Disclaimer: Same old, same old.

I'm still alive! Here's another chapter, and Merry Christmas!

Island Ruins, Main Street

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"Damn rain," Harry complained, as he almost slipped on yet another patch of moss, "this must be the fifth time I almost slipped today."

"It's not like we can cast a water-repelling charm on the city, is it?" Hexior asked rhetorically, ignoring Harry's dirty look at the comment. "I guess we'll have to live with it."

Septima shook her head, jumping over a puddle of water. "I'm just wondering how did the weather turn from sunny to a downpour in the blink of an eye."

"That's usual here," Harry said, "the time sometimes changes like that. Hex, do you think the weather might be related to the ruins?" he asked, turning towards his friend.

The officer scratched his chin for a bit, before shrugging. "There is some stuff about it, but it would take some time to explain the whole story."

"Let's find a sheltered place and see if this gets a bit better, shall we?" Bill asked, trying to keep his long hair away from his eyes. "I don't think we can do a lot of exploring when it's raining like this. We can barely see ourselves!"

"Sounds good to me," Harry agreed, "it would be too easy for us to get ourselves lost, and it should be almost noon. Let's stop for a while and get something to eat while we plan if we keep going or return home."

Merlose nodded. "That would be the sensible thing to do... let's look for a place to rest for a bit, then."

The other two men nodded, but Septima looked unsure, looking around with a strange expression on her face. Harry was the first one to notice this, and as the group started walking forward again, he approached the former Arithmancy teacher. "Is there something wrong? I noticed you looking around a while ago."

Vector shook her head. "I don't know Harry. I felt like someone – or something was watching us. I don't really know what to make of it. It was probably nothing, but I just can't calm down."

Harry tensed up, looking around quickly. "Yeah, it was probably nothing," he tried to assure, although his fingers were gripping the rifle he carried a bit tighter than needed, "but we should keep sharp, just in case."

"Hey you two, over here!" Hex waved, pointing to a sturdy two-floor house. "Dry and without beasties, I guess we can rest for a bit here, right?"

"Well, no complaints on my end," muttered Bill, "even a hole on the ground would be good."

The green-eyed wizard couldn't help but to agree with Bill's comment "Yeah, as long as there are no beasties and no rain, it's good to me." he said, following the other two towards the door.

As the four magicals entered their impromptu resting spot, someone (or something) else was watching them, studying the group intently. They were observant, true, but not enough to perceive the danger that was creeping closer and closer.

Soon, their first trial would begin.

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Island Ruins, The Team's Shelter

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Groaning, Harry rested his weapons against the wall before sitting heavily on a nearby stone bench. "Phew, a dry place at last!" he sighed in relief, quickly whipping his wand out and casting drying spells on himself and the rest of the team.

"Tell me about it," Bill replied from his own bench, "I'm getting tired of all this water. What an insane weather!" he complained, before quickly adding as Harry's spell hit him, "Thanks, much better now."

"Yeah, thanks Harry." Septima said, opening her backpack to search for some food."The weather seemed to look good for the whole day when we arrived... speaking of which, could you explain now your theory on how the ruins are behind the whole weather changes?" she asked Hex.

The officer didn't reply right away, opting instead to take a bite form the apple he fished from his backpack right after he sat down, his mind trying to remember the whole story and the best way to start talking about it. "It all began with the destruction of the city, some thirty years before it was split between the two worlds. This was a fairly important city back then, but a sudden earthquake, followed by a flood, destroyed the city and killed everyone inside. Now, this just seems to be a great streak of bad luck, right?" he asked, before taking another bite of the apple and letting the other think about it.

"Let me guess," Harry said, opening a bottle of water and taking a sip from it, "there was something there that hinted that what happened wasn't something natural."

"Exactly," Merlose nodded, "My ancestor's books didn't go in much detail yet, but she referred some reports from the local authorities whose transcriptions were included in one of the books I've yet to read. Apparently, the earthquake and the flood ruined the city, but the surrounding lands, mostly farms with a few houses and other buildings, escaped unscathed."

Bill raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't make any sense. If the earthquake hit the city that bad, the surrounding lands should have suffered something as well."

"It could be that the city suffered the worst because the buildings are so close to each other." Septima said, but her theory was shot down by Hex's head shaking.

"Nope. That's another detail from the reports. The earthquake separated the city from the main landmass. We're talking about a magnitude that was enough to change part of the landscape itself. There's no way a few farmhouses could have survived that, they were too close."

"Well, it certainly sounds very fishy." Harry said with a pensive face. "By the looks of things, you could almost say that..." he blinked, horrified by the prospect that came to his mind. "Merlin... you don't mean that it was an intentional..."

Merlose nodded gravely. "Yes. It was also written that the country's Parliament ordered all investigations on the incident to be closed with no plausible justification. You can guess my ancestor's comments on that, can you?"

"The Parliament, or at least some of its members, were somehow related to the incident?" the former teacher inquired, feeling slightly sick at the implications.

"Indeed, Septima. She believed the Parliament was behind it all, they seemed to want to control the Gran Grimoire, and the power that came with it. So they sacrificed the entire city to the power that used to flow here. Of course, there was a key component that they forgot, and without it, their plan only resulted in a city filled with monsters." Hex chuckled ruefully.

"So, which component are you talking about?" Bill inquired, leaning a bit closer.

"The Blood-Sin." Hexior then drew a vertical line in the sand, crossed a bit below the middle by two smaller diagonal lines. "This is the original symbol, and it's inverted form was the symbol of the Church of Iocus. They had a cathedral on this city, but that particular part of the city stayed on the other world. They used to call the original version of their cross the 'Rood Inverse'. Either way, this cross was a tattoo that one had on the back, something that was considered by many as a mark of heresy. The one bearing this cross was able to control the power of the Gran Grimoire... but that only came to light some twenty-five years after the city was destroyed."

"Why would that come to light? Did the Parliament keep trying to control the city?" Harry asked, thinking of what would happen if someone like Voldemort took that power to himself.

"No, not the Parliament. Would you believe if I said it was the Church itself? The Cardinal of the wanted the power and the immortality that came with it. Of course, there was something that he overlooked, and that my ancestor quoted word by word: 'those who crave the Dark cannot control the Dark'. If he tried to claim the powers of the city to himself, he'd become a soulless abominations. Only someone who did not desire the Dark could be the vessel for the powers of the city."

"So someone had to keep the Blood-Sin safe from the Cardinal." Septima said, entranced by the tale.

"Yes. The family of the Blood-Sin's creator kept the secret for many years, until it was found by the Cardinal and a few others. The bearer of the Blood-Sin did his best to keep it safe, and eventually he found someone that did not desire the power of the Dark. That person was the one that came with the idea of splitting the city to ensure nobody else could try to take its power. And you know the rest of the story."

Septima nodded after a few moments, before voicing her thoughts. "Okay, that was quite enlightening, but... you forgot to answer my question."

Merlose actually blinked twice at the comment, thinking about what he just said, and realizing she was right. "Oops, I guess I got carried away." he admitted sheepishly, eliciting facepalms from the other explorers. "But anyway, weather control, right? From what I've read, whichever means the Parliament used to cause the destruction of the city are still around, but probably in a lesser form, since the city was split. This is only a theory, though. I need to read further to prove it, but so far what I've seen fits with my thoughts on the matter."

"Fair enough." Harry said, getting to his feet and walking towards the window. "And this rain seems to keep going steady."

"Well, I guess we don't have much of a choice, then..." muttered Hex, adjusting the straps of his backpack. "Time to turn around and return home. It's either that or spending the night here, and I don't feel like sleeping at Hotel Zombie, thank you very much."

"Agreed," Bill said quickly, grabbing his backpack, "even if we pressed on, the badges can't map the layout of the area, so it's useless."

Harry sighed turning his back from the window and grabbing his own gear. A sudden shadow, however, had him turn around suddenly, pointing his rifle at the window.

"Harry?" Septima asked, her hands also going for the rifle, "What is it?"

"I think there's something outside." he said giving a quick nod to Merlose.

The officer eyed the door and the window warily, his rifle now ready to fire. Harry sometimes seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to ambushes, so the green-eyed wizard's nod was pretty much the only confirmation that the veteran needed to know things were about to get hot. "Get ready. Harry, check the back door. If we can't take whatever comes inside, we'll have to wing it out of here, and I'm not sure if we'll have time to Apparate out of here safely."

The youngest of the group muttered something under his breath and slowly opened the back door, revealing a narrow side street. "It's cle-"

Whatever he had to say, however, was rudely interrupted when the front window burst into pieces as a red suit of armour leapt inside, almost skewering Hex with its long sword.

"Fuck!" the man swore, dodging the lunge and firing a burst on reflex, watching in disbelief as the suit of armour got out of his line of fire with another acrobatic move. "This guy is smart!" he stated needlessly, as the other three members added their fire to the mix.

The suit fell back as the bullets hit its chest plate, but the explorers knew this opening would last only a little while. Already the strange type of Dullahan was getting to its feet, once again doing some very strange moves. The team member knew then that there was only one thing they could do.

"This is a foe beyond any of us. Run!" Hexior said, laying suppressive fire along with Bill as they retreated towards the back door.

"No shit, Gandalf!" spat Harry, already outside, his rifle belching fire at the few unfortunate monsters that were attracted by the sudden noise.

"This is not the time for jokes!" the other man replied, grabbing a grenade from his belt. "Let's see if it can blow up. Bill could you cast a sound-dampening charm on this general area? Don't need my eardrums blow up."

The redhead nodded silently, his wand sliding from his holster in one swift move, as Hex threw the explosive device inside and ran away very fast, the others following him closely. A second or two later, the muffled sound of the explosion was heard, but none of them dared to check if the armour was down for good, instead opting for the best part of valour and getting themselves out of there.

"Bugger, bugger, bugger!" Harry cursed, reloading his rifle, "Why did Timmy had to call its cousins today! Wanker!"

"I don't care what's the relationship between Timmy and that one, all I know is that he's even tougher than the Timmies. This is NOT good, I tell you!" replied Septima. "Four people firing at him and all we did was to scratch the painting!"

"We should have brought the experimental ammo, yes." Bill agreed, his mind going towards the bullets that they, along with Goldsmelter's goblins, were trying to enchant with piercing and explosive charms. "But there's no use in crying over spoilt milk. Right now, we have to get out of here, and get out of here fast!"

Harry replied with a grunt as they walked through the side street. Unlike the main accesses through the town, which were broad and well-lit, the side roads were narrower, darker places, used by servants or bandits on the high hours of the night. On both sides of the street, the ruins reminded the expedition team that the state of the main road façades, who seemed to resist the test of time, did not apply to the rest of the houses.

After ten tense minutes of walking and trying to open the doors of the houses that seemed in a better state, they finally reached a door that seemed able to be opened, unlike many others rendered unusable by fallen debris. With a kick, the half-rotten wood was thrown off its hinges and the foursome got inside, scanning for more threats.

"Now," Harry finally said, checking the map, "the street should be towards the East, but our only way out seems to be in the opposite direction. I feel like we've just walked into a labyrinth, you know?"

"Don't jinx it." grumbled Bill, "We don't need more problems than the one we just faced. I really hope there aren't many more of those guys out there."

"Now who's jinxing?" the younger wizard replied sarcastically.

"Knock it off, you two." interrupted Hex, "Do you have any ideas beyond 'follow the damn doors and try to find the main road'?" he asked, waiting a second for their reply. "... didn't think so." he finally sighed. "Truth is, I don't have any ideas either, so I guess we'll have to stick to following the doors and pray that we find our way back today. Oh, and the noise must have attracted every beastie from here to the village, so check your clips and be always prepared to fire."

"Like you have to say that twice." grumbled Harry. "I just hope we don't end up in deeper shit than the one we're on right now."

"Real optimistic, aren't you Harry?" Hex chuckled. "But to be honest, I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was thinking something among those lines, too. Still, better to get moving, we don't know how long this detour will take."

Nodding, the other members of the team walked towards the other door, opening it carefully. There was nothing on the other side, apart from yet another empty street, a little narrower than a main one, but littered from the rubble coming from the ruined houses on the right side. Looking to their left side, they saw a river with stormy, deep blue water and beyond it, another street that ended in the distance on what seemed to be the main road they were exploring in the first place

"Well," Septima quipped, "at least we know the way back now. We just need to find a way to cross a deep and treacherous river."

"Not helping the situation Septima..." Harry grumbled, looking for a hint of a bridge or a shallow zone. "There's nothing close that could allow us to cross the river... I guess we'll have to go through this road and look for a bridge ourselves." he paused for a few moments. "We could also try to conjure something similar to a bridge, but this place makes the magic a bit unstable. I don't want to risk it with us being as far from the other side as we are right now."

"Wait," Bill interrupted, "how come we don't have problems with our bags or our armour, then?"

"That's because it's rune-based, not to mention it is a different school of magic that isn't affected as Transfigured or Conjured stuff is." Merlose explained, pointing to the engravings on the barrel of his rifle. "The inherent magic of the place tends to force things to assume their natural shapes, unless we anchor the modifications to the object through rune arrays. My ancestors found out about this and decided to go all-runes to any enchanted items that might end up being used inside the ruins. It is unnecessary in some cases, but the advantages of a rune-array over an enchantment in heavy-duty applications is undeniable."

"Unless the rune array is damaged." replied the redhead, understanding the reasoning behind the runes, "but I assume you thought about that as well?"

The officer nodded. "Right. We reinforce our arrays with an extra layer of hardness enchanting, or even disassembling the weapons and placing the arrays on places that aren't normally exposed. Our swords are usually enchanted before we put the grip on them, so the rune arrays will be inside the grip. My sword is a bit different, but it is a family heirloom with a lot of weird features."

"So that's why your sword has all those runes inscribed on the blade, unlike Harry's sword. Still it doesn't seem as old as you just said it was." the Arithmancy teacher said, finally understanding a part of the mystery that was the great-sword that Hexior referred to as the 'Riskbreaker'.

Harry snorted. "That would be the responsibility of the 'weird features' Hex referred to. He's downplaying it, but whomever made that blade was a genius. It can identify and assimilate a better material to its function, not to mention it self-repairs as long as you make sure the blade is touching a raw material. It freaked me out the first time I saw it. And sometimes, I get the feeling it slowly improves its composition as time goes. I'm pretty sure the edge didn't look that sharp when I first saw that blade."

"Harry pretty much summed most of the things I know about it. Apart from that, I know the blade cannot be broken and it is recorded that it could punch through Timmy armour like paper. I'm not looking forward to test it, though."

With the explanation given, the foursome walked forwards, shifting their focus towards checking their surroundings for enemies. Under the rain, they walked slowly but surely, with one of them occasionally looking around, trying to find a place to cross.

"To our right. Lizardmen." Harry suddenly whispered, motioning the others to look to a nearby balcony. There, the two lizard-like beings were looking around, looking perhaps for the prey that the enchanted armour suit failed to capture.

The group immediately tensed up, hiding behind a building's corner. "Harry, Septima," Hex whispered, drawing his blade, "they're too many for us to manage to shoot them all down. Take those you can out and let the others to me. Bill, you want to shoot as well or do you feel like testing that scimitar of yours?"

"I'll go for the scimitar, with Harry and Septima shooting there won't be much to clean up anyway." the curse-breaker smiled.

"You'd be surprised," the other man said as he prepared to go out of cover, "Lizardmen are agile. Very agile. Harry, on three. One..."

"Two..." Harry said, bringing the butt of his weapon against his shoulder. Right next to him, Septima did the same, her lips curling in a grin.

"Three!" both wizards screamed before the team jumped out of cover. The lizards on the balcony barely had time to react before the first bullets bit them right in the heads. However, the ones behind them were luckier. Five more left the building, with one snuffed out in mid-air with a shot from Septima, falling into the river. Harry handled another one as it landed, shredding its chest with a burst. After that, there was no line of sight to safely shoot them.

Hex was a few steps ahead of the two marksmen, his blade ready for the first blow. His eyes bet the ones of the lead lizardman, and the reptile charged forward, hefting his own great-sword. Blade met blade, and the two were locked in combat. Hex pushed forwards, forcing the monster to take a step back to swing his weapon.

Of course, this is the part where the Patrol Officer punches him in the face, taking a step back before performing a quick blow from the side, aiming at the enemy's dominant side. The blade bit through the leather braces, eliciting a howl of pain from the beast moments before Merlose finished his movement with a vertical slash, bisecting the beast.

"That's one," he muttered, watching Bill engaging the second one in combat. That meant there was one left, who tried to run past the melee fighters. Reacting quickly, the veteran spun on the balls of his feet, cutting the legs of his new foe before finishing the job with a kick to the back of the lizardman's neck, snapping the spinal cord and killing it instantly. "And done."

On Bill's side, things were a bit more heated up. His opponent had the range advantage, wielding a wicked looking trident, but the curse-breaker was managing to keep its attacks at bay, buying some time to formulate a strategy. Unlike Hexior, Bill was not a physical powerhouse, and so the strength advantage also fell on the side of the lizardman. Of course, when you wield a spear you sacrifice your defence in case the enemy manages to get past the spiky implement on the pole you carry as a weapon. Bill knew this, fruit of the long fencing lessons with Harry, and he knew what to do. First thing, find a way to bat aside the weapon.

'Of course, this is easier said than done.' he thought as he parried another blow. 'It's not like I can simply grab the spear and push it aside, that thing seems to be strong enough to pierce sto- ooooh,' he smiled, as the repositioned himself to have a wall near his back.

As the lizardman lunged, Bill stepped aside, smirking as his suspicions were confirmed and the spear got stuck to the wall. The Lizard tried to pull the weapon off the wall, a distraction that cost it its life, as Bill swung his weapon and finished the combat via decapitation.

"Wow, Bill sure managed to hold his own." Septima remarked, approaching the two swordsmen, who were now in the process of cleaning the blood off their weapons.

"Harry is a good teacher, that's all." the eldest Weasley brother smiled, in what could be seen as a subtle nod at his brief sting as the teacher of a clandestine movement during his days as a Hogwarts student.

"It helps that the student has experience on thinking on his feet." Harry replied. "You did great there, nice planning with the spear on the wall thing."

"Thanks, but we should get moving, there might be more nearby, after this fight."

The green-eyed wizard smiled. "I have good news. While you two were busy being awesome, I think I found a bridge in the distance. If we hurry, it won't take long until we're on the other side, so come on, we still have three hours of walking ahead of us!" he said, taking point as the rain started to become lighter.

Their first problematic situation was solved, but Merlose was pretty troubled. What was that Dullahan lookalike? He'd need to look for any books on monsters on his archives. Getting information from references on other texts would not do at all, not after this day.

So yeah, it was a pretty bad time for writing. My laptop broke, and I had a bunch of stuff regarding my fics there. I'm now on my replacement computer, which is a good bit older, but still workable. Then a bunch of other things got in the way, and inspiration didn't come... until now, that is.

See you next chapter!