The Last Summoner: Chapter 1

15 years had passed since the attack on the Summoner's Sanctuary. Once the news had spread across the continent the people started training more in order to defend against the demons. Several villagers had traveled to an academy that was built many years ago in order to learn the ways of fighting, depending on what class they chose. Some became mighty Warriors with great physical strength and could wield any kind of blade. Some became Wizards and began studying powerful magic spells. Then there were the Rogues who used their speed and small blades as their main weapon. Some became Archers capable of long ranged attacks using a bow and arrow. There were also the Mercenaries who were able to use their magical energy to make any weapon their minds could think of and finally there were the Healers. During the EverWar they were known as Priests however when the Summoners killed every Priest who knew how to revive the dead the remaining Priests only focused on spells that could heal the wounded thus the class was called Healers from that point on. Everybody chose a class that they were comfortable with and started training hard in order to survive against the powerful demons. A single academy was erected before the Summoners disappeared just in case it was needed. The ' academy was called Defense Against the Demon Spawn or D.A.D.S. for short. This academy is where our story starts. Walking through the front gates and onto the academy grounds, Gloria stops and takes in all the sights the sounds and smells. The grounds itself was pretty big. It was enclosed by a brick wall that stretched the full length of the academy. There were a good number of students out on the grounds studying the art of battle. Gloria could see a group of students that were practicing their sword skills, Warriors no doubt, a group of what looked like Wizards were practicing their new spells and Gloria couldn't help but smile a bit when one of these Wizards ran around with his cloak on fire. Gloria started walking through the grounds not wanting to disturb any of the students but she knew she would have to ask them for directions sooner or later. She stopped at a fountain situated in the middle of the grounds. Gloria smiled up at the statue on top of the fountain. The statue was of two men shaking hands. She recognized one of the men as Head Summoner Calden, the leader of the Summoners when they were still around. She had no idea who the other man was however he seemed rather familiar to her. Gloria looked down at the water in the fountain and looked at her reflection. The first thing she always looked at when looking at her reflection was the hairband she wore in her blond hair. The hairband had a pretty rainbow colored flower attached to the right side of the band itself. The hairband was made so that the band could hide under its wearer hair and all that could be seen was the flower however Gloria could never get it to hide in her own hair. She set down the staff and bag she was carrying in front of the fountain and made one more attempt at hiding the band. As she did that something ran up and bumped into her pushing her into the fountain. As she stood up from the fountain she caught a glimpse of her reflection. Even when her hair was wet the band could still be seen perfectly. The flower attached to the band looked completely dry which told Gloria that the spell placed on it, to prevent the flower from wilting or being destroyed in any way, was still in effect.

"Alright! What's the big idea?" Gloria said looking over to see who bumped into her.

Gloria looked up to see a big brute of a man towering over her. He didn't look like he was going to apologise to her at all.

"Oh you're just a weakling Healer." The brute said getting a good look at Gloria.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Gloria asked flicking some water off her hands. "Healers are more important than any other class. You depend on us to keep you healthy."

"Is that what you think?" The brute said laughing as he picked Gloria up by the collar of her robe.

"Hey! What gives? Put me down!" Gloria demanded as she tried to pry her collar loose.

“You must be new." The brute said keeping a tight grip on Gloria's collar. "I don’t know where you came from, but here we Warriors only depend on ourselves. We don’t like anybody who doesn’t match us in physical strength. That means we don’t like you Healers.”

A few other students had noticed what was going on near the fountain and gathered to watch. It annoyed Gloria that nobody was even stepping in to help her...even though she knew she wouldn't need it.

“You don’t like anyone who isn’t as strong as you? Well then…..” she said starting to swing in the brute’s hand.

She kicked her feet up and hit the brute in the face causing him to let go of Gloria's collar. Gloria landed on the ground and not wanting to pass this chance up she gives the brute a swift kick from the back of his legs causing him to fall backwards. Balancing herself with one hand Gloria pushed herself up into the air where she does a frontward flip and lands standing on top of the brute.

“…what happens when a healer is just as strong as you?” she asked smiling down at the brute. “Now that I have your attention, would you please tell me where I could find the Headmaster?"

The brute glared at her and then pointed his finger out at a tower situated over to the side of the school.

“The Eastern tower there.” He said. "You'll find the Headmaster at the top of that tower."

Gloria looks over at the tower which wasn’t much to look at. The sides were falling apart and the roof had more than a dozen holes in it, but what really made it look unsafe was the fact that the tower itself was leaning over to the right. Gloria wondered what was keeping that tower from falling, but she jumped off the brute, grabbed her staff and bag and started to make her way to it nonetheless. Some of the group that watched her drop the brute on his ass backed away from her as she passed them. As she made her way towards the academy doors, Gloria spotted a group of Healers off to the side. She got closer to see that they were practicing their healing skills on humanoid dummies. The dummies themselves had big gashes cut into their chests; Gloria figured that’s what the students had to heal. She set her bag and staff against a tree nearby and sat down to listen as the instructor explained what needed to be done.

“Sometimes when in the field of battle you don’t have time to heal a wound completely.” He said to his students. “There will be times when you’ll be stuck in that situation but you need to heal the wounded in order to move to a safe place. That’s where a quick healing spell will come in handy. Rose? Will you demonstrate for us?”

A girl with straight blue hair walked out of the group of students and situated herself behind one of the dummies. One thing Gloria noticed about this girl was the leather breastplate she was wearing over her robe. It was odd to see a Healer wearing any kind of armor. Gloria watched the girl named Rose placed a hand on the gash cut that was in the dummy. Her hand lit up and she made a quick motion down the gash causing it to close up quickly. The students clapped and cheered which caused Rose to blush slightly.

"Hey, wait a minute." Gloria said to herself. "That spell couldn't be..."

“Yes, that’s it. Very good Rose.” The instructor said happily. "You have studied the spell well."

"Thank you sir." Rose said. "It wasn't an easy spell to master."

“Excuse me?” Gloria called out waving at the Healers.

“Yes?” the instructor asked looking over at Gloria. “Can I help you?”

“Actually, it's more like I can help you." Gloria said walking towards the group. "You see that spell just now. It's wrong."

“What are you talking about?” the instructor asked. “Rose here is the best Healer in the school, next to myself of course, she did everything perfectly.”

“Oh I agree, she closed the wound up perfectly, but not effectively.” Gloria said picking up a leaf on the ground. “Watch.”

Gloria gently places the leaf on the dummy where the gash was situated. No sooner had she moved her hand away had the gash reopened causing the leaf to fly off and land on the ground again. Everyone stood watching the leaf fall in shock. Gloria looked at the instructor.

“You see?” she said. “The wound was closed and it probably could save a life, but the slightest touch and the wound will reopen increasing the chance of infection.”

At this point all the other students had their eyes on the instructor, who seemed to be trying to find any excuse to get out of that situation. After all Gloria just proved the spell he was going to teach ineffective.

“Young lady, are you suggesting that Rose here performed the spell wrong?” he finally asked.

“Trying to pass the blame are we? No. She did it perfectly. Just like the books say to do it.” Gloria said. “It’s the spell itself that’s at fault.”

“What do you mean?” the instructor asked glaring at Gloria slightly. "This spell has helped thousands during the EverWar."

“The Quick Healing spell was created by the ancient Priests during the EverWar, which is true; however since they knew the revival spell they didn't perfect it." Gloria explained. "It wasn't until after the war that the spell was needed yet that is when they found out the flaw with it. Sure it could heal quickly, but the move the wounded in any way and their wounds would reopen.”

The instructor didn't know what to say. He simply stood there trying to think it through. Some of the other students started writing down what Gloria was saying yet it was Rose who spoke up before anyone else.

“If it had that much of a flaw to it, why didn't any of our books mentioned it?” she asked.

"Mainly because nobody was able to perfect it until 20 years ago." Gloria pointed out. "It was Summoner Sanala who found a way around the flaw."

"The Healing Angel!?" The instructor said surprised.

"Oh yeah. I forgot that's the title she received for curing that deadly disease years ago." Gloria said.

"How could a Healer forget what the Healing Angel is known for?" Rose asked. "How did you learn so much about the Quick Healing spell anyway?"

"I read about it while training at the Grand Church." Gloria said.

“What!? The Grand Church!?” the instructor said getting a good look at Gloria. “Then…..you must be…..”

Both the instructor and Rose knelt before Gloria immediately. The other students followed suit with confused looks as to why they were kneeling. One of the students crept closer to Rose.

“Hey, Rose, why are we kneeling?” the student whispered.

“Are you serious!?” Rose whispered back. “You’re a Healer and you don’t know about the High Priestesses of the Grand Church."

“High Priestess!? Y-you mean Summoner Sanala's hand-picked Healers?”

“Exactly.” Rose whispered looking back at Gloria. "I wonder what a High Priestess wants with us."

“High Priestess, forgive me.” The instructor said. “We rarely get a visit from someone of your status. How can I be of service?”

“You can stand up, for starters.” Gloria said blushing slightly. “I may be a High Priestess, but I’m also going to be a student at this school. So you are to treat me like any student you have. Unless of course you kneel before all of your students.”

“You!? A student? Milady, what can we possibly teach a High Priestess?” the instructor asked quickly standing on his feet.

“With Summoner Sanala gone, the Grand Church has been teaching the last of her hand-picked Healers.” Gloria said. “However, as you may have heard, the church was attacked by bandits last year. I…didn't feel safe there anymore so I left the church to enroll in this school not only to finish my training as a High Priestess, but also to pick up some new fighting skills as well.”

Everyone stood silent for a moment. The disappearance of the Summoners 15 years ago affect the world greatly, however, losing Summoner Sanala was a huge blow to Healers everywhere.

“Yes, the news about the Grand Church being attacked had us all scared.” The instructor said breaking the Healers’ silence. “Pardon my rudeness Priestess but, how old are you?”

“You’re curious as to whether or not I was personally chosen to be a High Priestess by Summoner Sanala herself, or if the church chose me in her stead correct?” Gloria asked smiling. “I am twenty years of age. If you calculate correctly, that would have made me five years old when Summoner Sanala chose me.”

“So, you met Summoner Sanala personally." Rose said.

“I would like to say that I've known her all my life but... “Gloria said sadly. “Nobody was more affected by her disappearance then I was.”

"You make it sound like you were the only one she trained." Rose said.

“No she didn’t train just me.” Gloria said.  “There was one other than me."

Everyone looked at Gloria in confusion. The instructor spoke up before anyone else.

“Are you saying there are only two High Priests that were trained by Summoner Sanala left?” he asked

Gloria's smile faded and she looked at the ground sadly.

“No. I’m all that’s left.” she said.

For some reason, Rose felt that Gloria wasn't just talking about being the only High Priestess. Rose believed that Gloria was hiding something about herself but Rose was never the type to pry. The instructor sighed shaking his head.

“I’m sorry to hear that. If that’s the case then I’ll do my best as the Healer instructor of DADS Academy, to make sure you complete your training.” he said to Gloria.

“Thanks.” Gloria said nodding. “Now if you would excuse me, I must be off to the eastern tower to meet the Headmaster.”

“Very well then. I look forward in seeing you in class soon.” The instructor said.

Gloria waves and turns to head for the tower once again. As the class begins to return to their studies, Rose stops for a second.

“Wait a minute….” she said turning to see Gloria walk up the main stairs and into the school. “…the eastern tower?”

Standing at the foot of a huge number of stairs, Gloria hesitates to climb them worried that the whole eastern tower would collapse while she was climbing it. She took a deep breath and slowly took one step that started her trip up the tower. Climbing the tower was even more troublesome then she thought. Every step had some kind of crack or hole in it that looked ready to give away if she stepped on it. She managed to make it to the top of the stairs and into a small room when she saw a Warrior and an Archer standing by the second flight of stairs which looked to be in much better shape.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” the Warrior asked.

“I’m here to see the Headmaster. I was told he could be found at the top of this tower.” Gloria said pointing up at the ceiling.

"Ah... we heard you were coming." The Archer said with a smirk. “The…eh…..Headmaster is waiting for you upstairs.”

“Thank...you.” Gloria said looking at the two guards suspiciously before passing them to make her way up the stairs.

“No problem.” The Warrior said after her. “A Healer, huh? What a shame.”

“This won’t take long.” The Archer said. “Hey listen, someone else is coming up.”

“Who goes there?” the Warrior asks pointing his sword at the flight of stairs in front of them.

“Stand down. I’ve just come to have a talk with your master.” Said a voice from the stairs.

“Oh, it's just you.” The Warrior said lowering his sword after seeing who it was. “Not often we see you coming up here.”

Meanwhile, Gloria continued up the stairs to a large cylinder room. This room was much better maintained then the rest of the tower. The walls were perfectly in line, the floor was relatively clean and there was not a single scratch on the windows. Gloria wondered if this room was magically maintained, you wouldn’t be able to tell that the tower was falling apart just by looking at this room.

“Glad to see you made it.” Said a voice at the other end of the room. “I trust your trip up here was an easy one.”

That’s when Gloria noticed the row of chairs at the other end of the room. Five chairs lined up against the wall. In each chair sat five different people each a different class.  In the middle was a Rogue, to his right was a Warrior and a Wizard. To the Rogue's left were what looked like a Mercenary and an Archer. The Rogue stood up from his chair and takes a step towards Gloria.

“Let me personally welcome you to D.A.D.S. Academy.” He said. “My name is Duran, and all new students report to me before going to see the Headmaster.”

“What!?” Gloria asked. “Wait, I was told this WAS the Headmasters’ office.”

“As you should have.” Duran said smiling. “I heard about your little spat with one of my Warriors down on the school grounds. I'm disappointed that you're a Healer however.”

“Is there something wrong with me being a Healer?” Gloria asked him.

“Healers are weak and pathetic...” Duran said furiously as he paced in front of the chairs. “…they stand behind the rest of us safe and sound while we do all the fighting. Not only that but look at their history, they use to be holy Priests who could revive the dead at their own will. They make me sick."

“By 'they' do you also mean me? Duran?” came a voice behind Gloria. “I'm sorry if I made you sick, but this was a choice I wanted to make."

Gloria turned around to see Rose walking up the stairs and towards Duran. Rose smiled at Gloria as she passed then stared at Duran who stood there in shock.

“Well, well.” he said. “If it isn’t Rose. You rarely visit me anymore. What can I do for you? Dear sister.”

“He’s your brother?” Gloria asked Rose.

“Yes unfortunately.” Rose said before returning her attention to Duran. “Alright Duran, listen. I’m sick and tired of this little game you play with every new student we get.”

“Game?” Duran repeated. “What game would that be?”

“The one where you pit new students against your guys just to see where they fit on the social scale.” Rose said. “It isn’t fair to those students who don’t do so well. Especially us Healers. Because of you we Healers are picked on constantly.”

“What are you talking about?” Duran said crossing his arms. “Nobody has picked on you. Have they?”

“No, but that’s because I’m your sister. They wouldn’t dare. They fear what you might do to them if they did.” Rose said. “I’m talking about the others. Some of them are too afraid to even leave their rooms because they get picked on so much.”

"That explains why I was shoved into the fountain for no apparent reason." Gloria said.

"So that's why your robe is wet." Rose said. "I was wondering about that. See Duran? This is exactly what I'm talking about."

“So? What are you going to do about it?” Duran asked.

“I’m going to accept that challenge you made to me two years ago.” Rose said.

Duran was taken back a little. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The other four sitting on both sides of Duran's chair were starting to get excited.

“Interesting.” Duran said. “Then a battle to the death it is. What are the conditions?”

“I win; you and your men leave everyone alone. Healers, new students, EVERYONE.” Rose said.

“Fine.” Duran said nodding.” But if I win, you will do whatever I say no questions asked. Deal?”

“Hey wait a minute.” Gloria said looking confused. “If this is a battle to the death how do you plan on fulfilling your own ends of the bargain?”

“Hmm? Wait, you mean you don’t know about the Life barrier?” Rose asked looking at Gloria with a worried look.

“Life barrier? You mean a shield that will resurrect anyone standing in its radius? I thought those were lost just like the revival spell itself.”

“The barrier is not made by magical energy it's made by a machine. So losing it would be quite hard. The academy made it mandatory to protect their students with a Life barrier. That way the students can train with all their might and not kill anybody, well…not permanently kill anyway.”

“Oh OK.” Gloria said. “I understand now. Sorry for interrupting. Carry on.”

"Carry on? How can she act like that to this whole situation?” Rose thought. “I’m glad I showed up when I did. She would never have been able to take on Duran and his men. Then again...I probably would have a hard time against all of them myself.”

“Enough talk.” Duran said. “Men, escort the new student downstairs. I want to deal with my sister. Alone.”

The four men stood up and surrounded Gloria. Rose and Duran stared at each other not even taking notice to the men pushing Gloria towards the stairs.

“H…hey! Hands off! Don’t shove.” Gloria said. “I want to watch.”

With one big shove Gloria was pushed onto the stairs where she lost her balance and started to roll down them. She reached the bottom with a huge crash. Her bag and staff fell down right beside her.

“Ow….” Gloria said rubbing her head. “I’m going to feel that tomorrow morning.”

When Gloria looked up she found herself surrounded once again but this time, the two guards at the stairs had joined the circle. Gloria grabbed her staff and stood up.

“Well, that was rude." She said to each of the men blocking her way back up. "Now I'll forgive each of you if you let me back up there."

Each of the men pulled out their respective weapons and looked ready to attack Gloria at any moment.

"You guys have no respect to you?" She asked them. "Fine. I'll just have to take you all out first."

Gloria spun her staff above her head as the six men charged after her. Upstairs, Rose and Duran were locked in combat. Duran wielded two daggers in his hands which he used effectively and swiftly. Rose held onto her staff in front of her in a defensive position.

“You’ve gotten better Duran.” Rose said blocking one of Duran's attacks. “Last time we fought you were the one on the defensive.”

“Ah, this is what happens when you become a Healer. Rose.” Duran said getting ready for another attack. "You don't focus on training your physical strength and you become unable to fight properly.”

Rose pushed her blue hair out of her eyes so she could study Duran well. She noticed that he cut his bangs short so he wouldn’t have that same problem. He also cut the sleeves of his leather coat as to not slow his attacks down.

“He’s fast at both moving and attacking.”  Rose thought. “However because of that he lacks defense. If I hit him hard enough, I could end this quickly.”

Suddenly Duran appears before her and she feels a sharp pain in her left arm as his blade slices through it. Rose jumps back as Duran takes a second slice just missing the tip of her nose. Rose holds on to her left arm feeling blood pour down it.

“See what happens when you go off in a daze sister?” Duran asked. “Keep this up and I’ll have you doing my bidding in no time flat.”

Rose curses to herself as she begins to heal the wound on her arm.

“Can’t use quick healing spell.” She thought. “The High Priestess proved it’s useless.”

Just then powerful massive arms wrap around Rose holding her in place. She turned her head to see the Warrior had come back and was making her an easy target for Duran.

“What the……this isn’t fair Duran.” She said.

“You already made the deal.” Duran said. “Plus nobody else is here but us three. I can just say I beat you in a fair fight and nobody would think otherwise.”

“Damn you, Duran!” Rose said trying to break free from the Warrior's grip.

Duran walks closer to Rose holding his blades tightly in his hands.

“You have gotten sloppy, Rose.” He said. “Sloppy and weak. You should never have become a Healer.”

“You will find out that Healers are better than you think.” Rose said smiling as her hands start glowing. “HOLY STRIKE!”

A bright light shines from under the Warrior's arms and he gets pushed back into the wall causing it to break and crumble down on top of him. Rose swings her staff hitting one of Duran's hands causing the blade in it to fly into the air and stick into the floor in front of his chair. Duran backs off as Rose targets his other hand.

“I see becoming a Healer hasn’t altered your mind.” He said. “You still are clever as you were before.”

“I can still beat you Duran.” Rose said pointing her left hand at her brother. “Like I did back before I was a Healer.”

Rose's hand lights up once again and she fires bursts of holy light at Duran who began dogging them by running to his right. When the final light missed its target, Duran simply vanished.

“Not good!” Rose thought going on the defensive again. “He’s using his Shadowstep ability. He could pop up anywhere.”

No sooner had she thought it, Duran appeared on her left brandishing his blade at her.

“Crap!” Rose said turning her left arm away from Duran to block with her staff.

“What’s the matter sister?” Duran asked with a smirk. “Does your left arm still hurt? That is why you Healers should stay out of battles. You can’t heal yourself and focus on a battle at the same time.

“You know Duran you talk too much.” Rose said pushing Duran back with her staff. “He’s right though. I wasn’t able to heal my arm completely after he cut it. He knows that, so he’s not going to give me the chance.”

Rose held onto her left arm feeling the pain once again. She looked over at Duran who was beginning another attack towards her. Duran jumped up and swung his dagger down; Rose raised her staff to block it. She saw Duran smirk as his feet touched the ground, just before Rose felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Rose looked down to see his other blade stuck in her. She looked over at his chair and saw that they blade she knocked out of his hand earlier was gone. He must have picked it up at some point during his Shadowstep. Duran pulls his blade out and gives Rose a hard kick sending her falling backwards onto the floor.

“I win Rose.” Duran said. “You can’t do anything now. All I have to do is finish it and I shall finally be victorious.”

“Victorious!?” Rose thought. “Wait, he’s not fighting this battle just to get a handy maid. There’s something else to this. Something he’s been hiding inside this whole time. Whatever it is, I guess I’ll never know. It’s not like he’s going to tell me.”

Duran stood in front of Rose raising his blades. Rose looked up at him in defeat. If she even thought of trying to heal herself, Duran would quickly stab her before she could finish, and he was fast enough to do it to.

“You lose Rose.” Duran said. “Maybe now you’ll understand that a Healer was never the best choice of class. I hope you see how weak you've become, and consider another class change."

Rose looked down waiting for his blade to strike. She hears his blade swing down then hit something metal. Rose looks up again to see another staff stop both of Duran's daggers.

“You holding up OK? Rose was it?” asked a familiar voice holding the staff.

Rose looked down the staff to see Gloria standing in front of her wielding the staff in her left hand. She pushed Duran back and took a quick swing at him, however he jumped back before her staff hit.

“Y…..you?” Rose managed to say through the pain in both her arm and her stomach. "What are you doing? This is my fight."

“Just relax and get yourself fixed up.” Gloria said with the same gentle smile she had earlier. “I’ll deal with him. After all, he is the boss behind the guy who pushed me into the fountain. I'll have to make him take responsibility for that."

“Impossible!” Duran said pointing at Gloria. “What happened to my guys!? They were supposed to deal with you!”

"Oh them? Don’t worry about it” Gloria said. “I took care of them for you.”

“Ha, I highly doubt that.” Duran said laughing. “There is no way a Healer could have beaten any one of those guys and most assuredly not all at once.”

“Yeah, I guess I should come clean about that.” Gloria said. “Being a Healer is only a cover-up.”

Duran ran at Gloria not caring what she had to say afterwards. Duran disappeared once again. Gloria however didn’t flinch.

"Shadowstep, huh." She said smiling. "And you're good at it too. I know just what to use then."

She turns the palm of her right hand up and it starts to glow. A bright light in the shape of a card came out of Gloria's palm. She raised her staff to touch the front of the card and the staff began to glow.

“Gunblade.” Gloria said as the staff became a beam of light which began to change shape.

Duran appeared at Gloria's right and sung his daggers at her. Gloria grabbed the beam of light with her right hand and swung it at Duran. Duran's daggers collided with the beam of light which turned into a blade itself. This blade had a hole at its tip and what looked like a trigger attacked to its hilt. Duran was stunned at seeing the blade so Gloria was able to overpower and launch him into the air. She then spun the blade over her finger and pointed the tip of the blade at Duran and pulled the trigger. Rose heard a loud bang and a ball of energy was shot out of the blade which flew up and hit Duran causing a small explosion. Duran fell to the ground, his clothes were ripped in places and cuts and bruises were seen on his skin. He slowly stood up and glared at Gloria.

“What kind of weapon is that!? He asked pointing at Gloria's blade.

"This? It's my Gunblade." Gloria told him. "However it's mostly known as the weapon that ended the EverWar."

"What kind of Healer are you?" Duran asked not believing what he was hearing.

“I already told you. Healer was a cover-up.” Gloria said running at Duran with lighting speeds.

Duran charged at Gloria as well and they both took a swing at each other at the same time. Gloria smiled and looked back at Duran who fell to his knees before falling to the ground. Gloria gave her blade a small flick as Duran painfully looked over at her.

"W-who are you?" He asked. "What are you!?"

Gloria looked over at the hole in the wall that Rose made when she blasted the Warrior into it. There was a wind blowing through the hole that was blowing Gloria's hair back revealing the pained expression on her face when she said.

“My name is Gloria. I’m a High Priestess of the Grand Church, but more importantly, I am a Summoner.”

"What!? A Summoner!" Duran said surprised. "But...but that's impossible."

For the first time in a long time, Rose agreed with Duran. There was no sign of the Summoners when their Sanctuary disappeared. They were gone. And now this one shows up 15 years later. How could she have hidden that long without anybody knowing of her existence? Then Rose remembered what Gloria had said earlier that day about Summoner Sanala.

"I would like to say that I knew her all my life but...nobody was more affected by her disappearance then I was."

That's when it made sense to Rose. She knew now why she felt Gloria was hiding something earlier.

"No. I'm all that's left." Gloria had said.

"I see now." Rose said to Gloria. "You're not just a Summoner. You're the Last Summoner."