Chapter 86 - The Familiar

"What… What do you mean, Lady Hez?" Melvi flinched in and looked at us in sweat dripping from her.

"Ara, don't be scared, it's just I thought you forgot to tell us something!" Historia patted her head hesitantly.

"Oh! Yeah, She is White Crow, her name is Flynn, she is the messenger spirit which can fly really fast! Sometimes she helps in battles too!" Melvi took a deep breath and calmed herself, suddenly after starting talking about Flynn she cheered up in no time.

"Oh, isn't she cute! You can undo the summoning now." Historia caressed the head of Flynn and walked back to us, she looked over Zia and spoke,

"Well then, Zia, it's your turn now!"

"Alright then, 

[ COME FORTH!]

[ I COMMAND YOU TO SERVE ME! ]

[ ARIES ]

Zia nodded and chanted,

A magic circle appeared on the ground. A tall and fascinating black horse galloped out of the magus circle, his sclera was totally black with lustrous silver eyelids while his magus circle had his iris in both eyes.

But what made it most amazing was his hair blazing with pink-red flames on his neck, tail, and back of its hoofs.

As soon as the spirit appeared, Zia walked close to it and started petting him.

Looking at the hoarse we well were stunned and the one who was most surprised was lady Hez,

"I can't believe I am seeing one of the fragments of ancient war spirits in front of me!"

'Fragments of ancient war spirits? What are those?' I recall reading about them but I can't remember them!

"They are born from the spirits that took part in the legendary war between mortals and humans, The war of Nirvana, one of the 4 great wars that happened on the earth.

The fragment of an ancient spirit is a spirit that is born from the part of a great sage spirit which helped in the division of the human realm and spirit realm, there were a total of 52 of those spirits I guess which were divided into 241 fragment spirits." Historia walked close to Zia and her familiar and caressed him.

"So are they very rare?" Styrmir closed up to the horse but I stopped when he saw the horse gathering at him.

"Let's say there are 8 billion mages of 10 billion mortal & intelligent races in the world, only 1.6 billion mages can summon true spirits as familiar, while 3.8 can summon beast type familiar, and only 241 utmost of the 1.6 billion mages can summon a fragment spirit, does that answer your question?" A scary and envy-filled expression appeared on her face.

"Damn, then they must be crazy strong huh?" Styrmir and I were more scared of the lady Hez now.

"Yup! evolving with the class of their master, they could achieve the strength equal to an emperor mage before their master's can." Historia looked at Zia and patted her back, "Tell me about your spirit Zia!"

"His name is Aries, I summoned him when I was still a child when I first summoned him, he was small like a pony with soft red-pink smoke in the place where his flames are now, he can't talk but he is still very smart." Zia was petting him and a smile we never saw brightened her face, my heart almost skipped a beat when I saw her, I never knew she was so beautiful.

I need to calm down!

"Hmmm, it's not necessary for a spirit to speak, but usually many spirits talk with their masters, from which spirits he was born from?  does Aries never talks to you?" Historia looked concerned over this.

"No, my father told me he was born from the Pegasus feathers burned with ambers of Phoenix and is very obedient and strong, I never actually felt any need to talk to him, nor did he say any word to me." Zia's smile faded away with an awkward pause.

"You really hit the jackpot with summoning there, I wish I got a Fragment spirit." Melvi marched to her grabbing her arm, maybe it was her way of comforting her.

"What's your familiar lady Hez?" To change the topic Melvi suddenly gawked at Historia.

"Mine is a cranky fairy queen! Just because she is queen she throws so many tantrums when I ask her to do something!!" Historia sighed and got annoyed with the question.

"Seems like you have a good relationship with her." Zia undid the summon and looked at Historia.

When she said this Historia got flustered and smacked my back,

"Anyway let's move on, Rise it's your turn now." 

'Yeah, I never summoned a spirit.'

"What?"

"Why?"

"How?"

All three of them looked at me like they had seen a ghost of a cow.

'I never had any need, I guess?' I can't tell them I never went to school and just straight skipped to Ovyrus!

"Come with me." Historia wrung my neck with her arm and dragged me into the forest, walking a few steps she turned to them,

"You kids go ahead, once I finish with him I'll join you all in no time." 

They looked at each other with slight discomfort and nodded, moved forward, waving their hand at Historia.

"All the best! Rise!" Melvi looked at me and timidly yelled.

Slowly they went out of the barrier and I and Historia were alone now.

"Well then, I won't pry much but I just want to know did you really never summon a spirit?" Historia grabbed my shoulder tightly and looked surprised.

'Yes!' I am scared of her...

"Oh my God, just what was she doing all these years! Let's do the summoning ritual here and now, who knows, it may become a good asset to our quest." 

She sighed and patted my shoulder.

'I will if you want but how?' I never saw a summoning spell or ritual.

She rested her hand in mid-air and chanted,

[ INQUISITIO ]

[ BOOK OF DESID ]

A book fell out of the air in her hands, she opened it and ran through some pages.

"Now, follow my instructions." She tore a page and handed it to me.

"Place it on the ground, and make a small cut on your thumb, pour a few drops of your blood then I'll tell you the spell chant to activate the summoning."

I did as she told me, after spewing a few drops on the paper she walked backward a few steps, 

"Now, Repeat after me,"

I looked at her silently until now, I was a bit nervous about this but now I want to see what my familiar looks like, I stared at her and recited her words,

[ I OFFER YOU A PART OF MY SOUL, AND YOU SHALL BE ALLOWED,

TO PASS THE HOLY GATES OF THE FORBIDDEN REALM, 

COME FORTH! 

MANIFEST TO THE FORM MY SOUL BESEECH YOU! ]

The paper started burning and formed a large magus circle on the ground, 

"Now, your familiar will appear! Remember a summoned Familiar is the reflection of the master's soul, so your familiar will possess the same strengths as you, it's time." Historia covered her eyes with her arms,

Because the light and aura which flowed out of the circle were very intense, as if my feet weren't on the ground I would've flown in the sky.

I was struggling with my mana now something was pulling me inside the magus circle!

"Damn, it's taking too much time! Aaris! Pour some of your mana into the circle! It will help it find a way to you!"

What did she just call me?

'How do you-!'

"We don't have much time! Save questions for later just do it!" She cried out.

***

-- Historia - PoV --

Crap! The Ethereal mana is leaking out from the spirit realm on a tremendous scale, I don't want unwanted attention on us!

'Hurry up, brat!' 

"I am doing it!" He placed his hand on the magus circle and suddenly black markings appeared on his arms.

It's the same as the time he fought with the crown prince! Just what is that mana? 

He was surging his mana into the circle, and suddenly the aura oozing out of the circle changed.

The magus circle seemed like it was rotting away from the sides and the Ethereal mana was slowly diluting with an ominous aura, it was neither blending with the mana nor degrading it but it was exhausting the mana, at a scary speed.

But what was more shocking was that exhausted mana or energy was flowing back into Aaris, how is this possible? No mana can be redeemed after being exhausted in a spell!

"Lady Hez what should I-" 

A huge flash and blast of aura shook the forest, I barely kept it inside the barrier.

'Aaris are you okay?' I ran to him and saw him unharmed sitting on the ground.

"I am alright but-" he looked at me hesitantly, I shouldn't have done, I knew about his condition still...

'Yeah, I think the summoning failed, don't let it get you.' I patted his head and he suddenly spoke,

"No, actually something came out…"

'I didn't see anything coming out!' What is he talking about?

'Yeah, I sorta pulled this out, it was like my mana was stuck with it and consuming it endlessly and when I pulled it back, this came out." 

He forwarded his right hand and I saw nothing but a palm-sized metallic cube on his hand.

'How is this even possible?'