#bonusrounds r2

Chaser three: Element :Water

Animal: Selkie

Option 3: have your main character interact with one of these creatures. If you choose this option, the creature should be a main part of the story.

Optional prompts:

(quote) "There is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship." -Thomas Aquinas

(object/gem) lapis lazuli

(dialogue) "In my beginning, is my end."

Word count: 2140

Do I even have to say who the inspiration was for this one? My darling Master Tease of course. Thank you so much for allowing me to borrow your Sal's names! I hope you like it.

"In my beginning, is my end," Ela murmured, not quite remembering which member of the Immortal Council had said it. She was debating between Salazar Slytherin, her namesake, who had landed in the council after one certain person had entered the wrong universe and the other Salazar Slytherin who had been brought in by one of the originals Merlins.

Then in the end it could have been her good friend…..or maybe Merlin himself? Well, one of them? "In my beginning, is my end," she wondered how true that would be. Would she die on her first errand outside the Council World? Living between dimensions gave you a kind of protection, but at the same time, it didn't. Because you knew exactly how much evil there was in each world, and you always feared if the next person you talk to will be that someone that had betrayed your causes. The Immortal Council, the council of beings who lived outside time and looked over the dimensions that existed and had yet to be had many enemies. Time wasn't of importance for the Council, past could live in the future and the opposite way around, but however little sense it made, time still had a line. Her selkie friend, Sella, one of the sole constants in her life, always looked sad when Ela looked at her future self. She had always wondered why.

Running, she was running as fast she could, not only her life depended on it, but the life of her friends too. She couldn't risk them, so as she felt the waves coming towards her, she took her wand out and shouted

"Aqua Infinito". A portal opened and she jumped, holding her breath as she did so.

Ela was raised with a sense of duty like no others and with the belief that true friends were rare and must be cherished. She had always known that they were rare and when you were fortunate enough to have them, you had to protect them. And Sella, the little selkie girl, was indeed, a worthy friend. With that thought in mind she jumped in the portal, not thinking of the consequences.

Ela Taliezin Iacomus Slytherin didn't possess the power of breathing under water, but she knew there wasn't other choice. Darkness was calling and she couldn't run forever. She had trained all her life after all. The waves on the beach of the Skull Island would kill her. And no, there was no connection to movie that circled in the Prime Universe. She had to reach her friend; she had to warn her. Them, all of them.

Selkies were creatures of the sea. Water was their element. They lived in the oceans of Earth, but they could be found in the Council World too. To be able to enter their world you had to one, be powerful enough, two, you had to know the incantation. Selkies could mostly be found in the depths of the Pacific Ocean from the Magical Earth that had her namesake in it , but as anything else magical, they were hidden behind the power that represented the Infinite Ocean. Water had no material end and it was infinite in a sense. Dropping from Mariana Trench it was the beginning of the end, the world were just selkies could be, sirens and mermaids too, but they usually didn't intrude in selkies' lives.

There was the Lapis Lazuli cave, the one branded as one of the most magical places in all the words. It was Selkie heaven, sort to say. And not only. It had the most beautiful shade of blue and it was old since Time itself. Ela had been only once, but it was something that stayed with you forever. Seeing her friend surrounded by family and friends...Ela hadn't seen so many selkies together...ever. The cave was a relic, of a past time, time when it hadn't been hidden in the ocean and all selkies communicated with those times' humans.

Those times preceded the council and they were so far away almost no one could travel back to then. It was source of selkie magic, one that relied on honour and trust and kindness. The cave was special for everyone in the Magic World, even if they knew it or not. And it had to be protected. After all that was why she had uttered the incantation to enter the Selkie territory.

It was risky and she couldn't actually breath underwater, but the enemy, a force of the utmost Darkness, the kind that had forced the Council in its earliest stages to move the Cave's location. She had been on a scouting mission on the island, named Skull because it was the eternal resting place of the kings of lands gone with another selkie, Pyna. However, she had been caught by the waves generated by the evil force that chasing them and now it was too late. But Ela couldn't afford time to grieve.

For the split of a second she felt like suffocating. Then she heard the unmistakable chuckle of her friend and breathed a sigh of relief. Around her, a protective bubble was in place, allowing her access to the oxygen she needed. It was exhilarating. Ela couldn't say she liked to lived dangerously, she, however, could say that she lived to annoy or tease as she preferred, the life out of others. And being dangerous, annoyed them to no end. And of course, it helped that few things could actually kill her.

"You could have warned me, my dear friend, that you would come."

"It wasn't planned, Sella!" she bit back. But there was no actually bite to it.

The Selkie smiled fondly at her friend. Sella had met Ela Taliezin Iacomus, a seventh year Slytherin long before she had met Ela Taliezin Iacomus Slytherin, sweet three year old child of one of the Immortal Council members. Time was curious, one belonging to the Council could usually figure when another person or being was from the future or past. Selkies, however, were different. Since they lived most of the time in place outside the Council world, they couldn't be sensed that easily. And Sella had realised pretty quickly that she was not the selkie Ela had intended to talk to. Looking at the girl in front of her, she had a hard time connecting the tease she had met with the serious girl in front of her. Of course, to say that Ela wasn't a prankster and a tease now, it'd be a lie. But in the future everything or almost everything was teasing to her. Then she'd met the baby. One with the most beautiful laugh ever. And a cute pout and frowny face. Definitely worth of pictures.

Selkies, when, they chose a bond human friend, it was for life. Sella hadn't bonded with Ela to maintain the timeline; she had bonded because Ela was Special and she deserved it. However it was rare that they chose humans with no ties with the magical world. The few selkies that didn't live in the Pacific Ocean, had been tormented by the humans, muggles with no knowledge on how much hurt they put them through. They took skins and kept them captive, so they couldn't turn back to the sea. That had been one moment of selkie evolution.

They had turned back in time to the Cave of Lapis Lazuli and changed so they wouldn't need the skin any longer. And that's how selkies were today. Selkies who still needed it, like her aunt for example, were the ones who had chosen to live in the present, rather than the past. Few of them had families of land. Humans, muggles, didn't understand. Creatures of the sea, got crazy if kept away. It wasn't the fact that they didn't love their children with their human husband; it was the fact that losing your skin and finding it again it was like losing and regaining your memory.

And this very fact was now in danger. If Darkness, the purest evil got to the cave, everything would be compromised. Their whole history. Plus, the cave was very valuable to the Immortal Council as well. It the purest place and it had to be protected.

Sella was worried what friend's presence meant for them. She knew she had to go on the Skull Island, what had happened?

"Ela?"she whispered, afraid of the other girl's answer.

"Pyna is dead,"her friend cried," and the island is gone. There is nothing left. I was running out of options, I was going to drawn and she saved me. She saved me, Sella. Darkness has her body" But still, there wasn't time to grieve.

"We have to warn them. They have now at least one selkie they could use to try and enter the Lapis Lazuli cave."

Sella shook her head, silent tears falling down on her cheek. Pyna had been a good selkie. And an even better friend.

"They can't. She's dead. To be able to enter the cave you have to have the purest feelings. You know the cave stands for honour and loyalty, intelligence and harmony. It's the symbol of royalty in our world. They can't use a body for it. It doesn't feel anything. But you're right. We have to warn them. The island was the last relic connected to the time Lapis Lazuli was outside."

"There are still crystals though, "Ela said, thinking at other things connected to the cave. "Right?"

"Yes, but they hold the tiniest powers. Even if you collect all of them. It would need so many of them to establish the weakest connection, just to enter the Selkie Territory in Pacific. And they can't take them. To work, you'd have to use them from the same Earth the cave is in. And there is no other magic. Magic from other worlds will not work."

Ela was pacing in her bubble, thinking over.

"They want the Cave for what it represents, right? You took me once, when I was little."

"Yes…"

"Mariana Trench is not the only entry."

Sella shook her head again. But Ela wasn't giving up.

"It is…"

"No, remember that we saw a phoenix and I asked how a fire creature is an underwater cave, be as it was without water, and you told me that they are pure at heart and loyal. And that there is a water phoenix too" She was getting more and more excited, but she couldn't help it. Ela felt she owed Pyna to figure out what was going on and how could she help.

"Yes, I did. But I don't follow."

"Oh, Sella, don't you see. Phoenix can enter the cave! That means somewhere in their land, in Phoenixia, there is portal that leads to it. It stands for royalty and who are the most prominent royals of our times? The leaders from Phoenixia. They also, like the cave, precede the council. And they the gems Lapis Lazuli too. That's the connection. They destroyed the Skull Island because it was a relic of Selkie Royalty which must have been connected. They lived in the same period of time. Phoenixia wasn't always hidden either."

The selkie looked like she'd never seen Ela in her life.

"You're...right. Completely right."

"We have to go there! Warn them! And we have to tell the Council!"

"I will go,"her selkie friend said. "You must go back to the Council."

"NO!" Ela shouted, furious at the suggestion." I am coming with you. I can tell them from there too. And you need me. You're a selkie going in a fire land. And you have to inform your people too. So let's first do that and then go. We're only scout members."

"It could be dangerous," Sella said.

"It could be," she mused, but didn't back down.

"You're my friend and I am part of the Council. I grew up with them. Someone has to be the first to intervene. Why not me? I'm ready. First mission or not, I won't let my friend go alone. Pyna is now lost thanks to me! And don't you dare say something. No, don't say anything! It's how I feel. Of course, I'll ask for help as soon as we get to Phoenixia, but remember, I am the one who grew up with you. I know selkie magic the best. I can help. I may be a Slytherin, but I am my mother's daughter too. Even if die, life of many friends, is worth."

And with that she started marching deep down in the ocean.

"Indeed", Sella mused, "loyal to the very end. But no, Ela, this beginning won't be your end. There is a long way to that."