The Messenger of Death

"Contract!? What contract!? I don't remember reading any terms and conditions, I don't even remember signing anything!!" Alex panicked a bit.

"Calm down young friend, this wouldn't be detrimental to you. You signed the contract when you willingly gave your hand, the terms and conditions were for you to agree to take it as yours.

This puppet will only listen to you and you only. It has its own intelligence so you wouldn't have to give it commands or directions all the time. Summon it, let me see if there any changes to its ability." Mr. Guardian urged.

"I don't know how to call it out." Alex shook his right hand as he said. He was foolishly hoping that the puppet would drop out of his hand or something like that.

"Feel the connections and ties that you have with it first, after that, try to communicate with it, and then that should be enough to summon it." Mr. Guardian directed.

Alex closed his eyes and tried to feel the ties that he had with the puppet. Soon, he could feel something new and different, housing itself in his body. 'Hey, puppet thingy. Can you come out?' He thought.

When Alex opened his eyes, he saw the puppet standing next to him. The thing that caught Alex's attention when he opened his eyes, was the red vein-like lines that were now on the puppet. The veins were spread around the whole body of the puppet, making it look more refined and scary than it already was.

Before, when Alex first met the puppet it had no eyes, but now after signing the contract with it, and summoning it out, it seemed to have developed something similar to eyes.

There were two red orbs in the place of its eyes. Orbs that looked like rubies.

When Alex focused on the red veins that were spread around the body of the puppet, he felt as if the red coursing through those veins were his blood,

"This I didn't expect, the person that created this puppet must be a genius." Mr. Guardian exclaimed. "The person's mastery of runes is above mine. The difference is…" He paused.

"Hmmm, there seems to be a little restriction. Before signing the contract with you, this puppet didn't have any cultivation, and now, its cultivation is a whole realm above yours." Mr. Guardian pointed out.

['Not bad, I guess.']Al murmured.

['Yeah, although it's the usual fuckery, it is not that f*cked up. I can even use this guy to kill Vincent.] Alex thought wickedly as a mischievous smile surfaced on his face.

"Can you still change your form?" Mr. Guardian asked the puppet.

It nodded its head and started to change its form. Part of its body turned into liquid and joined in with another part that was still solid. In a short while, it changes into a tiger that had red stripes around its body. It was even able to make hair come out of its body.

The puppet was able to make a mouth and nose for the form that it had taken. There were sharp, black teeth and a red tongue that looked life-like in its newly formed mouth.

"Can't it change the color of its body?" Alex blurted out.

"I don't think it can do that. In fact, I think I know why it has no eyes, nose, or mouth." Mr. Guardian said.

"Why?"

"Because it is still incomplete. The creator must have stopped his creation when he was almost done, or he was killed before he was able to finish his work." He informed.

"You like it?" Mr. Guardian asked.

"I think I do," Alex answered.

"You should give it a name, right?" Mr. Guardian looked at the puppet as he spoke.

It started nodding its head. While it was doing that, Alex didn't need to look at it to know what it was doing, he could feel what it was thinking. To Alex, it was like hearing a child shout out 'Yes', repeatedly.

"What name do you want to give it?"

"I think, Milo?" Alex uttered, unsure of the name that he just thought of on a whim.

"Hmmm, That's a good name, don't you think so, Milo?" Mr. Guardian looked at the puppet that was still in its tiger form.

The puppet liked its new name and it chose to show its appreciation for the name by rubbing itself on Alex as he was still seated.

Alex resisted the urge to smile at the action that the puppet made. He had never had a pet before so he's feeling this for the first time and it felt nice to him. He held his smile back and rubbed its head.

"Milo likes his name. You have 3 minutes left Alexander, is there any other question you want to ask?" Mr. Guardian informed.

Alex stopped rubbing Milo's head and faced Mr. Guardian. "One more thing. Although I haven't been the type to have a conscience, something has been sitting at the back of my mind." Alex mentioned.

"And what might that be?"

"I've been wondering if my way is the right one?" He asked.

"When you say your way, what are you referring to?" Mr. Guardian asked.

"Nothing, I'm sorry, forget that I asked that question." Alex got up.

"You have helped me a lot of times. Even if I am still weak now, I will say this, I, Alexander never forget a favor and I owe you 2 of them at the moment." Alex placed his fist in his palm and bowed.

Mr. Guardian stood up too, he stared at Alex for a few seconds. "Let me just tell you this, in the cultivation world, there is no right or wrong way. There is only a way. What might be right to you, might be wrong to many others and vice versa.

If you want to repay those favors, become stronger, and find another Midas petal, I enjoy your company. When you are strong enough, spar with me." He smiled at Alex.

Alex rose from his inclined position and chuckled at Mr. Guardian. "Will do, Sir."

He started walking towards the pond but stopped when he was just a few steps away from the pond. He looked beside him and saw Milo there, he then looked behind and saw Mr. Guardian standing where he left him.

"Since I am already cheating, I need to ask you this. Can you tell me where the next petal will be appearing? I don't need you to tell me the exact place, I just want an estimate. Like which plain realm is it going to be in next?" Alex asked.

"Hahahaha, I cannot tell you that. If you are fated to get another petal, then the strings of fate will pull you to where the next petal will be appearing. See you another time, young friend." Mr. Guardian gently pushed his palm forward.

When he did that, Alex saw himself flying towards the pond. It was like someone pushed him.

-Splash!!!

He fell into the pond. Milo followed him quickly and jumped into the pond. It changed into its liquid form and shot at Alex's right arm. When it made contact with his hand, it turned black, but this time, there were red stripes on the black.

Like his whole right arm had been tattooed black and red. Suddenly, the weight from his right hand sunk him deeper into the pond.

*Activating oxygen mask.

The system's notification reached his ears as he was sinking deeper into the pond. Two metallic pipes started to take form beside Alex's mouth. Now the true form of the skin crawler was visible to anyone that was there to see.

Fortunately for Alex, he was the only one in the pond at the moment.

*Oxygen mask activated. Turning water into oxygen, electrolysis.

The system informed.

['I don't think I was having any problems breathing underwater.'] Alex thought.

['To the system, you are still a human, it doesn't know that cultivators are able to breathe underwater for a period of time.'] Al mentioned.

['For a pond, this place is too freaking deep and wide!'] He exclaimed.

Alex looked up at the place that he entered from. The entrance of the pond was as big as an inflatable kiddies pool. It could only fit a few people at a time. Then he brought his gaze down to where he was.

The inside of the pond as big as an ocean. ['The things I've seen.'] He thought. The color on his hand started to fade and the weight that had been pulling him deeper into the water ceased to pull any longer.

['Now, where is that petal hiding?'] He glanced at the GPS arrow and it was pointing towards his east.

['0.34 kilometers left.'] Al read out.

Alex smiled as he swam deeper into the water. "Almost there." He whispered.

Soon the petal came into Alex's sight. The petal that he was seeing wasn't exactly the same as the first one that he saw. The first Midas petal he got a hold of was red in color but this one that was in front of him was transparent.

It looked like water that took the shape of a petal…