I was right back where I had been, at the shooting range holding a rented Glock 34. I pulled out the magazine and counted the bullets, I was one shy. I suppose I was expecting it to all have been a dream or a hallucination, but no… I was one bullet shy. I thought to myself how lucky I was, that of all the times I could have been taken to fight that creature it was when I had a gun in my hand. I almost laughed at the thought of if I had been in the loo, but my smile quickly faded and was replaced with fear.
“What if I had been in the loo?” I said aloud. I had no way of knowing when or if they would summon me again, and what if they do summon me to fight another monster but I’m unarmed? Sure, I had learned plenty about hand-to-hand combat over the last few years, in response to my last abduction, but if I hadn’t had a weapon this time… I had lost my enthusiasm and left the shooting range for the day.
Arriving at home, a small flat but home nonetheless, I walked into my room, past a stack of dirty clothes, and sat on my bed. I started going over what I definitely knew about them, and then tried coming up with theories to fill in the gaps of what I didn’t know.
I laid flat on my back and began thinking aloud, “they are small creatures resembling birds or fairies, they are intelligent, and they live in a world where they are not at the top of the food chain.” I thought for a moment about what else I had seen.
“They have magic, or some kind of science so advanced that the difference is inconsequential… except for their weapons,” I said remembering that handball sized rock that they had launched at me the first time.
“When I shot that… thing… the little blue one that summoned me was amazed. I know that for sure.” I then started to consider how I knew that. None of those creatures had ever spoken a single word to me. They seemed to be telepathic in some way, communicating their thoughts as desires and emotions rather than full proper words. The first time they took me, they put in my head a desire to serve a master in some fashion, but never once did they actually speak directly to me. I mulled all of this around in my head for a solid hour before my stomach began to rumble and I decided to cook something to eat.
My kitchen, like my flat, was small and left much to be desired, but it fit my personality just fine. I like things simple and understandable; I like to be able to analyze something down to its smallest part and know what makes it tick. I walked into my kitchen, pulled out a boiling pot, filled it with water, and put it on the stove.
“Maybe some ramen and crisps,” I said sticking my head and arm into my pantry to try and find a packet of ramen. I found one at the very back of the cabinet, “gotcha.” I said proudly and turned around to go back to my stove. There was just one problem, it wasn’t there. In fact, neither was my flat for that matter. I was standing in a field of blueish green grass, and a burnt orange sky. Gold and pink clouds floated and danced in the wind, like a graceful ballerina doing a show for the whole world to see. A small timid chirp came from behind me. I turned and there, sat atop some kind of railing, was that tiny nymph.
In my head I began to feel its presence, I felt it push its emotions and feelings into me. Thankfulness, remorse, amazement, and most strongly, sorrow. It was terribly sad about something, perhaps over what had happened in that building. I didn’t know how else to comfort the creature, so I leaned down and stroked its small, feathered head. I began to feel its emotions even stronger as soon as I touched it.
“Are you okay?” I asked it. It didn’t answer of course, but it did let its head sink into my hand, and I felt just how much anguish it was in. I could almost see its thoughts as if they were playing like a movie in my head. The longer the creature touched me the clearer the images became. It was thinking about what had happened mere hours ago.
They had been in class, learning what seemed to be new spells, when they heard shrill shrieks that meant danger. Outside, an enormous beast had accidentally been summoned by another student. They had wanted something strong and fierce, and got exactly that. Just like what had happened to me, the nymph tried to cast some kind of control spell on it, but to no avail. The mind of the monster was too primitive to understand and filled with far too much primal rage to care. It had mauled the nymph to death, then proceeded to rampage throughout the school. Most students flew to safety, some of the teachers did too, but others tried to fight it off. They launched their rocks at it, but the monster’s hide was too tough. One teacher tried to use magic on the beast, but that only served to anger it. It began slaughtering and maiming everything within sight. The small nymph flew into a closet in an attempt to hide and was forced to watch as the beast tore through everyone else. I felt the little nymph’s fear and stress as it recalled the events, its panic was immense, but the visions didn’t stop. The beast, with its large, quilled back and long claws, seemed insatiable in its bloodlust, but soon it ran out of prey. It sniffed the ground, then the air, and drew closer to the little being hiding in the closet. In a panic, the nymph flew out of the closet and over the beast, which took a swat at it with its claws but narrowly missed. It flew into another room, where it gathered together ingredients and small wooden planks filled with markings.
I began to understand it now, we had been in contact for several minutes, so I was just now beginning to understand its thoughts.
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“I knew of no spell strong enough to save me if I attacked it, and I knew that if I tried to run, then it would chase me. I had no way to defeat this monster, so I needed one of my own.” Its voice was like a faint whisper in my head. No longer was it merely emotions or desires, but actual solid words, however soft they may have been.
“I can understand you.” I said amazed. It pulled away in what seemed to be shock, or perhaps confusion.
“…You… you can speak?” It said sounding some mix of terrified and baffled.
“I feel like I should be the one asking that question.” I said to the small blue creature.
“I… I am sorry,” the small nymph said.
“For what?” I wondered.
“I am sorry for trying to make you my familiar, even after I realized you were an intelligent species, I still attempted to put you under my control. I was young, and my instructor... he said… he told me I should continue with the ritual. I did not want to, but I was too afraid to make my objections known… I deeply apologize.” The nymph bowed its head in shame.
“Why summon me in the first place?” I asked. The nymph raised its head and looked at me; her eyes filled with remorse.
“It was a part of my training, I was a student and was undergoing a test, The Rite of Dominance. I was ordered to summon a creature as powerful as I could, then dominate its mind and force it to become my familiar.”
“Familiar…” I had heard that term before but couldn’t quite place where.
“A being meant to serve as a guardian, servant, and ally.” The nymph explained. I nodded my head that I understood.
“You wanted me to be your servant?” I questioned; part of me was offended, part of me was proud to be considered powerful.
The nymph winced as if in pain, “I… yes.” The nymph spread its wings and bowed once more, this time with its whole body. “I see how wrong I was now. A Neame as weak as myself could never hope to be the master of one as powerful as you great one.” Neame… great one? I thought to myself.
“Is that what your species is called, Neame?” I asked.
“Yes, great one.” It answered, still bowed.
“Why are you calling me great one?”
“You slew the Borog in a single attack of thunder and metal. It was just a spell, but it was more powerful and devastating than any I have ever seen. It was a spell so powerful it could have been performed by a court, or even a royal, mage” She explained.
“Um... right,” I didn’t know how to respond. “My name is Jake; you can just call me that.”
The nymph stood up, “Jake, allow me to offer my life as compensation for attempting to control you, and for forcing you into our fight against the Borog. I only ask that you spare my people from your wrath.”
“Woah woah woah, chill out. There is no need for all that. I admit that I was pretty upset by everything that happened, but I’m not going to kill you over it.” The little nymph sighed deeply, and its wings drooped. I hadn’t realized how tense it must have been through all of this.
“Thank you…”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“I am afraid I do not possess a name.” She replied.
“You don’t?” I asked surprised.
“It would be a waste to name a lowly fifth level mage like myself. Only those of great importance are honored with names and titles.” She explained.
“Oh... well would it be okay if I gave you a name?” I wondered.
“You honor me sir, but please do not trouble yourself. I am not worthy of such a gift.” She said.
“Well, I need something to call you, it would be a lot easier on me.” I said. She stayed quiet for a moment before answering.
“Then… I will gratefully accept.” The nymph chirped excitedly. I looked the bird over for a minute, thinking carefully about what to call it. She had an air of magical wonder and poise, so I figured I should try and do something with that.
“How about… Suma?” I suggested.
She flapped her wings and chirped loudly, “A wonderful name! Thank you, great one.”
“Seriously, just call me Jake.” I told her. “Can I ask you a question Suma? Why would a student need a powerful familiar?”
“For the war gre… uh, Sir Jake.”
“War?”
“Yes sir, our people have been at war for nearly a decade now with the Southern Union.”
“Who are the Southern Union?”
“Our world is divided into four factions; each one is powerful and in control of huge swaths of land. The Southern Union controls the entire continent of Uriza and its surrounding islands. They are perhaps the most influential of all of the factions… and the cruelest.”
“I see, but why would a student need to worry about a war?”
“Once we finish at the academy, all students are considered full mages and are sent to fight.” Suma explained.
I was shocked, “They send you to war as soon as you graduate?”
“Yes, this is the way it has been for nearly a decade. The war is not going well, we have been out matched since it began. So, they need everyone who has the ability to cast our rites and rituals to join the military.”
“But do you want to? What happens if you say no?” I wondered.
“I volunteered, but there have been instances of people who were under orders to report for duty refusing to.”
“What happened to them?”
“Some were imprisoned, others were… made examples of.”
“Killed!?” I nearly shouted. Suma’s feathers ruffled and she reeled in surprise.
“What, no. They were publicly announced as cowards and ostracized by their families.”
“That’s still not great…” I said.
“No, it is a pitiable existence indeed. Those who refuse to fight against the oppressive Southern Union deserve what they get though. Refusing to stand against an enemy is the same as helping it rise to power.”
“What makes this Southern Union so bad?” I asked.
Suma shook her head and spoke softly, “they have killed or enslaved countless Neame. Their poor are treated as little more than beasts, their rich stand on the backs of the innocent and exploited, any who speak out against their leadership are publicly executed.”
“They sound pretty bad.” I said.
“Indeed, our soldiers do what they can to keep them at bay, but their army is strong, most of the wealth of the nation goes directly to it. We are barely able to hold our territory, we lost the Island of Sangu just last year.”
I thought for a moment, about my life, about these people, and about everything I have done over the last few years after meeting Suma for the very first time. I liked what I had been doing, all my studying and training. I did it all so that I would be ready if I was ever taken again. Now that I was here…. “Is there anything I can do to help?”