by Fey Truet
I sighed when I still couldn’t see, but didn’t give up.
Sere saw me and bent over. He picked me up with as sigh and pat my head.
“You’re pretty soft, and cute, as I mentioned. You are also far too trusting. You know, my mother was killed by a Remnant before my eyes when I was very young. It devoured her whole. That was long before I was employed with Cross, but I’ve seen many a kind of Remnant and I’ve always hated them.”
Sere set me down on the table while he inspected my tail.
“Familiars generally take the form of a person’s true nature so Remnants turn out to be beasts you’d never think you’d have to fear because they’re either beautiful or have no threatening features like claws or teeth. We’ve all learned to fear them. But I’ve never seen a cute one before. I think this is organic.” He pushed in the jewel in my tail. “Though, it doesn’t feel that way.
“The longest a Remnant has ever lived with us is two years. They’re likely to go crazy months before that mark. Four years ago, a Remnant, Dimmy, a striped Griffon, attacked Faline. Faline has always been untalented, but to let a familiar of all things come so close to killing her. She’s been terrified since, though she tries not to be.”
I wondered why he was telling me all of this. I wondered why I was listening. I should be scared and try to get out of here. I wasn’t though. If Sere wanted to he could exact vengeance on me for something I never did. I just didn’t feel he’d do that.
“A lot of us here have stories like that. You shouldn’t be so trusting.”
He sighed. “I wasn’t thinking about you because you’re a Remnant. I was thinking about you because you’re human. You seemed overwhelmed earlier, but not because you were in a demoralizing situation, but for some other reason. If anything, I’d say you were handling this in a frighteningly well manner. I wanted to know why, but I can see you don’t know?”
I just stared at him.
Hm?
“It’s astounding how oblivious you are. I wonder if Cross is aware of that or if he just stumbled across you. Maybe I should study humans, but they entirely disgust me when they aren’t familiars.”
I’m sure I was just insulted, but I didn’t argue with his deduction. His logic was entirely wrong but I wouldn’t risk his anger. I knew what gnomes were. Angry little men who stole whatever they could grab. They also kidnapped young children to turn them into gnomes as well.
Instead, I looked for his Remnant cure.
It was impossible to tell where his work began and if it ever stopped.
Counter after counter all filled with brightly colored liquids and clear tubes and wires and stuff that smoked or steamed. I saw vial after vial, some glowed while others were plain with clear liquids. A few tables over a machine pumped and overworked itself, but there was no visible result I saw. Everywhere I turned there was a new smell here and a different sound there. Strong smells, quiet sounds, large booms, and faint wisps.
I heard “Hissity hiss” and scented many delightful aromas.
It was a needed distraction.
I looked at Sere.
How come you’re at this table and not at that one?
I gestured to a table where a thick, goopy, blue fluid bubbled out of a pot and was spilling all over the counter and onto the floor.
I couldn’t figure out what made this table more important than the others and why he wasn’t running around like a turkey.
“Shtsssp bavvlp,” he hissed flicking his wrist in the direction of the pot and not only did it stop boiling over but seemed to reverse itself until the mess was completely gone. “Can’t be everywhere at once, obviously, and some things are more important. Especially when the hired help isn’t helping!” he yelled in Phillip’s direction.
I made an amused sound.
Who needs help when you can do that?
I sat down in my clear spot and patiently watched him.
It was nice being the one who watched instead of working for a change. Sere did nothing more than measure and mix, a chef in his own profession, but he also said the funniest sounding words and made thrilling things happen.
Spells I think. Spells to calm unruly poisons, and spells that reached further than any arm could ever reach. He summoned things or made things he couldn’t see clear come to him. I was unsure if there was a thing he couldn’t do. Only he grew more and more irate.
“Not working. Isn’t that hard. Won’t do at all!” were phrases I heard him mutter more and more to himself. I guess cures didn’t come as easily as ailments.
“Multilane. I need another pick-me-up. Give me the baby-root potion.”
I jumped and turned to a very young boy who appeared out of nowhere with no sound or no scent. Every strand of hair in my coat stood on end when I became aware of him, and I felt a suppressed anticipation for something.
I lay down, the word reverence popping in my head. I think I wanted to bow but I wouldn’t do such a thing. He wasn’t that important. Just potent.
“Nice to see you too, Cross?” Sere said irritably, summoning a vial of clear green liquid before him. He tossed it to the boy who quickly uncapped and downed it.
“Ahh!” the boy sighed, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. “That hit the spot! Hm?”
My heart gave a leap when he looked at me, and I saw yellow eyes like crystals, the small black pupils boring into me.
It couldn’t be, I thought despite knowing they’d hear me.
“Hey! Multilane! What the heck is that?” the boy asked Sere in an outraged voice.
I don’t know why, but my spirits dropped at how he referred to me.
That?
“I’m this sure I set rules against bringing strange creatures in the Manor.”
I saw Sere’s eye and cheek twitch and felt a swell of hot air that laid my ears flat.
“Don’t tell me that you don’t know that this is your new Remnant, Cross, or I’ll banish you to oblivion again, and this time I won’t make the mistake of opening it to see if a pest like you would survive!”
“Remnant! Hah! I still haven’t made another one since that last horror. Ugh. I hate those things. Fat ugly Gluttons. So that’s a Glutton, eh?” he said with a vindictive twist of his lips.
He raised his hand in front of him and conjured a light that brought the smell of brimstone to my nose and brought an involuntary growl to my throat.
“See. No familiar of mine would treat me with such disrespect. Target Practice!” he shouted at the top of his lungs and threw the ball at me.
One moment I was hissing on the counter, the next I was in the air watching as another ball formed in his hand and was hurled at me. There was no way I could dodge, so I was ever grateful when Sere tackled the little demon, sending his ball flying into a group of liquids that exploded.
The boy escaped Sere with a, “No fair! That’s cheating!”
He formed another ball in his hand and threw it at me. I flattened myself down then zipped forward after it blew over me causing another explosion.
The boy growled and screamed, “No, fair!” at the same time Sere got up and roared, “My lab!”
Before the boy could throw another ball, I leaped and grabbed his arm with a mouthful of teeth. When I had him, I dug claws I wasn’t aware I had in him and held on.
He screamed. “Ahh! Get it off! Get it off!”
He hit painfully, but he could throw fireballs when I wasn’t holding him so I held tight.
I felt hands gently wrap around me and try to pry me off.
“You don’t want that one in your mouth too long, Emare! You’re likely to get sick! Just let him go!” Sere tried to ward me off.
He tried to blow me up! He destroyed your lab! He’s dangerous!
The boy was now crying, but it wasn’t until he bawled, “Get this monster off of me!” that I let go and Sere fell with unexpected ease.
“Thank you,” he said holding me up and away so I didn’t get hurt.
The sharp tang of iron in my mouth a
nd the boy’s bleeding arm shocked me still.
I did that to a, a, c-child?
My tail curled up between my tucked in legs and my ears flattened even more.
I wanted to make myself even smaller still.
He threw fireballs at me, but he was still a child.
“No,” Sere corrected me. “You did that to a complete maniac who long had it coming, considering he forgot his own familiar and attacked. What kind of Magician are you! I’ve seen water bugs with more sense than you! Oh, gees, look at you!”
The boy wailed even louder and Phillip pulled a coat over his head and something rancid burned in the back, and there were chemical magicworks flying everywhere but at us, and all I heard was a crying boy, thinking of that awful dream I had earlier.
Did he cry?
Sere was quiet as he brushed a painful spot on my back, causing me to flinch.
I deserved it.
“He singed your back a little. Don’t worry about it Emare,” he told me, wrapping me in his coat. “Meet Cross! Our brave and fearless leader!”
Glass Elephant
“What is going on down here!” I heard Wren’s distraught voice.
We all looked up to see Wren staring at the entire room with a fierce expression that gave no trace of the worry in her voice. She looked past us and flicked her fingers forward, and a heavy, cold downpour began raining down on us.
“Oh, come on! Can’t a bloody bloke get some sleep around here without someone screaming, or burning, or starting a poppy swelling monsoon!” Phillip got up waving his arms. Next, he took all of those jackets and disappeared.
“Shut up, Phil,” Sere shouted too late.
“Boo-hoo! Wreeen! Kill it! Kill it! That beast that idiot Sere brought in here. It bit. It bit. It biiiit meeeeee,” the boy boo-hooed.
Wren sliced one of her hands and the downpour stopped.
The next moment she was next to the boy inspecting the bite.
I looked up to where she had been and saw several tense faces, including Vidale’s and Faline’s, but there were three guys who stood overwrought and waiting for an order.
Sere tried to hide me behind his back.
Wren got a look at the bite and then turned on Sere.
“What did this! Is it still alive!”
“He has it! He br-br. He brought it iiinnn heeeere. I thought I was g-gonna diiiie!” the kid wailed.
“Sere, see it here! Anything that could attack our master is dangerous! Why are you hiding it!” Wren honed in on him.
“Hey! Hold up a minute! You’re really taking that spineless idiots word for it when he tried to exterminate us all a month ago to figure out if poison was still poisonous if you put it in something sweet!”
“Hey! Those were A quality chocolates and you were lucky I shared them with you all!” the boy yelled.
I was beginning to agree with the sarcastic note Sere used a moment ago.
“Then why didn’t you eat any?” Sere growled.
The boy sniffed.
“I hadn’t eaten dinner and didn’t want to spoil my appetite.”
“You do it any other day you liar! You knew those chocolates were poisoned because the Archduke sent them to you! Everybody hates you and we suffer for it!” Sere yelled, and Wren sighed along with several other people.
I grew more and more wary.
“Why dredge up petty things from the past. This is now and you brought that dangerous beast in here. You should’ve seen it, Wren! It was hideous and big. It had sharp teeth and claws. The minute I walked in its mouth dripped with spittle and it was huffing and growling at me. It gave me little choice but to attack it. It was going to eat Sere!” the boy lied.
“You little—” Sere growled but the boy cut him off.
“I saved your life! How dare you invite that bloody beast in here! You should be grateful I took its furious wrath in your place you ingrate! Who knows what that thing could be carrying?”
Wren sighed again.
“Sere. This is serious. Something just attacked our… Cross, and nothing should be able to do that… unfortunately. If you are hiding something then I won’t ask again! Hand It Over!”
I could feel Sere strain and shake and groan, but slowly he began to bring me around front.
“Look! Wren. Before you do some…thing hasty it wasn’t… her fault.”
Next, I was completely helpless, wrapped in Sere’s coat, facing Wren, who gasped.
“Is that the new Glutton!” one of the girls asked from upstairs. “It attacked Master Cross!” she added, and that earned a lot of murmurs that upset me a little more.
I’m guessing that was a really bad thing.
“Silence,” Wren said, and the word chilled the room.
I flattened my ears once more, the order not agreeing with me.
Neither did being soaking wet.
Now I knew why Scarlet hated taking baths. Water didn’t harmonize with a body of hair.
Wren glowered down at me.
One moment her scent was as minor as a vase of flowers, but when I stared back at her too long, a scent like thunder and landscapes wrought by storms filled my nostrils.
My ears plastered to my head as the scent of danger tried to order me to stand down.
For what? I was doing nothing wrong.
Wren narrowed her eyes at me.
“Master Cross? Were you attacked by your own Remnant? Shall I dispose of it?”
I licked my lips at “Dispose of it,” snapping out of that weird trance.
Sere muffled and growled but didn’t—or couldn’t—open his mouth. He strained and trembled against his own body as he sat me down on the flooded ground in front of him.
Why did he wrap me up so tight?
I could barely move.
“Of course you should. It isn’t mine! Do you think me such a lout that I can’t control one of my own familiars! That beast was probably sent here by Odasmere or the Archduke. Kill it! Kill it!” the boy yelled. “Or better yet! I’ll do it!” and another fireball appeared in his hands.
“Cross!” Wren growled, more than aggravated. “What do you mean ‘It isn’t mine!’ Surely you know your own familiar!”
“Uh?” the boy asked.
Cross asked.
My supposed new master.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t make that abomination! Besides. All of my creations are remarkable. Does that insignificant little nonentity look remarkable? No. Therefore, it isn’t mine.”
“Nice reasoning,” someone mumbled. “Kill the Glutton!” they cheered.
“Emare Tales! The girl you left for six years. Your new Remnant!”
The smell Wren emitted now raised my hackles. I could only explain it as a havoc wreaking.
“Please tell me you did not forget!”
“Hmph. I don’t forget anything and I did not… Wait?”
The little boy, Cross, looked at me, and then stared some more.
I was out of my element and had no thoughts. So I remained quiet.
“Is that the…?” he looked at Wren. “Whoa! It actually survived. Hahaha! I thought that human died years ago! Who knew it survived!” he laughed as if my life were a great big joke.
Now my ears just drooped heavily, drenched.
I’ve never been so discouraged by anything in my life. Or was this a life?
It would make a lot more sense if it weren’t.
Suddenly Sere jumped up.
“See. Everything is a joke to him. He came in here and disregarded my warning and just began blowing things up, destroying months of hard work and research! He attacked his own familiar because he’s too much of an idiot to see what the rest of us already knew! This is your familiar!”
Cross crossed his arms and began pouting, nothing left over from the humor or sadness he displayed mere moments ago. He looked down at me.
“Okay. So what if it is my Remnant. It’s obviously defective. Look what it did to my arm!”
He held out
a pale, bony arm visibly red, mauled and bloody where I gnawed into him.
I didn’t feel bad because I knew I did a lot worse than that. In fact, I was baffled.
I stared for a moment longer and saw that it was actually healing before my eyes.
I snorted.
I was burnt and it wasn’t healing. I had only attacked him because he went mad and attacked me. But. He was healing!
“See. See that blatant disrespect. You already saw it when it wouldn’t concede to you, Wren. It attacked me. It’s broke and I don’t want another nasty Glutton anyway. Especially not one like that. I don’t like that human. I didn’t even want to help it. I was having such a nice anniversary and it ruined it by bullying me into helping it. If we let it live here we’ll all come to regret it. It’ll be mutiny. It’ll eat us while we sleep and take over, then go for my pacun delights. Kill her, Wren. That’s an order. I need my pacun delights,” he grumbled.
“If you listen to him, Wren, then I quit. I’m too old for this nonsense and am likely to lose my mind,” Sere groaned, picking me up. “She was in her right to defend herself against that monster and you obeying him will sum up just how loony you’ve all gone.”
Wren growled, but it wasn’t at Sere.
“He’s right, Cross! To attack your own familiar! Did you ever even give Emare a chance?”
Cross refolded his arms and pouted more.
“Urgh! Such blatant lack of respect and insolence I get from my ‘loyal’ retainers!” he exploded. “If this were the age of Peace I’d never have to deal with this! Why can’t I just come home and relax? Why do I always have to do battle just to live in my own home! Now I have Gluttons trying to bully and eat me while my loyal servants turn against me! It’s not fair!”
“We’re bawling at your feet, you old crook!” Sere muttered.
Wren turned around and snatched up one of Cross’ ears.
“That was well over eight centuries ago, you spoiled, revolting, foul, repellent little creature! You put that girl through enough already and left her for dead. She tried to rip your arm off and it wasn’t because she lost herself but because you disrupted your bond.”
“Ow,” he whined, unable to put up a fight. “Ow! Ow! OW! Stop!” he cried.
