Heart of Darkness

by Cyricist001

Louise wanted a divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant but many entities across the multiverse have those characteristics, and not all are benevolent. Meet the Necromancer.

2. Chapter 2

A/N: Because I have rewritten the first chapter, those who have read the old version can skip to the 5th.

XXXX

Halkegenia, Tristain, outside the magic academy

She was violently thrown off her feet and started coughing from the dust cloud her explosion created.

A few seconds later the complaints about her failure began.

"You really are a zero!" a voice called out.

Louise was on the brink of tears, she resigned herself that she would be expelled. No matter how hard I work, I always fail in the end, its not fair.

She took a deep breath, and made a impressive poker-face, refusing to cry and break the rule of steel. "I just made a little mistake" Louise confidently replied as she cleaned the dust from her face.

"Mistake my foot! Your success rate is ZERO! Do us all a favor and go home already" Malicorn shouted, while the other students nodded in agreement.

XXXX

Aeron was still dazed from his not too soft landing, but the first thing that caught his attention was green grass, indicating that he was not in the Underdark anymore. The second thing he noticed was that it's daytime, but by his knowledge it should be around midnight. He is either a considerable distance away from the Sword Coast or there were some time altering properties in the damned portal.

Where in the Nine Hells am I? though the necromancer as his right hand reached for the dagger on his belt.

Before the dust cleared he used his keen senses to identify his location more clearly. He saw children all dressed in some strange uniforms, laughing at something or chattering in a language he could not identify. Next to the brats a lot of animals and other critters lazed around, even a blue dragon of all things.

Closest to his landing spot stood an older individual, a balding human with a wooden staff. By his appearance Aeron assumed the man dabbled in the arts, most likely a wizard by trade. The stranger was preoccupied talking to a short...pinkette? if the dust wasn't deceiving him. In her hand she held a short stick, possibly a wand.

This is probably a wizard school, and the portal was certainly not meant for me, were they trying to contact Gelroose? None of this makes any sense. Thought the Shadovar as he released the grip on his dagger and though about his current predicament. I need some answers and fast, but first...

He silently activated the spell stored in one of his magic rings "Tongues", instantly the meanings behind their words became understandable.

Once that was done Aeron shapeshifted into a snake to blend in better with the grass and waited until the dust cleared.

XXXX

Louise was preparing herself for another attempt when the dust disappeared, Colbert wanted to give all his students a chance, but if the fifth time failed...

"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!" Louise expected an explosion, but she wasn't expecting this.

"Huh? What happened?" asked Guiche while hiding behind Monmon.

"Nothing?" Louise was shocked, not even an explosion.

The silence from the students was an insult worse than mockery, she was too pitiful even to verbally assault. Colbert shook his head "I'm sorry Miss Vallière, when you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, it enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. Without a familiar..." it was clear to all assembled students that without a familiar she can't advance, and that means expulsion from the magic academy.

Louise fell on her knees and started to sob, not caring anymore if the others saw her.

"Familiar" Tabitha whispered and raised her finger to the location where the explosion was.

Some of the students tracked her finger where it was pointing.

In the grass a black snake was calmly watching the whole drama.

"A familiar?" Louise was desperate that Tabitha was correct.

She jumped to her feet and rushed towards it.

Not bothering to think that it could be a random poisonous snake, she took it in her arms and cried happily jumping up and down. I did it, I summoned a familiar! It's not divine, beautiful, wise or powerful but its better than nothing.

"I did it! I did it!"

"I will call you Josephine!" Louise proclaimed happily. Aeron sweatdropped at the name HE was given, it's true that it's difficult to identify the gender of reptiles but Josephine?!

He was not the only one unhappy with the name, Tabitha particularly hated it.

"Very good Miss Vallière, now finish the contract" Colbert demanded.

Louise pointed her wand at him "My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar."

Aeron was somewhat surprised when she kissed him, such practices were only used by authors who had no idea of the arcane arts. The surprise soon faded when he felt a burning sensation that he ignored until it passed.

He looked at the spot where the pain started only to see unknown runes burned into his side, to say that he was not happy would be an understatement.

The little brat branded me! Anger and confusion dominating his feeling, Shadovar possessed a natural magic resistance that normally would make magic attacks on him fail easily, but somehow this girl put a spell on him!

"You are now my familiar and so from now on I am your master!" Louise proclaimed cheerfully.

...Familiar? Me?...So it seems she wasn't trying to contact the drow wizard after all. If he could frown in this form he would be doing it right now The idea that I would let her command me is absurd to say the least... But then again I could try being one for a time, it would be a new experience, and I don't really have anything fun to do. Might as well see what her goals are...before I turn her into a toad.

"You have failed 'Summon Servant' many times, but you have managed to succeed with 'Contract Servant' in one try," the balding mage said happily.

"If it was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract."

Some of the students laughed, others were completely disinterested in the whole affair.

Louise scowled at them. "Don't make fun of me! Even I do things right once in a while!"

"Truly 'once in a while', Louise the Zero,"

While the students argued amongst themselves, professor Colbert took the opportunity to examine the runes.

Aeron wasn't paying too much attention to them, then suddenly a realization stopped his pondering, she summon him from Menzoberranzan...teleporting into the Underdark was risky and never precise, the same worked for teleporting out of it, the magic became distorted because of all the faerzress in the rocks of the dark underground realm. This girl has power...and a lot of it, or else his defenses would have held against her magic. This could prove entertaining, and Lord Shadow isn't expecting me to return for a while.

Colbert's curiosity fulfilled he turned to his students "Well, let's go back to class, everyone."

The children slowly levitated away towards the stone walls of the castle towering in the distance.

With the sole exception of Louise that is...

The necromancer was intrigued why she alone was left to walk back, as she carried him towards the castle and new adventures.

XXXX

Aeron was not really impressed with the magic academy. The defenses were a joke, any single mage had a more impressive wizard tower, not to mention the place radiated very little magical aura in the first place.

His 'master' carried him into a small but elegantly equipped room. An oversized bed, a big wardrobe and a desk with a single lit candle that barely illuminated the room were present.

"You will sleep here" she pointed at a haystack on the floor "I was hoping for a manticore, but you will have to do" leaving him on the table she went to change into her night clothes.

...she wanted a manticore and prepared a haystack in her room?...maybe she′s one of Bidderdoos relatives, Cyric only knows how an entire family can be as insane as the Harpells are.

The necromancer had nothing against sleeping on hay, he slept in worse conditions while adventuring...before he crafted his ring that made the whole sleeping thing irrelevant that is.

His attention was drawn back to her when he heard a soft giggle "I summoned a familiar! I summoned a familiar!...that means I can use magic!" she was obviously very happy about summoning a 'ordinary' snake, so happy in fact she went to cast another spell. It was almost comical to watch a little girl in the nude waiving a wand and receiving an explosion right in her face, truly entertainment at its best.

He was excited to see what the funny little girl planed to do next, that is until he spotted a tear sliding down her cheek.

Louise fell down on her knees and cried, her hopes crushed for the umpteenth time this day.

Aeron was in an increasingly uncomfortable position, the assassin was never good with emotions, he savored the feelings of hate and fear but sorrow was not to his taste. If sorrow had a flavor it would be bitter.

Obviously she had some problems with spellcasting if her cries of "I'M A FAILURE! I'M A ZERO!" were any indicator, so the obvious question was what would he do about it. He could always choose not to interfere, or...

"Do you need sssome asssissstance massster?"

"Who's there?!" Louise looked around her room but was unable to identify the speaker.

"That would be me massster" Aeron raised his head a little higher so he could gain her attention.

"Josephine..was that you?" her eyes widened in surprise as she looked directly at her familiar.

"Yesss massster...and I'm not female."

"You can speak? How? Since when?" she gaped in shock.

"Ssssince my former massster taught me to ssspeak"

"You were someones familiar before?"

"Oh yesss massster, I ssserved a mossst powerful wizard" as an apprentice.

"...so I stole a familiar from a noble, great it seems my failure is limitless" the girl said with her eyes downcast, she looked like she will start crying again any minute now. Better to stop it or I will really turn her to ash out off irritation.

"No massster, he died a long time ago" One of my most fondest kills I might add, the whole wise mentor thing was tiresome.

That gave her some confidence.

Strange people usually give condolences. There is hope for her yet. He could feel that Louise was not a bad child, prideful and stubborn yes, but not bad. With good guidance she would develop into a truly heroic individual. Well, we can't have that...

"So...do you have a name? You mentioned you were not female so I can't call you Josephine".

"My name is Aeron. If it'sss not too much to asssk massster, what ssspell were you trying to cassst?"

Louise was reluctant to tell her familiar of her ′problems′ with magic, but he would find out sooner or later.

"I-I attempted to extinguish the candle with magic."

"..do you know why the magic was unsuccessful?" don't really want to mention the word failed for now.

She shook her head, a sad expression on her face "All my spells end in explosions...even the best water mages and scholars cant explain it."

He thought about that for a minute "Well, the only explanation I can find isss that you are usssing the wrong magic, if it were a matter of sssimple missscassst it would have far more unpredictable resssultsss, and if you were putting too much power in it, it would simply resssult in a overpowered effect".

She looked at him, her eyes showing that his words only confused her and nothing else "What do you mean by that? What kind of wrong magic?"

"Well if a mage would try casssting a divine ssspell it would end up doing nothing...or they would explode like yoursss do."

"Divine spells? What do you even know about magic anyway, you're just a familiar!" hating to appear ignorant she acted as she usually does, she verbally assaulted the target.

"I know a LOT about magic, I have asssisssted my former massster and learned the arcane artsss over the yearsss, if you wisssh I could teach you."

She was stunned, the possibility that an animal could learn magic was preposterous, magic was Brimirs gift to them "HOW DARE YOU!"

Aeron tilted his head in confusion "Have I sssaid sssomething wrong?"

"Magic is a holy gift from the Founder himself, only those of noble blood can use it!" anger was evident in her voice, not to mention the wand she pointed at him.

Aeron sighted and shook his head "Baleful Polymorph"

A flash of light illuminated the room as the spell did its job.

Louise blinked, her familiar spoke something and then the world went white.

"Ah, you're awake, perfect" she didn't hear the voice as much as she felt it in her mind. The girl looked at her surroundings...and spotted Aeron, but he was different, the snake she carried around the academy was now bigger than she remembered, in fact it was slightly bigger than she was.

"W-What happened?" is what she wanted to say but instead only made a "Ribbit-Ribbit?" sound. Looking over the room it seamed larger, that is until she spotted her reflection in the big mirror.

Where she was suppose to be, was now a toad standing beside Aeron.

She would have screamed but only more strange noises emerged.

W-What h-happened to me? Is this a dream? Y-Yes, a nightmare, it has to be a nightmare, I will wake up and all will be fine. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Aeron laugh.

"Sss-sss-sss-sss, thisss isss no dream little one, thisss isss asss real asss it getsss. Asss to what happened, I turned you into a toad, and a toad you ssshall remain."

"Ribbit?!" Why?!

"Don't try do talk, you can't ssspeak in your form. Itsss enough if you think what you want to asssk, and I will read it from your mind. Asss to why, I wasss hoping to teach you real magic, not the parlor tricksss you here perform, sssadly it ssseamsss I misssjudge you and ssso I'm now finishing lossse endesss".

"I will learn! I will learn! Please just turn me back!"

Aeron shook his head"I don't think you can, magic demandsss an open mind an a lot of concentration, you on the other hand are impulsssive and narrow minded. I'm an excellent teacher, but even I have my doubtsss that my knowledge would pierce all the falssse information that you were indoctrinated with. No, you will remain like this until you die."

"I command you to turn me back familiar!"

"You command me? The lassst entity who wanted to command me wasss a Merilith, a demonic general for you. You ssshould have ssseen the demons ssshock when I captured her, even now asss we ssspeak ssshe isss imprisssoned in my pocket plain, sssubjected to torture that would make Asssmodeusss proud. Itsss not easssy to break a demonsss ssspirit, but I will find a way, I have time. Ssso tell me massster, why ssshould I lisssten to you?"

"Because...you're my familiar?"

"Good by little one" Aeron changed his shape back into his human form and started to meld into the shadow of the wardrobe.

Seeing that Louise began to panick, she had to convince him to turn her back, but how? She could not command him to do it, what else is there?

"Wait! You are presuming that I would not learn because of my prejudices, is that not the same for you? You told me basically that I should not judge blindly, so why not give me a chance to prove that I can learn?" its was a long shot but she hoped it worked.

Nothing, no reply came for her desperate plea.

She collapsed to the floor, too tired to do anything. Her life is finished, a Zero to the end. Her despair was broken when she heard laughter coming from the darkness that surrounded her.

"Hahahaha, my how amusing. Indeed you are learning. Treats and begging for mercy never pay off, the best option is to bring your foe to see things your way...though we will have to work on your persuasion skills, they are somewhat lacking."

Aeron emerged from the shadows and snapped his fingers"Dispel"

She found herself on the floor, looking at her hands, I'm back. She smiled and let her tears flow freely. It was certainly a one of a kind experience, one that she didn't want to go repeat as long as she lived...

After she got a hold off herself, she spotted Aeron, not as a snake but as a human.

He was around two meters tall, dressed in black leather armor. His head was hidden behind a hood and his face covered by a mask, making it difficult to see any facial features. He carried on his belt a black...glass? longsword and an evil looking dagger. On his hands were long black gloves, with metal depicting the bones of the human hand and a lot of rings on his fingers. On his chest was a picture of a silver skull in a purple sun.

He looks like a thief, a familiar represents its master, so then does that mean I have something in common with a lowly thug? Louise head hurt No wait, he is a mage, a disgraced noble? Yes, that must be it!

He frowned "Again jumping to conclusions are we? If you wish to know something it is indeed good to think about the problem but you should be able to come up with more then only one explanation, not embrace the first that pops into your mind."

"W-Why can you use magic? A-Are you a noble?" she stuttered as she watched him with fear.

Chuckling Aeron seated himself in her chair "Now we are getting somewhere, please take a seat" he indicated at her bed „this will require some explaining and we don't have all night" he then watched her crawl into the bed, taking her pillow and positioning it in front of her as an improvised shield.

Aeron cleared his throat "As I have mentioned my name is Aeron and I would appreciate it if you used it instead of familiar, and to answer your questions no I'm not a noble and yes I am a mage."

"But how? Nobility comes from magic" she inquired, a text book indoctrination if he ever saw one.

Aeron grimaced, "Nobility" he spoke the word with obvious disgust "Louise, I have no idea who made your sociopolitical structure, but the only thing that comes from magic is power. And when you have enough power you can mold society as you see fit."

She nodded, not liking it but it somehow made sense.

"So this land is a magocracy. Do you have one ruler or a council?"

"We have a queen...What is a magocracy?" she asked in confusion, a frown appearing on her face.

"Social standing determined by magical ability" he explained simply "I come from a magocracy that is a monarchy but based on meritocracy so we don't have what you would term nobility, the closest thing to nobility would be the Twelve princes."

She frowned „So what's a meritocracy?"

Aeron would have facepalmed at the question but he stopped himself, it would certainly undermine her confidence if he did that "...its a system of government where ones social standing depends on the individuals achievements."

Her frown didn't disappear...

"What did you mean that you don't have nobility?" Louise could not imagine a civilized land without nobles. Who would govern the commoners? They had to be protected, without earth and water mages they were unable to build houses or grow crops.

"Its rather simple, all Shadovar compete for positions, the more powerful one is the higher his standing, and that makes it impossible to form rigid traditions or bloodlines, since no position is inheritable, and the balance of power is ever changing. You could say that our politics are similar to a wolf pack."

"That is barbaric!" she yelled.

"To you maybe, but my land does not tolerate weakness, only by eliminating the weak can we gain strength."

"From what insane country do you come from anyway?"

"I was born in the Empire of Netheril, in the capital city Thultanthar, or Shade Enclave as some other natives of Faerun call it."

She pondered that for a minute "So you came from Rub' al Khali in the east?"

"Rub' al Khali? I'm sorry master I am not familiar with that name. The eastern most nation that I know is Osse and the western most is Returned Abeir."

She frowned "I never heard of these places, and Albion is the western most part of the world."

Aeron raised an eyebrow "I'm impressed, you managed to transport me not only from the Underdark but also to another world."

The more she spoke with her familiar, the greater her confusion became.

"What other world? There are no other worlds" she spoke with absolute certainty.

...great...just great... he massaged his forehead from the increasing headache he suffered by his newest experiment. Apparently thinking outside the box or attempting to deduce anything on her own was too much for her...at least for now.

"Never mind, forget I mentioned anything, let's go back to teaching you magic is that acceptable?"

She nodded.

"Great, first let go off the wand, you wont need it for my magic."

She blinked not comprehending what he wanted from her, for casting spell you need a wand, period.

When he saw her freeze in place he contemplated reading her mind again, it would be so much easier than deciphering her body language but it takes away so much of the drama, the tension the misunderstandings...it simply makes things to easy "Master?"

She snapped back out of her thoughts "Yes?"

"Let go off your wand."

"People cant cast spells without a wand you know" If he does not know this much, how good a teacher can he be?

"You might have noticed I use no wand or staff, it's simply a focusing point, if you learned to use magic correctly you would not need it" he explained.

Louise blinked, then her eyes widened as the revelation hit her "You don't? You don't!"

"Magic here runs in bloodlines right? It's inherited?"

She nodded "Magic comes from nobility, just as nobility comes from magic."

Aeron rolled his eyes at the fine example of circular logic.

"That would make you a sorceress, a wielder of arcane magic bound only by your own willpower, simply put magic is in your blood."

She nodded.

Aeron snapped his fingers again and a book appeared levitating in front of him, from it a single piece of paper floated up and to where Louise was seated.

Her eyes were wide open at the display of power made by her familiar, it took a minuted before she snapped out off it and took the paper that was floating in front of her "Whats this?" she looked at the strange symbol's on the parchment.

"Its a spell of ′Silent Image′, a nice and safe low level spell for beginners. You will memorize the scroll and than cast it, as simple as that." Contrary to popular belief sorcerers can easily learn spells from scrolls like wizards do, hell even rogues can use scrolls even if they don't have the faintest idea of the arcane arts. The only difference is that sorcerers pull the power from inside of their body and a wizard has to harness the power from his surroundings.

"...I...can't read these runes.." she was not happy about admitting there was something she was unable to do, but if she wanted to learn magic then there was no other way around it. It's not like these runes were drastically different from those she knew, true some runes were absolutely foreign to her, but mostly it was the unfamiliar way the runes were inscribed in relation to one another that made no sense.

Aeron smirked behind his mask.

Even simple spells could be deadly, for magic runes attack the untrained eye with a stab of searing light. Attempting to read an unlearned spell could cause terrible pain, blindness, even insanity. This child obviously was very familiar with magic, even if she didn't know a lot about it.

„I will teach you how to read them, but before that would master be so kind as to tell me more about what you know about magic? It would save some time if I don't repeat what you already know."

The pinkette thought about it for a second before she nodded.

Louise sat up straight demurely, lifted a finger and started explaining, proud as a peacock.
"Listen, magic is divided into the five elements, Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and the lost element of Void. The number of elements that a mage uses can be increased, and his class changes accordingly. A mage who can use only one element is a dot, ability to have two – makes one a line, being able to use three – triangle and four a square mage. Spells are also applied to the class. The spells from three elements are called 'Triangle spells'. Each time the spell class rises, the consumption of willpower doubles."

After she explained her magic system she puffed out her chest and allowed herself a small smile, after all the written exams were her strong side.

Aeron looked blankly at her...That's it? The whole magic system? Impossible, bards know more about magic - and they are idiots,...

"So, how long have you studied magic?"

"How long?" she asked, surprised by the question."Since I could lift a wand. I am a noble after all" she stated with a mixture of confusion and pride.

He sighted "Very well, I will show you the spell and you pay attention" he spoke so she could understand him easily and memorize it "Silent Image."

In front of them an illusion of professor Colbert appeared, his lips moved but no sound was forth coming. And with a hand gesture Aeron willed the image to disappear.

"Have you memorized the incantation?"

Louise nodded.

"Excellent. Now as you are a sorceress and already know how to use your willpower all you now need to do is to imbue your fingers and tongue with magic like you would do with your wand, you will feel a slight tingling in them, if you put too much magic it will start to hurt so be careful."

The girl nodded again and closed her eyes. After a few minutes of testing the spell in her thoughts she took a deep breath.

She opened her eyes and focused her mind on the spell, moving her delicate fingers she spoke "Silent Image!"

XXXX

Tears were running down her face as she watched the illusion.

"I did it..." she said, her words showing how much the success affected her "I cast a spell."

Her sobbing only made the necromancer roll his eyes, though he should have expected it...she was emotionally almost at her breaking point.

So this is...whats the term again? Tears of Joy? Aeron shifted his gaze from Louise to the image that was standing and smiling at them. There was something that unnerved him greatly about this woman or rather her smile. It was too...innocent.

"Relative?" he inquired.

Louise nodded "My sister Cattleya" fondness was evident in her voice as she said her sisters name.

Well whatever "Excellent work Louise, now dispel it by willing the magic you used to create it to disperse."

She did as instructed and the image was gone.

"Now that we know that you indeed poses the needed willpower and focus I will explain my magic system to you."

She crawled back on her bed to listen attentively.

"Unlike your system of magic that divides spells on elemental properties, my spells are divided by schools, and any school can be learned by anyone. There are nine circles of spells that you can master, a mage who has mastered spells of the ninth circle is for me as a square mage is for you, any questions?"

Seeing Louise shaking her had he continued.

"There are eight schools of magic; abjuration is mostly about protective wards and barriers, conjuration focuses on healing, summoning creatures or objects and teleportation".

"Teleportation?" she asked.

"Transfer of matter to another location without traversing the space between them"

"...?"

"You can move people or objects anywhere you wish on this world in seconds, its one of the most useful spells you can have."

"So its similar to the 'Summon Familiar' ritual..." she mused.

"In a sense, but back to magic. Divination is the school that lets the caster predict the future and learn long forgotten secrets. And it's the school I have neglected so I have no practical knowledge about it. Enchantment spells affect the minds of others, influencing them or outright controlling them. Evocation is the school that manipulates energy like fire, lightning and cold to destroy your enemies. Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. Transmutation...well its exactly what it says on the tin. And the last school, and the school of my specialization, is necromancy. Necromancy spells manipulate the power of death, unlife and the life force."

Louise gulped "A- And you can teach me all this?"

"Without a sweat, since you are a sorceress with a lot of willpower, I will simply be teaching you the spells you lack to use my magic. The hard part will be understanding magic so you can research and develop new spells in time, for that you will need my tutoring, a research facility and a lot of time." Aeron had a grin from ear to ear hidden by his mask.

"Y-you mean I will be able to make my own spells?" she look wide eyed at him.

He looked at her as if she were a pink dog with wings "Of course you will make your own spells, this is a magic academy is it not? What do you people learn here if not furthering your insight into magic?"

She would have spoken with pride about the academy but somehow she doubted Aeron would be impressed "Tristain's Academy of Magic doesn't just teach magic, you know. It represents the crème of Tristain's noble youth to the world at large."

Aeron had a smile on his face, a strained smile "Louise, my dear sweet Louise. Are you telling me that mages here only show spells and demand that students emulate them?"

He was smiling even if she could not see it behind the mask, his voice was pleasant and his thoughts were about opening a permanent gate to Pandemonium inside her room. Who knows maybe the girl would be a good sacrifice.

"W-well t-there's professor Colbert, he is always tinkering with chemicals and some weird contraptions."

Aeron snorted "One professor? What are the rest doing?"

She fidgeted "Well, when they are not teaching they are busy with private matters like paperwork, preparations for class, governing their lands if they have them or simply enjoy the free time relaxing."

Don't kill, don't kill, don't kill, don't kill...yet, don't kill yet, don't kill yet, don't kill yet. Patience is a virtue, there's no need to rush things, just relax and make a nice little convoluted plan and all will be perfect. The necromancer repeated until the twitch on his forehead disappeared.

He exhaled and felt the frustration he suffered from the girl evaporate, replaced with his usual calm "Very well. Look as a sorceress I can teach you to copy some of my spells, you wont be able to memorize them all since you can remember only so many spells before you start to forget them or they get mixed up...unless you have eidetic memory?"

Louise shook her head in denial...not that a Wish spell couldn't fix that, but she will have to do that on her own one day. He wasn't wasting any of his spells for that.

"What curricular activities do you have tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow all classes are canceled so the masters can get to know their familiars better."

He pulled down his mask and hood, going with his fingers through his hair, he made a mental list of spells she should master, unlike a wizard sorcerers are extremely limited with the number of spells available not to mention he will need to teach her about the inner workings of magic so she can research spells and not only copy them. He ignored the blushing brat since its normal that his appearance attracted females like magnets iron dust, not that he cared. The only reason he put any effort into his appearance was because people acted favorably to strangers they thought as attractive, the same reason he was always smiling...it made persuasion and bluffing that much easier.

Louise gawked at his perfect facial structure, but what really got her attention was his white hair and unusual golden sletted eyes. She didn't see them because of the hood but they were obviously not human.

"A-Aeron?"

He focused his snake like eyes on her making the girl flinch "Yes?"

"W-What happened to your eyes?"

"My eyes? Ohh you mean my dragon eyes. That is simple, I once encountered a gold dragon, and since she possessed a pair of such beautiful orbs I decided to trade with her for them." Actually I just shapeshifted them.

Louise was confused „How can you trade with a dragon they don't even know how to speak?"

"...Louise have you ever seen a dragon?"

"I have seen many dragons!" she puffed feeling insulted

"Would you please describe one to me?"

"Well they...are big lizards with wings that can exhale fire."

"And how intelligent are they?"

"As any dog, griffin or hawk."

"Aaaaaaa, you see the dragons I'm talking about are around hundred meters long, posses above human intelligence and are masters in magecraft."

"T-That's impossible! Dragons are d.."

"Silence" he growled.

On command she covered her mouth with her hands.

"I HATE the word impossible, its only in the dictionary of fools. And as far as your drakes are concerned don't compare them to my dragons. Its like comparing you with a pigeon, the world is full of wonders and you will miss them if you discard them as impossible, do you understand?"

She nodded "S-So what did you give the dragon for its eyes? It's hard to imagine anything willingly trading their sigh away."

He grinned "Who said anything about willing?" well I did take dragon eyes, but that was for my experiments.

"B-but you sad you traded?"

"Indeed I have, I gave her oblivion in exchange for the eyes."

"Y-You killed her?!" her expression changed into one of shock, if his dragons were really as intelligent as he claimed then this was murder...worse he killed her for the eyes that were now watching her.

"She fought bravely...for all 10 seconds" All hail the Finger!...that sounded weird...but nobody can disagree that the ′Finger of Death′ is one of the best spells to kill any single target.

"D-Don't you feel bad about it?" Louise was a little creeped out by his behavior, murder should never as mundane as he made it sound like.

The necromancer made a thinking pose "Hmmmmm...no, not really. But enough talk, we will continue tomorrow and you need to sleep now. In the mean time, I will explore the facility."

Remembering an important bit of information he rummaged in his pockets until he found the item he was searching for "Oh, and before I forget put this ring on. It's a ring of sustenance, if you wear it for a week, you wont need to eat, drink or sleep for more then two hours. And we will need every minute to make you the strongest sorceress that walks this world."

"T-The strongest?!" she gasped as she caught the ring and slid it on her finger.

Aeron rolled his eyes again Gods, I could have given her a cursed item and she would have been none the wiser "Indeed Louise, but now you must sleep."

She nodded, her eyes were already distant, her mind in a dreamland imagining herself as an all powerful mage that was loved and respected by everyone. She was so caught up in her daydream that she forgot all about Aeron and went to lay down "Here" she tossed here used underwear at him "have this cleaned for me until the morning."

His fist clenched, he had this unexplainable urge to throttle the pink menace...this brat is more infuriating then a paladin when he rants about justice and other gibberish his ilk believe in. "It will be done master, I will take my leave now to get myself familiar with the academy grounds."

She nodded and watched him meld again into shadows causing shivers to go down her spine.

XXXX

Aeron moved through the darkness looking at his surroundings. From what he saw of the academy it was a large complex made in the shape of a pentagram, with towers representing the five elements that dominate the magical system of this land. Beside the storage, stables, students dormitory and staff quarters the center tower possessed a kitchen, large bathing facility, classrooms, an oversize dining area, headmasters office and a library.

The Library to his disappointment dabbled mostly in history, basic elemental magic and local lore. On the other hand he encountered the familiar balding mage that was going through the books searching for something. Being careful to not be spotted, he probed the thoughts of the individual.

The mage called Colbert was an interesting man, former soldier, wants to repent, fascinated with machinery and has found out something about the runes that were burned on his hand. It seems that this Brimir fellow had a fetish for human familiars (read slaves), and kept no less than four to be his meat shields, until one got fed up and made a shis-ka-bob out of him.

The probing took almost half an hour but he was certain he had the basic sociopolitical knowledge he needed.

He was slowly walking around the academy, watching the two moons in the sky, when he spotted a blond kid courting a first year girl. Aeron noticed that the kid had no skill in persuasion what so ever.

"I'm really good at preparing Souffle!" the girl stated.

"I would love to try it!" was the boy's reply.

Lovers, maybe? Aeron thought.

"Oh...Lord Guiche..you mean it?!"

"Of course, Katie! I cannot tell a lie to your eyes!" Aeron grinned. My this ′Guiche′was a perfect victim to fall to a cyricist. I hope he will not be too inconvenienced when the lies bite him in the rear The necromancer thought wickedly.

"There exist no lies in my feelings for you!"

If she believes this the intelligence of the people here would be orc standard Aeron suddenly shuddered after remembering his short encounter with an old bald ranger.

He was infiltrating one of Amunautors temples posing as a paladin, when this madman came and exposed him by pointing a 'hamster' in his face, announcing that the fuzzball would make acrobatics if he were a paladin. I have no idea why those idiots believed him, like a rodent could detect evil or something. Not that he was evil, he always thought himself somewhere in the gray zone of morality.

He stealthily moved pass them, then up the wall into the room where he found Louise sleeping like a rock. After cleaning her clothes with a simple "Prestidigitation" he took his spellbook and went through his spells for the next day.

Halkeginia, Tristain academy of magic – Louise's room

I hate the sun! Was the first thing Aeron thought when the morning came, and his foul mood deepened when he saw Louise still sleeping and making weird sounds that a normal person would describe as cute. Unfortunately for Louise Aeron was not really normal, even amongst the insane cyricist he was something of an eccentric.

So after a few minutes of examining his options, he decided on his next course of actions. He silently chanted a simple spell that summoned a squirrel.

"What's up boss, you haven't called me in a while" said the animal as it was looking around the room, then it spotted the figure of Louise still sleeping in her bed "We don't see each other in two months and you become a pedophile? You're a disappointment master" the squirrel chided.

Aeron grinned "Well I was thinking of switching to bestiality, what say you?"

The squirrel shuddered "Boss, don't even joke about that. How do you even come up with such disgusting comments?"

"Divine inspiration?" the necromancer looked amused before he shrugged "but back to why I summoned you, I need you for a very important mission."

The squirrels shoulders sagged "Ooohhh not again, every time you say important and mission in one sentence it is some bullshit errand that I have to do."

"Those are important missions, don't underestimate them" Aeron held his arms crossed, a serious expression on his face.

"The last important mission you gave me was playing dice with a orc!"

The wizard scowled "And if I remember correctly you lost."

"Boss, the dice were bigger then my paws and the blasted cup was bigger and heavier than my whole body! How in Corellons name have you imagined me throwing the damned things?"

He grinned "Have no idea but it was entertaining seeing you try"

"...One of those days I will break your nuts."

"Heard that one before, but back to your mission. You see that girl over there?"

The squirrel looked at the bed "Yes?"

"Bite her finger" this will definitely wake her up.

The animal sighted "I knew it, I bloody damn knew it!" but still it jumped on the bed and found her hand displayed in front of her sleeping face. And then he bit it...

A scream of pain indicated the Louise was awake, she lifted her hand and spotted a squirrel still hanging from her pinky.

"Get it off! Get it off!" her screams audible down the hallway.

Hmmm maybe I should have put a silence spell on her contemplated the wizard.

Finally the squirrel let go and Louise breathed a sign of relief. Searching for the Founder cursed critter, she spotted it on her table standing calmly beside Aeron.

"You!" she pointed her wand towards the squirrel "you dare to bite a noble you furry demon! I will make a pair of gloves out of you!" and with that she started to recite a spell.

"Boss! Stop her she's gonna kill me!" the squirrel pleaded.

"Naturally, I mean you did take a bite out of her finger" commented the necromancer while siting in the possible blast radius as if nothing was really happening.

The chant stopped immediately "Y-you can talk?" she watched in amazement as the squirrel shifted its gaze from Aeron to her.

"Yes my Lady, I apologize for the...rudeness but he" pointing at Aeron "wanted to be creative in waking you."

Her glare settled on him "Can you explain familiar?"

"What can I say, it worked" he shrugged.

"Wait! You're a familiar? Oh that's rich!" turning to Louise "I hope my Lady will distribute proper punishment to the bastard!" the squirrels said as its tail moved excitedly from side to side.

Louise stared at the rodent clearly unsure what to do now "What are you anyway? Squirrels usually don't talk."

"Well I wasn't always a squirrel, my name is Zanven Silverleaf and I was a simple bard wandering the Sword Coast, earning my living by singing. That is until I met this guy" pointing again at Aeron "he turned me into a squirrel and forced me to become his familiar."

Looking at the unfortunate squirrel Louise felt pity at him and pierced Aeron with a glare "Any last words before I send you to the Founder?"

"Only that your late for breakfast" he watched with a grin as her face slowly went from anger to panic "I'm late!" she yelled and dashed to her drawers to change.

Aeron shifted his gaze on the squirrel "A simple bard? The last I heard you were running from the Zhents for freeing their slaves, you were lucky I persuaded them to forgive you."

"Hey it's not entirely untrue, I'm not a fan of wands pointed in my general direction. And we both hate slavery so you can't fault me for my little stunt. As for the Zhentarim, unleashing a pack of shadows on them is NOT persuasion. If it's not bad enough that you are a Cyricist, but a necromancer on top of that makes my tail twitch."

"Well I'm all ears if you have a better way of avoiding the bounty that's on your head, besides you only have to hide for a short time before they give up on the whole thing. And I still think you are better this way."

"Curse you corpselover" Zanven glared at him.

"Nutlicker" Aeron glared back right at the squirrel.

Their staring contest was interrupted when Louise stormed out of her room. Aeron quickly rose from his chair and shifted in his already established snake form and followed her out.

"Zanven, there is a large library in the central tower if your interested, it has a lot of useless knowledge that your kind loves to collect."

The squirrel shot him an annoyed look before shifting it into a smile "Thanks, I think I will take a look" with that the squirrel stormed to the tower.

Did the fuzzy cast haste or what? Aeron thought looking at his companion, or rather the dust that he left behind.

He doubted that he had the necessary speed in his snake form to catch up with Louise but as soon he left the room he spotted her standing in front of a busty redhead with a red lizard whose tail was currently on fire.

Quickly he slithered up her leg, under her skirt and shirt until his head popped up beside her neck. He extracted himself from her shirt and coiled around her neck watching her scream and shudder from her right shoulder.

XXXX

Louise had a horrible morning. First a talking squirrel bit her, then she came face to breast with Kirche and as a strawberry on top her familiar in snake form molested her by slithering from her leg up to her neck. To make the situation even worse was that she made embarrassing noises and movements from the tickling sensation caused by the snake that the damnable Germanian saw.

"My my Louise was that a failed attempt at dancing as well?" Kirche laughed "And what is this, your familiar? What happened with all that boasting you did yesterday, I was under the impression you wanted to summon something grander then I have."

Louise gritted her teeth "Well if you want to know Aeron-"

"Master I don't think it would be wise to reveal my presence at this moment, a snake is a common summon, humans are not, they would only tease you more" I hope her foolish pride wont spoil everything.

She thought about it for a minute before cooling down "As I was saying Aeron is a good familiar, if you remember Gimly also summoned a snake."

Kirche giggled "I thought her name was Josephine? Have you searched for his privates to confirm his gender? Or are his assets so insignificant that you were unable to tell the difference between male or female?"

"ZERBST! Do me a favor and return to Germania and bother someone else with your improper behavior!" Louise had the appearance of a tomato thinking what the redhead pervert said.

"Well they do say that master and familiar share common traits, in this case the lack of ..." she them stared at her chest and smirked before turning around and walking down the corridor with her familiar, leaving a red faced Louise behind.

50% Embarrassment, 50% Anger and 100% Entertainment...now if I only had some popcorn. Aerons thoughts were interrupted when a hand grabbed him around the neck, or what would normally be his neck, and pulled him face to face with an enraged brat.

"YOU! I'm going to feed you to Tabithas dragon!"

"Who me?" he asked innocently

"You defiled a young maidens body you pervert!"

"Can you shout maybe louder master I don't think all the academy heard you."

And true to his words a few students glanced at her.

Now completely embarrassed she just marched to the mess-hall without another word.

"First, you should talk to me with your mind, no sense letting everybody on our conversations. Second this body is very slow so I need you to carry me, and I apologies for my rude way to reach your shoulder but it was the most direct path."

She huffed "Very well,I will forgive you this time, since we are getting to know each other you will tell me about yourself, from where you came from and demonstrate more of your magic."

He rolled his eyes, it seems the memory of yesterday was already erased from her mind.

The mess-hall was quite large. Three long tables, lined with chairs, exotic food and students with a variance of hair color that bordered on the absurd.

Louise herself walked with her head held high, fully ignoring the conversations from everyone that surrounded her.

Aeron felt absolutely out-of-place, the interior was suffocating with all its sickening pomp...he would prefer a nice forest to this place any day.

Louise pulled a chair and took a seat at the table just as the maids started to bring in the food.

"Master, since we have ample time to talk while you eat I will explained who I am."

"Very well, proceed."

"As I mentioned before I was born in the Netherese Empire, taken as an apprentice in the art of magic when I was 6, at the age of 24 I finished my apprenticeship and since then I served Lord Shadow as part of the Netherese military." Not to mention I'm a over two hundred and forty seven year old Shade, and a Viceroy of a prosperous city-state but she does not need to know that."The Netheres Empire is a large nation whose goals are establishing peaceful relations and advancement of trade for the good of all"... or not.

She listened to him while she ate "So what about the magic demonstration?"

"As soon as you finish eating."

"That reminds me don't you need to eat?"

"No, I have a ring of sustenance similar to the one I gave you. I don't require any food, drink or sleep."

"So when will the ring take effect?"

"In a week, but you will still need 2 hours of sleep a day"

"Finished, let's go out and see what you can do" she used a napkin to clean up and went out where the other students will be bonding with their familiars.

As soon as they were in an empty corridor Aeron jumped from her shoulder and took on the shape of a gorgeous white haired maid.

Louise frowned "Why a maid?"

"Why not? All I have to do is provoke one of the mages out there."

She hmd "I don't believe they will bother with a simple servant."

"Now, now Louise it's not good to underestimate people without magic, they can be as dangerous as any mage" he chided playfully.

"I don't believe it. A commoner fighting a mage has the same chances as a whelp against a war-hound, no even less."

She's a big none believer it seems "And what if the commoner learned magic?"

"Commoners can't learn magic! If they could use magic they would be nobles not commoners" she fumed.

"How about a bet?"

The girl scoffed.

Aeron pulled out a premade Magic Contract or to be more accurate a soul contract out of his bag of holding, now disguised as a simple wallet "How about this then, if I make a commoner able to use arcane magic I win the bet and if I fail I will give you anything you wish and I mean ANYTHING".

She wanted to prove him that he can't teach commoners magic...but mother warned her about signing documents...

"What, cat got your tongue?" he smirked.

Louise scowled, grabbed the contract and signed it. Whats the worst that can happen, its impossible for commoners to become mages, and I'm underage even if he by some miracle won there is nothing that he can demand from me under court law.

Should I be happy I got her soul or disappointed that she's a moron? he thought "Don't you want to read it first? Its un-"

"Who cares! Commoners can't use magic, now get on with it" she ordered.

Aeron shrugged, it's not his problem she is impulsive. A insane grin twisted his now female facial features "Ohhhh this is going to be so much fun! I can almost taste it, I already have a victim in mind" he said laughing insanely.

Louise suppressed a shudder "Familiar no killing, we don't want to attract too much unwanted attention don't we?" honestly she didn't want anybody to get seriously hurt, but that would sound weak.

He looked aghast, eyes wide "Louise! How can you be so cruel!"

"What?"she was confused now, he is the killer, why accuse her of being cruel?

"No killing?! That`s inhuman! Its one of the basic human rights, its written so in the second amendment even."

"The second what?"

"...an idiotic piece of paper" he commented mockingly.

She sighted "Just get out there and don't kill anybody in the demonstration. Try to find someone strong that is not a professor here, they wont be easy to taunt as a student."

"Roger-roger!" with that he walked out of the corridor into the yard leaving a confused Louise wondering Who the hell is Roger?

XXXX

T.A.M– Fenris Library

Mr. Colbert was a teacher who had dedicated twenty years to Tristain Magic Academy. His Runic name was "Colbert the Flame Snake." And since the Springtime Familiar Summoning a few days ago, he'd been concerned about the snake that Louise had summoned. Or more precisely, he'd been concerned the runes that had appeared on the animals side. He'd never seen anything like them, and so for the last few days, he'd done nothing but research the various texts for a reference. Colbert was now in a section called "Fenrir's Library" that only teachers were able to access...apparently the runes were somehow connected to Brimir, but he had to triple check to make sure this was real.

He levitated up to an out-of-reach shelf and scanned it intently for a particular book. His efforts were rewarded as his gaze fell upon the title of the book. It was a very old text which held descriptions of the familiars that had been used by the Founder Brimir, he already read the book but he still needed to compare some points.

His attention was focused on one particular paragraph written in it, and as he read on in fascination. He compared the book with the sketch he'd made of the runes.

"Now that is interesting" said a unfamiliar voice much to his surprise. Colbert with a staff in hand turned around...but there was nobody there.

Slipping back to his soldier training he prepared a spell that would incapacitate the intruder "Who`s there?"

After searching the library for the third time he shook his head "Better to take it easy for today, I'm already hearing voices" he picked up the books and placed them at the end of the table for tomorrows research before departing.

XXXX

T.A.M – Estri courtyard

He looked over the animals that were waiting around, except the blue dragon, all were normal familiars...until he was standing eye to eye with a beholder...except it only looked like one, obviously possessing no intelligence to talk about, he was almost tempted to summon a beholder – a Gauth – to laugh when it sees its retarded cousin, but the thought passed fast.

"Honestly, WTF are you?" Aeron watch the creature until a voice behind him caughed his attention.

"Its a bugbear" the maid proclaimed happily, he returned to stare at the now retreating creature.

"Bugbear?" does that even make sense?

"What part of it looks like it deserves that name?" He fought and killed bugbears on multiple occasions, this thing still looked like a beholder – or more precise an eyeball type of beholder only unintelligent.

Returning back to the maid. He noted that the girl possessed black hair, that was certainly unusual in this land as far as he could tell.

"Hello, my name is Lorelei Springfield a pleasure to meet you" Aeron introduced himself with a polite smile.

The maid blushed slightly "Umm..hello I'm Siesta, are you a new maid perchance?"

"That I am" Aeron bowed slightly, smiling warmly...a smile that never reached his eyes.

"I didn't know we would get additional workers, not that I'm complaining. Would you mind helping me with serving the students the tea and deserts?"

"Of course, I would be more than happy to help."

Aeron grabbed the cakes and tea and made his way to entertainment.

He served a good number of students before he found his prey, while Louise was watching him from the distance, observing how most males were ogling him/her and the females were raging silently from envy.

His target was scratching a giant mole's mane affectionately, obviously the boy was in a good mood "-oke with Verdandi all night, Montmorency."

"Really..?" the blonde girl, didn't seem to be convinced by his words "All... night, right?" The hesitancy was evident, and the reason for it was, as well.

"Of course!" Guiche affirmed.

"These smart eyes, this intensely soft fur! She was destined to become my familiar!"

"But, I have been hearing rumors that you are seeing a first year girl. Is this true?"

"Of course not. I cannot-"

" -tell a lie in front of your eyes."

Aeron smiled as the blondes eyes widened in surprise. The blond boy turned around and saw the disguised necromancer as he/she bend over his shoulder and placed a piece of cake in front of him...normally allowing that 'her' breasts brushed his shoulder.

"W-Who are you!" Guiche asked indignantly ogling the beautiful girl.

"Only a humble servant to the One."

"Which one?"

"The One and All" he would have grinned about the blondes confusion. Since Cyric's titles are unknown in this world he could flaunt them openly, unlike in the realms where being a cyricist has the same effect like shouting `Plague!`

"So you...what was the name again...Guiche that's right! You didn't like that first years souffle or what?" Aeron inquired.

"What is she saying! Who is she anyway?!" Montmorency snapped, to the distraught Guiche.

"Return to your task, servant!" the blond fop snapped, rapidly getting to his feet.

"Guiche, what is she talking about?" Montmorency asked again, anger in her voice.

"I honestly don't know" Guiche bluffed, not wanting to continue the conversation he opted to evade it.

"Montmorency! Let us depart!" he was preparing to leave but was stopped by a few simple words from the maid.

"Katie over here!" Aeron shouted.

Guiche instantly froze, sweat poring from his head.

"Lord Guiche!" Katie yelled happily.

Aeron watch the drama with gusto, all cyricists had a love for schadenfreude and he was no exception.

"Montmorency. This is a misunderstanding. All I did was accompany her on a long trip to the forests of La Rochelle..." Guiche said, shaking his head. While he was pretending to remain composed, cold sweat ran down his forehead.

"Just as I thought! You've been making moves on that first year, haven't you?!"

That was accompanied by a bitch slap, before she turn around and stormed off.

"Master Guiche..."

"It's a misunderstanding Katie, listen.." but the he never managed to end the sentence when he received a second slap on the other cheek.

"It would seem those ladies do not understand the meaning of a rose's existence." Guiche stated rubbing his cheeks.

"The meaning of a rose is fragility, short life and a boring death, next time use something more durable." Oh man this is almost as good as the drow battle arenas...well not really...

"Y-You!" he yelled, pointing his rose wand at the maid. "You don't know who you're messing with!" His rage then turned into a grin, he didn't forget the humiliation from before...but found a perfect way to pay the commoner back "For making two beautiful girls cry you will have to make it up to me."

Aeron was ecstatic all too easy "Why should I? It was your own fault, you can't blame me for it!"...actually it was more than obvious that the necromancer started the mess, but he had to get the brat as angry as possible.

"Listen servant, I'm a noble you do what your betters command you to do, is that understood!"

It seems the local nobility was even more stuck-up then the Red Wizards, or what was left of them after Szass Tams little grab for power.

The maid whimpered and nodded her head "Yes, my lord."

Guiche smile suddenly turned predatory "Good, meet me in front of the forest where the familiar summoning takes place when your shift ends and don't be late or I will not show mercy."

Looking excited Guiche and a few of his friends left levitating to the designed spot.

Siesta gazed at Aeron, her entire body shaking in fear.

Aeron spoke with a smile. "Don't worry Siesta, everything is fine."

"You... You're going to get... they will...please you have to run away!" she was hyperventilating now.

"Don't worry, I knew Guiche since we were children it's not proper for commoners and nobles to be friends so we have to act like strangers in public, so don't worry about him harming me."

She calmed down somewhat after Loreleis explanation "Friends?..Oh God...you gave me a scare, I thought he was going to ravish you."

Aeron giggled "My, Siesta you have such a naughty mind."

Siesta blushed, but gave him a wink "Well there is nothing wrong about being honest with ones body, but its time for me to go back to my duties, and you should not keep Guiche waiting" she giggled but made a serious face "But be careful, he has a reputation of being a flirt, I wouldn't be surprised if he would try to seduce you." With that she turned around and went to the kitchen.

As soon as the maid left Louise approached him from behind.

"Were all those theatrics really necessary?" she was annoyed by the whole subservient female act.

"You wouldn't deprive me of at least a bit of fun master?" he asked with a cheshire grin on his/her face.

Louise eyed him if he was insane, sighting she resigned herself for the inevitable "So what now?"

Aeron grinned "Not telling, if you want to know you will have to accompany me."

XXXX

Tristain – outside the magic academy

Guiche and his two friends spotted the approaching maid and grinned.

"So you came, smart" Well not really, but it's not if she had any choice, she is after all only a commoner.

She stood there silently looking at her feet until two hands grabbed her arms and dragged her into the forest.

She struggled but the two students pressed her body on the grass as Guiche let his pants drop and removed her underwear. He spread her legs even as she screamed and then he penetrated into her, over and over again. When he was finished he went to grab one of the arms so his friends can have their turn and so it went on for quite some time, the maid stopped struggling a long time ago but still they held her pinned down. The cries and sobbing only making them pumping their hips harder.

XXXX

Louise cried as she watched with disgust what her classmates were doing, she would have already done something about it but Aeron who was standing behind her had other plans...the two of them were standing in a globe of invisibility and magic silence, with her hands held tightly in his she could do nothing except watch the sickening display. The absence of sound didn't really help, she could still see the maid scream and cry, plead for help and receive pain instead.

"Enough, what do you want to prove with this! Stop them already! I command you!"

"I'm shoving you magic" he took one of his rings off and put it on her finger.

Aeron let her go before she managed to throw up.

Louise was kneeling as she emptied her stomach, now she knew why he didn't stop them.

"The ring is on of true seeing, It reveals all illusions and leaves only the truth."

In the forest the three students were pining a woman to the ground.

A dead woman.

Her skin was maggot infested and rotting, the dress she was wearing was half decayed, and the most disgusting thing were the movements of her bony hands and skull, she was still alive...or rather dead and alive at the same time – undead.

"Summoning a zombie? Free of charge. Casting an illusion spell on the corpse? Free of charge, watching them getting the scare of their lifetimes?- priceless."

"A-Aeron" Louise gasped as she struggled to get the vomit out.

"Yes master?"

"Kill them"...even if the victim is only a corpse, their intention was clear...they were prepared to do it to anyone. Not only that, she remembered all the insults they threw her way...even making her contemplate suicide a few times! "Kill them!"

"Yes master!" said the necromancer with a shit eating grin on his face. It was so easy to pull out all the memories of abuse she suffered at their hands to prompt her to this decision. Then he dispelled all the magic in the area...

XXXX

Guiche was deep inside the maid when something bizarre happened. Instead of the warm feeling that should envelop him it felt cold, her smooth skin turned to something he didn't want his Valkyrie to touch with a ten foot bronze pike, also the empty eye sockets of the jawless skull were supposed to have two beautiful teary green orbs in them..not darkness.

So he acted as any normal person would in his situation. He screamed and jumped away closely followed by his two companions.

"What the hell!"

"What just happened?!"

They quickly stopped talking after they saw the corpse getting to its feet, their semen dripping from the various holes in her lower body.

"I-I don't believe it! Where is the maid?!"

"How the hell should I know!"

"D-Did I really cum inside that thing?!"

Almost like it was rehearsed they threw up simultaneously.

While they were talking and returning their lunch the wrong end first, the zombie continue to slowly walk to them. The students not really looking at the approaching danger remained passive until it was too late. The zombies claws tore long gashes in the neck of a student who fell on the grass choking to death.

That got the attention of other two students who pulled out their wands and attacked the undead creature.

Guiche waved his rose shaped wand and three petals fell from it, shining brightly as it touched the ground.

From it rose three golems made of bronze. Guiche would have proclaimed his runic name but somehow it seamed irrelevant in this situation.

Behind the pair Aeron frowned at the display. Golems are a pain in the neck to the necromancers and rogues alike, by not being alive almost all his spells were useless, he could kill the mage and sever his control but that would be no fun. He had only a few evocation spells memorized, in fact he never bothered with them with a few exception like the infamous Isaac's Greater Missile Storm. If he ever needed a evocation spell he had a few hundred wands in his bag of holding but he was rather unwilling to waste their charges on such small demonstrations.

The mages attacked the reanimated corpse with water whips and bronze golems wielding heavy weapons.

The water made little damage to the zombie but the golems were able to hack it to pieces until it stopped moving and turned to ash.

"Is Gaston still alive?" asked Guiche.

"..." Damien shook his head after checking the pulse "No, he's dead."

"Curses! how are we going to explain this?" raged the blond as he pulled at his hair.

"Oh don't worry you wont have to explain anything" a musical voice from behind them answered.

When they turned around they saw the grinning maid standing beside a pale and tired Louise.

"You bitch! What did you do!" Guiche roared

"I created myself some entertainment" she laughed happily.

"I'm going to fucking entertain you before I kill you!" and with those words he send his golems to attack his target while Damiel used his water whips to entangle Louise. They were already over their heads, might as well go all the way.

"My runic name is Guiche the Bronze, therefore, these bronze Valkyrie shall be your opponents!"

Aeron sighted, and pulled out his longsword, it seems he would have to do it the hard way hacking and slashing instead using the more refined arts of...pest control.

The golems charged him with their weapons...and were effortlessly cut in half, bodies and weapons alike.

Guiche watched in amazed as his golems fell apart from one clean strike.

He waved his rose wand. Petals danced, and four new golems appeared. Altogether, seven golems were his full arsenal, never had he thought that a mere commoner could be a match for three of his prized creations.

"My my, Guiche is that all to your magic? I saw goblins that deserved to be called mages more than you." That should piss him off.

However it failed to taunt the earth mage, he wasn't a generals son for nothing, rushing in blindly would not help him win this fight. Instead of sending his Valkyrie on the armed maid, though from where she drew that black sword was anyone's guess, he ordered only one golem to distract her while the remaining three helped Damiel to incapacitate Louise and use her as a hostage.

When Aeron started an incantation the students thought she was rambling out of fear "Greater Fireburst" and suddenly a ring of fire erupted from the ground, and to Guiches horror all his golems simply melted down leaving only pools of red hot bronze as well as additionally evaporating Damiels water whips.

Pointing his finger at the water mage Aeron started another short incantation before finishing it with a calm "Disintegrate" turning the student to dust.

In his despair Guiche summoned a sword to replace his wand, he could summon no more golems to his defense... Aeron stopped his advance and started another incantation "Create Undead." In front of him wisps of darkness started to rise obscuring it from view, and when the darkness dissipated it revealed a corpse silently standing, staring at Guiche.

"W-W-Wh-What i-is that?!" Guiche stuttered, horrified by the abomination that appeared in front of them.

Louise felt like throwing up again, but managed to suppress the not too noble action, the smell of the creature or the cold sickening aura didn't help in that regard. The thing looked like a human skeleton that still had some of his internal organs present even if its bones were picked clean of any flesh.

"This, my naive friend is a mohrg, an undead created from corpses of mass murderess and other interesting people" Aeron stated calmly, directing his attention to the morgh, he dismissively commanded „Kill him."

The undead attacked unbelievably fast, only a quick reflex saved Guiche from falling prey to its claws.

Using what skill in sword fighting he had Guiche pushed his sword in the morgh's ribcage, where the heart would be, the blade easily pierced the rotten organs it still carried.

But to the undead creature the injury was trivial, organic tendrils slowly enveloped the blade and the morgh quickly grabbed at its prey that evaded the attack, but lost his sword/wand in the process, which was left stuck in its chest.

What do I do! What do I do! What kind of magic can summon the dead to fight for you? Is it Ancient magic? Or maybe Void? As he was thinking the morgh dashed and grabbed him by the shoulder, Guiche panicked "I yield! I yield! Please don't kill me!" he cried.

The morgh was not bothered by pleading of its victim as it paralyzed him with its tongue, the immobilized Guiche looked with horror as the things claws penetrated deep into his chest and pulled big chunk's of organs and flesh to devour.

"Well so much for that. So Louise what do you think about the presentation?"

The girl in question looked rather pale, and on the edge of a mental breakdown. Good...

"I-I wish to go back to my room. C-can you dispose of..." a glance at the feeding morgh stopped her sentence, only for her to turn around and walk back to the academy without a word.

Aeron watched the pinkette leave the place, he knew she would not tell a soul what happened here, anything her familiar does reflects on her and he just killed three nobles...under her orders no less. With a shrug he turned back to the dead. Dispelling the morgh and returning into his Assassin form he drag the corpses into the Shadowfell, about the burned grass and molten bronze he could do little but it wont help anyone from connecting it with them, no smell, witness or footprints were left.

He turned to follow his master back to the academy, the day was fun and the night is young, so much can still be accomplished.

XXXX

T.A.M – Louise's room

Louise was in her bed processing what happened today. How will I look my classmates in the eye? How will I tell Cattleya what I have done? She felt like a part of her died this day...how could she order such a thing!

It was in that moment that Aeron emerged from the shadow of her wardrobe.

Looking at her, he almost felt sorry for destroying a part of her innocence, almost.

"What troubles you Louise?"

She looked at him with a blank stare "You or rather you willingness to kill."

"Ohh and what's wrong about killing?"

"Its- its wrong, simply wrong! Immoral! Inhuman! To take someones life is to take everything from him, his dreams, his very future, not to mention the sadness that's left behind!"

Grinning insanely he bend down to look her directly in the eyes "A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true."

He then turned around and approached the window, looking at the moons that illuminated the night sky of Halkegenia. He was always fond of moons...except for the two he was watching now "To live is to kill. You live by consuming life, its illogical to be against killing. I traveled many worlds Louise and all of them have one thing in common, if there is life there's killing. Some do it for food, others for sport and then there are fools that kill for ideals. To be unbloodied only means you are too much of a coward to do the killing yourself. How many lives do you think your mother crushed?"

"That's different! That was war, and mother protected us!"

"Yes, she killed peasants who had no choice but to go against Tristain. If they refused they and their families would be branded traitors, and you know what happens to traitors in wartime. Your mother killed people who only wanted to stay at home, take care of their farm and make their family happy."

"So what, we were in the wrong? We should have just let them march and take our land because they had no choice?" she growled.

He chuckled "Oh no, if you lost those same peasants would have probably looted and raped their way through Tristain."

"B-but, you said they were good people who wanted to stay at home!"

He laughed "Good people? There is no such thing. People will do the most vile acts if they think they can get away with it, if nobody else will know. Humans show only the veneer of civilization, hiding their true nature behind masks. Even you Louise, you act nice around other people, but you are jealous of their magic, and more then once you wished them harm simply out of spite, don't deny it, I saw it in your mind."

She bit her lip, he was right she did that "You make it sound like we are barbarians...or worse animal."

"And what is the difference between animals and humans? We are animals, intelligent animals perhaps, but still animals. In fact we are worse than any other because our minds give us unsurpassed potential for violence and cruelty."

She quietly contemplated his words, his actions were wrong but his words were true...but that means his actions were correct...or not? There must be some flaw in his reasoning, she only needed to find it to make a counter argument. Aeron decided he wont give her the luxury of time, since it would be better to push his advantage.

He shrugged "If you are so putt off about my willingness to kill I wish to point out that they were scum. If left on their own they would grow up even more twisted, their deaths will probably spare much sorrow in the future." He hoped that in her desire to rationalize her decision she would accept his words as fact.

She hugged her knees under the blanket "Still, I knew them, I laughed with them, ate with them, learned with them. But the worst is...how will I face my sister...she is so pure if I were to embrace her now it would be like touching a white dress with bloodied hands, ruining it irreversibly."

Aeron was quiet, when he spots a person so pure as Louise described he usually made a BIG detour around him or her. Naive people like that never offered any entertainment, they had no ambition, or a desire to fight and kill for anything...simply put they bored him to tears.

"I understand you. I also keep my distance from people pure (naive, ignorant) of heart, preferring company of only those that are similar to me."

She didn't know what to say, his words were not comforting in the least, she opted for a change of subject since she wanted a distraction from her thoughts "Do you have any brothers or sister?"

"Oh plenty, every single one of them is as bad as I am" he chuckled.

"You are not a demon by some chance are you?" she asked with a smile on her face but there was no mirth in her eyes, they were duller. The power, the joy he took in ending life, it would not surprise her if he revealed himself as a demon in human skin...not once did it cross her mind that even demons have to try hard to reach the level of human depravity.

"No, my kind is considered a subspecies of humanity, we hate demons since we had...unpleasant dealings with them in the past."

She looked at him intrigued with his words "Your kind?"

"I'm a Shade, when a Shadovar - that is the name given to citizen's of Thulthantar - accomplishes a great task he or she is given a reward to become a Shade. Our souls are fused with shadows and we gain vast powers when in the darkness. We are...well you could say immortal since no Shade died from old age and we have impressive regeneration so unless we are instantly slain we will recover from any wound. We can walk through shadows and darkness to enter the realm of the Goddess Shar to shorten our travels-"

This piqued her interest "Goddess? Like Brimir?" she would have normally screamed at him about saying such a heresy but somehow with all the things that were happening, this was not such a big deal.

"Hmmm no. From what I learned I don't believe Brimir reached divinity." He was honest, it was highly unlikely that Brimir would become a god.

"Explain, how can you be certain your Goddess is real and Brimir not!" she was getting annoyed with her know-it-all familiar, stating that there are other gods beside Brimir was heresy, stating that he never became a god was...was extra heretical!

„Shar is not my Goddess even if her fate is predominant in the Empire. As for her existence...from where I come from gods give their priests magic that cures wounds or diseases and even brings people back from the dead. From what I learned of your church clergy they are simply commoners or mages who preach a dogma and nothing more. They gain no power with their prayers."

She frowned "Is that true? Bringing people from the dead?"

"Yes, you must understand that gods are simply very strong spirits, imagine a water spirit so powerful that it has enough power to give to those it deems for worthy."

"You have some very caring gods there if they just drop all that power for asking nicely."

He snorted all mirth gone from him "Don't delude yourself, they give power so the priests can convert more people to their faith. You see gods can die and their power is not absolute. The more faithful they have the more power they gain thru prayer. And if a god loses all his worshipers it dies, or is killed by a stronger one."

"So why doesn't Brimir give magic?" she asked.

"Probably because he died as a mortal" said the necromancer as he laid down on the straw pile „there are three known way's how a mortal as Brimir can become a god" she listened carefully not wanting to miss such knowledge.

"The first way is to be made a god by another god, an example of this is Uthgard the god of strength. He was a fierce barbarian who died of his wounds after wining in an epic battle against Gurt, the Lord of Pale giants when he invaded their lands. Tempus the god of war was pleased with him and made him into a demigod."

"The second is through a ritual that gives you divinity, Karsus was a Netheres mage that created a spell that would steal the power of a god and transfer it to him. In his case he wanted the power of Mystril the goddess of magic, but unable to hold her wast power he started the cataclysm that was named Karsus folly. The goddess was forced to sacrifice herself for a split second that resulted in her rebirth as Mystra – goddess of magic. In short he failed because he chose the wrong god. A better example is Velsharoon who was a zulkir of necromancy. He used a spell given to him by the god Talos and became a demigod."

"Seams Karsus bit off more than he could chew" she mumbled to herself as she imagined the power needed to accomplish such a feat.

"The third way is the best one, as a mortal you fight a god and absorb his essence when you kill him."

"FIGHT A GOD?! You jest! That is impossible!" Louise shouted and forgot all her problems as she listened to his story.

"Ohh but it is possible. Cyric became a greater god first by killing Bhall the former god of murder, then taking over the portfolios of Bane the god of strife and Myrkul the god of death. He then killed Leira the goddess of deception and later also took the portfolio of intrigue from Mask the god of thieves."

Louise cracked a smile "A ambitious one isn't he or should I say bloodthirsty...that silver skull on your armor wouldn't be his symbol would it?"

This time it was Aerons turn to smile "You are perceptive. Yes I'm indeed a follower of Cyric the Black Sun."

"Have you ever spoken to him?"

"...Once, we made a deal so to speak and I still have to accomplish my side of the bargain."

"Ummm...does it have to do something with me?"

He chuckled "No...you don't have to worry about that."

"So...no Brimir?" Louise was raised to be a pious member of society, always doing what the adults asked of her...and now all their truths seamed hollower, all that blind faith in them somehow misplaced.

"No probably not, since Brimir died a mortal he could not become a god without a greater god elevating him."

"So what about the souls of the dead?" she asked.

"They are going to the Fugue plain and probably staying there since there are no ghosts running around this world. That indicates that at least you have a god of death, or the souls are sent to a god of death that is not native to this world."

"...could they simply disappear into nothingness?"

„...yes, there are primordials still unknown that devour souls and it wouldn't surprise me if one or more used this world as a feeding ground."

She laughed at his words "Somehow that cheered me up...strange don't you think?"

"If you want something to cheer you up try this" he snapped his fingers and a piece of cake floated on a plate in front of her.

"Its called Schwarzwald torte, try it."

She eyed the desert, not certain how he could make cakes appear from thin air, his magic was far superior from the earth magic creation spells she knew about.

Taking a bite, she let the sweet taste wash over her tongue, it really did manage to bring up a smile, the cake was delicious.

He smiled watching her eat

"Does it taste good?"

She nodded, happily munching on the treat

"Does it make you happy?"

"Yes."

"There are so many things that make us happy. Pleasure can be achieved from any single thing. A good joke, a piece of cake or a myriad of other things. There is really no need to hope for a better tomorrow when you have the power to shape every single second to your liking. Instead of bashing your head over things that happened rather focus so your future will be a happy one."

"...that sounds like something Kirche would say" she grumbled "so basically I should simply live to be happy?"

"There is a thought that all people have the right to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure possible to them. It is also the idea that every persons pleasure should far surpass their amount of pain. So Louise have you been happy until now? Have your fellow students, your parents done anything that gave you happiness?"

She reverted back into her teary eyes shell "No" she whispered.

"Do you want to be happy?"

She nodded meekly.

He grinned "I can help you, with my magic you can achieve anything! Immortality? I know of a dozen ways to achieve it. Eternal youth? Piece of cake. Divinity? Possible. Wealth? Easy as breathing!"

Her thoughts were racing with possibilities that were given to her If his magic is really so strong perhaps he could cure Cattleya, even if I become a bad person...if Cattleya will be happy... "And whats the catch?"

"There is no catch, when you summoned me I saw power in you. Power that your moronic teachers ignored and your peers mocked! I wish to see them when you smirk in their faces and hold their future in your hands!"

She closed her eyes, she took a deep breath and made her choice "Deal!" she said.

His grin becoming wider "First what class do you have tomorrow?" he inquired.

She looked thoughtful "Earth magic, we will probably transmute things as usual."

"Then we still have time to teach you some spells."

"Which ones?"

"Transmute solid and Transmute gold, either is well inside your field of competency from what I can see of your willpower."

She grinned „I will be able to make gold?"

"As much as you wish" he answered.

She would never admit it but the psychotic familiar was actually far more entertaining then any of her classmates...if you adjust to his twisted humor that is.

"Now let the magic lessons begin!" he announced with a smile.

Louise learned the two spells with ease and opted to go to bed early since the day was stressful and she appreciated the darkness of sleep.

Aeron used this time to shadow walk to the library to find Zanven. The squirrel was fascinated with the new lore he acquired, not surprising coming from a bard. Aeron did not want to comment that bards have a fascination with a lot of useless garbage that prevented them from mastering any single skill adequately, what he didn't expect was a possible explanation why Louise had problems with her own magic – and a way to enable her magic to work.

He entered her room quietly, as Louise was still asleep so he took his scroll container and started to pull out scrolls that would not be too challenging for her, mostly illusion spells and ignoring the necromancy and evocation spells.

Having a lot of time on his hands he decided to entertain himself with some crafting. In this case a wand of Magic Missiles.

XXXX

"Munia."

She really makes weird noises when waking thought the necromancer as he added the trigger word for the new wand.

It took her a few more minutes until she registered her surroundings.

"What are you doing?" she inquired from the wizard.

"I'm making a wand for you to use in case of emergencies" he answered without looking from his work.

"But I already have a wand?" she said in confusion.

"Not that sort of wand, this wand has a spell stored inside, it has a number of charges that you can use in case your exhaust all your willpower."

Her eyes widened as she processed his words "You mean this wand does not consume my willpower?!"

"Yes, and you don't have to chant spells, only vocalize the trigger word and it will fire, just remember to point it at an enemy."

"I know how to use a wand!" she growled "so whats the trigger word?"

"For this wand its Bleed."

"...that's sounds a little malevolent" she grimaced.

Aeron looked at her "I can always put in another trigger, how about ′Candy′, just imagine yourself with a wand killing people around yourself while shouting candy the whole time."

"Not funny, and I will not kill any people" she deadpanned crossing her arms on her chest.

"Then you better be good at aiming, this spell can be lethal if it hits vitals." And that was no understatement a Magic Missile cast by him packed a lot of punch.

He stopped his crafting and pointed to come closer to her desk, where a handful of scrolls were placed. Some were enchantment, but most were illusion spells. She followed him and slowly picked up one of the scrolls "Charm person?"

"Yes, all this is your homework when we return so to say, you have to memorize the spells like the last one and then try casting one from the scroll, naturally I will give you lessons in runes and with time you will have to learn the draconic and elvish language. Just to make certain, Louise please cast again the ′Silent Image′ spell."

She nodded and after perfectly reciting the spell "Silent Image" in the room stood...or rather groveled a Kirche copy, opening her mouth in apologies without any words actually coming out.

Aeron raised his eyebrow "Well, all seems in order." Dismissing the spell Louise returned to the desk.

"Why are there only illusion and enchantment spells here?" she asked the necromancer.

"Illusion and enchantments are the spells that are the least likely to be fatal if miscast. Or would you prefer evocation or necromancy?" he grinned.

"No, I would like to learn evocation but not necromancy, its unnatural...it gives me nightmares" she shuddered from even thinking about it.

Aeron snorted "Again I'm faced with prejudice against my magic. If you think its more merciful to burn someone to death or leave him scared for the rest of his life then you are mistaken. Necromancy is quite merciful, if you fail to resist the spell you instantly die. No pain no suffering, your soul simply departs your body...depending of the spell."

Louise thought it over and slowly nodded her head "You're right...I never thought about it that way."

"You should get dressed now Louise, you don't want to be late for class" he commented.

With a nod she went to get changed.

As he finished polishing the wand he walked to her "Here, you know the trigger word so you only need to point and shoot."

"How many charges does it have?" she inquired

"Fifty, it will also regenerate one charge per day as long as there is at least one charge unused" he stated.

She took the wand and placed it on the thight holster she normally used for her own wand.

"Aeron...I need to ask you something..."

"Yes?"

"My sister Cattleya is sick and our water mages are unable to cure her...can your magic help?"

He smirked "Mages are not specialized in healing but I do have one spell that can help, but for healing I usually drag Zanven around, I'm more for inflicting wounds not curing them."

"So...you can cure her?" she looked at him with puppy eyes.

He smiled „Easy as pie" he then shifted his form in that of a snake and she placed him on her shoulder as he coiled around her neck. With that they left her room.

XXXX

T.A.M – classroom

The classrooms in the Academy of Magic was designed as a lecture hall. The lecturing teacher stood at the lowest level, and the seats were arranged upward like stairs. When Louise entered, student in the room mostly ignored her being to preoccupied with other matters like small talk, gossiping or flirting. Aeron could only grimace when he saw the design of the room, the number of students for one teacher and the lack of interest for learning – the children were here simply because they had to, not because they wanted to.

The door opened, and the teacher entered.

She was a middle-aged woman dressed in a voluminous purple robe and wearing a painfully stereotypical wizard hat, and no matter how much Edwin boasted a pointy hat will NOT make you kick Elminsters ass. She had a plump, round face with a friendly expression on it.

The woman gazed around the classroom and spoke with a satisfied smile.

"Well, everyone, it seems that the Springtime Familiar Summoning was a great success. I always enjoy seeing the new familiars that are summoned each spring."

"Now then, let's begin the lesson."

Chevreuse coughed heavily and waved her wand. A few pebbles materialized on her desktop.

"My Runic name is 'Red Clay.' Chevreuse the Red Clay. This year, I will be teaching you all the magic of the Earth element. Do you know the four great elements of magic, Mister Malicorne?"

"Y-Yes, Mrs. Chevreuse. They are Fire, Water, Earth and Wind."

Chevreuse nodded.

"And combined with the now-lost element of 'Void,' there are five elements in total - as everyone should already know. Of the five elements, I believe Earth holds an extremely important position. This isn't just because my affinity is Earth, nor is it simply a personal preference."

Once again, Chevreuse coughed heavily.

"The magic of Earth is very important magic that governs the creation of all matter. If it wasn't for Earth magic, we wouldn't be able to produce or process necessary metals. Raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also involve much more work. In this manner, the magic of the Earth element is intimately related to everyone's life."

"...Louise can I kill the ignorant hag?"

"No! You can do that after I graduate" she smiled.

"...That makes sense..."

"Now, everyone, please recall that the basic magic of the Earth element is 'transmutation'. While there will be people here who have already learned this in their first year, basics build foundations, so let's review it once more."

Chevreuse turned her attention to the pebbles and twirled her wand over them.

She then whispered a spell, and they began to glow brightly.

When the light dimmed away, the pebbles had been changed into sparkling lumps of metal.

"Is that g-g-gold, Mrs. Chevreuse!?" asked Kirche as she leaned forward over her desk.

"No, it isn't. It's plain brass. Only Square-class mages are able to transmute stone to gold. I'm just..." Chevreuse gave a self-important cough "A Triangle mage..."

"Now who wants to demonstrate?"

To the shock of the students the person who raised her wand was none other than Louise.

"Ah, Miss Vallière come down please" said the professor, smiling as Louise approached her.

"Umm..." a student raised his hand.

"Yes?" Chevreuse inquired.

"I think it would be better if you didn't let her..."

"And why is that?"

"It's dangerous" Kirche answered plainly. The majority of the class nodded in agreement.

"Dangerous? How so?"

"This is your first time teaching Louise, right?"

"It is, but I hear she's a hard worker. Now, Miss Vallière. Don't you worry, just try it. You won't be able to do anything if you dread making mistakes."

"Don't, Louise!" Kirche cried, her face pale.

But Louise didn't even bother listening to their complaints.

Chevreuse stood next to Louise and smiled, hoping that it would give the pinkette some confidence.

"Miss Vallière, you have to visualize vividly the metal that you wish to transmute them into."

"Hah, Just do as you practiced and you can't fail, or you can simply turn them all to gold so we have peace, either way its a win" Aeron said via his telepathy.

Louise pointed her wand at the pebbles on the desk and discretely with the other hand cast the spell while she whispered the incantation "Transmute solid."

On the table the pebbles turned into brass.

Mrs. Chevreuse looked pleased with the results.

"Excellent work, you can go back to your seat."

The students had prepared themselves for an explosion but when they heard a compliment from the teacher they were too stunned to reply, their brains unable to process what happened.

Louise allowed herself a smile as she went back to her desk, enjoying the silent and shocked facial expressions on the faces of her tormentor's.

A soon as she set down, chaos erupted with students screaming about the end of days and cheating, while the teacher attempted to reinstate some order. She ignored it all as she telepathically spoke with her familiar.

"I'm surprised I thought you would transmute gold, now that would have been a sight" the necromancer hissed/laughed.

"I didn't want to push it, 'Transmute gold' is still somewhat difficult for me, but with practice I will master it. And actually succeeding to cast a spell at all has the same effect as if I transmuted the pebbles into gold." She giggled at her thoughts...for the first time in forever she didn't dread siting in a classroom, she wasn't only waiting to humiliate herself she was participating and contributing!

"I'm truly impressed Louise, it seems you grasped that discretion is the better part of valor" he nodded approvingly.

"To be honest, with you teaching me I don't see the purpose for taking these boring classes" she commented seriously.

Finally! "Hmmm, you are indeed correct I don't see what knowledge they can offer that is worth all the time spend in this place, when we return to your room we will discus that idea further for now let's do something entertaining!"

She raised an eyebrow "Like what?"

He would have grinned if his form allowed it "How do you feel about pranks?"

Louise started to fidget "I-I don't know, it's not something nobles are supposed to do..."

"Oh don't be so reserved, pranks are an excellent way to practice your creativity, a swift mind is far more valuable than any other virtue...and its fun" he hissed mirthfully.

She was uncertain what to do but Aeron didn't lead her astray for now, so she would give it a try, she asked him what she should do but he answered what she should not do.

Nothing harmful, it would provoke an investigation, anything else is fair game.

After thinking about what she should do, and what spells she possessed Louise whispered "Silent image."

XXXX

Chevreuse was uncertain why Miss Vallière's spell would cause such chaos in the classroom but she was glad everything is back to normal, with a sigh she prepared to continue her lessons when a scream made a tick mark appeared on her forehead, with a flick of a wrist a piece of clay shot in the students mouth...it was a miracle that no students died under her care until now.

"Miss de Montmorency please refrain from shouting, screaming or disturbing the class in the future" said the older woman sternly.

Her anger was soon replaced with confusion when all the students started to back away from her with eyes wide and obviously afraid.

"It was only a piece of clay..." she murmured.

Kirche dragged the unconscious Tabitha to the window, for a quick exit but she managed to stutter "M-Mrs. C-Chevreuse, y-you s-should l-loo-k b-behind you" and since the whole room was dead silent it wasn't hard to hear.

Chevreuse found it strange but she looked behind herself anyway...and came face to face with an elf or to be more precise a ghost of an elf. It levitated near her back looking with empty eyes sockets at her.

Finally understanding what all commotion was about, she did what was expected of her...she feinted and collapsed on the classroom floor.

The next second all the students bolted out through the windows leaving the teacher to the ghostly elf.

Louise barely contained her laughter as she dispelled the illusion and ran through the door back to her room.

XXXX

T.A.M – Louise's room

Back in her room she collapsed on her bed, tired from laughter and the running but truly happy.

"T-That was hilarious! I'm never going to forget their faces especially from that Zerbst husi."

"Indeed, wonderful entertainment" he hissed.

She took her a few minutes to stop panting before she closed her eyes to relax "So what now?"

Shifting back into his assassin form he went to lay down on the straw "Hmm, best if we continue our conversation from the classroom, this facility has outlived its usefulness, so I would propose we relocate to a more beneficial location."

"Oh, what did you have in mind?"

"If I'm not mistaken, the local areas are controlled by a Count Mott, we should take control of them to strengthen your position here."

She opened her eyes and stared at him "You want to kill Count Mott?! Out of the question! He is the Palace messenger not to mention a triangle water mage!"

He laughed "Only if you let me, but jokes aside we don't really need to kill him, we can always turn him into a puppet. You told me that nobles govern lands here, well consider this the first step to proving your mother that you are indeed worthy of her praise. You will be able to increase your wealth, learn how to govern properly, have a place where you can practice your new magic freely and do the crown a favor by strengthening a part of the kingdom financially and militarily...I think the princess would be proud of such a feat."

"When do we leave?" she proclaimed all her former worries forgotten.

"As soon as its nightime."

"So what do we do until then?"

"The same thing we do every night pinky, we teach you spells so you can take over the world" he chuckled.

"Very funny" she frowned at the name the necromancer gave her.

"It was for me, but back to the spells" he pointed to the table with the scrolls "your homework awaits, since you haven't mastered the runes yet I will be helping you along today. So let's get down to business."

She nodded and went to the table to pick up a scroll.

"Aeron how do mages of your homeland govern their lands?" maybe I can get some tips how to govern an estate besides what mother told me.

"Mages from my homeland don't bother holding lands, we are mostly self reliant, wizards are in their towers where they research, sorcerers are always on the move unable to resist the call of adventure. No lands, no servants, no children, no lovers, no loyalty...well most anyway – we simply live for gaining knowledge. Commoners what you would call them are mostly free from nobles, and are only required to enlist in armies or pay a tax for operating businesses in cities."

"How do you pay the armies or build things without money to pay for it?" and I thought Germanians were barbaric.

"Oh they have enough money don't you worry, its simple really. The people of my homeland are all required to fight when threatened. Every child knows how to wield a dagger, and if they are invaded it's not about money it's about survival, the population arms itself and the government only has to worry about food since everybody has their own weapons and armor. The problems arise with invasions, since the commoners have no interests in attacking other nations, the ruler has to hire mercenary bands. The exceptions are the Netherese Empire, Thay and the Abolethic Sovereignty."

"So how do they find the funds to wage an aggressive war?"

"The Netherese are aggressive and expansionist, they have a vast number of spellcaters as well as mundane troops. The population of the Empire is also well trained and can't refuse an order to march."

"Thay on the other hand is...complicated."

She raised her eyebrow on the statement "How so?"

Aeron sighted "Thay was a magocracy governed by eight powerful mages known as Zulkirs, each specialized in one school of magic. The Zulkirs relied heavily on slavery to gather unimaginable wealth for themselves. That is until Szass Tam, the Zulkir of necromancy made a grab for power. The other Zulkirs opposed him and a civil war broke out but in the end they were unable to stop his undead armies and were forced to abandon Thay to him. So now Thay is basically ruled by an insane undead Lich, governed by necromancers and its expansionist military is full of undead."

Louise eyes were wide and she was obviously shaking..the idea of a entire nation full of these monsters made her more than a bit sick.

"The Abolethic Sovereignty is a...is even worse than Thay. Its ruled by abolits, something like a bloody big eel-like aberrations that use their psionic abilities to enslave the minds of everybody else and turn them into puppets that fight and work for them."

(THUMP)

He massaged his forehead "Maybe I should not have mentioned that." Turning around from the desk the necromancer lifted the unconscious girl of the floor and went to put her on the bed.

It will be an hour or two before they went back to work...oh well, at least he now had time to go through the drow elf's spellbook.

XXXX

T.A.M – Headmasters office

The Headmaster's Office was located highest floor of the tower. Sir Osmond, the current Headmaster of Tristain Magic Academy, was sitting behind his elegantly built desk, looking unbearably bored as he shook his white beard and hair.

Looking at nothing in particular, he slowly murmured "Hmm" and pulled open a desk drawer. From inside he procured a smoking pipe. Miss Longueville, the secretary who had been writing something at the other desk placed to the side of the room, waved her feather quill.

The pipe floated into the air and landed in Miss Longueville's palm. Sir Osmond muttered dejectedly, "Is it fun taking away an old man's little pleasures? Miss, um..."

"Managing your health is also part of my job, old Osmond."

Sir Osmond stood up from his chair and walked up to the cool and collected Miss Longueville. Stopping behind the seated lady, he closed his eyes, his expression grave.

"If the days keep passing by so peacefully, figuring out how to spend time is going to become a rather big problem."

"Old Osmond," Miss Longueville spoke up without taking her eyes off the feather quill that was scribbling away on the parchment.

"What is it? Miss..."

"Please stop saying you have nothing to do as an excuse to touch my bottom."

Sir Osmond opened his mouth slightly and began walking around in tottering steps.

"Please also refrain from pretending to be senile whenever a situation goes bad," Longueville added calmly. Sir Osmond sighed deeply.

"Where do you think the ultimate truth may be? Haven't you ever wondered that? Miss..."

"Wherever it is, I assure you, it's not underneath my skirt, so please stop sneaking your mouse under the desk."

Sir Osmond's face fell, and he murmured sadly, "Mótsognir."

From under Miss Longueville's desk scurried out a little mouse. It dashed up Osmond's leg and perched on his shoulder, twitching its tiny head. He fished out some nuts from a pocket and held one out to the mouse.

"Chuchu," the mouse chattered

"You're my only truly trustworthy friend, Mótsognir."

"Chuchu"

"Ah, yes, yes. You want more? Very well, I shall give you more. But first, I would ask that you report back, Mótsognir."

"Chuchu"

"I see. White and plain white too. But Miss Longueville should really stick to black. Wouldn't you agree, my cute Mótsognir?"

Miss Longueville's eyebrows twitched.

"Old Osmond."

"What is it?"

"The next time you do that, I'm reporting it to the palace."

"Bah! Do you think I could be Headmaster of this Academy if I was scared of the palace all the time?"

Sir Osmond flashed his eyes wide and yelled angrily. It was an impressive display, completely unexpected of a frail-looking old man.

"Don't get all prissy just because I peeked at your underwear! At this rate, you'll never get married! Haa To be young again, Miss..." Old Osmond began stroking Miss Longueville's bottom without hesitation.

Miss Longueville stood up and wordlessly kicked her boss around.

"Sorry. Stop. Ow. I won't do it anymore. Really." Old Osmond covered his head and cowered. Miss Longueville breathed heavily as she continued kicking Osmond.

"Ack! How can you! Treat a senior! In this way! Hey! Ouch!"

This peaceful moment was interrupted by a sudden intrusion.

The door was opened, and Colbert walked inside with a frown.

"Old Osmond"

"What is it?"

Miss Longueville was back at her desk, sitting there as if nothing had happened. Sir Osmond had his arms behind him, and turned to face the visitor with a serious expression.

"It seems we have some problems" Colbert answered with a serious face.

"Problems? Can you be a bit more specific Mister, errr..whats your name again?"

Sir Osmond cocked his head.

"It's Colbert! You forgot?"

"Right, right. Now I remember. It's just that you talked so fast I never really caught it. So, Colby , whats the problem?"

"It seams the students refuse to leave their rooms, something about a elven ghost haunting the academy, and we have three students unaccounted for, people are convinced that the ghost took them" said the balding professor.

"Ghost?" asked the secretary.

"Yes, and some of the students already send word to their parents. In my opinion its only a mater of time before they leave the academy out of fear, and there will probably be an investigation send by the Palace officially to determine what transpired here placing the area under quarantine" Colbert answered grimly.

Miss Longueville frowned, only half-listening to their conversation Not according to plan. If additional mages come from the palace it will be impossible to enter the vault.I have to break in tonight.

"Do we have any leads on the missing students?" asked Osmond taping his pipe.

"No, from eye witnesses they were last seen with a white haired maid, problem is we never hired such a person. Using animals to follow the scent also failed, we tracked it until the edge of the forest, signes of combat were present but no remains were found, its like they simply disappeared from the spot."

"Maybe a dragon or a griffin carried them away?"

"...It is a possibility, in any case this does not look like the work of an undead elf."

"...True...well, we can't do anything for now except increase security."

"That will be somewhat difficult. Professor Chevreus has fainted encountering the ghost, so we are one staff member short and most of us are patrolling the student dormitories."

"...if I'm not mistaken she was supposed to guard the vault tonight, is it a coincidence...or planed?"

"Good thinking headmaster, I wanted to spend time in the library but It would be better if I took over her shift."

"Agreed, well it seems that's that Colby, or is there something else?"

"No, nothing at the moment. Thank you for your time" with that Colbert left the headmasters office, leaving Osmon and deep in thoughts.

XXXX