The Summoned
Where am I?
Asa started to sit up, but changed his mind abruptly when a sudden
pain shot through him. How long had he been lying here? What had
happened?
His muscles were sore - he had obviously been lying on this stone
slab for far too long. At least the pain let him know he wasn't dead.
More carefully this time, he sat up, examining his surroundings.
The stone slab which had served as his bed was about half his height, and took
up the majority of the space. Aside from the slab and the lone torch providing
light, the room was featureless.
Except for the nexus.
He slid off of the slab, trying to ignore the stiffness in his
muscles. Carefully, he turned to face it - the shimmering thread of
incandescense that he recognized as being a nexus.
It didn't make any sense.... He shouldn't even recognize it - he
hadn't even been able to think straight the last time he had witnessed a nexus
- but he knew instinctively what this was. A shimmering nexus, like the one in
the center of the world, like the one Norax and he had created in their
struggle, was floating above the slab where he had awakened.
Asa leaned against the wall of the room for support, looking away
from the nexus and into the adjoining room. His memories were jumbled in his
mind - what was happening to him? Where was he? Had he been killed after
all?
There was a shift in light as someone crossed through the other
room. Asa immediately called out, not bothering to wonder if this other person
was friend or foe.
"Who's there?" The voice demanded, the body which accompanied it
quickly returning to the room that Asa was looking into. The visitor -
who looked vaguely familiar to Asa - looked surprised to see someone there.
"My name's Asa Brown." the summoner managed to say. There was
something nagging at the back of his mind - the person looked familiar, but Asa
didn't know why.
"Captain Jared Banks, of the Light Guard." the man said. "You're a
victim of the sword, I take it?"
Asa nodded mutely, feeling some semblance of sanity return to the
events of the past few hours. That's why the man had looked familiar - the
armor was that of the Light Guard.
"Good. Come with me then, and we'll get you a place to stay. We
have an encampment a few floors down. You'll be welcome there."
The Tomb Plane: Protectors' Encampment
Once he began to eat, Asa discovered he was far hungrier than he
had at first thought. He had been given his own tent, and some food and water.
Jared had said that he would return with their leader. For now, the young
summoner was content just to eat
Whatever structure Asa was in was far larger than he had initially
guessed it to be. Jared had lead them down a large stairway, and into one of
the most immense halls that Asa had ever seen. The room itself was so large
that it wasn't possible to see to the other end with only the torchlight that
they had. He did see, however, the small town of tents that he was now in.
Upon coming closer, he had seen its people - some of which were in Light Guard
armor like that of his escort, and some of which that had no armor at all, or
wore a different style.
Jared hadn't explained any of this. He had merely taken Asa into
the city, a bit hurriedly it seemed, and issued him a tent with some food
already in it. Then he had gone off to find his leader, who - Jared had
promised - would explain anything.
Asa had felt like complaining, but found the food to be rather good
and so forgot to.
It was a few moments later that Jared returned. The warrior looked
rather happy that Asa was actually eating something, but still seemed
anxious. The summoner was about to ask what was going on, when another person
- the leader, Asa supposed - entered the tent.
"Asa Brown. It's good to meet you. My name is Simon Keyes, and
I'm the one who's pretty much in charge of everything here. You've already met
one of our captains, Jared. There are a few others around here." Simon spoke
in the crisp, sharp voice of someone who expects to be obeyed. He left no room
for interruption as he spoke - not that Asa had any intent of doing so
anyway.
"Likely," Simon continued, "you'd like to know what exactly it is
that you're doing here, and where exactly 'here' is. Your last memories before
this place more than likely consist of some battle, where one warrior held a
sword against which nobody would stand. You were struck, and then you awakened
here."
Asa nodded, though if Simon noticed the response, the elder warrior
did not show it. Instead, he continued to speak. "You are not dead, as you've
probably wondered. You are, instead, now a permanent resident of the Tomb
Plane - where all those struck with the sword, or who fail to resist its pull,
end up. The group I lead, I call the Protectors. There are other groups
within this structure and, so it is told, others outside of it. I like to
think that mine is tasked with a bit more important of a mission, but all
groups do something worthwhile, at least that we know of. You are welcome to
stay for as long as you like - you'd make a good addition to our group, as we
don't have any summoners - and you can leave whenever you wish. Jared will
show you around."
"Thank you...." was all that Asa managed to say before Simon left
the room.
Jared was smiling. "He's not exactly verbose, but he's a good
leader and an excellent warrior. Did you understand what's going on?"
Asa nodded. "I think - the Tomb sword sent me here.... One thing
I don't understand, though - what is this place? Some kind of castle?"
"I personally don't know. Shaaron, one of the loremasters, could
tell you more about it, I suppose. It's a lot bigger than a castle, though,
that much I do know. As far as length and width go, I suppose it's got the
same general dimensions, but it's tall. We're near the top - and neither I nor
anyone here has ever been to the bottom. No windows up here either, so I'm not
sure how high we are. We get food from another group a few floors down, who
gets their food from another group, and so on until you reach the groups
outside, who presumably gather all the food in the first place. A bit
daunting a task, that would seem. Water comes down in spouts from the floor
above, and goes down to the floor below. The ground here is solid rock, but
we've been able to drive spikes into it thanks to the wizards. And that, " he
finished, a bit of an amused look on his face, "is the entire sum of my
knowledge regarding this place that we find ourselves in. Anything more, and
you'll have to consult the loremaster."
At the risk of seeming utterly simple, Asa spoke up again. "The
loremaster?"
"Shaaron." Jared clarified. "I can take you over there if you
like. She'd probably be happy to see you, since she always likes to see
outsiders. She always has something to learn from people, she says."
"That sounds okay...." Asa replied, still not understanding what,
exactly, a loremaster was. He suppressed questioning, and instead followed
Jared out of the tent and into the small city. It wasn't far until the warrior
pointed out where Shaaron resided, but Asa wondered if he could find his way
back. The tents seemed to be laid out in a fashion that made 'haphazard' seem
organized.
"I'll wait out here for you - she'd be too busy interrogating you
or telling you stories to pay too much attention to me anyway. Besides, she
always prefers to only have one visitor at a time. Makes it easier to
concentrate, she says." With that, Jared stood to the side of the tent and sat
down.
Not knowing exactly what to expect, Asa stepped into the tent. A
surprisingly young woman was sitting on the floor, reading over a book by the
light of a lantern. Upon noticing his entry, she put a marker in the book and
stood up, extending her hand.
"Hi, I'm Shaaron. You're new, aren't you? Come on in, sit down!"
she exclaimed as she shook his hand, obviously pleased to have a visitor.
"What brings you to me?"
Asa stammered for a moment, unsure what to say. He hadn't really
been given the chance to say much, and even he wasn't sure why he was here. He
managed to say something, however, before the silence stretched on too long.
"I was wondering exactly what a loremaster was...."
Shaaron laughed. "Well, I suppose coming to me would be one way of
answering that question. The loremasters are the ones in charge of keeping
track of a groups history. Every group has at least one. Furthermore, a
loremaster generally has knowledge from before individual groups. Legends, and
such. Things like that."
"Oh.... So you can tell me. How did I end up here? Is there an
entire plane within the Tomb sword?" Asa asked. He had felt uneasy ever since
the question had occurred to him. If that were the case, he was likely trapped
here forever....
Shaaron appeared pensive for a moment. "Well, I can tell you about
that, but it's a very long story. If you're up for it, I'll tell the tale!
Telling tales and writing about them is what I do best, after all."
Asa nodded his assent, and Shaaron began.
Back - Home - Next
Geocities