Legend of Ransera

At last Dakkur finally passed through that last bit of road within the borders of Zaichaer... if he was reading the map and signs correctly. According to the map, the most significant landmark- not even any one building but that one big stretch of land which was significant to Zaichaer's thriving industry so... mineral deposit since it was one of the biggest and most famous mines in the region? Whatever. The signs along the road was enough to let him know he already passed the Cavendish Mines- in fact he stopped by the mines a day ago to get a nice solid club, a lot better than the sturdy tree trunk he was told to make do with until he arrived at his destination. Even if the signs did not let him know that, the sight of the desert would have been enough to know he was home. No more patrols from either Zaichaer and the Cavendish, meaning, as this was important since he had to live under Zaichaer's iron fist for seasons; he was no longer bound by the laws of Zaichaer and can finally do magic freely.

But that was no cause for cheer as it also meant Dakkur no longer had the benefit of the protection of patrols by the two but on the flip side, he was not going to be travelling alone any longer. Not if he was going to cash in on that deal he made earlier on. However remaining wary, Dakkur took himself a little bit off the road anyway as there was no telling if there were any eyes from Zaichaer still looking on at the road... actually maybe he should go even slightly further than that just to be sure. Once he was sure he was alone, in a flourish his arms stretched out into the empty space in front of him. With intense focus he searched within himself his memories of drawing upon the plane the elemental spirits resided in and then focused further to narrow it down to where the wind spirits would reside. Touching on it he willed the aether in him to draw that out through the rune and channeled it along his arm until the aether started to collect itself in front of him and build upon itself.

The portal formed and Dakkur sent a little more aether into it to stabilize it so it would not collapse in on itself until he was done, then, he said the name. The lesser wind spirit took its time and lazily dragged itself out of the portal acting all aloof with the summoner which annoyed Dakkur somewhat as it meant him having to expend that much more aether to keep the portal up and to rush it quickly asked if "you remember our deal right?" What deal? Now that was rather convenient if the spirit thought it was a time to renegotiate but with the item already made on the elementals own efforts maybe Dakkur could still get something out of it if the spirit reneged or... would it be him going against the agreement? The nuances are really troublesome, "you wanted this right? Remember making this? You help me with my trip now and you get this for yourself. Remember now?" he asked as he brought out the second orb they made.

It was then spirit finally remembered as it admitted all humans looked alike to it and was surprised by the simple request. "What made you think I want you to do more work? Why would I ask you to kill someone for me? Who the hell has been summoning you to do these things?" Well the last question went unanswered, not that Dakkur was expecting one. Keeping that a secret would have probably been a part of its initial concordant. "But yeah, I just want to go to Zeraphesh and back, fast, then this is yours. Just think of us as travelling buddies. We might even enjoy it" Dakkur said in an attempt to keep up the atmosphere so the agreement could easily go through. "What only one way? Then how am I going to get back?" Dakkur asked before continuing with, "alright how much aether would I have to top you off with for the trip back?" Big mistake which Dakkur remembered as soon as he mentioned it, never show your whole hand.

"Alright we do this one trip now and if you enjoy it, we negotiate the return trip under better terms? Sounds good?" Either way Dakkur would succeed in his plans. The urgency was in getting to the obelisk fast and then return at his own leisure. "Fine, orb for the trip to the obelisk. You wouldn't have to do much anyway. I have a horse so you just need to help him get there faster. A lot faster. Nothing else." This had to be the easiest gig for the spirit ever, for an item which Dakkur had to take pains making in comparison. "I'll give this to you..." well actually since the concordant was already made and there would be consequences if it was broken... "now. enjoy it. But remember... It was only after Dakkur reminded, actually refined the terms of their agreement a little better, that Dakkur gave the spirit the orb.

As soon as the orb passed hands Dakkur finally realized he forgotten about something, something he completely overlooked. It was now that he wanted to use the first orb, using the services of other spirits to contain the dread mists into it but now that he realized it, there were no mists ever since he left the city. In fact, even when he was working on his orb he did not have the foggiest of noticing whether or not there had been mists on his way back home. He was that engrossed into his project. "Gods damn it what did I even do all that work for?" To give the spirit a second orb he prepared to the spirit? Wow he did not realize elemental spirits had a sense of humour. He thought those were strictly reserved for the infernals, if nothing else to to show off their superiority to their 'lessers' which included summoners just like Dakkur.

But the trip with the wind spirit was pleasant and they were making good time, especially with it giving his horse that extra boost by manipulating the wind currents. In just a few days they reached a landmark Dakkur was quite familiar with on the Serpent's Delight, the Serpent of the Sands. The spirit was intrigued and wanted to take a look- what were they doing, sightseeing? That said Dakkur did not mind playing the tourguide for the spirit as he was a local and even thought if they were lucky enough to meet another tour group, he could just tag along with them to Zeraphesh but what were the chances of that? About the same as running into some wild snakes? Equal odds but one outcome Dakkur did not want to deal with. "Well you could probably survive a snake attack but I'm a big guy. A big, slow guy. They'd all catch up to me easily, just bite on these guns and my thunder thighs, and I'll end up looking like a large ball of yarn." The spirit suggested he summoned a snake spirit to help them then but "I don't know any snake spirits which could. Do you?" Yeah neither did the spirit who seemed quite disappointed now. Elementals and animals obviously did not share the same circles- spheres.

"Maybe we can take one of the official tours on the way back. There's safety in numbers and you'd have someone who actually knows about this place who can tell you all about it. Maybe safely show you some snakes too!" The spirit seemed happy with that suggestion although Dakkur only brought the idea up in hopes he could get a better deal off of the spirit for his trip back if he kept encouraging it by bringing it up or asking questions like "maybe you can get to know some snake spirits when you get back home after this and ask them if they could help us, you know?" but how often could he bring up the topic throughout the trip in between the idle conversation without making it seem forced? Mortals and spirits really did not share much in common and for Dakkur and this wind spirit the only thing they had in common in this trip was the trip itself, and maybe the orbs they made.

It reached the point that even if their relationship improved somewhat, the excitement of the trip would have died out if there had not been so many new things for the spirit to see. That was what he expected from the transient spirit's nature anyway. In fact Dakkur was starting to find it hard to keep the spirit on task even if all they had to do was follow a road. It was almost tempting to perform some interdiction just to make good time but Dakkur felt it kind of cruel, and mean. Even back when he started out in summoning, he was cautioned to not rely on interdiction if he wanted to maintain a good relationship with the spirits he was going to call upon. So instead, Dakkur started to give it hits of his own aether as a reward if it performed its task well. Not too much that he could even feel his aether being depleted but certainly going above and beyond their agreement since all they agreed on was the orb.

"Well I hope you are enjoying this so please, we need to make good time to the obelisk. We can catch all the sights and enjoy it on the way back so we should hurry up?" He said as he spurred along horse and spirit along the road.