Boundless Evolution: The Summoning Beast

Chapter 3: Summoning Circle

Chapter 3: Summoning Circle

Ash slowly stirred awake once again, his mind groggy but no longer clouded as he felt his mind had adapted to the sheer surge of memories that had flooded his consciousness. Yet, a sharp pain lingered in his soul, a painful reminder of his past life - an unfulfilled life that had been ripped away from him.

As he slowly opened his eyes, the unfamiliar landscape of the land greeted him. The sky was now a swirling mix of navy, purple, and black with thick clouds moving sluggishly across the horizon. The air smelled of earth and something more... A heavy, oppressive scent clung to his fur. What was it?

Stumbling to his feet, his claws dug into the dirt as he steadied himself, and his amber eyes glinted in the twilight.

'I am a dog...' the boy thought to himself as he was hit by an intense wave of sadness. However, his sadness was suddenly stopped as a faint hum reached his ears.

He froze, his ears twitching as he picked up on the subtle vibration in the air. It was a sound he instinctively recognised, the formation of a summoning circle.

His heartbeat quickened...Why? He did not know and yet, he could tell that summoning circles were important and he found himself instinctively drawn towards it.

Without hesitation, he began to move. His instincts guided him through the forest that he had awoken around, initially wobbly as he caught his bearings as it was his first time sprinting. It was not long until he began skilfully weaving between twisted trees and jagged rocks.

As he made it closer, the hum grew louder, the vibration stronger, until finally, the glow of the summoning circle came into view.

A large circle was etched onto the ground of an opening. It was glowing with a large number of runes that were etched all around its border with a strong blue arcane energy which pulsed like a heartbeat, sending ripples of energy through the air.

Upon nearing and having the circle in sight, the hum and vibration were at its strongest. And it turned out that it was not just the boy who had sensed the summoning circle...

Several beasts had already gathered around it, their eyes locked on the glowing portal and it seemed that tensions were high.

Each entity moved cautiously, snarling and growling at one another as each waited for the right moment to strike.

To the boy, who was silently and vigilantly watching this, questions emerged in his head as it looked as if the animals were preparing to fight... but why?

He crouched low behind a rock, observing the scene in front of him. His gaze swept over the gathered creatures. Most of them were larger and more imposing than him, their forms twisted and monstrous. There were a bunch that the boy could not identify even if he tried. There were also humanoid beasts. They bared sharp fangs and flexed powerful claws, their hunger for power evident in their eyes.

The boy had just questions in his head. And yet, despite all of them, his instincts spoke louder. And it told him that if he wanted to escape Aegaryn and grow stronger, he would have to claim the circle for himself too.

But as he slowly made it closer, fear crept into his heart.

'They are stronger than me. Faster. Fiercer,' he thought, 'But can I do this?'@@@@

'Oh crap...' the boy thought as he immediately became vigilant about the two beasts.

The scaled beast immediately charged forward, not wanting the boy to stay in the circle any longer.

The boy dodged, narrowly avoiding the beast's claws and quickly attempted to retaliate as he tried to bite the neck of the beast that had initially been injured by the feline.

The boy's jaws came down hard but as it did so, he found that he was able to break through the weakened scales and the sweet, ironic taste of blood shot into his mouth.

The scaled beast immediately roared out in pain, scaring the boy as he immediately let go. A considerable chunk has been taken from the scaled beast's neck as blood gushed out from it.

The boy found himself involuntarily swallowing the meat as it was still in his mouth and found that it did not taste bad at all, if anything he found it tasting quite nice.

Seeing the boy swallow its flesh, the beast growled, its crimson eyes narrowing as it charged forward again, this time faster as it seemed to have been fuelled by rage now.

The boy braced himself, trying to dodge - but the swipe was a lot faster than he had expected.

The beast's claws raked across his side, sending him tumbling across the dirt.

Pain immediately shot through his body as he scrambled to his feet while panting heavily as blood dripped from a gash on his flank.

He let out an ear-piercing howl.

'I can't win this head-on.'

Seeing the blood dripping out of the boy's side, the scaled beast began to slowly size up the boy who it now saw as an easy opponent.

'I need a plan... What do I do?'

Before he could think of a strategy, the beast pounced again as if it knew that the boy was trying to think and come up with a strategy.

Once again, he was not able to dodge, this time the impact sent him crashing into a tree.

The rough back scratched against his fur as his vision blurred and he struggled to stay conscious.