Take her hand

"Stop your nonsense and let's go to class. We're already late." Her cold hand rests nicely in mine then tightly grabs it as I bring her along. "My name is Martin by the way. And you ?"

"Raybelle but you can call me Ray."

I knock on the door three times then the door opens on a silent staring class and the gargoyle-like figure of professor Johnson. "You're late." he formally stated.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I was with -"

"Take this piece of paper. Both of you," he said without a care in the world for whatever I was saying. It's like talking to a wall, except creepy and covered in scars and missing an eye. We both take a piece of paper and then sit next to each other at the back of the class.

"Rebecca. Come up here. Say what we learned then attempt a summoning." he mechanically ordered.

An elegant student stood up and walked towards the blackboard with somewhat distinguished and noble steps whose rhythm is highlighted by her high heels. She reminds me of Principal White, she seems to radiate with her solar blond hair and shiny gold earrings but also the mole next to her lips gives her a unique charm.

"Summoning enables wizards to make magical creatures appear at their side. To summon a specific creature we can perform a ceremony documented in Summoning Books. We can also try to summon a creature via a basic ceremony that will invoke a creature depending on factors outside of our control like the nature of our magic energy, our lineage, or personality. I will now perform a basic summoning."

Rebecca performed a small cut on her finger tomato her blood dropped onto a piece of paper with magic circles drawn on it. The same as my paper. Then she channeled magical energy into the paper and recited a spell. When she channeled her magic, her blue eyes and solar hair glowed then a huge creature appeared in front of her.

It was a chimera: a beast with the head and the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and its tail is a snake. It was so big it crushed the desks in front of Rebecca when it appeared. If it got up, it would be twice as tall as I am for sure. The beast was ferocious and just the loud sound of its breath vehicles its strength to the whole class. The chimera turned its head towards Rebecca. It seemed to scrutinize her. Then it licked her cheek, bowed down, and disappeared.

Professor Johnson commented "The behavior of the Chimera shows it approved Rebecca as its rightful master. Summons will not always react like that and might even attack their summoners if they feel like it. They are sentient creatures you need to respect and never underestimate."

"She was able to summon a powerful beast. This is because of her magical energy the chimera and because chimeras are known to be the Malkovas' summons of predilection. Rebecca's lineage played a role in both the summoning and most certainly the chimera's acceptance of her as its master."

The teacher called all the students to perform a summoning. Some summoned talking snakes, other invoked warrior gorillas, fairies, forest spirits, or slimes.

Another black dude, the only one I saw yet, stood in front of the class to attempt his summoning. But before that, he said, "My name is Harden Rouge and I wanted to let you all know: Martin is not the only one you should watch out for." When he channeled his magic, his piece of paper burnt to ashes, and instead of reciting a spell he just ordered "Come Forth."

Nothing appeared. I burst out laughing. I realize this is rude but this guy tried to provoke me and he's just a dumbass who can't even summon anything. Other students also laughed at him but Ray indicated to me that "he doesn't have a shadow anymore."

When I noticed, I immediately stopped laughing because my throat was being squeezed by an invisible ****. That's when I saw a shadow on my table reaching from Harden to my body. The teacher stepped on the shadow and it retracted back to Harden. "Go to the secretariat now Mr. Rouge. This is intolerable behavior."

He left the room without a word with a look of satisfaction across his face.

"What the fuck was that ?" I asked after I got my breath back.

"It was the hand of the shadow demon," answered Ray. "Some ethereal creatures can be summoned by parts. This comes in handy for wizards who don't have enough strength to summon the whole creature. The shadow demon's body is the shadow of its summoner. That's why it looked like he didn't summon anything."

I got served for my arrogance again. I'm not forgetting this, Harden Rouge.

Ray summoned a huge humanoid toad as big as her. It said it was a hermit before it disappeared.

Then It was my turn.