Ok, the first chapter has a good reception in numbers I'm glad about that. It had a lot of errors, but I edited to correct some hopping to improve the story and my english.
I have to thank Poliamida for check the chapter and help me with some issues. And also thank the the boys from Space Battles, because without their critics I would not have encouraged myself to correct all that I could and not only that, but to did one special thing to this chapter that I will comment upon finishing the same.
I own none of the franchises that appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.
Kyle sank into the darkness, he felt weightless, like floating in Zero-G.
"Where am I?" He asked to the vast infinite surrounding him, but no one answered him. Instead of that, small lights appeared in front of him, like bubbles of the size of a man's fist.
Each one of these bubbles had something reflected on their surfaces. When one passed in front of him he saw what they were scenes, parts of his own memories.
The first time he piloted a Battlemech, he remembered it well, the machine didn't use a neurohelmet to synchronise balance with the mech's gyroscope but a clumsy and slow automatic balance system. It was hard to pilot but he had been very excited about that.
Another showed a sexual intercourse with his sibko partner Grana. She'd been very rude with all the sibko's boys and he hadn't been an exception. But sometimes it was worth finishing with a pair of bruises. Other times... not so much.
The next one showed Viter, Grana and Kyle during an unlucky adventure outside Wolf City. They had almost been expelled from the sibko for that stupid idea, Kyle's idea. He bit his lower lip hard.
The final sphere had in its center the face of a girl of no more than fourteen years of age trying to overcome the pain of her broken leg. She was among debris, dirty, helpless, but her face also showed a firm resolution. Kyle hesitated for a moment, and to his disgrace, he was unable to look at what was happening in that fragment of his memory. But it did not matter, he remembered it well, he thought he heard the thump of her head against the wall, the smell of gas from the needle-gun flooded his nostrils, his own pain in his ribs assaulted him again. He remembered her dead body near the corpse of the Steel Viper Elemental who killed her. Fida...
He saw another bubbles appear, too many to watch every one of them. The lights began to surround him, he felt their heat, like small fusion engines. And then he felt something else, a presence.
"Obey!"
"What? Who are you?"
"OBEY!" The voice echoed in the void.
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
"You will obey or I will tear you apart piece by piece!" His voice, or maybe it was her voice, Kyle couldn't be sure, was almost painful.
"Never!" He countered. "I am a-"
"You are nothing and I will turn you into nothing until you obey!" And the pain comes, and the screams.
He felt like someone managed to put a neuro-whip inside of his head, rolled around his brain. The lights star to face around him, one by one, as every memento disappears.
Kyle screamed louder as he realized that this presence was eliminating with each light his memories.
Neg! They are mine!
Why did she die?
You can not-!
What was her name?
NEG!
Why was I there?
These are mine!
Who am I?
Who?
What am I?
"You are a Wolf" A torn voice pierced the darkness.
I'm a Wolf?
"The blood of Kerensky flow in your veins." The voice sounded closer.
I'm a Wolf.
"Howl!" He almost shouted.
I am a Wolf! Kyle screamed on his mind.
"Your kind made an oath."
Hark children of the Clans,
To the wisdom of Kerensky and your forebears,
Know what has come before;
Remember it as you strive toward the future.
"Begone! He's mine!" The first voice returns.
"Continue my children!" The other voice said to Kyle. "He will never be yours!"
Let all warriors bear their mark proudly,
Taking what pride they can in their accomplishments;
For our lives should be full of glory, but short.
On the battlefield, we are alone.
"BEGONE! HE'S MINE!"
"NEVER! He belongs to himself!"
Then the order came, 'Furl the sails.'
Ready for jump, mighty warriors.
We journey back, we journey home-
"He's already mine!"
"No, I make him remember who he was so he never helps you in your foul plans!"
For the day will come and our kin will stand
On Terra's firm soil, ready to rebuilt...
"I'll kill all the heathens and he'll help me!" He started to sound farther.
"He's free to choose his destiny, if he decides to do it will be his decision and his way, not yours. Now begone, fiend!"
From Kerensky's Stars came the Eight Hundred-
"I'll return" The first voice faded.
"I know, but you will never get his soul and his will again"
And the ilKhan give us his final words,
Charging us to protect those
With whom we found refuge in our time of need.
In this, our final duty, WE SHALL NOT FAIL!
"Easy boy, he is gone." The second voice said almost fatherly. "He wounded you, I can't repair all the damage, but I return your memories. Now, wake up!"
Louise wasn't happy, she had summoned a familiar, she had finally proved to be able to cast a spell without failing at it, but this familiar had turned out to be some kind of young warrior, barbarian in the extreme, who despite appearing with that metallic golem was going to bring her more problems than solutions to those she was already carrying. He was violent, excessively violent, as Professor Colbert and Guiche had proven in their own flesh. The latter was still unconscious by that punch with those armored gloves. A commoner against a nobleman, and he had won! Though only because Guiche had recreated himself in his pose while Kyle had attacked without delay, and with everything he had.
A familiar was supposed to help his master, but here she was, sitting near her familiar's bed in the Academy's infirmary. Mr. Osmond had told her that the boy had been exposed to great stress and also an intense source of heat for a very long period of time, so much that he was quite dehydrated. Louise didn't understand why until Professor Colbert came back, with a slight bruise on his face, saying that the head of the golem was hollow, with a chair inside surrounded by levers and lights. He almost suffocated inside of the strange room because of the heat. In fact, the metal which covered the entire construct was still quite warm, although gradually was losing temperature. As a funny note, some student's familiars had approached it at nightfall to warm themselves.
She looked again at her annoying familiar, this one stirred slightly and mumbled something.
"...to protect those... we shall not fail..."
Louise stared at him: protect who? Could that violence be born of some noble motive? She shook her head. It could not be, he was just a barbarian.
She tried to bring her hand to his forehead to check his fever, but a rough hand closed over her wrist.
"NEG!" Scream the boy opening his eyes suddenly. He looked at the girl for a second unable to remember anything. Then he remembered what had happened in that strange place where his mech had face-landed. So it was not a dream. The other dream was harrowing. He hesitated for a moment, but it was only a dream and he wasn't a Nova Cat.
"You- you- filthy- dog! Let me go! I'm- I'm your master!" She said almost without able to articulate a word. This got Kyle out of his dark thoughts. He tried to relax and respond as he should, relegating that strange and useless dream to the bottom of his mind. He had to deal with that girl.
"I am not a dog, nor you are my master. In addition, with that voice of yours, no one will pay attention to you." He said leaning on the bed's headboard but without releasing his prey. "SIT DOWN!" Terrified Louise sat down on the chair from which she had risen to check the condition of her familiar. "You see? If you only shriek and bawl nobody will obey you, but if your voice reflects authority they will do. Now girl, without more nonsense, I am not in the mood, where am I?"
"We- we- we already told you." She almost stammered. The boy squeezed his hand a little more.
"What did I tell you about the voice tone? Speak with resolve or you will impose to nobody for the rest of your life! I will repeat my question, where am I?"
"We told you! You are at the Tristanian Academy of Magic in Halkeginia!" The girl raised her voice in despair.
"Halkeginia?" The pressure was reduced a bit. "I do not know the name of that planet. Do you belong to any successor state? Any minor nation of the periphery? Are you part of some kind of strange freebirth cult?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. Tristain is a kingdom!" Kyle let go of the girl, who grabbed her arm by the wrist trying to ease the pain.
"I understand, I am on a planet without unitary government. Freebirth! I must be on the Deep Periphery. By the Father and the Founder! How did I end here?"
"I already told you. I summoned you with my magic." The girl was crying as she held her bruised wrist.
"And I already told you too, stravag, that I do not believe in that magic nonsense. Now tell me where the nearest spaceport is!"
"I don't know what a spaceport is! It's- it's- okay, I don't know anything about what you're talking about, I just wanted to summon a fa- familiar- so that everyone would stop mocking me." Huge tears fell from the girl's cheeks." I don't want to be called Louise the Zero anymore!"
"You are named Louise the Zero? Why?" That his familiar pronounced her hated nickname was another arrow stuck in the pride of the girl, although he lacked that mocking and hurtful tone she was accustomed to.
"Because I'm not able to cast any magic, every time I try it somehow backfires and causes an explosion."
"But you said that you summoned me using your- magic." He decided to follow that stravag a little to see exactly where she was leading him, and maybe to discover a clue for where he was at the moment. "If you are incapable of doing magic, I see a contradiction there"
"This is the first time I managed to do something! And I couldn't avoid causing another explosion when I summoned you and your golem!" Kyle didn't bother to correct her.
"Freebirth! This is okay, show me." He said approaching the girl. "If you want me to believe that you have summoned me with magic, make something explode. If you are not capable I will make you tell me the true"
Louise rubbed her right sleeve over her eyes to wipe away her tears. Still undecided, she went to the window and pulled her wand out, she aimed at a portion of the lawn in the courtyard and said: "Fireball!"
BOOOMM! An explosion similar to the impact of a grenade shook the area, Kyle could not believe it.
"FREEBIRTH!" He looked at the girl with the eyes wide open. "It can not be- it- Neg! Again!"
"What?" She asked.
"Do it again- aim this part of the lawn" He pointed another place thinking that maybe she had aimed at a preloaded explosive device, hidden with the intention of deceiving him.
She aimed and chanted again, the explosion was similar to the latter. He shook his head in despair. This must be a tri- "OBEY NOW!" Kyle felt a compulsion in his body.
"So- is everything true?" He said in a strange tone.
"Yes!" Louise said this time in the firm voice that Kyle had demanded before, although somewhat sharp and dragged by the fury.
The boy sat back down on the bed and put his hands to his head, his eyes were wide open and full of despair.
"Neg! Neg! This cannot be happening!" He looked at the girl. "Can you return me back to my world?"
"No, I don't even know if there is a spell to bring familiars back... and I don't even know where your supposed world is." Kyle was furious, angry, but he didn't have much to do, violence against the girl wouldn't solve his situation. In addition, if what she had said about the non-existence of the spaceport was true, and when he saw the naked rock walls and the oil lamps he feared to be so, then he was in a world with no technological means to take him home. And what was worse, the magic... what was it? How could it existence even be conceived? He shook his head and released a hysterical laugh before even trying to recover.
"You have defeated me before the combat even began, what a shame for me."
"Defeat?"
"Af, defeat. No matter what I do, I could kill you right here, level this entire place, destroy all Tristain or Halkeginia, but that would do me no good. It would not change the fact that I will not be able to return to the Clan." He snorted loudly as Louise tried to understand how he spoke of destroying whole kingdoms himself so lightly. "What are the duties of a familiar?" She hesitated a little.
"A familiar is a being summoned by a mage as a partner and guardian, he must serve, obey and protect his master until one of the two dies."
"Isorla? I will be an isorla for life?"
"Isorla?"
"Af, a servant, you have captured me and..." He looked out of the window, seeing for the first time the two moons of that world. "...therefore I must be your servant. Do you have a cord, a rope or a string?"
"What?" Louise looked at him and remembered a sack of magical ingredients she had brought with her. She pulled out the shoulder strap and handed it to him.
"Hit me." He said once he checked that the strap had the right length.
"What?"
"Do it! Hard." Louise hesitated again, Kyle sighed and put his hand under the girl's skirt, action she replied with a loud slap on his face
"How you dare, dog?" He handed her the strap surprising her.
"Can you tie it around my wrist while you say: 'I -you say your name- claim you as Isorla to my clan'?" She didn't understand anything. "Do it!"
"I Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière claim you as... Isorla for my clan." And she tied the cord.
"Let this be my sign of servitude to you, Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière until I prove my worth in your eyes or my contract is fulfilled." He added this last part despite it not being registered anywhere in the rules of servitude of the clans due to the special condition of the event. "Thus shall it stand until we all shall fall!" He stared at Louise until she answered in confusion.
"Thus- thus shall it stand until we all- shall fall!" Kyle nodded. "What in the name of the Founder was that?"
"The equivalent of the clans to the contract between a familiar and his master. Although you have not defeated me in battle, you have defeated me by taking me to a place from which I cannot return to my world, and if you wish it to be your servant, it must be so, but we must do it according to the methods of the Clans." He felt the compulsion fading a bit. "GOOD"
"And- and- and put your hand there?" She said angrily.
"I needed you to hit me at least once, and believe me, it was not as hard as I would have hoped. Maybe you did not dislike it so much, quiaff?" This time a kick tried to hit him in the face, but Kyle pulled away and grabbed her by the leg, unbalancing her and causing Louise to fall on the floor showing her underwear, which Kyle thought too small to be practical, although it seemed 'very suggestive'.
"Release me, you dog!" She said as he still holds her leg.
"I am a Wolf, not a dog, I may be caged now but you shouldn't forget that." He said while dodging the kicks of the girl with her free leg. "And we will have to do something with your way of fighting or someday you will end up badly."
"How dare you try to teach something to a noble?" She pulled her wand again, Kyle let go of her leg, jumped out of bed and rolled around avoiding the explosion, although this left him stunned. Behind him, the bed where Guiche rested collapsed while the blond boy comically smoothed smoke through his mouth.
"So you are a noble, I admit that, whatever it means in this world. But you're not a Trueborn. And you let your frustration blind you. I may be your servant, or familiar, but I will also teach you other things." He jumped on the bed, grabbed the wand's hand stopping her from casting the spell, and stared at Louise from a few inches away, intimidating her. "Maybe I am not what you understand for a normal familiar, but I will help you in everything I can, even if it's against your will. I heard the mocks of your companions before I fell unconscious." He raised his voice. "And for the Kerenskys I will not let anyone else make fun of my master! I will make them respect you and know that my master is worthy of such respect even if I have to kill them all to achieve it!"
Ok, this is the end from now.
I did a complete overhaul of the original text. The mind rape part didn't exist in the original (but I'll upload soon), so boys and girls you have, for a limited time, "exclusive content". And this scene will help me explaining some future events.
Fenrisulven13: Welcome! It seems that now you read me instead of the opposite. I would never have thought it a few months ago. Life is strange. Well... he's a strange mix, part of his life in the original Wolfs and another part in the Wolf in Exile, sometimes he insult like Vlad did to Phellan sometimes don't. But of course he never say this about his Khan (and he met him in person, once). Also Phelan has Ward blood and born in an iron womb (her mother can't have children and the Wolf's Dragons helped her). So he is a little more trueborn than others freeborns.
See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...