Apotheosis
Chapter 35
Draco grinned. The shared consciousness with one of his many duplicates gave him an excellent view of the events in Laketown. It seemed that Maximus had bitten off more than he could chew. He sipped his tea and looked around at the Muggles milling about on the street outside the bar.
"Muggle!"
The Muggle barkeep gave Draco an odd look. He didn't understand, but he would understand soon enough.
"Is that a new nickname you Brits have for bartenders?"
Draco chuckled, but didn't answer his question. He gestured at the people outside. "You're fortunate. I've decided to share a secret with you."
The Muggle raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Draco nodded. "I look outside and marvel at the beauty of it all. Billions of Muggles just living their lives, oblivious. In the old days we tried to live among you. It was a disaster, so we decided to keep living right under your noses in disguise."
"What loony bin did you escape from?" the Muggle snorted. "What the hell are Muggles? Are you some kind of whacko who believes in aliens?"
Ignoring his question, Draco continued. "I'd like to share a revelation I had after my transformation. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realised that you are not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet develops a natural equilibrium with the environment, but you Muggles don't. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on the planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Muggles are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure."
Draco saw the Muggle pick up one of their quaint substitutes for the Floo connection. He was probably calling the police.
"It is time for you Muggles to know and accept the truth, because I'm going to put an end to this illusion, this reality, whatever you want to call it." Draco drew his wand and pointed it at the Muggle. "I've always found it most entertaining to read those Muggle stories about Muggles having died inexplicably. The irony of the matter is that one Muggle actually found out the truth, and it was printed in one of those…what do you call them…tabloid newspapers? Yes, he found out about us, and we didn't even have to erase his memory. He was declared to be insane and locked up. I think he killed himself after a few months of having been fed mind-numbing chemicals."
"Yeah, he was probably your cellmate, wasn't he?" the Muggle sneered, pulling a firearm out from behind the counter. "Now you just sit there. The police will are on their way."
With a twitch of the wand, the Muggle weapon transformed into a serpent. It was a bit of a cliché, but Draco's father had taught him that many Muggles, like wizards, had an irrational fear of serpents. Apparently it was linked to many religious myths from around the world.
"Oh God," the Muggle gasped, throwing the snake away.
Draco laughed. "People have been calling me that an awful lot lately. Who knows, perhaps I'll leave some Muggles alive for them to worship me and give their pitiful existences some meaning. You, however, won't live to see the day. Avada Kedavra."
He gave the dead body one last look as he pulled on his Portkey Glove. "Too bad you won't have your own article in one of the Muggle magazines. Everyone will have bowed to me by the time they'd print it." With a wiggle of his thumb and pinkie he disappeared, and reappeared in Yamato's hideout.
He found the necromancer ranting away at Wormtail, though the other wizard had no idea what Yamato was so upset about. Between his mastery of the Japanese language after assimilating a Japanese wizard, and his Mind Reading ability, Draco knew exactly what the fuss was about. He guessed he would have felt the same way… before his rise to godhood, that is. Yamato had secretly created an army of both mechanical and flesh golems right under Anastasiou's nose, as well as that flying ship. Maximus had known about the existence of the flesh golems and the ship, since he was supposed to command them in battle after usurping Anastasiou's organisation. But he wasn't supposed to have struck out on his own like he had, taking all those resources with him and wasting them all in one go.
Draco let out a sight of vexation and turned to the necromancer. "Oh, shut up about it already. Did you actually think he'd try to take on the entire wizarding world on his own? He had access to your resources, so he used them. Be grateful that he didn't take everything. How'd you know what was happening at Laketown, anyway?" he asked, giving Yamato a chance to verbally explain things. He'd sensed that his constant Mind Reading was unnerving.
"Did you honestly believe I would have left something as magnificent as the command ship without a way to monitor proceedings?"
"You should've built in something that would allow you to control it from a distance," Draco quipped. "That would've allowed you to recall the ship when things were going wrong."
"I did," Yamato replied tersely.
"And?"
"It must have been destroyed by the time I decided to recall the ship."
"Oh, so that's why the ship plunged into the northern part of Lake Michigan."
Yamato's slanted eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"
Draco smirked. "I was there."
"What do you mean, you were there?" Wormtail asked, frowning.
"I mean, I am omnipresent. I have hundreds of faces, and I can be in hundreds of places at the time, either in my own appearance or in other appearances. I am a god. I can tell that you both think I've lost my mind. But the truth is my consciousness and power goes beyond what either of you can imagine. Hit me with the Avada Kedavra and I will not die. Poison me and I will not perish."
"So? Voldemort also survived the Avada Kedavra. And so did Harry Potter," Yamato said.
Though his insolence was getting on Draco's nerves, he kept himself composed. "The magic used for them to accomplish that is feeble compared to the magic that now courses through my being." He paused as a thought struck him. "No, 'being' no longer describes me. I am an entity, I am timeless. And since my words don't seem to convince you, perhaps a small demonstration is in order."
Draco briefly concentrated, calling out to one of his duplicates. Simultaneous gasps from Wormtail and Yamato confirmed his success.
He decided to let his duplicate do some of the talking. "How is this possible, you wonder? If you would make yourselves comfortable, I will tell you a little story. It begins with someone very much like me. He was like me because he too wanted to take his fate into his own hands. His name was Korumu. He and his twin brother were the offspring of a Nalhati named Warold, an immortal being from the Mirror Realm. The Nalhati are the beings from which Draconians are descended. Ex-immortal, in Warold's case, for he gave up eternity to breed with a witch."
"Yes, Korumu was half-Nalhati, or first generation Draconian, whatever you want to call it. I congratulate you on your brief moment of enlightenment," the original Draco continued mockingly, after both he and his duplicate sensed the question on Wormtail's mind. "He was a first generation Draconian, with powers that went beyond anything normal wizards could do, yet weaknesses inherent to his mother's origins. Quite rightfully, he decided to take his fate in his own hands and eliminate those weaknesses. Korumu outmanoeuvred his fool of a father and drew all his energy and abilities into a bloodstone—not a natural one, but one of his own creation. Then he proceeded to bind the lives of thousands of mortals to the stone. As long as the mortals lived and procreated, the master of the stone would be bound to the lives of their children, and they would be bound to his existence and perpetuate it unwittingly. Immortality from mortality, a delightful paradox, don't you agree?"
"And this stone gives you different powers?" Yamato asked. He nodded to the duplicate. "Possession?"
"Much more than that. Common possession is limited to one being at a time, and the results are not as impressive as this. Like I said before, it also gives me many faces. If I so choose, they will take on their original form." He willed the duplicate to its original form, and soon his duplicate transformed into a middle aged wispy-thin witch with downy blonde hair. "She works at the office for merpeople relations. Her workplace is near the site where your ship went down. I saw it through her eyes."
"You still haven't told us how you gained the power."
"You interrupted me, didn't you?" Draco snapped. "The bloodstone was among the gems taken from Caer Sidi."
"Impossible. All those rocks were of poor quality, and worthless. There was no magic in any of them."
"You're very arrogant, little man. Because you couldn't detect its powerful magic, you dismiss my story as impossible? Yet you see the evidence before you."
Yamato scowled. "Then do tell us, how did you find it?"
"From their father, Korumu and his brother inherited the gift to read minds. Only someone with that ability would hear the stone's whispers and recognise it for what it really is. That someone was me, which just proves what I've always believed and was the main reason I didn't follow the so-called Dark Lord around like a dog. This form of Mind Reading is a gift that survives only in the oldest wizarding lineage. Purebloods are meant to rule the world. And Tom Riddle, after all, was only a half-blood," he added derisively.
Yamato chuckled. "I must disagree. If I am not mistaken, Wolfe and his sister's paternal grandmother is a Muggle-born witch. That makes them half-bloods, yet they are the ones who inherited the gift from Ironheart, not you."
Draco decided to graciously pardon the necromancer's insolence yet again, though his patience was wearing thin. Still, he had to accommodate the lesser being's narrow mind. "Everything happens for a reason. When Wolfe and I were in the presence of the stone, it was I, the pureblood, to whom it called."
"Only because Wolfe was busy corrupting Maximus. You weren't even a natural Mind Reader. It was an accident. A fluke."
"It was my destiny!" Draco hissed.
"And you are destined to become immortal and invincible? Will the power of the stone provide that for you? If so, why isn't Korumu still around, hmmm?" Yamato drawled.
Draco grinned. "You ought to show me more respect, Yamato. Do you honestly believe that the feeble jinx on the contract will harm me now? It would be like a stunner on a dragon. No," he corrected himself, "it would have even less of an impact."
Yamato blanched. He'd clearly forgotten to take that into account. Yet he still chose to defy Draco. "You still haven't answered my question."
"Then perhaps I ought to show you the bigger picture. It is time you become a part of greatness!"
Draco Disapparated and re-appeared next to Yamato. A few heartbeats later, he was staring at as his own likeness. The considerable knowledge of the necromancer was added to the collective consciousness, and Draco realised that he should have added Yamato much sooner. There were some very interesting memories in Yamato's head.
He turned to Wormtail, who was whimpering as he cowered in a corner of the chamber. "You needn't worry, Wormtail. If you don't make a nuisance of yourself, you'll have nothing to worry about. Besides, there is nothing you can contribute that I don't already have. I see you're still wondering about Yamato's question, yet you are afraid to ask."
"Forgive me," Wormtail squeaked.
Draco pursed his lips. "I should expect blind faith from you, but since you have shown proper respect, I shall reward you by easing your mind. It took an alliance of Nalhati to defeat him. They combined their powers to transform him into some sort of tree, or trap him in one, and settled around the site, making it inaccessible to mortals."
"The Immortal's Circle," Wormtail whispered, surprising Draco even further. He'd underestimated Pettigrew.
"Yes, the Immortal's Circle. And though this isn't mentioned in Pecos Bill's book, I suspect it was Korumu who created Potter's duplicate. On the matter of your question, the answer should be obvious now. There are no more immortals left to stop me. Now go prepare yourself. I will soon gather all my avatars, and we will crush the Order of Illumination at Laketown. Maximus has served his purpose in softening them up well."
Wormtail nodded and scampered away, leaving Draco alone with his thoughts. Maximus… he might pose a threat. The stone contained the memories of another Mind Reader who had discovered the stone. Merlin had defeated Zerbino by breaking the bond between him and Korumu's stone. Maximus didn't seem to have quite that much power, but he came much closer than Draco was comfortable with. The same went for Potter, if the information Draco had about the showdown between Potter and his double was accurate. Of the two, Maximus had always worries Draco the more, because he'd shown no weaknesses during his life. But Potter's Achilles heel was well known. Draco had felt something akin to disappointment when he'd felt the two powerful magical auras fade and finally blink out. He'd wanted the pleasure of killing Harry Potter Personally after having humiliated him in front of his friends.
He'd almost been disappointed when he'd felt their powerful magical auras fade away. He'd wanted to personally kill Harry Potter after humiliating him in front of his friends.
Draco dug into his pocket and produced the ring Potter had given Ginny Weasley. Before Draco had been forced to leave the so-called legitimate wizarding world when she overcame the influence of his enslavement ring, he'd made sure to hide it as well as he could. He'd kept it in the hollow sole of his left boot, and transfigured the pair of boots into different looking ones, effectively removing the already barely visible seam and perfectly hiding the ring until he un-transfigured the boots. Even if someone would have discovered the magic residue and un-transfigured the boots, wizards still tended to overlook non-magical hiding places if the magic search turned up empty. As an added precaution, he'd wrapped the ring in a tiny Cloth of Obscuring—a handy artefact from his smuggling days—to make things more difficult for a certain annoying ex Auror with a magic eye.
He reached into the pocket of his robes and took out the box containing the ring. He opened it and looked it over critically. It was a sorry looking thing, really. The slightly tarnished silver was of poor quality and the green zircon stone, which was probably supposed to pass for an emerald had a flaw that Draco could plainly see with his superior vision. However, even lesser beings would have been able to spot it with a little magnification. He shook his head. What kind of a loser would give his girlfriend such a cheap trinket? Of course, having grown up in a burrow, Ginny probably hadn't noticed any of that.
"Hurry up, Wormtail," Draco bellowed. It was time to show Ginny the magnitude of her mistake. No one rejected a Malfoy, especially not one who was meant for godhood.
*
Hermione was sure that all the people who could have got away had done so. An hour and a half had passed since the battle's end. No new injured witches and wizards were coming in, which was a good thing because Hermione had her hands full. After stabilising the most critically injured, the healers had now moved onto the non-life threatening injuries.
Carlos Montalban failed to suppress a scream as Hermione popped his dislocated shoulder back in place. It had been pulled out of its socket when an unexpected ally showed up and caught him and Rashid Farouk before they hit the ground.
"It's only a dislocated shoulder, you sissy," George Ramos teased, before he himself yelped girlishly when Lilia dabbed the cut in his cheek with a stinging disinfectant.
"A dislocated shoulder is worse than that little cut of yours," Montalban retorted. "You're the sissy!"
"It was surprise, not pain!" Ramos replied smoothly. Then he turned to Lilia, who had her wand pressed against his cheek. "My cheek feels numb," he pouted, lazily tracing his fingers over her knee. "That cut was pretty deep, and maybe it severed some nerves. I need you to test if it still has feeling."
Lilia smiled sweetly as she finished healing the cut, and put her wand away. She brushed his cheek with her thumb and leaned forward, before she suddenly reared back treated him to a resounding slap across the cheek.
"What was that for?" Ramos asked, cradling his cheek and looking outraged.
"When I'm around to patch you up I suddenly am good enough for you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that witch you were ogling at the Quidditch supplies store. Don't you dare deny it! You went out with her a couple of weeks before the Concordians kicked us out. I know because I followed you."
"You followed me? Whatever happened to no strings attached rule? That was your plan, remember?"
"It was more of a guideline."
"So the rule only applied if it was to your benefit?"
That's not the point. If you'd been honest about it, I wouldn't have minded too much. But you denied it at first. Then you went out with her behind my back!"
"Bullshit, that's exactly the point. It was okay for you to go out with that Hippogriff rancher."
"I only did it after you went out with that bimbo!" Lilia said shrilly.
Hermione felt Montalban shake with silent laughter as she continued to apply pressure on his shoulder while her healing spell soothed and tightened the ligaments around his shoulder again. Some of the injured townspeople, who lay around them, turned on their cots to look at the commotion.
"What do you want from me anyway? If you want us to see each other exclusively, say so!" Ramos yelled, his face reddening in anger. "I'm sick and tired of your 'holier than thou' attitude. If there's anything I learned today, it is that life is too short. Either we get together or we move on."
"Fine, I want us to see each other exclusively."
"Me too."
"All right then."
"Okay," Ramos said awkwardly. "So it's just you and me."
"Yeah," Lilia nodded. She had noticed everyone looking at them, and was blushing. The awkwardness was short lived, and soon the scowl was back on her face. "What are you all looking at? Mind your own business!"
The wizards and witches quickly looked away.
"Keep it down, Lilia," Captain Sharif said, picking his way through the crowd of injured.
"Sorry, Captain," Lilia said.
"Did Captain Faust find any survivors?" Hermione asked. She was afraid of what the answer might be. She couldn't fathom how much damage the trolls had done before the large ship suddenly left, lifting the anti-magic field and granting the Rangers access to the use of their wands again. When that happened, the scale had tipped in favour of the Rangers and the trolls were quickly defeated by the surgical curse work of Faust and the veteran Combat Rangers, striking the trolls where their armour was thinnest.
"It's horrible," Sharif said sadly. "Some people were able to hide from the trolls, but the Dementors got to them before the Patronus Bomb finished them off."
Hermione remembered the gigantic explosion of silvery light. The bomb had nearly finished everyone off. Aside from the vast amounts of positive energy overwhelming the Dementors and turning them to dust, the shock wave had blown everyone off their feet. Fortunately the point of detonation had been over their enemies, so the trolls and flesh golems had suffered worse. Captain Faust had handily taken advantage of that. While the trolls were stunned, he'd led a handful of veteran Rangers in a quick thrust that allowed them to kill or otherwise incapacitate over a dozen trolls, with no losses of their own.
"Did we lose anyone?" Ramos asked anxiously. "The people on the Hurricane?"
"Gudrun Kelly is okay. She was very lucky and got away with some scrapes and bruises. We'd have lost Valentina Malkova if Holly hadn't climbed into the Hurricane's wreckage to stabilise her with that special power of hers. She's still in bad shape, but we'll be able to save her now."
Hermione smiled. That made three Rangers who had been saved by Holly.
"What about Emir Badra?" Ramos asked.
Hermione didn't really know the quiet Tunisian wizard that well. All she knew was that he would become a Field Operative for the Intelligence Division upon completing his training. Being in the same recruitment class, Ginny and Ramos knew him better. But there had been two others on the Hurricane whom she'd known better. Vania Goumas, the Greek witch with the raven curls, and Helga.
"It was too late for him," Sharif said quietly. "Helga Olsen didn't make it either. Vania Goumas was hurt pretty badly. She broke six ribs and both her legs and got some internal injuries, but she'll be okay."
Hermione felt ill. The cold and harsh reality had set in again after the brief moment of relief they'd all had felt at still being alive. Knowing that Ginny and Ron were okay had made her forget about everything except Harry. The Eurus had flown after the centipede ship when it fled the scene. Commander Ironheart was still there out looking for him.
Helga…the image of the large woman's rosy-cheeked face wormed it way it Hermione's mind's eye. She sighed. At least Helga and Nathan would be together again.
"We lost Lei Wong too, on the ground," Sharif continued. "I've got Irina watching Yue, in case her grief gets the better of her. And Donovan told me that Quist's gone. I'm not sure how that happened. All Donovan told me is that he sacrificed himself to detonate the Patronus bomb."
They'd lost so many good people again. And maybe they'd lost Harry too. Hermione glanced around, searching for Ginny. She found her at the edge of the open-air field hospital, accompanied by Heidi, who was carrying an infant. They were going from bed to bed, asking the more lucid wounded some questions and showing them the baby.
"You're healed," Hermione patted Montalban on the shoulder. "Pavel's our burn expert. Let him have a look at your thigh. The fire that hit you was magical, and healing such burns with standard spells has been known to make them worse." Then she walked over to Heidi and Ginny, who had progressed on to the next wizard in line and were asking him questions.
As Hermione got closer, she caught part of the conversation. "…were two little boys of this age, but the Beaumonts are on vacation and I'm sure they took their kid with them, so it's got to be the Sullivans' kid. His mother had very long curly brown hair and a birthmark on her left cheek, right?"
"Yes," Ginny nodded.
"Oh dear," the wizard sighed. "I saw Sullivan himself being cut down by one of those monsters. This child is an orphan."
"Did this Sullivan have any relatives living here?" Heidi asked.
"I wouldn't know. Sullivan's Muggle-born. But his wife wasn't. I think the kid would be better off with her family than with Muggles. Her name was Marlene," the wizard hesitated and frowned, After a few moments he gave up. "She was from an old wizarding family in Germany, but for the life of me I can't remember her maiden name."
"Faust?" Heidi ventured. "Mesmer… Knorr von Rosenroth… Reuchlin… Boehme… Maier… Khunrath… Kircher… Von Nettesheim—"
"That's the one!" the wizard nodded. "Von Nettesheim."
"Marlene von Nettesheim? Are you sure?" Heidi asked, gazing at the sleeping infant in her arms and gently reaching up to stroke its brow.
"Yes ma'am," the wizard answered gravely.
"You knew her?" Hermione asked Heidi.
Heidi shook her head. "Not really. My grandmother is a Von Nettesheim. Her father is my mother's first cousin, so she was my second cousin. I've only seen her twice in my life. The last time was some ten years ago at a wedding. Her aunt—my mother's cousin—was marrying an Australian Kelly. Matt was there too." She paused, running her fingertips through the baby's tuft of soft brown hair. "He has the von Nettesheims' hair, just like his mother. Marlene must have changed a lot while growing up. I didn't recognise her immediately, but now that we've put a name to the face, I'm sure it's her. I remember the birthmark. I'll have to send word to my family. That is, assuming they'll get custody?" Heidi looked at the wizard inquisitively.
"I don't know about these things, ma'am. I sell cauldrons and cauldron accessories. You'd have to ask Sam Peasegood. He handles these kinds of situations at the Ministry. 'Course, I'm not sure he survived. Last time I saw him, he was boxed in by some of those monster zombies."
"You take care of him for the time being," Hermione told Heidi.
"But I don't know anything about babies."
"Did you check him for injuries?"
"Yes," Ginny said. "He's healthy and unharmed."
"Then all you need to do for the time being is feed him, change him and bathe him. There's some special Granian milk on the Typhoon. Its Captain Yee's, but she wouldn't mind giving it up for a good cause. It's the only thing I can think of that comes close to baby formula or mother's milk. It's very wholesome and it can be drunk by people who are lactose intolerant."
"Unless we can find something suitable for babies on the island," Ginny said.
"Don't hold your breath," the wizard said. "There used to be one such shop on the northern island, but it got flattened too."
"What about this island?"
"Nope."
Ginny shrugged. "Granian milk it is, then."
"Go to the Typhoon and ask Captain Yee where it is," Hermione said as she sent Heidi on her way. "Ginny, are there any more injured that require our attention?"
"Lots of them. But we're running out of supplies rather quickly. We've begun to set up Portkeys to the Leeds Point Hospital, but I've heard that they're having trouble coping with the influx of injured too, because they already got two dozen or so from Agua Caliente."
"Why did they send them all the way to New Jersey?"
"The other wizarding hospital in Denver couldn't cope with all of them. And Agua Caliente got off easy compared to Laketown," Ginny explained. "On the bright side, Canada's willing to take in some of the injured. Some Canadian Ministry wizards are already here with two-way Portkeys. See the wizard who's gawking at Holly? He's one of them."
Indeed, the wizard was gawking at Holly, though it wasn't really surprising, because Holly looked like an angel with her wings out. Producing the wings must have caused Holly's dress to be ripped, because she was topless. It was probably the main reason why the wizard was staring.
"I'd better get her covered up," Ginny sighed. "Harry will have a fit if he sees her like that."
Hermione was pleasantly surprised to have heard no bitterness in Ginny's tone when she'd mentioned Holly. She also drew hope from Ginny's conviction that Harry would be back among them soon. "You do that. I'll be making some rounds to see if I can help some more."
For the next hour or so she helped Evgenia Ivanova and Pavel Kozminski with the treatment of several badly burnt witches and wizards, and she made a list of people stable enough to weather a Portkey ride to the Canadian wizarding clinics. When the field of injured had thinned out considerably, she heard the telltale hum of an approaching Cruiser. The Eurus picked a clear landing spot and settled down.
Ron was the first one down the ramp, and he was running towards her. Hermione stumbled across the terrain as quickly as her tired legs would allow her to, and found herself engulfed in a fierce hug soon after.
"I'm glad you're okay," she said. The tension drained out of her now that he was back in her arms.
"I was so worried about you," Ron replied.
"Harry?"
"There wasn't a trace of the ship in Lake Michigan. We think it got sucked into the Portal to the Mirror Realm—you know, the one Pecos Bill talked about. We nearly were sucked in when we went down to look for it. We asked the local merpeople about it, but their nearest community is pretty far from the portal, so they didn't see it happen. We can't be completely sure—"
"But you think it happened."
"Everyone on the Eurus does," Ron said. "Don't worry about Harry. I'm sure he's fine. He'll get back to us sooner or later."
*
His inner ear told him that he was the right side up. The water drained out of the ship, and he deactivated his Bubble-head Charm when the water level dropped below his chin. Not quite knowing how he came to hold two wands, he squeezed them both into the special holster at his side. Then he noticed the slight burn marks on his soggy clothes as waded through the receding water and made his way to an overhead hatch. He remembered the fireball that had raced towards him, and he knew he should have been more badly burnt.
He tensed the muscles in his legs and leapt out through the hatch with remarkable ease. He'd never done it that easily. He looked up and saw the light violet sky above. Pastel yellow clouds lazily drifted overhead. Part of him was confused, yet part of him knew this place. He'd been here before.
A sudden dizziness overtook him and he went down on all fours. Something was fundamentally wrong. There was something inside of him, something that didn't belong there. He took a deep breath and retched. The anomaly struggled to remain inside, but it was no match for his new power. Its smoky form poured out of his mouth and nose. It reformed and tried to worm its way back in, but he wouldn't let it. With a pitiful shriek it dissipated into nothingness.
He felt much better, but he was still confused. So many thoughts were coursing through his head. He had to calm himself and try to make sense of it all. Looking over the railing of the deck, he saw dry land. It was over a mile away, but he knew he could make it easily. Before he knew it, he was floating three feet above the deck of the ship. He was already getting the hang of this. It was easy, and reminded him of the first time on a broomstick. It had come to him quite naturally.
Focussing on the landmass ahead, his body shot forwards. He willed himself to go faster and faster as he skimmed over the water's surface. He'd never gone quite that fast with a broomstick, and he approached the beach much faster than he'd anticipated he would. The landing was hard, but his body could handle it. He felt like he was made of enchanted dwarven steel.
A cry echoed over the waves. Something was after him. His eyesight was beyond anything human as well. He could see the creature in detail over a mile away. It had a cruel-beaked bird's head and scaly wings were protruding from its back, flapping with steady beats and propelling her over the water. It was the form of an angry Veela, although he wasn't sure whether she was really angry. Maybe she was just wanted to get to land without getting wet. Either way, angry or not, she wasn't much of a threat to him.
He patiently waited for her arrival. She landed and transformed into a beautiful woman. He'd forgotten that she'd been on the ship with him, but it was all coming back to him now.
She had left with him after Anastasiou's destruction. She had been the parasite's lover and had resided with Anastasiou, yet he knew she wasn't inherently evil. He wasn't sure what to do about her. The look in her eyes made it more than obvious how she felt about him.
"Don't leave me!" she said softly.
He shook his head. They had no basis for a relationship. He hadn't been in control when they had been intimate. Maybe she didn't know. "Maximus is gone. I am—" Who was he? He looked down into a puddle of water on the beach. He recognised the face, though he knew he shouldn't look like that. The eyes, the hair and the scar didn't belong, yet they did. They were also a part of him.
"Hello, Moira," a cool voice behind him said. No one had been there a moment ago, and he would have heard them coming. He turned around quickly and recognised the stooping, bald man. Hundreds of wrinkles criss-crossed his solemn face. It was the caretaker of the winds.
"Have we met? How do you know my name?" Moira asked.
"We haven't met, but Merlin has told me all about you. I'm terribly sorry, but I have to do this." The caretaker briefly placed the palms of his hands together as if he were praying. Then he turned his palms outward, towards Moira. An intense blue-ish light shot out towards Moira. Seconds later, there was an opaque crystal where Moira had been standing.
"I didn't expect you to be back so soon," the caretaker said, turning to face him. "You fused with him, didn't you? The owner of that other wand you had with you last time. Fourteen inches of dragon heartstring and ironwood."
"We were two, and now were are one. But I don't know who I am anymore."
The caretaker chuckled. "I can see your dilemma, but not to worry. I've had thousands of years to come up with one. How about Phoenix? I believe it serves to describe you well."
"Sounds good." Phoenix shrugged. "So you knew I was coming?"
"I knew you would unlock the final power of my pendants. You used to be the two mightiest champions of the light. Together you are much more than the sum of your previous powers. Max was the dragon, the ferocious and untameable warrior who could have gone either way but chose the light. Harry was the griffin, the fierce protector of good." The caretaker's face fell and his eyes clouded over as he seemed to recall a distant memory. "It was much the same with my brother and I. He was the warrior, and I was the protector. But he chose darkness."
"Wait? You are an immortal. I thought you didn't have brothers."
"I haven't told you everything, Phoenix. I couldn't do so at the time. Telling you too much about your path would have been far too disturbing at the time, but I feel that you are ready now. My father was caretaker, but my mother was a mortal human. I am a half-caste, like Holly. In the old days, my father's people were known as the Nalhati, and they had names. Actually, they still do, but they don't tell mortals. My father's name was Warold, and he had power of the winds, like I do know."
"And what's your name?"
"I am Novoridu." The caretaker bowed theatrically. "And like I said, you are wearing my pendants. Not only that, but my blood flows through your veins. The dragon and the griffin were both my descendants, and their destinies were so similar and entwined that it made them brothers."
Phoenix traced his fingers over the pendants. They were now connected, forming a single, circular medallion. "You made these?"
"Yes. I made them because your realm needed a balance for my brother's stone."
"How did the stone get into my realm in the first place?"
"It was made there. My brother and I were born in your realm. When we trapped him inside the Root of Evil, it was because we succeeded in separating him from the stone first. It remained in your realm, though it was briefly in this realm. Merlin defeated a wizard who had bonded with the stone. He hid it in this realm, hoping that no one would ever find it. But soon, some of my earlier descendants came back to claim it, hoping to master its power for their own purposes."
"If you knew the stone was here, why didn't you take it and hide it better?"
"Because I wanted it to be in your realm," Novoridu explained. "Merlin didn't know this, but Korumu got much stronger when the stone was here. He almost broke out of his imprisonment. Though they were never aware of it, I pointed the Caer Sidi Gatekeepers to the stone. I know it seemed like a selfish thing to do. If not for my actions, your world wouldn't be in danger now. I can feel the foul stone stirring. The serpent has bonded with it, and it is preparing to march on the army of light. You don't have much time."
"How do I stop him?"
"The inverted pendant contains the knowledge you need to break the bond with the stone. Break the bond and you will free the serpent's slaves."
"Can I destroy the stone?"
"If you do so, you will destroy my brother for good. You will also destroy me, for I am bound to my brother. If not for that stone, my life would have expired long ago. I wouldn't mind if you did this. I would do anything to stop Korumu and his new avatar. But if you destroy it, your life will also end. Are you willing to pay that price?"
"If that's what it takes," Phoenix said. He'd done nothing else for as long as he could remember. Both Max and Harry had always been willing to lay down their lives to keep innocents safe from evil. He turned to look at the opaque crystal. "Did you have to do that? Deep down she wasn't evil."
"That is why I trapped her in there. It is a purification crystal. The day she truly lets go of evil, the stone will purify her and set her free. Merlin trapped Moira in such a crystal too. I taught him the necessary magic to accomplish this. I am not sure how she escaped."
"She had outside help," Phoenix said, drawing his knowledge from Wolfe's memories.
"That would explain it," Novoridu said. "Now go, you must hurry! You are capable of very fast flight now." He pointed in the direction of a cluster of cliffs. "Make your way along the coast until you see the mountains. Once you are there, the forest will be in sight. The pendant will help you to avoid Korumu's tricks again."
"I suppose I'll see you on the other side," Phoenix said. He intended to finish this for good, even if it would kill him.
Novoridu nodded. "May the light of your soul strengthen you."
Phoenix acknowledged the blessing with a smile before he looked at the sky. Seconds later, he was darting along the clouds, ripping them apart with the turbulence his speedy passing caused.
***
Author's Note: Yes, I know, Malfoy's rant early in the chapter was a near literal copy from Agent Smith. I told you guys you haven't seen the last of 'Agent Malfoy' yet. ;-p. Don't worry, this was the last Matrix reference in the story.
I'd also like to extend my congratulations to Ginny 1946, for guessing how the prophecy would be fulfilled.
Gogirl: I'm just saying that the general consensus among authors for the length of a chapter is at least 3,000 words if the chapter is a slow read with not much happening anyway. (Longer, if it's a fast read like chapter 34 of MW was.) So in my humble opinion, you could gave combined the first two chapters and the story wouldn't have suffered. I realise that they way I phrased things made it sound like I was telling you how to write your story. (And again, in this reply I'm doing the same thing) But I tend to get carried away, so I apologise for that. I don't expect you to actually do any of the things I suggested (If the idea appealed to you, feel free to use it, though.) but you needn't get defensive. I'm not attacking you. Anyway, you have a good beta, and if she doesn't have any complaints I'll heed your request and have a little faith from now on. :-)
Jake: Nope, merely loads of research.
Starwest45: Quist's exit was cool, wasn't it? Talk about going out with a bang!
CatatonicReaction: As this chapter may have told you, the 35-chapter schedule has been shattered. I'm not sure how many chapters I'll need, but it looks like 38.
Zaz: Yadda…yadda…yadda back at ya. ;-)
WatchingDragon: Sorry, no kiss yet, if ever. *evil cackle*
nycgal: Can you send me your e-mail again? I deleted it by accident :-( I need to discuss something about you-know-which characters. Can't really say more, because I don't want to release any facts about the thirds story here. (Yes, you will inevitably find out something about the plot, though not much.)
niccolo javier: I wish I knew why Gryffindor Tower had to close.
judi: It was no 'pretend to kill off'. How did you like the resolution?
Earl: I'm glad I coaxed you out of lurkerhood.
Lady Reaper of the Shadows: I'm sorry, but I can't update any faster than this. :-(
Ginny1946: I've copied your e-mail. You can expect the final chapter of MW in your mailbox. You'll get it before the others do. And yes, I did get the inspiration from the Supreme Kai's earrings in DBZ. I reckon that's how you were able to guess it, right? ^-^
Casual Reader: I KNOW!
Obsessed with Snuffles: Don't worry about Harry. You'll know he'll survive. Worry about one of the Weasleys instead.
Athena McGonagall: Athena-Minerva…very clever. I think this chapter answered most of your questions, right?
J: How did you like the shameless bit of Matrix in this chapter?
Yak-Cool: *claps hands* You wish has been granted.
LadySiri: Hmm, reincarnation. Now there's an idea for when I really kill him. Mwahahahaha…
Julephenia: Nah, killing Gudrun would have been too cliché.
Ancalyme: Me, better than Ruskbyte? The statistics disagree with you, but thanks anyway.
Bisexuality in Harry Potter? I doubt it. It's a children's book, and everyone will probably be 'nice and straight'. Enough radical religious groups are burning her books as it is, and I don't think JK would go out of her way to antagonise more people like that. Or maybe she'll do whatever she pleases and introduce such a character. Who knows?
Petals1: For the record, chapter 35 was already finished before I posted chapter 34, so your intimidation had nothing to do with me sparing Gudrun's life. ;-)