Daichi's Summoning: A Caster Darkly

Daichi knew something was up as soon as the command sigils appeared on his hand. He'd heard lots about the Grail War, initially from his first mentor, and then in further conversations and reading. It was something that dominated the thoughts of the magic community in Japan, but Daichi hadn't considered it terribly relevant, since the next one wasn't scheduled to happen for decades yet.

But then it got moved way up his priority list. So here he was, in a remote beach house on the eastern shore of the Black Sea in Georgia, the area secured with as many magical wards as he could think of. He also had made sure that the rental had decent electronic security, but he didn't want to depend on it, or have so much that that in itself made the site look suspicious. But it was de rigeur for him to have redundant systems. Not planning for failure just wasn't smart.

To that end, he also had a ward around the summoning circle, between him and it. The idea was to prevent weapons or spells from crossing to him in case something went wrong. The circle itself was set up on the beach, and he stood facing the sea, the circle in front of him. On a lap desk in front of him, secured with gentle clips and elastic cords, was a written record of Medea's deeds, dating from somewhere in the low hundreds BC. Ancient stuff, and here he was on a misty evening, "borrowing" it to complete his ritual.

This had better be worth it, he thought. He assumed a kneeling position, and set his tools in order around him.

In Zan, the closest reconstruction he could get to ancient Colchian, he incanted:

"Let silver and steel be the essence."

He drew a figure in the air, with the athame he used to draw the lines of the summoning circle, still dusted with silver powder.

"Let stone and the prince of contracts be the foundation."

He set a stone with a ribbon of paper on which he had written the first line of an ancient Aramaic contract in the middle of the summoning circle.

"Let Tyrian purple, the clotted blood of royalty, be the color I pay tribute to."

Smeared across the stone, a traditionally formulated stripe of ancient purple dye.

"Let rise a wall against the winds of rumor and gossip that shall fall!"

He shouted against a sudden rise of wind from the sea, followed by a dash of spray.

"Let the four cardinal gates close, as your people closed their hearts!
"Let the three-forked road from the heavy crown turn from the path to the Kingdom of Heaven!
"Let it be filled. Again! Again! Again! Again!
"Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling!"

He raised both of his hands and stood, taken in by the power flowing from elsewhere. Thrilling.

"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to about by three great words of power,
come forth from the Ring of Restraint! Spurned queen, sorceress, Medea!"

He waited for a quiet, expectant moment.

Violet-black smoke poured out of the center of the circle, swirling gently. A shrouded figure slowly rose, tossing her cape behind a shoulder, the hood still covering her eyes like a mourning veil. She shifted onto one hip, tapping her long, claw-like nails against her thigh.

"I, Medea, answer your call, Master." She raised her hand and curled her fingers, a slow, sensuous gesture. "And who do I have the honor of serving?"

"Sato Daichi," he said, inclining his head in greeting. Nothing seemed to be going wrong, so he dropped the barrier between the circle and the outside world. "A pleasure to meet you, my lady."

"The pleasure is all mine, I'm sure." She turned to face the tide, the sea spray against her face. The Black Sea. How thoughtful, in a way. She knew that it was likely a failsafe to anchor her spirit, but it was all the same a bitter-sweet memento. Looking back over her shoulder, her lips curled into a smirk.

"At your leisure, Daichi-sama. We have much to do."

Daichi turned and walked towards the beach house. "I have a flight booked tomorrow. Tonight, some rest. Tell me, what do Servants do for fun?"

Medea chuckled. "Now, there's a question... I suppose I don't know. I'm certainly open to suggestions. I was always fond of card games, myself."

"Card games, eh?" Daichi grins. "I have an idea. I'd like to get a feel for your tactical tendencies."

Once they get inside, he pulls a cardboard box out of his luggage. It has colorful art on the cover, and is labeled 'Die Siedler von Catan'. "Shall we play?"

She takes her time to read the instruction manual before starting to play, but once the game begins, her focus is unshakeable.

She starts small and slow, then gradually builds up trading. Cards that should appear rarely begin showing in her hand more often. Robbers find Daichi's tiles at the least opportune moments - or rather, the most opportune for her. A finger is curled over her lips as she watches the board, her smile faint and consistent.

Victory points fall in her favor like a gentle rain.

At the end of the game, Daichi counts the cards in the decks. "Interesting. How did you do that?"

"Simple item creation, really." She picks up a card and, holding it in her palm, waves the other hand over. By the time her other hand passes, another card is there, laying to overlap the original.

"I could infuse them with enchantment or curses as well, but I figured this would stack things enough in my favor - as long as you didn't notice." She winks mischievously and returns the original card, and with a wave the duplicates disappear. Her smile widens, relaxed.

"I must say, I'm quite pleased with your test. I hope we've time for more games in the future."

Daichi smiles. "I'll make a note to include them." He yawns and stretches. "Tomorrow will be busy, but tonight, if you don't sleep, feel free to explore in your spirit form." He makes his way to his bedroom, but lingers in the doorway. "If anything threateningly unusual happens, wake me immediately." An awkward pause. "Thank you."

"If I can't immediately take care of it, I'll let you know. Good night, Master." She twiddles her fingers in a wave and settles on the couch, reading whatever's nearest for a while before stretching out and closing her eyes for some rest.

In the morning, Daichi begins with repairing any damage to the ancient accounts he borrowed with a quick time manipulation spell. He anchored it the day before, and it restores the item to its condition at the point it was anchored. Then it's into a rental car, return the documents, and then to the soul-crushing grind of the airport. Before they go into public, he asks Medea, "I bought an extra seat just in case, but would you prefer to remain corporeal for the flight? It might be a novelty for you, but having experienced it several times myself I often wish I could become a spirit during plane rides."

She folds her hands together with a grin. "How thoughtful! I'm sure it beats riding on the Argo!" With a spin and an illusion spell, her robes and cloak become a stylish plum sundress and a matching broad-rimmed hat. She takes his arm into hers. "Shall we?"

He's a little awkward at first when she links arms, but he manages to recover his aplomb fairly quickly. He answers any questions Medea has about the airport, but on the plane he gets grumpy despite flying business class and tries to shut everything out with a mask and noise-canceling headphones.

Medea simply leaves him to his peace and reads about the strange contraptions available in a tome entitled "SkyMall."