A special thanks to zaresetrubld, Mazamba and death of snipers for giving me the best reviews I have ever gotten. Thankyou to everyone who decided to drop a comment. Hopefully this chapter answers all the wonderful questions you've all asked.
Chapter 6: B'or
"What the…"
Louise had never seen an earth golem that big. Since she was little, she had seen dozens of different sized and shaped golems; it was one of the specialties of an earth mage after all and this one and, while not been very detailed, was so large, it's head reached just short of the tower roof.
She drew her wand as she spotted a cloaked figure standing on the behemoth's shoulder and aimed it at what she realised could only be Fouquet of the crumbling earth. The thief was no doubt using the festival as a distraction to steal whatever he was after unopposed. And no doubt Henrietta would get the blame, something she couldn't allow to happen!
"Please let this work…" she muttered under her breath as she twisted her wand in the familiar incantation of the only spell she had ever been able to ever get half right (although considering the spells naturally explosive nature that wasn't saying much).
"FIREBALL!" She shouted with a swipe of her wand to release the built-up energy, her magic surged along her arm, twisting through her hand and out through her wand, only to recoil as once again her magic, which had been working perfectly only moments before, failed spectacularly.
BOOOOOOM
Fouquet staggered backwards, almost falling from her perch as the air in front of her exploded, taking out a chunk of her golems arm. She pulled the rock of her golem's shoulder up and behind her as a support before the smoke cleared and she could only gape at the sight before her.
She had been trying break through to the artefact vault since shortly after the competition had started and in the space of almost two hours hadn't make a single crack or dent in the heavily enchanted walls of the central tower. Yet with a single spell someone else had managed to break through completely, leaving a gaping hole three times larger than her straight into the vault. She would have to thank whoever had just helped her.
Glancing down over her golem's shoulder she was surprised to see that her unintentional helper was no more than a student, and not just any student, but one that was considered in amongst the staff as one of the worst mages in the school.
In fact if it wasn't for the fact that she at least got enough of a result to prove that she had at least some degree of magic even if she couldn't control it, her family's high position and the fact she had managed to summon a familiar then she would have been kicked out of the school long ago.
She didn't fail to see the irony.
But still, no matter how powerful the girl was, she was still just a child with no experience. This would be easy, even with a witness; all it meant was that she needed to hurry up.
"Thanks for the help little girl but you should run along now and let the grownups handle things" as always she was thankful for the hood of her cloak and the deception properties it carried. Though it was disconcerting at times to hear a masculine voice come from her own mouth.
Turning away and ignoring the girls reaction she directed her golem's remaining arm (the other still been rebuilt) to the hole in the wall and began to make her way down it, only to be stopped by another explosion, this one hitting the earth creature's torso and forcing it back.
Fouquet launched herself into the air and landed in the opening into the tower. Standing up, she stepped forward and began to search for her prize, leaving her golem to deal with the student which had quickly become a pest.
Mimic disengaged herself from the rest of her mimics, heading back to check up on her Master while directing the mimics to quietly surround the earth elemental. Silently she cursed herself; in all the excitement upon the opportunity to go back to some good old harmless-bad-guy-fighting she had completely forgotten her Master; who was only a child, uneducated in the ways of war (but then by her own races standards Oni, the name she had given her true form, was still a baby; barely even begun developing).
Her fears were proven correct when she saw Louise about to be crushed by a massive foot. Completely disregarding her own safety for one of the first times in her life (there was a reason she preferred her semi-indestructible and semi-impossible-to-hit forms for fighting anything more than a common street thug) she raced forward, grabbing her Master's arm and pulling her out of the way.
The mimics, sensing Mimic's distress chose that moment to attack; though they had only half surrounded the mountain golem, their 'sonic chamber' still partially had the same effects. Its legs were completely disintegrated, its lower body blowing apart in a massive explosion.
It collapsed into a mound, falling apart of impact with the ground, crushing all of the mimics bar the one at Louise's side.
"Familiar? Are you alright?" Louise scanned the jumble of rock filling the courtyard in front of her, looking for any sign of small, crushed white bodies. As far as she could tell, there was none.
"I am. Fine. Master. Louise… My. Mimics. Are. Nothing. More. Than. Constructs. I did. Not. Feel. Their. Destru ction… If I. May. Ask… What. Was. That?"
"Mountain Golem, a construct like your… mimics? But more powerful. Only a triangle earth mage or higher could create something that strong."
"You took out my Mountain Golem?" Master and Familiar looked up as one, staring at the cloaked figure standing at the edge of the hole.
"No matter," called down a male voice that Alyssa couldn't help but note sounded slightly off, "no one can stop Fouquet of the Crumbling Earth"
Alyssa's eyes narrowed as she stepped in front of her master, ready to protect her from harm. Fouquet raised his wand and cast what at first glance appeared to be a very simple spell; the results however proved that assumption wrong.
In a matter of seconds Fouquet's Golem was completely rebuilt and he was stepping up onto its shoulder, a long box held tightly under one arm. The Golem turned and began to walk away, taking its creator and the unknown artefact with it.
Alyssa internally growled. Normally she was a lot more lenient with simple thieves, after discovering Speed Demon and what he had gone through she had learned that not everyone steals for greed, in fact she probably would have let the thief go if it wasn't for one thing; he had tried to kill her Master, and no one hurt Louise and got away with it. No one.
The young Shapeshifter raced after the fleeing mage, forcing her body to change as fast as possible. No more miss nice girl, she wasn't going to hold back, who cared if the form she was choosing was overpowered in almost all situations; if these people couldn't get the message then she would have to drill it in, harder.
The explosion had attracted the attention of several of the guards who had informed the teachers. What they saw as they now entered the courtyard was a growing mass of white, grey and blue racing after a Mountain Golem as it attempted to clamber over the academy wall. The sight was enough to stop them dead in their tracks.
Alyssa, no matter how hard she tried couldn't force the transformation to occur any faster. It seemed her new ability had yet another drawback; how fast she could transform. Where it the past she had been able to do it in a split second, now the change from her second smallest to her largest form had become incredibly slow; probably something to do with the size difference.
It was frustrating but eventually she was done, striding slowly and confidently after the scurrying form of Fouquet's construct. The humanoid mound of moving rock only came up to her shoulder and the long, loping strides of her grey and blue legs easily kept pace with the animated dirt.
She grinned, flashing sharp fangs at her quarry as they neared the edge of the nearby forest, she had only taken this form once before; the first time she had taken on Vilgax face to face and her inexperience had required this level of power. She had never used her To'kustar form again for fear of hurting someone she was trying to defend. But now it was just them, now there was no risk of harming anyone but her foe, and she was no longer that uncertain little halfbreed who had watched her mother wither away in front of her.
This form needed a name, she decided as she caught up with Fouquet, something fitting… and the perfect name came to her as she punched the Golem's head off it shoulders. Colossus… It seemed fitting.
A small group of horses reached the edge of the forest, the riders watching in awe as a massive titan; as tall as the centre tower itself, smashed its fists into the shifting mass of rock that was Fouquet's Mountain Golem.
It took Kirche a few moments to find her voice as she turned to look at Louise.
"That's your familiar?" Kirche's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head as the massive grey titan came into view.
"Well I did say she's a Shapeshifter" They watched as the Golem was pulled back together enough that it could launch its own attack; slamming a stone fist into Alyssa's stomach. The To'kustar stumbled back, bent over slightly with one arm wrapped around her middle.
Fouquet apparently saw his opportunity as the Golem grabbed the titan's head fin and yanked her to the ground. Alyssa let out a loud squawk of surprise and pain as she pitched over, her body seemingly lock up and she landed in an awkward heap, crushing several trees in the process.
"Come on! We have to help her!" Louise sent her horse into a gallop, racing into the trees. The two friends glanced at each other before following, the trees blocking their view of the battle but they could still hear the thundering footsteps somewhere ahead of them.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the tingly sensation across Alyssa's body vanished and her muscles finally responded. Heaving herself up off the ground she glanced around, wincing at the sheer destruction she had caused. It was much easier to think without adrenaline rushing through her veins.
She blinked the fog out of her eyes and heaved herself up off her back, instantly feeling better once her fin was no longer pressed into the ground. Damn that thing was sensitive.
The sound of something heavy thumping against the ground and trees cracking and splintering pulled her out of her thoughts and her eyes widened at the sight of the Mountain Golem heading straight towards her, its master nowhere in sight.
She pulled herself to her feet, fear jabbing into her. For the first time on this planet, she was truly afraid. It was like the Null Void arena's all over again, where she had no control, where there was a very real possibility she could die, that she might not win. She didn't want to die.
This construct was tough, if it could hurt her largest, most powerful form so easily then what else could it do? She watched it approach warily, ready to fight at any moment. One step, two… it was right in front of her, readying to attack…
She brought up her arms in front of her body in defence, a futile attempt to try and protect herself. She closed her eyes and braced herself against the oncoming blow… Only it never came.
She opened her eyes, staring in shock at the empty area in front of her that should currently be occupied by a giant magical earth construct…
There was nothing there; it was like the thing had just vanished. No, she realised as she noticed the gaping trench furrowed through the trees and into the ground in front of her, a direct line and angle from her arms. She had destroyed it… somehow; she would probably have to figure that out later.
After checking to make sure the Golem wasn't been rebuilt, Alyssa began to shrink, taking her time to return to human form. She stepped into the middle of the new clearing as the changes finished, looking around in awe at the destruction around her-everything looked so much worse at this smaller height-and waited.
It wasn't long before she heard the sound of approaching horses. She turned to look, somehow knowing that whoever was coming, they had Master Louise with them. She frowned at the thought, wondering how she could possibly know that.
So deep in thought, she almost didn't notice a figure stepping out of the forest to her left. Berating herself for her carelessness she turned, partially shifting some less visible parts of her body, ready to transform as quickly as possible, only to relax as the figure proved itself to be Miss Longueville. What was she doing all the way out here?
"Miss Longueville? What are you doing all the way out here? You could have been hurt!" False worry filled the shape shifter's voice, disguising the deep suspicion she held over the situation. Something wasn't right…
Old Osmond's Secretary looked up from the ordinate box she was carrying, smiling as her eyes came to rest on the small black haired girl standing in front of her.
"Ah, you're the girl who duelled Montmorency right? Perhaps you could help me? I found this" she gestured to the container in her arms "in a cabin nearby, no doubt Fouquet is still nearby and I don't think I could defend it myself"
Alyssa probably would have said no, would have transformed into Beastling and gone looking for the thief who had dared to attack Master Louise, if said mage and two of her classmates hadn't shown up moments earlier riding horses.
"Of course we'll help! After all it is the duty of a Zerbst to do so." The red head jumped down from her horse, hand on hip, and strode forwards, quickly followed by a pissed off Louise. The third member of the little group remained on her horse for a moment before following, her eyes locked on Longueville the entire time.
The green haired mage stepped forwards, only to trip and stumble, she managed to regain her balance but the stolen artefact fell from her grasp; the box smashing upon contact with the ground and the object inside rolling away to stop at Alyssa's feet.
The wielder of the Omnitrix froze, staring down at the object in front of her with wide eyes before slowly bending down and picking it up, her mouth dropped open as she began running her fingers across the device in wonder.
A similar expression crossed Kirche's face.
"That's- that's the staff of destruction!"
"The what?" Louise frowned at Kirche, her eyes flicking back and forth between her rival and the artefact in her familiar's hands.
"The staff of destruction! It's said to be a magical weapon capable of vast destruction, it's almost impossible to block the magic stored in it and only the most powerful of Mages are said to be able to wield its power!" Louise two looked in awe at the artefact, the idea that something that small could create that much power…
"It is not a staff." Everyone looked over at Alyssa's quiet response, her gaze was fermly locked on the weapon in her hands, which she was now holding in a rather odd and awkward looking position, with her right hand inside the bulky end of the artefact and the short hollow pole (that Louise had believed to be the handle of the weapon) resting in her left hand.
She pointed the long end at one of the fallen trees, looking at her audience with a grim expression.
"It's a Solar Rifle"
At her words the hollow end of the 'rifle' started to glow, a low hum filling the air, growing in strength until it reached a loud whine. The Halfbreeds hair began floating up around her head, acting more like a nest of snakes then locks of hair; it almost looked like they were reaching for the sky. Then as the air around them seemed to dim, her skin seemed to begin to melt away, to be replaced with patches of swirling, rolling black that spread across her body, swallowing any and all features. As the black reached her face, her lips seemed to just melt away, leaving a jagged line where her mouth was and merging her eyes together into a single, white orb.
So this is another of my Familiar's forms. To Louise, the transformation was somewhat familiar, having seen quite a number of them now. This one reminded her of some sort of spirit or daemon, especially when, as she completed her transformation with her cloths melding into the slightly shapeless body, she rose roughly half a hand off the ground. What really surprised her about this form was the fact that the rifle had apparently melded with her arms, becoming an extension of her Familiar's body. Was it perhaps designed for this particular race?
Then seemingly without warning, the fallen tree erupted in a ball of fire. The four Mages stepped back in shock, bringing their wands up ready to protect themselves from the blaze and after a moment Tabitha stole the fires air, forcing it to die out.
Only twenty seconds had passed since she had first pointed the rifle.
Louise stared at her familiar in shock, her eyes darting between the new form and the weapon it held.
Her familiar calmly floated over to Miss Longueville and disconnected the weapon from her arms, placing it in the Mage's hands and turned away, ignoring everyone else. Louise watched after her for a moment before following, calling out to her as she moved to catch up.
Kirche remained staring at the 'Solar Rifle', whatever that meant, unable to comprehend the sheer power that had just been displayed in front of her; such power, such destruction with seemingly no effort. No wonder the artefact had been locked away in the centre tower of the academy; if it were to fall into the wrong hands…
Tabitha pulled her out of her train of thought; a simple nudge from her best friend pulled her out of her musing in time to notice exactly where Old Osmonds secretary was pointing the rifle... and that her hand had slipped inside, copying the way the familiar had held it.
"Louise! Look out!"
The two beings turned, startled, Alyssa automatically putting herself in front of her Master, raedy for a magical attack… and nothing happened. As the seconds ticked by and still nothing happened the familiar relaxed, stepping away from Louise and towards the puzzled mage.
A tendril of 'hair' shot out and wrapped around the rifle, yanking it from Longueville's hands and into her own, the shapeshifter clutching it tightly to her
"You tried to attack us"
The statement was devoid of emotion, the alien face strange and difficult to read, but Kirche decided as she looked into that single, white diamond eye that Louise's familiar was angry… no, she was furious.
Longueville said nothing.
"Why did you attack us? What threat are we to you? Or… a better question: What are you trying to hide?"
Her eye narrowed and her jagged rip of a mouth pulled back in a parody of a sneer.
"You are Fouquet, are you not?"
Faster than any of the students could follow, Miss Longueville pulled out her wand and sent a wave of loose rock and dust at the Shapeshifter, intending to rip her apart and Alyssa screamed in pain as her form was lost in the cloud of dust.
Tabitha pulled out her wand and began to chant, a flick of her wand sent a powerful vortex of air at Fouquet, knocking her aside and, more importantly, the wand out of her hand.
With the power behind it gone, the swirling mass of dust and stone began to settle, revealing a small ball floating in mid-air, blue energy slowly swirling off it and up away into the air.
After a moment of hesitation, Louise approached the ball of energy and carefully placed a hand against it, noting it was surprisingly solid, before pulling away as it slowly began to unfurl. As soon as the head appeared, Alyssa turned to look at the young Mage, her jagged mouth pulling up into a smile.
"Thank you" The familiar blinked her single eye before continuing to stretch out, revealing the rifle clutched tightly to her chest.
"So…" the two turned to look at Kirche as she continued, "…if the rumours around that thing aren't true, then why couldn't Miss Longueville use it?"
"Because they are true, at least to some extent," the wielder to the Omnitrix walked over to the thief and snatched up her wand, brandishing it at the watching Mages, "It works in a similar way to your wands, that is, it does not store energy but rather conduct it."
She tossed the wand to Tabitha, who snatched it out of the air and pocketed it in her cloak.
"But they both require a different type of energy, no human who wields magic would be able to use a Solar Rifle, just like I wouldn't be able to use a wand to cast magic. To me, a wand is nothing more than a hunk of wood, and a Solar Rifle would be no more than a metal club at best to you. Make sense?"
The three students nodded and watched as Louise's familiar reached out with a thick twisting strand of (hair?) and grabbed Fouquet's arm as she tried to slip away unnoticed, pulling her back over next to their horses.
"So… Back to the Academy to hand over the big bad thief? Or should I deal with her for you?" The grin Alyssa gave the group made it obvious which option she would prefer and Louise shuddered at the sadistic look in that single eye.
Louise was once again reminded of that look she had given Montmorency as she had burned half her face after the duel, only this time it was even worse than anything she had seen from her familiar before. Hadn't she said she had been involved in a war? At the moment Louise could easily believe it.
"Come on." Alyssa glanced at Tabitha, who had placed a hand on her shoulder, before nodding after a moment's pause, black skin melting back to a pale grey as the Shapeshifter moved towards the horses, completely back in her disguise of a commoner by the time she stopped next to them.
As the five of them left the newly created clearing Alyssa tapped her Master on her shoulder, "when we get back, I wish to have a word with the headmaster. The fact he has a Solar Rifle means that a least one of my kin has found their way here at some point."
"What exactly are your people called?"
"My mother's people, they were known as the B'or, the children of the star Kine."
Lying in bed, the thoughts running through Louie's head made sleep impossible. Once again her thoughts were stuck on the strange dreams she had every night, the idea that she was seeing her familiar's memories felt wrong, intrusive. She had heard of the link between master and familiar during her studies in preparation for the spring time summoning, and that it manifested differently depending on the intelligence of the familiar, but she had never heard of a Noble seeing their familiar's memories.
Last night's dream had been, like the night before, focused on this 'Speed Demon' and, like many of the previous dreams had been flashes of memory, events out of sequence, all revolving around the seemingly endless adventures her familiar had had with him.
What would she see tonight when she fell asleep?
Louise stepped into a massive building, abandoned and empty but for a massive carpet of dust that swirled up around her balled feet and shifting tail.
Her eyes scanned the rafters through the gloom as she marvelled at the sheer size of the building. It appeared to be made of wood and metal but stood greater than any church she had seen, bar the one in Tristain.
A loud clatter from one of the darker corners drew her attention back to the situation at hand, pulling a thin metal rod off the belt around her waist; she was shocked when it suddenly extended into a decent sized staff. She doubted it was designed to be used as a magical focus. From what she had seen of her familiar's world, magic worked very differently here.
She watched as a door half hidden in the dim light opened and stepped into an unfamiliar stance, waiting for one of the weird, evil people she had seen in earlier dreams.
She tried to relax out of her stance when she saw Speed Demon step through and into the light, but discovered she no longer had control over her body. She was but a spectator in this dream now.
"Speed Demon." Her familiar's voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
Something was wrong.
"Hey Miss Lightnin', what'cha doin' 'ere, somethin' the matta'?"
"You're a thief, a criminal, wanted for crimes right across the west coast from Canada to Mexico, for numerous petty crimes. Even if no one's ever seen you do it, the description matches a Klinecrean perfectly. Why?"
"Why did ah do it? Why have ah helped ya? Miss Lightnin', ah only stole ta survive," He stepped towards her, tail flicking in agitation "not all'a us have someone to support us, ta feed an' shelta us. We got no otha' choice in dis big, bad world."
Alyssa was silent for a moment before speaking again, her words quiet, soft and sad.
"So… is that why you let those thieves get away…"
"Ah kno' dose guys. Der good kids, heart in'd right place. Dat money they stole? Petty cash, enough ta feed dem for da week, mebe two. It'll keep dem alive for a liddle longa' in dis harsh city. Dey don' like us 'different people' 'round 'ere, da locals. Ratha' see us locked up or slaughta'd for not been 'normal'."
"Were you treated like that?"
"Yeh, afta' all, not all'a us halfbreed's can preten' ta be human like you, many wer' abandoned for our looks, 'cause we were too much troubl' ta look afta, freaks ta our own parents."
"And then you helped me, helped take down everything from thieves to terrorists, even after everything you've been through."
"Da worlds not black an' whit' Miss Lightnin', der's so much more ta dis. Ta all'a dis."
"The shades of grey."
"Exactly"
He made a motion with a claw that Louise didn't recognise before coming right up to her familiar in a motion not unlike that of someone slipping across ice but with more control in their movement. It was… graceful she decided.
"What'cha gonna do now Miss Lightnin? Fight meh? Beat meh down an' take meh ta da slamma'?" The front of his helmet slid up, revealing a pained expression. "Well?"
They fell into silence and Louise found herself truly looking at him for the first time, it was like he was a real person, standing in front of her, like she was really there in front of him and not just viewing some old memory.
He was tall and stocky were her familiar was small and lithe, his skin black were hers was grey and grey were hers was blue, the markings on their bodies, as far as she could tell, were completely different to each other. His eyes were a dull brown and she had to admit he looked surprisingly… human now she could see his face.
Finally Louise broke the silence as her arm shifted slightly and something gave way on the staff under one of her clawed fingers, causing the staff to collapse in on itself. She reattached it to her hip and smiled at the confused look Speed Demon shot her.
"You may technically be a criminal, but you're also my first and only friend, and friends stick together no matter what."
She put forward a hand and with a smile, Speed Demon grasped it firmly, giving her a smile of his own.
"Just don't try to get me involved in any of your little escapades and we're good."
"Thanks Miss Lightnin', ya won't regret dis. Ah promise."
"Oh and no holding people hostage or trying to kill anyone or I'll kick your ass half way to the moon."
He laughed, wrapping her in a one armed hug, "can ah still join you on your little escapades?"
"Of course, I can always use the help." She returned the hug, leaning her head against his chest.
"An' Miss Lightnin? It's pronounced Kine-cel-e-ran, not Klin-e-cre-an."
Louise couldn't help but feel she had just missed something.
Kirche hadn't been expecting Louise's familiar to make an appearance that night in her usual place on the neighbouring roof, she had been busy watching the stars, thinking about what had learned about the Shapeshifter that day, the idea she had come from somewhere up in the night sky, from a world so far away yet so much like their own. She had been surprised when she had heard what Old Osmond had had to say when Alyssa had pulled him aside for a 'word'.
Apparently there had been another B'or on the planet. He had fallen from the sky and saved the Headmasters life using the staff of destruction. He had collapsed shortly afterwards and had faded away a few days later, the water mages unable to do anything to save the strange 'Spirit'.
The familiar's words still echoed in her head.
He died from 'Star Sickness', it is the only known way for a B'or to die, I believe your version of it is starvation. It is how my mother died, she was the last of her kind to succumb to Star Sickness and fade into the void. The last true B'or.
What wiped them out?
The B'orian's are energy beings, they required a constant energy source to keep them alive, there was only one star powerful enough to do it. But Kine was destroyed, and with the destruction of their only food source, they faded, one by one.
The Shapeshifter was the last of her kind, all alone.
So she was surprised when she heard the sound of something bang against the side of the tower wall and a female voice swear in that unfamiliar language. Peering down out her window, Kirche watched the Shapeshifter make her way up to the roof in an unfamiliar insectoid form, finally pushing off the wall with a powerful jump and flipping through the air to land on the roof tiles with a faint thump.
The moment her feet touched the roof she began to transform into a form Kirche had become somewhat familiar with after watching her every night, wings billowing out behind her before sinking down next to her. This form was one of the most beautiful things Kirche had even seen; massive black wings reminiscent of a moths, covered in a seemingly random pattern of white and blue dots, reminding her of crystals when struck by moonlight. The pale white armour that took the place of skin glowed under the light of the two moons, putting even the shiniest of silvers to shame.
If Kirche had not seen the familiar's true form she would of (and had) believed that this was her true form, it was too beautiful not to be.
Once again Kirche was pulled from her thoughts as the last B'or began to sing.
"Yesterday it rained… watched eve-ry-thing wash a-way. It took some time~ to dry, before ah could feel o-k…"
Kirche frowned at the new song; unlike the previous three she had heard several times, this one held no joy or hope in the words, just endless echoing sadness and for the first time Kirche found she could understand every word. Sure some of it was in Germainian or even Romainian (and how she had learned those languages she had no idea) but Kirche for the first time could understand every word leaving the familiar's mouth.
"Ah used all my too~ls, foundation of clay… you kept dig-ing this hole but climbing's not mah forte…"
Kirche found herself climbing out onto the sill of her window and stopped, legs dangling over the edge.
"Take, what'chu need… we can fi-ight, our enemies… but we, have to hur, ry befo-ore… the world, come falls around us. TAKE, mah hand. We can build, a~ land from the ground up!"
Her wand was out and pointed at the wall, with the whispered words that Tabitha had taught her some time ago, Kirche activated a simple wind spell; propelling herself up onto the roof.
"Ah don't even mind, leaving it behind. Us`watch, and wait, and work until it all falls down down, down down until it all falls, down-ow~ow-n…"
The being with wings like crystal paused in her singing and turned to look at Kirche, empty blue eyes focusing on her.
"Don't stop." Kirche stammered out "Your singing is beautiful. Sad, but beautiful."
The familiar simply stared at her for a moment longer before nodding and turning back to look up at the moons.
"To-day the sky Fe-ell, clouds in dis-er-ray… ah put back all~ the blue. Be-fore the sun could come play… there were stars every-whe-e-re, the dead at mah gate. Now that the end~ is near, nothing left to do but wait… are, we prepared? Are we there? Do you e-ven ca-a-are? Now I, am afraid. But it's okay… the world come falls around us… TAKE, mah hand. We can build, a~ land from the ground up! Ah don't even mind, leaving it behind. Us`watch, and wait, and work until it all falls. Watch, and wait, and work until it all down."
The song ended so abruptly that it took Kirche a moment to realise the Shapeshifter had finished. Louie's familiar was still focused of the moons and jumped slightly when Kirche spoke.
"The songs you sing, their so strange, I've never heard anything so short or with a fast pace before."
"They are from my home world, everything there is fast paced, even the slowest, most relaxed actions are probably faster than anything you have possibly seen."
"Faster than a busy day at the markets?"
"Well, maybe not. I have not seen such a sight yet. My knowledge of this land is limited to what I've seen around the academy."
"Well then, we'll just have to rectify that. After all, no one should not have at least a basic knowledge of the country they live in."
They fell into a short silence as Kirche tried to think of something else to say, after a moment something popped into Kirche's head.
"So.. who are you singing to every night? Yourself?"
"I sing to the Kineta."
"To what?"
The familiar's arm lifted to point at the moons hanging overhead in the night sky. "The Kineta; your world's moons. Like how Kine feeds the B'or, the Kineta listen to us and though they cannot truly hear us, their light is calming to those who are distressed. My mother used to tell me, 'though Kine is like a father, providing us with food and warmth, it is the Kineta that act as a mother, providing comfort and calm to even the most lost and lonely'. Well… perhaps those were not her exact words, but it was so long ago…"
"It that your what the B'or believed in? Their religion?" Kirche had already guessed Louise's familiar wasn't a follower of Brimir. After everything she had said, it was obvious that she had come from somewhere so far away that there was no way she could have ever even heard of Brimir. Somehow Kirche doubted others would look past the fact that the Shapeshifter didn't worship Brimir.
"I would not call it a religion. The B'or were not a religious race in the way you would recognise. I am even less so."
"It would probably be best if you didn't let anyone else know. There are those out there who would attack and try to kill you for not following the way of Brimir."
"Who exactly is Brimir? I have heard mention of him several times."
"Brimir is the founder of the magic system as we know it today, it is said that he was the first and only void mage in the world and lead us to our freedom from under the rule of the elven, founding the five civilised countries and building the noble system so we could protect ourselves and the commoners from the elven in north and the barbarians in the east."
The familiar nodded, turning to look at Kirche, "So he holds great importance to you, to all the people within this system. Perhaps… perhaps I will be careful about any future mention of Kine then."
"It's okay with me, you weren't to know. And perhaps we can do this again in the future? Come up here and sing and talk…"
"I would love to. And please, this form goes by Chrystalis, it suits it best."
Kirche smiled. Surprisingly enough, Chrystalis gave a small smile in return, and Kriche realised Chrystalis mustn't have had must have had much practice, because while the smile was genuine, it also seemed slightly forced.
EXTRA 1: Why Louise's familiar is not a Vulpermancer
Louise stroked her hand through her familiar's thick, red fur, earning a low purr from somewhere deep in his chest.
They had just finished their piece in the familiar competition and while it hadn't been as spectacular as Kirche's or Tabitha's performance, it hadn't been embarrassing or anything and Louise was proud of just how much she had achieved in the short time since the summoning ritual.
Up until that day everyone had seen her as nothing but a failure, a Zero. But then she had summoned the most unique familiar she had ever seen. Most still teased her over her familiar's lack of eyes but as far as she was concerned, it just made her familiar even more powerful.
They hadn't bothered to stick around after their performance; it was already obvious to Louise that Tabitha had won this year's competition hands down with her wind dragon.
Louise slumped down against one of the pillars separating the two courtyards-or least she tried to-instead she found herself lying against her familiar's side as he curled around her, head resting next to her left leg.
"Hey," she ran a hand over the runes burned into her familiar's forehead, feeling him shudder slightly around her "we did great out there today, you did great out there today, well done."
Her familiar let out a quiet wah before his head suddenly jerked up, focusing on something Louise was unable to detect herself. Still she had come to trust her familiar's senses over the last week and stood up allowing the red shaggy beast to jump up and run off into the courtyard they had been heading for.
As Louise followed, the faint sound of rock banging against rock met her ears, causing her to speed up.
Something was wrong. It took until she had turned the corner to realise just how wrong though.
In front of her was the biggest earth golem she had ever seen. Easily reaching over half way up the side of the tower, the earth golem was covered in patches of plant that had remained attached to the earth that had been used to build it.
The golem was pounding away at the tower wall, fully focused on braking through that it hadn't even noticed the blood red mass slowly making its way up the behemoths leg. It only took her a moment to notice her familiar's target: the mage standing out in the open on the golem's shoulder.
She raised her wand, ready to provide a distraction for her familiar. Slowly, carefully, she began to weave a simple fireball before releasing it. For a moment she thought she had succeeded a last in casting a successful spell, but then at the last second it skewed.
The golem's left arm and shoulder were engulfed in a massive explosion, dirt and stone flying in all directions, at first just small pieces rained down, then larger chunks began to fall as the golem started to crumble.
Louise's heart momentarily stopped.
"FAMILIAR!" she stumbled back out of the way of falling debris before moving forwards into the settling piles of rock, her eyes scanning the ground for any sign of red.
She found it.
When the guards arrived, alerted by the loud crash, they found massive piles of rock strewn right across the courtyard, the mangled body of Fouquet, still hidden by a ripped up shadow cloak, and the dust covered form of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, kneeling and quietly sobbing next to the still form of her familiar, her legs soaked in his pooling blood.
Again, Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and questions you all sent me! Thanks to all your support I was able to write a good 10,000 words in less than a week (though only 3,000 of those were for this story) and wrote an extra 2,000 words on the end of this chapter I hadn't even planned for. Wow, progress, look at me go.
Hopefully I have answered all the questions you all put forward to me in the chapter. I'm not really good at answering them any other way.
Song: 'From the ground up' by Laura Shigihara
A few notes about the chapter itself:
The B'or are 100% an original alien species I gained inspiration for from the Anodites, energy beings that survived by stealing energy from other sources to sustain themselves. Obviously beyond that they are nothing alike and the B'or shouldn't be considered to have any relation to them as a species.
Speed Demon is an important, reoccurring character, especially in the building of Alyssa's background. Therefore he will be making several more appearances as her partner throughout the story. He is an original character and makes no appearance in the any of the canon series, one of the benefits of writing an AU.
Whenever I see Kirche, I always see her as a character who like to embellish and exaggerate, even in her own mind. This is most apparent when it comes to Alyssa in this story, especially when describing her. Also, while Kirche and Tabitha have made the connection between Alyssa and her duel against Montmorency, and Louise's familiar, no one else really has.
~EclipseSeeker