About a day later Lannon took Alden to a specialized breeder. Said breeder and dealers were surprisingly common, catering to the more… unique mage affinities that appeared. The man had been surprisingly accommodating, only giving him a single look when they said they wanted chickens. Nonetheless, he led them to the back. His shop was one of the few that had extra space, filled with cage upon cage of different creatures. He led them through the rows of cages until they came to a particularly chaotic session. The previously orderly and clean cages became significantly more haphazardly placed and dirtier. The creatures inside, however, didn’t seem to be diminished in the least. Alden could have never imagined how many species of chicken there were. There were chickens with no tail feathers, and chickens with tail feathers that tripled their length. There were chickens nearly the size of his knee, and others that were barely bigger than a teacup. Still, some were covered in scales with minor feather accents, while others were covered with feathers from head to toe. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight, made even more so by his affinity senses. For a long, long time Alden had wanted to be able to practice with his chicken affinity. But sadly, there were no chickens where he had lived for 6 years now. As such he had been unable to exercise his affinity with any sort of regularity. But now as he ran his senses over them, he found himself disappointed. He had a very specific chicken affinity-one for a specific species in fact. That species was not hear. It was like hearing a dozen notes each somewhat similar to what he was looking for, but never quite matching it. He turned to the seller, a slim dark-skinned man. His bald head shimmered with the mists that hung in the air, even during the daytime such as now. “Do you have any more chickens? Ones that look especially mean or angry perhaps? Maybe used for fights beforehand?” The man turned thoughtful at thought, gently humming to himself. “I do in fact have a couple that matches your description. I would be careful however as they are dangerous.” Alden nearly laughed and he looked over to see Lannon doing similarly, although a snort still escaped him. The man, in comparison, seemed dead serious. “I’m completely serious I’m afraid. The previous owners had specifically bred them for aggressiveness and power, and a few even used labyrinth creatures. In fact, I believe a chicken or beast mage of some sort enhanced one or two of them. All of them are angry and cunning, however. I’ve already had three escapes in the month I’ve had them. If you do choose one of them, you’ll need to be careful. Follow me.” With that the man spun on his foot and began walking away, not looking backward to see them acknowledge his words. Alden hurried to follow, Lannon hurrying behind him. They progressed even further into haphazardly placed cages. This time the creatures were significantly less well behaved, pacing around in their cages. They ranged from what looked to be a tiger, to a massive spider with almost-glyphic-looking symbols on its back. The cages grew more fortified as the creatures grew more aggressive, changing from thin wire mesh frames to solid looking iron bars. And at the very back the man came to a halt. Just before the wall surrounding the courtyard were three cages. In each of them prowled a very different creature. In the far left it appeared like some of the earlier chickens, with a long train of feathers trailing behind it. Yet instead of being a foot or so large it reached nearly four feet. Ripped and missing feathers revealed scaled skin underneath that shifted with muscle. Its eyes locked onto them, almost burning with intensity. In the middle was a small creature, no larger than a medium sized dog. What it lacked in size, however, it more than made up for in aggressiveness. It looked as if someone had taken a normal farm chicken, grown it to the size of a dog, and replaced its feathers with metal replicas. It also had what looked to be fleshy growths and protrusions all over its body. It lunged at the bars as soon as they came into view, making Lannon flinch back. Alden merely smiled at it. On the far right was something far different. The creature was only a small bit larger than a normal chicken. It had less fat and extra stores and seemed to ripple with muscle on its legs and near its wings. Its talons were truly impressive things, easily extending out at least 3 inches. For all of that however, it attracted Alden’s gaze for two reasons. One was his affinity senses, chiming, smelling, and glowing just the perfect amount, that this creature was the one. The second reason was its eyes. Its eyes locked onto him with an intensity best described as curious. It did not pace, or lunge at the bars like the other two. Instead, it merely sat, and stared. Watching. Observing. And he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that his creature was far more dangerous than the others. “You’re escape attempts. Which one made it?” The man glanced over at him, surprised, before pointing at the one on the far right and saying, “that one. The other two tried it but couldn’t get through the locks. That one, however, busted through it like it was nothing. Another time it figured out how I locked it in and escaped that way. The third way it found a loose cobblestone and managed to leverage the bars so that it bent open enough for it to get out. No idea how it pulled off that last one honestly. If you don’t buy it, I’ll probably try to sell it down to a group of researchers down near the Flats. Heard they were looking for interesting specimens like this guy.” Alden shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll take him off your hands. What’s his name?” The man looked at him like he was crazy before shrugging. “Your money. Names Bob. Not the most original name, is it?” Alden grinned widely at that. “No. But it does serve its purpose. I’m sure. How much?” The man considered for a moment before smiling. Alden prepared himself. He should have known better than to give him an opening.

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In the end they ended up only paying around 20 coppers for it. It wasn’t cheap by any means, but he wasn’t exactly getting ripped off either. Whatever the case Alden was quite happy as they took the cage with him. Lannon looked at him concernedly. “You sure your taverns gonna allow that thing? Its not exactly common now, is it?” Alden shook his head. “They cater to all kinds of animal mages, so I’ll be fine. Besides, from the way the owner talked anything short of a dragon they wouldn’t blink at.” Lannon shrugged at him. “You know when to meet me kid. Firstday before the eighth bell. I’ve got a job lined up.” He eyed him for a bit. “I’ve got to say though, you certainly don’t look like the type to excel at logistics. No offense kid, but I thought for sure you would’ve asked for a monster hunting job.” Alden just shrugged. “I thought about it, but I don’t know the surrounding area well enough to be confident in offering my services. Besides, a little bit of extra calmness and time is just what I need to deal with this little fellow.” He gestured with his head towards the chicken. Lannon just stared for a bit before turning away. “Whatever you say kid. Whatever you say.” Alden grinned at him. Today went very well.

Alden arrived at the hotel, having split off from Lannon at the food market. He strode confidently toward the tavern, ignoring the assorted creatures that roamed in the rather large stables outside the building. He nodded towards the barman as he entered, heading directly upstairs to his room. His room was rather sparse in furnishings, only consisting of a bed, a small tub for washing himself, and a small drawer that had been attached quite vigorously to the floor. He sat himself down, sitting down and opening up the cage as he did so. He waited for the chicken to move, while he sat there with a bit of salted meat in his hands. He began to talk to it as he did so, the rooster still staring at him calculating. “I’m not going to keep you against your will. If you want out there’s the exit. I gotta warn you though buddy, the outside world ain’t a cakewalk. Heck, I’ve barely been out here more than a month and I’ve already got tons more concerns than I had living at home.” He looked beside him, at the chicken that was still just staring at him. Quite interested too, Alden would bet. “Yeah, I liked it at home too. But every chick’s got to leave the nest eventually, am I right?” The chicken didn’t answer him, and Alden kept talking to it. He waxed on about different topics, from the theoretical aspects of how a chicken affinity might work, to how the mages of Gelid used the mudflats to help farm a particular vicious species of mud worm. He never seemed to get tired or less animated as he talked. Eventually the chicken completely left the cage and walked over to his side where he had dropped a bit of meat not long ago. It grabbed it and continued eating, Alden giving no indication that he noticed or cared. It was a decent period into the night that he noticed the chicken asleep, curled up on the ground. He smiled and gently stroked it as he did so. He hoped it had a good night of rest. He himself got up and lay in his bed. He dreamed of all the different things he and Bob could do together. So many nights, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and imagining everything he could do. He might not have had a live chicken to use but he had still been able to grow his mana pool, mostly through excessive castings of cantrips or low-level spells using the completely wrong Aether. It had given some really interesting results actually. He faded to sleep, dreaming of monstrous chickens that could eat even the most powerful of dragons.