Today was the day of the Springtime Familiar Summoning. It was a time when second year students performed a ritual to summon their familiars. The students had spent a week preparing for this event, some longer, some shorter. It depended on how proficient they were in their spellcasting.
The students performing the ritual were in the courtyard of the academy. One after another, animals and beasts of various shapes and sizes were brought forth from the summoning circle on the ground, minor adjustments made to it before casting. Most had already gone. A frog, a mole, an owl. The most impressive so far was a salamander.
Then, one student in particular stepped up. She made a few alterations to the summoning circle, like many of the students before her. She began casting the spell with practiced ease. Magic flowed. The circle began to glow with power.
"Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar."
And then…nothing happened. All the students before her had their familiars rise up from the ground through a glowing portal. The light may have been slightly different each time, but it was consistent.
Just as she began to think she made a mistake, there was a shift, as if the air became heavier. It was soon followed by what could be described as a deep darkness appearing in the summoning circle, a short, jagged pillar of just over six feet. As soon as it seemed to become solid, the sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the courtyard.
The students looked on in confusion at what just occurred.
"Did…Did Tabitha just summon a human?"
"He looks like some sort of dark priest."
"A commoner?"
"Maybe a fallen noble?"
"But look at his black hair! There's no way he's a mage."
It was like her classmates said. A man suddenly stood in the center of the circle, replacing the pillar. He was taller than Professor Colbert, the teacher overseeing the summonings. Dressed in a black overcoat and pants made of some durable-looking material, hard boots on his feet. His face had almost sharp features on it, and his eyes were a piercing red.
"Oh dear…" Kirche, Tabitha's closest—truly, only—friend in the academy, stood by her side. "Tabitha, darling…did something go wrong?"
Yes. Something did go wrong, though Tabitha couldn't bring herself to say so. While the students were muttering among themselves, the girl who performed the summoning wasn't so casual. Tabitha held her staff tightly, angled just so to point it at the strange man, who was acting casual. His head moved about slowly, his red eyes taking in his surroundings as he folded his arms behind his back.
"Well, this is quite strange." Professor Colbert said, stroking his chin. "Nonetheless, the summoning was successful. Miss Tabitha, please complete the ritual."
The strange man looked over his shoulder at Professor Colbert.
Despite what the professor said, Tabitha remained firmly in place, unmoving.
"Tabby?" Kirche prompted her. "Are you okay?"
No. She was not okay. Still, she couldn't act.
The man turned his gaze to Tabitha. He took one step forward. Then another. Tabitha flinched, stepping back, tightening her grip on her staff further, practically making the wood groan.
As he came within 10 feet of her, she didn't back up any farther, as much as she wanted to. Kirche, her closest and only friend at the academy, was right next to her. Whatever this man…this thing she had summoned, she wasn't going to let it be closer to Kirche than her.
"Miss Tabitha? You must complete the ritual." Professor Colbert said, just as whatever Tabitha summoned stopped in front of her. It gave one final look over its shoulder before looking at her again.
It smiled down at her. Standing nearly six feet tall, it was taller than everyone around her, especially her.
"Yes, Tabitha. Do complete it."
It spoke to her.
"What language is that?" Kirche asked. To Tabitha, it spoke perfect Gallian. As a noble, Kirche would know the language, ignoring that Tabitha knew for a fact Kirche spoke it. Tabitha could only conclude that she understood this thing because she summoned it, even though she hadn't completed the ritual yet.
Still, whatever she summoned didn't attack, despite it clearly being fully capable of it. Did no one else notice it? Had being forced to take these dangerous tasks from her uncle heighten her senses to such a point?
Regardless, this was what Tabitha summoned, and completing the ritual would at least help her understand.
"Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar." Tabitha spoke more words than she normally did already, but she knew she had to say more. "Lower. Kiss."
This thing in the shape of a man raised an eyebrow at her, but followed her instruction all the same. He went to one knee, bringing him a little below her in height.
Tabitha hesitated, but resolved herself and stepped forward. She placed her lips on the forehead of the creature, completing the ritual. When she stepped back, there was a slight hiss and light as runes appeared on her familiar. On its chest, on its coat, a few runic characters appeared, slightly above where a human's heart would be.
Her familiar looked at the runes for a moment, amusement on its face, before it stood again.
"Well, of all the things to summon, a dashing commoner is hardly the worst thing." Kirche said, her eyes moving up and down the familiar.
In response, the familiar turned to Kirche. While it did something very similar as Kirche, Tabitha could only feel a sense of dread.
She pointed her staff at it, taking a step to subtly place herself more in front of Kirche. "Friend."
"Worried your familiar has taken an interest in me, Tabby~? Don't worry, I won't steal him from you." Kirche said seductively as she hugged Tabitha from behind, clearly not meaning what she said. Tabitha would need to make sure her friend really didn't try anything.
"Hm." The familiar turned its head up slightly, still smiling. It then took a step to the side, placing its arms behind its back again, and taking a place at Tabitha's side. It stood at attention, looking at the rest of the students once more.
"Alright then." Professor Colbert said, giving the familiar one more look before addressing the rest of her classmates. "Has everyone gone?"
"Louise hasn't!" Kirche happily called out, earning a glare from the girl in question.
Tabitha couldn't pay much attention to that. Something far more urgent had happened.
Even when Louise's spell exploded, Tabitha was hardly phased, more concerned about her own familiar.
When a boy with a similar hair color to Tabitha's familiar appeared from Louise's summoning, Tabitha thought he was the same. But no. There was no sense of danger from him. Not like what stood at her side. Perhaps the other students could sense something, since they had no problem mocking Louise for summoning a commoner. That, or they simply did as they always had, and had no intention of mocking someone generally more skilled than them.
The familiar kept its composure, unaffected by the boy Louise summoned. Outside of continuing to look around, it didn't seem to do anything.
Once Louise finished her ritual and Professor Colbert dismissed the students for the day, almost everyone went off, flying away with a levitation spell. Louise, due to her lack of magical skill and her familiar passing out from his runes—or Louise smacking his head, Tabitha wasn't sure—had to drag her familiar away.
All that remained were Tabitha, Kirche, the salamander Kirche summoned, and…
"What in the Founder's name did I summon?" Tabitha could only hope what she was feeling was completely inaccurate.
Author's Notes:
I'm starting this story as part of NaNoWriMo. This and another story, a Shield Hero x Overlord (game) fic, will be ~1,000 word chapters. One or the other will updated every day for November. If either one is well-liked, I'll continue working on it after November.
I find the number of Tabitha-centric fics woefully small. It is my desire to fix this. Best Girl needs some love.