The Meaning of Zero
*Of course things couldn't stay on their way to a good day,* she thought, covered in soot. It was the first time she had a class with Madam Chevreuse, and it started off just fine. Her curious partner had started asking about some of the other familiars.
Though it did devolve into a small, if amusing, argument about what a bugbear was when she pointed out the floating eye creature. He claimed it was a hulking brutish offshoot of a goblin, and refused to call the eyeball a bugbear. It didn't endear him to the master of said creature, but it wasn't something she cared about.
She took her seat, with him taking the one next to her. Had anyone ever sat by her or had she still been mad she may have fussed about him taking a mage's seat. She was actually thankful for the filled space next to her, even if she didn't outwardly show it.
Professor Chevreuse finally came in, professing amazement at the familiars, singling her out for obvious reasons. This of course led to laughing and taunting by the class for "paying off a commoner to pretend to be a familiar!" Which she of course defended herself from. Just because not everyone saw the Summoning didn't make it untrue! And she refused to be insulted by someone who sounded like they had a constant cold!
Her familiar kept kind eyes on her the whole time, seemingly asking if she was okay. The brief look of astonishment when the teacher had filled student's mouths with clay was the only break that look had before she shook her head and opened her notebook. Every now and then during the lesson she'd look over to see how Kamvex was doing, and it looked like he kept up well, though maybe holding questions for later.
Then came the practical portion of the class and her luck had once again run out for the day. Professor Chevreuse had asked her to demonstrate her skill in alchemy. She shook, knowing what was to come. The jeers and stabbing words.
"You can do it Miss."
An ernest gesture from the one sitting next to her. She nodded and moved, no longer shaking as much, even as Tabitha left, the other students called for her to stop and then resorted to hiding, he sat there with a look of pure curiosity and faith in her.
Appreciated, but it didn't help where she was right now. Covered in soot, another explosion, another failure. And all she had to do was say the words she always said after these things happened.
"I guess I made a little mistake..."
"There was nothing little about that, Zero!" "Why don't you do us all a favor and just quit school, Vallière!" "Your success rate is always ZERO!"
*Rule if Steel. Rule of Steel. Rule of Steel!* She thought desperately. She had to calm down and pull herself together as Chevreuse finally woke back up and dismissed the class. She then had Louise set to clean the classroom without any magic. She sighed dejectedly, *not that I could if I tried.*
[2 hours later]
It took quite a while to clean the classroom, her and Kamvex. The air he gave off was one of comfort and understanding, but the time spent cleaning was silent. It was appreciated. She hadn't wanted to talk yet. Though she was quickly running of of time for silence.
"Phew," he sighed, wiping some sweat from his brow. "Took a little longer than expected, but at least we're done." He walked over to the front desk where the three small stones still laid and picked them up, examining them carefully.
"What are you doing?" She asked eyeing him.
"I'm thinking of running some tests on these stones," he explained. They had an unnatural shine that he couldn't place. "I still have some of my teams old gear stored away. One of them was an archaeologist so I was hoping maybe some of her stuff could examine these more closely."
"Don't patronize me! What could you have in that bag that could do something like that?" She walked up to him and took the stone from his hand. "These are just the same stones I blew up earlier, and I don't want them near me!" She raved, wind her arm back before throwing it out the window. "I don't want to see another example of why they call me ZERO!"
She huffed and panted angrily with him standing there waiting for her to calm down. He pocketed the remaining two stones before speaking up. "You know, I can understand your frustration," he started. "The magic here is incredible. It's almost akin to the sciences we have now. It's definitely more powerful than the ancient magics we had, or even modern magic."
She turned back to him astonished. Didn't they have wandless magic? What was so special about her world? He leveled his gaze at her, "we cast the same spell in theory this morning, remember? I can tell already that my spell's worn off."
"How? I can still understand you, and you me right?"
"Correct but therein lies a difference," he pointed to the writing on the board. "I know what most of this all says from reading it earlier. However I can't understand it anymore. Your language, at least written, is lost me. My spell maxes out at maybe 2 hours where as yours I'm unsure of when it will stop or even if it will." He sat in one if the chairs, looking as though pondering something.
"What makes you say that?" She asked. From what she was hearing, his spell was more powerful but had a time limit. If he wasn't a mage like he claimed, perhaps he didn't know how to cast the spell correctly. "Surely were a real mage to cast that spell there would be no limit, right?"
He chuckled good naturedly, "oh no no. Even the most powerful wizards can't get that spell to work past 3 and 1/2 hours." He had a look of melancholy on his face as he spoke. "You know, I tried to learn to be a true spellcaster once. I promised someone else who was having trouble that I would try too. And that when we were done we could go on adventures together."
She looked stunned, but sat next to him. "Despite my mother's tutoring and the one spell I could cast at the time, I couldn't make a connection to any kind of true magic. so I thought instead maybe I could become a soldier. If my friend was going to be a mage then they would need someone in front of them to protect them." He sighed, "but I was never strong enough to do that, lug around heavy armor and weapons. I even tried my hand at engineering and stealth training, but my skill with that didn't come till halfway through my adventure."
"Where you going with all this," she questioned. "Are you trying to make me doubt your story now?"
"No not at all," he fired back. "I just letting you know that I know what it's like to fail. Everyone should, it's human nature. I thought I had no talent. Zero." There was that word again, and it made her flinch. "but my mother told me something about the number zero. Would you like to hear it?"
She didn't really. She hated the number, hated what it represented to her. But if he thought the same at one time... She nodded and he smiled.
"Zero does not mean nothing. Zero is a void, where possibilities are endless. It is a symbol of new beginnings. All that it means is that you have yet to start."
"What does that even mean?" She cried. "I can't do any of these spells right! Alchemy, Healing, Levitation none of it! I was trying to silence you earlier, not make you understand, and even then it still exploded!"
"And yet you'll keep moving forward won't you?" He asked gently. "You're in a great spot Miss, you can't go down now. You can only go up from here." A look of remembrance came upon his face. "And if you'd like guidance, I have just the thing."
She looked skeptical. What could he possibly have that could help her. "What is it, some... Affinity checker thing in your bag?" She asked sarcastically.
"What, you think I have some MacGuffin that can tell you everything you need to know?" He scoffed. "What I have, is Varasian tradition." He snapped his fingers and his clothes began to glow and reconfigure themselves. The Kamvex sitting next to her was much different in his state of dress.
The red and gold embroidered shirt he had before had switched to that of a frilled white not unlike the style Guiche wore, though short in on the right sleeve, more open at the top and untucked. The seams were embroidered with an emerald color with the bottom holding swirls and star patterns, and his Society Emblem was still pinned to the shirt. Over that was a sheer sleeveless tailcoat that sparkled like the night sky. The band around his head was now a thinner purple circlet. His right arm showed scars and tattoos in a combination of digital and mystical design.
"How did you do that! Was that the other spell you said you know?" She was in wonder. She loved seeing new spells. It was a way for her to try something new.
"Nope," he answered. "Special clothes and outfits designed for changing at the snap of a finger. What I had on was my adventurer's outfit. This," he gestured standing up, "is a traditional Varasian outfit one wears for special or specific occasions."
"And what occasion is this?"
A smirk. He reached behind him with his right hand, the the small sash from before having unfurled from hip to knee, now showing a multitude of colors and, more importantly, pictures. Coming back to the front he held a box in hand, bearing a symbol of a seven pointed circular star. The box was wooden, stained in a crimson red and dark brown, and looked like it came from the time of the Founder.
"That my dear, is your Harrowing."
[Colbert's Office]
Piles of books were strewn about the usually cleaned office of one Jean Colbert. Since the early morning he had been looking into the runes each of the familiars summoned had gained, and separating the students for specialized classes. Each would need teaching in all elements for general purpose yes, but special classes were also mandatory for the strong element each student had.
All but one was sorted, that of course being Louise de la Vallière and her human familiar. Due to the placement of the runes, he began searching for anything else they could be. But there was no way else to turn it, they were the runes of Gandalfr. One of the four legendary familiars of the Void.
Which then, of course, led to the next conclusion he could have. It was outlandish, but if the boy was truly Gandalfr, then that would have to mean that Miss Vallière was...
*There are still more tomes to go through,* he thought. He would look through a bit more. Then he would go to Headmaster Osmand.
[Classroom]
"A Harrowing?" The noble girl questioned. "What is that? And why does it constitute a change of clothes?"
"A tradition of the Varasian people since before the Age of Darkness around 7000 years ago," he explained. "The Varasian people are nomads for the most part, but all families are linked by at least this single tradition of Fortune Telling."
"Fortune telling? Surely you jest," she questioned as he made his way back to the desk. "What are you, a gypsy?"
"Not professionally but everyone in my family know how to preform the Harrowing for someone." He set the box down and opened the old cards up. "I do have a flair for the dramatic though, I must admit," and with that began to shuffle to shuffle with the akin to a commoner magician playing a trick for a child.
Louise though, was sheltered from this kind of thing as a child. Try as she might, she became fascinated with the movements of the cards as they danced in front of her. He wasn't even truly paying attention to what he was doing either before he set the card upon the desk and wiped them evenly across the desk.
"Choose a card," he said intently.
Her hands hoverd across the cards, compelled by the gaze of her fortune telling familiar. Her fingers skimmed the cards before stopping. The 28th card in line. She pulled it to her as Kamvex collected the rest of the cards. He then motioned for her to flip the card over.
Turning it revealed a golden knight with a blade, a picture of a hammer in the top left corner. The bottom listed the card as "The Paladin". As Kamvex began speaking though, her eyes dulled momentarily, and the card shone with light, floating above them. As it fell back to the table, the light broke away revealing a new card. Upon it was a barren knoll and a starry night sky. Under the stars sat a young mage with short and neat blonde hair, wearing white and blue robes. At the bottom of the card read the new name: "The Solstice".
"Well, isn't this interesting..." Kamvex said, mulling over the preceding. Louise gave him an inquisitive look as she studied the card. "The Solstice is one of the Lost Cards, it doesn't just appear for no reason. Even when they do, the card is just that, the card."
"So then, what does it mean?" The pinkette asked.
"Well," he started, "the Paladin represents strength against adversity. It means that whatever journey you go on you will be ready to face it head on, no matter what you may need to sacrifice." He then gestured to the card that appeared, "The Solstice represents personal growth and events to come. The Solstice is represented by the young mage there, willing to learn from the world, yet grounded too far by tradition, see." He pointed to the small details of the card, that while the sky took most of the card, the head and body of the mage were separated by a thick line, with the head in the sky and the full body on the ground.
He took the card, which then transformed back into the Paladin and shuffled it into the deck. Once again there was flourish but a note of seriousness in his eyes as they flicked along with the cards before suddenly he placed the cards down. Then slowly drew three and put them in a row, then a second and third three card set.
"Place the rows as I have made them in whatever way you wish, top to bottom." She thought for a moment, looking over the three sets before moving them. She set the first row in the middle, then placed the second above and third below. Kamvex nodded and smiled, gesturing to the cards as he spoke. "The card you've placed represent many different aspects simplified into six:"
"Good," the top row.
"Evil," the bottom row.
"Law," her left side.
"Chaos," to her right.
"And in the middle," he gestured to the middle row, "uncertainty. This will read your life, what has lead you to now, and where it may go further." He then gestured from her left to her right. "The left line is the past. The Past cannot change and so is judgeded by Law. Next is the Present which is muddled in neutral uncertainty as it happens before your eyes. Finally, is the ever changing Future, boundlessly moving in Chaos."
He moved his hand in a circle before sweeping it over the cards, "Now, let us see what the cards will reveal." And the cards began to turn, the eight on the outside at least, leaving the current fortune teller confused.
In the top left corner was pictured a sitting cricket in a white suit, shooting cards between appendages whist a sword was plunged into a giant peach labeled The Cricket. Below that was a picture of what looked like a play, with a fake looking dragon fighting a knight for treasure; The Theater. The final card of The Past depicted a small scared child running from a Jester and tall man, reading The Carnival.
The middle column still had the mysterious unflipped card. Above it was a card called The Trumpet, showing an angel blowing a horn while flying. Below depicted a rabbit in noble dress and crown wielding a broken sword, titled The Rabbit Prince.
Moving right, to The Future, the card showed her an elf with onyx skin dressed in finery but covering their face and was noted to be The Foreign Trader. Moving up was an obvious old mage pointing at something he'd found in the tone in front of him; The Hidden Truth. Finally was a self explanatory card, showing a unicorn resting in a field simply titled The Unicorn.
She looked all of them over. What kind of correlation was there between all of these cards. Kamvex looked a bit perplexed as well, staring at the unturned card. *Token Spell should have turned everything over,* he thought. He had been trying to add a little more flair to his performance by turning the cards magically, but the middle stayed rooted. He took hold of the card and turned it to look before nearly dropping it, his eyes mesmerized and shocked. "No fucking way..."
*What could have caused that reaction?* She thought. She soon got part of the reason as he placed the card in it's spot. The Great Dreamer, it read. The picture had an otherworldly glow to it and depicted what seemed to be a dancer with two butterflies. The butterflies we're each the color of one of her world's moons and had designs inside them. In the center of the smaller vibrant magenta one was a single bright starburst. The larger butterfly Wass a deep changing blue, two shooting stars in the upper half of each wing, with a Sun on the bottom left and a crescent Moon in the bottom right. The dance wore what she assumed were a similar style of dress as Kamvex, but for a woman, wrapping her in pinks, teals, and orange. But it was the sleeping face that truly stood out to her.
"Kamvex," she started in wonder, "why am I on this card?"
AN: Hello again! Another weekend and another chapter here. Originally I was going to have more such as the full reading here but some things just ended up being a little clunky I felt so I'm moving that to the next chapter. it won't take too terribly long it just feels like it would break things up a little bit better this way.
So originally while trying to decide what I wanted to do with this chapter, I was still going with the fortune teller thing, but I had to decide if I wanted to construct the everything as I needed it, or do it manually and make something as it went along. I decided to just do a reading as one would in the game of Pathfinder or Starfinder. Somehow this set came up. The Lost cards are something else, which you'll find out about later, and their severity.
Anyway I do hope you liked this chapter. Oh, and before I forget, special shout out to Nexus Gundam and fansora for pointing out the problem with the last chapter. Hopefully this goes up right the first time (it did not). Catch ya later!