“I’ve also seen through the mechanisms of your familiar. That creature didn’t come out of the bag.
It was an image projected by the bag, wasn’t it?”
As Araya glared at the bag, it shattered into pieces. Inside the shattered bag was a machine equipped
with a lens and film. It was a was film projector making a whirring sound, whirr, whirr.
“A shadow-puppet familiar is it? I see. That would explain why it could nullify all attacks. Even if
Moments later a formidable gyrfalcon, half the size of Atreus with speckled black plumage and a seven-foot wingspan, soared out from the forest canopy, scattering the birds in different directions.
“Jöphie is back. I thought she had abandoned us after…”
Atreus outstretched his arm to attract the bird, which would easily consume his entire arm, to support her as a perch, but the bird of prey ignored his offering and settled onto a nearby tree stump.
“She only went to Mother. She never would come to me,” Atreus said, abandoning his attempt.
