And Back!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Training with Spirts (Part 3)

Carionax awoke and felt his arm, finding it healed, yet still covered in dried blood was something of a relief, he stood up and looked around, before the voice answered him again,

'Your Hearing has been damaged temporarily, it will heal in a week, however your next challenge is ready, this one not only has size, speed, and strength advantages, but an… aerial one too'

Carionax scowled and stepped forward, before he heard it, wings in the air, he ran forward and was met by a massive creature, the body of lion, the head, wings and talons of an Eagle, Carionax groaned, A Griffin.

It spread its wings and with a flap took off disappearing into the mist in the sky, Carionax looked around, all he could hear was the occasional beat of giant wing's, then he felt it The rush of wind behind him, he turned and saw the beast in a dive, leaping backward he was only knocked off his feet. Landing down the Griffin flew higher before coming in for another dive; Carionax stood up and growled,

"You overgrown Pidgeon, you're about to find out why it's a bad idea to fly during a Thunderstorm!" Carionax shouted, "Tempestas tonitrui!"

Within seconds a full blown thunderstorm was crashing over their heads, before Carionax smirked,"Purpura Dolar!"

Red Lighting jointed the blue and tried to strike the giant bird, however it was swift and able to dodge all of the bolts, the creature kicked out and Carionax had to raise his arm to protect his head from the impact, he heard a sickening crunch from his left arm as he was thrown backwards, he landed down an raised his right hand, pointing his wand into the sky he growled out the first spell that came to mind, "Duro!"

The grey spell flew from his wand and missed the Griffin, however the Griffin turned to attack again, scowling he formulated some sort of plan, aiming his wand with a shaking arm he pointed his wand forward, "Engorgio!"

The Griffin over tripped in size and its claw missed Carionax, turned around, he flicked his wand around a nonverbal cutting charm blasting out of his wand, slashing a line up the back of the beast, it turned in the air, but couldn't dive due to the Thunderstorm around it, the bolts struck all around the two battlers, the massive Griffin dove down, and Carionax smirked, flicking his wand around over his head,

"Ignis Went!" Carionax called and massive column of swirling fire surrounded him, the Griffin hit the fire and flew backwards, many of its feathers on fire. Carionax stopped the fire tornado and then pointed his wand to the sky "Turbine Ignis!"

The storm above the battlers seemed to morph and chane with the new spell, though the duel lighting storms still raged, new balls of pure fire rained down upon the world, the Griffin was stuck in the back and sent crashing to the ground, before it stood up again.

"So you're a tough old beast huh?" Carionax asked and his wand flicked side to side, cutting curses blasting with every flick, the Griffin was struck a dozen, two dozen, three dozen times, even though the feathers were now covered in blood and it swayed, the beast still stood, aiming his wanda t the creature he growled, "Convertere In Hostis Caligo!"

The ominously colourless spell struck he Griffin and in seconds it began to expand before a loud bang made Carionax cover his ears, and look up, the beast was gone, in its place a small cloud of mist.

'As the sixth beast falls to you, we gift you its knowledge of the air and the magic of it'

Carionax nodded and walked on, every few steps his arm gave a painful twinge where the Griffin had caught it, however he shook his arm and walked on, before he heard the sounds of loud stomping,

'A Creature worthy of a Hero's legend, a mindless beast and killing machine, the Minotaur….'

Carionax stepped forward and saw it, the creature was easily twice his size with massive horns and looked like a bull on two legs, a massive twin sided axe in hand,

"Bloody Merlin" Carionax growled, and stepped into the arena, as soon as his foot was in the Minotaur charged, its axe falling where Carionax's foot had been moments before, however the nimble Slytherin had moved instantly, his wand in hand. Flicking it around he summoned a arc of Lighting and struck the creature, however the beast was unaffected.

The Minotaur began to charge again and Carionax pointed his wand at the ground, "Bombarda Maxima!" the ground exploded upwards, but the Minotaur continued to charge, only a swift jump saved Carionax from being crushed, landing down on one leg he spun to face the creature, a fireball flying from his wand, the fire hit the Minotaur head on and it shrugged off the fire as if it had been a leaf, before it charged forward again, Carionax dived down to the side and it charged past, climbing to his feet, his looked over, after several of his strongest offensive spells, the creature seemed unharmed.

Racking his brain for something he found a curse, a dangerous curse…. It was labelled as his last resort, if all else failed, he would use it, raising his wand he flicked it around, "Colidum, Confringo, Diffindo, Dimuedndo, Dolo, Duro, Excutire!"

The list of curses and Hex's hit the Minotaur all as one, though it was knocked backwards slightly nothing seemed to work on it, and as it began to charge again, Carionax raised his wand and the spell slipped from his Manticore Curse list.

"Avada Kadavra!" Carionax watched in horror as the green jet flew from his wand and struck down the Minotaur, killing instantly, standing up he felt physically ill, he could feel the death magic lingering around his wand, he stood up as the voice called to him,

'A Dark Spell for Dark Times, when you leave this realm, it will not appear on your spell list, but you will always know it, always have it ready, the Killing Curse Avada Kadavra…. But for your defeat of the mighty Minotaur, I shall gift you the knowledge of weapon magic, the ability to make you wand become a sword, or dagger, should you find the need'

Carionax smirked and walked forward, and found another Graveyard, quickly listening for any sound that could be the wailing of a Banshee, he relaxed slightly as he heard nothing but silence,

'The next is no beast or creature… the next test you shall face is against Darkness incarnate…. The Wraith…."

Carionax's mind raced trying to recall anything he could about the Wraith, but nothing came to him, he walked silently into the graveyard, before he saw it, a human shaped figure draped in black robes, a single hand outstretched with a bone like hand pointing at him,

"The Wraith" Carionax scowled,

"So the little mortal knows, but does little mortal know what I am…. I am a Wizard who has used the ancient and powerful art of Necromancy to become immortal, you stand no chance against me" The Wraith's voice came cold and rattling.

"And like the Hydra, Chimera, Cereberus, Banshee, Manticore, Griffin and Minotaur who came before you, I shall defeat you and move on." Carionax told him, raising his wand,

"Yet nothing you have prepared for can hope to save you against me" The Wraith growled, "Crucio"

The spell hit Carionax unaware and he felt as if every fiber of his being was on fire, before the curse was lifted,

"The Torture curse, painful isn't it?" The wrath asked and Carionax rose to his feet, "Ignis Globus!"

The fireball flew from his wand and the wrath caught it in his hand as it exploded, but as with the Manticore, it did no damage.

Growling to himself Carionax pointed his wand to some shadows, and muttered, "Fac Me Sicut Unum Cum Tenebris!" and Carionax was able to fade into the shadows and began to circle the wraith who scowled, trying to spot the younger wizard, pointing his wand at the Wraith he cast a Nonverbal Colloshoo jinx, preventing the undead being from moving,

"So you can sulk into shadows, little elemental wizard, but I am the shadows master, now I vanish them!" The Wraith roared and the shaodws vanished, causing Carionax to reappear, his wand trained at the back of the creature,

"Ignis Went!" Carionax hissed and around the two of them the massive fire cone appeared, sending a non-verbal lightning bolt at the undead creature, who in turn blocked it, "Crucio!"

The torture curse missed by millimetres, and Carionax returned fire with the boiling water Charm, sending a torrent of hot water at the creature which froze it with a wave of his hand. It rose into the air and lifted himself into the air, and spikes of the ice rose with him, before firing at Carionax, who leapt to the side to dodge it, the wraith laughed and sent several jets of light at Carionax, who felt the pain of the crucio again, still refusing to scream he clenched his teeth as he fought the urge to scream in pain, then he heard, like a whisper in his head,

'it hurts, doesn't it? You want it to stop, don't you? Then let go little mortal, let go….'

Carionax scowled as he shook his head, determined to be defiant of his tormentor, Then the pain stopped and he stood up, looking around, he saw Hyacinth standing infront of him, 'The pain is a gift, you will be thankful for something as merciful as pain'

The pain hit him again and then he saw Yuki appear next to her and the pain intensified, slowly the entire council stood before him circling him, always whispering,

'Time to let go, time to let go, time to let go'

Carionax shook his head as the voices grew louder and louder, and louder, before Carionax looked and shouted, his magic exploding around him, the illusions of his friends vanished and they were returned to the graveyard, the Wraith watching him, Carionax drew his wand and aimed it, firing a spell off in seconds, and as it the Wraith it exploded, the look of shock still on its face..

'For your defeat of the undead lord, we gift you a part of his knowledge, the ability to summon the dead….'

And done for now….

So we've had Hydra, Chimera, Cerberus, Banshee, Manticore, Griffin, Minotaur and a wraith… what could be next?