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It was a quiet night at the library. The large building was dimly lit by sparse lights hanging from the high ceiling and the large windows let moonlight shine in. But it didn't help much with illuminating the expansive library, whose nearly three story tall shelves cast shadows that the lights couldn't breach. The old green carpet and grey stone brick walls only added to the atmosphere, making the library feel almost haunted.

Although one could say it was, given who was watching over the library that night. A mismagius, wearing a gold monocle and a cloak of ever shifting hues of purple and blue, stood at a wooden table near the back of the library under the section labeled as magic. His name was Logos, a librarian who worked part time in the large building. The ghost was busy poring over a thick tome under lamplight, strange runes and writing covering the pages. Letting out a soft hum of understanding and grabbing a container of ink, he headed over to a spacious section of the building nearby. The hardwood floor here was covered in a large intricate circle of ink with twisting runes around and inside it.

Standing at the edge of this circle, Logos bends down and draws on a few more glyphs before stepping back. Setting down his ink container, the ghost stood up and reached his hands out while closing his eyes. His cloak rippled as his shadow below him began deforming, stretching out towards the ink circle. A shadowy blob began forming in the centre while beads of sweat started to form on Logos' brow. Gradually, the black blob begins to compress until it's a perfect circle. With a flick of his wrist, black lines of shadow shoot out from this circle to the 13 runes of ink, an otherworldly blue glow beginning to come from them. Gritting his teeth and adjusting his stance, the shadows in the centre of the circle began to swirl, the same otherworldly blue glow emanating from it too.

Letting out a gasp, Logos' eyes shoot open before he's hit by the shadows exploding in a mass of bubbling black smoke, sending him flying backwards. Rolling to a stop next to one of the nearby bookshelves, the ghost picks himself up and dusts off his cloak before heading over to retrieve his monocle. Cleaning it off, he glanced over at the circle, seeing only a black stain on the floor in the centre of it. A permanent mark of his failed attempt at the ritual.

"These frustration inducing summoning rituals!" the disgruntled mismagius' voice sounded wispy and hollow, lingering in the air longer than it should, "I must make a note to have a more thorough guide brought in..." The ghost's voice trails off as he turns away and heads back over to his book, flipping through pages and muttering under his breath.

Behind him however, his supposed failed summoning was not over. What the librarian thought was merely a mark from the explosion began to twist and swirl, the same blue glow coming from it again. The glow intensified, the black marking swirling viciously, until it was broken by a jet black paw being thrust through. The sound of cloth tearing filled the air as the inky portal is ripped wide open, allowing the beast on the other side access through.

Whirling around at the sudden sound, Logos came face to face with the beast crawling it's way from the broken portal. The dog-like beast had sleek black fur covering it's whole body. Thick, muscular legs supported it's bulky frame and each paw was tipped with wickedly sharp claws. The heads of the beast were another story, as two separate necks sprouted from it's shoulders. Each neck holding up a snarling canine face, pointed ears flattened back in anger. The two heads were identical save for their eye colours, the left sporting bright orange eyes while it's right counterpart had a pair of icy blue eyes.

Logos grimaced. He recognized this creature from the book of extraplanar inhabitants that was stacked on the table behind him as Orboros, a demonic hound with a penchant for destruction. Though the ghost hardly had time to process this information before the beast in front of him lunged forward with a deafening howl.

Logos turned incorporeal, allowing the beast to pass through his body and crash into the table. Incorporeality was a perk of being a ghost, but unfortunately the table didn't share that same trait as it buckled and broke as Orboros crashed into it.

"Tch, what an awfully destructive beast..." Logos muttered, floating into the air above the hound. He glared down at the creature, frustrated it destroyed library property and destroyed his work. As it stumbled to its feet, the mismagius yelled down, "You break into this library by way of an unstable summoning portal and now you disrupt my work and destroy library property? Leave!"

Orboros for its part completely disregarded Logos' words, snarling back at him while flames began to lick out from the left head and frost formed around the other. The beast's fanged maws opened, launching twin blasts of fire and ice out towards the ghost who simply floated to the side, easily avoiding the attack. However the blasts didn't leave things unscathed, hitting a bookshelf behind Logos, incinerating some books and freezing others.

Logos could only stare in horror as the precious books he was charged with watching over were being destroyed by this beast. Whipping his head back with a glare, he stared down the monster. "I hope you have other copies of those tomes to replace the ones that you ruined." His voice was sharp and annoyed, "Regardless if you do or not, you've more than forced my hand, beast."

Raising his hands to the sides, shadows around the library began to stir. Murky blobs formed from the dark, quickly molding themselves to take on Logos' shape before turning to face Orboros. The monster's heads let out a low growl, then swiped at a nearby shadow. Its claws tore through the shade, easily dissipating it. The remaining shadows raised their hands in unison, dark orbs of energy forming in their palms. With a flick of Logos' wrist, the shadow balls launched at the beast, colliding and forcing it back a ways.

With its heads lowered, Orboros let loose blasts of fire and ice at two other clones, dissipating them as well. The mismagius frowned at this, waving his hand again to switch tactics. The two remaining shades started to charge different attacks Orboros recovered, one forming crystals in the air near it and the other swirling leaves of various colours around itself. Logos focused, his eyes narrowing as his hand flicked forward, launching the attack at his enemy.

The magicked attacks collided with the beast, knocking it back again, but it stood and shook the attacks off. Before the ghost can react, Orboros lunges at a nearby shadow, its claws tearing through the shadow. Its left head launches a fireball at the remaining shade, the flames easily dissipating it and catching the bookshelves around it alight.

Logos grimaces at the damage the beast is causing to the library, his eyes darting over the mess of flame and frost. "Ah! No!" the ghost gasped, glancing to his right he saw fire spreading away from the battlefield and heading into the magic section nearby. Frantically flying over, the mismagius began reciting a chant, desperately trying to remember an incantation to put out the flames. But Logos was still only a magician in training, as when he spoke the final word the flames only grew instead.

"Oh no no no!" the ghost panicked, "You, beast! Over here! You have that ice breath, use it!" he called out, waving his arms as he floated near the flames. Orboros turned his way, snarling and lunging at him instead. The mismagius gasped and floated away, causing the monster to crash into the bookshelf and toppling into the flames.

"This is not going to plan in the slightest!" Logos' screamed, his eyes wide with fear, "None of my attacks work and at this rate, the library will go up in flames before the hour is over!"

Flying around frantically, his eyes scanning for anything useful, the ghost spied the torn open portal, its inky darkness still swirling. Seeing the portal sparked something in Logos' brain. He knew he had to close the dimensional door, but how? Behind him, Orboros had pulled itself out of the rubble and was growling. The ghost knew the magic section was past the creature, he just had to get over there and find one on summoning.

With all the determination the spectral librarian could muster, he darted through the air. Blasts of fire and ice shot at him, and he rolled to dodge. Though some grazed him, leaving some parts singed and others chilled, he flew past the beast and around a bookshelf. Landing in the magical section, he used the strings on his cloak to grab book after book, frantically glancing at each cover before putting them back in their place. He may have been in a hurry but it would have been silly to make more of a mess than there already was.

"Where is it... Where is it?!" Logos yelled to himself, putting another book back in its place on the shelf. The bookshelf behind him shuddered as Orboros slammed into it. The ghost panicked, grabbing at books faster before the shelf behind him toppled over. Then out of the corner of his eye, he spied the wine red spine of the book he needed. Mrs. Melody's Magical Compendium for the Initiate Spellcaster. Snatching the book, he looked at the engraved gold plate on the cover to confirm it was what he needed before flipping open the latch on the front.

The bookshelf shook again as the beast slammed itself against it while Logos frantically searched through the book for the section he needed. Finally, he found it, "Summoning: Portals to the Interplanar". Immediately beginning to skim through it, the mismagius found the section on closing portals quickly. Before he could read much, an explosion rocked the bookshelf behind him. Logos spun around to see the bookshelf beginning to topple over. Darting away, book in hand, he flew up and continued to read.

"Step one, the creature must be in the summoning circle," he muttered to himself. Glancing down at Orboros, who was focused on knocking down another shelf, he sighed. Not even the first step could be easy.

"Step two, the plane that you're returning the creature to must be clear in your mind." Easy enough, he had studied extensively on the plane that this beast had come from.

"Step three, focus your magic into the portal, and will it closed." Ah, the hardest part. Logos knew that his previous attempt at performing the summoning had gone awry, so closing it could potentially have even more disastrous consequences. But he knew he had to try.

Tucking the book into his cloak, Logos flew to the portal, landing in front of it. The ghost glanced around for the black canine, only to hear a snarl come from behind him. He spun around just in time to see the monster lunge at him, fangs bared. Logos' breath hitched as he turned incorporeal, Orboros' jaws nearly clamping down on him before he did. Instead, the beast sailed through him, landing over the torn portal and spinning around, muscles tensing to jump again.

Raising himself in the air, Logos knew it was time to end it. Before it could attack again, Logos threw his arms to the side. Black shackles clamped onto Orboros' ankles and neck, spawned from the shadows around the area. They held fast as the beast struggled, keeping it in the middle of the summoning circle.

Logos' eyes began to glow, magical power swirling around him. Pushing his hands out in front of him, the ghost focused his power on the portal below the beast slowly trying to will it closed. Orboros, desperate to be free, tried to launch blasts of fire and ice at the ghost, only to have its heads yanked to the side by the chains.

"This library is under MY care, and I will not see it ruined by the likes of a monster such as YOU!" Logos' eyes flew open as tentacles of shadow shot up from the portal, wrapping themselves around the hellish canine. Steadily it was pulled back into the portal, Orboros howling in vain as its shackles dissipated, only to be replaced with writhing new ones.

The beast wasn't planning on giving up easily however, managing to get a grip on the wooden floor. Its muscular legs desperately pulled at the tentacles, trying to dislodge them. "Oh no you don't!" Logos exclaimed, firing a shadowy bolt of magic at the beast, hitting it in the chest and pushing it back. The tentacles quickly wrapped around the flailing beast, dragging the rest of it back into the depths of the inky portal it came from.

The portal closed, as the last tentacle passed through. The howls from Orboros ceased as the floor returned to its wooden state. Logos let out a shaky sigh, looking around at the mess left around the library. Fires still burning and ice beginning to melt, soaking books. "A librarian's work is never done..." the ghost mumbled, heading to the back to grab the fire extinguisher.