I woke up to the sound of a raven calling out to it’s kin. Today, March 20th, I turned 13, which means that I was either going to be a soldier or I was going to be a slave for the rest of my unfortunate life. I get up from my makeshift straw bed, which is extremely uncomfortable, and get dressed and ready for the contracting ceremony.

I make sure that I look presentable as to not be an embarrassment to my master who will no doubt take it out on me if he’s shamed in public because of me. I look in the mirror to find the same bitter reminders that my parents aren’t around anymore. My silver hair from my mom and my arctic blue eyes from my dad. Neither of which were common features around this hellish country. And my skin is more tan than most of the residents here, but that’s because I spend most of my days outside doing manual labor and has nothing to do with my heritage. I look mature for my age, being that I’m around 3 to 4 inches taller than the average adult male. Although my childish face hasn’t quite yet disappeared. Basically I’m a tall kid with weird hair and eyes.

“Boy, if we’re late because of you, I’ll beat you within an inch of your life!” The harsh voice echoed from outside. It belonged to my master, who had an extremely short temper. Today was very important to him as well as me. If I had a contract that was decent, he could sell me to the military for a pretty penny.

I walk out of the slave quarters and look at my hand, where a brutish symbol was burned onto my skin. It looked like a giant X With AL ontop of it, which signalled I belonged to my master, Aaron Levy.

“Boy, you’d best hurry up unless you want me to whip you again.” He impatiently snarled at me, to which I replied quickly “I’m here.”

After that he smacked my across the face and then started to head toward the ceremony. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I’m not surprised anymore. It didn’t hurt, and it didn’t leave a mark either.

As we walk, I feel disgusted at everything I see. Poverty was a plague in Justitia. Those who weren’t soldiers or nobles were afflicted by it. Children are begging for money so they have something to eat. Women who were assaulted crying where there was little light. Corpses that have been there for days collected flies and maggots. There was no justice in this place, there was nothing that assured the people they were safe. Only the stench of death and sound of sorrow was here.

We soon arrived at the ceremony which was held at the Holy Church of the Light. I had never been here before, but I could tell that from the commotion my birthday was shared with someone who was important in the country. As I was about to enter, my master grabbed my by the back of my shirt, hit me in the back of the head and then forced me onto my right knee.

That’s when I noticed that I was kneeling in front of Royalty. Because I had never seen anyone from the royal family I didn’t quite recognize her right away. But there was only one person it could be, the King’s youngest child and only daughter, Lux Justitia. To put it simply, she was beautiful. Her raven black hair and crimson eyes were stunning. She had snow white skin that wasn’t blemished in the slightest way. The most amazing part though was the fact that when I looked into her eyes, there was no malice or judgement emitting from them, like there was from every other noble in this city.

As she passed by me and went into the church, she was closely followed by 4 knights, who I could only assume were her personal guards. There were countless other guards already stationed within the church. The church was a great power and therefore each church was protected just as much as any government building. My master didn’t dare breathe in front of her let alone try to beat me. As her silhouette disappeared into the church I got up along with everyone else who was present and walked into the church.

It was a grand structure teeming with gold and silver decorations everywhere. The most noticeable thing however, was the crystal ball in the middle of the room that was glistening with every color imaginable. The princess approached it with stern steps, and an air of confidence around her.

From what I was told by my father when I was little, the orb had 3 types of reactions. If one placed their hand on it while under the age of 13, it wouldn’t react at all. If someone 13 or over made contact with it, they would be sought out by a beast that thinks it’s worthy of their power. If one touched the orb while already having a contract, they would suffer immense backlash and would be rendered immobile from the pain for a few days.

The princess was directly in front of the orb and the center of everyone’s attention. She placed her delicate hand onto the orb, and the color began to circulate rapidly and gather around where her hand was. This lasted for around 10 minutes, as I assume it takes time for a beast to notice that there’s a contracter and time for the contract to be made. During those 10 minutes, nobody's eyes left her small body. Then she suddenly pulled her hand away and the clothing on her arms was stripped away. The sound of flesh searing echoed throughout the church, but not a single person moved to help her.

The marking on their body showed that they were contracted to a beast. Generally the marking wouldn’t even be that large, in most cases no bigger than the mark I have on my hand to show I’m a slave. But this one was drastically larger which could only mean that the princess was being contracted to a seriously powerful beast. On her left arm a majestic eagle flying covered it entirely. A powerful lioness was stalking her prey over the entirety of the previously unblemished arm.

She had to endure the pain of the marking for 15 minutes before it was finished. Then she let out a single word “Salus” before fainting. Before she fell onto the ground one of the four guards commissioned to protect her caught her and carried her in his arms.

“A griffin!” The priest who was overlooking the ceremony exclaimed with excitement.

The griffin was the symbol of the church. It was said that the griffins were the messengers of the gods and that they represented a pure and holy soul. Since the princess had contracted a griffin, she would probably be the heir to her father’s throne, since power dictated almost everything here, even royalty.

I was the only other one here for the ceremony at this time. I had a bad feeling about the nature of my contract though, since today was the Vernal Equinox, a day where both Light and Darkness were the same. If she got a symbol of light, then what was I going to get? I shed my fear and being making my way to the orb. Even if nobody said anything, I knew that I was going to be unrestricted from approaching the orb, since this was a ritual as old as our roots.

I felt the entire room stare at me with disdain. As if to say How could a dirty peasant like you share the same birthday as the princess? Although I wanted to lash out at them, there was nothing I could do. No matter how much they looked down on me and no matter how much I hated them, I had no choice but to be a slave to fate. This country is where the strong rule and the weak are nothing.

I was directly in front of the orb before I knew what was going on. And almost as if it was against my will, I placed my hand onto it without thinking. But the orb had a much different reaction from last time. The color from the orb faded and began turning into an ominous black. And then the next moment a deep, calm voice whispered into my ear.

“Boy, do you want the power to turn over this corrupt world?”