Not My Magical World
Chapter 17
Harry stood in front of the sink in his bathroom, the towel wrapped around his waist as he ran a razor down his jawline, the scrape against his skin filling his ears as he removed his stubble. Tapping the razor against the sink, he thought over the news he had received this morning.
Andromeda and the others had awoken. Though they were conscious, their bodies were still weak. According to Rhiannon, an apprentice of Nam's, there would be in bed for at least the rest of the week.
Grabbing a towel beside the sink, he ran it across his smooth face before throwing it over his shoulder and leaving.
Amelia had agreed to move to the island and begin training a select number of Juru in death magic. This surprised him, but he thought it had more to do with her daughter's eagerness to be around children her age than anything else. He shook his head as he stopped before the foot of his bed. With Amelia training the Juru, a small number of them will become pseudo-Valkyries and catch the souls of anyone who died violently. They will then be resurrected through the Lazarus tanks.
Before everyone else had fallen unconscious, they agreed to keep everyone on the island respectful of death.
Raising his hand, the drawer to his dresser opened, one by one, and disgorged his clothes for the day. Sitting on the bed, he curled his fingers, drawing the items to him as he dressed. While he was going to attack the black estate tonight, today, he would walk around the city he helped create and remember what he was fighting for.
Dressed in a black T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and white tennis shoes, he rose to his feet. Stepping forward, he vanished in a pale purple flash.
–XX –
In a flash, he appeared above the island of Juru. As he stared at it, he thought they needed to come up with a different name if more than the people of Juru, the Greenleaf, and the Spark would be living here. He liked the name New Haven but would talk it over with the others.
His power may have created the island, but he wanted to avoid ruling or micromanaging.
The island below him looked like the US state of Texas.
The upper left-hand corner was where the Juru had made themselves home. Their buildings were reminiscent of Japanese temples, with the focal point being the crystal structures they brought from the Phantom zone.
At the top right-hand corner of the island, set the Spark. Their homes reminded Harry of modern office buildings, tall, boxy structures with what look like florescent lights trailing down the edges. Though the Juru homes looked futuristic, the sparks were.
Occasionally, a building would shift in height, size, or shape as the spark within changed it to meet the Sparks desires.
In the lower right-hand corner of the island sat the Greenleaf. Their homes were grown from the branches of trees, shifted to form a bulb shape, and covered in leaves.
Though a great distance separated all three settlements, they grew towards one another, forming the beginnings of a central hub.
Drifting lower, Harry touched down on a stone street.
Small shops and stalls lined either side of the street as people moved around one another, most heading towards a pale purple portal at the end of the road contained by a circle of woven vines.
Harry had been able to work with the Greenleaf to attach a permanent portal that ran off natural energy to a groan container so that the island's people could explore the world.
With the help of psychically implanted knowledge, those who looked human could find a job and only use the island as a residence, paying Harry a small fee to live there.
Harry hired those with more physical mutations to build the island's infrastructure and become contractors, doctors, chefs, and store owners.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Harry began walking down the street, nodding to the people who greeted him as he looked around.
His lips curled as children laughed as they ran through the park or showed their abilities under their parent's watchful eyes. The sight drained the tension from his muscles. This was what he wanted to create; this was worth fighting for.
Jani of Juru was creating a curriculum to teach the children. Instead of having teachers, she was working with Kreature and the Prewett brothers to create a device that would allow the children to access the plane of knowledge and absorb preselected data packets.
After that, they would take Andromeda's enhancement formula, enhancing their mutant gifts and changing their bodies to draw on the naturally occurring magic that ran through everything.
Though it wasn't mandatory, it would set all the children on equal footing or as close to it as possible. Since those with physical mutations may not have a gift they could use, they could train in harnessing magic and being trained in its use, while those with more active skills were separated and trained under more experienced users.
Harry ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up on his head. Now that he was thinking about this, he hoped the people he and Amelia rescued would be willing to stay on the island and teach their craft to the youngsters. Otherwise, it would be a pain to keep the island a secret.
He allowed his hand to drop to his side; this is precisely why he didn't want to rule the island. Too much to do, but with the others still bedridden, he really didn't have a choice.
While the realm of knowledge could give them the ability on anything they wanted to learn, it could not teach them social development, which was most important.
"I'm sure at least some of them will want to stay," he said as he continued down the street, "They have been trapped in a wall for who knows how long. The world will have undoubtedly changed."
He paused in his walking, "That reminds me, I need to go see the Morlocks and talk with Magneto about some sort of alliance."
–XX –
Amelia appeared in a pale purple flash before the weathered marble wall that surrounded the black estate, her staff of femur bones clutched tightly in her hand. She moved forward, her gray eyes scanning the neat runic lines that decorated the wall.
Whispers tickled her ears as the spirits within the wall guided her to her destination.
The grass rustled with each step, and shadows squirmed as she trailed along the wall, her staff leaving a little divot in the ground as she moved.
Pausing when she was almost directly behind the house, Amelia stared at a section of the wall where the spirits told her all runic lines converged.
Amelia stared at the spot, filling it with her senses. While spirits could not lie to her, they could omit specific facts, and just because she was trying to help them did not mean one of them wouldn't try to give her the shaft.
Finding nothing, she released her staff.
Reaching to the top of it as it stood under its own power, she ran her thumb over one of the nails of the curved fingers, ignoring the stinging as the skin easily separated.
Cradling her bloody right hand, she moved forward, drawing a symbol on a blocky rune section with a stylized star in the center. This would be an anchoring point for power and give her a greater connection to the wall.
Her eyes flared a luminescent white as she stepped back from the wall, pulling a long translucent tether of energy with her. For a long moment, she stared at the line of power. It'd been so long since she actively used her powers in such a way, and though most of the spirits in the wall seemed harmless, especially the one called Ted, some felt dark.
She shook her head.
She would free them all from imprisonment and talk to Harry about the darker ones later. He didn't seem the type to let a threat to his people go.
Maybe she would have her daughter consume the darker spirits. That way, she would always have the energy to protect herself should past events repeat.
Amelia's hand curled into a fist. A bomb inside a bank took her daughter from her the first time, and it would not happen again. Though she wanted her to have a childhood, she would ensure she was prepared.
'Spirits of the wall, if you want to be free, you must find your remains and stay close.'
The whispers in her ears grew louder as a voice echoed along the desolate gray plane within the wall. She ignored them, her gray eyes filling with luminescent power, 'If you want to be free, you will obey me,' her voice echoed as it thrummed with power, the luminescent white tether pulsing with each word.
As she felt the spirits in the wall begin to move, Amelia pushed on another connection established within her mind.
'The spirits are heading towards their remains; the energy within the wall should start clumping together soon, weakening the runic array. One blow in the right spot should destabilize the barrier around the estate, but whoever is inside will feel the break.'
Amelia shivered as Harry spoke within her mind, 'All right, thanks. Once the wall is down and the spirits have connected with the remains, I will open a portal to the island.'
Though he had helped her, Amelia was suspicious by nature. However, her daughter had been returned to her, and she was happy around children her age, so for now, she would live on the island and watch. Besides, there were always wandering spirits willing to help her for a price.
–XX –
Floating high above the black estate, Harry stared down at the compound, pale purple power filling his eyes.
The dark purple, almost black dome surrounding the estate dimmed and brightened as pale vapor-like streamers moved within the wall, condensing into a specific brick or the blood that made up the mortar.
"I've got one hit to break this thing."
Red runes flared along the wall, trying to force the spirits into circulating along the wall once more. They twisted in agony within their bricks as red threads wrapped around them, trying to pull them into motion.
"The moment it blows apart, I must separate the bone bricks and dried blood back into their DNA strands." He breathed as a cloud moved at his back, hiding his silhouette from the moonlight.
He snorted, "Easy, right?"
It's just a good thing that earthbound spirits stayed connected to their remains no matter what form they took. That would make it easier to separate them as long as he focused on the luminescent white vapor within each brick. Though some may try, the spirit would always recognize their flesh. There was no way to hide in another's body, not in this circumstance.
Reaching out with his mind, Harry pulled the wind tight against the dome-shaped barrier. Wind spiraled around it, slamming into it and spreading across it like a second skin.
As the wind reached the apex of the dome, threads shot into the air, connecting to the fingers of Harry's outstretched hand. Harry began leeching the heat inside his air construct using the air threads as a medium.
–XX –
Amelia shivered as an icy wind whipped around her to smash against the wall. Goosebumps rose across her arms, and her face turned pink as the current spread across the barrier, clinging to it like a second skin.
She backed away as the temperature continued to drop.
Movement out of the corner of her eye directed her gaze upward. She watched heat trails waver in the air as they drifted toward Harry.
Lines of energy flared beneath Harry's skin as the thermal energy entered his body.
'Cold.'
That single word from the wall snapped her out of her reverie.
To her sight, the spirits within the wall curled tighter around the remains as the heat was removed from the wall, and water molecules changed, transforming into a thin layer of ice that crawled up its surface. Within moments, the entire wall ringing the black compound was covered in a white layer of ice.
Amelia drifted into the air, watching the ice climb the wall until it reached the energy dome, where its climb slowed significantly
–XX –
Harry clenched his fist as the last of the heat from the wind construct flowed into his fingers, causing the construct to constrict. Veins bulged out on his arm as the wall resisted the pressure he was applying. Power flared through his veins as he increased his strength using his internal energy reserves.
He grimaced as he felt more energy leave his body; his damaged circulatory system caused him to use more power than was needed for a task, and he could not hold the energy he absorbed when he started using it.
It was one reason he constantly had to absorb a little energy from the Juru around him. Luckily, there were so many of them that they didn't notice the 1% he pulled into his body before it was replaced by the sun.
Beads of sweat popped out on his brow as his fingers slowly curled in on one another. Finally, the wall shattered, and Harry opened his fingers, causing the pieces to freeze where they were. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he took a moment to catch his breath.
Purple energy shot up towards him as the energy dome contained by the wall was released. With a thought, a portal opened before him, and the dark light shot through, careening off into the void of space.
Now came the most challenging part, making sure the DNA within the wall didn't get mixed together.
'Keep an eye on the souls; I'm about to separate the DNA of the individual bodies. When I'm done, I will need you to create phylacteries that can be used to help resurrect them. Hopefully, the DNA is viable after everything it's been through.'
Down below, Harry watched Amelia's hands flare with gray light.
'I'm ready.'
Closing his left eye, Harry opened his right as wide as possible.
Taking a moment to calm his breathing, he began funneling power into his eye.
He hissed as a burning spread through his eye, and it began to water, sending tears down his face.
To anyone watching, they would've seen the veins of his eye glow purple before extending to touch the Iris. The moment his veins touched the Iris, his pupil grew, consuming the color ring.
With this change, his vision zoomed in, allowing him to see the DNA strands in each ice shard. Moving his fingers like a conductor, he began guiding the ice shards to others that matched the DNA he saw.
While he only understood the basics of DNA, he did know that the collection of cells that made up DNA was unique to each individual.
–XX –
Amelia watched as the shards formed groups. As the 200th group started, she raised her hands. They glowed, and underneath her power, the fragments changed, becoming a gel-like consistency as they flew together, forming an octahedron, with each side of the large containing DNA and the soul of an individual.
When the crystal finished forming, sweat dripped from Amelia's chin, and her arms sagged.
Tiredly she reached for the connection she had with Harry.
'It's done.'
'All right, I'll call Jani to escort you back. From what I'm feeling, she is also running out of energy. Keeping us unnoticed by the populace took more power than she expected.
With a sonic boom, Jani plummeted from the sky. The ground shook slightly as she landed, her knees bending with the impact.
Amelia glanced at the purple-skinned young woman. Though she didn't say anything, Amelia could see the dark circles beneath her eyes and the hunch of her shoulders in the moonlight. "Are you alright?"
Jani gave her a tired smile, "Fine, I've just never touched that many minds before."
Amelia nodded, "Understandable, but power is like anything else. As long as you don't burn it out, it will grow stronger the more you push it, but it's always important to know your limits, for if you burn it out, you may be forever weaker."
"Luckily for me, my people and I have an advantage that makes that more difficult."
Amelia inclined her head, suspecting something like that after seeing some of the feats they performed.
Both turned as Harry landed on the ground, staring at the blood that ran down the right side of his face and the milky film that had grown over his right eye.
Jani stepped forward, her hand rising to wipe away the blood on his face, but Harry caught her wrist.
"No time. We have a guest coming, so you two need to go," he nodded at the large crystal floating a short distance away. Curling his fingers, the octahedron moved forward.
Jani's eyes widened, realizing that it would come up to her waist if it were sitting on the ground, making it at least 3 feet tall.
Amelia continued to stare at Harry, "What happened?"
Harry raised his shoulders as he flicked his left hand, creating a pale purple oval-shaped portal, "Used my powers in a way I haven't before. There were some side effects."
"Will it heal?"
"I sure hope so," suddenly, Harry cocked his head to the side, "Go! He's almost here."
With a grunt, Jani picked up the crystal and began waddling toward the portal.
Seeing her odd action, Harry looked at her, his remaining eye gauging her energy levels. 'Blanketing the whole city with a telepathic message while keeping it hidden from other telepaths drained her energy. It's good to know the Juru have limits.'
Amelia glanced at him one final time before following Jani through the portal.
As he felt them emerge on the other side, he closed it with a flick.
For a moment, he just stood there, absorbing what little energy the moon could provide. He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding as his eye started to itch with the telltale signs of healing.
He was afraid his last action had permanently maimed him.
His shoulders tensed as he heard the door to the house open and shut behind him and the crunch of grass beneath feet as someone drew closer.
"Arcturus Black, I presume," he asked, slowly turning around.
The man before him was 5'9" tall, lean, with square features. Short messy gray hair topped his head, and lines were etched into his long face, but his gray eyes were hard.
He was dressed in a long black overcoat with a single brass button fastened in the middle, giving Harry a view of the gray button-down shirt he wore beneath. Dark slacks poked out from beneath the coat, and shiny black shoes reflected the moonlight above.
He leaned on a cane in his right hand, its golden top tarnished from years of use, and a box was clutched under his left arm.
The man inclined his head, the stern look never leaving his eyes, "I am."
Harry nodded as sight began to return to his right eye. It was nothing more than a blur of color at the moment, but at least it was healing.
With a grunt, Arcturus crouched, setting the box on the ground by his feet. "I take it you are here to kill me?" he asked as he straightened up.
"I am," Harry confirmed.
Streetlights at the end of the street began to flicker as he surreptitiously drew in their power through his feet.
"May I know why you're killing me?"
Harry raised an eyebrow, "You're awfully calm about someone coming here to murder you."
A grin that looked more like a sneer spread across Arcturus his face, "I'm old and a master of shadows. They told me secrets and revealed my most likely future long ago. However, that doesn't mean I will go down without a fight."
"Good," Harry stepped back, "I won't feel as bad if you put up a fight."
Arcturus snorted, "Feel bad; not much of an assassin, are you?"
The streetlights at the end of the street burst, sending sparks scattering across the asphalt. Another on the opposite side of the street began to flicker. "Not an assassin, just completing a deal."
Shadows began to rise around Arcturus, "And who are you completing this deal for?" He asked as tentacles formed out of the shadows.
"Andromeda Tonks," as he said the name, the muted color of his right eye returned to normal. Unfortunately, it took most of the energy he absorbed from the streetlights, "she wanted revenge for you killing her husband."
Arcturus's lips twisted in a frown, and he spat a curse to the side, "Damn that boy, I told Cygnus to leave her be, we may not have agreed with her choices, but she was still our blood," he shook his head. "When you see her next, apologize for me."
"Sure, but you could do it yourself."
Arcturus's eyes narrowed, "Cut the shit, boy. We both know I'm already dead."
"I thought you said you were not giving up without a fight."
"I'm not, but it's like I told you before the shadows told me the most likely outcome; I just asked that you take what's inside this box and use it to start a new black family," he shook his head, "preferably one that doesn't eat itself."
"That will be up to Andromeda," Harry looked up at the sky, "I'm just here to do a job."
Arcturus nodded, "Good, despite what happened, she is proud of her family. She will see that our line continues in one form or another." With that final statement, the shadow tendrils surrounding Arcturus stabbed forward.
Before they even made it halfway, Harry raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
The sound echoed as the world shattered like glass.
–XX –
Harry staggered backward, blood leaking from his nose, his eyes locked on the prone form of Arcturus Black sprawled across the ground.
When he felt Arcturus moving towards him, he knew he didn't want to fight him on his home turf, so he gathered the remainder of his energy and began a mental attack. It slowed the man's approach, and his mental shields were strong.
It took until he was directly in front of him before his shields finally broke. By then, he was low on energy and had to use the streetlights.
Stepping forward, Harry knelt in front of the box. Opening it, he found vials of blood.
"Looks like the shadows did tell him some secrets, but I don't think Andromeda has any family members she wants to resurrect." Turning, Harry raised a finger, swiping it through the air. Arcturus's head rolled away from his body.
Blood fountained from his neck as the head stopped 3 feet from the body. His mind may have been destroyed, but his body was alive.
Harry just knelt there for a moment, wondering what to do next. This ordeal had taken much more energy than anticipated, and he didn't want to leave a body lying around. Standing to his feet with a tired groan, Harry waved his hand.
A portal opened beneath Arcturus, dropping him near the sun. As it closed, power wrapped around Arcturus his head, and it floated to Harry before settling on the box.
He picked up the box and kept it level so the head didn't fall off. Turning away, he began walking down the street, happy that the streetlamps were out so no one saw his grisly item.
He would find somewhere to rest for an hour. Hopefully, by then, he would have recovered enough energy to teleport home.
