The stars are in alignment. The midnight hour draws near. Soon, he will perform the summoning.
The ancient black dragon Zuragazh checks the chalk diagram on the floor of his lair for the fifth time, comparing it to the drawing in a yellowing tome. Everything appears to be in order.
To be absolutely safe, though, he has chosen to draw the circle not in his main spell room, conveniently located near the centre of his hoard, but in an out-of-the-way cavern. Several centuries ago he stored barrels of salted pork in here, but they are long gone. The bare stone is empty save for Zuragazh himself, the spellbook, the remnants of his chalk, and the circle. The faint lingering smell of bacon, he is sure, is only his imagination.
A tiny bell, dangling on a chain from the dragon's left horn, chimes to mark the hour. Zuragazh adjusts his tail's hold on the spellbook, clears his throat, and begins to recite the incantation.
The spell is designed to summon a powerful creature—a djinn, a demon, perhaps even a god—from another plane of existence, and trap it in the circle. From there, binding the entity to Zuragazh's service should be straightforward; it will hardly be the first time he has performed such a feat. The difficult part has historically been finding a creature with powerful magic in the first place and holding it still to be bound. And that is precisely what he aims to do now.
Barely a moment after he speaks the last word, he feels the summoning begin to take form.