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Rise from the Ashes, Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2024-01-05 17:16:04 +0000 UTCMagix City.
After their shopping trip Bloom and Stella went to the beach to meet their friends.
Tecna and Flora were already there once they arrived, enjoying the salty breeze and the seagulls' cries above.
Aisha and Musa came shortly after.
“Hi girls, so how did it go?” Aisha greeted them with a wave, sitting barefoot in the sand and enjoying the sun.
Stella seeing Musa's new hairstyle smiled pleasantly, asking. “Oh, well, Musa, what did you do to your hair?”
“Just a little change of style.” the musically gifted fairy responded, driving her fingers through one of her new twin ponytails.
Stella leaned forward to get a better look, saying appreciatively. “Really nice!” she grinned a little smugly and said excitedly. “And I just updated by wardrobe with a new dress!” granted she had to teleport back to Alfea and get everyday clothes to wear, but for that dress she'd do anything.
All of them, except Bloom, soon egged her on to show it. Which she did after enjoying the attention. “Here, really?” making a show of looking around, but relenting quickly with a giddy smile on her face. “Well, if you insist.” a quick spell later saw her new magnificent dress.
“You look stunning!” Flora complimented earnestly, clapping her hands a few times as Stella twirled around to show herself from every angle.
“You do!” Musa agreed, her eyes wide and focussed on the exotic piece of clothing.
Aisha also gave her opinion. “It's awesome, Stella!”
“Thank you.” accepting the praise gladly, the Solarian Princess added. “But you should've seen the one making it for me, right Bloom?” a teasing glint in her warm golden-brown eyes.
Bloom groaned out loud. “Not this again, Stella!”
“Why, what happened?” Tecna inquired curiously, hungry for knowledge as always. No matter how trivial.
Stella still grinned mischievously, waving off Bloom's protests. “Nothing much. We just ran into the man from the pizzeria. You know, the one Bloom couldn't take her eyes off of?” her grin widened as the others comprehended the situation.
“Not what happened.” Bloom mumbled somewhat annoyed, arms crossed and rolling her eyes, but resigned to her oldest friend's antics by now.
Truly interested Aisha commented. “So, he made it for you? He didn't seem like some fashion creator.”
Musa threw in and shrugged. “Well, many artists can be a bit eccentric.” back on Melody were many musicians with strange tastes of all kinds. So it wasn't something out of the question for her.
Stella took the reigns of the conversation once more, a bit annoyed at them interrupting. “Anyway, as thanks I invited him to my Princess Ball in a month's time.”
“Well, he seemed nice enough, if looking a bit rough around the edges.” Flora said optimistically, unable or unwilling to say something truly negative about a stranger.
Musa threw in as she leaned back on her hands, enjoying the sand between her fingers. “He did indeed look rough, though I'd describe it more like ruggedly handsome.”
Making a face, Stella replied. “We all know what kind of man you like, Musa.” while she was thankful for the dress she disliked scars and anything that made one imperfect. Why not simply get them removed? Magical surgery made that and more possible.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Musa asked in a dangerous tone, eyes narrowed. Riven wasn't really rough looking. The only thing rough about him was his personality.
Trying to ease the tension and get away from the uncomfortable conversation about the strange man, Bloom changed the topic. “So, Aisha. What happened on Andros that called you away so suddenly.”
That got all of their attention and stopped the bickering between Musa and Stella.
Not exhibiting any tension or worry, Aisha was the picture of relaxed and happy. “Someone broke out of Planet Omega.”
Tecna and Stella gasped, while Flora, Bloom and Musa appeared clueless. “What is Planet Omega?” Bloom spoke up, still a bit peeved about being so clueless when it comes to the Magical Galaxy.
The Fairy of Technology explained, instinctively her hand went to her mini-computer, only to remember she left it at Alfea. “It's a place where all the worst criminals of the Magical Galaxy are brought.” turning to Aisha the technical genius asked. “Who was it?”
“Apparently his name was Valtor.” Aisha answered unconcerned.
“Was?” Bloom inquired, having picked up on the past tense.
Nodding with a smile, the Princess of Andros replied. “Yes, he escaped but due to his fatigue after opening the Omega Portal on Andros he was captured swiftly. Once at the Fortress of Light he made a last effort and was killed as a result. Most suspect he did it to not get sent back to Omega.” she herself wouldn't fault him for that choice. “Luckily, the Omega Portal was closed shortly after.” everything was alright again on Andros.
“That's excellent!” Stella exclaimed and changed back to her previous clothes. “Less work for us.”
Looking at the blonde, Bloom raised an eyebrow in question. “What do you mean with that, Stella?”
Huffing as if it was obvious. “Please, you can bet this guy would've sought you out at one point or another and we would've had to fight him. Just because you harbour the Dragon's Flame.”
Musa agreed. “True enough. After all it happened two times before. The probability of it happening was high.” seeing Tecna actually start calculating the musician rolled her eyes.
Bloom stayed silent while she glared at him. It wasn't her fault for being given that power. Her mood did not improve as the Specialists arrived due to Sky not being with them. Apparently he had duties to attend on Eraklyon. He didn't even answer his phone, no matter how many messages she sent.
Citadel of Night.
It had been a day since their trip to Magix City and things were looking up a little in terms of trusting each other.
At the moment Harry was just starting training the Trix, just not how they thought he would train them.
Instead of teaching them new spells he was going to refine their abilities.
Icy refused to be trained in her own element by another. Not believing that there was something he could teach her.
The group of four was currently on a huge rock spur big enough to hold a football field and created inside one of the huge vaults in the cavern. All of it illuminated by Bluebell flames floating in the air to give more visibility.
“Any requests?” Harry asked standing before them. Hearing none, Harry explained. “After our talk yesterday I came to the conclusion that I'll have be the one to make the first step towards trust by removing the mark I put on you.” a simple spell later the Coat of Arms of House Peverell vanished from their bodies.
At once they felt the ocean of power recede from their shorelines as if low tide was setting in. Being so full of power previously and to feel so little now was atrocious to experience for them. All their hands immediately going towards their stomachs, unable to feel the thrum of power any longer.
“What did you do?” Stormy's voice cracked a little, sounding oddly vulnerable.
Harry shrugged and explained. “I removed my mark on you.” not knowing why she was so upset about that, the wizard added. “Now you can harm me and vice versa.”
“Why?” Icy demanded, feeling strangely hollow and empty. Just so preventing getting chocked up by her tremendous loss of power. It hadn't mattered to her that she couldn't harm him! Neither could he harm them. It was a more than fair exchange as far as she was concerned. “Give it back!” the Witch of Ice demanded.
Taken aback and more than a bit confused, Harry replied. “What? Why?” he thought that show of trust would be a good start. Seemed he was wrong. After all he wouldn't like to bear such a mark and had simply employed it to be safer until he could begin to trust them a little.
Even Darcy wasn't unaffected. Her golden eyes somehow seeming dimmer than before. “It's because of the connection that we gained more power through you.” she explained, sounding fatigued. With the nearly unlimited amount of magic Harry had access to he wouldn't even know how much he bled off to them.
“Oh, I didn't know that version of the mark could do that.” the last Potter said surprised.
Askance Icy demanded. “You don't know what your own spells do?” blue eyes narrowed at him.
Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Harry elaborated. “Well, it was a spell I got by absorbing the essence of that Valtor on Omega.” he took that version of the Dark Mark due to the easier method of application.
Though, to absorb someone's magic was like calling upon all the spells cast by a wand. Only that it was every single spell of the person gained by Harry. “Though, I only got some fragmented memories from most I did that to.” from what he gathered the memories he got had been the most important ones for the prisoners. Be it their innocence or similar. Though, most likely it were just the meaningful ones because the minds deteriorated over time due to being conscious all the time. Not to mention that gaining memories had been his motivation to perfect his Occlumency. It was incredibly disturbing to have memories not your own inside your head.
'Also most of the information is incredibly outdated in this day and age.' Harry thought, remembering the info he got from the Trix. Not that it was all that surprising. He got the information from half mad people frozen inside the ice, but conscious all the same. Killing them had been a mercy.
“Oh.” Darcy commented, knowing it was an attempt to gain their trust, but nearly achieving the opposite.
Knowing he had to say something, Harry sighed. “How about I look for or create a version of it that leaves more freedom for either of us?” namely something creating a simple connection without any condition imposed on them. “If I don't find one by the end of the month I'll re-establish it.” he promised.
All three reluctantly agreed. What else could they do? Being wanted fugitives with no money severely limited their options. Something that wasn't solved by killing Harry. Not that any of three was sure they could actually pull it off.
“Now then, let us begin.” Harry declared and promptly began teaching Stormy and Darcy.
He started with Occlumency to give them a tighter control over their emotions and magic. Darcy took to it like a duck to water, but Stormy was unable to clear her mind properly. Too much anger.
Leaving Darcy to meditate on her own, Harry went to another part of the platform with the Witch of Storms. “OK, maybe we should start with a little bit of physical training.” the wizard proposed with a sigh, transfigured her clothes into workout gear and stretched to show Stormy how to do it. That was ingrained into his very being from countless Quidditch practises.
Satisfied with that Harry put her through the wringer. First demonstrating and then doing the exercises with her. Be it a variety of crunches, push-ups, leg raises and more for strength training. Though, he also did endurance training as well as training for flexibility by stretching. He didn't let up until she was panting and sweating profusely, just a bit away from the verge of physical exhaustion.
Next he set targets up to magically exhaust her and told her to destroy them a certain way.
“Come on! Concentrate!” Harry demanded of Stormy as she tried to obliterate the vaguely human-shaped rocks he had transfigured. Normally she wouldn't have any trouble destroying them, but Harry wanted her to do it by enhancing herself with lightning and not by throwing it at the targets. “I thought you wanted to be strong, or was that just hot air? Seems to me you're a weakling.” he taunted, hoping to get that negative boost out of her and with it positive results.
Stormy growled, taking the bait like Harry had hoped. Just as her fist was about to make contact with the stone she shouted. “I am not weak!” electricity cackled around her bloodied fist as it met stone and utterly obliterated the upper half of the humanoid statue, causing rubble to fly off and into the waters below.
Looking at her hand, Stormy clenched it as if to confirm that it was her own. Shock soon transformed to smugness.
“Good job.” Harry congratulated earnestly, surprising Stormy.
Looking at him sceptically, the witch crossed her arms, not noticing the blood on her knuckles. “Not so weak now, am I?” she kinda taunted, a sneer on her face.
Chuckling at her reply, Harry retorted. “I never thought you are weak. I just used your anger to motivate you.” seeing her blood-stained hands Harry walked towards her and inspected it. “You should be careful in using that on hard objects however.” a many times practised diagnostic charm later told him it was nothing broken, thankfully. “The lightning has the side-effect of deadening your nerves to pain, but the damage still gets done.”
He cupped his hands around hers and cast. “Episkey.” a green glow enveloped her hand, causing the minor damage to be healed. “There, good as new.”
Pulling her hand away a bit faster than intended, Stormy didn't answer. Too preoccupied with having achieved this new technique. Something she wouldn't have thought of alone. Not to mention that she had thought he'd rather mock her efforts than actually help her. Which was kinda how it mostly went down when training.
Seeing Stormy already pretty fatigued, Harry went a step further to finish it. “Next, I want you to try and cut them in half using your wind.” pointing towards the still standing stone statues.
Appeased by his admission and guidance Stormy's scowl lessened and vanished. Though her confusion at his behaviour didn't help and caused her efforts to fail. She was surprised when he stood directly behind her.
Unwilling to let him get a rise out of her, Stormy tried to ignore him. That was until he instructed her. “Think about something that you hate, focus on it. It's the only thing existing. Everything else is simply fades away.” she could feel his breath on the skin of her neck, causing the hairs to stand on end as if electrified.
Not seeing any reason to not try, after all his instructions seemed to work, Stormy did as told, suppressing a shiver as she felt power radiate from his body so close to hers. He didn't even need to consciously project it outwards, it seemed to just flow outward constantly. It was even more apparent now that she didn't have access to it any longer.
Concentrating again, Musa replaced the stone statues in her mind quick enough. 'By the Ancestresses how I hate that Fairy.' the Witch of Storms raged inside her head.
As soon as she gave her anger a target it was much easier to focus. Tunnel-vision took over as only her fury for the fairy existed, together with her wish to eradicate it. Harry's voice was now obstructed, muffled.
Seeing it working, Harry took a hold of her right wrist with his own and pointed her hand at the targets. “Command the power to go along your arms up to your fingertips.” the fingers of his right hand then traced her bare arm from shoulder to wrist to give her direction. “Imagine a blade and shape the wind to your desire and command it to cut. Then, simply let got.”
Stormy was shivering. If it was from the new experience of power coursing through her or his gentle touch she didn't know, nor did she care right now. Swiping her hand in an horizontal arc, she yelled the first thing coming to mind. “Wind Cut!”
Lo and behold a moment later all targets were bisected by an invisible blade, causing their upper halves to fall to the ground and shatter.
Blinking a few times Stormy came back out of her self-induced trance. “Whoa.” she exclaimed softly, never having had so much control over her attacks. It were always gusts of wind or tornadoes. Big and powerful, but brute force all the same.
“See, all you need is focus.” Harry cheered for her, a smile on his face. “I knew you could do it.”
Just now noticing their close proximity to one another once more Stormy created some distance, trying to say the next words dismissively. “I guess.” her face turned away from him so he couldn't see her trying to regain control of her rosy cheeks. Also thankful for the low luminosity of the cave.
One part of her wanted to not need his instruction and do it on her own. While the second one wanted to get closer and not lose that intoxicating feeling of power he radiated outwards.
After completely exhausting her physically and magically he instructed the completely tired Stormy in Occlumency, which went much better than before. Mostly due to her not having many thoughts swirling in her head right now, able to focus on a single thing.
Soon enough the training was finished with an utterly exhausted Stormy, a satisfied Darcy and a grumpy Icy.
“So, you said you were from Earth.” Darcy stated and inquired. “Why did did the magicals go into hiding, then?” she was currently sitting next to Harry on the floor. She was curious about Earth, his origins and about the magical society there. The one time they had been there none of them saw anything even remotely magical in nature. “Everyone in the Magical Galaxy thinks Earth is completely without magic.”
Harry chuckled at that, truly amused at the outrage that would spark among the sheep back on Earth. “I honestly don't know. My teacher for History wasn't the most passionate on the subject or the most suited for the role.” though Harry thought that it was more due to the fact that Binns was dead and therefore didn't need a salary. “However, the prevalent consensus was that Muggles – those without magic – hunted the magicals everywhere. A few people claimed the separation protected the ones without magic more than the ones with it.” which was kinda true in the beginning. Though, the difference in threat had been equalized with time. Not that spells like the Imperius wouldn't allow for a simple takeover from the shadows by taking control of the leaders.
“Seems stupid to flee from people you could easily crush.” Stormy panted out, lying on her back to get some breath back into her body. In Magix there were non-magical people, few as they were. Though, most simply had magic, but not enough to cast spells.
Harry was loath to admit it, yet Stormy spoke the truth. “Indeed.” he concurred.
The Dementors alone could wipe out the Muggle World on their own. Muggles couldn't see them and were completely defenceless against them. Harry had no idea how the Ministry controlled the creatures, but with them they had an immense trump card in their hand. That didn't take into account various other methods. Not that Harry thought any Ministry smart enough to actually plan something worthwhile.
Icy butted in, demanding. “Yesterday you said you had three ways of removing our status as fugitives, but you only told us two. What's the third one?” her arms were crossed as she sat on a block of ice she created before. She didn't want to modify her own memories and the second option was out automatically.
Just now remembering, Harry nodded. “Well, the third option is to claim that you were controlled by Darkar and request the trial you never got to prove your innocence.” he leaned back on his hands and explained further. “You mentioned that Bloom was also controlled by him, so it'd be perfectly reasonable to assume he also kept you in his thrall. From what you told me he was after the Dragon's Flame, so it is even reasonable to assume you were 'forced' to work for him even then. After all, why would he bother to break you out of the Fortress of Light if you weren't valuable pawns to him?”
“Oh, I love it. It's a good idea!” Darcy complimented earnestly, loving the deception used here. A hungry gleam in her golden eyes.
Stormy just nodded her consent, too occupied trying to ignore her tired muscles.
Icy on the other hand wasn't pleased in the least. “No it's not! It's a stupid idea!” her blue eyes glared at them all, arms crossed. “We'd be in enemy territory and at their mercy. Not to mention that we have no guarantee that it isn't just a sham of a trial.” she looked her two sisters in the eyes, conveying just how angry and disappointed she was at them for forgetting that.
Not offended by her objection, Harry replied, a mischievous smile growing on his face. “Of course, that is possible, but I didn't plan to rely on luck. Well, not in the usual sense anyway.” his time on Omega and before taught him that luck could only get you so far, which was ironic considering what he was about to propose. “There is a potion I know, called Felix Felicis, or Liquid Luck, which causes the drinker to succeed in every endeavour as long as success is possible.” that basically meant something utterly impossible was out of the question. It depended on the probability of the endeavour, which meant something with a zero chance of success wouldn't succeed.
Though, Icy wasn't satisfied with that, at all. “We won't go through with it one way or the other.” the Witch of Ice snarled and yelled at her sisters. “I'm still the leader of the coven and you two will do as I say! End of discussion!”
Darcy and Stormy did not appear happy with that decision, but relented in the end to Icy's will. After all, Icy did have some points. Even if they were confused as to why she was so dead set against a good plan.
Trying to soothe tempers Harry didn't push it. “I didn't say that it is the only option, did I?” a little confused at her being adamantly against it. “Although, I guess you have some personal reasons as to why you're against it.”
Even more enraged than before, Icy snarled out. “None of your business!” all but confirming his suspicion.
Unwilling to stay any longer Icy looked at Darcy and commanded. “Disguise!” without even waiting to let her sister do it properly she took off, just feeling the telltale sign of an egg being cracked over her head as the glamour settled over her form. Without waiting she flew to the exit, leaving the other three behind.
Magix City.
It wasn't long until Icy was at the exit of the cave system. Thankfully, Harry had closed off all other accessed to the underground fortress, leaving only a single entrance. On top of that the wards kept anyone not keyed in out, hiding the entrance from view, as well as the repaired gate that absorbed magical attacks and other protective measures.
'How dare he hog all the power for himself!' she ranted in her own mind. Completely forgetting that he trained her sisters and made her the same offer. In the back of her mind she also admitted that she felt more vulnerable now that the safety was gone. Icy would've no qualms about betraying him. However, he had an apparent endless amount of power while she and her sisters didn't.
As a witch she was used to betrayal from everyone around her, with the exception of Darcy and Stormy. She expected it even, because it was what she would do. Ironically enough, without the mark she trusted Harry less than with it. It was a measure of control, something she could understand. Other than what Harry talked about.
Light from the midday sun flooded her eyes as she escaped the dark cavern, causing her to squint and try to shield her eyes.
Icy knew it was irresponsible for a person of her status to fly out in the open, but she didn't give a damn right now. Besides, she was disguised. Under no circumstances did she want to go back to that cursed Fortress of Light. Those brainwashed idiots gave her the creeps, always taking about peace and flowers with a demented smile on their faces. You could probably slap them, stab them or even kill their family in front of them and they wouldn't notice. If Darkar hadn't bailed them out she and her sisters would've probably become on of those empty husks.
She shuddered in disgust at the thought alone.
The flight brought her a clear head, even though she would've enjoyed it a little bit colder. 'I really need a drink.' she thought and immediately sought out a suitable spot to quench her thirst. It took longer than expected for her to find a place that had what she looked for at this hour. At the end she gave up and went to the White Horse.
Soon enough the lake where the White Horse was located came into view. It was a round building, with terraces in height, accessible via stairs. The restaurant's colours were similar to Alfea's: light pink and blue, with an almost purple pink and yellow. Its logo was a white horse on a blue hexagon, almost in the shape of a diamond.
It was a crappy inn in Icy's opinion, but she didn't have much choice at this time of day. With a sigh she lowered herself to the ground and walked the rest of the way.
However, once inside she spotted an opportunity she couldn't pass up. An opportunity for freedom without needing Harry's help.
