Thaddeus Windrift had grown stronger. He could feel the difference, not only in his speed and strength, but also in the amount of magic within him. He just felt more powerful than before he’d met the other members of the Other Team. He didn’t know if it was proximity to such a strong mage like Zincarla or the desire to not get left behind, but Tad definitely felt himself growing stronger. In that vein, Tad had decided that the time had come to train a second magic. Yin Yang Lightning was strong and had a variety of uses and applications which, when combined with the summons of Yin and Yang, gave Tad a lot of options in battle. The thing it didn’t really give him, though, was any defense. He was just one guy in battle and a well placed attack could knock him out of the battle, or life altogether. Of course, he'd already made some strides to remedy that with the purchase of armors to protect him, but even they could be destroyed and bypassed by a stronger mage. He’d also realized, through the summons of Yin and Yang, that he had some innate ability with summons that other mages seemed to lack. If he had skill in that area, and with Zincarla as a resource, Tad was going to learn a summoning magic for his second magic.
He could see lines where others didn’t, leaving our world and going to another, many others in some cases. He theorized that these lines allowed summoning magic to pull people and creatures from other worlds. If I could better understand and utilize these lines, perhaps I can learn to create my own lines, then I could possibly become a great summoning mage. He sat in an empty room, eyes closed, focusing on the magical energies around him. He could clearly see two summon lines exiting his chest and he knew exactly where they went. Despite that knowledge, he followed those lines, via some form of astral projection, all the way to the summons he was already familiar with: Yin and Yang. In truth, they had come to him and formed a contract with him, as he wielded the Yin Yang Lightning that was their life essence. He had done no searching or contacting in order to contract those two summons, so despite having a couple summons at his disposal, he’d never been the one in search of contracts.
Now that he was looking for new summons, he had no idea of how to find them. He knew Zincarla summoned spirits, or ghosts, from the world where souls travel after they leave their bodies, but he had no idea of how she came to summon these creatures. Tad considered following the summon line from her to the other world and searching for summons of his own, but he didn’t want to simply copy Zincarla’s magic. He also was pretty sure she didn’t see the lines that he saw, which meant she had to have discovered her summons in some other way. He wondered if she maybe just had some connection to that world that allowed her to use those things as summons. All of this, naturally, didn’t help him in the least bit as Tad had no connections to any other worlds. Tad began to grow frustrated with a lack of direction and lack of progress into this magic so he decided to take a break.
A few days later, Tad was cleaning his throwing knives, slowly dragging the moist cloth over the blade’s sharp edge when he had a eureka moment. He carefully finished the work, his mind not really paying much attention to what his hands were doing, before sliding the knife back into its holster on his thigh. He then rushed to his room, closing the door behind him. He hopped onto the bed and closed his eyes; if Zincarla got her summons from a single world, Tad wasn’t nearly as restricted: he could summon his from ANY world or EVERY world. Taking that logic, Tad began focusing on something simple, but ferocious: a lion. If he could find a world with a lion, and make it a summon, then his theory was right. As he focused on trying to find a lion, Tad thought he saw something… it was like a line that connected people to their summons, but it was faint and dotted. As he followed the dotted line, he came across a lion. If he completed the contract with the lion, then that line would become complete.
There were two ways to approach this, from what Tad had heard. The first method involved approaching the prospective summon in his astral form and attempt to make contact. From there, Tad would have to convince the creature to form a contract with him, though at that point, it's mostly a matter of pleading with the creature. The second method involved pulling the creature to our world against their will and then attempting to create a contract with them. This was most similar to how he’d formed his contracts with Yin and Yang, except they had been the ones who’d come to this world by using Tad’s own Yin Yang Lightning magic, which draws energy from their world. This could be tricky for multiple reasons and the most obvious being the creature finds themselves in an incredibly strange situation without an idea how or why they’re there, putting them in a defensive and possibly agitated state. The next downfall to this method, over the first, was that the creature and Tad were now physically in the same place, meaning that bodily harm could be done to the mage if they’re unable to placate the creature. The first method involves the mage’s astral form which cannot be harmed. Tad was still deciding which method to choose when the lion seemingly turned to him, using its naturally high animalistic instincts, and seemed concerned. Moments later, it was moving away from Tad as quickly as it could.
With little choice at this point, Tad pulled the creature back to his own world. He looked towards the animal as it acclimated to its new surroundings. The young man was now realizing another problem with this method. One could beat the creature into submission, converse with it (assuming it has the sentient capability to converse), or use a more tactful means of gaining favor with the creature. Tad was now in the situation where he had to quickly pick one of those options and put it to good use. While the creature may be the King of the Jungle, Tad was a mage and had equipment to protect him and further enable his physical prowess… but he also had the inherent fear of those big teeth. The lion finally settled on Tad and took a few steps, seemingly eyeing its prey. After evading the lion’s attack with his lightning quick reflexes, the lion, not belonging to this world, was naturally sent back to its own world. What a disaster that turned out to be…
Tad wanted to try again, but lions sure were scary. He did a bit of research this time, finding out what they like to eat and things about their temperament. He hoped by preparing like this, he’d be able to more easily gain trust with it. He even went to the store and bought some raw meat. If he couldn’t gain favor with his stylish, good looks, then maybe he could bribe the creature into becoming his summon. He went back to the same lion and once again pulled him over to our world. Tad realized that this technically made him a summoner as he was bringing things from one world to another, but the fact that he had no contract with this creature meant that he was just as likely to attack Tad as he was an enemy that Tad may have wanted to summon a creature to attack. Or, the creature could just lay down and take a nap in the middle of an intense battle when Tad needed assistance. In other words, while he was summoning this creature, he needed to solidify the summoning line between himself and this creature to truly call himself a summoner.
He looked to the creature and held up the small piece of cow that he'd purchased for this purpose. He tossed it a few feet away, far enough that the mad lion couldn't attack him without giving Tad enough time to react. The lion was obviously furious at Tad for once again pulling him to this world, Tad now knew how to read the cat's body language, but it was also interested in the meat that Tad had tossed to him. While keeping an eye on Tad, he sniffed the meat to ensure it was indeed something he could eat. He gave it a lick, never taking his eye off the lanky mage before him. "Go ahead, I'm not here to hurt you," Tad announced, trying to maintain a calm and cool voice, so as not to alarm the creature. "I've even got more if you want it."
The lion sunk its teeth into the meat, picking it up off the ground with its powerful jaws. Its eyes stayed on Tad, warning him not to try anything. Tad didn't move, letting the cat enjoy its meat. He then slowly grabbed another piece out of the bag that he was holding. The mage tossed it a few feet between himself and the lion, who slowly and cautiously moved forward. It repeated the process of checking the meat with its smell, before testing it with its tongue and eventually ate it. All the while, the King of the Jungle kept its eyes on Tad to ensure the mage didn't make a move.
Tad only had a couple pieces of meat left and he wasn't sure that was enough to keep the creature calm, especially considering Tad was purposely drawing it closer and closer. He tossed the penultimate piece of meet to the ground, if the lion came to it then the two would only be a foot apart. Tad could reach out and touch it or the lion could leap and bite Tad's face off... naturally, he was hoping the latter event did not occur. The lion seemed to move in slow motion, much slower than when it approached the last two pieces of meat. Tad wasn't surprised, neither of them were fully comfortable with being so close and neither of them truly trusted the other not to attack.
After its process, the lion consumed the meat. Tad held the last piece in his hand, but he held it out towards the lion. "Would you be willing to let me summon you in the future for aid if I need it," the mage asked, once again trying to retain a calm and unimposing tone. The lion didn't understand the human's language, but took a half step forward, sniffing the air to see if the man before him was holding more meat. "I mean you no harm." The creature took another step before licking the meat in Tad's hand. If he were being honest in that moment, he was freaking out inside because the lion could one hundred percent bite the hand that was feeding it which, naturally, would be rather painful for Tad. The creature took much care to remove the meat from Tad's hand without hurting him and Tad slowly brought his hand up to the lion's head, petting him. In that moment, Tad saw a line emerge from his own chest and connect to a line that emerged from the lion's chest. The two were now linked: Success!
With their new connection, Tad more fully understood what the lion was feeling and wasn't nearly as afraid as before. It wasn't like they were the same creature now, but a bond of trust had been formed and neither were concerned that the other intended harm any longer. And while Tad was overjoyed by his success, he knew he would need a lot more than just one lion as a summon if he were to be successful as a summoner.
Word Count: 2038/2000
He could see lines where others didn’t, leaving our world and going to another, many others in some cases. He theorized that these lines allowed summoning magic to pull people and creatures from other worlds. If I could better understand and utilize these lines, perhaps I can learn to create my own lines, then I could possibly become a great summoning mage. He sat in an empty room, eyes closed, focusing on the magical energies around him. He could clearly see two summon lines exiting his chest and he knew exactly where they went. Despite that knowledge, he followed those lines, via some form of astral projection, all the way to the summons he was already familiar with: Yin and Yang. In truth, they had come to him and formed a contract with him, as he wielded the Yin Yang Lightning that was their life essence. He had done no searching or contacting in order to contract those two summons, so despite having a couple summons at his disposal, he’d never been the one in search of contracts.
Now that he was looking for new summons, he had no idea of how to find them. He knew Zincarla summoned spirits, or ghosts, from the world where souls travel after they leave their bodies, but he had no idea of how she came to summon these creatures. Tad considered following the summon line from her to the other world and searching for summons of his own, but he didn’t want to simply copy Zincarla’s magic. He also was pretty sure she didn’t see the lines that he saw, which meant she had to have discovered her summons in some other way. He wondered if she maybe just had some connection to that world that allowed her to use those things as summons. All of this, naturally, didn’t help him in the least bit as Tad had no connections to any other worlds. Tad began to grow frustrated with a lack of direction and lack of progress into this magic so he decided to take a break.
A few days later, Tad was cleaning his throwing knives, slowly dragging the moist cloth over the blade’s sharp edge when he had a eureka moment. He carefully finished the work, his mind not really paying much attention to what his hands were doing, before sliding the knife back into its holster on his thigh. He then rushed to his room, closing the door behind him. He hopped onto the bed and closed his eyes; if Zincarla got her summons from a single world, Tad wasn’t nearly as restricted: he could summon his from ANY world or EVERY world. Taking that logic, Tad began focusing on something simple, but ferocious: a lion. If he could find a world with a lion, and make it a summon, then his theory was right. As he focused on trying to find a lion, Tad thought he saw something… it was like a line that connected people to their summons, but it was faint and dotted. As he followed the dotted line, he came across a lion. If he completed the contract with the lion, then that line would become complete.
There were two ways to approach this, from what Tad had heard. The first method involved approaching the prospective summon in his astral form and attempt to make contact. From there, Tad would have to convince the creature to form a contract with him, though at that point, it's mostly a matter of pleading with the creature. The second method involved pulling the creature to our world against their will and then attempting to create a contract with them. This was most similar to how he’d formed his contracts with Yin and Yang, except they had been the ones who’d come to this world by using Tad’s own Yin Yang Lightning magic, which draws energy from their world. This could be tricky for multiple reasons and the most obvious being the creature finds themselves in an incredibly strange situation without an idea how or why they’re there, putting them in a defensive and possibly agitated state. The next downfall to this method, over the first, was that the creature and Tad were now physically in the same place, meaning that bodily harm could be done to the mage if they’re unable to placate the creature. The first method involves the mage’s astral form which cannot be harmed. Tad was still deciding which method to choose when the lion seemingly turned to him, using its naturally high animalistic instincts, and seemed concerned. Moments later, it was moving away from Tad as quickly as it could.
With little choice at this point, Tad pulled the creature back to his own world. He looked towards the animal as it acclimated to its new surroundings. The young man was now realizing another problem with this method. One could beat the creature into submission, converse with it (assuming it has the sentient capability to converse), or use a more tactful means of gaining favor with the creature. Tad was now in the situation where he had to quickly pick one of those options and put it to good use. While the creature may be the King of the Jungle, Tad was a mage and had equipment to protect him and further enable his physical prowess… but he also had the inherent fear of those big teeth. The lion finally settled on Tad and took a few steps, seemingly eyeing its prey. After evading the lion’s attack with his lightning quick reflexes, the lion, not belonging to this world, was naturally sent back to its own world. What a disaster that turned out to be…
Tad wanted to try again, but lions sure were scary. He did a bit of research this time, finding out what they like to eat and things about their temperament. He hoped by preparing like this, he’d be able to more easily gain trust with it. He even went to the store and bought some raw meat. If he couldn’t gain favor with his stylish, good looks, then maybe he could bribe the creature into becoming his summon. He went back to the same lion and once again pulled him over to our world. Tad realized that this technically made him a summoner as he was bringing things from one world to another, but the fact that he had no contract with this creature meant that he was just as likely to attack Tad as he was an enemy that Tad may have wanted to summon a creature to attack. Or, the creature could just lay down and take a nap in the middle of an intense battle when Tad needed assistance. In other words, while he was summoning this creature, he needed to solidify the summoning line between himself and this creature to truly call himself a summoner.
He looked to the creature and held up the small piece of cow that he'd purchased for this purpose. He tossed it a few feet away, far enough that the mad lion couldn't attack him without giving Tad enough time to react. The lion was obviously furious at Tad for once again pulling him to this world, Tad now knew how to read the cat's body language, but it was also interested in the meat that Tad had tossed to him. While keeping an eye on Tad, he sniffed the meat to ensure it was indeed something he could eat. He gave it a lick, never taking his eye off the lanky mage before him. "Go ahead, I'm not here to hurt you," Tad announced, trying to maintain a calm and cool voice, so as not to alarm the creature. "I've even got more if you want it."
The lion sunk its teeth into the meat, picking it up off the ground with its powerful jaws. Its eyes stayed on Tad, warning him not to try anything. Tad didn't move, letting the cat enjoy its meat. He then slowly grabbed another piece out of the bag that he was holding. The mage tossed it a few feet between himself and the lion, who slowly and cautiously moved forward. It repeated the process of checking the meat with its smell, before testing it with its tongue and eventually ate it. All the while, the King of the Jungle kept its eyes on Tad to ensure the mage didn't make a move.
Tad only had a couple pieces of meat left and he wasn't sure that was enough to keep the creature calm, especially considering Tad was purposely drawing it closer and closer. He tossed the penultimate piece of meet to the ground, if the lion came to it then the two would only be a foot apart. Tad could reach out and touch it or the lion could leap and bite Tad's face off... naturally, he was hoping the latter event did not occur. The lion seemed to move in slow motion, much slower than when it approached the last two pieces of meat. Tad wasn't surprised, neither of them were fully comfortable with being so close and neither of them truly trusted the other not to attack.
After its process, the lion consumed the meat. Tad held the last piece in his hand, but he held it out towards the lion. "Would you be willing to let me summon you in the future for aid if I need it," the mage asked, once again trying to retain a calm and unimposing tone. The lion didn't understand the human's language, but took a half step forward, sniffing the air to see if the man before him was holding more meat. "I mean you no harm." The creature took another step before licking the meat in Tad's hand. If he were being honest in that moment, he was freaking out inside because the lion could one hundred percent bite the hand that was feeding it which, naturally, would be rather painful for Tad. The creature took much care to remove the meat from Tad's hand without hurting him and Tad slowly brought his hand up to the lion's head, petting him. In that moment, Tad saw a line emerge from his own chest and connect to a line that emerged from the lion's chest. The two were now linked: Success!
With their new connection, Tad more fully understood what the lion was feeling and wasn't nearly as afraid as before. It wasn't like they were the same creature now, but a bond of trust had been formed and neither were concerned that the other intended harm any longer. And while Tad was overjoyed by his success, he knew he would need a lot more than just one lion as a summon if he were to be successful as a summoner.
Word Count: 2038/2000
