The confused look her familiar gave her urged Louise to take a step back. Even though it was "just" a ritual, something every mage on this academy had to do, it was her first kiss nontheless. A little bit embarrassed over this fact she took in a deep breath to calm herself. She had stolen everyone's gaze with her summoning, the insults she suffered would finally be nothing more than a bad memory and Louise would certainly not ruin this very moment by acting like a child. The fact that her familiar was human complicated things, but Louise had no problem to adapt to her new situation.
"The summoning ritual was completed with the kiss" the girl said, which in turn, turned the tense atmosphere that surrounded the familiar into pure curiosity.
"You should feel the runes burning into you, they give you an understanding of our language and act as proof that you are the familiar I summoned." The familiar continued his silence for a few seconds until he began to smile, and in the end, to laugh. The students around them chuckeld over the responce of Zero's familiar. She was his master but even her servant did not take her serious. The name "Zero" once again resonated in the head of Louise, which resulted in her losing her temper steadily. The summoned, not believing what she told him, stopped his laughter and looked at the other students. Certainly, this was the first time he had experienced a dream in such detail, in fact, it was the first dream in a long time.
His attention once again fell on the girl that stood before him. Something seemed to irritate her, allthough he had no clue what it was. What caused this hallucination, dream or whatever it may be? He was all too sure that -
"Are you listening to me?!" the girl interrupted his thought process while clenching her fists. Whoever he was and wherever he came from, she was his master and would not get ignored by him.
"I am listening, even though I do not know what is happening right now. Who are you and where ... what is this place? Louise sighed relieved, her familiar was not some primitive without the ability to speak after all.
"My name is Louise Francoise Le ..."
"I have not forgotten your name, girl, there is no need to repeat it." he interrupted her with a stern expression on his face. "I want to know who you are. You mentioned something about a ritual and me being a familiar."
Louise smiled as she realized that this man was not as dumb as she feared him to be.
"You are at the Academy of Magic, in the country of Tristain. The reason you are here is because ..." the girl continued to explain him his current situation, but frankly, he had no idea what she was talking about. He knew what magic was supposed to be since he grew up in the old human world, but he had never heared the country called Tristain or "Halkeginia", the continent they were supposed to live on.
Louise sent out a silent prayer of thanks to father Brimir in heaven for giving her the opportunity to finally get things straight, her familiar on the other hand slowly realized that his mind could not make up this ... strange world. He knew nothing of it, and as far as his knowledge on this matter went the human brain was simply not able to create dreams of things it had never seen before. It was irrational and he'd have blaimed alcohol or drugs if it weren't for the fact that he did not consume these things, but the only conclusion his mind could come up with was ... that this was really happening.
"Did you understand everything?" his mind shifted its attention back to her. A quick thought of returning to his own world passed through his mind, only to be replaced by a very important detail; the beauty of this place.
It looked alive, and even though he was not an old man he had his fair share of life threatening experiences. The only thing that made him hesitate to accept all of this were the people he had left behind. How many would die because he was not there anymore? What would happen to his brothers and sisters in arms, people who shared his will to fight the injustice of the world?
"You look troubled, is something the matter?" the pink haired girl asked him, which once again interrupted his thoughts."
"To put it briefly together, I'm in a world where magic exists, you are such a mage and summoned me as a familiar to do your bidding?"The girl only nodded as an answer. She knew that it basically meant to be a servant, but the ritual was completed, and there was nothing he could do about it. She was his master, and he her familiar.
"Is there a way to send me back?" he asked the obvious and Louise could only sigh at the question.
"There is no way to break the bond that connects us. You are bound to me and this world, and only death can release you." the Familiar crossed his arms in defiance obiously displeased with her answer.
"Which means that I am to live as your "familiar" until one of us meets his end. Can't say I'm eager to be a slave."
"A familiar is not a slave!" Louise shot back, irritated by the fact that this man, her familiar talked with her like that. "Forget it. There is no use in getting angry over it, you are my familiar and that's it.
Louise turned around and fixed her eyes on the teacher that supervised the summoning ritual. A bald man with a long, purple robe and a wodden staff in his hand met her gaze. Professor Colbert, as Louise recalled, was a fire mage that, for some reason, decided to teach others the way of magic. The scars on his face, barerly visible, told stories of the battlefield, even if the professor himself never admitted such a thing.
"Professor Colbert, I've completed the ritual. Is there any reason for me to stay any longer?" The bald teacher nodded in approval.
"There is none. The students, after they summon their familiars, are to take care of their summoned ones and, if it proves necessary, educate them in order for them not to disturb neither students nor classes. You are hereby dismissed, Miss Valliere.
Louise bowed to express her gratidude and grabbed the right hand of her familiar before she marched through the other students. Allthough this world seemed to be quite peaceful the summoned one was not eager to start his new life as a slave. But he had to eat to stay alive, and not knowing what kind of dangers one could encounter in these lands urged him to tag along with the girl, for now at least.
Kirche simply watched as the two of them left the scene and licked her lips. She had found a new toy to play with, and with her charms she simply knew that this man could not resist her.
Half a hour later Louise and her Familiar arrived at the door to her room.
Louise came to the conclusion that it would have been pathetic if her familiar could not navigate through the school on his own, so she showed him around. Of course Louise did not want nor was she able to muster enough willpower to show him every room there was. The important ones, like the cafeteria and the classrooms were basically the only ones he got to see, even though she promised him to give him a more detailed tour when they had more time. Preparations for the ritual took some time, and given the fact that Professor Colbert did not want them to rush this special event the students took their time to make sure that everything went as smooth as possible. Or in short, they tried to evade having too much time left in order to not get homework or other stressfull tasks.
Louise unlocked the door and entered her room, these four walls were like a sanctuary to her where she could find inner peace and forget the venomous words of those imbeciles she had to call classmates. She sat down on her bed and waited for her familiar to go through the door, which he did not.
"Brimir help me ... whats wrong?" the young noblewoman asked slightly annoyed.
Her familiar took a quick glanze at the room; it wasn't cramped and could be described as spacious, but he still got a bad feeling about staying in this room. There were no defenses and no corners where you could hide from a bullet storm. You'd be pretty much dead if someone decided to throw a grenade at you, even though it seemed like there were no modern weapons in this world.
"It is nothing." realising that her patience with him would not be endless, and the fact that he'd rather not rely on hunting to sustain himself he entered the room and closed the door behind him.
"You look tired. I don't know what you went through until now, but you should get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll have to find out what you can do, otherwise we'll be the laughingstock of the nation." the last part piqued his curiosity as he placed his helmet on the ground.
"Enlighten me, Louise" her familiar said as he started to line up his belongings on the ground. "Because I have no idea what you are talking about."
Before Louise could explain what would happen in a few days she caught herself glaring at his possessions. There wasn't much her familiar brought along, but the things he had with him made her curious. There were four vials with a red substance in it, on one end of the vial she could see a rather thick needle and on the other one something like ... a scale? Louise could make out the colors green, yellow and red allthough she had no clue what they represented.
Aside from the vials there was a heater shield, dyed in the color black with barerly visible red lines that resembled veins or something of the like. Could it be that this man was a knight before? He had his armor and his shield, the only thing that was missing right now was his sword.
"Are you a knight by any chance?" Louise asked with a curious look on her face. Her familiar stopped staring at his belongings and turned to look at her. "In my world knights were a relic of the past, I was just ... never mind. It is of no importance. Why do you ask?"
Louise pointed at his shield and began to explain "You certainly are a strange one, but not a brute. Your shield ... especially the armor you're wearing doesn't look like the cheap things mercenaries carry arround. Only knights are as well equipped as you are. Allthough you're missing a sword.
Her familiar chuckled on these words and picked something up. Louise's first thought was that she had absolutely no idea what he was showing her. After a few moments she could recognize a stock, similar to the ones crossbows had, and a trigger. Above the trigger was a crank which led her to the conclusion that this thing was a weapon, and had to be charged before it could be used. Allthough she couldn't even imagine what it fired.
"This is the magic of my world, with this you can burn your enemies. Or cook your meal if you're desperate. It's called "laser rifle" her familiar looked at her amused as she had a hard time figuring out if he was mocking her. How could this ... this thing be called magic?
"You claim to be a mage then?" whatever answer she imagined to get from him, to be laughed at was certainly not what she expected.
"No, I'm not a mage. But never mind the details, I'll show you tomorrow what my world was able to produce. It's getting late, and as you already mentioned I'm tired. One more thing ..." he placed his so-called weapon on the ground, next to his other belongings. "I wish to take a bath, it has been far too long since the last time I had the opportunity"
Louise simply shrugged her shoulders at his request "Do it then. After you leave the room turn to the right. Follow the way until you see a double door on the left, it's the bath for males. I'll warn you just this once, don't even try to take a peek at the girls." giving her an insulted glance his armor hissed before the backside of it opened itself and the summoned one stepped out before it closed itself again. The glance his so-called master gave him made it obvious that she was truly fascinated by it.
"So that's how you use it. I've never seen someone leaving his armor like that before."
Her familiar, amused by her honest curiosity smiled as he left the room.
Louise, who did not even know the name of her familiar, made a mental note to ask him as soon as he returned.
As soon as he left the room the familiar turned to the right, as instructed, and started to march through the hallway. Even though this world did not share the same technology as his old one he had to admit that their "magic" was impressive. The hallway was illuminated by ... he did not really know what the lights on the walls were made of, but it was surerly the work of magic. Leaving his armor and weapon behind made him slightly uncomfortable, but the chance to finally get rid of all the blood, dirt and sweat was just too good to pass up. After a couple of minutes later he finally found the double door Louise had explained to him.
While he opened the door he sensed someone watching him from afar. He knew that a life full of violence and murder could turn a man paranoid, but his instincts had never failed him when it counted. Entering the bath he took two steps to the side, crossed his arms and waited for his pursuer to enter the room. Only that nobody came.
"My people were at least honest enough to try to kill me right away."
he shrugged his shoulders and started to remove his clothes and shoes. Without his armor and especially his helmet, which filtered the air he breathed, the familiar started to notice his own smell again. In his world wasting water by taking a bath was pure madness. People were fighting for basically everything, and if they suspected that you carried water on yourself desperation urged them to attack you. He did not despise these people, they simply wanted to survive, even though he could not agree with their methods. Which often led to their deaths. He wanted to save people, to make the world a better place even if it was only by a small degree. Nontheless there were many who seeked his death, driven either by hatred or desperation which left him no choice but to kill those all the same. But that was of no importance any longer, he left his world and the obligations along with it.
The summoned one threw his clothes into the water before entering it. There was no point in cleaning himself only to wear those foul-smelling clothes again. They were nothing fancy but the fact that there were still places where one could equip himself with clothes and shoes made his travels a little bit more bearable. Or, at least that's how it was until Louise "called" for him. After he accomplished the cleaning of his clothes he started to get rid of the blood and dirt that was stuck on him, a task that took up a considerable amount of time. Almost every wound he received healed, if you considered that he treated himself and was no doctor, rather good so there were no scars on him. Even his looks would have been considered as handsome if he'd have only taken care of them. But these things held little to none meaning to him, or at least that was the case before he was summoned into this world. Maybe he could live in peace now, court a woman or at least enjoy life as it was. Frankly put he was someone that did not quite fit into his old, with chaos filled world.
"If this were to be a dream I'd rather never wake up again ..." finally getting rid of his tension he started to slumber.
He did not know how many hours had passed but after waking up again he felt rested. His mind, cleared of any bothersome thoughts, told him to get out of the water and so he did. The only thing that made him frown was the fact that he had forgotten to let his clothes dry.
"Great." he shook his head in disbelief "Even the god damn overcoat won't be of any use now."
Even though it was an enormous bother he grabbed his clothes and wrung the water out of them. Of course it was no solution for the problem but that way he could at least put on his clothes again, not being forced to run around naked. The summoned one, outfitted with wet black boots, wet brown pants, a wet grey shirt and a god damn wet black overcoat, left the bath and was instantly met by a cold breeze. Cursing his name and the fall of temperature he made his way back to Louise's room and recognized the rising sun through the windows on his right. It seemed like he had spent more time bathing than he had anticipated. After a couple of minutes later he could hear someone talking behind a corner, warily he stopped to strain his ears.
"I'm a pretty good cook, you know?" a female voice, a rather young one he thought.
"Oh how I'd like to try one of your meals my dear Katy!" a male voice answered. The summoned one, not interested in the conversation of two lovers went on on his way and took a quick glance at both of them. What he saw was a male with blond hair, wearing a black cape standing in front of a delicate girl. The summoned one did not know why everyone was wearing capes, as the girl had on of her own in the color of brown neither did he care. A few more minutes had passed before he arrived at Louise's room which he hastily entered. The difference in temperature was noticeable, even though he could not explain why it was so warm in here. There was no fireplace either, so the only explanation he could come up with was, once again, magic.
He let out a weak sigh as he looked for his bed, and sighed again as he found it. Louise did not expect for her familiar to be human, at least the
summoned one wanted to believe that as he saw that his bed was made out of hay. Displeased by this he grabbed his shield and mounted it on the chest plate of his armor. It was big enough to cover the places where one could find weak spots, but small enough not to restrict his movements.
"Louise." the summoned one fixed his gaze on her. "Wake up, it is time to achieve greatness."
The girl, murmuring something in her sleep turned around and simply ignored her familiar. Taking this as an excuse, he had done his best to wake her after all, the summoned one grabbed the four vials on the ground before entering his armor once again. He actually disliked to be constrained like this, but how often would he have died if it weren't for his personal cage? The summoned one, knowing that there were things he simply could not change, picked up his helmet and his laser rifle before finally leaving the room.
Outside he was greeted by a few male students. They did not exactly greet him, in fact they were anxious as they saw him leaving the room of this school's Zero. His menancing looks urged them to step out of his way, taking this chance the summoned one walked past them.
"Did you see that? There's no way she would be able to summon something like this!" one of the students said after they thought to be alone while in fact the summoned one could hear them clearly thanks to his helmet.
"I know!" another one answered "I've never seen something like this before, it can't be real." The summoned one did not care enough to confront them and continued his way. His short jorney ended after he stepped out of the bilding where people were already gathered to ... enjoy the day it seemed.
Tables and chairs werde placed everywhere, students were enjoying cups of what looked similiar to coffee accompanied by the strangest creatures.
His gaze wandered through the area until he spotted an oversized red lizard with a god damn flame on the end of its tail running at his direction. He had seen fire-ants burning flesh to a crisp and was not eager to be cooked in his armor. The summoned one wanted to take aim with his laser rifle whereupon Kirche, the red haired and well proportioned woman from yesterday stood in his way.
The summoned one, fearing for her life, attempted pull her behind him until the lizard stopped beside her and gave him a curious look. Kirche, simply petting the creature looked at him slightly amused.
"I have to admit" the woman gave him a seductive smile "I'm flattered by your attempt to save me from my familiar, my dear knight in shining armor."
With a weak sigh the summoned one took a step back and lowered his weapon. He should have known better. These students, every single one of them, had summond someone or something to serve them, it should have been no surprise that a big fire-salamander was running around.
"Where I come from people usually shoot before they ask what was running in their direction. You should be more careful, Zerbst." feeling uncomfortable around her the summond one walked away.
Watching him as he went on Kirche bit her lips. This man had an unique attitude towards her and everything else, and even though she could not see his face her charms seemed not to work. A challenge, she thought.
Finally a worthy prey to hunt.
Watching from afar the summoned one observed a maid as she clumsily spilled some juice over a male student while serving them their drinks.
A harmless accident the summoned one thought, until the young male stood up in rage, ranting about honor and stupid things like these.
The maid, a young woman with shoulder-long black hair bowed and apologized to the student a couple of times in vain. As the summoned one drew closer he recognized the male, it was the same one he saw yesterday after his bath.
"Do you even know who my father is, servant? I'll make sure that you -" he stopped mid-sentence and watched as the moving armor stared down on him.
"What do you want? I do not have time for the likes of you." the summoned one could clearly see that this boy was already intimidated, but his pride wouldn't allow him to back down here.
"Just wanted to ask if you imbecile need some help with your attitude." the student with the blond hair looked at him in shock. He was a noble, a mere familiar had no right to talk to him like that! There was no way in hell he would disgrace himself like that
"Do you know who I am? I am Guiche de Gramont. You will leave now and I shall forget the lack of respect you've given me."
The summoned one looked at the frightened maid in front of him. He had read stories of the treatment of servants hundreds of years ago, and this Douchebag de Gramont looked like he would make her life a living hell if he were to back off now. Allthough he left his old world behind he could not change his thoughts on these matters. The girl had apologized often enough, there was no point in harrassing her any longer.
"Tell you what. You will apologize to her for behaving like a prick and I am the one who will let you go."
Whatever resolve was left in Guiche to let this idiot go away unharmed was overwritten by his hurt pride. A noble had the obligation to reclaim his honor when sullied. He would stomp this commoner into the ground, not giving him any mercy for what he had done.
"Fine then!" the noble declared "We will settle this in a duel, and if I win you will pay for disgracing me in front of everyone."
"Fine by me" the summoned one answered "and when I win you will apologize to her and never again treat her like that"
Around the two of them a crowd had gathered. They have never seen a commonor insulting a noble before, at least not as openly as this one did. Of course they already knew who would emerge victorious, a mere commoner could not win against a mage even if he was using armor.
"What in Brimirs name is going on here?!" Louise pushed herself through the crowed, standing now between the noble Guiche and her familiar. To see the two of them, surrounded by cheering students ... Louise knew exactly would happen now if she wouldn't intervene.
"So you've decided to watch as I strike your familiar down? Believe me I did not wish for this but I won't let him get away for what he has done."
Louise, irritated by this arrogant imbecile turned to her familiar. "What did you do to upset him so much you idiot?!" her familiar shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the maid. "She made a mistake and he did not want to forgive her. I do not mind battling over it if he stays true to his words and leaves her be when I win."
There it was again. Not only once but twice this commoner assumed that victory was in his palms, believing that Guiche would certainly lose. His patience finally snapped, grabbing his wand the noble pointed it to the ground.
"Heed my call Valkyrie!" after his quick chant a bronze figure appeared from the ground. It looked rather frail the summoned one thought, and the only weapon it had was a lance.
"Louise, step aside. Or rather, stay away. I do not want to hurt anybody when ripping this puppet apart." Ignoring her pleas to cancel this duel the summoned one switched the safety of his weapon on and gave it to Louise. She did not know what the hell he planned to do without his weapon and could only watch as he removed the shield that was mounted his chest plate, holding tight on it with his left hand.
"Are you crazy? You stand no chance without a weapon!"
"Do not take me lightly, Louise. In my world humans almost destroyed the planet. I know the art of battle. Go now, it is not safe to stay around for any longer."
Complying with his wish for her to leave Louise grabbed the weapon in her hand tightly and sent out prayers to the one watching over them. After the summoned one made sure that nobody stood between him and this opponent he smiled behind his helmet. Maybe he could have a greater influence on this world than in the previous one.
Guiche, now finally free to do what he had to do took the iniative and commenced the first attack.
"Valkyrie!" on his call the bronze golem lowered the lance and stormed at the summoned one. The construct was surprisingly fast he had to admit, but not fast enough for him to not be able to react. He held up his shield to confront the lance and with it's attack blocked the golem used its free hand to punch the summoned one in the face. Only that he grabbed the fist midair.
"As I thought, you aren't even compareable in terms of strengh." as the summoned one foresaw the golems inevitable fate he drew the construct closer with his right hand and smashed his shield against it's head. The shield, much sturdier than the bronze golem deformed its form allthough the golem was far from being destroyed. It was a construct controlled by magic after all.
"Do it Valkyrie, pierce him!" on Guiche's shout the golem broke free from his grasp and slashed again with it's lance at him. This time the summoned one did not block. This time the tip of the lance connected with its prey, but instead of a cry of despair a metallic sound could be heard. The lance failed to pierce the armor and as a result the summoned one punched the golem with his right hand causing it to collapse a few meters away from him. The construct was, much to the surprise of the summoned one, light as he had not expected to send it flying. Struggling to stand up again the golem could only watch as its opponent drew closer. The crowd expected many things, but they did no expect Guiche's golem being destroyed by the boot of its opponent as if it were some insect.
The first stomp destroyed its head, the second one dented the upper body and the third one sealed the deal. Unable to stand up again Guiche sensed that he had to do something, otherwise he'd end up as a laughingstock for everyone. With a quick motion of his wand he summoned three more Valkyries that instantly engaged their enemy.
The summoned was not surprised by this, everyone had a ace up his sleeve but he did not expect such a bad ace. Not caring for the attacks of the golems he simply grabbed one of the lances and bashed its head in with his shield before he took aim and threw the lance at another one. The fact that he destroyed both of them simultaneously was pure coincidence. Guiche, who lost his focus, was unable to control the golem with the deformed head properly as the summoned one drew closer and stood still a few meters in front of him.
"I believe you are sane enough to admit defeat." the summoned stared at him as if he was trying to pierce his very soul. On that day, Guiche learned to fear this cursed helmet.
"I ... I lost. I admit defeat." sinking to the ground, the crowd couldn't contain their excitement as they witnessed a miracle.
Not caring for all of this the summoned one took off his helmet and looked down at Guiche. The boy was not rotten to the core, he could see it in his eyes. And he would be damned if he couldn't change him for the better.
That's it for the second chapter folks!
Have to admit that I've underestimated the time needed for writing a whole chapter. I originally planned to release this on Thursday :I
I think it's already revealed that our MC is wearing a power armor and allthough it's kinda OP in this fantasy setting I'll try to make a challenge out of it. Who knows? Maybe it's getting damaged beyond repair someday.
Oh and one thing before I go back to work, it would be extremely awesome and helpful if you could write a review for the fight scene. Or the whole chapter.
That's it, see you on the next one!