Someone shoot me…But, not like…in the head. Just in the leg. Anything to get out of this torture. I thought to myself as Dutcher continued to drone on. Though maybe in the head if he keeps talking…
The day had started out fairly normal. Showing up to work and getting into the swing of things while trying not to think too hard about how mind numbing my day job was. I’d made good progress in checking out and just working through the boredom. As a bonus, I’d been able to avoid Dutcher’s piggy eye for the first three hours of my shift too. But, then the words I had grown to loath were announced over the crackling intercom system for the loading docks.
“Employee stand-up meeting.”
The announcement was met with a chorus of groans from everyone near me. We all secured what we were doing and headed towards the open space near the ‘command post’ as Dutcher liked to call it.
The ‘command post’ was just a facetious name for the area where the different warehouse managers would hang out, orders were printed, and the scanners were charged. It was the closest thing to an office that any of them had and they zealously guarded it. None of the wage-slaves were allowed into that hallowed circle of desks, but we could group up around them to listen to the dictations of our overlords or pick up supplies. Never could we linger though.
Honestly, I didn’t mind the other two managers. Walter, the refrigerator dock manager, was a decent guy who was quiet and hard working but demanded the same of those under him. Hawthorne was the head of the pickers and kind of a pain in the butt. Though he did look after the pickers and wasn’t above grabbing a trolley and helping out himself, which was one reason that Dutcher never messed with the guy. Both of the other managers were more fair than Dutcher was, but they never bothered to intercede to keep the idiot from doing something dumb either. Instead they just focused on their own departments unless someone screwed with them.
“And we need to keep in mind the core competency that will allow us to capture the low-hanging fruit in order to move the needle on this issue. If you have any suggestions, feel free to circle back with your manager so that we can remain agile in this deep-dive to allow us to hit on any pain points and capitalize on quick wins that come up.” Dutcher continued to ramble on and I could feel my brain oozing out my ears now in response to the wall of useless jargon.
He had just started talking about ‘unpacking platform analytics’, something that I had was one hundred percent positive was not necessary to cover with people who load trucks for a living, when the edges of my vision flashed abruptly.
Rieka Coldeye has sent a non-urgent request for your presence regarding training with her.
Transit? View summoning?
I blinked stupidly for several seconds at the message that scrolled across my vision. I tried to fight off the hypnosis caused by the storm of corporate jargon that Dutcher was chanting and it finally clicked what was going on.
Crap. The girls must be in that class they needed me for this week. I gotta sneak off. I thought and started glancing around to find a way to duck out.
Due to being one of the largest guys on the dock, as well as being stationed on the furthest bay, I was at the back of the group of sleepy-eyed men just listening blankly to the platitudes of management.
Doing my best to be subtle, and fairly certain that I was failing if only due to my size, I sidled around until I was leaning against one of the large bays that held goods for the pickers to collect. I was on the wrong side of the group to try and sneak off with ‘bathroom’ as an excuse and I just knew that Dutcher would say something, if only to be an asshole.
The back ninety percent of the warehouse was full of these massive shelves that were a lot like the ones at Costco or Home Depot. Goods were stored for the pickers to select and then portion out to the loaders to load on the trucks. The business we were in did ‘end of line’ distribution to a bunch of the smaller markets and gas stations in town. So while there were things like whole pallets of boxed candy bars, each picker might only grab one of them for an individual stop and only if that store was running low. This meant that the shelves provided a mixed blessing of cover since they were see-through in several places.
The warehouse itself was a maze of pallets and boxes as the loads on the shelves were restocked from incoming and then depleted again at random. I just had to get far enough to one side that I could duck down out of sight.
Easier said than done for someone my size.
I kept my head down and thought small thoughts. For a moment I considered lowering my height with Shape-Shifting, but I hadn’t experimented with it yet and wasn’t sure how to do it properly so I just did my best.
I caught a glance from a few of the guys as I shifted past them. They all just nodded before turning back to the blathering idiot at the front of the room. When I was leaning against a shelf that I could use as cover finally, I took stock and then ducked backwards and scuttled away down the aisle as quietly as possible.
Once out of sigh, I spared a quick glance back to make sure no one saw me before focusing on the Transit option on the message that still burned across my vision and activated it once I ducked into a nook in the shelves where a half-full pallet of sports drinks were sitting.
The world slipped away rapidly and the last thing I heard was a sharp clap of noise and Dutcher shouting something about ‘giving you a few minutes back in your day’ as the meeting broke up before the light took me and I was wrapped in a swirl of color.
Man, I hope that no one is grabbing one of those flats on the pallet when I get back. I thought as color and sound flowed past me in a whirling mixture.
I’d been getting used to the sensation of traveling between dimensions the more often I did it and the sensations were not as disorienting as the first trip I’d taken.
This time I saw a vision of a gigantic, temperate forest filled with primeval trees that reminded me of the sequoia’s of Earth. The forest rippled off in the distance as I raced above it, the trees stirred by a flow of wind so that the green branches tossed like the surface of a stream.
All of this passed in the space between heartbeats and I felt my feet connect with solid ground and the image of evergreen branches morphed into dull brown dirt, though the bright, afternoon light remained.
“Liam!” Cheered a sprightly and familiar voice from behind me. I turned quickly to receive the affectionate charge of my companion with a broad smile.
Kassandra crashed into my chest with a happy giggle. Her arms went around my waist while her long, red and brown scaled tail wrapped about my waist to give me a tight squeeze.
“Hello there, Nugget. How’s my mischievous noodle doing?” I laughed as well. The amount of joy and love I felt for the giggling bundle of mischief and red hair pressed to my chest had already washed away the melancholy and stress from the meeting I’d just been in.
“Good!” She cheered brightly, wriggling about to flick the mass of coppery curls out of her face before scowling playfully over her shoulder. “Rieka, get over here! You were the one to summon our Liam this time. That means you should be getting hugs too.”
“Now Kass, no pressuring Rieka.” I teased, using one arm around her broad hips to tuck the dwarf lamia against my side and under my left arm in her normal spot. Kassandra purred happily as I pulled her against me and burrowed back into my chest. I held my right arm out towards Rieka, who watched the entire event with a small smile on her face.
“So demanding for someone so short.” Rieka laughed, stepping forward with her blonde plume of a tail stirring furiously in counterpoint to the calm smile on her face. Her long, wolfish ears were standing up right and their black painted tips quivering happily amongst her platinum blond hair. Rieka was dressed in a blue blouse with silver accents and a pair of fawn-colored pants with calf-high boots of a slightly darker shade of brown. Affecting an air of more reservation than Kassandra had, Rieka tucked in on my right side and gave me a gentle hug. That reservation was totally blown out of the water by how excitedly her tail danced behind her.
But I wasn’t going to call her out on it.
Kassandra looked ready to start babbling away but Rieka stopped her with a raised hand before stepping back to assume a more formal posture for a moment.
“Liam, I need your assistance with our summoning class today. There is an assessment of our summoned partners for both Kassandra and I. As such, you were summoned.”
I was surprised at her formal tone at first. When the edges of my vision flashed again and a System message appeared, I remembered their previous conversation about making sure to give me my assignments as soon as possible.
Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their class today.
Reward - 100 SP
“Got it. Should be no problem. How long do you need me for?” I smiled down at Rieka and her composed expression broke into a broad grin, her icy blue eyes twinkling happily.
“No more than an hour. Likely far less than that. The instructor is having us stagger our summons out as they need to examine each of them in turn to give them a rating for our grades. They’ve already done most of the class, there are just a few that are still waiting so we figured it was time to call you.” Rieka glanced over her shoulder. I followed her gaze and examined my surroundings finally.
We were standing slightly to one side of center in an oval shaped practice field of packed earth. Rising up on all sides were solid walls of dark-gray stone that lead into stadium style seating in a shape that reminded me of the Coliseum, just on a smaller scale.
There were easily two dozen other young men and women clumped around the area of packed earth that denoted the competition space. A pair of older kin were currently walking between groups, discussing with each other while holding large clip-board looking objects that had leather bound notebooks on them while they talked to themselves.
The group that they were leaving had a relieved looking Jane amongst it. The mouse-eared young woman had a tiny green woman floating in the air next to her head that was scowling in an over-exaggerated pout with her arms crossed over her bare chest. She had a set of wings sprouting from her back that waved slowly to hold her aloft and rather than legs, she had a second set of wings pumping along with the first.
As I watched, the scowling little woman vanished with a brief flare of blue-green light and Jane slumped even more while rubbing at her forehead with one hand, relief giving way to annoyance.
“Looks like Jane worked out her issues with her summon at least.” I muttered while observing the instructors approach the next student, who had a bandy-legged canine next to him that was drooling a fluid that hissed sharply when it hit the packed ground.
“For the moment, at least. Though I don’t think her partner is too happy about being summoned for class.” Rieka sighed, shifting slightly to watch the instructors as they inspected the dog and one of them waved a crystal-tipped rod over the creature before making a note of whatever they found out.
“At least she got through to her. No doubt the early issues didn’t help much with her problems, but now the situation might be different. Just gotta rebuild the damaged bridges from her heavy-handed actions before.” Kassandra said with a shrug.
A brief, warm sensation against my neck followed by a quiet sucking pop and a giggle from the offender told me Kassandra had decided she needed to get up to some kind of mischief.
“Kass…” I warned while tilting my head to look down at her ‘Who me? I’m innocent, I swear!’ expression. “While I don’t mind any and all sorts of affection that you might give me, I don’t want you damaging your reputation.”
“Fiiine.” Sulked the dwarf lamia and Rieka snickered in response.
“He’s got you pegged, Kass.”
“Not at the moment he doesn’t. We haven’t gotten that far yet.” Kassandra replied saucily and I snorted before rolling my eyes while Rieka blushed furiously when she figured out what Kassandra was implying.
“Irrepressible this one.” I sighed.
“Don’t you know it!”
“Any news on the bandit thing?” I hated to ruin the cheery mood, but I had been worrying after the girls for the last several days and I wanted news.
Stolen novel; please report.
I watched as the instructors moved past the young man and his dog to a familiar trio of wolf kin. They had an armored quadruped standing in front of them that was the size of a pony and covered in sand colored plates of hide. The creature looked very dangerous and it hissed quietly until one of the three girls calmed it.
“None yet.” Rieka exhaled explosively and shook her head, making her canine ears flop adorably. “I sent word to my mother about it and she’s looking into it. Whoever set it up didn’t leave any evidence behind that the city guard can find. At the moment, they are trying to find a witness who might have seen Ugly Jack meeting with someone in or near town. But, that’s hard enough to do given the man was wanted with a bounty.”
“Fair.” I said as the instructors began examining the armored beast, both of them were nodding in approval and the trio of wolf kin were smiling broadly in response to their distant words. “Is it going to affect our plans going forward? If you girls would prefer to stay closer to town then…”
“No!” Rieka interrupted sharply and a few of their classmates turned to look towards us. She continued in a quieter tone. “No, we aren’t changing plans. Expanding them, maybe. But not changing them.” Her speech was interrupted by a dull roar from the quadrupedal beast and I turned in time to see the creature's open mouth showing off rows of backwards-hooking teeth. The creature’s maw slammed shut a moment later like a bear-trap closing and the trio grinned broadly at another set of compliments from the instructors.
“How so?” I asked once it quieted enough for us to be heard.
“Rieka is going to start bringing her bow and quiver with her. And the two of us are going to look into some armor, as well as being more wary while out and about.” Kassandra interjected, leaning back from her spot snuggled into my chest to look up at me. The sun briefly glared off the glass in her silver-rimmed spectacles and I had to blink the spots from my vision.
“Probably a good idea.”
“It’s the best we can come up with. We can’t just put our lives on hold because someone is causing problems. What we can do though is be more careful going forward.” Rieka sighed before straightening up. “Instructors. Good day to you.”
“Princess Coldeye. Lady Silverscale.” A clipped female voice said, drawing my attention away from the lamia belt that was cuddling with me. The instructors had finished with the trio and had come over to speak with us. “Who is this young man with you? Your group is only registered as the two of you.”
The woman who was speaking was another elf like Lady Maia or Rachel Cedarfall, the woman who had helped me get a handle on earth magic the previous Saturday. She was clearly older than Rachel had been but not as old as the Lady Maia. She had brown hair tucked into a severe bun at the back of her head and she was dressed from neck to ankles in a gray wool dress of good make with dark-green embroidery at the hem and cuffs. Her sharp, blue eyes watched out of a stern face as she studied the three of us.
Next to her was a cat kin man with black hair cut short and a brief splotch of white on the slender tail I saw swaying slightly behind him. He was also dressed well, but simply, in dark brown tunic and pants.
Behind the instructors, I noticed the trio of wolf kin were smirking towards us while each was patting the quadrupedal monster that they’d summoned. The loathing in their gaze made the familiarity finally crystallize and I recognized the three as the ones who’d been harassing Kassandra previously.
“Instructor Meadowsong.” Rieka nodded to the woman before turning to the man. “Instructor Rainfist. This is our summoned companion, Liam the human. Liam, these are our instructors for the summoning course that we mentioned we would be calling you for. They will be examining you to get a baseline of ability for our grades.”
Kassandra, clearly having understood the more formal moment now that the instructors were there, slid out from under my arm and down onto the ground once more. Once down, she took up the spot to my left while looking at the instructors with a carefully schooled expression of respect.
“Pleasure to meet the two of you.” I offered my free hand towards the two instructors and they just stared at me. The man in surprise and the elf woman in disdain.
“Really? I don’t know what you are trying to pull. Bringing in an outsider to pretend…” Instructor Meadowsong started to say, her face twisting in anger as she turned to glare at Rieka. I admit that I probably overreacted in response to her tone, but seeing Rieka wince was enough to make me act.
“Instructor Meadowsong. You will be more respectful of my bonded companions or there will be an issue between us.” I snapped, stepping to put myself between Rieka and the woman.
The flesh on my arms rippled and shifted automatically to armored scales while my fingertips flowed down into familiar claws as my Shape-Shifting reacted to the perceived threat. My face must have shifted too. Because the elven woman flinched back, her face becoming a shade paler before her scowl returned and she opened her mouth to speak.
“Really Meadowsong, I know that you don’t like her but Lady Maia did report the unique situation of these two when she witnessed it and confirmed the summoning.” The cat kin man spoke before she could get off the ground with her counter argument. I turned my attention to him, seeing amusement dancing in his slitted eyes. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Liam the human. It is not often that summoned companions capable of speech are part of the class here. In fact, in the decade I’ve been an instructor I’ve only seen two. Including you!”
“Happy to be of service then, Instructor Rainfist.” I said, nodding to the man and pointedly ignoring Meadowsong while the woman gaped like a landed fish.
I offered the man my hand to shake and he took it without hesitation, being careful of the wicked claws the hand still sported. We shook quickly and he made a quick note of something on his clipboard before shooting a look at the still startled elf woman.
“Shall we begin?” He asked pointedly and I shook my head in the negative, turning my glare back to Meadowsong.
“Once the Instructor here apologizes to my companion then I would be happy to continue.”
“Apologize!?” The elf snarled, an ugly purple flush darkening her cheeks.
“That is a fair request to make, Liam. Well, Meadowsong? You insulted the human, as well as the princess, by your tone and action. There are a number of summoned beasts that would take offense to just one of those actions and you have done both. Are you going to make that right, as one of your station should?” Pressed Rainfist and the cat kin man went up another few notches on my meter of respect.
The elven woman continued to splutter and bluster for a moment longer, drawing further attention from the other students in the room until she noticed that fact. Once she was aware of the number of eyes on her, she glared and growled out an apology.
“I apologize for doubting your sincerity in this, Princess Coldeye. I allowed rumors to cloud my judgment here.” She ground out and Rieka nodded before glancing pointedly at me and then back at the elf, who remained resolutely silent and not looking me in the eyes.
“And my companion? Are you going to apologize to the Traveler that you insulted? Liam is not just a summoned monster after all.” Rieka growled and I saw the hair on the top of her head start to bristle slightly. Meadowsong scoffed at that, still refusing to look at me.
Rainfist sighed in irritation and waved one hand, getting my attention.
“I apologize on behalf of my fellow instructor, Liam the Traveler.” He said earnestly, inclining his head and getting a scowl from Meadowsong. “Some of us are actually aware of what such things might mean and work with an open mind.”
“You have no need to apologize, Instructor Rainfist. The slight is not yours to excuse. Now…the ladies here were explaining to me that you needed to measure some sort of baseline for development to grade them?” I pointedly ignored Meadowsong. I’d decided that since the elf woman was ignoring me, it was only fair. “I assume that this will be a fair grade, unbiased by individual issues?”
Rainfist nodded firmly, glaring towards the obstinate Meadowsong. “Indeed. If unfair grading is believed to be happening, the instructor in question will be brought before a board of inquiry by the student if needed. No grades will be awarded today beyond a pass or fail for successfully presenting a summoned companion for assessment. With your permission?” He brandished the short rod with a crystal tip and I nodded to him.
Rainfist made several gestures with the rod, murmuring to himself as he inscribed symbols in the air with it. I watched the crystal tip begin to glow slightly and was about to ask a question when a message scrolled across my vision.
A local has cast divination magic upon you to discern your relative strength.
As this is not a forceful divination, you have the option of declining the request for information if you wish to maintain your privacy.
Information that will be provided is just a general estimation of your relative stats in relation to your species as well as the level of your major powers, such as Shape-Shifting and Manipulate Element.
Yes/No
“Huh.” I muttered, looking at the message for a moment. “Didn’t expect it to ask for permissions.”
“Permission?” Rainfist asked but I focused on the Yes option on the message and it faded away.
The cat kin man blinked several times before he began making several notes and I wondered if he got the same glowing message in his vision or if the information was communicated in a different fashion. I did notice that he spent a fair bit more time taking notes for me than he had the other two creatures I’d watched them record.
“Do you two have plans for how to improve the strength of your bonded companion?” Rainfist asked once he was done writing, glancing between Rieka and Kassandra.
“Yes. We work with Liam several days a week to train his abilities and help infuse him with more power and energy to grow with.” Rieka said respectfully, glancing towards the scowling elf woman who was scribbling something on her notepad as well but had yet to speak after the apology.
“Anything in specific or just general training?” Rainfist pressed, making a quick note on his pad.
“We are looking into a number of methods to further assist him as well as enlisting outside help in specific training. But, as Liam is a Traveler and not a standard summon, we are having to work a bit more on impulse than following the normal pattern. He does not have aspected mana. So the more traditional methods of improving a summoned creature's power through aligned herbs, ores, or crystals as gifts does not work the same.” Kassandra spoke up, getting a nod from Rainfist as the cat kin made another note.
“Sounds like the two of you are on top of it. There will be a competition in a few months time, towards the end of the semester, that pits individual summons against each other. This is a new initiative that the Council for Juneau are doing with the summoning classes, in order to test the creatures in a more organic setting than a classroom. You’ll get more solid dates the closer that time gets as well as the competition brackets. The fights are to yield, not to the death, so you don’t have to worry about losing your summoned creature but injuries are possible so do not slack on training.” Rainfist rattled this off with such regularity that it was obvious he was speaking from a script.
“Even though Liam is not exactly a normal summoned creature?”
“Yes, even then. For those with non-combat companions, there will be a slightly different competition but it is…rather obvious that Liam is a combat oriented fellow.” Chuckled Rainfist, nodding to the scales that still decorated my arms.
“I choose you…” I mumbled under my breath while staring at my feet. I swear if they end up spouting the same ridiculous challenge phrases as that videogame, I’m going to lose it.
“What?” Rainfist blinked at me in surprise and I waved it off before distracting him with a more pertinent question.
“I would appreciate it if you could fill my companions in more on the rules and guidelines of this competition. Just so we know what to expect and so we can begin training for it?” I asked, glancing towards Kassandra who had a worried cant to her expression though she was doing her best to look professional.
“You will be informed of the rules at the same time as the other students.” Snapped Meadowsong and I gave her a cool look without responding verbally to her slight before turning my gaze back to Rainfist.
“She is right, unfortunately. The Council does not want the students to train their summons just for the competition. The entire exercise is more about being able to properly command your summon in varying situations after all. The official rules will be released a week or two before it begins, along with the brackets. We are letting everyone know now so that people do not let training slacken. The big thing is to remember that it will be the summons fighting each other in the combat bracket.” Rainfist said with a contrite frown. He seemed earnest, so I just nodded.
“Fair enough. Anything else you need?”
“No. That is everything, Liam. Thank you for helping look after these two and I look forward to seeing your performance in the competition.” Rainfist gave me a shallow bow and then gave each of the girls a slightly deeper one before nudging Meadowsong and guiding her towards the next person they had to examine.
As the two walked away, I let my Shape-Shifting alter my hands and arms back to normal and relaxed.
“Bitch.” Kassandra grumbled once the instructors were out of earshot.
“Kass!” Rieka scolded sharply, though I could see she agreed from the smirk on her face and the slight stirring of her tail.
“She was. There was no need to be rude to Liam like that.”
“Some people just refuse to grow up.” I reassured Kassandra, stroking my hand over her curly mane of hair and she cooed happily, wrapping an arm around my waist to hug my hip from her normal height.
“Well, that was all that we needed. We should let you get back to your work, Liam.” Rieka gave a tired sigh. “Wish we had time to talk more. We only powered the summon with the minimal amount of mana to not waste your time.”
Assist your contracted companions, Rieka Coldeye and Kassandra Silverscale, with their class today.
Reward - 100 SP
COMPLETED
“Don’t worry about it, Rieka.” I murmured, mentally waving away the message that popped into my vision when the System deemed my mission to be ‘complete’. “I’ll see you two this weekend?”
“Definitely!” Cheered Kassandra while Rieka nodded, though I could see she was staring at my hand where it sat on top of Kassandra’s head, a bit of envy in her icy eyes.
“Hugs before you send me back?” I offered, drawing Rieka’s attention away from where I was stroking the top of Kassandra’s head. She nodded quickly and stepped up to give me another hug.
I wrapped both arms around Rieka and squeezed her tightly. It only took a moment to shift us so that her back was to the wall rather than the room. Rieka did squeak in surprise when I moved her though she groaned quietly in contentment when my right hand carefully rubbed the base of her ears while just out of sight and dug my fingertips into her scalp, giving her a solid head scritch.
“Thank you, Liam.” Rieka sighed happily before we separated a minute later.
“Any time, Rieka. Thank you for sticking up for me.” I gave her a wink and her smile widened, only the faintest hint of a blush gracing her cheeks.
“My turn!” Demanded Kassandra and I turned towards my pint-sized lover just in time to catch her as she launched herself upwards. She had used her tail as a springboard to wrap her arms around my neck and haul me into a kiss that used my larger size as a shield to hide from the rest of the room.
“Kass!” Rieka hissed in mock-scandal. Kassandra just giggled into my lips. Her hips writhing back and forth against my stomach as she pressed into me.
“See you soon, Liam! I hope you dream of both of us.” Kassandra purred, separating just enough to stare into my eyes with her slitted, brown ones and she winked slowly.
“I fully expect that I will now, Nugget. Behave and look after Rieka while I’m gone, okay?” I chastised her gently. Her smirk turned into a broad grin and she nodded.
Rieka must have sent me back then as the tugging sensation around my chest, like a harness wrapping around my torso and lifting me away, seized me and I whirled away between dimensions.
This time, I didn’t see the forest or the buildings. Instead I felt like I’d fallen into a pool of abstract art as colors flowed and dripped away from me in all directions. The scent of fresh blueberry waffles filled my nostrils and my stomach rumbled. A moment later my head bumped against the underside of the bay and I groaned when pain shot through me.
“Oww…” I grumbled, peeking out from my hiding spot and into the dingy warehouse. The only scents I could pick up now were of sweat and old rubber. After the smell of waffles, it was rather disappointing.
Sighing, I confirmed that the meeting had broken up and the coast was clear before extracting myself from behind the half-pallet of sports drinks.
Wonder how difficult this competition is going to be? Guess I’m going to need to focus on training more. If that’s even possible…