My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror - Chapter 154+ (Patreon)

He shifted towards Sylph, shadows curling up off him and evaporating into the air. The air chilled as Henry raised his hands and started to gather orbs of violet energy within them. Dozens of miniature lines sprang out of the orbs. They shot out and connected to multiple spots over Sylph’s body.

“Try to relax,” Henry suggested. “The less you resist me, the easier it will be for me to get a good look at you.”

She nodded, sitting down before him. Once she was settled, the lines flared. Damien watched silently as Henry stood over his roommate, silent. They stayed like that for several minutes. Aside from the ever churning dark flames covering Henry’s multi-eyed body, there was absolutely no movement.

One of the strands snapped, falling away and evaporating. Another followed after it, and the rest weren’t long behind. Henry lowered his hands and let out a pensive hum as Sylph opened her eyes.

“Well?” Damien asked.

“Never let it be said that constant trauma isn’t an effective way to improve,” Henry announced. “Her body has adapted very well. My handiwork, of course. Really, I’m the one to praise here. I did an excellent job.”

“Henry!” Damien snapped. “Come on, man. Can she summon a companion?”

“Yes,” Henry said, rolling about a dozen eyes at once in an almost mesmerizing pattern. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s barely got any room left in there. All I could do was poke my nose in. But, given the fact that her body is housing bits and pieces of the Corruption, it’s quite surprising there’s any room left at all.”

“When you say room, how much are you talking about?” Damien asked, making his way over to stand beside them. “Because you take up a massive amount of mental space. Sylph isn’t trying to get another Void creature.”

“Something relatively weak,” Henry said after a moment. “Even by your standards. She doesn’t want a companion for the purposes of combat anyways. Sylph made it this far without one, and she’ll keep going the same. If you stick to the planes closest to the Mortal one and avoid summoning some abnormally powerful creature, she’ll be fine.”

“And what if I accidentally summon something like that?” Sylph asked, yawning and glancing up at them.

“Then we make sure you don’t bind with it,” Henry said, his voice losing its humor. “Trust me. That would be really, really bad. Your mind only has so much room, and if it gets full, things start going poof to make room.”

“Understood,” Sylph said. Damien helped her to her feet and brushed some of the grass stains off the back of her shirt. Henry snorted. Damien cleared his throat and the stains vanished as he willed them away.

“Thanks,” Sylph said to Damien, giving him a quick grin before it faded away. “So… how do I get a companion? Summoning Circles aren’t exactly easy to use once you’re already in college. I suppose we could ask Dredd or Delph.”

“No need,” Henry said with a dismissive wave. “Have you forgotten that we’ve got an expert in summoning circles with us?”

“Damien?” Sylph asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” Henry replied. “Me. Of course. I suppose Damien is passable, but runes aren’t even an ounce of difficulty for me. It won’t be hard to make a summoning circle, so all you’ll have to do is the ritual.”

“We’ll have to keep a really close eye on it,” Damien said, crossing his arms as a deep frown passed over his features. “I don’t want a repeat of the last time I made a rune circle. I still don’t know who messed with it, but if they manipulated my circle, they could do the same to Sylph’s.”

“We will,” Henry said. His body crackled with cold heat. “But I doubt anyone would be bold enough to fiddle with the circle while we’re both watching for it. Regardless, I think we’ve accomplished our goal. We don’t want to spend more time in here than necessary, or Sylph’s soul might get a bit too comfortable outside of her body.”

Sylph swallowed. “That does sound like a good idea to get back.”

“Indeed,” Henry said dryly. “You might feel a bit dizzy once we return. Your soul wasn’t too happy about me fiddling with it, but you’ll get over it. Just don’t stand up too quickly and you’ll recover within a few minutes.”

Sylph nodded. Henry snapped his fingers and the ground rushed up, swallowing them in darkness. Damien’s eyes snapped open as he found himself laying in bed once more. Sylph was pressed against his side, her breathing slow and rhythmic.

Ah… Henry? Is she asleep?

“Her soul is settling back into her body,” Henry said. “Give it a few seconds. Not everybody ignores soul damage like you do.”

No sooner than he had spoken did Sylph twitch. Damien, with some reluctance, sat up. She blinked at him. Her eyelids were half closed and the eyes behind them hazy. Damien helped her sit upright.

“Sylph? You okay?”

“Yeah,” Sylph said, scrunching her lips and shaking her head. She let out a large yawn “Everything is really foggy, but it’s coming back. It feels like I didn’t sleep for a week.”

“Do you know what that feels like?”

“Yes,” Sylph replied as more strength returned to her tone. “I had to do it a few times in the forest when I was younger. You can’t afford sleep when you’re getting hunted.”

“What kind of predator didn’t sleep?” Damien asked.

“My old master,” Sylph replied. The ice in her tone was sharp enough to cut steel. She shook her head again, then slowly slid to her feet and stood up. “I think I’m back. What sort of preparations do we need to make that summoning circle? I’m not going to have much time to get the bond with my soon to be companion up to a point where I can summon it.”

“Unless Henry is thinking of something different than what I am, we just need some chalk,” Damien said. He received a mental nod from his companion. “And I’ve already got that for my runes. We can do it immediately, but are you sure you’re totally recovered?”

Sylph opened her mouth. Then she frowned. “Maybe I’ll take a quick shower first. It couldn’t hurt.”

“Henry and I will make the circle in the meantime,” Damien said, giving her a nod. “That’s probably for the best. We don’t want to take risks here. I did, and look who I got landed with.”

“Shut up,” Henry grumbled from within him. “I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”

Damien rolled his eyes and Sylph let out a small laugh. “Sometimes I wish I knew what you two were talking about.”

“It’s nothing interesting, I promise you,” Damien said. “It’s usually Henry being a pompous ass.”

His shadow twitched as Henry commandeered it, forming a small mouth. “It most certainly is not. He just doesn’t want to say–”

Damien stomped on the mouth and it vanished, leaving Henry’s fading laughter behind. “As you can see. Pompous ass.”

Sylph smirked at him as she grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. The shower clicked on a moment later. Damien shook his head and ruffled through the travel pack under his bed, grabbing half a stick of chalk.

You sure you don’t need a reference book or anything for this?

“I’m quite certain,” Henry replied. “I’ve forgotten more magic than you’ll ever learn, but I’ve kept all the interesting or basic stuff. It doesn’t get any more basic than a summoning circle.”

I’m pretty sure it does. A light rune –

“Damien. Eldritch horror here. Do you need a book for simple little light rune circle?”

…no

“And I don’t need a book for a simple summoning circle,” Henry finished with a smug laugh. “Don’t worry. I’ll make it as if I were doing it for you. She won’t get hurt. Just keep an eye out for interference while I work.”

Damien sighed and nodded. He headed into the second training room and Henry rose up within his shadow. A pulse of dark energy rippled out of the Eldritch creature’s body, stopping at the edges of the room.

“We’re protected from any prying eyes,” Henry said. “So now, if anyone happened to be watching, all they saw was Sylph promptly taking a shower after lying down next to you.”

“And me trying to stomp on my own shadow,” Damien said, refusing to blush at Henry’s words. He tossed the stick of chalk to his companion. “Get on with the rune circle.”

Henry cackled and started to trace runes across the floor. Despite Damien’s earlier complaints, it was mesmerizing to watch. He knew that he was more than adequate at rune crafting, but Henry was really something else.

Every single motion was a masterwork. He didn’t make mistakes, and the speed he worked at was almost inconceivable. It was almost as if he were writing a grocery list instead of a channel for the surrounding Ether.

Damien kept a close eye on the runes – particularly the ones for banishment in case anything went wrong. He wasn’t particularly surprised to find that no shadowy tendrils emerged to modify it.

Henry finished the entire multilayered circle within only a few minutes. However, instead of stopping, Henry drew a second circle around the first. Once he was done, his shadowy form straightened and he scanned over it all before giving an approving nod.

“What’s the outer circle for?” Damien asked.

“Power limiter,” Henry replied. He handed all that remained of the chalk – a tiny nub – back to Damien. “It’s to make sure Sylph’s call isn’t somehow too strong. We need some weak little elemental or the like.”

“That makes sense,” Damien admitted. He turned the tiny piece of chalk over in his hand.  “And what am I supposed to do with this? You used it all up!”

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Eat it, maybe. Probably tastes better than that slog they had in the mess hall. Even your memories of it are distasteful.”

Damien stuck the piece of chalk into his pants pocket. He scanned the rune circle again, this time trying to see how much of it he could remember. To his disappointment, it wasn’t much. It looked mostly right to him, but he barely remembered its appearance in the first place.

“It’s fine,” Henry said. “The circle is correct.”

“I know,” Damien said with a sigh. “Can’t blame me for being at least a bit cautious with it, though. I wish we know who messed with my circle the first time. It would make everything so much easier.”

The running water from the shower clicked off. Henry gave Damien a shrug.

“No point worrying about it now. You’ll come to realize that, if there’s nothing you can do about an issue, you might as well not waste your energy on it. You’ll deal with it when it happens. There’s no point suffering twice.”

“That’s surprisingly wise,” Damien said.

“I have my moments.”

Sylph stepped through the hallway, her hair still slightly damp. “Is the circle ready?”

“It is,” Henry said. “All you have to do is step into it and commence the ritual. Do you know how it works?”

“No,” Sylph admitted, flushing. “I never thought I’d be doing it because of my terrible magical energy.”

“It’s quite simple, really,” Henry said, leaning against the wall of the training room. “Just channel all your desires and feelings, then imagine yourself throwing them at the circle as hard as you can. That’s all.”

“Don’t I have to worry about summoning something too strong?” Sylph asked.

“I put a limiter on the circle. Anything too powerful will get cut down, so just give it your all,” Henry replied. “If anything, you need to make sure your call is strong enough. Not everyone can summon a companion after all.”

Sylph nodded. She swallowed, then stepped into the center of the summoning circle. “Do I just stand in the middle?”

“Yep,” Damien said. “It can help to put your palm on the floor and imagine your call coming out through it.”

Sylph nodded. She bent over and pressed her hand against the stone. “Ready?”

“Just go,” Henry grumbled. Damien gave her an encouraging grin.

Sylph closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. She let it out slowly as her face set itself into a concentrated mask. The runes around her lit up with faint white energy one by one, humming with faint power that grew in intensity by the second.

The smell of ozone filled the air and her hair started to flutter around her shoulders. The second circle lit up with brilliant purple energy, rotating counterclockwise on the ground around Sylph. Crackling fingers of energy rose up from it, pouring into the power flooding out of Sylph and subduing it.

“Would you look at that,” Henry muttered. “Good thing I put that limiter in. She might have gotten quite the summon.”

Damien nodded, too engrossed to even say anything in response. There was a dull hum followed by a crack as all the energy condensed into a tiny mote of white and purple light before Sylph. The purple runes on the outside of the circle faded and it slowed to a stop, the chalk markings crumbling and burning away.

Sylph stared at the mote, her eyes glassy as if she were looking straight through it. After several moments, she blinked. The mote shot into her chest and she staggered backwards, a flash of pain crossing her features.

“Her body isn’t too happy about having something new in there,” Henry observed, but he didn’t sound too concerned. “It’s fine. She’ll adapt soon enough. I felt the strength of her companion, and it wasn’t very high at all. Exactly what we wanted. But…”

“But?” Damien pressed. “But what?”

“You might want to go catch her. She’s about to fall over,” Henry suggested.

Sylph staggered. Damien lunged forward and grabbed Sylph before she could fall, wrapping his hand behind her back and slinging one of her arms over his shoulder for support.

“Are you okay?”

“Wasn’t expecting that,” Sylph muttered. “All my Ether just flooded out of me. I’m fine, though. Thanks for stopping me from falling.”

“It’s your companion,” Henry said. “Whatever it was – it took your Ether to avoid getting cannibalized by your Corrupted body. It’ll stabilize over the next few hours and you’ll be back to normal.”

“So it worked, then?” Damien asked. “You’ve got a companion?”

A smile flittered across Sylph’s face. “Yeah. I’ve got a companion.”