Fan Fiction ❯ Harry Potter and the Hero of Time ❯ Lament for Ember ( Chapter 18 )

Chapter 18-Lament for Ember

"That was the hardest thing I ever had to do," William said as he reverted. "I had to, though, or everyone would have been killed or enslaved. How is Ember?"

"He's dead," Alzeroth said. "The draconians are already in the caves below preparing to begin the funeral ceremony."

William snapped his fingers, and they were suddenly in a vast cavern. All of them bore torches of Blue Fire that illumined a vast horde of gold and jewels. All that Ember owned was gathered there, with the corpse of Ember stretched out prone on top of it. When dragons die, their bodies turn to gleaming crystals the color of their scales. Ember, being a red dragon, was a gigantic mass of rubies, with the gems of his underbelly slowly falling off.

Around the corpse of Ember were hordes of his elite Aurak draconians, subverted forms of gold dragons. Gold dragons are the metallic equivalent of red dragons, so the red dragons prefer gold-colored draconians in their forces. Along the walls of the chamber were hordes of other draconians, silver Sivaks, brass Baaz, bronze Bozaks, and copper Kapaks. Cyan Bloodbane was standing next to an ancient female red dragon called Matafleur, who sacrificed herself once upon a time to kill Ember.

Suddenly, the Phantom of the Opera sat down at a huge organ near the corpse. He played a haunting melody that resounded as the draconian, dragons, demigods, and others sang. What follows is an English (Common in Hyrule and Krynn) version of what they sang.

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In dark January,

This world seemed scary.

But Lord Ember flew

With the grace of a fairy

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In chill February,

O'er fen and prairie

Our lord's shadow grew

Till it was indeed scary

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

As cool March winds blew

Our fires blew too

And Lord Ember's great

Horde always grew

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

As April rains fell

Our clutches hatched well

Under our great lord's

Most powerful spell

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In the warm month of May

We flew night and day

And Lord Ember's bright flame

Lit our way

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In the warm month of June

We sang under the moon

And Lord Ember sang

With a soothing croon

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In the heats of July

We commanded the sky

And Lord Ember's flight

Was always quite high

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

As August storms fell

We burned wood and dell

With fire that Ember

Blew very well

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

The month of September

Belonged to Lord Ember

That is something

We must always remember

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

In the cool of October

We flew the world over

And Lord Ember was our

Four-leafed clover

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

Through the winds of November

We followed Lord Ember

To our clutches he led,

As we all will remember

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

But in this December

We lost our Lord Ember

But his glories of yore

We will always remember

We will always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past chilly December

We must always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past this foul December

We must always remember

Our fallen Lord Ember

From the heat of July

Long past this foul December

The draconians sang for what seemed like hours, speaking in all the tongues they knew. They used their own racial languages, the Draconic tongue of wizards, even Elven and Hylian, which they normally would never speak. When the final notes fell dead in the air, everyone took their torch of Blue Fire and set fire to the body. This, according to dragons, would make his soul speed safely to the next plane of existence. The Phantom of the Opera stood after the fires went out and said these words:

"We alone can make his soul take flight. We must ne'er forget that what he did was right." The Phantom then vanished by sweeping his cloak about him, leaving only his mask behind on the organ bench. William then snapped his fingers, and they were all inside a huge circular chamber in the midlevels of the tower. There were doors standing at random throughout the chamber, with all sorts of strange symbols marked on them. The doors were all of the circular type found in the Ancient Castle of Ikana, for some reason.

"This is the chamber of portals," Alzeroth explained. "Each one connects to a different section of the magical universe. Those from Earth will find the portal home marked with the Hogwarts crest. The portal back to Hyrule is marked with the sacred symbol of the Triforce, of course, so there should be no mistaking it."

"Wait a moment," Hermione said. "I've been thinking about this, and if Drakan can travel time, why didn't he just kill us off before we were born."

"Time travel doesn't work like that," Lexicon replied. "All of you are significant to the histories of your respective worlds. Drakan's power to affect the past does not permit him to alter the basic reality of events. If he had not created the Gerudo and Ganondorf, they would exist anyways. If he had not helped Voldemort, Voldemort would still exist. If he had not stolen the Ring, it would have been destroyed anyways.

"The Gerudo are part of Hyrule's natural cycle. In every Hyrulian timeline, they exist and dwell in deserted regions. In Termina, Gerudo are bound to be pirates. Ganondorf was destined to exist anyways, so even if Drakan did not create the Gerudo, they would have come into existence somehow anyways.

"Voldemort is very powerful. He consorted with the very worst of wizard-kind on Earth. Even if Drakan had not appeared, Voldemort would have found some other combination of evil witches and wizards and learned from them. He used black magic of a most ancient sort to make himself into the monster he is. Drakan just sped along what was already going to happen.

"The Ring was going to be destroyed anyways. Bound within it was the power of the foul Lord Sauron. Its removal from Earth's past, regardless of method, would have inevitably led to Sauron's permanent weakening. Drakan could not have helped Sauron survive because that would be a major alteration to history.

"Drakan can travel back in time, but he cannot alter history significantly. It is one of his very few limitations. Without you, your timelines as they are now would not exist. Without Hermione, Harry and Ron could have never solved some of the puzzles on the way to the Sorcerer's Stone. Without the Gerudo, Ganondorf would not exist, and he is necessary for some great Purpose I cannot fathom. Without the Ring, Sauron would have fallen long ago. Besides that, no serious danger of the re-release of Father Chaos of Krynn existed."

"Thanks, Lexicon."

"It is always a pleasure to aid another scholar in his, or her, studies."

"I shall be going to Hyrule for a vacation," William said. "I have been watching all of you for some time and, quite frankly, the Earth bunch can handle Voldemort. Painting a few landscapes always helps me relax, and Lexicon can handle things. Oh, and when all of you accomplish your Purposes, even if you're already dead, I've cleared it so that you can come here. Elsewhere will be back to normal within three Hyrulian years, give or take a bit."

Everyone said their goodbyes and entered the appropriate portals. Everyone fell through a huge column of light and ended up right where they were when all of this started. Alzeroth made sure to throw the vial containing the cultists of Ganondorf into the Evil Realm portal in the room before he and William went to Hyrule.

"I'll be back in a week," William told Lexicon. "I will be back here sooner if Drakan finds a way to break out, old friend. I shall be busy painting landscapes to help me relax, to help me heal, before I heal Elsewhere."

"Yeswelldohavefunandwatchoutforanythingsuspicious," said the gnome. "Ithinkthattherewillbeaveryunpleasantsurpriseinstoreforusquiteshortly… ;"

"Yes, well, I'll find a way to manage that." William then strode through the portal, shut his eyes, and concentrated on finding himself in Hyrule.