Breathing deeply I tried again, and again until my power listened and the Seiðr- as helpful as it tried to be- didn’t cause any flare ups. When I was sure I had a proper hold I began Summoning.

“Extension of my soul, I open myself to you and welcome you into this world as my equal.” I mumbled softly to myself. “I welcome you in all the many forms you may take.” I cupped my hands. “I welcome and accept you as you are.” 

My magic sparked through the air and with it the whispering started up again and then there was a barely muffled laugh as a weight settled into my waiting hands.

“What is that?” Someone near us asked.

“It looks like an egg.” Someone else answered.

Someone else gasped. “That egg looks dead.” 

“There’s no sparkle surrounding it.” Another said.

“She must have killed her Familiar before it could even form! Just what I’d expect from The Demon Witch.”

Even the teachers murmured worriedly.

“What is that?” One said. “Is her soul damaged!?”

“Do we get the All Mother?” Another said.

“Is the Familiar harmed, do we tell her? This has never happened before!”

More and more voices mixed and twisted together becoming nothing more then whitenoise. 

What were they talking about? 

I ran through the incarnation again, backwards and forwards, dissecting the words apart. But I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Did I pronounce the words incorrectly?

My thoughts ran away with worry. Did I kill my Familiar?

“Nyx? Nyx baby?” Trixi called, but xyr voice sounded distorted and far away.

The egg was growing colder by the second and my worry was going with it.

Did I do it wrong?

I froze as I felt something coil around me.

“Well well well. Aren’t you something special?” Someone said in an array of many voices.

“Someone new.”

“Someone rare.”

“Someone divergent.”

“Someone similar.” 

“Someone modern

“Someone different.”

“But not ours.” Finished three other voices.

How many people were there? There was no way there were suddenly nine new people on the stage without me knowing?

“Oh no there are those thoughts.”

A multitude of laughter seemed to weave around me.

“She’s like ours,”

“But not really.”

“Are you truly one of His?” 

At the question the squeezing feeling tightened.

“To call us here.”

“She must be.”

“Can’t you see it.”

“I do.”

“Well why question it then?”

“Then I won’t.”

“No we will not.” The voices said together, the air buzzed with their power.

Before I could gather my thoughts to ask what was going on. The voices went on.

“Echo of ours- our chosen.”

“Echo of the future.”

“We will answer your call.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, though my lips didn’t move.

My hands grew warm, the Seiðr bubbled and popped around them before pooling into my cupped palms. 

A crack reached my ears and I knew what that meant. 

I squeezed my eyes closed. Wishing for the upteenth time that I could see this moment, that I could smile in welcomed awe as my Familiar came into the world. That I could welcome them with true pride in myself. 

Yet I had to settle for the noises of those around me.

And that’s when I heard it as if everyone in the room spoke as one, their fear unmeasurable.

“It’s The Hydra!”

“She summoned The Hydra!”

“It’s going to kill us all!”

My body stilled. The Hydra!? The Continent Ender? The world class Monster of legends? The creature that could destroy the world if no one stopped it?! That Hydra?!

And I was holding it in my hands!?

My panicked concern was easily snagged from the potential threat I was possibly holding, back to the magical energy I had felt contained in the egg.

I felt it twist within the Seiðr- merge with it.

A gentle hum filled my ears as that energy rushed the Auditorium with a soft pop. The magic energy surged, then quickly condensed into something small that sat coiled in my palms.

A rush of wind from the remaining magic tore my hat from my head, whipping my curls about. 

A breath whispered by my left ear, a brush of that tightening grip. “Do us proud, little Echo.”

The wind died and something landed over my new Familiar. Dazed and my ears ringing with that voice and the silence. I adjusted my new Familiar into one palm, running my free hand over the object and realized it was my hat. Then lifted the hat rim and was greeted with a shock. 

I saw a face I didn’t recognize reflected back at me. A faint dimness that warps the true colors.

How?! How was this possible- I was blind? How was I-

The image vanished, swallowing my world back into darkness only to then come back like a… like a blink of an eye- no not a blink more like a turn maybe. And then it hit me. 

My knees trembled.

I was seeing- had seen myself through the eyes of my Familiar!

And I didn’t even recognize my own face. 

It was… just a face. A face that didn’t match my last memory. A twelve year old memory… oh stars above, I'm going to have to unpack that later.

Pale skin, thick dark lensed glasses curving around my face to hide any light from my damaged gaze, thick messy brown ringlet curls curling around their- no I had to remember- my shocked expression. 

It was me staring straight ahead, eyes focused like any normal person on this planet or realm. Not a blind girl- this was a girl. Just a girl. One no one would even give a second glance to. One no one would hesitate to approach- heck no one would even think twice if I tried to cross the street alone!

No one would question my intelligence or my authority, they wouldn’t-

The view shifted and the startling amount of panic was only held back by the sight of my Familiar looking at themselves, taking in the two other little snake-like heads that were curled around each other in a loose sleepy knot on either side of the center head, their eyes closed. As their gaze traveled they took in their scales a deep purple with fine silver and white scales dotting them- dotting her- I corrected myself. 

Her long little body curling around my hand and wrist, her tail tip tapping my inner arm curiously. One of the other heads peeked a blue eye open, glanced at me with a wide silver pupil then went back to sleep.

The Familiar turned and I caught a blur of bright blue, a group near me, and a sea of terrified people running.

Then the main head turned back to me taking in my face again and her head tilted before she reached up tapping her snout to my nose as my vision darkened again and my shaking legs finally gave out.

Trixi and a few other voices cried out, the Seiðr roaring and that was the last thing I knew.