Test Summoning: Apocalypse

"Are you sure she's ready?" Amis asked me as we stood outside Jummi's Baubles. The poor guy was nervous. He hadn't seen his wife in over three years or even exchanged letters. Most of that was because Jummi was too ashamed to write.

He was like this on most of the journey back to Leoren from Gesper. We had cut it close getting Lia, Tizek and Void to Advancement 2. Close as in Void crested the threshold after killing the boss of an outdoor dungeon called Grand Marshes. It was a disgusting giant frog which had a mild venom effect. Tizek got a lot of practice using Slow Venom on Lia.

Much of the conversation back from Gesper was about my decision to wrestle the sheep monster which helped keep Amis' mind off his stress. I had, at the time, thought it was a good idea. As are many of my good ideas, it wasn't that good. I didn't run a risk of being killed or crippled by the monster. I did get a bunch of hoof-shaped bruises on my face. It was worth it, though. Seeing Void and Tizek show up to see me with a dirty brown woolly critter in a headlock was gold. I even got Tizek interested in greased pig contests when I brought it up. Void and Lia? Not so much.

I gave a hearty whack on Amis' back. "Come on, man. When you see what you like, be bold."

"My lord speaks truth," Tizek added in support. "Seize your victory."

"It's not good to leave things unresolved," Lia said. She glanced at me briefly. I recognized it was a lesson she learned after our conversation at the café in Orvis. Void only nodded in agreement.

Amis took a deep breath "I'm ready."

We followed Amis up to the door to the shop. He gently touched the handle and rested his hand. "I recall carving this."

"Stop dallying," Void gently nudged.

Amis' hand gripped the handle and pulled the door open. I winced reflexively expecting the trashvalanche that wasn't to come. When we entered the store to the gentle tinkle of the wooden bell, Amis paused and looked around in awe. I could tell he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

He walked slowly to one of the podiums holding a slate and brushed his hand across the surface. He then knelt to the floor and examined the scrapes while mumbling about how he could fix the damage. After, he stood and began to circle the shop's perimeter. He touched the sparkling clean windows and tasteful décor on the walls.

Amis was overwhelmed. I could see little beads of tears forming in his eyes as he looked at his former home. He stood in the center of the room with a distant look on his face. He then composed himself, wiped his eyes and walked to the counter.

He looked to the back and hesitated. He looked like he was wondering if he could walk in there or treat the place like any other store in the city. He eventually determined it wasn't his place to intrude on his ex-wife's home and touched the bell. The sound rang out over the shop.

"Coming," Jummi's voice called from the back. Amis' hands gripped into fists as he tried to calm his nerves.

Then Jummi came out from the back room. Like the last time I saw her, she was still in her frumpy clothing. Her hair was hanging down to her shoulders and she had a pair of thin-framed glasses perched on her nose. She was looking down at a slate in her hand and didn't notice us. "What can I he…"

Jummi paused her sentence halfway through when she looked up and saw Amis. After a moment where she appeared to be hit with a paralysis spell, she dropped the slate in her hands. "Amis!?"

The two awkwardly stared at each other. Both Amis and Jummi fumbled on their words trying to find something to say. I felt a tap on my back and turned to see Void. She nodded to the door. "Let's give them their space."

Tizek, Lia and Void filed out of the shop. Before I could exit, Amis interrupted me. "A moment, Oliver."

I turned and saw him looking at me with a grateful look in his eye. Jummi was staring at me with a look of confusion. I understood her perplexion. The last time I saw her, she was trying proposition me for a quickie and now I brought the love of her life back to see her.

Amis strode across the room with his hand extended. When I reached out to shake, he grabbed it and faced my palm upward. He then placed a small hinged red velvet box in my hand. The surface was soft on my skin. He looked at me with tears forming in his eyes. "Thank you."

I flipped the box open and saw the contents. Inside was a beautiful turquoise ring. The surface was etched with an intricate vine design with graceful blade leaves. It was far and above what I was expecting him to produce.

"The hylis vine symbolizes an unbreakable bond," Amis whispered. "You've given me my love back, so it's only fair I bless your union."

To say I was overwhelmed by the gesture is an understatement. Between my dud reputation and my focus on trying to solve the apocalypse, I never got much in the way of gratitude from anyone outside Void, Lia and Tizek. It felt nice.

Instead of responding with words, I gripped his hand and gave it a hearty shake. "Good luck. If you end up moving back, let's get a beer or two."

"I'd like that," Amis said before turning back to Jummi. I stowed the box with the ring in my pouch and decided it was time to leave.

Sorry, fabricated audience in my head, as much as I'd like to narrate the tearful reunion, some things are best left to privacy. As I left, I paused and looked at the sign on the shop door. It was a magical light driven device currently set to Open. I flicked the switch and set it to Closed before leaving.

Back outside, I saw my three favorite people in existence waiting for me. I realized tomorrow evening we were going into a dangerous battle in the ancient catacombs beneath the slums. We didn't have much time left and I wanted to make the most of it before then. Maybe it was my time loop instincts talking, but I felt the urge to just hang out.

"What are you thinking?" Void said, reading my face like a scroll.

"I was thinking about how I'd like to spend quality time with you. I realized I haven't done much with Tizek and think I'd like to just hang out with my buddy," I replied.

"What about me?" Void asked.

I smiled. "We have tonight. And I figured we four could hit the carnival tomorrow. We need an excuse to be out late for Doun and Mira."

"I like that. But what about the stuffed rabbit?" Void asked.

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"I'm confident I'll get it for you," I replied.

"No," she said. "What if it gets damaged during the fight?"

I couldn't help laughing which was joined by Lia and Tizek. Lia recovered first. "That's what you're worried about? We could always get another one."

"No. It's too special to ever be replaced," Void protested. She loved rabbits that much. I wondered if it was eating her up inside to know Lisa is rabbit-clan. Nah, they have a really good mental separation between animals that look like them and actual people. I'd probably have to worry about Void wanting to deck Lisa the moment they meet. I'd also bet on Void now that she's Advancement 2, which puts her almost on-par with an average Advancement 4.

"Shall we break then? Tizek and I will head off and you two can have the rest of the day?" I suggested.

"Not yet," Void interrupted. "I'd like to go to the Guild HQ."

"Why?" Lia asked. "We sold our cores at the Guild franchise in Gesper and we don't need to update our Advancement right now."

"I want to form a party," Void replied. "I feel like we should make this official."

"Lady Void? What of our growth?" Tizek queried.

"We can't keep Oliver safe in Advancement 2 dungeons and it'll take us over a year of constant fighting to reach 3 from Advancement 1 monsters," Void replied. "I'd rather we focus our effort healing Oliver's mana pool after we stop the ritual."

That made a lot of sense to me. The three of them were going to peak out at Advancement 3. Going into an Advancement 2 at the appropriate Advancement level was risky enough, doing it with just three of them would be a terrible idea. And bringing me along? The Guild wouldn't even let me through the door since you have to be one Advancement below at minimum to be allowed entry.

"I don't have a problem," Lia added.

"Then that settles it. Off to the magical DMV!" I announced.

"What's a Dee-Em-Vee, my lord?" Tizek asked since the English acronym didn't carry over.

"The most boring place in the world where I came from," I said.

The other three groaned when they realized what going to the Guild HQ meant, even in the slower early afternoon. I opened my arms wide to guide the trio away from Jummi's Baubles and toward Victory Square. "If we're lucky, Illian will let me to the front of the line again. Celebrity, even as boring as mine, has its perks."

We began making our way toward Victory Square. As we walked, Tizek pointed to one of the various billboards set up around the city. "My lord, look at that."

I usually ignored the boards since I had seen them literally thousands of times. I knew what was on them. Right now, they'd be advertising the meet-and-greet outside the castle. There would be a wooden stage and venue set up with security fencing on the main plaza right outside the castle gates. The four, well now five since Aoto was alive, would be there to promote their recent growth to Advancement 2 and introduce them to the public. If all went well, they'd be shaking the hands of long lines of residents and not trying to survive monsters falling from the sky.

"It's not a big deal. That happens every time," I said.

"I thought Aoto died every time before," Tizek replied. "Does Princess Iriana become betrothed to his corpse?"

Wait, what? The third princess marrying Aoto's corpse. What is Tizek talking about? I paused and walked over to the billboard Tizek was talking about. Tacked over the top of the usual advertisements for brothels, restaurants and babysitting services was a giant official notice.

The design on the post scroll was impressively tacky. I could see why Tizek, who couldn't read and had minimal understanding of Vialinan culture, instantly recognized it as a wedding announcement. Surrounding the images of Aoto and Iriana was a thick collection of images. Bells, doves, flowers, streamers and thrown grains crowded the paper.

In text beneath the image, the bill listed the celebration for the betrothal of Aoto to Iriana. I gaped at the paper. What was the king thinking? I knew royalty here was like how it was in the past on Earth and the children not lined up for the throne were married into noble houses or foreign powers to strengthen alliances. Was Ormond trying to ingratiate himself to the strongest of the heroes by marrying off his third daughter to him?

"What does it say?" Lia had joined me and was looking at the text.

I read it to her. "King Ormond is pleased to announce the engagement of the Hero Aoto and Third Princess Iriana. We are holding a celebration before Castle Vialina on the 29th of Jaulis where you have the opportunity to meet the happy couple. Bring along your families and meet the other heroes: Aurelie, Disha, Damu, Carolina and Oliver."

I needed my beer again to spit it out. Me? What did he want me there for? All the other times it was just to press the flesh with the others. Ormond never cared about me. Now I'm listed on this meet-and-greet and no one bothered to tell me.

"This must be a first," Void said at my other side. "Maybe there's a letter at the Teeth for you."

I shrugged. "Screw 'em. I'm not going to rush to his little party at the last minute after he dumped me out here with nothing. Not that it didn't end up being the best thing to happen to me."

Void sucked in her breath. "Don't say that out loud. You'll need to make an appearance if you have an official summons. You don't want to make him mad."

"But my lord is disrespected," Tizek protested.

"No, she's right, buddy," I replied. "I'm not important or powerful enough to say no to this. I'll bring you three along at least." This was irritating me since it was going to interrupt my plans to propose to Void. I had to think of a good way to try and get both in. Maybe be fashionably late by a few minutes.

The subject of my sudden summons had to be set aside. We had bigger tasks at hand and we continued on to the Guild HQ.

My minor celebrity perk proved potent to help us when made it to our destination, though the jump to the head of the line wasn't as quick as last time. When we arrived at the Exterminator's Guild HQ and pulled a ticket for a new party registration, we ended up sitting the dull waiting room for around 15 minutes. The thing about bureaucracies is they have a localized black hole in the basement dilating time. Each minute in normal space translates to around one eternity when all you have to do is stare at a black screen with numbers on it.

"Hero Oliver and party, please go to window 1. Hero Oliver and party, window 1."

We hefted ourselves up from the bench and shuffled our way to window 1, knocking eons of dust and grime from our aching bones. When we arrived at the window, I saw Illian waiting to see us. His severe eyes passed over the four of us as he peered down from his rather impressive height.

"I see you're finally ready to form a party." Illian gestured to follow him through a door on the first level to the rear of the building. "What changed your minds?"

"We're committed to sticking with Oliver," Void said. I listened to her talk as we maneuvered through the rear hallways to the party ritual room. I hadn't been in there for a few hundred years at this point, not since we created the party after I first met Void and learned we couldn't advance because of my mana trauma. "Since we aren't going to go any further than Advancement 3, we decided to make it official."

Illian gave a sage nod. "Yes, that's wise. Gain some Advancements then help the hero Oliver with his growth. Knowing your limits is good. And don't feel ashamed. Most Exterminators are satisfied with Advancement 3 and can make a good living from Advancement 0 and 1 dungeons."

I hoped it wouldn't come to that. The Mage's Guild texts indicated mana trauma healed slowly over time, but the rate wasn't well understood. If we didn't find a way to heal, I'd really be an old man. That said, Illian was right. What should I care if we spent our lives plying Advancement 1 dungeons? Life wasn't about getting rich, after all.

Besides, it's not like we had to be Exterminators. I could fall back on academics again and see if I could find an application for optics here. Or learn something else. The future was limitless and it didn't need to be all about fighting monsters.

We entered the ritual room and I looked around. My memories were, at best, fuzzy and I was enjoying refreshing them. The room was made out of tasteful wood walls with a ceiling of leaves and a floor of low grass. Magical lights set into the ceiling produced a soft yellow light to keep the living carpet vibrant and healthy. There was a hint of moisture where a water mage had recently sprayed the floor.

In the center of the room was a circular granite slab set in the floor. A ring of magical circuitry was carved along the outer diameter and met in the center along four equally spaced circuitry lines. The circuitry divided the slab into four equal parts like a big stone pie. Waiting in the room was a coyote-clan woman mage. I knew she would be Earth attuned to perform the ritual.

"I'll review the details. The party bond allows you to share essence with one another. The members will have to be within the same dungeon or within 100 meters of the monster slain for it to work. Everyone has to contribute as well. You won't be able to sit around and let the others do the work. Otherwise, no one gains essence," Illian explained. This was the main reason why King Ormond didn't have an Advancement. He couldn't lounge around in a litter while a party did all the work for him. He would have to put himself at risk and the political system wouldn't allow for it.

Illian gestured to the stone. "Each of you stand in one segment at the center. After, using your right hand, grip each other's wrists to form the shape of a square. Then with your left, press your palm against the person's opposite you and entwine your fingers. We must have each of you connected via the palm to succeed."

I stood opposite Void because I wanted an excuse to hold hands with her and not her wrist. I did it back when we first met and she agreed to join our little band. It was the first time I touched her and it was my excuse back then in my awkward crush phase. I felt another pang of remorse from yet another memory stolen from her. I gripped Lia's wrist to my left and then entwined my fingers with Void in front of me. Lia and Tizek did the same and the ritual began.

The ritual went quickly. There weren't chants, sacrificing of fair maidens or burning of incense. We just stood in the circle, touched each other for a few seconds while the Earth mage did something and injected mana into the circle. The circuitry lit up with a gentle amber light and then, after I felt a slight tingle on my skin, the light abruptly vanished.

"Now the ritual is complete. You can come here at any time to rescind your bond. If one rescinds, the bond for all is broken," Illian stated.

"That was disappointing," Void said.

Illian laughed. "It's the same for all first-time parties. There isn't a grand feeling or change. The effect is subtle and only to help mitigate arguments over who gets the final stroke of a kill."

Void grumbled and we released each other. We stepped off the stone circle and followed Illian to the door. As he opened it, he turned. "I have gotten a few good reports on you, particularly gushing praise from the administrator at our annex in Orvis. We've also never had a member complete five lost item quests in a single day. I know it seems small, but those five people were very happy to have their belongings returned."

"My lord is magnificent," Tizek blurted out. Illian gave him a side-glance and continued out of the room.

After we updated the Advancement rating for the others, we decided to split for the rest of the afternoon. I took Tizek to have some quality bonding time since all he's done was follow me around for the last three months.

Void warned me to not take Tizek to wrestle a greased pig. I assured her we wouldn't, though I didn't say it was because I didn't have time to buy oil and find a place willing to rent me a pig. That was going to be a more concerted effort since I probably had to convince a farmer I wasn't about to do anything untoward to the animal.

After making one more promise I wasn't rules lawyering my language, Tizek and I parted with Lia and Void to head off to have a little bonding time.