An Oath Already Taken
I stared at the old man.
The name he used hung in the air like a curse.
“Witch of the Dying Star.”
It is a name only few know. A name that belongs to the dark and the secrets I keep from the world.
My heart hammered against my ribs. I felt exposed.
“How do you know about it?” I asked. My voice was sharp.
I did not wait for an answer. I could not afford to be passive. He knew too much. He was a threat.
I summoned my powers and did not hold back. The mana in the air around us began to shine with a pale golden light. The light spread across the room and surrounded us both. We were isolated from the world in this space.
The old man did not look afraid. He did not even move, he merely watched me with those ancient blue eyes.
“Let’s not get hasty, shall we?” the old man said as he lifted his wooden staff and tapped it once on the floor. The sound was a small, dull thud.
My spell disappeared. The light vanished as if it had never been there and the pressure in the air evaporated.
I was dumbstruck for a moment.
What just happened?
I tried to reach for my powers again, but I found nothing. It was as if the very concept of magic had been erased from the room.
"What did you do?" I asked him, my breath coming fast. I had never seen anyone do something like that, not even the strongest mages of the empire.
"A magic trick, hehe." He chuckled. He leaned on his staff. He looked like a harmless grandfather again. But I knew better, I had seen how he had erased my spell with a single tap of wood.
"If you answer my earlier question, I might consider telling you."
He watched me, waiting patiently for an answer.
I realized this man was dangerous. He had easily disabled my true magic. I couldn't even tell what the limits of his powers were. I had no choice. I was trapped in a room with a monster disguised as a sage.
“Done thinking?” he asked.
I recalled the incident on the mountain and the way I had felt when I thought Julius’s heart had stopped. The memory made my chest ache with a dull, constant pain.
“I don’t know why I did that.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I don’t know why I did that. It was as if my body wouldn't obey me.”
The words felt heavy, like a confession. I had spent my entire life in control, acting as a princess and as a killer when I needed to be. But on that mountain, I had been none of those things. I had just been a woman who couldn't let her man die.
“I felt that if I let him die, something terrible would happen.”
He stared into my eyes for a while, searching for a lie or a crack in my mask. I let him look. I had nothing left to hide.
“You don’t seem to be lying.”
He sounded surprised. He adjusted his grip on his staff.
“Tell me, what exactly happened?”
I closed my eyes. I could still see the snow. I could still feel the cold.
“I can’t fully explain it, but whenever I see him, a storm of emotions rises within me. There’s a deep sadness, yet at the same time, I feel happier. I want him to stay away, yet I’m afraid of him leaving. I want him to hate me, but I can’t bear the thought of him truly detesting me. It’s a mess.”
I continue after some hesitation.
“Also… the moment I see his life is in danger, everything changes. If I ever see him dying, my body moves on its own to save him, no matter the cost.”
“When Julius nearly died from the fall as well as when she cursed him on the mountain, I never once thought about the consequences to my own life. I just moved to save him, no matter the cost.”
I go silent.
“Did this always happen to you?” He asked.
“No.” I shook my head. “This started only a few months ago and is becoming more and more unbearable each day I stay close to him.”
“Do you have any idea what might be causing this?”
The old man did not answer immediately. He scanned my whole body then kept staring at my chest. I maintained a straight face.
“Oh, my apologies, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” He smiled a thin, knowing smile. “I was just looking into your soul.”
“I assume that means you know something about my condition.”
“A little bit. Even in my years of life, I have only seen a few foolish enough to attempt it.”
My heart leapt. I stepped forward. “So, what is it?”
“A Soulbound Oath, an oath taken by one on their own voluntary terms which, if broken, will result in the destruction of one's soul.”
“What?” I went into shock as the world tilted.
“What do you mean 'on my own voluntary terms'? I don’t remember taking any such oaths. Are you sure?”
“Yes.” The old man nodded. “The chains on your soul are the proof of the oath.”
I bit my lip, my mind racing through every memory, but I found nothing. I had never even heard of a Soulbound Oath until tonight.
I have never spoken any such words. How can I be bound by something I didn't choose?
“Is there any way to remove the oath?”
“No.” The answer was flat and absolute.
“In the first place, the oath cannot be taken without the complete voluntary will of the person. Why did you take such an oath?”
“I didn’t take the oath!” My voice was rising. “I didn’t even know such a spell existed until moments ago!”
The old man didn't look like he believed me, or rather, he looked like he had found a puzzle he couldn't solve.
“I haven’t seen such an interesting case in years,” he said, sounding delighted. “This will be fun.”
Yeah, this old man is a lunatic.
I am tired. I just woke up from the aftereffects of the Blessing of the Stars. And now I find I have taken some mysterious oath which can only be taken voluntarily with no idea of where, how and why I took it.
The weight of it all was too much. I wanted to scream. I wanted to break something. But I had no energy left. I also needed some time to gather my thoughts.
I look at the old man. I had no idea if this mysterious old man could be trusted or not but for some reason it didn’t feel like he was lying. He had no reason to. He had already shown that he could kill me with a thought.
“I am going to sleep. I will think about all this tomorrow.”
I did not wait for the old man to leave. I turned my back on one of the, if not the most powerful men in the world and walked towards my bed. If he wanted me dead, he could have killed me when I was unconscious.
The old man did not protest.
He transformed into a white cat as he walked toward the sofa. The transformation was seamless. One moment he was a man. The next, a small ball of fur.
I fell into the bed, wanting to sink into the mattress and never come back.
The cat jumped on the sofa and curled itself up.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as I looked at him from the pillows.
“Sleeping. Even I get tired,” the cat spoke with the old man’s voice.
“I can see that, but why are you sleeping here?”
“Where else am I supposed to sleep? What are you going to make an old man, no, an old cat sleep outside on the streets?”
The cat looked at me with wide blue eyes, trying to look innocent.
“Get out of my room!” I pointed to the window.
“Fine.” The cat sighed.
It stood up and stretched.
It started walking towards the balcony. It looked at me one last time before jumping out into the night.
I stared at the ceiling for a long time, thinking about everything that had happened since I woke up again.
I pulled the blanket over my head and closed my eyes. My mind was full of chains, stars, and a man named Julius. I couldn’t sleep for a long time.
***
A day passed since Elara woke up again.
The journey to the capital would resume tomorrow. It was finally time to leave Sapientia.
At the end, I couldn’t find Archmage Merlin. Neither could I get any possible clues on what might be interfering with my magic. All was in vain.
No, I shouldn’t think too negatively. I also found out many things on this journey which I didn’t know about in my previous life. Like the existence of true magic and Stellaris Arcanum.
Elara is still a mystery.
She never told me about this unique power of hers in my previous life so why now?
Is this a consequence of my interference or is there more to this second life than I know about?
