A Summoner's Calling

by Jacquelyn Evans

  “Her father wants her back,” He waves some soldiers to go forth to collect her. However, before the three of them could touch her, a great force bursts forth. It protects her and flings them into the army’s crowd.

  “Erryn?” Drotonic asks.

  “Holy crap. This energy is pretty massive. It’s kind of hard to maintain. Someone isn’t quite happy with how they’ve treated His home,” Erryn says.

  “If you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of ‘someones’ that aren’t happy with what’s happening,” Drotonic says.

  Gesthal marches over, rolling his eyes. “I’ve had enough with your defiance. You’re coming with me.” He stands on the other side of Erryn across from Drotonic, going to grab her arm. Drotonic couldn’t react fast enough, but the subdued flames erupt around her.

  She puts all her weight on one arm, using her athletics spin and kicks his face. When her feet touch the ground, she whips back around. With both of her hands, Erryn punches the general. Hitting his torso, she sends him flying backward into the ground at his soldier’s feet.

  “No, Drotonic, He’s coming,” Erryn says.

  Drotonic’s eyes widen stepping back and looks over at the bishop. Zaravarn’s coming, Drotonic lips.

  With the raging fire still surrounding her body, Erryn taps into her summoning power. Her eyes glow white and the aura grows with massive energy. She jumps in the air, bringing her knees to her chest. On the descent, she slams her feet into the ground, spidering the area around her with deep cracks.

  The cracks continue to grow outward. She punches her fists into the ground, thrusting a massive force with the fire energy. It creates a growing split, cracking down the path towards the temple.

  “Bishop, move,” Drotonic shouts. The bishop hurries back to the bridge. The Nijans left in the village watch. Those just crossing the bridge turn to see what Erryn has begun. However, the soldiers only grow more curious as Gesthal stands, waiting for an effect to follow.

  “Your people need you, Zaravarn,” Erryn says, looking into the ground.

  “Did she just say Zaravarn?” A Nijan asks, holding her child on her hip as chatter begins within the village.

  Drotonic could hear people running in fear back across the bridge as a rumbling comes from the temple.

  “The temple. It’s going to crumble,” shouts a farmer. Then everything goes quiet as everyone waits in silence.

  “Did she lie about becoming a summoner? How disgraceful,” says an old woman.

  “I knew we should have never welcomed an outsider to our community,” says a man.

  “Maybe you should leave us so we can have our village back,” shouts another.

  “Yeah, get out of here, you fraud,” Someone throws a burnt tomato at her head.

  “How nice. And this is your home? Erryn, enough of this dancing around. Let’s go home,” Gesthal offers.

  Drotonic can see the hurt in Erryn’s eyes as she looks at him, tears welling up. “Do you think the same of me?”

  Stunned by her question, he answers without hesitation. His hand on her shoulders, Drotonic replies, “No, never! I know who you really are. You’re kind, selfless, and a summoner. You’re also my dearest friend. I’ll always be by your side.” He rubs her shoulders, reassuring her as a tear from each eye drips down, and she nods. Erryn stands, turning to face Gesthal. Cracks and rumblings stop. Drotonic stands beside her.

  Gesthal puts out his hand again.

  Erryn raises her hand, “You know it wouldn’t be me to give up like this. My sister wouldn’t be happy about it.”

  The color of her eyes change to a bright lilac purple, as her body becomes an outline of white mixing with purple. Now, a mist of a deep purple swirls around her hand. She then clenches her fists and the mist disappears. She concentrates on the spot where she once kneeled, and it lights up white and purple, “Zaravarn, I summon you now.”

  After Erryn speaks those words, Drotonic looks behind him as flames burst from the main crack down the path towards the temple. The ground breaks, exploding fire upward as Zaravarn rises from beneath. The Nijans drop to their knees at his arrival. The soldiers begin stepping back, with uncertainty on their faces.

  “Men stand your ground. Don’t fear simple parlor tricks,” Gesthal orders his soldiers.

  “Parlor tricks? I would hope your invasion of my village with fire wouldn’t be due to simple parlor tricks,” speaks a deep voice.

  She did it, Drotonic high fives the air.

  “Oh my god, He lives!” gasps the woman putting her child down and bowing. Those who doubted her, now praise her name.

  The muscles on the eight-foot man’s chest ripple under the sweat, soot and ash. His skin is darkly tanned, and he wears pants which pass his knees. They’re singed. Dirty bandages are wrapped around his calves down to his ankles and on his forearms to his knuckles. His hair of a brilliant flame blows continuously in a wind.

  “Now, this is your last chance before forgiveness and mercy is out of your reach. Leave,” Zaravarn demands.

  “Your words will not stop my men from getting what the king demands. Now step aside,” Gesthal says as the power begins to wane on Erryn. Drotonic touches her shoulder. Her eyes begin changing from the white light to normal. She taps his hand with a smile signaling she’s okay but then falls to the ground on her knees.

  “Suit yourself. Wow, this has been quite some time,” Zaravarn touches his feet on Arthro’s surface as a red light of a circular line overlays the entire village and its people.

  “Since when did you have a human form?” Drotonic asks.

  “For a long while now actually, and there’s three different forms,” Zaravarn says. His eyes burn like an ash ember glow, while his hands emanate an eerie red radiance. He moves his hands in a gesture to lift a great mass. In doing so, the ground quakes, shaking from his might as the crack forms around him.

  He raises his hands, lifting the land separated from Arthro’s surface and begins levitating. He puts his hands beside him, closing his eyes and turns his head to the ground. It allows the red glow of his hands to suffuse his entire body. Zaravarn opens his eyes which are now filled with the flames of a wild forest fire as he gazes upon the soldiers and then Gesthal.

  “Now, your stories will end with my devastation. Inferno’s Wrath,” he says, levitating the mass with him into the high heavens taking the soldiers with him. Channeling the eerie glow around his entire body, his hands and feet ignite to flames. Smoke comes off him like a torch. While in the high skies, he sends a torrent of raging flames from his body which explode across the land mass.

  “We should head to the temple so you can regain your strength,” Drotonic says. Drotonic picks her up, realizing the ground has healed with no cracks anywhere. It’s as if the area was never disturbed.

  Then they look up to see a huge lava ball conjured with a flash of light from Zaravarn. He charges into it. As silence strikes the air, a bright line zooms across the skies, making a concussive wave eliminating the mass.

  The bishop hurries over. “Don’t worry. I’ll activate Nija’s Blessing and get what little he didn’t take care of. Go to the temple and rejuvenate. We’re all safe now. Thank you, Erryn.” Erryn gives him a thumbs up, and Drotonic makes his way to the temple.

  Entering the temple with Erryn in his arms, Drotonic rests her head against his chest. “Thank you, Tonic.”

  Drotonic smiles. He looks as a temple guard approaches. “Divine Sage, is the summoner alright?”

  “Relax. I’ll be taking her to the prayer room for her to regain her strength. We’ll venture out afterward,” Drotonic says.

  “Yes, sir. No one will disturb you in the prayer room. We’ll make sure of it,” he says, returning back to the other guards.

  “It must be weird hearing them call you divine sage when they’ve called you by your name for so long,” Erryn says. Drotonic smiles, nodding in agreement as they enter the room.

  “No one enters the prayer room,” He orders the other guar
ds as they salute, closing and locking the doors behind them. He places her down on one of the benches, searching the room to make sure no one was hiding nearby.

  Erryn lays there but becomes restless. She tries to stand, but her exhaustion remains a challenge. Regardless, she looks around as Drotonic finishes inspecting the room to make sure it is safe.

  “You really should be lying down,” he suggests.

  “I would, but I can’t help but feel we’re not alone,” She keeps looking around.

  “I just looked everywhere, and I didn’t find anything. So lie down.”

  Erryn lies back down. She looks up to the ceiling. Fire red slit eyes look down on her, its breath pushing back her hair from her ears.

  “I really hate it when I’m right, sometimes,” she sighs.

  Drotonic notices her hair moving like from a light wind. He moves his eyes to what she is seeing on the ceiling.

  “The Fire Destroyer,” he yells as Erryn rolls under another bench in front of her. The creature jumps down onto the bench which she was lying on.

  “Erryn,” he shouts, looking around for her. She calls out that she’s still alive while using her arms to pull herself to the aisle. He reaches out his hand, helping her up. Erryn throws one of her arms over his shoulder as they make it to the front of the room.

  “What now?” Erryn asks.

  “There’s a door on the side over here. We can get out that way.”

  It leaps over the benches and lands right in front of them. As they step back, it rears and lets out a breath of fire. Drotonic pushes Erryn to the side, taking the brunt of the heat. Then it’s tail sweeps across, sending him to the other side of the room in a hail of debris.

  “Drotonic!” she yells, crawling to the wall where he shoved her as she uses it as a brace for her wobbling legs. The Destroyer turns, facing her. He’s hungry for her weak body as Drotonic clambers, standing from the pile of rubble that it flung with him.

  As Drotonic surveys around for a solution, one of his relics from his Sage ceremony lifts in front of him. It’s the book and it hovers, opening to a blank page where it scribes words. The book closes as a green light outlines him making the emeralds on his wrist glow. For a moment, it creates a magical empowerment to invigorate him.

  While enthralled, he looks back at Erryn as the Destroyer gets ready to pounce on her for lunch. Time was not on his side. However, a small amount of daylight creeps in from the prayer room doors upon the door handles breaking closure as a shadowy figure enters.

  “Drotonic,” Erryn shouts, backing into the corner. Drotonic pushes his way through the rubble over to where she is keeping an eye on the stranger. Nevertheless, once the person heard her voice, his head perked up. They snuck their way around the creature. If he’s going to sneak in there, he’ll need a distraction, Drotonic thought.

  He summons the book, and it opens to the page containing the scripture which was recently written. Drotonic reads it. Looking at the creature, he concentrates with his hands, “Over here, you damn beast. Blaze Launcher Fury.”

  Three small green rune images appear in front of him as he takes his hands and the emeralds glow, creating a toxic green flame on each image. Then a ball forms as the green changes to a yellow, and he thrusts his hands forward. Fireballs fly forward, hitting the creature with every repetitive hand gesture from his thrusts. The stranger jumps by the creature as it spins, giving Drotonic its full and undivided attention.

  “What’re you doing here? Let go of me. I’m not going back with you,” Drotonic hears Erryn.

  “Relax. I’ve no intention to do so. I’m doing your sister a favor. Plus if not for your friend, you would be its lunch,” The guy says, walking her out of the corner into the aisle. Why does his voice sound so familiar? Drotonic wonders.

  “My sister?” she asks, and he nods.

  “So, what’s this thing, anyways?” he asks.

  “A Fire Destroyer from a god’s realm,” Erryn says, stretching her revitalized body.

  “Oh, is that all?” he asks as the creature seems to crouch down from the impacts.

  Taking a breath, Drotonic is satisfied knowing the damage distracted the creature enough to make Erryn safe and the creature weak. But then, smoke begins billowing out of the creature’s mouth as its scales begin illuminating in a wave motion to its head.

  “That can’t be good. Seems it’s just getting pissed off,” The stranger says, running behind the creature.

  “Drotonic, get out of there. It’s about to rage.” Erryn cups her hands, volumizing her voice.

  Erryn’s words clarify Drotonic’s perception, as the side exit remains close behind him and there’s nowhere to hide. Though, escaping would be leaving Erryn behind and that was out of the question.

  The stranger flips onto the Destroyer’s back before its tail trips him. Landing with his sword drawn, he stabs in between its scales on its back. Then, with two hands, he secures his grips. He drags up across its back to its neck, pulling it out and jumping right in front of it. Now that he stood next to him, Drotonic understood why she reacted as such.

  “Damn Razor scum,” Drotonic readies for additional trouble as the creature roars in pain, trying to shake it off.

  “Oh, yeah? I don’t think we properly met. The name’s Kozic and you’re Drotonic, right? Nice to meet you, but you might want to help me with this,” Kozic says.

  “Why would I help you with this?” Drotonic gestures to the Destroyer.

  “Not him; get her out of here. I promised her sister that I’d make her safe from Vladimir’s pain,” he says.

  Drotonic distrusts his words. If he truly is letting us go, then we might as well take the chance, Drotonic thinks.

  “You don’t worry about her,” Drotonic says, waving Erryn to him as he stands by the side exit. Erryn reaches Drotonic and hugs him as he opens the door.

  “A heads up, though, don’t go through the front gate. Gesthal’s got the unit stationed there in case you leave that way,” Kozic says.

  “We’ll keep that in mind. But if you talk to my sister, tell her I found another Chunky,” Erryn exits with Drotonic as Kozic starts conjuring a red flame with a black aura and the Destroyer roars. The door shuts behind them, locking and vanishing from appearance outside.

  Drotonic gets a shiver down his spine as a looming feeling of corruption seemed to fill the prayer room. I don’t know what evil sorcery that was, but it won’t mean anything good if we must fight that, Drotonic thought.

  Erryn shows Drotonic the passage behind Nija’s waterfall. Erryn gets to the end of the passage and warily investigates the clearing. She indicates to Drotonic that it’s safe, and they make their way to the spring where she reunited with Oracle a couple days ago. Looking around, they can’t see any soldiers hiding anywhere. So, they begin following a nearby path.

  After getting away from Nija, they can begin to relax a little until they hear someone approaching. Down the path, they can hear them whistling as if they weren’t worried about making noises. Erryn and Drotonic hurry behind a few berry bushes to hide while he walks by. Is it one of Gesthal’s men from his unit patrolling, or could it be that Kozic guy again? Drotonic wonders.

  Pinya : Valedent

  12

  While Erryn travels to Zaravarn’s realm, the midmorning rays shine on the daunting army marching out of Dragonar as General Gesthal leads them to raid Nija. The army’s footfalls reverberate off the walls of dilapidated homes, whose cracked walls and broken windows fail to keep out the bitter wind of early spring. One house sits across from the collapsed temple, harboring watchful eyes of those working to undo Vladimir’s efforts. Inside the kitchen which borders a back alley, Valedent peers over a young man’s shoulder at the faction’s books. The youth brushes a spot of water that had fallen from the leaky roof off the page.

  “Does everything seem to be in order, sir?” the boy asks Valedent.

  “It does. Well done, Seth.”

  Seth smiles, lighting his eyes.

/>   “But now this means I need to report back to headquarters,” Valedent says with a dry sarcastic tone.

  “You’re meaning to make a visit within Pinya again, aren’t you?” Seth asks.

  “Nothing gets past your keen senses, eh, Seth? You know what? Let’s see how good those senses are. I’m going to put you in charge of recruiting more people for this area.” Valedent nudges Seth with his elbow.

  “Really? Me?” Seth’s awe at such an unexpected turn of events is written all over his face.

  “I have watched you over the past six months, and you have exercised ideal qualities for leadership that anyone could hope to acquire. But, let me urge you a word of caution. So far, we have gone unnoticed. Though, you never know who’s in the King’s pay. This is where you’ll need to make sure that with whom you’re thoroughly meddling likes our newest investment.” Valedent says.

  “Do you mean the noblewoman, Madame Scarlet? Don’t we have a meeting with her today?” Seth asks.

  “Yes. I’ll take care of that on my way out. Here, take this,” Valedent hands him a sealed envelope. Seth takes it. Beginning to open it, Valedent grabs his hand and stops him from breaking the seal. “Don’t open this until three days from now. There will be instructions for what to do with Madame Scarlet, regardless of what happens today. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” Seth nods, placing the letter against his chest and under his vest. He gives it a pat with a release of a worrisome breath.

  “Now, it’s with the utmost importance that you avoid exposing this operation. If you do your job well, it will benefit the rebellion. This’ll be the first foothold out of HQ, so no pressure,” he smiles, patting him on his back.

  “Oh yeah, thanks, Valedent. Right. No pressure.” Valedent can see the lad questioning his own capabilities.

  “Don’t fret. You’ve got good men to guide you.” Then with a smile, Valedent grabs his cane and long coat, gesturing goodbye by tipping his hat to him.

  Valedent leaves through the kitchen door which leads into the rear lane. It’s where armored men are less likely to travel. He walks down the alley till reaching a corner that leads to the main road of Dragonar. Nodding to a grubby man lying against a house, Valedent continues to the alley’s edge where he scours the main road. Madame Scarlet is nowhere in sight.