Summon

In the morning, while we had our breakfast in the dining room, everyone talked about last night's incident. Unfortunately, what was most speculated is that Syvis had faked the attack to try to deflect the suspicions about her.

"SHUT UP!!" Gerald yelled, hitting the table at the same time, leaving the dining room in silence. "I'm sick of those rumors. If I hear someone else talk about that topic again, he or she will deal with me. Understood!?"

No one answered, but the whispering stopped. Gerald turned to see me for a second and went back to his business. He really kept his word.

"What's wrong with Gerald today?" Ryul asked, "Did he get up on the wrong foot?"

"Who knows, but I'm glad the rumors about Syvis are stopping." Shalia reply.

"How is your training with the castle healers going?" Leona asked Shalia.

"Good! I will surprise you soon!"

I'm glad my friends are improving. In the same way, I hope to do it today by learning the summoner skill.

After breakfast, we went to train with Kiara. Today she taught us quite a few basic mistakes that many adventurers tend to make. It was not a tiring day, but it was quite informative.

Once Kiara finished today's training, Ryul got close to me. "Darx, do you want to do something today? I have no training with my teacher today as he was going to be busy with other things."

"The royal guard must be busy with what happened yesterday." Shalia commented.

"Whoever is responsible, is doing whatever he wants in the castle that supposedly should be the safest place. I'm not surprised with the surveillance getting tougher." Leona says.

"Let's forget about that for a moment and let's do something fun. I don't have anything to do later today either." Shalia said, "What do you say, Leona?"

Before Leona could respond, I interrupted, "Sorry, I can't. I'm meeting Syvis in a bit."

"Are you trying to find Syvis again? Don't you think you're looking for her too much?" Shaila said, looking a bit upset.

"Ah, it's not that. This time Syvis is waiting for me as she will help me with a skill that I want to learn."

"Can you learn a new skill?" Ryul asked.

"Yes, it seems so." I reply.

"I still think you should spend more time with your team." Shalia commented, still looking upset.

Ryul stepped forward and jokingly said, "What's up? Are you jealous? Hahaha!"

Shalia was surprised by what Ryul said. "W-Why would I be jealous? I'm just saying that for the good of the team. I-It's not like I care about what Darx does in his spare time."

After that last comment, Shalia turned to see me momentarily irritated and left.

"Did I say something wrong?" Ryul asked, confused.

"I'm not sure...." I reply equally confused.

"Idiots." Leona commented before leaving too.

I don't understand what happened, but if I don't hurry, I'll be late. After saying goodbye to Ryul, I went to the entrance on the left side of the castle, which is where I will meet Syvis.

When I arrived, Syvis was already waiting for me.

"Are you ready?" Syvis asked.

"Yes!"

"In your status as D-Rank, you can only learn one more skill. There is no going back once you learn it, so I ask you one more time if you are sure you want to learn the summoner skill?"

"I am completely sure." I reply.

"Good, let's go!"

Syvis seems to have returned to normal, which makes me happy. We talked a bit about what happened yesterday as we walked to our destination. The area between the castle and the walls that separate the castle from the rest of the city is quite wide. On the right side of the castle are the gardens and the greenhouse. At the back are the training grounds and on the left side is a somewhat forested area in which there is what appears to be a temple. I've never been to this area, so I'm not entirely sure if it's a temple or not, but that seems to be the place Syvis is heading to.

Already in front of the place, I can see that it has a similar shape to the temple where we took the adventurer ritual but on a smaller scale. The structure is entirely white with a pair of pillars in the front and some statues of the goddess [Imris] as well as a large entrance.

Syvis stopped in front of the double door and turned to me. "Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

Syvis smiled and turned around to open the doors, which seemed heavy since they were thick and caused a lot of noise. Inside it was just a fairly spacious room with little lighting created only by candles. Once we advance more, I saw a square lower area at the back of the room that can be reached by going down two steps and in which there was a magic circle on the ground. That area was also surrounded by candles of different colors that were not lit.

Inside the place were two men of advanced age wearing a white cloak, and one of them approached us after seeing us enter. "Syvis, what brings you here? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Syvis, in a more friendly way than she usually behaves, replied, "I would like to make use of the magic circle."

"What a rare time to come do something like that. It's been two weeks since the ritual." The old man turned to me and continued, "I imagine it's for him."

"There are certain circumstances for why we come now, but yes, it's for him." Syvis answered.

"Hmm... I understand. Not many summoners appeared in this ritual, so I'm glad there's one more, even if it's late." The old man smiled, "Give me a moment while I prepare everything."

"Thanks."

Syvis then addressed me, "While they prepare the site, I will explain to you how everything works."

Syvis and I sat on a bench beside a wall while the two men seemed to be arranging the area around the magic circle.

"See those colored candles?" Syvis asked, "Each one of them is made with unique materials and represents each of the elements. The red one is fire, the blue one is water, etc... They serve to attract the spirits. Once the pact between you and the spirit forms, thanks to the magic circle, it will take the form of your summon. Your summon element is related to the elements you control. There are many spirits of the same element, so which summon you have is defined by which spirit that comes to you and is compatible with your essence."

I see. In my case, I only use water magic, so if I manage to make a pact with a spirit, it will be a water element summon, and what determines its appearance and character will be the similarity of our essences. In Syvis's case, her summons had women's appearance made of the three elements that she poses. I wonder what shape mine will have. I hope it's something that looks cool.

"Each spirit is different, and it is said that what you summon is the reflection of your soul." Syvis continue, "High-level summoners can combine summons to create more powerful ones, but that is really advanced. In your case, it is most likely that it will only be able to use elemental spells, but as you continue to improve, your summon will as well.

While we were talking, one of the men came over, "Miss Syvis, we are ready."

"It's time. The procedure is quite simple, so don't worry." Syvis said.

One of the elders gave me a knife and told me to go down the pair of steps to where the magic circle was. The colored candles were lit, and each gave off different aromas quite unique. Besides that, when I got close to the magic circle, I started hearing strange sounds, like whispers.

Syvis then spoke, "Make a small cut on your hand and drip the blood onto the circle."

"O-Okay..."

Syvis said it was a simple procedure, but it doesn't mean that it isn't intimidating. "Ouch..." Just like she told me, I made a small cut on my hand, and the blood that came out I let it fall into the magic circle.

At that moment, the flames of the candles increased, and the whispers grew louder. Small lights of different colors were beginning to appear, moving fast all over the room.

"W-What are those things?" I asked.

Syvis replied, "We cannot see them, but they are the spirits that are coming to your call."

After a few seconds, one of the elders said, "It's strange..."

The other old man replied. "It is... I can feel many spirits. Way too many."

The atmosphere began to get quite cold, and the lights began to move even more hysterical, even knocking down things around the room.

"What's going on?" One of the elders asked, looking scared.

Is something happening that shouldn't? Syvis and the two elders are concerned. The atmosphere feels weird. Near me, a dark light much bigger than the rest appeared at the top and began to descend to where I was, staying in front of me. The other lights seemed to want to try to get away from that light, moving hysterically to the edges of the room.

"What... is that?" One of the elders asked in disbelief.

It seems that not only me but also Syvis and the rest can see that black light. For some reason, they look scared, even Syvis. The dark light began to take shape. It moved strangely, but little by little, it took the appearance of an.... owl!?.

At that moment something strange happened in the room. It felt a rather odd emptiness as if **** was close. The owl flew to a pedestal that was close to me. It is a regular owl's size, but his eyes... his gaze looked empty. Its plumage is black—also, a weird black aura surrounds him.

Despite not looking intimidating, for some reason, it's scary. It is as if it gives off malice.

Is that aspect the reflection of my soul? I-It cannot be...

I turned to see Syvis searching for answers, but I saw one of the elders on the floor vomiting while the other was running out of the room. Meanwhile, Syvis looked like she was in a trance besides sweating a lot. She didn't respond no matter how much I spoke to her, and she just stared at the owl.

I turned once more to see the owl who was moving his head in the peculiar way that any owl does. I got close to him and stretched out my hand to try to touch him.

"WAIT, NO!" Syvis screamed.

I managed to touch the owl, and I turn again to see why Syvis had screamed but was interrupted by a dark light that came out of the owl.

Seeing the owl, his black aura was more prominent now. His aura enveloped me, and it was as if I was absorbing it. Moments later, the aura and the owl were gone, and everything returned to normal, but I felt dizzy and somewhat weak.

Syvis came close to me then asked me if I was okay, but I think she is worse than me from her appearance.

"I'm fine, I just need some fresh air." I reply.

"Me too. Let's go outside."

As we left the room, the older man who fled earlier returned to help the other, who was still in poor condition on the floor. Moreover, while they saw us leave, they stared at me with a face of fear. I still don't understand what his going on.

The fresh air did us both good. Once outside, we looked for a place to sit, and I asked Syvis what just happened.

Syvis looked dismayed and she just answered, "I don't know."

"Eh? You don't know?"

"Let me see your card." Syvis told me.

When I gave my card to her, I noticed that it had summoner written in the skill area. That means it worked. It made me happy, but on the other hand, Syvis looked concerned. After seeing it for a while, she gave it back to me.

"The reason Harold asked me to speak to you, in the beginning, is because of the peculiar color of your eyes. The red eyes were characteristic of [Zrephia] royalty. It is said that they were direct descendants of the goddess [Imris], who also has the same eye color. As you know, the bloodline of the royalty of [Zrephia] disappeared a long time ago." After a little pause, Syvis continued, "Although the possibility was impossible, Harold wanted to know if you had any connection with them, but nothing was found after doing a lot of research. Since I am an alchemist, I have studied a lot about [Zephia] as the best alchemists were from there. Even many years later, we are still not able to do what they did back then. Because of my knowledge about [Zrephia], Harold asked me to approach you to see if I could find out something, but you are a complete enigma. From the way you learn skills or rank up to things like just now."

"What happened?" I asked, "I thought that what I would summon would be something that would be related to my water element, but that owl did not seem to belong to that element."

"It was different from dark magic. I've never seen anything like it. All I know is that what happened completely changed what we thought about you."

"What do you mean?"

"You can say that [Imris] and the royal family are the light. If you were really linked to them, you should be in that criteria. But that owl you summoned is the complete opposite. It was dark and full of malice. I still can't believe that a human could summon something like that."

Syvis previously said that what you summon is a reflection of your soul. Is that owl really what I am? I never thought of myself in that way.

"What should I do now?" I asked.

"For now, don't summon it until we know more. When you touched him, the pact between you two was finalized. If something weird happens, let me know right away."

"O-Okay..." I said, "I should go now..."

I was quite confused without really knowing what to make of all this. I don't feel different than usual, but I can't get the image out of my head of how terrified Syvis and the two older men looked when they saw the owl I summoned.

As I was leaving, Syvis called me one more time, "Darx, we will find out what happened, so don't worry too much. Everything will be fine."

Syvis is still pale as she has not fully recovered and most likely, she only said that to make me feel good, which I appreciate.

As it was night already, I returned to my room and fell asleep.

In the early hours of the morning, someone knocked on my door. It seemed quite strange to me since, at this time, no one should be awake.

"Ryul?" My first thought was that it was him.

No one answered and they knocked on the door once more. What if he's the one who attacked Syvis and me last night? I got up from the bed and grabbed my sword. Little by little, I went closer to the door. I opened the door in one go, ready to attack if necessary, but the one outside was one of the castle maids.

"Hyaa!" The maid gave a low scream then covered her mouth with her hands.

I was quite confused, not knowing why one of the maids would be looking for me at this hour. "Something happens?" Then I realized that behind her was also Ryul. "Ryul?"

"Shss!" The maid whispered, "Harold needs to talk to you. Please follow me."

"Now?" I asked.

"Yes, please don't make noise while you guys follow me."

I looked back at Ryul, who looked just as confused. We walk behind the maid, but she doesn't seem to be heading to Harold's office. What if it's a killer's trap after all? Damn, I left the sword in my room.

"Can you tell me what Harold wants to see us for?" I asked.

"I do not know."

The maid took us to an area of the castle that I had never been to. It seemed an isolated area difficult to get to since we had to go through many paths and stairs to get here. In the same way, we did not see any guards on the way. The maid stopped in front of a door at the end of a corridor and gestured for us to enter.

Doubtful, Ryul opened the door, and inside was Harold with several other people. What's going on?