A Balmy Friday Afternoon

John blinked the afternoon sun out of his eyes, having been teleported directly into a sunbeam. The courtyard was quiet, the few conversations being held in somber tones. Ignis pulled John to his feet with a nervous smile.

“Let’s head back to the dorm,” John began to speak as he brushed dust and dirt off his uniform. “We have plenty of time to run Flame 2 now that the weekend’s started. Hopefully once Monday rolls around, we’ll be prepared to face whatever a sixth year’s coursework looks like.”

Ignis merely nodded enthusiastically in response before setting off at a trot, once again forcing John to try and keep up with her.

I guess that one time we ran through the desert really got to the core of her personality, John thought with a smile, idly wondering how well Parkour would handle him trying to juggle a hacky sack or soccer ball to keep Ignis entertained on the commute between his dorm and Firesmith.

John heard a shriek from inside Layla’s dorm as he walked by, immediately followed by a shriller, higher pitched shriek and the distinct thump of someone falling to the ground. His gaze flitted anxiously between her front door and the elevator doors several times before the elevator chimed and let him in. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pressed the button and the doors slid shut.

Why am I so nervous around this girl? Well, obviously because she’s hot and we fucked but like why am I avoiding her? Am I ghosting her? Why?

John grappled with his feelings but quickly abandoned the effort when he began to realize it very likely had to do with the fact he would have to tell her what he did to her classmates. The thought made him nauseous as the elevator doors opened again and he trudged down the hall. Ignis nuzzled into him silently as he fumbled with his keys. He took a deep breath and steeled himself with a smile as he unlocked the door and swung it open. Elora sat amongst a squad of infantry on the dining area table, relaxed and chatting. A squad of aerial pixies flew past John’s head as he stepped into the room and saluted nonchalantly before continuing their flight path. The artillery squad was set up on the windowsill, surveying the alleyway and fire escape.

“Anything to report, ladies?” John asked as he settled into a chair by the table.

A chorus of “no sir!”s echoed through the whole apartment as various squads made casual reports. John nodded, releasing the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.

The tension of this last week is really wearing me out… But I can’t afford to relax, not yet. I won’t be safe until I’m level 50 at the very least. Teen students might be level 20 but full fledged adults are in that range, and after what I did… I don’t think I’ll be dealing with my peers for very long. I need to be able to defend myself, I need to be ready for the consequences of my actions and my short temper…

John looked down at the table and realized the infantry pixies were performing maintenance on their rifles, the firearms in various states of disassembly. They were in various states of casual dress as well, many of them forgoing the coats of their uniforms and instead tying the sleeves around their hips and baring their miniature torsos. Gemstones, embedded in the center of their chests, shone brilliant white and pulsed with green arcs of mana. The infantrywomen of course immediately caught on to John’s interest in their chests and began to leer at him, posing suggestively, cheering, and wolf whistling. He rolled his eyes and chuckled before offering his paltry defense.

“Ladies, ladies, please. You’re very lovely but I was looking at the gems. Are they, like, your hearts?”

They continued to shimmy and shake as they cheered in the affirmative.

“Alright, I’m realizing I don’t actually know that much about you all. I honestly didn’t even know Elora could, uh, summon you all? Would that be right?” John turned his attention to Elora as he became unsure of his wording.

“That’s right, Chief.” She began to explain as the infantry women returned to their maintenance, “I’ve been reading up on the exact mechanics of how my power works in the framework of your… unique… summoning contract.”

“Hold on,” John interrupted. “Contract? I don’t remember sealing a deal. What were the terms?”

Elora paused a moment before delivering her answer, “The rune circle you summoned me with was a contract you signed with your handprints. I had a feeling you didn’t quite know what you were getting into… Let’s just say we’re bound together on a path to greatness.”

“No,” John immediately interjected. “No ‘let’s just say,’ I want to know what I’m in for. If I have an end of a bargain to uphold, I need to know what it is. Not only because I want to avoid the consequences of breaking it but also because you’ve been a great ally to me so far and I want to make sure I’m also being a great ally to you.”

Reminiscent of their first meeting, John caught a hint of a blush blooming on Elora’s face before she pulled her hat down by the brim, obscuring his view.

“You’re already leagues better than the last few masters we’ve had, chief,” Elora mumbled into her palm.

“Not good enough,” he retorted. “Specifics. That’s an order.”

The infantrywomen stifled giggles as they watched their general squirm under pressure.

“You promised to help us build our strength. Earth pixies are… the weakest of the elemental fae… We used to hold a position in the Earthen Court, but over the years less and less summoners chose to summon and keep us. And then once summoners all but vanished off the face of the Prime Material and anarchy swept through the Elemental Plane of Earth, we were too weak to fend off our brethren. Once the Earthen Court brought peace back to our Plane, pixies no longer had a place in it. We were left to contend with sprites and brownies for the scraps of mana left over once the Court had had its fill…”

Elora paused, fitting her hat back atop her head and gazing off into the middle distance. “The runes you used to summon me, I had left them inscribed upon a mana gem floating in between planes, like a message in a bottle. I had hoped some great mage would find it and decipher it and decide to lend us their strength… Instead, you managed to just pull it out of thin air.” She met John’s gaze, a grin growing across her lips as she continued. “A kid, a punk acting out in class, pissing off some idiot who knows nothing about the craft of elemental summoning, guided by the hand of the Earth Mother herself. Not only sealing the deal with your handprints, but treating me…”

She paused again, shaking her head before choosing a different direction for her explanation. “You’re feeding me a constant trickle of mana, just like the rest of your summons. That’s enough to fulfill your end of the contract. Because of you, my troops get to see the light of day again. It’s been decades of darkness for them, and decades of solitude for me. As you continue to grow, more and more can come forward. Anything else? Above and beyond.”

Elora nodded and turned away from John, and the infantrywomen erupted in more cheers, followed by the aerial pixies, carrying the archer pixies and setting them down on the table. The six squads shouted their thanks to John while hugging each other and dancing around on the table. Their joy was infectious, and soon John was smiling and laughing along with them.
“Thank you, Elora. I’m glad I’m keeping my end of the deal. Now, uh, you were saying you’d been reading up? Did you find anything interesting?” John paused a beat as he processed the question he’d just asked. “Wait, reading? Where?”

I swear to fuck, if there’s been some almighty manual to figuring out my powers, I’m going to have a god damned aneurysm.

“Ah, right. You haven’t been around to the Earthen Sanctum since we set up shop in it.”

“Let me stop you right there. Again. I haven’t been to where?”

“The Earthen Sanctum. The Earth-aligned corner of your Summoner’s Temple.”

“I’m sorry, what? I can just… go there? How would I even go about doing that?”

Elora shook her head incredulously. “You don’t know? They didn’t teach you this in your summoning class before they had you summon elemental entities?”

“No, they haven’t really taught me much of anything, it’s still my first week of class. We were reviewing the, like, fundamental basics of conjuration on the day I summoned you. And then we reviewed item summoning and wards. That’s all the formal training I have. Everything else has just been my personal experiments in what works and what doesn’t.”

And even then, I haven’t really had the chance to delve too deep into any of it.

“Right. One moment. I need to reevaluate a few things.” Elora sunk deep into thought, pacing back and forth across the small table. After a few tense moments she stopped pacing, faced John, and shrugged. “You should be able to just do it. Try and activate it like any of your other skills.”

“Right…” John hesitated, then stood from his chair. He stood in the hallway that bisected his dorm, facing the window with his back to the front door.

Okay. Deep breath. And just… Activate Summoner’s Temple.

His aura exploded into existence around him, first cloaking him and then rapidly expanding outwards to soak his dorm in a radiant orange light. It then began to concentrate on the wall opposite the door to his bedroom, forming a swirling mass of light that seemed tangible. John walked towards it and reached his hand in. He was immediately sucked into a multicolored vortex, moving at the speed of light. He landed on his feet with a sonic boom, a crack of lightning, and rolling thunder. He swayed on his feet, slightly nauseous.
John examined his surroundings. He was in a large circular open-air pavilion. Twelve tall, regal columns were spaced out at equal intervals in a circle, holding up a dome. The inside was a mosaic of the four elements. A raging fire to the east, a stormy ocean to the west, a rockslide to the south, and a tornado to the north.

The Temple, John mused to himself. Pretty Greek? Roman? No braziers or altars or anything. So maybe also kind of like a Japanese shrine?

It was built on the peak of a mountain. Clouds travelled lazily a few feet under it, and the cloud cover stretched as far as the eye could see. Four paths extended from the pavilion and down the mountain, each at the cardinal directions.

I’m guessing each of these paths leads to a sanctum, like Elora mentioned. Ah, shit, I didn’t dismiss her. Do summons stay… summoned… if I enter the Temple? I know they come back here when dismissed but ‘here’ seems kind of massive.

“Agh, I’m getting nowhere like this.” John shook himself out of his reverie. “I’ll just try to dismiss her from here. Worst that happens is it doesn’t work and I just have to use Summoner’s Temple again and then dismiss her and then use it again… again…”

I am seriously going insane…

John cast Dismiss Summon and was immediately rewarded with the same rolling thunder that announced his arrival, though in the southern distance of cloudy expanse.

“Sweet, that sounded super close and not at all a long hike down a mountain…” John muttered to himself as he began to pick his way down the southern path.