The ruin stood as a skeleton of stone and wood, the weight of a hundred years bearing down on it as the ivy and dust claimed the halls. When the doorway gave way to cracked marble, the air grew dry and cold, filled with the scent of damp earth and forgotten ages. Ivy, thick as a man's wrist, grew through the bones of the collapsed roof, darkening the interior and stilling the air.
"Do you think a monster is hidden here?" one of Kaelen's friends whispered, white-knuckling a stave. "Feels like the hall of a bankrupt magnate or a noble house in collapse. Perfect lair for something hiding in the shadows."
Aleric did not answer with words. He did not need to guess or fear. A small movement of fingers was all it took to call the void's command, a low chant: "Summoning."
From the shadows beneath the dark robes, four figures stepped into the light. They stood tall and human in proportion, but their faces were blank slabs of dark mana.
Kaelen flinched, her hand instinctively going to her blade. She took a step back. "Aleric… are those summonings? Human silhouettes are virtually extinct. Scrolls and blood oaths are reserved for beasts of the field and birds of the air. That's uncommon."
"They are," Aleric said. "The human form is best suited to scouting structures designed for human kind."
He spoke to the summons. "Stay. Survey. Report."
The summonings disappeared into the darkness. After a few minutes, they reappeared and merged back into the darkness near Aleric's feet. "The report is null. No threats are present in these walls."
With their reassurance, the party ventured further into the dusty library. Aleric's fingers found a book bound in leather. It had been sealed against the humid air. He cleaned away the grime and opened the book. Kaelen leaned in, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"What have you found?" she asked.
"A summoning book," Aleric said. There were no pictures on the pages. Instead, there was vibrant description of a creature of madness. "As we read through it, the image forms."
They read through the words. "A spindly figure in mismatched silk. A mask of jagged laughter…"
"A Jester," Kaelen read, her brow furrowing. "I see no picture, yet the words paint a manic image. It would be my second time seeing a man-modeled summon, but this... this is a creature of chaos." She looked at the description of its abilities and shuddered. "A jester entertains its guest, but this summoning basically kills its guest for its own entertainment."
Aleric looked at the book, then at Kaelen. "Would you like to have this summoning?"
Kaelen shook her head quickly. "No. This summoning is too much of a maniac to go with my fighting style. It is far too erratic." She turned to the others, but every one of them refused.
"And you, Aleric?" Kaelen asked. "Do you want it?"
It didn't really fit my style of combat. This one is too chaotic to be of use in any normal combat situation. Still, if a pinch is called for, I'll keep this around. I won't use this in real combat or anything of that nature, but I'll have it around if the situation calls for it. He closed the book. First, I'll customize it to make it better. Then, I'll release it. "Can you customize a summoning spell?" Kaelen asked, incredulous. Aleric looked at Kaelen. The tracking charms that you saw earlier, they are not simple. Those were also customized. I don't change their appearance. Their appearance remains the same. But I change their internal workings, how they think, and how they process information. I change their internal programming. I change the way they use information. I change their logic. I change the way they use the underlying mana matrix. I change that matrix to function more efficiently. I'll change that with the Jester. You're already at a graduate scholar level, Kaelen said, amazed. Aleric nodded. "When it comes to magic, I'm at a scholar level. That's how much I know. That's how much I understand."
Then why stay at the academy? she pressed. If you've got graduate-level knowledge, why remain?
"Did you ever see a scholar stop studying magic after graduation?" Aleric asked. "No. They keep learning. I'm here to gain more knowledge—that's why I'm here."
With that, Kaelen nodded, and as the sun sank behind the trees, they gathered in the central courtyard and lit a campfire.
What do you think about that spirit user, Malakor? one of the others asked. "How do you even control a spirit? How do you even call one?"
Kaelen turned to Aleric. "On that front, he might know something. He seemed to notice things about that spirit that I missed. Aleric, explain it to them."
Kept by Kaelen's insistence, Aleric leaned back against a fallen pillar. "The hard part isn't making a contract with a spirit," he said. "The hard part is finding a spirit and convincing it to form a contract. Contracting a spirit is basically turning the spirit into a friend who's ready to lend you his power. In that scene, the spirit practically did everything for you."
"The problem is the habitat," Aleric continued. "Spirits live in forests that are mostly inhabited by spirits. They like to play, and their playing is lethal to outsiders. So if you enter a forest of spirits, you'll find that there are traps everywhere, set for their play. Maybe a spirit will save you from a trap at the last second. Maybe not. Maybe a spirit won't care about you and will let you die. In order to become a spirit, you'll have to survive all these traps and get to the deepest part of the forest."
"And the contract itself?" the girl he had saved asked softly.
"The spirit attaches itself to your body and becomes one with you," Aleric said. "The spirit will use your mana as a food source in exchange for making your magic and physical attributes stronger. Spirits are born from special mana that is only found in these forests, which is coming from the trees. And when they leave their habitat, they use the mana of their contractor. You become one—you give them life, and they give you life."