Haloo, I hope this chapter finds you in good health.
I'm writing this letter, because we've been trying to contact you about your thestral's extended warranty. ( ;
Btw, did anybody really think any of my characters are going to be a good person? I mean, look at my name and the profile picture...
Jk (although it's true about the profile).
I just had this thought last time while sitting on the couch, and it's really funny how I got comments wanting my character to be an anti-hero (I don't have anything against those people though).
Please, I have two pictures of Joker on my profile and one of them has a quote included...
Oh, and sorry for the sudden cutoff in the last chapter, but I still had to proofread and sleep was calling, so...
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---Three days later---
--- Azkaban Scientists Alliance ---
More than twenty people of various ages sat around a long table, with an older man standing next to a blackboard, presenting his new theorem.
"-ultimately, considering the enhanced survival abilities, increased magical strength and strengthened bodies, as well as various new abilities of shadow matter manipulation, I propose we call our new species 'Consectetur Tenebrae Efficitur Esse'. With this summary I end my thesis, and I hope to gain approval for the name, as it is the one that I think most directly describes our race."
Everyone placed around the table clapped shortly, before putting forward their own ideas.
"Considering the personality of lord Blake, as well as most of the higher ups, I do not think this name is going to be accepted, and might even be regarded as-... boring" as a dark haired woman finished speaking scandalised gasps sounded around the table.
"I agree with comrade Irvina" said a bearded muscular Russian dressed in a black lab coat, while nodding towards the woman "I think a good name would be an adjective or a verb for something representative of our species, combined with suffix -ing, for example darkling or shadowling" he added with a strong accent.
All the scientists present started heated discussion about the new name for their race, until a young man, approximately 20 years old, with a glued on white beard probably taken from some dead inmate stood up.
His name was Ignatius Wildsmith, and although he was younger than most of the group, he was chosen as a leader because of his exceptional talent in research and even more incredible ability to resolve their conflicts with ease.
Thrown into Azkaban because he defended himself from sexual assault, he hated ministry with passion even before getting transformed, and decided that if freed he would devote all his knowledge and wealth to make its officials suffer as much as possible.
Now, as a figurehead of the Azkaban Scientists Alliance, he was doing his best to lead his new species towards advancement, starting with naming it.
"I believe we can bring all the proposals to lord Blake, and allow him to choose" the young man smiled, gently caressing his beard "I am certain that our discussion meets his idea of fun, and the worst that can happen anyway is the name being temporarily undecided."
Hearing this everybody nodded in agreement, and started gathering their papers, preparing to leave.
Although all the figures that joined the scientists alliance were particularly intelligent, but their communication skills were often subpar, leading to difficulty in coordination.
That, combined with multiple people for whom English was not the first language in the group, could lead to incredible chaos if not reigned in before it was too late.
Fortunately, each member understood that, so the decision to choose the most charismatic person that is also good at solving quarrels as their leader was made unanimously.
All the members dressed in various science outfits colored in different shades of black finally gathered, moving out with Ignatius leading the front.
---The Black Hall---
In the huge room created through combined efforts of three best, or rather fastest architects, most of the prisoners were engaged in a heated match of explosive dodgeball.
The sport that started with a casual mention, quickly became one of the favourites, becoming a frequent visitor on the official roster, often even casually played in the corridors.
The people it made happy the most were architects, who believed that the destruction helped them awaken their creativity, and fix the mistakes in their previous builds.
This idea led to the fact that the hall was now a combination of more than twenty different styles, which often got more exaggerated the closer you looked towards the short walls.
What caused this was that as the members of Azkaban community got better at dodge part of the game, most of the explosives landed on the further walls.
The designers also managed to infuse shadows with magic, somehow making them sparkle while at the same time becoming darker than ever before.
The confusing decoration abilities did not end here, as in certain parts of the fortress one of the architects, who was also a part-time artist, decided that gravity was really affecting his inspiration.
Now in random places prisoners are often seen floating up into the sky, and then suddenly dropping down at double the speed while giggling with joy.
The small rocky island surrounding the fortress was also developed outwards, as its small size 'stifled creativity' and 'slowed the advancement of glorious art civilization'.
The chaos caused by those changes led to creating more fun for all the residents, even if most of the troubles could easily kill even strong wizards from normal world, as their fragile bodies would be massacred if anything as much as touched them.
The delegation of scientists walked into the hall with dignity, searching for their leader, whom they spotted bouncing back bombs thrown by some convicts, right back into their arms, where they exploded pushing them into the wall and sometimes covering their bodies with glitter.
Speeding up, the researchers moved surprisingly swiftly, dodging all bombs thrown towards them.
As they came closer, Blake turned towards them while floating up "Did you find something fun?" he asked with a happy smile.
"We have a question for you leader" said Ignatius, while ducking slightly beneath a bomb flying towards his head "We thought of various names to name our new race, however we could not come to an agreement, and thus we decided to ask you to choose" he said, presenting the stack of documents.
Blake quickly glanced through them at incredible speed, and then showed a thoughtful expression thinking about it deeply.
"Hey, no using magic" he suddenly turned around and yelled at a teenager who raised his hands in surrender, before getting hit by a bomb from the side.
"Anyway" he turned back to the science group, which was unfazed by this incident "I think that a fair thing would be to throw some dice" Blake smirked, and created a large 27 sided dice that slightly defied laws of geometry.
The boy threw it hard, causing it to bounce of the wall, and knocking out two people before it landed back in their vicinity.
"Sixteen, who is sixteen?" he said after checking the dice, causing a petite woman to perk up with excitement.
"I chose Cimmerians as a name for our race" she quickly calmed down, and presented her idea.
"Okay, YOU ARE ALL CIMMERIANS NOW!!!" he yelled loudly, his voice echoing through the darkness spreading towards the whole fortress.
The newly named cimmerians cheered for a few seconds, before promptly returning to the deadly game of dodgeball, which now evolved into something more along the lines of 'get up from the shockwave before another one reaches you', as Abaddon brought his newly created magic explosives, which combined chemistry and spells.
"Another thing, comrad-...Lord Blake" said the Russian man named Katya, trying to keep respect while fighting his ingrained speech pattern "I wish to ask, whether all... cimmerians should go back to using wands in preparation for future operations?"
"No need for that" said Blake, while creating a darkness shield to block a huge explosion that made a huge hole in the floor and caused slight spatial disturbances, making people teleport randomly around, sometimes losing a limb or two "I discovered that my darkness has much stronger magic guiding properties" he pointed casually at the side casting the killing curse.
The spell hit a random inmate, causing him to fly back a dozen meters, before finally stopping.
The man got up and dusted himself off, before getting teleported outside into the air, and skewered on a spike created by one of the artists.
This situation would normally make him burst into mad fits of laughter, however unfortunately both of his lungs were pierced.
"I'm surprised you didn't discover it yourself" said the boy, ignoring the slight shock they showed after witnessing birth of the new man-who-lived "You should stop thinking about naming and go have some fun" he added, before teleporting towards the pile of bombs.
Seeing this the group moved towards the exit, while animatedly discussing the situation they just witnessed.
"Can we all survive the killing curse now?"
"Technically that should be true, as our race is born from being assimilated by the darkness. The killing curse presumably works by cutting off soul from the body, but ours are made from darkness and souls are connected to the lord."
"That would also imply lack of dangers connected to dar..."
The voices of the scientists faded, covered by another huge explosion as they left the hall in an endless search for knowledge, which was their own brand of fun.
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An enclosed boat was slowly swaying on the sea, violent waves surrounding it somehow not managing to turn it over.
Inside sat three aurors, two of them playing cards and one leaning against the wall with eyes closed.
"Ha, I win Jack, give me the money" said one of the men triumphantly.
The wizard named Jack groaned, and unhappily handed over three galleons from a large heap in front of him.
"Don't be so happy Avery, I'll win it back next round" he said, clearly more unhappy about losing than about having to pay mere three galleons.
Shane Avery took out a cigarette and started smoking, which caused the third wizard leaning against the wall to open eyes and glare at him unhappily.
Seeing the other person's stare, the man winked with a mischievous grin, which caused the other auror to huff and stand up.
"I'm going to stretch my legs" the person said walking towards the door, while habitually rubbing an enchanted ring placed on the index finger "Don't get the food more wet" added the robust auror, looking at Jack.
"Anyway David can eat shit, and he will be happy" responded the man in a mocking tone "After all mudbloods have natural ability to survive from trash."
"Don't get washed off Dawlish" said Avery jokingly, ignoring the other man's usual racism "Or we will have to go fishing for your corpse."
John waved dismissingly backwards, opening the door, perceiving the sight which froze the body on the spot.
"The weather not to your liking?" mocked Jack "Worried your delicate hands will get wet?"
"You have to see this." Dawlish stumbled back, pointing at the door "I think I drank too much before leaving and now have hallucinations."
Both men curious about John's reaction came towards the door. The sight beyond the frame caused them to freeze as well.
The previously tall fortress placed on a small rocky island, now was more than twice as tall and wide, its surroundings dimmed by its pure darkness.
The island was now much larger, it's dark material extending towards the sea, slowly assimilating it into part of itself.
The aurors came out, instantly noticing the surrounding haziness. Compared to previous slightly gloomy weather, now the light seemed to be trying to escape, covering everything in abyssal darkness.
This new 'Azkaban' was much darker than the surroundings, clearly visible on the night-...cloudy sky. The closer they came, the clearer they could make out the shape of this new fortress. Not only much larger, but at the same time seemed like a Rubik's cube made of multiple different types mashed together by an angry child.
The shadowy land neared, and as the boat slowly came to a stop on the calm water, that seemed scared to approach the island, they noticed a large black sign, full of somehow shining dark letters.
★★★WELCOME TO THE AZKABAN CITY, HOME OF ALL ART AND FUN★★★
They froze, looking at the huge billboard.
"What in the actual fuck" Avery voiced the thought that went through the heads of all three.
They stared at the sign for a while, not only confused by the writing, but also by the fact that it seemed to be shining and absorbing light at the same time.
Suddenly, a few 'people' approached, with some weird dementors floating behind them.
The hoods of their dark cloaks were taken down, and their faces might have seemed human, if not for the sharp teeth and pitch black eyes.
The three of them noticed that most of the humans also had eyes, that were filled with darkness on various levels, with some being slightly tinged and some almost fully covered.
"Well, well, well. Who finally came to visit" said the leading man, who they barely recognised as David "My favourite few little bunnies decided to offer themselves for the sake of our entertainment!" the people and dementors surrounding him cheered, causing the darkness around to violently vibrate, as if it wanted to break free from the ground and join in celebration.
The ex-auror looked almost completely different than before. His thin frame got more robust, and the newfound sense of confidence gained by leading people granted him an indescribable aura.
His eyes turned pure black with a golden cross in the middle, and his hair looked like shadows, swaying without any wind.
'Wait, no wind?' Dawlish quickly woke up, pulling out the wand and moving into a fighting stance.
Everything about this situation felt weird, even the surrounding weather was unnaturally still, as if it was scared.
The other two aurors tried to follow John's example by pulling their own wands, but David raised his hand, causing the surrounding shadows to bind them, stopping them in place.
Dawlish was left alone, standing unsure as to why their old enemy decided to only take down the other two men.
"You know, I always liked you John" said David walking towards him, while fixing his ever-swaying hair with a flamboyant gesture "Although you were neutral, but I could see your dislike for their actions deep inside."
Dawlish felt the heart raise up into the throat, as the man- no, the monster walked forward, extending a hand in an inviting move.
"If you follow us willingly I will put in a good word for you to our lord, little cutie" David smiled excitedly raising both hands up in a dramatic motion "Come and join us in everlasting, infinite fun!"
John slowly put down the hand holding the wand, before quickly and decisively moving it towards shiny silver belt when it was close enough.
Before anybody managed to react, the portkey inside of the buckle was activated, making Dawlish vanish in a spatial whirlpool.
The two men tightly bound by shadows looked at David expecting burst of anger, but he merely smiled and waved his hand, dragging them behind him.
"The space around here got wrecked with Abaddon's bombs, which ment that my cute little lamb is going to be very unlucky" he spoke to the people surrounding him, who listened with interest "Besides, I will catch my favourite sooner or later, and in the meantime I have those two little purebred white rabbits to play with." he grinned wildly at the two terrified men floating behind him.
The surrounding cimmerians and dementors started chattering happily, not caring about the poor two souls dragged along, only David carefully separating the infectious darkness from them, so as they wouldn't die too easily, or get assimilated.
--- Sahara Desert ---
Dawlish fell out of the space vortex, heavily hitting the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust.
The previously robust body was now full of cuts and looked considerably more slender.
The hair turned slightly silvery, though still retaining most of their original brown colour.
John, who slowly got up wincing in pain, looked at the pieces of equipment that hung down from scarred legs and arms and the damaged alchemical ring.
The wand was also almost unusable, with five scars going through it's length, showing the core inside.
"I'm in so much trouble" Dawlish muttered, looking at the sand stretching as far as the eye could reach "So much trouble..."
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I thought about just posting this without proofreading, as the inspiration was flowing smoothly, but I decided to just wait till the next day to proofread.
Hopefully you liked this chapter.
If you have any interesting ideas, write them here (in the comments), or DM me on Discord (if you know my account, lol).
Wish you sparkling abyss and deep sleeps, bye.