This chapter is longer than I wanted it to be. It revolves mainly around Percy. Harry will be centered soon, though.
-oOo-
Harry's POV
We emerged in the middle of a pitch-black room, and it smelled vaguely of roses. I took that as a good sign.
Then, a spiraling column of flame erupted from right in front of me. I felt the heat lick my face, it was inches from the flames. The fire settled into a brilliant torch, illuminating a floor littered with... bones. This, I took as a bad sign.
"Deliantex, Elypsa," a soft voice purred from somewhere behind us. "How very nice to finally meet you."
Suddenly, my vision was partially obscured by a silvery light, which I noticed a second later was my Invisibility Cloak. Hermione had thrown it on me, hissing, "You're supposed to be dead" in my ear, so nobody else could hear it.
A girl was walking towards us. Not just any girl, though. She was gorgeous... and she looked deadly. She had an evil glint in her eyes and a devious, sly smile.
"Who are you?" Ginny asked valiantly, swishing her long red hair behind her.
"Fierra," the girl growled, still with that dark smile. "And of course, you all must be... um, who cares. I am only here for Deliantex and Elypsa. The rest of you can leave."
"What makes you think we will?" Annabeth growled, looking murderous. She obviously felt the same vibes I was getting off the beautiful girl.
"Oh, feisty, are we?" The girl named Fierra purred darkly. "I like it. Shame you are on the wrong side."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
Fierra sneered. "I am the daughter of Fuego," she announced. "And also, I am his plan B."
She struck her hands out and strong bursts of flame came whipping out at us. I had to flatten myself against the wall in order to dodge, and I had to pull the cloak in with me.
When I looked back up, I expected to see a battle going on, but instead, it was calm. Everyone was pressed to the other wall by chains of flame, and Fierra was laughing softly.
"Tut, tut," she said boredly, "I expected a little more than that from you."
Nobody answered. All their mouths were enclosed in a small wall of fire that seemed to hover inches in frontof them, so that if they moved a centimeter, they would burn.
Fierra gave a satisfied smirk and in a burst of flame, she was gone. I hurried to the opposite wall to try and help the others. They were all sweating by the combined heat of the flames and the effort of remaining in their stiff postions.
"Aguamenti," I muttered softly, and a small stream of water gushed out of my hands, extinguishing the flames that secured them. My wand was back at Divitio, and like Delian had explained, once I was able to master magic at Divitio, I would be able to perform wandless magic anywhere.
The flames were gone, but the others were still bound in chains from the wall. The flames were probably just for added measure. They breathed sighs of relief when they were able to sit on the floor and talk.
"Thanks, Harry," they each muttered.
I took off the cloak and focused on their chains, raising my arms slightly. "Diffindo."
A powerful kind of force radiated from my hand, and it hit Grover's chain, but was repelled instantly. The spell bounced off, and I had to duck hurriedly as the spell raised past my head, tousling my hair, and destroyed the opposite wall with a CRACK.
"These chains must be anti-magic," Hermione muttered.
"Fuego's daughter..." Delian muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Should've known... Percy's in trouble... All my fault... Put your lives in danger..."
"No one blames you, Delian," Annabeth murmured miserably. "It isn't your fault."
However, Delian did not appear to hear a word. He still kept muttering to himself. "It is... It's all this 'Greatest Diviner in the world' business... Shouldn't have dragged you into this..."
"Delian."
Elypsa's firm but delicate voice rang in the air. Her eyes were boring into Delian's, her mouth was set in a grim line. She looked calm but determined.
"This is not your fault. We needed Percy and Harry for this. And they agreed."
I felt numb, realizing who Fierra was. A kind of cold emptiness filled me, and the thought didn't really register in my mind. I did hear what Ellie said, though, and I nodded fiercely.
"We knew what we were signing up for," I stated, coming out of my dazed state.
"And we were all ready to give up our lives if we had to," Hermione concluded impressively.
"Hear, hear," Ron added stupidly.
Delian looked up at us all. He smiled and said, "Thanks guys. All of you. Ellie, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Grover, Annabeth, Nev-"
Delian suddenly stopped. He looked around, clearly alarmed. I followed his gaze and saw what he was so shocked about. My jaw dropped just like his, and so did everyone else's.
Neville, Luna and Ginny were nowhere to be seen.
Percy's POV
I was floating... floating... floating... I landed in Elypsa's gardens, alone. Then... a voice... constricted with pain...
"Please... Help me."
It was Harry's voice... He was suffering. I had to do something. He was standing about three meters away from me. His eyes were streaming tears, he was pleading... His black cloak was stained with shiny red blood. He was reaching out to me... I had to save him...
I reached out to save him, but as I drew nearer, a perfectly shaped hand wrenched him away, and he disappeared into the shadows. Fierra was walking towards me, smiling deviously. She was wearing an expression of pure evil glee.
"Too late, Percy," she hissed in her ethereal, perfect voice. But the voice was dripping in malice and evil. "He's gone."
"NO!" I bellowed, trying to attack her, but she dodged very quickly. "How could you? He was my friend! I thought you were my friend, too! What-?"
"Oh, Percy," she muttered in a very bored way. "Your condition was perfect. Hurt. Raw, and open."
"What d'you mean?" I demanded defiantly.
She chuckled darkly and said, "You gullible little fool. I'll have you twisted around my finger by tomorrow, and when I'm through with Deliantex and Elypsa-"
"What are you doing to them?" I yelled, advancing on her. She merely chuckled again as a reply, and with that, she vanished.
I straightened at the speed of light, and cringed as all the blood rushed down to my body from my head. That dream... Did it mean something? No, it couldn't have... Fierra was nice, and she needed someone right now. That dream was just relaying my inner emotions... How sad I was about Harry's death, and my suspicions of Fierra that were extinguished when I confronted her earlier.
She said that being nice to me could do some good for the both of us. And then... Uh... It was all a blur after that... What happened? I just suddenly fell asleep in my room... Eh, I'll ask her about it later.
I got up and realized that it was almost midday. I straightened up my red robes and walked out casually, bumping into that servant dude with no irises.
"Master Perseus," he greeted with a curt nod. "Follow me to the dining room, it is time for lunch."
I followed after him in silence, gazing at the pristine hallways I walked through. The maroon carpet was dust-free; the red curtains perfectly framed the windows that let the golden sunlight fall through.
Servant Dude bowed me into the dining room, and I saw, to my immense glee, Fierra beckoning me to sit across from her.
"Hello again, Percy."
I smiled sleepily at her and took my seat. The shining silver platter of roasted turkey smelled heavenly, and my mouth was watering, preparing itself to welome the food into my stomach.
"Hello, Fierra."
"How was your sleep?" she asked.
"It was fine," I muttered. "Well, actually, I..." I considered telling her of the dream, but waved it off. "I was wondering... what exactly happened down at the gardens? I mean... I was just asking you, then... well, I was asleep."
Fierra smiled warmly at me. "You seemed a little tired," she said with a soft laugh. It was very different from her cold chuckle in the dream. "I asked Deveraux to escort you back into your room. You must have been very worn out, you really don't remember?"
"No, I don't," I said, screwing up my eyes to try and reach the deeper fragments of my brain. "Who's Duhveroh?"
Fierra laughed softly again. "Deveraux is my servant."
"The one with no irises? Um, why is that, anyway? I mean, the eyes?"
"It is a bad memory," Fierra muttered. "Cuts me open, bings out all the raw emotions."
I smiled at her, apologizing, but there was a hint of apprehension in my smile. 'Cuts me OPEN. RAW emotions.' It reminded me of what she said in the dream... 'Your condition was perfect. Hurt. Raw, and open.'
"Let us eat, yes?"
We ate in silence, partly because I was immersed in my own thoughts, partly because I wanted to savor the heavenly taste of the roasted turkey. After the main course, she clapped her hands twice, and Deveraux bustled in.
"Fetch the bottle," she instructed him, and with a nod, he hurried out.
Seconds later, he scurried back in, carrying a dark green bottle full of thick liquid. He set it down in front of Fierra, bowed, and ran back out.
Fierra took the bottle and fetched two ruby-encrusted goblets with engravings of flame. She poured the contents of the green bottle into th goblets, and I recognized it as the deep purple liquid she gave me earlier.
"Let us drink," she said.
She lifted her goblet to her lips, and I did the same with mine. I allowed the liquid to flow into my throat and trickle into my stomack. I felt that familiar, ominous tranquility fill me...
"What are the powers of Deliantex?" Fierra purred sweetly.
"He is a great Diviner," I answered. I took another swig from my goblet. "He deciphers the greatest prophecies of the different dimensions. Besides that, he is a very powerful Elementalist. He controls the four elements with such force of a great hurricane."
"And Elypsa? What can she do?" Fierra continued in her voice, which reminded me of poisoned honey.
"She is an Eneschia," I replied, not even sure how I knew what she was called. "She can channel her energy into power and force, an immensely strong kind of magic that few can possess."
Fierra smiled grimly as I emptied my drink into my mouth.
"Yes," she muttered. "I see. They've got powerful little tricks up their sleeves. No matter, it's nothing we can't handle together, Percy."
I was perplexed by this. What, did she expect me to fight them? Why would I do that?
"Your service has been very informational, Percy. Very well. You may sleep."
And with this, I felt myself lounging off, and I fell into another deep sleep, but as my head fell onto the table, I noticed Fierra's goblet. It was still filled to the brim by the deep purple liquid.
Fierra was once again sneering at me, mocking me for my loss.
"You never had it in you," she said. "You couldn't save him. There was no way."
I angrily lunged out at her, but she dodged swiftly.
"This. Is. Your fault," I said, and my voice trickled with pure venom.
"No, Percy, this is your fault," she muttered. "All because you were weak."
I advanced on her once again, but I was suddenly disrupted by a loud BANG. I looked around, trying to find where it came from, and I saw that Fierra was confused, too. I tried to attack her again, but there was another abrupt BANG. And then...
"C'mon, mate, wake up!"
...Harry?
Harry's POV
I walked into a handsome room and jumped back as the violent bloody color attacked me. The room was practically covered in red, and on the bed, in ruby robes, was Percy.
I walked hurriedly towards him and kneeled beside the mahogany bed, taking off the Invisibility Cloak. I felt his forehead. It was warm, but not feverish. He looked like he was knocked out.
I tried shaking him awake, but it was pointless. He slept on and on and on, and there was no reaction whatsoever. Sighing, I stood up and stretched out my arm toward one of the bedposts, muttering "Diffindo."
BANG.
The bed semi-collapsed, and Percy stirred, but he stayed asleep. I tried it again, and with another BANG, the bed gave way and Percy grunted.
"C'mon, mate, wake up!" I shoved him.
Percy's eyes fluttered open suddenly and at first, he looked like someone just slapped him with force. He looked at me, gaping, and said, "Is this part of the dream?"
I was stunned. I had no idea what dream he was talking about... and I took in his full appearance. He was dressed in expensive, fine robes embroidered with gems, and he smelled faintly of... roses?
"Harry?"
I sorted out my shock, which was nothing compared to Percy's. "Hello, Perce," I said, giving him my best smile.
Suddenly, all the air was crushed out of me. Percy locked me tightly, but it only lasted for a split second. He held me at arm's length, examining me, making sure if I was really there.
"H-how...?"
Grinning, I explained to him why I couldn't die. How everyone's loyalty and friendship saved me. How Percy contributed greatly to it. How grateful I was to him.
"Wow," he mouthed when I was done.
"Yeah," I shrugged, as if Percy didn't just realize I went back to life. For the third time.
"This is awesome, Harry," he said, smiling so widely that it was a wonder his lips didn't tear. "Oh, Fierra will so want to meet you, she seems really interested in you, you know."
"Fierra?" I muttered, momentarily distracted by Percy's reaction. "Who's Fierra?"
"She's beautiful," Percy breathed dreamily.
Then it hit me. Fierra. Daughter of Fuego. Evil Fierra. She attacked my friends. Fierra.
"Percy," I said, trying to keep my voice even. On the inside, I was shaking. I was scared. I was confused. But I had to keep a cool head and remain calm. "There's something I need to tell you about Fierra."
-oOo-
Dun-dun-DUUUN! What will Percy's reaction be? Who knows?
I DO! MUAHAHAHA.
And so do some of you. Hahaha.
The next one will be action-packed! But first, I need more reviews. And more pies.
