Damn The Author

I didn't say anything at first and just stared at him.

This trembling little idiot who once swore he was the "incarnation of satan" now clung to my shirt like a kicked kitten. 

His claws weren't even threatening anymore. They were shaking. And I hated how real that felt.

His small hands were clenched in the fabric over my chest like he was afraid I'd vanish the moment he blinked.

"Hah…"

My fingers hovered in the air for a second. Then I let out a long, quiet breath and placed my hand on his tiny back.

"Alright," I murmured. "That's enough, Nyx. I'm not sealing you."

His grip didn't loosen. 

So I leaned down as I wrapped one arm beneath him and the other around his back, and picked him up.

He stiffened at first, too proud to be comforted and too hurt not to want it.

"You hear me?" I whispered as I placed him in my lap. "I'm not abandoning you."

His breath hitched.

"I don't care if you're a glorified cat with an ego the size of a kingdom and the sleep schedule of a sloth. You're my summon, Nyx. My partner. My—"

My voice got caught. Why was it suddenly harder to speak? Suddenly, the vows I made came into my mind, yet I spoke.

"—my family."

The word fell out of my mouth.

His claws slowly retracted as I felt his weight shift. He didn't say anything.

The tiny exhale of air he did against my neck said enough.

I lowered myself onto a rock near the cliff edge while the grimoire still glowed faintly beside us. 

I looked out at the horizon at the setting sun. 

"You know," I muttered, staring into the distance, "people like us don't get things easy. No divine fate, no golden prophecy. Just a pile of shattered pieces and a prayer that one day, they'll form something that looks like a life."

I glanced down at him as his tail wrapped around my wrist. It was a little trembling loop of fur and warmth.

"I don't know what's coming next," I said quietly. "But I promise you this, whatever happens, you're not getting left behind."

He asked me in a muffled voice. "You sure?"

I smiled faintly. "Dead sure."

Feeling relieved, he finally tilted his head up, just enough to meet my eyes.

"…Can I still burn your socks?"

"Only the ugly ones."

"That's all of them."

I snorted. "Fair."

For a few moments, we just sat there—me, him, and the wind that carried no judgment. And in that moment, something in me shifted.

The vow I would make wouldn't just be about strength. It wouldn't be about power, or hiding hearts, or deceiving empires.

It would be for him too.

Nyx dozed off in my arms, his breath warm against the side of my neck. It felt light and fragile.

But I couldn't stay still forever.

The grimoire pulsed once beside me. The wind that had held no judgment before now whispered questions I could almost hear.

I slowly set Nyx down on the rock beside me, trying my best not to wake him. His tail uncoiled from my wrist with a reluctant flick, and he curled inward like a child afraid of the cold.

My hand lingered on his head for a second before I stood up.

The Card of Heavenly Vow was still active, its golden script humming across the open page, soft and terrible like a hymn no one dared to sing aloud. The air around it shimmered like a heatwave.

I stepped forward and placed both hands on the open grimoire.

Golden chains slithered from its pages—Enkidu's threads. I could feel the breath of the divine force curling around me.

"I call upon the Card of Heavenly Vow," I whispered, low and steady. "Let the pact be forged."

The world stilled around me. Even the wind stopped as I closed my eyes. The golden page glowed with a bright light before me.

It was no longer enough to speak. Some vows demanded more than breath.

They demanded blood.

I reached into my coat and unsheathed a small dagger kept in my inner pocket.

Without hesitation, I turned my palm upward, and with one clean pull, I dragged the blade across my palm.

'Ugh.'

The pain came as soon as the blood started trickling. It was warm and crimson.

The grimoire responded instantly. The golden page flared with anticipation, as if it had been starving for this.

I dipped my finger into the blood.

And wrote.

Right there on the empty space of the golden page of the grimoire, I etched my will into reality.

Letter by letter, I wrote in ancient script that I didn't remember learning. But somehow I knew instinctively.

Each symbol burned red against the glowing page, like liquid fire forging truth from pain.

Hide the left heart that holds my summoning grimoire,

From everyone until I say. No one should be able to detect it.

But I would be able to use it, but no rings will be formed above my head. 

I dipped my finger again. My blood smeared across the page, but the page drank it and accepted it.

The script shimmered half-complete.

The cost I had to pay still remained.

So I wrote again.

In return, I vow, for each day this heart is hidden,

I will age by two days.

The letters disappeared as if it was saying this much wasn't enough. So I wrote again:

I will age by three days.

It got erased again. This much wasn't enough as well.

I will age by four days.

'Finally,' I thought, thinking it might work again. Yet the text got erased. 

It asked more of my life, and so I gave.

 I will age five times faster for as long as my second heart is undetectable.

The final character took longer to carve as my hand trembled slightly. The card accepted my sacrifice.

"hah…"

I took a final breath and wrote the seal.

So let it be written. So let it be chained.

The blood ignited in light.

The letters on the page burned gold, swallowing the crimson until they shone like they had been written by the sun itself. The words floated off the page, curling upward into the air, and then—

Straight into my chest.

I staggered back as the divine chains erupted from the grimoire and wrapped around my left heart. They held it tightly, protecting it from any detection.

I felt it as if my time was being devoured five times faster now.

The vow was written as the grimoire closed.

I looked down at my hand. The cut had already closed. The grimoire had taken its price in full.

Behind me, Nyx stirred awake again, sensing the divine discharge. His ears perked up, his eyes scanning me with slow, dawning realization.

"…You really did it?"

I nodded as my voice came quietly. "It's done."

He looked at the blood-streaked grimoire, the lingering shimmer in the air, and then at my face.

He asked with hesitation, "Was it worth it?"

I looked at him and gave a crooked smile.

"This is the only way."