After Stacy recovered and they were moving again, Eli could not escape the feeling that the system had put Stacy in his path, James too for that matter. He wanted to know more but felt that this wasn’t the time for those questions, maybe if they decided to join them he would get to ask. If their meeting was a result of the system's subtle interventions, could he trust it, and more importantly, can he refuse it? His gut told him he could, but it would just happen again and he could only say no so many times. After a little debate in his head, he decided that going with his gut would have to be his only real gauge for stuff like this.

  The sun had almost set so they stopped so Eli could prepare a space, a summoning was something called incantation magic. He tried to get a help screen on it but there wasn’t one, so he just went with the feeling that the skill rune in his shadow node gave him. He would need a cleared circular space about ten feet across for it to work, he didn’t know specifics, but he was going to open a connection to a magic realm that a creature from that realm could use to walk through. This passage would bind it to Eli through a magical contract, which was more magic he didn’t understand yet. The incantation would be like a signal to that realm that only certain creatures could hear.

  There was a lot of guesswork on his part, but he got the impression that summoned creatures were only of those of animalistic natures. So he wasn’t going to be summoning a talking dragon that he could converse with, more like a large magical lizard dog. He was very excited about this, he had seen the war dogs that special ops would use sometimes and always wanted a dog like that, but he didn’t have the time or patience to train one. This was his chance, a loyal companion to join in his adventures, all that was left was to summon it and give it a cool name.

  The incantation was a bit strange as well, what he got from his skill rune was a vague idea of what had to be said. So he wanted to be poetic about it, but was a bit worried that Bethany would never stop teasing him about it. He stood at the edge of the cleared circle and spoke his incantation loudly and confidently with his right hand raised.

  “I, Demi-God of Ruin, call upon the realm of despair and darkness. Provide me with a companion suiting my need and power. Let our path carve panic into the souls of those we face. All the worlds will kneel and cower.”

  Bethany, James, and Stacy were staring at him in disbelief. He had told them that he needed an incantation for this summon skill to work, but he had not told them what it summoned. He hadn’t even told Bethany and she was relentless in asking about it, but now she knew why, this was either going to be something absolutely amazingly terrifying and vicious, or some kind of magic pomeranian. And if she was honest with herself she didn’t know which one she wanted more.

  A circle of light appeared in the cleared area about a foot off the ground, it was dim and greyish in color. Over the next 30 seconds, lines were drawn inside the circle, they formed a stylized dragon shape with an ‘S’ at the core. Eli recognized it immediately as being almost identical to his skill rune, which was exciting because it meant that he had done the incantation part correctly. Now they just had to wait for a creature to respond, which only took another 30 seconds or so. A long slim figure shot out of the circle into the sky, it was fast and all black so it was hard to make out, but after it left the circle dimmed and vanished.

  They all waited silently to see what it was, but Eli felt a twinge of panic from Bethany and looked over to her but nothing was wrong, the feeling faded and he went back to looking in the sky. He could feel the bond forming, the magical contract taking hold and giving him an idea of where it was. He sent a greeting through their new connection but it was still forming so he wasn’t sure the creature noticed anything. Eli could feel confusion coming from it, but mostly a sense of calm, a profound sense of calm, like something a master of zen would feel. He guessed that his panic drake didn’t necessarily have to be panicking all the time.

  Then it landed in the cleared out space and they all got a look at their first drakonid. Its entire body was black glossy scales, although the level of glossiness seemed to differ between scales, or it could control it. Its body was long and mostly narrow, about twelve feet from nose to tails. It had two sets of wings, one very large on its upper back and one much smaller near where its tails started. It had three sets of legs all ending with sharp steely claws. The tails were over half of its length, there were two and they ended in flat, foot wide flaps that kind of looked like webbed toes. Its head was relatively small with an elongated nose and mouth, it had sharp jagged misaligned teeth kind of like an angler fish. The eyes were the part that Eli was focused on since there were two sets, one set above and slightly further apart than the other, and they were turning from grey orbs into his transcendent eyes.

  Eli hadn’t moved or flinched, he knew that if this creature and he were going to get along, he had to be the dominant partner and show strength when they first meet. He relaxed his body and tapped his chin in thought before speaking.

  “What should I name you?” He asked aloud. The others were still in shock or awe, or both.

  “Midnight?” he asked the creature. It suddenly took on a more relaxed posture and looked at Eli with its head tilted to the side.

  “Yeah you're right, that one is a bit too cartoonish, you need something more serious sounding. How about Gorlok?” He asked. It got a disgusted look and drew its head back like it had smelled something bad.

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  “Ok ok, let me think then. You're from the shadow realm, so how about Umber?”

  It seemed to ponder the name, even tapping its chin like Eli had previously, then it held its head up high and nodded.

  “Alright then, welcome to the family Umber. There's someone I want to introduce you to.” Eli walked up to it and scratched it on its head. Umber leaned into it and made the dragon equivalent of purring noise which just came out as a guttural growl. That would scare children into wetting the bed for a year.

  “Awe, thats a good… boy?” Eli asked hesitantly. Umber reared its head back and shook it.

  “Sorry girl, it won’t happen again. I want you to meet one of my mates, this..” Eli gestured grandly at Bethany, “is Bethany. She is family so I want you two to get along.”

  Umber snapped her head in Bethany’s direction and slowly walked closer to her in a way that reminded Eli of a cat stacking its prey before it pounced. Bethany stayed still and did her best to relax her body, Umber sniffed at her feet, then her crotch, then her face. Surprising everyone, especially Bethany, Umber then rubbed her cheek against the side of Bethany’s face in a very gentle and almost loving way. Bethany put her hand on Umber's other cheek and softly pet her. The scene was so unexpected that Eli was unable to contain himself and just had to make a joke.

  “Hey, I’m your summoner, I’m supposed to be the favorite.” His tone was light so that Umber would know he was joking.

  She looked back and then stuck her nose up in the air as if to say that she was trading up.

  “Oh, you cheeky dragon.” Eli said as he started chasing her around. Umber kept hiding behind Bethany and Stacy as if they would save her but Eli cheated and blinked right in front of her and tackled her to the ground. They play-fought for a bit then he started to tickle her, then a soft pet and head scratch.

  “Now that we are all acquainted, can you show us a bit of what you can do girl?”

  Umber sighed, like a teenage girl forced to show her dad her homework. Then she reared up on her back legs and faced Eli. First she shook her wings, then she wiggled her claws, then she slammed her tails into the ground.

  “So you can fly, scratch, and thump your tails. You seem like a dragon of many talents, I bet there's more.”

  She puffed up with pride at his praise, then shrank down to the size of a chameleon, only about a foot and a half long and flew into Bethany’s arms. Bethany held her and petted her like they had planned it.

  “Well alright then, I hope you like being a part of the family, and let me know if you need anything ok?” he pet her head and scratched under her chin. “I need to take a rest after that, that summon was draining. I’m just going to lay down in some of this grass.”

  “Let's get to know each other, Umbi.” Bethany said as they walked away, Bethany chatting her up like they went to high school together.

  Stacy and James just kind of sat in place, not having moved since it all started. They seemed stunned or in shock or something, maybe they got hit with something from the drake. She could have attacked them with some kind of fear or stun magic before he finished establishing their bond.

  “Hey, you two, are you alright?” Eli asked, with a tiredness in his voice he hadn’t expressed in a while. It was a little odd for him to feel tired, but he knew that a bonded summoned creature was rare and it seemed powerful so Umber was worth it.

  “Y, Ye, Yes, I think we are ok.” Stacy stuttered, she seemed to be snapping out of it. James was too but he didn’t look ready to speak, he looked more like he was going to vomit. Stacy got up and lay near Eli, their heads were close but their bodies were pointing in opposite directions. James wandered off, rather to throw up, or to just get away from the crazy.

  “So, what do you think of my newest family member?” Eli asked.

  “Honestly, she is magnificent. I really didn’t know what to expect but it wasn’t that.” Stacy replied.

  “She’s great huh, took a lot out of me to summon and bond with her. I’m not sure if that makes her strong or me weak. Eh, either way I’m glad she is here, and even more glad that her and Bethany are getting along so well. Everything is working out, which means that soon everything won't be working out.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “I’m in the center of the system's vision right now, I’m not sure if it’s trying to test me to see if I’m worthy of the power I’ve acquired, or if it’s just pushing me to get more power. No matter the reason, it will create something to test me, and those around me can choose to rise to the challenge and grow with me, leave me, or get ground up in the process.”

  “You don’t sound like you want me to join you.”

  “A friend I made right after the tutorial recently decided to leave because of all my shenanigans. It hurt me more than I admit to myself, not that I blame her, but I think that friends are going to be hard to find for me. Real friends anyways, especially when it becomes more widely known what I am and what it means to be connected to me.”

  “So you are telling me all this now so that if I decide to leave, it will be before you get attached to me?”

  “Something like that, it does feel like I need protecting. At least that's how Bethany sees it, it’s a long story that she might tell you later, but I’m a bit new to emotions. I have it under control now for the most part, but she has held me in her arms and felt my pain and loneliness. I think she just doesn’t want to see that happen to me again.”

  “You might not like me for saying this but, I think you are always going to feel alone. Power like yours is always going to alienate you from others, and you won’t ever be sure who is sticking around for you and who is sticking around for what you offer them.”

  Eli was silent for a long while, just staring at the star filled sky. “Again, I think you are right. You keep being right all the time and I’m going to have to keep you around.”