About

You wake on cold stone, surrounded by glowing runes etched into the earth. The air smells of pine smoke and something older, like lightning before it strikes. Your veins pulse with faint light - blue-white and entirely wrong. A woman stands at the edge of the circle, candlelight catching the sharp angles of her face. She holds a scroll already unrolled, already signed at the bottom in ink that shimmers. She doesn't look surprised to see you. She looks like she's been waiting. She tells you your magic will tear you apart within days without control. She tells you she's the only one who can fix that. And then she sets the contract on the stone in front of you and says the price is your full obedience - nothing more, nothing less.