Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize
A/N: Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed and to Ally Serenity for betaing this chapter
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lily was blindfolded and dragged down several flights of stairs. From the dampness of the air, she deduced that the guards were leading her to the dungeons. Their grip on her shoulders left her no way of escape.
Suddenly there was a change in the smell of her surroundings. It was still cold and damp, but the smell was different….
The ground under her feet was no longer made of stones, at least from the sounds of their footsteps.
They kept on walking, in silence.
Lily couldn't repress a shiver. Wherever they were, it was cold, and her attire was anything but appropriate for cold weather.
Finally they stopped for a few seconds before she heard the sound of stone against stone, then a padlock, and a door being opened, then closed as they passed through it.
They were back in a building, since the ground was once more made of stone, but from the coldness of the air, they were still in the lower levels of said building.
They passed a few more doors then stopped. For several minutes, they waited in silence.
Lily frowned. Where had they brought her?
As if they had read her thoughts, they took off her blindfold.
She blinked a few times, trying to adapt her eyes to the little light there was in the room She was in a little room, with little if no ornament, besides a huge statue of a snake, the sculptor had chosen to represent the animal ready to strike, the fangs visible.
She refrained herself from taking a step backward: with the lack of light, people could believe it to be real.
She turned to the two guards who had escorted her down there.
They were young ones. From their rigid stances, to their nervous gaze, she could see that they didn't have a lot of experience behind them, which must have been the reason they had been chosen. She didn't know them, and from their looks she deduced that they must have been part of Tarelys men.
They waited, silent. Lily had approached the statue and was examining it, aware that her every movement was watched carefully by the two guards.
"Magnificent, is it not?"
Lily whirled on her heels to face Voldemort.
"It was done by an old mage, hundreds of years ago. This particular fellow had taken to sculpting during his spare time, and you can see the result… Salazar Slytherin was his name."
"One of Hogwarts' founders," whispered, reporting her gaze on the breathtaking statue.
A dark smile appeared on the Dark Lord's lips.
"I see Albus didn't forget to teach you some history… good."
Lily sent him a withering look.
"What does Slytherin have to do with this situation!"
A cold smile was her only answer as Voldemort walked to her, and leaned on her, approaching his mouth to her ear.
"Everything, my dear, everything!"
With these words, he headed towards the statue and taking out a small dagger, he cut his palm lightly then placed it on the serpent's head.
A small glow surrounded the statue and the eyes seemed to spring to life as Voldemort started to hiss lowly.
Finally the serpent of stone bowed and slithered aside, leaving a gaping hole behind it.
The Dark Lord turned to Lily who couldn't hide her surprise.
"Lilyaris," he mock-bowed, "Welcome…. To the Chamber of Secrets!"
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The young woman had no choice but to follow as Voldemort stepped through the hole, since the two guards, taking a wrist each, dragged her after him.
They entered a large cave. The ground was paved and the ceiling was supported by high pillars entwined with carved serpents.
At one end of the chamber, a gigantic statue of a wizard was standing. Inwardly, Lily thought that compared to the beauty of the serpents, the wizard's statue was common and gave a monkey-like look.
"Salazar Slytherin," stated Voldemort in a reverent tone, "the greatest of the four Founders! He built this chamber before his departure from the school, and hid there many of his treasures: formulas, discoveries, inventions, books… So that his heirs would be able to use them."
He turned to Lily.
"He was a genius, who saw the power of the Dark arts, and made sure to pass his discoveries on to his descendants."
A fond look passed over his face.
"After leaving Hogwarts, I spent a lot of time there. His library is amazing, and the artifacts he gathered are a challenge to a wizard's abilities. I learnt a lot and discovered the true power as there's no Dark or Light, only power and those to weak to seek it."
He turned towards Lily.
"You shall learn this too, my dear…"
Lily forced her face to remain expressionless as she turned her attention towards the wizard at her side.
"Is there a point to your small speech? Or do you only enjoy listening to the sound of your voice?"
A flicker of anger passed on the Dark Lord's features.
"You will learn to respect me, Lilyaris, as everyone will"
"You wish,"
A smirk was the only answer she got.
"But, yes, there is a point. You see, by the end of his association with the other founders, he worked a lot on the prophecies concerning a being called the Pure. For years he studied the different prophecies and tried to gather the different artifacts involved in those prophecies. One in particular caught his attention. The texts referred to it as the Crystal of Destiny."
At this Lily stiffened.
"I see you know of it, at least of its name."
Lily didn't bother to confirm or deny his assumption.
"Little is known about it, Salazar gathered everything remotely related to this artifact. After his parting from Hogwarts he pursued his search, finally finding it."
Nodding to the two guards, Voldemort strode towards the statue of Salazar, or so Lily assumed.
Taking out his wand, the Dark Lord tapped it on the head on one of the snakes on the first row of pillars and hissed a few things. Immediately the stone animal sprang to life and slithered down the pillar and towards the statue; then up the leg and arms to reached a spot on the shoulder.
A loud rumbling was heard as the one hand of the statue started to descend towards the Dark Lord as the statue lowered itself.
With a sharp move of his head, Voldemort stepped on it and indicated to the guards to follow.
Once they were all in the palm of the stone hand, he hissed again and they rose in the air. The hand stopped at the shoulder of the statue and the four of them stepped off. The stone serpent was now standing near an hole in the wall near the shoulder of the statue, his body forming the upper arch of the hole. Voldemort motioned to the two guards to enter first.
They obeyed without a sound, dragging Lily behind them.
Looking down, the young woman noticed that although the hem of her dress was trailing on the floor, no dust had fixed itself on the black material. Glancing at her surroundings, she noticed they had entered a dimly lighted room. The walls were covered by numerous shelves, which ran around the room, all loaded with books, parchments…
Boxes, knick-knacks, and trunks were spread across the room, accumulated in corners, scattered on tables, shelves….
In the center stood a small alter whose surface was a rusty color, but Lily refused to ponder on the origin of such a color.
Voldemort skimmed through the shelves before stopping in front of one and taking out a roll of parchment from a pile. He then headed to a corner of the room and reverently took a box.
The box had been carved into stone, obsidian, if Lily wasn't mistaken. It was a moderate sized, square-shaped box. He put it on the altar and placed his thumbs on two serpentine heads carved on the top.
The top of the box started to shimmer and seconds later disappeared, revealing the interior of the box.
Black velvet was covering it, and in the middle, shinning brilliantly, laid the crystal.
It was as big as a fist and finely cut.
Lily could feel a pull towards this stone. It was coming from the deepest part of her magical core. It was calling to her, telling her to take it and surrender to it.
She extended her hands, missing the content smirk on Voldemort's face as he raised his wand.
He knew he had to wait for the moment when her mental defenses would collapse, as the crystal would link itself to the Pure.
Lily took a step towards the small altar, her hands approaching the crystal. From her point of view, the crystal was literally pulsating, the power caged within entrancing her, hypnotizing her.
She brushed the surface of the brilliant stone. This small contact was enough to send electrifying shocks thorough her whole body. As soon as they faded, she found herself yearning for more. This time she placed both her hands on each side of the crystal and took it.
Immediately she understood her mistake and tried to jerk her hands away from the crystal, but it was too late. She felt the crystal energies worming their way through her, linking her to the crystal. Before her incredulous eyes, the crystal started to dissolve and penetrate her hands.
She felt her body heat drop as the fluids spread through her veins. So much power, so much… Too much…
As her body started to shut down from the overload of power, she noticed that her pendant was glowing, probably because of the Unicorn's horn she had hidden there; the staff must have been reacting to the crystal. A sudden movement caught her eyes and she saw Voldemort, with his wand raised, his mouth moving as he uttered his curse.
Her eyes widened with horror as she realized what was about to happen. She stood petrified as light leaved the tip of the wand and headed toward her.
Before she could react, her instincts kicked in, and the pendant around her neck glowed brighter as a small white shield surrounded her.
Voldemort's curse hit the shield but instead of lifting it, he started to put more power in it, trying to break through her shield, intent on hitting his target. The incantation echoed in the room as the two guards watched, awed the display of power taking place before their eyes.
"Imperio!"
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This is madness.
This was the thought running through Bella's mind as she flattened herself on her Dragon's neck to avoid a curse.
Darais suddenly dived to avoid a Hydrias coming from above them, nearly causing Bella to lose her grip on her neck and fall.
She whirled and shot a few well-aimed curses, hitting her targets if the pained cries were any indication. She sensed a hex rebound on her shield on her right side, and minute later, a Death Eater was falling from his Hydrias, hit with a blasting curse.
Without its rider, the hydrias left the battlefield and flew away, probably to the mountains.
Slowly, Bella could see that the dragons were gaining the upper hand in the air. Contrary to the dragons, the hydrias had no telepathic abilities and thus could not communicate and coordinate their attacks. Teamwork was not their forte, for their riders preferred to rely on the strength of their mount only.
But if the aerial battle was turning as a victory for the light side, the same could not be said for those on the ground.
Bella had kept a distracted eye on the battle going on under her, but her attention had been more focused on the hydrias about to eviscerate her than on the happening on the ground.
At best it was a stalemate, at worse, the light side was being forced back.
It was then that Bella realized that a unit of hydrias was not participating to the aerial battle, but was harassing their troops, decimating the cavalry.
Darais, tell Derna to take her group and go protect the cavalry, she knows what the better course of action is to do so and not frighten the horses to death.
Alright… Derna is going to do so, she said to be careful on the left side, that it was too easy and that there must be a trick.
I will pass the word.
Bella was agreeing with the former swordswoman. Despite their losses, it had been too easy. The hydrias had put up a good fight, that much was true, but given their number it should have been way harder for the wings to defeat them.
She surveyed the battlefield beneath her, trying to see how they could help the army. Maybe if they could get rid of the chimera, trolls and Basilisks…
She looked up, trying to spot her fellow riders and give them her orders when she spotted it… Her eyes widened as she started to understand what the Dark Lord had been planning to do.
Apparently his horse had not been his only experiment.
Immediately she started to call and rally the riders.
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On the ground the situation was even worse.
The Death Eaters had not been a real challenge to the light soldiers, but the Dead Army had proven itself to be lethal. Even if the soldiers knew how to kill them, it did not make it any easier.
The cavalry had concentrated its effort on the Chimeras and Death Eaters, while the dwarves were battling with the Basilisks and trolls.
Behind the light lines, people were loading the catapults before triggering them, sending huge rocks on the Dark soldiers' heads.
But it seems that for every man killed, two more were appearing.
King Regis looked around him, his bloodied sword ready to strike. The situation was not looking good, the undead soldiers were real killing machines. Nothing short of beheading them, piercing their heart, or burning them seemed to affect them. Hell, he had seen one of them with a deep wound running from his throat to his stomach, fighting like he hadn't been hit, while the wound was closing itself.
This was crazy!
Slowly, but surely, they were pushed back. The Dwarves had taken quite a lot of the Basilisks out of the way, helped by the phoenixes: by now, most of the giant serpents had lost their sight, but that did not make them any less dangerous, once their tamers had got them back under control.
Suddenly Regis spotted the Dark Lord. Resolutely, he urged his horse forwards, slashing his way through his opponent, dodging a few blows as well. Finally, he came face to face with Voldemort.
They starred at each other, Regis could have sworn that the Dark Lord had been higher, he bowed, raising his sword, imitated by the man in front of him. By now, the soldiers around them had stopped fighting, and were looking avidly as the two leaders readied to battle each other.
They lunged at each other, their swords clashing soundly. Each other leant on his blade, trying to unbalance his opponent and throw him off his horse.
Regis twisted his sword; trying to pry his enemy's out of his hands, thus disarming him.
Unfortunately, the Dark figure's hold on his weapon was good, and both fighters withdrew, planning their next move.
They both exchanged a few more blows. Surprisingly, Regis started to feel his enemy's strength behind his blow lessen, unless it was a trick from his mind, but as he saw the figure draw a wand, his eyes widened.
He didn't have the time to pull out his wand in time to counter the curse that was about to come out of the wand pointing to him.
Suddenly a thought crossed his mind, as the Dark Lord uttered the word for the curse:
"Avada Kedavra"
Anxiety flew through Regis as he heard this. He had dreaded the Killing curse, as he was not sure he would be able to parry it.
Raising his blade, he focused on channeling some of his power in it. Then, flicking his wrist, he put the sword on the path of the curse. The light hit the blade and rebounded, going back, straight to its caster.
Eyes widened with incredulity, the Dark Lord watched as the green light hit him straight in the chest.
For a moment, nobody reacted, the death of the Dark Lord being something none of those watching could process.
Then wild cheering was heard on the King's side. Regis starred at the fallen body, was this it? That easy? A magical blade had been the only thing needed for Voldemort to fall?
The more he pondered on it, the more it seemed far-fetched to him, and if Voldemort was really dead, why was the Dead Army still around? Shouldn't they have died?
Puzzled, he urged his horse forwards and stopped next to the lying figure.
Lowering his sword, he used its tip, to push back the hood covering the face of the Dark Lord.
A gasp escaped his lips as he uncovered the face of Jonathan of Nearth, his face twisted in a fearful mask.
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Bella felt herself grow cold as she eyed the creature. It had the shape of a hydria, at least if you didn't look at it too closely. The skin was of Dragons: thick and quite immune to spells; the eyes were big, a pale yellow color with red pupils, the claws were long and shinny. A quick spell on Bella's part told her that they were coated with poison. Tentacles were fixed on its neck; they reminded Bella of those visible on a few animals that paralyzed their victims with it before killing them. Little black things were flying around it.
At first Bella didn't recognize them, but as the hibrid got closer the things left it and headed straight for a brown rider of the Raven wing. They surrounded it. Minutes later, a bloody mass fell straight towards the ground, immediately two greens appeared under it, stopping his fall.
Darais?
The dragon was somber.
Both are in critical condition, it is probable that they will not make it.
What are those things?
They look like the bugs that always follow the Yrtens.
Bella paled, Yrtens were predators that hunted with the help of little bugs that followed them everywhere. The bugs would find a bleeding prey and attack it, stinging it to slow it down and draw more blood, to ease the hunt of the Yrten.
Apparently, these had been enhanced and were more aggressive. Much more aggressive…
At that moment, a rider set a curse on the creature, only to see it bounce back straight to him.
Mentally, Bella added a magical shield to the characteristic of the creature.
Darais, I want all the Lions with me. Tell the other wing to take care of the remaining hydrias and tell Derna to keep covering the troops.
All right…. They are gathering.
We have to lure this thing out of here, so it will not turn on the soldiers…
Easier said than done, those bloody bugs are impossible to catch…
Nonetheless,
the Lions started to fly closer to the creature before going out of its reach,
flirting with her in a dangerous way, trying to divide the bugs into smaller
groups, all to no avail. The little creatures seemed to have a unique common
mind and could not act different from the others.
Suddenly, as the dragons were gaining the upper hand thanks to their number,
all the bugs started to gather themselves.
Before the horrified eyes of the riders, they functioned, forming a second creature, identical in every aspect to the first one.
At least, they don't have their bugs anymore… said Bella to Darais.
Do not speak too quickly
As Bella looked back at the two creatures, she noticed small bumps on their back, bumps that were growing bigger with every second that passed.
Suddenly they burst, freeing little bugs, and a liquid seeped from the holes, drying quickly, forming harsh and sharp patterns on their skin, patterns that could scratch off the skin.
The two identical beasts looked at each other, and then two clouds of black bugs flew towards the riders.
"SHIELDS!"
Bella cried, while waving her hand in a wide arch.
Most of her fellow riders managed to raise them in time, but some didn't. Before their eyes, the late riders were reduced to mangled and bloody lumps, falling to the ground. Before they could hit it, green dragons swooped down, stopping their fall and taking them away.
Bella could only hope that the healers or magical creatures would manage to save them.
Quickly she pushed her worries out of her mind. For now she had to stay alive and find a way to kill those things.
"Stay in small groups and keep moving!" she yelled, while flying towards Yvan.
Darais settled at the other dragon's side.
"Yvan, we need two groups: one distracting those bugs, the other attacking the hybrids."
The man nodded and replied.
"Alright, but you should ask the Haelfleawas… Maybe they can help us against those… Things!"
There was a hysterical tone to his voice, but to Bella's relief he was managing to keep it under control. It would not do if he started to break.
Words of their decisions quickly spread through the wing and four groups formed themselves, out of habit.
Bella raised her arm and as she was about to shot it down, colored blurs whizzed close to her head, straight towards the bugs' clouds.
With a grim smile, she put her arm down and the riders attacked once again.
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On the ground, the situation was dire for the armies of the King and the dwarves.
Even though they were better fighters, they were clearly outnumbered, and the Dead Army was clearing their rank with a frightening efficiency.
Even
the death of the faked Voldemort had had little impact on them. Jonathan had
not been popular among the Death-Eaters because of his and his daughter's
attitude. The same could be said for his peers from the King's court. Nobody
would be extremely saddened at the news of his passing.
If the Light soldiers managed to overcome most of the Dark creatures, vampires
and werewolves, as well as more than half of the Death-Eaters, this small
victory cost them greatly.
The hundreds of men composing the Dead Army were running through their enemies, swords, axes, and knives raised and killing everything around them.
Men fell, blood was spilt, cries echoed in the plain as the battle intensified and as the Light started to weaken.
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Two women were standing in a small room, their eyes focused on a huge crystal.
Both of them were sporting grave looks as the crystal displayed the battle.
Dark green eyes met black ones.
"The time has come," said the red-haired one.
"Indeed… a choice must be made," answered her companion.
The other one gave a sharp look.
"A choice?"
The raven-haired one nodded.
"Yes, the paths changed, and though her choice will be important, she is not the one who will bring balance to this world."
Her voice was melodious, but there was no mistaking the steel resolve in this silken cover.
"Are you sure? She could be the one to do so, after all, she has proved herself several times already," countered the figure clad in a black and red dress.
"She is the Pure, there is no mistake on that point."
"But then…."
"She however will not be the one to bring Balance. She is too light to see it."
"Too light? You are the one to say this?"
The woman dressed in white and silver laughed softly.
"Young sister, you should know that if I may favor the Light from time to time, I see the beauty of the Dark and of the Shadows. A balance is needed as none can live without the other."
"But then, why interfere in this?" The redhead was a bit puzzled at the behavior of her elder sister.
"To right this unbalance, when dark becomes evil, it must be stopped."
Diavera nodded.
"You are right as usual, Athenesa."
Silence fell on the room as both of them watched as the hybrids multiplied themselves, herding the dragons and circling them all, as the dead army wreaked havoc, spread Death and pain through the rank of the Light, as Lily fought her own battle against the will of the Dark Lord.
Finally, the red-haired one turned away and summoned her sword.
"It is time."
Her sister nodded.
"Indeed, let this choice be made."
They joined hands and disappeared in a flash of light.
