14. "Will somebody please tell me what is going on?!"

Harry was working in the backyard of his relatives. The rays of the sun shined brightly on him, making him fairly sweaty. Wiping his brow, he stuffed more weeds in the plastic bag. Dirt was kept from his hands by his gloves. To his amazement, no matter what it was put through, the glove stayed clean and sturdy.

The summer came with a bit of change for him. Apparently, his relatives had been quite shook up by the intrusive nature of the magical letters. Fearing that the 'freaks' wouldn't be happy about his room, he was given his cousin's spare one. Contrary to Harry's hopes, the family didn't warm up to him. It was getting to the point of gaining his own indifference.

On the bright side, he had a wonderful place to put up his new painting.

The sound of water splashing drew his attention. In the backyard was a large puddle he hadn't noticed. It was quite eerie considering that it hadn't rained recently. From the not so thin depths of the puddle, a dark coat horse sprung from it. Curious of the water horse, he walked slowly towards it.

In attempt to not spoke the creature, he slowly reached out. In a snap, the horse dragged him underwater! Struggling to break free from the deceiving creature, he punched the beast right in the snout. Harsh symbols flowed from his fist and caused the creature to recoil in pain.

To his great pleasure, he felt the weight of his spell book within his clothing. Pulling out the book, he flipped to a glowing page. Despite being submerged, he was able to chant the spell, "Treading water, dancing dark turmoil, a glance for something given (Drowning Life)." Harry's body was illuminated for but a moment and once again he could breathe.

Just as he was getting his bearings, the water horse rammed him into a cliff like surface. Cringing from the pain, Harry raised his free fist and slammed it on the horse's head over and over again. For every hit, the magical symbols festered onto the monster's flesh and it weakened.

The struggle ceased as the glyph like symbols overtook the creature's defenses and it sunk, deceased. Sighing tiredly, Harry took note of his surroundings. The water was clear and the landscape filled to the brim with rock formations. Concerned about his relative's reaction to him not working, he began to swim to the surface.

Due to Harry's penchant for misfortune, a whirlpool formed at that very moment. In the deceptively large body of water, the black haired boy sunk.

When Harry next awoke, it was to the sensation of someone pushing pressure to his chest. Snapping his eyes open, he was greeted to the sight of a golden haired mermaid. She wore an expression of curiosity and sweetness.

"Hello", the young voice rang. The mermaid appeared to be in her mid-twenties. Her appearance was easily what one would call beautiful, but she only had one hundredth of the Pale Lady's beauty, if he was being generous of course.

The woman's garb consisted of full body armor. The accents of it was bronze and gold. Very little of her upper body was exposed, not even the neck or the arms. Her face was in view only because her helmet rested by her side. Behind her, he could she her fish like tail drifting in the current. A flexible, but tough looking under amour hid her scales from sight.

She could be nothing else but a soldier.

"Hello", he finally decided to greet back.

"It's not very often we get wizards down here, especially one who can spell themselves to breathe underwater for long periods of time. Why have you come down here?"

Harry grimaced at the memory, "I didn't want to intrude, but a water horse dragged me down here. After I fought it back, a whirlpool dragged me down."

The mermaid took a moment to collect her thoughts. A look of alarm appeared on her face, "This is horrible news. That creature you did battle with was a Kelpie. Those beasts are water demons that can shapeshift. They attract their victims and devour them underwater. It is fortunate you survived that encounter."

Hearing this information, Harry clutched the spell book much more securely. Once again, even indirectly, the Pale Lady had saved him. He could easily imagine his watery death without her gifts. Magic seemed a lot darker than he expected. Harry felt very confused over the turn of events in his life.

Seeing the look on the young child's face, the mermaid softened her stern expression, "No matter. I've been quite rude, my name is Alana. May I ask for yours?"

Sitting up straight, he spoke clearly, "I am Harry Potter and thank you for watching over me. Where are we?"

Chuckling with mirth, Alana swept her arms to direct him to look behind. Turning around, he saw a vast empire with great curving architecture. Due to the light and water, it appeared mostly blue. The structures shined as though made of marble. "This is the great city of Ys."

"It's brilliant", Harry admitted. The sight was mesmerizing, the plateau formation that they were on gave a wonderful view.

But the moment didn't last. A high pitch screech erupted all around them. With no explanation, his mermaid acquaintance readjusted the helmet to her head and shot right out of there. Harry could see her racing towards the city. He got up and swam after her, though he was factors behind her in speed. One thing raced through his mind as he tried to catch up to the mermaid.

What was going on?