Somewhere in the small town deep in the woods a festival was getting ready to begin. Every solstice and equinox young mages all over the kingdom gather in the main square. Age thirteen the age where everyone gets an animal companion also known as a familiar. These familiars are based on a person's personality. The more powerful the familiar the more room for growth that mage has.
The sun rose on that fateful day a young girl with flaming red hair and deep sapphire eyes curled up under her blanket. She had just turned thirteen a month before the festival. She was ashamed to go and do the ritual her family always considered weak. Her mother has summoned a mouse, a pathetic little creature not much magic. Her father was also pathetic. It was a sparrow again, not much magic. The rest of the town had wolves, deer, and other such creatures.
"Rose it's time to get up and get ready." A female voice called from the front of the house. The sounds of dishes being sat on the table told her that breakfast was being served and if she wanted to eat before she had to go she would need to eat now,
Slowly she got out of bed and dressed in her festival dress. The multicolored dress stopped just below her knees. It was shorter than her daily dresses but it was done that way so that the skirt could be fanned out around her as she knelt before the summoning circle.
"Well here gose nothing, I hope I can at least get a cat." She said to herself as she walked out she grabbed a roll from the table and headed outside she wanted to get to the circle first so that she could be one of the first to go and then be able to hide in shame.
"Well if it isn't the pathetic Rose I can't wait to see your pathetic familiar" one of the boys in her age group said as he sat in one of the eight chairs around the circle. This time there were only eight who were of age. She ignored him as she took her place, she was used to all the teasing so it didn't bother her. After what felt like forever the appointed time came noon the time when all magic is at it strongest.
"Rose as the only girl this year you may go first." The head of the village said as he ushered her to the circle and handed her the tools she would need. As she settled herself down on her knees she began the summoning. After she finished she waited for her pathetic animal to show. The seconds ticked by the hot midsummer son blazed on the back of her neck she was beginning to think that she was not going to get a familiar at all. Just as she was about to give up and live in shame forever the sound of a male voice called from a tree nearby.
"So sorry I'm late I have never been to this part of the wood in quite some time. I got a little turned around," A young man with bright red hair and deep emerald said as he jumped from the tree. "My name is Robin Goodfellow but please call me Puck." He said as he walked over to where Rose sat stunned into silence. Same with everyone else. "Oh I see you all are not used to seeing a Sidhe in human form before perhaps it would make you more comfortable if I was in a different form?" He said as he shifted into a big black raven twice the size of a normal raven. "Is this better?'' he said as he flew over to Rose who reached out with an unsteady hand and gently touched the top of his head.
"Are you really here for someone like me?" She whispered still unsure if this was some kind of trick that the town was playing on her and that her real familiar was being held somewhere else.
"Yes Dear one you have quite the road ahead of you, and I am here to help you along the road. It seems that both your world and mine need your help as for why I can't tell you here." He said shifting back into his human form. "Oh and yes I am quite real now we must go quickly. I'm afraid I can't give you more than a day to get ready, thanks to me getting lost. I have not been summoned as a familiar for quite some time. So say your goodbyes and get packed. We leave at dawn tomorrow." He said with a sad smile. It was not unheard of for a familiar to take their mage away from their home but not before at least a month after the bond was made, if the mage was strong enough to need training beyond what the town could teach.
The town elder took a step forward and spoke "It is tradition that she stay here for at least a month at the earliest you can't take her until then…" he stared but was quickly silenced when the a crack of a willow branch split the air and a small ball of scarlet flame passed his ear.
"How dare you tell a Lord of the forest what I can and can not do you are but a mere child compared to me, if you speak out against me again I make you live to regret it. My next shot will be that wolf of yours thus severing your connection with magic all together." Puck growled the makeshift willow whip still flaming in his hand. The town's people stared in awe at the Sidhe that stood in the middle of the square "Have I made myself clear enough for you? Now go spend the last day for a while with your family, I will get everything we need together. I am truly sorry this is not how I like to do things but unfortunately we do not have the time." Puck said once again flashing a sad smile as he took the still stand Rose by the hand and walked her home.
Now, all familiar differ from the normal animals of this world in that they are bigger and each have a shine around them that everyone can see with their mage sight it is how they keep bonded familiars alive. When a mage dies the familiar dies with the mage. The only exception to this rule is if the mage is bonded to one of the following classes. The Faire Folk, Dragonkin, Angelic, and Demonic, these types of familiars are immortal; they can not be forced to make a bond. Now if the familiar is killed and the mage lives he or she will lose all of their powers forever, again the exceptions are the Immortal's since they are hard to kill and if they choose to cut the bond it is up to them as to if they keep their powers or not.
There is an old story that states, If ever the Immortal's were to ever take a mage it means there is either trouble or blessing for the world. The last known Immortals to be bonded to mages was over a thousand years ago and between The four of them they introduced the world to the familiar bonding bringing a way for humans to use the magic that all humans have.
The following morning Rose was woken up by a soft knock on her bedroom door.
"Rose, it's time to go. Your parents are waiting to say one last goodbye we need to leave." A soft male voice came from behind the door. She quickly got dressed and took one last look around her room, she wasn't sure when she was going to see it again. A lone tear fell as she walked out to join her parents and her new familiar. They were talking softly as she walked in.
"Good morning." She said with a lump forming in her throat she didn't want to cry in front of her parents.
"Good morning Rose, Puck here tells me that you can't stay for breakfast but hear a little something for the road." Her mother said as she handed Rose a handkerchief with an apple and a slice of cheese. It was clear that her mother had not only not slept but she had cried until she couldn't cry any more. Her father gave her a small hunting knife. It was clear that Puck didn't like having the iron blade so close to him but he also knew what it meant for her to have the blade.
"I love you my dear Rose, You take care of her and bring her back to us please" Her father said as he pulled her into a hug while looking at Puck, who only nodded. After a quick goodbye the two of them stepped out of Rose's family home with a quick motion where Puck once stood instead there was a reddish stag.
"Get on. I'm faster then any horse and we have very little time. I will only be stopping for meals and water. Hold on to my antlers as tightly as you can, we are heading out now" Puck said as he gathered himself and took off at a dead run he leapt off downed trees and anything in his path with ease. Rose held on as tightly as she could, she was surprised to find she only had to hold on because of his speed, the ride itself was smoother than any horse she had ridden in the past.
At a little past sunrise she felt Puck slowing down to a walk before he stopped near a stream.
"Get down we are stopping for a meal and a breather. Before you ask we are about one hundred miles from your hometown you didn't notice but we hopped in and out of my home a couple of times." Puck said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of dried meat and an apple. And began to munch on them.
"Um where did you get that? Your pockets can't be that deep. " Rose asked, confused, earring in herself a laugh.
"I'm sorry I forget humans don't know, the pockets are magic they let me get stuff from home as in Faerie." He said before he explained everything to her. "I will explain more as we move. I need to make up the time I lost or we won't get there in time and once again I will have missed it and I can't afford to miss it again." He said as he shifted in to stag once more and in less than a minute they were back on the road. Sometime around noon the breakneck pace was interrupted with what sounded like a crack of thunder but moved at the speed of lighting. The sound caused Puck to rear up on his hind legs throwing Rose into the bushes and landed with a heavy thud as he too hit the ground. Taking a good look around they saw a man with golden hair standing holding what looked like a spear in his hands.
The spear which looked like any other except it smoked it and made of what looked like pure gold. The man holding the spear turned and flashed a disarming smile at the pair. "Well that was close. Wasn't it I do believe that was meant for you two." The man said his eyes hidden behind dark colored glasses.