As Angor prepared to depart on the next day, Alan and Aleen came to the deck to see him off.
The sun was bright. Angor rose on a demon falcon and flew around in the air until the figures on the ship became smaller and smaller.
When would they meet again? Life was full of separations. Angor was already thinking about their reunion.
As he approached the cloud whale, the imposing creature looked more and more magnificent.
When the demon falcon flew past the whale’s head, Angor was sure the giant, blue pupils of the whale was following him. The cloud whale looked up as Angor flew higher.
The deep, blue eyes, like the sea illuminated by a newly rising sun. Gentle and serene.
The whale’s “salute” shocked Angor as well as gave him courage. The gentle look dissipated Angor’s uneasiness for being taken to the sky for the first time.
The demon falcon left Angor on the back of the cloud whale. He was immediately surprised by what he saw.
This is on the top of the cloud whale? But aren’t I looking at a cozy ranching field?
Grand, fresh-green grassland extended into the horizon. Spotted cows scattered among the green curtain, wiggling their tails while enjoying their meal.
Demon falcons patrolled the air and would rest on a rock now and then. Some of them were drinking from the pool in the center of the “ranch”.
All seemed natural and harmonious. Even the big and small tents sitting on the grassland blended in with the scenery quite well.
Angor landed in front of the biggest, most beautiful tent in the “ranch”. When he was trying to decide whether he should lift the curtain and go in, Flora floated out from it, wearing her red dress.
“Heehee. I know you have a lot to ask. Follow me. I’ll answer them,” said Flora. She paused for a moment before saying, “The teacher is doing an experiment. It releases radiation, so your body will fail against it without protection spells. I’ll take you to him later today. Now, let’s go to your room. Hey, is that Greya’s silly bird on your head?”
Flora raised an eyebrow and quickly grabbed Toby off Angor’s head.
Angor spent the whole night telling Toby to change its resting place. He did not really care for his image, but meeting people with constant messed-up hair could be impolite.
Though Angor tried very hard, Toby only raised its tiny head and looked at him with an innocent expression, as if telling Angor to make it simpler. Angor gave up in the end. Greya did say Toby could understand human speech, but she never said Toby could speak. If Toby decided to play dumb, Angor could not do anything about it.
Still, he made a decision, that when he got the chance, he would buy a hat. A cheap one that looked like Teacher’s top hat. That would stop the bird from disturbing his hair.
Toby was lying in Angor’s hair to sleep because it felt soft and comfy. When someone grabbed him, Toby still showed a pair of sleepy eyes. However, when he saw Flora staring it like a guinea pig, he remembered master’s words about wizards’ strange habits and flapped its wings in panic.
Flora’s iron grip did not let go, so Toby could only “tweet” constantly. It sounded like it was screaming in a soprano.
“The silly bird was created by an artificial life spell. What’s so special about it?” Flora mumbled. “How about cutting it up and see the inside…”
Toby shook its head madly. When Flora’s face went closer, Toby’s eyes rolled back. It fainted.
“Boring coward.”
Flora tossed the bird back to Angor.
Angor fumbled to catch the poor thing. Greya asked him to take care of Toby, so he absolutely did not want anything bad to happen.
Maybe the warmth of Angor’s palm was comforting. Toby slowly woke up.
“You’re up? Such a chicken. And Lady Greya said you can look after yourself.” Angor sighed. He needed to pay a lot of attention to it after all.
“Why’s the silly bird here? Greya gifted it to you?” Flora asked.
“Lady Greya asked me to look after Toby for some time…” Angor explained yesterday’s incident, clear and brief.
“I see.” Flora frowned. “No special perks apart from understanding human speech? No way. Every living creature Greya created had their own effect. The Section Ephemera creates a plane tunnel, the Twisting Protozoa can locate coordinate using historical traces, the Ox Mackterfly can help you grow exoskeleton like butterfly wings…
“Now a living creature without abilities? Interesting. Seriously, I want to look inside it.” Flora approached Toby again with her curious expression. Toby quickly flew up in a panic and tried to stick itself inside Angor’s clothes.
Angor put Toby inside the chest pocket of his shirt. He was wearing a white undershirt and a brown checker jacket which gave him a more mature look.
Toby’s tiny head slowly emerged from the pocket. When it noticed Flora was still there, it quickly went down again, while reaching out a red talon to button the pocket up.
Its human-like behavior caused Angor to laugh out.
Flora shrugged. “Well, the silly bird’s too terrified to come out now.”
“Good, so he doesn’t ruin my hair again.” Angor stroke his already cluttering hair.
“He doesn’t have special abilities, but he’s enough to be an alchemy familiar,” said Flora. She seemed energetic for some reason, “Do you want me to process the bird into one?”
“What is an alchemy familiar?”
Flora gave him a mysterious smile and whistled towards the sky. The sound of something dashing through the air came from the distance, and a trail of smoke scared the cows away. When the smoke cleared, a black owl was standing on Flora’s shoulder.
The black feathers were sharp as needles and full of might. A wisp of golden feathers sat on the owl’s forehead like a crown, giving the creature a king’s look.
“What a handsome owl!” Angor spoke in his mind. He noticed the owl’s cold, pale green eyes. It was not a beast’s ferocious nature. It was more like… an emotionless machine.
“This is my alchemy familiar, Isa.”
…
A wizard needed an extra pair of ears and eyes when he or she wanted quick information or did not want to show up.
There were three ways for a wizard to do this:
One was by using special spells, such as Possession and Transmit Sound.
The second way was using scout avatars.
And the third, alchemy familiars.
Alchemy familiars were results of wizardry experiments. Wizards used alchemy to make monsters, phantoms or beasts into their spies.
Scout avatars were also made from creatures, but a scout avatar possessed its own consciousness while an alchemy familiar’s mind was as good as dead. The familiar’s life energy was depended on the wizard’s support. Its eyes and ears all belonged to the wizard. A wizard had complete control over an alchemy familiar like controlling his or her own senses.
An alchemy familiar did not have any consciousness.
In Angor’s view, alchemy familiar was the cruelest method. Although he could not deny the fact that it was also the most efficient and error-free approach. An alchemy familiar was like a part of a wizard’s body, impossible of betrayal or being deceived by mind-control spells.
Angor considered. If he ever needed an extra pair of eyes and ears, he might need an alchemy familiar.
But he would never dare to make Toby into one.
Greya’s retribution was only the second reason. The first being his own conscience. He promised to take care of Toby, and a man could not go back on his words like that.