Summoner 6

by Eric Vall

  “I’m not so sure about that.” I shook my head. “Sleet is waiting for us at Kenefick Manor. We should help those we can along the way, but Hartmire is military central. I’m sure there are others who are equally qualified to take out these monsters and help save civilians.”

  “We don’t have anymore time to think about it,” Arwyn cut in and breezed between the two of us as she finally stepped out into the fray. “You’re either coming with me or you aren’t. We have a mission to see through, and I’m not going to waste time standing here while we figure things out.”

  I blinked, but I immediately followed after her, partially because I was ready to get in on some action, but also because I didn’t trust her not to make any brash decisions. I knew she was still riled up over Sleet’s supposed arrest, and Arwyn was always the one to finish carrying out a mission.

  Especially if that mission involved saving innocent people’s lives.

  It wasn’t long before I heard the footsteps of the others come up behind me, and the five of us took off into the Enclave. We had an idea of what to expect: broken and dead bodies and buildings, floods, fires. It still hit us hard, though, as we climbed over the bodies of those we couldn’t save.

  As we ran through the bulldozed streets, Nia and Gawain shot off their water magic to tame what sections of the blaze they could. There were a few stray bandersnatch, speedy dog-like creatures with wicked fangs, ahead that prowled around the debris, and I reached blindly for my crystals.

  I knew exactly what monster would be most useful here.

  I grabbed my kalgori crystal and smashed it in the palm of my hand. My little butterfly monster came forth and flitted about my head as it awaited my command.

  “Multiply and swarm,” I silently ordered as I stepped in and took the lead from Arwyn.

  The kalgori was more than pleased to do so. It knew the drill by now. One became two, then four, until I was completely enshrouded by little insects with razor sharp wings. It was a go-to tactic of mine, and it was effective. I’d nearly mastered my control of them, even when they were en masse.

  With a flick of my hand, the kalgori charged. The yelps of the bandersnatch reached my ears as the kalgori left nothing of them but bare bones. The bandersnatch hardly had the time to react to such a vicious attack, which was one of the perks of the kalgori. They were deadly and fast, and aside from a few high-grade monsters, I’d yet to see anything they couldn’t go up against.

  It was a strange feeling, but despite all of the destruction around us, I felt unstoppable in that moment. Maybe it was because I was so fueled with rage at our situation, or that I hadn’t been able to properly rest in what was technically months, but my mana seemed stronger. It was like I had gained more stamina through the sheer willpower of refusing to give up the fight, even though all I wanted to do was go back to the bed in the Medic Ward and take a long ass nap.

  These little monsters were nothing to me now. Sure, they were dangerous and deadly, but I had discovered the ultimate way of destroying them. That kind of power felt pretty damn good.

  I sent my kalgori after each bandersnatch and imp that lingered in the outlying areas nearby, but I didn’t let them stray too far. After all, just because I had mastered my control of them didn’t mean the basic rules of summoning didn’t apply to me. I still needed to keep them relatively close by. The further away they got from me, the less control I had over them, and the more of them there were, the more concentration it took to manage them all. While I had significantly increased my ability to control more of them simultaneously, it was still a challenge to keep my concentration when there was so much else going on around me.

  As we continued our trek through the decimated area, we could hear sirens blare, a warning to citizens to evacuate the Enclave. We could hear the gunshots from the soldiers as they tried to shoot down the monsters, and the cries for help as people ran for their lives.

  I knew we needed to make our way to the manor, that Sleet was waiting for us, but Arwyn was right.

  We had to do what we could.

  I eyed the belial as it stalked through the leveled streets in search of bodies to devour. I could see the blood drip from its fangs, and its snout was covered in burn marks from gunshots, but it seemed to be otherwise unaffected by anything the soldiers threw at it.

  “Where in the world are the other mages?” Gawain asked wildly. “Surely they would be helping, right?”

  He was right. The entire time we’d been out here, we had yet to run into a single mage who was fighting against the monsters.

  “We don’t know the whole situation,” Arwyn reasoned. “I would imagine they’re doing everything they can.”

  I thought about it a moment, and when I came to a realization, my stomach churned, and my heart dropped.

  “They probably consider the Enclave a loss, and they’re focusing all of their efforts into evacuating anyone who’s left,” I murmured somberly.

  Apparently, that thought hadn’t crossed anyone else’s minds until I’d said it, but now that I had, a sick feeling lingered in the air around us.

  That had to be it. Half of the Enclave was already flattened by the monsters, and Maker only knew how many people survived or didn’t. Judging solely on what we passed in the streets, I thought it was safe to say at least sixty percent of the population of these areas lost their lives today, and for what? Because the council refused to do anything more to protect them.

  “I’m going to take down the belial,” I declared suddenly.

  “Like hell you are!” Nia yelled. “Gryff, that thing will swallow you whole without a second thought!”

  “That’s why I have to take it down,” I reasoned. “I can’t let anyone else suffer because we failed to protect them.”

  Nia sighed and batted her lashes pleadingly. I knew she didn’t want to go, nor did she want me to, either, but I had to do something. Anything was better than the nothing the council did with their power.

  “Gawain, I think it’s time we split up,” I said as I turned to the other male. “Take Nia and get to Kenefick Manor. Don’t let her out of your sight. Tie her to you if you have to.”

  “Gryff, please,” Nia begged and grabbed my hands.

  I held her gently and managed a soft smile. It would have been a totally romantic scene if not for the scent of rotting death in the air and the buzzing of my little butterflies congregating behind me as they awaited something new to devour.

  “You’re worried about your family, and you’ve done enough,” I told her plainly. “Go to them. I’ll meet you there. I promise.”

  Nia sighed and gripped my hands tighter. Defeated, she finally nodded.

  “You better kick that thing’s ass,” she ordered me with a faint smirk.

  “Don’t I always?” I grinned, and with one last squeeze, I released her hands.

  “I’m staying with you,” Arwyn informed me. “I refuse to let you go it alone.”

  Reluctantly, I nodded. I already felt a stab of guilt sending Nia away, but she needed to go to her father and meet with Sleet.

  “Make sure they get to the manor alright,” Arwyn instructed Almasy, who nodded.

  “Be safe Arwyn,” he replied and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Gryff, keep her safe.”

  “Of course.” I smiled and motioned for her to follow me. “Take care of yourselves. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Good luck!” he called after Arwyn and I as we sprinted toward the Belial. With my kalgori trailing behind me and with one foot in front of the other, we ran as fast as our legs would allow us.

  I needed a strategy. Even though I was quite gifted at improvising and flying by the seat of my pants, only a fool would take on a Double A monster without some sort of plan to put into motion, unless you had a death wish. I didn’t, so a plan of attack I would have.

  I hoped.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” Arwyn asked as we maneuvered through the debris.

  “If I tell you the truth and say no
, will you still stay with me?” I asked, partly in jest, but I wanted to give her an out if she wanted it. I didn’t expect her to fight alongside me at the cost of her own life, even if her resolve was firm. There were plenty of other ways she could help people.

  Arwyn shot me a smirk. “Do you really have to ask?”

  No, I really didn’t, but I wanted to hear her verbally confirm she was going to be with me until the end, whether things went good or bad.

  We stopped about twenty yards away from the purple beast, and my jaw hung in sheer awe of its size. Sure, it was big. I had seen it was big from miles away, but something about being this close to it was unsettling. A single claw on one of its four toes was larger than my entire person, and the muscles on this thing were outrageous. There was enough meat on just its leg to feed a small army, or maybe even a decent sized medium one.

  “Any tips?” I asked Arwyn.

  Her look was as glazed over as I was sure mine was when looking at the belial. It was a truly magnificent beast, one that would be an awesome addition to my collection thus far. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to control it, though, even if I did manage to capture it. I felt privileged to have such a relationship with my baroquer, and my roosa would come around, I was sure.

  But even though I had caught them, they still required mana, and something the size of the belial would be an undertaking.

  I would try, though. Even if I couldn’t use it now, I’d be able to one day. I could already see a difference in my stamina and mana. It was only a matter of time before even the bigger monsters that I didn’t catch myself would be a piece of cake to control, such as the sun giant Maelor had given me when I first left for the Academy.

  For a brief moment, I considered using it in this fight, but there were too many variables in play. For one, I’d never used it before, and large monsters were still not my forte as far as controlling them went. That alone was enough to deter me from wanting to summon it, not to mention if I did lose control of it, that would be two giant monsters on the loose in the Enclave. I could always recall it back to its crystal, but it wasn’t worth the risk, not when the stakes were already as high as they were.

  “Not at all,” Arwyn answered finally, as though she had just realized I’d asked her a question. “Well, one tip. Its movements, though extremely powerful, are slow. A speed slug attached to something might prove to be beneficial. Also, the size is a factor. If you can get under it undetected, that might give you an advantage.”

  I nodded. “And what will you do?”

  “I’ll assist you in any way I can. If any of those small fries come at you, I’ll take care of them. Just focus on the belial.” Arwyn’s voice was confident, and rightfully so. She was a fine mage, one who deserved far more credit than she received.

  I knew that with her by my side, there was no way I could fail.

  Ultimately, I decided to stick to what I knew I could control, something strong, and something I had bonded with already. I fished my baroquer crystal from my bandolier and curled my fingers around it. With enough pressure, the crystal shattered in my hand, and my baroquer sprung forth.

  “Hey there, big guy,” I greeted him. I assumed it was a boy. It could have been a girl, I guessed. Did monsters have genders?

  I brushed the thought aside as my monster grunted and leaned down. We bumped fists before he opened his palm out to me, and I climbed aboard.

  “Please be careful, Gryff,” Arwyn pleaded. “If anything were to happen to you … ” She trailed off, but I could see the concern in her eyes.

  “The only thing that’s going to happen is I’m going to get me a new monster I can’t use yet,” I assured her with a laugh. “I’ll be fine, Arwyn.”

  Arwyn shook her head, unable to either resist my charm nor repress the giggle that bubbled out from between her plush lips. She waved to me as the baroquer carried me off into the fray, and my kalgori still trailed behind me.

  “What to do, what to do … ” I trailed off as my monsters and I marched forth into battle.

  The belial hadn’t realized we were behind it yet, or if it did, it didn’t pay us any mind. Maybe it thought we were too weak to bother with. It could have been true. For all I knew about this beast, it could sneeze on me, and I would die.

  Tough skin was likely, so if I wanted any chance of damaging it, I’d likely have to hit it again and again in the same place until I could really get a good cut in. It was also slow, Arwyn mentioned, so I grabbed a speed slug crystal to have at the ready. I knew the kalgori would be just fine in that department, but my baroquer friend wasn’t the most nimble of creatures.

  Based on the amount of fire that spread throughout the Enclave, which was a lot now that I had a better vantage point atop the shoulder of my monster, it was safe to assume the belial had at least one fire attack, if it wasn’t a fire elemental monster altogether. That was also something to consider, but I was more worried about the brute strength of the beast. A single moderately slow swipe with its paw could decimate an entire building.

  That was more than just a little terrifying.

  We trailed it through the streets, stalking it as though it were our prey. The rift along the horizon was still active, and I hoped they were able to find the catalyst soon. It felt weird not to go into the rift ourselves, but without a banisher, we could only do so much. I needed to remind myself that Hartmire, though maybe over reliant on old wards like xanyarstone, had a strong military and mage presence alike, more so than any of the other Enclaves. If there were enough qualified mages anywhere who could close the rift, it was here, even if there was an overall lack of banishers.

  The belial stopped, seemingly interested in something on the ground, and I winced when I realized it wasn’t just something, it was someone, several of them, in fact. There must have been a congregation of some kind, because this particular area had a lot of bodies that were strewn about, all of them dead, or if not dead, gravely injured. I would leave them to Arwyn, for now.

  I had bigger beasts to catch.

  Now was my chance, though. If I didn’t take it, I might not get another opportunity before it moved on to a livelier section of the Enclave.

  Again, I silently commanded my kalgori to swarm. Thousands of the sharp little critters rushed past me, and my hair caught the wind they produced. They started along the belial’s backside and tried to tear at the purple skin stretched taut over those buff limbs. They managed to only make a few scratches, though it was enough to draw a small amount of black blood from the thick hide.

  If I were going to keep with this tactic, it was going to take a while. I’d have to find a way to make them sharper or more lethal than they already were. Still, damage was damage, and I’d take what I could get until I came up with a better solution.

  The belial, now aware there was something attacking him, roared and turned around to find my tiny monsters. It lifted a blood coated paw and brought it down again quickly, effectively swatting away a good chunk of the kalgori. I felt a fraction of my mana drop, but not nearly enough to make me lose any focus.

  I ordered them to attack again, only this time I aimed for the face. If the belial didn’t know where to swat its paw, then the kalgori stood more of a chance. Their little wings flitted wildly as they dove in for the beast’s face, but this time the belial was ready for them.

  It reared its head back and spat a green ball of fire at the cluster of butterflies, immediately incinerating over half of what was left of them on impact. Only a few dozen of the thousands remained after the attack, but the significant loss sapped my mana hard. It wasn’t a lot, but it was still a shock to my system.

  The green fireball exploded in midair after it engulfed my little critters and sent flames and ash everywhere. Buildings that were already engulfed in flames now had more fire to deal with, and others just sort of smoldered and kindled.

  I felt a pang of guilt realizing that the majority of the bodies on the street might not be identifiable after this battle, but I n
eeded to make a choice, and I didn’t want to risk more lives than what had already been lost. It was a dark thought, but at least they wouldn’t feel the pain of their corpses burning if the belial continued its attack like that.

  Of the kalgori that survived the inferno blast, most of them managed to land a hit on the beast’s face. A few of them sliced into its muzzle while others nailed it straight in the eyes. The roar it released when the kalgori’s razor blades scored its amber irises was glorious, and it tried to paw them away. When the butterflies cleared, I noticed that not only had they managed to attack both eyes of the belial, but they had actually shredded one of the monster’s eyes, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole were the organ once was.

  “Nice!” I cheered, but I immediately regretted it.

  The belial turned in my direction and snarled between its dripping fangs before it stampeded toward me on all fours. The horns atop its head, marred with past battle scars, were aimed to kill, and I wasn’t in the market to meet my end. Not today, and certainly not by the pointy end of a monster horn.

  I hastily fingered along my bandolier until I reached the crystal I was looking for. With the majority of my kalgori taken out, I recalled the ones that remained and focused my mana on the new crystal. My speed slug was always a trusty one that helped in a pinch, and this was definitely an instance I would consider a pinch.

  I summoned the slimy creature and placed it on the nape of the baroquer’s armor. I could feel the speed buzz through the hollow knight, and it leapt to the side to avoid the belial’s charge. We landed with a thud and created crevasses in the already destroyed landscape, as heavy armor tended to do.

  The purple beast skidded to a halt when it realized it had missed its mark.

  “Over here!” I taunted, and the belial turned to face us once again.

  Another green ball of flames launched from its mouth, but instead of avoiding the attack, the baroquer took it head on. It readied its sword and gripped the hilt tightly as the attack hurdled across the sky.