The Changes
April 1986:
Peverell mansion: Master bedroom
The light shined in from the open terrace. The wind brought the fresh scent from the flower field and reached the room. Cuddled up on the king-sized bed, you could see the silhouettes of two individuals.
Draped over them was a white fur blanket made from Direwolf fur that kept away the morning chill.
This was Magus and Bella. A week had passed since Bella's transformation, she was both happy and annoyed with her new looks.
The sunlight reached Magus's eyes, and he began to stir.
*Yawn* 'I really enjoy waking up like this.'
Opening my eyes and looking down at the messy head of dark black hair, I couldn't help but recall what happened during Bella's transformation.
Flashback:
A few minutes after the shadows swallowed us:
'Wait, why was I brought into my shadows? I'm not being transformed, am I? Please don't tell me this is a magical girl transformation type of situation!'
Seeing as I was in the dark, I brought up my night vision, but I still couldn't see anything.
'This isn't right, shadows are my domain, the dark should not impede me…. unless….'
"Oh no…"
"LLLIIIITTTLLLEEEEE MMMAAAAGGGUUUUSSSS!!!!!!!!!"
'You know life, I don't know how you feel about death, but why are you so cruel to me?'
"OOF!"
'Crap! I'm dying! I'm really going to die this time! Dad, where the hell are you!? Don't you come to collect dead souls? Are you on vacation or something?!? I need to do something before I suffocate!"
"H…a…p….p…y…..to….se….e….y..ou…..gr…a..n.d..ma…"
"Little Magus, I missed you!"
Yes, the 4'0 being of primordial power that is currently chocking me and swinging me around like a wet noodle is indeed the Ultimate loli, my grandmother Nyx.
"I'm so happy for you! I knew you would charm someone soon! I'm pleased with your choice, poor girl had a hard life."
She seemed satisfied and dropped me in a heap on the ground before summoning a couch and table with snacks and skipping over to it.
"Come over, little Magus, we have a few things to talk about."
'Does she take that form because its fun for her to manhandle others like that? Grandma, you are frightening…'
I got up and walked over to the couch to see her sitting there in a goth Lolita attire and a broad smile of sharp pointed teeth.
"Grandma?"
"Yes?"
"Can you teach me how to make my teeth like yours?"
"Of course! I'm me! I can do anything! But you need to wait a while until you can freely change your form."
'Ah, that's a letdown, it would be awesome for pranks and intimidation.'
Seeming to understand my disappointment, she consoled me, in her style.
"There, there, magus, we can frighten mortals all we want later on. Let's get down to why I'm here."
Ignoring that first part, I sat up and nodded.
"First off, I'm here to congratulate you on your first wife. You don't have to worry, she is finishing up her transformation and will join us soon."
I let out a sigh of relief at that.
"Tell me about why you chose her."
I thought about it seriously before responding.
"Well, to be honest, it was completely unexpected. When I found her in Azkaban, I was overwhelmed by the memories I gained from that swine, and I felt an overwhelming urge to help her.
I guess I kind of imagined myself in her position, and I knew that if I was the one sitting there, I would just want it all to end.
I'm no saint or hero but after personally witnessing her torture…I wanted to show her how to smile again and allow her to see the beauty in life, not just the ugly parts she was stuck into."
Nyx beamed up at me.
"And? Continue!"
'Why does she always have so much energy?'
"*cough* While I was healing her mind, I saw how similar we were in our opinions and views on life.
Legilimency is a dangerous art. If you're not in complete control, you can be easily read as your reading another. I got distracted in her memories and allowed her to see some of mine.
With each progressive healing session, we saw more and more of each other, and I guess I got curious about how she would act in real life.
We started spending time together, originally so I could take her outside in a wheelchair to get some fresh air.
We talked and confirmed what we saw in each other and decided to spend more of our days together.
Over the last year, we spent our time together doing as many things as we could, I wanted her to smile, and I could feel our bond deepening.
I chose not to fight it and see where it took me."
"Are you sure it's not attachment little Magus?"
"Am I sure? No, I can't say I am.
Can I imagine my life without her? Yeah, life is not so black and white, I think I could be perfectly happy living the way I was before.
But do I want to? No. I feel that most of the time, you have to go to the core of something and ask yourself, what do you really want?
If you genuinely want it, fight for it, and don't let your insecurities stop you.
I want to have Bella at my side, I want to make her smile, I want to wake up in the morning to see her and go to sleep at night with her next to me.
Life is beautiful on its own, but she brightens up my day.
So yeah, I don't know what eternity feels like, but if I'm going to experience it, then I want to enjoy it with her."
I got lost in thought while talking and didn't pay attention to my surroundings.
*Sniff* *Sniff*
I looked up to see Nyx with some tears in her eyes and a mischievous smile, but she wasn't making any noises.
'Oi, not this cliché type situation.'
Sighing, I turned around to see a beautiful sight.
Standing a few feet away from us was a young teenage girl, I would assume her age is the same as mine, but we don't fit the image of our physical ages. She stood at 4'9, just a few inches short of myself.
She had slightly curled midnight black hair with light green highlights that reached down to her shoulders and shining deep green eyes that beat my own in intensity.
She was wearing an all-black form-fitting black dress and had a green Lycoris flower in her hair.
If I recall correctly, Lycoris is the Greek word that translates to "Twilight."
(( Author notes: Link for Bella's image at the end.))
She had tears falling down her smooth pale skin and had a smile that I don't think I will ever forget. The laptop in my mind automatically saved this scene and made it my background image.
This was, of course, Bella in her new form after being reborn from the shadows.
"Magus.." (Bella)
'Damn it grandma, you set this up from the beginning!'
I opened my arms and waited for her as she began walking up to me. That is, until someone lost their patience.
"OOHHH YOUR SO ADORABLE!!"
I blinked.
My new eternal partner in the shadows was currently getting manhandled by the ultimate loli.
Bella looked at me with fearful tear-filled eyes. Her tears changed reasons to exist.
'Come on Magus, you know what to do. Man up and do what you have to do.'
I looked into Bella's eyes and saw hope. I gave her a heartfelt smile and put by hands together and bowed.
'May we meet in the next life my love.'
Her eyes screamed betrayal.
I sat back down on the couch and grabbed some nectar and pretzels.
'Do all gods make this stuff when they meet with others?'
Eventually, Nyx had enough and dragged Bella over to the couch, and they sat down.
Bella pinched my arm and looked at me with cold eyes.
"Don't look at me like that love, life is an experience, and there is no greater experience than meeting my grandmother."
"OH! Little Magus, you're going to make me blush. You're quickly becoming my new favorite."
I pretended to ignore her and absentmindedly handed Bella a cup of nectar and some snacks before giving her a look to tell her we could talk later.
"So Grandma, aside from the family visit and making me embarrass myself with an obvious cliché, what else did you want to talk about?"
"Hehe, you have to admit it was a good prank."
"I admit nothing. The prankster's code is 'Deny till you die.'"
"*Cough* Moving on! I have some good news for you Bella! Look down at your arm."
Bella did so, and her eyes widened.
"My dark mark is gone…it's finally gone."
"Yup! A nasty bit of work. It creates a 'soul mark' that allows the master to cause pain, track them, mentally damage, or outright take the life of the marked whenever he pleases. He does need to be in physical form though, so he was never able to do anything after that night with harry.
Anyway, the mark was actually suppressing your elemental affinity. Your one of the rare witches and wizards to be born with such a pure affinity for an element. That element is….Poison!"
"Poison?" (Bella)
"Yeah! It's awesome! With enough training, you can dissolve your opponent with a single touch, you can sit in a room and poison everyone through the air, you can create special types of poison like aphrodisiacs, and remember that most magic medicines are made with poison as ingredients, you could make incredible healing potions."
"Wow, I never knew." (Bella)
"Of course not silly, even without that dark mark, it would only barely appear. Thanks to being reborn through Magus's shadow, your body was purified and can now handle the influence of your element.
Not to mention that the shadows have left a small influencing factor in your element. You should be able to poison someone through direct contact with their shadow! How cool is that!"
"Damn Bella, remind me not to piss you off."
"Oh, don't worry dear. I will just have to remind you, at night."
The look in her eyes worried me, and I couldn't help but feel that the nectar I was drinking got a lot heavier all of a sudden.
*Cough* "Right, so is there anything we need to watch out for." (Magus)
Nyx's eyes danced with amusement.
"You guys should be fine. Your abilities are your own, if you do not want them to do something, they will listen to you.
Now, the next thing relates to your last comment Bella. I know your both mature adults, but you need to wait a bit before taking things too far.
Magus, your father forgot to mention this, but on your eleventh birthday, when an average magical child's magic undergoes its first stage of maturity, something else will happen for you."
'He forgot? Is dad getting old? Can death go senile?'
"Your half-god, when you turn eleven Magus, your body will undergo maturation and gain minor traits from each of your unique shadows species, how many of a specific species you have does not matter.
For example, if you had a phoenix, you would gain a healing factor that would be fueled by your mana.
From your giants, you would gain slight mana resistant skin and a minor boost to your strength and stamina collectively, not for each individual one.
This will happen for all of your shadows, but the more unique the Origin of the shadow, the more you will gain. Your wizard shadows, for example, if you didn't have mana, then you would gain it, but they are not very special for you, so you would only get a minor boost in mana.
This will all end with you being physically aged to your early prime at eighteen, and as she is connected to you, Bella will also be aged to match you."
"Magus, I think your dad was going senile if he forgot something like this." (Bella)
"You know Bella, I was just thinking the same thing." (Magus)
Nyx gave us a minute to adjust to the new information before continuing.
"That's exactly what I said, let's just say he didn't stop himself from saying something rude and I had to give him a 'time out.'" *Evil chuckle*
'Rest in peace dad, wait, can death die?'
"Right, now I know your probably thinking about Hogwarts, but don't worry, here are a couple rings I made that will keep you morphed to how you would look at the required age. When you take them off, you will go back to your normal form."
She handed me half a dozen rings like it was a bowl of candy.
"Ok, I think I got the idea. Thanks grandma, to be honest, I was already getting tired of being in a child's body again, I feel so limited. How about you Bella?"
"I have not had much time to adjust yet, but it feels awkward, I want to pick up that cup, and I reach for it only to discover my arm isn't reaching, but my brain is telling me it should have reached."
"Yeah, that took me a while to get used to."
"You guys can play around later, now let me continue and don't make me shush you two."
""Yes ma'am.""
"Good, next order of business. Your father started a mini three-way war between him, me, and your grandfather when he allowed your mission for wizard shadows to be completed.
We all agreed to a hands-off attitude after you left, but that man broke it first! I should have been the one to do that! *cough* I mean, he should not have done it.
So one thing led to another, and we decided your grandfather and myself can both make a change to make it even."
'What am I to them? A toy to be passed around? They sound like three kids, and one of them got candy. This must be what it's like to have gods for family, at least they mean well.'
"What did you two decide?" (Bella)
"Well, I'm sure Magus told you about his missions, right?"
Bella nodded her head.
"Hypno argued that its cruel to force Magus to gain three lovers when due to his personality and mental maturity, there was no one who truly matched him aside from you Bella.
Get a short-term lover? Sure, that's fine, but we are talking about eternity here. In that entire world, no one matched Magus enough to fit him like you Bella.
Of course, we knew this before sending Magus into the world (Author note: I knew it, it was me who knew the truth and planned it!), but we didn't want to force things to happen, so we let Magus walk on his own."
I couldn't help but put an arm around Bella and hold her with her back to my chest. 'I'm surprised they knew it, but I would never change it.'
"So, what did you two decide grandma?"
"We decided that I would pick for you! Well, I decided that. Your grandfather wanted you to have some freedom of choice, so he increased your shadow lover limit to 5, but you don't have to worry about the other two until the next world."
'She wants to pick for me? Let's hear her out, maybe she has a good reason for it.'
"I really want great-grandbabies!"
'Never mind, she is hopeless.'
Seeing my cold stare and Bella's blushing face, Nyx smiled.
"Now, now, that's not my main reason for doing this. I'm proud of you for being patient and not freaking out."
"You want what's best for me, right? I believe I should give you the benefit of the doubt before I make any real opinions."
She gave me a small smile before taking the most serious and distant look I have ever seen on her face until now.
"Very mature, now, your very young Magus. Being over three decades old is a hair on the arm of eternity. It's so small you would never notice it.
Being immortal is the greatest gift and the greatest curse, and unfortunately, the reason why gods are so fickle in nature is that the majority of us don't have a real bond to stick to.
A lot of them play cruel and petty games on mortals to keep themselves entertained.
I want you to connect deeply to a few lovers so you can all support each other on the long road of life. The bigger the family of those who can connect deeply, the more comfortable and more enjoyable it is to exist.
I'm not telling you to treat love as a silly thing and gather endless women, no matter how many great-grandbabies I want, I want you to be happy. That's why we want you to have five lovers."
'She sounds like she is speaking from experience, that look in her eye almost screams of sadness and pain. I know Bella is more accustomed to marriages with multiple wives from growing up in a pure-blood environment, but I just proposed to her, I don't want to betray her.'
I felt a hand on my cheek and bent my head to look at Bella as she turned to look at me. We spoke through our eyes, when you have spent a year in each other's mental worlds, it's not hard to understand what the other wants to say.
'I want us to be happy, I don't mind a few sisters to make our bond stronger. I will always love you, let's see where this takes us.'
Is what I got from her, I didn't see or feel any sadness or anger in her.
'Heh, what's the world coming to when the wife is more interested in including another woman with her husband than the husband himself.'
I kissed her on the forehead and looked back at Nyx who was silently smiling at us.
"You two are so adorable, it took that bastard Hypno years before he understood me like that, but that might be because he never stayed awake long enough…"
"Grandma, how exactly are you going to search for the other two."
"Oh, I have already found them! You see Magus, I took a copy of yours and Bella's soul signatures, mental views, and physical preferences, and together with your father and grandfather, we searched through the multiverse for matching souls.
Funny thing is, one of them was actually in my domain. The other was in service to your father for centuries before passing on."
"Wait, they have already died?!?"
"Yup! Remember, death is not the end, it's just the beginning before your next life. We live in a multiverse, so every anime world has multiple versions of each one. Souls are everywhere! Your father has to manage them. Hehe, sucker, that was my job before I had Thanatos, I threw it on him as soon as I saw his divinities and he matured."
"So, who are they? And would they want this? I don't want to force anyone."
"Don't worry little Magus, trust in your amazing grandmother! They both never achieved love in their lives, and they wanted to experience it, it was their biggest regret.
The one in my domain used a cursed katana that I made it my spare time. It quickly reaped the souls of those it touched, but when the sword broke, she died right along with it, and her soul was dragged to my domain as payment for using it.
This occasionally happens in the vast multiverse. Some gods have them do services for them, but I don't really care. I might have them pull a prank before sending them off to be reincarnated. That's why I was shocked to see the match come from my own domain.
You really do take after me!
The second one worked for your father for years before her world was destroyed by a madman. She was in a massive pile of souls from that world to be reincarnated in another world before we found her match. Your father had to run around like a headless chicken to save her haha!"
"So, you spoke to them?"
"Yeah, they both never experienced real love, I apologize for this, but I showed them a copy of both of your memories, I know you might be sensitive about it Bella, but they needed to know who they would be meeting."
"It's fine grandmother, I would want the same thing if I was in their position."
"That's right! You're my grandbaby now too!"
Nyx tried to dive and hug Bella, the only problem was, Bella was laying against me, and she wanted revenge. Her eyes shined for a moment before she quickly spun us around and placed me between her and Nyx.
Our eyes met, mine with shock and resignation, and hers with victory and smugness.
"Oof."
~~ 5 Minutes Later ~~
Nyx was happily chewing on some candy and kicking her legs while I was on the floor, and Bella was sitting elegantly and sipping on some nectar.
I crawled back up and dumped my head on her lap.
"There, there." She patted my head.
I gave her the stinkeye.
"You satisfied?"
"Very."
"Sorry! I got excited again! Tehee~" (Nyx)
Suppressing a severe twitch, I decided to move things along.
"So, what happened after you showed them our memories?"
"They agreed! Although the condition was made that they would like to spend some time with all four of you together for a few hours before the shadow lover bond is formed. Memories or not, they want to meet you both in person.
I took the liberty of remaking their new bodies to match you two, it will be the same as what just happened to Bella, they will retain their memories, but they will have to adjust to mana and their new bodies to develop muscle memory. One of them has an incredible lightning affinity, while the other that held my sword had her affinity suppressed and corrupted by it.
She initially held a fire affinity, but the blade changed it to an impure dark cursed flame which she never used, after bonding with you it should become truly cursed flames and be entirely under her control.
They both agreed to share their memories after receiving yours, take a look."
Nyx quickly shot an orb of light at our heads, and we were filled with memories of two woman, both lived their lives in the shadows, lost friends and family, endured great pain to get stronger and lived as warriors, and died after losing everything.
Frankly, it's a miracle they are even sane. It just goes to show how strong their minds are. I knew who they were, but I could never imagine their lives in this much detail.
Bella and I looked at each other, she nodded her head.
"I want to meet them." (Bella)
"Grandma, where are they?" (Magus)
"They will appear next to you when you get back. They both already agreed to join with you, however..."
And here she gave me her mischievous smile
"They have both been raised in the fires of combat, and they want to see your ability in person first. Enjoy getting your ass kicked little Magus. Hahahahaha"
'Like hell I will, wife or not, if it's a fight I'm giving it everything I have, I will be forced to anyway…. they are beasts.'
"I'll deal with it when it happens, thank you for everything grandma."
"Your welcome Magus, ah! there is one last change we made."
'There's more!?! How indecisive are these guys?!' (Author note: yes, I'm bashing myself)
She saw my look and commented.
"It's the last one I promise, we are changing the rewards for your missions. Initially, we would give you ten shadow slots per mission, but since it's based on your abilities, all we are doing is stretching your shadow out too thin.
There is no point in large numbers if you can't control them correctly, and your personality prefers quality over quantity anyway.
You will still have the 35 limit you have now, but now each mission will give you two extra slots. We will also increase your Shadow Servant limit to 7 instead of 5.
This way, you have precisely 45 shadows as the limit until the end of this world. You still need to finish the missions. We will push up the tri-wizard tournament to Harry's second year because there is no point in waiting and because of …well…your father kind of screwed up on your age…"
The look on my face could have flash-frozen a volcano.
'How many things can this guy mess up?'
"Yeah, that was my expression too. He forgot to add your birthday to the equation when he dropped you in.
You're actually four years older than harry instead of the planned three. Not a huge deal, just an inconvenience."
"AHA! It was driving me crazy thinking about why I would be entering Hogwarts a year early, I thought I was in a different timeline or something. So, it was all dad's fault, grandma, I think dad has been missing the feeling of one of your hugs. Please give him one each for Bella and me."
"With pleasure little magus, I will take great pleasure in it."
'Take that old man! If I can't give you a dynamic entry, then I can sic the ultimate loli on you!'
Somewhere in the multiverse, the very embodiment of death itself shivered.
"So, to sum up everything. I will have a transformation on my eleventh birthday along with whoever is bonded to me, Bella is freed from her dark mark and awakened her element, my two arranged marriages will appear when I leave here, the mission rewards changed slightly, the tournament got moved up, and I am actually four years older than Harry. Did I get that all?"
"Yeah! Great job summarizing it! Now off you go! A mother bird pushes its children out of the nest to learn how to fly, I am your grandmother, so I am pushing you into the lion's den! Have fun little Magus!"
Before I could say much else, I was already sinking back into my shadow with Bella.
'Why is my life filled with people with issues?'
Peverell Island:
We landed back on the hill with my elves nearby.
'It doesn't look much time has passed since we left.'
Right as I finished my thought, there was a surge of electricity on my left, and a sudden dark fire burst into existence on my right.
I looked at Bella and matched her eyes.
"Let's greet them." (Magus)
"Mn." (Bella)
As the light faded and I called off my subordinates, we walked up to the two newly born women.
The one on the left that came out of the lightning was a slender, dark-skinned young woman of average height to match us, she was probably my physical age but also looked older. She had golden-colored eyes and short purple hair with black highlights that reached her chin. Her standard attire consists of a black, backless, sleeveless undershirt, a large white sash around her waist, a black bowtie around her neck, and black stretch pants with a pair of lightweight brown shoes, which allow for stealth and easy use of fast movements.
The one on the right was a young girl with long black hair with dark red highlights that reaches down to her knees and blood-red eyes. She wore a dark sleeveless mini dress with a white collar and a red tie and a red belt that has a red side skirt cover. She wears it with long black socks and black shoes. She also wears red gauntlets and black gloves.
We all looked at each other, when you get memories from others, you're not watching a movie like in a pensive, you experience it. You feel their emotions and hear their thoughts.
All four of us have seen and experienced each other's memories.
*Cough* "It's nice to meet you, my name is Magus E. Mor."
All three girls looked at me and laughed. I figured saying our names was a good way to break the ice.
"Isabella Mor." (Author note: I decided to take the Isabella route instead of the Bellatrix route. It sounds more pleasant.)
"Yoruichi Shihoin."
"Akame."
They looked at me, and I knew what needed to happen.
"Tom, prepare the arena . . . . . and the infirmary."
Flashback end:
To say I got my ass kicked would not be too far from the truth. I didn't use any magic or my shadows, just my physical ability. Yoru, which is what I have taken to calling her, had a century on me in hand to hand combat. Her body being weak was the only thing that let me get out a tie in the end.
Akame was a different story. Her cursed blade Murasame was broken and destroyed, so she used a katana we had in the vault. I matched her with my knives, but she was vicious. Once again, only her body slowed her down, and I eventually outlasted her. I came out of it a bloody mess though.
Bella used magic and was able to win her matches, but she admitted if the other two had their past strength, then she would get destroyed. It seems to have motivated her.
After our fight, we finished the shadow lover connection. I offered them to wait and see, but these two have direct and confident personalities. Once it was done, we sat down and had a meal.
The two girls' endings were different from how canon showed. It seemed they were from different versions of their worlds.
Yoruichi died when Aizen reached the soul king, and the world was destroyed, apparently, in that world, Aizen did not have such a hard-on for playing with Ichigo, and Ichigo never grew strong enough from fighting strong opponents to match him.
Akame died when she killed Esdeath. Apparently, in that world, when her sword broke, she gained a burst of energy before her soul was sucked out as the payment for using the blade.
They both wanted to regain their old strength and gain new ones, so they joined me in my schedule. I didn't need to explain much of the world because they saw mine and Bella's memories.
Currently, I believe Akame should be outside practicing her swordsmanship, she likes to wake up early and train, she is not very outspoken, but she puts a lot of emphasis into her words. Its really adorable, and we all make sure to tease her.
Yoru should be around somewhere, her spirit is so free that you never know with her. She is enjoying the experience of a young body again. We got wasted the first night and had a blast singing and connecting.
Now I had a new problem like all people do after waking up.
'I need to pee.'
Looking down at the girl using me as a body pillow, I knew this would be dangerous, but nature calls!
I shadow apparated to the corner of my room and quietly walked to the bathroom.
{Shink} {Thunk}
Only to get a green-tinted blade thrown right in front of my face and imbedded into the wall.
"Good morning dear."
I walked around it and continued to the bathroom.
{Shink} {Shink}
I walked faster.