42 Gilded City Stolen

*Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!*

Deep into the Arctic, as incredibly cold, heavy winds obscured everything in sight. Two figures slowly waded through the snow. There was a long trail behind them, but it was quickly filling back up with snow, eventually removing any trace that they'd moved through this area in the first place.

One figure was a large, 10ft long snake that was struggling to keep its head over the deep snow. Its white armour-like scales were covered with a thick layer of frost, were it any other cold-blooded creature it would have frozen to death in seconds in this weather... But this one was mostly unharmed.

The other figure was around 4.9ft, with a slim build that was mostly obscured by a heavy grey cloak that was fitted in various places with a hard material that actually resembled the snake beside him. Harry had his hood pulled over his head and secured in place with a small latch to keep the wind from blowing it back over.

He'd changed quite a lot since the past year... His physical training had continued in full force, and he'd started seriously hunting in various exotic areas now that Nanthisk was there to keep an eye on him in Kali's stead.

His cloak was actually made from the pelt of two young shadow leopards that he'd managed to kill. He'd been pretty proud about it, as shadow leopards were regarded as creatures almost as dangerous as wyverns. Sure, they had been young, but so was Harry, so it kinda evened the odds.

His magic had improved tremendously, not only due to his slowly maturing magic, but because of Kali's teachings and the fact he was continually using it in practical settings... Life or death combat was one of the best motivators after all.

"SsssSss! Maasssster, it's cold again! Cast it again!" Nanthisk complains from behind him, its voice barely audible due to the blizzard, but their familiar bond allowed them to eventually develop telepathic communication... Obviously, this naturally extended to Kali as well, as she refused to allow Nanthisk to get one over on her if it concerned Harry. Her obsession with taking all of his 'firsts' was kind of worrying, but Harry just dealt with it as if it were a common occurrence.

"Nanthisk, I told you that you could sit this one out. I know snakes hate the cold, so this place must be comparable to a burning hellscape for you." he retorts while casually flicking his wrist at the snake, causing a warming sensation to envelope the snake and protect it to a degree from the cold.

The snake shakes its hate as it slivers along, "And leave you to venture this placssse alone? Mistress would ssskin me and use me as her whip afterwardsss." he says with a slight shiver.

Harry can only nod in agreement, as such a thing had happened before... One of the slaves had insulted Nanthisk and thrown a rock at him, thinking that he was just a random large snake. As a result, he had eaten one of them and send the tribe into a frenzy...

Kali fixed the situation by skinning Nanthisk and using his bleeding body to whip those responsible for insulting the snake. After all, an insult to one's familiar is an insult to its master. The tribesman had been warned, but it seems that they hadn't taken it seriously, as Harry as done his best to stop Kali from going too far with her punishments when it was required.

He'd stopped intervening after that though, realising that a firm hand was required to keep everyone in line and healthy.

Strangely, Kali had apologized to him not long after that and presented him with the cloak he was currently wearing. She'd personally stitched it together with the shadow leopard hides and reinforced it with the bone scales she'd torn from Nanthisk's body.

If Nanthisk were any other species he'd be dead by now. But he was far more durable than Harry had actually expected... In game-terms, all of his stats were geared towards 'tanking' as opposed to 'damage dealing' or 'support'.

As to why he was wandering this frozen wasteland? Well, He'd stumbled across a tomb while exploring South America which had carvings, paintings, and other things depicting a 'scourge' that'd been responsible for the downfall of the Aztec empire.

He and Kali had investigated this further in the surrounding area, finding many similar tombs which were more like mass burials. Strangely, these places seemed more designed to keep things in, than to keep people out.

The reason for this was discovered not long after, however, as Kali uncovered an ancient papyrus scroll that told the story of 'The Scourge'. Apparently, the Aztecs had been a thriving civilisation that focussed on magical innovation. They lived around five hundred years before their muggle relatives were wiped out by Colonizers, and had quite unique magic compared to the rest of the world.

From what Harry and Kali could infer, most of their spells were based on various gods, blood, sacrifice, and exchange... Unfortunately, any traces of the actual methods they used to cast them had been lost, most likely due to 'The Scourge'.

The Scourge seemed to be a necromancer that led an absolutely huge army of undead. That he used to sweep across the magical people comprising the Aztec empire. Killing all of them and stealing their precious techniques and other valuables.

This is actually where Eldorado, the gilded city, better known as the 'City of Gold' had gone. The Scourge had used his army to kill every magic user in the Eldorado and then had his undead servants take it apart and move it elsewhere.

No one even knows where the city was taken, nor if 'The Scourge' even existed. Harry and Kali weren't even sure if the rest of the magical world was aware that the Aztecs had a magical population...

This led Harry to increase his efforts on finding information about this particular person, he led Nanthisk and Kali on expeditions all through South America, Russia, and Antarctica. And eventually, he managed to find some information that indicated that 'The Scourge' might have had a base near the North Pole.

This was only really conjectured, however, since it seems that the Scourge had first arrived in Canada, before moving through what is now the United States of America, and then to the Aztecs. Killing literally everything that was between the army and Eldorado.