Guardian of the lupine territory of Odin

From the furthest end of the summoning, space emerged the two wolves, like specters on all fours. At first, they appeared little more than miniature silhouettes with their growling barely audible. But as they got closer, their forms became discernible.

Just like Hugo, the wolves were not actually present in their physical forms. They had manifested as avatars in his summoning space as well.

Hugo steeled his mind and watched the pair approach. In a matter of seconds, the two wolves were beside him, acting all coy and rubbing their heads on him.

He felt a distinct connection between himself and the pair of wolves. He was now certain that these were the same pups he had rescued from the terrifying spider only a few hours ago.

[How are these two supposed to help me overpower my opponents?] Hugo wondered.

Despite maturing so quickly, they were a far cry from the terrifying monsters described in Earth's fairy tales. Instead of being aggressive, they were docile and shy. Whatever genes they needed to be alphas matching the terrifying creatures of legend seemed entirely absent.

Since he had no other options to gain more power at such short notice, he decided to complete the summoning spell first before obsessing over anything else.

Hugo stretched out both his hands and placed them on the foreheads of the black and white wolf pair and started with the now-familiar visualization of the summoning spell-model.

Since his will was already manifested in the summoning space situated in the astral plane, he easily connected with the astral energy and sustained his mystic visualizations despite their heavy consumption.

The summoning space was what linked his esoteric body to his contracted creatures from other dimensions. Through the astral plane, he would be able to even summon creatures from the fabled underworld of Gaia. That was if he was courageous enough to try.

As Hugo continued his focused visualization of the summoning spell, the space around him began to tremble. A humongous version of the spell-model became etched on the formless reddish-brown floor of the space.

"HONG… HONG… HONG…"

Suddenly, a jarring sound resounded and echoed as a long tear was ripped through the very fabric of the summoning space. The scene was as violent as a zipper on silk clothing being forcefully separated by a pair of powerful hands.

Hugo's legs went wobbly and he struggled to maintain his posture. His face became as white as chalk before he finally collapsed on his butt. His eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise as he gazed through the long tear in the fabric of space that had now lengthened by a few meters in a height.

[Space is also like a piece of cloth! How could a simple spell achieve this?] Hugo wondered. Every part of him paused while his thoughts raced to catch up.

In his previous life, Hugo had closely followed the research of the best theoretical physicist that ever lived on planet Earth, just like every other self-respecting scientist.

Although some held a different opinion, he believed that that man's ingenuity was only second to his own. That theoretical physicist was non-other than the famed Albert Einstein.

If you relentlessly stretched a rubber membrane or a plastic bag, sooner or later it would tear. Many physicists (himself included) had wondered whether the same might hold true for the spatial fabric that made up the physical universe.

There was great speculation on whether the fabric of space could be ripped apart, or if that was merely an erroneous notion that arose from taking analogies like the rubber membrane too seriously?

Einstein's theory of general relativity declared this an impossibility; the fabric of space could not simply be torn. But here on Gaia, Hugo was seeing the impossible happening right before his very eyes.

"This means that long-distance wormholes are actually a possibility." Hugo thought while trying to temper his excitement.

"Young man! You've been thinking that wormholes are an impossibility all along?" At that very moment, a deep hoarse voice reverberated directly within his mind.

"Aargh…" Hugo yelped in surprise as he looked up to find a deep-green eye nearly filling up the whole extent of the spatial crack that had been ripped in his summoning space.

The humongous eye looked solid. Its lustrous polished jade color gave it an enigmatic air. Hugo looked closer and saw black swirls of glittering onyx at the very center of its pupil. Slight tinges of blue marked its edges. The eye was paradoxically both captivating and terrifying.

[What the hell?] Hugo's heart leaped to his throat when he felt his summoning space quake as the eye blinked. His imagination was not up to the task of picturing what kind of entity possessed such a colossal eye. Hugo was stunned speechless.

"I see that you have formed a symbiotic contract with one of our kind. Are you the one who previously rescued the younglings from the Giza area?" The voice once again boomed in Hugo's mind.

Hugo was instantly shaken out of his shocked state by the question. He still had a test from Gaia herself to get on with. Thus, he needed to complete the summoning before the time allocated for preparation elapsed.

"Hello… I was trying to summon some two young wolves… I just don't know how I arrived here before you. Could I have made a mistake with the spell?" Hugo mumbled seemingly unsure of himself.

"Oh! I see. Forgive me for my improper manners. I even failed to introduce myself." The hoarse voice paused, its deep tone turning humorous.

"I am Freki; the guardian of the lupine territory of Odin…"

"Oh!" Hugo was perplexed.

[Could he be the brother of Geri, or maybe a descendant of Apollo? …] Hugo mused as he recalled the Norse and Greek mythology from his previous life.

Stories of wolf gods and goddesses dating back millennia were ubiquitous in many cultures back on Earth. The shamans and priests of nearly all those cultures revered the wolf species for their swiftness, but also their instincts and free spirit.

However, what piqued Hugo's interest was the fact that Apollo, the Greek God of archery, was at times referred to as 'wolf-born'.

[Maybe, I can get some guidance on the Apollo-Archery mystic techniques before the start of the trial.] Hugo mused as he cast his sight back on the green eye visible through the slit in the space.

" I am not here to talk about summons but for a deal that could be of interest to you." The voice continued; its tone turning dramatic.

"A deal?" Hugo was skeptical.

"I can smell the scent of Thanatos on you. Thus, you will join his trials in a few years. If you agree to retrieve something for me from the Templars' trial grounds, I will gift you an inheritance from one of the greatest mystic archers from the precolonial era."

"What do I need to retrieve?" Hugo asked while maintaining his poker face. The conversation was surprisingly gravitating towards his interests but he still needed to tread carefully.