Bone Deep (ZNT/IRL AU/Spoiler)
—
Looking to the crimson-hued sky, her fingers danced across the pistons of her soul, her trumpet, as the boys marched in perfect lockstep. Unum, Duo. Unum, Duo. The march of the legion continuing ever forward to stem the tide and fight the eternal war, her own feet carrying her forward, albeit on the periphery.
The benefits of seniority, though a nice fight against the fallen was going to be a pleasant reprieve from—
"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call."
The sudden sound of the Aelia's demure voice echoing in her skull almost made her fingers falter and fall out of tune. Almost. The voice was still there, notes of desperation and pain becoming more pronounced with each resonation— but the distraction was not nearly enough to interrupt her performance. Besides, that would ruin the tattoo and that wouldn't do; not with the night of all hallows and time for the war drawing close.
Regardless though, what it did do was put a small kick in her step. Divine, Beautiful and Wise? How very flattering. And yes, by the curve of her hip it was true that she was beautiful, many would even say it was bordering on the diving, and the centuries of battle and leadership had made her quite wise.
But who was this speaker who whispered in her ear? Perhaps one of the gods playing their games again? From what she had seen during her occasional tour of the living world, the gods had largely fallen from grace but for their namesakes in the sky keeping them in the public conscious, so them having the power to turn their will onto one such as her… seemed unlikely. Maybe, but unlikely. Though one could never discount the whimsical nature of a God.
Perhaps one of Adonai's children in their heaven then? They were always so kind enough to give warning when one of their own fell so a champion of the legion could keep an eye out for their presence on the battlefield, but… ah, now that almost made her fall out of tune, she would have to be careful.
She tried, she tried so hard, however the thought of engaging one of those terrifying beings… it was enough to make her bones shiver in wanton anticipation.
The searing lash of their darkened illumination cutting and tearing, rending flesh from bone as they fought to strike at their Godly-Fathers' favored. It was enough to spur the meminī: reminding her of the pain of living, and the glory of past triumphs in the flavium. It was enough she could only hope one of them had fallen. The promise of battle with them, then, when the final moment came that they had unleashed the breadth of the destructive might they were capable of came, she would rise anew or charge forth with entrails hanging from her belly to strike. The orgasmos inducing sight of their panic that always came when she lashed out with gladius, struck with cestus or pierced them through with trident... it was near enough to put her out of tune.
"I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!"
Ah! A summoning then. Disappointing that it wasn't a warning, but there was time yet for that and with how many were Falling of late she doubted she'd be disappointed. Although, it had been quite some time since the age of magic had been upon the world of her life, so this new call did raise the question of what manner of magi could gather enough will to attempt a summoning of one such as her. Preferably it wasn't a necromancer, they were always little more than petty annoyances no matter the age and their power was ever so often bolstered by live sacrifice, thieves, and defilers the lot of them.
But if not… well, that still left the matter of the actual summoning. It was one thing to reach her, but another to— between one step and another, a swirling pool of green light filled her vision as her onward march carried her forth into a disk of swirling green. And so down she fell, through a hole forged between the realms by the power of a person's will and life.
Well... that answers that at least… she really hoped it wasn't a necromancer this time. The Aelia's voice had seemed quite young, but... well stranger things had happened.
The summoning was over before she knew it though, with hardly any time to make a plan of negotiation or attack. The instant her feet touched upon terra firma, smoke and a concussive blast not unlike that which the newest of the legion seemed to favor on the battlefield as of late blew through her.
'An attack? Right after being summoned?' Why she was so taken off guard she blew an off tune and quite unintentional note before falling to pieces.
-I-
"Miss Valliere, if you would come forward to summon your familiar?"
Swallowing, Louise stepped toward the summoning circle outlined on the grass, barely able to ignore the balding professors' apologetic glance as he moved away. Far away. Her legs nearly gave out then and there, but as the jeers and whispers from the other students reached her ears, the insults and jokes cutting deep, she steeled herself against the petty barbs and raised her wand.
"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!" Then, Louise slashed her wand down at the center of the pentagram while everyone else braced themselves.
The spell exploded and her throat closed as smoke as black as pitch mixed with billowing dust kicked up by the blast filled the air. Her ears rang, though for a moment she thought she'd heard the sound of a horn or… 'Or trumpeting!'
Her heart filled with elation as the smoke began to thin as she recalled the beasts she'd read about in the academy's bestiary that made such a sound. There were the Terror Bill's of the Romalian ranges or the Mamothians of the far North or— Or the Eyeless Horned Lizard of the Rub al Khali! 'Oh, that would show Kirche. She'd see how proud that tramp was of her stupid salamander when she was riding about on… on…'
A lead weight dropped into her stomach as the smoke dissipated, and with it, the whispers of the students shifted to gasps and cries of shock. Distantly, she recognized the sounds of sympathy before they were drowned out by deafening jeers and laughs at her expense.
Louise could do little but sway in place as her knees shook, each insult hitting her like the results of her own failed spellwork. Her wand slipped from her fingers as the last lingering remnants of smoke faded and she looked upon the pale bones strewn about the summoning circle.
She blinked as if that would change what she was seeing. 'I… I killed it. I killed my own familiar.' A faint giggle leaked from her lips.
The steel broke.
Her knees struck against the ground, but something as simple as physical pain was distant as pressure built within her chest and throat. She broke inside. She'd succeeded— Finally —the spell had worked, but in the same stroke she'd killed her familiar. She'd done what no other had.
Any conscious thought disappeared beneath the ocean of dread. Barely restrained as it was from day to day, the ocean had always been close to overflowing and now she drowned in years of repressed anguish and despair brought on by years of failure and torment.
Her eyes burned as she bowed forward until her forehead was nearly touching the grass and pink locks hung limp.
That was it. There was nothing left. The one thing, the only thing, that could have redeemed her and her own incompetence ruined it all.
Around her, some of the jeering from the students taperd off and faded. Sympathy? Maybe they were realizing what it really meant that she'd failed, what they'd done to her and put her through over the years. At the same time though, others grew louder, shouting one thing or another at her. It was all the same, but she could imagine the scathing insult and japes at her expense easily enough. She'd heard enough of them.
Her throat constricted before a painful hiccup tore itself from her raw throat.
"Miss Valliere, you need to complete the ritual!" The professors shout shocked her out of her catatonia
She blinked through the tears. 'Complete the ritual?'
A strained laugh leaked from her Yes, complete the ritual. Kiss the bones and everyone could pretend she wasn't a failure and an embarrassment to the family.
"Miss Valliere — Louise!"
The professor again, but it had been someone else to call her name— "By the Founder Louise, hurry up and complete the ritual already, we don't have all day!" Von Zerbst.
In the span of a heartbeat, deep-seated disdain welled up to burn through the despair while its absence made way for the rage that took its place.
'Von Zerbst. Von Zerbst. Von Zerbst. It was always Von Zerbst, needling at every opportunity, offering to take me as a maid, or saying the family lands would do well under her family's care. But she wanted to keep mocking me? Now!? Well if I could kill my own familiar, then what was another person? After all, what left was there for me to lose. I may as well do something mother could be proud of me for.'
Her neck hurt as she lifted off the ground and her back cramped painfully, but the thought of getting at Zerbst… Became nothing. Through the curtain of hair hanging before her eyes, she blinked at the feet in front of her. Not made of skin or scale, but the white of her familiars remains.
But… She blinked again and what she was seeing dawned on her. Where the bones had been loose and strewn about by the explosion, now they were connected into the shape of a proper foot. That is was a human foot went unnoticed though, as her eyes caught a glimpse of a faint glow flickering between the small bones. Barely visible in the daylight, but there.
Her eyes drifted to the ankles where the tarsals connected to a fibula, then up to the pelvis and to the rib cage where a shallow gouge marred the white of the bones. Faint flickering connected them all together, and craning her head back Louise stared into sockets filled with flickering blue wisps. The undead— my familiar —grinned down at her as a skeletal hand absently spun some sort of horn engraved in delicate blue, black, and silver filigree.
"...My Familiar."
The last thing Louise saw was the ground between its feet rushing toward her.
—
A/N: BEHOLD! THE SKELETON WAR COMES TO SPACEBATTLES! PREPARE YOURSELVES FUCKBOYS! SIGN UP AND DO YOUR PART!
...So. Um...yeah. Thoughts? First actual ZNT fic. Oh, also third person... haven't done that in a while.