Phoenix Flame

Child of the new Dawn

Disclaimer: don't own don't sue

A/N Sorry for the long wait! Slight warning for the fight scene and slight gore in this chappie

Hopefully a new chappie up for x-mas break! If not happy holidays!


The First Task

Harry fingered the robes he would wear the following morning. They were thicker than his school robes, though they were also black, and with his mage sight he could also tell they had minor protection charms cast on them. Over the heart was the Hunter's seal in gold thread. A dark red cloak was attached at the shoulders but it was much shorter than what Harry was used to, stopping at the small of his back, for what Harry assumed was to ensure the wearer didn't trip over his own cloak.

Beside the robes, which he had found laying across his bed after his final day of training before the first task, was a leather belt with a thin strap of leather threaded through it which would expand to allow an object to be held there. The belt too had been charmed, though only with a non-tearing charm, so whatever the wearer placed between the straps would not fall free if hit by a curse.

Harry had been training hard these last few days, not only to learn skills that would allow him to win the tournament, but also to earn the right to carry a stronger weapon. The Hunter's Keep was not only the place to find fully trained hunters, assassins, and warriors, but also some of the best weapons. These weapons, however, unlike the ones commonly used for training, were only allowed to be used by those who have enough power to control them. The trainers were very careful to regulate who was allowed to carry what, as some of these weapons, in the wrong or unskilled hand could destroy entire cities if not more. An elder would have to be present at the time of the "test" and would give the final decision.

Harry had managed to earn Enno, a long black blade dagger with a golden handle, the twin short daggers Ata and Atsu, and the long silver and black sword Zeva. The daggers Ata and Atsu and the sword Zeva were of average quality, but Enno was a powerful weapon.

Knowing that he would have to have at least one powerful weapon, Harry had set his sights on Enno. It was an ancient sword, first made by the Egyptians, and been used in battle many times over the centuries, becoming more powerful as it took a new master.

The elders of Hunter's keep inspected all the weapons by hand on the first full moon of each spring and when a weapon reaches a certain amount of power it became an "anointed weapon" and it is then placed at a higher level than the training weapons. To wield it, the hunter must first demonstrate he or she can control its great power.

When Rekem had taken him to view the anointed weapons, nothing had called to Harry an Enno did, its black blade gleaming in the sunlight pouring from the open door. Enno had not had an owner for 200 years and Rekem had been skeptical of Harry's choice. But as Harry first held the blade, he felt a tingling sensation and a tug as his magic pulled towards the blade, making it an extension of himself.

Harry and Rekem took the blade outside into a circular clearing where the "test" would take place. Jaegar was sitting on a large rock nearby the entrance reading something and barely raised his head to see who it was, before turning back to his reading. Rekem gestured to a small gathering of trees directly in front of Harry and stepped back out of his way, "Aim that way so if it does work you don't break anything." Harry remained still for a moment confused, and then felt a warm in his fingers as he had when he had chosen his wand. Harry brought the dagger straight down, letting the tip just touch the ground and with a loud crack several of the trees were spilt straight in half and a long crater was formed from the tip of the blade to the trunks of the first trees.

"Well, I take that as a yes, right Jaegar?" Rekem said cheerfully, as if he had been expecting something of this nature to happen.

Jaegar merely grunted, not looking up from his paper, "Take it."

Rekem tossed him a scabbard and Enno had been belted on his side ever since.

Despite the hours of training Harry had endured, he still felt he was unprepared. He had once asked Rekem what the first task was going to be like. It had been after dinner when they had climbed the roof of the stables, which were near of the entrance of the keep's main walls, "Will I just have to duel a bunch of hunters in the dark?"

Rekem frowned slightly, and leaned back to look up at the darkening sky, "To be honest, that sounds far too easy," He said after a moment, "From what I've picked up about the last tournaments, some hunters are said to have run out of the stadium screamin' their heads off. I don't think a duel would do that…."

Harry turned and looked back up at the sky, the star Sirius was twinkling brightly, "But Jaegar said it would just be a fight in total darkness. What would make the Hunters scream so?"

"Jaegar said the fight would be in darkness, but he never said what you would be fighting. He can be annoying like that. All the elders can."

"Have you lived here your whole life, Rekem?" Harry asked glancing over at his companion; the stars were reflected in Rekem's dark eyes.

"More or less, I wasn't born here, but this is where I have been living since I can remember. Frost is the only one who hasn't been here for at least ten years. It's not a bad place to grow up, after the first task we're allowed to take you around the island. We usually don't train all day."

Harry smiled, "It will be nice to leave the Keep for a while."

Rekem nodded, "Iceland is beautiful, I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

'I just have to make it through the first task, before I can go anywhere' Harry thought grimly. It was surprising that a place as large as the keep could seem suffocating, but after two weeks of being confined in its borders, he was more than ready to explore more of the island.

Harry woke early after a restless night and got dressed quickly. The tournament didn't start for a few hours yet, so after Harry ate what he could through the ever-growing knot in his stomach, he found himself wandering around the outer wall of the Keep occasionally watching some of the groups already up and moving.

"Nervous?" A voice asked into Harry's ear, causing him to jump to the side, his hand automatically reaching for his sword Zeva, strapped across his back.

Harry scowled at Jaegar and dropped his hand back to his side, while Jaegar chuckled, "A few more weeks and I won't be able to sneak up on you at all."

'Great' Harry thought, 'so in a few weeks, I'll be as paranoid as Moody.'

Jaegar smirked, "So Potter, are you ready for your first task?"

As much as Harry wanted to say yes as defiantly as he possibly could, the knot in his stomach doubled so he merely shrugged and turned back towards the group he had been watching.

"I'll take that as a yes," Jaegar said dryly, "and if my assumptions are correct you had better get to Tower Sorens, they'll be starting soon."

Harry said nothing but turned on his heel and quickly walked towards the tower, leaving Jaegar's soft mocking laughter in his wake.


Harry joined the small, but ever-growing crowd at the base of Tower Sorens and glanced over his competition. The competitors each wore the same robes Harry did and each stood the same way, their left hand clasping their right hand behind their backs with their eyes trained on the large wooden door to Tower Sorens that remained closed. Most of the men and women had visible scars and looked much older and more experienced than Harry. Mimicking those standing beside him, Harry stared intently at the door, eyes following the scars marring the wood. He jumped slightly as the door suddenly flew open, up heaving a thin layer of dust, revealing the tower where the darkness seemed to be a solid mass filling the space.

Jaegar stepped in front of the doors for a moment, blocking their way, "The first task will begin now. No magic is to be used during this task, weapons and skills taught in the Keep only. Those who pass this task will need only to report to a healer if necessary or return to their rooms. They will be informed of matters regarding the second task at a later date… I wish you all luck. We fight for the glory of the hunt and the honor of the Keep!" He called raising his hand to the cheers of the crowd.

He walked off slowly, his eyes meeting Harry's as he passed a slight smirk on his face.

"Come and face the darkness… Hunter Taro." A deep voice called from the void.

A man with two diagonal scars across one dark eye straightened his shoulders and walked up into the Soren Tower. The darkness overtook his form immediately and silence fell over the crowd as everyone strained to hear anything of the battle going on. The silence seemed to last for an eternity, before the same voice called out, "Hunter Taro faced his darkness and passes the first task… Hunter Jeka come face your darkness…"

Taro did not return, but was said to have returned to his room with minor injuries by new-comers joining the crowd. There was a brief applause for Taro before all attention turned to the next hunter. This went on for hours, the silence broken only the specter's voice and the screams of the competitors. Those who failed returned limping or carried on stretchers, Harry tried not to look at the deep flesh wounds that marred their bodies and the horrors that could have cause them.

The sun was high overhead before the voice called, "Hunter Harry come face your darkness…"

Harry forced himself forward, feeling the eyes of the spectators boring into his back as he stepped through the blackness. For a while Harry simply walked forward, unable to see anything. Experimentally he brought his hand up to his face and was shocked to find he could not see it even when his palm was touching his nose.

"Well don't just stand there idiot" Harry thought suddenly feeling very vulnerable standing in the middle of a hallway of some sort. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he slipped into his mage sight and looked around. In this view the darkness was alive with color and Harry could make out vague shapes of tapestries and rugs lining a long hallway that seemed to branch out toward the end.

Loosing Zeva from the scabbard on his back, Harry slowly approached the end of the hallway. The walls fell away sharply and Harry walked into an almost cavernous room. The magic here was different; symbols in bright blue light lined the walls and the ceiling. Feeling a slight push, Harry walked into the center of the room and had to close his mage sight to the sudden wave of magic all around him.

Suddenly something was in the room with him. He could feel its presence as if it was standing right next to him. Slowly the magic changed again, the darkness suddenly became more solid pulling away from the floors, ceiling, and walls allowing the blue light from the symbols light the room dimly.

To his right was something Harry had never seen before. It appeared to be alive but it held no real shape, instead it was more of a black blob, ever moving with streaks of what appeared to look like blood covering it like stripes. Rope-like tentacles whipped out suddenly and Harry fell off to the side to avoid them. The blob pulled itself upright using these tentacles and slowly began to form a shape. Bat-like wings burst from the back of the creature and a whip-like tail ending at a deadly point curled behind the creature. The faceless head of the nightghaust rose to look at Harry who remained frozen in shock on the floor.

Before Harry could think, the tail had coiled back and slammed into him, throwing him across the room into the wall. Spitting out a mouth full of blood, Harry pulled out Zeva and sliced off the point of the tail as it wound back to strike again. He watched as the tail fell and wiggled on the floor like a fish out of water, glad to be free of that danger. A nightghaust! How could they have gotten a Nightghaust? And for him?

Harry froze suddenly as the tail fell still, and then flew back to the Nightghaust reattached and deadly. How was this possible?

Returning Zeva to its scabbard, Harry reached for his twin daggers. The Nightghaust spread its wings to attack and Harry flung Ata and Atsu with a burst of power and pinned each wing to the wall.

An unearthly laugh filled the room and the Nightghaust wrenched free of both daggers, leaving them embedded in the wall. Harry made a move to grab Enno, his last defense, but the Nightghaust was too fast for him. It leapt towards him and pinned him against the far wall, its sharp claws digging into Harry's skin.

Harry gasped in pain and looked straight into the faceless head. Instead of the inky black skin he saw pictures. He saw his friends dieing by his hands, saw himself taking the dark mark and becoming Voldemort's heir, he saw himself slaughtering the innocent with a smile on his face.

Anger filled Harry and he could feel a burning sensation rushing through his veins, his eyes turned to ice and with a burst of uncontrolled power he threw off the Nightghaust. He pulled out Zeva, allowing whatever was happening to take over, and stabbed the Nightghaust through the abdomen, pinning him to the floor. Raising Enno high, he stabbed into the Nightghaust's head, through the image of himself bowing to the Dark Lord.

Veins of gold flooded from the sword and covered the Nightghaust's body. Light began to shine through these veins and the Nightghaust burst into pieces quickly eaten up by the light. Harry fell back covering his eyes at the light and felt the power that had consumed him fade back.

Harry jumped at the voice announced, "Hunter Harry faced his darkness and passes the first task… Hunter Naro come face the darkness"

Trembling and covered with blood, Harry pulled his weapons from the stone walls and floor. A new door had opened opposite the first and Harry walked towards it, finding himself in a short hallway before being encased in sunlight. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust before slowly making his way forward, realizing Jaegar was watching him.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" Jaegar asked leaning against the doorway as Harry slowly trudged toward him.

"Not at all." Harry managed, before the world shifted and he fell into peaceful blackness.


Jaegar shook his head, that kid needed to learn how to control that magic of his if he was going to get anywhere.

"He didn't do that bad for the little training he had." Rekem commented from his position on the ledge of a wall, positioned so he could watch those going in and those coming out easily.

Takara merely grunted from her spot across from her father, while Frost smiled and said, "I like him."

Jaegar signaled to the waiting Healers and watched as the quickly treated his wounds and lifted him onto a stretcher. One task down…


Thanks to all who reviewed and waited so patiently! Please review and Happy holidays!

Special thanks to JJ- I really appreciated this review, I'm glad I have come such a long way from the beginning and as this series was my first fics ever I'm happy with what I'm getting out of them- you'll have to wait and see with Ginny though!

Dawn