Chapter 2: New World, New Rules
AN: Alright, well, here's chapter 2. Thanks for the positive feedback so far on this, it really helps!
Also, thanks KamiGleen for pointing out Louise's 'Rule of Steel' thing - it should help me keep her character on track.
Clutching his head, Tlopfest looked out to the crowd around him that was looking at him with faces of awe and partial disgust. "This...does not look like Minecraftia…" Tlopfest was muttering under his breath, still shaken by the explosion in his lab. "Right, last thing I remember, I was using my dimensional hole-puncher, and then….then…" The last few moments in Tlopfest's memory seemed like a blur. Whatever happened though, he wasn't in his lab anymore.
"Wait...I'm not in Minecraftia…" Taking his hand off his head, Tlopfest revealed his glowing eye to the world, and what a world he saw. Vibrant colors, rounded people, rounded, not a single meter-sized block in sight. "I..I did it. I made it to another universe! Hahaha!" Tlopfest jumped for joy, startling some of the people around him, who were muttering to each other about him, one of which was arguing with what seemed to be an older gentleman. Feeling a little ill though, Tlopfest stopped and looked through his goggles to see his UI.
"Ugh, great, seems that explosion knocked off a few of my hearts…" As he was checking his health out however, the one that was arguing with the older man stomped over to him, indicating for him to get down. Curious, Tlopfest kneeled down to her level. "Uh...hi, can you tell me where I am?"
The kid, who Tlopfest just realized had rather long pink hair, just spoke some foreign language that not even his goggle's translators could understand. After which she quickly kissed him on his lips, wiping her mouth immediately and spitting afterwards.
"Gah, ok, what is the deal with that kind of.." Tlopfest's argument trailed off however as he started to take some damage from something. Feeling his left hand, he could feel something..etching onto it. Pulling off his glove, Tlopfest stared at what appeared to be runes being carved in his hand. Although he was quickly becoming worried since his health was quickly draining down to his last heart. Right as the runes finished etching themselves in his hand however, Tlopfest's hearts ran out, and he blacked out.
Louise was rather disgusted by the "familiar" she had summoned, seeing as to how she needed to finish the ritual as well. "Ugh, I never want to do something like that again."
"Alright, now that everyone has summoned your familiars, you are all dismissed" Colbert announced over the chatter of the other students. "Be sure to get comfortable with your familiars, for tomorrow you will be familiarizing yourselves with each other."
Seeing as her familiar was knocked out, Louise enlisted the help of some of her classmates, much to their humor. Everyone quickly dispersed back to their rooms, each starting to play or get to know their familiar, save for one. With Louise, she just sat on her bed while her familiar just laid on the ground in a bundle of hay she had put down before. "Great, just what I needed, a familiar that died the moment they came here…"
Later in the evening, Tlopfest began to regain consciousness, having rested enough to get most of his health back. "That's...odd. This isn't my bed." Tlopfest was struggling a bit to regain his senses, when he remembered what happened only a few short hours ago. "That's right, I made it through to another universe. Then a girl came up and…." Remembering what happened right after that, Tlopfest removed his glove again to confirm his suspicions. "Ok, so I've got a...brand? Something, on my left hand. Cool, I guess."
"Oh good, you're actually not dead. That's nice to see." Sitting on the bed nearby, Louise was reading through her notes some when Tlopfest finally got up. Hearing this, Tlop quickly turned to see her and shot to his feet.
"You! What in the name of sanity do you think you're doing, just kissing someone like that out of the blue!" Tlopfest's eye had begun to shift mildly to the red, showing his annoyance at the girl. If she felt anything though, she didn't seem to show it.
"And yet, he doesn't even speak our language. Great, not only do I have a hideous familiar, it's too stupid to even talk right!" Neither Louise or Tlopfest could understand one another, leaving both rather annoyed at the other.
"Ugh, I finally get out of my universe and the first thing I encounter is a human girl that can't even understand me. Absolutely great…" Tlopfest bemoaned his position, continuing to mutter to himself.
"Can you just stop talking already familiar? I have to study my notes and see what I did wrong...again." Seeing as he was not going to stop anytime soon, Louise decided to get out her wand again and try one other spell on him. "Maybe I can just use Silence on him. How did that incantation go again…?"
After a moment of thought, Louise remembered the incantation and attempted to cast Silence on Tlopfest, which just resulted in a minor explosion again.
"Criminy girl, are you trying to kill me?!" Tlopfest was getting rather ticked off now, seeing as he has suffered not one, but two explosions in his face in the same day. "Seriously, I've already had enough explosions in my face for one day!"
"Dang it, I still wasn't able to cast it right."
…
"Wait a moment…" Both of them uttered and turned to each other, surprised to hear the other speak. "I can understand you!?" The duo tried to talk again, but both just blurted out the same thing at the same time.
"Well, it didn't work as intended, but at least we can understand each other now." Louise was less disappointed now in her failure. Sure it didn't go as she wanted it to, but now she can understand her familiar, and it her.
"Same here. So, do you mind telling me where the devil I am and who you are?" Tlopfest said this while pointing towards her with one of his bony fingers. "Also, why the devil did you kiss me and brand me the moment I got here?"
"I am Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, and I am your master. I summoned you here to be my familiar, meaning you have to do everything that I ask you to, familiar."
"Ok, first, I have a name. Tlopfest. Tlop for short. Second, I'm sorry, but I'm not someone's slave. I've been trying to get somewhere else for far too long just to become a slave to someone. Third, you still didn't answer one of my questions – where am I?"
"Well I summoned you here, so you are going to do everything I ask you to. And you're in the Tristan Academy of Magic."
"…" Tlopfest was...in a bit of a bind emotionally. True, he could have run off if he really wanted to, though he also wanted to stay. Both to try to pry more information out of his so-called master and to figure out more on that last bit she stated. "...Did you say 'Academy of Magic?'" Also, Tlopfest had a bit of a liking to the ways of magic. It is how he got some of his most powerful weaponry and armor after all.
"I did. Nobles from all around come here to learn magic and understand their talents."
"So...does that magic include explosions?"
"Sh-shut up! I'm just having a bad day, alright? Now I'm tired, so I'm going to bed." As she said this, she turned towards her wardrobe and started to change. Tlopfest, being the kind of person he is, turned around to give her some privacy.
"And why exactly are you changing in front of me?"
"Because you're going to be taking these and washing them for me. I want them clean and ready to go by morning." Louise finished putting her night gown on and hopped back on her bed after tossing the clothes towards Tlopfest.
"I told you I'm no-" Tlopfest quit his rant quickly, seeing as Louise had already fallen asleep. "Ugh, fine. Just don't expect perfection" Tlopfest mumbled under his breath.
Turns out that doing the laundry was one of the better options Tlopfest could have chosen. At the very least it gave him the opportunity to look around the Academy some. Thanks to that little adventure, he was able to at least understand that the tower that Louise was in was all of the student's dorms with the wash area nearby. He also happened to see a blonde student talking with a female student, yet her cloak was brown instead of black.
"Maybe the cloaks mean rank in years? Guess I can ask Louise later if I remember..."
The next morning, Tlopfest awakens on that pile of hay Louise had set out. While not the most comfortable spot to sleep, it at least was somewhat better than just laying on the wooden floor. Looking around the room, Tlopfest remembered what happened yesterday and, simply put, had mixed feelings about it all. "I mean, I did finally make it somewhere else outside of the Minecraftian universe, but to end up somewhere where I'm basically just a slave in a sense...sheesh." Looking to Louise's bed, Tlopfest noticed that Louise was starting to wake up as well.
"Morning sleepy-head. You at least get some decent rest?"
"Eh? Oh, right, the familiar I summoned yesterday." Louise was still somewhat groggy from just waking up. "I suppose it was a fine rest. No worse than the usual at least."
After having gotten ready, the duo made their way to the dining hall where breakfast was being prepared. Tlop was somewhat impressed with how many students there were at this academy. Pulling out a chair for Louise, Tlop then quickly sat down on the chair next to her.
"Man, it sure has been a while since I've had true, actual food." Tlopfest was practically drooling out of his mouth when he noticed Louise giving him the stink eye. "Uh...was it something I said?" Instead of answering, she simply pointed to the floor where a lone plate with a piece of bread sat.
"...You're kidding me, right? That's what I'm given?!" Rather annoyed, Tlopfest quickly stood up and started walking out. "I'm sorry Louise, but that is just taking things way too freaking far! If you need me, I'll be outside."
The other students were snickering at Louise and her rather uncontrollable familiar, with Louise herself being annoyed right back at Tlop. "Oh Founder, why did it have to be him of all beings I had to summon…"
Outside, Tlopfest is seen walking the academy grounds, looking at the ground with his hands in his pockets. "I am not a slave, and there is just a point where you just...arugh!" Tlop punches a nearby tree out of frustration, making it drop some leaves and damaging him by heart and a half.
"Yow! Ok, note to self, don't punch trees in this dimension." Sighing, Tlopfest sat down at the base of the tree and began to think about his situation. "5 years...5 years of research to finally breach the multiverse, and this is what I end up with. I suppose this is just my luck – practically forced to deal with a stuck-up student who doesn't see me as an equal in the slightest." With that thought process however comes another revelation. "Now that I think about it, how exactly did I end up here? Did Louise seriously somehow pull me from home? No, that can't be it, right?" Sitting up, Tlopfest continued to mumble to himself. "Speaking of, how am I gonna get home again? I don't remember seeing any portal of sorts when I awoke… Did I somehow make a one-way portal?"As he is thinking, his stomach gets his attention. Sighing in defeat, Tlopfest wanders the academy some more in hopes of coming across some food to eat. Hopefully at least served somewhere besides the floor.
Chapter 2 complete! Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Quick note on the whole 'health' system that Tlopfest has, in case there is any confusion - yes, you typically respawn at your bed when you die in Minecraft. However, due to the effects of jumping multiverses, Tlopfest instead gets KO'd when he hits zero health. That doesn't mean he's immortal however. If he does keep taking damage, gets his limbs cut off or something along those lines, he can die completely and stay dead forever.
As a heads up, my current goal is go go ahead and get a chapter out every week or two onto here for this story. This lets me both continue writing the story and get back to the other chapters and fix them as well as needed.
If you notice any errors, whether they be story inconsistencies, characters not acting how they should, or just general feedback, please leave a review or PM me about it! Can't really get better if I don't know the mistakes, right?