Chapter Twelve: Occlumency and the Ambush
NA: This chapter was rather hastily written. I just got to writing it now. Rewritten Version. Sorry, forgot to add something at the end of chapter eleven. Please read the last part of the previous chapter before reading this one. Thanks
A week later…
With the assurance that the Chamber and its untold knowledge lay safe and sound, inaccessible to anyone but them, Harry and Alex explored the vast source of information with vigor. Harry spent his time trying to familiarize himself with the system of arrangement all the while taking mental notes of which books seemed interesting.
The place was huge. It had gigantic shelves filed with books, manuscripts, and scrolls of all topics, kinds, shapes and sizes. Necromancy, Runic Magic, Bonds and Promises, Magi Tongue, Ritualistic, Charms, Transformation, Offensive Lethal Magic…the list just went on and on. A small smile started to creep up his face.
Something about Elemental Magic was bound to be here as well. There had to be seeing as each of the founders was either an Elemental or Dual Elemental with specialties in no less than four different branches or sub-branches of magic. That was how much the average wizard knew back then. Now, most wizards barely specialized anymore. Laziness had taken its toll on the wizard populace.
One of the biggest misconceptions in the wizard communities was that elementals were rare. Out of a hundred people, at least seventy people were elementals of varying degree. Controlling and harnessing the power was a different matter entirely. You'd need to train constantly to even begin to harness the power.
Then after being able to tap into the power, you needed to master how to bend it to your will. Plus, it took a creative wizard to use it to its full extent. Not many books were written about techniques on using it. Creativity and diligence were perhaps the two things most wizards lacked aside from common sense or logical reasoning.
He found an entire shelf dedicated to Elemental Magic. Each book was several inches thick and hundreds of pages long. The books were surprisingly in perfect condition. A Stasis Field was probably cast in the area as it would be the only thing powerful enough to sustain the archaic texts. But these texts were over nine hundred years old! Few powers could sustain the magical properties of the Stasis Field for that long. Perhaps it was the school itself which was the strengthener? After all, permanent magical residences or locations tend to accumulate in magical strength after long periods of time.
Tracing his index finger along neatly place row of books, he picked out a book entitled "The Power". It was nearly a foot thick. Opening it, he read, surprisingly enough, the preface. Most books written by wizards had no prefaces.
Welcome Reader. There is only one book like this in the world that will give you more information on Elemental Magic in the World. Through this, I strive to allow the reader to understand Elemental Magic and all of its various aspects…its uses…for either organized peace...or total destruction. I warn those of you now.
This is not for the feint of heart, weak willed, or the impatient. This book is not simply one to read, it is one which requires visualization, imagination, creative thinking, and logic amongst other things. If you survive with a sane mind after completing this book, you have proven that you are one of the best of the best in elemental magic and its various aspects.
The first step to unraveling the secrets of this book, considering that you are up to the challenge, is to unlock the seal on this book. You will never be able to advance through the book without fulfilling all past challenges.
Good luck and God speed. You'll need it for the danger you will find within this ancient text.
-Myer Vox
Iunctum quod Dominatus
(Unity and Mastery)
The book automatically snapped shut and a seal appeared on the cover preventing anyone from reopening it. The seal was circular and had white and black stripes circling around a gray orb in the middle. Curiously, Harry poked the orb with his newly drawn wand. The orb started to shimmer while the stripes around it began to swirl with rapid celerity.
A wave of light enveloped Harry completely. The light's glare was enough to blind him. After a moment, the light dimmed into a faint glow. He opened his eyes slowly to see a desolate desert with a small flourishing oasis in the middle. He stood atop of a cliff overlooking the vast oceans of sand. There were a few Baobab trees but they were few and far between.
Surprisingly, there was no scorching heat or dunes. There was only sand and the cliff he was standing on. Suddenly, the ground beneath him started to rumble. The sky turned blood red. Flaming meteors crashed into the earth obliterating what few trees were there. An intense light started moving towards the oasis at incredible speeds. Then, there was nothing.
Neat cursive writing appeared before Harry. It is sometimes better to destroy and rebuild then to try and fix the broken.Harry felt strangely relieved by these words. More writing started to form words. This is your mind. It is unprotected now. First, visualize two worlds side-by-side with a bridge connecting the two. This is the representation of the connection between the outside world and your mind.
Harry did as he was instructed forming two globes; one was a near replica of Earth, the other was merely a mass of sand. He put tremendous effort in forming a rather shaky bridge between the two planets.
Good, you have established the connection to reality. Now, create a small oasis in the middle of the desert.
Concentrating, Harry tried to imagine a small pool of water in the middle of all the sand. Nothing happened. Frowning, he tried again, this time putting a little energy in doing so. Slowly but surely, a hole formed and bits of water gathered, but it was hardly a pool. Trying again, he put all his energy in expanding the hole. The hole grew but the water became smaller still.
The water represents your connection to your secrets and thoughts. The bigger and deeper the oasis, the more defenses you can support. Use your Imagination. There is hardly any water in a desert such as this. To gather it in one place is futile. To keep it spread out will leave you hard pressed to defend all areas. Hence, the hole of water. Think of a better way fill up the hole.
Taking heed of the advise, he imagined rain clouds starting to form above. Rain poured from the clouds and flooded the desert in torrents of water. Harry smiled in satisfaction as the water flowed over the happiness was short lived, however, as rain continued to pour down upon his desert. The entire place was flooded with water rising above the sand.
Panicking a little, he made the clouds disappear to stop the rain from falling. Sighing, he surveyed the damage done.
Not so easy now is it? Create something to dry up the place faster. Start again after that.Creating a vortex in the sand, he drained the water out of the surface and stored it in an underground chamber directly beneath the small oasis he made. Harry cleared the sand between the two masses of water to form a small lake of a sort.
Good, now form a source of light and heat to this desert.He envisioned a miniature sized sun to light up the sky and provide heat. A red floating orb materialized in space and expanded in size. A second later, it lighted up, bringing warmth and light to the desert planet.
You're getting the hang of this aren't you? Well, lets get some life into this desert. You have a lot of work ahead of you before this becomes habitable. But first is first. We start at the bottom of the food chain, Plants and Trees.
Pooling his energy, he visualized seeds of all kinds to be planted. BANG! He was sent flying through the air.
Pathetic, I expected you to get this far at least. Worse then that, you've exhausted your mental strength. You'll be defenseless for days which is hardly ideal since many will now of your start in training of the mind arts. You are in a dismal state boy. And you have a lot of training to do before you get to my standards of acceptance.
A flash of light blinded him. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in reality. Only ten minutes had gone by. Astonishing! He felt as if he had spent the last hour participating in the mental exercise. It was apparent that time moved slower when doing said exercises. Feeling exhausted, he decided to leave.
Elsewhere…
"Is everyone ready?" A dark clad figure said.
"Yes. Morrison and his team are moving into position. By the time the target passes by this corridor, we will begin the ambush." Another figure responded.
"Very well. Remember we must leave no traces outside of the boy's injuries. Now return to your positions, I hear someone coming." The first figure commanded.
Harry stood in front of a seemingly blank wall of the underground exit of the Chamber. "Reveal." The wall split in two and a wooden camouflaged box appeared. There was a clear crystal board on it with Greek Letters on it. Harry punched the activation combination in.
A blinking sound emanated from the board and another section of the wall opened up. There was a compartment inside the newly formed hole. Harry stepped into the compartment and the wall behind him sealed up. A light buzzing sound could be heard as the compartment sped upwards and sideward at random intervals. The buzzing stopped suddenly and so did the movement.
Light flooded into the room again as the wall in front of him opened up revealing a random location on the Second Floor. He stepped out of the compartment which instantly disappeared as he did. He walked down the corridor when a silver streaked light whizzed pass him.
His instincts kicked in. He dove to the ground and drew his wand. Hundreds of spells, charms and curses streamed through his head, ready to be used depending and varying on the opponents he faced.
A stunning spell nearly hit him as he rolled to the side. Okay this is bad. Very, very bad.Harry thought. Aiming his wand, he shouted "koç baş". A huge semisolid ox head shaped light shot out of his wand and onto the adjacent wall. The result was satisfactory as a figure thumped down to the floor, groaning in pain.
By now, the spell fire was becoming more like a barrage of magic as Harry was rained down upon by wave upon wave of not so nice spells. An Exploding Hex hit the floor a few meters in front of him. Now, most would think this was good since it didn't hit the person. Well, those people or either Optimistic or downright Morons. The shockwave from the spell was enough to send Harry flying towards a wall.
The impact was painful, to say the least. Harry was beginning to lose focus. He saw about eighteen or so figures approaching him, wands drawn and pointed at him. Harry was going into full blown panic now. Gathering his energy in his left hand, he blasted a nearby attacker with pure raw magic.
He was quickly drying up his Magical Reserve. He could do wandless magic, yes, but to do it was a huge drain on him. Pointing his wand to the stone floor, he cast the Ice Field Jinx. Water came out of his wand and rapidly froze upon impact of the ground. With a barrier of ice prohibiting his ambushers from approaching any further, he concentrated on defending himself from the barrage of spell fire.
Harry took the shields from suits of armor. Using the two shields, he tried to block the incoming spells. Problem was, the robed and masked figures started throwing Exploding Hexes at him. The shields, metal as they were, were quickly blown to bits. Fortunately and unfortunately, this made shrapnel fly and hit over a dozen of them including Harry.
It was painful, very, very painful. Most of those which were hit were on the floor, crying, screaming, or likewise. Harry, however, had no such pleasure. Wounded or not, he was still under attack. The situation had gone from bad to worse in five minutes. He was injured, could barely stand, slightly dazed, and had little to no magic left to use.
Using his last resort, Harry let the darkness take over him. He suddenly had no control over his body and that was the last thing he remembered.
This was supposed to be a simple mission for the Mages of Anima. The Mages of Anima were student mercenaries who were elitists of a sort. Their group was very secret and old. They were a tightly knit group with informants in every circle and area of the school. The Staff had been trying to catch them for ages but they were smart and sneaky. They have never been detected.
There were suspicions of who members could be, but suspicions were useless unless they had proof. The tradition of the Mages of Anima had been passed down from generation to generation. The leader right now was Christopher Mitch. He was their elite strategist and researcher. He was a muggleborn, one of the best in his class, and about sixteen in age.
It had gone well so far, except now, over two-thirds of them were out of the fight. The kid was far better than they had thought. "Hey Christopher, I think he's out." Said a masked figure next to him.
"Alright, we're done here, Morris. Clean up and lets go. We have to get out of here before anyone finds out." Jonathan Morris was the second in command to Mitch. "Get Gretchen and her Healers out here now. And where's Norman with the Emergency Portkeys he prom-" He stopped dead in his tracts as he saw what was happening.
The boy had a weird blue glow surrounding him. He was holding the ice. And he was manipulating it to attack them. Several Ice Golems rose up and used very large sharp weapons of ice to smash and slice them with.
"Oh my God! Everyone abort this mission now! We have a freaking Berserk Elemental on us." Christopher blasted an Ice Golem with a Bludgeoning Hex. Out of the thirty people in the Mages of Anima under his command, only eleven would be able to escape by themselves.
"Morris, double shield defense on three. One…Two…Three!" Mitch sent a Protego shield. Morris cast an Ageo Tectum behind his initial Protego Shield. The idea behind the Double Shield Defense was genius actually. The idea was to cast a standard shield to cover a bigger area while a stronger shield was placed behind it to strengthen the first shield. The stronger shield provided support to make sure the first shield didn't break.
They cast the Double Shield in front of their companions. They might have been a mercenary group but they were a very loyal group. All along the corridor, similar techniques were used to stop the advance of the Ice Golems.
Seeing the apparent success of their new stratagem, Mitch said, "Come on, let's move people. We have to get out of here now." Everyone grabbed a portkey and ported away. Harry was left half dead on the ice vaporized floor.
Footsteps echoed through the hall as Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape appeared. "What happened here? Who did this to you Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked.
"Th…The…Ma…Mage…Mages…The Mages of…An…Ani…Anima." The three professors rapidly paled upon hearing the barely uttered words.
The Prodigy has been attacked by the Mages of Anima. And the attack was more vicious then before.
The Mages of Anima are a very eccentric Group. Because of their old tradition and close contacts, many graduated members worked in the ministry. This is said to be one of the key reasons why they had so many untrackable equipment and informants.
-excerpt from Hogwarts: A History, revised edition by Hermione Granger
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