"Oh, I am happy to know that."
A commotion occurs outside the house with loud voices spreading, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", "Ohhhhhhhhhhh", "May I be blessssssssssssssssssssssssssed." and many other none sense things.
Jasper went into deep thought wondering if the villagers in Nether Ashes were all mad. Perhaps this shouting like monkeys was a daily routine for them. Since he believed a human would never shout like this, but he also knew humans were capable of anything, why couldn't they have gone crazy living far away from civilization?
" What's happening to your village, Rihan?"
" I don't know but it has the townsfolk excited. This is the second time I am encountering such a situation. "
Jasper was relieved knowing he was not in a crazy town. " Why did it happen the first time?"
" It was because of Rhea. Anyways I need to check out the commotion, so we will chat later."
Rihan immediately heads downstairs while Jasper decides to follow after him. He was curious about the cause of this commotion.
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The crowd had formed circles, one loop inside another observing something. Jasper couldn't find a way through the villagers without pushing them forcefully, but he wanted to avoid it because it would be impolite "
People kept saying," It's so cute, I want it."," No way, I want it.", and" How dare you try to take the property of this mister, I am from a very reputed family.", "So what? Scion of a filthy rich family, it doesn't give you the right to take everything."
Luckily, despite his looks and size, Rihan was popular in Nether Ashes and they made way for him. All Jasper had to do was follow the path he cleared.
When Jasper was at the last inner circle, just in the visible range of the commotion, he heard," Meah", "Meeeah", "Meaaaaah". He acted electrifyingly fast, pushing a few villagers before seeing it, the cause of the commotion. It was none other than his pet, the Lynx.
The villagers were trying to catch the Lynx, but it was too nimble and fast to catch it. Jasper wanted to stop this, he jumped right in front of the Lynx took it in his arms and cuddled it lovingly. This seemed to pause everyone present here.
Lynx was more precious to Jasper than the most precious treasure. The villagers with a single glance could tell Jasper was its owner. Still, there were a few people who wanted to fight to for it but were dissuaded by Rihan.
Rihan may have been a young boy but his position was special being the son of the village Cheiftan and possessing overwhelming strength. They didn't want to cross swords with him.
A man whose face was covered by his slanted hat curled his lips in satisfaction. He was touched by Jasper and Lynx's bond. The man pushed through the crowd approaching Jasper, " Have you contracted the pet young man?
Jasper was confused by the man's words, "What do you mean by 'Contracted'?"
The Contractor was surprised and was about to explain when a girl clad in black with dead eyes whooshes past the crowd. Before Jasper could react, she dragged him away to an isolated area.
Rhea stopped only they were very far away from the crowd of villagers, trying her best to hide from the villagers. It made Jasper think back on his conversation with Rihan.
She fidgeted a little before, "Uhm, how are you feeling?"
"I am surprised to still be living and breathing. Of course, I am feeling like the happiest person in this World or rather two Worlds, I should correct."
Rhea's eyes suddenly sparkle at the mention of two Worlds. She felt that Jasper was giving her a hint about another world existing but didn't ask further. He had his own thoughts for disclosing this information.
Rhea risked her life twice to save him. It's correct to say, he would be dead if not for her. If she wanted to know about Arcane World, then he would tell her everything he knew. Unfortunately, he didn't know much about the Arcane World.
Jasper remembered the ramblings of the man with a slanted hat, "One of the villagers talked about 'Contract'. Can you tell me more about it?"
"Contract Formation??!" Rhea was washed with a wave of anxiety as she tried to remember it. Her heart was scared about not being able to tell and Jasper realize she was only a former member of the village. Her fear of him finding out about the truth was completely overwhelm her.
"Rhea, it's ok. Don't worry I won't judge no matter what happens."
His words calmed her quickened breathing as she gained control of her emotions.
" Contract formation is a ritual held to form a life-bonding pact between a master and a pet. After this contract, the two beings can share each other consciousness and their skills with enough practice. But it's dangerous because even one mistake during the process can make you brain dead."
Jasper said with amazement, " This world of magic is truly a wonderful place, things only thought as a possibility seem to be easily attainable in this World. I want to form a contract with the Lynx very urgently. Although we are communicating through our own means, it takes a lot of time for us to understand each other, and the formation of a contract would make this problem disappear. The earlier we get to communicate with each other, the better coordination we will have in fighting."
Jennifer presented a stiff smile to Jasper. The truth was she had not been to the village for more than 5 years, so she barely remembered about the contract formation, the only reason she remembered was because she had come across it while travelling Beast Land.
"I will see to it."
"Thanks, also could you tell me about the other facilities in Nether Ashes??! I wouldn't want to miss a golden opportunity to increase my strength. "
"Nether Ashes have blacksmiths, alchemy and especially experts in making coats from beasts' fur. My suggestion would be to leave with at least 3 coats since you won't be to find any of this quality outside. "
A gust of wind alerted Jasper of another individual's arrival. He looked at the side recognizing the young boy, Rihan.
"Rihan, nice of you to come here. I was just chatting with your sist..." Jasper's words trail off as he senses the tension in the air. That's right Rhea had not been to Nether Ashes for more than 5 years and the one most hurt by this was her brother, Rihan. This was reflected in her behaviour as she avoided her younger brother's eyes due to embarrassment.
Now that both of them were meeting again, it was for the best to give some free time to both of them but Jasper had one another important question, this was the most important one he had to ask.
"Does Nether Ashes have a way to save a person from a comatose state due to unknown reasons?"
Both of them stare at Jasper urging him with their stares to continue. He realized they were definitely siblings, it was the way both of them looked at him. Immediately ready to help him.
Jasper begins his recount of all the recent occurrences he had to experience, to increase the credibility of what he was saying, he also showed them the photos in the camera. He excluded the bits of information he didn't want them to know but this was enough to explain the whole situation to them.
Rihan was at a loss but Rhea replied," I may have a way but for that, I need to look at this person in close proximity to be sure about it. If we use this method and it turns out to be the wrong medicine then it would lead to her demise, no doubt about that."
This made Jasper pause as he thought about the repercussion of what Rhea was asking but in the end, he decided to risk it," Ok, then hold my hand."
This seemed to embarrass Rhea a lot as she looked at his hand but didn't look interested to touch it. " C'mon just touch my hand. There is no other way to show it to you."
Rhea steels her nerves and faintly touches Jasper's hard hands which had been trained for years in martial arts, they were hard at first touch. Rihan also wanted to tag along with them but as if electricity passed through both of them, their consciousness travelled inside the ring. He touched Jasper's hand but there was no change, upon closer inspection he realized both of them were right now not inside their bodies but somewhere else.
This seemed to anger Rihan as he remembered many things about the past.
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