Familiar's Calling - The Bond
Chapter 11 - Shadows and Guardians

As Jinx and Krista left the room, the Dozhan muttered, “Such a great, powerful destiny for two so young.”

“Indeed. They have such power to harness and control. I could feel it radiating off them, could you not, Chase?” the one known as Sylas replied, stepping from the shadows. His piercing blue eyes focused on the, now, closed door that Jinx and Krista had just exited through.

Sylas’ companion followed him into the light. “I did. Whew. Such raw power! I haven’t felt such power since -” Chase began.

“Since you were Krista’s age?” Sylas interjected, smirking.

Chase glowered at him. “Yes, if you must know. Thanks for making me feel old, dude,” he sniped at his familiar.

Sylas chuckled. “You are not so old, my young friend. Talk to me when you get to your four hundreds!”

Chase scratched his sparsely whiskered face and crossed his arms across his narrow chest, stubbornly. “I’m over three hundred,” he muttered.

Both Sylas and the Dozhan laughed at this, and Sylas patted his younger companion on the head. “Barely, my friend. Barely.”

Chase swatted at Sylas’ hand away like he was batting at a fly. “Stop!” he pouted, glaring at Sylas before turning to the Dozhan. “Why couldn’t we just show ourselves to them today? Why wait till tomorrow if it’s so important we begin training together?” he queried the older man.

Both Sylas and the Dozhan looked at one another; Sylas smirked. “So young. So impatient.”

The Dozhan laughed at his old friend’s comment. ”Yes indeed. The impatience of youth. But - ah - give him another one or two hundred years to develop it.” He winked at Chase.

Chase mimicked the scrunched up, twisted expression Krista and Jinx had adopted when frustrated. “Ok, I’m young. That doesn’t answer my question, though.”

The Dozhan chuckled. “That is simple, my young friend, because this is not the moment you are to meet. You will understand why tomorrow.”

Chase sighed. “Okay. I hope so.” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans and leaned against the edge of the desk.

Sylas shook his silver-haired head at his friend. “So impatient. I was so sure I had instilled more patience in you by now.”

Chase shot Sylas a glare without pulling his hands out of his pockets. As he shifted, however, the slight glow of his Malaonus Nor showed through his white shirt.

“Ah yes, Chase. Let me see your Malaonus Nor would you?”

Chase shrugged and undid a couple more buttons on his shirt in order to shrug his left shoulder out of it and expose the special mark still glowing since the previous night.

As the Dozhan inspected it, lightly running his fingers over the raised surface, like Krista, Chase twitched and winced slightly.

“Hmm,” the old man muttered before pulling the paste from his robe again and rubbing some on the mark as he had for Krista. Chase eyed him over his shoulder, pinching his nose. “That smells disgusting. Yet... it feels better.” He rolled his shoulder and slid his shirt back on doing the buttons back up.“So we’ve got pure magick in our systems, do we?” he asked, turning around to face the Dozhan who had moved back behind his desk.

The elder man nodded. “Yes. Also, Krista and Jinx have the highest, and strongest concentration I have ever seen. It is no wonder that it is they whom you two must pair with to complete this arduous journey,” he remarked, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I only hope we can train them to channel it appropriately and avoid any... mishaps,” Sylas replied, his eyes shifting to Chase at the word ‘mishaps’.

“What?” he protested. “Is it my fault that you failed to mention the extra weight behind that block? No. No, it is not.”

Sylas smirked. “If you had been concentrating harder and not been trying to simply show off, I would not have needed to tell you as much,” he replied.

Chase gaped at his friend for a moment, opening and closing his mouth several times, trying to come up with a retort before finally closing it and simply glaring at Sylas.

“That is what I thought” Sylas remarked, patting his friend on the head again and quickly dodging as Chase made a wild swing with his right hand to swat at him. Seeing Chase get so frustrated made Sylas chuckle harder.

The Dozhan chuckled, and then cleared his throat shifting back into serious mode. “As amusing as you two always are to watch, you both should really head home and rest up. Tomorrow is a big day for all four of you after all,” he said, with a furrowed brow and narrowed eyes.

Chase stopped trying to swat at Sylas and nodded. “Yes, right. Well, we will see you then, your eminence,” he replied, bowing to the man and swung his long, tan trench coat off the nearby coat rack and on.

Sylas gave a jerk of his head before clasping the Dozhan on the back in a one armed sort of hug. “Yes, it has been too long my friend, but alas we will have to catch up some other time.”

The old man nodded. “Yes. Until then I bid you adieu.” With that the old man disappeared into the shadows leaving Chase and Sylas to proceed out of the door.

As the two friends walked out into the now deserted hall Chase frowned. “I still say if we had revealed ourselves to them today it would make things much easier in the long term,” he argued, as they slipped out of the liminal space entrance and into the real world, blinking in the sunlight after the darkness of the Hall of Records.

Sylas shook his head as he sealed the door behind them. “Everything happens for a reason, Chase. I’d have thought you would know at least that by now - given all we’ve been through ourselves,” he lectured, a serious expression on his face.

Chase narrowed his eyes nervously as they passed by an ordinary citizen. When the citizen was out of earshot Chase added in an undertone, “I know things happen for a reason. You don’t have to tell me twice. I just wish I understood why. If we have such an important destiny to fulfil with the four of us, why can’t we push this meeting and thus the beginning of our training a little faster?” He paused, thinking for a moment. “It just seems so... odd that there is such a delay is all,” he finished lamely.

Sylas nodded, his blue eyes sweeping up and down the street as they walked. “Yes, it is a bit odd. But I am sure there is a reason our meeting, joining together, should not happen in such an enclosed place. It could be something to do with it being a liminal location as well.”

Chase arched an eyebrow as his companion. “You think something big might happen? I suppose, if that’s the case, seclusion for our meeting makes sense.”

Together they crossed the deserted street against the glowing red of the traffic light.

Sylas shrugged his angular, almost wolf-like shoulders. “It is possible the effect that might happen will be big, and that could threaten exposure if it happens in the middle of the city. The kind of raw power we, young Krista and Jinx, carry is of a magnitude not seen for - well longer than I’ve been alive,” he replied, looking at Chase with stern eyes that told of just how big a scope he was talking about.

“Before you were alive? Is such a thing possible, old friend?” Chase teased him.

Sylas rolled his eyes but said nothing as he lead the way around the corner towards Ropes Manor, to home.

As they neared it, Chase’s spatial sense tingled, and he threw out an arm to stop Sylas, catching him hard in the chest and causing him to start and rub his chest, mumbling, “A little warning?”

Chase’s eyebrows furrowed as he cautiously approached the walkway to the manor. “Shh!” he shushed his friend. “I sensed someone moving in the yard.”

Sylas fell silent and looked around to be sure they were alone. As the street was deserted this was a certainty, so he quickly transformed into a wolf and stalked forward toward the walkway, ears perked up, listening for any noise out of the ordinary. As the two of them reached the gate and tall hedge that surrounded the manor, his teeth bared. Chase held out his hands ready to emit a telekinetic blast at an enemy. Together they watched the figure of a man back out of the gate dancing to the music playing through his headphones. As the man turned he jumped in fright at Chase and Sylas, clutching at his heart.

“Master Chase! Master Sylas! I wasn’t expecting you till later!” he exclaimed. It was the guardian the councils had assigned to Chase and Sylas, so long ago.

“Geoffrey?” Chase replied lowering his hands. Sylas sat back on his haunches. “What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you in years!” Chase hugged the other man.

Geoffrey was a true match pair guardian. It was his job to watch over young pairs when they first began their journey with one another. Until, that is, the pair passed their right of passage trial and were deemed fully trained; something that generally happened in a witch’s thirteenth year.

Geoffrey smiled. “The councils have seen fit to assign me once again to the pair of you, as well as the newest match.”

Chase arched an eyebrow at him “I could see Krista and Jinx, they are not fully trained yet, but Sylas and I?” he asked, baffled by this information.

Geoffrey shrugged. “I just go where I am directed, Master Chase, you know that,” came the youthful looking man’s reply.

Chase looked down at Sylas, who shrugged his wolfish shoulders and muttered mentally, Everything happens for a reason. You know that. Invite him inside.

Chase nodded at his companion before turning to Geoffrey again. “All right. Well, would you like to come in then?” he asked the other man.

Geoffrey nodded and bowed curtly. “Yes indeed, Master Chase,” he replied, in his usual formal tone. His crisp, grey suit creasing as he bowed in respect and reverence.

Chase rolled his eyes. “I told you before, it’s -”

Sylas cut Chase off with a stern look. Yes, let’s get inside the house, shall we? I feel exposed out here. To Chase privately, he added, Don’t start that again. Just let him be who he is and call you what he needs to.

Chase wrinkled up his nose before replying, Okay, fine. But I don’t like it. It’s so… formal.Sylas rolled his eyes. It is who he is, and what his position demands of him. Let it be. With that he nudged the back of Chase’s legs with his muzzle and said, Now, get inside before I have to force you.

Chase stumbled as Sylas nudged him forward “Oi!” he yelped. “Okay, okay. I’m going,” he mumbled, moving forwards of his own accord.

Chase led the way up the cobblestone pathway which was lined with small solar lights marking the entrance way to the vast manor. Upon reaching the door, instead of withdrawing a key, he simply placed his hand to the door near the latch and closed his eyes. He concentrated until they heard the click of the latch. He grabbed the door handle turning it to swing the door open.

He stood on the threshold a fraction of a second too long for Sylas, however, who nudged him inside with his muzzle. Get in there, the familiar said, with a trace of a growl of impatience.

Chase hopped a bit. “Geeze, Sy, what’s got your tail in a twist today?”

Sylas began to transform back into his human form, and Geoffrey closed the door locking it behind him. Sylas sighed. “If the councils have seen fit to reassign Geoffery to us, Krista and Jinx, then it stands to reason they feel a threat is emerging,” he began, but Chase interrupted.

“Threat? Like perhaps the modern day witch trials? We already know about that -” he stated, before Sylas cut back across him.

“No. A threat greater, possibly related to the witch trials. Something even the Dozhan has not foreseen,” he finished, a note of annoyance in his deep voice.

Chase pondered this for a moment before speaking in a dejected, annoyed tone, “They don’t think we can handle this new threat on our own?”

Sylas stared at Chase. “We will be busy training Krista and Jinx to master their powers, as well as developing powers unique to the four of us. We will not have the time nor energy to watch for every potential attack. Hence -” he gestured at Geoffrey who stood hands clasped together in front of him, “Geoffrey being reassigned to all four of us.”

Chase nodded again in understanding. “Alright. I suppose that makes sense.” Then he yawned widely and audibly. “Now, am I safe enough inside the house to go to bed?”

“How are you so tired already? It isn’t that late yet. I thought we might do some reading up on the prophecy.” Sylas asked, a look of curiosity on his face,

“If you must know, I didn’t sleep well last night.” Chase grumbled in return as he sank into an arm chair near the stairway.”

Sylas shook his head, “Well, you’re going to mess up your sleep patterns -- I think you should join me in the library for a little bit.”

Chase yawned again but as he got to his face he grumbled a response. “Alright, fine. Let’s go read some books then.”

*

For the next couple of hours, Sylas and Chase perused several worn copies of the prophecy that had been foretold about Krista and Jinx’s coming. However even as the sky had started to darken and Geoffrey brought them sandwiches for supper, they could not discern any new information. All they could learn from the worn piece of parchment and from consulting numerous books was that the witch trials would reemerge in the modern century; that two more would join their number to finally defeat them.

Chase had just yawned particularly widely - his tonsils were showing, as he pushed his now empty plate away from him. “Alright, now can we go to bed?”

After closing a heavy volume that sat in front of him and stretching, Sylas nodded before transforming again and padding over to the doorway.

Chase yawned again and said, “Good because I am exhausted,” as he followed Sylas to the library door his eyes half shut. Chase pushed the two-way door open and walked to his right and down the dimly lit hall with Sylas at his heels and Geoffrey in front of him holding the empty dishes.

As Chase and Sylas crossed the threshold, Chase yawning again, Geoffrey spoke stiffly but kindly. “Sleep well, Master Chase, Master Sylas,” and turned around to disappear down a hidden staircase towards the kitchen.

Without even getting undressed, Chase fell onto the soft, four-poster, feather bed and was instantly asleep. Sylas shook his head, and after using his teeth to pull a blanket up over the younger witch, hopped up on the other side of the bed and curled up beside Chase like a dog curls up at the feet of his master.

He watched the sleeping witch with intensity and a hint of fear for him, before his eyes slowly began to droop and finally closed.