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Mirror, Mirror...

Into the Unknown

Updated March 25th, 2013

I woke up with a fuzzy head again. Really hard to get used to after only doing it twice so far, but maybe I would eventually. Of course, the whole insanity concept or "feels like insanity" at the very least was new to me. I mean, really, should I be expected to just take it all with a grain of salt and immediately adjust?

It was that dual fuzzy again too. Both blurry thoughts and blurry eyes. That and fur in my face. At least it felt like it. Didn't quite look like it. I had to try to get my mind clear first. Harv. That was the old mage. Mage. Right. I am a sorcerer. Which means something about made of magic, or born with it, or whatever. Could have gone my whole life without knowing maybe? Not sure.

There was that mirror. From the yard sale. Right! It had a cat. I was once again on my bed with two cats. It was a... what was that word? Family? Famulus. That was it. A demon, it said. Bad mind, not like red, horned, scaly things with teeth and flame. Demon meant that it had no native form.

Okay, okay... Got some stuff down so far. I blinked a few more times, trying to clear my vision before I realized I wouldn't be able to. I could see it. Just a little. Like 98% transparent in Photoshop. Hmmm... Maybe about 95% now. Or maybe even less. When I was in my bedroom with the mirror, I could feel it, interact with it, and even be carried around by it. Anywhere else and the interaction was limited. Like a mist right now.

It? Hmmm... Morphic in the sense of not having a native form. Locked to... a black cat. Right. I could dredge it out of my memory, really I could. So it could be a male, or a female. If I remembered right, I fell asleep with a female humanoid cat in my arms in front of me, and a giant male panthercat behind me. Was that still the case?

Maybe it was time to try to figure that out. Okay, body, stop being all sleepy and think about things. Fur against my face. Fur against my back. Kind of... Yeah, that felt like I was still holding and curled up against a humanoid form. I'd have to take the solid mass of warm softness against my back as a guess that it was still a big cat.

I moved my head a little. Ahh. My face was against the back of its neck. Was it asleep? It wasn't moving.

"I don't sleep," the female form in my arms said. "I didn't want to interrupt your thoughts. You've still got a lot to adjust to." She squirmed a little in my grasp. "Besides, you're cute when you're confused."

She felt exquisite. Then that annoying "Animal! Gross!" thought hit my head. I winced and growled at it internally, taking a few deep breaths and internally trying to strangle the negative concept to death.

She squirmed again, which was distracting enough to help. "Just think of the good things," she said. "Think happy thoughts. Heck, you've even got morning wood, which should help." She arched her rear against me to emphasize that last bit and it did indeed help distract me for a moment before a rush of adrenaline and visions of the huge cat's teeth tearing my throat out before came back with a vengeance and gave me a panic attack.

She felt my panic and the warm body behind me vanished, letting my suddenly-sweaty back cool as she rolled away from me to give me space. My brain wouldn't let go of the panic. I stumbled up, gazing around with wide eyes at the completely unreal look of my room under the effects of a time bubble. My pupils must have been dilated in fear, everything looked even weirder than before.

I stared around wildly, tripping as I headed to the door. Strong hands caught me, but released me after just ensuring I was steady. I was far too much in a state of panic to deal with this. I think I stubbed my toe hard heading out the door of my bedroom, but I couldn't feel it. It was all so wrong-feeling.

I glanced up to the time bubble as I passed the living room. I had to rip my gaze off it before it made me nauseous. My mind was battling itself, one part of me in a pure primal panic, the other part trying futilely to calm me down.

Despite my complete lack of clothing, I stumbled to the front door and threw it open, trying to escape. I was greeted by the solid black surface that I had seen before, almost running face first into it. I stopped, wide-eyed, and slammed the door, looking around wildly.

"Calm down... You can control your fear," I heard her soft voice say. The bit of me that was left in my head agreed. Get ahold of yourself! My vision was narrowing. It was like I was in a tunnel, or looking through a tube. My breath seemed so fast.

"You need to control yourself!" she said. She sounded afraid. I think. "Find yourself, don't lose you."

Her voice seemed so far away. My blood pounded in my ears. I couldn't focus. That rushing sound? Was that my blood? All my hair stood on end.

"Get out of the livingroom!!" I heard her scream. The urgency in her voice pushed me to move. I cracked my head against the wall as I stumbled into the bathroom and collapsed to the floor...

There I was... I was looking down at myself on the floor of the bathroom. I felt strangely serene. I looked down at my convulsing body with what would be a frightening apathy if I could feel fear. I couldn't. I couldn't feel anything.

She was there in the mirror, crouched over my body in a panic, unable to touch me. I didn't care. Was this death? Was this my soul leaving me as I gasped my last breath? Shouldn't I be upset?

Pick yourself up.

Why? What did it matter if I died?

You want to live. You have something new and exciting. You have magic. You have a famulus. Your old, boring life is a thing of the past.

Was it really exciting? It was scary. It was terrifying in fact. I couldn't feel fear now. Even as the world was fading out around me, I didn't care.

You care about your famulus.

The world snapped back into focus. In the mirror I could see her writhing. She could barely breathe. She pawed at my body desperately.

I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't think anything. I...

I did care.

Pick yourself up. Go back to the bedroom.

I squatted and touched my body. It was so still, so cold here. I gasped as I felt a twinge of pain. Emotional pain. I didn't care about myself, but I -did- care about my famulus.

I wasn't aware of how I did it, but I managed to get my limp body thrown over my shoulder into a fireman's carry. It was like I weighed nothing.

I glanced in the mirror at the cat, who was in an absolute panic now. She fought both for her own life against my death, but also at her fear of what, to her, looked like my body floating in the air like a rag doll. The pain came again.

I turned swiftly, carrying my body to the bedroom and dropping myself onto the bed carefully. She was there. I could see her ghostly form by me, and I could see her in that mirror. She was healing me. The toe I had broken on the door frame. The severe damage my brain had taken from me cracking my head when going into the bathroom. I was healthy again.

Seconds ticked by. I didn't move. She shook me gently, then more firmly. She backed away a little, shaking her head, before clinging to my still body desperately. I frowned from my outside vantage point. She healed me. Why was I still out here? The emotional pain I was feeling was getting worse. My throat was catching, though I had no breath. If I could wail and sob, I would. Only the immense buffer created by the lack of capability to feel much was keeping me from gnashing my teeth.

I finally collapsed to my knees. Reaching out, I touched my cold body and her warm one with my hands. Then I felt it. I had to choose to go back.

But I was confused. I could feel my body wanting me back. I could feel the same welcome from her body, though she was unaware of my touch. What was this?

I just had to go back into myself. Just a thought. Just my will. I would wake up. We would be together again, and other than the scare, we'd be fine. But...

But what would I do? Would I hurt myself again? I had broken my toe without even knowing it. I had fallen into the wall and hit my head hard enough to kill me. I didn't suffer for that. She did. I didn't care about me that much. But I did care about her. Him. It...? I just cared damn it!

I could go into her. What would happen if I did? Would she consume my soul and be free of me? Would I be part of her and lose myself? Would I be safe for her? I knew what would happen if I went back to my own body. I had no idea what would happen if I went to her. Would she be possessed by a ghost?

I suddenly realized that the world was fading out again. I felt my touch on my own and her body starting to fail, starting to drift away. I looked up in panic, but it was all white with only a shadow of a view of the world. I had to do something, or my chance would be lost.

Both my body and hers still felt welcoming. Would she welcome me if it was bad for her? I didn't know. I hoped not. I had no idea if it would be bad for me. But I knew that I was bad for her in my own body. Too clumsy. Too clueless. Too... afraid.

I took my hand off the last vestiges of what I could feel of my own body and placed it on her side, near my other hand on her. I didn't know what would happen to me, but the welcoming I felt from the touch somehow told me that nothing bad would happen to her. The world snapped back to focus again as I let myself fall into her.

I saw her face snap around to look in my direction, her eyes wide and her ears suddenly laid back. The last thing I saw before I lost myself in her was feline lips meeting the lips of my lifeless form. Then it all went dark.

---

I woke to a hand stroking my hair.

"What happened?" I mumbled. I felt all numb and I couldn't seem to open my eyes.

"Hush," a soft voice said, a finger touching my lips softly.

Feeling was starting to come back and I was able to crack my eyes open. I was aware of a body near mine. She drew in a pained breath, then started massaging my leg. I could barely feel that. Then more hands massaging more parts of me as feeling slowly returned. I became more aware of labored breathing as I struggled to move and open my eyes more.

"Shhh, don't move," she said, gasping slightly in pain. "Think about when your foot falls asleep and starts to wake up. It hurts to move it. You've got that all over your body and I'm the one feeling it."

I stopped and relaxed instantly, to reduce the discomfort she felt. But if it hurt me, and thus her, why didn't she heal it? Was she okay?

"I'm fine," she murmured happily, then she relaxed as feeling returned to my body. "You're alive."

I could move again. It didn't feel like my body was dead anymore. "What happened?" I asked blearily, reaching up to rub my eyes now that she seemed willing to let me.

"I thought you were going to have an energy burst, so you needed to be away from the time bubble. The burst would have disrupted it. But when you were going to the bathroom, you ended up killing yourself instead. The fear and the knock to your head overloaded your system," she said.

I pulled my hands away from my eyes and blinked the blur out of them, then stopped and stared. She was smiling down at me. Well, about seven of her were. She was not ghostly-looking in the slightest either.

"I can see you," I mumbled.

"We're completely linked," she said with a purr. I had a feeling she was holding something back.

She grinned, showing off sharp teeth. "You really, really care." Then she looked somber. "More about me than you care about yourself."

"I thought linking would take a long time," I said, my brow furrowing.

"Normally it would. Normally you wouldn't be dying on me though. And normally you wouldn't return yourself to me instead of to your own body," she said.

Now I remembered. Vaguely. "What happens now?"

She tilted her head. "Well, that's a good question. I think you broke so many rules it's not even funny. Or something like that. I dunno really, because I've never heard of anything like this." She sat back a little. "Normally you'd just open up to me and we'd be linked. Instead you literally gave your soul to me, and I gave it back to you."

I blinked some of the gooey vision out of my eyes. "I didn't know what would happen, but I didn't think it would hurt you."

"It didn't. It could have destroyed you though," she said, looking serious. "It's having some weird side effects too."

"Like what?"

She reached down with a claw and gave me a tiny scratch on my shoulder. My eyes widened as it stung for a moment, then the sting went away. "Your pain isn't forced on me. I can choose to take it or not. It's like I was freed, but we're still linked. I won't even suffer the way I normally would if you died." She patted my shoulder, which was already healed. "A famulus has to re-link to another wizard to be free from the first. We are never able to not worry about somebody's death destroying us."

I had to think about this for a moment. Before she was forced to care for me by the magic link. I saw it as being forced to love me, and I swore to myself to learn to love her as much back. Now there was no forcing going on. She could leave me. She could let me die and not suffer for it. She was free.

I thought for a moment that I would be sad about this, but I was happy. It wasn't about me. I felt for her when she was forced to care, and now I cared enough that I felt nothing but joy for her freedom. She was linked to me, so no longer linked to somebody else whose death would put her into hell. But my death or pain would not hurt her. As long as she was linked to me, she was free.

"Even if you died and I was no longer linked, I'd be free," she murmured. Then she threw herself atop me and kissed me passionately, almost smothering me in her zeal. Finally she paused to let me catch my breath and smiled at me.

"I can never go back to my own home. But now, after hundreds of thousands of years, I'm free to make my own destiny. Look!" She reached over onto the bed and grabbed a pillow, holding it up for just a moment. "I can interact with your world!"

I smiled up at her with just a somewhat jealous twinge. "I'm happy for you. I'm just me, but I'm so happy I was able to do this for you." I guessed that with her new found freedom, she'd have better things to do than watch over a clueless newb of a sorcerer.

She tapped my nose gently with a fingertip. "I know the whole thing is difficult for you. But if you're willing to still have me, and accept me, I'd like..." She took a deep breath. "I'd like to be your famulus because I -want- to be, not because I die if I'm not."

I opened my mouth, unsure what I was going to say, but she put her finger on my lips. "You felt that I was forced to 'love' you, and you cared about me. You think of me as a 'person', with your meaning behind it. You wanted to give back to me. Not just use or abuse or ignore me."

The intensity of her eyes was overwhelming. "I want to be there for you because I can be, not because I have to be." She gazed down. "If you'll have me."

It was so strange. Feeling a humanoid body against me, but looking into a black-furred feline face. More strange was the fact that I was so very happy about this. I was a young man, but I wasn't without experience. My night work even made it easier to spend a Friday night at the bar, since it was the same as my morning on a day I didn't work. I just always wanted to find somebody I could care about.

This whole series of events, starting from the yard sale, was unexpected. It threw my whole life for a loop on the craziest ride I could ever imagine. In fact, this was so far beyond what my imagination could come up with that it was light years away. I don't think I'd ever felt as happy as I did at that moment though.

"I think we're feeding back into each other," she murmured, laying against my chest and snuggling. "I've never been this happy before either. Hmmm..." She gave a wiggle and for a moment, it felt as if something was missing. "Are you still super-happy?"

I nodded. I was still giddy as all get go.

She squeeed in delight. "I cut us off from feeling each others' happy and we're still super happy! That means that we really are happy, not just feeding off each other."

The extra happy returned, and I could see what she meant about the feedback. Curiously I stroked her back and sure enough, I could feel the results mentally as she started purring. I grinned. That was pretty nice. I could see why cats liked to be stroked, though I was perceiving it by proxy.

"I'm still gonna go slow for you. And for us. Especially now. I dunno, but normally you couldn't link to me fully until your skills were realized. The whole dying thing puts this outside my experience. Heck, being able to interact with things on my own instead of by your will is new to me too." Her ears laid to the side. "In fact..."

She jumped off me and tugged me off the bed to stand up. Then she gave me a kiss and suddenly leaped onto the bed, shrinking to a small cat as she did. She began to bounce and started leaping all over the bed.

"Oh goodness this is fun!" she exclaimed. I simply stared in confusion until she flopped on her back and laughed. "For hundreds of thousands of years, my interaction with things in your world was limited to choosing to stop at it or not, and fetching things for my masters when they willfully empowered me to interact with the objects. The bed is all sproingy, but nobody has ever let me interact with one before, so they're as hard as stone to me normally."

I was suddenly bowled back onto the bed from behind by a huge panther, then subjected to furious bouncing all over the bed by a multitude of cats. The springs groaned more than that time I was drunk and brought Bertha home, but they survived. I survived as well, much better than the morning after Bertha, and laughed at the antics until the bevvy of felines mostly departed and left me with just three snuggled against me again.

"So what now?" I asked as I started to get groomed again.

"I think I'll groom you," one of the cats said, its voice indeterminate around the licking.

"I meant in the long run," I said, though I was not going to object to the idea of being groomed again.

"If you're not too tired after all that, we can always see about new ways to do fun things," another of the huge cats said with a lick that graced deliciously close to my groin.

I had a twinge of delight, but then that damn "Gross! Animal!" thing started pushing forward in my mind again. All three of the cats suddenly stopped licking and looked at me, ears laying to the side in concern.

"Noooo!" one of them literally whined. "Bad brains! Stop that!!" One of the other two hissed, though I knew it was hissing at my thoughts and not at me. The weird thing about this was that it seemed to work. Well, more like I had the impression of the negative thought and feeling being smothered, pounded, mutilated, and then dragged away in tiny, quivering pieces. So not really "seemed to work" as much as "epic success".

All three of the cats suddenly were shocked and sullen, then two poofed out of existence and the third shrunk to a tiny, sad-looking kitten. "I didn't mean to do that," she mewled. "I'm so sorry."

I blinked, thoroughly confused.

"I changed your thoughts and feelings," the kitten said. "You were having your doubts, and I changed you to not have them. I didn't even know I could do that."

I sat and digested this concept for a moment. She could control what I thought? That meant that when she was around, I couldn't be sure if my thoughts and desires were my own, or hers. I didn't know what to feel about this. Especially since I didn't know if it was -me- feeling it, or her.

"I... I..." She looked so pitiful. "Here," she suddenly decreed. Then I instantly felt empty and alone for just a moment before I re-adjusted to the new state. It took a bit before I realized: She had cut herself off from affecting me completely. "It's so you can choose for yourself what you want to do," she said. "Even if it means you want me to go away," she finished dejectedly.

"Why would I want you to go away?" I asked.

She took a deep breath. "In all the years I've been here, one thing has always been constant. All wizards are very strongly against mental influence. Even beginning to have the power to do more than create a small urge tends to garner a swift and obliterating strike from the rest of them. Affecting a person's beliefs or will is one of the most taboo things possible. Even by accident. If you were a highly knowledgeable wizard, you'd be trying to destroy me right now for that."

I sat and thought about it for a moment. At first I was afraid that maybe she was still connected and influencing me. But somehow, deep inside, in a way that I could not distrust was me, I knew she wasn't. I had been so very fully aware of her will imposed on my misgivings that her actions had screamed out as being done by her in my mind. When she changed what I felt, it was like a spotlight shining on the fact that she did it. I was truly alone in my decisions right now.

So I thought some more. Did I trust her? I would know if she changed my opinions, right? As long as I didn't forget the past and what they were before, I could always make a logical choice based on that. Her intervention helped prevent a negative experience for both of us.

I realized she was watching me intently. I peered back for a moment at her worried gaze before I remembered that she couldn't even read my thoughts right now. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Maybe this would be a mistake, but hey, I couldn't see the future. Everything was so far out of my control already that this really couldn't make anything worse from what I saw now.

"If..." I paused to gather my thoughts better. "If what I am thinking or believing is negative to us... like the misgivings or fears... then I would love for you to get rid of them... as long as you let my mind and decisions be my own for everything else unless I tell you."

I nodded decisively, then smiled. "Yes. I would like you to help me with the bad parts. I don't want to have another panic attack and hurt us."

Then this weird tingle came over me and her eyes widened dramatically. "You... You just geised us!" she exclaimed. I felt her let the link come back and the flood of wonder and excitement was almost overwhelming.

"I what?" I said, the blank look on my face showing off my confusion quite well.

"A geis. It's a magical ... umm... Contract? Just more complexificated. It magically prohibits the breaking of its terms. Literally to the point where it's just not possible to do so, no matter what. It's really the most powerful form of contract enforcement in existence. There's no known way to break it without the fulfillment of the contract or the will of all parties involved."

I shook my head, still confused. "Wait... So what does that mean?"

She thought for a moment. "The geis you placed gives me permission to alter your thoughts and will in the ways you said, and you will not ever do anything negative to me in response to it, as long as the geis lasts. But if I try to alter your will in a way that you didn't approve, the geis is broken and you can do bad things to me in retribution."

I had to think again. "Soooo... it protects you... and it also protects me. That makes sense."

She nodded. "Yus." Then she immediately cheered up and turned into three panthers again. The experience of being suddenly surrounded by the huge cats while I was not distracted by other things and fully able to see them gave me a moment of shell shock before she squelched it quite thoroughly. The decisive lack of panic that I distinctly felt I should be experiencing was a welcome relief. Whatever it brought in the future, I knew that for now at least, I had made the right choice.

One of the cats licked my cheek affectionately. "You need to know, though... the inhibition of your will or thought is transient. If you don't keep that in mind, it could be a problem."

"Transient?" I thought again. "Goes away?"

The cat nodded. "I can squelch it, but that doesn't change the original thought. It just makes you not feel the negative emotion for a short time and while I'm concentrating on taking it away. You can still have misgivings after the fact." Sounded kind of like waking up next to Bertha.

One of the other huge cats draped a paw and chin across my lap as the first one rubbed its cheek against me. Then it murmured in my ear, reminiscent of before, "I can't change your past. I can't reprogram you to take away negative things, even if they are things you don't want. What I can do though is make sure the positive things are so good that the negative things no longer matter to you."

While this was being told to me, the cat whose head was on my lap took a lick at my loins that definitely brought mixed feelings in reaction. It felt sooooooo good, but I was trained to consider it dirty and bad. The latter of those two feelings tried its damndest to destroy the joy I got from the lick until a nudge of mental control from the cat made the feeling go away. It was still kind of weird to know that the huge panther who was suckling on me and the one that was whispering in my ear were the same person, but that was not a mood killer. In fact, it was intriguing enough to be somewhat exciting.

"I'll help you feel better now, and you'll be able to get over it on your own in the future," the cat murmured.

I don't know if it was the exotic situation or some kind of weird power, but the cat in my lap made me squeak with a peak faster than an adolescent choir boy who found a peephole to the cute, young nun's shower. I was left panting softly as a maw that was made for ripping and consuming gently released my most sensitive flesh. How this feline managed to make me cum so damned quickly was beyond me.

"We're linked now," the cat by my ear said, giving it a lick that also brought a shiver of joy to me. "I feel everything you feel. I know what you will like the best." It nudged my cheek to turn my head a bit as the cat who had been attending to my lap rolled onto his back. Noting that he was male made me jump, but that concern was also squashed.

"Did it feel bad because I was male? Did it even matter? You liked it." The cat on my lap and the spare one that had been watching vanished, leaving me to turn and look into the eyes of the one left. "I love you," she said, her voice distinctly female now. "I love you because I can love you; because I have a choice. You said you wanted to love all of me when I didn't have a choice about caring for you. Will you do less now?"

I shook my head emphatically as she changed from a feral panther form to a humanoid form in front of my eyes. Small breasts showed only the curvature beneath the thick, black fur and her legs were still animal in shape, but her shape was alluring nonetheless. I had a twinge of concern, but I managed to kill it myself, concentrating on the moment as she kissed me.

The kiss itself was unique. Cats had lips completely unlike humans and the sharp fangs gave me a thrill of anticipated danger. But more like the first drop of a roller coaster, I trusted that I was safe and rode the thrill for its value. Her tongue was something else and she even nipped my lip gently, eliciting a muffled little moan from me.

The feel of her fur as she wrapped her arms around me again made my mind go in two directions, but I once more managed to focus on the moment and keep myself stable. She moved to straddle my lap, pressing against my front with a sensation that could not be described in any of my wildest dreams. I couldn't help but slip my arms around her in return and pull her closer. Even the fact that my hand trailing down her spine continued along a thick tail didn't give me more than a second of pause before her purrrs urged me on.

"This is so new to you," she murmured. "I can feel your misgivings. I don't want to push you too far. I'll help if you start to panic, but I'll let you fight your own fight for the rest. I'll stop if it becomes too much for you."

I nodded. This was a lot to take, but gods it felt good. I closed my eyes and my mouth opened wide in a gasp as the tips of her claws trailed ever so lightly up my back, and then the backs of her claws slid back down.

Her nose nuzzled beneath my chin and I lifted it to feel her tongue against my throat. A moan of delight escaped my lips as her hot breath graced my skin, a soft chuff from her as she lapped at my throat. I froze when I felt her jaws close gently against the base of my neck, just above my shoulder.

I almost panicked, but redirected my thoughts before she had to help. I trusted her. That was critical. She didn't ever -have- to save or heal me. She would do it now because she wanted to and I could feel that intent from her. This is why I trusted her now, more than I trusted her before when she was forced to help me.

I felt her hips tilt and she slid down my body just a little. Somehow, even after the attention I had from the panther's maw, I was ready. Her jaws slid off my neck and she arched her back a little as my flesh came into contact with her body and with the most delightful heat I could imagine. Just a little more and I would be engulfed. I opened my eyes.

Her face bore the mask of her own pleasure. But her perked ears and pleasured snarl combined with amber eyes into being too much for me. I felt the blood drain from my face... and another part.

She felt my concern and fear and immediately halted in her intended plunge. It would have been ineffective anyway with my flesh swiftly becoming flaccid. Her demeanor changed from that of her lust to comforting and consoling me. She let me work through the choke in my throat, ready to save me if my mind tried to retreat into a primal state again.

I feared. I tried so hard not to be shocked or disgusted, but it was too late. Just that one moment caught me off guard and killed it for me. Most of all, I felt ashamed. For all of my intent, for all of the pleasure it brought, I couldn't overcome my programming. The only societal demand I overcame at that moment was the claim that men don't cry.

She had already repositioned herself, holding me and keeping me close, but platonic despite our recent passionate embrace. "Hush," she whispered to me softly. "You have a lot to overcome. You did so very well."

Mental exhaustion overcame me and I drew in ragged breaths as I managed to stop weeping. She carefully pulled me to lay down, unsetting the bed to pull the covers off the foot and over me. I felt like a failure as I curled into a ball of misery, but she curled against my back and licked my ear soothingly.

"Rest," she said, wrapping her arms around me again. "You didn't fail. We both shared joy together. That's something I haven't had in forever. It's not like we can't try again later."

I felt myself drifting off to the cat nap that she felt would help, and I barely heard her voice as she spoke to herself more than to me. "I can feel you want to love me, not just use me as a novelty. Spirits preserve me, but I feel more drive to help you than any of the masters I was forced to help. I'm not bound to you by a link. I don't know what I'm bound to you by, but it's so much more powerful." She nuzzled the back of my neck as I faded. "I don't understand it, but I absolutely love it."

---

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