Chapter Ten: Oh Doomed Lord…

(Harry Potter [book four] meets Zika)

"My!  I certainly don't think she's really getting a lot of power from my world."  Reliza frowned, and stuck a lollipop in her mouth. "She don't have an active alternate self there.  I weren't that big 'o' a part in her creation."  She kneeled, using her staff to balance her, and looked into a mirror that she'd accidentally summoned into the floor.  She always made mistakes like that when she was with the Guardian Council. 

"Oh, I forgot about that."  Delilah shut her eyes.

"About what?"  Danier asked.

"About how Aamina had all of us help her in the creation of Zika.  Don't you remember?  I was convinced that she was making Zika as a muse, so I got every one to link Zika to each dimension."  Delilah covered her eyes with her hands.  "And then it was after Zika was completed that we realized what she really was for; causing destroy and conquer. Of course, Aamina insisted that Zika's power was unbalanced, and that was why Zika would be havoc.  She used the links and connections to balance her somehow."

 "Balance?"  Minx looked puzzled.  "She did say something about fixing the balance."

"Maybe that's it."  Crinan said, eyes aglow.  "She needs to adjust the balance and Zika's gathering enough power for it."

"No, that's not quite it."  Akhad said.  "If it was routine, she would have simply asked us directly for that amount of power.  I remember Aamina telling us not to interfere with Zika's mission."

"She also said that what Zika does now is better than the alternative.  I assume that she's referring to the Law of Balance."  Givin said.  "The Law of Balance states that if a balance becomes unstable enough, it will result in the destruction of basically everything it's connected to."

"THANK YOU GIVIN!!"  Aamina's voice rang gleefully through the council.  "NOW WILL EVERYONE PLEASE LEAVE ZIKA ALONE!!" 

Everyone winced. 

~*~

The sun was setting, casting blood red beams over the graveyard and illuminating the ancient house on the hill.  A small breeze ruffled some of Zika's hair as she just stood there; facing the sun and watching it sink behind the hills.

"Well, isn't this a nice change!"  Jova said. 

"Shut up Jova."  Zika said, absently.  "You have no appreciation for beauty."

'And you do?' He thought. 

Finally, the sun's last rays disappeared, leaving the sky in tones of blues that slowly began to darken and cool the air.  Zika sighed.

"There's nothing like a good sunset in the middle of a graveyard to brighten your day."  She said, getting a gook look of the place.  "Well, this is interesting.  It's been a while since I've been inside a graveyard at night.  I'm glad my night-sight is good."

Amused, she leaned over to read the inscription on a tombstone.  "My, I think I'm in jolly old England."

"Y'know, that's not particularly politically correct, Zika."  Jova said.

"Eh?  What's with the big words all of a sudden?  Did you get into the dictionary?  I suggest you leave it alone.  You, now and forever more, are the biggest idiot in existence."

"Ouch," Jova sounded hurt.  "You're so cruel."

"You asked for it."  Zika had read three over tombstones by then, and was just going to her fourth.  "Now shut up or I'll activate the block on you."  Jova shut up and let Zika read.  Sometime after it had gotten really, really dark, there was a strange noise of two pairs of feet slamming into the ground.  Startled, Zika whirled towards the sound and froze. 

Where there had been moments before no one, now were two boys of about fourteen.  One boy pulled the other to his feet from where he'd fallen.  They spoke in hushed tones, but Zika was sure that their appearance in the graveyard was as much as a surprise to them as it was to her.  They pulled out wards, and Zika realized that they were wizards.

'Looking too young to really be dangerous though.'  Ever careful, Zika ducked behind a particularly large tombstone standing up, and activated her invisibility spell.  Somebody was approaching them, and it didn't seem like such a good idea to draw attention to her.  Besides, she wanted to know what was going on. 

One boy suddenly bent over in agony, and Zika felt the presence of somebody near her power. Or, to be more correct, HAD been near her power.  It was obviously weakened and broken.  Zika snorted softly with disgust. 

A screech of words, a flash of green light and the still-standing boy crumbled to the ground.  Zika felt his life-energy suddenly disappear.  'Man, that's a quick way to kill.' She thought, watching the living boy stare into the corpses eyes.  He was pulled to his feet and efficiently tied to a tombstone that read Tom Riddle'Oh, the fun things I could do to that word.'

She observed the spell that was displayed in front of her and the resurrection.  She read his name from the time-line in her mind: Lord Voldemort.  Zika had to restrain herself from laughing out loud.  Of course she knew of the giant snake lurking nearby.  No, she'll wait out a good entrance.  Something should be happening soon. 

Ah, the servants of the lord return to him.  They're talking; just have to wait…a little …more…they must have abandoned him, as it sounded.

A name, Dumbledore. 

At the mention of his name, the members of the circle stirred, and some muttered and shook their heads.  Voldemort ignored them.  "It is a disappointment to me … I confess myself disappointed…"

Zika took the opening.  She leapt up onto the tombstone that the boy was tied to.

"Yes, you must be.  Good help is so hard to find these days."  She proclaimed loudly, satisfied that she surprised them all.  She read the shock in their bodies.  This girl, so bold! 

"Who?"  Voldemort whirled and looked into her eyes.  Behind her, his snake reared, about to attack.  Zika simply released a bolt of energy and made a crushing motion with her fist.  The snake exploded. 

"Some things change and can never be the same." She said.  "Really, you're weaker now than before.  That's not a very good way to come back into the immortal game."

"And what would a girl like you know about immortality?" Voldemort sneered.

Zika smiled wickedly.  "I should know, more than you.  You've only died once, I've died seven times and look at me."  She allowed her aura to show, lighting the night with sparks of energy surrounding her.

"I am the Dark Angel, Voldemort."  She said airily.  "And you're nothing but a bug to me.  Pitiful, really."  A few of his followers tried to cast spells on her, but she just laughed and brushed them away with a sweep of a hand.  There was a BOOM as something exploded, and Zika used the cover to untie the boy as pieces of stone flew in every direction. 

"You get outta here when I rush them, okay?"  She whispered.  "You don't wanna be here when I start pulling out the big stuff."  She didn't wait for his answer, trusting that he would be smart enough to know how to get away.  Still on the stone, she waved her hand and the air cleared. 

"Really, I've told you once already.  Must I repeat myself? You thick morons."  She sneered at them.  "I'm Digital Zika Silver the First, the Dark Angel.  "I'm the worst person you could ever get on the bad side of, and believe me, you do not want to get on my bad side."  Then she shook her head.  "Too late, though.  You've already annoyed me." 

She jumped off the rock and floated in the air, gathering her energy.  "Let's see, a little lightening, a little wind, a little fire, and a little water."  She said, almost absently raising her hands in a large circle.  Above her, she felt the clouds gather, the air crackle and pay attention. 

Zika grinned, and began her version of the Dragon-slave.  She didn't bother to open her eyes in order to see the fear on their faces.  She didn't need to see to know that she was a pillar of energy.  She heard quite clearly the sound of the boy escaping.  She smiled for his sake, and when she could no longer sense his presence nearby, she released her spell. 

*****************And now!  A Randon Act of Insanity! 

       Two girls were walking down the hall, a short one and a tall one.  The tall one was giggling manically, rather like a kender.  The short girl asked whether she'd had her pill.

"No, I haven't" The tall girl says as they walk outside.  A few moments later, the short girl asks to use the tall girl's cell phone.  The tall girl hands it to her.  The short girl turns it on and stares at it for a moment.  Then she asks, "do you know the number for the mental hospital?"

****************************************And back to the story…

The blast ignited an earthquake that caused floods around the world.  Scientists were puzzled over the large-scale destruction released without warning on their high-tech equipment.  Some in North America whispered about The Big One, but that theory was squashed by the reports from the seaboard.  It was added to the list of life's mysteries, and talk-show hosts joked about it for years to come.

But only a few wizards knew what really happened.  Harry Potter, for one, knew that a strange and powerful young girl had cast the powerful spell.  However, he returned to school and found a few days later that he couldn't remember the exact details of what happened when she was around.  Her face was blurred, although he remembered that she had been beautiful.  He couldn't remember what her voice sounded like, though he knew it had been cold.  Everything was veiled from him. 

He told this to Dumbledore, of course, and Dumbledore wasn't surprised. Zika had visited him that night as well.

Cool white hands covered his eyes and a girl giggled.  "Guess who?"

Lying in bed, Dumbledore could only guess at the stranger in his bedroom.  "The Angel Zika Silver1."

"Aw, you guessed.  No fun!"  The hands removed themselves and he wondered how someone could come up behind his bed, which was against the wall.  Twisting in his bed, he saw that the girl was balanced on the headboard, and was looking pleased with herself.  The albino leapt over his bed to stand in front of him and grinned. 

"Hello, Professor."  She said. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm here, especially since I don't belong to this world." 

"Yes, that would be a bit obvious."  He said, getting out of bed.  "However, if you're simply here to annoy me, would you hurry up, get it over with so I can get back to sleep?  Being Headmaster of a magic school isn't as easy as I make it look like." 

Zika scowled.  "You mean to deprive me of my fun!"  Her eyes flashed for a moment, but then she smiled.  "I just wanted you to know that Harry won't be scarred for life from my intervening.  I'm just going to visit Harry now." 

"What wonderful news." 

"Isn't it, gramps?" Zika leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.  And then in a flash, she was gone.

A/N: finally, I've finished this chapter…the life of a writer is soooo busy, especially for a student.  And especially for a student whose looking for a university next year… funfunfun, eh?