Contracted

A lone man was sleeping among many gates around him. A white fire burning inside them with great might. Yet, he was sleeping as peacefully as ever, with no fear of dying. What an odd human.

But sadly, his beauty sleep quickly came to an end, as the monstrous flames started moving with great wrath. The sound that came with it was demonic, and to make it worse, it was coming from the most dangerous of them all.

Had a memory beast found a way to escape? But the only way they could penetrate the human world is through infecting memories, so that wasn't possible.

He jumped, terrified of whatever hideous beast would come out of that cursed gate. Needless to say, he had to do something, he couldn't let this beast onto the streets. He couldn't let any more people die.

He grabbed his sword, gripping it with great force, this served as a way to stop his body from trembling. His hand bled from the friction between his skin and the blade's rough handle.

But as he was preparing a figure appeared inside the ocean of fire.

Its human shape put him on edge for a moment, making him believe he was either hallucinating or was still deep in his sleep. But he regained his focus a few seconds later, remembering that there are beasts that can shapeshift.

Its white hair merged itself with the radiating white flames of the gate. And his amethyst eyes looked like they held the entire cosmos inside. As if they had the world inside their hand... well eyes but you get the idea.

It wore a black leather jacket that contrasted his white hair, the puff inside the hood was stained orange, as if juice had been spilled on it. Its black jeans fit perfectly, ending just above the ankle.

A smug smile covered his face, radiating cockiness, and of course confidence.

The poor guy dropped his sword, as he saw me come out.

'Hello there, looks like I'm back.' I waved at him, this gesture was me mocking him, showing him how wrong he was in his judgment. To shatter his common sense and reasonable thinking.

He must be in shock, after all, for him I was another kid thinking they were special, but instead were just dooming themselves. So seeing one of these kids come out successfully must be confusing to him. 'Serves the bastard right!'

Seeing his frozen state, I slowly approached him.

He felt a strong pressure grow upon him, it felt like the world was crushing him. He was barely standing, his legs constantly shaking. His eyes trembled as he looked at my big smile.

'Is there something wrong? Oh, right! My fault, I accidentally used my power.'

After the pressure let him out of its claws, he fell to the hard ground. Sweat flowed from his forehead. 'This look suits you, useless human.'

He tried mustering a word, but it felt like his mouth wouldn't work.

'Well... I'll leave now. Stay safe!'

I was growing bored of torturing this lowly human, so the best choice was to just leave him in this state of shock. I was satisfied enough.

I turned towards the exit and left as fast as I arrived.

Finally, outside, I took a deep breath. The air hugged my lungs with its not-so-warm touch. I looked to see the beautiful stars of the night. Time in the trial mirrors the outside world, so finishing the trial at night meant I would emerge after sunset. 

But enough for the minor details, it was time for the big question.

'What does having a contract even do?'

Before obtaining a contract, you are considered a child. After forming one, you finally become part of society. You can get a job in the Memory Corporation, meaning that you be sent to help humans whose memories were infected by memory beasts. Or if you're confident in your strength you can become a guard in The Core. 

If you don't want to fight at all, you can also do that. And this was a big part of the hatred for humanity. They are hypocrites, whenever a beast escapes they scream for help, and blame anyone who doesn't help them. But at the same time, they let others fight for them, risking their life to not escape. And whenever they try screaming for help, they are faced with the hard reality, that there is no one to help them.

To make it worse, they throw funerals where they supposedly complement them. They point out their courage and how they sacrificed themselves to help others.

But they only do this to encourage others to do the same. To risk their lives for others. For the young and naive pigs to sacrifice themselves for the fat pigs.

Do they think people who die fighting infected memories want this, for others to share the same fate as them?

Do they think they are happy hearing the false information about their deaths? To hear others say that they fought with might until the end when they broke out in fear whenever faced with a hard challenge, despair and sadness filling their hearts as tears damaged their faces.

It's a shameful act, even memory beasts don't do this. We respect the dead, letting either his friends or families make the funeral and invite them however they want. If we're the monsters... what are they?

These are all the things you can do at the contracted rank.

Which one do I choose?

...None, you see I don't want to do any of those, because I don't want to stay at the contracted rank, wasting my life on some with some shitty goal like saving the ones I love.

I will rise to the top again, and I will take my throne back from whoever is sitting on it and destroy humanity from its roots.

Now, I just had to prepare a little before I went into The Core. And I have just the perfect way.

Both humanity and the beasts—they'll all be pawns in my game.