Loki's heart beat quickened slightly as he looked at the statue of the pretty girl in front of him.
"She's pretty…" he whispered with dream filled eyes that traced a rather remarkable perfection in the artistry of the sculptor that kept drawing them to the petite face.
"Oh that she is." The gruff man who'd given Loki a tour of the village yesterday spoke with pride before smacking the back of Loki's head as he continued, "But don't you go getting any ideas about my little morning dew."
Loki rubbed the back of his head softly, his eyes still lingering on the face that was at about his height. A statue of a girl his age that looked rather ethereal under the gentle caressings of the golden light that streamed in through the window.
He could distinctly feel a sense of high value emit off the statue, like a sommelier looking at a bottle of finely aged wine or a collector looking at a priceless item on sale at a bargain store. He didn't know why but the statue almost made him feel like he should've just pocketed it and run away.
But Loki quickly calmed down.
'Perhaps the statue's just messing with my perception?'
Loki could've spent more time trying to dissect the statue in some way but before he could step closer, the gruff man who was already walking away through a draped door spoke up.
"Dew said something good would happen yesterday…I guess that's why I didn't smash your head to a pulp yesterday morning when I saw someone special laying flat in my cabin."
"You can tell Beyonders from normal people?"
"Huh? Beyonders? That's what they call the specials in your part of the world?"
Loki just nodded and as if the man had eyes behind his head he continued speaking, "Well…beyonders or specials, my daughter is one too…she gifted me a necklace…it heats up in the presence of those that are up to no good."
Loki froze in his spot for a step.
"Wha-"
"Well most aren't up to any good, but I trust you…" the gruff man added, "...because dew trusts you."
The gruff man paused then and turned around slowly to look at Loki, his head half covered in shadows under the drapes beyond the door and half in light from the window, "You won't break that trust…will you?"
Loki shook his head. Quickly.
Something about the man left his feeling unsettled, like the man looked at him like prey for a second, making Loki cognisant of just how big the man was compared to his little thirteen year old frame.
"Ha…" The man laughed before stretching to pat Loki's shoulder, "Don't worry boy, I was just joking…"
"....heh~", Loki gave him a wry smile and kept up his guard nonetheless.
The gruff man however didn't stop to even look, his hand rested on Loki's shoulder and yanked him by his neck. The leathery drapes slapped Loki in the face before he broke through and found himself in an entrancing room.
Loki looked around the room he'd found himself in and felt a strange sense of relaxation. Not because the space was filled with intoxicating smells or soothing sights, but because it was completely dark.
Much like the darkness of the starry sky that he'd found himself in when he'd transmigrated. Much like the darkness of the starry sky that he'd found himself in when the dog as large as Fenrir had travelled with him.
It felt cool and complete, filled with a bounty of senselessness that left his mind freed from constant bombardment of value or calculations from his surroundings that had been forced onto him because of the Marauder potion.
His eyes hovered at the artificial starry sky before they landed on the gruff man before him.
'He's kneeling?' Loki thought slightly baffled.
He looked around but there was no one else. The soothing world compressed into a room was empty apart from them.
Loki quickly activated spirit vision but even that didn't give him any results. It was blank and empty filled with no spirits or even any Beyonder materials in the proximit-
"Wait…" Loki mumbled with some panic. "You just told me you had a Beyonder item given to you by your daughter…"
The gruff man looked back at Loki before smiling, shaking his head and bowing back down.
It immediately caused a sharp sense of crisis within Loki. Making him feel unnerved by everything around him. Suddenly the darkness didn't seem so calm and soothing anymore and neither did the stars twinkling in the sky.
It all seemed like it was placed just to mock him. Out of his reach. Yet within his sight.
'....why did I come here again?'
"Loki..." A soft, gentle and soothing voice entered Loki's ears as a soft sensation pressed against his cheek. Its warmth made Loki think it was a hand but when his eyes flicked over, he could see nothing.
'Huh?'
Loki didn't know what to feel. He felt panic and a simultaneous sense of ease as the warm hand held his face, squishing his cheeks, pinching them before laughing and releasing it once they had gotten their fill.
Suddenly the warm hand slipped onto his head and gave it a vigorous rub, shaking his head and almost leaving him dizzy before the hands were retrieved.
"You are still rather naive…this iteration won't do…"
"....? Hmm?" Loki looked up at the location where the sound had just come from, very confused.
Nothing was there anymore and a sudden voice spoke from behind him, right by his ears before it too moved away once again. "You must start over again once you reach the peak or there will be no hope in the next."
Loki turned around immediately but he obviously didn't catch whoever was speaking to him in time. He looked around for a few more seconds before turning to the gruff man who was still kneeling.
"Hey…Mr. Greengrass…erm…what just happened?"
…
"I pray for Mr. Error to let me know what I can do to obtain the Sequence 6 potion for my special pathway hidden from fate."
"Fireflower, a herb that belongs to the mysterious, I pray for you to bless my incantation."
"Boggart dust, a powder that belongs to the mystical, I pray for you to bless my incantation."
A sudden crimson mist engulfed Hermione's vision as she finished her ritual. She found herself back in the familiar location of the Tarot Club meeting, in front of Mr. Error in her chair as Miss Magician.
She'd come here with purpose but, above all that, was her respect for Mr. Error so she bowed deeply even before she began her greeting, "Good evening Mr. Error."
Mr. Error tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically, listening patiently as Hermione stood up and looked at him in anticipation before speaking up.
"I've finished digesting my potion Mr. Error. What could I do to obtain the next potion?"
Hermione's eyes were clearly filled with hope precisely because this was the first time she was going to be getting a direct order from Mr. Error.
Mr. Error tapped his finger a couple more times before speaking softly, "My blessed is currently busy with a different task and he has something else that needs to be done…" the tapping of his fingers hadn't stopped, but the rhythm hadn't changed either, as if Mr. Error was talking about something completely routine and normal.
But Hermione couldn't have been any less excited. She almost jumped in joy when she heard that Mr. Error did in fact need her help and that she could help 'Him' in some way. After all, what were the chances that a True God actually needed your help in any matter, ever?
Hermione even lightly suspected that Mr. Error was only being kind to her and giving her a job to not make her seem like a burden.
'I shouldn't waste Mr. Error's sincerity towards the Tarot Club members if that's the case and should match it with my own!'
Hermione nodded her head and spoke confidently.
"Yes Mr. Error. I can take on anything! I promise to fulfill it flawlessly at all costs!"
"Oh?" Mr. Error's finger tapping stopped, plunging the entirety of the Sefirah Castle into a sudden silence.
Hermione suddenly felt the urge to take back the words she'd promised but then out of her respect for Mr. Error held back. Of course she had no problems in helping out someone who'd given her her friend bac-
Mr. Error's fingers snapped but Hermione didn't react to it in any way as if it never happened while Mr. Error continued speaking.
"My blessed requires a mystical item that is being transported into the Unspeakables department in the ministry at the same time as your next mission. If you can get the item to him safely…"
Mr. Error's words stopped there and he didn't have to say any more.
Hermione's smile was already as wide as it could get. She was giddy and happy. Possibly happier than when she'd reunit-
Mr. Error's fingers snapped again.
Hermione spoke softly but the excitement in her voice couldn't be masked, "Yes Mr. Error. Everything shall be done as you have asked."
Hermione bowed deeply before Mr. Error cut the connection to her crimson star, sending her back into the bathroom she'd come from.
He then looked at his fingers for a few seconds, seemingly confused for a second before the True God sealed within the Grey Fog behind him acted up.
The seals degenerated rapidly for a second before Mr. Error snapped his fingers again, reinforcing them, making them tight enough to make the Hanged Man bleed for a second before the Grey Fog cleaned it up diligently by corrupting it and then burning it all up.
…
Loki looked at the valley from the hunting cabin with confusion.
He still remembered perfectly what the 'invisible' being inside the dark room had told him.
"I'm not ready yet?"
"What did she mean by 'this iteration'?"
"Are there more of me?"
"What am I? A clone?"
"I'm of the Marauder pathway so I'm a clone of some Amon?"
Loki shuddered, his body chilled but he quickly calmed himself.
That couldn't be.
'I have the memories of my previous life….of my past life…'
'But then what did she mean?'
"Who even was she?"
Loki thought for a while but didn't have a conclusive answer. From the way Mr. Greengrass was acting she could've just been his daughter…who he'd strangely enshrined in a statue…but could a thirteen year old really be as strong as that? Strong enough to deceive his spirit vision?
Loki didn't think so.
"For her to be able to deceive my Spirit Vision means that she's of some pathway that allows strong anti divination….so the fool, door, Wheel of fortune, and Chained pathways?"
"Well the counter divination skill is still rather common among the other pathways too as long as you're high up in the Sequences…so that's not too much to go off of."
"....and could a thirteen year old even be such a high sequence beyonder in the first place?"
"Nah, no way. That'd be like asking Klein to become a Fool when he was just a bab-"
"Wait a second…baby…divination…"
"Will Auceptin…"
Loki's eyes widened as the revelation hit his head like a brick.
"....is she a reincarnation of Will? Or like Will?" Loki found himself in disbelief.
He paused for a second as his mind blanked, trying to put things together, trying to think of any similarities apart from the one thing he'd just noticed but he hadn't found them yet.
"Mr. Greengrass, while respected among the village, is neither the richest nor the most favoured person…he's just…a hunter…"
"And the place he took me too…why would a Wheel of Fortune True God or even a reincarnated Sequence 1 Angel use a dark room with fake stars shining in it as their residence?"
"Yeah…no way that was what happened…I'm just dreaming things up…"
Loki clicked his tongue and slipped into the thick fur sleeping bag while using the fur rug as a makeshift pillow.
"But what did those words mean…" Loki thought as he relaxed into the sleeping bag.
"What does '....this iteration won't do…' even mean then?"
Loki thought for a while but couldn't get to any sane conclusions that didn't involve him being a toy in the hands of some great being.
"Well… at least she didn't try to immediately kill me…"
"...even still, the very fact that another Beyonder is here and has warned me about something means I can't stay here any longer…lest I risk attracting danger to myself because of her…"
So Loki made up his mind.
Although this village had been his home for the last three nights.
He'd take himself on a tour across this new world he was in now.
'After all…what's an isekai without an adventure…'
…
Hermione, Ron, Harry and Daphne all looked at their new handler with some confusion.
Harry and Ron looked ready to hiss like cats whose tails had been stepped on but Hermione remained calm.
Daphne was the only one who took the initiative to communicate.
"Professor Snape?"
Snape looked down at the teenagers all looking at him with clear probing gazes before he spoke in his trademark tone, "You have been assigned to help at the front lines." His gaze passed from Harry and to Ron, "Make as much as a single mistake and I'll make sure you watch the life, of those who pay the price for your mistakes, slip, in front of your eyes….forcing you to keep them open…wide and clear. Not that I have much hopes for dunderheads managing to save anyone in the first place."
Everyone sucked a sharp breath. Their fists turned cold and clenched up as they looked into Snape's eyes. Hermione felt the weight of her wand by her side while Harry felt a strange discordance in Snape's expression that made him almost want to involuntarily punch him.
"..." They gulped in silence before Snape pulled his hand out of his robes. In it was a simple broken chained pocket watch. He said nothing but he didn't have to since almost immediately the watch and the chain began to hum with a practical buzz.
Everyone quickly gathered around, holding the chain and waiting for only a moment before they were swept off their feet.
They reappeared in a swirl of colours right in the midst of a dense tropical forest, flying in as if they'd been thrown out of a vortex.
Snape and Harry landed on their feet, while Hermione and Daphne held each other up.
Ron was the only one who stood off to the side, holding his stomach like it had been punched.
He was glaring daggers at Snape who he thought gave him a smirk that no one else saw.
But Snape didn't appear to be hung up on the matter, his guard seemed to be up already with his wand in his hand. He shifted to looking at Daphne before speaking calmly.
"Our target will arrive here. That means anyone else wanting to take it will too."
"...and our destination?" Harry asked, but when he saw Snape glaring at him he added, "...professor?"
Snape simply ignored him after that and looked at Hermione, "Divine our destination."
It stunned everyone in the group.
Divine the location? Wouldn't that just give them the wrong answer since the Unspeakables would've put up several anti divination measures?
Hermione too should've been worried about the fact that Snape seemed to think her divinations were a hundred per cent accurate. However, it seemed the fact had slipped from her mind before she even thought about it.
"..." Hermione, while confused like Harry and Ron, didn't have the same disregard as they did so she quickly performed a dream divination.
"The destination of my current mission where the target has to be delivered."
Hermione repeated the statement seven times, except just as she was expecting her spirit body to have to search for the answer for a few seconds she was slammed with it.
It felt like the information had been bombarded into her mind, like it had been just waiting for her to divine about it.
'Is this why Professor Snape trusted me to divine about it? Are the Unspeakables using some Mystical item for this? Is this some form of divination assist or something?' Hermione's questions were an endless ramble in her mind, but she quickly opened her eyes and reported the answer she'd received.
"Bones Manor, professor."
Snape looked at Hermione and once he noticed the several questions reflected in the shining curiosity of her eyes he simply turned away to look at Harry.
"Your one job here is to keep everyone alive…hopefully you don't have your father's talent in that regard…"
Harry's eyes turned red, he nearly lashed back but Ron held him back at the last second while speaking on Harry's behalf.
"Slimy git!!"
Hermione too had already lost her cool since she nearly stepped forward to punch Snape's already wonky nose. Daphne held her hands to stop her and before anything else could happen spoke up quickly. "Someone's coming!"
Everyone's attention turned to the rustle of bushes that happened right by their side, everyone except Hermione since her vision was immediately clouded by a crimson flash.
Mr. Error appeared before her, sitting on his seat at the Tarot Club table as he spoke, "Be ready."
When Hermione was back she found herself still in Daphne's embrace as she too focused on the intruders.
However, instead of a normal group of four or even five walking through with the object they were supposed to carry and deliver, the first person that stepped out broke every preconceived notion about the group.
The person was dressed in a bizarre fashion, wearing a clown's headrest, a plumber's overalls, a doctor's stethoscope, a military rifle, a band drum kit, along with a pirate leg and a dead bird pet hovering behind in a ball of water connected to him by a string tied to his little finger, like a strange balloon.
Everyone but Snape was confused.
Ron looked at the person for a second, frowned and then blurted out in surprise, "....Professor Moody?"
The words caused an even larger surprise in everyone present, making them all look at the man in front of them with confusion and slight distaste.
Tonks stepped out after him, before Belmont stepped out from behind her while holding a strangely heavy looking treasure chest.
"Tonks!" Hermione said happily, almost rushing to hug her friend before realising that she was currently under Snape and would have to hold herself back.
Tonks nodded calmly before turning to Belmont and then looking back at their team, "So, who among you all is going to hold onto that thing?"
Everyone in Snape's team looked at each other for a second before Snape interrupted their musing, "Cut it out Moody, where's the book."
Moody gave Snape a glare that would've frightened any baby and made them wet their underpants but Snape stood strong and unafraid, while also looking pissed at Moody for wasting time.
"....what's the password?" Moody asked with his glare still in full force.
Snape only returned the glare with an even stronger one and remained silent, causing Ron to whisper to Harry, "....did he forget the password?"
But before Harry could bend over and start laughing, Moody nodded and growled, "No you fools, there is no password!"
Ron deadpanned, the meaning of his gaze clear, 'Then why did you even ask!' to which Moody responded, "Constant Vigilance!"
After he said that, Moody turned to Tonks who flicked her wand and caused the weirdness around Moody to vanish. Left in its place was a simple moody that looked as normal as he could with his spinning magical eye and a stump for a leg wearing a dark rubbery coat filled to the brim with magical materials.
Moody clenched and unclenched his hands for a second, observing them for any changes before he plunged them into his coat and pulled out a thick book shaped package.
The package looked to be bound in human skin filled with runes from a dozen eras that Hermione herself couldn't name even if she were given a day or even a week inside the library.
They glowed an ominous golden with light, pulsing every few seconds as the book trembled like it was trying to break out.
Moody looked at the book for a few seconds before holding it out in front of himself, waiting for Snape to get it.
But Snape only scowled.
"I'm not here to play childish games with you Moody."
Moody looked at the book in his hands and then at Snape before mumbling, "Constant Vigilance…especially against known traitors…"
Snape's eyes froze in a cold glare at that but he stayed calm nonetheless, even if his eyes turned progressively redder.
Moody dropped the packaged book in his hands, letting it drop to the forest floor but it vanished even before it hit it. Instead, he pulled out what looked like another thick package from his coat, however this one was invisible. His hands looked like they were holding something, when they held clearly nothing.
"Invisibility cloak Professor?" Harry asked softly since he remembered that Professor Dumbledore had borrowed it from him a couple nights ago.
"Yes, Potter. The prised possession of a brave-"
"Coward." Snape mumbled but almost no one heard him, no one except Harry since he was the only other Sequence 4 in the area, except Daphne.
And the result was immediate, Harry's hand flew before he even realised it as it pummeled into Snape's forehead, sending him crashing into a thick tree a little distance away without regard for his position or status.
Dust clobbered into the air as Snape crashed into the tree, obscuring his figure for a second as everyone stared at it.
Except, before anyone realised what happened, Harry was thrown to the floor, his head buried into the forest floor as Snape stared deeply into his eyes while pressing his knee onto Harry's neck and back.
No words were exchanged as Snape's gaze darkened.
Suddenly Harry felt an inexplicable link between himself and Snape, however the very next second he felt an unimaginable amount of pain within himself. Something that felt like it could crush him from the inside without even letting him open his mouth to scream.
Snape forced Harry to keep looking into his eyes. And finally when Moody reacted to rush towards Harry, Snape slammed Harry's head into the ground once again before speaking, "A hundred and fifty points from Gryffindor for attacking a professor unprompted."
Moody's spell shot towards Snape and struck his head, but without a sound Snape's body was replaced by a moon paper figurine, exploding in his stead as he reappeared right beside Daphne.
Everyone in the two groups stared at Snape with open hostility but neither made a move to rebuke him.
They hadn't heard what he had said and so to them it seemed like Harry had suddenly snapped and tried to hurt him and Snape had only defended himself.
And while they did all think Snape had to have done something to have prompted the response from Harry, they didn't have any proof and so they didn't bother concealing their 'unrequited' hatred especially since they all felt that Snape had gone too far in whatever he had done since Harry's eyes looked hollow, almost dead until Moody brought a strange vial next to his nose.
Harry snapped out of his daze with a sharp gasp before immediately returning to glare at Snape.
His fist clenched a bit of the soil from the ground before he stood up calmly.
"Don't do anything stupid boy. He's a death eater, they're all like this. Cunning bastards that call the enemy their home." Moody warned, causing Harry to pause for a second before looking away as the soil slipped out of his hand.
Snape looked at Moody before placing his hand on the seemingly large invisible package in Moody's hand, but Moody snatched it back, "It's alright, we can all travel together."
Snape looked straight into Moody's eyes, scowling with hatred before waving his robes, vanishing it in a flurry of smaller bats that it erupted into, while he himself turned into a shadowy whisper that blended in with the dense vegetation of the forest.
The bats spread out in the forest, nearly invisible to all eyes except Harry, who could see them hanging around in the darkness, constantly watching.
…
Voldemort gazed at the crystal skull hanging from the nail on the upside down cross with keen interest. He could see scenes through it that others could not. The scenes appeared fractured, almost kaleidoscopic, yet he peered at it for a long time in silence. His fingers traced the edge of his wand while his eyes focused like pin pricks at the sights he could see.
Finally, after a few minutes of silence in the hall, Voldemort spoke.
"Snape has set up the trap…now all we need is to capture the boy…"
Bellatrix, who was kneeling at Voldemort's feet, smiled wildly before asking, "And the other little…babies?"
"....do with them what you will." Voldemort said before Bellatrix giggled softly and vanished, apparating away in a swirl of colours, her destination, unknown. But before she was fully gone, Voldemort threw his wand at the swirl that she was.
Silence returned to the bone cathedral.
A short while later, two POPs in the nave caused Voldemort to frown. He stayed silent as the two people who had entered caught their breaths, panting as if they'd just escaped a choking. There was a soft rhythmic silence as a result, but even this felt like a snake slowly constricting its prey to the point that it could no longer breathe.
Simply because Voldemort hadn't reacted to their presence yet, the silence seemed harsh, almost stifling to the point that the two newly arrived death eaters found it like hanging over a mountainous cliff of sharp spikes.
Voldemort continued to look into the skull in silence until one of the death eaters finally spoke, breaking the stifling feeling.
"...we failed my Lord."
Voldemort's lips instantly curved downwards.
His pale cold bluish hands clenched tightly, making a leathery sound as they slowly squeezed tight before he broke eye contact with the skull and looked at the two.
He hadn't asked anything else yet, but the other death eater spoke automatically.
"We were able to finish setting up the trap my lord…we only failed in getting inside the Department of Prophecies."
"Hmm…" Voldemort's frown eased slightly but then he raised his hand while posturing it perfectly before he spoke calmly, "Crucio."
Screams were all that filled the place after that, yet to Voldemort it made no difference at all. Almost as if the space was as silent as a still lake silently reflecting the clouds and the sky.
Peace soon returned however, only for it to be interrupted again when Voldemort spoke, "As punishment, you will be at the front lines in the Ministry…."
Free from the torture, the two death eaters apparated away almost instantly as they arrived at the same location, the Malfoy Manor.
They looked at each other and saw the same fear in each other's eyes.
The fear of death.
But that didn't stop them from discussing, "....can we take someone out before it begins?"
The second death eater paused for a second before responding, "...Shacklebolt has been a pain recently… as long as he's gone we can access the Vault of Prophecies easier…and as long as he dies…we can force his son to allow us to inherit everything else."
The two looked at each other, their gazes sharpening before they nodded and apparated once again.
…
"There are three rules everyone has to follow." Moody said calmly while looking at everyone in Snape's group. "Walk only on my steps at all times. Stop when I say stop and walk only when I say walk. Do anything else and things won't be so pretty anymore."
Ron wanted to ask more questions to crack a small joke about this being a noble's ball training but seeing Moody's serious gaze he shut up.
Hermione however put forth a genuine question.
"What happens if the package falls?" she asked since the package was bound with an invisibility cloak. "Can we just divine about it?"
Moody spoke quickly but seriously, "Do not attempt divination under any circumstance beyond this point. Any means of locating the book is forbidden. Through touch, sight, hearing or smell. The book cannot be allowed to fall."
"Is that clear?" Moody asked and everyone nodded, then he turned to the shadowy figure of Snape hidden from everyone and spoke with authority, "Lead the way."
Snape looked at Moody, then at the location of the invisible package in his cloak and then back at him. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Snape turned around and began to walk with Moody following behind him.
Everyone else however waited until they heard Moody say, "Walk." before they followed exactly in his steps, moving exactly where he stepped with his normal leg and his artificial one.
"Do we really have to follow this Tonks? I don't remember you doing this when you arrived with Professor Moody? Is this another…Constant Vigilance thing?" Ron asked softly, causing Tonks to give him a half hearted shrug with an equally soft response, "Don't really know. You never know what's true and what's not when you're on his team…just do whatever he says, he always has a reason…"
Ron nodded as the group fell into a comfortable silence which only the critters and dried leaves of the forest floor being crunched underneath their boots interrupted.
But after the third time a sharp mosquito bite almost caused Ron to stumble out of the steps Moody had laid out he whispered while looking back at Hermione for a second, "Where are we anyway…? The forbidden forest?"
Hermione looked around and then said calmly, "I think…we're somewhere near the Nile."
"...Nile?" Ron mumbled confused.
Tonks however glowed with surprise when she caught Hermione's guess, "How did you figure that out?"
Hermione smiled softly before explaining, or rather she attempted to explain when she felt an inexplicable chill travel down her spine.
Even before Moody's warning shot out at them, Hermione was forced to duck when a bat shot at her head and thrust her down.
A rush of green flashed above her, right where her head had been moments earlier before it slammed into a tree on its path and exploded in a rush of splinters that bombarded the group and forced most to shield their eyes.
"...Professor Snape?" Hermione mumbled while looking at the bat that had helped her. It looked at her for a moment too, evaluating any damage on her before darting off into the shadows of the forest.
That was when she heard Moody's gruff voice.
"Which one of you stepped out of the line!"
Everyone turned to Ron who looked aghast that they'd suspect him before they all turned to Hermione who was looking down at her left foot that had stepped out of Moody's steps.
"Erm…" Hermione mumbled, trying to ask what she had to do next but before anyone could even respond, they felt it.
They all felt their breath stop as a sudden stream of information rushed into their heads.
"Violators are not allowed to breathe as the first punishment!"
…