Chapter 2; or, Getting (Re-)Acquainted
Disclaimer: If you've ever read any HP fanfiction before, you know the drill. I'm not going to waste more time than necessary reiterating the usual.
Mark sighed. The past afternoon and evening had been far more exhausting than he ever could have anticipated. Calling together all of his old friends, getting his affairs in order, rituals to increase and rebuild his power levels...heck, he had even tried some basic forms of divination. The most effective, he had found, was Tarot readings. And he hadn't liked the results.
The past card had signified obligation--no real shocker there. The present, Wheel of Fortune--meaning that there wasn't going to be much information he could get out of the cards. And the future card....Death.
He frowned, almost unconsciously. Death was not necessarily a bad thing; it just meant change, a large one. But still, before starting a divine quest, a Death card was not something you wanted to see.
Mark took a deep breath as he looked up. Looming there before him was the castle where he had spent his formative years. Where he had met lifelong friends, fought too many battles to count, and somehow graduated. The place where he had seen people die, where he had caused people to die, where he himself had nearly died more than once.
*And apparently,* he grinned, *the place that brings out your horribly mutated and non-existent poetic talents!* With that little brightening thought, he approached the front gates and banged hard on the ancient wood several times. A moment later, the door swung open, creaking slightly as it did. A familiar face stood there, waiting for him.
"Nick. Very good to see you again." Mark said calmly. Nick Dumbledore, currently Hogwarts' Transfiguration professor, nodded. The two of them had never been close friends, but had almost always ended up fighting on the same side against various Dark opponents. And now, Nick had agreed to help him out in this difficult situation.
"Good to see you too, Mark." Nick replied. "But you said that it was something urgent?"
"Good God, Nick, at least let him into the castle!!" A rather familiar female voice rang out, and Nick mock-winced, with a slight smile playing on his lips. A woman walked up behind him and gave Mark a quick hug. Neptune Dumbledore, neƩ Centari, grinned at Mark momentarily. Mark smiled back at the eight-months pregnant Charms professor. She and Nick had been one of Hogwarts' most noticeable couples, and absolutely no one had been surprised when they had gotten married less than six months after Nick's graduation.
After a moment, Neptune grabbed Mark's arm and bodily pulled him inside the castle threshold. "All right, Mark. We've got a room for us to meet in."
"Wow, I....thanks." Mark stammered, not quite believing that two Hogwarts professors had dropped everything to help him with something he wasn't even sure of yet. Admittedly, they were old friends, but still....
"Mark, we trust you." Mark whipped his head around to give Nick a piercing look. The young man stared right back at him, until Mark dropped his gaze, realizing that some of his surprise must have shown on his face. "Look, Mark. Every time you and prophecy gets mentioned in the same breath, we've learned that it's some sort of pan-dimensional potentially-world-destroying crisis in the making. Getting a room set up is the LEAST we could do!" Mark chuckled at Nick's words as they stopped in front of a familiar door.
"Teachers' Lounge." Mark grinned for a moment. "Man, the number of times I tried to
sneak in here, see what they were hiding...."
"Not much." Neptune wryly
remarked. "Ever make it in?"
"Once. Though after I got out of the empty room and back to the dorm, there was a nice little note from Dumbledore about how I should try and make sure I was less detectable next time I tried something in that vein. Freaked me out enough to keep me from breaking curfew for at least a month!" All three former classmates grinned at memories of their school days before heading into the room.
**********
As he entered, Mark looked around him. A handful of people were in the room, waiting for him. He found it hard to keep a proud and happy smile from stretching ear to ear; here was a group of powerful and famous people, willing to help him out. But more importantly--here were his most trusted friends, people who he could and had trusted his life with, and who had the same trust in him.
"Mark!" Mary O'Toole-Hamilton, one of the top Aurors in the business, stood up to greet Mark, her husband and partner Lee at her side. Mark nodded in acknowledgement, his gaze falling over all the people in the room as he walked across the room. There, next to them, was the stage actress and Firewitch Aquayanna Zire. Amy Macnair-Malfoy, head of the Auror's Infirmary, white magician, and considered to be one of the top-ranked duelists in the country. Errol Mahina-Nimbus, owner and CEO of Nimbus Brooms. Kaimana Ualani Nimbus-Mahina, werecat, highly accomplished witch, and the woman that Mark had been in love with for several years.
Kaimana gave Mark a searching glance. In the back of his mind, he could feel her questioning, through a small bond the two of them had shared since the end of school. He simply raised an eyebrow in response, trying to convey a message of 'let me explain to everyone at once' in that one gesture. Kai sighed at him, settling back in the couch as he stood in front of all of them, waiting.
After a moment, Mark cleared his throat. Everybody turned to look at him, waiting. "First, I just want to thank everyone for actually coming. I know you all have important stuff to do, lives of your own, and....well, I just wanted to thank you. Now, I know you're probably wondering just why I called you all--"
"Mark!" Aqua called out, interrupting him. "Look, as much as we all like you, you are NOT cut out for the whole dramatic presentation thing. Take it from someone in the business; just go ahead and tell us why the hell we're all here!" The slight tension in the room was shattered with the laughter generated by that one remark, as Mark turned red and laughed himself.
"Right. Thank you, Aqua, for the ego deflation, oh prima donna. ANYway. This is pretty serious--serious along the lines of those world-threatening quests we always used to get caught up in. This could be as bad as that whole wonderful Crystal of Light thing." He, Aqua, and Kai all involuntarily winced at the mention of that artifact, which had possessed Kai and Aqua, and then very nearly killed all three of them.
"Wait a minute, though." Kai cut in. "You said COULD be as bad. What is that supposed to mean?!"
Mark winced. "Well, that's the tricky part. See, I'm not entirely certain as to what this is going to involve. Look, here's what I know. Yesterday, some girl started telling me to hark and beware, the usual. I was walking away without listening, like usual, except something unusual happened. L-sama spoke to me."
"L-sama?" Neptune asked, mildly confused. "What are you talking about? Who the heck is L-sama?"
"The Lord of Nightmares, Chaos incarnate." Mark responded solemnly. "And one of two deities that I have sworn service to. In fact, I'm probably Her last priest, as far as I know."
"Your GOD spoke to you?" Amy gave Mark a skeptical look. "No offense, Mark, but....God?"
"A god, but yes, it was. And I know it was, because I've heard that
voice before, and it is NOT easy to forget."
"What did it sound like?" Lee asked him.
"Weeeell...." Mark trailed off, "you should be hearing it yourself very soon."
"WHAT?" Nick barked.
"What does THAT mean?"
"Look," Mark sighed,
"L-sama told me that in one day, She would explain what she meant by a
quest. So, as it's almost exactly
twenty-four hours later right now, She should be getting in contact any minute
now."
'Indeed, My Priest.' The voice flowed
through the room, stopping everyone dead in their tracks. Except for Mark.
"Man, L-sama. And they criticize MY so-called flair for the dramatic. Eeesh."
'Who Are These Others, Priest?'
"Them?" Mark gestured casually. "They're my friends. Been through a lotta quests with them, and I trust them with my life. Meaning that anything You want to say to me, they can hear too."
'Very Well. But I Will Explain In My Domain.'
Mark blinked once. "Um....YOUR domain? The Sea of Chaos? No offense, L-sama, but, uh, that's kind of outside reality at large, and no one knows any kind of spell that can get us there."
'I Am Afraid That You Are Mistaken. My Chosen Priests, Always Few In Number, Have Always Received The Knowledge Of The Four Spells Of Giga."
"FOUR?" Mark stood there, stunned into silence momentarily. "I only know two, and I don't LIKE casting them! Heck, Giga Slave could make the whole freaking world go boom!"
'Yes, Giga Slave, The Ultimate Spell Of Destruction. Giga Resurrection, The Ultimate Spell Of Healing. And Two Others, Which You Know, Yet Know Not.'
"Look, just tell me what You're talking about!!"
'Let the Sealed Spell Be Remembered Once More, My Priest.' Mark blinked once in confusion, then suddenly grabbed his head in both hands as a mental block was forceably dissolved. A spell, once learned by him before promptly being sealed away, abruptly floated back into his conscious mind. He then muttered a very annoyed curse or two at the spirit of Lina Inverse, who had obviously done this to him, 'for his own protection', as she would've put it. After regaining his poise, Mark turned and weakly smiled at his former classmates.
"Well, you heard the nice deity.
Let's go see what's so important that She gave me access to the THIRD
Giga spell."
"THIRD?!" Lee cried out in shock. "What, the first two weren't bad
enough?"
"Not to mention on a barely related topic," Aqua chimed in, "how
exactly do we go about seeing a god in person?
I mean, I tend to doubt that they're on the Floo Network."
"As I said before, the third Giga spell--Giga's Gate." Mark sighed, concentrating and gathering the raw magical energy he needed to fuel this spell.
"Power beyond the known powers,
deeper than the deepest mind,
King of Darkness, Queen of Light,
shining like gold upon the Sea of Chaos,
I call upon thee, swear myself to thee,
let the knowledge we possess be as one...
GIGA'S GATE!"
A golden light appeared in the center of the room, coalescing into a round, fluctuating portal. Mark looked back at everyone, then sighed. "All right, then. I'll go in first." And then, without a second thought, he stepped through the portal.
**********
A few moments later, they were all standing on the shores of the Sea of Chaos. The Sea itself hurt to look at for too long--a horizonless expanse of golden energy, liquid light, fluid entropy. It was infinite, but yet, the group of humans was standing on the shore that ringed the Sea. And if you can't wrap your mind around that sort of concept, then you really shouldn't be there in the first place.
Mark looked around for a moment, then down at the Sea. "OK, L-sama, I'm here! WE'RE here! Now, could You please explain?!!"
'Yes. Your Quest Is To Gather The Forbidden. They Are Artifacts Of Forbidden Power, Capable Of Wreaking Inconceivable Damage Upon The Fabric Of Our Reality. I Cannot Track These Artifacts, By Their Very Nature, So You Must Collect Them. You Will Have Aid Delivered To You. Once The Next Step Is Upon Us, I Will Contact You Once Again. Now, You Should Return Home To Begin This Quest.'
"........" Mark stared in silence at the Sea for a moment. "That's all You're going give us, isn't it." It was less of a query than a statement of fact.
'Yes.'
"OK, fine. I'm going. But I want an official protest lodged in whatever passes for books around here, all right?" And with that, the nine humans were transported back to their own realm.
