Bab 89: 1940
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07.
Hey guys, just a small notice. I've begun up a Twitch channel. I play Valorant, Chess, and might begin Clash Royale soon, but I focus more of my Twitch time for Valorant. So, if you want to see me fail at being an adequate player, come join me!
(Just at Valorant, I consider myself a good Chess and Clash Royale player. Good, not the best, so don't think I'm calling myself a Master or anything like that.)
My username is HelloDarkness147, and yes, I'm pissed that HelloDarkness07 was not available.
PS: I'm not much of a social person, and have some awkward tendencies. I'm also not a pro at either gaming or streaming. With all this considered, assume that I won't be talking much.
Now, read on!
—
Scottish Highlands, 1940 AD:
A cloaked figure stood in front of an Oak tree, which he knew was over 700 years old. The cloak he wore made it impossible to see anything on his body, with shadows hiding his face, while his limbs were hidden inside the long cloak.
He stayed still, observing the tree branches waving around with the wind, as the leaves rustled in their place, enjoying the peace.
The man slowly lifts his left hand up, showing fair skin for anyone observing him, which then glows with a green light. A beam of that green light diverges away from his hand, and slams into the trunk of the great Oak tree. It expands to cover the entire tree, and the tree freezes, unmoving.
Slowly, the tree starts shrinking, as the leaves retreat into the branches they had grown from. The branches then start merging back into the bigger branches they had diverged from, which then slowly begins merging into the trunk of the Oak tree, which itself then starts shrinking down in size.
It was as if the green light was causing the Tree to reverse the life it had led, shrinking back into a younger age. Slowly, bit by bit, the Scottish Oak Tree goes from a respectable size of over 100 feet high, to a comparatively tiny two feet high plant, within a minute.
The cloaked man then twists his hand just once, and the process is reversed, as the Oak plant starts growing back up once again. In another minute, a full grown Oak tree, exactly the same as what existed before the man ever came here, stood there once again.
He twists his hand once again in the opposite direction, and the tree starts shrinking back down, becoming younger, as if Time was reversed. And then another twist causes the Oak tree to grow back up. Again and again, the man does the same, repeatedly, for some reason enjoying toying with the growth cycle of the Tree.
Unnoticed by anyone, he then suddenly smirks, and not a second later, multiple pops herald the sudden appearance of 15 people, who have him surrounded, sticks in each of their hands pointed at his back.
The 15 men wore long white robes, and had their heads covered by hoods. Similar to the man, their own hoods cast a shadow on their faces making it impossible to see their faces.
The man, however, doesn't react to their presence. He doesn't turn towards them, even when the 15 people do something with their sticks, creating a bubble of transparent.. something, around the clearing. He doesn't turn towards them even when the 15 men, as one, shoot bright red beams of light out of their sticks, some aimed right at him, some around him, and some above.
The red.. spells, slam into the man's simple cloak, and just dissipate into nothing. Seeing their first attack negated without any troubles, the 15 men keep their sticks pointed at the man, and yell out a variety of words. Bombarda, Stupefy, Reducto, Avada Kedavra, Incarcerous, Vinculum.
The man chuckles, and with a single snap of his fingers freeze everyone in their places, right when they shoot these new 15 spells at him. All over the clearing, it was as if Time itself was frozen. The spells were frozen in the air, the 15 men in their place, and even the Oak tree, the bushes, shrubbery, and even the grass, were unmoving. Hell, even a butterfly which could be seen next to a plant was frozen in space.
Frozen in Time.
"It was so easy to bring you all here. Use a bit of Forbidden Magic, and you all come running to me, to capture me, or take me away, or.. kill me." The man says, finally turning around, showing a soft green glow coming from under his cloak, near his chest.
He gently lifts the hood of his cloak, to show a fair skinned face, with blue eyes, and black hair. He starts walking, and stops in front of the person closest to him. "Of course, you can't even hear me right now, so it doesn't matter. But well, I do deserve to boast a bit, even if it is to myself. I am going to do something about the pests you've become to me, and to Magic. But first.. I'll need you to bare yourselves to me, show me your lives."
He touches a finger on the first man's forehead, and pushes a tendril of his Magic into it, into his brain. The Protection spells cast on their white cloaks, as well as their own defensive measures, do nothing to stop his attack, and within half a minute (if time actually was running, that is), he has observed everything about the first man's life, beginning from his birth, to this moment.
Whatever protections they had to protect their memories were non-existent in front of this man's Mental probe, the stopped Time not even allowing a single memory to remain hidden. Their minds, their Magic, their Vows, and their Contracts couldn't protect their memories when Time itself was stopped.
One by one, the man goes through each of their minds, none of their minds managing to stop him for even a second, and then, pointing his hand at the one in the middle, he says, "You.. you'll do."
He closes his eyes, and his body bubbles, transforming into someone else. The new man is exactly the same height as the cloaked man he had pointed at, with fair skin, brown hair, and gray eyes. Waving his hand, the man causes the clothes to fly off the cloaked man's body, and hover in front of him, leaving him in just his unmentionables.
Another wave of his hand sends the dark cloak from his own body flying into the almost naked man's, and then to cover the man as if he had worn it, while he himself now wore the white cloak of the other man.
Another wave of his hand makes the man float into the air, his Magic Wand staying in the air, with the brown spell for Bombarda just in front of it. He then deposits the man in his previous location, stands in the man's previous place, and holds the man's wand in his hand.
Cherry wood, Unicorn hair, 10 and a half inches.
The Wand struggles for barely a second, before accepting that the one who had touched her was her old Master itself, and not an imposter.
The man looks at the dark cloaked man, who now stood frozen in the place he himself once stood at, in front of the Oak, and with a simple wave of his hand, transfigures his body to become taller, and moves his hands to his side, so he looks as confident as the imposter previously was.
And then.. he snaps his finger once again, making Time start flowing again. With a whoosh, a dozen spells slam into the man's back before he can even try to raise an alarm. His body explodes multiple times, as the Killing Curse just slams into the ground, not having anything alive left to strike.
The 15 men, one of them being our imposter, stare at the spectacle with a surprised look, having thought that the man would at least try to defend himself. They share some looks, and without saying another word, start cleaning the place up. Unfortunately, while they wanted to find some flesh or blood, to try and identify the man who used Time Magic so carelessly, nothing remained of him to do so.
Whatever had remained after the first Bombarda, had been destroyed by the next Reducto, while whatever remained after that had been burnt up by the Incendio, and the ensuing Fire explosion. Even the enchanted Cloak that had managed to stop 15 stunners without an issue was destroyed.
And then, just as fast as they had come, the 15 men disappear, 14 of them unknowing of the Imposter they had within them. All without ever saying a single word.
Meanwhile, the leader of this group, who was now replaced by an Imposter, went to the Leader's office, and began writing his own report using the leader's own Handwriting, and bypassing the Magical protections around the office as if he was the leader himself, and not an imposter.
'Just you wait, Head Unspeakable. I will soon find out where you are, and what you are. And when I do.. you're dead.' the man thinks to himself. Now named Alistor Davis, Unspeakable 179, Head of the Combat division No 3, and a former researcher in Charms and Arithmancy, the man previously known as Mason Aves, Athreos Aetos, Atharva Joshi, smiles to himself, at his successful infiltration of the Department of Mysteries.
---
Flashback- Aves Keep, Sanctuary, 87 AD:
Mason POV:
In a room within my Castle, I look at the two.. Pods, for lack of a better word. The pods were large, around 7 feet long, and four feet wide. The Pods could be closed by a lid that was made of a transparent glass which had a soft green tint to it. Inside the Pods were a single bed each, as comfortable as I could make it. These pods will be where Selene and I were going to.. go to sleep, for centuries if all goes well.
"Is this it?" Selene asks, looking at my Healing Pods with doubt in her eyes.
Affronted, I say, "What do you mean 'Is this it?' This is a pinnacle of Healing Magic, Alchemy, and Time Magic! A bed that will keep your body in top shape, using an Alchemical Solution that I created myself, while keeping everything within you slowed down in Time. You could sleep for centuries or even for a few seconds and it will feel as if you've just slept for 8 hours! Is this it, she asks!"
Selene chuckles, and says, "Forgive me, Athreos, it's just.. I expected something extravagant. Not something so.. mundane."
"Did you expect me to make it using Gold or something?" I ask, sarcastically. When no answer comes, I look at Selene with narrowed eyes, and accuse, "You did!"
Selene rolls her eyes, although I see that she's smiling, as she says, "I expected you to use Silver actually.. Magical Silver. You're awfully fond of that metal."
That… I cannot deny.
"Well, you'll be happy to know then that the Healing Pod does have Magical Silver within it, as well as some Magic Gold, although the latter was only needed for some Enchantments." I say, and leaning forward, swipe my hand along the inside part of the pod, next to my bed. It will be where my right hand will naturally rest when I sleep on the bed.
The pod closes up, and I see the glass get a bit foggy with the dropping temperature. Suddenly, the pod starts filling up with a liquid, the Alchemical solution I had mentioned before, and within half a minute, it fills up to the top, the bed completely submerged.
As an explanation, I say, "The solution will keep our bodies filled with nutrition, it doesn't matter how long we sleep. The bed, together with the solution, will also heal us of any ailments and injuries within minutes. Whenever we wake up, we will be fresh, healthy, strong, and not at all disoriented. There will be no issues breathing, of course. The Healing solution will take care of that."
Selene nods at the explanation, and asks, "And why are there separate beds for the two of us? Couldn't you have built a single Pod?"
I smile, and say, "As much as I love sleeping with you, my love, separate pods were necessary for two reasons. First being that the Healing solutions are unique to each of us. My Pod won't heal you, and your Pod won't heal me. Secondly, I doubt you'll like being awake every time that I wake back up, and same for me. So, we can wake separately if we want, live our own lives, without feeling obligated to wake the other up."
Also, my Pod is designed to wake me up as soon as it feels danger to Sanctuary, or whenever the Elves call for me. Similarly, Selene's Pod will be Enchanted to wake her up if any of her own homes are in trouble.
The reason for all this.. is that the Sanctuary isn't under Fidelius anymore. There are still multiple spells and Wards protecting the Island from almost all the dangers out there, of course. Not to forget the Magical creatures that will no doubt want to defend their home. But no Fidelius.
The reason for that being that whenever a Secret Keeper stays inside the Fidelius Charmed place, the Spell becomes temporary, only valid for 20 years, after which it just.. dissipates. And neither Selene, nor I, trusted anyone else to become the Secret Keeper.
So, I just Warded the Island as well as I could, warded my Castle on top of it, and that's that. If anyone.. not friendly.. appears on the Island, I'll be woken up. That's if they manage to get here, of course, but still, can't dismiss it completely.
Besides, the Runic Ward to make it so that Magic (from anyone other than Selene and I) wouldn't work inside a specific boundary is still there. So, yeah, I wasn't worried.
Selene nods, and says, "You've exceeded my expectations, Athreos." Pausing, she adds, "Don't take it wrongly, I know you're a brilliant Mage, but creating an amalgamation of Time, Alchemy, and Healing Magics like this is.. not something that even I would have managed in such a short amount of time."
I nod, not bothered in the least. While in terms of strength we're very close, although she's still stronger than me, her skills far exceed mine. And so does her knowledge base. But one thing about old people, not that I'll call her old to her face, is that their studying speed is very slow.
I then ask, "Are you ready then? To go to sleep for 500 years?"
Selene rolls her eyes, and says, "I've spent 2000 years in complete isolation once. It is not as exciting as you'd think, but compared to that, sleeping for 500 years sounds rather.. tame."
Chuckling, as my Healing Pod starts draining once again, I say, "Honestly, if I wasn't worried about my morality taking a hit by all that I'd no doubt see, I would have loved to live through this time, enjoy my Immortality so to speak."
Selene smiles, understanding. And by Gods I love her even more now. Never knew I'd spend over 50 years with one woman, settling down, but here I was. With Selene, my lover, my fellow External.
She then tilts her head, and says, "Let's get to it then, shall we?"
And then, after sharing a short, but intense, love filled kiss, we open our respective Healing Pods, and lay down in it. Closing it with a swipe of our hands, I say, "I love you, Selene."
"And I you, Athreos." Selene's voice sounds from her pod.
Soon, the spells on the Pod activate, sending both of us into a sleep, as the Healing solution starts pouring into the Pod, submerging both of us completely. 6th century, here we come.
---
Flashback End.
---
Kamar Taj:
With nary a sound, I appear outside the doors of Kamar Taj, and after knocking, I wait. Within a few seconds, the door opens, and nodding at the Asian man, I walk into the Monastery.
Once within the office of the current Sorcerer Supreme, the woman who called herself the Ancient One, I drop the form of Alistor Davis and turn back into my more comfortable form of Athreos Aetos.
"Master Aetos." The Sorceress Supreme greets, with a smile on her face.
"Tilda." I greet back, as I walk forward to sit on the chair.
The woman sighs, and says, "What would it take for you to stop calling me that, Master Aetos?"
Amusedly smiling, I say, "I'm not going to stop calling you by your name, Tilda. At best, I could call you Master Tilda, since you do deserve your position of the Sorcerer Supreme. But since I've seen you when you could barely conjure a single spark into the air, I'll keep calling you Tilda."
Tilda, the current Sorceress Supreme, shakes her head with a smile, and asks, "Did you achieve your goal?"
I smile at her change in topic and conjuring something from Nowhere, I hand it to her, and say, "Yes. Everything went exactly how I had expected it to. The Department of Mysteries came after me, and I have managed to replace one of their members, without anyone being aware. Thank you for the Eye, by the way."
Tilda takes the object in her hands, and whispers, "The Eye of Agamotto. If my Master knew I just handed it to you for you to fulfill your own vengeance, he would kill me, and then you."
The Time Stone.. it had allowed me to freeze Time for a short.. well, time. Once Time was frozen, I'd used my telepathy to see through all their memories, allowing me to select a prime target within the party sent after me to replace.
I was planning to infiltrate the DOM, which I have succeeded in, to find out about this Head Unspeakable. Annoyingly, when this Head Unspeakable took over the original Department of Mysteries, both Selene and I were asleep.
I snort, and say, "Yao would most definitely be displeased, but he won't kill either of us."
I've met Yao just three times over the 600 years that he was the Sorcerer Supreme. After Master Ayesha died around 100 AD, a few Sorcerers Supreme reigned for a few decades each, none of them deciding to make themselves immortal. Then Merlin, the arse who tried to take over Sanctuary came to Kamar Taj around 450 AD, stayed Sorcerer Supreme for 250 years, after which Master Yao rose up in that position, in 710 AD. He only retired when this woman, Tilda, was deemed worthy enough by him, which happened around 1390 AD.
During one of the times that I met Yao, I had seen Tilda as one of the newly admitted students. I didn't know she was the future Sorcerer Supreme then, of course, since she was just shy of 14 back then, and had hair. But I remembered her.
Shaking my head, I ask, "Anything I should know about?"
Tilda raises an eyebrow, and says, "Nothing that important. The Mage Grindelwald is making a nuisance of himself all around the world, breaking the Natural Law wherever he goes. Meanwhile, your younger self has been making a name for himself around the Fighting rings."
Ah, good old days.
Smiling in melancholy, I ignore her dry tone at telling me what my younger self was doing, nod and say, "Those were four years that really shaped how I grew as a fighter." Shaking my head, I stand up, and say, "Our deal has been completed, yes? I'll be leaving now. I need to go home and talk to my wife too."
Wife.. That was something I still can't believe I've done.
Tilda nods, and says, "Yes. Our deal is complete. Thank you for safely returning the Eye to me, Master Aetos, and for the flower that I requested. And good luck in your infiltration."
Smiling, I wave my hand once to create a portal to Sanctuary, but stopping right before the portal, I look at Tilda with an amused smile and ask, "You already know who this Head Unspeakable is, don't you? And you also know how this matter will end?"
Tild just smiles, her lips twitching, and says, "Goodbye, Master Aetos. Say hello to Selene for me, will you?"
Shaking my head, I enter the portal and as it closes, apparate inside my Castle.
The Department of Mysteries. It is one matter that I wanted to take care of before I even rejoin the Wizarding World. They're a thorn in my side, one that won't stop to give me time enough to.. get used to living within people once again.
And so, infiltration. While my younger self will soon go to war against the Nazis, Hydra, and Grindelwald, I will start my own moves against this DOM.
"Honey?" I call out, opening the door to my Library. "I'm home!"
Selene leans back from the shelf she was behind, and smiling widely, she says, "Welcome back, Athreos. Everything went well, I assume?"
I grin, and as I pull her into a kiss, I say, "Now that I'm with you, everything will definitely go well."
Selene shakes her head at my flirting, and says, "I still don't understand why we can't just go back in time to observe the forming of this Department of Mysteries. Why the need for infiltration?"
Pouting, I exclaim, "Selene! How can you say that?! Where's your sense for adventure, sense for fun?"
"You're the one doing all the infiltration, not me." Selene points out.
"But didn't I offer to take you too? Not my fault you refused to go through with this infiltration." I stubbornly point out. She had called this an idiotic attempt at trying to have an adventure, which I ignored due to knowing she was right.
Kissing her once again, as she opens her mouth to argue, I say, "Nevermind that. Tilda said hello, and while she didn't say it, she wants you to go visit her soon."
Selene nods, and says, "I will visit her later, but don't change the subject. When will you begin dismantling this DOM?"
I smile sheepishly, and say, "Not yet, I'm afraid. I will first learn about them as much as I can, try and find who this Head Unspeakable is, and then begin taking care of them. But I suspect it won't take me more than 3 years to achieve my goal."
As I am now, the DOM as an organisation is not much of a threat to me. My infiltration proved that. But if I hope to capture or kill this Head Unspeakable, I'll need to do as I had planned. This means dumbing myself down, and weakening my own Magic and body to a normal Mage's. Thank God my Metamorphmagic evolved, or this wouldn't have been possible.
Selene nods once again, and as she pushes me away from herself, she says, "Very well. Now, go and take a bath. You still have the stench of that mortal on you. I will prepare the food in the meanwhile."
Smiling, I kiss her once again, and apparate to the bathroom. Ah, it is good to be back here, in this familiar time.
I might have spent most of my life in the past, but this time, this is something I feel attached to. Mostly because my childhood was spent in this era, and not in the past.
So much has happened in all this time, so much has gone wrong, so much has gone right. But one thing I can say.. is that I am happy to be here.
---
A/N: Small chapter, but I felt a small writer's block come to me. This might be seen in the way my chapter sort of.. kept spiralling.
Anyway, I'll probably tell a few tales of what happened in Mason's past as flashbacks, or as Mason recalling what happened. I won't waste too many chapters on the past.
I also won't focus too much on the DOM. Sorry if you expected a Slytherin like takeover that goes across multiple chapters, but not sorry.
Meet you within a few days!
Thank you for your support! Tata!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone