"... one more goes here, and the spot for the last one is right there." said a woman putting a final candle in its proper place. At least for her. The mystical circle that served as a base for the candles had in fact nothing in common with a proper circle. What started as a series of straight lines, soon devolved into a bung of wiggly lines, weird symbols and others unspecified things.

For most people it would be a sign of mental health problems, but for magicians this circle was akin to a work of art. Especially noteworthy was that, despite its high complexity, it was still very much simplified.

If the circle would been used for what it was originally designed for, removing some safety measures may not been a best idea. However, it was not like there wos needed for them now.

Nope, the young women who made this circle had no plans to summon and bind demons.

In her opinion, only someone stupid or evil would make a deal with demons. Or a wizard. Afterall, despite all its downsides, for a wizard in need of a strong familiar there's only one option. Infernal pact.

WAS our only one option, she thought. But after today, that will be no longer true.

"Time for the final check. Ritual circle," she took a rader long look at the strange scribbles in the middle of the floor, before she declared satisfied "error free and ready to use."

"Candles lit, incantation memorize..." one by one all parts of the ritual were inspect, until she arrived a the final element, "... and one house cat." Having said this, she reached for a metal cage with a black, blue-eyed cat.

"You don't look so good." Indeed, he barely reacted to being pulled from the cage. When he opens eyes for a few second, then were clearly unfocused and confused, as if he did not see the young women and couldn't focus on her no matter how hard he tried.

"Don't worry, in a few moments you will feel much better." said the young woman when she puted the cat in one of the two smaller circles inside the primary ritual circle. After that she took her spot in the second inner circle.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Honestly speaking, she would have leave the cat without a second thought where she saw him for the first time.

Using a sick cat in a ritual was not a good idea, but she was running out of time. Finding a non magical animal in a city with biggest magical academy in the country, has proven itself to be a rather hard task. This stray cat was the first suitable animal she seen in a few days.

Starting the ritual was surprisingly simple. From outside, all it took was a steady stream of mana, some chanting in a bizarre language and burning a few ingredients in a candle flame in a suitable moment. Having said that, the story looked completely different from the young woman point of view. In the beginning everything was going as plan, but as soon as the ritual had reached the cat, things started going sideways.

In just a moment, carefully weaved formations mana lines inside the circle unravel, crisscrossing in a unpredictable and undesirable ways. Before she realized that something was wrong, the young woman had completely lost control over the ritual.

There was no even time to for her expression to twist in terror before the pain hit. A pain like no other, as if she was being reap in ways that should be impossible.

***

The cat took a look on the young woman moving from one side of the room to the other, while she rant and scream that the ritual should have work right. He followed her for a few more moments, before again lowering his eyes on the blue rectangle. Symbols on it make much more sense now. After another few more moments, there meaning was fully revealed to the cat.

Congratulations! You have learn a new skill.

Do to your affinities, skill has been modified.

Congratulations! You have learned "Bind: ghost servant"

Well, that was something new.

The cat took another look on the distressed young women, then on her corpse lying in the middle of the ritual circle and again on the women. When he finally decided to stand up, he was cheerful waving both of his tails.

She did not lied, he was already feeling much better.