Aouthor note : This is a one shot 'what if' story cross over between my original unfinished novel (no, I'm not publishing it on FanFiction. It's in Indonesian, available only in Wattpad) and Familiar of Zero. there are some fanfic that openly states the summoned being is a bad guy, but mine is not. he's a homicidal guy, yes, but he is not stupid as to take an entire country by himself, although he could actually do it.
the reason? well, where's the fun if you destroyed them when you could just make them detsroy each other with a little push?
There and Back Again
"Enough chatting," said Professor Colbert as he ushered the first student to do the summoning ritual, and then supervising the successions of rituals.
Each and every students got their familiars within their magical elements. Some got birds, lizards, snakes, or any kind of animal. Even there is a dragon present.
After a long process, the old professor sighed.
"Anyone has yet to do the summoning?" he asked, eyeing his students' bond with their own respective familiars. Their chattering is hurting his old ears, but he could not complain. They act just like him and his peers back on his youth. He smiled bitterly at the memory.
"Louise has yet to do it, Professor," said a busty, redheaded girl, pointing to a rather small, terrified looking girl.
Ah, the rivalry of Zerbst and Valliere, he smiled. But a good one at that. While they know their own capabilities, they always tried to outdo each other. That is good, in his honest opinion, to makes them stronger.
"Ah, yes, Miss Valliere, if you will," he gestured politely. Her classmates, to his dismay, began to jeer at her. Calling her names, resulting in her getting more nervous.
"She will most likely summoned a blasting demon to be her familiar, Professor. Be careful!" jeered a male student he could not pinpoint. Their laughing would not stop, however, because more kids began their own insults.
"Silence!" said the old Professor said with authority, silencing the crowd.
He watched as the Valliere girl began he chant, and felt the magic began pulsating.
Then, an explosion occurred, blocking his vision with black smoke.
Instead of the red transportation circle he supposed to use on himself and his teammates, what enveloped him was a green portal of unknown origin. His cousin even managed to shout her surprise when the red portal's activation sequences was delayed, instead only the green one enveloping him that took over.
He had no time to react, no time to think, only a fraction of a second before disappearing into god knows where.
"Where is Eldamar?" said Tavarain as she looked for her cousin on the other side of the portal, after the red portal finally activated before she could do anything.
Her teammates said nothing, still speechless at what happened. Her employer, however, moved first out of the portal circle, dragging her two other female friends with her, leaving only Tavarain and a boy two years older than her on the circle.
"Move out of the portal, Tavarain, Albert! Move to the house!" she said as she ran for the wooden house in the middle of nowhere.
Tavarain heed the call and followed her employer to the house, before she began to analyze the magical signature that was transported along with her team.
This was supposed to be a simple assignment from the academy of where she and her employer studied. Hunt some assigned number monsters and return after a month.
But her life just become complicated. Eldamar was bringing most of her belonging and her employer's. What was she supposed to wear if he does not come?
Hell, I will bring him back, those clothes are my favorites.
Thus the angry girl start analyzing the magical remains.
Professor Colbert, after sending a strong wind to clear the smoke, looked over at the summoning circle to see somebody is occupying it, and Louise kneeling after willpower exhaustion.
"Again? Who summoned me this time?" the newcomer asked no one in particular.
In Colbert's mind, the newcomer looks like a young man in his early sixteen, although a little taller than most of his age. And his clothing are robes. Magician robes, he realized suddenly.
And the spear that he brought is not actually a spear, but a steel magic staff with a big, pointed red crystal as the spearhead. His rather big backpack is noticeable though, and Colbert's eyes were glued to it for some time.
A traveling magician? Colbert thought. He readied his own staff, ready for any sudden attack. And the strange magician did began his chanting. Or, more specifically, his strange chanting. He has never heard anything even close to its strangeness.
"Edione, goddess of Night, ruler of stars, this servant of yours asked for guidance. Show me my way, my path, to a place I called home, for I was stranded in strange lands. Moonlight Shadow!" he said, then raising his staff and pointing it to the sky.
Colbert almost chanted his own magic when he heard the young man sighed muttered, "Damn, forgot this is daytime."
He then watched as the youth dropped his backpack and stare at him.
Colbert knows a killer when he sees one.
Eldamar sighed when he realized his foolishness after using his weak dark attributed magic at daytime. Damn everything, he thought, then stared at the only adult in the group of speechless kids. At least, most their demeanor is childish, and he knows it. Except for a few, of course.
What unsettled him was the fact that people have strange hair and eye colors. Instead of black, brown, or blonde, there are varieties of different colors ranging from light blue to light pink.
"Did I failed?" asked a dazed young girl of maybe thirteen of fourteen, but looking at her companions she could be sixteen.
Ignoring his summoner –he knows what a summoned being is, and what to look for the summoner– he began to analyze possible threat. His eyes wander around and found that some had some kind of creatures unknown to him, but mostly just regular animal. His mind raced, and his knowledge of magic and their society makes him think of this event as some kind of servant summoning, or worse, slave summoning.
"I take your silence at my appearance as an unexpected occurrence. So tell me, where am I?" he demanded.
Then the crowd started their shouting match.
"Silence!" once again, for the second time for the day, he said the word to silence his students. Their chattering stopped, now waiting on what the professor's next action would be.
"Pray tell, who are you, young man, and where did you come from?" he began to ask.
"City State of Anchialus, Academy of Magic Banmorth. Where is this place?" the youth asked back.
Colbert answered, "Kingdom of Tristain, Magic Academy of Tristain. What is your name, if I may ask?"
Colbert saw as the youth in front of him raised his eyebrows for a very short amount of time, before returning to his previous neutral expression. "The name's Eldamar, old man. Tell me, where's the return portal?"
"I have never heard of a city named Anchialus, but I hope you would stay for the night. As for a return portal, I'm afraid that there is none. This is a familiar summoning, and there has never been any human summoned before. May I ask, are you a noble?"
Colbert's curiosity is getting the better of him. He knew, that summoning a human in a summoning familiar ritual is a disaster. He just does not know of its magnitude yet.
"No. I'm just a butler in training. And please tell my summoner she has to pay a compensation of thirty five thousand gold coins, or pay in raw material of pure gold weighed a hundred and seventy five kilograms. Deliver it to me, and I will keep it save until the time comes where I could go back to my employer."
At this request, no, order, Colbert began to sweat. Even if he does not doubt the Valliere family have much more than that amount of gold coins at their immediate disposal, it does not mean convincing them to give them away would be easy.
"Oh, old man, don't think about not paying. I am certain at this very moment my cousin is trying to track back the magic that summoning portal used on me. When she came, I want to be prepared. She does not come for me, she comes for her favorite pair of robes."
The youth in front of him grinned, and it unnerved the veteran magician. He could feel no lie in it, and it makes him the more unnerved. Just what kind of disaster are we in? Colbert thought, his sense of danger finally caught up.
"Ah, young man, I hope you does not take it personally, but different world? That is too farfetched. And Miss Valliere, could you finish the contract?" Colbert said, indicating the young and pale Valliere. He does not blame her for being afraid, even the rest of his students are just leaving their mouth wide opened.
Eldamar peeked at the little girl in front of him, who began to stand on her wobbly feet. She then walks toward him, her hands reaching for his head. He backed away, slapping her hands in the process with his spear.
"I found no contract. There is nothing to finish," he said to the shocked girl.
"But–" before the girl could finish her speech, he cut her words.
"What is the term and conditions? Tell me, and if I feel it is beneficial to me, maybe I will consider accepting it," he said in his flattest voice.
"Hah! Looks like the Zero can't even properly summon her familiar!" said one of the students. Eldamar, of course, knows what a familiar is, although he is not a summoner himself. But he knows a few summoner who treated their familiar as if they were tools.
"Once a Zero she will always be a Zero!" said another, which annoy him. Their taunt continuing for a few more minutes, which began to annoy him. He drew one of his hidden double barreled pistol and shot once to the sky, which silenced the teenagers.
"Shut up or I will silenced you to the end of time," he said.
Louise felt bad. Her peer's jeering continued, and her face became red with rage.
How could a familiar act that way to her? She felt the urge to use a spell and make an explosion just to teach her summoned familiar its place. But there is a tugging feeling in the back of her mind that says it was one of the stupidest idea, ever. She don't know why.
And then her familiar do something that she was sure not even Colbert was prepared for.
He shot a gun and silenced her peer in less than three seconds.
Then he pointed the gun at her head.
"Tell me, oh mighty summoner, what is your contract's term?" he said. She could feel the sarcasm in his voice, and definitely could feel the threat in it. And she felt enraged.
"You will submit to me unconditionally!" she shouted at him, who gave her a smirk.
Then, in a movement almost impossible to track with her eyes, he shot the pistol.
The smell of gunpowder filled her nose, but she dared not move. The deafening roar of the gun barely registered in her ears. What she heard was a scream.
Colbert saw it. He was glad he did not act rashly, but now he felt like an asshole. The youth that stood only a few meters in front of him shot one of his students because of her own stupidity. Or his own overly optimistic view.
"Miss Tabitha!" he cried, rushing to her aid. The petite, blue haired girl stumbled and then collapsed on her own pool of blood, her left leg punctured.
He knew, had the youth who called himself Eldamar wanted, he could have shot her head. But he chose to shot her leg instead, because of unknown reason. This self-proclaimed butler-apprentice is faster than his fastest student.
He knows, although Tabitha looks cold from the outside, she was a nice girl. She sees that Louise was in danger, and she wanted to interfere, which he failed to notice.
"Oh? Looks like my reflexes is not going dull. Nice to know," the youth said, holstering his used up pistol and drawing another, shocking Colbert. Colbert knows, even if he could melt the bullet and slow it down, the molten metal would reach his body before he could move out of the way. But he did it anyway.
Which, to his surprise, the youth did not shot. Instead, he held the pistol loosely with his left hand, looking at the barely conscious Tabitha. His words left him speechless.
"I know an assassin when I see one. Well, looks like one of your students is one, old man," he said, poking the now unconscious Tabitha with the base of his staff.
"What do you mean?" Colbert asked as he shoved the spear away and began to tend to Tabitha's wound, barking orders to his other students to call for medical staffs. Tabitha's best friend, the Zerbst girl, however, decided to glare at the newcomer and rushed to Tabitha's aid. At least she is not stupid enough to provoke him, Colbert thought.
The youth chuckled. "A veteran like you can't even see it? Well, maybe you're just an incompetent and lucky old man after all. What kind of life have you experienced to not notice it? Like, seriously, even I can feel her darkened aura since the first time I came to this land."
"Just because she is one of my fastest students does not mean she is an assassin, young man. And you shot my student. You will face the court for this. Wait and see," he glared at the impudence in front of him, hoping it would intimidate the youth. Which, to his disappointment, cracked a smile.
Kirche could not comprehend what had happened until it was too tale.
Stupid Tabitha, she thought. She know her best friend cared for her classmates, but to move before an unknown threat is just plain stupid. She pursed her lips and run to her best friend's side, hoping to do something, which she failed.
She knows Tabitha is fast, but to think that she was bested in her proudest aspect made Kirche boil in anger. But she knows she could do nothing when faced with an opponent who could shot her fastest friend with ease.
Tabitha's wound is not life threatening, but the blood loss is pretty bad. Colbert has stopped the bleeding, but it won't replace the lost blood.
"Monmon!" Kirche shouted, calling one of the few water mage in her class. "Please use your healing spell on Tabitha!" she begged the scared girl a few steps from her, who just nodded and began her chanting while walking closer.
The spell works wonder, as she sees the wound began closing. But the newcomer decided to ruin her day once again.
"Stupid girls. You're not even trying to get the bullet out. She'll get lead poisoning."
"What is it that you are trying to do, Tavarain?" ask her employer and friend, Vera. Tavarain just gestured to her to keep quiet and continuing her current task, searching in the countless planes of existence for the matching magic signature.
And then she found it. With a beaming smile, she told her employer.
"I will go and retrieve Eldamar and our clothes. At most, I will be gone for a few days, so stay safe. Oh, and use this pendant. Nobody but you could use it, and nobody but you should be able to touch it. It will deflect most attack, except if a magician at least as strong as I am decided to show up. Which is mostly impossible. Goodbye!"
Vera was left speechless at her friend, who disappeared in a blue wisp of smoke. She looked at the pendant on the new necklace on her neck, and decided to keep silent.
It was five days later, when Colbert felt that he will die of exhaustion on trying to compromise with the youth that he finally felt the sudden surge of power.
He felt a pressure so strong he wanted to faint, but couldn't.
"Time's up, old man," the youth said, looking out of the window. "My sister has come. And she is, most probably, pissed. I recommend you prepare your most powerful defensive spell. Not like it will give you a chance against her, but at least you put up a resistance. At least you'll die an honorable death, protecting your students."
"What do you mean?" Colbert asked. He knows nothing that could possibly have that kind of powerful aura. Not even Old Osmond, which he suspect had lived for centuries. Even Osmond, to his surprise, shower an expression of fear while sitting on his chair.
"You think this puny castle could withstand her wrath? Nah, you're probably too stupid to realize the threat. My summoner may be strong in raw power, even stronger than this sorry excuse for a headmaster and all of the school staff combined. But compared to my sister, she is but a small drop of water to an ocean. All of you are simply outclassed. So you better prepare the remaining twenty kilograms of gold right now."
While almost crying blood, Colbert's shaking hand put the twenty bars of gold to the heavy crate. One of his student had made the mistake of provoking this particular youth once, and the said lad is still recovering from the mental trauma. The tower that was destroyed in the process was already repaired two days ago.
"Well, it's nice doing business with you, Professor Colbert, Headmaster Osmond. And, as an advice from a good business partner, I warned you about trusting Miss Longueville too much. I wonder about your choice of staff, but she is not one to trust. I advise you kill her silently, before she caused you trouble," the youth said, then took away the heavy crate as if it weigh nothing on his back, along with his bulky backpack.
The powerful aura began to subside, as if restrained, or trying to hide, but its presence is still there. Colbert just could no longer pinpoint its source, as if it was everywhere, not pouring out of a single source.
"What do you think of him, Colbert?" ask the old headmaster.
Colbert merely shook his head, not answering.
"You still had our clothes, don't you?" ask the girl who landed on the courtyard, terrifying the students, to the boy called Eldamar.
Kirche just stood there beside Tabitha, terrified of even moving, just staring at the two newcomers. She realized then, that both had similar features. Pitch black hair, pitch black irises, red lips, and pale skin. But the boy's paler by some degree, nearly transparent. Like a corpse's.
"Oh, and I got some compensation for our troubles, too. A crate full of gold bars. That's as much as our wage for half a year. Nice, isn't it?" the boy asked.
"So," the girl asked, "Who summoned you? How powerful is he?"
He shook his head. "He's a she. As powerful as the higher leveled Archmage, but unskilled in controlling her power. Everything she chant explodes. A true destroyer, in a sense."
The girl chuckled. "At least you're safe. But that's enough talk for now. Our employer should be worried that we broke our contract. We need to hurry and comes back."
And with that, Kirche saw the girl touch the boy's shoulder, then disappearing into thin blue smoke.
The powerful presence that she felt a while ago disappeared with them.