Summoner 17, p.32
Summoner 17, page 32
“Thought you guys could use some excitement.” I grinned.
“We all should have listened to you and attacked them first,” Erin sighed with a roll of her amber eyes. “It’s hard to argue with the old guys, though. I’m sorry for not taking your side.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” I said, and then I looked around the crowded grounds. “Have you guys seen Varleth, Orenn, and Layla?”
“They’re just over there.” Erin pointed in the distance, and sure enough, I spotted the surly banisher, the metallogue, and the brunette mage.
The three stood beside each other with Layla atop her hippocrans, Orenn to the right of her, and Varleth on the left, and the mages all wore similarly serious expressions as they looked on toward the walls.
“Excellent,” I breathed a sigh of relief. Aside from my two pregnant lovers, who were being looked after by Braden, and the researchers, who were still Maker knows where, all of my friends and lovers were accounted for.
“Grand Mage Kenefick tried to pair us off as best as possible,” Erin explained. “He thought scattering us among the soldiers and more inexperienced mages would help the army out.”
“It’s not a bad plan by any means,” Gawain added. “Though getting saddled with Lindblum is almost scarier than those monsters.”
Erin playfully swatted Gawain in the arm, but then her expression grew serious.
“How bad do you think this is going to be?” the pilot wondered quietly as she stared up at the orange walls.
“Pretty bad,” I admitted. I easily could’ve lied to the mimic, but it wouldn’t have benefited either of us to do so.
“Says you,” Gawain scoffed, “but when was the last time Erin, Gryff, and Gawain lost a fight? Fucking never, and I’m certainly ready to kick some monster ass.”
The fire mage jutted his chest out and shot Erin and me a cocky grin, and we burst out into laughter, genuine laughter that reached deep within me.
“I’m glad you’re so excited, Maddox,” I chuckled. “But I’ll have you know I’m equally as stoked to destroy some mega monsters.”
“You two are crazy,” Erin giggled as she looked between Gawain and me.
The fire mage and I shared a sideways glance at each other, and then I winked at my orange-haired lover.
“Speaking of--” I began, but Erin cut me off with a smile.
“Make sure we win,” the pilot urged me softly, and her tone was more serious than it had been just moments ago.
“Damn right,” I said, and after exchanging non-verbal goodbyes with my friend and lover, I strode in the opposite direction of the crowd.
If I were going to surprise the herd, I would need to take to the skies and approach them from a different angle than the rest of our army.
So, I reached into my bandolier and retrieved the pale blue, wing-shaped essence crystal of my vingehund. Then I crushed it on the ground, and my canine-like summons appeared before me. She lolled her head to the side and panted, and the gesture would have made her look like a puppy if it weren’t for her impressive horns.
I approached my monster and scratched her behind the ears.
“Are you ready to fight, girl?” I asked as the vingehund’s back leg thumped.
My summons barked out a reply, and then she squatted down so I could hop aboard. I mounted the canine monster and retrieved two more crystals: the ever-reliable speed slug and bullet bass. Then I equipped the vingehund with the summons, and soon, the canine-like monster was coated in chrome armor.
Finally, she stretched out her wings and a low growl escaped from her.
“Let’s do this.” I grinned, and after a running leap, the vingehund took to the sky.
The traffic above Varle was thicker than it had been upon my entry, and we dodged a good number of airships as they departed the Enclave. The vingehund yipped when we were nearly grazed by one of the crafts, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Don’t get too sassy!” I cried out to my summons, and I commanded her to veer to the left.
The monster obliged and steered us away from the crafts, and as we flew upward, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of those ships would end up returning home. How many housed people I knew? People I’d passed hundreds of times a day but never conversed with?
But I forced myself to shake those negative sentiments from my head. The pilots and soldiers in those crafts were more than capable of handling themselves. The Academy didn’t allow its students to slack off, and any who did wouldn’t have gone on to serve in the military.
With one final push of her pale blue wings, the vingehund breached the walls, and as we soared over the emerald green field outside the Enclave, I kept my eyes peeled for the herd.
If the sounds had been any indication, the herd was almost upon us.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, I spied a huge cloud of dust and smoke as it headed right toward us. My chrome-coated summons stiffened, and I gave her a reassuring pat on the top of her head. The vingehund seemed unsettled by the horde of enormous monsters, not that I could blame her.
“Easy, girl,” I soothed her. “Just focus on getting us past them.”
The vingehund let out a yip and picked up her pace, as if she were determined to fly as far away from the mass as possible. Then she ascended higher to put more space between us and the herd, which allowed me a moment to think.
I needed to focus on battle strategy and summon something big to attract the herd once I made it to the field, something powerful that would entice them to attack. So, I considered my options. There was the belial, my sun giant, my baroquer…
Don’t forget about us, Sera whispered in my head.
Hmmm. The Archons and their summons would definitely be of benefit to me.
You need something big? Phi added cheekily. Perhaps I can be of assistance.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I admitted to the winged Archon, and I could practically feel her eyeroll through my consciousness.
It was a poor joke. But the punchline was serious. I can be of assistance, master.
While sending out an Archon was a bold first move, it would easily get the herd’s attention long enough for the army to assemble outside of the Enclave for their initial push.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” I gave in and within seconds, the skin on my chest began to tingle as the white wing tattoos slithered from my body.
Then Phi appeared midair and unfurled her plush white wings just in time to steady herself. The Archon gave me a wicked smile, blew me a kiss, and then flew with great speed to the tail-end of the herd.
I watched as she daintily landed on the field, and once her feet hit the ground, the goddess began to grow rapidly. Her pale white-blue arms stretched out in front of her, which made the gold chains that wrapped around her expanding body rattle, and within moments, she was just as large as the monsters in front of her.
Finally, Phi shook out her long white hair behind her, and sunlight reflected off the broken halo above her head.
“Bow before me, pathetic creatures!” the angelic Archon bellowed to the herd in a booming voice that echoed through the field. “Admit defeat while you still can!”
Only a few monsters halted in place, which evidently wasn’t a satisfactory response to Phi, so she lifted her massive foot and stomped down on the field.
The ground wavered enough to catch the rest of the herd’s attention, and Phi’s face lit up as they began to move toward her.
“Yes, foolish ones, come to me,” she taunted the monsters. “Let me show you what true power looks like.”
The vingehund and I froze in place as we watched the encounter unfold, and the winged Archon moved one of her legs back and used it to brace herself for the onslaught of monsters.
The first creature to slam into the winged goddess resembled a blond-furred bear, and it raised its claws up menacingly in an attempt to get to Phi’s eyes, but the Archon grasped onto its paws before it could get the chance.
“No, no, no,” her voice echoed, and with a flex of her arms muscles, she picked up the monster and tossed it away from her like it was nothing.
I let out a low whistle as the blond bear thudded to the ground.
“That looked painful,” I remarked to the vingehund, and my summons tilted her head at the spectacle.
Phi’s never had patience for Bairlings, Sera spoke up. Even in smaller incarnations, she’s never liked them.
“Good to know.” I smirked as I watched Phi wipe her bloodied hands on her thighs, and the giant Archon grinned widely as the rest of the herd prepared to come at her.
Then I noticed movement from the opposite end of the field, and to my relief, I watched our army finally arrive.
They marched in with purpose, and while I couldn’t single anyone out from my vantage point in the sky, I knew Nia and her father were at the head of the group, and with them in charge, the military was in great hands. The Kenefick family was well-renowned throughout Mistral, and I had a feeling the events of the day would lend the family even greater prestige.
So, as much as I wanted to keep an eye on the troops, I trusted the Keneficks had it under control, and I refocused on my summoned Archon. Then I commanded the vingehund to take us over to where Phi grappled with another huge monster.
The Archon was caught up in the hair-like membranes of a green-gray millipede, and her face was wrinkled in disgust.
“Ewwww,” Phi drawled as the monster writhed against her, and she struggled to pull the creature off her body. “Disgusting pest, get off me!”
Her fingers grasped at the gross insect and finally managed to peel it off her. Once she flung the insect-creature to the ground, she jumped up into the air above it, pumped her white wings to take her higher, and once she was at her desired altitude, she dropped her wings to the side and fell on top of the millipede. The bug-like monster let out a long, high-pitched shriek as Phi crushed it into the ground, and then its body exploded with a splatter of bright green goo.
While I admired Phi’s strategy, the field had buckled like an angry horse under her weight, and I caught sight of a soldier being flung up into the air by the Archon.
So, I dug my heels into the vingehund, and my canine-like summons veered over to the man just in time to sweep him up.
“Thank the Maker,” the soldier proclaimed in a shaky voice, but his eyes were still on Phi’s hands. “I thought I was done for.”
“Not today,” I stated, and then the vingehund flew far away from the winged Archon. We dropped the soldier off near the tree line that flanked the field, and the appreciative man gave us a gracious thank you before returning to the battle.
I stood off to the side for a moment and considered what to do. While Phi was certainly helpful at that size, her earth-shaking footsteps and carelessness were causing the field to quake, and several of our soldiers struggled to remain upright. She was distracting the herd but paid no mind to the army she was supposed to be assisting.
So, I did the only logical thing I could and recalled the Archon.
The winged goddess was reluctant to return, but she had to follow my commands. She shrank back down to her normal height and then dissipated into a thin white mist and settled back into the tattoos on my chest.
Boo, she pouted once she was safely back inside my mind. I was just starting to have fun.
“Sorry, Phi,” I apologized, though the remark wasn’t nearly as sincere as I pretended it to be.
While the Archon grumbled in my consciousness, I noticed an auburn blur in the distance, and I commanded the vingehund to run to it.
Sure enough, it was Layla atop her hippocrans, and she, Varleth, and Orenn were in the midst of fending off another gray-green millipede creature, and I shuddered as I took in its freaky legs.
Once I reached my friends, I jumped off the vingehund, thanked her, and then recalled her to her essence crystal, along with the bullet bass. Once the crystals were stashed away in their respective places, I then summoned one of my other favorite monsters.
The roosa appeared in a burst of smoke and unfurled its wicked-looking stinger as it eyed the millipede. Layla hadn’t seen me yet, but the roosa was hard to miss, and as the petite summoner and our male friends knocked down the millipede, she noticed the scorpion monster and waved over at me.
Her excitement waned instantly, however, and her hazel eyes grew round with fear.
“Gryffie, behind you!” Layla called out, and I turned just in time to see a purple mass as it headed in my direction.
So, I commanded my roosa to turn away from the millipede and help me fend off the incoming next enemy.
It was a lizard-like monster, and it scurried toward me and my roosa much faster than I was prepared for. In the bright sunlight, its multicolored scales glittered like amethyst and garnet, and it would have been a beautiful sight if they weren’t covering an enormous reptile hellbent on killing us.
The creature’s forked violet tongue flicked out from behind its pointed fangs, and my roosa reflexively twitched its pincer as it stared the lizard monster down.
My heart raced as the two monsters sized each other up. I wasn’t sure who was going to make the next move, but based off the creature’s body language, I could tell this fight was going to be intense.
The lizard struck first, and its tongue lashed out toward us, but the roosa and I managed to dodge it before it could strike us down. Then the roosa twitched excitedly in front of me, and I could feel it was ready for a fight.
“Steady,” I urged my monster. “We can’t get too cocky here.”
The lizard monster must have sensed the roosa’s fearlessness and let out an intimidating screech, but my scorpion summons was unfazed by the battle cry and retracted its stinger.
The roosa stood idle for a moment and waited for the opportune moment to strike. Then the enormous lizard’s purple tongue shot out again, and right as it did, I commanded the roosa to strike.
“Do it now!” I yelled, and the scorpion monster’s deadly stinger pricked the monster’s tongue before it could reach us.
The violet creature shrieked and twitched in pain and tried to retract its tongue, but it wouldn’t return to its fanged mouth. The paralyzed appendage piled limply in front of the beast, and the lizard grew more distressed by the moment.
Without the use of its tongue, the lizard’s only remaining advantage was its stature, and the creature’s tremendous height seemed to affect how quickly my roosa’s poison took hold.
So, we needed to go another round for it to be effective.
“Strike again,” I commanded my summons with a wave of my will. “Aim for the neck this time!”
The roosa happily twitched, and then the scorpion monster delivered another sting to the violet lizard’s vulnerable neck. This time, the monster was paralyzed instantly, and the reptilian creature let out a death rattle before collapsing to the ground. The earth shook from the impact, and I braced myself against the roosa’s dark exoskeleton. Then the monster dissipated right before my eyes.
I let out a victory whoop and grinned at my roosa. “Fuck, yes, buddy! We did it!”
“Hell, yeah, that was awesome!” Layla exclaimed, and the petite summoner, sans hyppocrans, raced over to high-five me. We slapped palms, and Layla’s wide hazel eyes were bright with excitement.
But our enthusiasm was premature, and another piercing monster cry split the air as the ground shook beneath us.
“Shit!” I gasped as I spun to face the noise.
Now that the lizard was subdued, we had a new challenger, and this one was particularly gnarly looking.
Not to be outdone by the violet-scaled monster, this creature was a being made of pure metal. It appeared reptilian in nature and sort of resembled a turtle, with an enormous steel shell that rose high into the air and an equally metallic four-legged body underneath. A pair of pure white eyes glared at us over its snapping maw, and the creature let out a trilling screech as it stomped toward us.
“Let’s go!” I yelled as I reached out for Layla, and I gripped the petite mage’s arm and pulled her out of harm’s way before the enormous monster could step on us.
The roosa followed suit, and once we were clear of the metal turtle, the scorpion monster eyed me expectantly, like it was ready to go again.
“I’m not sure if that’s a great idea,” I addressed my summons. “Your stinger might not work up against metal.”
The scorpion lowered its stinger, and I sent a wave of gratitude to the creature and thanked it for all of its help. Then I recalled my summons, and as I stashed the essence crystal back into my bandolier, I glanced over at Layla, who had an odd smile on her face.
“Bethel?” I asked with a frown. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”
The pretty summoner grinned even wider at me. “I have an idea, but it might be a little crazy.”
“Can’t be any crazier than anything else we’ve witnessed today.” I smirked, but the expression vanished as the steel turtle bellowed again.
“We’ll need your sprucebore, my keichim, aaaaaaand… ” She paused and craned her neck as she looked around the field. Then she seemed to have found what she was looking for and waved at a mage off in the distance.
The woman was distracted by a monster nearby and didn’t reply, so Layla attempted again to get her attention.
“Mella!” Layla shouted, and the golden-robed mage finally glanced over. She inclined her head to signal Layla before she sprinted over to us, and her blue-black hair streamed behind her.
“Bethel?” the mage panted, out of breath, and then she wiped her sweat-slicked forehead with the sleeve of her blue-trimmed robe.
The second I spied the trim, I knew exactly what Layla had in mind.
“Gryff, this is Mella Kal, a third-year water mage,” Layla introduced us, and Mella shot me a pretty smile before she focused her gaze on the metal turtle.
“Maker, that thing is freaky,” Mella quipped, and her almond-shaped eyes widened.
Layla placed a hand on the water mage’s shoulder. “It is, but I may have an idea on how to take it down.”
“Spill it, Layla, I’m all ears,” Mella said with a raised eyebrow, and I wondered how the two knew each other.
