General POV.
Harry was struggling, not physically, Jake isn't -wasn't- heavy at all. But as he walked angrily in the woods, Jake's hand dangling as he lifted his corpse, Harry's brain was scattered and distracted.
Despite that he felt off about Jake doesn't mean he wanted him dead. Jake was a very nice lad and he was important to the new Keeper movement. No matter any personal issues, nobody could commit such murder.
He was sure it was no one's task to kill the poor keeper whoever did this has broken a very important fundamental rule.
He started to get tired, dragging his legs across the hard forest ground until he reached the shimmering sheild protecting the Peace tribe.
He rushedly murmured the password and got sucked in and embraced by a handful of shocked and horrified expressions.
An angry flip of the head to the guard on the Payne's castle and he opened the door, letting Harry inside and he carefully rested the lifeless body of the handsome Keeper on the nearest flat surface he could find, that being a couch.
Moments later, Liam came insight and flinched, cringing at the scene.
"Who would do such an awful thing?" Liam asked, in a harsh tone rather than a horrified one.
Harry shook his head as he stood by the poor Keeper's side, furiously gazing at him for answers.
"Can you keep him until I get Zayn?" Harry asked and Liam immediately shot him a disapproving look.
"He hasn't contacted us, yet. He could be dead." Liam warned.
"As friends, we owe it to him to at least find out." Harry finalized before walking out.
With that brief conversation being done, Harry took rushed angry steps out of the woods and teleported to where he reckoned the Keeper's palace was.
Indeed it stood high in the sky, seemingly unaffected by the death of its creatures and unaffected by any war that took place.
But it was past a shield that Harry stood mesmerized before. The Keepers have broken James's shield and this shimmery wall only leads to one of the two options.
1. James ended Zayn thus the movement was terminated.
2. Zayn killed James and the mission was successful.
And he preferred the second option, Zayn being the only person who tolerates Harry on Keeper property.
To Harry the shield was impenetrable because he had no idea what the password was.
He stood aimlessly for a couple of minutes, flipping the whole Keeper section that he read about in The Key, trying to get vivid paragraphs of the 'Shield Penetration' chapter.
He finally pinpointed a potion that could help him phase through the guarding wall and after some teleportation he gathered all his components and sat down mixing the ingredients in a bowl, right in front of the shield. Not caring who spots him or who reports him.
................................................
"Sir, there's someone trying to penetrate the shield." The short humbled guard informed the Master, his head dipped low in respect.
His master sighed, fixing his posture on his throne. He seemed to give the matter thought but little distress.
"Have you any idea who?" He asked keeping an uninterested tone.
"Harry Styles, sir. The Gamer." At this, the master's eyes widened and he jolted up from his chair.
"He cannot be here." The master said aggressively.
"Do you want me to send him away, sir?" The man offered and the master shook his head and started to walk to the door.
"No. No, I got this." The master spoke quickly and got out of the palace.
..............................................
Harry was done with the potion and was standing up, ready to drink it when he saw the master, in his fancy robe and crown.
At first Harry couldn't believe it, he kept squinting his eyes and the more he looked the more he became surer of the identity.
He subsided the potion in his pocket, it being unnecessary hence the master was right in front of him by now.
"I can't believe." Harry said a smile forming on his lips. Dimples showing.
"It's super dangerous for you to be here." Zayn informed, ignoring Harry's statement.
"You killed him?" Harry asked excitedly momentarily forgetting about Jake's death.
"No, he escaped. Apparently there was a fault in your Keeper trap." Zayn said casually without intending to blame Harry but it triggered the main reason why Harry showed up there and as if reading his mind Zayn asks.
"So what brings you by?"
"I need to show you something." Harry said, grabbing Zayn from his robe and snapping his fingers.
The apparition successfully teleported them right in front of the tribe's shield, hence teleportation inside a shield is next to impossible. They murmured the password and were sucked into the tribe's territory.
Harry remained silent, he couldn't form a useful sentence that would state what happened as clearly as the sight of Jake. So he remained silent and directed Zayn to the castle and left him to see despite all the enquiries he made.
"No. No." Zayn muttered in disbelief.
"How did this happen?!" He shouted angrily, the veins in his neck showing.
"Zayn, you do realize we won't grasp any answers by shouting at each other. We need to think clearly." Liam said in his royal tone and Zayn nodded intensely.
"What was Jake protecting?" Harry asked.
"His parents. But he succeeded and they lived happily and died peacefully, their whole lives they never faced any danger." Zayn informed and swallowed.
"This eliminates using them to kill him and also killing them to kill him. The only two ways we know could kill Keepers." Liam thought aloud.
"Unless it's the other way." Harry said absently absorbed in his thoughts.
"The other way? There's a third way to kill a Keeper? Why haven't you told me this before?!" Zayn snapped his voice rising.
"I think you pretty much realize what the angels might do to me if I share ways to murder the supernatural." Harry replied back in the same tone.
"Harry, how did he die?" Liam asked, ending their brief feud.
"A bone from his parents. Sharpened and stabbed in the heart." Harry said after analyzing Jake's body.
"Amazing. Just Amazing." Zayn fumed running a hand through his black inked hair and Harry seemed to spend too much time inspecting the dead body.
"Harry, That's rude." Liam scolded a bit upset by Harry's attitude.
"No, I think we might be having a problem." Harry said, unzipping Jake's jacket and tearing his shirt apart revealing an interesting sight.
Jake's torso was cut, his whole skin torn away. His flesh was rotting and his rib bones were sticking out erratically. As If someone forced out a bone from his body.
They exchanged glances and Harry broke the silence.
"Someone wants to kill you. I mean it's obvious. You're the Master now so he killed Jake, your right hand and he will use his bones against you in the same way." Harry presumed.
"Impossible." Zayn said frustratingly. "It must be James."
"What?! He's not dead?" Liam asked shocked.
"No, apparently someone faulted the trap to get Harry out of the fight and James escaped meanwhile." Zayn snapped and paused taking a deep breath with his eyes closed. He then opened them and said calmly, "I'm ashamed for having to blame somebody dead."
"I don't think it's James." Harry started but he wasn't sure how to continue his assumption.
He had two. First, was the inevitable Keeper. When Jake told Harry that his Keeper would be upset at him for revealing that he knows, it must be his way to shut Jake up and prevent him from saying more.
Second, was this nagging feeling that it was Josh. Josh did come and team up with James to kill Harry and he was doing fine except that Jake teleported the actual Harry and Kept him safe.
And right now as his friends stared at him for a legit answer, he was debating whether to suggest them both or just one.
"I think it's my Keeper." He finally decided and they shot him the 'No, I'm out.' Look.
"You think your Keeper did that?" Liam repeated.
"Yeah, when Jake teleported me out of the palace, he told me it was because he knew my Keeper and that he wanted me safe. He also said that anonymous Keeper wouldn't be very happy when he knows Jake mentioned him to me. So, adding one on two, it must be him." Harry said and Zayn shook his head.
"No. If your Keeper can shush Jake this whole time, he can convince him to not speak of it again. And it doesn't make sense as to why he would break his bones." Zayn reasoned and it was convincing enough.
"But he's dangerous. He kept his identity concealed for so long, the thought of it being threatened may have caused him to snap." Liam said, apparently convinced that Harry's Keeper is the murderer.
"No, I- I think......Za-Zayn was..... God!" Harry's face kept shifting in pain. He couldn't form incoherent words and before they could ask him if he was alright, he was engulfed in blinding white light.
Harry spent a few seconds in complete disorientation. Then he started to see clearly.
He was familiar with that summoning spell. It needed a sample from his blood. It wasn't the strongest and thus, it wasn't Mia's.
He took in his surroundings, it was an empty bar. There were no traps. No chains, knives any sign of anything lethal actually.
"What would you like to drink?" Came the voice that Harry had always anticipated but dreaded to hear.
It was the man himself, Josh Harrison.
There were no visible weapons around him and Harry was tempted to shoot him the black-eye and fry his eyes out of their sockets.
"I recommend red wine." Josh suggested when Harry remained silent.
"Okay..." Josh said grabbing the bottle and Harry interrupted his action by speaking.
"White." Harry said, indicating to the wine. He didn't understand why Josh wanted to taste the rotten particles of the wine but he couldn't risk taking his recommendation to avoid any contact with poison.
"He speaks." Josh said, switching bottles and Harry had this image where he took the bottle and smashed it in Josh's face playing in his head.
"For a hundred years, you didn't dare summon me. Why now?" Harry asked curiously, as Josh poured the wine in two cups. Being the strategist meant he could take all the answers he wanted by asking the right questions.
"Because, all those years I never imagined that we can cooperate." Josh said and Harry immediately knew what this was about.
"Sound very confident, despite all the times you ran from me." Harry mocked.
"True. But because only lately, I have been informed that you have the Key. And it struck me Styles, that you are way more bigger than this whole vendetta thingy." Josh said.
"And you think we can cooperate. How?" Harry enquired in a way that made it sound contemplative, even though he would never accept to work with Josh under whatever circumstances.
"We share the Key. We're going to be unstoppable, Harry. Even the angels won't stand to face us. We can rule the world and do whatever we'd like with it." Josh shared his ambition with dreamy eyes of a bright future but something in his voice showed his preparation for a refusal.
"I believe you have a good plan to kill me if I say no. And I'm telling you Josh, I'd like to watch you try it." Harry said finalizing but Josh angrily slammed his fist to the bar and Harry merely looked at it, un-threatened.
"You're right I do have a plan. But you won't see me coming, Gamer." Josh threatened leaning in on the counter. His jacket parted a little, revealing a sharpened weapon in his trousers. A bone.
Harry glanced at it and managed the same expression of nonchalance and casualness.
"So I assume we'll meet again, Observer." Harry replied calmly and limply raising his fingers up to face-level and snapping them, teleporting back to the shield and entering the tribe then the castle.
As he walked into the door, both Zayn and Liam released sighs of relief but they soon returned to their concerned expressions judging by the dread in Harry's face.
"Josh killed him." Harry stated in a way that neither of them could argue with.
"What are we going to do?" Zayn asked worriedly after silent moments, only to be soothed by Harry's calm and collected voice saying the five most comforting words that a Gamer can ever speak.
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
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