Free Summoner: Origins The Prequel by Taran Matharu Page B

any trouble.’
    Arcturus’s curiosity quickened as the ether was mentioned again. Jump back through what?
    â€˜And, do you know what infusion is?’ Scipio asked.
    â€˜Yes, sir,’ Arcturus said, still mesmerised by the image as Kali switched her gaze from one face to another.
    â€˜Good. I shall teach you how to infuse a demon next week perhaps, your demon seems well behaved enough to not distract you in lessons.’
    â€˜Thank you, sir,’ Arcturus said. He felt far safer with Sacharissa by his side, and knew that if he were taught to infuse her, she would not be allowed out for most of the day. Still, he was curious about what it felt like to have the demon within him. He almost didn’t believe it was possible.
    â€˜Now, I shall use one of the keyed pentacles on the floor beside us. Who can tell me what a keyed pentacle is?’
    â€˜A keyed pentacles has a symbol on each corner of the star. They act as coordinates that will open a portal to the ether,’ Baybars Saladin replied.
    â€˜Good. I shall now do so. Pay attention everyone,’ Scipio said, kneeling on the ground. He laid his hands on the floorboards, then grunted as his fingertips began to glow blue. There was a low hum in the room, and slowly but surely the lines of the pentacle Scipio was facing shone with the same electric light. The symbols on each corner pulsed. A pinprick appeared in the air, expanding slowly into a spinning orb the size of a man’s head. Still, it grew, doubling in size over and over, until it was larger than the table they stood around.
    Scipio’s face was red with effort, the veins on his neck bulging. He lifted one hand, causing the pentacle to crackle, before removing a wooden spike, attached to a roll of leather from his back pocket. He rammed it into the floorboards, then stood, panting, the leather strap gripped firmly in his hand. The fingertips remained blue, and Arcturus could tell he was powering the pentacle through the connection.
    â€˜There’s got to be a better way of doing this,’ Scipio muttered, stepping back into his place at the table. ‘Kali! You know what to do.’
    The Felid yowled with excitement, before leaping over their heads once again. Kali landed in a crouch, then leaped into the orb, disappearing as swiftly as a disturbed wyrdlight. But Arcturus’s attention did not remain on the orb for long. The image on the stone had changed. Scipio smiled at him as his mouth dropped open.
    â€˜Welcome . . . to the ether.’

11
    Arcturus had never seen so much green. The ground was coated in thick, sage coloured grass, with mossy tree trunks all around them. Hundreds of feet above, viridescent foliage filtered light from the sky, dappling the shadows with green tinged radiance.
    â€˜All demons originate from the ether. Their world is shaped like a giant disc, with a desert known as the deadlands around the edges, and jungle and forests in the outer ring. The centre is more mountainous and dangerous, filled with the most powerful demons, volcanoes, great expanses of water and who knows what else. Nobody has ever been more than a few miles from the area we hunt in, but if you were to fly high enough, that is what you would see,’ Scipio was speaking for Arcturus’s benefit, for even Elaine seemed unsurprised by the moving images on the stone.
    â€˜Using my mind and what I see in the Oculus, or another scrying stone as the case may be, I am able to control Kali’s movements.’
    Kali’s eyes twitched to the nearest tree trunk, then her claws flashed into view as they began to climb. A tiny Mite, almost as small as a normal beetle, crawled from beneath the bark. Elaine gasped as Kali impaled it with one long talon, before spooning it into her mouth. The image juddered as the Felid chomped down.
    â€˜Yes, the ether is a brutal place. It’s eat or be eaten, and lesser Mites are at the bottom of the food chain. A