The tournament - a summoner fan fiction

Chapter 4

Oh. My. God.
Fletcher Raleigh. As in Raleighshire. As in the town. As in the town where I live. As in.... Never mind.

How didn't I recognise him. He is THE Raleigh. The one that runs my town. Jesus, and this man is my sponsor. I had seen him a few times in town. Once I even saw him fly with his demon Ignatius. He is a great leader, because of him Raleighshire is now a wealthy and beautiful town that is home to humans, dwarfs and sometimes even an elf visits our town but nobody knows what exactly she does in our town. There are rumours she is a good friend of Fletcher but nobody really knows for sure.

Not that the people in town dislike her. The opposite even. I saw her once accompanied by the scary, Snow White Canid I thought of earlier. Very scary... God, Avery, focus. You have been staring a bit awkwardly for the last minute. Get it together and say something.

"Nice to meet you, sir." I say with a smile. Fletcher gives me a small nod before continuing.

"First, every one of you will go with their sponsor to measure your fulfilment level. After that you will receive your demon." He says to Amelia, Declan and me.

"Follow me, Avery." He says as he makes his way to the door.

I do as I have been asked and follow him in the corridor. I quickly look around at Amelia and Declan. Amelia gives me a reassuring smile and Declan just puts his thumbs up at me. I carefully close the door and follow Fletcher, who waited until I left the room to continue walking. We walk in silence because I am a bit nervous and I don't dare to talk or ask questions. Even though I would really REALLY want to ask Fletcher Raleigh so many questions. But I don't. 

After what feels like a half hour of walking, we reach a door and when we enter I am met with the biggest stone I have ever seen in my life. It goes all the way up to the ceiling.

"To measure your fulfilment level you have to touch this pillar, it's called a fulfilmeter.", Fletcher says gesturing to the giant pillar that is covered in the most beautiful crystals I have ever seen. "And the stone will color segments. Each segment is one level. The fulfilmeter can measure a summoner or demons fulfilment level."

I am not able to say anything. I try and lock up all this information in my head. Immediately a lot of questions are formed in my head and this time I dare to ask them.

"What was your fulfilment level when you started at the academy?" I ask softly.

"Nine." He answers so confident that I think he remembers every second of the moment he got to know his level.

"Is that much?" I ask

"For a noble no, but back then I didn't know I had noble blood yet. So everyone was very surprised and thought I was a very gifted commoner." He says with a laugh.

"Is it not normal for a commoner to have a high fulfilment level?" I ask with a frown.

"It is possible but just very rare. Nobles usually have a higher level than commoners." He says and I can't help but feel a bit envious to nobles.

"Why do commoners have lower fulfilment levels, sir?" I ask, maybe there is a way I can improve my level, assuming it will be low.

But instead of answering my question Fletcher looks at me with surprise and sadness in his eyes. Sadness? Did I say something wrong? He seems to be thinking about something, as if he is replaying a moment in his head.

"Sir?" I say carefully.

Suddenly Fletcher snaps out of the trance he was in. He shakes his hand and turns away from me.

"I'm sorry Avery, it's just-", He takes a deep breath. "Someone I used to know asked that exact same question back in the days."

I don't know what to say now, lucky I don't have to because Fletcher turns back to me an the fulfilmeter and gestures to it.

"It's time we measure your level don't we?" He says trying to force a smile. "You can put your hand on the base of the pillar."

I do what he says and kneel down to put my hand at the base. The stone feels like ice but I don't pay much attention to it because immediately six segments start to glow. Seven. Eight. And eventually after 30 seconds the ninth segment starts to glow. Didn't Fletcher just say that nine is high for a commoner? I let go of the pillar and turn to Fletcher. He is staring at the ninth segment in surprise.

"Well, I think you are a very gifted summoner, Avery or you have secret noble blood." He laughs.

I laugh too because I feel relieved. I had accepted that I would have a low level and I that I would never compare to the nobles. But now. Now I feel like I can and need to prove myself. And I will.

"I must say I'm relieved,", Fletcher says. "I caught a rare demon but it has level 4 and I know some summoners don't have that level at the start of their education. So I was a bit worried that you wouldn't be able to summon him but luckily that is nothing you have to worry about."

He hands me a leather roll that he carried with him in the inside of his coat. I open the roll and admire the pentagram that is carved into it.

"This is a summoning scroll, it is used, well, to summon demons." Fletcher explains.

"There is a demon inside of this?!" I ask, my eyes widened in horror.

"Yes." Fletcher laughs, "Your demon. A Criosfinx."

"It must be uncomfortable. Poor thing." I mutter, but apparently Fletcher heard because he says: " Then why don't you get him out."

"I-I... how am I supposed to do that, sir?" I ask.

"Spread the scroll on the ground and put your hands on it." I do as he says and immediately I feel energy run through my veins.

"You feel that?" Fletcher asks and I nod.

"Good, now gather all that energy and push it through your fingers into the pentagram."

I must admit... it was a bit harder than it sounded. I already tried six times but still Fletcher hadn't showed a sign that he was irritated by me or that he thought is was still weak after all. I was about to give up and accept that I couldn't do it when I remembered what I promised to myself earlier. "Now I feel like I can and need to prove myself. And I will." I can do this, I really can. I just need to try harder.

I take a deep breath and place my hands for the seventh time on the summoning scroll. I close my eyes to concentrate and take a deep breath. I feel all the energy move to the tops of my fingers and drain in the pentagram. Sweat runs down my back and my breathing feels really heavy. But this time, this time I can see light coming through my closed eyes. I quickly open them and I am shocked but also relieved when I see a bright blue light in front of me.

"Stay focused." I hear Fletcher say from behind me, as the blue light flickers.

I close my eyes again and keep pushing energy into the pentagram. Suddenly Fletcher taps me on the shoulder and says: "Open your eyes, Avery."