Heir Apparent - a Summoner FanFic

Be Careful What You Wish For

His wait for the second round was longer than his wait for the first. He took to pacing back and forward across the length of his cell as the minutes turned to hours. It seemed strange that the victors of this round would be those that successfully captured a new demon from the Ether. Would there be a judging and thus only a few would go through, even if they were to all capture a demon? He knew that he personally had six levels of fulfilment free, possibly even more, despite having three powerful demons already in his roster. So the conundrum was this; play it safe and capture a weaker demon, therefore ensuring he definitely captured something, but risking a poor judgement, or search for a more powerful or rarer demon and risk not capturing anything at all.

He also had to consider who to send in. Lial was the quickest of his three demons, most able to chase and catch a demon, whilst Niritis would be most suited to carry a prospective creature back to the portal. The Ahool was also strongest of the three, but was less reliable than Rashik, who was also Dorien's best fighter. These thoughts swirled around the prince's mind as he paced from wall to wall in the darkness.

When he was eventually collected from his cell he was led back to the Arena, rather than to the summoning room as he had expected. The sand had been covered by two enormous squares of leather, each carved with a keyed summoning circle.

"For your second round," Samil informed him from a platform that had been erected to the side of the Arena floor "you may enter the Ether using a leather keyed to open a portal in the Hominum part of the Ether." He indicated the left hand leather "Or you can enter the Orc part, using the keys discovered by Fletcher Raleigh's team during their jungle raid." He indicated right.

"Understood." Dorien responded, not looking at Samil but at the faces of the cadets already in the stands, and therefore out of the Tournament. Moira and Almithara looking nobly put out, Tilly, Poppy and Micca white with exhaustion and Azdok peeved.

"You have one hour to open a portal, send in your demon and find and capture a new demon to add to your roster or gift to another." Samil continued. When Dorien didn't respond the Inquisitor sniffed before snapping "Begin!"

Dorien strode quickly to the right hand leather, summoning Lial as he went. A demon from the Orc part of the Ether will gain me more favour than one from our own. He mused. It won't need to be as powerful to be impressive either. And Lial will be able to traverse more ground more quickly than the others. He knelt and placed his hand on the leather, forcing mana through the keys to open the portal. The disc was just beginning to form when a cough drew his attention away to his right. The portal sputtered and vanished as Dorien turned to find three of the generals looking at him expectantly, each holding a large piece of Corudum.

"It is necessary that we see what is happening in the Ether, Your Highness." Samil called "Did I not mention?"

"Go ahead." Dorien nodded to the generals, ignoring Samil. The Inquisitor had wasted his time, but he was just as frustrated that it hadn't even occurred to him that the generals would obviously need to see through Lial's eyes in order to evaluate his effectiveness.

Turning his back on the generals as they touched their scryong stones one by one to Lial, Dorien once more started up the portal. Lial joined him on the leather just as the disc became fully formed. With a mental nod Dorien sent the Leopine into the Ether.

He took a few moments to still his mind before looking through her eyes; if she felt his nerves Lial's inexperience might lead her to panicking or making mistakes. The Felid stepped out of the portal into ankle deep water. She looked around, and Dorien watched as she took in her surroundings.