The Apathetic Mage Loves Cats

Chapter 4: Iban

"Okay. How old are you... Alan?" I prickled at the use of my birth name, something that I didn't think I would hear once being born into this world. My hands clumped in the cat's fur as I pondered over the way it easily slipped through his lips.

"I'm seven, almost eight now maybe," I muttered in response.

"You don't remember your birthday?" His voice this time was incredulous, his hands stopping their movement. Why was he so shocked at this? This was all becoming annoying.

"No?" I sighed in annoyance, "My mother never told me. Every time it snows, I just say I'm another year older... why do you care so much? Can I leave if this is all we are going to talk about?" he sighed in annoyance as well, and leaned back in his chair, contemplating the information I just gave him.

"I'm sorry for asking questions that may have upset you–" they didn't really upset me though, and it really didn't seem like he was saying it sincerely, "–I just needed to know some information about you. I never knew you had such a... difficult childhood. Is there a reason you want to go back out in the streets? Do you have someone waiting for you? I sighed again, moving my hands away from the cat to play with the wooden armrests beside me.

"I don't have anyone. It just seems like everything happening right now is more trouble than it's worth. I just want to live out my days peacefully until I die. This is the most I've talked since being born." I confessed. Which was true. Even in my past life I never talked this much, even in my workplace. A habit I grew into as a young child.

"Why am I still here? You want the cat, right? You can have it." The cat once again let out a disgruntled noise, as if it did understand what I was talking about. "I don't know what's so special about this cat, but I just found it off the street and decided to save it before you ran it over." The archmage watched me carefully as I explained this, a curious expression on his face. Then, silence once more as he pondered over what to say next.

"I can't have the cat, because it's your familiar," he finally decided, leaning forward on his elbows and propping his head on his right fist. At my confused stare, he nodded. "It makes sense that you don't understand what that means, most ordinary people have no idea about anything related to the mages and magicians of this world." He cleared his throat and waved his left hand. A poof noise sounded from behind me, causing me to flinch and tense tightly at the sound. Then, I watched as a purple object flew from behind me and came to rest on the archmage's outstretched hand. The purple object made of what I could only assume to be magic slowly started to come into a shape of a normal falcon, roughly about 3 feet tall, which I could only assume to be the size of a normal falcon given that I've never seen one before.

"As you may well be aware, this world is split into two, those who can use magic and those who cannot; with the wealth seemingly have lighter hair and possessing magic while the darker haired people are poor and do not possess magic.

"However, as you may know, magic and mastery are not as discriminatory as humans are. High mages all have a familiar that they are born with and who will look after them indefinitely, only leaving once their master has left the world. It doesn't matter what color hair you have, in fact, natural selection and hair dye are the only reasons why the wealthy have light-colored hair and the poor do not, not how much magic you have. What really signifies someone who has a chance in the magician's life is someone who has non-human qualities about them and who has a familiar. To become a mage is extremely difficult, and not something a general population has.

"Regardless, you have a familiar in the form of a cat, which is not uncommon. However, the form in which your cat has taken is extremely rare. Most familiars that are cats do not have red eyes nor do they have white fur. Actually, your cat is the indication of a calamity that only the nine-tailed mage could bring." He flicked his wrist, and the bird flew off once more, in a direction that I could no longer see. I frowned at his statement, despite how nonchalant he seemed about the situation, I did not want to take it with the same force. Once again, it seemed way too troublesome for me to deal with.

"Calamity? Nine-tailed mage? I have no idea what any of that means, but I'm pretty sure you've got the wrong person. I just happen to pick up this cat off the street. Also, as you can see, I don't have nine-tails, so there's no way I can be your nine-tailed mage or whatever." The archmage sighed and furrowed his brows, rubbing at the spot as his ears moved in confusion.

"Yes, usually high-ranking mages are born with their non-human characteristics showing, and only learn to hide them after practicing magic for a while. The fact that you don't have your characteristic nor have met your familiar before is quite strange. Additionally, the fact that you can't hear him speaking is another strange feature. I'm not quite sure how you have come to achieve this. Probably because..." I frowned and shook my head, not caring about what he had left to say.

"Look, you've got the wrong guy. You wanna take the cat, go ahead. I don't have any reason to believe in anything–"

"I just chose not to reveal myself before." A new voice spoke up, partially from within my head and flowing through my ears. It was soft, yet rugged and mischievous; a voice that I had never heard before but felt familiar at the same time. I looked down at the cat who was still lounging peacefully on my lap, its eyes closed in satisfaction. "I knew that you would not understand what was happening, so I just stayed away. As for your characteristics, I made a deal with your mother to never show them in front of anyone unless we came in contact in the future. Also, my name is Ibanlinscthaz, but you can call me Iban." I stared at this creature below me, whose eyes finally opened up to reveal deep red ones, filled with a kind of mischief that only a cat with immense knowledge could have. It was like I was staring into the eyes of a trickster god who, despite all odds, was there to help me and guide me on the right path.

Sounds legit enough.

"Okay, but then, why me? Why did you choose me out of everyone in the world?" He stood up and stretched on my legs, before jumping over to land on the archmage's desk, languidly flicking his tail as he paced back in forth before choosing to elegantly sit down so I could look at them both.

"Because you are originally from New York."

~~~

Hello, everyone! Saph again!

I am not the biggest fan of the way I structured this chapter, but I have no other ways to introduce the information, so this was the best way!

Thank you so much for reading another chapter, please remember to let me know what you think of it! See you next time!