I tried to blink and shake the fog out of my brain, but no matter how hard I tried, it still felt like I woke up from some kind of fever dream. One that grew fuzzier the longer I was awake.

“I… I think I saw the figure of flame again, the one from when I became your familiar. In the Grand Sanctum... remember?” I said trying to focus on everything I saw, but the harder I thought, the more it slipped from my grasp.

“What? When?” Suma asked shocked.

“When you summoned me. How long was I gone for?” I said sitting on the ground and placing my now throbbing head between my legs.

“Gone? What do you mean? I summoned you and then you appeared, just like always.”

“It felt like a lot longer than that from my perspective. I talked to him… it... whatever. It was bipolar as heck.” I joked.

“Ummm,” Suma started but I cut her off.

“He was switching back and forth between aggressive and friendly. His voice, body, personality, everything… it all kept changing as we talked. He wanted to kill me and protect me.” I explained.

“What did he look like?” Suma wondered.

“I... I don’t quite remember, it’s all so fuzzy now. Like I was dreaming.” I said. “Do your people dream?” I wondered.

“Of course,” she scoffed, “but I never remember mine afterward.”

“Me either, but this definitely wasn’t a dream; I know the difference.” I said.

“I know I have said this before, but you certainly are a strange familiar sometimes.” Suma laughed. “So did he say anything important?”

I thought for a moment, trying to recall what happened as best as I could, “I don’t think so…” I stood up again, my headache fading away, “He mostly just said he was my doom, and my friend.”

“What do you want to do about it?” Suma questioned with her head tilted curiously.

“Nothing, yet.” I said after a moment of pause to think. “Even if I wanted to right now, I wouldn’t know what to do or where to begin.”

“So, what do you want to do then?” She asked.

“What I came here to do for now; let’s go name my sword and shield.” I said looking around for my weapons. I found them where I had left them yesterday, laying on top of a stone under the shade of a large tree.

“You have the names then?” Suma chirped.

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“Yes I do, let’s do the shield first.” I said and held the shield out. Suma landed on my shoulder, and I moved it close enough for her to touch it. Just like last time, she cast a spell and a blue magic circle formed on it and wrapped itself around the shield. Another formed around both of our feet.

“Now name it,” Suma said.

“Aegis!” I said, and the magic circles changed from a brilliant blue to a burning red, then faded away.

“Aegis?” Suma asked.

“Yeah, a great warrior from my world’s mythology used a shield by that name.” I said. Suma nodded her head in understanding.

“Okay, are you ready to do the sword?”

“Absolutely.” I answered. We repeated the process once more, and when Suma told me to name it I shouted out, “Mori!” And just as before, the circles shifted from blue to red, then vanished.

“And what mythical hero used a sword named Mori?” Suma asked.

“None that I know of. In a dead language on my world, Mori means death, or to die. A fitting name for this one I thought.” I said.

“Ah, so you speak some of your world’s forgotten languages?” Suma asked.

“Of course,” I lied, I had read about it on reddit actually, but she didn’t need to know that. “Anyway, let’s try these out.” I said excitedly.

“How do you want to test it?” Suma asked and flew over to a low hanging tree branch. I looked around at the ground, then the trees, and finally at Suma.

“I don’t think you could lift a stick up and whack me with it, so why don’t you just cast an attack spell at me.” I suggested. Suma looked nervously at the ground and shifted on her branch.

“I do not believe that is a good idea.” She said hesitantly.

“It needs to be able to defend against magic as well as physical attacks, so it’s better to find out if it can in practice than on the battlefield.” I told her. She still seemed uneasy but agreed and took a position on a rock a few meters away.

“Ready?” She asked warily.

“Ready,” I confirmed. Suma closed her eyes for a moment, then they snapped open, and she began to speak.

“Flames, gather in my presence. Form and shape into a bolt to pierce my enemies.” As she spoke, small embers began to flicker in front of her and stretch out into a dart like shape. Then they erupted into scorching yellow flames. “Fly Crimson Bolt!” she shouted, and the bolt of fire flew at me at the speed of a thrown softball. I instinctively raised my shield to cover my head and positioned my body behind it as well. I felt the force of the magic hit my shield, but it didn’t pierce through. I peeked my head over slowly and examined the shield, before looking back to Suma.

“I think it worked.” I said smiling like a goofball.

“Are you okay?” She asked worried.

“I’m perfectly fine, Aegis blocked everything, I didn’t even feel the heat.” I told her. She sighed relieved. “Now let’s test out the summoning part.” I placed Aegis on the ground and walked away a few meters before calling out to it. Just like Destiny, it disappeared in a flash and reappeared right back on my left arm; just like I wanted.

“Ready to test Mori?” Suma asked.

“Yup,” I said sending Aegis away and Summoning Mori. “Mori!” It almost instantly blinked into existence in my right hand. “Well, that part works.” I joked.

“It is a weapon made to cut things, correct? What will you test it on?” Suma wondered.

“First, I wanna test the balance, I took fencing in high school, so I know I can use it, but I am worried about its strength. I’ll just test its edge later on some fruit and logs.” I explained. I started swinging the sword a bit, just some simple thrusts and downward slashes at first, but once I started to get a feel for it, I began doing mock parries and other more advanced techniques. I could feel Suma’s eyes on me, staring in some mix of awe and concern. I sent Mori away and asked if she had a fruit.

Suma snapped out of her fixation with a jolt, “Pardon… oh um, yes. In town we can buy several kinds of fruit.” I asked her to fly there and then summon me so I could buy some to test Mori with. She took off and I was left there alone… or so I thought.

“HEY YOU!”