Greetings, readers! I'll be putting all authors note-esq statements after the story from the next chapter on, so things like this won't be at the beginning of each chapter anymore (with the exception of the previously mentioned spoiler warnings).


It was the afternoon of the sixth day since Roland was summoned, and he was currently exploring the forest surrounding the academy. Classes had already ended for the day, and instead of taking reading lessons from Charlotte, he elected to get to know the surrounding area better. It was a bright-sunny day, but the light had difficulty penetrating the canopy of the forest, which gave the forest a darkened, morose feel to it. Strangely, there weren't any animals around.

He'd heard a lot of chirping and other noises coming from beyond the academy's walls the first two days he'd spent there, but they'd all started to die down since then, and were now all gone. The inactivity coming from the forest was off-putting for him, so he decided to investigate the cause. If something was killing or running off the animals in the forest so close to the academy, whatever it was could be a potential threat. That, along with his want to understand this new world, spurred him onward, and though it wasn't something he cared to think about, there was a third reason he'd decided to explore the forest that day, and she was right there with him, despite his warnings.

Charlotte was walking with him through the forest while leafing through a small book; her crooked catalyst was held in her off-hand. From what she'd taught him so far, he could tell the book was some kind of collection of short stories, but he couldn't figure out much else. The reading lessons she gave had been very helpful for learning how to read individual words, but he'd hit a wall with them as he realized that the syntax of their languages was completely different, which elucidated something about the Contract Familiar spell she'd cast on him.

It didn't implant any linguistic knowledge in him, instead, it seemed like it was a fast acting translation spell, in addition to the other effects she'd told him about, that allowed him to communicate with the people around him, which made learning the actual rules of her language all the more difficult, as he had to wrestle with the effects of the spells' translation. Though, he'd noticed that most other Familiars couldn't speak her language despite the spells' effect, he attributed that to the differences in their anatomy making human speech difficult for them.

Charlotte, having realized the syntax problem after Roland failed miserably to read anything in its proper order, redoubled her teaching efforts, which also resulted in longer-stringent lessons. This was the third reason why he'd decided to take a break from her lessons. He appreciated them, and realized the value of being able to read in a functioning society, but he found the way she taught to be incredibly boring, unlike the way most of her professors taught, which was the product of many years of teaching, and needed a break from it.

Come to think of it, now might be a good time to ask.

Roland thought as he turned to face his companion.

"Why have you been being so…" He began to speak, but paused when he realized just how many ways he wanted to end that sentence. He'd wanted to know why she treated him the way she did, despite some of the terrible things he'd heard about nobles from this world, and the way he'd seen some of them treat their Familiars, she had shown him consideration and respect, and while he appreciated it, it was still unsettling to him for a multitude of reasons. He'd wanted to ask why she was so damn quiet as well; he knew it was hypocritical of him to find fault with that, but given the boisterous personalities of her peers, and even her closest friend, it seemed odd that she was the only one who isolated herself to such an extent. He'd also wanted to ask why she'd been ignoring her peers' disrespect, despite the fact that it clearly bothered her, but he figured that wasn't a topic he should bring up without a good reason, and settled on waiting for it to come up on its own. He'd wanted to ask several other things as well, but in the end, he decided to ask the first thing that came to mind.

"Why have you been treating me like this?" His words elicited a confused expression from her, so he clarified. "Why have you been going out of your way to be nice to me?"

Charlottes' mouth bent into a small frown as she stood there, staring down at the pages of her book. She made no attempt to look at him as she considered how she'd reply to his sudden question.

"I know what it's like to be sent away from your home…" A sad expression covered her face as she spoke, still refusing to look at him, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.

Roland didn't like pity, and he wasn't misguided enough to mistake her sympathy for that, but her response still surprised him. He didn't think she'd tell him her reasoning, or at most, that she'd lie about it, but he got the feeling that she was being honest. Though, there was something else in her voice that he couldn't decipher. A sort of emptiness that belied the sadness she felt.

"So where are you from?" He asked the first thing to come to mind. It wasn't a question he really wanted or needed answered, since the answer wouldn't have changed anything for him. He was summoned by her, and even if it was different from the summoning he'd experienced before, it still meant he was tasked with protecting her, besides that, he already decided to stay with her for the time being, so he'd fulfill his duty to the best of his ability. Her country of origin was irrelevant in that regard, but letting the conversation end there didn't sit right with him.

"Gallia."

He recognized the name. She'd mentioned it when she asked about where he was from, and he'd seen it in the Atlas she kept in her room after he'd learned a bit of her language. From what he could tell of the map, it was the largest country on the continent, but didn't know much more than that. He knew that the Academy was close to the border between Tristain and Gallia as well, since it was located in southern Tristain, but he wasn't familiar with the units of measurement they used here, so he wasn't sure how "close" that meant it was.

"That's the country to the south… Why are you in Tristain? Do they not have magic schools in Gallia?" Charlotte shook her head in response to his question. It looked like she was considering saying something, but she kept quiet. Roland shrugged as he turned away from her.

"If you don't want to tell me the reason, then don't." He spoke as he surveyed the area in front of him. He'd been periodically looking for signs of the local fauna, or whatever had run it off, throughout their walk, but hadn't found either yet. It wasn't like he was an experienced hunter, but he had sharp eyes and a keen sense of hearing, so it was only a matter of time until he found something. "It wouldn't change anything for me if I knew."

She looked up at the back of his head when he continued, her face had retained its neutral mask, but she still seemed unsure of whether she should answer his question or try to change the subject.

"I looked for Lordran, Drangleic, and Lothric, but found nothing." She'd decided to change the subject for now.

"That doesn't surprise me." He responded as he scanned the canopy above them for any signs of movement, but saw none.

"Not even past the desert to the east, nor in any history book or myths." She continued.

"And?"

"I don't think you were lying." She spoke with an even tone as she looked over the rim of her glasses toward him; her face was still pointed toward her book.

"I wasn't." He responded plainly as he walked over to a few trees and started looking for any sort of markings that might give him some clue about what was happening in the forest. "This place, Halkeginia, it doesn't exist where I come from." He couldn't find any slashes or claw marks on the trees, but he noticed a few were missing bark in some places. "Sorcerers, or Magicians, as you call them, didn't need to inherit their power from their parents. Anyone, with a strong enough intellect, could cast or develop Sorceries." Upon closer inspection, he found several deep grooves in the exposed sapwood, like it'd been struck hard by something with a blunt edge. "There was only ever one moon." He examined the low hanging branches of the damaged trees. They reached around three or four meters off the ground at their lowest, and seemed undamaged. "The Fire faded, and with it, the very Light of the world diminished."

His tone was somber as he spoke about his world. Giving enough information for anyone to realize he wasn't talking about the world they stood in now. He had originally thought it would be better to avoid talking about where he came from, but he'd changed his mind. Maybe it was because of the way she'd treated him with kindness, rather than as a servant or "human" shield, or maybe Roland just needed to talk about it to stifle his doubts about whether the world they stood in was even real, regardless of what his reasoning was, he gave her a few telling details about his world. He still avoided talking about the Gods and Undead, but he decided he needed to bring up the Fire, if only to verify a thought that had occurred when he'd learned of the magic in this world.

He looked down toward the base of the damaged trees as he finished talking. Scattered around the ground were several small stones, unlike any others he'd seen in the forest so far. He picked up one of the larger ones, about the size of his palm, and began to look it over. The stone had a pale, purplish-blue color, and had a small burgundy-colored, vein-like line running through it. It felt warm to the touch, almost as if it was alive, but the air surrounding it gave off a terrible chill. Roland turned it over in his hand, it looked smooth on one side, but every other side was shaped jaggedly, like whatever it was attached to had been shattered by some powerful force. As he traced his fingers across it, he felt small ridges running along the smooth portion of the stone, and tendon-like threads, made of a similar material as the stone, entwined with the jagged ridges of the rest of the stone. Oddly, the stone seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he might've seen it before.

"The fire faded?" Charlotte asked as she watched him bend down by a tree and pick something up, the book now in her skirt pocket. Her voice conveyed her confusion as she processed the information he'd just told her. The implication wasn't lost to her, but it was still hard to believe. She didn't get the impression he was lying, but the idea of there being another world besides the one she'd always known was difficult to accept, even for someone who delighted in reading about people and places that might never have existed. Still, she didn't think he was lying, but she couldn't just blindly accept what he was saying without any proof, even a child would be too skeptical to blindly believe in something so unorthodox.

"The Fire faded." He repeated her question definitively. "I take it that something like that means nothing to you?" He continued as he dropped the stone on the ground and looked for any tracks or signs that could lead him to whatever drove off the animals, and probably dropped those strange stones as well.

"No…" She responded as she approached him. When she reached his side she looked down at the strange stones that were scattered around the base of the tree, and noticed the indents in the sapwood he'd been studying.

"Figured." Roland walked toward a few trees in the distance whose exposed roots looked like they'd been crushed. Charlotte followed him, though she was on guard after having seen the depressions in the trees up close. Originally, she wasn't as worried about the sudden lack of activity in the forest, attributing it to the sudden influx of Familiars that'd arrived earlier that week driving off the local fauna, but the indents in the trees clearly weren't made by any Familiar she'd seen, and the strange stones littering the ground gave off a chilling-unnatural feeling.

"This world, everything about it is different from where I came from." He sighed as he bent down to get a better look at the roots; they were crushed by the weight of whatever stepped on them, based on the way they were mashed into the ground, rather than due to some sort of impact.

"Proof?" She asked as she turned around to see if anything was behind them. There was nothing there, but she continued to look off into the forest cautiously.

"You know I have none, but it doesn't matter. I don't expect you to believe me." He could hardly believe it himself. "Wait…" He stood up slowly as he noticed something. It was faint, but he could smell blood coming from deeper in the woods. "This'll probably be your last chance to turn back. Whatever did this is close by." He told her as he looked over his shoulder at her. She shook her head in response, and held her catalyst at the ready. "Suit yourself."

He skulked slowly toward where he thought the smell was coming from, being sure to keep a tree between him and his destination at all times. Charlotte followed suit, and snuck behind him as well, being careful to watch their backs as they progressed. She made a disgusted face at the stench of blood strengthening as they continued.


They soon reached the source of the smell, a clearing in the forest near a small hill. The clearing was riddled with the bodies of the local fauna and a few of the larger Familiars that he'd seen on campus the first few days he'd been there. The bodies themselves were mangled, beaten into bloody masses of crushed bones and exposed organs. Several of the bodies littering the clearing had been thrown into a pile opposite the hill haphazardly, but they weren't what drew Roland's eye now.

Just next to the pile, a large mass of brown fur had been shaking the entire time they'd stood there. Whatever it was, it was still alive, but he could see that its fur was matted down by the blood slowly draining from its wounds. He put his hand up in front of Charlotte, and motioned toward the mass of brown fur before walking over to it. Charlotte had been standing there, looking on in disgust and anger at the scene before them, but swallowed her rage and followed him, still watching their surroundings carefully, ready to start casting at any second.

As he knelt down to inspect the brown-furred creature he noticed the dirt underneath it had been displaced, like it had been trying to dig a hole to get away, though it didn't get very far. The hole it dug only seemed to be about a foot deep, and the creature seemed to have done its best to squeeze itself into the small ditch after being attacked, but it couldn't continue digging. As it sensed Roland next to it, its eyes opened in abject terror, as it assumed him to be its attacker, but it calmed down when it realized he wasn't what assaulted it. It looked up at him pleadingly as tears ran down from its blood-covered eye, but it didn't make a sound. It was either too weak or scared to vocalize its distress, but there was no doubt that it was afraid for its life.

Just then, a loud impact rang out through the clearing, followed by the sound of an agonized screech and tearing flesh. Whatever had caused it was on the other side of the small hill, opposite from the pile in the clearing. Slowly, Roland began to walk over to the hill, with his club and shield at the ready. With every movement he was careful not to make a sound, and watched for even the slightest bit of activity coming from his destination. Charlotte was behind him, moving towards some of the nearby trees to try and flank whatever was behind the hill. Roland stood just before the top of the hill now, and peeked his head over it to see what had caused all this.

He narrowed his eyes as the beast came into view, realization striking him, then lowered his body to avoid detection. The beast looked almost human from a distance, but he knew it wasn't. It was far too large to be a normal human. Its entire body was covered in tightly packed muscles, and some parts of it seemed to have jagged, bone-like rocks, jutting out of it. There was a stump where a tail used to be, but even that seemed to be made of some sort of exposed bone. The only clothing it wore was a roughly hewn pair of pants, secured to its body by a thin rope tied around its waistline. Though, the pants were in such a state of disrepair that they could have been mistaken for a skirt.

Burgundy colored veins had begun to show through its sickly purplish-blue skin, and its left arm had been completely shattered below the elbow, leaving the sharp remains of its exposed radius as the only remaining part of its forearm, but there was no mistaking it. In its one remaining arm, it held a large-hooked machete, and its head was a large, elongated skull, with two long horns protruding outward from both sides of its head, though one had been broken in half, and two faintly glowing eyes in front of each horn. It was old and dying, but Roland knew exactly what it was, he'd killed its kind before.

He looked over to Charlotte, who was standing behind a thick tree trunk, staring over at him. She'd seen the beast, but she hadn't made a run for it yet, so she must have intended on fighting it, or was too scared to move.

He pointed at himself, then the demon behind the hill and his club in turn, trying to convey that he intended on fighting it. He then pointed toward Charlotte and back to the direction they came from, trying to get her to run away, but she shook her head in response.

She pointed toward Roland, and then the beast, then made a small striking motion with her hands, indicating that she wanted him to attack it. She then pointed toward herself, and then her catalyst and the beast in turn, indicating she was going to give him magical support while he did.

This time, he shook his head, and pointed toward the demon, then her, and drew his thumb across his neck three times quickly, trying to get across how easily it could kill her, but she shook her head in response, and repeated the hand motions she'd used before, this time with more emphasis.

Is this girl trying to get herself killed?

He thought to himself as he quickly stuck his head up to see what the demon was doing. Its back was still facing them while it kneeled down, pinning an octopus-like creature to the ground using its shattered radius as it tore off its tentacles with its remaining hand. The large machete it used as a weapon was lain out by its side, but he had no doubt it would immediately take it up if either of them approached.

Charlotte had looked out from behind the tree as well, and saw what Roland had. When their eyes met again, she began to motion toward its weapon and her catalyst, and then flicked the air with her free hand. She seemed to be saying that she'd try to separate it from its weapon.

He'd seen her cast spells a few times before, in the first class he'd attended with her, and a few times outside of classes, and knew they always ended up acting the same way from observation and what her peers had said, with whatever she'd cast a spell on violently reacting to even a little friction. If she was going to do that, then they might be able to get the drop on it and defeat it before it could regain its weapon. He nodded at her, and prepared himself to rush the demon as she began quietly chanting a spell.

The beast couldn't hear her, likely because of how quietly she chanted, but it being so focused on its task, coupled with the sounds of tearing flesh, meant it probably wouldn't have noticed even if she barely hushed her voice. He waited for her to signal the completion of her spell, which she did by nodding, before jumping over the top of the hill and rushing the demon.

Upon noticing Rolands' presence, the demon quickly reached for its machete, but was momentarily surprised when it shot away from its hand, and imbedded itself into a nearby tree, as its fingers grazed the handle. Giving Roland enough time to close the distance between the two and slam his club against the back of its right leg. He struck it two more times on the same leg as it struggled to get up off its knees, then stepped a few paces back. He knew better than to just attack it mindlessly, and took the chance to regain his breath as he waited for another opening in its defense.

The demon turned to face him now, and didn't seem to notice Charlotte hiding behind a tree. The strange creature that it was pinning down was still stuck to its arm, so it swung the broken arm towards Roland, throwing the mangled carcass toward him. Roland quickly dodged underneath it, landing him less than a meter away from it, and held up his shield to block the incoming punch, which buckled under the impact, but didn't break, still, he could feel the force of the punch transfer through the shield to his arm, and grimaced at the pain it caused as the demon slowly pulled back its fist to strike him again.

This time he ducked under the punch, then slid behind the demon, striking its right leg again as he did. He reared back to strike it again, but was interrupted by its elbow slamming into his face, knocking him onto his back. It turned to face him while it reared back its shattered left arm, primed to skewer him where he lay, and as it stabbed the sharp radius toward Rolands' chest, a large rock rammed into the side of its head, coming from the direction Charlotte had been hiding.

Roland quickly rolled behind the decrepit demon and attacked its leg again, he struck it three times with his club, and as it turned to face him, he put all his weight behind slamming into it with his shield, in a failed attempt to throw it off its balance, before he was pushed back by another powerful punch. He managed to block it, but his shield didn't survive the second hit, and snapped in half, sending splinters of wood to fly off of it.

While the demons' focus was on him, he could see Charlotte moving behind another tree, it wasn't any closer than the first, but it was big enough to hide her whole body, besides that, not moving around would make it easier for the demon to find her if it decided to attack her. Though, he had no intention of letting its attention wander enough to go after her. Roland held the remnants of the shield above his head and made a small circular motion with it when he saw Charlotte looking over at him, with any luck, she'd realize what he was trying to get across and start chanting.

The beast bent its knees until its center was low to the ground, then it jumped at him, trying to skewer him with its exposed bone again. Roland quickly rolled underneath its jump, successfully dodging the attack, and turned to strike its leg from behind again, but missed as it turned to face him.

Shi-

He didn't even have time to think or move as its sharp radius pierced his neck, a fraction of a second before it did, a rock quickly flew past its head, missing by only a few inches. It slowly lifted him off the ground as he struggled to pull himself off its exposed bone, but couldn't, and after it lifted him as high as it could, it threw him down, into the small hill he'd been hiding behind before the fight.

Charlotte, who saw this from her hiding spot, watched as the beast walked over to its machete and wrenched it out of the tree it'd been imbedded in, taking a sizeable chunk of wood with it, and tried to think of something she could do as it approached Rolands' bloodstained body. He was still moving, if only barely, which meant he was probably still alive, so if she acted fast, she might be able to save him. Despite knowing she wouldn't be able to kill that monster by herself, she couldn't stop herself from acting.

Her body moved on its own as she picked up a few rocks and ran out into the open after she started chanting a spell. The monster had taken notice of her, but still approached Roland, so she threw one of the rocks as she finished chanting the spell. It struck the monster in one of its eyes with impressive speed, crushing the sensory organ as it did. The beast reeled back from the impact and pain, and then turned to face her. It was roughly six meters away from her, and began charging at her.

Just as it was about to reach her, it stopped itself, preparing to jump at her, which caused her to dive away from it before it landed. It turned just as quickly as it had with Roland and swung its machete down on her, the hooked end just barely missing her head as she rolled to her left, then right, as it swung its weapon downwards a second time. She scuttled away from it as she regained her footing, and positioned herself on the other side of a tree from it, giving herself some cover while she began casting again.

When it reached the tree she'd used as cover, she was shocked to see Roland running up behind it, and stopped chanting. He leaped up and slammed his club down on the monsters' right leg, causing it to fall to its knees, then he continued to mercilessly assault its leg until cracks could be seen forming around its knee. He'd abandoned the destroyed shield he'd been holding until then, and had instead been gripping his club with both hands.

He rolled past it, putting himself between Charlotte and the demon as he waited for it to stand up again. He jerked his head to the side, motioning for her to move, which she did, and he circled around the demon to keep himself between it and Charlotte. She quickly recovered from the sudden shock and started chanting her spell again.

The demon used its machete to pick itself up off the ground, and approached the pair slowly; small chunks of stone-like flesh began to fall off its cracked right leg as it moved.

Roland approached it cautiously, putting himself within the edge of its machetes' range, he wasn't even trying to hide his intentions as he waited patiently for it to attack him, and stepped backwards as it did. It flailed its machete wildly as more chunks fell from its leg. Roland began circling it, careful to only get within the edge of its reach as he baited more attacks from it, and made sure that he was still close enough to Charlotte to intercept the wounded demon, should he need to. Some might've thought it'd be a good time to charge in and start single-mindedly beating it, but he knew better. It was desperate to survive, so it would attack far more ferociously now than it had been before, even if it couldn't move around as quickly.

He baited out several more attacks over the course of four minutes, watching its movements carefully as it alternated between attacking and approaching him. Charlotte, who'd finished chanting her spell, had been waiting for a chance to fire it, but hadn't gotten a clear shot on her target, its right knee. Whenever it tried to move forward, its machete was placed in front of its right leg defensively, so she couldn't strike it then, and when it attacked, it flailed its machete in front of its right side, simultaneously swinging at Roland and attempting to keep its knee protected. She probably could hit it while it was attacking, but she didn't like the possibility of it deflecting whatever she threw, and held off for a better chance.

After baiting another attack from the beast, something neither of them expected happened, an arrow imbedded itself in one of the beasts' eyes, interrupting its attack and causing it to buckle under the pain slightly. Charlotte took this chance to fire her spell as she threw another rock at the demons' injured knee, causing the rock to pick up enough speed to shatter the knee completely, separating its lower leg from the rest of its body. Roland quickly ran over to it after it fell and began beating on its skull until cracks started to form. The beast had stopped moving when he finished, but he struck it a few more times to be sure, breaking off its intact horn and caving in most of the left side of its head.

Strangely, there was no blood coming from its stony cadaver, instead, a burgundy-colored marrow-like substance could be seen stuck inside what he'd assumed where its veins. Now that he was this close, he knew for certain that the rocks he'd found had been the petrified remains of the demons' lost arm, and sighed to himself. He'd have to look into how this demon was in this world, but there were more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

He looked in the direction the arrow came from as Charlotte approached him, but he didn't see anyone there, either they were hiding or they already left. Regardless of which, he bowed slightly in that direction before turning to meet Charlotte's suspicious gaze. She didn't need to say anything for him to understand why she was looking at him that way, but she did anyways.

"How are you still alive?" She asked as she stared up at him, after confirming that the monster was dead. She saw him moving after he was thrown, but being able to get up and continue fighting after receiving such a deadly wound, it was an inhuman feat. This was made all the more apparent when she got a closer look at his neck. Where there should have been a gaping hole was nothing but blood-soaked skin, there wasn't even a scar to mark where the wound had been.

"We should head back to the Academy before we figure out why I'm still alive." He spoke, feigning ignorance to his curse, as he walked past her. She watched him walk several paces toward the small hill before following after him, still eyeing him with suspicion.

As they rounded the hill, his eyes scanned over the mangled remains of the local fauna and the few Familiars that'd been killed by the demon. The only one still left alive was the brown mass of fur in the ditch. He walked over to it, and put his hands on it gently. Initially, the creatures' trembling intensified, but when it noticed he still wasn't the demon that did all this, it began to relax slightly.

"It's dead." He told the creature. It gave out a small cry of recognition in response. "I'll take that to mean you can understand me." He moved his hands lower until they were just above the top of the ditch, causing the creature to tense up slightly. "Relax, I'm going to take you back to the Academy." Roland couldn't understand the creature, but he'd hoped its master would be able to. If whoever it was did, then he might be able to find out more about what that demon was doing in the woods.

He did his best to gently pull the brown-furred creature from the ditch, and once he had, he asked for Charlottes' help getting it safely on his back, which she gave. With that done, they approached the Academy, brown-furred Familiar in tow.


Authors' Rambles:

I was originally going to make the scene in the clearing and certain parts of the demon fight a bit gorier, but decided against it. Currently, I'd like to keep a Teen rating on the story, so I played down the gore and edited out some of the more graphic details I had planned, so hopefully that'll suffice.

On another note, I felt like the last chapter was a little lacking, so I tried to give this one some more time to develop, hopefully it was worth it.

Review Responses:

Warden of Lore: I probably could, and I don't doubt you'd be able to as well, but if it doesn't come up, or if I feel off about it, I'll probably drop the idea, either entirely, or until I think of a better way to implement it.