Alice concentrated on the runes drawn in the wooden floor around her, a soft silvery glow coming from the written incantation. Sweat beaded down her forehead as her effort became harder, the glow intensifying and raising a small circle above the ground before her. Inside the circle a small light appeared, growing in intensity as Alice tried summoning a beast from heaven. Suddenly the light flashed, and a blood-curdling scream sounded from her room, making her flinch and lose concentration. The glow faded and in the circle was a mound of flesh and feathers, heaving for life in a futile attempt to regain its former shape. The flesh finally stilled, slumping to the ground as the summoned monstrosity died. Alice watched this with horror and despair, knowing now that she would never be able to summon anything. She had tried summoning a Cupi, the smallest level of angel in heaven, and she couldn't even manage that.
"Alice- come out of there!" A knock on the wooden door behind her sounded the arrival of her good friend, Ricky. Alice quickly wiped the tears from her eyes, taking in several deep breaths before standing and waving her hands, the dead Cupi disappearing in a soft glow. She scuffed the runs with her foot before opening the door, revealing a blond-haired blue-eyed man with a very concerned expression.
"Were you trying to summon again?" He asked softly, seeing the scuffed ring of white chalk on the ground behind her.
She nodded quickly, trying to hold back the tears that were burning at her eyes.
Ricky sighed and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around Alice as she let out a soft sob. The black wings sprouting from Ricky's back folded around them, darkness settling between them.
"You're okay, Alice. I don't know why you keep trying this much if it hurts you like this." Ricky sighed, looking down at the young girl as she cried into his white t-shirt.
"I-I have to. I'll be a scrub!" Alice cried into his shirt, clenching her fists in the fabric.
"You won't be a scrub." Ricky shook his head in dismay. Alice had been like a little sister to him since they had started their freshman year in this special high school for magical people and creatures. Ricky, being a descendant from a fallen angel, was technically a magical creature. As such, he had to live with all the other 'creatures' in their dorm- even though he was mostly human. He didn't like to be so far away from Alice all the time, she was a very vulnerable person in this place.
"You have magic, right? You can make things glow even if you can't summon things very well. So then you're not a scrub." Ricky said, trying to cheer Alice up as she cried softly.
"But my father was the best in the world. I'm his only child, so I'm supposed to take after him and be the best too, right?"
"Oh please." Ricky rolled his eyes. "Just because I'm the son of an angel doesn't mean I'll have white wings. Remember when I was worried about that? It turned out fine, didn't it?" Ricky said, remembering his relief when his parents only smiled at his large black wings- making him one of the infamous crow demons.
"Yeah…" Alice looked up at the black feathers around her, sighing to try to calm down. Ricky was right, she had to keep trying. Maybe next time she should try to summon something from…
Alice shivered at the thought of confronting a demon, but knew that it needed to be tried. Obviously summoning things from heaven was not working out well.
"How about you try again tomorrow? Maybe this time it'll work out." Ricky pushed her away slightly, folding his black wings against his back again.
"Are you going to class soon?" Alice looked up at her friend, trying to keep her mind off of the thought of making another mistake. She often wondered whether the creatures she mistakenly changed while summoning really died, or if they were just recalled back to the other dimensions.
"Yeah, I have flight training." Ricky sighed, his wings drooping behind his back.
"Oh, I like watching you in flight training- can I come along?" Alice smiled, her eyes still slightly red from crying. Ricky faltered at the sight and rolled his eyes, ruffling Alice's hair playfully.
"Sure, shrimp. Just don't cheer me on this time, it's embarrassing." He smiled, leading her down the hall toward his next class. Alice looked around her at the other people walking through the hall- different species all around and all wearing some version of the school uniform. She did like being here, it was one of the few places in the world where she thought she fit in. She looked at the ground uneasily as she kept walking, ignoring the stares of those around her from being one of the richest magic users in the world. She hated getting attention just because she had money, it made her cautious with anyone who was kind to her.
"Alright, here we are." Ricky walked out of a set of double doors, into a brightly lit courtyard.
"You're late, Richard." A woman with large bat wings and red eyes scolded Ricky.
"Sorry professor, I was being trailed by a kitten." Ricky smirked, taking his place between a witch on a broom and a humanoid dragon creature beside him.
"Alright everyone- today we practice mid-air combat. No claws, no teeth and no magic. Just hand-to-hand combat."
The dragon beside Ricky snorted in disappointment before they took to the air. Alice sat on the grass, watching the students above practice their lessons with content. Even if she couldn't summon, she knew that the others would accept her for who she was, but her parents…
She wasn't so sure about them.
"Alright…" Alice clenched her eyes shut as she kneeled beside the larger circle of runes. She made a few hand motions before taking a deep breath, clapping her palms together and lowering them in front of her chest. Ricky was in his class, all her dorm mates were away in their own classes, but she was still being placed into relevant classes. She scorned herself for her wandering thoughts and bit her lip anxiously as she focused once more on the incantations written before her. This was her last time- if this summoning died, she would never kill another creature again.
Alice flinched as she bit her lip too hard and it started bleeding from the amount of concentration and power she was feeding into the circle of runes, making them glow a vibrant and steady silver. The glowing circle rose and started spinning in mid-air, the space in the middle turning green. A small flame started, engulfing the entire circle but stopping at the barrier of the magic she had set up. The fire turned emerald as it roared angrily, a pair of eyes peering from within the flames- one red, and one yellow. Alice kept concentrating, keeping her eyes closed as the fire condensed into a tall figure with large claws and spiraling ram-like horns, long fangs smiling through the fire. Alice held on as long as she could, pouring all her magic into the circle before her head started spinning, the room around her going dark.
"Hey- wake up, little bitch!" Alice heard a low growling voice from within the room, shaking her head to clear her fuzzy mind. She looked up to see a tall man standing within her silver barrier, his arms crossed and looking very angry. Two large black curved horns were sprouted from either side of his head, circling around long pointed ears. His eyes were even stranger- one was yellow, and one was red. He looked very Irish with his long red hair, and his strong angular features.
"Fucking finally. You wanna let me out of here, now?" The demon pointed to the silver glow around him. He glared down at her as she faltered in confusion. "I can't take it down, you're the one who cast it. Or do you want to go through that whole fucking ceremony of 'oh I promise not to hurt you, master' because that's just too bad." The demon bared his fangs in frustration. "It's bad enough that you summoned me, even though you're a fucking little girl- you managed to seal my powers somehow too." He growled.
"S-sorry." Alice sat up, waving her hand and the silver glow dissipated.
"Don't snivel like that, you're the master here." The demon stepped out of the ring, looking much like a man, except for the horns, eyes and ears.
"Okay." Alice said, trying to gather her thoughts. He was calling her master, did that mean… "Wait- did I summon you?"
The demon looked at her in disbelief, and put a palm to his face in frustration. "Of course you did, stupid girl. What the hell do you think this is?" The demon pointed to a small black mark on his cheek, in a similar yet slightly different design than the one of his left shoulder.
"A… a summoning mark." Alice said in disbelief, and then stood with a cheer. "It worked! Oh my God, I can't believe it!" She yelled, and looked up to see the Demon watching her with horror.
"Fuck, you mean I'm the first summon that's worked for you?" He said, his voice laced with a growl.
"Uh… yeah." Alice said uneasily.
"FUCK!" The demon yelled, a bright glow forming around him. He calmed and the glow disappeared. "That's fine- that's okay, I'll figure out some way to get back." He closed his eyes as he tried to calm himself, then focused his fierce stare on Alice. "So then, where and when are we?"
"Um… my high school, and the year is 2008."
The demon paused for a minute before letting out a deep growl. "You're still in high school?"
"Yeah." Alice smiled uneasily.
"Fucking great. Alright then, I guess we'll introduce each other. You're the summoner, so you go first."
"I'm Alice Tartush, daughter of Evan Tartush." Alice said, lowering her head slightly.
"Evan? You're his daughter?" The demon looked at her with newfound interest. "He was my last master. A good man."
Alice nodded with an inner sigh. Once again, she was being forced to live in her father's shadow.
"My name is Zarkash. I am a Fomorian demon, and I'm around 600 years old. How old are you?"
"Um… 19?"
Zarkash looked at her in dismay, but let out a great sigh. "Alright, then. We'll work this out somehow." The demon started walking out of the room, but was surprised when Alice grabbed his arm.
"No- they don't allow anyone but students and teachers on campus! We'll get in huge trouble."
Zarkash looked at her for a minute and rolled his eyes, his form shimmering with a green light before shrinking down to the ground. In his place sat a cat the color of his demon form's hair.
~Better?~ He looked up at her, his voice echoing through Alice's mind.
"Does that mean that only I can hear you?"
~Correct. Talk in your head and I'll hear you too. I just hope that you're not one of those fucking annoying people that constantly thinks to themselves.~ Zarkash growled lowly in his cat-form and walked out of the door, his long tail lashing behind him in annoyance.