Chapter 48 – The Council of Heroes and forming the Avengers

It was the end of the second week in the Academy when Sam was invited to a secret meeting. 

He was escorted by Instructor Gwen to the Queen's castle and into the meeting room where a number of important looking people were already waiting for him. 

At the head of the meeting was Queen Serene, the ruler of Aristonia. 

By her side was Merlin, the headmaster of the Academy of Aristal and also adviser to the throne.

Queen Serene welcomed him and Merlin started introducing the many important characters to him. 

They were the Heroes of Aristonia, all legends in their own right and had defended the nation countless times from threats within and without. 

The first was Asteroth, a warrior who controlled the power of darkness. He single handedly held back the forces of the barbarians from the north in the Battle of the Gloom Valley

Then there was Thundar, the Lord of Lightning. He was the head of the Four Elements Sect and the father of Aria and Arisa. He raised his eyebrow when Sam was introduced, looking at him inquisitively. 

The next was Grendel the Strong, a huge man who seemed more like a golem or rock person. 

Magdelena of the Crying Forest was next. She was rumored to be an immortal witch, who supposedly has lived for hundreds of years. 

Then there was Ulandir the elf ranger, master of both the bow as well as hand to hand combat and guardian of silverleaf forest.  

There was Roland the Paladin, hero of the brutal second orc war and head of the Church of Mercy's Paladins. 

Next was Balthazar the master of the Poison sect, masters of both healing potions as well as deadly poisons. 

The last person was simply known as Shadow who stood silently in the shadows. If Merlin had not mentioned him, Sam wouldn't have even noticed he was there. He was a spy and assassin, the hidden hand of Aristonia. 

Queen Serene informed Samsara that these had been her companions when she was still a adventurer, before she was married to King Richard and was still known as Serene of the Green. 

Merlin was one of their companions too, and although they were a loosely knit group, they had experienced many adventures together. 

Although they were famous, when Sam checked on their status using the Nexus, he was surprised that most of them were level 40-50, around the same range most of his familiars were at. 

The reason they gathered is to gather and debrief disturbing news of what's been happening. At first, they asked Samsara to explain what happened both in the illithid attack as well as in Stronghold. 

Sam nodded and started detailing the beings he faced both on the way to Stronghold from Willow, as well as in the castle against the illithids. 

He even added the demon summoned by the bandits that attacked Willow. 

"Surely you can't expect us to believe you faced all that by yourself?" Magdalena asked.

The witch had a point as Sam was only a level 29, and yet he claimed he singlehandedly defeated a demon, an army of orcs and goblins, an elite force and leaders of the dark elves and orcs, a powerful lich, an illithid army that consisted of an ulitharid, a Elder Brain, brain golems, a branstealer dragon and two mindwitnesses. 

"Well I never said I was alone!" Sam retrorted. 

"What do you mean?" Lancelot asked. 

Sam looked around and Merlin and Queen Serene nodded, signalling that he could trust these people. 

"I have my army with me" Sam said as he opened the Nexus, summoning all his familiars. 

All 23 of them stood behind him, all dressed in their iconic costumes and looking dangerous. 

The group of legends were stunned, realizing that most of these summoned girls were roughly the same level as them!

"Who... they are your...?" Thundar asked.

"They are my familiars. I can summon experts that have specific skills to deal with specific situations. Most of them are warriors and mages" Sam answered. 

"I recognise them! Some of them are the new talented students at the Academy!" Merlin said. 

When Merlin last faced the demon with Samsara, he only saw the familiars that had been summoned up to that point. 

He had never met the newer familiars such as Annabeth, Maxine, Cameron and Rey. 

"Ok, I concede that what you said is true. But what does that mean?" Magdelena said, looking at everyone. 

"I think it means that we are under attack from all sides. All the different races are being coordinated to go to attack us at the same time. " Merlin answered. 

"I concur" Asteroth said. He reported that the city he was in was attacked by an army of barbarians.

Grendel reported that there was a beast horde attack from the Dark Forest at the city of Grisbus. 

Roland added that his church had received reports of multiple churches and monasteries being destroyed by unknown assailants. They were unknown because there were no survivors. 

"So what do we do then?"Magdalena asked.

"We will just wait and observe. We do whats necessary to repel the attacks, capture prisoners to interrogate, but we keep in mind the overall bigger picture, and try and find the mastermind behind it." Merlin answered.

After everyone agreed, Merlina and Queen Serene asked Sam to remain behind. 

"Samsara. We would need some help in scouting around. While we do have our resources and our own intelligence network, most of the Heroes are publically known and are unable to go unrecognized while investigating leads. Could you send some of your....uh.." Merlin said.

"... Avengers" Sam responded, finding it better than just calling them familiars. He had wanted to rename them something else for a while, but didn't have the opportunity to do so. Besides, Justice League of America didn't make sense since nobody here knew where or what America was. 

"... ok your Avengers to help scout around and investigate any leads?" Merlin continued. 

Inside the Nexus, Natasha jumped up punched the air "Yes! We're Avengers" she yelled. 

"What are the Avengers?" Selene asked. 

"Thats the name of my team, the world's greatest heroes" Natasha said proudly.

"Do they have any other females in your group?" Selene asked again.

"Yeah, there are several. Maybe Sam may be able to summon them sometime in the future" Natasha answered as she continued and told the others in the Nexus about her team.

Back outside the Nexus, Sam agreed with Merlin's suggestion, deciding to send Tauriel, Selene, Alice, Natasha, Lara, Aeon, Violet, Selena and Trix out to scout the city and beyond.

Melinda and Phoebe will explore within the city while Yuriko and Harley would stay in the Nexus as backup as the earlier group stayed in the Academy.

"If that is all Your Majesty, I will take my leave. Samsara can follow me back to the Academy too" Merlin said.

"Ah.. I want to have a private talk with Samsara, Merlin. Why don't you go back first and he will return once he is done" Queen Serene said. 

"As you wish Your Majesty" Merlin said, bowing and then leaving. 

Samsara stood still and looked at Queen Serene who smiled sweetly at him with a glint in her eye.

"You've been servicing my daughter and the others. Your Avengers too I imagine. When will it be my turn?" she asked, holding his hand. 

"I'm here at Your Majesty's service" Sam smiled as she led him to her bedroom.