In this chapter I'll be describing the human magical core. I would just like to say that this is different from how I originally described it in the second chapter. So heads up, in case you remember how it was originally described and might be confused. This is the description I'm sticking with, that is if I remember I wrote in, later on in the story. I have a horrible memory, as some of you probably know through my writing; I leave out many things that shouldn't be left out. For instance, in my original sixth year fic, I forgot I made Harry had a kid.
Chapter 25 Bandits
"Will he be ok?" Harry looked at the elf anxiously.
"The first four pairs of his ribs were shattered, the bone tearing up his lungs and heart, as well as his skin. He lost a lot of blood and the fact that he is breathing and his heart is still beating are more then just miracles. I don't know how he is alive, he should of died the minute his ribs shattered yet he lasted for thirty minutes.
"We can sew up his lungs and heart, but it will be harder for him to breath, and get blood throughout his body. His ribs can be regrown easily enough, but that is the only positive thing we can say. He can't do anything that will make his breathing heavy, or his heart pump fast. His life will be one of nothing but calm. No fun, no excitement." the female elf finished before walking off.
When the front half of the villa had collapsed Jason Summers had been caught underneath. A piece of the roof had landed on his chest, pinning him to the floor. Unable to move Jason sat there and accepted his death. When rescued from the rubble, half delirious he had thought he was in the afterlife.
Harry quietly opened the door and walked into the room. A tube was hanging from the blond teens mouth. A murky brown potion, which Harry identified as Skele-Grow, was currently being pumped through the tube. The teen looked like shit.
Harry sighed wearily and sat down in a chair that was placed besides the bed. He should really harden himself against these kinds of things. This was war after all and worse things were going to be happening to people closer to him, as well as hundreds, maybe even thousands dying in single battles. However, that still didn't make things easier for him. In a battle or on the Quidditch pitch, he knew what to do. He had control of the situation, it was where he belonged. His mind didn't let the emotional problems affect him.
Jason wasn't the only one injured. Besides Katie Bell and Jason four other Knights had suffered injuries. Sally Fawcett had been blasted through a wall. Nothing was broken but she had heavy bruising on her back and stomach, plus a concussion. Wayne Hopkins had gotten his left arm and jaw broken after getting into a fist fight with a dark elf. Angelina Johnson had a short dagger jammed into her shoulder, missing the pauldron by a centimeter and cutting through the basilisk hide. Isaac Vecceti had been hit by an arrow from a nervous Wild Elf who had mistaken him for a Dark Elf in the dust cloud. Hitting the armor at the thigh, the arrow had concaved the part of the armor it had hit. Isaac had gotten a large, painful bruise, that hurt when he moved.
The other ones were easy enough to take care of. A couple of potions and spells and a few days of bed rest. But looking at Jason, laying on the bed looking so broken, he felt useless. There wasn't much fighting in the ten minutes the Golden Knights engaged the Dark Elves in battle.
Then it hit him. At the beginning of the school year, after looking at his magical core Dumbledore had said he had natural healing abilities. It had helped heal small injuries he had suffered, as well as assisting in the healing of larger ones. What was to say that he couldn't project that healing to another human being? It was worth a shot, since even if it didn't work, Jason could die from laughing to hard, if he survived the experience that is.
Harry rested his hands on the teen chest before closing his eyes. He found his magical core easy enough, after months of practice. He coerced the part of green magic in his core to his palms. Opening his eyes he saw the green glow of his hands seep into Jason's body. He could sense the cells of the lung and heart tissue started to rapidly go through mitosis and repair the gaps in the organs. After several minutes the heart and lungs appeared to be in near perfect condition, never being able to go back to their former selves after being torn up. Soon the green magic slowly withdrew from Jason's body and retreated back into Harry.
The exhausted dark haired teen slumped in the chair he sat, in before drifting off.
"It's a lot more then a bloody miracle. Its fricking magic!" Harry groaned as he heard Neville's loud shout ring through his ear. "Harry! Jason is healed up!"
"I know you git. I did it last night" Harry responded as he opened his eyes. The same Elf Healer from last night walked out of the room again. Neville was standing besides Harry, looking between him and Jason. Harry guessed that as Jason's Platoon leader, Neville felt he had a small obligation over Jason's health.
"You what?"
"I have some healing ability. I managed to project it out last night to heal Jason"
"Oh...that's good"
"Yup" The two sat there in an awkward silence.
"So what are we doing today?" Neville asked. "We only have till December twenty-first, as I seem to remember, so we have a month and a three weeks. That doesn't seem like much time"
"I don't know who we are going to visit. I mean out of all the areas I know the Dark Elves control two of them, verins control one and bandits control another and we should leave them all alone. We should leave the High Elves to Dumbledore's manipulations. I say we should visit all other races. Well the Clunisians, Ice People, Dwarves, Nglaugos and the Tylashians. We already know the centaurs are on our side." Harry explained.
"Do you know where we are?" Neville questioned.
Harry walked to his backpack and took out a folded piece of paper. Unfurling the paper, Harry revealed a map. A black line had been drawn along the map showing the area that had traveled while captives of the elves. "We could either travel north to the Clunisians, southwest to the Dwarves in the canyons, south to the Bandits in the wasteland or west to the Tylashians in the desert."
"If I may be so kind sir" A young female elf, who appeared to be around their age, but you could never tell with elves, with black hair down to her back walked over to them. "The Clunisians are very calm, peaceful people. They will not participate in war unless provoked. Unless the Dark Elves have attack them, they won't do anything, and we'll know if the Dark Elves attacked them. It is rumored thirty wizards from the first group to cross the portal went to the Tylashians and the Wasteland is very dangerous. I suggest you travel to the Dwarves first."
"Thank you. The advice of one so beautiful and wise is always appreciated" Harry complimented, smiling charmingly. The female giggled at Harry, whether because she found his efforts charming or hilarious, he didn't know.
A tall brown haired elf with an air of respect and confidence around him entered the room. He was dressed in extremely fancy clothes and he wore a wreath around his head. Two heavily armed guards accompanied the man. That and the fact that the female elf they were just talking too, was bowing to the man, made Harry realize this guy must of been royalty or something.
On queue Harry and Neville both bowed before straightening their backs. "I am sorry for how you were treated upon first arriving in Grimoire Realm. If Gildrahand was not so hot headed, this would not of happened"
"No need to apologize sir. I have also learned that humans are never to be trusted lightly" Harry answered. The royal elf turned and started to walk out of the room and Harry realized he was suppose to follow. Well more like the young female elf was making exaggerated head gestures to show he had to follow.
"I am curious as to why twenty humans carrying armor, weapons and other supplies would enter Grimoire Realm. Especially if they have nothing to do with the hundred or so dark robed wizards that had came here several days ago." The royal elf, who Harry decided to refer as Prince, turned and stared right at Harry, making the dark haired teen shift uncomfortably.
"Well we do have something to do with them. But it isn't friendly" He added hastily after seeing the dirty look shot his way. "They are called Death Eaters. Wizarding servants of Voldemort. Voldemort, or Lord Voldemort, or You-Know-Who is a dark and extremely powerful wizard who seeks to conquer the world. Voldemort is also my mortal enemy. He has killed my family, destroyed my childhood and seeks to kill me. And I seek to kill him. But both of us know we can't do this without aid. Voldemort has sent those Death Eaters here to recruit the creatures of Grimoire Realm to his side. Obviously he has succeeded with the Dark Elves. We have come here for the same reason. We were going to travel throughout Grimoire Realm and recruit the races here. Unfortunately the journey didn't start how I wanted it to" The green eyed wizard finished his long explanation with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Did you seek to recruit the Wild Elves?" Prince asked.
"I would of been honored to have even been given the chance to ask the Wild Elves." Harry replied.
"When you leave Battlewood forest, you will have your answer. Until then I must speak with my advisors and the king of the Glowleaf Clan" With that Prince and his two guards walked off, leaving Harry, Neville and the female elf alone in a hallway.
"Who was that?" Neville finally asked.
"That was King Rurosaal! King of the Battlewood Clan!" the female elf exclaimed.
"Oh!" the two said together.
"Oh? You were both five feet away from royalty! Something many Wild Elves can not even claim and all you say is 'oh'?" the young elf threw up her hands before walking out of the room.
"What crawled up her ass?" Harry asked Neville quietly.
"I have no idea" Neville whispered back.
"As you know two days ago Harry Potter and eighteen other students along with one adult left Hogwarts grounds through the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the day. Questioning of Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have turned up futile as well as several of the others close to Harry. Kingsley, you are the lead on this case. What can you tell me?" Dumbledore sat down as Kingsley stood up.
"We found their trace again by Hogsmeade, accompanied by several centaurs. A portkey was found to of been used. Tracking the portkey we came upon a goblin portal which took us, and earlier them, to an island in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. This island also has a portal but its magical energy is a lot higher then that of the goblins portal and we don't know whether or not we should enter it." Kingsley stated.
"Hmm. This is curious. What was the reading?" Dumbledore asked.
"A blinding gold light sir" Kingsley said. "Noone has ever seen anything quite so powerful"
"I do not know either, though I can venture a guess. It is my belief that Harry and the others have walked through a portal leading to Grimoire Realm, the one opened year round." At Dumbledore's guess, the whole Order burst into conversation. "Please be quiet"
"Are we sending anyone after them Dumbledore?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Her only daughter had accompanied her seventh son, by everything but blood, and could now be in danger.
"I do not know where this portal will take us. The inhabitants of Grimoire Realm aren't exactly friendly towards humans. Not after we started the War of Humanity two and a half thousand years ago and forced them to hide a whole continent from us."
"My baby" Mrs. Weasley whimpered. Mr. Weasley rubbed her back reassuringly.
"A portal that will open in the territory of the High Elves, a race I am personally friends with, will open around December 21st. Until then, we can only hope for the best. Tonks I believe you have a report" Everyone's attention was turned towards the clumsy Auror.
"Last night seven small fishing villages in Scotland were completely wiped out. When Aurors arrived on the scene two thousand or so dead bodies littered the streets. There were no Death Eaters at all there, but Dark Marks were floating above the towns. There was three hundred wand signatures left behind. We believe it was an initiation of new recruits. Or at least a training exercise."
Gasps were heard around the room. A thousand muggles? Wiped out just like that. It was inhumane. Not to mention what the muggle government would do over this if they realized it was wizards who did it.
"Severus can you tell me any thing on this?" Dumbledore asked.
The ill-tempered man stood up and sneered at everyone in the room. "It was indeed a initiation for new Death Eaters. To make sure they had what it took to be a Death Eater. Two hundred and sixty-three of the Death Eaters there were new recruits"
It took a week for the Golden Knights and their escorts to reach the edge of Battlewood Forest. In front of them lay the Dwarven Canyons, occupied by tens of thousands of Dwarves and a couple hundred goblins.
"King Rurosaal wishes me to give you a message. The Battlewood Clan and the Glowleaf Clan have both agreed that joining up with you would be in the interest of the Wild Elves. With the Dark Elves allied with humans as dark as them the safety of Grimoire Realm has been compromised and can only be restored with the help of the same race who has caused the problem. At the start of the new year several elves will be at the yearly portal in your realm. Meet them there" the messenger walked off, most of the escorts going with them.
"And what of you?" Harry asked.
"Humans are not treated lightly in Grimoire Realm. It will be best if I accompany you" Lessien Nénmacil, the young female elf, stated. Over the week she had accompanied Harry and the Knights on their trek through the forest of her people. She had developed a strong friendship with Harry and Neville, as well as acquaintances with the rest of the Knights.
One of the remaining elf guards walked up to Lessien. They had a conversation in elvish, well it seemed to be more of a argument. Soon the guards walked off, continuously looking back at her.
"What was that about?" Harry asked.
"My father wanted me to return as soon as you reached the Dwarven Canyon. My guards do not like the fact that they have to go back and face my father alone." Lessien explained.
"And who is your father?"
"Gildrahand" Harry gulped at that. The hot-headed elf who had taken them all captive as soon as they stepped foot in Grimoire Realm did not like him at all. The fact that his daughter would be going with them on their journey, would only make the elf's hate for Harry grow. "Well then on to the Dwarves!"
The group of twenty-one urged there horses forward. Lessien was at a disadvantage to the rest, because she had just a plain horse, not a winged one like the rest of the Knights.
"I'm glad the Dwarves have decided to ally with us. I hope we may be as beneficial to you, as you will be to us" Harry said shaking the dwarf's hand.
"Yes. I hope so as well" the gruff voice of the dwarf said. "I have to say, for a human your not half bad"
"I'd like to think so as well" Harry replied grinning. Most Dwarves had a odd sense of humor, one that Harry seemed to get along with. After arriving in the Dwarven Canyon, and Neville almost getting decapitated by an axe, the Golden Knights had been escorted to the Dwarf capitol. There after two days of negotiating they had finally created a treaty accepted by both sides.
First of all, the Dwarven King had agreed not to execute any of the Golden Knights. Second of all, Harry agreed he would not have any type of relation with the King's daughter, who seemed to have an interest in him. Harry just didn't dig the beard, so it was an easy agreement. Third, the Dwarves agreed to help Harry with the defeat of Voldemort and his armies. In return Harry would do two things. Number one, he would bring over some muggle technology that would help the Dwarves mine their gems and metals faster. The second one was now that the portals would be world known in the magical world of the humans, many of them would want to travel to Grimoire Realm for many reasons. Harry was to make sure that didn't happen.
As the Dwarven King had told him. Dwarves liked to keep to themselves. With Voldemort's followers running around in Grimoire Realm and stirring up old rivalries they knew their seclusion would never last. If the only way to get rid of Voldemort and restore their peace was to ally themselves with another group of humans, then why not? Especially if this one was as good and honest as he appeared.
Harry bowed to the Dwarven King before walking out of the room. Lessien was standing by the door waiting for him. Seeing the pleased look on his face, she said something in elvish before grabbing him in a quick hug.
"To Grimoire Plains?" Lessien asked.
"Yup. Through the Wastelands and to Grimoire Realm" Harry replied.
"The air is extremely deadly. We'll need some magic that will keep fresh air around us"
"There is the Bubble Head Charm. It's a charm that surrounds your head and allows you to use breath fresh air, but it won't last long enough for us to travel through there. Maybe a couple of hours at most." They had arrived outside of the palace, where hundreds of stairs led down to the streets of the capitol.
"We could always fly over it" Lessien offered. "Use your Bubble Head Charms for when we need to land. While we're landed I could always use the spell Súle, which will create a small area which is similar to your Bubble Head Charm"
"But you don't have a flying horse. You'll have to ride with one of us" Harry pointed out.
"I'm sure you won't mind the extra company" The black haired elf gave him a wink.
"But your very heavy. I don't want my horse to break its back!" Harry whined. "Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head where he was slapped, extremely hard.
"Call me fat again human, I dare you!" she yelled.
"Fattie" Harry said. Seeing the look on Lessien's face he bolted down the stairs. The female elf shouted something in elvish as she chased the dark haired wizard down the stairs.
Harry let the bolt of elven magic ricochet off his shield and up into the sky. Elven magic was more natural then humans. Elves acquired the magic in their spells from the air and environment around them, not from inside themselves like magical humans. The intent of the spell is decided through either words, the incantations spoken, or with concentration. This was unlike most humans, who needed to use only incantations because their minds weren't strong enough to concentrate the intent. The more powerful the elf, the more magic they could draw into their spells. However, though the intents are different, most elven spells have the same basic structure.
All magical humans have every type of magic in their core, it is just that some are so small that other types overshadow it. If for instance, the wizard didn't have any transfiguration magic in his core, then any and all spells that involve transfiguration, even some spells one would think had nothing to do with the subject, the wizard would be unable to cast.
To use a dark art spell, humans manipulate their core into releasing a small, minuscule amount of the black magic of their core, for transfiguration it is a minuscule amount of red magic. That magic changes the magic running through the blood stream to the same type as it, where it then gathers in the wand/foci. The wand/foci then releases the spell as the caster intends the spell to be, whether a Levitation Charm or an Accio Charm. Which is why wandless magic was so tricky. It is hard for the hand to focus the magic to do a certain thing, like a wand/foci can or for the hand to even hold the magic for that matter. Most of the time, the magic would travel to the hand, before slowly filtering back into the body, because it didn't have a wand/foci to transfer too.
Since the two different colored magics are different, different shields which rely on the same type of magic the spell is, are needed to protect against the different magics. Some spells combine magics, some rely on only one; which is why some shields reflected multiple spells, because they contained the same basic structure, just different intent.
Therefore most elven magic could be blocked with the same simple shield, no matter if it is meant for cleaning something, or blowing a hole in something because most elven magic had the same basic structure; in other words, it was made of the same magic. Harry had learned that the Protego Shield Charm was effective against elven magic.
Of course the Wild Elves were reluctant to teach any human how to block their magic but they realized if they were to fight the Dark Elves, who had the same type of magic as the Wild Elves, and the High Elves, then the Knights would need to defend against them.
"You can do better then that!" Harry taunted as he reflected another bolt of magic. Eerily he was reminded of Sirius saying the same things to Bellatrix before being blasted through the veil.
Blocking another jet of light, a look of surprise crossed the handsome teens face, as he lost his footing and fell forward. Grimacing at what was about to come, Harry braced himself for the pain. The twenty or so steps he fell were surprisingly soft. Harry had to chalk it up to the magic of the Dwarves. Dwarves were like humans in their magic. Except their cores were half the size of your average witch or wizard.
Finally landing at the bottom of the stairs, Harry rose quickly to his feet. He brushed himself off and chuckled nervously. "Its alright. I did that for your entertainment. It was deliberate. And stop laughing Lessien!" Unfortunately for Harry' pride the elf would not stop laughing. In fact, she laughed harder, prompting Harry to 'harumph' moodily. "I'll go tell the Knights what the plan is"
"We should land for the night" Harry shouted, hoping the Knights behind him could hear him over the wind. They were extremely close to Grimoire Plains. They were still over the Wastelands and by tomorrow night they should finally reach the plains.
Harry cast the Bubble Head Charm on himself, his horse and Lessien. He looked behind him and saw the other Knights do the same thing. They all declined at the same time, passing through the translucent green shield and to the poisonous region known as the Wasteland. The air had a green tinge to it. The ground was mostly brown dust and dirt, which blew in the wind. The occasional dead patch of grass and dead tree could be found here or there. A few refugees had been set up in the area, under protective bubbles. They were all ruled by a group of bandits, a group consisting off every type of race on earth, even muggles.
They had passed by one on their flight. Neville had suggested going down and spending the night there, instead of setting up their own camp. Lessien had warned them that the bandits were not friendly to outsiders. She said that if they didn't have anything valuable enough, the bandits would take their equipment and horses. They would call it traveling fees, since they, the bandits, were kind enough to let them travel through their territory. She new of this because it had happened to her uncle.
As they landed, Lessien pointed her wand at the bubble around her head and said "Súle" The bubble around her head expanded outward and continued expanding until it measured fifteen meters in every direction. They had learned that if the Súle spell was cast in the Wastelands the toxic air would still reside in the bubble, and it would take a while for the toxic air to filter out. By casting it in the bubble head instead, they already have fresh air, so they didn't have to wait to walk into it.
Harry hoped off his horse and got rid of the bubble on his and the horse's head. The two tents were immediately set up and the boys and girls each went into their separate tents. The entrance hall of the tent was big enough for the horses to be restrained. That led to the living room which had two couches and a coffee table. Four bedroom's doors and two bathroom's doors littered the walls opposite and to the right of the entrance hall. To the left lay the large eat-in kitchen. A large counter you could eat on, separated the kitchen and living room.
Harry tied his horse in the entrance hall, along with all the others. Isaac Vecceti and Kevin Entwhistle were the first ones to reach the two bathrooms in the tent and were thus the first to take a shower.
Harry went to the kitchen to start dinner. The males and the females would make two separate dinners and then combine the dinners and eat together. Neville and Wayne Hopkins accompanied him. It became apparent that Harry was the only guy who could cook. When the others helped him, they just did whatever Harry told them to do.
Dinner was usually a fun ordeal. They kept the conversations light and tried to stay away from topics that would upset them. They had fun telling Lessien about their world and the stuff you could do in it. If they were lucky, Harry would amaze them of tales from his years at Hogwarts. He told them of fighting the troll in his first year. They had heard of his trip in the forest for detention in his first year, as well as why he got the detention. They had heard of his trip to save the Sorcerer's Stone and his fight against the basilisk. Tonight, he was contemplating whether or not he should tell them about the night he met Sirius.
Harry awoke with a start. Something was wrong, very wrong. But what was it? He let his magic search the room he was in. He and Logan Octavius had allowed the others to get the beds in the tent while they took the couches in the living room.
'There!' he thought as his magic alerted him to the two dozen intruders by the Entrance Hall, right by the horses. The horses it appeared had either been stunned or killed. He hoped it was stunned, because he was really getting attached to Buck. He slowly slid the wand from the holster on his forearm.
"Expello!" he yelled as loud as he could. The light lit up the room and he could make out some of the ones attacking him. Two Dark Elves, a goblin and a human were the only ones he could see. He sprang from the couch, wanting to jump to his feet. Unfortunately Harry got tangled in the blankets he had used for warmth. He tended to get tangled in blankets a lot.
Logan was awaked by his shout and he too saw the intruders by the entrance. Several bolts of light were shot at each of them. Harry managed to roll out of the way and Logan jumped over the couch.
"Diffindo" the blankets surrounding Harry were cut in two as he rolled out of the way of another batch of spells. The others had come out of their rooms, wondering what all the noise was.
"Bloody hell!" someone shouted. An array of lights were shot from both sides at each other.
"Protego" Harry easily deflected the jet of light shot at him. "Stupefy. Clothdiwasi. Flavilla. Laisser Tomber." The red light was deflected easily but the ripped blankets knocked over one of the enemies. The sparks and the sage jet of light were absorbed by a shield.
The Boy-Who-Lived flicked his wrist and watched the orange orb of light fly across the room and smack into a goblin's face. The goblin screeched in pain as it fell backwards, holding its face as it rocked back and forth. Several stunners connected with the goblin before it could get back up.
"Retexo" Harry took the moment off protection to survey the battle. One of the couches had been torn to pieces and the two Knights, Wayne Hopkins and Jason Summers, using it as cover were knocked out of the fight. Half of the other couch had been blown apart. Logan was hiding behind the other half. Neville had taken cover in the doorway of a bedroom, Kevin Entwhistle and Justin Finch-Fletchley in another. Isaac Vecceti, Xander Yestin and Marco Chambers had all ran to the kitchen, using the counter as cover. Harry was the only one out in the open.
Scorch marks littered the walls, floor and ceiling. Harry waved his wand and banished the coffee table at the intruders. They shattered it before it could reach them, but they still had to deal with the hundreds of wooden shards that flew at them.
Using the distraction Harry dove though a bathroom doorway. He looked out of the doorway and aimed his wand. A rainbow seemed to come out of his wand as jets of light going from violet to red flew out of his wand. His mouth moved so quick, even he had a hard time understanding what he was saying. However, he knew he was speaking the incantations correctly because the jets of light kept coming.
He ducked back behind the doorframe so he could take a breath. Harry peaked out again; just in time to witness the loud 'boom' that shook the tent. Looking to where the noise was coming from Harry saw that the counter had been blown up. The three teens hiding behind it had been tossed into the wall behind them, each of them unconscious.
The other boys still in the fight, sent a barrage of spells at the intruders. Judging from the looks of them, Harry could tell they were darker in intent then the other ones. "Potente Multiplo Stupefy!" Several of the stunners slammed into the intruders. Harry grinned in satisfaction as he realized that they were steadily whittling down their opposition. From the original two dozen or so that had come in, only seven remained.
Another group came in from outside. Harry had a glimmer of hope that it was the girls. However his hopes were crushed when he saw the Nglaugos in the group. He had to guess that this other group had gone in and subdued the females. At least he prayed it was subdued and not the other one that he was thinking of.
The half of the couch Logan was hiding behind was battered out of the way by a spell. The bald teen tried running to one of the doorways but a bolt of light collided with him and his body slid forward as he fell to the ground.
Harry had to duck back behind the doorframe as spells were fired in his direction. He tried looking out again but the spells kept coming. Professor Curris had taught them about the technique the intruders was using. Most of them were suppressing the remaining Knights while another one tried to get a better position, unnoticed by the ones suppressed.
Harry blindly aimed his wand out the door and fired off dozens of curses. He heard a 'thud' so he guess he hit something. Deciding to peak out again, he was met with the sight of two wands and a sword pointed in his face.
Not one to give up easily, he fell backwards while shouting "Flamen! Inflatus!" One of the humans was lucky enough to have dived out of the way of the curses. Harry, who didn't see what was behind him, before falling backwards, tripped on the tub. He fell into the tub, cracking his head on the edge and passing out.