Summoner 19, page 16
part #19 of Summoner Series
“That’s one hell of a lesson,” Varleth snorted. “Can’t say I envy him at all.”
“Well, if you trust in him, summoner, I will as well,” Gawain said as he glanced to the other side of the field. “I have to admire someone who came to a foreign land and insists on fighting for them. And who knows, maybe a moose is precisely the secret weapon we needed all along.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh at that, and soon Varleth and Gawain joined me. The fire mage brought up valid concerns about Mur, but I had faith the boy would fill the warrior position just fine with time, and who knows.
Maybe all we needed was a moose.
As our stroll continued, we soon remembered the fact that the Shadowscape was seemingly never-ending, which made it difficult to assess how far we had to walk. Gawain, Varleth, and I remedied this by deciding to split up further, and each of us walked around slowly in an attempt to find an edge to the cloaking magic.
With every step, I felt my enthusiasm wane.
Without the gated graveyard, trees, or flower-studded paths, it was impossible to guess just where the castle would be. I kicked around the earth in an attempt to see if the scorched grass covered the blooms, but to nobody’s surprise, there was nothing but blackened earth beneath my feet.
However, it gave me an idea.
I reached into my bandolier and retrieved the pale blue, wing-shaped essence crystal of my vingehund. I smashed it to the ground, and once the burst of smoke vanished from the air, my winged canine monster stood before me.
“Hey there, pretty girl,” I greeted the blue creature, and she let out a cheerful bark in response. I approached her and gave her an affectionate scratch behind the ears before I mounted her. “I need you to take me up a bit. I want to see if I can get an aerial view of the cloaking spell.”
The vingehund let out another cheerful bark, and then she pumped her large blue wings in the air. Seconds later, we rose up into the air, and I kept an eye out for anything that appeared amiss.
Gawain and Varleth looked up at me from their places in the field, and at first, they went straight for their weapons, as if they thought we were under attack, but then they seemed to realize my intentions, and both gave me supportive thumbs-up.
As my vingehund ascended higher up, a chill ran down my spine. The Shadowscape was already freezing enough, but the added altitude only made it worse. An unnerving feeling spread through me as I got a closer look at the deep gray sky, and I forced myself to look away before the dread could creep any further.
I was certainly ready to return home to Mistral and leave this sad and soulless place behind me.
Once we reached an optimal height that allowed me to survey the field at a better vantage, I commanded the vingehund to hover in place, but before I focused on the ground below, I made sure to study the sky to make sure my summons and I were alone up here. We’d been fortunate enough to keep shy of any stray monsters, but that luck could change at any moment, and I wouldn’t put it against Carth to pull a surprise aerial attack.
Luckily for us, the sky was mostly clear, so I returned to the task at hand. However, nothing looked amiss. The darkness certainly made it difficult to spot anything, but I tried to focus nonetheless.
Finally, a shimmer caught my eye.
“Fly that way,” I instructed my vingehund, and the canine monster happily obliged. We flew to the right of where Gawain and Varleth were studying, and as we got closer, I noticed a thin silver line along the ground.
Was that our cloak?
I made note of the location and then instructed my monster to fly us on to the other side. Now that we had one edge figured out, there had to be another, and maybe it was just beyond where my team stood. It was hard to determine the parameters from the ground, but the view from above gave clarity to the problem.
We flew over to where Braden, Almasy, Mur, and Orenn stood at the ready, and about a hundred feet past them, we located another silver line.
“Guys, over here!” I called down to my friends, but they didn’t hear me, so I commanded the vingehund to fly down lower.
My teammates finally spotted me, and Braden offered me a confused wave as I hovered closer to them.
“I think I’ve found the lines of the magic,” I explained, and my teammates’ eyes widened.
“Really?” Braden asked. “Wow, that was fast.”
“I’m not entirely sure if it’s the right edge, but I found a similar one on the other side, so that can’t be a coincidence,” I explained. “I figured the enchantment would only spread so far, but I wasn’t certain it would have a distinct line.”
The big summoner nodded. “Sounds right to me. If you think it’s something, lead us to it.”
Braden and the others followed me over to where the vingehund and I had spotted the shimmer, but the summoner frowned when I pointed out the soft silver glimmer against the earth.
“I don’t see anything,” he noted as he craned his neck around.
“What?” I frowned, and I blinked rapidly to make sure my eyes weren’t trying to trick me. “What do you mean, it’s right there?”
“I don’t see anything,” Braden repeated, and my former roommate squinted his eyes as tightly as he could as he studied the area I’d gestured to.
What the fuck was going on? The silver shimmer was there, plain as day. Why couldn’t he see it?
“Orenn, Mur, Almasy, you see it, right?” I asked the other members of my team, and one by one, the mages and the moose came over to the spot, but just like Braden, they didn’t seem to see it.
“Gryff, I can’t see anything but blackened grass,” Almasy reported. “Which is really saying something, because I’d be able to sense any abnormalities in the earth.”
“You can’t sense anything?” I asked, and a wave of confusion crashed over me. What the fuck was going on? How come I was the only one who could see the silver line?
“Maybe I could try to feel for it,” Almasy offered, and the earth mage placed his hands on the ground and closed his eyes tightly. He kneeled down to get closer, and his eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated.
While he did that, I looked to the others, but Mur and Orenn simply shook their heads.
“Sorry, Gryff,” Orenn apologized. “I don’t see it, either.”
“Me, either,” Mur replied, and the moose shapeshifter’s face was crestfallen. I could tell he was saddened by the fact that he couldn’t see what I could, and I too shared in that sentiment.
Suddenly, Almasy perked up.
“There’s something, but it’s faint,” he reported, and his disappointed expression faded quickly as he straightened up. “I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s a little bit of a hum that I didn’t hear before. I probably just needed to focus.”
“Oh, thank the Maker, I was worried I was losing my mind,” I sighed in relief. If the earth mage could feel even a hint of the magic, there was hope for us yet.
“Honestly, I was, too, but there’s definitely something going on here,” Almasy replied, and the earth mage closed his eyes again. “I’m going to try to connect with it. The earth over here is so odd, it’s like my magic doesn’t know how to handle this specific environment.”
“Well, keep concentrating, and try to see what you can do,” I advised the earth mage.
“What should the rest of us do?” Braden asked. “I know we can’t see it or anything…”
“Hold tight,” I instructed the ox-like summoner. “I’m going over to the other side to fill in Gawain and Varleth. They don’t have earth magic, either, so I’m not sure they’ll be able to see something, but maybe they’ll have some ideas on how to make the magic more visible.”
“Sounds good.” Braden nodded. “Let us know if you need anything more.”
“Will do.” I nodded back, and then I commanded the vingehund to fly back across the field. As my canine summons flew ahead, I studied the barren earth beneath us, and suddenly, I had another idea.
What was the cloaking spell other than an illusion of sorts?
So, I reached into my mind and called out to Phi. I sensed the white-winged Archon stir, and a small yawn rang out inside my consciousness.
Well, well, well, it’s about time, master, Phi drawled. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten about me.
“I could never forget about you, Phi,” I chuckled. “Actually, I’m in need of your assistance.”
Ooooh, fun! the goddess declared in a happy voice. How can I help?
“Well, we’ve discovered that Carth put an enchantment over the area,” I explained. “You’re the one who uses illusion magic, so I was wondering if you’d be able to help us break it.”
That would explain why the castle disappeared, Phi noted. Hmm. Okay. You’ll need to summon me, of course. It’s hard for me to deduce from all the way in here.
“Fine,” I agreed. “But no funny business.”
I swear, the Archon insisted. Nothing funny. Just here to help. Carth can’t hide from us any longer.
So, I released my holds on the Archon, and after her tattoos faded from my chest, the white-winged goddess appeared before me. My vingehund was slightly startled by the sudden appearance, but she let out a satisfied bark when she realized who it was.
“Hi, baby,” Phi greeted her former monster as she pumped her wings in place. Then she hovered beside the canine summons and scratched her behind her ears.
The vingehund cooed at the affection, and the sight was sort of touching.
“Okay, can you see the silver lines on either side of the field?” I inquired.
The Archon gave the pale blue monster a kiss on the snout and then surveyed the area with narrowed red eyes.
“I can see something,” she confirmed. “I might be able to see it better if I went up higher.”
The goddess pumped her white-feathered wings in the air and ascended higher, and I watched her crane her neck around the field for a bit until she broke out into a grin.
“Oh, yeah, that’s a cloaking spell alright,” Phi called down to me. “A fairly good one, but not better than one I could’ve made.”
“How do we get rid of it?” I asked.
Phi tilted her head to the side, and her long white hair spilled over her shoulder. “I have an idea, but it’s likely going to require all of us.”
“As in the other Archons?” I clarified.
The white-winged goddess nodded. “It’s a tricky spell, but I think I can break it, as long as I have a little assistance.”
“Then let’s do it,” I agreed.
I was ready to rip this veil apart and finally get after Carth.
“You should advise your friends to step back,” Phi suggested as she looked down at my teammates below us. “There’s a possibility this could get messy, and I don’t think you want them to get hurt.”
“I definitely don’t,” I said before I commanded my vingehund to fly over to Varleth and Gawain, and the pair of mages eyed me with concern as we approached them.
“Gryff, what’s going on?” Varleth asked as the vingehund hovered just over him. “What’s the Archon doing out here?”
“She thinks she knows a way to destroy the cloaking spell,” I explained to him. “But she’s worried there might be an aftershock, so I need you guys to step back.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Gawain wondered as he gave Phi a sidewards glance. There wasn’t any love lost between him and the Archon who’d once inhabited his mind, and I knew the fire mage was still uncomfortable in her presence.
“Phi thinks it’ll just take us and the Archons.” I shook my head. “I know there aren’t many places to hide, but I would move as far over as you can just in case.”
“Will do.” The fire mage nodded, and then he turned to Varleth. “Shall we, Prost?”
“Call out if you need us to do anything,” Varleth insisted to me, and then he and Gawain took off.
With those two taken care of, I instructed my monster to take us to the other side to fill the rest of the team in.
Just as Gawain and Varleth had, the other half of the squad seemed wary of Phi’s presence.
“Gryff, what’s up?” Braden prompted me when I landed the vingehund on the ground.
Almasy had risen from his spot on the ground, and the earth mage wore a look of disappointment while Mur and Orenn had their eyes fixated on Phi.
I repeated the plan back to them and instructed them to step away.
“I can try to make a natural earth shield,” Almasy suggested. “Varleth and Gawain can join us so we’ll all be in one place.”
“Sounds perfect to me,” I agreed. “Do what you think you can. I have no idea how this magic works, and I don’t need anyone caught up in the crossfire.”
Almasy jumped right into it, and as he began to create a shelter for my teammates, I considered the best course of action for myself.
If I was going to help Phi, I would need extra mobility, so I reached through the bond and used my magic to borrow my vingehund’s wings. They were large and impressively strong, and adrenaline coursed through me as they sprouted out from my back. Now that I was equipped with wings and bullet bass armor, I felt like a warrior angel myself.
After I gave the group a brief wave, I pumped my wings and took off into the air to rejoin Phi, and as I ascended above the field, I reached back into my mind and unlocked the wards that kept the other goddess bound.
“I need all hands-on deck,” I instructed them. “Phi and I are going to break this cloaking enchantment, and we need magical assistance.”
Yes, master, the remaining Archons all replied in unison, and the chorus of gorgeous voices sent a chill down my spine.
I rejoined Phi high above the field, and the Archon’s red eyes glittered with excitement.
“The wings suit you,” she complimented me as I hovered beside her. “It’s a sexy look on you, my master.”
“Thanks,” I said, and I slightly breezed over the compliment. “So, what do we do now? Blast the veil?”
“Essentially,” Phi replied in a vague tone. “I’m going to try to overpower the shield. I’m hoping that if I can push enough of our magic through it, it’ll shatter.”
“Fair enough logic,” I assessed. If anyone was going to know what to do, it would be Phi, so I was ready to try whatever she suggested.
“Are you prepared, master?” the white-haired goddess asked me.
“I’m ready.” I nodded. I wasn’t sure what we were about to do, or if it was even going to work, but we had to do anything we could to lift this spell.
“Good.” The white-winged Archon nodded back, and then she inclined her chin upwards. “Now, I’m fairly certain the top of the veil is just a little above us. I’ll locate the center, and once I give you the signal, I want you to concentrate on the veil dissolving. The others as well.”
“That’s it, just concentration?” I clarified as my eyebrows creased together.
“That’s all,” Phi confirmed. “I’ll do the rest.”
We flew up a few feet higher, and Phi suddenly got an excited expression before she soared over to a certain spot and then held her hands out in front of her.
“This is it,” she declared. “Hold your hands next to mine.”
I joined her at the spot, and sure enough, I sensed a light hum and then noticed a similar silver shimmer. I held my hands next to the Archons and then reached into my mind.
“Everyone do as Phi says,” I instructed the other goddesses. “When she gives us the word, I want you to channel your magic through my hands and help us destroy the spell.”
Yes, master, the Archons replied again.
“Ready whenever you are,” Phi announced, and the goddess’ red eyes were ablaze as she focused on the spot. I noticed a white glow snake out from her palms, and it seemed to grow brighter with every second.
I took a deep breath.
Show time.
I focused my mana and my attention on the same spot. I pictured a physical veil and then imagined it shattering all around us, only to reveal an elaborate black marble palace beneath us. I imagined the grounds, the flowers, the fountain in the front… every detail I could recall from my week in the Shadowscape.
As I concentrated my magic, a similar glow appeared around my hands. Holy shit, was it working? I forced myself to refocus, and as I did, the slight shimmer I’d glimpsed moments ago began to intensify.
Phi’s eyes were closed now, and her eyebrows creased together as the glow around her hands magnified. She was an impressive sight to behold, and her concentration only made me work harder.
“Push, Gryff!” the white-winged Archon instructed me. “We’re getting close, we just need a surge to break through it!”
I took another breath and sensed the other goddesses stir within me.
Take our magic, Sera spoke up.
Yes, master, our magic is yours, Miralea chimed in.
My body was suddenly overwhelmed with adrenaline, and the magic from my hands glowed almost as bright as the sun as the goddesses lent me their own power. The magic was fucking intense as it surged through me, and I felt like I was conducting electricity. The force of it made my head ache, so I closed my eyes and concentrated on the visualization.
We needed this veil to dissolve. We needed to destroy Carth’s magic.
“Ahhh!” I yelled through gritted teeth as my hands burned from the swell of magic, and suddenly, a burst flew through me, and I cried out as I was consumed in an intense inferno of tingling and burning.
My entire body vibrated as the magic coursed through my veins, but after a moment or two, the feeling vanished entirely. It had only been a second or two, but the agony made it feel longer. As I waited for my heart rate to quiet down, I opened my eyes tentatively, and when I did, I was greeted by a familiar sight.
The black marble palace.
The Archons and I had done it. The veil was destroyed, and the field was once again decorated with black-bricked trails and strange bursts of flowers. I never thought I’d be so grateful to see Carth’s palace again after my week here as a prisoner, but as I noted the towering spires, a wave of relief flooded through me.
