Act Two Chapter 11: He Who Walks in the Shadow of Death.
"Harry, wake up."
Pain.
"Harry, wake up."
Everything hurt.
"Harry, please."
His body flared to life in overwhelming stimulation. Each nerve burned as if crystallized flames resided on every tip. Harry tried to speak, but his throat ached like he had swallowed shattered glass. He tried to lift his arms, but they failed to respond as commanded, instead uselessly hanging down with the river of fire still flowing over them.
"Harry, wake up." His eyes refused to open as if sealed. Trying to pry them open was harder than cracking a clam. The muscles of his face tried, unlike the useless ones attached to his arms, but failed. The eyelid acted less like something that opened and more akin to his cheek, a solid flowing piece. Despite the pain, he was still moving, though not under his own volition. The floor rubbed against his bum as they dragged him atop the hard ground.
"Through here." His aching body was thrown as the sound of crumbling came from his former position. The contact on the floor would have triggered a scream as every fresh contact brought with it a fresh hell. Each bounce rattled his consciousness as his brain begged for a reprieve. To no longer feel the pain.
To just die.
As he rolled over the hot floor, his skin feeling less solid and dripping on the ground, an internal tang rang when, for the first time, feeling returned to his hands.
He screamed.
His face distorted as blood rushed down his throat. The liquid was cold as his raw throat fought the liquid going down and the air moving out.
"Harry, it's alright." He picked up more stimuli as the ceaseless agony brought overwhelming clarity. The cave shook as the smell of sulfur weighed heavy. A sickeningly sweet scent mixed with the smell of boots burning mixed with the rotten egg smell leaving bile to re aggravate his damaged throat.
Someone was muttering, their sounds were incoherent, whether because of their own speech or the unfading ringing in Harry's ears he couldn't figure. A rush of magic hugged him, kindly clinging to his skin. Harry welcomed it, letting it mix into his own and wrap him in a kind of chill. The burning heat battled against the external force, clinging to him like a tick, grasping like a parasite onto a host. In the end, the comforting embrace of magic dwindled the overwhelming power of the dragon's fire to a measly flame. His eyes shot open as the fading light of a magic circle was fading. They darted to see Nic standing in the forefront as the goblin protected their rear. He tried to flex his right hand, but it still failed to respond. In its grip, the sword gifted to him by Abe had a long crack, a black ridge marring its beauty.
Charlie leaned against the wall, face awash with confusion as his mouth moved to form words that failed to exist.
"Alistair?"
That got the attention of the rambling boy, who trained eyes full of emotion upon him. "Your toad," he sputtered in utter disgust, palpable hatred etched on the normally kind boy's face. No hint of sadness was there, only revulsion. "My brother dies, and your first question is a fucking toad."
"Charlie..." Nic began, still focused on his task, though a quick word interrupted him.
"I am here, Harry." A small snake slithered from his back and wrapped over Harry's burned shoulder. The fresh contact brought a wince, a far cry from the dismantling pain of before.
"That is good. I was worried. You were the closest, besides me, to the flames," he brought up the unfused hand to touch the snake affectionately upon its head.
"I am immune to fire. What hope could a measly dragon hold against the flames of hell?" Despite the vibrato, something in the imp's tone was wrong.
"What the hell is that? What the bloody hell is going on?" Charlie shouted over the reunion, pointing his wand to the pair. Anger building more and more with each passing second.
"Put that down, boy. Of us here, you were the only one who didn't know. I speculate the devil decided it wasn't worth hiding anymore." The administrator said clinically.
"My brother is dead," He shouted again. Though the bout of fury seemed to drift back as he acknowledged, again, the fact.
"And if you don't want to join him, then you need to shut up and work with us, boy." There was no insult in the words of the goblin. If anything, it seemed almost... kind?
"My brother is dead," he slumped down on the smooth wall. Charlie was a tall boy, now he was the tallest in the party, and yet he seemed such a child. Shock, fear, confusion, all those emotions and more replaced the fury and hate. Nic walked over with cautious steps and squatted near him.
"So, what are we going to do?" Behind Harry, the sharp tooth spoke.
"Use you as bait and line you with explosive ruins, so upon consumption you rupture its insides." He tried to copy the same pattern the goblin used just a moment prior.
Moments passed before the creature let out a sound like a rockfall. Harry took it as a laugh. "You are a funny one, child. Perhaps I will not kill you in your sleep upon your return."
"You are confident we will return?"
"Our group has the world's wisest wizard and you; I like our chances."
"I don't see how I am special."
"You just used a goblin sword to block true dragon flame. If that was possible, the goblins would have killed them all years ago. No, child, something about you is special." Harry's eyes flickered down to the once flawless sword still fused as one to his club hand.
"Well, goblin, if it makes you feel any better. I don't exactly wish to prune your head." The statement, surprising even Harry, was not a lie.
"Who else would drag your sorry ass through these tunnels if I didn't?"
Harry smiled as he pushed the cold inner voice further away, the one that said to flee using his comrade as bait. "Could you get us above the lake?" A plan formulated, a crazy one, but one that had the potential to work.
"What do you mean?"
"These are goblin tunnels. Could you lead a group above the lake?"
Looking defeated, the administrator shook his head in the positive, and a cruel grin extended over Harry's face. "Good."
He who walks in the shadow of death.
"Why am I with you?"
"Because that is the plan."
"I don't know the plan."
"That is also the plan."
"Harry..."
"Charlie, it can read your mind. Meaning, that the plan is ruined if we tell you. Correct?"
"Yes."
"That's a kid." He reached out to ruffle the redhead's hair with his left hand, but Charlie moved away as if struck. He didn't have to move. Harry was too short to even attempt such a task in reality. "Sorry."
"He will get over it," the devil spoke from his shoulder, now in his true form of a red monster from hell.
"Just because he knows about you does not mean anyone wants to hear you talk."
"Harry, my voice is a gift to the world. Closing it would be a..."
"Hush, we are here." He paused before the break. "Charlie, when the time comes, you will know what to do."
"What?"
"Alistair, stay with him."
"Aye ye, captain." The sharp teeth of the devil revealed themselves. A smile?
Harry's sword lit as he entered the familiar chamber, the glow not unlike the moon, a moon he had watched with Selphie. Would he ever lay under the sky again? Walk along the forest floor with the scent of wood and wet filling him like food. See the face of her, Albus, Fleur, or even his mother? From along the deep black crack that marred the beautiful blade, a poisoned red flame licked the length, illuminating the watery cavern in a sickening red, revealing broken boulders spewed throughout its murky depths. His left hand clung to his yew wand as he fluttered out a Latin spell, one his mentor had used so long ago as he had cried, confused under his father's gift.
With a pulse, his sensory shifted as he first felt the ping of Charlie, who stayed at the entrance. Others followed, though too close for his own liking and unfamiliar to him. And then there was the soul of Balagos. It burned an angry black flame and devoured any hope going to it.
"What use is soul magic against me, boy? Did you think it would have any effect? You could use even the pittance curse against me, and not a scar would remain. I was born before you humans thought of the concept of soul. I watched as the baby fey first awoke. Your attack is meaningless." The colossal form of the beast crashed against the crumbling platform the day's events had started from. Time, history, everything was cyclical. The beginning was also the end. The serpent ate its own tail. Balagos's head loomed larger than any man, even Hagrid, and was a cruel red. It slithered to rest near Harry's form with wicked speed, kicking up wind and debris, as the titan clung to the cliff face. One bright eye watched him with vile contempt. Large gashes of flesh missed from its face and, as it spoke, empty pockets of mouth decorated within its scaly lips.
"It has already performed its purpose. Did it not then work as intended, Balogos?" In the monster's eye showed a bright gem, pulsing with hateful magic. Its long neck slithered, wrapping around him and cutting off his exit. Sharp points slashed against the back of Harry's cloak, sending a ripping sound to accompany the crackling of scales against dirt.
Harry held firm against the pain. It paled compared to the burning of dragonfire.
"Does this have anything to do with your friends above?" He cackled with his eye, never leaving Harry's form. "I can feel their feeble attempt at using human magic against me. Just now, whatever they tried failed. Right now, they run from their failed attempt by the mere thought I would attack them." The massive drake rumbled with humor, its neck raking into Harry's back. Harry made to move forward, but the head stopped his path. Despite the reptilian face, hate was evident. "No leaving, little one. Not yet. Not until they all die before you." Harry swiveled his melted hand to the beast, pointing the razor towards the disfigurement from Nic's attack, but the creature did not retreat. "Do you believe that a poorly forged blade will do anything? My hide has withstood the Xiphos of Peleus and did not falter against other godly forces. What hope do you hold?"
"Charlie," Harry yelled.
"Bombarda maxima."
The cavern quaked. With a haunting laugh, the dragon lifted its maw to its full high and arched it to full mast, baring down on the handler. Balagos reached its full height as its shadow bared down upon the two young men. "You missed." It opened its mouth to breathe again, but stopped when the cracking began. Harry had already started running from the cavern as the ceiling above fell to the powerful spell of the new eldest Weasley child. The dragon continued its laughing as from above, in the various nooks and crannies, spells slammed against its hide, distracting it slightly. All around, members of the team united in one task, a task they knew not of. They needn't know their goal, only that the last stand of the youngest member would spark their heroics.
As the rocks from above slammed into its massive form, it laughed again. "Do you truly believe this pathetic rockfall will stop me?"
"Again Charlie," Harry yelled at him, a quarter of the way to the entrance that Charlie stood in. The cavern wept tears of boulders and massive rock.
"Bombarda Maxima," the second spell soured just past Harry and forced the flying creature to ascend to the falling sky as the magic spell ripped Balagos's perch from its person.
"Insects!" it screamed again. Its fury and arrogance filled the once chamber. "I will incinerate you," it breathed again.
But then the sound of fireworks began.
From below, small popping began, more rocks fell from the sky, and more sounds answered below. Small flashes of light crescendoed into a mighty chorus of bright lights and pops and explosions. The monster's body slowly fell as rock after rock smashed into its wings, making a slow descent to the exploding water below. A large chunk of ceiling detached and fell over it, masking the scream with an explosion so large and bright the entire cavern was awash with overwhelming white. Leaning against Charlie, Harry brought him to the ground to sit and watch.
It felt like a blur.
For half an hour Balogos died in a lake of water and sodium, basked in explosions so large only muggle superweapons were larger, though perhaps the first large rock was its undoing.
Ten humanoids could come together after fighting the monster. Two elves, one goblin, and seven humans. The priest, Cepholus, Charlie, Nic, the girl who spoke against his involvement as well as two other men whom Harry had never spoken to. Only they lived.
Nic had led them to the body of the beast after the explosions ended. The monster was greatly mutilated, as its acidic blood dripped onto the now empty cavern, the lake being all but forgotten. Harry shoved the tip of the blade through the crest of the dragon's mouth to verify death. The blade passed through with no reaction.
"It is done," the priest spoke. "One more evil removed from the world." The man had a solemn expression, "but the cost... God... Why?" But God did not answer him.
Nic moved to grab the strange gem from where the dragon's eye once sat, dropping the small thing into his pocket. "We should find its hoard before leaving." He announced to the group. So, they pushed forward.
Deeper and deeper into the cavern, they walked in mournful silence. The large walkway traveled with an odd slope. After what felt like an hour, they reached it, a room that glittered with priceless gems and artifacts of goblin silver. Within the home of a goblin nation, they found the dragon's lair. The taint which had sat over the gold for so long already started losing its power. Its oppressive force drifting into nothing.
In the center of the room, an enormous egg sat. Its shell matched the horrific red tone of its presumed father's scale. Charlie walked up to it and leaned against its beautiful shell. "Not quite mature," he supplied before turning his wand on it. "Bombarda Maxima," gore exploded out the back as the shriveled baby dragonling was deposited on the ground, the shell holding everywhere besides the point of contact. As the non-matured form shriveled on the ground, it gave a horrifying groan as it passed away. "That was for Bill."
Nic's hand stayed with Harry as he alone prayed for the innocent passing.
They left the cave, a simple thing as the bright light of the sun filled the walkways. The sun burned as the group walked into the sun, and they completed the task.
But the cost?
Was anything worth this?
From across the gorge along the path, he saw her. Her face was bright and happy, the cruel sickness of the land no longer bringing her to the cusp of death.
Harry smiled as the sun rose. The air was hopeful.
The Sun was a beacon of warmth and comfort. The best things in his life came at the beckoning of the Sun. If it was a warning, for now, he didn't care.
Seeing her smile happy and free. That was enough.
He who walks in the shadow of death.
End Act Two.