Niles

  Nile’s finger hesitated over the icon on his phone. Did he really want to do this? Was he really this desperate? He sighed and tapped the icon. Yes, he really was that desperate. It had been over six months since he and Cynthia split up, and he’d done little but work and go to the gym. He worked remotely, so he wasn’t meeting anyone there. There was that one cute girl at the gym who’d flirted with him. He’d almost asked her out before he realized she flirted with everyone.

  The cry of some nocturnal animal caught his attention. Looking out into the woods behind his house, he saw nothing in the dark forest that bordered his small backyard. Without the city's lights, it was so much darker out here, but at least he could see the stars. That thought made him look up to see the heavenly bodies on full display in the cloudless sky above. If he weren’t alone, it would have been quite romantic, lounging out here in his backyard under the stars on this warm summer evening, but he was alone, so it was just dark, like his mood. At first, this out-of-the-way rental had seemed like the perfect place to let him clear his head and start over, but more and more, it was just magnifying his loneliness.

  Things were so different now that he was out of college. Back at the university, there had been single women his age all over. Niles didn’t think he was the handsomest or smoothest man on campus, but he’d been in good shape, and more than one girl had shown interest before he’d started dating Cynthia in their third year. At least working out his frustrations at the gym had burned off the gut he’d developed in the three years he’d done nothing but work to put her through law school. He was probably in the best shape of his life now, but he just wasn’t meeting anyone; thus, the dating app. Plenty of people used dating apps, so he knew he shouldn't feel guilty about it. Part of him still felt like it was an act of desperation, but then maybe he was desperate. He’d tried to reconnect with some of his old friends after the breakup, but they’d all moved on with their lives after college and hadn’t acted that interested in reconnecting. It was his fault for not doing a better job of keeping in contact with them, but after they’d graduated, everything had been about Cynthia and her goals. Neither of them had families that were able or willing to support their higher education, so he’d worked two remote jobs to keep them afloat and pay for her advanced degree. That had kept him working seven days a week most of the time. So much time and effort, for what?

  Nile’s mind began to spiral down the old, familiar path of anger that thoughts of Cynthia always seemed to send it to, but with an act of will, he forced it back to the present and focused on creating a profile. The very first field nearly stumped him, and he ended up throwing out a dozen ideas before finally settling on a profile name.

  Profile Name: Looking4Magic

  male seeking female

  Age: 24

  Height: 5’ 11”

  He was tempted to put 6’ 0”. It was a source of infinite frustration that people put so much importance on that one stupid inch, but he decided to stick with complete honesty.

  Interests: Soccer, Martial Arts, Fantasy Literature, Anime, Role Playing Games

  Again, the temptation to lie surfaced, knowing that most of his interests painted him as something of a geek, but he wasn’t going to give up his interests again like he had with Cynthia. This time, he wanted someone who appreciated him for who he was, not just what he could do for them. At least soccer was pretty mainstream, though he hadn’t actually played much since high school.

  Seeking Casual or Committed: Committed

  That was a tough choice. Niles really wasn’t looking to get married right away, but he knew himself well enough to realize that he developed loyalty quickly. He wasn’t so obtuse to not have seen the warning signs his relationship with Cynthia wasn’t perfect, but once their relationship had gotten intimate, he'd become committed, even though she obviously hadn’t. The last thing he needed was to go out with a woman who was only looking for a casual hook up before disappearing, or worse, someone who just wanted to use him for everything they could get out of him before dumping him for a partner at her new law firm… Again Niles forced his thoughts away from Cynthia and back to the task at hand.

  Would you be willing to relocate: Yes

  The sooner he got out of this cheap, run-down rental in the middle of nowhere, the better. It had been far away, remote, and affordable, which had seemed perfect, at the time. If only he’d put some money aside instead of spending every penny on Cynthia’s education and then getting her a new car, expensive clothes, a high-end computer, and everything else she needed for her new job. He hadn’t even expected to stay here as long as he had, and rather hoped he’d find a reason to move even farther away.

  Niles ran through a dozen more fields, none of which stood out as particularly important to him. Once again, his finger hesitated. He double- and triple-checked all his entries and again debated coming up with a different profile name before finally hitting the submit button. A glowing red heart appeared on his phone, pulsing as the app processed his profile. Less than a minute later, the heart vanished, leaving a message that his profile had been accepted and a heart-shaped button with the word ‘connect’ on it.

  Again, he hesitated. This was it, the moment of truth. Oh, who was he kidding? This was just a stupid dating app. It’s not like it was really going to match him up with a soulmate that would change his life forever. He probably would change his mind by morning and not go through with anything. But what the heck, he might as well see what it came up with. He pressed the button, and the screen on his phone flashed before going completely black.

  Just great, his phone was dead. This was perfect. The entire universe really did want him to be miserable. In the now-dead glass of his phone screen, Niles saw the reflection of the stars above. The reflected night sky brought a sense of peace to him, and he stared at it for a long moment until a shooting star streaked across. Looking up quickly, he caught sight of a surprisingly bright trail as something streaked swiftly across the dark expanse above.

  “I wish something would take me away from this dumpster fire my life has become," Niles half-whispered as whatever it was streaked out of sight.

  Something bright caught Niles' attention, and he looked back down at his phone. Surprisingly, it had come back to life, but it wasn't acting normally. Strange, glowing symbols flashed on the screen. They weren’t English letters and didn’t have the look of kanji, either. If anything, they looked like magic runes made up for some fantasy role playing game. Each glowing a different color from the last, they appeared one at a time in rapid succession. Niles pressed the buttons on the side of the phone in an attempt to get them to stop, but it continued for nearly a minute before finally coming to a stop, leaving behind a message in glowing golden letters on the black screen.

  Connection found

  Lady Birgit of Hazzerbog

  Age: 21

  Height: 5’ 1”

  I am seeking a familiar companion. I will provide a magical environment for you to grow and thrive in exchange for your fellowship, insight, and protection.

  Below the message was a single button labeled ‘accept’.

  Niles stared at the text. The name was weird, sounding more like a character name from a role playing game than a dating app profile, but he had listed role playing games as an interest. Wanting protection was a bit strange, but Niles had always had a strong protective streak. It also sounded oddly transactional, but he actually liked that. Here was someone clearly offering something in exchange for his efforts. That implied this wasn’t going to be another give-and-take relationship where he was the only one giving. The age and height differences were not ideal, but not completely outside what he’d consider. Still, he hesitated one final time. Did he really want to do this? Ah, why not? What was the worst that could happen? He pressed the button.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Once again, his phone went dead. No, wait, it wasn't dead. Little motes of colored light stretched across the screen, as if trying to simulate a starship shooting through space amidst multicolored stars. But as he watched, impossibly, the screen began expanding and shot out toward him. Before he could even react, Niles found himself completely swallowed up but the odd black void, shooting through space without a starship.

  “I must have fallen asleep," Niles mumbled once this initial shock wore off. “At least I can hear myself. That means I’m not in a vacuum, right? But can you hear yourself talk in a dream?”

  Well, it was better than most of the dreams he’d had lately. Looking around, Niles saw the glowing points of light weren’t stars. They were more of the odd, glowing symbols he’d seen before. He was following a trail of them that was leading him toward a glowing circle and had the impression he was going at incredible speed, though other than the symbols flying past him, there was no wind or other sign he was moving at all.

  As he drew nearer to the circle, he saw it wasn’t really a circle. Rather, it was four large squares rotated around a central access, forming a star with sixteen blunt points and a large open space in the center. Niles' progress abruptly stopped, and his body flipped around so that he landed in the center of the odd, glowing star shape, feeling like his feet were now standing on something solid. Looking down, he saw the lines that formed the odd pattern were not lines at all. Instead, they were complex strings of symbols, each one glowing, and at each corner of each of the four squares was a small, brightly glowing crystal, each one a different color.

  Niles was just beginning to examine the symbols more closely when the darkness surrounding him began to fade away, revealing a large room, one in which he was not alone. In front of him stood a crowd of strangers. Strangers in both the sense that he did not know them and in the sense that they were strange. The latter stood out much more than the former because none of them were human. Standing in the front was a short woman in a long, brown and green dress that looked like something you’d see at a Renaissance fair. But that wasn’t what caught Niles' attention. What really attracted his eye was her face. Her skin was dark green with black spots a little too big to be freckles. Large, round, golden eyes with vertical slits for pupils dominated her face above a very wide mouth, giving her an almost frog-like appearance. She had hair, or at least something that looked like long, dark brown dreadlocks cascading down the back of her head.

  And she was by no means the strangest of the assembled beings. Beside and slightly behind the frog princess was a taller woman with coal-black skin, silver hair, six arms, and far more eyes than normal, unless you were a spider. The rest of the crowd was further back and featured men and women that were only roughly human-ish.

  “That is not a sylph,” another of the frog-like people said, breaking the silence. She was short as well, but her skin was a much paler green, almost yellow, with no spots, and her hair was long, blond, and straight. Her dress was pink, blue, and gold and much fancier than the other frog-girl’s.

  “What is it?” asked a young woman with a single large eye in between where two would be on a human.

  “Maybe it’s a djinn,” a young man speculated. He could have passed for a human except for the two short, curved horns that stuck out of his forehead. He wore a light blue shirt under a long-sleeveless coat of darker blue that went down almost to his knees. The coat was belted at his waist with a broad, red sash. Baggy red pants, the same color as his sash, covered his legs, and he either had very strange shoes or hooves.

  “No, the color is all wrong,” objected a woman with snakes for hair.

  Everyone was staring right at Niles, and he realized they were all talking about him in perfect English, or at least he could understand what they were saying somehow. This was about the coolest and most vivid dream he could ever remember having. He hoped he’d remember it when he woke up. More voices spoke from the crowd, speculating on what he might be.

  “It’s a seraph.”

  “No, where are his wings?”

  “An efreet?”

  “Couldn’t be, no flames.”

  “Maybe it’s a nymph?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s obviously male.”

  “Could it be an oni?”

  The crowd began speaking over each other, shouting out suggestions and refuting their fellow’s guesses. They all seemed quite interested and enthusiastic, but not frightened. That was until a tall, stocky, blue-skinned woman with thick, curling horns made a guess in a loud, grating voice.

  “Maybe he’s an elf?”

  That caused the speculation to halt and brought concerned expressions to several faces.

  The tall, multi-armed spider-woman spoke for the first time into the sudden silence. “I can assure you he is no elf, neither solar nor lunar. There is a certain similarity, but his features are not quite right, particularly his ears, and he has far too much muscle mass. And, as you should all know, summonings only call beings from other planes, not our own.”

  The comment about his muscles flattered Niles, but it also made him a little self-conscious about his appearance. He hadn’t changed out of the shorts and tank top he’d worn to the gym, which were old, worn, and sweaty. Niles smiled, realizing there was no reason to be self-conscious in his own dream. He tried to will himself into jeans and a t-shirt, but nothing happened. At least he wasn't in his underwear. He shuddered, remembering the dream he’d had a couple of weeks ago.

  This was nothing like that dream, though. Everything was so clear and vivid. It all felt so real. What if it really was real? What if wishing on that shooting star had really done something? The thought wormed its way into Niles' head, and everything suddenly seemed a little less cool and a little more threatening.

  “I am sure you are all excited to learn more about this unusual summons, class," the spider-woman continued. “But wild guesses are not going to accomplish anything. Now be quiet and allow Lady Birgit to attempt to communicate with this creature."

  Everyone’s attention shifted to the frog-girl in the front, who had been staring at Niles with a shocked and slightly worried expression the entire time.

  “Can you understand me?” she asked slowly, after a moment of hesitation. She had a light, rather pleasant voice.

  “Yes,” I answered, not sure what else to say.

  “What are you?”

  “Human. What are you?”

  My response caused her already large eyes to grow even bigger in what I took to be surprise, though I wasn’t sure if it was from my being human, or from my question.

  It took her a moment to gather herself. “I am a kappa, man of the hu.”

  I was just about to correct her when someone in the crowd cried out in a panicked voice. “Look at the summoning diagram! The protection is already fading!”

  Looking down, Niles saw that the glowing design he was standing in the middle of was noticeably dimmer than it had been, and it was rapidly growing dimmer still.

  “Will you agree to a guardian familiar contact with me?” Birgit asked in a quick, frightened tone.

  “A what?” Niles asked. There was no way he was going to just agree to something without knowing the details.

  “Send him back before he gets out,” someone cried out.

  “Act quickly, Lady Birgit,” the spider-lady urged in a mostly calm voice, but Niles saw she now held what looked like wands pointed at him in two of her six hands.

  Birgit’s eyes darted around for a moment before she quickly asked a new question. “Will you agree to a pact to negotiate with me peacefully and in good faith, and leave without doing harm to anyone if we cannot reach an agreement?”

  Niles hesitated. The request seemed reasonable, but this was all so strange, and the growing sense that this might actually be real was making him more than a little weirded out. Below him, the glowing design had almost completely faded out.

  “Class, everyone, channel your magic into empowering Lady Birgit's spell," the spider-woman directed in a quick, clipped voice.

  From the crowd, lines of glowing light shot out into the design that surrounded Niles, and it began to glow brighter, but only briefly before it started to fade again. As it did, Niles received a rush of energy. It was warm and tingly, and made him feel amazing. It was like hearing his favorite song while eating ice cream on top of a caffeine rush.

  “Will you agree to the pact to negotiate?" Birgit asked again, her tone sounding desperate.

  Before Niles could answer, a bright flash lit up the room as what looked like a bolt of lightning hit him square in the chest. There was a burning sensation where the bolt struck him, and pain wracked his frame as it felt like every muscle in his body cramped up all at once. But the pain quickly passed, and control of his muscles returned as an even stronger surge of warm, tingly goodness swept through him. Looking down, he saw a smoking hole in his shirt the size of a softball. The skin under the hole was an angry red, but it was quickly shifting back to its normal pale tan from the edges in.

  Looking back up at the crowd, he saw the paler frog-girl in the crowd had a still-smoking wand pointed at him.

  “Miss Crochel,” the spider-woman snapped in a commanding tone. “All of you, put away your wands. I have not authorized any of you to interfere with this summoning.”

  “But…" the pale frog-girl began to object.

  “But nothing,” the spider-woman snapped. “I am your instructor, and I have the matter well in hand. If I require your assistance, I will give you specific directions. This is unusual, but I will not have chaos in my classroom. Lady Birgit, continue.”

  Niles noted several wands discreetly tucked back into clothing before Birgit once again spoke. “Please, will you at least agree to a pact to negotiate peacefully and in good faith?”

  She had said please, and Niles really didn’t want to get hit by another lightning bolt. “Yes, I agree to negotiate.”