Night of the Broken Glass
Side Story: Faces of A Mirror
[A/N: Plasma's take on how she got stuck with Kendra, and what happened before it all happened. Enjoy.]
[Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the original stuff. I own whatever I write/create. Don't steal and don't sue.]
Where did it all go wrong?
Maybe that's just a little harsh. Having the little kid as a way to get around isn't that bad. She's interesting to talk to, and hearing her laugh is pretty nice. I shock people that bother her to get her snickering the rest of the day.
No, I don't hate her. She just bugs me sometimes because she won't let me destroy that Talionis boy. Or give Snape a good shock when he needs one. She keeps saying something about being fair to everyone, or something like that.
In any case, I suppose what I meant was what happened before I met Kendra.
Introductions are most likely in order. I am Plasma, supreme elemental of lightning. All other elementals, such as a lightning-mirror, are beneath me and obey anything I say. When I wasn't imprisoned in the Lightning Orb.
The very beginning of the story is billions of years ago. When sentient life began to emerge on this planet, magic was truly 'born' as humans would put it. The small magical beasts were the first things to appear with normal creatures, such as bats and insects.
Magical beasts evolved much more rapidly than normal creatures. Man evolved from monkeys over a time of millions of years, whereas dragons evolved from their tiny single-cell forms to their large, fire-breathing species in the short time of around two thousand years.
However, with this development, it seemed as though the pending human race would be wiped off the face of the Earth without a trace.
I was watching when the first dragons ripped the evolving simians to shreds.
Have I mentioned that the five supreme elementals are entirely immortal? Rather simple to deduce, isn't it?
That's beyond the point, however. As I said, I was watching at the futile attempts the half-man, half-ape race tried to stop the dragons and vampires and such.
However, there was always a small group of simians that managed to get away faster and kept on living. They were the first wizards and witches. They were not among the ranks of Merlin and Ptolemy, but had the beginnings of magic flowing in their blood.
At this time where humans were prey and fairies flew without care, we elementals were in physical form. There were five of us, and we represented the things future humans would appear to look like. None of us were eldest, though some of us were more mature or just preferred to not play as much.
My brethren consisted of Pyro, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Deus and Deia, our masters and creators, gave us our names, telling us that the humans that would come to be would use these words to describe what came from our powers.
The person in my brethren that was closest and furthest from me was Pyro, the supreme elemental of fire. He and I were considering strongest and oldest to our brothers and sisters, because we rarely engaged in play or things like that. Humans could never match his elegance and beauty, and I was just the same.
We crafted the same weapons as the times grew more violent, and we still use the same one to this day. His flame-red hair was long, just as mine was, and even our style of dress was alike. His red-bodied and yellow-edged robes were a match to my white and blue.
However, we were at opposite ends of a long stretch that was our beliefs.
Pyro was adamant in his arguments that the evolving apes should be defended, and that the magical beasts had to be stopped in their human-feasting ways.
I was against my brother, saying that if the humans were to survive, they should be able to without our strength.
However, it was a majority against me—four to one—that decided that humans were to be protected. And since Deus and Deia had given us the sense to follow what the majority said, I followed what my brethren had voted on.
Over the millennia, I grew more and more irritated with humans and their superiority complex. It seemed they fancied themselves the supreme beings on the earth; stronger than the wicked basilisk, and trying to defy even the gods.
No creature is better or equal to the gods. Deus and Deia are the supreme beings in the world, creating both darkness and light to make a balance in the world. We elementals were created as a lower level of ruling, to keep the balance intact, and to make sure that magic and mortal never destroyed the other.
Time passed, and the humans began to populate the planet. It was around this time that my brethren and I noticed that the more unfortunate of creatures could not help but be hunted and destroyed. Vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters were being slaughtered by mortal and magic alike. And rumors began to travel across the planet, telling of five magic beings that controlled the elements and would grant a wish if captured.
The first part of the rumors was true, but I would kill any creature that dared to try and 'capture' me.
In any case, even I was worried about the clans of creatures that were being hunted, and now even we elementals were being searched for.
It was my brother Ventus that suggested the best solution to the problem. He had the idea of creating a world that could be reached, but only through special portals that only magic could pass through.
Ventus created the idea of Shadeaux. It was an intricate plan, but would require much work. All five of us set to work, carefully combining our powers to create the land, water, air, fire, and lightning the world needed to be almost the same as Earth. We had finished our world for the dying species.
The only thing left was to create a portal to Shadeaux. It was the innocent little Aqua that suggested mirrors to be the entrance.
Shadeaux was finished.
We went to every clan of vampire, werewolf, and shapeshifter to tell them of this place were they could live in peace. However, we had already agreed on a few things.
There would be no more than five mirrors in the world—one for each elemental to 'claim as their own'. No one had a specific portal, nor did we act as tollbooth-watchmen. The acceptance of a clan into Shadeaux was another thing we had to agree upon.
Every shapeshifter clan was almost unanimously voted in. They were all of noble actions and ways. They would even help keep peace in their new home.
As we came to the vampires and werewolves, we began to argue and disagree more. There were certain clans that I found unacceptable—they would only cause trouble and damage this world we were offering them.
Most often my brothers Ventus and Pyro would disagree with my sisters Aqua and Terra. I was put in the middle, but I never cared. I often agreed with the two that said not to allow the clans. I had helped create this world, and I did not want unworthy creatures destroying the balance in it.
Pyro was always on the side that wanted the creatures allowed. As he put it, I was like a little selfish child that had built something and didn't want anyone else touching it. And I always replied that he could go to his hot home.
With these continuing arguments, Pyro and I grew further and further apart. He began saying that all magical beasts and creatures should be allowed to live in Shadeaux. He even wanted certain wizard officials to be allowed to see Shadeaux.
And this—as Kendra puts it—is where I went mental.
I hated the fact that my brother wanted such creatures to be allowed. It was not because I hated everything or thought I was superior. It was because I believed that allowing all these creatures that had been at war with each other before to live in another place would only cause more pain and suffering for others. I had seen enough of this warring, and I decided to make it end.
To many, including my brothers and sisters, it seemed as though I had gone completely mad. I was going to go through the world, destroying the creatures that I found unworthy to live in a world of peace.
Now I look back on it, as I tell Kendra this story, I agree with my brethren. I…
With this plan I had, my brothers and sisters had no other choice.
Deus and Deia had said to us as they sent us out to protect balance and harmony these words:
All perils that befall your family shall happen to you. You may disagree, or quarrel, but when one is hurt, all of you are hurt. And when one sacrifices, all of you sacrifice.
My brethren knew that the only way to possibly stop me was to imprison my powers to a place that I could not escape from.
My brothers and sisters gathered with each other and agreed on the only way. The final step in stopping me was to sacrifice their bodies and put all of their being into stones that couldn't be broken from within.
It worked. We were all trapped inside the elemental stones, unable to get out, and no one knew what had happened.
I think I went mad a few times in the five thousands years that followed. I was insane with rage, screaming to nothingness to be let out. But nothing would happen. Silence began to overcome me in the last few centuries, but every so often, I would cast a weak astral search to find a wizard or witch with suitable power to see the dreams I would cast.
Kendra Potter was the one that finally heard my screaming.
I tricked her with dreams of the Dark Lord Anton and convinced her to go looking in the forbidden room the headmaster of Hogwarts had stored one of the mirrors to Shadeaux. The traps the old man lay were only enough to hinder Kendra's shapeshifter friend. Anton himself led Kendra to me, and I suppose that one of these days, Kendra and I will have to deal with this man who defies my masters.
When Kendra took hold of the Lightning Orb, the stone was absorbed into her body, and my soul and power was released into her. The fast possession was too much for the young human to handle, and I overpowered her soul.
Anton tried to kill us, but I moved us. My new body was quick and spry, just as my body had been all those thousand of years ago. I had not my beauty or stature, but I had a body, and that was what mattered to me.
The Dark Lord fled, not wanting to battle, but negotiate with Kendra. As the coward vanished, I started towards the place the mirror was.
Kendra was annoying to me when I first met her. She asked me who and what I was, and told me to leave her body. If I could have a body of my own, I would have. Unfortunately, if I were to leave, I would be stuck in that damnable stone again.
Until my brothers and sisters acquired their own body-mates, I would be caught inside the orb. However, if they all became body-mates with other humans, we could recreate our bodies and become the supreme elementals again.
But Kendra wouldn't take no for an answer. She fought as valiantly as she could, and managed to gain control of our body. She had to give me partial control because she couldn't force me into total submission.
As we returned to the room the mirror was in, she was frightened for her friends. The boy was unconscious from the attacks of the water and fire imps, and the girl was having extreme trouble fending all of them off, even if she was a shapeshifter.
I'm not sure what happened, but it seemed to me that Kendra tapped into my power out of fear and hope. Lightning destroyed all of the imps, and Kendra pulled her two friends back through the mirror.
Both of her friends were unconscious when we appeared from the mirror. Kendra just lay back against the frame of the mirror, greeted her teachers when they found her, and fell asleep.
This little human was strong in soul. She kept me from completely controlling our body, but I managed to slip past her once in a while. As the time passed, there came word and thought of the finals of the Hogwarts Quidditch tournament. I was in a fit of rage, eager to destroy Kendra's presence inside our body. I gathered my energies to create a maelstrom of unheard of proportions. The rain turned the field beneath the broomsticks to a sea of mud, and the wind was equal to a hurricane.
Kendra screamed to me to stop, to just agree to a compromise. But my rage was still in full bloom. I wanted her soul destroyed so I could…
As Kendra leapt from her broom to capture the Snitch, I caused lightning to strike the golden ball. Because we had to share one body, when our body passed out, we would both fall into that darkness.
Our mindscape was the only place I could talk to Kendra when we were unconscious. We came to a truce, and there was a turning point in my emotions.
When I tried to shove the human into the fountain in our mindscape, she pulled me in with her. I was about to strike her for being a brat, but she only smiled and held out a hand to seal the truce. I took her hand and shook.
At some point in time, I began pondering. I agreed with my brothers and sisters when I thought about it. I was angry with myself about trying to do something that an insane villain would do. I was angry with myself about being so childish.
I want my brothers and sisters back. I want to see my masters again.
I just want them back.
—to be continued—
