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leviathans-watching · 2 years

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☽ chapter one | wc: 3.1k | series m.list ☾

Your hand is steady as you begin to light the candles you’d spent so long arranging into place. Everything is exactly as it should be, and excitement tingles under your skin as you consider what your future will look like in a few mere minutes.

A pact, huh?

You only know of one sorcerer who had pacts with demons, and he’s the most renowned sorcerer to exist. If you can get a pact, surely you’ll ascend to his level, establishing yourself right under him.

At least, that's what you hope.

It all depends on this spell going well. This spell will summon Mammon, Avatar of Greed, and force him into a pact with you. Some might shy away from the idea of ‘forcing’ a pact, but not you. It’s not as if you really intend to do something against his will, and anyway, you’ve fought too long and hard to get to where you are. Giving it up now would be ridiculous. And it’s not like the contract will only benefit you. Surely Mammon can gain something from it as well.

You’d thought long and hard about which demon to summon. You wanted one powerful, but not so powerful as to beat you, which is why you passed on Lucifer. From the stories you’ve heard, Mammon is on better terms with humans than many of his other brothers, which was a reassurance, and though you’d considered going for Asmodeus, you eventually decided against it, not wanting there to be a conflict of interest.

So overall, Mammon was the best choice.

Setting the lighter aside, you take a moment to steady yourself before beginning the incantation. Your eyes slip close as you recite the memorized words. After a few long moments of silence, you carefully peek at the summoning circle, dismayed to see it empty. What had gone wrong? You’d done everything exactly according to the instructions!

Bone-weary tiredness settles over you. No wonder you’re unable to get your sorcerer's license. You can’t even perform a spell like this.

Shaking your head in disappointment, you stand, turning your back to the summoning circle. You should probably clean up.

It’s as you’re bending down to pick up your bowl of herbs that a bright yellow light fills the room. It probably would have blinded you had you been looking directly at it, making you grateful you are facing away.

“What,” a low voice says, “the hell is goin’ on?”

You whirl around, hands covering your eyes as the last of the bright light dissipates. “Mammon?” you venture, moving your fingers so you can see.

“Uh, yeah? Who the hell are you?”

Mammon… is not what you were expecting. Instead of some horrific creature, you’re met with a pretty normal-looking guy, all things considered. Sure, he’s got horns and wings, but that's it. Oh. He has abs, too. So horns, wings, and very prominent abs.

“My name is MC,” you say bravely, looking very intently at his eyes, which are an inhumane blue. “And I summoned you. I wish to make a pact.”

“A pact?” Mammon squawks, confusing you. “ That’s what you were tryin’ to do?”

You raise a brow. “Yes?”

Mammon curses, slipping into the rough tones of the underworld. “A goddamn pact. Shit.” Shaking his head roughly, he fixes you with a hard look. “Hate to break it to you, Sweetcheeks, but you fucked up.”

“What?” You squint at him. “No. No way. I followed all of the instructions perfectly.”

“And there’s your problem. Whoever told you that was a pact spell was lyin’ to you.” Mammon seems genuinely distressed, and you feel very out of your element. You’d planned to summon Mammon, and coolly invite him to make a pact, take his power, etc. etc. etc., but now your plan is going awry.

You’re scared to ask for further clarification but you do anyway. “Well then, what kind of spell was it?”

Mammon winces like he was hoping you weren’t going to ask. “It’s a, uh, binding spell. We’re bound together now. Our souls are, for a lack of a better term, intertwined.”

“But what does that mean?” You press, trying to identify any difference you could within yourself. You couldn’t sense that anything's changed, let alone get the feeling that you and this demon's souls are ‘intertwined’.

“I’m not up-to-date on all the human stuff, since it’s been so long since I’ve been in the overworld, but I guess you could call it akin to being married? Obviously, it runs much, much deeper than that, but humans were mimicking this bond when they came up with the whole concept.” Mammon continues, seemingly unaware of the effect his words have on you.

You feel like the air’s been knocked out of you. “W-what? Married?” Your voice breaks on the word and you slide down against your cabinets, legs like jelly. “You’re kidding me.”

“Unfortunately not.” Mammon watches you with concern. “I don’t know how you even managed to cast the spell. It’s powerful, intricate magic that only very few could perform.”

“Then how did I do it? I swear I’m not that good at magic!” You try to calm down, aware that your audience of one is a very powerful demon who’d likely exploit any weaknesses he found.

That bastard had told you it was a relatively easy spell when he’d given it to you! “I was trying to get a pact with you to get better at magic! I was turned down by the Sorcerer’s Society so I decided to show them up with this! But you can, ah, see how it turned out,” you continue, gesturing vaguely at Mammon. You let your head fall back against the wood behind you, at a complete loss.

“Bull,” Mammon snorts. “You’re telling me that a novice sorcerer managed this spell?”

“I’m not even a sorcerer,” you admit. “When I went to apply for my license I failed the exams.”

Mammon gapes at you for a moment before visibly reigning himself in. “Look. Let’s just calm down for a moment.” Mammon hesitantly steps out of the summoning ring, approaching you. “We’ll figure it all out.”

“We will? You’re sticking around?

Grimacing, Mammon crouches down near you, still an arm's length away. “I mean, yeah. First of all, the binding magic leaves a mark, meaning all demons will be able to sense our bond, which I don’t really want happening quite yet. And anyway, I haven’t been allowed up into the Human Realm in some time so I plan on taking advantage of it for as long as possible.”

Mammon looks like he said more than he meant to, so you let it go, deciding it would be a bad idea to push the very powerful demon you just accidentally bound your fucking soul to.

“Okay,” you say, blowing out a breath. “So, where do we go from here?”

Mammon shrugs. “Let’s take it slow for now. But eventually, we’ll have to figure out how to break this.”

Gulping, you look over at him. “You don’t know how?”

Mammon shrugs. “It's never been done before. Every other time the spell was cast it was intentionally laid. There was no need to break it.”

You suppose that makes sense. If what Mammon’s describing is true, then the spell is meant to bind two people together inescapably, something people would want to do with their loved ones. There’d be no reason to break it. If you were going to go as far as to bind your soul to someone then you’d be confident that they were the ones you’d want to spend the rest of your life with.

“Great.” Feeling your stomach grumble, you stand, looking around your kitchen, which is still set up for the incantation. “That’s just great.” You begin to clean up, aware of Mammon watching intently. His gaze rubs the wrong way on your already wrung-out nerves and eventually, you can’t stand it. “What?” you snap, and Mammon stands as well. You note he’s taller than you, standing well over the average human height.

“What are you doin’?”

“What’s it look like? I’m cleaning up.” You stare at him, candle in your hand. Wordlessly, Mammon begins helping you, only confusing you further. With your direction, he puts everything in a neat pile on the counter for you to sort through and put away later.

“So,” Mammon starts, breaking the awkward silence. “MC, was it?”

You nod. “Yes. And you’re Mammon, Avatar of Greed.”

Mammon’s chest puffs out. “That’s Mammon THE Great, to you, human!”

Unimpressed, you just fix him with a look, continuing to clean. Once all of the spell stuff is put away in its rightful place you turn to your food cabinets, rooting around for something easy. Again, Mammon just watches.

“You can, uh, go explore, or something,” you say, nodding towards the doorway of the living room. “I guess if you're going to be here awhile you can just make yourself at home.”

“Sounds good to me,” Mammon says, quickly vacating your kitchen, and for the first time since he’s shown up, you can breathe again. Only I would manage to get myself into a situation like this, you think bitterly, pulling out sandwich stuff. Curse that scummy sorcerer for giving me this spell.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

“I only have one bedroom,” you say, looking over at Mammon some time later, after you’d both eaten and placed your dishes in the sink. Do demons even need sleep? “Which means one bed. You can have it until I manage to get another sleeping option.”

Mammon tears his eyes away from the TV, considering. “Where will you sleep?”

You pat the couch you’re both sitting on. “I’ll take the couch. I have extra blankets and pillows tucked away somewhere I can use.”

“Works for me.” Perhaps someone other than Mammon would argue out of politeness, but he is a demon, and the Avatar of Greed at that, so you’re not really surprised when he doesn’t.

“Let me go get clean sheets and pick up a bit,” you say, thinking about all of the stuff you have lying around. Your house isn’t super clean in general- not that it’s dirty, just cramped. Cluttered, if you will. You don’t tend to have guests so there’s no need for you to maintain it all that well, and though you know it’s a dumb feeling, you can’t help but fear that Mammon is judging you based on it.

As you set about tidying up, you find your thoughts drifting to Mammon, who has easily integrated himself into your space. He’s different than you were expecting, obviously, and you’re still trying to figure out how you feel about him. Despite all of his posturing, he doesn’t seem all that bad. The only issue is his sticky fingers, as you’ve already had to scold him for pocketing some of your stuff, but really, in the scheme of things, that is a pretty low-level thing to worry about.

(Considering you’re still kind of scared he’s going to kill you brutally for fucking up so badly.)

Mammon, surprisingly, is funny. His humor’s slightly crass and a little rude, but so far it hasn’t been mean-spirited, and he seems to know when enough is enough. He also knows what to say, and his lack of fear in the situation is oddly reassuring.

He’s, in his own words out of touch with the overworld, but he seems to be faring alright so far, easily using your laptop and TV. You wonder how different the two realms really are after all. Maybe you’ll get to go to the Devildom eventually, assuming you and Mammon come out of this both alive and not hating one another.

“Don’t you sorcerers for a spell for all of that?” Mammon asks from the doorway, startling you enough that you drop the comforter you were throwing over the sheets.

“Oh, like I said, I’m not very good at magic,” you say, pressing a palm to your chest. Getting used to not living alone will surely be a challenge. “I can do the spells, of course, I just would rather not use up the last of my magic on them. Today’s… spell thing really took a lot out of me.” The busywork is also helpful, but that doesn’t need to be admitted.

“Hm.” Mammon watches you finish up, eyes boring into your back. “This whole situation doesn’t make any sense. Someone giving you the wrong spell. The fact you were able to cast it. The fact that it even worked at all.” When you turn to look at him, he shakes his head, giving you a half-smile, teeth glinting in the lamplight. “Nevermind. We’ll work on it tomorrow, like you said.”

“Right. Tomorrow. Speaking of that, is there anything specific you want or need for breakfast? I realized I don’t exactly know what demons eat, or what they can eat, so I may not be stocked up with the right foods. Oh my god, do you guys eat souls? I don’t have that. Well, I do, but-” Realizing you’re rambling, you cut yourself off with a sigh.

Mammon watches you for a moment without answering, an odd look on his face. It vanishes though, in favor of a shit-eating grin. “We could eat souls if we wanted to. I don’t, but my brother, Beel…” He’s talking about Beelzebub, Avatar of Gluttony. Seeing your mildly uneasy look, he laughs. “Don’t worry about it. I can eat whatever, so I’m sure what you eat will be fine.”

“Alright,” you say hesitantly. “I have an extra toothbrush for you in the bathroom, and if you need a change of clothes I’m sure I could magic one up for you, or whatever.”

“Thanks, but I can do that myself.” You’re reminded you’re speaking to the second most powerful demon to walk the realms. “And thanks. You’re surprisingly cool about all of this, you know, for a human.”

“Well, I can’t say I’ve been in this position before, but when you learn about sorcery, you learn to roll with the punches.” Laughing a little, you pull the door closed behind you. “Goodnight, Mammon.”

“Night, MC,” he says and you see him looking at all of the stuff you have pinned to your walls before the door finishes shutting. You make sure that the front door is locked and the lights are off before settling on the couch, and despite all of the stuff your mind has to pick apart and focus on, you fall asleep quickly, the exhaustion of the day catching up to you.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•

The next morning finds you and Mammon in the kitchen, both with bowls of cereal.

“Solomon?” Mammon’s eyes are wide, and his voice jumps up an octave or two. “You said Solomon gave you that spell?”

Leaning back slightly, you nod. “Um, yeah. Do you know him?”

Mammon laughs, though the sound is humorless. “Yes. And he’s a giant dick. This is probably his idea of a joke.” Muttering under his breath, Mammon runs his hands through his hair, making it even more disheveled than it previously was. Apparently, even demons get bedhead.

(It still looks good, though.)

“I know him through my work as a sorcerer,” you say. “He helps me out every once and a while and I had a few classes that were TA’d by him.”

“Wait, you go to classes to learn this stuff?” Mammon stares at you before shaking his head. “Never mind, unimportant. He works as a human ambassador down in the Devildom. I know him pretty well, unfortunately.”

“Do you not like him?”

“It’s not that I don’t like him,” Mammon hedges unconvincingly. “He just gets on my nerves, actin’ all smug all of the time. Like he knows better than everyone else.”

“I guess I can see that. You both have strong personalities so it’s probably easy to clash with one another,” you muse. “But I don’t understand why he’d give me the wrong incantation. Do you think it was an accident?”

“With Solomon?” Mammon growls. “Never. That bastard likes to get under my skin and this was probably his newest way of doin’ that. I just don’t get why he’d get you involved, though. I coulda eaten you, you know. And that would have been on his hands.”

“Well, you didn't eat me,” you say firmly, though you’re once again struck with the reminder that he is a demon and you are but a human, “so let's keep it that way and just chalk it up to a prank?”

“I dunno.” Mammon furrows his brows. “Solomon likes to play three steps ahead. I can’t help but believe he’d have more than one motive for this, though I don’t understand what they’d be.”

“We could always ask him,” you offer, and Mammon’s eyes snap to yours.

“We could,” he agrees, though his tone is somewhat reluctant. “I just…”

“What is it?” you pry, trying to be gentle.

“Look. I wouldn’t expect a lowly human to understand my situation, but I don’t want to go back down just yet. This binding between us is a surefire way to keep my brothers off my back, at least for a little while. Normally, Lucifer’d be able to track me using my aura, but I think since it’s changed because of our souls and whatnot, it should take him some time.”

“So you don’t want to figure out a way to undo it just yet?” you surmise, eyes wide. You thought Mammon would be nothing but eager to get away from you and the spell.

“Not because of you, or anythin',” Mammon says quickly, and you bite back a smile. “I just wanna explore. See the sights around the overworld.”

“That’s fine with me, I guess,” you agree. “I don’t have anything super important going on right now, besides re-trying out for my sorcerer's license. Which I still can’t do, since my plan was to have a pact with you and I don’t have one of those.”

Mammon’s silent, and you realize how weird you just sounded.

“N-not that I was going to really force you into anything you wanted to do. If you really didn’t want to make one with me, that would have been fine. Obviously. Bodily autonomy and all that.” Smiling nervously at Mammon, you’re taken aback when he snorts, hair flopping into his eyes.

“Relax, human. You’re hardly the first to try for a pact with me outta the blue, though you are the most polite.”

“Thanks, I think.” Mammon still surprises you. When you expect one response, you’re often met with a very different one, and you can’t help but wonder if it’s cultural differences or simply his personality. “But you said you want to explore the human realm? Is there anything in particular you want to see?”

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