Harry blearily looked up, his senses still warped from the sensation of falling through the fireplace. He swore loudly, and promised himself to never do that again, as he hated the feeling. . .
More than he hated. . . Voldemort.
Looking around he noticed that he wasn't in the Burrow. Here he was a fourteen year old wizard. . . And he knew that he wasn't anywhere near where he wanted to be.
Looking around the room he noticed that the room was very reminiscent of the different quarters of the students at Hogwarts. He knew that he wasn't there, but it didn't keep him from noticing that the feel of the room was definitely from the time of the founders, Looking In front of him, he saw a man that seemed to know where he was.
"Greetings, I see that you are a new arrival to our land. My job is to welcome all new visitors. So, Welcome. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me, or any of my associates. We'll be happy to help!" The awkward looking man bounced, and reminded Harry of a tall version of Flitwick.
"Uh, sir? Do you happen to have any floo powder for the fireplace, I'm late to my friend, Ron's. I'm supposed to be there right now."
"Floo, Young sir? Why would you need of that powder, surely you don't plan on leaving us without a hero?"
"What do you mean? Hero? I'm not a hero!"
"Surely you are, This is the Realm of Gielinor, we have been charged with the task of breeding heroes of all sorts since before the time of Merlin himself!! In fact you can only get here if this realm is in great need of your skills and potential.
"Our World has been troubled with dark creatures and evil since before I was born. Only those that arrive here can fight off the evil. And only then can the hero choose if he will stay on this plane of existence, or return to his own time."
It was at this bit of news that Harry's face, soured. . . He wondered if he was caught in some kind of practical joke, or something.
"Does that mean that there's no way for me to get back, until I find a way to defeat whatever this evil is?
"That's how it works. I'm glad you're understanding. To continue your training, please proceed outside and speak to your first instructor. " Pointing at the nearest door, the man began to turn once more to face the fireplace.
"Well, might as well…" Harry walked through the door and the familiar smell of the outdoors filled his nose. Walking down the dirt path, he soon made his way towards a small grove of trees and an even smaller pond.
Seeing a pink haired woman with a red cape sitting cross-legged nearby, he approached the woman to ask her for help. Before he had a chance to get her attention she spoke.
"Hello there, newcomer. My name is Brynna. My Job is to teach you a few survival tips and tracks. First off we're going to start with the most basic survival skill of all: making a fire."
She handed Harry a small tinderbox, a bronze axe, a compass, and a backpack.
"With that axe you can chop down trees, when you've chopped one down tell me."
Taking the axe in hand, Harry spit on the other and walked over to the tree nearest to him. Planting both of his feet firmly, he swung hard with the axe, it went in about a good inch, before Harry proceeded to cut it all the way through.
About an hour later, Harry was ready to start building a fire, he had a nice set of logs and a proportional amount of sweat.
"Well done!" Harry looked up to see Brynna standing in front of him, "You managed to cut some logs from the tree! Next, use the tinderbox in your pack to light the logs.
Bending over his newly made pile of logs, he pulled out the tinderbox and began to light the wood on fire.
He knew that all of this was hard work, but if he was really on an adventure, then he'd better learn well, and quickly.
Getting it to light, he began to gain some confidence, he'd never been out camping before, and if this was all it required, then it would be pretty damn easy.
Looking at Brynna, he smirked in triumph, who smirked back. "Well done, Next we need to get some food in our bellies. So, We'll need something to cook. There are shrimp in the pond there so lets catch and cook some.
Handing Harry a net, she goes back to her sitting position next to the pond as Harry looked and searched for the best spot to fish for shrimp.
Seeing a spot where little shrimp shaped shapes were making bubbles, Harry moved next to the pond and began to sift it through the water hoping for a decent catch.
After a few minutes of trying it finally paid off, caught in the net were a good amount of shrimp a decent lunch for him and Brynna.
Taking it over to her to show her the amount of fish he caught, he began constructing another fire, seeing as how his other had burnt out during the course of his fishing. After that, he began to cook the shrimp in such a way that the Dursley's would enjoy it.
"Well done, leave half of that meal here, and you'll be ready to meet your next instructor."
"Thanks for teaching me."
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Proceeding down the nearby path once more, harry began to cross into someone's property. It was long and winding, but he knew that it would lead where he wanted it to.
Walking inside the nearest castle like structure, he found himself inside of a kitchen.
Seeing Harry, the chef inside the kitchen began to jiggle with anticipation, clearly he needed to get out of the kitchen and do some exercises. He was a dark-skinned version of Dudley with a gray Dumbledore beard.
"Ah! Welcome, newcomer. I am Master Chef, Lev. It is here that I will teach you how to cook food that is truly fit for a king."
"I already know how to cook. Brynna taught me just now." Harry spoke, thinking, 'And I'm also the ten-time winner of the best house-elf award courtesy of the Dursley's'
The man's ten chins giggled as he laughed loudly. "Hahahahahaha! You call THAT cooking? Some shrimp over an open log fire? Oh, no, no, no. I am going to teach you the fine art of cooking bread.
"…" Harry just stared, wondering how the guy knew that the only thing that he was lacking in from his culinary skill list, was baking… Harry groaned.
The cook pulled from behind the counter a bucket of water and a pot of flour.
Giving a quick demo, the Chef stood back as Harry commandeered his kitchen.
Harry smiled as he took a freshly baked loaf out of the oven, the chef looked on surprised at the quality work and showed Harry the way to the next instructor.
Continuing down the path, Harry considered briefly that the possiblility of this place being wacko… The problem was, it was impossible to leave without defeating the 'evil'.
He continued to ponder this as he continued down the path, up the coastline, of what he assumed was an island until the path began to lead towards a large white thatched house. Inside he saw very nice furniture, but in the center of the room was a very tall, and bald man. He seemed to take pride in his work, and proceeded to introduce himself to Harry.
"Ah. Welcome, adventurer. I'm here to tell you all about them. Let's start by opening a Quest list, Shall we?" He pulled a scroll out of his pocket, and on it was a list of things that he had done so far. What he's learned since he arrived…
"Woah, Harry Stated.
"My list is considerably longer than yours I'm afraid… I wouldn't mind switching, but this'll fill up soon enough. When you receive missions or quests, in order of importance, they'll appear on this list and tell you what you still have to do. When you complete the Tasks they'll cross themselves out and that should be all that you need to do. The quests vary greatly, but can be very dangerous. Hopefully you'll be up to it.
"If you continue on to the caves under my home, you'll find at least some more adventure."
Climbing down the ladder, Harry felt the cool air of the home, clash with the heat of what seemed to be a furnace in the distance. Following the cave, he found himself in a room with large rocks boulders, and a great brutish man… He looked at Harry with startling, gentle eyes.
"Hi there. You must be new around here." He paused to take his hand off the bit of iron that he'd been shaping on an anvil. "So what do I call you? 'Newcomer' seems so impersonal, and if we're going to be working together, I'd rather call you by name.
"The name's Harry, Harry Potter," he extended his hand, in a show of friendship to the large man.
"Ok then, Harry Potter... sounds familiar. My name is Dezzick and I'm a miner by trade. Let's go prospect some rocks." Turning the large brutish man headed towards what looked like a large brown stone.
"What kind of rocks are those," he asked, pointing at the large rock.
Instinctively, a word comes to Harry's lips, "tin"
Going to the redder ones, the word, "copper" comes to his lips.
"I prospected both types of rock! One contains tin and the other has copper ore inside."
"Absolutely right Harry, these two types can be smelted together to create bronze." Looking Harry over, he continued. "So now you know what ore is in the rocks over there, why don't you have a go at mining some tin and copper? Here, you'll need this to start with." Dezzick handed Harry a bronze pickaxe.
Readying the pickaxe, he hefted it into the air and swung it forward, letting gravity do most of the work. Harry marveled at how easily tin began to chip off of the rock, as well with copper.
Nearby, one of the miners in the room went over to the furnace and began shaping the rock into bars.
Copying the process, Harry learned a couple of things. The first one he learned was, "How to live without eyebrows: a lesson in getting too close to the fires of a furnace."