At the basement of the castle was a King and his Wizard. Their city was falling apart. They had lost many soldiers in the last monster invasion. They no longer had the resources to maintain the city. They could not afford the stone and steel for buildings nor to import food for their people. Their last hope, was to summon a hero from another world to help them. The only problem is that there can only be one hero in a world and it required enormous amounts of resources to call forth a hero.
"How goes the attempts to summon a hero?" asked King Caligula.
"Not good," said Zedd. "We have many failed attempts at each one attempt costs us a life."
"It doesn't matter," said King Caligula. "These people are slaves, if we need more we can just buy more, but we must summon a hero that can help us."
"Very well your highness," said Zedd. "I require more people to provide mana for our next attempt should this one fail as well."
"Then you shall have it," said King Caligula. He then left.
"Is this really necessary?" said Zedd. "For the price of a hero, we could have probably bought us a small army."
Zedd continued to attempt to summon a hero. "Bring in the next one," said Zedd. Two guards brought in a well built man in chains. He had black hair. On his hand was a "T," a slave brand that showed who he had belonged to. The King had bought him from a local farmer in order to attempt to summon a hero.
"On your knees," shouted the guard. The guards laid the handles of their spears on the shoulder of the man and forced him to the floor. The guards then walked towards the door and turned around.
The man looked around as he saw several more guards with arrows aimed at him. "If I tried to escape, the guards probably would shoot me and then make it so that I cannot move," he thought. So, the man just did what they ordered of him.
The magic circle on the ground lit up. A large circle appeared on the ground. From the circle, a hexagram appeared within. Another circle then appeared within the hexagram as a column of light raised to the room. From the roof, another magic circle began to descend.
"AHHHHH" screamed the man. He was in severe pain, as if his body and mind was being torn apart.
As the magic circle descended, Zedd began to speak. "It's working!" he said. Zedd continued to channel his mana into the circle. Then, the column of light disappeared.
HISS. It was the sound of failure. Smoke rose from the floor and the body of the man. The man had collapsed onto the floor. He was dead. He could not handle the stress of being used as the vessel for the summoning of a hero.
"Another failure," said Zedd. "What is wrong? The notes said that all we needed was a vessel, but all of these vessels are failures."
Zedd stood quietly in contemplation. "Guards clean this up and prepare for the next one," he said. Zedd was missing something, but he clearly did not know what.
Zedd had run his own workshop in town for many years. His name spread as he developed new spells and became powerful. One day, he was summoned to the palace and asked to serve King Caligula. He accepted because it would give him access to incredible amounts of resources and restricted material needed continue his research. He never expected to have to actually carry out experiments on people.
As he contemplated, he looked through some of the records of past heroes. There was Arthur, a strong woman who led humans against supernatural enemies. She was both a wise and a skilled leader who eventually died in battle. Next was Guan Yu, a warlord who was a general in the Shu Empire who fought numerous battles and prevented the collapse of the empire dozens of times before he finally lost and was killed in battle. There was also Thoth, the man who united the empires of the world against the invading threat before his death. That alliance had lasted for hundreds of years before its collapse.
"The only thing common between them is that they were all strong leaders," Zedd thought to himself. "There's nothing that tells me the requirement of what is needed in the vessel of the hero."
KNOCK KNOCK. "Come in," said Zedd.
"My lord, the King has gathered the next set of vessels for the summoning," said the guard.
"Okay," said Zedd. "I will head down to the summoning room as soon as I am ready."
The guard left the room. "I must figure out what that missing something is before I continue the summoning," said Zedd. "Even if the King wants me to continue, it is useless unless I can figure out what is needed in a vessel."
"I wonder...." Zedd thought as he looked through the book on summoning a hero. "The hero summoning requires a lot of mana, and uses a body as a vessel, does that mean that the vessel needs to have the ability to channel mana? This must be something I must look into, until then, I will try what his highness brings me."
As Zedd headed down to the basement, he heard some of the guards talk. "Did you hear? They brought in more slaves to try to summon a hero."
"How many does that make now?" asked the other guard.
"At least 50 I believe," said the first guard.
"Really? The King must be extremely wealthy," said the other guard.
"He's not," Zedd thought to himself. "The attempted summonings are straining the country's resources as it is. If we continue like this, the entire kingdom will collapse before we even find a hero."
In the basement, Zedd attempted another summoning. The vessel this time was a young boy who was sold by his family to survive. "It's a shame for someone so young to die," Zedd thought.
The magic circle did not even descend. As the pillar of light appeared, the boy died instantly. The mental strength of children were weak and the process of summoning had broken him. Zedd could not bare to look at the body of the dead boy. "Take him away quickly," he said.
The next vessel that came in was a man. He had a brand on the back of her hand. "Another slave," thought Zedd.
As Zedd channeled his mana into the circle, the pillar of light appeared and the magic circle descended. "AHHHH" screamed the man.
The magic circle descended to the halfway point. "This is it," thought Zedd. "Another death..."
However, to Zedd's surprise, the circle continued to descend. "Almost there!" he said.
Then came that deafening sound. HISS. It had failed again. The man collapsed from pain and died. But that was the best so far, but still no avail.
The guards brought in one more. "This is the last one," said the guard.
It was a young woman with black hair. They had to push the woman to the circle because she would not walk. Zedd activated the circle again and watched the circle descend. "At least this is the last one for today," he thought.
Again the circle descended beyond the halfway point. "Twice in one day?!?" Zedd thought to himself surprised. It was rare for even one to make it that far.
However, it was the same as before. HISS. The sound that marked a failure. The woman slouched over and the guards picked her up.
"Wait!" said Zedd.
"What is it?" asked the guard.
"I want you to collect as much information as you can about the last two slaves that were brought in for the summoning," said Zedd. "It is very important and I must have it!"
"Yes, sir!" said the guard. "I will get someone on it right away."
It was nearly two weeks and dozens more dead before Zedd heard any news. KNOCK KNOCK. "Come in," said Zedd. It was the guard.
"Do you finally have news?" said Zedd.
"We regret to inform you that we only have information about the woman," said the guard.
"It is okay, any information will help," Zedd replied.
"I am here to report that the woman in question was Rose, she worked in a brothel since she was 12," said the guard.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Is that it?" asked Zedd.
"There were some reports that she had a lot of trouble with her customers and was punished multiple times for it," said the guard.
"Hmm... I want to search for one vessel myself," said Zedd. "Please inform his highness of this. If his highness gives you trouble, say that this is my personal request and I will call in a favor if I have to."
"Yes, sir!" said the guard. He then left.
"So, the last vessel was a troublesome prostitute?" Zedd thought to himself. "Is this enough to go on? No, I need more information. One example could just be an exception."
Zedd continued recording data from the failed summoning attempts, recording the data of each one based on how long they survived and how far they got into the summoning process before they died. He even found four others who assisted him with his research. "Using live people in experiments breaks everything I ever stood for, but for the sake of this country and maybe even this world, I must continue," he thought.
Eventually, the results showed. With help, he was able to determine that the chosen vessels with some history of resistance proved to last longer through the process, meaning that it was likely that they would also have a higher success rate. As Zedd narrowed it down, further, he discovered other hidden factors that could affect the success rate. Things like past exposure to mana and physical fitness were sometimes factors. Using these factors he used specialized equipment and techniques on people he came across to test them. Eventually managed to narrow it down to one real option, Garnet.
Garnet was a prostitute who worked in one of the brothels. She appeared to be a woman in her late teens with no known relatives, her real age was unknown. She was a woman with long black hair down to her back and blue and green heterochromia. She even had large breasts that a lot of men wanted in a prostitute. She was physically fit and very beautiful. Her unique features helped to draw a lot of attention, but it also helped reveal that she had a history of resistance against both her owners and her clients. On her left hand was a brand, it was a flower with five petals, showing her status as a slave that worked as a prostitute at a brothel.
Using his connections, Zedd had found Garnet. She was indeed working as a prostitute. Zedd went down with four trusted guards to see her. "I want to buy this woman," said Zedd showing a drawing of Garnet that was obtained along with a description of her.
"Are you sure?" said Holland, the owner of the brothel. "She is known for causing trouble."
"That is exactly why I want her," said Zedd. "I want someone who is a fighter."
"Oh so you're into that kind of woman huh?" said Holland. "Well it might be cheaper to just sell her to you than to actually continue to deal with her. How much are you paying?"
Zedd thought about it. A standard slave was expensive, costing about a hundred pieces of gold coins. "How about fifty gold coins?" said Zedd.
"That cheap?" said Holland.
"Is that so?" said Zedd. "I thought she was just a troublemaker."
"She might cause trouble, but she attracts a lot of customers, because of her looks and just like you, some people like fighters," said Holland.
"Then how much do you want for her?" asked Zedd.
"Five hundred gold coins," said Holland.
"Done," said Zedd.
"Are you serious?!?" said Holland. "Five hundred gold coins for a trouble making prostitute? I actually wanted you to barter me down for it."
"Like I said, I want that woman," said Zedd.
"A deal is a deal," said Zedd.
"Bring her out here," Holland ordered. Two of the guards in the room went to the back and brought her out.
"She is very attractive indeed," said Zedd as he looked at Garnet.
Garnet only made a single sound in response to this. BLEH. With a matching expression her face.
"From this day on, he is your new owner," said Holland.
Again, Garnet responded with only one expression. HMPH.
"I look forward to working with you," said Zedd.
Zedd brought Garnet to a private room with the four guards. Garnet was not even intimidated by their presence. "Do what you will, but I will not cry," said Garnet.
"Oh even when faced with this many people you still resist?" asked Zedd.
"Because submission is a sign of weakness, power means little when I have enough information to blackmail half the city," said Garnet.
"Well there's a specific reason that I bought you, but it is not what you think," said Zedd.
"Well why did you want me then?" asked Garnet.
"You will die for me, but I want you to die fighting," said Zedd.
"If you dare to hurt me, I will kill you myself," said Garnet.
"Those are the words I wanted to hear," said Zedd.
Zedd brought Garnet back into the castle and locked her in a guest room with his trusted guards. He figured it was better than locking her in a jail cell where any one of the guards could attack her at any time. However, this spread rumors.
"Did you hear? Zedd brought his personal prostitute into the castle,"" said a guard.
"I wish I could afford one," said another. "But my parents only give me a little, I could not afford one."
"Maybe you should ask Zedd or another noble to see if you can borrow theirs haha," said the first guard.
Zedd heard about these rumors, but he knew that what he was doing was the only way. Only those closest to him knew the truth about Garnet. Not even King Caligula knew Garnet's true purpose. Zedd endured this because he knew that this was probably the best chance that they were ever going to have.
The next day, Zedd brought Garnet down to the basement with his trusted guards and chained her down in the middle of the magic circle. "I have no idea what sort of weird things you're into," said Garnet. "Even this is new for me."
"If this does not work, I have no idea what will," Zedd thought to himself. "Is she secured?" Zedd asked a guard.
"Yes, sir!" said the guard. "She is chained and cannot move from her current location."
"We begin immediately," said Zedd.
"Yes, sir!" the guards all replied.
Zedd began to channel his mana through the magic circle. He watched as the circle and hexagram lit up the room. The pillar of light began to descend. "AHHHHH," screamed Garnet.
Garnet was screaming the whole time. Zedd watched as the magic circle descended. It was already halfway! Garnet's screaming intensified to a terrifying high pitch screech that felt like it could destroy someone's ear drums. This was the screams of someone who was about to die.
The magic circle descended finally landed onto the floor and spread across the floor of the room. HISS. The screaming had stopped. It was the sound of failure again. "Another failure..." Zed said. "Take her away," he ordered
The guards approached the body and picked it up.
"Sir?" said one of the guards.
"What is it?" Zedd asked.
"She's still alive," said the guard. "She's breathing, but unconscious."
"Then it was a success!" Zedd shouted. "Bring her to the guest room and quietly inform King Caligula that we have succeeded. No one else must know yet."
"Yes, sir!" said one guard as he left to inform the King.
The others brought Zedd and Garnet to the guest room. Zedd waited for her to awaken. He sat there waiting, hoping. praying. doing everything he could so that he could quickly find out if his summoning had succeeded or not. But only time would be able to tell.