Snake Venom

Where am I?

(Falcon)

"-ck" Falcon shielded his eyes from a sudden bright light, then looked around. He was no longer in the room with the portraits, and where stone walls had been, a large forest took their place. A voiced called out and Falcon turned, then gaped. The black haired man from the portrait, Merlin, waved him over. "I'm so glad that spell worked. Was worried it would fade after all that time." Turning sharply, Merlin began walking away, and Falcon scrambled to follow him. "See, we knew that one day, the world may forget who we truly were. It seems we were right, if we are to believe what you told us." The pair emerged from the forest into a village that looked right out of a fantasy movie. The houses seemed to be made from brick and straw, and people bustled about in cotton clothing. In the distance, a large castle loomed, and upon a closer look, Falcon realized it was Hogwarts. "Is this, Hogsmeade?" Merlin nodded a gestured to the largest house in the village. "Come, the others are waiting." 

They approached the house, but paused when they heard yelling. The noise got louder and louder until the door swung open and a pair of men emerged, the same men from the cauldron. "Merlin is taking so long! I'm going to look- oh look I found him." The red haired man, who Falcon assumed was Godric, looked at him with a grin. Behind him, the other man, Salazar, rolled his eyes. "Yes you did now will you stop acting like a fool?" Godric strode over quickly and extended his hand. "Well met little bird. I hope Merlin didn't bore you to death." He leaned over and whispered in a conspirical tone, "He likes his math and readings and such. Such a strange person." Merlin scoffed and pulled Falcon into the house, where the women from the fireplace were seated at a large round table. He pulled out a chair and sat down, gesturing to another beside him. Falcon sat hesitantly. "You must be Ladies Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. It is an honor to meet you." The woman with the brown curls smiled warmly. "Please dear, call me Helga. I do hope you arrived safely. We still aren't sure if the spell Merlin created has any effects. I can put a pot of tea on if you are feeling sick?" He shook his head. "I feel perfectly fine, thank you for your concern Lady Helga." Godric and Salazar returned and sat down, and Merlin cleared his throat. "You must be confused. Like I said earlier, we figured that sometime in the future our stories would be twisted. It was prophesized that and heir to the castle would reclaim the honor of his ancestors, so I created a spell to be able to bring that heir here when that time came. Godric allowed me to use his sword as the vessel to activate the spell, and here you are."

 Each of the founders pulled out a small shimmering vial containing a metallic grey potion. "The portraits are tied to each of our items, so we received the memories of our portraits hearing your tale." At this, Merlin pulled out a large vial filled halfway with a white potion. "This potion allows us to each bestow a power of ours to you, to aid you in your destiny." He uncorked the vial and passed it to Godric, who grinned. "From me, you get the power to understand and control fire." He poured his vial in and it turned a bright red. Rowena spoke next. "From me, you gain the ability of mind magics. You should find it a simple task now to peer into the minds of others and protect your own." Helga smiled and poured her own vial into the now lavender potion. "From me you get the ability to heal yourself quickly as well as others." The potion turned a beautiful gold and Salazar spoke. "I gift you with the power of your own magics. You will be able to channel it through your own body, and it will become one with your blood and veins. You will not need a wand, but instead can store power into it to amplify spells." Finally, Merlin spoke. "I, the last of the Dragonlords bestow upon you my blood. You can commune with dragons, but you are not a master to them. They are your brothers and sisters in soul, and are equals. I also leave you my grimoire, containing spells from the druids, dragons, and of the old religion." He produced a beautiful black book, with silver threading and a pair of emerald dragons curled around a ruby. 

The potion was passed to Falcon who drank it, and immediately clenched his jaw at the pain. Glowing streaks of red, blue, green, and gold raced through his veins and a whimper passed through his lips. His skin began to glow a faint gold, and thick bands of silver appeared in swirl- like patterns. A pair of golden fox ears sprouted from his head, tipped with black, matching the four tails he had grown. Black wings grew from his back agonizingly slow, and a pair of fangs grew. Unable to silently bear the pain any longer, Falcon let out a scream and the founders immediately began to reach for him. Merlin reached him first and grabbed his hands. " Thír at nin chil. Dab- i naeg siri-, ceri- ú- cost ha. Ha will thinn-. Thui-, cin will ú- tul- na anui harm in nin care." Falcon took a breath and forced himself to relax. The pain lasted a few seconds longer, then faded. His tails, wings, and ears, slowly retracted, and the bands of silver faded. Falcon collapsed on the table sweating and shaking, and Helga began casting a healing spell. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry we didn't know the potion had an effect like this." The group seated themselves again, and Godric spoke. "Our timing is not the most opportunistic, however if you stay any longer the spell might not work again." Merlin nodded and gently took hold of Falcons' shoulder, "It is time to return." Falcon could barely muster a nod before the pull at his navel was there again and everything went dark.