*Scritch* *Scritch*

The sound of chalk going through a rough wood could be heard inside an old small house in the middle of the forest. It was dark but because of the moonlight that passed through the cracks in the walls and windows, a child could be seen busily writing something on the floor. It might be dark but he seemed used to it.

He had lived in this shabby cottage alone for years already, so of course, he’s used to it.

                And so, the child continued to drag the chalk along the wooden floor with only a single thought in mind. ‘I hope this works…’

                A few minutes later, inside the messy room with scattered furniture, the child had finally finished what he was drawing. It was a magic circle. He smiled satisfyingly upon checking the magic circle and confirmed that he did not miss anything from the book he copied it from.

“It’s perfect…” The child gently caressed the magic circle in the book with his dusty hands from handling the chalk as he smiled.

“Just the final step… mom, please guide me…”

He then flipped the book to the next page to look for the chant to activate the magic circle. He prayed to his late mother hoping his spirit summoning would be a success. Afterall, this book was written by his late mother, who was a summoner, and given to him on his 6^th birthday, with high hopes that he would be a spirit summoner as well.

                It had been 2 years since his mother had passed, and it has already been 2 years since he lived in this house by himself. So of course, he was lonely. He remembered how close his mother was to her spirit summons, so he wanted to have a friend like that as well. A friend that would always be by his side. Since he was not allowed to leave this forest, summoning was his only hope.

                The child hugged the book tightly to his chest. This was his only memento from his mom. He looked at the magic circle he drew again and quickly read the chant.

“*From shadowed void and silent sea, I call the one who first called me.
O breath of wind, O stone and fire, Awaken now, O World's Sire.
Creator vast, whose hand did mold, The root, the storm, the star, the fold.
By leaf and flame, by tide and sky, Come forth, O Spirit, hear my cry!
By earth unbroken, sky unbound, In sacred circle, now be found.
Let veil be torn and bond be woken. *”

As he read the chant, the magic circle glowed brightly, then slowly it released a black fog that slowly enveloped the entire room.

And within, a pair of red orbs shined. It focused on the child. And a low growl like voice could be heard.

“Oh… You are the one who called upon me?”

The child could not respond as he shivered in fear while looking back at those orbs.

And just then, as the fog dispersed, a small white rabbit with red glowing eyes and a bright magic circle glowing behind him was standing in front of him, atop the magic circle he called the spirit from.

This cute small white rabbit wearing an animal skull as a headpiece with white long sleeve underneath his gray vest and red bow tie, smiled and stared at the child. The child stared back, and because of the cute appearance of what appeared before him, he was not scared anymore, but instead, he was confused and excited at the same time.

“Are you the spirit that responded to my call? Are you, my spirit summon?” he gleefully asked.

The rabbit continued to smile at him. It’s lifted its hand and a wooden staff appeared in thin air. The rabbit grabbed it and pointed it to the child.

“Close, but not quite. I am the one who responded the the call, but I am not the one whom you should be making contract. It’s someone else, who only I can call forth.” The rabbit explained.

“Only you… can call forth?” the child asked confused.

“That’s right. It’s a unique spirit – the Guardian-type spirits.” The rabbit responded.

“Guardian-type spirits…” the child repeated in a low voice.

There are different types of spirits. The commonly known spirits are the elemental-type spirits. The elemental-type spirits are also known as the foundation of the world. Everything is made up of spirits; the ground, wind, trees, even the light and darkness. And these are all made up of the elemental-type spirits. The Guardian-type spirits on the other hand are different. They don’t support or function as a foundation for the world. And most especially, unlike the elemental-types, they have a variety of unique and individual abilities. Meaning, no two Guardian-type spirits can possess the same ability. While their existence is known to many, they are rare. Thus, details and information about them are scarce.

And of course, the reason the boy knew this was because his mother often spoke to him about it.

‘But… I didn’t know there was someone that safeguards them… He’s a spirit but his ability is not elemental… Is this spirit also a guardian-type spirit?’ he thought to himself.

The rabbit showed the child the magic circle glowing behind him.

“The magic circle behind me is what summons the Guardian spirits, it’s like a lock that keeps the Guardian spirits hidden. And to call them forth, I am the key. After I judge that you are worthy of keeping a Guardian spirit by your side, I will call upon the Guardian spirit that matches you the most. But of course, if I deem you unworthy, I will simply go back to the spirit world.”

‘Huh?’ he was shocked.

He did not know anything about that. In the first place, since he was just a child his mother only taught how to read letters, so when she passed away, he learned by himself how to read words, but that did not mean he understands them. The same thing goes with the chant, his mother often reads it to him, that was the reason why he could speak it.

The rabbit faced the child before continuing to speak.

“In simpler terms, I am…”

“A JUDGE.”  The rabbit’s casual soft tone was suddenly overlapped with the low voice from earlier.

The child gripped his chest through his loose, white long-sleeves. He was not scared of the sudden change of voice nor the fierce look the rabbit gave him – no, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t scared, but more than that, he was more scared he might not be qualified.

‘If I’m not worthy then does that means I cannot summon a spirit? I only wanted to be like mom, and have spirit friends…’ the boy thought to himself.

The child’s mind went chaotic then blank. He didn’t know what else to think about. And in that silence, he heard the rabbit’s voice.

“And as a judge, I deem you…”

“Worthy!” the usual cheery voice of the rabbit was the only thing that could be heard in that silence.

And of course, the boy was stunned.

“I… worthy?” he asked in surprise.

“Congratulations!” The rabbit simply answered, ignoring the boy’s quivering tone. The rabbit continued, “So, do you want to summon your Guardian spirit now?”

The boy looked at the rabbit in disbelief, but vigorously nodded his head and without hesitation as he understood that he could call on a spirit friend.

The bright magic circle floating behind the rabbit glowed even brighter. He blocked the blinding light that glowed behind the rabbit with his arm. And when the brightness slowly disappeared, the boy slowly put his hands down and looked directly at the summoned spirit.

To his surprise, the spirit that showed up was not like his mother’s spirit nor did it look like the images of spirits that could be seen in book… this one, had a human form. She had a long dark raven hair that faded into white at the bottom, long arms and legs, and developed body, that indicated she was an adult… all of it was human-like. If there was one thing that didn’t seem like human to her, it would be her eyes that was as red as a ruby and her pupils were sharp like that of a snake’s.

The boy just simply stared at her and she stared back at him. They were like that for a few seconds when suddenly, she started to look upset, and started to look around frantically looking for something.

“Where the hell am I? And who the hell is this kid?” The woman was absolutely pissed.

When she finally saw the rabbit standing right below her as she was floating, she immediately moved to grab the rabbit, but before she could, the rabbit tapped her on the shoe with his staff and the woman stopped moving.

“This is you Guardian spirit.” The rabbit just nonchalantly, introduced her. However, even though the woman couldn’t move her body, she could still speak and move her face.

“What the hell are you talking about? What Guardian Spirit? Don’t tell me, I’m going to be this kid’s Guardian?! Hell no! I don’t even know this brat!” The Guardian spirit lady, adamantly refused.

The boy was shocked. Of course, he would be, just when he finally summoned a spirit to be his friend, that very same spirit refused. His mother often spoke that spirits were free. Just like how a person can choose to break the contract with the spirit, the spirits were free to choose who they bind themselves with the contract. And of course, if the spirit refuses, then no contract would be made.

The boy felt dejected but before he could ask the spirit, the rabbit spoke to the woman first.

“You can’t do that. Sigh~ it’s unfortunate you weren’t briefed, but anyways, while spirits are free, this boy is the only contractor for you so you can’t decline.” The rabbit faced the woman and spoke with a frown on his face.

“A spirit… only for me?” The boy muttered to himself; he was happy. And no matter how low his muttering was, the rabbit heard him loud and clear.

“That’s right! You two are bound by fate after all! So, would you like to make the contract now?” The rabbit gleefully answered the boy.

The boy looked back and forth between the woman and the rabbit. The woman had an awful scowl on her face, saying she absolutely disliked it. After seeing such an awful scowl, she wanted to respect the woman’s decision, but before he could say anything, the rabbit spoke again.

“You won’t be able to summon any other spirit if you refuse this one. Fate is strong, so every time you try to summon a spirit, she will be the one to always appear before you. So, unless you make a contract with her, no other spirits will respond to your call.” The rabbit simply said as it stared directly into his eyes.

The boy made up his mind when he heard what the rabbit said. He doesn’t have any other choice in the matter. The boy looked at the scowling woman once more before facing the rabbit again to give his nod as an answer.

The rabbit then waved his wooden staff and thin red string that was wrapped on both her and the boy’s index finger appeared. They both got curious and stared at it.

“State your names to form the contract.” The rabbit spoke.

The woman, knowing she has no other options in the matter, simply gave in and stated her name. The boy looked like he really would keep summoning her if she declined. In the first place, the damn rabbit said she can’t decline, so what else can she do, if the boy decided to go through with it.

“I am Acel Sweets.”

“My name is Raquel Cappet.”

 As they stated their names, their name started to float in the air, and when they finished, the woman’s name was absorbed in the boy’s chest, and the boy’s name was absorbed in the woman’s chest.

The woman was surprised and patted her chest to see if she felt anything different. She didn’t understand what was going on. As soon as she felt relieved, she suddenly felt her heart being tightened.

“What the-?!” Acel tightly gripped her chest as she curled forward from the pain. She had a hard time breathing. She frowned deeply as she glared at the rabbit that just smiled at her.

Raquel stood up in worry. He wanted to reach out for her, but she just slowly floated down to the ground and lost consciousness. He became worried and looked around if he could do anything for her, when suddenly he heard the rabbit speak.

“Boy, relax. She’s fine. She’ll be awake tomorrow. This happened because she wasn’t fully willing to form the contract, so this happened as a rebound.”

“The… rebound?” The boy asked the rabbit.

The rabbit stared at him and smiled sorrowfully.

“I apologize, she’s was just born recently as a spirit. I’m sure she’s confused about a lot of things.” The rabbit walked slowly towards the book that was laid out on the ground. It was the book the boy used for the summoning, and it continued to speak.

“I guess your quite knowledgeable about spirits… must be because your Nyssira’s child… Well, I don’t have much time. Anyways, teach her and she’ll teach you.” The rabbit simply said and smiled at Raquel as he slowly vanished like dust.

When the rabbit finally disappeared, Raquel was left with an unconscious Acel.

‘What do I do now?’ The boy thought to himself.

**~*~*~**

A pair of ruby colored eyes fluttered open. And Acel slowly propped herself up. She looked around and saw a child cuddled up to her side with only a thin blanket covering over them.

“What the hell is this? Where even am I?” She asked herself as she rubbed the sides of her head and combed her hair back with her fingers.