Branches of Life

I was standing in front of my open closet, clothes strewn about as I contemplated what I should pack when a cool breeze blew in through my open window. That wasn't what made me drop the jeans and leggings I'd been holding, it was the disembodied whispers following in its wake. I leaned my head out the window, looking around for anything or anyone, but found nothing.

A breeze lifted my hair as the whispers grew louder. This time I was able to make out two words, the Wilds.

Our house sat at the edge of the Convergence point, right next to the Wilds. A forest that was considered true neutral territory. Where neither the council nor any of our rulers had any authority.

I stared at the towering line of trees, looking for anything off or out of the ordinary. For a brief moment, I actually considered going into the forest to see if I could find the source of the whispers. Shaking my head, I immediately ruled out that dumbass idea.

"You are not going out into the Wilds alone, just because voices tell you to," I whispered to myself as I grabbed the top of the window. Another breeze blew through the room and I made out another word; my name. "Nope, not today."

The voices began chanting my name, whispering over each other as they became louder and louder.

"Dammit!" I growled, turning from the window and making my way out of my room. "I'm going to regret this."

The voice grew louder as I walked through the dense trees of the forest. Whispers coming at me from all directions, disorienting me. A couple of times the voices began to quiet down, signaling I was going the wrong way.

All at once, the voices disappeared completely the moment I entered a small glade. Almost fifty or so feet across, with soft grass under my bare feet. I really should've put shoes on. I spun around, looking for anything out of the ordinary, but nothing looked out of place. Everything here was supposed to be. "Please tell me, I didn't just let myself be lured out here to be murdered."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, as I felt a presence behind me. Please don't let this be a trap, I chanted in my head while I turned around. My breath caught the moment I saw a black and white wolf at the other end of the glade, sitting in the shadows, just staring at me.

I maintained eye contact with the wolf, while my wolf spirit surged to the surface, without me even summoning her. The wild wolf tilted her head when she sensed my spirit animal. I held my ground as the wolf stood up and slowly made their way toward me. They passed through a shaft of sunlight, and I gasped. The edges of its form were translucent. This wasn't an ordinary wolf, it was an animal spirit familiar.

Spirit familiars were fairly rare in our world. Our Knowledge of how they came to be or where they came from was limited. All we knew, was that when they met a summoner they deemed worthy, they bonded with them. Once bonded, the familiar guided and protected the summoner. Not too dissimilar to a sorcerer’s or a sorceress' familiar. The main difference between the two was that animal spirit familiars were essentially spirits that could make themselves corporeal, and because of that they were able to make themselves invisible to all senses. Even to those with enhanced senses.

Familiars were stronger than the non-familiar animals of their species. They were also highly intelligent and strategic. Underestimating them because they were an animal, was one of the worst mistakes you could ever make.

When the familiar stood before me, they sat down while I watched in awe. The wolf nudged their nose against my chest, and I half expected it to go through me even though I knew better. A painful tugging sensation began in my chest, right beside where my spirit familiar sat, pressing against the surface in curiosity. A bright and white hot searing sensation followed the tugging. So painful, I had to close my eyes and clench my teeth as I weathered through the burning and pulling.

After what felt like several minutes, the pain disappeared leaving a foreign energy in its wake. A faint ball of light pulsed within my chest. One that was of great interest to my spirit wolf. Excitement buzzed from her to me. The ball pulsed again almost like it was reacting to her.

My eyes snapped open, meeting the glowing yellow eyes of the wolf as realization dawned on me. The familiar bonded to me. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. 'Hello, little wolf,' a rumbling feminine voice said in my head. No lie, I jumped back a little bit.

"Why me?" That was all I thought to ask.

'I've been watching you for the past few days now.' She stood up and began walking the way I just came from. As if that was a good enough explanation. I just stared at her. Remembering back on the last few days, when there were moments I almost swore I felt something or someone watching me. It was her. Nice to know I wasn't paranoid or crazy.

When I didn't follow her, she paused looking over her shoulder. 'Don't you have a trip to the human realm to prepare for?'

My mouth gaped open as I stared at her before I shook my head and followed.

"When you say you watched me, how much?" I asked after almost a minute of silence.

'Enough to be sure you were worthy.'

I bit my lip considering her answer. The big question of how she came across me, and why she'd chosen to spend her time watching me, nagged at my mind. I decided to hold back and not annoy her right off the bat.

I tried to stay quiet and lasted only a couple of minutes. "What should I call you?"

'You can call me Rowan.' She moved through the forest with ease, not getting tripped up by the uneven ground.

"Rowan it is." I refrained from asking how old she was, afraid it would offend her.

My brain was struggling to process what just happened. I now was bonded to a spirit familiar. Never in my wildest dreams would I have considered this happening. There weren't many summoners bonded to familiars. Maybe fifty in total. None from my clan had one. A fact that was no longer true.

I managed to keep my many questions to myself during the rest of the trek home. Inside the house, we found Harmony and Ari gathering supplies in the armory. Unlike earlier when we first got home, there weren't any arguments over what to bring. Ari was busy comparing two blades when she spotted me. "There you are. I didn't know where you went or how long you'd be gone, so I already packed your bag, because I'm so nice." She gestured over at the dark gray backpack. It was one of those bags that held more than you'd ever think possible, with magic expanding the inside and distributing the extra weight. Our parents gifted us our bags when we moved to the district.

I opened my mouth ready to thank her, when Rowan sauntered into the room like she'd been in here a hundred times. Ari's eyes widened as she stepped back. "No fucking way!"

Ari's sudden exclamation had Harmony dropping her knife, and whirling around to face Ari. When she finally noticed Rowan, her eyes went wide and her mouth wordlessly opened and closed. "That's a familiar."

"Her name's Rowan," I said casually as I sorted through the weapons on the wall to the left of the door. Which held a variety of swords. All of which were different types, sizes, and lengths. The wall directly across from the door, held miscellaneous weapons, like archery bows and arrows. Hanging on either side of the doorframe, were various sheaths and straps, meant to secure weapons to our bodies.

The first weapon I settled on was a retractable double-bladed sword. All of the weapons here were crafted by the elementals. Materials were gathered by the Earth court and sent to the Fire court, where they were forged into beautifully dangerous weapons. A few of ours, like this sword, were then sent to the sorcerer's Hunter's moon court. Where they used magic to add special features, such as making the blades able to retract into the handle. On rare occasions, they were then sent to the Dawn court, for the blood mages to cast sigils on them.

Most of us didn't do this, simply because we would have to allow them to use our blood.

Mythics have always been protective of our blood, and wary of letting a blood mage use it for casting. Not only because the use of our blood created those creatures, but because it gave blood mages power over whoever's blood they used. A couple of drops was all they needed to be able to cast a whole number of sigils. One I've always been afraid of happening to me was having my blood boiled or frozen. It always seemed more painful than having your blood poisoned.

Ari's expression had become blank, making it hard for me to know what she was thinking. Harmony, however, did not hide her shock and awe, continuing to gape at Rowan. Who had lain down in the corner of the room, her head resting on her paws, watching us.

"She's a wolf," Ari whispered, drawing my attention back to her.

"Yeah," I said, drawing out the word. "She's a wolf."

Ari didn't respond, instead, she continued staring at Rowan, with that same expressionless look. I always hated when she did this, and wished she'd just tell me what she was thinking.

"Why are you so focused on what kind of animal she is?" I practically growled, losing my patience.

Her focus snapped to me, face finally showing an emotion, confusion. "Don't you know?"

I threw my hands up, my frustration at its peak. "Obviously not."

Her frown deepened as she looked at Harmony, who shook her head and said, "I have no clue what you're hinting at."

Ari sighed, wiping her hands down her face. "I guess I can't really blame either of you for being idiots. They were pretty vague about spirit familiars in our lessons growing up."

"Ari." I groaned, stopping her from the inevitable tangent.

"I was just saying, that it makes sense you wouldn't know, that all of the summoners bonded to familiars have one thing in common. Their spirit animal and animal spirit familiar, are never the same type of animal."

Now I was the one gaping at her. "What?"

Ari shrugged going back to stuffing weapons into her bag. "No one knows why this is. There are theories, of course, but none hold more weight than the others. I've always just accepted this as fact without questioning it. Until now." Her hand paused over a knife before looking over at me. "I don't know why you're the exception. And I can't figure out if it's good or bad. I guess only time will tell." She punctuated her statement by zipping up her bag.

Shit. Being different or the exception to some unknown rule, wasn't something I wanted. I looked over at Rowan, ready to ask her what the fuck was going on, only to find she had fallen asleep. Part of me thought she was faking, in order to avoid answering my inevitable questions.

I covered my face with my hands, taking a moment to collect my scattered thoughts. "I can't deal with this right now. We'll figure this out after we deal with our other mess." I dragged my hands down my face, suppressing a groan. This had been the longest day ever, and it was nowhere near over.

Ari placed a hand on my shoulder as she passed. "Don't worry, we'll have your back no matter what happens." She swung her bag onto her shoulder, before leaving us staring after her.

"Is it true, that familiars can speak into your mind?" Harmony asked picking up her bag.

I let out a short, humorless laugh. "Yep. Scared the shit out of me."

Harmony gave her an appraising look. "She's beautiful." Rowan's eyes cracked open, confirming she'd been faking being asleep. What a bitch. "The timing of her arrival couldn't be more perfect." Honestly, I hoped we wouldn't need her help, and that this would be an easy mission.

* * * * * * * *

Deciding that I needed a shower, I made my way to the bathroom attached to my bedroom. Somehow my shorts and tank top were both covered in grass. How that happened was beyond me.

Stripping out of my clothes, I stepped into the already hot shower. The heat from the water helped loosen my muscles, still a little tense from my fight with Koa several hours ago. All of my bruises and aches had already healed, but that didn't mean I didn't want to kick his ass. That shit hurt. I wanted to repay the favor.

I shut off all thoughts and methodically washed my hair and body. Once clean, I found myself in front of my closet again, this time free of any clothes thrown about. It was best to blend in while in the human realm, and with that in mind I chose a blue crop top, skinny jeans that I was able to move in, and chunky-heeled black boots.

Movement in my periphery drew my attention to my bed, where Rowan had made herself comfortable. "Seriously?"

'Your bed is very comfortable,' was all she said, jumping down from my bed.

I left my room without bothering to respond, nearly running into Harmony in the process. She'd changed into red flowing pants and a yellow halter top. Dangling off her fingers were a pair of white sneakers.

"You know, you'll have to actually wear those once we're in the human realm."

She looked at the shoes in distaste, the way one would look at a poisonous snake. I pressed my lips together, looking away before I laughed. "These things are truly evil. I can't believe you wear them on a daily basis. Honestly, this will be the worst part of this mission."

"I doubt that," I said with a chuckle, looping my arm through hers as we strolled down the hall and into the living room.

Ander and Ari were already there, standing in the middle of the room, talking in hushed whispers. Even with my hearing, I couldn't make out a single word. Ander abruptly stopped talking as soon as he saw us, his face going carefully neutral. At the change in his demeanor, Ari turned toward us, face also blank. I wasn't going to get anything from either of them.

Ander's eyes darted to Rowan, and then back to me. Not a single flicker of surprise flashed across his expression. Ari told him. Was that what they were whispering about? Or was there something else they didn't want us to know about?

Before I could question either of them, Ander started speaking. "Reed has headed back to the Fire court. I don't know if he's using it as an excuse not to come with us, or if something else is going on. All I know is that he said he was going back, and not to get our dumbass selves killed." Ander ran his fingers through his hair, tousling it even further.

Worry sat heavily in my chest, as I considered what could possibly drive Reed to suddenly head back to court. It wasn't like it was a bad place or anything of the sort. I'd never heard him or anyone else have anything bad to say about it. But for some reason, Reed hadn't been back there in eight years. All the times he visited his parents, who lived in the capital, they would meet up in one of the other neutral territories. It's one of the many secrets that Reed had, and one I had hoped he would one day share with us. Now I was starting to wonder if we should have tried harder to get to the bottom of it.

I forced those thoughts from my mind, preparing myself for the task at hand. "We'll let him get away with this for now, but as soon as we get back, we're getting to the bottom of this." The others made sounds of agreement.

Ander activated the wards on our house before we were making our way toward the rift to the human realm. Where hopefully, the worst possible thing we encountered was having to wear shoes.