Meanwhile....Roy was sitting on the sofa in the living room at midnight when he heard the sound of a cracking branch. Roy stands up and looks at the window.
“What was that earlier?” Roy wondered.
Roy opens the door slightly and peeks through it. He saw a black tall figure jumps down from the house roof. The figure has the appearance of a humanoid goat covered in black furs and carries a large red bag. It has red eyes, sharp teeth, sharp claws, and cloven hooves. Roy looks at it with a horrified look on his face and closes the door with a panic breath. The creature gave a slight look at the door from afar and it passes through the door of Roy’s neighborhood house.
“What...the heck is that??” Roy froze in fear behind the door.
A scream of a child was suddenly heard from the neighborhood house followed by a thumping sound on the roof. Roy runs upstairs in panic and the sight of the demon causes a nightmare in his sleep. The demon senses his nightmare and appears beside him. The Phoenix standing near the window screeches an alarming sound. The demon tries to shut its mouth but its influence had no effect on Phoenix.
“Kyaa! Kyaa! What are you planning to do to my owner, demon?” Phoenix cawed in a cautious tone.
“Hrr...,” the demon whispered to its ear.
As a mythical beast, Phoenix understood what it said and step aside despite he didn’t fully trust Krampus.
“Very well, I allow you to save my owner from his nightmare. I’m watching you,” Phoenix said.
The demon approaches Roy and examines him while Phoenix watched over his owner.
“Hrmm....,” the demon snorted. It judges Roy if he used to be well-behaved or misbehaved when he was small and resulted in well-behaved before it save him.
It extends its hand on Roy’s forehead and drove the nightmare away from his dream out of pity for him. Roy breaths calmly in his sleep after the nightmare stop and the demon vanishes without a trace. Its presence has caused distortion to the weather. Alice and Martha notice that something has happened.
“Something’s wrong,” Alice muttered.
“What is it?” June asked.
“It’s Roy, something happened to him earlier!” Alice answered.
Vine covers his face from the harsh snow. “We have to hurry and check on him! How far is it now?” Vine asked.
“Just a little further! Quick, the weather is getting worse! Something has caused this extreme snowstorm!” Alice shouted.
“You mean that someone has manipulated the weather?” Martha asked.
Alice, Vine, Martha, and June run as fast as they can to avoid the snowstorm. Everyone keeps running when a shadow flew past them.
“Whoa, what was that?” Vine wondered.
“Ignore it! Let’s fasten our steps. Quick Chrono!” Alice casts time magic on everyone.
Alice’s magic slows time while everyone walks at normal speed, making them move faster than time itself.
“Let’s dash! Hold onto me, June. Martha, hold onto Vine’s hip,” Alice exclaimed.
June binds her tail on Alice’s hip while Martha holds onto Vine’s hip.
“Here we go!” Alice dashed to Roy’s house.
Vine flies as fast as a jet under the effect of Quick Chrono. Arriving in front of Roy’s house at 3 AM, Alice looks around for a window much to others’ astonishment.
Vine raises one eyebrow with both eyes widened. “What are you looking for, Alice?” Vine asked.
“We shouldn’t knock on the door at 3 AM," Alice answered.
"Why?" Vine asked.
Martha looks at him. "Because it’s too suspicious. No one would knock early in the morning. It's a bad manner," she explained.
"If we want to check on Roy, we have to sneak to his room through a window. I don’t see any window,” Alice said.
Vine looks around and sees a window on the right side of the house. “Over here,” Vine said.
Alice, Vine, Martha, and June look at the window.
“It’s Roy. He seems to have calmed down now,” June said.
Vine sees Phoenix flapping his wings from the closed window. “Look, the Phoenix is calling us with a sign,” Vine said.
“It’s called “Body Language”. We could beckon or call someone with a body language such as waving your hand, moving your eyes in the direction you wanted him or her to move with you and others. It’s important to understand that. Phoenix has something to say judging from the way he tried to gain our attention,” Alice said.
“Let’s sneak in,” Martha said.
Vine tries to open the window but it won’t budge. “Gah, it’s stuck! I can’t open it. Is there any magic to pass through a physical object like this?” Vine said and sit down.
“Oh dear, here we go again. I just learned this magic so there’s no guarantee about success,” Alice said.
“It’s better than nothing,” Vine said.
Alice draws on the window using her fingers when they glow and the drawing turns into a dimension hole that can be passed through.
“A black hole?” Martha wondered.
Alice looks at Martha and nods. “It’s called dimension hole. With this, we can enter the room while ignoring physical objects just like a ghost,” Alice gave a simple explanation.
Passing through the window, Alice didn’t close the dimension hole as she thought that it would be the only escape route for them. Phoenix suddenly latches on Alice’s face with a panic expression.
“Ouch, Phoenix. Easy there...Let go of my face,” Alice pulled Phoenix from her face. Alice sees Phoenix with an anxious look on his face. “What’s going on?” Alice asked.
“Krampus came here earlier,” Phoenix told her.
“What??” Alice whispered, her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Yes, Roy saw its form and its presence caused a nightmare in Roy’s dream when he slept out of fear,” Phoenix explained what happened.
“So that’s why I sensed something happened to him. So, did Krampus attack Roy or something?” Alice asked.
“No...It's more like it came to this room and get rid of the nightmare from his dream. I thought that it came to attack him but it judges Roy’s inner character in his childhood first before it gets rid of his nightmare. Roy is a nice kid and it cured him of his nightmare out of pity,” Phoenix said.
“Out of pity, eh? Oh...seems like it’s not as evil as it looks,” Alice said. Everyone examined Roy while he is sleeping.
“Look...did you see it?” Martha asked.
“I didn’t see it,” Vine admitted.
Alice approaches everyone. “What is it?” Alice asked.
“Alice, there is a symbol glowing on Roy’s head,” Martha said.
Alice looks at Roy’s head with Phoenix perching on her head.
“That must be Krampus’s sigil,” Phoenix said.
Alice puts her finger on her chin. “Hmm...Let’s see if we can use it for something useful,” Alice said. Alice searches for her pocket. “But wait, I don’t have a talisman,” Alice said.
“Don’t worry, we can use paper instead,” Martha said. Martha searches for an empty paper around the house without making too much sound.
Vine looks at Alice. “Talisman? What’s a talisman? How do you make one?” Vine asked.
“You will see it yourself,” Alice said.
June looks at her and voices her doubt. “Are you sure about this, Alice? Are you planning to make it as your servant? The creature is terrifying enough to give Roy a nightmare yet you fearlessly attempt to contain Krampus?” June asked with doubt.
Alice looks at June with a shocked face against what she said.
“Servant? Contain as in lock it in the talisman? No, June. That’s not how summoning talisman should be used. When we summon a spirit inside the summoning talisman, the spirit still has its own free will and may choose to obey or disobey the summoner depending on the trust between the summoner and the summoned creature. You need trust from the creature you summoned in order for them to obey what you told them. As for containing, the talisman can be used to seal the creature’s spirit and physical body or capture the main essence of the monster such as its magic or its physical part which is mostly used as a connection to the original bearer so when you summon it...the part used in the talisman will pull the creature bearing the part and just like how gateway work, the creature will suddenly emerge from the talisman as if it got transported from where it was into the talisman. Difficult explanation but yeah...that’s how it works as far as I know,” Alice explained while scratching the back of her head as a sign of thinking hard.
“I never had a talisman so this will be the first time I summon a monster. I don’t summon unless the situation makes me do it,” Alice admitted.
After a while, Martha comes back with the paper. “Here you go, I found one,” Martha said.
“Hmm...This is perfect for making a talisman. Follow me, Vine,” Alice said.
Alice approaches Roy with Vine watching how Alice made the talisman.
“To make a talisman, you can copy a sigil you found, think of it like copying any writing you saw on the wall using pencil on a paper,” Alice put the paper on the sigil.
“Whoa...,” Vine was amazed when the sigil appears on the paper.
Alice takes the paper and examines the sigil. “Hmm...Something is still missing,” Alice said.
“What’s missing?” Vine asked.
“Magic essence...there!” Alice said when she finished moving the sigil.
The sigil on Roy’s head moved to the paper permanently and forms into a talisman.
“There we go,” Alice said. Alice reveals the symbol on the talisman using her hand.
Alice gives a curious look to her face. “Hmm...Strange symbol but...this should help us summon it and ask for its contract,” Alice said.
“What’s a contract?” June asked.
“Think of it as an agreement between two people. Making a contract with a demon means making an agreement with that spirit but....dealing with a demon is very risky. The price would be your very life, they often called our life or soul as “precious” but who would want to make a contract with the devil using your own soul unless you’re a madman,” Martha explained in a simpler term.
Alice feels sweat on her face. “I hope that Krampus won’t ask for our life when we make a contract with it,” Alice said with a nervous grin.
Alice gave a nervous grin because she knew that a demon such as Krampus would ask for her life without a doubt. She was actually scared of facing Krampus. “I hope not,” Alice thought, sweating.
Phoenix looks at the time. “It’s getting bright. You should prepare yourself for today,” Phoenix flapped his wings endlessly.
Everyone jumps out from the dimension hole and Alice closes the hole back to the normal window. Everyone quickly runs into the forest nearby.
“Now we just need to take a little rest,” June said.
Alice casts invisibility magic on everyone and fell asleep on the tree. June digs the snow slightly deep and sleeps soundly inside while leaving a hole for breathing. Martha and Vine climb a tree and sleep on the thick branches.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
