Zelion glared at the pages in the book in front of him, the words blurring together. He had been studying for three hours straight and he needed a large cup of coffee to keep him focused. He sighed and sat up straight.
"Still at it, huh?" Hex walked up to him, sitting at the oak table that stretched across the entire library.
"Yeah," he grumbled. "But I could use a break. Want to hop over?" he asked, and shut the book.
"Sure," she smiled. He and Hex had been best friends since they were children. Despite their differences. While Zelion was a struggling Warlock, Hex was a skilled Wizard. Most of the time, the two different classes never mixed. But that never stopped them. They had been friends for almost eighteen years now, despite the red and black robes Zelion wore, and the blue and gold ones Hex wore. "So, what were you reading up on?" she asked, as they headed to the portal between their two dimensions.
"Conjuration. That's my first test," he grumbled. Halloween was only a month away, and like every Halloween, the graduating class would perform in front of the council three tests to pass their exams. If they didn't pass all three, they would be wiped of their memory and their powers forever. The only difference was that this year, Zelion and Hex were the graduating class.
"That should be easy, I mean, I wouldn't really know," she laughed. "But I've heard other Warlocks say conjuration is the easiest of the tests." She smiled.
"That's not helping, Hex. I couldn't conjure a bunny to save my life, much less a Demon or a few extra limbs," he grumbled, watching as a Warlock he passed by sprouted four wings, two leathery and bat like, and the ones below it feathered.
"That's not true, you summoned Chaos," she pointed to the horse that stood nearby, his eyes, feet, and tail engulfed in green flames.
"I sneezed while trying to pop popcorn with destruction magic," he glared at her.
"Oh yeah... look, don't worry about it, Zel. You'll be fine," she smiled.
"Right," he said, bleakly. "What about you, what's your first test?" he asked. She beamed.
"Polymorphing," she replied, a happy jump in her voice.
"Oh, your favorite," he rolled his eyes. "You're not practicing on me again. Last time you turned me into a goat I kept eating paper."
"Spoilsport," she pouted. "I was going to try a crow, actually. They're always impressed by birds, since you have to hollow out the bones," she smiled.
"See, you're going over and above. I'll be lucky if I can conjure up a noose that I can hang myself with after I fail," he pouted. He hated tests, he hated failing. But he loved magic. It had always hurt, that he was born a Warlock, his birthday midnight on Halloween like every other warlock, wizard and witch, but was never any good at magic. He read the books, and understood the techniques, he just couldn't do it.
They stepped through the portal and Zelion felt the familiar tingling as they crossed over into the human realm. They were allowed to cross back and forth between worlds as they pleased, coffee was usually the reason for leaving their own magical realm. But, Halloween was another.
Of course, Halloween was the shared birthday of all creatures of magical decent. Everyone who was born anywhere from midnight to three a.m. on Halloween day was born with their own set of magical abilities. As they aged, these abilities developed into one of the three classes they were sorted into. Wizard, Warlock, or Witch.
Wizards were pure magic, like Hex. They practiced in the arcane arts, making impossible things happen at a flick of their wrist or a twist of their tongue. Witches focused on brews, potions, and some minor incantations. Most of their abilities came from physical things. Something you could drink, eat, or even something like a wand or staff to amplify their poor magical powers. What little power they could build up, was hardly ever good for anything other than dark magic. Witches were few and far between, but there were a handful of them in the school. Warlocks, like Zelion, were somewhere in between the two. They were much better at pure magic, and spells, like Wizards. But most of their focus was on dark magic like witches. Not very handy with a cauldron, broom, or wand, they prefered spell books.
Hex sighed as they sat down. "Nothing to wake you up from those musty old books like a latte." She smiled and sniffed her steaming cup of coffee.
"Yeah, it is nice..." Zelion let the dull chatter of the cafe float to his ears. "Well, anyways back to work. See ya," he stood and headed back to the portal that was hidden by a chained off alleyway.
"Wait-wait-wait, what?" Hex stood up. "We just got here!"
"Hex, I have to practice. I'm going to go practice," he mumbled, grabbing his text books from the freakishly small tables they expect you to sit at, and took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, here we go," he murmured, glancing around the summoning room. This specific room in the school was meant for summoning and conjuration. Several large squares were marked on the floor, each it's own 'space' for a summoner. There were several other rooms for the same thing, so Zelion found one that was empty and took it. Halfway through his set up, someone else had wandered in and began setting up their own summoning ritual in the far corner. He supposed that was okay. He held up the piece of paper up again. In old fashioned black ink was a symbol, just underneath it was the name of the Demon he would be conjuring. 'Debell'
"From War," he whispered the meaning of the name. He set the paper down on the floor near his knees as he knelt by the flat open space in front of him. He reached into the pouch at his side, a mixture of bone dust, charcoal, powdered sugar, and crush chlorine tablets. He carefully drew out the symbol with the dust mixture. He brushed off his hands on his cloak as he looked at the name one more time. He nibbled his lip nervously. He placed nine black candles around the symbol, lighting them, careful not to get any spark on the flammable powder nearby. He opened his book, and began to chant the spell in latin, before finally switching to english for the last part.
"I call to thee, Debell. Rise from your place in Hell and make yourself seen here in my realm, under my command," he spoke the words sternly. As he finished his spell, he lit a match on the symbol he had created, setting it ablaze. He licked his lips as it caught fire and burned, creating smoke in it's wake. The ground vibrated as the summoned Demon growled. Smoke swirled from white, to black, gray, and red. The red and orange glow of a portal in the floor sparked with lightning as a large clawed hand reached into his realm. It gripped the stone floor of the summoning room and pulled itself up.
"I did it..." Zelion felt his heart rate increase. "I did it!" The student on the other side of the room rolled his eyes before picking up his stuff and leaving. The demon roared and growled as it lifted its large body out of the portal. A second pair of hands appeared, behind the Demons shoulders. The large pair of horns curved around his head, his yellow eyes glowing as he looked at Zelion, who quickly stopped dancing with excitement and tried to seem dignified and powerful, he hoped it worked. He had to make the demon respect him.
"Who dares summon me?" the Demon's booming voice echoed in the concrete room. His hooved feet appeared next, pushing him upright until he stood at nearly eight feet tall. His black teeth showed when he spoke, a stunning contrast to the red lava cracked lines in his black stone skin.
"I do, Warlock Student Zelion Sathrago." Zelion stood up straight and tall, only reaching the Demons chest.
"Do not bother me, Human." The Demon laughed, before it turned around and stuck one hoofed foot back into the portal.
"Do not ignore me, Demon!" Zelion realized he was losing his chance. He summoned up the shadows around him, forming them into a whip in his hand. He cracked it on the Demon's back. It turned and screeched at him, shaking the concrete walls. Zelion cracked the whip, down by his side.
"I said do not ignore me." Debell growled low in his throat as Zelion gulped back the lump in his. He was anything but an expert summoner, but that's what he had to make Debell think. The Demon turned it's head down and put its back to Zelion. A strange sound began to fill the room and Zelion frowned. "Are... are you crying?" he questioned, as the Demon wiped a clawed hand across his face.
"No," it's low voice grumbled.
"This is amazing. I have to be the first warlock in history to summon a demon from hell, that cries!" Zelion sighed and turned around to face away from the Demon.
"Well you didn't have to hit me!" the deep voice sobbed harder. Zelion sighed.
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry alright. But I thought you were going to leave," Zelion said.
"I was! I knew you would make fun of me!" Suddenly Debell changed forms. Instead of the big hulking four-armed monster, now stood a slim back with the same red cracks as his demon form. Sobs still poured from the demon, though now they were higher pitched and more human like. Zelion sighed.
