World Anew
Prologue
"Ash and brimstone from the west, lives that had been lost return. Inside you beats life anew, both for you, and for the world."
- 21st Matron to Harry Potter, 1997
Their footsteps, the crackle of the torch and the rattle of his chains unnerved Hrvoje Brand as he walked down a dark stone corridor towards his unavoidable punishment.
His actions have caught up to him, and someone had the strength to put him to justice. Brand had terrorized his family for decades, torturing his son to a point that he ran away and turned his own daughter into a subservient puppet that somehow endured his wrath all this time. Did he regret it? A bit, but Brand is not the one to regret his actions, no matter how cruel they might be.
Of course, the Jagged King was determined to be the karmic enforcer and give what's coming to him.
Brand looked behind him and caught only a glimpse of the giant black juggernaut holding the torch before he was pushed forward by the other one. Soon they stepped into a chamber with a tall ceiling. In the middle opened up a vast gaping hole with no visible end. Brand's shadow cast a disfigured shape across the uneven ceiling as the torchlight behind him whipped back and forth from the wind coursing out of the hole.
Sharp pain hit the back of his knee and forced him to fall to the ground. Stone shards ripped through his pant legs and dug deep into his flesh. He didn't let out anything except a loud grunt. From behind came a clinically cold voice. "There's been a change of plans."
The following pain was unlike any other. Something cold went through his back and stopped halfway out of his chest. Brand looked down and saw a jagged blade coated with his blood glint in the darkness. Even now his vision darkened and loss of consciousness was just a step away. Then a blow from the inside fragmented his very consciousness into a million pieces.
When those fragments reassembled into Hrvoje Brand, Hrvoje Brand no longer was within his own body.
Expelling the mud and soil from his mouth for the fiftieth time, Havoc lifted himself up to stand in the middle of a crater caused by a grenade depot detonation. Just like the last forty-ninth time, two Pristi soldiers in mud-covered black armour slid into the crater. "You alright?" one asked, pointing his rifle into the sky.
Havoc looked up into the sky and took everything in. Night and day seemed to fight for dominance, eerie silence and ear-wrenching noises were everywhere. "I'm fine." was all Havoc said. He has grown tired explaining himself.
"Take care of the wounded, I'm going forward." Havoc said, trying to brush of the mud and dust to no avail. The gray-green armour was now unrecognizable with chunks of mud sticking everywhere. He lightly jumped and let his will carry him out of the deep crater just in time to come face-to-face with a metal shard of rock and ore. He batted it away like a fly. The first time it killed him, but not the second time and not the other forty-eight times. Not this time, either.
Before him was a row of destroyed buildings, the street behind them visible through the large holes. Pristi soldiers fought with rifle and sword alongside minions against hulking automatons of rock. Even wizards and witches were involved, Apparating everywhere they could, dodging those same lances of rock while peppering their enemies with spells a little short of the Avada Kedavra curse.
To think London would suffer this much damage.
A flash of light came from the side, literally eradicating one entire block. The flash came from behind Havoc, so he didn't have to worry about it. What he needed to worry about was going farther than before.
Like he always did, he took the route the light opened up through the city. The majority of the battle was happening outside London, but steadily moved towards the outskirts. The armour, fueled by his will and energy, carried Havoc at immense speeds. Havoc made sure to swing his heavy sword or pop a spell when he passed by an enemy or an ally in need. The situation was still rather stable here, so Havoc trusted his troops to handle the first wave with ease.
The beam had cut through several blocks and out into country, ending at a small scorched hillock. Havoc stopped and saw annihilation taking place all over the countryside. Clouds of smoke rose everywhere, and then swept aside by more powerful explosions. But a powerful light overpowered everything else. It was small, like the Northern Star in the night sky. Havoc had to get there.
Severus was torn.
He was torn between action and inaction. To do something about Potter's plans, or do nothing and watch it come to fruition. War was inevitable with Potter spearheading the attack against his kind's enemies: the wizardkind. The world as he knew it would descend into chaos barely months after the last war. The world is not prepared for the rise of the Pristi, and most likely never will be.
Severus had recanted his time with the Dark Lord many years ago. He was not the same man he used to be. Somewhere along the line of being a double-agent had created a sense of duty towards the world, no matter how insufferable it might be. Sitting on his arse and doing nothing while the son of his greatest nemesis was brought about the rebirth of the Pristi Empire didn't sit well with him.
But he found the plan so foolish and so naive, that it was impossible to not see the good in it. The same old heroism of the Gryffindor was abundant no matter how one looked at it. Severus was not keen on becoming one of them despite the power. In fact, how did one control such a powerful species? Was an organized government even possible with such beings?
And yet again Snape found himself at a stalemate. He had no right to stand against a race that has been driven to near extinction by his own kind. That would mean. however, that he will stand on the sidelines and let people get hurt when he could help them.
Severus made a noise of exasperation and put down the Potions Monthly he tried to read onto the armrest of his armchair and stared at the empty fireplace before him.
How could he so quickly forget Minerva's death? Caused by Potter with nary a blink from him. Potter had proven he was more than Severus had thought he was by saving Lucius and Draco. Or maybe he saved them both to assure their loyalty to simply have them as pawns? Severus dragged a hand across his face. He didn't know what to think of Potter anymore.
He picked up the magazine beside him. Severus needed a distraction.
Speaking of distractions, Snape felt a shift in his home. It was almost imperceptible. Severus was capable of feeling it thanks to his tenure as a double-agent as being able to feel the situation to the tiniest detail had kept him alive. Someone has snuck into his home.
World Anew has begun! I am giddy with excitement as to how much I can, will and must put on paper (digital paper, though). It will be grand a journey, and I hope everyone who has stuck with me long enough to read World Anew will explore this world with me!