While he was at it, since he needed help to read what was written down anyway, he figured he'd just give his friends a quick rundown of what happened, and filled Clementine in on a few more things she had to know.
Ashton still left a few things out right now, though. Not because he didn't want to tell Clementine, but because there was neither the time to get into everything, nor did Ashton want to risk all the information running free amongst the constellations yet.
The major ones that were already following him around everywhere probably already all knew, but it was still unclear who else was watching, even if nobody else was sending messages at the moment.
"So, yeah, that's about it." Ashton said, kicking his legs back and forth while sitting on the edge of the table. His friends were silent right now, so he could barely tell they were even still in here with him.
"That..." Clementine started speaking, but stopped herself. From the flow of the air that Ashton could see through the sylph, she seemed to have put her hand in front of her mouth. And then, she started to laugh. It was faked terribly. "Now that's a good joke, I didn't realise you got that creative in the past few months! I mean, come on, you learned summoning, magic and fighting through a fucked up god-thing? And now you're telling me that you lost both of your eyes to a demon?"
Sam was still silent for a few more moments. "... Clem, you know that he wouldn't–"
"That he wouldn't lie about that? Sure, but what's the other option? That he's telling the truth? Come on, he's just playing some kind of joke on us!"
Ashton smiled a bit. "Clementine, you saw the demon earlier. Its species is that of a 'Spawn of Akrazoth', it's a demonic doctor."
"Right, a demonic doctor that you summoned to treat an injured little girl who was about to turn into a zombie, sure!" Clementine scoffed. Ashton couldn't see her expression, and could only hear her voice. Even so, he was sure that this was just a bit much for her. It wasn't exactly the reunion she was imagining throughout all of this.
But Sam put his hand on her shoulder. "Just believe him, please. The more crazy shit you see him pull, the harder it'll be if you don't."
Clementine sniffled lightly. "But... that would mean that Ashton is... blind. That he seriously went through something like that!"
Ashton laughed. "Oh, I've been through worse," he explained, and started untying the fabric on his face. "But either way, if you don't believe me."
He pulled off the mask and opened his eyes, revealing the hollow spaces that they left behind.
Sam inhaled sharply as Clementine gasped, and they both took a step closer toward Ashton.
"So that really..?" Sam said quietly. "Why would you give up your eyes, man?"
Ashton shrugged. "Cause I would've died if I hadn't." He put a finger onto his chest. "The draconid stabbed through me. Part of my lung and heart were pierced and infected by a poison that would make my flesh go necrotic. The Spawn of Akrazoth was the only one that could save me at that point."
"But why did you have to give up your fucking eyes? You just gave it some of your blood when it was stitching up the others, couldn't that have worked here, too?" Clementine pointed out, but Ashton slowly shook his head.
"No. Plus, the blood wasn't the payment for stitching them up, it was just to convince the demon to put the payment off a little. The real payment were limbs from the human corpses in the corner of the room," Ashton said, and Clementine flinched.
"You just decided to give it other people's bodies? Seriously?" Sam was clearly taken aback, but it wasn't an accusatory tone. It sounded more like a 'what made you do something like that?'
Ashton let out a long sigh, trying to figure out how much he should tell them right now. "... No reason to hide anything, I guess. So, to explain the system of contracts. The one I was forced into was a contract of extreme submission, placed onto the subject against their will. This is a type of summoner-leaning contract. It allows the summoner to do basically what they want, and they only need to give their summon the bare minimum to make sure they survive. If they want them to survive in the first place. But what I usually make are equal contracts."
"Right... you said that it's because you don't want to put others into the position you were put into." Sam added.
"Exactly. And also, because I didn't want to be controlled by another's whims again. These contracts are balanced, and they're more fair. Both sides get a roughly equal amount out of the contract. Both sides control the contract, and there are terms to protect each party. Plus, basically anything works as an offering as long as it fits the terms set by the summon. And then, there's another sort of contract. The sort that favours the summon." Ashton put the fabric back onto his face. "In this one, the payment for the summon is far higher than normal, and they're in a position to demand specific payments. They can reject payments they don't like without a penalty, and the power to cancel the contract is in their hands. I still have my ways, but... the one in control is the summon."
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Clementine sighed loudly. "Okay, so I'm guessing the reason why you're telling us that is because that's the contract you formed with the demon? Why would you do something like that?"
"Because I had no other choice." Ashton said. It was as simple as that. "It was the only way to lure in a summon with the power to save Millie. So, to keep explaining summoning... When I initially form a contract, I basically send off a 'message'. Like an open call. The contract terms I'm offering are laid out to them, and the initial contract offering is given to whatever being accepts. Now, I didn't have the right offerings, not in the slightest. So all I could do is give some blood and offer a contract in favour of the summon. Otherwise, nothing would have responded to my call."
"But... couldn't you have just kept trying? Maybe there was a kind one that would have accepted the terms of a regular contract," Sam suggested, but Ashton scoffed.
"Maybe. But there's more to it than that, anyway. There's, like... a balance. I need to send out a certain amount of energy through the 'call', or else the message won't arrive in the first place. So, since the offering wasn't enough, I had to subsidize that energy by giving up more with the actual contract."
Clementine slowly understood. "So if you had sent out a regular attempt, the message might not have arrived, and even if it had, it's extremely likely nothing would have responded to it."
"Bingo. And if that happened, I would have experienced the backlash. Meaning, no new contracts for a while, reduction in efficiency of current contracts, that sort of thing. The backlash isn't that much with lowest grade contracts, but it was still more than I could give up right now." Ashton jumped off the edge of the table. "Don't worry, though. I'll try to reform the contract at some point. Like, change the terms of the contract I currently have with the Spawn. I'll need an extremely good offering for that, though, and maybe even harder, I need to befriend it first. And I'm not sure how to do that. Demons tend to have some personality problems."
[[Daughter of the Scarlet Heart] says they will pretend not to have heard that]
[[Executor of the End] laughs that they thoroughly agree with you]
Ashton smiled a little and walked up to where the pen had just finished writing. He picked up the note and tried to sense the magic in the text. If he concentrated really hard, he could recognise a single letter in a few seconds, but this would take far too long for the whole thing.
"Is there anything we can do to help with that?" Clementine asked.
"Hm... Keep an eye on the community for me and tell me about any special monsters that people find. Oh, and any 'Marked', there's still a quest I need to finish. I had the Backpacker check it for me before, but we can still only communicate through concepts, and specifics are lost pretty fast."
"Alright, I'll get Clem set up later, then."
Clementine seemed like she wanted to add something else, so Ashton turned toward her. "Yes?"
"... Will it give your eyes back if you change the contract?"
Ashton smiled. "No. They're lost, for good. But don't worry, I'll make myself a new pair in due time."
"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Clementine questioned, and Ashton shrugged.
"I don't know, I'll create myself some new eyes through alchemy or something. Or I'll find out about some good 'Aberration' to summon that I can implant to replace my eyes instead."
"And the bloody fuck is that supposed to mean?" Sam laughed. "What's an aberration?"
"An artificially created biological being. Some of them are like the Pen of Insight, given a personality through a fragment from the far end of the veil, while others artificially created their own proto-personality that essentially merges with the one they're implanted in. Aka, me." Ashton explained, still trying to read more of the note by himself. "It's essentially a trick to form a contract with yourself. It's a bit complicated, I'll explain it if I ever get around to it."
Frustrated and defeated, he held the note over to his friends. Clementine slowly took it from him, and sighed.
"Sam, you were right, I just have to give up and accept it. That makes things easier. And this is the description of what dropped from that mana well thing?"
Ashton nodded. While Clementine was taking a look over the note, he slowly picked up Poppy from the top of his head. She was hiding under his hood the entire time, not wanting to let go of him for even a second, but Ashton managed to coax her out.
"Oh! Hey there, sweetie!" Sam said with a broad smile on his face. "I didn't even know you were there!"
Clementine glanced up from the note and stared at the pixie. "But that's a– Seriously?"
"I'll explain a bit more later. Everything's very complicated. Just read it for now, I'm dying of curiosity."
"I got it, I got it..." Clementine sighed, barely able to move her eyes away from Poppy, and then she read out the note to Ashton.
Crystalised Veil Fragment
Grade - Epic
Type - Mana Source
Integrity - 48%
A highly-concentrated, crystalised fragment of the veil that was dislodged from the centre of a powerful mana-well. It was created as the mana-well itself came into being, assisting the introduction of magic into this world.
It is currently inactive, but can be used to further generate a massive amount of mana.
Clementine flipped the note over, trying to see if there was anything else written here. "Okay, so what's the veil? You mentioned that earlier, too. It doesn't say it on here."
Ashton stood up and grinned broadly, holding the fragment in his hand. "That's because the Pen of Insight is linked to me, so it usually doesn't explain what it doesn't need to explain." He excitedly tried to pour his mana into the fragment, though the small marble seemed to reject it completely. With a click of his tongue, he continued to explain. "The veil is like... Hm... I guess the best word for it that you guys can recognise would be something like... the 'Astral Realm'? Does that help?"
"Sort of, but it also makes that thing a lot more confusing. How are you holding a fragment of something like the astral realm?" Sam took a step closer to take a look at the marble. At that point, he must have spotted the look on Ashton's face. That big, excited grin as he shook his head.
"I have no fucking idea."