After talking it over with my parents and the priests, we all decided that having a familiar with Chaos Magic is too dangerous. Since I have Body Magic, any time that Ulok and I used our Combination Magic, it would become some form of Death Magic. That thought frightened me. The priests contacted a noble, who agreed to take Ulok as his own familiar. Meaning I needed to learn a rite to sever our familiar’s bond, and my Rite of Dominance over him. Ulok was upset, and claimed he wanted to serve only me, but I forbid him from bringing it up again, and he has not since.
Now, myself, three High Class mages, the Nobel, who’s name was Zal-Pac, a priest, a nun, and my parents were all in the summoning room, preparing to end my bond with Ulok, so that Zal-Pac could take him for his own. I think the priest only came in case that strange flaming figure reappeared.
“First, we must remove the Rite of Dominance, since it was applied before Ulok became your familiar. It is the oldest magical bond you have with him, and it is acting as the foundation of your bond.” The noble explained. “But that is a rather dangerous things, so we will have him go into a cage first, and we have these three mages here as well; for safety’s sake.”
“I understand.” I said. “Ulok, go wait in the cage…” I said. Ulok said nothing, but his head hung low, and I could feel his sadness through our link. The doors to the wooden cage were closed, and locked with bars of metal. Not even a Borog Beast would be able to escape from it.
After a short preparation period, everyone was ready, and I began the rite. A magic circle formed around Ulok, the same one that was on his arm. It shifted colors, from blue to purple, to red. Soon, cracks began to form in the magic circle, and Ulok began to scream while holding his head.
“It is hurting him?” I asked.
“Focus on the Rite, it must be performed correctly. The pain will subside soon.” The noble said. A few moments more passed, and the circle was filled with countless cracks, until it finally shattered, and I felt my control over Ulok’s mind vanish. The first stage of the rite was completed. So now, it was time for me to sever our familiar’s bond. But before I did, Ulok did what all familiars do when they lose their masters, he rampaged.
“HUUUUUAAAAHHHH!” He cried out, and threw himself over and over again into the cage door with so much fury and force that the metal bars began to bend. This lasted so long, that I feared the cage may not withstand it, and he would escape. But after several minutes, Ulok quieted down, and sat down in the cage, looking all around the room. The intelligence that had once resided behind his eyes and had shaken me to my bones, no longer resided within him. All that was left was the madness that comes with a familiar losing its master.
With Ulok calm, I gathered my strength, and began the second half of the rite. This time, rather than a new magic circle forming, the one on Ulok’s shoulder began to glow. Just as before, cracks formed along and inside of it, until it too shattered. Now, I felt my connection to Ulok server entirely; expect for the summoning power that I still held over him. That would not be relinquished until Ulok gained his new master.
“Excellent job, young one.” The noble said, and flew closer to Ulok’s cage. Inside, Ulok sat just where he had been for the last several minutes, closely examining his shoulder. “Yes, this has all been a fine showing.” The noble asked the priest, excitedly, “did you see how powerful this one is? It nearly broke the cage, all on its own! Splendid! Truly splend-” Before the noble could finish his thought, Ulok, who had been ignoring us until now, suddenly launched himself once more at the cage door. Without warning, the door broke, and Ulok was free. With a single powerful strike, and a feather curling howl, Ulok knocked Zal-Pac out of the air to the ground. Picking him up, he then proceeded to horrifically and mercilessly slam Zal-Pac into the ground over and over again, until his head was little more than a smear on the ground. My parents, myself, and the priest, all shocked, started to fly away. While all this happened, the High-Class mages pelted Ulok with spell after spell, but he barely seemed to care.
“Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!” Someone shouted as those of us desperately trying to escape searched for an exit.
“Magic isn’t working! Who summoned it? Send it back!” Another person yelled.
“Send it back!” My mother yelled at me. I dove to the ground, and faced Ulok, who had begun to eat the body of the noble while the mages attacked him. Parts of Ulok’s body were burning, falling off, twisted in unnatural directions, or were impaled with wooden stakes from spells, but nothing caused him to look away from his meal. What was left of his face was covered in both his and Zal-Pac’s blood. As soon as I landed, I reversed the summons, sending Ulok away. Unfortunately, since he was holding the noble, Zal-Pac disappeared as well. For far too long, not a single sound was heard, except for everyone’s heavy breathing and my mother’s sobs, but I doubt anyone noticed those.
“Who’s going to tell his son?” One of the three High-Class mages asked one of the others.
“I have never seen a familiar transfer go… like this. What… what are we supposed to do now?” The priest asked, though I think he was simply thinking aloud.
“I do not know.” One of the mages replied.
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“I dooooo…” A voice said, and Uloks mangled figure slowly reappeared.
“By the dragons…” The priest said.
“Exactly.” Ulok said, except it did not sound like Ulok… not really. A sickening feeling filled the room as Ulok activated a spell. His magic felt different… putrid. His torn flesh and twisted limbs pulled itself back together, and what body parts he had lost, regrew after mere moments. “Which of you was the master of this body?” It asked.
“Kill it!” One of the mages shouted, and began casting spells. All of their spells connected, and did in fact damage his body, but the damage was healed almost immediately; as if it never happened.
“So probably not you three.” It said, and waved its hand. That thing, whatever it was, cast a spell. “Rot.” Without warning, the mages all began to die, their bodies turning black, and their feathers falling away. “I’ll ask again. Which of you was this one’s master?”
“I-I was.” I answered, scared, and on the verge of singing.
It looked at me with a disgusting gaze, like it had found something new to hunt. “Good. Firstly, I’d like to thank you.”
“What… why?” I asked, trembling.
“Because you killed that stubborn personality. The one that was inside this body’s head before. You did it twice actually. Thank you. You made taking over it sooooo much easier.” It said.
“What? Who… who are you? What do you want?” My mother asked, placing herself between this monster and me.
“Ah, right. I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Deyja, and I’m going to kill you all. But please, allow me to reward you. As thanks, I’ll let you have a completely painless death. I’ll even kill you last if you want. Or first, I’ll let you choose.”
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Deyja’s POV
“Ah… revenge; the longer it takes, the better it feels when its finally done.” I said, standing atop a mountain’s peak, looking over the burning remains of the last city stronghold on Atmeria… or Atmosia as they called it now. After finally freeing myself from the Aether realm, and properly thanking those who helped me escape, I got back to work with what I’d started before I was sealed away; destroying everything that my clan’s Ashem had wasted centuries building up. But, I didn’t have much time to savor my accomplishments, because I needed to leave this world and find my clan. This new body of mine is almost as powerful as my original, and it has Negative Aether as well, though it is naturally attuned to a different type. Actually, I think it is closer to what my old friend Zachariah had. If that isn’t fate, what is?
“With my new body, I should be able to finally take what I’m owed. Let’s see, according to that queen, it has been about 1,000 years since I left. My son should be rather old now. He shouldn’t pose much trouble.” I said, casting a spell to open a door to another world. Right now, the only one on this world was sealed years ago, and used against me. So, I need to go to another world, and find a portal that isn’t contaminated or sealed.
“This body has an original world, so I’ll start there.” I said, and stepped through the portal. I thought for a moment about going and freeing Zachariah from that trap he made for me, but I think he’s probably dead by now. Without two there to keep each other alive, nothing could survive there for more than a few hours, and I’ve been free for weeks.
Stepping through the portal was just as I remembered. There was a rush of power that refreshed my mana and body as I briefly crossed through the Aether Realm, and then I opened my eyes to see a new world.
“So this is the world Zachariah is from? Bit dark.” I said, but then immediately noticed the overwhelming mana surrounding me. It felt like it could crush me if I was not careful. I allowed it to flow through me freely, but immediately regretted it as a wave of pain followed. “Ah, too bad. This body isn’t compatible with this world’s mana anymore. Must have happened when it became a familiar. Oh well, it will do for now.” I looked around, trying to discern where I was. There was no clear access to the sky, and it was also obviously a dwelling of some kind. Light suddenly filled the room, causing a mind pain in my new eyes.
“Welcome. You must be Deyja.” A voice behind me said, surprising me.
“What? You know me?” I asked, shocked, and prepared myself for a fight. Turning around, I saw two Vyrkings, a little older than this new body I was in, and probably the same sex, but it was hard to tell with their garments on. One wore blue, and the other was covered in metal, and had one of Zachariah’s ‘swords’ in hand. It was the first thing to catch my eye for several reasons. It was clearly empowered with strange magic, something I did not recognize at first. However, I realized quickly that it was Nuetral Aether, meaning it was being directly powered by the Aether Realm itself. The next thing to catch my attention was the overwhelmingly powerful magic stone the one in blue garments was holding. I shuddered to think of the kind of power one must have had to create it.
“We have a mutual friend. Your son, Ahshem. A few weeks ago, he said you escaped, and that you were probably going to come after him. So we took a few precautions.” The one in blue garments said.
“Ahshem? I look forward to seeing him again!” I shouted, and launched an attack… or I tried to. The mana here was overwhelming, and with this body being incompatible… the spell failed. Or rather, it was crushed by this world’s mana as soon as I cast it.
“Merlin, wasn’t this guy supposed to be really powerful? Like, end of the world powerful? His spells don’t even work.” The one wearing metal garments said, mockingly.
“His magic doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like any mana I’ve encountered before. I’d love to study it a bit more, but he’s too big of a risk. Looks like he’s a body hopper like Morgan too, so we’d better take care of him quick. Excalibur’s Spirit Magic should be enough.” The one in the blue garments said.
“You can’t… no! No! After all this time! You can’t just-” I yelled, but faster than I could see, the magic sword pierced my chest. I tried to cast healing magic on it, but the spell was crushed. Over and over I tried, but each spell failed. The pain… I’d felt it before, but this time… it was like I was being eaten alive as the Neutral Aether coursed through me. My legs gave out, and I fell down, the sword pulling out of me as I did.
“What do we do with the body, Merlin?” The metal one asked.
“It probably had a family. Let’s try and track them down; let them know what happened to their son. For now, I’ll store it in the vault, just in case. The Library is already sealed, so the soul can’t escape anyway. It should be fine for now. Nice work Arthur: I’ll let Ahshem know what happened later.” The blue one said. As my vision blurred, I felt cold, and angry, until everything faded away.