Mask of Humanity

Nicolai’s eyebrows rose as he read Kleos’ description after Examining the head.

Severed Head of Kleos the Traitor

Once known as the Seven Winds of Torment, Kleos was renowned for a ruthlessness and cruelty in battle only matched by that he displayed to those he was given to govern.

After a failed coup, the Lords convened and gave the typical punishment. A decade of ritual torture followed by beheading, reanimation, and storage in the archives so that future Outer Leaders could learn from the example he depicts: Do not bite the hand that feeds.

How his head ended up here, who can say?

‘What the fuck did you do, soulless?’ Kleos was screaming at him. ‘What did you take! Give it back!’ The head howled and gnashed its teeth.

‘Peace,’ Nicolai said, raising a placating hand. ‘I just examined you. No big deal, not like you’ve anything left to lose.’ He grinned. ‘The Seven Winds of Torment, that’s quite a name.’

The head’s eyes goggled. ‘How did you—I…’ Its face twisted. ‘The People call, the Prophet describes… never again… I beg of you, my Lady… we give of ourselves…’ By the final words it was whimpering.

Nicolai was increasingly sure he ought to feel bad, that he’d pushed a button he shouldn’t have pushed. Apparently the head had a sordid history, and some might say that it deserved punishment for whatever it had done, but Nicolai didn’t see himself as in position to judge anyone for anything.

Kleos seemed beset by the demons and excesses of its past, and these struggles struck a kindred chord in him. He tried to imagine how he might feel in its position, tried to work out how he would want to be treated, did his best to simulate humanity.

He leaned closer to the head. ‘It’s okay, all that was long ago.’ Kleos stared at him, and its eyes were wide and terrified. ‘We’re going to get you a body and you’ll begin anew.’

‘Yes,’ Kleos whispered, face balled up into a wretched grimace. If it were capable of crying Nicolai felt sure it would have been.

‘We have to work together, you and I,’ Nicolai added, staring into Kleos’ eyes. ‘This is a new beginning, we’re going to do better.’ I’m going to do better.

‘Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying!’ it yelled at him. ‘So, so stop fucking around!’

‘Okay,’ said Nicolai. ‘I will. I’m sorry.’ He decided not to bring up Kleos’ past again, at least not today. He needed the head too much to risk accidentally driving it back into whatever miserable spiral that had been.

The air whistled through Kleos’ neck-hole as it breathed heavily, which was unusual because mostly it didn’t breathe. ‘Good, that’s good,’ it mumbled.

‘I was telling you about this,’ Nicolai prompted, lifting his hand. ‘My Seed. I need to feed it soul energy and Oma, then it will become my Soul and I will be a Cultivator. Then I will be better positioned to get you a body.’

‘Yes, of course,’ said Kleos, voice firming. ‘Do you have crystals?’

Nicolai did. He unwrapped his ragged belt, placing it, the knife, the metal baton, and the three pouches on the table. He loosened the pull on one of the pouches and tipped his Oma crystals out to pile onto the table, all seven of them. He watched Kleos as he did so, to see how the head reacted. It frowned at the crystals. He was getting better at reading its frowns and decided this one was unimpressed. Seven Oma crystals were apparently not a lot of Oma crystals.

‘I managed to feed some crystals to my Seed earlier,’ Nicolai began. ‘My mark tells me the Seed is nine-percent complete in Oma, and twelve-percent complete in soul. It required five crystals to reach nine percent, so I need to feed it about sixty more. To gain soul energy, I fed it Seeds I took from others like me. I think I need to feed it about fifty more Seeds.

Kleos frowned. This was a thoughtful frown. ‘Hunting fifty others won’t be easy,’ it said. Nicolai didn’t entirely agree with that, but he wouldn’t deny that it would be quite time consuming. ‘There’s a better way,’ it added. ‘What you need is a Soul Trap. The skeletons you killed, remember the blue lights that came out of them?’

‘I remember.’

‘Those are their Souls. Pale and faded remnants, barely still alive, but Souls nonetheless. If you can fashion a Soul Trap, you can catch their Souls and feed them to your…’ It looked at his Seed. ‘To that thing.’

‘Do you think I could just smash their heads and put my Seed to the light before it leaves?’ Nicolai asked.

‘No…’ The standard frown. ‘Maybe?’ Uncertain frown. ‘No, no that won’t work. You need to trap them so they’re forced to congeal.’

Nicolai was smiling. This was what he wanted. Useful information. ‘How do I make a Soul Trap?’

Kleos frowned harder than ever. ‘I don’t know,’ it said.

Nicolai frowned just as hard, a twinge of annoyance worming through him.

‘But I know where you can find the information,’ it added. ‘There’s a library.’

The annoyance faded. ‘Good.’ Nicolai leaned back. ‘Where is it?’

Kleos took a moment to reply, regarding him through narrowed, careful eyes. ‘I think I’ve proven how useful I can be, haven’t I? One might even say you need me.’

Ah. Kleos wants some guarantees. ‘You have,’ he admitted. ‘And, of course, you want your body. But how can you know I’ll actually help you get one, once all’s said and done?’ He couldn’t see a way for Kleos to get any kind of guarantee from him, he held all the cards because at the end of the day he was the one with the limbs. Kleos was just a head. He spread his arms in a wide shrug, pasting an innocent smile onto his face. ‘I suppose you’ll just have to trust me.’

Kleos smiled grimly back at him, and Nicolai’s eyes narrowed. What does it know?

‘We can make an agreement, Nicolai. An agreement we can both trust.’

He didn’t like the way it said his name. ‘How’s that, Kleos?’

It looked at his Mark. ‘Touch me with that hand, and say this: I, Nicolai the human, a Marked in Heaven’s Great Game, wish to enter into an agreement with Kleos the Quorn, one bound by the Rules and my Mark. I will do all that I can to help Kleos procure a suitable body. In return, Kleos will provide me any relevant information I ask of him. In the event that I break this agreement, I accept Heaven’s ruling for my transgression against it.

‘I will then say my side of the agreement while you keep your hand in place. My wording will be identical, except switched to be from my perspective: I, Kleos’ the Quorn, a being within Heaven’s Great Game, and so on.’

If the Legal Module had still been with him, Nicolai was certain it would have sat up and paid close attention. He was equally sure it would have had issue with some of the wording of Kleos’ proposed contract.

Contracts and legalities had always bored him, but they were a crucial part of life in the Corporate world, and one that he’d been forced to gain experience with himself in the time before his enslavement within Zero-Twelve. Following that, he’d absorbed information just from seeing Legal working, and learned a great deal both of how dangerous and how beneficial contracts could be.

‘I have only a few issues with the wording for your side of the agreement,’ began Nicolai, ‘but I have numerous issues with the wording for mine. I will not do all that I can to help you procure a suitable body; I will do what I can within reasonable bounds. That which does not pose an unduly high risk of my death or permanent injury. In the event that I find a way to get you a body, for example, but I will have to overcome something that will likely kill me, I am going to have to wait until I am stronger.

‘If I am never strong enough that I believe I have reasonable odds of overcoming said theoretical danger, then I will search for another way. This will also not be my sole focus, instead I will see improving my position and capabilities as the best way to fulfil your wish. It could be quite some time until I feel I am ready, depending on the difficulty of the task. On top of that—‘

‘I get it,’ Kleos interrupted. ‘Have a think. Come up with something that works for you, then state it to me. We’ll work this out.’

Nicolai eyed the head. ‘What will Heaven’s ruling be, if I break the agreement?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know. But it sure sounds scary, doesn’t it?’ Kleos smirked.

Nicolai stared back, eyes narrowed. It does indeed. He’d have to take his time, here. ‘Okay. Let’s discuss.’

After some time and arguing both ways, he and Kleos came to an agreement. Kleos hadn’t struggled too hard nor requested that much, except that it apparently didn’t want to have to tell him all about its past if he asked for no good reason. Its main desire was that it should remain as alive and lucid as it currently was, and of course, that he get it a body. Nicolai placed his right hand on the side of Kleos’ head, gazing into its reddened little eyes, and began.

‘I, Nicolai the human, a Marked in Heaven’s Great Game, wish to enter into an agreement with Kleos, one bound by the Rules and my Mark.’ As soon he’d finished these words, his Mark shone bright and the back of his hand tingled and itched. Lights bulged out of it, and then Nicolai and Kleos were wrapped in a shining weave of golden light, full of strange symbols. Words hovered between them.

Begin contract.

Nicolai watched the lights warily. This was the real deal. He continued speaking.

‘I will make reasonable efforts to help Kleos procure a suitable body, and ensure where possible from my end that Kleos remains in his current state of fitness so as to be able to utilise said body once procured. In return, Kleos commits to providing me with complete and truthful information whenever I ask, and will volunteer any relevant information he deems useful or necessary, as well as providing any other assistance he is capable of providing. The only exception to this is that Kleos will not be required to tell me irrelevant personal information from his past, however if it becomes relevant or can help my goals in any way, he must share it.

‘I acknowledge that the task of acquiring a suitable body may pose varying levels of difficulty. I reserve the right to assess the risks associated with the task and proceed or discontinue any attempts accordingly. If the task proves excessively dangerous or difficult, I may temporarily suspend the completion of the task until reasonable conditions for its pursuit are met, or mutually agree with Kleos to renegotiate the terms of the agreement.

‘I acknowledge that this world is dangerous and there may be threats that bring risk to Kleos’ fitness and my ability to complete the task. In the event that truly unexpected or unavoidable events occur which lead to Kleos’ death, loss of fitness, or render the task impossible to complete based on reasonable standards, I will be released from this agreement.

‘Kleos must also accept his share of the responsibility for his own safekeeping, and in the event that neither of us notice a developing issue, or Kleos notices but fails to properly communicate the risks to myself so that I may take reasonable action, then I accept no responsibility for resulting events and any impact they may have on my prior mentioned responsibilities to Kleos’ fitness.

‘This agreement exists only between myself and Kleos, and neither of us may share the existence or details of the agreement to third parties unless we mutually agree to do so.

‘In the event that I break this agreement, I accept Heaven’s ruling for my transgression against it.’

The lights shimmered and pulsed, and Nicolai felt something latch onto him on some deep, primal level. Kleos began to speak, repeating the words from his side, while Nicolai listened very, very carefully.

‘I, Kleos the Quorn, a being within Heavens Great Game, with to enter into an agreement with Nicolai, one bound by the Rules and his Mark...’

Kleos continued, repeating the rest of it without issue, and finished with the same statement as Nicolai had made.

Contract witnessed.

The lights flickered then were sucked back into his Mark which twinkled for a moment before turning dark.

Nicolai watched Kleos’ expression carefully. He was pretty sure he’d put in everything of importance into the agreement, and that there was no risk of Kleos leveraging something unexpected against him. But Nicolai didn’t believe in certainties, as a rule. If Kleos has done something sneaky, if it had won, the head’s expression might now betray that fact.

The head was frowning and staring at him with a slightly uncertain, pensive expression, similar to what Nicolai’s face might betray if he weren’t focused on schooling it into a blank mask. Inwardly, he smiled. Either Kleos was a better actor than he thought, or the head was currently equally worried that Nicolai had wormed in a loophole or sneaky clause it hadn’t noticed.

Nicolai turned aside for a moment to trigger his Mark, which popped out the typical hologram, but now with a couple of new additions.

User Interface 376 | User #53,217

> Map

> Cultivation

> Quests (1 new)

> Challenges

> Contracts (1/3)

Opening the Contract section, Nicolai saw a written version of the agreement he’d formed with Kleos. However, above that, was a message.

The Contract system is provided as-is to early participants of the current iteration of the Great Game. It will cease to function after some time, and all Contracts created through this limited system will be rendered null and void.

Countdown (days:hours:minutes:seconds): 84:14:40:16

Standard users are limited to a maximum of three Heaven Authorised Binding Contracts.

Nicolai frowned. That changed things quite a bit. Was Kleos aware that in roughly three months, their Contract would vanish? The head didn’t seem to be. Nicolai switched to the Quests menu, curious as to what was new.

His eyes almost widened at what he saw.