I awoke, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The pain and changes I underwent felt like a hard to reach memory due to the fact they had occurred in my dreams. It made sense, now, why they had us go through such a drastic change in that state. I propped myself up on the bed and stretched my arms and shoulders.

I accessed my spell selection with a simple mental command and saw a circle of six, with one directly in the center. Beyond the circle was a blue mist, obscuring possible spells I could unlock down the road. This was less than ideal, as min-maxing was all about knowing what your end game build would look like. I would have to do some research on all spells available to wizards and make some educated guesses from there.

I decided immediately I wouldn’t focus on just one affinity. I would focus on three or four, depending on how the spells felt. First, I had to decide what my three spells would be at the beginning. I had the following options.

Fire – Base spell

Flaming daggers

Description – Summon fire in the shape of daggers (3) toward your enemy

Cost - 20 mana

Effects – 8 damage per dagger

Bonus effect – if all three land on one target, target burns for 10 damage over 10 seconds

Casting time – First dagger, immediate. Last dagger fires after 0.5 seconds

Range – 100 feet

Cooldown – 10 seconds

Water – Base spell

Droplet of Healing

Description – Summon a droplet of healing water. Target must consume to achieve effects

Cost - 30 mana

Effect – Heal 50 health over 10 seconds

Casting time – one second

Cooldown – one minute

Nature – Base spell

Harden

Description – Your skin becomes dense and strong as rock

Cost - 25 mana

Effect – Reduce incoming damage by three. Lasts for three minutes

Casting time – one second

Cooldown – fifteen minutes

Air – Base Spell

Biting Winds

Description – Release a torrent of sharp winds at your opponents

Cost - 35 mana

Effect 1 – Attempt knockback (maximum of ten feet)

Effect 2 – 20 damage throughout a thirty-foot cone from the user

Range – 30 feet

Casting time – two seconds

Cooldown – one minute

Light – Base spell

Blinding Radiance

Description – Emit a light that blinds your opponent

Cost - 30 mana

Effect – Opponent has vision reduced by 100 percent for two seconds

Range – 10 feet

Casting time – 0.5 seconds

Cooldown – three minutes

Dark – Base Spell

Murky Ooze

Description – Slow your opponents in their tracks, reducing their movement speed by 50 percent

Cost - 25 mana

Casting time - 0.5 seconds

Cooldown - 1 minute

And finally, the spell in the center.

Summon Familiar

Description – Summon your soul’s familiar. This companion will level with you, and grow in power alongside you.

Cost - 75 percent of your mana

Effect – Summons a young Mana Panther until dismissed or is killed

Range – 30 feet

Casting time – five seconds

Cooldown – five minutes if you dismiss your companion. Upon your familiar’s death, its soul will be reincarnated in 24 hours resuming all previous statistics and abilities.

Here was the real reason why wizards were so deadly. They were a two-man army - flinging spells and releasing their mana beasts upon their poor, unfortunate enemies. It just so happens that my familiar, the panther, saved my memories and my life. I think it was about time I thanked her personally.

I mentally spent a sorcery point to unlock my familiar, and a rush of information and feelings filled my head. The knowledge of the Soul Plane, where mana beasts and familiars lived. The feeling of the mana changing and releasing through my body as I opened a personal portal for her. The flicking image of seeing her stalk through the portal, her white fur and blue streaks radiating off her body.

I let out a low whistle. I just learned my first spell. I can do MAGIC.

I channeled the new mana flow and willed it to open the portal where my panther’s spirit resided. Just like the flickering image seen moments before, the portal with a skulking white panther emerged.

She was about 2 feet tall and three to four long, excluding the tail. Her white fur was streaked with blue and the antenna-like tails protruding from her head were slicked back. The overall look reminded me of a displacer beast but was sleeker. I didn’t know anything about panthers, let alone magic-wielding mana beast panthers, but the cat’s stature conveyed a teenage appearance.

The portal snapped shut, blue mist particles lingering in the air from residual mana. She spoke telepathically to me.

“I’m glad to see you made it in one piece.”

“Me too.” I replied.

She came over to the edge of the bed and nuzzled for attention. I smiled and conceded, scratching behind her ears. We were like this for a few moments, some bizarre unspoken bond strengthening within minutes. Soul Familiar was an accurate title for this spell–it felt like we were from the same soul, with our own distinct minds and identities.

“Thank you.” I said. I received a small purr of fondness in response.

“What’s your name?”

“It is whatever you wish to call me.”

“You don’t have a name where you're from?” I continued to scratch behind her ears.

“That is a question with many answers, master.”

“Master sounds creepy. You’re not my slave. Vince will work fine.”

The panther backed away and sat, staring at me. “Vince.” She practiced the word, playing with the unfamiliarity of being so casual. “To answer your question, Vince, I have had many names. Although, the memories of my previous lives are fleeting at best.”

“Previous lives?” I questioned.

“The majority of my existence comes from you, and your mana,” she continued. ”You shape me into existence in the material plane. However, my spirit resides in the Soul Plane, waiting for the next wizard or sorcerer to call upon me.”

“How are you chosen?”

“I am unsure. Time passes quickly for me, and my thoughts are empty while I wait. Then, I feel a sudden rush of energy and the piece of you that you pass onto me latches to my spirit, and I am born anew.”

I sighed and scratched my head. “So you are one part me, one part mana, and one part yourself?”

“That’s one way of saying it, yes,” she replied.

I paused, searching for my next question, and chuckled. The scene from the perspective of another would look bizarre. Just a man and a panther having an intense staring contest.

“What do you remember from your previous lives?” I asked while retrieving breakfast outside my door.

“I have no memories of my masters before you. Rayel, the God of Creatures, told me this was for my own good, to move on when it came time to have a new master.”

My education on Rayel was minimal. He was responsible for the Elves and oversaw the animals that populated Laria. His last appearance was several hundred years ago during a particularly brutal war that destroyed many of the forests and animals within a section of Laria. He showed up, along with a few other gods and goddesses, and hit the reset button on the whole area. They “respawned” an entire zone, essentially.

“My memories of Laria, however, are fairly in-depth and I believe would provide very useful information due to your…” she trailed off.

“The fact that I have my memories, and didn’t get the weird memory wipe thing?” I finished her thought for her.

“Are you… upset?” Her voice gave away the worry and guilt.

“Not even a little.” I stood up and gave her a quick scratch under the chin. “A god of this planet approached you… well your spirit, and asked if you could help with something that would benefit them. I have a feeling she didn’t explain the details, and her being a goddess, you didn’t ask or need an elaboration?”

Silence answered my question. I cupped the cat's face in my hands as I continued. “You not only saved me physically after my fight,” I touched my head, “but also safeguarded my heart and mind. I would have lived as a shell of myself otherwise. Knowing that, I prefer this version of me.”

She purred gently in my hands. “Were the requirements to keep your memories significant?”

I scoffed. “She said a few years of my life with no strings attached. So, yeah, probably significant.” I updated her on what led to the fight from which I needed rescuing... Well, not a fight, more of a one-sided ass kicking. Still, I kept that memory in the back of my mind for some future payback.

When I called up the spell options, she asked “If you would like any advice, please let me know.”

“Oh, advice from my trusted familiar with generations of Laria information? No thanks.”

She didn’t laugh and seemed pretty disappointed in my response. That opened up a few minute conversation about sarcasm, and it being my primary dialect.

“Okay, back to the spell choices. What do ya think?” I had moved to the desk to eat my breakfast–scrambled eggs, bacon, and ham. Being able to eat and still talk mentally was a neat little trick.

“Well, if what you said about your skills in physical combat being… below average, I would get an offensive spell. If you want a healing spell, that would be beneficial as well. I have one, but it is always good to have your own. I don’t have any memories regarding sorcerer spells, unfortunately, so my knowledge is based on a wizard’s capabilities.”

We went through the pros and cons and decided on Droplet of Healing and Flaming Daggers. Having a heal is always important, and the daggers can be my go-to base attack for now. My familiar let me know that as my spells evolved, it was common for the base spells to have very low mana costs and little to no cooldown time in comparison to the higher-level spells. After spending my remaining sorcery points, I learned my second and third spells.

“So, before we venture off to find teacher, we need to settle on your name. I had a dog, a familiar I guess, back on Earth. Her name was Saphira, after a dragon from a book I read. I’d like to call you Saphira, in honor of her and so you have a namesake that is equal parts magical and powerful.”

“Saphira… yes I like that name!” she sounded excited in her reply. Right as we were about to set off, she asked “When would you like to level me up so I can be level four as well with new spells?”

My mouth fell to the floor. “You get to level up too!?”