Welcome to Blackmarket District
The moment we crossed into the Blackmarket District, it felt like the city had turned inside out.
Neon graffiti scrawled across arcane wards. Floating market stalls blinked in and out of existence. Cyborgs, rogue mages, even talking spirit-familiars roamed freely, trading potions for plasma rifles, curses for contracts.
"Don't talk. Don't look anyone in the eye. And never mention your system," Aria said beside me, her hood pulled low.
I smirked. "You say that like I was about to do something dumb."
"You were," she muttered.
> [System Notification: You have entered a No-Governance Zone.]
[System scans disabled. Map tracking disabled. Error: Unknown influence disrupting baseline protocol.]
Figures.
Even the system was scared.
We ducked through a narrow alley lit by rune torches and passed a stall selling bottled emotions—fear in blue glass, rage in red, love in gold.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To see a rat," Aria replied.
"...A rat?"
She stopped in front of a crooked metal shack shaped like a collapsed teapot. "His name is Cricket. Best informant this side of reality. Used to be a prophet. Got cursed. Now he hears everything."
"Like voices?"
"No. Everything."
Before I could ask more, the shack creaked open.
And out waddled a creature that looked like a raccoon, a ferret, and a trash bin had a love child. He wore a vest, smoked three cigars at once, and had six glowing eyes.
"Aria Vayne," he chirped in a high-pitched voice. "I swore I'd piss on your grave."
"Later," she said. "We need info. Devil-grade contract. Bound to a human. Church is on our tail. Oh—and Lucien's involved."
Cricket dropped all three cigars.
"You brought that to my doorstep?" he shrieked.
I crossed my arms. "You said you heard everything. That mean you already knew we were coming?"
He stopped. Squinted. "...I like this one. He's got sarcasm. And bone cancer energy. You're dying, right?"
"What?"
"Nevermind! In, in, in!"
---
Cricket's shack was bigger on the inside. Stacked scrolls. Floating data cubes. A single jar labeled "Doomsday Plans A-Z."
He waddled up a spiral staircase and shoved an orb into a reader.
A projection flared: a red circle with black thorns spiraling outward—the exact symbol from my soul when I first bonded with Aria.
> [WARNING: Forbidden Class - "Contract of the Void King"]
Cricket whistled. "You idiots didn't just make a deal with a devil. You made a deal with the Devil."
Aria stiffened.
"The Contract of the Void King was erased from every system millennia ago," he continued. "Lucien brought it back. Why? Dunno. But if you're the vessel—"
"I'm not a vessel," I snapped. "I'm human."
"You were."
A long pause.
Then Cricket dropped the bomb.
"Lucien's collecting fragments. Souls. Data. Memories. Once he has nine bonded pairs like you two—he'll overwrite reality."
> "You're not in a war anymore," he said. "You're in a countdown."
---
We left the shack hours later, our heads full of poison and truth.
Cricket had given us three names.
Three others like us.
Three other "contracted pairs" hiding across the world.
And Lucien?
He already had four.
> [New Quest: Seek the Fragment Bearers.]
[Progress: 0 / 3 Located]
As we slipped back into the neon-glow of the Blackmarket streets, I glanced at Aria.
She looked steady again.
Strong.
But I'd seen her shake. I'd felt her fear.
And I knew the only way we were getting through this… was together.
"Hey," I said, nudging her. "You still think I'm a reckless idiot?"
She glanced at me, then smirked. "Fifty-fifty."
Fair.