As I said previously, I was a curve ball to what was previously known to summoning magic. In retrospect, curve ball is not the best way to describe what I was. I was and have continued to be an anomaly, an exception to known observations. When I was born, the healers on hand and the midwife had all noticed that I had been gathering magic almost immediately. By the time I was 5, my mana pool size and grasp of the arcane rivaled mages who were already in their 3rd of the 5 years that they spent in the academy. Despite the large amount of prowess that I displayed, my parents were in constant debates with mages to let me have an ordinary childhood. Word had gotten around in the magic community that a child had reached a level that had previously never been seen before. Many facilities had wanted to examine me for abnormal magic potential and see if they could somehow replicate the results.
My parents were for the most part successful in fending off those "scholars" and their attempts to research me. I still lived a normal life amongst other kids and adolescents and proceeded to obtain a fairly "normal" childhood. Despite my parents fears that I would be ostracized by my magic, I had managed to make friends with those my age and some mages at nearby academies. Despite my parent's best efforts, many of the scholars had left a lasting imprint on my childhood, namely in the form of magic books. My room was littered with different books that taught everything from healing magics to transformation magics and everything in between. I had learned of the different magic subjects from these books including summoning. Despite my current profession and role, as a child summoning scared me. I had feared being able to control someone so easily by just contracting them. I did not like the thought of controlling someone to make them do what you want. While the summoner contract was in place to avoid this kind of behavior, I had read in some of the more advanced text books that once you were contracted if you had more magic you could force someone to do what you wanted by forcing your magic into them, but those cases were dealt with severely.
Puberty was chaotic to say the least. While some other mages of the same age had gone through what they described as an awakening of their abilities, puberty was a time that changed the very fabric of magic for me. As my body transitioned into womanhood, my magic started to show me what I could do. I started seeing not just the person or the thing, but the mana of that individual. I had assumed just from my own personal distaste of the controlling arts that seeing the magic of others was either my magic shaping me into becoming a sensor or a healer. I had hoped that it was sensing and healing that were my traits, the idea of being a battle mage never appealed to me despite the potential that many mages saw in me. The idea of hurting others using my abilities was never appealing to me. If I controlled them, I could at least make them feel good whereas with a combat oriented magic, I would be forced to hurt and potentially kill.
As I matured, the idea of hurting and controlling others never gained appeal. I would only use violence in a scenario where it was a last resort. As for summoning, that had and will always be an iffy subject for me. I could understand the idea and in truth there were many whom benefitted from summoning and being a summoner and I grew to accept the trade. I tried limiting my own summoning to as little as possible, but just as the sun and moon dance tireless in the sky, a summoner must summon.
My aversion to creating contracts had of course been a critical issue during my time at the academy. What good was a summoner who did not want to summon anything? To compound my issue, I had started to notice that both people and creatures were following me. During one of the many field excursions to find and befriend something to bond with, my teachers at the time had to quickly pull me away from the forest that we had been visiting due to many of the deadly forest denizens appearing and taking a liking to me.
Compared to the people however, I would have preferred the forest creatures any day of the week. It seemed as if many individuals both male and female had become smitten with me. My appreciation for the female form had caused conflictions with the males as they simply did not appeal to me. The overall affect of the attention caused me to withdraw from interactions between others and become more solitary. I had made a few companions during the time, including my dorm mate Michelle. My first and up till today only summon had started with a stressful studying session with her. I had coasted through the years at school by demolishing the written portions and explaining my circumstances to the teachers. They were peeved but begrudgingly accepted my reasoning. I was told however that I would have to summon something to pass my final exams.
"I'm surprised that you still haven't dated anyone! C'mon girl the boys go crazy over you!" Michelle like many others were in the dark about my sexuality. I personally kept it that way to avoid any confrontations.
"Michelle, could you please not change the topic? I'm currently stressing out about the exams soon, I do not need to worry about a potential significant other right now."
I had seen the same face that she currently touted multiple times. A face of bewilderment and a hint of disappointment. While in the context of Michelle it was mostly my attitude towards dating and exams. Everyone else, especially professors, viewed my issue as confounding. Here was one of the most powerful mages in some time physically and mentally limiting herself for no apparent reason. My explanation unsurprisingly fell on deaf ears.
"Just summon something! The answer is literally so simple. You've aced every test up until this. Stop being so self-righteous and just do it. Besides most summons like it. Makes them feel important." I had heard these points before, even tried to justifying summoning beforehand but the points in my mind lost their meaning. I tried to defend myself but I knew that anything I said would be weak. Frustrated both with my dorm mate and my own predicament, the night air seemed like a refreshing way calm down.
It wasn't entirely uncommon for our arguments to end with me leaving. I can honestly attest that Michelle may have been one of the biggest reasons that I can hold my own in verbal confrontations if only for our daily discussions. The heavy oak door that separated our room from the rest of the academy swung open violently and slammed itself closed when I left. The academy wasn't too confusing to navigate compared to other academies. I had heard of some academies where the stair cases moved while you were trying to get from floor to floor. Other's I had heard of rooms where chamber pots and mirrors magically appeared and disappeared at random. Regardless, my goal in this academy was to get into the midnight air and figure out a solution to my conundrum.
Upon reflection, I should have noticed how quick the argument ended and how I managed to find myself outside without thinking it. At the time, I must have just assumed that muscle memory was doing the work, up until the point where the academies brick walls had turned themselves into the great oaks of the adjacent forest. The forest was a frequent destination of students and teachers alike as denizens of the forest were accustomed to summoning. At night time, the trees and natural scenery provided an excellent backdrop for studying and practicing. The entire forest was within the jurisdiction of the school, allowing teachers and students alike the luxury of using the leafy alcove as a practice ground.
Sounds of chittering and rustling of trees snapped me out of my miseries as the idea of being injured or killed by creatures of the night weren't appealing. I rotated on my foot to begin my journey back into the school and away from the macabre. As expected of my life, I had no such luck. Not 10 steps away I was yanked away from the trail and forced to the ground. My foot had been ensnared by a vine and was leading me deeper into the forests. I opened my mouth to shriek when a separate vine had appeared and secreted a fluid onto my skin. I was instantly silenced by the paste and realized with a shock that it was a constricting plant. They were used by the school to teach summoners about the benefits of summoning, being able to get your contracted summon or yourself out of a sticky situation.
Guess who doesn't have a summon and has two thumbs. This "self-righteous" mage who just got herself into a bit of a bind. I was racking my brain to figure out a way out, what did I learn in class? The vines don't start constricting unless you start fighting back. When you start fighting back, the fluid will numb you further and signals the plant to start constricting. I can't cast any of my magic to burn them and the paste is keeping me from shimmying my way out. On the plus side, the only thing the plant will do to me is keep me as a trophy. You would have assumed that the plant would use me to breed or eat me but magic plant. It had clear priorities; trophy wife first, everything else second.
The worst-case scenario was having to wait for a teacher on patrol, the best scenario was someone coming to save me and fixing my summoning issue. I suppose I got lucky that day. While I was being dragged across the ground towards the base of the plant, I noticed something started to approach my prone form. In the darkness, I couldn't make out what it was, but I assumed that it was some form of slime due to the blob shape. Slimes weren't aggressive creatures so I assumed that it would serve as a good distraction to get free. To my surprise my magic started to reach out towards it, almost drawing it into me and me into it. This is bad, if I was starting to draw it in through magic alone then I might start getting protective of it. If I got protective I would start trying to protect, I would start to fight back and become even more entangled. If that happened, there would be no way for me to escape even if the slime gave me an opening.
"Don't worry mistress, I'll save you"
The voice was bubbly, full of affection and warmth. I hadn't heard that voice on campus before. I was starting to think that the fluid was affecting my brain and causing me to hallucinate. It wasn't uncommon for the victims of the plant to be slightly rattled afterwards (any novice magicians pride is shattered after an encounter with something deemed less intelligent, especially after the power high of your first summoning and magic puberty). A little mind screw isn't that far fetched at that point.
"It's okay mistress, I can understand if you're rendered speechless by my charms. I'll get you out of the plants grasp soon!"
I couldn't see anyone that would be able to save me. I must have been hallucinating. It's not that the hallucination isn't unpleasant, in fact people getting addicted to the paste is surprisingly common. So far, I've only heard weird things so maybe the paste wasn't doing its job. My contemplations were interrupted when I felt something warm on my leg. I instinctively craned my head to look down at whatever was currently attached to my leg. Bad move. A flower bud reached towards my face and spewed a cloud of pollen, allowing the chemicals to get into my respiration system.
The next moments felt surreal for me. The warmth on my legs started creeping upwards as my brain started shutting down. My taut limbs started to slack and I feel further into what was starting to feel like the worlds weirdest tug of war. The warmth eventually started getting ground as it had quickly gotten up towards my midsection and continued its crusade of my body. This warmth was odd, it had the intensity of a fire raging against a winter night but it felt subdued, almost like the last goodbyes of spring as it transitioned into summer. The warmth started to caress my face passionately as the vines that held me receded.
