Summoning 101

"Sigh, I've already come this far, I might as well test out my summoning."

"Summon!"

Feeling nothing happening, I look around, but find nothing unusual happening.

"Hmm, Summon Skinks?"

Unlike when I casted arcane bolt, I felt energy flowing from my chest and out of my hands. The energy was an azure color that swirled and coalesced until it finally revealed the figure of a kneeling bipedal lizard.

The lizard held a medium sized shield made of scales in its left hand and a tribal spear made with a strange metal that reflected light in starbursts in its right. The lizard itself stood at a measly 4'6" and wore no clothes or armor, but was covered in a light layer of blue scales from head to toe.

It opened its mouth and spoke in an alien language that consisted of clicks, whirrs and screeches, yet I was somehow able to understand the meaning of the language.

'So I can understand Saurian as an added bonus? Nice.'

"My lord, this one is most grateful for its creation. What do you desire from this one?"

Not knowing if the Skink would understand English, I responded back in Saurian.

"I need you to carry these two people far away and come back once you've finished."

It nodded its head and started its task before I remembered something important.

"Oh! And if they wake back up, knock them out again. It's okay if they die, but try to avoid it."

"Yes my lord, your word is my command."

As the skink set itself upon its task, I called the system back up.

{The Astral System}

Name: Jason Astra

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Class: None

Summons: 1/5

~~~~~~

'So I can have up to five Skinks summoned at a time? That seems a little small. Hopefully I can erase that cap in the future. Whatever, I'll just summon the rest.'

"Summon Skinks."

As soon as a new skink formed, I kept the spell going until four more skinks had formed. By the time that they had all formed, sweat was pouring down my back and I was feeling very lightheaded.

I quickly sat down on a bench and waited for the world to stop spinning as I clutched my head.

"Ughh, I'm never doing them all at once ever again."

Eventually I felt better and stood back up to see all five of my skinks finished with their tasks and awaiting my order.

I turned my gaze towards the first skink I summoned and said, "You will be the leader of the other skinks and I expect you to give commands to your unit in my absence. I will also bestow a name on you."

Pausing, I thought about what Skinks were designed for in the first place. Skinks were the assassins, spies and rogues of the Seraphon that skulked about in the shadows and did the dirty work of the Slann.

"Your name will from hereon be Huan, the Saurian word for darkness and just like your namesake, I want your unit to be my personal guard who operates in the darkness."

'I guess knowing their language is good for at least one thing, cool names.'

"Yes my lord, this one is most grateful for the privilege of holding a name."

'Now, what to do, what to do.'

As my eyes skimmed past the road, I sighed.

'Why am I overcomplicating this, I'm in the middle of nowhere with one road, of course I just follow it until I reach a town or city.'

"How fast can you all run, Huan?"

"We can run up to 15 mph or 24 kph in this world's measurement system."

"How do you know the measurement system of this world?"

"My lord, when you created us, this information just appeared in our minds."

"Convenient, well never mind that right now. One of you, carry me on your back and run full speed down the road until we reach a town."

"Yes my lord!" the skinks echoed.

One of the unnamed skinks lowered themselves onto their knees and I wrapped my legs around its waist and placed my hands onto its shoulders for support. The moment I was secured, the skinks took off, their scaly claws gaining traction on the hard asphalt.

While running, the reformed their ranks into a diamond, with me at the center, Huan at the front, two skinks at my side and one watching from the back.

~1 hour later~

After a long while, I finally began to see the first sign of a town or city. Commanding the skinks to slow down, I read the road signs declaring this the town of Amesbury.

I dismounted off of the skink and told them, "From now on, you all will need to stay hidden to follow me around, we can't be scaring the shit out of every person we meet."

They nodded and slipped into the shadows all across the road and in the surrounding brush, it wasn't that difficult to hide at the moment as it was still nighttime.

I started walking into the town and let me tell you, if you thought it was creepy walking around at night, try doing that by yourself on a different world. At least there was a full moon out tonight that illuminated much of the area that wasn't already lit by the dim street lamps.

'Wait, don't werewolves transform on full moons? I should be fine thought, right?'

Trying not to focus on the fact that I instinctually gulped, I kept walking until I found the bus station.

"And of course they're closed. Great, just great. Well, I need to make money to afford a ticket anyway."

I walked into the nearest dark alley and said, "Come out, my skinks."

They quickly appeared from different parts of the alley, stepping out from behind dumpsters or cardboard boxes. Once they were back in formation, they kneeled and Huan said, "What is your command, my lord?"

"I need you guys to make me some money," I said with a maniacal grin as my pupils practically changed into dollar signs.