"Uh... What? You were in another world? Like some kind of isekai thing?" Sam asked, and Ashton just shrugged.
"I guess. But please, just listen to me, no matter how ridiculous it sounds."
Though Sam didn't know what to say, it didn't happen often that Ashton was serious like this.
"As I just said, I was called to this world called Lumia. It's mostly earth-like. Deserts, oceans, forests, all that stuff. Lumia was a little larger than earth, though, I vividly remember the moment when I realised that. That's not really important, though. When I was called there, it was to be the Summoner's assistant? Apparently, humans are really malleable and can grow into any direction, theoretically, so that's why one was picked. I don't know why it was me, though, even now," Ashton avoided eye-contact with Sam, picking at his cuticles. Sam stayed silent.
"The Summoner had me do all sorts of random tasks. Literally anything that they couldn't be bothered to do themself. I lived alongside the other summons, interacted with them... befriended them. There were some nice moments here and there, but it was as nice as the idea of making a friend in the deepest pit of hell. You've got a friend, but... it's still hell."
"Why was it so hellish? It sounds more like a fantasy story that people would want to escape into," Sam figured, but Ashton just laughed and shook his head.
"Escape into? No, no, definitely not. Sam, I wasn't there of my own free will. Most normal summoners will create contracts of equality, and most sorts of summons will return back to their 'home' when their payment runs out. We weren't equals - we were slaves. We weren't given offerings, we were just given the bare minimum mana we needed to function and that was it. We were tools that the Summoner needed for his sick experiments."
"... Experiments?"
"The ways of learning of new methods of contracting beings is complicated. With Spirits, you can usually figure out the method through word of mouth through contact with others. Once you break down a certain element to its fundamentals, you should be able to summon a corresponding element. But... that wasn't the case all the time. Some beings require extremely specific series of actions, and severe payments to even answer the call, without even forming a contract. Death, destruction... torture. Sometimes, I was forced to help them execute these things, and at other times, I became the ingredient."
Ashton was trying not to go into too much detail, but even with just this, it was clear that Sam didn't believe him in the slightest.
But right now, it was an easy thing to prove, at least to some degree. Ashton grabbed the water bottle he was carrying, and placed it down on the table in front of his friend.
"I know you're tired, but would you two mind helping me out?" Ashton asked, looking inward at the undine. The elemental blubbered something in response, before quickly inhabiting the water in the bottle.
"Tired? I'm not tired... Man, the hell are you saying? Who are you talking to? One of these constellations?" Sam's concern was clear, and quite reasonable. Even Ashton could tell that what he was talking about sounded like the ramblings of an insane man.
But even so, he just shook his head and looked down at the water bottle. As the undine began to swim within the bottle, Sam seemed even more confused. The bottle started shaking a bit, and soon, the water climbed out on its own.
As a small koi fish made of distilled water flew around Ashton's head, the summoner unhooked the lantern from his belt and placed it onto the table next to it. There was still a coal briquette inside, so as Ashton caught the invisible spark in the air and brought it to the fuel, the salamander happily appeared from the flames within the lantern.
Ashton leaned back, putting his left leg over his right while grabbing his staff that was leaning against the swivel chair. He held it over to the right, and a small figure appeared, as if it had been hiding behind the chair this whole time. It took the staff, placed it inside of the backpack that was way too small to fit its entire length, and Ashton looked over at the Backpacker with a smile, "Thanks."
"Uh... I... What... What the fuck is going on?" Sam jumped up from his seat, taking a step away from those three creatures that he couldn't comprehend.
"These are two elementals. Lesser Undine and Lesser Salamander specifically. And this is a Backpacker. I have contracts with one more elemental and one construct."
"What the actual fuck, man?!" Sam started pacing around the room, "So, okay, there's weird shit going on, I get that, but there's really magic? Fucking magic? Other worlds? I mean, I guess we knew that part already, but still - you were what, just summoned randomly? And then you..."
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He stopped. Sam stared at Ashton, who had an inkling of what was going on in his friend's mind.
"I don't... really want to talk about any details. Not that we have the time to, anyway. We have about 8 minutes left, and I want to fill it with the important stuff," Ashton explained, playing with the undine a bit. It swam through the air like it was water, and decided that it liked to move through the gaps between Ashton's fingers, so the two were just doing that right now, with Ashton creating the exact paths the elemental needed.
Sam watched this happen. He could tell that this was real. That it wasn't something he was simply imagining.
He squatted down in front of the table, taking a closer look at the salamander. It noticed Sam approach, and jumped up against the lantern's glass.
"He's cute."
"Oh, I don't know if they're a... 'he' yet," Ashton pointed out a bit awkwardly, "Summons usually reveal more about themselves as our familiarity with each other rises."
"Well, fair enough... But holy shit, man. You can use magic? Like, magic?"
"Yes, I can use the magic of my summons by channelling their abilities. And technically I should be able to figure out how to use magic myself, but I'd rather not spread thin like that for now."
Sam looked up from the lantern, "And... you say that you had to make... sacrifices for these?"
"Oh, yeah, but nothing like... bad. I'm not going to form contracts with beings that ask for terrible shit if there is any way at all to avoid it," Ashton explained, calming down Sam a bit, even if the last part still worried him, "Elementals just ask for something to form their body, so fuel for the salamander and some pure water for the undine. My other elemental needs something that took 'effort' to make, so I just feed them food. The backpacker needed a, well... backpack as a base, so I just gave them mine, and then I need to give them items to actually use their services. So I gave them my phone."
"Your phone? What do you mean?"
"You know, my smartphone," Ashton said, looking over at the backpacker who had already taken the small object out of the bag and was playing games on it again, "That one."
"Don't you need that?"
"Why would I? Mana is scrambling signals anyway. Plus, I haven't used a phone in like... a hundred years? Give or take? I'm happy I remembered how to answer your call yesterday."
"No, but... That means you didn't get the message about the community?"
Ashton narrowed his eyes, "What? What do you mean?"
Sam was about to reply and explain, but Ashton stopped him, "Wait, hold on, no, we've already gotten distracted. We don't have a lot of time. I need to finish speaking, all of this is stuff I can tell you later. My head is just scrambled right now because I'm holding myself back from having a breakdown- Dude, it's just so good to see you again, seriously, you have no idea how much I missed you."
Sam smiled, holding back a slight laugh, "I'm glad you're okay, man. Alright, tell me what you wanted to say first."
"Okay... First. The interdimensional council cannot be trusted, obviously. They will do anything they can to twist things in a way where they're saving us at some point, but that's not what they're doing. The entire questline is designed in a way to turn us into... products. The perfect army, the best craftsmen, whatever."
"... They're making sure that just the best of the best survive?"
"Exactly. The tutorial was to get rid of all the weakest. The sick, the injured... those too old or too young to fight back on their own," Ashton said, staring down at the ground. He didn't want to show Sam the expression he was making right now, "And then, in this first quest, the rest of the people are forced to adjust quickly. Even if they're monsters, killing something isn't easy, but it gets easier when your life is in danger, and when you've already done it."
Sam nodded, "Yeah, it's... scary. The first one was the hardest, but the other four..."
"Right. In future quests, they're going to make us split up even more. They'll put us into situations where leaders will come forward, where those with power rise to the top, and those that can't pull their weight just... fall further behind," Ashton looked back up at Sam, "Again, we're products. Not only is the council going to sell us to the highest bidder once we beat all the quests, they're also trying to make the process to get there as exciting as possible for a few annoying bastards."
Flinching, Sam looked around, as if he was worried someone was watching, "The constellations?"
"Yes, the constellations. And don't worry, they can neither see nor hear us. Anyway, constellations are... honestly, I still don't really know the exact details. They're higher beings. Not gods, inherently, but close. Some are truly good, some are utterly evil. Some are here to watch us squirm, others want to help us succeed and survive. There's also plenty that are just scouting us out to buy us up later at the end. Having one become your 'sponsoring constellation' basically means you give them priority rights to acquire you if they want to, while also allowing them to take part in what a lot of them see as just some 'game'."
Ashton called the summons back into his vessel for now, and then put his feet up on the table in front of him. Sam flinched a bit, staring down at Ashton's boots.
"So what should we do, then? Do you know all the constellations, and could tell us what they want?"
"No, not at all. I'm lucky that I managed to draw the attention of one that I do know, but there's far too many for me to have heard of them all. But I will tell you what I know when it comes up. For one, do not trust the Shadow behind the Throne. They're a manipulative freak that just wants to turn you into someone that controls this settlement from the shadows."
"Why would he do that?" Sam asked as he pushed Ashton's feet off the table, quickly wiping the surface down with a small towel.
"Because he thinks it's fun."
"... Seriously?"
"Mhm," Ashton replied, looking at the message floating next to him.
[Time left in the [Private Conversation] - 1 Minute 21 Seconds]
"We need to wrap up. I'll get my hands on some ways to protect us in similar ways in the future, so we can keep talking then. But otherwise, on your own, never bring up anything that I just told you, okay? Just trust me that I know what I'm talking about. And if I act weird... you know, that's why."
Sam nodded his head, "Right, of course. I just want to know one more thing that you haven't quite said. How are you back? Did the Summoner just release you at some point?"
"... No. When a summoner dies, all their contracts are immediately cancelled, even the type I was under."
"So..."
"Yeah. They died, in the second to last quest."
We've just hit Rising Stars!!! Thank you so much, everyone, I am ridiculously happy that we got here so soon ^-^ I will try to get the bonus chapters you guys have earned out over the next week or two!
Until then, it would be awesome if you could leave a review or rating :))
[MILESTONES]
[A New Milestone has been reached]
[250 Followers]
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[Currently Available Milestones]
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