Prologue: Familiarizing Yourself with a Familiar Familiar

You try to concentrate on a spot in the distance.

"See the fire. Feeeeeel the fire. Be the fire." Robert whispers, attempting to be encouraging as you try to conjure a fire.

It's not really going well.

After accepting the Mark of Merlin, you've had to train more and more with Robert and Alice to improve your skills. Alice has been more aggressive in her teaching approach than Robert, but you can't complain too much.

I mean… you are learning how to make fire.

You start to feel heat at your fingers.

Am I doing it??

You start to get more excited as you see embers shoot from your fingertips. You almost don't believe their existence as the glowing sparks aren't burning your hands.

"You're doing it! You're doing it!" Robert exclaims, equally excited.

A knock on the door breaks your concentration and you feel the energy flow away from your hands. You frown. You attempt to concentrate on the fire again.

The knocking continues at an alarming rate until you finally relent and open the door. You see a fairly tall man holding a solid white animal carrier.

"Can I uh… help you?" You say as the man stands in silence, even after you opened the door.

"I believe this belongs to you," he says, before handing the box to you and immediately turning heel and walking away. You feel the contents of the box start to jostle around the inside.

"Wait… there's something in here! I think you have the wrong person!" You try shouting to the man, who seems to be getting further and further away with every second that passes. "Come back!"

You feel Robert walk up beside you, curious. "Actually, I think he's right."

"What?" You see him pointing to an insignia on the box. Your insignia. The Mark of Merlin is proudly embellished on the animal carrier.

"I wonder who that was? He seemed almost… otherworldly," Robert mutters to himself. "Well, anyway… what's inside? Do you think it's... a monster?" He whispers conspiratorially.

The container rumbles once more; whatever is inside the box, desperately wants to get out of the box.

You tentatively open the box and see something burst forward. Robert stumbles back from the blur, falling to the ground behind him. After the confusion, you manage to find the new being in the room.

And it's….

…a rabbit?

A rabbit that's rapidly changing colors before your eyes. Blue then purple then red then brown then blue again. It's almost blinding to your eyes.

You cautiously approach the animal, but it doesn't seem phased by your presence. It's staring intensely at you, like it knows who you are already. It would be cute if it wasn't a little unnerving.

Getting closer to the rabbit, you notice a collar around its neck. "Chester," you read aloud.

"That's an interesting name for a creature," Robert comments.

"That's what the collar says. Well… uh… hello Chester?" You place your hand on Chester's head, trying to pet the rabbit as a show of good faith. When you do so, you see Chester's pelt settle on a singular color, almost like you chose it. He chirps in—what you perceive as—approval and nuzzles his head against your hand for more petting. You feel something magical radiating from Chester. Something ancient. Something different yet…

"Well I guess you have a familiar now," Robert says, interrupting your thoughts.

"Well I guess I have a familiar now."