~ Hey people, sorry for the absence, this fanfiction started as something to do while I was in a period of writers block. I definitely did that and more. So I'll be scaling back my chapter releases to one or two per every couple of weeks or so.
But to make it up to my loyal people, I'll be adding another fanfic to make up for the fewer chapter's, and you get to vote for my next fanfic out of the three stories I wrote down.
Visit the chapter called Not A Chapter(Updates) for the Voting! ~
~ Nurmengard Castle, Austria ~
~ Draegon Targaryen Stark - POV ~
With a quiet crack and pop, I Apparated into the Austrian Alps. A thin veil of cold air wrapped around me, carrying the scent of pine and snow. I allowed myself a small smirk—pulling off a near-silent Apparition on my first attempt was no small feat.
~ Apparition, Raphael murmured in my mind, her voice a steady hum of analysis.
It is a magical form of teleportation wherein the user travels instantly from one location to another without traversing the space in between. The process is achieved by focusing on a desired location, willing oneself to disappear, and then reappearing at the destination. While it is the fastest and most convenient method of travel, failure can be catastrophic… or so it is believed.
I could sense the amusement in her tone.
You, My Lord, appear immune to the usual side effects. The sensation most wizards describe as 'squeezing through a wormhole' does not seem to apply to you. ~
I allowed that thought to settle. Even Regulus, in his memories, had never mastered the near-soundless Apparition I had just performed. I was beginning to grasp the fundamental concepts of space and time through magic—but not yet enough to consume the pendant.
A shift in the sky pulled me from my thoughts. The thick clouds above darkened further, shadows coalescing like ink spilling into water. Through the bond we now shared, I knew she was near.
Then, with a burst of violet light, she appeared.
A piercing scree echoed through the mountains.
Lilith.
She descended like a shadow given form, her black feathers glistening with deep purple undertones. The glow of her silver eyes locked onto mine as she landed gracefully on my outstretched arm. She was ancient, far older than Fawkes—Dumbledore's famed Phoenix—a fact she had conveyed to me the moment we bonded.
Lilith did not speak as humans did, but through our connection, I could feel the weight of her existence. She had seen the rise and fall of empires, the birth of magic itself. Unlike Fawkes, who had served wizards like Dumbledore, Lilith had chosen her companions carefully—Tiamat, the so-called Mother of Gods of Mesopotamia; Morgana Le Fay, the half-Fae sorceress of legend, half-sister to Arthur Pendragon.
And now, she had chosen me.
I still wondered why. Why, after millennia, had she decided to bond with a immortal man? But I wasn't about to question a gift as rare as this.
~ Flashback ~
A loud crack and pop echoed through the cavern as I Apparated for the first time. My landing was imperfect—louder than I would have liked—but I had arrived.
I stood atop the jagged rock island where, in another timeline, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore had once stood during their hunt for the Horcrux. The water around me was eerily still, the cavern heavy with an unnatural silence.
Then, the shadows began to shift.
Darkness slithered along the stone like a living thing, pooling and congealing into a single mass before me. The air vibrated, a pulse of unseen energy rippling outward.
A burst of violet flame erupted from the center, and from it emerged a creature unlike any I had ever seen.
A Phoenix.
But not like Fawkes.
Her feathers drank in the light, her form barely distinguishable from the surrounding darkness save for the luminescent silver of her eyes.
In that instant, our bond was forged. A rush of memories—lifetimes, whispers of ancient knowledge—flooded my mind. Lilith spoke to me without words, showing me all that needed to be said.
She had wandered the cosmos, seen the end of stars and the birth of worlds. She had fled from dragons that no longer existed, survived in the void beyond the sky. She was unlike any Phoenix that had ever graced this world.
And she had chosen me.
~ Flashback Ends ~
"Shall we, my dear Lilith?" I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper.
A soft hum of agreement resonated through our bond as I called upon the shadows. They rose at my command, twisting and folding around us like a living veil. A moment later, we vanished into the darkness.
Shadow travel was not as fast as Apparition, but it was silent. Untraceable. A perfect tool for a hunter.
As the world reformed around us, the looming fortress of Nurmengard stood before me.
The prison had once been a monument to Grindelwald's reign, a stronghold carved into the mountain itself. Black stone rose into the sky, its jagged towers defying the moonlight. Decades had passed since its construction, yet the words above its entrance remained—For the Greater Good.
A fitting epitaph for the man who now rotted within its highest cell.