The man wearily raised his sword to parry one of the many blades that were slicing through the air, targeting him. Twisting after the closest sword bounced off his blade, he widened his stance to take more of the heavy strikes. The more stable foundation would help him not to be battered around too much while he deflected the blades away from his body. Continually turning and taking in where each enemy was and when they seemed to prepare to strike, he was able to fend off the forces that were slowly beginning to surround him. A strike got within his defense and left a deep cut in his left shoulder. A muffled grunt of pain escaped his lips as he turned his body again to take the injured limb further from danger, still fending off attacks with his blade and keeping his feet moving. He managed to strike down three more, even as another handful joined the large number of enemies already surrounding him.

An immeasurable distance away, there was another man who held a youthful appearance, though his true age was something much more...well…more. He had been through more than his fair share of things in life and had seen a great number of things the few could fully even imagine. His experiences were gained through many different jumps to different times and places. The ability to move on to another place was always there, but he was able to hold some measure of control over when he moved to the next place. The result, however, was that the man who had now been around for a few millennia, could not complain that his life was boring in any sense of the word. The now easily recognized feeling that came about just before he allowed himself to be taken to a new place fell over him and he did a few quick charms to ensure he had everything he needed before he left the reality he was in. The feelings differed between traveling through time, traveling to a side reality or dimension, or going to a different galaxy within the universe. Confident that his belongings were secured, he stepped into the flow of magic that pulled him to his next adventure.

More hits landed as the man grew tired and the wounds were causing him to move slower and accumulate more. Blood was quickly seeping out of his body and a puddle was forming alarmingly fast beneath him on the ground as he still fought back. His hope of surviving this encounter was quickly dwindling as the enemies still continued to crowd him.

A bright light erupted off to the side and drew the attackers' attention away from him for a few moments and he took advantage of their distraction to strike down another five Urgals. His red blade slicing through arms and shoulders of his enemies, drawing cries from the victims of the infamous blade and bringing the Urgals' attention back to him. The bodies of the attackers quickly started dropping as a miniature light show danced through the darkness that had been disrupted just a few moments earlier. A man who looked to be in his mid twenties stepped over the bodies he had slain and continued clearing out the monstrous creatures and Brom allowed himself to drop heavily to the ground as the last few enemies were dispatched.

The man who had moved in to help kill the surrounding Urgals quickly stepped over to Brom and knelt next to him, his hand and was already beginning to move over Brom's battered body. A glow sprang up around his body for a few moments and a low curse was heard from the young man and he drew out a stick before making more intricate patterns over Brom's body and Brom could feel magic being pulled in around him and then being placed into the wounds on his body. The wounds quickly closed up and Brom could feel his internal muscles knitting back together as the pain diminished and became more bearable. Breathing a little easier, Brom was able to sit up and look over at his rescuer in wonder; this person had just healed all of his injuries, as far as he could tell, and yet he did not seem winded at all.

"Take it easy, friend," the young man stated as he quickly scanned the area they were in before looking back at Brom, "I may have been able to heal the injuries, but you should still go slowly at first. Unfortunately I can't bring your muscles back to full strength with the spells I had to use to patch you up quickly enough to keep you alive. You will need to slowly work your way back to what you could normally do." The young man stood up and began to move around the area that was now littered with Urgal bodies. He used his foot to roll one of the slain beings over and looked at it contemplatively. "What are these creature called?" The young man asked.

Brom coughed out a chuckle, "Urgals. What kind of rock have you been living under?"

"Ah. The question isn't what rock I have been living underit is, what rock have I been living on,forI am a traveller. Never before have I come across this species though. They seem fierce." The young man stated as he looked about the battle area.

A grunt of exertion from Brom had the young man sighing and shaking his head without turning around to look at the old rider. "I thought I told you to take it easy." He stated exasperatedly as he continued surveying the corpses.

"You don't know me, hang around long enough and you'll find I don't follow suggestions unless I like them. I've always said, better to ask forgiveness than permission and frankly I don't need either from you. However, my name is Brom, stranger, and I thank you for your help. You say you are a traveller, where is your place of origin?" Brom asked. He was curious as to where this man could be from that would keep him from knowing of Urgals.

The stranger looked at him for a few moments with unseeing eyes, "I have almost forgotten truly. Travelling for so long and seeing so much, but my beginning place is far away, across many seas." Which was true, space could be considered a back sea that few traversed and moving through time was like splashing in one of those oceans for a short time. The man chuckled, "How rude of me, saving your life without giving proper introductions. I have gone by many names in the past, though my birth name of Harry has always been my favorite."

There was a feeling of ancient power hanging about the man who called himself Harry, an odd name in Brom's opinion, but it could be worse he supposed. "So what now?" Brom questioned, not quite sure what to expect from this stranger. You could never be too cautious in times like this. He had a task to get prepared for and a small town on the other side of the Spine to set up in. Maybe he would even get to see his son... Brom shook his head as he focused back on the young man before him, "Do you have a place you are heading? And how did you get here in the first place anyways? I didn't think anyone was around for miles."

Harry chuckled, "And yet you still were ambushed by these Urgals. I don't have an exact direction I am heading in, nor a final location I wish to arrive at. Would you mind letting me tag along as a traveling companion? Perhaps you could tell me more about what all is going on here right now. I am severely out of the loop."

Brom looked at Harry for a few moments. He was wary of the young man, but something inside of him seemed to trust him, a part that had long been quiet within his mind. There was something within him that felt as though he would need this young man before the day was out. He nodded contemplatively to his new companion before hobbling towards his belongings that had been dropped when the Urgals first started their attack.

The pair slowly made their way through the thick underbrush and around the large tree trunks. They had to stop and rest often, as Brom's strength was not at its normal level. The quick healing spells Harry had to use made the muscles a little weaker, sacrificing the quick return of strength for the ability to keep Brom from bleeding out while Harry worked on him. Harry had cast a few spells to make traveling easier though, which Brom was exceedingly grateful for, even if he didn't understand the kind of magic Harry was doing. As they walked, Brom spoke of the events happening throughout Alagaesia and of dragons and magic. Much like Brom had been fascinated with Harry's use of magic, Harry was intrigued at the Ancient Language and its uses and limits. It was during one of their breaks from walking that Brom felt a sense of unease flow throughout his body before pain racked his left shoulder.

Harry was on his feet and next to Brom within moments, casting revealing spells trying to find the issue. The healing spells had worked as they were supposed to, but there was something still causing problems. Harry had checked for poisons and internal injuries along with just simple injuries from the blades of the Urgals, but nothing came back as what could be causing the problem. Harry popped back to the clearing he had first arrived in and checked the blades. He hadn't wanted to cast any other spells on Brom, in case whatever was happening responded poorly to the interference of magic. One of the blades, he discovered, was lightly coated in a solution of some kind. Harry cast a few more spells over the tainted weapon but still received no information on what it was. Harry popped back to where he had left Brom and moved over quickly to kneel next to him.

"Brom, is this a poison or something? I have never seen it before." Harry stated calmly even though he was internally worried. If there were substances that gave no reading at all for him here, he would have to work out new spells. Not a big issue, but definitely time consuming. The substance had no scent and Harry didn't want to try tasting it until he knew what it was, but usually people didn't put harmless substances on weapons unless it was for a ritual of some kind.

Brom looked as the coated blade and nodded in resignation. "There have been mutterings that a new form of poison developed by the Urgal witchdoctors that can resist the Ancient Language if done correctly. The ingredients for it though are said to be nearly impossible to find in Alagaësia. This was likely one of the few times it has been used. I know nothing about it aside from those few things." Brom sighed and shook his head. "Nothing to be done about it now I suppose."

Harry's gaze was lost on the sword's blade and the poison covering it. He pulled his wand out again and waved it towards Brom, slowly incanting the spells to reveal poisons but he received no response but as a grimace of pain racked the older man's body, he couldn't contest the fact that something was still wrong with him, and it was nothing Harry could fix. "I'm sorry Brom. I know of nothing. I have potion ingredients to make antidotes for poisons I know of, and I might be able to make an antidote if I work at it, but it could take years, and for some reason, I doubt you would coat a sword with poison that takes years to do it's job."

Brom gave a humorless laugh in response, "Too true." Brom fell silent for a few moments as he stared at Harry, the pain running through his body at more frequent intervals. "Amongst all my achievements and failures, there is one thing I will regret above all others, and that is that I will never see my son grow up. He will never know his father, and there will be no one to help guide the next Rider as I had sworn to do."

Harry looked at Brom silently for a few seconds as the man shuddered against the pain from the poison and felt a tug against his senses. Drawing his wand slowly, he asked, "Is there none other that could take your place?"

Brom hesitated for a moment and then shook his head slowly. "None that can truly give their fullest effort to it."

Harry could tell there was some twisting of the truth to the man's words, but didn't press. "Is there anything you would have me do?" Harry questioned quietly.

Brom closed his eyes and took a couple deep breaths as a particularly painful wave washed over his body. "Not unless you could swear in the Ancient Language to get the next rider to the Elves. But you don't know where they are, or how to speak the language, so it is entirely an empty hope."

Rocking back, he raised his wand in front of him and let power flow into his words, "I, Harry James Potter, swear to wait for the next Dragon Rider to be chosen and will do my best to guide them, teach them, and train them to be a just and caring ruler. I will deliver or direct the Rider to those that will assist and teach the Rider in the necessary ways to succeed. If it is within my power to better their future, I will do so. This I swear, so mote it be." A soft light circled out from Harry to Brom and Brom could feel magic responding to the young man's words before him in a way that reminded him of oaths being spoken in the Ancient Language. Gasping for breath, he settled back fully in amazement at the power this young man before him held. Harry knelt down in front of him.

"For this to really work in the best way possible, I need to know where you were heading and why, I will stick to that plan and wait where you planned to." Harry said, reaching out to check Brom's temperature as a more violent shake ran through the older man's body. Brom's eyes were beginning to glaze over and Harry watched for a moment with a pained and contemplative expression on his face. With a sigh, he placed his index finger and thumb on either side of the man's head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry to do this, friend, but for me to do the best I can, I must have information. I hope you can forgive me."

With that, he gently bypassed the man's mental shields and began copying the memories and experiences from Brom's life into his own mind. Starting with the first memories of Brom's training to become a Dragon Rider at a young age, Harry moved forward quickly, not pausing to actually watch the memories right then, but shuffling them over to his own mind for review at a later time with his Occlumency. Some memories, however, were too strong to simply ignore and pass over. Because of this, Harry experienced Brom's wonder and respect for the leaders of the Dragon Riders during their prime, the deep strength that the dragons themselves held and the joy of bonding with a dragon. He experienced the overwhelming sense of loss and hurt from Brom's dragon being killed, the deep attraction felt towards Selena that later turned into love. The peace and regret that accompanied striking Morzan down, elation at getting a dragon egg away from Galbatorix and then the sadness mixed with hope after the ambush that Harry had met him in. The joy at the birth of his son, yet sadness was that he would never be able to truly meet him. Hope at the fact that someone as powerful and good as Harry seemed to be was taking over the role he would be unable to fill for the Varden and those whose future rested with him for bringing the new Dragon Rider to safety.

The final emotions Harry received from Brom were contentment and acceptance. The last of Brom's strength was used to latch onto Harry's mind probe. "Train the Rider well, Harry. Watch over my son for me too, please." Brom's mental voice asked, and with a final sigh, Harry pulled out of the man's mind as watched as Brom's face settled into a relaxed look and his spirit drifted off into the next great adventure. Harry stood and looked down at the body of the man, sorrowful that he had been unable to heal him. With a motion, he ignited the corpse of the man he had only just met, but now knew as well as he knew as well as himself. He watched the man's spirit fully move to the next realm and mourned for the unknown loss that a son had just suffered. Intimately aware of such an absence, he swore to help as much as he could in the life of Brom's son.

"A burial fit for a King. Travel well, friend."