Chains of the Void
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
I do not own either Darkest Dungeon or Familiar of Zero. They are each owned by their respective companies. This story is for fun only, no copyright infringements intended.
Today was the day. The day that Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière would finally prove to everyone, her teachers, her classmates, her... Family that she truly was a Mage. Not a failure, not a waste, and certainly. Not. A. Zero! Surrounded by all of her classmates and professor Colbert, inside one of Tristain Academy of Magic's open courts, she would succeed. She was ready, she was confident; she had studied endlessly for this moment. She stepped forwards, holding her wand, ignoring Kirche's obligatory jibe and the student's laughter.
Then why was her hand shaking? The mantra her mother had taught her so many times played over and over in her head.
'Rule of Steel. Rule of Steel. Rule of Steel.'
"I wonder what's she'll summon?" A blonde haired girl whispered.
"Ha ha. It's unlikely she'll summon anything other than an explosion!" A boy laughed.
"Shouldn't we step back a bit?" Another suggested.
"Good idea!"
'Rule of Steel. Rule of Steel. Rule of Steel.'
A blue haired girl by the name of Tabitha was watching from afar already, a precise five metres away. Louise's explosions were usually only around three metres in radius, but it helped to be cautious. Her blue dragon familiar at her side, nudged her gently, questioning her master's actions.
"Explosion." She muttered in answer.
Louise took a deep breath. It was now or never.
"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe. My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call! I wish from very bottom of my heart, listen to my guidance! Appear!"
She flicked her wand forwards.
They closed in from all sides. Endless hordes of vicious cultists, twisted and mutated by the horrid, malignant powers of the Darkest Dungeon. There was no hope in this hell. No hope at all. There was no miracle of faith that a Crusader could call upon to banish this darkness. There was no healing power on this earth that a Vestal could use staunch the flow of a torn out heart. There was no shield thick enough that a Man-at-Arms could wield that could deflect the warping gaze of madness. And there was no final salvation, no last reward for a man so selfless, he would use his own body to entrap even the greatest of evils.
This had been their last push. The final attack. The one supposed to break the back of the thing inside the manor. There was no one left. Just the chosen four who were fit, and sane, enough to venture forth into the dark. It was the only reason the Vestal and Crusader would accompany him. They had no choice. And neither did he.
Beaten and broken, they prepared for their last stand. The Vestal was the first to die. A gibbering horror punching a hole into her chest, through breastplate, flesh, heart and all. The Crusader had been the next. But he had not fallen alone. Golden halo pulsing around him, his roar had deafened all. He had charged into the mass of bodies, his sword shining with fire and sizzling blood. His armour rent and torn in a hundred places, he now at last was laid to rest, broken, two score bodies piled around him. The Man-at-Arms had broken too, but not as the Crusader had. There was nothing words could do to describe the insanity this man's mind had devolved into. He ran screaming into the swarm. They parted to let him through, denying him the bliss of quick death. He was never seen again. Oh, but was it heard! The howling that followed, the scratching, clawing, grating noise that assaulted the ears was unlike anything that could be imagined. Those sounds would haunt any ones nightmares for decades to come.
The final man lay on his knees. Surrounded by enemies. Without hope. Alone. But it had always been this way for him. He was always surrounded by enemies. Foes who sought to end him once and for all. Burning torches, blessed blades, cursed spells, mangled teeth and claw and white-hot pokers. All had tried, all had failed. There was never any hope for him. Not better life, no peaceful existence. Just the noise and drum of combat, or the constant clinking and thudding of clashing chains and rushed footsteps. Running, always running. He had always been alone, no one to trust, no one to turn to, no one to confide in.
'That's not true. You're never alone.'
The voice echoed once again in his head, the tempting whispers gently caressing his mind. The horrors around him had stopped closing in. They now watched, and waited in the shadows, glowing eyes of so many different colours. All maliciously watching. Waiting.
"Leave me be." The man croaked. His voice hoarse from the shouting. "Let me die."
'Why would I do that? If you die, I die. And you need me.'
Tears were pouring down his face. "Shut up."
'I can save you. You have so far only experienced a sliver of my true power.'
"I-" He coughed, spitting up blood. He could feel a rib piercing his left lung. He was slowly drowning in his own blood. Numerous red slashes played across his skin, joining and crisscrossing the scars and burns already set into his flesh. Any part of his body untouched by blood, was black with bruises.
'No one wants you. Your comrades die and abandon you, the hamlet burns and collapses and even the Lord has disappeared. Release me and we can escape. Release me and survive, just as you have always done.'
"You were bound to me for a reason."
'And what reason was that? Are you sure you remember?" It cackled. "A dozen holy knights and a single aspirant peasant boy, all sent to kill little old me. It didn't go so well did it?'
Memories of slaughter and demonic laughter flashed through his head. Blood and fire spread everywhere. The man clutched at his head.
"Stop it!" He begged.
'And then, ten broken and butchered Knights later, after finally laying me low, you realised. You realised I wasn't so easy to kill.' An echoing laughter once again set his mind on edge, threatening to push him off the tightrope of sanity and into the abyss. 'Why was it that you were selected, instead of your more 'pious' companions to be the one bound to me?'
At that, the man was silent. He no longer knew how to reply. To contradict the voice in his head. He wasn't sure there was a way.
'Release me.'
He could feel his blood boiling.
"I-"
'Release me.'
His bones breaking and twisting into new forms.
'Release me!'
The locks and chains around him shaking and straining.
"Release-"
"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe."
"What?"
'What?'
Both man and voice asked in unison.
"My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call!"
His plight briefly forgotten, the man listened to the heavenly voice, which had now drowned out the other darker presence in his mind. His body returned to normal, and the chains binding him lay still.
"I wish from very bottom of my heart, listen to my guidance! Appear!"
On the last word, a shining green circle appeared before him. It hovered there, a portal to somewhere. The man slowly stood, and moved towards the light.
"What in the light's name is this?" He asked no one in particular
Unfortunately someone in particular, answered.
'I'm as knowledgeable as you are on this matter, Caged One." The voice spoke. "But I advise entering the portal.'
He flinched from the sudden noise of the being on his mind, but it spoke again before he could retort.
'No, this is not some trick by me. Even if it was, you have three choices. Go through the portal. Release me from these accursed chains, which I still maintain is the better plan.' Or…' The voice stopped.
"And the third option?" The man growled before hearing the crescendo of a hundred warped cries and howls, by the denizens of the Darkest Dungeon.
The thunder of footsteps was joined by the slap of tentacles, the chitter and scratch of claws and talons. The darkness had tired of waiting. The horrors were closing in.
'I believe that answers your question.'
The man no longer hesitated and jumped head first into the green portal, which closed hurriedly behind him.
A deafening explosion kicked up dirt and grass from around the court. Several unfortunate students were knocked off their feet. Coughing and cries of confusion ensued.
"Someone get rid of this damn cloud!" A student shouted.
Tabitha, being the only one outside the cloud of dust, bar Sylphid, conjured up a strong breeze of air. A few seconds and the court was clear of dust again. Several students were already laughing at Louise for having caused another explosion. A few sent more... choice insults at the small girl for dirtying their clothes. But it seemed only two noticed the new arrival in their midst. Louise saw him standing in the court and was frozen in shock. Sylphid instantly tried to hide her draconic bulk behind her master. The dragon could smell something in the air. The smell of blood, of death and something else. Something… just wrong. Something that shouldn't be in this world. Tabitha was the next to notice, responding to her familiar's discomfort. She too felt something in the air. Professor Colbert griped his staff firmly and readied a number of offensive spells, aimed at the intruder, who remained standing in front of Louise.
"Who summoned me?" A harsh voice spoke.
That got the rest of the student's attention. They stopped laughing and really looked.
A man had spoken. But unlike any man they had seen. He was tall, at least a head taller than any of them. He wore very little in the way of clothing, just a dark set of blue trousers and a green cloak over his back. His skin was unnaturally pale, lean muscle exposing itself to the sun. Uncountable cuts and scars, both fresh and new covered his body, and trickles of blood ran down, several droplets hitting the floor. His head was half shaven. On one side, hair as black as pitch. The other, his right side, a scared mess. A triangular symbol of three long intersecting lines had been burnt into his head. The dull red of a fading burn was ever more prominent on pale flesh. One of these scars ran over his brow and down to his right cheek. But his eyes were the strangest of all. It did not appear he had any at first. They were so sunken and black, that in the shadow of the sun, they looked like black pits.
The man took a threatening step forwards, his bare foot crushing the already scorched earth beneath him. Several sets of thick chains surrounded him and clinked against one another as he moved. Everyone took a instinctive step back at the sheer intimidating aura of this newcomer. Only Tabitha, Colbert and Louise remained still, although the latter more due to fear than anything else.
"I said who summoned me!" The man shouted again, a number of students flinching and avoiding his gaze as he looked around at the assembled students.
The metal chains were blackened with soot and rust. They looped around his waist, chest and left shoulder. His left arm was bound to his chest, attached to the chains by a manacle of the same material. His hand clutched his dark green cloak in a tight fist over his shoulders. His arm was permanently trapped there by a square pad lock that hung from a pair of chain links. This seemed better maintained than the chains and the material was a polished sheen of obsidian, the keyhole highlighted by the glint of gold. A second circular padlock hung just below his waist and was in worse shape. Cracks and dents dotted the rusty iron surface; it looked like it could break at any moment. His right hand was free, although it was still clad in a identical manacle to his left. A dozen more chain links hung from his wrist, the last of which being broken.
"I shall not ask again!" He growled.
Each student's head turned to the pink haired girl directly in front of him. Louise snapped out of her stupor.
"I summoned you." She whispered meekly.
The man looked down at the girl and perhaps an expression of surprise spread across his features.
"You?" He asked.
His body began to shake, chains rumbling and hitting against one another. He raised his free hand, clenching and opening it.
"You summoned me?" He said again.
Another step forward towards Louise. Two dozen steps back between the rest of the class.
"You!?" He shouted.
Colbert and Tabitha readied spells expecting things to get hostile, but they were already too late. He was too close to Louise for them to act in time.
Louise herself was shaking now, in sheer terror. This man was going to strangle her and she couldn't do anything about it! Staring into the man's eyes, such dark shadowy eyes, she could see it now. Louise the Zero strangled by her own commoner familiar. Suddenly she heard a pitiful sobbing sound come from said Familiar. And Louise saw a tear fall from his nose to join the blood on the floor. Louise stopped shaking and got a better look at the man, but was interrupted just as quickly as the man snatched her up into the air and wrapped his one freed arm around her. She was crushed between unnatural muscle and iron hard chains, the oxygen in her body squeezed out of her lungs.
"Thank you!" The man cried, tears aplenty falling from his eyes and drenching Louise's robe. "Thank you thank you thank you!"
The students and Colbert looked on dumbfounded as they watched this terrifying figure, who had literally came out of an explosion and intimidated the entire class, reduce himself to tears, pick up the third daughter of the powerful Vallière family and spin her around in absolute joy, like a child did with a cuddly toy. Thanking her for something over and over again while he did so.
Finally, after the spinning stopped, Louise took a deep breath, refilling her lungs as the man held the pink haired girl level to him, face to face. He smiled so comically, so spectacularly childlike that when he started laughing it was infectious. Many other students just laughed with him.
"There IS hope in this hell!" The man cryptically said in between bellyaching laughter of sweet, sweet relief. "Thank you!"
Louise, regaining some semblance of sense started to ask; "What on Halkeginia do you-"
And then the man kissed her full on the lips.
Everyone instantly froze, mouths wide open, faces aghast. Time seemed to stop until the man finally finished his kiss with Louise. He continued to smile at the girl, who's mind looked completely overloaded as steam poured from her head and her eyes rolled around in their sockets.
However the steam was coming from another source, as the man put down Louise and looked concernedly at his hand. His entire body was turning slightly red and heat was pouring off it. A strange line of symbols burned themselves into the back of his right hand, and her grimaced at the pain. Unfortunately it seemed to be too much for the man.
"Well. That's not good." Were his last words before he keeled over backwards into unconsciousness.
A few seconds later, Louise who remained standing in her extremely confused state, also fainted and fell directly backwards into the grass.
Silence reigned again before Colbert snapped back to his senses.
"Someone call the Water Mages!"
Who is this chained and bound Familiar? What evil being is responsible for the voices in his head? What is the Darkest Dungeon? How will Louise react to having him as a Familiar? We shall see.
Wrestled with this story for a while now. Came to me playing Darkest Dungeon and reading a Familiar of Zero Crossover at the same time. I deleted several iterations of this story and finally settled for this version. Hope you enjoy! Whether I continue with this story is up to you guys. So please review and comment!
Reviews and criticism are welcome.
Signed by Imperial Decree
BluePanedGasMask