I drew the magic missile pistol from the coat pocket and looked through the peephole of the door. Out on the porch were a man and woman both well dressed in nice casual outfits. Thankfully, they weren’t wearing the same suits that the Grimslade Group corporate thugs had worn. They also didn’t look like the disheveled cultists that wanted to sacrifice me to their so-called god.
“What do you want, it’s late,” I growled through the door, checking that all my figurines were in my pocket where they would be ready for summoning.
“Hi, we’d like to talk to you in private about a serious matter,” the woman said in a friendly voice.
“No thanks, whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying. You should leave now before I call the police. It’s far too late to be harassing people at this hour,” I warned. While I had no desire to have the police look too closely at me, I’d rather have them here if these two turned out to be here for some nefarious purpose.
“Sir, we need to speak to you. We detected the summoning portal, and if we did, that means others may have as well,” the man offered.
“What are you talking about? I’m calling the police, you people are crazy,” I said, turning on my phone to dial 911. They said they could detect the summoning portal opening, if that was the case, I was hosed. While I could limit using mana while on Earth, I had no control over when the portals that summoned me opened.
My phone turned on, and promptly failed to connect to any service. This was the middle of a city; cell service was usually perfect here. I tried to connect to the Wi-Fi that the nice couple who rented the place to me provided. It too was blocked.
“Sir, by now you’re realizing that your cell and internet aren’t working,” the man started to say, perfectly predicting my actions.
“I suggest you leave, I’m not someone you want to mess with,” I replied, ready to defend myself if these two and whatever friends they may have hidden out there tried to break in.
“There’s no doubt that you’ve developed means to defend yourself, but whatever powers you’ve developed won’t be enough to stop what’s coming for you. Our organization wants to help, the others that are coming want to either cage you like test animal for an experiment, or sacrifice you to some otherworldly being,” the woman pleaded.
“And who exactly are you people? Let me warn you, the best way to continue this conversation isn’t to give me vague answers,” I replied. The cozy little rental made from the detached garage was beginning to feel like a prison. The front door was the only way in or out. There was a window on the front wall, but that was right next to the door. In the restroom at the back of the place, I only had a small window that was way too small to slip through to escape.
“We belong to a group that works to organize, and help summoned beings. Our world is slowly being changed and people like you are going to be our only hope to survive in the future,” the man pleaded.
“Then just drop off your card, and I’ll call you if I need you,” I argued, checking to confirm that my mana core was full. My figurines were only supposed to take a single point of mana to activate, but I suspected I’d burn around three to activate one here on Earth. Besides the figurines, I needed to save some mana for Psionic Jolts and maybe Fail Weapons if these people brought guns to the party.
“You need to listen to us, sir, you’re in danger,” the woman said starting to sound desperate.
“No, Marie, he doesn’t want to join us, and we decided long ago never to force one of the summoned into our ranks. You, there, inside, I’m going to do what you asked, I’m leaving a card here. Memorize the number and call us if you need help. Do it soon, we weren’t lying when we said that portals can now be tracked. Some of the corporate organizations and pseudo-government groups likely have access to the technology, and if they have it, I’m sure one of the cults have infiltrated their ranks and found it as well,” the man replied.
“How exactly are you able to track summoning portals?” I asked. It was information I’d need to know, and if these two were willing to share, I’d let them stand at my doorstep for a few seconds more.
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“I’m no scientist, but from what our scientists said, it turned out to be quite simple for them to track. By monitoring the summoned beings that have joined us, the team discovered that the summoning portals give off a unique form of radiation when they appear. It’s completely harmless, but the energy it gives off lingers for some time, allowing us to track it down from passive sensors we’ve placed in the area,” the woman, Marie, explained.
“Is that how you detect mana as well?” I asked. The mana gave the previous people tracking me a general idea of where I was operating, but it wasn’t until they canvassed the pawn shops that they located me. If these sensors to detect portals were more accurate, I’d never be safe, and would have to constantly keep on the move.
“I can’t say for the others, but our mana detection is done through a summoned being. The ability to passively detect mana is one that you’ll develop as you rise in tier and rank. Right now, depending on your tier, you can probably feel when someone is pulling mana for a spell nearby. The summoned beings working with us are a variety of tiers and ranks, the highest of which can detect mana usage in a wide area. Given the population density here, the number of summoned beings is rather high on the west coast,” the man explained.
It sort of made sense, I could almost instinctively detect someone pulling mana for a spell. I could see some ability unlocking that would expand the radius of detection. If these people had summoned beings willingly working for them, they could probably canvas a large area.
“And just how many of you are there, and how many summoned beings are working with you?” I asked.
“Our organization is compartmentalized into various cells so we can’t be tracked by any of the hostile groups. Each major city probably has a small team, and my team covers Southern California. As for how many summoned beings our team works with, I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Odds are, one of the other groups is going to snatch you up soon, and I don’t want you to disclose any critical information,” the man said.
“I can tell him about…” the woman started to say before the man cut her off.
“No don’t it’s too dangerous.”
“Randy, we need to show some trust if we expect some in return. So far, all we’ve done is show up on his doorstep with some dire warnings,” Marie said.
“Fine, it’s your own life you’re risking,” Randy reluctantly said.
“I’m a summoned being as well, and my skills have allowed me to try and track down a summoned being in this area for the last month,” Marie said.
“Wait, you’ve been tracking a summoned being here, in Huntington Beach, for the last month?” I asked.
“Yes, it’s taken a while for the sensors to zero in on you. I thought it was going to take even longer, but your return portal just pinged a sensor less than a block from here,” Marie told me.
“I hate to tell you this, I just moved here a few days ago,” I replied. There must have been some other summoned being in town, and it was just my luck that instead of tracking him down, they found me first.
“Ah, that explains his voice and lack of accent. The guy we’re tracking is supposed to have only recently immigrated here,” Randy said to his partner.
“I take it you’re not Tran Nguyen?” Marie asked.
“Uh, no. While I don’t plan to give you my personal details, I can confirm that I’m not Tran Nguyen, I said.
“Well, you may not be the person we were looking for, but you are a summoned being and need our help. We have places where you can’t be tracked. If you join us, we can help you, both here on Earth, and when you’re summoned. Have you been a summoned being for very long? Have you been to Somhagen? What about linked summonings, have you experienced any of those? If you join us, we can help you navigate your new life,” Marie offered.
She sure sounded like she knew what she was talking about. It’d be nice not to be on my own. I was running around like a fugitive and the chance to belong to a group that didn’t want to experiment on me or sacrifice me held a strong appeal. Still, I was nowhere near ready to accept them at their word, that would be foolish.
“Leave your card, then leave as well. I’ll call you if I see the need for your help. I should also warn you that if I detect any of you trailing me, you’ll have broken my trust and I’ll never consider joining you after that,” I replied.
“I understand, we’ll leave this here and leave you alone,” Randy said, dropping a card on the doorstep before the pair backed off.
“I hope you’ll think about joining us, and can I at least have your name?” Marie asked.
“Raymond,” I lied, giving the name listed on my fake ID.
“I wish you luck Raymond. Be careful, the others may not have been as lucky as we have been in pinpointing your location, but they will eventually find you unless you keep on the move. That’s no kind of life to live, Raymond, as I know from experience,” Marie said as the pair turned and walked away toward the street.
I remained for some time, just looking through the peephole in the door, and then through the windows, watching for signs of someone watching the house. After a time, nobody showed themselves, so I felt safe enough to crack open the door and retrieve the business card they had left. It was a simple thing, a plain white card with a local number written on it.
There were some tough decisions for me to make, but before I could think further about it, I needed to move out of this place, and quickly.