Out From the Shadows

Out From the Shadows

Extra 1

Cynder’s Personal Notes, Scroll 1/3

Cynder’s personal notes over the developing bond of a spellcaster and his familiar.

Preface

After reading a lot on the subject of obtaining a familiar, I felt like there was much ground uncovered about the nature and function of the empathic link between the two parties, so I decided to take notes over my personal experience on the matter, and later compile the data into a user-friendly book.

For now, however, these scrolls will serve as a journal where I will add anything noteworthy concerning the development of our bond with the date ‘Day 1’ being the date when the spell to get a familiar got cast. This will serve as a base for the creation of the book.

Day 1

The spell went off successfully. I got paired with a golden eagle. A female. She was apparently living atop the castle’s library, and had a nest here. She didn’t resist the binding, which means I might have a chance to keep her.

Today, she didn’t even bother visiting me, despite our newfound link. I feel a sense of home and comfort that has nothing to do with myself, which I guess was from the empathic bond we now share. I have a hard time distinguishing my own feelings from those of the eagle. Basically, I feel them just as my own, but they are of a more... Primal nature. Based on the complexity of the emotion, I can eventually figure they are from her, but it takes me a time of reflexion to be able to draw such conclusions.

Also, this empathic link seems to have a reduced effect when we are more than roughly a mile apart. At this point, emotions from the eagle feel more ‘distant’, so it’s easier to distinguish them from my own. I guess she was on her hunting grounds when I noticed this; probably in the forest surrounding the castle.

Day 2

She still hasn’t came in the library, despite my efforts. I guess the problem is that birds in general tends to avoid other races, because of a lack of trust. However, she still hasn’t rejected the link yet. Nothing new on the empathic link.

Day 3

I guess I understand why she hasn’t came in yet. I saw her flying in circles around the library at some point in the day. She seemed to be looking for something, and I felt frustration coming from her. Later in the day, when she had long since gone away, it hit me: despite having the windows wide opened, she couldn’t land on anything, should she get inside the library. So, she was probably trying to get a landing point.

I commissioned one of the city’s carpenters to make an eagle-sized perch. I also asked for a nest addon, but I wasn’t sure it was going to be of use. She is still a wild animal for now, so I don’t expect her to stay with me more than a few minutes.

Day 4

She repeated the events of yesterday. However, the carpenter hasn’t finished the perch yet, so I can’t do much but watch her as she flies around the tower. After a few minutes, she was gone; back to continue her day.

I’ve been able to establish some kind of routine on her daily life while trying to analyze the feelings I got from her over the link. It seemed like she had some kind of very precise biological schedule, with times where she would just chill out in her nest, atop the tower. At times like this, the ‘home comfort’ feeling is what I get the most.

She seems to get to her ‘home’ right after a hunting session. I can’t really understand what she feels when she hunts, since she’s getting too far away when she does. The distance impedes on the force of the feelings themselves, but I can safely assume that when they get dulled out, she’s on her hunting grounds.

Day 7

The carpenter finally finished the perch, and it got delivered at the library in the evening. It is quite simple in appearance, but it seems strong enough to support a bird of her size.

I’ve put the perch right in front of the window nearest to my desk. I hope it will work.

Day 8

She was flying around the tower at the same time of the day as usual. This time, she saw the perch, and flew right to it. As she landed on it, some of the people in the library got startled. I probably should have warned them about this.

However, something quite interesting happened. While I explained to the people present that the eagle was mine, and that they had nothing to fear, that’s when I ‘heard’ her for the first time.

The words were “Not yours.”

Despite the fact that the words themselves could have had a lot of different meanings, the implication of them was crystal clear because of the empathic link.

She meant that she was not my property.

It seems that despite being bond to someone, that doesn’t make animals any less wild. That is something I should remember for any further interactions with her.

What interested me the most was how clearly I could understand her. Even if most of the wording used over the link was very basic, the feelings added to them weremore than enough to make up for the lack of proper sentence structure.

I also found out that despite this, my familiar retained her somewhat low sapience. I tried to have a conversation, but my error was that I assumed she would understand things in a civilized humanoid fashion.

“So, how should I address you? Do you have a name?” I tried to ask.

“Complicated thinking,” is what I got for an answer as she tilted her head, while looking at me. She didn’t understand the concept of names, and with hindsight, I should have suspected so.

She didn’t stay more than a few minutes that day, but it was interesting to have been able to at least meet my familiar for the first time. It seems like taming a familiar wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought in the first place.

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