On a small bench, near a cliff next to the ocean, a young woman was sitting cross legged, reading and taking notes. The name of the girl was Pia, and she was a Scandinavian student at the Shokushu private school. She was dressed in her school uniform, supplemented by a pink, hooded jacket decorated with tiny vampire rabbits and the slogan “Night of the Living Dead Bunnies.” Her blond hair was tied into two pigtails.

Tired of reading indoors, she had decided she would rather enjoy this peaceful spot. She found the breeze and the sound of the waves lapping against the rocks below soothing. Besides, she had learned that not all of the campus was safe, so she would rather be out here.

The books she had with her where mainly about demonology and spiritism. These did not, strictly speaking, concern any of her classes directly, but she was well ahead of schedule anyway, and could allow herself to read more tangential stuff.

So immersed was she in her work, that she did barely notice that the wind was getting stronger, the sun was close to the horizon, and that the previously clear skies were getting clouded.

“Oh, and here is another list from the Keys”, she muttered to herself,”This guy seems fond of those.” She continued skimming though the list, sometimes reading parts of it aloud, as was her habit. “..Duke Berith, Duke Astaroth, Marquis Forneus, President Foras.. Huh! Those demons sure sound posh!”

Fornicarus had been resting rather peacefully at the nearby cliff, when the arrival of a strange girl had awoke him from his rest. The ancient spirit, invisible in his air form, looked around to see a female sitting on a beach, reading... books... even in this weather. Considering her a potential oddity among her fellow humans, Fornicarus moved toward the girl.

Once he had gotten close enough, he was somewhat surprised to see her reading a book on demonology and even more so when she said his name in passing. Perhaps, this could be his way in...

Shifting into a small version of his monstrous form, no bigger than a foot tall, more cute than scary, Fornicarus felt that this would be sufficient enough to convince her into believing him to be a minion of 'Forneus' himself. Leaving the cover of invisibility, Fornicarus moved toward the female, slithering slowly, hoping to not freak out the female.

In a soft voice, with a hint of Scandinavian to it, the small monster spoke aloud, "Are you the one who gave voice to the name of my great master, the Marquis of Hell, Forneus?"

Pia looked at the tiny being, not really believing her eyes. The creature in front of her was not quite like anything she had seen. It would have been a terrible thing to behold, had it been bigger. Now, she almost let out a little "Aww..".

"What are, I mean, who are you?" she asked, truing to not appear menacing, lest she frightened the little creature. Then its words registered.
"Your master? I do not understand? Who is you..Oh!". Suddenly comprehending, she glanced down on her open book, recognizing the name she had just uttered.
Pia considered herself too much of a rationalist to believe in magic and invokations, but she had to believe what was in front of her eyes.

Edging backward just a bit, the small creature stared at the girl, showing caution as to not drop its guard against her. All part of an act, naturally, to lure her into a false sense of security and perhaps even allow her to feel that she had some control over the situation.

"I am merely a nameless servant of the Marquis, and I happened to overhear you mentioning the names of other powerful demons, beside my master. We are often sent to explore and bring back information from the world to our masters."

The tiny creature looked around and took note of the book on demonology and back at the female, "I thought you might be one of the few hopefuls attempting to enter a contract with one of the lords of Hell, much like the mortal Solomon from long ago."

It drew closer to Pia, just by a few inches, and bowed. "If you wish, I could assist you as a familiar. It isn't usual for mortals to take on one, especially those wishing to understand the realm of the demons. Or... I could help you summon the Marquis himself, and you could speak to him, learn from him."

“Poor creature! You don't even have a name!” Pia started, instantly feeling sympathetic to the little entity. Pia wasn't exactly an alpha female herself, and knew too well how it felt to be insignificant among others. She felt like giving it a hug, but feared she might hurt its dignity.

“No no! No need to bother your master!”, Pia protested. Forneus, Great Marquis of Hell, twenty-nine legions under his rule. Teaches rhetoric, gives men a good name, and makes them be loved by their friends and foes, she remembered. Yeah, that would be the day..

“You see, I did not really mean to summon anybody! I mean, I want knowledge as much as anyone. Maybe a bit more, to be honest. But isn't there some price, like my soul or my firstborn or something?”

“And I'm sure you are a wonderful familiar!, she added, smiling encouragingly at the little being “But I don't want to boss anyone around, really.”

"If you are sure then, but I think the master would enjoy the opportunity to speak to another mortal. He really did like his verbal spars with Solomon after all." The little demon shrugged.

Appearing offended after being asked about the price of such summoning, the demon waited until she was finished, though after being complimented, it did appear somewhat happy. "Thank you very much, mortal, but you know, a familiar isn't usually someone to boss around, most often become mutual partners of sorts."

"And, no. You don't have to sacrifice your soul or firstborn to summon Forneus. King Solomon wouldn't have managed to get all the lords of Hell to come otherwise." Snickering to itself, the demon found the human's question funny, "We aren't like the monsters of your religions, we don't have any interests in your souls, much less children."

"No, all that is require to summon him is to draw a pentagram, with his symbol in the center, and calling his name thrice. This allows the master to answer your summons. But if you wish to gain knowledge, you will have to satisfy him by passing his test first."

The demon hopped slightly, for no apparent reason except perhaps to seem cute, "The master delights in challenging mortals trying to summon him with either rhetoric or logical puzzles with which they must answer correctly. If one does, then they will have gained the friendship of the master."

"Well, I always thought that soul-selling deal was a bit unrealistic myself", Pia mused. "Souls, if they even exist, are kind of ephemeral, are they not? Not something you base an economy on. And if someone as the power to take it, why barter anything for it in the first place? Why don't they just grab it?".

"Sorry, I'm just rambling." Truth was, she enjoyed talking to the creature. Maybe it was because it's accent and intonation matched hers, she did not know. All she knew, she had started to trust it a little bit. That familliar deal started to sound good.

"But what if I loose? If I fail to give the right answer, will I forfeit my life or risk your Masters' ire??"

The little demon nodded in agreement to her comments on the soul and the practice of bartering with it. Internally, it was getting amused with the girl babbling and rambling on and on about souls and whatever. Silly girls, Fornicarus found them all to be generally entertaining unless, of course, they decided to be defiant and fight back.

"Hmm," the little one began, "If you failed, then the worst that would happen is that he would think you're an incompetent scholar, maybe? In most cases whenever he has been summoned, I've only seen him return muttering about the decline in the intelligence of mortals. The master likes his rhetoric very much so, you see..."

The little demon shrugged, implying that there most likely wouldn't be any severe consequences apart from being thought of as an idiot by a demon that you probably wouldn't even speak to again.

Pia pondered this for a few moments. Her brow wrinkled as she was concentrating, and one finger absentmindedly played with one of her pigtails.

"I have two questions for you, if I may.", she finally said. "First of all, if, and only if, I summon your Master, would it be OK for you if I ask if you can become my familiar?"
"Secondly, is there any forms of etiquette I should know about?"

Laughing on the inside, Fornicarus found it funny that it had been easy to establish a bond between her and the familar that did not really exist. "If you were to ask the master to allow me to serve as your familar, I think he would have no trouble with allowing that, and I would be honored to."

"As for etiquette, you only need to but treat him with the utmost respect and take care to not offend him. He most likely will expect you to match him in rhetoric."

"I don't suppose there is a written test?", she asked before thinking. Pia was painfully aware that she was not exactly a charismatic speaker. On the other hands, she really loved talking about stuff with someone whith alot of knowledge, and if she and this Forneus had some interests in common, she might be able to pull it off!

It is worth noting that Pia is smart, but not astute. Give Pia time to think things over, to some research, and she is fine. Expect her to make good, immediate decisions, and she will usually fail. Right now she knew she liked the little creature, and hence trusted its advice.

"So, there is a basic pentagram..", she said, hunching down and drawing one on the ground with her finger. "..and then there is that symbol."

"You, know, I'll do it! Help me with the symbol, and I'll try calling your Master!"

Nodding at the girl, the little demon got to work, "I hope he accepts the summons, though. Otherwise, that will make things harder." Using his claws, he scratched in the symbol of Forneus in the center of the pentagram, an entirely fictional symbol but who would know the truth?

After he was done, the demon stepped away from the pentagram and crawled onto Pia's shoulder, perching himself there. "If you're sure about this, you can begin whenever you're ready. Beside, I think you will be fine when speaking to Forneus. He's considerably more friendly than the rest of the other rulers."

Pia watched the spirit finish the symbol in rapt fascination as it finished the symbol, memorizing every line.
“So, it is all ready then?”, she said, hesitantly looking down at the pentagram.

Truth to be told, she still had her doubts. The wind seemed chillier. Was it about to rain? She pulled the zipper on her jacket up. “At least the weather seems to be getting dramatically appropriate..”, she muttered.
OK, here it goes!

“F-Forneus, Marquis of Hell, I, Pia Marie Hov, request an audience.”, she started. Gathering her strength, she continued chanting.
“Forneus, Marquis of Hell, I, Pia Marie Hov, request an audience!”
“Forneus, Marquis of Hell, I, Pia Marie Hov, request an audience!”

Taking a few steps back, she looked at the little “familiar”, seeking his approval.

The little demon looked at Piam, nodded his approval, and stared back at their combined work. "It should not take the master long to answer a summons, considering that you may very well be the first mortal in a century to attempt to do so."

And suddenly, from the symbol on the ground, the earth fell away as a crack began forming, growing larger and larger until it consumed the pentgram the girl had made, and just as suddenly as it had formed, water exploded upward, surging out of the ground and began flooding the cave, rising up to nearly two feet.

And as all this occured, a loud roar echoed around, bouncing off the walls. Who dares summon the great Forneus!?" Sufficiently arrogant enough for a demon lord, Fornicarus decided. And as he roared, the demon rose out of the water, his body and four arms forming quickly, seemingly out of the water, the caulk white bone-scales on his back jutting out as the red flesh of his body materialized from the rising water.

The surging water came to a steady flow, rising no higher, and Forneus bent down toward the female, his imposing bulk filling much of the cave. "Are you the one who dared to call me from my slumber, woman?!" At this, the little demon squeaked and hid behind the girl's shoulder, peering out slightly.

"Yikes!"
Pia fell backwards as the ground gave away and the water stared gushing forth.
"Oh my, oh my! It works!" Pia could hardly believe her own eyes. Some sort of demon, a ruler of Hell, even! Fear mixed with misplaced pride filled her.

Big guy, scary even! Pia noted that even her would-be familiar had hidden behind her. Time to be polite, this was not a being you wanted to feel offended.

"Uh, err, uh. Hi! I mean, Yes, it is I, Pia Marie Hov, who have humbly requested your audience."
Scampering to her feet, she tried her best to sound dignified, yet humble. She mostly sounded nervous. Sensing she needed to show she was respectful, but unsure of how to do it, she did the first thing that dropped into her head, and curtsied.
"Lord Forneus, Marquis of Hell, I have summoned you to make a short request..and, uhm, I hope I did not disturb anything.."