“Dammit, where is it?!”
A soft white arm tore the piles of paper and books off the desk.
“WHERE IS IT?!”
Many priceless ancient manuscripts fell dejectedly to the ground as the girl at the table continued to rip through this collection. Her frenzied attacks echoed against the stone walls of the room.
This was the archive of ancients, or at least a small room carved off into the side of the mountain connected to the largest collection of history and magic in the world. The single candle mounted onto the wall flickered as it was disturbed by the air. It had almost completely melted away. The lights that had illuminated the room, those stapled to the walls, now sat dead and dull, unable to be used again. Elliade pushed a lavender lock away from her blue crystal eyes in a short instance brake before she continued. She had to find it. She knew it was here. The hero’s spell was locked somewhere between these pages, whatever pages it may be locked between. The world had been at war too long and she was determined to be the one who would initiate the solution.
She tossed aside a grandiose sheet of metal with Certuyionian characters expertly molded into its sleek surface to the other side of the desk. Even if that was it, she would have to go find a translation thesaurus to decode the long lost letters. She paused on it, they had summoned one hadn’t they? It was a stretch, but that may be what she was looking for. Pushing everything else away she grabbed the sheet narrowly avoiding it’s razor edges and stared at it intensely before taking it in both arms and rushing out of the small space she had been huddled in for the past 6 hours.
Elliade ran past the labyrinth of shelves around her, not even noticing the steep drop under the stone bridge to the 56 levels below despite her fear of heights. Normally, the footsteps would fill this empty air with a loud echo but the yells and muffled explosions crashes from above overrode them. Time was running out. She had already taken too long. Elliade had no time to feel pain from her fellows dying only a short ways above her.
The girl turned off abruptly into an aisle with her hip length lavender hair quickly trailing behind her with her long ivory tail. She began tearing books off the shelves only taking a short moment to glance at the cover and title. There was no use for organization while this place was being ransacked. Before she had time to register what it was, Eillade threw the book she was looking for into the forming pile. Realizing immediately what she had done, she whipped around to pick it up.
The metal tablet sliced open the pad of the girl's hand with the blood spilling on the books she had discarded.
She saw it.
As her blood landed on a blank book with a pure white cover, the red liquid changed shape and settled into the leather only to fade away just as quickly.
Grand Summons
the Art of the Hero Class
Discarding the tablet, Elliade stroked her paw across the cover to see those unbelievable letters again form from her blood. “Grand Summons: the Art of the Hero Class”, she couldn’t believe her eyes. This didn’t seem quite right, a book like this shouldn't have such a sinister key as blood, should it? Leafing through the pages, she saw that they were all completely blank. Regardless of how suspicious this was, this lucky find was all she had. Hearing the sounds from above slowly making their way closer, the girl realized that she didn’t really have a choice in this situation. Clutching the book in one paw Elliade shuffled hurriedly through the pouch at her side. There was an orange glow coming from not far above her. It seemed that the library had been set aflame. Realizing what this meant the girl held back the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. All the knowledge and wisdom stored here over centuries would be destroyed and she, the last librarian, couldn’t save it.
With a small ball in her hand Elliade was ready to escape, not noticing the hulking figure approaching from behind her.
Before she could drop her key to freedom, a large hand covered her mouth the other grabbed her arm in one solid motion. She dropped the book, clawing instead at the wrist of her attacker. She tried to kick scream but it was no use. There was no one to help her anymore and there was no way to overpower this man. He ripped the item from her hand and threw it away as it exploded in a puff of blue fire.
“Thought you could get away, little kitty?”
He wrapped his arm around her throat with the other hand still covering her muzzle until the girl went limp. With the man dropping her unconscious body Elliade fell to the ground, her still blood covered paw landing on the cover of Grand Summons: the Art of the Hero Class.
Bending over to pick up the book, the attacker raised his eyebrows as the bloody words Grand Summons faded away.
“You found something interesting, didn’t you?” He said picking up the girl like a sack, throwing her body over his shoulder. Drawing a quick circle around the side of his head with a red glowing light from his fingers he spoke clearly to the person on the other side.
“Unit Two reporting in, I found the girl, you’ll want to see what she had with her.”
“Bring her in.” The response hissed.
Not hesitating for a moment, the man took a ball of his own out of his pocket and threw it to the ground, Elliade and the book unwillingly going along with him. The only thing left was the fire engulfing where they had been.
“Initiate experiment #331”
The voice resonated in the stark chamber as a single man holding a white leather bound book stood before a glowing red magic circle engraved in the tiled floor. He held out his hand and read from the page in a strange language.
“Chaf ahl Gowchooaw, Xaowg-ch ahl thih Towawau ahl Fuuxa-giss, sigf gih agi ahl aoaheeuh riarshih. Shiaw gih kheeug gao laoihs jahth aoaheeuh juh-uth. Ow seeggag aoahee, Aou-Uhuhowahuh ahl L-Shugih!”
From the center of the red ring a figure seemed to stand up and right itself from beneath the floor. It was a woman made of fire with coal black curved goat horns sprouting from her temples, her hair rose up from her head and her back blazing to the ceiling as she flexed her shoulders like she had just woken up. Spreading her arms wide, a mantle of white fire moved up and around her as well as formed two spears in her hands. She kneeled before the man who summoned her just before he fell backwards from extreme exhaustion and the heat of his creation. Two people in red uniforms covering their whole bodies, including their faces, came in with a stretcher to carry the man out. The flaming woman, reeling there was no current use for herself, faded away.
After the first summoner was escorted out a girl wearing an eyepatch over her left eye with the same clothing as the man before her hurried in and picked up the white bound book where he had dropped it. Unlike the one who had been here before her, this girl couldn’t have been more than 16. Despite her small figure, her shaking body, her eye looked steadily forward with the level of duty and diligence expected from a professional.
“Initiate experiment #332”
The voice from above called out telling the girl it was her turn, flipping to page 332 in the book before her she took out the small knife she was given and cut her hand without the slightest change of expression. With the words on the page revealed by the blood she had offered it, the girl raised her arm and chanted her part in a soft voice.
“Gufgiss khihaoagf githowg-ch-giss, reeuhihawao khihaoagf ooahrih; Ow tush-sh awah khuhuxa-ih thows uhahaw-awig u too-owshf ahl sawuhi-chooth. Ow tush-sh awah aoahee gahao, Ooihuhah ahl thih Jahushfs!”
A figure also appeared this time, rising from the floor like a work of art slowly being revealed, but not only was this one not human he was also accompanied by a halo of light from below him. Falling to his knees the man with a canine face and furry body looked around having no idea what had just happened to him. He stood up, looking over far above him at the window where people in unusually gaudy lab coats sat taking notes with floating quill pens and scrolls then over at the little girl with dark blue bob and the eye patch wearing something similar.
“What the fuck? Where am I?”
His voice echoed in the white room as the girl who had summoned it collapsed from fatigue.
“Woah!” the young canine lunged to catch the girl, and a single moment before her head hit the hard stark floor, his paw cradled it instead. But in the same breath he noticed that peculiar state of himself. Gently laying the girl's head down, he looked at his hands, then his arms, and finally his chest while grasping at the fur that now somehow covered him. He looked down at the girl and then up through the window once more.
“332, back away from the summoner and place your hands on the floor.” a booming voice echoed in the room as one of the lab coat men held his hand to his mouth.
Vincent's hands, the ones belonging to 332, shot to the side of his head as the voice struck ear drums like knives. It sounded as if the command was relayed straight into his skull.
“332,” The voice echoed again, now with more authority behind it, “Step away from the girl and place your hands on the floor.”
The voice was louder this time. It was so loud, in fact, that Vincent could hardly hear anything afterwards. Crouching down farther with his hands on his head, the dog-like man looked up at the window with his muzzle scrunched in pain. He saw one of the men in the white coats turn around and give orders to someone out of view. Without any more announcements ringing from that top platform he got up, panting, looking definitely at the presumed doctors.
Vincent himself hated taking orders. He’d hated being told what to do since he was young. After having to bow his head to far too many unworthy authority figures for the sake of his easily capitulating parents, he’d decided around the age of 15 that he really didn’t like being told what to do by people who couldn’t be trusted. In the past, this obstinate streak of his has easily gotten him into hot water. Though it had only been half a year since Vincent graduated college, he’d already managed to get himself fired from 3 part time jobs. This strange situation he was suddenly forced into in this strange body was no exception.
Men in red full body suits, the same ones that Vincent hadn’t seen for himself earlier, entered the room wheedling polls resembling cattle prods which crackled with an ominous blue glow. He instinctively backed up and grimaced from the sudden appearance of these people with weapons, but soon noticed the unconscious young girl still laying on the floor. The three figures circled around him, holding the rods in their hands like spears. Looking to the right, he noticed that the one there was slightly shorter than the other two. He lunged, much faster than he had expected to, and tacked the legs of the worker. Their knees buckled and the weapon flew upwards out of their hands. It landed and Vincent grabbed for it, rolling over to find the other two running for him. The faster one came up to him before he could get up but he kicked him away with his animal hind legs. He jumped to his feet and stabbed forward with the weapon at the other figure. Suddenly, the person on the ground grabbed his leg and put it in a lock with their arms. Vincent was taken down to the ground and, while being held there, was jabbed at by one of the figures still standing. The moment the blue tip of the cattle prod like weapon touched him his body went numb.
An androgynous voice called out from near him. “332 has been successfully restrained, sir!” which was the last thing he heard as his consciousness faded out into darkness.
