Soul Searching
Story by Jihyn on SoFurry
So in Eternia, humans have these things called "Soul Familars"!
Here's how they came about.
It had been a year since the devastation of Earth.
Humanity was slowly picking up the pieces, and due to the utter losses of life in the devastation, we were no closer to figuring out exactly what happened.
The survivors were mostly humans from rural areas, or just outside cities. Any kind of leader of nations or multi-national groups were gone. The fragments of humanity were just civilians, trying to find a way in this world they'd found themselves in.
I'm Ji'hyn, a Can'ir. Technically. But that's a whole other story. This is the story of how Humanity came back from the brink. I'm here to help Humans integrate onto the citadel, serving as an ambassador, guide, and a shoulder for anyone to cry on.
One year ago, the Can'ir scrambled into action when the monitoring of a few key radio signals produced nothing but radio silence and white noise. A scout ship was sent ahead and reported back that the world was on fire.
The Can'ir deliberated for mere minutes about suddenly appearing on Earth to rescue people, but they couldn't leave the rest to burn, starve, and otherwise suffer as a result of the fallout. It was a few hours before the World Ship entered the Sol system, and a few more hours after that before it was in safe orbiting range of the devastated planet.
It took mere days to evacuate as much of the planet. A good portion of the population of Earth was gone. Going from 7 billion to a few hundred million in the blinking of an eye was sobering for anyone who heard the story, and devastating for any human who heard the full toll. It didn't help that even of those few hundred million who survived, millions of those succumbed to injuries and infections.
Tensions were high on the months spent travelling to the Citadel. Humans were trying to find their friends and families. But without going through and making a register of everyone rescued, it was proving impossible. The Can'ir were requesting patience but it fell upon deaf ears at times.
A year on, after registering as Galactic citizens, Humanity was integrating well. Upon learning the intricacies of communicating in this new world, they'd found their loved ones, or in the grieving process for those they'd lost.
Davin was one such human in the grieving process. It was not easy trying to come to terms with losing everyone you know, along with everything and everywhere you've ever known as well. Becoming truly alone was something a lot of people don't really recover from.
We try and get these grieving humans out and about, facilitating hobby groups, or just talking groups. Lots make friends but some find the loss just too unbearable.
Davin was frequently spotted wandering aimlessly around plazas, staring off into the distance or staring at the people of the Citadel as they went about their day. I've been his "assigned friend" for a few weeks now, and was trying to coax out anything he liked doing, his favourite foods, his favourite movies, anything at all to help him connect to others.
I noticed he had a fondness for spicy foods when I did catch him eating, so I usually tried to encourage him to visit a spot serving Can'ir food which had adapted their menu for Human clientele. Can'ir cooked with lots of spices and veggies, It always tingles the back of your throat if you're walking past when there's some cooking going on.
One day, I spot him lingering at the back of the main central plaza around lunchtime. I take a note of his location and scamper off to grab two bowls of a Celestis - my clan - speciality, imaginatively named "Spice Mix".
A bowl of stir fried Deorutan native vegetables tossed in a sweet yet spicy sauce, before adding in more than a few pieces of meat dusted with other spices - typically a lighter meat. Eaten with a single stick to poke at the chunky veggies to pop them in your mouth, it was something filling, tasty, and easy to eat.
I hurriedly head back over to where I found Davin, and putting the bowls onto a nearby table, I call him over. He looks a little confused at first, like I pulled him out of a stupor, but he tries to smile, and heads over.
"Sit, sit! I brought food!" I pat at the seat next to me, sliding over the bowl I got him.
"Thanks"
He sits down, and picks up the stick that was balancing in the bowl, starting to poke at the chunks of meat and vegetables.
We sit in silence for a few minutes while we eat a few bites. Davin seems hungry at least and is eating.
"Do you guys have like.. animals around here?" he asks.
"Depends, what kind of animals?"
"I keep seeing a small animal following me around"
I tilt my head back and think for a moment.
"Nothing that should be up and around on the plazas or streets, we usually keep them down in nature areas"
"Huh"
I try not to pry while he eats further. Though I'm curious. Usually the animals on the citadel are fairly big, or tightly controlled and kept in the more natural areas for safety purposes. Pets are allowed up on the plazas and streets, but they must be closely controlled.
"What's it look like?" I ask.
"It looks.. kinda like.. a squirrel?" He stops for a second. "Oh! They're like.." He struggles to try and describe one. "They're about this big" He holds his hands up, about a foot apart. "They've got really big bushy tails, and they're really skittish"
There's nothing I can think of on the citadel that might match the description. We've got animals with bushy tails but they're not quite that skittish. The animals of that size tend to have smaller thinner tails, or none at all.
"Let me know if you see it again, we'll see if we can track it down."
He nods, getting another mouthful of food. "This is really good by the way, where did you get it?"
I smile widely. "It's a clan speciality" I point out the vendor at the other side of the Plaza. "That guy over there. It's not as good as the stuff back home but it's damn close"
As humanity starts to settle, there's been reports of "ghostly animals" around the citadel, though only by Humans. Other peoples haven't spotted them yet, but there's a heightened state of awareness to see if anyone else can see these mysterious figments.
At first, it was chalked up to hallucinations of humanity, they had just come out of a traumatic event after all, but the citizens kept their eye out for anything off.
However after a month or two, there was a confirmed sighting of something ghostly following behind a human. It looked snake like, though with little legs and a long tail.. A Ferret! It was spotted by a Feln, who took a look at it as it passed them. But the longer they looked, the more.. off it looked. At first they thought it was an escaped animal, but it was pure white... no, semi-translucent?
The ferret seemed to notice the staring, and it broke into a run towards the human, disappearing as it got within a few inches of the human's leg. Definitely ghostly animals, and nothing anyone on the citadel had seen before.
Working with more humans as well as the other peoples on the citadel, we find out that the animals being spotted all had one origin. Earth. They seemed to be following humans exclusively, though. At first, the humans thought it might be been the ghosts of pets that perished, but there were animals that weren't usually kept as pets being spotted too. They all seemed to favour one particular human when they appeared, and when they got spooked, they disappeared "into" that human.
Someone joked that it was a human soul scampering about behind its body, but it soon got a little serious traction.
With some willing volunteers who were just as curious as the rest of the galaxy at this point, there was a bit of a revelation. The ghostly animals were definitely attached to particular humans. It turns out there was a bit of a knack to this, as the animals could be controlled somewhat. They did have their own instincts, but they usually came when called for, but they appeared and disappeared as they pleased.
One particularly adept human managed to get their animal to stay around a little, and a researcher asked if they could try and touch it to see if it had any reaction to that, if it was a ball of energy or the like. When the researcher gently went to pet the head of the animal, the human felt a shudder at the back of their neck. Curious scribbles.
Humans taught other humans how to control these “Soul Familiars" – as they'd started calling them. Even those who hadn't at least noticed these little animals following along behind them could now start to call their familiars, and soon the Citadel had humans wandering the plazas and streets and alleys, calling out their familiars to sit on their shoulder, follow close by, or flap around above them.
Cats, dogs, rodents, insects, birds, even little floating fish. Animals that the human liked tended to materialise as their familiars. It was truly fascinating watching the humans discover this about themselves. Were they always able to do this, or was it just extraordinary circumstances? We'd never truly know. There was never anything like this back on earth, that the humans told us about at least.
Being one of the Can'ir assisting with the humans, myself and my colleagues did notice that the humans with more grief to process tended to notice these ghostly animals first, and when they learned to 'tame' the familiars, their moods improved considerably.
Companionship is quite important to the humans, and even if it was just a ghostly animal – it was something to care for and interact with that was connected to them. The familiars would scamper about and bump into others, almost subconsciously making the humans interact almost. It was almost like the human soul has a desire to connect to others, even if the human isn't willing – the soul will make them do it.
In a way it got them to connect to other peoples on the Citadel too. Feln and Can'ir especially. Both a fairly spiritual people, fascinated with the implications of the familiars being a part of the human's soul. Did that mean that they too could have actual tangible souls? Could they summon similar things?
Of course, they weren't just looked at as studies, but as friends. The familiar was just an easy ice breaker. It wasn't long before the humans started to become a little less hesitant around Can'ir, Feln, and Chron alike.
I was walking through the main plaza as usual, and I see Davin sitting and eating. He's eating a bowl of the spice-mix I showed him a few months ago. I smile as I approach him, sitting opposite him.
“Hey Davin!" I say cheerfully. “How's it going?"
“Oh! Hey Ji'hyn" He gulps down a bite. “Not too bad. Just been looking around a bit more."
His familiar scampers up his back and onto his shoulder, looking curiously at me. A squirrel, with a really big bushy tail. It scrambles down his arm and over to me. I put my handpaw out instinctively to let it sniff my hand. It was bad etiquette to touch a familiar, given that the human can generally feel touches on the familiar.
“Looks like the little guy is getting used to us, and you're getting used to him" I smile, looking down at it.
“Yeah, it's been nice to have a little guy to look after, and he gets in all kinds of trouble that involve me talking to people."
The squirrel scampers back up his arm and sits on his shoulder again.
“Was thinking of starting up a band. Not sure if you folks up here have heard human music before. Your beats in the club are great, but I'm missing the old tracks." He paused for a sec, cheekily smirking. “I bet Can'ir could do real good harsh vocals"
He wasn't wrong to be fair. A few humans had devices which had some music on, there were so many different types of music. The Feln had a shared love of music and had an almost-as-diverse palette as the humans did.
“Feln drumming, Can'ir vocalist. Bet it would sound awesome. Real raw!"
Davin was a bit of a punk, though the Can'ir voice sounded more like what the humans called 'metal'.
Me and Davin usually whittled away the times we encountered each other talking about his favourite bands, and he'd sometimes try and mimic the sounds the instruments would make when he got particularly excited if I asked him about his favourite songs.
I told him about a part of the Citadel that was home to a lot of creative types, musicians probably among them. “You should probably head out there one day, see if you can get chatting with anyone!"
“Yeah, maybe. Might have to try writing a few things first." He smiles. That was probably the first genuine smile I got off him about doing something other than just talking about his favourite bands.
I stand up, clapping him on the shoulder as I pass him. “Anyway, I'd better get on. Appointments to keep and all that. Catch you later!"
“Laters"
I turn and wave at the familiar which was looking back at me, and it gives a little wave back, as Davin picks up his stick and digs back into his food.
I cross the plaza and head into a small art studio. I didn't really have much of an 'official' appointment to keep, but..
“You're late!" A voice snaps.
“Yeah, well, I ran into a friend, had to stop and chat"
A ghostly sphinx cat rubs at the back of my digitigrade foot.
The pink haired human gets up from their seat, dashing over and hugging me tightly. “I missed you!" They say, pressing their face into my torso. I didn't mind – they were my partner after all. Again, a long story.
I'd been off the Citadel for about 10 cycles, back on Deoruta for a quick catch up for clan matters and I'd organised to meet Diesel here while they were working on something when I got back, but I got the chatting with Davin, and, well. I was late.
“You smell so good" They mumble into my fur. I did have a faint scent from the homeworld on me. The Celestis clan camp was surrounded by fruiting trees and sweet-herbs. I maybe spent a day or two out walking, as my last trip home didn't have much leisure time.
I give them a hug back – needing to crouch a little, so I didn't just hug their head. The ghostly cat hops up onto my lower back, clambering up further and rubbing into my neck.
“C'mon, let's go for a walk. You've probably kept yourself cooped up in here all cycle." I say, standing back up straight. The ghostly cat scrambles up onto my shoulder, and sits there for a moment, looking over the room. I look at it, chuckling a little. I give it a little scritch on the top its head, and Diesel shudders a little, giggling.
“Still not used to that" they say.