Consort of Destined Death Chapter 4

He reached down to grasp the golden needle, all the while feeling as if something wasn’t right. And yet the area around them was empty of in

He reached down to grasp the golden needle, all the while feeling as if something wasn’t right. And yet the area around them was empty of inhabitants, and a thorough look confirmed the Commander’s summoned ghosts were gone.

With a shrug, he picked up the strange needle, and immediately felt himself sway. Yet unlike before when he fell unconscious, it was as if his very soul was being sucked into the needle, rather than a fever taking him.

Harry swayed on his feet, falling to his knees as Melina called out to him in the background. And yet his gaze stayed locked on the golden needle, even as his vision darkened and went to black.

/////

He awoke in a different place than before this time, reminiscent of being inside the trunk of a large tree. Leaves floated down and covered the ground, with a puddle of water accumulating in the center of the tree.

Harry would admit to being distracted by the nuance of it all, as he examined his surroundings for quite some time before he finally noticed that he wasn’t alone. There was only one other person present in the room, being a familiar redheaded woman who he had faced before.

She sat in a large wooden chair clearly made to accommodate her size, her posture slumped, tired, and defeated, as her golden prosthetic arm laid on the ground before her. She looked terribly ill, her skin pale where visible, and covered in various scars and scabs elsewhere. Upon getting closer, Harry could tell it was the result of scarlet rot that caused such an affliction.

But for all of her scars and signs of rot… she looked beautiful.

She was easily the most beautiful woman Harry had ever seen, but not in ways he could easily explain. She wasn’t sexy in a way that made most guys drool, like Fleur Delacour was, nor was she curvy yet sophisticated like some of the Slytherin girls at Hogwarts. Instead she was beautiful in the sense she seemed untouchable, in a category of her own akin to how a goddess would be compared to mere mortals.

He cautiously neared her, only getting a couple feet away before Malenia stirred. Her head shifted to face him, her eyes opening to reveal golden irises that only those in the Lands Between could possess. She looked exhausted, and yet he could tell she was eyeing him cautiously, ready to defend herself at any moment.

“Tarnished? How are you…” Malenia seemed to trail off as something like understanding appeared on her features. “You are not truly in my presence, are you?”

“Are you going to attack me?” He asked in turn, readying himself for anything to happen. The other version of Malenia he faced had attacked him almost immediately.

“That depends.” She answered truthfully, and Harry got the impression she wasn’t someone to lie. “Does thou want to become a Lord, and seek my Great Rune?”

“That’s not why I’m here.” He felt insulted by her insinuation, even if he was committed to becoming Elden Lord. That said, the idea of attacking a defenseless and sick woman to gain her Great Rune was not something he would do. “I touched some sort of gold needle thing while in Caelid, and I ended up here…”

“Miquella’s needle… Miquella… Dearest brother, where are you?” He stopped talking as Malenia seemed to become sad, falling into a world of her own before her gold eyes seemed to focus on him once again. “Tarnished, have you bare witness to my brother? Miquella is his name.”

“I can’t say I have.” He replied. “But I can keep an eye out for him.”

“You would look for him?” The way she was looking at him then made Harry feel very strange, as if he had done some great deed and was to be commended for it. It almost seemed wrong for a woman of such high status to look at him in such a light. In a way, it reminded Harry of how others saw him as the Boy-Who-Lived.

“…I will.” He eventually answered. “Although I’m not sure how to contact you if I find anything important. Honestly, I don’t know how we are even talking right now.”

A glance downwards showed that his body wasn’t truly there, being made up of wisps of light akin to a ghost. He was like a foreign projection in Malenia’s home, not really being there in the first place, and yet she still interacted with him despite this.

Malenia stared at him for some time, all the while it seemed as if she was deep in thought. He could tell the woman knew more about what was going on than he did, and it was like her eyes were seeing into him.

“There is a woman not far from where you are, a girl, who happens to be very similar to myself.” She spoke at last. “You shall find her, and she will take you before me. But before that, she will require Miquella’s Needle to heal from her affliction, and it will be your duty to see such a thing come to pass.”

“Oh.” Once again, it seemed that another person was asking things of him. First it had been Melina, then Ranni, and now it was Malenia of all people. And they didn’t just ask simple favors of him, but rather dangerous quests that were very likely to see him killed.

“Perhaps I ask too much of you, forgive me.” He could’ve sworn her cheeks pinked in embarrassment, as she seemed to read his very thoughts. “This is the first conversation I’ve had in some time. And with a Tarnished of all people… Tell me, what is thy name, warrior?”

“Harry Potter.”

“You have been very kind to me, Harry Potter.” A slight smile graced her lips, and Harry felt his own cheeks redden. “I shall await your arrival.”

/////

In an instant, he was back in the real world. The transition from vision to reality was a lot less jarring this time, as his eyes opened normally and he could immediately distinguish his surroundings.

He slowly sat up to see he was near a village surrounded by stone walls, embedded within the red landscape of Caelid. Melina had clearly dragged him here, as he laid by a Site of Grace with Torrent standing lazily off to the side.

“Good, you’re awake.” Melina’s voice drifted over to him, and he turned to see her trudging his way with a strange staff in hand. “I had a look around while you were out.”

As she got closer, Harry looked down to see the golden needle was still cradled in his hand. He pocketed it and stood, facing Melina as she reached the Grace Site.

“The town is known as Sellia, and it’s full of sorcerers. We’re not too far from Fort Faroth, and it should be visible soon.” Melina spoke, gesturing towards a ridge-line that overshadowed the town. “Once we get up there, it will come into view.”

Harry grimaced as he studied the hill they would have to climb, seeing massive hounds, birds, and oversized insects that he would have to avoid along the way. He shook his head and turned back to Melina, and focused on the strange staff she held. “Melina, what is that you’re holding?”

Her eyes widened in realization as she held up the staff for him to examine. An ornate wooden handle let to a spherical rock at the end, with the rock cracked open to reveal crystals resting inside. Originally, he thought it was a bludgeoning weapon, akin to a beater’s bat, but he soon realized it was a magical staff.

“I had a look around the town and managed to find this on the outskirts.” Melina stated, before handing it to him. “I figured you could use it, Harry.”

“Thanks.” He smiled, taking the magical staff before information about it flooded his mind. Lusat’s Glintstone Staff.

That was the second staff he now had, with the Meteorite Staff being the other one. Even if he was using his wand for all sorceries and things magic-related, it wouldn’t hurt to have backups. There was also the possibility he could use Lusat’s staff to bludgeon his enemies into submission if need be.

“I suppose we better get moving then.”

Melina frowned in concern. “But what of your condition, Harry? This is the second time now you’ve fallen unconscious since we entered Caelid.”

He bit his tongue to avoid blurting anything out, opting instead to withhold information from her for the time being. Harry knew he needed to have a long talk with Melina at some point, but doing so in the middle of Caelid wasn’t a good idea.

I’ll need to tell her about Malenia at some point. The connection between him and the demigoddess was strange to say the least, and Harry wasn’t ready to dwell on the subject quite yet.

There was also the girl which Malenia told him to seek out, and to deliver Miquella’s needle to. And Harry got the sense that he would be seeing the girl in question very soon.

“Then it’s better we hurry and get out of here as soon as possible.” Harry avoided addressing her concerns, in favor of hopping on Torrent. “The sooner we get to that Fort and get the Medallion, the quicker we can be done with this place.”

In fact, Harry was starting to worry about his own life back at Hogwarts. He had been in the Lands Between for nearly a week at that point, and could only guess what was going on back home.

The more vindictive part of himself whispered that no one would notice, or even care, about his absence. Everyone was mad at him over the Tournament after all, and it was nice to avoid whatever reactions his classmates had and instead hide in the Lands Between.

But the more reasonable part of his mind said there would be chaos, and he was probably going to return to Hogwarts to find a veritable firestorm raging over his disappearance. The 4th Champion of the Triwizard Tournament disappearing off the map was sure to cause a scandal, and he could only guess what his classmates, and even what the newspapers, would be saying.

He let out a sigh, trying to avoid getting a headache and instead focused on his current situation. In some ways, he almost preferred the life of a Tarnished to that of the Boy-Who-Lived, especially if it meant not dealing with all the publicity and drama.

Melina soon sat behind him as he rode Torrent through a large stone archway and out of the town of Sellia. He didn’t see any residents nearby, and didn’t want to stay around to attract any. Most of the creatures in Caelid were extremely hostile, and Harry doubted the town’s residents were any different.

From there, Torrent began climbing a steep hill which led away from the town, as Harry directed the spectral steed away from any potential enemies. Those giant dogs were all over the place, but luckily he managed to ride Torrent just out of their line of sight.

Soon, as Torrent rode along the desolate Caelid sands, past gnarled trees, giant mushrooms, and other fungal growths, Melina pointed out a familiar sight that made him sag in relief, being a Church of Marika. The ruined stone church was much like the other ones he’d seen before, and he directed Torrent towards it and straight through the entrance.

Upon entering, he noticed the same sexy Marika statue being present, along with a Site of Grace for him to rest at. But that was not all, as a sickly, red-haired girl laid off to the side and against the church’s stone wall.

He approached her cautiously, feeling a tinge of familiarity run down his spine as he got closer. She was tall and thin, her dirty clothes covered in blood, with one arm missing. Her skin was yellow and her eyes gold, and she had beautiful, long, red hair.

“Ngh… W-Who is there?” The girl’s every breath sounded as if it were her last, as she seemed to notice his approach. “Well, it matters not. If you are wise, you will leave me to my fate.”

“What happened to her?” Harry couldn’t help but ask. He felt almost overwhelmed by emotion while staring at the girl, seeing her terrible state and immediately knowing her life was that of tragedy. He wouldn’t wish her fate upon anyone, and desperately wanted to help.

“She is infected with scarlet rot.” Melina said quietly from his side.

Of all the things Harry had seen in the Lands Between, nothing impacted him as much as the sight before him. To see a girl not much older than himself, sick and dying from a disease she couldn’t fight whatsoever… it struck him to the core. She must be the one Malenia sent me to help.

The girl spoke again. “My flesh writhes with scarlet rot. It is a curse I would not wish upon anyone, and for this reason I must ask that you go.”

She was so selfless and kind, prioritizing their own safety over anything else. Harry kneeled down close to her. “What is your name?”

She glanced up at him with familiar gold eyes, and he couldn’t help but note how beautiful she was, despite being sick. “Millicent.”

“I’m Harry Potter, and this is my maiden, Melina.” He pulled out Miquella’s needle, recalling what Malenia had told him. “I’ve been told by a… friend, that this will cure your affliction.”

Both Melina and Millicent’s eyes widened at his words, and they stared at the intricate gold needle.

“You ask that I stab… myself with the needle? But how can such a thing quell the scarlet rot?” Millicent stared at the needle, before she swallowed thickly and seemed to come to a decision. “Nevermind. I would rather trust you than spoil from within.”

She reached out and grasped the needle with her one working limb, her fingers shaking all the while. “Would you mind… averting your eyes for but a moment?”

He nodded and turned to Melina. “Please see to her.”

“But Harry, what is…” She trailed off, obviously confused by the situation and the way in which he was acting.

He could see the questions in her eyes. The strange bouts of unconsciousness over the past day, along with how he knew to treat Millicent, and how it all tied back to Malenia... Not even he had all the answers, and it was becoming quite the headache to try and sort through it all.

“I’ll tell you everything later.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve already been away from Hogwarts for far too long, and I need to head back. While I’m gone, please take care of her.”

Millicent wouldn’t heal from the needle’s influence immediately, as it would likely take time for her to adjust and recover from the scarlet rot. It meant he could leave Melina to take care of her, while he went back to Hogwarts and got things sorted out.

Melina stared at him for a long moment, before nodding and leaning in to give him a quick kiss. While that occurred, neither of them noticed Millicent watching them curiously.

Harry then turned and walked over to the Site of Grace, kneeling down next to it as he focused on returning to the Chamber of Secrets.

/////

The basilisk corpse was still there when he returned to the Chamber, along with Slytherin’s statue. Other than the numerous snake effigies, the only noticeable part of the Chamber of Secrets was the glowing Site of Grace.

He had to wonder if Salazar knew about the Lands Between, and if the entire Chamber had been positioned specifically as a location for a Site of Grace. He even had questions about the Basilisk, and how the Grace site only appeared after Harry actually slew the beast, meaning it was possible the serpent might have originated from the Lands Between. That said, he had yet to run into any snakes in the Lands Between so far, and would have to look into the matter in the future.

A thought struck him as he looked around the Chamber then, being that he could utilize it as his private base of operations. Already he had accumulated hordes of items and weapons that could be stored in the Chamber, all of which were sitting in the magical pouch that Merchant Kale gifted him.

He could even practice spells and incantations in the Chamber, as Harry was already planning to learn more dangerous magic. The Gravity Magic especially looked powerful, and he was looking forward to learning more about it.

But he put those thoughts away for later, in favor of returning back to his dorm and sleeping on a real bed for once. The past week had been nothing but sleeping on dirty ground while sneaking through hostile territory, and Harry looked forward to having a shower, a feathery bed, and a fresh change of clothes.

He trudged through the Chamber and into the tunnels underneath the school, past the basilisk’s shed skin and the cave-in from his second year. After that he reached the tunnel leading to the second floor girls bath, and looking upwards revealed the sinks were shut.

“Open.” Harry called up the the sinks in parseltongue, before raising his wand skyward. “Ascendio.”

The spell lifted him upwards until he finally reached the top and landed on his feet in the midst of the abandoned girl’s bath. The sinks closed behind him automatically, as Harry looked around to see he was officially back inside Hogwarts’s walls.

Turning his head showed that the moon could be seen through the bathroom’s windows, along with the star-filled sky signaling how late at night it was. A sound got his attention then, being a door unlatching, as one of the bathroom stall doors suddenly opened. I’m not alone…

Disclaimer: All Characters are over the Age of 18