18-year old A. Sai Prapanch is debuting as an author with his novel The Legendary Contract of Vento, first of the Series CONTRACTOR.
He has already completed 2 short mystery stories School Can Kill You – Literally ! and The Locksmith, which can be read in his blog http://saiprapanch.blogspot.in
Sai Prapanch is a Sports enthusiast and Football is his passion. An ardent Chelsea FC fan, he has participated in the Coaching camp conducted by Chelsea FC in London in Aug. 2009 and was later selected for the Youth Academy trials of Chelsea FC in Aug 2010 held in the UK.
He was also a competitive Swimmer specialising in Butterfly stroke and has won several medals in the South Zone and state level swimming meets.
His dream includes publishing string of novels, designing Video and Mobile Games, winning the FIFA Cup and playing in the First team of Chelsea FC.
An alumnus of DAV Boys School, Goplapuram, Chennai, Sai Prapanch is a First Year Computer Science & Engineering Student in Easwari Engineering College, Chennai.
CONTRACTOR
THE LEGENDARY CONTRACT
OF VENTO
A. Sai Prapanch
© A. Sai Prapanch
2014
eBook First Edition : 2014
ISBN No. : 978-81-928961-2-0
eBook Price : 125
Published by :
CREATIVE WORKSHOP
Flat I, ARISTO, 9, Second Street
Gopalapuram, Chennai 600086
Designed by
COMPUPRINT
Flat C, ARISTO, 9, Second Street
Gopalapuram, Chennai 600086
Phone : (044) 2811 1224 / 6768
E-mail : [email protected]
www.compuprint.in
PREFACE
In the world of Gara, there are mystical objects known as ‘Contracts’. These contracts are of 3 classes: Stone Class, Beast Class and Weapon Class.
Stone class includes stones, which contain powers of various elements. For example, a fire element stone gives you the power of fire and so on. These are the most common blood contracts used.
Beast class is monsters of unusual strengths and powers. Their specialties vary over numerous skills. These are found everywhere.
And lastly, the weapon class consists of unique weapons. These blood contracts are extremely rare as well. And unlike the other classes, there is only one weapon of each kind available. There are no two weapons alike.
By offering a drop of their blood to these contracts, a person can form a blood contract with these objects in order to use them. Only after a blood contract is formed, can these contracts be used.
But only a small portion of the world’s population can perform this ritual. This is due to the human lacking enough inner energy, known as ‘ki’. Every contract has its own ki limit. One can wield it only if his or her ki surpasses that limit. If the ki is lesser than the limit, then the contract will not only consume that person’s life force, but also strengthen itself in the process.
Due to this, many do not try to wield such objects. Most don’t have ki at all. But those who have successfully done a blood contract are known as ‘Contractors’.
Some contractors use their power for peace; others use it to distort it. Some use their power to keep the law and order of the world; others use it to break it.
This story revolves around these contractors and how one legendary contractor turned the wheels of fate for a young boy and forced him to undertake a quest for revenge.
“General, the village of Vento is in sight.”
General Malva, a short man with narrow eyes and an unusually squat nose, looked at the screen, which showed the land beneath them, and said in a high and shrill voice, “Such a quiet and peaceful place. I wouldn’t mind coming here for a holiday. But… it’s a real pity. And Bard, there seems to be something you would like to ask.”
Captain Bard, a tall, muscular, blonde man with a crude face and an eye-patch covering his right eye, said, “Yes, sir. I just want to confirm that this really is the place. This village is fairly remote and there is no other civilization for a few hundred kilometres. I find it hard to believe that this village can really be the place with its lax security.”
Malva gave a cold smile. “I know. It is the last place anyone would suspect, is it not? A place most of the world knows nothing about. It would be the perfect spot to hide it. But because of my research and investigation, I know for a fact that this really is the place.”
Bard nodded. “As expected from the most knowledgeable and powerful leader of the underworld in Gara. Should we begin the operation now?”
Malva stroked the symbol on his chest: a skull in the centre surrounded by a small stone, a lion and sword, which were linked together in a circle. “Yes. Alert the rest of the squadron.”
Bard picked up his radio and spoke into it. “Attention all personnel. This is Captain Bard. We are arriving at our destination, the village of Vento. The recovery package is Class A and there is a possibility of a Class B package as well. You are given permission to use force when needed. Contractors take the front line and normal soldiers are to proceed behind them in tanks. Good luck, men.”
The gigantic airship flew through the south continent skies, past the green valleys and towards the unsuspecting village of Vento.
The village of Vento had reached its busiest time of the day. People strolled through the market, buying and selling the latest gadgets and machines. It was just another peaceful day in Vento.
That was before a huge explosion occurred in the middle of the city.
People screamed and ran for cover, not knowing what had happened. Houses had caught fire and were falling all over the place. Debris covered the entire area as people tried to make sense of what had just happened.
But that didn’t matter. One look at the men in purple uniforms marching towards them with their arms raised was enough to make them run and hide.
Within a few minutes, the whole village was devastated. Piles of rubble and corpses filled the scene. Malva stepped into the city along with Bard and four other captains.
“I guess this was inevitable,” Malva said, stepping over the body of a young girl. A scream was heard and a few of Malva’s men ran in that direction.
Just when they thought that there was nobody left, the protective forces of Vento now stood in their way.
The head guard, Dan Klief, shouted, “How dare you do this to our village? Did you think we’d just sit back and watch?”
“You just did,” said Bard coolly. Suddenly, he ducked. A bolt of lightning shot above his head, knocking another soldier off his feet.
Dan Klief was holding to a golden lance. Sparks were flying out of its head.
“You must be the Dark Alliance,” Dan said. “You are the greatest threat to the Royal Government. Do you think that I would just let you walk away?” He waved his lightning lance, an A graded weapon class contract, and said, “This will end your miserable lives. Draw your contracts, men! We will fight till our death!”
There were flashes and all kinds of beasts appeared. Some stone class contractors came forward with flames, water and wind in their hands.
But the Dark Alliance far outnumbered them and they brought out their contracts as well.
It was a complete mismatch. The Vento guards fell one by one. Dan Klief tried with all his strength and skill and was soon the only one standing.
But he never backed down. He dodged blast of flames, bursts of water and slashes of wind while countering them with his lightning lance. He stabbed through beasts and his bolts of lightning knocked out a large number of soldiers.
But then, Bard stepped in. He s
tretched out his hand, and with a flash a sword appeared in his hand. It was a gray blade with a blue handle. The hilt of the sword was shaped like a bird’s claw.
“You’re not half bad, Klief. Maybe you could entertain me. And just so you know, my Eagle Typhoon Blade is an A grade contract as well. I won’t hold back against scumbags like you.”
Dan could sense the frightening ki emitted by Bard. But he stood his ground. Both of them eyed each other, and suddenly they burst forward. Everyone else present, except Malva and his other captains, could see nothing other than clashes of gray and yellow. The two warriors moved with superhuman speed, impossible to be seen with a normal eye.
But even so, Bard had the upper hand. The impact of his blows was beginning to affect Dan. After nearly a minute of fighting, Dan was disarmed.
Bard slashed his sword. Instantly, blades of wind cut through Dan’s body, splattering blood everywhere. And Dan Klief slowly fell to the floor and breathed his last.
“You sure took your time,” one of the other captains said.
“He was good. And I really enjoyed that fight.”
Suddenly, their radio started working up. “~ This is the scout team reporting in. We have found the package. They are being transported back into the airship. ~”
Malva replied, “Good job men. Wait in the airship till we return. Put them in the containment cell. Don’t harm any of them.”
Bard said, “Do you want to check if the other package is there as well?”
Malva nodded.
Bard withdrew a device with a screen and a sensor from his pocket. He switched it on and it started beeping.
“I’m receiving a few low readings of ki along with one extremely high ki reading. But these numbers… it has to be! Seeing as we can’t sense such a high reading, it has to be a contract… a Z grade one as well!”
Malva’s eyes went wide. “It must be. It has to be one of the legendary contracts! I’m certain about it! Let’s go!”
They marched through the burning village as they stepped over debris and bodies. Soon, they were in front of the village’s temple. All the ki readings were coming from inside.
Malva nodded to two of his captains, who burst into the temple. There were shouts and screams for a few seconds, which was followed by silence.
Malva walked in through the wooden doors. He ignored all the bloody bodies and walked up to the one man being held up by his captains.
“Where is the contract?”
The man didn’t say a word. He was trembling with fear as he looked into Malva’s narrow eyes.
“So there’s a trap door at the corner of the room? Thank you.” The man gasped. Malva snapped his fingers and the captain slit his throat.
Bard walked to the corner of the room and stamped his feet around a little. He noticed a hollow sound and punched the floor hard, revealing a staircase leading down. They descended a passageway that was lit with torches instead of bulbs. As they reached the end of the passage, a wall blocked their path. Bard said, “This is a dead end.”
“Not quite.”
Malva reached out to the wall and touched it. After a second or two, the wall disappeared, revealing a strange text on the stone ceiling.
“An illusion?”
“Yes,” replied Malva. “It was very well done. But unfortunately for them, my contract is the psychic, stone class contract. Illusions and mind reading are my forte.”
They then glanced at the engraved text, which read:
‘Urer yvrf gur yrtraqnel qentba’f jrncba bs jvaq tvira gb bar bs uvf fvk zbfg gehfgrq naq fxvyyrq jneevbe va uvf nezl; gjva oynqrf bs gur jvaq.’
Malva smiled. “This is the ancient language.”
“Can you read it?”
“Of course I can. Though I’m one of the few, who understands this language in Gara. This is what the text says:
‘Here lies the legendary dragon’s weapon of wind given to one of his six most trusted and skilled warriors in his army; the twin blades of the wind.’”
And in front of them was a big wooden crate. The captains opened it and withdrew a golden chest embedded with precious stones. The brightness of the chest dazzled their eyes. Malva took a step forward and opened it.
Two identical swords lay on a soft silk cushion. The silver blades with the symbol of a cloud engraved on them rested on golden handles. The azure hilts were in the shape of a dragon’s face. Its eyes as well as the end of the handle were embedded with red jewels, reflecting Malva’s expression of glee.
They carried the chest back up and Malva said, “We should head back to the ship. How many men did we lose?”
“Only fifteen or so. But the rest are all right.”
Suddenly, they all stopped. A look of shock crossed their faces. They had all sensed it. Even the ki sensor had picked it up.
“General, there’s another extremely high ki reading in the village. It keeps increasing. It…” Bard swallowed hard and said, “It’s even higher than the twin blades of the wind!”
“What!” Malva exclaimed. “How is that possible? It can’t be a contract as the twin blade of the wind is a ‘Z grade’ quality contract, which is the highest quality. There is no way that a contract can be higher than a Z grade. Then it must be …”
“… A person!” finished Bard. He believed that he had the highest ki in the whole army so it wasn’t one of his allies. Was it possible that someone in this village had even more ki than him? Or could it be that that man had come. His eye under his eye patch stung with the thought of that man. But he had to find out.
Walking past the rubble and bodies, they headed in the direction where they felt this unbelievable ki.
They entered a clearing where a single boy was crying. He was kneeling in front of another boy, who had a huge wound on his chest and was apparently dead.
But it was clear to everybody that this crying boy was the one giving out this astonishing ki. Everything became evident to them when the boy noticed these men.
Complete rage engulfed the boy as if he knew that they were the ones responsible for the death of his loved ones. Just then Bard noticed a thin blue aura envelope the boy. The ki sensor was going wild. Bard saw the readings were the highest he had ever seen as the sensor went haywire and exploded.
Bard cried out, “That blue aura is actually ki! He has so much that it’s actually visible outside his body!”
Malva stared. He wanted to perform an experiment. Drawing out a rifle, Malva shot at him. The bullet failed to penetrate through the layer of ki covering the boy and incinerated.
Then, without a warning the boy charged at Malva, who cowered in anticipation of a blow. But Bard and the four other captains present there struck the boy down at the same time. The boy hit the floor unconscious.
Bard was about to strike the final blow when Malva shouted, “STOP! Don’t kill him. He may be of some use to us. You don’t meet people with this much ki every day. Bring him on board with us.”
One of the captains carried him as they returned to their battle tanks, which they drove to the huge air ship.
Once airborne, Malva had the boy restrained with cuffs around his hand and tied him around a pole in the main lobby of the ship. Enjoying a glass of champagne, Malva reflected on all the work he had done to reach where he was today.
Obtaining the twin blades of the wind was a crucial part of the plan he had in mind. And in the process, he had found a boy with an extremely high amount of ki. The light finally seemed to be shining on him.
After a few minutes the boy stirred and woke up. He was disoriented for a few moments and stared in a dazed manner at the strange environment around him. But on seeing Malva’s face, he glared with fury.
Malva turned to the boy and said, “I apologize for the terrible accommodation you are receiving. But please understand this is for both your safety as well as mine. Welcome to one of my most beautiful air ships. I am General Malva, leader of the Dark Alliance.”
The boy growled, “Why did a scum
bag like you attack my village? What have we done to you to slaughter us like this?”
“Now, now, please stay quiet;” said Malva calmly. “I can understand your indignation. But I’ll explain why I slaughtered your peaceful village of Vento. Bard, bring it in.”
Bard walked into the room carrying the gold chest containing the legendary contract. One glance at it made the boy swear at Malva so badly that Bard punched him on the face.
“Mind your language, boy. And Bard, don’t try to kill him. I need him alive,” said Malva.
The boy roared, “How dare you! You slaughter our village and take away our treasure? Give it back, damn it. IT BELONGS TO VENTO!”
Malva smiled and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am giving it back to your village.” Both Bard and the boy looked confused. “I’m giving this contract… to you.”
Bard cried out, “What?” The boy looked as if Malva had proposed to him.
“Be quiet, Bard,” said Malva. “Not many are blessed with the exorbitant ki he possesses. After we force him to have a blood contract with the twin blades of the wind, I can brainwash him using my psychic powers and make him do our bidding. What do you say?”
“I’ll kill you.” The boy looked savage. “Make me commit your crimes using the sacred blade? I’ll kill you!”
“Why can’t we brainwash him first and then perform the blood contract, General?” asked Bard.
“We can’t do that. His ki reacts to his emotions. You saw his ki rise dramatically when he saw us, right? So the angrier he is, the more ki he produces.” Malva looked at the boy. “Consider it an honour wielding this legendary contract, boy. Many feel lucky just seeing even one Z grade contract. But I have quite a collection of them. The twin blades of the wind are my sixth one. But the one I am most fond of is this.” He took out a box engraved with jewels out of his pocket and opened it. Inside laid a spherical black stone with a red symbol of fire on it. “This is the cursed black flames stone class contract. This is also a Z grade, like yours and is equally difficult to contract with. Well Bard, let us begin the blood contract without any further ado.”
Contractor: The Legendary Contract of Vento Page 1