It was finally her sixteenth birthday tomorrow. All of her friends already turned sixteen, and went through the ritual, Derora was the last one from her generation. Derora was so excited, tomorrow she will finally meet her spirit animal, and her companion for life after the ritual was complete. Her friends met their spirit animals and all of them were strong, fierce ore cute like a tiger, bear, lion, wolf, leopard, horse, and fox. Derora was so excited she couldn’t sleep, her thoughts were racing through her mind. Thinking about all the animals that existed in the world trying she was trying to guess which one will be her spirit animal. At one moment, she fell asleep.

Derora woke up early in the morning, eager to start the day, eager to start the ritual. Her parents tried to calm her down, telling her that the ritual will be held after school, telling her to be patient. ‘How can I be patient? This is the best day of my life.’ Derora taught but calmed down a bit while petting her father’s spirit animal tiger Rune. Her mother’s spirit animal, crow Bandu, was standing on the kitchen counter, handing her mother spice bottles, as she was cooking. They had breakfast and she left for school.

At school Derora couldn’t concentrate, all she could think about was the ritual. Some said that children often get one of the spirit animals that one of their parents or grandparents have. In her family, all of the grandparents have strong and fierce spirit animals like a wolf, a lion or a leopard. Her father has a tiger, another strong spirit animal, only her mother has a crow, which is a sign of luck and the power of sight, transformation, and connection with life’s magic. Maybe that will bring her luck in getting a rare or strong spirit animal.

School was finally over, her classmates reunited with their spirit animals, she was so jealous. The spirit animal you got told other people o lot about you. The spirit animal you got during the ritual matched your soul and your personality traits. Getting a powerful spirit animal like a tiger meant you have strong will power, courage and that you were strong. A bear meant that you were a strong and confident person ready to stand against adversity, ready to take action and leadership.

The peaceful animals like the deer meant that you have a strong intuition, that you have the art of being both determined and gentle in your approach, that you are vigilant, move quickly, and that you trust your instincts. The owl meant that you have a deep connection with wisdom and intuitive knowledge, that you have the ability to see what’s usually hidden to most, that you can see the true reality, beyond illusion and deceit.

There were mystic spirit animals like the raven or the crow that didn’t match your soul or personality traits but were a sing of magic or change coming or needed. The raven signifies that magic is at play and that ignites the energies of magic. The raven is a messenger between the heavens and the earth that encourages his companion to dive deeper, to look within himself, to seek the answers and to put in motion the much-needed change. The crow is a spirit guide associated with life mysteries and magic. It a sing of luck to have a crow as a spirit animal because it supports you in developing the power of sight, transformation, and connection with life’s magic.

The spirit animals didn’t just tell others about you, your soul and personal traits, they amplified them. Powerful spirit animals amplified strength, courage and leadership in their companions making them strong and powerful warriors and great leaders. The peaceful spirit animals amplified your instincts, knowledge and true sight, the sight beyond the illusion. Only the mystic spirit animals didn’t amplify their companion's traits, they were very rare and a sing that magic was in play.

But that didn’t matter anymore. Today was her ritual day and that was all that matters. Derora hurried home to prepare for the ritual, she dressed in the ritual clothing, her mother helped her draw markings on her body and, when everything was ready, they left for the square in the center of the village.

At the village square, she stood on a platform surrounded by torches, another platform was positioned in front of her, the platform on which her spirit animal will appear. The village elder started the ritual, chanting the words to summon the spirit animal repeatedly, each time raising his voice louder and louder. All the people in the square, including her parents, joined the village elder in the last chant. After the last chant was over, there were a few moments of silence, and then a gust of wind suddenly rose up around the platform in front of her. 

As the wind settled down a black cat was sitting on the platform in front of her. No one in her village has had a cat for a spirit animal for hundreds of years. There was a story that a person, in a village not far away from here, had a cat for a spirit animal a few hundred years ago. Since then no one in all of the villages had a cat spirit animal so people started to believe it was a myth. The black cat looked at her with emerald green eyes, it looked as the cat was smiling. She just stood there looking back at the cat, hearing murmurs all around her. 

The cat walked towards her, hopped up onto the platform, she was standing on, and climbed up onto her shoulder. “Hi my name is Angus. It’s nice to meet you.” Spirit animals communicate with their humans telepathically so she heard his voice in her head. 

Humans couldn’t do that so she said, “It’s nice to meet you Angus. I’m Derora.” She wasn’t expecting her spirit animal to be a cat but she didn’t want him to know that. Derora stepped off the platform and walked towards her parents.

They looked concerned but started to walk home. The murmuring around the square didn’t stop, it just got louder as the spirit animals all around the square became restless.

At home, she and Angus went to her room. Angus explored her room, stopping here and there to look more closely at something, while she just sat on her bed watching him.

“Am I that interesting?” Angus asked her.

“You are the first cat spirit animal in hundreds of years in this village, so yea, you are. Furthermore, you don’t look like an ordinary cat, you have black fur and emerald green eyes.” Derora responded. “I think that that makes you interesting. Don’t you think?”

Angus sat down, looked at her with his head tilted to one side, eyes wide open, and said “A cat?” 

“Yes, a cat. Don’t you know what you are?” Derora looked at him puzzled. 

“I know what I am.” Angus responded and continued to explore the room. 

With a puzzled look, Derora left the room and went to talk with her parents about Angus. Her parents were sitting in the kitchen talking with each other and with their spirit animals. As she walked into the kitchen, all of them stopped talking and looked at her. “Hey mom, dad, I don’t know anything about cats spirit animals. Do you? What does it mean to have a cat for a spirit animal?” She asked. Her mother and father exchanged a meaningful look before answering her.

Her mom said, “A cat is usually a sign of courage to explore the unknown and courage to develop balance. Those are all good things. However, our spirit animals have become restless since Angus appeared. Your father and I are trying to figure out why but they won’t tell us.” Her mother and father both had worried looks on their faces. Her father was petting Rune, his tiger spirit animal, talking to him, asking him questions about Angus. It looked like Rune wasn’t answering him. They could hear howling in the distance.

Derora started to worry. Maybe something went wrong during the ritual or maybe something is wrong with her. With those thoughts in her head, she returned to her room and laid down on the bed. Angus curled up beside her and fell asleep. After a while, thinking about the ritual, about Angus and the restless spirit animals of her parents, so did she.

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In the morning, Derora told Angus she had to go to school and that spirit animals were not allowed in class, that he will have to wait for her to return home or come to school to see her after school is over.

“You are leaving me alone?” Angus asked.

“I have to. It’s school policy so there are no distractions or fights between spirit animals in class. I’m sorry. You can go out and explore the village if you like.” Derora said thinking that, if a cat spirit animal means to have the courage to explore, that he would like that.

“No. I must come with you to protect you.” Angus said.

That was odd. A cat spirit animal wasn’t a protector, it wasn’t a fierce or a powerful animal, it was a peaceful and encouraging animal. “No. Stay here or go explore. If somebody sees you in school I’ll be in a lot of trouble.” Derora packed her bag and left.

Angus thought that he needed to keep an eye on her so he silently followed her to school hiding in the trees, behind houses and objects, on the roofs and in the bushes. He saw her enter the school building and waited to see what classroom she will be in. As soon as he saw her sit down at a desk in one of the classrooms he sat down at a spot, as close as he could without being noticed, where he had her in his direct line of sight. 

Derora walked into the classroom and saw her classmates staring at her. She knew Angus was the reason they were staring at her. Some of her classmates were staring at her with anger, some with worry and some with uneasiness on their faces. She didn’t understand why. 

“What’s wrong with your spirit animal? Something is wrong with you, isn’t it?!” One of the classmates stood up and started to walk towards her desk, anger on his face. It was unheard of to talk like this about someone’s spirit animal. No matter what spirit animal you got during the ritual no one made fun of you or your spirit animal, let alone accused you of doing something wrong. 

“Stop it Chril! It’s not her fault!” Another classmate stood up to protect her from his anger, but there was a worried look on her face. “She has nothing to do with this and the reason our spirit animals are restless!”

“Shut up Melina! It all started yesterday after her ritual! It’s all her and that cat’s fault! My Haran was howling all night and wouldn’t tell me why!” Chril was angry but Derora also saw that he was worried about his spirit animal, same as her parents. 

“Guys, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m worried too. My parent’s spirit animals were restless yesterday too and they didn’t tell us why. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on, same as you.” She said, thinking that her words will calm the others down a bit.

The teacher entered the classroom, he looked like he didn’t sleep all night. He looked at Derora, with a worried look on his face for a few seconds, and then started the class.

Angus was watching the commotion in the classroom, it looked like Derora was in trouble. He wanted to run to the classroom, to protect her, but she said that spirit animals weren’t allowed in school. He didn’t want her to get into trouble. He watched, concentrating on the situation, ready to step in and protect her if the other humans, in the classroom, start attacking her. The situation calmed down as another human entered the classroom. He relaxed a bit but continued to sit and watch until school was over.

As the school bell rang, the students started to leave the school building. Angus saw Derora and ran towards her to greet her. As he got closer, the other spirit animals sensed his presence and started getting restless. Some of them hid behind their humans, the bigger ones stood between him and their humans, as if they were protecting them from him, others grabbed their humans and ran. Angus walked towards Derora as if nothing was happening. 

A wolf spirit animal stood in his path and roared at him. “Get him Haran!” Chril, Deroras classmate shouted to his wolf spirit animal. Angus just looked at the wolf and Chril with a boring look on his face. Hopped onto the wolf’s head, leaped over him and continued to walk towards Derora. Chril started to get angrier, he convinced two more classmates to join him, one had a lion as a spirit animal, the other a leopard. The three of them ordered their spirit animals to attack Angus but Angus easily outmaneuvered their attacks. 

Derora ran towards Angus yelling at her classmates to stop attacking Angus. She tried to get to him, to pick him up, to protect him. As she got close to the fight, the leopard attacked Angus. Angus dogged but the leopard’s sharp claws scratched Deoras arm. Deora cried out in pain as blood started to flow down her forearm.

The sky suddenly got darker, everyone felt a sudden burst of energy and a wave that almost knocked them off their feet. Angus’ eyes started to glow and a surge of energy started to move the air around him. He transformed into a black panther and instantly jumped at the leopard knocking him over against a wall. The leopard fell to the floor unconscious. Angus, his eyes still glowing, surges of energy still surrounding his body, now standing between Derora the lion and the wolf, growled at them, challenging them to attack. The lion, the wolf and their humans ran away while the others just stood there looking at Angus in disbelief. 

Deora heard a voice in her head “Don’t worry. I will protect you.” She looked up and saw a black panther, surrounded by bursts of energy, standing in front of her. 

“Angus?” She said in disbelief.

“Yes. I got rid of the attackers, they can’t hurt you anymore. I have to get you home so we can fix your arm.” Angus said, turned around her and helped her get up on him so he can carry her home. Deora looked at his glowing emerald green eyes trying to wrap her head around that this magnificent creature was that little black cat that was sitting on her shoulder yesterday.

Angus took her home. As they entered the house Deoras mother and father looked at Deoras injured arm and stared at the black panther with glowing emerald green eyes, surrounded by pure energy. Her mother took Deora off the panthers back to take care of her injured arm and Angus shifted back to the form of a cat. 

“Angus?” Deoras mother and father said in disbelief and shock at the same time. Angus just sat there looking at Deora, wagging his tail, watching Deoras mother taking care of her injured arm.

After Deoras arm was cleaned and bandaged, they called a family meeting. All of them, including the spirit animals, still restless, sat in the living room. Angus was sitting on the small table in the center of the room. “Angus you are not a cat are you?” Deora's mother asked.

“No. I told you I know what I am.” Angus answered.

“He said that he isn’t a cat, that he knows what he is.” Deora repeated Angus’ words to her mother and father because they couldn’t hear him, Angus was speaking telepathically to her directly. “So what are you if you are not a cat? And how did you transform into a panther, like today?” Deora asked him.

“Bandu knows. He knows all about life’s magic. Didn’t he tell your mother when he saw me?” It was strange that Angus knew her mother’s spirit animal’s name. Usually, spirit animals didn’t know each other’s names if the humans didn’t tell them and nobody told Angus the name of her mother’s spirit animal.

“He said that Bandu knows because he knows about transformation and about life’s magic”. Deora repeated Angus’ words.

Her mother asked Bandu and said. “He said that he wasn’t sure if Angus was the one but after he saw him today he is sure that Angus is the immortal spirit of astral travel, death and rebirth.” She repeated what Bandu said.

There was a moment of silence. “Angus, what does that mean?” Deora asked not understanding what and how all of this connected to her.

This time Angus didn’t speak telepathically to Deora, he spoke words out loud so everyone in the room could hear him “ I think that directly talking to you will be quicker. Unlike the rest of the spirit animals, I am immortal. Since the beginning of time, I have roamed the astral plane of existence where the spirit animals are born and live until they are summoned to this plane of existence. I am also the one that, when their human dies, take the spirit animal to the plane of rebirth where their soul loses the memories of the life they lived and is reborn as another spirit animal. At one point, I got curious about the life spirit animals live on this plane of existence. I am different from the rest of the spirit animals and cannot be summoned through your normal rituals. I can only be summoned when certain conditions are met, when a certain combination of spirit animals are summoned in the correct order in the same family tree of humans. The first spirit animal that has to be summoned is a raven it the first sign that magic is at play. Then there have to be only fierce or strong spirit animals summoned seven times and the last spirit animal has to be a crow that has a connection to magic. If those conditions are met, I can intercept your ritual and enter your plane of existence. This is so rare that you are my sixth companion.” 

They all looked at Angus in shock. Not only was he speaking like a human, but what he said was that he was an immortal spirit in charge of death and rebirth of spirit animals. That sounded like he was a god of life and death for the spirit animals, no wonder the spirit animals were restless around him. “So you choosing me was just a one in a million chance?” Deora asked.

“Yes. I intercepted your ritual and entered your plane of existence. I promise I will be your companion all your life and that I will protect you from harm. I hope we will be friends. If you want I can even take you to see the astral plane of existence, it is beautiful.” A smile appeared on Angus’s face.

Deora remembered the morning of her sixteenth birthday, the day of the ritual. She remembered how she hoped her mother’s spirit animal Bandu would bring her luck in getting a rare or strong spirit animal. She looked at Angus and smiled. She picked him up, put him on her shoulder and said. “You are already my friend.”

Angus sat on her shoulder wagging his tail.