59 Kultur
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
Just a warning. Some chapters might be of a lower quality, the reason being that I'm hella depressed, and sleep deprived. Most of the time.
I'm trying to be a good author, but sometimes my brain just no work.
I know what I want to write, but words just refuse to come. I literally spent half an hour trying to remember the word "analyse"
Thank you for understanding. Now, read on!
---
I sit there, staring at the patch of burnt ground with a terrified look on my face. The reason for the terror was the battle I had just witnessed happening between the High Mage Tatiana, and her predecessor, Herpo. Both of whom had died in the battle.
Or so I'm trying to portray for the spectators.
Tatiana was peacefully sleeping in my house, recovering from her injuries and almost dying to the Inferi curse.
I had just recounted the tale I had cooked up for the Priests, who were now busy looking for any signs of Herpo's presence with the waves of their hands, and taps of their staffs through methods currently unknown to me.
I've already planned on raiding the Temple of Osiris, and probably all the other temples for their knowledge too. Hmm, maybe I should just recreate the Room of Knowledge in my own way, with a lot of buildings under the area?
I'll figure it out soon enough.
Apparently, Herpo turned himself immortal by creating an object, that the Priests themselves identified as a Horcrux as soon as they actually got here, that anchored him to life. His spirit survived his death, and possessed a Priest of Osiris by the name of Imhotep for who knows how long, before he modified the Staff with the addition of his father's skull.
He then hired some people to try and burn the Magical Library, and when they failed, he killed them, sucking the years out of their bodies to further extend his life. I was the sole witness to his discription by the would be arsonists, and hence, I was brought in by the Royal Mages to help track Herpo down.
The Royal Mages fought him, and all of them died, with Tatiana killing him, and destroying the Horcrux with the Cursed Flames of Hades. Unfortunately, she lost her life to the Inferi curse she was previously hit by, and the Cursed Flames just sped it up for her. The flames then dissipated on their own, despite the many other targets spread around.
Between my tale, the Pharoah had come atop his Elephant chariot, curious about the battles going on all around Alexandria, and the absence of his Royal Mages to protect him. He had brought his Medjai with him, and ordered me to repeat the tale.
And now, 30 minutes after I had taken Tatiana to my home, I was finally done with the tale. I was just a scholar, a man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, with just some modicum of talent in the Magical Arts which barely helped him survive.
The Pharoah, Ptolemy XII, after hearing the tale, and asking for some confirmations from the Priests orders, "Medjai, go to the Palace, and gather all the books from the Royal Mage Library, and burn those books! If one High Mage can become immortal using the knowledge in them, and plot to overthrow us, then some other Mage might do it too. No, the knowledge is too dangerous to be left intact. From this moment onwards, the organization known as Royal Mages has been disbanded. The Magical Library is also ordered to inform us of any new student that approaches them before allowing them entrance into the Library. Dismissed."
Well, shit. I need to be quick if I want to save the knowledge from being burned.
But.. this is going to make things a bit bad for Wizards. The presence of Royal Mages gave the other Mages some degree of respect over the common man. Now, that respect will move towards distrust, and then.. discrimination.
As soon as the group is dismissed, I apparate away, before anyone can even say anything, and appear in Tatiana's room in the Palace. With a tap on top of my head, I become invisible, while my Sabertooth mutation together with my Ninja memories grant me a manner of silent footsteps.
A wave of my hands gathers all the books in Tatiana's small Library in front of me, and another wave conjures exact copies of those books in the shelf. Placing the originals in Nowhere, I summon some of Tatiana's belongings, clothes, swords, daggers, and jewellery and all, and place them in Nowhere too.
Then, I walk out the door, and towards the Royal Mage Library. Time to copy all the books here quickly, and place originals in Nowhere. These copies won't hold for long, barely a couple days. But the Medjai will burn them anyway, so it doesn't matter.
As soon as I walk through the Library doors, guided by memories I'd stolen from Tatiana during our.. second meeting, I stop feeling something missing.
There was nothing to indicate this Library was protected by anything more than the door. It was just a large room, filled with Magical lights, shelves lining the floor and walls, and a chandelier hanging overhead. But there were no Magical Protection spells, no Wards, and not even a fucking Librarian.
I knew, thanks to Tatiana's memories that there was actually no Librarian, so that did not surprise me. But her memories were clear in the Wards that protected the Library. No one other than the Royal Mages, the guards of the Palace and the Pharoah himself could enter the Library door. And of them, only the Royal Mages, the Pharoah, and one specific Servent of the Pharoah could take the books out.
But.. there was nothing of the sort here.
Huh, it seems when the Pharoah disbanded the Royal Mages something happened. Despite being a muggle, the simple proclamation from a Pharoah was enough to break the Wards around the Library.
Well, good enough for me. I got myself 2000 new books and scrolls!
And boy, the Necromancy section here is filled with books that even the Library of Alexandria doesn't have!
Rituals to raise the dead completely, rituals to gain the Magical strength from another, spells to break through walls and Protection spells, spells to stop those spells from working. There's a literal manual in here about Horcruxes, which makes me wonder why Tatiana didn't recognise the skull. Maybe she never read this book.
Oh? What's this? The possible locations of the Golden Book and the Black Book? Damn, no wonder they brought this book here and not in the Library for anyone to see. A hundred or so at a time, I copy the books, and replace the originals with their copies. All of the originals went to my Nowhere, to be moved to my Castle later.
My work done, I apparate again, around a minute before the Medjai get to the Library, and appear in my house. Tatiana was still asleep, which makes me smile a bit. Gods, I almost lost a wonderful friend in her.
Shaking my head I step back, into the Mirror Dimension gateway that forms behind me. Now in front of me, was someone that I was really hoping to find for a very long time. A House Elf, one belonging to Imhotep, that followed Herpo's orders after he took over Imhotep's body.
I had tried finding about House Elves before, in the Library, but the earliest text that mentioned them was from 700 years ago. And it just called the House Elves as a race of servents, or slaves, with no history of their background.
Nothing in the Library of Alexandria had anything on the history of House Elves, where they came from, how they were enslaved. Nothing.
And I hadn't even encountered any House Elves in Alexandria yet. This one was the first one.
Why enslave other beings when humans make such good work, check food for poisons without any magic, wave your fans, and can give you sexual pleasures?
Fucking Ptolemys.
Well, hopefully the newly stolen Library of the Royal Mages has something, or I'll have to keep raiding libraries until I find something.
Pointing my index finger at the Elf, I cast Rennervate at him. With a gasp, the Elf wakes up, and stares around warily. When it sees me, it widens its eyes, and takes a few steps back.
"Where is we?" The Elf asks, as I use telepathy to go inside his, and it is a he, head.
Well, good to know that even in Greek, Elves have horrible grammar skills. Damn, I miss Blinky now, she was such a good speaker.
I nod at him, and say, "My name is Athreos Aetos, Elf Kultur. This is your Prison for as long as I feel like it. But it can be changed, if you work for me, now that your master is dead."
I know from experience that Elves cannot escape from the Mirror Dimension. Not even when I called for Blinky did she escape, which is.. impressive, if a little worrying. She did come to my location, only inside the Mirror Dimension, and hence, she did not escape.
The Mirror Dimensions are a tough nut to crack, and almost impossible for anyone not an actual God to navigate.
"My Master can't be dead, he be immortal!" Kultur says, denying the statement.
I look at him, my Telepathy making me see that the Elf was just in denial. But still, this is too good an opportunity to let up. Just in case Herpo is actually alive, just in case he had another Horcrux out there.
I nod at him once again, and say, "That is a possibility, yes. How about we make a deal? I will let you out of here, this Prison that I have trapped you in. I will give you two weeks to go and find your Master. If you find him, feel free to stay with him, I don't care. But, if you fail to find him, if you fail to even find a sign that your Master is still alive, you will come back to me, and work for me, becoming my Elf. Is that acceptable?"
It takes a while to convince him, but well.. he didn't have any other choice. I'm still hoping to find a way to free the Elves from their slavery, but to do that, I'm going to have to break a few of my own rules, and a few morals.
Sighing, I knock Kultur out once more, and place my hand on his back. A single Runic circle is placed on his spine, allowing me to see through his eyes whenever I want, and track him whenever I need to. If he finds proofs of Herpo still being alive, I'll know it.
Bringing Kultur out into the real world, I wake him up and send him on his task, to find Herpo, and sit beside Tatiana, waiting for her to wake up.
I doubt Herpo is still alive, no one is paranoid enough to create Two Horcruxes when at most 100 people in Egypt even know about Horcruxes. The methods of their destruction also aren't widely known. The predecessor of Fiendfyre, the Cursed Flames of Hades, is the only true method known, since no other Venom has worked so far.
The Basilisk is far from being the one with the most powerful Venom, but its specific Venom is the one that destroys Horcruxes. Nundu Breath, which is just a bit weaker than Basilisk Venom in terms of Potency, does absolutely nothing to Horcruxes. Dragon Fire, which is almost as dangerous as Fiendfyre is also of no use.
And Basilisks weren't a thing until Herpo made them a thing through some Ritual or the other. I don't know how he created it, but I doubt just allowing a toad to sit on top of an egg will create Basilisks.
Well, I have the second Basilisk corpse anyway. So good for me!
Soon, Tatiana wakes up, and after putting some food in her, she begins my interrogation, thankfully by simple questions.
"So.. you're stronger than you like to show. Any reason for that?" Tatiana asks, while sipping the fermented goat's milk in her hands.
Nodding, I say, "I just don't like to bring attention to myself." At least, not anymore. "The last few times that I had more attention than I could handle.. didn't go well for me."
"What happened?" Tatiana asks, already feeling amused at whatever answer she expects.
Chuckling, I say, "I got captured by an enemy army.. twice, and most recently landed naked in the woods, my wand destroyed, thanks to an accident with a teleportation spell."
Tatiana smiles, understanding that its not something I'm too sensitive about. It happened, I got over it. Easy as that. I'm not someone to hold grudges.. much. Morfin Gaunt and Grindelwald were a different matter, obviously.
She asks, "Tell me, honestly. Are you Magically a better Mage than I?"
I pause, wondering how I can explain this. I shake my hand in a 'So-so' manner, and say, "I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve in addition to my Magic. If it came down to a fight to the Death, I will win. If we're just fighting using our Magic, just for fun.. well, the battle could go either way."
To be honest, Tatiana is probably just a bit weaker than Dumbledore, even when she's just a couple years younger than me. She's a Genius, a prodigy of the highest order. Just at the age of 14 she became the High Mage, after defeating 6 other more experienced Mages one by one, using her intelligence above all else.
Even my strength is more because of my Meta-knowledge, and my access to the Room of Knowledge than my own talents. I'm talented, but I don't have half the affinity to Magic that Tatiana does. As Rowena had helpfully pointed out, I lack Imagination.
But, the fact of the matter is that spells in this era lean more towards deadly and drawn out, than those in the future.
Egyptian curses, and even the Greek ones, are most definitely more dangerous than any Roman curse. But it cannot be denied that Magical research over all these centuries had made the slower Greek spells a bit.. obsolete.
Tatiana nods, accepting it. Drinking some more, she asks, "You said something.. you broke your Healer's oath? What can you tell me about that?"
I close my eyes, having come to a conclusion over what exactly caused the Oath to break. I say, "I.. found out that.. my father had raped my mother, a helpless squib. I tracked him down, and.. tortured him. Then I cut him with a Cursed Dagger, making sure that he dies a slow, painful death. I had wrongly believed my Oath would consider it just, since I was punishing a criminal.. obviously not. My Master punished me by barring me from ever practicing Healing on anyone without their permission. I need to tell them that I broke the oath, and ask them whether they would like to be healed by an Oath-breaker. Well.. you're the first Patient I encountered since then."
I could break the spell binding me to that Punishment, I'd found a way within a month of getting the punishment. It includes a small Ritual, and a whole lot of pain which I can most definitely handle.
But.. I kinda don't want to. My oath is broken, punishment given, and I know I deserve it. I also respect Master Potter.. and love Aunt Mia.. too much to go against her words like this.
Tatiana nods again, accepting the answer. She then asks, "There are still a lot of things you aren't telling me, right? You've left a lot of stuff out, keeping it vague."
I chuckle, not at all surprised that she caught that. I say, "Unfortunately, my dear, that is not something I wish to explain anytime soon. Maybe if we decide to marry, only then will I tell you everything."
Tatiana scoffs, and says, "I have no desire to marry yet, Athreos. I just got out of the Pharoah's hands, and killed my previous tormentor. I.. I want to live my life right now.. free from any responsibility."
Gods, do I get that! I completely understand this, getting a chance to live without any responsibilities is a dream of mine. One that is coming to fruition somewhat, in the past. Although, the threats are still there.. in the future, so I'm not completely relaxed.
Tatiana then asks, "The Skull.. on Herpo's staff, what can you tell me about it?"
I take a minute to explain Horcruxes to her, much to her horror, and say, "I encountered another Horcrux back in my home town. As soon as I'd seen the skull I could feel the Dark Magic of the Horcrux at work, I could feel the evilness it wanted to spread."
"It's an abomination!" Tatiana exclaims, horrified. Shaking her head, she says, "Zeus, what makes people even want to go through something like this! Tearing a piece of soul out?"
I nod, completely in understanding, and say, "Unfortunately, most of the people after Immortality are very much not sane."
We talk some more, with Tatiana asking me questions, and I answering her as well as I could, keeping Time Travel, or my Island out.
Finally, after a couple hours of just talking, I ask her, "So.. you're going to leave?"
I had gotten this from her manner of speaking. She wanted to get away from this place, get away from everyone.
Sighing, Tatiana keeps her glass down, the fermented milk finished, and turns to look out the window. It was enchanted to always look closed from the outside, so I wasn't worried.
In a very somber voice, she softly says, "The whole life I've been under someone's command. First my parents, then Herpo, and then the Pharoah. I.. I just want to live for myself for now. I want to live, not just survive!"
I get up from my chair, and immediately kneel in front of her. Holding her hands over her knees, I say, "Shh.. shh.. Tatiana.. I completely understand. I cannot even begin to guess what you've gone through in your life, but I know everyone needs some space for themselves, every once in a while. I would have offered to come with you.. but I doubt you want to be nagged by my constant presence so soon."
Tatiana is independent, and I'll just be an annoying add-on for her if we go together.
Snorting, Tatiana puts her hands on my cheeks, and says, "You wouldn't be too much of an annoyance. At least.. you'll be a pretty decent bed warmer whenever I get bored."
"Hey!" I exclaim, offended. "I'll be an amazing bed warmer!"
Getting a challenging look in her eyes, Tatiana says, "Oh, yeah? Why don't you prove it?"
Grinning, I pull my head up, and kiss at her smiling lips, as my hands begin working on her clothes.
Tatiana might be leaving right now, but nothing says we won't meet again. Besides, I'll be sure to give her a way to contact me, for whenever she needs me. Whether it is for bed warming services, or for my actual help, I'll be there at a moment's notice.
---
"I'm going to leave Misr today." I say, a few days after Tatiana had left on her journey of self discovery.
I had given her a few copies of the books I'd felt she might need, Wandcrafting and Staffcrafting amongst them, along with all her belongings. Of course, I gave her an entire set of her private Library, after copying it down for myself, all of it kept in an enchanted Pouch. She just had to think of the subject, and all books will be in her hands.
She was.. very appreciative of the parting gift.
Master Onuris looks up at me, and drily asks, "Don't tell me you were only here to copy my books?"
I chuckle, as I sit down in the chair in front of him. The Ctrl+C part of the Alchemical spell was done, and the Ctrl+V part was now going on, in my Castle Library, on Sanctuary. But, since the Alchemical Symbols were still here, carved, the spell will keep on working. Every new book added here will be copied and added to the list of books to be Pasted.
So.. within 10 years, I'll have a Magical Library of Alexandria of my own, with a lot of additions if I have my way.
As Master Onuris keeps staring at me, I say, "No, actually. I've been looking for some stuff, for the last two years." And Gods, it has been two years since I've been here, in the Past! "I won't find them if I stay in the Library."
The Sands of Time is the first and most important object I'm looking for. In the entire Library, there were very few books on Time, most of them postulates and hypotheses. Nothing in there is concrete, and there was not even a mention of something resembling the Sands of Time.
Second one, is obviously the core for my Staff, since I haven't found that yet. I'll have to travel a lot more for that. Third is the answer to my elf problem, and lastly, Magical Animals to populate my Sanctuary.
Currently, only around 30 Nundus, seventeen Unicorns, one pair of thunderbirds, and 8 dragon corpses populate the Sanctuary. And of those, I only brought the Nundus. The Thunderbirds obviously flew to Sanctuary, and I have no idea why the Thunderbirds came to the Sanctuary, or how they knew about it. I also have no idea how the Unicorns got there.
There's literally a thousand miles of ocean between Sanctuary and any other pieces of land.
Master Onuris nods, and asks, "What are they? Maybe I've heard of them."
Well.. couldn't hurt to ask.
"I wanted to learn the history of House Elves, but nothing exists here on them from beyond 700 years ago. And all the texts just say that House Elves are a race of Servents that feed on a Mage's Magic in exchange for work." I say, looking carefully for any signs of him knowing something.
Master Onuris just blinks, and muses, "Huh. I never realised this. Us Mages don't have any idea about how House Elves came to be, their history. We know everything about Goblins, Merpeople, Giants, or even Dwarves, but nothing about House Elves."
Giants, obviously, came from other Realms. They're like Demigods, except for the residents of Jotunheim and other.. giantly Realms. There isn't just one origin for the Giants, no. There's multiple, depending on the region, and Migration pattern.
Jotunheim is the most obvious, and so is Muspelheim for most of the European regions. But the Rakshasas of the Bharata regions, the Cyclopes in the Grecko-Roman regions, and a lot other races of Giants born in different Realms came to Earth and mated with either each other, or the Humans.
Don't ask how, I never did.
A few thousand years later, there exists just a single race of Giants, called Giants. Thank you, interbreeding.
As for Merpeople, they're the descendants of Wizarding people from Atlantis, that were banished after its sinking for one reason or another. You have no idea how relieved I was to learn that Merpeople were not created by men getting Horny with fishes!
Well, this reminds me to research Goblins and Dwarves later, when my own Library is complete. I haven't gotten the opportunity to do that yet, since I'd thought.. 'What's the hurry?'
I shake my head, and say, "Yeah, it bothered me a lot. The Greatest Library in the entire world and we know almost nothing about House Elves. Anyway, don't worry. I won't just.. disappear. Take this."
I place a small pebble on the table, covered with invisible Runes. For all intents and purposes, as far as the normal man goes, this pebble is a perfectly normal pebble, found in the coasts of Alexandria.
As Master Onuris begins observing the pebble, I say, "If you ever need my help, for any reason you feel necessary, or if you just want to talk, hold on to the pebble, and think my name. I will know it, and I will appear."
Master Onuris nods, smiling, and puts it around his neck, tied on a conjured string. He then asks, "You gave the former High Mage one too, hm?"
I smile, and just shake my head. Of course he knows Tatiana is still alive. It's probably my cheerful face that hinted it to him. None of the others knew that Tatiana and I are close.
Without answering, I turn my back to him, and walk towards the door. I say, "Goodbye, Master Onuris. And thank you.. for everything."
I've already cleared out my room here, replacing everything to as it was before. My house was sold, since I didn't need it anymore, and the silver I got? Well, some beggers might have gotten to eat a good lunch last night thanks to mysterious silver appearing in their bowls.
My Alexandria chapter was done, and now, I'll begin actively seeking my goals. Can't have too much of a vacation, I still need to go home.
---
A few days later, I once again return to Alexandria, the two weeks I'd given Kultur the Elf over. As expected, Kultur apparates into the place I'd told him off, looking a bit sad.
"You didn't find Herpo, did you?" I ask, as soon as he glances up at me.
Kultur shakes his head, slowly, looking a bit sad, and says, "Kultur be ready to work for you now, Master Athreos."
Once again, I feel nothing to indicate that there is a bond between Kultur and I. I hold out my hand, and say, "First things first, I need some of your blood Kultur. Don't ask why."
As much as I hate to do this, I need to be forceful with Kultur. He literally worked for a Dark Wizard, willingly, even after finding out that said Dark Wizard had taken over the body of his previous master.
So.. yeah, my sympathy was a bit on the shorter side when it comes to him. It might change in the future, but that's for then.
Mutely, Kulture offers his hand to me. Using an enchanted blade, I cut into his palm, and see the wound healing within a second. Since I don't have access to needles, or syringes, this dagger was my replacement for them.
The blade was enchanted to cut into any normal being, and suck the blood. As soon as the cut is done, it is healed back up, which means I don't even need to ask for permission every time to heal them. At the end of the Dagger's handle, was a small glass bulb, which is filled with the blood of my cutting victims.
And now, it was filled with Kultur's blood.. which was reddish brown?
What? Blinky's blood was definitely red, I've examined it magically when I was first looking for a way to free them.
I shake my head, and place the dagger back into Nowhere. Still holding on to Kultur's hand, I apparate us to the top of a mountain, on Sanctuary, and order, "First of all, you will not tell anyone about this place, or bring anyone here without my express order. Is that understood?"
As I ask that, I use my Telepathy to enter his mind, to see his honesty level. Kultur nods rapidly, and I see his subconscious mind accept that order as fact. Good, this way my enemies won't suddenly ambush me on Sanctuary.
Smiling, I say, "Glad you understand, Kultur. This place.. this entire Island, is mine."
Kultur looks around, eyes wide, and gulps. We were at the top of the tallest mountain on Sanctuary, which was around 5 km above the surface level, my spells making sure we don't feel the cold, or breathlessness. But even from here, we can barely make out the border of the Island in two directions. But, the fog and the curvature of the Earth, were also to blame for that.
The other two sides of the island were fairly close from the mountain.
When I came across this Island, I really hit the jackpot of the highest degree. 4700 sq km, a small mountain range, multiple rivers, ponds and lakes, cave system upon cave system, and now, thanks to the Wardstones that protect the Island, a new Leyline was forming right underneath the island, going from Maharashtra to Tanzania, with Sanctuary in the middle, and further more on both sides.
Kultur gulps once more, and asks, "Kultur will work.. here?"
Is that excitement I hear? Gods, this is training Blinky all over again.
Nodding, I say, "I have a house on the Island, you will stay there, but you won't work there. Your main task will be to maintain the Island. Make sure the animals have everything they need, the water sources are clean, and that no animal goes extinct."
Kultur nods, and just by looking at him, I can tell that he's actually excited to begin working on a place as big as this. Well, lets grant him more tasks, shall we.
"Your secondary task, will be to travel the world 5 days a month, find any Magical animal that you feel is threatened by the humans, Magical or otherwise, and bring them here. And lastly, if you come across any Free Elf, I want you to bring them to me." I say, and look down at Kultur.
Kultur, who had looked even more excited at the second order, now looked horrified at the third one. He asks, "But.. more elvsies? Why?! Is Kultur not enough?"
"To be perfectly honest, no. The Island is big, and duties are aplenty. I need someone to tend to the forests, someone that I can train in Magical Healing, someone that can take care of baby animals, someone that can take care of Greenhouses. As capable as you obviously are, overworking you will just be of a loss to me, Kultur. For now, I'll just take in as many Free Elves as I can get." I say, and create a portal to the ground, to my Castle.
I want to keep every Elf's purpose as separate, at least until I manage to cure them of their predicament. When that happens, well I'll offer them another Island as a home, hiding it away too. Until then, I should probably be strong enough to cast the Fidelius on Islands.
As we walk through the portal, Kultur says, "Kultur understands. Kultur will leave to carry out his job."
"Wait!" I say, before he can leave. Pointing inside the Castle compound, I say, "Let me first show you where you will stay."
As I walk through the doors, Kultur at my side, I smile, proud of my Castle that I built by my own hands.. and Magic. Made entirely of granite that I pulled from the Earth itself, the Castle that was connected to the mountain behind it was a beautiful piece of art. At least, for me.
There weren't any physical barriers, yet, and the Castle was fairly in the open if you discount the mountains that surround it on 2 sides, and the dense forest that covers everything else. Built above the Central Heartstone, one that contained the Basilisk Heart, the Wards on the Castle were all anchored to that Stone. Over time, this castle's Wards will be even better than those on Hogwarts.
As a matter of fact, so will the Wards around the Island.
It was surrounded on all sides by mountains, with just a couple of very narrow paths leading to it. Besides, there were two more mountains between the Castle, and the closest coastline. As I said, the Island is huge!
Once through the wooden gate, we appear in a hallway, decked with swords of every kind, bows and arrows, axes, and a lot of other melee weapons hanging on the walls. They will be enchanted to attack any intruders, together with the hidden weapons.
Just because something seems impenetrable, doesn't mean it is.
From the Hallway, the ground floor begins. The Ground floor of my castle consisted of my Potions Lab, Alchemy Lab, 5 greenhouses, a Kitchen, a bathroom, and a Ritual Chamber. Two of the Greenhouses were reserved for food purposes, but none of the five were active as of yet.
Another Hallway led to the mountain right behind the Castle, into a cave system. One of the caves in the cave system held the Heart Shaped herbs, buried in ground transmuted to become like that in the Wakandan Cave, surrounded by walls made of Wakandan Vibranium ore. Or well, they will be in 20-25 years, when my Alchemic Spell finishes its work.
You can't just transmute stone to a precious metal, least of all something like Vibranium, instantaneously, without help from a Sorcerers Stone. I can transmute Silver, sure, but only if the raw material I'm working with is steel, titanium, or a gemstone. Even while using a precious material, I cannot transmute Gold yet, or even Vibranium.
The other caves were my escape routes. An inconspicuous door led to the stairway, which went both up and down.
The second floor contained a few Bedrooms, just in case, fully furnished, my future Library, which by itself was three stories high, magically expanded, study rooms, and a couple toilets and bathrooms, separate of course.
The third floor was.. for sunbathing. The ceiling of the entire third floor was enchanted to look like the skies in Egypt, giving out a lot of sunlight and heat. I'll add in controls later, and different skies to choose from.
That's it.. for the top of the surface I mean.
Under the surface of the ground, were two floors of basements. One floor held a Practice room, with the walls that I'll slowly enchant until I can cast Fiendfyre in it without worrying about the outside. This room will also work as a training room, and experimentation room, once it's ready.
As for the second and final basement level.. that, was a dungeon. Prisons. I don't have anyone in my mind that I'd like to imprison, right now, but I'm sure I'll find someone. When I have more time, I'm going to enchant the Prisons to be completely isolated containment zones. Nothing goes in, nothing goes out, except for the Prisoners and food.
Right next to the Greenhouses on the ground floor was a door. The door led to a dorm like room, inspired by my College hostel.
Pointing the door to him, I say, "This door leads to the Elf Quarters. For now, you will be the sole member in there, so choose any room you like. Each room has 2 beds, and a bathroom. There's a single large kitchen in there, through a door marked Kitchen, and there's another bathroom marked Bathroom just in case your room one's busy. You won't be cooking for me, just yourself, so.. remember that. I prefer cooking for myself. Your duties are also to the Island, not me, so keep that in mind."
With wide eyes, Kultur stares at it all, having seen the first floor of my Castle during this short trip. I know what he's thinking even without using Telepathy. 'What kind of Master is this?'
Well, it is not Proper, I admit. But.. since when have I ever been Proper?
Leaving Kultur to get acquainted with the Elf dorms, I leave towards the Alchemy Lab. Time to find out why Kultur's blood is brown, while Blinky's is Red.
---
"Well, that was a bust." I mumble, as I fly over the European skies. I think I am above either Norway, or Sweden, but well.. what does it matter?
I'd thought that by looking at Kultur's blood closer will allow me to understand the secrets of his ancestry, but well.. it didn't happen. I don't have enough instinctive knowledge on genetics to understand it all.
I'm a genius in Mathematics, Fighting, and even Magic. What I am not, despite getting memories from multiple scientists, is a Genius in any branch of science, let alone Genetics. That's Essex's department, and I can't go through with the Ritual to get his memories ingrained into my mind for eight more months. And even then, there's no guarantee that it'll turn me into a Genetics Genius like Essex, or a perfect Ninja like Kurosawa, or a Mechanical Genius like Stark.
Despite having all their memories in my mind, I was not them. I was Mason Aves, I am Mason Aves. Hopefully, I'll at least get some major benefits from the Ritual.
So, while Kultur was busy working on the island, caring for the animals that I've rescued and keeping the Island clean, I am traveling the world, looking for Magical creatures, dead or alive.
And Europe was my first destination, because.. well I was born here, in this life at least. My Staff's wood came from Africa, where I landed in this Time period. So I thought.. why not try my homeland for the Core?
So, here I was.
Instead of beginning in England, I'd begun in Northern Europe, since Dragons were more populous in these Mountain ranges than in England. And well.. I've already been in four dragon caves, while they were asleep, and checked for a match with all of their hearts. None of them worked for me, unfortunately enough.
"SCREEEEEEEEEE!" A loud voice yells, making me wince and hold my hands over my ears. This causes me to almost miss the sounds hidden underneath the loud high pitched screech, sounds that were decidedly in a language I understand very well.
~~STOP! STOP ATTACKING ME DRUGIR! STOP THIS MADNESS!~~
Parseltongue.
The voice was distinctly.. draconic, a bit on the feminine side, and she was in pain.
I immediately stop mid air, and shoot towards the direction the sound came from, which was to the 10 o'clock of my flight path, and into the thick forest on the slopes of a mountain.
Thank God, my Telekinesis flight was at least improving, as were my forcefields. I wasn't going to stop spells anytime soon, but most physical and energy attacks were going to be a breeze. And yes, there is a difference between Energy attacks, and Magic spells.
As I reach the place, now able to see the beings clearly, I gape, more in surprise and awe, than in fear, although there was a bit of fear too. I was floating halfway on top of a mountain, next to a cave that had been formed on a terrace.
The atmosphere was cold, but there was no snow anywhere, despite me being in Northern Europe. The reason behind this.. were the two giant behemoths on the ground right in front of the cave.
There were two dragons fighting in front of me, both of them with a colour similar to Occamies, except scales instead of feathers, with six limbs in total. Two hind legs, two front legs, and two leathery wings. There were horns on top of the very snake like head, reminding me a bit of Sly. The neck was around 10 feet long by itself, around as long as the spikey tail. And there was a fucking bone tip at the end of the tail, which is definitely sharp and strong as fuck.
The legs were at the darker end of Blue, with claws as feet.
One dragon was bigger, at around 50 feet tall, and was standing in front of something, covering it with her large, leathery wings.
The second was a bit smaller, at 45 feet tall, and was shooting highly intense beams of orange-red flames at the first dragon.
The bigger dragon peeks its head from over the wings, and lets out a screech once again, and this time I hear, ~~DRUGIR, IF YOU HARM A SINGLE ONE OF MY CLUTCH, I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!~~
Huh, the bigger one's the female of the species. Not entirely uncommon in dragons, but not something I'd expected either. I don't recognise the dragon species, which means they've become extinct before my time.
Well, I'll move them to Sanctuary after I resolve whatever is happening here.
And it seems, that these Dragons do speak Parseltongue! But I doubt anyone that doesn't have a hearing such as mine would even recognise this fact. Huh, makes me wonder about the other dragons. I'll have to listen carefully the next time, maybe I can become a Dragon Speaker too!
Drugir, the smaller Dragon, the male of the species, was still shooting flames out of his mouth, while the female, name unknown, was protecting her clutch of eggs, apparently, with her body, and her wings.
Drugir stops shooting dragon fire, and suddenly, lunges at the female dragon. Fuck! The eggs! Whether the female dragon moves or not, the eggs will break during the fight. The female dragon, meanwhile, was not even thinking of moving, and had her four limbs digging into the ground, wings folded on her back, snarling at the male dragon.
Focusing on my Telekinetic flight without a second's thought, I shift into the form of a Kasha, and shoot towards this Drugir's chest, right before he can hit the female dragon. The dragon flies back, my momentum helping me in tackling him, and slams through a few trees.
I turn my heterochromatic eyes towards the female dragon at the back, and send reassurances through my telepathy. In her mind, I say, 'Take your clutch inside your Den, noble dragon! I will take care of this one.'
The female dragon, in turn, just snarls at me, flames huffing out of her nostrils. So, she didn't understand that.
I try once more, this time focusing on speaking in Parseltongue, and say, ~Take your clutch inside your Den, Noble Dragon! I shall take care of this one.~
This time, the female dragon blinks, and nods. She still doesn't trust me, but my telepathy must've helped her just believe me this once.
As she gathers her clutch in her wings, making me wonder why they were even out, I turn my head towards Drugir, who was just getting up.
He looks at me, already snarling, and lets acidic spittle out of his mouth. The spittle burns through the bushes, and trees only stopping at the ground. So, definitely no getting bit by the dragon.
But.. something was wrong. His eyes, there was no intelligence in them the way the female dragon had. There was just.. rage.
"GRROOOOWWWWLLLL!" The dragon growls, sending a burst of flames at me.
I don't dodge, since I am literally made of flames, and instead open my mouth. The flames that the dragon shot at me begins to get pulled towards my open mouth, getting condensed into a single orb of flames.
A miniature sun, so to speak.
When the dragon stops shooting, either believing me dead, or defeated, my eyes glow once, and the condensed ball of flames shoots towards the dragon. It slams into his chest before he even knows, sending him once more crashing further into the trees.
Unfortunately, I misjudged the strength of the attack, and the dragon goes over the terrace limits, and starts falling down on the ground.
The dragon is not sane, definitely not sane. If my guess is right, it is actually feral, rabid. But.. what could have caused something like this?
Well, time to fight the Dragon, try to cure him, and try to find it out.
---
A/N: The Staff creation is close, if you didn't guess it right. I'm pushing stuff forward, so there probably won't be anything without a reason in the next few chapters.
I have a few "plots" I want to see happen before Mason leaves for the future. But I'm also wondering if Mason would actually want to go to the future via Time Travel, instead of Wait for time to catch up.
Pros: He gets to be insanely strong in these 2000 years, he won't have to leave anyone behind, or force anyone to leave their Time behind. He also gets to claim a lot of stuff before anyone else can do so, but I've already done so in two of my other stories(Harry Potter-The Herald, and The Celestial God).
Cons: Being insanely strong in 1945, when he returns, means that he won't have any actual challenges in the future, or any growth during the future story. He will also have to let a lot of crimes against humanity happen, just like Slavery, as mentioned in this chapter, because he already knows it happened. I also don't want another uber-immortal character so soon after my Baldur and Theos failure.
So.. tips?
Thank you for your support! Tata!
