A massive sledge-hammer of ice blasted through a five foot thick stone pillar as the eighty foot giant roared in anger. In a blink, the five foot two inch tall girl he was trying to kill spun to the as the crack-crack of her pistol fire blew small chunks of ice off of him. Her footing was steady on the supernaturally slick ice, but all it would take is a single misstep and she would be killed.
Far off in the distance, two more jotun finished sealing the fissure, finishing the trap. Now if she could only find her mother's stolen shield that they were supposed to have.
"Freeze her, brothers! Now that the cave is enclosed, we can send her to Ymir's grave," yelled the smallest giant, who was a mere sixty feet tall.
The temperature was dropping, but it was not quite to the point of slowing her down. Though that would soon follow.
She saw an illusion of the shield with Medusa's head, her keen eyes noting its fakery. And, she realized, even worse was that it was missing a gash that her mother had mentioned. These giants had not even seen the shield.
"I'm an idiot. You guys don't have the shield, do you?" she asked as almost ran up a slippery slope and leaped over to another ledge.
"Of course we do!" the smallest one tried to bluff, his lie echoing within their legend.
She was going to die if she did not escape. That was when she spotted a glowing portal. Perhaps one of her companions had opened it to allow her to escape. As her knees started to quiver, she zipped through the portal at over two hundred miles an hour.
She found herself falling through a void, warming up slightly. She hit the air, thousands of feet out of another portal, high above a castle. She was still being drawn down to the ground, but the winds caught around her, slowing her motion into an explosion of light.
"Hmm," the young girl said as she landed on the earth with a soft tap.
"Who are you?" asked a girl intently in front of her under an azure blue sky, a short stick in her hand out and ready. Underneath a black cloak, she wore a white blouse and a gray pleated skirt. A golden amulet with a petagram on it was about her neck.
Actually, that appeared to be the normal outfit for the girls in the surrounding crowd. The young men had trousers instead of the skirts. Among them all were animals. Cats, mice, ravens, owls and far more fantastic things.
"I'm Sheila," the slightly taller girl replied cautiously.
"Where are you from, commoner?" the strawberry-blonde girl demanded.
"I was last in the Underworld where I was fighting three frost giants," the 'just' blonde girl said. She slid the black sword into a sheath at her waist and her pistol into her shoulder-holster.
That got a ripple of laughter from the crowd. They had thought Louise was going to fail for the second time and have to try again.
"Not only did Louise the Zero summon a commoner, but a defective and insane one at that!" someone from the crowd yelled out, causing a ripple of laughter.
They could probably be forgiven that, as the new and strangely garbed girl did not look big enough nor strong enough to fight a full grown knight, much less monsters like a giant. She was a few inches taller than five feet and was only starting to develop womanly curves, looking only twelve years old. With her loose T-shirt, jeans and short hair-cut, she mostly looked like a young boy.
"I... I just made a little mistake!" Louise (the strawberry-blonde) stated loudly.
"What mistake are you talking about? Nothing unusual happened." This was from a burly boy her same age.
"Of course! After all, she's Louise the Zero!" cat-called another girl.
The crowd started laughing at her again.
"Professor Colbert!" the girl shouted. Louise seemed to be in a panic, begging to redo something and gesticulating frantically.
That was when a middle-aged man in a robe carrying a staff appeared. "What is it that you want from me, Miss Vallière?"
"Please! Let me try the summoning one more time!" Louise called out.
Sheila just raised an eyebrow at that.
The man wearing the black robe, shook his head. "I cannot allow that, Miss Vallière."
"What! Why not?" Louise blurted out.
"It is strictly forbidden to summon a second familiar. When you are promoted to a second year student, you must summon a familiar, which is what you just did." He seemed moderately amused as he put his wand away from where he had surreptiously cast a spell.
That got a frown out of the stranger in their midst. She was not some witches channel!
"Your elemental specialty is decided by the familiar that you summon. It enables you to advance to the appropriate courses for that element. You cannot change the familiar once you have summoned it, because the Springtime Familiar Summoning is a sacred rite. Whether you like it or not, you have no choice but to take him," he explained sagely.
That got a start of surprise from Sheila. "Ahem?"
"But I've never heard of having a commoner as a familiar!" the young student witch said.
"Excuse me, but I am not a commoner. At least not according to normal standards." Sheila then glared at them as it appeared Louise nor the older man heard her.
"You can cast magic?" one of the other students asked.
"No, but-" she tried to reply.
"Then you are a commoner. Noble can cast magic, commoners can not," the fat boy with an owl on his shoulder replied. At least she seemed to have a better personality than Louise.
"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." Louise put her hand on the much taller girl's shoulder while her wand touched her forehead. "Feel lucky upon what I bestow upon you, commoner," the girl stated with an intent look. She then stretched up on her tippy-toes while pulling the blond girl down into a kiss.
"What did you do to me?" the strange girl asked even as she felt liquid fire burning through her veins.
Louise removed her lips. "It is done."
"You have failed 'Summon Servant' the first time, but you succeeded with 'Contract Servant' in just one try," Colbert exclaimed happily.
"It's just because he's only a commoner."
"If he was a powerful magical beast, she wouldn't have been able to make a contract," a blonde girl with her hair in curls cat-called out.
Some of the students laughed and caused a small fight between Louise and the girl called Montmorency.
Sheila staggered as it felt like her whole body was heating up. "You idiot. You might have killed us both," she said softly. She then felt something inscribing itself upon her left hand as the magic interacted within her.
"Those are some strange runes," Mr. Colbert said as he studied the warrior-girl.
"Ehnn," she managed to reply.
"Well, it is time to go back to the castle now that our last student has finished her summoning!" the teacher called out.
Ah. A castle. Of course it would be a castle for wizards and witches with their familiars. Just like in Harry Potter's books.
That was when the rest of the students and the teacher floated off the ground to fly (slowly) back to the castle. Several of Louise's peers jeered at her, warning her to walk back instead of flying.
"I take it you have some problems using magic most of the time?" Sheila asked.
"I can sometimes get my spells to work," Louise protested, looking very small.
"Well, I know it is not a matter of power. You summoned me from the Land of the Dead. If you don't mind talking to me, I will take us back to the castle." She then reached out to take Louise's hand in her own. A wind seemed to pick up and they were suddenly flying much, much faster than the teacher and the rest of the students. In less than a minute they landed on a tower even as the students started to whisper among themselves.
"You can do- Wait, you did not use a wand. How did you do that?" Louise stammered nervously.
"Among the many magical being you summoned, you actually summoned the most magical, Louise the Zero."
"But you are human!" the young witch protested.
"To be quite truthful, I am only half-human. My other side is more magical than dragons and other sundry monsters. In fact, my grandmother is sometimes called the Mother of Monsters, as she creates them to kill her foes. Hera can be a bit vindictive at times."
"So could you learn magic?" she asked in consternation.
"Probably, though I'm not sure it would be worth my time," Sheila replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Well, you are not too old. You look younger than sixteen, so you could definitely learn." Louise looked quite smug at that. A wizard for a familiar would help her a lot.
"I am sixteen. Getting back to my mortal world is going to be hard, isn't it?" she said as she looked off into the sky. "After all, we only have one smaller moon."
"Interesting. You are very interesting." Louise looked incredibly happy. "Let us go to my room."
That was where Louise discovered that she had summoned and contracted a girl, something that had not been obvious to her.
Servants had delivered food to all the dorms, as it appeared it was expected for the students to spend the evening and night bonding with their familiar.
"I never thought that I would summon a human. And a commoner at that," Louise mused as she brushed her hair a bit to calm herself. It appeared her familiar would probably not need that morning ritual, with her hair so short.
"While I can't cast magic, I'm am quite supernatural, Louise," the other girl said where she sat on the edge of the four-poster bed, her strange shoes kicked off and into the corner.
"You are my familiar! And with the ability to fly, quite amazing," Louise said, then giggled. She really had managed to summon something unusual. She pointed over to the floor where a pile of hay lay. "This shall be your bed-"
"No."
Louise glared right at her. "What do you mean?"
"I am not an animal to be kept on stray. I will never be a slave. This is not open to discussion," the scion declared with murderous intention. "No one has the right to dictate that to me."
"You expect me to share my bed with you?" the noble screeched out.
"It is quite a large bed-"
"No. Your bed is there," Louise pointed at the hay on the floor.
"I am trying to be reasonable. But I am almost to the point of smashing your bed to kindling and throwing it into the nearest river so that neither of us have the bed." Sheila had stood up at this point, slightly towering over the girl in front of you.
"You think you could do that? How dare you-" Louise suddenly gulped as the thing in front of her suddenly picked up her hardwood wardrobe... daintily and with one hand. A small shiver shot up her spine. She remembered the four large men that had carried it in, before it had been loaded with her cloaks.
The wardrobe thumped to the ground solidly as the shorter-haired girl reigned in her temper. "I am sorry about seeming to threaten you. I did not mean to do that. But I am trying to convey that I will never allow myself to be treated so poorly." The sun was starting to go down.
Louise turned to the lamp, snapping her finger light it. "I do not forgive your action."
"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière... Let us try to start over for a second. We have been bonded together, familiar and companion. We should try to work together. How would you like it if you removed from where you were supposed to be and suddenly found yourself effectively a slave?" Sheila pleaded in a very heartfelt manner, pouring her Legend into the appeal.
"You must treat me properly! I am a noble and expect to be treated accordingly," Louise said after a long moment. She relaxed a bit. "Perhaps you are right. While you are not a normal familiar, even they are expected to form strong bonds."
Sheila bowed at the waist. "My name is Sheila Henderson. I shall treat you with respect for your station as long as you remember that I am a Freeman, not a peasant, slave nor unthinking animal. Let us respect each other."
"Respect. You would be the first-" Louise stopped what she was about to speak, looking out into the sunset. "I would like that." If she hogged the covers, she would still kick her out of the bed. "I am tired and would like to sleep now."
Louise started to disrobe casually, getting a raised eyebrow at that. Sheila felt the need to clean her clothes, as they were quite rank.
The young mage thought about ordering her familiar to do her laundry, but that would be demeaning. It appeared she would have to still depend on the servants some more, unlike the other students who could clean their own clothes.
The two slight girls fit the bed quite easily.
Sheila awoke very early the next morning in Louise's bed. It was just barely large enough for both of them.
She washed up with a basin using cold water and soap. She would have to see if they had a real bath house. She redressed into her damp clothing that she had given a bit of a cleaning to last night. She idly kicked Louise's underwear into a corner basket and then exited the room. It would take a bit of thought, but she could probably make a reasonable 'washing machine' if she put her mind to it. Something for a later time.
She wandered the battlements until the sun started rising and then back to Louise's room, finding her way through the twisting passageways with ease.
The blonde scion was just stepping back into the hallway to Louise's room when a door next to her opened.
"Oh, you are that commoner that Louise the Zero summoned," an incredibly busty, red-headed young woman said. Behind her a toad-like lizard was following her out.
"My name is Sheila Henderson. Only in these lands am I considered a 'commoner'," Sheila said with a roll of her eyes. "My country only has citizens. Everyone is equal before the law there, while my family is a very renowned and famous across my world."
"I am Kirche Zerbst, so that you know how to properly address me! You are either very naive or your land is an anarcistic madhouse."
"I didn't say we did not have politics. But anyone can become a politician if they really desire it." Sheila stepped around her and opened the door to find the sleepy looking Louise just about to open the door.
"Good morning, Louise!" Kirche said in an overly saccharine greeting.
"Good morning, Kirche. Sheila, you left me to dress on my own. And did not do my laundry," the shorter girl said as she turned to her familiar.
"I'm not a body servant, but I will see that it is attended to," the scion replied. "I take it you want breakfast?"
"Of course." Louise set out, Sheila slinking along behind them as Kirche babied her fire lizard behind them. It's flame at the tip of its tail was wagging happily.
It was down several flight of stairs and into a main entrance before they entered the main hall. There were three great tables parallel to each other. Brown robe-wearing students on the right, purple robes on the left and black in the middle like Louise wore.
"What is the significance of the different robes?" Sheila asked as she held Louise's seat out and then pushed it in. She looked up to an elevated area at the end of the hall where the teachers sat. There were no familiars here, but she could hear them in a hall outside.
"The different years of the academy. I am a second year, hence why I wear black. The upper-years wear purple," the strawberry-blonde girl replied as she sat down. She looked over at Sheila, taking in her serious look. "This food is only for nobles..."
"I'm sure there is standard fare that I could have, but I would like to sit here at your side so that we can continue to converse." Sheila sat next to her, looking down the table and not giving Louise time to argue. Her sense of presence was quite strong and alluded to steel that would not bend.
Louise nodded, a little unsure. She gestured for a servant to come over. "A bowl of what ever you ate this morning for my familiar."
The servant was back shortly with a bowl of porridge and a simple spoon. "This is all that was left."
"Thank you, miss," the scion replied graciously.
"Please, just call me Siesta." With that, she bowed and went back to her duties.
Sheila rolled her eyes at Louise's antics. Conversation was light as the nobles had their fancy repast of fluffy pancakes, poached eggs and spicy slices of sausage.
"Why is that at our table?" Kirche asked a girl with blonde curls while pointing at Sheila imperiously with her fork.
"I have a name that you even know. I am sitting with Louise to be sociable," the scion replied in perfect haughter.
"Louise, remove your familiar from our table. It's stench offends me. Montmorency, could you give her one of your fragerances so that I won't have to smell a commoner?" the 'Ardent' said loudly while ignoring Sheila.
"My perfumes are just for me and my friends," her friend protested.
Sheila stood up and slammed the palm of her hand down on the table. "I do not stink, as I cleaned myself and my clothing. I take offense at your insinuation."
"Are you challenging me?" the buxom student asked in shock.
"If that is what it takes to earn some respect here, then yes, I do. Face me in combat or be silent," the tall, thin girl snapped back.
Everyone at the tables was listening raptly now.
"N-Now- now-" Louise started to interject. "Duels are forbidden."
"Only between nobles, Zero!" Montmorency noted with a smirk. "Deal with Louise's familiar to show her the folly of facing a noble mage, Kirche."
"But she's a brute of a warrior. You saw the sword," Kirche whined. "What if my beautiful face gets marked?"
"Never fear, Kirche the Ardent!" a poppinjay of a young man suddenly said as he walked down the table to them. "This rose will stand in your place as your champion."
"You, your champion or both of you are welcome to duel with me. You can even bring your familiars, if you are so worried," Sheila countered loudly.
"Sheila!" Louise blurted out. "That is dangerous."
"Louise, remember what I told you. Among all the familiars that were summoned yesterday, I am by far the most magical and powerful here." Her blue-green eyes almost flashed in repressed anger.
"Really? You have a very high opinion of yourself, lowly commoner. It sounds like you need to be reminded of your place. I, Guiche de Gramont the Bronze, shall endeveaor to teach you some manners!" He fiddled with a rose in his hands, looking quite handsome in his manners.
"Shall we take this outside? We should not disturb the morning's breakfast any more than we have," the demigoddess noted.
"Of course! Let us be off to the Vestri Court."
Most of the students tromped out with them, even as one of the teachers followed to watch. They formed a wide circle around Guiche and Sheila. The young mage in training pulled out his wand.
"Do not feel bad when I defeat you. The Gramont are famous for our combat skills and chivarly," he said with a winning smile. With his ruffled shirt and curly hair, he was the epitome of the foppish noble.
"I will try to not make you look too foolish. Please do take me seroiusly," Sheila replied with her own smile.
With a wave of an ornate, rose-carved wand, Guiche created a bronze statue of a valkyrie. "You shall, at least, be defeated by a beauty." He looked confused as he realized he had lost track of the girl.
From right behind him, where she had almost flickered to in motion, Sheila asked, "It's a little slow, isn't it?" She poked him in the back.
"Gah!" he almost shrieked. "How did you do that?" He stumbled away quickly, his wand controlling the golem valkyrie to charge and attack.
Sheila moved with the attacker's spear, pivoting the golem on her hip and then burying the golem's hed into the ground. "Is that it?" she asked as she ended up in a crouch.
"I have yet begun to fight!" Guiche quickly summoned four more golems and unstuck the first one.
"Very well." Sheila held out her hand and from the air, pulled down a lightning bolt, holding it as casually as one would a spear. "I learned this from my grandfather."
"She did not use a wand," one of the bystanders called out in shock.
The bolt of lighning struck through two of the bronze golems, very near obliterating them. "I am not a mage. This is something innate to me. Like I said to Louise, I am far more magical than any of the familiars that were summoned yesterday."
Guiche gulped but gamely sent his last two golems. Sheila met the first one, grabbing its two hands. With a massive flex of her too-skinny looking arms, she ripped the bronze golem into broken shards. She let the next spear jab from the next golem slide by her face. She grabbed the spear (which was actually part of the golem) and then planeted her feet on the ground solidly.
With a grunt of effort, she used the spear as a lever and tossed the golem over the fifty tall wall that was over a hundred feet away.
The fop was looking shocked, as it was obvious that the girl was not seriously threatened by his golems.
"My turn." She appeared in front of him, inside the reach of his wand faster than his eyes could follow. She slapped the palm of her hand into the center of his chest, knocking him back over thirty feet away where he came to a halt in a crumpled pile.
Wheezing, he rolled over and tried to stagger to his feet. He tried to speak, but his muscles refused to unclench.
"Professor Colbert, I think that we are done." Sheila revealed that she had Guiche's rose-wand in her hand. She then turned to Kirche, the slightly taller and far more buxom girl flinched. "Do you wish to take the place of your champion and continue?"
"Ah, no. It appears I mispoke. You are nothing like what I expected of the familiar of the Zero," she said in a strained voice.
Sheila walked back over to Guiche, handing him his wand and unseen to all, relieving him of the greatest part of his wounds with a small burst of legendary power. "I might have over done it."
"Why did you not use your sword?" the disheveled (but still far too handsome) earth elementalist asked in confusion.
"I did not want to kill you," she said in perfect innocence.
The young demigoddess followed the very disturbed Louise to her first class. It actually came across as rather modern as compared to the rather Dark Age technology that was shown elsewhere.
The class was of about twenty-five students that quickly filled in to sit in front of the teacher who looked to be a matronly sort.
"Welcome everyone to your second year of class here a Tristain Magic Academy. I am Mrs. Chevreuse," she said with a small smile. After quickly calling role, she looked at Sheila in consternation. "And who are you?"
"I was summoned here by Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière during the familiar ritual yesterday," Sheila explained casually.
"Oh, I remember hearing that. How interesting. So you are going to watch?" At the girl's nod, the teacher continued. "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, Miss Ollister?"
That got Sheila to narrow her eyes. Four Elements? But Louise had called upon the five sacred elements to finish her familiar contract.
"They are Earth, Fire, Wind and Water," the girl replied in a bored tone.
"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, but how it is used in our civilization. Now then, let's begin the lesson." Chevreuse waved her hand across the table, palming a few pebbles in a row.
Sheila was quite curious as she watched. Was Void like Spirit? This seemed to be based on a Alchemical-centric version of the Elemental Paradigm, but not quite the same.
Mrs. Chevreuse continued her instruction on the importance of Earth and how it was used in 'modern' construction, which Sheila thought was quite humorous. Finally the teacher explained the most simple of abilities, that of turning one material into another... Transmutation.
Waving her wand and muttering a short chant that only Sheila could hear, Chevreuse turned a pebble into an off-color gold metal. That elicitated an excited babble about gold, bronze and ranks, where the teacher explained she could only transmute things to bronze, being a triangle level mage, not a square.
Sheila leaned over to Louise. "What is the significance of Triangle vs. Square mages, milady?"
"That has to do with how many elements that are used in a spell. Dot, Line, Triangle and Square. Mrs. Chevreuse can do three and is a Triangle level," Louise whispered back.
"But no Star?" Sheila muttered in thought as Louise gave her an odd look.
"Miss Vallière, quit that chatter," the teacher called out.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," the young mage said quickly.
"If you have time to talk, then you have time to demonstrate. Come up here," the teacher ordered.
"Me?" Louise asked in consternation.
"Perhaps you should call upon someone else," Kirche quickly said even as she leaned back slightly. She carefully slid her salamander familiar back a bit behind her seat with her toes.
"And why is that?" the teacher asked in a stern way.
"It's dangerous," the red-head replied, getting the other students to agree with nods.
"I've heard that she is a hard worker. She will never advance if she does not attempt anything," was the teacher's response.
"I'll do it!" Louise called out, standing up from her chair. She walked up to the front, ignoring the cries of 'don't do it' and 'no, not again' from the other students. The student in the front row retreated back a tier or two.
Sheila raised an eyebrow at all this. It did not take long for her to find out.
Louise chanted a short rune while visualizing the metal she was attempting to transmute the pebble, which promptly exploded with stunning force. The teacher was knocked out, but Louise was only covered in a smudge of soot. The rests of the classroom had become a madhouse, as familiars awoke or fled right through the closed windows.
Sheila seemed to almost teleport to Louise's side. "Just a bit bruised. Which is strange, as you were a lot closer than Mrs. Chevreuse." Behind the stone table, she carefully healed all of the teachers bruises which immediately awoke her up.
"It appears I messed up a little bit," Louise admitted.
"As always, you mean, Louise the Zero!" cried out one of the boys.
"My Lucky! He ate my Lucky!" another student called out as a huge snake had eaten his crow.
"Why did that happen?" Sheila asked curiously as she helped up the teacher. "Does that happen if you do not have any Earth element affinity?"
"No, it should merely show her primary element. Heat up the pebble for fire, dampen it for water, and knock it away with wind," the teacher said as she shook her head.
"And what of void, because something happened. It did not transmute, a Dot Earth ability, so Louise is not Earth. And none of the other element seem to apply. That leaves only Void," Sheila noted aloud.
"That is impossible. The Void is lost to the antiquities of time," Chevreuse said in an angry tone.
"So how would you learn your elemental affinity?" Sheila asked.
"That is a first year question and not something I will be answering. You two will be cleaning up this class. The rest of you, dismissed!" the teacher ordered, walking out of the class in a huff.
Two hours later, after the window had been replaced and everything wiped down (which Sheila had done the lion's share of work) they were finally finishing up.
"So Louise, how do you attempt to discover your element?" Sheila asked as she clumped down the last stone table with her inhuman strength.
"You attempt to cast spells and then when one works, you have found your element," she replied an a slightly more quiet tone than normal.
"But Void magic has been lost, so how would you cast spells of that sort to test your affinity?" Sheila asked as she washed her hand on the rag and cold, soapy water.
"You can't, obviously. Void is legendary and lost," the mage said in an angry tone.
"It would be the height of karma if you were Void user, Louise," Sheila said with a grin. "A Void is nothing... or zero substance. So if you are of the Legendary Void, then your name would be very appropriate as the Zero."
"So why would my spells keep exploding things?" Louise asked, suddenly thoughtful.
"It is possible you are accidentally voiding the molecular binding force in an item." Sheila frowned as she considered things. "Let's try this out then. Let's have you try to channel your element in some smoke. That way you can see if you are doing something unusual. And hopefully without quite as large an explosion."
It took them a few minutes, but they found some papers and some oil. Dampening the paper slighlty, the scion lit it when Louise declared she was ready.
"You don't have to put a lot of effort into it. Just a bit for now," she told her mage-companion.
A round ball appeared in the middle of the smoke, pushing back the smoke. With a snap, it collapsed.
"Congratulations, that appears to be a success. Now how do we go about creating the runic chant for what you do? The language does not appear to include negatives, nulls, nothing or the concept of zero. It would be very cumbersome." Sheila turned to the slate board and picked up the chalk. Then she started to write. "We may have to invent some new runes to make this less irksome."
"I am not understanding. How could you invent something like that? The language of magic just is! And what is a molecular bond? Is that part of void magic?" Louise had her wand out still, her eyes shining in thought.
"Language is a living thing. It springs up from the languages before it, adopting new characteristics and becoming its own self by this change." Sheila frowned. "To understand molecular bonds, you would have to understand more about what the world is. Water is a fourth order level of reality. It is made of two elements, Hydrogen and Oxygen. When these combine at the molecular level, they become a unique substance that is no longer two gasses."
"Eh? Water is two airs? How is that possible?" Louise exclaimed in shock.
"Physics is a little strange that way, but you shouldn't need to really bother. You do not seem to disrupt those atomic bonds. Which is a good thing, young lady, as if you accidentally did that to a grain of rice, this castle would likely be devestated. If you did it to this pen, there would be a good size crater where the castle existed previously."
"What is gold made of?" Louise asked in sudden avarice. If she could crack that secret of alchemy!
"Gold is actually just one element. And fairly stable one too. That is probably why it is so hard to enchant into existence," she continued.
"And silver?" Louise asked hoping for a better answer then with gold.
"The same."
Louise looked like a kicked puppy at that. "Wait, so that makes gold and silver a third order substance... an element?" At Sheila's nod, she then continued on. "What is a second order substance?" She was learning more from this girl about how the world worked than she had in years of study.
"Ah, the atomic 'building blocks'. They are a bit odd. Generally, they are only Electrons, Protons and Neutrons. Depending on the numbers that used, you can tell what element they are. There are also negative matter versions, but they are relatively rare in this material universe. The final level of is fairly theoretical, as quantum strings of space-time energy are posited to create that order of reality."
"I think my head hurts," Louise complained.
"It is unlikely you will ever have to deal with anything that is not a molecule or element, as that is everything in the world that you can really react with."
"How does this figure into the Five Holy Elements?" Louise demanded.
"Water, Earth, Wind, Fire and Void. These are more states of matter. Liquid, Solid, Vapor, Plasma and Nothingness. It would be interesting to see if liquid metal could be controlled by water or not." Sheila gave her a smile as she sketched out four new symbols. "Let's add these symbols to lexicon. This one means Nothing. This one means Negative Value."
Louise listened raptly. "It's too bad this won't help anyone else."
Sheila looked at her for a long moment. "Are you sure? Perhaps some of your fellow students have a secondary element of Void that never gets trained."
The young mage blinked at that, then narrowed her eyes in thought.
Sheila had become a bit of a regular in the kitchens, as if she wanted anything from 'home' she would have to cook it herself. So sandwiches, burgers, french fries and other 'American' food were being introduced to them. They weren't sure on the hamburger and bun though. In repayment, she had made a crude, hand-cranked washing machine and boiler. Clothing was much easier to clean now once she had gotten them to start using it.
"Good morning, Marteau. And Siesta." She gave a wave to the rest of them after she dropped off Louise's laundry to be cleaned.
"Ah, tis our Sword and Master Craftsman!" the chief cook called out.
"I am just here for some porridge and toast." The young scion was still dressed in her one outfit, heavily washed during the nights. At some point, her sword and pistol had disappeared because she was not in constant danger. "You guys look like you are preparing for a feast today."
"That is correct on this day of Void. No classes are in session. Many students even travel to the capital to shop or to go to church," Siesta explained with a soft smile.
"Hmm. Perhaps I shall ask Louise to take me shopping. A single change of clothing will wear out quickly, no matter how well you treat them." Sheila took her bowl of porridge and two pieces of toast and nodded as she headed to the great hall where all the 'noble' students were talking while they ate.
Well, all but Louise, as she was still a pariah among her peers.
"Hello, Louise!" Sheila called out as she sat down next to the shorter teen.
"Familiar." Louise had learned that calling Sheila a servant brought out her ire. As long as she was treated fairly, she was not particular in demanding noble perogatives, which her display of lightning could definitely have warrented. "Perhaps we can work more on our project?"
"Certainly. I've been researching about the Founder Brimir and some of the spells he was supposed to use. He was reputed to have a powerful familiar that could defend him as he used very long incantations. And that makes sense," she said as she set her bowl and toast down.
"It does?" Louise replied as she scooped up a bit of her fluffy pancake.
"Remember what I said about the runic language not have proper terms for nulls and negatives? I actually figured out a very long and convoluted spell in the original runic, while in the new version we are working on it is only two symbols longer than a normal spell."
"I can't wait to try," the young mage exclaimed.
"Later, of course. We should also visit a tailor or seamstress. Only one set of clothing is not going to work over the long term. I will wear them out in short order and look very ragged," she explained.
"A very good point." Letting her famliar become shabby looking would make herself look bad!
The blonde demigoddess frowned as her overly sensitive nose was inudated by the smell of a city that did not have modern sanitation. She would have to wash off her sports shoes.
They were walking along a cobblestone road in between tight-fitting buildings like in old Europe. "It appears the city needs a good rain that lasts for several days."
"It's so smelly afterwards," Louise complained. "Though it is a little cleaner afterwards. There's a seamstress for commoners."
"That would be for the best. A good, sturdy cloth is what I need to be able to fight in."
The little wooden sticks that worked as a bell on the door let the owner know they had arrived. The old woman looked confused, "My lady, are you sure you have found the right establishment?"
"Yes, of course. I am here for my servant... I mean, my familiar to get fitted with some clothing," Louise said imperiously, though she had quickly noted Sheila's anger at being called a servant.
"What are you looking for?" the seamstress asked while covering a whimper.
"Just sturdy clothing or did you want any livery and in a more uniform-look?" Sheila asked the mage who was in control of the money she carried.
It was hashed out that the seamstress would make three uniforms that were half-military and half-butler looking, which scandalized the seamstress when she found out that Sheila was a young girl. Sheila was quickly fitted with one, only taking an hour.
They were walking back out on the streets an hour later, when Sheila noted a black smith. "Shall we check out the knives? I notice you don't have your own dagger."
"I have a wand," Louise replied, looking offended.
"But a warrior mage always carries a dagger as a back up weapon," Sheila stated. "You are planning on being one? As the youngest daughter of the family, it is either that or be married off as chattel."
Louise looked away. "I am already engaged."
"So you are planning on just being a mother then? That doesn't seem to be your nature." Sheila stepped into the smithy and started to browse the wares.
The young noble just stood past the inside of the door.
"Welcome, welcome! Are you here for a sword for your guard, noble lady?" the stout and hardened man said.
"Certainly. Show of your wares," Sheila said abruptly. She gave Louise a small wink that the shop owner could not see. The first sword was quite gaudy. Sheila took but a single swing with it and noted that the runes on her hand had lit up dimly. "Hmm. Totally unbalanced. A soldier would become weary in only ten minutes of fighting. Perhaps something slightly more functional?
The blacksmith looked nonplussed at that. The boy (so he thought) seemed to be more skilled than his years should allow. After six more swords (with only one being reasonably decent) Sheila noticed a very rusty sword.
"This is disheartening. To let a weapon degrade from such a lack of care does not bode well for this establishment." She was getting into this old world haggling-
"Who are you calling a rusty and degraded weapon?" the sword replied. "It's his fault!"
Louise and Sheila looked at the sword in shock.
"Derf! Shut up!" the smith shouted. "Ignore him! It's his attitude that makes me not want to deal with him."
"A talking sword. And fairly old," Sheila said in an intrigued tone.
"That's right! You won't see my like around again," 'Derf' boasted. "I'm thousands of years old."
The demigoddes pulled out the sword, the runes on her wrist lighting up for just a second. She swished it around, liking the balance.
"I'll let that one go for just one thousand gold. A bargain!"
"I bet this sword has sat there for years." She ran her hand down the blade, brushing off some of the rust. "If you had tried to keep it clean and sharpened, it might be worth that.
"Hey, how do think I feel about getting that way?" 'Derf' grumbled darkly. "It's not like I can get up and sharpen and clean myself."
"Three hundred gold, I think." Sheila gave a sniff. "It's obvious I'm going to have to do a lot of work to clean this up."
"You rob me! No less than five hundred!" the smith retorted, his mustache bristling.
"Three fifty!" She had started too high. It was obvious that he would have gone lower than even three hundred.
"Four hundred! And you rob my children of their home!" he declaimed loudly.
"Three-seventy-five! Lest we leave immediately to find another smithy," she countered.
"Sold!"
And that was how Fate and Legend entwined them deeper within the foretellings of Void.
That evening as the sun was setting, Louise was still working on her Void magic. Again. It had not been going well. They were in the last rays of sun on the west side of the academy grounds.
"The new additions to runic should be allowing you more control," Sheila noted as she watched the mage create a bubble of nothingness, with crackling black lightning. "Hold firm your mind, Louise, so that you control the magic and it does not control you."
That had been the wrong thing to say, as her concentration had wavered and the ball of Void shot off, blasting a tree to splinters and then smashing into the wall of the academy and left a huge crack in it.
Sheila sighed even as she noted an adult from the school looked on in shock. "Only a One for effort. I think some meditation exercises might be important to undertake-"
Both of them looked over in shock as a huge, one-hundred foot tall golem appeared. Sheila reacted immediately, snatching Louise off the ground and leaped away to a tower-wall over a hundred feet away.
Massive fists of stone smashed at the weakened wall, tearing a hole in it.
"She hit the wall that you damaged to break in. It appears your magic was actually more potent than the huge golem," Sheila quickly surmised. "What is in that area?" The scion blinked as she saw the female, cloaked up figure reappeared, while quickly waving her wand behind her. "You have got to be kidding me. Where did the LAW rocket come from?"
"I do not understand," Louise complained.
"Well, you can throw as many explosive spells as you like at it. I'm going to catch that thief!" And with that, Sheila charged over to the massive golem. She dodged to the right as part of the golem exploded with stunning force. "Surrender, thief!"
Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt looked on in shock. She reacted with her fail-safe plan, sinking into the shoulder of her golem and into the ground to escape. Sheila's kick slammed into the place she had been, barely missing her.
The golem rocked again from another explosion as Louise hit it with another of her spells, then the whole thing crumbled beneath Sheila. Rather than fall to the ground in a possible landslide, Sheila just flew back while looking around.
"She must have walked through the Earth like Dolph does," Sheila said as she landed.
"A powerful Earth caster. At least Triangle power," her mage said, scanning the area one last time.
"We'll probably have to explain what we were doing here," her familiar replied.
Across the broken wall, the red-haired Kirche and pale-haired Tabitha had been watching (spying) on Louise and her familiar when the fight had broken out.
"Trouble," the quiet girl said.
"Is that all you can say? Of course there is trouble! Fouquet just robbed the school!" the excitable fire elementalist almost shouted.
All three mages were standing in a row the next morning. Kirche looked enthralled, Tabitha bored and Louise excited as Sheila watched from slightly behind them.
"So you are sure she was a woman?" old man Osmond asked from his seat behind his desk.
"My familiar nearly entered close combat with her," Louise explained. "But she escaped through the ground."
"That means we now know more about her than anyone else! But the loss of the Staff of Destruction... terrible!" Professor Colbert said as he rubbed his balding head.
"So that weapon had been used before?" Sheila asked carefully.
"Yes, a strange soldier used one to save my life from a manticore years ago. Why if he had not, I would have died! He's buried here on the grounds with his staff and I placed the other one in our vaults," the old man said through his beard.
There was a sudden squeak as a mouse was picked up and floated away from the girl's feet. "Ah, so that LAW rocket was not discharged then. It is still a threat."
"LAW rocket? You know what that is?" Osmond asked in surprise.
"It is a heavy weapon for individual soldiers to use against fortified vehicles and structures. A little too light-weight to really be effective, but better than any other weapon. I think my people quit using that variety about twenty years ago," she explained.
Osmond directed her to place his familiar on his desk. "So you would know how to use it?"
"In a general manner," she replied.
That was when there was a knock at the door. At the order to enter, Osmond's secretary entered. Sheila barely schooled her face to not show her shock.
"Headmaster! I bring news about where Fouquet may be hiding!" she called out in a quite convincing manner. "After I heard of the robbery last night, I immediately went to investigate. I heard from a peasant about someone staying in a cottage about half a days journey from here."
Colbert stepped forward. "We must send to the palace for someone to recover the Staff of Destruction!"
"It would take too long," Osmond noted. "By the time they could send someone, she will have escaped! One of our staff must go!" He finished his pronouncement with a wave of his ornate pipe and then took a toke upon it.
None of the teachers could meet his eye, starting to stammer out excuses.
"I will go!" Louise suddenly declared. "My magic was affecting the golem before she fled my familiar."
Kirche and Tabitha looked on in shock.
"My lady, there is no real reason to bother," Sheila called out. "After all, Fouquet is right here." With that, she pointed at the 'secretary' of the headmaster. "Isn't that the case, Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt?"
Everyone froze for just a second. The thief tried to bluff her out. "How rediculous!"
"I assume you needed something more? Perhaps an instruction manual? My eyes are keen. I can seen in almost pitch black darkness better than most people can see under the sun," Sheila explained her thought.
Louise had her wand out. "My familiar is very potent. She was able to read signs from miles away."
"It's not possible- Wait. You were asking me many questions just yesterday on the vault! I may have accidentally revealed some of the secrets of its protections!" Professor Colbert looked shocked as he remembered the conversation. "But a Triangle level Earth user would not have been able to bypass it."
Ms. 'Longuevill' snapped out her wand and tried to cast a spell, only to discover that her wand was missing by the end of the incantation.
"No magic for you, I'm afraid," Sheila said with the wand in her hand.
"So fast!" Kirche exclaimed. "What sort of familiar are you?"
Louise stood taller in pride. "The most magical kind! She is no commoner, though not a mage either."
Osmond bound her in chains. "Indeed, very surprising. I was totally taken by her act. But what of the Staff of Destruction?"
"We can search her quarters and perhaps send someone to that cottage. Now that we know who had it, it should not be that tough to recover it," Sheila noted.
It ended up that Sheila was sent, as she said she could get there and back in only a few minutes. It had been in a chest in the cottage, still as effective as ever. It had been preserved quite well. But it would be kept with the other treasures in the vault.
The delayed ball and dance was in full swing with a band and feast fit for a king. Kirche was mobbed by many admirers, while many of the students partook of the simple pleasure of eating good food in pleasurable company. The great hall was decked in banners, with a large dancing area.
The doors opened, admitting Louise in a stunning white gown that made her petite frame sparkle under the light. After her admittance announcement, the music started back up. Sheila drifted in behind her, wearing her the best uniform in the livery of the Vallière.
It seemed quite a few men were taken with Louise, but she rebuffed them gently. Finally, after half an hour, the young noble drifted out to the balcony.
"Being faithful to your betrothed, my lady?" Sheila asked from the shadows.
"Something like that. Viscount Wardes is a very important man at the palace," she replied softly.
"It sounds like you are still a bit torn as to your destiny. Perhaps something will come up to settle it for you," Sheila replied as she studied the moons. "I should be trying to find a way home, but I'm not aware of any way to pierce the dimensions between mortal worlds."
"I keep forgetting that you are not from this world. What do you see when you look at the moons?"
"I wonder what causes them to have a different color. Usually that is caused by the air of the world you inhabit, not the moons themselves. It is usually just white or off yellowish. But it appears your moons have their own air, unlike ours with has nothing but the void of space and the unrelenting sun beating down upon it. It is very unfriendly place to visit."
Louise laughed. "Silly. No spell can take you to the moons!"
"You might be possibly correct, my lady. But the citizens of my nation did not use magic. They used technology to do it. And even then, we have not been back in decades. It was too hard and cost too much."
"Too gloomy. We should head back inside," the strawberry-blonde said, taking her familiar's hand and tugging her.
Sheila managed a wan smile. "Milady, did you want to dance? I can allow you to have a small, chaste dance that will not affect your honor," she said with a small lie.
They wended their way through the crowd quietly to the dance floor. Sheila bowed at the waist elegantly, like a gentlemen from a drama.
A ballroom waltz started. All of the male teens watched in consternation as Louise danced intricately with the scion. They lamented the noble lady's grace, as their dance seemed to be on a whole different level, looking elegant to a degree that those beside them could not emulate as the pair danced.