Chapter 2: The Hottest Flame.
Kirche Von Zerbst was the kind of person to feel pride in a lot of things. She felt pride in how she dressed, how smooth her skin was, how large her breasts were, how she has dozens of male students (and a few females) wrapped around her finger, how skilled she is in Fire magic and etcetera.
Among the list of things is the pride she feels in Tabitha. Tabitha is a straight A student, the very textbook example of a genius. Her spellwork was exemplary and her calculative mind had no equal among others in her grade and above. Teachers praised her for her intuitive mind and other students held envy for the silent bookworm.
Yes, Kirche felt a lot of pride for her friend. Which is why Tabitha's latest achievement had the redheaded Germanian beaming a brilliant smile as she hugged the smaller bluenette.
"I'm so proud of you! You managed to summon such an amazing looking familiar! He even matches you perfectly, what with color scheme and element!" Kirche exclaimed with her arms wrapped tightly around the bespectacled bookworm.
"Crrnt...brrth..." Tabitha mumbled out, her voice muffled as her face was lodged deep in Kirche's bosom.
"Miss Zerbst..." an elderly voice called out. Kirche directed her attention to the teacher watching over the summoning ritual, Professor Jean Colbert. A bald, bespectacled and middle aged old man, he was by far one of the students' favorite teachers because he was such a kind soul, despite the fact that he usually bores them to death when he teaches simply because the subject itself is dull. Always willing to help out with a student's problems, whether it be related to schoolwork or just personal matters. In a way he's also the school's psychiatrist, as not only is he a teacher for Fire magic classes, history and sociology, he also teaches alchemy and advanced potion making to the higher grades.
He was also easy on the eyes in Kirche's personal opinion.
"As heartwarming it is to see you congratulate your friend, I think you need to let her breathe before she.. um.. Suffocates." Colbert said with an awkward smile. "Besides, it is your turn to summon a familiar."
"Oh, right!" Kirche chirps as she releases Tabitha from her bosom. The redhead turns to look at her friend's silent familiar, standing tall near the two, staring at the interaction curiously with a tilted head, not unlike the way a bird would. "Looks like you're gonna get a friend soon!"
"..." Alcorzar simply blinks slowly before nodding once. A bit unnerved, Kirche smiles anyway at the strange being before turning and walking to the summoning circle. "Wish me luck Tabby."
"Unneeded..." was the quiet reply.
Kirche stands proudly in front of the summoning circle as she flicks her wand out and raises her arms in a manner befitting a maestro before chanting loudly, her voice full of fire and excitement.
"Hear me out, oh familiar spirit! Guardian being and partner for life! Heed this summoning and answer me! I wish to summon a being that matches my soul, a partner who will guard my back with a fire in its soul that burns as bright as the sun!"
The runes on the summoning array begin to light up, glowing a bright red this time. Kirche was sweating a bit but her lips had a confident smirk as she continued chanting.
"If such a being exists out there in the universe, then answer my call!"
With that, the summoning array burst into smoke.
And a pillar of flames erupted from the center of it.
Kirche nearly leapt out of her skin as she stared at the tall pillar of roaring flames. The students were scampering to get further away from the intense heat. Only she and Professor Colbert were still in their places, mostly unaffected by the heat. "Brimir's balls, did I just summon a Dragon!?"
Next to Tabitha, Alcorzar began to hiss as he backed up, his cloak ruffling a bit and expanding slightly, his emerald green eyes narrowed. Tabitha turned her head from the heat to look at her familiar with concern. "Too hot?"
"...this... heat...strong..." The insectoid familiar hissed out.
Kirche was standing still, her eyes wide in surprise as the flames began to die down and the smoke began to clear. She could see something glowing from the inside of it.
And it certainly wasn't a Dragon. The silhouette... was humanoid.
"What the heck happened!? Where the heck am I!?"
Much more humanoid than she could have thought.
As the smoke cleared, she gazed upon the being she summoned.
Fire personified. That's all she could think of.
The being was humanoid, standing roughly at her height level, maybe a few inches taller. Its body appeared to be made of glowing lava, with dark red volcanic rocks covering most of its glowing body like armor. The dark red rock covered its torso, arms and legs, leaving only its head, hands and feet exposed. There were crevices and cracks in parts of the armor, revealing the glowing lava within.
Despite the armor, its figure was quite slim. Adding to its humanoid frame was five fingers on each hand, thumbs included. Its feet however held only two protrusions that were probably toes, each one curving slightly to face its twin.
Its head was the most interesting sight. Bright flames like a torch billowing behind a single mask made out of the same stone covering its body. Kirche could vaguely make out an outline of a head in the flames. The mask was quite tribal, bearing rectangular yet slightly curved eye sockets with a single glowing line of lava going down from the bottom of each eye and down to the cheeks. Its lips were a single glowing line stretching across where the mouth would be and curving so each end went down to the bottom of each cheek, connecting with the tear trail from the eyes.
And apparently the rocky face was not as solid and static as she thought, because the glowing pupiless eyes immediately narrowed and the mouth opened partially in a snarl as it pointed at her.
"You! Female! Who are you and where the hell am I!?" it shouted in a male voice, sounding like it was around her age. "One moment I'm just relaxing on Pyros and drinking lava like every other guy would on the weekend and suddenly bam! I'm spinning across the galaxy in a tunnel of light and I end up here! Start explaining before I torch you!"
'Whoa, he's pissed!' Kirche exclaimed mentally before smiling. "My name is Kirche Von Zerbst, youngest of the Zerbst family. We are currently in the country of Tristain in the land of Halkeginia. I have summoned you here to be my familiar!"
"The heck is a familiar?"
"Basically a partner for life who will help me and stay by my side till the day I eventually die." Kirche summarized. She then noted the bright yellow glow beginning to develop on the being's cheeks.
"W-wha-you mean marriage!?" he exclaimed in shock.
With that, Kirche burst out laughing.
"Hey hey, that's not funny! I can't get married yet, I'm not even 20 yet!" the flaming being said with a paranoid tone.
"Oh God, my stomach!" Kirche said as she laughed. True, if you thought about it, the definition of familiar could be likened to marriage. The reason it isn't is because when you summon a familiar, it's usually an animal. Not something intelligent and humanoid. "It's not marriage silly, it's more like an eternal servant or bodyguard. Maybe even pet."
"Oh thank-wait, servant? Pet!? ARE YOU A SLAVER OR SOMETHING!?" the burning creature exclaimed in horror.
"Oh no no no, you misunderstand!" This time Colbert decided to intervene, stepping next to Kirche who was still trying not to laugh. "You see, here at this academy we have an annual event where second year students can attempt to summon their own familiar, which is a partner as Miss Zerbst said. Usually familiars range from common animals to magical creatures. This is the second time we've seen a humanoid and intelligent being be summoned."
"Oh... oh praise the sun, I thought I was gonna end up stuck in a slave ring or something..." the humanoid being said as he wiped his forehead and then proceeding to flick his lava sweat off his face, the droplets landing on the grass near the summoning circle and causing a small fire to start. He noticed though and then turned to look at the fire before inhaling, the flames swirling off the grass and into his open mouth.
Colbert and Kirche eyed this in awe. This being was the perfect familiar for a Fire mage. It was made of lava and radiated intense heat and it could absorb flames, meaning it could be the ultimate weapon of one Fire mage and the greatest enemy of another. This fact intrigued Colbert and amazed Kirche.
"Umm.. I don't suppose I could ask you to...uh... summon another familiar instead of me?" The fiery creature asked, shocking the two humans, a slight look of hurt flashing across Kirche's face. "Cuz, I kinda had a nice life going on back at home. No worries and no trouble."
"I-I'm afraid we can't sir. You see, each student can only summon a familiar once. Once it's summoned, there is no way to return it without either the familiar or the master dying." Colbert said, causing the being of brimstone to slump.
"Ah man, and I don't want to die and I'm no killer... great... can you at least tell me which star system I'm in?"
"Star... system?" Kirche repeated, confused.
"Yeah you know, like which planet is this and where the nearest space station is."
"Space... station?" both Kirche and Colbert repeated at the same time.
"...please tell me your kind has developed space ships."
"What on earth are you talking about? People can't go into space, that's impossible." Kirche said with a raised brow."
"...I'm never gonna leave this planet..." the being muttered as he slumped to the ground. "I'll never see my nice home in Pyros again..."
"I-I am truly sorry." The bald professor said as he knelt next to the now depressed alien. "B-but I'm afraid we need to move along and have Miss Zerbst complete the ritual. We can discuss your situation at a later date."
"...fine... it's not like I had much to do at home anyway..." the being muttered as he stood up. "Alright then, do your little thingy. Complete the ritual or whatever."
"R-right then." Kirche said, unnerved and confused by the recent turn of events. "Ahem. My name is Kirche Augusta Von Zerbst. Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, bless this being and make him my familiar." Kirche then lit her wand's tip with a small flame, surprising the being as she tapped him on the forehead a few times.
"How did you do that?"
"Magic. No, don't give me that look, I'm serious. Now then, for this next part, I need you to lower your temperature as low as you can. I don't want to burn myself doing this."
"Right." The alien's flaming head wavered and shrunk a bit as his brightly glowing body dimmed slightly, the air around him cooling as his body went to safer levels of heat. "There, you can touch me now, just try not to keep your skin in contact with anything glowing for too long or you'll start feeling the burn."
"Thanks.. um, what's your name?"
"I'm Hamon."
"Right, thank you Hamon. Now then." Kirche then grinned as she stepped up to him and pressed her lips against his mouth, causing his eyes to widen comically and his cheeks to glow bright yellow. Kirche then stepped back with a smirk as she laid her hands on her hips. "There we go, you're now my familiar. I would have used tongue but I'm not sure if you have one solid enough to make a difference and I didn't want to burn myself."
Hamon's eyes widened a bit further, the flames around his head billowing hard as his lava blush increased in intensity. He could feel a tingle on his back, but his attention was focused on the human in front of him. "W-what the heck!? Y-you don't just go around kissing aliens like that lady! Why the heck did you do that!?" He exclaimed in shock as the familiar runes carved themselves on his back.
"It was to complete the contract, silly! And besides, I am also known as Kirche the Ardent Flame. I love the element of fire and I love men. Lo and behold, a being that is both of those combined into one." Kirche narrowed her eyes mischievously. "And he's inexperienced too from the looks of it. I'm going to enjoy spending the rest of my life with you around hotshot."
"...a xenophiliac, I swear to the Sun, it just had to be a xenophiliac..." Hamon muttered.
"Congratulations Miss Zerbst, you have completed the contract! You may now take your place next to your friend and her familiar again." Colbert said with a smile. Kirche nodded and then turned around to walk to Tabitha, Hamon following her, grumbling. The students staring wide-eyed at her and the flaming familiar, whispering to each other in awe and wonder.
"I did it Tabby, I summoned a familiar! And he's perfect for me, just like Alcorzar is perfect for you!" Kirche exclaimed as she glomped Tabitha, who rolled her eyes before turning to look at Hamon.
Hamon regarded the bluenette with a raised brow before raising a hand and waving a bit. "Hi?"
Tabitha nodded once before Kirche let go of her. The bluenette pushed up her skewed glasses. "Tabitha."
"Err.. Hamon."
Tabitha nodded before turning to her right. "Alcorzar."
Hamon followed her line of sight... and froze (pun intended).
He found himself staring at a fellow alien who stood way taller than him, its green eyes staring into his hot yellow ones.
"Holy crap, a Necrofriggian." Hamon exclaimed in shock before turning to Kirche. "You didn't tell me I wasn't the only alien here!"
"What do you mean? You are both elementals aren't you?" Kirche asked with a raised eye brow.
"Didn't you hear me before? I'm an alien! I'm not from this planet! Neither is this guy." Hamon said, pointing at Alcorzar. "He's a Necrofriggian, a species of space faring migratory mothmen. I'm a Pyronite, a species of fire beings that live on Pyros. We're from outer space."
"Outer... space..." Tabitha muttered in awe as she stared at her familiar. No wonder she's never seen or heard of anything like him before. He's not from this land. He's from beyond the stars.
"Are you telling me there are more of you guys out there?" Kirche asked with an excited grin. "That's amazing!"
"Ahem!"
They turned to look at Colbert who had a hand raised to his mouth as he cleared his throat. "As interesting as your discussion may be, could you all please keep it down? We still have one more student who needs to summon her familiar." Colbert said as he turned his head to somewhere else in the crowd.
"Last student? I thought everyone already-oh, her." Kirche said, slapping her forehead a bit. "I nearly forgot about her... Oh boy, here we go."
"What? What's so bad about this last student?" Hamon asked, curious.
"Let's just say every spell she's ever done has ended badly."
"How bad?"
"They all end up with an explosion." Kirche said with a small grimace. Hamon and Alcorzar's eyes both widen a bit at that.
"...that's... bad." Alcorzar said slowly. Hamon nodded next to him.
Whatever reply Kirche was going to say was cut off as Colbert raised his voice.
"Now then, come up please, Miss Valliere."
Shuffling through the crowd nervously, a short girl with short pink hair that covered her pink eyes a bit stepped up, her hands gripping the hem of her skirt as she bit her lip.
"O-okay..."
Well, that was the second chapter. It's pretty predictable, a Pyronite would be the most fitting familiar for Kirche. Next up is Louise's familiar.
I would also like to point out that Louise will be... a bit different in this fic, in case you couldn't tell. Probably not in a good way for her. More about that will be revealed in the next chapter, but I will tell you now that she will not be as loud as she is in canon.
Anyhow... I hope you all enjoyed that chapter. It's fun typing this story so far. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy making it.