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// 21 - Who? 
// Story: Bind on Pickup 
// by David Silver 
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Sandra stood in a clearing surrounded by ash. It was warmer here, and she closed her eyes, since that was supposed to help, and began trying to ‘feel’ for the magic, as her instructor instructed.

She reached out with her magic senses, as if she were reaching out with a guildchain or into a magical weapon, but without the aid of those things, magic would be raw, difficult to contain or mold.

And then, coming over her almost suddenly, like putting on a pair of glasses, the magic felt… clear. She could barely recognize what she felt. Powerful magic, hot and intense overwhelmed her, and almost as soon as it came, she lost her focus and stumbled back, like she was struck.

She breathed heavily, her heart beating. Was this normal, with magic? Did all magic have that intensity? She learned to cast her first spell when she was just a kid… but she had never felt like that before.

A low growl had her open her eyes in a flash. Far more concrete than the subtle and intense play of magic, a very real creature seemed to loom over her, glaring with a potentially dangerous mien. It was bright oranges and red, giving the impression of flame in its movements. Feathered ears twitched on its head and its wings fidgeted at its side. "A fire owl?"

It vanished as quickly as it had come. "What the…"

"Keep going," shouted Spike a short distance away. "Whatever you were doing, uh, worked. I think?"

Sandra sat herself back up, somewhat confused. She hadn’t done much of anything, had she? She had only looked… But she had already gotten something’s attention, it seems. She gazed down at the ground, not with her magical sight but with her ordinary sight. Maybe it’s just that desperate to get out? It was fire… She pursed her lips and started to focus again, sitting this time.

Garble nudged Smolder lightly. "Two gold she messes up."

"Be nice." She nudged him right back. "And you're on."

She reached out her senses in again, and was immediately assaulted with that hot magical feeling. But it wasn’t just hot, it was a little clearer. Inquisitiveness… and eagerness were there. Like she could feel them herself. That must have been the owl, the owl that jumped out at the first chance.

“... Hi?” she said, very verbally, but nothing was happening. Well, it was made of magic, and it was all magical feelings, so… she tried just… focusing her magic on her feelings? What did a welcoming feeling feel like?

It did something, because she could feel the eagerness grow. It was… it was a little intimidating. There was so much fire down there, with a piece of it reaching out. And it was eager and energetic, but part of Sandra reasoned… it was fire, wasn’t it? Why wouldn’t it be those things…

The three dragons, though, were all taken aback as above her a flame formed into what seemed to be a bird’s face. Sandra sat down, her head dipped, eyes screwed in concentration, completely oblivious to the flaming creature forming above her.

Smolder whispered to Garble. “Get that gold ready.”

“I will,” he whispered back. “For when it tries to bite her head off.”

Sandra, meanwhile, felt more comfortable already. Maybe the enthusiasm was rubbing off on her, but she expected a lot more burning. A lot more anger and maybe rage? But she felt this desire to get out, this desire to go out. She liked that feeling, even as the feeling of just… busting out scared her. What if she failed? What if she couldn’t do it?

But a burst of enthusiasm, of determination came through clear as day, as she realized what she was thinking was definitely being picked up, and it was sorta in her thoughts. The spirit wanted out. The spirit wanted to see the world. Heck, the spirit wanted to fly and run and pitch itself into danger.

It was everything Sandra felt like she was not, and this excited her.

"A spirit can enhance what you are," she remembered her teacher saying. "But they can also be what you are not. They can fill the voids within you, rushing to occupy that space with their own energy and personality. This is not a path you ever walk alone."

Sandra was certain. This was the one, and it was already ready and ‘impressed.’ She didn’t know it happened or how she was certain, but she was. So the next step is to draw the spirit out, and she began to extend her own magic to pull it out. Only a little tug was necessary and she became aware of a presence beside her. Snapping her eyes open, the rather tangible spirit was right there, and as she felt her magic tugging the spirit out, the owl fluffed itself up and embers fluffed up at the same time, creating a brief cloud of flaming brilliance.

The owl danced away, wings flapping at the apex of each little bounce. Its eyes were upon her steadily, watching and waiting. She felt certain it was waiting, for something.

"No more waiting." She took a slow breath. "It's... time to do something."

The owl bounced closed, but didn't come back down, hovering in the air with steady beats of its wings, bits of smoldering embers raining down from its feathery body and its eyes even with Sandra's.

"Can you... talk?"

"Since you want me to," replied the owl. "Are you serious? Is it time to go?" The owl sounded like a young boy, no great sage there. "You're hot. Will you keep me warm as we travel?"

Sandra's cheeks warmed, puzzling the meanings of that. "Like... this?" It was a fire spirit, perhaps a little fire magic was what it wanted. She held out her hands, fire swirling into being between them, not quite violent enough to become a fireball just yet, just swirling, almost calmly.

"Oh, yes! Yes yes." The owl flapped closer, landing on one of her hands, looking down into the flames. "You like names."

"I... huh?"

"You like names." The owl looked back to Sandra. "Give me one. Make it a good one."

Even as Sandra considered some, the owl fell right into the flames she held, flapping wildly, its wings brushing the insides of her hands as it awkwardly held itself there in that fire, starting to glow brightly. Her magic was seeping into it quickly, forcing her to call on more fire magic, lest it all go out. "Name, name... Aiden."

"Good name," agreed the owl, its form unchanged but something else about it seemingly altered with the name, harder to place. "Hotter."

She held her hands a little further apart, allowing Aiden to  fly without brushing feathers against her. Sandra was focusing on the fire, trying to raise the temperature slowly, but Aiden kept encouraging more and more.

Spike watched with a slightly confused expression. "Well, it isn't attacking her, and they are... talking... I think?"

"I think?" agreed Smolder. None of them had heard the words the owl had said, just what Sandra had spoke, responding as if she had been talked to. "Sandra! I think it likes a good fire bath, turn up the heat!"

"Hotter," agreed Aiden, its own feathers glowing just a bit brighter than the flames around it, always keeping ahead of the intensity of Sandra's heat just by a little.

Sandra was at the edge of what she could reasonably control. She could feel the edges of her heat fraying and twitching, about to escape, to douse the already burnt forest as if it needed any more fire. "I can't..."

"Can. Afraid. Stop. Hotter." Aiden spoke each word carefully and pointedly, its eyes locked on Sandra's.

"How... hot?"

"All hot."

Sandra took a slow breath, even if the heat she held burnt at her throat. "Alright... hotter." She closed her eyes and fell. Not literally of course. She let the magic flow as quickly as it could. The flames erupted into a mighty roar, exploding between her hands.

She couldn't see it, but the dragons could, gaping as the great explosion reached out several feet before drawing right back into that space between her hands. The owl drew it all in and its wings redoubled in size, becoming little more than moving flames, brushing Sandra's hands despite her moving them further apart. With a predator's cry, the owl burst into light, and vanished.

Sandra staggered forward, her magic drained and fatigue threatening her. "W-wait... Did... I?" The area was relatively dark as she opened her eyes, her flame no longer there. But something was shining. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the glimmering stone that had once been dormant. "I'm a summoner..." A smile spread across her face. "I did it!"

Spike wooped and cheered, charging over towards her. Smolder held out a hand towards Garble, a smug smile of victory on her scaled lips.

"Yeah Yeah." He shoved the coins at her as if attacking her with her earned winnings. "So what can that, uh, owl do?"

Smolder nodded, coming in at a more sedate walk. "Good question, but first, you're supposed to put that in your chain, right?"

"Yes, yes, of course." She held up her chain in one hand and brought over the glimmering stone in the other. With shaking hands, she brought them together and there was only a chain a moment later. The chain changed shape, acknowledging her new class. The face of Aiden appeared on the side and feathers dotted the entire surface. "Huh, he really left a mark."

Spike arrived first, peering at the chain Sandra held. "Think it'll change as you get more?"

"Maybe. That's... pretty nice." She was smiling, looking less nervous by far than when she had begun the process. "Aiden is the owl's name."

"Hello, Aiden." Spike waved at the chain, though the chain had no replies to give.

"Hey." Garble was looking around as he came closer. "I think you did something." The others looked as well, seeing small patches of grass poking through the burnt ruin. It wasn't a sudden reversal of the damage, and wasn't spreading before their eyes, but...

"It helped... I helped!" Sandra clapped her hands together, allowing her chain to return to its usual dangling place. "Aiden? Are you there?"

With a burst of flames, the flaming owl appeared, crackling and burning, still shining with Sandra's magic.

"Say hello to my friends."

But he said nothing, just landing on Spike's shoulder. Spike looked pleased, reaching up to gently scratch the bird. "I raised a phoenix once, you're a lot like him, all... bird-like and on fire and all. Come to think of it, I had an owl for a friend too. You're like the two put together. Nice. I'm Spike. What's your name?"

But Aiden didn't speak to Spike. Smolder nodded softly. "Great. You got a summon and you can actually call it when you need to, so you qualify now. You know what that means, right?"

Garble thrust a finger at the tower in the distance. "It's time to get serious. We're going to beat up everything in the way, get to the top, and go home."

"Why isn't he talking?" Sandra frowned a little. "He did before... but yes, we should go report to the guild, tell them we're all qualified, and get promoted."

"Wait, promoted?" Spike leaned forward, forcing Aiden to change his stance.

Sandra nodded firmly. "Oh yeah, we officially shouldn't be at the lowest rock anymore. They'll judge us and give us a new rank. Whatever it is, we'll then be qualified to enter the tower. We'll also become eligible to do other, much more advanced, quests."

Smolder hiked a brow at that. "Pass. The goal is to get home, not run around earning money. Besides, we'll do that just fighting through the tower, right?"

Sandra nodded softly. "Well, yes... Some people do just that. Aiden, come here." Aiden took launch from Spike's shoulder and flew directly at Sandra, vanishing into a haze of embers as it reached her, vanishing. "That will take a little getting used to. But I did it!"