Not My Magical World
Chapter 5
Harry sat at the head of a small conference table in a conference room at the British branch of Gringotts Bank. Two orbs set before him. The first was a dark blue orb with spirals carved into the sides and inlaid with crystal.
Clarice Glitterstone sat at the opposite end of the table directly across from him, while Fabian and Gideon Prewett sat to his left and right.
The blue orb was called the Purifier. Placing it in the ground, or water, pulled contaminants out and transformed them into clean water. Over the past six years, he used this with his second invention to clean up landfills, making the property habitable again. By doing this, he earned 20 percent of England's annual waste management budget.
His second device was a golden orb with two crystal octagons on either side. This device was what he called his mini sun. By placing it in a landfill, it absorbed inorganic and organic matter. It then transformed them into helium and hydrogen and compressed them in a way reminiscent of the sun, producing pseudo-solar energy.
In the past six years, his fortune had increased substantially. He was in the process of creating generators that used his miniature suns.
"So, what's the latest?"
Clarice pulled on the corners of her dark blazer, "Now that we have shown the effectiveness of your mini suns in dealing with the garbage, the Prime Minister is willing to give us an exclusive contract. We will be at the forefront of clean energy if we can prove these generators work."
"I'm almost finished with the generator; another day, and I should be done."
Clarice nodded, "You're going to have to be the one that will meet him."
Gideon snorted, drumming his clawed fingers on the pale wood of the table, "Who would've ever thought that garbage would lead to clean energy."
Fabian leaned back in his chair, interlacing his fingers over his stomach, "At the moment, it is only possible thanks to the magic using the principles of transmutation."
A smile spread across Gideon's face, "More money for us."
"On another note," Clarice cut in, "All of the stock from Prewett's gadgets and gizmos is gone. It may not have been popular in the magical world, but the people of Otherworld like it."
Fabian nodded, "That's good, I wish we could have been a success here, but at least we now have the capital to continue our work."
Over the past six years, Harry, Gideon, and Fabian had developed the technique that allowed them to join minds. With their joined mind, Harry could get the experience he needed, and the Prewett brothers could tap into his abilities to expedite their unfinished products.
"Speaking of work, how long will it take to get the power plant done?"
"With just the two of us, it will take another month."
"I'm hoping to solve the personnel issue by the end of the day."
Clarice, Gideon, and Fabian looked at him.
"After this meeting, I'm taking a trip to Henry's house, elf's Hollow," the other occupants grimaced.
House elves were the discarded children of leprechauns and fairies.
Fairies and leprechauns mate, and the children are either born as leprechauns or fairies. However, from time to time, children with characteristics from both parents are born and accepted by neither, so those children are discarded in the world's magical places.
Because of their young age, the discarded children would have to bond with another magical until they mature. At first, everything was fine until the darker aspects of humanity learned that they could force these creatures to perform almost any action.
It was then they began to be viewed as slaves. Rarely would one of the children be freed when they matured.
Over time, they forced these house elves as they began to be called to breed, creating more subservient magical creatures.
Through this process, the bond was woven into their very being, eventually causing them to lose their bodies and become almost dependent on the bond for magic.
Clarice broke the silence in the room, "What are you planning to do?"
Harry stood to his feet, tucking his thumbs behind the dark suspenders he wore over his dark purple button-down shirt, "I don't know until I see what I'm dealing with, but I'm hoping my powers have increased enough that I can change them into something new that doesn't have to rely on outside magic to live."
Gideon and Fabian stood to their feet, the tools in their aprons clinking together, "if you can get us the workforce, we can cut down on construction time on the power plant to two weeks."
Harry inclined his head, and Clarice spoke from her spot at the table, "Let me know when the power plant is done, and I will set up an appointment with the Prime Minister to come to view it."
Harry paused, taking a moment to look over his three comrades. Because of their heritage, none of them had changed in the last six years. Interestingly, the only thing that happened to him was broader shoulders, more muscles, and some hair on his face.
Part of him wondered if there was something more to his mutation. He glanced around the stone room. 'I could have Gringotts do a blood ritual to find my family tree, but I don't trust the little bugger's not to use my blood against me.'
"If there's nothing else," he glanced at the three of them, "I'm going to see a slaver."
–XX –
Ten minutes later, Harry stood before the long wooden building that was Henry's House elf Hollow. Like the last time, he was here, despair radiated from the building, and the smell of filth emanated from it. However, as he stood there, he realized the suffering he felt was psychic residue left on the building.
As he came to this realization, something shattered over the building, and the feeling of despair diminished.
The building had changed, but there was now a golden filigree on the sign, and the iron bars were polished. Wood polish covered the wooden walls, causing them to shine.
Approaching the iron banded wooden door; he made out runes carved into the metal. 'It's impressive that this Henry was able to carve runes into iron since iron is imbued with natural energy during its formation that nullifies magic.'
Reaching the door, Harry pushed it open. When he touched the door, he frowned as he discovered magic had been weaved into the door traveling along the grain in a particular pattern.
Stepping back, Harry took in the building once more. With a blink, he could see the magical channels Henry had formed in the wood of the building.
'This entire building is a prison for the house elves. The way the magic is woven into the building, I don't think a blood member could do this. Nerves began to flutter in his stomach. Just what am I about to walk into?'
–XX –
Entering the shop, Harry found himself in a sizeable rectangular-shaped room. Wooden pillars sat throughout the room. Each post had more unique designs, and to his sight, the walls had characters that overlapped with the ones he'd seen outside.
Chandeliers hung from the ceiling; the orbs of condensed magic encased in their iron holders created enough light for him to see the room's contents. Once he had, a part of him wished he could forget.
Small iron cages sat throughout the room, stacked on each other. Inside each iron cage was a massive energy in the shape of a 3'2" tall humanoid.
He discovered they had a physical form when the discarded children of leprechauns and fairies first arrived on earth. Still, over time whether it was Earth's unique magic or the product of the slave bond, the house elves lost their physical form and became pure spirits of magic, only given form by their masters.
'If they have no physical form, how do they breed?'
"Can I help you, sir?"
Turning, Harry found a slightly overweight man descending a set of steps behind the shop counter.
He was 5'5" tall with a belly that hung over the lip of his pants, sagging skin hiding his neck, and Brown eyes. Dark hair surrounded the crown of his head, and a few wisps were combed over the balding spot.
He stepped off the stairs, swaying over to the counter, he rested his thick arms on it.
"Henry, I presume?"
The man smiled, revealing yellow teeth and drawing attention to his bulbous nose.
"That's right, sir," he stepped around the counter, and Harry took in his clothes.
He was dressed in a plaid button-down shirt; Harry could see stains around the collar. The button-down was tucked into jeans, and the jeans hid most of his well-worn boots.
"Henry Jacob Hollows," he gestured around him with a large hand, "owner of this fine establishment."
"Right," Harry said, glancing around the place, "I have to admit, what drew me into the place was not what you sell but the protections around the building. Did you do them yourself?"
Henry's smile slipped, "I did, sir."
As Henry spoke, Harry got a whiff of that rotten smell again, and without the wards of the shop masking it, it reminded him of spoiled milk, rotten meat, and dried blood.
With a cough, Harry backed up while focusing a bit of power into his eyes.
To his sight, Henry's flesh was filled to the brim with Brown, almost black energy. Orange rivers of liquid fire flowed from a curled-up body near the heart and spread throughout the body's veins.
In a blink, he was staring at Henry's human skin again. 'What kind of creature is this?'
Clearing his throat, he stared into Henry's Brown eyes, noticing for the first time the flicker of flame in his pupil, "Since I'm here, why don't you tell me what a house elf is and how it could help me in my business?"
Henry smiled, and the flame in his pupil brightened, "House-elves can be quite useful," he began moving along the cages, and Harry noticed the humanoid beings of energy within shied away from him.
Another flare of power through his eyes, and Harry saw thin flamelike chains snaking from Henry's body to wrap around each creature in the cage.
"They don't look much like elves, do they?"
"When I first came to this world, they had some Elven characteristics."
Harry eyed Henry, "I know magical beings age slower than others, but you can't possibly be that old."
Henry flinched, "I," he stuttered, "read a lot of books," he swallowed, "you have to in my line of work," his voice became more confident.
"Sure," Harry said, turning back to stare at the cages. Stepping forward, Harry knelt in front of one of the cages, "You know I read a lot of books to, and according to what I've read, when you bind the house elf, the master forms the body for the elf, how exactly does that work?"
"House elves are ethereal beings; when the bond is established, a large portion of power is used to help construct a body out of your magic."
Harry looked at Henry; his eyes narrowed, a thin layer of pale purple covering his pupils. He once again eyed the chains of fire wrapping around the house elves.
"As the seller, what do you get from this bond?" Harry stood to his feet, turning to face Henry.
Henry straightened, a greasy smile spreading across his face, "Nothing at all."
Harry bobbed his head, "Good, I'll take all of them."
Henry's eyes widened, "All of them"
"All of them."
"Alright then," Henry turned, a spring in his step.
Harry allowed his hand to drop to his side, a layer of purple energy flowing out from his skin to cover his hand in the construct of five curved purple claws.
With power flowing through his eyes, he could see the creature inhabiting the body before him. Lunging forward, he aimed two clawed fingers at the beast near the heart.
In a blur of motion, Henry disappeared. His body twisted, his left fist coming around to slam into Harry's chest.
Harry grunted at the impact, the breath exploding from his lungs as he took a step backward.
Henry's eyes burned red as a second pair opened on his brow, and spiderlike teeth pushed the human teeth out of his mouth, sending them to the floor with a sound like marbles hitting wood.
"I knew there was something strange about you," he hissed, forked tongue lashing out.
They began circling each other.
Harry watched as batlike wings emerged from Henry's back and viscous black blood dripped onto the floor.
Henry darted forward, curved claws flying toward Harry's face.
Ducking under Henry's attack, Harry punched at his stomach, releasing a blast of power from his fist upon impact.
An explosion shook the room as Henry flew backward.
Dust rained down from the ceiling, and the iron cages rattled.
Henry slammed into the wall with a grunt, the reinforced wood easily taking the impact. He slid down, leaving a trail of black in his wake.
Harry's eyes flared with power, and he watched the fire light veins within Henry dim.
Henry rose to his feet, beams of red energy firing at Harry from all four eyes.
Harry blurred to the side, wincing as one of the beams grazed his shoulder in the confined space.
They began circling each other again.
"So," Harry began staring into Henry's four red eyes, "what are you?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," Henry sneered?
"Yes, yes I would," pale purple light flashed from Harry's eyes.
–XX –
Harry stood on a rocky desert plain beneath a blood-red sky when the light faded. Rose-colored light burned through the black clouds, making his skin itch, and dry sulfurous air burned his lungs.
As he took a step forward, knowledge flowed into his mind.
This was Henry's memory of the realm of limbo, a magical plane of existence where the inhabitants relived the worst moments of their lives as a chance for redemption.
Those who could conquer their inner demons would gain the ability to manipulate limbo and a chance to become its sorcerer supreme.
It is a magical dimension that is a nexus of all of reality.
Screeching filled the air, bringing Harry out of his reverie.
Glancing up, Harry saw dark green pterodactyls soaring through the sky, their dark red eyes locked forward.
"You are a fool," said a high squeaky voice.
Glancing around, Harry found a 4-foot-tall green creature with thin spindly limbs hovering a few feet away from him. Tiny bat wings jutted from its back, flapping with the speed of a hummingbird's.
It had an egg-shaped head, yellow eyes, and slanted black pupils. Small pointed ears poked out from the side of its smooth head.
Serrated sharklike teeth ground together as the creature stared at Harry.
The creature's name floated into his mind, "So, you're an imp, Henry."
Fireballs shot from Henry's hands, zooming towards Harry.
With a flick of his wrist, the fireballs fell to either side.
Rock began to buckle upwards in Harry's direction. Harry forced the ground to flatten with a mental push as information about M's flowed through his mind.
Imps were creatures of magic whose main gift was magical energy manipulation that they used to grant wishes to others. With each desire they grant, they grow a little bit more powerful.
Henry had managed to manipulate his magic so that with each house elf he sold, he gained power from the sale.
Harry's eyes narrowed, pale purple light filling them, "You weren't the first seller of the house elves, were you? You weren't the one that created the binding magic; you're not powerful enough."
"Smart, aren't you?" Henry said, his fork tongue flicking out of his mouth.
A purple aura began to climb up Henry's body, "Speak the truth," Harry's voice resonated with a command.
Henry's head thrashed from side to side as he tried to resist the compulsion, veins bulged out along his skin, and his teeth gnashed together.
"There are other creatures and this plane," Henry spat, dark purple blood flying from his mouth from where he bit his tongue, "I am the third holder of the house elf contract."
"Sleep," as the word echoed through the plane, both began to fade out of existence.
–XX –
Harry opened his eyes just in time to watch Henry rock on his feet before falling backward, hitting the floor with a thump.
Moving forward, Harry knelt beside Henry placing a hand on his chest.
The fire-like veins running throughout his body had dimmed during their fight.
Turning his head, Harry glanced around at all the cages, saying, "I can help you if you trust me."
For a long moment, a silence stretched in the shop.
They moved forward in their cages; their faceless heads flicked back and forth between Harry and the fallen Henry. Finally, many childlike voices whispered, "We will trust you."
