“Take this,” Black Eye said, handing me a silver ring.

  “What is this?” I asked while taking hold of the ring.

  “The pact.”

  “The pact? I don’t understand, how can a ring be a pact?” I asked confused.

  Black Eye gave me a sinister smile as he said, “Well, it’s part of the pact. The other part is the terms of the pact.”

  Black Eye gave me a folded yellow scroll. I looked at Black Eye who urged me with his eyes. I unraveled the scroll to find it had a couple of beautifully written sentences.

  “Read it,” Black Eye said.

  Reading it didn’t take long. It had the same conditions Art told me before: not to share any information that might harm the group, obey all reasonable orders, and do my best to achieve the group’s goal.

  “What is the group’s goal? I don’t see it written here anywhere.”

  “Well, to keep it secret I didn’t tell the Runesmith to write it down. I’m going to tell you about it. But first, Art, Fin, go out, I want to have some privacy with the kid.”

  “Why can’t we stay?” Art said.

  “I want to tell the kid something secret. Now stop wasting my time, go out,” Black Eye said while waving the twins away with his hand.

  “No, I refuse. I want to stay as a guarantor that Haitham is told our goal,” Art said in defiance.

  At that moment I felt the air in the room change. Black Eye’s Red armor got darker, turning blood red.

  “Are you saying I’m going to lie?” Black Eye as he looked at Art for the first time since he entered the room.

  “No, it’s… it’s just that Haitham has joined our group in a not-so-good way and has been persecuted. All I’m saying is that he should have his friend by his side.”

  I didn’t know if what he said was staged or not, but, at that moment, I liked Art. He has been nothing but supportive since I joined the group.

  ‘Maybe he really is a friend.’

  “I won't accept the pact if Art isn’t by my side,” I said, supporting Art’s argument.

  Black Eye’s armor returned to its true color. He had a contemplating gaze on his face.

  I was starting to get worried at Black Eye’s silence when he said, “Okay, but under one condition,” Black Eye said, raising his index.

  “I want you not to say a thing to anyone about what happened on the first day of your kidnapping. Especially, late that night. Am I clear?”

  ‘What a weird condition.’

  “I agree,” I said.

  “Believe me, kid, I’ll know if you utter a word about that day to anyone.”

  “Sure.”

  “Then let me tell you about our group’s noble goal. We want to free the Assyrian Empire from slavery!” Black Eye said stretching his arms wide.

  I was stunned at the party’s goal.

  ‘The bastard! He doesn’t want me to share what happened that night because he's afraid I’ll tell his party. He wants to free the empire from slavery, what a joke! Isn’t he the same person who wanted to enslave me? Such a hypocrite.’

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “So, what do you say kid?” Black Eye said as he stretched his hand over to me. “Put your hand in mine and join us in pursuit of our noble goal!”

  I didn’t put my hand in his hand immediately. I looked at Art who had a prideful look on his.

  ‘Could he be deceived by this bastard?’

  Art saw me looking at him and gave me an encouraging look.

  “I accept the party’s goal,” I said, shaking Black Eye’s hand.

  “Welcome Haitham!” Art said as he came and hugged me.

  “Now for the procedures. You have to put a drop of blood on the scroll. Also, you need to put the ring on,” Black Eye said.

  I didn’t do as he said immediately as I had one final doubt.

  “What happens if I break the pact?” I asked.

  “Smart question. You see, this ring isn’t just for decoration. It lets me know if you’re following the pact’s terms.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  Black Eye took off his glove. It was my first time seeing his skin under the armor, except for his face, of course. His hand looked so pale and his fingers were full of silver rings, seven to be precise.

  “You see Haitham, every party member has a ring and I, as the leader, have the parallel ring to each member’s ring. For simplification let’s call my rings the mother rings. When a party member breaks a term of the pact, his ring senses that so it sends information to the mother ring about him breaking the pact, which, in turn, allows me to know that a party member broke the term.”

  “That’s it? The ring doesn’t poison me? Doesn’t kill me? It only informs you that I broke the pact.”

  “Yeah, that’s it. It has another small feature. If you took it off it would tell me. So don’t take it off as that is considered a breach of the pact.”

  “How does the ring know if I breached the treaty? What if it’s mistaken?”

  “Don’t worry, these rings have been used for decades. They are reliable. About how it works, you’d have to ask a runesmith. I’m not an expert on the matter.”

  “So, should we start with sighing the pact?”

  I looked at Art one last time and he gave me a nod of approval.

  “Yes, let’s start.”

  Black Eye took out a small pocket knife and handed it to me.

  “Prick your finger with it and put the blood that comes out of it on the left lower side of the pact.”

  I looked at Black who was giving me a crazy smile, then I lowered my head to look at the knife. The knife looked very intricate. It had beautiful swirling designs on its blade.

  ‘It must have cost him a lot.’

  I pricked my finger, then withdrew my hand immediately. I did not expect it to be this painful.

  ‘What the hell? Why was it this painful?’

  I looked at Black Eye, he was still wearing his stupid grin.

  ‘Oh, how much I’d pay to punch that smile off your face.’

  I put my finger where Black Eye said and a smudge of blood was created.

  “Give me the scroll,” Black Eye said. I handed him the scroll and he did the same as me. Pricking his finger, he waited for the blood to accumulate then he put it on the lower right side of the paper.

  “Excellent! Now wear the ring and you’ll be an official member of the party.”

  I put the ring on my index finger, then… nothing happened.

  ‘...I was expecting more.’

  “Remember kid, never take it off. Also, you should come to me every couple of weeks as it needs to be charged with mana,” Black Eye said as he got off my bed and headed for the door.

  “Art, Neymar has forged fake documents for the kid. Get them and make sure to register the kid at the guild using them. Also, don’t take the kid with you when you register.”

  “But captain, if he wants to register, he needs to be there. That's the guild’s rules.”

  “Give them some coin. It should work out.”

  “Yes, captain.”

  And just like that Black Eye left.

  ……….

  Art registered me the same day I signed the pact. He came to me while I was working on my awareness shaper skill and handed me a bronze medallion. He said that I shouldn’t lose it as getting it replaced is hard.

  I assured him I’d safeguard it, then, I went back to my training. I didn’t improve my skills in this training session at all. My mind was occupied with what had happened earlier today.

  ‘Who is Black Eye really? Does he really have good intentions? And what are the party members' real identities?’

  I asked myself these questions. I didn’t have definitive answers to my queries but I made a couple of speculations.

  First Black Eye is a spy trying to infiltrate the Empire and destroy it from inside. The man had a weird accent. He wanted to get the Count on his side, who, he believed, wasn't loyal to the emporer. All of these led me to think he isn’t a simple adventurer from a different country.

  The Second speculation, his party members are also trying to destroy the empire or they are trying to overthrow the current emperor and seize power. I leaned on the second part as they didn’t seem like foreigners. They probably just wanted to rule the Empire and needed outside help, like Black Eye.

  The third speculation and the one I hoped to be the truth. They really want to end slavery and they joined hands with an outsider to do so.

  ‘I think the truth is a combination of the second speculation and the third one. Some of the group like the twins and maybe Edger joined to end slavery, and the others joined because they were power hungry.’

  ‘This shit is really over my pay grade. I should wait and observe. If their goal is to end slavery then I’ll help with all I can. But if their goal is to throw the Empire into chaos then I’ll… I’ll have to make a choice. Either to escape or -if I can- kill them.'