Aurelius, but clearly, Aurelius was not enough to keep him in line in any meaningful way.” She said, glaring at Aurelius.

  “How’s this my fault?!” Aurelius cried out haughtily, feeling temporarily immune to Sage Yeltz’s intimidation.

  “Well, Pultris is considerably restricted in his seals right now. And you, as a contractor, should have enforced your interpretation of the contract on him the moment he started acting strangely.” Mr. Tona said, winking at Aurelius to tease him.

  “How was I supposed to know that?!” Aurelius responded, at a loss for words.

  “You’re not. It’s usually subconscious for most mages. It’s just that you and him have a considerable difference in rank that makes it hard for you to impose yourself on him.” Sage Yeltz finished.

  Aurelius took a moment to process all of this.

  From what he was hearing, he concluded one thing. He wanted to nullify his contract with Pultris!

  “I know what you’re thinking, boy.” Sage Yeltz growled.

  “And I forbid it.” She spat.

  “Why would I not want to separate myself from an insane contract like this?!” Aurelius cried out, holding up his still shaking hands to show the fear that he was in.

  Sage Yeltz rubbed her eyes slightly in annoyance.

  “I need that contract to move onto your next loop as a ‘blueprint’.” She explained.

  “Blueprint for what?!” Aurelius asked, unconcerned about her words.

  “A blueprint for a soul-based brain box.”