Turnabout
By Chaos Blackwing

As Grand Mage Markus looked around at the devastation surrounding him, he allowed himself a grim smile. The task had seemed near impossible, stopping a mad mage and his small army of bandits, but he’d managed it. The mage was dead, and what bandits were still alive were likely running to the nearest border as fast as their legs would carry them. 

The victory had not been without cost however, as a stabbing pain in his abdomen reminded him, bringing his attention to the sword that was currently embedded in his gut. So focused on fighting the mage the man’s second in command, a bandit of surprisingly small stature had managed to sneak close enough to run him through, though it had cost him his life a mere second afterwards.

*I sorry Markus, but it would seem this is the end for you.*

Looking up Markus smiled past the blood in his mouth at the fading form of his draconic familiar. Usually solid enough to touch, the magic that allowed the small dragon to remain on this plane was fading as fast as his life was, leaving only a ghostly being in front of him.

“You might be right Remis, though what an end huh? A kingdom saved from a would-be-tyrant, his army destroyed... I can think of worse ways to go.”

Smiling sadly down at the dying mage, the dragon nodded his head. *True enough.*

As the blood left his body Markus found himself without the strength to remain sitting up, and soon flopped into the damp, blood soaked ground below him, feeling the sword within him shift as he did so, though the sensation was muted, as though he was under the effects of powerful pain-killers. As his vision began to fade, and he felt the last embers of life leave his body, Markus reached out with a shaky arm to touch his partner, only to have his hand pass right through him and drop into the dirt. His voice barely a whisper at this point, he did his best to smile. “Besides, if you’ve got to die, what better time than with a dear friend next to you?”

Crouching down, his body almost completely gone by this point, his familiar looked into his eyes. *What better time indeed? Goodbye Markus, I look forward to seeing you again shortly.*

Before he could question the dragon as to his cryptic last words, Grand Mage Markus, savior of the kingdom, breathed one last time and died.

**

Never having been a religious sort it was with more than a little surprise when he woke up that Markus realized that he was still aware and capable of thought. Opening his eyes however merely made things even more confusing.

Having heard a sermon or two in his lifetime Markus had at least a passable idea of how afterlives were supposed to go. Depending on one’s actions, they were faced with either wondrous bliss and happiness, or dark and painful torment. Beautiful wilderness, exotic buildings grand enough to draw one’s breath away, there was as many ideas of paradise as their were religions.

He didn’t seem to recall any afterlives being described as well appointed studies however.

Bookshelves lined the walls, while in the center were several large... he would almost say couches, except they all seemed to be circular, with no backs to them, and with slightly sunken centers, leading to a shallow ‘bowl’ shape. Letting his gaze sink down, it seemed he was on something similar, though the edges of the surface he rested upon were lined in what appeared to be glowing runes, pulsing slightly every few seconds.

In the process of looking downwards however he was struck by something of rather more immediate concern than his surroundings. His arm was covered in fur. Black ‘socks’ encased his hands, covering halfway to his elbows, where it was replaced by bright orange fur. If he didn’t know better, he’d almost swear he had the hand of fox. Before he could ponder the matter any longer however a voice spoke up, deep and unfamiliar.

“Tell me Markus, did you ever wonder why it was that standard familiar summoning techniques put so much importance on the binding circlet?”

Snapping his head up at the question, Markus was struck silent as Remis, his familiar, padded into the room, looking far larger than he’d ever seen him before. Where before his familiar had been roughly the size of a large dog, now he seemed to be almost as large as a pony or small horse. As he gazed at his familiar in surprise the dragon came closer until he was sitting next to the platform Markus was on, his head almost a foot higher than the confused mage as he looked down with a smile.

“You had to have wondered. After all as you yourself could attest a binding between mage and familiar without a binding circlet allowed for a much closer connection, enabling both to work much more efficiently, and utilize much greater powers safely. Why then would mages insist on deliberately crippling their powers such?”

To be honest Markus hadn’t really thought about it. Untaught for most of his early years, his only source of instruction had been from the shaman that lived just outside his small village. Though the old man hadn’t been capable of the same magic that Markus was, being more inclined towards spirit magic while Markus’ inclination was elemental, he’d done his best to teach the young boy as much as he could, including gifting him a precious book on magic that’d he’d picked up in his travels. 

Though many of the pages were too far gone to read, contained within the book were most of the steps and rituals required to summon a familiar, a partner and assistant that would help a mage by acting as both focus and stabilizer for their powers. After months of careful experimentation and research the two of them had come up with a ritual that the shaman thought would work, with the old man mixing in his own knowledge in the places where the books’ words were illegible. Luckily for the pair the summoning had gone mostly without a problem(the handful of sprits that slipped through were banished quickly enough by the practiced shaman), and soon Markus had made the contract with his new familiar.

Having already acquired a familiar by the time he was able to travel to a larger city for more formal education, he’d never felt the need to look into the matter any, though judging by the questions Markus was starting to wonder how wise that course of action had been.

 “You see, a binding between mage and familiar is a contract between equals, or at least it’s intended to be. The one serving as familiar pledges their support to the mage, and in return the mage pledges their support to the familiar in return.” Flashing his fangs as he looked past Markus into the air, it was clear that the subject was a sore spot with Remis. “Modern mages however have developed a way to cheat the contract, such that they no longer are required to fulfill their half of the bargain. That is the purpose of the binding circlets.”

Drawing his attention back to the mage next to him, the dragon smiled as he looked down at the now rather fuzzy form of Markus. “A binding links the lives of mage and familiar, allowing the familiar to draw upon the magical energy and life-force of the mage and use it to keep them on that plane. At the same time, the mage can draw upon the magical energy and life-force of their familiar, boosting their abilities. Properly applied the binding is so strong in fact that so long as either lives they are sustained by the other, making both mage and familiar drastically harder to kill or even seriously injure, with the only way of doing so being to wear the energies of both down before attacking, as happened to us.”

Nodding, Markus found it interesting to have something he’d only barely known the edges of explained to him, though he wondered what this had to do with the question the dragon had posed to him.

 “Most modern mages however never achieve this level of connection with their familiar, the binding circlet acting as a buffer, protecting them from the price of the contract, but blocking them from it’s higher benefits in the process.” Leaning down even more until he was mere inches away from Markus’ face, Remis spoke calmly, though with a slight grin on his scaly face. “So long as a mage lives, their familiar lives and serves them. Once a mage dies however, the other half of the contract comes into play, as the energies draw the mage’s soul to the location of the opposite binding point. As the familiar once served as partner and servant to the mage, the mage is now called to serve in the same way themselves to their former familiar.” 

Grinning widely at the stunned man before him, Remis nonetheless had a kind look on his face. “Which means, in case it wasn’t clear Markus, that as I served you, now you shall serve me.”

Swallowing past his suddenly dry throat, Markus still had a question. “But what did you mean when you said that modern mages had found a way to cheat the contract? What does the binding circlet have to do with this?”

Nodding in admiration of the fact that even now Markus was thinking, Remis sat back down on his haunches. “A good question. The Binding Circlet you see acts as a magnet for the energies of the contract. Rather than latching onto the mage, as it does to the familiar, the energies instead are drawn to the circlet. As a result when the mage dies and the familiar returns to their plane, the soul of the mage is not drawn to them, and instead the energies merely draw in the circlet, a worthless chunk of metal. The mage’s soul travels to whatever afterlife their particular god offers, and their former familiar is left with nothing in exchange for their service.”

As he listened Markus couldn’t help but grimace as he practically felt the disgust radiating off of Remis as he described the system, disgust he found himself sharing. Learning as he had from the shaman, one who was careful to work with the spirits he summoned and dealt with, Markus had always felt that mage and familiar were meant to be partners, helping each other as they were able to. Though he hadn’t known about the other half of the contract until just now, after having been informed of it it seemed a fair trade. A lifetime of service on the part of the familiar, in exchange for the same from the mage once his life was over. To cheat that felt decidedly wrong to him, taking everything while giving nothing.

Sensing the acceptance from the one before him Remis smiled, glad, though not too surprised. Markus had always tried to be fair with him, treating him more as a friend than a servant, always doing what he could to make sure that Remis was comfortable and happy. Leaning forward he nuzzled the fur between the mage’s now perky ears in gratitude.

As he felt Remis rub his head, Markus was again reminded of his new appearance. Pulling back slightly, he looked at the dragon before him with a questioning look. “That explains what I’m doing here I suppose, but it doesn’t explain why I look like this, nor why you’re so big.”

Smiling Remis nodded. “The two are related actually. When a mage summons their familiar, while the base form of the familiar will always match the type summoned, certain things are more... malleable. Shortly after we met I remember you mentioning the spirits that your mentor had summoned on occasion, noting how they tended to manifest in smaller form. I can only assume that as a result you believed that I should be smaller, and because of that belief my form was reduced from it’s normal size, this, to what it was when you summoned me.” Smirking slightly, Remis looked over Markus’ fur covered form before once more meeting his curious gaze. “As for how that relates to your current form, I must admit that ever since I spotted one in the forest around the village, I’ve been rather fond of the look of foxes, their fur being much more colorful than drab human skin. As such I may have... nudged your appearance as it was forming into a more interesting shape.”

Rolling his eyes at the logic, Markus extended his hand to examine his new pelt, running a hand down the fur. He had to admit, Remis did have a bit of a point, the coloration was striking, even if it would likely take a bit to get used to being covered in fur like this.

Looking back up at the watching dragon sitting before him, Markus was a bit at a loss to what to say next, finally settling on a simple, “So, now what?”

Smiling reassuringly, Remis appeared to concentrate for a moment, before the runes encircling Markus faded, going dark. Motioning the mage to hop down the dragon turned to lead him out of the room and into the rest of the house proper. “Now... now your new life begins. I believe that you’ll enjoy it, learning new magics in a new world, serving as my assistant and companion as I served as yours before.” Pausing a moment in the doorway, Remis twisted his head around to look Markus in the eyes as he smiled.

“Welcome to your new home.”