Interface: Hollows and Bones

Chapter Three: Exclusive Contract

"That wasn't very nice," the lady said, still standing. He seemed to have imagined the thud. "I left you alive and saved you for last, so you will have last words privileges and this is how you treat me, with noise?" she said.

"Look at your friends." she said as the door opened. He turned his head slowly. Jake and Nat were on the floor, dead.

"So as I was saying. Let me try a poem of mine. I don't really. I am not good at it. Let's see!" She cleared her throat.

"I am the pale old lady that haunts your dreams,"

"Woven into a poem from your kin's awful dreams,"

Cries were made from brooks and streams,"

About I, the one who makes all scream,"

Just as she finished her eyes glowed a deep green. She looked directly in his eyes and he screamed, as it was as if he was staring into the eyes of death itself. He felt his life crawl away and it was gonna be the end of him until a voice stopped the process.

Arlo could make the image of a man and a ball like thingy. He was sure he could clearly hear the words. "We bow in respect to her majesty, !"

That was all till darkness claimed him.

He flicked open his eyes, his head aching as the ceiling zoomed into focus and his eyes grew accustomed to what he was seeing. He sat up, squinting his face in response to the dull pain in his head. He allowed himself to recollect his memories, and bit by bit they came flooding in till he remembered everything. The very thought of his dead team gripped his heart like a vice. He cursed this world for not letting him die.

He jerked sideways as he remembered he had been an inch from dying, or did he?

*NO!!*

He paused, he knew he felt his life getting sucked out by the pale old lady and he felt himself hollow. He felt himself die, or was it the fear of death that felt so surreal.

/You died!/ a mechanic voice said from behind him

He jolted at the sound of the machinery almost flipping off the bed in shock, as he did a small ball of black metal with a large saucer for head rolled towards the edge of his bed. It extended a short stubby leg from its base, then extended it so that it became a bit taller.

/Calm down/ it said, its voice appearing feminine. /My name is xD and I am here with my partner to give you a chance at a second life./ it concluded, before pointing to a man that walked in through the white door, a blind man with white for eyes wearing transparent eyeglasses. He used a walking stick to find his movements.

"What... Who... Wait..." he didn't know which questions to ask first. Going through his head were billions of impossibilities. He closed his eyes and decided to calm down and evaluate his situation. A soldier doesn't panic. First of all he checked his surroundings. A room painted white all through, with a series of familiar murals and runes on it. He blinked, those murals.

"We are still in the house?" he asked.

"Yes," the blind man answered this time.

"Who are you people?" he asked immediately. He didn't need to know too many details, he felt he would die if he did. How that spooky house could contain a clinic of sorts was beyond him.

"xD already told you her name. I am Midas Oedipus Vidar,"

"Holy!" he scrambled backwards immediately, shaking the water bag connected to his arm. Midas Oedipus Vidar has been on the UNAF blacklist for the past ninety five years when the UNAF was still named Division of Secrecy. This man, didn't he age? Arlo had once read his file. He was said to dabble in magic and do things that exceeded the normal human perspective. He was a cold blooded murderer and was said to have all alone sacked the city of Pallavia. An Island currently inhabited by animals and remnants of a human civilization. They'd worked together with a series of organizations whenever there is a trace on this man, and as it turned out! They never caught him.

"Do not fear a blind man," he said. "You do not have lots of time! The only thing keeping you alive is the nano pill filled with aether currently dissolving in your essence. Once it completely dissolves you will die."

Arlo blinked, he didn't want to die, nah. "What do you want from me?"

/We in fact do not really want much from you. Take yourself as a test subject. We are preparing for a war that might happen in the near future and if you succeed and do not die. You will have to join the war, which you will surely die in./ the mechanical voice said.

"So. Arlo. We want to give you a chance. Your life has ended, and your sister is dying in a hospital. If you choose to become our test subject, she will live and you will live too, for a while at least. If you do not, we will let the nano pill complete its degradation and let you meet your maker." Midas said, a phantom wind lifting up his duster coat to reveal a sword hanging down from his belt in a scabbard. "What do you choose?"

Arlo paused, he stared from machine to man, this choice wasn't much of a choice. If they could keep his sister alive, then hell yes. "Yes! I will become your test subject, or whatever." he knew had probably thrown himself to a life of pain and suffering, but he'd already died. He died once already. The Pale Old Lady got to him. He recited the poem once more.

"Pale Old lady with the frail old dress. Thin Old Bones too broken to stress. How she walks with such finesse. Revealed in her eyes with the glow of death." his heart that had been violently beating gradually reduced. He inhaled.

Midas smiled. "Sign this then." the blind man stretched a piece of brown paper to him. The paper held the words, Agreement in bold.

Arlo didn't think twice, he asked for a pen, until he was told to sign it with his blood. He complied