ChibiMonkey
Meteorite
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2024
Callum Adkins - 29 - 6ft
The echo of running footsteps splashed in the occasional puddles from the recent rainstorm earlier that day. While the clouds had cleared up and the sun even peeked out a bit, the ground was still wet as a reminder of the earlier storm. It caused Callum's already exhausted body to be more susceptible to slipping in his panicked flee. Not far behind him, while not within immediate sight, he could hear the guards of his witch chasing after him. A witch by whom should be someone a familiar such as Callum's self should be bonded and loyal to, true to the pact formed in his contract with his witch. A contract that wasn't something to be formed lightly, and rightfully so, not so easily broken. And yet Callum was desperately rejecting that contract that would otherwise enhance his strength and energy.
To reject a formed contract was to reject the laws of nature. It wasn't something that could simply be done without mutual agreement from both parties. Only those with a strong enough will would be able to reject their contract without mutual consent - and even then, it wouldn't save them from what it would cost. Callum knew the consequences of his unsanctioned breaking of his contract, and yet he did it anyways, desperate to escape the clutches of the witch that had ensnared him.
Quickened breaths escaped dry lips as the runaway familiar turned a corner. A gasp of surprised slipped past his lips as he felt his foot slip out from under him on shallow puddle in his sharp turn around the corner of a street, feeling his balance wobble at the shift in gravity pulling at his unbalanced body. Under normal circumstances, he had cat-like reflexes and would be able to catch himself and regain his balance effortlesslyy. This was not normal circumstances however, and Callum was drained, exhausted, and the invisible clenching pain he felt to his core at his rejection of his witch only grew in intensity. His heart twisted in his chest, not out of any emotional pain and suffering of leaving his witch, but the very real, physical consequences of trying to forcefully break out of a contract he had made. After all, if contracts were so easy to break, there'd be no true value or strength in the bond of a witch and their contracted familiar. Callum was willing to accept the consequences of his betrayal, though...and was willing to lose his life to break free. He had nine of them, after all.
As he slipped and stumbled in an attempt to catch himself, his feet stumbled forward several feet in his unbalanced stagger, as he collided right into an unsuspecting man. Callum surely looked like a madman to any stranger innocent to his situation. Panting, staggered and with an exasperated expression, covered in cuts and scrapes.
"S-Sorry, excuse me" he quickly stammered out between exhausted breaths, before his feet were soon carrying him past the stranger as he was running again, despite surely looking to be in no state to be running. Callum couldn't waste a moment though, knowing the guards were not far behind him. He couldn't let them get back within visuals, needing to find a spot to hide and lay low.
Ducking into an alleyway, breaths gasped from his chest as he pressed a hand to the wall for support, leaning his side against it as he struggled to catch his breath, slightly hunched over in posture. He grit his teeth in pain, his other hand grasping at his shirt over his chest as it felt as though he was being constricted. The pain of betraying the contract with his witch was growing stronger the greater he rejected it. The average familiar wouldn't dare break contract, regardless of circumstances. Even less were the odds that they would last this long rejecting it, before either succumbing to the consequences by now, or give up on rejecting it and returning. Callum was a formidable familiar, which allowed him to last as long as he had thus far. But even he wasn't immune to the consequences of breaking a contract, and he knew those consequences would catch up to him fully soon enough. Callum didn't have any other contracts to turn to that could save him, without that, breaking the one contract he did have would kill him. Even still, his determination didn't falter.
The sound of a multiple pairs of pounding feet against the wet ground getting closer snapped Callum out of his daze of encroaching pain. He cursed, hearing the group far too close for him to make another run for it from here without being seen. Instead, he just pressed his back up flat against the wall of the alley he'd ducked into, his head turned to the side, towards the open street, as he watched the group of guards just keep on running, not even taking a glance down the discreet alley.
It wasn't until the sounds of their voices and feet had faded entirely into the distance, did Callum exhale the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding.