A Price Willingly Paid

Story

Sophie was 5 when she learned what the world was. When her parents were taken from her, she was left in the care of an orphanage that treated the kids like animals and often turned their backs on the ones who were defective.

Her long pointed ears, fangs, and black whites of her eyes showed that she was one of these 'ruined' children. Her wraith heritage made the caretakers make her wear a hat to cover her ears and lock her in a closet whenever potential parents came to visit so that she wouldn't scare them off.

Yet through years of banging on the door and begging for a chance, she still held on to hope that she would find her family again.

She was seven when the orphanage started to force the kids to walk through the streets and beg for donations. Seven when they started to hope kids wouldn't make it back for dinner, so they didn't have to feed them.

She had seen a family going from stall to stall, shopping at the market for something fresh to eat. The little girl smiled up at everything, while she was forced to keep her hat on and eyes on the ground.

It wasn't fair.

When she walked up to the family, hoping for some donations so that she could eat, the little girl tried to take the one pretty coin that she had in her cup.

A struggle started, and in it, she lost her hat, narrowed her eyes, and bore her teeth. The mother saw. The mother screamed. A crowd gathered around them, all of them chanting threats of death to the demon that attacked a young girl.

Yet, somehow, even as tears ran down her face and she was forced to flee the one home she'd ever know, she held onto hope that one day, she too could smile like that little girl.

She lived on the edge of the forest outside of the town for a while. When she turned eight, she had made friends with a boy who had a hunter's spirit.

The boy wanted to play and swore to keep her a secret. When the boy complained that she never put up a fight, she had.

Yet, the one time she left a mark after he left scrapes and bruises on her for weeks, hunters showed up at her hiding spot and almost named her right then and there.

She could see the boy at the center of it all, a frightened expression on his face as he watched her get attacked.

She ran and hid, for that was all she had known, and despite the betrayal of the boy, she held out hope that she would have a friend in this world.

She was ten when she was captured and forced into a soul farm. Wraiths were the only ones with the ability to steal and preserve souls from living creatures, so she was forced to take and watch the live leaves out of the animal's eyes.

Many people bought from this place. From corrupt rulers to gang members, she saw it all.

She had given up hope for this place but held onto her life. There was nothing left to save her, not when she was forced to sleep in the same barn next to the animals she was bound to kill.

When she was 15, the doors to her barn opened with a loud slam, leaving her confused.

Voices called out, looking for anyone inside. She didn't see a reason to hide anymore, so she stepped out into the light with her hands by her head.

To her shock, it was a group of adventures dressed in white armor with blue accents. Smug smiles crossed all of their faces as their horses stood in the background.

"Wraith, right?" A girl asked as she held up a burnt cloth orb with a swirling blue flame inside. "We need your help."

The orb the girl had was a soul orb, a sphere with the ability to rip the very essence of a human out of their body and send them to the underworld.