ARC 6-Winter War-19
“Finally, it’s done.”
Last night might not have gone according to plan but there’s no ti to dwell on it. I have two elentals to contract in less than two weeks. There’re also the other mundane preparations to be made when traveling any significant distance and the preparations for waging war.
I thoroughly expect fallout from our “rescue” but until soone is trying to break down the door, I’m not going to bother with it. If I’m lucky, the investigation will drag on and I’ll be gone before they can muster the courage to move against .
In the anti, the circle to summon the shuba is complete. The drawing of the Dark Lord has been carved and filled with ink mixed with shards of bone. Placed around the edge of the circle are daggers and knives, so chipped, so broken, so polished to a shine.
The shuba feed off negative energy. The most abundant source of which are the bad thoughts of sapient creatures but, according to the record of the summoner specializing in their realm, they are also attracted to certain places and objects. Places or things involved in tragedies, the more violent the better.
The axe of an executioner. The whip of a particularly nasty sadist. The throne of a tyrant.
None of those things are easy to get my hands on but there are plenty of weapons stained with the blood of n and monsters circulating about. I don’t have a ans of gauging how much negative energy is in or attached to them but having them around should be enough to make the circle that much more enticing.
Hmph. The writer of the record may have claid that all that is needed is an image of the Dark Lord but I have my pride as a To. I once explained to Kierra that contracting an elental is the sa as proposing to a woman and the circle is a summoner’s ring. Just because the shuba are too simple to have good taste doesn’t an I have the bad taste to propose with trash.
With the circle complete, it’s ti to retrieve my audience. Not necessary for the summoning but, as it isn’t harmful, I have no problem indulging Kierra’s interest and it’s a good chance to introduce Alana to the art.
Getting to my feet, I take a mont to stretch. Crawling on my hands and knees for hours isn’t enough to make this body hurt but the motions still feel good.
My ears take to the backyard. On the grass before the trees that mark the boundary of Kierra’s garden are Alana and Kierra, one sprawled on the ground while the other stands over her with an amused smile.
Needless to say, Alana is the one on her back, sweating profusely despite the chill and in a general state of disarray. Ah, brings back mories. After we married, that elf had on my back all the ti, in more ways than one.
Seeing her this way warms my heart. It ans Alana is taking her quest for strength seriously, seriously enough to throw aside her reservations about cheating her way to the top. It also ans Kierra accepts her. She’s pulling her along so she doesn’t get left behind.
“Am I interrupting?” I ask on approach.
Kierra isn’t surprised, likely having heard while I was still in the house, but Alana’s eyes flick to in surprise. Her lips twitch in the beginnings of a smile but she suppresses it. Does she not want to look too eager to see ? Really, this girl is too cute.
“Mm, no. She is…taking a break.”
“Don’t say it like that when we’ve been fighting for an hour,” my surly saint grumbles. “Don’t even know why I’m brawling with you. I use a sword.”
“You should know how hard you can swing your fist before how hard you can swing a blade. And it is always prudent to know how to brawl. A sword can be taken from you. You will always have your fists.”
“Those can be taken from you too.”
“If they are, you will not be wielding a sword either, hm?”
I interrupt them with a laugh. I offer Alana a hand and pull her to her feet, plucking a few strands of grass from her hair. “The circle is finished.” I grin at their interest. “You both wanted to watch. Let’s discuss a few details and then we can start the show.”
Kierra hums as she walks past us. I loop my arm through Alana’s and pull her towards the house. I ignore her attempts to pull away as I seat us on the couch.
“I’ll dirty the furniture,” she mutters.
“We have competent servants.” Speaking of, Geneva enters the room with a tea tray. I wave her off when she tries to serve . Nervous flutters in my gut put off drinking anything. It’s ti to share another secret. I know it’s nothing bad, and there’s no reason for Alana to take it badly, but there’s no telling how soone will react to having their world turned upside down. My secret is certainly that montous.
I clear my throat to draw their attention once they’ve made themselves comfortable. “So, I’ve explained how summoning works.”
“Yeah.” Perhaps sensing sothing in my words, Alana puts down her cup and turns toward . “You call on a creature using the circle, you discuss terms, and if both sides like what they hear, they take a portion of your mana to stay here and serve you.”
What an optimistic view of contracts. Complete subservience, what I have with Geneva and Bell, is incredibly rare. Usually, the elental is contracted to do a job and cannot be commanded outside of such. “Essentially. If you rember, I told you that summoners can only contract elentals they share an affinity with. Don’t ask why, I’m no master who’s dedicated their life to studying mana and the bond ford between a summoner and their elental.”
“Uh-huh.”
I clear my throat, fighting back a wave of nerves. “Anyway, I sat you down to share another secret with you. Or elaborate on one. It’s necessary because the summoning is going to raise questions I know you are too smart not to ask.”
“Thanks,” she says dryly. “Get on with it, Lou. Whatever it is, I doubt it’s going to top you not being human.”
That does calm so. “I told you that sothing happened to when I was kidnapped. Everyone knows I was taken by a crazy caster. What I don’t spread around is that said crazy caster wanted for a summoning.”
“What? He wanted you to summon sothing for him?”
As if. “No. He wanted to use my blood for his circle.” She sucks in a sharp breath, body tensing as she readies to strike at a danger long past. Saints, I love her.
I place a hand on her thigh and squeeze, holding her gaze until she relaxes. “It was barbaric and amateurish but he was successful…to so extent.” I chuckle. “Bastard summoned sothing really powerful.”
“When you say powerful…”
“I an a creature that has, at the very least, a celestial affinity and a coefficient of five thousand.”
She pauses, mouth gaping. Perfectly understandable. The celestial affinity is impressive enough on its own but five thousand units of mana? Five hundred is the power of masters, the best of humanity. A being with a coefficient ten tis that at minimum? Terrifyingly impressive.
“This being took an interest in while I was dying. You know elentals can exist in this realm for a few monts before being yanked back to their hos. He, using that because of personal preference as it doesn’t resemble a person in any way, saved by, at my best guess, giving part of himself. Which included six more affinities, for a total of seven.”
Alana continues to stare at . I wait patiently for her to co to grips with the multiple revelations I’ve dumped in her lap. On the opposite couch, Kierra sips her tea quietly, doing a believable impersonation of air.
“Horseshit,” she finally says.
I nod, not surprised. I’d react the sa way if soone told they had seven affinities. Probably laugh in their face. Says a lot about her trust in that her eyes are unsure, weighing her knowledge that I wouldn’t lie about sothing like this against the sheer impossibility of my claim.
“Don’t look away,” I tell her as I hold out a hand. I haven’t practiced much besides fire, water, and wind but I have practiced basic spells in every affinity I have. Not for this mont exactly, but for monts like it, when I need to prove my claim. Also because it feels amazing being able to use seven affinities.
“Fire, as you know.” A small spark of fire flashes over my palm.
“Now, water.” A small bead of liquid, smaller than a button, appears in the sa place as the fire, hovering long enough for Alana’s wide eyes to take it in before I drop my spell and it splashes against my palm. I call for Bell as I wipe my damp hand on my pants.
There is a loud scrabbling of claws on wood as Bell speeds toward , sliding to a halt beside the couch. “Coo!”
“I don’t feel like getting up and going to the backyard just to grab a bit of stone. Conjure up so.”
“Coo.” [As you wish, Master Lou.] All four eyes glow as loose dirt swirls around her. The earth cos together, pressing tightly until it forms a bland, brown stone that falls at her feet.
“This is an order. Don’t use any magic on that rock until I’m done with my demonstration.”
“Coo!”
“Then, earth affinity.” I raise the rock off the ground, hold it in place long enough to check Alana is seeing it and has convinced herself that no, it is not an elaborate trick, before setting it down.
“Wind affinity.” Her hand smacks her forehead as a light breeze lifts her bangs.
“Saints blessed asses, Lou.” Her lips quiver as she searches for words. “All four basic affinities. That’s…that’s…”
“Not that impressive. There’s already a jester running around with that sa level of talent. I’m one of a kind.” I hold out my palm to Bell. Cut .
The imp is quick to oblige, slicing into my hand deeply with a claw. Blood flows liberally. Good, it’s deep. Otherwise, there’d be no point to this.
“Hey!”
I gently smack away Alana’s reaching hand. “It’s fine. This is the simplest way to show you. Physical.” What I use is a spell that uses mana to speed up a body’s natural recovery. With my already impressive regeneration, the cut is closed in monts. I hold my hand out to Bell, repressing a giggle as the imp’s slightly rough tongue licks up the blood.
Once it’s clean, I show it to Alana, sans cut. “She didn’t heal it.”
“I know,” Alana snaps. “What’d be the point?”
“Mm. ntal.” She flinches from the incredibly weak and formless thought I project to her.
“Last but far from least.” A globe of golden light appears in my hand. “Light.”
That makes her jump to her feet. A hand reaches out but pauses before touching the spell, as she likely rembers there’s nothing to grab. “This…is it real.”
“It’s real. All of it.”
She stares at it, seemingly srized. She’s still staring as she slowly reclaims her seat. Then she buries her face in her hands and lets out a muffled scream.
“Um…”
She lets out a series of inarticulate grunts. I nod and fix myself a cup of tea, leaving her to process. It’s a lot to take in.
In all recorded history, there’s never been anyone with seven affinities. Not even in the most outlandish songs or stories. The most a legendary hero featured in such might have are two greater affinities and a basic affinity or all the basic affinities. Thinking about it, that’s likely why Mr. Talented is so annoying. Probably think he’s ant to be one of those fictitious heroes, the idiot.
The point is that even the greatest storyteller’s imagination couldn’t conjure up soone with my talent. Not even the greatest of legends. Seven affinities are so removed from the human range of talent, it's as inhuman as my oozey self.
The potential I possess is imasurable. If I had to compare myself to any creature, only the magical talent of dragons and their pure affinities would suffice.
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