22 Redeem Thy Soul

Cthulhu was getting a little too big to be hidden in the bathtub.

Ymir gazed blankly upon the strange creature which had somehow grown to be the size of an adult human in just a little more than a week since it had hatched from it's egg.

And, so far, it's growth didn't seem to show any signs of stopping.

While Ymir would've preferred observing it longer to make sure it wouldn't do any harm to Gaia, this situation was giving him no other choice.

He'd have to transfer it to Gaia ahead of schedule.

So, with that set, he narrowed his eyes at the creature grumbling and blowing bubbles on tub that was already too small for it and-

Pushed it towards the portal.

Moments later, Cthulhu looked around itself in confusion, wondering why it's tiny tub suddenly became an icy ocean.

Well, atleast it could swim more comfortably now.

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"I don't understand why I'm needed here." Ymir scrunched his nose in distaste when he was shoved to sit in the bleachers next to a girl who sprayed too much perfume, hands stuffed in his pockets, playing with the Astral Dice that he finally perfected the night before.

"It's Potter's first Quidditch game!" Draco was nearly bouncing in excitement as he spoke. "All members of the News club are required to watch in order to gather news together."

Ymir sighed, allowing himself to be pulled by Ayato to switch places with him, sending the older Ravenclaw a grateful look when he realized that he was no longer next to the human perfume dispenser. "But, I'm not a reporter?"

Pansy yawned from beside Daphne, already looking like she was asleep, and the game hadn't even started yet.

"You're the editor. In order to edit the news well, you must also know the news firsthand." Daphne gave Ymir a cheeky smile as she allowed Pansy to use her shoulder as a pillow.

Ymir eyed what Pansy was doing and decided to copy her once everyone wasn't paying attention. "Sound argument, but Professor Flitwick has a Pensieve in his office which I can just borrow to review your memories."

Nearby them, Anthony, who went to get snacks, tripped on the steps and fell towards a random Griffindor boy's lap. That looked awkward and embarrassing.

"True. But, why go to that trouble what you can just watch the game yourself?" Blaise adjusted the scarf on his neck, his warm breaths looking like fog as it came into contact with the cold autumn air.

"Because I dislike crowds?" Ymir raised an eyebrow, not comprehending how no one else seemed bothered by the fact that they were squeezing together with literal strangers.

"Sounds rough, buddy." Blaise shrugged simply.

Somewhere behind them, Hannah Abbott whispered to Susan Bones. "Which houses are playing again?"

"Griffindor and Slytherin." Susan whispered back.

"You know, I always wondered why those two houses seemed to be purposely being set against each other by the school." Padma seemed to comment thoughtfully. "It's almost like whoever is making the class schedules wants them to fight."

Ayato snickered to himself. "All according to the Headmaster's keikaku."

"What?" The rest of the club looked towards their oldest member strangely.

In response, Ayato just have them a fox-like smile. "Nothing."

Before anyone could ask more, a loud whistle blow was heard from the referee stand below as Professor Hooch announced the beginning of the game with the players of both teams rushing out simultaneously towards the pitch.

And, as if it wasn't dramatic enough, a chilling wind happened to blow at this exact moment, leaving scarves flying into the sky from people who hadn't managed to react on time.

"Ugh. All this wind is going to mess up my hair." Draco complained as he struggled to keep his perfectly styled hair in its place.

"Draco, I heard that using too much hair products will eventually lead to serious hair loss." Daphne said suddenly, causing Draco to widen his eyes in horror.

"What?! Is that true?!" Draco trembled, hands clutching his hair as though he were afraid it would all go flying with the wind at any second. "Merlin! Tell me that's not true!"

"Ymir! Wha- Why are you-" Anthony, who finally managed to return intact with their snacks, looked towards his roommate in disbelief. "Are you seriously going to sleep while the game is going on?"

"I was dragged here against my will." Ymir cracked open a single eye to fix him with the deadest stare he's ever seen in his life. "Wake me up when something interesting happens."

He'd been taking care of Gaia and his two sons all night long. Can't he get a break every once in a while in peace?

With that said, he closed his eyes once again and cast a silencing spell around him, hoping to get as much rest as he can in this chaotic environment.

"Merlin! He's going to fall!" Draco screeched right into his ears.

Unfortunately, that only lasted for less than twenty minutes, since apparently, Harry Potter was about to get murdered by his own broom, and Draco wouldn't stop shaking his shoulders as though he were some sort of emotional support plush toy.

So, now awake and very much exasperated, Ymir grabbed Draco's arm and leveled the boy his most blank and dead stare. "Draco."

"Calm down."

Instantly, Draco stiffened and slowly let go of Ymir's shoulders, clearing his throat awkwardly. "R-right... Sorry."

With that settled, Ymir squinted his eyes and turned his attention towards Potter who was still struggling to hold on to his bucking broom, scrunching his nose in distaste once he realized what was happening.

"This is attempted murder." He said blandly and leaned towards Ayato to try and go back to sleep.

"Attempted murder...?" Ayato muttered in confusion as he let Ymir use his shoulder as a pillow, and then he caught on. "Oh! Someone's jinxed his broom!"

Beside them, Draco, who was too busy worrying for Potter's safety, nearly slipped after stepping on something.

Looking down, he frowned as he saw what was under his shoe.

"A dice?" He bent down and studied it's bone-like material. "What's it doing here?"

"Someone set the Professors' stand on fire!" Suddenly, Anthony shouted, distracting Draco's attention away from the dice and towards what was happening in the stands, pocketing the dice to be studied later.

In another place, along the castle halls, Professor Green, who had declined watching the game, bent down in front of the Ravenclaw entrance, picking up a dice exactly the same as the one in Draco's pocket.

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November 20, 1991

01-Terra

Observation Entry #22

On this day, after confirming the steady mutation of the Cerberus, with it having grown to an astounding 7 meters in height, roughly, I set out to check on the Cthulhu eggshells which I had scattered across Terra in an even distribution.

With them, I found several which had successfully mutated, while others have yet to show signs of changes.

To those that did mutate, I studied, and named.

There were those that looked like black, incomprehensible blobs with many eyes and acted much like horrific slime. They reeked of an unbearable stench and had a penchant for creating tentacles and limbs at random. Usually, they hid in dark and damp caves that were nearby or directly submerged under bodies of water.

I named them Shoggoths.

After studying the other creature types that mutated from the eggshells, I realized that Terra might not be the best habitat for them as they seem to thrive in large bodies of water. But, soon, that no longer became a problem as the those strange creatures solved it themselves by somehow managing to create a fairly large sea which took up nearly a fourth of Terra's surface.

And, no. I don't have any idea how this happened.

But, I did name the creatures responsible for this change as the Elder Things, collectively.

There were also those that benefited off of the new sea and created their homes there, like the frog-human-fish hybrid creatures that I named the Deep Ones due to their preferred habitat being the deepest crevices of the sea.

So far, those were the only eggshell mutants in Terra. But, since there were still quite a few eggshells that have yet to mutate, I will keep watch regularly to see if new ones appear.

Now, with that done, came the next goal in my list, which was-

To create a new ant nanny race for the future elflings in Gaia.

And thus, I set off to kidnap a hundred ants to experiment on.

Entry End

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"Fafner?" Sith'Alva tilted his head slightly, trying hard to copy the correct pronunciation of the word he'd just learned.

On this day, hidden behind the silenced drapes of his bed in the Ravenclaw dormitory, Ymir had secretly smuggled Sith'Alva out of Gaia and was now teaching him easy German words. Like, on this instance, he was trying to get Sith'Alva to call him Vater, or Father.

Ymir shook his head, correcting the little elfling's pronunciation. "No, it's Vater."

Sith'Alva, with his teeth having just finished growing, couldn't help his lisp, so he pouted and huffed. "Fafner!"

Seeing those cute chubby cheeks puffed up and filled with air, Ymir couldn't help but poke poke them.

"...Okay." Ymir said with a helpless smile. "Fafner, it is."

Satisfied with his acquiescence, Sith'Alva giggled happily and tugged at Ymir's hair. "Fafner!"

Ymir paused, taking a look at the lock of hair that was being held in the elfling's tiny hand.

When was the last time he'd had a haircut? Probably in the beginning of June..?

It's getting a bit long, he just realized.

Sith'Alva squinted his eyes and yawned, tugging at Ymir's hair again, so he'd focus on him.

"Sleepy, Alva?" Ymir asked quietly as he pulled the elfling to his chest and laid on the bed. "Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story? How about The Little Matchstick Girl?"

"Nuoohh!!" Sith'Alva widened his eyes in horror and slapped his palm on Ymir's lips to prevent him from talking.

Ymir huffed in amusement. Yeah, German fairy tales really aren't good bedtime stories.

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R'lyeh.

A call from the depths of the oceans, beckoning unwary listeners.

He who calls from the dark waters.

R'lyeh.

May all souls sleep eternally, in hopes that he, one day, awakens.

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It has been quite some time since he'd last dreamed in his sleep, Ymir realized.

Perhaps that was because he'd recently been traveling to Gaia in his Astral form every night instead of actually sleeping.

That probably wasn't healthy for his mental state actually, now that he thinks about it.

Well, nothing he could do about the past since he was sort of single-mindedly focusing on finishing the many self-imposed goals he had in the shortest amount of time possible, but, since they're mostly done now, with the trial Astral Dice distributed anonymously, Terra gradually turning into his perfect Banished Land, and Cthulhu being set to guard Gaia while stationed in the South Pole, he now had more free time to himself-

After he finishes creating the rest of the Elf race that Sith'Alva would one day rule over.

In any case, he already managed to create the prototype Ant Nanny race, quite similar to the muggle depictions of aliens actually; with their large black eyes, considerably larger heads, petite bodies, and antennae along with an extra set of arms, giving them a total of six limbs. And, they're all females.

Actually, the majority of ant population was consisted of females, so it was quite hard to find males amongst them.

These Ant Nannies were implanted with the proper knowledge of childcare, language, and clothes making techniques which Ymir planted directly into their brains, courtesy of the Hogwarts Library's extensive books.

Basically, they were nannies, teachers, and tailors, all combined together to form one entity. But, because of their base material being the mutated ants from Terra, they were actually still a formidable existence which can wipe out the entire population of the Beschutzer Continent in a week if they do wished.

Fortunately, they still retained their ant mentality of following their queen's orders, and right now, their perceived queen was Ymir himself.

Now, the question was, how did he manage to actually create this new race from the Terran ants?

And, the answer was simple.

He figured out that it is not the body that changes the soul. In fact, the changes that occur in the soul also reflect on the body.

So, if he managed to alter the soul to fit what he needed, and then transfer that soul into the ant body that was lacking a soul, he would get what he altered in the soul transfered to the body after a short period of acclimation.

And that was how the Ant Nannies came to be.

Then, next, came the Elf race.

For these, he tried what he discovered with the Ant Nannies, but, instead of using already prepared bodies, he stuffed the altered souls into the Yggdrasil tree to see what would happen.

During the first few days, there were no changes so, initially, he thought the experiment had failed.

But, one day, while Sith'Alva was playing by the tree, he slipped on a root and injured his knee, causing a few drops of his blood to drip on the root.

Some hours after that, the Yggdrasil tree, seemingly having absorbed just the right component it needed, began to finally bear fruits.

These fruits would later grow into the size of infants, and, after a month long wait, they gradually began falling off the tree and onto the awaiting hands of the Ant Nannies who took them into the newly built nursery inside the Yggdrasil tree where they would be cared for until they are able to walk and run on their own.

During this stage, Ymir had no choice but to speed up the passage of time in Gaia more since Sith'Alva didn't want to leave the nursery for even a second so he wouldn't miss the moment when the new elves would break free from their fruit sacs.

And, after a development period of six Gaian months, they were finally ready to emerge from their sacs and be welcomed into the world.

But, what really surprised Ymir was that, when the first elf emerged, crying loudly and sticky with fruit fluid, Sith'Alva was the first to touch the new elf, gently holding tiny hand with his own tiny hand.

Then, he cried.

In Sith'Alva's eyes, Ymir could see emotions of happiness, guilt, relief, and anticipation. Then, followed confusion.

Ymir understood that despite him imparting Sith'Alva the lost memories of his predecessor, his brain was still far too young to actually comprehend it. Yet, despite that, those emotions that came with the memories still influenced him greatly.

Sith'Alva didn't understand, so he questioned silently, flooded with emotions that were both his and not. What was this feeling called?

Fortunately for him, Ymir had the answer.

.

.

.

"I suppose that feeling is what you would refer to as Redemption."