The gods really know how to kick a guy when he’s down.

On top of introducing me to the girl of my dreams, who was hopelessly smitten with my best friend, the girl in question believed that I wasn’t up to snuff. I mean, it’s technically true. As someone who has never passed any of the Trials necessary to be recognized as a full-fledged mage, she isn’t wrong. I haven’t carved my own staff, bonded with my own familiar, or been formally graduated by a teacher. As much as I hated that Sheena was right, it didn’t change the facts.

Damn it.

The night after the assassins’ latest attempt on Sheena had failed, she brought me to the edge of the large forest bordering the grounds of the Academy. The moon was rising into the sky, almost full, heralding the lateness of the hour and blanketing the ground in its gentle glow. The forest was cordoned off using high walls with barbed iron fences atop them, magical lightning dancing across the metal to further discourage people from recklessly climbing over.

Or is it to prevent things from climbing out? I wondered. As part of my preparation for tonight’s festivities, Sheena had confined me to a library to study the ancient traditions regarding the binding of a familiar. Some of the knowledge was remedial, but I had in fact learned a few things about the process that I hadn’t known before, so it hadn’t been a complete waste of time. But to be honest, I’m sure she just wanted to have an excuse to keep me out of the way. Gods only know what she and Alverd got up to while I was studying.

Alicia looked grumpy as all hell. She was not amused by the fact that she was missing her beauty sleep. Why is she even here? I thought to myself. Then it hit me. She probably got “separated” from the other two during the day. Knowing her, she’s just here to make sure Sheena doesn’t try anything. I was in no position to judge though. I actually sort of empathized with her.

The large gate we were approaching was similar to the one marking the entrance to the Academy, but in the moonlight I could see that the runes etched in each stone had clear meanings in runic script. I recognized the commands for “contain”, “suppress”, “commune” and “seek”, the magic suffusing not only the gate but the wall itself. A lot of magic went into making sure this wall does what it was intended to do. I felt a bead of sweat form on the back of my neck. Is it going to be dangerous?

According to the books I had read in the library, the Forest of Familiars was one of many places in the world where wild, untamed spirit creatures ran free. Mages would venture into these areas to bind a familiar to them, a contract between spirit and mortal, that would last until the end of the mage’s life. The city of Ethenia had purposefully been built near this particular forest so that its mage acolytes could be supplied with plenty of familiars for its fledgling population.

As creatures born entirely of magic, familiars required an environment brimming with magical energy. Even on this side of the wall I could feel the magic of the forest, charged like a stormcloud. A familiar could not sustain itself outside of such a place, and fed off the magical energy of their contractor in exchange for loyal service.

They were intelligent, intuitive creatures and obeyed any order given them by their masters. I had long wondered what my own familiar would be like; alas, with the fall of Marevar, and my lack of knowledge in the intimate details of the binding ceremony, there had been little chance for me to get my own familiar. Even in other countries I had been denied the chance to access that information or places where I could attempt to bond with a familiar due to being labeled a foreigner; I learned quickly that each country closely regulated the distribution of that knowledge to ensure it would not be abused.

I couldn’t shake a weird feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. It feels like we’re doing this out of order. Shouldn’t I be focusing on making my own staff first? As it stands, with my current one damaged, replacing it should be the greater priority. I looked at the cracked staff of my deceased mentor. The explosion from last night had put the old relic on its last legs. I wouldn’t trust it enough to put my weight on it, much less channel potentially explosive magical force through it.

The behavior of the Witch-Queen was as predictable as the sunrise, but her motives not so much. I might have to revise my initial opinion of her. She seems airheaded at times but sharp as a tack at others. So far we don’t really know who the real her is, and until I do everything she does or says has to be taken with a grain of salt. In all of my five years as a mercenary, I had never had such a quixotic client.

Sheena gestured to the two guardsmen standing watch over the metal gate that barred the opening in the runed stone archway. This close to the Forest’s entrance the sensation of stepping into what felt like congealed magical power was even more overwhelming. It was like being a step away from walking into a fogbank, and I could feel every hair on my body stand on end. Something about this place gives me the willies. It’s like the whole Forest is watching me, somehow.

The books I’d perused explained how familiars were animal-like in nature and thus possessed animal-level intelligence with very few exceptions. Like animals, familiars had no problems with demonstrating aggressive and often territorial instincts as well. The book insisted that apprentices were encouraged only to form contracts under the supervision of a senior mage and preferably in broad daylight to lessen the risks. While there were only a handful of documented instances of apprentices actually dying during the process, the fact remained that there was a non-zero chance.

And then, Sheena hit me with yet another revelation.“You need to go in alone.”

Surely she can’t be serious. It was a forest. A dark, creepy forest full of big, nasty spirit creatures that would probably bite my head off and eat the rest of me given half the chance. If Sheena’s pet wolf, Kelda, was any indication, those creatures were definitely going to kill me first and ask questions never.

“Tell me you’re joking,” I retorted. “That’s a death trap. And you want me to walk into it alone?”

Sheena put her hands on her hips and nodded. “Yes! This is part of your Trial. I have a few suspicions I need confirmed, and this might be the perfect opportunity to see if they are correct. I have the utmost faith you’ll pull through.” She winked, but this time it did nothing for me. “Now get going. You’re burning moonlight.” She made a petulant little shooing motion with her hand.

I forced the lump in my throat back down and choked down any sarcastic reply I wanted to make. I was now on the spot and I didn’t like being there. The two guards silently and ominously opened the gates, the metal screeching as they swung it open for me. As I passed over the threshold, Sheena called out to me. “If you survive, I’ll teach you how to carve your own staff!”

I was not reassured by her choice of words. Not that the woman could see the look of abject terror on my face. I walked down the beaten path into the woods, my heart beating fast. Not surprisingly, the path vanished and was replaced by the gnarled, twisting roots of the trees. Treading carefully, my eyes darted left and right, looking for any sign of an attacker.

I walked and walked and walked, jumping at every perceived sound and movement in the brush. The sound of beetles and dragonflies were my only company, as the forest was eerily devoid of the sounds I would normally associate with it: the creaking of the trees, the rustling of their leaves in the wind, and the keening of the wildlife. It’s almost as though everything here is holding their breath.

I pulled some heat from my body to cast an illumination spell. A spark of light flickered to life at the tip of my staff, condensing into a ball of light that hovered around my head. A couple of splinters flaked off the end of the staff when I did, and I felt cold dread creep through my veins when I realized that if it broke I would be defenseless. What was Sheena thinking? More importantly, what was I thinking?

The moon above provided plenty of light at first, but it wasn't long before I entered the heart of the forest, where the entangled branches of the trees blocked out the moon’s radiance. I gathered up what courage I had and plunged deeper into the darkness.

As I wandered through the forest, I wondered just what exactly I was supposed to be doing here. I knew my objective, but how to achieve it was another matter entirely. I reached into my robe and pulled out the book I had “borrowed” (not my fault I didn’t have a library card) from the Academy and began flipping through a section I had bookmarked earlier in the day, rereading some key passages.

“Familiars are drawn to strength of character,” the book said. “You must draw them out by revealing who you are at the core of your being. If you prove yourself worthy, then a familiar will bend its knee to you, and you can bind it with an incantation. If it accepts, then it will stay. If not, it will flee back into the forest.”

Strength of character? Then I’m doomed. I wasn’t exactly the most courageous man. Or the most honorable. Or reliable. What manner of familiar would ever consider me worthy? My spirits fell as I stumbled through the brush. I had to watch my footing, as the gnarled roots of the various trees snaked across the ground, threatening to trip me up. Great, I thought to myself. Even the ground wants to remind me that everything here is setting me up for a fall. Literally.

After a bit of time had passed, I began to notice something. Everywhere I went, I felt that I was being watched. It was happening too consistently to be paranoia. I would catch a sudden spurt of movement out of the corner of my eye, something lurking in the dark. Cautiously, I looked around.

Sure enough, eyes glowed in the dark undergrowth of the trees and bushes surrounding me. However, they were not hostile; instead, they seemed to regard me with wariness, maybe even fear. Out of curiosity, I took a step toward a cluster of these eyes; they scattered back into the darkness, the rustling of the plants heralding their departure. I was perplexed.

Why were they afraid of me?

Mages had long hypothesized that animals possessed a sixth sense that gave them a kind of foresight into certain matters. Even my old mentor, Professor Farnus, had been convinced that his dog had had the ability to sense whenever he was in trouble when he had been a child. Many non-mages attributed this to animal instinct, but what they didn’t realize was that mages equated that instinct with the sixth sense. They were one and the same.

These creatures were fleeing from me. They sense something… wrong about me. Somehow they knew that I was a threat and were regarding me as an intruder, and chose to flee rather than fight something they knew they had no chance against. It’ll take me all night to try to figure out what’s going on, and that’s if I had a clue where to even start. As things are, I’m screwed. And I don’t even know why.

I backtracked to a clearing I had stumbled across, seating myself on a stump in the middle. I looked up at the moon. “I just can’t get anything right, can I?” I smiled bitterly at the glowing ball in the sky. But then bitterness gave way to full-on anger. I rose up and began swinging my staff in impotent rage. I screamed angrily, venting about being useless and powerless and how nobody wanted me and just when I thought I couldn’t feel any more pathetic…

…I turned and found myself face to face with a girl.

The girl was… cute. Very cute. She was adorned in a simple cloth dress that had been patched dozens of times in mismatched colors, making it look more like a quilt than a piece of clothing. She wore a small black bustier with laces over the dress, and it was low cut enough to show off quite a bit of her plump chest and collarbones. Her petite hands were covered in white silk gloves that continued up her arms, easily the most expensive part of her eclectic outfit. Hanging from the sash wrapped around her hips was a very small knife in an ornate red sheath. A bracelet of twine was affixed to her wrist, attached to some kind of carved charm.

Then I stopped looking at her odd clothes and looked at the girl herself. She had messy, unruly long hair that spilled down her back, the perfect shade of red. She had eyes the color of gold, that seemed to accentuate the moonlight that poured down from above, hiding under her thick bangs. Her rosy cheeks were slightly flushed, as if she were embarrassed. The healthy amount of skin I could see due to her low-cut dress was pale, almost as pale as the stars in the sky.

We stared at each other, speechless less than half a foot away from each other. I stammered. Then, finally, I took a step back, nearly tripping over myself. The girl had been carrying a lantern in her left hand, a no-frills affair with a candle burning inside of it on a short stick; she dropped it suddenly as her hand covered her mouth, and it rolled away with a metallic thud. The blush in her cheeks became so intense I could almost feel the heat radiating off of her face. Then I realized the heat I was feeling was in my own face. Words tumbled out of my mouth.

“Oh, uh… I guess I didn’t see you there.”

Her face turned even redder and she backed away. “I’m so sorry… are you alright?” Her quiet, shy voice and apologetic tone struck me like a thunderbolt from the sky. She was grasping a staff in her other hand, a four-foot long piece of mahogany with a wrought metal head consisting of several prongs of polished brass, cradling a flawless ruby. “I heard shouting. I came over here and saw you, um, yelling. Is everything okay?” Oh gods. She was so adorable. I wasn’t afraid to admit that I found shy girls attractive. That bashful look on her face really suits her. What is it about the shy ones that makes me so attentive?

I fumbled for something to say. Damn my mouth and brain! I can find something to say when my mouth could get me killed, and yet I’m speechless when it comes to pretty girls! Ugh! Think, dammit!

Finally, the impulse to introduce myself and apologize won out. Struggling to recompose myself, I gave a short bow. “I’m terribly sorry. I just got frustrated, is all. My name’s Kuro. I was out here looking for a familiar. Who are you?”

The girl walked back to me, clutching her staff close to her chest. “I’m Deotra. I’m also looking… I’ve been in this forest for a while now. I’m starting to think maybe I’ll never form a contract. Then I’ll never achieve my dreams…” She sniffled, her eyes becoming a little watery, and her mouth turned downward into a frown.

It was a terrible expression, because it turned her beautiful face into a picture of depression. I can relate. It’s almost like looking in a mirror. Except this girl shows plainly the things I’d rather not let other people see. I offered my hand, palm up to her.

“Maybe we can look together? At the very least it’ll be nice to have such a cute girl as company.” It took a moment for me to realize how casually I’d blurted that last part out. Dammit, Kuro, you don’t want to sound overeager. The last thing you need to do is scare this girl by being too forward!

Deotra blushed again. “You… you think I’m cute?” She buried her face in her hands and turned away from me. She made a series of high-pitched squealing sounds that might have been embarrassment or excitement, and I could see her feet go pigeon-toed as she fidgeted. Then she turned abruptly and grasped my hand in hers. “I’d be delighted. I think I’d enjoy your company more than you think, Kuro.” She gave me a small yet radiant smile.

How can any girl be this cute? This is my chance. There could be hope for me yet. I reluctantly let go of her hand and picked up her lantern, and pointed toward a hole in the brush. “I think there might be another clearing in that direction. Should we check?”

She nodded. “Yes. Let’s go.” She grabbed onto my arm tight with her left arm, and I could feel her full bosom pushing into my elbow. As her head nestled against my shoulder, I felt the heat rise up in my face again, and was grateful she couldn’t see my face. Unfortunately, she must have felt my body stiffen, because she let go and backed away in surprise.

“Oh my… is this the first time you’ve ever been so close to a girl? I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…” Despite the concerned look on her face, she seemed oddly satisfied that she had been the first girl to initiate physical contact with me of her own free will. I waved my hand nonchalantly.

“No, not at all. You’re not making me uncomfortable,” I lied. “If it makes you feel better, you can hold my arm. I was just… not expecting it, was all.”

She snuggled up to me again. Her grip on my arm tightened too. “Alright. I’m glad I’m not being a burden…” My heartbeat was so fast I felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. As we began walking away, deeper into the forest, I chanced a look at her face. Her face was buried into my shoulder, a content smile plastered on it. She was making happy little purring noises, too.

In spite of everything, it does seem a bit odd. We’d known each other for maybe three minutes but she was perfectly fine with grabbing hold of me like I was a piece of driftwood in a raging sea. Something about this feels off. Deotra is basically everything I would look for in a girl and she just magically appeared out of nowhere. I tightened my grip on my staff. If she tries something, best to let her think she’s got me right where she wants me. I’ll be ready… I hope.

We made our way through the brush, scaring away the familiars around us. Still, if she really is who she says she is, I’m ruining her chances of finding her own familiar. Not to mention I feel bad for suspecting her of ill intentions. I didn’t want to part from her; her company went a long way to making me feel like I was special. It was intoxicating to have someone treat me like I was their hero.

Is this what it feels like to be Alverd?

As we walked beneath a canopy of trees that once again blocked out the moon, leaving only trace amounts of moonlight to guide our path, Deotra pushed up against me more. In an attempt to make her feel more at ease, I tried to break the ice. “So… you said you needed to form a contract too? How long have you been looking?”

In her small, shy voice, she answered. “A very long time. But the conditions were never right. I’ve been patient for a very long while, but I’m sure that with your help, I’ll find what I’m looking for.” She smiled at me again. “Maybe you’ll be my good luck charm.”

Hrrrrrrrnnnnnnggggggg. It was almost like she knew exactly what to say, to do, to make me fall for her. More disconcerting was how ready I was to talk to her. I wasn’t exactly the social type, but here I was all the same, trying to learn more about her. Then I started telling her about why I had ended up in the Forest of Familiars in the first place.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“I understand. I probably would have become a full-fledged mage about five or six years ago, had my homeland not been invaded. My best friend and I ended up becoming mercenaries. This isn’t even my staff, it belonged to my late mentor.” I showed her the cracked staff.

Deotra cocked her head to the side, which made her so cute that I almost swooned. “So, you only have your mentor’s staff? You never tried to carve your own?” I nodded.

“Yeah. I don’t know what goes into it. The way it was described to me, it sounded like it involved more than just magical power. Something that had to be applied, or some technique I wasn’t aware of. Trust me, if I knew, I’d have made my own staff years ago.” I looked down at the cracked staff in my hands. “Not that it makes much of a difference.” I said bitterly.

My new companion let her gaze fall to her feet. “I understand. There are a lot of things I don’t know how to do either… and the people from my home were very unforgiving. I guess that was one of the reasons they kicked me out. They just… didn’t want a little screw up like me around.” I could detect a flash of anger in her voice, but only for a second. I wondered for a moment if I should press for details, but decided not to. Her past was her past, and if she wanted to discuss it then I’d let her bring it up.

Still, my curiosity was piqued. I decided to let slip a few details about my own tumultuous childhood to try and get her to open up about her past. “Yeah, when I was a kid nobody wanted me around either. I… I don’t even know why my parents didn’t want me in the first place. I was raised in an orphanage until I was about five years old. Then I discovered I had magic and… well, I got lucky, I suppose. My mentor caught wind of my potential and took me to the capitol city of Marevar to receive training. And I met my first real friends there… Alverd and Laura…”

I felt a short pain in my heart when I mentioned Laura. She was still a sore topic, given how close I’d come to avenging her death. But I continued on. “Alverd and Laura… my two best friends in the world. We’d spend as much time together as possible…” I glanced in Deotra’s direction for a moment, but then trailed off. She was staring at me with wide eyes, two golden orbs hidden by red curtains. She was chewing her lip.

Finally, she spoke, barely above a whisper. “This girl… you were close to her?” Her eyes bored into mine with almost frightening intensity.

I don’t see how that pertains to anything, but I had nothing to hide. “Well, to be honest I always saw her as more of a big sister than anything else. I figured she and Alverd would end up together. And they probably would have, had she not…” I couldn’t help but notice that her voice had gained an edge to it when she mentioned Laura. I was certain it was nothing, but I looked at her again just to be sure.

If I had noticed anything out of place, though, it had only been for one fleeting moment, because Deotra was right back to being shy again. “Ah… I see.” Again, she seemed somewhat pleased by my answer. “I’m sorry. My big sister was… well, to be honest she wasn’t a very nice person. Neither was my father. My mother died when I was very young, and it kind of sent my family down a dark path. My home started to feel less like a home with every passing day.”

I could feel her right hand tighten around my arm. “My sister told all kinds of nasty lies about me, and my father never listened to me because he always favored her. She was the talented one, the one that could do no wrong, the one everyone said was going to change the world.” There was no hiding the bitterness now. Venom started to creep into her tone when she talked about her sister. “But nobody ever cared about how she treated me. As long as she was the golden child, it didn’t matter if she treated me like garbage. Because that’s what everyone felt I was compared to her.”

“But my mother said that I was destined for better things. So when I was exiled from my home, I swore I’d make her proud, and I’d never be dishonest if I could help it.” There was a waver in her voice when she mentioned being exiled. I couldn’t tell if she considered such a thing a boon or a bane. “I guess when you stop and think about it, being exiled isn’t so different from running away from home…”

I felt a sharp spike in my chest when she said that. Thinking about home always brought a bitter taste to my mouth. Deotra let go of my arm and quickly put her hands to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to make you think about that… I’m sure you lost a lot of people you cared about when those dreadful Ishmarians invaded. I was appalled when I heard about it. A lot of other kingdoms condemned that action, but then they didn’t do anything about it. It made me sick to my stomach.” She frowned and her eyes flashed maliciously. “If there’s anything I hate, it’s people who say one thing and do another. Liars are the worst.”

Strange. This is the first time I’ve ever been so interested in hearing about the fall of my homeland from someone else’s perspective. “Yeah. When Alverd and I found out later that the Guilfordians had sold us all out for a massive sum of gold, we were livid. But there wasn’t anything we could do. We were just two people, and we didn’t have any way of taking our revenge on anyone, much less an entire country or its king.”

Deotra leaned into me. “Don’t worry. We have a saying where I come from. ‘Those who start fires recklessly always get burned in the end.’ The Ishmarians and Guilfordians will get what’s coming to them. Just like…” She cast her eyes down. A dark cloud seemed to roll in over her, and I fidgeted awkwardly, as I had no way to contribute to her line of thought. Then I saw a pair of silver streaks fall down her cheeks. When I saw those tears, my mouth fell open uselessly and realized that I could say nothing to comfort her.

Fortunately she slid her arm across her face, wiping the tears away with her sleeve, then smiled at me. “But I’d rather not talk about that. I’m glad that I found you, Kuro.” She giggled, a short, quiet laugh that made me think of younger, more innocent times. “I guess I just needed some help finding my confidence. And maybe you just needed someone to do the same for you, too.”

This time it was my turn to be bashful. I reached my free arm back and scratched the back of my head in an absent-minded gesture. “Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for that.” And it was the truth. Having Deotra with me made me feel as if I could do anything.

We talked like that, back and forth as we wandered aimlessly, not seeming to care that we both had a job to do here in the forest. Eventually, we stumbled across a clearing with a pond, just outside of a large cave. The massive opening yawned like the maw of some beast, waiting to swallow us up.

She peered into the gaping darkness. “I can sense something big. Something ancient. A powerful familiar dwells within.” She picked up a rock and tossed it into the inscrutable depths. The rock echoed as it bounced a few times, then silence reigned once more.

I gulped. Even to impress a girl like Deotra, this seems a bit much. It was literally walking into a monster’s den. Fortunately, I was a mage, and I had options. I set the lantern down next to the cave entrance, then coaxed the lantern’s flame into my hand. The lantern extinguished itself as the red flame within bounced into my hand. I nodded to Deotra. She moved away from the opening. Counting to three, I threw the ball into the cave, and watched as it worked its way through.

After I lost sight of it, something roared deep down in the recesses of the cave. Something monstrous shot out of the opening. It had teeth, claws, scales, and horns. As I fell on my arse in shock, a dark shadow fell across me, eclipsing the light of the moon. As I looked up, I heard words tumble out of my mouth. “Well, shit.”

According to the book in my robe, familiars could take on any form they desired to test a mage’s skill. More often than not, they chose forms that played upon a mage’s fears, a classic move to see how the mage would respond under pressure. The process of gaining a familiar was a test of the mage’s calibur on every level, not just a measure of their raw power. As the beast reared up, I saw the form it had taken: a dragon.

However, there were no details, no features. Instead, the entire mass resembled a pool of mercury given shape. Distorted reflections played across the mirrored surface of the familiar’s “skin” making it hard to tell where it was looking. But then the thing’s “head” swiveled in my direction and looked straight at me. I could tell, because I saw my own reflection staring straight back at me, dropped jaw and all.

The beast hissed and shot blue fire from its maw. I rolled away and began running from the dragon. In the clearing, I did not have the luxury of cover, nor did I have Alverd to distract the dragon. I searched frantically for Deotra, but couldn’t find her. The dragon roared again, and when I turned to look, I saw it was ready to spew more fiery death at me.

I hastily conjured a defensive spell. The shimmering shield that appeared wouldn’t be able to hold against repeated attacks, but it would be enough to hold the first blast. As the dragon’s breath washed over me and the shield, I frantically hatched a plan.

When the fire subsided, I looked for Deotra. She had taken cover behind a row of trees. I called out to her. “I need you to distract it for a few seconds!” She was scared, I could see it in her eyes, but she nodded firmly and leaped out of her hiding spot. She can be brave when she needs to be. I like her even more now. With a twirl of her staff, she launched a ball of blue fire at the dragon, which impacted the beast in the chest. It roared, and wheeled around to find the source of the attack. It quickly located Deotra, and moved to counterattack.

When the dragon turned away from me, I began my incantation. I opened my mind and called out to the spirits in the area. The spirits within the pond flowed toward me, drawn by my invitation. A ball of ice swirled into being at the tip of my staff, growing larger as the spirits drew closer.

But then something began to happen. I saw the cracks in my staff begin to spread. As the power surged through the staff towards the tip, the cracks elongated. Snapping sounds began to punctuate the spread of the cracks. I gripped the staff tighter, struggling to aim the ball at the dragon. I saw Deotra trip as she leaped out of the way of a blast of fire. Time seemed to slow as the dragon circled over the fallen girl, like a vulture eyeing a corpse.

If I didn’t release my spell, the familiar would kill her. I didn’t have a choice. No staff outweighed a life. I didn’t even hesitate. I threw as much power into the spell as I could. I pulled all the moisture from the surrounding air as I could get, and reinforced it with more from my own body. The glowing ball of ice grew yet again, pulsing now. The vibrations from the staff were almost too violent for me to hold back. Please, Eternity, if you’re listening, if you save this girl I’ll never ask for anything ever again. I aimed at the flying dragon.When I lined the dragon up, I spoke the incantation.

“Oh, frozen glory! Return this hated memory to its rightful place! Bind it within a coffin made from impenetrable frost! Let it be buried for all time in the darkness from whence it came!”

The ball shot forward, and the staff exploded into pieces. The dragon paused to breathe fire at Deotra; it never saw the spell coming. With a thunderous crack, the spell slammed into the dragon’s side, just under its wing. The entire creature shattered into fragments, as though I had taken a mace to a mirror. The fragments disintegrated into vapor, which in turn disappeared into thin air. I marveled at what I had done, and then the grim reality sunk in.

I killed it. I had just destroyed my chance, and also Deotra’s chance, of creating a contract with this creature, whatever its true form had been. I fell to my knees, weariness spreading through my limbs like a cancer. I barely even noticed when she kneeled down next to me, looking up at what few pieces of the not-dragon were still fading away.

“It’s not your fault, Kuro.” Deotra put her hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her, then did a double-take. This close, I could see right down the plunging neckline of her robe. I’d felt her chest push up against my arm earlier, but, as I wasn’t rude enough to stare openly, I had tried (and not really succeeded) averting my gaze from her breasts before. They were perfect. So round and full, but not big enough to just be obscene… dammit, it wasn’t my fault! I was just being a young man! I couldn’t help but look!

Deotra must have seen the color rising in my face, because she looked down and saw where my eyes were really aimed at. Her face turned a shade of red that I didn’t think was actually possible in a human being. She quickly crossed her arms over her chest and made an adorable whimpering sound. “You’re such a pervert. And here I was worried about you.” There was huffiness in her tone, but it sounded like it was mostly for show, because she eventually relaxed and looked back at me.

I sat in that clearing with her for a moment. The moon’s light shone down on us, ceasing only when the occasional errant cloud eclipsed its light. I asked Deotra what she planned to do.

She sighed again. “Well, what’s done is done. I should have been more careful. Wild familiars are dangerous, and we both knew that. If anyone should be sorry, though, it’s me. Your staff is useless now.”

She was right. I was still holding what was left of Farnus’ old staff. It had broken straight in the middle. Without it, I couldn’t use magic. At least, not without killing myself anyway. I wasn’t like Sheena. If I attempted it, I would be killed by the very energies I attempted to harness and control.

Deotra leaned closer to me. “You know, you saved my life, Kuro. I know it’s little comfort, but I’m very grateful to you.” I sighed. It was indeed a platitude. It was what every girl said. Every single girl who ended up being rescued by Alverd and I in the past five years had ended up saying that. But they had always said it to Alverd, never me.

It felt good.

Something warm pressed against my cheek. In my shock, I didn’t even realize at first that Deotra had kissed my cheek. I had never experienced the feeling before, so it was no wonder I didn’t realize what was going on. Even then, my short-circuiting brain still didn’t figure it out until a few seconds later.

Brain. Brain. Are you there? Pretty girl. Brain. Smooch. Heh heh. Finally, she broke off the kiss, leaning back a little bit so she could look into my eyes. As I looked into hers, I felt a chill go down my spine. There was still a hint of the shy, almost naive innocence I’d seen before, but now her expression was that of extreme want. But it wasn’t lust I saw.

It was just… need. She had the expression of a woman who hadn’t eaten food for weeks, only to finally be given a loaf of bread. It was what she needed, but it just wasn’t enough. She needed more, because it was essential to life. Her face seemed to say that she had been waiting a lot longer than just a few weeks.

I stammered. “Deotra? What’s going on?” She only answered by kissing me, this time on the lips. She was being very aggressive, and I needed to breathe. Wait, what is happening here?! I pushed Deotra off of me. When I looked at her again, she was staring at me with that same hungry look in her eye, and when she smiled, her teeth flashed at me, gleaming white.

“I’ve waited so long… you have no idea, Kuro.” Deotra giggled, but this time it wasn’t so cute. This time it sounded downright creepy. “What’s wrong? I’m so happy you’re finally here… aren’t you happy to be here? Aren’t you happy to be here with me?” Her whole face looked like that of a drunkard’s after a few pints. “I thought you’d like this…I thought you liked me. Don’t you understand how I feel? I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Despite what she said being true, I wasn’t about to just knock boots with some girl I had just met. I crawled back slowly, never facing away from her. “Look, Deotra. I don’t know what’s come over you, but this isn’t really the place, alright? I mean, don’t get me wrong. You are insanely gorgeous, definitely top notch. But I barely know you! Where I come from, we don’t just kiss complete strangers.” Suddenly I stopped in my tracks, as something she said finally registered in my brain. “Wait… what do you mean, a long time? What are you talking about?!”

Something changed in the girl standing before me. The lovestruck expression on her face faded immediately. Her eyes, once vibrant and sparkling, became narrowed with a kind of quiet hostility. Her teeth ground together audibly as her mouth went from smile to grimace. I felt something cold, like a blast of winter air, sweep up from behind her and flow past me. Something, like garbled laughter, rode that air until it swirled back around and hovered before the girl, distorting the air above her like a heat mirage.

Then that air spoke. I didn’t have a better word to describe what I was hearing, because even though the sound was akin to a person speaking through a closed window submerged in mud, I could hear it clear as day. I didn’t have to understand the words to see the effect it was having on Deotra, either. The poor girl was frantic, her eyes watering and desperate, practically pleading with the not-voice.

“I told you he wouldn’t respond to such aggression! Now look. He’s suspicious of me. I worked far too long and far too hard for this. No, you said that he would be completely receptive to this approach.” She started pacing back and forth, waving her arms in the air furiously. “I can’t let him leave. Don’t ask me that. Don’t. Please, don’t make me…” Her voice, once filled with what sounded like righteous anger, was now full of desperation.

“But I did as you asked! You failed to fulfill our bargain…” I could hear a sob forming in her voice. “I know you’ve never been wrong so far… but you’re asking me to do…to do the impossible. You cannot… I knew I never should have trusted you…” Tears appeared in her eyes, and she fell on her knees. “I-I-I know that you said that, but he’s right here…please…”

The presence, hanging like a dark cloud, slid around her, until it was between the girl and the entrance of the cave. I felt a wave of pressure as the not-voice clawed at my mind, rich and smooth but alien, and I knew something was wrong. It only took me a moment to figure out what was going on.

Deotra was carrying on a spirited argument with a demon. Very, very few people could get away with such behavior, even mages. I have to do something. If I don’t, that demon will kill us both. They’re not known for messing around. I was still frozen in place, trying to figure out what I was going to do, when she turned around and started walking away.

She picked up her staff from where it had fallen after she had tripped during our battle. She took a tentative step towards me, but when I reflexively took a step back, the agonized look of pain on her face intensified. Now entirely on the verge of crying, she let the staff fall to the ground. After dropping the staff, she started moving away from it, towards the cave from which the familiar had emerged.

“I’m sorry that this had to happen the way that it did, Kuro.” She was now standing by the cave mouth. “This wasn’t how I wanted our meeting to go. But if she says I lost my chance, then I have to abide by her terms. I’m really glad I got to meet you. I know this must not make any sense to you, but you don’t need to worry about any of it. It’s better that way.” There were tears streaming down her face now, and it made my heart ache even through the panic and confusion.

Then she reached down, picked up the lantern, and with a wave of her hand lit the candle. A bright blue flame sparked to life within the lantern. I felt my mouth fall open. Even such a small display of magic without a staff would have had some kind of consequence, but Deotra merely stood there, the same look of sadness on her face. I took another step back, not knowing what to make of this development.

She threw the lantern to me, and despite my state of unease, I caught it. The blue light within flickered, but stayed lit. “Please… you need to leave now.” I looked at her with disbelief. Something else was going on, something I couldn’t put my finger on, but my priority at the moment was to save her from the demon. I held my right arm out to her.

“Hey, look at me. I’m not letting that… thing take you away. Take my hand. It doesn’t have to end like this.”

Deotra shook her head sadly. “No, I’m afraid it does. I overstepped. I did what I wasn’t supposed to do, and now I have to accept my punishment for that. She’s very disappointed with me, and I won’t run away from what I’m due.” Something growled, something big, from the cave behind her.

Suddenly, a dozen hands, human in shape, surged out from its depths, each of them feeling along the ground. Deotra stepped towards the hands, and I screamed. “NO! Stop! I can help you! Don’t give in! I can help you fight the demon!”

I bent down and picked up Deotra’s staff. The moment I grabbed it, I felt a power surge into me from it. It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. High on adrenaline, I pointed it at the hands. “Deotra, stop! Fight it!” She turned back to me, her eyes still full of tears.

“Take what I’ve given you and leave this place, Kuro.” The hands, on arms that stretched like rubber, leaped up and latched onto her, wrapping around her like snakes.

“NO! Let me help you! Don’t submit!” I tried to push forward, but it was like my feet were rooted in swamp mud. She smiled wistfully as the hands grabbed at her.

“Don’t weep for me, Kuro. Nobody will miss a whelp like me. Instead, promise me one thing.” She didn’t even fight against the hands. Instead, she took the small bracelet around her left wrist and threw it at my feet. I stopped struggling against the power now running rampant through my body, and strained my ears to hear her.

“Don’t come back for me.”

Then the hands took hold, and she was dragged into the dark.

I screamed in anguish. But then the fire in the lantern roared, and there was a flash of light so bright that I had to shield my eyes. In the forefront of my mind, I heard it clearly for the first time. The dark voice of the demon, a voice rich and full and seductive, so replete with self-satisfaction that it made me sick. It filled my mind like viscous tar, blanketing my consciousness with a horrible, syrupy evil.

“A fitting fate for a liar. One you shall share if you return for her.”

And then all was black.

When I awoke, Sheena, Alverd and Alicia were above me, looking down. Alverd lifted me up, helping me to my feet. I shook my head, trying to clear out the cobwebs and fog. As I gathered my wits, I saw that I was at the entrance of the forest. The iron lantern, still lit with its unnatural blue light, lay to my left, and in my right hand, was Deotra’s staff. The smooth mahogany staff fit in my hand as if it belonged there, and the ruby on the top glittered ominously. As I stared at it, I thought of her tormented face. I shuddered and let go of it, dropping it as if it were a burning coal.

Sheena spotted the staff and tried to pick it up for a closer look. However, when her hand alighted upon the staff, she recoiled away. The staff had discharged a blast of electricity when she had touched it. She looked at the staff warily, the way someone would regard a cobra that was within striking distance.

“I have a very bad feeling about that staff.” She remarked. She poked at the stick with her own staff, and the ruby gleamed malevolently again, almost as if it were sentient. “How did you get it? Surely you didn’t find it in the forest, did you?” She looked to me.

“As a matter of fact, I did.” I looked Sheena in the eye. I was just about to tell her about Deotra when the image of her forcing her mouth against mine crossed my mind. Things look bad enough as is. Maybe I shouldn’t tell Sheena about the crazy girl trying to make out with me in the creepy woods. “I, uh… found it. In a clearing. While I was alone. All alone. Yeah.” I scratched the back of my head to hide the fact that I was fidgeting, then asked Sheena a question to throw attention away from me. “Say, how many other mages are running around in that forest?”

Sheena blinked. “Sir Kuro, you were the only one. The forest is too dangerous for lone mages to be traversing it at night. It has one entrance that is watched over by guardsmen day and night. Why would you ask such a thing?” She cocked her head to the side, a look of confusion stamped on her face, mirroring the one on mine.

As the three discussed amongst themselves what to do, I noticed that Deotra’s bracelet was wedged underneath me. The others hadn’t seen it. I quickly pocketed the bracelet. It was made of red twine and had a charm on it, with some kind of rune or character carved into it that I didn’t understand. I figured I’d get a better look at it later.

I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for what I had just gone through. Of course, if there is one, it’s eluding me. The only thing I could think of was Deotra’s bubbly laughter, and how I’d left an innocent girl to the nonexistent mercy of a demon. I felt sick to my stomach as that haunting sound echoed in my memory.

All the way back to the Ivory Palace, my mind was preoccupied with that laughter. It haunted me in my dreams, all the way into the morning.