Saintess Summons Skeletons

“You must be good friends with the exidian empress,” Sofia guessed after an uncomfortably long silence, it was just a gut feeling, but she felt that they very much had a similar air to them.

“Maybe I am, is that why you wanted to see me?”

“I was just curious, one of the world’s most powerful people is casually roaming around my humble swamp-top city, wouldn’t it be strange to ignore it?”

Eltiel chuckled lightly on her chair. “Wouldn’t it be better to ignore it? Poke the dangerous beasts too much and you risk getting bit.”

“I am… Probably the last person that needs to hear that,” Sofia answered, before pulling off her bone arm for the third time that day, “This being my last to date, a quick run-in with a dark epoch monster…”

“That is a den of dangerous beasts indeed.”

“I have to take risks to progress fast, that can’t be helped.”

Eltiel’s expression had remained quite neutral until now even if her voice was expressive, but finally her lips curved upward ever so slightly. “We have this saying in my hometown: Legends live and die at the tip of a dull blade. Do you understand the meaning?”

Sofia paused for a second. “I could come up with several, but considering the context… You can’t achieve greatness if you spend all your time sharpening your sword?”

Eltiel’s smile widened a bit, showing more of her sharp white teeth. “The unspoken second part is that the only legend with a sharp blade is called a blacksmith. Of course, it’s more melodic when spoken in Faerin, but even the pureblood fairies speak the common language now. A pity, really.”

“That does sound like a saying the fairies would have. Not the most patient or careful bunch, from what I’ve seen. You wouldn’t happen to know how to fix this, by chance?” Sofia asked, glancing at her missing arm.

“I must be the last person you should ask, a summoner should not be getting injured in battle, you know?”

“Right… Easier said than done, that.”

“I think that’s just you,” Eltiel mocked, “Still, I could do something for your arm, if you want, most of the ascended should be able to more or less deal with a blueprint injury, really. It’s just that it would cost you a lot, and it might still not be what you wanted. Unless you do not mind foregoing all the spells your arm previously helped with to gain a powerful new summon instead, that is.”

Sofia immediately rejected the notion, “Tempting but indeed not what I am looking for. I have enough powerful summons as it is anyway. But thank you for the offer, still. Speaking of which, what is it that you summon, if I may ask? Even Eternam would not tell me about it…”

“Ahahah!” Eltiel laughed, throwing her head back, “You cannot blame him, most people are quite uncomfortable around my summons, even necromancers. But I expect that you, out of all people, might find them as adorable as I do. They have no name, per se, but the system has labelled them nightmares, while people generally just agree to call them horrors beyond comprehension.”

“Oh? Now you have me intrigued,” Sofia noted, raising an eyebrow, “I happen to have plenty of experience with that kind of thing, I mean, just look at this.” Saying this, Sofia poked the Abereth that floated without a sound next to her, prompting its countless eyes and mouths to open for a brief instant.

“What a cutie,” Eltiel commented, staring at the ominous floating rod with greedy eyes, her hands under her chin, “There aren’t many of mine that would fit inside of such a narrow room, but… Let’s see… Kluskptrix.”

Light twisted, and a small severed hand formed on Sofia’s desk, as if appearing from agglomerated shadows, it looked like a rotten corpse’s blackened, shriveled hand, but the fingers still slowly moved.

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“A hand?” Sofia asked, looking at the wriggling thing with curiosity.

Eltiel smiled, “Give me a second to fetch something, I’ll show you what it can do.”

Herself melding with the shadows, Eltiel disappeared, leaving the strange hand on the desk. She returned just a few seconds later, entering through a window, a squealing boar in hand.

“Perfect, perfect, watch,” she said, holding the boar high and letting it drop.

Before the wild animal could touch the floor, the hand on the desk burst into more hands, a true torrent of them, like wild plants sprouting out from one another, shriveled hands of all shapes and sizes rushed toward the falling boar. They grabbed it in the air, entered its body, and in moments the boar’s flesh started to bubble and boil, before bursting out into more hands. The torrent of hands that had grabbed it shriveled into nothing and disappeared, leaving only the original one on Sofia’s desk, while the boar finally landed, now turned into a walking abomination composed entirely of wriggling hands holding each other, only vaguely retaining the boar’s original shape. Its blood-curling squeals were powerful and distorted, carrying a number of curses that Eltiel stopped from spreading too far, absorbing back the cursed mana.

Huh, it’s a bit like the evil eyes, just more aggressive?

“That… I will be honest I would have a hard time calling it cute. I guess, if you compare it to a Kleptra, then I could see it, maybe.”

Eltiel disappointedly shook her head, making the hand and the squealing boar-thing disappear, “Well, you did not flee the room screaming your lungs out, so that is better than most.”

“I don’t think anything you could do would push me that far, honestly. Not after everything I’ve seen. If we’re discussing disturbing sights, this can barely hold a candle to the Leviathan.”

Eltiel nodded along, “A prestigious being, that one; perhaps one day…” she said, looking out the window with an expression of longing.

“... Good luck with that… Do you intend to stay in the city for long?”

Eltiel shrugged, “Maybe a few years? I am done teaching at Brighthall for the moment, but I rarely stay put for long. There are soooooo many ‘cursed and horrible’ places that nobody wants to approach, I simply want to see them all! Ah, which brings me to one of the reasons I was interested in you in the first place.”

“That would be?”

“Well, you see, a certain Dragon has been obstinately denying entry into a certain place. And I simply must get there! I could try sneaking by her of course, but I tend to prefer a more diplomatic approach when I can afford it.”

“Ah… So you want me to convince Erredis to let you on the warped moon?”

“Precisely so, you cannot hide that you have been there, so this should be something you can do for me, or am I wrong?”

“I suppose I could ask her… I don’t think I need to ask why you want to go there,” Sofia started, “but I also think it is a really bad idea. I could share what I’ve seen there, though.”

“Well, I am an ascended, junior, is it really that bad?”

“Depends,” Sofia said, bringing out her staff, “What color is this bell?” she asked, pointing at Ormoncleth’s chime.

“Some kind of blue gold? What is that supposed to prove?”

Sofia smiled, “That you cannot see the shimmering colors of the Deep. So yes, it is that bad. You would not be the first ascended to lose their life there.”

“So that was it… Well, that certainly makes things a bit tricky indeed. Oh well, there is no shortage of places to go, I’ll have to leave this one for later. And, hmmm, it looks like you have some company,” Eltiel noted, looking out the window.

“Oh, is Leverle here?”

“Doctor Leverlehoenmoll… Certainly a good choice to deal with your current issue. I wonder what solution he will suggest. Can I stay and look?”

Sofia shrugged, “Not like I could force you to leave, but I don’t mind anyway.”

Leverle knocked on the half-open door before entering, bending over to fit through. He nodded at Sofia, closing the door behind him.

“Ignoring your old friend now?” Eltiel chimed in, leaning back in her chair.

“Your brain is not something that can be fixed. My deepest apologies,” Leverle answered coldly, although judging by Eltiel’s reaction, this was just their regular greetings. He walked up to Sofia, his blank mask of a face looking down at her. “The spiritual side is completely untouched… A peculiar injury. There are multiple ways to fix this. What are your conditions and budget?”

“Basically… I just want my arm back? I want a real arm with proper touch and feel, and it should help in spellcasting as it used to,” Sofia answered, “Budget is… Well… I have a lot of money arriving in a day or two, so budget is not really an issue.”

“Noted. In that case, you have five options…”