The air exploded around me in the usual burst of red light, and I hit the battlefield mid-roll, dirt flying, wind howling, and something very large and angry roaring in the distance.

  "You tricked me!" I yelled before I’d even fully stood up.

  Kira was already fighting something the size of a barn, all claws and at least a dozen screaming mouths. She ducked under a swiping limb and glanced over her shoulder at me. "Good morning to you, too!"

  I stomped toward her, narrowly avoiding a fireball. “You tricked me into taking a telekinetic hellbeast baby!”

  “Telekinetic? Right, I may have forgotten to mention that,” Kira said, feinting to the left before slamming a glowing fist into the creature’s leg. “Very minor. He’s still just a pup.”

  I sidestepped a jet of acid as it melted a crater in the earth beside me. “He knocked a flowerpot off the shelf just by sneezing. You call that minor?”

  “It was just a flowerpot,” she said innocently, hurling a bolt of lightning into one of the monster’s mouths.

  Another mouth screamed in return—high-pitched and furious. A tail made of bone and black steel whipped toward us, and I barely got a barrier up in time to keep us from being flung across the canyon floor.

  “I’m starting to think whatever made this thing is the same genius making your pet selections.”

  The beast shrieked again, flinging debris in a wide arc. I ducked, cursed, and pulled a barrier of flickering sigils into place just in time.

  Kira grinned as she launched herself skyward in a leap powered by pure magical recklessness. “C’mon, admit it. You like him.”

  “I like being left alone! I like peace and tea and not being dragged into monster fights mid-sentence!”

  Kira landed beside me, panting. “You always show up just in time.”

  I growled and cracked my knuckles. “Because I don’t have a choice.”

  She glanced sideways at me. “So? What’d you name him?”

  “What?”

  “The drakehound. Don’t tell me you haven’t named him.”

  I muttered, “Roku.”

  Kira’s grin widened. “Knew it. You’re attached.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He needed a name. It was that or 'Hey You with the Tail.'”

  “Roku suits him,” she said. “Mysterious. Mischievous. Kind of adorable when he’s not destroying things.”

  I snorted. “Sounds familiar.”

  She winked. “Let’s save the flirting for after we win.”

  I groaned. “This better not take long.”

  Then I turned to face the howling beast and let my magic boil up from deep inside. Roku was probably asleep on Barley's boots again. Hopefully not chewing them. He seemed to think they were a chew toy, a pillow, or both.

  I dropped into a low stance, eyes locking onto the largest of the monster’s mouths as it roared again, blasting the rocks behind me into shards.

  "Kira! What exactly is this thing?"

  "A rift-born amalgam!" she shouted, soaring over a claw swipe. "Twisted by Zerec the Hollow—Devourer of Realms. He’s been corrupting the border realms. This one slipped through. A lot of things have been slipping through lately. Unfortunately, I'm the only hero assigned to Prel."

  Zerec.

  I thought I’d heard that name before. Somewhere.

  Didn’t matter. This wasn’t about old battles or buried histories. Just another summoned mess. Help Kira. Go home. That’s all.

  The creature let out another piercing wail, all its mouths harmonizing into something awful and otherworldly. I didn’t flinch. I stepped forward and raised one hand, willing the sigils into place with practiced precision.

  They spiraled around my palm—bright, crackling, humming with force—before snapping outward like tethered whips. Two of the beast’s limbs locked in place as the bindings constricted. It staggered—only briefly—but long enough for Kira to drive her glowing blade between its armored plates.

  It shrieked. Floundered. But I was already in motion, boots striking scorched earth as I dashed forward and slammed a sigil-enhanced palm into one of its smaller heads.

  The impact collapsed its skull with a wet crunch, sending fragments flying like shattered stone.

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  Kira whistled. “Showoff.”

  “Trying to earn an early dismissal.”

  She twisted mid-air and came down hard, her sword cleaving through what passed for the thing’s spine.

  The monster writhed, then collapsed—half of it unraveling into black mist.

  Kira landed lightly beside me, panting from the effort.

  “We make a good team,” she said.

  I didn’t reply. I was too busy scanning the battlefield, half-expecting another horror to come crawling over the ridge.

  “Zerec’s corruption is spreading,” she muttered. “Third rift-born this week.”

  I crossed my arms. “Sounds like you need a better screening process. Or a wall. A big one.”

  Kira raised a brow. “You really do a great job pretending not to care.”

  “I’m not pretending.”

  She gave me a look.

  A beat passed.

  Then she said, “You’ll still keep showing up.”

  “Only because you keep pulling me in.”

  Her smile was small but satisfied.

  “Ready to go back?”

  “Very.”

  She waved.

  And the world blinked sideways again.

  ***

  I reappeared just outside my house in Graybarrow. Birds chirped. The breeze carried the faint smell of Yuuhi’s latest cookie experiment. And there, sprawled across my porch like he owned it, was Roku.

  He blinked at me slowly, tail thumping once. At least he hadn't set anything on fire. Or levitated it. Yet.

  Oh, please don't tell me they can fly.

  I shuddered at the thought.

  “Barley still watching you?” I muttered.

  A quiet snore from the other side of the porch confirmed it. The kid had fallen asleep halfway through reading aloud from something resembling a self-made 'Becoming a Hero: Apprentice Edition' guide.

  I sighed, cracked my neck, and stepped over both of them to head inside.

  ***

  A few weeks passed.

  In that time, Roku had chewed through two broom handles, accidentally telekinetically launched a crate of Yuuhi’s cookies, and mastered the fine art of sulking when told he couldn’t come inside official meetings.

  Which he always did anyway.

  Roku had grown—not dramatically, but enough that his paws no longer made polite tap-tap noises across the porch and instead thunked with ominous weight. He didn’t bark. Not really. But sometimes, in the middle of the night, I’d hear the faint scrape of his claws and the low hum of shifting objects. Windows opening. Doors nudging. Once, he rearranged my bookshelf by color.

  Barley, of course, was delighted. “He’s practicing mental discipline!” the kid had said, proudly standing next to Roku while the drakehound balanced a teacup on his head.

  I stared. Roku stared back. The cup wobbled but didn’t fall.

  “…What for?”

  “No reason! But it’s cool, right?”

  It was.

  Which annoyed me.

  But the bigger surprise was what didn’t happen.

  No crimson glyphs. No urgent summons. No sarcastic voice mid-battle. Not even a faint magical pulse. For weeks, it was quiet.

  Suspiciously quiet.

  Yuuhi noticed it too. She cornered me one morning while I was trying to pass off paperwork to someone else. “You know she’s probably giving you a break, right?”

  I blinked. “Who?”

  “Kira. Hero girl. Summoner of horned mayors. She hasn’t called you in a while.”

  I frowned. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  Yuuhi smirked. “Liar. You’ve been checking the porch for glyph traces like someone waiting on an overdue package.”

  “…It’s unusual, is all.”

  “She’s probably trying to handle things herself for once. Maybe she figured you needed a rest.”

  I didn’t like that either.

  Roku, meanwhile, had started lingering near the eastern edge of town. Standing still. Watching the mountains.

  Sometimes I joined him. And I’d get that same feeling.

  The glyphs lit the air before I even reached the end of my tea.

  The familiar red hum flared around me, and for once, I didn’t groan. I didn’t roll my eyes. I stood up, adjusted my freshly oiled bracers, and muttered, “Took her long enough.”

  Barley, reading a book upside down on the porch, looked up in shock. “Wait—wait, are you actually excited to get summoned?”

  I shrugged. “Better than paperwork.”

  The magic flared. And I was gone.

  ***

  The red glow faded, and I materialized on my feet.

  I’m getting better at this.

  Above me was a turquoise blue sky. A lazy breeze. No screaming. No monsters. Just Kira, standing there with her arms crossed and an expression that practically screamed mischief.

  I eyed her warily. “This isn’t another trick, is it? Because the last time I was summoned with no danger, I came back with a telekinetic hellbeast who organizes my pantry by color.”

  “Adorable telekinetic hellbeast,” she said, completely unbothered.

  I jabbed a finger at her. “You conned me.”

  “You named him,” she replied smugly.

  I exhaled slowly. “Only because calling him ‘Hey You’ wasn't working.”

  Kira chuckled. “You’re welcome. And no, this isn’t a trick. No monsters. No chaos. Just a favor.”

  “That sounds suspiciously like a setup.”

  She held up her hands. “Look, I’ve been giving you space. There hasn’t been much activity lately—thanks to you, actually. So I figured I’d cash in some goodwill and ask for a different kind of help.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What kind of help?”

  “There’s a royal ball,” she said. “Big palace event. Prel’s upper crust. Political elbow-rubbing. I need someone to go with me who won’t trip over ceremonial protocol or try to duel a duke.”

  I stared. “You summoned me to be your date?”

  “Escort,” she corrected quickly. “Professional. Totally platonic. And there's a very high chance of no killing!”

  “I have dirt in my boots from last week’s amalgam fight.”

  “And now you have time to clean up,” she said with a cheeky smile. “Come on. You’ll hate it slightly less than your last magical council meeting. There will be food. Music. Dancing. Fancy clothes. Possibly a griffin-themed dessert buffet. And you'll get to try cuisine from another world—Prel’s finest. Besides, you earned it. You've been so dedicated to fighting off monsters you even did it in your underwear. Technically, boxers aren’t allowed as part of official ball attire, but if you decide to show up in them again... I won’t mind too much.”

  I scowled. “You’re never letting that go, are you?”

  Kira’s grin turned positively gleeful. “Not a chance. That image is forever burned into my mind now. Do you know how many people would kill to see a summoned warlord show up to battle in boxers covered in constellations?”

  I groaned. “Remind me why I haven’t accidentally incinerated you yet?”

  “Because you secretly like me,” she sing-songed.

  She paused, tilting her head with a teasing grin. "Did you miss me?"

  I squinted at her. “Only when you’re not talking.”

  But a traitorous part of me actually had. This woman was dangerous.

  I turned away before she saw the hint of a smirk tug at my lips. “Fine,” I muttered. “When’s the ball?”

  Kira opened her mouth to answer. “It starts at the third chime after sunset on the fifth moonrise of Prel’s high season.”

  I blinked. “That’s not a time. That’s a riddle.”

  She grinned. “It’s standard for Prel.”

  I rubbed at my forehead. “I’m making Yuuhi figure that out. She probably has a chart. Laminated.”

  Kira chuckled. "Just don’t be late. Not that you could be—I'll summon you. Chocolate griffins wait for no mayor."