Chapter One

This has to work

I didn't have any other choices. My back was against the wall. My last last chance stood before me. My chance for glory, victory, greatness. All of it laid in this one moment.

I just had to seize it.

"Just throw the fucking ball, Saito!"

That does it!

"I am trying to concentrate!" I shot back, spinning around.

"It's just goddamn basketball!" my friend Ryoma yelled. "Throw the fucking ball!"

"It's a free throw! That means I can take my sweet time!"

"No it doesn't!" another kid shouted.

"Goddammit Ryoma, why did you bring him here?"

"Fucking Saito."

I'll show them I grit my teeth, I'll show them all someday

THWARP

A sound unlike any other I'd heard thundered behind me. What it lacked in raw volume it made up for with a reverberating thump that I felt with my whole body. I felt like an ocean of nothing had just opened up.

It seemed to suck up the sound of the environment, everyone going dead silent. I slowly turned around, my body shrieking in protest with every inch. But in the end, I saw it.

Green.

That's the first thing that came to mind. A giant green disk hung in the air. But to call it green felt...insufficient, inaccurate. Like just calling the sky blue. It was so much more than that.

"My Familiar…"

It called out to me, it needed me.

I knew in that instant that this was what I had been looking for my entire life. My gateway to greatness.

This is my shot.

I reached out an-

Suddenly, the Green portal flickered with a bright crimson red. A symbol seared itself into my brain, the knowledge burning my mind.

It resembled a four-sided diamond, but warped and broken.

And then the portal was gone.

"Wha…"

"Come the fuck on, Saito!"

"Dammit Zero!"

"Couldn't go one day without an explosion, could you?"

"Founder, what is up with all this smoke?"

*Cough cough*

"Well, I mean, what were you expecting from cough Zero?"

My fists trembled beside me. My whole body shook. From the liquid rage flowing through my veins at the cruel fate the Founder had given me or the deep unfathomable sadness from having another hope stolen from me, I couldn't tell anymore.

"Class, settle down." Professor Colbert's voice cut through the clamor. "With all this smoke, it's quite possible that she did, in fact, summon a familiar."

The fact he only noted it as a merely "possibly" stung. But it was a dull kind of pain, the one I'd felt a thousand times.

But didn't that just mean it cut deeper each time?

"Hey...is there something moving in there?"

I looked up, and through the smoke silhouettes shifting in the cloud.

"Pft, maybe she's not so useless after all."

The grey fog curled around it's form as it sauntered out of the crater.

"Whoa…"

"Is that some kind of golem?"

"It kinda looks like a cat."

It wasn't a terrible description. It had a certain feline appearance. Not from an impression of fluff or domestication, oh no.

It had the sculpted form of a predator through and through. Four lithe legs moving in smooth silent step drew its body towards us. It crouched low to the ground, looking ready to pounce at any moment. A creature clearly crafted for the hunt.

Crafted, not born. That was made abundantly clear by it's unnatural appearance. Thick grey cords imitating muscle twist beneath a metal shell that looked to put the finest plate mail to shame. In its head four red lights burned bright, staring each of us down with hungry intent. On its back, some kind of strange looking musket-like device was attached to its spine, sweeping the room back and forth with sinister implication.

"Uh...Zero? Now might be a good time to claim it?"

It took another step forward, lowering its haunches as if preparing to pounce.

"Of course, Zero would be the one to summon a Familiar that would try to kill us all."

"Miss Valliere, if you w-"

"BZTCHRCTZ"

A burst of blindingly painful screeching exploded out of the creature. The sound like knives plunged into my ears, threatening to run through my brain. It drove all thoughts from my mind, scorching the field of my mind. In its place, it burned an image.

But against it all, I still glanced up.

Only to see an axe fly from the thick smoke, and cleave the metal beast in two.

A man emerged from the dust. He wore some strange mixture of a dark grey coat, tightly woven links of chainmail, and metal plates. All the dull color of tempered steel, save for the silver wolves and tree decorating his attire.

Most strange of all was his head. His helmet was adorned with the blackened skull of a ram with spiraling gold horns. It gave him an unnatural, distinctly inhuman, appearance.

Before any of us had the chance to even open our mouths, another creature burst out of the smoke, firing the musket like device at the man. Beams of burning red light lanced out of the muzzle, a strange sound, unlike any gun I'd ever heard heralding its fire. The first of fire slammed into him, only to be stopped by some kind of barrier flowing around his robes, not so much as scorching the fabric.

The instant the creature left the cloud of smoke, the warrior was in motion. Twisting on his heels and pulling an arm back, he darted forward, gliding across the ground with incredible speed. The beast only had enough time for one blast of fire before the man was upon it. He thrust his palm towards the creature's neck.

A cone of purple light burst out the palm, forming a brightly glowing sphere around the creature, before consuming the front half of it entirely. Disappearing into purple embers a moment later with a low and deep, "wumph", only the back half of the beast fell to the ground, a clean and unnatural cut where the sphere had ended. The purple motes of light flowed back into the man, creating a strange violet aura around him for a moment, only to fade into nothing.

For what felt like an hour, there was only silence. Where at first there was confusion, shame, even fear, now there was just incomprehension. Our minds struggled to grasp what had happened, to slot this unexpected event into our reality.

For me, the thought that this man was the one chosen to be my familiar was an intimidating one. I tried to obey the rule of steel, to suppress even the slightest shiver in my form in spite of what I'd just seen. When the hollow pits of his helm turned their gaze on us, I couldn't help but flinch.

"Uh, well, hello, my good sir," Professor Colbert said, taken off guard momentarily, but quickly rallying himself to the task at hand. "I thank you for slaying these...creatures, but...might I inquire as to who you are?"

The black robed man took a long and silent look at the professor. As the silence grew on, murmuring began to start up in the crowd. I felt the heat of their stares on my back, the whispers just out of reach of my hearing, but just enough for my imagination to run wild.

Just when we thought he wouldn't do anything, he acted.

His once black coat shifted, a wave rippled over the cloth, turning it from a dull charcoal into a brilliant gold. The silver tree and wolves seemed to gleam ever brighter. Where once was a dark and drab outfit, now it was resplendent and shining. A burst of static shot out from his helmet, causing me to wince.

"Felwinter," his hollow voice came through the helm.

Colbert blinked, "Pardon?"

"My name," He rasped, "Is Lord Felwinter. Warlock of the Iron Lords, and ruler of Felwinter's peak."

"Now, answer me this."

It was at that moment that I truly began to realize how far out of my depth I suddenly was.

"By what power have I been brought here?" His empty voice all but growled, "And for what purpose have I been summoned?"

Little did I know, at the time, that this would be the first step in learning the Laws of Iron.

A/n: I guess I'm jumping on the bandwagon.

I'd say it's a bit late. But it's never too late to grab some low-hanging fruit. Ignore the dead horse.

On a more serious note, I've never understood why it seems like 90% of FoZ fics Have Louise summon some OP dude or dudette from another work...and then have that character just fold like a deck of cards into Louise's service.

Sure, there's some resistance, but at least half the time when they have an obvious extreme power they suppress for...reasons, leading to Louise and everyone else watching to believe them to be some random commoner shmuck. And then, if they don't get bound while conveniently unconscious or tricked by a little girl, all Louise has to do is shed a tear and they're like, "Well, I guess I'll be your friend, little girl who accidentally summoned me and wanted to put me in slavery for my lack of perceived magic. I mean, obviously, you're the sweetest person of all time."

Anyways, not sure how long this is going to go.

I've got a general plan for what to do and when what happens, but I'm not sure about the update speed for this thing. I've got a lot on my plate at the moment.

Honestly, I thought about sitting on this for a while and getting more chaps stockpiled, but I'm posting some other fics right now, and I figured my birthday was as good a time as any to post.

Hopefully, this goes far. I'm always saddened by the fact that most Destiny fics involve OC characters who represent the main dude and their crew, rather than using some of the amazing characters in the actual history of the story. Felwinter is one such person. Canonically described as a master Voidwalker, exo, and the most brutal of the Iron Lords, I figured this would be an interesting person to drop in here.

So we'll see what happens.