A/n: This is my first Harry Potter fic, so any constructive criticism will
be appreciated. Sorry about the first half of this chapter, I know it's
dull, but bear with me. I can't open stories to save the world -_-.
Phataloney scrunched her nose in distaste and closed her red eyes as the prayers of another hopeless suicidal echoed inside her head. She put a clawed hand to her temple, trying to force the pleading voice away, but to no avail. She sighed and shifted her wings uncomfortably, listening sympathetically as the young woman pleaded for a release from her life.
Phataloney hated getting prayers while she was on patrol. She couldn't focus on anything around her while she listened and that put her and the city she was supposed to be protecting at great risk.
"I can't stand it anymore!" The voice in her head sobbed. "They scream and hit each other and he hits me and she just lies there and cries and mumbles and doesn't try to stop him, then he just leaves and doesn't come back for days. I don't know what to do anymore." The girl cried miserably.
Phataloney sighed in pity. Her heart bled for children like this. She tried to reach out with her mind to comfort the poor girl, but she couldn't. Who ever she was, she was very far away, and she had little faith in the gods.
"Sweet Lady Death, please. . ." The girl sniffed, "take me away from here. I'll do anything. . ." then the girl broke down and all Phataloney heard was fading sobs as the prayer ended.
Phataloney sighed and ran her claws through her white hair. Now her concentration was broken, and the need for sleep she'd had earlier gone. She looked up through the leaves of her tree, her eyes lost in the night sky. It was around 11 o'clock and the sky was a rich shade of navy blue, splotched with purple here and there. Wispy grey clouds blotted out the moon, now a sliver of a waning crescent. Millions of cold, shimmering stars bathed the forest in a silver glow.
"Well, I might as well see if anything's up in the woods. . ."Phataloney sighed, dropping out of the tree, landing silently in a crouch on the leaf- laden forest floor.
She was four miles into the forest, eight total from the center of magical activity in the country, Ivenlaryk, the city of mages. She could see the faint gray glow of the city lights from her place in the woods. The magical energy emanating from the city was growing weak.
Her shoulder armour clanked loudly as she straightened up and she grimaced. She placed her hands on her shoulders and mumbled a few words under her breath. The iron plates slipped off her, vanishing before they hit the ground. Free of the loud obstructions, Phataloney began to make her way deeper into the forest, clawed feet treading lightly over last year's dead leaves. She was invisible to the human eye, her black skin blending in with the forests many shadows. She folded her massive wings tightly to her back as she passed through a dense thicket of tall bushes.
She froze as she stepped out of the tangle of branches, her long, pointed ears twitching as they picked up the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth nearby. Her cat-like pupils closed leaving her eyes a solid red as she gazed around the forest. She looked around, the trees around her glowing a pale blue. Then she saw a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye. Something large, with thick, warm blood. Phataloney found herself salivating at the thought as she scanned the woods for another glimpse of the animal. She saw it again, not far from her. A deer. Her eyes returned to normal, and she fought back the sudden desire to taste blood.
Phataloney walked another mile into the woods before coming to a dead stop. It was the witching hour, and as all ways, it began to get unnervingly dark. In the sky, the stars flickered out like candles, and an inky black cloud drifted over the moon. The sudden darkness didn't unnerve her, it was something else. Something was wrong; her kin should have been crawling out of the shadows to prowl the realm of the living. But they weren't. There should have been pixies and spirits dancing in the darkness. Black magic was at it's strongest during the witching hour, the forest should have been crawling with dark creatures.
That's when it hit her. There was no energy in the air. Phataloney sniffed at the stale forest air. Her nose, though not particularly strong, was more sensitive than a humans; she could smell three things quite well: blood, fear and magic. The forest absolutely reeked with fear. The animals were afraid. That was never a good sign. There was no stench of blood, and there were only a few traces of magic.
Phataloney had once held a less than intelligent conversation with a few of her fellow deities on what magic smelled like. Lloyd, the god of the Forest, said it smelled like the woods after a spring rain. Forte, god of Fire, said it smelled like burning wood. Phataloney all ways thought it smelled like the cool breeze that accompanied sunrise.
There was a loud crack, and the night sky erupted with a flash of lightning. Then, as if a vacuum had been opened somewhere behind her, the air and sound was sucked away. Phataloney dug her claws into the ground and folded her wings tightly against her back to keep from being pulled away. Her sword was pulled from its scabbard at her hip, and she grabbed for it quickly before it could be sucked away. She caught it by the blade, the cold steel biting into her hands. She tried to curse as she pulled in her sword, but the words were sucked from her throat.
Phataloney began to lose her footing as the pull of the vacuum grew stronger. A particularly violent gust of air passed her, pulling her wings open. She was hurtled headlong into a tree, her sword pulled from her hand was embedded in a tree trunk some yards away. Then, the suction stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the sound of debris falling to the ground rang out all around.
There was a pillar of light rising up off in the distance, and Phataloney was willing to bet her life it was coming from Ivenlaryk.
"There's all ways something weird happening there. . ." She muttered, prying her claws out of the tree bark and rubbing the side of her face, raw from her sudden impact with the tree. Then the feeling of emptiness hit her.
Someone died.
She felt the pull as a bit of her essence departed to lead the soul on to the afterlife.
"I swear, you even make crashing into things look graceful." A voice chuckled behind her.
"Tathiel! Don't do that, you scared me half to. . . to. . ." Phataloney stuttered.
She stared at the woman with a slight smile on her face. Tathiel looked somewhat stressed. The usual glow of magic that seemed to surround her at all times was gone. Her usually pristine white robes weren't shimmering as they usually did.
"Death? No, that wouldn't be right. Is it possible for you to be scared to yourself?" The god of Magic asked, placing a hand on the demon's cheek. The scratches disappeared.
"I don't know." Phataloney said, going to pull her sword out of the tree it was impaled in. She put a clawed foot against the trunk and pulled, the blade slowly edging out. "I don't think so. What happened there?" She asked, nodding toward the dissipating pillar of light rising up from the magic city.
"The last pillar of strength passed a few moments ago. Didn't you feel it? It should have felt much stronger than an ordinary death." Tathiel said, staring at the fading glow in the sky. Her bronze skin and golden hair were glowing, but her brown eyes were unnervingly dark.
"I did feel it. So, what does this mean now? The city will crumble?" Phataloney asked, sheathing her sword and studying her fellow god.
"It may. For now it will probably suck the magic out of the things around it. That's what that vortex was, just now. That's why the forest is so lifeless. It's pulling at me as well. I can't remember the last time I felt so drained. It's taxing all of us really, but I don't know if it will effect you, though, Phataloney." Tathiel said. She was growing pale.
"Because I'm the only one with no bindings to the founders. Tath, you don't look well. You should go back to your realm. Lloyd and I will discuss what's going on." Phataloney said, putting a hand on Tathiel's shoulder as she began to break into a sweat. Tathiel nodded and disappeared in a wisp of white smoke. Phataloney sighed and placed her hand on the tree nearest her.
"Lloyd? We need to talk." She said to the tree.
"What about, my dear darkness?" asked the man standing beside her. Phataloney jumped.
"Why is everyone sneaking up on me today?" She asked, smiling and taking her hand from where it'd flown to her chest.
"I didn't mean to startle you." He said, his black eyes twinkling. She gave him a warm hug, making sure she didn't stab his chin with her horns. "Now, what do we need to talk about?" He asked, guiding her through the woods with a hand on her shoulder.
Lloyd had very dark brown skin and long grey hair, braided with ivy. When Phataloney had first met him, she couldn't see him as the god of the Forest, but now, she couldn't imagine him being anything else. He reminded her of a tree draped with Spanish moss. He was quite tall.
"What happened back at the founding of Ivenlaryk? What was the whole binding business?" Phataloney asked, sitting down on a fallen tree.
"As you know, Ivenlaryk is built on the ground where we first set foot on this desolate piece of dirt. It is the strongest magical ground on the planet. Several thousand years after the races were created, the most powerful mage from each race came to us with a request to build a city on the ground where we had descended. We agreed, hoping that because each race was going to contribute to the founding of the city, it would help them set aside their differences and come to peace with each other. All of us gods put a little bit of our power into the city, and that power is what holds the city together. Now that the last human founder has died, the magic they put into the city has run out, and it must now draw upon our power and the power of the planet itself to maintain itself. The city is like a living creature, Phataloney. It needs energy to stand. Every wall of every building is composed of magic. There is not a real, earth-given stone in that entire city. If the magic runs out, the city crumbles." Lloyd explained, leaning against a tree, crossing his dark arms over his chest. The black of his skin complimented his silver tunic nicely.
"What was my dad like back then; you know, before he turned into a raving, power hungry lunatic?" Phataloney asked with bitter curiosity.
Lloyd chuckled. "Your father was not around at the time, dear. Only Asacal. And he has all ways been a raving lunatic. Just because he possessed your father when you were conceived does not mean he's your parent." Phataloney looked away, a disgruntled look on her demonic face.
"Do you think anything bad will happen, what with all the shifting in energy now that the human died?" She asked, looking up at Lloyd, somewhat worried.
"It is very possible and very likely that the entire planet may merge with it twin to even out the magical forces. Aera's magical levels are going to become very disoriented with Ivenlaryk absorbing power from everything it possibly can." Lloyd said darkly.
It had been a very long time since Phataloney had heard anyone use the planets name. People all ways used their countries name, Palandonia, Archea or Acerdia. Very few people even acknowledged the fact that they were living on a planet, rather than a country floating in space.
"What do you mean?" Phataloney asked, a feeling of repressed horror growing in her chest.
"Every planet has a 'twin' on the other side of the boundaries of time and space. Twin meaning that it has the same amount of magic. I don't know if you noticed earlier when everything rippled, that was the beginning of this merge. Aera needs the power of its twin to sustain itself. I would say within the week, the two planets will be one. You should see Cleyra right now, she is trying so hard to stop this." Lloyd said sadly.
"But that would mean Ragnarok, if the planets merge! We'll all die! If we bring down Ivenlaryk, this won't need to happen, we have to destroy the city!" Phataloney sputtered, jumping to her feet.
"You are very quick on the uptake, however it is not so simple. We cannot destroy the city. When Asacal rose to power all those thousands of years ago, he made sure that we would not be able to harm the city. It was his fortress, after all. There is more black magic protecting that city from us than there is on the gates of the Nether World. That is why all of us, you excluded, cannot enter the city anymore. Now, my dear, I must go." He said, bowing as he faded back into the trees.
Phataloney sighed and put her face in her hands, staring out at the ground through her claws. She ran her hands through her hair and let out a distressed growl. Movement above caught her eye and she looked up at the sky, her eyes widening. It was rippling.
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Albus Dumbledore looked out his office window with growing distress. Something was going on out on the grounds but he could not describe it. Trees were appearing out of thin air, and the night sky was rippling like the surface of a pond. There was now a small forest on the Hogwarts grounds that had not been there twenty minutes ago, and strange animals were taking cautious steps out of the brush to get a look at their new surroundings. There were several wolf-like creatures with bushy manes and lion tails, and a herd of massive white deer emerging from the small wood, slowly making their way toward Hagrid's house. The old wizard could hear Fang, Hagrid's hulking wolfhound, whining and growling at the approaching animals.
Albus Dumbledore picked his wand up off his desk and headed out his office door, blue night robes swishing quietly behind him. He really hoped Harry wasn't outside under his invisibility cloak right now. He walked down a flight of stairs and several winding corridors before coming to a stop in front of a portrait of a young woman playing a piano. He knocked on the picture.
"Minerva?" he called. He could hear someone moving around on the other side of the wall, and the portrait swung open revealing a bedraggled Minerva McGonagall. She squinted up at the old wizard, blinking rapidly.
"Is something wrong, Headmaster?" She asked, drawing her dressing robe tightly around her.
"Minerva, would you please fetch Severus and Remus and meet me in the entrance hall as soon as possible with your wands." Dumbledore said, casting a glance out a nearby window at the sky. It wasn't rippling anymore.
"Has something happened? Was Black seen again? Albus, what's going on?" the witch asked frantically, fear in her eyes.
"No, no, Minerva. It's not Black. To be quite honest, I don't know what it is. I just want to be careful." Dumbledore said, placing a reassuring hand on the witches' shoulder. He smiled warmly at her before turning and heading toward the entrance hall. He heard the portrait swing closed again as she went back inside to get her wand. Albus Dumbledore walked slowly down the staircase to the front doors of Hogwarts castle. Peeves the poltergeist was drifting lazily around the massive hall.
"Ah, Peeves. You wouldn't happen to know what is going on outside, would you?" Dumbledore asked. He could hear footsteps on the stairs behind him, and he could see Severus coming down the hall across the room, tying his robes shut.
Peeves cackled and swooped down in front of the wizard. "I don't know, but maybe the young man outside could give you a clue." The ghost replied, floating away laughing.
"What was that about?" Severus asked, walking up to Dumbledore, pulling his wand out of his robe pocket.
"Is something wrong, Headmaster?" Remus asked, coming to stand on Dumbledore's left, across from Severus. Minerva stood slightly behind him.
"Something is happening out on the grounds, though I haven't the slightest idea as to what it is. I called you three down here for safety measures." Dumbledore said, walking toward the massive doors at the front of the hall. He pushed them open and the group found themselves face to face with two of the wolf-like creatures Dumbledore had seen from his office window.
Instantly, Remus and Severus had their wands out, and they shouted 'Stupefy!', aiming their wands that the creatures before them. The spells hit the two animals in the head, however the beasts merely stumbled back a few steps, shaking their heads. One of the wolf-creatures snarled and jumped closer, snapping, though it didn't lunge at them. The other was clawing at its ear, the spell irritating it. The two wizards threw more spells at the creatures, but they stopped after the two animals climbed shakily to their feet after being hit with an 'Avada Kadavra'.
"Perhaps we should go back inside. . ." Minerva whispered, clutching her wand tightly.
"I wonder why they aren't attacking?" Remus muttered.
"Maybe you smell like one of them and they don't know what to make of you." Severus mocked. Remus growled in his throat, but didn't reply.
One of the animals seemed to be having a bad reaction to all the spells that had been flung at it, and was beginning to slink away, but the other one was now exceptionally angry and threatening looking. It backed up a few paces, snapping its jaws. It landed an angry glare on Severus and coiled back to pounce. The wizard stepped back and gasped as the monster sprang at him. He shielded his face with his arms, wand clattering to the floor, waiting for the blow to fall. It never did.
He looked down to see the beast writhing at his feet, a long arrow protruding from its neck. It was still alive, but only just. He looked around at the wizards and witch beside him. Their faces were pale and their mouths hanging open. They looked over at him.
"A-are you all right, Severus?" Minerva stuttered. He nodded slowly, his eyes again falling to the convulsing body on the ground.
A young man stepped out of the darkness along the castle wall, a bow in his hand. He drew another arrow and said something to them. Who ever he was, he was speaking a language none of them had ever heard.
"What was that?" Dumbledore asked. The man repeated himself, gesturing for them to turn around. He drew his bow, aiming the arrow at the wolf- creatures head.
The man, who was wearing a white, Victorian style blouse and a loose pair of black pants, gave them a questioning look when none of them turned around, shrugged, and loosed the arrow into the beasts head with a sickening crack. Minerva looked like she was going to be ill and turned around, walking back into the castle.
"Who the hell are you?" Severus shouted, pointing angrily at the man who was now looking rather apologetically after Minerva. He had a good deal of weapons about his person, Dumbledore noted.
"He's the guy who just saved your life, Severus," Remus snapped rather spitefully. "be a little more polite!"
While the two men were arguing, Dumbledore approached the foreigner and spoke with him quite civilly, even though he wasn't really sure if the man could understand. "You wouldn't happen to know how you came to be here, would you?" he asked quietly. The man shook his head in response. "Do you understand English?" The man nodded. He opened his mouth and rather hesitantly, stuttered out two words in English.
"Ca-can't. . .s-speak." He had a very heavy, very strange accent. He fingered the tape that was peeling off the hilt of the sword at his hip, looking nervous. Severus and Remus stopped arguing and looked at him, slightly surprised.
"So, you can understand English, but you cannot speak it, am I correct?" Dumbledore asked, smiling. The man nodded again. "Do you have a name?"
"Ferio." The young man replied quickly.
"Ferio. Would you be able to point out where you come from on a map, Ferio?" Dumbledore asked.
The man named Ferio perked up a little at this mention, and began rummaging through a drawstring bag hanging from one of the many belts he was wearing. He pulled out a roll of parchment and unrolled it.
"Lets have a look at what you have there inside. There's much more light in there." Dumbledore said, pushing open the massive doors to the castle. Ferio looked up in shock, gazing at the marble staircase inside the entrance hall. Dumbledore ushered the other two wary looking wizards inside and beckoned Ferio to follow. The young man shook his head, getting over his surprise, and then darted quickly back into the shadows he had emerged from.
"Where did he run off too?" Severus muttered. The three wizards walked back to the door, looking outside to see where Ferio had gone. Ferio reemerged from the shadows with a large ornate axe balanced in the crook of his arm. He was sliding a leather covering over the blade as he walked towards them.
***********************************
Phataloney landed hard on her front in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. She hadn't even realized she was falling until she was about a foot from the ground. She hadn't had any time to open her wings and catch herself. She got up, relocating her dignity, and brushed the twigs and dead leaves off her shirt and pants.
"That was graceful." A deep, male voice rang out, bouncing off the trees, making it impossible to trace. Phataloney hissed, baring her fangs. She looked around the forest for where the voice had come.
"What are you? How did you get here?" A centaur walked out of the shadows, bow and arrow leveled at her chest.
"What I am isss none of your busssinesssss." She hissed. She had a tendency to roll her S's when she was angry. "And you cannot even begin to fathom how I come to be here."
The centaur pawed the ground angrily and tightened his grip on the bowstring. Phataloney took on a defensive stance, raising her claws and flaring her wings threateningly. Her tail lashed violently behind her. There was movement in the shadows, and four more centaurs emerged from the darkness of the forest, surrounding her.
"You want to know what I am, half-breed?" Phataloney hissed, walking toward the first centaur. He was terribly handsome, but Phataloney wasn't going to let her sex drive deter her now. She was angry, and Phataloney was never rash when she was angry. "Someone once described me very accurately, perhaps it will be simple enough for you to understand. I be to thee as thou be to an insect. In thy terms, I be a god." The centaur roared in anger and loosed his arrow, the stone tip embedding itself deeply in her shoulder. Phataloney snarled, her body rigid with rage. She hardly felt the projectile sticking out of her body.
"Do you take us for half-witted animals?" The centaur roared, rearing with rage. His sculpted face was red with anger. Muscles rippled beneath tanned skin. He was livid.
Phataloney suddenly felt somewhat ashamed of herself. She reached up, jerking the arrow from her shoulder, black blood splattering on the ground. The wound stitched itself up all most instantly. Her eyes fell from the ragging centaur to the ground at his hooves.
"I owe you an apology. I respect your intelligence to the utmost, and I am sorry for angering you." She said, dropping the arrow at her feet. Her wings folded lightly against her back as she regained composure. "I apologize."
The centaur put all four of his feet back on the ground and glared at her, face still red, nostrils flaring. "What are you doing here?" He asked acidly.
"A side from the obvious: arguing with you, I don't know. And I don't know how I got here, so don't bother asking. I'm sorry I landed in the middle of your territory, but I had little choice in the matter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you in peace." Phataloney said, moving to walk past him. She heard the creak as bowstrings were drawn. The other four centaurs pawed the ground, taking aim. Phataloney sighed in frustration.
Something came crashing through the brush and leapt on one of the centaurs, who screamed and lost his grip on his bow, arrow shooting off into the wood. The other four centaurs reared, unsure of what to do. Phataloney whipped around to see what was going on. A massive wolf with a bushy mane and lions tail was hanging off the centaur's hind leg, snarling. The other centaurs looked unsure of what to do. They were worried, that was obvious, but they were afraid to shoot or get close.
"This is such a perfect opportunity to slip quietly away. . ." said a little voice in her head.
Phataloney ripped the bow out of the hands of the centaur behind her. "Arrow." She hissed, holding out her hand.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The centaur roared, rearing.
"Give me a gods forsaken arrow before I open your throat." She hissed quietly, fixing him with a loathing glare. He tensed and backed up a few paces, handing her an arrow.
Phataloney took aim, every archery statistic she could think of running through her head. "Give it room to move between fire and impact. . .there's no wind. . .make sure he can rear without hitting him. . ."
TWANG. The arrow was loose and before anyone knew what had happened, the wolf fell to the ground, arrow shaft sticking out just below its ear. The centaur that had been attacked settled on the ground, pale and sweating. The rest of them were looking at her.
Phataloney handed the black centaur his bow as she walked by, disappearing into the shadow of the forest.
***********************************
Ferio walked into the entrance hall of the castle, looking around in awe. Several children were peeking in at them from around a corner, but they disappeared when the man who had yelled at him earlier gave them a threatening look.
"They must have heard the commotion. The Slytherin dormitories are just below us." Chuckled Dumbledore. Ferio gave him a confused look. "Ah yes, I all most forgot. This castle is a school. Those were a few of the students, just there." He said, pointing to where the children had been. Ferio nodded absently, his eyes again wandering around the room.
"Now, I believe an introduction is in order. We all know your name, Ferio, you should know ours. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this school. These two," He gestured to the other two men. "are professors here."
"Severus Snape, Potions Master. Now, if you will excuse me, I must be going." The man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose that had yelled at him earlier turned and stalked out of the room and down a dark corridor.
Ferio shrugged and then looked at the other wizard. He looked like he was about thirty or so, with a few early wrinkles. His dusty brown hair was flecked with grey. "He must have kids." Ferio thought to himself. The wizard stuck out his hand, introducing himself.
"I'm Remus Lupin. I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ferio took his hand and shook it firmly, nodding that he understood.
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to have to ask you to take off all of your weapons, Ferio. I cannot allow you to walk around the castle with them; you may frighten the students. You can leave them here and they will be brought to a room for you." Dumbledore said, smiling reassuringly when the young man paled a bit.
Ferio swallowed, looking around the room. His mouth had gone dry when he was told to just leave his equipment on the floor. But he did as he was told, undoing his sword belt, and putting it quietly on the floor, followed by his axe.
Remus and Dumbledore watched as Ferio pulled knives out of his boots, sleeves, a particularly long one out from inside the back of his shirt, he took a small one off a chain around his neck and finally he stomped his right boot on the floor and a blade shot out of the heel of his boot. He removed that as well.
"The one on your belt, too, if you would." Dumbledore said, pointing at the last dagger Ferio had on him. Ferio shook his head and held up a finger. He then pointed to the wand in Remus' hand.
"You need it for magic?" Remus asked, holding up his wand. Ferio nodded vigorously.
"I see. Well then, shall we head up to my office and have a look at that parchment you have?" Dumbledore began to walk up the towering marble stairwell. Ferio and Remus followed.
Ferio followed the old wizard up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway, Remus at his side. As they passed the fourth picture along the hall, he became quite certain of the fact that he was slowly losing his mind. The people in the paintings were moving. Ferio did a double take as he passed a picture of a young boy in a meadow. The boy was swaying, half asleep on his feet. When he noticed Ferio staring at him, he waved slightly.
"Good evening." Yawned the boy in the painting. Ferio nearly jumped out of his skin, stumbling into Remus in the process. He stammered several words very quickly and pointed at the painting, helping Remus catch his balance.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, turning to watch them from a few paces ahead. Ferio pointed at the picture and said several things in an accusing tone. The boy in the picture scratched his head.
"What's going on?" he asked innocently. Ferio jumped again and shouted at the boy.
"All of the pictures can talk." Remus said, continuing up the stairs, a bewildered Ferio following. Dumbledore chuckled as he walked by.
Remus stopped short at the end of the hall and Ferio nearly walked into him. They were now standing before a towering gargoyle statue.
"Fizzing Whizbees." Dumbledore said to the gargoyle, stepping in front of it. The gargoyle readily sprang aside revealing a doorway. Ferio paled. He followed Remus and Dumbledore onto a revolving stairwell, staring numbly at the gargoyle all the while.
***********************************
Phataloney had been keeping a fairly decent pace as she made her way through the woods, considering she had no idea where she was going. But that was an hour ago, and now she was hardly moving at all.
"Damn these plants. . . " She growled, holding her arms and wings high over her head as she waded through a sea of stinging nettles. "Ow! Dammit."
By the time she made it through the nettle patch, her entire body was throbbing. She let herself fall to the moss covered ground, rubbing her arms and legs. She sighed and flexed her wings, contemplating her current situation.
"Well, I'm not in Palandonia anymore, that's for sure. The centaur speak English." She mumbled. Phataloney was familiar with just about every language that every race on every planet spoke. Mainly because when someone or something died, it ended up in her realm. Very few races acknowledged the fact that there was no heaven or hell, just limbo and the underworld.
Phataloney put her hand on a near by tree and focused. "Lloyd?" No answer. She planted her hands firmly on the ground, still concentrating. "Mora?" Still no answer. No one answered any of the calls she sent forth.
"Looks like I'm on my own. . ." She muttered, standing up, tail swishing behind her.
"No you're not." A voice in her head rang out. Her ears and eyes began to bleed.
"Dion? Why can I hear you and no one else?" Phataloney asked, wiping her face on her sleeve.
"You're trying to talk with the outside forces, dear. I'm and inside force, you can't get rid of me. Lloyd and Mora and the others have no influence here, these aren't the same trees, this isn't the same earth. Their influence is hindered by the boundaries of time and space, ours isn't." explained the voice.
"Can you manifest here?" Phataloney asked, wiping her eyes again.
"If you wish." The voice replied.
"Well I do wish." She mumbled.
"Very well."
A body appeared on the ground, pale and clammy with death. It was inhuman, much like her, only draconian, not demonic. Scales lined the jaw, running down the neck, the body was lean and fit. Clawed hands and feet, like her own, and wings, powerful and leathery. The eyes opened slowly, a rich gold, and color and life seeped back into the tanned skin.
Dion, the hybrid god of Spirit rose to his feet, flexing impressive brown wings, his heavy, lizard like tail lashing about.
"I have not been here in thousands of years." He said, taking in a deep breath, eyes wandering the forest. He did not look at her, and his eyes did not bleed, but the moment she began to speak, blood trickled out of his thin, pointed ears.
"Is this Earth? I know that there are other planets that use the English language." Phataloney asked, tearing her eyes from him and staring at the ground. The bleeding receded.
"Indeed it is. It smells horrible, I wonder what has become of it." He replied, glancing at her. Red pooled at the corners of his eyes.
"Is there any way to stop what is happening?" She asked, rubbing her arms again. They were going numb.
"Nothing can be done about this until the merge is complete, Phataloney. Unless Tathiel sacrifices herself to sustain Aera, which she wont, the only thing we can do is wait. More solutions will present themselves once this has finished. There is a massive time difference between Earth and Aera, I suggest you enjoy yourself while you are here, you have all the time in this world." Dion explained, staring numbly at the ground.
"What do you mean? Can't I go back?" Phataloney asked, grabbing his shirt and pulling him around to face her. Her hands burned at the touch, and she left charred handprints on the front of his shirt.
"You and the little cohort of yours that was prancing around in the woods with you have been woven into this world, you cannot return to Aera, and I'm not sure that you can even return to or contact your realm. The Nether Realms are bound to the Mage City, and that is still planted firmly on Aerean soil. You're stuck here for the time being, dearest." The hybrid said with a shrug. He wiped his eyes with a claw.
"Cohort? Who do you mean? And if I can't go back, why can you?" Phataloney asked, kicking the ground and drawing her eyes from him. Her face was drenched with blood.
"Your little grey haired lackey. You know, the one you said can sleep with his eyes open. And unlike you, I came here of my own free will. Until I am rippled into the dimension, I can come and go at my leisure. Would you like me to stay with you for a while?" Dion asked, walking through the forest, Phataloney tagging a long behind.
"It doesn't matter to me. Once I find my way out of this forest I'll be able to manage myself. I've been here before. Only a few years ago, it can't have changed enough to disorient me." Phataloney sighed, stopping. Dion turned to face her.
"Well, before I go, I will offer you some advice. Once you get out of this forest, there will be a castle a head of you, where I believe you will find your companion. Our magics won't work on the castle grounds, so be careful when you walk around; you'll cause a panic if anyone sees you. Also, be careful in the woods, there are huge spiders running around in here." Dion said.
The color drained from Phataloney's face and she looked around quickly, edging closer to the god of Spirit.
"You'll manage, Phataloney. Now, I will be going." He took her hand in his and lifted it, placing a light kiss on the back. "Until we meet again." He said with a crooked smile.
The body hit the ground with a dull thud and quickly turned to ash. Phataloney watched the pale, barely visibly golden glow rise from the remains and vanish into the night air as Dion departed. The departure of the soul. Phataloney rubbed the back of her hand, where the imprint of his lips that was seared into her hand was quickly healing itself. She wiped the blood from her face and fingered her now sticky and bloodied hair.
Phataloney shivered and sighed in disgust.
"Giant spiders. . ." She muttered, pulling a face and gripping the hilt of her sword tightly.
***********************************
Ferio walked into Dumbledore's office and nearly choked upon catching sight of what was perched in the corner of the room. He threw himself to the floor, forehead on the backs of his hands, muttering. Remus and Dumbledore stared at him uncertainly.
"Are you quite all right there, Ferio? Fawkes won't harm you." Dumbledore said, pulling the young man up by the shoulders. He continued to mutter and didn't raise his eyes from the floor.
The phoenix turned its head and gazed intently at its master and the man beside him. Ferio threw himself on the ground again, muttering louder.
"Remus, would you please take Fawkes into my chambers?" Dumbledore asked, hauling Ferio up from the floor again. The other man nodded and walked over to the phoenix, who hopped gently onto his outstretched arm. He picked up the perch and walked through a door at the back of the room.
Ferio let out a sigh of relief and gazed about the room in awe, his eyes lingering on the many whirring contraptions lining the walls. Remus returned from the room behind Dumbledore's office and the three of them all moved to stand around the desk in the middle of the room. Ferio pulled the roll of parchment he'd been waving around earlier out of his belt and spread it out on the desk. Dumbledore and Remus leaned over it, studying it closely.
"Is it a map?" Remus asked, looking up at Ferio, strands of brown hair falling in his eyes. Ferio nodded.
The two wizards' eyes wandered the parchment, trying to decipher what was written on it. It showed a massive continent neither of them had seen before, blanketed in mountains and forests, with cities and towns scattered about, apparently hundreds of miles apart. It was definitely not Earth.
"I can't read it." Remus said, looking up with raised eyebrows. Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
Ferio looked around the room somewhat frantically, pulling his knife out. Obviously not seeing what he wanted, he picked up the map and waved the blank corner around, saying something. He received blank looks from the two men in front of him.
He sighed and pointed at the corner of the map.
"You need parchment?" Dumbledore asked. Ferio nodded.
Dumbledore waved his wand and a roll of parchment appeared on the desk. Ferio placed the map face down atop the roll on the desk and pricked the tip of his finger with his knife. The two wizards watched in somewhat disgusted fascination as he pressed his bleeding finger into the back of the map. He muttered something and the whole map turned a vibrant red before returning to normal. When he lifted the map, there was no bloodstain on the back, and the roll of parchment underneath. . .
"What the. . . How did you do that?" Remus asked, staring wide eyed at the translated map.
"Aera? Where is that?" Dumbledore asked, still studying the map.
Ferio opened his mouth then shut it again, looking at the wall with a thoughtful expression. A look of realization crossed his face and he clapped his hands and rubbed them together, chanting. When he pulled his hands apart, a cloud of green smoke billowed fourth, taking the shape of a planet.
"Aera." He said, holding his hands open, the smoke swirling from them.
"It's a different planet. . ." Remus gaped. Ferio nodded and clapped his hands again, the smoke disbanding.
"And where are you from on this planet?" Dumbledore asked, turning back to the map.
Ferio walked to the desk and pointed to a city nestled in a vast forest in a country labeled 'Palandonia'.
"Ivenlaryk." He said, tapping the map. His accent made it hard to decipher the word.
"Do you know of any way that you could get back there?" Dumbledore asked. Ferio shook his head.
"Maybe we should leave it for the morning, it's getting rather late." Remus said, stifling a yawn.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. We'll go find you a room, Ferio. Come along." Dumbledore agreed, ushering Ferio out of the office. Ferio snatched up his map as he was led out the door and back onto the revolving staircase.
The stepped off the staircase and Dumbledore led him down the hallway directly to the right of the gargoyle statue, Remus in tow. They stopped seven paintings from the office.
"This will be your room for the night, or however long you will be needing it. The password is 'cashew'." Dumbledore said.
"Ce- ca-shew?" Ferio repeated uncertainly.
"Precisely." Dumbledore said, smiling. The portrait, which was that of a deer running through a field of wildflowers, swung open to reveal a spacious sitting room that led off into a hall. A fire was roaring in the hearth, and there was a comfortable couch and two armchairs around it. A bookcase stood along one wall and there was an open door on the other leading into a bathroom.
"Cashew." Ferio repeated, walking into the sitting room. He repeated it several times in several different voices. The two wizards standing in the doorway chuckled.
"Food and clothes will be brought up to you shortly, along with your. . . weapons. If you need anything else, I am just down the hall." Dumbledore said, walking out with Remus, the portrait closing behind them.
Ferio surveyed his room once more, then smiled brightly to himself and walking into the bathroom, humming.
***********************************
Harry woke up in the early morning, gazing blearily around the room, which was nothing more than a blur of dark colors. He fumbled blindly for his glasses, and finding them, pushed them up the bridge of his nose. He looked out the dormitory window at the gloomy grey sky.
"Quidditch practice. . ." He sighed, staring distraughtly at the rain clouds. He inhaled deeply, a strange scent filling his nostrils. "Something's burning!" He thought, scrambling out of bed and rushing to the window. He crashed into the sill, and stuck his head out the open window, scanning the grounds. His jaw dropped at what he saw.
There was a forest on the quidditch pitch!
"Ron! Ron, wake up! Look!" Harry grabbed the tuft of red hair sticking out from beneath Ron's blanket and pulled hard, hauling his friend out of bed.
"Bloody hell Harry, let go!" Ron moaned, tumbling off his mattress and staggering to his feet, standing next to Harry at the window. "What is it?" He asked, blinking sleepily and gazing out the window. Harry pointed at the quidditch field and Ron gasped, nearly falling over.
"What happened?" he yelped, leaning over the windowsill, squinting at the forest.
"What are those weird animals?" Harry asked, pointing at a hulking wolf- looking creature that was pacing just behind the trees.
"Look over there, what's that guy doing?" Ron pointed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, to where a man was standing in front of a huge fire.
"Looks like he's burning a carcass." Harry muttered. "Let's go ask Professor McGonagall what's going on." Harry picked a clean set of robes out of his trunk and began to change; Ron did the same. The two boys crept quietly out of the dormitory, trying not to wake the other boys. They had, miraculously, slept through their earlier ruckus.
Hermione came walking down the staircase from the girls' dormitory just as Harry and Ron entered the Common Room.
"Did you smell that fire too?" She asked as she walked to them.
"Yeah, and a forest sprouted up in the middle of the quidditch field!" Ron said, making his way to the portrait hole. Harry and Hermione followed in suit.
"It's seven o'clock, we may as well head to breakfast. Everyone else will be getting up in a few minutes. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will explain what's going on." Hermione said, following the two boys down a staircase and into the entrance hall. They were walking by the castle doors toward the Great Hall when a yowl and angry shouts erupted outside. The three jumped and looked anxiously at the massive doors.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, taking a wary step toward the doors, eyeing them as if they would burst open and let in some wild beast.
Footsteps rang out behind them and the trio turned to see Professors McGonagall and Lupin running out of the Great Hall toward the front doors, wands out.
"Stay here." Professor McGonagall ordered as she hurried by. Professor Lupin threw open the doors and he and McGonagall rushed outside.
Harry and Ron crept to the door, peering out at what was going on, and Hermione followed. Outside, a man was fending off one of the wolf monsters Harry and Ron had seen from their dormitory. He dodged nimbly when the creature lunged at him, and lashed out with a long shafted axe. He was shouting at the beast, but none of them could make out any of the words. Professor Lupin hurled a hex at the monster, and it turned its' attention towards him, briefly. Those few seconds were all that was needed. The man with the axe buried the wedge of the blade in the creature's chest before it knew what was going on.
"Oh my. . ." Hermione gasped, turning away with a hand over her mouth. Ron and Harry stared with disgusted interest as the man pulled his weapon out of the fallen animal's breast, thick, steamy blood spilling out on the ground.
The man wiped his axe blade on the grass and shook his head in annoyance, muttering something. He rammed his weapon into the ground so that it stood up, handle in the air, and rubbed his hands together. He picked up one of the wolves' front legs and began to drag the body across the grounds, in the direction of a smoldering fire.
Professor McGonagall cast a levitating charm on the carcass and walked it to the fire with the man. Professor Lupin walked back into the entrance hall, and was immediately bombarded with questions from the three students.
"Professor Lupin, what was that thing?!" Ron asked, looking after Professor McGonagall and the strange man.
"Who is that guy?" Harry asked.
"What's going on out on the grounds?" Hermione asked, looking outside from the doorway.
Several more students poured into the Entrance Hall from their dormitories, yawning and muttering 'good morning' to each other. They were completely oblivious to everything that had happened outside.
"You three go on to breakfast, Professor Dumbledore will explain everything for you." Professor Lupin said, silencing the rest of their inquiries. He made his way up stairs in the direction of his office.
Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the herd of groggy students making their way to breakfast. They found their seats at the Gryffindor table and waited anxiously for the rest of the school to find their seats. Professor McGonagall walked into the room leading the man from outside through the sea of students.
"Who's that?" Parvati whispered, poking her friend Lavender in the arm.
"Who?" Lavender said, looking around. Parvati was about to continue, when Dumbledore stood up, drumming a knife on his goblet to bring about order.
The students fell silent and sat down. Professor McGonagall took her seat at the staff table, leaving Professor Dumbledore and the stranger standing.
"Due to a most disturbing sequence of events that occurred last night, I am afraid that no one will be allowed out on the grounds at any time, until further notice. All of your outdoors classes have been canceled, as has Quidditch." Professor Dumbledore said. The entire hall was silence with shock. The quidditch captains all sputtered, and the teams were red in the face. The tables erupted with questions and outrages.
"Was it Black?"
"But quidditch!"
"What happened?"
"We have a game tomorrow!"
"Quiet! It was not Sirius Black. To be completely honest, we do not know what happened. As for quidditch, there is a forest growing on the field, and wild animals running the grounds, and until everything has been sorted out, no one will leave this castle. Anyone caught outside will lose 100 points from their house and have detention for the next two months." Professor Dumbledore said sternly. The room fell silent again. Harry pondered this news. No quidditch, no going outside at all.
"I wonder what Hagrid's gonna do?" Ron whispered. "Maybe he'll be staying in the castle." Professor Dumbledore began to speak before Harry could say anything.
"On a lighter note, I would like to introduce this young man to you." Professor Dumbledore said, looking at the stranger next to him. "This is Ferio. He will be staying here at the castle for a while, and I expect you all to welcome him and be respectful. He does not speak English, so be forewarned." The entire student body was staring at the grey haired man standing next to Dumbledore.
"I wonder where he's from. Doesn't look like anyone I've seen around here." Ron muttered.
"He looks a little bit Greek. His skin tone, anyway." Hermione said.
"Who on earth do you know can use an axe like that though? He's like something out of some fantasy book!" Ron argued.
Breakfast was spent in silence. Everyone was stunned. Half an hour later, the Great Hall cleared, everyone departing for their classes, muttering. Harry and Ron stayed toward the back of the crowd, neither keen on getting to Divination class. Hermione had left early, not wanting to be late for Muggle Studies, which was on the other side of the castle.
"Professor McGonagall!" Ron said, flagging down the transfiguration teacher.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley, what is it?" Professor McGonagall asked, stopping in front of him.
"What was that big thing outside earlier?" He asked anxiously.
"That thing is one of the reasons you are not allowed outside. Now, you two boys hurry to your class, you're about to be late." She said, walking out of the Great Hall. Ron sighed and he and Harry started for the North Tower.
***********************************
Phataloney pulled her sword out of the spiders head and whimpered swinging the slime and gore off the blade. She held the sword out and looked around frantically for any other opponents. The forest was quiet. She sighed in relief and sheathed her weapon, jumping over the spider corpse, muttering in distaste.
It was daylight, from what she could tell. Though the forest was still fairly dark, it was a lot lighter than it had been before. She could see well ahead of her. The trees were thinning out here. She would be out soon.
"Damn this forest." She mumbled, trudging through the leaf litter. "Maybe I could. . .no, I should keep a low profile. Can't be seen like this."
She continued walking, two miles creeping by. Nothing changed, it was as if she hadn't moved at all. No end of the forest was in sight.
"I would kill for some music. . ." She sighed. Phataloney stopped walking and waved her clawed hand in the air, making runes. The symbol she had made flashed briefly in the air, then disappeared. Nothing happened. "Play, dammit!" She shouted, making the rune again. Still nothing. "Bastards."
A shrieking noise shattered the fragile quiet of the forest, and Phataloney nearly jumped out of her skin. A car came crashing through the woods towards her. Phataloney shook herself out of her shock and smirked. She flexed her claws and prepared to jump.
At the very last second, as the car sped at her, Phataloney jumped, hooking her claws into the steel roof. She flattened herself against the metal and howled as the car sped in the direction she had been heading.
The car thundered through the woods, blaring its horn, doors flapping open and crushing against trees. Phataloney could see the end of the forest, and the castle beyond it.
"Just a little farther. . ." she murmured, ducking a low branch.
The car roared to the edge of the forest and suddenly stopped short, throwing Phataloney from the roof. She yelped and spread her wings, but she tumbled onto the ground before she could stop herself. She rolled head over heels a few times before finally dropping motionless on the ground.
"Ow. . ." She grumbled, picking herself up off the ground. She shook herself, leaves and grass falling off her. Something growled behind her. "Oh gods sakes, what now?" She snapped, turning around to face a small pack of the manned wolves. "oh boy. . ." She whispered, stepping back and reaching for her sword. Her hand clenched around air. "What?!" She yelped looking down. Her sword was gone, as was the scabbard. The wolves began to advance and she stepped back gingerly.
"I don't have time for this." She hissed, drawing a rune in the air. A wall of fire erupted from the ground, and the wolves leapt back, snarling. Phataloney took advantage of the distraction and made a dash for the castle. The wolves leapt after her, and she dodged the first assault before spreading her wings and gliding swiftly over the grass. She was more agile in the air.
"I'll be damned if someone sees me now." She thought, swerving away as another wolf leapt at her. They began gaining, and she beat her wings, putting a good eight feet between them. She was now level with the second floor of the castle.
There was no front door in sigh, and she was quickly approaching the solid stone wall. Phataloney cursed and drew another rune in the air, hoping to stun her pursuers long enough for her to land and find a door. She was twelve feet from the wall.
The ground at the wolves feet broke open, rocks shooting up in their path. Phataloney stopped for a split second to see what happened, when a huge paw nailed her in the chest and she and the wolf went hurdling toward the castle wall. Phataloney gasped a spell just as the wolves' head smashed against the stone.
***********************************
Harry was in the middle of his defense against the dark arts test when something flew through the wall and crashed into his and Ron's desk, sending it across the room into Dean and Neville's desk. The four boys leapt up, their chairs crashing to the floor, yelling. Professor Lupin was on his feet, wand pointed at a black figure lying in the mess of desk legs and torn tests faster than what any of them thought was healthy.
The winged, humanoid figure on the floor sputtered a string of curses in a heavily accented voice and began to move.
"Stupefy!" Shouted Professor Lupin, a white blast from his wand hitting the figure in the side of what Harry assumed was its head.
"Din! What the hell was that for?" The creature snapped, sitting up. Several students gasped and a few even screamed. Harry was stunned to silence. He rubbed his eyes, thinking at first that he was seeing things, but no. There was a demon sitting on the floor of the classroom.
Professor Lupin stuttered the beginnings of a few words, shook his head in disbelief and slumped back into his seat.
"Sorry about your classroom, but I suppose straightening out a few desks is easier than scrubbing my innards off the castle walls." The demon said nonchalantly, picking up Neville and Dean's desk and putting it back where it had been. The two boys scuttled away as she neared them. The demon shook her head and rolled her eyes. She picked up Harry and Ron's desk and walked to them, putting it back in place. Ron squeaked when she put it down; Harry just stared at her.
"I know that I'm absolutely fascinating and all, but it's very unnerving when you don't blink." She addressed the students, who gasped and jumped at her somewhat assertive tone. Professor Lupin got to his feet again and walked out from behind his desk to face the she-demon.
"Who-no, What are you? What are you doing at Hogwarts?" He asked, his voice surprisingly calm.
"My name is Phataloney. If you haven't all ready made any assumptions based on my appearance, then I'll tell you that I am a demon." She said, bowing extravagantly. "I'm looking for a friend of mine here, someone told me I'd find him 'in the castle beyond the forest. And watch out, there are great big spiders in here.' Or something like that, anyway." Harry and Ron glanced at each other.
"Your friend?" Professor Lupin asked. His fist was clenched around his wand, knuckles white.
"Yes. His name's Ferio, doesn't speak English. Hair suggests he's 50 or so, face looks like he's in his twenties. About this tall," The demon raised a clawed hand four inches over head. "And if you can't identify him with that I can list some of his unique and most annoying habits."
"You know Ferio?" Professor Lupin asked, somewhat stunned.
"So it would seem." The demon replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet. They were clawed as well, Harry noted. Across the room, Seamus Finnigan was swaying slightly, eyes following the swishing spaded tail. Professor Lupin was silent for a minute, a thoughtful expression on his lined face. He sighed somewhat defeatedly and turned to his third year Gryffindor class.
"I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't destroy the room while I'm gone. Come with me, I'll take you to Ferio." He said to the demon. He led her out the classroom door and shut it quietly behind them. The classroom immediately erupted in nervous whisper.
Remus walked briskly down the hall toward Dumbledore's office, the demon woman in tow. She walked silently behind him, keeping up with his fast pace as if it were nothing at all. She finally spoke as they began to ascend the stair that led to the hall housing the office in question.
"I'm sorry if I caused a ruckus back there. I-" She started, but Remus didn't let her finish.
"That's quite all right." He said, stopping half way down the stairs. She stopped beside him, looking at him questioningly. "You seem quite civil, if you ask me. May I ask you a, err. . ."
"Am I akin to humans?" She finished. Remus nodded sheepishly.
"In every sense except physical appearance. My intelligence is actually higher than humans, as are my physical capabilities. I can learn as you do, think as you do and all that. All humanoid demons can." She explained.
"I'm sorry, I just" Remus started again.
"You expected me to be a blood thirsty, brain damaged wretch. Everyone does. Human standards for anything that isn't human are depressingly low." She said airily. A pained look flashed across Remus' face as her began to make his way down the rest of the stairs.
"You aren't human either, are you?" She asked suddenly. Remus slipped on the step in surprise. She caught him by the elbow, unnatural strength in her clawed hands. He was a bit shaken with her reflexes.
"What? Why-what makes you say that?" he stuttered, gaping at her.
"You smell different. Like the werewolves back home." She answered. Remus paled, but something inside of him sparked a little. She didn't care. But then again, why would she? She was less human than he was.
He didn't answer. Instead, he continued down the last few steps, walking stiffly.
A/n: Well, there's the first chapter. If it was a little corny now, it'll get better once I get more in depth with the story. I know it's weird that I'm starting in the third book when the fifth is out, but if all goes as planned, this will span from book three to book five and maybe beyond. This is my first Harry Potter fic, so please leave any and all constructive criticism/thoughts that would make the story better.
Phataloney scrunched her nose in distaste and closed her red eyes as the prayers of another hopeless suicidal echoed inside her head. She put a clawed hand to her temple, trying to force the pleading voice away, but to no avail. She sighed and shifted her wings uncomfortably, listening sympathetically as the young woman pleaded for a release from her life.
Phataloney hated getting prayers while she was on patrol. She couldn't focus on anything around her while she listened and that put her and the city she was supposed to be protecting at great risk.
"I can't stand it anymore!" The voice in her head sobbed. "They scream and hit each other and he hits me and she just lies there and cries and mumbles and doesn't try to stop him, then he just leaves and doesn't come back for days. I don't know what to do anymore." The girl cried miserably.
Phataloney sighed in pity. Her heart bled for children like this. She tried to reach out with her mind to comfort the poor girl, but she couldn't. Who ever she was, she was very far away, and she had little faith in the gods.
"Sweet Lady Death, please. . ." The girl sniffed, "take me away from here. I'll do anything. . ." then the girl broke down and all Phataloney heard was fading sobs as the prayer ended.
Phataloney sighed and ran her claws through her white hair. Now her concentration was broken, and the need for sleep she'd had earlier gone. She looked up through the leaves of her tree, her eyes lost in the night sky. It was around 11 o'clock and the sky was a rich shade of navy blue, splotched with purple here and there. Wispy grey clouds blotted out the moon, now a sliver of a waning crescent. Millions of cold, shimmering stars bathed the forest in a silver glow.
"Well, I might as well see if anything's up in the woods. . ."Phataloney sighed, dropping out of the tree, landing silently in a crouch on the leaf- laden forest floor.
She was four miles into the forest, eight total from the center of magical activity in the country, Ivenlaryk, the city of mages. She could see the faint gray glow of the city lights from her place in the woods. The magical energy emanating from the city was growing weak.
Her shoulder armour clanked loudly as she straightened up and she grimaced. She placed her hands on her shoulders and mumbled a few words under her breath. The iron plates slipped off her, vanishing before they hit the ground. Free of the loud obstructions, Phataloney began to make her way deeper into the forest, clawed feet treading lightly over last year's dead leaves. She was invisible to the human eye, her black skin blending in with the forests many shadows. She folded her massive wings tightly to her back as she passed through a dense thicket of tall bushes.
She froze as she stepped out of the tangle of branches, her long, pointed ears twitching as they picked up the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth nearby. Her cat-like pupils closed leaving her eyes a solid red as she gazed around the forest. She looked around, the trees around her glowing a pale blue. Then she saw a flash of orange out of the corner of her eye. Something large, with thick, warm blood. Phataloney found herself salivating at the thought as she scanned the woods for another glimpse of the animal. She saw it again, not far from her. A deer. Her eyes returned to normal, and she fought back the sudden desire to taste blood.
Phataloney walked another mile into the woods before coming to a dead stop. It was the witching hour, and as all ways, it began to get unnervingly dark. In the sky, the stars flickered out like candles, and an inky black cloud drifted over the moon. The sudden darkness didn't unnerve her, it was something else. Something was wrong; her kin should have been crawling out of the shadows to prowl the realm of the living. But they weren't. There should have been pixies and spirits dancing in the darkness. Black magic was at it's strongest during the witching hour, the forest should have been crawling with dark creatures.
That's when it hit her. There was no energy in the air. Phataloney sniffed at the stale forest air. Her nose, though not particularly strong, was more sensitive than a humans; she could smell three things quite well: blood, fear and magic. The forest absolutely reeked with fear. The animals were afraid. That was never a good sign. There was no stench of blood, and there were only a few traces of magic.
Phataloney had once held a less than intelligent conversation with a few of her fellow deities on what magic smelled like. Lloyd, the god of the Forest, said it smelled like the woods after a spring rain. Forte, god of Fire, said it smelled like burning wood. Phataloney all ways thought it smelled like the cool breeze that accompanied sunrise.
There was a loud crack, and the night sky erupted with a flash of lightning. Then, as if a vacuum had been opened somewhere behind her, the air and sound was sucked away. Phataloney dug her claws into the ground and folded her wings tightly against her back to keep from being pulled away. Her sword was pulled from its scabbard at her hip, and she grabbed for it quickly before it could be sucked away. She caught it by the blade, the cold steel biting into her hands. She tried to curse as she pulled in her sword, but the words were sucked from her throat.
Phataloney began to lose her footing as the pull of the vacuum grew stronger. A particularly violent gust of air passed her, pulling her wings open. She was hurtled headlong into a tree, her sword pulled from her hand was embedded in a tree trunk some yards away. Then, the suction stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the sound of debris falling to the ground rang out all around.
There was a pillar of light rising up off in the distance, and Phataloney was willing to bet her life it was coming from Ivenlaryk.
"There's all ways something weird happening there. . ." She muttered, prying her claws out of the tree bark and rubbing the side of her face, raw from her sudden impact with the tree. Then the feeling of emptiness hit her.
Someone died.
She felt the pull as a bit of her essence departed to lead the soul on to the afterlife.
"I swear, you even make crashing into things look graceful." A voice chuckled behind her.
"Tathiel! Don't do that, you scared me half to. . . to. . ." Phataloney stuttered.
She stared at the woman with a slight smile on her face. Tathiel looked somewhat stressed. The usual glow of magic that seemed to surround her at all times was gone. Her usually pristine white robes weren't shimmering as they usually did.
"Death? No, that wouldn't be right. Is it possible for you to be scared to yourself?" The god of Magic asked, placing a hand on the demon's cheek. The scratches disappeared.
"I don't know." Phataloney said, going to pull her sword out of the tree it was impaled in. She put a clawed foot against the trunk and pulled, the blade slowly edging out. "I don't think so. What happened there?" She asked, nodding toward the dissipating pillar of light rising up from the magic city.
"The last pillar of strength passed a few moments ago. Didn't you feel it? It should have felt much stronger than an ordinary death." Tathiel said, staring at the fading glow in the sky. Her bronze skin and golden hair were glowing, but her brown eyes were unnervingly dark.
"I did feel it. So, what does this mean now? The city will crumble?" Phataloney asked, sheathing her sword and studying her fellow god.
"It may. For now it will probably suck the magic out of the things around it. That's what that vortex was, just now. That's why the forest is so lifeless. It's pulling at me as well. I can't remember the last time I felt so drained. It's taxing all of us really, but I don't know if it will effect you, though, Phataloney." Tathiel said. She was growing pale.
"Because I'm the only one with no bindings to the founders. Tath, you don't look well. You should go back to your realm. Lloyd and I will discuss what's going on." Phataloney said, putting a hand on Tathiel's shoulder as she began to break into a sweat. Tathiel nodded and disappeared in a wisp of white smoke. Phataloney sighed and placed her hand on the tree nearest her.
"Lloyd? We need to talk." She said to the tree.
"What about, my dear darkness?" asked the man standing beside her. Phataloney jumped.
"Why is everyone sneaking up on me today?" She asked, smiling and taking her hand from where it'd flown to her chest.
"I didn't mean to startle you." He said, his black eyes twinkling. She gave him a warm hug, making sure she didn't stab his chin with her horns. "Now, what do we need to talk about?" He asked, guiding her through the woods with a hand on her shoulder.
Lloyd had very dark brown skin and long grey hair, braided with ivy. When Phataloney had first met him, she couldn't see him as the god of the Forest, but now, she couldn't imagine him being anything else. He reminded her of a tree draped with Spanish moss. He was quite tall.
"What happened back at the founding of Ivenlaryk? What was the whole binding business?" Phataloney asked, sitting down on a fallen tree.
"As you know, Ivenlaryk is built on the ground where we first set foot on this desolate piece of dirt. It is the strongest magical ground on the planet. Several thousand years after the races were created, the most powerful mage from each race came to us with a request to build a city on the ground where we had descended. We agreed, hoping that because each race was going to contribute to the founding of the city, it would help them set aside their differences and come to peace with each other. All of us gods put a little bit of our power into the city, and that power is what holds the city together. Now that the last human founder has died, the magic they put into the city has run out, and it must now draw upon our power and the power of the planet itself to maintain itself. The city is like a living creature, Phataloney. It needs energy to stand. Every wall of every building is composed of magic. There is not a real, earth-given stone in that entire city. If the magic runs out, the city crumbles." Lloyd explained, leaning against a tree, crossing his dark arms over his chest. The black of his skin complimented his silver tunic nicely.
"What was my dad like back then; you know, before he turned into a raving, power hungry lunatic?" Phataloney asked with bitter curiosity.
Lloyd chuckled. "Your father was not around at the time, dear. Only Asacal. And he has all ways been a raving lunatic. Just because he possessed your father when you were conceived does not mean he's your parent." Phataloney looked away, a disgruntled look on her demonic face.
"Do you think anything bad will happen, what with all the shifting in energy now that the human died?" She asked, looking up at Lloyd, somewhat worried.
"It is very possible and very likely that the entire planet may merge with it twin to even out the magical forces. Aera's magical levels are going to become very disoriented with Ivenlaryk absorbing power from everything it possibly can." Lloyd said darkly.
It had been a very long time since Phataloney had heard anyone use the planets name. People all ways used their countries name, Palandonia, Archea or Acerdia. Very few people even acknowledged the fact that they were living on a planet, rather than a country floating in space.
"What do you mean?" Phataloney asked, a feeling of repressed horror growing in her chest.
"Every planet has a 'twin' on the other side of the boundaries of time and space. Twin meaning that it has the same amount of magic. I don't know if you noticed earlier when everything rippled, that was the beginning of this merge. Aera needs the power of its twin to sustain itself. I would say within the week, the two planets will be one. You should see Cleyra right now, she is trying so hard to stop this." Lloyd said sadly.
"But that would mean Ragnarok, if the planets merge! We'll all die! If we bring down Ivenlaryk, this won't need to happen, we have to destroy the city!" Phataloney sputtered, jumping to her feet.
"You are very quick on the uptake, however it is not so simple. We cannot destroy the city. When Asacal rose to power all those thousands of years ago, he made sure that we would not be able to harm the city. It was his fortress, after all. There is more black magic protecting that city from us than there is on the gates of the Nether World. That is why all of us, you excluded, cannot enter the city anymore. Now, my dear, I must go." He said, bowing as he faded back into the trees.
Phataloney sighed and put her face in her hands, staring out at the ground through her claws. She ran her hands through her hair and let out a distressed growl. Movement above caught her eye and she looked up at the sky, her eyes widening. It was rippling.
***********************************
Albus Dumbledore looked out his office window with growing distress. Something was going on out on the grounds but he could not describe it. Trees were appearing out of thin air, and the night sky was rippling like the surface of a pond. There was now a small forest on the Hogwarts grounds that had not been there twenty minutes ago, and strange animals were taking cautious steps out of the brush to get a look at their new surroundings. There were several wolf-like creatures with bushy manes and lion tails, and a herd of massive white deer emerging from the small wood, slowly making their way toward Hagrid's house. The old wizard could hear Fang, Hagrid's hulking wolfhound, whining and growling at the approaching animals.
Albus Dumbledore picked his wand up off his desk and headed out his office door, blue night robes swishing quietly behind him. He really hoped Harry wasn't outside under his invisibility cloak right now. He walked down a flight of stairs and several winding corridors before coming to a stop in front of a portrait of a young woman playing a piano. He knocked on the picture.
"Minerva?" he called. He could hear someone moving around on the other side of the wall, and the portrait swung open revealing a bedraggled Minerva McGonagall. She squinted up at the old wizard, blinking rapidly.
"Is something wrong, Headmaster?" She asked, drawing her dressing robe tightly around her.
"Minerva, would you please fetch Severus and Remus and meet me in the entrance hall as soon as possible with your wands." Dumbledore said, casting a glance out a nearby window at the sky. It wasn't rippling anymore.
"Has something happened? Was Black seen again? Albus, what's going on?" the witch asked frantically, fear in her eyes.
"No, no, Minerva. It's not Black. To be quite honest, I don't know what it is. I just want to be careful." Dumbledore said, placing a reassuring hand on the witches' shoulder. He smiled warmly at her before turning and heading toward the entrance hall. He heard the portrait swing closed again as she went back inside to get her wand. Albus Dumbledore walked slowly down the staircase to the front doors of Hogwarts castle. Peeves the poltergeist was drifting lazily around the massive hall.
"Ah, Peeves. You wouldn't happen to know what is going on outside, would you?" Dumbledore asked. He could hear footsteps on the stairs behind him, and he could see Severus coming down the hall across the room, tying his robes shut.
Peeves cackled and swooped down in front of the wizard. "I don't know, but maybe the young man outside could give you a clue." The ghost replied, floating away laughing.
"What was that about?" Severus asked, walking up to Dumbledore, pulling his wand out of his robe pocket.
"Is something wrong, Headmaster?" Remus asked, coming to stand on Dumbledore's left, across from Severus. Minerva stood slightly behind him.
"Something is happening out on the grounds, though I haven't the slightest idea as to what it is. I called you three down here for safety measures." Dumbledore said, walking toward the massive doors at the front of the hall. He pushed them open and the group found themselves face to face with two of the wolf-like creatures Dumbledore had seen from his office window.
Instantly, Remus and Severus had their wands out, and they shouted 'Stupefy!', aiming their wands that the creatures before them. The spells hit the two animals in the head, however the beasts merely stumbled back a few steps, shaking their heads. One of the wolf-creatures snarled and jumped closer, snapping, though it didn't lunge at them. The other was clawing at its ear, the spell irritating it. The two wizards threw more spells at the creatures, but they stopped after the two animals climbed shakily to their feet after being hit with an 'Avada Kadavra'.
"Perhaps we should go back inside. . ." Minerva whispered, clutching her wand tightly.
"I wonder why they aren't attacking?" Remus muttered.
"Maybe you smell like one of them and they don't know what to make of you." Severus mocked. Remus growled in his throat, but didn't reply.
One of the animals seemed to be having a bad reaction to all the spells that had been flung at it, and was beginning to slink away, but the other one was now exceptionally angry and threatening looking. It backed up a few paces, snapping its jaws. It landed an angry glare on Severus and coiled back to pounce. The wizard stepped back and gasped as the monster sprang at him. He shielded his face with his arms, wand clattering to the floor, waiting for the blow to fall. It never did.
He looked down to see the beast writhing at his feet, a long arrow protruding from its neck. It was still alive, but only just. He looked around at the wizards and witch beside him. Their faces were pale and their mouths hanging open. They looked over at him.
"A-are you all right, Severus?" Minerva stuttered. He nodded slowly, his eyes again falling to the convulsing body on the ground.
A young man stepped out of the darkness along the castle wall, a bow in his hand. He drew another arrow and said something to them. Who ever he was, he was speaking a language none of them had ever heard.
"What was that?" Dumbledore asked. The man repeated himself, gesturing for them to turn around. He drew his bow, aiming the arrow at the wolf- creatures head.
The man, who was wearing a white, Victorian style blouse and a loose pair of black pants, gave them a questioning look when none of them turned around, shrugged, and loosed the arrow into the beasts head with a sickening crack. Minerva looked like she was going to be ill and turned around, walking back into the castle.
"Who the hell are you?" Severus shouted, pointing angrily at the man who was now looking rather apologetically after Minerva. He had a good deal of weapons about his person, Dumbledore noted.
"He's the guy who just saved your life, Severus," Remus snapped rather spitefully. "be a little more polite!"
While the two men were arguing, Dumbledore approached the foreigner and spoke with him quite civilly, even though he wasn't really sure if the man could understand. "You wouldn't happen to know how you came to be here, would you?" he asked quietly. The man shook his head in response. "Do you understand English?" The man nodded. He opened his mouth and rather hesitantly, stuttered out two words in English.
"Ca-can't. . .s-speak." He had a very heavy, very strange accent. He fingered the tape that was peeling off the hilt of the sword at his hip, looking nervous. Severus and Remus stopped arguing and looked at him, slightly surprised.
"So, you can understand English, but you cannot speak it, am I correct?" Dumbledore asked, smiling. The man nodded again. "Do you have a name?"
"Ferio." The young man replied quickly.
"Ferio. Would you be able to point out where you come from on a map, Ferio?" Dumbledore asked.
The man named Ferio perked up a little at this mention, and began rummaging through a drawstring bag hanging from one of the many belts he was wearing. He pulled out a roll of parchment and unrolled it.
"Lets have a look at what you have there inside. There's much more light in there." Dumbledore said, pushing open the massive doors to the castle. Ferio looked up in shock, gazing at the marble staircase inside the entrance hall. Dumbledore ushered the other two wary looking wizards inside and beckoned Ferio to follow. The young man shook his head, getting over his surprise, and then darted quickly back into the shadows he had emerged from.
"Where did he run off too?" Severus muttered. The three wizards walked back to the door, looking outside to see where Ferio had gone. Ferio reemerged from the shadows with a large ornate axe balanced in the crook of his arm. He was sliding a leather covering over the blade as he walked towards them.
***********************************
Phataloney landed hard on her front in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. She hadn't even realized she was falling until she was about a foot from the ground. She hadn't had any time to open her wings and catch herself. She got up, relocating her dignity, and brushed the twigs and dead leaves off her shirt and pants.
"That was graceful." A deep, male voice rang out, bouncing off the trees, making it impossible to trace. Phataloney hissed, baring her fangs. She looked around the forest for where the voice had come.
"What are you? How did you get here?" A centaur walked out of the shadows, bow and arrow leveled at her chest.
"What I am isss none of your busssinesssss." She hissed. She had a tendency to roll her S's when she was angry. "And you cannot even begin to fathom how I come to be here."
The centaur pawed the ground angrily and tightened his grip on the bowstring. Phataloney took on a defensive stance, raising her claws and flaring her wings threateningly. Her tail lashed violently behind her. There was movement in the shadows, and four more centaurs emerged from the darkness of the forest, surrounding her.
"You want to know what I am, half-breed?" Phataloney hissed, walking toward the first centaur. He was terribly handsome, but Phataloney wasn't going to let her sex drive deter her now. She was angry, and Phataloney was never rash when she was angry. "Someone once described me very accurately, perhaps it will be simple enough for you to understand. I be to thee as thou be to an insect. In thy terms, I be a god." The centaur roared in anger and loosed his arrow, the stone tip embedding itself deeply in her shoulder. Phataloney snarled, her body rigid with rage. She hardly felt the projectile sticking out of her body.
"Do you take us for half-witted animals?" The centaur roared, rearing with rage. His sculpted face was red with anger. Muscles rippled beneath tanned skin. He was livid.
Phataloney suddenly felt somewhat ashamed of herself. She reached up, jerking the arrow from her shoulder, black blood splattering on the ground. The wound stitched itself up all most instantly. Her eyes fell from the ragging centaur to the ground at his hooves.
"I owe you an apology. I respect your intelligence to the utmost, and I am sorry for angering you." She said, dropping the arrow at her feet. Her wings folded lightly against her back as she regained composure. "I apologize."
The centaur put all four of his feet back on the ground and glared at her, face still red, nostrils flaring. "What are you doing here?" He asked acidly.
"A side from the obvious: arguing with you, I don't know. And I don't know how I got here, so don't bother asking. I'm sorry I landed in the middle of your territory, but I had little choice in the matter. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you in peace." Phataloney said, moving to walk past him. She heard the creak as bowstrings were drawn. The other four centaurs pawed the ground, taking aim. Phataloney sighed in frustration.
Something came crashing through the brush and leapt on one of the centaurs, who screamed and lost his grip on his bow, arrow shooting off into the wood. The other four centaurs reared, unsure of what to do. Phataloney whipped around to see what was going on. A massive wolf with a bushy mane and lions tail was hanging off the centaur's hind leg, snarling. The other centaurs looked unsure of what to do. They were worried, that was obvious, but they were afraid to shoot or get close.
"This is such a perfect opportunity to slip quietly away. . ." said a little voice in her head.
Phataloney ripped the bow out of the hands of the centaur behind her. "Arrow." She hissed, holding out her hand.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The centaur roared, rearing.
"Give me a gods forsaken arrow before I open your throat." She hissed quietly, fixing him with a loathing glare. He tensed and backed up a few paces, handing her an arrow.
Phataloney took aim, every archery statistic she could think of running through her head. "Give it room to move between fire and impact. . .there's no wind. . .make sure he can rear without hitting him. . ."
TWANG. The arrow was loose and before anyone knew what had happened, the wolf fell to the ground, arrow shaft sticking out just below its ear. The centaur that had been attacked settled on the ground, pale and sweating. The rest of them were looking at her.
Phataloney handed the black centaur his bow as she walked by, disappearing into the shadow of the forest.
***********************************
Ferio walked into the entrance hall of the castle, looking around in awe. Several children were peeking in at them from around a corner, but they disappeared when the man who had yelled at him earlier gave them a threatening look.
"They must have heard the commotion. The Slytherin dormitories are just below us." Chuckled Dumbledore. Ferio gave him a confused look. "Ah yes, I all most forgot. This castle is a school. Those were a few of the students, just there." He said, pointing to where the children had been. Ferio nodded absently, his eyes again wandering around the room.
"Now, I believe an introduction is in order. We all know your name, Ferio, you should know ours. I am Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, this school. These two," He gestured to the other two men. "are professors here."
"Severus Snape, Potions Master. Now, if you will excuse me, I must be going." The man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose that had yelled at him earlier turned and stalked out of the room and down a dark corridor.
Ferio shrugged and then looked at the other wizard. He looked like he was about thirty or so, with a few early wrinkles. His dusty brown hair was flecked with grey. "He must have kids." Ferio thought to himself. The wizard stuck out his hand, introducing himself.
"I'm Remus Lupin. I teach Defense Against the Dark Arts." Ferio took his hand and shook it firmly, nodding that he understood.
"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I'm going to have to ask you to take off all of your weapons, Ferio. I cannot allow you to walk around the castle with them; you may frighten the students. You can leave them here and they will be brought to a room for you." Dumbledore said, smiling reassuringly when the young man paled a bit.
Ferio swallowed, looking around the room. His mouth had gone dry when he was told to just leave his equipment on the floor. But he did as he was told, undoing his sword belt, and putting it quietly on the floor, followed by his axe.
Remus and Dumbledore watched as Ferio pulled knives out of his boots, sleeves, a particularly long one out from inside the back of his shirt, he took a small one off a chain around his neck and finally he stomped his right boot on the floor and a blade shot out of the heel of his boot. He removed that as well.
"The one on your belt, too, if you would." Dumbledore said, pointing at the last dagger Ferio had on him. Ferio shook his head and held up a finger. He then pointed to the wand in Remus' hand.
"You need it for magic?" Remus asked, holding up his wand. Ferio nodded vigorously.
"I see. Well then, shall we head up to my office and have a look at that parchment you have?" Dumbledore began to walk up the towering marble stairwell. Ferio and Remus followed.
Ferio followed the old wizard up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway, Remus at his side. As they passed the fourth picture along the hall, he became quite certain of the fact that he was slowly losing his mind. The people in the paintings were moving. Ferio did a double take as he passed a picture of a young boy in a meadow. The boy was swaying, half asleep on his feet. When he noticed Ferio staring at him, he waved slightly.
"Good evening." Yawned the boy in the painting. Ferio nearly jumped out of his skin, stumbling into Remus in the process. He stammered several words very quickly and pointed at the painting, helping Remus catch his balance.
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked, turning to watch them from a few paces ahead. Ferio pointed at the picture and said several things in an accusing tone. The boy in the picture scratched his head.
"What's going on?" he asked innocently. Ferio jumped again and shouted at the boy.
"All of the pictures can talk." Remus said, continuing up the stairs, a bewildered Ferio following. Dumbledore chuckled as he walked by.
Remus stopped short at the end of the hall and Ferio nearly walked into him. They were now standing before a towering gargoyle statue.
"Fizzing Whizbees." Dumbledore said to the gargoyle, stepping in front of it. The gargoyle readily sprang aside revealing a doorway. Ferio paled. He followed Remus and Dumbledore onto a revolving stairwell, staring numbly at the gargoyle all the while.
***********************************
Phataloney had been keeping a fairly decent pace as she made her way through the woods, considering she had no idea where she was going. But that was an hour ago, and now she was hardly moving at all.
"Damn these plants. . . " She growled, holding her arms and wings high over her head as she waded through a sea of stinging nettles. "Ow! Dammit."
By the time she made it through the nettle patch, her entire body was throbbing. She let herself fall to the moss covered ground, rubbing her arms and legs. She sighed and flexed her wings, contemplating her current situation.
"Well, I'm not in Palandonia anymore, that's for sure. The centaur speak English." She mumbled. Phataloney was familiar with just about every language that every race on every planet spoke. Mainly because when someone or something died, it ended up in her realm. Very few races acknowledged the fact that there was no heaven or hell, just limbo and the underworld.
Phataloney put her hand on a near by tree and focused. "Lloyd?" No answer. She planted her hands firmly on the ground, still concentrating. "Mora?" Still no answer. No one answered any of the calls she sent forth.
"Looks like I'm on my own. . ." She muttered, standing up, tail swishing behind her.
"No you're not." A voice in her head rang out. Her ears and eyes began to bleed.
"Dion? Why can I hear you and no one else?" Phataloney asked, wiping her face on her sleeve.
"You're trying to talk with the outside forces, dear. I'm and inside force, you can't get rid of me. Lloyd and Mora and the others have no influence here, these aren't the same trees, this isn't the same earth. Their influence is hindered by the boundaries of time and space, ours isn't." explained the voice.
"Can you manifest here?" Phataloney asked, wiping her eyes again.
"If you wish." The voice replied.
"Well I do wish." She mumbled.
"Very well."
A body appeared on the ground, pale and clammy with death. It was inhuman, much like her, only draconian, not demonic. Scales lined the jaw, running down the neck, the body was lean and fit. Clawed hands and feet, like her own, and wings, powerful and leathery. The eyes opened slowly, a rich gold, and color and life seeped back into the tanned skin.
Dion, the hybrid god of Spirit rose to his feet, flexing impressive brown wings, his heavy, lizard like tail lashing about.
"I have not been here in thousands of years." He said, taking in a deep breath, eyes wandering the forest. He did not look at her, and his eyes did not bleed, but the moment she began to speak, blood trickled out of his thin, pointed ears.
"Is this Earth? I know that there are other planets that use the English language." Phataloney asked, tearing her eyes from him and staring at the ground. The bleeding receded.
"Indeed it is. It smells horrible, I wonder what has become of it." He replied, glancing at her. Red pooled at the corners of his eyes.
"Is there any way to stop what is happening?" She asked, rubbing her arms again. They were going numb.
"Nothing can be done about this until the merge is complete, Phataloney. Unless Tathiel sacrifices herself to sustain Aera, which she wont, the only thing we can do is wait. More solutions will present themselves once this has finished. There is a massive time difference between Earth and Aera, I suggest you enjoy yourself while you are here, you have all the time in this world." Dion explained, staring numbly at the ground.
"What do you mean? Can't I go back?" Phataloney asked, grabbing his shirt and pulling him around to face her. Her hands burned at the touch, and she left charred handprints on the front of his shirt.
"You and the little cohort of yours that was prancing around in the woods with you have been woven into this world, you cannot return to Aera, and I'm not sure that you can even return to or contact your realm. The Nether Realms are bound to the Mage City, and that is still planted firmly on Aerean soil. You're stuck here for the time being, dearest." The hybrid said with a shrug. He wiped his eyes with a claw.
"Cohort? Who do you mean? And if I can't go back, why can you?" Phataloney asked, kicking the ground and drawing her eyes from him. Her face was drenched with blood.
"Your little grey haired lackey. You know, the one you said can sleep with his eyes open. And unlike you, I came here of my own free will. Until I am rippled into the dimension, I can come and go at my leisure. Would you like me to stay with you for a while?" Dion asked, walking through the forest, Phataloney tagging a long behind.
"It doesn't matter to me. Once I find my way out of this forest I'll be able to manage myself. I've been here before. Only a few years ago, it can't have changed enough to disorient me." Phataloney sighed, stopping. Dion turned to face her.
"Well, before I go, I will offer you some advice. Once you get out of this forest, there will be a castle a head of you, where I believe you will find your companion. Our magics won't work on the castle grounds, so be careful when you walk around; you'll cause a panic if anyone sees you. Also, be careful in the woods, there are huge spiders running around in here." Dion said.
The color drained from Phataloney's face and she looked around quickly, edging closer to the god of Spirit.
"You'll manage, Phataloney. Now, I will be going." He took her hand in his and lifted it, placing a light kiss on the back. "Until we meet again." He said with a crooked smile.
The body hit the ground with a dull thud and quickly turned to ash. Phataloney watched the pale, barely visibly golden glow rise from the remains and vanish into the night air as Dion departed. The departure of the soul. Phataloney rubbed the back of her hand, where the imprint of his lips that was seared into her hand was quickly healing itself. She wiped the blood from her face and fingered her now sticky and bloodied hair.
Phataloney shivered and sighed in disgust.
"Giant spiders. . ." She muttered, pulling a face and gripping the hilt of her sword tightly.
***********************************
Ferio walked into Dumbledore's office and nearly choked upon catching sight of what was perched in the corner of the room. He threw himself to the floor, forehead on the backs of his hands, muttering. Remus and Dumbledore stared at him uncertainly.
"Are you quite all right there, Ferio? Fawkes won't harm you." Dumbledore said, pulling the young man up by the shoulders. He continued to mutter and didn't raise his eyes from the floor.
The phoenix turned its head and gazed intently at its master and the man beside him. Ferio threw himself on the ground again, muttering louder.
"Remus, would you please take Fawkes into my chambers?" Dumbledore asked, hauling Ferio up from the floor again. The other man nodded and walked over to the phoenix, who hopped gently onto his outstretched arm. He picked up the perch and walked through a door at the back of the room.
Ferio let out a sigh of relief and gazed about the room in awe, his eyes lingering on the many whirring contraptions lining the walls. Remus returned from the room behind Dumbledore's office and the three of them all moved to stand around the desk in the middle of the room. Ferio pulled the roll of parchment he'd been waving around earlier out of his belt and spread it out on the desk. Dumbledore and Remus leaned over it, studying it closely.
"Is it a map?" Remus asked, looking up at Ferio, strands of brown hair falling in his eyes. Ferio nodded.
The two wizards' eyes wandered the parchment, trying to decipher what was written on it. It showed a massive continent neither of them had seen before, blanketed in mountains and forests, with cities and towns scattered about, apparently hundreds of miles apart. It was definitely not Earth.
"I can't read it." Remus said, looking up with raised eyebrows. Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
Ferio looked around the room somewhat frantically, pulling his knife out. Obviously not seeing what he wanted, he picked up the map and waved the blank corner around, saying something. He received blank looks from the two men in front of him.
He sighed and pointed at the corner of the map.
"You need parchment?" Dumbledore asked. Ferio nodded.
Dumbledore waved his wand and a roll of parchment appeared on the desk. Ferio placed the map face down atop the roll on the desk and pricked the tip of his finger with his knife. The two wizards watched in somewhat disgusted fascination as he pressed his bleeding finger into the back of the map. He muttered something and the whole map turned a vibrant red before returning to normal. When he lifted the map, there was no bloodstain on the back, and the roll of parchment underneath. . .
"What the. . . How did you do that?" Remus asked, staring wide eyed at the translated map.
"Aera? Where is that?" Dumbledore asked, still studying the map.
Ferio opened his mouth then shut it again, looking at the wall with a thoughtful expression. A look of realization crossed his face and he clapped his hands and rubbed them together, chanting. When he pulled his hands apart, a cloud of green smoke billowed fourth, taking the shape of a planet.
"Aera." He said, holding his hands open, the smoke swirling from them.
"It's a different planet. . ." Remus gaped. Ferio nodded and clapped his hands again, the smoke disbanding.
"And where are you from on this planet?" Dumbledore asked, turning back to the map.
Ferio walked to the desk and pointed to a city nestled in a vast forest in a country labeled 'Palandonia'.
"Ivenlaryk." He said, tapping the map. His accent made it hard to decipher the word.
"Do you know of any way that you could get back there?" Dumbledore asked. Ferio shook his head.
"Maybe we should leave it for the morning, it's getting rather late." Remus said, stifling a yawn.
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea. We'll go find you a room, Ferio. Come along." Dumbledore agreed, ushering Ferio out of the office. Ferio snatched up his map as he was led out the door and back onto the revolving staircase.
The stepped off the staircase and Dumbledore led him down the hallway directly to the right of the gargoyle statue, Remus in tow. They stopped seven paintings from the office.
"This will be your room for the night, or however long you will be needing it. The password is 'cashew'." Dumbledore said.
"Ce- ca-shew?" Ferio repeated uncertainly.
"Precisely." Dumbledore said, smiling. The portrait, which was that of a deer running through a field of wildflowers, swung open to reveal a spacious sitting room that led off into a hall. A fire was roaring in the hearth, and there was a comfortable couch and two armchairs around it. A bookcase stood along one wall and there was an open door on the other leading into a bathroom.
"Cashew." Ferio repeated, walking into the sitting room. He repeated it several times in several different voices. The two wizards standing in the doorway chuckled.
"Food and clothes will be brought up to you shortly, along with your. . . weapons. If you need anything else, I am just down the hall." Dumbledore said, walking out with Remus, the portrait closing behind them.
Ferio surveyed his room once more, then smiled brightly to himself and walking into the bathroom, humming.
***********************************
Harry woke up in the early morning, gazing blearily around the room, which was nothing more than a blur of dark colors. He fumbled blindly for his glasses, and finding them, pushed them up the bridge of his nose. He looked out the dormitory window at the gloomy grey sky.
"Quidditch practice. . ." He sighed, staring distraughtly at the rain clouds. He inhaled deeply, a strange scent filling his nostrils. "Something's burning!" He thought, scrambling out of bed and rushing to the window. He crashed into the sill, and stuck his head out the open window, scanning the grounds. His jaw dropped at what he saw.
There was a forest on the quidditch pitch!
"Ron! Ron, wake up! Look!" Harry grabbed the tuft of red hair sticking out from beneath Ron's blanket and pulled hard, hauling his friend out of bed.
"Bloody hell Harry, let go!" Ron moaned, tumbling off his mattress and staggering to his feet, standing next to Harry at the window. "What is it?" He asked, blinking sleepily and gazing out the window. Harry pointed at the quidditch field and Ron gasped, nearly falling over.
"What happened?" he yelped, leaning over the windowsill, squinting at the forest.
"What are those weird animals?" Harry asked, pointing at a hulking wolf- looking creature that was pacing just behind the trees.
"Look over there, what's that guy doing?" Ron pointed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, to where a man was standing in front of a huge fire.
"Looks like he's burning a carcass." Harry muttered. "Let's go ask Professor McGonagall what's going on." Harry picked a clean set of robes out of his trunk and began to change; Ron did the same. The two boys crept quietly out of the dormitory, trying not to wake the other boys. They had, miraculously, slept through their earlier ruckus.
Hermione came walking down the staircase from the girls' dormitory just as Harry and Ron entered the Common Room.
"Did you smell that fire too?" She asked as she walked to them.
"Yeah, and a forest sprouted up in the middle of the quidditch field!" Ron said, making his way to the portrait hole. Harry and Hermione followed in suit.
"It's seven o'clock, we may as well head to breakfast. Everyone else will be getting up in a few minutes. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will explain what's going on." Hermione said, following the two boys down a staircase and into the entrance hall. They were walking by the castle doors toward the Great Hall when a yowl and angry shouts erupted outside. The three jumped and looked anxiously at the massive doors.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked, taking a wary step toward the doors, eyeing them as if they would burst open and let in some wild beast.
Footsteps rang out behind them and the trio turned to see Professors McGonagall and Lupin running out of the Great Hall toward the front doors, wands out.
"Stay here." Professor McGonagall ordered as she hurried by. Professor Lupin threw open the doors and he and McGonagall rushed outside.
Harry and Ron crept to the door, peering out at what was going on, and Hermione followed. Outside, a man was fending off one of the wolf monsters Harry and Ron had seen from their dormitory. He dodged nimbly when the creature lunged at him, and lashed out with a long shafted axe. He was shouting at the beast, but none of them could make out any of the words. Professor Lupin hurled a hex at the monster, and it turned its' attention towards him, briefly. Those few seconds were all that was needed. The man with the axe buried the wedge of the blade in the creature's chest before it knew what was going on.
"Oh my. . ." Hermione gasped, turning away with a hand over her mouth. Ron and Harry stared with disgusted interest as the man pulled his weapon out of the fallen animal's breast, thick, steamy blood spilling out on the ground.
The man wiped his axe blade on the grass and shook his head in annoyance, muttering something. He rammed his weapon into the ground so that it stood up, handle in the air, and rubbed his hands together. He picked up one of the wolves' front legs and began to drag the body across the grounds, in the direction of a smoldering fire.
Professor McGonagall cast a levitating charm on the carcass and walked it to the fire with the man. Professor Lupin walked back into the entrance hall, and was immediately bombarded with questions from the three students.
"Professor Lupin, what was that thing?!" Ron asked, looking after Professor McGonagall and the strange man.
"Who is that guy?" Harry asked.
"What's going on out on the grounds?" Hermione asked, looking outside from the doorway.
Several more students poured into the Entrance Hall from their dormitories, yawning and muttering 'good morning' to each other. They were completely oblivious to everything that had happened outside.
"You three go on to breakfast, Professor Dumbledore will explain everything for you." Professor Lupin said, silencing the rest of their inquiries. He made his way up stairs in the direction of his office.
Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the herd of groggy students making their way to breakfast. They found their seats at the Gryffindor table and waited anxiously for the rest of the school to find their seats. Professor McGonagall walked into the room leading the man from outside through the sea of students.
"Who's that?" Parvati whispered, poking her friend Lavender in the arm.
"Who?" Lavender said, looking around. Parvati was about to continue, when Dumbledore stood up, drumming a knife on his goblet to bring about order.
The students fell silent and sat down. Professor McGonagall took her seat at the staff table, leaving Professor Dumbledore and the stranger standing.
"Due to a most disturbing sequence of events that occurred last night, I am afraid that no one will be allowed out on the grounds at any time, until further notice. All of your outdoors classes have been canceled, as has Quidditch." Professor Dumbledore said. The entire hall was silence with shock. The quidditch captains all sputtered, and the teams were red in the face. The tables erupted with questions and outrages.
"Was it Black?"
"But quidditch!"
"What happened?"
"We have a game tomorrow!"
"Quiet! It was not Sirius Black. To be completely honest, we do not know what happened. As for quidditch, there is a forest growing on the field, and wild animals running the grounds, and until everything has been sorted out, no one will leave this castle. Anyone caught outside will lose 100 points from their house and have detention for the next two months." Professor Dumbledore said sternly. The room fell silent again. Harry pondered this news. No quidditch, no going outside at all.
"I wonder what Hagrid's gonna do?" Ron whispered. "Maybe he'll be staying in the castle." Professor Dumbledore began to speak before Harry could say anything.
"On a lighter note, I would like to introduce this young man to you." Professor Dumbledore said, looking at the stranger next to him. "This is Ferio. He will be staying here at the castle for a while, and I expect you all to welcome him and be respectful. He does not speak English, so be forewarned." The entire student body was staring at the grey haired man standing next to Dumbledore.
"I wonder where he's from. Doesn't look like anyone I've seen around here." Ron muttered.
"He looks a little bit Greek. His skin tone, anyway." Hermione said.
"Who on earth do you know can use an axe like that though? He's like something out of some fantasy book!" Ron argued.
Breakfast was spent in silence. Everyone was stunned. Half an hour later, the Great Hall cleared, everyone departing for their classes, muttering. Harry and Ron stayed toward the back of the crowd, neither keen on getting to Divination class. Hermione had left early, not wanting to be late for Muggle Studies, which was on the other side of the castle.
"Professor McGonagall!" Ron said, flagging down the transfiguration teacher.
"Yes, Mr. Weasley, what is it?" Professor McGonagall asked, stopping in front of him.
"What was that big thing outside earlier?" He asked anxiously.
"That thing is one of the reasons you are not allowed outside. Now, you two boys hurry to your class, you're about to be late." She said, walking out of the Great Hall. Ron sighed and he and Harry started for the North Tower.
***********************************
Phataloney pulled her sword out of the spiders head and whimpered swinging the slime and gore off the blade. She held the sword out and looked around frantically for any other opponents. The forest was quiet. She sighed in relief and sheathed her weapon, jumping over the spider corpse, muttering in distaste.
It was daylight, from what she could tell. Though the forest was still fairly dark, it was a lot lighter than it had been before. She could see well ahead of her. The trees were thinning out here. She would be out soon.
"Damn this forest." She mumbled, trudging through the leaf litter. "Maybe I could. . .no, I should keep a low profile. Can't be seen like this."
She continued walking, two miles creeping by. Nothing changed, it was as if she hadn't moved at all. No end of the forest was in sight.
"I would kill for some music. . ." She sighed. Phataloney stopped walking and waved her clawed hand in the air, making runes. The symbol she had made flashed briefly in the air, then disappeared. Nothing happened. "Play, dammit!" She shouted, making the rune again. Still nothing. "Bastards."
A shrieking noise shattered the fragile quiet of the forest, and Phataloney nearly jumped out of her skin. A car came crashing through the woods towards her. Phataloney shook herself out of her shock and smirked. She flexed her claws and prepared to jump.
At the very last second, as the car sped at her, Phataloney jumped, hooking her claws into the steel roof. She flattened herself against the metal and howled as the car sped in the direction she had been heading.
The car thundered through the woods, blaring its horn, doors flapping open and crushing against trees. Phataloney could see the end of the forest, and the castle beyond it.
"Just a little farther. . ." she murmured, ducking a low branch.
The car roared to the edge of the forest and suddenly stopped short, throwing Phataloney from the roof. She yelped and spread her wings, but she tumbled onto the ground before she could stop herself. She rolled head over heels a few times before finally dropping motionless on the ground.
"Ow. . ." She grumbled, picking herself up off the ground. She shook herself, leaves and grass falling off her. Something growled behind her. "Oh gods sakes, what now?" She snapped, turning around to face a small pack of the manned wolves. "oh boy. . ." She whispered, stepping back and reaching for her sword. Her hand clenched around air. "What?!" She yelped looking down. Her sword was gone, as was the scabbard. The wolves began to advance and she stepped back gingerly.
"I don't have time for this." She hissed, drawing a rune in the air. A wall of fire erupted from the ground, and the wolves leapt back, snarling. Phataloney took advantage of the distraction and made a dash for the castle. The wolves leapt after her, and she dodged the first assault before spreading her wings and gliding swiftly over the grass. She was more agile in the air.
"I'll be damned if someone sees me now." She thought, swerving away as another wolf leapt at her. They began gaining, and she beat her wings, putting a good eight feet between them. She was now level with the second floor of the castle.
There was no front door in sigh, and she was quickly approaching the solid stone wall. Phataloney cursed and drew another rune in the air, hoping to stun her pursuers long enough for her to land and find a door. She was twelve feet from the wall.
The ground at the wolves feet broke open, rocks shooting up in their path. Phataloney stopped for a split second to see what happened, when a huge paw nailed her in the chest and she and the wolf went hurdling toward the castle wall. Phataloney gasped a spell just as the wolves' head smashed against the stone.
***********************************
Harry was in the middle of his defense against the dark arts test when something flew through the wall and crashed into his and Ron's desk, sending it across the room into Dean and Neville's desk. The four boys leapt up, their chairs crashing to the floor, yelling. Professor Lupin was on his feet, wand pointed at a black figure lying in the mess of desk legs and torn tests faster than what any of them thought was healthy.
The winged, humanoid figure on the floor sputtered a string of curses in a heavily accented voice and began to move.
"Stupefy!" Shouted Professor Lupin, a white blast from his wand hitting the figure in the side of what Harry assumed was its head.
"Din! What the hell was that for?" The creature snapped, sitting up. Several students gasped and a few even screamed. Harry was stunned to silence. He rubbed his eyes, thinking at first that he was seeing things, but no. There was a demon sitting on the floor of the classroom.
Professor Lupin stuttered the beginnings of a few words, shook his head in disbelief and slumped back into his seat.
"Sorry about your classroom, but I suppose straightening out a few desks is easier than scrubbing my innards off the castle walls." The demon said nonchalantly, picking up Neville and Dean's desk and putting it back where it had been. The two boys scuttled away as she neared them. The demon shook her head and rolled her eyes. She picked up Harry and Ron's desk and walked to them, putting it back in place. Ron squeaked when she put it down; Harry just stared at her.
"I know that I'm absolutely fascinating and all, but it's very unnerving when you don't blink." She addressed the students, who gasped and jumped at her somewhat assertive tone. Professor Lupin got to his feet again and walked out from behind his desk to face the she-demon.
"Who-no, What are you? What are you doing at Hogwarts?" He asked, his voice surprisingly calm.
"My name is Phataloney. If you haven't all ready made any assumptions based on my appearance, then I'll tell you that I am a demon." She said, bowing extravagantly. "I'm looking for a friend of mine here, someone told me I'd find him 'in the castle beyond the forest. And watch out, there are great big spiders in here.' Or something like that, anyway." Harry and Ron glanced at each other.
"Your friend?" Professor Lupin asked. His fist was clenched around his wand, knuckles white.
"Yes. His name's Ferio, doesn't speak English. Hair suggests he's 50 or so, face looks like he's in his twenties. About this tall," The demon raised a clawed hand four inches over head. "And if you can't identify him with that I can list some of his unique and most annoying habits."
"You know Ferio?" Professor Lupin asked, somewhat stunned.
"So it would seem." The demon replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet. They were clawed as well, Harry noted. Across the room, Seamus Finnigan was swaying slightly, eyes following the swishing spaded tail. Professor Lupin was silent for a minute, a thoughtful expression on his lined face. He sighed somewhat defeatedly and turned to his third year Gryffindor class.
"I'll be back in a few minutes. Don't destroy the room while I'm gone. Come with me, I'll take you to Ferio." He said to the demon. He led her out the classroom door and shut it quietly behind them. The classroom immediately erupted in nervous whisper.
Remus walked briskly down the hall toward Dumbledore's office, the demon woman in tow. She walked silently behind him, keeping up with his fast pace as if it were nothing at all. She finally spoke as they began to ascend the stair that led to the hall housing the office in question.
"I'm sorry if I caused a ruckus back there. I-" She started, but Remus didn't let her finish.
"That's quite all right." He said, stopping half way down the stairs. She stopped beside him, looking at him questioningly. "You seem quite civil, if you ask me. May I ask you a, err. . ."
"Am I akin to humans?" She finished. Remus nodded sheepishly.
"In every sense except physical appearance. My intelligence is actually higher than humans, as are my physical capabilities. I can learn as you do, think as you do and all that. All humanoid demons can." She explained.
"I'm sorry, I just" Remus started again.
"You expected me to be a blood thirsty, brain damaged wretch. Everyone does. Human standards for anything that isn't human are depressingly low." She said airily. A pained look flashed across Remus' face as her began to make his way down the rest of the stairs.
"You aren't human either, are you?" She asked suddenly. Remus slipped on the step in surprise. She caught him by the elbow, unnatural strength in her clawed hands. He was a bit shaken with her reflexes.
"What? Why-what makes you say that?" he stuttered, gaping at her.
"You smell different. Like the werewolves back home." She answered. Remus paled, but something inside of him sparked a little. She didn't care. But then again, why would she? She was less human than he was.
He didn't answer. Instead, he continued down the last few steps, walking stiffly.
A/n: Well, there's the first chapter. If it was a little corny now, it'll get better once I get more in depth with the story. I know it's weird that I'm starting in the third book when the fifth is out, but if all goes as planned, this will span from book three to book five and maybe beyond. This is my first Harry Potter fic, so please leave any and all constructive criticism/thoughts that would make the story better.