Pandora Unchained B1C21 - Lorimer

Demon taming scrolls were something adventurers used in the wilderness. They were a risky item that required completely submission to have even a chance at succeeding.

But if one wanted greater assurance at demon taming, the go-to method was performing a ceremony at the Temple of Hope. The cost was much steeper, an entire 500 gold coins for an advertised 50/50 chance at success, but it was far better than 100 gold for a 5 in 100 chance at gaining a new pet.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Kepler,” said a cheerful female attendant in ceremonial robes as she received this gold. “We will do our best to ensure that this demon aligns its interests with yourself and master Hope going forward. Now please place the demon in the circle, and we will take care of the rest.”

Sorin tossed the rat wrapped in mithril string into the ritual circle and released its bindings. It quickly shifted form playing dead to frightened for its very existence and attempted to rush out of the circle.

A bright light flashed when the rat attempted to cross the circle boundary; he was sent flying back with a loud, bone-breaking crack. But the rat was persistent and tried to gnaw on the golden metal of the room’s permanent ritual circle. But try as he might, even his powerful teeth were no match for Hope’s enchanted metal.

“Do you need a drop of blood or something?” asked Sorin, unbothered by the rat’s display. “A medium of some kind?”

“That won’t be necessary,” said the attendant. “A good rapport with the demon helps slightly, but isn’t mandatory.”

“Got it,” said Sorin. He drew on the snake icon in his body and walked over to the aggrieved rat in the circle, kneeled down, and made eye contact with the rat. “I’m not going to try to convince you to be my best friend,” he whispered. “Nor am I going to tell you that everything is going to be alight.

“But I want to make sure that we’re clear on something: Playing dead won’t help you. Failing this contract won’t help you. I can’t afford more than one chance at this, and if we fail, I’m extracting your demon core and sending your corpse to the Adventurers Guild for dissection and verification.” He then circulated his mana for effect, and the rat shivered and averted its eyes. It got the message.

Sorin gave the attendant the thumbs up and backed away from the circle. “Please proceed without worries. Regardless of the result, I won’t blame you.”

“I will begin the ceremony then,” said the attendant. She spread her hands out towards the circle and raised her voice. “Almighty Hope, Greatest of the Evils! Your servant implores you to show pity upon this lesser demon and bind him to your humble servant, Sorin Abberjay Kepler. Please align their wills so that they may pursue your great mission and aid you in cleansing the world of the other seven Evils.”

She then took out a long case containing five crystals. Each one was painted with mysterious golden characters Sorin didn’t recognize. She placed each of these crystals on their respective star point on the ritual circle, then walked about with a bowl of incense while murmuring prayers to the almighty Hope.

“Thy will be done!” shouted the attendant once as she finished. She prostrated herself, and the five large crystals on the ritual circle crystals shattered. Their essence poured into the circle, summoning forth a golden chain that tightened around the rat’s body.

The rat squirmed under the weight of the chain, but quickly struggled loose. It was clear that a single chain would not be enough to restrain it. But then a second golden chain shot out of the circle, and it was quickly followed by a third and a fourth.

Four chains weren’t quite enough, so a fifth chain emerged. The attendant on the ground trembled and broke into tears. “Forgive this little one for miscalculating the offering!” she pleaded. “Master Hope, please show mercy!”

Darkness descended upon them, and Sorin found himself separated from his friends. A familiar altar appeared before him, as did the familiar looming figure of a fox with nine chains for tails. The fox, Hope, was grinning from ear to ear as he always did.

“Won’t this be fun!” whispered the fox before fading from Sorin’s sight.

The altar vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Sorin blinked and found himself on the ground, kneeling before the altar. His knees were sore, and he was sweating profusely.

“Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!” Sorin put his hand down instinctively, and a rat crawled up his sleeve and onto his shoulder. It was none other than the mutant rat they’d all mistaken for a rat king. It had a small fox icon on its forehead along with six golden chains, though the icon was fading with every passing second as it sank into the creature’s skeleton.

Success. Sorin let out a sigh of relief. He really couldn’t afford to fail the ceremony. “Now the only question is: What areyou? You’re not a rat king.”

The rat naturally couldn’t communicate with words, but it could transmit thoughts and images. Most of them were about food or things it had eaten. The creature had eaten many things over its single year of excistence.

“So what does it do?” Lawrence, who’d been standing there quietly the whole time, asked. “Does it have super spying abilities? Teleportation abilities? Swarming abilities? A diseased bite?”

“Be polite,” scolded Stephan. “It’s his pet, not yours.”

Sorin’s expression turned awkward. “According to the rat, it’s really good at eating. That’s all its telling me for now.”

“Eating?” said Gareth dubiously. “That’s not exactly a supreme ability. Unless it can eat specific things like metal?”

“Metal is apparently on the menu,” said Sorin. “And books.”

“It dares?” said Daphne, snapping her book closed. “Let it not be said that I didn’t warn you, foul creature. You touch a single one of my books, and I’ll be burning you alive until all that remains is your skeleton.” The rat shivered and cuddled up to Sorin.

“Congratulations,” said the attendant. Her face was flushed, and she was clearly out of breath. “It’s my first time witnessing a six-fold chaining, and I’m quite relieved to see that it was successful. And that Hope didn’t take this poor life as punishment.”

“Wait, that was –” started Gareth.

“Let’s move on, shall we?” said the attendant with a smile. “All I can say is that Mr. Kepler is quite lucky. Typically, such chains aren’t possible at such a minor temple. One-star demons seldom possess that kind of willpower or potential, so we’re not equipped for it. So congratulations again; You’ve found yourself an amazing creature.”

“More like an amazing glutton,” Sorin muttered. He wondered if the expense would even be worth it.

“Well that’s that,” said Stephan as their group left the room. “I hope you’re satisfied with your new companion. Maybe you can get it to bite enemy toes. And now that we have a rat on our team, Lawrence has become a bit redundant. I look forward to see how you’ll improve to keep your spot, Lawrence.”

“Hey!” said Lawrence. “Are you calling me a rat?”

“I believe I implied you were inferior to a rat,” said Stephan. “Anyway, it’s getting late, and I need to head over to the smith to repair my armor. We’ll get everything properly appraised before splitting up the rest tomorrow around noon at the guild. Sound fair?”

The team scattered. Gareth headed over to the fletcher, and Daphne headed over to the Mages Guild wearing her new hat. Lawrence headed home, while Stephan went to the armorer as he said he would. As for Sorin, he found himself at a loss for what to do. After days of adventuring, home just didn’t feel like home anymore.

“What kind of things do you like to eat?” Sorin finally asked the rat. “Nothing too extravagant, I hope?”

The rat replied in a few confident squeaks that he was indeed not difficult to feed. Fine wine and smoked meats would suffice for appetisers. Mana crystals would be a good main, though he wouldn’t say no to some mithril ore now and again.

“Look here, little rodent,” said Sorin, tossing him at a wall. The rat peeled off and fell on the ground. “I might have saved you, but that isn’t a license to roll all over me.

“I’m broke. I barely have enough money to equip myself, let alone feed a glutton. And who knows when the next time we head out will be? So you’re going to need to eat what you’re fed, and smile happily and say you’re full, even if you’re not. Understood?”

The rat squeaked an affirmative, and they began discussing names.

It was only when Sorin got home that he discovered an important fact: people hated rats, and for good reason.

***

“I’ll kill it! I’ll kill it dead!!” A red-faced maid swatted her broom at the lone rat standing imperiously on the dining table. It dodged the broom and taunted the maid, then hopped off the table when Clarice shot a wind dart at it. As for Sorin, he drank a cup of sugar-sweetened tea as it happened and was seemingly oblivious at the racket the rat and the maid were causing.

“Please be kind to Lorimer, Clarice,” Sorin finally said. He put down his teacup and glared at the rat. “He’s young and still needs to be house trained. Though I’m sure he’ll fix his habits soon, else find himself cut up into mincemeat.”

“It ate. Our. Dinner!” shouted Clarice. “The entire thing! And you’re going to tell me to calm down?”

Sorin’s stomach growled, but he kept a straight face. “Then we’ll just have to make more food. Or order out if it’s too much trouble.” He tossed a bag containing twenty gold coins on the table. “Since it’s my fault, I’ll pay for it. Problem settled.”

“There’s no need to bring in your personal fortune,” said Percival. His words were a refusal, but his hands betrayed him. He picked up the pouch of coins and put it away with a smile. “I’m sure this matter is only temporary. Otherwise, us retired adventurers will need to take out some of our old tricks to keep it in check.

Lorimer placed his paws on his hips and stared at Percival in a daring manner. Percival chuckled and flicked a length of mithril string at it, severing one of its whiskers. Lorimer mocked him as a coward, but then retreated to Sorin’s slice of cake. Yet before the rat managed to reach said slice of cake, a kitchen knife came sailing through the air and sliced off a second whisker before digging into the table.

“Consider those whiskers a warning,” said Percival to the rat. “Clarice and I have been tolerant for the sake of Mr. Kepler but can only be pushed so far.” Somewhat intimidated, Lorimer wisely chose to retreat onto Sorin’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about the inconvenience, Clarice,” said Sorin. “And you too, Percival. I’ll try to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.”

The maid let out a loud humph. “You don’t know the half of it, Mr. Kepler. Haven’t you noticed how dark it is in here?”

“Now that you mention it… why have all the lights gone out?” asked Sorin.

Percival cleared his throat. “It’s not so much that the lights have gone out, and more that your new… pet decided it wanted to eat all their mana crystals.”

Sorin’s expression darkened. “It ate mana crystals?” Those were expensive.

“Their cheaper mana crystals,” Percival said, trying to defuse his temper. “Not that expensive. But the total adds up to about 10 gold coins.”

Sorin closed his eyes. “Could we perhaps switch to a different form of lightning in the short term?”

“I’ve already placed an order for candles and oil lamps,” said Percival. “We should be receiving them in the morning. It’s not high class, but its much preferred to having no lighting at all.” Sorin was in complete agreement.

“Let’s go with low-cost candles,” Sorin said to Percival. “I’m making money now, but not nearly enough. Moreover, this creature is clearly a glutton. I need to figure out how to keep it satiated before it eats us out of house and home.”