More than any of my abilities or even the whole angry red text on my sixth aspect, I wanted to activate my familiar. I was tired of being alone. Also, ‘Inkling’ had a very black, inky feel to it, and I had the image of a snarky shadow butler-come-motorcycle dancing in my brain.

  I still wasn't very certain how to activate my aspect powers directly, as I had only really practiced with my passive aura powers and my inventory skill. So, ignoring my current state of dress, I pushed a thin tendril of mana into the palatial loci of my Familiar-Inkling skill. It soaked up my mana like a sponge dying of thirst. As my mana bottomed out, I blacked out. I woke up in a not gray and not room.

  I was sitting on what appeared to be an all-black chessboard surrounded by a sinister swirling black wind. I focused on my senses and pushed my aura hard. My vision cleared, and I started to see shapes in the wind. This was a very not sexy version of my soul room, and the shapes were not very Vex-y. I counted dozens of shapes in the wind. They all seemed hesitant to come forward.

  I opened my hands in what I hoped was a gentile and welcoming gesture, inviting them to come forward. Eventually, one stepped forward, followed by two more. Of the dozens, only three stepped forward. The first was a towering dark-lord-of-the-ring motherfucker. He was all sturdy armor and sharp angles with a deep darkness to his helm. As he got close enough, I could see that he appeared to be literally made of ink. Not like a drawing on paper, but a blob of ink given physical form. While his shape remained rigid and sharp, slight lines and swirls of variation swam across his glossy edges. He was intimidating. I didn’t hesitate, though I was here under my power with an offer they needed. Though I don’t think this guy was short on power. If nothing else, he knew how to make an entrance.

  Next to him, in equally eerie form, was a red queen. The most blood red ink I have ever seen with polished, smooth edges and curves. Where the King was all sharp and intimidating, she was sensual and alluring. Still, she looked like a model dipped in fresh blood…creepy. Her face was worthy of statues with uniform colors swirling across the eyes. The longer I looked, the less human she looked. She was more a Venus of wet red marble.

  To her heel was another black figure. This one was more animalistic in shape and form. It was a bear the size of a German shepherd with a fox-like bushy tail. I immediately named it Ursa. It still had a very dark hue but was more blue than jet black.

  I cut the poor figure, nude and covered in soot, but again I would not be intimidated

  “Greetings,” I intoned, my head to the king. Who intoned in turn. Silence followed. It started to get uncomfortable, but neither side budged. Finally, the red queen broke.

  “Oh, you are both insufferable. You would be perfect for each other.”

  “He comes looking like a vagabond.”

  “Grrrr…moooo” Ursa legit mooed at the end like an angry cow. Ursa: 1, King: 0

  “He looks newly Aspected. See no muscle nor that look of death.”

  “Like death warmed over, maybe Illustra.”

  “Greetings, My Lady Illustra,” I lit to the Red Queen and gave her a nice stage bow

  “Oh my….See Vel..he has manners.” She appeared titillated by the prospect

  “And to you, good Sir…Vel? I bid you good…um…day”

  “Velenstrhoz…..you may address me as Velenstrhoz.”

  “Lord Velenstrhoz,” yeah, a straight minus for the king. Power was fine, but I needed a partner.

  I squatted slightly, taking effort to keep my junk out of the dirt, and turned to Ursa and gave my best puppy voice while slapping my knee.

  “What about you, Ursa….Huh, Ursa…who’s a good boy? Are you a good boy? I bet you are!” As foreign and alien as these inklings must be, they took forms for a reason. Either their form was indicative of their power. In that case, the king and queen were out of my league. Or it was their preferred form. In that case, a puppy should be a puppy even if the puppy was an indeterminate bear cub thing with a tail. The puppy puppied.

  Ursa came forward like a dog greeting its master, pretty much tackling me with kisses and sniffs. The oddest thing was that when I went to pet him, instead of slick or worse, sticky ink, I got warm, soft fur. It was short like a bear but softer than a rabbit. As I ran my hands across the fur, I could watch the ink shift to the fur and back. It was an interesting revelation and proof that they were as advertised.

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  “Enough, Veltun heel.” Ursa stiffened at his master’s call. Ursa, Veltun apparently, took an obedient place. King was minus two. Actually King was completely the fuck out. I wasn’t dealing with that level of bullshit. I’d probably be a puppet. I would see what Red had to offer, I was betting sex, and then I would take Ursa and head out. King felt like he was trying to set a power dynamic based on my ignorance. I may be new to this world, and super new to whatever realm this was, but I did have knowledge. I knew that Familiars were rare and that opportunities for power were few and far between, and that these beings needed me more than I needed any specific one of them.

  “Human, you will form a bond with me, and it will be done. Place your hand in mine and form the pact.”

  Time for a peg knock.

  “Vel…. It's rude to force a bargain without letting the lady make her offer. I would be poor manners not to at least humor her.” If Illustra was titillated by my previous actions, she was straight enamored by that.

  “Yes... Vel,” she purred and slinked my way. She placed a red hand on my shoulder and wrapped herself around behind me with a full-body hug. Arms draped across my shoulders, she addressed the kind and whispered in my ear at the same time.

  “It would be quite rude to deny me the right to offer our astute guest my many talents.” She no shit nipped at my ear with that one. Her sultry voice was a few octaves lower than Vex’s. Speaking of lowers, even Ursa could see she drove a hard bargain. The pupper sat in a disgruntled huff. Worry not pupper, while Vex said ‘have fun’ I wasn’t about to puck up a permanent fuck buddy. I have no doubt that she would eventually duplicate Vex’s form and boom, divine smite. I didn’t need that. An occasional dalliance in the intervening time apart was acceptable, but a full-on metamorphic girlfriend? Nope. Oh, I played it up, though.

  “Oh? Talents? What would those be?” I knew this game. And right on schedule, her arm pulled back across my shoulder, fingertips never losing contact as she draped them down to my hip. As she slid forward, adjusting her grip to get a nice one, I came in with my planned intervention: a quick, playful slap to the hand.

  “Illy not here, we have….onlookers,” I said as I gestured to Ursa and the king, the latter of which seemed to actually be boiling—like legit bubbling. She took the demure route.

  “Yes, master.” She shook her head and folded her hands before her as she returned between the king and Ursa. Her eyes focused rigidly below my waist, and her lips were slightly apart. I was pretty sure I could see her tongue dancing behind red ink teeth.

  “Hush, woman….He seeks power, not mere pleasures of the flesh. That is why he came to our realm and not simply summoned one of us to his. With my skills and knowledge, I will beget him power. The power to make any woman he chooses his nocturnal pincushion, not your mere simulacrum. Again, boy, take my hand.” He reached his gauntleted hand back my way. Nah, I’d still take sex puppet over being the puppet. The dog was still a good boy and would be coming home with me. I had to choose soon, though. The whole come here vs call was a surprise, but it made me focus on the surroundings. I could feel the mana running out. I was pretty sure that I could call Ursa to me after my mana regen’d, but then I would lose the satisfaction of doing it in front of him. I was just squatting to call the good boy back over when I noticed a little blob inching towards my toe. It was , it was a dark purple and about the size of a button mushroom.

  “Oh, hello! Are you here to make an offer, too?” I spoke down at the little shroom. I reached down to pick it up, and it wriggled into my hand. It’s only then I noticed that each of the entities radiated a feeling. Black was pure power and all the smugness that went with it. Red? She was pure desire and sexuality. I felt that both would use me for their own gains and throw away the discarded husk when they were done. I felt loyalty from blue, but an underlying resentment towards black and even red. An ignored pet, but not poorly treated. I could feel its loyalty to its owners. I could even feel their loyalty to each other. And their rivalry. I would bet red would use me long enough until she could overtake black. I would be a corpse as soon as she was confident. While I had trust in my feelings that the God of familiars would protect me from treachery, a lot could happen in a fantasy world. From my purple friend, I felt just a little bit of everything. Loyalty, apprehension, innocence, and bravery. Most of all, I felt the purity of its intentions. It must have been newly formed, it had no ambitions beyond me. It also seemed to rile up the other three. Ursa bristled up and both the king and queen reached for me.

  “What no….put that down,” exclaimed the queen.

  “That worthless purple trash, how did it get here? Give it to me so I can destroy it!” Those were the worst words he could have used. Both lunged at me while Ursa prepared to pounce.

  I held up a hand, and all three froze. I could feel the same essence that I had with Vex in what she had called my soul. This place was still it, in part. Moreover, I remembered one word from my soul skill: inviolable. I held the little purple guy in my hand, my other hand keeping the king in check. I looked through him at Ursa, who took a happy pose.

  “I’m sorry, little buddy. But this guy needs me more than you. Feel free to bite them if they get out of line.” In my mind, I formed the bond with the purple, and was gone.

  I may have made my first enemies in this world, but I did make my first friend.

  Familiar bond formed. Bond is to a neophyte Inkling. Due to the Soul Aspect, you can create a Soul Bond with a neophyte Inkling. Neophyte Inkling wishes to form Soul Bond.

  Soul Bond accepted