37 Familiar presence

The familiar ritual differed from realm to realm. Some required a sacrifice, others required nothing at all, while some even required you to split your soul, in a manner similar to how Horcruxes or Soul Anchors are created.

Kali's methods, however, only require blood, magical power, and demonic power... The latter of which could be ignored, but if you wanted to find your perfect familiar, irrespective of which realm it resided in, you would need demonic power to bridge that gap.

Of course, with the use of demonic power, many risks were also taken. The bridging of realms potentially allowed other outsiders to try and breach the connection and gain access to the world. Which is why so many precautions were needed while conducting this ritual.

The ritual would be held atop the treehouse in order to avoid any distractions... Harry and Kali were currently standing around the ritual circle, which in all honesty looked more like a random circle filled with squiggles and demonic runes... There were so many lines that overlapped that even the biggest genius would have trouble untangling it all.

In the centre of the circle was a wooden plinth that held a bowl-like indentation at its top. Along with many strange candles which slowly dripped wax into it. The candles were actually made from goat fat mixed with wolf fat (All personally hunted by Harry).

They were both waiting for it to finally turn midnight so they could conduct the ritual... Had this ritual been created in Harry's world, it might have been more effective to wait for a specific date, like Yule or Samhain, but since this Ritual was from Kali's own realm, it didn't really matter.

"Are you ready, Master?" she asks as it's just about to turn midnight. She'd already explained the process to him and what he'd need to do, but it would still be a jarring experience for both of them.

"I think so... You sure this is the best way to do it? I remember you saying something about hunting for a familiar?" he asks, more to calm his nerves with conversation than anything else.

Kali huffs, "If I wanted you to find an inferior familiar then I'd have let you do that... But this ritual is designed to match you with a creature as close to your personality and power as possible. I am sure you won't be dissatisfied with what you find, Master."

Harry slowly nods, hoping that would be the case. A small chime rings out, which was the signal to start the ritual. He steps into the circle and immediately begins chanting the guttural demonic hymns Kali had taught him.

He holds his hand above the plinth and drags a finger over his palm, using a spell to cut into his flesh and allow blood to flow into the bowl. Kali stands at the side with a look of pure concentration, keeping a close eye on his progress.

Slowly, his chanting starts to sound different, as if coming from another person entirely... Harry could feel himself speaking but his voice sounded low, rasping, and demonic. He feels a tug on his magic, but allows a small stream of it to be pulled into the bowl... After that, he feels his demon magic get tugged, but he forces himself not to let it out yet...

A tug this early meant that something had tried to gain access to this realm... Judging by how weak it was though, it couldn't be anything above a lesser demon.

Soon enough, it was time to add his demon magic, he allowed it to stream in beside his regular magic, causing a small black rift to appear within the bowl...

As soon as it appeared it began sucking things into it... First, the blood and liquid fat from the candles were sucked in, allowing it to grow fairly large... Then the plinth was torn out of the floor and sucked in...

By now Harry could feel it pull on his body, but he forced himself to stay stationary... It was lucky Kali had the foresight to keep any other small objects out of the room, as if it absorbed any more material it might grow too large to control.

This rift led directly into the void, so anything that was sucked into would immediately be destroyed, that, or forced to endure eternal suffering.

All Harry had to do now was wait for the rift to connect to the realm his familiar was in... He just had to endure this, stay where he is and resist the pull of the rift.

Elsewhere in a far off realm :

The world was barren, enormous plumes of thick black, volcanic smoke drifts into the sky from innumerable points as far as the eye can see. The smoke in the sky is so thick that sunlight cannot even breach through, even despite the two suns present in the same solar system.

The landscape that had been green and lush hundreds of thousands of years ago was now thick with ash and soot. The air made it almost completely uninhabitable for any normal creature, and the small particles of volcanic ash that drifted from the sky like snowflakes only made survival harder.

Fortunately, the world's magical core hadn't completely died out yet, allowing some creatures to survive, and sometimes thrive in this environment...

On a hill covered by meters of ash stood a large bipedal lizard with grey scales. Tongue flicks out as its eyes dart around, looking for prey that it'd smelt earlier... Its scent seemed to end here however, which has it in the awkward situation of potentially going hungry...

*Shash!*

It turns its head towards the sound but doesn't see anything...

*Shash!*

Again! It turns, this time ready to defend itself against whatever the threat may be... Only to find nothing...

*CRASH!*

The ash behind the creature explodes as a dull white blur bursts out from it, its long serpentine-like body quickly encircles its prey once its fangs pierce its side... The snake-like creature quickly wraps its body around its prey, and once fully secure, it starts its attack by squeezing and contracting its prey...

*Screech!*

The prey suddenly yelps as blood sprays from its body, anyone watching this would be thoroughly confused about what'd occurred to make this happen, yet the snake just keeps squeezing... This continues for a couple minutes until it is confident the prey is dead, but just as it was settling down to devour its meal, a rift appears behind it, the gravity of which immediately starts sucking it in.

Soot and ash are also sucked through the rift, causing the snake to tumble down the suddenly created slope...

"SSSSSSsssss!" it hisses in confusion and slight terror before being enveloped by the rift.