Dragon's Hoard

The summotion

That morning Arthit woke up excited.

Finally, his eighth birthday had come, and although the chocolate and strawberry cake his mom baked was a good reason to be happy, a witch's eighth birthday also marked the day they would get a familiar.

Officially a familiar was an animal-shaped minor demon who served and protected the witch. And, more importantly, a familiar was able to converge their master's magic in order to stabilize it.

It was therefore clear that the assignment day was one of the most important days for a witch. Everyone dreaded and hoped for the day when the bond would finally be created.

Most of eight-years-old had already faced the ritual of summoning that year. Among his classmates, in particular, had become a competition to see who had the coolest familiar. Arthit didn't care about that. He just wanted a friend. Well, he had friends, but still. He was an only child and spent a lot of time by himself while his parents were working. With a familiar he would no longer be alone.

Honestly, he was hoping for a dog or a kitten. They seemed the most likely to want to play with him. A bird would be fine too. Maybe a cool owl, they turned their heads funny. Or a parrot, all colored. Sure they weren't very witchy, but Arthit found them cute.
He actually didn't have many pretensions, even if he hoped he wouldn't get a toad. They made him a little queasy. Or an insect, how could he play with an insect? Sure familiars were able to take on human form, but it would take months, or even years to happen.

"Arthit, Sweetheart, it's time to get... you're already up?" His mother asked surprised, as she saw him entering the living room.

Arthit was a cute child, but getting him out of bed in the morning was quite a challenge. He dawdled washing and dawdled dressing, he wasted precious minutes day after day. Except that day. That day he had already washed, dressed and combed his hair.

"Give me just a moment, I'm getting your breakfast." She said hastily, simultaneously reaching for her son's bag. Nothing and nobody could get him down to breakfast in time, so he usually just ate it at school.

"I can't, it's late! Knot is waiting for me. Bye." A certain little boy who was always late in the morning greeted her goodbye happily, leaving much earlier than necessary.

A moment later he came back, took his bag, kissed her on the cheek and ran out again. And then he came back again to grab his breakfast bag.

"Love you!" He screamed, running out for the last time.

"Happy birthday, Sweetheart. And good luck for today!" She screamed back at him.

The day of the evocation was an important day. She really hoped nothing would go wrong.

-

Arthit fidgeted in his chair all morning. He couldn't wait until lunchtime to go to summon his soon to be bestest friend ever.

When the bell rang, he hurried to his teacher, ready to be accompanied to the stones circle.

"Oh Arthit." She laughed softly. "Are you ready? Did you learn the spell?"

The kid nodded enthusiastically, a bag full of food in his hands. He didn't know which familiar would respond to his call, so he had procured different types of food.
       

Food that he brought back nearly two hours later. With watery eyes and quivering lips he sat back at his seat.

"Arthit? What happened? Where is your familiar?" Asked Bright, one of his friend, puzzled, seeing him return alone.

The smaller boy looked up at him with his big brown eyes, blinked a couple of times, and then warm tears started running down his cheeks.

"Oh, no no no no." Bright reached up and clumsily tried to wipe away his tears with his jam-stained hands, smearing marmalade all over his cheeks.