There's a lot of mystery surrounding the Veil. No one knows for sure exactly what it does, or where it came from. All we knew, at the time, was that if you went through the Veil, you didn't come back.
Ever.
Nothing came through to our side. It only went in. That was the one thing we knew. At least, that's what we thought we knew.
The Unspeakables were conducting routine experiments on the Veil at the time of the incident. Something they did triggered the Veil.
Something came out.
I suppose I should start at the beginning.
----
I had been recruited at age 20. I was rising through the Auror ranks quickly, when I was approached with an offer to join the relatively small ranks of Hit-wizards. If the Aurors could be called our police force, I suppose you could call us black-ops. Missions too dangerous for Aurors, or missions where we just needed to make someone disappear. If there wasn't enough evidence to arrest, we took the job and did it quietly and quickly.
It was hard, but the inherent corruption you had in the Ministry was absent. We were off the books, we didn't exist. We took orders from no one except our Captain. The Aurors and the Minister left us to ourselves, as long as it was quiet. For once in my life, I felt like I was controlling my life. Not forcing myself to give up my life; nobody deciding where I lived, what I did.
For me, it was heaven. It was rough, dangerous, and difficult, but I loved what I did. It was what I was good at.
----
We got lucky. Two other members of my team and I were already in the lift when the emergency alarm for the Department of Mysteries went off.
Runcorn and I rushed down to investigate, while the third member of the team went to gather reinforcements. When we exited the lift, it wasn't hard to find the cause of the problem. You could hear the screams from the Veil chamber clearly even through the thick walls.
It was utter carnage. The entire research team had been slaughtered, along with at least a third of the rest of the Department. The rest of the Unspeakables had managed to raise a shield that seemed to be keeping the thing at bay.
I had no idea what it was. It looked humanoid, at first glance, but there was just a sense of wrong to it that made you shudder.
Plus, the inky-black tentacles on it's back, and the sharp claws gave it away.
As soon as we entered the room, the demon turned its black eyes on us, opened its mouth, and screamed. A wave of pure power shot toward us before we could blink. I flash-apparated away, but Runcorn wasn't fast enough. I looked back at him just in time to watch his torso detach from his legs, a look of shock permanently etched onto his face.
Flash-apparition is... tricky. It allows you to apparate without turning, making it much faster. Since you don't turn like in normal apparition, you can plan ahead and already have a spell half cast by the time you flashed somewhere else. It has some downsides though. It's painful as hell to use in normal circumstances; but if you apparate farther then twenty feet in one jump, the pain becomes crippling. I've seen wizards die from flashing too many times, or too far in one apparition.
About a half a second after I reappeared, the pain set in. I forced myself through it, and immediately cast a shield. I barely got it up in time. The demon swung at me, and the pure force behind the blow sent me careening into the wall, shield and all. I staggered to my feet, and barely managed to duck beneath another blow that tore a two foot deep gouge in the wall. I slammed my left hand onto it's chest, and released a banishing charm with a resounding boom.
“Caro marmoreus!” I snarled, slashing my wand. The thick, gray beam connected with the demon's left arm just as it landed. Skin rippled out from where my spell landed, changing into marble. I allowed myself a brief sigh of relief before the demon clenched it's fist, and the marble exploded off of it.
I apparated out of the path of the shards, jabbed my wand towards the demon and yelled, “Freccia!”. A silver arrow erupted from my wand with a loud bang, and the residual power from it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
The demon waited until the last moment, before backhanding it away into the wall where it pierced a hole clear through it. I raised my wand for another spell, but stopped as the demon started laughing.
It smirked, and when it spoke, the power behind its voice almost knocked me off my feet. “You're going to have to try much harder then that, wizard, if you want to kill me.”
I lowered my wand, as I saw an Unspeakable leave the shield and attempt to quietly leave the room.
“Who are you?”
The demon smiled, and raised its arms. “You may call me Hamath.” Almost casually, he gestured with his hand at the Unspeakable. The Unspeakable was picked up off of his feet and slammed into the far wall with bone-shattering force.
I snarled, swiping my wand through the air casting a concussion hex. The demon raised a hand to block it, but I forced my will through my wand with another flick and the spell detonated a foot from it's face. Its head snapped back with a roar of pain.
I gathered my strength for a flash-apparition while performing a complex series of wand movements, and flashed underneath one of his arms. I slammed the tip of my wand into it's stomach; there was a flash of green light before the front of it's stomach exploded in a shower of gore and blood. It staggered slightly, before one of it's tentacles wrapped around my arm and threw me towards the Veil. My back connected with the stone archway, causing me to cough up blood as I sank to the ground.
I looked up to see the demon absolutely furious as it swiped it's hand at me again. I barely rolled away as another rush of power caused the stone I had been lying on to explode. My ears rang from the noise as the demon picked me up and slammed me into the archway again. Stars exploded in front of my eyes, as the demon snarled at me incoherent with rage. It threw me to the side and glared at me as I struggled to stand.
“You dare-! Stand up! I'm going to make you suffer!”
I staggered backwards, and tried to gather my mind to come up with a plan. I knew I couldn't beat this thing. It had caught me off guard, and I had almost no chance of beating it in pure power. My only chance was to knock it back into the Veil right behind it.
I barely had time to think that before another tentacle wrapped around my wand arm and I was suddenly flying towards the demon again.
I forced my magic into my left hand again, building the strongest banishing charm I could manage in the two seconds before I reached the demon. The speed I was traveling at, plus the force of my hand slamming into it's face combined with the release of my spell knocked the demon backwards. It flailed out with it's arms, and managed to grab a hold of one side of the Veil before it fell all the way in. I stabbed the tip of my wand into the tentacle holding me, separating it from the demons body. The Veil started to crumble under the strength of the demon, and in a panic I slammed my boot onto it's fingertips. It's hand let go of the Veil, and I had a split second to breath a sigh of relief before another tentacle shot out of the Veil and wrapped around my arm, dragging me into the crumbling Veil along with it.
----
Cold.
That's one of the few things I remember. It was very, very cold.
I tried to move my hand to pry the tentacle off of my arm, but my hand wouldn't respond. It moved sluggishly, almost as if something was limiting my movement. I stopped trying and looked around at my surroundings.
Nothing. Blackness stretched as far as I could see. I could vaguely make out shapes resembling the demon that was still holding on to my arm, but none of them were moving much either.
I don't know how long I was stuck there. It felt like months, years even, but I would have surely froze to death if that was the case. Every so often, a great presence would seem to drift by us. Some of them reeked of darkness, while others throbbed with insanity. What felt like Legilimency probes touched my mind several times, but they never lingered.
After what felt like eternity, a light appeared in the darkness. Almost as one, the beings around us were sucked into the light. We were one of the last ones to be sucked through the light, and I can honestly say I wasn't prepared for what I saw.
----
It was pandemonium.
The snow was stained red with blood. Black, bat like creatures hurled themselves upon gray cloaked men only to be cut down before they got there. The creatures, possibly vampires, covered the ground with their corpses while every so often you could see a gray cloak lying on the ground. The fighting slowly trickled to a stop as more and more demons poured out of the doorway. The ringing noise of combat faded away into silence; only to be broken as one of the gray cloaked men choked out a scream.
“Outsiders!”
The demons surged forward with a roar, while Hamath reached down with a clawed hand to grasp the front of my shirt. He picked me up, and stared me in the eye.
“You fought well, mortal, but I'm afraid that this is where it ends for you.”
“Fuck you!”, I snarled out before I slammed the tip of my wand into his elbow. The elbow broke in the wrong direction and his hand lost his grip on my shirt. I fell the seven feet to the ground gracelessly, managing to flick my wand towards Hamath. Chains shot out of my wand and bound themselves around the demon, throwing him to the ground. My hand plunged into my pocket and I hurriedly downed the Pepper-Up potion I had. Steam whistled out my ears as I was filled with energy and I shot to my feet.
Only to be buried underneath three vampires as they jumped on me. I slammed my elbow into the first vampires face as he snapped his teeth at my neck. He staggered back and I used the brief moment I had to throw my arms out to the side. With a rush of power, the widespread banishing charm threw the vampires off of me. I looked up to see the demons slaughtering the wizards.
One man, with a balding head and coveralls, was slinging fire in the path of the demons and was managing to keep them at bay. Another Germanic looking man in a gray cloak stomped his foot on the ground and six foot tall spikes shot out of the ground to impale a demon in mid leap. He whirled around and with a slice of his sword took the head off of a vampire that was sneaking up behind him. We briefly made eye contact and he gestured behind me.
I turned around in time to see another vampire leap at me. I slid around his outstretched arms and jabbed the glowing tip of my wand at his stomach, blowing the back of it out. I swung around and slammed my left hand into the face of another vampire, throwing him to the ground and crushing his skull with my banishing charm. I flicked my wand and a zigzagging bolt of blue energy slammed into the chest of another vampire, sending his body into convulsions as fifty thousand volts ran through him.
I flashed to the left dodging another vampire only to have a demon pick me up and slam me into the ground. I swiped my wand across his arm, and his arm fell to the ground beside me. I brought my wand back down and slashed it across it's stomach. It fell backwards as it's stomach contents fell to the ground. I jumped to my feet, turned once, and apparated next to the bald wizard.
The man spared a glance at me while flicking his hand at another demon who shrugged off the blast of power. I jabbed my wand at it, and the ground beneath it exploded causing it to fall down. I quickly stepped forward, murmured a word and dragged the tip of my wand across the back of its neck, severing its spinal cord.
The bald man placed his back to mine, and said, “Don't know who you are, boy, but I'm grateful for the help!”
I released another banishing charm knocking back a few vampires that were getting to close for comfort, and replied, “The hell's going on? What the fuck are those things?”
“Outsiders!”, the man grimly replied. “We have to hold them off long enough so they can raise a ward to hold them off!”
I nodded once, and turned back to fight, but a flicker off to the side caught my eye. I looked over and saw five vampires sink their teeth one after another into a gray cloaked man kneeling on the ground. His eyes narrowed, and he shouted out something I couldn't hear before a wave of power flew out around him vaporizing everything within twenty feet. The ground turned black as the life was sucked out of it, and the vampires burst into ashes. I watched the light leave his eyes as he fell to the ground.
I turned back around, spotted a demon tear a man in half, and snarled out “Avada Kedavra!” The stench of death flooded my nose as a green light left my wand with a rush of howling wind. The death curse slammed into the chest of an Outsider, and the demons closest to us paused as their fellow Outsider toppled over dead.
I heard the old man draw in a tight breath, as the Outsiders stared at their fallen comrade in disbelief. One of them turned towards me and a rumbling growl reached us over the distance before he leaped towards me, the others quickly following suit.
“Son of a-”, I snarled, shoving the old man behind me as I flashed forwards. I met the demon in mid-air, spinning both of us around. I shoved my wand in its face and shouted, “Confringo!”. Its head snapped back in an explosion of blood as my vision darkened into tunnel vision for a moment.
Fuck, that hurt. Between the Pepper-Up potion, and all of the flashing, my body was starting to give out. I was reaching the limits of my ability to function.
I turned, and did an awkward bend backwards under a raking claw. Christ, these things were fast. Flicking my wand, the levitation charm threw my body up over a blast of power. I planted my hand on a swinging claw that would have taken off my head and vaulted over it in mid-air. My levitation charm was the only thing keeping me alive, allowing me to counter the supernatural speed of the demons. Spotting a demon leaping towards me, I dropped the charm, dropping me to my back gracelessly. I thrusted my wand upwards and cried out, “Frendo!” The dark purple devastation curse slammed into the demon with an eerie screeching noise, destroying his upper torso and propelling the rest of his body upwards.
I shot to my feet, turned once to apparate, and screamed as my body was electrocuted and flung outwards. I gasped with pain, and looked back at where I tried to apparate to.
It was the ward. The fucking ward was raised. I couldn't get past it. They had raised a damn anti-apparition ward! I saw the old man with a furious look on his face point behind me. I looked up, and barely managed to raise a shield as a swipe from a demon propelled me into the air. I dropped the shield just before I hit the ground, and fired a banishing charm into the ground forcing my body back up into a halfway stable landing.
I flicked my wand twice, shooting out magical tether hooks at the nearest Outsider. I swung my wand around, and the demon was thrown into its nearest fellow, knocking it off of its feet. I flung my wand upwards, and swept it left to right sending the demon into the demons leaping towards me. I brought my wand back around, preparing to do more of the same, before the hooks snapped suddenly and forcefully. The backlash of the spell breaking almost threw me off of my feet.
I looked up, expecting to be buried underneath demons any moment, only to blink in surprise as the demons hadn't moved. Slow clapping reached my ears, as a tall Outsider stepped forward through the circle surrounding me. Hamath smirked, stopping his slow walk.
“I'm impressed, wizard. You are remarkably resourceful for a mortal.” He gestured around him. “There's not many who could face this many of us and live to tell the tale.”
I lowered my wand to my side, panting, barely moving it in short flicking motions. The motions transferred themselves to the ground around me, carving a series of runes in a circle around me. Blood from a cut I didn't remember getting dripped into my eye. I bared my teeth at the demon, “By the time I'm done, there'll be more then one of you lying on the ground with him.” I nodded at the demon who took my killing curse.
Hamaths face twisted with rage, before he visibly calmed himself. “I suppose so. I've never met a wizard who could kill us with magic before. You interest me, wizard. You interest me a great deal. Your magic is different then anything I've ever seen before.”
I looked around at the snarling demons surrounding me, finally finished carving the runes. I needed to catch my breath, or this spell might likely kill me. “How come you can speak? The rest of them act like animals, insane at best, but you're not. Why?”
Hamath paused in his pacing. “The Outside is a cold place, wizard, a very cold place. The majority of us went insane after the amount of time we spent there. Only the most powerful of us still retain use of our minds. I'm surprised that a mortal like you managed to come out of your time in the Outside unscathed. Your mind must be extremely formidable to have handled it as well as you have.” He smirked. “Time will tell, I suppose. I doubt you came out of the Black without any repercussions.”
I frowned. “What are you?”
“We are the servants of the Old Ones. The Old Gods. We were their warriors, their foot soldiers.” He clenched a fist, snarling, and inhuman rage twisting his face. “And to think, that you, a mortal, dare to defy us? Dare to harm us? I was alive before you're ancestors walked this planet! You cannot even comprehend-”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Death and eternal torment are my lot. Are you finished yet?”
Hamath stepped back behind the circle of demons. “Finished? Not until you lie dead at my feet.” He gestured towards me. “Kill him.”
The demons leaped at me. Here goes nothing! I threw my arm up, wand pointed towards the sky, and cried out a short series of ancient Egyptian words. A yellow glow formed at the tip of my wand, and with a snarl of effort, I slammed the ball of energy into the first rune at my feet.
The runes lit up into a yellow glow, and time seemed to stop as the leap of the demons slowed. Yellow rays of light shot up in a circle around me from the runes, and time sped back up. The demons crossed the remaining distance in a moment, and a concussive ray of force spread out around me as soon as the first demon made contact with the light. The force stopped the demons in mid flight, before the wave of destructive energy shot from the runes I had made. I had to clench my eyes shut as the surrounding area was covered by a yellow explosion almost too blinding to look at.
I gasped for breath as the backlash of the spell hit me, feeling my chest constrict painfully, before sinking to my knees and falling into the blissful embrace of unconsciousness.