CHAPTER 14

After all the excitment had died down, Albus climbed into one of the hammocks and relaxed. He really hoped no one would ask to talk to him, because he wasn't in the mood to say much more. He had only just realized how exhausted he was, and really just wanted to rest. He couldn't sleep; the day's events swirled ever hauntingly in his mind: Almost getting stunned by some of Morispho's followers, running from them while trying not to get cursed, dealing with the fact that Cyrus got hurt, and no matter what anyone said it was his fault, hopping on the back of a dragon to escape Morispho's lot, then waiting on tenterhooks to learn whether Cyrus would be all right, and the first lesson.

'How had I managed to produce the correct result so quickly? How is it that I got it on my first try?' Albus pondered as he laid in his hammock.

Suddenly, Albus heard the faintest of noises outside, but nobody else seemed to notice. Surely it wouldn't hurt if he just got up to see what it was; he'd wake up the others if necessary. He quietly got up from his hammock and walked to the window, looking to find the source of the sound. Noticing nothing outside, he quickly went back to his hammock and tried to get back to sleep. The next morning, Albus decided not to wake anybody and sneak out the back entrance to Hagrid's hut. Albus wanted to have a look at Moesdolor, Severus's familiar, who Hagrid told the story about to try and help get Albus to sleep. Of course, the story didn't work much. But come morning, Albus wanted so much to meet Moesdolor and ask him if dragons could talk, since Albus remembered hearing Morfyrath talking to Auradinthia is his dream where she was about to fight Morfyrath.

So Albus quietly walked out the back entrance to Hagrid's hut and walked over to the treeline where Moesdolor was hiding and sleeping just inside it. Albus sneaked into the treeline and slowly walked up to Moesdolor, who's eyes were closed and his front legs crossed one over the other, with his head lying down over them. It didn't take long for Moesdolor to notice Albus and slowly opened his eyes and brought up his head to see.

Albus looked up at Moesdolor, first saying hello and good morning before Albus could hear Moesdolor speak with a quiet, gentle voice of a man, "Good morning, young master Albus. Did you try an sleep well?"

But Moesdolor's mouth wasn't moving, but Albus could clearly hear Moesdolor speaking. Albus determined that Moesdolor was speaking through his mind.

Albus soon spoke, already knowing the answer, but asking the question anyway, "I was wondering, Moesdolor, can dragons speak? You know, like humans?"

Moesdolor soon replied, "Yes we can, but not with our mouths, young master Albus. We speak like humans with our minds. But only those who are fully realized Death Eaters and those who possess The Auranan can hear us and speak to us. When Severus found me as an egg when he was a child at Hogwarts, he had yet to learn the lesser version of the Auranan. I wanted so much to speak to him and thank him for saving me when I was abandoned in the nest in which I was laid. Hagrid told me that my mother had been killed by another dragon of my species and that was left at the mercy of the world around me. Hagrid and Severus brought me up to the hut whilst I was still in my egg and placed me in Hagrid's fireplace to keep me warm. On the day that I hatched, Severus and his four closest friends were there to witness my coming into the world.

I remember becoming instantly attached to young Severus when I came out of my egg. For you see, young master Albus, my kind will only bond with those who are as lost and closed off as we are, those who are trained in the art of Occlumency. Otherwise, we will never wish to bond with anyone other than an Occlumens. Severus and I understand one another, we feel for one another and we both know what it's like to be sad and alone, with no one to love us or care for us in life. But as you might have noticed, Severus now has a wife and family who love and care for him. But I will never forget or abandon my master, nor will he abandon or forget me. I have yet to trully thank Severus for all that he has done for me."

"I see. I wondered whether you knew anything about Morfyrath? Because all I know about him is that he is a dragon, was created to help Dianphor, and was trapped in a magma chamber while his soul was trapped in the pages of the Book of Resurrections." Albus whispered, not wanting anyone or anything but Moesdolor to hear him.

Albus heard something again, but again saw nothing as Moesdolor continued, "Legend says that Morfyrath was created from the very essence of fire itself, his egg forged by the hand of Death itself when he pulled some magma out of a river of fire. It is said that Death shaped the egg and placed it under the Woeing Tree, a powerful and magical tree which lives in the Spirit World. It is said that Dianphor had found his way into the Spirit World in search of a power that could defeat Auradinthia. When he found the egg, he knew that there was something inside it that could give him and advantage over Auradinthia. So Dianphor brought the egg back with him into the physical world and hatched it in his very own hearth.

In reality though, Morfyrath is of a very powerful and ancient species of dragon that died out long ago. In truth, it is unclear if he was actually born in the Spirit World or in the Living World. But what is truly clear to all who know of him or about him, is that he is now a threat to all that is great and good in the Wizarding world. When Auradinthia first defeated him, he was locked away in a magma chamber deep under the earth and held there by various spells to keep him within it.

As you might have noticed in your vision of that place, the symbols that were seen upon the walls there, the same symbols that are now written upon the blank edges of some of the pages in your potions book next to the other writing in it, were spells written in the Language of Aeyuel, The Language Of The Death Eaters."

Albus could still hear sounds coming from somewhere, but he still couldn't see what it was as he continued to listen to Moesdolor, "It was only when Auradinthia defeated him a second time when she finally killed Morfyrath and trapped his soul within the pages of The Book Of Resurrections. But if Mapheria or Morispho gets a hold of the Book Of Resurrections, they will use the powers within the book to resurrect Morfyrath and free his soul from the book. And from what I have heard, parts of his soul have already been freed, coming in the form of Morfyrusfire. Mapheria has tried once before to free Morfyrath from the book, but she only managed to free a couple fragments of him when she temporarly had possession of the book, which resulted in the injuries that Severus's cousin Abgiail were given and the same that which gave her the special sight she has now in her left eye when Abigail encountered it in the Snape family house on the night it was burned down by it and Severus's family killed.

This you must know, young master Albus. If either Mapheria or Morispho manage to achieve there goals with the help of completely free Morfyrath's soul from the book and bring him back to life, heaven help us all."

"Thank you." Albus said. The sounds grew louder when an idea occurred to him: What if it was Morispho, hidden under the guise of invisibility? He stumbled away from Moesdolor and back towards the hut when a jet of red light hit him: Albus had been stunned.

Moesdolor shrieked upon seeing this and was about to come to Albus's aid when chains appeared out of nowhere and began to hold him down. Moesdolor began to struggle with the chains, but they seemed to be made of some kind of unbreakable metal, clearly forged by Metal-Charmers. Moesdolor then noticed Accusers around him, but they were not the friendly Reformed Accusers that Albus knew.

One of these Accusers, who seemed to be the leader of the group, hissed at Moesdolor and then turned, quickly drifting over to Albus who was lying on the ground unconscious. It soon picked up Albus off the snow covered ground and gently nudged him up into its sickle-shaped limbs before looking back at Moesdolor a moment, shrieking at him and then started flying off towards the southeast, towards a long set of tall, snow covered mountains.

Moesdolor was helpless as he watched Albus being taken away and it soon came to his attention that those in Hagrid's hut couldn't hear what was going on outside as no one came out to investigate. It seems as though a spell was placed over the hut so that no one could hear outside. And as Albus was flying farther and farther away from Moesdolor, the more angry and frustrated Moesdolor got. Soon, those Accusers that were with the one that took Albus quickly left soon after, following there leader to no knows where. Albus was about half conscious; somehow the shock of seeing the red light had weakened it. He couldn't move; but he was able to hear and feel. He struggled to regain control of his ability to move, but he couldn't move. The wind was hitting his face as he laid there, stunned, unable to free himself, suspecting where he was going and who he was going to. Who lied at the end of the journey and what was likely going to happen to him once he got there?

Soon, Albus could see a massive opening at the base of a huge mountain. It was as wide as the empire state building was tall. A massive hole in the earth, clearly meant for a huge dragon to come out off if need be. It was guarded by what appeared to be at least one hundred Accusers, who watched the group that had Albus go in. The massive opening then turned into a massive tunnel, which went far into and under the mountain, miles and miles down, at least 10 miles down if not deeper.

The Accusers who captured him had brought Albus to some sort of stronghold, a massive fortress carved out of stone deep within the earth. It was a stronghold that was massive and vast, a massive cavern, miles and miles wide, at least 15 miles wide in every direction, all hidden under this one massive mountain.

To Albus, this could have possibly been the largest cavern in the Wizarding world, maybe even in the Muggle world as well. The Accusers were taking Albus to the very lowest level of this stronghold, closest to where the stone met fire and magma.

If there was any physical example of what hell might look like, this was it. As Albus was carried within the vast empty space, which was like being in the sky underground and was about a mile above the fiery scene bellow him, he could see massive rivers of molten lava, even large geysers off in the distance which shot and spewed molten rock from deep out of the earth.

But Albus soon noticed that he wasn't the only creatures or humans in the stronghold as he got closer and closer to the center and closer and closer to the ground. Hundreds, if not thousands of Accusers were acting as guards and taskmasters, watching over thousands upon thousands of humans, wizards, witches and otherwise, who were busy forging weapons and armor of all shapes and sizes, using the very fires of the magma itself to forge and mold the metal. Some looked as though they volunteered for the job, whereas others appeared to be slaves, captured and forced to work in making the weapons and armor. Albus then caught sight of the very heart of this stronghold, which sat atop a massive spire of rock which had a flat surface.

A massive sphere or dome made up of a framework of stone and windows of transparent glass crystal sat atop this spire, overlooking everything in all directions. The symbols that were found in Albus's potion book were etched all over the glass on the dome, making it appear both beautiful and ominous at the same time.

Albus was then carried near the entrance to this dome, where rot iron cages hung down on chains from the underside of a large overhang which jetted over the fiery floor below. Albus was swiftly shoved into one of these cages by the Accuser that carried him and locked inside it. Albus also wasn't the only ones in cages around him either and as the door locked, Albus's rage broke.

He gained control of his motions and got up, attempting to smash the door open. 'This is probably a magic-proof cage,' thought Albus gloomily. He had focused and focused on the bars, simply trying to make them glow, but it didn't work. Even the powers of the Auranan couldn't break this metal. He sat on the floor, trying to imagine when Mapheria would come to kill him.

A man's voice then spoke from the cage nearby, "Hey you, psst! Yeah you, over here."

Albus looked at the man in the nearby cage. He didn't recognize him, "Yes?" asked Albus gloomily.

"I couldn't help but notice what you tried to do just now. You're gifted with the power of The Auranan aren't you? Oh, Mapheria has been looking for someone like you for years now. I'm a Metal-Charmer by trade and you just happen to be locked in a cage that I forged with my own Metal-Charming."

"Yeah. Not like it'll do me any good right now." said Albus still gloomier. How had he been so foolish to step out of Hagrid's hut alone when so many people were after him?

Albus continued, "I don't think that the knowledge that you made this cage yourself will do anyone any good unless there's a weak spot you're about to mention."

The man shifted his wild eyes a moment then spoke as he held on the bars of his cage, "Um...no, not really. Mapheria has these cages reinforced with charms that prevent the bars from being bent or broken. Not even your petty use of The Auranan will work. Sometimes, the most complex problems tend to be solved with the simpliest of tools.

Like the locks on these cages for example. You can't break them with any spell or unlock them with any complex magical password since the more complex the puzzle, the more complex the solution must be to solve it, and in turn the more complex the tool must be to ultimately break it. Savvy?"

Albus narrowed his eyes. While he didn't believe that this man was telling the truth, he didn't believe he could get him to. And his attempts to use the power of the Auranan were 'petty', were they? Albus turned away. "Then leave me alone. I'd rather die later instead of sooner, thanks. If she thinks I have the way out of here she'll kill me sooner. So just leave me alone if you have nothing useful to say."

The man's face withered a moment, then a smirk appeared on his face as he bantered to himself a moment and slid over to the front of the cage, "Well, my clue didn't help you much, did it? Why must I always show them instead of them figuring it out on their own? Even Mapheria herself wouldn't pick up on these things, she's to busy seeing the more complex picture to even comprehend such things. And the Accusers are so dense sometimes that they don't even bother to notice the potential of some things about one's person.

They think it's just useless and won't benefit the owner the least bit. And it isn't like they couldn't figure it out, it takes simple thought just to realize what I meant. Oh well, looks like I have to do a demonstration then."

The man looked around the edge of his cage a moment, then spoke to the man next to him in the nearby cage. "Hey, Jerrick! Savvy! It's time to get out of here!"

The other man, Jerrick, grabbed onto the bars of his cage, "Mathias what Savvy? Now? But the Accusers are not far enough away yet!"

Mathias continued, "They aren't even paying attention to us! There so dense, the sound of us talking isn't even registering!" - Mathias then called to the woman in the cage behind his - "Hey Jillia, Savvy! We're getting out of here!"

The woman, Jillia, then spoke, "What, now Savvy? But the Accusers..."

"They are not noticing us right now. Come on, you know what to do." said Mathias.

Jerrick spoke once more, "Why did we have to wait in these cages until the Albus boy showed up? We could have gotten out any time."

"You know perfectly well why!" Mathias hissed quietly.

Albus furrowed his brow while watching them talk. They made him feel stupid, because he hadn't picked up on the hint and he thought that the Accusers would notice if he broke out. Not only was he watching for his life, but he was watching out of curiosity. Then, one by one, Mathias, Jerrick and Jillia began pulling things out of their hair and from behind their ears. Jillia pulled out a hair pin, while Jerrick pulled out what looked like a porcupine quill with a carved end that looked like the unlocking end of a key. Mathias pulled out from behind his ear what looked like a narrow piece of metal with a flat end on it.

Mathias smiled over at Albus as he looked over at the Accusers one last time and began jigging the lock with the item in his hand. Jillia and Jerrick soon did they same with their own items. After a couple moments, Mathias had the door to his cage open and was soon followed by Jillia and Jerrick. Mathias then leaped over to Albus's cage and used his item to unlock Albus's cage.

He then crawled into Albus's cage and turned around, getting on his knees so that Albus could climb onto his back, "Well, get on then, before the Accusers catch us all out and about."

Albus awkwardly climbed onto Mathias's back, hoping for his life that none of the Accusers would notice they'd gotten out until it was to late for them to stop them. Oddly enough, he still had his wand in his robes. He'd have thought that they'd have taken it away from him, just in case. He pulled it out in case he needed to use it. The tattoo on his arm was glowing, but he didn't care until it drew the attention of the Accusers. Cursing under his breath, he sent curses to every Accuser who noticed still had a long ways to go and Albus didn't know how they would make it, but it was better than sitting around and waiting to die.

As the cages were close enough to each other to where those inside could reach over and hold hands, it was easy for Mathias ad his friends to jump over from cage to cage until reaching the spot where they could stand without any fear of falling over the edge. Albus held on tight to Mathias until he was able to get off Mathias and stand on his own two feet.

Mathias spoke as he let Albus down off his back, "We need to find a place where we can disapparate safely out of here without being seen!"

"I bet Mapheria never thought about placing a spell on the whole fortress so that no one can disapparate out of here!" said Jerrick with a smile.

Jillia then spoke, "Are you kidding? She doesn't see any point doing that when there are so many around to stop those who try to escape! She's only interested in the bigger picture, not the smaller one!"

Mathias quickly opened the entrance into the sphere and looked around cautiously. Mathias went in first to see if it was alright, then gestured to the others to come in. They then walked down a corridor, which lead past Mapheria's chambers. Those who had been guarding the door from the outside were standing inside, watching as Mapheria and Death Eaters loyal to her were busy talking amongst themselves over strategy and battle plans. The door to Mapheria's chamber was open, but closed enough so that Mathias and his friends wouldn't be seen going past if they stepped around the door quickly from one side to the other. It was unclear as to what Albus would do next as he was gestured over to the other side.

...CONTINUED...CHAPTER 15...