Contracts

Exorcism

I rested my head on my clasped hands, finishing my prayer. I sighed, the occasional sound of Orin knocking something over with his wings in the background. I opened my eyes and flicked my chocolate hair from my face, taking a quick breath of air and turning to the demon.

"Alright, Orin, we are going to have a good day, a happy day, a wonderful..." I trailed off, my voice losing all hope. Orin stood holding my phone in his hands, scrutinizing it. The dormant black screen lit up with the movement. Orin, surprised by the light, dropped the phone. "Day." The slight, but definitive sound of glass breaking was enough to let me know that this was not going to be a good day of all things. "That was my phone, Orin."

"What's a phone?" He asked.

"It cost me a lot of money, Orin," I mused, ignoring his question.

"Is this a phone?" He asked, holding up a cobalt, rectangular glass box. I leapt from my chair.

"Don't touch that!" I howled, snatching the box from his hands. I stared down at the small container.

The glass was intricately etched at the top, small snowflakes, vines and frosted designs sat in perfectly symmetrical patterns on the azure material. The sides had the same designs. Gold lined the edges of the box, the corners adorned with swirly and Victorian patterns. A latch holding a small, golden lock kept the box shut tight. The inside of the box was entirely visible from the outside. A thick layer of deep blue, puffed up velvet covered the bottom of the interior of the box. I pulled my necklace out of my shirt, the bottom edge of the crucifix was unevenly spiked, almost like a skeleton key. I inserted the bottom into the lock, turning it a bit. The lock popped open and I lifted the latch. I gingerly opened the lid and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it's contents were unharmed. I set the box down on my desk, Orin peered over my shoulder.

"A crystal rose?" Orin chuckled, reaching across my chest and running a hand along the gold stem. The rose itself was carved so that it gave off the illusion that it was in full bloom, full and vibrant. The petals themselves were cut from Swiss blue topaz, the stem forged from gold. The stem was straight and long, one ornate, feathery gold leaf on the right side of the metal. A small, thin tendril of diamond was coiled tightly around the base of the bloom, curling around the stem. A snowflake made from a milky white crystal sat in the middle of the coil as if it was a crest. "Fancy."

"I didn't buy it, my parents did," I said, taking the rose out of the case and cradling it in my hands. It was about the size of a real flower, but much more delicate. "They got it as a gift for me when I got my Kinetic and chose my Academic Weapon."

"What's a Kinetic?" Orin asked, taking the rose from me and twirling it in his fingers. He held it under his nose as if he was smelling it, peering at me coyly.

"A Kinetic is one's mental ability to control an element, material, substance or type of being through mana," I explained, reaching for my rose. The demon held it upwards, out of my reach. I stood on my tiptoes and strained my arm to grab the flower. Orin chuckled as I struggled, coming face to face with him. I could feel his breath on my face and could hear his voice loud and clear as he snickered at how short I was. I clicked my tongue, put a hand on his shoulder and pushed in an attempt to reattain my rose.

"Okay, what's mana?" Orin asked, putting the rose up higher. I sighed loudly and stood on his feet, craning my arm. My limb was sore from the strain.

"Mana is the force that flows through everything. Sometime around 2098, scientists discovered a substance in a cell that had come along with human evolution. Apparently, we weren't the only beings that had evolved. For example, small lizards that had once been deemed harmless now had claws and wings, some possessing the ability to breathe fire. Plants were able to move on their own, sometimes even growing out of inanimate materials, such as metal, glass or crystal. Humans were then able to harness abilities such as Kinetics by activating the mana in the various cells around them. They then command the mana to convert elements, create whatever they want, or kill whomever they please. Mana itself, however, can be found in lifelike forms, similar to a firefly. This type of mana often lays dormant and merely serves to heal and mend anything they find that is broken," I grumbled, dropping both hands onto his shoulders and pushing myself up again. I wrapped my legs around his torso, securing an arm around his neck and shoulder and using the other one to continue reaching.