Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mouth agape and hands trembling uncontrollably, kheleksul reached out to touch her Elysian. Vaguely, she wondered Exactly what was I afraid of?! In a low voice, she murmered, "Hello, Bete Noire. I'm kheleksul... and I have been your guardian for the past few months."

Carefully lifting the tiny serpent from the altar, kheleksul draped the weak and tired Elysian along her shoulders. Nodding her respect to the Guardian (Goodness, what would've happened if she was not there to oversee these summonings?), she slipped past the large stone doors which separated the summoning cloister from the more frequented rooms of the temple.

The Guardian quickly slid open the door to the chamber, glancing sidelong at the dimly glowing walls. She was rarely nervous, but it had been a while since the last summoning and she was anxious to perform another. Every passing second seemed a strain on the Crystal...

"Come forth, Tara," the wraith beckoned in her airy voice. She did not wait for the summoner to enter before approaching the altar, absently sweeping a cobweb off the stone tree in irritation. The spiders should know better.

As the summoner stepped into the cloister, the runes on the walls vanished, dropping the room into semi-darkness. The only light was now just the faint glow filtering in from behind the curtains. Strangely, the feeling of power also seemed to disappear, leaving the room feeling and looking quite oridinary.

The Guardian tilted her head, but otherwise did not react. "Summoner," she whispered after a moment. "Approach, and place your crystal here, on the mount."

As the crystal settled onto the mount, the summoning circle began its motions. It spun in slow circles around the shard, as if every movement was a great labor. When it neared the altar, it began to flicker and pulse as though there were an opposing force keeping it from touching. A low thrum rolled out of the crystal, vibrating through the floor as the circle pushed lower, flaring to life once before vanishing completely.

The Guardian's eyes became slits as she studied the silent crystal, wondering if something terrible had just occured. Had she failed?

But even as the thoughts took shape in her mind the circle reappeared, splayed in brillant white across the altar. The room seemed to fall away then, the walls shifting through a thousand colors, some that seemed alltogether impossible, until everything was white. That too did not last. The trembling crystal pulsed once, dropping the light again.

The wraith sighed inwardly, cursing the nature of non-elementals. But she sighed again in relief as a small form began to take shape above the crystal.

Floating there, a full half foot taller than normal, was the elysian. Sparks of energy flicked across its ebon skin as the elysian craned its neck toward its summoner, waiting.

The Guardian nodded her approval, secretly casting an amused glance toward the coeurl. She heard the telltale cracks as the crystal splintered behind her, its magic spent. Without saying another word, the wraith gathered the broken pieces and lead the summoner's party out of the chamber.

Behind them, the runes flickered a few times. The walls shimmered into the likeness of a quiet night sky, peaceful and resting.

Onion gave a small squeak and removing his helmet out of a sign of respect he gave a slight nod to the guardian and made his way into the chamber - too say the least he was terribly small in comparison to the 'titanic' features of the room and he certainly felt out of place - the magic resonating from the walls and crystal were completely unrecognisable to him and thus he was completely inexperienced in these matters regardless of what bond he might have had with the crystal.

Goodluck Onion He heard the words of Saevem very faintly and with a smile, determination flashed into his expression and he gave another nod. Nay, if the gate was open then it was time for Aversham to make himself known...in this form not even Dune could harm him.

"Ready." He announced.

Onion wobbled briefly under the weight of the crystal, but with a small grunt of effort her slowly but surely waddled towards the 'tall' mount opposite him. Granted he was forced to walk in a 'side-step' so that he was able to see but he made suitably good progress despite the fact that he was still trying to remove the tingling sensation from his legs that the Guardian's assistance had caused.

"Nearly there, Aversham." He murmured in a strained voice and then at last he was there, standing just a few inches away from the mount he took a deep breath and with a small yell of effort he switched the grip of the crystal so that he was supporting it at the base and with one last 'titanic' push he managed to slide it up onto the mount itself.

The crystal seemed to wobble for a time, unstable due to the manner in which it had been lifted and set yet after a time it seemed to regain its centre of balance and gave another brief ripple of heat from its epicentre - with that it was completely still.

"There." Onion puffed as he buffed his helmet and took a few step backwards to get a better look at the crystal upon the pedestal.

//OMFG - *Dies repeatedly* O_O <3

Aversham's wise eyes remained planted on the small familiar, patient and otherwise encouraging despite his lack of words he seemed to be willing the small familiar to at least attempt to extend a hand to him so that he might at least stand a chance of connecting to his anchor - even with such a connection he could then will himself to pass through with the help of his familiar.

"Alright - tally ho!" Onion announced despite the shock his mind was currently enduring, he briefly adjusted the metal plates on his arms and then extended his tiny hand to clasp it around Aversham's extended wing - a deep breath and then with a 'roar' of effort he began to pull backwards.

"It's time Aversham!" He continued, straining to tuck at the ethereal form until at last his gloved hands began to meet with soft feathers, real feathers - warm to the touch and most definately solid.

His expression one of absolute conversation, the delicate firebird appeared to be concentrating all his spared strengths in extending his form so that the tiny familiar could stand a chance of being an anchor despite being his summoner - words could not describe his relief when he at last felt the pressure of fingers against feather and his world became that of sound - that of life.

"Aversham!" Onion breathed as he lessened his grasp in case he harmed the bird (despite this being otherwise impossible). Admiring the coloured feathers as the bird took the opportunity to admire his plummage and then seemed to frown once more.

"I am awfully small." He observed distastefully.