Disclaimer: Need I bother?
Time Line: The beginning of this chapter takes place at the same time as chapter one (Hog-Bloody-Warts) in A Power Rising.
Of Rings and Otherworldly Things
The Lander flew over the crests of several grassy hills and across several winding rivers before finally landing in a small grassy filed. Both Harry and Xaldmoss disembarked into the bright sunlit field, as they did so the craft shimmered before vanishing from sight under it's cloaking field. With the Lander safely concealed, the two began their long trek over the grassland that seemed to stretch on and on forever. As he walked, Harry couldn't help but replay the events of the last few days, over and over again in his head. Now that he wasn't being continuously attacked, he had started to wonder more about the Keyblade, the heartless and most importantly about why he had decided to trust the person who had attacked him as soon as they had met.
It was nightfall by the time they had reached their destination. It was a small town, not much bigger then Hogsmeade really, and probably had a population of only a couple hundred of so. Following the town's outer wall around its limits, they arrived at small wooden gatehouse that served as the towns one and only entrance. After knocking three times, a small viewing hatch set in the door opened to reveal an elderly watchman, who happened to hold the keys to the town.
"What business brings you to Bree? The guard asked in fairly grumpily obviously irritated about being called out of his shack and into the pouring rain.
"We're travellers, we seek shelter at the Prancing Pony." Xaldmoss replied firmly. The town guard eyed them up for a second before he closed the hatch. Harry was adamant that he wasn't going to let them in, but after a moment, with a heavy clank the door swung open.
"Can't be too careful, it's my job to ask questions after nightfall, there's talk of strange folk abroad" the man mumbled as he locked the door securely behind them. From there it was only a short walk to the Inn. As they entered, they were hit by the unmistakable stench of pipe smoke and tobacco that told them that this was traditional old stile inn, a far cry from The Three Broomsticks. The occupants of the inn could be categorised into to groups, one group being merry drinkers who were typically dancing and singing in the centre of the room. The remainder, were the secretive individuals who sat in the shadows in the corners alone, silently watching the others. Harry took a seat at an empty table while Xaldmoss went to speak the bartender. As he sat, Harry began to notice the attention he was getting from the crowd. It wasn't as if everyone had fell silent when they had entered a, as often happened to him for one reason or another, but that he was getting a lot of suspicious glances from the various occupants.
Ten minutes later, Xaldmoss returned from the bar carrying to pint tankards, placing one in front of Harry before sitting down next to him. Eyeing the tankard, Harry picked it up and drank a few mouthfuls and began to feel the warm fuzzy feeling in the back of his mind. Putting it back down he turned to Xaldmoss. " So Xal, where are we, and what was with the quick exit of Traverse Town?"
The scythe wielder looked at Harry intently for a second, before accepting the more personal name and answered his question. "That scorpion heartless we fought, it shouldn't have been there." He hesitated, taking in Harry's confused look before explaining further. "Every world has a heart. To get to these world hearts, is the Heartless's main objective. However each world heart has a door that leads to it, a door that your Keyblade can lock. The door in Traverse Town was locked sometime ago, so the heartless can't reach it."
"So, if the door to the world's heart is locked and they can't get past it, what were they doing there?"
"Exactly, a small contingent of heartless would be expected, but a heartless as significant as that was there fore a reason and it wasn't for the world heart."
"It was there fore us?"
"That's what I think," Xal clarified. "Someone knew that one, or both of us would be there, and sent the Heartless to kill us. That's why were here. This world as to yet has had little to no heartless activity…"
"…So if they suddenly show up" Harry interjected, "we know that we are being followed some how." Xal simply nodded an affirmative.
"The question is by who, and how are they doing it?" Meanwhile for very small humanoid beings had just entered and had taken places at a table near the fireplace. They began to converse in hushed tongs while glancing at the other people in the inn, before one got up and headed for the bar. In general they screamed suspicious, something that hadn't escaped Harry attention.
"Those four near the fire" he said with a slight nod, trying not to draw the attention of anyone but Xal. "There acting very strange, don't you think?"
"In my line of work, strange is an everyday occurrence, but year, they are." Intent on learning more, yet not wanting to draw any more attention to himself, Harry strained his ears across the crowded and noisy room to the lone member of the group at he bar who was engaged in a conversation with those around him.
"Baggins," he said "shore I know a Baggins, he's over there, Frodo Baggins. He's my second cousin, once removed on his mothers side." Harry missed the rest of the conversation, as another member of their group, probably the one that was being thoughtlessly talked about, drew his attention away when he suddenly jumped to his feet frantically tried to reach the over talkative member. He reached him shouting, "Pippin" which Harry guessed to be his name before tripping backwards to the floor on a chair leg. As he fell a small golden ring flew out of his hand and miraculously landed his outstretched finger, causing him to instantly vanish.
Immediately, everyone around the bar let out a gasp of surprise, and those further away sharply stood up trying to see the reason for the commotion. Both Harry and Xal quickly got into combat mode. The latter reached for his gun but stopped sort of drawing into the open, while summoned fire danced around the fingertips of the former. "See what did I tell you?"
In amongst the confusion of the vanishing man, few noticed his sudden reappearance slumped against the side of a table shortly after. Before Harry or Xal could reach him, a tall shadowy man garbed him firmly by the arm and dragged him away unnoticed up a flight of stairs at the far side of the room. Harry was about to race to his rescue, when Xal halted him. "There's something I need to do, wait here, we'll meet up later." Harry made to follow the two up the stairs once more, but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. "We can't meddle, That's the number one rule. Besides, I doubt that any harm will come to him." Before Harry could replay, Xal had hastily left in the opposite direction, out of the door and into the black rainy night.
Perhaps against his better judgement, Harry retook his seat. Surprisingly enough, the incident soon fell from conversation. Harry guessed that magic must be common knowledge here, wherever here was. That meant he could perform magic, even though he is underage with out reprimand. That was some of the best news he had had all weak, his good mood diminished quickly though when he remembered that his beloved wand was absent. He mentally kicked himself once more for losing it. His attention was drawn to a scene across the room, where the small man's companions had just bolted upstairs, presumably to his rescue, brandishing home made weapons. It was fairly comical in fact, as on of the chosen weapons was a candlestick. Harry smirked, vaguely remembering a Muggel game Dudley once played, in which the candlestick was a weapon you could use… or something. Naturally Harry had never been able to play, but that though lead to another question that had been bothering him. I wonder what every one else was doing?
Harry was shaken out of a long period of thinking about home, when he suddenly heard a loud splintering crash, followed by an ear-piercing scream. Up in a flash, Harry ran out of the door and towards the disturbance Keyblade ready and willing.
The six Ringwraiths moved as silently as the mist the moved with them, as they glided their way across the ground towards the inn. At first glance, Harry had mistaken them for Dementors, a mistake that could easily made when you look at the similarities between the two creatures. Both were shrouded in tattered black cloaks and glided along like grim spectral death himself. However the wraiths seemed slightly more human, if you could call it that, in as much if you looked carefully you could catch a glimpse of blood stained armour beneath their cloaks as well the defiled swords that they carried.
Keyblade in hand, Harry fell into a fighting stance, while the Dementor like beings gathered before him. For a while the they did nothing but look intently at Harry, though he couldn't see their eyes he could feel a slight chill as they swept over him, lingering on his scar of all places. With a shriek, four of the decrepit creatures turned and left the, heading into a side street, which ran up beside the inn. The remaining two drew their dark swords and advanced on Harry. Tightening his grip on the Keyblade, he waited for the fight to begin.
Despite the frail looking appearance of a Ringwraiths, they have a strength behind them that would rival something many times their size. Harry found this out the hard way when his Keyblade met the full force of both Morqul blades, sending him stumbling backwards a few steps. They're also far faster then they look, as Harry again found out to his coast, when he had to jump back to avoid being cleaved into by the one and then again by the other. Again and again, Harry attacked, swiping out at one but almost every time he was blocked, the few occasions that he did slip past his defences, the landed blows was softened considerably by the wraith's armour. What was worst was that while he was distracted attacking one, the other would manoeuvre around him and attack his exposed flank.
He dived to his left as a nearby hay cart exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel as the wraith's sword collided with it with a truly impressive force driving it. Harry dreaded to think what would have happened if he hadn't got out of the way in time, or at least he would have if he wasn't focused on dodging the next attack. Deciding to retry the offensive, Harry diver rolled past one of the wraiths and promptly tuned to land several hits to the hopefully less well guarded back. It worked, sort off. Although the attack did it home a lot more forcefully, and even caused to wraith to scream is foul scream, it did not seem to slow it down in the least. The only thing that actually seemed to be of use was his 'fire' spell, and unfortunately his reserves of MP, which Xal had explained was a measure magical energy stored in the body, was still depleted from the battle at Traverse Town. "This may be a problem!"
…Inside the Inn…
A series of loud bangs, echoed through inn, waking the Shire-folk from their sleep. There was silence for a few seconds before the air was split into by and agonisingly shrill screech. "What are they?" asked Frodo.
The ranger, know as Strider, looked up from his seat at the window "They were once great kings of men…"
…Back outside…
Once again, things were looking bad. The wraiths were, for lack of a batter term, kicking his ass. No matter what he tried, they just kept coming, they weren't even showing signs of being fatigued. Harry on the other hand, was getting fairly beaten down. He was getting to the point where retreating was starting to sound like a good option, when he heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots.
'BANG!' 'BANG!' the two wraiths let out a howl of pain as they raised the hands defensively to their faces where the fire infused rounds had hit them, causing them to smoke slightly. Looking up, Harry could see the unmistakable, scythe wielding form of Xal sanding on one of the many thatched roofs that made up the village. "Sorry I'm late," Xal shouted down, "I had to send a letter." The meaning of his words was lost to Harry, as he prepared to restart the battle. Taking advantage of the confusion Harry charged to attack one of the wraiths, while Xal jumped down to attack the other. Now that the fight was effectively one on one, it had become somewhat more manageable. Harry even thought they were gaining the upper hand when, with a shriek the other four wraiths burst out of the inn and headed out towards the town's wooden gates. Without so much as a second glance, their two opponents turned and left with the four others. As such, the battle was abruptly over, much to the delight of one exceptionally tiered Keyblade wielder.
The room that Xal had had paid for the night was modest to say the least. It held one bed, witch Harry had found just in time to collapse on, and a chair by the window that Xal now occupied. "Where are you heartless?" he asked quietly to the atmosphere as he gazed out into the rainy night sky, before he two fell asleep.
It was still relatively dark out side when Harry was shaken awake, needled to say he was no where near fully rested. "Come on" Xal said leading Harry to the window, "Out there, you see them?" Harry squinted through the rising sun to see the outlines of four small figures lead by a much lager person.
"It those strange little people form last night, but who is the other? Wait…isn't that the guy who abducted him?" Harry asked with concern evident in his voice.
"One of the little people carries something of great and terrible evil." Xal replied simply, causing Harry to double take.
"What…how do you know?"
"My heart told me!" answered Xal causing Harry to look at him as if he had suddenly grown an extra head. "When you've fought the heartless as long as I have, you learn to recognise darkness." Turning to look at Harry's still sceptical expression. "Someone very wise once told me that your heart will always lead the way, as long as you listen to it that is, you should try it some time."
"So what do we do?"
"We follow them, and see if we can't learn what they intend to do with such evil, then act accordingly." He said calmly indicating that he had done this many times before.
It had been several days since they had left the village and began tracking the party of five across the wilderness. For the most part, if was fairly boring work, there was little if any requirement for the Keyblade, meaning for them most part it was conversation that would provide the entertainment.
"So tell me about yourself" asked Harry trying to distance himself from the fact he was climbing the seventeenth steep hill of the day. "I mean, you can't be older them me, how did you get into fighting the heartless and world travelling?"
"Well, I used to live on a world called Radiant Gardens, probably the most beautiful world out there. Then one day, when I must have been around twelve, years old, the heartless came to my world. It was consumed by darkness, and left nothing more then a broken twisted shell of its former self. The next thing I know, I found myself waking up in a castle somewhere. As it turned out it, was Disney castle and I'd been found and rescued by the Surveyor General and brought who had brought me there."
"The Surveyor General?" asked Harry confused.
"Right, the King of Disney Castle is in many ways responsible for all the worlds out there, simply because there are so very few of them that know in any detail of any others. Now, as remarkable as the King is, even he can't perform all the duties of maintaining the world order and at the same time rise to face threats such as the heartless, so he has help."
"Who?" asked Harry who was listening intently.
The King has under him, three exceptionally loyal and powerful warriors who are each charged with maintaining one of the three critical aspects of the world order.
Firstly, there's the Mech who holds the tittle 'Surveyor General' because his task is to scout out new, unexplored worlds and document them for the Royal archives back at the castle. It was in doing this that brought him to my world, where he found and rescued me from the heartless. Next there is Void-Fire, who holds the tittle 'Lord Knight of the Realm'. His job is mainly to protect the world from what ever would try to destroy them, almost always that means the heartless, but there have been a few other incidents. Finally there is Solaris, 'The Kings Emissary.' His task is to represent the king in matters of state when the king himself is needed elsewhere. Often he acts as the only means of co-ordination between the various worlds."
The conversations went on for the next few days of walking, and reached topics such as the other worlds that Xal had visited, Earth, Harry fight against Lord Voldemort and his friends, Both Xal's and Harry's past adventures and many, many more. In the evenings, Xal trained Harry in the use of his Keyblade, magic and of the laws of the world order, as well as the many other things he would need to know as Keyblade master. In the few days of training that Harry had made remarkable progress in all three areas, and now, after their six consecutive day of walking, they caught sight the group of five they were tracking for the first time since they left the Inn.
There they were, far informant of them, across a large expanse of open grass land, climbing up a rocky hillside that lead to an ancient, crumbling fortress that crowned the landscape. "We should camp here," Xal said noticing the steadily darkening sky. "We shouldn't risk being spotted by venturing further until they have moved on."
"Where do you think they are heading?" asked Harry, keeping his eyes pinned on the group steadily making their way up the hillside.
"According to the archives, there is a large settlement of Elves in the direction they seem to be heading in, Rivendell I believe it was called, that's my best guess anyway." And so for the sixth night in a row, Harry found himself dearly missing his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory as he struggled to get comfortable on the cold, damp grass.
Harry could only have been asleep for a couple of hours when he was aggressively shaken awake by a extremely annoyed, and for the first time since Harry had met him, worried expression. "Get up, we have a problem," he said forcefully enough to let Harry know something was very wrong. Within seconds he had joined Xal on the crest of the hill they were camping behind, keeping them out of view from the other party. The second the tower came into view, it was apparent what the problem was.
Halfway up the tower there was a light, most likely from a campfire, illuminating their position for the entire world to see. Harry had never claimed to be an expert at divination, but even he could tell what was about to happen. On cue, the air was split by the familiar ear-piercing screech off the Ringwraiths.
"Run!" Harry yelled as he sprinted towards the watchtower, Xal close at his heels praying they could reach the five in time. As they came close enough to the tower they could make out the several cloaked forms of the wraiths steadily making their way up the hillside. As they themselves reached the hillside they began to claim up the steepest but most direct embankment, barley slowing down in the mad rush to top. As they neared the top they heard another scream, but to their combined horror, this one sounded nothing like a wraith. Fearing the worst Harry bolted forwards leaving Xal behind, as his heavier weapons and armour waited him down.
The pain from his shoulder was unbearable. Frodo screamed as the blade was pulled from within him while the lead wraith once more made to take the ring from him, but it never got chance. Before it could claim it, it was forced back by an unknown individual diving over him swinging at the wraith with the most bizarre shaped sword Frodo had ever seen. It looked almost like a key. The wraith fell back in surprise form the unknown assailant, as did the two standing on either side of it. "Get back" Harry snarled, as he sliced violently out at them preventing, them from coming any closer to their desired prey. Unfortunately he didn't see the fourth wraith sweeping round behind him.
Seconds before the wraith could attack Harry's turned back, it was knocked down by a powerful sword strike as the returning ranger Strider leaped over Frodo to land next to Harry, sword in one hand, flaming torch in the other. Another light thud told Harry that Xal had also landed on his other side, scythe drawn, and ready for battle. Mean while the wraiths had regrouped at the far side of the tower and they two were preparing to fight. "I do not know who you are, but do you think yourselves able to hold against the wraiths?" Strider asked, as he raised his sword defensively.
"Yes" Harry replied firmly, while Xal simply nodded.
"Then use the fire to drive them back." Strider advised as he charged forwards, flaming torch in hand before lunging at the first wraith he reached with it.
"You heard him!" Harry said as he through out his open hand.
"Yes I did!" Xal responded as he copied his motion.
"Fire!" they both yelled simultaneously, as summoned fire shot forth from their hands, rocketing across the tower floor an enveloping two of the wraiths, joining the two that Strider had ignited, all screeching madly as they burnt. Two more fireballs disposed of one more wraith while Strider defeated the last one himself. "Not so hard when you know their weaknesses are they." Harry declared as the Keyblade vanished from his hands.
"Few things are," Xal commented calmly as his scythe also vanished, "but I feel are cover is blown." He nodded, indicating Strider as he approached them. He never reached them, however as he was interrupted by an agonised scream from the fallen member of Strider's party.
"Strider, Frodo's been stabbed, he need's help" called out on of the little folk.
"He's been stabbed by a Morqul blade, this is beyond my ability to heal, he needs Elfish medicine." Said Strider after studying the blackened puncture in his shoulder, as if to prove his point the blade crumbled to dust in his hand. After doing what he could, Strider left in search of a plant to help with the poison. This left the three unharmed Halflings seeing to their fallen companion, while Harry and Xal were left to watch for any returning wraiths from across the tower.
"Can we not help him?" asked Harry, concern playing on his mind.
"That blade was cursed, it is beyond my ability to heel. Although…" Xal broke of as he began to rummage around in his coat for something, before eventually pulling out a familiar blue tinted vial, "…a Hi-potion may aid with the pain," he continued as he handed the vial to Harry. Taking the vial, Harry approached the group who parted to allow Harry through.
"Here take this" Harry instructed as he helped Frodo to drink it, "it will help with the pain." As the crystal blue liquid passed his lips, his body calmed immediately as the pain was dramatically reduced. However, just as Xal had predicted, the black puncture that the blade had left remained untouched, by the wondrous potion's effect. Before, anyone else could say a word of thanks or otherwise, Strider returned with the plant, and with him he brought one of the most beautiful women Harry had ever seen, who was deep in conversation with Strider, in a language Harry couldn't understand. After only a few moments of conversation, Frodo was lifted of the ground placed on a waiting horse, along with the woman, after a little more conversation in the alien language, she and Frodo were gone, carried of into the dark on the horses back. That left, three unusually short men, a concerned looking Strider, a worried looking Harry and a rather annoyed looking Xal alone at the watchtower.
"So much for not interfering," muttered Xal to himself at a volume that was barely audible, as he walked over to join the rest of the group for what was promising to be a migraine inducing conversation.
"Whoever you to are, thank you for saving Mr Frodo," said the largest of the short men with the up most respect for Harry, probably for saving his close friend's life. "My name is Samwise Gamgee, this here Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, we're Hobbits from the Shire, and this is are guide Strider," the Hobbit concluded, indicating everyone in turn. Sam, as he had called himself, seemed friendly enough Harry thought, even if he is a little over formal, while it was scary how fast the other two, Merry and Pippin, had reminded him of the Weasley twins, they to seamed harmless enough. It was Strider; however who drew Harry's attention. Being the only member the size of a full-grown man, compared to the three small Hobbits made him look well out of place, and so much more of a powerful individual. Despite he appearance though, he had an aura that radiated kindness, and Harry already felt at ease with him.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter…" Harry said relived that there was no sudden intake of breath, "…and this is Xaldmoss" he concluded pointing to the scythe wielder, who responded with only a slight nod of acknowledgement.
"Forgive me for intruding, but what brings you to Wreath Top?" asked Strider. Harry panicked. He had been told by Xal not to let on anything about who they really were, or where they were from. He had gone to grate lengths to explain how important the world order was, and how badly things could go if the rules were broken.
Before Harry could answer, Xal answered for him to prevent any, complicated incidents arising. "Were heading for Rivendell, from lands to the east. We were camped not far beyond the base of those hills when we heard the wraiths, and fearing the worst, ran to your aid." Though not technically a lie, the half-through was so perfectly administered, Harry honestly believed that even Hermione would,' pick up on it, the hobbits certainly didn't, and if Strider did, he hid it well.
"Excuse me sirs, but was that magic you did?" piped up Pipin for the first time, the rest of the group fell silent as he asked.
"Well…year" answered Harry not seeing how he could possibly lie to them, he had used his 'fire' spell right in front of them after all.
"You must have spent quite some time with the Elves then, I heard they teach a magic to those they trust," Sam said offhandedly, Both Harry and Xal released breaths neither were aware they were holding. Luckily no one seamed to notice.
"Well if we are heading to Rivendell you should accompany us, as we are heading there to and the road will be dangerous with the Ringwraiths lurking ahead." Harry and Xal accepted the invitation, and before long found themselves camped up on top the watchtower with the rest of the travellers. Before the night was over however one more conversation started up, witch at first was exclusively between Merry and Pippin and consisted almost entirely of the single phrase, 'no, you ask him!'
"Xal" Pippin spoke from where he was laid, apparently having lost the argument.
"Year?" he replied some what sleepily.
"What crops do you grow?" Pippin continued, causing Xal to double take.
"What?" he asked confused, as he sat up, far more a wake now.
"You fought with a scythe right?" Pippin continued with his inquisition.
"Year so?" replied Xal, uncertain as to what these questions were leading too.
"So… what crops do you grow…you are a farmer right?" finished Pippin as both he and Merry turned to face him while awaiting his answer.
"You got to be kidding me!"
The next morning, the group arose early, packed up and moved off not that long after the sun had rose. The events of the night before weighed heavy on the minds of the Hobbits creating a heavy atmosphere, and keeping conversation a low. For the most part, Harry and Xal had kept quiet about themselves, no dispensing any more information then absolutely necessary required to prevent suspicion, an approach also seemingly shared by the Hobbits and Strider. Despite this, Xal and Harry had determined that although the group might indeed carry a grate evil with them, they themselves were not, and nor was this Frodo if the Hobbits were to be believed. Despite the mutual secrecy though, both groups had been getting along fine, indeed Harry had already became firm friends with the Hobbits and Strider for that matter. Even Xal had taken a liking to the group, even if he was a little more distant with Merry and Pippin who were still adamant that he was a farmer of description, despite his evermore frantic denial, a source of grate amusement for the rest of the group.
In the evenings, Strider, Xal and Harry, since he had progressed so rapidly, instructed the Hobbits on how to sword fight. It was slow going, as they didn't share the same natural talent that Harry had, but it passed the time that would otherwise be spent doing nothing so no one complained. Then later, Xal would take Harry of to practice his magic, and teach him more about the other worlds where he couldn't be over heard by the others. One of the more memorable events of the last few days was when Xal, and Strider had fought each other in practice fight to demonstrate technique, at least that was the intention. Before long the reason for fighting was forgotten as the two battled with everything they had to beat the other, determined to show that they were the better man, all in good fun, well theoretically. After half an hour of non-stop fighting, Harry decided that enough was enough and after summoning his Keyblade, he too joined the battle closely followed by the three Hobbits. In the end, no one new quit who had won, but everyone had gained rather nice bruises and cuts and the determination for a rematch at a later date.
It had been two weeks since they had left Bree and eight days since they had joined with the hobbits and if they kept this pace, they would have reached their destination by nigh-fall. As all in the group knew this meant nice soft beds and descent meals for the first time in what felt like forever, it was needles to say that non had any intention of slowing down. Unfortunately this was also the day that Harry had been dreading since leaving the Prancing Pony, not that he knew it would be though.
The day had started off like any other, waking as soon as the first dredges of sunlight rose over the horizon, then walking onwards in the direction of Rivendell. The scenery had changed dramatically over the last few days, what had for most of the journey been open plains had given way to the forestation they were presently walking through. It almost reminded Harry of the Forbidden Forest back a Hogwarts, but the atmosphere here was different somehow. It might have just been the company he was walking with but the atmosphere seamed much friendlier and far less oppressing the forests back home. Despite this, Harry couldn't help but think that something was wrong, like something was about to happen, and from the look of his body language, so did Xal.
Unfortunately their suspicions proved right. In an alarmingly short space time, the friendly, peaceful atmosphere of the forest vanished, to be replaced by a feeling of dread and foreboding that that was so apparent that even the much less observant Merry and Pippin broke off their conversation mid sentence. Another alarming occurrence for the group to contend with was that the forest had visibly darkened before their eyes, and what was even more disconcerting still was that it had also grown deathly quiet, to the point that Harry could here the individual breaths of everyone else in the group. The only other sounds to pierce through the blanket of stillness, was the unmistakable sound of something rising from the floor followed by the scurrying of feet through the underbrush, Heartless.
Before anyone could react, a small army, around twenty in total, of the vile shadow creatures burst out form the surrounding undergrowth and descended on the group. "Heartless" Harry cried as the Keyblade flashed into existence just in time to bat one of the heartless out of mid air, that would have other eviscerated his neck, but there was to be no reprieve form the onslaught. Jumping towards a group of heartless, he speared it through the midsection, before bringing his blade sweeping back around in to the others, taking them all out in one swift movement. The next heartless to taste Keyblade was one that had tried to attack his exposed back, followed closely by the two trying for his sides. A laud 'BANG' alerted Harry that Xal had also joined the battle and a quick glance showed that Strider and the Hobbits had taken to arms as well. This turned out to be an unwise move as in the half second that Harry was sanding still, one of the heartless was able reach through his defence, resulting in a rather painful slash across the small of his back. Harry, head back in the game, quickly sought out revenge on the heartless but all but decapitating it with a particularly overzealous swing of the Keyblade reducing it to black vapour.
"Fire" Harry heard, from behind him as two more heartless were engulfed in flames, burning away into nothingness followed by the distinct sounds of gunshots. Meanwhile, Strider, and to a less extent the hobbits, had removed of at least seven more heartless from play, between them. The problem was, as Harry had come to realise now, is that for the heartless, numbers was absolutely no obstacle, as demonstrated now, by countless more heartless that were entering the battle from every conceivable direction. Harry charged the new heartless, bringing his blade crashing down onto one of them, before executing a series of intricate spiralling slashes that tested his recently acquired skills to their limit. Under such a forceful assault, the heartless stood no chance, but still their numbers swelled as more and more surged into the fight, but one of the new heartless was far different from the rest.
Where as the other heartless were relatively small, this one stood at a much more human height, but was hunched over into a smaller fighting stance. It's skin was a dark, festering green colour that looked leathery and heard to the touch. It wore what look to be simple black iron armour over most of its body, with the red and black heartless logo plastered onto it's chest plate. It also carried a crude looking sword in one hand as well as a simple wooden shield, witch also carried the heartless crest in the other. Despite the chaos of the battle, its sudden appearance didn't go unnoticed. "What is this creature?" called Strider while cutting down another heartless, "I would call in an Orc, but even they are not that foul."
Also seeing the new enemy, that looked to be the leader of the heartless, Xal made to help Harry, but was prevented from doing when several more heartless jumped down in front of him forcing him back. "Harry" he called over the noise of the battle, "You take out that lead heartless, well keep the rest of your back!" To emphasise the point, he killed of three of the heartless in one giant swing of his scythe.
Before Harry could make the first move, the Orc heartless had had dived forwards lunging at harry with the pointed tip of his sword. He tried to dive to the side, but the sound of ripping fabric and the stinging sensation in his side had told him that he hadn't been fast enough. Again the Orc swung at him, but this time Harry managed to manoeuvre the Keyblade into position sending painful shock waves through his hand as he two blades connected. Now it was the Orc's turn to defend as Harry pulled back and threw the Keyblade into the headrest swing he could muster. But to his dismay, the heartless blocked it with its shield, witch turned out to be much less brittle then it looked. Harry was forced to go onto the defensive once more as the Orc continued its unrelenting assault. Harry was contemplating what a bad situation he was in, when by chance a stray bullet, hit the heartless in the in the chest plate before bouncing off. Although it didn't do any actual damage, it did distract it long enough for Harry to land a crushing blow to the Orc's less protected, back sending it crashing to he floor. While the heartless was down, Harry was able to score several major hits while it was fighting to get back up. While the Orc was on the floor, it was at the perfect height, to attack Harry's legs, an opportunity it didn't miss out on as it dropped Harry in one swift kick. Harry rolled to the side at the last minute as it's armoured boot came crashing down onto the space where his head had been moments before, before rolling again to avoid it jagged sword.
Regaining his feet, ducking under another swing aimed at his head in the process, Harry once more attacked, but was blocked by his shield. "Dam that shield, I cant get passed it," he thought to him self as he once again failed to land a blow, "and I can't brake it either" he paused as he was forced to block another attack, sending more waves of pain shooting through his arm. Wait maybe… "Fire" he shouted the last part out loud. As he predicted, the heartless used its shield to block the scorching ball of flames Harry shot at it again and again until he has no magic power to offer. However, when he was forced to stop, Harry was relived to see that his plan had worked, and that the wooden shield was nicely ablaze. Dropping his sword the Heartless Orc fought to remove the burning implement from it's arm, leaving it's self defenceless, to late did it realise its mistake. With a loud war cry, Harry brought the Keyblade crashing down onto the Orc's exposed neck as hard as he was able. With a sickening crunch, the blade hit home, as the Heartless literally lost its head. The decapitated body remind standing for the briefest moment before it toppled to the floor with a clang as it dissolved into a black vapour. With the fall of their leader, the heartless reinforcements diminished, leaving only the few which were already in battle remaining to be destroy, which was promptly done so.
Looking around Harry could see that every one was more or less in one piece. The Hobbits were, cut and bruised in several places, Strider was bleeding from one arm, while Xal seemed to be limping as he walked towards him. Stopping where the heartless had fallen, he crouched down and began to rummage through the undergrowth. Harry was about to ask what he was looking for when he stood back up, holding a yellow crystal ball to the remaining sunlight for inspection. "Technique…Sonic… I think," he said, through heavy breathing, before he tossed the Materia to Harry.
"What were those foul creatures? They acted as if they were shadows made real!" asked Strider, summing up the thoughts of most of the group.
"I don't know" lied Harry perhaps a little two quickly, "But I don't recommend we wait to find out."
With out so much as another word uttered between them, the exhausted group continued the final leg of the journey to Rivendell, each forming their own explanation of the creatures that had attacked them. For the most part, Harry felt like he was floating on his feet for the rest of the journey, an in no time at all, as far as he could tell, they were passing through the gates to Rivendell, the grate city of the Elves. Rivendell in a word was beautiful, easily rivalling that of Hogwarts. However, in his exhausted and semiconscious state, Harry was in no position to appreciate the skilled workmanship of the sweeping stonework that made up the bulk of the city. Indeed he was only vaguely aware of the several Elves that had hurriedly come down to meet them.
…Elsewhere in Rivendell…
The fallen Hobbit, known as Frodo Baggins, fought to open his eyes as he tossed and turned in his bead. Waking from several days of continues sleep he became faintly aware of a presence beside him. "Where am I?" he asked weakly as the events of the last weak still alluded him. "You are in the house of Elron …and it is ten o'clock in the morning on October the twenty-forth if you want to know," echoed the reply, through the white out that was his vision.
"Gandalf?" Frodo asked hopefully as his vision started to clear to reveal the elderly, bearded form of Gandalf the Grey, siting in a chair next to his bed, smoking peacefully on an elongated pipe.
"Yes, I am here…" he said reassuringly as he removed the pipe from his mouth, "…and your lucky to be here two. A few more hours and you would have been beyond our aid. But you have some strength in you, my dear hobbit." As Gandalf finished, Frodo pulled him self into a sitting position, pulling on the stab wound in his shoulder, the stinging pain brining the memories of resent events flooding back.
"What happened Gandalf?" Frodo asked as he turned to face him, confusion written on his face, "Why didn't you meet us?"
"'O' I am sorry, Frodo…" he paused in thought, his eyes growing sadder "…I was delayed…"
…Back at Hogwarts…
It was late in the afternoon when Ron Weasley stormed into the library, almost knocking two second-years that were unlucky enough to be in his way to the floor. Not slowing his pace for an instant, he marched over to where Hermione was sitting surrounded by ever-growing piles of books. Hermione in turn only muttered something inaudible in response to his arrival before diving head long back into the book she was reading. "Anything?" asked Ron hopefully, although he knew the answer to the question, asking it had become only a formality. Heroine's lack of a reply a response yet again said 'no'.
It had been two weeks and five days since Harry had vanished of the face of the Earth, and one week and three days since the…incident. So far, Dumbledore had kept the events secret, if the wizarding world found out that Harry had vanished, or even worse though he had defected there would bee mass panic. The Ministry of Magic on the other hand, far from being the strong leaders they believed themselves to be, were grossly incompetent in there handling of almost major incidents. Throw in the fact that someone had broken into Hogwarts under the teacher's very noses and got out scot-free, well that didn't bare thinking about.
That wasn't the only thing that had got Hermione into such a state of frustration. The intruder, who ever he was, had performed some of the most fantastic magic she had even seen. Even in terms of what magic could do, that had been far beyond the realm of normality. And what was worse was that none of the books in the library held any information about it either, and the one thing Hermione found worse then not knowing something was the inability to learn anything about it. As far as she could tell, the 'Mechanical- Animagus' as the Muggleborns had dubbed him, simply could not exist.
As for the raid, the only damage that had been done was, apart form the random destruction of furniture in the Gryffindor common room, was a page from the 'Hogwarts a History'. The worrying news was that the page just so happened to be about the missing Harry Potter. For better of for worse the intruder seemed to be looking for him two.
…Back in Rivendell…
Harry gowned as he woke form a deep, dreamless sleep. After several moments he remembered where he was as well as the events that brought him to be there. He paused in thought, thinking about Harry and Hermione and all his other friends at Hogwarts. He felt a pang of homesickness in his heart when ever he did so, he hopped that he would see them again soon, well he hoped he would see them again full stop, but one thing at a time.
Getting up from one of the most comfortable beds he had ever slept on in all his life. He began to look for his cloths that had been left neatly folded on a dresser. He stopped in surprise, however when he found not one, but two sets of cloths awaiting him, his own and a new mystery set. The new set consisted, of a pair of Elfin boots, trousers, shirt and coat in a rich green and brown colour, an intricately woven belt and most noticeably, a leaf green, hooded walking cloak complete, with leaf broach to hold it shut.
He looked back at his old school clothes, or what was left of them to be more accurate. His old school cloak had been destroyed back at Weather Top, and his tie hadn't even mad it out of Traverse Town. Even what was left of his uniform was not in to good a condition, the self-repairing charms had given up some time ago and as a result they were riddled with holes and cuts. In all it wasn't a hard choice to make, he chuckled lightly as he reached out for the far superior Elfin robes. His new clothes fit perfectly, and seemed much more harder wearing then his old set, as well as much softer and warmer, something he would no doubt come to be thankful for. What's more, it appeared that Elves had mistaken the Gryffindor coat of arms on his jumper for his own coat of arms and taken the time embroil it on to his coat, something he was thankful for. If saving the worlds from the heartless didn't you a few house points nothing would. He paused, mid way through putting in his coat, and began to laugh out loud when the though of Draco's face when Gryffindor receives an eight-figure point bust. Finishing getting dressed left his room in search of something to eat.
As it turned out, Elfin food was every bit as good as the food form back at Hogwarts, Ron could certainly get used to it here he thought causing him to laugh out loud a little, drawing the attention of those around him. As it turned out the Elf's were am extremely friendly race and before long they he had began conversing with the Elves about the coming and goings of Rivendell. He was somewhat relived when one mentioned a Hobbit that had arrived days passed near death, but had managed to make a good recovery. Harry would have been happy to continue the light-hearted conversation, but was stopped from doing so by the arrival of the dark clothed Xal. "Morning" Harry said merrily as Xal pulled up a chair beside him.
"Morning, my we seam happy to day don't we?" he said by was of a replay.
"Year, well a good bed and a full night's sleep will do that to a person won't it?"
"Well don't get to used to that…" He laughing slightly, "… I see you got your new cloths."
"You got me these?" Harry asked a little surprised.
"Well we could, have you running round fighting in your old school robes now could we?" he said with another slight laugh, but his face became more serious when he remembered why he was there. "Hurry up and finish, we been summoned to a council meeting by Lord Elron, I've got a feeling that this may be about our Hobbit friend." With that they both got up and left the hall, and a short time later, found themselves sitting in private meeting chamber along with Frodo, Strider, Lord Elron though Harry hadn't really met him, and several others he didn't recognise. Harry was about two ask for introductions when Lord Elron stood to his feet and began to address the assembled delegates.
"Strangers from Distant lands…" he began discreetly letting his eyes rest over Harry and Xal. "…Friends of old, you have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle Earth stands upon the brink of destruction, none can escape it, you will unite or you will fall. Each race if bond to this fat, this one doom. Bring forth the Ring…Frodo." As soon as he had sad this, Frodo stood and walked towards the stone table at the centre of the room. The ring was plain and the colour of gold, an emanated a powerful aura as darkness, that seamed to whisper dark words in this ears, from the shifting of the other members of the council, the sensation was mutual. Harry was transfixed by it, it's power felt incredible, with it he could certainly defeat Voldemort, he could save so many people, If only they would give it to him. Yes, they should, as Keyblade master it is his duty to use it to destroy the heartless and save the worlds, all the worlds no less. He had to have it!
Harry was broken from his train of thought by the sound of an axe shattering followed by the crash of a dwarf hitting the ground. "The ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli Son of Gloin, by any craft that we here posses. The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep in to Mordor, and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."
Harry's attention was then drawn back to Xal who had quietly began to talk to him so as not to let anyone else here. "Careful Harry, the ring is evil, don't let it fool you into wanting it. It can only be used for evil, no matter how good your intentions are."
"How did you know?" Harry began, shocked that Xal could know what his ambitions for the ring were.
"Because it tempted me with exactly the same thing," he replied slowly with more then a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Then what can we do? If were not allowed to interfere do we just have to… let it go?"
"No, an evil like this will not be contained within one world, if it has victory here, it will soon spread to other planets, as such, we are required to stop it." he replied more forcefully with whatever sadness that was troubling him suppressed. At this moment, the whole assembly erupted in to arguments with the exception of Harry, Xal, Lord Elron and Frodo, who no one had noticed had rise to his feet had had approached the of the room and had began to speak.
"I will take it," no one standing heard Frodo over their noise argument, but those seated looked at him in shocked surprise, with the exception of Xal who looked curious and impressed. "I will take it" the room slowly fell to silence as everyone turned their eyes to Frodo. "I will take the ring to Mordor, though… I do not know the way."
"I will help you bare this burden Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bare." said Gandalf as move to stand behind Frodo.
"If by my life or my death I can protect you, I will" said Strider, or Aragorn as his true name had been revealed to be, as he approached and kneeled down in front of Frodo, "You have my sword."
"And you have my bow" said the Elf prince Legolas as he moved to stand by Frodo also.
"And my axe, said the Dwarf Gimli, who had since picked himself up of the floor, and stood next to Aragorn
"And my Keyblade!" declared Harry as he rose to his feet and stood next to Frodo turning to look expectantly at Xal, as he too rose.
"And my Scythe" he said, with perhaps a little less enthusiasm then Harry had, as he too went and stood with the quickly growing group.
"You carry the fate of us all little one," said Boromir somewhat bitterly as he approached, "If this is indeed the will of the council then Gondor will see it done." Harry instantly disliked this guy, but was distracted from saying anything when a sudden cry came from the bush next to the open door, capturing everyone's attention.
Seconds later Sam burst through the door saying "Mr Frodo isn't going anywhere without me!"
"No indeed, it his hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not."
"Oi, were coming too" called out the second pair distractions as Merry and Pippin rushed in to join Frodo and the others, leaving Lord Elron looking thoroughly annoyed, an questioning the scantily of the council's secret meeting place.
"You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" called out Merry turning to face Elron.
"Anyway, you need people of intelligence on this type of mission…quest…thing." Continued Pippin, drawing amused looks from everyone else in the room, including Merry.
"Well that rules you out Pip"
"Eleven companions," Lord Elron said thoughtfully, "so be it, you shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."
"Right," said Pipin, "Where are we going?" he asked to everyone's dismay. "Hay look it's the farmer!" Harry had to physically grab Xal's arm to stop him reaching for his gun.
Although it had been three days since the fellowship had been formed, it felt to Harry that it had only been as many hours before he and the rest of the fellowship were assembled in front of the main gate of Rivendell, ready to depart. It was with a somewhat heavy heart, that Harry bade farewell to beautiful city, of which he was likely to never lay eyes on again. For the most part, travelling as part of the fellowship of eleven was an enjoyable experience as everyone present was in high spirit. Even Boromir, who Harry had initially been apprehensive of, had turned out to be a reasonably tolerable person, if maybe a little bitter at times. But unlike the journey to Rivendell, the constant threat of the Heartless now hung over him like a shadow in the back of his mind. As usual, Harry's training continued, but now it had stretched to cover Materia that gave magically enhanced sword techniques to the holder, such as the Sonic he had acquired from the Orc heartless. Though Xal had said that it takes a certain level of skill and magical ability to be activated, as such Harry had to wait to be able to use it.
It had been three days sinceRivendell, and still the heartless were yet to reveal themselves, a fact that was beginning to make Harry a little restless. Currently, Harry found himself camped on a rocky outcrop at the foot of a mountain chain overlooking a green valley leading down towards large lake, far of in the distance. The scenery of this world was truly ore inspiring in its natural beauty. It had remained untouched by human influence, and must represent what a much more ancient Earth would have looked like. Despite his apprehensions about the heartless, he couldn't help but find himself in a good mood, as he basked in the warm evening sun.
Looking around, he could see the Hobbits being trained in the art if the sword by Boromir, while Aragorn watched offering useful tips such as "move your feat!" To his right Gimli and Gandalf were arguing over the route they were taking, with Gimli suggesting going through some mines or other, a suggestion Gandalf didn't like too much, while to his left, Legolas and Xal were taking their tuns on sentry duty. The leisurely mood deteriorated quickly though when Legolas and spotted something over the horizon.
"What is that?" Asked Sam braking form his training.
"Nothing, its just a wisp of cloud" answered Gimli. Rising to his feet in order to investigate Harry saw what looked to be a small black rain cloud far of in the distance. Not thinking it important he turned away once more.
"It's moving fast… and against the wind," said Boromir as he rose form the ground where the Hobbits had tackled him too. Prompting Harry to look closer, he could see that the cloud was actually made up of many tinny black dots. Harry got a very bad feeling about this.
"Crebine from Dunland!" shouted Legolas, as he jumped down from the top of the rock he was standing on.
"Hide" called out Aragorn as he hurried to cover the tracks of the group. Leaping into action, Harry through to packs into the underbrush where he hoped they would remain hidden before helping Sam to put out the campfire. Then he dived behind a bolder out of sight, landing painfully but not daring to make a noise in protest, encase it gave away their location. Within seconds, the hillside around exploded with the sound of beating wings, as hundreds of crows descended on their position. They circled the area, apparently detecting something when a loud roar followed by a heavy boom that shock the Earth caused them to, to scatter of in every direction.
"What was that?" asked Pippin to no one in particular as he and everyone else crawled out from their respective hiding places. Another far of roar caused the majority of those gathered to bring out their weapons.
"It could be a mountain troll" offered Gimli as he grasped his axe readily, several other suggestions were offered, but only Harry and Xal knew what the roar really belonged to. By chance Harry's glance met Gandalfs, who stared at him intently, before nodding to him knowingly. For that moment he reminded Harry of the way Dumbledore, the two really were quite similar.
"It appeaser that Harry and I must take a different road to Mordor," said Xal to the rest of the Fellowship as he walked up to Harry. "Have faith, we will met again soon," he continued more quietly to the four confused Hobbits who had gathered around him waiting for and explanation, before turning to Gandalf. "You cannot linger here, and nor can we."
Gandalf nodded before turning to the rest of the fellowship, "Our passage south is being watched, we must take the mountain pass." With that after biding each other goodbye the Fellowship headed out further up into the mountains towards the danger of the mountain pass, while Harry and Xal left in the opposite direction towards an entirely different type of danger.
It wasn't hard to track down the cause of the disturbance, it was just a matter of following the roars and trail of devastated landscape, until little over an hour later Harry came face to face with the largest heartless he had ever seen. It stood as tall as the great oak trees around it, easily the size of the giants he had read about in Defence Against The Dark Arts classes back at school. In many ways it did indeed look like stereotypical giant, with its thick legs, hunching posture and arms that seemed slightly to long for its own body. It even possessed a large stone club that it dragged around in its right hand. In terms of colour, it was the usual midnight black, a standard for all heartless, with the exception of its brilliant yellow eyes and the heartless insignia displayed on its torso. Noticing them, it turned to face them, raising its club into the air ready to strike, while Harry and Xal summoned their weapons as they two got ready to do battle. "Just once…" Harry commented, "…I'd like to fight a heartless leader, that isn't the size of the Gryifindor tower."
"Me to."
'BANG'. The monstrous heartless moved with incredible speed, despite its incredible bulk, and seconds later the earth that Harry had stood on moments before was broken and twisted into a deep crater. 'BANG' another crater burst into existence, missing Xal by inches, the resulting tremor sending Harry spinning to the ground. 'BANG' another crater, 'BANG' and other, 'BANG' and so on without any let up preventing, either warrior from getting anywhere near close enough to land a blow. Well if this isn't working, thought Harry, lets try a different approach, "Fire!" Like rockets, the three summoned magical fire balls streaked their way across the battlefield and ploughed full force into heartless, the results of Harry's training shining through as the combined blasts were forceful enough to cause the heartless, to stagger backwards a few steps. But it was to no avail, as the smoke cleared, the heartless was reviled to be still standing, with only a little, slightly charred flesh to show for Harry's effort.
"Dam, things magic resistant!" shouted Xal over the heartless furious battle cry. 'Bang!' 'Bang!' 'Bang!' rang out the trademarked sound of his trinity-barrelled gun, followed by the second piece of bad news. "Crap, its built proof too!" and shore enough, the tree magic infused founds had bounced of its thick fleshy armour, without leaving so much of a scratch. "Harry, we need to get rid of it's club, if we can, then we…" he never got chance to finish, as he was hit full force by the heartless, lifting him clean of the ground and depositing him twenty meters or so back, with a sickening crunch as he hit the floor hard.
"Xal!" Harry was going to run to his aid, but was remained about the danger he was in when he almost met the he same fate, saved only by dropping to the floor at the last possible moment to slip under the swing. Before hastily getting up and diving to the side to avoid the next crushing blow, in all it wasn't looking good. "Wait, maybe if I could just," he said to him self, as he leaped backwards away from the heartless who tuned his attention back to the still form of Xal. Holding his weapon outstretched before him, he looked deep inside himself for the power of the yellow orb, hoping that it would come to him. At first Harry couldn't feel it, for a heart stopping moment, Harry knew that Xal was going to die, because of him…just like Sirius. But then, at the last possible moment, when all hope seemed to have failed he felt the incredible energy sweep over him, as his body sprang into action of its own accord. "SONIC!" he screamed fiercely, as he propelled himself forwards at speeds far beyond the human eye's ability to comprehend. Instantly, Harry found himself standing over Xal on the opposite side of the heartless, then before he new it he was standing at the far side again. This phenomenon occurred three more times in rapid succession, before he felt the power flow out of him back to where it came from and his body return to his normal control. Meanwhile the Heartless's club finally yielded to the incredible force of the attack and exploded, in a shower of rock, rubble and the remnants of the hand that was holding for good measure.
"Yep, defiantly say we try for a small main heartless next time!" said Xal shakily as he rose back to his feet putting grate emphasis on the word, small.
"Me to," said Harry, mirroring Xal's words form before. "Now what?"
"Well, you think you got another sonic in you?" Harry shock is head, feeling that his magical reserve were almost completely depleted after the sonic attack. "Well we do I the old fashion way then," replied Xal as he raised his scythe into an offensive stance, Harry following suite. By now the Heartless had staggered back to a lone tree and uprooted it to produce a make shift club once more. Then taking it's new weapon in hand, it leapt High in to the air, before bringing it crashing down towards the pair.
"Move!" shouted Harry seeing the attack coming and diving out the way as the tree trunk it the ground next to them. Unlike like the stone club, the tree trunk couldn't sustain the force of the impact, and as a result, shattered sending huge splinters of wood flying out in every direction. Harry instinctively covered his head with his arms, as pieces of wood bounced of him, causing many cuts and lacerations to any exposed areas, the cloak however seamed capable of repelling the missiles without damage. The heartless however had not been so fortunate, and soon found it' self on the receiving end of its own efforts.
By sheer bad luck, or good luck depending witch side you were on, a rather large piece of wooden shrapnel found its way into the unprotected sorter area of its face, and strait into one of its beady yellow eyes. The creature exploded with pain as it fell to the floor trashing about trying to remove the wood with its one remaining hand. Seeing the perfect chance, both Harry and Xal charged forwards and began to land blow after blow, both scythe and Keyblade being used to deadly efficiently. However the heartless had a few tricks left, as it showed by raising its remaining hand into the air, while howling furiously as electricity began to crackle around its fingers.
Before they could react, an extremely powerful bolt of electricity arced out from its fingers hitting Xal full force, the energy surging the length of his body, to the point that Harry swore he could see his individual bones light up through his skin and clothes. But the attack wasn't over yet. After a few seconds after hitting Xal some of the electrical energy jumped of off him as a second arch flowed of him like lightning and strait into Harry. They stayed like this for a few seconds before attack finished with an explosion of pure electrical energy sent them both flying through the air to land painfully on the ground several metes away. Xal, who was closer to the epicentre of the blast, and received the grater effect of the electrocution into immediately unconsciousness, if not worse, while Harry hit the softer grass and rolled before coming to a stop. The residue electricity sparked through him like liquid fire, an agony in its purist form that easily out matched that of the Cruciatus Curse, it felt like an eternity before the pain subsided enough for him to become aware of his surroundings once more. As he lay the, smouldering slightly, unable to move, and quickly losing his battle with unconsciousness, he saw the heartless standing over him, fist held high, ready to end the battle. He had lost, and now he would die and there was nothing he or anyone could do about it. He had failed everybody, Ron, Hermione, Xal, Dumbledore his friends…his parents. He was just about to give into this dark despair, when at the last possible second before unconsciousness, and death claimed him, he heard an unknown, hauntingly dark voice call out form above.
"Dark Eminence!"
AN: Phew, Long chapter, but then again it's been ages since I last updated. Anyway, they way this is going to work is that all my stories under this penname are going set in the same universe, but from different points of view an so on. In terms of time line, the first chapter of my other story A Power Rising, takes place at the beginning of this chapter. If you read it you will understand some of the references that would make no sense otherwise. Anyway read and review…