The shouting that ensued after I spoke aloud was enough that I had to fight to follow the guidance of that strange, burning message that had crossed my vision before this whole thing had started.

Don’t panic, sure thing. Would love to. I thought to myself while watching as the mess of young men and women scrambled away from me. There was something very odd about their clothing and accessories that I was having trouble getting my still whirling brain to latch onto. Instead, I looked around the room to assess it for dangers. Since these young adults appeared to be more afraid than threatening at the moment.

The room that I was in was constructed of a warm brown stone, polished with age and care to a glossy sheen. Eight pillars were spaced around the outer edges of the room to leave a large space in the middle. I was in the back half of the room, central in that open middle area. Engraved on the ground was a collection of swooping circles and elaborate figures that reminded me of runes, or even elvish writing like in that one movie about the ring and the little people. Though the runes didn’t look quite right, they still had that same cursive look to most of them. These runes were filled in with a glittering metal that shone like gold but with a faint red tinge to it. Coal filled braziers burned at four points in the circle I stood in, while a small pile of what looked like copper and silver coins sat inside a bowl nearest to the startled youths. Everything looked pristine, except for a section of the circle near one of the pillars that looked warped for some reason.

With the circle’s details finally bringing my attention back to the group of people, the ringing in my ears finally slowed long enough to realize I could understand what it was that they were shouting about.

“What the heck is that!?”

“That reaction, it was the strangest I’ve ever seen!”

“Is it dangerous? Can it get out of the circle?”

“Banish it, quickly!”

“This is clearly unnatural…”

“Oh, he’s handsome…”

The last statement drew my gaze to a short woman towards the front of the group. She was one of only three people who weren’t cowering back away from me. Dressed in a sleek, white blouse with a brick-red underbust corset cinched around a tiny waist to accent both a generous chest as well as a set of broad hips, she looked like a cross between someone’s cute kid sister and a model cosplaying a noblewoman. The swishy skirt of rich, earthy brown accented with silver embroidery around those broad hips drew eyes to her curves even more. Her head was framed with a mass of rich red-brown curls that bounced with life as she leaned to one side to peer up at me. The distance and angle made it hard to guess, but she was noticeably shorter than my own above average height, so I put her at around four to four and a half feet tall.

Definitely not a kid with those curves…I blinked as the thought crossed my mind and her inquisitive, brown eyes blinked back at me, the smile not leaving her plump lips.

“Kass!” Hissed the taller girl next to the redhead, drawing my attention up to her.

While the short girl was all curves, her friend had the lithe build of a gymnast. Long legs clad in close fitting blue pants lead into a slim torso with a modest bust. She was also dressed in a white blouse but no corset. An elegant neck supported a refined face that bore a thick mass of platinum blonde hair that was kept in a chunky braid draped over one shoulder and two pointed ears poked up from the top of her head.

Wait, what?

I did a double take and stared at the blonde woman again. The angular points of a pair of large, canine ears in the same blonde as her hair, but tipped in just a smattering of black, protruded from her head and one rotated slightly as she glared down at her friend.

Remember, don’t panic. I reminded myself as my heart lurched into my throat. A shift of movement behind the blonde woman caught my attention and a fluffy, white tail with the tip blackened like it had been dipped in paint shifted into view, flicking back and forth. It could have been cosplay, but I had never seen cosplay accessories move that smoothly.

My world spun and I turned my attention to the large group of others behind them. A roaring noise sounded in my ears, drowning out the conversation, shouts, and murmuring as I studied them quickly.

Every single one of the people in that group was not human. I saw multiple people with canine ears, one with cat ears, a half dozen with feathers and twice that with scales of some type or another. Several had the pointed ears of elves, while four of them near the front had the stocky stature and broad shoulders that made me think ‘dwarf’ as well. Their shorter stature drew my attention back to the grinning redhead at the front of the group and I looked her over once more.

She didn’t have that same stocky build or broad shoulders, she was exactly proportional, just built along a smaller design philosophy. Her height was the only thing that told me she was different from the others. That was until she shifted to move forward and I realized that it wasn’t feet poking out of the bottom of her skirt.

A thick tail, patterned in an earthy brown and brick red scales, undulated underneath her. The tail stretched out behind her a short distance, twice as long as she was tall plus a bit more.

She moved with a sinuous grace as she approached the edge of the circle that I stood in and only my stunned confusion kept me from taking a step back. Her mouth moved but I couldn’t hear it over the thunder of my heart in my ears. A slight frown crossed her cute lips, and her button nose wrinkled slightly as she peered up at me.

The look of honest concern on her face was actually enough to ground me for a moment and I shook my head furiously to try and clear it so I could focus. My entire world was upended right now and I needed to get a handle on things.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” I said as the rushing noise in my ears dimmed.

The rumble of talking from the rest of the room shut off as if someone had flipped a switch.

“My name is Kassandra Silverscale. I apologize for my poor manners, you were not what we had expected—,” The young woman started to speak before the third person in that group that hadn’t retreated interrupted her.

“Silverscale, do not approach the summoning circle until we ensure that it is secure! We have no idea if this person is safe to be near. With a reaction like what occurred, it could be anything.” Barked an older woman with a cane. She was dressed in a far more conservative fashion, with a close fitting dress of slate gray and a thick belt of white leather. Feathers decorated her gray hair and were fluffing up slightly as she glared at me. The only point of character in her outfit was the heavy, metallic cane that she was brandishing towards me like a sword. Kassandra didn’t look away from me, but I caught the roll of her eyes and had to fight back a smile at her expression

“Uh…I think your thingy might be broken actually, the…circle?” I pointed to the distorted portion of metal and the older woman’s eyes darted over before widening in surprise. Hissing under her breath, she moved to step in front of Kassandra with her arm outstretched to block the younger woman. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt anyone!” The open suspicion that the woman had in her eyes was starting to actually hurt my feelings.

She’s looking at me like I’m some kind of child predator or something. I thought to myself, glancing over to the blonde woman who still remained a few steps back. She was watching me curiously, her tail flicking a little faster behind her in a way that reminded me of a hopeful dog. She did not look afraid in the slightest, just curious.

“What are you?” The older woman demanded. Kassandra didn’t look away from me, though her frown was deepening, clearly irritated at the interruption of the other woman.

“My name is Liam? I’m a human.” I tacked the last bit on, considering I’d already made the realization that these people weren’t human. The tail and ears might have been explained away, but the smoothness that Kassandra’s movement earlier was not something I could imagine being a costume piece.

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say though. The silent group of students backed away another several steps and the older woman paled. Her cane angled a bit more to point the tip at my chest and I wondered what the heck she planned to do with it. Kassandra apparently had enough of the older woman interfering though and spoke up.

“Instructor! Do you intend to usurp this casting from us?” While she’d been polite while speaking to me earlier and introducing herself, the snake-woman was sharp in her words now. The older woman flinched and glanced down at the glaring Kassandra before looking back at the blonde.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Silverscale, this is dangerous! The circle itself is damaged, there is no saying what this ‘human’ might do!”

“The ‘human’ has a name, Instructor. I have introduced myself to Liam and he has given me his name in return. We have entered the first stages of contract negotiations already. By rights, I could demand compensation for you attempting to upset it.” Kassandra’s words were firm, but not haughty, as she continued to glare up at the older woman. “I understand though that you are doing this out of concern, unwarranted though it is. If Liam was going to attack, then do you think he would have pointed out the damage to the circle and then politely introduced himself? For which you are threatening him.”

The older woman gaped down at Kassandra, who slithered forward and around her before she reached up to push the cane down and away. They continued their staring contest for several seconds before the feathered, older woman stepped back slightly and slammed the tip of her metallic cane into the ground with a sharp clack.

“Fine, if you wish to try and pursue this, go ahead. But the princess…”

“The princess can decide for herself if she wishes to enter into negotiations alongside me. While we shared the cost of this summon, I will reimburse her if she wishes to change her mind.” Kassandra said sharply. This earned her another glare from the feathered woman, but the platinum-blonde’s expression morphed into a broad smile. All three of them ignored the murmurs of the group behind them.

Movement pulled my eyes to another strange type of human-animal hybrid in the group. A small, mouse-eared girl peeked around one of the larger, scaled individuals. Large ears, almost a foot across, poked out of the top of her head and trained on them while she watched in interest. She was around the same height as Kassandra was, but more slender than the curvaceous snake woman. A glitter of light off myriad earrings in her ears was distracting for a moment but then she ducked back out of view.

The blonde girl moving drew my attention back to those closest to me and I looked up to meet her eyes. Her pointed, canine ears were focused on me and the fluffy tail of hers was stirring gently as she moved up to stand next to Kassandra. A hand came up to rest between her breasts and she bowed slightly towards me.

“I apologize for my rudeness. I am Rieka Coldeye. It is a pleasure to meet you, Liam the human.” Apparently Rieka’s actions were an indicator that she was willing to go through with whatever was going on, since the instructor huffed in irritation but didn’t speak. Kassandra shot her companion a bright grin before turning those warm, brown eyes back to me. Now that I was looking for it, I could see that her pupils were thin slits, like those of a snake. Other than the tail though, they were the only hint at her non-human origins.

“It’s no big deal.” I brushed aside her apology. Don’t panic, it seems to be working. Too bad I forgot my towel. I thought to myself, strangling a crazed giggle before it could get out. “I hadn’t exactly expected to end up here after all.”

“I apologize for that as well.” Kassandra spoke up, moving forward again until her coils came to a stop just short of the edge of the circle. “It appears the summoning circle was damaged somehow and the spell went awry.”

“Summoning?” I asked intelligently, still a bit dumbfounded by the situation. The beauty of the two women in front of me didn’t help either. The top of Kassandra’s blouse was open and marked with just a few ruffles, accenting the pale cleavage that peeked out above her corset. Both girls were actually rather pale of skin, though Rieka had a light tan going that was more obvious next to Kassandra’s very pale skin.

“Yes. We were summoning a guardian creature for myself and Lady Coldeye. It was meant to be practical, as well as part of our classwork this semester.” Kassandra answered gently, her eyes skimming over my body in such a way that made me feel like she was undressing me visually.

“Ah, okay…summoning. Guardian.” I mumbled. Panic had fled in the face of the utter confusion at what was going on. I was standing inside a summoning circle, apparently. In front of two beautiful women with animal features, while more people with animal features stood across the room and murmured in concern over what was going on. I’d read stories about this kind of thing before, they’d been getting more and more popular as the world went to crap around my generation after all.

Thinking of those stories gave me a handle to hang on to and I shook away the confusion to ask a question.

“So, you were trying to summon a hero or something?” I did my best not to sound incredulous, but both of the girls' curious expressions morphed into smirks before Kassandra spoke again. Rieka seemed content to let her smaller friend do the talking for now.

“Not exactly. This was intended to summon a bonded partner or mentor spirit to assist us in times of need, rather than some hero to go out and defeat a great evil.”

“So…a familiar?” I hazarded a guess, and the grin on Kassandra’s lips grew even wider.

“Sort of. Honestly, the ritual was meant to summon something between a familiar and a hero. A teacher or patron is more like it. But I am not complaining in the slightest for the result.” That smile grew lascivious as she looked me over once more and I couldn’t help but blush a bit. Despite her shorter height, Kassandra was all woman after all. Well, the parts of her that weren’t covered in scales were all woman.

“The targeted summon was supposed to conjure a ‘strong protector’ after all, and you definitely look to fit that bill.” Rieka added on, her tail wagging a bit quicker now. “While we do apologize for tearing you away from whatever you were doing, we would like to see if you would be interested in forming a contract with us.” Kassandra glanced at her friend with a knowing smile before nodding twice.

“Strong protector?” I muttered and thought about something. My dad had told me the story behind our family name. Cosgrave meant ‘victorious’ in Gaelic. Add that in with my first name meaning literally ‘protector’ in the same tongue as well and that might answer some of the questions being posed.

“Is there a question we could answer for you, honorable Liam?” Kassandra asked after a moment of silence while I thought.

“Ah, no. I was just thinking about your…thing.” I gestured down at the circle. “Might have hooked onto something. My full name means ‘victorious protector’ in a language from my families’ homeland. Is it possible that it latched onto that?” Kassandra’s eyes brightened at my words and she nodded quickly, a motion that sent a ripple of movement through her torso that was very distracting.

“Yes! It is likely that it did just that! Liam, would you become my and Rieka’s protector then?” The last part was spoken with so much anxious hope that I answered automatically. It was something of a stumbling block for me. I had a hard time telling people ‘no’, even people I didn’t like. But the limited interaction I’d had with Kassandra and Rieka thus far was hardly a bad one. The two of them seemed both earnest and kind, and if I couldn’t tell an ungrateful jerk like Jason ‘no’, there was absolutely no way I’d manage it for two cute girls.

“Yes, of course.”

No sooner had I spoken the words than the metallic circle underneath us lit up with energy, glowing a shimmering blue-white. I felt that same tugging sensation at my belt, like something was pulling me forward. I stepped over the circle at the center of the summoning diagram, something that made everyone in the room hiss in a breath, even the two girls closest to me.

“The circle! It’s not stopping him!”

“Oh by the gods…”

“Is he going to eat them?”

“The instructor should do something!”

The rustling of whispers from the other group was like a torrent of moving leaves in the wind, but the tugging sensation didn’t let me hesitate. It drew me forward across the circle to stop in front of the girls.

Kassandra grinned up at me, her eyes wide in wonder. This close, I could see the smattering of freckles over her pale nose and the top of her cleavage as she peered up at me. I also spotted a pair of folded up spectacles tucked into the edge of her bodice, their silver rims glittering slightly in the brighter light.

“I, Kassandra Silverscale, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.” Kassandra said quickly, thrusting a hand toward me and I intercepted it gently before she could touch my chest. Something instinctual guided me to press my lips to the back of her hand and bow over it slightly. The gesture caused a brilliant blush to flame into place on her face, trailing down enough to darken the skin of her neck and upper curve of her bust.

I felt a burning sensation on the back of my right arm. Not like ‘touching a hot stove’ sort of burn, but more the tingling of a sunburn. I dropped Kassandra’s hand and tugged the sleeve of my shirt back to expose a sinuous rune on the back of my forearm, right where a watch would sit.

“That’s different.” Kassandra muttered, still blushing furiously before she shot a glance at her stunned friend and elbowed Rieka in the hip, making her jump.

“I, Rieka Coldeye, accept the guardian pact with Liam the human.” Rieka said a moment later, offering her hand to me as well with wide eyes. Shrugging, I repeated the motion from before. Catching her hand in mine, I brushed a kiss lightly against her knuckles.

This time, with my sleeve rolled up to expose it, I was able to see the second rune form further up my arm, though it was a different shape than the first and more angular.

Releasing Rieka’s hand, I straightened and nodded to them both as politely as I could.

“I’ll do my absolute best to look after you two, on my name as Liam Cosgrave.” Both girls' eyes widened at my statement. That made me worry a bit, but before I could ask what was wrong, I felt a jerking sensation at my back, like someone had the back of my jeans in their fist and were trying to yank me backwards.

“What the heck?” I protested as the glow from the floor shifted from a blue-white down into that fluorescent, dark-light color that the words in my vision had been before.

As if summoned by the thought, words flashed into view.

Signal locked.

Traveler, prepare for retrieval.

“What’s going on?” Kass’ voice was high in concern as I was yanked backwards towards the center of the circle by an invisible force.

“I’m being retrieved!?” I protested. This was too much. I’d been summoned to another world and met two cute girls who apparently needed me to protect them. I didn’t want to go back to Earth!

“Oh. Then we will just summon you back, Liam!” Kassandra’s worry melted like an ice-cube on a hot sidewalk and she flashed him a brilliant smile that showed pearl-white teeth. “Thank you for this gift! I’ll summon you tomorrow sometime so we can talk over the details. Be safe, sweet Liam!” She blew me a kiss with one slender hand that made my heart lurch. Rieka looked like she was about to say something before the feeling of being crammed into a tube came again and the world surrounded me in flaring lights and motion.

My mind whirled even faster as I felt like I’d been stuffed into a blender with a pound of glitter and set to spin on high. The moment seemed to take minutes and seconds all at the same time before darkness descended and felt the ancient, cracked leather of my truck seat envelop me once more.