Chase sat on the corner of his bed, feeling the weight of the world start to cave in on him as the necklace started to feel heavier in his hands.
He was about to bypass the protection seal that his mother had placed on him at birth.
He was about to enact a vow with a being far stronger than anything he had ever seen in his life.
'Is this cowardice? Or is it acceptance? I guess it doesn't matter... I've known that I would need to be strong, I studied for days on days even before I knew I was special. Now that I know for a fact that I am one of a kind, I still feel like it's all too much, like maybe I wish that I was back in that old house. Like maybe I could have treated father better? It doesn't feel like it, but it's been almost three years or maybe even more since I was just a child in the town of Willowmere...'
He lifted the necklace up, slowly letting the black chain fall around his head and down his neck.
He grabbed his chest instinctively out of pain.
'It hurts...'
He fell to the ground, as black markings slithered onto his body, reminding him of so many moments before.
He seen one on his left arm that resembled a man being executed, he seen one on his right arm of a canine lying lifeless on the cold ground.
He seen far more, too many at that.
They foretold the future, but Chase was no seer, which meant that he should never pay too much attention to them.
So he averted his eyes and waited for the terrible pain to pass.
He struggled to look up, but when he did... He wished he hadn't.
Sitting on his bed was a beautiful girl, with silver hair and crystal blue eyes, and yet it seemed like her appearance was ever changing, and her smile had a sense of evil seething off of it, no matter how kind her eyes looked.
"You done?"
She asked with a little laughter.
Chase tried to reach for the dagger strapped to his shin, but his movements stopped in an instant.
He was locked in place, and it felt like one of those dreams where you couldn't run or even scream for help.
She stood from the bed, and walked in front of his immobile body.
She was wearing nothing but a silver gown and a crystal crown on top of her metallic hair.
"I asked... Are you done?"
She smiled at him as she knelt down in front of him.
"Yes ma'am..." He growled, trying to push himself in any direction, doing his best to break the spell put on him.
She snickered.
"Good. Don't even try moving though, Those demonic markings are the only things keeping you alive. I'm unleashing the extent of my will onto the world around us, thankfully as it is the middle of the day, that only includes the room we are in..."
"Could you maybe not?!"
Chase growled, as his finger began to twitch.
Her eyes widened and an eyebrow lifted.
"Woah, I've already started to underestimate you..."
Chase's entire hand twitched, and he began to push himself up, he was not going to beneath this goddess.
His pride simply would not allow it.
His will somehow allowed him to sit up, but he still felt ragged and out of breath.
He looked into the goddess's eyes, from what he heard: This was going to be some sort of slave pact, and Chase was no slave. He was going to make sure these terms were made on equal footing.
Her eyes flickered, then she reeled her head back and began to laugh.
It was almost... Adorable?
She was out of breath from laughing so hard, until she stopped causing the air to grow heavier, and Chase's skin started to freeze over as frost built up on his lips.
"I was just joking! If I wanted to kill you, I could easily do so!"
She giggled.
"Anyway. Enough of this, I have my reasons as do you. Shall we skip the formalities?"
Chase frowned, as the pressure started to lift off of his body.
"Sure..."
She clapped her hands together.
"Good! My name is Luna, I already know yours so no need to bother. I have chosen you though!"
She paused.
"Be my champion..."
She demanded, with a grin on her face.
Chase leaned back against the bed frame, rubbing his eyes as he came back to his senses.
"Terms?"
Luna frowned.
"Screw the terms, you set em for all I care."
"Huh?!"
Chase couldn't believe that was how easy it was, this had to be some sort of game or trick.
"No trick! Trust, the oaths were something that kept the ancient champions under control, I don't have interest in controlling you, the world around us is going to hell, I can't do much about it since I am bound to my own dominion, but with a champion..."
Chase raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"So you do want to control me?"
She put her hands up and shook her head.
"No! I will have no control of you! You do whatever you see is right, which may include murdering countless people but long term its probs for the best ya know?"
Chase shook his head.
"No, I dont know..."
She made a pouty face.
"Fine! I will explain."
She took a deep breath and leaned back on her palms, looking up at the ceiling as the curtains slammed closed on their own.
Chase looked up as well, as the ceiling began to glow with faint hues of the constellations of the night sky.
"A champion is an extension of a god or goddess... I am a younger goddess so my connection to you is not as strong as it will be in the future, which is great! Because we are both young in terms of our different lifespans... The moment you touch my hand: Will be the moment our souls are binded until you die, or I die. But I am a goddess and I cannot die..."
Chase shrugged.
"What do I gain from this?"
She grinned, as the scene above them shifted and a constellation of a creature with a single horn and ripped flesh began to form from stars.
"Mother of Vallmora... Well I guess... That is what you will gain from this..."
Chase cocked his eyebrow, feeling a terrible feeling rush into his body.
"What is it?"
She smiled.
"It's you... Half devil... So it only makes sense that you will inherit features of one... Although you do lose your quite handsome features it appears... But power does come at a great price."
Chase frowned and looked away from the creature above them.
"What do I gain from this?"
He asked again.
She pouted.
"Fine! You will gain a fourteenth affinity, that will be a share of my powers. I am the lesser goddess of the moon, which means you will be stronger at night, but you will also not be able to use my affinity during the day."
"Deal."
"That fast?"
"Yes, how do we make this official?"
"Just uhh, take my hand I guess."
Luna held out her hand, and Chase immediately grabbed it, but felt a rush of energy run through his body as a new marking slithered onto his body, creeping from his palm all the way up to his neck.
His eyes reeled back, and started to tremble.
"You good?"
Luna tilted her head.
Then Chase quickly covered his mouth as a scream escaped his lips.
In reality, he had scared even himself.
The lack of hesitation, and the reality of the situation.
All of it was strange.
He had been a toy to fate, and nothing more than just some system that had only been introduced to stir the pot of the twelve kingdoms.
But now... he was offered a chance to skip some of the harsh training, he had a chance to gain enough power to beat Rider at his own game.
As power radiated from his unconscious catalyst, a shimmer of green began to glow within his body.
The first seal was only one star away from breaking on its own...
Little did he know it yet... But he would soon gain access to the sight of the souls around him, and have the power of uniting forces against an entire continent.
"Rest here... I trust your team will deal with the planning of today..."
Luna whispered as she pulled a blanket over Chase's motionless body.
"You are my champion now... And you will bring both of us... Recognition..."
She turned away, whispering again...
"You bare no chains... For you are the reason why the god of time has lost his power... In fact..."
Her voice softened, but the weight of it pressed against the air.
"In fact… I would wager you are the only reason any of us can be called 'free.'"