Once the beings agree, the Adept receives tattoos, one on each arm, that connect them to their Familiars. Likewise, the Familiars receive a tattoo one their bodies that connect them to their Master. These tattoos allow the Adept to call forth their Familiars and maintain a two-way telepathic link between them.
Very, very rarely, the negotiations necessitate the physical manifestation of one of the Familiar candidates into the Cloister itself. The reasons could be for an exchange of blood, a magically binding oath or even just for confirmation that the Adept is who he looks like. The wards on the Cloister are for precisely this sort of instance, preventing the otherworldly beings from possessing, maiming or otherwise harming the Adept in any way, although they had only been necessary once, about 400 years ago.
Saito massaged his temples as he decided to begin the Rite at once. In the Scroll of Summoning (which was in serious need of an overhaul, in Saito's opinion), it was recommended that the Adept performing the Rite fast before entering the Cloister and meditate for a time on their best qualities, for the negotiations. Saito preferred to be upfront and honest about who he was to people in general and he had decided long ago to do the same with his perspective Familiars.
Besides, no-one fasted these days.
Locking his hands into an intricately shaped handsign, Saito began chanting in Ancient Japanese, invoking the Spirits of the Chamber and the Protection of the Gods upon the endeavour he was about to undertake and so on and so forth.
Slowly and carefully shifting to another handsign, Saito cautiously sent a trickle of mana towards the steadily rotating wheel of talismans and imbued them it the magical energy. Seeing no destabilisation, Saito gradually increased the amount until a steady stream of mana flowed from him to the talismans. The volume and cadence of his chanting grew apace with his mana transfer.
As he came to the end of his chant, he went through eight deliberate and precise handsigns that were accompanied by eight words to seal and complete the spell.
"Rin, pyo, toh, ka, sha, retsu, zai, ZEN!"
A flash of green light temporarily blinded him as he felt the mana streams connecting him to the talismans before him wither and collapse. Once he could see again, he could see that the spinning wheel before him had sped up to the point that he couldn't distinguish the individual talismans.
Slowly, the wheel began to separate into two separate wheels, which made Saito raise an eyebrow in surprise. That wasn't supposed to happen until two beings had been located, which took at least half an hour at the bare minimum. How had it located two beings compatible with him in less than two minutes time?
Saito watched as the two circles of spinning light fully separated from each other. He flinched and shielded his eyes as a searing white light appeared in the centre of both rings.
Gradually, the light dimmed and faded to the point that Saito could safely uncover his eyes, so, taking a deep breath, he did so.
Hiiraga Saito looked into the mirrors of light that revealed to him his prospective Familiars and gulped loudly.
Entrance Hall, Imperial Academy of Onmyōdō
Hiiraga Saito, with a great act of willpower, once again resisted the urge to reach under his coat sleeves and scratch his under-forearms. He knew that despite the fact it would temporarily alleviate the mind-gnawingly irritating itching sensation; the act of scratching his new Familiar Tattoos would only extend the amount of time that they would itch for.
"Frustrating, isn't it?" Tsubaki asked a slight tone of amusement in his voice. Saito grinned a bit as he nodded.
"My advice would be to preoccupy your mind." Tsubaki said, a small smile darting across his face, "The more you are aware of it, the more it itches."
"Arigato, Tsubaki-sensei." Saito said with a small bow.
"Saito-kun, you are no longer my student. If you must call me by an honorific, call me -sempai." Tsubaki said firmly.
"H-Hai…" Saito said nervously. Everyone had been treating him with a weird kind of respect since he emerged from the Cloister of Rituals. In the entire history of the Ministry of Onmyōji, the fastest anyone had ever contracted with both Familiars had been six hours.
Saito had completed his Rite in barely two hours.
"Do you have your assignment yet?" Tsubaki enquired.
"Um…yes." Saito fished out the paper that had his first assignment on it. "Ah, here we are! I'm being assigned to the Yoshida Jinja (Yoshida Shrine)."
Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "You're being sent to a second-rank kampeisha shrine for your first assignment? One within the Old Capital even? Impressive."
Saito shrugged. "It's a big responsibility." Which it was. There were seven ranks of 'official' Shinto Shrines. At the bottom was the three Kokuheisha (National Shrines) of the Third, Second and First Ranks in ascending order. Above those were the Kampeisha (Imperial Shrine) of the Other, Third, Second and First Ranks in ascending order. Most fresh graduates of the Academy were sent to a kokuheisha shrine of the Third Rank and worked their way up the ranks to the kampeisha. The very fact that Saito was being sent straight to the kampeisha, and the second rank on top of that, meant that either the Grandmaster, who recommended graduates to the various temples and shrines, had a lot of faith in him, or someone had specifically requested him.
More curiously, Kyoto was a privileged assignment that carried a lot of prestige, power and responsibility. Only those who were trusted implicitly by the upper echelons of the Ministry were ever allowed back in Kyoto after graduation.
Saito did not know the Grandmaster that well, other than the occasional talk during one of the examinations to attempt to discover why his control of Fire magic was so tenuous. Moreover, he didn't know anyone in the Ministry at all, aside from the staff at the Academy. Saito was an orphan, tested for magic at a young age and whisked away to the Academy without a trace being left behind that he had even existed, so why he had received this assignment boggled him to no end.
He and Tsubaki-Sen- no, Tsubaki-sempai, damn it- were standing in the entrance hall of the Academy, which was the only room in the entire Academy that was modern. It had metal girders, concrete, plaster and wallpaper.
It even had air conditioning.
Saito was dressed in what a normal fifteen year old would wear: blue trousers, a white t-shirt, a blue and white jacket and white shoes. He had a backpack slung over his shoulder that held all of his Onmyōji equipment and freshly issued paraphernalia.
"Now, Saito-kun, before you leave I must warn you to be on your guard." Tsubaki-sempai said seriously, "There have been reports of Black Star agents sighted in Kyoto."
Saito stiffened. Black Star or to give the organisations full name, Heichi Kuroboshi (Juxtaposed Black Star), was a thorn in the side of the Ministry and had been for almost a thousand years. They had been founded by Abe no Seimei's rival, Ashiya Doman, after the man was defeated for the sixth time by Seimei. They sought to supplant the Ministry of Onmyōdō and were willing to do just about anything to accomplish that goal.
Black Star was often rumoured to have a debased version of the Rite of Summoning that captured beings rather than merely contact them. The Black Star operatives would then break the beings and enslave them. Fortunately, the Black Star's Rite of Entrapment (as it was called) was noticeably different from the Onmyōji Rite of Summoning from the perspective of the beings it sought out, so usually only weaker beings were trapped by it.
Saito shuddered slightly. The Black Stars were the antithesis of the Ministry of Onmyōji. The rumour of what a Black Star agent would do to a captured Onmyōji was….too repugnant to think about right now.
"Thank you for the warning." Saito muttered to Tsubaki quietly. His former teacher just nodded back, his face grim.
"Oh!" Tsubaki's eyes widened and he pulled out a small blue rectangle that was slightly larger than his hand and passed it to Saito. "I almost forgot to give you your Teimei (Imperial Order). This will grant you access into the Shrine you are going to, but will then dissolve into ash."
"Arigato." Saito said as he tucked the important piece of paper safely into his jacket's inner pocket, and then looked at the clock. It was a quarter to eleven. "I should get going. I have to be at Yoshida Shrine by two o'clock."
"Ah, indeed." Tsubaki nodded judiciously. "I will empower the Seiman for you."
Saito nodded. "I'll visualise the destination coordinates."
With that, they entered the Room of the Altar of Transport. It sounded like more than it actually was. An altar brings to mind a raised dais and holy icons, of which there were none in the room. Instead, there were five pillars; each coloured one of the original elements used by Abe no Seimei, the Godai (Great Five). The creation of the Academy had been the last time that magic had been used for a grand project, as the fifth element, Kū (Void) had mysteriously vanished.
It hadn't disappeared all at once. After Abe no Seimei had died, the element had stayed strong for another two centuries, during which time the current Academy building had been built. Then, it started gradually weakening until, five centuries after Abe no Seimei's death, the Kū element had simply vanished, sending both the Ministry and the Black Stars into a panic.