Riley’s eyes widened with horrifying realisation.

Laying in the dirt with Haven pinning him down, it was clear he had lost the duel. His struggling had made no impact on his adversary, and that wasn’t changing any time soon. A headache started to form as Riley wriggled helplessly beneath her. The gentle nature of the pressure filling his mind did nothing at assuage the panic the young pyromancer was feeling. There was only one thing that the mounting squeezing in his skull could be. No other explanation, given his predicament.

Riley’s wild eyes met with Haven’s, a pitying look plastered across her face. She was concerned for him. She felt sorry for him? She was the reason he was here in the first place! She’d was the architect of his suffering, how could she pity him now?!

Riley’s vision whited out, the pressure in his head growing stronger, a sickening nausea building in his stomach.

There was no use fighting. Not anymore.

He couldn’t fight Haven.

He couldn’t fight the Ritual.

And soon, he wouldn’t be able to fight himself.

The Ritual of the Familiar was designed to break the loser, no matter what. Mind, body, and soul. Nothing belonged to the familiar after the Ritual was over, the Mage’s will was all that a familiar would have. The harder the familiar fought back, the more overwhelming force the Ritual applied to correct them. It wasn’t pleasant, even for willing familiars.

Nonetheless, Riley thrashed vigorously under Haven’s grip, finding new strength to fight with. Tears welled in his eyes, his desperation bubbling to the surface. This final stand against Haven was his last hope.

Sadly, the only thing his writhing earned him was pain, as the Ritual rocked through his body. Soon he would be contorted to suit Haven’s whims. He was her familiar now, and the Ritual was going to make him perfect for her.

A soft hand pressed up against his face, and someone was saying something, but Riley couldn’t make it out. His hearing was static, his vision blurry, like the entire world was too fucking intense for him to process.

Burning seared across his torso, twisting two scorching bursts of pain out of his chest. Riley couldn’t totally be sure he hadn’t just screamed, but he wouldn’t have heard it anyway. The roaring, rushing, high pitched ringing in his ears had intensified to be its own kind of torment.

The gentle touch of the hand stroked up his face tenderly. A comforting wave among a stormy sea of overwhelming suffering.

His bones ached, and a raw pain pierced between his legs. He could hardly stop to consider what Haven’s desires for his body were before another wave of burning pain coursed over him, rocking his mind back into stunted static again.

He’d unknowingly curled himself into a ball, shuddering in pain from the ordeal he was enduring. Each time his senses slowly acclimated to the onslaught of bodily changes, another wave forced itself over him.

It took several bouts of this before he found himself able to finally see again. He looked up, his skin still on fire, and rested his gaze on Haven’s concerned face. He could actually see the worry in her eyes.

She manipulated him. She used him. She built him up from nothing, just so she could take it away. Why did she now seem to care that he was suffering?

Her mouth was moving, but Riley still couldn’t make anything out. She gently pulled him up into her arms, another round of ice cold agony shooting up his legs as he tried to shift them against the ground.

“Ssshhh” a whisper in his ear ordered. “Hush darling, you’re almost there.” Sweet and smooth, Haven’s words dripped into his mind like warm honey. Riley only realised he had been crying as Haven wiped his tears away, sobbing fading into meek whimpers, the pain slowly abating alongside it.

One final sob escaped his lips.

Every cell in his body was tired. Every nerve fried. Riley could do nothing other than lay defeated in Haven’s embrace. He didn’t even look down to see what his body had been turned into. He didn’t care. He was tired, and he wanted to sleep.

“It’s all over now, you did such a good job, just relax, you can rest soon.” Haven cooed.

Seeping tendrils of magic slipped into his exhausted head. The Ritual didn’t have to break his will anymore, and now that it was done with his body, his mind was next.

A gentle light touched his brain, slowly fixing and changing and correcting and removing bits here and there. Riley knew it would be permanent. Riley knew this was the end of any kind of free will. Despite overwhelming apathy to the situation, this was Riley’s last chance to beg. For mercy? For forgiveness? Riley didn’t know.

With what little strength Riley had left, the blonde looked up at the brunette.

“Please.” Riley managed, meagrely.

“Please what, Riley?” her head cocked to one side.

But Riley did not know what to ask for. And that was all Riley could manage, slumping back down into the safety of Miss Haven’s grasp. She just had to sit here and behave. Wait, something wasn’t right there. Those weren’t her thoughts, what was it that Riley had meant to think?

A lightning strike in her mind shocked her out of her thought process, rippling pain across her brain. She bucked in Miss Haven’s lap, her Mage holding her tighter.

“Don’t fight it Riley, just accept it.”

Accept what? Something was different, but she just couldn’t figure out what! Another electric burst shot out across her head, and she convulsed as Miss Haven continued comforting her.

“Ssshhh shush shush shush, it’ll all be over soon Riley, just be a good girl for me.”

What was she missing here? She couldn’t understand what had changed. She knew the Ritual had done something, but every time she tried to think about it-

“AGGGHHHHH” Riley cried out as another round of pain rocked the familiar, eliciting a comforting rub from her Mage.

“That’s right darling, don’t try to think about it. Just listen to me from now on, that’s all you have to do.”

Riley just had to listen to Miss Haven, that was all. She’d lost the duel, she wasn’t a Mage. She wasn’t even an apprentice anymore. She could feel it, her mana ignored her, just like it had during the duel. It hadn’t really belonged to her in the first place, and Riley herself belonged to Miss Haven now too.

She felt a hand on her head, Miss Haven’s hand! It felt so good against her hair, rubbing her scalp so tenderly. A few minutes of this and Riley would surely fall asleep. The Ritual was over now, right? Surely they had to get up and go, someone else would need the circle. But the hand kept rubbing, and perfect bliss swept through Riley’s soul. It was too magnificent to interrupt. Miss Haven’s hand on her head. Miss Haven’s fingers in her hair. It wouldn’t be right to interrupt her Mage, Riley should just wait to be told what to do. She didn’t need to think. Not without permission, anyway. How lucky she was, to not have to worry about anything! As long as she was obedient, everything would be okay.

As Haven’s hand kept petting her head, Riley kept sinking lower and lower. Deeper and deeper down she went, until the warm embrace of slumber finally carried her away.