Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 07:42:36 GMT From: Blake Alexander <writemeastory@juno.com> Subject: Tales of the New Phoenix - My Immortal chapter 4 News from the Author: Life has been kicking me in the ass. Really. I think it left a boot up there. Not fun. School, hectic. Work, nightmare. Lovelife... I went out with a WOMAN for crying out loud. Long story, still gay, and single. Tired though, bed time for Blakey. My Immortal Chapter 4: Seeking Allies "What do you mean we don't?" I stood up and started pacing. "This thing has cleared the city of every demon, vampire, and every dark witch and wizard. The good ones are speaking of the end days, that this means that all is doomed and that we should run to the other side of the freakin Earth to make peace before it comes to find us all there." "As well you might think of doing so. He is a Dark God." He stroked his chin, "Have you invoked the Goddess on High, She Who Commands Spirits and All Unseen?" "He called his minions home to himself before she could act." Devin replied. "Then you have only one hope." He said, standing and walking to a bookshelf. "The White Council knows of the location of two ancient weapons. Cast amongst the stars, found by King Enkil and Queen Akasha..." "In Ancient Egypt. He found them too powerful and hid them in Egypt to never be used again. We know. They were destroyed during the Vampire War." I said exasperated. I was hoping for a spell, or him to know exactly what to do. But now... nothing. "They were discovered, and destroyed?" He stumbled back to his seat. "This can not be. It was written that he who possesses the Dagger of Set and Sword of Horus would be destined to bring all the blades of power together." "Well, the Phoenix had them, and he's dead." I said a little angry. "Well, those are the only weapons I can think to use against the dark god. The weapons themselves are indestructible, so they must be in another realm. I assume you did try finding them magically of course." He said looking at Devin. "When we searched for Blake I did try the energies within the weapons." He replied. "Then a Summoning Spell. It will be dangerous to enact though. If you do it wrong, you may summon a demon." "Lovely." I muttered. "What will we need?" "There are only five ingredients for this spell. For it to work, those doing the spell must be standing in a pentagram at all five points. I will write you the spell, but you must do it." "The spell of Dark Summoning?" Devin gasped. "You have studied well." Sir Logan replied. "Under Albus Dumbledore himself. And that spell is forbidden. The last person to perform it was He Who Must Not Be Named." "You will need scales of a Dragon for fire, lake water from Avalon for water, the breath of an immortal for air, soil from a place that does not exist for earth, and the blood of a true person with a true spirit. Each item must be collected by a different person. Finally, you will need a member of the five courts of the Lesser Sidhe present." He took a deep breath. "I will bring them." "Those don't sound so dark." I said. "It is the Dark Summoning. They open a channel to a High Demon, something unlike we have ever faced. It will bring you anything from anywhere in existence." Devin said in a whisper. "The Ministry of Magic forbids this particular spell under penalty of life in Azkaban." "I will contact them with the support of the White Council. You don't seem to grasp the greatness of this threat. He is the most powerful of the old gods, and he is attempting to stake a claim in San Francisco. If the White Council had known of the Dagger and Sword a hundred years ago, we would have destroyed him then. You can stop him once and for all." "How did the Council stop him then?" Tabitha asked. We all turned to her. I had forgotten the girls were there. "Half the Council was killed casting a spell to banish him from the Earth." He sat down. "And that wasn't enough to keep him away. You must do this thing." I looked the wizened old Wizard in the eye, and he looked away a bit. Devin had explained that looking some wizards in the eye can create a metaphysical window between each others soul, exposing who a person truly is. "We'll do it." A few hours, and a mirror message, later we were packing up the Night Hawk with gear for a weekend in England. We were meeting with David Talbot for the breath of an immortal, and could get the rest of the ingredients. "Jubilee, don't forget to bring a couple pounds of Salt Water Taffy." Devin called. "Why are we taking Salt Water Taffy?" I asked him. "Professor Dumbledore has a bit of a sweet tooth. He is helping us sorta break a law; I thought he deserved some of the Bay Area's specialty." He said with a grin. I smiled and started up the thrusters. The ship was almost completely self reliant, but we still needed to initiate the systems. I brought the core power to functioning nominal, started the AI interface, and turned to Devin. "Is Oracle coming?" "I am." She said entering the cockpit. "Do you wanna take over?" I asked. "If you wish." I relinquished controls, and headed to the back. I never really got over the jet. It had five decks, a cargo hold, and six crew quarters. On the outside it was roughly the same size as the X-Men's Black Bird. Magic at its best. I entered the communications room and flipped on the computer interface. "Oracle, can you please batch me through to C's cell phone?" I asked picking up a headset. "Dialing now." She said. The phone rang a few times, then he picked up. "Hey JC, it's Andy. We're about to take off and just wanted to let you know." "Cool." He said from the other side. "Chris and I are about to cross the Golden Gate so we should get a good show." I laughed. He loved the ship. We cruised out to the edge of the Solar System and toured the planets for a weekend a few months after our training with the ship was done. "Affirmative." I laughed. "All hands, prepare for departure." Oracle said over the interior Comm. System. "Get ready." I said. I flipped on the forward view and saw the launch chamber. It was three times wider than the jet, with a set of blinking lights leading down its mile long track. At the end was a wall of stone with a red target painted on it. Boomer painted it one night as a joke. There was a slight vibration as the ship lifted off the ground, then it started gliding forward. The end of the tunnel started hurtling at us in no time, and when it seemed we were about to crash the vortex appeared and we were suddenly flying over the bay waters. Chris let out a loud "Holy Fuck!" from the background of the cell and JC started laughing like a mad man. Thus, we were off for England to get the items for the spell. "That thing really goes into Outer Space?" Chris asked watching the Night Hawk slide out of view in the horizon. "Yeah." I said slipping my cell phone back into my pocket. "It can fly at a tenth the speed of light, and form Wormholes to travel between star systems. She is a wonder." "Wow. You gotta get me a ride sometime." Chris said in wonder. We had just been driving, doing the sight seeing thing with Chris since he didn't get to be out here that often. We drove around for another hour, then headed for Serenity. Chris was helping me plan its biggest bash, the anniversary of its reopening, December 4th. We got there, went in, and sat down in my office. "So, you booked the rooms for the guys, right?" "Yeah, Justin is staying with you though, right?" "Yeah, him and his lil family. I can't wait to see the kid, I have a million presents tucked away for him and Lances critters." I said with a smile, reading through some contracts. "And Christina is opening, right?" I asked. "Yeah, she's all set. We just have to get the decorations inventoried." He said. "Ok, here are the invoices..." I said pulling out a big file. "We have everything stored in a self storage place. Everything on the invoices was verified as they were received. Double check it all against the purchase orders and supplies list." I said pulling stuff out of the filing cabinet behind my desk. "Jayce, this thing is gonna rock so freakin hard it ain't even funny." Chris said smiling. "I know. Blake would have loved it." I said wistfully. We got there in no time. A quick bounce into orbit, and a descent to England, and we were there. Devin had to take the controls in order to find Hogwarts, but it was pretty simple. The castle was amazing, near the border of a deep dark forest. The lake bellow it had a dark shape moving beneath that could only be a large animal. "Sorta makes the Institute seem small, doesn't it?" I heard Tabitha saying in the back. "Yeah." Alison responded in a whisper. The towers of the castle seemed to big to be real, with every window lit. "We're coming in for a landing." Devin announced over the comm. System. "Professor Dumbledore felt that the school as a whole should welcome us, saying it is only befitting for a team that fended off the Vampires during the war." "Then we better get ready. Everyone, suit up." I yelled. I stood and shifted into my Green Falcon uniform. Jubilee grabbed her coat, and the other two girls donned what they needed for their uniforms. Devin didn't have much in the way of a uniform, just his normal attire. "Landing thrusters on line, gear descending." Oracle said looking straight ahead. Sometimes I forgot she was an android, but at times like this when she was at a flight station controlling things without touching them I was forced to remember. "Locked in place. Brace for touch down." There was a slight jostle, then we could hear the engines powering down. "Ramp deployed, welcome to England. The time is 6:37 am, the temperature is a bit cool, and jackets are recommended. Oracle said with a slight smile. "You really do make such a good flight attendant." I said patting her on the shoulder. "I aim to please." "Guy's, we have a bit over a thousand young students standing in the cold waiting to greet us, we should get out there." Devin called over his shoulder, heading to the lounge. We departed the plane and were met with four long lines of students dressed in black robes. At the head of the lines were teachers dressed in different colored robes. An elderly man in light green robes strode to the base of the ramp to greet us. Tabitha strode down in her pink outfit with pouches, and yellow accent. She had pink glasses on to finish her look. Beside her was Jubilee in her red body suit and yellow trench coat. Devin was in a business suit of grey with a black robe on, open in the front. In his hand was his black wand. Alison was at his side in a tight green suit, and a headset attached at her hip with earphones around her neck. Oracle walked beside me wearing a black body suit. Her flowing brown hair was pulled back into a plain pony tail, but she stilled looked refined and beautiful. I was bearing an emerald body suit with black boots and gloves. My mask looked like emerald crystal that wrapped back into my black hair. My cloak was a thin material that shimmered like dark green velvet. When we all got to the bottom the elderly man started shaking our hands. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of this school." "Thank you for having us." I said. "It is my pleasure. Now that you have arrived let us go have breakfast. Then we can attend to breakfast." He said. His eyes actually twinkled, I kid you not. "First Professor," Devin said pulling a box he had been holding within his robes out. "a small token of appreciation from us." Professor Dumbledore opened it and smiled. He closed the box and looked at Devin. "Madam Pomfrey would bat you around the ears for giving this to me. I'll eat half of it in one sitting, then end up in her tender care." He laughed. "A slight indulgence only." Devin smirked. We all headed into the castle. Inside there were stairways that moved, and paintings that were alive. It was truly amazing. The dining hall was gigantic. I looked up and the walls faded to a view of the cloud filled sky. November in England, what else would there be? There were four very long tables that stretched to a large table running perpendicular to them at the head of the room. The students all filed to their seats and Professor Dumbledore led us to the table at the front of the room. As we approached a very large, nay giant man came in from a side door and went to sit at the table. We sat at the table and were soon met with plates of delicious food. The girls and I just took everything in, including the floating specters, and ate. We were too shocked be the blatant magic around us to really speak. That would be cured after breakfast when we go to the headmaster's office to discuss breaking his Wizard Council's law. "You can get all the ingredients needed in this country. This evening Mr. Talbot will arrive to give you the gift of breath. I suggest that you, Devin, collect that." Devin nodded. "Soil from a place that does not exist. The only place that I could think of for that would be the Never Never, a realm of Faery Magic. The courts left there to live her amongst the mortals when the Elder Gods began to take hold in that realm. It is also from there that this King of Ghosts is striking." He turned to Jubilee, "I will open a portal for you, and you can quickly retrieve the needed soil." "Why not me? This sounds very dangerous, I don't want to risk her safety." I said leaning forward. "You will be retrieving the blood of a true person. I will help you with that as a last task." He turned to Alison. "You, my dear, will be taking the dragons scale. You will do this by temporarily blinding the beast. Your powers will protect you better than the others." "Ok..." Alison said, a little pale. We had covered dragons with Devin a year ago. Very large, very mean, fire breathing critters. "And Tabitha, that will leave collecting the waters of Avalon." "That sounds simple enough." She said smiling. "You would think, but you will be facing the Lady of the Lake. And she doesn't take lightly to intruders to her realm." We all fell quiet. "Now, let us make haste, these deeds will be tiring to say the least." We rose and walked for the stair case from his office.