Serving Time(((Complete)))

Familiar?

--- 20 days 'AD' ---

(I'm going to start using 'AD' as 'After Death', meaning, after he came to the New World. It's going to be basically, 1 AD, that means it's been a year since he dropped into the new world.)

I stood up, stretching slowly, and Sandi hummed. "Well well. You heal faster than I thought. It's said to be a trait of Shifters, but I thought that was just rumor... Interesting. Well, in a few days, you'll be ready to start your journey!" She smiled.

I blinked. "Is it really not okay for me to just stay here? I can work the fields or anything, really. I'm no stranger to hard work-"

"No. When the Emperor Summons, you go. You'll be back in a few years, don't worry." She shrugged. "I'll still be here, as will most everyone else."

"But-"

"No complaining." She cut me off. "Now, Tern has agreed to help you in your creation of your familiar, and also teaching you as much as possible about shape-shifting. He said sunrise, so don't be late." She shoo'ed me out of the door.

I grabbed my dagger and then the Leopard skin, then my pants. "Let me get dressed, woman!" I chuckled.

I slipped my gypsy-pants on, (Aladdin's pants are basically the same thing), clipped my dagger to my belt, and then jogged out, careful not to jerk my throat around overly much.

My skin was still trying to heal, and my vocal cords had been partially damaged. They'd healed, but they were thicker now, covered in scar tissue. As such, my voice was low and gravelly, which suited me just fine.

I approached Terns hut, and tapped the door frame.

"Come in." He spoke gruffly. I opened the door, and he nodded. "Mm. You're, uh... Cale, hmm?"

"Caleb, Sir." I sat across from him, closing his door.

He nodded. "That's it, yes. Caleb. You have your dagger, good. We're going to bind it to you, today. Here, hold this." He held out a spiky stick.

I reached to grab it, and he jerked it back, making the spikes drag across my palm. He quickly placed a bowl under my hand, and then blinked when nothing happened.

"Had I been a normal person, that might've worked. Here." I cut my thumb with my dagger, and he raised an eyebrow.

"I only need a little... Good." He said.

I nodded and my cut started stitching together, using my blood to make scabs/thread. He raised his other eyebrow, and I grinned. "I begged Sandi until she taught me that one. It's basically all I know. Well, That, and 'Pick up Cup'." I chuckled.

He laughed gently. "Yes, you'll do. Alright. Well, hand me your dagger." I did. He poured the blood into the grooves that made up the pictures.

"I knew that wasn't just decoration." I grinned triumphantly.

He smiled and nodded, setting the bowl down. He started chanting softly in more words I didn't know, and then pulled my hand over, and placed the bloody side of the dagger along my forearm, and none of the blood spilled.

He pulled it away, and the blood dissipated, and I gasped as I felt the knife's location so acutely it almost hurt. He nodded and handed me the dagger. The feeling went away, and I sheathed it.

"You'll feel that until that dagger returns to your hand. You will live for as long as that dagger does, as an Old One, so protect it with your life. That dagger holds it anyway." He nodded.

I blinked. "It's because it's the teeth of the thing that killed me, isn't it?" I asked.

He nodded. "With normal shifters, we just take the teeth of an animal that tries to kill us. Most choose a monkey, because they're easy to provoke but not hard to kill, if it's alone. Why I just did transfers your soul into that blade. It will never be lost to you, and it will always come back if you throw it or drop it."