"AHHHHH SHIT!" Griffin screamed and swung at the lions tearing him to pieces.
Only they weren't looming over him anymore.
And he wasn't in an enclosure of grass and stone under morning sunlight. He was in a massive forest surrounded by trees so tall it made him nauseous.
It was while looking at the trees that a massive scaled shape flew overhead, splashing him in shadows.
He gasped.
"…Are you kidding?" A voice said.
Griffin was taken back to the ground where he found three individuals standing in front of him.
Weird individuals.
"Don't bring negativity here!" The oldest of them— Griffin guessed by the large grey beard and wrinkly skin, was wearing what looked like knights armor with a cloak of crocodile scales. He used a broadsword as a cane.
"Negativity? Ahrthor, we just sacrificed ourselves to summon this sunburnt welp? He's a pussy!"
Griffin would've stopped at the sunburnt and pussy comment but he was more amazed by another fact.
Her hair was a coiled nappy mess of brown curls. Her skin was sunkissed and covered in unique tattooed sigils that shifted like water. But most importantly, she had ram horns and ears like an…
"Elf…"
"Good. He's accustomed to the races of Terra. Perhaps his world housed similar beings."
Griffin looked to the last individual. Another man, only he was short— barely five feet tall, and stocky with four arms, pure white eyes and a massive nose with scraggly hair coming out of it. He wore torn up overalls and the skin of his shoulders, elbows and knuckles looked almost like skin turning to stone.
Griffin swallowed.
The tall knightly old man named Ahrthor leaned forward on his sword as he spoke to Griffin, "Is that correct, o' summoned hero—"
"Stop talking like that, jackass." The elf spat and pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation.
"That's it. I'm dead….. I died and I'm in an infinite dream." Griffin put a hand over his mouth in disbeleif.
"No! You're not dead, but my brother is." The elf snarled. Her eyes watered.
"…what?" Griffin asked.
She pointed at the ground, "You're laying in him, asshole."
Griffin looked down at the ground.
He sat on a stone plataue. It was old, he could see the outlines where moss and vines once covered it. Sigils glowed and steamed in the silver and gold bordering. But more importantly, Griffin sat in the bones of a massive lion.
He was petrified. Memories of the lions in the zoo flashed across his shaken mind. For a moment, he felt the claws again, slicing past his skin and crushing his bone. He felt the rough paws pressing him into the grass that warmed with the flow of his blood.
"What is your name, young man?" Ahrthor asked.
Griffin took a deep breath, and somehow returned to his fantastical present moment.
"….Griffin."
Ahrthor smiled, "This may sound foolish to say, since we brought you here, but I think you are right where you're supposed to be."
"…and where is that?" Griffin asked.
"You're on Terra." Ahrthor said as he raised his cane sword up to the sun, it shined, showing the rust and cracks. "And you stand before what remains of The Grand Enclave of Heroic Figures in Hellish Times."
"We go by GEHFHT." The four armed short man-thing said.
"No the fuck we don't." The elf said angrily.
Griffin looked at them all.
"Was your means of reaching this world pleasant? I believe I did the summoning spell correctly. My great grandmother was the greatest Mage of her time. Much of her Arcane Intuition was passed down to me so I know the summoning spell like the back of my palm. Your beloved cat should've died. And upon her death an essence should've filled you—"
"I was mauled by lions." Griffin interrupted.
They all looked at Ahrthor.
The Elf snarled, "You fucked up the summoning ritual! This is why you don't use a child to try and save the world!"
"I'm not a child anymore after the aging magic, Razira! Stop treating me as such. Our sacrifices have elevated me to the magic of the Elders." Ahrthor said.
"Elders don't fuck up summonings. That's how we got in this mess in the first place…. JACKASS!" Razira slapped Ahrthor.
Ahrthor turned back around and slapped her back.
Griffin felt his insides shrink as Razira growled.
The four armed man with stonish skin calmly walked behind Ahrthor and stood between them. He rubbed his rocky knuckles together and glowing silver essence shavings fell into the grass. From there, stone walls rose, sectioning off the two bickering beings.
"Griffin." The four-armed man said. "It sounds like we've made some mistakes. It sounds like you were brought here under less than favorable means. Where I come from, there's a saying for this. You're stuck between a rock and a hard place."
Griffin nodded.
"Choose the rock everytime. You know the rock. The hard place could be a dragons taint. That's way worse." The man held out one of his four arms.
Griffin hesitantly took it to stand.
"At least your tall." Razira said.
Griffin looked back down at the bones of the giant lion on the ground.
"So…. I'm not on earth— or …. My earth. I'm on Terra."
They nodded.
"I was summoned here by The Great Enclave of Heroes…."
"Grand." Ahrthor correct. "Grand Enclave of Heroic Figures in He—."
"Grand Enclave of Fucking Idiots." Razira said.
"Did you just learn how to cuss?" Griffin asked.
Razira sneered silently at him.
"….you summoned me here using a spell…. That your grandma taught you…." Griffin said.
"Ohh… I like that abbreviation. Grandma. Also, no. It was a Mage Scroll. Like…. she had it and I just grabbed it and followed the instructions." Ahrthor said while he used his hands to physically mime opening a scroll.
"Why?" Griffin asked.
"Huh?"
"Why did you summon me?"
Ahrthor turned to the four armed man, "Greyne?"
Greyne stroked his beared, "The world is sick. The disease is multiplying and crossbreeding and soon it'll be all there is. Dark and evil and—"
"Demons." Razira interrupted, finally not sounding cartoonishly angry. "One thousand years ago, the worlds greatest Mage lost his wife. He was convinced she was summoned to another world by mistake. I think he was insane. He tried to get her back and mistakenly opened a rift to The Demon Realm. They haven't let it close for long since. They like our world. They like what they can do to it. We don't. But our fighting chance is next to zero these days."
"Huh….. you explained that a lot better." Greyne said.
"So…..what do you want me to do?" Griffin asked.
Razira rolled her eyes, "Well, if Ahrthor had done the summoning correctly, we would've summoned a lionhearted warrior of legend who had the skills and tools to make use of our gifts. But it's over now. My brother…. We all risked our lives for nothing."
Greyne mumbled, "Rock and a hard place…."
Ahrthor gasped as he looked down at his hand. It was turning into sunlight.
"We're out of time." Razira said.
"What?" Griffin asked, "Time for what? You can't just leave me like this!"
"No choice. We traded our lives for yours." Razira said.
"What the f— what kind of Hail Mary is that?!" Griffin asked.
Ahrthor leaned forward to speak to Griffin. His thick grey eyebrows raised, revealing youthful blue eyes, "What kind of warrior were you on your world, Griffin?"
"I wasn't. I was a zookeeper."
"What is that?" Ahrthor asked as more of his hand turned to burning sunlight.
"I worked with animals."
"Ah. A Beast-Tamer.
"No."
Razira started to pray. Her horns burned away, creating an incredibly religious visual.
"It's funny." Ahrthor said, "Despite my mistakes with the spell, you haven't asked how to return home. You haven't spoken about missing someone. I bet you don't."
Greyne nodded.
"The first sign of a successful Summon. A willingness to remain." Ahrthor said with a smile.
Griffin watched them all burst into focused balls of iridescent sunlight with each of their own unique secondary glimmers.
"You said you were a beast-tamer?" Ahrthor asked as a ball of sunlight.
Harsh winds spun around the small suns like they were becoming actual stars with their own gravitational pull.
"Zookeeper." Griffin said as he held a hand up to block the debris.
"Either way, Griffin The Grand, use your gifts. This world is full of beasts, and as the Legendary Lion Mage, it's your job to rule them all. Or DemonKind will. Your choice."
The triplet of small suns spun in a blinding vortex and smashed into Griffin, knocking him off his feet in an explosion of fire and violent winds that knocked him unconcious.
Unconcious in a brand new world.