Inside a throne room in a deep underground cavern, a teapot was whistling. It had been going on for several minutes as it was waiting for someone to remove the boiling water from the heat source. But that never happened. It whistled until there was no more water left in the kettle. Outside of that room the only noise was the whistling kettle and a faint pounding that could be heard in the distance.
Traveling down a winding path, the source of the pounding was clear. A being in white armor and a sword at its waist was beating a cave troll with its now bloody gauntlet. With each strike, the cavern shook, and blood splattered until there was nothing left to punch but bloody ground. The being stood up straight. Its eyes were all white with tiny singular dots as pupils. It looked over to the entrance of this tunnel to see the being who summoned it.
“Well done,” Axel Arbor said. “You work efficiently.” The being pounded its metal chest armor with its gauntlet across its heart twice. Or a place where the heart should have been. This was a Paladin Specter - a ghostly being that died a noble death in battle. The Paladins that this specter hailed from was one of the larger Order planets in known history. They were excellent fighters, always fought on balance. They were never too ambitious with their punches and never too cowardly for stronger foes. The specter looked at Axel with cold eyes.
“I imagine you could have done better,” it replied. “I do not appreciate being tested, young one.”
Axel waved a hand, “bah, I couldn’t care less about your appreciation. You got the job done. It is unfortunate that they refused to listen.”
“Violence does not clear the world of misguidance,” the paladin said. “I am sure with enough time and effort, you could have persuaded them to join the noble cause.”
“Perhaps,” Axel said. “Perhaps not. It is impossible to tell now, only thing we can do is move forward.” The paladin bowed slightly. Axel couldn’t see the paladin’s face, but he knew it was sneering. That brought a smile to Axel’s face. Axel went to the Loress Caverns to convince the troll community to join his cause for bringing world order.
Axel divulged many of his secrets in the meeting, hoping that the cave troll leader would see that joining his cause was the only correct path. To Axel’s surprise, the leader continued to reject the proposal. Axel had come prepared to the meeting. He had summoned a warrior spirit to do his slaughtering if that was what it had to come to.
“This seems like a plan that would do more harm than good to our planet, Axel,” the cave troll said.
“It may seem like that but I assure you it is not. The plan is fool proof and will only lead the world into tranquility,” Axel responded.
“If you really wanted to achieve tranquility, then help aid wars, help others grow in power, be a helper, summon creatures to help others, do something,” the cave troll leader said. There were benefits to chaos, just as there were benefits to order. It was clear that the troll leader believed in balance. He didn’t believe in all of one way or all of the other.
Axel found this foolish. The self-righteous man grew enraged at the troll's passivity. He wanted them to pick a side: chaos or order. Abstaining from choice indicated choosing the former, chaos. He would not stand for this.
“Aiding those who are unworthy and unwilling to accept the truth of our doctrine is not something that we do,” Axel said. “Our path is clear, join the League of Order fully or be our enemy.”
“You tongue is sharp, young one, be wise not to let it cut you. Be reminded where you stand, in the court of MY throne room, in MY cavern, in MY Kingdom. Do not be so bold to forget where you stand.”
“Where I stand is in the presence of a coward. One who is too cowardly to pick a side of history, one or the other.”
“Do not confuse my lack of telling you a decision as an act of cowardice. I look out for the trolls in this cavern, not the people up above. Just like your precious league, they take priority over everything.”
“Then you shall die a fool protecting a kingdom that was doomed to fail from the start,” Axel threatened.
The cave troll leader’s body started to glow a deep purple. He pulled out a halberd the size of Axel. The room began to fill with many trolls, all bearing arms. Axel was by himself. He held up his hands, “Perhaps I misspoke. I will take my leave.”
“That is the wisest thing you have said today, young prince Arbor. Do not make this mistake again.” Axel nodded and made his way out of the cavern, escorted by two troll guards. Once he was outside the entrance, the trolls shoved him out and closed the entrance. Axel scoffed, “Damn idiots. All this good life, a pity they all have to die.” Axel pulled out a small leather pouch.
He began dumping the pouch's contents into a complex ritual circle. There were four places for him to put extra ingredients or runes for a specific summon. The pouch contained marble and gold dust mixed together. The combination of the two created a beautiful balance of light that was the ideal dust for creating a ritual circle. He placed a brand new sword, helmet, shield, and gauntlet in each rune circle.
“Let the one who knows order, be called from your realm,” Axel chanted. The words of power interacted with the ritual circle. The dust began to light up, glowing brightly. The armor pieces began levitating and trembling with power. The empty spaces inside the armor were lit up with a golden white light. The light swirled into form. A spectral arm entered the gauntlet, and it clinched its now armored fist. The other arm grabbed the sword. The rest of the armor was filled with a ghostly golden light. A skull appeared under the helm, it had no eyes, but empty sockets.
“You summoned me,” the creature said in a ghostly whisper.
“I need you to do some slaying for me,” Axel said.
“You are so bold to call upon the services of a Paladin Specter?”
“I am,” Axel said calmly. “I know you will do the task.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I know you can feel the magic, I know you understand the severity of my situation is.”
“A practitioner of Order magic,” the specter said. “One that walks the path of Tranquility. Fine. But your compensation will be hefty.”
“You would still charge a fellow walker of Tranquility’s path?” Axel asked.
“Without question,” the paladin responded.
“Fair enough. You will be compensated handsomely if your work is adequate enough.” The Paladin put his arm across his chest and tapped his hear twice.
“It shall be done.” The paladin walked to the cavern entrance and punch the stone. It shattered into a million pieces. Axel pulled out his cobra staff; the staff’s eyes glowed gold, and the dust from the explosion was lifted off his pristine white armor. He conjured several golden orbs of order energy, they floated around him as he followed the paladin back into the cavern.
With the work of the Paladin and Axel, they quickly slaughtered their way through the cavern, returning to the throne room. Axel approached where the paladin was standing waiting.
“What is the problem?” Axel asked.
“Nothing,” the paladin said. “I was waiting for you in case you wanted to kill the leader yourself.” Axel bowed his head slightly, which was quite considerate. He nodded and entered the chamber first.
“Ahh I knew you had too much hubris to walk away young Arbor. What is this creature you have brought with you?”
“I summoned it and as I said earlier, your death was inevitable.”
“You’re a summoner? Those still exist? What?” As the cave troll leader floundered, four orbs of golden order magic slammed in and through the massive cave troll. Blood exploded out of the back as the orbs went straight through the beast. As soon as the battle started, it was over.
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Axel walked over to the disfigured body. He lifted the head of the leader.
“I am a summoner, one of the final summoners to be trained by the great Veluvius,” Axel whispered. “But, that matters not. Good riddance.” One more orb of order smashed into the skull of the cave troll, turning it into nothing but paste.
***
Tycen and Izzy were walking toward the beach shore. Izzy had her arm looped in his; she held him tight. The date so far was a massive success in her eyes. They had easy, seamless conversations, were able to be comfortably in silence with each other, and they had learned a lot about each other. Izzy was happy, even if nothing came from the night she knew that this would be considered her best date yet. That alone was enough data for her to be satisfied with the date, even if there was a small part of her that wanted more.
“What is on your mind?” Tycen asked. Izzy looked up with a bit of surprise. “I have noticed that you, chew the inside of your lip when you are thinking about something important. What is it?”
“You noticed that in one day?” Izzy asked.
“Yes,” Tycen replied deadpan.
Izzy shook her head and chuckled, “Oh of course you noticed that. I was thinking about you,” Izzy said.
“So not that important,” Tycen teased.
“Exactly,” Izzy continued. “I was thinking about how great this date was. How even if nothing came from the date it was still good.”
“Is that what you want?” Tycen asked. Izzy smiled her response, then un-looped her arm. They had arrived at the beach. There was a log that was near the water. She sat in the sand, leaning against the log. Tycen joined her in the sand. Izzy played with a stick she found on the ground.
“No,” Izzy finally said. “I’d like to see you more. This was the best date I have ever been on.” Izzy’s smile was so bright she leaned against Tycen’s broad shoulders. He couldn’t help but smile, too, as he felt her head rest on the shoulder.
“I agree. It was the best date I have ever had. I would like to see you again, Izzy, but I don’t want to drive a wedge between you and your family. If dating an avian is an issue then we will need to end it hear before either of us are too invested.”
“Sensible,” Izzy said. “I will handle my family, I would love to see you again, Tycen.” Izzy looked up at Tycen, her blue eyes glowing in the moonlit night. Tycen’s purple eyes were also glowing in the light. Izzy’s heart skipped a beat the second their eyes met. They stared at each other for what felt like hours to Izzy.
She stopped gazing and rested her head on his shoulder once again.
“What do you like about your team?” Izzy said.
“They’re all great people. They are all unique in their own way too, that makes things exciting.”
“Unique huh? In what ways?”
“Piper is a firecracker. She is loyal as all get out. She is a protector and the voice of reason. She is intentional and just so kind until you get on her bad side. Anna. Anna is like me, too smart for her good. She sees the world differently from most people, but sometimes, she struggles to stay grounded. She is also a great planner, and she likes good tactics. Levi,” he paused and chuckled. “Levi is great. Probably the best person on our team. If he cares for you, he cares deeply for you.
Levi is probably the one on our team with the most troubled past, but he does an excellent job of staying positive. He is a good man. I really appreciate him—something our team does, which I absolutely love. We sit down and eat together at every feasible meal. We just talk about life outside of the adventures of the team setting. It was his idea. I had mentioned how I missed having intentional moments with people. I was a researcher for a small town in the Onyx kingdom. My boss assigned me to Arcross, where a dungeon was forming.
In Arcross, I met a particularly interesting human, one a little too dark for the natives. But it had been a long journey, and I was hungry. Levi offered to pay for my food. Anyway, growing up, we used to always do family check-ins. It would be so great to have time to talk to each other. I mentioned to Levi in passing that I missed that about my house.
The very next day, he told me that we would start having family meals. At first, I thought he was messing with me, but then we really did it for every meal ever since that day. That’s the kind of guy Levi is—a guy who would change the team’s entire dynamic for one person out of the goodness of his heart. He just wanted to see me happy; that was it.” Tycen looked at Izzy, who had tears welling.
“That was so beautiful, thank you for sharing.” Izzy said. “You believe he is a good man?”
“I trust him with my life,” Tycen said.
“That is admirable,” Izzy said.
“So no team,” Tycen said. “Why do you want to join a team?”
“I think I could be a great support role ritualist. Providing boosts, some smaller damage rituals, healing spells, all of it. A part from what I could provide for the team, I want to explore. I know that my city doesn’t have a good summoner, but maybe I could find one elsewhere. The idea of being an adventurer is also exciting. I don’t know, I have spent my whole life in amazement. The world is so beautiful and I have been trapped in Capital City for far too many years. I want my freedom, even though I’m not trapped. Then with all the things magic has done for the world. I believe that summoning is the best way to reach my goals.” Izzy’s eyes were practically burning with passion.
“The hardest part was finding a team,” Izzy said. “There are a lot of teams but most of them suck and the teammates are what is most important to me at the moment not just strength. If I could find teammates like yours, that would be ideal.”
“I understand you,” Tycen said. “Thank you for sharing. But, why a summoner and not a sorcerer? I understand that you want to adventure, but why would summoners be your ticket to reaching your goals.”
“Sorcerers understand ritual magic to a basic level,” Izzy explained. “Not that there is anything wrong with that. I want to do complex rituals. Summoning rituals are complex, they are the best ritualists. I also like the fact that I can summon others to help me. Think of all the things I can learn from beings from different realms! How incredible would that be? Imagine discovering a new way to use a spell because of how a summon used it, that would be awesome.”
Tycen chuckled at her excitement, “You sound like Levi, he said that there are a lot of ways we can learn how to harness magic better from other creatures. I think some of his familiars have taught him a lot. He has seriously progressed a lot in his magic in such a short amount of time.”
“What have they helped him with? Which ones?”
“I don’t think I could tell you. That would have to be something you asked him on your own.”
“I just might have to,” Izzy said.
“You could join us for breakfast tomorrow,” Tycen said. “I’m sure he’d be down to answer. We’re staying at the inn across the sea.”
“I just might do that…” she slowly said. She looked down awkwardly and started to blush. "Would he be the only one who’d be down to talk to me tomorrow at breakfast?”
“No I’m sure Piper and Silvy would too,” she looked up and saw him smiling. “Of course I’d want you there.” Izzy nodded slowly. They returned, gazing into each other’s eyes. “I had a lot of fun tonight. I should get you back home.”
Izzy nodded slowly, “It’s sad, but you’re right.” The two of them were there for a moment. Then Tycen took a deep breath and leaned in. Izzy smiled as her heart pounded in her chest. She leaned in. Slowly, their lips met, and they shared a kiss. The well-contained butterflies broke loose of the containment inside Tycen’s stomach. His heart was racing, but the smile on his face was not going anywhere.
Tycen walked Izzy home. Well, it would be more accurate to say that Izzy led Tycen back to her house. Her home was located in the same location as the library, behind the building they called the laboratory. Her house was a mansion—a massive, multiple-floor medieval-style mansion. Izzy led Tycen to the gate that had a few 2-star guards. They recognized one of the ladies of the house and kept their distance.
“Thanks for the wonderful date, Tycen,” Izzy said. “I will see you in the morning?”
“Thanks for saying yes,” Tycen said. “I had a great time. Yes please, it would be great to see you again.” She rushed in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around his muscular torso and squeezed. Izzy felt his heartbeat and heard his breath. She smiled at the comfort they brought. Izzy knew logically that she had only known Tycen for a day, but she felt like they had known each other forever. The hug lasted a while as she refused to let go.
“Mmm-mm,” someone cleared their throat from the other side of the gate. “That’s quite enough of that, now. Isabella, let go of the avian and come home.”
“Oh hi, dad,” Izzy said. “This is Tycen.”
“I know who he is,” he interrupted. “Your mother informed me of your happenings. Because I love your mother and she would not leave my side, I let you have your little date. Against my better judgment. Good night Tycen.”
“Dad please don’t be rude,” Izzy looked up with harsh eyes. “I’m plenty old enough to make my own decisions and see who I want to see.”
“You are still my daughter, perhaps we should discuss this later, when you’re not in the presence of your date.”
“Fine,” Izzy said. She turned to Tycen and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’ll see you later, then,” she winked, then brushed past her father. Her father stared at him for several seconds.
“What is your name?” Tycen asked. “Since you already know mine?”
“Tiberius Avington,” Tiberius said. “Thank you for keeping my daughter safe.” He reached out a hand for Tycen to shake. “Have a good night, sir.”
“It was my pleasure,” Tycen said with a gentle wave. “Have a good night.” Tycen spread his wings wide and flapped them for good measure. He took off high into the night sky. He felt a familiar presence, in front of him Dameion manifested slowly. “Hey Dameion,” Tycen said. “I am guessing that they haven’t left to the island yet?”
The void avatar shook its head and nodded for Tycen to follow it. Tycen nodded, and the two of them flew off in the direction of the docks. Izzy and Tiberius watched as Tycen looked like he was talking to nobody, then saw a creature appear, and then they flew off.
“Well,” Tiberius said. “Did you know he had an Avatar of the Void as a familiar?”
“I do not believe he has any but his teammates,” Izzy said.
“Come on, we have much to discuss.”