Wow! Thanks for the response I have been getting!! Thank you everyone!!
I would normally write all the names down, but I'm feeling a bit tired
today, so I'll go straight to the story. Thanks again to everyone!!
Keeper of Shadows
By Skysong
Chapter 2: The ShadowKeepers
************************
'Thoughts'
************************
The tall man removed his black hood, revealing a pale face with features like marble. Chips of ice regarded Harry for a moment. He nodded.
"Come with me."
He reached out and offered Harry his hand face up. Instinctively, Harry reached up and touched his palm, red fire blazed about him in a spinning cyclone.
"This is the ShadowKeeper House."
He led Harry down several long corridors and arrived at a large steel door, he deftly typed a series of numbers on the keypad beside the door.
"If anyone even IF they knows my password tries to open the door without my permission, they will get fried, there is a very high tech identifying system on the door." He said amusedly as he pushed open the door, gingering stepping over a pile of ash.
Harry stared in wonderment at what appears to be an office. It was a strange combination of high muggle technology, brutal medieval weapons and strange magical artifacts.
"I am the Arch-ShadowKeeper, Python, in charge of this place, now, I believe you have some questions?"
Harry blinked out of his glazed state, "Yes, who.what are the ShadowKeepers?"
"The ShadowKeepers," the Arch-ShadowKeeper reached out and fiddled with a bullet shaped paperweight in his hands, ".are a group of people, a community, that deals with, I suppose you call it the 'criminal arts', hence our motto, "Work in the Shadows, Play in the shadows, Live in the shadows" (A/N: I made that up, if you can think of something better, tell me!!!) .there are basically 3 types of ShadowKeeper that you can specialize in, I'll tell you more about specializing sometime later, there's the Spy, who are basically our scouts, intellects and gatherers of information, just as the name implies. There are the thieves, the "re-possession-ers" as they call themselves, they provide our supplies and give us the things we need. Lastly the assassins, the hardest path of them all, they are the warriors, the killers and the hunters, only 5% manage to die of old age. Now, I have told you this much, do you swear to join us," he presses an unseen button on the bottom of the bullet, somehow, a fully sized gun slipped out of it, "or never tell anyone about us.ever."
Harry blinked, 'I have nothing to loose, and, this is a great way to get my revenge, besides, something tells me that I WANT to be a ShadowKeeper'
"I will join you."
"Very well"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harry awoke in a cold chamber of some sort. It reminded him uncomfortably of his cell in Azkaban. 'What the!'
Standing up he surveyed his surroundings. 'There's no door!' he started to panic, running his cold fingers around the cracks in the wall.
"I know there is no door," a semi-transparent figure appeared, cloaked in black from head to toe, "Let's see how you fare."
With that, the unknown stranger threw a punch at his head. Harry ducked, but too slowly, sending sprawling to the ground. Leaping up with a shout, the stranger stomped down on him, leaving Harry severely winded. Harry scrambled back up to his feet not before the stranger jumped down knee first on the space he previously occupied. The stranger grinned, uneven white teeth floating in a hood of black, as he launched a kick towards Harry's head. Harry jumped to the side just in time.
"Well, not bad." the stranger flicked his right wrist, allowing a dagger to slide from a secret compartment in his sleeve, he charged at Harry with a yell, its long black cloak flying back, showing a non-existent body.
'Oh shit! I'm so dead! I need a weapon!'
A dagger suddenly appeared in his hand. 'Nice.'
Harry jumped up as if to send a blow at the stranger's head, then he swooped low, slashing at the stranger's leg and kicking him of balance. Then he started panicking.
'Oh my god, he has no body.what should I do.the head!'
He jumped up then screwed his eyes shut, he buried the dagger deep into the figure's eye. The figure disappeared in a flash of smoke.
"Not bad.you have potential.young Daggyr (pronounced dagger)"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you passed, .Daggyr," Python eyed the dagger in Harry's hand amusedly. The platinum bladed dagger was perfectly clean, as if it had never touched blood. Its hilt was of a soft black leather that gleamed even in the dark confines of the waiting room outside the chamber. A silvery-blue-green stone was set in the dead center just below the blade.
Python then started leading Harry through another corridor with walls of metal. There were strange spikes all along the walls and dried blood and skeletal remains released foul smelling offal. Python didn't even seem to notice, he took Harry over a very unstable rope bridge drifting across the bridge lightly, without even making it shift, Harry however was a bit more hesitant, but he made it across eventually.
They arrived in what seemed to be a large circular hall, a reception or meeting area of some sort. They walls were a pale grey stone with doors all around it, small light bulbs speckled the ceiling like stars on a clear night. Torches casted deep shadows and flickering light from their positions on the wall.
He led Harry to a nearby door, a red stain was imprinted on the wall by it.
"The previous student ShadowKeeper doesn't board with us anymore, you may have their room," he handed Harry a silver key on a chain, "Now these are 'Ores' it is like our form of currency here, use it to equip yourself, buy food, clothing, etc. You are expected to be independent, learn to survive, or not at all. Use them wisely, at first you get 300 Ores a week, however, as time goes on, you must find your own source of income," he handed over a small leather pouch, "your lessons start tomorrow, you will be told where to go when the time comes, now there is one really important rule here, Eat or get eaten, at first you won't get stolen from or attacked for money or items or anything else, but don't expect to be shielded forever. Remember that."
Suddenly, Harry realized that Python seemed to slowly melt into the shadows and disappear completely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door opened to reveal something like an apartment. The dwelling was small, but provided all the bare necessities. It was decorated simple blank and white, probably waiting for someone to do their own proper decorations.
There was a single bedroom. There was a bed with a hard mattress; it was nothing fancy, made up of some type of wood. There was a desk of more polished wood, a computer sat rigidly on top of it.
There was a bathroom attached too it, looking a bit like a modern muggle hotel.
There was a kitchen with a dining area, just a stove, a microwave, fridge, an oven and a sink.
Harry gave a genuine smile, 'Good, peace and quiet! Now, I have to think over some things, what I am going to do for instance?'
He flopped down on his bed, closed his eyes and cleared his mind to think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(A/N: I'm going to tell you about how he trains as we go along. )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5 YEARS LATER~~
Silence echoed about the cold, stone walls of the ceremonial hall.
The crowd of gathered student-ShadowKeepers and their teacher/mentors waited silently, their faces shadowed by their long cloaks that they seem to favour.
Arch-ShadowKeeper Python smiled, Daggyr has come a long way, smoothly, he melted back out of the shadows and waited by a table made of solid clear crystal. A black cloaked figure appeared from the shadow on the other side of the stage and nodded respectfully to him.
"I have gathered you all on this occasion to congratulate Daggyr on reaching the status of absolute mastery of the assassination arts, I grant upon him the new title of, 'Absolute master Assassin Daggyr Bloodsong, the blade of revenge'." Python proclaimed in the secret elegant tongue of the ShadowKeepers.
There was a hushed wave of interest and excitement.
Daggyr blinked and looked up suddenly, emerald green eyes that had learned to be unreadable suddenly brimming with shock, to be an absolute master assassin was one thing, but to be placed in the ultimate book of the greatest assassins, the Book of Bloodsong, was legendary. The Great Arch- ShadowKeeper Python himself was in the Book of the Bloodsong as well.
"Thank you Arch-ShadowKeeper.but I must have heard incorrectly," Daggyr composed himself back to his now normal emotionless cold self, "the Bloodsong?"
"Yes, the Bloodsong."
All Student ShadowKeepers who survived at least a year of training are given the symbol of the ShadowKeepers tattooed at the base of their necks. It was an eye bordered by a bold triangle. The symbols were also "colour- coded". Blue eyes were tattooed on those who specialized in spying, a yellow eye for the thieves and a red eye for the assassins. In the 'ShadowKeeper House' as the place was ironically called (the 'house' was situated underground and is roughly the size of 3 cities), fellow Keeper- sisters and brothers killed each other without much of a though except for survival, however, above land was a different matter depending on the person.
The Arch-ShadowKeeper smiled and pulled out a gold and blood red book in pristine condition.
(A/N: Those colours are not familiar on purpose.I just noticed when I wrote this, however, if you guys want it, I can make Harry, Gryfindor's heir or something.but I think it's a bit too cliché.)
Gently, he placed it on the crystal table, he pulled out his dagger hidden inside his sleeves.
Daggyr knelt before the book and Python, head bowed respectfully. Python nodded emotionlessly and gently pulled down the black hood that revealed a messy mop of raven black hair tied uselessly together by a piece of leather. Daggyr lifted up a pale hand that hadn't seen the sun for half a decade to the Arch-ShadowKeeper, who swiftly slit along his wrist, crimson blood seeping onto crystal table. He didn't even wince as blood flooded unstoppably from his wrist, his hand with its palm facing up remained steady. Golden and Red light flared and suddenly, Daggyr began to scream with agony.
The audience cringed. If something hurts to an Absolute Master Assassin, it must of hurt a LOT. A normal person will probably die a horrible death from the pain within 3 seconds if they were lucky.
His hair burst out of its restraints as his symbol was revealed glowing in a multitude of colours, then settling on a blood red and then a last flash of gold. The light stopped as abruptly as it began, along with the screaming. Daggyr collapsed to the ground in an undignified fashion, his palm healed as if the cut had never occurred, his symbol at the back of his neck was the usual red triangle and eye, but with a golden drop of blood sitting in the middle of it like a strange golden pupil. Blood seeped from his neck, where it touched the stone, it acted like acid, leaving deep groves along with the many unexplained others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well, what do you think? I wonder who Daggyr is, no DUH!! Do you think it was too short? I don't know? Maybe I should post longer chapters? Have I explained everything clearly? I know I have this tendency to think too far ahead and forget that people might not understand me...hehe, oops! Tell me what you think. I'm planning on making Harry return to the real world next chapter. So yup, one step closer to Harry's revenge I suppose! Hehe!!
Keeper of Shadows
By Skysong
Chapter 2: The ShadowKeepers
************************
'Thoughts'
************************
The tall man removed his black hood, revealing a pale face with features like marble. Chips of ice regarded Harry for a moment. He nodded.
"Come with me."
He reached out and offered Harry his hand face up. Instinctively, Harry reached up and touched his palm, red fire blazed about him in a spinning cyclone.
"This is the ShadowKeeper House."
He led Harry down several long corridors and arrived at a large steel door, he deftly typed a series of numbers on the keypad beside the door.
"If anyone even IF they knows my password tries to open the door without my permission, they will get fried, there is a very high tech identifying system on the door." He said amusedly as he pushed open the door, gingering stepping over a pile of ash.
Harry stared in wonderment at what appears to be an office. It was a strange combination of high muggle technology, brutal medieval weapons and strange magical artifacts.
"I am the Arch-ShadowKeeper, Python, in charge of this place, now, I believe you have some questions?"
Harry blinked out of his glazed state, "Yes, who.what are the ShadowKeepers?"
"The ShadowKeepers," the Arch-ShadowKeeper reached out and fiddled with a bullet shaped paperweight in his hands, ".are a group of people, a community, that deals with, I suppose you call it the 'criminal arts', hence our motto, "Work in the Shadows, Play in the shadows, Live in the shadows" (A/N: I made that up, if you can think of something better, tell me!!!) .there are basically 3 types of ShadowKeeper that you can specialize in, I'll tell you more about specializing sometime later, there's the Spy, who are basically our scouts, intellects and gatherers of information, just as the name implies. There are the thieves, the "re-possession-ers" as they call themselves, they provide our supplies and give us the things we need. Lastly the assassins, the hardest path of them all, they are the warriors, the killers and the hunters, only 5% manage to die of old age. Now, I have told you this much, do you swear to join us," he presses an unseen button on the bottom of the bullet, somehow, a fully sized gun slipped out of it, "or never tell anyone about us.ever."
Harry blinked, 'I have nothing to loose, and, this is a great way to get my revenge, besides, something tells me that I WANT to be a ShadowKeeper'
"I will join you."
"Very well"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Harry awoke in a cold chamber of some sort. It reminded him uncomfortably of his cell in Azkaban. 'What the!'
Standing up he surveyed his surroundings. 'There's no door!' he started to panic, running his cold fingers around the cracks in the wall.
"I know there is no door," a semi-transparent figure appeared, cloaked in black from head to toe, "Let's see how you fare."
With that, the unknown stranger threw a punch at his head. Harry ducked, but too slowly, sending sprawling to the ground. Leaping up with a shout, the stranger stomped down on him, leaving Harry severely winded. Harry scrambled back up to his feet not before the stranger jumped down knee first on the space he previously occupied. The stranger grinned, uneven white teeth floating in a hood of black, as he launched a kick towards Harry's head. Harry jumped to the side just in time.
"Well, not bad." the stranger flicked his right wrist, allowing a dagger to slide from a secret compartment in his sleeve, he charged at Harry with a yell, its long black cloak flying back, showing a non-existent body.
'Oh shit! I'm so dead! I need a weapon!'
A dagger suddenly appeared in his hand. 'Nice.'
Harry jumped up as if to send a blow at the stranger's head, then he swooped low, slashing at the stranger's leg and kicking him of balance. Then he started panicking.
'Oh my god, he has no body.what should I do.the head!'
He jumped up then screwed his eyes shut, he buried the dagger deep into the figure's eye. The figure disappeared in a flash of smoke.
"Not bad.you have potential.young Daggyr (pronounced dagger)"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you passed, .Daggyr," Python eyed the dagger in Harry's hand amusedly. The platinum bladed dagger was perfectly clean, as if it had never touched blood. Its hilt was of a soft black leather that gleamed even in the dark confines of the waiting room outside the chamber. A silvery-blue-green stone was set in the dead center just below the blade.
Python then started leading Harry through another corridor with walls of metal. There were strange spikes all along the walls and dried blood and skeletal remains released foul smelling offal. Python didn't even seem to notice, he took Harry over a very unstable rope bridge drifting across the bridge lightly, without even making it shift, Harry however was a bit more hesitant, but he made it across eventually.
They arrived in what seemed to be a large circular hall, a reception or meeting area of some sort. They walls were a pale grey stone with doors all around it, small light bulbs speckled the ceiling like stars on a clear night. Torches casted deep shadows and flickering light from their positions on the wall.
He led Harry to a nearby door, a red stain was imprinted on the wall by it.
"The previous student ShadowKeeper doesn't board with us anymore, you may have their room," he handed Harry a silver key on a chain, "Now these are 'Ores' it is like our form of currency here, use it to equip yourself, buy food, clothing, etc. You are expected to be independent, learn to survive, or not at all. Use them wisely, at first you get 300 Ores a week, however, as time goes on, you must find your own source of income," he handed over a small leather pouch, "your lessons start tomorrow, you will be told where to go when the time comes, now there is one really important rule here, Eat or get eaten, at first you won't get stolen from or attacked for money or items or anything else, but don't expect to be shielded forever. Remember that."
Suddenly, Harry realized that Python seemed to slowly melt into the shadows and disappear completely.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door opened to reveal something like an apartment. The dwelling was small, but provided all the bare necessities. It was decorated simple blank and white, probably waiting for someone to do their own proper decorations.
There was a single bedroom. There was a bed with a hard mattress; it was nothing fancy, made up of some type of wood. There was a desk of more polished wood, a computer sat rigidly on top of it.
There was a bathroom attached too it, looking a bit like a modern muggle hotel.
There was a kitchen with a dining area, just a stove, a microwave, fridge, an oven and a sink.
Harry gave a genuine smile, 'Good, peace and quiet! Now, I have to think over some things, what I am going to do for instance?'
He flopped down on his bed, closed his eyes and cleared his mind to think.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(A/N: I'm going to tell you about how he trains as we go along. )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5 YEARS LATER~~
Silence echoed about the cold, stone walls of the ceremonial hall.
The crowd of gathered student-ShadowKeepers and their teacher/mentors waited silently, their faces shadowed by their long cloaks that they seem to favour.
Arch-ShadowKeeper Python smiled, Daggyr has come a long way, smoothly, he melted back out of the shadows and waited by a table made of solid clear crystal. A black cloaked figure appeared from the shadow on the other side of the stage and nodded respectfully to him.
"I have gathered you all on this occasion to congratulate Daggyr on reaching the status of absolute mastery of the assassination arts, I grant upon him the new title of, 'Absolute master Assassin Daggyr Bloodsong, the blade of revenge'." Python proclaimed in the secret elegant tongue of the ShadowKeepers.
There was a hushed wave of interest and excitement.
Daggyr blinked and looked up suddenly, emerald green eyes that had learned to be unreadable suddenly brimming with shock, to be an absolute master assassin was one thing, but to be placed in the ultimate book of the greatest assassins, the Book of Bloodsong, was legendary. The Great Arch- ShadowKeeper Python himself was in the Book of the Bloodsong as well.
"Thank you Arch-ShadowKeeper.but I must have heard incorrectly," Daggyr composed himself back to his now normal emotionless cold self, "the Bloodsong?"
"Yes, the Bloodsong."
All Student ShadowKeepers who survived at least a year of training are given the symbol of the ShadowKeepers tattooed at the base of their necks. It was an eye bordered by a bold triangle. The symbols were also "colour- coded". Blue eyes were tattooed on those who specialized in spying, a yellow eye for the thieves and a red eye for the assassins. In the 'ShadowKeeper House' as the place was ironically called (the 'house' was situated underground and is roughly the size of 3 cities), fellow Keeper- sisters and brothers killed each other without much of a though except for survival, however, above land was a different matter depending on the person.
The Arch-ShadowKeeper smiled and pulled out a gold and blood red book in pristine condition.
(A/N: Those colours are not familiar on purpose.I just noticed when I wrote this, however, if you guys want it, I can make Harry, Gryfindor's heir or something.but I think it's a bit too cliché.)
Gently, he placed it on the crystal table, he pulled out his dagger hidden inside his sleeves.
Daggyr knelt before the book and Python, head bowed respectfully. Python nodded emotionlessly and gently pulled down the black hood that revealed a messy mop of raven black hair tied uselessly together by a piece of leather. Daggyr lifted up a pale hand that hadn't seen the sun for half a decade to the Arch-ShadowKeeper, who swiftly slit along his wrist, crimson blood seeping onto crystal table. He didn't even wince as blood flooded unstoppably from his wrist, his hand with its palm facing up remained steady. Golden and Red light flared and suddenly, Daggyr began to scream with agony.
The audience cringed. If something hurts to an Absolute Master Assassin, it must of hurt a LOT. A normal person will probably die a horrible death from the pain within 3 seconds if they were lucky.
His hair burst out of its restraints as his symbol was revealed glowing in a multitude of colours, then settling on a blood red and then a last flash of gold. The light stopped as abruptly as it began, along with the screaming. Daggyr collapsed to the ground in an undignified fashion, his palm healed as if the cut had never occurred, his symbol at the back of his neck was the usual red triangle and eye, but with a golden drop of blood sitting in the middle of it like a strange golden pupil. Blood seeped from his neck, where it touched the stone, it acted like acid, leaving deep groves along with the many unexplained others.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Well, what do you think? I wonder who Daggyr is, no DUH!! Do you think it was too short? I don't know? Maybe I should post longer chapters? Have I explained everything clearly? I know I have this tendency to think too far ahead and forget that people might not understand me...hehe, oops! Tell me what you think. I'm planning on making Harry return to the real world next chapter. So yup, one step closer to Harry's revenge I suppose! Hehe!!