Hi,

Here I present my second fanfiction!

I had this idea in mind for some time and while I am waiting for my beta to send me the chapter for my other fanfiction "Un-dying of Zero" I thought it would be OK to distract myself a bit.

First things first: I do not own Dark Souls or Familiar of Zero, obviously. I will say it here and now so I don't have to write it in every chapter.

Now before we go on with the story I would like to say a couple of things:

First, English is not my first language and this fanfiction will not get a beta unless you readers REALLY like it or some of you offer to do it himself/herself, so expect bad grammar and other possible errors. I will try my best but you can't always have things go your way.

Second, I will try to make Gough speak in old English with things like "thou" and "thee" because I can't picture him speaking in any other way. But if I see that it becomes to difficult to do it I will just write normal English, in that case just imagine he is speaking in the way you want.

third and last, Sorry if I gets some characters personalities wrong, I am still new at this.

Dialog Types:

"Dialog"

(Gough's thoughts )

Magic/Dreams

- Chapter 1: the summoning -

- Lordran: A certain tower in the Royal Woods -

"Now watch, and see how Gough hunts dragons." after the sentence was spoken by the giant with a booming voice he felt the ground around him with his hands, picking up his great bow and one single arrow, standing up.

With precise movements he readied the arrow and pulled the bow's string back, waiting. In the distance the sound of the black dragon's roar was heard and his frame came into view, not that it could make any difference for the blind archer.

In a moment the arrow was released and flew for miles before hitting the dragon's left wing making it fall to the ground with a scream of agony.

The giant's mouth arched up in a smile under his helm before he sat down resuming his carving. "Hah hah! Yes, a truer shot was never loosed! That bat will be grounded for a good spell! The rest is in thine hands. I await good tidings. Ahh, dragon splaying, Knighthood's highest calling..."

The chosen undead replied only with a "Thank you." he moved to the door to go finish the wounded beast when a giant green round portal appeared beside Gough.

At that same moment the giant heard a voice in his head

My servant that exists somewhere in the vast universe...

"Is there someone else with thee? I heard a girl's voice." asked confused the archer and receiving a simple answer in a monotone voice "No. heard no voice."

My divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant heed my call...

"Are thou saying I am the only one who can hear it?"

I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear...

"This is a strange phenomenon indeed. I am hearing the voice of a troubled girl. She is calling for a servant and she seems desperate. Is something happening that I can't see?"

"Green portal on your right. Summoning?"

"Thou thinks this a summoning spell? I have heard it to be possible. Since I am the only one that hears the voice it must be directed to me. What to do I wonder." Said the old knight of Gwyn thoughtfully.

"Accepting?" asked the undead curious.

"Thou asks if I would accept? My loyalty will always lay with Gwyn, but my duty is long since passed. My lord sacrificed himself for the age of fire to continue and when you slay Kalameet the dragons will be all gone in this land aside for the Scaleless. The only thing left for me is to remain here or follow the voice of a maiden in need of help. No knight worth his name could ignore her cries." He then stood up once again and turned to his right and added with a joking voice "Although I hope she is not searching for a butler, I would be a terrible one!"

"Bow?" asked again the human to the giant before he could make another step

"Thou suggests I bring my bow with me? I suppose it would be unwise to depart for unknown places without a weapon" He picked it up and faced the chosen undead one last time "I hope thou succeeds in thine quest, friend!" He then stepped trough the portal.

- Tristain's Academy of Magic -

It was an important day for a short young pink haired mage. Louise Françoise Leblanc de la Vallière woke up at sunrise with hope in his heart and just a bit of concern. Today was the day of the Spring Familiar Summoning Ritual, an occasion in which second year students have to summon some kind of animal to act as their partner for the rest of their life.

What she was concerned about while she descended the stairway that lead to the courtyard was if she would be able to summon anything at all.

She could not forget the despicable nickname everyone kept calling her with, especially that presumptuous redhead Germanian. Louise the Zero, with zero successful spells cast in her time at the academy.

And just when she was thinking about her the little mage heard the voice of her rival/enemy.

"Oh! If it is not Louise the Zero. Are you going to the summoning ritual to entertain the other students with some fireworks? Although now that I think about it your Explosions are not that colorful so it wouldn't be a very good show" says a tall tan woman with log straight red hair while she crosses her arms holding up her big "assets".

"What do you want Kirche? I am trying to enjoy my day and heading to the courtyard to summon my familiar, as I suppose you and Tabitha ar going" to that statement a small blue haired girl with glasses next to Kirche nodded even if her face was buried behind a book.

"I guess you are right, even if you don't have any reason for coming since I don't think that Explosions are considered familiars."

"Are you implying that I can summon only explosions? I bet you that I will summon a beast that will put your familiar to shame!" Louse says angrily at the Germanian.

"Oh, so you think you can summon something better than mine? Well we will see when we get there won't we?" Says Kirche with a malicious grin as if challenging the Pinkette.

At that Louise reacted by storming away in the direction of the ritual's location. She will summon something great and powerful, she had to if she wanted to continue her studies at the academy.

- Academy main Courtyard -

"OK, have you all summoned you familiars?" Asked a bold man with glasses and a long staff wearing a blue robe that marked him as one of the teachers.

"Not everyone professor Colbert. Luoise has yet to summon hers" Answered Kirche.

"Ah yes you're right miss Zerbst. Miss Vallière would you please step up and summon your familiar?"

A chorus of different voices came from the rest of the class. "The Zero? she can't cast a spell to save her life!" "Hold on to your seats! Here comes another explosions!" "Why is she still here anyway? She's better off leaving".

Ignoring all those hideous taunts she stepped in front of the summoning circle and started to say the incantation she spent all the nights in the past week to memorize. Yet each time that she finished nothing happens. Nothing, not even the usual explosions, as if the world itself was telling her to just give up return home to become the prize wife of some other noble, the only fate for a failure with everything magic related like her.

As if sensing the struggle in the mind of the pinkette Colbert spoke up "Maybe you should try another incantation? I have heard of mages that had problem using the standard lines and found using their own words to be more effective".

"O-Off course professor I'll try again" and with that she closed her eyes trying to focus and come up with what to say. At this point she was OK with literally anything she could think of, even an ant would have been enough for her. Then after a couple of minutes she started to recite the words she found in the bottom of her heart.

"My servant that exists somewhere in the vast universe"

Everyone in the class perked up ad the odd choice of wording she used.

"My divine, beautiful, wise and powerful servant heed my call"

The summoning circle starts to light up with a white pure light.

"I wish from the very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear"

And than what everyone expected happened. There was an explosion and the courtyard was enveloped in a cloud of smoke.

For several minutes there was silence before everyone started laughing "aha hah! With the Zero you can always count on an explosive performance!" "Guess we will not see her around anymore since she failed the summoning!". Other insults and jokes added to the first ones as professor Colbert tried to shut his students up "That's enough!".

They stopped, but more because of what they saw when the smoke dissipated. Standing on the circle was a figure, as tall as the tower beside the courtyard, wearing heavy looking armor and wielding a bow that matched his size.

Gough begun using his four working senses to assess his situation. The light breeze suggested he was outside, under his feet he could feel the grass meaning he was in a garden or a forest, the former more plausible since the grass was well cured. He could hear many voices, they appeared to be all children, although there was one adult man voice to which the others referred as teacher, a school maybe? Another thing he noticed was that he could not hear the voice that called for him.

Noticing the other people stopped talking the knight used this opportunity to speak up "Where am I?"

The students all cowered in fear hearing his powerful voice, some of them even fainted for the shock. Sensing the fear in the children Gough spoke up with a calm tone "Fear not for I have no ill will against thee. I am simply confused about my location."

The statement seemed to soothe them a little, even if there was a lot of tension in the hair.

The first one to respond was professor Colbert, who had positioned himself between the students and the giant in case he was hostile "You are currently in Tristain's Academy of magic, sir."

"A school for sorcerers?! The only one I have heard of is in Vinheim. Is it near here?"

"I am sorry sir but I have never known of a place called Vinheim, and I have traveled pretty much trough all the world in my youth. Also schools of Magic are not as rare as you say. Every country in Helkeginia has at least one, even if ours is one of the biggest and most famous."

"Well I myself have never heard of a land called Helkeginia. Tell me where is it in correlation of Lordran?"

"I am afraid I can't answer that question as Lordran is another place I have never heard."

(That's impossible! For someone to not know of Lordran!) "That is very strange and I would like to converse more about it, but at the moment there is a more pressing matter I want to discuss. For what reason was I summoned to this place and who summoned me?"

Louise collected all her courage and spoke up "I have summoned you to be my familiar!"

The archer recognized the voice and turned towards the pinkette "And what is a Familiar?"

That was the clue for the teacher to explain "A Familiar is a mage's companion that serves them them for all its life, or until the master dies. The familiar also symbolizes the mage's element affinity and their power. Usually they are some kind of animal or a magical creature. Your summoning is a first."

"Then I would have to serve this girl until either of ours demise?" Asked Gwyn's knight.

"Yes, that is the tradition." responded nervous the professor prepared for any reaction of the enormous man.

The man in question spoke to Louise "Young one, what is thine name?"

"Louise Françoise Leblanc de la Vallière." said the young mage proudly.

"Then I ask thee, Louise Françoise Leblanc de la Vallière, what is thine purpose? What is that thou wants to achieve? The reason thou continues to wake up every morning? If I were to serve thee I want to know the truth about my master's wishes."

What she really wished for? That was a strange question to ask out of the blue. There were a lot of thing she wanted to achieve, but what was the most important one? After some time in thought she decided what to say. It would be embarrassing to say out loud with all her classmates present, and she had no reason to respond the man(?)'s question. Even so there was something about him, an air that spoke of incredible strength, but also an incredibly kind soul "I wish to prove myself. To became a great mage and prove to my family and peers that I am not a Zero. It doesn't matter if it will take ten years or a hundred!"

The giant pondered about her answer (I see she is determined. She doesn't wish for power to conquest or destroy, but to prove her worth. That is a selfish reason, but not one arisen from malice. I don't know why but I sense a great destiny ahead for this little girl) "I accept thine quest as just. If thou promises to never step away from this path then I, Hawkeye Gough, member of the four knights of Gwyn Lord of sunlight, Slayer of dragons, swear to serve thee to the best of my abilities."

The excenge between the two was interrupted by Colbert clearing his throat "I'm sorry to interrupt but miss. Louise needs to finish the contract"

"Ah Right!" She said closing her eyes pointing her wand at the giant "my name is Louise Francoise Leblance de la Valliere, pentagon of the five elemental powers bless this being and make it my familiar " she than gestured him to lower his head but he didn't respond so she asked him "Hey, that gesture meant you have to lower your head!"

"I am sorry. I am blind so I didn't notice it." said Gough apologetically

"What? if you are blind why do you carry a bow with you? You can't use it."

"I assure thee me loosing my sight doesn't hinder my accuracy. Anyway why do I have to lower my head?"

The pinkette became bright read before saying quietly "T-the contract with a familiar must be concluded with a K-kiss."

"Must you kiss me in the face or any body part is allowed"

"Well, there is no rule about where the kiss should be."

"Then my hand should be sufficient. It is uncomfortable to bend my back at my age."

"Fine! just get this over with already!" after that he extended his hand to her and she begrudgingly kissed it before stepping back.

Gough then started to feel a burning sensation on his left hand as strange markings engraved themselves in his skin. After a couple of second the pain stopped and the familiar runes where fully formed. "What was that pain just now?" He asked the professor.

Colbert got closer to look at the runes and replied "That was because of the familiar runes forming on your hand. They are the symbol of the Familiar's contract with the master." He then clapped his hands to get the students attention "OK everyone, with that the familiar summoning ritual is concluded. Return to your quarters. Tomorrow there won't be any classes as you should use the day to familiarize yourselves with your familiars." that last sentence ended with a chuckle of the professor for the unintended pun as the students begun to walk back toward the dormitories.

Gough spoke once again to his new master "I presume thine accommodations is not fit for giants, right?"

"Yes, you are correct. All large size familiars usually spend their time in an opposite part of the school. Even if the only ones that are to large to be in a room this year are you and Tabitha's dragon." It didn't go unnoticed to the pinkette how the giant tensed up at her last words. "Is there something wrong?"

"I am sorry, but did thou just say Dragon?! Do dragons still live in this land?"

Louise responded with a confused look "Yes, there are a lot in the wild and counties like Albion are famous for their dragon-riding knights."

(Not only a land where dragon's prosper, but they even ride them into battle? Wait!) "Lady Louise, are dragons ancient beings wielders of powerful magic?"

"What? No! A dragon is simply a horse sized lizard that fly and breath fire."

(So they think drakes to be dragon? That is understandable and reassuring. It is not the first time someone makes that mistake.) "I understand now. In my land we refer to those thou described as drakes. For us dragons are different creatures, even if they are related."

"Well, here dragon are what I told you. Now let's go, we can talk more later."

"As thou wishes." he then started to follow the sound of her footsteps to the place she mentioned.

- end chapter -

So, how was it? I hope it wasn't to bad ;)

Now before we wrap up let me say a couple of things.

I admit I re-used the scene of Louise being called to the magic circle and Kirche's insulting Louise from my other fanfiction, but I liked them and couldn't figure out another way to write this scenes that didn't feel wrong for me, so sorry for that.

I also recently discovered that the language barrier thing between the two worlds is exclusive of the anime and never touched upon after the first episode anyway, so I cut it of the story.

And the chosen undead speech pattern is based on another character in the Familiar of Zero's world, can you guess who? It's pretty easy and you will find out in the next chapters.

Until next time! bye!

Also thank you RustKnight for editing the chapter.