A soul for a soul, untouched by blight,
With power to cheat the darkest might.
The price of power, the soul must pay,
Speak the name, summon, and it will obey.
Suddenly, Lucian found himself sitting face to face with… himself?
"This, I believe, is the first time we've formally met," the figure said with a bow. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Lucian."
The entity that looked exactly like Lucian smirked, then added as if sharing a joke with himself, "But to separate us, you may address me as… hmm… Lucifer. No, that's a name associated with failure, isn't it? That guy ended up in hell. And I'm here to bring hope to a world of despair, not the reverse. How about 'The Traveller'? A traveller from another world, here to save this one." The Traveller chuckled lightly at his own words.
"No… What are you?" Lucian cried out, panic rising as he tried to move—but his body refused to obey.
"I am you, of course," the Traveller said cheerfully. "You summoned me, and the price is you. A soul for a soul—yours for mine."
Lucian struggled against the invisible force holding him still. "No!"
The Traveller gestured with a slight bow, releasing Lucian from his paralysis. Lucian scrambled to move, only to freeze in horror as he looked down at himself. He was translucent, like a ghost. His hand passed through the chair when he reached for it. The realisation dawned, "No, no! That's my body!"
In desperation, Lucian lunged at the Traveller, trying to reclaim his stolen form, but with a snap of the Traveller's fingers, Lucian was held in place once again.
"Calm down," the Traveller said, amused. "No need for all the theatrics. It's not as if I'm the devil. The body is mine now. This is the price you paid for the greatest magic. You've given up your rights to your body and soul in exchange for the power to cheat the price of magic. And you are only visible to me."
To demonstrate his control, the Traveller waved his hand, and Lucian's ghostly form was forced into a standing position. Another flick of the Traveller's finger, and Lucian found himself spinning and flipping through the air like a puppet on a string.
"Stop! Stop this!" Lucian shouted as he helplessly performed a series of backflips.
The Traveller stopped and laughed. "You're quite the dancer! Now you see, don't you? You're completely under my control. I have total power over you. But as I said, I'm not the devil. Think of this as more of an… employer-employee relationship. I just happen to have a bit more leverage." He held his fingers close together as if measuring a small amount. "Isn't this every capitalist's dream?" he added with a laugh.
With a more serious tone, he continued, "All jokes aside, I'm going to help us get out of this mess. And, my word, what a mess it is. Cannibals, blood kin… we're practically their cattle. How did you not see something wrong earlier? The isolation from the outside world, the lack of concern from the Ezekiels about these "Fell" attacks? You're like a lamb to the slaughter, blissfully unaware. Though, to be fair, you never really had a chance."
"You can read my memories?" Lucian asked, his voice trembling.
The question seemed to strike a nerve with the Traveller, who responded without his usual flamboyance. "I was there with you, Lucian. That's the price I paid, just as this is the price you paid. Even an outsider has to pay for magic in this world. I didn't have many chips on the table to begin with."
Silence filled the room for a moment.
"Can you save us?" Lucian asked, his fear giving way to a grim acceptance of his situation.
"Yes, I can," the Traveller replied, his tone matter-of-fact. "At least, you should certainly hope so. And to be fair, you couldn't have known. With the education and perspective you have, this outcome was inevitable. Sometimes ignorance is a blessing." He sighed and smiled again. "That brings us to the deal. I'll help save us, get us out of this mess, and in return, you work for me. I won't make you work all the time, though. Let's say… a five-day workweek. You'll get two days each week to have the body to yourself, as long as you don't do anything that harms our interests."
The Traveller leaned back, smiling. "So, what do you say? Do we have ourselves a deal?"
"I… suppose so," Lucian said reluctantly.
"Excellent!" The Traveller clapped his hands. "Let's begin. We don't have a lot of time, but we have a lot to do. They'll be expecting us to have cleansed your taint with that money you asked for, and we'll be ripe for the slaughter if we don't act fast. Luckily, we've got two gold, five silvers, five coppers, and ninety bits," he said, pulling out Lucian's entire savings with a grin. "And we have just a bit of time before the day ends."
They rushed toward the market square, making it just before the stalls were closing. The Traveller headed to the fisherman's stand first.
He flicked a silver coin at the fisherman. "I want all your biggest fish. Can you deliver them, alive, to Arnold's Tavern over there? I'll give you another silver once you arrive."
The fisherman blinked in surprise at the small fortune before him. Fish were cheap in Darkglades, almost the cheapest food available due to the river running through the town. The corruption outside the protection of the Tower made catching the "fish" rather easy, though the creatures themselves were monstrous.
From there, the Traveller hurried to the blacksmith's stall, purchasing a bucket of metal shavings and a hammer. By the time they reached Arnold's Tavern, the fisherman was already there, engaged in a heated argument with the owner.
The dispute ended the moment the Traveller placed a gold coin in Arnold's hand, securing the tavern for the night. Arnold was known to host strange guests, and as long as there was enough gold, no questions were asked. In a world where magic came with strange prices, peculiar customers were nothing new. Arnold's guard captain brother ensured that any unpaid damages were swiftly compensated.