章 4: Travels III
I have walked through the Achaemenid Persian Empire and have reached the Hindu kingdoms and republics, which is today's India. And I found quite a few things for my home. There were many different kinds of magical beasts and magical animals to be found here.
I have found a rather old but skilled wizard who has the 'talent' of Parseltongue. I don't really like snakes but as long as they serve a purpose, I am fine with it. I found him when I was looking for new magical plants to add to my growing collection. He was hissing and communicating with a snake.
It was an interesting first meeting.
(Flashback)
- I learned his native tongue a few days prior -
"Greetings.", I say to the old man hissing at a snake. I know this skill and I know that it is seen as a great gift here. And if I am correct, then I am also interested in learning it.
"You speak our language ... that's impressive for someone of your complexion.", he tells me and I smile.
"I am a quick learner."
"Is that why you are here? To learn?"
"Indeed. I am here to travel the world, experience and learn new magic and collect magical plants and beasts."
"A good life you are leading. And what brings you here, I mean right now?"
"I could feel the special magic coming off of this plant and I hypothesise that it contains quite lethal poison. I have already seen something like this. And if I am correct, I can use it to improve my healing potion with it.", I tell him honestly. I have begun creating potions using some of the plants as ingredients. I am still lacking in ingredients most of the time, so I simply create my own potions from scratch.
"You are a potion maker then? A healer of a sort?"
"It is something I do, yes."
"Then you would be interested in exchanging knowledge?"
"Always.", I say and he smiles.
"Come. I would like to invite you to eat with me.", he says and then begins to walk away. The jungle is quite thick here, but I have no trouble making my way through it. I have grown rather powerful physically. My physique was still rather lean, but I had put on some weight in the form of muscles.
I follow him to his hut and there I see an infestation of snakes of all kinds, magical and non-magical alike. I ignored them. No poison can kill me anyway and my growing magical prowess can be felt by the instincts of animals. So the weaker beasts stay away from me, if I want to.
"I hope you aren't afraid of snakes."
"I am not."
"Good. Because otherwise, this wouldn't have been possible."
We sit down and he begins to brew some tea or some other beverage. I observe him, as he prepares the different leaves and then mixes them with quick hands. He has been doing this for a while now, I can tell.
"Hisss ssszzzhsss", he says to one of the many snakes or to all of them. Then a snake slithers to him carrying something in her mouth that he takes and then drops into the mix as well.
"You can speak Parsletongue.", I comment.
"Parseltongue? Do you mean the snake's language?"
"Yes."
"Indeed. I am lucky to possess this talent."
"Tell me, is it true that you can perform healing magic using the snake tongue?", I ask him.
"That is indeed correct. We who possess the talent of 'snake tongue' or 'snake language', are mostly proficient in using healing magic."
"Can you teach it to me?"
"Hohoho, sadly snake language is not learned. You are either born with it, or you're not. And mostly you are not."
"Try me.", I tell him. I know that I can learn this. There is nothing I can't learn, given enough time.
"Hm?", he is confused and looks me in the eyes. I can tell that he is unsure what to think of me. I don't blink and then he nods his head. I am glad that he is not one of those who hold on to their beliefs, because what they perceive as impossible, hasn't been done before.
"Very well, I will try to teach you some things. We will combine it with healing magic. In turn, you will show me some of the things you can do, like your potions."
"That is more than fair. What is your name, by the way?"
"..."
(Flashback end)
.
I stayed with my new friend for longer than I expected. When he began to teach me or simply talk to me in Parseltongue, I took everything in like a sponge. He was very surprised about that. It shouldn't be possible to learn this and yet here I was, doing just that. This made him happy and interested in me. So he began to teach me his healing magic and I have to say that it is very impressive.
I can tell that there is a lot of potential there and I can develop this a lot in the future. As promised, I showed him some of the potions I had created. It wasn't a lot. I had been trying to combine different things I had gathered to make something or simply experiment. I documented everything closely and created files in my home. When a potion was successfully created and optimized, I added the recipe to my personal potions book in the library.
My new friends who didn't really have a name, were impressed with my work. He knew how dangerous it is to simply experiment with potion making. But he doesn't know that I'm immortal and that things blowing up in my face, won't stop me from continuing and making progress.
Shortly before I left, he taught me the Snake Summoning Spell, 'Serpensortia'. I know that out of all the spells used to conjure living things, the Snake Summoning Spell was amongst the easiest, alongside the Bird-Conjuring Charm, 'Avis'. I learned it on my first try and when he saw that he chuckled and taught me the Snake-Vanishing Spell, 'Vipera Evanesca'.
I got my hands on a few Ashwinder which I would use for potion making and maybe to use as cores in new wands I will try out. And just as I was about to leave, I asked him about some other magical creatures, that could be found there.
.
(Flashback)
"Do you know about some other magical creatures that live here?", I ask him.
"I do indeed know about some of those. You might be interested in the Firebird that sometimes can be seen when a fire breaks out up north. There are legends about it, that the Firebird only comes to those pure of heart. It is a majestic creature and you might find it interesting to have a look."
Ah, so there lives a Phoenix in the vicinity, what a lucky occurrence. I should go and have a look. Maybe I can have a look.
"I see. That's very interesting. Any other?"
"Yes, I heard the snakes talk about one of their distant relatives who flies through the skies and is of shining blue colour. They speak about it, but can't tell me where this 'relative' is supposed to be. You know that directions don't work the same for them."
"Yes, I know. Nevertheless, thank you very much. I wish you all the best.", I say goodbye to him and then finally leave.
(Flashback end)
.
So there is a Phoenix and maybe an Occamy to be found here. I am definitely going to search for the Phoenix and the Occamy as well if I stumble upon it. So I made my way north like he said and continued to collect magical plants I hadn't yet acquired and magical beasts if I found some. I also continued my practice of Charms and Transfiguration.
I had made tremendous progress in both fields of magic and had started to slowly begin creating my own spells. I can now sever multiple things at once using 'Diffindo'. I decided to call this version differently. I wouldn't say the name when casting the spell, but to differentiate between the normal one and mine. I named mine, 'Diffindo multiplicet'. Not a very good name, but I don't have to say it out loud, so it works.
I also took an interest in the defensive Charms and spells. One such Charm is the Knockback Jinx, 'Flipendo'. The Knockback Jinx was a jinx that knocked the target backwards. While prominently used for duelling, it could also be used to push heavy objects. There were more variations of the Knockback Jinx such as the Knockback Jinx Duo, Flipendo Tria and Flipendo Maxima were all more powerful variations of the Knockback Jinx which all knocked the target back with greater force.
The Knockback Jinx Duo was twice as powerful as the standard Knockback Jinx. Flipendo Tria was a jinx that threw the target longer than its less powerful Flipendo and Flipendo Duo. It resembled a small tornado. What I liked about this variation was that the spell targeted multiple opponents at once.
I was interested in this Jinx, because of how it worked. It was not air that pushed a person back. It was simply a force that pushed the person or object away. And that was something that almost came close to the Fundamental Forces of the Universe. After coming to this conclusion, I began my own studies and theories on Arithmancy. Just like the Svering charm, 'Diffindo' reminded me of Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen, the Knockback Jinx, 'Flipendo', reminded me of the Cursed technique 'Reversal Red' also from Jujutsu Kaisen.
I wanted to master all variations of the Knockback Jinx and if possible, using Arithmancy, replicate 'Reversal Red' one day.
.
I continued walking for weeks before I finally and luckily found the Phoenix. I know that they are supposed to be found in India, but it is still very rare to find one just like that. When I did, I was reminded of Fawkes, the Phoenix of Dumbledore. They looked the same honestly.
I had gained a lot of experience when dealing with magical creatures, but I knew that every one of them was different. I kept my distance at first. I was certain that the Phoenix wouldn't torch me like the Swedish Short-Snout did. And neither will it eat me and I was right. The Phoenix acted not only differently to the Dragon, but completely opposite.
It was in fact the Phoenix that approached me and not the other way around. It came to me and observed me for a while, as I did the same to the Phoenix. That way we became more familiar with each other. I wrote down its habits and what it ate and such things. It was all for my own book on magical creatures.
After a few weeks, I found out that the Phoenix was also female, just like the Dragon was. After a few weeks, she became so familiar with me, that she even landed on my shoulder and ate out of my hand. I don't know what it was that made her act this way, but she seemed to trust me, for some reason. I could tell that we had formed some sort of bond.
For some reason, the Phoenix trusted me enough to do that. And I was very happy about that. It doesn't happen often that you get to see a Phoniex, let alone bond with one. And having a Phoenix as a friend meant a supply of both phoenix tears and phoenix feathers, which I could use to create wands.
Through our bond, I got to learn the character of the Phoenix, whom I called Ember. She was a little mischievous. She liked to play around and enjoyed looking down on Earth from high up in the sky. She was a majestic animal and over my long life, I would come to cherish and love her dearly.
Things were going smoothly.
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