An End is a New Beginning

She was crying. She couldn't hold herself to her mother's Rule of Steel. She couldn't do magic. She couldn't do anything right it seemed. So once again, she'd snuck off in the middle of the night, down to her special place at the lake, and hidden where she could cry in peace.

It wasn't fair! Her mother and father were great mages, war heroes even! Her elder sisters were both so gifted so why?! Why could she do nothing? She couldn't even move a simple object, which was trivial for children her age, she was 8 already. All she could manage was but a puff of smoke.

"Why…?" she sniffed. "I just wanna do magic like Mama and Papa do. It's expected of a Valliere…" She wiped her eyes and shivered a bit. Outside in only her nightgown probably wasn't the best idea, but she couldn't wait any longer to get down to her spot. She sighed and relented. Soon she'd have to steel herself again and get some proper rest. No doubt some of the staff had seen her flee and would report to her mother. She was about to leave when the most unexpected thing happened. A voice called out to her.

"Are you alright? What are you doing all alone?"

She gasped and looked about. There standing a bit away from her was a young boy. She couldn't quite make out the details, but he only appeared to be a bit older than her. He was dressed in what appeared to be the sleep ware of a commoner, a basic white shirt and bed pants.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" She whispered as loud as she could. Didn't he know where he was? Didn't he know how much trouble he could be in?

He looked around, "I dunno, I saw this really bright light and went to see what it was, and I found you here all alone," He said. "Why are you crying?"

She didn't know why she felt the need to tell him. Maybe it was the emotion getting to her. Maybe the frustration. Maybe just that someone had actually asked and might listen. But she told him her plight. That she was cursed with no magic. That she was a disappointment to her family. That she was starting to lose hope to be like the ones she admired so much.

It was with a start she awoke, an exhalation of breath she didn't know she held. 'A dream,' the young girl thought. Sleepily she rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. 'And it's still night out. Why of all nights did I have to sleep terribly tonight?'

These were the thoughts of the youngest of the esteemed Valliere family: Louise Françoise la Blanc de la Valliere. Her physic was more petite than that of her fellow classmates, standing at just a hair over five feet tall, her features gave her a look of elegance befitting her Noble status. Unfortunate then, that she never seemed to see it herself.

She worked her way out of bed, the silk nightgown protecting her from the early spring chill most nights. But tonight it seemed she would get no further rest. With that, she flung open her windows to clearly see the night sky. The open air and starry sky always comforted her for reasons she didn't truly understand.

She inhaled the night air, the chill was refreshing. Louise gazed out into the night, looking over all the stars she'd mapped before. She'd memorized many of the constellations due to her studies. It relaxed her, stargazing. Though it seemed tonight was lucky, as her gaze was drawn to a bright light in the North: the famed Wishing Star.

She had forgotten where she'd heard about it, only that it was when she was very small. Perhaps her dear sister Cattelya when taking care of her one night. That or maybe one of the maids who would care for her when no one was home. Regardless, she remembered the legend.

If you ever see the Wishing Star, the brightest in the North, and you make a wish with all of your heart, it would come true. but it would only appear to those who truly needed it. But you must be clear, for you may only wish once in your life, and even then, you must work to fulfill your wish.

Perhaps were she more awake, she'd scoff at the notion. That this star would grant your wish if you truly desired. Perhaps she'd have closed her windows and shut her curtains and curled under her blankets. Most certainly, were she more sound of mind, she'd have never even gotten on her knees.

'It doesn't have to be anything amazing.' the pinkette silently pleaded. 'No dragon or griffin, just something to go right. Even if it we're just a cat or a small bird... It'd be enough... Just to show that I'm not... That I don't amount to zero...'

She didn't know how long she stayed like that, nor when she had gotten into bed again. The night, it seemed, was just as hazy as her now forgotten dream. She had more important things to do now, than to dwell on stars and dreams.

She took to her wardrobe and pulled out her uniform: pure white blouse, short black skirt and thigh high socks. Finally she grabbed her long black cape and fastened it around her neck with the school's clasp. Today was the day.

Today, she would summon a familiar.

*Tristain Academy of Magic: Summoning Courtyard*

"So then, has everyone summoned their familiars then?" A middle aged balding man asked. His name was Jean Cobert, and every year, the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ceremony were a sight to behold. It wasn't every year that such fantastic beasts were summoned, but this year seemed special. Two fantastic creatures were summoned today: Ms. Zerbst summoned a fire lizard, and Ms Tabitha summoned a dragon! Truly remarkable, this class.

"Not quite Professor," a sultry voice called. This belonged to the Germainian student Kirche von Zerbst, a bronzed beauty with deep red locks and voluptuous figure. "It seems like Louise has yet to summon."

He turned to the girl in question. "Ah I see. Well Ms Valliere, if you would do us the honor of closing out the ceremony then?"

The noble girl nodded, a determined look in her eye as she stepped into the circle. She practiced the words over and over. Finally in the center, she drew her wand, and spoke.

"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental power, Heed my summoning... and bring forth...my familiar!"

...

Nothing.

Not even her usual explosion. There was just nothing. And thus, the students began to laugh.

"Zero success rate as always!" "At least we don't have to clean to soot from our dresses!" "I thought you said you were going to summon a dragon or a griffin!"

"Now now children, not everyone gets this spell right the first time." Colbert warned. She'd said everything right, but there was some hesitancy in her speech. "Now Ms Valliere, make sure it's all clear and concise this time."

"Yes... Professor Colbert." She nodded, though her breathing was becoming erratic. She couldn't fail here! Not after all she said! Not after all she'd done!

"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental power, Heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar!" she brought her wand down again, but again there was nothing.

Now though, the students only looked at her with pity. Disapproval. 'How did she ever even get this far?' they had to be thinking. Her erratic breathing became heavier as her eyes watered and became unfocused. She barely heard Mr Colbert says something about condolences.

She failed. What else could she do? Was there anythi-

*stay calm, improvise*

A voice? From where? How? She looked around but no one was talking to her. The pinkette looked to her shaking hand, then closed her eyes.

"One more, Professor Colbert. Just once more. I can feel it," She pleaded.

Jean looked down at his student. When it came to theory and bookwork, Louise Françoise was second to none. But like her last attempt, most of her application either didn't work, or exploded in her face. He supposed though, a third and final chance could be given, and gave her an affirmative.

'Deep breaths,' she reminded herself, finding her center. Wand in hand she crossed it to point up to her left side.

"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar."

A rush of air, never before seen from the girl, surrounded her, as she lifted her arm and looked to the sky, though not daring to open her eyes.

"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance for you to appear!"

Arm hurtling down, finally there was power! She could feel it! She was going to summon her familiar and-

~KABOOM!!~

Everything exploded into a cloud of smoke. Colbert and the other students were coughing, but not her. She could feel something coming. Whatever happened, she was highly aware that something was decending on her position rather quickly, and as is impacted the ground, it blew the smoke away.

There, kneeling in front of her, was a person! Or she assumed it was. They were on their right knee, fist stretched to the ground and left hand on left knee. As they rose, more became visible, and it answered as many questions as it brought.

Whomever this was, it seemed like they stood nearly a head taller than her. By their build, they seemed like an lithe, athletic male, but it was hard to tell with their state of dress. A black armored long coat, with intricate golden design of some kind hung over his frame with heavy boots and gloves to match, though not if any design she had ever seen. Under the open coat was another ornate shirt, red with orange and gold trim and simple baggy purple pants. At his hip was a rather colorful sash, filled with turquoise, greens and pink.

But none of this was the strangest part. No that was what was underneath those clothes, as the shirt came down only to above his navel and the squared hole at the top left much of his upper chest exposed. Or it would, if there was not something underneath that, a black shiny skintight material that seemed to cover all his skin, or what she could see. And thus lead her eyes to the head, which was encased in some kind of red helm the likes she'd never seen before.

He spoke in a language that she didn't understand and though it was somewhat muffled to her, his tone was that of a young man, the range being from a high baritone or low tenor. His arms raised as his hand went to his helm, and so now her curiosity might fully be answered.

Just what had she summoned?

*The Vast - Empire of Bones Ultranaught Ship*

He was running. Running back again through the impossibly large ship as though his life depended on it. Well, not his life. That might be over in the next few minutes.

This was going to hurt. A lot. Or so he assumed. Never died before, but there were close calls. Most of the stuff that was going to come with this death, he was intimately familiar with. Explosions, shrapnel, lack of air and blood. He was VERY familiar with Death.

But someone had to do it. Nearly a year out in the deep reaches of space and the Vast lead to all of this. His crew... They'd be fine. More level heads were taking command and making sure the others got away from the crashing ultranaught.

"Captain," came a low female voice over the comms. Speak of the devil.

"I hear ya Fae, talk to me."

"Karikta and Vers have got everyone... Settled"

An amused chuckle came from him, "I assume half of them had to be knocked out? I'd be insulted if they didn't."

"Only Sal had to be, though you know how she is. We've all... Resigned to the fact that it has to be this way."

A sigh. "Well someone has to do it," a quick turn down a hall as he made his way to the bridge. In his hand was a ruined ivory datapad that told the whole story. Most of the systems were damaged in the last fight they had.

Another glance around as he ran. The still corpses of the soldiers and commanders that ran this vessel laid in heaps, and one could only hope the hulking brutes wouldn't get back up for round two. Hard enough to kill a ship full of undead. The Corpse Fleet was a problem for a reason. And their Commander was smart to destroy most of his piloting systems in his master control.

All but the manual system it seemed were destroyed. It may have been a small victory in a lost battle, but Commander Serovox was no fool, and would make he and his crew choose a sacrifice.

It wasn't even a choice. Apart from their pilot, Galshir, he was the only one who knew how to fly something like this. And it was an important task that needed the right skill. The end was in front of him as he turned to his final destination, and it was imposing.

The Stellar Degenerator. A massive superweapon that, maybe a decade ago, he'd have been gushing over how cool it was. Now though, it was something that needed to be destroyed, before it fell into the wrong hands. An entire system of undead didn't seem pleasant to him or his crew. That and insane cultists trying to destroy everything in the Pact World's and beyond.

*~M me se Fran Bln de a Val. ntag e five elem wer, Heed y ning... nd bri th...my fami!~*

"Nnngh..." He shook his head. What was that... That voice? No time for that, he missed something. "Sorry, say again Fae?"

"I asked if you really have an escape plan?" Damn it, she was skeptical. He checked to see if it was just them in the conversation, and the hesitance was all she needed. "You don't, do you."

"You can read me like a book can't you? Anyone else figure it out?"

A tsk came through the helmet, "No one's said anything, though I believe Galshir and Karikta figured it out." Then an exhausted and heavy sigh. "So, what are you going to do?"

*~My ne i Lo çoise l c de la re. Pent f th fe ntal po, ed my su... an ng fo...my ar!~*

He blinked and shook his head. 'What is that..?' better move on and not worry his friend more. "Same thing I always do when my life is in mortal danger..."

"Hope someone saves you from being too reckless at the last second?" She joked.

"What? No!" He exclaimed in exasperation. "I'm going to stay calm, improvise and use my wits, so you guys had better keep track of my location, got it!"

A dry chuckle, "you got it boss."

A pregnant pause was interrupted by the flanking ships firing on him. "Well, time to go! Get back to the Station and keep monitoring this frequency just in case got it? Captain's orders that you get back safe!"

An explosion, and another followed by the Red Alert going off. "Got it. We're activating the Drift Engine now." A pause as some more sirens began to go off. "And captain, don't die. This is the Sunrise Maiden signing out." And with that, the line cut off.

A few moments later, a shuddering breath left his body, and all the tension left. He turned his head where he could see his ship and crew, ready to jump to safety, and smiled resolutely when he heard the familiar boom of the Drift Engine engaging. Either side of the ship was chaos with more weapons being fired onto him than he'd ever seen. But this was the flagship of the Corpse Fleet. The other ships would be too late to stop it ramming into the massive superweapon.

"Well then," he started, "what's up danger?"

*~"I, Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers, following my fate, summon a familiar. "~*

'That voice! But it's so clear now!' he was astonished, was someone else here with him? He couldn't truly understand the language spoken, but it was as though his very soul understood the words.

*~"My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe, my divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call, I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance for you to appear!~"*

There was a crack, and at the end of the bridge was a shimmering portal. The monitors in front of him flashed and warned of the imminent crash. A jolt of adrenaline rushed through his battered body.

"Alright dumb luck, get me out of here!" And as the mighty dreadnaught flew headlong into it's intended target, the young captain was launced through the potral with an amazing amount of force and flair, and launched him to a new world.

The wind whipped about his coat, and the helmet shielded his eyes from the force of it all. He didn't know how, but instinctively, he knew he'd be alright, no matter how far or fast he fell.

And so filled with exhilaration, there was but one thing he could do:

"Whooooooo!"

* - Summoning Grounds: Tristain Academy-*

The class was still coughing when they heard the cry from the air, though the smoke wouldn't let them see. A blone young man kneeled by another blonde, a curly haired freckled girl, "My sweet Momorancy, are you alright?"

She stared forward into the waning smoke, pointing, and drawing his and their classmates attention. There stood the black coated figure, hands moving towards his helmet. A few beeping noises we're heard as well as a hiss as the figure's helmet disengaged.

Louise waited with bated breath as the figure started to reveal himself. To her shock, the second skin beneath his attire began to dissipate from his stomach upwards to reveal... Bronzed skin!? Much like that of that accursed Zerbst woman!? Whatever this sensation was it continued upwards revealing the portion of smooth chest that was under his shirt and traveled up his neck to the helm.

Inexplicably, his arms dropped without removing the helmet, though it soon revealed why, as it seemed to fold in on itself! It began revealing an angular face with thin lips and high cheekbones. The helm gave way to a mess of the darkest hair she'd ever seen, though she'd admit, it contrasted well with his skin tone. The helmet finally gave way to to form of a red headband, bits of hair sticking under and over it.

She approached him with a feeling of trepidation before steeling herself. She was a Valliere, and she would show no fear to this man. "Who are you?" She called.

He breathed deeply. The air was so clean here, it was amazing! He didn't know what brought him here, but he was glad it did. Then he heard a voice. The one that called out to him before. It sounded like ancient Varasian though, not quite. But the question of his name was something he could understand at least. He opened his eyes, revealing a deep violet color to them, to match the gaze of the pink eyes on him.

"I have many names, but my given name, is Kamvex."

AN: Hello there everyone, I hope you liked this first chapter of this little story of mine. It's been a while since I've written anything, but I though I'd get this going as soon as I could, though most of this was written on my phone, so please excuse any errors that the site or my Writer+ app didn't catch.

I've always wanted to do a Familiar of Zero story. But could never really think of a way to do it right with the right character. This is of course the method of taking Saito and replacing him with someone else. The problem for me was who to replace him with. I am an avid player of pen and paper games so one of them was an obvious choice but most of those games take place in a similar setting as Tristain in that it's a more medieval society. The problem becomes later that the character no longer really has a way to get back if they're sent away buy Louise.

Enter the world of Starfinder. Transferring a character I really liked to this system was a no brainier, and I will give more information about him as chapters go on, so I hope you come to like the character! See you later for now!