Twilit Mage

Chapter 16: Familiar Faces

"Back to the topic," Ms. Cole went on, completely ignoring what had happened inside this very gym only a few minutes ago, "the first thing I'll be teaching you is something every mage needs to learn. Do you all know what a familiar is?"

Raoul raised his hand. "A spirit animal?"

"...No." Ms. Cole gave him an irritated look and swept her gaze over the class as Raoul gave a mock pout. "Who does know– yeah, over there?" She pointed to a small, mousy-haired person of indefinable gender at the back of the gym. "What's your name, kid?"

"Riley," said the kid. Their voice was quiet and timid and nearly impossible to understand, their messy hair swallowing half the sound. "Uhm...It's a spirit that embodies our magic, right?"

Ms. Cole nodded. "That's better. Yeah, Riley's right, that's the essence of a familiar. It takes the form of an animal or a mythical creature, and depending on what it is you can use it for all kinds of stuff. Some of them can even fight for you. But first of all you have to find and name it."

She paced across the gym and pulled out a mobile blackboard on wheels, grabbing a piece of chalk and starting to scribble on it the old-fashioned mundane way as she spoke. "You'll recognize it when you see it," she went on. "You'll also know what to name it. Its size represents the size of your powers, and its age can show your potential. For example, if you've got a small cub of a big animal for a familiar you're still a beginner but have huge innate powers." She underlined something on the board. "It grows with your magic, and it can't die till you do. Oh, and never make the mistake of straying too far away from it if it's in our world. You can and will suffer."

"Why?" a girl piped in. "What happens?"

"You don't die, but you'll wish you did. Let's leave it at that." Ms. Cole stopped scribbling for a moment as the others gulped and exchanged baffled looks. "Anyway, first of all you have to summon it anyway. And since it's a spirit, you have to find it in the Otherworld."

Mercury perked up. The Otherworld...For her, that sounded doable. She had managed to find her way out of it before, after all. But was that still an appropriate freshman task? She knew how dangerous it was better than anyone, after all she had experienced it firsthand!

But Ms. Cole stepped away from the board, revealing a list of notes and a picture that looked faintly like an explanation for that.

"Now," she said, "as you kids know, the Otherworld's not the candy store. You're not going in there without precautions. Here." She cut a rip through the air, opening a hole in the fabric of reality and pulling out what looked like a box full of watches. "These are navigators. They point the way to the exit, and when you start getting lost they pick it up and sound an alarm. You can also press the button on them if you're in trouble, and it sends me your location and I'll come and get you. Don't press it for fun, got it?" She narrowed her eyes. "Only if there's a serious problem."

Even Raoul looked offended. "Hey, I'm not gonna pull that when somebody else might be in real trouble! I'm not an animal."

"Good," Ms. Cole answered with a raised eyebrow. "Then everybody get one. Make sure they fit tight, you don't wanna drop them."

Everyone crowded around the box, trying to get their hands on a particularly new and shiny-looking navigator. Mercury stayed behind Raoul. The others in the class kept their distance from them both, although she noticed the looks.

"Hey, maybe your familiar's gonna be that big-ass monster you thought up," one of the boys said with a sneer.

"Yeah," Riley added from behind him. "And it eats Dark Mages for breakfast."