Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Trapped (2)

Lucia woke up with a shock as she found herself in a small stone chamber on an uncomfortable stone bed with no mattress or blankets. She looked around the room to see it was very simple other than the bed and a floor length mirror in the corner. She approached the mirror and saw her game character. Shoulder length wavy black hair with emerald green eyes, fair skin, with a simple circlet made of white feathers on her head, black leather armor, and silver metal gloves and boots. She slid off the glove on her left hand and touched her face, her hair, and finally pinched her side. Only feeling the pain from the pinch did she believe this reality in front of her.

"Did I get pulled to another world or what?" She asked with a mumble that could barely hide her excitement. She then proceeded to try to open any system menus. She tried saying "System, inventory, and character." No game windows appeared before her like she hoped. So she tried something else she held out her hand to the side and said "Summon." Still no reaction. Lucia's excitement rapidly cooled and was replaced with concern instead. She proceeded to search for clues around the room. In the corner behind the mirror she found her staff, made of black metal with silver tipped ends and silver engravings in the shape of vines. She twirled the staff around and took a combat stance with it for a few practice swings. She was obviously a rookie pretending to be a veteran as she swung the staff around. Not finding anything else in the room she looked down the barely lit hallway leading out of the room. Taking a deep breath she stepped forward with the staff in hand. She proceeded as quietly as she could following her cautious nature. To watch out for traps, she would press the staff down where she was going to step like a blind man to check for pressure plates.

After turning a one minute walk into a five minute walk she finally reached the first room. It was a chamber half the size of a basketball court. She peered into the room carefully before walking in. Much to her surprise, there was no door slamming shut behind her once she entered the room. Instead words like white fog appeared in the air before her.

"Earth and all that live on it are evolving. Here we will test how you should evolve, please stand in the center of the room." Lucia read it and stared at the center of the room with a bit of suspicion. A quick glance around the poorly lit room though showed it was empty otherwise. So she shrugged her shoulders and listened. Once she stood in where she felt the center of the room was, she saw her surroundings change. Unlit torches in the chamber lit up, allowing her to see the spot she stood on was a dull crystal. The crystal spread out in a five foot diameter from the center of the room and she was off center by half a step. She wanted to move to the center, but found that she couldn't move. The crystal below her seemed to come to life as it shifted through a rainbow of colors. Soon the fog appeared at eye level with her again.

"It seems that your class and specialization from the game suit you well. You may retain your original abilities then. Support Summoner Lucia, welcome to your evolved body." Lucia blanked after reading the fog as confusion filled her mind. The crystal below her feet soon lost its color and a new door appeared opposite of the one she entered from. Lucia was brought out of her confusion by the feeling of a seal on her body being undone. She felt a great force flood her body and soul as she trembled from the strength. In her mind she was being given the knowledge on how to cast her spells as if she'd been able to her whole life.

"You keep your basic equipment and strength, but all items in the inventory and summoning contracts have been removed. Because you are keeping your strength, you will be sent out after those who are starting from the bottom have started to close in on your current strength. Ahead is a dungeon that if you can clear, you can leave sooner. From here on out is dangerous, so please prepare yourself." The fog reformed into these words.

Lucia smiled wryly after reading the words made of fog again. After a sigh, she activated the new contract summoning spell. Normally, she could sway the summon towards something she was looking for by using an item as an offering. However, she didn't have any extra items to offer up, so she'd have to leave it up to chance. A grey magic circle appeared on the floor in front of her and slowly grew to the size of a car. The first creature to accept her summons was a large black cobra that when coiled up, was half the size of a car not including its head. Lucia was surprised to get such a large creature, but when she looked at the small door she realized it would be too big for this place.

"Thanks for answering my summon, however, you are too large for this place. Perhaps next time." She declined it politely. The snake understood and disappeared on its own. Soon the size of the magic circle changed to a much smaller size. The creature that appeared this time was a fairy the size of a human, dressed in a long flowy and seductive black dress. Her wings were black with silver etched patterns of flowers. "A fairy of the dark element?" Lucia couldn't help asking out loud. The fairy smirked and nodded.

"May I ask you a few questions before we discuss a contract?" Lucia asked and the fairy nodded. 'This fairy has its spiritual wisdom already.' Lucia thought for a moment, then asked a question. "What is your specialty? Is it attack, stealth, or control?" 

"Attack." The fairy replied curtly. The magic circle flashed a soft white which reminded Lucia of the information she received earlier with the unsealing of her powers. If the magic circle flashes once it means the creature inside is lying, if it flashes multiple times then the creature inside is attacking the magic circle to break free.

"Do you think lying will get you this contract?" The fairy smirked in contempt at Lucia in response. "Alright I'll just move onto the next interested party then." Lucia forced the fairy out of the magic circle with a snap of her fingers. Chains appeared from the ground and dragged the fairy into the floor. The size of the magic circle stayed static as a skeleton soldier appeared next. It had yellowed and cracked bones under rusted armor. It only wore a breast plate and an open face helmet.

"Well this will have to do..." Lucia settled for the skeleton soldier which was only one step stronger than a normal skeleton. Normal skeletons were some of the weakest creatures back in the game. Lucia placed her hand on the invisible shield of the magic circle and asked, "Do you skeleton soldier wish to form a contract of servitude with me?" The skeleton soldier that had been standing still like a statue suddenly had bright blue fires glowing in the depths of its eyes as it nodded. Soon a contract appeared in front of Lucia, and she thought about whether to read it or not. As she skimmed through it she saw something weird. Where it was supposed to say skeletal soldier, it said fairy of darkness instead. Lucia let out a sigh and edited the contract back to skeletal soldier. Then for the sake of being cautious, she read through the whole contract.

'I knew that fairy was up to no good, and I thought pixies were the real pranksters...' Lucia grumbled as she undid all the changes made by the fairy's prank. The fairy had set it up so that no matter what was summoned after her, she would still end up as the one with the contract, and she changed it to a contract of equals instead of servitude. 

'Really glad I looked through the whole thing...' Lucia wiped away non existent sweat and double checked the changes. She then pretended to sign it as practice, and she noticed that a layer of shadow covered the contract and changed it to an edited one again. Lucia was shocked as she looked over the contract again and saw that the fairy had almost tricked her again with a reverse master servant contract. It was supposed to be triggered on her signing it, but since she did a practice signature, it was triggered early.

"That evil little... Fairy! If I ever meet it again I'm going to give it a good slap!" Lucia almost cursed as she shouted out in anger. She erased the contract in front of her and initiated a fresh one. She checked and this time there were no edits or illusions on it. Just in case she did a practice signature again. Nothing happened so she did a real signature. The contract then absorbed a piece of the skeleton soldier's soul and merged with Lucia's body.