[ZnT] Everything And Nothing

[Aaron Peori]

Anyone else find it funny that Aaron came back after he basically said "Fuck you, this story is shit, I'm out of here" when we pointed out how much of an asshole he was acting like?

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Yup. Not liking a story and saying so: 100% asshole behaviour.


Fuck, no wonder people sometimes call this place an echo chamber.


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Epsilon

 

[Mizuki_Stone]

Interesting... I'm curious as to if/when we'll find out about Wulf soon...

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

Aaron's welcomed to his views, he's not wrong for saying he dislikes the story anymore than others are right for liking it.

 

[Amorous Intent]

Ryan nodded and drew his sword from its sheath, the polished double-edged blade of the weapon gleaming in the morning sun as he held it at his side with one hand.

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Broadswords are single-edged, straight-backed, (typically) basket-hilted swords. Longswords are double-edged, two-handed swords--typically with a cruciform guard.


themoreyouknow.jpg

 

[Amorous Intent]

I swear that wikipedia article said otherwise a year ago.

 

[FourthWall]

Aaron's welcomed to his views, he's not wrong for saying he dislikes the story anymore than others are right for liking it.

Click to shrink...

More people could stand to think like this on here, honestly.

EDIT: As a fellow crackfic writer going legit, there must be something going around. Like some sort of serious textual disease or something.

 

[Robo Jesus]

Eh, I'm going to have to echo some of Aaron's feelings and statements here. This fic is getting very boring, very quickly. It's too formulatic, the characters are pretty flat, and the character interactions feel contrived and forced in too many areas.

 

[Amorous Intent]

You're both correct.


Broadsword is not a precise term, and both refers to the specific 18th century basket-hilted, single-edged, one handed Scottish sword, and the popular conception of a heavy two-edged arming sword.

Click to shrink...

Unfortunately, he's actually right--sort of. Broadsword correctly refers to a basket-hilted sword, and can be either single or double-edged (the 18th century Scottish claymore is actually double-edged). Backswords are always single-edged, basket-hilted swords, and so broadswords become double-edged by distinction.


The popular usage of broadsword to refer to longswords is still a misnomer.

 

[Amorous Intent]

I suppose. I prefer Oakeshott typology over more generic terms myself, but it's not very handy for writing fiction.

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If you can keep all those types straight, more power to you. I'll stick to basic ARMA-style terminology.

A misnomer, but the popular conception is what most people will assume you refer to. Semantic language change and all that.

Click to shrink...

And I posted that bit way back when to clear up the popular misconception. The popular usage of sword terminology would leave almost no distinction between any type of sword.

 

[vel10]

Huh, I cast Revive Undead on this thread.

Though really, this story is intriguingly awesome. Plus, I love seeing someone stand up to the nobles and Louise--who is quite frankly a bitch of absolute proportions for most of canon ZnT even with her Freudian Excuse.

The idea is also pretty unique, as well as the fact that it has the Talon golden touch on it. Inspired by AJT, written by Ero-Sennin: Winning combination.

I also have a disturbing and somewhat unlikely (but undeniably cool) idea of Siesta the Rebel Leader. For want of a nail...one little sentence causes the rebellion in Albion to be more Republican, as well as a simultaneous revolt in Tristrain. Almost all of the nations of Halkegina have ridiculously corrupt nobility.

Tristrain has one advantage in that they have Queen Henrietta, but it's my opinion that in early ZnT she is little more than a puppet. Fighting the Albionese gave her some actual power, but that hasn't happened..

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

I decided to rewrite this chapter, and cut to the chase.


= = =


Disclaimer: I'm a crack writer trying to be serious. The fuck is wrong with me?


Everything and Nothing
The Left Hand of All Things


Zero = All.


[3.]


It was just before dawn, when Louise awoke to find no sign of Ryan in her room. Peering around suspiciously, she turned and looked out the window where she spotted him standing in the courtyard, staring up at the sky. She frowned in annoyance and dropped back onto her bed, what kind of person is awake this early in the morning?

Outside, Ryan was struck by the sight in the sky overhead. Why hadn't he noticed it before? Still, it was an incredible sight to behold. Two moons, one larger than the other, with the smaller of the two a rosy pink.

"It has two moons…this world can't just be another parallel Earth…" He whispered.

"So we've stepped out of Fantasy and into Science Fiction, how intriguing," Wulf noted.

Ryan shook his head. "I can be anywhere now. This is bad."

Wulf was reassuring. "I wouldn't dwell too harshly on it. Extraordinarily improbable odds still come down to a yes or a no. Will we find our way home, Ryan?"

Still staring at the moons, Ryan sighed and whispered, "Yes."

"Then buck up and remember to enjoy yourself! Where were we, then?"

"Yeah, yeah."

The two moons distracted him, but Ryan was back on task. Taking his broadsword by the hilt, he unsheathed it, and held it skyward, the light of two moons gleaming off its blade. As Ryan stared up at the sword, he mused at how it seemed to split the smaller moon in two, before he lowered the blade and began practicing with it.


A couple of hours later, Louise woke up again to find Ryan writing things down in a notebook from some strange black device. Sitting up, she slipped her feet out of bed and stood up before walking over to him.

"What is that you're doing? What is that thing?" she asked, surprising Ryan.

He looked over to Louise, and then closed the book before sliding it and the tablet into his belt's pouch. "Don't worry yourself over it for now, Hermione."

Louise stared at him. "Hermione?"

Ryan waved his hand. "Forget about it; did you sleep well?"

She had, but Louise was more curious about that black object and what he was copying from it. "I slept well. You were up early."

"I'm used to it. In my world school starts at seven in the morning, and I have to be up at five thirty if I want to be ready for the day," Ryan replied.

"You still go to school?" Louise stared at him. "How old are you, exactly?"

"Oh, I'm seventeen," Ryan replied. Louise was surprised, she would've expected a little older than that.

"I see. Well if you're done with that, dress me," Louise ordered.

It was Ryan's turn to stare at her. "Beg pardon?"

"The underwear is in the bottom drawer over there." She was even helpful enough to point to the dresser behind Ryan.

Ryan frowned. "You know that you're old enough to not need anyone to dress you, right?"

"Nobles will not dress themselves while there is a ready and able servant in front of them," Louise snapped back.

Ryan made a show of looking around, curious, before he pointed at himself. "Do you seriously mean me?"

Louise pointed at her underwear drawer emphatically. Ryan stared back at her, and a few moments passed as they silently challenged one another to budge.

Ryan didn't. "No."

Louise let out a strangled sound of frustration. "It's a commoner's duty to serve nobility when requested!"

Nope, he wasn't breaking that attitude of hers after one tiny compliment. On the other hand, volatile women were something he was used to at this point in his life. He let out a sigh and humbly requested for God to give him strength, today was going to be another trial.

God chuckled and did no such thing, as Louise took off her nightgown right in front of him and threw it onto his lap as she walked past him, leaving herself completely nude.

"Prepare that for the wash," she ordered as she got out a pair of panties from her underwear drawer.

"Isn't that what the maids are for?" Ryan said as he followed her with his gaze.

Getting, Louise turned to face him, arms akimbo. "I summoned you, I let you sleep in my room rather than outside or in the stables. For my generosity you should at the very least know your place!"

Ryan appeared more preoccupied with something else at the immediate moment. "Huh, I didn't think it was your natural color."

Louise pouted in anger. "Pay attention, commoner!"

Ryan's gaze shot up and met Louise's, and after a moment the corners of his lips turned up into a slight smirk. "You know what? I think you got along fine before you had a commoner around."

"What?!" Louise gasped.

Ryan turned around and folded his hands behind his head. "Dress yourself."

"You-!" Louise snapped, before she stomped past him and bent over to get her underwear from the bottom drawer. "I let you stay in my room, I let you sleep in a chair! Do you have any idea how many low-born commoners would gladly sell their lives to even set foot in this place?!"

"Probably a lot," Ryan replied while unashamedly ogling Louise. He doubted he'd ever seen finer legs anywhere. Especially on such a short woman.

Louise whirled on him, and he averted his eyes in the other direction. "Then you should show some gratitude!"

Ryan sighed. "I suppose I could, but I take issue with paying with my body."

Louise had been halfway through putting on her panties, when she looked up, her face red. "What?! NO! I would never! N-not with you-!"

Ryan laughed; she was so cute! "Oh man, you're fun to tease."

Louise yanked her panties up and threw on a camisole. "You are a lecherous bastard!"

"My parents were happily married when they chose to have me, thanks, and I'm not the one prancing around undressed in front of a young man she's not related to, now am I?"

Gaping for a moment, Louise huffed and then finished getting dressed, putting on her leggings, skirt, blouse, and finally her cloak. Ryan watched her the whole time, leaving her flush-faced and glaring at him as they finally left her room.

"That pervert! That lech! That bastard!" Louise thought angrily as she stomped ahead of him."I'll show him his place!"


The dining hall of the Tristan Academy of Magic was giving Ryan some serious Hogwarts vibes, except there weren't magical projections of the sky and all manner of owls flying about. This was such a boring magical school, nothing like in the books, but the overpowering smell of gourmet food made up for it considerably.

As they walked down the row, the mockery of the Master/Familiar relationship did not go unnoticed. At another table, Kirche smiled and gestured aside to one of her friends, one Montmorency Margarita la Fère de Montmorency, a blonde girl with Victorian ringlets who was the supposed lover of a certain fop.

"Look, its Zero Louise and her Master," she derided just loud enough for Louise to hear.

Montmorency hummed and then inquired, just loud enough as well. "Do you think someone should tell him that familiars aren't allowed in the dining hall during breakfast?"

Kirche giggled. "Oh my, you're right!"

At his seat Sticks noticed the arrival of Louise and Ryan, and focused his glare onto the latter, while Guiche was a little more accommodating with a polite nod to Ryan. Louise, discreetly glancing towards both when she noticed them, could only wonder what the idiot had done while he was out that night.

"Wow that smells pretty good, actually." Ryan said as they walked towards Louise's seat. When he looked at the five-star spread at each individual spot, he smiled and his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten properly since yesterday, aside from some trail-mix he'd had along with him.

Louise glanced back at him. "Don't drool over food that isn't yours, and pull the chair out for me already."

He may as well, so he did. As Louise sat down, he noticed a small dirty, cracked, and chipped plate sitting on the floor between spots, and found it a little odd before pulling out another chair and taking the seat. "Thank goodness for breakfast, I don't think I can get by on trail-mix much longer."

Louise was staring at him in a mixture of annoyance and disgust. Staring back, he wondered what she was on about, before she pointed down at the cracked and chipped plate.

"This dining room is for nobles only," she all but snarled at him, "be fortunate I'm letting you eat on the floor."

Ryan looked at the plate, and then at the spread set out in front of him.. "I'm not going to eat off the floor."

"No, that's why you have a plate," Louise replied, "now sit. On the floor."

Ryan looked back at the food in front of him, then back to her. "I can go eat somewhere else."

"No, you're going to sit on the floor, eat what I let you have, and know your place, commoner!" Louise snapped back. She was not going to be made a fool of, not here, not in front of her classmates.

Ryan recoiled a little bit, and narrowed his eyes. The banter in the dining hall came to an abrupt halt with the sound of the plate being shattered under Ryan's hiking boot.

Louise stared down at Ryan's boot, and then up at him, as he pulled himself up to the table. "You… you…!"

She wasn't the only one staring, as nearly every gaze in the dining hall fell on Ryan. Picking up the knife and fork, he cut into the meat on the plate in front of him, stabbed the slice with his fork, and ate it. On tasting it, he hummed his approval and began eating in earnest.

"Hey, what is he doing?" a female student asked.

"Why is a commoner eating in here?" A male student who hadn't heard of the incident yesterday inquired over the growing murmurs.

"That's the one Louise summoned…" another voice melted into the yammering, but not before Louise caught it.

"Hey, we haven't even said our blessings!" yet another loudly complained.

Ryan ignored it, and Louise's intensifying glare. The meat, it tasted like lamb, and it was of excellent quality. The soup as well, and the bread, and even the fruit was at the peak of freshness. Combined with his hunger and his desire for spite, Ryan made short work of the spread before him like a starving man with proper etiquette, and finished it all by drinking down the glass of fruit juice at his side.

"Ah, that's much better," he declared as he picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth, "I haven't had a meal that good since my dad last came home from a tour."

Louise punched him. "Ow! Hey!"

"I don't believe you! How dare you besmirch this school?! Commoners aren't even allowed to set foot in this place unless they're servants, and you're seated at the table, eating the food of another student, without even praying to Brimir, no less!" she yelled as she stood up and pounded on him with tiny fists of indignation.

Ryan, managing to block her blows with a raised arm, got up and backed away from her. That was it. "Hey! You brought me in here, and for what? You were going to make me eat off the floor like a damn dog!"

"It's because you are a damn dog!" Louise yelled back at him. "You're not going back to wherever you call home! I summoned you here and you will obey me and you will eat from the floor like the dirt commoner you are!"

Ryan's patience broke. "Shut up, you no-rate dwarf witch, I'm done being the punching bag for all your insecurity issues! So take all four feet of you and get out of my sight until I even want to look at you again!"

Gasps went around, as Louise recoiled in shock. Right on the heels of that flare of anger was immediate regret when he saw the look on her face.

Wulf almost cheerily chimed in. "Well, you've certainly done it now."

He certainly had. Tears forming in Louise's eyes and racing down her cheeks, she shoved Ryan and ran out of the dining hall. As the doors swung closed, Ryan sighed and reached behind him to scratch at his back.

"Well… it's not the worst morning I've ever had, but it's up there," he lamented.

"You should leave," a quiet voice behind him said, and he turned to face another short witch girl with blue hair and a staff taller than she was. She didn't appear upset so much as simply giving good advice.

"Huh?" He slowly nodded and then headed for the door. "You're right, sorry for the commotion."

"Don't be," she said as he passed her. As he walked out, Kirche and Montmorency joined the quiet witch's side.

"That commoner is very bold, don't you think Tabitha?" Kirche asked her frosty friend.

"I don't know," Tabitha replied.

Ryan walked out of the dining hall's building and onto the courtyard, where he found no sign of Louise. Wherever she ran off to, he was probably the last person she wanted to see anyway so he decided to sit down on the steps in lieu of seeking her out. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out his notebook.

"I'll let her cool off, and then apologize," he said to himself. He needed to cool off, too.


In the office of Tristan Academy of Magic's headmaster, said headmaster was hard at work…sexually harassing his hapless secretary, Miss Longueville. Well, he was trying to, she wasn't having any of it and was almost literally stomping a mud-hole in his backside when the door opened and a weary but excited Colbert entered.

"Old Osmond, I hate to interrupt but–!" He stopped when he caught the scene between headmaster and secretary. "Am I interrupting…?"

Miss Longueville quickly removed her foot from Osmond's backside. "No, not at all, as Old Osmond's secretary I'm responsible for his health. He was complaining of a sore hip, so I thought I'd massage it for him, yes…"

"I see." Colbert said as Osmond got up and hobbled to his desk. It looked like there was a lot of him sorer than his hip, now.

Quickly shaking his head, Colbert stayed on task. "Sir, I wanted to discuss something important with you, pertaining to the summoning gone wrong yesterday?"

Miss Longueville, now seated at her tiny desk, began to file away papers, or rather pretended to as she paid rapt attention to the discussion. Colbert set some books down as Old Osmond took his seat.

"Yesterday when Miss Vallière was bound to her familiar, there was a symbol I never saw before, a five-pointed asterisk. I've looked through every text on runes and symbols I could find in but there's nothing in regards to an asterisk, not even in the elfin texts." Colbert explained as he handed Old Osmond a notebook showing a drawing of the symbol on Louise's hand.

Old Osmond took the notebook and examined the symbol, and his normally twinkling eyes narrowed. It was appeared so primitive, inelegant, and simple; almost a stark contrast to the symbols and runes that dominated magic and its study, and it was that simplicity that gave him cause for concern.

"Mr. Colbert, I'd like to see Miss Vallière and her summon," He said.

Colbert hummed. "Do you suppose there is something dangerous?"

"I don't think there is anything wrong yet, but I have some questions for the boy," Old Osmond replied.

"As you wish sir," Colbert said before he turned for the door, "breakfast should be ending, so I'll fetch them right away."

Soon as he was gone, Old Osmond produced his pipe and levitated some tobacco into it before using a spark of flame to light it. Just as he was to take a puff from it, however, it levitated from his hand and into Miss Longueville's.

He sighed. "Taking away one of the few pleasures that an old man like me has left, Miss Longueville?"

"As your secretary, I'm responsible for your health." She turned her head and gave him a dangerous look. "Good or ill."

Sufficiently intimidated, Old Osmond decided that maybe quitting was the best idea for him.


The ringing bell and the students beginning to move about the grounds told Ryan that breakfast was ending. Louise probably had a chance to cool off by now, so it was a matter of finding her. Getting up, he walked around the perimeter of the building housing the dining hall, and found her right away.

Around the side were the familiars of the rest of Louise's grade-level, and sitting against the wall was Louise with her legs drawn to her chest and her face buried in her folded arms. Letting out a soft sigh, he walked over and leaned against the wall, directly next to her.

"I shouldn't have said that, I'm sorry," he said to her. He wasn't going to apologize for eating that food however, he still had his pride.

"It doesn't matter," Louise snapped back.

"I think it does, I embarrassed you in front of everyone, back there," Ryan replied calmly.

Louise continued sniffling. "I'm already an embarrassment, never has a mage become the familiar before, that shouldn't even be possible. I've gone beyond zero; I'll never be taken seriously again."

She lifted her head up and wiped her eyes before looking around at the other familiars. "This is my life now, where I belong… I'm nothing but a worthless familiar to a worthless commoner."

Ryan ignored that last bit. "Didn't I tell you not to give up before?"

Louise tensed at that, and sighed miserably. "I don't care anymore."

He let out a sigh of his own. "I'm serious, you don't want to just quit like this. If you do, then you'll have proved everyone right and they'll rub your face in it." She looked up at him, and found his expression was genuinely contrite. "Don't sit here and decide that your life is over, because it definitely isn't. You're not done yet."

At that moment, the other students arrived for their familiars. Seeing Kirche and her little clique approach, Louise got up. "I'm going back to my room."

Ryan was ready to follow her, when Guiche called out. "Hey! Ryan Ingram!"

When he turned, he found a rose pointed in his face. "Oh, hello again. Can I help you?"

"As a matter of fact, there is much to discuss regarding your faux-pas in the dining hall today," Guiche said forcefully as he drew back his rose.

Louise buried her face in her hands. Of course, he wasn't getting away so easily for what he'd done.

Several other male students gathered around, as Guiche spoke. "Louise was kind enough to bring you to our hallowed dining hall, and in return you insult and humiliate her, and rudely carried about as you pleased in front of the rest of us. As a man and as a noble, I cannot allow that to simply pass."

Ryan dropped his shoulders. "Is that all? Well I apologize, I don't want any trouble."

Guiche then waved his rose from side to side. "If it were that easy then I'd be letting you off the hook, but for making a beautiful girl cry and besmirching our school and its traditions, I demand something stronger than a mere nonchalant apology."

He didn't have the patience for this. Still, Ryan humored him. "Oh, and what would be acceptable?"

"You will kneel first before Miss Vallière and apologize for humiliating her," Guiche said, "And then you shall kneel before us and apologize for the insolence of forgetting your place. That is acceptable, yes?"

Ryan's brow furrowed at that. While he respected the fop's attempt at cheering Louise up, he was getting tired of this holier-than-thou noble act. Before he could say anything, it was Kirche who stepped in. "Hey, Guiche, is that really necessary?"

Guiche looked over to Kirche. "Kirche, Montmorency, Tabitha… please step aside, this is a matter between men."

Wait, his name was what? Ryan stared at the fop.

"A matter between men, or are you showing off?" Montmorency demanded.

Sticks spoke up. "Are you trying to defend the commoner?"

"Of course not, but he said he apologized, didn't he?" Kirche argued, causing Sticks and several other boys to sputter a bit.

Ryan couldn't hold in his laugh. Guiche turned to look at him. "Oh? What's so funny?"

Louise looked up, as Ryan tried to remind himself that this was a different society, but he couldn't help himself. "Your name is Guiche?"

"Why yes, I am Guiche de Gramont. What is it to you?" Ryan broke into uncontrolled laughter, incensing Guiche. "Hey! What's so funny?!"

God, it was so wrong, but at the same time, it couldn't be more right. Ryan leaned against the wall, laughing at what sounded like the biggest joke in the world. When he finally stopped, he looked at Guiche.

For all of a second, before he said "Guiche" again and resumed laughing.

"Ryan!" Louise cried out, when Guiche's face flashed with anger.

"Hey! First you insult a noble and now you mock my name? What kind of devil are you?!" Guiche yelled at him, setting off another angry reaction, this time from Montmorency.

Ryan managed to slow down his laughter. "Sorry, sorry! In my world that just means something else…" he chuckled. "I don't want any trouble with you, Mr. Smooth-Talker."

Guiche immediately blanched, and for good reason.

"Smooth-Talker?" Montmorency said as she slid into position at Guiche's side from out of nowhere.

Guiche turned to Montmorency, his indignation diminished by his lover's far more frightening presence. Ryan, still laughing, then spoke up. "Oh, he was flirting with some girl last night named Katie."

Montmorency became furious. "You were flirting with a first year?!"

Guiche held up his hands submissively. When did this become about him all of a sudden? "Montmorency, listen, it wasn't like that at all! I… he…" He needed to salvage this, or he was cooked. He turned and pointed to Ryan, who had stopped laughing, but was plenty amused by this. "How dare you slander me?"

At this point, Louise now wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"I have no reason to lie," a wholly amused Ryan said as he folded his arms.

Guiche wore a dangerous smile as he attempted to assert himself. "For this disgrace, my blood is boiling. A commoner, who eats at the place of nobles, insults them to their face, and attempts to spread slander about them cannot be forgiven!"

He pointed his rose at the sword on Ryan's hip. "You fancy yourself a swordsman with that ornament on your hip, do you not?" He then pointed the rose at his face. "I challenge you to a duel then, I will sort your crass attitude out myself!"

Louise quickly attempted to step in, he was not going to embarrass her further. "Ryan, take back what you said!"

"I accept," Ryan said instead, and Louise grabbed his arm and shook him.

"What do you think you're doing? Even with a sword you won't win against a noble!" Louise warned.

Ryan gave Louise a look, and then turned back to Guiche. "I don't intend to duel him."

Louise sighed. "Well that's good-"

"You will," he finished.

Louise stopped while the crowd gathering around him, Guiche, and Montmorency, all recoiled in surprise. Gasping, Louise grabbed Ryan this time by his collar and pulled him down to her level. "NOBLES CANNOT DUEL! IT'S ILLEGAL!"

Ryan stood upright, lifting Louise off her feet as she continued to hold on. "It'll be fine; besides, you don't want to be seen as a Zero anymore do you?"

"But-!" Louise tried to argue.

"You can do it," Ryan reassured her. "Heck, from what I heard about you… you should be able to beat him easily. Just blow this blowhard up for me and regain some of your pride."

Louise stopped and stared at Ryan. That was right, her magic only came out in explosions. Powerful ones as the repeated damages to the school could attest. With that she could not only beat Guiche but prove that she wasn't a worthless witch.

Louise let go and dropped to her feet. Suddenly feeling a confidence that she hadn't experienced in a long time. Nodding, she turned to face Guiche. "Guiche de Gramont, I, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, accept your challenge as the proxy of Ryan Ingram! Prepare yourself!"


Pushing a cart of tea and cakes down the path towards where the second year students would be bonding with their familiars, Siesta was thinking about her run in with the boy from another world and his revelation.

"Our nobles are dead. The commoners killed them a long time ago; they were more trouble than they're worth."

Was that true? Was there such a world where nobles didn't rule over the common folk like they did here?

When she reached the tables where the second year students were supposed to be, she found only a few first and third year students on their way towards the main courtyard.

"Ah? Where is everyone?" Siesta noticed first year, carrying a soufflé in a box, hurrying past. Quickly, Siesta called after her. "Miss, where is everyone going?"

"Guiche is about to duel the commoner who caused a commotion in the dining hall this morning!" Katie said excitedly to Siesta. The first year student was eager to see her beloved Guiche in battle.

Siesta gasped and left the cart. "Oh goodness, this is terrible!" she said as she followed the girl.

When she reached the courtyard, Siesta was dismayed to see that the crowd had already swelled and formed a ring around the two combatants. Siesta's apprehension skyrocketed when she saw that the commoner boy was on the sidelines, but it was Louise about to duel Guiche!

She quickly made her way over to Ryan's side, as Louise was practicing some wand strokes. "Mr. Ingram, what is going on? Why is Miss Vallière facing Mr. Gramont?"

"Guiche challenged me, and I accepted, Louise is going to be my proxy, though," Ryan replied.

Siesta recoiled in shock at this, and then looked to Louise. "Oh dear, this is terrible…"

Guiche showed his own apprehension about dueling Louise. "Louise, you said so yourself, duels between nobles are illegal, don't fight for the man who insulted you!"

"I have agreed to duel as a proxy," Louise retorted.

Kirche called over. "Besides, Guiche, she's a familiar remember? Duel rules don't apply to them!" She looked to her tiny companion. "Hey Tabitha, would this be considered illegal right?"

"It's too loud." Tabitha quietly complained.

"Are we going to duel or not?" Louise snapped harshly to shut Kirche up..

Ryan narrowed his eyes a little bit. He'd been noticing a particular pattern for a while now, and it was becoming clear to him. Still, he called out to Guiche. "You can back out, I'd prefer if you did."

Guiche was in a tough spot. On one hand, he didn't want to look like a coward before a commoner, but on the other hand, he wasn't exactly sure about dueling Louise for the exact reason Ryan encouraged her to do it: He didn't want to get blown up.

As Louise waited for Guiche to stop waffling and commence the duel, she couldn't help but wonder herself if her explosions would work. Guiche specialized in Earth Magic, could she even get past that? If she could, would she hurt him doing it? She didn't want to hurt him too badly.

"I will just have to try," Louise thought to herself, before she did as she normally did in order to cast a spell. She closed her eyes, and felt out for the magic to summon it to her use.

"Guiche, don't you dare hurt the Zero!" Montmorency warned.

"Montmorency…! I can't back down, I made the challenge and the commoner accepted!" Guiche called out.

Kirche then offered an insight. "He's still your opponent, Guiche! Just aim for him and not the familiar and you're fine!"

Guiche blinked, and then smiled. What an excellent point! "Thank you, Kirche!"

Holding up his rose, Guiche called out. "I, Guiche the Bronze, and this lowly commoner shall commence our duel!" He pointed his rose at Louise. "I have no intention of harming you, Miss Vallière, so stand aside!"

"I am your opponent for this duel, so duel!" Louise answered as she readied her wand.

"Very well, I shall do my best not to harm you and end this match quickly," Guiche said, before he pointed his rose to Ryan. "Did you hear that? I shall grant you no quarter!"

With a flick of his wrist, Guiche shed several petals from his rose. Watching them fall to the ground, Ryan tightened his grip on the sword when they gave off flashes of light and pulled from the ground several spear-armed statues made of bronze.

"Meet the Bronze Golem Valkyries! Are they not beautiful?" Guiche asked.

When Ryan didn't reply Guiche continued. "Well, whether you like them or not, they will be your opponent." He looked away and pointed his rose at Ryan. "Go, attack the master, avoid harming his proxy!"

Tabitha had been trying to tune out the noise about her by covering her ears. When Louise pointed her wand at Guiche, however, her focus snapped right onto her, just as Ryan's did. The asterisk mark on her left hand began to glow an alarming red.

"What?!" Ryan realized before he called out to Louise. "Louise, wait!"

It was too late, Louise called out to the magic that she had always known, but something entirely different responded. Rather than pull power towards her, it surged up through her, drowning her all of her senses in what she could only describe as pure, unbridled force.

And it felt good.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH~!" Louise screamed joyously with the surge of magic that flared from her, creating a shockwave that knocked everyone within fifty feet of her to the ground. Only Louise and the Bronze Golems remained standing.

Kirche was one of the first to quickly sit up, and stared at Louise, as did the other students. The young mage turned familiar's hair, skirt, and cloak was blown upward by the draft of power emanating from every inch of her body.

"L-Louise…?" Kirche murmured, before Tabitha violently shoved her off. "Hey!"

Guiche also got up, and stared at Louise. "Louise…?"

Dropping her wand, Louise raised her left hand, and pointed it at the Bronze Golems. All three golems then went rigid, and began shaking, as though held in a powerful invisible grip. Louise then closed her hand, and before everyone's shocked eyes, the sturdy golems smashed together and crumpled like into a round, warped hunk of bronze.

The backlash of the spell tore away the sleeve of Louise's uniform and part of her cloak, leaving it ragged. This shockwave went on to further buffet those who had managed to stand up. Despite it, Louise wore a depraved smile on her face, her body racked by powerful spasms that left her stumbling from one foot to the other.

"How? How could she have tapped into it?!" Wulf asked Ryan,

"I don't know, but she needs to be stopped!" Ryan responded.

Guiche stared at his ruined golems in complete terror, and then back at Louise, who was now giving him the same blank, wide-eyed look she had given his golem before she crushed it. When she unclenched her fist and pointed her hand at him, he screamed like a girl and turned to flee.

Instead of grabbing him however, Louise said something that was lost in the ambient roar of power, and the spectators could all see the air itself warp as it was displaced by the invisible force she hurled towards Guiche and the students he had been running towards.

A hastily summoned wall of thick solid ice, however, managed to stop the blast, but shattered in the process. Holding her staff out, Tabitha quickly unleashed a wind spell next, creating a tornado that swept up Louise and spun her into the air, hopefully to get her away from the other students before she hurt anyone.

"Tabitha!" Kirche gasped, before she realized that it was time for action and drew her wand.

Tabitha nodded to Kirche. "I cannot hold her for long."

"Miss Vallière!" Siesta cried out as she got up.

Ryan grabbed her by the shoulder as he watched the tornado hold Louise in place. "Get a teacher, go!"

Looking at Ryan, Siesta nodded and fled with the other students racing to escape the chaos. When she did, he drew his sword. "I didn't want to do this…"

The tornado suddenly fell apart, revealing a heavily panting Louise staring down at Tabitha and Kirche. Neither mage waited for Louise to respond, with Kirche unleashing a fireball spell while Tabitha unleashed a water jet spell that both crashed into a barrier that formed around the now levitating familiar mage, who tilted her head to the side and giggled drunkenly

"Not good." Tabitha said before Louise aimed her hand at them.

"Tabitha!" Kirche yelled as she grabbed Tabitha and dove clear of the invisible spell that flattened the ground where they had stood. The shockwave knocked both to the ground, and Kirche looked up as Louise prepared to attack again.

However, another Bronze Golem, having leaped into the air to attack ineffectually at the barrier, diverted her attention. Kirche and Tabitha looked over to Guiche, who was now standing by the school's outer wall a distance from everyone else, knees trembling as he tried to look heroic in the face of unbelievable danger.

Kirche called to him. "Thank you Guiche!"

"This is our duel, is it not?" Guiche demanded. Terrifying as this was increasingly becoming, he had to get Louise away from the other students, especially Montmorency! "C-come down here… and f-fight me…!"

Louise raised her arm, and threw the golem back like a missile at Guiche, who screamed again and raised his arms to protect his face. Before the golem could hit, and do a lot more harm than to just his face, however, a fast moving blur got between them and Guiche heard the sound of steel shearing through bronze.

The golem hit the ground in two pieces on both sides of Guiche, and he looked up to see Ryan standing in front of him, the sword he wore on his hip now in his hands.

Kirche was surprised. Hadn't that boy been standing over with that servant girl fifty meters away?

"Ingram!" Guiche gasped after he lowered his arms.

Ryan called up to Louise. "Louise! Stop!"

Louise didn't respond, but rather prepared to attack. "She's far too deep into it… she can't hear me!"

Guiche looked between Ryan and Louise. "What is she into, Ingram?!"

Ryan didn't answer, he grabbed Guiche and suddenly the blonde noble was atop the school's wall. There was an incredible din behind him, and when he looked back he saw that the wall and a long swath of land behind it had been gouged out, forming a trench.

How did he get up here so quickly? He looked to Ryan, who was watching Louise as she descended to just above the missing section of wall. Back in the courtyard, Kirche was awestruck by Louise's strength, and by the commoner's speed. She hadn't even seen him move, he was one moment in the path of that terrible power, and then suddenly safe atop the wall.

"… What on Earth is going on?" she asked, as she watched the confrontation grow tenser.

Tabitha regarded the scene with her usual aloofness, but her attention was locked on Ryan.

The backwash from her spell had destroyed much of Louise's clothes and left her cloak almost completely shredded. She didn't appear aware of it or anything else as she set her feet down on the wall and stared all but through Ryan at Guiche.

"She's looking at me…" The foppish boy noted of the smiling mage.

Ryan nodded. "She's trying to fight the duel."

"In that case, I give up! I surrender, you win!" Guiche said. "Now call her off!"

"I was about to," Ryan said as Louise raised her hand again and aimed it at Guiche.

Guiche stepped back when he felt the same updraft that was around Louise begin manifesting around Ryan. Whatever it was he was about to do, he did not want to be party to it, and quickly turned to flee. This, however, was a mistake, as Louise immediately fired another spell that tore apart the top of the wall as it barreled towards him and Ryan.

In that same instant, Ryan raised his sword, and was gone.

Kirche and Tabitha, and the students who hadn't evacuated saw it all. The advancing blast, and the airborne debris it launched, were exploded in a horizontal spiral traveling back towards Louise. As Mr. Colbert arrived with Siesta and several other teachers, the courtyard was quiet except for the last few falling rocks.

"My word…" Mr. Colbert gasped.

Ryan had struck Louise hard in the stomach with the hilt of his sword, knocking the wind out of her and dispelling the awesome power that had possessed her. Letting the sword fall to the ground, he caught Louise as she fell forward, unconscious and completely nude except for her cloak.

"He stopped her…" Kirche said in relief.

Mr. Colbert looked at the destruction, sharing his amazement with the other teachers. "What just happened here?"

The walls of the academy were magically reinforced. For them to be destroyed so easily for a second time in as many days… this was just uncanny.

Ryan and Guiche had gotten down from the wall with the aid of a levitation spell from the former. Ryan had Louise carefully wrapped in what was left of her cloak, to preserve her modesty, and had sheathed his sword. Mr. Colbert quickly rushed over to the two young men.

"Mr. Ingram, Siesta told me of the duel, is Miss Vallière all right?" he demanded worriedly.

Ryan nodded and looked down at the unconscious girl. "Yeah, she just needs rest. She'll be fine."

Mr. Colbert looked around. "Did she do this?"

Ryan nodded again. "She did…"

He sighed. The cat was completely out of the bag now, and there was no way he could try to hide it. He gave Colbert a pointed look. "I have a lot of explaining to do. Can you take me to whoever is in charge here?"

"I had actually come looking for you for that reason when Siesta alerted me." Mr. Colbert replied before he turned to one of the teachers, Mrs. Chevreuse. "Mrs. Chevreuse, you and the other teachers round up the other students and get this cleaned up, I'm going to take Mr. Ingram and Louise to the infirmary and then to Old Osmond."

As the indicated teacher nodded and began instructing the students to leave the courtyard, Colbert led Ryan away. Siesta, watched them go, worried about the well-being of Louise, before she quickly made herself useful to assist with cleaning up.

"Tabitha… that man…" Kirche said quietly, as Tabitha watched them leave as well.

Tabitha looked back to Kirche, who let out a very pleased sound and smiled. "… I think I want him."

Looking at her staff, Tabitha decided to not hit her best friend upside the head with it, and followed the other students off the court yard.


It was the end of the day, the sun was going down, and Ryan was in the office of Old Osmond, with Louise and Colbert both present. In the end, while there was a lot of demolition and unintended landscaping; no one was hurt–although a few students needed a clean pair of underwear.

Because of the sensitivity of the situation, Old Osmond had sent Miss Longueville out and appeared quite serious. Ryan, however, could not get it out of his head that he looked like Gandalf and Dumbledore combined.

"Why are all these top magicians old guys with huge beards?" Ryan wondered to Wulf.

Wulf understood Ryan's sentiments. "I'd prefer a beautiful woman, myself, yes. Now do focus."

Louise was staring out the window of Old Osmond's office; she hadn't said a word since she'd woken up a little while ago. She was still trying to come to grips to what she had experienced and almost done.

Old Osmond decided to open with an assurance. "No one was hurt and the damage to the school's wall can be fixed with ease today, but you and Miss Vallière still caused quite a commotion today."

Ryan nodded as Louise glanced back to the conversation. Though she showed no sign of it, she dreaded what was to happen to her now.

"However, because of the very special circumstances involved, I will take no disciplinary action against either of you, neither for the duel nor for the damage done."

"Circumstances?" Ryan asked, despite his relief. Louise relaxed as well.

"Yes, in addition to the special nature of yours and Louise's contract, I have concerns about your safety and that of those around you. It'd be wiser to keep you here in the school."

Ryan understood that perfectly. These kids could handle themselves pretty well, all things considered. This was definitely no Hogwarts. "I understand if it's for the best to keep us out of trouble."

"Yes, Miss Vallière is an unthinkable case. A mage becoming a familiar has never happened before in our six thousand year history, the same for the summoning of a commoner man clearly not from this world. If we're to figure this mess out, we'll need both of you alive and in one piece," Old Osmond explained, showing off a shrewdness that surprised even Colbert.

Louise finally spoke up. "How can there be another world? Is there really such a thing?"

She looked at her hand as she asked this, and the black asterisk that marked it like an ugly blemish.

"There's no reason to believe otherwise, Miss Vallière," Old Osmond replied, "The boy is clearly from no known place on our world. Additionally, Mr. Colbert has extensively scoured the school's library in search of any reference to the rune on your hand and found nothing of it. It is, in effect… alien."

Old Osmond looked from Louise to Ryan. "This brings me to my question for you, Mr. Ingram. When Louise became possessed by that magic, you recognized and dealt with it accordingly. You know what that magic is and are skilled in its use, aren't you?"

Louise's eyes widened as she stared at Ryan. Colbert was just as shocked at the implication, not just a human summoning… but a mage from another world?

With all eyes in the room on him, Ryan took a deep breath and removed his sweater. "Yes, that magic's from my world."

He then removed the t-shirt he wore underneath and draped it over the chair as well. "The rune on Louise's hand is the mark of one of the five forces of magic from my world. I know a lot about it, more than anyone should."

Ryan then turned his back to the three. Colbert let out a "My word!" while Old Osmond sat up in his chair, surprised.

Louise covered her mouth and gasped when she saw the horrific, asterisk-shaped scar burned into Ryan's back.


= = =


There we go, I prefer this version a lot more.

 

[Mizuki_Stone]

Simple enough, she wasn't tapping Void, she was taping something... else.


In essence, she was not casting as a void mage for that fight, but an entirely different kind of magician.

 

[Prince Charon]

Interesting.

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

It lives!


Making Louise fight Guiche? Nice twist, especially with the wacky new magic. I can't wait to see Ryan start the explanation. Is Wulf related to the giant scar in some way? It will be neat to see how the Gandalfr binding interacted with Ryan's magic.


Loved him cracking up about Guiche's name. Can't wait to see the next chapter, keep it up!

Click to shrink...

>Implying that Ryan is Gandalfr

When did I ever mention that he was Gandalfr?

 

[Lord Sia]

Hm, interesting so far. Could do with a bit more detail, but I'm eager to see the next chapter, so... Post it!

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

THERE! Now that this is out of the way, I can look forward to writing actual plot!


= = =


Disclaimer: I'm not on crack, that's what the fuck is wrong with me.


Everything and Nothing
The Mage from another World


And the Magic he brought with him


[4.]


"Magic is a very recent thing in my world, we've only had it for a decade or so but we have a good understanding of how it works," Ryan explained as he turned away, sparing the others the sight of the scar, "there are the four principle elements, Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water, and then there is Aether. It represents the energy that drives life and powers the magic in our world."

Old Osmond hummed. "And the scar on your back and the rune on Miss Vallière's hand is a symbol of the Aether, isn't it?"

Ryan nodded. "Yes. When I was little, I was taken and used in a ritual to summon a powerful being into my world. Part of the ritual involved burning this mark into my back, but it was improperly done and I was able to get away."

Louise was struck; she couldn't imagine how anyone could take such agony, or how anyone could do that to another person, especially a little boy.

"Used as a sacrifice, how barbaric…" Colbert said, appalled at the notion.

"And because of the ritual, you can tap into Aether Magic." Old Osmond presumed.

"That's right," Ryan said as he finished putting his t-shirt back on and grabbed his sweater.

Old Osmond nodded slowly. "Then it must've been what caused the spell to backfire onto Louise. It does not explain how she could use the magic from your world."

Getting his sweater back on, Ryan looked over to Louise, who quickly looked away from him. He then turned his attention back to Old Osmond. "I guess when that binding contract reversed on her, it connected her to the Aether like the ritual did me."

Colbert looked between Ryan and Louise, and then to Old Osmond. "A sixth element existing in a world where there have only been five, there's no telling what kind of consequences this may have. Why, just Mr. Ingram and Miss Vallière existing in this world as Aether Magic Users could be undoing the fabric of reality as we speak!"

"Reality is a lot more durable than that. Believe me," Ryan said.

"Indeed. If the existence of a sixth element was such a problem, then the universe would've ripped itself apart the moment he arrived," Old Osmond said with a chuckle.

He then spoke to Ryan, "As this magic is clearly powerful and dangerous, we will keep it secret for now. I would also like for you to train Miss Vallière in its use, so that she can control her new-found power and prevent a repeat of today."

"You mean make him my teacher?" Louise asked.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. "Being a student is better than being a familiar, right?" Louise glared at him for bringing it up, but he quickly added. "Besides, you can learn to control a very powerful magic that you can actually use, you definitely won't be Louise the Zero anymore."

The thought softened her glare, and she cast her gaze downward. Sure, she'd still be his familiar, but was that so bad anymore? He was a mage and not a commoner, he could teach her to control powerful magic, and she could become the greatest Mage who ever lived, just like she wanted. She'd be able to shut up everyone who called her Zero, once and for all.

She looked back up at Ryan, and nodded. "It is better than being a familiar, yes."

Old Osmond smiled. "Good! Good! Mr. Colbert, I ask you to continue your research."

Alleviated of his fear of reality coming apart at the seams, Colbert all but leaped at this. "Yes, of course! While the universe is still intact, there are so many mysteries to unlock! Who would've thought that this boring old magic of ours would come up with something new?"

"I'd like to do some research myself," Wulf whispered in Ryan's mind.

"What is it?" Ryan asked.

"Well, as we're staying here for a while, you should learn all you can about this place. Make use of its library and explore this world's 'six thousand year history'."

Ryan understood Wulf's curiosity. He bowed his head politely to Old Osmond. "Ah, if we're done here…?"

"Yes, of course. You may return to your room Mr. Ingram, Miss Vallière," Old Osmond said, and Ryan and Louise both quickly left the room.

As they hurried down the stairs, they nearly knocked over Miss Longueville, who had been coming up them. Both barely noticed her, with Ryan issuing a quick pardon as they went on. It was for the best, they would've noticed she was catching her breath from fleeing Old Osmond's door before their exit.

Watching both go, she adjusted her glasses and hummed.

A new magic, they said, and there was a ritual to access it? That was interesting.


In her room, Louise was a lot less acerbic as she stripped out of her clothes and dressed herself in her nightgown and panties. Ryan was sitting at the table, using his notes as an excuse to avoid looking at her as she changed. It was as Louise finished changing, and put away her dirty clothes for washing, that she finally spoke.

"Why did you hide that you were a mage? You could've avoided trouble with Guiche if you said so," she asked.

"I'm probably nine-hundred trillion light-years from home in a strange universe. I reserve the right to play my hand close to my chest." Ryan replied.

Louise stared at him. "So you're far from home; you still could've saved yourself the trouble!"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Even if I did say I was a mage, would you have believed me?"

"Well if you used some of your own magic in the duel instead of trying to prop me up, maybe you would've gotten it across to everyone," Louise argued.

"I was trying to help you," he shot back.

"Yes it was very helpful," she sardonically responded.

Ryan sighed and rolled his eyes back up to the ceiling. "Yeah, that was a mistake. But don't blame me; I didn't know that would happen."

Louise wanted to snap at him for that, but she just let a frustrated sound and plopped herself down on the bed. It was useless to take her anger out on him, he was her master, and teacher… lashing out would just make this even more difficult. Still, she had to know.

"Why do you find nobles so repulsive?" she asked.

Ryan snorted. "Because the nobles I've had to deal with since I got here are obnoxious children who throw around their status like it gives them the right to be assholes."

Louise was, of course, offended. "That's unfair! You're the one acting like… like the asshole!"

Ryan got up. "I'm going to sleep outside. We're going to start early tomorrow, so make sure you sleep the whole night."

It looked like it was going to be a nice night, and he wasn't interested in verbally bashing the term "Noblesse Oblige" into the tiny girl's skull right now.

Louise laid herself down, and huffed. Her entire Voidday was going to be spent doing more learning. "Fine, go sleep outside. I hope it rains, idiot!"

Ryan just waved back as he walked out of the room, and slammed the door behind him. Louise pulled the covers over herself and let out an angry huff.

Free of that obnoxious girl and her obnoxious attitude, Ryan made straight for the stairs and outside. The whole reason he went out into the wilderness (before he ended up here) was to enjoy some damned solitude, and damn it he was going to enjoy some, damn it!

When he reached the stairs, however, he found himself staring at what he could only describe as a quadruped Charmeleon that stared right back at him.

"Okay…?" Ryan said as he stared at the creature. "What do you want?"

It was obviously a familiar, and it was looking for him, given that it nodded and turned around before heading up the stairs to the next floor. It looked back, and tilted its head, beckoning for him to follow. Letting out a sigh, Ryan followed it upstairs, to see where it wanted him to go. Maybe whoever owned it wanted something important.

When it led him to another student's door, Ryan performed an about face. "Nope."

The Charmeleon looking thing then pounced, tackling him to the ground and grabbing him by the hood of his sweater before dragging him into the darkened bedroom. All the way, he struggled against it. "Let go of me you bootleg pokémon, HEY!"

Letting him go, the familiar quickly got away, avoiding a swipe to its snout from Ryan. "Now that what the Hell is going… on…?"

He stopped and stared when he saw Kirche standing in front of him, framed perfectly in the moonlit window of her bedroom, wearing lingerie, and giving him a torturously sexy look.

"Finally, something fun to do," Wulf chimed in.

Ryan ignored the voice in his head, as Kirche spoke. "Welcome to my bedroom."

He didn't want to stare, but it was pretty apparent that Kirche wanted him to stare, so he at least tried not to drool. "Thank you, um…"

Wulf chimed in again. "I believe her name is Kirche, but I don't blame you for not remembering her name, she never gave it herself and good heaven that girl is healthy."

Ryan wholeheartedly agreed, as Kirche gave her name. "Sorry, I haven't given you the courtesy. My name is Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst… but… I am better known as Kirche the Fervent. It may sound a little dirty, but I am like a torch, you see? I'm easy to turn on, and I burn hotly."

"I see."

Well it was pretty obvious why she had him dragged here. He was a little more forgiving towards her pokémon thing now.

Kirche sashayed over to him, and then knelt down to his level. "The way you handled yourself out there today, it left me speechless. I became overwhelmed with passion!" She took his hand, and stared into his eyes, yearning. "You've set me aflame, Ryan Ingram."

Just as Kirche leaned in to kiss him, however, the windows to her bedroom opened and both she and Ryan looked to find Sticks floating in the window.

"Kirche, you didn't show up on time so I…" Sticks stopped when he saw Ryan and Kirche's state of dress. "Hey, what is he doing here?!"

"Oh, sorry Sticks, can we reschedule for two hours from now?" Kirche asked, and that put Ryan right out of the mood.

"Two hours?" he wondered.

"Hey at least she's giving you priority in queue," Wulf said humorously.

"Two hours from now? That's not what you said!" Sticks complained. "More to the point! You're spending time with that commoner all of a sudden?!"

Kirche waved her wand to one of the candles she had lit for the mood. It immediately turned into a flaming snake and leaped into Sticks' face.

"AH FOUNDER MY FACE!"

And Ryan was yearning for solitude again. "Is he going to be okay?"

Kirche looked back to him. "Oh, he'll be fine. He's had worse done to his face." She then leaned forward to kiss him. "But let's worry about your face… and mine…"

"Kirche!" Another young man, this time some blonde pretty boy, shouted.

Ryan could hear Wulf howling with laughter in his head.

"Is that the commoner?! I thought we were going to have a hot night–AHH!" He was certainly having himself a hot one now, as he caught a burning wax snake to the chest.

Ryan sighed. As made of sex as Kirche was, she was doing everything she could to ensure that nothing resembling it happened tonight. "I suppose he's got a pretty tough face too, right?"

"That's right…" Kirche replied. "Now the night is short and I don't want to waste any more of our time."

"Indeed, she's on a tight schedule." Wulf mocked.

"Kirche!" This time three young men trying to muscle past one another shouted as one. "What about us?!"

Ryan looked around; at least she was out of candles.

Kirche tried to assuage them. "Monaco, Ajax, Gimli…if you'd wait a few hours…"

"It'll be morning by then!" All three protested.

Kirche looked over to her familiar. "Flame?"

The Charmeleon looking thing sat up, and used Flamethrower on the three suitors, sending them crashing to the ground outside. In the room directly below Kirche's, Louise sat up and stared at the window as the three burning young men fell past.

"Zerbst must be having another hot night," she derided, before she lay back down and went back to sleep.

Back upstairs, Kirche turned back to Ryan, but he was already going for the door. She quickly jumped up to her feet after him. "Ah! Ryan, wait!"

Ryan looked back to her. "I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. I really should be getting to sleep; I have a lot to do tomorrow and…"

"Forget about that." Kirche pleaded. "Please… stay with me?"

She gave him doe eyes, a yearning look that conveyed a very real desire to want to be with him and to any other boy that would be it.

But it was not Ryan's first time at this particular rodeo. "No, I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

The Fervent Kirche went down in the flames she claimed to burn in as Ryan gave her a polite nod and left her bedroom. Left in the dark bedroom, she blinked a few times. "What… what just happened?"

She looked to Flame. "Did he just turn me down? Flame, what did I do wrong?"

Flame let out a cry in reply, before Sticks appeared in the window again. "Kirche… if you're still willing to…"

Kirche nodded to Flame, and the familiar used Flamethrower on Sticks.

It was super effective.

Louise heard the door open again, and rolled over to find Ryan entering and pulling off his sweater and pants. She turned back over, and closed her eyes. "I thought you were going to sleep outside."

"I thought I was too, but then that Kirche girl invited me to sleep with her," he replied as he sat down in the chair he slept in the night before.

So that's what all that was about? Louise let out a growl. "You didn't do anything, did you?"

"No, I lost interest pretty quickly," Ryan replied.

Louise felt a tinge of relief at that, and then snorted. "Good. I can't stand that woman."

"Why, aside from the Zero thing?" Ryan asked.

She sat up and looked at him. "The Zerbst and Vallière families have been enemies for generations! It is a never-ending feud!"

Ah, that stuff. Eventually hating the other just becomes a tradition. They don't even remember why they hate them, they just do. "It sounds pointless." He smiled a bit. "Sounds cute though."

"You wouldn't understand, now shut up and let me sleep," Louise settled back into bed.

Ryan hummed. "What if I had slept with Kirche?"

Louise snorted back. "You don't sleep with Kirche; she has her fun for a few minutes and then kicks you out of her room."

Ryan hummed. "Or sets your face on fire."

Louise hummed. "Yes, or that."

"What if I had slept with her?" he asked.

"If you did that stuff with her, you'd just be dead to me."

He was surprised he wasn't now. Oh well, this was only the second day. "I get it. Goodnight Louise."

"Mm." Louise's replied.


The next morning, Tabitha woke up and performed her morning routine. She made her bed, washed up, organized her notes, got dressed, and put aside her dirty clothes for washing later. After putting on her cloak and retrieving her staff, she headed out her door and immediately cast a silencing spell on Kirche as she stormed up and began ranting at her about something or other.

Tabitha loved Kirche and considered her a dear friend, but it was just too early to be making this much noise on a Voidday. As she watched Kirche, she noticed that she seemed genuinely upset about something, and canceled the spell.

"… I didn't even get to kiss him-!"

Nope. Tabitha silenced Kirche again, who noticed it this time. Stopping, Kirche glared at her petulantly, and Tabitha undid the silence spell.

"Tabitha! Ryan rejected me!" Kirche cried out.

This chapter has failed the Bechdel Test.

Tabitha didn't really care about Kirche's romantic pursuits, but the mention of the young man pulled at her interest and she directed her full attention to Kirche, who kept talking. "I almost had him, too. It was perfect; I had the candles out, put on my best lingerie and everything. It was going to be a night of passionate love-making!"

Or about two hours, Tabitha knew the score.

Kirche sighed. "But then we were… interrupted."

She knew that score, too; she had been up late reading and heard the racket.

"I think he was intimidated by the others." Kirche surmised, "It's what happened to Sticks before, but after he understood how things were arranged he got along nicely…"

As nicely as teenaged boys who were kept well apart and on a strict schedule could. It marveled Tabitha that none of them had actually killed one another in a misguided attempt to gain Kirche for themselves, but for a body like that most men would probably go against their nature and not kill each other.

If she cared more about the dynamic, it could be something worth researching. But she didn't.

Tabitha rarely let her opinion be known beyond a yes or no answer, so Kirche continued on as they began walking for the cafeteria. "Though, even then Sticks didn't just walk out! Ryan just left and didn't even look back!" Kirche rested the back of her hand on her forehead melodramatically. "Maybe he's not intimidated, maybe he was outright repulsed?"

It would not surprise Tabitha one bit.

Then a worse possibility came to mind. "What if… oh no… what if he and Vallière…?"

Given all that Tabitha had seen so far, that was an even remoter possibility. But Kirche was not one to be denied a worst case scenario and she balled her hands into fists.

"Oh! That Vallière, summoning such a handsome boy and having him all to herself! I will not allow it!" She declared.

Tabitha had cause to be alarmed. Directly engaging Louise after what she did yesterday was one of those things that Tabitha would eagerly do… right after she marched back to her home country of Gallia and challenged her Uncle to a fight to the death for the right to rule.

The two entered the cafeteria, and there was Ryan and Louise eating their breakfast. Ryan's presence wasn't causing the commotion it had before after the duel, but now he was receiving deadly glares from Kirche's suitors–those who showed up the night before and around half a dozen more. Tabitha could've started laughing right then, but she was reserved enough to not even crack a smile about it.

"They all want to fight you," Louise stated.

Ryan was unconcerned about the prospect of fighting them. "I'm not interested in Kirche, so they don't have to worry about a thing. If they all want to pass such a bad tempered woman back and forth between them, they're welcome to her."

Louise flushed when some of the students next to them turned to stare. "Don't be so crass in public!"

He was surprised that a post-renaissance era parallel universe would understand the slang, much less a noble witch. "My tongue is only noble when the subject deserves it."

Ryan stopped, and sighed. "I need to lay off the King Arthur."

He then noticed Kirche approaching from the corner of his eye, and quickly returned his focus to his meal.

She called to him. "Oh Ryan, can we talk?"

Ryan didn't look up, not out of any rudeness, just because if he looked up, he would not be able to get his stare out of Kirche's cleavage. "What did you want to talk about?"

Kirche smiled. "Well, since there are no classes today, would you like to go on an outing with me?"

Well, there went gasoline on the fire, as some of Kirche's suitors slammed down their silverware and stood up to protest.

Louise's vehement reaction rendered them background noise. "Keep your claws out of him, Zerbst!"

Kirche recoiled from Louise, the tiny wizard glaring like she was a tiny pink French Poodle challenging a German Shepherd. Kirche, however, wasn't to be intimidated by a Vallière. "Now, now, Vallière, I only want to get to know him…"

"… Biblically…" Wulf added, and Ryan tried not to smirk a little.

"… I have no intention of stealing him away from you. So let your master have a little fun." Kirche actually had every intention of stealing Ryan away from Louise, and Louise could see it plain as day.

"Don't you have enough boys to have fun with you… you… harlot!" Louise snapped at her.

Tabitha blinked, and then stepped back when the air temperature around Kirche rose. Calmly, Kirche asked. "I'm sorry, Vallière, did you just…?"

"I said it."

Kirche glared at Louise, as though she was going to haul off on the shorter girl in the name of her honor, her family, and her ancestors, while Louise wore a look on her face that said she WISHED Kirche would do it. Before screaming, slapping, and hair pulling could commence, Ryan stood up and got between them.

"Whoa, okay. Calm down, both of you, I'm not going through yesterday again." He said as he pushed them both away from each other.

Tabitha stepped in as well, holding her staff out to deter Kirche from escalating the confrontation.

Remaining between Louise and Kirche, Ryan looked to the latter. "I mean no disrespect, Kirche, but I have things to do at the request of your Headmaster. So I'll be busy today."

Kirche still wanted to get back at Louise for the harlot dig, but she eased up some. "Oh, I see. Very well, but can you see it in your heart to make a little time for me in your busy day?"

There was that doe-eyed look again that Ryan saw through, infuriated Louise, and caused Kirche's other partners to devise plans for him that involved violence.

"I won't make any promises," Ryan just said.

Kirche backed off at this. It was bad enough she was rejected last night, outright failing in front of the entire school could damage her reputation. With this she could actually take a better shot later.

She put on a smile. "Then I'll be optimistic about later today, mm?"

"Right, now I'd like to get back to my breakfast." Ryan then looked down to Louise. "And so would you."

Louise, satisfied that Kirche wasn't having her way (for now) huffed and sat down to resume eating.

Tabitha motioned for Kirche to follow her to their spots at the table, and gave Ryan a parting look and nod as they walked away.

Ryan decided that he liked Tabitha. Not romantically, of course, but so far she'd been nothing but helpful. Taking his seat, he looked to Louise and whispered.

"Is there someplace far away from the school we can go to practice?" he asked.

Louise nodded. "Since there are no classes today, we can take a and leave the grounds for the day."

Ryan liked the sound of that. "Good, soon as breakfast is done, we're gone."

And Louise liked the sound of that!

He smiled to her. "We won't need a horse, though."

Louise blinked. "We won't?"


Some time after lunch ended, Ryan and Louise were out in the courtyard, heading towards the school's gates. Louise would much prefer to take her horses, but Ryan's insistence that they forgo the stables and go straight for the gates. What astounded her was that he insisted they'd get there faster on foot.

"Where do you plan on taking us training?" she asked as they walked with him.

Ryan was looking at a map of the area around the school. He pointed to a large green clearing on the map, halfway between the school and the capital of Tristain, Tristainia.

Louise looked from the map to Ryan. "That's an hour horse ride."

"Yes it is," Ryan said before smiling and offering his hand, "We will be there in a second."

Louise looked at his hand, and then back up at him. "Really?"

He nodded again and wordlessly insisted she take his hand.

Humming skeptically, she took his hand and he held it.

"Now, take a step with me," Ryan said as he lifted his right foot. Following him, Louise raised her right foot. "Aaaand... " with a moment he stepped. "… step!"

Louise set her foot down, and blinked. She scanned the terrain, her mouth falling open as she realized that they were standing in the middle of a broad, grassy plain far from any civilization.

"W-what…?" she sputtered in surprise. "Where are… how did we get out…?"

"This is good," Ryan suddenly declared, "we can start here."

"Hey! What just happened?! Where are we?!" Louise demanded.

Ryan turned to face her. "We used a bit of magic," he replied before holding up the map and pointed at the clearing. "We should be about here."

Louise blinked several times. "We teleported… twelve kilometers?!"

Ryan nodded. "Not something I normally or repeatedly do. I usually go for shorter hops."

Louise looked back towards the direction they came from, and towards the direction of… sure enough she could see in the distance the soaring towers of the Castle of Tristainia. "Amazing…"

"Now then, shall we begin?" Ryan asked.

Louise watched as Ryan then drew his sword and swung at the ground, creating a blast of wind that dug out a shallow hole. Ryan then took a bag he'd grabbed from Louise's room and dropped it into it, before covering it back up.

"So your sword is your wand?" Louise asked as Ryan patted his foot down on the dirt.

"Huh? No. Magic in our world doesn't really need wands, they're mainly to help a caster give something for the spells they cast to travel through," he replied as he sheathed the blade.

Louise nodded. "I see. So what was in that bag?"

"A spare change of clothes for you, you're going to need them," Ryan replied.

Given what happened to her clothes yesterday, Louise understood completely.

"What about you?" She gestured to his clothes. "When you used your magic to stop me, your clothes didn't shred."

"Well, I have control over my magic, and my clothes themselves were specially made to be a little more durable." Ryan tugged on his sweater. "This material's actually a lot heavier than it looks, and is supposed to be knife and bullet resistant. Thanks to that, it can take me casting my magic better than regular fabric."

Fabric that could resist bullets? This intrigued her, but she was more interested in learning more about her magic. "All right, show me what I have to do to cast this magic properly!"

Ryan nodded, and walked out into the field from Louise, before turning to face her. "Like I said yesterday, Aether is the force that powers the magic in my world, and is the force that makes up all things. Without it, there can be no life, no magic, nothing. Just… well…"

Ryan sighed. "It's a pain for me to describe. Imagine everything in existence being one big, formless mass where all things are indistinguishable from one another and there's no separation. Aether basically acts as the space that fills in those gaps, and gives it definition."

Louise understood. "I see, would that be why the symbol is an asterisk, pointing in all directions because it's everywhere?"

"Hey, you're pretty sharp." Ryan then turned and headed over towards a fairly large rock, bigger than a horse, and gestured for Louise to come over. "Stand against this rock, please."

Louise complied, and leaned back against the boulder, before Ryan stepped back in the gently waving grass and closed his eyes. "I'm going to start by demonstrating how powerful this magic is, and how much control I possess over it. This will give you an idea of what you'll be capable of one day."

Louise looked back at the rock, and then back at Ryan, before she noticed the grass begin to bend, as if being slowly flattened around his feet. The flattening grass radiated outward, soon reaching Louise's feet.

Then she felt it, the same sense of power she had before, but rather than overload her senses like before, it enhanced them and she let out a gasp of pleasure. Everything was suddenly sharper, in both clarity and sensation as she rested her open hands against the smooth surface of the boulder, and could hear the prevailing breeze blowing through the grass outside where Ryan's power was flattening it.

Her focus snapped back onto him, as he raised his hand and closed it into a fist. He spoke. "Don't be afraid, no matter what I will not hurt you."

Louise nodded, but still braced herself. Ryan began walking towards her, and when she looked down at his feet, her eyes widened.

He wasn't walking on the ground. He was walking atop the bent grass, which barely budged under his weight. Every step, however, created a ripple effect in the ground around him that Louise could feel down to her bones. It made her legs weak, every inch of her body coursing with a comfortable warmth.

"If the Aether is connected to all things, then you can now understand what it means to be connected to the Aether itself."

Ryan then suddenly lunged for her and punched her in the stomach with all his might. The boulder she had stood against exploded violently, sending chunks of it now no bigger than her hand scattering outward behind her in a large arc.

Louise stared at his fist, resting against her stomach. She hadn't felt the impact at all; her stomach didn't even budge inward, like he was hitting a wall. When he stepped away, she turned and stared at the rubble, and fell to her knees in disbelief.

"How?" she asked.

Ryan leaned over her shoulder. "I wanted to destroy the rock, not you. It's not as easy as I made it look, trust me, but it's one of many useful abilities that you'll learn."

Louise's face reddened, her whole body still felt comfortably warm. Okay, what was this now? "I feel… really good right now…"

Ryan stood up. "Oh, that's just a side-effect. Life is a good thing, so life energy should feel good, shouldn't it?"

Louise nodded and he continued. "That's what makes Aether Magic so dangerous and so rare in my world. If you're not careful, if you can't control it, you will become addicted to it and lose all sense of yourself like you almost did yesterday. If you let it consume you like that…" He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword for emphasis, extinguishing a good portion of the warmth Louise was feeling. "… At least you won't feel it."

Louise nodded slowly, and got up. Ryan then smiled. "Now then, let's work on introducing you to it properly, shall we?"


In the school's library, Colbert was taking advantage of his day off to the fullest, researching the five known elements, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Void, the last being a lost magic in the world as it was known. On the notebook at his side, the symbol of his world's magic was scrawled, and beside it the relatively crude asterisk.

Ryan's description of the Aether as a life-force bothered him. The four known elements gave their users the ability to control those elements to fantastic degrees, and Void Magic was said to act in a way that the traditional four could not do. However, what could magic that called upon life-force itself do? What kind of limits existed for that power?

Miss Longueville entered the library, rubbing her back and trying to regain her composure. That Old Osmond and his sexual harassment, she was lucky she didn't kill him just now with that paperweight of his. Still he was preferred to that Count Mott ogling her breasts like he had the remotest chance at getting his hands on them.

Spotting Colbert intensively studying from a pile of books, Miss Longueville smiled somewhat and made her way over to him. "Ah Colbert, you've been a common sight around here these last few days."

Colbert looked up at Miss Longueville, surprised she'd be down here. "Miss Longueville, is Old Osmond still seeing the Count?"

"No, he's taking a nap." Though he was probably going to wake up soon, she didn't throw it that hard.

Colbert sighed. "I respect Old Osmond, but he's definitely getting on in years. Why was the Count visiting, by the way?"

Miss Longueville took a seat next to Colbert. "Oh, he was bringing a message warning about the thief Fouquet of the Sand. It seems that she is interested in taking one of the Royal Family's treasures being guarded here."

In all the excitement surrounding Ryan, Colbert forgot all about that. "The Staff of Destruction. In all the excitement recently, I had forgotten about it. "

"Yes, I can understand why." Miss Longueville leaned closer. "Colbert, what precisely do you know about the Staff?"

Colbert looked from his notes to her. "Ah? Not very much, I am afraid, other than it's exactly what it says on the tin. It has the ability to kill any beast, no matter the size, with a single casting, from what Old Osmond described to me."

Very interesting, Miss Longueville thought. "A power like that would be frightening in the wrong hands."

"Like any other," Colbert said before he removed his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose.

Miss Longueville glanced back towards the library's doors, around where they were seated, and then to Colbert. "I hope you're not terribly too busy with your studies, I need to get out of a dinner date and I'd appreciate some help with that."

Colbert replaced his glasses. "Count Mott asked you to dinner, I presume?"

"How did you-?" Miss Longueville asked.

Colbert just smiled. "He's the reason Old Osmond's last secretary quit. She didn't want anything to do with him after she went out with him."

Well, that was utterly revolting. Miss Longueville cringed slightly. "Well, that's unsettling."

"Well, if you need a more pressing engagement, I do need to head into town and purchase some more books," Colbert said.

"Oh, I'd be happy to help, very, very, very happy," Miss Longueville said. Happy to have gotten out of a date with Count Mott… and of course happy that she had a way in closer to this little mystery. She knew, however, she wasn't going to get anywhere with just the bald bookworm.

After all, Ryan was the one who knew the most about what she needed to know.


"Tabitha, you have no idea how grateful I am for this!" Kirche admitted as she and her best friend soared through the air aboard Sylphid, Tabitha's Wind Dragon familiar. It was the middle of the afternoon, and the sky was clear aside from a few high clouds above them.

After determining that Ryan and Louise had run off in the direction of Tristainia, Kirche seized upon the opportunity to follow along and "bump into him" while in town. Hopefully, she could separate him from the dwarf and "show him the sights", so to speak.

Tabitha had decided to give Kirche a ride because it sounded like it would end either in an adventure, or she'd have to prevent Kirche and Louise from killing one another.

Definitely not in town, and still in the field, Louise was in a state of complete bliss, tapped into the Aether and allowing it to spread across and through her. Her senses were expanded to their human limits, allowing her to take in the full scope of her environment.

Ryan was standing a safe distance away, watching the rune on Louise's hand as she became one with the life, the universe, and everything. It was glowing red, but it was a soft, non-threatening light as opposed to the alarming flash that happened before.

He was impressed; she had been like this for hours now, perfectly still, in full control of the relatively small amount of Aether she was drawing to her.

"She's a natural at this," he declared to Wulf.

Wulf agreed. "Yes, but bear in mind she hasn't experienced your trauma and has less baggage involved."

"I know," Ryan replied before he called to Louise. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel wonderful!" Louise replied. Even with such a small amount of Aether running through her, Louise never felt more powerful or in control in her life. It was a liberating feeling, ironic given her status as familiar.

Ryan chuckled. Experiencing the world via high-definition senses was definitely one of the perks of Aether magic–though that had the glaring drawback of over-stimulation, as he learned himself while exploring his abilities.

Speaking of, it was time to learn that painful lesson. It has to be done, really. "All right, ready to go beyond the boundaries of a mere mortal?"

Louise looked at him. "Ah?"

"You've done well to keep your power stable, I want you to call out to the Aether, and draw more of the power to you," he instructed.

Without hesitation, Louise obeyed, maintaining her concentration. As Ryan watched, Louise's hair and cloak began to lift upward, and she let out a long, airy sigh as the power of the Aether intensified the warmth she had been enjoying all day.

Opening her eyes, Louise marveled at what she could see now. It was like her vision had gone from 20/20 to 1000/1. She could literally see for miles now. It threw her off, and she fell onto her back, where the discomfort from her landing lashed at her senses and caused her to hiss in pain. But that was quickly forgotten when she could make out every individual blade of grass against her skin, and even hear the insects in the grass scurrying to get away from where she fell.

"It's amazing, huh?" Ryan asked as he walked over to her. More than just his footsteps, when Louise turned her attention to him, she could hear his breathing and his heartbeat plain as day.

She could hardly move her body, let alone nod. There were just so many different signals, sensations, and feelings running through her. It was like before, her senses blurring together, making it difficult to respond to anything else.

It was amazing, but at the same time, confusing and frightening. How did she pull herself out of this? As much as she wanted to keep going, to see how much further she could go, she was terrified at becoming too far gone, locked in this hyper-sensitive state.

Louise had her answer when Ryan then clapped his hands together, and it sounded like an explosion in her ears. Slapping her hands over them, she rolled over to her side and curled up into a ball as she quickly threw herself away from the Aether, and her senses returned to normal.

"You got off lucky, when it happened to me; the person training me used a flash bang," Ryan said.

The name alone gave Louise an idea as to what that was, and how unpleasant that must've been. She then sat up and looked up at him. "How do you avoid all of that when you use the magic?"

"Well, as your control of the magic gets better, you'll learn to make it do exactly what you want it to do. I've still not gotten it down, but I know more than enough, and you're a Mage with enough schooling under her belt to figure how to control it like you would other magic, right?"

Louise stood up and frowned a little. "Even then, this is going to be very hard, isn't it?"

Ryan appreciated that Louise was a realist. "Yeah, it is. But nothing really worth it is easy, and I think you can do it."

She looked down at the asterisk rune. It was a while before she spoke. "It's not just my school."

Ryan hummed back, and Louise explained. "Except for one person, my entire family believes that I'm not good enough to be a mage. I went to the academy despite their wishes, and I survived through my entire first year out of spite, and thanks to the support of that one person."

She opened and closed her hand. "I almost gave up yesterday, but then you tried to help me and I remembered that person… my older sister Cattleya."

The asterisk began to glow, as she looked back up to him. "So thank you for helping me, and for teaching me."

Ryan smiled. "You're welcome, and you're a pretty good student, although you're my first one."

Louise then looked across the vast empty expanse, and looked to Ryan. "I'd like to try casting a spell. Something basic…"

She pointed at a one of the rocks that had been part of the boulder Ryan had shattered before. "A levitation spell on that rock."

Ryan nodded and stepped back. "Sure, give it a shot."

Louise pulled out her wand and pointed at the rock. This would be easy, just a step above the normal cantrips that even she could do without causing a disaster. As she had practiced all day, she called forth the power of the Aether, and directed it through her body, to her wand, and recited the incantation in her mind.

And then there was a tremendous explosion that broke windows in the town and rattled them at the Academy.


The explosion would've knocked Sylphid out of the sky had Tabitha not instinctively raised a rather dark barrier at the first flash to protect their eyes and bodies from the effects of the explosion. As the initial flash faded, both mages and their dragon stared in disbelief at the mushroom-shaped cloud that rose up over the field.

"What…what was that?" Kirche asked.

"An explosion," Tabitha replied, not in the least bit flapped.

Kirche gave Tabitha an incredulous look, was she being smart with her? Climbing to Sylphid's neck, Tabitha instructed her familiar. "Let's go see."

The dragon swooped down and arrived at ground zero. Dismounting from Sylphid, Tabitha cast a wind spell to blow away the smoke, and Kirche gave a start when both saw what it concealed.

Louise, her clothes completely blown off by the backlash of her spell, was lying under Ryan, who was somewhat singed but unharmed. She was staring up at him, wide-eyed, convinced that neither of them should be alive right now.

"Uh…" Ryan blinked and then smiled a bit. "Well! I'm pretty sure that rock is somewhere up there now."

Most likely in orbit around one of those moons.

Kirche, still shaken, looked at Louise's wand still clutched tightly in her fist. "V-Vallière… that… that was you just now?"

Louise looked over at Kirche as Ryan sat up. Sitting up at the bottom of her hundred foot wide crater, and covering herself with her arms to preserve her modesty, she glared at Kirche. "It was an accident!"

Kirche went stark white, a feat in itself for a woman of such dark complexion.

Ryan, however, was optimistic. "You know what? I had expected that explosion to be much larger, you're already showing promise."

Larger? That just shook Kirche up more. What on Brimir's Earth were these two doing out here?

Louise smiled at that. "We should find my spare clothes."

"Oh, they're gone." Ryan pointed to where they would've been buried, and there was nothing but steep crater wall. Still, ever the gentleman, Ryan removed his sweater and handed it for Louise to put on.

When she took it, she fell over, weighed down by the heavy material. Ryan looked down at her. "Oops, I forgot."

Tabitha handed Louise her cloak, and then looked to Ryan. "We should leave."

"That's a capital idea," Ryan replied as he helped Louise up, "let's get the Hell out of here!"

Ryan and Louise quickly climbed aboard Sylphid, with Kirche and Tabitha, and raced off for the school.


That evening, Louise got herself dressed for bed and settled in under her blankets. After that not so tiny mishap, when they returned from their lesson, Ryan had confiscated Louise's wand and told her to focus exclusively on controlling the Aether and to not cast any spells. Surprisingly, she offered no protest to this, entirely because she did not want to destroy the school and she enjoyed just contacting the magic.

As she closed her eyes, she immediately began contacting it, and let out a pleased sigh as that warm feeling returned. Yes, she was going to sleep well tonight.

Upstairs, Kirche wasn't sure if she was ever going to sleep as long as she knew Louise of the Explosion was in the room below her. Actually Kirche wasn't sure if she even wanted to be in the same country as Louise, much less the same building.

There was no way Louise or Ryan should've been able to survive that, if Tabitha hadn't raised a barrier, they would've been killed too and they were several kilometers away from the epicenter! What was she trying to do out there that turned her previous explosions, generally regarded as nuisances, into that?

There was a knock at her door, making her jump. She wasn't in the mood for guests tonight, and prepared to fling a fireball at the door when it opened and Tabitha walked in. "Tabitha?"

Tabitha never came into Kirche's room uninvited, though Kirche was not complaining. The quiet mage was her best friend after all. "What is it, is something wrong?"

She climbed onto the bed and sat directly in front of Kirche, staring intently at her, before she spoke. "Help."

Kirche stared at her, dumbfounded. "You want to help me with what?"

"Ryan," Tabitha replied.

This did not allay her bemusement. Why would Tabitha suddenly become so interested in her love life? "Why?"

"He is good for you," Tabitha simply replied.

"Well of course he's good for me…" Kirche paused. "… Tabitha, are you saying that I should focus only on him?"

Tabitha nodded, and Kirche pouted some. "I had been thinking about it, he is different from the other boys, incomparable even. He's rebellious, and has no respect for nobility. I.. really like that."

"You won't get him. Get serious." Tabitha advised.

Kirche sighed. "He'd think better of me if I was more exclusive, you're right."

She then scrutinized Tabitha. "But I know you Tabitha; you never do anything without a reason. Why are you helping me? 'Because he's good for me' is not enough, what are you getting out of it?"

Tabitha fidgeted a little, and Kirche quirked an eyebrow. "It's something big, isn't it?"

The smaller mage nodded.

Kirche's eyebrow continued its upward movement. "It's something that you're really embarrassed to ask for, isn't it?"

Tabitha nodded again, her cheeks becoming a little red. No one else was allowed to see this but Kirche, who had witnessed it ever so rarely.

Seeing this, Kirche figured it out, and gasped. "You want to be with him too, don't you?"

Tabitha buried her face in her hands, to hide the flush across her face, and nodded quickly. Poor Kirche, she could not help but laugh at the adorable reaction, despite how out there it was for her friend to want something like this.

Folding her arms across her chest, Kirche hummed. "How risqué…"

Tabitha peeked up at her best friend, who chuckled again. "Were it anyone else in the world, I'd say no, throw you out of my room, and hate you forever. However, because you're someone so dear to me, Tabitha, I will graciously accept your help and in exchange… I'll share."

Tabitha hugged Kirche then, surprising her yet again. "Thank you."

Shrugging her shoulders, Kirche sighed and returned Tabitha's hug. "Think nothing of it."


Ryan, washing his clothes outside this time, had no idea of the machinations going on over his head. He was looking up at the two moons overhead, particularly the pinkish smaller celestial body.

"They have no atmospheres. The surfaces are just that color, why do you suppose that is?" he asked Wulf.

"I'm a disembodied soul, not a Lunar Geologist!"

"Fair enough, it's just weird to me," Ryan replied.

He then felt it; Louise was performing her Aether Contact exercise. Not only was she drawing the magical fuel in, but she was spreading it all over the place. Oh boy… tonight was going to be an interesting night for a lot of people.

Ryan held up his sweater, and nodded in approval when he found it perfectly clean. Setting it aside, he dunked his pants in the bucket and began scrubbing them next, even as a figure from the shadows crept up on him. It was Siesta, having noticed him outside as she was on her way to back to the kitchen to have dinner with the other staff.

"Ah, Ryan?" she called to him.

Ryan looked back, and smiled. "Hello, Siesta."

She smiled warmly. "Already washing your clothes? You must've had a busy day."

Ryan let out a laugh. "Oh you have no idea."

"I see." Siesta looked around, when she felt something off. Was it just her or was there something in the air all of a sudden?

"Is something wrong?" Ryan asked.

Siesta looked back to him, and shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

She then noticed how he was scrubbing his pants. "Are you always so forceful? You'll ruin the fabric."

"Oh, it can take it…" Ryan trailed off as Siesta knelt down and gently took hold of them. She quickly noticed their weight, and was surprised.

"They're so heavy," she asked as she began gently washing them.

Ryan chuckled. "I've gotten used to them a long time ago. I've forgotten how heavy they are."

Siesta looked him over and repressed a small laugh with her smile. "You don't look it."

He couldn't help himself, and hammed it up some. "I assure you, milady, my strength is beyond mortal comprehension."

Siesta laughed, as Ryan puffed up his chest, and comically flexed and posed.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to hear more about your world" she asked after he stopped.

Ryan gave her an inquisitive look, and she elaborated as she scooted closer to him. "It's just that after what you told me before, I'd like to learn more about your world, and what it's like. It must be an interesting place."

Oh, Siesta had no idea. "Sure, if you haven't eaten yet we can discuss over some food?"

Siesta clapped her hands together at this. "Actually, I was on my way to get my dinner. You can come along if you like."

Ryan nodded. "I'd like that. Let me just hang these to dry and we can go."

With that quickly taken care of, Ryan and Siesta got up and headed for the kitchen. Reaching and opening the door for Siesta, Ryan looked back, and towards one of the school's watchtowers.

"I feel like I'm being watched," he said to Wulf.

"Was there ever a time you weren't?" Wulf replied.

Ryan shrugged his shoulders and followed Siesta inside. As the doors closed, a cloaked woman stepped from behind the tower, before she hopped off the wall and disappeared into its shadows.


= = =


I edited the ending because I've actually gone through the series and WHOOPS Fouquet doesn't meet Wardes until after she's arrested~

 

[Prince Charon]

Very interesting. Not sure if I should feel sorry for Ryan, or envy him (managing a harem may seem like fun, but if you care about the girls, its likely to be quite stressful; the formation phase can be pretty dangerous, as well).

 

[Mizuki_Stone]

That's... actually logical. If Life Energy is additively pleasant, then he'd draw in people like droves.

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

I'd be very interested to know where Tabitha's sudden interest in Ryan came from. Not complaining about it yet, but it kinda comes out of nowhere.

Click to shrink...

Hint: Tabitha's not really out for some old fling. She has intentions and more importantly, ambitions.

 

[Prince Charon]

Those ambitions should be obvious given the hint you provided earlier. (At least in a general sense.)

Click to shrink...

Hmm. He probably could to that, with a bit of help.

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

Those ambitions should be obvious given the hint you provided earlier. (At least in a general sense.)

Click to shrink...

Good eye...good eye...

 

[The Ero-Sennin]

This one will probably get deleted.


= = =


Disclaimer: All right, now we're getting into the groove of things!


Everything and Nothing
Long Live the Night!


Feel the energy of YOUTH!


[5.]


Colbert and Miss Longueville had been riding towards town to pick up the books he needed, when they had witnessed the explosion Louise had created. After calming down their startled horses, they raced to the scene and found the vast, smoking crater Louise left behind, as well as a small detachment of Griffon Knights from the palace.

Seeing the knights, Miss Longueville tensed slightly, but maintained her composure when Colbert called to them.

"Captain, what has happened here?"

The Griffon Knights, named for their majestic steeds, quickly turned their attention to Colbert, and relaxed when they saw it was only a teacher from the academy. Descending from his mount, the Captain of the Knights approached the two mages and gestured to the crater.

"We were performing maneuvers when we heard the explosion and raced to the scene. My men are searching the area for any clues, but the devastation is complete." The Captain, Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis de Wardes, explained to Colbert.

Indeed it was, Colbert had never witnessed an explosion of such power before. "Well, if you need any assistance, we're more than willing to aid you."

As he spoke, Miss Longueville noticed something glinting in the crater, and headed towards it.

Colbert and Wardes looked over at Miss Longueville, with the former calling after her. "Miss Longueville, what is it?"

At the bottom of the crater, Miss Longueville crouched down and picked up the shiny object. Her eyes widened in surprise when she recognized it. "I think I've found a clue!"

She held up the clue, and Colbert hid his cringe well as he and Wardes quickly identified the gold pendant worn by all Tristan Academy of Magic students.

It took Colbert only a second to realize who could've possibly created the explosion. Ryan and Louise had informed Old Osmond and Colbert that they'd be practicing magic outside of the school grounds, but what exactly was that boy teaching Miss Vallière, and had they survived?

Miss Longueville walked over, and Colbert took the pendant from her to examine it as Wardes leaned over to look as well. The gold pendant was undamaged, which meant there was a good chance its wearer was somehow protected from the blast as well. If they survived, the two were probably on their way back to the Academy right now.

Colbert turned the pendant over in his hand, and immediately regretted it. Perhaps out of fear of it being lost, Louise had gone through the trouble of inscribing her name on the back of the pendant.

"This belongs to Louise?"

Colbert looked to Wardes, who appeared stunned. Taking the pendant from the teacher, the Captain of the Griffon Knights read the name inscribed on it repeatedly before speaking. "Mr. Colbert, what exactly is going on at the Academy?"

Well, this was just perfect. Colbert took the pendant. "I was wondering the same thing. I'll have to return to the Academy post-haste and contact Old Osmond."

Captain Wardes nodded. "Very well, I shall see you there…"

Before he could offer Mr. Colbert and Miss Longueville mounts upon the Knights' swift griffons, another Griffon Knight swooped down. "Captain there's a panic because of the explosion, we've been requested to restore order!"

Wardes gave pause, and then nodded to the arriving Knight. Colbert inwardly thanked the Viscount's dedication to his duty. It meant he'd have a head start in damage control on the Academy's end.

"Mr. Colbert, I will be heading into town to restore order. Once I am finished there, I hope I will get some kind of explanation for what happened." Wardes said to Colbert, before he returned to his mount.

As the Griffon Knights quickly took off for the town, Colbert climbed about his horse, and was joined by Miss Longueville. He looked to her and spoke. "We'll have to get the books later, this is urgent."

Miss Longueville nodded, and together with Colbert rode hard back for the Academy.


That was hours ago, and in that time Miss Longueville was officially made privy to what she had already known from her eavesdropping by Old Osmond when Colbert explained the situation regarding Wardes. This was good, because it meant she could approach Ryan without suspicion, something she had been trying to work her way towards before by cozying to Colbert.

It was nice she didn't have to get too cozy; it would've made using her wiles to get closer to the otherworldly mage awkward.

She had intended to "run into him" while he was out washing his clothes, but then a maid had unwittingly ruined that angle by showing up and starting a conversation with him. To Longueville's further dismay, the two got up and left together inside, leaving her to improvise.

It was as she hopped down the wall to make her way inside that Miss Longueville found herself privy to another meeting. It was Sticks and the other members of Kirche's harem, lurking in the shadows like a bunch of ne'er-do-wells riled up about something or other.

"That Ryan Ingram has taken away our Kirche! Casting us aside like ashes from a pipe now that she's found something she thinks is better!" Sticks, tears of anguish running down his cheeks, declared to the other young men, who all nodded back.

Miss Longueville stared in disbelief. Was everything in this school beginning to revolve around this boy?

"You know how Kirche is, once she is shown something she cannot have, she decides she must have it, especially if it's something that belongs to the Zero," Monaco pointed out.

Ajax, still sporting bandages from the scalds he received from Flame, held up a fist. "We need to eliminate that swordsman and win back our Kirche! Just because he's exotic doesn't make him better!"

"Hear, hear!" several other boys cheered.

Sticks rode upon this sentiment. "Yes, we're all nobles, with lines going back generations, and both the skills and magic to back them. A summoned human of such low class is no competition for us; we shall show him and Kirche this! We have put aside our differences and join forces to return to her graces and the right to be in her company! Gentlemen, let us separate the men and nobles from the boys and commoners!"

"Hear, hear!" the other boys cheered, and Miss Longueville buried her face in her palm.

This was going to be an interesting night, she mused to herself.

"He headed off to the kitchen with that maid. When he comes back out, we will confront him and demonstrate what it means to be a noble!" Sticks said, and the mob of youths quickly headed towards the main tower of the school.


As an angry mob was forming outside, Louise was blissfully unaware of it as she rolled over in her bed and took a look around her room. Ryan hadn't come back yet, not that she was concerned about it of course–in fact she was quite fine with having her privacy again after having him in her room for two nights in a row.

Letting out a sigh, Louise pushed those thoughts aside and deepened her contact with the Aether slightly until the sensitivity of her senses sharpened. She shivered then, as the pleasant feeling of her night gown and her bedding against her skin suddenly became almost risqué.

Her face warmed at the thought. If the Aether made her sense of touch like this on her body in general, then what about somewhere more specific?

Louise's cheeks now completely red, she sat up slowly, looked to the door and listened for a moment for anyone outside it, and then looked down.


If there was one thing Ryan could not yet get over, it was how good the food here was. Even the leftovers were good. Well, leftovers were always good; years of leftover pizza from the south side of town taught him that much. The kitchen staff were also a great deal amiable than the folks he had to put up so far, all of them interested in learning more about the mysterious boy from another world.

"When Siesta first told us about you, we were all very curious. Is it true that you come from a world where the nobles are gone?" The head chef Marteau asked as Ryan helped himself to some more of the stew.

"Well, they're not all dead, but the ones we keep around aren't really important to world affairs," Ryan replied.

The commoner staff marveled at this, and Siesta spoke. "So commoners are in charge?"

Ryan nodded. "That's about right, where I'm from the government is of the people, by the people, and for the people."

"Indeed! In your world anyone can have the power of nobility, provided they have the money," Wulf taunted.

"Your political commentary is unwanted, your majesty," Ryan snapped at him.

"Sounds nice, it'd certainly be a better way of running things here, right?" Marteau asked the others, and a round of laughter was shared by the kitchen staff.

Wulf then brought up a good point. "For someone who has no intention of starting a revolution, you're dangerously close to giving these people ideas."

Ryan scoffed at that, there was no way things were as bad around here as to warrant a revolt. As uppity as these kids were, the adult nobles he met so far seemed to be completely prudent and reasonable.

"So, Ryan, what about where you live, what's that place like?" Siesta asked as Ryan took a sip of his stew.

He looked down on it, and lamented to himself that it could use pepper. It then occurred to him, that if this world was like his, then pepper would be something that only the richest Kings in this country would have–if they had such trade routes to supply it, of course.

Ryan shelved that thought for later, as he answered Siesta. "Well, I come from just outside of a city called Buffalo on a huge lake called Erie, it's more or less an inland sea. A lot of people live there, over two million at last count."

"Millions of people, in a single city?" Marteau asked, unable to really conceive such a place.

"It's generally a nice place, even with the strange things that happen that keep it from being boring."

Even taking a vacation away from it seemed to land him in some weirdness.

"Strange things…?" Siesta asked.

"It's a very long story, mostly relating to this old thing," Ryan said as he held up his sword.

When Marteau gestured, Ryan held the sheathed blade out for him to take, and he marveled at it. "It's so light; I've held foils heavier than this."

He then unsheathed it and examined the blade, it was perfectly polished, while the hilt and hand guard made it appear almost decorative. Sliding the blade back in, he looked to Ryan and handed it back to him. "A fancy sword like this could get you in trouble."

"More than you can ever imagine." Ryan took his sword back and tied it to his hip. "It's practically a part of my body now."

He had some questions of his own. Taking a bite of bread dipped into the stew, he asked one. "So who exactly is in charge here in Tristain?"

"Ah, that would be the young Princess, Henrietta," Marteau replied.

Ryan stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Of course this country would be ruled by a Princess, just his luck.

"I bet she's hot, too," Wulf said.

"Fuck off," Ryan groused. "I see. I hope she's at least nice."

"Oh, Princess Henrietta's very nice; despite her age just about everyone in Tristan loves and respects her," Siesta said.

Marteau hummed in agreement. "Yes, but with the troubles in Albion, she's going to be put to the test, especially if they spill here."

At Ryan's blank look, Marteau explained. "Albion is an island kingdom to our west, right now there's a movement amongst the nobles there to unseat the royal family. It's going very badly from what I've heard at least."

Very interesting, Ryan noted to himself as he nodded. "I see, is there any chance that it might spread here?"

"The Princess is related to the Royal Family of Albion. People are worried that if the Royal Family is ousted there, they'll come here to ensure that all branches are eliminated, a good old fashioned purge," Marteau explained.

That went from interesting to unsettling very quickly, as Wulf noted. "Isn't it convenient that we fall into a world that could possibly tumble into a regional war? Your luck once again defies logical explanation."

Ryan sighed. "Then I hope it doesn't come to that. Tristan is such a wonderful place; I'd hate for the peace to be ruined."

Siesta smiled to Ryan at that. "Thank you."

Marteau, however, slapped Ryan on the back. "Of course, in the event of a war, you'd have no trouble with that sword of yours, eh King?"

Ryan's eyebrows twitched at the mention of that word.

Siesta blinked "King?"

They did it again, and Ryan took an inaudible breath.

"Ryan is derived from one of the old Albion languages. "Ri", which means King," Marteau explained to Siesta, "It's something I remember from my childhood, interesting trivia, wouldn't you say?"

Ryan let out a weak laugh. "Yeah, interesting…"

For years now no one would let him forget it. Not his family, not his best friend, Barb, NO ONE. It was to the point that sometimes he wished he could punch the next person who called him King right in their "they think they're so funny" face.

"Stay cool… King," Wulf advised.

Ryan was ready to punch himself in the head. Instead, he shoved more stew into his mouth and offered his compliments to Marteau. As he ate, Siesta hummed quietly, and then returned to her own food.


In another part of the school, Guiche was restless. Not just restless, he felt… dare he admit it… caged. He paced about his room like a classy animal, occasionally stopping to bring his rose-tipped wand to his nose and try to ponder this strange discontent that welled in him. When nothing came up, he let out a grunt of frustration and resumed his pacing.

How uncouth, to feel this way, to want something, anything, but having no idea what it was he wanted! It made him want to scream, to create a Bronze Valkyrie and punch it, to hunt down Montmorency, rip off her clothes, and ravish her like a wild man-!

"In Founder's name, where did that come from?!" Guiche cried out aghast after the thought flashed through his head.

He stopped, and then hummed. That actually didn't sound like a bad idea, now that he thought about it.

Guiche then slapped himself. That was no way for a gentleman noble to act, especially towards the woman he loved!

But now that the thought was in his head, it was not getting out. Oh, Montmorency, beautiful Montmorency. While not busty like Kirche or fiery like Vallière, or naïve like the first years he's wooed, she was beautiful and elegant and domineering in her own very valid way, and she still put up with his skirt-chasing and reined him in when he was going too far.

Plus, those sexy ringlets! How could he not want such a woman?!

There was a knock at his door, and Guiche turned to face it. It was not too late, but still, who would come to see him at this hour?

Walking to the door, he opened it and suddenly Montmorency was flinging herself into his arms, like a ringlet-wearing missile. "Oh, Guiche!"

"M-Montmorency!" Guiche, caught off guard, fell backward and onto the floor with a thud, Montmorency landing atop him. She wasted no time in her attack at all, cupping Guiche's face and kissing him passionately.

Well, tonight suddenly became great.

Breaking the kiss, he stared up at Montmorency. "Montmorency, my love, what's gotten into you?"

Montmorency, her face bright red, looked away from him. "It is all I can think about…"

Guiche's eyes widened. "… All you can think about?"

Sitting up and straddling him, Montmorency let out a sigh as she covered her rosy cheeks. "I've been thinking about you, my Guiche; about how you've been so good lately. You haven't even been giving looks to other girls recently, and then during the duel with Vallière, you…!"

She squirmed where she sat–which Guiche liked this very much–and let out a squeal. "Putting yourself in danger like that to keep Vallière from hurting anyone, I never thought that you could be so bold, so brave!"

Guiche of course seized upon this and sat up, placing Montmorency on his lap and resting the end of his rose on her cheek. "My first and only thought was to protect you, for you are the most beautiful thing in my life. More than magic, more than even Verdandi! You are my most precious."

Montmorency, tears threatening her eyes, gasped and embraced Guiche tightly.

Much like him, she had felt restless since she'd retired to sleep, and as her thoughts wandered to her boyfriend she couldn't help but dwell on how so wonderful he'd been lately, both as a boyfriend and as a man. Those thoughts quickly ignited that restlessness into passion, and suddenly her heart was overflowing with love and desire. Emboldened by her feelings, she rushed to see him at once.

"I love you so much, my Guiche," she purred to him, as she nuzzled her cheek to his.

Guiche returned her affection without hesitation. "And I love you, my Montmorency."

"Ah, Sir Guiche…?"

And the moment was ruined by the sound of Katie's voice. Guiche looked up at the first year girl who was really good at making soufflé. She was standing in the doorway to his room, shocked at the sight of the man who had wooed her just two days ago in the arms of another.

Guiche went pale as Montmorency turned and looked back at the first year girl, who jumped when she fell under her gaze. She then turned back to look at Guiche. At the same time, both asked:

"Who is that girl?"

Guiche was almost white as chalk, as both girls stared at him. Montmorency gave him particular scrutiny, before she remembered seeing that girl at the duel, cheering Guiche on with a box of something or other in her hands. Knowing Guiche and his flirting ways, she put it all together rather quickly.

Montmorency looked back at Katie again, her stare causing her to cringe, before she spoke. "My Guiche is a terrible flirt, you're just another girl he's wooed, aren't you?" Katie was hesitant to answer, until Montmorency snapped at her. "Aren't you?!"

Katie nodded hurriedly, fearing the wrath of an upperclassman. Her fear was nothing compared to Guiche's, as he was held in Montmorency's tightening grip. She turned back to look at him, her eyes were narrowed but her expression was… amused?

"Oh my Guiche… you terrible, terrible flirt," she purred before she leaned forward and nuzzled him again. She called back to Katie. "I'm staking my claim here, First Year girl. Guiche de Gramont is mine, but you're welcome to battle me for him."

Guiche blinked, and wondered what was going on. Montmorency then ripped open his shirt and answered it well enough. She ran her hand down Guiche's bare chest as she stared back at Katie.

"The field of honor shall be Guiche, do you accept?" Montmorency demanded, daring the younger girl to respond.

Guiche began thanking the Founder and every possible deity he could think of at that very moment. He doubled his thanks when a red-faced Katie sputtered a bit, before she steeled her resolve and nodded. "I accept!"

Fire burned in Montmorency's eyes. "Then close the door, and let us do battle."

Katie quickly closed the door, as Guiche was shoved onto his back. He didn't know what he did or who he pleased to deserve this but he very, very quickly stopped worrying about it.


Dinner eaten and the kitchen staff thanked, Ryan and Siesta headed for the courtyard, this time Ryan was learning more about Siesta and her home, a nice little place called Tarbes, a commoner village where mages passed through only on occasion.

"Until I received a job at the academy, most of my time was spent helping my mother and father care for my little brothers and sisters. It's the reason I'm working out here, all of my earnings go back there."

Ryan certainly admired that. "Your family must be proud."

"Yes, but they miss me as much as I miss them. Sometimes my father asks me to come back home, so he can find me a nice, rich noble husband and I don't have to break my back for their sake," Siesta explained.

Ryan chuckled. "Well, it wouldn't be too hard for you to find a rich husband, at least."

Siesta stared at him for all of a second before she realized what he meant, and blushed as she looked away shyly. "Ah… thank you, but I wouldn't want to marry for money. I'd rather fall in love with the man I want to marry, so I can be happy like my mother is."

"Ah, to be a commoner, unfettered by the loveless marriage politics that encumbers nobility," Wulf said in a nostalgic tone.

Stepping out into the courtyard, Ryan noticed that the atmosphere had changed considerably. It was heavier; the Aether was so thick that if he focused on it, he'd see clouds of the energy drifting about like a warm, inviting fog. He zeroed in on Louise, and blushed.

"She's going to either pass out from over-stimulation or dehydration at this rate. I'd better go check on her before I go to bed," Ryan thought to himself.

Of course, when your body was a vessel for a smart mouth spirit, was any thought to yourself? "Oh? Wouldn't it be rude to just leave Siesta's bed in the middle of the night?"

How rude. "Implying I'm trying to get there."

"You would lie to me, when I can see into your thought processes?" Wulf replied.

"It's such a nice night. The air is so clear, the moons are full…" Siesta said, as she stared up at the clear sky.

"And you're just dying to sink your teeth into something…" Wulf taunted between Ryan's ears.

Ryan slapped himself in the side of the head, and Siesta looked at him. "Are you all right?"

"Uh, fine. I heard something buzzing in my ear," he quickly replied, as he rubbed his hair.

Siesta smiled at him, and giggled.

Ryan smiled back.

Wulf laughed aloud. "No shame in wanting a piece, boyo."

"Shut up, she's cute," Ryan groused back.

"That is certainly not up for debate, I'm just surprised that you're considering going for it," Wulf remarked.

Ryan returned Siesta's smile, as they quietly enjoyed the night sky. He replied to Wulf. "Louise's experimenting is affecting me too, and besides… she's cute."

"You already made a note of that," Wulf replied with a chuckle.

He then blinked and stared straight ahead, as a dozen or so young men gathered out into the courtyard directly in front of Ryan and Siesta. Almost immediately recognizing Sticks among them, Ryan knew exactly what this was about and grimaced.

"Are you kidding me, they're really doing this?" he mumbled to himself as Siesta, given a fright by the sudden appearance of the students, took a step back.

"Good evening, Ryan Ingram," Sticks said to him, "you can guess why we've come to speak with you?"

Ryan glanced back to Siesta and gave her an assuring nod, before he faced the other boys. "I presume it has to do with Kirche, right? Look, I don't really have interest in her, so you don't have to worry about me okay?"

Sticks raised his hands emphatically. "It's not that simple, I'm afraid. We aren't stupid; we know pretty well that you want nothing to do with Kirche."

"Well, if that's the case then why are you here like you want to kick my ass?"

Sticks answered that right away. "The problem is that Kirche wants plenty to do with you, and she won't be denied as long as you look desirable to her."

Ryan's expression became unreadable, as Wulf let out a great, jolly laugh. "Ah, I love this place! So much testosterone! So much salt! Come on boyo, dispense with the small talk and let the fist-fighting commence!"

"So, your solution is…?" Ryan asked.

Sticks folded his arms across his chest. "It is our intention to show you exactly how far the gap is between noblemen and yourself. Even if your familiar is a dangerous one and you're handy with a sword, you're still a commoner. You don't belong anywhere near us, let alone near Kirche."

The other mages nodded, as they drew their wands and held them at their chests.

Sticks pointed his wand at Ryan. "What say you, to that?"

Wulf chuckled. "So, you ready to stain the grass red with noble blood?" His amusement ebbed when he got a hint of Ryan's annoyance. "Hey, boy, you're not seriously considering…?"

"There's no need for bloodshed," Ryan replied, before he removed his sword from his hip, and and gripped it just below the opening of the scabbard.

Over to the side, Miss Longueville watched the display of the students with disgust. Nobles being childish, spoiled nobles. She actually wished the boy would gut them all there, and make them regret their hubris.

Ryan stepped forward two paces, before he ran his fingers through his hair and lowered his head. His body language had changed, shifting from aloof to intimidating in subtle ways. "What say I? I say… kneel."

Sticks recoiled, and then whipped his wand around. "Who do you think you–OOF!"

One instant Ryan had been well outside of arms reach from Sticks. The very next, the hilt of his sword was firmly planted in his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Ryan leaned close to Sticks, and spoke clearly and loudly into his ear.

"I said kneel," Ryan repeated with stern emphasis, before he let him fall to his knees in front of him.

It was then that the other students all felt a great weight on their bodies, bringing them all down to their knees before Ryan, to Siesta and Miss Longueville's shock.

"You call yourselves nobles? All I see before me are spoiled, pampered dogs," Ryan said. "Nothing more than pampered pets to be shown off for the cute tricks they can do."

He reached down and picked up Sticks' wand, before weighing it in his hand and tossing the instrument to the side. Clutching his stomach, Sticks couldn't even try to get up retrieve it. "You won't even fetch, pathetic."

Siesta covered her mouth, as Ryan turned away from Sticks and walked back towards her. Miss Longueville's jaw was hanging just above the floor.

He then turned around, slamming his leading foot down as he jammed the end of his the sheathed sword into the ground and rested his hands folded atop the pommel. With his stomp, a brilliant light appeared to shine from behind him and Siesta that momentarily blinded Sticks and the others

"You dogs, you mockeries of human beings, stand before me and declare me beneath you. What noble must gather a pack of mongrels to stare down a lone commoner?!" he demanded. "Are you truly dogs, or are you men? Speak!"

Shock wore off, as Sticks and the other got quite pissed off at the language used towards them. One of them, Monaco, shouted back. "We're men! You're the dog!"

Ryan tilted his head up and stared down his nose at Monaco. "You're obedient enough to speak when commanded to, dog."

Monaco's face went red, and he bowed his head.

Ryan spoke imperiously. "Listen to my words and become men, you dogs. To be noble is not to be above, but to be in front. A noble leads, a noble guides, and a noble will fall first, for those behind them. Your birthright does not make you better than any man; it only means you must work harder to be considered one. That means to not seethe and growl like dogs when threatened, and act like cowards to get your way. Act like that and you belong here, at my feet!"

Sticks stared at Ryan, and blinked a few times. He looked at his fellow students, who were similarly struck, before he looked back up at Ryan with an intense glare.

"Now, are you dogs or are you men? Speak!" Ryan asked.

None spoke, instead, they rose up against the weight pushing them down and found it gave way without resistance, and all stood a lot straighter than they had when they first approached.

Seeing this, Ryan nodded his approval, and let out a snort. "I have no intention on your woman; now get out of my sight."

Sticks,his glare softening but still present, nodded. "Very well."

"Satsuki Kiryuin wants her shtick back, boyo." Wulf laughed.

Ryan let out a hum before he replied. "Not even going to comment that I quoted you?"

"I never said that shite, that was made up for that awful school play you were in!" Wulf argued.

"Eh. I could've quoted the Bible or Lord of the Rings and gotten the same result. As long as you deliver it forcefully, you can get any message across."

As the boys walked away, Siesta turned to stare at him, at a loss for words.

Ryan looked over to see the last of them leave, and then sagged in relief. "Yeesh, I hate saying such stuffy crap."

Siesta blinked, and smiled to him, as if on the verge of laughter. "… That was an act?"

"I've been acting since I was nine years old," Ryan replied.

"You're very… um… talented," Siesta said gently, while still trying not to laugh.

Ryan frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're so hammy that Islam considers you haram," Wulf said.

Siesta confirmed it. "You were a little… over the top," she said, "not that that is a bad thing it was just…" She broke into giggles at Ryan's incredulous look.

Miss Longueville turned away from the scene and ducked back into the shadows, her hands over her heart. He was able to subdue all of those mages with such minimal effort, and without a wand.

She found that very interesting.


Still lying in bed, locked in a friendly embrace, both Kirche and Tabitha had lost track of time after they had agreed to join forces to win the attention of Ryan. Tabitha was lying partially atop Kirche, her head resting between her breasts, while Kirche combed her fingers through Tabitha's short blue hair, enjoying sharing such closeness with the smaller girl.

Tabitha let out a contented sigh and nuzzled Kirche's breasts, prompting her to look down at her, and entertain the thought that had been floating in her head since they came to their agreement. "Tabitha?"

Tabitha looked up at Kirche, her face inches from hers.

Kirche blushed somewhat. "You wouldn't be thinking about you and me, tonight…?"

"No. I like men." Tabitha replied.

That was great, Kirche didn't lean that way at all. "Oh good, that would've been awkward."

Tabitha nodded assent, but she didn't leave her comfortable spot atop Kirche's chest. Nor did Kirche try to move her from it. Completely comfortable with one each other's company like this, both girls soon fell asleep.


One floor down, Louise wasn't sure if she was every going to sleep. She didn't want to, when she was having this much fun. She was lying atop her bed sheets, her night clothes were lying on the floor beside her bed, and her entire body was flushed from head to toe in the darkness.

"This… this is so… wonderful…" She said in a dreamy, giggly, but somewhat hoarse voice as she ran her fingers through her hair, and then looked at them.

Somewhere in her blown-out mind, Ryan's words echoed, warning her about letting the pleasurable aspects of the Aether consume her. But she quickly rationalized that one more time wouldn't hurt, after all, it hadn't hurt the last time, and the time before that, and three times in quick succession before that. Just one more time and she'd sleep, she told herself as she focused the Aether to her fingers.

"This is the last time," she reminded herself, as she reached down again.

Ryan and Siesta who were passing the school's fountain, were caught off guard by it suddenly coming to life, sending a stream of water up to cascade down, the light of the room's lights unexpectedly casting a rainbow in the room.

"Oh, it's so pretty!" Siesta gasped at the sight.

Simultaneously, Ryan felt Louise's connection to the Aether diminish, and he let out a small chuckle. She had passed right out.

They were going to need to lay down some rules, but that could come in the morning, he mused to himself as he rested a hand on the small of Siesta's back.

Siesta looked up at him and blushed when he smiled back to her. She sidled closer, allowing him to slide his arm around her waist and pull her against his hip as they watched the fountain and the rainbow it created.

"Ryan," she said softly, "Are you okay with being taken from your world?"

Ryan stroked her side. "Of course I'm not, but there's not much I can do about it other than try to find my way back from here or wait for my world to come get me. At least it's not too bad, so far it's been fun and I've got Louise and helping her to keep me preoccupied."

Siesta understood why he was singing such a despondent song when she first met him, as she hugged him. "What if they don't?"

Ryan looked at Siesta, then back at the fountain. "That's what I'm afraid of more than anything right now. I don't even know if my world and this one's are synchronized. For all I know, for every second that passes in this world, a thousand years has passed in mine." He cast his gaze downward. "Or I've been flung far into my world's future and everyone I know and love is dead."

He needed the distraction Louise and their respective magics provided, even if it was only for a little while.

"I understand how you feel," Siesta said gently, "My Great Grandfather went through the same thing, when he ended up here from his world, but he got better."

Ryan did a double take. "Your Great-Grandfather?"

Siesta pulled away from him and nodded. "Yes, my Great Grandfather came from another world, he was a sailor who fought aboard a ship in a war when he was transported here."

She reached down and pulled up her skirt, revealing her boots. "These are the boots that my family has sold in our town. They are based off the ones that my father wore."

Ryan stared at the boots, and his eyes grew wide. "Siesta… did your Great Grandfather come from a place called Japan?"

Siesta blinked. "Ja… pan…?" She shook her head. "No, he was from The Great Empire of Nihon, when translated to Gallian."

Ryan's face lit up. "That… that's the same thing! Where I'm from it's pronounced Japan, but that's the same place!" he said excitedly before he grabbed her shoulders. "When did your Great-Grandfather arrive here?!"

"A long time ago, a little over sixty years," Siesta quickly said, eager to give Ryan as much information as she could.

Ryan let go of her shoulders, as one fear was completely dashed by this information. "Then this world is in synch with mine." His smile grew, and he drew in slightly… before springing up into the air, nearly hitting the ceiling four meters above Siesta's head to throw out his hands and feet in celebration. "YES! WAHOO!"

Siesta stepped back, shocked at how high he jumped, and jumped a little herself when he landed on his feet back in front of her with an audible thump. He took her shoulders again, so happy he looked ready to cry.

"Siesta, thank you!" he said, breathless from his shout, "You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. Thank you so much!"

Siesta's shock disappeared, and she smiled. "Oh… you're welcome."

Ryan's smile softened, as he stroked her shoulders with his thumbs. Staring at her for only a moment longer, he leaned forward and kissed Siesta as she rose up on her toes for him.

Siesta slipped her arms around him, and eagerly returned the kiss, her lips parting to invite his tongue to slip into her mouth.

"Mmm…" He pulled her tightly against him. This close to him, Siesta could feel the vibrant energy that was in the air radiating much more intensely from him, swamping her senses like a calm ocean wave. It left her feeling tingly and warm inside and out.

Breaking the kiss, she giggled from the enjoyable sensation as he rested his forehead against hers and gently laughed with her.

"This isn't too improper, is it?" he asked softly.

After a moment of kittenish mock-hesitation, Siesta laughed.

"It's not improper enough," she suggested before she pulled away and took his hand in hers to lead him around the fountain and down the hall towards the servants quarters of the school.


= = =


Next up, the morning after, Count Mott, and what happens when you teach a tiny mage to play Basketball.

 

[Mizuki_Stone]

This was interesting... he he he, oh the chaos, ha ha ha, I can't wait to see how things end up (grins)

 

[Prince Charon]

This is good. Especially like the bit about nobles.

 

[logiccosmic]

Kneel before Zod Ryan!



Well done, and nice continual canon derailment.