"Hang on!" I gasped, watching the magic snow waft away from the leviathan.

That was my familiar! We just connected our souls, so what was happening to it? At least, I think that's what just happened when we were both glowing. Frankly, I was still in awe of seeing my soul – and a little shaken from it. Wasn't that supposed to be a bad thing?

And now my familiar was disappearing. Yes, disappearing. Every time a piece of magic glitter rose in the air, the dragon's huge glow shape got a little smaller. The System said that if my familiar died, it would devastate my magic. Now after connecting me and the leviathan, the System was taking away my familiar, particle by particle? Or was the dragon simply too injured to survive the process? Did I just accidentally cripple myself?

A million thoughts raced through my mind, so fast I couldn't grasp a complete thought. What should I do? Everything about this situation was so new to me. Desperate, I reached out to the leviathan's glowing shape. I gasped when I felt no resistance where the skin should be and my hand sank into the light all the way up to my wrist. Where did my dragon go?

My actions made the remaining light surrounding the monster pop like a bubble with another blinding flash. I winced and tried to back away. Even though I didn't feel anything on my skin, my hand was stuck inside and I couldn't retract it. It took every ounce of self control not to struggle and rip out my hand. Maybe there was a reason I was stuck? The System wouldn't hurt me, would it? Although I was starting to question that idea right now.

A light weight settled in my palm. My eyes widened, feeling the smooth, cool texture against my skin. It took me a half second to remember that I took off my left glove earlier – I'd forgotten about it with everything that was going on. Hang on, what was in my hand?

The light faded, as if it was never there to begin with, revealing a small blue-green snake in my hand. A System title bar popped up. Ding! [Leviathan Lv 8]

My jaw hit the floor. "What the hell? Where's my awesome dragon?" I wailed. This had to be a joke. I made a contract with a dragon, not a snake!

Ding! [Hosts and familiars are connected and share many things, e.g. the same amount of EXP. The familiar's shape corresponds to their level. As the Host gets stronger, so will the familiar.]

"That wasn't part of the deal!" I insisted. I wanted a huge monster to protect me right now, when I was weak. I didn't need one when I was strong enough to protect myself. How was a foot-long snake going to fly me home or help me survive the night?

The System didn't respond to my words. Ding! [Familiar's info was added to the System Guide.]

Was it trying to imply that what's done is done, and I couldn't argue about it? Sulking, I opened the System's main menu. A new option appeared under the Stats button, titled Familiar. I clicked on it.

A message popped up, concealing the text behind it. Ding! [Please name your familiar.]

I blinked. "A name?" I guess that was only fair. Every being deserved a name – even if it wasn't the cool dragon I was expecting.

I glanced at the little snake limp in my hand. Its scales were smooth and clean – much cleaner than I was at the moment. Its horns and the pretty feathery appendages were gone, leaving a normal looking blue snake. It didn't appear to be injured anymore, but it was still unconscious. It must be really hurt.

"It's a leviathan, right?" I muttered, remembering its big form. I better see it again someday. Soon. Unfortunately, I didn't know how soon. "Let's just make things easy and call it Levi," I announced. "That's gender neutral enough, right?" After all, I didn't know if I was holding a boy or a girl snake, and I wasn't going to poke around to check. Had to admit, I wasn't the best at coming up with names. It should be happy that it wasn't named something like Pumpkin or Noodle.

The message disappeared, revealing Levi's information page. It was a lot easier to understand than mine, only listing its name, EXP – which were the same as mine – HP, abilities, and skills.

Levi

HP 3/90

Level 8

EXP to Next LV 84

Abilities:

Bubble

Water Manipulation

Regen (Limited)

Skills:

Deep Dive

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Water Breathe

I couldn't help but pause when I saw its HP. Three points out of ninety? No wonder it was still unconscious. Still, since it shared my Regen like the System said, it will be better soon. Until then there were other things I needed to worry about.

Like where was I going to sleep tonight? Levi could rest and heal up, but I was still aching all over. I looked over at the giant unknown carcass not far away. It was bleeding out and making a bigger mess. I should do something about that carcass, but I didn’t know what right now. I couldn’t fit it in my Items Bag – it’s way too big. For now, I should focus on surviving the night, then deal with it in the morning.

But first things first, I felt really, really disgusting right now. Just thinking about all the gunk caked on me throughout the day, what with the trek in and out of the Science Initiative building, and caught in the dragons' fight, then walking through the muck to Levi.

Determined, I headed towards the river. I needed to find a place to hide, but if I was so dirty I could barely move, what was the point? And what if some weird smell on me attracted a monster's attention? On the flip side, what if all the dirt actually camouflaged my own scent and I shouldn't wash it off? I only stewed over the problem for a second before continuing my march. As a semi-clean freak, I simply couldn't stand being this filthy. I'll clean off first, then start looking. If I was going to die tonight, I was going to do it with the dignity of being a clean meal.

All the water Levi pulled out of the river for the battle had washed away the bank's ridge, leaving a gentle slope. Other than being a bit slippery, it was an easy walk down the edge. I stopped and looked from the river to the unconscious snake in my hand. Levi was a water snake dragon and had the Water Breath skill, so I wasn't worried about it getting wet. What I worried about was the current snatching the snake out of my hand. I'd never touched a wet snake before – or any snake, really. Did they get slippery when wet?

After a moment of thinking, I carefully set the snake down on a rock on the shore. Since it was my familiar, it wouldn't run off, would it? Assuming that it knew it was my familiar when it woke up. What if it woke while I was washing and slithered away before I noticed? I paused, mid-crouch. The System already omitted a major loophole in this familiar thing – that dragon wasn't going to stay a dragon. What else was I going to get blindsided with?

"Stay," I ordered the snake, trying to reinforce the command with my hand. The System said we'd have a telepathic bond, so it should understand, right? Shiva understood and she didn't have a bond with me. Okay, she was also always conscious when I gave the command too. I paused and couldn't help but stress to the limp snake. "Stay there. Don't move."

I hurried over to the river and stepped into the cold water. Though not frigid, it was chilly enough that I shivered. The shallows weren't very wide before the river bottom suddenly plunged, hiding under the deep blue water. It reminded me of pictures I'd seen of ocean shelves. I wasn't too surprised by the river depths. The river was deep enough that a leviathan could hide in it for who knows how long. I could tell that the current was fast, but I couldn’t tell how fast.

Instead, I walked until the river reached my knees then sat down and let the chilly water wash over my body. It was gross how much the water color changed as the grim drifted away. Like really. "That used to be on me," I muttered in disgust, watching the lines of black grim and flakes of dried blood wash away in the water.

If I didn't have the System, I would never lay down in a river with my leather armor on. But since it renewed every night, I wasn't that worried. I wasn't in here for my armor anyway, this was mostly for my own body. Finally, I laid back and washed my head then climbed out of the river. My gaze zeroed on the rock as I got as much water off as I could.

The snake was still in the same place. Humming in concern, I picked it up and poked at the smooth scales. It was still alive, right? I could see it breathing. So how much longer was it going to stay unconscious?

How was I supposed to carry it around? I wasn't going to drape it around my neck, and stuffing it in my chest was a major nope. Which meant carrying it around in my left hand for now. As long as I didn't get in a fight, it shouldn't be a problem. As for when that happened, well, we'd get there when we got there. Who knew, maybe the snake didn't like to be carried at all.

Okay, let's be honest. At this rate, I wasn't going to be alive long enough to worry about that problem. There was only a couple hours left before the sun went down.

"Where should I go?" I whispered, looking at the city ruins.

The unknown dragon did a number on the buildings there. Only a few were left standing and I didn't have a lot of faith in the ones that were still upright. I already survived one building falling on me today – in fact, the same building technically fell on me twice. I doubt my luck was good enough to live through it again. But what else was I going to do? I had to find somewhere to hide. Wait, what if a rescue team came before sun down, how were they going to find me? I told Dad I’d be back by six. How long after that time would they wait to start freaking out? Or what if they had to wait till morning, and I was still miraculously alive, how were they going to find me then?

I paused when I felt a slight movement in my palm. The snake was waking up? I looked down just as it cracked its eyes open, revealing bright golden pupils.

It blinked slowly, still drowsy.

Suddenly, I was distinctly aware of a new feeling in the back of my head. I could feel its muddle emotions. No, not it. Now that Levi was awake, I could distinctly tell it was a he.

First impressions were important, so I smiled as best as I could. "Hi, my name's Ria." Since dragons were intelligent, it seemed only right to talk to him like a normal person.

Levi blinked, looking mild and cute. I could almost see the haze clearing from his brain. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and the soft amber hardened to glinting gold. His head rose high and his slender body puffed up, trying to threaten me, as his tongue tasted the air. Then he paused. I could feel his confusion churning in the back of my head.

Levi looked up into my face looming over him, then bent his neck and stared down at his body. He jerked, nearly jumping out of his scales. He didn't think in distinct words, but I understood him perfectly. He was freaking out over the size of his body.

For a tiny body, he had a lot of big feels. "Calm down," I tried to soothe him the best I could. "Things are a little different and it's going to take some adjusting to." For the both of us. But at least I didn't shrink down like he did. "We're going to be companions for now on."

He paused and looked up at me with wide eyes. I could almost hear his internal scream, What?!

*****