I’m descending beneath the hateful ocean, I only have enough time to notice how I’m sinking noticeably more than last time and then I’m gone.

Then I’m back, it’s such a strange feeling, I either didn’t exist or was in some sort of stasis but I don’t know for how long.

Maybe only a few seconds have passed but it could also have been minutes or hours, perhaps even days.

I still don’t know how time flows in this metaphysical realm, I don’t even know if I’m going to sleep or simply ceasing to exist until I’m summoned again.

For all I know I could be a copy, the real me having died back in the physical realm while a copy of my consciousness was transferred over to this reality.

Perhaps that’s why I can’t really do magic?

There’s got to be some reason as to why humans and my creator can use it but I can’t, I mean I’m a creature made out of literal magic and fragments of Coralet's soul.

Oh, oh no.

Is the reason I can’t do magic because I don’t actually have a soul?

All I have is just fragments of a soul, not a complete and healthy one, that could be why I can only perform basic magic on myself but the moment I try to push my mana outside of myself it dissipates.

If this is the case then are evolutions just what happens when a summon robs enough shards from its creator's soul to mimic a soul of its own?

I’m probably overthinking things, at least I hope I am…

It’s just easier to ponder about magic and souls than it is to try and figure a way out of the situation my creator is in.

This summoning is taking quite a while so that means she’s safe but I’m honestly lost as to how I’m meant to protect her.

There’s got to be at least a few thousand Rovers sieging down this fortress, those small camps we passed to get here looked like they would hold maybe three hundred or four hundred Rovers but that was just one section of their siege line.

In a battle in which thousands of proper soldiers are fighting, how am I meant to keep her safe?

Just a single rouge arrow could spell her accidental doom.

Well probably not since I expect that the Empire will keep her safe and protected but still that doesn’t mean that she’s actually safe, nobody's safe in a warzone.

I would be more confident if we were still fighting ill prepared bandits but now we’re against either monstrous humans or actual monsters, not to mention these new elites that the Rovers seem to be fielding in large numbers.

I mean they were able to dedicate an entire twenty elites just to hunt down my creator and her cohort, I mean even being conservative I can’t help but think that those trackers were at the level of Vaelor and his retinue.

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How am I going to keep her safe?

We should have just run but now that I think about it, were those guards standing so close to her for comfort, or to keep an eye on her?

No, no I have to be being paranoid, if I’m not then this situation is beyond dire.

Thankfully my manifestation seems to be nearing completion so I no longer have to torment myself with these thoughts, now I get to see just how doomed we are with my own eye.

I can’t actually blink because I physically can’t, but the shift from being in a translucent and disappearing ocean, to being a mass of tentacles and magic flesh is what I imagine blinking feels like.

My creator is standing upright, like a firm and ancient oak tree, the guards flanking her are dressed in shabby armour but it has an inconsequential effect on how brilliant she appears.

True displays of power and majesty remain unaffected by the shabby environment or unpleasant surrounding circumstances, even if those circumstances involve fire.

How is there even fire around us?

We’re standing on solid stone and while I haven’t spun around to survey everything yet, it looks like the rest of Arid Sentinel is made out of firm stone as well.

I assume that it must be the ammunition itself that’s flammable but, before I can inspect one of the nearby splatters of fire, my own personal god speaks.

But I can’t make out what she says, her words are completely incomprehensible, I can understand the emotions she’s feeling though.

She doesn’t seem to want to project them but she’s incapable of being emotionless so that means despite her wishes I get an unhealthy dose of pain and exhaustion through our link.

I thought that she was fine, or that she was at least moderately healthy because she was able to summon me and that’s not something she should be capable of if she’s this badly hurt.

Slowly I take a closer look at my creator, she’s still the embodiment of perfection but now that I really focus on her, she seems small, injured, and maybe even a little weak.

She certainly doesn't look overtly hurt but it’s very possible that my devotion may be blinding me to just how wounded she is, I just can’t truly bring myself to properly notice any of her flaws.

Why would she summon me if she’s so hurt?

We’re in a stone square which I’m guessing serves as a mustering ground, sure there’s a fair amount of fire around us but there’s no enemies.

The soldiers up on the walls look like they’re also predominantly firing arrows rather than fending off attackers, though I can spot what looks like two spots where a melee is ongoing.

It seems like we’re in a stable position, so then why am I here?

What if the reason is that she didn’t have a choice?

Those two guards certainly seem rather nervous but rather than focusing on me, they’re more focused on her.

I don’t what’s worse, the chance that I may have been summoned because we’re starting to lose, or the chance that I’ve just been summoned because of a general lack of care for my creator's wellbeing.

There’s a few other humans near us and they don’t seem all that concerned with the ongoing battle, rather they’re busy arguing against each other.

I wish I could understand what they were saying but instead, I just have to make do with trying to observe their body language.

Noticing me watching them, one of the humans dismissively waves his gauntleted hand at Coralet.

It’s humiliating how I have to tolerate this disrespect towards her but I have no other choice, I can only watch as she bobs her head towards him while he’s already busy arguing with his peers again.

Turning back towards me she begins to speak again and this time I’m able to understand her.