The strange man was gone, along with the haziness that usually plagued my mind. His words still echoed, as if an ancient poem from Eons ago, burning itself into my brain.
Taking it's place was a book, which I struggled to open with all the willpower I could gather. It opened and then dissapeared.
I could feel something had been added to my memories, but it seemed to be locked away by something, just as the haze had remained a fugitive in my mind for so many years.
I could now feel what Garim had spoken to me about. My body naturally breathed in mana, although the mana felt very diluted compared to what was stored in my body.
My mind also felt as if it had been hit with a hammer, something awfully recurrent in the past week.
The eagle that had swooped in had left after taking the egg I'd dropped, frightened off by the voice.
Yet, I am still worried.
Where is the rest of the hunting party? It's gone awfully wrong since I've already caught a deserter fleeing from the forest.
I tried to look for them in the direction the deserter had come from, but all it did was push me deeper in the forest.
I felt the mana around me in a great agitation, as if seeking to enter my body forcibly. Controlling the rate at which it came in was very hard, akin to someone trying to stuff more food in me when I'm already full.
It threatned many times to spiral out of control, forcing me to stop and meditate, trying to keep myself from feeling as if I was bursting apart.
It was almost dawn when I finally managed to gather some tracks that looked human, making my drowsy body feel refreshed due to the adrenaline spike.
I focused on trying to follow it as quickly as possible, not to lose the tracks in the wet mud.
I quickly found signs of a camp, with the smoke from what I assumed was the camp fire giving me a beacon to follow.
Yet, all I found was signs of battle, with dead bodies, both humans and beast alike littering the floor, in a mangled mess that made me want to look away.
I heard a growl, a faint one, from below one of the dead beasts corpses - It was a tiny direwolf pup, white as snow.
It bared it's teeth at me, as if trying to scare me away. Yet, a pup which could almost fit in my hand was cute, not threatening in the least.
I took a bit of dried meat from my pouch and tried to get closer to it, offering the meat to make it trust me and come out.
It gladly put down it's fake agression and chomped on the meat wolfing it down quickly, gorging himself. It nuzzled against my legs, as if thanking me for the meal. It then made to get away, or so I thought.
It looked behind, almost as if saying to follow it. I did, and for a while, I couldn't tell where it was going to lead me.
Until I was at the opening of a den, naturally dug on a hill, large enough for an adult wolf to fit in. I tried to back away, but it came back, motioning me to come in.
I worked up the courage and finally gave in to my curiosity, going into the large hole. It was damp and dark, regardless it being day. It reeked of feces and rotting food, but it was better than sleeping out in the wood. My tent had gotten thrashed after the encounter with the giant eagle, which made sleeping out in the open worse.
As I was trying to find a clean spot, I heard a voice.
"Human, why are you here?" - I heard a deep voice, growling faintly. - "Wait, this smell... Your mana is different. Why is your mana different?"
It then showed itself. A grand Direwolf, mama wolf herself, had appeared.
"You're speaking to me?" - I asked, accepting beasts could talk.
"Indeed, you're not from this plane. Your body doesn't reject any sort of elemental mana. Can you tell me why?" - It asked, in the most humane way I'd ever seen a beast behave.
"I can't tell you why, as I don't know as well. I brought your child to you, I'll take my leave now." - I said, backing out of the den, scared the mother would chomp me down.
"Don't leave yet, Child. You helped a beast when you didn't have any obligation. Why?"- It asked, and I felt genuine curiosity coming from it.
"No unnecessarily killing, was what I was taught. Beasts included." - This was a dog eat dog world, yet morals were still upheld by some - " There's no point in bring harm to such an innocent creature for no reason, is there?"
"Yet humans are greedy and beasts will eventually kill. Why spare a pup, creating future problems, Child?"
"Killing for self-defense and feeding, not ravenous hunting. There's a difference in doing what's needed and what's not."
"You strike me as a quite peculiar one, Child. Come, enter a Contract with this one's offspring. I haven't got much longer to live, birthing this handsome fellow took it's toll on me." - It finally left the den, allowing me to see her body.
It was limping as if she had gotten bruised and was struggling to keep an upright posture. I could feel her weakness, yet also her wisdom.
"I was rescued by a human when I was young, Child. I was being kept by breeders, aiming to illegally kill my cubs so they could sell their cores and claws to mages. He was a mage, just like you, whose mana wasn't confined by the elemental restricions. He told me many things, things you can't possibly understand."
"He allowed me to go free when I got older, so I could live on in freedom. I will never kill a human if there's no need to. I was chased by some pesky bastards trying to take away my cub and so, I killed. I killed many, and left when I couldn't fight anymore. My mate died, as you probably saw. Gutted, stripped of his innards, all so mages can do petty witchcraft outside their restricions on their mana." - It seemed hurt, and her round blue eyes kept a mourning look, as if clinging on to her precious memories.
"What I want you to promise me is that you'll take care of my offspring as if it were your own. Think of him as family, a little brother. He's rarer than you think, Child. Direwolfes are not so common magical beasts, and he's different. I feel it. He's stronger, faster, wiser than most of his own age and breed."
"All you have to do is swear that oath under the name of your family and you'll be able to call him out as you please."
"So, an oath under my family's name?" - I asked, remembering what Garim had told me about names.
"Yes. The name you were given by your mage family. Use it. It holds great power, far more than you know right now. Just follow my lead and say what I've transmited. You need not speak it, just think it." - It said, struggling to keep her head high.
She motioned her pup with her snout, as if signaling him to come closer to me.
"Just place his paw on your head, and recite in your mind what I'm about to tell you, Child of Void."
I struggled to keep the puppy in my proximity, as he was fidgeting in between my legs, feeling his mother's anxiouness. Yet, when I sat down, he calmed down and allowed me to place his paw on my head, as his mother had told me.
And so, it begins.
I, Rubius Razi, swear upon the nami of the Razi family, that I will keep White Fang* under my protection, against all odds. As such, I command thee, White Fang, serve me as you would a Master and in return get a new name. Henceforth, you are White of Razi, reborn as a mage contract.
You shall live under my roof, share everything with me. You shall never betray your master, lest you be forgotten and banished. You shall live on with the grace that the Razi family has given you. As such, COME!