Worthy Of Magic

Part 62 - London

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self - May Sarton

There's always another box. Another mystery to solve. Wake up Harry. Realise Reality.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat.

He instinctively assessed his surroundings.

The sun was rising and there was no one around. The night fire had burnt out and faint wisps was smoke still curled through the light breeze.

"Strange," Harry muttered with a yawn.

He got up and stretched.

Where did all the people go? He wondered. He had imagined with the fire and they're blankets, they would be still around. Asleep. But instead there was a strange taste in the air.

It felt like magic. Something had happened to the people here.

Harry drew on the void and looked deeper.

Shimmering runes materialised around him with an odd replication of immortality?

Harry looked around and there was nothing more to find. Not even a trail.

"Curious," he muttered and took a deep breath to wake himself properly. It was a new day.

He took the path towards the cluster of buildings visible some distance away.

The air heated up as he walked through the sand but he soon found himself entering an alley that was canopied with multicoloured sheets tied from the remains of building to building and beneath, to his surprise a growing number of vendors selling wares to a scattered and hooded community that emerged and disappeared through the shadows of the ruins.

A Network, he thought in glee.

"Can I interest you in some apples from the treasure hoard of the Elysium, Sir!" A middle aged lady in grey robes selling fruits while sitting atop her run down cart beckoned him over with a smile.

Harry was intrigued. He walked over and asked, "The treasures of Elysium?"

He picked up one of the wrinkled fruit and had to wonder how it was grown in the desert. It looked old, which meant, it was someones reject being sold here.

The Elysium sounded like a place of the elite and judging by the lack of magic around him, it sounded like a haven for magicals.

"Aye," she said brightly. "I'm connected with the magi you see. Do you see any other fruit sellers around?"

Harry frowned. He was already profiling the wizards and witches that ran the Elysium. It was segregation all over again. It was the same at the Settlement by the Sea.

Elevate the strong and discard the weak. The principle of the evolution of survival.

The difference that made him frown was that those in the Elysium seemed to have found their hands on a mountain of resources that was out of place in the desert. They were cheating the rules.

He didn't like it one bit.

"Oye! Are you in there?" The woman snapped her fingers in front of his eyes.

Harry blinked. He had drifted.

"Where can I find the magi?" He asked.

"Ah come on now," she complained and twirled the edges of greying hair. "Don't tell me you're a greenhorn fresh out of the desert!"

"What if I am?" Harry asked mildly. Looks like she saw no profit in him.

She sighed. "Alright, get outta here. It's clear you don't even know how to pay."