Creek

How Creek was Created

A mage who goes by the name of Miloh has been having issues with local bandits breaking into his shop and stealing potions and ingredients. He decides to take matter into his own hands since the guards in the town claim he should just, “Conjure up a trap” or “Use one of those potions of yours to stop them.” The guards were no help at all, despite his attempt to bribe them with alcohol. (They refused to drink anything from a mage in case it might be a potion.) 

Miloh sighed, searching through his old bookshelves of spell books to see if there was one about summoning a familiar, alas, he found one. It was a thick paged book with a black leather covering and in faded white letters painted into the cover read, “The guide to summoning familiars.” Excitedly, he opened the book, and flipped through the pages and saw the usual cats and various types of birds. Until he stopped on one page, a fierce black panther that had long sharp teeth and gaping jaws, the paws on the animal were the size of a humans head, capable of tearing its foe apart piece by piece. Miloh quickly read over the precautions of summoning this enormous animal and the requirements to do so, he read over the tools and ingredients he would need. A piece of fur from any type of feline, a Cryptantha, An onyx gemstone, a dagger, as well as a andesine sunstone. He had all those expect for a piece of a fur from any type of feline, so out he went looking for a stray cat. Miloh passed many buildings, and looked in crooks of alleyways but he could not seem to find one feline. He sat upon the porch of an abandoned home, and just his luck, a golden-eyed tabby cat walked out, he swiftly picked it up, (much to the felines discomfort.) And snipped a piece of fur right off the cat's side, it wasn't noticeable, and would certainly grow back in a week or two. Satisfied, he picked himself up off the porch, and dropped the fur into a satchel he kept hung on his shoulder, and headed home. Once again crossing through the busy streets of this small town.

Once he arrived at home, the mage gathered everything he needed and set up the ritual area, lit with candles and lanterns. He sat near the middle, before placing the items where they needed to be. Miloh then began chanting the words to summon the panther, it appeared to be working, as the items began to shake and scoot near each other, as they got closer a ball of light was forming over them, as Miloh chanted the last of the words the items merged into the light. There was a bright flash, Miloh covered his eyes from the light, before seeing that it faded. He blinked a couple times to get his vision to clear up after the light faded into darkness. What was in fact in the place where the light ball used to be, was not a panther..but a little cat around the size of an 8 year old child, with smooth black fur and big, round, yellow eyes with black x’s in the middle of them, assuming to be the felines pupils. The cat blinked and stared at its new owner, Miloh face palmed. “No! No! No! This was not what was supposed to happen! I wasn’t supposed to get a cute little cat creature, but a fierce feline that could tear my foes to shreds!” The mage was in shock and grief, unsure of how this had occurred. He must've done something wrong, there was no other way. Frantically, he switched back to the page of the panther, and yet, it seemed as if he did everything correctly. There were no tiny letters warning him of doing wrong, it had all been plainly put, yet, he still ended up with this thing. The feline sat there confused, and looked blankly at Miloh. “Can you even talk?” The mage asked, to which the feline meowed in response. “Oh goddammit! It just meows! Doesn’t even roar or growl, what a pathetic creature.” 

Miloh was visibly upset at the thing, before just accepting maybe this is what he needed, a kick to his ego since he was beginning to get too optimistic. “First, you need clothes, even inside it's cold.” He picked the creature off the ground, holding it securely before placing it on his couch. He rummaged through an old drawer, finding a yellowish tunic, attempting to hand it to the cat, yet the feline stared at it blankly. Miloh sighed with annoyment, and slipped it on over the small creature. He stood back, the cat looked like it was just confused.“I’m assuming you don’t know how to function like a normal person, so I’ll teach you.”

(Time Skip)

After many days of teaching this cat creature, the cat knew the basic understanding of common english words. (Hi, bye, please, thank you, yes, no, etc.) The cat knew how to use hand (paw?) signals to communicate. However, the cat still didn’t have a name, so Miloh brought along the cat for a walk to try and get some inspiration. They walked past town and off the north gates there was a forest nearby, the two strolled through the forest for quite awhile. It was peaceful until the cat ears had stood straight up, hearing something. He dashed off westwards, quite fast, jumping over fallen tree logs and rocks with ease. Miloh, panicked, chased after the feline, only to find it stopped and fascinated by the creek. Staring into the water intently, curious about the fish passing by, but his eyes also following the gentle movement of small rifts in the water. “You like the Creek?” The cat turned and nodded, “Wait! That’s what I’ll call you, Creek!” The newly named cat bounced excitedly, happy with the name. Miloh let Creek play with the fish in the water for awhile, before suggesting to head back home. Creek nodded in agreement, a bit tired after all this, so the two headed back.