Beta-Read by Weasley8799 after Menecarkawan's retirement due to problems with her wrists.
Song: 'Over Drive' by M.O.V.E
Ch. 22: The Sleeping Man
"So? How do you like my Kokoshyon? Am I not the finest inventor you've ever met? Isn't this a masterpiece?" Aklashya started to laugh and Harry stared at her perplexed. He then stared at his comrades and they looked as astonished as he did.
Kroy approached Aklashya, surprising the rest with his gesture. "Does this flying invention have rooms? This young man really needs a bed. He evolved just recently."
"Of course it has rooms! It has everything you need!" Aklashya then glanced at Neville and frowned. "Isn't he a bit young to be evolving?"
"He is, but in his case it was expected for he is from the other world," Kroy responded in a very confident tone.
"From the other..." Aklashya looked at each of the young faces surrounding her. "I thought you were regular travelers. Oh my!"
"Is something the matter?" Dianeia asked worried.
"Only that if you're not regular travelers you might get me in trouble! Oh dear..."
"The room?" Kroy reminded her.
"Sure, sure! Follow me!"
Kroy followed a suddenly unsure Aklashya with Neville in his arms while Harry looked at the rest of his companions and said: "I do not want to trouble her so as soon as we're in Zanoa, which I hope will be in very little time. We'll tell her to return to Ryoll. We really don't need a flying vehicle plus it might draw too much attention."
"Not as much attention as us flying..." said Janryu absentmindedly, playing with a dagger and moving it gracefully through his fingers. "Although it's true I've never seen a flying contraption such as this one before." His pale violet eyes locked with Harry's and the young vampire gave Harry a half smile.
"Yes, but there are many crazy inventors out there. I'm sure Nebureth's men will just assume it's another invention rather than believe we're inside such an invention," Soshlan stated, his eyes wandering around the airship's button filled walls.
"It still stands out..." Nemaisse blurted while also gazing around. She looked dumbfounded with the many buttons around her.
"I think it would be great if we could keep traveling in such a fantastic artifact." Luna's protuberant eyes reflected excitement as she spoke. "You have to admit it is one of the great things we have encountered, as if by fate. Don't you think so, Harry?"
Harry was thoughtful. He still wasn't sure about traveling in that fashion although in a sense it cloaked them. Like Soshlan, he didn't expect the Dark Lord's minions to be able to decipher if they were in some sort of airship. Harry was suddenly woken from his thoughts by Dianeia asking: "Who is driving this anyway?"
A voice immediately answered and a person they hadn't seen before turned around in a rolling chair, making them all go aghast. "I am driving!"
"But you're a child!" Dianeia replied horrified as she stared at a pink haired boy that couldn't be even ten years old. The boy wore a brown newsboy style cap and was dressed in brown shorts and white long sleeved tunic shirt.
"Name's Kayshi. Pleased to meet ya!" The boy raised his right hand saluting them.
"But you're so young!" Dianeia exclaimed, eyes opened wide.
"And you haven't been captured?" Soshlan added, perplexed.
"Ryoll hasn't been affected by the strange Dark Lord because it's difficult to reach. The only way to get to Ryoll by foot is through Xaphan and even if the Dark Lord's men came flying, it would be ridiculous for them to attempt taking the children by air," Aklashya, who had just returned, answered Soshlan's question. "I see you've met my son! Isn't he a darling?" The boy smiled as his mother removed the cap and messed his hair.
"But they have those vacuum creatures like the one we fought! They don't need to take the children by air!" Janryu reminded them with a grim expression.
Kroy also joined them then and replied, "It still wouldn't be easy for them to come to Ryoll. It's the mages who possess those vacuums. They won't bother to come in flying creatures to take the children unless they're really desperate. They also seem to be avoiding the Draconians for if the Draconians see them coming by air they will attack. I learned from aunt Yollka that the Dark Lord's men seem to have avoided two civilizations so far: the Draconians along with the cities close to them and the Phoenix society."
"Phoenix society?" asked Harry unsure that he heard Kroy correctly.
"Yes," answered Soshlan. "They're a very strange civilization with a reputation of being very unfriendly."
The airship suddenly trembled and everyone lost their balance. "What's happening?" asked Nemaisse looking frightened.
A terrible growling sound and then a howl filled the air. Harry tried to regain his balance, but fell backwards almost crushing a complaining Dianeia under him. The sound came again and once more the flying pod shook.
"A wild dragon is attacking us!" yelled Kayshi. "Mum! It wants to attack the blimp!"
From where she was on the floor Aklashya ordered, "Evade its attacks as best as you can!"
"Roger!" said the young pilot as he concentrated in dodging the wild dragon's advances.
"Wild dragon?" asked Luna, her eyes on Kroy. "Does he mean a dragon that is not a Draconian?"
"That is exactly what he means," replied Kroy with clenched teeth. "In this world, we have both Draconians and dragons. There also existed wild unicorns and pegasi too, but they are now extinct."
Kroy sent a glance in Dianeia's direction and she nodded in acknowledgment at the same time she came out from under Harry, dusting herself as a reaction as if the floor had been dirty, even when no dust came from her attempts with her hands.
The wild dragon roared outside and Kayshi gasped as he saw the dragon through his visuals of the outside atmosphere. Harry also seemed surprised for he had expected a dragon like the ice type they had defeated once. Instead it was an angry red coloured dragon with a body so long it resembled a serpent. It had no wings, but was still able to fly. On its head it had two devilish horns and its eyes were extremely big and bulging. The dragon's nostrils approached the visor and Nemaisse, Dianeia, Soshlan, Kayshi, and Janryu screamed. Kayshi nervously maneuvered the rudder in front of him by moving the ship abruptly and making the passengers crash everywhere.
"We'll have to go outside and fight it," Harry stated rubbing his right shoulder after it had just hit a wall.
"Are you mad?" asked Janryu rubbing a possible concussion on the left side of his head.
"Why don't we summon?" Luna suggested with a smile. She seemed to be enjoying the odd excitement of the approaching fight.
Harry nodded before raising his right hand. A giant snake came out of his palm and glided neatly going through the airship's ceiling as if it were a ghost. "Look!" exclaimed Kayshi and he opened many window visors. Ouraion was fighting the dragon, but it seemed that his petrifying gaze didn't work against the angry creature. The silver basilisk opened his mouth and inserted venomous fangs on the red dragon's neck right after dodging its breathed fire. The dragon howled in pain as the basilisk, with his fangs still on the dragon's neck, laced himself in a spiral around the dragon's body, crushing its bones. Ouraion then opened his mouth again and trapped the dragon's head in it before starting to slowly swallow the dragon whole. Right after finishing his meal in over fifteen minutes, Ouraion returned to his master looking gleeful.
XxXxX
Hermione didn't know whether to be furious or anguished. She had just spoken to Professor McGonagall and there was still no sign of Dumbledore. Why had the headmaster vanished? And how? It was utterly ridiculous and Hermione couldn't help but feel uncertainty that almost made her sick to the stomach. She went to the girls' bathroom and started to wash her face as if the water would rid her of her nervousness. Perhaps after feeling better she would be able to work on some essays that weren't due until next week. She really had to let homework absorb her or she would go insane.
A strange sound brought Hermione back to reality and she asked aloud: "What was that?" With trembling hands, she turned around and readied her wand. She suddenly felt vines crawling through her body and screamed. Her armed arm became entangled tightly, making her lose the hold on her wand. Frantically, she looked around and was able to notice where the vines had come from. They had come from a mirror in a corner and Hermione thrashed upon the vines failing miserably as the vines started to drag her body. Soon she was cocooned in those vines and barely able to writhe and squirm as her whole body was swallowed by the bathroom's mirror.
Professor Sprout had heard screams coming from the bathroom, but when she entered everything looked normal. She checked every division, shook her head, and was about to leave when she saw a wand on the floor. She picked it up, looked around again, and left.
Ron was throwing pebbles to the lake, watching the ripples caused upon contact between the tiny rocks and the water. Hermione had told him she was going to the nearest bathroom, but hadn't returned yet. Ron sighed looking at the other students that were outside that Saturday and checked his watch with a frown. He rolled his eyes wondering what girls did in a bathroom that took so long, but was startled as something grabbed his leg. At first Ron thought it had been the giant squid that inhabited the lake, but then noticed that it was a vine coming from the lake. He suddenly heard an eerie voice whisper: "You are mine." Ron quickly looked for his wand and in his state of fear took longer than he should. More vines had come out of the water and had grabbed his other leg while crawling to his waist. Ron desperately started to cast Diffindo, cutting vines over and over, but the vines kept coming or simply sprouting from the recently cut ones. His body was now being dragged little by little into the water and with his unarmed hand he clawed his fingernails into the earth. He yelped as he felt the hurt in his fingers and blood forming under his nails. Another vine started to entangle itself around his neck and he frantically screamed names: "Seamus! Dean! Lavender!"
The others heard him and came running. Even some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joined the Gryffindors that had heard Ron's screams while the Slytherins, led by Draco Malfoy, laughed hysterically. "Is that the giant squid?" asked Ernie McMillan.
Draco pointed at the scene in his hysterical laughter and yelled: "Look everyone! Even the giant squid has decided that the Weasleys are a plague in the Wizarding world!"
Ginny glared at the laughing and cheering Slytherins and started to help the rest of the students in trying to rid Ron of the vines that kept shuffling his body towards the lake.
"This is not the giant squid!" Dean exclaimed, his dark skin paling.
No matter how many spells the students used against the vines they kept multiplying and Ron was being suffocated in them. The vines had already covered his whole body and his legs were already under the water.
"Someone get a teacher!" Susan Bones screamed horrorstricken.
At that Justin Finch-Fletchley and Colin Creevey started to run toward Hagrid's cottage as he was probably the teacher nearest to the situation. It was too late, though. While Colin and Justin were getting Hagrid the students used their efforts in a final attempt to rescue Ron by pulling the boy's trapped body, but to no avail. More vines came and pushed the students violently away from their prey and submerged Ron.
Hours later, Headmistress McGonagall had Hermione Granger's wand on the desk in front of her. She buried her face in her hands not knowing what to do. Miss Granger was missing and many students had been witnesses to Ronald Weasley being swallowed by the lake. Just like the Dursleys, Mrs. Longbottom, and Mr. Lovegood; the Weasleys and the Grangers were already aware of their children being missing. Minerva had no idea why students kept disappearing from the school and she spoke in a broken voice to the air: "Albus, why is this happening? Where have you gone to?" Knowing that it was foolish to dwell on things without doing anything, Minerva wrote to the Ministry of Magic asking for a wizard or witch who are able to speak mermish. She needed someone to speak with the merpeople to see if they knew anything about the young Weasley at least.
XxXxX
Ureilhia decided not to reveal much about Al although she suspected most of the elves already knew the truth about the boy. She was amazed about what Nebureth had done to get Al in child form and wondered if they would be able to protect the young looking ancient. Their children had been taken a long time ago and even though the visits of the shadow men had diminished and were less frequent Ureilhia knew Al wasn't entirely safe with them. They had tried fighting the shadow men in vain and were still trying to figure how to destroy them. Soldiers were easy to fight and kill, but the shadow men weren't.
"I have to find him," Al said all of a sudden.
"Find who?"
"Harry."
"Who is Harry?"
"One of my... students. He is in this world just like I was 140 years ago along with two other students. I need to find them, but it might be too late."
"You cannot change their destinies. I'm sure everything will be all right."
Al shook his head as he took a sip from a cup filled with a hot liquid Ureilhia had given him. "If they wake the sleeping man..." Al lowered his eyes. "They'll be as good as dead. I was warned not to wake him and they have no one to tell them the same. He won't tell them anything."
"Who is he?" Ureilhia asked with interest.
"Tenshi. I'm sure he is alive for some reason that I can only suspect."
"Who is this sleeping man? I think I've heard a legend."
"It's no legend. He exists in the palace where the fragment is. They have to take the fragment and not wake the sleeping man. I remember Thiagus knew all about it and told me not to wake him so I never did."
"Then you don't know what will happen if that man is awoken. Perhaps it is their destiny to vanquish that being."
Al's big blue eyes lifted and gazed at the blonde elven woman's dark green eyes. "I was told he was impossible to defeat, but maybe... Maybe Harry can."
XxXxX
"And we're in Zanoa!" exclaimed Kayshi joyfully.
Harry sighed in relief as they landed. He abandoned the pod with his friends after waking a still feverish Neville to join them and looked back at Aklashya. "Where will you be heading from here?" she asked.
"I'll have to check the map," Harry replied looking almost uncomfortable.
"Well, if you need a lift come back! I'll be glad to help the ones from the other world. I'll be around the city for a while." She winked at him.
Harry waved at Aklashya and penetrated the city, automatically starting his internal scan. It beeped as it detected where the fragment was, his eyes projecting the image in front of his face. Completely sure of himself he quickened his pace with the others following closely behind until they were in front of a castle's gates and the soldiers standing in front of the castle didn't even glance at them as they entered. For what Harry had seen they had to go through the castle because the fragment was at the other side inside a strange building that seemed as big as the castle they had currently invaded. A very old king was seated on a throne and stared at them. "What do you want?"
"We simply want to know if this castle has some sort of back door. We need to reach the building that is behind this castle." As soon as Harry finished saying those words he felt many stares on him from servants and soldiers alike.
The king raised an eyebrow and asked: "You need to reach the enchanted palace behind this castle?"
"Yes. Is there a problem with that, your majesty?"
"No. Not really. It's just that no one has asked to visit the enchanted palace in over a hundred years." Many people laughed in agreement with the old king, but Harry ignored it.
"I will let you pass under one condition then," said the king gleefully.
Harry looked confused and asked: "What condition?"
"I will let you go to the enchanted palace in exchange for the girl with the beautiful eyes. I want to make her one of my wives. You have far too many companions anyway."
"I... I don't know which girl you're talking about," Harry replied honestly, but with a feeling of dread all over him as he wondered if that king wanted Dianeia.
"That one! The only one with beautiful eyes!" The king pointed at Luna, who simply stared at the ceiling dreamily, unaware of what was happening.
"You cannot have her!" exclaimed Neville, who was leaning on Janryu for support. He had gone through the evolution process that hadn't changed his appearance much, but he still looked a little more mature than before. He also seemed to have more muscle in his body that diminished what had used to be a chubby physique. At that moment he looked angered which was something most unusual for the boy.
"Why not?" the king asked.
Harry took a deep breath as he was reminded of the Androktonians wanting Neville and he said: "My companions are not for sale."
"What a pity!" replied the king. "All right, you may pass anyway." He added in a bored tone.
Harry was relieved when he saw it wasn't too difficult to deal with the king. For a minute he thought they would end up fighting in Zanoa. They were led to a back door that was full of dust and cobwebs because it hadn't been opened in years. It made a creaky noise when its lever was pulled, but it flung open for them. Harry walked ahead, followed by his friends and after twenty meters they were in front of a golden palace. It was strange to see the palace so neat and shimmery when no one had visited it in many years. It looked like someone kept it very clean and Harry wondered if it was the magic of the place. The adventurers got into the palace and immediately looked for the fragment. They went through several sets of spiral staircases with rails made out of gold and steps of the purest white marble until they reached the room they needed. Everything in that palace seemed made out of precious stones, marble, and gold. The white marble walls had many gems encrusted and it reminded Harry of the stone key. He even saw Luna look for it in her sack and compare it with one of the walls as if thinking the same thing as him.
In the chamber there was a golden coffin and Harry approached it. The coffin's lid was made out of glass and inside lied a very young and handsome sleeping man in green robes and with long dark green straight hair that fell neatly on a thin pillow and down to the man's mid arms. Harry's eyes locked with Dianeia's and both wondered about the sleeping man. "Maybe he is the master of this castle?" Dia asked.
"Don't know..." Harry answered.
"Could he be a vampire?" asked Neville curiously.
"Why does he have to be a vampire?" Janryu reacted in shock and looking annoyed.
"Because he is sleeping in a coffin," stated Luna as if it were obvious and raising her right index finger, moving it in front of Janryu's face.
"Vampires don't sleep in coffins!" retorted an annoyed Janryu, trying to grab the annoying finger that was being waved in front of him, but with Luna moving it fast and hiding it with a small laugh. "At least I would never sleep in one..." Janryu added, giving up on the small target he had in front of him moments before.
"Stop it," Harry ordered. "Let's just look for the--" He heard something above him and looked upwards to see the fragment there, floating several feet above the coffin. Instinctively, he raised his left hand and the fragment descended. It delicately touched his hand and then floated to his head and entered it. Harry gasped as a tingling sensation embraced him, but he shook the feelings off.
"Look!" Dianeia exclaimed pointing at Harry's head. Two onyx gems formed on his head, but vanished. "But why?" she asked surprised.
"Because it's the meteor summon," Harry muttered, not looking cheerful at all as he was reminded of the aberration that was his magical form. "Her name is Baetylus."
Harry had no intention of waking the sleeping man so he started his way back to the door, but Soshlan touched the glass out of curiosity and it vanished under his touch making him stifle a scream. Harry looked at the elven fairy and Soshlan's canary yellow eyes showed terror as the boy blurted: "It vanished... The glass... Gone..." With trembling lips, Soshlan looked back at the coffin and covered his mouth as he saw a man in a sitting position.
"I've slumbered for a very long time. Who has awoken me?" the man drawled in a sickeningly effeminate voice. Soshlan stared at the man walking backwards with his hands still over his mouth. "So it was you?" the man asked with a very kind smile. "I thank you." He then turned his eyes to Harry, then to Neville who was now using Kroy as a supporting column, and then at Luna. "My name is Damnian. It is a honour to meet you, children from the other world." The effeminate man delicately removed himself from the coffin and yawned. "Now I will join you in your quest. I might be of great help."
Thanks to HitoshirenzuKage and bandgsecurtiyaw for reviewing.
