A flickering light in the darkness. A candle's flame, waving wildly in the cold breeze. Then, the flame slowly began to move. The small boat that the lantern is mounted on begins its trip down river, along with its brethren. In the humid August night, a young woman steps back from the riverbed. A few tears slowly trickle down her cheeks as the light disappears amongst so many others. Nearby, a young couple stand, a light of their own floating away. Then, they turn away, thoughts rising up and away with the candle's smoke....
Order and Chaos
An "Our Hogwarts" Fanfiction
Chapter 3; or, How to Start a Quest Without Even Trying
Everyone looked at each other for a moment. They had just returned from a meeting with the Lord of Nightmares (a goddess of Chaos). The Lord of Nightmares (or L-sama) had charged one of them, Her priest Mark Powell, with a divine quest: seek out "Her Eight children". And his friends, having gone on several quests which had involved the fate of the world back in their school days, had basically agreed to accompany him. The only real problem now was that no one had any idea where to start on this quest.
"....Well." Mark said to no one in particular. "That was spectacularly unhelpful. At least now we know what we're supposed to do, but no idea how to go about doing it! Great. Juuuust great."
"Hey," Aqua interrupted him, "do you mind not griping so much? I mean, you're the priest of L-sama; it's technically YOUR quest! And you whining about this is not exactly improving the attitudes of any of the rest of us!!"
"Besides which," Kaimana continued, "didn't She say that you would receive some sort of aid?" Mark nodded slowly after a moment.
"Yeah, you're right. It'd be nice to know when that aid is supposed to be delivered, but that can wait." At that moment, the clock in the Hogwarts' Teachers' Lounge struck eight.
"Wait a minute..." Lee trailed off. "I know that that whole little conversation couldn't have taken more than about five minutes, ten tops! And we left at about ten or so. So, how exactly does five minutes become ten hours?!!" Mark winced.
"Shit. I forgot about that!"
"Mark..." He shivered and slowly turned around. If Amy was using her 'Voice of Icy Cold Death', she was royally peeved. And that meant everyone else was probably approaching that point, as well. Rapidly, he began to explain.
"Look, that was the Sea of Chaos. CHAOS! It's inherently unstable! According to some of the oldest texts I found that deal with L-sama, space and time are more of an afterthought than anything else in that realm. So time flows at the same rate in there, and it matches up with time in this world. But there's slight....fluctuations. So we go in and come out on the same day, but not at exactly the same time. It's just the way that it works!"
"Fine, fine." Neptune yawned loudly, then looked a little embarrassed. "You all can stay up and talk about this some more, but I am going to hit the sack now." With that, she stepped out, letting the door swing shut behind her.
"Actually, Neptune's probably got the right idea. I mean, there's not much else we're going to accomplish tonight, and casting any sort of Giga spell takes a lot out of you. I'm going to turn in too." Mark decided. "Nick, there a spare room I can crash in for tonight? Or," he grinned momentarily, "Should I just use one of the couches in the Ravenclaw common room, like always?"
The deputy headmaster thought for a moment. "We actually did set aside some spare bedrooms for everyone, if they wanted to use them."
"Sounds good to me," Mark admitted. "Though I do feel obliged to ask where this room of mine is?" Nick nodded, then waved his wand while muttering a few words under his breath. A small star of light appeared before Mark, hovering at about chest-height.
"Just follow that, and you should be fine."
"Right. Thanks. Night, all." Mark kissed Kai goodnight, and headed out the
door, following the little star.
**********
*It was black. Not merely black as in a color, but as in an oppressive, cloying substance that absorbed light and heat, and left only a dead shell behind. In the background, though, a golden sea glistened and splashed. Two men faced each other. One light, one dark, both golden, though one was silver and one was onyx. A woman's voice cried out. A goddess bowed her head in shame. Two auras, identical but opposites collided, and in a flash of light, it all disappeared--*
--and Mark awoke in his bed in a cold sweat, heart racing. He hadn't had a dream like that in quite some time, not one that had seemed so real--and one with such a strong sense about it. He looked around him quickly, sending up a quick Lighting spell to illuminate his room. Nothing. In the back of his mind, he could feel Kai sleeping calmly--no indication that she had felt anything unusual.
*So,* he puzzled, *I have a dream that wakes me up what's practically a blind panic, but that Kai apparently hasn't noticed, despite our bond. Which means that the bond was blocked or some such, and there's not much that could do that--except....divine power. CRAP.* Mark winced. "I really hate it when deities feel the need to send you vaguely prophetic dreams. As if I wasn't already stressed enough about this whole thing...." He glanced at his watch. 5:30 AM. "Well, I'm sure not getting back to sleep after that. Might as well get dressed and roam the castle for old times' sake."
**********
About an hour later, Mark was wandering the halls, a mug of cocoa in hand. "Amazing that the old entrance to the kitchens hasn't been found yet. Or they don't mind enough to seal it up." He mused to himself as he walked through the school. Suddenly, he became aware of a steady rapping coming from his right. He looked over and saw--
"The main gates?" Mark checked his watch. "It's 6:30 in the bloody freaking morning? Who's going to be knocking on the gates at this hour?!" Still, he went over and opened one of the massive doors. Standing there, though, was an oddly familiar figure. He stared at them for a moment, then suddenly seemed to recognize them.
"You! What are you doing here?!" The auburn-haired, green-eyed young woman asked in shock.
"Hey, I graduated here with honors, no less! I'm perfectly within my rights to show up for a surprise alumni visit whenever I please! On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that I've never seen you before, and I don't think you went here, or I'd remember you. So what are YOU doing here? And for that matter--"
"Um, Mark?" He looked over his shoulder. Mary was standing there, giving him and the woman a mildly bemused look. "What, exactly is going on? No, wait. Close the door, and then explain."
"Right." As the young woman stepped inside with a trace of nervousness, Mark closed the door behind her. "Remember how I told you that someone stopped me on the street and started prophesizing? This would be them."
"I see." Mary nodded. "OK, miss..."
"Um...you can call me Laura."
"Right. Laura. Well, you can come this way, have some breakfast with the rest of our little questing party when they wake up, and then we can start with the questions."
"...I see." Laura looked rather nervous at this point. Frankly, Mark didn't blame her at all, as Mary's 'hungry jungle cat' smile was easily visible, even from where he was standing.
**********
"All right." Mark began. Everyone was up, about, fed, and ready to go. Nick and Neptune were absent, teaching classes, but everyone else was there (apparently, 'I have to go help save the world' was a legitimate excuse for time off from work). "Now, Laura? Mind explaining what was going on with the whole 'hark and beware' thing a couple of days ago?"
Lee sighed. "Mark, when you're questioning someone, you don't start out that bluntly! Be smooth!"
"No, that's all right." Laura interrupted him. "I guess the best way to put it, is...well, it's a little hard to believe, I'm afraid."
"Hey, I've just had a talk with a deity about going on a divine quest, and know a spell that can disintegrate a mountain. Not much falls under the category of 'hard to believe' at this point." Mark pointed out. "Now, explanations?"
"Very well. I have something of a talent. I'm a bard by trade, wandering around, telling tales for a living?" Everyone nodded, having been in a bar or inn with a bard at one point or another. Laura acknowledged them, and continued with her story. "I have a slight advantage over the competition, though. I can...well, feel stories. If some sort of huge quest or adventure is about to happen or happening, I can see a lot of what's going on. I must say that you all have provided me with some of the best material I've had in a while. 'The Crystal of Light' is one of the more-requested stories I have. But I digress. I felt that a quest was on the horizon--something bigger and more important than anything I had ever seen in many years--perhaps as important as 'The Fall of the Dark Lord'. And in the details, I could sense that a prophecy was needed to get it started. And once that prophecy was delivered, I could follow the story from there. Did it work, by the way?" She suddenly asked Mark.
"Um....sort of. Not in the way you intended, I get the feeling. So, let me see if I've got the basics correct here, all right?" Laura nodded at him. "You're some sort of magically-powered bard, and you want us to go on this quest to 'find the Forbidden,' so you can make a bestseller out of it. Right? ....Are you all right?" Mark asked suddenly.
Laura's eyes had widened as she sat straight up in her chair. "I beg your pardon, but what did you say
this quest was?"
Mark raised an eyebrow. "Well, the Lord of Nightmares charged me to find some 'Artifacts of Forbidden Power', and my friends have agreed to help me out. Why?" Laura sank back in her chair, skin pale.
"If...if that's your quest, I suddenly think that I may well be more involved than I first thought."
"Excuse me?" Kaimana looked hard at the young woman. "That's just begging for an explanation."
"It's a rather long story..."
"We've got time." Amy responded smoothly.
"Very well." Laura sat up straight, assuming the formal but relaxed stance of a master storyteller. Then, taking a deep breath, she began, holding each audience members' eyes in turn.
"This story may seem rather odd to you, but I promise you that it is all true. It begins at the beginning. The VERY beginning. There are many legends of the creation, but this one holds that the universe was born out of raw chaos, and life itself was born from that event. From that, all life sprang, both plants and animals, in the sea, on land, and in the air. But humans were different.
"The Lord of Nightmares--L-sama--a being of infinite power, appeared for the first time as life itself was begun. As an expression of purest chaos, She decided that the world should be blessed with a species as chaotic and unpredictable as She was--Her chosen race. And as such, She created humanity. But as humanity grew, some of them gained more control over their innate chaos; they were the first mages. And that is where the problem began.
"Nearly eight hundred years ago, a Dark Wizard embarked on a quest. He had learned of the Lord of Nightmares, and desired Her power for his own. To that end, he sought out certain powerful artifacts. These particular objects were hidden to L-sama for one reason: together, they possessed the ability to destroy Her. Only a group of wizards, witches, and other entities, working together for one of the only times in recorded history, were able to stop Salazar Slytherin from his goal.
"L-sama was actually disturbed by these actions, the first to attract Her attention since the creation itself. Unable to touch the forbidden artifacts herself, She entrusted the heroes with disposing of them. Over the centuries, the objects were lost, with one appearing about every century or so, only to be forgotten once more. This was, as you can imagine, of great relief to L-sama.
"But now something has obviously happened to alarm Her once more. So, she has ordered her priest, Mark Powell, onto a quest to save Her, and quite possibly our entire world, from the Forbidden." Laura took a deep breath, breaking the hold her story had had over her audience. "Does that explain my situation somewhat?"
There was a brief pause, before Neptune responded to the question. "It...does clear up some stuff, yeah. But I want to know this: who, exactly, are you, that you know all of this." Laura nodded at the professor politely.
"I...this will be difficult to believe, I am afraid. You see, when L-sama created humanity, several other entities were born with your kind. They were...embodiments of your species' traits, given a life of their own; they were unique ways that humanity looked at, classified, thought about their world. These beings would come to call themselves the Endless, eventually, for they would not end, not until the last human had vanished forever.
"There are seven Endless, each with a different domain: Death, the kind ending. Morpheus, king of dreams. The siblings, Love and Loathing. Emotion, the embodiment of all feelings. Luck, queen of chance. Faith, formed from humanity's need to believe in something. And the seventh sibling--Lore, who was there when your species first arose, who has seen civilizations rise and fall...and who is now telling you this story, the truth of her origins."
Lore stopped then, head bowed, waiting for some sort of judgement from the group of wizards and witches surrounding her. Everyone stared at her for a long moment. Then, Mark spoke. "OK....wow. So, um, Lore, do--"
"Please, for now, you can keep calling me Laura. It's more...human."
"....right. So,
Laura. I'm supposed to collect these
artifacts, to save the world--AGAIN. Got
any clue as to why....or more appropriately, why now?"
"Not a one." She stated plainly. "All that I know is that there must be someone else looking for them, who might well have less altruistic goals then you all would. And so time IS of the essence."
"Uh-huh." Lee nodded. "Do you have any idea where to START looking for the others? I know you said you don't know where they are, but--"
"I don't know where they all are. But I know of one of them, the only one to have be seen within the modern age."
"OK." Mark stood and stretched for a second. "So, now, we know WHAT we're supposed to do, and we have some sort of idea as to a starting point. Frankly, we're way ahead of the game at this point."
"So we're going to find this thing, whatever it is?" Aqua asked rhetorically.
"I guess so. I mean, I'd hate to let down a deity!" Mark grinned, prompting everyone else to smile back. Behind his grin, though, was a cold fear that settled in his gut. It might just be his cynicism, but he had the feeling it might be one of the last times that he would be able to laugh with his friends....
