My thanks to Vukk for pointing out the mistake of the usage of the Aholamora rather then Lumos, which I meant to write. Thanks.


~ Chapter V ~

Against my better judgment, and with the distant memories of a certain not-to-be-mentioned chamber tickling at the edge of my mind, I find myself following The Ancient One and Dr. Strange into the foreboding darkness of the corridor.

Is this a bad idea? Probably. Will I come out alive? I can only hope.

In any case; there's a cold gust of wind and significant drop in temperature that greets me when I enter.

Visibility drops to absolute nill. It's like someone put a sack over my eyes — and not in the metaphorical way, either. I can't see a bloody thing — even Strange, who I can sense just slightly ahead of me — which, really, is the first sign that something more is at play. That this isn't a normal darkness.

Because darkness, let me tell you, does not drown out light. Darkness doesn't halt the flow of light eminating from a short distance nearby. But here, as per my usual luck, it has gone against the laws of normal, and not the barest of light flows in.

Anyways, to test my theory, which I really, really, hope is wrong, I raise my wand, careful as not to hit Strange, and cast a 'Lumos'.

The result of what I see leads me to two independent and not-at-all good conclusions.

One: Although The Elder Wand's tip glows in its powerful, blinding, blue-white hues, it seems…. oddly restrained.

Sure the wand glows brightly, but its light doesn't even reach my fingers that grasp it.

So there's that. Light doesn't work. Reeaally looking forward. Though in all fairness, I should have seen it coming. "Shadow's of the Dark Dimension".

Gee, Harry, I wonder what that could have meant.

The second conclusion, which really might be the worse of the two, is that…. not the barest of sounds came out of my mouth my I said the incantation.

And really, now that I realize it, there's really no sounds here at all. Even our footsteps, which had garnered more noise then even Strange's ever-talking voice had, have grown oddly silent. It's like someone pressed a giant red 'Mute' button. (Which he clearly shouldn't have. It's Red for a reason.)

Anyhow, I suddenly sense Strange come to a halt, and so I quickly follow suit, canceling the 'Lumos' and slowly lowering my wand.

Thankfully, I'm only left wondering why we've stopped for a sliver of moments before a soft orange glow emits from a distance ahead of me — most likely The Ancient One's hands, judging by its shape and size— though the darkness must be manipulating the appearance of its distance, because I can sense her presence just slightly ahead.

Her light quickly grows around what I assume is simular heavyset door, and suddenly, there's the now familiar, low, serpent-like hissing, breaking through the silence.

It goes on for a long minute, until the glow encases the entirety of the door, and then at once, it stops, leaving us once again in the unsettling and completely unnatural silence.

Sensing Strange resume his stride, I draw a deep breath and slowly follow him through the doorway.

The room we've entered is definitely bigger then the corridor. That much I know by the flow of air that has lessened.

The Ancient One, however, doesn't give me time to ponder where we are, only pausing for the slightest of moments, before leading us straight ahead with a certain confidence that suggests that she's been here before — and enough times to have memorized at least the basic outline of this place.

Anyways, Strange and I follow her on... and on and on and on and on and on for what feels like bloody centuries. Eons!

And its about what I would estimate to be about sixteen billion centuries into our trek of doom when I feel the darkness growing… thicker?

For a moment I blame it on my boredom going psychic on me, but slowly, it becomes more and more pronounced. It's like we need to push through the suddenly — well, really not so suddenly — thick, almost tangible darkness.

And the longer we continue walking, the more my senses go haywire, shouting at me, warning me to turn back around. To find light.

But I bully the feelings down (like any truely reckless man would,) and continue on. But with every step, with every push through the darkness, my brain sends my senses into a farther overdrive, pumping an over-abundance of adrenaline through my veins.

And then at once, I feel it.

An eerily cold, venomous, presence lurking somewhere within the vast unnatural darkness.

"Well, shit," I think to myself. "Here comes the catastrophe."

And as we continue on, its presence grows stronger, becoming increasingly obvious with every step.

My heartbeat quickens in anticipation and the grip around my wand grows tight. This time I won't have a Phoenix to heal my wounds.

For a moment, I'm tempted to cast another 'Lumos' to chase it. But somehow, I doubt that it'll be that easy.

Instead, still keeping pace, as I do not dare halting even for the slightest of moments, I close my eyes and let out a weak pulse of raw magic.

The setting forms quickly this time, only now, all I see is fleeting glimpses of my surroundings. Because all my surroundings are covered in thick, black smoke-clouds of… uh… darkness.

Yup. It's official! Merlin help me, this Multi-verse is definitely WEIRD. Clouds of dark!? Wth!?

I quickly halt the flow of magic, feeling just a tiny bit unnerved by the odd visual, and my senses (luckily,) kick back in just as we hit the end of the room.

I'm about to make a celebratory dance, when I feel it.

Right. Freaking. In front of us.