Becoming the Witch’s Familiar

The first thing Sara heard were birds chirping.

As the darkness began to fade around her, she realized that her and Ashara were surrounded by nothing but lush green trees. Tall trunks reached what seemed to be miles into the air as each leaf fanned out wildly in an attempt to grasp as much sunlight as possible, forming a competition where those who get boxed out from a slightly taller or wider plant will die in the shade.

“Where in the twelve hells are we? What are we doing here?” Sara shouted, scaring off the nearby birds.

Smiling, the tiny witch began to walk forward with conviction as if she knew precisely where, in the midst of this rainforest, she was currently, “...Beluit.”

“Belu-” The succubus stopped.

“Beluit?!” She shouted, scaring the birds that had just re-settled themselves once again. Piecing what was actually said, Sara’s mouth hung open.

Much like the desert continent, she had only heard of the land through stories and maybe a sparse analytical report or two. Foreign ambassadors often traveled from the various kingdoms and principalities to both gaze upon or even spy on their cousins in Alzahett, but she was never the type to entertain such folks. But now, she was in their territory.

Holding the sphere Sara had dropped, the witch poked at the bed of slime that had tried it’s best to withdraw into the sphere it surrounded, only tentatively poking out some tendrils. “Yup, the one and only! You should be thanking me for allowing you to be so well-traveled!”

Sara could only sit on the ground, “Why drag me so far, you damned imp?! What did I do for you to wrap me up in your schemes?”

“Sare-bear…” Ashara started, getting close and crouching down to be eye level with her familiar, “You have always been a part of my schemes, make no mistake. But trust me that I have plans far greater than what you can imagine.”

Standing up, the witch looked around the sprawling green jungle around them. Strange animal noises echoed between the tropical trees, each trying to fight for the limited rays that fell from the sun.

“Hey, uh… Do you know where we are?”

A mixture of disbelief, fatigue and frustration painted Sara’s face as the witch expressed a moment of her typical nature. Was this all a joke to her?

“Beluit.” She replied flatly.

“I know that, but where in Beluit are we?”

The succubus rubbed the bridge of her nose, an all too familiar headache returning to grip what could possibly be the brain in her fake body’s head. “Shouldn’t you know? You’re the one who brought us out here to ‘get even’ with that witch or something.”

Nearly imperceptible, a malicious look flashed across Ashara’s face at the mention of the other witch. But just as quick as it appeared, it vanished, returning the tiny woman to look around the trees as if she would be able to glean their location in the midst of the virgin rainforests. “I really only knew she was here on the continent and shot at random. Usually works!”

Sara, still sitting on the ground, flopped down, “I’m done…” She mumbled, resigning herself to her second death. “This isn’t worth it anymore…”

The sounds of the jungle only grew louder as the two pushed past tangles of unusual plants further towards some nebulous destination. Most of the plants seemed dangerous, just obstructive. Strange fronds reached out to impede the strides of both the witch and the succubus as a cycle of unbearable heat and torrential downpours occurred roughly every half hour or so slowing down the rate they traveled in some vague direction dramatically.

Pinned down by one particular rainstorm, the two found a large gap in the base of a hill, closer to a pile of loosely formed rocks, that provided respite from the squall that occurred quickly yet forcefully. Each drop roared as it hit concave leaves, creating the sound of a stampede just outside their shelter nearly drowning out all attempts of conversation.

“So you found a slime, huh?”

Still soaked from the previous inclement storm, Sara looked up from her shivering huddle she kept herself in, swearing at herself for not trying to pick up a teleport spell from her teacher while she had a chance. “Is that what it is?”

Ashara refused to take off her wide brimmed hat despite it sagging around her head from the weight of the water absorbed by the fabric, “Yup. Never thought I’d see one in person though…”

She held the sphere quizzically in one hand, the poor creature attached to it trying it’s best to recede into it’s golden shell. “I’m curious if it’s working the way it’s supposed to…”

With nothing else but to think about how cold she was, Sara relented, “I figured you out of anyone alive would know something about it.”

“Of course, my people were the ones who invented them.” The Archivist’s expression appeared neutral at this announcement, strange for the tiny flippant witch.

“‘Your people’?” Sara followed.

Staring at the globular creature a bit longer before she finally shook her head, she tossed the ball back at Sara, “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

“No, you cannot just be all mysterious and shit without elaborating. Why did you even drag me out here?” The succubus stood, catching the already shaken creature.

“Tell me Sara…” The witch turned away to face the rain, watching the droplets cascade from the rockface above past the entrance to their alcove. It looked beautiful as the plants nearly danced in the cool rains, their verdant foliage passing the life-sustaining liquid down to their roots to drink. “Why do you want revenge so badly?”

Sarakiel rolled her eyes, placing the sphere on the ground, “You already know this, witch. I want to protect the kingdom I helped build up.”

“Right, I already knew that, but I want to prove a point.” She turned back around, showing tears falling just as easily as the rain a few hands away, “I’m here to protect something I built up as well.”

Seeing the woman crying before her caused Sara to look away. Even though she was one now, women crying still caused her to uncomfortably shift her stance. “I’m… Not sure what you mean by that.”

“Sarakiel, you are by far my greatest work. Not only that…” The tiny witch trailed off. This time, it was her turn to glance away in a blush. “You’re my only friend…” She whispered in a tiny voice.

While barely perceptible, Sara still managed to catch the last statement. A roiling knot built in where her main body’s stomach should be as her eyes began to tear up as well, “Shit.” She quickly wiped them with her only hand, “I am becoming a woman… Being sappy is our thing after all.”

As the rain finally began to die down, Sara finally found the strength to swallow the budding emotions, “But that does not tell me much of anything. What did that witch do to me to warrant you traveling half-way around the world to fight her?”

“Well…” Ashara stepped forward, lifting the loose shirt Sara happened to bring with her on this impromptu trip. She had noticed the crest was less complex and failed to be as receptive as it was before when she feasted, but now it was nearly gone. “Eldura severed our connection. It’s why you never heard from me and why I could never find you. Even your teacher managed to avoid my detection so I didn’t know where you were. I thought he had something to do with it.”

The succubus took a step back, freeing her clothes from the witch’s grasp, “The Eternal had nothing to do with this. That witch was the one who said she gave me a ‘gift of freedom’. That, and that ball over there…”

She pointed to the sphere on the ground, the slime still trying to hide inside to no avail.

“Hmm…” The witch placed a pensive hand to her chin, looking at their unintended stowaway. “That should not be too much of a threat, but your crest being erased is horrible. We need to establish a new contract right away.”

Sara’s gaze matched the witch’s. “You want me to sign my life over to you once again?”

Ashara smiled, “Of course! As your master, I command it!” She poked one of Sara’s breasts, teasing one of her nipples, “I did give you your new body, after all!”

“No.” The succubus said, finally feeling freedom since she had to begin this wretched life, “I don’t think I will.”

The witch’s eyes grew wide.

“S-Sare-bear… You m-must-! Y-you have to…!” The already small witch somehow looked even tinier. Her expression she bore was unlike what Sara had ever seen.

Sheer desperation.

The absolute mixture of shock, confusion and despair was nearly enough for the former familiar to relent and return to being a tool of the flippant master, but cooler heads prevailed. “I don’t ‘have to’ do anything, you damned witch! I don’t live to serve you, I live to kill The Pontifex.”

Sara stood taller, her mind reeling with excitement of this new opportunity, “All the mana I take is solely mine now! Fuel I can directly put towards the effort of restoring Altalour! Succubus Sarakiel can now finally get revenge against the man who forced her into this absurd situation!”

Her voice echoed through the now silent trees. She finally held the reins to her destiny, taken from her by one witch and given back by another.

Sniffles could be heard.

Ashara’s dotted cheeks were riverbeds that bore their own torrential downpour. She hid her face with her large hat, something she brought down to wet even further. It seemed true that the witch no longer had any hold on her.

“Twelve hells,” she muttered. Once more, the pit formed in Sara’s stomach. But she did not want to waste the opportunity, the gift, she was given. She almost would rather shake Eldura’s hand than kill her at the behest of her old master. “Damned woman…”

Picking up the ball, the succubus began to leave their temporary shelter and stepped on the soaked ground. “Come on, witch. I’m taking the lead now.”

World Notes: Beluit

Sitting squarely upon the equator of the planet, Beluit is said to be the source of all life.

Wider than it is tall, it is the largest continent and hosts a bevy of tallman civilizations. Major cities like St. Morning, Yalanaika, and Menlomichlan are world industry and cultural leaders, while their ships are second-to-none. With a wide array of natural resources at their fingertips, many nations rise and fall upon the landmass, but still cannot conquer the resolute rainforests.

The land is rich in diverse life from rainforests to sheer rockfaces nearly the size of the smaller continents. Water mana lay in abundance in a blanket evenly spread across the landmass, allowing it to be a major location of interest in magical research and meteorological study. In addition, the fertile mana-infused soils lead it to be an agricultural powerhouse, able to feed nearly 40 people with just one acre. This access to easy nutrition is what scholars believe to allow tallmen to reach their height and still have the ability to put on sizable weight

Many rivers streak across the surface, a supposed signature of the goddess Beluit endorsing her work in an effort to appease her sisters. The sheer amount of winds felt through the space is said to be her closest sister of Merreign spending time away from the lifeless painting she had constructed and ensuring the stewards created do not destroy her sister's precious work.

While primarily a tallmen continent, a few settlers from the dwarven kingdoms of Alzahett and Svetania have found homes within the rocky crags that dot the landscape. One of which, Altenheim, has become a gem within the dwarven culture as many plays and dances are formed and distributed around the world from the relatively new settlement, largely due to the ease of litigious reliance, a move considered by more ancestral settlements to look down upon the sophomore colony.