Chapter Thirty:
Umbra
"I can't believe it… You're an obscurial!" His voice mixed fear and amazement.
Jack's body emerged from the blackness again. "That's a word." He retorted, smoke seemed to emanate from his fingers. "Now I need you to step back. I can feel something beneath us, but I don't see other way to get there."
Aster nodded once, racing back to the stairs. Jack's form again collapsed into itself, and this time, red lights peeked out from the centre. Jack's Obscurial form was controlled, steady, but still subject to his anger. And with a violent swing, the black mass expanded upwards, merging against the stone ceiling before shooting down against the floor, punching the stones once.
The boy screamed then, his body again reappearing from the Obscurial, his face screwed in pain. Aster stepped out of the stairs. "Wait, try again, I think I've heard something," He said, and Jack sent him a look of utter offence. "No, like an echo! It must be hollow down there!"
Jack grunted, rolling his eyes before taking out his wand this time. "I don't think I can do that again for a while." He spoke.
"Blimey, Jack, I wonder how you've kept that hidden from us all this long!" Aster still had this dark look of admiration, no longer fearing his friend.
"It was harder before Hiccup." Jack explained simply, and Aster knew better than to push further conversation.
Both boys pointed their wands to the floor. "Confringo!" They exclaimed in unison, red bolts shooting from the tips of their wands. Bigger cracks began forming on the stone floor, enlarging as their spells continued to pierce through. "Diffindo! Reducto!" Another crack, and then a huge booming sound when the floor collapsed, the stones cascading several meters down a dark cavernous passage. Both boys stared at each other. "I'm not going first." Aster stated promptly. Jack grunted, rolling his eyes.
"Lumus Maxima!" He commanded, the tip of his wand releasing a bright glow that descended into the hole. "Follow me," He said, before pulling his friend into the abyss. Aster's screams seemed to last forever before he saw the floor. "Aresto Momentum!"
Their fall was cut smoothly, floating briefly over what looked like a very unsteady surface before both boys sank into cold water. Jack's knees quickly hit a hard surface, and struggling back on his feet, he emerged again, his waist still underwater as he found himself into what looked like a small lake.
"If you EVER do this to me again I'm gonna kill you, Jack – I don't care if ya a bloody Obscurus!" Aster cursed not two meters away. And then he looked around. "Bloody hell!"
Looking up, the hole which the boys had fallen into had shrank into a small point of yellow light. The light that Jack had casted showed a small stone dais rising from the water only a few steps from them – and at the top, the silhouette of a woman stood immovable at the end of the cave. "Let's go." Jack said, and soon they reached the edge of the little bridge.
Soaking wet, Aster gave Jack a look of disgust before stepping towards the figure of the woman. That section of the dungeons seemed more like a cavernous tomb than the basements of the school, although the structural stone pillars of the castle could be seen at various spots piercing through the stone ceiling to the ground. The closer they got, they realised it was a statue. "Lumus!" Aster's wand lighted further, and soon they saw not only a woman's shape, but her body curled into the features of a lion down past the breasts; a long yellowish tail ending in a brown tuft. She had a beautiful face, her almond shaped-eyes shining with a twirled green glow from the water surrounding the stone dais. A sphinx! Jack thought.
As Jack stepped closer to the sphinx, he could feel the old structure shaking beneath his feet. Behind him, Aster raised his wand. "How lon' has this been here?" Aster asked, realising the complete expression of wonder on Jack's face.
"It's been placed here by the four founders themselves... Aster, this is the first time light has shined over this statue in over a thousand years." The boy nearly smiled realising what he was seeing. Aster gave a whistle of admiration. Suddenly, the statue of the sphinx moved its head, the narrow eyes blinking on the hard surface; both boys jumped backwards.
"Solve my riddle, make no mistakes." The statue said with a deep, calm voice that could hold years of wisdom into it. "Answer wrongly - I shall attack. Answer correctly - you may pass. Shall you choose to remain silent and I'll let you walk away, unscathed."
The two friends exchanged terrified looks. Jack shook his head, but Aster spoke first.
"We have one chance, mate… and we're here already."
"I exist to flee my creator. What makes me is also what ends me. What am I?"
Jack stared, dumbstruck.
"Just say it, mate." Aster said, nudging at his friend.
"…an Obscurial." Jack tried the most obvious reply he could muster.
"Wrong answer." The sphinx statue replied, and a loud crack several meters above them shook the cave, right before a massive rock fell against the bridge, and Aster yelled as he dodged it narrowly, falling to the ground as his foot almost got caught under the rock.
"Holy…!" The Australian screamed.
"Let me try again." Jack pleaded.
"What am I?" The sphinx insisted. Jack wondered on the question:
"Darkness?"
"Not quite." She hissed, and another stone fell, this one nearly squashing Jack, who had jumped away and rolled painfully to safety; A chunk of the platform collapsed into the water.
"If we die right now, Jack, I'm goin' to kill ya!" Aster yelled again as the platform shook more violently.
"Ask me again."
"You better make it count!" Aster said as he swung his arms around himself, trying not to fall off to the water beneath. The light from his wand moved the shadows as if they danced around the cave.
"What am I?"
"A shadow!"
The sphinx went quiet, again immovable, and both boys looked up in fear of another rock falling on their heads. Then swiftly, the statue arched backwards, her sphinx's paws clutching to her own throat, and with a sickening crack, broke her neck, snapping the stone surface and ripping off her own head.
The two boys gave a loud cry in shock, completely baffled for what they had just seen. Then, as if with a whisper, a strange speck of light burst from the open throat of the headless sphinx. What looked like a glowing marble hovered above the statue, a strange material that seemed to reflect the surroundings of the cave - however from close inspection, neither Jack nor Asther could see their reflections in the floating ball.
"Is that… Is that the Eether thingy?" Aster questioned, amazed. Jack took a moment before nodding once.
"Yes… yes, I can feel it." He whispered. "I can hear it. Like it's talking to me."
"What is it saying?" His friend asked, stepping to his side.
"I don't know… too many voices at once… feels like an invitation."
"Maybe we should destroy it," Aster interjected.
"Maybe you should leave it to us." A third voice spoke from around the boys. The two turned to see that six new silhouettes had joined the cave, all wearing dark robes that covered their heads to toes.
"If it ain't the Overland Junior," this voice was female, and its owner spoke from the water. "All prepped and ready, solving riddles, killing sphinxes, what a clever boy…"
"Should be a great substitute for his father." This voice belonged to a barbarian male, strong and bloody in his sound. "Hopefully he'll live longer."
"And he's got the Æther for us, just like we planned…"
"Step any closer to us and I'll destroy it." Jack stated, pointing his wand to the statue behind him. Laughter erupted from the six people, all surrounding him and Aster.
"Don't mock him just because he's naive." This voice echoed from behind the statue, and Jack turned around to see a man, this one even taller than him, but his face outing the shadows to reveal a broken beauty. He seemed to be in his forties, skin pearly white, but what shocked him were his eyes, glowing grey; those eyes had seen hell. The man must have been beautiful in his youth, lively, but now his features looked spectral, worn. "I am very pleased to meet you, Jackson."
"Who are you?"
"I am Erebos." He raised both of his hands. "We are like you. Obscurus." The six other wizards had stopped moving, still sank waist-deep in the water. "We want to help you."
"I don't need no help." Jack spat, his wand now pointing to the silvery sphere. The woman in the water laughed again.
"Oh, he can play." She sang. "Tell me, boy, what do you plan on cursing the Æther with? Perhaps a Cofringo charm? Or an annihilating hex?" She moved her wand and Jack was ready to counter-attack before he saw her conjuring a dim fleck of light that gingerly floated towards him, ever so slowly. "Or maybe you're too scared to do it."
"What does this thing do?" He asked.
"You can't destroy the Æther, boy, trust me." Erebos resumed. "And you can't hide it any better than this, so you can either let it be–" he motioned towards the statue. "Or you can unleash it."
"Why'd he unleash somethin' that could destroy the school?" Aster raised his wand to the Obscurus.
"They're not that naïve," The witch smirked from the water. "I suppose the Order has bitten the bait."
"The Order has told you what we wanted it to know." Erebos said, stepping closer. "Didn't you for a moment wonder why it all happened so suddenly? Why all these disappearances?" Jack and Aster were cornered. "You didn't truly believe it would be Lord Voldemort's return after all these years, now, did you? No.'
"Certainly Miss White would have made you think so… What, with all the hunting on Muggle-Borns and the Death-Eater-ish behaviour… that was our idea as well. Certainly not far fetched from the Second War. There will always be the ones looking for a known enemy. Common ground. Familiar foes… Death Eaters. And prejudice, fear… They're always great catalysts for a massive panic."
Jack was taking everything in like who drank an extremely hot tea at once, the liquid burning down his throat as the truth was finally revealed. "You don't plan to start a war…" Jack said.
The Obscurial smiled. "Wars take too long. May I introduce you to the Order of the Seven."
The little light fleck had now started slowly spinning around the statue. "These are Mor'du" He pointed to the enormous man at the far end of the cave. "Gothel," He gestured to the woman, who replied with an elegant nod. "Gerbier, MacNair," The two men closer in the water grinned. "And that one is Bloodvist." The man in the shadows caused Jack's stomach to float in fear.
"And as you may have noticed, we need a Seventh Obscurus." He finally stood in front of Jackson, eye to eye. "Such a position had been held by no one other than your father; Robert Overland."
"My father died…" Jack began.
"Oh, my poor boy." Erebos lowered his head. "At least not when you thought he did. You see, it is the blood that curses us all into this Order. A member of the Seven can only be replaced by an offspring. It is our undying curse… An everlasting betrayal... The blood running in your veins, as the blood that ran in your father's," In a sharp and nearly invisible motion, Erebos wand had sliced through the air – Jack yelped as a sharp pain ripped the skin on his wrist – and drawn three blood drips, which floated through the air to Erebos wand. "And the blood that runs in mine."
Around them, the other Six copied his spell, all of them drawing their own blood with their wands, conjuring them towards the statue. "An unbreakable bond. You see, there was only one flaw in your line – and it came when your father had another child."
"Don't." Jack spat, tears trickling down his eyes.
"I am sorry to say this, but what happened to Flee was not the curse of Death Eaters, but the will of Fate to restore an heir. An Obscurial is hard to maintain and develop once a host has found love – And you, Mister Overland, has always had love in the form of your sister. I am sorry to say, but fate had no room for your sister."
Anger filled Jack's body right then. "You killed her." He shook. The other Obscurial only nodded.
"Yes." And there was a sincere tone of defeat on his voice. "It broke your father to see her go... It was his intention to escape the Order – but one can never do so without destroying the rest of the blood linings. Failing to fulfil his destiny would signify also the death of you.'
'None of us chose this life, Jackson. We never have. But we answer to a calling that is greater than our very existence. Some people call it fate, God, divinity, or demons. We call it magic. To restore Order to a world bouncing towards extermination. We have done it before, it's different every time. We have awoken volcanoes, filled ships with infected rats, burned Rome to ashes, destroyed empires, started worldwide wars… Every time civilization tips towards unbalance, Fate resets the course of life. We are not the villains here. We're the tools. Never before the world has had to be reset so many times.
"And now we do it again. Permanently this time." The Six Obscurials stepped closer to the statue, their wands targeting the boys. "Tomorrow the truth will be revealed as the world watches the Wizarding world tear itself apart. War has been the most effective method for destruction – never underestimate the power of fear and hate. But this time we'll need a bit more magic. The world levelling curse needs a sanctum. We will release the Æther, and then let the anti-life subdue the nations. Anyone too close to this sanctuary will be dead in hours. The humans will take care of their own annihilation in the following months, and by the time it is done, only the strongest of every species will survive. The new world can't be born while the old one still lives."
Jack and Aster stepped closer to each other. It was over. They could try pulling a fight, but they were only two – did not stand a chance against six older, more experienced wizards who possessed the darkest of magic in them. The light circling the statue had sped up, spinning now around the sphere in the woman's hands. "Now, I assume, I can only give you the invitation, Jackson. You could officially join us." The boy only stared, brokenly devastated. "You still carry the blood, you share our curse. Or, you can run from here. It's your choice. We will harm neither you nor your friend. It's a valid choice – perhaps you can survive the Unleashing..."
"There will be no unleashing." Finally, a ninth voice spoke from above: as Jack and Aster looked beyond the Order of Obscurials, a flash of light erupted at the cave, striking the water where MacNair stood.
And then hell broke loose. The water exploded upwards when the Order of the Phoenix invaded the cave, and the Obscurus quickly erupted into their black forms, a storm of darkness. The members of the Order emerged in white smoky lights – casting curses on the Obscurials, which Jack and Aster took as their cue, jumping from the elevated section of the platform and throwing themselves into the water. The battle was all over the place. Professor McGonagall single handedly fought Gothel as the Obscurial erupted in black torments against the shield the Professor had created. Shacklebolt and Flitwick both aimed their spells at Erebos and Gerbier. Mor'du and Bloodvist raged at the walls chasing who Jack assumed to be Potter and Weasley, both flying on broomsticks spinning around the cave while casting red bolts behind themselves. Jack and Aster covered themselves as rocks and sparks fell over their heads, conjuring shields above each other.
"Jack, the sphere!" Aster yelled as he tried to keep his head above water. "It's unguarded!"
Both boys stared at the statue above them, standing proudly at the end of the stone dais, now looking impossibly far in between the missing spells and fire. "I can get there!" Jack screamed. "Cover me!"
As Jack allowed himself to storm into the Obscurial, Aster drew his wand, batting the missing spells away from his friend, the one thing he could focus on. Jack flew towards the statue, dodging any spell that neared too much, shifting back into human once he reached the platform, now simply running towards it. When he saw the orb, he saw the light that had been casted on it was now at full speed, circling it so fast that he could not see where the light fleck ended nor began. He took out his wand. "Protego!" He conjured the wall around himself, trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do with the sphere – too scared to do anything, even more scared to do nothing. "Finite!" He said, but the spell hit the light that protected it, casting backwards into the cave.
"If you unleash it," Erebos' voice trailed behind him. He turned around. "It'll be over. This is where the end begins."
"Tell me how to stop it!" He clenched his teeth, aiming his wand behind himself.
"There is no stopping it." Erebos replied calmly. Then, he drew his own wand towards Jack's shield, and with two fire lines, the shield was cut in two, gone. "Step away."
Jack aimed the first spell, quickly repelled by Erebos' wand. "You don't want to fight me, boy." And in a second, Jack shot spell after spell – all the ones Hiccup had taught him, all being redirected or battered away from Erebos' expert hand. The boy pushed himself to the limit of his ability and further, but they were unbalanced. Erebos was far too much for Jack to fight on his own. "Stop holding back, Jackson!" He screamed at last, repulsing Jack's wand away from his hand. "You don't even need that stick for a duel – Unleash it!"
And in that moment, something snapped inside Jack, and he knew exactly what Erebos wanted. What he needed. He raised his chin. "As you wish." He said, shifting into the monster.
Erebos gave a proud laugh before turning himself into the Obscurial, but his was much bigger and much darker than the one Jack hosted. And then they clashed onto each other. Jack's Obscurus was fast, filled with anger as he stormed himself against the other. Both men twisted in what looked like a vengeful dance, blackness spreading around them as red lightning erupted from their centre. Jack's power was fuelled by the thoughts of a possibly dead Hiccup, of his dead sister, of his father's betrayal. It fuelled his veins into this monstrous creature, this force of nature that screamed excruciating roars. Eventually, he had hit the very centre of Erebos, and for a moment he thought he would come out victorious.
But then the world seemed to shift, as both his and Erebos's Obscurials merged into what looked like a net in the shape of a dome; impenetrable. "You have talent, boy, I'm not going to lie. But you're still holding yourself back. Let me show you what real power looks like."
And as soon as he said that, Jack was pushed down towards the end of their dome, feeling his body being pulled by what could be a hundred hooks yanking every inch of his soul. He screamed in pain before being violently thrown to the ground again, the Obscurial parasite evaporating and again giving way to his body. His head spun uncontrollably, but he could tell he lay at the statue's feet. All around him, the catastrophic view of the battle had let him know that they were losing, the Order of the Phoenix being ripped apart by the Obscurial's defense.
"You are fast like him," Erebos said, also having turned into human again, and walking towards the boy. "But not as strong." Erebos pushed Jack's body away with his wand, the boy rolling on the floor with a painful blow. "You can still join us." He said, now kneeling next to Jack, who struggled to breathe. The older Obscurial tried snatching the boy's hand, but Jack yanked it away, refusing to give in. Erebos looked down, disappointed. "I guess not." Then he stood up, and stared at his Obscurials – the Order of the Phoenix had been subdued, their wands being cast away or their still living bodies being thrown away on the water, defeated.
"Let it end." He commanded, and the Obscurials stopped raging, now their dark forms hovering the cave. One final spell shot through the cave, hitting the statue with a deafening blast, but for nothing as the smoke revealed the unharmed stone. Erebos looked at the origin of the spell, where Aster had his wand pointed at him. "Incendio!" He casted, and Aster's screams pierced the cave as his body burst into flames.
"NO!" Jack screamed, but his voice was also shut with a sharp hex.
Then Erebos looked back at the Statue, casting Gothel's shield charm away with his wand. "We release the fire, first to destroy," From the tip of his wand, a burning red line formed, drawing itself towards the statue. It entered the sphere, as if there was no wall dividing the reality from the reflection. "And then to rebuild." Then the Sphere began to grow.
Slowly, like a balloon being filled with air, the sphere doubled its size, then tripled it, until it was big enough to conceal an entire person into it. It was neither silver nor white, but almost reflective, like it displayed images from what seemed to evade inside out, a spherical mirror. "I release the Æther from its grave. I unleash the dark magic from its tomb."
He raised his wand again, the red line still burning connected to the now enormous sphere.
"Everto et Ardere..." He ordered, and that is when the sphere became transparent, its edges glowing in coloured lights, as if it glimmered all the spectrum of the rainbow. "Furrantur vitae ad domain obscurum" A horrible sound shrieked from the Sphere, a scream so unreacheable as death itself. "Evanesco… I steal life to the kingdom of darkness… and I surrender myself into the abyss."
Erebos stepped inside the sphere, his form expanding and twisting into a warped shape, as if reflected by a thousand mirrors, and then he fell into the unknown. The ear splitting screech escaping the Æther suddenly grew louder, escalating into a resounding blast, a boom echoing not from the inside of the Aether, but as if streaming from the Earth itself; loud and unending, a pulsing and beating heart that died with an atomic explosion. And everything fell into a deafening silence.
I used to be scared of what y'all would think of my ideas for this story. But it's after my own total eclipse of the heart, that I think,
Fuck this. I'll write what I please.