Loki stepped onto the spiral staircase, letting it take him up towards Dumbledore's office while he hummed a random tune he remembered from long ago.
The journey up to the highest point in the tower was mostly silent until Loki arrived right outside the door to Dumbledore's office.
"It's alright Severus… we don't need to place him in protective custody… I'm sure the True God he dealt with made sure of his safety after the mission was finished."
"You don't know 'Him' like I do!" Snape hissed, "'He' is vengeful… remarkably so."
"I understand Severus, but I'm sure the True God of the Darkness pathway has already thought of it."
"But-"
KnockKnock
Loki knocked on the door politely since apparently none inside it had sensed him standing outside causing them to pause as Dumbledore spoke agedly, "Please come in, Loki."
Loki walked in unhesitatingly, he looked at Professor Snape and spoke quickly first, "I'm happy I didn't see you there Professor."
Snape ever the artist, held his head up in pride as he hmpfed before folding his hands along with his robes to look like a bat hanging the right side up as he brought them closer together to ward off the chill of the descending night.
Loki then turned towards Dumbledore and spoke softly, "You asked for my presence, Headmaster?"
Dumbledore's eyes glimmered as he looked at Loki before speaking equally softly, "Severus here was worried for you after your recent accomplishments… we only needed to be assured that nothing untoward would come of it, either towards you or your fellow students."
Loki nodded slowly before speaking, "You can sense it can't you Headmaster?"
"...sense? Sense what specifically?"
"The curse of misfortune on those who decide to attack me directly." Loki replied calmly.
Dumbledore was silent for a few seconds as he gazed at Snape for a few seconds before speaking up, "I can…"
"Well let's just say that it has already taken care of Voldemort even thinking of retaliating against me directly."
"And what about indirectly? What if 'He' chooses to attack the dunderheads you call friends?" Snape interjected.
Loki only shrugged casually to it as he explained, "Aren't we already inside the castle? Won't we be safe here? Or is that too much to ask Professor?"
Snape fell silent.
Indeed the students were safe inside the castle.
The risk of keeping the students here had never increased, after all, Harry Potter, the original target of Voldemort, already stayed inside it so the risk of safety to each student was already the same as before.
Dumbledore nodded, seemingly understanding Loki's reasoning in the same way as Snape before he spoke warmly while stroking his beard, "I need to speak about certain matters with Loki alone… so if you would please… Severus."
Snape looked at Dumbledore and then at Loki with a frown as Loki shrugged indicating he didn't know what Dumbledore was going to talk to him about before gathering his robes in a spin and leaving the headmaster's office.
It was only after the spinning staircase stopped moving once again to indicate that Snape had left that Dumbledore began speaking.
"Mr. Loki Black, it has come to my attention that these belong to you?"
Dumbledore said softly, holding a worm of time palmed in his hand.
Loki leaned in to examine the worm of time carefully before saying shamelessly, "I think it belongs to my lord."
Dumbledore who had been observing Loki carefully nodded, "I understand. Shall I deliver it to him myself or could I trouble you instead?"
Loki shrugged, "That's up to you." Loki didn't want Merlin who was currently inhabiting Dumbledore to think at all that Loki was worried about being affected in some way because Dumbledore possessed a Worm of Time that belonged to him.
Loki was already using the Grey Fog to appear like an ordinary Sequence 4 Demigod so he wanted Merlin to think he was an ignorant Sequence 4, one that didn't know much about the world to make Merlin think that he had the upper hand in whatever bargain he was about to propose.
And propose Merlin did.
"Since it might be ill-advised for me to hold on to your Lord's effigy I shall hand it over to you. In return, could you ask your lord to complete his end of the deal?"
Loki reached to take the worm of time that Dumbledore was holding but paused as if only just remembering something before he asked, "And what do I get in return?"
Dumbledore's brows lifted as he adjusted his glasses for a second before speaking softly, "Of course… why don't I give you a prophecy?"
"A prophecy?" Loki asked slightly puzzled since Dumbledore wasn't known for seeing prophecies, rather as a Sequence 1 Author he should've been known for being capable of making them.
So would Dumbledore make a new prophecy for Loki?
Using the Quill of Alzuhood to make it come true?
Dumbledore opened the drawer nearest to him on his desk before drawing out a special Quill from it.
Loki was half tempted to steal it but remained calm and collected since he could now feel distinctly that the quill was tied to the castle, meaning he would have to steal the castle to steal the quill.
And while Loki could actually steal something the size of the castle Loki didn't think he could directly steal the castle, yet. Especially since he couldn't even open a door inside it.
Why was that the case? Loki did not know, but he could feel it being so.
Dumbledore then unfurled the pages of fate that he could see before he began to scribble something on it in a handwriting that Loki couldn't quite read because of how terrible it was.
Even still, Loki learnt of its effects by reading the changes it brought about in his own fate.
'I will advance to Sequence 0 of the Error pathway within the next year!?'
'Ho…' Loki nearly mumbled out loud but controlled himself to still hold onto that persona of a new and naive Demigod of his pathway that was in awe of whatever Dumbledore was currently doing.
Finally after sheathing the quill back into its drawer, Dumbledore spoke wisely.
"I have prophesied that your Lord will return in the next year."
Loki nodded softly, showing an obliviously excited expression before grabbing the Worm of Time now placed on the desk between them and quickly bowing to Dumbledore and leaving the Headmaster's office.
Only on the way out of the office, Loki was genuinely excited by Dumbledore's prophecy.
What Dumbledore had written using the Quill Of Alzuhood was most definitely a reflection of his conversation with him in the Primordial Chaos's hold, however Loki had only been bluffing then about reviving soon.
After all, how would he know when he would revive fully when he didn't even know the location of the next Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic's location.
But now that the advancement had been turned into a certainty with the help of the Quill of Alzuhood, Loki was obviously going to advance to a Sequence 0 True God sooner than later.
After all, at this point if Loki wanted he could divine the location of the three Beyonder characteristics using he prophecy Dumbledore had made as a starting point and then quickly obtain them and advance to Sequence 0.
With that Loki returned to his favourite place in the entire castle.
The Room of Requirements.
Thankfully no one else was currently using it and hence Loki entered it quite seamlessly without having to use his secret entrance compartment into the place that he had constructed and left behind after studying its layout.
Almost as soon as Loki entered the place he was greeted by his ever lasting problem: the crystals that held the two remaining True Gods he had to free, Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff.
'Should I revive them now?'
'Would I even get anything worth it anymore after reviving them now that I've become a Sequence 2?'
'...but reviving them will put me on their radar once again and let me demand my rewards… otherwise they might hold onto the Fool Blasphemy Card that I need…'
'But can I hold onto reviving them until I get the card? Or can I do something better?'
'Can I revive them and ask for an even greater reward by mixing the two things together?'
'Let's see what Helga rewards me first with…'
Loki traced Helga's spirit body thread and found it connected as usual to a spot in gringotts so Loki flicked his wrist and stole the distance between the end and the beginning of the spirit body thread by deceiving its distance to perform a miraculous theft.
As soon as the other end of the spirit body thread became visible, Loki grabbed it mid air and examined it carefully.
'Is this Helga's wine goblet?' Loki wondered as he studied the Hufflepuff cup that had been turned into a Horcrux in his hands.
Without regard for the soul inside it, Loki stole it with a flick of his wrist, causing a ghastly scream to erupt from it as Voldemort's soul found itself dying slowly and being sealed away before Loki tossed the cup into Helga's basket.
Loki didn't hide himself this time.
He wished to show the Founders that he had returned.
Especially since he had unpaid debts to collect from one of them.
The golden basket into which he had placed the goblet shivered, trembling as a wisp of ethereal fragment flowed out from the crystal and examined it carefully.
The wisp paused in retreat for a second as if shocked and surprised at what it was seeing.
Almost immediately after that however, the wisp exploded in power as it completely engulfed the goblet, drowning it in a thick essence of spirituality that Loki found and felt blinding in power.
It radiated a light so bright Loki felt his eyes melt. But he persisted this time however by deceiving the bright light and making its target not himself but the worm of time in his hand.
Loki felt relief almost immediately as he found himself looking at a rather mystical scene.
Within the bright storm of light that was radiating outwards, something from the ceiling descended down onto the crystal, something ethereal, something human in shape and form, only without any details, or perhaps details changing so rapidly that Loki couldn't observe them soon enough.
It leaned close to the whatever was locked inside the crystal and gently knocked it with its fingers.
The glass of the crystal cracked in rhythmic clinks before it shattered to reveal the being trapped inside.
It was the Goddess of the two pathways, "Helga Hufflepuff…" Loki automatically mumbled but his eyes remained glued to the being that had descended from the castle itself.
The figure looked at him too even though it did not have any eyes or a mouth.
Loki looked at the figure and felt a rather strange sense of familiarity with it, one that he couldn't immediately place since he felt the limits of his memories there.
'Who is she?' Loki thought to himself, noting the obvious use of the word 'She'... but he still couldn't find it in himself to give the figure a name.
"Hogwarts?" Loki asked, but the figure had had its fill of looking at Loki since it descended back into the ceiling and vanished.
At the same time, the light show that was Helga had already vanished leaving behind something in her begging bowl.
Loki leaned over to examine the item and became shocked almost instantly.
The item in question was a crystalline pillar of light and shadow, housing swiftly swimming 12‑segmented Worms of Time around which everything nearby seemed frozen.
"Is this a Sequence 1 Worm of Time Beyonder Characteristic!!???" Loki nearly screamed out his lungs.
A note remained underneath it all but Loki didn't have the patience to even reach for it at the moment.
…
"...and Mr. Error saved the day by fighting with the Primordial Chaos and removing corruption from everyone!"
Hermione finished writing in her diary about her latest adventure and its conclusion.
This was her part in doing the acting required for her sequence as a scribe.
She was diligently making note of all things that happened in her life like a scribe would.
Almost as soon as Hermione finished making a note of the final ending in her diary, she felt her potion digest greatly with a clear indication.
However she didn't stop there.
Dipping the quill in an ink pot, Hermione continued.
"Loki reappeared recently…"
"I turned back to the older pages in my diary and he was mentioned in them once again…"
"The moment I regained memories related to him, I nearly felt my heart break. Had Loki done something too dangerous and then died for the sealed artifact keeping him a secret from the world to fail? Had I lost him like I had Daphne a while back? The world kept spinning as Daphne calmed me down and tried to keep me sane…"
"How could I forget that Mr. Error had proclaimed that Loki was a sacrificial vessel for 'His' resurrection in the Abyss?"
"How could I forget that 'He' had recovered Daphne and given her a new body in the Abyss?"
"I was worried that Loki was lost… that perhaps Mr. Error had hidden him from the world because his purpose as a resurrection vessel had been fulfilled?"
"Perhaps Loki had died in the process?"
"And Mr. Error only saw fit to release his memories back into the world as memoirs. So that the world would remember him without interfering in the process of 'Him' taking over him."
"Only at that fateful moment an owl flew into the empty classroom we were in to deliver us our daily Hogwarts Honest Mill newspapers, a little bit late now that I think about it but I hadn't realised then for Loki's memories had kept me up all night long. Haunting me, keeping me kneading my bed and hoping for any signs of his presence."
"I ignored my paper, for nothing could take my mind off Loki's disappearance and possible death, however Daphne ever the calm heiress searched it for something to possibly quell my rising fear in the sea of silence. Perhaps she sensed the changes it would display."
"And she did find something!!"
"Surprisingly Loki had reported on You-Know-Who's plan to kill Harry at the end of the school year!"
"And while that did surprise me a little, I wasn't quite taken by it since Harry usually faced some trouble at the end of the year as if routine."
"What took me by storm was that Loki had reported it! And that he had taken a video of the whole proclamation!"
"How did Loki do it?!" I asked Daphne but surprisingly the heiress too didn't seem to know about this, she was equally surprised.
"A way to remain unhidden from a Sequence 2 Angel? I don't think that's even possible with the help of a True God without the Angel figuring out that something is wrong, let alone normally." I remember Daphne explaining to me.
"And I nodded along."
"After all, you-know-who was able to hear the mention of his name! How could he not know that Loki was recording him!
And so my fear multiplied!
Had Loki perished in the process of filming you-know-who!?
I didn't know!
And since Daphne didn't have an answer to my question either we rushed to Professor McGonagall. Only Professor McGonagall seemed to have gone over to Hospital Wing to check on Harry which left us with nowhere to turn to but the Black Lake to calm ourselves.
At the Black Lake we met Hagrid who was equally worried about Loki and proposed that we write a letter to Madam Black to find out if he was alright or not since any letters to Loki himself might get lost or worse reveal his location if he was hiding.
I was just about to write that letter when Hagrid heard a Unicorn neigh in the pumpkin patch just outside his hut!
We all rushed out and found standing there, the person we all wished to see the most! None other than Loki!
My heart beat out of my chest as I gave him a warm hug. It had been too long since I'd met him and felt his hand on my bushy head. All I remember were his final words to me in the Abyss "You're getting late…"
And now I wanted to repeat those words to him, "You're late…"
But I held back.
It wasn't my place to scold Loki. That job belonged to Daphne.
I instead was supposed to take as much of an advantage I could out of the situation to make sure I got him to promise to never let the situation repeat, ever again.
And I got that promise!
However the Headmaster interrupted that reunion…"
With all that done, Hermione closed her diary and stuffed it into her book bag underneath all her other thick books because she felt her potion unmistakably fully digested!
She then set up a wall of spirituality around her four poster bed before performing a simple ritual.
"Mr. Error, I have digested the Sequence 6 Scribe potion fully, I wish to advance, will that be possible?"
…
Loki was about to reach for the Sequence 1 Characteristics but heard whispers in his ears almost immediately.
"Who's praying to me now?"
Sigh…
"The life of a god is truly devoted to his followers…"
Loki collected the Characteristic and the card and shifted right into the Sefirah Castle where he spread his spirituality over the pulsating crimson star and observed it deeply.
"Hermione? What's she praying to me about so soon? Is it about advancing to a Traveller?"
Loki heard the prayer after that and felt slightly surprised, "How has she digested the Sequence 6 potion so quickly? That's even faster than me…"
Either way, Loki was satisfied with Hermione's speed so he was about to give her the Sequence 5 Beyonder Characteristic and tell her the advancement ritual method from the Door pathway Card of Blasphemy however he stopped at the last second.
"No… I've given her too many freebies until this potion digestion… this time I need to extract a price."
Loki crafted a simple response and touched the crimson star.
Hermione's vision was flooded with crimson as she saw Mr. Error appear before her, he was calm and collected and surprisingly had gone back to his habit of wrapping his fingers around the table before speaking.
"I'm aware. But you do not have enough credit points to advance. You haven't given me enough believers."
Hermione's expression of near joy was blocked by an unexpected obstacle and fell as she realised she truly hadn't worked in that regard.
She had indeed set up the DADA club, but she had never called for any meetings in that regard.
"A month and a half has passed since you handed me that contract, what became of it?" Mr. Error asked softly.
Hermione nodded quickly and spoke up, "I'll work on it immediately Mr. Error."
Loki nodded and ended the connection after that, leaving a slightly restless Hermione and a calmer Loki on both ends.
'Feels slightly immoral to extract a price from friends… I should do something for her in real life.'
With Hermione's business done, Loki looked down at the Sequence 1 Worm of Time Beyonder Characteristic with glee and a hint of madness. It took him a while to extricate himself from it before looking at the card that had come along with it.
With this even if Loki didn't want it, the convergence of Beyonder Characteristics would bring him to the other two Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics rather easily since Dumbledore's prophecy was set in stone.
"I'd promised to guide you to the next Beyonder Characteristic. This is your reward.
P.S. Only you can read this, don't be too harsh on Rowena when you finally judge her, she was doing her best to keep us all safe."
"....huh?"
…
Rowena bit her nails as she looked at the other three friends that had gathered around her.
"The Chaos Sea has returned, however it is still protected by that barrier 'He' set up, preventing anyone from entering it. That means the Hanged Man is still inside it. Which means 'His' advancement ritual to Sequence 0 is still in place! And if he becomes a Sequence 0, he is bound to become a Great Old One with all the items in the Ministry!"
"And… not to forget, the Primordial Chaos's corruption has receded, meaning that the Primordial Chaos was either killed or coerced in some way. Either way, it doesn't seem like 'She' will be able to break the barrier using the Primordial Chaos anytime soon." Helga reminded, now in her proper form and not an ethereal ghostly figure.
Rowena nodded softly and then sighed audibly.
"Do you think he'll act against me once he returns? Because we acted against 'Him' when 'His' follower said he could travel back in time?"
"Hey! Don't group us all into it. Me and Helga only saved him from all of everyone's advances, we didn't hurt the boy!" Salazar reminded prompting everyone to fall into silence until Salazar spoke softly again, "Just now when Helga was freed, I dropped him a little gift. It might be enough to bribe 'Him', but I don't really know."
"Bribe? What did you bribe 'Him' with?" Rowena asked, puzzled since Mr. Error wasn't known to take bribes when he acted against his wrongdoers.
Salazar remained quiet for a few more seconds before explaining, "I gave him one of the three Sequence 1 Worm of Time Beyonder Characteristics."
A different silence gripped the table, one of slight fear and worry.
"You helped 'Him' grow stronger?" Rowena mumbled but Salazar only shook his head.
"'He could've divined that location rather easily now since Merlin prophesied that 'He' would advance to Sequence 0 True God status in under a year. I learnt of it the second Merlin tried to conceal it."
Rowena gasped audibly.
"Under a year…? That fast??"
Silence reigned around the table once again before Salazar asked Rowena a question few would've dared, "Do you have any outstanding debts with his follower? Perhaps if you could appease his follower, maybe he could put in a good word for you?"
Rowena's face scrunched up.
She pondered for a while before she whispered, "I think I still need to give him the fool card of blasphemy but what if I also give him the moon card of blasphemy."
"The Moon card?" Salazar asked equally bewildered this time.
"Why are you so surprised?" Helga asked.
"You haven't told them!?" Salazar asked with wide eyed surprise.
Rowena only frowned slightly before mumbling, "I didn't think it was important enough… it's just that… I hid the Uniqueness of the Moon pathway in the Moon card of Blasphemy and handed it over to Salazar…"
"Hmm..? Then why don't you just break it out and hand over the card without it?" Godric asked, folding his arms.
Rowena shook her head.
"The card cannot exist without the Uniqueness. It will break if it does. I didn't want to look at the moon to divine the pathway formulae and rituals, so I used the Uniqueness, but this inexplicably linked the two at the time of creation, call it fate or whatever but the two are now fused and one cannot exist without the other."
Everyone became dumbfounded at the reasonable explanation and couldn't offer any more advice, which led to Rowena asking them all softly, "You sure he'll calm down with the Moon Card…? He will, right? After all, it's a uniqueness?"
"...."
…
Loki looked at the card in his hand and suddenly frowned.
"Is Salazar talking about how they all acted against me when I was about to 'travel back in time'?"
"Well… it wasn't everyone… Salazar and Helga mostly protected me… but Rowena and Godric acted against me almost immediately… shouldn't they give me something in return then?!"
"And what did Helga even give me? She gave me nothing after I resurrected her, it was all Salazar, where's her gift for me!? I forgot then because Salazar's gift was so expensive, but still shouldn't Helga have at least given me a drop of her blood?"
"I'll make sure I'll let them off whatever hook it is that I'm letting them off only after fleecing them of all they've got."
"Rowena must give me the fool card of blasphemy and something else alongside it of equal value. Helga must give me something as precious as a Flaring Sun Charm that is on True God level. And Godric must give me compensation equal to Rowena…"
With all the punishments set and done. Loki decided it was time to free Dumbledore or Merlin from his corruption.
So Loki acted swiftly.
He traced his fate and studied how it was intertwined with Dumbledore before swiftly performing a theft and stealing the man's corruption.
The corruption appeared in his hands as a ball of pulsating but slightly damaged worm of time shaped spirit that Loki looked at with interest.
'So he did try to get rid of the corruption on his own… but gave up when he realised it was mixed in with a Sefirot's… well good thing I mixed it in otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get a prophecy that allowed me to advance to Sequence 0 in a year.'
'Now should I just divine the location of the other Sequence 1 Worms of Time Beyonder Characteristic with the help of the Prophecy?'
'Or can I just ask everyone else to pay me with the Beyonder Characteristics as compensation like Salazar? To reduce my work load? After all Salazar was the one to set the price so high for the compensation wasn't he? So I'm sure the others won't mind showing equal sincerity.'
With all that done, Loki finally turned to the locket around his neck.
He hadn't opened it yet for the fear of having lost his sister, however he knew he had to face it eventually.
So he gripped the locket firmly before slowly opening it and looking at the little figure that was on the other side.
"....Elane…?" Loki mumbled.
Two big eyes opened up softly on the other side before soft but sweet words flowed out.
"...Big Brother?"
…