Oops. Sorry about the slight delay.can't help it if I'm not in the mood,
you know.so let's continue.
Sil
~**~**~
"Jump now!" Ares shouted at Harry, all the while keeping an eye on the beasts. When a minute had passed and nothing happened, he glance towards his partner who was becoming steadily paler by each second.
"What are you waiting for?" Ares yelled again.
"It's not working!" Harry's voice was shrill with panic. "There's some sort of magic nullifier on this place!"
"WHAT!" Ares roared.
Suddenly the cave started shaking, the rocking gradually became harder and harder. Harry gripped on to the wall tightly, face turning slightly greenish with nausea. He glanced up and saw the beasts growing larger and larger. 'Not good.' Harry gulped and then did something totally out of league. He fainted.
~**~**~
Kaiser was slowly going red in the face. The other occupants in the room shrank and shook slightly. Kaiser does not normally get angry but when he did, it was a terrible sight. And right now, he was furious.
"AND YOU BUMBLING FOOLS JUST SAW FIT TO TELL ME NOW!?" He yelled. "For god's sake, how stupid can you get? If you told me right after they disappeared, I could have trace them!"
The shouting from the irritated and angry mage continued on for several minutes while the lower ranked people sweated profusely.
"All right, gather a search team for them and you better make sure you do it right this time!" Kaiser said once he calmed down. The other mages nodded immediately and practically ran out of the room.
~**~**~
"Oohhh! Is that a human?" An awed voice said.
"Of course it is you dunce. Look at its structure!" An annoyed voice answered back.
"Geez Eminor, I was just asking a question." The feminine voice said hurt.
"Whatever. I don't-"
But whatever he wanted to say was cut off by a loud shriek from the girl, "Look, the human's waking up!" She squealed.
Harry blinked slowly as the room blurred and cleared. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and nearly had a heart attack. Crowding over him was a something with cute triangular ears and had stripes on its face. He stared.
The face broke into a smile and the person started jumping around the room, throwing its hands into the air, all the while shouting, "It's awake! It's awake!" Harry got even more confused than ever.
A movement in a corner caught his eye and he turned his head sharply and blinked. Again. It seemed to be a male version of the something that is going half insane. The male thing had a very peculiar look on its face and keep shooting furious glances at the female thing that was still dancing around. When it saw him, it held out a hand or a paw and said calmly, "Ignore Elise, she's high since you arrived. I admit that it was quite a shock since we've never seen a human for over three centuries."
Harry smiled warily and shook its hand, no paw and asked, "Who are you? What are you? How did I get here? And where's Ares?"
It laughed and replied, "My name is Eminor and I'm a half-fox. Elise is a half-tiger. We don't really have a species name yet. You are brought here by the encrounts, the guardians of the castle. As for your last question, I would assume Ares is your demon friend?" Harry nodded and Eminor continued, "He is being held in a different part of the castle. Because he's a demon and not a human, he is not under tight scrutiny and is allowed to freely wonder about. You however are a human and must therefore not be let loose."
Harry frowned and asked, "Why do you hate humans so much? It's not like I'm dangerous, you probably are a lot more stronger than me." Eminor avoided his eyes at this point and said, "It is best that you do not know."
Knowing that the part-fox would not give any more information, he sighed and leaned back on the surprisingly comfortable bed. He shifted around to get into a more suitable position before giving another question, "Can I go back?"
At this, Eminor answered sharply, "No." Taken aback by the ferocity, Harry asked again, "Why not?"
Eminor gave a cold and controlled look at the human. "You've already seen us, you can no longer go back to your world. From now on, you're what may be considered a prisoner here. If you behave, maybe you'll be allowed to see other parts of the castle. Your meals will be given to you three times a day and you will have to do a fair share of chores. And I wouldn't encourage you to escape either. The doors and windows are spelled with our magic and any magic you use is useless. In fact, you'll get a rather nasty shock if you do."
Harry swallowed and nodded. This is not going to be fun. Eminor straightened and walked out of the door, towing Elise behind him and leaving a thoughtful Harry behind.
Harry pondered over the things he just learned. It was obvious Eminor doesn't want to talk about his 'prison statement' or anything associated with it. It was also obvious that these people have a rather heavy grudge against humans and distrusted them. Something must have happened to make them feel that way.
They say that they haven't seen humans for three hundred years. Titanium Hall has been lost to the Bermuda for three hundred years. So obviously something happened in that period that separated the castle from society. But the question is, what?
He decided that wondering about answers without information is useless so he decided to create a mental search for Ares. Maybe the demon will have some info for him. Hmm.perhaps he would be able to construct a rough map too?
He ran his thoughts through the area, searching for that comforting familiar presence of his brother. And he found it. Luckily it was not lurking among a lot of other people as Harry was not yet experienced enough to determine which signal is which.
He called the mental version of a hello and watched as Ares' attention discretely turned to him. With ease, Harry filled him in on what has happened thus far. He also recommended that Ares go to a library and find out more about this place. They exchanged information and Ares was too intrigued upon the idea of a mental map.
Pleased with the results, Harry laid back wearily on his pillow. Hopefully once he got use to this he won't be so tired anymore. In the meantime however-it was time to get some sleep.
~**~**~
Everybody was now officially scared of Kaiser. The man was a walking time bomb, ready to blow up at any moment. The search team even has votes on the unlucky one who will report the news to the furious man. The fact that the results of the search were a failure did not cease to make the situation any better.
It was this intriguing challenge of the missing students and the mysterious happenings that drew other mages into the search. Not to mention that two apprentices had gone missing and who knows what will happen to the others? Of course, they were worried about the boys as well, especially the council who viewed those students as potentially intelligent and powerful, an asset to any course.
Whatever excuse they gave foe their attention with this case was useless to the onlookers as every one of them knew that the council had a soft spot for the pair. Perhaps it's the fact that they get into trouble at least once every week and had been taken to the council to judge thousands of times or the fact that they managed to make even the most patient man lose their temper we'll never know but the group of ten certainly likes them better then others.
Courage like this is very rare in these days as no one would willingly provoke danger but somehow the duo did, and made it seemed like fun. Of course, that just made the teachers madder and more determined to catch him but if you look really closely, you could se the sparks of amusement in their eyes. Apparently they enjoyed the challenge. In just three ranks, the pair had managed to be known all over the school, a very respectful feat if you asked anyone.
And because of this fame, the knowledge that the infamous duo was missing and most likely in mortal danger spread like wildfire across the numerous planes and inspired lots of experts to try their luck at solving this mystery. Everyone wants to be the one to find them, not to mention the challenge! Aside from the fights in this school, the teachers and masters have never been caught in a panic before. Even if fights broke out, they are still tons stronger than two students. However, this excitement would be truly a worthwhile case to break if Kaiser's top detectives can't do it.
That's another thing. Kaiser Klementine was voted nearly a million times to be in the council and half as much to be the head. His fame for discovering over twenty new planes and the only user of both shadow and light power is known throughout Bermuda. Because of this, he had a special force that works just for him and are just as famous as he is. The members are known to be fast and efficient and don't take crap from anyone but Kaiser. Nobody in their right minds dare challenge their authority after they blew a council member to Jamaica for wasting their time.
Therefore, it also increased Kaiser's fame as they witnessed first hand how one look from the man make his team wet their pants. What the other people didn't know was that Kaiser had a special glare and attitude reserved just for the team and they know it. The reason Kaiser didn't use this new and improved version was because if he did, the people would be quaking for days and committing suicide.
~**~**~
(A month from the day Harry and Ares was captured)
It was a joyous event to be celebrating. After thirty-one days, he finally managed to get all his data together. Getting a complete map was easy after you discovered a hidden talent of mind's eye.
Mind's eye is like telepathy, except that you can actually see the area through your eyes and not feel the things that are going on. Also, you can hear what the people are saying and not only their thoughts. But the mind's eye has one disadvantage; you can't talk to them through their minds as it wasn't strictly telepathy. It lets you watch and hear silently but you are not an active part of the conversation or action.
He also managed to get a complete map of the area, secret passages included. Some, he reckoned that even the elders of this bizarre race doesn't know.
The door opened softly and a woman stepped in. She placed a tray on his side table and left just as silently. Harry didn't try to talk to her, he knew it was useless. Sighing at this, he picked up a piece of bread and nibbled on it daintily. He often wondered why the people kept him alive if they hate him so much. It was a constant source of puzzlement for him.
He finished the meal, although plain, was not stingy either. Whoever prepared it was giving him what they usually ate, not a few measly crumbs. He got out of bed, took the tray and placed it beside the door. Again he felt that feeling came. This time, he was able to sense more things about it than the last time.
He always got this tingly feeling when he was in the room like he was being watched. It wouldn't surprise him a lot if he was. Over time, it disappeared. Harry wasn't sure if he just got used to it or if it was because the person wasn't paying a lot of attention to him anymore now that he didn't seem to be trying any tricks or whatever they think he'd do. But whenever he got out of bed, the feeling came back again. It'd figure that they'd be paranoid.
Harry also realized that there were different feels to the feeling. Sometimes it was friendly almost but sometimes it had such an amount of hate that Harry couldn't help but shuddered. He deduced that this was because there are several different people watching him and they each have different opinions on him. Harry also caught on to the fact that the malicious feeling usually appeared at night. 'Figures that their best person would take the night watch. After all, it's the best time to try something.'
~**~**~
Draco's grades dropped abysmally. They were barely passing. He'd even managed to fail several. Therefore it was no surprise to him when the headmaster called him to his office again.
"Mr. Malfoy," The headmaster began after offering him some muggle sweets, "Your grades have been dropping recently."
Draco stayed quiet and the headmaster continued, "Since they do not seemed to be improving, I'm asking you what are you going to do with the situation." He finished gravely.
Draco stared at the old man and replied, "I don't know sir, what do you think I should do?" He inquired politely. The professor stroked his beard for several moments before replying, "If it'll be alright with you Mr. Malfoy, I'd like you to take private lessons in your extra time. And I'm afraid you can't go home for Christmas as it is crucial that you improve to study for your O.W.Ls."
Draco looked angry and asked, "Can we reschedule the lessons? I really need to be home for Christmas."
Dumbledore shook his head slowly and replied, "I'm afraid not Mr. Malfoy. If you don't improve your grades by then, you'll most likely be expelled. It is against the school rules to just fool around. We know that you can get better grades then that and the fact that you're obviously not even making an effort does not look good for you."
"My father will hear about this atrocity!" Draco said between clenched teeth. The headmaster didn't look at all fazed. "I'm afraid that even the board of governors cannot overrule the school rules so I suggest that you start getting a better grade, Mr. Malfoy." The tone was gentle but firm.
Draco stormed out of the headmaster's office, outwardly furious but inside, Draco was dancing in glee. He would no longer be required to go home for Christmas and his father most definitely would not want him expelled as they would than lose a valuable sigh. The ceremony would just have to wait until the summer and when that comes, he'd find a way to deal with it.
He thought about his plan and even Runay had to admit it was ingenious. Fail the classes and get lessons on Christmas. Make sure that his father wouldn't con his way out of it. Sure it had cost him his pride but it was a price he willingly paid rather than face the alternate event.
Yes, things were coming along nicely.
~**~**~
Harry was bored. In the last month, he had the mapping process to keep him occupied but now he was truly and deeply bored. Although reading through the varies books in the library with his mind's eye was interesting and spying on their plans for him was fun, he needed to do something solid, which is also why he came up with this crazy plan.
It was painful, horrific, insane and had absolutely no gain to it. It was also unbelievably ingenious and fun, not to mention that it'll mess with the People's head. With those reasons, the plan was most definitely going to be used.
Because of the possible ways that Harry could harm one of the People when they come in, it was decided that there would be no sharp objects in the room. It is really a shame, Harry thought, as it would be really useful now. But he will have to make do with simple nails. Harry smiled. It was a secretive smile and was not very reassuring to people who saw it. The plan would begin tonight, where the best will be watching him.
He laughed inwardly; this will be a show they'll never forget.
~**~**~
Longer than normal!
I'm moving tomorrow so if I didn't update for longer than I usually do, please pardon me as I need to take care of the Internet connection and measly things as the TV. Thank you.
Silverrowan
Sil
~**~**~
"Jump now!" Ares shouted at Harry, all the while keeping an eye on the beasts. When a minute had passed and nothing happened, he glance towards his partner who was becoming steadily paler by each second.
"What are you waiting for?" Ares yelled again.
"It's not working!" Harry's voice was shrill with panic. "There's some sort of magic nullifier on this place!"
"WHAT!" Ares roared.
Suddenly the cave started shaking, the rocking gradually became harder and harder. Harry gripped on to the wall tightly, face turning slightly greenish with nausea. He glanced up and saw the beasts growing larger and larger. 'Not good.' Harry gulped and then did something totally out of league. He fainted.
~**~**~
Kaiser was slowly going red in the face. The other occupants in the room shrank and shook slightly. Kaiser does not normally get angry but when he did, it was a terrible sight. And right now, he was furious.
"AND YOU BUMBLING FOOLS JUST SAW FIT TO TELL ME NOW!?" He yelled. "For god's sake, how stupid can you get? If you told me right after they disappeared, I could have trace them!"
The shouting from the irritated and angry mage continued on for several minutes while the lower ranked people sweated profusely.
"All right, gather a search team for them and you better make sure you do it right this time!" Kaiser said once he calmed down. The other mages nodded immediately and practically ran out of the room.
~**~**~
"Oohhh! Is that a human?" An awed voice said.
"Of course it is you dunce. Look at its structure!" An annoyed voice answered back.
"Geez Eminor, I was just asking a question." The feminine voice said hurt.
"Whatever. I don't-"
But whatever he wanted to say was cut off by a loud shriek from the girl, "Look, the human's waking up!" She squealed.
Harry blinked slowly as the room blurred and cleared. He rubbed his eyes, yawned and nearly had a heart attack. Crowding over him was a something with cute triangular ears and had stripes on its face. He stared.
The face broke into a smile and the person started jumping around the room, throwing its hands into the air, all the while shouting, "It's awake! It's awake!" Harry got even more confused than ever.
A movement in a corner caught his eye and he turned his head sharply and blinked. Again. It seemed to be a male version of the something that is going half insane. The male thing had a very peculiar look on its face and keep shooting furious glances at the female thing that was still dancing around. When it saw him, it held out a hand or a paw and said calmly, "Ignore Elise, she's high since you arrived. I admit that it was quite a shock since we've never seen a human for over three centuries."
Harry smiled warily and shook its hand, no paw and asked, "Who are you? What are you? How did I get here? And where's Ares?"
It laughed and replied, "My name is Eminor and I'm a half-fox. Elise is a half-tiger. We don't really have a species name yet. You are brought here by the encrounts, the guardians of the castle. As for your last question, I would assume Ares is your demon friend?" Harry nodded and Eminor continued, "He is being held in a different part of the castle. Because he's a demon and not a human, he is not under tight scrutiny and is allowed to freely wonder about. You however are a human and must therefore not be let loose."
Harry frowned and asked, "Why do you hate humans so much? It's not like I'm dangerous, you probably are a lot more stronger than me." Eminor avoided his eyes at this point and said, "It is best that you do not know."
Knowing that the part-fox would not give any more information, he sighed and leaned back on the surprisingly comfortable bed. He shifted around to get into a more suitable position before giving another question, "Can I go back?"
At this, Eminor answered sharply, "No." Taken aback by the ferocity, Harry asked again, "Why not?"
Eminor gave a cold and controlled look at the human. "You've already seen us, you can no longer go back to your world. From now on, you're what may be considered a prisoner here. If you behave, maybe you'll be allowed to see other parts of the castle. Your meals will be given to you three times a day and you will have to do a fair share of chores. And I wouldn't encourage you to escape either. The doors and windows are spelled with our magic and any magic you use is useless. In fact, you'll get a rather nasty shock if you do."
Harry swallowed and nodded. This is not going to be fun. Eminor straightened and walked out of the door, towing Elise behind him and leaving a thoughtful Harry behind.
Harry pondered over the things he just learned. It was obvious Eminor doesn't want to talk about his 'prison statement' or anything associated with it. It was also obvious that these people have a rather heavy grudge against humans and distrusted them. Something must have happened to make them feel that way.
They say that they haven't seen humans for three hundred years. Titanium Hall has been lost to the Bermuda for three hundred years. So obviously something happened in that period that separated the castle from society. But the question is, what?
He decided that wondering about answers without information is useless so he decided to create a mental search for Ares. Maybe the demon will have some info for him. Hmm.perhaps he would be able to construct a rough map too?
He ran his thoughts through the area, searching for that comforting familiar presence of his brother. And he found it. Luckily it was not lurking among a lot of other people as Harry was not yet experienced enough to determine which signal is which.
He called the mental version of a hello and watched as Ares' attention discretely turned to him. With ease, Harry filled him in on what has happened thus far. He also recommended that Ares go to a library and find out more about this place. They exchanged information and Ares was too intrigued upon the idea of a mental map.
Pleased with the results, Harry laid back wearily on his pillow. Hopefully once he got use to this he won't be so tired anymore. In the meantime however-it was time to get some sleep.
~**~**~
Everybody was now officially scared of Kaiser. The man was a walking time bomb, ready to blow up at any moment. The search team even has votes on the unlucky one who will report the news to the furious man. The fact that the results of the search were a failure did not cease to make the situation any better.
It was this intriguing challenge of the missing students and the mysterious happenings that drew other mages into the search. Not to mention that two apprentices had gone missing and who knows what will happen to the others? Of course, they were worried about the boys as well, especially the council who viewed those students as potentially intelligent and powerful, an asset to any course.
Whatever excuse they gave foe their attention with this case was useless to the onlookers as every one of them knew that the council had a soft spot for the pair. Perhaps it's the fact that they get into trouble at least once every week and had been taken to the council to judge thousands of times or the fact that they managed to make even the most patient man lose their temper we'll never know but the group of ten certainly likes them better then others.
Courage like this is very rare in these days as no one would willingly provoke danger but somehow the duo did, and made it seemed like fun. Of course, that just made the teachers madder and more determined to catch him but if you look really closely, you could se the sparks of amusement in their eyes. Apparently they enjoyed the challenge. In just three ranks, the pair had managed to be known all over the school, a very respectful feat if you asked anyone.
And because of this fame, the knowledge that the infamous duo was missing and most likely in mortal danger spread like wildfire across the numerous planes and inspired lots of experts to try their luck at solving this mystery. Everyone wants to be the one to find them, not to mention the challenge! Aside from the fights in this school, the teachers and masters have never been caught in a panic before. Even if fights broke out, they are still tons stronger than two students. However, this excitement would be truly a worthwhile case to break if Kaiser's top detectives can't do it.
That's another thing. Kaiser Klementine was voted nearly a million times to be in the council and half as much to be the head. His fame for discovering over twenty new planes and the only user of both shadow and light power is known throughout Bermuda. Because of this, he had a special force that works just for him and are just as famous as he is. The members are known to be fast and efficient and don't take crap from anyone but Kaiser. Nobody in their right minds dare challenge their authority after they blew a council member to Jamaica for wasting their time.
Therefore, it also increased Kaiser's fame as they witnessed first hand how one look from the man make his team wet their pants. What the other people didn't know was that Kaiser had a special glare and attitude reserved just for the team and they know it. The reason Kaiser didn't use this new and improved version was because if he did, the people would be quaking for days and committing suicide.
~**~**~
(A month from the day Harry and Ares was captured)
It was a joyous event to be celebrating. After thirty-one days, he finally managed to get all his data together. Getting a complete map was easy after you discovered a hidden talent of mind's eye.
Mind's eye is like telepathy, except that you can actually see the area through your eyes and not feel the things that are going on. Also, you can hear what the people are saying and not only their thoughts. But the mind's eye has one disadvantage; you can't talk to them through their minds as it wasn't strictly telepathy. It lets you watch and hear silently but you are not an active part of the conversation or action.
He also managed to get a complete map of the area, secret passages included. Some, he reckoned that even the elders of this bizarre race doesn't know.
The door opened softly and a woman stepped in. She placed a tray on his side table and left just as silently. Harry didn't try to talk to her, he knew it was useless. Sighing at this, he picked up a piece of bread and nibbled on it daintily. He often wondered why the people kept him alive if they hate him so much. It was a constant source of puzzlement for him.
He finished the meal, although plain, was not stingy either. Whoever prepared it was giving him what they usually ate, not a few measly crumbs. He got out of bed, took the tray and placed it beside the door. Again he felt that feeling came. This time, he was able to sense more things about it than the last time.
He always got this tingly feeling when he was in the room like he was being watched. It wouldn't surprise him a lot if he was. Over time, it disappeared. Harry wasn't sure if he just got used to it or if it was because the person wasn't paying a lot of attention to him anymore now that he didn't seem to be trying any tricks or whatever they think he'd do. But whenever he got out of bed, the feeling came back again. It'd figure that they'd be paranoid.
Harry also realized that there were different feels to the feeling. Sometimes it was friendly almost but sometimes it had such an amount of hate that Harry couldn't help but shuddered. He deduced that this was because there are several different people watching him and they each have different opinions on him. Harry also caught on to the fact that the malicious feeling usually appeared at night. 'Figures that their best person would take the night watch. After all, it's the best time to try something.'
~**~**~
Draco's grades dropped abysmally. They were barely passing. He'd even managed to fail several. Therefore it was no surprise to him when the headmaster called him to his office again.
"Mr. Malfoy," The headmaster began after offering him some muggle sweets, "Your grades have been dropping recently."
Draco stayed quiet and the headmaster continued, "Since they do not seemed to be improving, I'm asking you what are you going to do with the situation." He finished gravely.
Draco stared at the old man and replied, "I don't know sir, what do you think I should do?" He inquired politely. The professor stroked his beard for several moments before replying, "If it'll be alright with you Mr. Malfoy, I'd like you to take private lessons in your extra time. And I'm afraid you can't go home for Christmas as it is crucial that you improve to study for your O.W.Ls."
Draco looked angry and asked, "Can we reschedule the lessons? I really need to be home for Christmas."
Dumbledore shook his head slowly and replied, "I'm afraid not Mr. Malfoy. If you don't improve your grades by then, you'll most likely be expelled. It is against the school rules to just fool around. We know that you can get better grades then that and the fact that you're obviously not even making an effort does not look good for you."
"My father will hear about this atrocity!" Draco said between clenched teeth. The headmaster didn't look at all fazed. "I'm afraid that even the board of governors cannot overrule the school rules so I suggest that you start getting a better grade, Mr. Malfoy." The tone was gentle but firm.
Draco stormed out of the headmaster's office, outwardly furious but inside, Draco was dancing in glee. He would no longer be required to go home for Christmas and his father most definitely would not want him expelled as they would than lose a valuable sigh. The ceremony would just have to wait until the summer and when that comes, he'd find a way to deal with it.
He thought about his plan and even Runay had to admit it was ingenious. Fail the classes and get lessons on Christmas. Make sure that his father wouldn't con his way out of it. Sure it had cost him his pride but it was a price he willingly paid rather than face the alternate event.
Yes, things were coming along nicely.
~**~**~
Harry was bored. In the last month, he had the mapping process to keep him occupied but now he was truly and deeply bored. Although reading through the varies books in the library with his mind's eye was interesting and spying on their plans for him was fun, he needed to do something solid, which is also why he came up with this crazy plan.
It was painful, horrific, insane and had absolutely no gain to it. It was also unbelievably ingenious and fun, not to mention that it'll mess with the People's head. With those reasons, the plan was most definitely going to be used.
Because of the possible ways that Harry could harm one of the People when they come in, it was decided that there would be no sharp objects in the room. It is really a shame, Harry thought, as it would be really useful now. But he will have to make do with simple nails. Harry smiled. It was a secretive smile and was not very reassuring to people who saw it. The plan would begin tonight, where the best will be watching him.
He laughed inwardly; this will be a show they'll never forget.
~**~**~
Longer than normal!
I'm moving tomorrow so if I didn't update for longer than I usually do, please pardon me as I need to take care of the Internet connection and measly things as the TV. Thank you.
Silverrowan