One thing that had surprised me was how hot headed, and cocky this woman had been afterall she never did bind me to a single bit of magic. Hence why I was never truly worried about putting up the people of Middleton's lives as a bargaining tool. If I ended up losing I would just shoulder my own burden, but I would never drag someone else into my own problems. The only issues I had now would be keeping my mind busy enough so I didn't fall asleep right away.
I had to resist the temptations of falling asleep in this dimly lit cave, but with my eyelids falling over every few seconds this would be a hard task to accomplish. To keep my mind busy I decided to come up with a few golden rules that I would give to this demon when she wakes up. I would need to make my most important rule first since I needed a way to defend myself in case she could still attack her master unless ordered otherwise. The first rule would be simple: no killing me under any circumstance ever. The second rule would also be fairly simple: no killing yourself under any circumstance ever. This might have seemed kinda cruel depending on what situation she found herself in, but I figured we could hopefully come to an understanding one day.
The last golden rule I made I would need to carefully consider was that I wanted her to stop using dark magic that I knew most dark elves used. The problem with dark magic is that it heavily corrupted the users soul/mind, and turned them into what laid before me. Worst of all it lowered the users lifespan the more one used this type of magic the dark elves lived long lives naturally, but I didn't like the idea of dark magic. Dark magic was often suspected as being "pure evil", but Noland had always suspected differently; he says it may just be that it has been misused. Regardless of the reasoning behind dark magic being "dangerous" it was true that I would need to restrict this magic use in some way. I decided that for now the last golden rule would be: for now only use contract magic, or other elemental magic besides dark magic until I say otherwise.
I had been sitting here in the dark for at least an hour or so now, and finally I saw some signs of life from the woman. She opened her eyes, but before she could even process what was going on I stated boldly, "I order you to never harm me, or yourself no matter the circumstances, and to accompany me on my travels to the end." Wait I just said someone unnecessary I hope I didn't somehow bind us together forever, or something. I didn't wait for her to speak, "Furthermore I am restricting you to only use contract, and elemental magic for now, no dark magic again until I say otherwise." Finally I could relax. This time I gave one quiet order, "Finally I request that you carry me out of this cave towards Swinhal." My eyes grew heavy, and I collapsed mentally, and physically reaching my limit I laid out defenseless. I felt my limp body being pick up, and I slipped into an unconscious state in which I began to foundly dream of memories long passed.
The dream consisted of remembering when I was seven, and I had asked my grandpa why humans were considered so low on the social hierarchy. Grandpa explained to me that races that were considered higher up either were of hybrid origin, or had incredible magic that separated them from other races. I was down by this discovery since I knew that humans were incapable of using any magic, but grandpa cheered me up when he heard my concerns. Grandpa told me that humans could use multiple kinds of magic, and offered to show me one kid of magic that they could use. I didn't believe him, but right before my eyes he showed me magic I had never seen before. Grandpa took a pen, and seemingly made it float in his hands even turning it upside down to show me it was not moving. I was surprised as a kid, and even believed him for years, but I now know after learning the secret of the trick from Noland that it was just a trick. Despite knowing it was fake I still learned how to do some tricks since it had always fascinated me.
My dream was interrupted by being shaken over, and over I groggily opened my eyes to reveal that I had been carried on the woman's back just like I ordered. This made sense, but what didn't make sense was the scene overhead clear blue skies that were overhead. This should have been impossible since getting out of the cave system to the other side should have been another couple days away. From the looks of things it seems like we were well into Swinhal, and were headed towards one of the many towns. I spoke up, " I am up, but firstly before I say anything else I would like to exchange names since I don't want to just call you woman." The woman gave me a one word answer "Lilith." She didn't bother telling me her last name. I guess she figured that was not important oh well at least I had something to call her. I began speaking,"My name is Dante Freed, and my first order after waking up would be to take a break."
Lilith slowed to a halt, and put me down not saying a word she looked a bit dehydrated like she had been pushing herself. I asked her another question "Lilith how long have I been asleep to have slept through the entire cave to get here." Lilith stated, "you have only slept about a day master, but you told me to head towards Swinhal, so I was also unfortunately unable to take a break without your orders." From the look of it I seemed to have got a little more cooperation out of her. I answered back, "that was my mistake I forgot to be more specific when making orders, but don't worry I won't be making many more." I added on, "You don't have to call me master either, just Dante is fine. I would like for us to have a more friendly relationship." Lilith looking annoyed responded, "I will continue calling you master unless ordered otherwise, and I would prefer you not sulley my pride anymore our relationship is that of servant, and master."
In a serious tone she added, "The only thing I have to report is that the biggest town in Swinhal, Ribbuk is up about an hour ahead. I have no idea about your goals, so all I want to know is whether you would like to head there, or not." Lilith cleared her throat, "I also should tell you since I was unable to stop moving I was unable to secure water, but I fought plenty of monsters along the way which I gathered as both food, and to sell." It seems she was really determined never to associate herself with me beyond the basic essentials, but I was unruffled by her attitude. I still planned, and hoped that we could have a mutual relationship built on friendship. I said in a determined tone "I am not that strict. I would hope that in the future you will be yourself more, but I have heard your briefing on the situation, and I have decided that we will go to Ribbuk."
I started ahead on my own two feet. It seems that we will be at Ribbuk in less than two hours before that I have some more questions as we walk. On the way to Ribbuk we would need to refill our water supply, and eat something, so we would stop one more time once we found water. I would have to hope we found something on our way since it seemed that Lilith was rather drained I wondered if she could last until Ribbuk. I decided to discuss some geography with Lilith. I also figured I would let her in on my dream, and I would also like to know what she was doing on this continent for that matter. I started with, "Lilith this is a big world with six continents each with a different name, and history attached to them." Lilith said, " Master what is this about?" She seemed annoyed with my sudden conversation, but I continued, "I wanted to tell you about my dream since we will have a while till we reach Ribbuk."
Lilith didn't respond which I took as a sign to continue, "This continent Ainsgoath itself is my goal. I want to travel through it from start to finish, but I will not stop there. I plan on traveling the rest of the world too." Lilith sighed again, and said one word, "Naive." That hurt a bit, but I said "I understand the difficulties Ainsgoath alone may be the easier to travel, but is still filled with many uncertainties, and no place on Earth ever welcomes humans." Lilith said in a depressed tone "I knew by the name Freed that travelling with you would never be easy, and I have already cursed my bad luck for running into you in the first place." I tried to protest, but was interrupted "When I look at you I am filled with nothing but disgust because you remind me of myself when I was a much younger woman. When I was younger I had heard stories of a man named Fredrick Freed, a human that had even surprised the gods." Lilith paused for a second but then stated, "Those stories I would hear inspired me to improve my magic, but my own magic betrayed me, and made me lose sight of myself."
She glared at me, "Truth be told I came to this continent looking to clear my head, and instead I took out my frustrations on others, but since we are now contracted I have a different goal." I interjected, "What kind of goal do you have? I hope it's nothing that you will regret." She pointed a finger at me, "Master Dante I will travel with you, and learn as much magic as I can, but if you dare slow me down I will then focus on how to break this contract magic." I decided she was back to herself, and smiled, "Glad to see you haven't given up on your dreams Lilith, and as long as you feel this way I will help anyway I can." She blushed, but quickly made a stern face again, "Master there is water up ahead we can make a quick stop for food, and refill our water."