"Hold on a second" Sauriel extends its left paw in front of me showing me its light pink beans [Now that's something that I would call cute].

The beans on the paw start to emit a blue glow, its tinge of blue reminiscent of Aquamarine, then from its paw a 'window' is projected in front of my face, [Way too close] I back off a few steps so that I can see it in its entirety.

The window is showing a page similar to a document, the header of the document has the title 'Magical Contratc', then the next paragraph reads.

"The following document details the terms and conditions of the contract between 2* parties, in this case, the [Guardian Angel Sauriel] and the [Race] [Name if Any], Signing this contract puts you under the contractual obligation of the following Terms and conditions, any deviation from the specified terms will be met with repercussion extending from light punishment to Heavy-duty work in the world of Gaia, these punishments are detailed in each term for ease of finding and understanding."

[What the hell is this?] The document is at least only 4 pages long, the terms and conditions amount to only 28, each condition is described extensively and its punishment detailed. It seems that some of these rules are somewhat new and incomplete since the first ones are in a more formal language and way more detailed than the later ones.

[I don't have time for this] I scroll through the document glancing at the terms and conditions in case something interesting pops up, the only thing that peeks my attention is the mention of 'Forced labor in Gaia' as a punishment for breaking term 22.

I get to the bottom of the document, there are 3 slots, the first one ask for my name, I put [Amy Rochelle], the next one asks for a signature, I try to draw my signature with my index finger then it hits me [I don't even have a signature, I guess a will have to make one right now]. The signature that I come up with ends up just being my first name in cursive writing, but the end of the letter 'Y' is too big and straight so it forms a big loop [It kinda looks like a noose, well I really don't care right now].

The last slot is asking for my 'aether' signature, [I heard about aether earlier from Sauriel] I look behind the document and see that Sauriel is also filling a similar document [I guess it really is just a more complicated PDF file].

"What do I do here where it says 'Aether signature'?" I asked Sauriel worried that I am taking too long, after all, Aquamarine is still fighting in the background, [But right now need to focus on this document, I need to resist the urge to glance at the fight scene].

"Normally you would apply a certain amount of aether, but in your case..." Sauriel retracts its wings, making it so he falls on the ground and raises his tail, Then all of my senses fire up, like earlier in the day, my fight or flight response activated.

[I'm scared] I feel as if something suddenly grabbed my brain and tore it to pieces, the world around me becomes devoid of its colors and starts losing its shape, my knees give up and I fall to the ground, I'm losing my breath so I try to breath more heavily, but it isn't enough, I'm losing all of my senses by the second, and then.

"Just resist a little bit longer, doing this on a whim is complicated" Although Sauriel is not that far from me, its voice is so faint that I barely hear it, suddenly my thoughts become extremely cloudy, indistinguishable from one another, I'm still receiving information because it pops up in my head but nothing else, I can still 'think' but it feels different, rather, the lack of feeling is what's making this different, I'm just 'thinking' in raw data, there's no attachment of feelings of any kind [What is happening to me] not even my inner voice can express anything more than information.

"Ok, finished" I know Sauriel said that but I didn't hear its voice, it just popped in my head as if the information was transplanted to me.

Suddenly, like a gut punch, all of my senses come back to me, the world explodes with many colors and slowly starts regaining its shape, the colors are so vibrant that they are burnt into my eyes, the grunts of Aquamarine and sound of water sloshing around reach my ears shaking my skull, My thoughts become more defined, I start to feel pain again, my knees hurt from the fall, my hands are trembling with fear, but these feelings are something pleasant, they are now reminders me that I didn't die, my other feelings and senses also become more active to catch up to their previous state.

*huff... huff. huff* I'm grasping for all the air I can get, the smell of grass and leaves accompanied by the artificial stench of the littered trash inundate my nostrils and mouth. Although they are disgusting, these things that suddenly disappeared suddenly gained more meaning to me, I know now that would rather have them than for me to lose them again.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Once my vision stabilized, I look back at the document, I see that is blinking a bit, so I slowly stand up, I'm still highly trembling from what happened [But that's not that very important now], The slot of 'Aether signature' is filled with random characters, but they are changing at a rapid pace, if I had to guess whatever 'aether' is, is in constant movement and differs for each person, so this document probably holds this 'aether' for itself as a 'unique signature'.

I stare at Sauriel, who now lowered its tail, the golden bell1 now resting in the ground, I take a deep breath.

"What the f*ck just happened?" I shout at Sauriel furiously and exhausted, my arms are still shaking but they are stabilizing, It feels like the previous emotional gut-punch still hasn't disappeared yet.

"You can't manipulate your own aether, so I did for you" Sauriel touches his document with its spare paw on top of a square slot, for a moment, its eye lose focus completely and he lightly stumbles, he regains its composure once he lifts its paw, I see that he had left similar changing characters on the square slot.

"Ok, but why did I have to feel like that? I thought that my life ended, FOR THE SECOND TIME TODAY!!!!" I shout even louder than before, I'm clenching my fist that it starts to hurt [Goddammit if I knew that it was that scary I wouldn't even bother to come here!!] the feelings of betrayal at least are making me feel a little more normal.

"I already said that you have no control over your aether, I'm sorry that I scared you but manipulating your aether without losing your senses would have taken hours" Sauriel explained in an apologetic tone.

"Anyway don't worry, there are no secondary effects except for the experience," Sauriel said reassuringly.

"I think trauma classifies as a secondary effect, anyhow is this done? we don't have that much time" I look at the devils but they are frozen in place, not moving, the same applies for Aquamarine. I try to move but I just can't move my legs or any of my body parts from the neck down.

"OK, what is it now Sauriel, why can't I move?" I said annoyingly I'm getting annoyed for this overly complicated magic ritual that resembles a job interview.

"Now that you have signed the contracted we need to do a verbal agreement".

"Why?" I said, regretting the life decision that I have taken since this morning [This contract stuff is too complicated to do in less than a minute, just get to it].

"I'm getting there, also in this area time is stopped so you don't have to worry about taking too long, it won't even take a second... literally".

"Huh?" I imaginarily scratch my head and think [How did he know what I was thinking?].

"Because we're in the middle of doing our contract, that's why I can hear your thoughts".

"That's creepy, even for an omnipotent angel like you that's just too much information sharing".

"I'm not omnipotent, that's why we need the contract".

[What the hell, you are just too dense, either give complete answers or none at all!!].

"I'll try my best".

[Ah, forgot the 'read my memory' stuff].

[...].

[Anyway what's with the time stop].

"Is to make the verbal agreement without issues".

[But we already signed the contract, do we really need to say it?].

"The contract is universal through all factions, but the verbal agreement is exclusive for the Guardian angel faction, it does a lot of things but it mainly exists to prevent you from attacking us, it also prevents us from attacking you in return".

[They say that 'If it is stated, as a rule, it means that it happened before'].

"You're not wrong, now the verbal agreement event is simple just repeat after me, oh and make sure to you speak with your mouth, the agreement needs to be heard outside this space".

"Ok" [What you mean heard?, actually no, I rather not know].

"I will begin the event then" Sauriel retracts its paw, closing the window, then Saurial bows its head and says.

"I Sauriel, Offer the absolute control of my being in order to pledge for the alliance between Amy Rochelle and myself".

[I guess I need to say that] Sauriel nods lightly.

I bow my head as well and say.

"I Amy Rochelle, Offer the absolute control of my being in order to pledge for the alliance between Sauriel and myself".

Both of us raise our heads, the sky became pitch black, the sun is still out but now the stars are visible, there are so many stars, it looks like we can see even the Andromeda galaxy from here, all of the starts are blindly bright, then a chorus of voices is heard from above.

"Your voices have been heard by the covenant of the Ark, and thus, we have granted your wish of the alliance, Amy Rochell, from now on you will be treated like one of Gaia's children, as for Sauriel, your shackles will be renamed for the sake of your master" the speech resounded trough all the city shaking the buildings and ground violently, because of the time stop, no one heard the voices or felt the ground move, except for us.

"Well done Amy, now there's only one thing left to do" Sauriel stands up, and time starts slowly speeding up.

"What is it?" [How many more things do I need to do for me to correct my mistake, seriously].

"Don't worry, you just need to test if it worked" Sauriel starts moving towards me.

"I see" I start to feel a little excited, as I anticipate not only what is coming, but the end of this stupid contract.

"Have you heard of magical girl transformations?".