Sitting in a daze, still sweating from the heat that had built up in the room, Jimoel tried to respond. Mouth hanging open, eyes wide, and brow creased, he finally managed a coherent thought. Oh no… maybe I shouldn’t have summoned this.
“Well it’s too late to regret it now newbie. I’m here and I’m bound to ya’ until you die,” the imp said.
“Too late to regret it? Wait…” can you read my mind?
“Of course I can read your damn mind, I’m your familiar! Did you not read through all of that book you summoned me with?” it asked, the look on his face becoming even more foul than it was naturally.
“I… I didn’t know you were goin’ to become my familiar…” Jimoel said quietly and seeming to want to shrink. “Did I just summon somethin’ evil?” he mumbled to himself.
“I’M NOT EVIL YOU SONOVA… ok, since you are obviously either some over grown child or doing this on your own like a MORON, I will take it upon myself to teach you some things as I’d rather not go back any time soon,” the green thing said. Jumping up to sit on the pedestal in the center of the room, he continued, looking slightly less angry and more annoyed.
“So us demons aren’t evil. We are like you humans but we tend to have personalities that are extreme. The higher up the hierarchy you are, the more extreme your personality. That help for now? I’ll explain the rest later but wow, I don’t have it in me to teach an idiot everything about the damn world right after getting summoned,” he finished his speech.
“So… you aren’t evil. Got it. Well, uh, I can’t go back home with an imp. Can I send you back… Gabzip?” Jimoel asked, slowly regaining his confidence against the tiny green creature.
“Are you trying to be stupid or does it come natural? I just said I’m stuck with you till you die. Oh, and I’m a mind magic imp, meaning illusions, meaning invisibility.” he said, his expression worsening again. And my name is Gnabxups Jimoel heard directly in his mind.
Well it’s good you can talk to me without actually talkin’, it will definitely make it easier for you to hide. Jimoel thought, starting to gather his stuff to leave.
Yeah yeah, whatever. Damn I’m hungry. Got anything to eat?
Well, do you eat rottin’ deer intestines? Cause that’s all I’ve got right now. Just outside the cave. Hearing the sounds of claws against stone, Jimoel glanced over to… Can I call you Nab? Your name is a bit much. Seeing a weird gesture, the imp’s middle finger up with his fist mostly closed, Jimoel responded, “I’ll take that as a yes,”
---
By the time Jimoel had reached home, the sun had long since set. Glad that Nab seemed to exude enough heat to keep him warm, Jimoel returned without feeling the slightest stiffness. Seeing no light in the window he knew he was the only one awake still.
Although he was exhausted, he wanted to practice a bit more magic before sleeping. Sticking the torch upright in the ground, Jimoel walked inside. Putting away his newly acquired books, he grabbed both the “Summon Skeleton” and the “Summon Rodent” books.
Deciding to go to sleep instead of trying the spells out, he picked up both books and started walking inside. You really don’t have a mentor do you? Of course this guy summons me as his first dimensional summon! Looking over to the nearly invisible green creature, Jimoel furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean my first summonin’?” He whispered to Nab.
With a palm to his face, the little imp started to explain. Did you not read any books other than the spell books? I saw your damn library, look around a bit more! Ugh, whatever. When you summon your first being from the space I come from, you form a familiar bond with them. Anything you summon from now on will just be a standard summon. Mumbling where he thought Jimoel couldn’t hear, “What did I ever do to you Fate? Why did you put me with this greenhorn?” he complained to seemingly no one in particular. Deciding to ignore the comment by his new familiar because he felt the truth of his words, he quietly snuck to his bed.
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Shoulders sloped and eyes fluttering, Jimoel placed the new books on the floor next to his bed along with the knife. Laying his head against the bed he quickly fell asleep.
---
Hearing a knock at his door, Jimoel woke with a start. “You gunna hunt today?” he heard his father from the other side of his door. Glancing out his window, he saw the sky starting to brighten.
In a bit of a panic, he quickly put on his hunting gear and grabbed his bow. Hey! I was sleepin on that! Nab screamed in his mind. “Ah!” Jimoel briefly shouted before tripping and falling backwards. He had nearly forgotten the small green creature he had summoned the night before.
You scared me, Jimoel thought, trying to get back up. “You alright?” He heard from the other side of the door.
“Fine, just tripped,” Jimoel said, quickly putting on his jacket. Well you woke me up! And where the hell are we going this early? Nab asked, the scowl on the miniature demon’s face could be heard in its voice even through the mental link.
I’m a hunter. I’m goin’ huntin’. Walking out his bedroom door, Jimoel quickly marched his way to the rack where his bowstring hung.
“You get back that late last night?” His father asked him while they both strung their bows.
“Yeah, that cave is pretty deep in the woods,” he said, doing his best not to fall back asleep in the middle of what he was doing. And you summoned a demon. That was part of it. Sighing and shaking his head at the snark he couldn’t ignore being send from his new partner.
With a bit of a worried look, his father was the first to leave. “Hope you get another one, that way you can have two to your name this month” he said, fortunately not so tired he couldn’t poke at his father.
Finally finished stringing his bow, he left for his own hunt.
---
Too busy fighting to stay awake, Jimoel failed to notice any game. It was just at half between midday and duska and he was on his way back to his home. “So why did you come with me exactly?” He asked, glancing at his shoulder where his green skinned ‘friend’ sat.
“Because I’m your familiar,” Nab stated simply as his palm met his forehead with enough force to make an audible smack. “I keep forgetting that you know, quite literally, nothing about origination,” he added before falling silent.
With one eyebrow up and the other furrowed, “And? Are you gunna explain why?” Jimoel asked.
“No,” was the only response he got from nab.
Wait, did he just call it origination? “Yes. I did just call it origination. Your world’s names for magic schools are all stupid,” Nab responded to his thoughts.
Why are the names stupid? He asked in his head. Not getting and response, he tried to figure it out as his house came into view.
As Jimoel approached his home, he noticed his sister loading up sacks with the iron sones he had made. “Hey, takin’ those into town to sell?” he called out to his sister as he waved to her.
“Yah! Ervins is in town, so Im gunna sell this stuff to him” She said, excited to meet the traveling merchant.
Having known their family for a long time, Ervins enjoyed bringing Loa presents from the capital. Once he finally got to her, she had already packed the iron. “I think I should come with you. I wanna see if he will buy those extra magic books I can’t learn. Lemme the rest of the packs,” he said, grabbing the sacks she couldn’t carry.
---
Reaching town, Jimoel saw the large thet the merchant and his crew always set up just outside the first building on the main road into town. It didn’t take long to get from the woods that they lived in to the other side of the town. It only had 150 residents including themselves, so it was quite small.
Upon reaching the tent, Ervins, who was directing placement of goods inside the tent, saw the siblings and smiled, beckoning them over. “Hey, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you two!” he said to them both. “It looks like you guys have been busy for the past few months, are those sacks all hides and antlers?” Ervins asked, looking at the several sacks they were carrying.
“Nope! This is somethin’ brother did!” Loa responded quickly. Handing Ervins her back, his eyes were wide at its weight how empty it seemed.
When he opened it and grabbed one of the iron stones inside, it took him a moment to realize what it was.
Staring at Jimoel wide eyed, “Did you learn magic somehow? Did you steal from someone who came through?” he asked.
Grinning, Jimoel responded quickly, “No no! I found a bunch’a books and a readin’ stone in an abandoned cave,”
Accidentally, Ervins let his jaw drop slightly. “You found them in a cave?” he asked. Seeing the older one nod, his held his chin for a moment before seeming to brighten up. “You obviously know dark magic, were there any other books in there that you couldn’t learn?”
Nodding once again, Jimoel replied, “Sure was, wanna go over to ‘em later? I could sell ‘em to ya,”
Excitedly, Ervins asked “How many books were there? Wait, no, I’ll find out when we get there,” Turning to his workers, he yelled, “I’m going somewhere, You should know what to do while I’m gone,” Hearing a collective ‘Sir’ from his crew, he turned to Jimoe, “let’s go ahead, no time like the present,”