Summoning Magic

Xavier was overjoyed. Despite the fact that his parents and teachers took his predilection for spacial magic as a good thing there were plenty of people in the familia who looked down on him for not being a summoning mage. After all, only his parents and Mr. Mortenson knew about his dual innate elements. Xavier said as much to his parents.

His father gave him an odd look. "You do realize that in keeping your having a second element secret you won't be able to use summoning magic where others can see you. Not for the moment at least. I would like for you to wait until you reach the intermediate level before that becomes public knowledge."

Xavier felt slightly disappointed. Seeing the look on his face, his father, reached over to a shelf of books and pulled one of them out. It was a manual of beasts that resided in the astral plane that could be summoned. At the basic level that meant magical beasts that were not yet at the servant level or had just entered the servant level.

Xavier spent the next week reading the book in every free moment he had. The sheer number of beasts available for summoning were staggering. The book turned out to be the first volume of a compendium and it already had nearly a thousand species described in it.

After speaking about it with his parents Xavier finally decided on the wind goshawk. It was a raptor with elementary control over some wind powers. This sort of beast would be perfect for scouting out a situation. With the help of the summoning contract communication between a summons and its master were never difficult.

Xavier was given the next two days off so that he could rest and recuperate to his best condition before performing the summoning. Early in the morning his father and mother gathered him in the foyer to perform the summoning.

His father spoke, "Time is different in the summoning plane. When it's mid-day here it's the middle of the night there. Since it's the beginning of the day now it'll be the beginning of the night there. The wind goshawks are creatures that hunt during the day so it should be nice and tired from a full day of hunting."

Xavier nodded his understanding. "I'll begin now then."

Despite his primary focus being on his spacial magic Xavier had never slacked off on meditating his summoning magic or practicing his control of the stars. His control was excellent. The star path was drawn in a breath. Xavier felt it when the gate to the summoning world opened and his will poured in.

Now came the hard part. Xavier spread his will as far as possible searching for the right geography so he could locate the wind goshawks. At last, he found a place that seemed promising. It was a set of cliffs that towered over a slow-moving river. He spread his will over the cliffs looking for the nests of the goshawks.

Finally, about a third of the way down, he found a colony of wind goshawks circling their nests and fishing in the river. Observing them for a few moments more he honed in on one goshawk that was sitting on a perch staring intently at the river. Suddenly the goshawk launched off the perch and skimmed above the river.

It looked like a very normal method of attack for a goshawk but then it deviated. Instead of plunging its talons into the water to pull out a fish the hawk opened them wide and in front of itself a few feet above the water. Xavier was stupefied for a moment at the inefficiency of this when he was surprised. A fish spontaneously jumped out of the water and right into the talons of the hawk.

Xavier was really surprised. At the moment when the fish had jumped, he could have sworn he detected magic energy emanating from the hawk. He just wasn't sure what kind of energy it was. It wasn't the elemental energy the goshawks were noted for but something more mysterious.

Xavier focused intensely on the hawk and then started. Had that been spacial energy? Xavier was sensing a very odd sensation like spacial energy but not quite the same. Xavier shook himself out of his contemplation. It didn't matter at the moment. What mattered was contracting the hawk.

After seeing the hawk use the odd energy Xavier was determined to contract the beast. Xavier threw his consciousness out and used it to surround the now perched goshawk. Most of what Xavier had read was that you couldn't force the contract but rather had to coax the beast to accept it.

The goshawk felt the force surrounding it and instantly began to rebel against it. Its pride would never allow it to submit to another. Xavier tried several different ways to convince the hawk to accept the summoning contract. Time after time he failed.

Even when he used the connection that allowed him to communicate with the hawk and told it the benefits to accepting the contract, he still failed to convince it. Xavier probed at the hawk's consciousness trying to determine its reasoning for refusing him. He finally found his answer when he once more tried to convince the hawk.

Disdain. The hawk had nothing but pure disdain for this weak person attempting to tame it. Xavier's mind flashed with understanding. If this hawk was not the type to accept friendly overtures perhaps it was the type to be bullied into it!

Xavier stopped trying to convince the hawk and transported all of his will into the summoning plane. He bore down hard on the hawk's own will. His will also manifested his spacial magic and began to buffet the hawk as it was immobilized. If it wouldn't submit to the contract then it would never fly again!

The goshawk sensed the terrifying determination Xavier had to either dominate or kill it. Its resistance burst out in full as it used its own will to activate psychic attacks on Xavier's mind. The two continued to struggle for what seemed to be hours. Both were nearing exhaustion. Unfortunately for the hawk it seemed destiny was meant to be on Xavier's side. After the long struggle Xavier's will broke into the next stage and his magic will received a massive boost.

The massive push by Xavier caused the hawk to fall into despair. It sensed that there was no chance of winning now. "NO!" it thought. It wouldn't give up. As its focus was fading it devoted itself wholly to the fight with Xavier's will. The hawk then felt its own spirit overflowing and found itself wielding more force than ever with its psychic element.

Xavier paused for a moment stunned. He had thought that this was in the bag when his will had broken through to the third level but then the hawk had turned the situation around and broken through itself! That was incredible. Hardening his resolve Xavier prepared to dive back into the fight. He was more determined than ever to tame this beast.

Just as he was about to dive back in, he stopped. The hawk had paused as well and was now using its will to examine him curiously. The hawk seemed to be struggling to come to terms with something.

Thinking of a possibility Xavier once more extended the contract and emphasized the benefits to being his summoned beast. He felt the hawks mind sway back and forth for a moment and then decisiveness. The hawk accepted the contract!