The Last Summoner: Prologue

Many years ago, a war had broken loose. It was a war between the villages on both the East and West sides of our continent. This war went on for days, then weeks, and then onto months. Many people died, however, there were holy priests that knew a magical revival spell that even brought back the dead. No matter how many men were cut down, they were revived and thrown back into the chaos of war. The months then turned to years, and the years to centuries. This war went on for so long that it was known to all as: The Ever War. Centuries passed as the war continued. When one generation of soldiers were too old to fight any longer, they were allowed the freedom of death, than the next generation would fight in their place. The world knew nothing of peace and only knew how to fight, until one glorious battle where everything had changed. The men continued their brutal onslaughts as they always did. Then, a huge flash of light appeared, blinding all the soldiers. When the light disappeared the soldiers continued their fight however this time the soldiers that died, where not being revived. All over the continent, these flashes would appear and the battles would come to an end due to soldiers dying. The few surviving soldiers went to check things out and found all of the priests who knew the revival spell had been killed. The soldiers were confused. They put everything they had into protecting their priests and have done so over the centuries, how could someone have slipped past them and managed to kill them so quickly? The flash of light appeared once more, soldiers from both sides gathered around it to see six godlike figures emerge from it. These beings called themselves Summoners. With their unique skills they had managed to get past the soldiers and put an end to the Ever War by killing any and all Priests who knew the revival spell. After the war the people started wondering who the Summoners were. Some said they're beings sent by the gods to bring peace. Others say, there just regular people who managed to avoid the war long enough to find a power capable of ending it. Everyone agrees however, that the Summoners are protectors of the planet.

***

"And protect it they did for 15 centuries after the Ever War."

A woman wearing a white robe was sitting in a chair in front of a small group of six children. Once she had finished telling her story she stood up and smiled at them.

"Alright kids. It's getting late." She said. "Time for bed. You've all got a big day tomorrow."

"Aww, but mom..." wined a little boy in the group. “Your story was so great, we're not tired yet."

"Remember kids." Came a man's voice in the corner. "You are the next line of Summoners. Soon, it will be your turn to protect this planet. Just like us."

The children grumbled as four of them stood up and walked out the door and scattered throughout the hallway to their own rooms. The remaining two, a small young girl and a young boy, sat still looking up at the woman.

"Do we have to go to bed too?" The young girl asked.

"Yes. It's only fair." The woman told her. "You're real training as a Summoner begins tomorrow. You'll need to be wide awake for it."

They young girl stood up and ran to her mom, gave her a big hug and then smiled up at her.

"What about you?" She asked. "You'll be the one training us so you need your sleep too."

"I suppose your right." The woman said. "Let's go to bed together."

The girl nodded and ran over to her bed in a conjoined room. The young boy slowly stood up and stretched before following his sister to the room.

"Don't fall asleep for too long." The man in the corner said standing up. "We have some things we have to prepare for tomorrow."

"I know Calden." The woman said. "But you know our daughter. She likes to wait until I fall asleep first."

"Just don't start a tickle fight like you did last time. Alright?" The man said chuckling.

"That was not my fault last time." The woman said pointing at her husband before following her children in the room.

"Might as well be since you lost." He called after her.

As soon as the woman laid down next to her daughter, a man walked through the front door in a bit of a panic. He looked at Calden and moved in closer to whisper at him. Calden's eyes grew wide and nodded to the man who walked out in a hurry. Calden went to the door to the bedroom and called in to his wife and kids.

"Wake up. We need to go to the conference room." He said.

"Calden what's going on?" The woman asked sitting up in the bed.

"I'll explain later. Just get the rest of the children and get them to the conference room." Calden said. "Tell the others to come too."

Outside a huge battle had started. Vicious creatures known only as Demons were fighting against the soldiers that blocked their path to the all-powerful Summoners inside. A lone guard breaks off from the fighting and runs inside the building they were trying so hard to protect, the home of the Summoners known only as the Sanctuary. The guard ran through the Sanctuary to the barracks where the guards stay. There he found a few of his fellow guards talking to the captain of the guards.

"The demons are pushing through sir!” the guard informed his captain.

"Damn! What are those Summoners doing!?" The captain said furiously as he banged his fists on the table in front of him. "They are better suited to fight off these demons. Why are they holding a meeting now of all times?"

"Sir! We're going to need their help for sure if we're to get through this." The guard said.

"Right. Head up to the conference room and inform the Summoners of the situation." The captain ordered. "The rest of you will follow me. Let's not let these demons get any closer."



"Yes sir!” The guards said in unison before leaving the room to do what they were ordered.

Inside the main hall, the Summoners were in the middle of a meeting. They were all seated around a big rectangular wooden table discussing as to what their next move will be. Calden sat in his chair at one end of the table, quietly as the other Summoners threw their suggestions around and argued what they should do.

"These attacks are becoming more frequent by the day! The soldiers downstairs won’t be able to protect this place forever!” One Summoner points out as he gets up and starts to pace around the table. “We must seek out and destroy every last demon that has stepped into this world, find out where they are coming from and put an end to this once and for all!”

"Finishing this is all fine and dandy Gothar, however, you’re forgetting that if we fail and end up dead, there will be no one else to continue our work." Sanala said.

"I believe we can finish our task before it comes to that.” answers the pacing Summoner Gothar. "Do you not believe in your own skills, Sanala?”

Sanala simply shakes her head and sighs at what she just heard.

"This is not a matter of me believing we can do this, it’s a matter of being prepared in the event that we don’t." She said taking silent deep breaths to hold back her anger. “There isn’t anybody qualified enough to take our place if and when we die."

"What of the children?” Gothar asked pointing to the six little ones huddled in the corner of the room.

Sanala looks over to the children. She sees her own son and daughter along with the other four children staring at her with both fear and determination written on their faces. She gives them a gentle smile which causes her daughters fear to simply vanish and smile back. Sanala looks back at Gothar who had just returned to his seat.

"You know full well the children are not yet ready to take our place. They still have much to learn." She said to him.

"What else can we teach them? They know the sealing spell. They can learn the rest on their own now. They’re old enough."

"They need us as guides. To tell them what they need in order to be considered a full-fledged Summoner!" Sanala snapped.

"Well then we’ll just have to take them with us then. We can teach them on the way and drop them off with the Nin..."

Sanala couldn’t hold it anymore, she stood up in anger but it was Calden who interrupted Gothar before she could.

"Silence Gothar! I will not have the children go with us on such a dangerous mission! It would be bad enough for all of us Summoners to go, but taking the children will just increase the risk of us going extinct!"

"Head Summoner Calden…I…"

"Enough!” Calden said raising his hand to silence the arguing Gothar. "I understand how important it is that we drive the demons away from this world, but I will not risk our very existence in trying to complete that task."

"Excuse me father." Pipes a soft voice in the corner.

Calden turns to see his daughter looking at him nervously. She had separated herself from the other children and walked closer to the table.

"What is it, my dear?" Calden asked as he smiles at her.

"Well… I understand that you’re worried about our safety..." She says. "…but I also understand why Summoner Gothar believes we should end this now."

Calden smiles, shakes his head and opens his mouth to speak, however he closes it again when he sees the glare that Sanala gave him. The young girl continues.

"Summoner Gothar is right. These attacks are just getting more and more frequent thus getting more and more dangerous. Soon it won’t be safe for us here. I think moving to clear out the demons may not be such a bad idea. That way, you can at least clear a path to the Grand Church. Me and the others can hide there while you start looking for a way to end this."

Calden thinks about this for a second before he turns to look back at the other Summoners who are now giving their own nod of agreement one by one. He looks at Sanala who is now biting her bottom lip thinking it over. Calden knew that Sanala worried for the children’s' safety more than anything. She was obviously thinking of what could possibly go wrong. After a while she looks up at him and reluctantly nods.

"Very well then." He said standing up from his seat. "We will make preparations too..."

He was interrupted by the door being quickly opened and a guard running through it.

"DEMONS! DEMONS HAVE MADE IT INSIDE THE SANCTUARY!" He yelled as a wave of flying demons soared past him into the main hall.

"ALL SUMMONERS ENGAGE AT WILL!" Calden ordered. "PROTECT THE CHILDREN!"

The Summoners all got out of their seats and circled around the children who were now huddled together. Sanala moves in beside them and starts comforting them by telling them everything was going to be fine despite how bad things look.

"By the gods! There’s hundreds of them!" the guard yelled not helping Sanala in any way.

"Just drive them back, don’t waste time on sealing them away!" Calden told the Summoners before turning to face the guard. "You! Take the children and get them away from here! You must take them away from the Sanctuary and bring them to the Grand Church! The Head Bishop there will take care of them until we clear the Sanctuary of all the demons."

"Yes Head Summoner. Come on kids! Let’s move! Run to the door!" The guard said gently pushing the children towards the door.

Sanala gave her daughter a quick hug before letting her run to the door with the other children. Once at the door a demon swooped down to attack but was rammed into the wall by Gothar.

"Run, and don’t look back!" he said to the children as several other demons started to attack him.

"Give them hell Summoner Gothar." The guard said as he led the kids through the door and down the stairs just before the room was engulfed by a swarm of demons.

The demons attack on the Sanctuary continued. When news got out that they Summoners themselves were being attacked brave villagers came forth to aid their protectors. However, when they arrived at the home of the Summoner, they found nothing. Both demons and Summoners were gone. Even they Sanctuary where the Summoners resided had vanished off the face of the planet.