Vale relaxed into the bath he'd drawn for himself. He'd finally gotten his own room away from Louise. It wasn't that he disliked his new charge, it was just that she was a handful. He thought about what had happened today and was almost certain that the magic of this plane was the exact opposite of his own plane.

In his own home, anyone with a spark of talent could learn magic. He himself had almost gone with the arcane arts rather than fighting. Here it seemed that only those of a specific lineage could perform magic, and even then only Elemental magic. His own summoner, Louise, certainly had a powerful bit of magic to pull him across the multiverse, but it was uncertain where her talents lay. Perhaps she cast out of the 'Void' element that he had heard of?

'Ah well,' he thought to himself. 'Plenty of time to figure it out in the days to come.' He heard an explosion outside his window and felt the tower shake. He pulled his armor on as he got out of the bath and looked out the window to see what was going on.

His eyes widened as he beheld the largest Golem that he had ever heard of, made from simple soil and topped by a woman in a blue cape. He memorized her features as he jumped out of the window with his blade drawn. He landed with a hard thud and heard the girls next to him gasp. A quick look told him that it was the same group as before, Kirche, Tabitha, and Louise.

"Get down, I'll take care of this," he shouted as he ran towards the golem.

(POV shift: Louise)

Louise watched her silver-scaled familiar with a sense of shock. She had just seen him jump from the fourth floor and land without so much as a broken bone in a suit of armor that was the same resplendent color as his scales, and which could only have cost a fortune to make. He had a circlet of some unknown metal around his head that was even brighter than the armor, and his blade was out, glowing and crackling in its eldrich blue etherial glory.

Again, Louise had to ask herself just what she had summoned as it charged the enemy with its weapon drawn. She heard Kirche shout, "Wait!" and she saw a giant fist crashing down towards her familiar. She screamed as it landed with an almighty crash right on top of it. She fell to her knees and was certain that her familiar was dead.

Then the ice started to form.

Louise watched in shocked silence as the fist that had landed on top of her familiar was pushed up slowly, the sapphire energy of the unique blade embedded deep into the quickly freezing fist of the golem. Her familiar was straining and pushing against the golem's fist. With a shout it threw aside the giant stone fist and jumped on top of it. With a warcry it charged up the arm of the Golem and shouted something surprising.

"Surrender and I will show mercy!" it yelled to the thief. In response, the thief merely jumped off the arm of the golem and ran to the forest. With a yell the mysterious person called, "Foquet the Crumbling Dirt thanks you, Item Recieved!"

Louise's familiar face vaulted off the crumbling golem, and she ran to check its injuries.

(POV: Vale)

'That was the last straw, this world is officially insane,' Vale thought. He smiled at the irony of that statement. He heard someone running up behind him and with barely half a second's warning he felt Louise crash into his armor. She made a cute 'Ow!' and he turned to make sure she was alright.

"Are you alright, little one?" he asked with honest concern. She grumbled out that she was fine and he felt something else latch onto his back. A quick turn of his shoulder showed him Kirche, who had decided to drape herself over him like a cloak.

"What about yourself, Vale, are you alright?" Her voice set off warnings in his mind; she was trying to be seductive.

"I've had much worse, though the Golems of this world are quite unique," he admitted. The third member of the group pointed at him and said simply, "Armor."

"Yes," Kirche almost cried out, "Where did you get that armor? It's absolutely beautiful!"

Vale smiled at the memory. "It was a gift from the Ruler of the Silver Dragons for protecting his grand daughter. It's from his own personal Hoard, and I'm rather glad for it. It's saved me quite a few times from an untimely end."

Louise stomped her foot. "Well, where have you been keeping it all this time?" Kirche looked aghast at this and instead asked, "Rather, what do you mean, 'Ruler of the Silver Dragons'? I've never heard of him." Tabitha looked closely at Vale and he realized that she was staring at his horns. "What are you?" she asked quietly while pointing at him.

"In order," he started, "I've been wearing it under my normal garments this entire time; it's rather comfortable actually. The Ruler of the Silver Dragons, Olesh'Kant, is an ancient wyrm who has survived the past eight thousand years and is considered the wisest and fairest of his kind, and to explain what I am and what most of that means I would have to explain my home plane, my home world to you all; suffice it to say that I am a Half Silver Dragon. As it is, we have a theft to report." He turned with Kirche still on his back and picked up Louise. The two girls 'Eep'ed at the sudden movement and he turned to Tabitha.

"Am I going to have to pick you up too, or are you coming?" he asked. She shook her head and kept pace with Vale.

(Later towards morning)

The group had talked to Old Osmond and the teachers that were supposed to be on duty were roused from their beds. Vale found himself sighing again and a bit of frost leaked out with his breath. He was rather annoyed at the laziness of the group.

"So," Vale asked Old Osmond, "Have you determined the object that was procured by the thief last evening?"

The principle nodded. "Yes, it was the Staff of Destruction, a powerful artifact of unknown origin that was said to have caused an entire town's destruction."

Vale put his face in his palm. "I know this is an academy for those of a Magical persuasion," he said slowly, "But why in the name of the gods do you have such a thing?!" He heard someone gasp and saw Old Osmond twitch.

"Well, you see, we have the strongest vault outside of the Castle, so we have a responsibility to hold such art-"

He was cut off by a woman entering the room. Vale narrowed his eyes as he saw the thief from yesterday, merely with her hair tied back into a neat bun and a severe dress to compliment the pair of defined glasses. He murmured a quick, 'Kord permit only the truth within my reach,' and listened in. "Ah, miss Longueville," Osmond said happily, "Where have you been?"

She replied in a serious monotone, "I have been mrph-!" She was caught up as her tongue became tied. Vale smiled.

"Miss Longueville, are you alright?" Osmond asked. She nodded and tried to speak again, but was cut off. Vale's smile widened, but he was thwarted by her writing something down. Unfortunately, his ring didn't translate the written word, but at least he knew now that Kord's reach extended into this world. She handed the parchment over to Osmond. "Ah, just a slight alergic reaction to breakfast then," he said to Vale's annoyance. He hated that loophole. "Well, where were you, what were you up to?"

She quickly scribbled down that she had been talking to the commoners in the village and had learned where Foquet had gone. He snorted and kept her existence from the rest of the group. He was, after all, 'Just a Familiar.' Even a strong familiar, he was learning, had little say over anything but protecting their 'Masters'. He was beginning to come to the conclusion that he was definitely needed on this world, even if others didn't see it.

"Well then, who will go track down Foquet? Any volunteers?" The teachers made petty excuses and Osmond sighed. "Well, it seems that-" he was cut off again by Louise raising her wand into the air.

"Well then," Osmond said, "Are you sure?" Kirche raised her wand as well. "Can't let myself be outdone by a Vallerie," was all she said to everyone else's stares. Finally Tabitha raised her staff and said, "Worried."

Vale sighed. The girls didn't know what they were getting into. "Well then," Osmond continued, "This could be quite the able group. Tabitha, though young, holds the title of Chevalier." Vale reappraised the quiet young girl. "Kirche is a strong user of the Fire element and is part of a line of Germanian nobles who are used to battle." Well, two of the girls. "And Louise..." Osmond seemed to struggle for half a moment. "Louise is part of the famed and powerful Vallerie family and probably has a considerable amount of power." Vale almost chuckled at the poor man. Power? Plenty, from what Vale had seen. Skill? Not quite so much. "And you'll have your familiar with you, who is rumored to have defeated a Noble."

Colbert, who had been standing next to Osmond perked up and said, "Yes, after all he is the legendary Win-MMPH!" Osmond clapped a hand over Colbert's face and Vale could hear a quickly murmured, "Quiet you fool!" So Vale was immediately suspicious. It seemed he'd need to check if his hoard was accessible to him when he had the time to look up 'Legendary Win-' something. Who knows, he might get a hit.

Miss Longueville wrote something down quickly. "Ah, you'll lead them there? Excellent!" Vale sighed yet again.

(A/N: You should know by now that I don't post Author's Notes unless necessary. The next couple of chapters involve Demons, Redemption, and the use of one powerful spell. So before anyone reads and tries to track me down for a pitchfork mob, just know that I did warn you, and if you read it it's your own fault.)

(Also... might end up with three chapters in one day. My brain's on overdrive oddly enough right now.)