The walk back to town was largely made in silence. Aelisra pushed the others to continue well beyond reason. Normally, I wouldn’t mind the pace, but Raina became too exhausted to properly carry me. After I’d walked on my own for several miles, I’d finally had enough.

It had taken hissing and growling at the ornery paladin before planting myself in the ground to get the point across that we all needed rest, her included. I swear, I must have angered the gods of fate and luck to be cursed with such incompetent and stupid servants. If they were going to be useful to me, they needed rest. Why couldn’t they see that?

Terrowin, Raina, and Cithrael were all too happy to wearily gather the makings of a tiny fire and lay out their cloaks to rest. There was little comfort in it, but I suspected the trio would have been content to sleep on sharp stones, if only for the rest it might have promised.

Aelisra paced back and forth the entire time, though the others ignored her as best they could. I settled down between Raina and Terrowin. Aside from Aelisra herself, they were the most injured and the most in need of my Feline Favor. I began to purr.

“I never got the chance to thank you, Raina,” Terrowin began. “You and Cithrael both, actually. You both came back for us.”

Raina shrugged, though the gesture was half-hearted with her exhaustion. She could barely keep her eyes open. I suspected that the calming sensation of my purring made it even more difficult to resist the temptation of sleep.

“You’d have done the same for me,” she said simply.

“True, but not everyone would, so thank you.” Terrowin bowed his head to the witch and the archer. Then, as if to recognize my part in the plan, which was arguably the greatest part, he reached out and scratched my ears. I allowed it, if only because I was too exhausted to care. “Do either of you know what that thing was?”

Before anyone could answer, Aelisra stepped in from the darkness beyond the firelight. “It was one of the Unholy,” she spat.

Raina tensed but didn’t say anything. I almost stopped purring, but managed to keep my self-control enough to keep my Favor working on those who needed it…those except for Aelisra because she was presently undeserving.

“I think your judgement may be clouded, Aelisra,” Terrowin countered. “An unholy monster would be incredibly unlikely.”

“Why not? Unholy casters can lurk in every corner of society, bringing the rest of us down? Why should those they become be any less common?” Aelisra snapped.

I was missing some very important context, but I couldn’t ask Raina. Anything she said might give away that she and I were also in that unfavorable group of casters deemed “unholy.” However, it didn’t seem to me that I did anything special to be one of those people. I just simply existed. What was the opposition? Why did they do things differently? Why were they so unfriendly to those who practiced absorption?

System Activation of Welcome to Atria

The terms “holy” and “unholy” are colloquial terms applied to the two schools of mana manipulation. Command casters, or “holy mages,” manipulate mana by creating commands that influence the world around them. Rather than keeping a large pool of mana, they instead use magical commands to cast spells and elicit a reaction in the ambient mana around them. This requires significantly less mana, but often has a less potent result, and is more difficult to achieve. Absorption casters, or “unholy mages,” take mana from the environment and store it within a much larger mana pool. For this reason, these casters are susceptible to corruption. However, absorption casting has a much greater potential for more powerful spells and can be learned and upgraded with greater ease.

Something about the information seemed…excited. It seemed like ages since I’d called upon Amsiii directly for information beyond my inspections. I briefly wondered what it must be like for a being like it. Was it fun to watch us? Was that why Amsiii craved violence so much? Was it bored and using us for entertainment? Or was there a greater goal at play…

Regardless of the motivations, I now had my answers. Aelisra, Terrowin, and Cithrael would be called Command Casters because they used their small magic to command the large quantity of magic that exists in the world. Conversely, Raina and I drew magic into ourselves and stored it, thus allowing us to manipulate it anytime we wanted.

However, as we’d seen in Qelona, absorption casters like us were prone to being twisted and changed by the very magics we sought to employ, if we weren’t careful. Raina had summoned a familiar in order to provide some measure of protection, as I acted as a sort of filter.

That meant I was supposed to be affected by corruption before Raina. I…didn’t like that. It implied that I was the front-line defender, rather than the king of the castle. I would have much preferred to be the protected one rather than the one doing the protecting.

Still, if there was one silver lining, it was that I was directly in control of our well-being. You know what they say: if you want something done right, you do it yourself.

That was a stance I would likely have to take on several different fronts regarding my pitiful humans. Raina, the only one among them who was not expendable, had willfully run towards danger. She had insisted that we rescue the others, a feat which had nearly cost both of our lives.

Part of me wanted to chastise her. She’d disregarded my safety as well as her own to go on a fool’s errand. And yet, if we’d run when I’d wanted, the other three would certainly be dead or worse. The humans may have been stubborn, stupid, and possessed of the incorrect notion that I liked my ears being scratched like a common pet, but they were dependable in a fight.

So, yes. If I wanted my humans and Cithrael to be the proper servants, I would have to teach them myself…starting later. For now, my paws were too weary to swat at Terrowin’s hands as they stroked my ears and back. At least he was trying to show his deference to my magnificence.

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I purred and nestled down between my witch and the enigmatic knight.

“I think he likes me,” Terrowin murmured to Raina. She smiled.

“I’m not sure he likes anyone,” she admitted.

“He’s purring though. Don’t cats do that when they’re happy?”

I sighed. “Some, perhaps. Others do it to repair their favored toys.”

“We’re your favorites? That’s sweet of you to say, Malzy.” Raina chuckled and Terrowin’s face lit up at her misinterpreted words.

“Really?”

“Of course we are!” she continued. “His purrs have healing powers, you know. He’s showing that he cares for our wellbeing.”

“That’s not what I said, and you know it!” I shouted, leaping to my feet and growling at the witch. She just laughed.

“Fine, fine, play the tough guy.”

I am tough. I don’t know why she said it like that. I am majestic, mighty, and perfect in every way.

Terrowin began scratching under my chin. “He really is an amazing familiar. I’ve never known any familiar to be able to perform magic on their own.”

That got Raina’s attention. She laughed with a nervous energy.

“Oh, the purring is just an ability he has. He has no aptitudes,” she answered. I chirped indignantly, but she ignored me. What was so strange about being able to use magic? She could use magic, so why shouldn’t I?

System Activation of Welcome to Atria

Familiars are beings made almost entirely of magic. Though any familiar is capable of independent thought and action, familiars summoned with a soul of their own are the only ones able to perform magic on their own. This unique quality is preferred by absorption casters, as the presence of a soul is able to filter mana better as a defense against corruption.

Amsiii’s unspoken implication was clear. I was amazing. I’d been summoned to be amazing, and I would continue to be amazing well into the future.

I was capable of my own magic because I was a demon in a past life, even if I didn’t remember it. Though the mysterious entity didn’t explicitly say so, I suspected that summoning a demon to be a familiar was more difficult than the process of creating a soulless familiar. Anyone who would want a familiar, but didn’t need the extra protection, likely wouldn’t summon a creature like me in the first place.

“He uses spells in combat,” Cithrael said. “Without his telekinesis, we would have been devoured by the wooden wolves.”

“He…um…” Raina desperately searched for an answer.

“I have an ability to use your commands using your aptitudes,” I provided. She was right to be cautious. With what we’d just been through and especially considering Aelisra’s reaction to absorption casting, it was a fine line we were walking. What the servants didn’t need to know wouldn’t hurt them.

“We have an ability to share our commands?” She said to the others with much less conviction than I’d have liked. In spite of her terrible delivery, Terrowin seemed to buy it.

“That’s amazing! He’s a very special familiar. I’m grateful to have him watching our backs.” He ran his hand along my spine and down my tail.

Aelisra narrowed her eyes in suspicion. I pinned her with a look of malice I hoped dearly made it through. She was a threat to my Soulbond partner, and therefore to me.

“Seems like a convenient ability,” she said, sitting down across the fire from us. “I’ve never heard of a spell to summon a familiar who can cast the mage’s commands.”

Now it was Raina’s turn to narrow her eyes. “And a paladin like you would know much of a witch’s spell craft…how, exactly?”

I was shocked by the amount of bitterness Raina had poured into the simple retort. It was so perfectly reminiscent of a cat fluffing its fur and hissing…I was so proud of her. I purred even more loudly to show it.

Aelisra didn’t have an answer. She lowered her eyes in submission, recognizing Raina as the dominant female of this particular grouping, as was only correct.

“Sorry, I’m just on edge,” the paladin said softly. “I didn’t mean to lash out.”

“It’s alright. Just, remember who your friends are,” Raina answered.

“I take it you have a history with unholy casters?” asked Terrowin.

Aelisra nodded. “I do, but it doesn’t matter. That method of casting should be illegal.”

“In a lot of places, it is,” he continued. “But, others, like here in the Kingdom of Senelar, they believe that anyone can use whatever methods they like, so long as its in service to the crown, right?”

Heads nodded all around the fire. Aelisra smiled. “I take it you’re not from around here?”

Terrowin smiled sheepishly. “No, I’m something of a wanderer. But, the Fates are telling me this is the place to stop, for this is where I finally ran out of coin.”

Everyone laughed at that. Even the usually stoic Cithrael chuckled softly at the simplicity of our knight’s logic. Tension melted from every shoulder, and I stood and stretched. Carefully, I repositioned myself on Raina’s lap. It was closer to Aelisra than where I’d previously been sitting.

Despite the paladin’s unknowing hostility towards Raina and I, she was still bore the worst injuries of the group. Though her many cuts had more than scabbed over since her encounter with Qelona, she could still use a little bit of healing to let her rest more comfortably. A comfortable servant was one who would be better able to keep Raina and I safe.

“Whoa,” she breathed as my Favor washed over her. “That’s…pretty intense magic.”

“Of course it is, I’m amazing.” Raina stifled another giggle at my answer.

“What did he say?”

“He, uh…” my witch looked away and smiled awkwardly. “He says he’s happy to help!” And thus, my patience wore out. Raina yelped in pain as I pounced on her arm, sinking my teeth into her skin. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

More laughter.

“I take it that’s not what he really said,” asked the green-haired knight.

Raina sighed. “No. Apparently, even I can’t contain his boundless ego.”

“What did you expect?” Cithrael asked. “He is a cat, after all.”

* * *

It was the next evening by the time we made it to Aldar. Everyone was tired, grimy, and, most of all, hungry. With our bags and bedrolls still in Qelona’s territory, it had been a very unpleasant walk. Everyone was looking forward to warm beds and hot baths.

The group entered the town without trouble, the guard taking one look at the familiar faces of Raina, Aelisra, and Cithrael and waving us through. I sat on Raina’s shoulder as we wearily climbed the town’s steep streets towards the guild hall.

We’d convinced Aelisra that telling the Order of Valencia could wait until we had eaten, at the very least. It had been a tough battle, one that had waged most of the day. In the end, though, it was the paladin’s own growling stomach that had finished off the fight in our favor. There weren’t any meals to be had at the temple, and so the Laughing Lute became the much more favorable option.

“Wait,” Terrowin said as we approached. “What about the fire sprite job?”

The rest of the group looked at him in confusion.

“What about it?” Aelisra asked.

“We didn’t finish it. We never got our signature,” he reminded everyone. “Without any money between us, and no signature to get us the payment for that job, how are we going to afford a meal for four?” I meowed at him. “Sorry, five.”

No one had a quick answer to that. He was right, but everyone was so hungry. Even I was starting to consider sneaking off to the inn’s basement to try to find a rat or something.

“We just have to hope that Lizzie has a protocol for this that ends in our favor,” Raina muttered. “Surely this sort of thing isn’t uncommon.”

With no further thoughts to provide, she pushed open the door to the tavern and we were once more met with the raucous atmosphere of a tavern for adventurers. Lizzie spotted us as we entered and waved.

“Hey, it’s the new blood! You look like you’ve been through hell and back.” She waved to a seat. “Grab a seat and I’ll be with you in a moment. I want to hear everything.”