Prologue
There exist a secret society in the world that uses magic and had been living in secret among what they call muggles-people incapable of using magic- and try to maintain their lives hidden away from prying eyes.
Harriet Lily Potter was one of those people. A born witch whose parents sacrificed themselves to stop an evil wizard named Voldemort, she had learned about her gifts when she was eleven years old. Voldemort had tried to kill her when she was a baby, but his spell apparently bounced back on him, and he was banished. Harry ended with a scar on her forehead shaped like a lightning bolt and branded saviour of Britain.
Since then, she went to a school designed to teach her magic and made friends along the way. With the passage of time, she learned that Voldemort had not been dead but hiding, waiting for the moment to strike and kill the only person that stopped him last time.
Only after arduous battles and terrible dangers Harry ended up defeating him once and for all.
Now, five years later, Harry had decided to step away from her career as an auror -magical policemen- and gone back to her school, Hogwarts, to teach children all she knew.
Harry was a woman with jet black hair and vibrant green eyes, framed by a pair of glasses. Her current attire consisted of a red blouse and a pair of leather pants. Her wand, a wooden stick she used to cast her magic, was held inside a holster integrated in a belt she had around her thin waist.
That morning, the woman had gone to her superior's office to tell her the news. Harry had walked to the office of one Amelia Bones in the Department of Mysteries and once in front of the door with the name of her boss in it, knocked on it.
Knock! Knock!
"Enter!" A woman's voice coming from the other side signalled her permission and opened the door without delay.
Once inside, Harry looked around her to see the decorations filling the room. It was a small place, with a couple of bookshelves at the sides of the walls, a table and chair in front of her, where Amelia was currently sitting with a bunch of papers and a quill in hand.
The woman was a person in her fifties, with her greying hair pulled in a bun and dressed in a formal dress with a silver brooch with the coat of arms used to symbolize the aurors.
"Hello Amelia" Harry said.
"Ah, Harry! Come, come. Sit down please" The woman made a gesture to a chair in front of her "What brings you here?".
"I wanted to inform you first. I want to renounce" Harry responded while taking a seat.
Amelia looked at her in surprise
"Is that so? Mind telling me why?".
"I have decided to pursue a career as a teacher at Hogwarts. McGonagall accepted my letter when I told her last week".
"It's a shame you will no longer be with us. You have been one of my best assets" Amelia smiled at her with a little bit of sadness.
"It's okay. I'm sorry to say it in such a short notice" Harry shrugged.
Amelia tended a hand towards Harry. The woman shook her hand with her former boss.
"You will always be welcomed back in case you want to".
"Thanks. Take care of yourself Amelia".
Once said that, Harry opened the door and exited the room. Outside, Harry marched towards her office, take her things, and go to the hall of Floo Network to return to her house to prepare for her trip back home.
XXX
In another world far away from the known universe, a creature directed his army against his enemies.
It was a small creature of green skin, a king of his people. His name was Skragrott. He was the size of a child but was old as a man in his nineties. He had a sharp pointed nose and was dressed in a bunch of rags of a black colour. Atop his head a crown rested, filled with mushrooms of red and purple colour. His chin had a sharp curved beak. In his hands he clenched a pair of staffs, one of them was a short sceptre with the skull of a human in the top and a bunch of spider legs all tied together. In the other hand, a long staff with a stylized crescent moon at the top and various fungi growing from the wooden pole. Hanging from various parts of his body were pieces of bone and other shamanistic totems.
He was a member of a race called Grots, a subset of what it was commonly called the Greenskins.
Skragrott observed atop a cliff a tide of bodies fighting in a war that had been going on since years ago. The Realm of Ghur was a place of terrible monsters and untamed plant life. The weather changed almost ten times each day which made long fights almost impossible to maintain. In this moment, the Realm of Hysh illuminated the battlefield with its light and the heat of a desert made the soldiers thirsty.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH!
The scream of green monstrosities rose above the clashing of weapons. The two armies fighting consisted of a kingdom of humans repelling an army made of swarms of spiders the size of horses, enormous muscular greenskins in crude armour swinging weapons more in line with meat cleavers called Orruks and Grots mounting the aforementioned arachnids.
In the distance, the city from where the humans had come was visible from his position. It was a fortress with walls of pure white stone, the buildings inside glowing a golden colour and with sky blue rooftops.
He grunted when one of his servants approached him, it was another member of the same species as him, wearing rags and with his body covered almost completely with more mushrooms.
"Waz iz it?".
"My apolozies My Loonkin'" The grot said while bowing" Goldy Umies ar' comin' from ze bac'".
Skragrott looked in the direction the grot was pointing and saw the Goldy Umies his servant had mentioned.
It was a set of armoured golden warriors, wielding hammers, swords, spears, and other weapons. Every time they swung them; bolts of lightning torched the various creatures forming the army Skragrott was directing. The magic the wielded was mighty but they were not the only ones capable of using spells.
Skragrott frowned. He began shaking the skull adorned sceptre making the bones rattle and the spider legs twitch. The Grot king spoke with a gravelly voice in a tongue no-one could understand.
"Turo'a civhy-a orw' Gorkamorka vai'ap!" The staff with the crescent moon atop it glowed a sickly pale green colour. The Grot servant retired hurriedly out of the way of the raising magic.
Skragrott pointed the tip of the staff towards the approaching golden warriors. A bolt of magic was ejected from it and fell to the ground like a terrible meteor.
Kraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccccckkkkkgggg~!
Once it hit the place where the warriors were marching, he observed how the corruption spread like a disease.
The horrified warriors watched themselves begin to grow fungi out of their skin, with the mushroom caps splitting off the cracks in their armour. Screams of pain filled the air but were drowned by the screams of some their enemies turning around to go and kill them.
"Aaaaaaaaaaargh~!" They yelled in pain.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggggh!" One orruk with an axe screamed at the top of its lungs.
The fray was violent and bloody. A man stabbed his spear in the belly of a grot riding a spider, an orruk cleaved in two a woman using a staff to cast magical flames that had charred the bodies of a couple of grots.
"Uuuurrrrgggh!" A man lost his arm when an orruk swung his sword.
"Waaaaarrrrrrrrgg-craaack!" Another orruk lost his head when a golden warrior swept his hammer sideways.
"Die greenskin scum!" A woman stabbed with her sword the guts of a grot.
"Zombody hel' me!" Another grot ran away from a couple of men using halberds.
"I'm gonna krump ya!" An orruk launched himself towards a running cart pulled by a couple of wingless gryphons. The pilot tried to dodge out of the way, but he couldn't do it in time. The passenger and the attacker tumbled to the ground.
Skragrott meanwhile, had started to cast more spells every time. Trying to control the flow of the battle was proving to be an arduous affair. The objective of assaulting the city had been almost lost since the start not so long ago. The destruction for its sake had overridden the reasoning of his troops. The goods the city mined had been his principal objective, a pocket of magical stones that supplied the neighbouring city-states and allowed for the forging of weapons to use against Chaos.
The battle had been raging for more than six hours when the Stormcast Eternals came to the aid of the city named Hammer-Ghur.
He had been so lost in thought that he didn't notice when one of his followers approached him.
"Masta'" He said, a grot with a giant mushroom that had its roots digging into his skull and had crazed red eyes "The Grea' Br'w is ready".
The crazy king of greenskins grunted and turned away from the fight. He directed his gaze towards an enormous cauldron that had been brewing behind him.
Skragrott went towards the boiling iron pot and looked at its contents. A liquid potion was being brewed in it, and the foul smell of rotting meat filled his nostrils. Inside the waters, a piece of glowing rock called loonstone was being used to power the magic it contained. Bubbles of noxious fumes burst their gases to the air.
The king of Grots had waited since that morning until the potion was ready to use it. He grabbed a vial from a pouch in his belt and took part of the potion. He nodded to himself and walked back to the edge of the cliff. Once there, he launched its contents to the air and began reciting an enchantment.
"Gorkamorka vcoa'je vba rowy pailu'wf!".
Nobody directed their attention to Skragrott when he recited the words. Now he only had to wait while his troops gained time for him. The effect of the potion would not be seen until nightfall.
XXX
The news of her resign spread faster than she realized. It had not been more than a couple of hours and people were already pestering her.
"It's true you have resigned from the Aurors?" A woman asked her.
""You're our best agent!" Another auror said to Harry.
"Harriet, don't go!" A man pleaded.
"Please, make way. I'm sorry. It's my decision, but I promise to tell all of you everything. Sorry!" She apologized.
At her tone, the people dispersed whispering to each other and spreading rumours about the reason of her departure. Harry tried to walk with back to the elevator to London's streets while dodging people and making her way. Then, a man suddenly appeared. He was wearing a pair of brown trousers and a shirt. A stripped tie hung from his neck and in his hands he had an open notebook and a feather quill.
"Harriet Potter, Michael Higgins from the Daily Prophet. Do you have anything to add to the news of your recent retirement?"
Harry was about to tell him to go with his questions the way he came from but someone else beat her to the punch.
"Get off her Higgins! Tell Rita and the rest of your bosses she will not tell you anything".
The voice belonged to a man in his early thirties. He was blonde, with a pair of brown eyes that looked at the reporter with contempt. He wore an auror uniform consisting of a jacket with a shirt and a pair of pants. He had his wand in a holster tied to his belt. He had a muscular
Michael looked at the new arrival and sighed in defeat. Once he was gone, the man smiled at Harry.
"Are you alright Harry? What a complete idiot".
"Thank you, Ivan".
"No problem. If you see anyone else pestering you just let me know".
Harry smiled at the man. Ivan looked at the woman lost in thought for a couple of seconds before talking once more.
"Hey, Harry. If you don't mind me asking. Would you like to have a date with me one of this days?" He asked her.
"Oh…! I'm flattered… it's just that…" Harry said surprised. She looked around her not knowing how to answer him.
"You don't need to answer me now. I'll wait. Give me a Floo call".
"No!" She said when Ivan was about to leave her. He stopped and she continued talking" I will love to…".
"Awesome!" He said with a grin "Tell me when and we will choose a day!".
Harry smiled at his enthusiasm. She shuffled with her feet waiting to see if he was going to say anything else.
"Then, I will leave you" He said "See you!".
Harry waved back at him and walked back towards the elevator. Once inside, she pulsed the button and waited while the machine moved.
XXX
It was a terrible night. The skirmish had stopped with the humans going back to their city and the forces of Skragrott going back to the caves in the forest they were using as their base.
The Loonking looked at the night sky and smiled with a mouth full of needle-like teeth. The Bad Moon, a planetoid with an evil face carved on its surface bathed the land with its sickly pale glow.
The phenomenon was not something that occurred naturally in this world. The potion with the loonstone inside had been used to call upon it. Skragrott was going to use its power to put an end to the conflict once and for all.
"Ah, Old Frien'! Ho' I misse'd ya'!" He pointed with a clawed finger at the city "Tha' place is mine! The Zhiny Umies ha' kille' me grots al' day! The stoopid umies deny me me prize! I neeed you to make the'm sic'! To rot 'em and kill 'em! Hel' me!".
Anyone sane would think the grot king was mad. Talking to a celestial object like it could answer him and hear his pleas. But he knew he was not mad. The Bad Moon had talked to him many times. And it did once more.
"It will be done" A voice only he could hear filled his ears. It could only be described as a torrent of madness, a tide of crazed destruction. It sounded like grinding stones. It evoked images of rot and violence, of giant fungi that feed on the corpses of the people fallen in battle.
He watched as the light of the moon changed shape and focused all of it in the city. The grot didn't had to wait long. In the streets and walls of the buildings a sudden growth of fungi cracked the stone and shattered the glass from the windows. The citizens burst from their homes clutching their heads and screaming in terror.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" "My eyes! My eyes!" "The moon! Somebody, please! The moon!" "Hyaaaaah!" "Itishereitishereitishereitishere-!".
"I kne' ya wouln' disapoin'! Tel' 'im wat the zoggin' plan wa' it woul' only make it harde'! Gordrakk can kiss me' ass!" Skragrott grinned with malice. He then turned to look at one of his soldiers" Tell the ladz we av' a chanze naw! Hurre!".
The grot nodded and went to ring the rusted bell used to march to battle.
GOOOOONNNNG! GOOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGG! GOOONNNGG!
The sound incited the army in an instant. Grots and Orruks woke from their naps. Giant spiders scuttled around them in a frenzy. The mushrooms on the ground released their spores into the air.
The army then marched like a stampede towards the city. The gates that made entrance into the city burst open when a pair of giant humanoids called Gargants knocked them down.
It was a night of slaughter.
XXX
The full moon greeted her home when she finished preparing for the next day. It was first day for a new year of school, and she had her luggage laying in front of her. Harry whipped the sweat from her brow with a contented sigh.
Harry had bought a house in a deserted island in the coast of Britain. After all these years of having to deal with her fame and the pestering reporters she had wanted to live away from everyone. Harry still visited her friends, but had reasoned with them about her plight. They had accepted her decision and had come to visit her a couple of times to catch up.
"Well, that's one thing down…" She went to her bathroom and began undressing herself. Once inside the shower, she opened the faucet and closed her eyes. The water fell and she began showering herself. Harry cleaned her body fully and once done, exited the bathroom dressed in a bathrobe.
She put on her pyjamas and fell into her bed. Harry looked at her window and saw the beautiful night-sky.
Harry closed her eyes and after entering the sheets went to sleep with a satisfied smile on her face.
XXX
Magic is a curious thing. What Harry and Skragrott didn't know about that night would make their future change in ways they could not have predicted.
Aligning the moons of the two worlds would have been an impossible occurrence were it not because a couple of factors.
In the city of Hammer-Ghur existed a building dedicated to the research of magical artifacts. It was there where an object created by duardin forgers had been resting. It had been created to open rifts between Realms and had been a secret prototype developed during more than thirty years. When the rays of moonlight were directed at it, a gem the size of a fist made of the crystalloid substance known as Celestium generated the energy needed to open a portal to any realm marked by rotating the axis of a disc located in a panel in the floor.
The Loonking had been walking in front of the collapsed building when a ray of the Bad Moon injected its sickly light into the aforementioned artefact's lens.
To say the chain reaction was explosive would be an understatement. The broken artefact had absorbed the energy of the magical moon and accumulated it until the crystal burst. A sudden blinding golden light burned the eyes of anyone that looked at that moment.
"A GATE HAS BEEN OPENED" The voice of the Bad Moon filled his ears the instant the rift in space-time tore a wound in the Realm.
"Wha-?!" Skragrott could only pronounce the first word before the gate opened and swallowed him whole.
BRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMM!
The breach in reality shucked the air like a vacuum and all sound stopped for a fraction of a second. It dragged people around and made them tumble to the ground. An orruk was launched in the air and stabbed by a bar of iron. A woman was crushed when a piece of a building fell in top of her.
As quickly as it had been opened, the doorway to another world closed without anyone knowing it. Charred stone was the only indication something had manifested there.
Confusion spread through the troops of grots. One of the giant spiders retired from the battlefield as if a fire had started. A couple of people rubbed their eyes trying to recover their sight.
"My Loonkin'!" A grot lamented. He had been beside Skragrott and had been dismayed when he had vanished.
The battle resumed not long afterwards. The Stormcast Eternals that had survived the spell casted hours ago began cleaning up the streets of orruks, spiders and grots. Frightened civilians ran seeking refuge inside the buildings.
The forces of Skragrott without their leader had turned to wild acts of violence. They would try to retain their position all night long.
While all this happened, the Bad Moon smiled with an evil green while its evil eye socket looked down upon the damned city.