Chương 17: Contract. - part3

- Eat it, it will give you power... - After a few moments, Arthur held the little ball of white flame in his hand and asked. - If I eat this, am I giving you, my soul? - Arthur didn't refuse this time, he was tired. He wanted to get out of this dark space, he also wanted revenge on the demon who had destroyed his family, and he wanted to see his little sister, he was tired of refusing the demon's help, in fact, he didn't even know why he was refusing. From the moment the demon asked him if he wanted to avenge his mother, Arthur had wanted to accept, but something stopped him every time he thought about accepting; he didn't know why, but his entire being yearned to hurl that spherical flame as far and as fast as he could, and while he struggled between the conflicting desires of accepting and refusing the pact, the demon spoke again.

- Yes, but only after his death. - The demon remained silent without hastening Arthur's decision. Meanwhile Arthur brought the fruit closer and closer to his mouth as many images came into his mind, but the last images were his dead mother and his sister struggling to walk, then he remembered his mother's funeral which passed as images too, then he remembered his sister crying as she fell during rehabilitation; vivid images of what Cocabiel had done to him continued to swarm through Arthur's mind, and even though he was a little more mature than most children his age, he was still a young boy, and soon the suppressed anger began to intensify, pushing the desire to reject deeper and deeper.

Samantha, who was watching the memories and the demon trying to seduce Arthur, sighed, she looked at the little boy and felt a little sorry for everything he had been through and what he had been forced to see, Samantha's eyes held not only sadness, but also anger; looking at the place where she had expelled Zeus, she spoke. - Zeus, I understand you wanting to kill a potential student, but working with demons? - Samantha looked at the fallen boy, and at her hand on his forehead and sighed again, then she closed her eyes as she said. - I can't stand in the way of your choice, but I can at least make it fairer. - After saying this, a stream of colored flames danced around Samantha and wrapped around Arthur's body from the hand that was on his head.

Arthur was about to swallow the small fruit formed by white flames when he heard a different voice for the first time. - Arthur, don't you remember? There's something more important than just taking revenge... Don't you remember yourself anymore? - After hearing this question from the captivating voice, some images began to flash by, producing short clips of his own memories. The same scene he had seen earlier appeared again, but this time it showed another part of the same memory he had forgotten; he saw his mother's last breaths where there was a gentle smile on her face as she watched the little boy run with his sister in his arms and watching her lips he could see that her last words were "I love you", after a few seconds with his mother's smile appearing before him other images gradually appeared, first he saw his sister on the floor crying because she couldn't walk, but soon afterwards the image changed to his sister smiling at him after receiving a simple gift that he always bought with the money from some work he did, the most recent being the library, then the memories switched to his sister who was holding on to two handrails while struggling to take small steps, and as soon as she reached the end of the walkway she looked around as if searching for something and when her gaze landed on Arthur she smiled with the same genuine happiness that he saw in the fabricated image, then the memories showed the children of the orphanage happy when they ate the doughnuts bought by Arthur for the first time; similar memories continued to pass through Arthur's mind and the environment around him gradually changed, flames spread out and expelled the darkness that surrounded him, ignoring these changes he returned his gaze to the static image of him running with his little sister looking for a drone. Arthur was silent for a few seconds looking at this image before a smile appeared on his face and then he closed his eyes, when he reopened his eyes the environment changed again, and new images replaced the static image from before; he could see a younger version of himself inside a hospital with his head bandaged and a sling on his left arm, little Arthur was looking at his sister who was intubated and sleeping in the hospital bed, the little boy was sitting in a high chair and Sophie's little hand was holding two of his fingers. Watching this scene the anger boiled up inside Arthur again, but as soon as he looked at the face imprinted on the smaller version of himself he saw only a somewhat sad but gentle expression, there was no anger or hatred in his expression, remembering his promise Arthur's anger slowly softened and the smile that had disappeared from his face slowly returned; turning his attention to his memories again he saw his younger version place his free hand on Sophie's hand and make a promise. - Sophie, I promise I'll protect you... - It was a simple promise, and yet a few tears appeared on the little boy's face, but even with the tears his smile was still visible as he looked at his sister, so he said quietly. - Never again will a demon hurt you or be near you, not a demon, not someone possessed, I'll get rid of them all, your brother promises. - After his past version made his promise, the image froze again, and he was taken to the same space filled with darkness, but this time there were colored flames that created a kind of ground on which he could stand, then he began to walk on the flames while thinking.

- Do you want power? - Still lost in thought, he heard the demon's voice again, but this time it sounded much more aggressive than before.

Arthur didn't answer, he just looked at the ball of white flames in his hand and seemed to reflect something, after just a few moments he looked at the flames above his feet, then his expression showed a certain seriousness and anxiety as he threw the "fruit" in his hand as far away as possible and asked looking into the flames. - You... Are you that woman who showed up and wouldn't let Zeus kill me? - Arthur suddenly remembered everything that happened before all this began, before he was forced to watch his mother's last day, he remembered how a red-haired woman who had colored flames like these wrapped around her body saved him when she appeared and remembering the feeling of fear that she and Zeus transmitted that seemed much greater than Cocabiel's, he decided to ask.

- ...

The silence lasted for some time, and after almost a minute the tree of white flames was destroyed and in its place Samantha's image was projected by the flames, she then faced Arthur and spoke. - Yes, it was me who put you to sleep. I'm sorry, I didn't know what Zeus had done yet. - After saying this, she creates a kind of chair formed by flames, then the whole dark space begins to shake and as if it were made of glass, it shatters.

Upon the vanishing of the darkness, Samantha opened her eyes, withdrew her hand from Arthur's head, and rose to her feet. Shortly after, the boy awoke in a panic, sweating as he surveyed his surroundings.; he saw Samantha standing a few meters away from him with her right hand pointed at the ground, and right where she was pointing, surg colored flames had appeared like a sphere and expanded until they formed something similar to a throne, Samantha then sat up and faced Arthur who was also looking intently at her. They both stared at each other for a few moments, and as time went by Arthur's attention to Samantha only increased, while he watched with all possible attention the woman who managed to protect him from Zeus and then helped him not to be deceived by a demon, he couldn't help but be charmed by her appearance; Samantha had red hair and crimson eyes, she had a beautiful face despite her stoic expression at the moment, it was difficult to identify her body figure since she was wearing a dress made of flames of several different colors that made it impossible to understand her figure, Arthur was lost in thought as he stared at the flames that surrounded her like a dress for a few moments, after a little more than a minute he finally turned his face with an embarrassed countenance because he had been staring at Samantha for so long.

"This is already the second chapter where the last paragraph has disappeared when viewed on cell phones. To avoid this, I've decided to duplicate this message at the end of each chapter, hoping it will resolve the issue. If you're reading this, I apologize if it's intrusive, but it's a better solution than leaving the chapter incomplete."