Knights of the Shining Palm – Harry Potter/Eragon.
Harry James Potter slowly opened his eyes, frowning slightly as he looked around an unfamiliar hall, the floor and walls made up of a strange looking stone with a dais in the middle of the circular room, a column arching down from the ceiling and up from the floor with a small gap between the two columns.
Swallowing nervously Harry glanced around the empty hall before hesitantly starting forward, his hand dipping into his pocket and grasping nothing, his wand apparently not making it to this strange place with him. Fists clenching and unclenching in frustration Harry started up the stairs, heading up to the dais cautiously, constantly glancing over his shoulder to check if he was still alone or not as the back of his neck burned in warning.
Brushing off the feeling of being watched as he reached the top of the dais without interruption, Harry approached the two columns, a sense of joy, love, and warmth flooding him the moment his eyes landed on the huge glowing diamond floating between the gap between the columns. Glancing around once more Harry circled the columns, eyeing the diamond carefully as he studied the columns and the crystal itself as the light that came from everywhere and yet nowhere reflected off the diamond to fill the hall with a sparkling aura of power. Raising his hands hesitantly as he approached the diamond again, Harry paused and glanced over his shoulder one last time before turning back to the diamond and meeting a pair of intense brown eyes staring at him over the crystal.
Yelping Harry threw himself backwards, hands coming up above his head in an 'I'm not touching it' manner even as a tall muscular brunet man stepped around the columns with a predatory smirk on his face. Backing away quickly Harry failed to remember the stairs and stepped straight off the dais, a series of yelps and grunts escaping his lips as he rolled and bounced down the stairs before he hit the ground roughly, cradling his aching right arm as he lay on the stone floor winded, trying to regain his breath as he prayed that the man wouldn't come after him.
Rolling onto his back Harry slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and froze at the sight of the brown-haired man sitting at the base of the stairs watching him with an amused twinkle shining in his eyes.
"Uh… hi?" Harry blurted awkwardly, his eyes flicking around the otherwise empty hall again before flicking back to the gorgeous man smiling gently at him.
"Eloquent" the man murmured, "Much like myself at your age".
"I'm sorry?" Harry asked in confusion, frowning at the man as he tilted his head, rich brown eyes staring at Harry seemingly seeing straight through to his soul.
"Don't be. You've done nothing wrong" the man corrected softly, "In fact it should be me apologising to you, I did startle you after all".
"Uh forget about it" Harry mumbled as he slowly shuffled away from the man, still not standing up as he eyed the brunet nervously. "Um… where am I?" he asked hesitantly, "And who are you?"
"I am Eragon" the man introduced with a strange half-bow even as he remained sitting, "Shadeslayer. Argetlam. Shur'tugal".
"I'm Harry. Boy-Who-Lived" Harry replied, feeling his neck heating up as 'Eragon' beamed at him, white teeth shining as the brunet gracefully stood and extended his hand to Harry.
"I know who you are Harry Potter" Eragon dismissed as Harry awkwardly took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, "I have been waiting for you for a very long time now".
"I'm sorry" Harry mumbled quietly, feeling strangely embarrassed by the way his hand remained clasped in Eragon's larger calloused ones. "Wait what?" he blurted when his mind caught up with the brunet's words, "What do you mean you've been waiting for me?" he asked suspiciously, eyeing the brunet man cautiously.
Eragon chuckled, a sound that made shivers run down Harry's spine as the brunet turned, still holding Harry's hand, and started up the stairs once more, leading him towards the dais. "Many thousands of years ago I was what was known as a Dragon Rider" Eragon began slowly, "I fought in a war, a rebellion against what you would call a 'Dictator' in your language".
"Did you win?" Harry asked curiously, flushing as Eragon raised an eyebrow at him in amusement.
"You could say that" Eragon admitted quietly, "I battled Galbatorix myself, and when it seemed like all hope was lost, I cast a spell. The spell forced Galbatorix to feel all the pain, all the suffering, that he had caused Alagaesia. It drove him to madness" he explained slowly, "And in his insanity and pain he used his magic, and the magic of all the Eldunari in his possession and spoke in the Ancient Language, the language of Magic".
"What did he say?" Harry asked softly, finding himself being drawn in by Eragon's story as they lowered themselves down to sit at the top of the stairs.
"'Be Not'" Eragon whispered with a lost expression on his face, "With the amount of power at his disposal Galbatorix… he… he destroyed…"
Slowly Harry reached out to place his hand on Eragon's where it was resting on his knee, the brunet offering him a warm smile as he steeled himself. "Galbatorix destroyed my world" he admitted slowly, "He destroyed everythingand killed everyone. If not for the Eldunari in my possession I would be dead too, I barely managed to cast a spell to get myself out in time. But I didn't have enough power, I didn't have enough to create a dimensional pocket this big and bring everyone I cared about though. I lost Murtagh, Arya, Ronan" he cut off as his voice choked out, "And I lost Saphira".
Not knowing both who Saphira was and how to respond to this Harry did nothing, just squeezed Eragon's hand as the brunet man recovered from his near miss.
"Since the Eldunari were on my person at the time they came here with me" Eragon forced out as he straightened his shoulders and smoothed his face out, "And with their guidance I discovered a way to keep the dragon race alive. I fused them all, turning them into a new dragon, that dragon" Eragon explained as he gestured behind him to the diamond crystal… the diamond dragon egg… between the columns, "And I waited for a person pureenough, strongenough, to handle the power and responsibility being a Dragon Rider".
Harry felt himself stiffening as Eragon's words washed over him, a sinking feeling forming in his gut as he realised what the man was implying. "You mean me" he blurted as he stood quickly, backing away from Eragon, "I'm the 'pure' person aren't I?"
"Your soul is something I've only seen the likes of once before" Eragon claimed slowly, standing up as well and watching Harry with a fond expression, "Your soul is the reincarnation of Saphira, my Dragon".
"You're crazy" Harry exhaled slowly, shaking his head as his hand came up to comb through his hair, gripping it roughly enough to cause tears of pain to prick at the corner of his eyes. "This is just some crazy dream isn't it?"
"That proves what I'm saying Harry" Eragon pointed out slowly, "Just like me, you don't want this, you don't want the power, the immortality. You want to be Just Harry, like how I wished to be Just Eragon when I first discovered Saphira's egg in the Spine".
"And that proves what I'm saying" Harry countered, "You think I'm the reincarnation of your dragon!" he exclaimed.
"I knowyou are" Eragon corrected, "And whether you choose to believe me or not, there is one thing that remains the same no matter what you believe. That egg" he explained pointing at the egg between the columns, "Is the last living true dragon. And that egg, will only awaken for you. If you walk out that door then you're resigning the last true dragon to death" he exhaled, the amount of passion in his voice making Harry falter.
"But there's something missing" Eragon continued gently as he moved over to stand in front of the egg, Harry circling around so he was standing opposite the handsome man, "This is a dragon, but only a dragon's body a dragon's magic. There is no soul".
"And? How do we fix that?" Harry ground out, unable to leave an entire species to die when he could help, still mentally cursing Eragon as he met the man's grateful brown eyes.
"We need to provide it a soul, take a soul from somewhere else and put it in the egg" Eragon explained making Harry's eyes widen and causing him to step away.
"That's black magic" Harry refused shaking his head.
"No it's not" Eragon denied softly, "It's the circle of life. My time has come and gone centuries ago, I'm ready to move on".
"Wait you're going to sacrifice yourself?" Harry blurted in shock, stepping forward again and staring at Eragon over the dragon egg.
"It's fitting" Eragon murmured, "Last time I was the Rider and you were the Dragon. This time it's the other way around. Besides, our souls are linked as it is, no other soul would cause the dragon to waken. I'm the only one who could do this, unless of course you want to sacrifice your soul and become a dragon?" he asked pointedly making Harry step away from him cautiously.
"Exactly" Eragon confirmed, "It's okay Harry. I wantthis" he assured him softly, "I've been alive for so long, to go into the afterlife is a long awaited blessing for me. My spirit will move on, but my soul will always be here for you, inside your dragon".
"Isn't there another way?" Harry whispered, already knowing from Eragon's words that there wasn't.
"None" Eragon confirmed, "Take care of baby me would you?"
Before Harry could stop him Eragon reached out and placed both hands on the diamond, speaking four words in a strange language, his brown eyes flicking up to meet Harry's before he smiled and exploded into a golden dust that was absorbed into the egg.
Swallowing nervously Harry reached out, his fingers hovering over the shell of the egg for a moment before he brought them together and cupped the large egg in his hands, his face twisting into a small smile as he felt the warmth he had felt when he first laid eyes on the egg radiating into his hands and up into his chest, a feeling of familiarity striking him as he held the egg. "I'll protect you with my life Eragon" Harry whispered, staring down at the egg in his hands, "I swear it on my magic" he added making his magic swirl around him gently to mark the oath.
He jumped in fright as the egg let out a squealing noise and shuddered in his hands, quickly returning it to its place between the columns and stepping away, watching as the egg rocked in place and moved on its own. Realising what was happening Harry's eyes widened, a crack splitting the egg seconds later, the crack spidering out as a small nose pushed at the shell surrounding it which shattered suddenly leaving a small diamond-silver coloured dragon barely the size of one of Aunt Marge's pit-bulls sitting on the column, shaking its head quickly. As Harry stepped forward the dragon's head snapped up making him freeze expectantly, his shoulders slumping suddenly as the dragon bounced in place and let out a series of high-pitched squeaks at the sight of him, tail swinging side to side happily. Hesitantly stepping forward again, Harry slowly stretched out his hand towards the dragon that followed it with steel-grey eyes, stepping forward one more time and causing the dragon to squeak once more before reaching out with its neck and butting its head against Harry's palm.
Almost instantly a surge of icy energy was racing up Harry's arm, filling his veins with liquid fire and he let out a scream at the pain that rolled through his paralysed body feeling ten times worse than even the Cruciatus Curse, until, with a deafening clang and the taste of blood in his mouth Harry passed out, collapsing to the floor with a pair of curious steel-grey eyes being the last thing he saw before everything went black.
Harry groaned as his eyes fluttered open, squinting as the rising sunlight shone straight in through his open window, raising his arm to throw it over his face in an attempt to block the sun and go back to sleep even as he stretched out slowly, causing a couple of annoyed squeaks and rasps to echo up from the end of the bed.
"Go back to sleep" Harry groaned as he pulled a face, shifting in bed before freezing as he felt a weight between his legs as claws dug into the flesh of his thigh. Swallowing nervously Harry shook his head, "It was just a dream" he murmured to himself, "It was just a dream, there's no dragon, there's no Eragon, I was just dreaming".
Harry grimaced as he felt the weight between his legs shifting, feeling four small claws climbing onto his body and padding down his chest until the not-dragon was standing on his chest likely staring down at him. Slowly moving his arm Harry kept his eyes closed as he lifted his head slightly, jerking back when he felt breathing across his face. "Still no dragons here, just really weird dreams" he mumbled, flinching as a squeak responded to him and a paw lifted from his chest to bump at his jawline. "No dragons" he denied stubbornly before yelping as a claw slapped him roughly, his eyes snapping open to scowl at the diamond-silver coloured dragon standing on his chest, "Hey! What was that for?"
KNIGHTS OF THE SHINING PALM
Based on DZ2's 'LastRider' challenge, this idea combines a series that I loved as a child with another series that I loved as a child – even if the Eragon movie massively let me down.
Remember to leave a review if you liked this idea and make sure to follow this story, more ideas are sure to come!