If you happen to be one of those people who are in the habit of paying attention to the world around you, you may one day notice that the most extraordinary things most often happen to the most extraordinary people. Granted, this is not always the case, as there are exceptions to every rule. But more often than not, a spark of greatness is already present within those chosen for glory by that all-powerful enigma known as Fate. They are chosen for their task because they have already been groomed for it by the challenges they've faced in life, or because they possess the mindset and skills needed to make the impossible possible, or maybe because excellence just runs in the family. But sometimes…
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*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*BEE- *CLACK*
"Urrrrrrrrrghhhhh…" A young man vocally expresses his displeasure with consciousness, and retracts his outstretched hand from the abused alarm clock lying on the wooden desk next to his bed. He lightly brushes the wayward strands of light brown hair out of his emerald green eyes, only to immediately slam them shut, hissing in pain upon their contact with the early morning sunlight streaming in through his all-too-inadequate window curtains.
Resolving himself to bravely conquer the migraine that he could feel trying to establish dominance by taking a miniature sledgehammer to the inside of his skull, he slowly forces his eyes open bit by bit, the numerous posters and cream colored walls of his dorm room becoming slightly less blurry with each passing second. Slowly turning to face the noisy device that so rudely interrupted the blissful aftermath of a horrible lapse in judgement, the clock's face impassively answered the unspoken question of "can I go back to sleep now?" with an equally silent "It's 7:16 in the morning, so no, you can't." The young man grumbles in dissatisfaction, but swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up all the same, deciding that if sleeping in wasn't an option, then a hot shower would probably be the next best thing.
Exiting his bedroom and absently stepping over the discarded laundry of the dorm room's sole other occupant, the young man slowly makes his way to the shared bathroom to begin his daily routine. Twenty-eight minutes later, he emerged feeling considerably more awake (and cleaner) than he had when he first woke up, and after running a brush through his teeth and a comb through his hair (determining that it had crossed the 'good enough' threshold), the young man returned to his room in search of passable clothing in which to face the day. He had already donned a pair of well-worn jeans, and it was as he was slipping on a light blue t-shirt that he heard the front door of the dorm room open, announcing the arrival of his roommate, friend, and occasional bad influence, Nathan.
"G'morning, Sleeping Beauty" the lanky blue-eyed blond greeted him, stepping into his doorway with an amused smile and a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand, "do you feel as bad as you look?"
"You are such a douche. That is the last time I let you talk me into drinking at one in the freaking morning."
"Oh come on, that's no way to treat someone who brought you coffee", Nathan answered him with a grin, handing the steaming cup to his longtime friend, who accepted it with a glare. "Besides, it's not my fault you have a hangover. Maybe you should stop being such a little bitch when it comes to booze, hmm?"
"Fuck you, your parents own a winery. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with someone who's been an alcoholic since he was six?" the young man responded, reciprocating the long-standing tradition of trading good-natured barbs that their relationship seemed to be built on, in-between alternating sips of the refreshingly bitter liquid and tying the laces on a pair of running shoes. "What the hell did you even put in those drinks anyway?"
"A better question would be 'what didn't I put in those drinks?'" the self-proclaimed 'Aryan Wonder' grinned as he watched his roommate shoot him another glare of annoyance, before shaking his head and adopting a more serious expression. "Anyway, shouldn't you be in more of a hurry? You've been moaning about O'Connor's test for the past week-and-a-half."
"So?"
"So, don't you think you're cuttin' it pretty close as it is?" the blond elaborates, faint traces of exasperation at his friend's near-constant nonchalance seeping into his tone, prompting the young man to check the clock again.
"I'll be fine" he turns back and proclaims, standing up. He begins to grab various objects strewn about all over his desk; a cell-phone, a key ring, a pocketknife, and an old leather wallet. Turning to his half-amused, half-frustrated friend, the young man asks "How's the weather?"
"Sixty-eight and windy."
The young man nods and turns to grab the dark grey zip-up hoodie he'd had since sixth grade, now draped over his bedpost. Slipping his arms into the garment, the young man dons his weathered raiment with purpose, zipping it up to just below his neckline and pushing back the sleeves. "Anything else I need to know?"
"I'm borrowing your PlayStation for the weekend."
"What the hell for?"
"I'm spending it back home, and I'll need something to occupy myself with while I babysit my younger brother."
"Dick… If your brother breaks my shit, you're paying for the replacement." Throwing a few last-minute additions into a black backpack and placing a pair of headphones over his ears, he strides past the room's other occupant with a brief "Catch ya later", and departs for a class he never suspected he would never reach.
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The young man dashed across the street, weaving in and out of his fellow pedestrians with the practiced ease of a college student with a bad habit of walking through the classroom door with only seconds to spare, which, if he was being honest with himself, was exactly what he was. He had been running nonstop since he had left his dorm hall five minutes ago, and it was only the fact that he was used to it that allowed his legs to continue propelling him forwards at the rate they were.
'After three years of this, one would think I'd have adjusted to having to wake up earlier. But no, apparently I'm doomed to sprint my way across campus every goddamn morning till graduation.' the young man lamented, quickly turning into a very large and highly modern building labelled Horowitz and Levine Engineering Complex, intending to cut through to the other side and shave a bit of time off his commute…
'SHIT!'
…and only just managed to avoid plowing straight into a bunch of bored-looking high-schoolers and their over-enthusiastic college tour guide. Unfortunately, due to the tour guide's apparently smaller-than-average brain and larger-than-deserved sense of self-importance, he had positioned himself on top of a chair in the middle of the hall in order to lecture them about the campus' history and made it so that the group was completely blocking the way forwards in order to trap as many people as possible into listening to him sing the praises of a school that most of them wouldn't even end up attending.
'Dammit, get out of the way! I've got a test to get to!' The young man narrowed his eyes and silently pled to the assemblage before him that so inconsiderately blocked the path to his current destination. Unable to push through the crowd despite his best efforts, he took a sip of the coffee still in his hand and considered his options.
'Okay, we've got a herd of morons blocking the quickest way forward, and Mr. Cult of Personality up there doesn't look too inclined to get a move on. Either I wait for them to get the lead out, or I double back and find a different way.'
The young man turned to look behind him, as if the echoes of his footsteps would whisper to him the answers he sought. He turned back to look at the mob of high-schoolers in front of him. Nodding to himself, he turned around for a third time, his decision made.
'I'm so freaking glad I don't have to deal with high-school anymore' the young man thought to himself a minute later as he sped across a grassy courtyard accented with tall and shady trees, famous amongst the students for being the consummate relaxation spot on campus. 'WAAAAY too much drama. I swear, teenagers are the most melodramatic creatures on the face of the planet. The pricks wouldn't know true misfortune if it crawled up their ass and started nibbling on their intestines.'
His shoes finally hitting concrete once more, the young man continued his one-man marathon to the first class of his day. Glancing at his phone screen to check the time, and seeing that he had less than two minutes remaining before his professor locked the door, he turned up the volume on his headphones, ignored the growing burning sensation in his lungs, and picked up speed.
Had he not done that, he might have heard a voice calling out to him. A young girl's voice, crying out in desperation, pleading for something, anything to answer her prayers.
As it were, the young man was aiming for a small bridge that connected the courtyard area he had just left behind and the dining hall. About eight feet below that bridge laid a straight-shot path to the building he was bound for. Vaulting over the bridge would shave about a minute-and-a-half off his time, and that would be just enough to make it!
Gunning it straight for the edge, his legs pushing him forwards ever faster, a sudden chill made its way down the young man's spine, tingling his whole body for reasons he couldn't fathom. It felt almost as if he were being… pulled towards something. Something located directly in front of him. Shaking off the strange sensation, the young man crouched, jumped, and landed on the railing of the bridge. Pausing for the briefest of moments, he extended his legs forward, once more launching himself into the air in the direction of his target.
Because of this, even when he noticed the hole in space open up in front of him, he was completely helpless to do anything about it.
'I don't think I'm gonna make it to that test…' was, amusingly, all he had time to think before he plowed right into the oval-shaped spatial anomaly.
A quick flash of green, and the world went dark.
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Professor Jean Colbert of the Tristain Academy of Magic, better known to some as 'The Flame Snake of Tristain', was not having a good day. First, he'd woken up with a bad crick in his back, providing yet another unwelcome reminder that he wasn't quite as spry as he used to be. Then, he'd accidentally torn a hole in his favorite robe and had to send it away for the academy servants to repair while he left for his workshop. After that, another one of his experiments had literally blown up in his face, ruining his second favorite robe, and led to him missing breakfast. And now, he'd been tasked by Headmaster Osmond to oversee the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual that all the second-years were supposed to complete today.
'No rest for the weary it seems,' he thought to himself, tiredly running a hand through the remains of a once-full head of hair. He'd gone ahead and gathered all of the children who were to take part in the ritual out into the fields away from the main complex of the Academy, and, after a brief head count, decided that it was high time he got the show on the road.
"All right, as you all know, today is the day you get to summon your familiars. The creature you call forth will be your companion and, hopefully, your friend for as long as you both remain alive. It should also give each of you an idea of what area of magic you should begin focusing on, provided you don't already know what your element is."
Colbert heard a smattering of giggles break out amongst the students at that, catching a few whispered phrases and taunts that he was fairly positive he knew the intended recipient of. Yes, he'd heard the word 'failure' a couple of times, and 'Zero' a few more than that.
He could only sigh. Oh, how he missed working with professionals. Between the deviant, juvenile mannerisms of the headmaster with regards to every female in the school and the young noble children who had never known a day of hardship in their life, it often felt like he was the ringleader of a particularly arrogant circus. He wouldn't give up his teaching job for the world, but back in the day, he wouldn't have wasted any time in showi-
'No. Stop right there, Jean. Don't lose yourself in the past. You are not that person anymore.'
Turning his attention back to his students, Colbert quickly noticed that they had yet to cease their giggling, and that the target of their verbal harrying was quickly losing her composure. Colbert silently amended his previous thoughts, 'Well, I suppose a few of them have known some measure of hardship.'
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Truly, Colbert's heart went out to this girl. She was of high birth, the daughter of the Duke la Vallière and Duchess Karin Desiree la Vallière (also known as The Heavy Wind of Tristain, though only a select few people were privy to that knowledge), and was herself something like third in line for the throne if he recalled correctly. She was of slight build and sharp mind, absorbing knowledge like a sponge, and quickly became one of the top students in her year in all of her theoretical subjects, second only to Miss Tabitha. She was promising in a way few others were, the kind of student most educators would happily give their pension to instruct. There was just one problem.
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière was a complete failure in all practical aspects of magic; she couldn't cast even a single spell. Be it a small heating enchantment or a minor air current alteration charm, every attempt to actually channel her willpower into a spell always resulted in the exact same thing: an explosion.
The teachers of the academy had tried everything they could. Potions, hypnosis, scanning spells, mental compulsions, a variety of different spellwork catalysts, all four elements, spells of different geometric levels; hell, Colbert himself had personally torn through the school library to find some sort of indication of what was wrong with the young Miss Vallière's spellcasting, only to come up empty-handed.
The teachers were at a loss on how to help the poor girl, and that was when her peers, being the immature children they were, decided that there was only one logical explanation for Louise's inability to cast even the most rudimentary of spells; that she was incapable of magic in the first place. And that was when the taunting started.
Colbert and the rest of the staff had been forced to watch as the children of the Academy slowly turned a young girl, who just wanted to learn the magic that her family prided itself on, into a withdrawn, mistrustful, and emotionally volatile social outcast. Somewhere along the line, someone had referred to her as a 'zero', and the nickname had unfortunately stuck. From that day forward, Louise the Zero had been tormented by almost every student on campus for her destructive mistakes. Among the faculty, it was particularly vexing for Jean himself, as he could sympathize with the young girl's plight. For decades, he had been searching to find a non-destructive outlet for fire magic, a way to improve society with his element instead of only burning things to the ground with it. Everyone he shared his desires with scoffed at the idea, too set in their ways to understand the need for revolutionary change within the realm of the thaumaturgical arts, telling him that he'd embarked on a fool's quest and that he'd never succeed. He hadn't listened to them, and continued to experiment with his magic, only to fail over and over and over again. He may not have experienced anywhere near the depth of abuse the young Miss Vallière had for his troubles, but it was still a personal failing that constantly ate away at him.
Clearing his throat and gesturing to the field in front of him, partially to chase away the depressing train of thought and partially to restore order amongst his charges, Colbert continued with the class. "Quiet down now. As you can see, the runic circle has already been prepared for you. All you have to do is recite the incantation and invoke the summoning. Are there any volunteers?"
One by one, the students stepped forward and took their turn at the summoning circle. A quick incantation, the wave of a wand or staff, a flash of light, and a new creature would be added to what was beginning to look like a small zoo located on campus grounds. All manner of dogs, cats, amphibians, birds, lizards, a few larger animals such as bears and a fire salamander, a giant mole, and even a dragon were added to the group, excitedly taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of being summoned to serve as the companion of a mage-in-training.
"Very good, Miss Aubade, it isn't every day that someone manages to summon and contract a bugbear." Colbert happily complimented a young freckled girl who couldn't decide whether she thought the giant floating eyeball in front of her was adorable or repulsive. "All that leaves is…" the professor began, looking over the crowd in front of him, a feeling of resigned dread settling into his stomach, "Miss Vallière."
"What's the point? She's not going to summon anything."
A chorus of agreement met the outburst, and the young Miss Vallière could hold her peace no longer.
"Shut up, Zerbst!" she screeched, turning to face her classmate with a glare of pure loathing. "I'll summon a familiar! I'll summon one way better than yours!"
"That would certainly be a sight to see," responded the tall, buxom girl with tanned skin and hair the color of embers that flowed down to her back like a river of fire. "But that would require you actually succeeding in performing the summoning in the first place. Are you sure you're up to the task?"
Louise gulped at that, showing everyone just how nervous she really was. Forcing what might have passed for a confidant smile, if you were squinting, onto her face, she nodded. "Of course I am! Just you watch!"
Colbert did just that as the young girl slowly made her way over to the summoning circle, stopping at the edge and gulping once more. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to help her through this. She would either successfully perform the summoning and bind her familiar like everyone else, or…
Well, they'd cross that bridge if they came to it.
'No rest for the weary indeed.'
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Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière was not nervous. No, she wasn't nervous at all.
She was absolutely terrified.
Slowly making her way towards the summoning circle, she spent the time she had remaining trying to convince herself that rising to Zerbst's bait wasn't the most horrible mistake of her life. 'Why did I do that!? I knew she was trying to get a rise out of me, and I lashed out anyway! How am I going to summon something more impressive that a four-foot tall fire salamander?'
Shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of the butterfly colony that had erupted within her stomach, Louise unsuccessfully tried to stamp down the creeping dread that all she'd end up producing is another of the explosions that had plagued her life for as long as she could remember.
'Okay Louise, don't panic. I repeat, do not panic. You can do this. You're one of the top students in your year, and you spent all last night memorizing and practicing the ritual incantation. You can do this. So what if this is your last chance to not screw up? So what if you'll probably get kicked out of the Academy if you fail? So what if Mother will disown you and you'll have to live the rest of your life among the commoners if you don- GYAAAAAH THIS ISN'T HELPING!'
Noticing that she had finally reached the edge of the summoning circle, Louise gulped, trying to remove the solid block of anxiety that had decided to take up residence in the back of her throat. A slight breeze blew through her strawberry-blonde hair, and she took a deep breath in preparation for the ordeal ahead.
'You can do this, you can do this, you can do this…'
She stood ramrod straight and gestured with her wand at the circle before her.
'Here goes everything…'
"Pentagon of the five elemental powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar!"
A spark. That was all she got for her efforts. The summoning circle emitted a faint glow and a small spark of magic, and then promptly died out.
Louise was in a daze, the anticlimactic end to such a torturous buildup leaving her feeling like she'd been slapped. What had just happened? Normally when she attempted magic she at least got a reaction. Granted, that reaction always took the form of an explosion, but this? This was nothing! Nothing at all! An explosion would have been preferable to the absolute lack of anything to show for whatsoever! Had she somehow gotten even worse at magic than she had been before?
'No, no that can't be. I must have messed up the incantation. Yes! That has to be it!'
Ignoring the amused whispers of her fellow classmates, Louise turned to the professor who had been overseeing the proceedings with a desperate gaze.
"Professor Colbert! Please allow me to try the summoning again!"
To his credit, the professor neither sighed nor cringed when faced with the manic determination of his pupil to prove to everyone that she was not a complete failure. He simply gave a small nod.
"Of course, Louise. Not everyone gets it on the first try. Go ahead and give it another go."
Nodding back in thanks, she returned her focus to the circle etched into the ground in front of her. Taking another breath, she tried the incantation again.
"PENTAGON OF THE FIVE ELEMENTAL POWERS, HEED MY SUMMONING AND BRING FORTH MY FAMILIAR!"
Again, nothing appeared before her. Sinking to her knees, despair rushed in to fill the void left behind by her emotional high.
"No…"
This couldn't be. She was Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière! She was the Heavy Wind's daughter for Founder's sake! But apparently the universe didn't care about that. If anything, it only mocked her feeble attempts to prove herself worthy in the eyes of her peers.
"No, no, no…"
With a pained cry of desperation, she attempted the summoning again.
"PENTAGON OF THE FIVE ELEMENTAL POWERS, HEED MY SUMMONING AND BRING FORTH MY FAMILIAR!"
…
…
…
Nothing.
Again… nothing.
"NO!"
Louise attempted to summon her familiar three more times after that, to no avail. The tears were freely leaking from her eyes now, tracking their way in rivulets down her pale face, small sobs escaping from her throat as she tried and tried and tried and failed and failed and FAILED.
No-one said a word. Professor Colbert could only watch on as Louise kneeled in agony, unable to afford the emotionally damaged girl any sympathy that wouldn't ring hollow. Many of the students had turned away, the situation having long since crossed the line from funny to awkward, and rapidly approaching the territory of 'I can't watch this anymore'.
There were no words for what Louise felt. It was a horrible amalgamation of pain and despair and guilt and terror and disappointment that writhed inside her and made her want to throw up, to tear her hair out, to ball herself up on the ground and cry until the world grew tired of her inability to do ANYTHING right and simply ended her miserable existence.
This was it. She had been given her chance, and she had blown it sky high, in front of everyone.
It was all over. That was what she thought.
Then, The Words came to her.
She had no idea where they came from, or whether or not they would work. After all, unorthodox incantations tended to yield highly unpredictable results.
But they were her words, she knew that much. They were her words.
And they would be spoken.
After all, what else did she have to lose?
"I beg of you, my slave who exists somewhere in the Universe!" she began, her tears still falling, trying to fit into her words every drop of the emotional turmoil that she had experienced, that had battered her resolution like the waves of a vast ocean, "Oh sacred, beautiful, and strong familiar spirit! I desire, and here I plead from the depths of my heart!"
There was power in these words. She could feel it buzzing beneath her skin, a curious sensation that reminded her of the lightning her one-time fiancé was so famous for.
She took a deep breath, and her words resounded through the air.
"ANSWER TO MY GUIDANCE!"
Louise completed the aria and, for a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then the summoning circle began to glow.
Then it began to shine.
White bolts of coruscating magical energy flung themselves from the circle, dancing through the air and crisscrossing over each other like a miniature lightning storm that sent Louise's classmates running in fear, as all the while the circle grew brighter and brighter until, finally, the world was engulfed in light.
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The young man stood up in an empty void and frowned.
'What. The. Hell.'
Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but infinite blackness stretching out in every direction.
"Am I dead?" he questioned aloud, hoping (but also kind of dreading) that something would answer back. He received no response.
Deciding to check his surroundings more thoroughly before casting aspersions on the status of his mortality, the young man trained his bright green eyes on the landscape engulfing him.
Up? Absolute darkness.
Left? Never-ending void.
Right? A complete vacuum of solid black.
Down? Not a goddamn thing.
'Wait, what am I even standing on?'
Stomping his feet a few times and confirming that, yes the bottoms of his shoes were making contact with some sort of glassy black surface that served as a floor in this… space… he went back to pondering the abyss into which he had unintentionally leapt.
*siiiiiiiiiigh* "If I'm about to get attacked by the Four Kings, I'm gonna be so pissed."
A bright white light pulled him from his musings, demanding his attention. Turning around to face the aberration in the dark around him, his brow slowly crept up his forehead.
"Now isn't that convenient."
Contemplating the choice before him (for he easily recognized it for what it was), the young man started listing the pros and cons of his options.
'Alright, Infinite Void vs. Complete Unknown. Either I stay here until I go insane with boredom, or I venture forth into a situation I'm probably horribly unprepared for. What to do?' he silently pondered. Raising a hand to cup his chin in a pose of deep contemplation, the young man couldn't help but think that the light would lead to the better outcome in this instance.
'I know they always tell you not to move towards the light, but if this inky eternity really is proof that I've already gone and kicked the bucket, then wouldn't a white light symbolize the Gates of Saint Peter and the entrance to Heaven?'
He supposed that the endless nothing around him could pass for a decent Purgatory if it so desired. Though, if Purgatory was this depressing, he really didn't want to see Hell.
'And if that's true, does this mean the Abrahamic faiths were right all along?'
Looking up to find that the white light had grown bigger and brighter in the time he had been thinking, he hesitated for just a brief moment before a small smirk made its way onto his face.
'Only one way to find out.'
The young man boldly made his way forward, into the unknown, and the world was engulfed in light.
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Yes sometimes, on very rare occasions, the most extraordinary things will happen to the most ordinary of people. People who don't have unique skillsets, weighty destinies, or powerful bloodlines to fall back on. So instead, they do something else.
They improvise.
And THAT is when things get interesting.
