Staff of the Depths

ꕥ

He had refused to make deals with Azul throughout his time at Night Raven College, but he was unable to turn down the first and last one he offered him that night.

It was supposed to be a day of celebration, the graduation of their fourth year, closing stages, beginning others. The ex-leaders were preparing to give their respective speeches, each of them calling on their ex-vices to go over the final details, Ashengrotto had had other options in his deck and, still, he asked him. And Jamil, for once, did not avoid his presence. He desperately pointed out that all the details were stipulated in the contract, Azul was not someone who lost his temper so easily, he had never seen him this exasperated over a measly deal. The tempting offer was to grant him any wish if he fulfilled it, unfortunately, he was not given enough time to think it through, for the problem laid in the leader of Octavinelle himself.

Remnants of blot playing against him, he suspected he would be consumed by it again if he dared to even take the feather from his trembling hand. A dark aura emanated from the merman, surrounding him from head to toe, among the blackish and purplish colours that took over the room, only the golden contract shone brightly, waiting to be signed. Jamil had only one certainty, if he made no sudden decision it would be the end of Azul, a wizard could survive one overblot, but to survive two would be another matter. Disoriented, somewhat fearful and impatient, he decided to take the object without further ado. His first contract with Azul ashengrotto and the first time he felt in him the anguish of loss, the first time he could not deny that deep down he cared for the other. In a few flicks of the wrist, the deal was sealed.

[...]

Jamil's summary of the points consisted of:

Conditions of contract
- ̶G̶o̶ ̶b̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶y̶e̶a̶r̶.̶
- Acquire the Sea Witch's seashell and destroy it.
- Use your unique magic to erase my memories of you and the shell.

Clarifications
- Do not reveal that you are a time traveler.
- You will return to the present when all conditions are met.
- In order to fulfill the counterpart, show this contract to my present self.

Important
- Do not break this contract.
- Do not ignore any of its points.
- All information is available at the Atlantica Memorial Museum in Coral Sea.

He had gone over the key information in the contract a thousand times and the more he read it, the angrier it made him. For starters, he had already tried to use his unique magic on Azul and failed, nothing assured him that he would be victorious on a second attempt, certainly not if he intended to keep it that long. He thought at first the safest thing to do was to evade Ashengrotto long enough to not have to resort to his Snake Whisper. He had more complaints about the actual item to be stolen, as he was not particularly detailed in the procedures. It was unusual for Azul to play everything on one card, nor for his contracts not to stipulate in detail each and every one of his points, it was clear that he had suddenly left his life in his hands. Viper had a goal to achieve, or else he would never get out of that time.

The first stone in his path was waking up in his room after the signing and finding out that it was the past winter holidays. The Octavinelle trio, like himself and Kalim, had returned home that year, so if he went there and they found him, it would be unnecessary inconvenience to them all, not to mention what a hassle it would be to get to Coral Sea from Night Raven College constantly despite the ice and cold.

He remembered that by the start of term after that holiday, Azul had a certain seashell with him, and he kept gloating that it was the very relic of the Sea Witch. In fourth year they were not in class together, not that they were able to meet often given the strict academic demands and other chores, so that factor was one of the few things he knew about him during those months. He would be lying if he said he missed him after getting rid of him after two whole years as a classmate, and he would also be lying if he said he did not care for him when he had gone to the trouble of signing that contract to save him.