The summoners and their summons sparred throughout the entire day and all through the evening.
By the end of the day they all collapsed in the center of the ring, Sorzoran’s massive form supporting them all, little Zarahie lay draped over his forehead, panting with her tongue out. The summoner’s all sat stretched out against him, breathing heavily as sweat poured down their foreheads. Aiden’s broadsword was shoved into the ground vertically as he sat against it, undoing his armor and laying it to the side.
“Well done everyone,” Brogen said through gasps. “Who’s hungry?”
A mumbling of ‘ehs’ and groans from everyone signified their answer. Slowly they made their way back into the mansion where they ate dinner in silence. Even the hyper Zarahie seemed to be rather mellow at the moment.
Everyone seemed to regain a little bit of strength and spirit after a hot meal. They no longer shambled around but walked like they were partially alive.
Crowe had already showered and was making his way back to his room, untying his ponytail so his hair fell down straight to a little below his shoulders. The bathroom door opened and Fiera stepped out enveloped by steam, covered only by a towel. Crowe stopped and couldn’t help but stare once again. Slowly Fiera turned around and noticed Crowe standing and staring. Slowly her cheeks flushed red before she came to her senses and started moving her arms to cover her figure.
“S-sorry,” she stammered, “I’m not used to living with people. And what did I tell you about staring?!”
Right at that moment the towel quickly fell, as if yanked, and floated down the hallway. A small fox silhouette could be seen in the flying garment accompanied by the giggle of Zarahie.
Crowe’s eyes widened as he began to blush, he couldn’t make himself look away.
Fiera’s face almost seemed to glow red even though her long hair covered everything important.
“ZARAHIE!!” She shouted out as she covered her breasts with her arms and crouched down.
Sorzoran walked out and looked around.
What’s going o- Whoa…
The black dragon tilted his head.
Not bad for a human.
The sound of skin colliding with skin could be heard throughout the entire mansion as Fiera slapped both dragon and summoner before storming, as much as she could awkwardly storm, into her room.
I didn’t think it possible for a human to be able to hit so hard…
“You’re telling me… she has some weird power in that arm.”
…
Totally worth it…
“Oh yeah…”
The two returned to their room to sleep for the rest of the night.
Crowe awoke to the sound of a tone that he had never heard from his phone before. He got up and rubbed his eyes. He looked over at his phone and, sure enough, the screen was glowing. He checked his notifications. There was an icon he hadn’t seen before and so he selected it. A message popped up saying that someone had issued him a challenge and that they were to meet in person in the Summoner’s Hub before the actual battle was to commence. He set his phone down and laid his head back on his pillow. He’d ask Brogen about it in the morning.
They were all sitting down to eat breakfast when Crowe inquired his mentor.
“Brogen, I got a message on my phone this morning saying that someone has issued me a challenge and to meet them in the… Summoner’s Hub? What’s the Summoner’s Hub?”
“Well, well, well… it appears that news about you is spreading fast. This will surely be the first of many people to challenge you either to see Sorzoran or to try and see if they can best you for bragging rights. As for the Summoner’s Hub… It’s a place that is run strictly by summoners. There’s nobody there that either hasn’t been chosen or has the summoning bloodline within them. It’s basically a place where summoners can walk and talk freely with other summoners. It’s not only just a meeting place but there are bars, pubs, shops, merchants, inns, just about any number of public services available in the normal world can be found for summoners in the Summoner’s Hub. It’s also the main center of official business and so-and-so within the summoning world. It’s where the big bosses of our world handle everything, so to speak. Anyway, is there a date or time within the message telling you when and where to meet your challenger?”
Crowe checked the message again and, sure enough, there was. It said to meet at noon in the central plaza.
“Well it’s a good thing we learned about it then,” Brogen said with a smile as he took a sip of his coffee. “Today, you get to learn about and see the Summoner’s Hub… Oooh, so exciting.”
“Are you always so cheerful?” Fiera asked him. “In the entire time I’ve known you and been here you’ve never had anything but a smile on your face.”
“Pretty much,” he replied taking another sip.
“Well could you stop? It’s too early…” Fiera said as she pushed her food around before taking a bite.
“Well perhaps if you didn’t stay up so late tearing the sleeves off of EVERY one of your hoodies you wouldn’t be so tired and you could be cheerful too!” he said with a laugh.
“Shut up…”
“You’re just mad cause I’m right.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
He chuckled, “Well at any rate our trip today should perk everybody up, it’ll be a great learning experience for everyone, and it’s been a while since I’ve had to go to the Summoner’s Hub as well so it’ll be good to see all the old sights.”
Crowe nodded and shrugged as he took his seat again and they all finished their breakfast as they talked normally.
“So how does one get to the Summoner’s Hub,” Crowe asked as they stepped outside of the mansion.
“That’s easy, just take a look at your phone. You should see a new feature on it somewhere that’s labeled ‘summoner.’ Select it and there’ll be an option somewhere that says ‘Summoner’s Hub.’ Select that and a portal will open that will take us there,” Brogen explained. “Now get a move on, time is starting to run short.”
Crowe checked his phone and did what Brogen said. Right after he chose the Hub option a white summoning circle appeared which promptly turned into a vortex.
Crowe examined it and hesitantly reached out his hand to test it.
This is taking too long, Zarahie said before ramming into Crowe, propelling him forward into the portal.
Race ya! She said to everyone else before diving in herself.
Brogen grinned and chuckled as Fiera stepped in after her summon and he after her.
The feeling was similar to the one that Crowe felt whenever he was pulled into the portal when he was chosen, lasting only for a second or two. He stepped out and he had to take a moment to let it all sink in. There were hundreds of people walking around in an incredibly large space, but not only people, creatures of all sizes and shapes walked with them; some of them were even flying in the large open area. Griffins, large dogs, cats, fairies, trolls, goblins, angels, pegasi, unicorns, basilisks, gargoyles. Just about every fairy tale creature that Crowe had ever heard of was in front of him.
“Damn it, what did I tell you about staring?! You’re going to embarrass us by looking so shocked.” Fiera’s voice snapped him back into focus.
“Right… sorry… So where are we headed?”
“Central plaza right?” Brogen asked rhetorically as he stepped out of the portal, “Follow me this way. Oh… and uh, keep your arm covered unless you want to be mobbed. You’re required to show it in the normal world, but you can only be in this place if you’re a summoner so it’s not necessary to reveal it.”
Crowe quickly tucked his hand into his pocket, careful to keep the tail of the dragon as hidden as possible against the side of his body.
“Good, perhaps we’ll avoid attention today,” Brogen said as he started towards the plaza. “Follow me.”
Crowe, Fiera, and Zarahie followed him, careful not to get cut off by some of the larger creatures that were roaming around. Within a few minutes of travel they found themselves in an area that opened up even more than where they entered. Shops, stalls, and even rugs were set up all around with people trying to hawk their wares. In the center of it all there were several tables and benches set up. Groups of people gathered around them as well as their summon creatures, except for one table where a solitary girl sat, her fingers crossed as she looked around. Crowe recognized her… but it couldn’t be… Alira?
At that moment she looked up and caught his gaze. She stood up quickly and ran over to him, jumping up and hugging him tightly around the neck.
“Crowe! It really is you! I can’t believe it… I mean… I heard, but I didn’t think it’d really be… it seemed like too much of a coincidence but… here you are, and you’re a summoner… and… are you really HIM?” She said excitedly.
“Uh… Am I really who?”
“You know…” she said hushed while looking around before leaning in close to his ear, “The Shadow Dragon’s summoner?”
He too looked around quickly before pulling his left arm out of its pocket and quickly showing her the dragon that adorned it.
“Oh… My… God… You ARE!!!” She said hushed. “Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod… I can’t believe it…”
“Are you the one who challenged me?” Crowe asked her.
“Yes! I wanted to see if it was really you. I mean, even if it wasn’t you I’d still get a chance to look upon the long lost Shadow Dragon… I figured it was a win-win,” She said as she grinned from ear to ear, her long brown hair falling softly down the sides of her face.
Out of the corner of his eye Crowe noticed that Fiera’s face had flushed slightly and that a small scowl was present on her lips.
“Who are all these people?” Alira asked as she turned to face everyone else finally.
“Brogen, I’m Crowe’s mentor,” he said as he held out his hand, a big smile crossing his face.
I’m Zarahie, the little fox floated in front of her, And this is Fiera, Crowe’s girlfriend, She said as she introduced Fiera giggling.
“I AM NOT!” Fiera said, stomping her foot.
Not yet! But you liiiiiiiike him.
“I DO NOT!”
Then why are you getting so defensive? Huh? HUH?!
“Don’t make me dismiss you!”
Zarahie floated down, Party pooper…
“Sorry about her… I’m… Fiera, Crowe’s friend and partial trainer.”
Alira turned towards everybody and smiled.
“My name’s Alira, and I’m so pleased to meet you all!”
“Would you like to move in with the rest of us?” Brogen asked suddenly.
“WHAT!? NO!” Fiera exclaimed.
YES! Zarahie shouted at the same time.
“You mean it?!” Alira asked as she lit up.
“But of course! We could always use more diversity in the mansion and from the looks of it you could use some training yourself.”
“Oh my god… thank you!” she said as she hugged Brogen tightly.
Fiera scowled at Brogen behind Alira’s back mouthing the words, “what are you doing?”
Brogen just smiled even bigger for his answer.
After Alira jumped down off his neck he handed her a piece of paper with the address on it.
“Here you are, there’s plenty of room for you and your summon to train adequately and even better you can hold your battle against Crowe tomorrow there as well.”
“Thank you so much, I’ll let the officials know about it right away, I’m going to go ahead and pack up tonight and be there tomorrow. Until then I gotta go get everything settled. I’m so excited!” Alira exclaimed as she ran off.
“What just happened?” Crowe asked Fiera.
“I think this is his idea of having fun…” she replied back to him with scorn.
YAY! More friends! We’re gonna have so much fun! I can’t wait to meet her partner! Zarahie exclaimed.
“Alright, that’s enough for now. Let’s get home before someone manages to catch a glimpse at Crowe’s arm,” Brogen said as he led them back to the entrance portals.