Summons

Chapter 5: Training Begins

        Crowe rushed home as fast as he could. Of course there’d be a way to send Sorzoran back… it only made sense, why didn’t he think of it before? His feet pounded against the pavement as he ran as fast as he could to his looming apartment building.

        In front of his building, however, happened to be walking three imposing men. Crowe stopped suddenly, recognizing the griffins on their arms as the thugs he took out the other night.

        “Well, well, well, look who it is,” said the shortest of them.

        Crowe recognized him as the last thug he took out, the one that managed to see him and try to fight back.

        “If it ain’t the guy that can blindside somebody and win. How well do you think you’d do when your opponents can fight back?”

        “This is the guy that took us out?” said the biggest thug, cracking his neck. “ooooh, I never thought I’d get this chance,” he said, a sinister smile crossing his face.

        He held out his hand and a flash of light revealed a whip, about ten feet in length. He stretched it out and cracked it towards Crowe, the tip landing at his feet. Crowe jumped backwards and looked at the other two thugs, both holding out their hands, a club forming in one’s and a sword in the other’s.

        Steeling himself Crowe took a deep breath. He reached down and found the power source from before and took hold, the twin blade formed in his hand. He held it vertically, waiting for one of the thugs to strike.

        The big thug cracked his whip again, this time colliding the tip against the side of Crowe’s leg, causing him to stumble to his knees. The thug with the club rushed forward, arms raised. He swung from the side, hitting Crowe in the side of the ribs, sending him rolling, gasping for air. He managed to pull himself up to his feet in time to see the last thug running towards him with the sword raised, and at the last moment he managed to swing and deflect the blade; however, was unaccustomed to the length and size of the twin blade and so it got knocked out of his hand and skidded across the ground.

        “Sorzoran!” he cried out in a last minute breath of panic, and not an instant later the jet black dragon burst forth from the window onto the street below.

        His teeth glowed white in the moonlight as he snarled at the men, crouched low he circled them, tail twitching violently.

        “Hey look, this kid’s a summoner too! Let’s give him another lesson he won’t forget!”

        All three of them raised their arms simultaneously, the marks of the griffins on their arms glowing faintly, and summoning circles appeared at their finger tips.

        Three griffins burst forth from the circles and flew in circles around Sorzoran. They taunted him, flying down and clawing at him with their front talons, but the dragon was faster, moving just enough to avoid their outstretched limbs. One by one they lunged forward, swiping at him, until finally he caught his chance. One of the griffins lunged forward and Sorzoran dodged, but the griffin delayed one second too long and the dragon bit down on its leg. Swinging his mighty head to the side he slammed the creature to the ground, the sound of crunching bone signaled that at least one of its wings had broken.

        Enraged the remaining two griffins attacked simultaneously, but a sharp swing of Sorzoran’s tail found its mark on the head of one, making it fall unconscious. The third griffin backed away, mocking at Sorzoran from a distance. The dragon took a deep breath before exhaling hard, sending a stream of fire straight into the air at the flying beast. The griffin was immediately enveloped in flame as it plummeted to the ground; its shrieks and roars echoing throughout the night.