DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN EITHER ZERO NO TSUKAIMA OR DRAGON'S DOGMA

I lost.

No, maybe it's more correct to say that I was tricked?

I finally found out what being an "Arisen" meant. To rise through against all odds, fighting hordes of monsters and all manner of horrors. It was a test. A test! To see would have enough volition, who would have enough will, and rise to godhood!

What. A. Joke...

The legend goes that a dragon is released against the world. The dragon then chooses a person of a certain worth, rips out their heart, and devours it. The person that survives then becomes the Arisen. The Arisen fights hordes of monsters and kills the dragon. And then the dragon's corpse opens the path to the Seneschal's Chambers. A limitless and open place, surrounded by and supported by dark clouds. And at the very center is the Throne where the Seneschal sits and watches the world. Then the Arisen fights the Seneschal, who should be seeking to ends his or her own life and let the Arisen ascend and take the Throne and be the new Seneschal.

The Seneschal is the steward of the world. Given power and dominion over all things. In short, god.

Except the current Seneschal had no intention of dying. Of passing on the office to the next Arisen. He released the hordes of monsters and sent a dragon, all because seeing people get killed by the millions amused him. And when I became the Arisen and fought my way into his throne room... He laughed. Told me he enjoyed watching me struggle. That he delighted on the look of my face when I saw my beloved get devoured by trolls. And then he killed me.

Simple as that.

And here I am now, dying. The clouds of the chamber part, and I fell into open sky. What happens to an Arisen killed by the Seneschal? He turns into a new dragon and goes to look for the new Arisen. And so the cycle continues...

In another place, in another life, another cycle calls for you to rise...

"You may begin the ceremony, Miss Vallière."

Louise took a deep breath to steady herself and stepped forward.

"What will she summon?"

"There's no way she can summon anything!"

"We'll just have another explosion."

"She'll always be Louise the Zero!"

She closed her eyes and concentrated. Trying to ignore the jeers, the teasing, and the insults from her classmates. She was a Vallière! A daughter to a pround and most ancient line of nobles with good pedigree! She will not shame them by giving in to weakness; she'll face her fate regardless of anything.

She raised her wand.

"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière." She began her chant. The air seemed to hum in answer to her call. "Pentagon of the five elemental power, heed my summoning..." The sky darkened and the people around her began to murmur in worry at the sudden change in the air. But Louise still had her eyes closed and remained unaware of it. She pointed her wand sky wards and its tip began to glow.

"Oi, oi, is she really going to summon something?"

"No way, she hasn't even casted a single spell correctly."

"Bring forth... My familiar!"

"LOOK OUT!" One of the more observant students called out before lightning came crashing down right in front of Louise.

- BOOOOOOOM -

An explosion and thunder strike rocked the field. Louise coughed, and felt the familiar sensation of smoke invading her lungs. Her classmates were familiar with it too. Some even began to star their jeers, with her Founder-damned-nickname. Louise however persevered and opened her eyes to focus on what's in front of her.

The smoke began to clear and she began to see a shape take form. It was sprawled on the ground and it was covered in what looked like blood. At first, she feared her familiar got injured, but as the smoke cleared and the sun pierced through the clouds, the blood turned into shining red scales. Louise's breath caught in her throat. 'No way...' she thought to herself.

Then her familiar opened it's eyes and revealed verdant green eyes. It began to rise and easily towered over her. The crowd too ,fell into silence as they stared at her familiar. It stood to its full height and unfurled it's great bat-like wings. It observed it's surroundings with a curious gleam to it's eyes and puffed a bit of smoke through it's snout.

"She... she actually..."

"I... Impossible..."

"I... I DID IT!" Louise jumped up, flinging her arms up in joy. Even as her red dragon familiar landed it's curious gaze on her.

'What in the name of...' I thought to myself as I looked around my surroundings.

I seemed to be in a courtyard with soft earth under me. Everywhere I looked, were walls, indicating I am in a castle or stronghold of sorts. Though the ramparts looked all too small and ineffective against any large force. Then I noticed there were tiny people around me... No... Small children? Wait, no. One of them is bald and looks far too older than the others. A tiny teacher and his class of tiny students perhaps? And all of them were looking at me.

"I... I DID IT!"

Well, except for one girl. She had such a strong strawberry blonde hair it was close to pink. She was dressed similarly like the rest of her class, wearing a coat over white long sleeves and black skirt for the females. A five point pentagram in the shape of a star clasped on her coat, easily marking her as a student of magic. Currently, she was jumping with complete abandon and joy that even made me smile, despite just dying.

Wait.

I died!

The Seneschal killed me!

That makes me a...

I looked down on my body and confirmed my suspicion. I've been turned into a red dragon, just like what the legends said. Albeit, smaller. Closer to the size of a mere drake, but I definitely have the longer limbs and broader chest of the dragon.

And yet... I seem to still have control of my body. Odd... If the legends were true, and I have no doubt they were, I should be dropping out of the sky right now, with a legion of monsters behind me. Reigning terror and causing mayhem to the poor people of the earth. Well, I certainly have no desire to go and do just that. Let alone find some poor sap, rip out their heart, hope they survive to come and kill me just like the dragon before me did. And there was certainly no legion of monsters right behind me with a strong desire to devour humanity.

Well, not really. There were creatures among the students. Some I've never even seen before. Some were the standard fare of regular animals such as cats, dogs, and the like. I could safely assume them as pets to the students. Then a shimmer of blue caught my eye. I turned and saw another dragon that towered over everyone else. It seemed to be about my height and as I stated at it curiously, the blue dragon also stared back, tilting its head.

"Ahem... Miss Vallière. In spite of your success, the next class are still waiting to use the field. If you could continue..." The teacher called, stopping the pinkete's victory dance.

"Ah! Yes! Of course professor Colbert." The pinkete said to the now named Colbert. She then turned to me with a wide happy smile and waved for me to get closer. "Familiar."

'Ah. I see. What a predicament... it seems the master of pawns has only himself turned into a pawn.' I thought to myself. Though she called me a familiar. 'Wait, the language is different! Am I speaking in tongues? Hmm... no, the language seems to be called French... Interesting... I seem to know their language now. Is this how the pawns were able to communicate despite coming from the rift?'

"Ahem! Familiar." My master coughed loudly, waving me downwards more intensely, evidently worried if her familiar wasn't going to listen to her. I know pawns that didn't listen to me were a big headache.

'Oops. Best to play along for now...' I thought as I lowered my head and the pinkete visibly relaxed.

Louise let out a sigh as her familiar lowered it's head. She was worried it would be a disobedient dragon, but it seemed to just not have heard her. She raised her wand and pointed it at the tip of her familiar's snout.

"Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers," she started, then her wand glowed for a brief moment. "grant your blessings upon this creature," The light on the wand then dissipated and she took hold of her dragons snout and leaned closer. "and bind it as my familiar." and she kissed her dragon.

Then it immediately began growling.

"Rrr... ROAR!" It let out a fearsome cry as it grabbed it's left hand.

"H-hey, calm down! It's just binding the familiar rune to you!" She yelled out as she stepped closer to her dragon. In the background, she could hear Colbert yelling at her to be careful but paid no heed to it. Soon, her familiar stopped growling in pain and was examining the runes on it's hand. "There... see?" Louise said to her dragon as she stroked it by the neck. 'Her dragon.' She giggled at the thought. Yes. It was from this point on that she'll no loner be called Louise the Zero and proudly proclaim she is, without a doubt, a mage!

She turned around with a triumphant expression. She met the unusually silent crowd's gaze and the shocked look of her tormentors. Even Kirche had her mouth hanging open. She gave them a victorious smile and turned to her familiar. "Come along familiar. Let's go back so you can see where you're going to sleep for the night." She said before marching off. She heard a huff come from her noble beast, but the small rumbling of the earth told her it was following behind her.

As she reached for one of the doors, someone grabbed the hem of her coat. Louise stopped, curious to see who gripped her, she turned to see Tabitha. Her fellow classmates and one of the few people that never tormented her by calling her Zero. She had blue hair she kept short and wore glasses to help her see better. She always, always, had a neutral expression that made it difficult for most people to get along with her. Tabitha's own blue dragon was following quietly behind her.

"Tabitha? What is it?" Louise asked.

"Won't fit." Tabitha said then pointed to the red dragon.

Louise looked at the door, then at her dragon and her mouth opened in a wide 'O'. "Then.. where do we put them? Surely not the stables." She said, aghast at the thought.

Tabitha shook her head. "Follow." she said simply, before turning to her own dragon and climbing on to ride it.

Louise turned to her familiar and was about to do the same. Then she noticed it looked at her with alarm. It shook it's head vigorously. "Huh? What's wrong? We're just going to fly."

Her familiar stared at her. Then it looked at it's own wings as if it never seen them before.

"Don't tell me you can't fly!" Louise shouted and her familiar seemed to... shrug. "Unbelievable." She said as she massaged the area between her eyes. "You're a dragon! You were born with wings!" Her familiar, in reply, hung it's head looking sorry for itself.

"Can't or unfamiliar?" Tabitha asked from her dragon.

The red dragon turned to her and nodded to the right.

"Unfamiliar?"

The red dragon nodded.

"Walking then." Tabitha said, causing Louise to sigh. She went to her dragon and climbed on to it's neck. She got a dragon alright. Albeit, one that apparently doesn't know how to fly, but it's a dragon. Compared to whatever else she could have gotten, she'd take this one a hundred times over.

A/N:

Just to be clear, Arisen WILL have a human form just like Sylphid. He'll mostly stay as a dragon though as his human form is his trump card. And I'm giving him ALL the hybrid classes because BACKSTORY.

For those who followed the Concept story, sorry about deleting it. I just wanted to re upload the fic with a complete first chapter.

Also, I know it's rather short, even for a prologue. Honestly I could keep writing like where Tabitha makes Syl sleep in the forest and reveal to Tabitha and Syl the Arisen talks, etc. But first, I need to figure a few things out so don't expect updates any time soon. However, if you could help me think how the story would go later by either PM me or leaving a review that'd be great!

The main problems are:

How to revealing to the main supporting cast that he can turn human.

Getting Guiche to fight the Arisen with him yet to know he has a human form. (Thinking of making him fight while the Arisen pretends to be a servant.)

What if, and I mean if, the Arisen causes a change where the prince of Albion lives?

Should the Arisen defeat Fouquet as a dragon or as a human?

The artifacts from earth... change them to artifacts from Dragon's Dogma?

I'm taking Zero no Tsukaima from the wiki and I more or less forgotten how the anime went, so any help in that would be great. As for DD, don't expect the Arisen to come from Gransys. Items and skills however? Count on it!

Now I really need to get back to work xD