Chapter 1: The call
Time.
Time was her most pressing concern. We all are limited by it but, to an extend, we are unaware of how much we do have left. She wasn't that lucky, at least, not from her point of view. Her mother called for her presence the day before of her scheduled departure, blatantly lying down the terms she was going to accept, if she really wanted to go to that school.
Now, time was running out and she was still unsure of her capability to fulfill said terms. After a few days, everyone noticed her inability to perform even the simplest of the spells. Soon after that, a new moniker was spread. From then on, everyone knew her as Louise the Zero.
At first, her hopes were high, because there were others as unskilled as she was but, not long after the first month, they were all expelled from the school, the family she came from being the only thing keeping her as a recognized student.
That was her last night before the summoning ritual, the end of her grace period. Lately, even the few explosion she managed to create were small, easy enough to disregard. She knew the real reason wasn't what those gossiping said, she wasn't losing what little power she had in the first place, nor was she ill as her general physical condition implied, but there was no way she could tell anyone the real reason behind her enfeeblement. Blowing out the candles, she got everything ready to perform the ritual one last time.
That night, at last, she finished the ritual. The container was almost full and all that she had to do was to stabilize it. The self imposed runes, most of which appeared in thin air when it wasn't even halfway full, ever so close to the physical container that both, its physical and magical shapes, fussed. With that done, she went to sleep. She had an important task to perform in a few hours
OOO
Two hours. It was the time that passed before everyone else had summon their familiars. One of her classmates, a quiet blunette, summoned a dragon. Her arch-enemy, Kirche, managed to get a salamander. But others got more mundane animals, encompassing from little amphibians to lesser magical beings. Soon enough, the teacher would call for her to approach and perform the summoning ritual. Her certainty about the nature of the beings summoned by her self-made ritual were nonexistent, but hope is the last thing you loss.
"Is everyone done?" The teacher asked, trying to give her a way out, to let her avoid the shame that a failure would carry. He had already skipped her, when her turn came, after all.
She was about to say something, when someone else interfered. "Professor, the only one left is Zero. But I don't see the point in making the rest of us wait just to see her fail, and possibly hit us all and our familiars with one of those explosions of her." As expected, one of her classmates debased her at the first chance.
Before the teacher was able to do or say anything about it, she took some confident steps forward, and stood in front of the class, next to her teacher. "I'm ready to do the summon professor, may I?"
The teacher observed her for a while, as if weighting the chances for a disaster to happen. "Very well Miss Vallière, you may proceed." That said, he took a few steps and, not that discreetly, stood between her and the rest of the class.
Not acknowledging the action, she took out a chalk and began to draw the circle.
"Humm… MS Vallière, your summoning circle seems… odd. Would you like to have some aid to make it?" Colbert offered.
"It's fine professor, I'm been making some… independent study about the ritual, and it was common to add a personal touch to it not that long ago."
"Yes, that's true, but…"
"Ha ha, zero cant even do a proper circle! Not like it matters, she can't even properly fail with spells anymore. Everyone, pay attention, 'cause this is the last time we see her around!" Malicorne shout for all to hear, earning a reproachfully gaze from his professor.
"Never mind us, please go on Ms Vallière."
She took her good time doing it, but it should be fine since her teacher nodded at the sight of every new trace. The effort she made to blend both rituals together was paying off. He didn't make any complain about the final product after all. When it's design was satisfying enough, she stood in the middle, and was about to began with the chant, when the teacher spoke, making her heart skip a beat.
"You summoning circle is… original," he pointed out. "Where did you get the design for it?"
Nervously she gave an answer to the expected question. "I made it myself, to fit me better, as recommended in most of the book in the summoning section of the library."
He just acknowledged her answer as good enough making a nod motion, along with a hand gesture, to indicate her that she could keep going.
Louise focused all her willpower into the spell, while silently making intricate gestures with her wand. After that, and before she ran completely out of power, she began to drain power from the container, carefully spelling the spoken part of the spell.
"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière," around her, the light faded slightly. Everyone felt a chill run through them. The incoming explosion was going to be big.
"in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers," two of the observers saw how small glowing runes began to spawn and loop around her, most only able to see a dark aura slowly spreading from within the circle. When women' distant voices began to whisper incomprehensible songs, the teacher took a defensive position, ready to cast a shield at a moment notice.
Conscious of their reactions, Louise hurried as much as she could "following my fate," dark purple spheres began to appear and disappear around her, the runes glowing hard at plain sight for everyone to see. Her power visibly spiraling out of her, flowing into a point way up high, where it was accumulating. Some of the students freaked out, running to safety, others rising shields of different natures.
"Vallière stop!" She could hear in the distance. Walls rising all around the circle, encasing her. But she wont stop. She couldn't stop. It was working, she knew it, everyone would see… whatever it was she was summoning, and they would acknowledge her power, they would apologize for the way they treated her. No one would say she was relying in her family's power be able to remain within the academy. She would be a proper mage, a proper noble.
After a few more seconds the walls began to fall apart, Colbert unable to keep them together, chunks of them simply ceasing to exist. Through them, Louise saw those of her classmates that were still there, but most had flee by then. The few ones left, where covering under the dragon, which was herself behind the Professor. Some magical shields of different natures still surrounding them, spiraling at mad speeds, to increase the protection they provided.
Then, she finished the spell, with her voice still steady, taking the ritual to an end "summon a familiar."
Her small container shattered, releasing what little power it still hold, the ceramic fragments falling to the ground. There, to everyone's relieve, the atmosphere returned to its normal state, the voices disappeared, and so did the other supernatural wonders. Everyone glared at the last power threads, until they disappeared, turning into even more nothingness.
She fall to her knees. Tears flooding her eyes. She had failed once again, not even managing to make a decent enough explosion, one that would end her life, saving herself and her family the shame she would bring. All the efforts, in vain. All the hopes, shattered. Everything she had worked for, lost. She would be forced to go back, to marry some noble heir, turning into a trophy wife, all for the sake of her family.
Then, she noticed it. The others were still hiding under the shields. Somewhy, their eyes fixed in the small nothingness between their position and hers, and then, hers did too.
There was nothing, or, would it be more correct to say, that a nothing was there? Its shape was… hard to describe. It was akin to a sphere, floating a few meters above ground. The sky lost behind it to a colorless darkness that wasn't really there, while its size was growing. When it was covering most of the courtyard, its growth halved, coming to an end.
Something… came out from it. It fell to the ground, hitting it hard, and rising a dust cloud. The sphere collapsed, allowing the sky to reappear, light bathing them once again.
Realizing her actual succeed in the summon, she rose to a standing position, and walked cheerfully in the thing's direction. The shields were undone and everyone else approached, if more cautiously than her.
Once again, when she reached the thing with an ever increasing pace, she fall to her knees, hands covering her crying eyes and sobbing.
When the others reached her position, the professor hurriedly approached to the laying person. It was an unconscious boy. He was hardly breathing, his clothes were mere rags, sweat covering his body. Checking his vitals with a quick spell, he confirmed that the young boy wasn't at risk. When he was sure of the boy's safety, Colbert checked discreetly if the boy was truly a boy or some kind of magical creature in disguise, after all, it was unheard for a mage to perform a human summoning. Unfortunately, it gave a weird response. The boy had some kind of magic effect on him. The clothes were certainly magical. But he had seem bigger responses to the spell in stones that one could hardly call magical than the boy himself was giving. "Miss Vallière, I understand you may be disappointed with your familiar, but you are bound to finish the ritual. And I would rather have it done fast, to be able to carry this boy to the infirmary."
"Fitting" The girl climbing to the dragon said.
"Kuriuuuhh!" Her dragon said, supporting her opinion.
Despair spread through her face. "But... But it cant be! I've never heard of anyone having to make a contract with a commoner! You must allow me to do the ritual again!" she was desperate, trying to understand what was going on. Her ritual was almost perfect, she was sure. It was supposed to help her summon something powerful, something magical. Suddenly, she got an idea. "That's it! He must be some kind of shape-shifter right? I've heard of them! They are powerful magical creatures, able to fake human shapes!"
"As if." The red headed snorted. "Be glad you summoned something and deal with it. At least he's cute." she added pressing her right hand to her chin thoughtful "In a few years, with the proper care, you may turn him in a decent enough lov..."
"Miss Zerbst," interrupted the professor "Take this more seriously. Now, Miss Vallière, I've already used the proper spells and I'm quite certain he's just a boy, and, before you ask again, no, this ain't something you can retry, so finish the ritual at once. Please."
Slowly she reached for the boy, ready to establish the bond. Maybe, even with a commoner as a familiar, she was allowed to remain in the academy. It was a familiar after all. "My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar." Then, she kissed him, sealing the pact.
After a few seconds, a glow appeared on his left hand. When it vanished, there was a weird familiar rune in it.
With that done, Colbert took the boy on his arms, heading for the infirmary. "Miss Vallière, he's your familiar, come with me while I carry him to the infirmary." Dejected, she followed him.
The others observed from the distance, astonished.
