Just as he was despairing, he finally remembered something. 'Wait, though my body has died and this body is that of a Regular... My soul are still the same. And the arrays I made are based on my own world. So rather than trying to use mental energy, can't I just use my own soul force?'
As he thought of this, he began to try maneuvering his own soul energy. At this moment, he felt fortunate that he cultivated his soul force back when he was still alive. But at the same time, his eyes widened in horror. This is because he found out that his soul was actually damaged. 'With this kind of damage, I can only use one tenth of my soul force...' Aldwynn grits his teeth, feeling a bit disatissfied. 'But then again, a damaged soul is still better than dead. I guess I can't complain too much.'
Having accepted his current condition, Aldwynn then began to inject his soul force into the array on the pendant. The array began to glow and the air around him started to swirl. Knowing that he had succeeded in activating the array, he began to chant in an archaic language. When the light on the pendant shine the brightest, Aldwynn immediately aimed it towards the corpse. "Oh, Malevolent spirit who wishes to be rid of their resentment. I call upon thee to appear before me!"
There was a sudden temperature drop on the area surrounding Aldwynn. The atmosphere began to turn eerie as baleful sounds could be heard. Suddenly, he felt that this was actually not a good idea at all. Sure, he wanted to call on the spirit of the Maudrey's corpse but he forgot that the rest of the corpse here should also have spirits of their own. "I didn't... accidentally call out a whole army of dead spirits, right?"
But his thought was proven to be true when voices of the dead travelled into his ears and several specters began to form around him.
"This young man is funny. What does he wish to achieve when he called on us?"
"Well he was calling those who wished to be rid of their resentment, does that mean he's willing to help us?"
"If I can get out of here, then all I want to do is see my daughter again. I don't know what her fate is now that I am stuck here... maybe she got bullied by that disgusting young master from Bartell again."
"I want to see my mommy... Mister, can you really help me find my mom?"
There were voices belonging to women, men, elderlies, and even children! All of them answered to his call and now, he knew he is in trouble. After all, he can't possibly help all of them and if these spirits became angered because of that, they might rip him apart.
"Well, are you really going to help us?" asked one of the elderly spirits.
Aldwynn's brain worked in high speed as he began to think of a way to solve this problem without angering the spirits. "I would like to help all of you out. But..." before Aldwynn could finish his sentence, the temperature plummetted to the lowest making him shiver uncontrollably. Worse, he could see that the expressions of the spirits were murderous.
"Wait, wait! Listen to me first. If I could, I really want to help all of you but look at me now. I am also stuck here just like you had been when you all were still alive," Aldwynn said hurriedly. "Then you should know that if I can't get out of this pit, I will be dead sooner or later. By then, I won't be able to fulfill any of your requests!"
When Aldwynn finished his explanation, the temperature rises slightly though it was still colder than normal. 'It seems that the ghost accepted my explanation. That's good...' he thought.
"Then, what are you trying to say? That we should help you escape? If we could leave here, then we would have done so earlier but the reality is, we're stuck!" a female spirit cried out.
"That's right!" other ghosts agreed with her.
"I know you can't leave because your spirit is bound to this place. But I have a solution for that," Aldwynn told them. What he said had piqued their interest that they all became quiet immediately. Seeing that the spirits are letting him speak, he then continued: "As long as a spirit make contract with me, they will no longer bound to this place and instead, they are bound to me. Under normal circumstances, I contract all of you. Unfortunately, my soul was damaged so I can only contract two, at most."
"Only two...?"
The spirits began to look at each other. Clearly, they are all unwilling to let this opportunity go. Aldwynn could see this, and before they started to fight each other for the opportunity, Aldwynn then lay down his requirement.
"If I am to get out of here, I need the strongest amongst all of you. Before you died, who here has the identity of a Magnus?"
"A Magnus? Boy, aren't you overreaching your luck here? If a Magnus fell here, escaping is not a problem to them at all. You would have a higher chance of finding an Arcanist instead," a spirit of an old man grumbled.
"I need a Magnus. This is non-negotiable," Aldwynn said in a firm voice.
"And I say there are no Magnus here!"
"There is!" Aldwynn retorted. Then, turning over to his left, his eyes landed on the spirit of a young man who appears to be calm throughout the whole exchange. "You over there, are you not a Magnus?"
The young spirit kept quiet, not replying to Aldwynn's inquiry. Instead, he continued to stare at him, as if evaluating him. "You... are a Valshier," he finally said after a while.
Hearing this, Aldwynn can't help raising an eyebrow, especially after hearing the skeptical tone within it. "And?"
"You should know. My Maudrey family and your Valshier family does not have the best of relationship," he added. "And the reason I died here is because I was plotted against by the member of your family. So, tell me why I should help you?"
"... What if I say I am not a Valshier?" Aldwynn asked back. Technically, he was not wrong. This body belonged to the Valshier family, that is true but, Aldwynn himself is different. He is a soul from another world, and he has his own identity.
"I heard what happened when you were thrown here," the young spirit of Maudrey said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.
"Then you should have also heard it when I got renounced of my ancestry. My so called *younger brother* even said that I no longer exists," Aldwynn replied, "Look. I am giving you a way for revenge here. As long as you agreed to form a contract with me, I will help you with revenge. After all, I am no longer related to the Valshier. Whether they die or not does not concern me."
"You would really let me take my revenge?" the spirit sneered, as if not believing a single word that Aldwynn said.
"Of course!" Aldwynn replied in a firm tone.
"Then make an oath to the God of Honour, Vyldis."
"Very well. If that will put you at ease," Aldwynn said before he put his hand over his chest, right above where his beating heart is located. Then, with a solemn tone, he began to speak: "In the name or Vyldis, I, Aldwynn, the deposed heir of Duke Valshier, hereby declare that before I drew my last breath, I will honor my promise to... What was your name again?"
The spirits who were listening closely, were rendered speechless. An oath to the deities are something that they consider sacred and it was something to be reverred about. But Aldwynn's inquiry broke that seriousness.
The young Maudrey could only close his eyes and took some time to calm his irritation. "Eugene Maudrey," he told Aldwynn his name.
"Alright, thank you," Aldwynn said before he cleared his throat. Then, as if the blunder from before didn't exist, he repeated his oath once again. "In the name of Vyldis, I, Aldwynn, the deposed heir of Duke Valshier, hereby declare that before I drew my last breath, I will honour my promise to Eugene Maudrey in helping him get his revenge. If I failed to honour my promise, then my soul will be left to Eigmyr, Lord of the Underworld, to be judged and punished accordingly."
Upon finishing his oath, a small ball of light came out of Aldwynn's chest before it rushed towards the sky at lightning speed. This was an indicator that his oath was heard, and accepted by the God of Honour. Then, he turned to Eugene with a serious expression. "I've done my part. Now it's your turn."
