Purpose

~ Chapter 1: The Elementals ~

The next morning...

Fenix tried to move and finally managed to wrench herself from her sleep. Aldren was sleeping soundly beside her, with a bolster in between, separating them. A pair of luminous eyes suddenly flashed across the room as Silver padded quietly to stand beside the bed.

: What is it? :

The wolf asked in concern, touching his nose on her sweat-drenched cheek.

: It's--I just saw someone. He was trapped in between portals. I don't really know if it's Farsight or Foresight. Or they could be just dreams. :

Fenix said, her Mindvoice layered with tiredness. She lay motionlessly on the bed and sniffed at the air. She sighed and sat up on the bed. : I might as well get up and cook some breakfast. Sun just came up. Go ahead and sleep. :

: And leave you in the kitchen alone? Oh no-- not after last night, :

the huge wolf said firmly.

: Silv, don't be ridiculous! :

Fenix said in exasperation.

: I do have a reason to be paranoid. They got through the wood's defense after all. :

: I guess you are right, I'm not exactly sure how they went through the trees without gaining attention of the Nymphs or

me for that matter, : she admitted grudgingly. She slipped on her robe and went downstairs silently, barefoot. : It's just as well that the Fair Ones are still sticking to scouting around or we wouldn't have known about their presence until it's too late. :

Fenix had just managed to finish cooking some scrambled eggs when her sister came down to the kitchen looking rather haggard.

"So... nightmares or just entertainment?" Fenix asked her sister without so much as an eye-blink as she poured some orange juice for herself.

"Both," her sister growled as she opened a package of ready-made pancake mix and began to batter the mix up. Fenix handed her a pan and turned her attention to boil some sausages. When the two sisters were done, they began to arrange the sumptuous breakfast on the table.

"So what were your nightmares about?" Fenix asked as she cut up some fresh meat for the wolves.

"I don't really know. It didn't make any sense anyway. First, Derian chased me down and then suddenly the horrible thing we saw on the video stood right in front of me. Then I felt as if my soul was being sucked down until you came, holding nothing more than a ball of blue fire and hurled it against that thing. It didn't much resemble any creature after that; you incinerated that thing down to ashes. Make anything out of it?" Giselle asked as she plopped down onto the chair. She began to eat her share of pancakes with a nice helping of maple syrup, not really caring that she might put on a few more pounds by the time her annual leave ended. Giselle suddenly stopped chewing as two pairs of eyes looked penetratingly at her. "What?" Giselle asked in curiosity.

"Are you sure the ball was blue?" Fenix asked in a strangely strangled voice.

"The ball was blue. It wasn't exactly a ball, more like a sphere and it was made of blue fire," Giselle asserted with conviction.

"Hey girls! Good morn--" the two elves were saying when Fenix suddenly interrupted them.

"Alert the Fair Ones and our neighbors. Those things we saw on the video have just fallen into the 'dangerous' category," she said brusquely, and stared at Derian fiercely until he closed his mouth and averted his face from her direct stare.

"But Giana said that those things were just passing through," Aldren said dubiously.

"Remember the other time when you dreamt about me coming to you holding a twig surrounded by blue fire, to save you from drowning? What happened then?" Fenix asked curtly. Aldren stood rigidly as his eyes flashed with anger.

"A section of our Grove burned," he answered, gritting his teeth with suppressed anger.

"Exactly. Giselle dreamt of the creature sucking the soul out of her and I came holding a ball of blue fire. Let's not wait until it's too late for us to take any kind of action."

"All right, we'll warn them," Aldren agreed and then his eyes lit up, "but after breakfast."

Fenix threw a spoonful of sticky maple juice right up on his handsome face.

************

Three weeks after, Summer. Between worlds...

Sirius Black hung in stasis in the moving darkness. Every now and then, flashes of lightning rippled through the dark. Far away in the darkness, he could hear voices. The voices blended in with each other so that they could only be heard as a low rumbling noise. He was not thinking too clearly at the moment, for his body was racked with pain as tendrils of lightning energy hit him.

I have to get out! I have to! God, how James will kill me if something happens to Harry! Have to go back...

his thought died as a great bolt of silver lightning hit him right on the center of his chest. Nothingness...

************

Sirius was awake, again. His throat was dry and he felt very tired. His wand lay motionlessly in mid-air. He tried to speak out to give a command, but he found he could not move a single muscle. He stared at his wand in frustration. It's as if someone has placed a body-binding spell on me. Time is running out...I have to get back to Harry...just to let him know I'm still alive! Wormtail...when we meet...I'm going to make you pay for the pain you've caused Harry and the Headmaster...Yesss... I will get you...

His eyes widened. The voices were coming closer to him. You will not claim me for your own, he thought hard at the darkness, and he could feel them flinching away. Sirius was even more determined to get out. Determined to get back to the living.

************

Sirius was sweating pretty heavily. So far, he had not been struck by lightning for the past hour. Alarm had begun to settle in. The shadows flitted out of sight in the darkness. I really hope that Time doesn't play an element in this place. Years could have passed by without me knowing it. Quite suddenly a picture formed in his mind and all he could see was a mint grove. The place seemed to be safe and he thought suddenly. Take me there. Take me to the safe place!

He felt all sides surrounding him begin to expand and contract and there was suddenly an opening. Much to his amazement, it was a shadow of the mint grove. A surge of adrenaline pounded in his nerves and at the sudden burst of energy, he propelled himself outward, one hand grabbing for his wand. He tumbled headlong out of the portal and into the glade. He shrieked as a sharp stone impaled him on his shoulder. Just great, was his thought as his consciousness slipped away.

*********

At the Maxwells'...

The house was quiet. The Elven brothers had still not returned from their Grove. Her sister had enclosed herself with Wind in Fenix's library as Giselle instantly fell in love with the collection of books. Fenix was out in the garden with Silver, raking out a new patch of soil to plant her chili seedlings in. She had just patted the ground firmly, when she found herself tumbling sideways and blacked out for a moment.

Silver was licking her face anxiously as his mate and Giselle went down the steps frantically. Fenix fended off Silver's muzzle feebly as Giselle reached out for her and got her to a sitting position. Then she was immediately struggling up to her feet.

"Sis, get back in the house. There's a man injured and I think I need your help in patching him up. Whatever you see me do, don't be surprised all right?" then she turned to Wind. "Stay with my Sis. If anything happens, sound the alarm."

: Let's go; the man's terribly hurt. :

Fenix said, sprinting towards to the middle of the woods. Just then, a horde of brownies was running clumsily towards her.

"A man in the clearing!" they whispered urgently in high voices. "He's wounded deeply! The Greater Nymphs are with him, but they dare not do anything."

"It's all right," Fenix replied haltingly as Silver shot past her, probably following the scent of blood, and disappeared in the distance. Fenix saw the Mnid bending down to look at the fallen man with concern, and then straighten up when he felt her presence. The great silver wolf was sniffing at the man, nudging a little at the man's fingers with his muzzle.

: He's unconscious, a stone's wedged up right through his left shoulder, :

Silver's thought reached her mind as the wolf peered down at the man worriedly. : You had better get him in the house A.S.A.P. He's lost too much blood. :

"By the wings of Aquilla," Fenix breathed heavily, as she Felt the man's pain. "You're right."

Abruptly she called up to the greater Sylphs and upon their consent, the Sylphs each lay a hand under the unconscious man. With great precision, they jerked his body up and slid it off the stone with a sickening squelching sound. Fenix briefly gagged at the open wound, but used her power to stop the bleeding and infection. There was no time to waste; she briefly instructed the Nymphs and brownies to clean up the blood mess and she Jumped the Sylphs, the injured man, Silver and herself back to the house.

Giselle let out a shriek before clamping her mouth tightly with her right hand. However, when she looked down at the limp body, she lost her nervousness and began ordering Fenix to get the man down on a bed.

Fenix looked at a Sylph with bright auburn hair. : Second floor, fourth room to the right. : The Sylph answered with a nod and they disappeared as they Teleported themselves into the bedroom. She turned to the brownies that peeped from the kitchen threshold diffidently.

"Can we help?" one asked in a small voice.

"Yes, you could--the first aid kit is in my room, the blue cupboard--" she said to Giselle. Then to the Earth Elementals, "Could you help me boil some water?" the brownies did not ask any more questions as they zoomed back into the kitchen for the appointed task.

Fenix entered the bedroom to see the same auburn-haired Sylph had delicately undressed the injured man, a quite easy task as the man's clothing was in tatters, to reveal a naked body very much abused. The man had several scorch marks on his body and several deep gashes.

"Fenix, don't you think it's much better if we place him in the care of the hospital?" Giselle asked, trembling a little at the wound at his shoulder.

"Takes too much time and they'll ask a lot of questions; you handle the gashes, they probably need some stitching up anyway."

"But how about that?" Giselle gulped as she pointed at the big wound.

"I'll deal with it. I have to warn you that I might collapse after that," she frowned a little and gave a desperate thought. Now I wish that Aldren, or even his brother was here to help.

The brownies trooped up the staircase, with two of them carrying a wooden chair and one carrying a pot of warm water. They acted as attendants to Giselle as she instructed them to clean the gashes with sterile cloth. Fenix, meanwhile, sat herself beside the man's left shoulder. Emptying her thoughts, she was only aware of the wound, as she shut herself out from the surroundings but not from the man's pain. It's a good thing it's not his ribs. Using her own life-energy, she directed it towards the wound, where it merged with the man's splintered scapula and collarbone. She focused on the restructuring of the bones as her Healing worked from the inside, marrow to bone. Only when his bones became whole again did she pour more of her energy to speed up the life cycles of the muscle cells and the reorganization of the nerve cells.

Giselle stared at her sister and at the closing wound in amazement. Wonder what other secrets she's keeping from me. She shook her head a little and finished stitching a gash. I would really like to look at his back. She whispered to a brownie to get the dirty cloths down the kitchen and to replace the pot of water. Three brownies waddled out while Giselle looked at her sister worriedly. Fenix's forehead glistened with perspiration and Giselle let out a sigh of relief when she finally opened her eyes.

Fenix fought down a wave of dizziness and waited until her vision stopped spinning. "Oh, you're done, let's have a look at his back before bandaging him up. By the way, his ribs are fine. I Saw no broken bones and no interior damage save the shoulder."

A group of Sylphs had been standing by to help; they lifted the oblivious man and turned him on his front. Fenix tenderly laid her hand amongst the many scratches that were on his back while her sister paid attention to the more serious scratches. "I'm beginning to wish that you did not have to stitch him up. I'm the one who'll be sharing his pain when its time for them to come off," Fenix told her sister in a conversational tone as she saw the scratches turned into faint tendrils of scars. Her sister grunted her amusement. The brownies, after seeing the two women nearly finishing their final patching, brought wash water up, several clean rags, and a towel.

"How come I never seen these guys--ah--I believe they are called Elementals--before?" Giselle asked, her voice tinged with curiosity.

"Maybe you have a little Elemental magic yourself, usually we won't be able to see them--I mean normal people. But since we are of Mom's lineage, I guess a little bit of Magick has been passed down to us. I think it lies largely on the fact that I'm also one of the Elemental Mages. I could summon them at will and it only takes a little sixth sense to see them."

"Let me guess; you specialize with Fire?" Giselle questioned.

Fenix got up to dip a cloth in the clean, lukewarm water and began to wipe the stranger's body. "Well," Fenix started, "for my case it's a little different. Usually an Elemental Mage has only high affinity for one elemental. However, when they find themselves having two higher affinities, they usually drop one. Much like me dropping A. Maths and then concentrating on E. Maths. I'm both a Fire and Air Elemental Mage. But since these two Elementals could usually work together, I have no problems whatsoever."

"I can accept that. So you're a Healer too? Any kind of side-effects after using that particular Gift?"

"Yes, to both questions," Fenix paused as the man trembled a little under her touch. She continued to wipe his body gently and continued. "Healing comes from the Healer; if I'm not careful, you might end up with two invalids in the house. But I still have my reserves; the most I would do is fall asleep for a few hours. Other side-effects are that I would be feeling--ah--maybe the word that describes it is--ah--artificial pain."

Fenix stopped talking, and they rested their aching hands as the Sylphs turned the stranger yet again. The brownies had placed an extra basin of water at her side. She picked up a clean face towel and dampened it to wipe at the stranger's face. Giselle caught her attention with a small gesture and looked at her sister in inquiry.

"What do you mean by artificial pain?" Giselle asked.

"I mean that...Well, take the wound in his shoulder; I would feel a severe discomfort in my left shoulder for the next few days." Comprehension dawned on her sister's face and they did their tasks in silence.

"Fenix, we've mixed up a poultice for the deep cuts," a brownie whispered.

"Thank you very much," Fenix replied gratefully. Once she was done, she got up and took out several clean bandages and a pair of scissors that was kept in her room. Giselle had already begun applying the poultice and it was therefore up to Fenix to wrap the bandage. She was surprised to see a six-inch cut on his right calf and blinked at her sister's precise, small and neat stitches. She grimaced a little and waited for her sister to apply the poultice on it. Fenix quickly unrolled the bandage, cut it off at an appropriate length, and began winding it around the man's calf. Using a touch of her magery, she sealed the ends.

"That's why you don't bother with pins, I see," Giselle observed.

Fenix stood up to stretch a little as several of her joints popped. She gave a little frown at a scorched mark at the exact center of his chest. "Hey, how come that escaped me?" Fenix asked, her voice sounding a little perplexed.

"I dunno, it wasn't there a while ago," Giselle remarked as she peered closely down at the imprint.

"I wonder if there's more of that," Fenix sighed futilely, as she extended her senses again, probing for new injuries. Finding none other than the one on his chest, she began Healing him again. She sank back onto the stranger's side, trembling a little with fatigue. Giselle got out a light blanket and covered the man. She too sank down at the foot of the bed, suddenly filled with exhaustion.

"What do you think happened to this man?"

"I don't really know Sis. All I can tell was that he got himself trapped in between portals. Those irregular scorch marks and the state of his clothes imply that." At her sister's puzzled expression, Fenix explained in detail.

"A portal works like this: you build an archway, and in the space of that archway is the place where you want to go. There are three layers of places. The place where you're in, the doorframe--or whatever you wish to call it and the place where you wish to go. My guess of what happened to this stranger was that he fell through an activated Portal, but one without a destination. So, he found himself trapped in a Plane of Energy; meaning the doorframe. It holds nothing more than just space, rather like the galaxy and stars. But instead of stars, it contains energy. The easiest form of energy to take place is--"

"Lightning!" Giselle cried out, snapping her fingers.

"Yes, lightning. I'm afraid his clothing has to go down the bin. I wonder if Aldren can conjure up something for him. I don't think I have spare clothes for a man his size," Fenix said, standing up. She would have fallen down on the floor on her face if Aldren had not caught her shoulders in time.

: Don't worry, the Elementals gave us the news. I will get something suitable for the stranger. You need to rest, :

the Elf said gently in the depths of her mind.

: After I wash up, :

Fenix said, smiling a little. Aldren gave a helpless shrug and was about to say something about it before a Sylph cut him.

: The man was holding something in his hand, :

the auburn-haired Sylph said, as she held out her hand. She was holding an object that was wrapped in black silk. Fenix looked at the Sylph and took the wrapped bundle cautiously. Carefully peeling off the edges of the fabric, she saw it was a wand. There was no other word to describe it.

The man is a wizard. Phoebus, there's just too much to think about.

Fenix did not utter a word as she placed it on the mantelpiece and wrapped the wand with a protective spell. Then she turned to the Sylphs. I'll worry about the man once my wits aren't so addled.

: Thank you for your help, :

she said simply.

: It was an honor for us to help you, lady, :

the Sylph replied and with a smile. They vanished as well as the other Elementals that had come to help.

"Well, I'll accompany you to your bath then," Aldren said.

"Over my dead body." Giselle interrupted firmly as she guided Fenix to her room and into the bathroom. "Aldren, I want you and Derian to keep an eye on the sleeping man until I'm done." Then she firmly closed the bathroom door as she aided her sister.

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