Chapter 3: The Contract
I almost didn't notice it, I was shocked that the boy even said something - let alone so quietly said. A contract? I was not sure what he meant by this. What could this boy possibly want from me?
"What-" I began saying before I was abruptly cut off.
"Yes or no." The boy intimidatingly said as he took two more echoing steps towards me.
"No, you didn't even tell me what this contract is about," I responded, stuttering over my words. I was utterly confused.
"I want to recruit people to help me," The boy said again. At this point, our shoes only were a couple of inches apart. He was right in front of me, trying to convince me to agree to a contract I knew nothing of. "I want to stop another war, another Eradication".
Another war? There are many ongoing wars right now between kingdoms but it seemed like he was not talking about those. Another Eradication?
"The land is rotting, it is a sign" The boy stated as he noticed my dubiety.
"I don't get it, kid, how do you expect me to help you? And why are you even recruiting people? You're a kid, how in the world are you going to find a way to stop a war? When it happens it's unavoidable, anyways you should just keep yourself and your family safe."
"Then help me keep people safe"
"What would you even want me to do if I joined you?"
"fight." The boy nonchalantly said, as if he did not understand the word fight.
"I am a simple merchant, I have no clue how to even fight. It's illegal anyways for you to orchestrate a group of people to kill, only the upper class has that authority."
I was absolutely shocked that a kid was planning to stop an entire war from occurring by creating his own miniature army. Though, I did want to help the kid; he seemed desperate for help - even though he didn't show it, I had a sort of hunch.
"How much would I get paid?" I asked. I thought that the boy's reason for wanting to prevent war was understandable, however, I was most of all worried about money. I was dirt poor. Being a merchant from a poor family made me quite undesirable to buy from. Not many citizens of Ournasis would trust poor merchants because there have been many incidents of lower-class merchants selling fake materials and pottery.
"Bout' 20 copper coins per week"
That was only 80 bronze a month; which is almost nothing but considering that I make 0 coins at all right now, it was at least an improvement.
A copper coin is equal to 0.50 USD and a silver coin is 6 USD. A gold coin is 90 USD; a pure gold coin is 540 USD; and a beryl coin is 5,400 USD. There are also Onyx coins that are worth 27,000 USD.
A silver coin is equal to 12 copper; a gold coin is equal to 15 silver; a pure gold coin is 6 gold; a beryl coin is 10 pure gold coins, and Onyx coins are worth 5 times a beryl coin.
Most merchants' monthly income in Ournasis is around a few gold and beryl coins, though that is if you a reputable. Ousnasis is one of the most expensive cities to live in.
"That's almost nothing! I can barely afford a meal with that!" I retorted, I was astounded at how cheap this kid was. He expects people to fight for him, to possibly kill people for that little money. Carrying the weight of killing someone already isn't compensatable by paying someone off, it's a huge crime.
"Well, it increases, of course, based on how useful you are." Useful?
"Excuse me?"
"If you can't do your job then you get paid only 5 bronze, if you do something good then you get more"
"That's not how that works..." I don't think this kid understands how jobs work. But I also had no choice, I was making no money right now, I had no other skills, and there were very few jobs to be offered here in Ournasis. Staying one night here in a rustic tavern had already cost me 3 silver, and I only had around 5 silver left. "Fine" I decided. "But you better be giving good raises."
"Good" The boy responded, "My name is A854"
He must be an orphan. Usually, most orphans are not given proper names but sort of codes to identify them easily.
"Do you have an actual name?" The boy looked away briefly and then looked back at me.
"No," The boy said, "It doesn't matter, names are simply formality"
Why wouldn't someone want a name? Whatever, it was his choice, it's just going to take some time to adjust to calling someone a bunch of digits.
"The contract?" I asked him, "What do I need to sign?"
The boy looked at me with a confounded expression.
"Sign?"
"Yes, what am I to sign? Do you have a document on hand?"
The boy took a few paces backward without responding to my questions.
"Uhm-" Before I was going to question the kid again I was engrossed by a purple light in front of me. Purple light was refracting off the stone walls and revealed a circle underneath me. There was scripture on the circle and uncoordinated straight lines pointing everywhere in the circle. The circle encompassed both me and the boy.
"What are you doing?!" I called out but the boy continued to ignore me.
More lines started to appear in the circle and I could now faintly hear the boy murmuring incomprehensible sentences. With each mutter from the boy I could see another line form in the circle and then more symbols started to appear around its perimeter. I was terrified of what was happening, I could hear my heartbeats echoing in my ears and my hands were subtly shaking. What is he trying to do? The lines slowly started to form a direction and connect me and the boy: as the lines started to connect, they started growing out of the floor and reaching toward me.
"What the f*ck!" I yelled. I attempted to take a step back but my legs were already entangled by the purple lines. I looked up at the boy as I struggled and he was just staring at me with lifeless eyes, not a single line had touched him.
The lines completely engulfed me; I couldn't speak nor hear and the only thing I saw now was purple. I tried to trash my legs around but that only caused the lines to tighten around me. After 30 seconds of deafening silence, I was released from the glowing lines and I fell a couple inches to the ground.
I couldn't move, I laid down on the floor that was now back to its regular grey, cold color and I remained absolutely still. What just happened? I thought to myself as I was unable to speak a word.
I've never seen anything like that before. Was that Eonic?
I continued to lie down on the ground in absolute shock. Eonic? I thought I was living in a fairy tale for a moment. Can people use eonic abilities? I started to feel as if I were going insane. Eonic abilities are a sort of mutation that monsters develop to conjure spells, I didn't know people could have this mutation.
step...step...step...
I propped the upper half of my body up on my arms and saw the boy slowly taking steps toward me. I could now see his face again and noticed that his skin was of a shocking pallor.
"What was that?" I croaked. Right then I felt that my throat was very tight, I could barely say words.
"The contract" He responded calmly. The boy's purple cloak had folded underneath him as he sat down next to my limp body. The ground was freezing cold. "It's a binding contract, it ensures that you will continue to work under me until our common goal is completed."
"And what is our common goal?"
"To kill the Gods".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Annie_Mellisa
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