You are Summoned

I slowly walked back into the passageway as I took stock of my situation. I had regenerated back to six mana before we attacked the orc, so I had four remaining and could cast Psionic Jolt twice more. Given the orcs charging at me were your normal, garden variety, muscle-bound killers, I doubted they could resist my psionic damage.

Casting Psionic Jolt at the lead orc, he collapsed and tripped up the one running behind him. The group of orcs slowed as they looked for hidden threats. My spell didn’t leave any telltale signs like most magic I’d seen did. There was no glow, or bright light leading from my hand to the orc I had struck.

They didn’t take long to get over their caution, but I used that time, and the last of my mana to fire off the spell again, this time, targeting the orc at the rear of the group. The spell had the desired effect, causing the orc to shout in pain and fall to his knees. Confused, the orcs weren’t sure which way to go. Skeletons were gaining the upper hand against the other orcs, and their fellows were calling for reinforcements.

The orcs looked unsure of which foe to attack, but the cries of their living allies held sway over vengeance for the fallen shaman and they charged back into the fray against the skeletons. I was safely out of sight in the dark passageway, and all but the two orcs that I had stunned with my spell were back to battling the undead.

Stumbling to his feet, the second orc I had hit with Psionic Jolt growled in my direction before turning back to the fight. The first one I had hit wasn’t going anywhere, he was out cold, but I didn’t think he was dead yet. Sharnlynn was probably too far down the passage for me to catch up, so the best thing I could do for her was wait here in case anyone or anything tried to pursue her.

I had a front row seat to the battle, but I wasn’t sure who to root for. The orcs had proven to be enemies, but the undead didn’t exactly seem like the good guys either. They were probably just left behind by some necromancer or something to protect the artifacts that Sharnlynn was running away with. If they finished off the orcs, she was probably going to be the next target, at least until she got far enough away from the ruins.

The flow of skeletons did finally slow down, but by that point, only a handful of orcs remained, and each of the remaining greenskins were wounded to some degree. As the skeletons finished off the last orc, I felt something inside me snap, the connection to Sharnlynn was lost as she finally made it too far away for the connection to remain. The void claimed me as I disappeared from this world, and away from the skeletal warriors that were even now stalking in my direction.

The summoner link has been terminated due to the distance between yourself and your summoner.

Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 0, rank 3, and your performance rating of Excellent.

Additional rewards are granted for linked summoning.

You have earned 8 experience points.

You have earned 7 summoning points.

Congratulations on reaching Tier 0, Rank 4. Your current status is as follows:

Rico Kline, Summoned Being.

Tier 0, Rank 4.

Experience/experience needed for next rank: 5/10.

Summoning points: 26.

Prepare to return to the location you were summoned from.

It was a lot to take in. Sharnlynn’s summoning had given me a huge boost in both experience and whatever those summoning points were. My goal of hitting tier zero, rank five was close. Sometime during my next normal summoning series, I should hit it and get a chance to see what all the fuss was about.

Suddenly, I was back home, right where I left off. There I was lying naked in the alleyway, with my clothes strewn all around me. Someone had gone through them already; I had been robbed. Before anyone could walk by and report me for indecent exposure, I grabbed my pants and pulled them on.

“That belongs to the summoned man, leave it!” Linda shrieked from further down the alley. She was here, and she was in a shoving match with a guy that had what looked like my phone and wallet in his hands.

“Get away from me, you psycho!” The man shouted, pushing Linda away and then taking a swing at her. I could hear his fist smash into her cheek and watched the poor woman drop to the concrete.

Anger built inside me. Linda was just trying to stop someone from stealing my stuff. For her efforts the man had hit her, and now had started kicking and cursing at her while she lay there defenseless. Without thinking about the consequences, I pulled mana from my core. While waiting and watching for the battle between the orcs and skeletons to resolve, my mana had built back up to five, which should be more than enough for a cast.

As soon as it was pulled from my core, the mana started to vaporize. I worked quickly; Psionic Jolt was becoming familiar for me to cast. I targeted the thief’s head and unleashed the spell before the last of my mana could dissolve. He shrieked in pain, grabbed the side of his head, and collapsed next to Linda. My phone, wallet, and the wad of cash I had from selling the coins went flying.

I ran down the alleyway, pulling on the rest of my clothes as I went. First, I checked on Linda, she was in a daze and groaning, but she was alive. Terrified that I might have killed someone in my rage, I checked on the thief. Relief filled me when I saw his chest rising and falling, he was breathing, but had been knocked unconscious.

The spell should have killed him, but the effect must have been diminished since our planet would be sucking part of the spells energy up even as it was cast. That was both good and bad, if I really needed it, Psychic Jolt would be much less effective, but it was something I could use if I wanted to incapacitate someone without killing them.

“Linda are you okay?” I asked.

“I think so, summoned man. He took your stuff and I tried to help,” she muttered.

“Don’t worry about my stuff, that can be replaced. Do you need a doctor?” I asked.

“No, I’ll be okay, uh oh, it doesn’t look like your cash will be,” Linda said, pointing toward the thief who had regained his feet and grabbed a handful of my cash before stumbling his way out of the alley.

“At least he didn’t get my phone and wallet. I really don’t want to try and replace those,” I said before going over to gather up my things.

By the time I was done, Linda was back on her feet and moving under her own power. She patted me on the shoulder as if to comfort me for my loss. Giving it a quick count, the thief had made off with all but a hundred and twenty bucks. It was better than nothing, I supposed.

“Here, maybe check yourself into a hotel or something tonight,” I offered, handing Linda the cash. I could live without it, but she needed it more than I did.

“Thanks Rico, does that mean I’m rewarded like a summoned being?” She said with a big smile.

“Maybe it does, and speaking of rewards, mine should be right over by the dumpster,” I replied, remembering the summoning I had just been on. Since I hadn’t gone to Rico’s Place, I should have received a reward bag, unless it was automatically transferred over to my loot box.

Jogging over to the dumpster, I could see it, an oversized leather bag. The alleyway might not be the best place to do this, but I wanted to see what I had gotten. If it was good, I could head back to the pawn shop to cash in before going to the bank. Pulling a small cardboard box from the dumpster, I emptied the bag into it so I could get a better look at my rewards.

There was the usual mix of copper and silver coins, but there was also something new. A long dagger, just like the one I had taken from the dead orc was there. It was in a nice leather sheath, and I drew the weapon to get a better look at it. The blade was about a foot and a half long and looked to be razor sharp. The handle was leather wrapped, and the weapon had a comforting heft to it. It didn’t have any frills, no engraving or gems on the handle, but it was well made and something I wish I had back in Rico’s Loot instead of here on Earth.

“Pretty.” Linda said. I thought she was talking about the blade, but she had picked up a small, blue gem that she found among the coins.

“You can have that if you like. We’ll call that you share of the reward,” I offered. Linda dropped the gem into her pocket and then strolled out of the alleyway like she was queen of the country.

Linda was in her own world, and I wished that I could help her more, but I had things to accomplish before I was summoned up again. Pouring everything back into the leather bag, I headed back toward the pawn shop.

It was then that it hit me. I had used magic on Earth. Minerva had warned me about that. She had said that there were beings attuned to magic that might seek me out for nefarious purposes. Was there even now someone, or something, that was looking for me?