Chapter 2: a hero's arrival.
Darkness surrounded his vision as he fell. He wasn't exactly sure how or through what he was falling, as it definitely wasn't air. His surroundings pushed against him like an apparation would, however, unlike the squeezing pipe experience, this was more equivalent to falling through leaves and branches, and sometimes those branches would fucking hurt, as these branches and leaves pushed against him. Harry tried to gain heads and tails of his situation as he gripped tighter onto his briefcase. There was a heavy weight on his chest, his ears were ringing, and he felt extremely dizzy as he moved along… whatever he was moving through.
All of the sudden, he passed through...something. as if he left one bubble and passed through seamlessly, into another bubble without it popping and he could… feel the difference. It was like apples and bananas. Harry could tell he was in another dimension from how it felt to him, as if he didn't really belong here, wherever he was. Unfortunately, Harry continued to fall, although now it felt more jagged, as if flying against rocks that were soft but had harsh edges. He was about to cast some magic, to see if he could add some protection to himself, as the sharp edges were actually hurting before he suddenly stopped.
Like a claw sifting through sand, something grabbed onto him, filling Harry's vision with such light that he had only seen similarly once before, in a Patronus. But so much more potent was this golden light, that the 14-year-old Ravenclaw hissed in displeasure at its sudden appearance. The Ravenclaw panicked, after all, no one would like to suddenly be grabbed mid dimensional transit, however the claw held tight, making him unable to draw his wand.
"What a strange being. Not mer, nor men, and not beastfolk… and surely not any other race, and yet so so similar to them all. Daedric? Hmm I believe not. Similar to… how odd… what are you… mysterious very mysterious. Reveal yourself! Speak!"
Harry winced as he felt something push out near his mental protections. Harry paused as he remembered his conversation with the headmaster about occlumency, and legilimency, and his subsequent lessons.
Harry sighed as he sat waiting for the headmaster. He bit his lip thinking about what had happened the night before, and nervously rubbed his arm, thinking about the events that had ended in him screaming as the most potent poison in either the magical or muggle world coursed through his veins. The silver lining, Harry thought, was the fact that he had managed to score a chance at learning something from Dumbledore himself.
Harry gazed around the room and smiled as he saw a baby Fawkes sleeping in his perch, head tucked under his wing, though Harry wasn't sure why he did so. He paused and looked up, seeing the sorting hat propped against the shelf and thought about perhaps grabbing it, however he decided not to, he had bothered it enough with his antics.
The roaring of flames, and green light filling the office alerted the child towards his left, watching as a green wizards hat, and a set of bright flamingo pink robes passed through the fireplace, revealing Albus Dumbledore. He seemed tired and ragged, his face holding deep lines as he let out a sigh.
"Those fu- oh, Mr Potter, what are you doing here? There's not another 60 ft king of serpents running around is there?"
"O-oh no sir. I-i uurh, well, I asked to, uh learn from you, if you remember I asked for lessons instead of a, ugh house points and that reward and you said possibly, so umm… you said "to come to your/my office today" the ravenette blushed a little as the headmaster finished his sentence with him.
"I remember, yes I did. Though I said I'd give you a chance, and you asked you to think about it. Are you sure Harry? You've stated a wish to also study divination, care of magical creatures, runes, and arithmancy next year Mr Potter. Surely you may think that this could be a bit… taxing?" The defeater of the Grindelwald sat his ancient bones and flesh in a similarly old chair, peering over his half-moon glasses. Harry nodded.
"Uuh, yes, um, headmaster, and I was thinking of perhaps doing work over the summer? I was thinking of doing some other work with different people, especially Ollivander, as well, and was hoping you could put in a word with them… and I was thinking of getting a time turner...I know it's usually only one person a year that gets them, if that, but… I was hoping one would be available. Sorry if this is too much, i should have asked a few days ago but I was nervous and wanted to go see how Luna was and h-"
"I think I will accept your wish Mr Potter. Here." Dumbledore bent down under his desk, before stretching back out, a brown leather back book, paper sticking out from all over it, in his grasp. He set it out on the table, and dark embezzled writings stuck out at him.
"A complete to the times guide on occlumency and legilimency, the mind arts, by Salazar Slytherin." The title utterly confused Harry. Occlumency? Legilimency? Obviously, they had something to do with the mind, possibly mind reading, and perhaps an attempt at shielding the mind? Or maybe they were attempts at better learning methodology, using magics. Either way, Harry was interested, and the fact that it was written by Salazar Slytherin of all people made him even more interested, as while the ancient founder had been very distrustful of muggleborns, mainly for the reasons of the parents from what harry had read from his chamber, he was a very talented teacher and mage.
"An obscure and not often used form of magic Mr Potter. Occlumency, the magical act of concealing the thoughts and emotions from legilimency, its counterpart, which would allow for the user to read the memories and emotions and experiences of another. You will be learning occlumency, and only occlumency. If you can, I will teach you all you are ready to learn."
Harry stared at the book, a bright smile coming to his face, as his thoughts ran fast like a train.
"When can we start sir?
Harry sat in the oak chair, sweat running down his face as Dumbledore ploughed through his defences. He was ruthless in his attack, likely spurred on by Harrys failure to learn the subject. He was useless at the mi-
"Harry, if you keep thinking like that you will never learn."
The headmaster's wand dropped down to his side as he looked down at the boy with a small smile, as Harry shook himself free of the thoughts. Harry looked away, rather ashamed that he had still been unable to even muster a meagre defence against the master, mind magic user. Dumbledore frowned in thought.
"Harry...I'm sorry to say that I'm unsure if this type of magic is for you. Your mind is too… erratic. You seem to be unable to clear your mind of any thoughts, and we have been at it for a few months, Mr Potter. Even Garrick has spoken to me about it. You should be able to do something by now, with the amount of effort you've put in…"
"I'm sorry sir, I… I don't know what's happening. Whenever I try to close my mind off, I just start thinking about that and then I think about how I'm thinking and th-"
The headmaster chuckled to himself, eyes twinkling with mirth.
"There is the problem, Harry. You are thinking too much… ok, Mr Potter here is what we will do. I'm heading off to speak with the minister about our….Dementor issue, then I'll be conversing with the Wizengamot members for favours. I'll be there for about two weeks. In the meantime, you will practice and research possible ways to shield your mind besides occlumency, and I'll do the same...if neither of us have found anything, I'm sorry to say Mr Potter but…"
Harry nodded. Learning the art to the standard where he could at least defend himself from a novice, was part of his requirements to apprentice under the headmaster, so that his mind could not be plundered for the headmasters techniques and secrets, something Harry understood the reasoning for. Sighing, he nodded, and stood, moving to the door with a frown.
"Mr potter. Even if you do not manage to find a way to find protection, know it has been a pleasure to teach you. And there is always, always, more than one way to enchant a pair of socks. Fawkes" Two bursts of flame signified the headmaster's departure.
Later, Harry would be in his dorm reading through the book on occlumency given to him. He growled as he threw the book against the wall wand in hand as he raged at his failure. How could he not do a simple act of occlumency? It was… enraging. It took him 4 days to find a solution.
He was rummaging through his possessions, trying to find his books on occlumency due to him shoving them to the bottom of his trunk in a fit of anger, before pausing as his hand came into contact with a silky, smooth, and liquid like substance. He sat still for a good few minutes, before bolting from the room.
"I must say Harry, I expected at least some ideas from you, but you have come empty handed" Albus Dumbledore raised his eyebrow, intrigued and a little disappointed if he did say so himself, at the boy's absence of any types of material. However, the boy seemed… excited. Hopeful. And somewhat smug, which was odd. Even if Harry had managed to learn the skill, the rate at which he had done so wouldn't be one to be smug about. Proud? Yes, learning the skill at all was something to be proud of. Smug, no.
"Perhaps sir, but I think I've satisfied the requirements of your apprenticeship"
"Would you be so kind as to allow me to check?"
"Of Course, professor"
Dumbledore nodded and sent forth his magic in a legilimency probe. What shocked him was where Harry sat, no mind was present. He searched for a good 2 minutes before pausing. What was he doing? Why was he looking for a 13-year-olds mind? It's not like there would be anything important in there. He should just stop and… dumbledore chuckled. How odd, he had almost been tricked. Peering more closely, searching for magic now, he saw what felt like mental notice, not ward surrounding the boy's head. However, if he went deeper no mind could be seen. Then something caught his eye. Ripples could be felt as the boy squirmed, and so using legilimency, Dumbledore pushed forward, feeling a mental tear as Harry's mind was revealed to him, surprising the headmaster, almost as much as the sudden onslaught of information and emotions. Grunting, Dumbledore pushed through, getting past the onslaught as he peered into Harry's mind, before pulling back with a breath of excitement.
"Extraordinary. How...I've not seen any occlumency like it. It's almost as if-"
"I used legilimency instead, professor." Harry's small frame was decreased as the boy curled up on himself as he muttered. He was a bit nervous that he had possibly fucked up his attempt and that the professor wasn't too happy with the way he went about it.
Dumbledore, in the meanwhile, was bursting at the seams at the thought of a new method to something. He grabbed a lemon drop, sat in his chair, and gazed at Harry.
"Explain, child."
"Well, um, I was really struggling with the methods of occlumency, so I threw my books in my trunk, I was...pretty angry" at Dumbledore's chuckle and nod, Harry continued. "So, as I was trying to find them, I found my invisibility cloak, the one dad gave me, and I had an idea...why hide my memories, if I could just hide my mind entirely? Of Course, it was much harder than that, it took me a good 2 extra days before I came up with the idea of a passive, three layered legilimency field that would be able to hide and divert people from my mind. The first aspect, is of course, the cloak, which hides the mind, then the field that works like a notice me not, then the bombardment of memories and negative emotions, it um….it takes a lot to set up… the story of Queenie Goldstein actually, gave me the idea of the passive field… I think that I'm not really suited to naturally occlumency, because I'm a bit too um...emotional on the inside and always thinking, so I thought, if I use that to fuels the bombardment stage, it would be a good way to knock the legilimency enemy of balance... ," the was a stunned silence for a moment, as Albus sucked on his lemon drops, humming, before he… began to laugh. Loudly.
"HAHAHHah…. Amazing Mr Potter...yes...it's very rough and has a lot of drawbacks… compared to the original, after all I could just spear into your mind right now… but anyone… not used to this technique would be baffled long enough for you to try to do something else. And if you work on that cloak a bit better, you may even be able to keep your mind hidden forever… though, I believe legilimency would be harder to learn, as you have a field active already… this calla for more exploration. Let's work on that notice me not of yours. It's rather weak if I could snap out of it with only 2 thoughts of discontent from my goal. Come, let's get you some food, and then we can discuss some plans for the future."
Harry beamed at the compliment, as he was unsure if his attempt would work. However, suddenly the headmaster paused, a shrewd, confused and calculating look on his face
"How, or on whom, did you practice on Mr Potter"
Harry blushed and winced, hopping the headmaster wouldn't be upset with him
"I ugh...asked some of the elves to help me… they umm, were happy to help."
The headmaster nodded. Elves were always happy to help.
"In the future, it would have been better to simply come to this meeting with notes on your idea, and I would have taught you legilimency. I am unsure how you created a passive field, but I'm sure you will explain to me."
"I uh… just kind of… used the same emotions and intent in my verbal spell, silently, and when the probe reached out, I kind of made a circle with it linking to my mind? I...it was weird and hard to explain sir, I would need to think about it a bit, to properly explain it."
"Understood, Harry. I think it would do you well to write about it actually. You seem to enjoy experimenting… Mr Ollivander told me about that wand you've been theorising about. I would say to stop, but… I think you are a very bright individual Harry, just don't let your intelligence shadow your morals. Now, off you go, and say hello to Luna for me. I've seen her, and I'm happy to hear that her things have gone missing. Anything to add to that Mr Potter?"
Harry coughed, shook his head, and departed rather quickly.
The beings mental strings seemed to have trouble finding his mind, after all, it was rather well Hidden. However, the moment his magic reached out to do its usual notice-me-not charm like actions, the being laughed.
I see. You are shielding your mind… in a very devious way. Most would have built protections or try to simply withstand it but you… hide it. Some would call it cowardly, but I will not judge too soon, a mysterious being. However, if you deny me any longer, I will simply erase you.
Panic flared through his mind as Harry tried to think of a way to not be 'erased' by this giant golden claw
"I-I'm Harry s-sir. I uh… you… could look into my mind if you want some answers."
Harry slowly pulled up his defences. He had learnt that, with the way he had formed his legilimency shield, he could also pull it up a bit, to let others slip under and in. He winced as the golden being pushed into his mind and stood there for a few minutes.
"Ha...haha...HAHAHA MY, my, my little wizard. I wasn't even sure something like this was possible. Your race seems to be such an ingenious, if yet, somehow a ridiculously incompetent bunch. hmmm… yes you would do. Listen well mortal, I am going to give you a gift, and a responsibility while you traverse the realm of mundus and the planet of nirn... I hope you can provide me with great interest, boy. Now, this may hurt a little bit…"
Suddenly, Harry felt like his whole body had been hit with multiple cruciatus curses at once. He screamed as he felt something being pushed into him, as if he was a bag and someone was trying to fill him above capacity. Then, the knife that had been thoroughly shoved into his spirit, for that's all Harry could guess was hurting, began to flow into the rest of him. It was an...odd experience and hard to put into words, except for the pain he felt. This went on for longer than Harry cared to, or even possibly could, count. Eventually, his screaming died down, and he was left once more in the void, golden claw grasping him
"Apologies for the pain, but soul interference can be a dastardly action with horrible consequences if done improperly. Now, I will send you off to Tamriel, I do hope you can pack my self-son kicking."
Harry tilted his head. Self-son? Wait, this claw had interfered with his soul?
"Goodbye for now, child."
Harry screamed as the claw sent him flying once more through the sharp-edged rocks of wherever he was. He would continue falling for a while longer before suddenly, the world opened up below him, the sounds of fighting and screaming could be heard as he saw the ground approaching fast. He cast a few spells, specifically of the decent slowing and ground cushioning variety, letting out a grunt as he bounced, before landing on the ground. Harry groaned as dirt filled his maw, forcing him to cough it out. He grunted, standing up and looking about. The sounds of metal and shouts filled the air.
His eyes widened in alarm as an arrow, for what else could it be, shot past his head and hit the tree next to him with a heavy thwack. Not willing to die today, or ever, if he had something to say about it, Harry turned, and ran up the small hill he had landed on as he began pressing the runes on his case to shrink it and drop it into his pocket.
Harry came to the top of the hill and stared at the chaos ahead of him. Men and women, in blue and red, were battling it out. It seemed one man, in a large black and blue fur coat, had been knocked out, with some of the blue men guarding his position. Wanting to not be caught up in whatever type of incident this was, Harry turned, only to be hit by a flash of lightning sending him careening back towards the battle, gasping for air. It didn't feel like real lighting, it felt as if it was made by magic. From what Harry could tell. He looked up to see the man responsible, holding up a lightning covered hand. Elemental magic? Wandless? What an interesting ability! It seemed to lack as much power as some of the lightning spells in his own dimension, seeing as Harry wasn't dead yet, or maybe the brown cloaked enemy wizard had underpowered the spell? Unfortunately for Harry, in his spiel of thought, he never noticed the red soldier behind him. about to hit him in the side of the head with his shield. Darkness, once more, eclipsed the Ravenclaws' vision.
His vision came back blurred, slow and with confusion as to what was going on. As his vision came back, he could feel himself sitting in a wagon, jostling down a path, as his first sight, was the brown leathered form ahead of him, obviously manning the horse. Harry, confused, turned his head, still unsure of what was happening, trying to remember what had happened. He remembered men in blue armour...like the one sitting next to him, with dirty blond hair, who was looking out at the passing wilderness. The brown armoured figure was obviously one of the red soldiers he had seen. He turned his head, seeing a mousy looking man with black hair fidgeting and looking nervous, and besides him, was the cloaked man Harry had seen earlier, now conscious and gagged, unlike the other inhabitants of the carriage. Following them, Harry could make out a soldier on horseback.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake?"
Harry nodded, still a bit unsure as his memory returned to the events that led to his current, obviously dangerous position. Afterall, his hounds were bound by rope, he could feel it, and no safe position was one where Harry was bound by rope.
"You were trying to cross the border, yes? You got caught up in the imperial ambush that was set up for us, same as that thief over there" the blond man gestured to the mousy looking fellow.
Said fellow seemed to take offense to the blonde's words.
"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. I coulda been halfway to hammer fell by now, but you fucks had to interfere with that." He turned to Harry; eyes wild.
"You and me, we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the empire wants, not us."
"We're all brothers and sisters in bondage now thieves".
Harry winced as the 'imperial' shouted to the other inhabitants to be quiet. It seemed only the thief took that advice, and the blond Stormcloaks wanted to be more defiant.
"What's up with him huh?"
"Hold your tongue! That is Ulfric Stormcloak, the true high king of Skyrim" it seemed the blue garbed warrior was protective. Harry decided not to antagonise him or the cloaked man.
"You? You're the leader of the rebellion? But...oh the divines...we..where are they taking us if they've captured you?" The thieves' spiel suddenly worried Harry. Usually if you capture the leader of what Harry had understood to be a rebel faction, the end of the ride wasn't a happy welcome, but likely a brutal and solemn goodbye. Grunting Harry tried to tear off his bonds in some fashion, before sighing, catching the blonde's solemn gaze.
"Wherever we are going, Sovngarde awaits."
Harry let this sink in and began to compartmentalise his thoughts. So, he had stumbled upon an ambush, between what was considered an empire, and rebels (coloured red and blue respectively) and had subsequently been captured. He was now in a carriage, or cart really considering the quality, sitting next to a thief, a rebellion leader, and a thief. To summarise his thoughts: fuck.
"Where do you hail, horse thief."
Harry looked up between the two people who had seemed hostile to each other.
"Why do you care?"
"Every Nords' last thoughts...should be of their home."
"Rorikstead...I...I'm from Rorikstead" his dead whisper carried his sense of dread well.
Harry looked ahead and watched as they approached a large stone, wood doors embedded in the centre. He paused as he heard the imperials shout about a headsman and a General Tullius. The thief once more, prayed to his gods. Harry, at this point, was beside himself. Was he going to die? Surely the imperials wouldn't kill a 14-year-old?
They passed through the keep gates, and Harry spotted two individuals that he took interest in
"General Tullius. And the Thalmor is with him, fucking elves."
The general himself seemed old and hardened, obviously having seen many battles. His attire was...oddly Roman in appearance, if only resembling the empire of ancient times in his own dimension. The proclaimed elf however… it was definitely an elf, at least in his opinion. It wasn't like the batty, leathery and ugly house elves. These elves were smooth, golden, tall, handsome, and practically polar opposites of the elves of his home. Although they did slightly look like they had an overdose of Botox, a muggle beauty therapy
The carriage moved on through the small fort/town, hybrid. It was too small to be a city, and even a town in his home world would probably be larger than this even in the same time period, but it also seemed to be mostly a military encampment.
"This is Helgen...I used to be sweet on a girl here… Vilod used to sell juniper mead."
"Daddy, who are they?"
Harry's head jerked back to see a small boy being ushered inside by his father, who had a fearful and haunted look about him, but stern at the same time.
"Inside the house little cub"
"But dad, I wanna see-"
"Inside. Now"
There was no more argument coming from the kid. Harry blanched at the thought of another child like him being forced to watch what Harry guessed would happen. The imperials called for the prisoners to get out, as the carts came to a stop in an open area of the town,
"Why are we stopping?" The thief whimpered.
"End of the line" the Stormcloaks cold response sent shivers down Harry's spine. He watched as the others stood up, and so he hastily followed, his age being obvious from his height and face, causing the Stormcloaks to frown. The thief was wracked with fear
"We aren't rebels! Please!"
"Have some courage when you die a thief. It will be the only thing you get; the imperials offer nothing of use for you."
Harry found that while he appreciated the Stormcloak, he was rather harsh and blunt with his words. They huddled off the cart, hoping off. Harry was happy that he was still in his robes. They stood in line, leading towards a metal armoured woman, and a leather armoured man holding a board, likely to tick off names.
"But we aren't with you! Tell them! Tell them this is a misunderstanding!"
"Step towards the block on your left when your name is called!"
"The empire and their lists." The Stormcloaks dry chuckle was a poor attempt at getting rid of the tension.
"Ulfric Stormcloak. The Jarl of Windhelm." The gagged man with the cloak stood forward and headed to the left. Harry kept his haze forward as the soldier exclaimed the honours of his service to the man who led the rebellion. Harry wasn't intent on looking towards the executioners.
"Ralof of Riverwood." Harry winced. He felt rude for having not asked the soldiers name when they were in the cart, and for not making conversation at all… even if Harry didn't like conversing with others he didn't know, he felt like a bit of a dick for not doing so.
"Lokir of Rorikstead."
"I'm not a rebel! You- you can't!" Lokir rushed past the commander, trotting up the road. He was about to say more, but the arrow piercing his neck cut what he was about to say short. Harry had already turned his head and whimpered.
"You there, step forward" Harry, was now sweating as he moved up, step by step, coming face to face with the two imperials.
"Who are you?" The Imperial's quill was at the ready.
"Harry. Ha-Harry P-Potter sir." Harry winced at his own pathetic sounding voice.
"You're not on the list… May I ask how old you are?"
"Fourteen, sir, I uh… I was told I got knocked unconscious when I got caught in the crossfire of your groups…"
The guard, who was ticking names, turned shocked and turned to his commander, who had a rather aggravated and generally unhappy look about her.
"Commander… what do we do?"
"Forget the list, he goes to the block"
Outrage plastered itself on the man's face.
"But… he's but a chi-"
"Are you questioning orders?" The stern look from the commander seemed to cowl the soldier.
"By your orders captain… I'm sorry… to your left please, follow the captain".
Harry turned; face drained of blood. They….they were going to execute him? But he hasn't done anything. He hissed trying to think of ways to escape. He had no wand, no portkey (his amulet was in his case) and definitely no apparition as he hadn't learnt that yet. He settled himself into the crowd next to Ralof, who looked down at him in confusion. Harry supposed that the man had believed the empire would let him go due to his age. The man hadn't accounted for the captain who had signed his death warrant.
"-call you a hero. But no hero uses their gifts to murder their king to usurp the throne."
Ulfric's verbal retaliation was thwarted by the cloth in his mouth.
"You started this war and plunged Skyrim into chaos. Now, the empire is here to put you down, and restore order to the realm.
A roar in the distance silenced everyone. Harry looked towards where the sound had come from: the mountains. His eyes narrowed. The noise was familiar to him however he couldn't place it. He decided to ignore it, as it would free him to question a random roaring beast in a strange land.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. Carry on"
"Yes, general. Give them their last rites"
A cloaked individual, with a yellow hood, raised her arms and spread them to the sky.
"As we send your souls to aetherius, the blessings of the-"
"For the love of Talos, stop. Let's get this over with." A brave, red headed stormcloak walked towards the block. The priest grunted in exasperation and turned with a huff. The Imperials pushed the man to his knees, roughly, and shoved his head onto the wooden block. The executioner, dressed in black with axe in hand, got himself ready by the block, causing Harry to gulp as he started trying to escape his bonds.
"My ancestors are smiling at me Imperials; can you say the same?"
His question was met with silence, and the executioner's axe cleaving through the man's head. Harry knew he was about to be sick. Sure, he had seen blood before, and he had fought Quirrell and a Basilisk, however he had never seen a man so easily murdered. It seemed so easy for the man to just swing an axe and chop off a person's head. Blood squirted onto the floor from the stump, as the captain simply… knocked aside the body. Anger coursed through Harry at the thought of the Imperial captain.
"You imperial bastards!"
"Justice!"
Harry winced at the conflicting views. Sure, it was possible that the Stormcloaks had done some horrendous stuff… but… even if they had, they deserve better than this. HE deserved better especially since he wasn't even a Stormcloak.
"Death to the Stormcloaks!"
"As fearless in death as he was in life" Ralof's depressive words caused Harry to send sympathy to the blond. It probably wasn't easy to see a friend die in such a manner.
"Next! The robed one!"
A roar sounded out, loud, much closer than before. Causing Harry to flinch. If such a thing that made that roar was increasing its distance to them…
"I said, next prisoner!"
"To the block Harry, nice and easy" Harry stared at the Imperial soldier, surprised that he had used his name.
Harry stepped forward, and there was a bunch of muttering, from both sides. Harry flinched as he moved towards the block, head low.
"That's… that's just a boy is it not?"
"Surely this is a joke?"
The commander, Tullius ,however, was the most shocked, staring at the boy as he stood at the block. Harry gazed down, almost sick at the sight of the precious man's body, before closing his eyes, as the captain forced him to his knees. The use of harsh force made him grunt before the captain was pushing him to the block. The scent of blood and death flooded his nose, a whimper escaping as a result. He looked up at the executioner, who lifted his axe, but hesitated as he was about to bring it down. General Tullius' voice broke through the silence.
"Captain, why is there a child kneeling before my execution block?" There was a coldness to his voice that Harry could tell he didn't want to get on the wrong side of.
"He was caught in the battle. Our battle mage and one of the soldiers caught him trying to flee." The captain sounded somewhat uncomfortable, but also sure.
"That doesn't answer my question. Surely, you could have sent him to the dungeons to be questioned later?" The General did not seem pleased with her answer, and the inhabitants didn't seem so happy either. What the captain was about to say was cut off, as out of the mountain side, a roar spread through the air along with the flapping of wings.
"What in oblivion is that? Archers! What do you see?"
Harry gapped as a wyvern landed on the tower behind the black robed man, giant slate wings covering the building. He stared, drinking in the details of the monster. It was large, scales grey, jagged and large like stone slabs slid together. Red eyes glared down at the boy, sending shivers through him.
Suddenly, the beast opened its maw, exclaiming a golden force towards the gathered soldiers, prisoners, and civilians, resulting in the meteoric hell that was unleashed from above.
Harry hated this dimension already.