The man left the counter and walked into the wider part of the store and she silently followed him as he seemingly went around to gather items that could hypothetically break a soul bind.
She paid half attention to him as he walked around while the other part of her mind was curiously studying some of the magical items that caught her attention. The old scholar inside of her that had been silent for a very long time found a couple of items that were playfully prodding her curiosity, but she knew better than to entertain such thoughts.
Demons loved to stoke the curiosity of the heart in a way that would make a lesser man seek them out eagerly, equally eager to pay obnoxiously. That was how they created a shield of innocence around them, after all the poor man sought them out on his own and paid out an inflated price by his own will. Demon or whatever thing Isaac was, she would give him no quarter in whatever deal he sought.
They passed by a shelf of books and an out of place golden chalice when she finally saw something that made her stop and do a double take.
There, peeping out its head from behind the chair was a beautifully decorated carpet of red, purple and gold.
"See something you li– oh. Hey there, bud." Isaac saw her staring at the clearly sentient carpet that was doing a poor job at hiding and shrugged. "Just ignore his antics."
She had her own experience with sentient artifacts, from prideful living swords to whimsical cloaks, and one thing that was common knowledge in regards to these kinds of artifacts was that they chose their own master, and not the other way around.
She wasn't naïve enough to be sentimental towards a magic carpet in the store of a suspicious Merchant just because it wanted to bond with her.
There was an uncanniness to how human it expressed itself, but then again she'd seen weirder.
She almost chuckled on seeing it discard its shyness when it saw her turning around to ignore it and slowly pushed itself out from behind the shelf and followed a few steps behind her by walking on its fringes.
Isaac turned towards the carpet, who comically froze in place, with a fed up expression. "Stop bothering the customer."
"Don't worry about it. It's personality is quite entertaining, so it's not a bother." She said offhandedly, ignoring the carpet's newly gained smugness, and stole a glance at the growing collection of items in Isaac's arms.
She followed after him, carpet following behind her, noting down some particular items that, while not magical in nature, were clearly of some powerful nature.
She saw him open a drawer to take out a rune-marked knife and once again found her attention being grabbed by something she never expected. Interestingly, she couldn't sense anything coming from the table until the drawers were pulled out.
"… What is that?" She couldn't quite hide the shock from her face or voice.
He looked at her and followed her line of sight to a transparent pouch that held three red glowing stones. One looked like red-tinted flames were trapped inside it, another looked like swirling liquids and stars were trapped in a stone, and the last one just glowed softly.
From the appearance, she had an inkling of what it was but clearly that couldn't be, except the pure magic wafting off of them forced her to stay her doubts.
"Oh right, those are Philosopher's Stones. For some reason every magic and alchemy community I've been to only have cautionary tales about them. Personally, I think they were overreacting."
She looked at him with a rigid stare, feeling both incredulous and flabbergasted at his airy attitude.
"You have three Philosopher's Stones?" She asked in utter disbelief, the carpet nodding behind her with shared sentiments.
He frowned and looked at the stones with a very open look of disappointment. "With all the hype around it you'll think that everyone would want to buy it, right? For some reason that's not the case. In fact it's the exact opposite"
He picked the pouch and poured the stones into his palms, clicking his tongue as they glowed in his face.
"At first every wizard and alchemist are all frantic to get their hands on it, which is good and all, but soon enough they start treating it like it killed their family or something." He brought one of them to his eyes as if to inspect it for a flaw he couldn't see. "And they change hands so fast. Everyone is eager to play hot potato with it, but give it a decade or two and suddenly they want nothing to do with it like it's some taboo or something. And then you start hearing all these bloated nightmarish tales about what the stones supposedly did."
She listened as he droned on about the quirky stones being stereotyped and exploited and then blamed and shunned by people, including their own creators, who never bothered to read their backstory summary or the disclaimer that followed their purchase.
"The last time I sold this guy," he picked up the one that had red liquids(which was definitely blood) swirling inside it, "the man told me, quite proudly at that, that he had robbed his entire magical community; heirlooms, artifacts, precious stones and a library worth of books that was as old as the magic community of his world."
He carelessly dropped the stone into the pouch, looking very unimpressed at the three stones. She strongly suspected that the pouch must've been filled with Philosopher's Stones at one point, which was a genuinely ludicrous thought.
He returned the pouch and closed the drawers, cutting off her senses to one of the conceptual relics of magic.
He finished his story in a very disinterested tone. "It took only 15 years before one of his grandsons came into my store to sell it back to me for a sizable collection of what his grandfather paid for it. I would have given him a gracious discount, since his grandfather apparently made me a household name, but he kept looking at me like I ended his entire bloodline so I didn't."
She didn't even know what she was supposed to say to that. She could hardly believe what she just heard so she turned to the carpet who was in a similar state of shock but opened its hands(hand-assigned fringes) as if to say 'can you believe this guy?'
She was still reeling from the horrifying tale when she heard him ask her something ridiculous.
"You seem to have a better head than the collective of those idiots, so how about it? Interested in buying these fancy stones?"
She drew in a deep breath, calmed herself, and gave him a stony reply. "No. I have absolutely zero interest in purchasing those stones."
She wasn't afraid of the stones, no, nor was she worried about the sea of painful curses those stones had swallowed. She wasn't about to bring one of the physical concepts of magic inside the Sanctum, not only because of the fate-thread surrounding those stones, but because of the things that would happen in the near future. She would not risk arming traitors with the Philosopher's Stone.
Isaac shrugged. "Well, I had to at least try." He picked up a bundle of thread from somewhere and turned to her. "Let's head back and look through the options we have."
He spread out the magical objects he'd collected and she could only blink as some of them. Now that they were directly in front of her, the things she could feel from some of them would have them be locked in the most warded room back in the Sanctum.
"These are some of the best options around with clear cut use and descriptions. Peruse to your content, dear customer."
She ignored the part where he called her a customer and instead raised her brows at him. "'Some' of the best options?"
He made a 'so-so' gesture with his hands. "If you are interested in becoming a Flayed Men or singing delights to the Under-Void for small graces then I can go into the backrooms and bring out the extensive list." His nonchalance was slightly unnerving.
"No need." She replied while the carpet emoted behind her.
… and then did a double take she couldn't because she was rooted in place.
—The Shard of the Un-Sworn Oath (Forgotten Realms) – A sliver of crystal from the plane of pure chaos. When pressed against a contract, it unravels the orderly magic of the agreement into meaningless noise.
—Dagger of the Broken Promise (Fable) – A blade that grows hotter the more binding the pact. Thrust into the parchment (or the entity who holds it), it burns the magical terms away, leaving only ashes and free will.
—Eraser of the Inevitable (SCP Foundation) – A mundane-looking pink eraser that can remove any written clause from reality. It doesn't tear the paper; it makes it so the clause never was. Limited uses before it vanishes.
A crystal, a dagger, and a pink eraser. She would have called it a distasteful prank if not for what her magical senses were picking up from these items, especially the eraser and the shard.
She looked up at him, her face deliberately void of emotions, and he gave her an encouraging look to continue. She continued.
—Grey Council's Medallion (The Dresden Files) – While not its primary function, its ability to negate magical energy directed at the wearer can, in theory, disrupt the active magical "pull" of a contract trying to enforce its terms.
Quite the powerful artifact, but not as outlandish in scale as the items before it. It also lacked the conceptual weight to accomplish the task in mind.
—Chrono-Loophole (Doctor Who) – A Gallifreyan legal device. If a contract has a time-based clause ("until the sun dies"), this can create a localized time bubble where, subjectively, the condition is met, freeing the signatory.
A device. Not entirely magic, but not far from it either. A casual glance at it and a read at its description clued her in on two certain possibilities. It was either from a very advanced galaxy—highly unlikely— or it was from an advanced time period far ahead of this universe's earth. But just like medallion, she felt it lacked substance.
There was also a very high chance of it being what she needed, especially if she used it in conjunction with the Eye.
—Wishbone of the Monkey's Paw (W. W. Jacobs) – The ultimate cautionary loophole tool. It can technically void a contract by granting a wish, but the resulting horror will make the original pact seem pleasant. A last, desperate resort.
She gave a satisfactory hum at the familiar warnings. Now this was a genuine magic artifact of great strength. Nothing said powerful, more believable and authentic than the crystal clear promise of maddening horrors that should obviously not make it worth it. Should.
She was also acutely aware of the fact that she was going through a list of powerful magical artefacts while a sentient carpet watched from over her shoulders and gave its expressive commentary.
—Sigil of a Dead God (Elder Scrolls) – The enforceable power of a contract often relies on cosmic principles. Bearing the sigil of a deceased deity introduces a "fault" in reality—their domain (e.g., Oaths, Commerce) is broken, so related magics fray.
A sacrificial pact. While she refrained from meddling with gods and their domains, she was not ignorant of the power their names carried, dead god or not. And dead or not, she wasn't interested in invoking a god's authority without being aware of the troubles that'll come with it.
—The Unwritten Law (The Library of Babel) – A blank page that, when placed atop a contract, absorbs its terms and declares them "unwritten." The magic and memory of the pact fade from all but the most powerful minds.
Ah, a memory spell similar to the Runes of Kof-Kol, but just like the Runes of Kof-Kol, it was incapable of manipulating the memories of cosmic beings. If only every solution was always that convenient.
—The "Get Out of Hell Free" Card (Monopoly, Occult Edition) – A one-time-use card. When played during the enforcement of an infernal contract, it compels a devil to immediately and permanently release your soul from the pact. Devils hate this card.
The card was possibly the weakest artifact on the list as what she was dealing with was no mere demon.
—Plague of Uncreation (High Fantasy) – A bottled, spreading void that unravels reality. The implied threat: "Void our contract, or I release this, and your entire plane of existence—along with your future acquisitions—ceases to be."
She looked at the bottle that supposedly could unravel reality and found herself at a rare loss where her thoughts just failed her.
Unfortunately, while outlandish, it wasn't strong enough as the party concerned sleeps in a realm of unreality.
She moved on to the last item on the list and read through it, and read through it again to be sure that those were the exact wordings.
—Orb of Annihilation (Dungeons & Dragons) – Not subtle. Threaten to drop it at your feet unless the contract is voided. If you cease to exist, the entity gets nothing, making annulment the preferable outcome. A dangerous bluff.
The list was certainly enlightening and there were three or four items that she was sure she could use, along with the Eye and one other magical artifact back at the Sanctum, to completely break the soul bind.
She looked up at him and just like always, he was smiling at her as he waited for her to make a decision.
"You're a sly one, Merchant. You showed me all these and yet haven't said a thing about the price."
His chuckle was a simple thing, one that could be heard from any man, yet it kept her on her toes as with everything else he did.
"It's nothing of the sort. You can ask for the price any time you want; if you want to compare prices or if you've decided. I've been in this trade for a long time and I've found that there are few limits a customer won't break to get what they want."
He brought out a small box and put it on the counter and prompted her to open it.
"While I want my customers to buy my goods, I never try to coerce a price from them."
—Ribbon of the Revered Ancient Six Paths and Ten Thousand Roads Venerable – With a single step he ascended the Heavens to the Heavens Above. With ten thousand steps he descended the Great Void to the unmade Sea of Nothingness.
Having walked the paths and crossed the branch roads, he preceded all and broke through the last tribulation. So revered is he that existence erased his name from the tapestry, for no one else is worthy to speak it or even hear it.
With this ribbon, the wearer has one chance to sever themselves from all Paths and all Roads. Karma, destiny, fate, time, death, life, potential, limits — the wearer has one chance to become truly unfettered as he.
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