Memories at the courtyard

[Ivar]

123 Glade 39th

Ivar grunted and put a hand on a bench to help lower himself down onto it. It’d been two weeks since his initiation and he was still weak from it. His life had ground to a halt and mostly consisted of lying down in bed when he wasn’t in class. He’d only been given a week off, which was standard for this college, but he was not a particularly strong or resilient human.

He leaned his back against the sturdy seat and sighed deeply as he did so. He liked this place due to how large and open it was. It was a good place to test out magic. He looked over to a small spot where he’d practiced teleporting not too long ago. Now that he was a summoner he thought of Luna who he’d talked to on that day.

“She’s a summoner too,” he said to himself, “I wonder if she’s still around. I could definitely use some one on one coaching.”

But, as much as he willed her to appear, he was still on his own. He didn’t even remember her name. He recalled that she had been attractive and he’d have been happy to take her out on a date. He enjoyed the comforting nostalgia for a few minutes. The wind rustled the parchment in his hand which snapped him back from his thoughts. He sighed, pulling his attention back to his notes.

He began to review his notes methodically, starting from the basics. Even though he’d been to a week’s of lessons, he felt he could count the useful things he’d remembered on one hand. He could recall how to ask a summon to answer his call, the fact that negotiation was important, and there was a way to punish a spirit for breaking agreements. His lessons had been entirely theoretical up to this point.

He started to remember more and more as he went down his notes. He’d listed the various types of spirits that could be summoned and that spirits were classified based on how strong they were. One note was underlined five times saying not to summon anything not on the approved ‘practice list’. Each class had a corresponding risk level, and students were advised to only summon entities that were within their abilities to control.

Lastly Ivar referenced the actual reason he was here. They had an assignment to choose a low-risk entity from a given list, summon it, interact with it, and then provide a summary of the interaction.

“How hard could it be?” he asked himself. He closed his eyes and delved within himself, reaching out to his aether. He could feel it pulsing, a warm, familiar energy that flowed like a river within him. His heartbeats fell into rhythm with it, synchronizing in a way that made him feel unnerved.

The spirit he’d picked at random was a demon so he tried to picture himself presenting his aether to an evil spirit. His rune acted as a filter, focusing his energy and intent towards the demonic sphere and at that point Ivar spoke the name of the spirit. He got a strange feeling of déjà vu when he willed the spirit to join him on the mortal plane. It felt incredibly similar to opening up a portal using Traversion. Because of this, it was nearly effortless for him to make an opening for the spirit to slip through.

He opened his eyes and saw the portal flickering then stabilizing under the surety of Ivar's intent. It made him wonder whether Traversion had the ability to bring forth spirits, even if it lacked the ability to control them.

Ivar watched patiently as an imp-like figure gradually materialized in front of him. Its form was small and somewhat mischievous-looking. It was an uncanny blend of cute and sinister. The creature's red eyes gleamed as they took in their new surroundings, finally resting on Ivar.

"Hello," Ivar began. He would have been a lot more excited if he wasn’t so tired. "I am Ivar, a student at a magical college. Would you mind engaging in conversation with me, in exchange for a little of my aether? I’ve no doubt that one of my peers has chatted with you recently."

The imp cocked its head to one side, looking Ivar up and down as if sizing him up. "Interesting," it murmured in a raspy voice. "A little chat, eh? I suppose it could be amusing. Alright, I accept your proposal."

"Thank you. This is going great so far," Ivar said while jotting down some notes.

"You look terrible," it said, a gleeful note in its voice. "Why so tired?"

"I only became a summoner a few weeks ago. The process took its toll," Ivar confessed, rubbing his forehead.

The imp threw its head back and let out a wicked cackle that echoed throughout the courtyard. "Oh, the poor little mage is tired from his initiation," it mocked, hopping around with glee. It then proceeded to dart forward and kick Ivar's shin. "Bet you didn't expect that!" it crowed, kicking again and again.

Stifling his pain and surprise, Ivar glared at the imp, feeling a surge of irritation. This was not how he had envisioned his first summoning to be. "Stop it!" he yelled, but the imp only laughed harder, delivering a couple more swift kicks.

His patience wearing thin, Ivar finally reacted, sending a kick towards the imp. It yelped in surprise as it was sent tumbling backward. "Not so funny now, is it?" Ivar snapped, nursing his sore shin.

The imp quickly recovered and looked at him, eyes gleaming. It gave a low chuckle, dusted itself off and said, "Bah, you think that hurt? There’s demons where I’m from that could squash me with a mere thought. You’re nothing!"

For the life of him Ivar wanted to punish the imp for stepping out of line. He didn’t exactly have time to check his notes and remember how though. The imp was a quick little bugger and had jumped onto his lap within moments. It started laughing hysterically as it tore pages out of his hand and started ripping them to shreds.

"Enough!" he bellowed, infusing his voice with as much authority and command as he could muster. "Return my notes, and cease your destruction at once!"

For a moment, the imp seemed to falter, taken aback. Its mirthful eyes widened, and its small hands stilled. But then, the moment passed. The imp cocked its head, looking at Ivar with newfound interest. "Hmm," it hummed, tearing another page just to spite him, "the little mage has some fire in him, huh?"

Ivar’s patience snapped. He blinked behind the creature and stomped his boot onto its small head, surprising the creature and momentarily paralyzing it with the sudden onslaught of pain. The imp let out a yelp, dropping the torn remnants of his study materials.

For a moment, there was a silence. The imp sprawled on the ground, dazed from the sudden attack. Ivar, on the other hand, stood tall, seething with anger. The fire in his eyes reflected his determined spirit. He saw the scattered bits of his painstakingly prepared notes fluttering in the wind, and his anger flared again.

His foot moved back, readying for a powerful kick. His muscles tightened, holding back the strength he was about to unleash. In one swift, powerful motion, Ivar swung his foot forward, his boot connecting solidly with the imp's body. The force sent the imp tumbling and rolling. Its small form twisted and turned in the air before it landed with a thud, skidding a few more feet before coming to a halt.

Lying on the ground, it took a moment to collect itself, shaking its head and grimacing from the impact. Then, with a rude gesture the imp started to fade, its form dissipating as it prepared to return to the aetherial plane it was summoned from.

Ivar watched as the space where the imp once lay returned to normal, the last vestiges of its presence disappearing. His first summoning had been a disaster, which was to be expected. He glanced down at the scattered remnants of his notes. In the grand scheme of things, it was a small loss, and he had learned a valuable lesson. He pieced them together and finally remembered that he could will the creature to become paralyzed if it broke their agreement.

“Did he really break the agreement though?” he pondered. “All I did was ask him to chat. Does that mean he can do anything he wants if I don’t specify that he has to stay still? Hmm, I feel like I need a lawyer to negotiate with these things. I don’t think I’ll ever have to see that little shit again, thank gods for that.”

Ivar looked across the courtyard at some women who had been chatting. They were all staring at him and laughing now. He blushed then vanished back to his room where he’d get started on the summary of the events that’d just transpired.

[Ivar]

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