Humans Don't Make Good Familiars

Part 5: The Right Tools

I reached out and grabbed a pajama shirt, and trousers, just before my hand disappeared. "AH!" I yelped as I slammed face first onto the grassy ground. Suma squawked in surprise and flapped her wings in an attempt to regain her balance.

"Jake! Are you okay?" She asked, once again finding her footing on a small wooden perch. I groaned rolling over on my back and touching my face to make sure I wasn't bleeding.

"A little warning would have been appreciated." I said sitting up and pulling my trousers up, then sliding on my shirt.

"Sorry, but what were you doing floating in the air without your garments?" Suma wondered.

I stood up and rolled my shoulders. "I was about to go to sleep."

"Okay... but how were you floating?" She asked.

"I wasn't floating, I was laying on a bed. Boy, I sure am glad I had clothes nearby." I told her.

"Oh, if you were laying on something I suppose that makes sense, but why were you not in your garments?" She cocked her head in confusion.

"Suma, why did you summon me here?" I ignored the question because at that moment I didn't feel like detailing the intricacies of human sleeping habits.

"Oh right, we need to train." She explained excitedly.

"Train, but I'm... wait... I feel fine." I exclaimed. I was expecting to feel absolutely exhausted after staying up all night and day, but actually I felt as if I had just gotten a full night's sleep. "Suma, why am I not tired?"

"Summoning a person basically reconstitutes them in our world fully rejuvenated and healed. It was made this way so as to heal wounds dealt during battle," she told me, "Although it cannot revive the dead or replace lost limbs."

"So... I could get stabbed but as soon as you send me back home, I'll be fine?" I asked.

"So long as you do not die, then yes." She said. "Are you ready to train?" Suma asked.

"Sure, but what do you mean when you say train?" I wondered.

"Practice our magics and battle strategies, as well as find out what our combination magic is and how it works?" Suma told me.

"Um... I don't know any magic." I said.

Her head moved back slightly, and she ruffled her feathers, "but you used magic to kill the Borog."

"No, I used a gun."

"What is a gun?"

"It's a weapon made to send a small piece of metal several hundred kilometers per hour at an opponent. This usually puts a hole in them, some large and some small depending on the type." I explained.

"Okay, well you can just use that in training." Suma said.

"I don't have it; I don't even own one. I was just renting the one I had when I killed the Borog."

Suma stayed quiet for a moment, her beaked face gave little in the way of expression, but I could only assume it was either regret or annoyance at the sudden realization that I didn't come with the super awesome instant kill move she thought I had. "Well, how do we make one?" She finally asked.

"Your world has magic right? I spent a lot of time thinking about that last night and I came up with two ideas. My first thought was to make a weapon that I could keep on my person at all times in my world, but that's infeasible and would most likely end with me in jail. My second thought was constructing a weapon here and leaving it with you when I'm not here."

"Okay, I think we could do that, but what kind of weapon did you have in mind? We have quite a few weapons here but nothing like your... gun." Suma said.

"I was thinking a sword and shield, or maybe a spear. If I could figure out how to make it practical, I would try and make a gun of some kind, even a flintlock would work, but the materials required might not even exist here, so I won't worry about that yet." I told her.

"What are swords and spears?" She asked. I was a bit caught off guard by the question, but I guess it made sense that their species didn't have things like that since they don't have hands or the bodies necessary for that kind of combat.

"A sword is a sharp piece of metal like iron or steel fixed to a handle, and a spear is similar but far longer." I told Suma.

Suma shook her head, "I cannot say I have ever heard of such things."

"Does your world have the ability to melt steel and shape it?" I asked.

"We do, but it is usually only done for things like construction, I do not know if weapons can be made that way."

"Might as well try." I said. With that, Suma and I went into the city in search for a metalworker and tools. I knew enough about the process from my studies and the years of preparation that I could probably do it myself if I have to, but I'd rather leave it in the hands of professionals. It took only an hour but soon we found a small shop run by an elderly unnamed nymph who seemed interested in making weapons out of steel instead of just normal construction supplies. I gave him a detailed drawing of a sword, shield, and a spear. I don't know how he planned to build our order without hands, but he seemed confident that he could. We paid him with some of this world's currency as well as a bit of magic power, which Suma supplied. I asked later and she explained that was a normal way to pay here. In total, it cost us only a little bit of money, at least I think, as the metalworker seemed like he cared more about finding out if it was possible than getting paid.

"How long did that nymph say our weapons would take to finish?" I asked Suma.

"A week total, but the spear probably only two days."