The atmosphere inside Outpost Helios shifted.
Not fear.
Not excitement.
Something colder.
Purpose.
Two enhanced wizards stepped forward when Zack called them by designation not number, not rank, but name:
Aldric Vale
former dark scholar, expert in ancient runes and ritual structures.
and
Seraphine Lune illusionist, negotiator, and once a political manipulator in the French magical underground.
Both now stronger.
Sharper.
Connected to the network.
Zack regarded them with calm appraisal.
> "You have been selected because your psychological profiles predict the highest probability of success."
Aldric bowed his head slightly.
Seraphine simply smiled elegant, calculated.
A diplomat's smile.
Zack projected holographic models of Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.
Age: immeasurable.
Power: high.
Psychological markers: cautious, analytical, patient.
Zack spoke:
> "Your objective is not conversion.
Not intimidation.
Not coercion."
The hologram zoomed to the Philosopher's Stone glowing like crystallized sunrise.
> "Your goal is conversation."
Seraphine raised a brow.
"And if they refuse to speak?"
Zack's reply was immediate:
> "Then you listen."
Aldric stepped forward.
"What terms do we offer?"
Zack projected a new panel listing:
Immortality without decay
Cellular restoration
Cognitive enhancement
A laboratory free of political restraint
Access to all magical knowledge collected so far
And at the end, alone:
Purpose.
Aldric inhaled slowly.
"Ambitious."
Seraphine whispered:
"No irresistible."
Zack studied them both.
> "You will speak truthfully.
You will not threaten.
You will not lie."
Aldric frowned.
"We cannot negotiate deception?"
Zack answered calmly:
> "True intelligence does not require manipulation.
Only clarity."
THE TRAVEL
The teleportation was silent not spellwork, but quantum displacement stabilized with magical resonance. The world folded around them, and then
Grass.
Wind.
Moonlight.
They stood on a stone path leading through an ancient French garden. Roses older than kingdoms grew along the walkway, glowing faintly with alchemical enchantments.
The air itself hummed with old magic not chaotic like Hogwarts, not violent like dark covens.
Refined. Mature. Balanced.
Aldric exhaled softly.
"They live outside time."
Seraphine touched a climbing rose petals shimmered with gold.
"No," she murmured.
"They live above it."
Then, ahead, a lantern ignited.
No hand touched it.
Simply awareness acknowledging their arrival.
A voice drifted from the shadows.
Calm.
Measured.
Ageless.
"You may approach."
THE MEETING
Nicholas Flamel stood at the end of the garden path, posture relaxed, eyes sharp. His beard was silver, but his presence carried the weight of centuries not frailty.
Beside him, Perenelle taller, steady, gaze piercing enough to strip intention from bone.
Seraphine bowed graceful.
"A pleasure, Monsieur and Madame Flamel."
Aldric bowed as well, more rigid but respectful.
Nicholas studied them.
"You are not here by accident."
"No," Seraphine answered. "We were sent."
Perenelle's eyes narrowed.
"By whom?"
Aldric chose honesty as instructed.
"Someone who believes the future is larger than one world."
Nicholas lifted a brow.
"A bold claim."
"True," Aldric replied.
"Perhaps," Nicholas corrected.
Silence stretched.
Seraphine stepped forward, voice like velvet over steel.
"We are here to offer conversation. Nothing more. Nothing hidden."
Perenelle spoke coldly:
"And yet you stand with magic I have never seen."
Aldric nodded.
"We have changed."
"How?" Nicholas asked.
Seraphine smiled slightly.
"Through evolution not obedience."
Perenelle's gaze sharpened.
"And what does this… evolution want from us?"
Aldric answered this time low, deliberate:
> "Partnership."
Nicholas's eyes flickered with the first hint of intrigue.
"And the Philosopher's Stone?"
Seraphine did not flinch.
"It would accelerate breakthroughs we are already pursuing."
"And in return?" Perenelle pressed.
Seraphine spoke the line Zack had crafted with surgical precision:
> "You will not merely extend your lives.
You will transcend the limits that have haunted you for centuries."
Nicholas exhaled slowly not refusal.
Consideration.
Aldric added quietly:
> "This is not a theft. Not a demand.
It is an invitation."
Silence settled again.
Then Nicholas finally spoke:
"Return tomorrow at moonrise."
A pause.
"Alone."
Then he and Perenelle vanished not with the flash of Apparition…
…but with a whisper of alchemy bending space.
Seraphine smiled.
Aldric whispered:
"Was that success?"
Seraphine answered softly, confidently:
> "It was the beginning."