Chapter 28 - Holding Out For A Hero

“Dad!”

Orpheus was at home preparing his dinner when Ariadne appeared out of nowhere right in front of him. She had her hands on his shoulders and she was clearly out of breath.

Barely able to stop himself from yelling in surprise, he noticed the look in her eye that told him the lecture could wait. She clearly had something too important to say.

“What is it? Did something happen with Kaelen?”

“What? Kaelen? No! Who cares about him?! I found out something big!”

She nearly vibrated with excitement. But there was something else too. A sadness?

“Ok, ok…just sit and start at the beginning.”

He removed her hands from his shoulders and led her to the table to sit.

“Sorry…it’s just…” It was clear her thoughts were jumbled.

“Alright, start with how the interrogation went.”

“That was fine. Xorn just used Kaelen like a punching bag and not a lot happened. Until Taia showed up.”

“Oh?” His eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, she asked Kaelen if he knew summoning magic.”

“Summoning?!”

“Exactly! She’s looking for the same kind of people we are!”

He stroked his chin in thought. “Why would…?”

“But dad! That doesn’t matter!”

“What? Why? Why are you so…whatever this is?” He gestured imitating the frantic movements she’d been making since she arrived.

“Because I had to run away!”

“What? Why? Did they detect you while you were phased?!”

“No, not that. Well…kinda. I dropped a peach because I was so surprised to learn Taia is hunting summoning mages.”

“You what?!”

“You told me to bring snacks! And I got hungry.” It was hard for Orpheus to be mad given her sheepish tone.

“Ok, but couldn’t you just get out while you were still phased?”

“I did run. But I had been watching for so long that I played it safe and took a break in a cell.”

“Good. You know priority one is to stay safe.” He nodded.

“But it’s where I waited that matters dad! I found the other prisoner!”

“OK.” He responded in a non-committal fashion. It wasn’t clear why that was such a big deal.

“The prisoner IS a summoner!”

“What?!?”

“And not just any summoner dad. She’s one of the people who summoned us!”

“Really?! How can we be sure?”

“She knew my face, but knew I wasn’t originally an elf.”

“Your face?”

“Yeah. And she knew my name dad. My real name.”

“How is this possible? Tell me everything!”

Ariadne nodded. “Here’s the story she told me…”

**********

“Why are we here?”

“Shouldn’t we be running?”

“Does anyone know where the King is?”

“Silence!”

The room immediately quieted down following the booming shout. A man in red robes, the one who had just spoken the command, held up his arms and patted the air to emphasize his point.

He looked around the room as he stroked his long white beard.

Five others were gathered in the dim room. It was a room he knew well. Situated right under the throne room of the capital’s castle, the room served as a sanctuary to perform rituals on behalf of their nation.

The five others were all mages in the King’s Magical Corps.

A younger human woman he knew well, Silea, stood to his left. She served under him here at the castle.

Next to her stood a dwarf, Flinn. He had come from the city in the mountains.

Across was Hecuba. He had never met the elf before. She had been working on the front lines of the King’s army when he heard of her talents.

On the old mage’s right was a middle aged human man he knew was called Hector. Until recently he was serving as a duke’s chief mage.

And finally there was Sarpedon. His cat like ears twitched as he waited impatiently for the mage to speak again. His face looked more like a tiger’s than a man’s, but as one of the King’s chief magical archivists his magical abilities were indisputable.

“Thank you for coming. All of you. For those of you who I have not met, I am Priam.”

“Why are we here Priam?” Sarpedon’s voice sounded grave and tense.

“Yeah, there’s a war going on out there! The Demon King’s forces have almost reached the capital! I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” Hecuba chimed in next.

“I called you here for that very reason. There is something that only we can do to help.”

“And what help can we be hiding in this chamber?” Flinn’s gruff voice rang out.

“You all know why the Demon King’s forces have swept this country…no, the world, so effectively. Unlike in times past, no hero was summoned to push back his tide.”

“Because this time the demons were smart enough to assassinate any summoning mages before they started their invasion!” Silea’s quiet, and clearly scared, voice made everyone in the room pause.

“Exactly Silea. Time and again our world has relied on an otherworlder to protect us. But no such help was called this time.”

He paused.

“Until now.”

“What?”

“How?”

Confused shouts filled the room.

Priam pulled out a large tome covered in glyphs from the shelf behind him.

“Sarpedon, do you remember this book?”

“I do. I couldn’t decipher it. It seems to have been written in some kind of code.”

“It is. But when you showed me the book I realized that the odd code reminded me of something in this castle. Another book the King possessed that seemed to be some kind of key without a lock.”

“And what’s the book?” Flinn asked.

“It details the process needed to summon an otherworlder.”

His words echoes in the small room as everyone digested what he had just said.

“It appears that our forefathers knew there may be a day where no living summoners were left to pass their knowledge down to others. It seems they feared a natural accident, not a coordinated series of assassinations, but nonetheless they captured everything we would need to know to replicate their work here.” He held up the first book. “And they left the key to that knowledge with the King, here.” He held up the second.

Hector was the first to ask the obvious. “So we can summon a hero?”

“Perhaps. We need more than just this book. Only those with the aptitude for summoning magic can make the attempt. And it took months to determine that we six are part of the rarefied few with that potential.”

“But, I don’t know any summoning magic!” Silea protested.

“I know dear.” He spoke to her like he would a child. “As you all know we have never been able to determine how magical affinities are granted, when they are granted at all. A wind mage will never be a fire mage if they were not born with the aptitude for both.”

They all nodded. He spoke basic magical theory they all knew.

“But summoning magic is so rare that few are ever tested in their ability. And this book,” he held it up again, “also contained a ritual for finding those with the affinity. Our ancestors knew that one day we might need it.”

“So you’re saying we can all do summoning magic too?” Hector inquired.

“Not yet. But you all…we all…have the potential to learn. And the ritual to summon a hero requires at least six of us to do so.”

They all looked around the room and realized the obviousness of their number.

Hecuba asked the question several were thinking. “But isn’t it too late? The Demon King’s army has already routed the armies of most of the nations on this continent! What would a single person be able to do?”

“More than you might realize.”

Sarpedon spoke. “He’s right. As archivist I have read many of the tales of the exploits of past heroes. In many cases they single handedly were able to hold back innumerable enemies. And in every case they were able to slay the Demon ruler.”

“And I know why.” Priam continued. “As detailed in this tome the process to summon a hero does not merely bring a person from another world to ours. It also does two other things. First, it grants the hero an ability of their choosing, much like how greater demons all have a unique skill.”

Sarpedon nodded. “Indeed. We have records of heroes with phenomenal strength. Or magical ability. Even the ability to fly.”

“And secondly, it grants the hero the ability to directly affect demons. No longer do swords fail to penetrate their hides and demon wounds no longer quickly heal. Heroes can slay demons far, far more easily than any of us.”

“That would account for how a hero could fight the demons. Killing a regular demon can be enough of a challenge, but nothing short of magic can hurt a greater demon, and I imagine the Demon King is even more invulnerable.”

“Exactly as you say Flinn.”

“But can we really do this?” Silea asked again.

“That is why I called you all here. We’ll need to spend days just learning the basics before we make the attempt. I only hope we can learn before the armies arrive.”

He laid the books out on a nearby table and began to prepare their lesson.