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Posted:
Nov 1, 2012 7:45 AM
in response to: arbiter561
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CHAPTER 26
Thera Stormrage
Leila watched as her mirror image fell, crumbling slowly to the floor, her black-brown hair curling across the ground. Even in unconsciousness she radiated strength. Now was the only chance Leila would have. Her face settled like stone while she carefully reached a hand toward the silver, blue barrier. Clouds of grey crawled across the surface, the imbalance of dark deeds on Thera’s soul.
“Ah!” she yelped as her fingers burned, as if sticking them into a bed of red coals. She had hoped, being ultimately the same person she would be able to either take or banish Thera’s circle. No such luck. She knelt down and studied Thera’s face, the one who was powered by love, love that she would never have, love that had been burned out of her with the heat of hate that most would never understand. She slammed her fists into the barrier, grunting at the ignored pain, heaving breaths as her hair fell in front of her face.
Leila could feel Thera’s aura leeching from the ground though, the only thing keeping the circle closed, and then she got an idea. Leila gave a low chuckle as she dug her fingers into the earth and began to pull. Like warm water she could feel it run up her arms, into her chest until there was a sudden stop, a pull in the opposite direction.
“Found you.” She lowered her head and smiled, a low growl leaving her pouted lips and pushed. All the harbored regrets, hate, fear, everything that Leila grew up knowing. “Your family hated you, a failure. You had to be perfect, make up for what you had done, for what you are, but you never could be, no matter the pain, no matter the tears they would never be proud. They were disgusted with you, feared you, the demoness with yellow eyes they had been cursed to bring home. A mockery of what was human.”
Thera twitched. “No,” she groaned.
“Yes,” she pushed. “They had seen you for what you are. You killed them, you’re a murderer. Sucking the life right out of them you turned on them, and Kael... he knew too, fell under your spell even with your hideousness, he did but it was you who finally drove him mad, you drove him to his death all to try and belong in one place. Dumbledore swept it all away for you only to get himself killed and Snape, your surrogate father threw his life away instead of staying when you needed him most. He betrayed you like all your classmates that hated you. They knew you weren’t like them, a mutant of wizarding blood, a natural parasite that must feed off the energy of others. You have killed to fulfill it and now the only one to love you is no better, a Frankenstein monster himself, created in a lab by villains to destroy, just like you.”
Thera was drowning, her astral body lashing out at the thoughts Leila forced into her mind. Thera’s insecurity, guilt and doubts lay out in front of her like a tormented version of wizard’s chess. Everything that Leila said was true, Thera felt that in her whole being as what little confidence she had in herself began to unravel. Thera had been born a monster in human skin, an insult to nature and she had spent her whole life trying to fix it. To be human as the others had always claimed she was not.
Leila smiled wider as the barrier flickered. Thera’s breaths became ragged as Leila pulled the life energy through the barrier. Her aura that the circle was made of was Leila’s connection to Thera, and Thera’s will was faltering. With every breath she drowned, her feeling as if it was being licked by flames, tearing her very essence away. Leila stood, unfolding herself like a hideous flower.
Thera pictured those gone, her thoughts washing though her hands like her unshed tears, the same color as the blood on her hands. She had taken so many lives for defense, for power, and even for money… did she deserve to be saved?
Shadow could feel it. Thera was in pain. She was losing the fight against her darker self. He raised his head to the island hovering above. Illidan turned to where he was facing. “Your woman is fighting my slave isn’t she?”
Shadow remained silent.
“Leila shows no mercy,” Illidan said. “She will not hesitate to kill even a human infant. Your woman is doomed.”
Shadow just ignored him. “Thera,” he said to himself. Just as he felt long ago, she was questioning her right to be happy, her right to continue living. Shadow was once a murderer, his soul corrupted by vengeance. He even at one time considered trying to reawaken the evil within him, questioning whether or not he deserved to have Thera and Cortana’s love and trust. He tried to punish and vilify himself by making himself a villain but in the end, he couldn’t return to his former self. Thera and Cortana were the ones to pass judgment on him and they deemed him worthy. And Jason’s punch knocked sense into him, accusing him of lying when he stated he no longer cared for his loved ones. And Jason’s accusation was correct.
He spoke even though he knew she wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Don’t you dare die on me.”
Silently, young Strom sat alone in the chair, facing the window. His parents had been gone for a while now and he was very worried now. After the Ministry had been alerted about Hogwarts suddenly disappearing and equally mysterious reappearance, Strom had been moved to a safer location. He was in a hidden house, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.
He wasn’t all alone. Jaden was nearby, watching television. But he was just trying to distract himself. Jaden was just as worried as Strom was.
Strom frowned sadly. Were they ever coming back? Did they just simply abandon him? Were they kidnapped? Were they killed? Why did they suddenly vanish? The Ministry itself was in a state of confusion, trying to get everything figured out. Never had something like this happened in the wizarding world.
Strom raised his head, his golden eyes gazing into the sky. He felt something within, a pain in his heart. “Mom…” he whispered. He could feel her. He could feel her pain. She was probably in trouble. But his mom was supposed to be just as strong and stubborn as his dad. No way would she lose a fight. “Don’t give up,” he whispered to himself.
Thera remembered looking at herself in a broken bit of mirror, her face marred by crimson tears, the sting of a hand and looking up into a dark blindfolded face. “Shadow,” Thera whispered even though he hadn’t given her that name yet. He had been worth saving, and Strom... a tiny face with tiny hands reached up to her, a mirror image of her own eyes looking up at her with an innocence she never had. And there was Cortana and Amy, her two best friends who never showed a hint of fear when they met her, treating her like everyone else. She had a purpose. They were her reason for being saved. “No,” Thera’s eyes fluttered open as she growled. “NO!” she repeated firmly.
Leila gasped as she felt Thera begin to push back, her red rimmed eyes widened. “Where?” She had no idea where her counterpart was getting the energy but it pushed in waves like a hurricane tide. There was no stopping it. “No...” A panicked whisper tore from her throat.
Thera pushed herself up onto her forearms. “I am worth saving. I am worth more to the living than dead...” Her arms shook as she too dug her slender fingers into the earth, the circle brightening and she grinned, her eyes alight. “I AM A STORMRAGE!” she screamed. Icy blue light shot into the sky like a beacon, causing the connection to Leila to burn up making Leila’s scream of agony echo Thera’s of triumph. As the energy fried Leila’s nervous system, causing her to collapse, Thera slumped back to the dirt, heaving deep breaths.
Illidan gasped at the sight of the strange blue light shooting high into the sky from the island hovering above them. He turned to Shadow who was smiling proudly, his head raised to the light.
“Well done, Thera,” Shadow whispered to himself. “Well done.”
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 31, 2012 10:56 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Superb part 2 of chapter 25. Wow,the idea of the flame lion was brilliant!. And the tense interactions between Jason and Voldemort was well pulled off. Good part 2 of chapter 25. ![[trippy]](/images/emoticons/wb/trippy.gif)
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Posted:
Oct 31, 2012 6:40 AM
in response to: azharherginnev
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PART TWO
Cortana had seen them and flew over them, unable to believe what she was seeing. “Idiot!” she yelled. “There is a reason wizards need to use wands! You’re not Shadow and Thera! Do you really think eating your wand will make you stronger?!”
Jason’s eyes suddenly opened, his eyes glowing red with bright intensity. The crimson aura flashed and appeared around him as he began to scream, feeling as though he had swallowed a bucket of burning acid.
Suddenly he began coughing and gagged, falling onto his back, screaming in agony, his veins swelling all over. He rose but fell on his knees, grabbing his neck with two hands, screaming as he felt pain worse than even the torture curse. “Aaaaahhhh!!”
“He’s going to kill himself!” shouted Cortana.
But then Jason’s screams developed into roars, a whirl of flame surrounding his body. He felt his power growing, his strength returning. He slowly rose to his feet, his glowing eyes glaring darkly at Salazar. The flames around him formed one large flaming lion, which roared towards Salazar. The flashing crimson highlights reappeared in his hair as the power of Godric Gryffindor returned.
“Impossible!” the Dark Lord screamed.
Jason suddenly kicked off the ground, shooting himself towards Salazar who had no time to react as Jason punched him in the gut, sending him high into the air. “You’re the reason,” Jason roared, shooting up towards the Dark Lord at super human speed, “that everyone’s suffering!!” He grabbed him by the throat, aiming him down and shooting himself towards the ground, Salazar screaming the whole way. They slammed through the cliff, headed towards the forest below where they crashed.
Voldemort rose, taking over his own body as he felt his ancestor struggling. The green glow left his eyes. “I will not lose!” Voldemort swore. “I am going to reshape this world! I will make a world where wizards shall be free! Salazar and I shall do it together!”
“And you’ll do so by taking away the freedom of others?!” Jason yelled.
“It is necessary to make sacrifices!” Voldemort yelled.
Jason’s body became surrounded by flames, shooting himself towards Voldemort like a rocket, the flames taking the shape of a lion. “There is no freedom for a man possessed by a ghost!” Jason yelled as he slammed into Voldemort, the two shooting into the air towards the floating island. “Free your own soul first! Voldemort!”
They slammed into the island’s surface. With a loud explosion, a cloud of debris rose up. Voldemort was flat on his back, his mouth gaping with horror, his limbs twitching. Jason stood on his two feet, glowing.
Making a serpent’s hiss, Voldemort rose, holding the Elder Wand tightly. “I will not die! I will never die!” he screamed. “I am immortal!” His voice mixed with Salazar’s as the soul of his ancestor returned.
“Then I have a present for both of you!” Jason raised his hand, his palm suddenly becoming lit with a ball of crimson lightning. “It’s from all the people you’ve killed!” With a roar, Jason charged, extending out his arm.
The Dark Lord extended his wand, the tip lit with a glowing emerald ball of light. Jason’s attack struck the tip of his wand, the two pushing against each other’s attack. Red lightning speared out in all directions, Jason’s glowing crimson eyes staring hard into Voldemort’s glowing emerald eyes.
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 30, 2012 10:49 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Wow! Outstanding part 1 of chapter 25. The Chapter title is perfect. Wow,Salazar is actually within Voldemort. OMG!!! Jason is eating his wand! Either he's been Imperiused,or he's gone mad,or else he sees this as giving him some kind of power. Jam dropping end to part 1 of chapter 25 that also serves as a good cliffhanger. Good part 1 of chapter 25.
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Posted:
Oct 30, 2012 7:36 AM
in response to: arbiter561
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CHAPTER 25
Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
PART ONE
The two slammed into the earth, rolling across the open cliff. Jason rose to his feet, drained of his power. “I can’t…fight him…” he told himself. With the Elder Wand, Voldemort could still beat him. Jason was done for at this rate.
Voldemort grinned with insanity. “I’ll kill you each one by one!”
Jason suddenly felt something cold in his hand. Looking to his right hand, he found he was holding the hilt of Godric Gryffindor’s sword. He grinned, feeling his ancestor’s presence within him. Suddenly springing to his feet, Jason charged with a roar.
Just before he brought the blade down, Voldemort grabbed his wrist and suddenly his eyes began to emit an emerald-green glow. Jason froze, confused at what was happening to Voldemort. Voldemort spoke, his voice sounding like two men talking in perfect sync at the same time. “Good to see you,” his emerald eyes looked into Jason’s, “Godric Gryffindor.”
Jason’s eyes widened. “No way…” he whispered to himself as he was pushed back. He quickly got back on his feet, unable to believe what he was seeing. Salazar Slytherin was inside Voldemort’s mind.
“Wait, you’re not Godric,” Salazar said, using his descendant’s body as a vessel. “But I see you’re his heir. I also see he didn’t reincarnate his own soul into his descendant’s. Such a fool.” The power of Salazar Slytherin was unleashed, his eyes glowing green.
Jason raised the Gryffindor sword. “What do you want, Salazar?”
“Well I already have immortality and with this wand I am invincible,” he shrugged. “I guess I’ll just simply rid the world of Godric’s children and wipe out all unworthy beings from this planet.” He raised his wand up high. “Just as I had planned to do long ago.”
With their fight over, the two opposite versions of Stormrage could only lay there, slowing regaining their strength. Shadow raised his hand and called for his blindfold. Within minutes, his blindfold flew through the air and landed in his palm. He tied it around his head, but still found it hard to move. With a bit of strength returning, Shadow managed to at least sit up. Illidan did the same, placing the black eye patch over his damaged left eye.
Shadow sighed. “Tell me…why did you join Voldemort?”
Illidan avoided eye contact and kept his head low. “Same reason you joined Archide in your world. I wanted revenge.”
“But I heard you never met Maria in this world. So what happened?” Shadow asked.
Illidan sighed. “I wanted to help create a world where no eight year old boy has to worry about losing his mother,” his expression darkened, “because of some muggle with a gun.”
“So that’s what happened to your mother in this world,” Shadow said sadly. “And what about Mal?”
Illidan grit his teeth at that question. “He fought me and tried to stop me. I eventually joined him but we were both captured by the muggles and forced to become experiments. We escaped but I was wounded while Mal dragged me out of their laboratory. He hid me when they caught up and fought over fifty muggles at once. They killed him like they killed our mother.”
Shadow frowned. “So vengeance corrupted us both, regardless of the world we came from,” he said. “But you still have the chance to do something right. I can feel my comrade’s battle with Voldemort from here. Maybe you can at least lend him a hand. Maybe both of us can.”
Illidan turned his head away. “I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Shadow asked.
Illidan’s hands turned to shaking fists.
Jason tried but he couldn’t. The powers of Godric Gryffindor wouldn’t come. All he had to use was the sword and his wand and if neither could be useful, all he would have would be his own two fists.
Jason suddenly felt a force lift him into the air. Salazar raised his arm, lifting Jason into the air. He swung his arm down, sending Jason face first into the ground. He raised his arm back up, pulling Jason back into midair for a moment before slamming him again into the earth. Again and again, he did this, Jason unable to fight back.
Salazar sighed. “Well this is boring.” He threw his arm to the side, Jason sliding across the ground until he came to a halt. Salazar walked over to the cliff and looked down, seeing Tomboy Amy looking up at him. A wicked grin formed on his face. “Perfect.”
“Wait,” Jason said, spitting blood out of his mouth, helplessly reaching out. “We’re not done.”
Salazar ignored him and he raised his wand, a tree rising out of the ground nearby and suddenly carving into a wooden spear. “That should do it.” He threw his arm down, sending the spear right towards Amy.
“Salazar don’t do it!” Jason screamed.
Tomboy Amy squinted, trying to see what was headed towards her. She gasped and turned to run, only to trip on a plant root and fall. She shut her eyes but nothing happened. She glanced behind her and her eyes widened in horror at who was standing there.
The short-haired Jason from Tomboy Amy’s world stood there, his arms outstretched. He smiled weakly. “Consider this… me repaying my debt.” He coughed and collapsed to the ground, the spear embedded in his back.
“Jason!” Tomboy Amy screamed, pulling the spear out and rolling him onto his back, forcing him to face her. “Why?! Why did you do that?! Are you that stupid?!”
He only smiled, struggling to breathe. “I’ve been… a coward all my life. Now I can finally do something right…for once…”
“We’ll get you a doctor,” she said, tears streaming from her eyes. “You’ll be better soon!”
Jason only shook his head. “Sorry…this is it…for me…” His chest suddenly stopped moving, his pupils dilating. Amy hugged his body, tears pouring from her eyes. Raising her head to the sky, she let out a loud heart-wrenching scream.
Jason watched from the cliff as he saw his other self die in his sister’s arms, or rather the tomboy version of his sister. His eyes were wide, the sight of it all sinking into his mind.
Salazar only laughed in hysterics. “That’s one down!” he laughed manically. “Now for—“
Jason suddenly bashed his fist into Salazar’s jaw with a force strong enough to send him flying backwards. “SHUT UP!!” Jason screamed.
Salazar rolled and collided against the ground like a rag doll. His back collided against a tree trunk and he grimaced in pain as he landed in a crouch. He looked at his hand, relieved to see the Elder Wand unscathed but when he turned to Jason, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Jason snapped his own wand in two, biting down on one half as he began to eat the two separate pieces of his wand. Growling, Jason continued to munch on his wand, gulping it down piece by piece.
“The bloody idiot is actually eating his own wand,” Salazar said in horrific disbelief.
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 29, 2012 10:25 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Fantastic chapter 24. Jason,Amy,and Alex are powerful,skilled and determined. But Voldemort still has the Elder Wand That's a problem if he is to be defeated. Perhaps something has happened or will happen on the other side of the cliff. Good chapter 24.
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 29, 2012 9:10 AM
in response to: azharherginnev
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CHAPTER 24
The Three Gryffindors
Voldemort made a sadistic grin at the three wizards as he blasted all three of them. So long as he had the Elder Wand, he was invincible. But what amazed him was how stubborn the three of them were. No matter how much pain he inflicted on them, they just kept getting back on their two feet, refusing to lose.
“You three really are tenacious,” Voldemort said as he shook his head with a sigh. “Just how much are you begging for death?”
The three stood up and aimed their wands. “Together!” Jason yelled. All three unleashed a spear of red lightning.
The three blasts brought up a cloud of debris as the ground exploded beneath the Dark Lord’s feet. Jason raised his fist, hoping their triple attack had worked. “Did we get him?”
As the smoke cleared, Voldemort was nowhere to be seen. Amy’s eyes rolled up and she spotted him. “Above us!”
Hovering in midair, Voldemort laughed. “Is Godric Gryffindor’s power is really this weak?”
Alex gritted his teeth angrily. “We didn’t even scratch him!”
It was not that the power of Godric Gryffindor was weak. It was that the Elder Wand was as Death promised the son he gave it to. So long as the wizard held the Elder Wand at his command, he would not be defeated. Waving his wand while hovering in midair, rocks and stones rose from the ground and flew up to Voldemort, who positioned them steadily. Throwing his arms down, he sent the shower of stones and rocks at the three below him.
All three of them tried their best to block the stones, but they couldn’t avoid all of them, several striking them in the back, head, and shoulders. Voldemort just continued to attack, sending forth icicles as they materialized out of thin air, his wand pulling and freezing the water in the air. Jason used as many shield charms as possible. Amy and Alex did the same, but they still received several cuts from the ice spears.
“Die!” Voldemort unleashed one massive sphere of emerald flame towards them. Their shield charms weren’t strong enough, the explosion sending all three wizards flying backwards. As the flames dissipated, Voldemort landed and laughed. “You fools,” he said. “Did you three really think you could defeat a god?”
Alex moaned. “I’m…almost…out of…power.”
Amy struggled just to move. “I don’t think…I can keep up…” she said, coughing up blood.
Jason’s arms shook with effort. “Don’t give up…never…ever…give up…” He slowly rose to his feet. “Bring it on!” he challenged the Dark Lord. “I’m still standing!”
“Crucio!” Voldemort said.
Jason screamed and thrashed in agony as he felt knives stabbing his body all over. Alex just watched him, wondering what drove him. Just why wouldn’t Jason ever back down from his enemy?
“Jason…you’ll die at this rate,” Alex said.
“No I won’t!” Jason screamed, his legs shaking as he began to step forward, pushing himself towards the Dark Lord. “I’ll squeeze out all my power, every last bit of it!” Screaming, he threw his palm out.
Voldemort let out a gasp as he felt a powerful force strike him in the gut, sending him flying back several feet.
Jason slammed his foot into the earth, raising his fists with an expression of fierce determination. “Don’t underestimate the heirs of Godric Gryffindor!”
Voldemort rose and glared darkly. “Then I’ll finish it myself!” He shot an explosive spell from his wand, sending Jason flying up high into the air. “Learn that I am Lord Voldemort! I am God!”
But then he realized something. Alex was nowhere to be seen.
From behind, Alex appeared, wrapping his arms from under Voldemort’s arms, holding him in a perfect double arm lock. Voldemort tried to pull his arms free but Alex’s grip was too strong and he held him tightly in place.
“You’re not getting away!” Alex yelled. He turned to Jason who was still several feet in the air. “Do it, Jason!” he yelled. “Finish him!”
Jason called to Amy. “Amy! Shoot me towards Voldemort! Stand up little sister!!”
“Right!” Amy rose to her feet, shaking with effort, trusting her older brother with her life.
“Release me!” Voldemort yelled, continuing to try and break free from Alex’s grip. “I order you to release me!”
Alex scowled. “You’re not my emperor!” His muscles swelled as he increased the strength of his grip.
Summoning every last bit of power she had, the air around her beginning to whirl, Amy prepared herself. She placed the tip of her wand against her neck and took a deep breath. Letting out a high-pitched scream, she unleashed a powerful swirling vortex of wind, Jason shooting himself into the swirling vortex, extending his arms and holding himself in place, increasing the force of the attack.
Alex grinned. “That’s right, Jason.” He just had to use the force of Amy’s attack.
Voldemort’s widened in a horrific disbelief, experiencing true fear for the first time in his long life.
Amy continued her attack, “Aaaaahhhhh!!” unleashing a high-pitched scream of effort as she did so.
Jason and Alex let out a warrior’s roar. “Arrrrrggggghhhh!!”
“Arrrrgggghhhh!!”
With all three of them giving it their best efforts, Voldemort knew it now. He was going to be beaten. Through the eyes of Voldemort, this was a living nightmare. “This is…a nightmare,” he whispered to himself. He was no longer seeing two young wizards and a young witch. From the eyes of the heir of Salazar Slytherin, Voldemort was seeing two lions and a lioness, each one roaring towards him, claws extended and teeth bared. And he was the small serpent who stood no chance against all three of them.
Shooting himself like a missile, Jason rocketed through the air, fist extended. Alex released the Dark Lord a moment before Jason’s fist and body slammed into the Dark Lord’s chest, sending him hurdling through the air with Jason. Jason held him by the cloak as he tugged the Dark Lord through the air, Voldemort screaming as he was pulled. The lion held the serpent in its claws.
“CHECKMATE!” Jason yelled, pulling Voldemort over his shoulder in midair. “VOLDEMORT!” Like a ragdoll, he slammed the Emperor into the earth below him as he slammed into the shaking ground.
Jason rose from the dirt, glancing behind him to see the fallen Dark Lord on his back in the dirt, his mouth gaping and eyes wide open with an expression of horror on his face, Alex and Amy both smiling at Jason from a distance. Rising to his feet, Jason’s hair returned to normal, the glow leaving his eyes. Alex and Amy did the same as they let out sighs of relief.
Smiling with triumph, Jason punched his fist into the heavens.
Not too far from the clearing, the rebels were winning the war. With the help of muggles and magical creatures, the Death Eaters were now outmatched. One by one, they were taken down, the muggles finally showing the dark wizards they were no longer going to be slaves.
Tomboy Amy smiled as the Alex of their world flew to join them. “Jason healed my wounds, I’m ready to lead this rebellion to victory.”
She grinned boyishly. “Took you long enough.”
Cortana flew above, scanning the area for any signs of Shadow or Thera. “They’re not here,” she said to herself. She looked up at the island floating above her, noticing how a chunk of it seemed to have been blown off. “They could still be up there.” Flapping her batwings, she flew up to the island.
Jason walked over to Amy and Alex. “Finally, it’s over,” he said. “We can go home.”
Alex frowned at that, wondering what was going to happen now, especially after everything he did. “Jason…I…”
Jason placed his hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “We’ll talk when we return to Hogwarts. Right now we better check how the rebels are doing.”
Amy then gasped and pointed. “Look!”
Voldemort was limping towards them, hissing through his gritted teeth like a serpent. “I’m not finished with you yet!” he hissed. “I still have the Elder Wand.” He raised the wand up high and he suddenly flew towards them in a whirl of black smoke. “You’ll die first!”
Jason didn’t move in time and was grabbed by Voldemort. Voldemort held him by the neck as they flew towards a large cliff nearby, overlooking the battlefield below. Tomboy Amy glanced up from below and watched them disappear over the cliff.
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 25, 2012 10:39 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Outstanding part 2 of chapter 23. Everything about it was well done. The people appearing before Shadow encouraging him and the interactions between Shadow and Illidan were completely well pulled out and good. And those images are fantastic as well. Very good part 2 of chapter 23.
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Posted:
Oct 25, 2012 6:40 AM
in response to: azharherginnev
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PART TWO
The voice sounded familiar, but was filled with disappointment. “That voice,” Shadow said. Then he could see it. Looking at him from the front was his fraternal twin brother Malon Stormrage, standing with his arms folded.
“Are you really going to give up like that?!” he yelled at his brother.
“I thought you were stronger,” said his mother, appearing beside his brother along with Pam, Arthur, and Maria, each of them expecting better.
“You were always the stubborn fighter, so who is this weirdo I’m looking at?” Pam asked.
“You’re strong, Shadow,” Maria said. “You have a family waiting for your return. I sent you back so you could be there for them. Don’t make me regret that.”
More people began appearing around him, each looking disappointed but then they each one by one began to smile. “Everyone…” Shadow said in shocking disbelief.
Thera, Cortana, Jason, Amy, Diamond, Mako, Sapphire, Kotomi…his son…everyone he knew was looking right at him, telling him to break free. Maria smiled warmly. “You’re not alone, Shadow. Look at all these people.” She gestured behind her. “You have something to live for, so live.”
“This should be a cinch, bro,” Mal said with a raised thumb. “You’re my living legacy, Shadow. We’re all here, right beside you.”
Shadow’s hands turned into fists. “I see…” he said softly. “That’s how it all is…” His veins began to swell, his power rising, his rage making the island shake as he began to roar like a beast through his gritted teeth.
Illidan took several steps back, feeling the pressure. “W-what the heck is this?! He shouldn’t be able to summon this much power!”
“Aaarrrgghhhh!!” With a roar of power, his hair suddenly flashed silver-white, a glowing blue aura instantly flashing into appearance, surrounding his body. He pulled his wrists free from the tree roots, collapsing to his knees, the aura glowing brighter, his eyes shining blue-white with bright intensity. “Aaaaarrrgghhh!!” he screamed, rising to his feet. “AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!” Behind his body, blue flames erupted and took the shape of a large eagle, the eagle itself unleashing a high-pitched screech of pure power. The eagle…the symbol of freedom and power.
Suddenly moving at super human speed, Shadow bashed his fist right into Illidan’s face, sending the wizard flipping in midair like a ragdoll until his back slammed hard into a boulder, letting out a loud shout of pain.
“Impossible…” Illidan struggled to stand. “I had you!” he yelled. “WHY WON’T YOU DIE?!”
“BECAUSE I HAVE SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR!!” Shadow screamed.
Illidan’s hand became lit with a ball of blue lightning. “I’LL KILL YOU!” he swore.
Shadow’s hand also became lit with a ball of blue lightning. They charged.
“SHADOW!!”
“ILLIDAN!!”
Just before their attacks collided, Illidan saw something. Images flashed before his eyes, like a big film reel of Shadow’s life. He saw it all. Being taken from his mother, losing the woman he loved, being forced to serve under his father’s command, fighting his own brother, joining his brother only to lose him in the end, and then lose his eyes in battle from his father.
Then came more visions. He bowed before a snake-faced man, then ended up meeting a strange crimson-eyed wizard and then a strange woman with golden eyes. He took them both on and fled, eventually meeting up in a flying building in the sky. There Shadow fought the crimson-eyed boy once again, only to be defeated and be forced to retreat, his plans for revenge in motion. Then he was facing the golden-eyed woman, her words and ability to understand his pain sinking into his heart, resulting in him changing his ways. Then his memories were lost, found by a very attractive American witch with black hair and a perfect figure. Together they formed a team and eventually father and son were reunited. Shadow made his choice to destroy his father not for revenge but for the sake of protecting others. After a brief conversation with the golden-eyed woman, he faced his father and defeated him at last. Then came another image…one he didn’t expect. The golden-eyed woman kissed him and then held a baby in her hands with silver-white hair and a face like Shadow’s and with golden-eyes like the woman. This was the child of Shadow Stormrage.
Then came the final images. There Shadow fought the crimson-eyed boy one last time, the two wizards wishing to finally settle the score between them. The battle ended as a draw. But then they faced an enemy too powerful and too dangerous to fight alone. Shadow teamed up with the crimson-eyed boy, the two of them forming the perfect team as they defeated their enemy together, Shadow finally acknowledging his rival as a good person. The two were side by side, laughing like little boys, then pressing their fists against each other in the night by a large fireplace, both smiling. The two rivals became friends that night.
This was…the life he lived… Illidan thought.
As the smoke cleared from their impact, the two were still standing, both exhausted and unable to fight without their wands now. Illidan kept his left eye closed, the potion turning out to have not been permanent. A crack appeared to their side, a large chunk of earth breaking free from the island, taking the two wizards with it.
Both still had the powers of Rowena Ravenclaw fueling their physical strength. Illidan charged at his other self, tackling Shadow to the ground as they slowly fell from the sky on their large chunk of earth. He pressed his hand against Shadow’s face, pinning him to the ground.
“I will not lose!” he swore. “Not to you!”
“Why are you doing this?!” Shadow demanded. “Murder, hatred, obey all orders without question like some machine…is that really you, Illidan Stormrage?!”
“It’s how humans are!” he yelled. “We are all doomed to hate!”
Shadow pushed him off, punching him in the cheek. “Humans also love! They stand up and fight common enemies when they need to!” They grabbed each other by the arms, straining against each other. “Look around you, Illidan! Is this the kind of world you wish to live in?! Can’t you hear their screams?!”
“Why should I care?!” He slammed his knee into Shadow’s gut. “They’re the ones who ignored our screams!” he yelled. “The muggles forced us to hide, as though we’re demons! They deserve no mercy!”
“I’m talking about everyone, not just the muggles!” Shadow yelled, punching him in the jaw. “They’re alive!”
“What do you know?!” Illidan yelled, punching at Shadow again and again, Shadow blocking each strike. “You live in a world where all is peaceful! You have people who love you! You’ve formed a family! You’re not alone! I have nobody! So why should I even care anymore! You’re not the one suffering!”
Shadow grabbed his lookalike’s wrists, forcing him to look at Shadow face-to-face. “Look at us! We’re still alive! So long as you live you can give yourself the chance to make things right!” Shadow yelled, his face only inches from Illidan’s. “Learning to pull yourself back on your feet,” Shadow said, “that is what it means to live!”
Illidan’s hard expression began to soften, Shadow’s words beginning to sink in.
“Listen to me, Illidan Stormrage!” Shadow yelled. “Within you is the evil that still remains locked inside my heart! So I know there is good in you! Stop fighting it!”
Illidan just looked into his counterpart’s shining eyes. This is…Shadow Stormrage…this is…me…
Shadow gasped as he felt something wet hit his cheek. He took a closer look and noticed tears were flying out of Illidan’s eye despite the fact that he still wore a stern expression. “Tears?” Shadow said softly. Tears were the sign of a human being still within the body, the sign of a conscience…the sign of one’s humanity.
They crashed into the earth below, the power of Rowena Ravenclaw protecting both wizards from the impact. As the cloud of debris began to clear, the two were shown on their backs, only a few feet away from each other, facing opposite directions.
Illidan grunted as he tried but failed to move his arms and legs. “I…can’t even move now…” His hair slowly returned to its original black color. “I…give up.”
Shadow’s hair did the same right after Illidan, retuning to its normal black color. “I can’t move either,” he said with a sigh.
Illidan sighed just like he did. “I am no match for you,” he said nonchalantly. “You’re better than me, Shadow. You win.”
A small smile formed on Shadow’s face. “This was not a duel that could be one by either of us,” he said. “Though we go by different nicknames…we are both…Gray Stormrage.”
That name…he had almost forgotten it. Illidan smiled and turned his head to the side. “Yeah…you’re right…”
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 24, 2012 11:14 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Wow! Good! Another engrossing chapter. Both the Cortana-Lucy part at the top and the bottom part with Illidan and Shadow were exceptionally good. Ah.so Cortana finished off Lucy. No,Shadow,don't give up,don't give up,don't give up. Really good chapter 23
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Posted:
Oct 24, 2012 1:40 PM
in response to: azharherginnev
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CHAPTER 23
Gray Stormrage
PART ONE
Below the island, the rebels fought for their freedom, but they were outnumbered. With a grunt of pain, Mako was sent slamming into a tree. He raised his head to the Death Eater before him, planning to look him right in the eyes before he died.
The Death Eater was shot down by the Diamond of their world. Diamond smiled as he reached down to his injured friend. Like Mako, Diamond was also suffering brutal wounds.
“We’re outnumbered,” Mako said.
“I know,” Diamond said with a nod. “But I won’t run.”
Tomboy Amy waved her hand, gesturing for the rebels to stay and fight to the end. She fought beside her friends, planning to die if the battle was doomed to fail. Tomboy Kotomi and Tomboy Maria fought off their attackers, both wounded but pushing through, refusing to run. All the members of the rebellion were fighting to their last breath. If this was to be the end, then they were going to make it such an end.
Cortana struggled against Lucy, one of her wings slightly damaged. Unable to fly, she allowed her wings to shrink into her back, panting heavily as Lucy stood before her, grinning eagerly.
“Is that all, pretty girl?” she asked with a laugh. She raised her hand, her fingernails elongating to form claws. “Let me slice that pretty face right off.”
Just as she swung her arm, Cortana grabbed the witch’s wrist. She raised her head. “I’m not gonna die,” she declared, staring hard into Lucy’s eyes. “I am not going to die by your hand!!” she yelled. With a swift movement she broke her wrist and pushed the screaming witch back.
When Lucy recovered and returned to see Cortana, the American was nowhere to be seen. “W-where did she go?!”
Then came a shining blue light from behind her along with the sound of a thousand high-pitched chirping birds. Cortana came flying down, using her only surviving wing to raise her high enough to strike at Lucy from behind.
Lucy glared up at her attacker.
With a grunt of effort, Cortana slammed the attack Shadow had taught her into Lucy’s gut, the witch screaming and thrashing wildly as electricity surged through her body. Cortana pulled away and Lucy moved no more.
“I did it, Shadow,” Cortana said, “I finished her off.” But the fight was not over just yet. More and more Death Eaters appeared, attacking the rebels. She hung her head. “So this is how it all ends…”
But then came another battle cry, coming from the city. In a few minutes, reinforcements arrived, exploding through the trees. Holding stabbing and bludgeoning weapons in their hands were muggles while beside them were centaurs, firing arrow after arrow. Leading them was Kotomi herself, the shy quiet one they all knew.
“I brought help,” she said with a smile.
Cortana sighed in relief. “What would we do without you?” She rolled onto her back and gazed at the floating island above them, hearing distant explosions. “Shadow…Thera…”
Another explosion slightly shook the entire island. The two stood there a few feet away from each other, staring hard into each other’s eyes. Shadow and Illidan tore off their jackets, leaving them both topless.
“We’re still even,” Shadow said, panting heavily with exhaustion. “Even after all of that.”
Illidan scoffed. “Even? I don’t think so.”
Shadow collapsed to one knee from exhaustion. “It’s…impossible…” he said softly. Just as he raised his head up, Illidan kicked him hard in the chin, sending him flying up in midair. While his body was still in midair, Illidan punched forward, unleashing hurricane-force winds and sending the wizard slamming into the earth, sliding across the ground, leaving a small trench in the ground from his impact.
Coughing and groaning, Shadow felt his energy leaving his body. This fight was too much even for him. It was even more difficult than his fight with Jason in the valley years ago. Plant roots rose from the earth, wrapping around his ankles and wrists, pulling them apart, stretching his body in all directions as he was raised into the air. Shadow screamed through his gritted teeth.
Grinning, Illidan approached his lookalike. “What’s the matter?” he asked with a wicked chuckle. “Are you still alive?” Shadow made no response, keeping his eyes closed. “Then let me check.” He punched Shadow hard in the gut, causing him to gag. “Ah, there we go.” He punched him again and again, Shadow unable to fight back. “This is what happens when you value life, Shadow,” Illidan said harshly. “This is what happens when you show mercy and allow yourself to be hinged by such foolish emotions. You were the perfect killing machine and instead of continuing the path to great power, you’ve allowed yourself to live a life of mediocrity.”
“Valuing life…is not…weakness,” he coughed. “It is power.”
“It is cowardice,” Illidan hissed. “You should’ve learned this after going through so much pain. You’re pathetic.” He punched him hard in the jaw.
Shadow kept his head turned away, his head hanging lower by the second, his hair retuning to its original black color.
Illidan grinned. “So that’s all you have then?” He wiped blood from his lip. “Well I must say you put up a good fight.” He raised his hand. “Join your weak family in the afterlife.”
So this was the end for the great Shadow Stormrage, heir of Rowena Ravenclaw. I’m sorry…Thera…Cortana…and even you…Jason, he thought. I leave the rest…to you.
Then from within his mind, he heard a voice: Are you seriously giving up?
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 23, 2012 10:40 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Chapter 22 is one of the best. The fight between the Drak Lord Voldemort and Jason,Amy,and Alex is soooooooooooooooo good. A really satisfying read. From the 1st part with Voldemort fighting Jason,Amy and Alex,to the middle part of Shadow and Illidan,to the end with more Voldemort vs Jason,Amy,and alex,this chapter was really good.
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Posted:
Oct 23, 2012 6:57 AM
in response to: arbiter561
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CHAPTER 22
Ascension
The three stood in the clearing. No enemy or ally would interfere with this battle. The Dark Lord raised the Elder Wand up high, his expression full of self-confidence. He already believed this battle was his.
Jason glared with fierce determination and was the first to make his move.
His eyes emitted the familiar crimson glow, glowing red highlights appearing in his hair as a flashing crimson aura surrounded his body. “I’m gonna have to go all out against this guy,” he told himself.
This only made Voldemort grin. “So this is the power of Godric Gryffindor. Yet only one of you has managed to acquire it,” he shrugged like a disappointed child. “Such a shame. I had hoped it would make the battle more entertaining for me.”
Jason leaped into the air, his hand lit with a crimson sphere of lightning. Voldemort didn’t even flinch and just stood there with his wand raised. Jason felt the attack slam into an invisible object. It just bounced off, as though an invisible dome had surrounded the Dark Lord, pushing him back and sending his back slamming into the dirt.
Alex and Amy had reached the Dark Lord’s opposite sides by then. Together, they unleashed red lightning from their wands, but like Jason’s head-on attack, their bolts bounced off and shot in all directions, slamming into the barrier that surrounded the heir of Slytherin.
“Is that the best you can do?” Voldemort swung his arm towards Amy, the wand itself extending and wrapping around her neck like a whip. Swinging his arm, he yanked her by the neck through the air, slamming her into Alex on the other side with a perfect one-hundred and eighty degree whirl.
Jason charged with a roar of rage now that Voldemort had his wand aimed at someone else. Jason raised a fist to punch but Voldemort’s hand grabbed him by the face, laughing at his muffled grunts as he struggled to break free.
“At least make it a challenge for me, boy,” he laughed, raising him off the ground, watching as his legs kicked feebly in midair. He released Amy and aimed at Jason. “I won’t kill you just yet. First I want you to unleash your full potential and then watch your family die one by one,” he whispered before blasting Jason in the gut and sending him sprawling through the air before he slammed into the earth.
Jason groaned in pain as he got back up on his feet. “Even with Gryffindor’s power he doesn’t even struggle,” he said, grinding his teeth in frustration.
Alex raised his wand but Voldemort struck him just in time, sending him hurdling threw the air and into the dirt. Amy tried running around his body when he attacked Alex to strike him from behind. But the spell struck a barrier once again and bounced back, this time striking her in the gut. She let out a high-pitched yelp of pain before slamming into the earth.
The aura surrounding Jason increased in brightness, his rage and desire to protect Amy and Alex fueling his body.
Voldemort laughed in hysterics. “Is this really what three Gryffindors can do? This is embarrassing.”
Jason’s power grew, the air around him cackling with electricity. “Don’t ever underestimate us!” he yelled as he charged once again.
Underneath the island, the battle for freedom continued. The rebels clashed with the army of Death Eaters. With a grin, Tomboy Amy and Maria took down three more Death Eaters while Tomboy Kotomi took down another on her own.
“Not bad,” Amy said with a raised fist. “I’m on seventeen.”
“Ha, I’ve got twenty-one!” Kotomi said proudly.
“Well I’ve got twenty five!” Maria said as she punched a Death Eater in the face, breaking his mask in two pieces.
Diamond stood nearby, taking down a Death Eater with a stunning spell. He turned to the wizard nearby who looked just like him. “So you’re the me of this world?”
He grinned. “Yep.”
“So are you dating a hot chick?” he asked.
“Wait, you’re into females?” asked his other self. “Sorry, but I date guys.”
Diamond’s jaw dropped in horror while Mako just face-palmed it with a sigh. “I wonder who the me of this world is like.”
Nearby, Cortana flew with her wings, dodging attacks from Lucy who continued to shoot spells towards her from below. “This one just doesn’t know when to give up!” Cortana said angrily as she deflected another spell with her wand. She glanced behind her, seeing the floating island hovering above her. “Shadow, Thera…please be careful.”
They exchanged blows, two people with identical faces. Punches were made and kicks were given. Other blows were either blocked or avoided by a swift dodge. A cloud of debris rose up like a cloud as another explosion was made.
“Crap,” Shadow cursed, “he’s mastered Rowena’s power as well as I have.”
“Actually I have perfected it and have gone far beyond your level, Shadow Stormrage.” Illidan grinned as he raised his hand. “Who needs wands anymore? At least now we’ll get those goblins to shut up about how they’re superior just because they aren’t wand-users.” Blue bolts of lightning speared from his fingertips.
Gasping, Shadow raised his hands, allowing the electricity to strike his fingertips. With a grunt, he pushed both arms forward, the lightning bouncing back to its original source. Illidan gasped and quickly ducked down as the bolts shot over his head, striking a set of trees behind him, setting them ablaze with flame.
They charged and clashed once again, each of them punching and kicking with excellent skills in hand-to-hand combat. Illidan attempted a kick at Shadow’s head, only to have it blocked as Shadow raised his arm to block it with his wrist, following his attack with a punch to Illidan’s belly. Illidan fell to the ground with a grunt but counterattacked quickly, slamming both feet into Shadow’s gut, sending the blind wizard sprawling backwards until he was on his back in the dirt.
Illidan leaped into the air, ready to slam his body onto Shadow’s. Shadow rolled out of harm’s way and Illidan landed right beside him. Springing to his feet, Shadow kicked Illidan right in the jaw.
Seething, Illidan sprang to his feet and charged, screaming in a fury of rage.
Struggling with futility, Jason found himself raised in midair, being held by the throat by a piece of Voldemort’s black cloak, wrapped around his throat like a flat snake. Amy struggled nearby, held by the same material. Voldemort just kept his hands raised, grinning manically.
With a groan, Alex rose after being shot and tortured once again, his clothes beginning to tear from being worn down from the fight. He tore the cloak off, leaving him topless. His training had taught him well on fighting, but he couldn’t even get close to this monster.
Voldemort sighed. “Shame, I had hoped you two would last much longer than this.” He aimed his wand.
Jason and Amy exchanged looks. “Sorry,” Amy said sadly. “It looks like this is it.”
Jason struggled. “I don’t give up that easily!” he yelled. “Don’t you give up on me now!”
“Bye, bye,” Voldemort said.
Alex’s eyes widened in horror. “NOOOO!!”
His scream was loud enough to attract the Dark Lord’s attention as he turned to face him. His eyes widened. “Not him too!”
Alex didn’t even notice what was happening to him. A crimson aura had surrounded his body just like it did to Jason. Tears of the fear of experiencing the pain of loss once again poured down his cheeks, his eyes opening to reveal a crimson glow as he gave a monster’s roar. His hair rose into the air, spiking up, glowing red highlights beginning to form.
Jason’s lips curved into a proud grin. “He did it,” he said softly. “He actually did it. He has awakened the sleeping lion within him.”
Alex stood up, his back straight, the power healing his wounds and granting him much more power than before. He looked at his palms, feeling the power flowing within him. “At long last,” he said to himself. “I’ve ascended.” He threw his palm forward.
Voldemort grunted as he suddenly felt a powerful force slam into his back, forcing him to bend. It was enough and Jason screamed as he summoned more strength and broke free of Voldemort’s grip. Using his wand, he cut Amy free.
Voldemort was now getting angry. “Two won’t make a difference. I could handle one so I could handle a second, especially since this is his first time using it!”
Jason extended his arm to Amy. “Stay back,” he said. “Alex and I will attack him together. Let’s see him handle two wizards using ancient magic.” Before Amy could protest, Jason charged from the front while Alex charged from the back.
Using the Elder Wand, he avoided each of their attacks, struggling only a little. He managed to move Alex towards his front. Alex punched Voldemort right in the jaw, the Dark Lord staggering backwards from the impact. Alex glanced over his shoulder, revealing his form to Jason.
Jason grinned. “Not bad.”
Voldemort gritted his teeth angrily. “Enough!” He threw his arms out, blowing both Jason and Alex backwards. The two rolled across the ground, surprised by the Dark Lord’s sudden burst.
With a wave of his wand, Voldemort summoned the plants to his command. At his command, tree roots exploded from the ground below Jason and Alex, wrapping around their bodies like constrictors and pinning them to the ground.
“Time to die,” Voldemort aimed his wand. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his eyes caught a glimpse of the bottom of a person’s boot just before it slammed into his face, sending him sprawling to the side several feet away.
“Don’t you dare touch them!” Amy yelled.
“I told you to stay back!” Jason yelled.
Amy ignored him and folded her arms, her expression darker than usual. Her face reminded Jason a bit of Thera. “Voldemort, you can’t beat all three of us.”
Voldemort rose from the ground, wiping dirt off his body. “Oh?” he asked as though he said a bad joke. “I’m beating two Gryffindors and even their reincarnated powers cannot stop me.”
“But can you handle three?” Amy asked with a hint of a challenge in her voice. “Because I’m sure you can’t.”
Voldemort raised a brow, interested instead of scared. “Oh really?”
Amy nodded and took a deep breath. “Tell me,” she said, “do you know what it’s like to feel fear?” Suddenly she began to grind her teeth, her veins swelling, the air around her body beginning to whirl. A crimson aura rose from beneath, surrounding her body. Her eyes began to glow scarlet-red.
Jason’s eyes widened in total shock. “You must be joking!”
Alex was speechless. Amy already had the power within her.
Voldemort’s brows rose. “Her too?!”
With a loud high-pitched scream, her hair suddenly turned from pink to scarlet-red, the air around her shooting out in all directions, nearly blowing Voldemort back. As the air calmed, Amy stood there with a determined expression. With a wave of her hand, the roots were cleanly cut and the two wizards beside her were free.
“When did this happen?” Jason asked.
Amy sighed. “I didn’t want to show you this yet. It happened during one of my training sessions with Thera. She was beating me as usual and I felt as though no matter how hard I trained with her, I could barely even beat her,” she said, frowning at the memory. “I felt I was never going to get any stronger. Then when Thera was about to knock me out, it just happened. I ended up blowing her back out of the fighting ring and won a fight with her for the first time. Cortana still says I basically cheated.”
Jason was proud of her. “You did well,” he said. “Now let’s show this guy what a Gryffindor is made of!”
Together, all three wizards charged.
Jason had never seen Amy fight so aggressively and so quickly. The speed of her punches and spell casting was actually hard to catch up to. So this was what it felt like to see someone else using the reincarnated powers of Godric Gryffindor. Like Jason, it also affected the wizard’s personality. And like Jason was when using Gryffindor’s power, Amy was more aggressive and brutal.
Voldemort was struggling. All three of them were too much. Oh no, the Dark Lord thought. This may be a problem. But then he grinned and the expression of the three other wizards dropped. Voldemort swung his arm, his wand extending into one massive whip. All three were struck in the gut and sent hurdling through the air, one by one slamming into the earth.
Voldemort laughed in hysterics. “You may have each ascended, but you still cannot match the power of the Elder Wand or the power of Salazar Slytherin!”
Amy hung her head. “Even with all three of us fighting…we’re no match.”
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Re:
Posted:
Oct 22, 2012 10:25 PM
in response to: arbiter561
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Fantastic chapter 21.The confrontation between Thera and Leila was outstanding. The dialogue and intensity were great. And the end of the chapter was especially good. Looks hard to say how this will end
Good chapter 21
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Posted:
Oct 22, 2012 12:53 PM
in response to: azharherginnev
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CHAPTER 21
Thera vs. Leila
Leila watched as her master left with the other man she had mistaken as her dead boyfriend and turned back to Thera. “So, that’s the other version of Illidan?” she asked coolly as she looked casually at her hands, picking at a torn cuticle in an uncaring manner.
“They are nothing alike and neither are we,” Thera snapped, pulling herself tall. Her amber eyes flashed in her irritation.
Leila laughed, if you’d really want to call it that, it was a cold, mirthless laugh that made one’s insides freeze and a chill run down your spine. “We are very much alike, you and I. I just don’t let my humanity get in the way of my survival.” She gave an empty smile that shone with the same mercilessness of unsheathing a knife. “Was it the one who is like Kael that has made you weak? I bet it was.”
“Shut up!” Thera yelled as she stepped forward fearlessly. “You know nothing about him, he is not like Kael.” She insisted but Leila only laughed again, her pouted lips curling up at the corners in a sinister smile.
“Liar,” She hissed as she slowly outstretched her arms. “You can’t fool me because I am you in your raw form, your full potential that your humanity hampers.”
“I am human, as are you…”
Leila shook her head slowly, her long dark hair slipping across her face in pieces. “We can do what humans cannot. Things that not even a witch or wizard are capable. We are an abomination to nature. Things we can do, take and give life energy, the balance is in our hands. But you are right, in key ways we are not the same.” She tilted her head slowly, eyes narrowing into a dangerous challenge. “We both know what we can do, but you…” She gave a short, low chuckle that came like a purr deep in her chest. “You are too afraid to use it.” Her tongue snapped on the “T”.
“Valuing life is not a weakness,” Thera insisted but she knew that in the beginning she had once questioned the same thing. She was a monster even among those that were supposed to be like her. She was born a monster. She wasn’t created or experimented on like Shadow. She had been born with anomalies and had adapted to survive where many other children would not, even to the point of killing her adoptive parents who were slowly killing her. Her instincts to survive hadn’t valued life, as it took her parent’s with impunity and without thought.
Looking Thera right in the face was the personification of that monster, of what would have happened if she didn’t have the stubbornness she had learned from Snape and Dumbledore. What would have happened if she had just given into the darkness that nearly consumed her after Kael’s death.
Leila’s face became empty. “It is, and that is why you will die.” She threw out a hand, “Legilimens!” A white light flashed from her palm as she walked forward.
Thera dove out of the line of fire and rolled into a crouch. So, Leila didn’t need a wand… Thera remembered how she was told that if she practiced that she wouldn’t have needed one either, using her very body and chi to hone and direct her magic but she never practiced as aiming a wand was usually more intimidating. But knowing what this meant, Thera was becoming more worried by the moment. “I’m going to get into your head, Weaker Me, make you my play thing like I have been to others for so many years. Perhaps loan you to Voldemort, he may find your torture more amusing than mine, someone more defiant may give more pleasure in destroying.” She lifted her hand and there was another flash of light.
It narrowly missed as Thera drew her wand. “Immobulus!” she yelled, missing but hitting the dragon mount behind Leila, causing him to stomp in irritation.
“Pfft, really?” Leila made a disappointed face. “You’re not even going to try and kill me? You really are pathetic.” She made another swipe causing a red flair, “Crucio!”
“AEHHHHHHHHHHH!” Thera screamed as Leila closed in on her, baring her teeth as the spell held. Thera had curled in on herself, writhing in pain. She bit her lip to silence herself only to taste the metallic flavor of copper between her teeth.
Leila paused to stand over her, the image of everything she could have been, everything that had been taken from her, things that she could never have. She put more energy into the spell and Thera’s scream tore through the silence before Leila released her, giving not even a second before a different attack. “Legilimens,” she whispered. Thera groaned as she pressed into her mind.
And then it broke. Thera gasped as Leila snapped into her thoughts like a bent branch finally letting go, images flickering across Leila’s mind’s eye. Thera as a child being locked in the basement of her parent’s home, covered in bruises and shaking, Her father standing over her while her mother cried, deep grating sobs with her Hogwarts letter crushed in one hand while the other held tightly to the gold crucifix around her neck. There were fleeting images of her with a dark haired, green eyed boy outside in the summer picking berries to either eat them or playfully throw them at each other, staining their clothes with juice and seeds. Snape approaching her, her first day at school when a student complained about her using spells she wasn’t supposed to when she hadn’t used any at all, having read their memories on accident. How she hadn’t gotten upset when in trouble, how she worked endlessly to control what her magic tried to do. The endless lessons, the summer days, her and Kael’s first kiss under a flowered apple tree, and then the thoughts turned in on themselves. Her hands gripping her father’s leg as she held onto the life he had beaten from her, his slow collapse and then the magic explosion that her mind created, waking to a demolished house, smoldering embers around her as she lay untouched. Kael’s horrified expression as he shoved her away from him, his hair in his grass green eyes, badly needing a cut it would never receive. The horrible images of when he died, even though she had never actually seen it.
Leila chose to elaborate on these thoughts, drag them out in detail, and when Snape’s death came she pictured the funeral, how there was little to no one there, a cold barren landscape. The emotions overwhelmed Leila as they relived the torturous images together, the pain, hate, betrayal, the disgust of one’s self, and the final snap that they both had encountered. Now was the difference in the two of them. Leila knew as Shadow passed into her memories.
Truth was, Shadow did remind her of Kael in the beginning, a soul at war with one’s self and she saw that as the only way her abilities could be used for good so she tried, she tried everything she knew how to help. Her determination not to fail again was her entire drive. Shadow had saved her. Thera had nearly given up and he had woken her up in the only way she knew how to. He had scolded her with rational thought like Snape had all those years ago. She had to repay him, even if he hadn’t known what he had done. But her falling in love with him had been different than it was with Kael, She hadn’t failed Shadow. Shadow was stronger, more accepting of her demons as she was with his. They had saved each other when they really had no one else and he was strong enough to withstand the risks of being with someone like her.
Leila grew angry at these thoughts as she suddenly saw the more intimate aspects of their relationship, the child with silver-white hair and Thera’s penetrating golden stare, a pink-haired girl and a black-haired American woman at the beach, a guy who looked similar to Shadow but with longer emo-styled hair and crimson eyes handing her a beach ball while trying to get a small Japanese girl to join in, friends. This woman, the other version of her had everything she would never have, everything that had been taken from her, tortured from her… She screamed pulling back when she couldn’t twist Thera’s memories anymore.
Thera pulled away, both gasping for breath, and she grabbed her wand. “Immobulus,” she managed and Leila froze, her muscles straining against the spell. “Trying to poison my memories…” She shook her head as she used her wand to carve a circle around Leila. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold the other version of herself for long. She’d need to work quickly.
The glyphs were all that was left and Thera had come full circle just as Leila’s long hand shot out, gripping her calf with iron fingers. “You took it from me!” She screamed wildly. “I’ll take it back, I must take it back!”
And then Thera couldn’t stand, the air was gone from her lungs first, her nose began to bleed as she fell to her knees. Leila had crawled to the edge of the circle and Thera had no choice but to look into her eyes, like two large, depthless gold coins. Her energy was filling Leila. She grinned as she pulled the life force out of Thera, who was beginning to feel weightless. The silver-blue stone on her belt flickered and died as Thera crumpled to the ground.
Leila stood up, a confused expression on her face as to the ridiculous drawings on the ground around her. She offered a warped version of Thera’s classic half smile. “You must be insane too…” she laughed and made to step over the line.
Thera’s hand slapped down on the north point symbol with what little strength she had. “Rombus.” And the circle was set just as an inky blackness filled the cavern that was her mind.
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