Chapter Fourteen: Hero complex
Sorry for the long delay so here is a two chapter post, this one though has no action in it but the next one has. So enjoy.
Harry felt the presence of dark magic as he entered the village, the presence of such magic was sickening for his very acute magic senses. Lying underneath the dark magic there was another Presence this one was almost imperceptible for anyone else but for Harry it was visible, albeit he almost overlooked it. He tried to get a more detailed feel of it but when an axe flew toward his head Harry had to let go of his probing and duck. Then he looked at the scene before him for the first time since he entered the village.
Lying before his feet there were hundreds of men, woman and even children and then he looked at the person, no creature that had thrown it. He recognized it as an Urgal and from him radiated a lot of Dark Magic. In that moment he was conquered by blind rage and in a fluid motion he took out his sword Willbreaker and the entire village was filled with the Authority the sword possessed but the Urgal didn't even flinch as if didn't have the mind to feel the pressure of the Authority of the sword, - as he attacked him with a long sword.
In one motion Harry avoided the swipe from the creature and in doing that he swiped toward it and succeeded in separating his head from his shoulders. Harry felt a small burst of magic and recognized it as belonging to Eragon and ran in the direction from which the burst had come. He got there in a blur of speed and when he arrived there he saw two charred Urgal and an unconscious Eragon. He blurred nearby him and transferred some energy to him, just to make sure he didn't die from overexerting himself in his use of magic.
Brom joined him latter, having dispatched the Urgal that had attacked him. Before Brom could ask anything Saphira landed beside Eragon and pushed even Harry away from him. Harry let her do that as he got up and walked nearby Brom, as Saphira curled beside Eragon, clearly worried about his condition.
"What happened, wasn't he supposed to be with you?" asked Brom worried about Eragon.
"What happened? Your son has one thick skull, he went ahead and used the fire word to kill the attacking Urgal and thus overextended himself, luckily it wasn't enough to kill him and just in case I transferred a bit of Energy to him" explained Harry in a whisper, so low that only Brom heard him.
"Well, we'll have to beat it out of his system or he will be dead before the next full moon" said Brom with a sigh.
"I leave you and Saphira to watch over him, I'll go dig a grave for those poor souls" said Harry as he went to the center of the village where the bodies were left to rot.
As he saw the way the bodies were thrown he finally understood the underlying presence he felt. This wasn't just a slaughter, it was also a ritual, a ritual they had probably stopped although he wasn't sure about that. He took out Worldshaper and with a though he let it direct the magic channeled by his core to move the bodies and at the same time create enough graves for them all. If it was up to him, he would have them burned upon a pyre but the costumes of this world demanded that they were buried.
After they were all buried he used a chain of enchantments to make sure none of the bodies would be disturbed, especially by foreign magic or powers. He did that because that particular ritual was used to free demons of considerable power from their prisons, although the spell work wasn't exactly the same but it had enough similarities to those rituals that it purpose had to be the same. That worried Harry as Alaegasian magic didn't have any demon summoning properties, except from Spirits but they were more of neutral powers of Nature than demons,- that anybody of this time should know off. He tried to unravel the strings of time but found himself blocked, the wound on the magic of that place hadn't healed yet, he would return later in a month or two. That was a worrying matter, if Galbatorix had learned of such magic's than things were going to get ugly and quickly.
After that he returned to where Eragon was resting and waited. After a few hours Eragon woke up and then Brom proceeded to reproach him for his wrong use of magic, to use such an energy consuming spell instead of using any of the other methods that they had taught him just for these cases. Brom then proceeded to force him to train, forcing Eragon to use only magic to defend himself while Brom attacked him. That went on until the sun rose again, Eragon needless to say learned his lesson and those spells became his second nature and wouldn't use a spell that consumed so much energy without a valid reason. Harry himself got a good laugh at the expression that Eragon got, a few hours into his tort… err training session,- when he realized that Harry was replenishing his energy reserves to allow him to go on for longer than he could ever achieve on his own.
After a few hours, they left again, Saphira leaving Eragon's side reluctantly but eventually she was convinced that Harry and Brom could protect him well enough. During their travel they came upon a bridge and there some man who wasn't even the owner of the bridge,- asked them for money to let them pass. Harry not having the patience to deal with such people used a confundus charm on the poor fellow and made him give them all his money in addition to letting them pass. In that small village they bought horses, well Brom and Eragon did, Harry opted to walk instead or if he got tired to fly alongside Saphira.
During their travel they came upon a bottle of Seithr Oil in a Ra'zac encampment, which Eragon was smart enough not to taste it but get a feel of it on his skin. He got a few burns from where the Oil touched him but Harry healed him with the same spell that he had used in their training. After that they went to Brom, who was currently busy admiring the craftsmanship of Willbreaker.
"Enjoying the blade, Old Man?" asked Harry as he entered the camp with the bottle on his hands.
"Shut up little rascal" answered Brom lifting his sight from the sword "what have you got there?"
"Something that burns through flesh only and is created through blood magic, crude blood magic but still blood magic" said Harry surprising Brom.
"You know of Blood Magic?" asked a surprised Brom.
"Yep, it gave me this nice scar here" said Harry showing the lighting bolt shaped car "so do you know what this is".
"Hmm, yes its Seithr Oil, used by jewelers normally to polish gems but as you already know with a bit of Blood Magic it can be turned into a potion that melts only flesh, quite useful for interrogation" explained Brom.
"If it's used only by jewel merchants than it must be registered somewhere, right?" asked Eragon.
"Brilliant idea, since it's not exactly a common substance, the trade of such a substance must be recorded somewhere, a centre of economy or a centre of its trading" said Harry.
"Yes, you're both right, to find that information we must go to Teirm, I have a friend there who will help us" said Brom.
"Do you mid if I just teleport us in there, you know to avoid questions" said Harry.
"A good idea but only when he get near the gates of the city, I still need to plan the entire thing" said Brom.
And with that they had a new direction, Teirm. The trip was full of planning for Brom at least as Harry was to busy training Eragon and to an extent Saphira too. Eragon was indeed progressing very quickly, he was by now a very good swordsman, good enough to make Harry raise the level of difficulty by placing weight charms on the sword that Eragon used and all over his clothes, so to get him more physically fit, enough to survive against Shades and elves. Saphira was to introduced to weight charms, only the weight placed on her were immensely greater and for the first three days she could hardly fly for longer than twenty minutes before she had to land but she got used quickly as her body was so filled with magic that it was a surprise it even took that long.
Brom had a plan laid out by the time they were within a days travel to Teirm. They would get to Teirm and visit Jeod and ask for his help. If he could help they would wait, if not then Harry's confundus charms were going to get a lot of practice, but if they could do it without any use of magic that was even better. They entered the city without any trouble, nobody noticing that Harry had just "Slipped" them inside an alley, - and from there the went to the house of Brom's friend Jeod, the point me spell was quite useful in these situations, - although Harry heard that Jeod had had a streak of bad luck recently losing a great deal of his ships and with that his riches.
Once they got there, they were welcomed by Jeod and he gave them a room but Harry decided to take a tour of the city, especially as he felt a spot nearby the coast where there was a lot of natural magic gathered. Taking his time he walked there with a slow pace and when he got there, he found a small cave near the coast, filed with corals of different colors, all of them filled with natural magic, giving them different properties which Harry decided to take just so he could study them. Suddenly he felt a strange presence and he knew that however that presence had noticed him to but he wasn't feeling any negative emotions with his Empathic abilities just curiosity.
"Hello, Traveler it's a pleasure to meet one such as yourself" said a voice in Harry's mind.
"How the hell, you didn't break through my mental defenses, or you wouldn't be sane by now?" asked Harry confused.
"Of course I didn't, it's a gift we were-cats have, we need only to touch your mind not enter it, in order to talk with you" explained the voice revealing a black cat standing on a pile of corals.
"A were-cat, in Aleagasia, well that is definitively a surprise" said Harry.
"You sound like you have met other of my kind?" asked The Cat lazily.
"No, not others of your kind but something like you and yet different" answered Harry cryptically, he just loved when he messed with peoples head, in this case with were-cats heads.
"I see, well why are you stealing from my cave?" asked the cat in its lazy tone.
"I'm not stealing since technically this isn't your cave per the Law of Magical Sharing" answered Harry knowing some laws of magic were universal.
"You're fun, hope to see you around" said the cat jumping from the pile of corals and toward the exit " also you must get to your companion he is troubled at the moment"
With those words the cat vanished and Harry focused on Eragon and found that he was indeed troubled. He took his time to get there, and the sun had already settled when he entered Jeod's home, as he wanted Eragon to think things over for himself and then to offer some advice as he didn't Eragon to get dependant on other people as he needed to become a leader and not a puppet of anyone. By sundown he was in the house of Jeod and after exchanging pleasantries with Jeod's wife and Jeod himself he headed upstairs to the room that was temporarily of Eragon.
He knocked and when he entered he saw a troubled Eragon, that was so deep in though he didn't even register that Harry had entered. Harry sat right beside him and waited for him to speak and after a few minutes Eragon turned to him.
"Did you know that Jeod was one of Brom's accomplices into smuggling Saphiras Egg from the palace of Galbatorix?" asked Eragon although Harry knew that wasn't what troubled him.
"No, I knew that he had help of course but not exactly who" answered Harry "what is truly troubling you?"
"Well, I heard Jeod and Brom speak and the way they spoke about me going to the Vardens was like I had to go there and I had no choice whatsoever " said Eragon
"But you always have a choice, if you don't like it you can go out of the city, ride on Saphira and go somewhere no one will be capable of finding you" said Harry.
"You really think I should do that, I mean what about the people I can help, what about Roran and all those I know?" asked Eragon.
"Eragon, eventually you will have to be a leader of the new Order of Dragon Riders and you will not have me and Brom to give advice and for the sake of Alaegasia you must never become dependant of other people" said Harry "however in this case I will give you a tip, can you handle living knowing that there all of Alagaesia is in pain and you could have helped?"
"Nice help, one more question for me" said Eragon laughing bitterly.
"Find an answer to this question and you will find your answer" said Harry " also when you will become a leader, and there is no if but only when, you will have to deal with hundreds of questions like this everyday"
"Great, why did it have to be me?"asked Eragon " I'm nothing special, you or even Brom could have done better"
"Brom's time has already passed, I'm not of this world and thus why should I deal with its problems while you Eragon, you're something special, no Dragon chooses a rider without a reason although you don't see it yet" said Harry and then chuckling he added "and if Saphira ever heard you say that she would have a nice chat with you"
"Yes she would" said Eragon laughing "you know sometimes she seems like the grown up and I like the newborn"
"Well that's because Dragon's can draw from the wisdom of their previous generations and the wisdom of Magic, in a sense she is the wisest of all of us and yet the most foolish" explained Harry.
"Why do you say that?" asked Eragon
"Dragon are wise but also creatures given to pride and arrogance, hence the reason of their various conflicts with Elves and Dwarfs" said Harry " you know the bond between Rider and Dragon was supposed to eliminate that weakness and for some time it did but eventually both Riders and Dragons fell again prey to arrogance."
"So they were corrupt?" asked Eragon.
"No, not corrupt but they became stagnant believing themselves invincible thus making Galbatorix's coup successful" answered Harry.
"So never become arrogant, nice advice but everyone could have said that" said Eragon.
"Yep but that doesn't make it less valuable" answered Harry.
"Still you're not exactly the best example of humility" said Eragon chuckling.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew what I could do if I weren't bound by the rules of coming here" said Harry in a serious tone.
"How strong are you really?" asked Eragon.
"Well if I wasn't bound Galbtorix would be, well he wouldn't be dead but he would wish to be" said Harry.
"You are that powerful and yet you chose to bound your power only to help me" said Eragon with sympathy.
"You will learn eventually that power is worth nothing without a purpose and that my power isn't gone its just limited to what purposes it can be used" said Harry lying about the last part as his powers weren't bound but he still needed an excuse for not just wiping Galbatorix off the face of Alagaesia.
"So what do you know of fortune telling?" asked Eragon.
"Pretty much. It pretty much dictated the earlier part of my life and I was a Prophet for a time" said Harry and then he quickly added "not a prophet like a member of a church but a prophet like in somebody who is so powerful at seeing the future that he makes prophecies"
"So they are unavoidable?" asked Eragon.
"No, although you mustn't dwell much on it because most of the time, trying to avoid them you causes them to became real" said Harry comforting Eragon somehow "after all you chose the way to arrive in the destination not someone else"
"Well I really hope so, much of what was foreseen for me wasn't that pleasant" said Eragon.
"Most of the time there are not" sighed Harry "so does Brom know of this?"
"No, he doesn't know of either, I wanted to process them myself before letting him know, as you said I need to think for myself" said Eragon with a smirk.
"Oh my, you'll make a fine politician" said Harry laughing.
"Okay, that is even worse than the Prophecy made by Angela " said Eragon laughing "seriously thanks for the advice"
"You're welcome, that's what friends are for" said Harry "remember, you must make your own decisions in the future but you will always have friends on which to rely on"
"Well, I'll have to sleep right now, we're waking up early tomorrow as Jeod found a way to get us within the Records chamber" said Eragon.
"That's good, good night, Eragon" said Harry as he left the chamber.
Harry headed for his room, troubled by the Prophecy, Angela had made for Eragon. He had seen it in over a dozen different timelines and it was always the same, well at least in the wpit different universes he had seen. He had really hoped that his interference would change his future but it seemed that he was destined to leave Alaegasia. He entered his sleep-like state which was more of a trance than anything else, - and his mind was troubled with visions of different timelines, hoping to find a solution to Eragon's problem.
In the morning the quartet head toward the building where the Records chamber was situated and entered there without much problem, which made Harry very suspicious as things very rarely went so smooth. As soon as they entered the chamber Harry warded the entire thing with some of the most powerful wards he knew, temporarily removing it from the space-time continuum. Everything went without a hitch although they found nothing the entire day, there were just too many records for that to happen.
During their trip home Harry decided to stop at the Herbal shop right in front of Jeod's house as he felt a familiar presence. As soon as he entered the shop, his mental walls were assaulted by incredibly powerful wards meant to dampen his arcane senses, so as not to notice the arcane power within the shop. It would have worked on anyone else, hell it would have worked on Galbatorix himself, - but Harry wasn't anyone else and he shrugged the assault off.
"It's a bit rude to dampen friend's senses" said Harry sending the message in the form of a mental wave.
"You're back, you must have an incredibly acute sense of all things magical in nature to locate me so quickly" said the cat appearing besides him.
"Well I wouldn't have gone through the trouble to come here if you had told me your name" said Harry shrugging.
"You entered in this place, totally ignored the wards, which I must add are some of the finest in the wpit of Alaegasia and then bear the full concentrated might of the arcane powers in this place to just learn my name?" asked the Were-cat in a curious tone.
"Well, yeah and what the hell do you mean by bear the full might of the arcane powers gathered in this place, the energy of this place is quite welcoming" said Harry as he moved around the place inspecting the different types of plants, leaving behind him a gob smacked Were-cat.
"Well you are certainly special" said the Were-cat "as for my name you can call me the same as your friend, Solembum"
"Well Solembum, it has been a pleasure to meet you, now why don't you present me with your friend hidden in the energy of this place" said Harry
"You felt me impressive, Traveler" said the woman as she sat n a char and gestured for Harry to sit.
"It was a bit hard actually, I could have missed you but you are very special, a one of the kind" said Harry.
"You know what I am?" asked the woman terrified.
"Not exactly but I once met a creature, for it certainly couldn't' be called human any longer, it had long let humanity behind to become something more,- that had an Aura similar to your own" said Harry "but that's rude of me, my name is Harry Potter, at your service ma'am"
"And mine is Angela young man" answered Angela causing Harry to laugh.
"Well that was funny, I haven't been called that in a long time, well I haven't been called that by someone who was actually older than me" said Harry laughing.
"So how old do you think I am?" asked Angela intrigued "and how old are you?"
"You somewhere between two and three thousand years as for me I am a bit older than two hundred years" answered Harry.
"Two thousand eight hundred and fifty eight years old actually" interfered Solembum as he curled around Angela's feet.
"Shush, it's very rude to reveal a ladies age without her consent" answered Angela.
"You're as much of a lady as I am a flying horse" snorted Solembum.
"If you want to you can become one" threatened Angela.
"Please there is no need of violence, although seeing a Were-cat become a flying horse would be a great spectacle" said Harry interrupting their friendly banter.
"And it would also prove to be your last spectacle, also" said Solembum licking his paws.
"Nah, I'm tougher than I look" said Harry relaxing in his chair.
"Told you he was fun" said Solembum licking his paws.
"Indeed, so do you want me to see your future?" asked Angela.
"Nah, its better not knowing what would happen in the future" said Harry cheerfully.
"Somehow you can see the future too, can't you?" asked the intrigued Angela.
"Perhaps I can, perhaps I can't, why should I reveal this information to a potential enemy?" asked Harry still in his relaxed tone.
"It makes sense" said Angela "anything else, because I have to return to my research"
"No, I was just leaving, I only came by to visit my furry friend here" said Harry as he got up and petted Solembum's head, eliciting a purr from the Were-cat "Bye"
With that Harry left and went to the home of Jeod. There he found a troubled Brom, a broody Eragon and he could feel the residual emotional energy from a debate and quite a big one, judging by how easy he felt its imprint. Sighing he sat in a nearby chair.
"Seriously, I'm gone for a while and you guys are at each others throat" said Harry.
"Its Brom fault, he wants me to be some pawn in this war" said Eragon.
"Don't put words in my mouth" snapped Brom "I just said that you must go to the aid of the Varden"
"An there stands the problem, Brom don't use the word must as it sounds as you're giving only a choice and Eragon stop being so bloody stubborn, you would go their aid either way" said Harry while thinking "Like father, like son"
"Still, I can choose for myself and neither I nor Saphira like being forced to do something without being given a choice" said Eragon still visibly angry.
"So you'd rather let the Varden be crushed by Galbatorix" answered Brom.
"You could have asked instead of deciding for us" replied Eragon.
"Boys chill out" interrupted Harry "Eragon will you aid the Varden?"
"Yes but he…" said Eragon but was cut off by Harry.
"No buts and Brom he is supposed to be the leader of the new Order of Dragon Riders or am I wrong?" asked Harry.
"That is true but he is too young to be making such decisions" said Brom with conviction in his voice.
"Young, I had to fight the most powerful Wizard of the century since I was eleven don't give that bullshit" replied Harry "its his Dragon, his Life, his choice"
"You'll get us all killed" said a very angry Brom.
" Better than him becoming a puppet, I get that you have good intentions but this way you're making him dependant on you for advice and latter in life he'll become dependant on other people whose intentions aren't for the Greater Good" explained Harry.
"Very well, I have my opinion and I have mine, just remember to get up early tomorrow" said Brom as he stormed off to his room.
"He needs to relax a bit, maybe a vacation wouldn't hurt' said Harry.
"Perhaps" said Eragon 'thanks for the support"
"It was deserved, though remember that sometimes compromises are needed and you'll have to make plenty during your life, especially as your are nigh-immortal" warned Harry.
"Thanks for the advice, I'm going to bed now, bye" said Eragon as he left for his room.
"Creator, what have I done to you to give me such a hideous burden, sorry my bad, It was my damn Hero complex to drag me into this" said Harry to no one, and completely failed to notice a pair of amber eyes watching him from a nearby window.