Chapter 8

“Concentrate.” reminded Raven while she meditated as the great fireball moved across the sky. Its huge size dominated the space around it as it illuminated the living world below. “You’re putting too much energy into it. We don’t want it exploding again.” She added making Nevermore wince a bit as the warm glow of the fire ball dimmed to a less oppressive level.

“You didn’t need to bring that one up.” Nevermore replied as a second ball of fire floated across the dark sky.

“Not when the last one burnt down half your continent.” Raven replied with a smile as she saw him pout.

“I did not expect learning fireballs would cause my first major mass extinction event.” He admitted. Saying that Magic was complex was underselling how horrifically hard it was to learn. Rote memorization as well as copying the neural plasticity of a newly born being could only take him so far. He had to internalize everything and truly understand it.

“That’s why we’ll keep practicing till you can use it without hurting yourself.” Raven then said. Mastery was a pipe dream for now, with a pressing need to learn as fast a possible. He had magic, a literal ocean’s worth of it even. Even if he was inefficient with how he used it, he could make up for it by just throwing more of it into the fire.

It took him a month to reach this level. He hoped he had enough time to learn enough to make a difference.

“We still have communication with the colony of Eden Prime right?” He asked. He regretted not reading more on the Mass Effect timeline. There were ways to pull out memories from his mind for Raven to view but it relied on him remembering it clearly. What they had now was merely a rough timeline and a lot of fanfictions. Eden Prime was our canary in the mine, if an attack ever happened, it meant it was time to move.

“Not yet. With your current progress, you’ll soon be able to travel there when the time comes.” Raven replied as he sighed partly out of frustration.

Their current plan was reactive rather than proactive but it was more that they lacked crucial information than a lack of initiative. The plan involved him learning magic, gathering resources, including genetic and monetary ones, for the upcoming fight against the invasion and acting once the threat showed itself. They could try and kill Saren earlier but it meant putting the ire of the entirety of Citadel space on both of them. They needed the right time to kill the son of a bitch or maybe study his brain to see if indoctrination was a physical process which could be reversed.

Without further information to act, they had to wait and there was a lot of waiting on top of all the practice they were doing. Thankfully, they had lots of private time together. His lust was not left unnoticed as Raven gently bopped him in the head.

“There’s later for that.” She admonished without missing a bit even as he sensed her arousal as well. They had truly come a long way from where they started.

He snorted as he returned back to his current exercise. While the plans for the upcoming Reaper Invasion involved a lot of waiting, their plans on what to do with their current situation as refugees from different realities and how it meant their legal identities were yet to be fixed. “So, how’s the comics you’ve bought? Is it good?” he then asked.

With contact established between them and the Eden Prime colonial government, they decided that hitching a ride to the place would be a great idea. He found out that he can still feel Raven from afar but it was akin to closing one eye and seeing an entirely different place when switching between eyes.

The colony was a nice place. A bit rural for his taste with vast fields of grasslands and farms with few urban settlements scattered here and there. It had the amenities of any modern city but far more futuristic from what he could tell and they’ve even found a comic shop.

“It’s ok? It’s weird but I feel kind of proud of my other selves overcoming the challenges they have.” Raven replied with a soft smile across her face. The original stories were already public domain at this point. He and Raven managed to snag a copy or two along with several other fictional books as souvenir after their short meeting with the System Alliance representative.

“Maybe we could get more of your stories from later years when we come back” He then said with a happy nod before he added. “Speaking of Eden Prime, how’s our current negotiation with the Systems Alliance?” He asked. They left the communication satellite for them to use as some people did not want to land on his surface. He left most of the talking to Raven as he worked on magic but he did pipe up from time to time.

“It’s going.” Raven replied. “But did you have to keep saying that I’m your queen?” she then added.

“You are my queen.” He replied, making Raven groan out, much to his amusement as she blushed once again.

They had yet to introduce themselves to the greater galaxy and the Systems Alliance was being helpful with keeping them hidden as they courted them into becoming citizens. If they were going to introduce themselves, it was going to be on their terms.

“Anyways, last I heard from the Eden Prime Governor, the Systems Alliance government is trying their best to pass a bill to update their citizenship laws.” Raven then said, to which he nodded. Raven could easily get a legal identity of her own but his legal identity is another problem altogether.

“We could, in theory, register as a private colony. You can be the ruler of the colony and have the final say on things. It’s an old law from what I’ve read to encourage rapid expansion,” He suggested. It was a law rarely brought up as no one wanted to live in what’s essentially a Company Town and Colonies are hideously expensive.

“We could but should we?” Raven countered. It wasn’t like they were in a hurry to begin with. Neighbors and tenants were nice to have but it’s not like they needed them. They were there to help stave off boredom and loneliness but they did have each other.

“I wouldn’t mind being owned by you Raven.~” He teased her back. Raven rolled her eyes once again.

“Do I have to bring out the bat?” She threatened light-heartedly.

“No dear…” To which he was rewarded with a peck in the lips of one of his many tentacles. He was hopelessly and helplessly under her spell and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Good.” Raven replied as a third fireball peeked from the horizon. She uncrossed her legs as she floated back down to the ground and started stretching.

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“Remember how you said you needed genetic samples?” She then asked.

“Yeah, what about it?” He asked. They’d been trading raw materials for animals but the only things they’d bought so far were pets, livestock, and a varren. Anne, their friendly neighborhood xenobiologist, was not amused with all the invasive species up until he made an entire island for these new species. Getting to make an island of cats and seeing speculative evolution in action was a fun pass time.

“I might have something we can use to get more exotic animals.” Raven then said, catching his attention quite quickly. They had a wealth of genetic materials but they were mundane in the grand scheme of things. Only the Varren proved to be rather exciting but their alien biology, limited by what nature can do, could only entertain him for long.

“Oh?” He asked, wondering what she had in mind.

“We could do a familiar summoning ritual.” Raven suggested, leaving him stumped.

“Wait, those things are real?”

-x-x-x-

And so Nevermore found out that there was indeed a familiar summoning ritual they could do. It involved a magically charged summoning area which required materials saturated in magic. Thankfully, he knew of one material that grew on his surface and underground.

“Think these crystals are good enough?” He asked as he hauled more of the crystal to decorate the area. It was unnecessary but he liked decorating and it made the summoning area stylish. Pillars of purple crystals surrounding the massive, multi ton slab of crystal in the center brings it all together.

“Yes.” Raven replied as she etched the last touches to the circle. He watched her double check everything. They had to rely on pure memory in recreating the circle and a misaligned line could either make the thing fizzle out or make it into a bomb.

“I have questions on why it feels like my own magic but…” Raven added as she dropped her diamond etching tool and wiped away the dust from her knees. “We’ll figure it out later.”

The circle was complete. From what he heard from Raven, this was merely a parody of the master crafted circle that Azorath had but they had something the realm didn’t: a near inexhaustible source of mana to brute force everything. One more reason to make the circle as perfect as it could be to avoid the problems.

“Ok, how do we do this? Also, could this summon demonic entities?” He asked as he scanned every inch of the circle and tried to commit to his memory.

“That would require a demon summoning ritual. I could do it but It involves blood and sacrifices.” Raven replied to which he stared at her in surprise and bewilderment.

“How did you know about this?” He asked, wondering just how she knows about such a ritual.

“Azorath doesn’t forbid learning such arts. The elders just make sure that we’re taught of the consequence of any magic we learn.” Raven explained as stood at the edge of the circle.

“Huh, you know… thinking about it, that would stop most students from pursuing those arts. He replied as he turned his eyes towards Raven. “So, how do we do this?”

“Just stretch out your hands like this” Raven replied as she raised both hands with her palm facing away from her. “And slowly push your energy into the circle”

Raven closed her eyes as he felt the energy flow into the summoning circle. Slowly it glowed before motes of mana floated away up to the sky. Just as quickly as the lights reached an intense brightness, so did it dimmed down as Raven cut off her mana from the ritual.

“Ready to summon a puppy?” Raven asked as she turned towards him.

He snorted as he raised his tentacle and formed hands at their ends. Dozens of hands reached the circle as he replied “Just watch me pull out a dragon or something.”

“Don’t worry about having to subdue your summon. The ritual automatically brands them and binds them to you. The only way that’ll fail is if you summon something with more Mana than you have.” Raven reminded him as he started pushing his mana into the ritual.

Immediately the ritual flared into life. Raven had to shade her eyes as lightning arced between the crystal and the pillars. The winds howled as he tried to limit the amount he was pushing into the crystal but it held so he soldiered on, pushing forth into the void to summon his first familiar.

A pillar of light shot out to the night sky as what could only be described as a rift in space opened up. For a brief second, he thought he broke the ritual but the rift closed as the pillar of light receded back down to the circle.

His fear was soon replaced with a sense of wonder as there in the middle of the glowing circle was a young dragon. It was barely bigger than that of a large dog but it was unmistakable with its four limbs along with an additional set of wings. The huff of purple smoke threw him off a bit as it was not the fire breathing variety but everything else checked out.

The reptilian beast stumbled about, disoriented and confused at its surroundings, before it promptly fell on its side. He poked it, making sure it was alive as a tattoo was etched on its back connecting it to him. It felt strange, with it being less intimate than when he assumed direct control on small animals, but at the same time closer in some sense.

“You… should probably hold back on the mana.” Raven then said as she poked at the glowing runes etched upon the crystal which they stood on. It wasn’t hot but it felt… energized or electrified. The air itself felt much more saturated with magic than it normally was.

“Yeah, point.” He admitted as the rift was rather worrying but it did net them quite the catch. Even now he was copying everything he could and learning from.his new familiar.

"How many familiars can I have?" He then asked.

"In theory, an unlimited amount as long as you can provide power. The familiar contract is a two way street. You provide power for them to grow while they provide service. Few sorcerer's and magician's have the resources you can throw at magical problems." Raven replied as she gently lifted his familiar off the platform.

"I'm going to summon another one." He then said. It might have been the gacha goblin inside him talking but he wanted more creatures to play with.

"Whenever you're ready big guy" Raven replied as she floated away from the platform and erected a small shield to block off the light.

Learning from the lessons of the first summoning, The second summoning was far less spectacular. Unlike before, only a small pillar of light reached up to the heavens before the summon was materialized inside the circle.

There in the middle was a humble raven who promptly keeled over like its earlier companion. It was alive as far as he could check as the connection established was strong and healthy. "Do familiars really pass out all the time?" He asked, wondering why they kept passing out.

"Making them pass out helps prevent any accident between the summoner and the familiar." Raven lectured as she gently floated down to grab the raven. It was quite amusing seeing her hold the bird given her name.

"Hmmm… less mana means lesser creature, it seems Raven. I think I should try a strong one once again." He replied as he readied himself.

Raven hummed for a bit, thinking about it before she nodded. "It should be safe. Just make sure to stop if the thing cracks." she replied.

With the confidence and reassurance from his lover, he once more threw himself into performing the ritual. Power poured from his core into the ritual, lighting it up like the sun. Raven had to shield her eyes as the light only got brighter. He was putting as much as he could dare, letting his power loose as the light once more opened a rift up in the sky.

For a brief second, he actually felt like he put a significant part of his power into the ritual as the new summon was pulled from wherever the ritual reached out to gather its target. This time however, things did not go as planned as the stumbling form of a disoriented and confused person came into view showed.

"Did anyone catch the plate number of the truck that hit me?" The familiar looking dusky skinned pinkette replied before she toppled over as he felt a connection take hold.

"Oh… oh shit."