Mianda excitedly said "Carol, this is Sir Telvin, the hero that saved us!"

As Carol stood and walked over to Telvin, she felt her memories of Eric start to pour out. A little unsettled, she said to him "It's a pleasure to meet our savior." Carol curtsied. Standing she looked at Petele and said "Petele, could you look after Mianda for a moment, I have some things to speak with Sir Telvin about."

"Hey I wanted to speak with Sir Telvin too!" Mianda said.

Carol patted the girls head and said "Later small one, isn't that right Sir Telvin?"

"Yeah, I'll make time for you later." Telvin said.

Petele said "I'll keep an eye on her. When you get back, we will discuss payment."

Leaving a pouting Mianda, they left out the cottage and into a street. Telvin led her to a nearby field with a path carved into it. The sun was approaching the horizon, and the field still had a summer air too it. Carol said "Thank you for rescuing Mianda and I."

"I was there primarily to save my sister." Telvin said. "When I came into the cottage, you looked as if you had seen a ghost."

Carol was silent for a moment, before she said "You really look like your father."

"I see. My mother refused to speak about him, she only mentioned to me that he was the Dukes brother to me today. So you met my father while you were working for the Evercrals?" Telvin said as they walked along the path.

Looking up at the clear sky, she said "Yeah, I first met him when I was seven. He was a rake through and through, but I developed a crush on him. He would never stay long at the estate before he was off on another adventure, but I waited excitedly for each visit."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Telvin asked.

Stopping, Carol looked at him and said "Almost twelve years ago. It was my fifteenth birthday, and he came to the estate for the day. The Duke was out for the day, Eric was alone in the library. I worked up my courage and went and talked with him. He was so charming, and-" Carol took a breath. "I lost my virginity that same day with him."

"He should have been nearly twice your age! Damn I knew he was scum, but to prey on young girls?" Telvin cursed.

Sighing, Carol said "Your father was very troubled. I was blind to it at the time, but he had a fierce temper. Not only that he had an insatiable appetite for sex. The Duke was always careful to keep an eye on his brother when he was on the estate to keep him from being too wild. Except he was gone that day, and I offered myself and he took it."

"He's still a louse." Telvin said.

Continuing on the trail Carol said "I don't know how much of it was under his control."

"What do you mean?" Telvin said with fear creeping into his voice.

"After we had finished in the library, it seemed to ignite something in him. He sought out each of the maids and had his way with them. I only found out in the evening on what he had been doing the entire day. This infuriated me, and I went to confront him, and he... didn't remember it. In fact he was horrified when I told him what had happened." Carol said.

Telvin scoffed and said "Perhaps he was just lying."

"I thought so as well, I wanted to confront him again later. So in the middle of the night I went looking for him again, this time I found him coming out of the Dukes wife chambers. He looked so haunted by something. When he saw me, he turned and ran." Carol said.

Something seemed to click in Telvin's head and he said "Wait, you said this happened almost twelve years ago? Is Mianda?"

"Your half sister? Most likely. Your father certainly made some of the maids pregnant, the duke had them sent to far away estates. Nine months later his wife gave birth to Mianda. The Duke has treated Mianda as his daughter, however so I can't say for certain." Carol said

Telvin asked "Did you?"

"No, I didn't get pregnant. Some part of me still wishes I did." Carol said looking at the trees.

Telvin was silent for a moment and said "My blood is cursed from my father. It most likely means Mianda’s blood as well."

Carol stopped and said "I suspected as much, based on what the Duke has done."

"What did he do?" Telvin asked.

Picking off a stick from the ground Carol drew a circle in the dirt. "Every year, He has a sigil tattoed on Mianda's back. She's due for another sigil soon. I'm no expert on magic, but it sure looks as if he is trying to seal something."

"My mother said the last person to see my father alive was the Duke. Could he have killed my father?" Telvin asked

Wiping her hands to clear them from the dirt from the stick she said. "Maybe, when the Duke returned they got into a heated argument. Eric left soon after that, and no one has seen him since. The Duke has made no effort to find his brother after that."

"I'm not sure I would blame the Duke if he did. If he treats Mianda as his daughter, however, why were you two without any guards?" Telvin asked.

Carol looked at Telvin and said "I have a special power. Ever since I was little, I could occasionally hear voices coming from people's minds. Mianda wanted to visit Narak to meet with a friend, so I escorted her along with several guards. While we were on the path, I heard their thoughts. They were planning to kill Mianda, so I took her and fled. Unfortunately things didn't work out." Carol felt the bile rise up again as she thought about what happened again.

"Hey are you okay?" Telvin said.

Shaking her head, "No, I'm all sorts of messed up inside. Not much you can do about it though. Thanks for the concern." Carol stood back up.

"No problem," Telvin said, stopping suddenly. Cocking his ear he said "Do you hear that?"

Carol listened and realized she heard wood snapping in the distance and it was getting closer fast. Facing the forest she said "Yeah, I think it's coming this way."

"It sounds pretty big" Telvin said pulling out his knife.

Carol said "I'm getting a bad feeling." With her new mental senses, she could tell something was horrifically wrong with the mind of whatever was coming.

Breaking through the trees, a huge ball of pink flesh bounded into the field. On the surface were several dozen mouths that seemed to be in a perpetual state of silent screaming, and giant eyes stared at her wildly. To her horror she realized this thing was feeling lustful towards her.

Examining closely, Carol found she gained a skill and a blue window popped up.

"Holy Fucking Shit, What the hells is that thing!" Telvin yelled.

Letting her psionic energy rip through her arms, she formed a large grey crackling blade on the edge of her fist. Whatever it was, it looked as if it had come for her from the feelings it was giving off towards her. As she watched, several wormlike protrusions came off the blob. Disgustedly she realized they were vaguely penislike, except for the length.

Not wanting the thing to come any closer to them, Carol reached out with her mind and grasped a bolder from the field and chucked it at the meat bag. Seeming oblivious to the attack, the abomination took the boulder full into its side and forced it to roll. The eyes on it changed to anger from lust.

Wildly waving it's dick tentacles about, it started to roll at Carol. Telvin said "Fuck off" and stabbed his knife into the blob only to have it get stuck in the flesh. The blob grabbed onto Telvin with one of it's stalks and picked him up and tossed him.

Carol reached out and caught him, bringing him back to the ground safely. Telvin yelled "Keep it busy for a moment!" Grunting she jumped out of the way of the rolling blob, and slashed at the side of the blob carving off a chunk of the creature.

As it tried to roll back at her again, she punched at it with her mind, and stopped it in it's track. She tried to hold it down, and she could feel it fighting back fiercely. Blood started to drip from her nose, she was reaching her limits, when Telvin finally started to glow a bright green.

Telvin yelled "Take this' ' and released a wave of energy infused with rage. Carol waited a few seconds but nothing seemed to happen. Telvin looked a little confused, then the sky began to darken. Some of the blackest clouds she had seemed formed right over head.

Looking at Telvin while fighting to keep the blob still, she said "What did you do?"

"It summoned roots last time!" Telvin said nervously.

As they watched, a small funnel began to form from the cloud and came down fast. Sensing danger, the blob stopped fighter Carol, and tried to roll away with it's penis stalks waving wildly. Only for the tornado to reach down and grasp the blob within a fierce storm of wind.

From her position, Carol could only feel a slight breeze coming from the tornado. For the abomination however it was being picked up. It tried to grasp onto a tree with its tentacles only for the tree itself to be ripped up from the ground as well.

Within moments, the blob was carried up into the distant sky, where it became but a small speck. Like a giant sling, the funnel flung the blob where it disappeared over the horizon. As quickly as the clouds formed, they left leaving behind a crystal blue sky.

After a few moments Telvin said "Damn I don't think that killed it. I didn't get any experience from it landing. Where did you get those powers?"

"From Jack." Carol said.

"He made a contract with you?" Telvin said.

Carol nodded and was about to continue when she felt something touch her leg. To her disgust she saw the piece she had cut off the creature, was sending out a tentacle towards her. Jumping back she felt a wild sense of anger tear through her, how dare this thing touch her.

Reaching out with her mind she poured this anger into the creature, and suddenly it began to smoke only to burst into a fierce inferno. Telvin jumped back at how intense the blaze was. Carol felt no heat however and she kept it on, until she felt herself run dry on power and collapsed to her knees.

Where the chunk had been was now a scorched black surface, no trace of it could be seen. "Shit, have to make sure to kill all of it at the same time." Telvin said.

"Indeed, that seems to be a foul sort of creature full of corruption." A man's voice said behind them.

Looking back, Carol could see a man in a priests robes, behind them were several fierce looking warriors. He was looking at Telvin with kindness and joy in his eyes. "Hello son, I'm glad you came back. Now could someone tell me what happened here?"

After finding it was Carol, Jack understood what had happened. When he sends an invitation, until they make a decision the window will stay with them. When she accepted the contract, he was suddenly overwhelmed with the pain and horror of what had happened to her.

Using some of his system abilities, he helped shoulder the burden on her mind so she could help get herself back on her feet. However this took a toll on him, and he had to rely on Veronica to get him back to the inn. He collapsed onto the bed and let the pain wash over him, with hot tears flowing down his cheeks as he struggled