Deep in the forest near to the Tristain Academy, early in the morning before the sunrise, one would find large claw marks in the dirt and hear a rhythmic rumbling sound in the distance. Following the sound, one would find the claw marks becoming somewhat more common until one came across a rather large space cleared of trees, which would explain the increasing number of fallen and uprooted trees as one approached the rumbling. In the clearing one would find many, many more claw marks. Oh, yes, and a sleeping Blue Wyrm, the Spellweaver Malygos, him too. He appeared to be sleeping, though still no animals dared go too near to the clear threat, no packs were willing to take that on, only birds lived nearby in the trees just beyond the edges.
As the sun rose, its light shone into the clearing, and roughly two hours or so later right onto the face of Malygos. Shaking his head and slowly opening his eyes, he looked around, spotting the now fleeing birds, the grass growing, another indication of claw marks, much smaller, near to the edge of his clearing, and the Tristain Academy a distance away. Malygos rose and stretched out his wings, feeling the lively spring breeze on his scales.
He soon lifted from the ground, his wingbeats kicking up the dirt beneath him, and soon was flying a little ways above the treetops, around one hundred feet above. He would be relaxedly, lazily looking around the forest, taking in the sights, even though he'd seen many of them before. He mused to himself on what he could possibly do today, it had been a number of weeks since he had been summoned, and he had begun to grow bored, put simply.
Yes, an entirely new world was interesting, but it appears that a forest is still a forest for the most part, even between here and his old world. That, and his only real other interest that he was not deliberately holding himself back on was barred by his summoner. Sure, Malygos could rather easily choose to ignore her, but he played along, to humor the little mage. Soon, his train of thought turned towards Louise, thinking as he flew, "She miscasts so often, rather dangerously too, to them at least. Enough power to rip me across worlds, packed into such a small being, a burst would only be expected really," So he continued to muse less important things to himself, as he flew, looking at the forest below him again in its details. The trees pointing toward the sky, the small animals seen between the leaves scurrying to and fro, Arygos looking into straight into his father's eyes from the ground.
Nearly crashing from the air, Malygos rushed back on his own path and landed immediately where he had seen Arygos. He tore up the ground, moving quickly, his neck and head swinging and searching for Arygos. His search broke into water and he looked down to find himself in a clear river, reflecting the sun and scales above it. He looked at his own face, taking in the details he could among the constant ripples, before immersing himself in the river, his head resting on the bank.
"They had grown so much. Already out of the nest, doing their own research and projects. I would love to say I'm proud of how I raised them, but that's still the part of life I messed up. No, that was near entirely Sindragosa and Saragosa, though I suppose I tried," Malygos laughed to himself, surprisingly quietly, "I remember rushing to the clutch when I heard they were hatching, straight from my field research, right through that blizzard in a straight line, even when it only would have taken a slight adjustment to avoid it entirely," Another little laugh, a slight upturn of the corners of his mouth, and his eyes closed. "The water here is quite nice, rather cool. Nothing like home, but the closest so far." As Malygos lay there he recalled some old memories, before drifting off into sleep, dreaming of frozen mountaintops and reading research papers to whelps only weeks old.
Meanwhile in the Academy, life had been a rather standard affair for the most part, as standard as mages can get I suppose. So, actually surprisingly standard. Yes, if one could look past the occasional explosion, odd creature and general disregard for most laws of the physical world, you would find just another school with students all gossiping, sharing notes, worrying over tests, and poking fun at one another. The most recent piece of gossip spreading seemed to be that Guiche had managed to attempt his usual ways of dating around with four girls other than Montmorency in only three weeks for about a week each, which as some of the students had pointed out, meant that either he was seeing two or three girls at any one moment or had managed to break the very flow of time with his playboy's antics. Said boy's most consistent girlfriend, Montmorency, had currently been eating breakfast with the now most unexpected trio in the school - nicknamed the 'Scale Sisters' behind their backs - and was idly venting her complaints while Guiche was tending to the palm print left on his face elsewhere.
"-two of them were said to be first years, and there are rumors the last one wasn't even a student here!"
While Tabitha kept reading as normal, Louise had tried to wrap her mind around that complicated mess, while Kirche had said quietly, "That's, impressive in a way."
Montmorency nearly shouted, "Impressive!?"
After also getting an odd look from Louise, and a glance from Tabitha, Kirche said, "It's still terrible, but, still. If the stories are to be believed, then managing to schedule and keep each of those up for a week would be no small feat."
Louise chimed in, "I suppose, but still, Guiche should be spending that time on Montmorency regardless. Honestly, I say give him a love potion and be done at that."
Montmorency laughed and shook her head, "No, no. Besides, I haven't been able to find the recipe anywhere, any book that might have it here has missing pages just where it would be, I checked."
Three of them laughed at that, while Montmorency continues, "Still, he better control himself, the princess is due to arrive within the hour."
Louise seemed to be zoning out when she asked, "Wait, what do you mean the princess will be here, within the hour?"
Montmorency said, "Yes, today is the familiar showcase, which the princess is overseeing? Did you forget that?"
Louise continued to space out, staring into the distance. When Kirche lightly shook Louise, she looked around, seemingly regaining her senses. Louise asked, "How long is it until the showcase?"
Tabitha looked up from her book, "Two Hours."
Louise did not relax at that, not remotely, and began rather frantically trying to call Malygos. It also did not help that teachers were already herding students for the official welcoming of the princess. Then, after the royal arrival and welcoming by the headmaster, a ceremony which took over fifteen minutes, the complete lack of any sign of Malygos had Louise worried in yet another way.
"Tabitha," Louise said in a light tone, "I will owe you anything, but I need you to send Sylphid to find my familiar, please."
Tabitha nodded, and in a few moments at most, the wind dragon had already shown up. After some brief commands from Tabitha, Sylphid flew off at just as fast a speed as she arrived, if not faster.
Sylphid was flying just above the treeline, searching the land below from above, flying towards Malygos' clearing. With the lack of Malygos there rather obvious, she began to spiral out from the clearing, eyes looking for any specks of blue. After what felt to her like a long, long time, she saw him, sleeping down below! Yet she could feel Tabitha calling her back, just when she found him!
"I need to wake him up, but I also need to go back to big sis, Ohh, this shouldn't hurt him I hope."
With that thought, Sylphid had decided, she could risk using a small amount of natural magic here, nobody would see it. So, she used a large blast of wind to knock over a tree into Malygos, as she turned away and flew back.
A crash, or rather from his perspective a solid thump, into the base of one of his wings had managed to awaken Malygos from his sleep. He raised and turned his head, looked and felt around. The sun so bright and in his eyes and face, the dull annoyance in his wing base where the tree still pushed in, the feeling of his summoner calling him strong in the back of his mind as though a headache, the mockingly cool river reminding him of his home, Kalecgos' face in the distorted water. With a loud, brief, inarticulate shout and a full forced Arcane Pulse, the tree that had landed on him as well as every other tree within ninety feet of Malygos could be better described as a mass of splinters and dust, the river too now accommodating a sudden wide stretch, new water flowing in to replace the water that had flown well out of the river. Malygos then rose, flapping his wings hard into the air, gaining height quickly, and flew off towards the academy.
At said academy, Louise was beginning to panic, she was up after Tabitha, and so far, no sign of Malygos could be found, even as Sylphid just returned and Tabitha went on stage. As Tabitha's show continued, Louise grew more nervous, until she saw, a little way in the distance, each wing beat massive and forceful. Just in time too, as Tabitha's brief performance of aerial stunts and wind magic just ended. Stepping out into Vestri Courtyard, the observers a slight ways away, Louise could see into the crowd. She could even pick out some faces here and there,
"There's Kirche, Colbert, Guiche, Mom, Montmorency- Wait, Mom?!" Ah, there it was. Something had to go wrong or unexpected that wasn't able to be fixed. Louise breathed and reminded herself of the rule of steel, before beginning.
"I am Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, I present my familiar, The Rhyme Dragon Malygos!" A rather standard opening, with some extra force near the end, as she gestured towards her left, where Malygos was now descending next to her. She felt relief, that it had finally worked out. She gave a curtsy towards the gathered observers, who had begun to clap, but then,
"What do you need me for, Mistress Louise?", Malygos' Voice grumbled out dispersing the clapping.
Louise looked at Malygos, "That was all, Familiar, you may leave."
Malygos' voice grew in irritation, a question with the tone of an angered statement, "You mean to have called me on a whim, to parade me about?"
Louise turned to face Malygos, and said loudly, "And if I have? That's my right as your master and summoner!"
Malygos voice dropped, enveloped by a cold and dark clarity, "You mean to claim magic as your right, as yours to use at a child's whim?" In the crowd, Karin the Heavy Wind could be seen mounting a Griffon which had just shoved its way through, Mr. Colbert could be seen drawing a wand, and all of the Princess' Guards could be seen reaching for their weapons.
Louise looked into the eyes of Malygos and said, her voice firm and her fists clenched, "Yes, Now, back to the forest familiar!"
Malygos was quiet, though his eyes seemed to change, a sharp flash of hardness, followed by a slight softening, at least if the looks of eyes could be properly transcribed to words. He closed his eyes, only opening once he had looked away from Louise, and left the ground with a single massive flap of his wings, the wind knocking Louise over and pushing a few of the weaker among the front of the crowd back. Louise looked up from the ground at the figure of Malygos, flying off into the forest, into the distance.