Plot: Pets choose their owners at birth. You are forty and have never been chosen, until today. While out hunting, you came upon a dead Dire Wolf and it’s pup. The pup understands your commands, but it won’t stop following you. Also, its as big as fruit cart.
I was often mocked, but it didn’t really get to me in my early days. But once I approached thirty I would live if I said it didn’t bother me. Bot having a pet chose you on birth was not unheard of, but it was rare, one in a million. Old tales said that we were broken souls that escaped the damnation.
I didn’t feel any different, except lonely at times, your “pets” or as most people called them familiars. They were your partners for life, they lived as long as you did and never left your side. Yes, you would meet a perfect person and get married, but that form of a bond could not compare to the one with the familiar, someone you knew from your literal first day in the world.
That’s why I chose a life of solitude, becoming a bounty hunter for monsters, and helping villages all across the region with their problems. Most of the people strayed away from me, but with years on the job and my reputation of always getting the deed done, they started to respect me. I was starting to get warm welcomes, best cuisine was always on the table for me as soon as I arrived.
That’s how I ended up in Elsvoran twenty-two years ago. The king himself called me to get rid of the Stonehound that was tormenting the region south of the city. Stonehound killed several people by the time I arrived and what worried king more was the fact that he destroyed farms and crops around the city.
I was forty at the time and I was at top of my game with swords, axes, and crossbows. Stonehounds were tricky so that’s why I brought a small team with me. The pay was good even when we split it 7 ways, more than I would make in two months doing small jobs.
After the night spent in the city, getting the best treatment possible from the king, we embarked into the forest at sunrise.
The forest was filled with the sounds of chirping birds and rustling leaves as I walked along the dirt path. Then I heard a faint whimper that seemed to be coming from behind a nearby hill.
I was curious and cautious at the time, so I approached the hill and peered behind it. To my surprise, there lay a small, furry creature that was about the size of a fruit cart. It was a dire wolf cub, its eyes closed and its body trembling and his mother lay motionless beside him.
I stepped closer, and the cub’s eyes fluttered open. It let out a small growl, but I could tell it was more scared than aggressive. I held out my hand slowly, hoping to show that I meant no harm to him.
To my amazement, the cub sniffed my hand and then nuzzled its head against my palm. I felt a surge of warmth in my heart as I realized that this little creature was seeking comfort from me.
What surprised me the most is that it did not react to anyone else besides me. I tested the few commands and that little cub followed them to perfection, my familiar finally.
As I held the cub in my arms, I couldn’t help but feel a deep connection to that little creature. I knew that our encounter was meant to be and that our paths crossing was delayed for an important reason.
“What happened to the Stonehound?” Sabien asked me, but the rest knew better and quiet.
“But now I won’t get to find out what was the reason for that delay, I could have had forty more years Razor, forty more years of fun and memories,” I said as I brushed my hands through Razor’s thick fur as he lay in the snow.
We bandaged his cuts the best we could, but he was dying I knew it. Without immediate help from Elder Druid, he would perish before sunrise.
I should have never accepted a job this far north, what was I thinking? I became too greedy for money and fame, killing a Tenebris, the Ice Dragon, with this small of a team, I am a fool.
Sabien sent his Albatross to Icegrond for help two hours ago, but there was no way help could arrive in time. We a hunting party in our best shape hiked for three days to get here.
“Please live my boy,” I said to the sky as I looked over a massive body of an Ice Dragon in the distance.
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