It is hardly anything unusual for a mage to have bonded with a beast. But due to the various difficulties in finding and taming one, many powerful Mages do not possess a bonded companion. For the bonding to work properly the animal needs to have at least similar affinities. In addition, bonding with a full-grown adult is not only dangerous but also almost impossible.

Coupled with the scarcity of magical beasts as well as the impossibility of breeding animals to pass on certain affinity-related traits these difficulties have created an ever-growing demand for magical beasts.

Excerpt from On the process of bonding, written by Ikbal nur Yephran

Silas’ legs stung with each step he took. Yesterday’s mad stumble through the high undergrowth had taken its toll. Looking down, Silas saw countless bloody scratches and small wounds on his legs. Although most of them had stopped bleeding by now.

It was late midday by the time Silas woke up, so the forest was brightly illuminated by now. Thanks to the light of the day he managed to step around a thorny bush in front of him, avoiding another injury.

He couldn’t figure out why Gnarly had chosen this specific direction. But since Silas didn’t have any clue where the road lay, he simply chose to follow its advice.

Robotically placing one foot in front of the other, Silas hardly watched where he was going. Once more, he remembered the death of his parents. A crushing wave of guilt began to wash over him, threatening to drown him in its reproachful currents. From his mouth escaped a forceful whimper, and every muscle in his body tensed up with the sheer anguish he felt.

He had let his parents die.

His mother had sacrificed herself for him while he sat on the ground, doing nothing. Too afraid to stand up. Too weak to stop the barbarian.

Silas remembered himself watching helplessly as his mother crumpled to the ground. Her arms continued to flail about while she fell, her shoulders mangled a bloody mess by the barbarian’s axes. The guilt for his inaction gave birth to his desire for vengeance.

He hated himself for having been too afraid and weak to help his parents. Never again would he let fear take control of him. He made it his sole goal to become a powerful enough Mage so he wouldn’t ever feel as weak as he had the day before.

Watching while his parents got butchered.

Guilt burned inside of him like a roaring furnace. Scarring him from within, Silas kept throwing coals of self-loathing into the furnace. He welcomed the cauterizing pain it brought, embracing it like one might a lover. Silas needed the flames to burn high. After all, they were all all that kept the despair at bay, waiting at the edge of his consciousness like a lurking predator.

Although Silas didn’t consciously project any of this to his new companion, his emotions were so intense they completely flooded the bond. Shocked, Gnarly tried to soothe its human friend, radiating a sense of comfort. Seeing how Silas was still trapped inside his mind the wooden creature pinched Silas’ ear with its left hand, shaking him out of his dark thoughts.

“Thanks, my little friend. I needed that,” Silas said.

It responded with a drawn-out creak, sounding more than a little concerned. Even if Gnarly couldn’t fully comprehend what was going on inside Silas’ head, it still tried to do its best to help him.

Silas glanced at his new companion from time to time as he walked. He wanted to be sure they were really going in the right direction. However, its amber eyes continued to gaze into the distance determinedly. So he simply hoped his new friend somehow knew where they were going.

The relatively thin trees with their grayish bark surrounding him made up the vast majority in the forest. So dense one could hardly see the sky, the canopy above Silas seemed determined to not let a single shred of light through.

Where it did, the various branches and leaves of brown and green split up the trespassing sunlight. Creating shining rays of light, this gave the whole forest a mystical feeling.

He continued peering into the woods around him as he tread, straining his ears and eyes for any signs of human passing. He couldn’t have run that far the night before after all.

After passing a large thorny bush Silas suddenly stopped, turning around.

The bush he almost missed was one he knew well. Commonly referred to as Bluesting, it grew in almost any forest. It held blue, almost purple berries widely known for its sweetness. Small and barbed thorns capable of easily ripping open one’s skin protected the berries, giving the plant its namesake.

Gingerly picking the thumb-sized berries he ate a few of them, a small relief for his parched throat and the pain in his stomach. He also offered one to Gnarly, who stared at the berry intensely. Its mouth was already half-open.

Using both of its arms to grab the blue berry, Gnarly abruptly tried to shove it into its little mouth. However, the berry was way too big for its mouth. Not letting it deter that, Gnarly opted to take as huge of a bite as possible, creaking happily while it chewed. Silas sat down for a moment, resting his feet as both of them enjoyed their snack.

“Good, right?” he asked his new companion after seeing how Gnarly devoured the berry he had given it.

Instead of responding Gnarly already had its eyes on the next berry. Its wooden arms tried to grab it from its perch on top of Silas’ shoulder. Seeing how it struggled to reach the blue fruit Silas moved to pick the berry for Gnarly.

But just as Silas moved his arms, he witnessed how Gnarly’s wooden arms elongated themselves, the gnarled wood twisting and growing until its arms touched the berry. Picking the fruit, Gnarly continued to stuff his face with the newly acquired berry. It didn’t even notice how Silas looked at it with a dumbfounded expression.

“You can do that?” Silas asked Gnarly, glancing over his shoulder to get a better look at its arms. However, Silas couldn’t notice anything different. Gnarly’s arms had shrunk back to their usual size almost immediately.

A muffled creak was the only response he got, Gnarly’s mouth too occupied with chewing the delicious berry. It seemed to sense Silas’ wonder though, bobbing its head as a response.

Silas was amazed by how much the little fellow could eat.

By now, this was the second berry it had eaten. With each berry being almost as big as its head, this struck Silas as a bit excessive. But since he didn’t know anything about Gnarly or where the berries went, he didn’t bother too much about it.

Also, it seemed to be in a really good mood. Cheerfully creaking at nothing in particular, Gnarly sat down contently. Its good mood was infectious, and Silas chuckled seeing the new friend’s behavior.

While the berries were hardly enough for Silas, they at least helped a bit to alleviate the pain in his stomach. Carefully plucking out any thorns, Silas got up, once more consulting Gnarly in which direction to go. Not having to think long Gnarly pointed a bit to Silas’ left, creaking with confidence.

Just as the sound came out of its mouth Gnarly’s mouth let out a small burp, bits of berry spewing out of its mouth. Gnarly however simply shoved them back in, obviously not being bothered by such a minor inconvenience.

Silas only snorted and began to walk in the direction Gnarly had indicated. The forest around them looked the same as ever, and Silas hoped Gnarly actually knew where they were going. By now he felt completely lost, not having any idea in which direction the road may lay.

He wasn’t even sure if he could find his way back to the massive tree. Although they couldn’t have walked longer than it took a few candles to burn down since starting their journey.

Thinking back on when he woke inside of the gigantic tree, Silas once more wondered where Gnarly came from. His father had told him countless stories, and mythical creatures were present in many of them. But as much as he thought about it, Silas didn’t remember ever hearing about something similar to the little fellow standing on his right shoulder.

Where did it even come from? It seemed to have just walked into his little niche as he slept, yet Silas couldn’t imagine it having walked very far, considering its size. Its age was another mystery. While it appeared to be quite young judging from its behavior, Silas had no way to know for sure.

He also thought on when Gnarly had somehow enlarged its arms to reach the Bluesting berry. What else may it be capable of? Apart from berries, what did it usually eat? Was it completely made out of wood? All these questions swirled around in his head while Silas trudged through the woods

With the time passing Silas began to doubt his little companion’s sense of orientation. The forest hadn’t changed at all. It had already been way past midday when he woke up, so he wouldn’t have that much time before it inevitably grew dark again.

“Gnarly, do you perhaps know when we’ll get to the road? I don’t want to spend the night out in the open,” Silas lamented.

“Creak creak,” Gnarly reassured him, patting Silas’ ear with one of its arms.

While it didn’t seem to understand what Silas wanted of it, Gnarly was still confident they would reach their goal. Silas wasn’t convinced by its response, but he would simply have to put his faith in Gnarly. He just hoped it would lead him back to civilization.

The tree he had slept in last night had been a really rare find, and Silas wasn’t naive enough to think he would be able to find something similar again.

Silas preferred not to think about what would happen if he didn’t manage to get back to the road before dusk. He had neither food nor water nor any idea where he currently was. Sleeping into the woods like that would be an invitation for any predators. Silas clung to his desperation to become a mage, using it to push back the growing fear he felt.

Trudging through the forest his vision turned blurry from time to time, his mind already drifting off. Silas focused on taking one step after the other, trusting Gnarly would correct him if he diverted too much from their path. The young boy walked on mindlessly for some time before a familiar smell shook him out of his near-delirious state.

Silas smelled smoke.

He welcomed the smell, taking a deep breath to determine where it came from. With renewed vigor in his step, Silas followed the smoke. He thought it may be coming from a traveling caravan near the road.

Silas was too tired to consider the fact that no caravan would stop to make fire at this point of the day, with a quarter of the day's sunlight remaining. He kept on walking regardless, searching for the source of the smoke.

As he walked the smell only became stronger. Silas soon found himself in front of a wall of thorny bushes so thick he couldn’t see through. Yet he could clearly smell the smoke coming from somewhere behind the huge and thorny wall of bushes.

This slightly unnatural phenomenon couldn’t divert Silas from his path though. He promptly began to search for a way to pass the obstacle in front of him.

Gnarly, who comfortably sat on his shoulder noticed Silas’ dilemma. Joining him, it also began to look for a gap they might be able to pass through. Thinking the bushes couldn’t possibly grow for miles on end, Silas walked off to his right.

Maybe he could walk around the bushes without having to pass them. However Gnarly soon spotted a small gap a couple of feet to their right, tugging on Silas’ ear to get his attention.

Glancing over his shoulder to see what had his little friend so riled up, Silas looked in the direction Gnarly pointed to. There was a small indent in the ground through which he might be able to crawl. Silas briefly considered keeping on searching for an easier spot to pass, but almost immediately discarded the idea.

While he could still smell the smoke, he had no idea how far he was from the source of it. Nor did he think he’d be able to find it in this dense forest should he lose the smell.

“Alright then Gnarly, looks like we don’t have a better option,” Silas told his new companion.

Gnarly only responded by urging Silas to crawl through the gap it pointed towards. With a sigh, Silas went down on all fours and slowly began to creep through the large wall of bushes. After advancing a few feet, he realized the wall went even farther than he had originally thought.

It even seemed to thicken ahead of him, the gap he could crawl through becoming increasingly smaller. Technically it would still be possible to turn back, but Silas was afraid of losing what might be his only chance to get back to the road.

He forced himself to continue.

The thorny bushes were closing in on him as he crawled onwards, shredding what remained of his clothes and ripping at his skin. Passing soon looked to be impossible. Silas had less and less space to move his arms without hurting himself.

But strangely enough, the small branches in front of him seemed to twist away, opening up before him. Choosing to ignore what probably was nothing more than a product of his own imagination, Silas focused on reaching the other side of the thorny wall.

A couple of feet ahead of him, the thick bushes suddenly appeared to thin out. Silas thought he could see the other end, and relief washed over him. He crawled on with renewed vigor, only stopping when he reached the end of the thorny wall.

Silas let out a pained breath as he stood up again. Dozens of thorns decorated his arms and legs. The scraps of his clothing rubbed the various thorns stuck into them against his already torn skin.

Looking up, Silas momentarily forgot the pain in his limbs.

The source of the smoke was obvious to him now. Ahead of him, he could spot a small campfire. A lone man sat around it in a hunched position, clothed in a dark green robe. Not much could be seen of him due to his long robe, but behind him stood a small wooden cottage. How had Silas not seen it before?

His hopes fell as he began to take in the sight that lay before him. He had run half the day through the woods only to find someone who lived suspiciously alone in the middle of nowhere.

Yet Silas also realized he didn’t have much of a choice, given his current state. Apart from the berries, he had neither eaten nor drunken anything for more than a day. He was more than a bit thirsty, and his stomach was cramping again. Hoping for the best, Silas started to walk towards the stranger.

His legs stung with each step he took.

Before he got nearer then a few yards the stranger looked up from the fire, calmly looked into Silas’ blue eyes. The man had a wrinkled face with a furrowed forehead, his old age evident. A long and unkempt beard gave him a bit of a disheveled appearance.

“W-Who are you?” Silas began to ask the stranger, his voice shaking slightly.

“Who are you?” the green-robed stranger responded, cocking his head slightly.

The stranger's eyes momentarily flicked to Gnarly, who sat on Silas’ right shoulder and observed the exchange with interest. Silas and the stranger then looked at each other for a couple of seconds, both of them waiting for the other one to speak.

Not enduring the stranger's weird look anymore, Silas chose to introduce himself.

“I’m Silas,” he said.

“Call me Tom,” the green-robed man replied, giving the slightest of nods while continuing to gaze at Silas. The stranger’s face didn’t even change the tiniest bit.

Silas let himself relax. The stranger wasn't a barbarian and neither seemed he out to kill him. Giving in to the accumulated strain, Silas collapsed to the ground.

The stranger's calm gaze was the last thing he remembered before losing consciousness.