There was something menacing about the name Argus spoke.
Even without knowing anything about her, Mathew could feel himself trembling when he heard the name 'Adolphine'.
"The Queen of Crimson? That sounds almost like—"
"The name of a goddess?" Argus asked. Mathew nodded. "That is because she is a Fourth Tier being, a living demigod, and therefore she has been granted a title befitting her great power."
"So she was one of the ones birthed directly from the undying goddess?" Mathew said. Argus nodded.
"She really is different from us then…" Siyah said, "She is a full-blooded monster after all."
"True Enfiri can live for a thousand years, and even a small amount of human blood can keep them in a constant state of frenzy for an entire week, with the abilities they gain from it far surpassing those of you two sisters. As the last surviving daughter of Demise, the Queen of Crimson may be one of the most powerful creatures to still walk in the physical world."
"So… Don't run into her is what you're saying," Mathew added.
"You will most certainly perish if you ever do," Argus affirmed.
"Where does she live? We need to know if we are to avoid her, right?" Siyah said, her hands gripping the fabric of her gown tightly.
"I also prefer not to be eaten by my long-lost aunt," Beyah added.
"That will not be of any danger to us," Argus said. "The Queen of Crimson sails with the pirate Morgan. So long as we stay far away from the sea, we shall never meet them."
The pirate Morgan. There was that name again. Mathew rubbed the cold iron of his forehead a few times. Why did it sound so familiar? Was it something from Mathias's memories? Or from his own?
He wanted to press Argus about him, but then he realized the entire conversation had deviated far from its original path.
Learning about gods was interesting and all, but what Mathew really wanted to know was the details of his servitude to his tyrannical mistress. If he were to ever attempt to break free, he would first need to understand the details of his situation better.
"I am wondering what any of this has to do with the contracts? I know the bounty hunters seemed to form a contract too… Was that the same thing as what we did with Ophelia?"
"Ah, yes. The Covenant was a peace treaty made by the gods centuries ago, a nexus of divine power that enforces that treaty on the world, stopping gods from walking the earth in their true form, or taking direct action against each other ever again. That is why we never see the gods outside of the divine realm."
"That… makes sense… But still doesn't answer my question."
"I was getting to that. The Covenant doesn't just enforce order on the gods; it also allows men to force order on themselves. Mortals can also access The Covenant's power, forming magical contracts with each other, either verbal or written, and the terms are enforced by The Covenant itself."
"And that's the contracts we have forged with Ophelia… It's why I feel compelled to obey her?"
"That is correct."
"I have to serve her for three hundred years because of that dumb Covenant?"
"Three hundred years?" Siyah said, her eyes widening. "For us it was only fifty years."
Mathew would have found the statement 'only fifty years' hilarious… if he hadn't been pissed off by the time difference between his contract and hers.
"Well, isn't that just great for you." He said, and Siyah covered her mouth with her hand, as if she felt bad. Beyah had the nerve to snort at him.
"The length of time is determined by the tier of the contract, much like the potency of Blessings and the strength of Enhanced beings."
"I'm guessing it follows the names of each tier, with a Tier Three Deccenium contract lasting decades, while a Tier Four would last centuries and so on. But is there no limit to how many years a contract can last? It would be crazy for the average person to form a contract that lasted for a few hundred years." The words were gushing from Mathew like a torrent. Half of it was fueled by curiosity, the other by frustration.
"There are limitations to contract formation. The first one is that each contract has a price."
"Like the gold used for Siyah and Beyah's contract, or the platinum used for mine."
"In addition to that, there is also the limitation of authority."
"What does that mean?" Mathew said, finding the term strange.
"Depending on the level of Inheritance, or Enhancement, of the being offering the contract, a different maximum Tier exists, equal to their own Tier. That is to say, a Tier Three being can only form a Deccenium contract at best."
"Wait… Something isn't adding up here." Mathew said as he thought over the explanation. "Ophelia is only a Tier Three enhanced human… That means she shouldn't have been able to form a 300-year contract with me."
"Normally, yes, but that was an exception."
"Does it have anything to do with that Millennium Tier rod?"
"No, that Blessing only compels the obedience of those who touch it. The item that holds the power is her Ivory crown, a powerful Fourth Tier Curse called the Crown of Authority."
"It's… a curse?" Mathew sighed at the new term. Sure, he was learning a lot, but the more he was told, the more he realized there was to learn.
"Curses function similarly to Blessings, the main difference being their origin. While a Blessing is created when a god infuses an item with power, a Curse is created by forging the remains of a fallen mythical creature or Enhanced being into an item.
"Does that mean the Finders Feathers were curses?"
"Strictly speaking, an item is only a Curse if it is of the Third Tier or higher. The other difference Curses have from Blessings is that there is a limit to how many Blessings one can manifest at once, according to their Tier of Inheritance."
"What does the crown do?" Siyah, who had been listening quietly, spoke up. "Why did it allow Lady Ophelia to make a longer contract with master Dread?" Mathew choked on air at being called 'master', which descended into a metallic coughing fit. Everyone looked at him with various expressions, and he held up a finger until the coughing subsided.
"I'm okay." Mathew managed weakly.
"To answer your question," Argus continued, "The power of the crown is that anyone who wears it on their head is recognized by the Covenant, as well as certain Blessings and Curses, as a Fourth Tier Demigod."
"In other words," Mathew guessed, "It allowed her to make a Century Tier contract with me."
Argus nodded in confirmation. The explanation was over. However, Mathew still had a few questions to ask.
"If a Curse is forged from the remains of a cursed being, then what had to die in order to create that crown?" If it was a Tier Four Curse, it only made sense that a being of the Fourth Tier died to create it. The thought of that was unsettling just as much as it was intriguing.
Argus opened his mouth to reply, but never got the chance.
"That is enough of a lecture for tonight, would you not say so, Argus?" Ophelia said, making her presence known.
Siyah jumped in fright, and Mathew sighed. The mistress of tyranny had to interrupt the free flow of information. Keeping people as ignorant as possible must have been on her daily checklist.
"Of course, my lady," Argus said, bowing, though the slightest frown remained on his face. Ophelia seemed to take notice.
"If you are that determined about maintaining your instructor role, why not begin training Dread in the sword? After the encounter with the bounty hunter, I have since realized that he is terribly inadequate in combat."
"How can you say that? I took a blade to the back."
"Precisely. Getting impaled by a weapon is what proves your incompetence." Mathew threw his hands in the air.
Ophelia gave a quick look around the fire at the members of her group. "Let us all rest up so we can be on the road tomorrow. I wish to put much more distance between us and Arlem." And with that, she walked off.
All was quiet in her absence for a long moment. Then Mathew asked one more thing, his tone hushed so that his voice was just barely heard above the crackling flames.
"You guys talked about how all of humanity was brought to Tellus from the First World long ago by the gods. What about sending people back? Have the gods ever done that? Is it possible to be sent by a god to another world?"
Argus closed his eyes, as if thinking of his answer, and when he opened them, he was staring deep into the dark wells of Mathew's metal face.
"In the whole of the recorded history of Tellus, there is not a single instance of it occurring. After humans were brought to Tellus, several of the Gods sealed this world away from the rest of the Cosmos, so that nothing may ever enter or exit again. If I were to guess from my own wisdom and understanding… I would say it is impossible to be sent to another world."
A powerful pressure closed in on Mathew's chest as the words sank in. He tried to resist, but the flame of hope he had been holding all this time of returning home began to be extinguished.
All that was left in him now was a tiny ember.