-Hey! This is the first time I've taken an attempt at any form of serious writing, so any critique would be appreciated. The update time on this will hopefully be every Wednesday, with chapters getting longer as I go and get used to writing, but for now I'll give you guys a short intro.
CHAPTER ONE: Out of the Frying Pan...
-A Remote Field in the Raspa Region, Iria
She was dying again. A sword through the throat this time, she could see. However, with the pain came a sense of panic. ''I'm not done yet,", she thought. Naminé Engel von Theissen, age six thousand, one hundred and eighty-eight. Nicknamed the ''Last Angel'', she had resided where the rest of her race had abandoned, watching over the sentient races of Erinn and keeping the peace as the de-facto goddess of the world.
''But I'm no goddess,'' she remembered. She was a Milletian: a being tied inorexably to a location known as the Soul Stream, a nexus for travel between worlds and the birthplace of her race. This allowed them to be virtually immortal, as they could not truly die so long as the Soul Stream was intact. Whenever their physical body was damaged beyond repair, they would be reborn into a new body, keeping all the experience and memories they acquired and allowing continuous growth to superhuman properties. She had known this because of the history of her world: war-torn with the follies of the true gods and their followers, unknowingly following the same prophecy in their total war to reach paradise.
''But they already resided in it. The gods taint every place they go.'' The original, nameless world had fallen some millenia ago: six thousand, one hundred and seventy-one years ago. She was seventeen when she transcended: one of the first Milletians. The nameless world was also torn between the humans and the Fomors in their quest to bring about paradise by exterminating the other race: only then would their God appear before them. Why their gods craved such bloodshed was a closely guarded secret: every God not of Aton Cimeni had ascended, retaining their mortal ideals, mindset and personality. All it took for war was a figurehead to believe in, and they had risen to that position.
Eventually those with too much knowledge released ancient beings of legend, ravaging the land and killing almost all of its heroes. However, the Goddess appeared for humans in their time of most desperate need and brought them to a safer place, sacrificing herself in a seal to close the door between the two worlds. Humanity was safe, but opening that door opened another door: the one to the Soul Stream. Who Naminé was beforehand, she didn't remember: but she was born again in the Soul Stream, and the rest of her time was in history books across the land. Eventually, however, opposition to the gods rose.
Which led to her current situation: the black-armored swordsman roughly pulled, eliciting a wet hiss as the blade retracted from her throat, allowing her to fall to one knee, gasping for breath that would not come. Without a word, he turned and started walking away. ''I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET,'' she wanted to scream. Doing so would shorten whatever time she had left, though. Her strength was leaving her, and she was unable to cast the healing magics that would repair her injuries. She wasn't even sure if it would work on fatal injuries: she'd never bothered, since she would rebirth. But the soul stream was destroyed, tainted beyond purification along with the death of its guardian, Nao Pryderi. She could still remember her last moments, defending herself from the one who in a previous life had defended her with his life to allow her to continue living.
''A hell of a twist of fate. Ruairi killed her and doomed this world to a slow death of corruption by the demons my people held back.''
Finally allowing herself to slump forwards, she found her consciousness finally slipping from her. However, a voice niggled at the back of her head, as if it were a prayer.
''My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe... my divine, beautiful and powerful familiar.''
She had to be going crazy: delirium from her failing brain. However, it was not, as it grew louder as a faint crackle of energy pooled around her, giving her barely enough strength to stand again and allowing her to breathe despite the blood she was losing, pooling in her lungs.
''Heed my call. I wish from the very bottom of my heart to add to my guidance and appear before me!''
Looking down, she saw the pool was now glowing green, slowly losing its solid state as she slipped inside of it, falling for what felt like an eternity. The feeling of falling finally lulled her into a sleep, one which she was not sure she would awaken from.
-Tristainian Magic Academy, Day of the Springtime Summoning Ritual
She watched each of her classmates with growing resentment and anger as they each summoned their chosen familiar. Some only had small animals, enhanced by the runes to become slightly more than what they were. Others summoned... more fascinating things. The quiet Gallian by the name of Tabitha had summoned a dragon with scales the color of the ocean waters which seemed to attach itself to the bluette's side almost instantly after she completed her ritual. It was slightly unnerving to see a twenty-foot long monster of a dragon almost purring in satisfaction at its master's touch. It reminded her of her older sister's loving touch.
''Cattleya...''
She had wanted to make her family proud, to prove she was worthy of carrying the Valliére name. In the theory she excelled, understanding the workings of every spell taught down to the method of manipulating the magical energies in the air. Equations, math... none of it was a problem. And yet when it came to casting the spells?
''Failure!''
''Louise the Zero!''
''Worthless girl!''
These were the things she dealt with every day, simply because for reasons neither her nor her professors could understand, every spell she cast ended with one result: an explosion. Why it did this was unknown, but it angered her more than anything else that she couldn't cast. Dreading the day for a summoning of all things: an extremely complicated process which required the utmost care in the casting and channelling of mana, she prepared with the discipline only a Valliére could possess. Leading to her current circumstance.
Her rival, a tall and voluptuous girl by the name of Kirche von Zerbst, had just finished her summoning: a somewhat smaller but equally as fearsome lizard: a flame salamander. It radiated an aura of heat, causing some of the students to break out in sweat, but the redhead didn't seem to mind at all, quickly finishing the ritual and simply dubbing the lizard ''Flame''.
''An unsophisticated name for an unsophisticated person. Typical Kirche, a disgrace of a-''
''Oi! Louise! You're the last one up!''
While she was stuck in her thoughts, said redhead bonked Louise on the head lightly to get her attention, before pointing her towards their professor to proceed. ''If you don't get your head out of the clouds, how do you expect to finish this?''
''Shut up, Zerbst.'' Her cold reply quickly shut down Kirche as she walked forwards, hearing the jeers and whispers of the other students. They expected her failure, even as they backed away from what they believed to be the future blast site and site of death for Louise-Francoise de Blanc de la Valliére.
''Come forth, Miss Valliére.''
Jean Colbert, the leader of their class, was unsure of what to think. While Louise excelled in all her studies and theory, the results of her castings were quite damaging to the area around her, so he had taken care to have other teachers place shock-absorbent wards around the summoning circle in case they were needed.
As the pink-haired girl stepped up to her task, he gave a silent sigh. Louise was always a good student, though if she failed this summon she would likely be expelled for being a failure of a mage. After that?
He didn't want to think on what would happen.
''You may begin the summoning, Miss Valliére.''
At her cue, she began the chant, remembering each and every word as she slowly channelled energy into the summoning circle, feeling the spell probe for the familiar best suited for her. ''It's working! The spell is working!''
The other students held their breaths in anticipation of the failure, but it never came. Instead, they felt more energy being drawn from their surroundings, causing the runes in the circle to begin glowing with a purple-black light.
''My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe... my divine, beautiful and powerful familiar.''
''That isn't normal.'' Colbert motioned for the other students to back away as he probed what was going on with the spell. It seemed to be working, but it was summoning a different kind of familiar... not an animal.
''Heed my call. I wish from the very bottom of my heart to add to my guidance and appear before me!''
The energy reached its apex, letting forth a spew of excess energy, blowing Louise back several feet and causing Colbert to have to dig his feet into the ground to avoid suffering a similar fate. Smoke clouded everyone's vision, followed by the faint sound of drops of liquid spattering the ground in the circle. Several of the students finally exhaled, with the voice of a young blonde male being the first to sound.
''Did the Zero fail again?''
She should have tried to hurt him. She wanted to, but the spell had drained far more energy than it should have. With a few shaky gasps, she stood and waved away some of the smoke, trying to see what exactly had happened. What he found caused her to gasp and stagger a few steps backwards, to the shock of Professor Colbert.
''Louise? What did you see?''
She flailed a bit, before gesturing to Tabitha for her to come forwards.
''Healing? You're uninjured.''
A disoriented Louise shook her head vigorously, pointing towards the now clearing smoke for everyone to see. A tall woman stood in the circle, trying to breathe raggedly but choking on something. Assuming it was smoke, they took the time to examine her. Vague outlines of armor could be seen under the black robe she wore, albeit it was stained by blood and covered too much to be able to make out the type of armor. A mane of purple hair, dark enough to almost be called black reached down to her shoulders, and a fair face with eyes the shade of walnut completed the appearance of unearthly beauty.
Said eyes were extremely dilated, however. The bluette noticed this, and then examined the rest of her slowly: pale face, shaking from shock, and looking down...
Oh.
The woman stood with a hole in her neck, looking to have been freshly inflicted by some manner of sword: likely a longsword or bastard sword. Whoever inflicted this wound had meant to let her suffer as she died, but yet the woman still stood. Not just a matter of being alive, which should not have been the case, but she still stood. No sound came from her moving lips, before she fell to a knee again and finally collapsed, blood pooling around her neck. Many of the students panicked, thinking that a bystander had just been killed. However, only one thought came to the mind of Tabitha.
''Get Headmaster Osmond and the healers. Can only do so much.''
-So yeah. The Divine Milletian in this story ended up in a fight with Ruairi, long after the events of the first Saga for another duel, and ended up losing again, only this time with what should have been a far more fatal end. For anyone wondering about her age, she'd actually only be about seven years old in Halkeginia, due to the fact that a year in Erinn is only one week in Halkeginia. Power level at this point was among the highest in the land, because at this point she was the only (demi)god that still interacted with Erinn, so the reason she lost is going to come up later. When she's fully healed, though... Louise is gonna have a hell of an incident on her hands.
'Till Wednesday, hopefully!
-M-