Chains of Violet

Prologue: The Pact

Cruelty.

Cruelty bore into Edeline through phosphorescent yellow eyes set into the face of an angel. One who had no sympathy to spare for her or her request.

"What do I get in return?" the Ancient Old One asked.

She swallowed, throat and mouth dry. "What- whatever you ask," she answered, holding her hand over the gash in her side. Seawater stung the myriad cuts across her travel-battered frame. It pooled and commingled with her blood on the black marble floors beneath her feet.

A smirk broke one edge of his mouth. "Awfully brazen, don't you think? To come all this way and demand something of a god."

Edeline stayed resolute, even as her knees quaked with exhaustion, with fear.

At her silence, laughter purred in his chest. He leaned forward on his throne of black glass to inspect her more closely. A blackened finger trailed along her jaw, the claw of which giving her goosebumps as it scraped her exposed throat. "And if I choose to kill you. What then?"

She clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to stay composed beneath his piercing gaze. "Then you kill me," she said, "but I'm not useful to you if I'm dead."

Frigid breath brushed her damp cheek. "You aren't useful to me alive either. Humans are weak, fragile. Capricious."

Dread turned her blood to ice. A hiccup of tears caught in her throat and she choked, "Please. I need to forget."

A pause took the air, drawing long, bearing down on her on all sides. She kept her eyes closed, holding her breath.

"What is your name?" asked the God of Memories at last.

"Edeline Caillte."

The pressure of his looming presence retreated from her, and she opened her eyes. Standing above her on the dais, the Ancient Old One, the God of Memories, Manasvi lifted one of his rot-bruised hands.

"Edeline Caillte, in exchange for your memories, you fully and voluntarily grant me ownership of your will and soul henceforth." His deep voice echoed across the high ceilings and reverberated through her to her core. "Do you agree to these terms?"

Tears dewed her lids. She stared up at him, a breathy, "yes" eking from her lungs.

"Done."

He closed his hand, and as his fist clenched, a dazzling golden chain appeared, clutched in his grip. The shimmering chainlink materialized down the dais steps, across the short distance to her feet, then up to affix in the middle of her sternum. 

Shocked, she reached to grab it and her hands passed through, unable to make purchase. Returning her gaze to him, still steadfast in her choice despite the panic that bubble beneath the surface, she waited for him to uphold his half of the bargain.

He twisted the chain around his hand, gathering it taut, and he whispered, "Enjoy your new life." He yanked the tether that bound them to each other and, as blinding pain threaded her body, Edeline's vision went black.