The next morning...
*Knock, knock, knock.*
The sound pierced through Ryder's sleep with annoying intensity, dragging him from the depths of unconsciousness where he'd been reliving his encounter with Hollow and the Dracogon for the third time that night.
His eyes opened with an annoying look on his face, adjusting instantly to the morning light streaming through the window.
"Ryder?" his mother's voice came from downstairs, tinged with concern. "Are you expecting someone?"
He wasn't. In fact, the last thing he wanted was visitors. After yesterday's emotional moment with his parents and the realization that his life had changed forever, he'd been hoping for at least one quiet morning to process everything.
Besides, he never really had someone he could call a friend.
Dragging himself out of bed, Ryder caught his reflection in the small mirror by his dresser and nearly jumped.
His white hair had gained a striking contrast, and his pupils had become blood red.
His appearance hadn't changed too drastically; however, these little changes had done something significant.
Even in his disheveled state, he looked like someone who could attract attention.
Flexing his arm, he realized they were ripped with muscles not so tight it looked like they would rip his skin. "Waw."
'Well, would you look at that,' Luxy's voice echoed in his mind, taunting. 'The great demon contractor can't even manage his own bedhead.'
"Shut up," Ryder muttered under his breath, running his fingers through his hair in a futile attempt to sleep it. "It's not about my bedhead; everything about me has been upgraded."
'Oh, you acknowledge how much I have changed your life by simply binding with you.' Ryder could picture Luxy exhaling visibly as he spoke. 'I wouldn't mind your praises—bring them on.'
Despite everything, Ryder found himself smiling. Having Luxy's constant commentary in his head was like having a sarcastic best friend who never left... or rather, who could never leave.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
The knocking came again, more insistent this time and Ryder walked towards the door.
The moment he opened it, the morning sunlight momentarily blinded him, but his enhanced vision quickly adjusted, revealing a sight that made his blood run cold tge next instant.
Standing before him was a troop of men dressed in identical uniforms that practically screamed military.
The fabric they wore were navy blue that was so dark it was almost black, lined with very visible gold threading.
"This uniform—I recognize it," Ryder said aloud. It was the uniform of the Federal Summoner Guild, owned by the federal government of his own country.
That aside, it wasn't the uniforms that made Ryder's heart skip a beat, it was the stars.
Three golden star slots adorned each shoulder of every single man, with the exception of the man leading the troupe, who stood slightly ahead of the group with six stars.
This wasn't usually referred to as a guild but more like a police force more suitable for handling summoning related crimes.
On planet Terra, there are major security forces like the police, soldiers, and an extra force know as FSG, which stands for Federal Summoner Guild.
They were the strongest, because it was an association made up solely of summoners—not just random summoners, but the strongest, smartest, most valuable ones.
Made up of only orange and red marked individual.
Knowing about star rankings was fundamental knowledge for every individual. However, Ryder had rarely ever heard of an officer with six stars.
One star represents a junior officer, two stars represent a senior officer, and three stars represent an advanced summoner.
As fur six, information like that wasn't even thought in school so Ryder had no exact gauge for him, but regardless he knew the man was trouble.
"Good day, sir. I am Lucian, the commander of FSG division 77."
"We are officers from FSG and we wish to have a word with you. Can you please come with us?" The commander spoke in a tone that made everything he said sound more like an order than a request.
Ryder stared for fleeting moment puzzled, and eventually broke the silence with a completely unrelated statement. "You can come in if you want."
"It seems like you still do not understand the code of the FSG," the commander spoke as he narrowed his eyes, his voice slower this time. "When we wish to have a word with you, we want to do so at our base. We want you to come with us."
Ryder was a bit hesitant.
I mean, every instinct he'd developed over his eighteen years of life was telling him that going anywhere with these people was a bad idea, but he really didn't have a choice.
And he didn't even freaking know why officers were looking for him.
"I'd rather prefer if you give me some idea of what exactly you want me for. I cannot come with you cluelessly, you know."
"Do you have any idea who we are? We are officers backed by the federal government." Commander Lucian's voice rose in annoyance. "We do not present our requests as questions but as orders that require no objections."
"Everything necessary will be explained to you at our base. Come with us now, or I am sorry, but we might have to resort to violence."
'You know,' Luxy mused in his mind, 'this is the part where most people would wet themselves and comply immediately. But we're not most people, are we?'
No. They weren't.
A slow smile spread across Ryder's face—not the nervous one he might have worn just a day ago, but something more prideful.
"Oh my, such a cocky attitude toward the most recent possessor of the strongest familiar in this modern age." Ryder stretched his arms above his head with casualness, making sure the movement displayed his muscle that had seemingly appeared overnight.
"I am pretty sure you are aware of that. Why else would officer be at my doorstep if not. Shesh, news truly travel fast."
'Aware of that? The sole reason why we are here is because of that,' Lucian thought inwardly, clenching his fist. 'And the sole reason why we are still chatting instead of restraining you is because we are afraid.'
"With my current power level and familiar," Ryder continued, his voice carrying new confidence, "shouldn't you all have been on your knees, begging?"
'Hey, chill dude.' Luxy's voice suddenly cut through Ryder's growing confidence like a bucket of cold water. 'I appreciate the whole 'confident badass' composure you are trying to prove with my copied capability, but don't get carried away.'
'Chill! Why should I chill with people threatening me? I hate bullshit,' Ryder responded back internally to Luxy.
'I've lived my life mostly in my room, away from others on purpose. Not because I am an introvert, but because I know how crazy I can be sometimes.'
'Back then, I'd rather stay at home during my leisure time because I was not a summoner, and outside there are countless cocky summoners. If they piss me off, I'll retaliate, and I could get myself hospitalized.'
'Now I have the power, I will not fall back and watch myself being ordered around.'
All of my crappy lifestyle is in the past now. A gust of wind blew past, and simultaneously, all the FSG members dropped to the ground on one knee.
"We beg of you, greatest one," Commander Lucian's voice came out strained, as if the words were being pulled from him against his will.
"Please, we would like to take a bit of your time if only you approve of us. We apologize for our rudeness toward you earlier. Please, do you permit us to take some of your time?"
Ryder smiled in satisfied silence, purposely taking his time to stare at the summoners on their knee before responding. "Yes, you may."
"Cloud Wyvern." Lucian eyes glowed. "I summon you."
A thick red fog erupted from Lucian's left shoulder, billowing and coiling, and shortly later materialized into a tangible creature.
"We will be traveling with that," Lucian stated. "It is my wyvern familiar."
The wyvern lowered itself, allowing the humans to climb aboard. Ryder noticed that despite its fearsome appearance, it was absolutely obedient.
And he knew with quite some certainty despite not having contracted Luxy for too long, there was no way Luxy would tolerate something so undignified.
With that, they set out into the cloud.
The flight was quick and peaceful.
Then the FSG base came into view in less than a minute. Landing platforms elevated within the base, designed to accommodate familiars of all sizes, were in view as the wyvern descended with gentleness onto one of the larger platforms, folding its wings afterward.
After a long march through pristine corridors, they finally reached their destination.
They all directed Ryder into a room particularly at the back of the base.
The room was a vast white space and a figure sat, with interlocked fingers and a serious expression.
There was a table demarcating the space between her and a vacant chair positioned to face hers.
The woman looked to be in her thirties, with stoic, seemingly unshakable composure.
Her dark hair was pulled back in a severe bun and her uniform was just like the others, however, with no slot for stars.
Just upon Ryder's entrance, her seemingly unshakable composure broke as she was taken aback slightly.
It wasn't Ryder himself that fazed her, Ryder realized. It was the soldiers.
She had clearly expected Ryder to be brought in under very different circumstances.
She had anticipated him in restraints, being escorted by officers, possibly roughed up during transport to establish dominance.
Instead, he walked in like royalty with a trailing escort of elite officers beside him.
Hey there lady. Ryder smirked as he fell on tge vacnt chair, stretching his legs forward and resting his feet on the expensive-looking table between them.
The lady who was sitting there—Elena, according to the nameplate on her desk—watched this display with sincere bewilderment.
Her eyes twitched as she raised her head toward the officers, clearly expecting one of them to restore proper order.
However, they didn't move an inch.
They stood at attention like statues, their eyes forward, their expressions suggesting that Ryder's behavior was, in fact, acceptable and expected.
Her eyes then fell on Commander Lucian, who was standing in the midst of the others, surprising her even more, and Ryder could see her shock increase exponentially.
Commander Lucian ranked among the top summoners in the entire country. Sometimes, he was even given the privilege to attend to the federal government in one-on-one meetings, which were live-streamed and he didn't have a voice here...
Just what the hell had gone on between this young man and these FSG officers?
"Are you going to quit staring around and say something?" Ryder's voice cut through the silence with casualness and a smirk. "I'm beginning to feel bored."
"R-right," Elena stuttered then she quickly took out her pen and flicked through the pages of one of the files on the table.
"What is your name, please?"
"Ryder."
"Age?"
"18."
"What is the color of your mark?"
"Black."
With that, she dropped the file on the table after inputting the details.
Elena raised her hand upward and double-clapped; the sound echoed through the vast space way too loud and then the door of the roo opened immediately.
Two figures stepped into the office.
Ryder turned his head to stare at them.
"This is Kyle and Lucas," Elena said, gesturing to the identical-looking men, "the two who guided you in the conjuring room into contracting your familiar."
'These are the Gloomy Guses from the conjuring room!' Ryder thought inwardly as his eyes widen.
Seeing them again brought back memories of that terrifying platform, the purple energy, and the moment when his consciousness had been yanked from his body and hurled into the Astral Shadow Plain.
Ryder stared at them for a while, carefully observing their faces. He had never seen their features before, back then, they had both worn cloaks that hid everything except a small portion of their faces.
Now, properly light, they looked surprisingly ordinary for men who had appeared so spooky back then.
Kyle and Lucas didn't appear much different from each other; they looked almost like twins.
Their brown hair was combed in the same style, their eyes were both oddly slanted, and all their other features were ordinary.
"Ryder," Elena continued, her voice taking on the formal tone of official procedure, "a direct message had been sent to us that you contracted a black mark beast from the Astral Shadow Plain.
This is something that we unfortunately find hard to believe, which is why we brought you here for proper interrogation."
Stretching her hand toward a device in front of her, Elena then activated it. It was a small, oval-shaped technological device glowing with blue light
"You see this over here, it is a recording device and a lie detector," Elena explained. "There have been several cases where people make false claims about contracting beasts from black mark planes and all that, which is why this interrogation is necessary."
"Thanks to this lie detector and recorder, we will have no problem conducting a thorough interrogation among the three of us."
"So I will begin with the questions. Ryder, tell me, when did you visit the conjuring room for the contract?"
"It should be early in the morning, yesterday," Ryder responded, still maintaining his carefree composure.
Turning toward the identical duo, Elena questioned, "When he came into the conjuring room, what was the color of his mark?"
"It was black," Lucas responded.
"After your soul returned from the Astral Shadow Plain, what was the first thing you did? Did you hurt or kill anybody?" Elena, once again, directed the question to Ryder.
"I never killed anybody, but I noticed something strange that happened due to my presence." Ryder turned toward the identical duo.
Right now, everything that Ryder was about to say wasn't something from him but was something dictated in his mind by Luxy.
"I noticed..."