Thaedric’s blood ran cold. He should have known! So he wasn’t even in his world! He thought the dark room was somewhere still in the mirror itself.

But it seems that the mirror was only a portal to another place entirely. "Why? Why should I form a contract with you?"

"Tell me Rashaka. Why do you come here?" Then his eyes narrowed and sharpened. "Or do you already have an Ancient in mind?"

Thaedric shook his head fast as aura-like hot sand pressed around him. "I don’t even know what is going on! And, I came here because Orso said it’ll raise my tier!"

"Orso," he mused. "They always mention his name. Is he like an Ancient Lord? He must be powerful to be able to send a lot of you here. Unlike the others."

Thaedric nearly snorted at that. Orso isn’t powerful. He didn’t even know what was going on in the enchanted tool he had under him. But something else caught his attention. "What do you mean by others?"

The Ancient bent down again and was face to face with Thaedric, he blew air from his mouth that slammed into him and sent him falling back. "This Orso is truly keeping you all ignorant. Strange, considering that should be the only portal in your world."

"The others eh.. I’m talking about the Demons, The Nightwalkers, The humans, the Iron Legion, the White ones, the...."

Thaedric had stopped listening to him. Humans come to this place too? Humans? That means there must be a way for him to return to Earth through the portal.

"How?" He cut the Ancient off. "How do Humans get here? Where is their portal?"

The Ancient wrinkled his face. "Somewhere to the North. This region is mostly for Rashakas."

Thaedric looked in the direction he thought the North should be but all he saw was sand and small trees. A plan started to form in his mind but he quickly put an end to it. ’Even if I go to earth now, it will be in Thaedric’s body. Who knows what they will do to me?’

’For now, I should listen to this one to know what’s going on’ he thought.

"So what is the contract exactly? Is it the reason a lot of Rashakas are dying when they come here?"

"Yes! This Orso of yours only selects weak warriors to send here," he gave Thaedric a look as if he was part of the weak warriors. "Unlike others who send only the best. We, Ancient are only interested in the strong. The potential to be strong. We ride on that."

It was getting more confusing but Thaedric was also able to understand some things. These ancient people were only interested in granting people some kind of power. And only to the strong but Thaedric still didn’t understand the core of the matter.

Who are they? Why are they making contracts? What is their gain?

So he asked. "If I gain power through the contract. What do you gain?"

"We both gain. And that’s the only way for you to return. Of course, there’s another way. Death."

’So that’s it. They don’t want to tell me what they will gain’ That instantly made Thaedric weary. What can someone as powerful as him want to gain by making a contract with him? Nothing good he’s sure.

He kept his thoughts to himself. "What about those who were sent back dead? Do they fail?"

"Those sent back were too weak to handle the power. They died. That’s the only thing that happens if you are too weak to take the contract." Black eyes blinked at him.

Thaedric shivered. ’What should I do now? Should I make the contract? If it’s the only way to return then I don’t have much of a choice?’

He narrowed his eyes and thought about it. This is bait since the Ancient didn’t tell me what he would gain but nothing else was disturbing him.

If there were other regions, then there must be other Ancients too. Thaedric looked at the massive mass of flesh, sand, and stone in front of him. Is this Ancient the best choice even if he wants to make the contract?

"What about other Ancients?" Thaedric tried to keep the suspicion out of his voice.

"Why did you ask?" Nervous laughter. "They are in their territory. This is mine."

"So you are the one that was making contracts with all the Rashakas since? But not for Malak." If that was the case then the Ancient must be desperate for him to keep trying. For how many that Orso sent.

The sands beneath Thaedric shifted and the Ancient’s eyes darkened. "Malak. That’s the name of the Rashaka that made a contract with the Roving Eyes. I let him slap my hands! I thought he was dead..."

’Malak. That bastard, why didn’t he tell me anything!’

"And if I decided not to form a contract with you? If I want to wait and see other Ancients?" Thaedric began calmly.

The Ancient before him drew himself up, the black stone of his body glowed a dull yellow. The sand around it hardened and his flesh tensed. "Then I will force you."

Thaedric raised his dagger. He was getting tired of everyone forcing him to do things. "You’ll have to force me to kill me."

The Ancient boomed a laughter. The sand that Thaedric was standing on moved like a wave, sending him stumbling. "You? Stop me?"

Tendrils made of sand coiled around his hand and forced the dagger out, then dragged him up and restrained him. "You bastard! Leave me alone! Don’t you have some kind of rule here!"

The Ancient froze. "You are right. We do have some rules. It’s even simple. Power. That’s the only rule here."

Thaedric opened his mouth to throw more insults because that was the only thing he could do, but then a shriek like that of a bird made of metal tore through the air.

The wind slammed into the sand holding Thaedric and cut it apart before something large that sent sand billowing up landed behind him.