Chapter 2
Louise was not having a good day. That much was for certain. Today was the day she was supposed to prove herself a mage and summon a familiar so majestic and powerful that she would without a doubt prove she was worthy of the Vallière name. But noooo, it just couldn't be that easy. Now here she was chasing a madman through the halls of the academy in a completely unnoble manor. Growling in frustration, Louise paused to examine her surroundings for any sign of the runaway man. Finding none she prepared to leave and search else where when a sudden commotion caught her attention, rounding the corner she came face to face with her rogue familiar who had apparently collided with one of the suits of armor that decorate the halls in his haste to escape. They merely stared at each other for a moment before the teen turned and fled at top speed in the opposite direction.
"Argh! Come back here you filthy dog!" The pinkette screamed as she began her pursuit once more. How had this day come to this?
Earlier that day
It was the beginning of a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and to top it all off there wasn't a cloud in the sky. A sense of peace seemed to fill the air as the Tristan Academy for Magic went about its daily routine, putting every one at ease. Louise however paid no heed to the otherwise tranquil morning. Today was the day of the Springtime Summoning Ritual, the day when that the second year students would summon their familiar. Today was perhaps the single most important day of a mage's career, as summoning a familiar not only solidifys a their claim to magic and nobility but also lets the summoner determine their elemental affinity. For someone like Louise, who had never succeeded in casting a single spell this day was even more important. Needless to say she was a nervous wreck. As she sat in the clearing with the rest of her class, these feelings only grew as she watched her classmates summon theif familiars one by one. There were your standard familiars, your cats, dogs, an owl who appeared to scowl at anything and anyone, but then there were your more exotic familiars, bugbears, giant snakes, even a Founder-damned Dragon! Her rival, the Germanian cow Kirche, had just finished summoning her own familiar. A giant fire salamander bigger than she was whom she named Flame, real original.
"Well done, well done indeed!" Their teacher, Professor Colbert exclaimed. He was a balding middle age man with small specs on the rim of his nose. He bent down to examine the creature closer before exclaiming, "This is one of the finest examples of Fire Mountains Salamander that I have ever seen! You should be very proud Miss Zerbst."
Turning back to face the class, Colbert questioned, "I believe that is almost everyone, has anyone yet to summon a familiar?"
"Professor, Louise hasn't performed the ritual yet." Kirche commented with a devious smirk on her face.
"Ah, Yes. Miss Vallière, please approach the summoning circle and begin the ritual."
Nodding, Louise hesitantly approached the summoning circle, trying to ignore her heckling classmates.
"Everyone take cover! There's bound to be another explosion!"
"Why is The Zero even here? It's not like she's going to succeed."
"Hopefully she blows herself up so we dont have to deal with her anymore."
"SILENCE!" Colbert roared, slamming his staff against the ground to emphasis his point. The students were stunned into silence, having never expecting their otherwise laidback professor to possess such a tone. "Miss Vallière, please continue with the ritual." He spoke in a softer tone, sending her a reassuring smile.
Louise nodded, thankful for her teachers support, and raised her wand and said the chant.
"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!"
As she finished her chant, Louise slashed her wand downward toward the summoning circle. The result was her largest explosion to date, generating a massive cloud of dust and knocking down any of her classmates who hadn't had the forethought to seek cover. Louise, who was unaffected by the blast, fell to her knees with tears rolling down her face. She felt completely numb, she barely registered the sympathetic words of Professor Colbert or the insults of her class, she was a failure. A complete and utter zero, she had never felt so worthless in her entire life, so she did the only thing she could do, she brought her hands up to cover her face and continued to sob into them.
Silence fell over the clearing as a strange groaning wheeze began to emanate from the dust cloud. Colbert stepped in front of Louise and assumed a combat stance as he summoned a breeze to blow away the cloud. The students drew their wands as well, preparing to take action if necessary. The groaning noise stopped as the cloud faded to reveal... a blue wooden box? Before anyone could speak the doors to the box flew open, releasing a new cloud of choking grey smoke. Out of the smoke came a young man, coughing as he tried to rid his lungs of the pungent smelling smoke, sticking his head back inside the box he yelled something in a language that none of them understood, the doors shut as the smoke began to recede. The man seemed distraught at this, tugging at the handles while muttering in his incomprehensible language, sighing in defeat he turned to face the crowd and Louise finally got a good look at this strange man. He was a teen, looking a year or two older than her, standing near six feet tall, with dark skin and short, black curly hair. Slung over his shoulder was a sword, it's sheath wrapped beneath a grey woolen blanket with only the hilt exposed, and in his right hand he held what appeared to be a walking stick made from a gnarled tree branch. To the nobles present he looked like some sort of Germanian vagabond. His face was covered in ash as well as his clothes. Running his hand through his hair, the man waved and uttered what they could only assume was a greeting.
"I'm sorry sir, but we cannot understand you. I'm going to cast a spell so we can talk." Colbert spoke to the stranger, trying to keep his tone as non threatening as possible, the man may not look dangerous, but looks can be deceiving. However before he could move to cast a translation spell the teen moved to grab something within his jacket causing Colbert to tense. Seeing this, the teen raised his hands in a universal gesture of peace before with drawing a small metal rod from his jacket. Pointing it at the box, it began to emit a small whirring noise and a bright red glow as he spoke, his strange tongue giving way to flawless Tristinian.
" ...anslator must have been damaged. Can you understand me now?" The teen spoke in a smooth, friendly voice.
"Yes we can understand you, what did you do? More importantly, who are you?"
"I simply used a special... artifact, that allows me to understand you. The name's Dante Price, pleasure to meet you. Now may I ask, where am I and why am I here."
"You are at the Tristan Academy of Magic, in the nation of Halkeginia, and it appears you have been summoned to be Miss Vallière familiar." Colbert replied, gesturing to Louise.
At this point, Louise decided to speak up. "What!? He can't be my familiar, there has to be a mistake! Please let me try again!"
"I am sorry Louise, but I can't allow that. This ritual is sacred, to let you redo it would be seen as heresy." Colbert replied.
"But I've never heard of summoning a commoner as a familiar before!" Louise ranted.
"I will admit it is unusual, but regardless he is your familiar, now please continue the ritual." Colbert stated, leaving no room for argument.
Grumbling to herself, Louise begin to approach this strange man as she tried her best to ignore he jeering classmates.
"As expected of the Zero, she can't even summon a proper familiar!"
"I'm surprised she summoned something at all, I thought for sure she would have killed it with her explosions."
"She probably didn't even summon him, she probably just snatched some beggar off the street and paid him to be her familiar!"
These students were silenced as Dante leveled a rather imposing glare at them. While he may not look intimidating, his glare held a commanding authority that could put the most fearsome generals to shame.
Scowling, Louise spoke, "Come here commoner."
"Firstly, I have a name. It's not very polite to call someone a commoner. Secondly, last I checked, familiars are little more than pets, why should I submit myself to slavery?" The Timelord hybrid replied, a defiant edge creeping into his voice.
"Stupid commoner! It's your job to serve us nobles, it's the natural order of things. now stand still so I can bind you." The pinkette growled.
In response, her familiar simply placed a hand inside his pocket while he ran the other through his hair, sighing as he did so. "Well, when you put it so eloquently, what can I say but... CATCH!" He punctuated his last words by whipping his hand out of his pocket and smashing a round disk on the ground which released a thick cloud of black smoke.
With a wave of his staff Colbert dispersed the cloud, only to discover that Dante had taken off running towards the academy.
"Stupid Familiar! Come back here this instant!" Louise shrieked before running after him.
