For most of my life, my only companions were the bone of my enemies and allies alike, slain by my own hand or by my direction. Nobody could be trusted, and everyone was the enemy. I eventually realized the stupidity of that mentality and could see what position it put me in. So, I strived to be friendly and welcoming but despite my efforts, I rarely if ever had true visitors. I grabbed a ceramic jar of meat I have been saving and set it out in preparation to receive the guest and I subtly altered his flight pattern to the shack. I had time to kill and might as well spend it with someone instead of just sitting here alone and drinking in the dark.

I liked guests but I could only stomach the complicated ones for a bit before it overloads my social side. Ones like the little raven on the other hand are simple, food and company. With a light thud, the blackbird landed on the window seal beside me and started pecking on the wooden shudder that was in place to keep out the snow. When I opened it though I was surprised at what I saw, the little guest was little no more. He had almost doubled in size and quadrupled its magic compacity. An impressive feat for sure. As soon as he hopped onto my table, he instantly turned to the pot then to me asking for permission and I gave him the go-ahead.

He ate with gusto and soon around four pounds of meat were gone in minutes. I chuckled and gave him my last pot of saved food and went for another glass of wine for myself. He savored it this time and took around an hour to eat it all. I scratched his little head and put him on my shoulder before going out to grab some fresh food. As I walked, I took in my surroundings and enjoyed a nice breeze, I wasn’t in any rush. Soon I came across a sign of a small herd of deer, a large area was cleared of snow in a small clearing and the dirt was kicked and torn up, signs of grazing. From the look of it, they were eating something that looked like lichen, I grabbed a bit and tossed it into my maw. Yep, Lichen.

The bird got excited at the smell of deer in the air and took flight, so I speed up my own pace, and soon I was blazing through the forest. The signs of grazing appeared to be around two days old, so they were probably some distance away. I continued my pace even when the bird landed on my shoulder because he lost the trail. To me though the signs were still clear as day, a strand of fur there a broken twig here and so on. Before long I found a trail uncovered by snow and an area where they bedded down for the day, we were close now and there was a fresh scent in the air. The bird became excited and flew off but didn’t break the treetops.

In under a snowdrift created by some trees, I could hear several heartbeats and smell some musk, found them. I got down and slowly stalked to the drift and singled out the weakest heartbeat, ever so slowly I raised my claws before plunging them down through the snow and into flesh. Panic erupted as the deer charged out in all directions, but my own prey was pierced through the neck and was dying quickly. While removing my claws I got in close to the wound and drank the blood greedily while the heart was still weakly beating. The bird dropped from a branch and started pecking at the eyes and tongue, but I waved him away.

I removed the lichen I had gathered from my cloak and placed it in the beast’s mouth before saying a quick prayer while pushing some mana into the creature’s magic system as a small gift. With death rites over I slung the large deer over my shoulders and used my control over my magic to appear back at the shack. After some cleaning and prepping I seared it on a magically heated stone and divided it evenly between us. The process of eating was a little bit shorter than the hunt but still enjoyable and after a night of feasting and drinking the bird flew to the roof and made a nest to sleep in and I checked in on the girl through my blessing.

As soon as I tapped into her senses, I felt feelings of rage and sadness followed up by a sense of hopelessness, perfectly understandable considering her circumstances. My ability to tap into our connection means that there are probably no wards preventing advanced scrying and divination, so that’s good news. I sent a bit of my magic through the connection and subtly hijacked a bit by tapping into the central nervous system of the body to move how I want temporarily. The girl was unconscious but overall generally okay besides a few bumps and bruises. I opened her eyes and carefully sat up to see if there was anything useful and boy was I not disappointed.

Around the girl, I could see ancient glyphs and symbols that were interestingly familiar and not all the same. The girl was strapped down to a sacrificial altar in a large mostly clear room, to the right was the door and to the left was a uniquely demonic alter. I noticed that the girl was practiced in magic, so I directed some of it into her eyes to see what kinds of wards and aura were in the air. Disappointingly she was not practiced with eye enhancement and the pathways in her eyes were too constricted to go through. I could use my magic to dilate them but that would leave unwelcomed signs. I withdrew my magic and laid the girl back down. I didn’t really gather any info about their abilities magic-wise, but I did find they were actively participating with that thing's awakening.