Chapter 5: Chapter 5 – The Overside

“Olympia can I ask you a question,” I say, poking my head through the door to her office.

 

“If it doesn’t have anything to do with your training go ask Bruno,” Olympia responds coldly.

 

“That’s exactly what I was going to ask about, but first, what is that weird helmet on your head?” I ask, suppressing laughter.

 

“It’s a computer. What’s your question?”

 

“Don’t computers have monitors and things like that?”

 

“Yeah, in the old days. It’s 6995, what do you need?”

 

“Well you told me Daedalus could help me make contracts and tame beasts, but you never told me how to make that happen.”

 

“Who is Daedalus?”

 

“My korat. I named him Daedalus,” I say. Olympia chuckles softly, shaking her head as she smiles.

 

“To form contracts, you must go to The Overside. To get there, you have to consume the saliva of your armament.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I had the exact same reaction when I learned this too, but it's the easiest and quickest way.” I make a face of disgust as Olympia activates her armament, revealing a huge feline as big as me. Its eyes of coal peer through my eye covering, its eleven tails making the large office room feel more like a cubicle. The cat’s canine teeth are like short swords while the rest look like spikes capable of splitting the air. The feline’s attention turns to Daedalus, who is meowing with as much intimidation as he could muster. The big cat responds with a roar loud enough to make trees run, knocking me off of my feet from pure surprise. Olympia whistles, grabbing the monster's attention. She holds her index finger out, the cat licking the tip once, before putting that same finger in her own mouth. “You do the same now,” She demands, wiping her brown finger on her long dress. I copy Olympia’s motions, bending down to Daedalus before holding my index finger in front of him. He stares at it intently before sinking his teeth into the tip of my finger, his paws wrapping around my wrist. I call out in pain, pushing him off of my arm, before sucking on the wound.

 

“I just needed the tongue you dickhead!” I scold. 

 

“Well that works for now. You just need your armament’s bodily fluid in your system, and his teeth are covered in his saliva, which went into your bloodstream,” Olympia laughs. The walls of the room fall into oblivion, melting away to an ocean blue scenery. A crowd of cyclops, orcs, golems, and giants sprint to our location, making me cower behind Olympia.

 

“Relax, they won’t bite, I think,” Olympia consoles, showing why she sucks at it with pride. “Here, your Daedalus works as a translator. Because you have his saliva in your system, you will be able to understand what the spirits say, but you still don’t speak the language, so he will translate for you. I’ll translate for you today though, so get from behind me and start negotiating.” Olympia grabs my arm and forces me in front of the crowd, a heavy blush invading my cheeks. I timidly inspect the audience, looking for anything that looks useful against Amelia. My prerequisites make me tunnel vision on golems, the stone behemoths looking more than capable of tanking bullets.

 

“How many can I make a contract with?” I ask Olympia, excitement creeping into my posture.

 

“Depends on which spirits you choose, and what they want in return for their service,” Olympia explains, smiling at my rising confidence. “I suggest getting one extremely strong spirit over eleven weaker spirits.”

 

“That might be the dumbest suggestion I’ve ever heard,” I retort.

 

“It would be in most cases, but against Amelia, any number of targets higher than one is all the same to her. She’ll be just as dominant if you throw every pupil in The Mesa all at once at her,” Olympia explains.

 

“How did you know I was preparing for Amelia?”

 

“I saw you reading Aku and Ame’s records. I love the kid, but Aku doesn’t require much of any strategy once you read his records, just dodge until his collarbone is open, but I know how clean and empty Amelia’s records are, and you seem more than capable of brute forcing your way through Chrome. Usually I wouldn’t help my pupils with choosing spirits to form contracts with, but given our unusual time crunch, the quicker you get back with Aku and Amelia. The quicker you climb the ranks, the quicker you can graduate, the quicker you can end the royal crybabies' temper tantrums. Go for the kitsune over in the distance, sitting on the log. She’ll help more than any of these spirits throwing themselves at you,” Olympia explains. She leads me through the crowd and to the girl she pointed out. She’s dressed in a bright yellow gi, her violet hair falling down to her four tails.

 

“It’s your lucky day, Sye. My pupil here wants to make a contract,” Olympia announces. The girl whips her head up, a smile twinkling on her face as she stares at Olympia in disbelief.

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“You’re quite familiar with her,” I say.

 

“Sye was the one who taught me the language of the spirits, and I taught her the language of the living in return. The only reason I don’t have a contract with her is because I can’t due to her terms,” Olympia explains.

 

“She can’t change her terms?” I ask.

 

“When you die while in battle, your soul is transported to The Overside in its purest form. A lot of the golems, orcs, and giants were all human when alive, but they saw themselves as giants, golems, and orcs because of their dominance in battle. Our terms are assigned to them based on how we fought,” The woman informs. She stands up, formally introducing herself. “My name is Sye, I was the longest serving warrior in the Unity dynasty. I entered the queen's army at nine years old, and died in battle at sixty four. The queen constantly commented on my youthful looks, which is why I have the same appearance I did when I was twenty here.”

 

“I’m The Wanderer, nice to meet you,” I respond. Olympia smacks me on the back of the head, rolling her eyes at my introduction.

 

“Introduce yourself properly,” She commands.

 

“My name is Mofu,” I spit out, holding the back of my head. Sye laughs at the interaction, only deepening my embarrassment.

 

“How many spirits do you have under contract, Mr. Wanderer,” Sye asks, wiping tears from her face.

 

“None. I was kinda hoping you’d be my first. What are your terms to form a contract?” I respond.

 

“If we form a contract, you forfeit forming a contract with any other spirits. On top of that, I want to be in your world at all times. I’ll still be under your command, but I don’t want to come back to this place, ever,” Sye says. I look at Olympia, unsure of the decision I should make.

 

“Spirits have their own talents and skills, but their strength is entirely dependent on the summoner. If you form a contract with Sye, she’ll grow with you much like Daedalus,” Olympia explains.

 

“But is it worth forfeiting the ability to form contracts with other spirits?” I ask.

 

“Sye at your level right now is better than every other spirit here at my level. Not only that, you can still tame beasts. Once you form the contract, it cannot be broken. Like I said, the only reason she isn’t with me is because I already had seven contracts by the time I found her,” Olympia coaches.

 

“Sye, if I form this contract with you, you’ll do ANYTHING I tell you to?” I ask, the idea seducing my decision making.

 

“That is correct,” Sye responds. 

 

“Sye was an assassin who was extremely well versed in the art of Modulation,” Olympia boasts.

 

“That would be so cool if I knew what Modulation was,” I respond sarcastically.

 

“Modulation is a forgotten technique pioneered by monks back in 3002. It slows projectiles coming towards you and makes them smaller. The better you are at it the more projectiles you can effect, and the more extreme you can make the effects,” Sye explains.

 

“How good were you?” I ask.

 

“I could’ve made the teachers smaller than dust particles,” Sye boasts.

 

“I accept the terms of your contract.”

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