Strange, but convenient payment

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!”
I screamed, as I crawled towards the wall.
Behind me, slow steps could be heard.
“Tsk, tsk, Mr. Sorcerer, that’s all it took?
A few months of working hard for you, and then poison and a knife to the guts?”
A smug voice laughed.
It was my discip…ex-disciple.
I expelled the traitor.
Reaching the wall, I propped myself up, and smiled.
The blood running off the side of my mouth, must’ve made me look scarier than usual, as the smug little smile disappeared, as he frowned, and took a step back.
“You…*cough*, you must feel really nice now, huh?
Taking my research, taking my tower, my resources…
So sad, so unfortunate though…”
I said, smiling, shaking my head.
“What are you talking about, half-dead garbage?
Everything will be mine! Everything IS mine!
Riches, glory, fame, everything!”
He shouted, but dared not to come closer.
I coughed.
The pain was unbearable…
“Lacing my food with poison, my water with another poison, the knife with another poison…
Each deadlier than the previous one…
So unfortunate, despite being good at politics and schemes…
*cough*, you were never good at magic…
Like…*cough*, curses…”
I smirked.
He paled, and jumped back.
“you…You old bastard!
Heh, even if you are not just bluffing, with the money I have, I will just go to get the curse taken of off me.”
He said, before running away.
I laughed, which was a mistake.
“Coward…”
I weakly shouted after him.
I coughed, and felt even weaker than before…
I was dying slowly, not because of the poison, no, I am a sorcerer, poisons can barely remain in my body intact.
But the bleeding…
I couldn’t heal myself, because the bastard disrupted my channels with the cuts, he sure knew what he was doing…
I can’t really use magic, but there is one thing I can do…
Rituals…
I’ve turned to the wall, and found a place which was clean, without blood spatters…
And drew the symbols and runes…
“I summon thee, Maker of Nothing, Devourer of Everything,
The one who basks in light, and covers the dark voids
I summon thee, and bind thee, with flesh and blood
Thy powers unlimited, but the contract shall be fair.
Any price you ask I shall pay, in exchange of your favor!
I summon thee, Nihiomia!”
I said, as I bit a part of finger off, and placed in the middle of the symbols.
They lit up, and burnt.
The flames went through all the colors known to us, and then even more, before a lightning bolt illuminated the room.
Soon, a giggling could be heard.
I turned around, and there she was.
Squatting down, so we were face to face.
She smiled.
“hello!”
She greeted me.
I froze a bit…
Fully dressed in a pitch black shoulderless dress, pale as moonlight skin, and bright blood red hair…
If her eyes wouldn’t be of the color of the purest amethyst, I would’ve thought she’s just like us…
Then I realized something.
The pain went away.
“You…you healed me?”
I said.
Indeed, my wounds disappeared, the channels repaired, I could use magic once more.
“Of course I healed you, otherwise, how could we talk so nicely?”
She laughed.
I struggled to stand up, but I was still weak.
“Stay down, young man.
We can talk while sitting on the cold floor, I actually enjoy the feeling of concrete on my skin.”
She giggled.
“Why…Why did you heal me for…for free?”
I asked, ignoring the fact that a 200 year old man like me is called “young”.
“For free? I am running no charity young man. I took my pay already…
It was delicious…”
She said, licking her plump…green…lips.
I gulped.
I thought for a while, and understood her.
“Pain…you feed on pain…”
I said.
“Bingo!
Smartness expected from a sorcerer kid, nice.
Indeed, I take my payment in pain.”
She said.
“Rather…strange, it’s usually souls or lives you demons trade in.”
I said.
“*Snort*, yeah, those idiots, mocking Succubi and Nightmares, and boasting about their “deals”.
Yeah, sure a soul is much more fulfilling than pain, or simple life force or fear, but quantity wise?
A soul every decade or even century or so? Meh, boring.
And let’s not even forget the difficulty of getting the soul.
But me? Pain?
A battlefield? A feud? A family conflict? A lovers-quarrel gone wrong? A teenager’s tantrum?
Anywhere, anytime, from anyone, I can take it.
If I make a contract? It’s even purer.
So little man, tell me…what is it that you desire?”
She asked, licking her lips, getting way too close to me…
I blinked…
While the physical pain was gone…the emotional…the spiritual pain…
The wound of getting betrayed still has yet to close…
Strange method for payment this is, but convenient…
“I wish for you to help me…”
I said.
My path ahead was sure to be filled with terror, destruction and a lot of pain…
She just smiled, like a kid who got a new toy.
Jumping to her feet agilely, she stretched her dainty hand and helped me up.
“Shall we go, partner?”
She asked.
I just nodded, and left myself being led by her.
And thus started our companionship…