On the Path of a War Mage
Disclaimer
Anything you see and you recognise, namley Harry Potter and characters from his world, dont belong to me. Anything you see and don't recognise most likley comes from my rather odd imagination so is belongs to me (poor poor things).
Summary
Harry needs to get away from it all this summer but finds himself taken away from it all far sooner than he expected. H's quickly pulled into another world and forced to master new powers and skills just to survive... Post HBPChapter 2 – Choices
His whole body screamed in protest at the imagined impact but then warm unyielding surface seemed to stretch, elastically expanding, taking the acceleration, carefully cradling him in its strange embrace. He slowed then stopped and reversed, the surface contracting until it returned to the flat original. It was white, pure simple glaring white; it most definitely wasn't a tree. In fact, as he saw when he rolled onto his back, he most definitely wasn't in a car anymore. He was in a room, well not exactly a room as it was assuredly not typical room shaped. He lay inside a pure white sphere, his comfortable position due to the gently curving sides. The room was elegant in its simplicity, no door or window marred its perfection, it was quite unnerving. He wondered if he were dead, it was likely, with the car crash and all, but why did everything still hurt.
A voice suddenly echoed through his strange room. Ominous and powerful it uttered;
"Chosen one, stolen from your death
Taken to the in-between, the world within worlds
You are here to learn, your destiny awaits
Only the pure can enter, only the dead can leave
You must choose between return and learning, death and life
You will be tied to us, you will be marked, you will be ours
Or you shall be returned, lost forever, futureless, dead
Make Your Choice."
As the voice spoke the light in the room seemed pulse, the spherical wall glowing in tune with the voice, the light bright but not blinding. The words uttered appeared, fleeting but certain on the walls, many of them darting around him, over his head underneath him. Then the words stopped, frozen in place, stark and black, cacooning him they stood repeated over and over in a frantic puzzle, firmly etching themselves in his mind. The room seemed to pause, the light remaining constant, power emanating from its wall as it awaited his choice. Thoughts darted through Harry's head each more urgent than the next, was this a trap, was this Voldemort, was this death. Then a thought, he couldn't die, if he did no one else could kill Voldemort, the Dark Lord would have won, the prophecy stated that. He couldn't afford to die even if this was a trap he had no choice, the words had rung true in his head, he knew that the owner of the mysterious voice could return him to his death.
Set in his mind but very apprehensive he answered, his voice wavering slightly but clear.
"I choose to live"
At first nothing happened, but then Harry noticed the light level in the room was increasing. The wall was glowing brighter and brighter, it was beginning to hurt. He tightly clenched his eyes but was soon forced to put his hands over them. Eventually when he was sure he would be permanently blinded the light flashed back to a comfortable level. He opened his eyes, blinking several times in an effort to get rid of the blurriness and realised to his surprise nothing hurt anymore, thoughts of his miraculous recovery were swept aside as he suddenly noticed he was naked. He moved faster than he had ever done before, sitting up and scooting backwards while clutching his knees to his chest to protect what was left of his modesty.
That's when he saw it, the strange mark decorating his chest, centred over his heart. It pulsed with light, strange ethereal light, flaring in time with his heartbeat. The light dimmed and the pulsing receded leaving the mark gleaming metallic silver. Unwrapping a hand from his legs he cautiously poked the strange mark, it felt cool, smooth, metallic, completely unlike his skin. This was definitely not good. He examined it closer trying to decipher its purpose and meaning, the thought of how Voldemort marked his deatheaters strong in his mind. It was a simple sun, made up of swirls and lines it radiated out, stretching halfway across his chest. There seemed to be space for more detail, gaps in the suns rays that needed filling. In the centre of the sun there was an eye, again made up of swirls and lines in the same strange metal of the sun. The peculiar thing was despite the fact the metal wasn't skin anymore he could feel his finger touching, tracing it, but it didn't hurt… Yet… and for that he was grateful.
A cough suddenly broke the tentative silence of the room. Harry's head snapped up and he automatically sprung to a half-crouched position. Realising this exposed bits he wasn't keen on showing he hastily wrapped his arms around himself, totally ruining his defensive stance. Feeling his cheeks burning he looked up at the other occupant of the room.
He was looking at what was possibly the strangest person he'd ever seen, that is if it was even a person, it looked more like a part tiger part human. It had strangely warm russet brown skin decorated with stripes in a darker brown. The beings hair was a tousled mess springing out from his head in short waves matching his skin tone exactly, stripes and all. It's nose was shorter and broader than normal set on a broad face with widely spaced eyes with strangely pointed ears sitting far higher than normal. It wore loose fitting trousers in an assortment of earthy browns and a white waistcoat hanging open to show a bare chest, paler brown than his face and hands but bearing a familiar tattoo. It wasn't the same as Harry's; it had the same basic shape but seemed to have more symbols spreading out to decorate the muscular chest.
The strange thing suddenly spoke, an outlandish reverberating sound, somewhere between a cats purr and a human voice but distinctively male. "You have chosen, and now you must follow me, I will present you to the council." He said solemnly, his lazy lip movements not fitting the words he spoke. Harry quickly shifted into a more defensive stance whilst trying to cover himself up as much as possible. His shoulders hunched and he shuffled slightly away from the weird creature in front of him. This action seemed to amuse it and soon the spherical walls were reverberating with strange coughing sounds, which Harry instinctively knew was laughter. The tiger-like face scrunched up, tight little creases radiating outwards following its stripes.
"I had heard the new ones are always a little jumpy. Are you scared of me little one, I assure you I am not so hungry as to eat you, though if the stories are to be believed I may try!" The gruttel voice chuckled kindly, the creatures amber eyes meeting Harry's anxious green. "My name is Kyara, I am a Tren from Kelldor, I can guess you are one of Merlin's blood though we get so few of them they are hard to pick out."
Harry smiled cautiously glad he could finally understand and answer something "My name is Harry, I'm a human, like Merlin, I wouldn't say I've got his blood, well I suppose its possible but I don't know about it." He would have continued but his head was crammed with questions and he was still strikingly conscious of his less than ideal situation.
"If you come from Merlin's Land and you have been 'Chosen' then you are of his blood. It has not been long since my own 'Choosing' but I have learnt that your Land is split to those who have The Blood and those who do not. But let us stop these idle words, we are being waited on as we speak and it does not do to annoy those who are to be your masters." Kyara stated his previously jovial face growing serious.
Harry froze at this, the word 'Maters' echoing round his head, he knew he was agreeing to something like this but not the depth of it. He hugged his knees tighter in desperation, looking back at the tiger-man he prepared to ask the inevitable questions.
Kyara sensing this swiftly added "I know this is not what you wish to hear but we must go now, I will answer what I can as we go and more will be explained when you meet your mentor later." Then with a sharp twist of playfulness he continued on to say "plus we will be getting you some clothing should you prefer it that way."
Harry's tentative smile deepened at this, he couldn't help but like the friendly character in front of him. He wasn't sure why but following suddenly seemed a good idea. His appreciation of Kyara only increased when the tiger-man turned his back so Harry could dash behind him glowing red in his embarrassment. He mused it was funny that in all this strange turn of events he was more concerned with his lack of clothes than his impending fate.
A/N
Hope you like the funky room, its just my overactive imagination getting carried away while I'm stuck in a very boring office looking at my computer and a load of blinds/welding bays. I'll paint/draw it one day (the world not the welding bays lol) I'm sure, as the picture in my head of it and the continuing rooms, would make a really 'interesting' picture.
Anyway on with the story, oh just thought I'd add that I'm writing these A/N's as I go so you should get an idea of what's going through my head at the time I'm writing. I'll probably add more random comments as I go along, hopefully they won't annoy you too much. Enjoy
Finger Fish