Part 1
Heroes.
Throughout history, we, the Kingdom of Sailos, have borrowed their power to defend our nation.
They are people summoned from beyond this world before a time of crisis can arrive. They have powerful Fate, and a nearly unnatural growth-rate, in terms of power.
Heroes of course are strong beings, who can fight any person head to head. Because of their strong Fate, they're also unlikely to fall into misfortune; though that does not make them immune to death, or even exempt them from suffering.
Thus, the role of Hero is an inspirational one, meant to raise the moral and vigor of the nation, and to join forces with our armies to defeat enemies.
Occasionally, a hero's companions are also pulled into the summoning, and gain similar power to his own. In such cases, the moral among the nation is raised even higher, and the combat potential of the heroes together can sometimes be comparable to a small army.
However, since the last Hero summoning, Sailos abandoned the Hero Summoning spell.
The last heroes had been summoned to this world from another world. Many heroes tend to be summoned from worlds or nations in some ways similar to our own. Half of the summoned heroes come from worlds where magic doesn't seem to exist, or the magic systems operated differently. That's generally fine, as the Hero Summoning spell adapts their bodies to the use of magic in our world, and teaching them magic is also not a hassle because we usually train them in combat anyways, in order to prepare them. After all, even if their bodies can easily be considered powerful, it's not uncommon for their minds to be accustomed to peace.
But the last of our Summoned Heroes were different. 15 heroes were summoned. The most ever summoned was about double that, so it wasn't strange for such a thing to occur. I was but a boy when they were summoned, and hadn't even began my apprenticeship as a Mage. However, my master was among the Mages who performed the summoning, and currently being among the Royal Mages, I've been told much about those "Heroes".
They were said to be familiar with each other, even if some were closer than others. A couple were even related. I don't know what sort of world they were from, but they were apparently weary of our world and its cultures. But none the less, they undertook the training we gave them, and accepted the hospitality we offered them.
That was until a year had passed.
As I said before; Those brought to this world through the Hero Summoning grew quickly in power, even if they themselves were not particularly the Hero chosen (some times we never really learn which was the Hero the Summoning was aiming for). But these individuals exceeded the expectations the Kingdom had of them. Each of them became extremely powerful; possibly the strongest Heroes to emerge, and in only a year's time. Each individual had power comparable to a Demon Lord's entire Royal Guard. The Demon Lords themselves weren't always that powerful, as their role is to lead, not fight. But their Guards were certainly a different story.
When a year had passed after their summoning, they demanded return to their home world. This was not uncommon. Some Heroes made such demands upon their summoning, but eventually decided to help our cause with persuasion. These heroes however, had not completed their task, and even baffled the Kingdom with their actions. They had experienced 2 large battles against enemy Demon Nations, and were able to defeat the armies, even having enough leeway to capture and imprison over a quarter of the enemies with only damaging wounds. Usually Prisoners of war consisted of important figures who could be used as hostages for one reason or another, as well as a few extra soilders to maintain cooperation. It was too much of a hassle to "capture" so many soldiers; yet these "Heroes" did so, for so many. It was ridiculous. So many rations were wasted, and after negotiating with the enemy nations (Without consulting the Kingdom) they even released the prisoners.
So when they demanded return to their world, they were infuriated when they learned there was no such method to return. They did not like our Glorious Kingdom, Sailos and its ways. They especially hated the system of slavery we had, and even shared disdain for our "caste system", as they called it.
In the end, they gathered influence among the commoners, slaves, Beast Tribes, and even many Demon Clans, and rebelled. They created nation of their own with their foolish ideals, and betrayed the Sailos Kingdom.
Before, the Sailos Kingdom was the most powerful nation in the world. A land where the strongest warriors were trained, and the most powerful mages cultivated. We had many enemies, particularly among the Demon Clans, and when a powerful threat emerged, we would rely on the Hero Summoning spell. It wouldn't be a lie to say that the Hero Summoning spell was the reason we were so powerful; thanks to gathering Heroes from foreign worlds, we often learned of various information to empower the country.
The other Human nations were allied with us, and often seeked our protection. The Beast Tribes were easily taken care of, and it was believed that most had become "domesticated" at the time.
But that was in the past. Today, the "Eagel's Republic" (Or just the "Republic") had become the most powerful force in the lands. They forcefully freed millions of slaves, and accepted entry to almost every race. A ridiculous country had been formed, and the nobility of every nation agreed. However, many of the surviving Beast Tribes and Demon Clans had easily merged with the Republic.
It has only been 50 years since then, and they have become the most influential nation on the continent of Ethorn. It's not really known why they named their nation after a bird, but even so it makes no difference.
They have become our enemy.
It's not the first time a Hero has gone traitor; it was however the first time that the entirety of a Summoned group left, and created a separate nation. As a result, Sailos lost half of its territory, after many of the treasonous commoners sided with them.
Now we are desperate.
We have returned to the Hero Summoning spell, by the King's orders.
The Republic has demanded in the past that we hand over all information regarding it, so it may be disposed of. But we have refused. They did not take action against such a refusal, and instead negotiated that we never use it again. That was fine; the King at the time had already decided never to rely on it again.
But things have changed.
Heroes age at a considerably slowed pace. As such, the Hero Summoning spell is usually only used every hundred years at the least, or more usually, three hundred. A hero can live a hundred years into his prime, and another hundred before he dies of old age. Their influence can stave off threats, even long after they have died. They are such an existence. Their children are generally also long-lived, though not to such an extent, usually.
For the last 50 year, the "heroes" have continued their "revolution," continuing to empower their nation.
We of course are on bad terms with them. Even so, they've continued to expand their borders, swallowing up many human nations, and have even threatened our own borders even to this day.
So to fight them off, we will not summon a "Hero" who may betray us and side with them.
We will summon a "Weapon."
Generally, not much is known about the Hero Summoning spell.
The spell is a massive Magic Formation, with complex patterns and inscriptions, many layered on top of each other. It was created by a Great Mage many thousands of years ago, and only some information to its function was disclosed. We only understand about 10% of the Magic Formation, as it uses techniques that aren't shared among any other magics. We have not tried to tamper with it too drastically, for fear of what can happen.
However, we know what the Great Mage has shared, and we have researched many of the rules for conditions. Of course, these conditions don't apply to others who may be caught up in the summoning.
But for this summoning, we're going a different route.
We are not going to summon a human.
We plan to summon a beast.
The strongest of beasts.
A Dragon.
Part 2
I died.
Ah, how did I die?
Simple; a disease. It's a mortifying condition that appears often in the type of entertainment I watch and read. Particularly anime, manga and related materials.
What's the name of the condition that killed me? Ah, there's a technical name for it, but I don't think it's really suiting to call it a "condition" under that name, so I have given it a better name.
Runaway Truck Syndrome.
Yep. Cliche as it sounds, I was hit by a truck, driven by someone who (I think) was drunk. Not that I saw them or anything. I only saw the truck hit me a few seconds ago as I was casually crossing the street. I could feel myself fly several meters before hitting the concrete and rolling about.
I'm sure it didn't really look pleasant, but at the moment, I like to imagine it was at least amusing to watch me roll.
Ah, my head is busted open, isn't it?
My arm feels crushed.
Huh, it doesn't seem to hurt though. That's good at least. Lets me be all smug and snarky at death without being in pain.
Shit.
There's still those light novels I wanted to finish reading; damn authors, finish them up already so I can read 'em. Ah, maybe I can read it as a ghost?
I wonder if ghosts get to stay around to finish their favorite shows and shit?
Not that I believe in ghosts, or even the afterlife for that matter.
Eh? Is that a light?
Didn't you hear me? I don't believe in you, go away.
Or is that the gate to hell?
I can still see the street, and my blood, so I'm not dead yet.
Turning my eyes, the light seems to stay centered on my vision.
Actually, it looks like a magic circle.
Huh. It's getting brighter.
Ah fuck, my vision's gone. Did I die already, or did my brain's sensory shit finally cave? Is this what a coma feels like? No, maybe I'm actually dead?
That's what I think about, as I feel a sucking sensation pull me forward.
Suddenly, I see light. I open my eyes, and I see myself inside of a large, cathedral like room.
My body feels weird. And I think I'm seeing things. No, I'm hallucinating. There seems to be strange sort of waves and smoke everywhere, that I can even "feel". But it's colorless. I somehow understand that what I'm seeing has no color, yet my eyes seem to still see it. It's not transparent; in fact, it's opaque. Yet I can see through it. This smoke-like substance seems to float around me.
As I left my head, I realize that my neck feels weird. I look down at my hands, and see... Claws? They look like a mix between a reptile's and a bird's feet. I try to move my hands, but notice that these hand/feet-like things respond to my will. They're not moving exactly how I want, as the muscles seem to be weird, but they're certainly mine. I think.
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As I look at my self, I realize I have a tail. A long, lizard-like one. What the..?
And.. Wings?
Ah, I just noticed that my neck is pretty pretty snake-like. What the fuck?
Ah, look, there are midgets surrounding me.
Eh? No, they look like a normal sized people, just shorter. No, wait, I'm taller, huh?
That strange wave-like substance from before seems to be glowing from them. But it looks like their bodies no longer hold much of it.
As I look down at the ground, I realize there are carvings. A large massive pattern is carved into the ground around me.
Ah, this couldn't be...
"It worked~~!"
"The Summoning--"
They sounded exhausted, but their words confirmed my next thought; I was summoned to another world.
How cliche.
Eh? But why do I have this scaly body? And why am I so huge? Ah, was I reincarnated into another body, and then summoned? That's been a theme in some of the stories I've read. I seem to be a dragon, judging by my characteristics. It's too dark to see if I at least look cool, but I don't seem to be one of those Chinese snake-like Dragons. More like the general fantasy dragons that walk on all fours, and look like a sort of dinosaur.
This pattern though doesn't seem to match up with other stories though. Usually, when summoned, the person is still human, or if there was some kind of special magic to it, they come out at least human-like.
But here I am; after dying, I was summoned as a fully grown dragon.
Ah, am I fully grown? I can't tell. The humans around me look to be shorter than me. But how large is a fully grown dragon? Also, now that I think about it, is this strange substance I can see and feel with all my senses, mana?
My instincts tell me yes.
Instincts? That's funny, they actually are telling me yes. Not literally the word "yes", but close enough to a "yes sensation", if that makes sense.
No, it doesn't make sense for me either.
"It really worked! We summoned a Dragon!"
Ah, they're still celebrating. I understand them? Huh, I just noticed it's not English, but the words all make sense. Something like a second language, but as clear as English.
Well this is common in stories. It's usually explained as some kind of spell incorporated into the summoning.
"Finally! We can rest easy! Surely it can destroy our enemies!"
"Ah, but, what should we do? Can it understand us?"
"We'll let it gather its surroundings. Don't try to frighten it."
As expected. I let out a sigh, that sounded pretty monstrous. But it seems like they want me to fight some enemy. It's that kind of setting, huh? Ah, but aren't you supposed to summon human heroes or something?
Summon me with my own body, dammit!
I can't establish a fantasy harem like this!
Oh, maybe I can? I'm still a guy, right? I'm sure I can somehow achi---
Where's my dick?
Shit, reptiles don't have dicks, huh? What kind of genitals do they have?
Actually, going by how my scales, feet and legs look, I'm probably closer related to birds. If I remember correctly, the ancestors of birds are said to be dinosaurs, right? Makes sense if in this world, Dragons are the remainder of dinosaurs.
Still, no dick.
Oh god, I'm so depressed now. I don't know how to tell what gender I am. I mean, my instincts tell me I'm at least male, but how do dragons have sex? My instincts haven't told me that much, but I get the feeling I might (might might might) instinctively know when it comes time to find out.
I looked over at one of the guys who had encircled me. They seemed to be magicians or something, and looked pretty tired. They did summon me after all. Must take a lot of mana.
One I looked forward, I saw who I figured was the top-dog among these magicians.
How did I know? No, not instincts.
Most of the guys around me had grey robes, with white clothe along the edges, and some sort of crest where their heart should be. Over all, the robes were clean, and had very few deviations from each other.
And then there's the guy in front of me, surrounded by 4 Knights, who clearly didn't take part in the summoning, as they weren't exhausted at all, unlike the magician in the center of them. There were other Knights around, but he was the only one with Knights directly around him. On top of having his own bodyguards, he had a very stylish silver robe, that had what looked like ingrained gold, and jewels sown into the fabric. He also was the only one here to have a staff. A very shiny and fancy one at that.
Mana seemed to gather around him, particularly towards his staff. Was he ready in case I attacked?
Well anyways, I decided to speak.
"Hey, turn me into a human!"
That's what I tried to say anyways.
Instead it came out more like:
"KYARAAGRRRRHHHHHHH"
Ah, my vocal cords can't handle human speech, huh? Instead, my voice came out like a blood-curdling roar, that sounded like a mix between a lion's roar, and some kind of high-pitched bird screech.
No good. I scared the shit out of everyone. Myself included.
With a face of terror, the man I identified as the leader of the group shouted something I just couldn't accept.
"Put the control collar on him!"
Part 3
We had gathered 80 mages from within the Kingdom, all of whom had the highest mana capacity. Summoning such a large beast would surely take a lot of power.
We knew from past knowledge that the more who are summoned, the greater the cost of the summoning.
The very first summoning was only a single hero, and involved 50 mages who fed mana into the summoning. But the cost wasn't very much, and no one felt any exhaustion. The second and third summonings only needed 5 mages, and they were usually tired to some extent.
At the time, the mages involved with the summoning had figured that each summoning would only bring a single Hero.
This was a grave mistake. The forth summoning resulted in 4 heroes being summoned. With only five mages supplying mana at the time, when it came to the "final phase" (The phase where their bodies would gain form in our world, and it was no longer possible to turn back and stop the summoning), the mages body's began to deteriorate, and 2 of them died, while the other three had several years marked off of their lives.
Thus, the tradition became to always have 20 mages perform the summoning, with magic crystals for reserve mana. Even then, there were times when mages fell in deep exhaustion, but none had died thus far,
But now we needed to gather as many mages as possible for such a summoning. Not only would the Dragon's body be larger than most of our summonings; dragons also have an immense mana capacity. So we gathered everyone with large mana capacities, fed them various mana potions, and gave them magic crystals that held a large quantity of mana. We even had to gather some who weren't high ranking mages, and merely had large mana capacities from birth.
The result?
No one died, but even so, everyone's mana was sucked almost dry. Even the mana crystals were drained, and among those who had little experience with mana exhaustion, some had nearly passed out.
For a dragon, this one was rather small, so most of the effort it took to summon it probably went into feeding the dragon's own immense mana supply. That was expected, as we had set "young" as a condition. Actually, that was always a condition. Most all the heroes ranged from 12 to 17 upon summoning. There were some summoned with different ages outside that range, but those were just companions that were sucked into the summoning along with the hero.
The reason for such a condition was easy; it's easier for one to accept such a situation if they were brought when they were in their youth.
We particularly wanted a Dragon about 13 years old, but as expected, even young dragons were the size of a horse, and had mana of immense scale
Oddly, the "Race" of the summoned "hero" is not defined as a condition in the same way the rest of the conditions are. Even though we don't fully understand the segment, because this part which defined a human was also used in other familiar spells, we were able to identify this segment hundreds of years ago. We of course never touched it before, but this time, when drawing up the magic formation for this summoning, we changed the formation which defined a human, into one that defined a dragon.
The summoned dragon had deep blue scales, and eyes just a tad lighter. Its claws were long and sharp, and like any dragon, could probably tear people to pieces. It basically looked like any other dragon. Its shape and such were normal, but it likely had greater strength than an average dragon its own size. What we knew for sure, was that this dragon has double the mana capacity of a typical dragon. Its mana capacity was enormous.
So I watched the dragon. The other mages seemed to celebrate at their success, but I was cautious. We didn't know what sort of world this dragon came from. I had heard that in many worlds, dragons do not exist. So this one was pulled from one where it did. What sort of world was it though?
The dragon seemed to be curious. It looked around, particularly at itself. How odd.
But it took in its surroundings curiously. Then it looked at the mages, as if only now noticing them.
After a long while, it took a glance at me, and observed me.
I was weary of this action.
Suddenly, it roared!
We broke into something of a panic. We were all exhausted. Though we had various Knights in the room, they wouldn't be able to prevent at least a few deaths. What's more, we needed the dragon alive.
I shouted orders. We needed to subjugate this dragon, and bring it under control. We had Control Collars created for this dragon. Control Collars are normally meant for slaves, but we wouldn't risk another betrayal.
But as soon as we prepared for that, the Dragon seemed to go into a frenzy.
It seemed to clumsily move about, slamming anyone who approached it, as it tried to move its wings. How odd. Is it possible that the dragon was tired, thus couldn't fly properly?
No matter. We would exploit this... Or so I thought.
Suddenly, the dragon quickly moved towards the exit. Large, stone double doors, were destroyed by this beast, as it slammed into it. In hind-sight I would realize that the dragon also took injury from this, and had began to limp with a broken shoulder, but at the time, I could not move as I saw such a display of force.
The Summoned Dragon had escaped.
The only good news was that it had not killed anyone.
Looks like we made a terrible blunder.