Trail of Secrets
Chapter 17
Harry crossed his arms, closing his eyes against the flash of lightning that danced across his flesh. Throwing his arms to the side the lightning split, impacting the metal wall on either side of him.
Pushing off the ground, Harry soared into the air, his eyes dancing between his three opponents.
In front of him, sweat glistening on her dark skin, her pale hair tied back into a ponytail stood Ororo, her brilliant blue eyes replaced with a luminescent white.
To his left stood a bare-chested Logan, the hair covering his upper body matted with sweat, his lips twisted into a determined snarl, his own blue eyes watching him like a wolf would its prey.
To his right dressed in a blue and red jumpsuit stood Jean grey, her red hair flowing down her back, her emerald eyes watching him like the others.
Stretching forth his hand, Harry pulled the two black and pieces of metal towards him. Over the past few days he had learned his connection to the Aether had upgraded Meruda's abilities allowing him to conjure and manipulate any element that existed on earth through his connection to the planet.
The metal impacted his right arm, flowing and forming into a skintight metal gauntlet that bent with the ease of fabric.
"Come," he called, flexing the fingers of his left hand.
"Jean, bring him down," Logan ordered.
Jeans emerald eyes flashed pink.
Harry's eyes flashed neon green.
The two psychic energies collided exploding, sending a mixed shockwave through the air that knocked Harry towards the ground.
Cartwheeling through the air, Harry stopped inches above the metal tile covered floor. Shaking his head, he rolled over in midair, conjuring a sphere of air around him that redirected the lightning bolt Ororo fired.
Logan cried out as the bolt slammed into his chest, sending him careening into the curved metal walls hard enough to dent the metal.
Lowering his feet to the floor, Harry took a moment to take in his surroundings again.
He was in a large metal room with curved walls that formed the dome ceiling. Metal tiles covered the floor.
Up near the top of the dome set a large section of one-way glass.
According to Jean, this was the training room for young mutants, aptly named the danger room.
Rectangular spaces decorated the walls, their purposes still unknown to him.
Over the past three days, Ororo, Logan, and Jean, helped him get reacquainted to his body after so long asleep. Jay Garrick and a blue furred cat featured mutant named Hank McCoy were looking over scans of his DNA.
Logan dropped to the floor, bringing Harry out of his thoughts. With the grace of a predator, he moved forward, swinging one leg in front of the other.
Harry allowed the sword in his hand to fade away. Nodding to Logan, he raised his hands in a boxer's stance.
Logan launched a kick to his head, Harry blocked the kick, but as he forced the leg down, a punch came careening towards his face. Twisting his head, he grimaced as the short mutant's knuckles grazed his cheek.
Dancing three steps backwards, he shook his head.
This time Logan moved forward.
Going to meet him, Harry swept a leg towards his feet, Logan lifted one leg, but was slow with the other one, Harry swept his foot taking him off balance.
Thrusting his right hand forward, a vortex of air caught the Canadian mutant in the chest, sending him flying across the room.
Ororo instantly took Logan's place, tackling him around the middle.
They rolled on the floor, Ororo's slender hands wrapped around his neck, her sharp nails digging into his skin.
Harry grabbed her wrist, even as lightning coursed between her fingers.
Darkness began to creep in at the edges of his vision, the smell of burnt flesh wafting into his nose.
Not wanting to drain the Whether goddess's life force, Harry shifted, his form elongated, her fingers slipping along his now smooth scales, his body curled around hers, the flaps on either side of his neck flaring as he bared his fangs.
A pink glow formed around him and a telepathic push sent him flying. He shifted again, returning to his normal form, his arms and legs splayed as he flared his own power to break Jean's hold.
Hovering in midair, he rubbed his neck, his eyes locked on Ororo, "Took that a little far didn't you?"
Ororo rose to her feet blowing a strand of loose white hair out of her face, "You're the one that said you wanted to test the limits of your new body." Her lips quirked upwards, "Now we know you still need to breathe."
Jean moved forward, "Are you sure you want to do this alone?"
Harry nodded, "I may not have been to the wizarding world in a while, but I still know it better than you three, besides I have Meruda's memories, I can get Martha out."
Jean placed a hand on his shoulder, her emerald eyes shining with concern, "Just be careful, I don't have much family left, I don't want to lose what I've just found no matter how distantly we may be related."
Harry had told Jean about his ancestor Gloria Knoblach being the sister to her ancestor Flora, she accepted him like they were first cousins, having lost most of her immediate family to alien genocide.
"You heard Hank and Jay, my DNA doesn't exactly match human anymore, heck it barely matches the DNA of some deities," he shook his head, "I have no idea what I am, or what I'm becoming."
"It takes more than blood to make family, no matter what your mutation does to you, you still carry the legacy of our family, and from what I've seen, you've done them proud."
Logan moved forward leaning his neck from side to side, "Are you sure you can get Martha out?"
"I'll get her out, it may be a while before I can bring her back home, but I can get her away from Herpo."
Jean turned away, curling the fingers of her right hand.
A box outlined in a pink glow floated into her grasp. Turning she pushed the box towards Harry, "Here."
Taking the box, Harry stared at Jean, "What's this?"
"With the way things are going, I didn't think you would have a chance to go home and change, so I got you something."
"You didn't have to do that."
"You're risking your life for one of our students, this is the least we can do."
"Herpo the foul is a magical problem, I'm just sorry it has spilled over into your world."
Logan shrugged, sticking a cigar between his teeth, "It happens."
Harry snorted, "What does that say about our world that a situation like this can be normal?"
Taking the lid off the box, Harry found a black blazer, a dark purple button-down shirt, black slacks, black socks, and polished dress shoes.
He looked at Jean, "I'm surprised, I was honestly expecting armor."
Jean shook her head, sending her crimson locks swaying back and forth, "I would've preferred to give you armor, but you don't seem the type."
"True enough, I prefer not to get hit, unlike some people," he looked at Logan.
"I can take it."
"Yeah."
Putting the lid on the box, Harry began making his way towards the exit, "I'm going to go get changed."
–XX –
As Harry left the room, Logan pinched the cigar between his pointer and middle finger, exhaling a mouthful of smoke.
"You sure we can trust him with the job, Jean?"
"I've read his mind. He likes to help, but never stays in one place very long. With Herpo being a magical mutant, he feels it's his duty to help us, since his people's problems spilled over to the mundane world as he thinks it."
Ororo moved forward, finishing the circle the small group had formed, "Regardless, he has the information from Meruda, he can navigate Herpo's hideout. Besides, after what happened, all three of us need to be here to watch the students, just in case."
"Done discussing whether I'm trustworthy?"
The group turned.
Harry strode into the room dressed in the clothes Jean had gotten for him, his auburn hair slicked back, a light glow to his emerald eyes.
Jean opened her mouth, but Harry shook his head.
"It's fine, we may be family, but I'm a virtual unknown," he looked at Logan, "I can promise you. I will bring Martha back."
"Good luck," Logan grunted shoving the cigar back into his mouth.
He turned to Ororo, running a hand over his healed neck, "Thank you for the training, goddess, it was educational."
"How are you going to get back to Otherworld?"
"That's the easy part."
Reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out a triangle shaped piece of crystal with rounded corners. Golden runes were etched into the edges of the triangle with a stylized spiral in the center.
"My previous powers added the DNA of the people I absorbed to my own. When I went through my evolution, I gained knowledge not only from my ancestors, but the ancestors of the people I absorbed. Through that knowledge, I was able to create this," he held up the triangle, "this will act as a one-time door into Otherworld."
"When it comes time to come back, I will have to create another one of these," he slipped the triangle back into his pocket.
"You," Jean began slowly, "gained the knowledge of all the ancestors of the people you absorbed, and your own?"
"Some parts of my family history are still hidden from me, I assume when I reach the end of my evolutionary path, they will become available to me, but essentially, yes."
"Amazing."
"Well," Harry moved passed the three, "if there's nothing else, I think it's time I go rescue our wayward telepath."
Removing the triangle from his pocket, he flung it towards the wall with a flick of his wrist.
It somersaulted through the air before sticking to the wall like it was attracted by a magnet. The runes around its edges began to glow with a bright yellow light, and the spiral in its center began to spin.
Within moments the center of the triangle disappeared.
The edges of the triangle glowed as it enlarged, forming into a pyramid shaped doorway.
Crisp clean air wafted through the doorway along with the scents of the forest.
Birdsong tickled their ears as the group moved forward.
Where there was once a solid wall was now a triangular shaped hole in space.
A forest floor strewn with old and new leaves continued on the other side. Trees crowded in nearby, there branches covering the top of the portal.
Pixies, small humanoids with luminescent butterfly wings flitted from tree to tree. The more curious ones stopped, peering at the portal before following their fellows.
Harry looked back at his three companions, "I better go before something decides to come through." Without waiting for a response, Harry moved forward, stepping over the threshold and into the realm of Otherworld.
The triangle grew shut as he passed through, disappearing with a small pop of golden light.
For a moment, the three just stood there staring at the spot where the portal to another dimension had been. Slowly, they turned around making their way out of the danger room to check on the students.
–XX –
Moving through the forest, Harry glanced up at the sky, following the jagged white tears running through it that seem to run for miles.
"What is that?"
Information from one of his ancestors came to the forefront of his mind, "Dimensional tears, Herpo's manipulations are causing reality to fracture."
A silver horse with a glowing golden horn ran in front of him, disappearing into the foliage of the forest.
Coming to a river, he knelt down at its bank scooping a handful of water up. He allowed it to fall between his fingers.
Straightening up, he shook his hand. Bending his legs, he launched himself over the river and continued down his path.
He inhaled deeply, drawing in energy from nature itself, green tendrils flecked with gold flowed into his body. In his mind's eye, he could see for miles.
Wrapping his power around him, Harry took a step moving miles in the blink of an eye.
He stopped before the base of a dark Tower, it's black bricks seeming to absorb the light. He blinked, staggering backwards.
Instead of one tower, he was staring at two overlapping one another.
"Reality here overlaps with somewhere else, but where?"
Shaking his head, he allowed his power to flow over his body, creating an outline of emerald energy around him. Taking a step forward, he wrapped his hand around the ring of the door and pulled it open.
In front of him, was darkness.
"Well this is going to be fun."
Hands curled into fists, he moved inside.
