Summoner: The Book of Dimension

80 Another Attack

Was spirit qualified to summon?

Perhaps Peter had been thinking about that for almost fifteen minutes now, after paying respects to Josh. He prayed for his peace and went back to the crowd without telling them what he just experienced. It wasn’t much of a big deal anyway. It was just another threat of getting the book, which he could protect by himself.

He forgot the mantra given by the spirit that shortly possessed Josh’s body. He intended to. He wasn’t interested anyway, and remembering it might make him accidentally recite the mantra. He wouldn’t dare because he didn’t know what he would summon with that mantra.

Time passed, and it was a few minutes before the clock would strike three. The lobby was almost silent, and some people had decided to take a nap, including Ray and Zack. Peter, who was exhausted by summoning many torchlights, decided that sitting and staying alert was his way to replenish his spent energy.

The only ones awake were Peter, Linda, the housemaid, and six of the attendees, Josh's friends. Peter didn’t mind knowing and remembering everyone’s names since they barely even talked to him. Besides, he didn’t want to waste his energy to remember each of their names.

He was surprised when someone sat beside him. He turned his head to see it was Linda, handing him a cup of coffee. Peter smiled and took it before taking a careful sip. “This is hot. Where did you get hot water?” 

Linda sipped on her own with her eyebrows creased because it was slightly burning her tongue. She gulped it and pointed her thumb behind her. “The housemaid, she had the electric pot here in the lobby. There’s still water left from the pitcher from a table, so she made some. There’s a small cabinet there that has jars of ground coffee beans,” she explained.

Peter only nodded. “I’ve wanted a coffee,” he said. A cup of coffee could replenish his worn-out energy. “Why are you not taking a nap?” he asked her. There are enough people awake to alert everyone if something happens,” he said. “I feel bad that you guys can’t sleep.”

She chuckled and stared nowhere, blowing on her cup of coffee. “How can I sleep? Even if I force myself to, I won’t be able to. I’ll worry, and I end up not getting sleep. It’s more tiring than staying awake,” she said and added, “It’s like you’re giving false hope to your body to rest, but your mind won’t let you,” she laughed at herself.

Peter chuckled. “I agree on that,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll do everything to get everyone out of here,” he sighed, feeling a burden he had given to himself.

She chuckled, but this time, she was looking at Peter. If I don’t have a boyfriend, I might’ve hit on you,” she said.

He gave her a raise of an eyebrow but expecting those straight-forward words from her mouth even though he barely knew her. He only chuckled. “Really? Then I’m sorry then. I have a girlfriend,” he said. “Her name is Dorothy,” he said and added, “Even if I don’t have, I don’t think I would develop romantic feelings towards a stranger in this kind of situation,” he said.

He suddenly remembered Dorothy. He wondered how she was. He wondered if she was well.

Linda only snorted. “Maybe it was just me,” she sipped on her coffee and decided to take back what she said. “Actually, I was just kidding,” she said and laughing at her ridiculous idea.

“You have a weird way of delivering a joke,” Peter commented, and she only nodded, acknowledging it.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get out of here?” she asked, her should didn’t sound with worry. Instead, she sounded purely curious about it. “I actually don’t mind dying here. It’s the idea of being possessed that bothers me,” she confessed.

Peter stared at her side profile for a second and laughed. He was wrong. He also would’ve hit on her if there was no Dora in his life. He shrugged the idea away. “You won’t die here, I swear. Just trust me. Trust the three of us,” he said, pertaining to Ray and Zack.

She nodded. “I’ve been doing that for quite some time now,” she smiled at him and stood up. “I’ll go check the others,” she said and walked away.

As she was walking away from Peter, she had a brief moment to see the glass window. To her surprise, she saw the light outside. She could see the things outside, so she gasped and yelled with excitement, “The sun’s rising!”

People who had been sleeping woke up, even Mr. Benedict. Peter looked at the window and saw what she was talking about. Before she could go near the glass window, Peter held her wrist to stop her. “Don’t go near the window,” he said. He looked at everyone trying to approach, but he stopped them. “No, don’t walk near the glass window. It’s not safe yet,” he said.

He squinted his eyes. At first, he thought Linda was telling the truth, but with his special vision he got earlier, he could still see a lot of them outside. “They’re still there,” he softly said with suspicion. “Everyone, stand back. It’s still early for the sun to rise. It’s just three in the morning.”

“Then what does that light supposed to mean?” Ray asked with curiosity.

“I don’t know,” Peter almost said in a whisper but loud enough for everyone to hear as he squinted his eyes to see what was going on. There, just far from the window, a shadow monster was glowing white at his approximate estimation of two hundred meters. He knew it.

The thing they were seeing was an illusion. Peter almost scoffed. “Stay back,” he told everyone. He stepped back, and they all saw how the light from outside passed through the window, almost calling them to go outside.

“Don’t trust what you see; it’s a trick made by the shadow monsters. It’s just three in the morning. The sun doesn’t rise that early here,” Peter explained. “It’s a trick by the shadow monsters to try and draw us outside. It’s their only way to get to us since they couldn’t get in here,” he added.

He was glad everyone believed him. He didn’t need to spend a long time to persuade them to believe him. There was a cracking sound coming outside, and everyone, to their alert, held their torchlights and prepared to turn it on. Peter took his own and held the book close to him, preparing himself for anything that would come. He glanced at ray, and he was holding the sword to him, ready as well.

“Everyone, stay alert,” he said.

While he said that, the rooftop of the last floor above was starting to crack, cutting lines connected to the solar panels. The light started to flicker, but it stayed in the lobby regardless. The roof was cut off and lifted by the shadow monsters, and they turned it around. Somehow, it messed with the system inside, turning all the lights off.

Everyone screamed and turned their torchlights on to protect themselves. The shadow monsters are attacking yet again. It was three in the morning; Peter realized that they must’ve had great power around that time. The shadow monsters tried to surround them again.

He had no choice. He couldn’t hold any longer.

“Everyone, cover me!” He yelled, and everyone covered him in a circle, flashing their torchlight in front of them. The torchlight was brighter than the torchlights they used, so it gave them a lot of space away from the surrounding shadow monsters.

Benedict was with him inside the circle, holding his own torchlight and Peter’s while flashing it on top of them so no shadow monsters could sneak through the ceiling of the lobby.

Peter quickly shuffled through the book's pages to find something that could help them, and there he came across a creature called the ball of light. A creature that represents light.

He formed a basic summoning circle and recited the mantra.

A creature from the Atlantis world;

A spirit of light and warmth;

Bring me light in this night. I shall be with you.

In my name, Peter Cohen, I summon you into this world!

After the whirl of wind that sent everyone inside the circle’s clothes flying around, even their hair, a portal appeared just beside Peter. A fire with a bluish and red light. Everyone walked away fearing they would be burned, and somehow the presence of the creature he summoned made the shadow monsters hiss at them.

It was the success that Peter had been waiting for, ever since they started summoning for a tool that could help them.

No shadow monsters dared to attack them, not just because of their torchlights but also because of the creature.

Peter stared at the ball of fire, and he didn’t dare to touch it since it looked like it would burn. He tried to walk, and to his surprise, it started to follow him. He thought it would stop giving a good space between him and the creature, but it didn’t. It continued to follow him.

But what made Peter’s eyes open wide was that the ball of fire was leaving trails of fire.