Harry Potter: Vel'ilstaer: Stormraven
I own none of these characters, neither do I own Harry Potter.
The familiar plane of Pluton surrounded them; Vel'ilstaer managed to stick the landing, as opposed to landing face first and travelling a metre. "Well, I owe you a round." Neville commented.
"Seamus, Dean, Hermione and I...and a few others made a bet that we'd buy you a round if you could ever land on your feet after being transported somewhere."
"You can't kill your minions for the truth. You can't kill your minions for the truth." Vel thought; before a melodic giggling cut him from his thoughts.
The trio went to one knee "My Champions. Vel'ilstaer and Vax'ildan. My Warrior, Neville. You've come to me at last."
"First time as a team, yes, but meeting you…not really.", my lady." Vel replied.
"Please, rise. Vax'ildan, you need not be afraid." The Raven Queen commented reforming herself to a human size "The three of you, need to understand what it means to be in service." The words 'and what happens after your mortal life' were not included.
Vel learnt that his father could inevitably bend luck and fate to his advantage; but he was cautioned that the overdue manipulation could and would backfire. "Death is the natural end of life. There is no pity for those who have fallen. The path of Fate is sacrosanct. Those who pridefully attempt to cast off their destiny must be punished. Undeath is an atrocity. Those who would pervert the transition of the soul must be brought down."
The trio nodded "Neville, you have done well so far. I have a need for you to pick up two...new travellers. One is a Lycanthrope and the other is a human soul in the form of a dog?"
Neville nodded "Our teacher and a relative of mine." With that he jumped and in an instant a raven appeared; and it took off leaving the Raven Queen with her two champions.
"I have a proposition."
Vel stopped, the power of this statement was bounding more to his father than to him. The proposition Vel would realise would make the Vassar Family descendants the Line of Champions for the Raven Queen. Just because the proposition would be offered now, doesn't mean it'd be taken up straight away. Vel could feel something changing, the Raven Queen was part of him; perhaps in more than one way. The inability to hear but feel the results of the conversation but something had been discussed.
Vax felt like he'd been put through a ringer. The discussion and proposition didn't fully make sense to him but it boiled down to 'everything sacrifice you make will be for my sake'. The field dropped and Vax strode towards his son "It's resolved; we've made an agreement."
"I'll catch you up. I have a question or three."
Vax nodded and he left via a Raven.
The Raven Queen looked at Vel, then she flipped him a crooked grin and at that moment; Vel thought he was looking into the mirror. "Vel'ilstaer, have faith! Trust in me and in your father."
"I do, but I don't like it. My father is going to be your personal champion at some point."
"At…some point."
"I want to make a counter-offer. Call it selfish, call it greedy but I want to make an offer."
"Go on."
"The children and descendents of Vax'ildan and Keyleth, we shall serve. In return, you allow my father to grow old and have a family."
"In return for your father to avoid the loom and become a lesser god, you'd have your family serve me?"
"It's...not avoiding the loom. It's more giving your mortal champions freedom. For two decades, the eldest child shall serve as your avatar to save those who pray to you."
"Two decades? Is that all?"
"That's the first son, of the first son. So my eldest will be the next to serve after me."
"The eldest first born of the eldest first born; with children from both your future siblings and fathers side being clerics or paladins for a time in my name. I am not a true goddess; Vel'ilstaer Vassar. I ascended after the founding of the Pantheon."
Vel nodded "My family in your service for my father to remain on the material plane for the rest of his days; regardless of any death he might have."
The Raven Queen giggled, no-need to let Vel'ilstaer know that his father had made a similar deal; although Vel'ilstaer's deal shut her down immediately claiming her Champion as her own. "Oh well, a goddess must get her jokes from somewhere."
"Vel'ilstaer, you're doing so well. Be warned, the Feywild is like nothing else. Enjoy the trip."
Vel broke the surface of the blood looking very much like a survivor of a drowning ship; unfortunately the blood around him had taken on the consistency and felt like jelly. It was icy-cold, not even the lake was as cold as this; he hauled himself out of the blood only just fighting back the chill.
He saw his mother looking slightly covered in blood and his father still covered in blood. Eve strode over to him, the next thing Vel knew the girl kissed him full on the lips. "I was…more concerned that you had returned in a satisfactory complete manner; with a beating heart to be precise than to worry about my own state of dress."
Vel chuckled "Let's go, before I start dying of cold."
"Not likely. I'd keep you warm." She grinned at the quite frankly adorable shade of red that decorated Vel's face.
"Eve, hate to ruin the moment, that was phrased badly." Neville drawled; Eve turned red and she squeaked wordlessly. Vel fixed his friend with a look.
"We all have our quirks; Eve's plain speaking and unintentional innuendos is hers."
"Are the pair of you ready?" Keyleth asked, grin on her face.
"I do need supplies, inks, parchments, books…stuff I probably should have gotten before heading to the Duskmeadow. That was…"
"Eve, stop. It was not illogical or stupid of you to come with me down to the Duskmeadow. I appreciated the company, I mean catching Neville and yourself when slipping on the ice was fun."
Eve giggled at that, Vel stopped. He hadn't heard Eve laugh that much, if at all, it lightened his soul. Almost becoming a guiding beacon to bring him home; he wasn't about to tell her that just yet. However, what Eve hadn't told Vel was; she was an incredibly powerful witch, with an intellect that rivalled Hermione's. She wasn't much older than Hermione, a few months at best. The side-effect of being a powerful and gifted practitioner was the ability to sense the power of people within close-contact.
Vel'ilstaer was definitely emitting power. The latent draconic power in her veins, singled him out as a potential mate. A mate is required to be as powerful to ensure powerful children; at least theoretically. Keyleth led the group out of the temple; and they quickly hit the Duskmeadow for supplies. Surprisingly enough, despite the feel of living in a perpetual graveyard tracking down spell components and various adventuring supplies.
As the group made it to the Slayer's Take; they missed Percy heading into the Duskmeadow. When Percy returned covered in blood; no-one commented, Eve was going to open her mouth but Vel shook his head. Eve closed her mouth and between everyone they chose not to confront the Master of Whitestone. However, Vex had decided she would once they were in private.
As they regrouped, Grog knew of a place; where an airship could be acquired to take them to the Ozmit Sea and the Ashari Conclave that was situated there. "Guys, guys…" Keyleth began but nobody heard her; Vel sighed and using a spell slot let off a deafening boom, akin to a firework shutting Vox Machina up.
"People, please...my mother is speaking."
"Thank you, Vel, now as I was saying as a half-elf I do have a feeling for an access point to the Feywild and Syngorn. All Half-Elves, Elves and Elven-bloodied do. I propose we rest in Whitestone, head to Syngorn and the Feywilds tomorrow."
No-one in the party had many objections and with that, so with her second and last tree-stride of the day, the party of Vox Machina darted through the tree and back to Whitestone.
It turned out that Harry hadn't truly acquired himself with Whitestone and the surrounding village. As he materialised out of the tree; the immense pressure and power of what appeared to be a shielding spell was being cast to protect the city "Percy, what's up with that shield?"
"Oh that…you know how we're in the middle of a Dragon Crisis, Vel?"
"How could I? For the day after I met you or the day after that I nearly got my face erased by acid and a tail fucked me over with the assistance of a wall."
Eve looked at her boyfriend "I know when we met, you'd said you had experience with dragons…What kind of experiences and what sort of dragons were they?"
Vel sighed "I helped raise one for a few months after it hatched from an egg; it poisoned a friend of mine. We had to give it to dragon tamers to prevent further damage to the school. I was eleven, this particular dragon was called a Norweigan Ridgeback and it's a descendent of Green Dragon, I think. I was eleven at the time. The second time was a few months ago I think...Time dilations and shenanigans, this thing was gigantic. I had to outfly it for a tournament…I survived for the most part. A week or two ago, I was target practise for the Hope Devourer."
Percy raised an eyebrow "Let's just say that shield hasn't let us get killed yet...We're going to be paying or rewarding Allura Vysoren a lot in the future. Come, Vel, I think you need to meet some of the people that have entered Vox Machina's group of friends or contacts."
Thus Vel met Allyura Vysoren, a beautiful woman with blonde hair braided into two ponytails in blue robes wielding an ivory staff with gold and silver runes inscribed along the sides. Strips of teathered material dangled from the top which flowed as the staff was moved and at the centre at the top of the staff was a beautiful blue orb. "Percy."
"Allyura. I want you to meet Vel'ilstaer...Keyleth and Vax's son."
Allyura looked at the young half-elf "I was expecting someone...smaller."
"Dimensional magic and inverse timelines between realities…" Was the succinct answer causing the Abjuration Specialist to merely nod in agreement.
"How are you holding that shield up? I mean in terms of the spell being used? Because I might know a way to make Whitestone vanish."
"Such magic does not exist." A Halfling growled as she stomped over.
"You must be, Lady Kima. You have my thanks in guiding my friend here, but I disagree. I've seen the magic at work, I could theoretically re-create it. Just because you've not seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
Kima growled as she stared down the young half-elf "If it wasn't the fact, I see the annoying aspects of your parents in your personality, you're going to do it to prove that you can."
Vel smirked looking very much like his father "It was a pleasure to meet you, Kima, Allyura. Uncle, you said you wanted me to meet another?"
"Allyura, do you know where…"
"He's investigating the Ziggurat."
Vel gulped, "You've a Ziggurat here, uncle?"
"I do, the De Rolo family does…why?"
"Ziggurat's are physical, literal and metaphorical crystallisations of old magic. Magic that can, could, would and more than likely should break the Material Plane and or boundaries to the Material Plane. They're known as 'living ritual altars' for a reason."
Percy turned grey "Vel…"
Allyura was quicker "The Arcana Panosophical would pay most handsomely for the knowledge you possess. I cannot promise that we won't hand it out to those who inquire into magics of possibility and potentiality but it would be kept secret."
Then Vel's scar burned bright red as the vision of a waxy hand with an eyeball on the back gazed back at him. "Foolish boy, to think you can hide such juicy secrets from me. My boy, I'll be seeing you soon."