Work Text:
Shen Yuan is one with the forest. The forest is one with Shen Yuan.
Or so he told himself as he fought another sneeze; truly, curse spring and all its fruits!
The witch sniffled, and his brother’s mocking words, tinted with concern, came to mind.
“You’ll be dead by winter,” Shen Jiu had said when Shen Yuan told him he’d be moving away to the tiny cottage that had belonged to their great-grandmother.
His lack of faith had made Shen Yuan move in faster than he otherwise would have, and thus he was comfortably settled by fall.
If he had practically blackmailed Shang Qinghua into redoing the cottage’s old heating spells, well, there was no reason why his brother should learn about it. Shang Qinghua was very good with those, given that coolness emanated from his familiar and his home was under constant threat of becoming a frozen tundra.
Against all odds he had survived the fall and the winter, but it seemed like spring would be his true trial for independence.
Shen Yuan sneezed yet again and cursed.
What kind of self-respecting witch couldn’t thrive in a forest? It was practically their natural habitat! Shen Yuan was aware that he left much to be desired as a witch, but he refused to go back to his parents’ house and admit defeat.
He knew there was a potion for seasonal allergies, but he couldn’t remember the exact amount of butterfly-petals that were needed for a single dose. It seemed like he would be spending the evening going through the yellowed books of the library, all of which were perpetually dusty and begging to make his sneezing problem worse. Oh, well, that’s just life for Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan loved making potions. People tended to say, quite condescendingly, that it was the weak witch's salvation, butShen Yuan called bullshit on the saying. Potion-making was no easy thing! It required meticulous precision and the tiniest mistake could blow up in your face- literally.
Shaking his head, he continued to look for herbs.
Offending pollen aside, the forest was a beautiful place. A neverending expanse of thick vegetation bursting with life and color where magic flourished. There were traces of it to be found everywhere, in the flora and fauna alike, on the dead branches to be used as tinder and the delicate buds yet to bloom.
Shen Yuan would be lying if he said he moved to the forest just for the chance to get away from his family and for the fresh air… A part of him thought that such a place was simply bound to make his powers grow, to heal whatever ailment was keeping him from succeeding at what seemed to come naturally to every other witch.
Perhaps, he thought wistfully, he might even find a companion to share his days and cottage with.
And no, he wasn’t talking about a seductive forest spirit! Shen Yuan wasn’t some desperate, foolish human to fall prey to a mirage and then drown in a pond or end in the belly of a carnivorous plant.
Shen Yuan hoped to find a familiar.
In a forest like this one, spirits roamed freely, dancing around the veils that divided the world of magic and humans. Shen Yuan had seen his share of potential familiars, though he was yet to feel that magical connection that every witch was supposed to experience when they met the one that would be bound to them.
Not to mention that the beasts of the forest paid him little mind, spiritual or not. They did not perceive Shen Yuan as a threat, nor as a potential partner. Some of the friendlier animals, mostly prey with too-smart eyes, would come to visit every so often and feast on the leftovers from his vegetable patch.
Shen Yuan had a nice little garden, for what kind of self-respecting, forest hermit of a witch couldn’t keep a nice garden? Not him, that’s for sure.
He wiped the sweat off his brow, thinking about the stew he had left on the fire. Shen Yuan had packed a snack, but the roasted nuts had failed to fill him. He was pretty much done with the herbs for the day, and given that spring had just arrived and its bounty was plentiful, there would be more to gather tomorrow. The rains would soon litter the forest and meadows with mushrooms for him to pick.
He was quite happy with the weight of his bag. He had managed to find some bluebell snail shells, which were a crucial ingredient of the anti-balding potion. While Shen Yuan loved the life of a hermit, he also loved money. Great things could be bought with money, and since his parents refused to hand him even the most battered copper coin until he agreed to return home, for the first time in his life, Shen Yuan was forced to work so he wouldn’t starve.
Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration; a witch with a garden was not going to starve, but there were things a man needed that could not be acquired through a garden. Shen Yuan advertised his potions business in the nearby village and earned himself a nice pile of coins. His catalog was quite diverse, and while he sold plenty of potions meant to soothe ailments and heal wounds, his… less conventional concoctions were to be thanked for his heavy pockets; performance, - ehem - enhancers, size enlarging potions -those were particularly tricky to brew because the wrong dosage of daisy-tears would leave a man with one awkwardly long noodle-, libido replenishing potions and others that would bring his dear mother to tears.
Nearby was also a bit of an exaggeration, given that the village was two days away on foot. Shen Yuan was no good at flying, even less so at portaling, and he never had the best constitution to begin with. He would probably manage to stretch the two-day's journey into a week-long one. Not happening.
Instead of walking to the village, he had a deal with the local monsterhunter. He was the prettiest man Shen Yuan had ever laid eyes on, and he had also tried to kill Shen Yuan when they first met.
Funny guy, that Liu Qingge; apparently he knew Shen Yuan’s older brother and mistook him for the other witch when they first met, but when Shen Yuan had failed to strike him back and had only cowered instead, he quickly realized he was dealing with somebody else and things went much smoother after that.
Every two weeks, the hunter would show up with Shen Yuan’s earnings and the village’s requests. Shen Yuan would send him back with more potions and give him all sorts of concoctions for his trouble.
It would be a few days until he saw the man again and given that he had already prepared all his orders, he could afford to laze around a bit.
His quiet musings over that night’s dinner were interrupted by the horrifying wails of tortured souls.
Where a nice flower bed should be was instead a crack that opened to the unmistakable, hellish pits of the Endless Abyss.
In places like these where magic abounded, the veil that separated the realms tended to dissipate, and it wasn’t uncommon to find ruptures that lead to the Demon Realm. More often than not, it was how powerful demons found their way into villages full of unsuspecting humans.
In cases like this, someone like Shen Yuan (see: someone who stood no chance against anything that the Endless Abyss could spit out) was supposed to send a distress signal and wait for help. Chances were that if he attempted to send one, help would arrive days later, and it would be humiliating when some random witch got to the forest and found nothing but flowers and bunnies where Shen Yuan had claimed to see the gaping maw of hell itself.
He’s left with no choice but to feign insanity, turn around, and go back home like nothing happened.
What was it about that mushroom soup he was thinking about earlier? Oh, he still had some meat that Liu Qingge had been kind enough to share, though he wasn’t entirely certain of its edibility…
Unfortunately, Shen Yuan was not allowed to meditate on what he’d be attempting to cook tonight, for a tiny figure caught his eye.
He knew the beasts of the forest by heart, and this one wasn’t one of them. Shen Yuan narrowed his eyes. It seemed like a dog of sorts- If dogs had bat wings and horns.
A spirit, he marveled, the kind that was known to deal with witches.
His heart stuttered.
He had grown up with the stories of witches meeting their familiars. Shen Yuan had always been amazed by them, helplessly enraptured by the idea that two powerful beings could know they were meant to share a life with just a glance.
This spirit wasn’t as majestic as some others Shen Yuan had seen before. It was an odd breed he couldn’t quite place. Put it next to his brother’s familiar and you’d never guess they shared a nature, but not everything was about elegance.
Beyond having plenty of wisdom and strength even when unbonded, no one would mistake a familiar with a common beast. Though in that moment, the little black spirit might have as well been one, for it seemed like it was foolishly heading towards the Abyss, rather than running from it, as all creatures with self-preservation had done when the crack tore the ground.
Shen Yuan found himself taking a step, then two, towards it. His feet moved on their own.
The creature did not stop at the edge, instead kept going as if its little paws were to land on the grass rather than the air. It fell, its little wings doing nothing to prevent this fall.
It’s such a little thing that all it would take was a hungry mouth to swallow him whole. It was snack-sized, a morsel for the beasts of the Abyss.
In an uncharacteristic display of bravery and athleticism, Shen Yuan leaped to catch it.
-
Luo Binghe was having a bad day.
He rarely ventured into the Human Realm. In the Demon Realm, if he ached for a good fight, it usually found him before he could go look for it. If he wanted pleasure, it usually found him too. Arguably, there was no reason to leave.
However, sometimes he found himself craving a gentler liaison -one in which he didn’t find himself in danger of being slaughtered, devoured, or tortured at any point of the act. So he had headed to the Human Realm to find a human woman who might help him sate his baser needs.
Making his way through the forest, his thoughts had been on his next conquest, and it never crossed his mind that he might find anything else in there. Maybe it’s because of that that he fails to realize he’s being lured into a trap.
Like a green boy, he allowed a buxom mirage to trick him and dull his senses, and though some demons would consider that foreplay, it was clear that this one’s interest in him was far from carnal. By the time he realized he was entering a fight unevenly, his powers were but a whisper of their usual might.
Of course, he still won; he is Luo Binghe, after all.
However, he ended up draining every last drop of power from his veins, and thus had ungracefully shrunk down to a lesser form. He would never cease to be annoyed by his own shape. Where others became bears or wolves, deadly scorpions or large snakes, he became… a lapdog.
More than one fool had lost their hand trying to pet him while in such a predicament, and Luo Binghe did not pity them.
He didn’t see the point in whining and drawing things out, so rather than staying to fool around in the Human Realm, he turned right back to where he came from, ready to leap into the hellish pits of the Endless Abyss to destroy other lesser beings and consume their powers. Even like this, he was a force to be reckoned with; it wouldn’t be long until he regained his true form.
He didn’t jump into the Abyss, merely walked with the confidence of someone who knew they’d land gracefully.
A body colliding with him mid-air ensured that it didn’t happen.
He suddenly found himself crushed against someone’s flat chest. Had it been pillowy and round like a woman's, the experience would’ve been a bit less unpleasant. But alas, Luo Binghe’s bad day continued.
The unexpected development surprised him enough not to bite the offending party immediately. Somehow, the two of them landed safely on the other end of the crack. The person holding him was shaking, their heart beating at a rabbit-quick pace. It didn’t seem like they were athletically inclined. Or perhaps they weren’t used to pulling such feats.
Whether this was an amateurish monster-hunter or a beast-loving fool who thought they were doing him a favor, they were about to find out that one did not pick up a demon lord and live to tell the tale.
Small as they were, his teeth were sharp and deadly: perfect for tearing skin. Luo Binghe opened his jaws, ready to attack-
“Gods,” coughed a youthful voice.
The arms around him loosened and he was suddenly free to squirm away. He landed in a bush rather clumsily.
“Are you hurt?” The voice inquired, concerned, even as the coughing persisted.
When he managed to get on his paws, Luo Binghe would teach them what hurt looked like!
He wasn’t very agile in this form, and escaping the bush took longer than he cared to admit. At least once he killed the foolish stranger there would be no witnesses to this indignity.
When he managed to break free of the thorny branches, he shook off the leaves and readied his deadliest snarl before facing the human-
-who wasn’t human at all, he swiftly realized, but a witch. A pretty, wheezing witch.
Luo Binghe shut his mouth and let himself fall into a casual stance.
The witch finally got his breathing under control, and only then he managed to take a proper look at Luo Binghe, who found himself on the receiving end of a timid, slightly awkward smile.
“Things could’ve gotten ugly if you fell down there.”
He resisted the urge to stomp his paw. He would’ve been by far the ugliest thing down there. Spiritually speaking.
The witch crawled closer, and an inky lock came loose from his braid. Behind his round spectacles, his eyes were the same green as the forest’s leaves.
“My name is Shen Yuan,” he offered tentatively. “May I have yours?”
Luo Binghe cocked his head to the side. How polite, he thought.
It seemed unlikely that this Shen Yuan knew what he was dealing with. Were Luo Binghe in his usual form, his aura alone would have sent him running, if his appearance didn’t do it first. There was the chance he might react positively to the second; not all witches were repelled by his demonic traits.
Luo Binghe was quite popular with the right crowd, and even more so with the wrong one, but he was getting ahead of himself.
Binghe, he sent the witch’s way.
“Binghe,” The human repeated slowly.
Luo Binghe found that he liked the way it sounded in Shen Yuan’s lips.
“Do you have a master?” Shen Yuan asked.
Luo Binghe’s first instinct was to bare his teeth again, but he merely shook his head. He now understood why the witch had saved him.
The relationship between witches and their familiars was, theoretically, mutually beneficial. It allowed both parties to tap into the other’s magic. While Luo Binghe balked at the idea of submitting to another and giving them free rein over his power, other spirits saw an opportunity to cultivate theirs while tying it to another’s.
Naturally, things were not so simple. Luo Binghe had heard his share of nonsense about the bonds created by such contracts, but he had never been inclined to believe it.
As far as he was concerned, it was servitude.
It was also, however, an easy, quick way of accessing a substantial amount of raw power. Enough to return him to his original form.
Luo Binghe looked at the witch before him. He was clearly in his element and dressed for the part. His satchel smelled faintly of herbs and moss, and his fingers were stained with green.
Shen Yuan extended his hand. All traces from uncertainty were gone from his face, replaced by something bold and determined. The expression suited him.
The pretty witch wouldn’t take kindly to his meridians being drained, but Luo Binghe intended to make it up to him. He’d be more than happy to help him fill them all over. After all, it was well known that dual cultivation with a higher being, such as himself, was very beneficial to one’s body.
Intangible tendrils of magic crawled up his wrist to his palm with the offer. Luo Binghe admired them briefly. The magic of witches, for all that it excelled at creating, was much like demonic magic when it came to binding other beings to their users- swift and ruthless.
There was something odd about its hunger, he thought. Perhaps it spoke of the poor state of his current form, but the sentiment the tendrils exuded felt much like yearning.
A pretty forest witch like this one, what did he yearn for? Power, naturally. Luo Binghe could respect that, even if he wasn’t thrilled about being subjugated for the sake of the contract, however brief it may be.
How did one break a contract with a witch, anyway? Surely, it couldn’t be too hard. Luo Binghe wasn’t some weak domesticable spirit, he was a demon lord. He would figure it out when the time came.
Luo Binghe placed his paw on top of Shen Yuan’s palm. Innocently, a red spark jumped from the spot where they touched, and Luo Binghe’s world went black.
-
Shen Yuan feels like he’s been struck by lightning.
A euphoric heat rushes through his veins, shaking him to his very core and warming him up from head to toe. His fingertips tingle and there’s a roar in his ears. Had he wanted to, he could have flown to the village and back in minutes.
Binghe, his familiar , seemed to be feeling none of this.
Stiff as a board, as if someone had cast a spell on him, the spirit fell to the grass.
“Binghe!”
If he had managed to kill the one spirit willing to bond with him within minutes of their contract, Shen Yuan would be forced to put rocks in his pockets and jump into a deep pond along with the evidence of his crime. He wouldn’t leave behind anything for his older brother to mock posthumously.
Yet for all that he looked like a dead fish, the spirit’s chest rose and fell steadily. He’d live to see another day and so would Shen Yuan, thank the Gods.
Invigorated and relieved in equal measure, Shen Yuan gathered his new familiar into his arms and, as if he were an interesting stick he found in the road, the witch stuffed Binghe inside his bag and took him home.
-
It was dark outside when he woke up.
Someone was humming softly, the fire was crackling, and the smell of something cooking filled his lungs.
Luo Binghe made the mistake of getting up too fast, and he plopped down on the pillow just as quickly. His head pounded and his limbs felt clumsy, heavy and- still short.
He blinked, realizing he was still in his lesser form. He couldn’t really say he was feeling any better than before.
He was in a cozy little room, bundled in blankets on a couch he would’ve dwarfed were he in his true form. He looked around; it was a witch’s lair, no doubt of it. The walls were stacked with books from floor to ceiling, and every inch left without one held some kind of magical trinket. He spotted several cauldrons, and empty bottles. Also, were those mushrooms growing from the corner of the room?
The fire casted a warm light over the room, painting it orange.
“Binghe!” The pretty witch, Shen Yuan, was hunched over a cauldron and stirring his bubbling contents with a wooden spoon. His face lightened up at the sight of Binghe. He looked relieved. “You gave me a good scare- That was pretty intense, wasn’t it?” He laughed nervously. “You’re just in time for dinner.”
The table had already been set. A mess of papers, cloth bags and used bottles has been pushed aside to make space for three bowls: one is already filled with water, presumably for Luo Binghe, and the other two are waiting to be filled with whatever the witch is cooking over the fire.
Lovely scene; unfortunately, Luo Binghe had no intention of staying for long. Who knows though, maybe the witch will let him make it up to him by serving dessert .
The bond was firmly in place and easy to find, he felt it around the paw he had used to seal the deal, thrumming lightly with energy. He gave it a firm tug, seeking the other end of the bond- And proceeded to fall off the couch.
“Binghe!” The witch hurried to his side. “Are you alright?”
Luo Binghe was far from alright.
The witch handled him too familiarly, but Luo Binghe allowed it, solely because he was in no state to fight him over it. He let him gather him in his arms as if he were a house pet and bring him to the table. Luo Binghe was gently put down on one of the chairs and delicate fingers ran through his matted fur, unfortunately, the comfort the gesture meant to provide did little to soothe the horrors of his discovery.
He had tapped into the other end of the bond only to find… nothing. Nothing at all, save but a hungry vacuum that sucked whatever power he had gathered in his sleep.
This witch- This witch was virtually useless! And he did exactly what Luo Binghe wanted to do to him, only that unconsciously; which somehow made it worse.
“You’ll feel better after dinner. Here, have some soup.”
Without missing a beat, Shen Yuan filled his bowl. The soup was brown and thick, and there were small bits of what appeared to be mushrooms floating in it; it didn’t look very appealing, but it smelled good. Idly, he hoped the witch wasn’t using the mushrooms growing from the floorboards.
There were small monster mushrooms that grew in the Endless Abyss; if they managed to grow big enough, they could sprout legs and run from their predators. They were a good source of magic for weak, beastly demons. For someone like Luo Binghe to eat one to replete his powers would be akin to filling a glass of wine drop by drop: a long and tedious endeavor.
A taste let him know that the witch at least wasn’t lacking cooking skills, but the mushrooms were not the magical kind. Luo Binghe still licked the bowl clean and fell asleep right after, belly up.
-
Shen Yuan's first day as a witch with a familiar started out well enough.
Binghe sure liked sleeping, he was a lot like his witch (Shen Yuan!) in that sense. Or at least like how Shen Yuan had been when he could afford to laze around all day long, which was no longer the case.
Like an indulgent mother, he had let his familiar rest while he went out to check on his garden, not before leaving him a portion of last night’s soup by his pillow. He would have to do some reading on which were the foods that spirits benefited from.
His vegetable patch was thriving, and so were his dear mushrooms. It was tricky to keep them from cannibalizing each other or breeding into a whole new different species with such a limited space. Shen Yuan knew that, for all that he was one with the forest and the forest was one with him, he was not meant to take more than his family already had when they built the cottage. Perhaps he ought to build a greenhouse- Shen Yuan had never bothered to try the kind of spells that were used to build, knowing he was bound to mess up, but with Binghe in the picture… Who knew what laid ahead of them?
Shen Yuan could swear he had woken up just a tiny bit more motivated than usual; be it for the cheeriness of having a familiar or due to said familiar, he could not tell.
It wasn’t long till noon when he heard insisting rasping coming from the cottage. Shen Yuan turned his head and found Binghe’s little claws against the window. Poor thing needed Shen Yuan’s help to open the door. Couldn’t he have used his wings to fly and turn the handle?
There was an odd gloominess in his familiar’s eyes when Shen Yuan opened the door. He was probably feeling a bit useless, and on his first day as a familiar too.
Shen Yuan could relate, for the longest time he had needed help to perform the simplest tasks a regular witch could’ve handled before they learned how to talk, but Binghe had nothing to be ashamed of: they had each other now, which meant only growth was ahead of them.
His familiar was not a great conversationalist, but he did follow Shen Yuan closely as he showed him his crops. Shen Yuan was proud of his little garden, of the sweet micecatcher roses that nuzzled his hands when he walked past them and the skittish snake vines that blended with their tree when they got near them.
Binghe seemed interested in his plants, which made Shen Yuan puff up a little. Even if his abilities paled in comparison to other witches’, his garden was nothing to scoff at!
Too busy preening, he failed to notice the maneater lily sneaking up on his familiar.
-
If Luo Binghe were an actual dog or companion spirit, he might actually enjoy spending his days in a cozy cottage and a cutesy garden, alas, he was a fearsome demon lord and this just wasn’t his style.
His current form, empty meridians, and the fresh bond he shared with the weakling witch were just an unfortunate pile of minor setbacks.
Everything was under control, this was nothing he couldn’t handle. Even if he wasn’t even able to make his wings work properly to open a damn door.
The witch’s clothes were not just for show: he sure liked mushrooms. Luo Binghe barely bothered to keep up with the species that grew in the Endless Abyss, so these were downright foreign; just in case, he wasn't going anywhere near them.
His little garden was brimming with life and magic, and he had more than a few monster species growing there. He felt a smidge of respect for the witch, for most witches would not dare to care for such specimens so openly; monster and demonic were not far apart, and the line was not drawn cleanly. Some of them clearly possessed power of their own, little as it may be, not unlike the mushrooms in the Endless Abyss. The thought of eating a few crossed his mind, but he refused to be brought to such lows.
Luo Binghe was half-listening to the witch as he looked through the garden when a dark shadow loomed over him. A sense of doom invaded him. He paused mid-step and blinked, looking up in confusion.
The jaws of hell opened wide above him in a swirl of yellow, pink and red. Luo Binghe didn’t even have time to react before they closed around him, swallowing him whole.
He heard the witch squeak as he traveled down a decidedly stinky passage. It was hot and wet there, and not in a fun way. Struggling was futile, for there was barely any space to move.
The tight walls spasmed around him, making him slide upwards. Hell shook, and Luo Binghe was spat out to the ground. He was met with the sight of the witch beating the stem of the flower that had rudely eaten him with his stick as if it were an unruly child.
The flower did the equivalent to a human sneezing, bathing them in pollen before retreating to its plot of land.
“Oh, Binghe.” The witch seemed to be struggling between worry and amusement.
Luo Binghe growled; it wasn’t very impressive.
The veil of his hat kept him safe from the pollen floating in the air, which shone faintly when the sun hit it right. Not as lucky, Luo Binghe got a mouthful of it and choked.
It seemed the fates were determined to be unkind; Luo Binghe was not a saint, this much he would admit, but he also had not done anything particularly egregious as of late, certainly nothing deserving of this indignity.
“Well, lesson learned, right? No more playing around the maneater lilies.” Shen Yuan laughed, unfairly alluring.
Luo Binghe sneezed.
“Be glad it’s just a cold, had you been human… Well, you’d be feeling a lot worse. And thank the Gods it was a juvenile, they don’t call them maneaters for nothing.”
He did end up feeling worse, and above all things humiliated. Luo Binghe has had his share of unconventional lovers, but pillows were not amongst them. Shen Yuan did him the kindness of spending those few torturous hours in the garden, leaving him to his shame. When the unforgiving burn was over, he tossed the pillow into the hearth himself.
-
Day two of being a witch with a familiar goes smoother than day one of being a witch with a familiar. At least until the afternoon.
The day itself was pretty uneventful. Shen Yuan polished his cauldrons and organized and prepared the herbs he had gathered. Binghe had gone out to explore the surroundings of the cottage, or so he believed. He was away for a while before Shen Yuan felt the bond that tied them pulling him back home.
How reassuring to have it, see if anything could tear them apart with it!
Before Binghe returned, an unexpected visitor knocked on his door.
Liu Qingge greeted him with a dead creature hanging limp from his shoulder. He did that every so often.
Much like his familiar, Liu Qingge wasn’t much of a conversationalist. In fact, Shen Yuan was certain that he would communicate solely based on grunts and nods if it were up to him, alas, even in the deep of the forest, they had to talk like people. Thus, Shen Yuan greeted him cheerfully.
“Would you like to come in?”
“...no.”
“Oh.”
Shen Yuan stared at the monsterhunter, leaning slightly against the doorframe.
“Were you passing by?”
“No.”
“Oh.”
Odd, it usually took a few more sentences for them to fall into this kind of back and forth.
“So, did you want-”
“I killed this yesterday.”
The beast was promptly dropped on his doorstep.
Shen Yuan nodded sagely. “Impressive.”
“It is. I believe it had just escaped the Demon Realm, if it were from the forest, I would’ve caught it before it grew this big.”
Shen Yuan wondered if it had escaped through the crack that Binghe almost fell to.
"I sense a disturbance. You should be careful when you go out.”
Shen Yuan suppressed a grimace. He didn’t look like much, he got it! No need to remind him.
“I will. Thanks for the-” before Shen Yuan could go through all the bestiaries he knew by heart, his familiar, looking a bit frumpy, made his way out of the foliage. “Welcome back!”
Suddenly, he was being pushed back. Shen Yuan stumbled, narrowingly avoiding falling on his ass.
Liu Qingge was pulling out his sword.
“Stay back, I’ll deal with it.”
“What?!”
Though he was very much outmatched by the monsterhunter, Binghe did not back away, snarling at the sight of the blade.
Shen Yuan’s heart stuttered, after almost being eaten the day before- No wonder he was on edge! Liu Qingge wasn’t helping.
“That’s my familiar! There’s nothing to ‘deal with’!”
“That,” Liu Qingge said, eyes narrowed and disdain dripping from his voice, “is a demon.”
“No!”
Binghe, a demon, how laughable. It was like calling a marigold a monster plant.
“Yes.”
Liu Qingge raised his sword, about to cut down his familiar and destroy his front garden. Shen Yuan had stumbled upon the aftermath of his battles before: it wasn’t pretty and Shen Yuan refused to clean that mess!
Shen Yuan grabbed his staff, with the intention of whacking Liu Qingge in the head before he could slice his familiar to ribbons.
“Put that thing away!”
Did he have forest fever? Was his brain addled by something? They were too far from Shen Yuan’s garden to blame the pollen of his flowers for his current state.
“Shen Yuan-”
“No! That’s my familiar, leave him alone.”
Shen Yuan crossed the distance that separated them and gathered the little dog in his arms.
“He’s harmless- Just a mixed breed, that’s why he looks like that!”
Liu Qingge looked skeptical, and Binghe growled against his chest.
“Thank you for the meat!”
“Shen Yuan-”
“I’ll send you a smoke signal when I have new orders ready, thanks for coming by! Take your time before visiting again!”
Rudely, he all but closed the door on his nose.
“I guess I can see why gege doesn’t like him…”
-
Shen Yuan ended up cooking the beast, setting aside the leftovers to be used as fertilizer.
The stew was fine, but Binghe’s stomach was apparently more sensitive than he thought, for he spent the following day sick.
“No more monster meat for you,” Shen Yuan huffed. “Poor baby, I used to have a weak stomach too when I was young…”
-
“...I’m not so sure about this.”
In fact, Shen Yuan was pretty sure that simply having this book was a crime. What had his old grams been up to?!
Binghe’s little tail moved excitedly and his eyes shone as opened the book. The air seemed to get colder as soon as he did it, and the hairs on the back of Shen Yuan’s neck stood. That wasn’t ominous at all, nope.
“Easy isn’t always better, you know? I think we should stick to beginner stuff, like ‘Magic for Dummies’ or ‘Basic Spells 101’.”
Shen Yuan had burned his copies of those in anger when he was a child, but when faced with the Dark Book of Evil, unsigned and written by an anonymous author, well, his old books suddenly seemed so appealing.
How did they get here?
Shen Yuan’s familiar was apparently unimpressed by his potion making, and seemed eager to point him in the direction of the traditional witch. Shen Yuan was a tiny bit wounded, just the prick of a needle kind of wounded.
So cruel, Binghe! To listen to this from my parents, my brother, witch society, but you-
Where was he going, again? Right, the forbidden book. Binghe had placed it on his lap with a mad spark in his eyes, his intentions clear.
Plenty of witches have infamously gone down in history for furthering their ambitions through dark magic. It was, in theory, ‘easy’ to perform, though hard to control; its losses as immeasurable as what one could earn from it. Though given that potion making was also hailed as easy, Shen Yuan couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the whole thing.
Shen Yuan wanted to make a good impression on his familiar, who had thus far been eaten and regurgitated, treated as a pest, and gotten food poisoning in the less than a week since their bond had been made. However, he wasn’t sure if corrupting his soul and possibly landing himself in trouble with the law was worth it.
His familiar batted his little eyelashes at him.
Maybe it was.
“I’m sure grandma kept a copy of ‘Magic for Dummies’ here. If you managed to find this book, then you can probably find that one too.”
Binghe turned the pages, ignoring his comment and continuing to look for a spell. When he finally found one he was satisfied with, he pushed the book towards Shen Yuan.
It was a simple restrictive circle, but Shen Yuan felt uneasy. He gently traced the lines on the aged paper. Binghe placed his paw on top of his hand, following his movements.
Shen Yuan felt a spark of something. He couldn’t believe it, this was it, the magic shared between a witch and their familiar! It sang on his veins, and lost in the sweet euphoria, he recited the words on the page.
The ink began to glow. The mark burned through the pages and then onto the table. The smell of wood burning made Shen Yuan cough. A spark caught on Binghe’s fur, and the smell of burning hair was added to the mixture of misfortunes. Panicking, Shen Yuan emptied his now cold tea over the familiar’s head
They shared a look in silence. Shen Yuan didn’t knew if he wanted to cry or laugh.
He left the wet spellbook on the table. He gathered Binghe into his arms, opened the window to air out the cottage, and then sat on the couch to watch his bubbling cauldron, stirring it every so often. If Binghe had anything to say about the switch in activities, he did not complain.
-
“You’re a very handsome boy.” The witch beamed.
Luo Binghe resisted the urge to flash his teeth.
It seemed like Shen Yuan excelled at everything except casting serious spells. They hadn’t done any work with the dark magic, and instead, when they had found themselves locked in because of a serious downpour, Shen Yuan had brought out his sewing supplies.
And that’s how Luo Binghe ended up with a tiny cloak and a little hood.
“How dashing,” Shen Yuan cooed.
Something gentle and warm was transmitted through the bond, and Binghe gave a little huff.
Well, the witch at least had good taste. He did look very good.
“You should wear it the next time we go out, we wouldn’t want you to catch a cold.”
He scratched him behind his ears with a smile, and Luo Binghe leaned into the touch.
What a soft pretty witch he had found for himself. Luo Binghe couldn’t say he was displeased with his luck.
He had even graduated from the cushion to Shen Yuan’s bed, even though the witch complained about his hair getting everywhere.
He spent the entire week that the downpour lasted nestled in his arms, kept warm by his embrace.
-
Among other things, Luo Binghe was going to cook Shen Yuan a proper meal once got back to his true form.
He had spoken too soon when he praised his skills, the witch only knew how to cook soups or stews, and there’s only so much you can have of those before they get old.
Luo Binghe decided to slip out early that morning, leaving behind the cottage to head to the nearby oaks with a basket secured between his teeth. He got the feeling that Shen Yuan wouldn’t rise until noon, something that would brand him as one lazy witch were it not because he had passed out at dawn after a daunting night of potion-making.
Truffles were hardly an essential ingredient for potion-making, Luo Binghe knew this much because the witch was prone to rambling and he had already talked his ear off multiple times blabbering about the properties of this or that thing. However, he knew Shen Yuan enjoyed them- And anything to get out of the stuffy old cottage, it was a perfect excuse, really.
Nothing about his current form was remarkable but he did have one useful nose to guide himself with. He was sniffing around damp, dark patches of dirt when he finally noticed how quiet the forest was. An acute sense of unease invaded him. For a usually lively place, silence never meant anything good: this time was not the exception.
For a beast so large, it sure moved gracefully. It was akin to a giant butterfly, its wings large and colorful, with deadly fangs that glistened with poison. This demon did not belong here, and it would frighten any fresh-faced monsterhunter on appearance alone, but Luo Binghe was no such thing.
There was a reality to acknowledge, that being that his powers were in no state for him to go around picking fights, but truly- How badly could it go? Lesser form or not, he was Luo Binghe. He has faced greater foes in sorrier states. Probably.
Shen Yuan must have warned him a hundred times about the dangers of the forest, about being careful and to turn around and flee if he saw anything that just ‘gave him bad vibes’, and to run from any cracks of the Endless Abyss that might appear.
If Luo Binghe defeated this demon, its magic might just be enough to return him to his original form… and sustain Shen Yuan as well.
Luo Binghe readied himself for the fight, refusing to back away when the creature turned its ugly head towards him.
A shame about the trees and the plants, hopefully the witch wouldn’t resent him too much for destroying his gathering spot. Like all other indignities, Luo Binghe would make it up to him.
-
Shen Yuan was half-way through breakfast when a sense of urgency invaded him. He felt an insistent tugging on his wrist, not unlike when Binghe walked too far from home.
Binghe wasn’t in the cottage, nor outside in the garden. It wasn’t unusual for him to go out early and return with some mushroom or small prey between his teeth. Shen Yuan pressed his lips together as he spied through the window. When had he headed out? Shouldn’t he be back by now?
With a sigh, he abandoned his breakfast and put on his hat before heading out to look for his familiar.
Things have been going well between them. Shen Yuan felt more energetic every day, and Binghe could fly now! Progress was slow, but it was there. It just took them a while to find their rhythm.
Like an invisible rope, the bond that tied them together guided him towards the gathering spot beneath the great oaks. The sound of a tree falling robbed him of any tranquility he might have possessed when he emerged from the cottage, and Shen Yuan began to run.
Was it Liu Qingge? It better not be him, or else he would find out the extent of Shen Yuan’s powers -admittedly not much. Either way, he hurried through the forest.
The sight that greets him was pulled straight out of a nightmare. Binghe- Binghe looks painfully small next to the demon. Numbly, Shen Yuan spotted his basket, which was discarded near an oak. It seemed like his familiar had headed out early to gather… truffles?
Shen Yuan’s throat tightened.
Binghe was shaking, Shen Yuan knew it was taking him considerable effort to stay up. He felt their shared magic slipping through his fingers, fleeing to aid his familiar.
He needed to do something. He couldn’t just stand and watch him fight alone- He was his witch! He was supposed to stand by his side.
Against his better judgment, with his veins filled with fire, Shen Yuan lifted his staff and cursed.
-
Shen Yuan is still more than a bit shaken by the earlier events, and he might be clinging to his familiar a bit tighter than he should in his state. Binghe, however, doesn’t complain.
He’s being unusually docile, either too tired to put up a fight or equally shaken by the fight.
“That was very reckless of you.” He said quietly. “Just… What were you thinking? Why didn’t you call for me?”
He would’ve come, even knowing he stood little to no chance against a beast like that. At the tiniest sense of urgency on Binghe’s end- Shen Yuan would’ve come.
Binghe doesn’t answer, merely buries himself deeper into Shen Yuan robes.
“I know I’m not very powerful.” He admits. “And… And I know you’d probably be happier with a stronger witch. Someone who could’ve knocked down that demon with a single spell.”
Acknowledging it stinged, but the truth was the truth.
Shen Yuan has spent his whole life being left behind, watching as his peers hit the milestones that every witch should reach while he struggled to perform the simplest of charms.
“I’ll understand, if you want to leave. There must be some way to break the bond, the cottage’s library is older than both of us put together and I’ve already spotted some tomes on familiars, so if-”
Binghe whined in his chest. The bond vibrated with life. Shen Yuan knew, objectively, that he was at the brink of magical exhaustion- Yet he had never felt more awake. It was as if something had shifted inside of him, as if the last missing piece of a puzzle had been fixed into place.
“Alright,” he said softly, feeling warm and tender.
Shen Yuan pressed a kiss on his forehead, over the red mark that resembled a heart.
“Let’s go home, shall we? You need a bath.”
-
Shen Yuan was barely done with the knots in Binghe’s fur when his brother decided to drop by, unannounced.
“Why,” Shen Jiu drawled slowly as he made his way through the piles of books and empty bottles, “is there a wet rat in your rug?”
Shen Yuan’s familiar yapped indignantly, and the witch mimicked him.
“Binghe is not a rat!” Shen Yuan was quick to defend him.
It was true that when wet, the volume of his fluffiness decreased significantly, and thus he looked even smaller than he usually did, and not particularly imposing. But that was no excuse to call him a rat!
“Fine, a winged rat. A fat bat. Whatever he is,” Shen Jiu rolled his eyes.
“He is my familiar,” Shen Yuan bristled, “And he’s clearly a dog.”
His older brother narrowed his eyes.
“Do you know many dogs with horns?”
“The forest is a fascinating place. I don’t expect a city witch to understand its wonders- “
“You’ve been here for less than a year,” he pointed out dryly. “And that thing doesn’t look like any familiar I’ve ever seen.”
Shen Yuan suppressed a growl, knowing it would be interpreted as a whine by Shen Jiu.
“Don’t call him a thing! He’s got a name!”
“He can introduce himself, then.”
Both of their gazes went to the little spirit, who turned up his nose at Shen Jiu.
The older witch’s eye twitched. Shen Yuan felt a drop of sweat slip down his forehead.
“What an eloquent beast.”
Yue Qingyuan, his brother’s familiar, decided that it was an opportune moment to walk in. Shen Yuan envied the swan-winged elk’s gracefulness and ease with which he moved around the rather cramped space.
The elk was a quiet, tranquil creature. He has been around since Shen Yuan could recall, and he served as a fine companion to his brother; the familiar was apt at soothing his moods.
He nodded politely at Shen Yuan and then he turned his head to Binghe. He looked at Binghe curiously, cocking his head to the side, his antlers artfully avoiding a pile of books. He tried to get closer, to sniff Binghe and Shen Yuan’s familiar did not like that.
Yue Qingyuan whined pitifully when Binghe closed his sharp teeth around his snout.
Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu reacted at once.
“Qi-ge!”
“Binghe!”
Shen Yuan’s familiar jumped to his arms and Shen Jiu’s let his master fret over his non-existent wounds. Shen Yuan hadn’t known about the elk’s dramatic flare; Binghe had barely nipped him.
“Control your rat!” Shen Jiu spat. “Or I’ll do it for you.”
Shen Yuan held Binghe tight against his chest, dampening the front of his robes.
“It wasn’t his fault! He got scared.”
Shen Jiu laughed incredulously. “Scared? Of Qi-ge?”
Binghe whimpered, hiding his face.
“Manipulative little vermin-”
“He just got attacked by a demon! And a few weeks ago he was swallowed by a maneater lily. The world is very hostile towards him and he’s practically defenseless, of course he got scared!”
Alright, maybe he was laying it a bit thick, but it remained true that Binghe was a helpless, snack sized creature in a world filled with hungry monsters. Nevermind that Yue Qingyuan was vegetarian.
“Why are you here anyway?”
“Can’t an older brother pay his younger brother a visit?”
Shen Yuan stared.
Shen Jiu rolled his eyes. “I’ve been sent to investigate irregular demonic activity. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, wouldn't you?”
Shen Yuan pointedly did not turn his head towards the table near the hearth, where the very forbidden tome was resting, open with its pages displaying a very forbidden spell. He spared a thought to the hellish pit of the Endless Abyss. and another to the incredibly powerful spell he had cast like an hour ago.
Binghe seemed awfully interested in his chest, burying his face deeper.
“No more than usual,” he batted his eyelashes innocently. “I’ll make sure to ask Liu Qingge if he has noticed something weird.”
Shen Jiu’s face soured at the mention of the monsterhunter. Binghe gave a weak grunt.
“No need, we shall deal with it.” He got up, clearly done with the social call, and gave Shen Yuan and Binghe one last look; he did not seem impressed with what he found. “Do be careful, we wouldn’t want your little beast to end up as some demon’s lunch-”
“Noted.”
“-and you as its toothpick.”
“Just leave.”
-
The following days were spent quietly.
Shen Yuan worked on his potions and herbs with Binghe’s help, they cooked and cleaned in a perfectly harmonious ambiance. Neither of them acknowledged the small, insignificant magical spills that were happening all over the house. Small children had them, when they didn’t yet know how to control their magic. Shen Yuan had been told by his mother that he never had them, which led them to fear that he had no magic to begin with. Heh.
They also pointedly ignored the random flares of Binghe’s birthmark. They’d be huddling close by the fire or snuggling in Shen Yuan’s bed when the little heart on his forehead would glow red.
Something had changed. Shen Yuan couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but it was definitely a positive thing.
However… Sometimes, he got this odd feeling that he was being observed. If he had to compare it to something, he would say it was how a small, helpless animal felt while it was being followed by a predator. Yet, when he turned around, all he could find was his cute familiar.
He had read about magical signatures and how they changed with time, but surely his little Binghe wasn’t emitting such a threatening aura?! Unthinkable, simply unthinkable, Shen Yuan was just being paranoid and overly vigilant.
It was all inside his head, surely.
-
After giving Liu Qingge the last of his orders, in a neutral spot with Luo Binghe absent -much to his displeasure-, Shen Yuan declared that they had earned a little treat, which somehow translated into walking for almost an entire day until they reached a big, bubbling purple pond.
“It’s a hot-spring!” Shen Yuan told him excitedly, visibly sweaty and with a healthy flush to his cheeks.
Binghe wasn’t overly impressed.
“Come on,” he gestured, beginning to remove his clothes. “Jump in. I discovered this place the first time I got lost in the forest, the water has healing properties as well!”
Usually, he was forbidden from stepping into the cottage’s bathroom, since Shen Yuan refused to see it clogged by dog hair. His vanishing spells weren’t quite there yet, and, as he put it, Shen Yuan wasn’t going to kneel for hours attempting to remove it from every surface. It was bad enough that it was all over his sheets and comforters.
The hot spring was another matter, apparently.
He let his dark robes pool at his feet and shuddered when the cool air hit his bare skin. It was a fine night in the forest, Luo Binghe thought.
Well, he had seen the witch in his sleeping robes before so he knew that his daily wear made him appear bulkier . Though that wasn't the word, not really, for it had never crossed his mind that Shen Yuan could be hiding muscles under those thick robes.
Shen Yuan was pale and slender, with a small waist Binghe could’ve covered with a single hand in his true form. His innermost layer was a flimsy white thing, which stuck to his skin when he emerged from the water.
Lovely.
“What are you waiting for?” Shen Yuan smiled. “Jump in, Binghe.”
How could he say no to such an invitation?
Shen Yuan laughed and pulled him close, pressing a kiss on his forehead. He had been doing that more often lately, and Luo Binghe wasn’t complaining.
After all, few magics were as powerful as love.
It’s been days since he regained his usual strength. The flow of magic was steady, circling between them with ease. Whether it was Binghe or Shen Yuan who was producing it, there was no way to tell- Yet it belonged to them both.
He was still working around the details of how he should reveal himself to Shen Yuan. You only had one chance to make a good first impression after all.
Luo Binghe needed to paint an imposing, seductive picture that would make the witch throw himself into his arms as soon as he shifted. Between petting sessions and potion-making, he had been planning carefully.
The stars shone above them by the time they got out of the water and dried themselves. Shen Yuan had learned how to cast a simple warming charm that did not end with things set on fire, and he used it almost daily.
Luo Binghe watched as the witch put on his clothes.
“We’ve got quite the way back, though I guess we could camp here…”
Luo Binghe was not sleeping outside, not when Shen Yuan’s bed awaited them.
Shen Yuan snorted and opened his back.
“Alright, hop in.”
This… This felt like a good time to reveal himself. It was the perfect opportunity!
No need to carry me, he would tell him. I can fly us both back to the cottage.
Shen Yuan’s shitty novelist friend couldn’t have written it better.
Now or never, he thought, and commanded his body to turn.
-
Shen Yuan was more than a bit startled when a cloud of dark smoke swallowed his familiar. His unease did not abate when a towering man, no, a demon emerged from this same cloud. He stood at least two heads taller than Shen Yuan, his robes were black and crimson, and his familiar’s birthmark glowed on his forehead.
He was also devastatingly handsome and looked very aware of the fact.
“My name is Luo Binghe,” he purred.
Shen Yuan hugged his staff close. “Gods above.”
He took a step back and Luo Binghe took two steps forward.
“Master,” he said softly. “Why do you cower? I’m still your Binghe.”
His Binghe was a tiny cute dog not whatever in the seven hells he was-
He pouted, and sure, Shen Yuan could see the similarities there.
“I- What-?”
“I was trapped in that lesser form, but thanks to you I’ve been freed. I would love to express my gratitude.”
A thick arm wrapped around his waist.
“Now, wait a second-”
Binghe cocked his head to the side.
“Could it be that Master finds me… hideous? I can change shapes at will, should you wish me to appear more human.”
“What? No, of course not!”
Horns, wings, claws… They suited him just fine, there was no need to change anything.
“So Master does like my form.” He smiled deviously, a flash of white fangs shone in the light.
This couldn’t be his cute little Binghe!
“I’m… I’m not your master.” He cleared his throat. “No need to call me that.”
“But you are. We made a bond, swore an oath.” He held up his left hand, in the same manner a young woman might show a ring given under dubious circumstances. ‘Take responsibility!’ He might as well be screaming.
Shen Yuan needed clarify that he never meant to tie this clearly powerful demon to his humble self.
“Right,” he swallowed nervously as the arm around him tightened and he was pushed against a muscular chest. “Would you like to break it or…?”
“Of course not. Why would we do that?” He asked as if Shen Yuan was being silly. “The walk has tired you, Master. You’re unlike yourself.”
“I’m perfectly-”
“Let’s go home.”
Before Shen Yuan could oppose, they were in the air. He screeched shrilly, holding onto the demon for dear life.
Wings, like those of a bat, like those of his cute little Binghe, stretched in the night and took them to the cottage.
-
“I’m going to miss the tail and ears,” Shen Yuan confessed, leaning onto his elbow.
Much like a regular night, they had found the way to Shen Yuan’s bed. Though sure, the leading steps to it had been anything but like a regular night’s.
He had liked scratching him behind his little ears and seeing him waggle his puffy tail. Reading Binghe's mood through those had been nice, but this form’s eyes spoke for him, which wasn’t bad. It wasn’t bad at all.
Not to mention that there were plenty of other perks to this shape of his, as he had found out earlier, equal parts aroused and intimidated.
“That can be fixed.” Luo Binghe assured him with a wolfish smile.
Shen Yuan’s face grew warm, and he squeaked when Luo Binghe leaned down for another kiss and nibbled him with those sharp fangs of his.
Shen Yuan petted his hair, like he had done countless times before. Beneath the sheets, Binghe’s tail wagged happily. Truly, no matter the shape, Binghe was still his good boy.