Aidan Oakwood Forest

The group sat cross-legged on the ground, far from the Oakland elf, who remained standing. The azure-eyed woman paced up and down the crater, a finger and thumb placed under her chin. She took quick glances at Maisie before she looked back down to the ground. Was the elf messing with her? Most summonsmen knew who they were summoned by. She glanced back up at Maisie, who stared back at her with a blank expression. Not being able to take the frustration much longer, the Oakland elf walked up to the group and stopped a short distance away from them.

“My patience has run thin. If you’re a summon, like you say you are, then you’d know the hero who summoned you. Who was it?” Maisie began sweating. Firstly, she didn’t know about any of that hero stuff, and how was she going to explain that a big, lilac-haired elf visited her in her dreams? Wait, she could just say that?

“My hero had long lilac hair and was an elf.” Maisie replied, her lips forming a tight line as she stared dumbly at Bilan.

“That’s what she told me.” Kalthona echoed. The rest of the group looked over at the two women, surprised.

“How come you didn’t tell us this?” Hide complained; his eyebrows furrowed as a mock look of betrayal painted his face. Maisie let out a nervous chuckle as she scratched the back of her head.

“Sorry about that.” She then looked between the group and Bilan. “Can someone also please explain the whole hero thing to me too?"

“So a long, long, long time ago. Somewhere around a thousand years ago,” Hide began, “there was a group of six notorious heroes who protected the realm of Eldoria.” Maisie cleared her mind and began to focus. “Those heroes were summoned forth by kings and queens, and they were all from different villages, kingdoms, and great cities. Each of them had a special magic type and a weapon infused with magic that helped with fighting. Casting spells and using magic without tools weren’t exactly perfected. Some could do it, but most people couldn’t, and the heroes could.” He continued on.

“How and why were they picked?” Maisie asked.

“A demon lord had been wreaking havoc across the kingdom.” Bonney began to speak up. “Hailing from the Kingdom of Milhania, Count Gorgon pillaged, destroyed, and massacred people all across the continents, using enslaved dragons as a way to intimidate the ruling class into handing their power to him. In short, he wanted to be the sole ruler of the continent.” Bonney continued on. “As to how they were chosen, they were simply the strongest amongst their peers."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Kalthona perked up at the mention of Milhania.

“So dragons don’t hate humans over territorial disputes but rather because they were slaves to humans?" She asked.

“Yes. Gorgon was one of the people who cast magic without a tool and had a plethora of "heroes. Bonney replied, “The heroes were summoned forth to put a stop to Gorgon, and they successfully did, effectively ending his reign of terror."

“That’s amazing.” Maisie commented, enthralled by the story. “So what happened next?” She asked, clearly intrigued.

“Two out of six of the heroes became a little big-headed." Bilan said. “Maribel Modica and Raul Baira.” She added.

Maisie and Kalthona’s eyes widened, while Lyon looked down on the ground, feeling a little agitated at the blatant disrespect of his saint.

“They slapped on the title of saints, and I guess the ego of being great heroes created the next set of Gorgons. They both wanted the religions they made up spreading across the land. Peacefully or forcefully, they didn’t care.” Bilan continued on.

“The other heroes couldn’t allow that to happen, so a war broke out that ended in the victory of the heroes. However, Maribel and Raul had already left their mark, and the heroes tried to reverse the damage. They created the magic council to simmer down any tensions rising between the followers of New Modica and the followers of Bairaism, and it worked for a while. When the heroes then died, they used summoning magic to summon deceased people’s spirits in other worlds. No one knows how they were able to do that, and the heroes haven’t shared it either. The magic council maintained the peace for as long as they could, until recently. The crusaders did what they did, and many speculate the empires are also waging wars in the name of religion."

Bilan took a deep breath, tired of the explanation: “There’s also a rumour floating around that two of the four heroes summoned haven’t joined the magic council and haven’t been found. I guess the rumours are true if I’m staring at a summons. The Oakland elf muttered. Maisie, on the other hand, was perplexed. She needed to join the magic council. Why does she need to do that? Her train of thought was immediately interrupted by Kalthona.

“Do you have a picture book of these heroes?” The flame user asked. Bilan thought for a second, wondering if it was destroyed in the massacre. She then stood up and began rummaging through the pile of books tucked away in the corner. Finally, she pulled out a brown hardcover book titled “Portraits of Eldoria’s Six." Bilan handed it to Kalthona, and the group moved closer to the flame user as the tanned girl opened the book.

They slowly went page by page, staring in awe at the different portraits and their names. Maribel was a pale woman, with bright green eyes and ginger hair that peeked through her white veil. Raul was a tanned man with amber eyes and long, curly brown hair. He looked like he was carved by the gods and was adorned with various gold jewellery. They continued going through the pages until they reached the end of the book.

There was one problem, however. The lilac-haired elf, whom Maisie was sure summoned, was nowhere in sight. Not her portraits, nor her name. The group looked at Maisie, who simply stared at the ground.

Was she an anomaly of sorts?