A Hero Is Summoned

A long hallway about 50 meters long stretches from one end to the other on the left wing of a grand castle. On the left, portraits line up the wall with fashionable, blonde, and well built men with golden name tags on the bottom. On the right are glass windows facing outside, with a small garden and pathway right outside the castle, and a couple of two story sturdy wooden buildings can be seen from the inside.

Rapid clacking sounds echoing down the hall begin to fill the quiet space, and a stout blond man in a red and gold robe is taking long, quick strides. Followed behind him is a long, white haired man wearing a black robe, who seems to be somewhat concerned about the blond man.

"Hurry, take me to the altar! I'm not wasting two months of waiting and all of my summoning stones just to not see my efforts!"

"My lord, going there is too dangerous! What if we summon a demon, or a war-crazed deity that tears our lands apart?"

"We are summoning a goddamn hero! Not a monster, according to whatever you decided to summon."

"The summoning is too inaccurate, we don't know what kind of hero we are trying to summon. Asking for a hero who can improve our land's strength and can adapt to our world is quite difficult when it comes to searching for a single speck in infinite realms. It was a miracle that the last human summoned over 200 years ago was even human!"

"I do not care about whether the being is either going to be a noble or a goblin, I just want to see results!"

This sort of bickering was happening between Gaild, who is the Lord of Kald, and the mage of the mind Vitam. Vitam was worried about his lord, as Gaild recently hasn't been sleeping well and seemed to be impatient about the summoning of this so called hero. But to put himself in potential danger was something that could not be acceptable. Nevertheless, he told himself that if the lord wants to view the summoning, then it is within his command to do so.

"The summoning is taking place in the castle's central basilica. We can probably make it in time if we run."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry!"

________________________________________________________________________________________

A priest in a white robe stares at a group of magical floating shapes in the center of the basilica's dome. The huge floating shapes take the form of large, circular runes with ancient magical symbols inscribed on the surface. They flowed blur, and almost looked like some kind of funnel, or better yet, a goblet with some kind of pointy end as handle. The shape touched the ceiling of the basilica to just 4 meters off the floor, an impressive feat for a room that had a ceiling 80 feet high. The runes also seemed to be rotating in some way, with some moving left and others moving right.

The priest looks to the right of him and sees the lord's advisors all sitting in the pews. Their colorful and rich clothes contrast themselves from the white marble of the basilica. They mutter and whisper to each other, while glancing at the rotating runes every so often.

"I heard that the last hero was a strong, blonde swordsman who was a brilliant general."

"Everyone who has ever read the historical texts know that. What a lad, killing off the demon king, saving us a lot of work with dealing monsters."

"But monsters and people are different beings. We can't count on a muscular hero or a powerful mage to help us at this scale."

"Maybe a general with experience of war might pop out?"

Some officials nod in agree,ent, while others who favored the more traditionalist ideal of a physically strong hero shake their heads.

He hears some quick moving footsteps behind him, and turns around to find an exhausted Gaild and Vitam, breathing heavily and somewhat sweaty from the running.

"Ah, Lord Gaild! You've just arrived in the nick of time! The summoning process will begin in about 5 minutes. Are you sure that you want to be here?

"And miss something that hasn't been done for the past 200 years? I wouldn't miss it for anything. I also want to know what our king's summoning stones have brought into our world. By the way, how do these summoning stones work?"

The priest turns and faces the king, adjusting his monocle.

"Well, it is a highly complicated and expensive process. Some high class mages and sorcerers transfer their energy into some of the most strongest magical metals in our world. The metal absorbs all the magic, causing the overall magical power of the metal to be able to break realms. However, these stones are rare, as a high class mage is quite uncommon, and normally transfer their energy when they nearly reach death. The stones are also rare and expensive, making them hard to find and purchase. Then the stones are assembled around a circle in a large, circular place. After that, with an ancient summoning spell, the spell is cast."

"Huh, how interesting. I wonder how it brings out a person."

"Well, that is a much longer process to talk about, but we can talk about it a bit lat-"

The glow of the runes started to turn from a light shade of blue to green, and then yellow, and then red. Strange humming noises began to be emitted from the runes, and they grew louder by the second.

"The summoning process has begun! Everyone, back away!"

The king started to slowly walk backwards, and his officials placed themselves two rows behind their original Lee's. The priest looked in astonishment at the magical effect, and couldn't help but be impressed by the light show.

All of a sudden, a golden blast rings out in the middle of the basilica. The priest and the officials cover their eyes, and a huge thunderous roar fills the entire church with noise. The king looks straight at the glowing runes, filled with draw-dropping awe.

A sudden bead of light enters the basilica's ceiling as fast as a diving falcon and hits the ground hard. A light shockwave was produced that caused the front pews to vibrate a little bit, and a large amount of dust filled the room. A couple moments later, the dust and the sound dissipated, and the glow of the runes slowly faded.

An official dressed in blue coughs dryly due to the dust, and a couple more wave their hands in front of their faces to clear their view of any remaining dust. As a couple officials slowly regain their vision, as well as the priest and Lord Gaild, they notice a silhouette of a man in the remaining dust. The shadow of the silhouette slowly gets smaller and smaller, until becoming the size of an average young adult. A figure steps out of the dust, and several gasps ring out.

"He's definitely not a swordsman, look how frail he is!"

"Have some respect you fool! He looks like a strategist to me."

"All these magical stones wasted on this?"

"It doesn't look like he has any combat experience. How can he help us in any way?"

"Uhm, ermm, uh, W-welcome hero to the land of Kald!"

The king said nervously. The figure emerged from the dust curiously, looking around his surroundings in a confused manner. He looked like he was in his early 20's, looking rather young. The young man p wasn't exactly tall, about 1.65 meters, but he was scrawny. Short, jet black hair covered his head and his black eyes seemed to scan the room mechanically. Clearly, he wasn't too athletic, but looked smart and young. Then, his mouth opened.

"Where am I?"