A boy and his hound

[Ray Rummo]

[] First day, night []

Ray had quite the adventure getting to the city. Hitchhiking, boat sailing, dog wrestling, Being chased by a bear, evil men in robes trying to take him to an orphanage (they were actually devils! Or at least he thought so), sneaking into the cars of other people, tubbling down a mountain, getting lost in a forest for a week, being saved by a dolphin, riding with what were they called? By-kurs? Yeah, they were nice peole. They also tried to send him to an orphanage but he wouldn't have any of that. After failing to steal one of their bikes, via said bike falling on top of him, and escaping from the hospital Ray had finally managed to make it to Lucca, and was on the verge of leaving it. He was saved when he discovered that he had, in fact, arrived at the city he needed to be in by listening to a few older men talk about the cities most recent festival. He knew that he was one of the best map readers in his class, so how could he have taken this long to get to his destination? It was just so odd to him.

He was finally in the city though, and that's all that mattered to him. A sentiment that was quickly lost when he realized that he didn't really know what he was going to do next. The city was big, so big that they had buildings touching the sky. Big light signs, lots of cars, over a hundred people walking down the streets (it's true! Ray sat down and counted them himself) but no one to help him. But Ray was a big boy, and he would per...per cy..He would stand on his own two feet. So naturally, first person that was nice to him had gained his absolute adoration.

He was a hairy fellow, ruff looking and wearing torn clothes. He said his name was Mr. Fred. He asked what Ray had been doing sitting around in the middle of the sidewalk and Ray simply told him "I'm an orphan". It was the lie he had been giving to people in replace of I'm-going-to-go-fight-in-a-war-over-a-magical-cup. Apparently being parentless was much more believeable. Ray didn't understand why. Mr. Fred shrugged his shoulders and asked Ray if he'd like to come with him he had candy. Ray happily nodded his head and eagerly followed the man back to an older building. It sort of looked like one of the factories he had seen in a city along the way to Lucca. But the giant tower things at the top were destroyed and its walls were all disgusting looking.

When Ray went inside he got a chance to meet everyone in mr. Freds family. Mr. Joe, Mr. Frank, Ms. Angaline, Ms. Rosebell, Ms. Jamie, Mr. Funky, etc. All of them were homeless people like Mr. Fred. they seemed pretty nice. Their names sounded odd though, something Ray picked up in a rare moment of insight. They told him they were on the run from some bad people and that he didn't need to worry about it. "Kay." was Rays response and the moment he dropped the subject altogether.

And so Ray spent the next week or so living with the "Smiths". They had been teaching him things from the day he had started living with them. Or at least trying to. His first lession was trying to take the wallet out of a mans pocket with out him noticing. He had never done such a thing in his life and thus was turning out to be a total failure when it came to 'pickpocketing'.

He also found out the hard way just how religious his adoptive family had been. They told him that he wouldn't be having sunday morning "training" sessions because sunday was the day of rest. When he asked why they told him that it was because god told them so "But god doesn't exist." He was backhanded for his comment and later that night "bapitized" into his new religion. Ray didn't know who this "jesus" man was, or why they wanted him to be inside Rays heart, but he was sure he'd figure it out eventually.

Through out those weeks he had been living with them ray had slowly and surely inscribed the summoning circle into another rooms floor. His room, actually. He was given one of the empty side areas to call his own for whatever reason so he made the best use out of it. He had to some how aquire chalk to draw up the circle first, of course. And then he had to aquire something to summon his fighter. The thought of having his own fighter made him break out into childish giggles momentarily. He quickly stopped when he realized what he had been doing. Ray wasn't a girl, he was a man. And men don't giggle. It was a rule.

He was happy though; tonight would be the night. Everyone was already asleep, and for once Ray wasn't the first one to bed!..Well, he had a nap earlier but that doesn't count. He was just trying to make sure he didn't fall asleep before he summoned 'his' warrior. Ray managed to catch the giggle creeping up his throat and keep his face stern. Or as stern as a ten year old could make it.

Ray was sitting in the center of his pentagram, cross-legged with a book sitting in his lap. He was reading over the incantation one more time before attempting the cermony. He sat there, silently mouthing the words to himself while dilegently scanning over the pages. He finished it all with a smile. It was time. He was ready.

"Okay." Ray stood up from his spot, standing with his feet shoulder length apart and his hands on his goggles. "Lets do this!" He slid his goggles down, his face scruntched up into his best "serious" expression. He reached back down to pick up his book and proceeded to read off the text....or at least he'd like to. Turns out it's hard to read a book with your goggles on and your only source of light coming from the moon.

Ray tried to strain his eyes reading the paper, eventually giving up and lifting the googles back to their former position on his head. He's eyes immediatly darted to the first line of the chant. It was finally time. He was nervous. He would summon his fighter. he was nervous. He'd be able to save his friend. He was nervous. He was nervous. He was nervous. He was nervous...He...He..

He would turn his nervousness into courage! He didn't have time for butterflies and underwear wearing people, or whatever else was combined with nervousness. He had a job to do!


"Y-Ye first" he said, slowly crushing the nervousness he felt with a rising surge of courage. "O-O silv-ver, O iron O st-toone of the foundation....O Archduke of the Contract." He felt something, an itching sensation that was creeping through his body. He ignored it. "Hear me in the name of our great..greatest..great teacher, the Archmagus Schweinorg. Let the descending winds be as a fall- no, wall!"

The itch was getting worse now, he could feel it happening all across his skin. "Let the gates in ever- all directions be shut, rising above the crown! And let the three-forked roads to the Kingdom revolve! Shut. Shut. Shut! Shut! Shut!"He didn't know when it started but he was feeling pain now. He had been stabbed once accidently when he was six. Maarja had dropped a fork and it fell and stabbed him in the foot. His body felt like it was being constantly stabbed by forks.

"Five perfections for each repetition. And now, let the filled smig-sigils be annihilated in my stead! Set. Let thy body rest under my dominion! Let my fate rest in thy blade!" His body felt like it was burning. Like the sun had been taken from the sky and placed on his back. It hurt. It hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt it hurt it.

"If thou submittest to the call of the Holy Grail and if thou wilt obey this mind, this reason, then thou shalt respond!" Ray didn't know what the limit of a man was, or even that of a ten year old boy. He was about to reach his. "I make my oath here. I am that person who is to become the virtue of all Heavens! I am that person who is covered with the evil of all Hades!" [/i] Rays legs were trembling, his hand was burning, his eyes were heavy, he felt so sleepy....

"Thou seven heavens, clad in a trinity of words, come past thy restraining rings, and be thou the hands that protect the balance-!"...and he collapsed. He was a ten year old, after all. He was lucky to have even gotten this far.

[Cu Chulainn]

Unbeknownst to the boy currently lying on the floor, his summoning circle begins to glow red. Then sparks begin to form on the summoning circle’s vicinity, slowly building towards a localized ball lightning effect concentrated on the immediate range, strangely manages to completely miss the unconscious boy. Among the concentrated mass of electricity, a human figure can be made from lines of energy that slowly but surely and solidly materializes into the world. Clad in blue battle armor, the figure begins to let out a primal howl, as loud as the biggest wolf of the woods. The howl echoed throughout the empty corridors of the abandoned factory, as if to signify that yes, this figure is the servant of might and madness, Berserker.

After a few seconds the cry dissipates, but the figure remains, yet strangely different from the earlier materialization. For one, the figure seemed to visibly relaxed, as if no madness had taken over his body, proof that his consciousness is still his. Just as the figure settled down, he seemed began to once again ready to emit a powerful…yawn?

“Aaaaaaaaaaah, it’s good to be back again in this…hall?”

Cu Chulainn begins to notice just where he gets summoned into. Indeed, this was no hall of warriors, the kind that he had been accustomed to back when he’s still living. No, the place he had been summoned into feels like a mill, abandoned by its workers and only adequate to serve as a shelter for the lowest of the low. Not that he mind, he’s been accustomed to sleep without a roof above his head, but for his master to summon him in this condition showed a lack of preparation on his master’s part. Not only that this building is insecure, ordinary people is free to walk in without any repercussion and saw the summoning.

Speaking of master, Berserker’s eyes wander the abandoned factory in search for the one component missing to complete his summoning: his master. After a quick sweep of the factory’s nook and cranny, his eyes settled down upon the form of the unconscious boy near the summoning circle.

Huh, don’t tell me…

His thought was cut short by the sound of footsteps in the distance, perhaps too far for ordinary humans to hear, but Cu Chulainn is not an ordinary human at all. Acting fast, he managed to grab two blankets from their nearest resting place, cover the summoning circle with one blanket, and carry the unconscious kid on top of said circle and wrap him with the other blanket all in one swift motion. After making sure that the place is free of suspicious material, he jumps towards the nearest pillar and rebounds until he managed to grab one of the support beams of the ceiling. From that position, he managed to spy the incoming two figures, one fair-skinned with a moustache and one dark-skinned with a curious curly-ball hairstyle. Both clad with similar clothes.

“Fred, do you see anything over there?”

“Aye, it’s the new kid. He’s sleeping soundly, it seems he’s okay.”

“Any sign of a pack of dogs or anything unusual there?”

“Nope, maybe Rosebell’s right, the howl really did come from the outside. Let’s just go check the outside first before we go back to sleep.”

As the two figures exited the opening, Cu Chulainn dropped down from the ceiling with the lightest of sound. His eyes once again rest upon the sleeping frame of his potential master. The kid looks no more than 10, yet he dared to participate in the War, even summoning the mightiest servant of them all, Berserker. From the looks of things, he even managed to summon the mighty Berserker without a catalyst, such coincidence is unheard of.

Never mind about that now, the ritual’s incomplete.

Approaching the prone body of the boy, Cu Chulainn begins to kneel beside the sleeping boy and begin to poke the boy’s cheek into consciousness as gently as he possibly can.

“Hey, boy, wake up. You didn’t complete the ritual.”

[Ray Rummo]

[] damn me and my extra work. And my need to take too long with posting. []

Ray stirred in his slumber, though barely. The Rummo was still feeling the after effects of having his prana drained to such an extent. He was a tad pale, his tiny body struggling to get itself to move. Ray didn't know something could hurt this much. It was too much physically for the child. What rest he would have recieved was disturbed by the person who had persisted in poking his cheek.

“Hey, boy, wake up. You didn’t complete the ritual.”

Ray mumbled something about 'more minutes' and started to slip back into unconciousness. But the poking persisted. It continued to bring him back from the land of dreams. Finally realizing he wasn't going to be able to rest until he dealt wi- wait, why was someone poking him to begin with? Ray cracked open his eyes and came face to face with the one who had been bothering him. He was tall, really tall. And muscled. And wearing a really blue outfit. And blue haired. and red eyed. And he had a really sharp looking spear.

Ray's first response was flight: he was sitting right in front of a strange man with a weapon. He tried to crawl back and away from him, finding his body to lack the strength for such a thing. He completely disregarded his blanket, or the blanket that had been used to cover the summoning circle, or how the room was suddenly clean of debry. No, the child was too fearful for his own life to care. When Ray finally realized that his frantic crawling wouldn't let him escape the boy changed tactics.

Sticking his hands out, which were shaky at best, he tried to look intimidating. "Stay back! I can use magic!" He cried weakly. It wasn't something you'd tell someone outside of a confirmed fellow magus, and if you actually did do that they'd look at you like an idiot. But Ray was frantic, and he was hoping this would scare off the intruder. When the man tried to approuch him Ray was quick to make good on his threat "Bolt!"...and the magic fizzled out in front of his hands. It only took a moment for Ray to realize his attack hadn't even went and inch, let alone the distance needed to hit the blue haired man. "Bolt! Bolt!" He would pull back and push his hands out with each 'bolt' shouted, as it the action would suddenly make his magecraft work.

And he would continue to for as long as it took to save himself. Someone was counting on him. He couldn't die here.

[Cu Chulainn]

Berserker watches as the boy stirred in his sleep before the kid decided to go back to dreamland, content to just waste a perfectly good opportunity to acquire a servant. Slightly annoyed, the man in the blue armor pokes the sleeping boy an additional time, just to add the emphasis of the urgency of the situation. Even though the link is still hazy, Berserker can sense the power of his would be master, or more precisely the lack of power of his would be master. The kid was unlucky to summon a Berserker, if it’s something like an Archer or a Lancer then the drain won’t be as noticeable. Indeed, Chulainn himself can be summoned as a Lancer, the boy just drew the short straw as far as servants with manageable prana drain goes.

That’s not to say that summoning Cu Chulainn as a Berserker is a waste.

It was after the third poking that the boy begins to stir, rubbing his eyes and finally comes face to face with the man whom he has summoned. Remembering the way he used to deal with children back in his days outside of physical punishments, Cu Chulainn decided to try his most favorable tactic in dealing with impressionable kids, impressing them.

“Yo kid, nice to see you awa-“

“Stay back! I can use magic!”

“Huh?”

Berserker stopped dead in his greetings because of the kid’s abrupt warning, albeit weakly. It would be foolish to pursue the comment even further, as losing a master due to prana drain in the first day would be quite embarrassing. In fact, the boy needed no further coercion as he began to prepare his spell, directing it to his own servant. Decided to put a stop to further misunderstanding, even if he’s not sure how the first one happened, Cu Chulainn tries to get through to the boy’s terrified psyche.

“Oi…”

“Bolt!”

“It won’t work-“

“Bolt!”

“Give me a break.”

The boy tries to once again cast the only spell in his arsenal, only to find it fizzles about and fail. Even if it was successful, a spell of that level of proficiency won’t be able to harm Cu Chulainn, and will only waste his master’s prana even more than it already is. So in a completely uncharacteristic display, Cu Chulainn impales his cursed spear into the nearby ground and held up both of his hands in an act of surrender. He figured if that this is the only way that he will get the boy to understand the current situation, then so be it. He will have to swallow his pride as a warrior and surrender to a boy, though he was sure that a duel didn’t even happen it’s still embarrassing.

“Look, boy, I didn’t mean you harm. See?” He nudged to the impaled red spear on his side. “My only weapon’s firmly lodged into the ground; it can’t harm you in its current state.” That’s not completely true; he knows a few tricks to attack an opponent with a spear even if it’s currently not in his hands, though that won’t exactly serve his purpose now.

“Servant Berserker answers your summon, and because of your impulsive behavior earlier I didn’t get to ask the question necessary for the ritual completion.”

“So kid, are you my master or not?”

[Ray Rummo]

Frantic as the boy was, what with the hastily casted bolt spells and his inability to realize that he was failing at them, he still managed to take notice of the man’s actions. He cringed, pulling his hands back and trying to cover himself in response to the man impaling his own spear into the ground. It was only when he realized that the lack of not being dead did he crack up an eye to look at the man again. The spear was still in the ground, and he was holding his hands away from the weapon. ‘Why wasn’t he dead?’ ‘Hadn’t the man been trying to kill him?’ ‘Why was he doing what he was doing?’ questions were rushing through the boys mind. And then he heard the man speak.

“Look, boy, I didn’t mean you harm. See?” He nudged his weapon, emphasizing his point. “My only weapon’s firmly lodged into the ground; it can’t harm you in its current state.” Ray looked at the weapon, then at the man, back to the weapon, then him. The strange man was right, his weapon was stuck in the ground and his hands away from it.“Servant Berserker answers your summon, and because of your impulsive behavior earlier I didn’t get to ask the question necessary for the ritual completion.” Servant? Beserker? Why did he…. what was…wait, wasn’t Ray trying to summon one of those?

…Did he just say that Ray summoned him?

…

Oh.

He was relieved, and embarrassed at what had happened. His face lit up in red, scratching his cheek with a single finger. So this was who he had summoned to fight for him in the war. Having realized his mistake, Ray glanced to the side in quilt. “Ahaha..haha..ha” This was not a good first impression with his servant. Not at all.

The man spoke up once more. “So kid, are you my master or not?”

“Y-yes!” He shouted, looking back at berserker. He still needed to introduce himself. “I’m R-ray. Ray Rummo. It’s nice to meet you.” The boy was still a little shaken up from the entire thin but he’d live. For now.

[Cu Chulainn]

Cu Chulainn grinned weakly at the nervous laugh the boy uttered after he realized just who he has been attacking. It’s more of a resignation of defeat than some kind of confirmation of happiness. Chulainn was skeptical about the boy’s preparation the moment he had been summoned to this world; even now he’s skeptical about the boy’s knowledge about this war. It’s not just a retread on the countryside, this is a war, dying is a commonly accepted fate for everyone who participates. He doesn’t think the boy can take the pressure, not with the shadow of death looming at his every step in this war. Cu Chulainn however, is not the type to admit defeat…even if he just admitted it earlier.

“Y-Yes!” The boy answered a little too eagerly, perhaps wanting to make up for the earlier mis-step, “I’m R-ray. Ray Rummo. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, ki-Master.” This is going to take while to get used to, he thought.

He noticed the boy’s feature is still quite nervous and shaken, even after the whole reassuring ordeal. Berserker was ready to chalk it up to first time meeting jitters, but then he remembers that this boy had managed to complete the ritual to summon a servant. It’s not a laughing matter, even a mature magus will not be able to complete the ritual without feeling drained, and Berserker can only imagine what the ritual would do to an untrained kid. On the bright side, the way the boy had acted earlier means that he can still act energetic, perhaps there’s more than the boy than meets the eye.

“You look beat. Sorry about interrupting you rest earlier, but the ritual’s the ritual, it should be completed in order to chain me into this world again,” As he said this, he picked up the lodged red spear from the ground, bringing it to rest on his shoulders. “But yeah, you can sleep now, get some rest and recover your strength. I’ll watch for anything suspicious while you sleep.”

[Ray Rummo]

“You look beat. Sorry about interrupting you rest earlier, but the ritual’s the ritual, it should be completed in order to chain me into this world again,”

"R-right" All Ray could do at this point was keep his head down and acknowledge what his servant said. It's what any other child would have done in a situation like this. At least his servant wasn't angry over this, or over the fact that Ray was a child. He wasn't yelling too. Not yelling was a plus.

The man picked up his spear and laid it on his shoulder. “But yeah, you can sleep now, get some rest and recover your strength. I’ll watch for anything suspicious while you sleep.” Ray, who had been kept awake with the thought that danger was standing right in front of him, could feel his adrenalin rush start to die down. The word 'sleep' had been like a switch to him, his eyes starting to drop and his body starting to feel heavy.

Ray reached over and grabbed the blanket that had been formerly discarded in favor of crawling away in terror. Weakly wrapping it around himself, Ray let his body slump to the floor. The young magus mumbled something along the lines of wishing his servant good night, whispering this before finally letting sleep overtake himself. Ray would need some shuteye before he and Berserker set out to win the war.