A few hours earlier in a very distinct carriage bearing the insignia of Exodus, a very hyperactive white-haired child could be seen Restrained in a deadlock by an equally white-haired mother. While a woman adorned in a gothic style maid uniform couldn’t help but sigh in disbelief.

“I still can’t fathom how you got away with that Faith” - she spoke, too tired to care as the carriage bumped its way along, moved by two horses that resembled dragons a little too much.

“Sapphire I can’t see why you’re making such a big deal over a destroyed bed, I did far worse when I was his age” - Eshir replied holding her far too excited son down in her lap.

‘Yeah and look how well you turned out’ - Sapphire thought sighing even deeper at this slightly ridiculous yet equally horrifying duo.

“I really didn’t mean to do it, I just had a… nightmare” - Faith tried to console his makeshift sister who was losing hope by the second.

Surprisingly his Mother hadn’t scolded him when she’d found out he destroyed his bed, she only requested as punishment he had to sit on her lap during the carriage ride towards the forest of familiars.

‘Mom is more conniving than I thought, she didn’t care at all and just used it as an excuse to braid my hair’ - Faith thought, watching his mother's face that resembled that of a kid and a candy store as she braided his hair.

The truth was Eshir was having the time of her life, braiding her little devil’s hair to match her own. Though cracks of worry were still evident from the slight shake her hands would make every now and then. A warrior as perfect and distinguished as Eshir wouldn’t shake unless something out of her control was worrying her.

Faith blissfully unaware of his mother's plight just kicked his legs back and forward with jovial ignorance wondering what kind of cute adventure buddy he’d get. Though one thing did stand out to him as the carriage slowly made its way through the open lands of the demon kingdom. Even demons needed food, they had farms and villages the same as everyone else, just slightly more violent. (AN: Please feel free to imagine a man violently plucking carrots or tilling land, the image is one that I can’t get out of my head and I wrote it)

“Mom, why are we taking a carriage? Couldn’t we just take a spatial gate?” - Faith asked, Turning his head to look up at his mother's purple eyes that met his own.

“It’s a show of power” - she curtly responded to enthralled in his hair.

Faith tilted his head at this, slightly confused. In his mind a Giant fuck off portal appearing out of nowhere to announce your arrival was more imposing than a carriage with an insignia.

“It's too show that you are important Faith, it takes longer to get there so you normally arrive last but that signals your importance. It means your someone people are expected to wait for thus you hold a high position and power. I’m sure you noticed that we are the last in the royal procession, that's why” - Sapphire explained, taking over for Eshir and earning a wink of approval between her concentration.

‘Wait so it's basically the complete opposite of what humans do… I’m starting to see a little bit of a pattern here. Ehh whatever I’m sure it's fine. The only problem now is where is dad, kind of feel like a kid going to his first sports game without his dad coming’ - Faith thought a little disappointed his father wasn’t there.

“Is there anything I should know going into the test mom?” - Faith asked, hoping his mother would actually answer this question.

In return a small sparrow with blue feathers and purple eyes appeared on his shoulder, examining him curiously as it awaited its master's orders with interest.

“First of all, you should remember that all familiar, like Ciza here, have unique powers and also unique likes and dislikes. A familiar won’t contract with someone that doesn’t match them in both mindset and abilities so you can forget about copying me again little one” - Eshir said her cold ruler like look returning, though the cheeky smile on her face when she said the copying part wasn’t something Faith missed.

“I didn’t copy you!! It was a present from Master, I swear!!” - Faith said, flushed red with embarrassment.

He looked towards sapphire for help but she simply hid her face while chuckling a little at the absurd misunderstanding.

To understand this situation we have to whip back time a bit, about the time Faith received his earring from Ervis, aptly named “Trust” as a sign of his mentorship. It turned out that Eshir had an enchanted earring she wore quite often that looked a lot like trust as when she saw her Faith prancing around and showing off his new earring to the kitchen staff She immediately assumed he’d had it made to look like hers.

It warmed her, albeit ice-cold, heart to have Faith wanna be like his mother so much that he’d even gone out of his way to wear her accessories. Most male demons would prefer rings or bands over an earring since it was far too often represented as a female exclusive thing. In reality that was complete bullshit but mob mentality and social norms were a bitch of a thing, especially in a society where the strong devoured the weak.

Eshir would often scold him after this for copying her since he seemed to get completely flustered when she brought it up, begging her to ask Ervis for the truth. His master though hadn’t been much help as he was still deathly afraid of the psychopath hiding within the sweet mother that was Eshir, even if she did a pretty terrible job at hiding it.

Thus all in all leading to the current situation of Faith wanting to crawl up into a ball and die. At first, it wasn’t so bad but the embarrassment that his mother slowly drilled into him made him change his mind fast.

‘And I can’t get rid of the damn thing either, not only is it a sign of my bond with master but I can tell mom’s hiding her excitement every time she brings it up. I don't wanna accidentally break her heart by taking it off’ - Faith thought stuck between a rock and the blade known as long term embarrassment.

“Anyway, next you should know that most familiars will have a trial or task they will expect you to complete for them before they make a Blood Seal. Some may be fights, others may be tests of intelligence. The main reason barely anyone is given a pact is because the tasks aren’t scaled down to your age. The familiars don’t care if you aren’t at your full potential yet, they’ll mop the floor with you all the same” - Eshir said to bring the conversation back on track, never letting go of Faith’s hair that was close to being done.

“So I don’t stand a chance?” - Faith asked, his confidence to get an animal buddy shattered.

If it came down to power Faith knew in the grand scheme of things, right now, he was absurdly weak. It had been his Sparring sessions with Ervis which taught him very fast that the old coot was somehow as quick as he was sarcastic.

Not to mention that his magic was restricted since the goal of right now was for Faith to learn a weapon to show off, not full-force combat. The Shadow Harbinger had also made the gap even further but had also given him hope for what was possible

“No, you’re not necessarily out of chances yet. The curious among the familiars would probably offer you a blood pact simply because of your bloodline, not to mention your magic. Oh, and you have that heart thingy too” - Eshir said, remembering her son’s newest achievement that made no sense.

“Heart thingy?” - Sapphire asked confused.

“You heard nothing sapphire” - Eshir replied her expression turning cold as she realised she said something she wasn’t meant to.

Faith couldn’t help but giggle when sapphire stiffened like a brick after hearing that. He had a running theory about gaining both his magic and Dragon heart at such an early age but since there were no other royal dragon demon hybrids he had no way of confirming it. It was in a dragons bones to want to explore the mysteries of magic and gain more insight and power, Faith wasn't an exemption to this.

“Oh yes, Honey, there is one more thing should know about the familiar forest. There is a pit that lies in the middle of it, never under any circumstance go anywhere near it, okay?” - Eshir asked turning her little devil's head around to meet her eyes, gaze filled with both seriousness and worry.

“Okay, I promise I won’t” - Faith replied.

“Good” - Eshir said

“But mom what's in the pit that makes it so bad to even go near?” - Faith asked, his draconic curiousness peaking its head.

“Honestly I'm not that sure. all I know is in the royal libraries and books written by exodus himself its mentions to never go there. Supposedly exodus believed a thing that should never be disturbed lived there” - Eshir replied, remembering the one thing her father passed down to her when she first entered the forest.

‘You thought I was a monster and yet you still stopped me from going near it father, I wonder what advice you’d give to Faith. Knowing my little devil you’d probably turn into an adoring grandpa in ten minutes tops, too bad you didn’t live that long’ - Eshir thought, the image of her dead father burned into her mind.