Chapter 1

"Calculating the next probability, please wait…"

Panting, I lean on my staff, using it to support my aching body. I had been at this for the last week, living in the simulator room, trying desperately to prepare myself, but to no avail. It didn't help that the stage had yet to be set, so that, every time I closed my eyes, I saw a different scene. From the twisting tundra of the northern sea, to the endless dessert on the eastern plain, but it could be anywhere!

The thing that I am talking about is the final exam for the caster apprentices, the last hurdle between me and my dreams, but at the moment, it appears that I will fall here and never reach the finish, for my summoning is pathetic at most. In our system, the summoned demons or, Veridians, are placed in the ranks:

Vesper- the legendary veridians (though strictly speaking, no one really believes that they exist.)

Laymen- The strongest veridians that are real.

Fox Spirits- Mid class veridians

Sprites- Low level veridians

Or Imp- Ridiculously low level viridians which couldn't be more useless if they tried.

Now usually, the process of summoning relies a lot of luck, meaning that you are just as likely to summon a layman as you are to summon a sprite but, of course, the stronger the caster, the more likely they are to summon a high level monster. Normally, it is thought impossible to summon a veridian on command, and no one can accurately predict which one they will call forth… except for me, but I wouldn't exactly call that a good thing.

My name is Rune and I'm one of the apprentices taking the exam in a week's time, but I am in no ways ready. I said that I knew exactly which veridian I would call forth, but if I can let you in on a secret, that's for a very embarrassing reason. You see, I can ONLY summon 5 viridians, one for each of the elements, Wood, Fire, Air, Water and Earth, and you don't need me to tell you that this is not normal! To make matters worse, the only ones that would answer to my call were Imps, just perfect right?

Blinking myself back to the reality of my current predicament, I found that the room had decided to place me in the middle of a bog in the western woods facing a … fire golem? What the hell? I though that only water and earth elements were found here? Well, what ever, at least I better try fighting this, if they were going to play with fire, I better fight back with wind;

"I call ye forth from the deepest storm, with my power and my will, I command that the Lord of the clouds answer my prayers. Rage with the power of a full blown twister… Veridian!"

The energy leeching out of me caused my eyes to close against my will, but I knew that the spell had taken effect when I felt the icy blood seeping out from the place where my wooden staff touched my bear hands… I guess I better wear gloves next time, but still, my veridian!

Eager to see the success of my work, for, as I'm sure you will agree, I am well overdue on that front, I wretched my eyes open and scanned the dense fog that now surrounded me. It was a pretty thick wall, but that didn't tell me anything, all wind demons were to be found with this same generic trait, I just wished that I would find at least one sign of my new pet, maybe a tooth or a claw…?

The fog began to thin, but still nothing was visible, but that was impossible, I'm sure the spell went right… did I get a word wrong or something? No, not possible! But then, where was my veridian? It had to be here somewhere!

Finally, my vision finally cleared, revealing to me the sight of… Nothing?! What? I demand a refund! But I can't think about that anymore, I had more pressing issues right now… like the large ball of fire that was coming straight towards me.

Desperate to save my self, (even though this was a simulation, it will still hurt if I get run over by that thing) I tried to jump but found, to my great annoyance, that the marshy ground of the bog had started to suck my feet in without my realising it and now I was well and truly stuck! Great, first my spell flunks out and now this, can my day get any worse?

You know the last thing I just said, why, oh why, did I just say that? I think I just jinxed the entire situation. Well, serves me right for opening my big mouth, now I am not just stuck, I have some annoying little thing CHEWING on my ankle.

Trying my best to dodge the fireball, I bent over backwards, as far as I could go, and narrowly missed setting my hair on fire! From this new position, I could finally see the thing that was gnawing on my leg but the visual made no sense in my mind. For some reason, the only thing I could find was … a TEDDY BEAR?