The problem with selecting a familiar, is that the standard ones usually only had one trick. Something indirect, like a bat’s lending you it’s ability for echolocation and sometimes cute little fangs. Cat’s at least let you charm and distract people, plus you got those cool eyes, aaand cool little fangs. In order to achieve my goals however, I needed something with some extra oomph. The problem was….That without a familiar in the first place, my magic was limited, and without powerful direct magic, trying to catch what I was after was wellllll.

    It’s why I was hiding in a rotted out log while two of the monsters I was hoping to make a construct with were tearing up the woods around me. I wouldn’t be able to hide here for long, the drake had started setting fire to the trees, and the wood nymph in here was starting to become corporeal and none-too-happy to see me. As I started to scramble backwards, I stifled a curse as my hat got dislodged from my head. My eyes widening as I saw her root-like claws snag it with a grumble and a tearing sound. Popping back out, I ducked under the swipe of a whiplike tail, tumbling down an embankment. The sonic screeching of the thunderbird as it dove for the drake’s eyes, only to pull up short of a gout of flame. 

    Okay, maybe I’d gotten in over my head. I hadn’t realized just how much DESTRUCTION those kinds of creatures would wreak after I’d lured them into the same territory. I just wanted them to tire each other out, maybe worst case scenario try to steal a neglected egg, best case scenario, to offer my magic to the victor and heal them, making them loyal, grateful, and mine. 

But now I was covered in mud, jeans soaked through, jacket torn, familiar-less, and a spiteful fae was now gleefully tearing my hat to shreds. I had enchanted it specifically to help me stay unnoticed too….Ohshit. 

    Both creatures' heads turned towards me, the drake’s tongue flicking out, the thunderbird’s eyes flashing in the darkness. The clouds chose to part at that moment, helpfully highlighting my prone form in the light of the full moon. They were magical creatures, and now that my enchantment was lost, they could sense the magic I’d woven. A like-for-like substitution spell had swapped two eggs, one from each nest, into the other. They weren’t dumb beasts either, they were powerful magical creatures with long lives, and they were starting to put things together.... 

    So I ran, hoofing it into the forest, wishing right now I had that echolocation, or cat’s eyes for the darkness. Even my friend Jessica had her horse-familiar’s swiftness. Anything really that could’ve let me see my way through the woods, get me out of there faster. A foxes ability to hide, an owl’s silence or even just the ability to look behind me would’ve been nice. Instead I blindly ran through the dark, biting back heavy curses towards the wood nymph who turned the branches themselves against me, tearing at my clothes and skin. I couldn’t really blame her, I had brought a heap of trouble to her neck of the woods after all. All cause I wanted to be strong, stronger than any of the “Real” witches who hadn’t wanted me to join their circle. All because I thought that I could handle powerful magical creatures with a bit of trickery and some patience. 

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

    A whoosh overhead was the only warning I had before a loud CRACK rent the night, the ground before me exploding in brilliant light. I was sent tumbling to the ground once more, rolling to the side. Then there was a roar and a wave of heat and light filled the air behind me. I pushed myself up, scrabbling to my feet, knowing that the drake wasn’t far behind. 

    Chang’E herself must have been watching out for me in that moment though. Maybe I’d gathered her attention in the timing I chose, maybe it’s because like her, I’d been tricked and sent away from my first love. Or maybe I amused her with the way I fetched tokens in the moonlight that she looked down from. Whatever it was, there was the ring of a bell, and my eyes lit upon something glowing almost blue it was so white. The moonlight catching it’s fur, it’s black eyes drinking it in. It looked to the sky, then to me, then to the massive predators closing in. I knew in the next moment, it’s life would be spent alongside mine. 

    That wasn’t fair was it? For such a beautiful creature to be lost to my mistakes? So I reached down and plucked it from the earth. No ceremony, no ritual circle, just an attempt to protect it’s life with my own. Curling up around it in the moonbeam, I whispered, “It will be okay, just…” And then there was darkness around us. 

    The curious thing about rabbits is not that there are so many of them, or even their bouncing nimbleness. It’s that even in environments where their coats are not suited to camouflage, they can still easily disappear. There was a reason it was Rabbit’s that were always pulled out of a hat. That’s what the rabbit lent me that first night. The night when I offered myself to it, and it lent me it’s power in turn. 

    We stepped into a separate space, a pocket dimension, a place to hide away from the world. Later I’d discover the uses for it’s physical enhancements as well, strong legs kept me out of a lot of trouble’s reach, and broke me out of a few places more. But the most important trick of course to a rabbit...Is the hat trick. Pulling itself out of one place, and into another. 

    I broke down laughing in my apartment, clutching the soft creature to my chest till it wiggled out of my grasp. A little bell around its neck now, a strange symbol wrapped in a silk bow. The tinkling sound echoing out as it hopped towards my bed….And promptly started to chew on the cord for my phone charger, “HEY! Wait! NO!”