I stepped outside to find Fortunatus waiting for me, staring with his familiar, piercing green eyes. His mana felt muted, but his emotions ran through our bond clear as a bell. I had expected a feeling of welcome, but the only thing I felt was stark disdain.

  "Nice to see you too," I remarked to the cat as I walked past him. Fortunatus followed, jumping onto my shoulders in a single, easy leap before settling in place around my neck.

  "You're confused," Fortunatus remarked after a few steps. "Why?"

  "We live in confusing times," I replied with a faint smile.

  Fortunatus' disdain grew stronger, and I felt his claws dig into the soft skin of my neck.

  "You're strong, and we are stronger together. Your path is clear."

  "Are we? We still don't know precisely what you can do, yet."

  "Yes, I do."

  I blinked, my steps catching at the proclamation. After a second, I carried on, even as my thoughts raced.

  "When did you figure that out, precisely?"

  I felt something brush against my mind, a familiar touch that ran along the bond between us. Fortunatus wanted to show me something, and I paused for only a moment before allowing that connection to bloom.

  Images filled my mind, unfamiliar memories of walking through shadows and rooftops, along city streets and down hallways. My senses changed, some sharpening and others growing far more muted, and my body felt strange. Small, weak, yet light and quick like the wind.

  But above all else, I felt magic. Aether ran through my body in a way I had never experienced. It was distant, a quiet buzz within my flesh so faint that it faded until it was almost imperceptible, but only just.

  I wanted to touch it, yet I was just an observer. Thankfully, strange impulses fulfilled my desire. Instincts unknown and unfamiliar pulled on the Aether in my flesh, drawing it forth and molding that unshaped power into—

  The flood of memories cut off, and I stumbled to the side, only just catching myself on a nearby building. My vision swam, black spots dancing before my eyes, and I blinked several times as I forced down a sense of vertigo.

  When the dizziness subsided, I pushed myself up and carried on walking.

  "You've been busy," I remarked as I walked. "When were you planning to show me this?"

  "When I had a better idea how it worked," Fortunatus replied without a hint of shame.

  "And?"

  "You don't want me to tell you. You want to find out for yourself."

  I wasn't sure what annoyed me more, that he said something so dismissive or that he was right. I would rather discover it for myself, but there seemed to be several problems with such an endeavor.

  Still...I did have at least a few days to kill. I still hadn't come up with a solution to my problems, and maybe trying to puzzle out some new magical riddle might be the perfect thing to distract me in the meantime.

  With that decision made, I flooded mana into my legs and pushed off, eager to get to the privacy of my room.

  I returned to my room to find a note from Flynn. He had left to do some more digging, ostensibly to uncover more information about mind palaces, Alexandria, and her son. That served me well enough, as I suspected figuring out Fortunatus' memories would take at least a day, if not longer.

  Fortunatus and I had shared visions in the time since establishing our familiar bond, but I always had to be careful. We didn't have the same bodies or senses or even a comparable understanding of the world, which often made for a confusing experience. I had to assume memories would be much the same, if not worse.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I retrieved a cushion to sit on, folding it on the floor before settling atop it with my eyes closed and hands resting in my lap. Fortunatus took up a place across from me, curling into a ball even as he reached out through our bond.

  Slowly, I let out a long, calming breath. Then, with a final push, I allowed myself to fall once more into our shared mental world.

  I opened my eyes and stood within the strange, fog-shrouded world of my mind. Fortunatus was there already, clad not in his ordinary form but the larger, more fearsome shape of a predator.

  "Alright," I said, nodding once. "Let's begin."

  Visions flashed once more, a flood of memories so fast and abrupt that I was caught entirely off guard. My mind spun, my body falling away as I was lost in Fortunatus' mind.

  I stood in a tree, the sharp scent of rotting leaves filling my nose—

  Blood filled my mouth as I bit down on the neck of a bird. It screeched, and a sense of triumph surged—

  I watched as two humans, one dark-haired and scowling and the other a preening man in white and gold, dueled one another in a field of—

  People walked the streets below, a clamor of humanity—

  Each memory blended with the next, forming a chaotic mess that was impossible to parse or follow with any clarity. I instinctively tried to hold onto one, but this only worsened the confusion as I was torn away and thrust into another vision.

  Finally, with a roar, I shoved away Fortunatus' memories and pulled myself back into the mental world.

  It was a strange thing to feel tired and yet not. My mind felt wrung out, but my clothes were bone dry, my muscles fresh as if I had just woken up. Of course, what constituted a "body" in a purely mental world seemed a bit...confusing.

  Fortunatus sat up, walking closer to examine me.

  "Are you alright?" he asked, tilting his head to one side.

  I nodded a few times. "Yes. Just...tricky. Try again."

  My next few attempts went about as well as the first, and I soon realized the problem. That first vision had been shallow and fleeting, sparing me the worst of it. I had been an observer, and nothing more. If I wanted to truly understand Fortunatus' memories, I had to live them, which made for a much less pleasant experience.

  Yet that led me to a possible solution. We didn't really think about living or remembering things. At least, not consciously. Instead, we simply allowed ourselves to be pulled along by our consciousness, living in the moment.

  If I wanted to be Fortunatus, I had to relax and let go.

  I couldn't help but laugh. But I wasn't the type to give up if I could help it.

  Still, that proved to be the trick of it. My fourth attempt lasted far longer, as I relaxed and gave in to the visions. I found myself swept along with the cat's memories of exploring the fields and hills around the Sion estate.

  I experienced Fortunatus's first attempt at hunting prey of his own and felt the frustration as the bird he stalked escaped unharmed. But the feline was intelligent and focused, realizing that he needed to learn to use his Aether, much as I did.

  Fumbling first efforts at using his mana gave way to more and more refined skills. Fortunatus learned to gather his Aether to grant himself greater strength or leap great distances. It didn't escape my notice that many of those early talents resembled my spells.

  However, the way he learned to use these abilities differed from my own training.

  Yet the way he used his abilities was not the same as mine.

  For all of the cat's intelligence, he didn't have any real comprehension of magic. Our bond had granted him a measure of understanding, but it wasn't anything beyond the basics. Instead, he moved and fought with instincts that bled into his conscious thoughts far too often.

  I felt this most keenly during his first successful hunt. Fortunatus had tried and failed three times to kill a hawk, and the proud cat refused to allow for a fourth. I felt his bruised pride, his frustrations, and his primal bloodlust.

  And I watched as he stalked the bird, drawing on his Aether to grant himself impossible grace as he came closer and closer. There was a tension in my four-legged body as I watched the unknowing prey, understanding on some level the power I held over it.

  Then, in a single Aether-empowered leap, it was over. We crashed into the hawk even as it took flight, our claws tearing through feathers and flesh even as our fangs closed around its neck. It tried to gore us with its talons, but those struggles weakened in seconds as hot blood splashed into our mouth. It tasted sweet, flavored by the cold, bestial satisfaction that filled our mind.

  But strangely, they felt familiar. I had already noticed the strange instincts, the sense of balance, and the unconscious understanding of how to move and fight. It was there, underneath the conscious thoughts of the cat, and I realized more than ever how much tye'd come to color my own movements.

  However, the flowing current of my familiar's memories carried me away before I could dig any deeper.

  More hunts followed, each easier than the last, and I continued to sink deeper and deeper into the memories. The distinctions between man and beast faded, and soon it was as though there was no difference whatsoever, no separation between us.

  I now stood atop a railing, overlooking a wide city square. My body felt feather-light, my steps lighter still, and my body burned with an inner light of Aether. All around me, that same energy ebbed and flowed on unseen tides.

  My partner had told me this city was named Volaris, but I didn't much care. I didn't identify places by names but rather by sensations, and this one was a particularly unpleasant example of humanity. It smelled of sweat and excrement and death, smothered in perfumes and cooking meat and plants, as though someone had taken a body and covered it in flowers.

  As I stood there, I thought of the magic of my partner. He'd left after sunrise, meeting with his would-be mate. He didn't name her as such, but I could sense he had considered it. I didn't understand why he hesitated, but then again, I didn't understand much of his decisions.

  I could sense my partner distantly, as I always did. Power flowed through our bond, a constant stream that strengthened me. Made me greater than I was before and would make me greater still.

  But something else rose in me then. Some instinct that I hadn't felt in my life. I followed it without hesitation, reaching into my body for the power that lay there. I had no core like a human, and instead drew on the Aether that flowed through my veins and infused my organs.

  I didn't take much from any single place. I'd made that mistake once and nearly died as a result. Instead, I drew from everywhere, ensuring that no single part of my body felt the lack. And as I gathered up that power, I imbued it with my will and intent.

  Aether flowed through my body, not like a spell but something else. Something older. My partner might have a name for it, but I didn't.

  And then, the world around me changed.

  Thin spiderwebs hung everywhere. I wasn't sure if they were actually spiderwebs, but they looked close enough. They covered the square below in a dense network of thin, silver-white threads that danced from person to object to location without any apparent pattern.

  My eyes followed one thread in particular, tracing it from—

  I lurched forward, thrown from the memories as my conscious mind tried to take control over the visions. I returned to the mental world, still sitting across from Fortuantus in a world of clouds and fog.

  My head throbbed, and I swore I could feel the first inklings of physical exhaustion. I must have spent hours in the cat's memories already, and still had only the faintest idea of what he meant to show me. Yet despite all of that, my mind buzzed, and I itched to return to his visions and try again.

  Just what in the hell were those threads?

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