Your First Familiar

Overcome with the grief of not having magical powers, Aranea cried herself to sleep. She allowed herself to be vulnerable, her tears continuously flowing from her eyes, making her tired.

'Why? Why don't I have magical powers?'

'Aren't I born at the same time as my sister?'

'Am I going to be this way until the day I die?'

'How am I going to protect those important people that I love?'

'Am I useless?'

Aranea's thoughts kept attacking her as if they were daggers incessantly stabbing her heart.

She knew she was creating these sad thoughts herself. However, she can't stop herself from thinking about such questions. She felt that she was different from everyone else.

As the minutes had gone by, Aranea felt her eyes tiring her out. She slowly then closed her eyes as she found solace from the birthday gift their mother gave her.

She embraced the teddy bear plushie that she had, and even though it was as small as her hands, she treated it delicately.

With her slowly drifting off to sleep, she then remembered at the last minute how the people in the orphanage loved her unconditionally.

Aranea's lips then landed softly on the teddy bear plushie in her hands as she drifted off to sleep, a red light surrounding both of them while Aranea slowly released the teddy bear from her hand as she was now completely asleep.

Golden red light surrounded the area. Despite the brightness, somehow, it did not wake the twins up.

The teddy bear plushie then slowly transformed into a human! The boy was next to Aranea, his lips on hers, his eyes widening as he noticed that he was kissing a stranger.

'What the hell!?'

Shocked at what happened, the boy's face was beet red. He quickly then drew his head away from her, his eyes blinking a lot of times in disbelief as he covered his lips with his hands, dumbfounded.

'I was summoned?' he thought to himself, 'I thought I couldn't be summoned until later years!'

His eyebrows creased as he looked at the red-haired girl in front of her, her cheeks stained with dried-up tears, making him wonder why she was crying.

The red-haired young teenager observed Aranea from where he was. Watching her as she slept, he couldn't help but reach out to her face to tuck some tendrils of her hair behind her ear.

He did so. The moment he did, he saw her face clearly, the boy's lips turning into a tight line as he felt his heart racing.

'So this is what it felt like to be summoned by a Summoner...' he thought, 'And this girl before me has summoned me at an early age.'

The young teenager slowly withdrew his hand from her. He continued watching her sleep as her name echoed in his mind--familiars automatically knowing their Summoner's name upon them being called forth.

'Aranea Griffin... my name is Zann, your first familiar.'

Zann furrowed his brows, blinking his eyes a few times as he wondered if he should introduce himself to Aranea.

He knew the vows and policies between Summoner-Familiar all too well. Since familiars were lectured in their world as well, he knew that they are about to have two kisses.

The first kiss: the summoning, and the second kiss: the sealing.

With that thought in mind, Zann felt discomfort as he realized that he has to kiss Aranea if he has come to a decision to be her familiar.

He knew that he is as young as her so with him kissing her again... it made him feel embarrassed even though that the kisses only meant for them to seal the pact!

Zann's eyebrows twitched as he closed his eyes for a while, feeling irritated.

'Of all the possible ways... why does it have to be a kiss?'

"Nngh..."

Zann was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Aranea groaning in her sleep. With her slight movement as well, Zann quietly scooted away, getting her spare pillow to put it in between them so Aranea won't touch him.

But it was all in vain...

Aranea scooted in closer, embracing the pillow, her hand landing on Zann's waist, his body stiffening in her touch.

'Aaah!' Zann's face was red once more. 'How am I going to move away? Shall I wake her up? Shall I tell her I'm her familiar?'

With his thoughts running wild in his mind, he was snapped to go back to reality once more when he heard Aranea mumbling in her sleep, making him sense the sadness she had been feeling.

"I'm so useless... I'm so useless."

A tear escaped from the corner of her eye, landing on her pillow. Seeing his Summoner this way made familiar Zann worry.

He then attempted to talk to her in a whisper, in hopes that he will get an answer from her.

"Why?"

Aranea furrowed her brows in her sleep, making Zann's heart race as he felt nervous, wondering if she would wake up soon.

Unknowingly, he was holding his breath and the moment Aranea spoke in her sleep once more, it made him breathe easy but at the same time, felt pity for her.

"I'm powerless... I'm useless."

Zann's eyebrows knitted together. He saw that there were more tears escaping from Aranea's eyes as she slept, making his heart ache as he wiped her tears away softly with his fingers.

Back in their world, he was always told that Summoners had a strong heart. But with this... why does he sense that his Summoner was at the bottom of her heart, losing her confidence?

"You're... not powerless," Zann whispered back, wanting to comfort Aranea. "You're not aware, but you summoned me at a young age," he added, Aranea whispering back in her sleep.

How is it possible that Aranea could not wake up when being continually talked to? Is this normal?

"But I'm weak... I can't protect them."

Zann's eyebrow twitched. Somehow, he found it irritating that his Summoner was this disheartened but still, he knew that as her familiar, he would have to comfort her.

"Be strong, Aranea," he said, doing his best to encourage her even though she is sleep talking. "Be strong, and I will, too. So I could protect you when you need me to."

"Mmm..."

Zann continued staring at Aranea. His heart started to race as he remembered that since he promised to be strong for her, he had to seal their bond through a kiss.

Zann's heart continued to pound in his chest, making him nervous as he removed the pillow between them so he could kiss her--so he could seal the pact.

'This is it... I'll just have to make it quick!'

Zann leaned in closer. Slowly, his eyes started to close as he awkwardly puckered his lips, looking like a duck!

He couldn't help but feel stupid as of this moment but he knew he made a decision and that he is left with no choice but to go through it.

But alas, just as Zann was about to succeed, an unforseen thing happened.

As his lips were about to land on hers, Aranea half-opened her eyes!

'Damn!'

Because of that, it had surprised the shit out of Zann, making the young teenager magically disappear before her eyes.