“Truly amazing,” Dura said. She had been so enthralled that she had all but forgotten to torment Kirima.
“As I promised,” Shadbauh replied.
With the demonstration at an end, Harb and his retinue returned to the main floor. Harb didn’t have a clear idea of the implications of what he had just witnessed. He had been told of a new method of enchanting, although he had very little information on how normal enchanting was done. That stone was the only item involved, and he wanted to find out what exactly it did.
“Does that thing control your demon here?” he asked, pointing at the stone.
“Ah, no, my lord,” the Summoner said. “I am Umirlf, and I am a Summoner. Anything that I summon requires mana to maintain, and a lot of mana to cast. The function of the gem is to allow the demon to remain in this world without the normal maintenance cost.”
Harb understood upkeep costs for spells, and this was an amazing loophole. His mind was already working on ways to exploit this technology. “Will the demon follow orders from anyone or just you?”
“They will always follow my instructions. For others, the results are mixed.”
“Does it understand other languages or just what you spoke to it?”
“He understands Common.”
Harb nodded. “Can you do this with more summoned creatures, or can you only handle one at a time?”
“I have five others already.”
“Can you summon an army of these things?”
“We have no more of the gems, Lord Harbinger,” Luvoiz said in response.
“Are they difficult to find?” Harb asked.
“The materials to craft them are. We have one that is of tier two, but that is for a more powerful demon.”
“Will you be doing that summons today?” Shendis asked.
“That is not advisable,” Umirlf replied. “The demon that I wish to bind is strong, and it is far too dangerous to summon here. Unlike most summoned creatures, the Demon of Shadows will remain in our realm until destroyed. We have a glimmer gate that connects a temple in the forest to Cliffcrest Keep in the hills south of here. I will travel to the temple, use the glimmer gate, and spend a day or two preparing a containment field on the summoning circle at the keep. Afterwards, I will use the gate to go back and perform the summoning from the temple. Once I have it secure, I will go back through the glimmer gate to its location and apply the stone to bind it to me.”
“You can teleport?” Harb asked. The Summoner looked confused, so he elaborated. “Are you able to travel great distances instantaneously by using magic?”
Umirlf nodded. “The glimmer gate is a dimensional gate that connects the two locations.”
“Who made the gate? Can they be made anywhere?”
“I know not. My master trained me at the temple, but he had said that the gate had been there at the time that the temple was discovered.”
“Are there more gates or other methods of fast travel that any of you are aware of?” he asked, turning to look at the Shamans.
“The lowlanders have travel rings,” Shadbauh said. Harb twirled his finger in a continue motion. “The rings are all connected in some way. There is one in the kingdom to the south, one in the Free Cities, and it is rumored that the Elves that live on the eastern side of the forest have one as well.” She shrugged. “There are others, but I do not know of their locations.”
“What about regular spells?” he asked.
“Some spells can move you short distances,” Umirlf said when no one else spoke up. “I don’t know if it’s possible to travel long distances with a spell.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Some useful information. Harb preferred games that allowed for some sort of fast travel to those that made you hoof it all over the place. Most made you travel to a location normally before letting you just pop back to the place, but here it looked like you could use one of the travel rings to go to a place for the first time.
The assistants roused the patient and led him out of the room. Harb turned to look at Luvoiz. “Could you take me through the process of enchanting these gems?” he asked the Thaumaturge.
“It involves great magic,” Luvoiz said, “and would be difficult to explain to a Warrior, even one as great as you.”
Harb frowned, poking himself in the cheeks with his tusks. “Try me,” he said.
Luvoiz washed his hands together nervously and bowed. “Of course. The volunteers are first sedated to prevent them from thrashing about and interrupting the removal spell.”
“Volunteers?” Harb asked. The Orc hadn’t struggled and seemed no worse for wear after having his soul removed, but Harb doubted whether these men weren’t forced to ‘volunteer’.
“Yes, greatness. If the subject is not willing, the process will fail. I made several failed attempts on some of the captives.” He scratched an ear in thought. “Where was I? Oh, of course—I draw the essence towards the stone, which absorbs and stores the power. The extract essence skill is needed, but since the subject is alive, I can only move the essence within his body. I use a spell to attach the stone so that it’s partially within the body and then guide the essence into the stone. I remove the stone and use the same spell to put it into the demon.”
“You can just stick something into someone and put its soul or whatever inside it?” Harb asked.
Luvoiz waved both hands. “No, that is not right. These stones are designed to house a person’s essence, or at least a piece of it.”
“You don’t take the entire thing?” Harb asked, although it made sense if the essence was a person’s life force.
“That is fatal and doomed to fail. What I do is draw the essence to the gem, slice off part of it, and house it there.”
“Can you go in and get more for another stone?”
“That too is fatal and ineffective.”
“What is the cost to the ‘volunteer’? Can they function afterwards?”
The Summoner spoke up. “I’ve gone through it myself,” Umirlf assured him.
“You fed yourself into one of those stones?” Shendis asked, aghast. She waved a hand in the direction of the demon.
Umirlf looked at the demon. “Not one of those.” He held out his hand to display a ring with a small green gemstone. “This is the stone. My essence powers it, and it shields me from the mental powers of the demon that I seek. I will use it to bind the demon to me after I trap it in the circle.”
“Fool!” Dura hissed under her breath. “You will be killed, and the demon will be loosed upon the world.”
“Won’t it just go back to wherever it came from?” Harb asked.
“No, greatness,” Umirlf said. “Your Shaman has the right of it. Only a true summoning will work for this particular entity that is the case with most creatures from the Void Realm. Essentially, I will open a passage to its world and allow it to enter ours.”
“What if something else piggybacked in with it?”
Umirlf was momentarily perplexed but was able to glean Harb’s meaning through context. “Ah, no, greatness. It is not an actual opening that anyone or anything can pass through. A true summoning works much like a regular summoning. But when performing a regular summoning, the creature summoned is still tethered to its own realm; there is no tether on anything brought here with a true summoning.”
“Then why risk this?” he asked.
The Summoner looked to his left. Harb turned to see that he was looking at Kirima. The former clan chief was looking more than a little tired—Dura had been giving the woman tasks to complete during the nights, depriving her of sleep. She didn’t look away from his stare; I need to get this one on my side. “What was your plan for this demon, Kirima?”
“The demon is formidable,” she said, “and it will be a great weapon once under our… your control.”
“What was the plan for it?”
“It would be useful in a fight, but its abilities make it perfect for use as an assassin. I planned to set it upon the leaders of our enemies.”
That would be very useful. Harb turned back to Umirlf. “Go get that thing summoned.”
The Goblin bowed. “Yes, greatness.”
“Dura,” Harb said, pointing a finger at the Shaman, “go to the Red Ear camp and take captain Vultag with you. I want you both to select any casters and soldiers that can be spared and bring them to the camp of the Griffon Talon Orcs—I want to take over that clan next. I will meet you there, and we can coordinate using the earrings.”
Dura bowed her head. “Of course,” she said. “Come Kirima.”
“No,” Harb said. “I need her here.” Dura waited for a moment, anticipating an explanation that never came, but finally nodded and left. Kirima stood a little straighter; she had been under the thumb of Dura for just a few days, but the strain that it had put on her had begun to show. Harb still hadn’t determined what the woman actually wanted, but he assumed that power or control were strong possibilities. “Kirima, I want you to supervise the mission to summon and control this Demon of Shadows. Send a group with Umirlf to ensure that he gets to this temple safely, and keep me informed of their progress.”
Kirima looked to Shendis and Shadbauh as if for confirmation that she wasn’t dreaming. She had just seen Dura sent away, and then she had been charged with an important task. She looked back at Harb. “I will see it done,” she said, adding a bow for good measure.