Johannes Volkner bid farewell to Earth for what might have been the last time, as he looked down to the paper in his hand. Spirit Caller candidate 015, highly rated aptitude with the classification of Gevurah Spirits. As he entered the sleek, metallic pod, sleep took him nearly in an instant. He did not awaken until a 'click' sounded, signaling the docking with the Heliopolis station. Eyes open, he realized there was no turning back as he instinctively dusted off his coat, despite the utter lack of such debris in his too-sterile new environment. Exiting the pod, the gravity was surprisingly normal, as if he had never left Earth at all - no doubt artificially generated with some form of magic.

  An authoritarian yet feminine voice rang out over the intercom, and he could recognize it immediately. Director Marianne Solar, the woman he had gone through for his final security check-ins. 'All new Spirit Caller candidates are to proceed to room twelve-B, as portrayed in the diagram.' Though he had memorized those diagrams as expected of new hires, finding his way around the sleek, white hallways seemed like an altogether different task. The just-slightly-too-bright lighting and sanitized interior of the station made him feel less like he was on the moon, and more like he was inside a hospital. Still, soon enough he had reached the room in question, and the door slid open as if expecting him already. Inside were a tall, gaunt man with fair skin and a graying, thick beard, and a young woman with slightly swarthier skin.

  For many seconds, they seemed not to notice him, discussing fine details of some variety of construction, as it dawned on Johannes just why these two registered to his senses rather differently. He could not be sure about the woman, but the man was not human - Indeed, after having a time to look the man over, his presence was unearthly, and Johannes quickly rationalized that this was how it felt to be in the presence of a Spirit. He cleared his throat, and the woman said that she would be 'taking her leave', before seemingly winking out of existence entirely.

  The man looked at Johannes and nodded once. "Good, good. It seems we have at least one candidate today capable of reaching the onboarding operation unaided. It's possible that not all of you will be utter failures." Snide comments aside, Johannes took a seat when the man indicated towards a nearby chair with his hand. He knew what was going to come next, implantation of magical circuitry within his arm. The Spirit casually walked over, preparing an array of devices that seemed more for engineering or construction than for surgery, and for a brief moment Johannes considered how hard it may be to fight his way back to the pod and try to find some way to send it back. Of course, such flights of fantasy were not really possible, and even if he were to succeed, he would have nowhere to go. Every magical academia of repute had no reason to take him, and he needed to make something of himself. That was the only remaining way that he might be able to help Jessica.

  Once the process began, it was surprisingly painless, though Johannes dare not look at his arm as it was being implemented. Instead, he decided it might be best to start conversation with his would-be surgeon. "So, as a Spirit connected with Heliopolis, what classification are you in?" The man simply chuckled.

  "It seems that you're as competent as you at first appeared. I was summoned within the Da'at classification, but given that I won't be seeing direct combat, you can simply know me by my name. I am Daedalus, and it's pleasing to meet the acquaintance of a Spirit Caller who may actually have the intelligence to survive more than the time required to implant the command array."

  Johannes wasn't sure whether to blush with pride, or be sincerely worried for the capabilities of his peers. "Johannes Volkner. Candidate fifteen. I hope that we can work together well, Daedalus." Daedalus gave no indication that he was going to continue the conversation, instead offering only a slight nod as Johannes felt a warm, unfamiliar thrum pulse through his right arm. No doubt that was the connection of the command array, the biological device that would allow him to pour the stockpiled magical energy directly through a contract and into a Spirit, should he need to force them to listen to his command.

  The idea of that sent a chill up his spine. While he understood that Spirits were no longer human, and in many cases had never been human, the concept of magic that could force the body to do something against the wishes of the mind had never sat well with him. He was all too aware that runes could perform very similar effects, and indeed in many myths and even more modern stories, had done exactly that, but he found that he could only separate the two, both because runes were all that he had known on a personal level and because runes could do so much more and be such a more helpful force.

  With the implantation done, he looked up to Daedalus. "So, if the perception link array is installed before we arrive, why is the command array installed after?" Daedalus's brows raised in surprise, as if Johannes had taken him entirely off guard with the question.

  "Isn't it obvious? The command array is actually worth enough that we don't want to risk some fool trying to escape with one."

  ...He didn't know what to say to that.

  With a light cough, he moved on, getting out of the chair and looking over his arm. The lines of the magical circuitry within it were definitively visible, tracing thin symbols up and down his arm, but he tugged his coat down to hide most of it. In time, he would get used to how it looked, and maybe the itching sensation it had since implementation as well.

  "In any case, I suppose that I'm off to perform a summoning and finish orientation before my first shift begins?" Daedalus simply nodded. "That's correct, though you could stand to lose the yes-man approach. Summoning chambers one through three are in current usage, though summoning chambers four, five and six are still inactive." With a groan, Johannes stretched before heading for the entrance he had taken to the room, not bothering to say goodbye given that Daedalus was likely to only take further offense at it. A proper Bound Spirit required a physical vessel, and a spiritual means to call it, though both of those had been taken care of by senior staff. It wasn't that most of the, for lack of a better term, 'investigative force' Callers weren't capable of performing one or both means themselves, but to ensure little disparity in the Spirits summoned. Given that the magic used to build the vessel housing a Spirit helped to determine their attributes, whoever, or whatever he summoned would no doubt fall into the Kabbalistic classification scheme, named for the various attributes of the Sefirot.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  While thinking on what options this might lead to, Johannes found himself bumping into a similarly bespectacled young man, nearly falling to the ground from the impact. Curiously enough, the man was just slightly shorter than him, but didn't even budge when they collided, just looking back and offering a hand down.

  "Hey, sorry about that. I was busy... Thinking about something." Johannes took the hand up, but he couldn't help but notice several things about the man's appearance in that moment. The two had similar blue eyes at first glance, but the stranger's eyes seemed to shimmer and take in everything they looked upon, almost like a star far above the world. Moreover, this presumed-coworker of his had bright, grey hair, almost similar to that of a man three or four times his own age. Given the marks on his arm, he quickly surmised that this young man was a fellow Caller.

  "Thanks, I was just on my way to perform my summoning. Er, I'm candidate fifteen, Johannes. It's good to meet you." Despite the somewhat awkward introduction, the man seemed not to worry at all. "Wilhelm Seth, candidate twelve."

  And yet, those few words petrified him. Not the fact that Wilhelm was three ranks above him, which was already impressive -- Rather, it was his surname, Seth, that had caught his attention. "Ah, Seth as in--" A light warning echoed through his head. The gift he'd been given since birth, always steering him towards the right course of action in some fashion. His 'Flash of Inspiration' as he liked to call it. He shouldn't say what he was originally going to, instead it would be better to divert. Bringing up his likely father would only sour their relationship.

  "Like that famous movie star, right?" Wilhelm's eyes lit up, as if Johannes had said something perfect. Strange, did Flash of Inspiration accidentally steer him into a conversation topic even beyond what he meant?

  "I'm surprised to meet a fan here, you know? My movies are pretty niche, I wasn't expecting to meet anybody who had seen anything I was in." Ah. So that was what he'd accidentally implied, rather than comparing him to a movie star. But this guy didn't really look the part of an actor at all, did he?

  "As great as it is to meet you, I do still have to perform my summoning, you know. I don't exactly want to keep the higher ups waiting." Johannes offered a slight smile as he exited the conversation as quickly as possible, before heading to the fourth summoning chamber, the scrolling yellow text above the doorway confirming the location for him.

  Opening the reinforced blast door, a slight chill ran down his spine. The materials felt off to the touch, no doubt magically warded in some way or another. It gave him the feeling that however this summoning went, he was about to risk a lot. In the center of the heavily armored, sterile room was a single tall, clay doll. Vaguely humanoid in shape, but it was completely androgynous. Johannes quickly recognized that it would be the vessel into which the Spirit was summoned. Underneath it, sprawling across nearly half the room's length, was an absurdly complicated circle that he could barely even recognize the style of, much less the individual components. What he did know, was that this was a kabalistic sealing circle. All of the hard parts were done for prospective Callers in advance, lest they be incapable of performing such actions themselves, as many of them were hired due to compatibility and a decent magical energy pool rather than their individual skill at magic.

  Kneeling at the circle, Johannes closed his eyes and focused, feeling out his magical energy. The large, churning pool was like a small lake within him, and he allowed it to pour, through his arm and twisting as if pulled along by an unseen current. Some mages viewed reserves as being like electricity, or heat, but the most common and basic mental image was that of a large pool of water. That metaphysical water began to sweep up the circle in its wake, suffusing it, as Johannes began his chant to help focus the spell and his mind into a single point, saltpeter crackling with every ebb and flow of his energy.

  "O Spirit that lurks in the world beyond.

  You who are deceased and yet kept alive by word of mouth.

  I beseech you to return once more to this world.

  I beseech you to return once more to the life you lived.

  To return, to stand, and to fight on for the sake of your fellow man."

  By now, the coursing energy had suffused the clay doll, coating it with a flush of characteristic bright blue. Not the color of magical energy itself, much as light or sound had no one color, neither did magical energy. But rather, the color of magical energy that had interfaced with a solid, physical conduit.

  "...O Spirit that lurks in the depths beyond.

  You who are known and yet kept unknown by lack of word.

  I request you to work once more in this world.

  I request you to work once more under the hand of someone else.

  To arrive, to toil, and to strive on for the sake of your fellow man."

  With the chant finished, looking up, Johannes could see that the appearance of the doll had changed! Really, truly, it had worked! Though, he found himself glad for the light shawls thrown over the vessels for modesty's sake, the Spirit in question appeared to be a young woman with long brown hair, and brown eyes. Her first words took him entirely off guard.

  "Good day, then! Jill Harris, pleasure to meet you!"

  ...Besides the admittedly amusing British accent, Johannes had no idea who this woman was supposed to be! She was no legendary hero, no King Arthur or Heracles or even a Shakespeare or Yoshitsune! Had he managed to accidentally summon some complete nobody? He could feel through the bond created by the contract of the seal, she was of the Gevurah classification linked to the aspect of Af, but he couldn't see any anger, strength, or discipline emanating from her. This had to be some sort of mistake, right?!