Chapter 14:
"I… I believe I have solved this riddle. This woman – whose name I still do not know – has received a letter. How that is even possible, I do not know. It simply appeared on the floor of the rooms I have set aside for her here at Hogwarts. She remains incommunicable, broken in the mind by Gellert's torture, unable to read its contents. I am not as restricted."
From Albus Dumbledore's Notes; 20th Century, Earth.
By the time dinner came around that night, Harry was even more famous than he had been when he first showed up at Hogwarts. His list of new accomplishments included, but were not limited to:
1. Sleeping with a Veela – no it was two Veela, but he'd decided one was better than the other;
2. Duelling and defeating mass-murderer Sirius Black – or, the more accurate version, all without a wand;
3. And summoning an avenging angel with a giant sword to kill a dozen dementors.
But the biggest piece of news was that Harry was at Hogwarts searching for new recruits for his top-secret missions. Harry had then entered first recruit, former-dark witch Ginny Weasley, into the Triwizard Tournament – bypassing the age line – all as part of a test. The only part of that he liked was that Ginny was now officially a former dark-witch, and some of the first years seemed willing to talk to her at least, though old habits died hard.
Now, Hogwarts was split between two factions. The first half was debating what his secret missions were about. Was he taking down dark wizards in other countries? Was he working for the Statute of Secrecy Task Force? Was he hunting rouge Death Eaters? Magical creatures? Vampires? Giants? All of them at once?
The second faction were the ones trying to suck up to him in order to become his next 'recruit'. Someone (Harry intended to have words with Daphne about this) had also 'leaked' the information that Harry hadn't actually been sorted into Gryffindor, just put there, to the school populous, which made even Slytherins willing to speak to him. His current companion was aspiring journalist Tracey Davis, one of Daphne's friends.
"I think an autobiography would be an excellent idea. You can get your story, the real story, not what all these nutters are saying, out there!" Harry really wished Ginny had come to dinner, but she'd elected to stay in her room until things died down a little. Fred and George had vanished with Professor Lupin doing God knew what. That meant Harry was on his own with the vultures, and they wanted a feast.
Daphne began pushing her way into his crowd of onlookers – it appeared the usual house tables rules were no longer being enforced – shouting his name.
"Let her through!" he shouted, and the Red Sea parted at his will. If this kept going, he was going to die of a swollen head. Daphne walked through and handed him a letter.
"Thank you very much for the sorting tip," he said dryly, looking at the fancy looking wax seal on the letter.
"I figured you'd prefer some company that wasn't from Gryffindor for once. Not that I'm prejudiced, but there isn't a great deal of excess intelligence to go around in the house of the lion."
"You're right there," he muttered before breaking the seal. Tracey and an Indian girl from Ravenclaw were looking over his shoulder, but he figured Daphne wouldn't have given it to him here if she didn't want people to know what was in it. He scanned the letter and breathed a sigh of relief. Daphne's mother and father – both lawyers – had arranged to take on Black's case at a trial set for the next week. They had also stated that should he ever need legal representation; they would be more than happy to help.
"Cheers, Daphne," he said, handing back the letter and raising his can of Red-Bull to her in a mock salute.
"No problem. I think they're excited actually. They do love hard cases."
"In more ways than one," he noted, before returning to his drink.
Harry was almost finished with his food when the crowd parted again. Fleur Delacour was storming towards him, a look of murder in her eyes. Ah, so she'd heard about the whole 'fucking her sister' thing. Harry groaned, turning towards the Veela.
"I don't suppose I can keep your corpse?" Daphne asked.
"I think I'm going to need it for a while yet," he told her.
"Harry Potter! I cannot believe you!" She screamed.
"Really? I always believe me, even when I'm lying. It's an odd thing I've found."
"You took advantage of my sister!" Harry slammed his fist on the table, eyes going dark.
"I did no such thing, and I will have a retraction and an apology right now." He didn't yell, the coldness of the statement giving it even greater weight.
"I will not! You are not to go near my sister again or I'll…"
"Your sister is perfectly capable of making her own decisions, and it's certainly not for you to decide who she spends her time with. Now, I will request an apology one final time before I become angry, I suggest you use it." Harry nodded to Mak, who nodded in reply. With his shackle on, he couldn't use his powers to intimidate people like he used too, so they'd come up with a different idea early in his stay at Hogwarts. Looked like he was going to need it.
"You insolent little boy!"
Harry sighed, "I asked nicely." In a second, he was on his feet, the crowd surging back. He turned to face Fleur as she drew her wand, and Mak transformed into a giant silvery blue sword that dropped into his hand as he raised it. The point came to rest a centimetre from Fleur's throat, and the entire crowd gasped in shock and awe – Mak was very much visible. He heard rushed footsteps from behind him, probably Professor McGonagall coming to diffuse the situation, but she couldn't break through the crowd. Panic instantly jumped into Fleur's eyes. Mist curled from the blade's surface.
"What is going on here!?" The crowd spun to see the giant form of Madame Maxine striding into the hall, Dumbledore on one side, Gabrielle on the other.
"Fleur! What are you doing!?" Gabrielle exclaimed, rushing forward. Harry gestured with his free hand, and the crowd parted for her.
"Me?! I'm trying to protect you! He's holding a sword to my throat!"
"Mr Potter, kindly dismiss that blade immediately." Dumbledore's voice brokered no argument, so Harry held Mak in the sword shape just to spite him.
"I will do no such thing until Miss Delacour apologises for insinuating that I am a rapist!" Harry snapped back.
"You did what!?" Gabrielle screamed.
"I think perhaps both sides should relinquish their weapons, then we can talk," Madame Maxine said gently. Harry, smirking at Fleur and Dumbledore both, stepped back, and Mak transformed back into her normal form, heavy breathing. Turning into a non-humanoid form was incredibly draining for her.
"A fantastic idea, wouldn't you say Fleur?" Harry said. The Veela reluctantly slid her wand back into her pocket.
Gabrielle reached the duo and immediately stood between Fleur and Harry, facing Fleur. She glanced quickly to Mak as she panted, then focused her glare on her older sister.
"How dare you say something like that!"
"How dare I? How dare you! I wasn't the one banging a celebrity from a foreign school after her sister was just chosen as Triwizard Champion!"
"That's what this is about really then? Jealousy?"
"NO! It's about…"
"It fucking is! Sorry Fleur, but if you hadn't been such a bitch when we arrived, maybe it would have been you getting laid. As it stands, the only reason I even made friends with Harry in the first place was to apologise for your attitude!"
"You don't know what you're talking about. You're just…"
"a little girl? Is that what you were going to say?" Fleur and Gabrielle were both flushing furiously now. He could hear Daphne sniggering quietly behind him, and what he thought was the scratching of a quill as someone took notes. Madame Maxine appeared, stepping between the two Veela and putting hands on each girl's shoulder.
"Now, girls. We are going to settle this like adults." Harry had always found that phrase incredibly stupid. Adults yelled at each other just as often as children and teenagers did! Hell, the British parliament even had a dedicated time of day set out where people could go to town on each other called Question Time. But what did he know?
"Fleur. You are going to apologise for calling Mr Potter a rapist. Gabrielle. You are going to apologise for missing your sister's celebration. Your other quarrels can be settled when the populations of three schools are not in attendance." Both girls blushed, looked to their feet and mumbled their apologies. Madame Maxine then steered both girls in the direction of the Beauxbatons carriage. Harry straightened his robes, smiled to Dumbledore, whose face seemed caught between amused and intuitive, and made his way towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
It wasn't long before Daphne appeared from one of the secret passages.
"How'd you do the thing with the sword if you've still got the thing on?"
Harry laughed. "The sword?" Mak was sleeping on his shoulder, exhausted. "Oh, that was just Mak."
"It wasn't real?"
"Nope. Would have turned to mist if it so much as touched her." Daphne snorted.
"Fooled me."
"That was kind of the point," Harry said. They locked eyes for a moment, before bursting into laughter.
"You will do no such thing!" The Sorting Hat exclaimed.
"You don't want to be free?" Harry asked, incredulously. It was the next morning, and Harry, Ginny, Daphne, Mak, Ember and Gabrielle were in Harry's room in Gryffindor Tower preparing to release the captured faeries.
"Free? I chose to be bound here! Rowena Ravenclaw herself held my bond Harry Potter, and we devised this plan together! I bound myself to this castle willingly, and so long as I remain bound, it cannot be taken by the forces of evil while the Headmaster remains in office."
"Wait on. You're powering the ward scheme for the entire castle?" Daphne exclaimed. Gabrielle whistled. Impressive.
"Yes. If you were to destroy my vessel and release me, the protections would fail immediately, and I imagine I'd be instantly pulled back to the Valley by the Pact of Truth."
"Huh. So that's why no one has ever managed to replicate the wards on Hogwarts? They were crafted by an Imagineer?" Ginny realised.
"Precisely," the hat confirmed. The group sat in silence for a moment.
"Okay. We'll leave you be for now," Harry said, "It's your choice. But I'm destroying the Invisibility Cloak. I won't leave whoever's inside trapped any longer."
"I have no objections," the Sorting Hat said, "but how exactly do you propose to do this? That cloak will have more protective spells on it than you can imagine!" Gabrielle had been wondering the same thing if she was honest. Harry just smirked. She swallowed. Why did he have to look so damn hot when he did that?
"It hasn't met me yet." Then he turned towards the three girls.
"I'm going to need a hand here. Wands out." They did as instructed, drawing their wands and stepping forward anxiously.
"I think I have an idea on how to get this fucking thing off me," he said, walking over to his desk. He knelt down on the floor and placed his right arm – the one with the shackle – on the counter.
"When Dumbledore tried to place the trace on me, the shackle got so hot it began to burn. Then, whenever McGonagall takes it off, she taps it with her wand. I've tried every unlocking spell in my textbooks and the library. I even tried to just blow my arm off." Gabrielle gasped, but Harry waved it off, "I can regrow it. Hurts like a bitch, but I've done it before."
"My only conclusion is that the metal – aluminium – acts as a sort of block that prevents me from accessing the Art of Design specifically. The other things, like it's dexterity and my inability to take it off, are most likely separate enchantments. But, and here's where you get to applaud my genius, if someone else does the unlocking spell, it should release normally. If that doesn't work, then all three of you doing it at the same time should be enough power to overload the locking mechanism and release me. Capiche?" They nodded. Ginny pointed her wand at the bracelet and cast the unlocking charm. Nothing happened.
"Worth a shot," Harry muttered, then gestured for them to go again. Gabrielle pointed her wand at Harry's arm, along with Daphne and Ginny, and said the words.
"Alohomora!" The shackle began to vibrate, and its surface sizzled, Harry grabbed his arm, hissing in pain. Then, the heat vanished, and the clasp unlocked with a faint click. Though his arm was now covered in blisters, Harry grinned.
"Fabulous."
He stretched his arm, and a faint white glow enveloped his skin. The burns healed in an instant. His eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Oh, that feels much better." Gabrielle smiled softly. Harry took a deep breath and snapped back to reality. For some reason, he looked healthier suddenly. More vibrant. The sparkle in his eyes was more pronounced, and the soft aura that he carried intensified.
He grabbed the cloak from where it lay on the desk and placed it on the stone floor.
"Here goes nothing," he muttered, then placed both hands on the surface of the cloak.
Within seconds the room began to heat. Gabrielle began to sweat in the heavy winter clothing. Ginny was already taking hers off.
Harry's gaze was fixed on the shimmery cloak. She couldn't really focus on his hands. There was a haze of heat around them, making it hard to concentrate. Daphne began to back away, coughing.
"Come on," Harry muttered. Ember had jumped up into the air and was now lying with her hands behind her back as if sunbaking. Only, her body was orientated so that it faced Harry, not the sun. It looked very odd.
"What are you doing?" Ginny asked. She'd dropped her robes to the floor, and was unbuttoning her shirt. The corner of the carpet caught alight, and Daphne shot it with a burst of water. The water evaporated within a second of hitting the ground. The stone had begun to take on a reddish hue. Gabrielle was dripping in sweat now, and she too started stripping layers.
"Decay Force. Destroys the chemical bonds between atoms, and creates radiation as a by-product," Harry said, straining. His clothes were soaked.
"Radiation!" Gabrielle exclaimed, heart lurching.
"What's radiation?" Ginny and Daphne asked.
Harry and Gabrielle didn't have time to answer, because, at that moment, the window exploded outwards, and the rug, the couch and the table all caught alight. The stone grew an angry red, a winning sound erupted in the air, and Gabrielle's skin started to burn. Ginny was red as a tomato. Daphne, who'd retreated to the corner of the room, looked a bit better.
Then the Invisibility Cloak caught fire. Green flames erupted along the silvery surface, then they turned to blue, then pink, then a white so pure she couldn't look at it. A crackle, like that of static electricity, filled the air, followed by a 'BANG!' so loud it knocked Gabrielle to her knees. She slammed her eyes closed, dropped her wand, and raised her hands to her ears to block out the scream that followed.
"Stretch forth thy hand, Gabrielle!" said a voice in her mind. Her ears were ringing, pinpricks of pain erupted all over her body. And in the darkness behind her eyes, she could see a silver hand reaching out for her.
"Take my hand! Quickly! There is a hunter! He looks for me!" Gabrielle, not entirely aware of what she was doing, reached for the silvery hand. She clasped it in hers, and a jolt of shocking power surged into her. Her blood began to boil, and she screamed as the light enveloped her.
All her pain vanished in a second, replaced with strength, with vigour and with an inexplicable urge to create. She opened her eyes.
She was still on her knees, but all the damage to Harry's room had seemingly been repaired. She no longer felt hot or tired. Electricity crackled across her body, frost clung to her clothes, and mist pooled around her feet. Her hand was held out in front of her, palm upwards. In it was a tornado of silver smoke curling around itself, convulsing, beaming with light.
Slowly it began to solidify. The smoke formed into legs, arms, a body, clothes, and finally a head. The mist around her feet vanished, the light faded, and Gabrielle's breath eventually returned to her.
The faerie in her palm had brown skin and curly golden hair. His eyes were vivid green, his ears long and pointed, and his body was covered in tattoos. He wore what she thought were animal hide pants, and no shirt.
"Hi," she croaked. He turned towards her, staring inquisitively. Then he sat down, cross-legged, and began to look around. Harry and Ginny, both healed and redressed, knelt beside her, Mak and Ember on their shoulders. Daphne, who'd also recovered, stood slack-jawed a few metres away.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked softly, tapping her shoulder.
"It can be quite jarring," Ginny agreed. Gabrielle just nodded; glad her heartrate was finally settling down. Ember and Mak flew down and landed on her palm beside the new faerie.
"Do you remember who you are?" Mak asked softly, taking the faerie's hand while Ember ran a hand down his arm. He swallowed, scrunching his face in concentration.
"Vel," he finally said in a deep baritone voice. He suddenly looked very exhausted, and Gabrielle felt herself replicating the feeling.
"Hey, relax. Sleep. We'll be here when you wake up." Gabrielle was asleep before her head hit the stone.
One and a half years ago,
Ginny stood; feet buried in mud as she looked out over the sea of sludge. The rainbow light she'd been following was a beam of energy that shot up into the sky. The mud around the glow seemed to convulse, bubbling and frothing.
She'd finally reached it. And found nothing to help her. The beam was just that, a beam. She couldn't touch it – the stream bent away from her when she tried. All around the beam was the sea of mud. The sea, and an island of stone. It was covered in sludge and slime, but it was solid. From her perch at the border of the rock and mud, she could just see what looked like a cave mouth a few hundred metres away from her. The entrance was on the stone island, and Ginny couldn't bring herself to step onto it.
The wrongness that permeated this whole nightmare place was strongest here, and she knew that its source was in that cave. But it was also the source of the beam. Maybe, if she could get to the source, she could stop it? Stop the nightmares once and for all.
But that would involve stepping onto the stone.
A soft buzzing in the air alerted her to the presence of something else. She'd seen the spirits a few times now. The golden one always came first. Shaped like a man with red eyes and bright white hair, he wore wizarding robes and glowed with golden light. The spirit never spoke, merely watching her, observing. His expressions were similar to a human's, though. She had seen confusion, curiosity and amusement on his face throughout her journey to the beam.
The second spirit arrived soon after. This one was a woman with a dress of midnight black and skin of ash white. Her hair was comprised of flickering flames, and her eyes glowed with an inner fire. This spirit had tried to speak to Ginny several times now, but the gold spirit always stopped her. Ginny had become too haunted to care.
She knew she was the one behind the attacks. Justin was dead, and Penelope Clearwater had been petrified a few days ago. Talk had begun of closing the school. Aurors were on the premises at all times now, and students were only allowed to move in groups. She wanted to go and tell someone, to force someone to lock her away. She just didn't understand! Why was she doing these things? Why couldn't she remember doing them? Her body was still changing unnaturally. She looked like she should be a third year, not the runty first year she'd started as, and the hunger… the hunger was agonising. No matter how much she ate, it was still there. She was getting tired all the time, her mind sluggish.
She'd decided that she must be under the effects of some curse. But why? And how had it gotten on her? Were these nightmares her punishment? Her precious moment of lucidity where she could do nothing to save herself or others?
It was just hopeless.
So she lay down in the mud and closed her eyes, trying to hide from the guilt and the horror of what she'd done, and what she'd continue to do.
The Present Day
"The first thing you need to understand about being an Imagineer is this," Harry said, pacing. Ginny stood with Gabrielle, hopping from foot to foot in the November cold. They were outside the castle, near the border of the Forbidden Forest. Mak was watching the perimeter and Fred and George had provided them with a handy spell called the Notice-Me-Not, which they'd cast around their small practice field.
"The Art of Design is about belief. Every single thing you do requires it. You can't just wave your wand, say some words, and expect something to happen. No. If you want to get anywhere with using this power, you need to believe that you can do the impossible. You can shape reality to your will because you can. No other reason. The power is yours to command. Yours to own. You just have to have faith."
There hadn't been any snow yet, but the wind was a bit chilly, so Ginny and Gabrielle wore thick coats. Ember was floating beside Ginny's head. Vel, who couldn't fly – or perhaps hadn't figured out how yet – sat on Gabrielle's shoulder. The faerie had yet to speak more than he had that first day. Gabrielle was worried about him, but both Harry and Ginny assured her that Mak and Ember had started their journeys a similar way. Ginny didn't think the Veela girl believed them.
"The first thing I want you to do is close your eyes, and bring your focus to your breathing." Ginny did as instructed, breathing in and out. She'd used this power before, so she understood what Harry was talking about. However, she'd only ever used it sparingly, because it always left her tired, and it was hard to control. Now she understood why. She'd been trying to use her wand to cast the power as a spell, not really understanding. She'd managed to hollow out her bedroom passage… former bedroom passage, but that was about it. She'd been too scared to try anything else.
She focussed on her breath. In and out. In and out.
"In that solitude, listen to the sounds. The birds in the trees, the winds brushing the leaves, and rippling of the lake." She could hear them. The birdsong, the rustling of the branches, the splashing of the giant squid as it frolicked in the water.
"Now you want to use that sound, that setting, to build a world. Let your imagination fill in the gaps. Why are the birds singing? They're singing in greeting of course. Why would they be singing anything else? After all, there is a unicorn galloping out of the forest, offering a greeting in return. It's rude not to greet such a creature." Ginny could see it in her mind's eye. A gorgeous white equine creature galloping out of the forest, silvery mane flaring as it ran. A prickle ran along her skin.
"But wait," Harry continued, voice distant, "why is the Unicorn here? There's a storm approaching." The air turned heavy, and thunder rumbled in the distance. Ginny shivered as her skin began to tingle.
"Lightning!" Bolts of electricity dropped from her mental sky, and her stomach flipped as something suddenly danced to life inside her. A 'crack!' echoed around her, and Ginny jumped back in fright, eyes snapping open.
Standing on the edge of the forest, galloping through a sudden deluge of rain, was the most magnificent creature she had ever seen. Not a metre from her, the ground where Gabrielle had been standing was burnt black. Harry held Gabrielle a few paces away. The silver-haired girl was panting heavily, faerie clinging to her shirt frantically.
"Well done! Both of you!" Harry said, releasing Gabrielle.
"I did that?!" Gabrielle exclaimed, taking heavy breaths. The rain stopped, and the storm clouds vanished as if they'd never been.
"Yep. The Unicorn was Ginny, though." Ginny beamed, watching the beautiful white coat as the Unicorn raced away.
"We just used our first power, Probability, and our second – the Six Forces," Harry explained, dusting off his hands. His clothes were already dry from the deluge. Ginny had dried off before she even realised it had rained at all!
"We can use imagination to bend the rules of probability so a thing that could happen does happen, or vice versa. There could have been a Unicorn in the area, so there was."
They nodded.
"The second, and the more useful, are the Six Forces of Imagination. Gabrielle, you used the Charge Force to create the storm. Charge allows control over electricity, magnetism, light and sound. Basically, anything affected by an Electromagnetic Field can be manipulated using the Charge Force. It's paired with the Life Force – each force has a pair. Life Force allows for the manipulation of the energy field generated by the souls of objects or people. It can be used to heal wounds or inflict them. You can also, if you're not careful, snuff a person's soul with the snap of your fingers, killing instantly." Ginny swallowed hard.
"The next pair are Strength and Decay. Strength allows you to intensify or reduce the bonds holding atoms together…" Ginny raised an eyebrow and Harry sighed.
"Right. Wizard education sucks. I forgot. Um… so everything around us is made up of matter. Strength increases or decreases the bonds between that matter. I could use the Strength Force to create a wall of air by binding the oxygen in the air together so tightly that you couldn't pass it by. Or I could cleave your shirt in half. Make sense?"
Not really, but Ginny nodded anyway.
"Examples will help," Harry said, continuing, "Decay is the most dangerous. It destroys things. Breaks them down at a fundamental level. Everything has a natural rate of decay, with this force, you can speed that up or slow it down. I can cause all the plants around us to wither and die, or I can disintegrate my hand." Ginny shivered. "But Decay comes with a cost. It generates radiation. What type depends on what you're trying to do, but in most cases, it's going to be harmful to you and bystanders if exposed in high doses. Pure Decay Force will destroy any form of physical matter instantly."
"The final pair is Fusion and Division. Fusion is basically Gravity. Decreasing its power allows you to fly or move with less resistance. Increasing it will make you weight a ton, and you'll be virtually immovable. Fusion pulls matter together, attracting it to wherever you want it to go, rather than the ground. It can increase your physical strength as well."
"Division is probably the most fascinating. It's the opposite of Gravity. Instead of attracting matter, it repulses it. You can use Division to slice apart space-time like butter, creating pocket dimensions or forcefields. I once used Division to transport a ten-foot concrete pylon into another dimension."
He chuckled at the memory, then grew serious.
"Now, this is a crucial part, so listen closely. Our powers only work for a limited time. Whatever we do, if it's not permanent, will revert back after a certain amount of time, dependent on how much power and concentration you put into it. For example, I can't go around curing everyone's cancer. Why? Because if I did heal them, they'd revert back as soon as the power wore off. What I can do is heal a man's ribs within a few minutes of him breaking them. Why? Because reality hasn't really 'set' yet. The man who got hit by a car five years ago? I can't save him, because his body has already adjusted to being paralysed. But I get to him while he's still unconscious in hospital, I should be able to help him. Remember, it's all about belief. Using the Art of Design is about the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. You can believe that a lightning bolt can fall from the sky where you want it too. But the rest of the world doesn't believe that. While a person's disbelief is suspended, while their understanding isn't firm, that is where we do our best work." Harry threw his hand out, and a giant clump of rock fist rose up out of the ground and fist-bumped him.
"I can shape a giant rock fist beneath the earth using Strength Force, then levitate it using Fusion, because I believe that I can do it. But my belief can only push it so far. Eventually, your belief, as the bystander, reasserts reality into its more natural shape. This rock can't fist bump me, because it's a rock." The fist collapsed back to dirt.
"The exception is when we inflict a permanent change. I can hit someone with a lightning bolt and give them super nasty burns. Putting them into an instant coma. But lightning bolts don't just fall out of the sky at my command, so in a few minutes he'll wake up perfectly fine, though his brain might be a little skewwhiff. However, if I kill him instantly with my bolt of lightning, he stays dead, because even shifting reality and probability can't bring back the deceased. Same goes for anything hit with pure Decay Force. Fusion and Division can be used the same way. If I use Fusion to create a rock wall that replaces or adds to an existing rock wall, and fuse that into the structure of what already exists, it will remain there. If I use Division to hide a person, without anyone seeing their disappearance, they'll stay lost. With me?"
Ginny wasn't really, but she sort of understood.
"Well. Let's give it a shot then…"
Authors Notes:
This is the last chapter until we get back from our trip. Thanks so much for understanding, and we wish you all a happy holidays.
This fanfiction, while obviously centred on Harry Potter, has incorporated several elements from the Cosmere novels written by Brandon Sanderson. The author has written several series of novels of different genres within the same continuity, with the occasional crossover character or event.
Because we love these books so much, we're going to plug them below. You can start from either of the two series that follow.
The Mistborn Trilogy – Book 1: The Final Empire.
"Ash falls from the sky on the planet Scadrial. Beneath a red sun, and chocked by oppressive mists that dominate the night, no flowers or green plants have bloomed on this planet for a thousand years. Not since the Lord Ruler killed the prophesied Hero of Ages, taking the world for himself.
For a millennia, the Skaa have slaved in misery and lived in fear while the Lord Ruler reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, a divine and invincible leader. Hope is long lost, until a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa in the depths of the most hellish of the Lord Ruler's prisons discovers he has the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, Kelsier will turn his talents to the ultimate caper: one with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
Only he's not just planning the greatest heist in history, he's plotting the overthrow of a divine despot.
Kelsier has recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy Allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge.
But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks like a long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan with the powers of a Mistborn, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed."
Set in a world where the Dark Lord won, if you're a fan of Dystopias like the Hunger Games, or wish to learn about Preservation and Ruin, we recommend starting here.
The Stormlight Archive – Book 1: The Way of Kings
Speak again the ancient oaths:
Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.
and return to men the Shards they once bore.
The Knights Radiant must stand again.
"Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armour that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war."
If you love Game of Thrones, the Lord of the Rings and other works of high fantasy, we highly recommend reading this series. To learn more about Odium and his war against Honour and Cultivation, start here.
See you when we get back!
