Ah, I forgot to list pairings. HPOC HGRW

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other recognizable things etc.

Chapter Two: A World of Power

Harry opened his eyes and immediately shut them again. White. A blasted, inhumanly white ceiling. The Hospital Wing needed redecorating badly. What had he done to land himself here this time? Let's see…quidditch accident? No, he'd remember that…vision? No. He just couldn't think of what it could be.

Then he remembered. ...something wrong…intruders… bodies…'Dispatch to Privet Drive'… No. It couldn't have happened. He opened his eyes and looked around. No, it definitely was not the Hospital Wing and it certainly wasn't the Dursleys'. It was…different. Instead of many identical beds, it only had the one he was in. The sheets were not the cotton the Hospital Wing had, they were silken. So…where in the nine hells was he!

A noise like a throat clearing distracted him from this line of thought. He turned his head to the side of the bed, were the noise came from. Sitting by his bed was a pale woman with blood-red hair, wearing navy blue robes

"It's about time you wake up," She said in a neutral voice. "We were thinking that you might sleep the whole day."

"We?"

"Arkab, Sabrik, and me. Maeror commanded us to watch over you as we were the ones who knocked you out in the first place."

"Maeror?"

"Full of questions, aren't you? Maeror is watcher of the nobility of Atratus Ignis, our world. His brothers, Furor and Indolesco, watch over our military and common people respectively. They are the Three"

"What? Where am I!"

"You," spoke a new voice," are in Eltanin. I am Arkab."

"But where is Eltanin!" Harry asked as he looked toward the voice, only to see a tall man with darkly tanned skin and black hair, wearing dark green robes.

"Right where it says it is. Eltanin."

"Where!"

Arkab smiled slightly. "The very top of the world, young friend. Not even wizards know of this place. I see you have met Matar. Congratulations. Now could you kindly get your arse up so I can get on with my job? The rest of us do have things to do, you know."

"Arkab, he just woke up!" Matar protested.

"Fascinating. Come on, kid. Now."

He walked through the door and Matar followed. There was something in Arkab's voice that meant that it would probably be in the best interest of Harry's health to obey, so Harry left behind them.

Outside the room were gardens of small flowers and vines that crept up the walls, but stayed strictly away from the path though they did not appear to be cut. Lounging in a woven chair was a thin young man who appeared to be fairly tall. His long blond hair was tied back into a ponytail that reached his shoulders and he was wearing high-collared scarlet robes.

"Well, now that the little bugger is awake, we can face the public," he said. Then to Harry, he said, "Ah, Sabrik, young master. My name is Sabrik."

Then, with Matar on one side, Sabrik on the other, and Arkab in the lead, they walked through the gardens until they came to a wall. Arkab muttered something in a foreign language and the stones of the wall melted up and to the sides to form an archway. Arkab gestured for them to continue, and strided through the archway and into the street beyond. Harry and the others followed and entered the street. Arkab once again lead them as they walked right through the center of the street. It seemed to be part of a city. As they walked, people stopped and stared at them, whispering furiously in the same language Arkab had spoken in. Some even dropped what they were holding, not hearing when they hit the ground. Small children rushed up to them, but Matar shooed them away in that strange language. Harry found all of this very unnerving.

As they went, Harry noticed a great deal of the buildings by the street had signs hanging out front. There were strange symbols on them and sometimes drawings, few of which Harry could recognize. Harry guessed the symbols were a written form of the strange language the people here spoke. It was also at this point that Harry supposed that he was being very casual about all this. Well, he thought, perhaps my mind has gone into shock. I suppose that means I could faint anytime though.

Arkab suddenly took a sharp turn and Sabrik had to grab Harry to keep him from hitting a wall.

"Have a care, young master. The Three would be most upset if we brought you in flat as parchment. They have enough parchment already."

"Where are we going?"

"Palace Tavmare, young friend. And I shall not be telling the reason."

"Why did you take me?"

"If I told you the reason for that now, my head would be on a pole within the hour."

"Why?"

"Orders. Laws."

"What-"

"Shush. We are approaching Palace Tavmare. None may speak in the shadow of its gates. Before you ask, it is out of respect for Father King Tavmare. You shall learn of him in time."

Harry said no more, but he was thinking of the information he had just gathered. This was a harsh place, but they wanted to keep him alive and educate him. Yup. He should be fainting anytime now.

Harry watched the looming gates and walls with growing apprehension. They were easily a seventy feet high and, judging from the inside of the gates, at least twenty feet thick. They were made of black granite and the gates were barred with black iron. Needless to say, it was an extremely imposing sight.

Harry was awed. It was even more impressive then Hogwarts! The walls extended far into the city and a large village could have fit in the area they protected. The shadow went all around the walls and out ten feet. It was dark as night. And it filled him with the fear of countless.

As Harry walked into that dread shadow, he felt pushing around in his mind. He tried to force it out, but it only pushed harder. Then Sabrik put his hand on Harry's shoulder and Harry realized he had stopped. He pulled Harry along until they were in a courtyard inside the gates.

"The Presence shall not harm you in the least. That is, unless you fight it."

"What was it?"

"The remnants of the Father King's spirit. It stays to protect this place until the end of days."

Then Arkab spoke to them all. "The Three wish to meet him in the private counsel chamber. We shall take a…shortcut…to get there.'

"You know a secret passageway, Arkab? What an outrage!" Matar said in mock surprise.

Arkab looked at her sourly and started walking across the courtyard to an immense castle. It perhaps a bit bigger than Hogwarts and was pitch black. There were a number of towers and, in the very center, a single spiral that went above all the towers. At the very front was a pair of immense doors made of black iron.

Sabrik leaned down and whispered in Harry's ear, "The Palace Tavmare."

Arkab walked around it all to a small wooden door in the side. He led them inside it and into a tiny stone hallway. He bent down to the bottom of the side and rapped his knuckle twice on a stone that was third from the door and two stones up. The stones gradually faded into a translucent haze.

"Well? Come along."

They were led through that haze and to a small, cramped spiral staircase. As they squeezed up it, Arkab's whisper ghosted back to them.

"Watch for the trick stair."

Of course, Harry thought sardonically, every castle needs a trick stair.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of climbing, Arkab spoke to them.

"Alright," he said. "Do you see that door right there?" And, indeed there was another small wood door. "That should come out in the Jasper Hall. All we have to do then is follow the Jasper Hall to its intersection with the Flame Hall then go to the fifth door on the left."

"You sure know your way around the Jasper Hall, Arkab," Sabrik said slyly. As Arkab scowled, Sabrik told Harry, "The Jasper Hall is one of the women's quarters."

Harry only half heard him. At the moment Harry was too involved in trying to figure out why he trusted these people, particularly Sabrik, to notice much of anything around him. They hadn't done anything that would make him trust them. It seemed like they were making him trust them. Whenever he tried to keep himself from trusting them, the feeling returned full force.

"Young friend? We are almost there. Be prepared."

They turned a corner and passed into what looked like a hall on fire. It was painted in all the hues of fire and many tapestries depicting phoenixes and lions hung on the flaming walls. What was surprising was that none of the paintings moved. One painting in particular caught Harry's eye. It displayed a black phoenix grappling talons with another phoenix. It looked like the black one was winning.

Matar put her hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him to a cherry wood door which was carved liberally with foxes. She licked her lips nervously once and opened the door. Inside was a long, smooth stone table with chairs on either side. At the head of the table three ancient white-haired men sat.

The one on the left was bald and had a moustache that drooped over the sides of his mouth. His face was marred by a scar on the left side of his face which started at mid forehead, ran down an empty eye socket, cheek, and ended after brutally mauling the corner of his mouth. His eyes were a cold grey. The center man had shoulder-length hair that hung loosely behind him. He had slightly more wrinkles than the other two and light blue eyes that reflected a near immeasurable grief. The last was balding and had navy blue eyes which showed centuries of pain.

It was the man on the left which spoke first. "Leave us, subjects. You shall find thy due pay with Feljis."

At his words, Matar, Arkab, and Sabrik bowed their heads and left quietly.

"You there." The second one said. "Come sit here." He gestured to one of the chairs nearest to them. Harry went, albeit reluctantly, to the chair. "Now," he said again. "Thou art no doubt wondering why we had thee abducted in the middle of the night and why we brought thee here. First off, our names doth be Furor,"-he pointed at the bald man-"Indolesco,"-he pointed to the right one-"and myself, Maeror. We have acted as stewards in this fair land for nearly eight hundred years.

For seven hundred years, we have searched for the heir of this kingdom. We never found him in all those years but recently we found a hint of his presence. We followed that hint and then we found him. We received quite a shock really. It turns out this person is rather renowned i