Double Summon

Teok scanned the battlefield. He stood up in the saddle to get a better view over the hundreds of raised swords and spears. He squinted at the opposing army. Searching. Searching for the single enemy summoner among the ranks of orange uniformed enemy soldiers.

Teok frowned and sat back in his saddle. He wore the long blue hooded summoner’s cape, which billowed slightly behind the horse. Underneath the cape and white tunic he wore black chainmail armor. A thin gold band rested on the crown of his head matting down his brown hair. Something was wrong. He couldn’t find the other summoner.

His army erupted into high-pitched war cries that stirred the heavens and earth. Teok grimaced and pulled out his knife. He took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. And exhaled. He ignored the sounds of the soldiers around him until slowly the noise no longer mattered. He was now in the middle of nothing. His heart thumped within his chest, echoing around the black nothingness of his meditation.

He lifted his left hand to the knife. Inhaled. And in one swift movement sliced his left open palm with the blade. The familiar bite of pain was sweet to him. The sting, invigorating. He relished the moment for a second. Reliving his love, his life. A smile crept to his cheeks. An emptiness filled once again. Blood slowly crept out of the open cut.

He exhaled, now focusing his mind on one thing; the emerald atop the hilt of his knife. The one thing he knew better than everything else in the world. It was his wall. His protection. His shield.

“Khorageth.” Teok began to chant softly to himself in the ancient language. “Khorageth, shuk tal gshe. Khorageth kho.”

Instantly the dark nothingness around him was filled with the essence of the demon of light. The demon essence rushed around him sending a chill down his spine. His stomach twitched in an involuntary spasm. A wispy airy sound drowned out his heartbeats. His nose was filled with the scent of dried blood, though not his own.

The demon essence swirled all around him, over his head and under his boots. Power. An immense strength. It was there. Even though Teok was never able to see it. The demon essence was more real than the horse he was riding upon.

Teok kept his bleeding palm open as he brought his emerald studded knife to his chest. Another breath in. He stretched his own essence outwards. Searching again. Searching for the essence of any other summoner also summoning the demon of light. No other consciousness. Exhale. Finishing the summoning incantation he said; “Gshek ta yibanaie Khorageth!”

Suddenly the demon essence dove into Teok’s mind. Hate, anger, malice, fear, and lust rushed against Teok’s feelings. The demon flew lightning fast through his body causing him to unwillingly jolt to and fro in his saddle. The feeling of fear from the demon slowly crept into Teok’s heart. Fear that this summoning might be his last. Fear that Teok would loose focus and let the demon into the inner soul of his being. Fear of what the demon would do to him then.

Teok gripped the hilt of his knife harder. Focusing on the emerald. The dark green pebble. The tiny jagged crack along the base. The smooth water-like surface. The cold lifeless feel. The perfect weight to counterbalance the blade of the knife. The perfect emerald.

The feelings subsided slowly. Anger now flowed from his chest to his left arm towards the open palm. Angry that it could only take what it was given. Teok’s palm tingled as the demon essence fed on the sacrificed blood, drawing the life energy from the dark red droplets from his hand.

Teok slowly felt the power of the demon imbue itself inside of him. His arms growing in potential. More tension behind his muscles. His mind sharper. His will deeper. His courage expanded. He was invigorated.

Teok opened his eyes and focused the power of the demon to his sight. After a moment his vision clarified. He saw the very air between the two armies. He could see each blade of grass and the individual brown leaves on the ground. He gazed beyond his normal capacity to view the enemy army up close. He saw the smiles on their faces. The smirks. They knew something Teok’s army didn’t. One enemy soldier with a black beard kept glancing off towards the left.

Teok’s gaze followed this soldier’s. It was a hill that obscured Teok’s army’s view of a large group of enemy cavalry. A formidable force.

There he was. The summoner. A tall dark-skinned man wearing a long white cloak. A shady smile crept across his lips. He was holding a long thin blade in his right hand pressed against his left.

Instinctively Teok closed his left hand. The energy immediately was sucked out of his veins.

The other summoner was about to summon the power of a demon and Teok couldn’t risk a double summon. No one could.

His vision blurred, his strength waned, his heart pounded ferociously. His senses dulled, no longer able to smell neither dried blood nor anything. No longer able to feel neither heat nor cold. No longer able to feel. The demon essence left him empty. Slightly emptier than before.

He groaned. His head swam around him. A loud high-pitched ringing resounded in his ears. The world seemed to rotate slowly. Light faded in and out of color. The soldiers around him were moving forward.

“Commander.” Teok said grimacing. Or at least he thought he said it. He didn’t hear himself. “Commander. Enemy cavalry behind the hill to the left.”

He heard a mumble. His ears still ringing.

“The summoner is with them.”

A deep voice bellowed out near him. The blurs of soldiers stirred, and then began moving to the left.

Teok moaned as he pulled on the reins. His body slowly recovering. The ringing dimmed. His vision sharpened. But his stomach remained empty. Regretting that his last meal was only two fire-roasted chickens. It was never enough.

The muffled war cries changed to screams of terror. A bright fire had erupted in the first ranks of the men. The soldiers scattered in all directions. The fire seemed to grow from the ground. The earth releasing excess heat in a single focused spot of ground; right under Teok’s army. The effects of the fire demon, no doubt.

“Teok!” The commander yelled over the tumult.

Teok flipped the knife out and placed it against his left palm. He took in a deep breath. Focused. The screams around him blurred to a whisper. The demon of water would be the obvious choice to combat the flames.

Inhaling he sliced his hand just above the previous scar. The taste of cold steel shot up his arm and into his mouth. Saliva seeped around his tongue.

“Khelidd.” Teok chanted. “Khelidd, shuk tal gshe. Khelidd kho.”

He cringed. A rush of excitement washed over him. Drowning him with nothing, and with power at the same time. The air screeched. He reached outward with his mind tentatively. A finger of thought stretched over a roaring river of energy. He brushed up against a familiar feeling.

Come.

Not a feeling, but a thought. Possibly even his own. It was audible over the uncanny noise of emotion.

Instantly he closed his left palm releasing the dam of energy to wash over. It was just as he was taught. An audible thought so familiar that he could mistake it for his own. Another essence other than that of a demon; who’s being is entirely different, incapable of portraying instantly understood thoughts. It was the essence of another human. The essence of another summoner.

Teok glared his eyes open. Futilely searching for the arrogant summoner, who was overconfident enough to challenge anyone to a double summon. A suicidal duel.

“Teok!” The commander repeated. The soldiers were chaotically regrouping near their commander. “Get rid of the fire! For demonsake!”

“Shut up!” Teok yelled, pulling his knife up again to his palm. This time slicing downwards towards the wrist he called upon the demon of ice.

The area around him grew cold. Colder than ice. Colder than fire. He took an icy breath and held it. Reached out.

I’m in your head, no?

He closed his hand, feeling the power rush away.

Yelling Teok struck his horse with the side of his knife. It leapt forward galloping towards the burning ground. Soldiers parted on either side. Gritting his teeth he stabbed his palm. Called the demon of water once again. Again he was encircled by the torrent of power. The wispy nothingness of the essence of the demon of water.

Again?

This time he resisted the habit to close his fist. Still gritting his teeth he said;

“So you think you’re…?”

Of course I’m better than you. The thought interrupted.

The whirl of energy flowed around him. Encasing all else. The demon seemed to shy away from Teok. The sound of rushing energy dissipated as it attempted to encourage the mental connection between the summoners.

“No one has lived from…”

I have. The thought boomed through Teok’s mind. Echoing to and fro. And I will again.

The noise surged slightly. A spark of hope coming from the demon. It could taste the chance to devour two lives instead of one. Instead of a few droplets of sacrificial blood.

“I don’t believe…”

Of course you don’t. Was this his own thought?

Try your luck and we’ll see.

Teok paused pulling back on the reigns to a halt.

No. No. He thought. This is me.

Or is it?

He screamed, closing his fist. Finally realizing why summoners avoided the double summon at all costs. How could anyone keep a sound mind while being mentally connected to another? How could anyone protect their own thoughts against the demon they summoned when they can’t decipher which thoughts are their own?

His left arm was twitching. Two rivers of blood flowed down from his palm to the elbow. His already misshapen palm shaking next to his knife. Next to the dark green emerald his blood glowed with an unnatural red color.

The fire raged again, bursting from the ground with renewed energy and gusto. The bright flames billowed orange, and then blue as the heat seared through the air. More screams. The soldiers were dropping. Their armor glowing red, sizzling through fabric and skin. The smell was nauseating. Burnt hair, burnt flesh, boiling dirt and mud.

This summoner was by far the most powerful Teok has ever confronted. The quickest. The most cunning. And the most clever.

The terror around Teok slowed to a whisper as he closed his eyes one last time. He blocked out all knowledge of heat, encasing himself in a bubble of nothingness once again. He inhaled. Sliced his hand from the tip of his forefinger down past his wrist. The pain was nothing, though he physically felt the blood leave his body.

He knew which demon the enemy summoner was using.

“Afkhaliti, Afkhaliti, shuk tal gshe. Afkhaliti, kho!” He yelled, summoning the demon of fire. “Gshek ta yibanaie Afkhaliti!” Ignoring his instincts, which told him to stop and make sure nobody else was summoning this demon, he finished the incantation.

Immediately the essence of the fire demon blazed inside of him. Burning every crevice. Every hair. Every muscle. Joy infused itself with Teok. A joy and pleasure of inflicting pain. A demonic pleasure.

He gripped the emerald as hard as he could. Pressing it resolutely against his chest. The edges of the hilt burying themselves into his skin. His jaw crushing his teeth. His body tense, convulsing. Pain no longer mattered. Pain was no more than a thought. A thought that would weaken his defense. He focused.

The dark green pebble. The tiny jagged crack along the base.

The constant moon. White. Blank.

Confusion erupted throughout Teok’s head. Confused. This must be the other summoner because his emerald wasn’t white. It was smooth, with a water-like surface. The cold lifeless feel.

Something tried to squeeze through the tiny jagged crack in his mind.

Full. Then half. Then new.

The perfect weight to counterbalance the blade of the knife.

Then half. Then full again.

It was the perfect emerald.

Perfection. Desire. Lusts.

Then half-perfect.

Emerald-white.

An audible clap echoed over the battlefield. The fire dissipated. Two hooded figures slumped down onto the dry cracked earth. Palms open. Eyes shut.