Summoning Ritual

The place was even creepier up close. While it bore the same dark, rugged exterior that one could see from a glance, what made that black-ish hue wasn’t the rock that made the castle itself, but rather layers and layers of moss stuck after who knows for how long. At a touch, it was slimy to the core, slipping right off my hand, but somehow still sticking to the building like a pest.

“Come in,” before I knew it, Duna had already opened the door. The creaking sound was even drowned out by the heavy rain, so much that I didn’t manage to catch the act.

Unlike Drought, where the sun felt like it never set, in Drizzle, there was no natural light. And with their constant damp environment, fire was also a luxury. So, it was only commonplace that darkness was the main shade that the people lived within it got to experience.

At least, that was what I thought it’d be. And perhaps it would be true had it been any other household in Drizzle. But not this one.

As we entered the main hallway — a long, damp, and very narrow one at that — there was already a burst of green light welcoming us in its presence. The light was very much unnatural, if not downright creepy, so much that it gave me chills just by being in the near vicinity of its touch. On the walls were indeed candle holders, but as the unlit wax and moist burners would suggest, these were mere decorations at best; almost as if someone wanted to nail a haunted house vibe.

“Oh, watch your steps. The floor is slippery.”

True to Duna’s words, I could already feel the rain dripping from the roof. The genius that built this house clearly didn’t think so much as to make the actual place waterproof. That, combined with the natural rocky floor meant that every step was a danger of tripping over yourself, and since this place was made of rocks, would likely end with more than just a simple concussion.

Nevertheless, we continued on our path forward. With each step, I could see a lot of things: from broken wood, to broken glass, to even broken rocks. But strangely enough… nothing that made the house feel alive. It was like this thing was abandoned years ago.

“Are there even any people here?” I asked.

“Well… it depends.”

That certainly wasn’t an answer that I wanted to hear.

“What do you mean ‘it depends’?”

“It’s complicated.”

Normally, that would be a sign to say that I shouldn’t pry more into the issue. However, I could hear the slight shaking in Duna’s voice — it was certainly not a threat, nor was it some form of guilty conscience. The man was genuinely confused as to how to explain things to me.

Alas, we made it to the end of the hallway, where there was only a pitch-black door blocking us. The green light from before came from whatever behind this door, but…

This was no regular piece of furniture. Around the rectangular frame, I could see certain lines, almost like veins from a living being, pulsing and beating wildly with each second that passed. The light was still as bright as always, but now that I was close enough to it, there was a strange prickling sensation on my skin. Almost like it was reacting to whatever behind that door.

“Before we go into this room, I’ll give you one last chance to ask anything.” Duna said. “Anything aside from the contents involving this room, of course.”

It was a strange proposition to say the least. But there was no reason for me to not take it.

“What does my… or rather, Kana have to do with this?”

“I told you, no questions regarding the room. It’ll explain itself to you.” The man shook his head.

“Okay… I don’t believe your reasoning when you said you’d join Drizzle. What’s your real purpose?”

“I didn’t think that you’d ask this… But I was telling the truth, so I’ll give you another chance.”

I was right. This whole time, this man was testing me. That fight from before, this seemingly random questioning. But the question would then still be: for what?

I needed to think. There was a reason that Duna led me here. Drought, Drizzle. The two nations locked in a perpetual war. The summoning of Drizzle. The plan that Kana devised.

Pieces and pieces came gathered around me. But there was still nothing of note.

Maybe I needed to think of another angle. Kana was originally from Drought. She betrayed her nation, like Duna. Drought… Arja was their king. He was planning to use me as a symbol… maybe Kana was in the same position? Maybe that was her reasoning for betrayal?

No, that couldn’t be it. If her plan involving a double suicide with me was true, then she wouldn’t be the type to betray her nation for her own gains like that.

I needed to dig deeper. Drought. Drizzle. Drought had a plan to use Vritra. Drizzle had a plan of…

“Ugh!” A sharp pain suddenly came over, sending my head spinning.

“What’s wrong?” asked Duna.

“Nothing. Probably just a migraine.”

I’d never had one in my life, though. But it wasn’t the problem. I needed to think more.

I was summoned here from Earth. Vritra was never chosen by anyone in this world, yet it only reacted to me. Drizzle, meanwhile, had perfected their summoning ritual to call forth monsters to fight Drought, leaving the latter…

“... Outnumbered.”

“Hm? I see that you’ve thought of something?”

Of course. I couldn’t believe that I had missed it.

Drizzle wasn’t exactly a prosperous nation. The people were stuck in nearly rotting boats. The houses were still leaky despite being made of rocks. Monsters roamed this land as well. I hadn’t seen a single person in this land except Duna, ever since I was in this place.

Then, the only question remaining was…

“Where exactly do the monsters come from?”

“I’m glad you asked.”

Following the answer, Duna opened the door. And there it was — my answer to everything, and my greatest nightmare to date.

Inside the room was a single glass tube as large as half the room itself. A green liquid filled the tube to the brim — this was the source of that odd light emanating everywhere. There were no wires attached to the tube like your typical sci-fi movie, but on the floor were still multitudes of different green lines, throbbing occasionally like real-life blood vessels embedded into the rocky floor.

But that wasn’t the most shocking thing about it.

The green liquid in the tube was already too murky to see well. But there were still vaguely some features of a human face within.

And I knew those features very well. After all, I had seen them my whole life.