"Elane…" Loki said in a heartfelt tone even though he couldn't help but notice how deep her eyes had become. It was as if the depth of an ocean resided in their gaze.
"Big brother!!" Elane squealed with joy, her voice comforting to hear and soothing for Loki as he posed his first question to her.
"So… you're the Moon Goddess?"
Elane quickly shook her head.
"Elane is only a remnant will that was reborn… Elane doesn't even have her past memories…"
"All Elane knows is that she has control over the Moon…"
Loki sighed in relief, since that meant that their bond had never been a lie.
But then he asked her his second question, "Why did Elane never tell Big Brother that she could control the moon?"
Elane's gaze fell, filled with sadness and self blame as she looked at Loki with a gaze filled with betrayal.
"Elane is telling the truth! I am telling the truth! I didn't know that I could control the moon until I met that man!"
"That man?" Loki asked softly, confused and slightly bewildered.
"Severus Snape is his name! Elane is currently hiding in his teeth! He is a kind man that Aunty Cassandra asked to hide Elane for now!"
A flicker of something lit up in Loki as he realised, "Of course…."
Since Loki was only a sequence 4 at the time that he had made Elane her necklace so that they could always stay connected, Snape's concealment over the connection worked flawlessly since he too was a Sequence 4!
So when he stored Elane away inside his spirit world storage for spirits the connection was broken and Loki could no longer see Elane in her mirror.
But now that he was a Sequence 2 Angel, he could automatically decrypt Elane's location even through the mirror without any problems and communicate with her!
"Are there any weird creatures there?" Loki asked Elane immediately out of worry but Elane only gave him a silly laugh.
"Hehe~ Yes! There is a dog with many many eyes! It is very fluffy and has a lot of teeth! It lets me ride on its back all the time and lets me give it cute little pets! It is a good doggy!" Elane's distraught eyes instantly turned light and upwards as she looked at Loki with obvious joy while petting the air as if the dog was right there by her side.
Loki remembered the dog that Snape had with him when Loki had tried stealing potion ingredients from him and nodded.
If it was that dog then Elane's preliminary safety shouldn't be a problem.
But then Elane instantly frowned and became mock angry with Loki.
"Awww~ what happened to my cute little sister? Who made her angwy?"
Elane humpfed and snorted out a name, "Big Brother Loki."
"Oh? How did big brother make little Elane angry?"
Elane finally looked at Loki and then spoke teary-eyed.
"Big brother does so many dangerous things… Elane cannot save him all the time!"
"Elane saved Big Brother!?" Loki asked surprised since he didn't remember Elane doing so.
"Yes!" Elane nodded righteously. "When Big Brother called all Gods Elane redirected the moon light in that dark and dangerous place and saved Big Brother from going mad!"
"Oh~" Loki suddenly remembered the point in time when Elane had done so in the abyss by redirecting the crimson light away from him and nodded sagely before whispering back to her, "Since Elane saved Big Brother, Big Brother will do any one thing that Elane asks. What does Elane want?"
Elane too was quick on the uptake, "Elane wants big brother to bring her the Uniqueness of the Moon Pathway! That way Elane can protect Big Brother better!"
"Aww~ Alright. Done. Big Brother will bring Elane her Uniqueness. Alright?"
"Humu."
"Ok then, tell Big Brother what else little Elane can do!"
"Hmm… Elane can summon scary creatures from the spirit world Elane can make potions Elane can cure Big Brother's Corruption Elane can do a lot more with Uniqueness in her hand!"
"Haha~ Alright, alright, you can already do so much, big brother will get you the Uniqueness too soon somehow, don't worry."
"Humu."
"If Elane is inside Professor Snape's teeth, Big Brother will meet Elane tomorrow, is that alright?"
"Okay! Elane wants to meet Big Brother too!"
"Haha good… good… this way Elane and Big Brother can become an unstoppable duo and break every rule there is to break at Hogwarts!"
"Elane can attend Hogwarts!? Snape is very stingy, he said Elane is not allowed to go outside!"
"Don't worry, I will ask Professor Snape to leave you alone for some time and then we can play together okay?"
"Okay~! Elane wants to meet Big Brother's friends too!"
"Hmm… Big Brother already met Elane's friends so it's right for Elane to meet Big Brother's friends."
"Humu! Then Elane can have even more friends!"
"Haha~ Sure, then does Elane want any other gift from Big Brother?"
"Hmm… Elane wants to see the big dragon at school~!"
"Sure… we'll see Norberta when you meet my friends! You can also see my Unicorn friends if we have time!"
"Coooll~~!!! Then I can tell my friends that I saw a big dragon at a magical school!!!!"
…
"Now that Voldemort is back… do I need Fudge anymore?"
"Hmm… not a very difficult question is it?"
"No more Fudge then… let him die peacefully in his sleep after losing control and being killed by the Unspeakables."
With that Dumbledore pulled out the Quill of Alzuhood and began to write in air.
"Becuase of losing support from his biggest supporter Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge suffered a heart break and lost control because of the pressure from Voldemort's return. The unspeakables had to unfortunately put him down."
In a place elsewhere, Fudge was holed up inside his room, worried and frightened as he paced around with great speed wondering what Dumbledore would do with him next now that it was out in the open that Voldemort had returned.
"Will he withdraw his hidden support from me?"
"...can I sacrifice something to regain his support?"
All of a sudden Fudge's body that was already under great stress suffered a terrible heart ache.
Fudge gasped wildly as he clenched his chest, collapsing to his right knee as he had a sudden and fatal stroke.
"Am I going to… die… here?!"
"No!"
"NO!"
"No! That can't… be the… case…"
"I must… live…"
Fudge struggled constantly, his gasps coming out in spurts as his heart stopped and started, flickering between life and death. His words started to be drowned by silence as they grew weaker and weaker, losing the effect of pained clawing at life that they had begun with.
Everything seemed to indicate that Fudge would meet his certain end tonight. In the comfort of his very home. However a gleam caught his eye at the last second and-
Fudge decided to struggle for a while longer, his nails clipping the floor as he gasped for his breath and crawled towards the final item that could save him from certain death. An item he had received from the cosmos as a gift on the certain day of his coronation.
It was a strange lamp.
Fudge attempted to grab the lamp, his hands trembling and his fingers grasping at straws as he dragged himself to it and slammed his hand over it to knock it off the display table and onto the floor.
It clattered with a clang as its cover went flying off however what was revealed inside surprised and shocked Fudge.
A mist of uncertain nature flowed out of the lamp that had lost its cover.
It hovered faintly over Fudge as he gasped out a prayer in pain and defeat.
"I… will do whatever… it takes to live… just let me… live!!!"
The mist then rushed into Fudge, entering through his orifices before consuming his very being by merging with it completely.
Fudge stood up calmly not long after, tidying up his suit that had gotten crumpled in the action, before walking up to the mirror and giving himself a wide warm smile.
Fudge held his hand out and looked at it for a second as he studied it carefully. Only seconds later his hand exploded into an uncertain fog that shifted unnaturally before it coalesced back into his fist.
His gasping voice vanished as he spoke fluently without any pauses.
"Yes, My Lord, it shall be done."
Suddenly however there was a knock on the door that caused Fudge to frown in distaste.
He looked at the door and redid his smile on his face before walking up to it and opening the door slowly.
"Yes?" Fudge asked the man on the other side who looked bewildered to see Fudge completely fine and alive while holding a crimson glowing stone that spooked him a little bit.
"Minister… we thought…."
"Thought?"
"...thought you died?"
"Died? What nonsense… I'm feeling perfectly fine… who is it that told you I died? They must be losing control and have gone mad! Have them thrown out immediately!"
"Yes Minister!"
The Unspeakable rushed back to the Ministry at great speed, forgoing the need for travel by directly apparating to a special box in the department where apparition was allowed by the miracle of their superior Madam Laura.
And so he ran back to Laura's office without delay.
KnockKnockKnock
Three desperate knocks later the door opened by itself to reveal a simple office space sitting in which was a beautiful woman.
"Yes?"
"Madam Laura! The Divination department was wrong! Again!"
"Wrong? How?" Laura asked, taking interest immediately.
"Minister Fudge is not dead yet! In fact he seems to be alive and well!"
Laura's eyes widened.
This had been an event she had been looking forward to for weeks already since Madam Bones had planned to compete and ascend to the throne of the British Wizarding Isles.
They had gotten an inkling to this divination as early as three weeks ago only for it to be further confirmed today morning.
She and the entire department had been prepared to collect his dead body that would've seemingly lost control after listening to the news about Voldemort's return revealed in the Hogwarts Honest Mill paper in the evening.
But her subordinate was saying he wasn't dead?
"Are you sure it was him? and not someone impersonating him?"
"Yes! Madam Laura, I was holding the divination correction item in my hand while I met the man himself! And it was glowing a deep shade of crimson during the time I met him! The divination turned out to be false!"
"Impossible!" Laura spoke up almost immediately.
There was only a single reason that the divination could've failed and that would be because of the involvement of a True God…
But Fudge had been vetted thoroughly. He didn't have connections with any true gods!
So how did he live?!
Was it truly because of some last minute intervention of a True God?
The subordinate in front of her didn't seem to be lying and instead seemed only sure of himself as he held out the gem that was glowing a deep crimson in colour.
She paused and spoke quietly, "You may return." before watching as her subordinate looked rather unsure of her decision before he nodded and saluted before turning around and leaving her office.
Laura then quickly pulled out a parchment and scribbled something onto it with a quill.
She called upon her messenger and sent away a message to her superior, Madam Bones.
If True Gods were really involved, then the matter was already far above her pay grade.
Now Madam Bones would be the one to handle it regardless of what it ended up as. Whether Fudge really had the backing of a True God or even why he had such a backing, it was up to Madam Bones to figure it out.
…
Still awake after the call with Elane, Loki pondered about how he would get the Uniqueness of the Moon pathway for her.
"Surely Salazar has it, doesn't he?"
"If he doesn't, I can just ask Rowena to get it for me right?"
"Yeah… those guys 'betrayed' me according to my plan… now they must repay me according to my plan too…"
After his mind was set on the matter, Loki dialed up the number of his closest parents after Walburga.
He created a new two way mirror like device that he used to connect with Elane and teleported its position to a destination only he remembered apart from its owners.
Miles away, Nicholas who was still recuperating in his workshop felt a soft shift in space in the wards he had designed.
"Huh? Something entered the house? Was it a meteorite?"
Nicholas immediately pulled up the house wards to check exactly where the ward had been tripped before realising that it tripped in the same room he was in!
He quickly looked around and spotted the harmless looking object placed in an inconspicuous spot in his workshop.
"Who sent me this? Through the spirit wor-"
Nicholas' words remained frozen on his tongue as he spotted the image on the other end of the mirror before he nearly screamed out his lungs!
"LOKI!!!!"
Not even seconds later Perenelle arrived in the room only to find an animatedly chatting Nicholas who she pushed aside to peer into the mirror he was talking to.
"LOKI!!!!!" Perenelle screamed as well but she was quick to complain, "You don't know how worried we were after we regained our memories! The last thing we remembered was leaving you behind in the Abyss! If we hadn't divined that you were safe already we would've rushed back in there!"
Loki blushed with embarrassment as he ducked lightly before speaking, "I was erm… busy?"
"Yeah. We read your expose!" Nicholas entered the frame once again. "Is it true?"
Loki nodded, "It is. Voldemort wanted to kill Harry Potter and then extract the widespread despair from the Wizarding world to advance to Sequence 1."
"But what about the Characteristics?" Perenelle asked calmly since she knew well that a Sequence 1 and a True God couldn't exist in the same pathway, at least usually.
Loki shrugged, "I didn't figure that out. But I might soon enough since I have a spy planted by his side."
"Spy!? Who?" Perenelle asked curious about the person who was risking their life for Loki, but since he couldn't say it was himself Loki came up with a different answer.
"It's an item I planted on one of his closest followers. As long as his follower thinks about him, I'll be informed of his thoughts."
Perenelle heaved a sigh of relief but Nicholas asked a question just to make sure there was no risk involved, "Are you sure he won't be able to trace the item back to you?"
Loki nearly smiled.
'Trace it back to me? The man is me myself! If he doesn't trace that back to me then I'd be stupid!'
In reality however, Loki shook his head, "Don't worry about all that Nick, Perenelle, I'm perfectly fine. All that's taken care of since I did it all with the help of the Darkness pathway True God."
Perenelle and Nicholas finally fully relaxed at that and changed the topic of conversation, "How are you doing then?"
…
In the deep darkness underneath the castle, Voldemort awoke to a soft whisper.
"Now that your plan has been exposed, what do you plan to do?"
Voldemort looked around for a second before realising that the whisper came from his own sea of subconscious which was in part corrupted by an outer deity, Mother Tree of Desire.
The corruption pulsed and growed before settling in place as it contained its spread before speaking once again.
"How are you going to advance now?"
Not an avatar wanting to kill himself so easily, Voldemort spoke quickly and reverentially with a deeply bowed head that nearly touched the floor.
"I shall act on it regardless. They know nothing about my plan apart from the fact that it has been laid out. I will deal with the one who leaked it soon enough and then I will know who it was that helped him achieve such a feat."
"It will likely be Salazar… killing him will be a difficult task for you right now, and will only be possible once you take on the mantle of the Father of Devils…"
"...but how will I get the Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic without killing him?"
"Don't worry about that. I will grant you a boon. So as long as you finish the ritual you will advance as usual to a Sequence 1 Angel, then you can challenge Farbauti and take his seat."
Voldemort nodded obediently before another question was thrown his way, "What happened to the preparations you made earlier?"
Confused for a second Voldemort soon realised that Mother Tree of Desire was talking about his burning human candles and his wailing skulls before coughing up a response in a hurry.
"I moved them to a different location in case Dumbledore figures out where I was keeping them previously."
"Hmm… understandable… but make sure it is present at the time of advancement. Otherwise the entire ritual will be for naught."
"Of course, I know to do something so basic." Voldemort agreed softly and remained bowed in his position for a few more seconds before he felt the presence that had existed right beside him vanish just as suddenly as it had arrived.
"...damn…where do I get those wailing skulls and burning human candles from once again? I already freed them after the main body asked me to free them…"
"... well not my problem… I'll just push the responsibility to the main body."
"He won't really mind right? After all, it was his order that caused me to free them up…"
"Damn this reincarnation and resurrection of overlords! It keeps messing up the work culture of us Avatars…"
…
It was early in the morning and Loki was currently inside the Room of Requirements having just finished talking to Nicholas and Perenelle.
His mind however was on the latest message he had received from his Voldemort Avatar.
"...so Mother Tree of Desire wants Voldemort to finish his advancement ritual before she blesses him with a boon?"
"I see… that makes sense that she would be able to do that temporarily until Voldemort regains Father of Devils status…"
"Either way, this should allow me to regain the Abyss for Farbauti too.. I could get him to fake loose to me before gaining the Abyss from Mother Tree of Desire and then handing it back over to Farbauti at a price…"
"But what price should I ask from Farbauti if that's the case?"
"...should I simply ask him for a favour? Or should I ask him to become a follower of Mr. Error?"
"Well… who knows what I'll need in the future, I'll just ask him for a favour and then leave it at that…"
"After all, I'm sure he'll be eager to fulfil his part of the deal with me on his own after that since no one wants to owe Mr. Error a favour."
"Hmm… that's nice and all, but my current biggest worry is the fact that I don't know how to finish my advancement ritual for my Sequence 1 Worm of Time."
"To plunge a city into temporal chaos for at least seven days…"
"Can I just make a mystical item from the Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics and use that to steal time from various people in the region?"
"That could be one way but that would be rather weak for an advancement ritual…"
"Or I could ask for the help of the Fate Goddess… and make her fix an area in a constant reboot so that an entire region is trapped in a fixed time for seven days?"
"After all, the Goddess of Fortune also owes me a wish because the past me chose to listen to her advice and wait for me to reach Original Creator level before reincarnating…"
"Is there something else I can do? Something where I don't have to depend on other Gods?"
"...if things got worse, I could wake up the Primordial Chaos and ask my past self to help me by placing everyone into a time loop couldn't I? That would just be me depending on my original body and not anyone else?"
"..."
"What about those time turners in the Ministry though!?"
"I could use them too, could I not?"
"I should contact Laura again…"
"Her husband probably freed himself when we last fought the outer gods in the Abyss. So I should be able to make do of the contract she promised me to. To be able to experiment with the time turners in the Unspeakables department."
"Good job past me!" Loki praised himself shamelessly.
"Alright then… time for Rowena to pay for her debts…" Loki collected himself inside the room of requirements before performing a simple ritual by decrypting the ritual steps necessary for contacting the Ravenclaw House Head.
"I"
"I pray for the power of knowledge."
"I pray for the power of progress."
"I pray for Goddess's loving grace."
"I pray for the Goddess to reveal herself to me so that she can compensate our shared Lord appropriately."
"Eye of the spider… a part that belongs to the great longing of knowledge, I pray for you to bestow your powers to my incantation."
"Tongue of the Sphinx, a part that belongs to the great longing of knowledge, I pray for you to bestow your powers to my incantation."
As Loki completed the incantation, burning the appropriate sacrificial pieces he found the candle representing 'Her' turning a deep shade of blue.
For a second it mesmerised Loki to the extent that he found himself enchanted enough to try and catch it, only breaking out of it when the candle light flickered.
A heavy presence filled Loki's being after that.
He dared not lift his head for the risk of angering the great bein-
"Huh? Why the hell do I care about that? I'm the blessed of Mr. Error. No other can hold a candle to him! And I woke up this damn lady who doesn't have an alarm clock myself damn it!"
As soon as Loki mumbled that the presence felt a little less burdening as Loki looked straight up at the lady dressed in a robe as blue as the ocean itself.
Loki's gaze scanned the face looking down on him with clear annoyance before he stood up and spoke in a demanding tone.
"'He' asks for your sincerity."
Rowena's brows visibly twitched at Loki's lack of courtesy but knowing that he was a fanatic who would bow only to Mr. Error she let it be, instead she handed Loki two cards directly.
Loki grabbed the two cards and studied them carefully.
One was the Fool card he was already promised while the other was the Moon card.
He looked back up at Rowena in confusion.
The meaning clear.
The hell was he supposed to do with the Moon card?
Was risking his life and Mr. Error's chance at resurrection only worth a single card of Blasphemy?
Fortunately for him, Rowena nudged him to open the Moon Card of Blasphemy.
And Loki was glad he did.
For as soon as he did, a miracle occurred.
A crimson orb as beautiful as the moon herself appeared in front of Loki.
'The Uniqueness!!!'
Loki nearly screamed out his mind but then calmed down and spoke with an equanimous stare.
"This was what the Lord already planned to obtain at the right time. Where's your sincerity?"
Loki stared right into Rowena's eyes as he said this since his past self had already planned to raise the Moon Goddess once again as his sister.
If that was the case then the Uniqueness that Rowena had was only gotten as a consequence of that plan, nothing more nothing less.
It was like returning a licked candy to a child after taking it from them and claiming that it was payment for causing emotional distress.
Rowena's brows twitched again.
She looked at the still frozen Godric's soul before looking at the Gryffindor sword in Dumbledore's office before finally looking at Loki with a frown and mumbling.
"So unfair…"
Only along with that she handed over a simple paper crane to Loki.
'Paper Crane?' Loki looked at it with some confusion before his eyes widened as he remembered.
'Will Auceptin!!!'
'The Goddess of Fortune!!!'
'This is a way to contact the Goddess of Fortune!!!'
A feat his past self had completely failed to achieve!
…