Drox the demon teddy bear banged his hands on the circle in frustration. Every time he hit the ring a semi-transparent barrier would flash red. Josh sat on the other side cross legged so that he was almost eye-to-eye with the small bear.

“Let me out of here you foolish overlord!” Drox had stopped screaming after the first hour and decided to just speak normally. His voice still sounded like two mountains colliding together, but now it was at a volume that was reasonable.

“So,” said Josh, “you ready to make a contract then?”

Adam had seen this before. Drox would demand freedom and Josh would ask for a contract. The bear would refuse and start pounding away at the circle again. So, he just closed his eyes as he waited splayed out on the grass. Mina sat next to the circle glancing at Drox every so often.

“A contract with you? My pinky had more strength than you before I had seen my tenth winter.”

“You don’t have pinkies,” Josh pointed out.

“I did once,” said Drox. He flopped more than sat on the ground as his fluffy head sagged. “I was a great conqueror in my time. I fought battles, took land, and toppled kingdoms.”

“What happened?” asked Josh. He felt himself grow excited. This was how he could finally get a contract out of Drox. The knowledge the demonology book had passed on to him had shown him what had to be done. He had to get the demon bear to accept before he decided to just go back. If he had a higher skill it would be easy, but the first time was apparently always the hardest. He’d need to convince Drox to contract with him rather than force his will upon the bear.

“A damned witch snuck into my camp whilst I was asleep,” said Drox. “She tore my soul from my body and shoved it into a child’s toy before killing me.”

“You’ve seen magic?” asked Mina. She would have long grown past the point of waiting if Drox wasn’t so cute.

“Of course! Most people have some sort of magic, fool girl.”

“Only in stories,” said Mina, “possibly once again with the appearance of such monsters.”

Drox looked over to Mina. The small buttons he had for eyes visibly grew giving him a shocked appearance. “What do you mean only in stories? And what monsters?”

“I mean there has not been magic in this world since the gods vanished. It must have been close to a thousand eras ago.”

“By the gods.” Drox’s voice cracked a little. “What era is it?”

Josh looked at Mina which she thought was a bit strange before she said, “It's the Ninth Era of the Dead Gods.”

"How far back was the Era of the Bloody Kingdom?"

Mina put a hand to her chin and thought before she spoke. "Five hundred and fifty cycles past. I remember that one from the stories. Magic was prevalent in that day."

Drox flopped to the ground and looked up toward the sky. His breath came in choked gasps. “Over five hundred cycles I’ve been down there. It felt like an instant, but. . .”

“That’s a long time,” said Josh. “Do you really want to go back down there?” Josh motioned down with his thumb.

“No, I don’t think I do.”

“So, a contract then?”

“Everything and everyone I know is gone.”

Josh winced at the statement. He could see the pain painted across the bear’s face. Drox was truly saddened by the knowledge. “I’m sorry. I’d let you out if I could, but that’s not how this works. Either you make a contract, you head back down on your own, or I have to dissipate the summoning circle which will send you back down when it’s gone. There is no way to free you.”

Drox sighed and looked toward Josh. Josh was sure he saw the bear wipe a tear away from his eye. “Fine, let’s make a deal. You promise to help me get my body back and I’ll be your familiar.”

“Deal,” said Josh.

With that the light from the circle vanished. Drox stood up on his small fluffy legs and walked over the line of withered black grass without any resistance. In front of Josh a new notification popped up letting him know he’d gain a new quest.

New Quest Received: Help Drox get a new body.

“That’s it?” asked Adam from where he was laying down.

“That’s it,” said Josh. “Drox is bound to me now until I release him, he dies, or I die. Looks like I got another quest too. Need to help Drox find a body.”

“I’m so lucky,” said Drox. He did not sound happy.

Adam stood up and stretched. He noticed his party menu in the top left corner now showed Drox right below Josh as if they were connected.

Name: Drox Level:

1

Class:

N/A

HP: 50/50 MP: 100/100 Josh's Familiar

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Drox’s HP was 50/50 and his MP was 100/100. Adam thought that was an interesting starting combination as he hadn’t seen any of the races start with 10 of any attribute.

“Drox, do you have a stat page?” he asked.

“What’s a–” Drox was interrupted before he could finish his thought. He started to scream and run around flailing his arms. “What evil magic have you cast upon me?” he wailed.

“Relax,” said Josh, “that’s what Adam was asking about. It shows your attributes and other information. Just use your mind to make it go away.”

Drox stopped running around in circles and put his fluffy paws on where his knees would be as he panted for breath.

“Ah,” said Mina finally understanding, “this all showed up about the same time the goblins did. Nobody knows where it came from, but when it appeared everything changed. I felt a rush of power like nothing before. My senses were clearer. I had strength like I couldn’t believe. I could lift a sword as if it were the fallen feather of a bird. Then the goblins appeared. When we pushed back one of the first attacks, those blue crystals swarmed into my body. It said I gained a level and I had points to spend. I used what I had for strength and stamina.”

“That’s very interesting,” said Drox as he put his paw up to his chin in a thoughtful motion. “So you’re telling me all of the sudden everyone has all these numbers and they mean more power?”

“Seems that way,” said Mina.

“If the gods have vanished but this magic is here then that means she has returned.”

“Who?” asked Josh.

“The creator of all things. The true goddess. I know only what the legends say. She was locked away for eternity. No one knows why, but eternity seems a lot shorter than I think anyone expected.” Drox let out a rumbling laugh.

Adam felt like he understood. He had seen the woman in the crystal from the trailer. It seemed though that the NPCs were thrown into chaos in the last week. They’d have to discover everything together it seemed. He liked that idea the more that he thought about it. Exploration and adventure would be the key to success in this world. The idea made butterflies swarm in his stomach. A smile crept across his face. This was exciting.

“Do you two have any skills or anything?” asked Josh. “I have demonology and great sword skills. I also just picked up Power Slash from leveling up. It’s an ability that will increase the damage of my next sword attack.”

“Yes,” Mina said as she nodded. “We should understand each other’s fighting capabilities. I have a one-handed sword skill, a shield skill, and something called leadership. I also got an ability when I reached level two. It is called Taunting Shout. I can force monsters to attack me for a time.”

“Nature magic for me and hand-to-hand skill. I have an ability Combo that lets me increase my speed if I land three hits in a row when activating it. I also have Emerald Leaves which is a healing spell.”

Mina’s eyes were suddenly on Adam. “You have a healing spell?”

“Yeah, it heals someone for 50 HP, but it has a five minute cooldown.”

“Take care to use it wisely. It could save a life.”

“Whoa! What the hell is that?” asked Josh

Adam and Mina both looked over to see Drox holding a massive tome. The thing was at least as big, closed, as the bear was tall. It was made of black stone with red lines running like veins of molten lava. The small rivers of red seemed to be moving as Drox opened the book.

“Don’t know,” said Drox, “was in my pack.” He pointed toward the impossibly small yellow backpack that was at least four times smaller than the book. “Says here that it’s called a Grimoire of Fire. What do you mean ‘do I want to equip this item?’ I’m already holding the damned thing you foul magic.” Drox started waving his free hand around his face.

“Just accept with your mind,” said Josh.

Drox’s eyes glazed over for a moment before he snapped back to reality shaking his little bear head back and forth. “What in the smooth fiery ass of the Demon King. Something is messing with my head!”

“That seems to be how we learn now,” said Mina. “When I gained the Taunting Shout skill a rush of knowledge on how to use it rushed into my thoughts.”

“Yep,” said Adam, “same thing happened to both of us.”

Drox shot a glare toward Josh. “You could have warned me ya son of a goat.”

“Hey,” said Josh putting his hands up in surrender, “nothing like that has happened to us when equipping something.”

Drox looked back down at the book, studying it intently. He flipped through a few pages nodding to himself. Adam had to admit that watching a mohawk sporting teddy bear read was very adorable. A moment later Drox looked up and said, “It seems that this Tome of Fire grants me a skill with the same name and allows me to cast spells from the book. As the skill levels up new spells will appear within the book. For the moment I have Fire Bolt.”

“That’s freaking sweet,” said Josh. He went to look at the book over Drox’s tiny shoulder.

Drox put the edge of the book into his mouth. A moment later he turned a spit making hacking noises. “That is not sweet at all.”

“I meant that’s very cool.”

“It wasn’t cool. It felt like fire!”

“I mean it’s interesting,” Josh sighed.

“Then say that you horned gorilla!”

“We should get moving,” said Mina. “The goblins have been coming from near the top of the mountain according to the scouts. That’s at least a day's travel through the forest.” She looked down at Drox looking like she wanted to say something. Instead she started off toward the forest covered mountain.

“What’s a goblin?” asked Drox. His book had vanished back into his backpack.

“Little green demons with sharp teeth and long pointy ears,” said Josh, making scary goblin faces towards Drox.

“So, a sick Rinklin. Got it.”

The rest of the group started off after Mina toward the smoldering forest covered mountain that had continued to spit out black smoke like a lavaless volcano. It didn’t take long before Adam, Josh, and Mina had outpaced Drox. His small legs just couldn’t keep up with the other three. They stopped and waited for him to catch up.

He came huffing and puffing up to the group. When he finally made it he put his little fluffy paws on his legs where his knees would have been if he had any. His bright red mohawk and little yellow backpack stood out against his brown body.

“Um,” said Mina. She was looking toward the mountain, but kept sneaking glances toward the bear. “Do you want a ride?”

Drox looked up at her. He smiled before saying, “Yes lass that would be great.”

***

Deep within the canopy of the massive forest that covered most of the steep, smoldering mountain there was movement. It was slight and almost unnoticeable, but the movement continued until a small green-skinned goblin descended. It rode a vine down as easy as if it were walking. The goblin in question did not have the same black corruption the others did. Instead it’s skin was clear and the color of summer grass. It could have easily been mistaken for a tall child except for the skin and pointy ears. The goblin wore pants and a vest of tough brown leather. Despite coloring of his clothes everything about him was of the forest except his eyes. They were as blue as a cloudless sky almost to the point of shining in the shade of the forest.

As the goblin hit the ground without a sound he let go of the vine. The soft forest floor beneath his bare feet still felt alien to him. He wasn’t used to the forest no matter how natural it became. He wasn’t opposed to it, but it still took some getting used to. Around his neck sat a small stone whistle. It was one of the only things he had left of his home. He brought the whistle to his lips and let the sound ring throughout the empty forest. The sound was so high that even his ears weren't able to pick up the tone. But the birds and insects that filled the forest with the noise were instantly quieted. When he dropped the whistle he waited. A moment later he heard a howl split through the silence. A smile split across his face as he raced toward the sound. It was time for him to find a pack again.