Mason Aves: The Wizard(Kinda Complete.. again)
- Thread starter HelloDarkness07
- Start date
thanks for researching properly
nice of you to reflect on the character history and exploring the magic system more
nice of you to reflect on the character history and exploring the magic system more
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Changed it! Thanks for pointing it out! I think I confused Osiris with Isis lol
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Yup, changed it.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The problem is that Mason doesn't have a Sling Ring. His Apparition has a limited range of around 1000 km, and he cannot create portals without a Sling Ring. Plus, he is hoping to use this Time(Hehe) as a Vacation from the War he just went through.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Honestly, he knows roughly where Kamar-Taj is/will be; this would also be a great time to head over there and bone up on his sorcery. Maybe even learn from Agamoto if the timing is right?
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Nah, Agamotto ascended in 20,000 bc or something, probably before that.
- Location
- Madness realms
If I were Mason I would consider going to check up on Jesus when the time came. Obviously only if I was stumped on getting back to my own time.
Last edited:
55. Isipho
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
A bit of an infodump, and a speedy chapter.
---
July, 56 BC: Three Months after Arrival:
Goblin's Silver, a Magical metal used only by the Goblins for their weapons, armours, and even cutlery. They sell it to Wizards too, at a very high price, with a simple condition of always getting it back, when the buyer dies.
For so long I, and probably every other Wizard alive, had thought that the metal was an invention of the Goblins, something they created from magically altering normal Silver.
And now, I find that it's not actually the truth. Goblin's Silver is actually found in nature, an isotope of normal Silver, I'm guessing. But it's not just that. This Silver can only be found deep within the ground, in areas where Magic is highly saturated, which is probably how the Goblins found it. They're diggers.
The Silver.. Magical Silver, absorbs the Magic from the ground, from the surroundings, and feeds it back, creating a cycle of give and take of Magic, continuously. The cycles are too slow for me to track as is, but I can probably figure something out within a few years using either the information I already have in my mind, from literal years of reading through the Room of Knowledge, or the Magical Library.
The fact that even Rowena believed the metal to belong to Goblins, must mean that soon, before 7th Century AD in fact, Goblins must have hoarded all the Magical Silver they could find, and created a monopoly of it. And no Wizard ever found it, since Wizards don't just dig, let alone dig this deep.
And I'm guessing they found that the Magical Silver is not infinite, they must have believed they had all the Magical Silver in the world in their possession, which is why they began selling it with the peculiar return policy.
I also realised why the metal called to me yesterday, and it wasn't at all hard to figure out. The tree which is my match for Staff wood had fed the Metal with its Magic, and then fed from it in turn, for the decades that it has been alive. And hence, the metal and the wood were connected, deeply.
Before the tree existed, another tree must've stood in its place, and it would have been connected to the Silver in turn. Really simple.
Well, currently the branch and root I had cut off were sitting in the Nowhere, together with the lump of Magical Silver ore, under enchantments to keep them preserved. And since preservation Enchantments don't stick, I have 5 years before I need to use the wood, or cast another Enchantment.
Which reminds me to try and improve the Nowhere Dimension.
I have a lot of stuff in the Nowhere, that can get bad with time, like the guns I'd stolen from Hydra, the many potions I have, clothes, and now, the branch and root of a Mopane tree. I definitely need to work on making the Dimension timeless.
Meanwhile, I was currently alone in the Metalworking Wing of the Library of Alexandria, which was free to use for any student, as long as some teacher is with them. I didn't have the need to hide my activities here, since the Statute of Secrecy was not even a dream yet, but I just didn't want to gain people's curiosity over what I'm creating.
And I want to keep this a secret for as long as possible.
Holding my right hand up, I gesture with a finger, causing the melted Magical Silver to rise up into the air. I had used my sword, Galadmagol, to cut a Magical Silver dagger into two parts, and melted one of them.
I keep my hand pointed at it, and Telekinetically form an invisible cast for the metal, in the shape of a ring. Sometimes, even my terrible control over my Telekinesis feels a bit OP to me. Limited only by my imagination, as they say.
While the ring shaped metal is still hot, and somewhat cooling down, I point my left hand at it, and once again Telekinetically start writing Runes on the Ring's surface, both inside and out. Once done, I float the now Rune carved ring away, to let it cool, and bring the second piece of the dagger out, throwing it into the crucible.
Pointing my left hand at the metal, from above, I shoot white hot flames out of my fist, to heat the silver more. It was an Egyptian spell, which was.. not exactly a spell.
Magic usage in Egypt, since thousands of years, has always been based more around Intent, than words. The only time Words are used, is when you want to invoke some being, like Sorcery, or if the effect you're hoping for is particularly deadly.
The same translates over to the use of Staffs, which don't have Wand Motions, Incantations, for spells. You just have Intent, and your Magic. Everything depends on your Need for Magic, and your Strength in Magic. And these white flames were something I imagined forming, by imagining my Kasha's flames, without the Darkness that they have.
A Kasha does have some Demonic background, you know.
I had already enchanted the Crucible to not melt, but still conduct the heat, so I wasn't worried about that. I remember when it had happened during my first days of forging, in the Chamber Forge.
Ah, I really regret not keeping everything I own in Nowhere now. Shaking my head, I get back to the present, or more appropriately, the past, and keep hearing the Silver.
Within a few seconds, the entire second half of the dagger melts, and I keep the heat going, turning towards the Ring, which had by now cooled. Biting my left index finger, I cut into the skin, and touch the bleeding finger on a single Rune on the Ring, activating the enchantments.
Immediately, the Runes on the ring glow with a dull orange light, and the Atlantic Runic symbols intrinsically connect to the Ring, making the enchantments stick. Without any delay, I dip the now enchanted Ring into the melted Magical Silver, making sure to dip it completely, and bring it back up, but still inside the crucible.
Waving my hand, I quickly spin the ring around to get rid of the excess Silver, and then finally bring it up, turning the furnace off.
As the remaining Silver starts rising up, forming into a block thanks to my Telekinesis, I look at the Ring with a huge smile on my face. I finally had it, another Sling Ring.
The only obstacle to me finding a core for my staff, or even the Sands of Time, was distance, my apparition being limited to 1000 kilometres. But with a Sling Ring, which I know I made perfectly, distance is no longer an issue.
The Sling Rings connect to two points in space, only limited by the Sorcerer's knowledge, experience, and imagination. Where apparition took time, which is spent inside whatever Dimension we travel through, Sorcery Portals are instantaneous.
Slowly floating the ring towards myself, I cast a simple Aguamenti to cool it off, and put it on my left index finger. I immediately smile, recognising the familiar Magic of Portals already within the Ring. Still, an artefact such as this needs trials, and what better place to go to, than Hogwarts.
Storing the remaining Magical Silver in the Nowhere, I clean the Forging station of any signs of use. With a wave of my hand, I take the Privacy Wards that I had set up, along with the Muggle Repellents, to make sure I remain undisturbed.
Then, I raise my right hand up, and focusing on the destination, slap it towards the empty air in front of me.
The amazing thing about the Sling Ring, is that you just need to wear it, and focus on the location. The rest of the body movements are not entirely necessary, if you practice enough. And I.. have a lot of practice.
Immediately, a hole forms in the air, with orange sparks of Universal Magic surrounding it. At the end of it, stood a dark green forest, that I recognise as the Forbidden forest. I enter through the portal, and smile, seeing it close before my very eyes. Welp, the Ring definitely works.
I was in the space, that I believe will one day hold the Gamekeeper's hut, bordering on the Forbidden Forest. Seeing a couple Unicorns peeking from behind the treeline, I bow towards them, still feeling ecstatic, and turn around.
Just as I had expected, the entire area was empty, with just grass everywhere. Well, I was in the Scottish Highlands. The Castle wasn't even built yet, which I already expected.
I knew this from reading some of Rowena's journals. The Four Founders, instead of taking their own Castles and turning it into a school, had decided (or will decide) to build their own Castle, from scratch. Thanks to Magic, and the large number of Dwarves, it was an easy enough task.
Waving my arm up, I summon another portal back to Egypt, and immediately go towards the Magical Library. One problem is solved, the Sling Ring. Now, I need to find a way to freeze my Dimension, Nowhere, in time, without actually messing with Time. Which, I can't even do with no Time Sand in my hands.
I already have the entire compilation of Magical Runic Languages in my head, from the Room of Knowledge. And now, I'm going to add Egyptian Hieroglyphs to that, this time learning without the guesses and translations that the Room of Knowledge had.
Smiling at Master Onuris, who never leaves the Library grounds, I immediately move towards the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and start reading.
--
September ,56 BC: 5 Months after Arrival:
I exit out of the portal, and glance in all directions. All around me, for miles and miles, there was only ice, with no other being near me. Still, can't take the risk. Closing my eyes, I widen the scope of my Telepathy, and sense for minds, both human and animal alike.
Thankfully, the only beings around are animals, and those too are a mile away from me at the closest. Well, this is the bloody North Pole, not everyone, or everything can tolerate a temperature this low.
Even I was not completely immune to it, and had to rely on my Telekinesis to not keep shivering. But, I'm going to need my complete focus in a minute, and hence, I'm going to have to take my Temperature protection off.
Slamming the side of my fists together, I cross my arms in front of my chest, and jump up, spinning around myself. As soon as I land on the ground, arms spread, an orange hemisphere of a barrier, made out of complex geometric shapes forms in the air, surrounding all area within 20 meters of me, that starts increase the temperature within itself, melting the water.
As the melted water begins flowing out of the barrier, nothing stopping it from freezing once outside, I focus within myself, and start taking everything out of the Nowhere.
I was going to change the Nowhere, make it so whenever I put anything inside, it remains as is, as long as I don't bring it out. So, if I put freshly made tea inside, and remove it centuries later, it should still remain as fresh, as hot as it was when I had put it in storage.
A completely Timeless Dimension, that is what I'm aiming to turn my Nowhere into.
The only thing I had to make sure of, is avoiding Paradoxes. In a completely Timeless Dimension, an Item is either always there, or it was never there. If I keep a book inside a Timeless Nowhere, then it should have already been there before I even kept it, since Time doesn't exist inside.
It was.. very complex, and I had to spend a few weeks going over the calculations.
Now staring at all the items once within my Pocket Dimension, I blink, a little bit confused, and mostly astonished. I had no idea I had so much stuff in there. There's no catalogue of items I store there, only my admittedly impressive memory.
Now, laying on the dry land in front of me, were things I didn't even remember storing in there. I mean, I must've been distracted, or I must have stored these things in a rush, or in a bunch. Or my memory is not as Eidetic as I believed it to be, I do probably forget some useless stuff.
Huh, this needs some meditation, before I can make a conclusion.
Shaking my head, I begin going over the stuff before I can begin with changing the Nowhere. There were.. about a hundred pistols, 37 Energy Rifles, 13 Assault Riffles, and a single Panzer, all powered by the Batteries created out of Tesseract's energy. I.. don't even know how the Panzer got here, I don't have any recollection of putting the Hydra Panzer into the Nowhere. But this probably happened during the mission to rescue Bucky.
Then there were the dozen batteries, some big, some small, all containing the energy of the Tesseract. After that, was the corpse of the Basilisk, still completely intact even through the passage of these years, except for the few missing fangs, and some chunks of flesh which Sly had eaten. And lets not forget the eyes, tongue, and the Venom sack, which were all stored separately inside crystal jars, which were now sitting innocently near the dead Basilisk.
Then came my two swords, Durmagol and Galadmagol, including their scabbards, along with three dozen remaining Magical Silver daggers, all of them made exactly the same way, and a few normal steel daggers. Next came the Elder Wand, which I had still not used to cast spells.
Unfortunately, the Resurrection Stone was kept in the Chamber Forge, so it wasn't here with me, and neither was Rowena's Diadem. That.. was in Aves Manor.
Then there were the dozens of books which I had stored to read later, and promptly forgotten about, amounting to a total number of 79. Most of them were fictional novels, or biographies, or even journals of my ancestors. Then came the two remaining Graphorn Golden horns, which I had gotten from Newt Scamander, and a single Unicorn Horn, which I had taken from the Slytherin Vault just in case.
There were also 3.5 bottles of Skele-gro, a single, larger glass bottle of Org-grow, 6 vials of Pepper-Up, four of Healing Elixer, two bottles of Essence of Dittany, 7 glass bottles of Murtlap essence, and just 3 bottles of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey. I should probably find a place to brew Potions, which means I need a place to build a home, and a few greenhouses, while I'm at it.
The rest of the stuff, contained a few knick-knacks, watches that don't work anymore, the lump of melted Magic Silver, a single bar of Gold, Silver, and a dozen or so gemstones, all of which I had found in the Room of Hidden things.
Yeah, I had a looot of stuff, it seems. But very few things will be of use to me here, in this time period. Well, the Basilisk will definitely be useful when I begin building a house, but I don't have a good enough location for that yet.
So, yeah, useless.
Once the Nowhere Dimension is empty, I close my eyes and sit down on the ground, my hands held together, to begin changing it. Runic Symbols start floating out of my connected hands, and start covering my body with it. One by one, my entire face is covered by Golden Runic sumbols, and my body follows soon after. All the while, I kept my focus on conjuring those Runes over myself.
I have to literally make it so Time as a concept doesn't exist in Nowhere anymore, remove the flow of Time completely. This.. is not easy.
As a matter of fact, this is going to be a long process.
---
October, 56 BC:
A few weeks after re-creating the Nowhere as I wanted it, which by itself took me 3 whole days, I fly over the forests in Southern Africa, to look for Dragons, dead or alive.
Magical Dragons, no matter the species, are found either in very hot places, or in mountain caves. So deserts, Volcanoes, or mountains. And in all these days of flying over Africa, I was yet to find a single Dragon, Magical or otherwise.
I wasn't just flying here, however. I still spent many hours a day in the Library of Alexandria, either working, or reading in the Magical Library under Master Onuris's watchful eyes. He knew I was looking for dragons during night times, because he had caught me reading about them one night, but by God, he did not offer a single advice.
Master Onuris is many things, but a teacher, he is not.
Currently, I was in the eastern coast of South Africa, flying between two mountains while looking everywhere, to see if I can find something interesting. My enhanced eyesight was now good enough, that despite being a few hundred meters above the ground, I could still see most things very clearly. My ears were actually better than my eyes, and I could hear things before I see them.
And so, as soon as I hear a sound that is a mixture of a pained screech, and an anger filled roar, I stop and look at the ground, where the sound came from. It takes a while, thanks to the dense forest, but then I see it. A giant cat, with three spears sticking out of its thick hide, was standing in front of another cat of similar size, and five other cats very much smaller than it.
The cat had leathery hide, with thorn like spikes all over its body. The head was practically covered in those spikes, making it look like a very dark lion's mane. And when the creature howled, both in pain, and anger, its throat.. swelled up, like a pufferfish.
A family of Nundus, with five small cubs barely half a year old.
Frowning, since I know that a Nundu is extremely dangerous, I approach the location, to see who dared to harm a pair of Nundus, and their cubs. As I stop a few dozen meters above the Nundus, I see another spear speed towards the male Nundu, and hit it on his shoulder, the speed with which it was thrown leaving the Nundu no time to dodge.
I scowl, really not liking this. Nundus are majestic creatures, one of the oldest breeds of Cats, magical or otherwise. And these.. people, these morons, were trying to kill it?
I immediately drop down on the ground in front of the Nundus, catching the next thrown spear in my hands, and send it flying back towards the attacker full force. The man, surprisingly enough, catches the spear in his own hands, and raises his hand to stop anyone else from attacking.
I look at the obvious leader of this tribe of African people, and ask, "What.. do you think you're doing?"
Meanwhile, the Nundu sees that I am keeping its attackers distracted, and immediately starts running, taking his mate, and the cubs with him. I'll find him later, I will need to heal his wounds.
The man scowls, seeing his prey run away, and ignoring my question, he says, "Who are you, stranger, and what are you doing in our lands?"
I had spoken in the Egyptian language, which, thankfully for me, was understood, and returned by the weird man wearing a Panther coat on his head, and panther fangs around his neck.
I ignore his question, just the way he did mine, and enter his mind to get answers directly. A few images go through his mind, showing me glances of this man eating a purple bulb of a glowing flower, gaining a fraction of the strength of Bast, and the agility of a Panther. This man in front of me, was Bashenga, the King of Wakanda?
Then comes the image of his people encountering a Nundu corpse for the first time. This man got a vision from a giant Panther, telling him to use the bones of the Nundu in their weapons. So, Bashenga crushed the bones into fine powder, and mixed it with liquid Isipho, their so called Divine Metal.
Their Rhinos and Panthers also liked the flesh of a Nundu, which was just an additional benefit for them. And thus began a series of using the now enhanced Isipho weapons to hunt Nundus, to use their bones in creating more weapons and tools.
It seems Nundu bones causes the Isipho weapons to become sharper, more durable, and give it a stability when it comes to Magic.
Bashenga. Wakanda. Isipho. Vibranium.
Surprising, but not completely unexpected. I just didn't expect to meet the First King of Wakanda. Hell, I didn't even know when Wakanda was actually formed as a country.
For some reason, which I'm guessing is related to the Goddess Bast's blessings, I cannot read all his memories, I only get glances from him. Well, I have other methods of gaining information. Using my Telepathy, I knock them all out, causing them to fall down as if their strings were cut, and approach the King Bashenga now.
Holding my hand on his head, I force my way into his mind, through the admittedly good defences his Goddess had given him, and copy all his memories. I do take a moment to see everything related to Vibranium, or as they call it, Isipho.
Right before I can get out of his mind, I get a glimpse of a growling Panther running towards me, and I immediately break the connection between our minds. Yup, don't want to mess with actual Gods, their champions, sure. But not actual Gods.
Waving my hand, I summon all of the weapons of my downed enemies towards me. A total of 13 Isipho weapons, spears and daggers, all of them made by mixing a little bit of Nundu bone dust into purified Isipho, float in front of me, all of which I send into the Nowhere.
Then, focusing on my Telepathy once again, I order, "You will go back to your Kingdom, and stop killing the Nundus."
This will probably only work for a short while, since an actual Goddess is at work here. I have no idea if the Goddess will be as strong as movie Thor and the like, or an actual Omnipotent Goddess. But, a few years is all I can ask right now.
As the people begin waking up, probably already confused about everything, I apparate away about 20 meters in front the still running Nundus. The Nundu, with four Isipho spears still sticking out of its hide, one in its shoulder, and three on his back, slids to a stop, his family right behind, and growls at me.
I raise my hand, sending telepathic waves of calm, peace, warmth towards the family of Nundus, and say, "Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you. I want to heal you."
I am still unable to use my telepathy on any animal or bird. I can sense their minds, yes, but I cannot enter the minds, let alone control them. Even now, my Reverse Empathy fails, as the Nundu just growls at me in warning.
Well, at least its not attacking me first.
Sighing, I focus within myself, and bend down on all fours. Slowly, my hands and legs turn into Tiger claws, and my nails get bigger than my feral mutation ever allowed. Slowly, I shift from my human form, to my Animagus form of a Kasha, with white flames replacing my skin and hair, and yellow and green heterochromatic eyes replacing my normal ones.
"GRRRRRRRR!" I say, seeing the Nundu start its run, causing it to immediately stop in its spot. Well, at least my Kasha form came to use some way. Kasha was right at the top of Feline hierarchy, along with a few other Demonic Cats, and Cat Gods.
As the two older cats bow down, their tails raised into the air, I approach them, this time, my telepathic message of me not harming them reaching their minds successfully.
I say, 'Do not be afraid, my human form will help you heal.'
The Nundu nods, a bit reluctant to trust me, but I get the feeling that he won't attack me immediately, not unless I harm him. Shifting myself back into my human form, I raise my hands, showing myself unarmed. Getting a snort from the Nundu in return, I smile, a bit reassured, and pull the Isipho spears out of his body.
"GROWWWLL!!" The Nundu screeches in pain, once again, causing me to wince from the volume.
Then, I take the bottle of Essence of Dittany out of the Nowhere, and float it over the wounds. I slowly pour a single drop each on the wounds, and watch the wounds close right before my eyes.
Once again turning into my Kasha form, I telepathically say, 'The wound will still hurt for a while, so don't get into fights.'
It seems my Telepathy does work on animals when I'm in my Animagus form. Huh, didn't see that one coming, even if it should have been obvious.
The Nundu just glances at me, hesitantly nods, and starts running once again, his family right after it.
Huh, they're nice, Nundus. He didn't attack me even when I came out of nowhere, even when I had my back turned to him. It seems even in 1945, there are some things not known about Nundus.
Note to self, Nundus only attack you if you attack them, or threaten their cubs. They like to avoid conflict whenever their cubs are in danger. Second point, they don't bloody breathe out Poisonous air all the time. Fucking Wizards, getting everything wrong.
Well, before the bloody Goddess comes out of wherever she's hiding, to come find me, I have two more tasks to accomplish.
Twisting around my feet, I apparate into Wakandan territory, near a location I got from Bashenga's mind, and smile, seeing two dead dragons, fallen beneath a mountain.
These two dragons, both of them dark brown colour, were both around 45 meters long, snout to tail, with spikes along the spine, even on their heads, and their tails. That's.. longer than even Hungarian Horntails, the biggest breed of dragons in my time!
Fuck, Magical Dragons are bigger in the past, of course!
They had fought amongst each other, near the Kingdom of Wakanda, and the Wakandans had taken advantage of their distraction to kill them with their Isipho spears.
Normal Isipho is not capable of piercing Nundu hide, let alone Dragon hide, but the newer varient, one made by mixing Nundu bone, has enough sharpness and strength to pierce even the dragon's bones, to stab straight into the dragon's heart. These dragons died two days ago, and they were still intact.
The Wakandans had kept the dragons here itself, because of two reasons. First, they were going to allow their animals to feed on their flesh, to try and make the animals stronger, and second, they encountered the Nundus before they could start.
Placing my hand on the chest of the dragon, right over its heart, I inject it with my Magic, while chanting in Ancient Egyptian, "Resonance."
This is one of those Egyptian spells that needs a chant, if only a single word. This can also only be used when a Staff crafter is creating the staff for themselves.
Unfortunately, I feel nothing even after doing it for half a minute. Sighing, I place the Dragon in the Nowhere, thankful for the lack of Spatial Limitations within the Pocket Dimension. Turning towards the second Dragon, I place it inside Nowhere too, not finding it to be a match to me.
Well, if it was easy, every Wizard would have been a Staff/Wand crafter.
Glancing up, I look at the cave systems in the mountains around me, smelling brimstone and smoke even from this far away. There's definitely more dragons up there, but they're alive.
I'm not going to attack a Dragon just for their body parts. I don't rightly care if it takes time for me to Craft my staff, but purposefully killing Dragons is not something I will do.
I apparate away once more, this time inside a Wakandan cave. The cave was made completely out of Isipho, with the walls made entirely out of its ore. The ground was also saturated by Isipho's Energy, allowing it to grow.. this.
Looking at the hundreds of purple flowers in front of me, buried in ground irradiated by the Isipho ore, I smile. Picking 7 of the flowers, I take the mud from underneath it, and store both in the Nowhere. Taking my sword out, I cut a piece of the Isipho ore out of the cave walls, and put that into Nowhere too.
My sword can cut through Isipho ore, huh. Good for me!
And then, I apparate away, my job done. I really have skewed Morals, don't I? I don't mind stealing, at all, if it benefits me, but someone else trying to steal from me is a big no no.
Well, not my problem. I didn't steal everything anyway, just a little. I need to study this flower, to find out what makes it tick. And then, maybe, in the future, I can modify a Strength enhancement Ritual to include this Flower, this Heart Shaped Herb.
And besides, I left them with some of the Nundu bones that they had already left stored away, yet to use them. I still have no idea why a Cat Goddess, Bast, condones the killing of Panthers and Nundus, and hopefully, I'll never find out.
Smiling, I continue flying, only this time, towards the ocean. Time to look for a base of operations that I can ward till Kingdom come.
--
"Well, this was easy." I say, looking at the island below me with a critical eye.
The Island was placed around two thousand kilometres to the east of Madagascar islands, somewhere south of India and Sri Lanka. I don't remember seeing it in any of the maps, which means I'll probably succeed in my goals.
Or I'll fail so spectacularly, that the Island is erased out of existence.
It was also perfect for me, since there are very few animals on there, and no human presence at all. There were trees aplenty, but even if the island was barren, I wouldn't have minded.
I can just ward the areas to have whatever ecosystem I wanted. Which is exactly what I'm going to do once I'm done Warding.
The island was big, but not too big. I've seen the island of Sri Lanka before, from high up in the air. I was still in the testing phases of the new Sling Ring, sue me. This island was.. about a tenth of the size. Or more like a twelfth.
Well, lets find out exactly how much area it has, shall we. I point both my palms at the Island, still floating a few miles above it with my Telekinesis provided flight. I'm really enjoying flying on my own, if you can't tell.
Circular Tao Mandalas appear in front of my palms, as a single band of Universal Magic is formed on my forearm, which spins slowly around my wrists. Pulling my right hand backwards, I extend just the index and middle fingers, and touch the band on my left wrist, connecting to it.
As I push my right hand towards the island, the band goes with it, and flies towards the island. As the band goes beyond my sight, I wait, knowing the spell is already working.
At first, a single line forms right along the centre of the Island, glowing orange from the Universal Magic. Even I, from a few miles above the ground, can see it clearly. Then, another line forms on its left, keeping a very small distance of exactly one kilometre, if the spell worked right.
Which it did.
A third line forms on the right of the first one, once again keeping a distance of one kilometre. On and on it goes, until the entire Island is covered in giant parallel lines, each covering a distance of just one kilometre.
It is just an illusion, however, visible only to me, so that I can see that the spell is working.
Then, a new line forms perpendicular to all the other ones, dividing the central line into two equal parts. Once again the process starts, this time with the new line, as a new set of Parallel lines emergy, these ones all perpendicular to the first set.
When the process ends, all of five minutes after I began, I see a grid of squares, 1 sq km each, covering the entirety of the Island. Putting my two fingers, this time of the left hand, on the band on my right hand, I push that band towards the island.
This band speeds towards the island, and hits the grid like structure, immediately causing it to shatter into Universal Magic once again. And then, the band comes back, and stops in front of me.
Only this time, it has imprints on top of it, showing the numbers 4729.73. Which is the area of the Island in square kilometres.
I really find it odd that Sorcery has a spell for getting the area of any piece of land, but it doesn't have a spell to tell the time of the day.
Shaking my head, I dispell the Tao Mandalas around my hand, and slowly drop down towards the island that I was going to turn into my Base of Operations, my lair, so to speak. But to do that, I will need to Ward the Island completely, so that.. colonisers don't find it.
Gods, I'm a coloniser right now, aren't I? Fucking hell.
---
A/N: What an elaborate yet unnecessary way to find the area of a surface, am I right? Well, Magic works in mysterious ways, and sometimes, it works by actually counting the 1kmsq squares lol.
Anyway, I've already planned out what I'm hoping for in this arc, so don't worry about me losing my vision. I might get distracted, however, by some unexpected plotline or something.
You've probably seen it happen in my stories.
Quick question, are there any questions you want to ask regarding the story? Any doubts to clear, or any clarifications? Feel free to comment on this chapter. I'll either reply to those comments, or I'll write an explanation in the Author Notes next chapter.
Anyway, thank you for your support!
Tata!
A bit of an infodump, and a speedy chapter.
---
July, 56 BC: Three Months after Arrival:
Goblin's Silver, a Magical metal used only by the Goblins for their weapons, armours, and even cutlery. They sell it to Wizards too, at a very high price, with a simple condition of always getting it back, when the buyer dies.
For so long I, and probably every other Wizard alive, had thought that the metal was an invention of the Goblins, something they created from magically altering normal Silver.
And now, I find that it's not actually the truth. Goblin's Silver is actually found in nature, an isotope of normal Silver, I'm guessing. But it's not just that. This Silver can only be found deep within the ground, in areas where Magic is highly saturated, which is probably how the Goblins found it. They're diggers.
The Silver.. Magical Silver, absorbs the Magic from the ground, from the surroundings, and feeds it back, creating a cycle of give and take of Magic, continuously. The cycles are too slow for me to track as is, but I can probably figure something out within a few years using either the information I already have in my mind, from literal years of reading through the Room of Knowledge, or the Magical Library.
The fact that even Rowena believed the metal to belong to Goblins, must mean that soon, before 7th Century AD in fact, Goblins must have hoarded all the Magical Silver they could find, and created a monopoly of it. And no Wizard ever found it, since Wizards don't just dig, let alone dig this deep.
And I'm guessing they found that the Magical Silver is not infinite, they must have believed they had all the Magical Silver in the world in their possession, which is why they began selling it with the peculiar return policy.
I also realised why the metal called to me yesterday, and it wasn't at all hard to figure out. The tree which is my match for Staff wood had fed the Metal with its Magic, and then fed from it in turn, for the decades that it has been alive. And hence, the metal and the wood were connected, deeply.
Before the tree existed, another tree must've stood in its place, and it would have been connected to the Silver in turn. Really simple.
Well, currently the branch and root I had cut off were sitting in the Nowhere, together with the lump of Magical Silver ore, under enchantments to keep them preserved. And since preservation Enchantments don't stick, I have 5 years before I need to use the wood, or cast another Enchantment.
Which reminds me to try and improve the Nowhere Dimension.
I have a lot of stuff in the Nowhere, that can get bad with time, like the guns I'd stolen from Hydra, the many potions I have, clothes, and now, the branch and root of a Mopane tree. I definitely need to work on making the Dimension timeless.
Meanwhile, I was currently alone in the Metalworking Wing of the Library of Alexandria, which was free to use for any student, as long as some teacher is with them. I didn't have the need to hide my activities here, since the Statute of Secrecy was not even a dream yet, but I just didn't want to gain people's curiosity over what I'm creating.
And I want to keep this a secret for as long as possible.
Holding my right hand up, I gesture with a finger, causing the melted Magical Silver to rise up into the air. I had used my sword, Galadmagol, to cut a Magical Silver dagger into two parts, and melted one of them.
I keep my hand pointed at it, and Telekinetically form an invisible cast for the metal, in the shape of a ring. Sometimes, even my terrible control over my Telekinesis feels a bit OP to me. Limited only by my imagination, as they say.
While the ring shaped metal is still hot, and somewhat cooling down, I point my left hand at it, and once again Telekinetically start writing Runes on the Ring's surface, both inside and out. Once done, I float the now Rune carved ring away, to let it cool, and bring the second piece of the dagger out, throwing it into the crucible.
Pointing my left hand at the metal, from above, I shoot white hot flames out of my fist, to heat the silver more. It was an Egyptian spell, which was.. not exactly a spell.
Magic usage in Egypt, since thousands of years, has always been based more around Intent, than words. The only time Words are used, is when you want to invoke some being, like Sorcery, or if the effect you're hoping for is particularly deadly.
The same translates over to the use of Staffs, which don't have Wand Motions, Incantations, for spells. You just have Intent, and your Magic. Everything depends on your Need for Magic, and your Strength in Magic. And these white flames were something I imagined forming, by imagining my Kasha's flames, without the Darkness that they have.
A Kasha does have some Demonic background, you know.
I had already enchanted the Crucible to not melt, but still conduct the heat, so I wasn't worried about that. I remember when it had happened during my first days of forging, in the Chamber Forge.
Ah, I really regret not keeping everything I own in Nowhere now. Shaking my head, I get back to the present, or more appropriately, the past, and keep hearing the Silver.
Within a few seconds, the entire second half of the dagger melts, and I keep the heat going, turning towards the Ring, which had by now cooled. Biting my left index finger, I cut into the skin, and touch the bleeding finger on a single Rune on the Ring, activating the enchantments.
Immediately, the Runes on the ring glow with a dull orange light, and the Atlantic Runic symbols intrinsically connect to the Ring, making the enchantments stick. Without any delay, I dip the now enchanted Ring into the melted Magical Silver, making sure to dip it completely, and bring it back up, but still inside the crucible.
Waving my hand, I quickly spin the ring around to get rid of the excess Silver, and then finally bring it up, turning the furnace off.
As the remaining Silver starts rising up, forming into a block thanks to my Telekinesis, I look at the Ring with a huge smile on my face. I finally had it, another Sling Ring.
The only obstacle to me finding a core for my staff, or even the Sands of Time, was distance, my apparition being limited to 1000 kilometres. But with a Sling Ring, which I know I made perfectly, distance is no longer an issue.
The Sling Rings connect to two points in space, only limited by the Sorcerer's knowledge, experience, and imagination. Where apparition took time, which is spent inside whatever Dimension we travel through, Sorcery Portals are instantaneous.
Slowly floating the ring towards myself, I cast a simple Aguamenti to cool it off, and put it on my left index finger. I immediately smile, recognising the familiar Magic of Portals already within the Ring. Still, an artefact such as this needs trials, and what better place to go to, than Hogwarts.
Storing the remaining Magical Silver in the Nowhere, I clean the Forging station of any signs of use. With a wave of my hand, I take the Privacy Wards that I had set up, along with the Muggle Repellents, to make sure I remain undisturbed.
Then, I raise my right hand up, and focusing on the destination, slap it towards the empty air in front of me.
The amazing thing about the Sling Ring, is that you just need to wear it, and focus on the location. The rest of the body movements are not entirely necessary, if you practice enough. And I.. have a lot of practice.
Immediately, a hole forms in the air, with orange sparks of Universal Magic surrounding it. At the end of it, stood a dark green forest, that I recognise as the Forbidden forest. I enter through the portal, and smile, seeing it close before my very eyes. Welp, the Ring definitely works.
I was in the space, that I believe will one day hold the Gamekeeper's hut, bordering on the Forbidden Forest. Seeing a couple Unicorns peeking from behind the treeline, I bow towards them, still feeling ecstatic, and turn around.
Just as I had expected, the entire area was empty, with just grass everywhere. Well, I was in the Scottish Highlands. The Castle wasn't even built yet, which I already expected.
I knew this from reading some of Rowena's journals. The Four Founders, instead of taking their own Castles and turning it into a school, had decided (or will decide) to build their own Castle, from scratch. Thanks to Magic, and the large number of Dwarves, it was an easy enough task.
Waving my arm up, I summon another portal back to Egypt, and immediately go towards the Magical Library. One problem is solved, the Sling Ring. Now, I need to find a way to freeze my Dimension, Nowhere, in time, without actually messing with Time. Which, I can't even do with no Time Sand in my hands.
I already have the entire compilation of Magical Runic Languages in my head, from the Room of Knowledge. And now, I'm going to add Egyptian Hieroglyphs to that, this time learning without the guesses and translations that the Room of Knowledge had.
Smiling at Master Onuris, who never leaves the Library grounds, I immediately move towards the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs, and start reading.
--
September ,56 BC: 5 Months after Arrival:
I exit out of the portal, and glance in all directions. All around me, for miles and miles, there was only ice, with no other being near me. Still, can't take the risk. Closing my eyes, I widen the scope of my Telepathy, and sense for minds, both human and animal alike.
Thankfully, the only beings around are animals, and those too are a mile away from me at the closest. Well, this is the bloody North Pole, not everyone, or everything can tolerate a temperature this low.
Even I was not completely immune to it, and had to rely on my Telekinesis to not keep shivering. But, I'm going to need my complete focus in a minute, and hence, I'm going to have to take my Temperature protection off.
Slamming the side of my fists together, I cross my arms in front of my chest, and jump up, spinning around myself. As soon as I land on the ground, arms spread, an orange hemisphere of a barrier, made out of complex geometric shapes forms in the air, surrounding all area within 20 meters of me, that starts increase the temperature within itself, melting the water.
As the melted water begins flowing out of the barrier, nothing stopping it from freezing once outside, I focus within myself, and start taking everything out of the Nowhere.
I was going to change the Nowhere, make it so whenever I put anything inside, it remains as is, as long as I don't bring it out. So, if I put freshly made tea inside, and remove it centuries later, it should still remain as fresh, as hot as it was when I had put it in storage.
A completely Timeless Dimension, that is what I'm aiming to turn my Nowhere into.
The only thing I had to make sure of, is avoiding Paradoxes. In a completely Timeless Dimension, an Item is either always there, or it was never there. If I keep a book inside a Timeless Nowhere, then it should have already been there before I even kept it, since Time doesn't exist inside.
It was.. very complex, and I had to spend a few weeks going over the calculations.
Now staring at all the items once within my Pocket Dimension, I blink, a little bit confused, and mostly astonished. I had no idea I had so much stuff in there. There's no catalogue of items I store there, only my admittedly impressive memory.
Now, laying on the dry land in front of me, were things I didn't even remember storing in there. I mean, I must've been distracted, or I must have stored these things in a rush, or in a bunch. Or my memory is not as Eidetic as I believed it to be, I do probably forget some useless stuff.
Huh, this needs some meditation, before I can make a conclusion.
Shaking my head, I begin going over the stuff before I can begin with changing the Nowhere. There were.. about a hundred pistols, 37 Energy Rifles, 13 Assault Riffles, and a single Panzer, all powered by the Batteries created out of Tesseract's energy. I.. don't even know how the Panzer got here, I don't have any recollection of putting the Hydra Panzer into the Nowhere. But this probably happened during the mission to rescue Bucky.
Then there were the dozen batteries, some big, some small, all containing the energy of the Tesseract. After that, was the corpse of the Basilisk, still completely intact even through the passage of these years, except for the few missing fangs, and some chunks of flesh which Sly had eaten. And lets not forget the eyes, tongue, and the Venom sack, which were all stored separately inside crystal jars, which were now sitting innocently near the dead Basilisk.
Then came my two swords, Durmagol and Galadmagol, including their scabbards, along with three dozen remaining Magical Silver daggers, all of them made exactly the same way, and a few normal steel daggers. Next came the Elder Wand, which I had still not used to cast spells.
Unfortunately, the Resurrection Stone was kept in the Chamber Forge, so it wasn't here with me, and neither was Rowena's Diadem. That.. was in Aves Manor.
Then there were the dozens of books which I had stored to read later, and promptly forgotten about, amounting to a total number of 79. Most of them were fictional novels, or biographies, or even journals of my ancestors. Then came the two remaining Graphorn Golden horns, which I had gotten from Newt Scamander, and a single Unicorn Horn, which I had taken from the Slytherin Vault just in case.
There were also 3.5 bottles of Skele-gro, a single, larger glass bottle of Org-grow, 6 vials of Pepper-Up, four of Healing Elixer, two bottles of Essence of Dittany, 7 glass bottles of Murtlap essence, and just 3 bottles of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey. I should probably find a place to brew Potions, which means I need a place to build a home, and a few greenhouses, while I'm at it.
The rest of the stuff, contained a few knick-knacks, watches that don't work anymore, the lump of melted Magic Silver, a single bar of Gold, Silver, and a dozen or so gemstones, all of which I had found in the Room of Hidden things.
Yeah, I had a looot of stuff, it seems. But very few things will be of use to me here, in this time period. Well, the Basilisk will definitely be useful when I begin building a house, but I don't have a good enough location for that yet.
So, yeah, useless.
Once the Nowhere Dimension is empty, I close my eyes and sit down on the ground, my hands held together, to begin changing it. Runic Symbols start floating out of my connected hands, and start covering my body with it. One by one, my entire face is covered by Golden Runic sumbols, and my body follows soon after. All the while, I kept my focus on conjuring those Runes over myself.
I have to literally make it so Time as a concept doesn't exist in Nowhere anymore, remove the flow of Time completely. This.. is not easy.
As a matter of fact, this is going to be a long process.
---
October, 56 BC:
A few weeks after re-creating the Nowhere as I wanted it, which by itself took me 3 whole days, I fly over the forests in Southern Africa, to look for Dragons, dead or alive.
Magical Dragons, no matter the species, are found either in very hot places, or in mountain caves. So deserts, Volcanoes, or mountains. And in all these days of flying over Africa, I was yet to find a single Dragon, Magical or otherwise.
I wasn't just flying here, however. I still spent many hours a day in the Library of Alexandria, either working, or reading in the Magical Library under Master Onuris's watchful eyes. He knew I was looking for dragons during night times, because he had caught me reading about them one night, but by God, he did not offer a single advice.
Master Onuris is many things, but a teacher, he is not.
Currently, I was in the eastern coast of South Africa, flying between two mountains while looking everywhere, to see if I can find something interesting. My enhanced eyesight was now good enough, that despite being a few hundred meters above the ground, I could still see most things very clearly. My ears were actually better than my eyes, and I could hear things before I see them.
And so, as soon as I hear a sound that is a mixture of a pained screech, and an anger filled roar, I stop and look at the ground, where the sound came from. It takes a while, thanks to the dense forest, but then I see it. A giant cat, with three spears sticking out of its thick hide, was standing in front of another cat of similar size, and five other cats very much smaller than it.
The cat had leathery hide, with thorn like spikes all over its body. The head was practically covered in those spikes, making it look like a very dark lion's mane. And when the creature howled, both in pain, and anger, its throat.. swelled up, like a pufferfish.
A family of Nundus, with five small cubs barely half a year old.
Frowning, since I know that a Nundu is extremely dangerous, I approach the location, to see who dared to harm a pair of Nundus, and their cubs. As I stop a few dozen meters above the Nundus, I see another spear speed towards the male Nundu, and hit it on his shoulder, the speed with which it was thrown leaving the Nundu no time to dodge.
I scowl, really not liking this. Nundus are majestic creatures, one of the oldest breeds of Cats, magical or otherwise. And these.. people, these morons, were trying to kill it?
I immediately drop down on the ground in front of the Nundus, catching the next thrown spear in my hands, and send it flying back towards the attacker full force. The man, surprisingly enough, catches the spear in his own hands, and raises his hand to stop anyone else from attacking.
I look at the obvious leader of this tribe of African people, and ask, "What.. do you think you're doing?"
Meanwhile, the Nundu sees that I am keeping its attackers distracted, and immediately starts running, taking his mate, and the cubs with him. I'll find him later, I will need to heal his wounds.
The man scowls, seeing his prey run away, and ignoring my question, he says, "Who are you, stranger, and what are you doing in our lands?"
I had spoken in the Egyptian language, which, thankfully for me, was understood, and returned by the weird man wearing a Panther coat on his head, and panther fangs around his neck.
I ignore his question, just the way he did mine, and enter his mind to get answers directly. A few images go through his mind, showing me glances of this man eating a purple bulb of a glowing flower, gaining a fraction of the strength of Bast, and the agility of a Panther. This man in front of me, was Bashenga, the King of Wakanda?
Then comes the image of his people encountering a Nundu corpse for the first time. This man got a vision from a giant Panther, telling him to use the bones of the Nundu in their weapons. So, Bashenga crushed the bones into fine powder, and mixed it with liquid Isipho, their so called Divine Metal.
Their Rhinos and Panthers also liked the flesh of a Nundu, which was just an additional benefit for them. And thus began a series of using the now enhanced Isipho weapons to hunt Nundus, to use their bones in creating more weapons and tools.
It seems Nundu bones causes the Isipho weapons to become sharper, more durable, and give it a stability when it comes to Magic.
Bashenga. Wakanda. Isipho. Vibranium.
Surprising, but not completely unexpected. I just didn't expect to meet the First King of Wakanda. Hell, I didn't even know when Wakanda was actually formed as a country.
For some reason, which I'm guessing is related to the Goddess Bast's blessings, I cannot read all his memories, I only get glances from him. Well, I have other methods of gaining information. Using my Telepathy, I knock them all out, causing them to fall down as if their strings were cut, and approach the King Bashenga now.
Holding my hand on his head, I force my way into his mind, through the admittedly good defences his Goddess had given him, and copy all his memories. I do take a moment to see everything related to Vibranium, or as they call it, Isipho.
Right before I can get out of his mind, I get a glimpse of a growling Panther running towards me, and I immediately break the connection between our minds. Yup, don't want to mess with actual Gods, their champions, sure. But not actual Gods.
Waving my hand, I summon all of the weapons of my downed enemies towards me. A total of 13 Isipho weapons, spears and daggers, all of them made by mixing a little bit of Nundu bone dust into purified Isipho, float in front of me, all of which I send into the Nowhere.
Then, focusing on my Telepathy once again, I order, "You will go back to your Kingdom, and stop killing the Nundus."
This will probably only work for a short while, since an actual Goddess is at work here. I have no idea if the Goddess will be as strong as movie Thor and the like, or an actual Omnipotent Goddess. But, a few years is all I can ask right now.
As the people begin waking up, probably already confused about everything, I apparate away about 20 meters in front the still running Nundus. The Nundu, with four Isipho spears still sticking out of its hide, one in its shoulder, and three on his back, slids to a stop, his family right behind, and growls at me.
I raise my hand, sending telepathic waves of calm, peace, warmth towards the family of Nundus, and say, "Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you. I want to heal you."
I am still unable to use my telepathy on any animal or bird. I can sense their minds, yes, but I cannot enter the minds, let alone control them. Even now, my Reverse Empathy fails, as the Nundu just growls at me in warning.
Well, at least its not attacking me first.
Sighing, I focus within myself, and bend down on all fours. Slowly, my hands and legs turn into Tiger claws, and my nails get bigger than my feral mutation ever allowed. Slowly, I shift from my human form, to my Animagus form of a Kasha, with white flames replacing my skin and hair, and yellow and green heterochromatic eyes replacing my normal ones.
"GRRRRRRRR!" I say, seeing the Nundu start its run, causing it to immediately stop in its spot. Well, at least my Kasha form came to use some way. Kasha was right at the top of Feline hierarchy, along with a few other Demonic Cats, and Cat Gods.
As the two older cats bow down, their tails raised into the air, I approach them, this time, my telepathic message of me not harming them reaching their minds successfully.
I say, 'Do not be afraid, my human form will help you heal.'
The Nundu nods, a bit reluctant to trust me, but I get the feeling that he won't attack me immediately, not unless I harm him. Shifting myself back into my human form, I raise my hands, showing myself unarmed. Getting a snort from the Nundu in return, I smile, a bit reassured, and pull the Isipho spears out of his body.
"GROWWWLL!!" The Nundu screeches in pain, once again, causing me to wince from the volume.
Then, I take the bottle of Essence of Dittany out of the Nowhere, and float it over the wounds. I slowly pour a single drop each on the wounds, and watch the wounds close right before my eyes.
Once again turning into my Kasha form, I telepathically say, 'The wound will still hurt for a while, so don't get into fights.'
It seems my Telepathy does work on animals when I'm in my Animagus form. Huh, didn't see that one coming, even if it should have been obvious.
The Nundu just glances at me, hesitantly nods, and starts running once again, his family right after it.
Huh, they're nice, Nundus. He didn't attack me even when I came out of nowhere, even when I had my back turned to him. It seems even in 1945, there are some things not known about Nundus.
Note to self, Nundus only attack you if you attack them, or threaten their cubs. They like to avoid conflict whenever their cubs are in danger. Second point, they don't bloody breathe out Poisonous air all the time. Fucking Wizards, getting everything wrong.
Well, before the bloody Goddess comes out of wherever she's hiding, to come find me, I have two more tasks to accomplish.
Twisting around my feet, I apparate into Wakandan territory, near a location I got from Bashenga's mind, and smile, seeing two dead dragons, fallen beneath a mountain.
These two dragons, both of them dark brown colour, were both around 45 meters long, snout to tail, with spikes along the spine, even on their heads, and their tails. That's.. longer than even Hungarian Horntails, the biggest breed of dragons in my time!
Fuck, Magical Dragons are bigger in the past, of course!
They had fought amongst each other, near the Kingdom of Wakanda, and the Wakandans had taken advantage of their distraction to kill them with their Isipho spears.
Normal Isipho is not capable of piercing Nundu hide, let alone Dragon hide, but the newer varient, one made by mixing Nundu bone, has enough sharpness and strength to pierce even the dragon's bones, to stab straight into the dragon's heart. These dragons died two days ago, and they were still intact.
The Wakandans had kept the dragons here itself, because of two reasons. First, they were going to allow their animals to feed on their flesh, to try and make the animals stronger, and second, they encountered the Nundus before they could start.
Placing my hand on the chest of the dragon, right over its heart, I inject it with my Magic, while chanting in Ancient Egyptian, "Resonance."
This is one of those Egyptian spells that needs a chant, if only a single word. This can also only be used when a Staff crafter is creating the staff for themselves.
Unfortunately, I feel nothing even after doing it for half a minute. Sighing, I place the Dragon in the Nowhere, thankful for the lack of Spatial Limitations within the Pocket Dimension. Turning towards the second Dragon, I place it inside Nowhere too, not finding it to be a match to me.
Well, if it was easy, every Wizard would have been a Staff/Wand crafter.
Glancing up, I look at the cave systems in the mountains around me, smelling brimstone and smoke even from this far away. There's definitely more dragons up there, but they're alive.
I'm not going to attack a Dragon just for their body parts. I don't rightly care if it takes time for me to Craft my staff, but purposefully killing Dragons is not something I will do.
I apparate away once more, this time inside a Wakandan cave. The cave was made completely out of Isipho, with the walls made entirely out of its ore. The ground was also saturated by Isipho's Energy, allowing it to grow.. this.
Looking at the hundreds of purple flowers in front of me, buried in ground irradiated by the Isipho ore, I smile. Picking 7 of the flowers, I take the mud from underneath it, and store both in the Nowhere. Taking my sword out, I cut a piece of the Isipho ore out of the cave walls, and put that into Nowhere too.
My sword can cut through Isipho ore, huh. Good for me!
And then, I apparate away, my job done. I really have skewed Morals, don't I? I don't mind stealing, at all, if it benefits me, but someone else trying to steal from me is a big no no.
Well, not my problem. I didn't steal everything anyway, just a little. I need to study this flower, to find out what makes it tick. And then, maybe, in the future, I can modify a Strength enhancement Ritual to include this Flower, this Heart Shaped Herb.
And besides, I left them with some of the Nundu bones that they had already left stored away, yet to use them. I still have no idea why a Cat Goddess, Bast, condones the killing of Panthers and Nundus, and hopefully, I'll never find out.
Smiling, I continue flying, only this time, towards the ocean. Time to look for a base of operations that I can ward till Kingdom come.
--
"Well, this was easy." I say, looking at the island below me with a critical eye.
The Island was placed around two thousand kilometres to the east of Madagascar islands, somewhere south of India and Sri Lanka. I don't remember seeing it in any of the maps, which means I'll probably succeed in my goals.
Or I'll fail so spectacularly, that the Island is erased out of existence.
It was also perfect for me, since there are very few animals on there, and no human presence at all. There were trees aplenty, but even if the island was barren, I wouldn't have minded.
I can just ward the areas to have whatever ecosystem I wanted. Which is exactly what I'm going to do once I'm done Warding.
The island was big, but not too big. I've seen the island of Sri Lanka before, from high up in the air. I was still in the testing phases of the new Sling Ring, sue me. This island was.. about a tenth of the size. Or more like a twelfth.
Well, lets find out exactly how much area it has, shall we. I point both my palms at the Island, still floating a few miles above it with my Telekinesis provided flight. I'm really enjoying flying on my own, if you can't tell.
Circular Tao Mandalas appear in front of my palms, as a single band of Universal Magic is formed on my forearm, which spins slowly around my wrists. Pulling my right hand backwards, I extend just the index and middle fingers, and touch the band on my left wrist, connecting to it.
As I push my right hand towards the island, the band goes with it, and flies towards the island. As the band goes beyond my sight, I wait, knowing the spell is already working.
At first, a single line forms right along the centre of the Island, glowing orange from the Universal Magic. Even I, from a few miles above the ground, can see it clearly. Then, another line forms on its left, keeping a very small distance of exactly one kilometre, if the spell worked right.
Which it did.
A third line forms on the right of the first one, once again keeping a distance of one kilometre. On and on it goes, until the entire Island is covered in giant parallel lines, each covering a distance of just one kilometre.
It is just an illusion, however, visible only to me, so that I can see that the spell is working.
Then, a new line forms perpendicular to all the other ones, dividing the central line into two equal parts. Once again the process starts, this time with the new line, as a new set of Parallel lines emergy, these ones all perpendicular to the first set.
When the process ends, all of five minutes after I began, I see a grid of squares, 1 sq km each, covering the entirety of the Island. Putting my two fingers, this time of the left hand, on the band on my right hand, I push that band towards the island.
This band speeds towards the island, and hits the grid like structure, immediately causing it to shatter into Universal Magic once again. And then, the band comes back, and stops in front of me.
Only this time, it has imprints on top of it, showing the numbers 4729.73. Which is the area of the Island in square kilometres.
I really find it odd that Sorcery has a spell for getting the area of any piece of land, but it doesn't have a spell to tell the time of the day.
Shaking my head, I dispell the Tao Mandalas around my hand, and slowly drop down towards the island that I was going to turn into my Base of Operations, my lair, so to speak. But to do that, I will need to Ward the Island completely, so that.. colonisers don't find it.
Gods, I'm a coloniser right now, aren't I? Fucking hell.
---
A/N: What an elaborate yet unnecessary way to find the area of a surface, am I right? Well, Magic works in mysterious ways, and sometimes, it works by actually counting the 1kmsq squares lol.
Anyway, I've already planned out what I'm hoping for in this arc, so don't worry about me losing my vision. I might get distracted, however, by some unexpected plotline or something.
You've probably seen it happen in my stories.
Quick question, are there any questions you want to ask regarding the story? Any doubts to clear, or any clarifications? Feel free to comment on this chapter. I'll either reply to those comments, or I'll write an explanation in the Author Notes next chapter.
Anyway, thank you for your support!
Tata!
lol cant belive he just jacked T'challa's great-grand-pappy like that. Totally approve of his actions. If am not wrong about the lore the herb should work for him, but honestly not sure which god will show up. I would think that agamoto would show since the only thing mason really believes in is magic and knowledge. Then again Geae could also easily show herself to Mason since he has such a strong fate and with him being a child of terra.
Not sure how deep your lore runs but do you have any plan for the savage lands to get some dino's to populate Mason's island or the celestial that died on earth and is buried underneath the artic. Pretty sure a magic fence would help contain the dino's to his island since how else are the wizards able to contain so many magical species out in the world to specific locations. and enclosures.
Hope I'm not asking for too many spoilers.
Not sure how deep your lore runs but do you have any plan for the savage lands to get some dino's to populate Mason's island or the celestial that died on earth and is buried underneath the artic. Pretty sure a magic fence would help contain the dino's to his island since how else are the wizards able to contain so many magical species out in the world to specific locations. and enclosures.
Hope I'm not asking for too many spoilers.
There is always a sorcerer supreme but the issue is if they will kill him for messing with time.
AldariSiradla
Knight of the Fountain Pen
Began the Scramble for Africa before it became a thing...
Well, base secured!
And may Mason's actions inadvertently change history.
Well, base secured!
And may Mason's actions inadvertently change history.
- Location
- Australia
Do you have a comparison for the island size?
- Location
- England
Meanwhile, T'Challa's ancestor and party run into a pair of dragons on their way back and, without their weapons, get wiped out.
- Location
- Somewhere in this forsaken world
Hmm.. from what I see on wiki
Sorcerer Supreme
Sorcerers Supreme: Sorcerers Supreme of Earth or of the Earthly plane Candidates of the Sixth Dimension of the Eighteenth Dimension of the Thirteenth Dimension of the Strange Matter Dimension of the Lower Aether from Beyond the Purple Veil of Limbo of Tunnelworld of the Dark Dimension
marvel.fandom.com
And maybe they are the ones who helped him getting back?
Also, they should not really care what he does as long as it does not attempt to summon someone to nom-nom the dimension, no?
Last edited:
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The Savage lands isn't planned yet, but I might make him visit some day. As for the Celestial, nope. Mason isn't going to mess with something so far stronger than him, just in case he wakes up.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A bit bigger than the state of Goa.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Yeah, the Sorcerer Supreme will show up later, but its definitely not this guy. I didn't know about him lol.Hmm.. from what I see on wikithe one who should be Sorcerer Supreme right about now is Caius of Lacedaemon. In wiki it says "He served as the Sorcerer Supreme from ~400 B.C. to ~100 A.D."Sorcerer Supreme
Sorcerers Supreme: Sorcerers Supreme of Earth or of the Earthly plane Candidates of the Sixth Dimension of the Eighteenth Dimension of the Thirteenth Dimension of the Strange Matter Dimension of the Lower Aether from Beyond the Purple Veil of Limbo of Tunnelworld of the Dark Dimension
And maybe they are the ones who helped him getting back?
Also, they should not really care what he does as long as it does not attempt to summon someone to nom-nom the dimension, no?
Ohh sorry that I didn't make that clear, the celestial that's buried underneath the artic is dead. Its cosmic blood that seeped into the oceans and rivers is why the meta-gene came about and mutants came to be. It's also why there is such a cosmic variant of humans on earth that are compatible with all the other alien species found out amongst the stars. The lore for what that celestial caused with its death is so bloody jumbled. So shrug, have fun with that lol. And Yes, I don't call it the X-gene because Xavier name it that was such a pretentious git its unbelievable. Still can't believe that he got away with calling it the xgene and then calling them the x-men, then again he is the one footing all the bills.
Was never a fan of the name mutants anyway since you don't walk around calling someone with cancer 'cancer so why would you call someone with the xgene a 'mutant'. Yeah the gene gave the genetic variant human access to powers, but they are still human at the end of the day. Its like calling red heads devils and blue eyed people ice monsters.
Wait, crap sorry for the rant.
I think Mason should let his primal side out and turn T-Rexy into a mighty fine steak after a hunt.
56. Sanctuary
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07.
---
Floating over what I assume is Mt Kilimanjaro's Volcanic cone, I enjoy the heat for a while. This is nice, the feeling of warmth.
I had spent two days roaming all around the mountains of Africa, to see if I can find more Dragon corpses. And sure enough, I had found a total of 8 dead dragons, all of them mostly intact. Sure, some flesh was missing from all the animals eating it. But their hearts were completely intact.
Dragons are violent creatures, and if you're not family, you're a threat to that family. They don't need too much of an excuse to attack each other, which while unfortunate, gave me a total of 8 Dragon hearts to use.
Summoning 9 Hearts from the Nowhere, I throw them all down into the lava, while keeping a Telekinetic.. string attached to them. With a plop, the 9 hearts, one belonging to the Basilisk I had killed, and the other 8 to different Dragon corpses I had found around the continent, fall into the lava, and are summarily submerged within a few seconds.
I wait exactly 10 seconds, and then, pull at the Telekinetic strings, making the 9 hearts rush out of the burning hot lava, towards me. As they fly at me, I point my hand at the hearts, and throw conjured Water at them, to cool them down rapidly. I keep it going for a minute, not stopping the Aguamenti spell at all.
Remember the Science lesson? Quickly cooling down hot lava causes it to turn into Obsidian.
And so, floating in front of me, are 9 orbs of obsidian covered Hearts, almost Spherical in shape.
Heartstones, they're called. Hearts of different Magical animals dipped in hot magma, and rapidly cooled down. The Magic within the hearts protect them from burning completely, or melting even, while the surrounding Obsidian keeps the hearts intact for a very long time.
Dragon Hearts are the most common Hearts to be used as Heartstones, because they're one of the most Magical animals around. But, other creatures can be used too, although the scale of the Magic they can channel will be vastly low.
The Basilisk was at least 900 years old when it died, and so, its heart has the most Magical value in between these hearts. The dragons, meanwhile, were around a couple centuries old at most, but still they weren't too inferior.
Heartstones were used in old times, well, these times, as Wardstones, to keep the Protective Wards grounded. They connect the Wards to the very Earth itself, creating a tendril of Magic that goes towards the closest Leylines, to feed it. This is how Enchantments can stay for a very, very long time, powered by the Leylines.
Placing the Heartstones in Nowhere, I create a portal to my Island, and begin with my work. Before I can do anything else, I was going to protect it. I drop down on the ground, in front of a green tree filled mountain. The area is completely forested, but this is the place that is at the centre of the Island.
Well, the Island isn't round, or uniform in shape, so the estimate was.. rough. But, if I create four quadrants with this point in the centre, the area of land in each quadrant will be about eaual.
I don't care about accuracy, the Ward is going to encompass a lot of area anyway.
Extending my right index finger's nail, I draw a circle on the ground, and draw eight 7 inch long lines extending from the circle. These eight lines point in the 8 Ordinal Directions. North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest.
Placing the eight dragon Heartstones at the end of the eight lines, I place the Basilisk Heartstone within the circle. Then, I place my hand on the Basilisk Heartstone, and send my magic into it. Immediately, 8 tendrils of magic exit out of the Basilisk Heartstone, and slam into the eight dragon Heartstones, as my magic starts flowing in them too.
And then, with a snap, the eight dragon Heartstones shoot into the air, going towards their respective Ordinal directions. The Basilisk Heartstone, meanwhile, starts getting pulled into the earth, as if the ground was liquid.
Similar occurrences were occuring in the eight Directions the Dragon Heartstones flew to, with each heartstone stopping at one hundred meters short of the Island borders. These Heartstones too start getting pulled underground, with a single tendril keeping them all connected to the Central Heartstone, as well as each other.
I keep my eyes closed, and keep feeding my magic to the Heartstones, even when it completely moves underground. Finally, when the Heartstones stop, they're around 100 meters underneath the surface, too far for anyone to mess with them.
Standing up with a smile, I conjure something else from the Nowhere. The Elder Wand. I wanted my Protective Wards to be as strong as possible, and what better Focus to do that, than the Deathstick?
Holding the Elder Wand in my right hand, I place its tip on my left palm, and cast a very weak Lacero, the Dark Cutting Curse. The Dark Magic within the Curse stops my hand from healing immediately, and blood keeps flowing from my palm, into the ground.
A few months ago, just the first part of this would have tired me out completely, left me without accessible Magic for a few hours in the least. But now, it just took me to half of my strength. My Magic was improving, getting stronger, and I think that my journey into the Past has something to do with it. The Magic here, in this time, is.. purer.
Holding my bleeding palm over the still visible circle, I point my new Wand upwards, and start casting spells. "Protego totalum, Cave Inimicum, Fiantu Duri, Intrusor Erecti, Repello Muggletum, Muffliato.."
On and on the spells went, a cycle repeated over and over again.
With each Protective spell, a beam of light was emitted by the Elder Wand, that flew into the air and formed into a transparent piece of a barrier. Each new spell made the barrier bigger, and bigger, until finally the multilayered barrier covers the entire island, and more.
With the Basilisk Heartstone as the absolute centre, are two spherical barriers, both of them multilayered, all around the island. The Inner Ward had the eight dragon Heartstones on its curvature, while the outer Ward had a radius one mile bigger than the inner one.
The outer ward would make the island completely invisibile, make it impossible for muggles to come here, even accidentally, make everything that happens here silent, and overall hide the entire island. It also prevented anyone from Magically seeing inside, even with Scrying, but I doubt any competent Wizard would be stopped by not being able to see here. Which is what the Inner Ward was for.
The Inner ward stops all manner of Apparition, Portkey, and even Portals. It also absorbs almost all spells thrown at it. Of course, the only exceptions are the three Unforgivables, and other similar level spells which just cause a small hole to be formed in the ward, which will be repaired right after. Divine or Demonic Magics are a different thing altogether, though. But, I doubt any of them have any interest in my Island.
If anyone wants to teleport to the island through any means, they will be dropped outside the inner ward, but inside the Outer ward. They won't be able to enter the Inner Ward though, unless they break it down, or I allow it.
The Wards then flash once, and then disappear, now staying invisible. I could feel them though, they were still very much intact and connected to all the Heartstones. But, this is not enough.
Sighing, finally feeling a bit tired from all the spells I cast right now, I fly up into the air. Lets bar everyone else from using Magic when on the island.
Pointing my wand at the invisible inner ward, I use the modified Flagrate spell to send Runic symbols flying. Four Symbols, in four cardinal directions fly out of my Wand, and slam into the ward, merging with it. They stay there for all of 5 seconds, before they too become completely invisibile, now part of the Protective Wards of the Island.
The Runic symbols make me the only Wizard, or Sorcerer, capable of using Magic on here. Everyone else's spells will just.. fizzle out, their Magic absorbed by the Ward.
The Island is too big for me to use the Fidelius Charm on, as of now, so this is the best I can do for now. Besides, I want this to be a Sanctuary for the Magical Animals, Fidelius will prove to be counterproductive to that.
Huh, Sanctuary. That's a nice name for my Island. The Sanctuary.
Smiling in satisfaction, I create a portal to the centre of the Ward, where the Basilisk Heartstone is buried. Floating through, I cast a few spells to make the ground more comfortable, and a few more to make wild animals not eat me. And then, I lay down to go to sleep.
I've already hidden an entire Island away from everyone else, I'm fucking tired. Besides, nothing can harm me when I'm on the Island.
--
"You sure took your time." Master Onuris says as soon as I enter the Magical Library a week later.
I rub the back of my head, and say, "I was travelling, trying to find my Staff's core."
Well, that's a lie. I've just been busy setting my Sanctuary up, I didn't even have the time to look for a Staff core. And none of the dragon hearts I found were a match for me, so there's that.
Master Onuris snorts, and goes back to the book he was writing. Probably another translation, because copying books is pretty easy when you have Magic.
I turn towards the left, and go towards the Ritual Magic shelf. We spend a few minutes in silence, when suddenly a soft bell chimes from everywhere around the Library. Master Onuris immediately slams his books shut, and walks forward to stand in the middle, facing the door.
He just glances at me, and says, "Come here, stand still, and keep your head down."
I keep the book I was reading back in its place, and stand by his side. I ask, "Someone's coming?"
Nodding, Master Onuris says, "The Royal Mages. They're either coming to drop something off, or for some knowledge. Do not, under any circumstances, look them in the eye."
Well, well, well. The Royal Mages. I've been in Egypt for almost a year now, and I haven't seen them ever. Heck, the only trained Wizards I've ever seen are Priests of the Egyptian Gods, which includes Master Onuris, and I. And even the Priests I've seen just in passing.
The Royal Mages are Wizards and Witches under direct command of the Pharoah. They guard the Pharoah himself, from any and all threats that can harm him. Obviously, they're not entirely loyal, since Ptolemaic Pharoahs die every 50 years or so, at the most. Loyal to their family, the Pharoahs aren't.
Within a minute, the door slams open, and I look down, having gotten used to seeming… weak. My animal side hates it, but my Slytherin side knows that laying low is the way to go. Why antagonise the Royal Mages, and through them, the Pharoahs when you can wait for the right time to do so?
Seven people walk inside the room, most of whom go towards various shelves, to begin reading. One of them, however, approaches us, and I just feel the person staring at me. In a distinguishably female voice, the person asks, "Who is this, Priest Onuris?" In Greek.
I could see her legs, and her torso, but her head was not visible to me thanks to me bowing down. She wore just a plain, transparent cloth around her upper body, and the cloth on her lower body just hid her privates, leaving her legs open for all to see. It sort of reminds me of Princess Leia's bikini. Except with her tits openly visible to me.
Not wanting to offend her, I keep my eyes at her feet. She hasn't antagonised me yet, so why do it first?
Before I can say anything, Master Onuris answers, "This is Athreos Aetos, a commoner scholar from Greece, High Mage Tatiana."
The woman raises her hand, and I see it approach my face. Holding my face with her hands on my cheeks, she lifts my head up, none too gently. As she observes my face, she says, "It was your duty to inform us about him, Priest of Osiris. The Royal Mages need to know when there's another Mage in Alexandria."
Now that my head was raised up, I could see that the woman wore a pair of earrings which definitely protected her mind from intrusions, and a nose ring. The nose Ring's purpose was unknown to me, but I can guess. Smell poisons easily, smell deception, etc.
I keep staring at her eyes, even if Master Onuris told me not to. Because Goddamn this woman is beautiful. A soft brown skin, with short black hair and brown eyes. I was definitely attracted to her, at least a little bit.
Master Onuris nods, and says, "I didn't feel the need to, High Mage. Because this one here doesn't even have a focus. No rings, no wand, and not even a staff."
The lady sniffs, as she drops my head, and says, "It is of no importance then, an untrained Mage is of no use to the Pharoah." She then waves her hand, conjuring a few books from somewhere, and places them on the table. She says, "Translate these books into Greek and Latin, Priest Onuris. We need this knowledge within a week."
She then turns towards me, and says, "And you, when the Priest is done translating, bring the books to the palace. And you better hope that you aren't a spy. Or.." she smirks, and adds, ".. well, there are many old curses I would like to try."
Bowing my head down once again, I say, "I am here just to learn, High Mage Tatiana. I do not have any other goals, nefarious or otherwise."
Tatiana nods, and turns away from me, her big earrings swinging with her hair. She then joins her fellow Mages near the shelves, and begins perusing the books. All the while, Master Onuris and I just stay in our spots, in front of the door.
Finally, half an hour after they came in, the 6 men and one woman leave the Library, closing the door as they go. As soon as they do, I turn towards Master Onuris, and ask, "Not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you lie to her?"
Master Onuris taps his staff on the ground, emitting a wave of magic from it, and says, "I didn't lie, I just didn't correct her misconceptions. I never said you're untrained, only that you don't own a focus."
This time I manage to sense the Magic he pushed as one of sensing, the non-spell he just used checked for any hiding people, or spells. Huh, useful spell that one.
Rolling my eyes, I smile and ask, "Still, why do that? Are they dangerous? Do I need to worry when I go there?"
Master Onuris sits down on his desk, the one where Tatiana just left a dozen books for emergency translations, and points me towards the chair on the other side.
As I sit down, he says, "The Royal Mages are very much dangerous, there is no doubt. But the reason I.. omitted the truth, is that the Mages are selfish. They are afraid of other Mages becoming as strong as them. Despite the Law stating all books should be stored in the Library of Alexandria itself, the Royal Mages have a private Library of their own, sponsored by the Pharoah himself. They use the knowledge to protect the Kingdom, sometimes.. from threats that don't exist. Like other Mages. And the High Mage Tatiana is the strongest of them."
I humm, making a noise of understanding. The Royal Mages are like the Ministry of Magic, they try and limit the knowledge the public has access to, so that the Wizards here don't become strong enough to contend with them.
"I had wondered why we were the only two Mages in the Library, despite there being hundreds of Mages in Alexandria itself." I say, implying something very nefarious, and stand up.
"Don't let them hear you say it." Master Onuris warns, and begins working on translation.
This is not my problem, the Library was going to be destroyed in a few centuries anyway. The Pharoahs were going to be a thing of the past within 50 years, max. I already have two shadow organizations to take care of, I'm not adding a third to that.
Besides, I already have plans to channel one of my ancestors, to gain all Magical Knowledge in Egypt. But, it won't happen yet, I need at least a decade for that. And since I still don't have any Sands of Time, I believe I do have a decade here.
5 days is all it takes for Master Onuris and I to translate all the books into Greek and Latin, after copying them down for the Library. The books were originally Chinese, having been confiscated from a recent tourist from China. They were then copied, the copies given back to the tourist. The originals, meanwhile, were given to us, for translation and storage. The book described a number of Rituals that could be used to gain affinities to either Spirit animals, or to elements. There were also some techniques that anyone could use, without need for any Ritual.
Taking the Greek and Latin translations, I place them in an enchanted pouch, and start a leisurely walk towards the Royal Palace of the Pharoah, while seeing the sights.
Alexandria is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture, and moderate cleanliness. The only thing that could mess with the image of the beautiful city, were the people. Even in the Greek quarter, where both the Library and the Palace were based, there was no shortage of poor people.
Technically, I was one of the poor ones, with just a single room house to myself. But, I do have an entire Island, and I also don't have to spend any money for food. I can just go to the Island, or even the African forests for food.
Ah, I need to create a small greenhouse too, maybe two, one for food and the second for potion ingredients. Can't believe I almost forgot that.
Shaking myself out of my musings once I reach the palace gates, I nod at the guards, and enter through the open gates. The entrance gates are open to all, since the Pharoah does meet with some people everyday, to hear their troubles, to solve problems.
As I climb the stairs towards another gate, this one too large, I stop near the guards, and ask, "Where may I find the High Mage, Tatiana?"
The guard snaps to attention, and gives me the directions to the Royal Mage Chambers, which I had already found out by using Telepathy. But, plausible explanation and all that.
Reaching the door to what I had seen in a servant's mind as Tatiana's room, I knock, and wait. I don't have to wait long, however, when the woman opens the door without a care in the world, wearing just a simple robe fastened around her hip. She looks, as well as sounds, a bit annoyed, as she asks, "What?"
I bow to her, after a short moment of admiring her beauty, and say, "I am Athreos Aetos, High Mage Tatiana, from the Library. Master Onuris sent me here with the requested translations."
"I remember you, the untrained Mage." Tatiana says, as she gestures with her fingers to raise my head. When I do so, she asks, "Well? Where are the books?"
I show her the pouch in my hands, and say, "Master Onuris lent me this Enchanted pouch, so that I don't get robbed on my way here."
And it was the truth. Kinda. There were 24 books in total, and we wanted to keep my Magical talent a secret. So, the pouch.
Tatiana nods, and turns around, walking into the room. Pointing towards the shelf in the corner, she says, "Place the books in the shelf. I will deal with them later."
And then, she shrugs her robe off, becoming completely nude, and starts walking towards the bathtub filled with warm water in the balcony.
Well, no wonder she was annoyed, she was having a soak when I came here.
Not unused to the nudity in Alexandria, although not all women I've seen nude were this gorgeous, or strong, I turn towards the shelf. The shelf contained a few dozen books already, most of them dealing with Elemental spells, but one of them was about Soul. Huh, this book is definitely not a part of the Magical Library.
I put my hand inside the pouch, and take the books out one by one, placing the 24 books, half of them Greek, and half Latin, in an empty space. I can't help but stop and stare at the Soul Magic book once again, before I start walking out.
"Wait." The High Mage calls out, just when I'm about to walk out. I turn towards the bathtub, where she sat with her arms on the edge, as she says, "I haven't dismissed you yet, commoner."
Nodding mutely, I stand to the side, with my back once again turned towards her. Something catches my mind, however, when I clearly hear something.
'He is.. attractive, his Magic is stronger than most, even if untrained. What to do.. what to do?'
Well, well, well. Looks like someone doesn't bathe with her portable Occlumency on. I take the opportunity to enter her mind, making sure to stay undetected. And considering that the actual Phoenix Force is the one that taught me, well, I'm definitely undetectable.
If Nathaniel Essex couldn't sense my intrusions, then this normal, if strong, Witch definitely won't.
Her memories gave me a tale of her life, and it did not paint a particularly good picture. Born in the Greek quarter of Alexandria, Tatiana was the daughter of two Greek fishers. The parents were both Mages, and they raised her with some.. biases.
Egyptian Magic is inferior to Greek Magic, Roman Wands are good, staffs are unnecessary weight, etc. Considering that Egyptian curses are even present in my era, that can easily be proved as a lie.
Then, women aren't supposed to be anything but objects of sex for the men. If the Pharoah orders her to have sex with him, she should do so with a large smile on her face. She was 8 when they told her that.
Talk about shitty parenting.
Her parents died during the last civil war, when Ptolemy and his brother Ptolemy fought for the throne after Ptolemy's death, and Tatiana was left alone. She had some books on Magic, and her mother's wand, which she used to learn Magic.
She then kept on visiting the Library of Alexandria, and learned a lot more Magic under Master Onuris's watchful eyes. Then, she caught the eye of the last High Mage. He took her under his wing, as his mistress and his student, and taught her more Magic. For every piece of Magic she was taught, another piece of her dignity was torn away by the High Mage.
So, she poisoned him.
And when he died, she won the title of the High Mage, since she was the strongest amongst the other Royal Mages. The first Woman amongst the Royal Mages, Tatiana was also forced to be a Mistress to the Pharoah.
From the poorest of Alexandria, to the city's strongest people, Tatiana had come a long way. But, not all was good.
Tatiana was forced to be a Mistress to not one, but two powerful people. But, it seems the Pharoah hadn't visited her for a few months, which gave her some peace. He had a lot of other mistresses, though, not to forget his wife/half sister, Cleopatra V.
She couldn't make friends, since the Pharoah disallowed contact with anyone not the Royal Mages, or the Royal family. Even the guards and servents weren't allowed to talk to her. The only reason she was allowed to speak with Master Onuris and I, was that we work at the library.
There's no way to carry out tasks if she doesn't speak with us in her capacity as the High Mage.
Thanks to that, Tatiana didn't have much respect for the Pharoah, and not even a little bit of love for the Royal family. They were just a job for her, a way to earn money, and respect.
The only good thing about her life, for her, was that she got to read through the Hidden Library of the Royal Palace, which is the name for the Magical Library here. And she had a blanket permission for punishing those that insult her.
It takes barely a few seconds for me to go through that all, and I can't help but sympathise for her. Sure, she has killed quite a few innocent people under the Pharoah's orders, but she didn't enjoy it.
She felt she was doing her duty. Exactly what she did during her former sessions with the Pharoah.
"You.. Athreos, right?" Tatiana calls out, as I slowly exit her mind. She's not evil, I'm not going to change anything inside her mind.
Obviously, I copied all of the Magical knowledge she has stored away in her mind.
Nodding, I keep staring at the stone wall, and say, "Athreos Aetos, High Mage."
"Hmm.. turn around." She orders.
I do so, and see the woman sitting on the edge of her bathtub, her legs crossed over. She looked like the epitome of beauty, having just gotten out of the bath. Her hair and skin were still wet, with water droplets flowing down her skin.
I blink, and move my eyes away. I don't need a fight this soon in my time here, in the past.
Chuckling, Tatiana says, "Come here, and you may look." 'Zeus knows I have gotten used to being stared at.'
I look up at her, keeping my eyes on her face with some effort, and slowly walk towards the bathtub. I climb the two stairs that led to the open balcony+bathroom, and stop.
She asks, "What Magic do you know? You must know something, even if you don't have a wand."
I nod, having prepared for the question, and say, "I know some Elemental spells, High Mage. Most of the old Egyptian spells don't need a Focus to cast, and so, I learned some of them."
Tatiana scowls, some of her bias resurfacing, as she says, "Yes, I've read those same books a few years ago. But, I myself find them to be a bit hard to control without a.. staff. Let me teach you a simple spell, something I invented during my studies in the Library."
'He is untrained, and strong. If he can cast even a single Egyptian spell, then he has control on his side too. If the Pharoah finds out about him, then he will be hunted down, killed. He's too pretty to die this young.' she thinks, her loud thoughts clearly audible to me, making me internally frown.
She thinks I'm pretty? Too pretty? Damn, I'm flattered.
The reason for my frown, however, the Pharoah, being a muggle was afraid of Magic. The only Magical people he trusted, were the Royal Mages, and the few Magical Priests of the Egyptian Gods. And there weren't many of those, only about a dozen. Most of the Priests were actually muggles, who had gotten a blessing or two from their Gods.
He had killed a lot of trained Wizards in Alexandria, and so did his predecessors before him, afraid of being overthrown by stronger wizards. I'd already known about this from my history readings back home.
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was where Witch hunts actually began, although in a very low number, which the Roman church later got inspired by. Most of the History was actually lost, but some facts did make their way through the harsh times of War and burning libraries.
I bow, and say, "I will be extremely grateful, High Mage."
The woman nods, and walks towards me, still completely nude. She says, "This one spell doesn't need any focus, so even you can cast it. I haven't taught it to anyone outside the Royal Mages, so do be grateful I'm doing so."
I nod once again, not saying anything. Tatiana then holds her hand out, and says, "First, I will show you how the spell feels, so that you may understand how difficult it is. Hold my hand."
I look at her, and hesitantly ask, "My lady..?"
Rolling her eyes in annoyance, the woman holds my hand, forcefully pulling it towards herself. She then says, "You've already seen me naked, and you've taken more than a few peeks at my privates, Commoner. Now, take a deep breath, and don't panic."
And then.. she twists on her feet, taking me with her through a narrow tube. And then, we appear on the other side of the room. Having expected it, I force myself to stumble, as I drop down on the ground, dry heaving.
Holy crap! Apparition was invented now? In this era? What the fuck did other Wizards do then? Holy shit, I'm in the presence of the inventor of Apparition!
I look up, not needing to pretend to be astonished, amazed, awed, and ask, "What.. was that?"
The woman turns her head away, her cheeks a bit darker, as she folds her hands under her breasts.
Wow, she's cute. She doesn't care that she's nude in front of a literal stranger, but getting complemented on her accomplishments is what makes her blush?
She sounds hesitant, as she says, "I haven't officially named it yet, but we call it εμφανίζομαι and εξαφανίζομαι."
So Appearance and Disappearance? Works well enough.
Coughing a lot, to make it seem like I'm regaining my breath, I ask, "How do I learn? Wait.. why are you teaching me?"
I could take it from her mind, but I've already taken a lot from there. Besides, I want to see if she'll actually tell me.
Tatiana stares at me for a few seconds, and then says, "The Pharoah is a dangerous man. He might not be a Mage like you or I, but he has more power than both of us. If he finds out, that a Mage as inherently strong as you is in the city, he will become afraid. Afraid that you will plot with his enemies to overthrow him. And then, he will send us after you, to kill you."
Pausing, she holds her hand over my cheek, and says, "You have promise, Athreos. You have the capability to become a strong Mage of your own right, maybe even stronger than me, stronger than Priest Onuris. I do not want the fear of one man let such promise go to waste. This spell will help you escape, if you do get found out."
Well, this is nice. Tatiana does have morals!
It seems killing so many people, innocents, has changed something within her. I just hope she doesn't try anything foolish.
I nod, smiling in appreciation, as I hold my hand over her own hand on my cheek.
Tatiana immediately takes a step back, blushing a bit, as she says, "Right, the spell. Focus within yourself, focus on where you want to be, and then tell your Magic to take you there. Simple. Now you try."
Well, this is better than the three D's that Twycross taught us.
Turning my back towards Tatiana, I look at the door, and get a brilliant idea. I take a moment, pretending to focus on my "first" apparition, and squint my eyes at the door. Then, I whisper, "Take me next to the door, take me next to the door.."
All the while I can feel Tatiana's amusement, as she stares at me.
And then, I twist around my feet in an exaggerated motion, as I disappear from my position. I reappear with a loud crack, high up in the air, and comically widen my eyes, as I start falling down.
Tatiana sees me disappear from my position, and appear in the exact opposite direction of where I was saying I will go. She sees me appear above the still filled Bathtub, rose petals and all, and then with a splash, I fall in, sending water flying all around.
I raise my head up from the bathtub, now completely soaking wet, and see Tatiana with her hand on her mouth, suppressing her laughter.
As soon as I get up, causing water to drip from my clothes, Tatiana loses it, and starts laughing loudly. I put my hand on the back of my head, as I step out of the bathtub.
"Hahahahahah!" Tatiana keeps laughing, her laughter floating through the air like a sweet melody, causing me to smile.
She looks good when smiling, absolutely gorgeous.
Finally, a minute after, Tatiana looks up at me, still chuckling, and says, "I'm impressed, Athreos, you succeeded in your first attempt. Although.. your destination could use some practice." She once again chuckles, as she approaches me.
Well, at least my plan to cheer her up a bit, while at the same time becoming somewhat her friend worked.
Now just a foot away from me, Tatiana puts her hand on my head, and whispers, "Travíxte Neró." Which causes all the water in my clothes, as well as on my body, to get pulled towards her hand.
The water forms into an small orb, that Tatiana throws into the Bathtub, sending the water back to the source, and making me completely dry.
I smile at her, grateful, and Tatiana smiles back, looking up at me, as we unknowingly start closing the distance. We are just a few inches short of touching, and I raise my hands touching her on her cheeks.
Tatiana closes her eyes, and opens her mouth a tad bit, allowing me to lay a small kiss on her lips. Tatiana reciprocates, leading to the best 5 minutes of my life in Ptolemaic Egypt.
We just kissed, for five whole minutes, my hands on her cheeks, while her hands were on my hip.
Finally, when we separate, Tatiana smiles widely, and whispers, "You should leave now, before anyone gets suspicious."
I nod, kiss her lips once more, and say, "May we meet again, My Lady Tatiana?"
Tatiana licks her lips, slowly, sensuously, and says, "We shall see, Athreos. Now, leave."
I nod, and turn around, walking out the door. It was an impulsive kiss, for both of us. I never planned it, and she didn't either. She just wanted to give me a spell to escape, while I just wanted to make her smile for once.
But, as I remember the taste of her lips, the taste of rose petals from the water she had bathed it, I can definitely say that I don't regret it.
Damn it, I didn't want to make connections in the past, just in case I find a way back. But.. it seems I subconsciously do crave some physical contact.
Sigh, let's just go back to designing my House.
---
A few days later, Master Onuris approaches me as I'm reading about Egyptian Curses while munching on an apple, and says, "I will be leaving for the Temple of Osiris tonight. The High Priest has summoned me and all the other Priests for a summit."
I look up, my chewing stopping halfway, swallow the still solid apple, and ask, "What about the library?"
Master Onuris says, "The Library is secure enough, but I would appreciate it if you protect it when I'm gone. I know you're more capable than you like to show to anyone."
"Don't worry, I'm not stronger than you." I drily say, wondering is he too is afraid of me getting stronger.
Master Onuris snorts, and says, "I am five hundred years old, boy. If a 25 year old could become as strong as I, then I wouldn't have been alive this long."
Well.. damn. I didn't know he was this old.
I nod at him, a bit dumbfounded, and say, "Don't worry, Master Onuris. I'll protect the Library."
Nodding in satisfaction, Master Onuris starts walking out of the library, his staff tapping on the floor with each second step.
Huh, this is the first time I'm seeing him actually leave the Library. He even lives in a small apartment he carved for himself in the walls, magically expanding the walls to accommodate his every need.
Shaking my head, I return to reading about the curse of the Hom-Dai. A curse so bad, they never even used it. Flesh eating beetles? No thank you. I'll stick to killing my enemies myself.
---
A/N: No, Imhotep or the other characters from The Mummy won't make an appearance. It was just a silly little Easter egg.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
---
Floating over what I assume is Mt Kilimanjaro's Volcanic cone, I enjoy the heat for a while. This is nice, the feeling of warmth.
I had spent two days roaming all around the mountains of Africa, to see if I can find more Dragon corpses. And sure enough, I had found a total of 8 dead dragons, all of them mostly intact. Sure, some flesh was missing from all the animals eating it. But their hearts were completely intact.
Dragons are violent creatures, and if you're not family, you're a threat to that family. They don't need too much of an excuse to attack each other, which while unfortunate, gave me a total of 8 Dragon hearts to use.
Summoning 9 Hearts from the Nowhere, I throw them all down into the lava, while keeping a Telekinetic.. string attached to them. With a plop, the 9 hearts, one belonging to the Basilisk I had killed, and the other 8 to different Dragon corpses I had found around the continent, fall into the lava, and are summarily submerged within a few seconds.
I wait exactly 10 seconds, and then, pull at the Telekinetic strings, making the 9 hearts rush out of the burning hot lava, towards me. As they fly at me, I point my hand at the hearts, and throw conjured Water at them, to cool them down rapidly. I keep it going for a minute, not stopping the Aguamenti spell at all.
Remember the Science lesson? Quickly cooling down hot lava causes it to turn into Obsidian.
And so, floating in front of me, are 9 orbs of obsidian covered Hearts, almost Spherical in shape.
Heartstones, they're called. Hearts of different Magical animals dipped in hot magma, and rapidly cooled down. The Magic within the hearts protect them from burning completely, or melting even, while the surrounding Obsidian keeps the hearts intact for a very long time.
Dragon Hearts are the most common Hearts to be used as Heartstones, because they're one of the most Magical animals around. But, other creatures can be used too, although the scale of the Magic they can channel will be vastly low.
The Basilisk was at least 900 years old when it died, and so, its heart has the most Magical value in between these hearts. The dragons, meanwhile, were around a couple centuries old at most, but still they weren't too inferior.
Heartstones were used in old times, well, these times, as Wardstones, to keep the Protective Wards grounded. They connect the Wards to the very Earth itself, creating a tendril of Magic that goes towards the closest Leylines, to feed it. This is how Enchantments can stay for a very, very long time, powered by the Leylines.
Placing the Heartstones in Nowhere, I create a portal to my Island, and begin with my work. Before I can do anything else, I was going to protect it. I drop down on the ground, in front of a green tree filled mountain. The area is completely forested, but this is the place that is at the centre of the Island.
Well, the Island isn't round, or uniform in shape, so the estimate was.. rough. But, if I create four quadrants with this point in the centre, the area of land in each quadrant will be about eaual.
I don't care about accuracy, the Ward is going to encompass a lot of area anyway.
Extending my right index finger's nail, I draw a circle on the ground, and draw eight 7 inch long lines extending from the circle. These eight lines point in the 8 Ordinal Directions. North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest.
Placing the eight dragon Heartstones at the end of the eight lines, I place the Basilisk Heartstone within the circle. Then, I place my hand on the Basilisk Heartstone, and send my magic into it. Immediately, 8 tendrils of magic exit out of the Basilisk Heartstone, and slam into the eight dragon Heartstones, as my magic starts flowing in them too.
And then, with a snap, the eight dragon Heartstones shoot into the air, going towards their respective Ordinal directions. The Basilisk Heartstone, meanwhile, starts getting pulled into the earth, as if the ground was liquid.
Similar occurrences were occuring in the eight Directions the Dragon Heartstones flew to, with each heartstone stopping at one hundred meters short of the Island borders. These Heartstones too start getting pulled underground, with a single tendril keeping them all connected to the Central Heartstone, as well as each other.
I keep my eyes closed, and keep feeding my magic to the Heartstones, even when it completely moves underground. Finally, when the Heartstones stop, they're around 100 meters underneath the surface, too far for anyone to mess with them.
Standing up with a smile, I conjure something else from the Nowhere. The Elder Wand. I wanted my Protective Wards to be as strong as possible, and what better Focus to do that, than the Deathstick?
Holding the Elder Wand in my right hand, I place its tip on my left palm, and cast a very weak Lacero, the Dark Cutting Curse. The Dark Magic within the Curse stops my hand from healing immediately, and blood keeps flowing from my palm, into the ground.
A few months ago, just the first part of this would have tired me out completely, left me without accessible Magic for a few hours in the least. But now, it just took me to half of my strength. My Magic was improving, getting stronger, and I think that my journey into the Past has something to do with it. The Magic here, in this time, is.. purer.
Holding my bleeding palm over the still visible circle, I point my new Wand upwards, and start casting spells. "Protego totalum, Cave Inimicum, Fiantu Duri, Intrusor Erecti, Repello Muggletum, Muffliato.."
On and on the spells went, a cycle repeated over and over again.
With each Protective spell, a beam of light was emitted by the Elder Wand, that flew into the air and formed into a transparent piece of a barrier. Each new spell made the barrier bigger, and bigger, until finally the multilayered barrier covers the entire island, and more.
With the Basilisk Heartstone as the absolute centre, are two spherical barriers, both of them multilayered, all around the island. The Inner Ward had the eight dragon Heartstones on its curvature, while the outer Ward had a radius one mile bigger than the inner one.
The outer ward would make the island completely invisibile, make it impossible for muggles to come here, even accidentally, make everything that happens here silent, and overall hide the entire island. It also prevented anyone from Magically seeing inside, even with Scrying, but I doubt any competent Wizard would be stopped by not being able to see here. Which is what the Inner Ward was for.
The Inner ward stops all manner of Apparition, Portkey, and even Portals. It also absorbs almost all spells thrown at it. Of course, the only exceptions are the three Unforgivables, and other similar level spells which just cause a small hole to be formed in the ward, which will be repaired right after. Divine or Demonic Magics are a different thing altogether, though. But, I doubt any of them have any interest in my Island.
If anyone wants to teleport to the island through any means, they will be dropped outside the inner ward, but inside the Outer ward. They won't be able to enter the Inner Ward though, unless they break it down, or I allow it.
The Wards then flash once, and then disappear, now staying invisible. I could feel them though, they were still very much intact and connected to all the Heartstones. But, this is not enough.
Sighing, finally feeling a bit tired from all the spells I cast right now, I fly up into the air. Lets bar everyone else from using Magic when on the island.
Pointing my wand at the invisible inner ward, I use the modified Flagrate spell to send Runic symbols flying. Four Symbols, in four cardinal directions fly out of my Wand, and slam into the ward, merging with it. They stay there for all of 5 seconds, before they too become completely invisibile, now part of the Protective Wards of the Island.
The Runic symbols make me the only Wizard, or Sorcerer, capable of using Magic on here. Everyone else's spells will just.. fizzle out, their Magic absorbed by the Ward.
The Island is too big for me to use the Fidelius Charm on, as of now, so this is the best I can do for now. Besides, I want this to be a Sanctuary for the Magical Animals, Fidelius will prove to be counterproductive to that.
Huh, Sanctuary. That's a nice name for my Island. The Sanctuary.
Smiling in satisfaction, I create a portal to the centre of the Ward, where the Basilisk Heartstone is buried. Floating through, I cast a few spells to make the ground more comfortable, and a few more to make wild animals not eat me. And then, I lay down to go to sleep.
I've already hidden an entire Island away from everyone else, I'm fucking tired. Besides, nothing can harm me when I'm on the Island.
--
"You sure took your time." Master Onuris says as soon as I enter the Magical Library a week later.
I rub the back of my head, and say, "I was travelling, trying to find my Staff's core."
Well, that's a lie. I've just been busy setting my Sanctuary up, I didn't even have the time to look for a Staff core. And none of the dragon hearts I found were a match for me, so there's that.
Master Onuris snorts, and goes back to the book he was writing. Probably another translation, because copying books is pretty easy when you have Magic.
I turn towards the left, and go towards the Ritual Magic shelf. We spend a few minutes in silence, when suddenly a soft bell chimes from everywhere around the Library. Master Onuris immediately slams his books shut, and walks forward to stand in the middle, facing the door.
He just glances at me, and says, "Come here, stand still, and keep your head down."
I keep the book I was reading back in its place, and stand by his side. I ask, "Someone's coming?"
Nodding, Master Onuris says, "The Royal Mages. They're either coming to drop something off, or for some knowledge. Do not, under any circumstances, look them in the eye."
Well, well, well. The Royal Mages. I've been in Egypt for almost a year now, and I haven't seen them ever. Heck, the only trained Wizards I've ever seen are Priests of the Egyptian Gods, which includes Master Onuris, and I. And even the Priests I've seen just in passing.
The Royal Mages are Wizards and Witches under direct command of the Pharoah. They guard the Pharoah himself, from any and all threats that can harm him. Obviously, they're not entirely loyal, since Ptolemaic Pharoahs die every 50 years or so, at the most. Loyal to their family, the Pharoahs aren't.
Within a minute, the door slams open, and I look down, having gotten used to seeming… weak. My animal side hates it, but my Slytherin side knows that laying low is the way to go. Why antagonise the Royal Mages, and through them, the Pharoahs when you can wait for the right time to do so?
Seven people walk inside the room, most of whom go towards various shelves, to begin reading. One of them, however, approaches us, and I just feel the person staring at me. In a distinguishably female voice, the person asks, "Who is this, Priest Onuris?" In Greek.
I could see her legs, and her torso, but her head was not visible to me thanks to me bowing down. She wore just a plain, transparent cloth around her upper body, and the cloth on her lower body just hid her privates, leaving her legs open for all to see. It sort of reminds me of Princess Leia's bikini. Except with her tits openly visible to me.
Not wanting to offend her, I keep my eyes at her feet. She hasn't antagonised me yet, so why do it first?
Before I can say anything, Master Onuris answers, "This is Athreos Aetos, a commoner scholar from Greece, High Mage Tatiana."
The woman raises her hand, and I see it approach my face. Holding my face with her hands on my cheeks, she lifts my head up, none too gently. As she observes my face, she says, "It was your duty to inform us about him, Priest of Osiris. The Royal Mages need to know when there's another Mage in Alexandria."
Now that my head was raised up, I could see that the woman wore a pair of earrings which definitely protected her mind from intrusions, and a nose ring. The nose Ring's purpose was unknown to me, but I can guess. Smell poisons easily, smell deception, etc.
I keep staring at her eyes, even if Master Onuris told me not to. Because Goddamn this woman is beautiful. A soft brown skin, with short black hair and brown eyes. I was definitely attracted to her, at least a little bit.
Master Onuris nods, and says, "I didn't feel the need to, High Mage. Because this one here doesn't even have a focus. No rings, no wand, and not even a staff."
The lady sniffs, as she drops my head, and says, "It is of no importance then, an untrained Mage is of no use to the Pharoah." She then waves her hand, conjuring a few books from somewhere, and places them on the table. She says, "Translate these books into Greek and Latin, Priest Onuris. We need this knowledge within a week."
She then turns towards me, and says, "And you, when the Priest is done translating, bring the books to the palace. And you better hope that you aren't a spy. Or.." she smirks, and adds, ".. well, there are many old curses I would like to try."
Bowing my head down once again, I say, "I am here just to learn, High Mage Tatiana. I do not have any other goals, nefarious or otherwise."
Tatiana nods, and turns away from me, her big earrings swinging with her hair. She then joins her fellow Mages near the shelves, and begins perusing the books. All the while, Master Onuris and I just stay in our spots, in front of the door.
Finally, half an hour after they came in, the 6 men and one woman leave the Library, closing the door as they go. As soon as they do, I turn towards Master Onuris, and ask, "Not that I don't appreciate it, but why did you lie to her?"
Master Onuris taps his staff on the ground, emitting a wave of magic from it, and says, "I didn't lie, I just didn't correct her misconceptions. I never said you're untrained, only that you don't own a focus."
This time I manage to sense the Magic he pushed as one of sensing, the non-spell he just used checked for any hiding people, or spells. Huh, useful spell that one.
Rolling my eyes, I smile and ask, "Still, why do that? Are they dangerous? Do I need to worry when I go there?"
Master Onuris sits down on his desk, the one where Tatiana just left a dozen books for emergency translations, and points me towards the chair on the other side.
As I sit down, he says, "The Royal Mages are very much dangerous, there is no doubt. But the reason I.. omitted the truth, is that the Mages are selfish. They are afraid of other Mages becoming as strong as them. Despite the Law stating all books should be stored in the Library of Alexandria itself, the Royal Mages have a private Library of their own, sponsored by the Pharoah himself. They use the knowledge to protect the Kingdom, sometimes.. from threats that don't exist. Like other Mages. And the High Mage Tatiana is the strongest of them."
I humm, making a noise of understanding. The Royal Mages are like the Ministry of Magic, they try and limit the knowledge the public has access to, so that the Wizards here don't become strong enough to contend with them.
"I had wondered why we were the only two Mages in the Library, despite there being hundreds of Mages in Alexandria itself." I say, implying something very nefarious, and stand up.
"Don't let them hear you say it." Master Onuris warns, and begins working on translation.
This is not my problem, the Library was going to be destroyed in a few centuries anyway. The Pharoahs were going to be a thing of the past within 50 years, max. I already have two shadow organizations to take care of, I'm not adding a third to that.
Besides, I already have plans to channel one of my ancestors, to gain all Magical Knowledge in Egypt. But, it won't happen yet, I need at least a decade for that. And since I still don't have any Sands of Time, I believe I do have a decade here.
5 days is all it takes for Master Onuris and I to translate all the books into Greek and Latin, after copying them down for the Library. The books were originally Chinese, having been confiscated from a recent tourist from China. They were then copied, the copies given back to the tourist. The originals, meanwhile, were given to us, for translation and storage. The book described a number of Rituals that could be used to gain affinities to either Spirit animals, or to elements. There were also some techniques that anyone could use, without need for any Ritual.
Taking the Greek and Latin translations, I place them in an enchanted pouch, and start a leisurely walk towards the Royal Palace of the Pharoah, while seeing the sights.
Alexandria is a beautiful city, with amazing architecture, and moderate cleanliness. The only thing that could mess with the image of the beautiful city, were the people. Even in the Greek quarter, where both the Library and the Palace were based, there was no shortage of poor people.
Technically, I was one of the poor ones, with just a single room house to myself. But, I do have an entire Island, and I also don't have to spend any money for food. I can just go to the Island, or even the African forests for food.
Ah, I need to create a small greenhouse too, maybe two, one for food and the second for potion ingredients. Can't believe I almost forgot that.
Shaking myself out of my musings once I reach the palace gates, I nod at the guards, and enter through the open gates. The entrance gates are open to all, since the Pharoah does meet with some people everyday, to hear their troubles, to solve problems.
As I climb the stairs towards another gate, this one too large, I stop near the guards, and ask, "Where may I find the High Mage, Tatiana?"
The guard snaps to attention, and gives me the directions to the Royal Mage Chambers, which I had already found out by using Telepathy. But, plausible explanation and all that.
Reaching the door to what I had seen in a servant's mind as Tatiana's room, I knock, and wait. I don't have to wait long, however, when the woman opens the door without a care in the world, wearing just a simple robe fastened around her hip. She looks, as well as sounds, a bit annoyed, as she asks, "What?"
I bow to her, after a short moment of admiring her beauty, and say, "I am Athreos Aetos, High Mage Tatiana, from the Library. Master Onuris sent me here with the requested translations."
"I remember you, the untrained Mage." Tatiana says, as she gestures with her fingers to raise my head. When I do so, she asks, "Well? Where are the books?"
I show her the pouch in my hands, and say, "Master Onuris lent me this Enchanted pouch, so that I don't get robbed on my way here."
And it was the truth. Kinda. There were 24 books in total, and we wanted to keep my Magical talent a secret. So, the pouch.
Tatiana nods, and turns around, walking into the room. Pointing towards the shelf in the corner, she says, "Place the books in the shelf. I will deal with them later."
And then, she shrugs her robe off, becoming completely nude, and starts walking towards the bathtub filled with warm water in the balcony.
Well, no wonder she was annoyed, she was having a soak when I came here.
Not unused to the nudity in Alexandria, although not all women I've seen nude were this gorgeous, or strong, I turn towards the shelf. The shelf contained a few dozen books already, most of them dealing with Elemental spells, but one of them was about Soul. Huh, this book is definitely not a part of the Magical Library.
I put my hand inside the pouch, and take the books out one by one, placing the 24 books, half of them Greek, and half Latin, in an empty space. I can't help but stop and stare at the Soul Magic book once again, before I start walking out.
"Wait." The High Mage calls out, just when I'm about to walk out. I turn towards the bathtub, where she sat with her arms on the edge, as she says, "I haven't dismissed you yet, commoner."
Nodding mutely, I stand to the side, with my back once again turned towards her. Something catches my mind, however, when I clearly hear something.
'He is.. attractive, his Magic is stronger than most, even if untrained. What to do.. what to do?'
Well, well, well. Looks like someone doesn't bathe with her portable Occlumency on. I take the opportunity to enter her mind, making sure to stay undetected. And considering that the actual Phoenix Force is the one that taught me, well, I'm definitely undetectable.
If Nathaniel Essex couldn't sense my intrusions, then this normal, if strong, Witch definitely won't.
Her memories gave me a tale of her life, and it did not paint a particularly good picture. Born in the Greek quarter of Alexandria, Tatiana was the daughter of two Greek fishers. The parents were both Mages, and they raised her with some.. biases.
Egyptian Magic is inferior to Greek Magic, Roman Wands are good, staffs are unnecessary weight, etc. Considering that Egyptian curses are even present in my era, that can easily be proved as a lie.
Then, women aren't supposed to be anything but objects of sex for the men. If the Pharoah orders her to have sex with him, she should do so with a large smile on her face. She was 8 when they told her that.
Talk about shitty parenting.
Her parents died during the last civil war, when Ptolemy and his brother Ptolemy fought for the throne after Ptolemy's death, and Tatiana was left alone. She had some books on Magic, and her mother's wand, which she used to learn Magic.
She then kept on visiting the Library of Alexandria, and learned a lot more Magic under Master Onuris's watchful eyes. Then, she caught the eye of the last High Mage. He took her under his wing, as his mistress and his student, and taught her more Magic. For every piece of Magic she was taught, another piece of her dignity was torn away by the High Mage.
So, she poisoned him.
And when he died, she won the title of the High Mage, since she was the strongest amongst the other Royal Mages. The first Woman amongst the Royal Mages, Tatiana was also forced to be a Mistress to the Pharoah.
From the poorest of Alexandria, to the city's strongest people, Tatiana had come a long way. But, not all was good.
Tatiana was forced to be a Mistress to not one, but two powerful people. But, it seems the Pharoah hadn't visited her for a few months, which gave her some peace. He had a lot of other mistresses, though, not to forget his wife/half sister, Cleopatra V.
She couldn't make friends, since the Pharoah disallowed contact with anyone not the Royal Mages, or the Royal family. Even the guards and servents weren't allowed to talk to her. The only reason she was allowed to speak with Master Onuris and I, was that we work at the library.
There's no way to carry out tasks if she doesn't speak with us in her capacity as the High Mage.
Thanks to that, Tatiana didn't have much respect for the Pharoah, and not even a little bit of love for the Royal family. They were just a job for her, a way to earn money, and respect.
The only good thing about her life, for her, was that she got to read through the Hidden Library of the Royal Palace, which is the name for the Magical Library here. And she had a blanket permission for punishing those that insult her.
It takes barely a few seconds for me to go through that all, and I can't help but sympathise for her. Sure, she has killed quite a few innocent people under the Pharoah's orders, but she didn't enjoy it.
She felt she was doing her duty. Exactly what she did during her former sessions with the Pharoah.
"You.. Athreos, right?" Tatiana calls out, as I slowly exit her mind. She's not evil, I'm not going to change anything inside her mind.
Obviously, I copied all of the Magical knowledge she has stored away in her mind.
Nodding, I keep staring at the stone wall, and say, "Athreos Aetos, High Mage."
"Hmm.. turn around." She orders.
I do so, and see the woman sitting on the edge of her bathtub, her legs crossed over. She looked like the epitome of beauty, having just gotten out of the bath. Her hair and skin were still wet, with water droplets flowing down her skin.
I blink, and move my eyes away. I don't need a fight this soon in my time here, in the past.
Chuckling, Tatiana says, "Come here, and you may look." 'Zeus knows I have gotten used to being stared at.'
I look up at her, keeping my eyes on her face with some effort, and slowly walk towards the bathtub. I climb the two stairs that led to the open balcony+bathroom, and stop.
She asks, "What Magic do you know? You must know something, even if you don't have a wand."
I nod, having prepared for the question, and say, "I know some Elemental spells, High Mage. Most of the old Egyptian spells don't need a Focus to cast, and so, I learned some of them."
Tatiana scowls, some of her bias resurfacing, as she says, "Yes, I've read those same books a few years ago. But, I myself find them to be a bit hard to control without a.. staff. Let me teach you a simple spell, something I invented during my studies in the Library."
'He is untrained, and strong. If he can cast even a single Egyptian spell, then he has control on his side too. If the Pharoah finds out about him, then he will be hunted down, killed. He's too pretty to die this young.' she thinks, her loud thoughts clearly audible to me, making me internally frown.
She thinks I'm pretty? Too pretty? Damn, I'm flattered.
The reason for my frown, however, the Pharoah, being a muggle was afraid of Magic. The only Magical people he trusted, were the Royal Mages, and the few Magical Priests of the Egyptian Gods. And there weren't many of those, only about a dozen. Most of the Priests were actually muggles, who had gotten a blessing or two from their Gods.
He had killed a lot of trained Wizards in Alexandria, and so did his predecessors before him, afraid of being overthrown by stronger wizards. I'd already known about this from my history readings back home.
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was where Witch hunts actually began, although in a very low number, which the Roman church later got inspired by. Most of the History was actually lost, but some facts did make their way through the harsh times of War and burning libraries.
I bow, and say, "I will be extremely grateful, High Mage."
The woman nods, and walks towards me, still completely nude. She says, "This one spell doesn't need any focus, so even you can cast it. I haven't taught it to anyone outside the Royal Mages, so do be grateful I'm doing so."
I nod once again, not saying anything. Tatiana then holds her hand out, and says, "First, I will show you how the spell feels, so that you may understand how difficult it is. Hold my hand."
I look at her, and hesitantly ask, "My lady..?"
Rolling her eyes in annoyance, the woman holds my hand, forcefully pulling it towards herself. She then says, "You've already seen me naked, and you've taken more than a few peeks at my privates, Commoner. Now, take a deep breath, and don't panic."
And then.. she twists on her feet, taking me with her through a narrow tube. And then, we appear on the other side of the room. Having expected it, I force myself to stumble, as I drop down on the ground, dry heaving.
Holy crap! Apparition was invented now? In this era? What the fuck did other Wizards do then? Holy shit, I'm in the presence of the inventor of Apparition!
I look up, not needing to pretend to be astonished, amazed, awed, and ask, "What.. was that?"
The woman turns her head away, her cheeks a bit darker, as she folds her hands under her breasts.
Wow, she's cute. She doesn't care that she's nude in front of a literal stranger, but getting complemented on her accomplishments is what makes her blush?
She sounds hesitant, as she says, "I haven't officially named it yet, but we call it εμφανίζομαι and εξαφανίζομαι."
So Appearance and Disappearance? Works well enough.
Coughing a lot, to make it seem like I'm regaining my breath, I ask, "How do I learn? Wait.. why are you teaching me?"
I could take it from her mind, but I've already taken a lot from there. Besides, I want to see if she'll actually tell me.
Tatiana stares at me for a few seconds, and then says, "The Pharoah is a dangerous man. He might not be a Mage like you or I, but he has more power than both of us. If he finds out, that a Mage as inherently strong as you is in the city, he will become afraid. Afraid that you will plot with his enemies to overthrow him. And then, he will send us after you, to kill you."
Pausing, she holds her hand over my cheek, and says, "You have promise, Athreos. You have the capability to become a strong Mage of your own right, maybe even stronger than me, stronger than Priest Onuris. I do not want the fear of one man let such promise go to waste. This spell will help you escape, if you do get found out."
Well, this is nice. Tatiana does have morals!
It seems killing so many people, innocents, has changed something within her. I just hope she doesn't try anything foolish.
I nod, smiling in appreciation, as I hold my hand over her own hand on my cheek.
Tatiana immediately takes a step back, blushing a bit, as she says, "Right, the spell. Focus within yourself, focus on where you want to be, and then tell your Magic to take you there. Simple. Now you try."
Well, this is better than the three D's that Twycross taught us.
Turning my back towards Tatiana, I look at the door, and get a brilliant idea. I take a moment, pretending to focus on my "first" apparition, and squint my eyes at the door. Then, I whisper, "Take me next to the door, take me next to the door.."
All the while I can feel Tatiana's amusement, as she stares at me.
And then, I twist around my feet in an exaggerated motion, as I disappear from my position. I reappear with a loud crack, high up in the air, and comically widen my eyes, as I start falling down.
Tatiana sees me disappear from my position, and appear in the exact opposite direction of where I was saying I will go. She sees me appear above the still filled Bathtub, rose petals and all, and then with a splash, I fall in, sending water flying all around.
I raise my head up from the bathtub, now completely soaking wet, and see Tatiana with her hand on her mouth, suppressing her laughter.
As soon as I get up, causing water to drip from my clothes, Tatiana loses it, and starts laughing loudly. I put my hand on the back of my head, as I step out of the bathtub.
"Hahahahahah!" Tatiana keeps laughing, her laughter floating through the air like a sweet melody, causing me to smile.
She looks good when smiling, absolutely gorgeous.
Finally, a minute after, Tatiana looks up at me, still chuckling, and says, "I'm impressed, Athreos, you succeeded in your first attempt. Although.. your destination could use some practice." She once again chuckles, as she approaches me.
Well, at least my plan to cheer her up a bit, while at the same time becoming somewhat her friend worked.
Now just a foot away from me, Tatiana puts her hand on my head, and whispers, "Travíxte Neró." Which causes all the water in my clothes, as well as on my body, to get pulled towards her hand.
The water forms into an small orb, that Tatiana throws into the Bathtub, sending the water back to the source, and making me completely dry.
I smile at her, grateful, and Tatiana smiles back, looking up at me, as we unknowingly start closing the distance. We are just a few inches short of touching, and I raise my hands touching her on her cheeks.
Tatiana closes her eyes, and opens her mouth a tad bit, allowing me to lay a small kiss on her lips. Tatiana reciprocates, leading to the best 5 minutes of my life in Ptolemaic Egypt.
We just kissed, for five whole minutes, my hands on her cheeks, while her hands were on my hip.
Finally, when we separate, Tatiana smiles widely, and whispers, "You should leave now, before anyone gets suspicious."
I nod, kiss her lips once more, and say, "May we meet again, My Lady Tatiana?"
Tatiana licks her lips, slowly, sensuously, and says, "We shall see, Athreos. Now, leave."
I nod, and turn around, walking out the door. It was an impulsive kiss, for both of us. I never planned it, and she didn't either. She just wanted to give me a spell to escape, while I just wanted to make her smile for once.
But, as I remember the taste of her lips, the taste of rose petals from the water she had bathed it, I can definitely say that I don't regret it.
Damn it, I didn't want to make connections in the past, just in case I find a way back. But.. it seems I subconsciously do crave some physical contact.
Sigh, let's just go back to designing my House.
---
A few days later, Master Onuris approaches me as I'm reading about Egyptian Curses while munching on an apple, and says, "I will be leaving for the Temple of Osiris tonight. The High Priest has summoned me and all the other Priests for a summit."
I look up, my chewing stopping halfway, swallow the still solid apple, and ask, "What about the library?"
Master Onuris says, "The Library is secure enough, but I would appreciate it if you protect it when I'm gone. I know you're more capable than you like to show to anyone."
"Don't worry, I'm not stronger than you." I drily say, wondering is he too is afraid of me getting stronger.
Master Onuris snorts, and says, "I am five hundred years old, boy. If a 25 year old could become as strong as I, then I wouldn't have been alive this long."
Well.. damn. I didn't know he was this old.
I nod at him, a bit dumbfounded, and say, "Don't worry, Master Onuris. I'll protect the Library."
Nodding in satisfaction, Master Onuris starts walking out of the library, his staff tapping on the floor with each second step.
Huh, this is the first time I'm seeing him actually leave the Library. He even lives in a small apartment he carved for himself in the walls, magically expanding the walls to accommodate his every need.
Shaking my head, I return to reading about the curse of the Hom-Dai. A curse so bad, they never even used it. Flesh eating beetles? No thank you. I'll stick to killing my enemies myself.
---
A/N: No, Imhotep or the other characters from The Mummy won't make an appearance. It was just a silly little Easter egg.
Thank you for your support! Tata!