Chapter 2: The Black-Rose Contract
Raen opened his eyes, and was immediately blinded by the shining sunlight bathing all over his body.
"Where am I?" Raen said with a coarsed voice.
Flooded by many questions. Raen only knew one thing: This place is not the Underworld. Its bright, and warm clearly opposite of the dark and damped environment of the Underworld. He can at least differentiate this, afterall he spend and entire century, tending his garden...
Wait...
After thinking for a bit, a memory in the very back end of his head suddenly sparked.
"A warm and bright place... Isn't it this the Overworld?!"
He was back... In the world that he tried his best to forget. For him, the Underworld is a much better place, considering he can see her majesty everyday.
Raen jolted when he remembered what happened. He remembered the pitiful and beaten Death. He remembered kneeling besides her, crying. He remembered... The slow and passionate kiss they shared until the end, before everything goes black.
Even if Raen tried, he can't forget the last one. The sensation is still fresh inside his mind and the texture of her lips and the hotness of her breath can still be felt in his lips.
Speaking of Death... Where is she?
Raen slowly opened his eyes, the sunshine is still bright not as blinding like earlier, but still too bright for him to see.
Raen squinted, shielding his eyes with one hand. The warmth brushing against his skin was foreign—almost uncomfortable. For someone who had lived in a land with no sun, for a century, it felt like he was being exposed—peeled raw under the hot sun.
"My lady…?" he called out.
There was no answer.
Only the soft rustling of tall grass swaying with the wind. Raen pushed himself upright, groaning as his body create a popping sound everytime he moves. His limbs felt heavier, denser—as though something inside him had changed, an unfamiliar feeling a soul like him shouldn't have.
Raen paused.
If he's here in the Overworld, doesn't it mean...
Clutching his chest, Raen eyes widened.
"A heart?! Why is there a heart beating inside me!?" he asked, voice trembling with disbelief.
That's not right! He clearly remembered being a soul with no heart just a minute ago, and now a beating heart suddenly appeared, where did this thing came from?
But after sensing it again, Raen felt something was weird. Everytime his heart would beat, a second beat would follow... He's not hallucinating, he can clearly feel it, a heart beat that almost in sync with his.
Unknowingly he called out,
"My lady...?"
Then—
A warm laughter sounded in his mind.
It wasn't mocking, nor was it distant, it was close, soft, intimate, and unmistakably hers. He can't be wrong, there's no other girl have that melancholic voice.
"You were always so dramatic," came the voice, light and teasing, but laced with exhaustion.
Raen's breath hitched. "My lady?! Where are you?"
No response came through the wind or sky. Only the slow, rhythmic thrum of the second heartbeat inside his chest.
"You are not dead, Raen. Not anymore."
Her voice again—softer this time. It didn't feel like she was speaking aloud but rather through him, as if the sound traveled within his veins.
Raen staggered backward, gripping his chest tighter. "What do you mean I'm not dead? What did you do to me?"
There was silence.
Then a whisper of her voice. "I made a choice."
The wind grew still. The warmth of the sun no longer felt intrusive, but solemn—like a grave under sunlight. Raen fell to his knees, his fingers clutching the grass beneath him.
"No… you didn't."
Reality struck him like a storm.
The second heartbeat, the unfamiliar warmth of the sun, the sudden presence in a world beyond the Underworld. He was indeed alive, moving, breathing... crying.
So it was all her doing. She had given him something. A part of herself.
Raen's vision blurred. He wasn't supposed to cry. Not here. Not now.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," he whispered. "It should be the other way around... why would you?"
Raen words trailed off as something glimmered in the grass nearby.
A Black Rose.
With twelve-black petals circling the beautifully carved gem in the center, blooming unnaturally in the middle of the sunlit field. Raen noticed the flower, like it was calling him.
Raen reached for it, fingers trembling. The moment he touched the stem, a jolt ran through him—images flashing across his mind like shattered glass.
What he saw was her memories.
She was supposed to claim the soul of a god. But instead of cooperating, the Heavens turned against her. The Gods ganged up on her, trying to claim her life instead, they defy death altogether. But she escaped, barely.
They chased her, leaving her no choice but to cut a fragment of her own soul to escape the pursuit. After that, her weakened soul body fell, and fell, and fell... It fell for what feels like eternity, until she came crashing. Directly on the beautiful carved statue of her. Then she saw him, Raen. A servant that served under her. Despite the unfair circumstances, he still chose to serve her. With his outmost loyalty.
There, she made up her mind. And with a passionate kiss that they shared, she chose him as her successor.
Raen can't stop his flowing tears, he didn't just saw the memory, he felt it, the suffering, the pain, and the anger she felt. It was all absorbed by him.
"Live, Raen." Her voice sounded like thunder in Raen's mind snapping him back to reality.
"Find my soul fragment. I believe in you." Her voice continued.
Trembling, Raen clenched his fist, holding the black-rose near his heart.
"Of course, my lady..." Raen whispered, voice quivering.
"Elaris, call me Elaris." Her voice ordered.
"I'll find you, Elaris." Raen said, determination sparked inside his eyes.
A soft laughter echoed inside his mind again. "As expected, my eyes didn't failed me, I chose a good person to be my husband."
"H-husband?" Raen said, flustered, shocked by what he heard.
"Why you don't like it?"
"No! I would love to be your... Husband." Raen answered almost instantly. Ears turned red from embarrassment.
"Then, I'll be waiting for you, darling." Her voice playfully said, as it slowly vanished along with the howling wind.
Its quiet. Rean stood still, holding the black-rose tightly on his chest, afraid to let go.
Moments go by in silence, only the whistles of the winds that brushed passed his skin quietly squealed.
Suddenly, in his hand, one out of the twelve petals of the black-rose slowly withered and fell. But that was not all,
When the withered petal hit the ground, a thick book materialized and a black scroll appeared from nothingness.
Raen watched this scene in astonishment.
The book thudded softly onto the grass besides him—its cover bound in shadowy leather that seemed to pulse gently with black light. A crimson emblem, shaped like a crescent moon biting into a heart, was etched across its center—the word "Death Arts Cultivation Manual" written in blood rest on top of the emblem. Beside the book, a black scroll pulsed with an otherworldly light, it was rolled tightly and sealed with the same crimson emblem.
Raen picked up the book first, fingers brushing against its surface. The moment his skin made contact, the flower he still held shivered, wanting to be released.
Raen felt its struggle and so he let go.
The Black-Rose, floated slowly in Raen's field of vision.
And with a flash of black light, it shot directly toward his neck, branding it with a black tattoo in the shape of the flower—with one of its petals missing.
Raen was shocked but quickly recovered his composure, because he didn't feel any pain, it was strangely... comfortable? Like that tattoo is a long lost part of him, it didn't feel foreign.
Rubbing the flower tattoo on his neck, Raen felt it slightly pulsed.
He gave of a big huff before shifting his attention to the grim black scroll resting on top the blades of grass.
Raen reached for it, but the moment it hits the tip of his fingers. Rivers of knowledge flooded his mind, trying to bury itself in his memory.
After a few seconds, Raen staggered back swaying as he tries to maintain balance.
"What was that?"
Raen grunted, clearly light headed from the shock of knowledge he just experienced.
It wasn't clear, but what he saw was lines of words explaining the rules, pros and cons of this so called "Blood-Rose Contract" he also saw some unfamiliar words like "Status" and "Mission" highlighted by a red glow.
Raen took a deep breath, still slightly dizzy. He looked down at the scroll again, now unrolled of its own accord, resting flat on the grass as if beckoning him to read the contents. Hesitantly, he lowered himself to his knees and peered at the script.
Unlike any writing he'd seen before, the characters shifted constantly like it was... alive, dancing like smoke and flowing like blood. And yet, he understood every word.
"By the decree of Death herself, the Successor shall walk the lands of the Living and claim the souls of those fated to be damned. The tattoo that appeared on your neck is the brand that binds Death and her Successor with this Black-Rose Contract. The petals mark the balance of power within her and her successor. When the last petal falls—"
Raen's eyes trembled as he read the next line.
"—Elaris Nocturne, and her chosen Successor will die."
His breath got caught.
"Heh. I might've considered it if I'm the only one who will die," he whispered, fingers trembling as they hovered over the scroll.
Suddenly, the black tattoo on his neck pulsed, like a heartbeat—and the scroll rolled itself back into a tight coil and vanished in a flicker of black mist.
Raen clutched his chest, heart pounding with unease. Now he understood the reason behind her weakened voice, the exhaustion in her tone. She didn't just give him power.
She transferred her whole life into him.
Every time he desperately needs power, a petal will fall from the Black-Rose granting him strength, enough to keep him moving forward—but every petal also served as a countdown, a reminder for him to make haste.
Its like a double-edged sword, while Raen was growing stronger, Elaris grows weaker. This is a battle of attrition between Raen and Elaris. How much is he going to take? And how much is she willing to give?