Contract

*Knock* *knock* *knock*

"Wake up Simon it´s time to go!"

Simon who accidentally fell asleep opened his tired eyes as he scratched his head. His mind has still hazy as he just woke up and didn´t realize that he has to meet the kind in a few minutes. Sitting up he realized that he just fell asleep and quickly sprang up from his bed before draping over an elegant white robe with golden embroidery over his shoulder.

Picking up his bag he opened the door to see an angry Mavis in a similar fancy robe, that made him look like a royal. Even his tired eyes are now glimmering with anticipation and excitement.

Not wanting to waste any more time Mavis marched ahead with big strides. "Come on Simon we have to hurry."

Trying to catch up Simon ran after his uncle, "Wait up, why the rush? We still have a few minutes."

Now walking next to each other Mavis glanced at Simon, "There has been another spike in the dungeon. So, everyone is on edge right now and we have to find and bring back the acutra as fast as possible. The king has already set up an expedition team for us, but first, we have to report to the king personally."

"Is the situation that bad? The last time I dived into the dungeon it was not as bad as I thought it would. Sure, there were much more monster spawns and many tier 2 or even tier 3 monsters in the upper floors, but that was expected."

"The situation has changed. The monsters are now beginning to pour out of the dungeons all across the continent. We don´t know about the other continents, but we assume that they are dealing with a similar if not even a worse situation, as they didn´t really make any efforts to negotiate with the dungeon lords as we did. So, it is almost certain that the lords are now trying to expand their territories. But enough of that we are here."

Standing in front of a big sturdy wooden door, Mavis signaled the guards in front to let them in. With a nod they opened the double door in perfect sync, revealing a white marble room with many different arrays hidden everywhere.

The headmaster, Luthana Meliamne, and Hela the secretaire are already in the room waiting for them. "Ah, you two are finally here."

"Huh? Why are you here teacher?" asked Simon bewildered, not expecting his teacher to be in the portal room.

"I am just here to give you this.", pulling a long staff out of her ring on her finger she handed it to him. Dumfounded by the present he mindlessly took the staff and inspected it.

The staff was made of a pale white wood that was arched at the top surrounding a cubic crystal that is slowly rotating in between. The floating light blue gem emits a faint green hue that swirls around the staff with a few small light green orbs floating around. Overall the staff is only a little shorter than Simon with 1.70m long. "It is a little bit early for me to give you a staff, but due to the circumstances, the headmaster allowed me to give it to you early. So, here is your staff spirit mage Simon Ferum."

*blink* *blink*

Blinking a few times he opened and closed his mouth a few times. It was his last year under his teacher Luthana, but he already received a staff from her, meaning he officially became a full-fledged mage. Feeling something inside the staff calling him he channeled a little bit of mana into the staff as his vision turned white.

Looking around he saw nothing but pure whiteness. He couldn´t see his own hands or body, making him unable to know where up and down is. But slowly the surrounding changed as white trees sprouted out of nowhere. One after the other they came into existence till he was surrounded by them creating a wondrous forest. More and more things popped out into existence over time.

Now with a few reference points, he reorientated himself and noticed that he was standing in the middle of the clearing. There are even white stones and rivers in the distance. He could hear the sounds of singing birds, the moving leaves, and the sound of a streaming river. Starring into the distance he noticed a patch of red grass that sprouted out of the ground. Well, it was hard to miss a blood-red patch of grass in a pure white surrounding.

But then another patch of grass grew from the ground followed by another patch, and another and another, getting ever so slightly closer with every patch that grew. And with the grass, the sound of footsteps could be heard. Realizing that something was slowly creeping towards him, he tried to walk back just to feel his body being restricted. He couldn´t see his body but could still feel his limbs being bound by something. So being restricted and unable to do anything he continued to stare at the invisible thing approaching him and hoped for the best.

Continuously getting nervous his breath became rigid.

Shortly after the patches of red grass grew a meter in front of him forming a perfectly round circle, he felt a slight breeze on his face. He tried to wiggle free from his restrictions but stiffened when a being suddenly appeared with its masked face very closely in front of his face. Stretching its long furred neck back, Simon could see the being in its full glory. The humanoid being is covered in purplish brown fur sitting cross-legged on the ground. Even sitting it is still towering Simon in height, but it has lean and thin appendages. On its head are two majestic antlers curving upward, with long thin deer ears right under the antlers. The being's face is covered by a pure white mask with a red leave symbol in the middle.

*Snap*

Snaping its finger Simon's body manifested, as he could see his hands again. Getting out of his stupor, his eyes widened at the majestic being in front of him. 'Th- This is... wow. I have never seen an upper forest spirit before. Well, except my father´s.'

Bowing low he stretched out his right hand with his palm facing downwards, "I beseech you to lend me aid in my future endeavors, as I will return something in equal value." Not daring to look up he waited for its response.

The being looked at the hand and stroked the fur on its chin.

As the seconds past Simon became increasingly nervous. Seconds felt like hours as he continued to wait.

Taping Simon´s head, a string of information flooded his mind. Sorting the things he just saw he looked up. Seeing the being silently starring at him he lowered his head again before saying, "I agree."

The sound of gentle wind chimes clinging sounded as Simon felt a hot sensation on the back of his outstretched hand.

Looking at his hand he could now see three symbols in different colors on his hand and a fourth one slowly manifesting. The symbol was a blood-red tree with antlers on its side and a leaf in the middle.

Smiling he stretched out his hand again, "Thanks for accepting me as your contractor, Harth the red fall." With a nod, the upper spirit shook his hand, before his vision turned white again.

His eyes slowly refocused as everyone in the room stared at him. The first one to speak was his teacher. "It looks like you successfully gained another spirit."

Mavis whistled and remarked, "From the looks of it, it was at least the rank of a higher medium spirit, and to think you contracted it on the first try so quickly. You truly are a descendent of a Ferum."

Ignis Ferum just nodded and looked proudly at his son, but turned seriously soon after.

"You have to go now, the king is already awaiting you two. We have wasted enough time here."

Clasping Simon´s back Mavis walk past him and stood on the complex magic circle that is engraved in the ground.

Standing next to Mavis they said their goodbyes as runes around the magic circle glowed in golden light before they vanished.

*Sigh* "To think that the spirit inside of the staff really made a contract with him..."

Pulling back a strand of hair behind her pointy ears she closed her eyes, "Well I never thought that the spirit would appear on its own, after everything that happened to it."

"Hmmm, yeah it was a true tragedy what happened there... but the child had always immense luck and charisma apart from his kind and hard-working nature."