A group of twelve mages was standing in a circle, all of them simultaneously chanting the same lines.

“Summa rerum, ya lye habet an attendentes en´. Le do thoil, dare lye autem créatúr quod is féidir troid!

Multis íobairtí, a' lle, si opus. Lye toiligh brien bronntanais honores.

Summa rerum, ya lye habet an attendentes en´. Lle tá summa rerum!”

They chanted the lines over and over, while still holding their hands towards a floating crystal ball. The ball itself grew brighter and brighter, with each word uttered. After a long while, the mages had to close their eyes and look away, for fear of being permanently blinded by the glow.

They didn't have to wait for long, though.

The crystal ball´s brightness stopped, and with its absence, came the sound of a body hitting the floor.

The mages turned towards the crystal ball. Or, should I say, where it was supposed to be. Instead of the round crystal ball, was instead a heavily burned male body.

“What is this?”, one of the mages muttered, just loudly enough for the others to hear.

Maybe it had answered their call? Maybe, this was precisely what they asked for?

“Somebody, go and check if it's alive, but be careful. It may be a shapeshifter”, another mage said.

A servant that had been observing the mages quickly stepped forwards and began taking careful steps towards the presumed corpse. While the servant was doing so, each mage was preparing to blow it and the servant up. Only if necessary, of course.

The servant slightly pokes the body, before quickly taking three steps back. Seeing no reaction he does it again, this time harder. Again, seeing no reaction, the servant deems it safe enough to touch.

The burned body, that seems to be male, was lying on its stomach, making it hard to see the facial features. Because of that, the servant quickly moves it on its back instead.

Still, no reaction. Just a very softly breathing, burned, male body.

“It seems safe, sires”, the servants softly speaks.

“Indeed it does”, one of the mages says, while beginning to look over at one of the other mages. “Mage Aphi, Would you be so kind, to verify?”

“Sure”, Mage Aphi said, in a distinctly female voice.

She stepped over to the body, and took out her hand towards it, while softly chanting.

“Revelare mani tá sé folaithe”, she softly chants once.

The body lights up, glowing blue, for just a second, before the glow quickly faded to nothingness.

Mage Aphi stood still for a moment, searching through the received information.

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary. Just a regular human. Does have talent, though”, she tells the others.

The other mages were quiet, after that description. Just a regular human? It seemed more and more likely that the ritual had failed them. Maybe they were not specific enough. Maybe the supreme being, that answered their call, misunderstood?

“Seems we have to try again, in a couple of months. Do any of you see other options?”, one of the mages said.

“We, unfortunately, cannot do that, Arolin. We took a big chance doing this once. If we do it twice, hell will, almost certainly, rain down upon us by the other clans. While there is a chance that the supreme being misunderstood our call, we have to stay positive. Maybe there is something to this man that could prove very useful”, one of the mages said.

Mage Arolin sighed with that.

“I really hope you're right, Jakob. If not, we might be signing our death sentence early”, Mage Arolin said.

I do too, was the collective thought process from the rest of the group.

After the discussion was over, the burned male was taken to the infirmary. He was treated from the many burns on his body, and damage to his lungs. After the damage was repaired, the male was taken to one of the highly secure rooms, where he could rest for a while.

Trough this whole process, it had been decided, among the mages, that one of them needed to constantly be with the mage, in the unlikely event that he would wake up. After a vote, it became Mage Aphi would be the overseer. She was the most proficient in transformation among them and had altered her body to be able to stay awake for longer periods of time. That meant that she was the best candidate for this job.

After two days of observing the one summoned, she, along with the other mages, was beginning to grow anxious. When will he wake up? Will he wake up? Questions like this riddle their minds, growing ever bigger, as time went on.

That is, until the fourth day. On that day, the first sign of movement finally appeared. A single eye twitch, quickly being followed by many others.

The mages were overjoyed. Some of them even had tears when they heard the news.

So, there was a chance for them, after all.

My body hurt everywhere. I could feel my muscles twitching in pain, along with my bones grinding against each other. Honestly, it just felt as if nothing didn't hurt. It felt as if I had…

Oh, yeah… I have done that.

´Yes, you have! Welcome back! We've totally missed you´, I hear a sweet voice tell me.

´We have?´, a voice asks. This one sounding liking a young boy.

´Definitely´, the sweet voice tell the young boy.

Of course. Couldn't forget about them. The reason I even wanted to.

Where am I even?

I open my eyes and is very surprised by the sight that greets me.