Right. First off, I'll thank you all for you patience. `Thank you all for your patience!!!' I am very grateful that all of you didn't complain when I said I would be a week or two until I updated. I would have updated even later than this if I hadn't had a three hour flight each way to start planning this chapter on an extra page in my notebook. So, yeah me, yeah you, etc.
You should know that I have a few important notices at the end of this chapter, and I would ask that you all read them. Thanks.
Secondly, I have a few review responses for you:
Uten- Thanks for the creative comments. I did try my best to find out and put into simple phrases the History of Alagaësia and those races living there in connection to the legacy of the Riders. As for the different brands of magic, Wandless/Staffless magic is the brand generally used in the Eragon world. The magic is channelled through a focal point (i.e. a ring, specific hand, etc.), and released when the correct words are uttered. Riders focus their magic through a tattoo on their hand which appears when the Rider first touches the Dragon as a hatchling, called the `gedwëy ignasia', or `silver palm' in the Ancient Language. The Ancient language is the language used when commanding ones magic. So yes, Harry will have to learn their brand of magic, though he will still be able to use his wand. That's all I'll say here, though, as I will be explaining all this over again in the next chapter.
Texen_witch- I'm allowed a little creative licensing, aren't I? To answer your question, I am in the firm belief that Morzan was Eragon's, as well as Murtagh's, Father.
JayaMioneDurron- Normally, No, they wouldn't, but it makes the fic all the more interesting.
That's enough of that. On with Chapter 4!!!
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The Draconis Saga
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Chapter 4
Power And Pain
--
Harry woke the next morning to a sharp rapping on the door. He had been given a new room by the Sage the previous evening, as the room he had been in for the first few days had been a private room on the castle's Hospital Wing.
He dressed in the clothes he had been given the day before and stepped out of his room after retrieving his wand from the bed side table, shutting the door behind him. He walked carefully down the flight of stairs at the end of the hall, turned left, followed the corridor for six doors, then opened the seventh to his left.
Inside was passage with no doors or windows to show him where he was. He followed this to its end, exited the passage, and entered the large double doors that lay across the hall from the passage's exit. Inside was the now familiar library the Sage had spoken to them in the day before.
Behind the oaken desk at the end of the room sat the Sage himself, looking over an old, leather bound tomb of some kind. He looked up from the volume when he heard the door close with a soft click.
"Ahh! Good morning, my boy. You are well rested, I hope?"
"Yes, I am. Is Tristan down yet?"
"No, I'm afraid not. According to the building map-" he looked down at one of the many papers strewn across his desk, "-he is currently moving around his quarters. I expect he'll be down soon. You don't mind if I finish something I had been doing while we wait, do you?"
Harry shook his head and sat down at one of the chairs that sat by the fire, watching the city out of the windows that surrounded the room.
It took perhaps ten minutes before the door opened a second time and a tousle haired Tristan walked in, looking rather haggard and panting slightly.
"Sorry. I lost my way."
He sat in the vacant chair beside Harry and caught his breath. The Sage stood and came to sit next to them. "It's quite all right. I lost my way many times all those years ago when I first came here. It is to be expected. I am rather surprised that Mr. Potter arrived here so fast, to be perfectly honest.
"Now, down to business. Today I will be helping you to select your egg, as well as testing you both for any particular magical ability that you may have. You will also be getting a few magical and non-magical items that will aid you in your training. After we have selected the egg that is meant for you, we will sit down for a while so I can explain what will happen afterward. It may take a while, you see."
He stood and waved at the door. "Now, if you would come with me, the time is still ticking, and we have many things to accomplish before the night draws in upon us."
They followed him out and around the corner in the opposite direction from the day before. Turning left into the next corridor, they came to a dead end, coming face to face with a large carving depicting three large Dragons flying in a large circle, a strange symbol in the center, and a armoured man raising a sword in the middle and just below. It was set into the wall with two large loose-torch brackets set on the wall beside it. The sage walked up close to it, grabbed one of the torches from their bracket and spoke softly to the swordsman carved into the wall.
"Argentlam intrare."
The swordsman's eyes glowed red and the dragons moved around in their circle of carved flight three full times. The symbol glowed suddenly a violent orange, and the metallic clunks of heavy bolts could be heard behind that section of the wall. The sage placed his hand on the wall and gave a soft push. The wall moved inward on what had to be hinges, as it moved as did a door.
The Sage walked slowly into the passage beyond, lighting the torches sitting in their brackets as he went. He reached the end of the corridor and turned back to them.
"As you can see, this corridor has not been used for many, many years. This is the Rider's Wing. Inside this corridor and the other two connected above this one and the one below, you will find all of the facilities you will need in your training, as well as rooms where you will stay. This wing of the castle is separated from the rest, and the way I have showed you is the only way inside, and the only way out. Aside from these four floors of training rooms, living areas, and other facilities, we have something else I would like to show you. Come."
He led them to the end of the corridor and to a spiral staircase. It led both down and up, and he lad them up, past another two floors and up into a tower. After a minute or so of climbing, they came out into a massive, round room. Above them, cut into the tower walls, were four wide, glassless windows, each facing into the face of one of the four winds. At their level, also built in the wall, were large openings, some smaller than the others, some bigger. Inside each cave-like opening, was a large bale of straw, some meat, and a small area where a human or elf could lie down. Set in the ceiling was a large lantern.
"This is the Dragons' Tower. This is where your Dragons, and those of your fellows will eat, sleep, and live until they are old enough to venture out on their own. That will happen at around two months of age. At the age of six months, the Dragon will begin to breath fire, and at one full year, the dragon will become an adult. While it is growing, you will learn to communicate with it, ride it, and care for it. Aside from that, you will learn how to fight in close combat, with your fists or with the sword, dagger, or knife, spear, etc.; how to fire a bow and arrow, to throw a spear, pike, etc.; how to use magic (the ancient magic, that is, not what you may be used to); how to speak and write the various languages used in Alagaësia; and to use any other powers you may have. You will be taught all of this by Elvin instructors , and you will respect them as they will respect you. Is that all understood?"
They nodded and he smiled. "Very good. Now, we will return to my office. I have many tests, I will need you to take, in order for me to get a feel for your level of magics, any powers you may have that will need to be trained. Most importantly, I will need you to take a test that will determine which of the eggs is matched to yourself."
--*^*--
The sage saw them separately, so Harry did not know how Tristan's test had gone, but he came out smiling and clutching a forest green egg in his arms.
"He told me to tell you that you can go in now. I'm going back to the Riders' Wing for now. He said that until the dragon hatches, we'll just be doing language work."
He waved and walked down the corridor, and Harry turned to the door and walked in. The sage was seated behind his desk, watching him as he drew closer. He waved his hand at the single chair that stood before his desk.
"Have a seat."
Harry nodded and sat down in front of the desk, watching the Sage closely.
"I will be testing you to get a feel for your level and capability in various areas of magic. This, way, I will know what we will have to teach you besides the physical training, fighting arts, and language courses you will be required to take.
"Firstly, I wish to test for your overall level of magic. The reason for this is that when a Rider first touches their Dragon, the magic that is naturally theirs is multiplied by a factor of at least three, and then grows further as the Dragon matures. This is the reason that Elvin Riders are usually the most powerful. The are naturally born with quite a bit of magic of their own, and humans have about a third of that. Humans are all born with magic of their own, even if they cannot manage to access it. Your race, however-"
Harry cut him off. "My what? My…race? What do you mean?"
The sage smiled across the table at him. "I have watched your world through the same means as how I sent my portalisman-the medallion I sent you-to your world. It is common knowledge that the wizards in your world speak of humans as `Muggles', correct?"
Harry nodded.
"Well, that way of separating out yourselves is an acknowledgement that you are different. The Muggles, as you call them, are homo sapiens. Wizards and witches are the next step in human evolution, and since you are both living on your world at the same time, with the wizarding species growing in number and the human race diminishing slightly in proportion, you are considered another race, czaros sapiens. The only problem with this is that one or the other of your races will never cease to exist, making your races both on the same evolutionary track, but still separate and clearly defined.
"Anyway, to get back to the subject at hand, your race is gifted with both a vastly more abundant amount of magic than humans and is also able to access it at will. This means that your race stands at about the same level as the elves. I wish to test for your level of magic in order to determine the amount of power you will be at the command of in the end, as well as how far other abilities you may have may eventually progress. Do I have your permission for this?"
Harry nodded.
The Sage took large case out from a cabinet under the window behind him and placed it on the desk in front of him. He unlatched the two locks on either side of the case, pulling out a few vials filled with various multicoloured liquids, setting them in containers on the desk and explaining as he did so.
"I'm going to use these tests rather than the ones I used with your friend purely because, as I explained to you earlier, wizard's and an elf's magical signatures are nearly identical in their chemistry, so to speak, and these tests-which are meant for an elf-may very well suit you better than the tests I have for humans.
"Now…I'm going to test for a multitude of things, and I will present you with the results after the tests have been completed. Is that alright or would you like me to tell you what the tests are for before administering them?"
"Could I know what they are for now, and what the results are later?"
"Certainly." He began to explain what each of the tests where for, pointing to each in turn as he did so. "The first one here is to determine your natural power level. These three are for the Magus talents: animagus, metamorphmagus, and chameleomagus. The others are for which egg will suit you best, your current physical strength, whether you have any hidden talents, and…this one is for whether or not you are a dexzaran."
"What's an chameleomagus? Or a dexzaran?"
"An chameleomagus is a being that can blend in with his or her surroundings, much like a chameleon, hence the name. A dexzaran is a human-like creature that is able to blend into the shadows, as well as walk unnoticed and unheard by other people. May I begin the tests, now?"
Harry nodded and the Sage picked up what looked like a muggle scalpel. Cleaning a patch on Harry's wrist, he slowly pushed the instrument into his arm, slowly drawing out a full needle's worth of blood. Pulling the needle out of his arm, the Sage healed the cut with a touch of his hand. Turning to the row of vials, he passed slowly over each of them, dropping a single bead of blood into each one. After doing this, he shook the vials slowly, mixing the solutions in the vials until they began to fizz.
Next, he took a small bottle, a magnifying glass, and a thin book out of the box in front of him. Inside the bottle, there was a clear, slightly greenish liquid. Inside the bottle, there was a thin dripper. This he filled, lifted out of the bottle, and selected one of the vials. Inside this, he put in three drops of the liquid. He mixed the vial again, and watched the solution change colour.
He opened the book in front of him and began to compare the solution's colour to the pictures inside the book. Finding the correct colour, he wrote something down on a spare bit of parchment before repeating everything with the other vials, noting the colour the vial turned when the chemical was dripped into it.
After he finished he turned to Harry, pulling the parchment toward him.
"Well, my boy, it seems you are even more special than I thought. According to your tests, you have a considerable collection of talents. Moderate in number and some of which are very…err…potent."
"What do they say?" Harry asked, somewhat wary of what the Sage was about to tell him.
"According to these tests, you have a high level of natural magic, perhaps because you are a wizard, and, therefore, have a slightly higher natural magical level than I had expected. Aside from that, you are gifted with both animagi and metamorphmagi skills, you are a parcelmouth, and you do have a rather low physical strength level, but that can be remedied. You also have the skill to become a skilled Occlumens and Legilimens. Last but not least…you are a dexzaran.
"Because of all this, and especially because of the last one, you will not, I think, train with the other Riders. No…you will train in magics with myself, and in physical and battle training…I will have to find some special instructors familiar with dexzaranÄ© training…"
"But why?"
"Dexzaran are not even human or elf, or any other known sentient being ever seen before. They are cunning, cold, creatures, with the senses of some sort of ethereal human, with eyesight (and eyes) and reflexes like those of a cat, hearing like an owl's, and the ability to move unnoticed through the shadows, unheard and unseen, unless by use of a spell. But they are also very emotional beings. They care very much for their friends and loved ones, as well as their opinions. They have a habit of getting very violent very fast…"
Harry gulped. "And I'm one of them?"
The Sage smiled. "Yes, you are. It is a great gift, if it is used wisely. You are still you on the inside, my boy, no matter what you may become elsewhere. Remember that. Dexzaran are, by nature, cold and cunning, but to become dark…they are the ones who chose that path, and many of them do not. You always have the choice, my boy, of which path in life you take. That is up to you, but I have a feeling that you will never turn to the dark. Your friends mean too much to you to do that.
"In the mean time, we will have to figure out where we will administer the change…"
"The change?"
"Yes… when a child is born in our world, they are all tested to see whether or not they are a dexzaran. If they are, they are trained by special trainers on how to control their powers, but before that, the change has to be taken. This is when the boy (they are always boys, for some reason) has reached the age of 5840-5900 days of age, or 16 years - 16 years, 60 days. This is when the skills and physical features of the boy set in, and the change must be prompted by a special potion before the age of 5900 days. If this does not happen within the time limit, the child will die." He turned to look at Harry. "How old are you?"
"16 years, 26 days."
"Very well. We will have to administer the change tonight, just to be on the safe side. Do you mind? I must impress upon you that the change can be painful. Perhaps you would like a few days to prepare yourself…?"
Harry sighed. "No thank you. There' no time like the present." He gave a weak smile. "I'll do it tonight."
The Sage nodded and seemed to lose himself in thought.
Harry prompted him out of his musings with a question. "Which of the eggs will I get?"
The Sage jumped and look across the desk at him. "Oh! Right. The test-" he looked at his paper, "-determined that you would be most suited to this egg here."
He pointed to one of the eggs on the end, a large black one. He picked in up gingerly and handed it to Harry, who took it in both arms, carefully clasping it to his chest. It grew suddenly warm and then cooled again.
The Sage, seeing his expression, smiled. "It is acknowledging you as its rightful master and companion. Go now to your rooms. I will contact you this evening at sundown to begin the change. Food will be brought to your room. Good day."
Harry nodded and walked out of the room, holding his Dragon egg tightly in his hands. He walked back to his room slowly, thinking over what the Sage had told him.
I'm always different. Why must I always be different?
He came to his room and opened the door. Shutting it behind him, he was suddenly aware that he felt…very…tired…
He lay down on his bed and only just registered that his scar was suddenly shooting with pain before he blacked out.
---~*~---
"Crucio!"
The man in front of Voldemort fell to his knees screaming. The other Death Eaters, standing in a circle around their master and his victim, did not move to help him. He lay there, screaming for what seemed like hours before the curse lifted. He stood shakily and walked back to the circle, taking his place once more.
"You will not fail me again, will you, Rudolphus?" Voldemort paused to relish the fear his statement had in the man before him. "I told you to investigate where the boy had been taken, and you bring me nothing. You tell me his is gone, that your findings tell you that some sort of powerful magic was involved… I know all of this. Next time, you will bring me better information."
Lestrange nodded silently.
"You will all be put to the task of finding out the boys whereabouts. I am sick of this blundering. I want him found quickly. You will not disappoint me. Dismissed."
The Death Eaters moved off to the other parts of the building Voldemort had been using as his base of operations.
No one noticed that one of them had slipped through a door to the outside world.
----~*~---
Severus Snape stood before Albus Dumbledore a few minutes later, recounting the events of that nights' meeting.
"And you say that he knows nothing of Harry's location, aside from the fact that he is gone?"
"Yes, Headmaster. He suspects that you had something to do with the boy's disappearance, but he knows nothing."
"Very well, Severus, thank you for coming so quickly."
Snape nodded and left the room silently.
Dumbledore sighed and pulled two pieces of parchment towards himself. He dipped a quill into the inkpot resting in the corner of his desk and began to write.
Dear Mr. Weasley,
The other read:
Dear Miss. Granger,
It is time that I wrote to you concerning the dilemma over your friend, Mr. Potter. Exactly five days ago, Harry disappeared from his home in Surrey. I must impress upon you that his is not in Voldemort's hands and that the Dark Lord has no inclination to his whereabouts.
Normally, the Order and myself would mount a full search for Mr. Potter. However, this is not the case. The night Harry disappeared, Professor Trelawney was gifted with a prophecy which I am sure is related to Mr. Potter's predicament. The search will not be mounted because prophecy in question mentioned that he would return at `the ninth waning of the second year.' I believe this means that Mr. Potter will rejoin us on the date in question, or some time after that. The date is September 10th in what will be your seventh year.
I must impress on you the need for calm and to keep this a secret, as we wouldn't want this information to fall into the wrong hands.
All we can do is hope that Harry will come back to us in the time frame identified by the prediction made by Professor Trelawney.
Have a happy summer until your arrival back at Hogwarts on September 1st.
Yours,
Albus Dumbledore
He gave the letters to Fawks, who disappeared in a flash of flame.
---~*~---
Harry followed the four guards that had been sent to his room to retrieve him down the hall and around a corner. Down four flights of stairs and along a stone passageway, left, then right, and finally to a large cast iron door set into the wall. One of the guards lifted a steel bar off of the front of the door, unlocked three tumbler locks with keys he took from his belt, and drew back the two deadbolts at the top and bottom of the door. He pushed the door open and Harry, followed by the four guards, walked inside.
The room before him was like nothing had had ever seen before. It was massive, with great stone columns in long rows , making the room look oddly like the Chamber of Secrets, with its carved serpent columns…
But it was not only the size of the room which made it odd. It was like some sort of medieval dungeon. Iron rings were rammed into the walls about every six feet, and four long chains hung from each, every one of them ending in an iron manacle. In the center of the room was a great stone dais, a concrete wall about eight feet tall and a foot thick stood on top of it, four iron shackles hanging from short chains on the wall. The Sage and a few dark robed men stood waiting for them on the dais.
Harry mounted the dais and the guards left, closing, but not locking the steel door behind them. Harry turned and looked questioningly at the Sage.
"What's all this for?" He nodded at the wall and shackles in front of them.
"When a Dexzaran goes through their transformation, it is known to be extremely painful. The person undergoing the change is said to become very violent during the transformation if not restrained. These are the only proper restraints in the entire castle, so it was necessary to bring you down here. The measure is for all our protection."
Harry nodded, slightly uncomfortable. "And these people?"
"They are some of the most experienced sorcerers in the kingdom. They helped in summoning you here, and their knowledge and magical help will be needed to complete the transformation safely and quickly.
"The change will have to begin exactly at midnight, which is in roughly twenty minutes. I suggest we get ready."
He turned to the elves behind him and said something in what sounded to Harry a cross between Latin and Russian. The elves nodded and went to the shackles hanging from the wall in front of them. Each one of the four took a shackle and opened it and then turned to Harry and the Sage, waiting.
"My boy, you will have to strip down to your underclothes for the change. Your body will change slightly and you may be thrashing a bit while the change takes place, and they may rip and tear. We will also have to administer the potion to each of your limbs, your neck, and chest simultaneously to ensure that the change takes place at the same time throughout your body."
Harry nodded and did as he was told. After he was left in just his boxers, he was directed to stand with his back to the wall. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he felt the cold metal of the restraints grip him firmly to the way, unable to move more than an inch or to in any direction.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw one of the sorcerers coming forward with a few lengths of plastic tubing. On the end of each one was an inch long, rather sinister looking needle. He took on of them and carefully slid it into the left side of his chest, about where he would think of his heart to be. When the needle was all the way in, he stuck a piece f plaster on top of it to hold it in place. He did the same on the other side of his chest, in his abdomen, and both his arms and legs. The final needle he set on the floor in front of him. He took a sort of staff from one of the other sorcerers and waved it over the tube and needle, muttering something under his breath.
The needle and the tube with it rose slowly into the air until it reached about the same height as his head.
"Bend your head forward," the Sage said, and he did so.
The needle travelled over his head and turned slightly. He felt a slight prick at the base of his neck, and then a sharp jab of pain. The needle was sliding slowly into his neck, into his very spine. It came to rest in the base of his skull. The sorcerer plastered the wound, sealing it to the air, and the pain began to lessen.
The elf stood back from him and gathered the tubes into a bundle. He did something with them which Harry, afraid to move his neck for fear of injury, could not see.
The Sage knelt down in front of Harry and looked up into his eyes, smiling sadly. "I know this is not going to be easy, my boy, and I know that the change will be painful and frightening. But it has to be done sooner or later before the time runs out, or you will die. May we begin?"
Harry sighed heavily, and moved his head slightly. It did not hurt. Taking courage from this, he moved his head to look up at the sorcerers and the Sage. He sighed again, squared his shoulders, and spoke.
"Yes. Do it now."
The sorcerer standing by the plastic tubing took them all in his hand and began to hook each one up to a sort of…pump. After he had connected all eight to the contraption, he took a large glass cylinder, about the size of a muggle two litter soda bottle, turned it upside down and screwed it into the top of the pump. He flicked a small stopper out of the cylinder and the liquid inside it, a deep, fiery red liquid, began to slowly slosh out of the bottle, draining into the tubes below it.
He watched as the potion travelled slowly up the tubes until, ever so slowly, it entered the needle. He felt it moving into his blood, burning, yet cold, coursing through every inch of his veins. As the feeling reached his head, he began to feel drowsy, but he fought back the urge to sleep.
The Sage and his four companions moved into a crescent around him. The sage raised his hand and pointed it at Harry's chest. His companions did the same with their staffs. They took a deep breath, and began to speak in unison, carefully pronouncing the words, lest the incantation go wrong.
"Mihi quo potestas quae regiminus supra haec mundus adjuvare haec dexzaranei nutu vocare illius veritas formare!"
As they finished their incantation, the potion running through his veins, exploded in pain. It was agonizing. Pain beyond pain. It was if every bit of flesh on his body was being ripped from his skeleton, being burned, and sewn back together. His eyes felt like hot pokers had been forced deep into them, making his head feel ready to split open.
It was worse than the Cruciatus Curse. Much worse. Every muscle in his body was being cut slowly apart and then reassembled. Then the pain exploded within his very head, inside his brain. It travelled slowly down his spine, into every nerve ending he had, carrying the pain with it.
He was not aware of how he was thrashing against the wall behind him, how he was straining against his bindings.
And then, finally, it stopped. He slumped down in his restraints, twitching. He felt so tired. So…tired.
He blacked out.
--~*~---
A/N: That was the fourth chapter. It was 5,589 words. Yeah me! Now about the notes… I have them down here on my desk somewhere… Ahhh… Here they are. I'll bold it so you people might actually read it.
THIS WEEKS OH-SO-IMPORTANT NOTES:
I am soooooo sorry I didn't get this out sooner, but I haven't worked on this chapter since when I went on that trip three (or four?) weeks ago. I only just wrote all this yesterday and today. The reason for that was that I had a serious case of temporary writer's block, and I had to slap myself in order to get the old brain working again. Sorry again. The next chapter will be out a lot sooner. I promise. If it isn't out in two weeks, I ask all of you to e-mail me with threats so I get working again. Thanks.
Second note: I have just started a fanfiction.net C2 community called `The Magi Collection'. It is a collection of the best fanfics the FF.net Harry Potter Archive has to offer. The collection is small as of now, but it is growing fast. If any of you have favourite fic, e-mail me and I'll get a staff member of mine look into it to see if it's any good. If it is, then it goes on the list of `good but good enough?' fics. Then I'll read it and if it is one of the best of the best, it'll have the honour of joining the collection.
Third note: I WANT ALL OF THE READERS OF THIS FIC, BE THEY ON WWW.FANFICTION.NET OR WWW.PORTKEY.ORG TO GO TO THE FOLLOWING URL AND SUBSCRIBE TO MY C2 SERVICE. THAT MEANS ALL OF YOU! IT'S WORTH IT, TRUST ME!
Fourth note: make sure all of you do the third note.
Fifth note: That's all of my notes.
REVIEW ME!!!!
Cheers!
SilverDagger
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