Shadow Game: Spirit Summoner

Reyn sighed as he looked out the window near his seat. It was another boring day at school. Although, it's the last day of the school year, he did not have any expectations for the summer vacation.

"What's with the long face again, Reyn?" A youth with spikey blond hair entered the classroom. Most of their classmates had already attended their last meeting as peers.

"I'm bored, Luke.." Reyn leaned on his hands while rolling his eyes upward.

"You've been sitting all day inside the classroom. I'm suprised if you're not." Luke chided and sat beside his zero outgoing friend.

After a minute of silence, Reyn irritably glanced at Luke who had been staring at him expectantly. "So, what's your problem?"

Luke leaned closer and excitedly replied, "I've been planning for a trip to the mountains this next week since you like camping..."

"And?"

Luke was hesitant for a moment before he said in a secretive voice, "I think we'd be busy with something else. You see... I've been hanging with some weird people on a website. All they've been talking about is this certain game. I asked around about this game and no one wanted to disclose it."

"You can pirate stuffs in many places." Reyn dismissively stated. "Stop hanging around with strange people."

"No, no... I even offered 20 credits but they refused." Luke explained. His expression becoming desperate.

'20 credits. That's a month's worth of allowance.' Reyn frowned at his friend's naivety.

"Instead, they gave me a link telling me that I should wait until 9 tonight. If I'm worthy, I'd be able to access it." Luke said with a forced smile.

Reyn instantly rolled his eyes in disbelief. He retrieved his backpack and strolled outside the classroom without a word. As he exited, he heard Luke call out to him.

"I'll share you the link! Make sure to check it as well."

Reyn raised a hand as a gesture and continued on until he was out of the school campus. He directly walked all the way back to his current home located at the 9th District of City C. It was a bungalow owned by his youthful uncle who raised him when his parents passed away.

His home contained only the basic facilities of housekeeping. Although he's not yet old enough to work, Reyn was determined to fill up the empty spaces of the house. He'd be entering college soon and the years of adulthood is only a year away.

"Whoo! That's an hour walk." Reyn slipped back his phone inside his pocket after checking the time. "Thankfully, I bought some snacks on the way."

After entering his house, Reyn immediately prepared his food. While eating, he watched some news on his phone and voices started to echo on the once silent place.

"After decades of study, scientists has yet to uncover the mystery behind the unstable magnetic field on the First Islands." A woman with shoulder length black hair broadcasted.

"Up today, only 3% of the islands were explored. It's perilous waters had claimed another vessel this morning."

Reyn frowned. It is believed that the First Islands was the place where all humans came from. In the golden age of exploration, many ships had sunk trying to enter its vicinity. Even with today's advance technology, it's very dangerous to traverse around it, much less, sail straight toward it.

After filling his stomach, Reyn dozed off on the floor.

-----

It was already dark when Luke returned to his apartment. After carefully opening the door, he turned on the light that instantly illuminated his room. He cringed at the sight of trash littered in every corner. Even though he had the common sense to clean, his mind was occupied with something else.

After making a beeline to his computer, Luke entered a site through his browser, and his screen turned black followed by the appearance of a symbol; a strange eye inside a triangle. He can still clearly remember the earliest conversations he saw when he entered it for the first time.

[I'm outside the mouth of the cave! Fuck I'm hurt]

[Calm down we're still exiting the dungeon]

[DON'T TELL ME TO CALM THE FUCK DOWN I LOST A FUCKIN LEG]

[It's bad man.... He fainted!!! We must get him to the Recovery Well before he is forcefully logged out]

At first, Luke thought that they were role playing. However, as he read further from that conversation, he saw that they were serious. Whenever he remembered it, he felt chills running down his spine.

"Real danger, huh?" Luke murmured in contemplation.

[WELCOME TO THE SUMMONER'S ROOST!]

The site finally loaded and Luke started browsing. It had many public rooms that one can enter and start a conversation. One he visited the most was the Flightless Bird. With a click, he entered the lobby.

[Rooster13: There's been a disgusting rumor about the game lately]

[Geese7: Been hearing it a lot]

There were two users active at that time. Luke couldn't help but to get immersed in their discussion.

[Rooster13: They said that there's an anomaly]

[Geese7: Yeah,, but it's only just a rumor]

[Rooster13: Imagine if we can really duel in here...the real world]

[Geese7: Hahahha]

[Geese7: Look we have a silent reader]

[Rooster13: If it isn't the curious blondespiker]

Luke scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly. He forgot that they can view the members currently inside the lobby.

[blondespiker: sorry man.. I don't know what you two were talking bout so I stayed silent]

[Rooster13: Remember the link we gave you???You can only share it once....Same with the person you shared it to. Once for each person]

[Geese7: There are serious consequences if you break that rule]

Now that he thought about it, Luke brought out his phone and skimmed through his contacts.

-----

Bzzzt!

Reyn woke up from a vibration in his pocket. He hastily picked himself up and took out his phone. It was 8 in the evening when he saw the time on his phone.

[Uncle Reed: Remember, Reyniid...no girls allowed in the house!]

[Uncle Reed: I can't send you an allowance for the month. Since I know you won't attend your graduation, you can go back to our house in City A.]

Reyn, scratched his chin and started tapping on his phone.

[How was your voyage on the southern archipelago of the islands, uncle?]

When he saw that there's no response, Reyn checked his other messages. The magnetic disturbance in the First Islands would render all electronic devices useless and his uncle would only be able to contact him after a week when he sailed outside the islands.

Reyn saw that he only had another message from Luke. He hadn't been sociable at all and there were only ten people in his contact.

[Luke: Here's the link man. Make sure to check it out]

[Luke: **********]

Reyn raised a brow while looking at the link. "Since I have nothing to do at the moment, I guess I'll check it out."

After tapping the link, Reyn expectantly waited for a virus notification. However, it was what he most expected.

[Site do not exist! Error!]

"Hahahaha!" Reyn left his phone on the table after a good laugh and went to wash the dishes. He then took a quick bath after.

A moment later, he exited the bathroom with a black joggers while drying his hair with a brown towel. Soon, he went to pick up his phone to watch some news. But just as he was about to casually tap on his phone like he usually do, he saw that he hadn't exited the site that Luke gave him and there were words highlighted in a black screen.

[Scan Complete! DNA Verified!]

'What?' Reyn looked at the time and found that it's 9:02.

[Please put the Shadow Chip above your left ear]

"Shadow Chip?" Reyn was about to chuckle when he heard a soft thud. He carefully directed his gaze toward the sound and saw a black dot the size of a pea at the center of the table. His brows creased at the sight. He was sure that he had wiped it clean earlier.

Picking the object up, Reyn brought it up to his nose and smelled it. In contrast to his expectation, it didn't smell like the excretion from a tiny animal. He even looked up to the ceiling but found none.

Nervously chuckling, Reyn muttered, "No one's looking even if I'm a fool following its instruction."

He slowly placed the small object above his ear but nothing happened.

"Gee.." Reyn sighed in relief. He thought it was all serious. But before he could relax, his stomach almost turned when he was about to pull away his hand, the chip was stuck in place.

"What the..."

The chip buzzed into life and expanded, covering his ear. It then enveloped his entire head before projecting a holographic screen on his face.

[Welcome Summoner!]

Reyn could feel the blood rushing through his veins as his heart heavily pounded in his chest. He thought he was going to die.