There were three stages of becoming a full summoner. The first stage was the ' 'awakening', this stage was the beginner level for novice summoners. It allows them to make contact with their beast and form a mutual bond with it.
Sofia and the other students of class 4 were currently on the first stage. Mr. Adams their teacher had only taught them how to manipulate their soul energy, but today everyone would be entering the second stage.
At the students front stood Mr. Adams, he had a stoic expression on his face that was in contrast to what the students were used to.
The silence that was becoming that was getting uncomfortable was broken by the teacher's baritone voice.
"Today." He began. " Marks the moment you will open a new chapter in your life. You are no longer the kids of yesterday, right now you will...."
Sofie groaned in her mind hoping for the teacher to finish quickly. She wasn't interested in all this pep talk. Instead she was eager to test her abilities.
Just then, her eyes caught sight of Landon, the twin. His head was bent down ever since he stepped into the room. Sofie wondered what was up with him. He had been like that since that failure of a Sam left Riverdale to 'God knows where'. Perhaps Landon blames himself for denying his best friend that night when he needed him.
Speaking of which, Sofie's eyes shifted from Landon and rested on Chris. Chris Frizewood dominated the class after Sam's presence not by force but by realization of his fellow students who the alpha is.
The Frizewood family were a strong family of summoners, Chris was the best new gen among his age group in his family. His future was surely bright.
Sofie's father had encouraged her to get acquainted with him which she didn't find concerning. To her he was just another tool like Sam to help her soar.
Sofie almost lost track of time in her thoughts as the teacher ended his pep talk and began his demonstration.
Mr. Adams stood calmly in front of the students, his face devoid of emotions which made the students think he.must be faking it because this was new to them.
"Am going to show you a demonstration on how to summon your beast, and pay attention because I won't be repeating myself " He said taking off his shirt.
Surprisingly, Mr. Adams upper body appeared ripped, his masculine features enacted gasps from most of the students.
On top of his left breast was a tattoo of a horned bull.He touched the mark on his breast before elaborating what it meant.
The horned bull brought Sofie's memories to the day of her awakening, she remembered a tingling sensation that formed a mark on her left shoulder. From what she learnt, the mark on her was her soul signature which served as a link to her and her contracted beast.
"To summon your beast" Mr. Adam's words brought Sofie from her train of thoughts. "Amounts of your soul energy must be transferred to your soul signature which will open a doorway for your beast to arrive."
To justify his words,he closed his eyes and a faint rush of yellow aura moved from his underbelly which he guided to the mark on his breast.
Instantly, a magic circle appeared a few inches in front of him. And for like a split second something large replaced the magic circle that had disappeared. Sprouting from its head were two horns curved upwards, it was in a kneeling position in front of Mr. Adams. It only stood up when the teacher permitted it to do so revealing his full body to the students.
Lisa inched forward brushing her shoulder past Sofia to get a better look at the creature. The creature, like the mark on Mr. Adam's body had a bull- like appearance, its head was that of a bull with the body of a human, a humanoid type of creature. It stood upright on its hooves, the horns reaching for the ceiling.
"That's a minotaur" Sofia heard Lisa mumble to herself. The once quiet hall was now filled with conclusions on what the creature was.
There was no doubt the creature was a minotaur. The creature fits the description of what she knew about minotaurs. It was her first time seeing one up close.
After letting the students feed their eyes with the minotaur looks, Mr. Adams released his soul energy into his mark thereby opening a magic portal underneath the minotaur where he descended slowly.
Seeing the students marvel at the sight of his contracted beast, a thin smile appeared on his face but worn off quickly not to give away his stoic expression.
"Who would like to go first?" He said folding his hands, his upper body bare.
Unexpectedly, someone raised a hand.
The teachers scanned the students for the owner of the hand.
"Come on then, let's get this over with." Those words were directed to Chris Frizewood who had volunteered to try first.
Chris stepped forward with a determined look on his face. He proceeded to take off his shirt.
"That won't be necessary" Mr. Adams stopped him from taking off his shirt though still without his.
Lisa rolled her eyes at Mr. Adams, invoking a stare from Sofia.She didn't think Lisa would be that kind of girl.
In the same way as Mr. Adams had done, Chris closed his eyes and began to direct his soul energy.
In front of him a magic circle formed flicking at first settling. Chris eyes twitched,.it was his first time and he felt losing control, dimming the magic circle he created.
"Steady!" Came the teachers voice. "Pour out more of your soul energy into your signature."
The magic circle lit up brightly far different from Mr. Adam's and momentarily blinding everyone.
The light faded after a few seconds and what stood in front of Chris made everyone hang their mouth open.
"A lycan" Both Sofia and Lisa said in unison with Lisa more of mumbled it.
Chris summoned beast had the features of a werewolf and it stood upright like the minotaur.
Everyone was taken aback and surprised, even the stoic teacher let out a gasp. "Magnificent" was the word he could find to describe it.
The lycan looked elegant and well deadly, the sharp claws glittered reflecting the light in the room. It's brown fur seems to do the Sam as it shone like polish. The elongated fangs were took large to occupy the creatures stouted mouth and was displayed outside for the other's to see.
Before, everyone could recover from the shock of what they witnessed. The summoned beast slowly sank into the magic circle as quickly as it had formed.
Chris was panting hard as beads of sweat were already forming on his face drenching his shirt.
"Um... Well, that was intriguing" the teacher managed to say after Chris had returned to his seat.
It was no doubt that Chris summoned was , it was a wonder to be able to summon his contracted beast on his first try. Thus, the reaction from the students, even Landon who appeared distant had a hand over his face In disbelief.
Feeling challenged, Sofia stood up volunteering to be the next person tested on.
She walked up to the teacher. "Can I go ahead?" She asked Mr. Adams who was still recovering from the shock of what he had just witnessed. He merely nodded gesturing her to come forward.
Without wasting any more time, Sofia faced her classmates, before closing her eyes. As the teacher had instructed, she directed the yellow aura which was her soul energy towards her left shoulder where her signature was.
Already, she could sense the magic circle that connected both worlds already forming.
Instead of a brilliant light, Sofia was greeted by a gush of wind which eventually settled. She choosed that moment to open her eyes
"A griffin?" Mr. Adams revealed barely able to hold his disbelief