Luigi Von Vortex's Arc

Chapter 1 of 5

Luigi slid the blank parchment across his desk and uncapped his fountain pen. The first contract always required the most care. Too much fine print and the marks ran away. Too little and they signed without the proper weight of anticipation. He dipped the pen and began to write. The words formed themselves with practiced ease. Your heart's deepest wish granted in full. The cost? Only a single memory of your choosing. Something small. Something you won't miss. He studied the glowing signature line at the bottom and smiled. This one would bring him someone new to study. Someone who would compound and hollow and eventually perform. And perhaps, if fortune favored him, someone clever enough to understand what they had truly signed. The circus needed a successor, after all. The contract curled at its edges, waiting. He carried the finished contract to the ornate mirror that stood in the corner of his office. The smoked glass showed him only an impression of himself, a silhouette with too many edges. He held the parchment up to the reflection and watched the terms shift in the distorted surface. What read as harmless in straight text became something else entirely when viewed through the baroque frame. The memory clause expanded like rot, showing tendrils that reached backward through years of recollection. He lowered the contract and adjusted his cuffs. Perfect. The mirror told the truth, but no one ever thought to look. Luigi placed the contract beside the thick tome where all agreements were recorded. The book's pages glowed faint gold, covered in signatures and arcane symbols from decades of deals. He opened it to a blank page and pressed the new contract flat against the paper. The parchment sank into the tome like a stone into water, absorbed completely. The signature line remained visible on the page, pulsing soft and hungry. Now he simply needed to wait for the first fool to arrive. The Last Ring would have its new performer soon enough.