The turtle, sensing his hesitancy, was the first to act. It sucked in a deep breath. As it did so, the mossy spiral patterns on its shell started to glow. Leafy green light filled the small cave as Eternum surged around its body. The beast finally opened its mouth and let out a gentle exhale, aimed at his crooked left leg. He had a mangled knee and a broken ankle. He wasn’t able to heal properly after the fall and could only walk with a painful limp these days.

When the breath reached him, his leg suddenly went numb, providing instant relief from the nagging pain. At first, he didn’t realize what was happening. His felt good; comfortably warm and a little weird. Then, he sensed a tremendous amount of life-attribute Eternum flowing into him, passing through skin and penetrating deep into his knee and ankle.

Miraculously, his foot slowly twisted on its own until it was pointing in the right direction. His left leg straightened out until it was the same length as the other. The ligaments in his knee and his ankle regrew out of nothing. Mangled bones returned to their original shapes. He couldn’t believe it, even when he opened his eyes wide to witness the changes taking place.

It was a healing ability! And it was so powerful!

Zachary tested his leg. There was no pain even when he put his full weight on it. "Wander, you are amazing!"

"Wan." The turtle replied smugly, its eyes squinting into slits.

He rubbed its smooth leathery head and laughed, "Amazing, so amazing. Haha, I can walk and run again, all thanks to you."

"Wan!"

"Would you heal my arm too?" He asked excitedly, "You can do it, right? It might take less effort than my leg. I think it's just nerve damage."

The turtle froze. It slowly blinked and even pulled its head back.

"Please?"

Its head retreated even more until it was almost hidden by its shell. An awkward silence passed between them. He realized he had done something wrong. It was unhappy and it had every right to be. It had already shown him its sincerity, now it was his turn to do the same.

"I'm sorry, Wander. Let's first perform the eternal summoning. It's what you want and it's also what I want too. Are you ready?"

"Nnn."

"Let's begin."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Zachary closed his eyes and focused within himself. He arrived within his soul sea and commanded the life path to open up to its limit. Eternum started to pour out, causing the point between his eyebrows to glow with a pale green light. Across from him, the turtle had done the same. The gateway to its soul was located on top of its head and it was also glowing, with a much more vibrant green light.

This was one of the differences between eternal summoning and soul summoning. For eternal summoning, both souls had to understand what to do. Both had to contribute. It wasn't one soul seeking mastery over the other but a merging of equals.

Zachary knelt on the ground and supported his body weight with one elbow. He leaned his head down while the turtle raised its head toward him. Slowly, they finally touched, letting their gateways connect with nothing else in between. With this, Eternum freely flowed between the two souls. This was the first step.

Next, they had to find equilibrium, a balance between souls. This was easier said than done. He was at the One Path Adept Rank while the turtle was at the Eight Paths Novice Rank. The powers contained in their soul energies were far from each other. They also had to consider the quality and quantity of life energy coming from each side. His side was naturally inferior as his first path was the sky path. The turtle's innate talent was life-attribute energy so there was a large disparity between them.

A long time passed. Eternum flowed between them, sometimes in great volume, sometimes in minuscule amounts. It was an intricate balancing act. It required patience as well as trust. Both of their souls were wide open to each other. If one side had bad intentions, the other would not be able to defend in time.

Their struggle was not too different from the struggle between humanity and the world around them. In essence, summoning was a way for humans to dominate nature and master the world. Summoners fought wild Ensouled and beat them into submission before trapping them in cards, orbs, or even their soul sea. Step by step, rank by rank, one could rise to the top and become a saint and be unchallenged within their domain.

Most people, however, would fail along this journey. Nature was too powerful to overcome, even after thousands of years of effort. The Old World being just a small portion of the whole world was proof of that. Faced with this reality, people such as Katherine and other members of the beast cults were pragmatic people who accepted their weakness and their fates. They were unable to defeat nature so they chose to serve it instead.

Mastery over nature or subservience to nature, Zachary was not trying to achieve either but something new, a perfect balance and equal union. In the back of his mind, he had always held this notion since he was young. He never treated his summons as expendable tools. They were all important to him, even the ones that seemed weak and useless. After meeting Wander and learning the secrets of the world, he truly believed that this was the right way, that this was the true way to summon the eternal.

Oommm!

A deep sound echoed around the two still figures. A great pulse of Eternum erupted from them, causing the cave walls to tremble. A flash of bright green light passed between them before dispersing. It was impossible to tell which part of the energy emitted came from Zachary or the turtle. Every particle was in harmony.

They had completed the eternal summoning. A glowing, ethereal image of the turtle was formed with Zachary's soul sea, residing in front of the life path, while a similar visage of himself was left within the turtle's soul sea. This phenomenon was the proof of their achievement.