Chapter 4

Nightmares by Nightfall

The sun was now nothing more but a red, soft glow bordering the western horizon, the stars starting to show up in the purplish-blue canvas of the heavens. Flamma would yawn as she just breezily walked out the main doors of the central building, remembering the events after she had left the headmaster's office.

As she had stated, she roamed around the academy to memorize its layout. "But seriously, isn't a bunch of rectangular block buildings easier to make than this, pentagonal layout? Why do nobles prefer to squander away time and effort into such unnecessary stuff?" The rednette would huff, remembering the times she went around in circles looking for the staff quarters, the cafeteria, and the kitchens.

"Oh, and the head chef, his hugs are of pure good intention, but they're too tight even for my liking." She remembered gagging a bit for air after Sir Marteau let go of her. Even though everyone was just coworkers, they were like a large bunch of close friends, family even. "At least I've made it clear to them that I won't be one of those that wash clothes. Seriously, washing garments is a fucking pain on both the ass and the knuckles."

Flamma would scoff as she walked under the arch of the school's main gate, before looking around attentively to see if anyone was around. "Anybody around? Nobody? Good, I should be able to shift from my pure human form to my pure dragon form." With a sharp exhale, the rednette would bolt away from the road leading through the gate, her feet pounding on the grass-padded dirt.

After minutes of nonstop running, she would stumble across a clearing and halt immediately, taking deep breaths while her skin barely sweated at all. Flamma would scan the clearing, noting that it is lit up brightly by a large swarm of fireflies gracing the trees edging the clearing. Each of them glowed warmly and gently with an orange hue, putting her eyes at ease. The rednette would start moving again, albeit in a slow walk.

She would stop in the middle of the clearing, before sparks of fire and embers blasted from her feet and hands with a crack. Metal scales started to grow on her cheeks, her nose and her lower jaw shifting to extend into a snout as the rest of her body started to get completely plated by scales. Flamma's body started to enlarge as her clothing shrivelled into crisp, thin bits of charcoal that dissolved into the air, her body now covered in metal plates and scales.

The rednette's hair would flake off as her armor became spiked, the spikes more larger and concentrated on her back. Three spikes would suddenly grow out from her body at breakneck speeds, two from her shoulder blades and the other from just above her ass. The shoulder spikes instantly branched out with torn membranes in-between, parts of the protrusion bending to become dragon wings. The spike from her butt would meanwhile start to flex and curl as it widened and lengthened into a massive tail, spikes forming on the top and concentrated at the tip like a club made entirely of pointed steel.

Her hands and feet have also shifted, now also covered in metal scales. Flamma's nails would be now large and ferociously curved claws of steel. Her chest would now bear a gaping ravine in the middle that exuded blistering hot air, while her eyes stayed the same color except for black sclerae.

The transformation was complete, and the dragon would slam the heavy club tip of her tail on the ground behind her, causing tremors that can be slightly felt all the way from the academy. Flamma would screech loudly into the night air, hot gale coming out as her breath. Her wings swiftly batted downwards and immediately launched her high into the air, giving her dominance over the night sky.

Tremors slightly shook the cafeteria, making everyone regardless of social class to become ramrod straight in attention. This would be followed by a very distant screech, causing some to squeal in either terror or cowardness.

"Dragon. Powerful." Tabitha would bluntly remark in a monotone, Kirche eating beside her stopping and turning at her. "Hey, wouldn't that be your familiar?" The rednette would ask, her quiet friend's curt head shake making her raise an eyebrow.

"Sylphid. No power to cause tremors." This would be enough to make the Germanian realize that the cause of the shaking was something else. "No normal dragon ever screeches so loud that it can be heard from like a mile away, let alone causing the earth to shake. The only one thing. . . No, it couldn't be the Ancient Dragon, according to myths, it's only summoned when all Void mages are brought together. If that's the case, what is this dragon then?" Kirche would mull her thoughts into the causes, the gentle breeze coming from the open windows of the cafeteria becoming ever-so-slightly stronger.

Dinner was finished, and Tabitha decided it would be a good idea to visit her familiar to calm her down if ever Sylphid was panicking about the presence of another dragon. The Gallian would stride out the main doors of the academy, only to be met with her terrified familiar quickly crawling up to her. Terror was in the rhyme dragon's eyes as it trembled in fear, making the bluenette student go alert as she looked around.

SCREEEEEEEEEECH!

Tabitha shot ramrod straight as the stagnant air suddenly billowed into gales, before a large form whooshed by from up in the sky. Sylphid would jump up with a terrified squeal, making the bluenette grit her teeth. Said form was so massive it blotted out most of the heavens above them for a good few seconds before it completely passed over them. Fortunately, the Gallian had her staff on her own person when she came to visit her familiar, and she would immediately point it at the other dragon up above.

However, more moments would pass as the massive beast that terrified her familiar didn't even turn back one bit at them. Tabitha would notice that Sylphid would calm down for a bit, taking comfort in her presence. "Odd, that other dragon didn't notice us. Or did it notice, but didn't bother to?" The student would muse warily, still watching the direction where the massive dragon flew off into.

"The moons are the same! They're the same blue and red pair I see! That means this land where I've been summoned likely must be the Central Unknowns!" Flamma would speculate after she took off and saw the twin moons amongst the crowd of stars filling the night sky. She's travelled most of the world so she can know cultures and conflicts for each region she has went to, knowing the causes of the wars of each region and forming different methods of peacekeeping specific to the different peoples she has met.

But keeping the peace is really quite a handful, and it kept her from exploring new places, especially the Central Unknowns. She's heard of elves and humans fighting eternally in the central lands, though the sources were blurry and unreliable given that they were nothing more but flea market and bar rumors. "So if this is the Central Unknowns, I wonder what this place has in store asides from my master having strength that almost matches mine."

Flamma would muse as her wings beat ever so constantly, leaving strong rushes of wind in her wake.

Bruh, I'm kinda offset by the lack of reviews on this fanfic. I do know that the Familiar of Zero fanfic database is an obscure one, so that should be expected.

Concerning Flamma's looks as a dragon, search up "baklaher fire dragon" at Google and the first few images you see will be her looks. She's also very massive compared to your average Halkeginian dragon, 133ft snout to tail, 41ft standing on her four legs, 167ft wingspan, and 11ft head length.

Also, it's finals week so I shouldn't be able to upload as frequently as I would like. Make sure to leave a favorite, follow and review, see ya next chapter.