“Dead?” the archbishop, Cherri, and Pyre asked at the same time.

“Almost as dead as a centaur’s brain,” Cory said and nodded. She rolled Palan off of Raea and swatted at her chest with lightning-covered wings.

“What are you doing!?” Cherri shouted and rushed over with Pyre behind her. Every time Cory’s wing collided with Raea’s chest, there was an explosion of thunder. The archbishop staggered over, leaning from one side to the other as if he were drunk.

“I’m putting out the flames,” Cory said as she waved her wings. Black flames fell off the strands of lightning circling her feathers. After a few more smacks, the black flames had fully dispersed, but Raea’s chest was burnt beyond recognition. Cory leaned over and angled her ear over Raea’s face. “She’s not breathing.”

Cherri trotted over to Palan’s side and placed her hand on his neck, trying to ignore the tongue that was protruding from Palan’s torso mouth. His eyes were glazed over, but still open and staring at Cherri. His three tails lay limp on the floor, their eyes replaced by little ‘x’s. “I can’t find his pulse,” the centaur said and bit her lower lip. “Do demons even have pulses?”

Pyre squat next to Cherri and placed his hand on Palan’s chest. “Yeah, he’s dead,” Pyre said. He turned towards the archbishop. “Revive them?”

“Revive whom?” the archbishop asked as his brow furrowed. “I’ll need my subordinates to boost me with altruism to revive the dead.” A nearby centaur ran off to find them after Cherri signaled to him.

“Them,” Pyre said and pointed at Palan and Raea. Cory had dragged Raea’s corpse over to Palan’s side.

The archbishop blinked and scratched his head. “Can you even revive an anthill?”

“Anthill?” Cherri asked.

“Minor side effects,” Pyre said and dismissed Cherri’s protest with a wave of his hand. “Revive whatever you see by my feet. We can’t afford to lose them if we want to win against the capital.”

“If you say so…,” the archbishop said while crinkling his nose. Using his powers on an anthill? Well, if the benefactor thought it was important, he’d do it. He finished smoking the plant Pyre had given him as they waited for his subordinates to arrive. Once they did, he removed the pipe from his mouth and passed it on to Cherri. He rubbed his hands together and wet his lips with his tongue. His mouth had dried as if he swallowed cotton. A layer of sweat appeared on his forehead as he shouted and spread his arms apart. A golden strand of swaying liquid light connected his palms, bobbing up and down in time with his breaths which were becoming shorter with every passing second.

When it seemed like he was about to collapse, blue ropes stretched out of the members of the clergy and merged into the archbishop. The strand of light thickened and shone brighter, lighting up the dark habitat. “You sure you want it on that giant spider egg? I only have one shot at this,” the archbishop asked with his eyes looking in separate directions. The world swirled around as his body wobbled, his legs acting like a baby calf’s.

“Yes,” Pyre said. “Right in front of you.”

The archbishop grunted and disconnected the light from his hands. As it fell over Palan’s and Raea’s bodies, covering them with a wriggling liquid, the archbishop leaned to the side and vomited before collapsing to the ground. The liquid traveled into Palan’s body through his orifices, including those belonging to his tails and torso-mouth. Instead of entering Raea’s body, the light lapped at the burnt skin on her chest, returning it back to normal. Palan’s eyes shuddered as his tails twitched. The light covering Raea’s body was sucked away as he inhaled, drinking in the liquid light with his torso-mouth.

Palan’s nose crinkled as he sat up. He wriggled his fingers, bent his arms, rolled his shoulders, opened and closed his torso mouth, stretched out his legs, straightened his tails, and flexed his toes. Then he raised his head and took in his surroundings. “Raea?” he asked as he stood up. The unmoving demonic angel on the ground caught his attention. Even though he couldn’t feel her heartbeat with his electromagnetic sense, he squat next to her and placed his hand on her chest to make sure. Her body was still. “She’s dead. Why am I alive?”

“We revived you,” Cory said, taking credit for the archbishop’s work. She puffed her chest up with an expression on her face that said, “Praise me.”

“What about Raea?”

Pyre rubbed his chin and made a small sound, attracting Palan’s attention. “The power was supposed to revive both of you,” the old angel said. “But you breathed in and took it all away from Raea. I suspect it had something to do with the severity of your injuries. Your body was unharmed, but Raea’s was a bit crispy.” Pyre cleared his throat as Palan’s expression darkened. “Just wondering, but weren’t you looking for a way out of your contract with her? Isn’t this it? You can’t have a contract with a dead person.”

Palan grabbed Cory and plunged his hand into her butt feathers. She shrieked as he pulled out a yellow crystal and crushed it while releasing the baffled harpy. A piece of paper materialized in the air in front of Palan.

It read, “The contract was made between the Pride Demon Palan and the Kindness Envy and Wrath Angel Raea on the seventh day of the third month when the second sun passed its zenith. The term for this contract is set until either party dies the Creator dissolves it. In the case where Raea dies, Palan agrees to surrender his life. In the case where Palan dies, Raea agrees to surrender her life. If one party manages to cheat and survives while the other party is dead, the survivor will be assaulted by bouts of sadness that increases in strength over time until the other party is revived.

“Palan agrees (but usually disobeys) to follow the orders of Raea unless said orders will cause bodily harm to the former. Raea agrees to assist Palan in reuniting with his sister (and maybe kill her). The terms of the contract must be will automatically be renewed after Palan is reunited with his sister. Under no circumstances may either party wound the other or cause grievous bodily harm with intent. (Since neither of you care, this line has been removed.)

“Added clause – The Creator approves of the affinity between Palan and Raea and has increased the level of the contract from six to seven to eight. If the affinity continues to increase, the level of the contract may continue to increase. The contract may not be dissolved unless the Creator’s judgment is received (I will deny your request).

“Level seven eight contract addendum. Range, 600 1,000 meters. Palan may draw upon Raea’s virtues and sins to activate their respective magicks. If he is unable to use them, he may forcibly draw upon their powers at the expense of Raea’s mana. Raea may draw upon Palan’s sins and virtues to activate their respective magicks. If she is unable to use them, she may forcibly draw upon their powers at the expense of Palan’s mana.

“In addition, Palan may draw on one hundred percent of Raea’s mana reserves, unless doing so would result in harm of the latter, in order to bolster his growth. In return, Raea shall experience her own growth every time Palan grows stronger.

“Failure to comply by the terms of the contract will result in lightning strikes a slap on the wrist to the offending party.”

“Assaulted by bouts of sadness?” Palan asked and furrowed his brow. “The hell is that?” A cold sensation gripped his heart, causing him to gasp. Looking at Raea’s face caused his chest to throb and hands to clench. Memories of the first time he met Raea came to mind. He was lying in bed, bound by chains.

“Handshake,” Raea had said.

“I’m not a dog.”

“This is how we form the contract, unless you want to go through the whole wrist slitting and blood exchanging ritual.”

“Can we?”

“Just shake my hand.”

“Palan?” Pyre said, snapping the demon out of his reverie. “You alright there?”

Palan’s brow furrowed. “Your Creator’s a sick and twisted person,” he said. “Was it the archbishop that revived me?”

The frothing centaur didn’t reply. “He overexerted himself a bit,” Pyre said.

“Wake him up and have him revive Raea,” Palan said.

Pyre raised an eyebrow and nudged the archbishop with his toe, ignoring the outraged cries of the clergy. “Eh…, that may take a while,” he said.

“I can wait,” Palan said. He frowned at the contract in his hands and tore it to pieces. He thought he heard someone laugh.