Chapter 1: The Voice from Nirn

Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere ran down a corridor.

"Zero..."

"Failure..."

"Shame of the House Valliere..."

She ran from her tormentors, their whispers and giggles echoing down the hall.

Of all the taunts thrown at her, one was featured most often.

Zero.

She didn't how long she had been running. A minute? An hour? A day? Time blended together in that corridor of her own insecurities.

Zero.

When had she started running? Was it her first day at the Academy when all her hopes came crashing down with the first explosion?

Zero.

Was it when that Montmorency–Damnable know-it-all, Enemy of my family, Bane of my existence– started showing her up?

ZeroZero

No. It was even further than that. From the first spell she cast–ExplosionFailureZero– the first time Mother looked at her in disappointment– ZeroShameofthefamilyZero– the first time Big Sis Eleanore pulled her ears in rage –ZeroCan'tdoanythingrightZeroZero–

She had always been running.

ZeroZeroYou'reaZeroZero

Why? Why did it have to be her?

ZeroZero

Why couldn't someone else be the magical blunt?

ZeroZeroZero

Why?

ZeroZeroZeroZeroZERO

She wanted it to stop.

ZEROZEROZEROZEROZEROZERO

She wanted them all to–

ZEROZEROFAILUREYOU'REAZEROSHAMETOTHEFAMILYZERO

"SHUT UP!"

And the dream shifted.

Louise was no longer running. In fact, she couldn't be running.

Because she was flying.

High above the clouds... the winds shifted, and enjoyed the feelings on her scaled maw. Maw? Her right wing tilted, and she banked hard towards a mountain peak to her starboard side. Wings?

Wings drew up, and LousieLuvheimonik brought herhis clawed feet forward in preparation to grasp the crest of the mountain. Waithumanscan'tdothatwhat'shappening?

SheHe landed roared in exaltation at herhis freedom at the Throat of the World. WhydoIknowwhatthismountainiscalledwhereamI?

HerNotHersHisLuvheimonik's maws opened and a mighty blast of fireYol rushed forth, the heat of the infernoToor melting the snow all around, its light eclipsing that of the sunShul.

As the Fire-Inferno-Sun faded, sheLuvheimonik spread herhis wings and–

fell out of her bed.

"Ow..."

Breakfast, Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst decided, was always the most boring part of the day. Everyone was always too damned groggy waking up to do anything exciting.

Except for herself, of course. After all, Kirche the Ardent was a woman of explosive passions, and it was against her very nature to be still and lifeless and– Brimir-forbid– dull.

And today was especially slow! It was the morning of the Springtime Familiar Summoning Ritual, for Founder's sake!

People were supposed to be excited to finally get their familiars. They should be gossiping and guessing at what kind of familiar they would get! They–

Tug.

The Germanian stopped her internal rant and turned her head a few degrees to the left and slightly downward to look at the petite, white hand attached to her sleeve. Her eyes traced the contours of the leanly muscled arm up to a soft shoulder and, right above that, the blank face of her long-time friend Tabitha.

"Kirche. Calm."

Most people would have strained to hear Tabitha's soft, almost whisper-like words and then spent a few minutes pondering the meaning of her choppy message.

The red-haired Germanian, on the other hand, had over a year of experience interpreting her bluenette friend's unspoken words.

Kirche, calm down. A flick of the eyes left and right. You're drawing too much attention. A quick, almost longing glance at the plain bread and tomato-ham omelet on her plate. I want to eat breakfast in peace.

Kirche took a peek at her surroundings and her own state of being. Her legs were tensed, as if ready to propel her into the air, and her chest was heaving from her earlier fit. Which, unsurprisingly, woke up a few of the surrounding boys (and a surprising number of girls) as they glued their eyes to her jiggling breasts.

This was the scene her rival Louise arrived to when she entered Alviss Dining Hall.

Twitch.

Ah, perfect timing! Just the thing to liven up the morning.

Louise visibly and forcibly relaxed her facial muscles and strolled over to where Kirche and Tabitha were sitting.

"Kirche, must you really be so shameless this early in the day?" Louise deadpanned, her face perfectly void of all expression.

"Why, my dear Louise, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" Kirche relied sweetly, crossing her arms demurely, incidentally squeezing and emphasizing her rather large bust.

Twitch. Ah, her left eyebrow was dancing again!

"I was just sitting here calmly and quietly recovering from the strenuous and exhausting night I had last night!" Move right hand to hip. Push up breasts further with left forearm.

"And what could possibly be so strenuous that you would be heaving and gasping in the morning, you shameless Germanian?" Twitch. And the right eyebrow joined in; such fun!

"Why, I was studying the incantation for the Summoning Ritual, of course! It's so long and hard. I would certainly be tired in the morning." Kirche adopted a look that was somehow innocent and sultry at the same time. "What were you referring to, hmmm? Something else?" She deliberately drew out the last "s" out as long as she could, turning it into a seductive, sibilant hiss.

The little explosion-user's face was turning such a cute shade of red.

And now, for the finishing touch...

Smirk. Perfect. Heh heh.

"GAAAAAAAAH!" Louise screamed out in frustration. "DAMN IT, KIRCHE!"

And with that, she all but collapsed into the seat next to her rival's.

"I win again!" Kirche grinned brightly. "So what's that now, 73-1?"

Louise lifted her face up to cast a baleful eye upon her neighbor. "That's 73 to 2, thank you very much."

Said neighbor waved a careless hand. "Details, details." She turned around and looked at Louise properly for the first time that day.

Huh. Wow, Louise looked really drawn-out, even under her expertly-applied makeup. Long night? And was that a bruise on her dainty little forehead?

"Louise… are you alright?" the Zerbst asked, her tone suddenly worried. "You don't look so well this morning."

"Hmm…? Oh, so you noticed," Louise let out flatly before sighing hugely. "Nightmare. Turned into a weird dream about flying. I jumped off a mountain and ended up propelling myself off my bed in real life."

"Ouch," Kirche winced. Well, that explained the bruise. "But you look really tired. Late night?" And she would be too, if her continued tutelage at the Academy was dependent on a successful summoning today.

''Late morning, actually," the Valliere sighed. "Family honor and all that. You understand, right?"

"Gotcha." Kirche quickly replied. The Zerbst family had been rivals to the Valliere family for centuries. The Zerbst name in Germania held the same reputation as the Valliere for Tristain. Both families worked much the same way, so the youngest Zerbst understood perfectly what the littlest Valliere meant.

"So… good luck then, little Zero. It looks like you'll need it. After all, your talent in practical magic is the same as you talent in the breast department," Kirche teased in an attempt to lighten up the suddenly somber atmosphere. "Absolutely Z-E-R-O."

Louise jumped up. "LIKE HELL! I'LL SUMMON THE GREATEST FAMILIAR EVER, YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Yes, yes, whatever you say." Looks like it worked.

"Louise. Quiet," That was Tabitha. She had finally finished her breakfast in relative peace. "Attention."

Louise understood Tabitha's pseudo-speech as well as Kirche could. Louise, you're drawing attention. The bad sort. Look around you.

The fiery-tempered girl looked around at her sniggering classmates who had all woken up at her declaration. Her overly loud declaration.

She gave out a soft "eep" and promptly fainted. Tabitha expertly caught Louise from falling from the seat with her gnarled hook-staff.

And that, Kirche decided, is how a morning should go.

Several planes of existence to the left (and thirty degrees skewed), the dragon Luvheimonik relaxed upon his hoard. It had been a very long day for the Elder dragon.

As the seventh among the Elder dragons, he should have been too low-ranked to meet with the Council that upheld the Zensethu'um – the Way of the Voice, the Vahlokke Kaanii (The Guardians of Kyne).

However, weak as he was in body and soul, he more than made up for it with his mind. What his kopraan (body) and thu'um (Voice) lacked, his knowledge of the arcane, the spiritual, and the worldly more than compensated. Thus, time and again, he was called upon so that his knowledge may be applied to the most troublesome, ridiculous situations until he had become a regular consultant.

The current crisis had involved a group of drunken adventurers, fragments of lost Aetherium, a recovered Elder Scroll, and the tower of Mzark in the ancient Dwemer stronghold of Falzhardum Din.

For whatever inane reason, the overpowered adventurers blasted through the ancient defenses of Alftand, and after taking the lift to the stronghold of Blackreach, corrupted the Elder Scroll reading mechanism with harmonically volatile Aetherium ore.

The oculory at the Tower of Mzark was originally designed to use concentrated starlight – the residue of power from Aetherius itself – to transcribe the knowledge of an Elder Scroll onto a specialized Lexicon.

However, with the introduction of raw Aetherium ore to the machine, the sodding idiots had somehow overpowered the cursed machine so that it tried to inscribe the contents of a Lexicon onto the Elder Scroll, which could not be done. The Kel solved this paradox by bypassing time and space to pull entire souls from Aetherius for inscription.

Since the Lexicon was dwarven in origin, the souls pulled from the Otherworld were Dwemer. Specifically angry, genocidal Dwemer.

As all angry genocidal Dwemer do, they used the mechanisms of Blackreach to somehow reactivate Dwemer production facilities all across Tamriel. Had his Thur – overlord, Dovahkiin, not intervened, all of Tamriel would have fallen before the simultaneous assault of millions of Dwemer Centurions.

As it was, Dovahkiin had resumed hishersits mortal form and Storm Called the poor bastards to death in their hideout at Blackreach. The physics of just how a storm could form miles underground made Luvheimonik's head hurt, but Dovahkiin's thu'um was powerful enough that hesheit could just ignore the laws of nature.

…

…

Dovahkiin. A matter that the overworked Elder dragon did not wish to contemplate at the moment. As one of hisherits Aarre, one of many servants, he respected and admired his Thur. Specifically, he admired Dovahkiin for destroying Miraak, whom had devoured his little sister's soul during his (original) last stand in Solthsteim.

However, it was known that Dovahkiin had in turn consumed Miraak's dovah sis, his dragon soul. That meant that however indirectly, his Thur had eaten Luvheimonik's younger sister. His baby sister, whom had not even reached Blood dragon status at the time, whom had not even earned her Name yet.

Of course, his sister's power had played a role in Alduin the Tyrant's defeat centuries ago. If not for the power of the hundreds of Dovah that Miraak, and in turn Dovahkiin, had consumed, Dovahkiin would never have been able to absorb Alduin's dovah sis, thus placing himheritself as the Firstborn of Father Akatosh and Mother Kynareth.

Otherwise, Alduin could have escaped by plunging his soul out of Sovngarde and through the mists of Aetherius, or something ridiculous like that.

This was it. The midway. The crossroads. The point of no return.

"Miss Valliere, you're up next," the half-mad – or so the rumors said – but well-dispositioned Fire Magic Professor Jean Colberet announced. "The last summoning of the day. If you would please step forward to the summoning circle?"

Louise swallowed the hardened bulge of saliva that seemed to be blocking her throat. This was it. No going back now.

If she failed this, she was going to be expelled from the academy. Branded a failure.

She would never be able to see Kirche or Tabitha again.

She would have to endure Montmorency the Flood's inane insults for the rest of her life.

She would be married off to some fat or disgraced noble looking for status.

She would disappoint Mother and disgrace the entire Valliere family.

But worst of all, she would never be able to fulfill her promise to Chi-nee-sama. Summon a familiar. Since it is no longer an option for me, do it for the both of us. So that I can have another little sibling to spoil.

The last one was worse than all of the other imaginings combined.

So this was it. End of the road.

"Sometime today, Miss Valliere. I'm sure we would all like to go back to our dorms soon," Mr. Colbert's dry voice interjected into her ruminations.

"Ah – y-yes, o-o-of course!" the pinkette strode forward with a confident gait, though her heart trembled inside.

"Zero? Summon a familiar? Hah!"

"Probably going to summon nothing. Fail again, the loser."

"Or even worse, she could summon something pathetic, like a commoner!"

"A commoner? Pffft. Something that pathetic? You must have inhaled one-too-many potions' fumes, Montmorency."

Ah, of course. The whispers, the insults, the barbs. Of course they would follow her here.

"Alright then, Miss Valliere. Begin the summoning." Huh? How had she already gotten here? Had time grown faster, or was the walk really that short?

Next to her, Jean Colbert looked at his ex-captain's youngest daughter in worry. Was she alright? As a soldier under Karin the Heavy Wind and as a legend himself, he could see through all kinds of facades and trickery. And what he saw under Louise's mask was not encouraging.

Hate. Doubt. Self-loathing. All in all, this was not good. So he made a decision.

Louise startled as a warm hand gently clamped down upon her shoulder. She looked to her right to see a kind smile on Mr. Colbert's face.

"You can do it, Louise," came a whisper from the teacher so polite he never called students by their given names.

The Valliere scion looked even further to see her rival and her reading-buddy, her two best friends – though she would never mention it in that damned Zerbst's presence – looking at her encouragingly.

Or at least, what passed as encouraging for them. Zerbst was doing that thing with her arms folded under her bosom that made her breasts look even more ridiculously large, and Tabitha had actually looked up from her book.

Filled with the love and support of the only people who cared for her in the Tristain Academy of Magic, Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere began her incantation.

"I, Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere, in the name of the great Five Pentagon Powers–"

"–ouise Fran–"

An echo. There was an echo in the chamber. The Elder dragon's head snapped up from his fitful slumber.

But that's impossible.

Luvheimonik's hoard, like those of all self-respecting modern-day Dov, was stored in an extradimensional chamber located thirty-degrees-skewed from reality. Guaranteed to protect from all forms of thievery, or your money back!

There were no walls here, only barriers of pure power, so there was no possible way there could be an echo.

"–in the name–"

What was that? A mortal had come into his treasure-room?

"–of the five Great Pentagon Powers–"

No. That voice was just a voice. The echo, though. That was no echo. Something was repeating the lines with the mortal.

"–following my fate–"

Fate. Destiny. Father Akatosh had come to tell him his destiny. No wonder Dovahkiin had given him infinite leave. Rumor had it that Dovahkiin had the ear of Hermaeus Mora, scryer of Fate, so hesheit must have seen this coming.

"–summon a familiar!"

A two-dimensional – how does that work? Perhaps it is simply a slice of three-dimensional area? Or something more esoteric? No! No distractions! – green ovaloid sprang into existence before him.

Akatosh and Dovahkiin's, the first and tenth divines, of Time and Dragons/Souls respectively, voices rang out once more, speaking in all tongues at once.

Do you understand what has been requested of you?

Wow. There was Dragon, Common, Falmer, Dwemer, and was that Ehlnofex? Ah, wait! Getting distracted again! Bad! Bad!

"Zu'u lusir, Thuri, Bromahi." I understand, my lord, my father.

Will you accept this destiny?

As Aedra, they could not compel him to do anything. But as Aedra, they would not speak to him for just any ordinary reason. This was Important, with a capital "I".

"Greh. Zu'u… EIM." Yes. I… ACCEPT!

And Halkegenia received a Hero.

–following my fate, summon a familiar!"

It was a monumental explosion, even larger than usual. New familiars, unused to the sound and force, cowered behind their masters, who braced themselves with an ease that spoke of long familiarity.

"I wonder what she summoned? Dust?"

"An explosion. That's all that Zero could ever summon."

"Ha! I bet she did summon something, and then blew it to bits!"

With her willpower flowing out of her, through her wand, and into the circle, the previously hurtful and spiteful words seemed inconsequential, as if heard through a thick wall. An enormous amount of willpower was flowing out of her. Elation and nervousness simultaneously gripped her heart.

Whatever this was, it must be powerful. Or it could be nothing at all; it could be my magic leaving me for good. There was a traitorous little voice in the back of her head, but right now, she could pay it no mind.

The tension of the moment thickened, as a shadow became visible through the magical smoke. The pinkette's heart leapt in joy.

Then the shadow rose, quickly dwarfing even Tabby's new wind dragon and eventually reaching the height of several carriages stacked atop of one another. (And she would know, she had once pranked her mother by bribing Mother's manticore into stacking all of their carriages atop one another. Something she would never do again, for the sake of her derriere.)

A blast of force radiated out, dispersing the cloud of dust.

Revealing a dragon. A huge dragon. A really freaking huge dragon.

And then it spoke, and the world itself trembled under the might of its Voice.

"Zu'u Luvheimonik. I am Tear-Forge-Wise, seventh of the Elder Dovah, follower of the Zensethu'um, the Way of the Voice, Consultant to the Vahlokke Kaanii, the Guardians of Kyne. WHO SUMMONS ME?"

Unfortunately, since this was not Tamriel, or even Nirn, nobody understood what any of that meant.

But still. By the Founder's left bullock… What had she summoned?

Louise chose that moment to faint.

Translation Notes

Luvheimonik – Tear-Forge-Wise

Zensethu'um – Way of the Voice

Vahlokke Kaanii – Guardians of Kyne

Kopraan – body

Thu'um – Voice

Kel – Elder Scroll

Thur – overlord

Aarre – servant (plural)

Dovah Sis - dragon soul

Ehlnofex – an ancient language now only spoken in Oblivion, from which all languages of Mer and Men may trace their origins

"Zu'u lusir, Thuri, Bromahi." – I understand, my lord, my father.

"Greh. Zu'u… EIM." – Yes. I… ACCEPT!

Author's Note: This is my first story. Ever. I was playing Dragonborn on Skyrim and reading the Hill of Swords simultaneously and this just popped out. Not the most unusual of story beginnings – I hear one guy got a story idea while in the shower. That story is now over 100k words. Wow.

So the Kirche-Tabitha-Louise interaction I've seen in Zero no Tsukaima never really made sense to me, especially since they became such great friends afterwards. Here, their interactions are somewhat more realistic. Best Frienemies!

Also, the reason Montmorency is now Louise's chief bully is because she's an *sshole. Seriously. In canon, she constantly belittles Louise. Then she leads Guiche on before leaving him high and dry, while still expecting him to be loyal. Then there was the incident where she accidentally dosed Louise with love potion and tried to deny all responsibility, and when she was forced to act, behaved like she was doing Saito a favor. What. The. Hell. Seriously.

The timeline in Nirn here is several centuries ahead of TESV:Skyrim. The difference here is that Dovahkiin kills Miraak first, thus absorbing the hundreds of dragon souls. This enables Dovahkiin to absorb Alduin's soul when Alduin dies in Sovngarde. In Canon, Alduin leaks his soul out of Sovngarde and escapes into Aetherius, where he can recover and return in a few millennia. Paarthurnax's reasoning behind this… is that Alduin is too powerful. I call hax. So by doing this, I have made it viable for Dovahkiin to ascend into a Tenth Divine.

The reasoning behind this is that Aetherius and Oblivion (The Outer Planes) are dictatorship-democracies. They are democracies in which only the gods have a say. When the Dragonborn kills Miraak, Miraak's stuff can be taken. Miraak's stuff include a sword and a staff that spawn tentacles. That's Hermaeus Mora's power right there. Plus, the Black Books are designed to infuse the reader with a piece of Hermaeus's Mora's knowledge and power (why so many people go insane reading them).

As a reader of the Elder Scrolls, the Dragonborn becomes infused with the primal energies of the time-before-time that spawned both the Daedra and the Aedra. Thus, the Dragonborn has the necessary power to become a god. Dragon souls and Dragonborn blessing are Aedric, Mora's knowledge is Daedric, and the Elder Scrolls are Primal. Since the Dragonborn has ostensibly gained the favor of all the Daedric lords (assuming you finished all the quests), Dovahkiin technically has all the votes necessary to become a Divine.

That's my reasoning. Don't like it? Too bad.

Anyways, I've seen a lot of Dragonborn!Gandlfrs and Sheograth!ChampionofCyrodiil!Gandlfrs. But no Dragon!VoidFamiliars in the Elder Scrolls and Familiar of Zero crossover sections, so I thought I would put this up. Honest criticism is encouraged, but flamers will not.

Seriously, guys: if you don't like the story, why are you wasting time reading it? Better yet, why are you wasting time leaving a review? Go do something else!

Anyways, SyQadelic out.