The Summoning

The academy halls still buzzed with whispers hours after the incident. Jared Morn had been carried away by medics, his Brassfang Wolf reduced to scattered mana. But that wasn't what haunted people.

It was the cold.

The unnatural, bone-deep chill that had spread through the training grounds when Kyle fought back.

Kyle walked in silence through the dim corridors, his mind a storm of questions. He hadn't seen what he summoned. Only felt it.

A presence. A weight.

A claw gripping his soul.

Jace strolled beside him, hands tucked in his pockets. His usual carefree smirk was missing.

"You gonna tell me what happened back there?"

Kyle didn't answer.

Because he didn't know.

A familiar shouldn't be something you accidentally call forth. It required a summoning card, a contract, a connection.

But this… this thing had answered him on instinct.

Jace sighed. "Look, I don't care if you've been hiding some crazy familiar—hell, I think it's badass. But whatever you did, you scared people."

Kyle's fingers twitched. People should be scared.

He clenched his jaw, pushing that thought aside.

They rounded a corner, and Kyle's stomach dropped.

Two academy officers stood waiting.

"Kyle Corvayn. You've been summoned."

Jace let out a low whistle. "Vaughn, huh? Yeah, you're screwed."

Kyle sighed. "I know."

---

Instructor Vaughn

Instructor Vaughn's office was dimly lit, the only light coming from the glow of his desk interface. The man himself sat with his arms folded, his sharp eyes locked onto Kyle the moment he stepped inside.

Vaughn wasn't a man who wasted words.

"What did you summon?"

Kyle kept his expression neutral. "My familiar."

Vaughn exhaled through his nose. "Corvayn, let's not waste time. I reviewed the security footage."

Kyle's stomach tightened.

Stay calm.

Vaughn tapped a button on his desk, and the holo-screen flickered to life.

The grainy footage played. The fight. Jared's Brassfang Wolf lunging. Kyle's hand raising—but then, distortion.

The camera feed glitched violently the moment the summoning should have happened. The screen flickered with bursts of static, showing only shadows writhing in the air, like ink bleeding through reality.

The only clear thing?

The drop in temperature.

Frost had formed on the ground. Breath had turned to mist. Jared had collapsed in terror.

But Boneclaw itself?

Nowhere to be seen.

Kyle felt something inside him shift. An advantage.

They didn't know.

They suspected. But they hadn't seen it.

Vaughn studied him for a long moment. "No summoning card. No recorded familiar. And yet, this." He gestured to the footage. "Explain."

Kyle chose his words carefully. "I don't know."

Vaughn's jaw tightened slightly. "That's not an answer."

Kyle met his gaze. "It's the truth."

Silence stretched.

Then—Vaughn leaned back, studying him. "Your records say you've never summoned a familiar before."

Kyle nodded. "Correct."

"Yet today, you did."

Another nod.

Vaughn's fingers drummed against the desk. "What do you think happened, Corvayn?"

Kyle hesitated. This was the moment. The wrong move could get him locked in an interrogation room.

Give them enough to stop digging.

Not enough to make them suspicious.

He exhaled. "I think… it was instinct."

Vaughn raised an eyebrow.

Kyle continued. "The fight was bad. I was cornered. I don't know how, but something answered. Maybe I always had a familiar, and I just—never called it before."

A calculated lie. A plausible one.

Vaughn studied him, eyes sharp as a knife. Then, after a long silence, he nodded.

"Maybe."

Kyle forced himself to stay still.

Vaughn exhaled. "Whatever it was, you're lucky." He tapped the footage. "This is inconclusive. The official story will be that you awakened an undiscovered familiar under extreme stress. That's what the cadets will believe."

No need to return the card

given to you, keep it you might need

Kyle's breath steadied. They weren't pushing further.

For now.

Vaughn leaned forward. "But understand this, Corvayn—if that thing ever becomes a danger to this academy, I will put it down. And I will put you down with it. Understood?"

Kyle nodded. "Understood."

Vaughn held his gaze a moment longer, then nodded toward the door. "Dismissed."

Kyle turned and walked out.

He only let out a breath when the door shut behind him.

---

The Aftermath

Jace was waiting in the hallway, leaning against the wall. "Well?"

Kyle rubbed his temple. "They don't know what it was. The cameras didn't catch it properly."

Jace's eyes flickered with something—relief, maybe. "So you're in the clear?"

Kyle wasn't sure.

For now.

Jace pushed off the wall, stretching. "Man, you have all the luck. You pull some mysterious shadow beast out of thin air, freak out the whole academy, and they just brush it off as 'instinct.'"

Kyle sighed. "They're not brushing it off. Vaughn's watching me now."

Jace's smirk faded. "Yeah… guess that makes sense."

They started walking back to their dorm.

For the first time since the fight, Kyle let himself process what had happened.

He had felt Boneclaw, even if he hadn't seen it.

A presence ancient and waiting.

And it had come to him naturally.

No summoning