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The Magic Parasite Fiin

Fighting my way back into a true state of awareness was quite the struggle, made even worse by frequently dreaming of the event that will claim my life, and being too feverish to really be able to tell whether or not it was the dream or if it was something that was actually happening. I suppose I do have to have some consolation in the fact that they are willing to put up with me, regardless of the fact that I was unable to protect myself for the duration of my illness. I do vaguely remember some things in the past few days and as I am finally starting to come to I notice that the elf has taken on the role of being my caretaker. Not entirely sure how all I feel about that fact. But the first task of being up and about is to get myself out of these bindings. I remember vaguely them putting it on me and at times confusing it for very strange noodles that have hardened onto me and is trying to eat me or something, as foolish a notion as that is. I start exerting a bit of my power and spin the bindings off me. I'm still weak and know full well I should still conserve as much of my magic as possible, but I can't exactly do all that much tied to a sled.

Walking is still definitely a chore. Or more specifically the act of trying to walk in a steady manner. Rophan, thankfully enough, seems to be asleep so I don't have to worry about how he'll end up taking the fact I'm now up and about. I find Hashal having a conversation with the Ceirla and the other two, though Hashal turns and waves at me upon seeing me.

"So you're finally awake," he says as I close the distance and sit down again, my head still swimming around a little bit.

"So how long was I out of commission?" I ask.

"About a week," Simon says casually. "We were likely going to simply put you into a hospital in the next town if you were still insolvent by then. So are you actually well?"

"Well enough I suppose," I shrug. "Still feeling fairly weak but I'll manage. So what all happened?"

"You got attacked by a magic parasite that sucked you dry and then your body couldn't handle the absence of your magic so you go sick. The parasite says that he had bought your story of being only a familiar and didn't realize how much he was taking since he didn't see any weakness of your faculties. Supposedly he stopped as soon as he realized something was wrong but you were almost completely drained."

"He might have stopped soon enough for me to not fully collapse if it wasn't for the fact that we had to fight our way out of all those bandits right after. I'm sure that depleted me even more. I wasn't exactly being all that conservative with my magic use. Anyway, is he still around? I'd like to speak with him myself."

"Sure, he's over there with the supplies," Simon gestures. "let me know if you change your mind and want him killed anyway. That's your right."

"I'll take you over there," Hashal says as he stands up though it's clear it's more to get away from the two mercs than anything.

I walk over and can feel the level of defensive wards in place up ahead. Apparently, they weren't taking any chances of this thing getting away. Looking at it, the thing seems to be an anti-magic barrier, no magic in or out as well as a physical binding as well on the creature that looks sort of like a squirrel that has a bit more tail than usual. He sees me and instantly moves as close to where we are as he can given his situation. Knowing that my amulet to be able to actually understand everyone would be stopped by such a field I make sure to stop before it and sit down, trying to get the dizziness to abate.

"You're all right. Thank the gods. I was so worried! I didn't mean to make you sick. I was just starving so badly and in you come claiming to be a familiar. I've seen familiars before, when the magical connection starts getting weak they start reverting to more of an animal personality and your behavior was staying unchecked the entire time so I had just assumed you were getting a massive influx of magic. It wasn't until you started showing that you were getting dizzy that I realized my mistake and I stopped immediately. I kept following because I was hoping to find some way to make it up to you later on, but then they found me in my disguise and put me in here. And thank you so much for saving my life. You have no idea how thankful I am. Most who see one of my kind are content to simply have us killed off as they would most other parasites."

"What you did wasn't going to kill me, I knew that for a fact. I wasn't going to simply have your blood be on my paws when what you were doing wasn't going to kill me anyway."

"Oh, I suppose you would know that considering you're a," he trails off a moment, not sure how to say it, especially with Hashal around as well. My head cocks to the side at his response. Does he know what I am?

"You mean to say you know what Mige is?" Hashal asks for me.

"Oh, your name is Mige? Hello, Mige, I am Fiin," the squirrel thing says, bowing slightly. "Well as for what the generous Mige is, it's actually rather straight forward when you think about it. I'm surprised none of your other companions have already figured it out."

"Straight forward. I only realized when I was brought to a town about to die."

"Well that's because you aren't thinking about it logically. Once you know that you are dealing with a creature of magic there's really only a limited number of species you can be. There is a book I have that goes quite a bit into detail over each and every known magical creature. The vast majority have pictures that you look nothing like. Of the five that didn't have any picture or diagram, four of them were described as being at least twice the size of a horse. Which means by process of elimination there is only one species you can be. One given a rather unfortunate name that I find disrespectful to use. Do any of them know what you are?"

"Thankfully, no, at least as far as I can tell, which is for the best probably given the people here," I shrug. "This book you mentioned, do you happen to still have it on you?"

"I do, but I can't exactly get at it the way things are," Fiin says.

"As in you have it hidden nearby?" Hashal asks.

"No, as in it's literally on me. My kind can shapeshift, I can turn into just about anything I want and shapeshift anything into a part of my body. But that requires me to use some magic and can't exactly do that with this all on me."

"Oh, okay then," I comment, debating whether or not to simply bring out Anaelin to cut through the spells. But in the end I decide that though it shouldn't be too much of an issue, the fact remains that I likely want to conserve my magic as much as possible to not only help me recover faster but in case I need it down the line. So instead I look over to Hashal, "So do you know how to disarm the barrier or do I need to go ask the two over there to do it?"

"I may? But I think it's best I go and get them anyway. Pretty sure that goblin will be wanting to have his sword drawn when we free it just in case and would likely throw a fit if we didn't inform him beforehand," Hashal shrugs and stands up to head back to the others.

"So while he's away, what else did your book say about me?"

"The book in question was more interested in brevity than it was in depth, trying to cover the basics of each of the magical races rather than give a lot of information about every aspect. For your kind it was mainly the fact that you all are drawn to death, both of other people and especially your own. That dragons are rather fond of your kind though didn't specify why. And that you are almost always seen travelling with a unique magical weapon and an assortment of individuals. That and the most practical uses for your blood once properly treated."

"But it had no description of what my kind looks like?" I ask.

"None whatsoever. Well, it did list you as on the smaller side as far as magical creatures go. I had asked the wizard who I got the book from about that and he said it was typically considered bad luck to actually include a description of your kind. Didn't come off as superstitious or that it would be tempting your kind to make an appearance but when I had checked in on it I had found that the last few times someone tried to write a book about your kind that included pictures or a description, the building got attacked by a dragon shortly before being finished. So apparently no one is allowed to actually write what you all look like, which is odd considering you're the only species that I've come across that that is the case."

"Huh," I consider, having no real explanation for the state of things but more than glad for the protection provided by not having someone just read a book and know instantly what I was.

Hashal returns with the other two, the goblin having his sword drawn and at the ready. My blood didn't burn for them, nor for Fiin, but then again I can't be entirely sure. It is quite possible that in my drained state when I first saw them it wouldn't have burned strongly enough for me to notice. Which unfortunately makes these two individuals an unknown for me.