Bonded Summoner

Fhesiah looked Avalara up and down with a smile. “I much like this one, though.”

Jake looked at the lesser avatar, which was just standing there holding a tray like a maid with a smile, awaiting orders. “I thought…that’s what these could be for?”

Avalara shook her head. “I may not be able to join you in your battles the same way you might expect, lesser avatar or not.”

Ophelia frowned, as she looked at the lesser avatar. “You won’t? I will admit that, your lesser avatars don’t seem capable of fighting in the way we’re used to… Then, if your main avatar is unable to leave this room…”

Avalara nodded. “Yes. There are several problems that would need to be addressed for me to really join you in battle. This main avatar must remain present on Highlands at all times. Now, if we ever have another Contest here on Highlands, I can help, but I am likely to be marked as a Conquest Goal. If the enemy slays me, this world will be lost–in addition to the irrevocable harm dealt to Highlands. Thus, any aid I provide will need to be calculated and weighed against this. I am likely to remain in the background, perhaps even hiding inside the core itself–much like I did this time.”

She let that statement settle in among them, Jake’s brows rising in surprise before she continued.

“The problem with these lesser avatars is that, in all honesty, even with my skill with auril and mana magic, they won’t be all that effective in battle–because they are just that, lesser avatars. Jake would have to infuse me with my resources because my lesser avatar would not have a core or means to maintain itself that the Framework would supply. I’m not saying this would be entirely useless, but it definitely wouldn’t feel like I am your full comrade that way.”

Tanda’s ears were flat on her head. “I mean, you don’t have to fight by our side to be our comrade. You are still at risk when we fight in our contest, and you are still aiding our people and myself through your song of the world, which all our hearts connect to. You are fighting in your own way.”

Jake nodded. “I agree. You don’t have to fight directly to be one of us. Besides, it would be bad for you to be permanently harmed in a conflict away from Highlands, the damage to your body would influence the world in some way, wouldn’t it?”

Avalara’s smile was sad. “That’s right. I hope you weren’t expecting me to join you in the same way as everyone else. Still, I think I have an idea that might make me able to join! We’ll use Oran, and create me a new body–a vessel for combat.”

Jake rose his brow. “You mean, you’ll drive him when I summon him? That…is that really different than me summoning one of your lesser avatars?”

“That’s just the beginning. Here, Jake. Take this.” She reached into her dress with a smile, as if drawing it from her cleavage, as she made eye contact with Jake, smirking.

Jake chuckled and shook his head. He noticed that she instead brought it out of her hearth area somehow through her plant-like flesh he imagined, just like Tanda. She floated it out to Jake, and he reached out and took it.

It was another acorn, filled with immense energy. He could feel the special connection between it and Avalara. Jake rose a single eyebrow. He felt like this was like a hint, somehow, about their other acorn.

His tone was questioning, as he looked over the seed. “Alright. Then what?”

Avalara laughed. “Now, I think you just might have something special? Maybe what you used to summon that creature, I believe my father called it a Garuda? If you do the same thing you did there, I think we can link everything together. Of course, this is going to take an immense amount of energy to create–only possible thanks to me having a world’s energy at my beck and call.”

Jake used his Manifest Template skill, once again infusing his hearth flames into summoning the heroic beast. Oran appeared in motes of light, and his body was much larger than before.

This was a heroic beast in the second Tier, the template he captured scaled to his current level. Its powerful auril heart beat, sending a calming presence into the air. Despite being a template, it clearly had an almost-auril heart, producing energy and resources different from Jake’s mana through its song.

Now that Jake was more in tune with auril, he felt the creature was strange when compared to the other heroic beasts. It had no personality at all, and if anything, this time felt emptier, or hollow. Tanda had enjoyed the creature’s song, but that wasn’t present now.

Blood frowned. “You’re right, milord, now that you point it out. I thought it was a simple beast, but it feels more prevalent now. Perhaps, Cernunnos was always influencing it in some way?”

Avalara nodded. “This was likely my father’s plan from the beginning. Oran was clearly meant to be used as a tool, to connect to himself. You were likely hearing his song, or perhaps one of his ally’s. In the end, the creature would be reborn again. A vessel to hold another’s influence. In many ways, I bet the other heroic beasts were similar.”

Jake frowned. Just whose influence was in the other ones then?

His musing was interrupted by Avalara, “Now, you should focus on what you did with the Garuda, except try to focus on me and this seed. I didn’t know anything about your skill, but I did feel your soul reaching out. A powerful ripple was sent out across the void, before ripples were returned, and an arm reached out across the void.”

Jake didn’t understand what the point of all this was. If she wanted to create some special avatar, why didn’t she just do it? He really wanted to understand more about this process. “Uh, alright. But why?”

She giggled. “You’ll see! I think it will become evident as you do it. Now, I could tell you connected with Ophelia there when you were doing it. Tanda would definitely be better this time, as she is much closer to me.”

Jake nodded. Finding resonance with Tanda, their hearths made their connection. Their hearths beat as one, as Jake drew in the energy from the surrounding area. His mana control had increased, and now drawing in extra mana outside his person was much more significant.

Tanda’s heart beat powerfully, drawing in auril into the area. Avalara joined her song, but she was stirring the energy somewhere else, perhaps within the very core itself. Jake could tell she was preparing for something, and it was separate from what they were doing.

He didn’t even need a Mana Font to produce a similar result to before, the mana density in the room already high thanks to Fhesiah’s formations, and the world rising in Tier. Auril was drawn in by the four heroic beasts in the corner of the room, as they seemingly aided him in this.

Oran’s song joined the symphony, and Jake entered the state of the Avenger. Finding harmonization of their spirits coming easily, Jake triggered fusion summon while focused on Avalara’s new bond and the seed.

His call echoed across the void, and a portal opened on the other side: to the world core itself, rather than Avalara’s avatar.

Golden hexagons of the Framework covered the portal, protecting them from the cataclysmic energies from assaulting them. Even still, turbulent energies sending implements and plants in the room swaying and flying, almost like a powerful wind erupted.

On the other side of the portal was an immense version of the hearth within Avalara’s chest, a cataclysm of life and death energies under an extreme amount of pressure from the gravity of the world itself. The portal was nearly the height of the room, but the core on the other side was the size of a mountain.

Life and death energy pulsed through the Celtic knots, intricately formed through miles and miles of vines. The core pulsed like a beat of a heart, the golden flame, the hearth, gathering energy as its flame burned brightly.

The seed and Oran floated into the air, combining as the Framework layered its magic onto the merging, the world core itself sending its vast energies into it.

Oran’s body shifted, transforming and being reborn. The stag became more feminine and humanoid at the same time, but remaining quite beast like. Its limbs became more covered in a mixture of plants and fur, its fur a green filled with life and the vines a black filled with the power of death.

Jake could feel Avalara’s connection to the creature, as a vessel was reborn for her usage. This was great. However, the creature kept on growing.

It quickly became larger than Avalara’s avatar, the reindeer-beast-woman continuing to grow and become even more massive still. At the current rate, its head would hit the ceiling in but just a few moments.

Energy kept pouring into it from the World Core, and Jake wondered if he could even power such a monstrously large summon.

Thankfully, the growing stopped a moment after the antlers pierced into the ceiling of the cavern, its head crashing into the stone. The beast summon was over ten meters tall, and larger than even the biggest boss they had ever faced.

Avalara’s new vessel and Jake’s new Permanent Summon was immense, looking like a treant mixed with a humanoid beast. It had large hands and branch-like claws, its arms long able to drag on the ground, almost like an ape’s. The digitigrade legs looked more like paws with claws, than hooves to Jake.

The portal to the world core closed, leaving the giant reindeer treant on their side.

The reindeer face looked vaguely like Avalara’s, with a big smile on it. Her smile on her main avatar matched, as she moved it around.

“It worked! That was perfect. The Framework helped me with that, luck was really on our side there.”

Berri beamed. “That was awesome! Quick, Faye-faye, do the thing. I wanna watch that again later!”

Fhesiah chuckled, shaking her head and complying with a crystal in her hand. “Sure thing, my dear sister. I’ll add the battle of wills there, as our lord husband sure had some cute expressions just before he stumbled into that kiss. We can watch it together later.”

Berri pumped her fist, and Tanda and Ophelia both laughed and clapped. Ophelia noted, “Avalara’s creature is huge. That will be really useful in a fight!”

Jake felt the draw on his mana and Tanda’s auril from his core, and found it to be difficult to maintain. While it was a powerful weapon, it would need to be used tactically. Still, it was a powerful tool to have, and Avalara could aid them in a significant way.

“I take it you don’t want to keep it out for now? I can use the Refuge’s function to keep it out at all times, later.”

Avalara nodded. “For now. I will practice with it later–and we can have a match! That should be a lot of fun. Then, my lesser avatars will be able to move about the world freely, acting as your clan mate out of combat.”

Ophelia especially beamed, but everyone was excited to see how their new ally would fair. Its purpose completed, Jake drew Avalara’s reindeer creature back into his hearth in motes of light.

Avalara smiled, though Jake thought she looked quite drained. “That taken care of, that did take a lot out of me. Still, I can go on adventures with you, just like you do with the Garuda. It should be fun!”

Jake nodded. “I look forward to it. We don’t plan on going anywhere for the time being, but we will still want to train.”

Avalara nodded. “I need to practice fighting for sure! I am strong with auril magics and have a powerful will as you might imagine, but that is different from fighting.”

Blood asked, “So, how did that work? You can have two bodies, or something? You can really control all of them at once, this main avatar, that thing, and even the lesser ones somehow?”

Avalara smiled. “I’m still practicing–but the answer will eventually be yes. That seed contained a part of me, a piece of my nascent divinity–a part I was born with, though it had grown through the faith of the beastkin and a vast amount of time. You could say that to make that I paid a significant price, and I am lesser now. But to me, it was worth it! I want to fight with my clan mates, and only through that sacrifice could I make it so.”

Jake and the girls were moved. She had truly desired to join them in battle, paying a cost they didn’t quite yet understand just to do so. He resolved himself to make it so that he could use her permanent summon reliably.

“Your commitment to the fight is moving. What would you like to do now? We just got big news, so we’ll be busy over the coming weeks before Fhesiah leaves here.”

Jake and the family filled her in on the War Games situation with Radiant Glory’s subguilds.

She gave a vicious smile. “Hmm… So, we have an opportunity for some vengeance. These people killed my brethren, their songs lost forever to their greed. They came here under the guise of allies, but instead hid their wickedness. We must make them pay, to be punished with the same torment they inflicted upon us. I want to help!”

Jake gave Avalara another once over. The woman was like a meek woman and a giant doe mixed with plants. Why was she so bloodthirsty?

Her eyes snapped to his, and perhaps she almost understood what he was thinking from his emotions alone. “I may be submissive to my mate like most beastkin, but I will absolutely not go down without a fight against our enemy. I fought for more than a thousand years, and I will fight another ten thousand if it means vengeance and justice against our terrible enemy.”

Blood’s smirk was bloodthirsty. “Well said, Avalara. I do think we will get along just fine. How do you think you can help in the fight against these guilds?”

Avalara smiled. “I am already preparing Highlands for its growth. Why not prepare our own battlefields? Now, that castle Berri wanted seems all the more important. Then, up to now, my song encompassed the cycle of life and death on Highlands, and I helped the beastkin with maintaining the balance. I would occasionally help in the war, like when I guided the beasts to help fight the Dreadbeast Champion.”

She continued, “But I can do more. I can call upon all beastkin, all beasts to temper themselves and become stronger. I can help with their growth, and I can help with building their spirits, even at a distance. Their songs join mine even from other worlds, so I can help guide your efforts much faster. Your Head Administrator is Valtor, right? I can work with him to guide our troops if something happens there!”

Tanda beamed, her tail wagging. “That’s amazing!”

Ophelia nodded. “You’re awesome, Avalara!”

Avalara winked. “Please, call me Ava.”

Jake chuckled, smiling at his new prospective mate. She quickly found a place in their family. They would work together as a strong clan, finding harmony together in protecting the balance.

Fhesiah was about to leave for the Battleground, where she would form her core and ascend to the second Tier.

They would prepare their Guild for their fights across numerous worlds, doing their best to set them up for success–and for aiding those in need.

Earth’s Integration was coming up soon, Jake sure to visit with the girls so they can see his homeland–and hopefully have a ton of fun while doing it.

They would also relax, compared to their usual blistering pace–just as their goddess ordered.

Their people were the ones being built up now, and Clan Hart would be preparing them for PvP. In the coming months, countless battles would be waged across the Sector, both with Tartarus, and Radiant Glory and their lackeys.

There was much to look forward to, with three children on the way. They had rescued Highlands from the enemy, forming their Kingdom and finding their true home.

Their third major battle was complete, but the war was never ending. The only thing certain for Jake, was that whatever challenge would come his way, his family would come out on top.

END OF BOOK 5