Yes bhai — Chapter 2: "The First Contract" is ready. Just like Chapter 1, this one is:
THE RIFTBORN SUMMONER
Chapter 2: The First Contract
Kael didn't sleep. The Rift didn't allow it.
Instead, it breathed around him — hot, slow, and alive.
The boy who had come from the summoning circle stood a few feet away, perched on a jagged rock, wings spread like broken blades.
He hadn't spoken since the kill. Just stared at Kael with eyes that looked like they'd seen galaxies collapse.
Kael sat, knees drawn to his chest, arms bleeding, wrists burned where the summon's contract had scorched into his skin like molten ink.
"You're not a beast," Kael said quietly.
The boy didn't look at him.
"I'm worse."
The silence dragged again. Then the boy dropped from the rock and walked over, barefoot, bloodless, moving like he didn't belong to this world.
"You gave me blood," he said, crouching. "Now I'm bound. Not by choice. But by design."
Kael looked up, tired. "So what are you called?"
The boy tilted his head. "Names are for the living. But if you need one, call me... Null."
"Fitting," Kael muttered.
Null smiled faintly. Not friendly — more like a wolf finding amusement in a dying deer.
"You called the Rift. The Rift answered. But it doesn't give gifts. It takes."
Kael blinked. "Takes what?"
Null reached out — gently, almost softly — and tapped Kael's forehead.
"Memory. Time. Sanity. Soul. Take your pick."
Kael flinched. "So I lose something every time I summon?"
Null stood again. "You've already lost more than you know."
In the distance, the Rift groaned.
The sky — if it could be called that — pulsed with purple veins. And something moved.
Not walking. Crawling. A shape that dragged itself across the horizon like an ancient mistake.
Kael gritted his teeth. "What the hell is that?"
Null's smile vanished.
"A Rift Beast. Hunger incarnate. Born from forgotten kings. It feeds on summon-born."
Kael stood too, wincing. His body still felt like ash and fire. "Can you kill it?"
Null didn't answer.
Instead, he turned to Kael slowly. "Only if you order me."
"Then I—"
"But," Null interrupted, "every command costs something. Remember that."
The creature roared.
Its sound was broken glass grinding inside bone.
Kael felt the Rift tremble beneath his boots. Felt his own breath catch. The creature was close now — a grotesque fusion of bodies: swords embedded in its back, dozens of eyes blinking, mouths sewn shut.
Kael reached for anything — a rock, a bone, anything to fight with.
Null stepped in front of him.
"Command me," he said. "Or die."
Kael hesitated. Every fiber of his soul screamed that something terrible would be lost.
But then he saw the beast charge — its claws lighting up with cursed fire.
"Null," Kael said, voice sharp, "kill it."
The air cracked.
Null's wings snapped open, and the entire abyss screamed.
He didn't run. He didn't fly. He vanished, appearing right above the creature with a blade of darkness forming from his arm.
The first slash tore the beast's head in half.
The second removed its legs.
The third — Kael didn't even see. There was just silence, then the sound of a thousand bones collapsing.
When it was over, Null stood soaked in black ichor, eyes glowing faintly.
He turned. "Done."
Kael's vision blurred. His knees buckled. His head split in two with a pain so sharp it cut through thought.
[CONTRACT COST: 1 Year of Memory Lost]
A flash.
A boy's laugh.
A warm fire.
A woman's voice calling, "Kael, dinner's ready—"
Gone.
Kael hit the ground, screaming.
Not from the pain. From the emptiness.
Something had been ripped from him. Some part of his life he didn't even remember until it was erased.
Null stood over him, face neutral.
"Now you understand."
Kael shook, grabbing dirt, fists clenched.
"This is the price?"
"The Rift never lies. Every summon feeds it. Every command deepens your debt."
Kael sat up slowly, breathing hard.
"And if I stop summoning?"
"You die. Or worse."
The Rift gives. The Rift takes.
And Kael Ardyn… had just taken his first step toward losing everything.
He looked at Null, whose wings folded behind his back like a closing door.
"I want power," Kael said, voice raw. "Enough to burn through the ones who threw me here."
Null raised an eyebrow. "Then bleed more."
Far in the distance, dozens of red eyes blinked open across the Rift's horizon.
Kael stood, shoulders heavy, eyes burning.
"Then let them come."
⚔️ To be continued...