After a short wait, the nun returned, “good news children, someone has agreed to allow you to watch his pairing ritual.” She led us to one of the chambers where the rituals take place, and inside was an adult Neame, several armed guards, and the familiar… a drake.
“Hello everyone, I am Magistrate Gakheel. I hear you would like to observe my pairing today.” He laughed a little. “Well, I am more than happy to help educate our future minds and mages.”
Our teacher walked up to the noble, “Thank you Magistrate Gakheel for allowing my students to watch your pairing ritual. Do you mind if I ask which technique you will be using today?”
“Oh of course. Actually, I am using a more abnormal bonding ritual than I have with my other familiars. Since this drake is such a rare familiar, I am going to use a naming type pairing.” The noble explained.
“A naming type?” Our teacher asked flummoxed. I couldn’t blame him, naming type pairings were mostly reserved for high quality magical items or the familiars of royals, it is unusual for anyone to use it on a familiar. Not to say that many familiars aren’t named, assuming the summoner has the magical power for it anyway, but most are given names after the pairing ritual as a way of increasing the familiar’s abilities. “Well, I suppose it is a drake.” My teacher reasoned.
At that moment, a priest landed beside the magistrate and alerted him that everything was prepared. “Ah, thank you,” he said to the priest. He then turned and dressed us, “Now children, we are about to release the drake. While I do have him under mental domination, I think it’s better if you stay back. It is a rather large beast, and I wouldn’t want anyone getting caught underfoot.” We all acknowledge his instructions and cleared the area for the drake. My classmates and I excitedly watched the ritual from the corner of the room opposite the drake. The ritual began with the magistrate casting a magic circle around both him and the creature he wished to pair with, then an exchange of power began, which was finished once the circles changed color. After that, all that was left to do was give the creature a name, which would mark it as property of the magistrate. “I name you, Egoes!”
I watch the whole event in fascination, but once the newly minted Egoes stood up, and the circles at their feet vanished, I knew it was over. “An excellent show Magistrate Gakheel, thank you for allowing the children to watch. I truly believe this was a great opportunity,” our guide, the nun, said to him.
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“It was my pleasure madam. I hope you children were watching closely, because you may need to repeat it in your bonding rituals,” he stated.
“Students, let’s all thank the magistrate for allowing us this opportunity.”
“Thank you sir.” We all said together. The magistrate then wished us the best of luck, and our group was led by our instructor and the nun to our chamber in which our class would be performing the rituals.
“Number 1,” the nun called out as his summon was brought into the chamber. One by one each of us completed the pairing, until finally it was my turn. I was number 13, and there were only three people behind me, so even after I finished, I would still need to stand to the side with my familiar while the rest finished their rituals. “Number 13,” the nun called out and my summon was led out. However, something was odd, he was the only one that was chained up. There were iron bindings around his hands and neck.
“Why has he been chained?” I asked. Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of relief came over me, but it wasn’t my relief, it was his.
“Just in case.” The nun said, warily.
“Sir,” I called out to my teacher, “is feeling the emotions of your familiar normal?”
“You already performed the Rite of Dominance on him, so some residual emotions making their way to you is a good sign. It means your bond is strong.” He explained. I took this as a good sign, and proceeded with the ritual. Just like I had been practicing, I started by forming a magic circle around our feet. But something was wrong, in practice and in the rituals of all the other students, the circle formed around the familiar was a single color, but this one possessed multiple colors. Then the summon dropped to the ground, and flames started to encircle him.
“A NAME IS REQUIRED!” A voice like thunder demanded, but where it came from I couldn’t tell. Suddenly, the flames began to morph and take shape, into something else entirely. At first, it looked similar to my familiar, but it kept changing into something else, something more like a salamander or a drake. “A NAME IS REQUIRED!” It boomed again. I had no idea what was happening, and my classmates were now all cowering behind the nun and our teacher, as well as their familiars.
“A name?” I asked the voice, which I believe to have come from that figure of flame.
“A NAME IS REQUIRED!” He bellowed again. I thought for a moment, I hadn’t planned on using a naming bond, but if I had to give it a name…
“Ulok!” I shouted at the figure, and in doing so, gave the summon a name.
“Ahh!” Ulok cried out, sounding in pain. A magic circle had embedded itself onto his body. I knew that would happen, but I didn’t expect it to hurt him. With that, the figure made of flames vanished into smoke, and the room was left with nothing but a deafening silence.