Disclaimer Harry Potter and all its characters belong to J.K. Rowling
Chapter 13 – Sibling Send-off
Take a picture, any picture in the whole of reality and zoom in on just one small, absolutely minuscule section… can you still tell what the picture is? That was the Unborn, they made themselves small for Harry it was a blessing in all honesty because Harry knew that looking at all of them was painful… looking at too much of them before had quite literally made his brain grow teeth to eat itself with. While Harry was now devoid of organs, he didn't want to risk it all the same… a good example was actually when he first encountered the three in that temple on the rotting swamp world.
So, when he first saw them, they were too 'wide' for him to comprehend, but then they gave but a singular name and with it a fraction of understanding. Suddenly Harry was assaulted with more knowledge, images, sound, senses just outright information than he had ever been forced to absorb in a single moment. Now while this hurt, it hurt a lot, Harry had a very high pain threshold, so he was able to converse with them in their godlike forms… then they got wider again. They called it paying more attention to the conversation, Harry like to think of it as them looking at who they were talking to. Now, this once again was a lot, but it was still just names and titles with his brain looking at but a small portion of that one name and title. It didn't become too much until they arrived true and whole, their forms complete and their titles, their domains, the power of which they wielded and the divinity for lack of a better word that they bore.
This was too much for Harry hence the brain tumours with teeth and the other stuff too, but then again, the three of them showing up for real was too much for the planet he was on at the time, so Harry wasn't too bothered with being unable to handle their true presence. But that still wasn't the point, because in honesty that wasn't all of them… that was but one form, one name, one presence for three beings that had many, many more. So it was that when the Tzazulquizha and Lodium each disappeared from the strange realm of zero where they had given him the name Herald that Harry was quick to practice conversation with Obarhurr.
Obarhurr was all too happy to quote 'teach the precious little one such a quaint skill.' Harry wasn't exactly sure what made the ability to converse quaint, but Obarhurr seemed pretty knowledgeable, so he decided to take his word for it. Obarhurr was a really good teacher, they walked Harry through the steps of forging the concept of communication and projecting that with the words he wanted to use, rather than simply firing off concepts in the place of words. Harry was by no means perfect at it yet, but on the plus side there were a lot more concepts floating around the void… it almost looked like the night sky now and Harry liked it, the red sea of oblivion was ok to Harry supposed. But with the ability to converse, Harry found himself hungering for knowledge so he practically and literally in some cases bombarded Obarhurr with his many questions, hence why he was now aware of why the three unborn didn't show him their true forms again.
"So, what would happen if you showed me your form with all your names, like 100% you?" Harry enquired laying on the surface of the sea, his forms head cupped in his hands as Obarhurr kneeled their floating arms orbiting them lazily, their size still much larger than Harry as they still retained their presence from when they gifted him the name, Herald.
"Well, that is a very good question… on one side that's a lot of information so you simply might not perceive us at all, it would be like if you tried to look at a paper that had a whole bunch of words written on it, but all the words were really, really small… and white… Why was the paper on your world white?" Obarhurr pondered, still refusing to just take the memories straight from Harry's head, their excuse being something along the lines of 'happy to be distracted'.
"I don't know honestly, I should find out when I go back… what about the other side, you said on one side so what is the other side?" Harry enquired his attention captivated by the Unborn before him.
"Oh right, well it's not just a lot of information but a lot of power as well, so there is the distinct possibility that you would be simply vaporised in an instant… but you don't have mass anymore, hmm. Maybe you would survive it and see me for all that I am… that would be nice, it would be so fun to have another with who I can share my games." To Harry, Obarhurr sounded whimsical and somehow predatory at the same time, a strange combination but at this point, strange was normal and normal should rack off because it wasn't needed here.
"You like games?" Harry asked excitedly, he never really played games even though he was a child, so he was excited to hear some of the games that a god played.
"Oh yes! I love games, I play them all the time, truthfully, I and my siblings all have our favoured form of entertainment that presents itself in all our personas. For me it's games, I simply adore them, they are such fun and I always enjoy it extra when my siblings get involved. I'm very much looking forward to their next game of war," Obarhurr explained their form glowing with eager excitement, so much so that Harry found himself giggling from the feelings that Obarhurr was feeling. Obarhurr witnessing Harry's enjoyment leaned down cupping their floating hands around him and 'whispering', "My very favourite thing is to force the two of them into working together, it infuriates them, but I know for a fact that they enjoy playing together sometimes instead of against like they usually do."
Harry snickered at the gods sharing of their amusing 'secret' positive that Obarhurr was an absolute menace when he wanted to be. Harry was about to pose another question when a section of the red sea he was situated on began to ferociously bubble, an obvious sign that Lodium was back. The multilimbed shadow being with eight piercing white eyes exploded from the water launching Harry upwards who erupted with startled glee. Lodium caught him in quick order his colossal chitinous claws easily halting Harry's descent.
"Hello sweet Herald, my dear sibling has not been filling your head with atrocious misgivings now, have they?" Lodium enquired his voice a baritone screech as the Unborn eyed his sibling suspiciously, all the while a purr like noise projected from his chest making Harry vibrate amusingly.
"Hello, Lodium!" Harry greeted and accidentally Commanded, projecting an explosion of Lodium's concepts into the Unborn that possessed them hence why they were merely absorbed instead of being launched into the quickly filling void. "Oops sorry about that," Harry quickly apologised but Lodium quite literally just shrugged it off, "Obarhurr was telling me about the fact that he liked games and that all of you have a favourite thing to do so what is yours?" Harry questioned, eager to learn more about the Unborn who he thought was really, really cool.
"Dear sibling… this is what you teach the boy while sister and I prepare things?" Obarhurr queried exhaustively one of his arms rubbing his shoulders while another scratched the antlers that stood proud on his head.
"But of course, the Herald wants to know more about us, and he is our Herald he deserves to know about those who he speaks for does he not?" Obarhurr teased its sibling and although they were devoid of a mouth Harry just knew it was smirking.
Lodium let loose a heavy breath like noise that sounded more like a very subtle rumble than a sigh but conveyed the same level of exasperation. "… Quests, I like quests and adventures… I enjoy observing the undertaking of them."
"And the partaking of them."
"Hush you! I will not have the boy learn of me second hand! If he wishes to gain insights into this version of me or any of my others then he can enquire politely, not garner half-truths from you when you just happen to be feeling more like a trickster than usual." Lodium barked at his sibling whose reply was a giggle that sounded like a challenge from a thousand snorting eyes.
Before either could continue their dialogue the sky above them all was violently torn asunder and a large, segmented thing fell from it screeching and gurgling as a colossal object speared it and sent the creature crashing bodily into the sea of oblivion. Whatever it was, it made Harry feel like his soul was being touched by something hungry, driving the boy to crouch low behind one of Lodium's claws rather than maintain a direct line of sight with the writhing thing. Lodium looked down at him before his eight eyes narrowed, in an alien tongue the god lashed out with a violent Command and before Harry knew it the peaceful void of nothing was silent again.
"It is alright precious Herald, was but a vile Wyrm that trespassed where it most assuredly did not belong." Lodium comforted him, the deep purr like sound back with its comforting vibrations embracing Harry's form like a hug made of sound.
"How did it- oh that's how." Before Obarhurr could finish voicing their question another thing crawled out of the rip in the void but this one was far more welcome, its gaseous form filled with violent lightning that lashed about it viciously while its star-like orbs each glowed a baleful yellow and were locked in a singular direction.
"Vile wretched thing! corporeal stinking flesh! desperate hungering parasite! Your death will not be kind!" Like a roaring explosion, Tzazulquizha returned emanating a level of blood lust that made Harry crouch behind Lodium's claw again, his instincts locking his body up. Harry saw his own death on repeat, but he saw echoes of something… malicious watching and promising worse. This time it was Obarhurr who noticed and was quick to try and calm their sister's visceral wrath at whatever that Wyrm thing had been.
"Sister perhaps you could holster your wrath, the young one is most certainly not prepared to see you in all your wrathful glory, especially not considering the name you gave him is one organic's struggle to comprehend at the best of time." Obarhurr hovered before its sibling its floating arms lightly resting on the object that had speared the thrashing Wyrm.
"Brother! Sibling! That damn bug sent a Worm to one of my tribute worlds! It was trying to use its blasted will to ensnare MY worshippers!" Tzazulquizha bellowed her form letting loose a storm of hungry lightning that caused the concepts too close to her to come apart violently. Lodium prowled forward two of his hands shielding the one Harry rested upon as he approached his sibling.
"Sister, I understand your wrath, but you are misguided, the creature was a Wyrm, not a Worm… and for the record, I don't use Worms for this exact reason the two are too interchangeable. Now please calm yourself our Herald is still too young to withstand your fury as you well know." Lodium did not come across as combative or taunting like he usually did, his voice was a low calm rumble, not a growl but just a rumble. Harry was not sure what happened next but shortly after Lodium spoke he pulled back two of his arms and Harry was before Tzazulquizha who appeared much calmer, her lightning now a soothing static that bounced amongst the orbs the drifted in her gaseous form.
"Sweet Herald… My apologies for the fury I unleashed, that damnable wretched thing trespassed where it should not and ruined my good mood… I promise you I would not have let myself harm you, even in this lesser form," Tzazulquizha explained, and as usual Harry found her form difficult to observe. Her voice conjured weird images and sounds of impossible machines, but Harry reached out all the same his form's shell sinking lightly into the electric gas that was her body. With that connection he felt her protectiveness of him and saw some magnificent fortress world ever-changing, adapting, upgrading… it was honestly another impossible structure as pistons pushed slabs of weaved armour into one another at dizzying angles but the feeling of security the structure gave off was still very comforting.
"It's ok Tzazulquizha I understand anger… plus Lodium got very angry as well and made it disappear so you're not the only one who doesn't like worms." Harry quietly informed, taking extra care not to fire off an accidental Command as he was surrounded and did not want to accidentally upset any of the three.
"Wyrm's," Lodium corrected lightly.
"Right Wyrm's… what's the difference?" Harry asked his befuddlement on display as his new form did not conceal like flesh.
"Ego."
"… I forget that you dislike their ilk as well bug, how amusing that this form would be the one with which you slaughter it… shame your blade was not here." Tzazulquizha teased lightly, or so Harry thought, her amusement was harder to read than Obarhurr. But that was to be expected as the Emperor of the End seemed to be honestly amused by everything.
"… my poor glitchy sister, clearly your own 'bugs' are acting up, to think I would use my glorious Nail on that pathetic thing… but your weapon was of tremendous use, I hope that the blasted thing did not impede your preparation?" Lodium probed teasingly but without any vigour, trying to keep things more peaceful.
"No everything is ready on my end… it was nice to be small again the perspective was very beneficial," She replied her tone losing any mischievous traits as she responded earnestly.
"Ahh then we are prepared, our lost sibling's return is far overdue and now with our dear Herald, we are graced with an opportunity too precious to pass up," Obarhurr exclaimed their form seeming to swell as its voice became rife with emotion.
"Then we will not tarry, the little one will have much to do let us not be that which impedes him," Lodium exulted his voice a powerful roar that left Harry untouched even if the sea around him rippled heavily. Harry stood proudly upon Lodium's hand the passion of the two gods making him feel charged with the same energy.
"I am ready… just one question… how exactly do I act as the Herald?" Harry enquired earnestly unsure of how one 'heralds the apocalypse' or 'announces the final confrontation' but sure that he was up to the task all the same.
"… truly he is the chosen of our lost sibling," Tzazulquizha observed her voice frighteningly matter of fact as she uttered her statement of the obvious, the other two Unborn seeming to agree if Harry was reading them correctly. Harry felt like he should be embarrassed but was too unsure by what Tzazulquizha meant by that statement to react.
"Right, he is quite young… let us go over the plan once more for his benefit… also where is his gift?" Lodium groused his eight eyes locking onto Obarhurr in what Harry perceived as… jealousy? Harry was sure that wasn't right but couldn't think of a better word that matched.
"Oh, oh, it is over here! Look me and the little one built him his first altar using your wonderful gift!" Obarhurr seemed to reappear some distance away its form hovering above a small structure while his two colossal floating arms gestured to something that would have fit in their palms easily.
"That is precious." Tzazulquizha appeared next to it in a flurry of what Harry could only call 'antilight' her static lightning seeming more solid but colourful as she observed the altar. Lodium prowled over still carrying Harry who stood on his chitinous hand while his abyssal body seemed to dash smoothly through the void. Upon reaching it Lodium lowered his hand so that Harry could step off of it before he shrunk his entire form down, he was still larger than Harry but now his form was only a couple of meters taller rather than his towering frame like before.
"… You liked my gift this much little Herald?" Lodium posed his question with a cat-like curiosity, the shadowy nature of his body flickering lightly like the shadow of a warm flame. Harry felt a little bit flustered with all three of them complimenting him and Obarhurr's creation, so he settled for nodding his head.
"Come now sweet brother tell us what you think of his altar, he thought very hard about it." Obarhurr pried their curiosity very much apparent as they did not shrink down but rather loomed over Harry and Lodium. Harry watched Lodium look at it, observing it carefully, seeming to take his time to formulate an answer. The altar itself was not complex, Obarhurr was the one who suggested making an altar for it as Harry gushed about how nice his first ever-present was. It was a simple stone altar shaped so that it had a slight incline on the top that prominently displayed the skull without letting it slip over a secure lip that held it from the bottom. It rested upon a still pool of the red oblivion that was sourced from the ocean they all stood upon or floated above. Around it, Harry had either projected or collected some of his favourite concepts that were either present in the void from his earlier projection or that he had Obarhurr summon alongside the physical altar.
"It is a good altar little one, are you proud of it?" Lodium questioned his tone a calming purr as his form leaned down to be eye level with Harry. Even though Harry's form presently didn't have eyes.
"Yes, yes I am," Harry answered completely sure of his answer as he rested his hand lightly upon the altar just adjacent to his former skull.
"An altar is a curious choice to display my gift to you dear Herald, can I enquire as to its selection?" Lodium enquired further his voice filling Harry's centre with a soft warmth that made him rest his other hand over his form's chest.
"… this was the first gift I have ever been given doubly so since I'm no longer who I was… I put it on an altar to display it to myself… and for myself. As you said after all it is a symbol of what I overcame, of what I once was, of what I am now… I don't ever want to forget these events and the events that led to it." Harry explained softly but passionately, his voice not wavering once as his hand traced the strange, fused material of the displayed skull.
"An exceptional answer, then upon this altar let us discuss the actions you shall undertake next," Lodium proposed his hand gesturing for Harry to kneel, Harry was quick to take a knee and bow his head so that it was level with his old, warped skull, while he did this Lodium appeared beside his sibling once again the tallest of the three.
"Our Herald, the task you have accepted is one only you alone can fulfil, without you the fragment would escape our grasp, but you alone possess the ability to retrieve it marked as you are. So, your task is simple, return to the world of your damnation and when the time comes, herald the arrival of our lost sibling's fragment, and bind it to that world through a challenge, the last challenge. It will be forced to accept and undertake that world's final confrontation in doing so you will have a chance to see it brought low and then it will be unable to escape. Then you can return to us a fragment of our precious sibling so that we may finally begin to rebuild our broken family." Tzazulquizha laid out the plan in its entirety her voice stern and commanding, to say it was befitting of her would be an understatement.
"Should you have any questions do not hesitate to raise them, there should be no confusion before you undertake your duty, precious Herald." Obarhurr was quick to speak their voice both comforting and encouraging, leading Harry to think carefully about the situation.
".. how do I herald its arrival?" Harry asked, accidentally firing off a command that Obarhurr batted away lightly with a finger from their floating arms.
"… that will be up to you but essentially you need only announce to the world that it has arrived, bellow at the top of your lungs and command the world itself to hear your announcement… you are our Herald, they will listen," Tzazulquizha explained succinctly, her voice left no room for doubt and the last bit came across as a threat directed at something far, far behind Harry.
"Right, umm what is the world's final confrontation?" Harry continued unsure of what such an event would entail and how it was to defeat one of the Unborn.
"That is simple, it is the end of the world. Whatever was or could be will be irrevocably changed, fate will be but a memory, destiny will be dashed to the rocks and the world will never be the same again. The final confrontation is the last fight for the dominion of the world itself." Lodium spoke with a deep rumbling snarl, but his words made actual lightning arc through the air itself and conjured before Harry echoes of glorious world-shaking battles all culminating in an abyssal beast plunging a gorgeous pure white blade into a radiant light and shearing it open with vengeful ferocity.
"Fitting is it not dear Herald your world will not end with a bang but with an all-out war the world itself will bleed and magic itself will be warped… it will be glorious, and you will announce unto the universe that at that moment, you stand. Should you wish it you could claim the world as your own after you cast down the fragment of our sibling, a fitting reward for a world that treated you so, no?" Lodium hissed his shadowy form sharpening as it seemed to become seduced by its thoughts, no doubt basking in the fever of a war to come.
"And if you wish it, you can simply burn the world in tribute, such a lovely beginning for you Herald of the Apocalypse," Obarhurr suggested its hands shimmering and for a second Harry saw rivers of the deep hungering black pool out of his palms.
"So wasteful, better to subjugate it! The world tossed you aside, but you could prove your superiority and put it to use instead." Tzazulquizha describes conjuring images of a world chained in blood and sacrifice with infernal engines consuming all that was, to fuel a war machine unlike any before it all in his name.
Harry was honestly a little overwhelmed with the three gods conjuring images of such devastation, but at the same time he could not merely ignore their ideas… whether it was due to the removal of his humanity or his desire for revenge, the ideas they presented were… not without merit. But Harry shook his head and refocused, the familiar motion apt at restoring his proper train of thought as he raised the last and most important question.
"How am I supposed to defeat the fragment?" Harry spoke with a tinge of desperation, he had no idea how powerful a fragment was in comparison to these three, but he dreaded the answer.
"… you need not defeat it, sweet Herald, only announce its arrival and bind it in the challenge. Once it arrives and is bound as archenemy the world itself will move to strike it down as it has once before." Tzazulquizha comforted him picking up on his dread at having to face a being akin to them. But her answer made Harry's thoughts come to a screeching halt all the same at the implications of what she just said.
"Did you hear tires screech?" Obarhurr asked politely to their sister, assuming it was her.
"Wait! Do you mean to say that the fragment has been to earth before? How, there are no signs of such, wouldn't the world be dominated by either this nemesis or the fragment if that was the case?" Harry postured his question his head no longer bowed as he gazed upon the gods cautiously eager to hear their answer.
"No idea," Lodium answered succinctly.
"You… you don't know…" Harry was utterly flustered, he thought the three all-knowing with how they always seemed to have a response or an answer to any question he posed.
"You see young Herald it is the one blind spot the three of us all share, we cannot see our brothers fragments or the actions they undertake directly. It is why we cannot simply go about collecting them… believe me it is the cause of no small degree of… frustration." Harry flinched as Obarhurr finished its explanation, the sounds of a beautiful dream being brutally strangled as it begged for mercy clawing at his mind, its infant spawn also pleading, echoing with its death throes. Harry wisely put more thought into his next question not desiring to anger the other two for the sake of whatever sanity he could still functionally call his own.
"I-i-if the world is to be the one to fight back how can I be sure it will win… and wouldn't the tribute belong to the world in that case." Harry this time spoke with far more care being sure to avoid the topic of the sibling's inability to retrieve their lost family member on their own. Lodium this time steepled its fingers the chitinous claws pulling lightly on reality as they clutched each other.
"Ahh an excellent question little Herald, the reason you can claim tribute is as our Herald you speak as a being far above any puny station the nemesis they select could possibly possess and as such you get first pick at it, on the off chance the nemesis can claim a title of… suitable stature… to challenge your claim then you would still have right as the being who initiated the war. So, you see Herald you have our word that no matter what, your work will be rewarded." Lodium snarled viciously its eyes seeming to gleam for a second as it discussed the spoils of the war Harry was to usher in. Harry was left with a profound sense of gratitude towards the Unborn as they assured him of a reward he did not even ask for.
"Gratitude!" Harry projected his gratitude rather than speak as he found once again his words would just not do justice for what he was feeling.
"You are welcome little one," the three Unborn gods spoke in unity the effect seeming to make all of reality still for a heartbeat as it halted to bear witness to such an event.
"… I foresee another issue siblings, while it is true that our sweet Herald need only harken the arrival… the idiocy of lesser creatures should never be doubted should they seek to destroy him or even worse impede his work…" Tzazulquizha trailed off, but Harry got the message across as he saw a titan made of metal awaken on a dead star. It didn't move, Harry merely watched its eyes flair as it gazed at something and promised war, promised destruction, promised an end… all dedicated to the Calamitous Dream.
"Death will be all but meaningless to him he is already too far removed from death… sorry little one but for eternity, YOU ARE OURS!" Obarhurr became far too real for a second, Harry was forced onto his back as for but an instant Obarhurr showed all of itself, a pair of arms for every star, a finger for every broken promise, a burst of raucous laughter to accompany the pleading voices of innumerable lost races. The Beloved Chaos was an inscrutable form always at the throne of power for it was not a throne without its king and it had no power save its lords. But by far the worst thing was that Harry saw… 'not shadows' of other things, 'not reflections' of other names, other forms, other titles. He saw but hints at the being that Obarhurr was but a small representation of and it made him ache.
"… you truly are so possessive, brother." Tzazulquizha teased, but Harry still reeling with information overload was able to hear her agree with his statement in the tongue of those that dream disparity into the weave.
"While my sibling speaks true Herald the point remains that should you die, it could be seriously inconvenient to the retrieval of the fragment so we should probably endeavour to avoid that. Sister how would you recommend we go about it, keeping in mind of course that we cannot go to his world personally without tipping our hand, nor can any of our other servants." Lodium gestured his claws brushing her cloud lightly and getting violently stabbed with arcs of plasma in return. Harry saw all this while lying on his back trying to work out how Obarhurr knitted a whole world out of screaming gods.
"The trick is to use their entrails as string sweet Herald." Obarhurr supplied its voice melodic as it explained the method for such a mind rending visual.
"Do not mock my intelligence you belligerent little insect, while we cannot be there directly the fact remains that we do not need to be… isn't that right little Herald? You aren't going to let them make you fail, are you?" Tzazulquizha may have spoken as to make her words sound like a query, but Harry heard her true meaning, she wasn't questioning his will to see this through, she was questioning how he would handle opposition. Harry saw this hypothetical opposition with the faces of his killers and bestowed onto the Unborn before him the blessed visual of him pulling away their skin to fashion them a noose from which their still-living bodies would hang upon effigies made of their own sundered bones.
A bloodthirsty, no, a carnage thirsty laugh exploded out of Obarhurr, their pyramid head flowing like hot liquid metal as they released a noise of pure sadistic glee that made the red sea of oblivion bubble and churn violently. Lodium was smiling its maw was death and ravenous hunger, its fangs revenge and sweet suffering, Tzazulquizha was humming a symphony of twisting machinations that bent space into a broken masterpiece. Harry wished he had a maw so violent, knew songs so beautiful and had a joy so resplendent as his lord Unborn before him.
"The boy is right! We are Unborn! We spawned nightmares made of holy flesh that desecrated entire throne worlds because they sinned, he is of us, he is our Herald! We need not worry about his desire nor want… after all he is a good boy. What I suggest is a little bout of gift giving!" Lodium roared his bellows making waves that rose like colossal writhing beasts from waters that lapped at space eroding it with every drop, the bit that got on Harry seemed to dribble down him quickly as if sentient and eager to be away from his form.
"Agreed!" Tzazulquizha roared right back her voice the snarling bellow of demonic chainsaws devastating some alien concept that Harry or the Universe at large would never know or remember.
"Then the game is afoot, upon the challenge shall you look, the question shall be of us siblings three, which Unborn will bestow the gift that will obtain the victory!" Obarhurr cracked, that was the best way to describe the noise it spoke with, it wasn't natural, and Harry watched as his forms shell had little spiderweb cracks race up it only for them to disappear as quickly as they arrived. This did not stop Harry from prodding his body though just to be doubly sure… he wasn't exactly sure if he could remake another body, but then again maybe if he asked nicely one of the Unborn could make him one.
"I'm first and I say we give him the 'Gamer'!" Obarhurr cheered loudly Harry smiling at the absurdity of their own arms applauding them. This smile was replaced with surprise when Lodium straight up decked Obarhurr in their pyramid-shaped head and sent them careening through the void. Harry was shocked even further when he witnessed Lodium and Tzazulquizha perform the equivalent of an eldritch fist bump.
"Owowowowowow, come on, what is wrong with the 'Gamer'?" Obarhurr asked its voice very much akin to a whiny child with its form once more in between its two siblings without any signs of them having moved.
"Aside from the fact that it will make him reek of us thus tipping off the fragment," Lodium replied succinctly.
"Or how about the fact that it would tie him far too much to you and give you unlimited access to him," Tzazulquizha continued.
"Or what about the fact that thanks to you, the 'Gamer' is damn well everywhere across multiple dimensions and universes hell it is even in other multiverses," Lodium picked up.
"But we all made the 'System' together it's the perfect gift and besides all those other versions are bootleg and you know it brother," Obarhurr whined back their arms inversely shrugging behind them. It was funny but every time Obarhurr whined Harry was sure he heard millions of babies crying somewhere far, far away.
"And what about it making him reek of us? Couldn't help but notice you don't have an excuse for that." Tzazulquizha snipped her lightning jabbing lightly at Obarhurr's torso.
"… well fine what do you to party poopers suggest?" Obarhurr grumped, conjuring a strange image of a thousand alien-like cheers dying in the windpipes of their celebrators.
"… sister do you wish to go first," Lodium asked bowing his antlers ever so slightly as he gestured for Tzazulquizha to present her gift first.
"Thank you, dear bug, don't mind if I do. Sweet Herald to you I gift a choir of my personal retinue so that any who would behold your splendour would hear only your grace and know at that moment that they stand before the youngling precious to me. May they soothe you as they have always managed to soothe me." With tender care, Harry watched with awe as Tzazulquizha emitted light of incredible radiance, but it did not blind, rather it was incapable of it. Accompanying this light was a terribly beautiful noise, it made Harry long for the return of his eyes so that he might express tears of such joy, such splendour as his senses were assaulted by the gentlest of cacophonies to ever assault his senses. His smile was accompanied with crescendos and fortissimos, his calm with piano fermata and his appreciation with staccato mezzo-forte beats that carried his wonder back to the Unborn who bestowed on him such a lovely gift.
"Even silence will sing onto you its sweet symphonies now precious little one, always may it remind you that you in this moment were treasured," Tzazulquizha explained her light somehow caressing Harry and bleeding onto him an emotion he could not hope to describe.
"… sister, that gift does not belong to that name, does it?" Lodium questioned calmly his voice carrying a beautiful smile onto his beloved sibling.
"No dear bug, it belongs to another that I will grace him with when he is no longer so little, so young." Tzazulquizha expressed to her brother and for an instance, Harry lost sight of her form of lightning and dread light and was forced to see her as he did when they first crossed each other's paths, she was an effect on the world rather than something he could perceive but all the same he knew it to be her. Within a thought, she was the Calamitous Dream once more, but Harry felt an eager stirring in his core as he promised himself to one day be able to comprehend that other name of hers if only to thank her properly for her gift.
"I will await that day eagerly little one," Tzazulquizha expressed, and Harry saw eyes soaked in the blood of a trillion screaming oppressors and knew that they looked on him with promises yet made.
"My sister has certainly set the bar quite high… I will be the first to admit that all the bards at my disposal would not compare to a single one of my sisters' personal choirs, but what to offer that could be its equal?" Lodium trailed off losing himself to thought, Harry looked away as the moment Lodium trailed of it was like a superfast slide show of millions of ideas ranging from books to boons, to spells, to structures, to a cake… Harry knew one thing for certain from that deluge of images and that was that the cake looked very enticing.
"Hmmm, little one tell me that… Commands that's what you call them, that Command you used to sever your old skull, do you like it?" Lodium's question caught Harry a little off guard, but it was not a challenge to answer in the slightest, so naturally, Harry firmly nodded in reply. It was true, he liked his 'Rend' Command, it was easily the flashiest of all the Commands he had in his arsenal. Harry wasn't sure what a smile from Lodium would look like but the strange prickling in his soul that felt like bristles being dragged through him must have been it as the Unborn gave a sinister chuckle that promised pain.
"Then from me, a boon unto you dear Herald, your Command over the primal magics will spread to your Command of the primal itself, all beasts, all creatures, all of creations ken made of flesh, bone, breath and soul will know you for your power and through your Command know our Heralds strength." Lodium slowly drew one of his clawed arms down through the space in front of him and Harry watched as reality bled. That ichor like fluid dribbled on the altar where he knelt and Harry knew the bestial truth, he knew the primal arts. He knew tooth from fang, claw from pincer, stinger from poisonous spine… Harry knew how to howl, how to roar, hot to growl or screech or bellow. Harry felt it overcome him and rose from his knees, he let his head rear back and felt his form grow a maw of vicious teeth made to rip and tear spread wide. With a swift inhale his form felt full of potential, and Harry let it flow freely, devoid of word to construct a Command but with the action itself enacting his will he roared.
"ROAR!"
Fire, terribly hot and eager to burn and consume spilled from his mouth entwined with a shockwave of noise that illuminated the not so empty void they were in. Harry felt so powerful, and it was like a whole new way to look at magic was opened to him… he saw that there was power in acts, power in movement, magic was so tightly bound with life the two were at points interchangeable. With his excitement spent Harry let his maw shut and the fire cease its flow, Lodium seemed to be staring at him intently while Obarhurr continue to applaud happily.
"Fantastic! Now you may stand with equal footing against any beast that dare claim itself your equal… never forget sweet Herald while there are things against which primal magic may not work, if it at any point has suffered the aspect of life then it will feel the wrath of such magic just as any fowl would feel the hounds' fangs," Lodium divulged his explanation, as usual, leaving Harry informed but confused, as was the trend Harry found when conversing with the Unborn.
"Even synthetic life?" Harry asked his question directed to Tzazulquizha curious to see her response to what effect primal magic would have on those life forms she preferred.
"Yes Herald, even life that is crafted rather than grown will suffer the bite of the primal magics… a claw rends whether it be bone or steel."
"If primal magic doesn't work on it… be concerned. Whatever it is will most likely be more akin to you than anything that should reside on the planet you formerly call home." Lodium cautioned seeming to share a brief look with his sister before they returned to silence.
"And then there was one… well sweet little one it seems they have wisely saved the best for last-"
"No, we merely granted you a chance to think of a boon to grant the Herald seeing as your first was little more than a greedy attempt to hog him, mischievous brother." Tzazulquizha was quick to cut Obarhurr off her lightning flaring dangerously, promising a degree of destruction that planets would not recover from.
"Perchance dear sibling you might not attempt to ire us again while we have such precious company… the result for you could be detrimental," Lodium warned with images of that terrifyingly beautiful blade of pure white ricocheting through Harry's mind once more screeches of fell beasts cursing its cutting-edge Pure Nail, Wicked Nail, Merciless Perfect Blade.
"Of course, my kin, forgive me my excitement I will temper my desire as I have clearly lost myself to the excitement of it all." Obarhurr excused themselves, they settled like a flaring sun pulling its arcing plasma back to its surface. "Now precious little one I am actually at a loss for what gift I could bestow upon you that would be as subtle yet resplendent as my siblings' boons," Obarhurr spoke, voice lined with the corpse of its previous merriment. Just as Harry was about to speak up Obarhurr shrunk down and loomed over him suddenly their frame upon the same altar where Harry kneeled.
"Hmm, oh Herald, our Herald… the Herald of the Apocalypse… you who will usher in the final confrontation, what could I grant unto you that would be worthy but not to blusterous, such are the lamentations of an Unborn!"
"I'd say cry me a river but the last one drowned one of my holy cities." Tzazulquizha chimed up, despite her distinct lack of arms or any other type of appendage Harry was positive she had a pair crossed somewhere.
"Now there is an idea." Lodium chimed in scooping up some of the seas of oblivion and making it rain down from his fingers while he smirked at his sister tauntingly. The only response he got was the violent arching of her lightning as it flared like the hood of a cobra.
"… What is that?" Obarhurr snarked curiously its floating hands both pointing to the forehead of Harry's former head. Harry naturally looked up and gazed upon his precious first gift, his strange conceptual sight instantly spotting what Obarhurr was gesturing towards.
"What dear brother… oh it seems to be some form of runic language how curious, it's undecipherable though it's bound to the planets magic and therefore requires the soul of the planet to be put into effect," Tzazulquizha spoke the orbs of light that orbited within her seeming to circle in a concentric pattern as she observed the curiosity upon the skull.
"… It seems that someone inscribed it upon the skull when the Herald was but a young human, it seems to connect directly to that mysterious unnatural soul conduit that his former body possessed," Lodium announced as he too seemed to observe the string of now ethereal glowing marks that encircled the head like a circlet with the most prominent one being the origin of the mysterious black fluid that endlessly dribbled down to the nose cavity of his warped skull.
"… That's it!" Obarhurr suddenly elated, its voice jubilant as its arms celebrated by splaying wide and growing back to their original size. "Sweet Herald, exalted messenger, to you who is chosen of my missing sibling… to you I gift a crown of starlight, emblazoned with the rule of your domain so that none may question what is rightfully yours." With a gesture reminiscent of a showman's flurry Harry beheld a crown that seemed to hum gently, his choir singing in sync with its tone as it utterly captivated him. Obarhurr lightly caressed the side of Harry's face the touch reminding Harry to bow his head, the other two gods stared intently as Obarhurr held the crown lightly above its new owner's head.
"Wear it proudly and let its weight remind you of the duty you choose to bear in yours and our name, its majesty a symbol of how precious you are and its glory only equal to your own." With that said Obarhurr lowered the crown and placed it upon Harry's form and as if a piece of him had at last finally returned Harry felt it bind to him irrevocably, like the wild that now ran in his essence and the choir that sung unto him his coronation. Harry would always have it, on his brow would it always rest, never would it part from him. Always a reminder that he was chosen, that he chose, and he would choose his path going forward.
"With this, you are ready young Herald," Lodium proclaimed his voice echoing like the screech of a terrible bird.
"The path is set, your steps to be taken." Tzazulquizha beckoned her form made of insidious gas and wrathful light seeming to surge with power.
"Good luck, have fun… we will be watching intently." Obarhurr mischievously taunted, his arms spreading behind his back and shifting their form as echoes of his numerous other limbs began to appear.
"I won't let you down," Harry shouted rising back to his feet his fists clenched to his side and his soul ablaze with his power as his form stood proud upon his altar.
"We know," All three replied as one and with their piece said Harry felt the world around him shift, the sky of void littered with loose conjured concepts began to shake and warp, the ocean of oblivion seemed to become too still as it was inverted.
"Until we meet again," Harry invoked with finality as he leaned back until his form finally fell into that inverting oblivion. As he was pulled away from the quiet realm of diverging zero. He watched as the unborn shifted until they became too wide for him to perceive any longer, that same pressure in the depths of his soul returning, the only thing he saw was his skull and one of the concepts hovering next to it.
The first thing he saw on his quest was the fading image of his first gift and the concept of the Herald.
…
In a dark and wicked clearing, a body burnt and still smoking swung as it was buffeted by heavy winds, another nearby body laid unmoving as its clothes were tugged by the firm grasp of that stormy breeze. The wind danced through the shaking leaves as the trees swayed to the powerful force, the sound of the rustling leaves and howling wind blanketing the area in noise. This is what one would perceive if they were to stand in this clearing scarred by an act of such malice that it coated the area in an ominous feeling. That is what a normal person, bereft of the touch of magic and ignorant to the horrors that writhe in the universe unseen would perceive.
To someone knowing of the eldritch nightmares that shape existence and the unknowable force that is magic, they would see things for what they truly were. They would see the wind drag reagents, tainted blood, vengeful ash, wrathful bone into shapes better off unseen by the eyes of mortal things. The trees swayed in beckoning ritualistic manners as if each was eager to witness something so alien and wrong that nature itself watched enraptured with sick curiosity. The wind whistled sickening, harrowing sounds that itch at the primeval fears of men, the rustling of the leaves did so to staccato beats of terrified heartbeats. The clouds parted so that the stars and the moon could be witness to the arrival of the coming end, the Herald would arrive in this clearing where a young son of a late witch was bedamned and murdered most foul.
The sections between the stars bled darkness while the light those glimmering heaven-bound jewels gave off became wrought with vile malice. The dirt stirred violently and blood that had soaked into its depths crawled out and mixed with ash blown into a bundle… it was time. For an instant that clearing saw echoes of events that had been and that would come again, the moon was enshrouded in the illusion of a sun blocked by an unnatural abyss, an open wound on reality from which things of a primordial and fearful nature bled joyously. From the nightmare, the Herald came, from that open wound on the fabric of the universe the being created from the warping of the human known as Harry Potter fell to the wretched soil and the world was sentenced, a warning was delivered in the form of a trusted and chosen messenger. The Herald bereft of physical form fashioned itself one from its sinful ash and the cursed blood of the site where its progenitor was slain. The Herald bore a form of twisted flesh and maddening structure, to its ears and its ears alone a choir sang of arrival, of the beginning, of potential. Its crown shone a light of hypnotic horror that to the Herald was but a beautiful shimmer as the memories it emanated were of the Unborn gods.
The Herald gazed about the clearing, but it struggled for the proper definition as Harry Potter had filled the air with baleful curses and they had tinged it with their malevolence. Realising it would need more mortal senses the Herald let itself smirk, it had prepared for this exact situation and using a trick it had learnt while escaping its former body as it succumbed to the injuries sustained to its nature, the Herald conjured a fake concept, it created fake humanity. Like sliding into a well-fitting suit, the Heralds form became contained as the scarred body of one Harry Potter covered the eldritch thing that it was and bestowed upon it the human senses it had been bereft of before. The wind died down and the clouds covered the sky above the clearing once more… the world descended into darkness as the Heralds nature was concealed beneath a falsified nature.
"Welcome back Harry Potter… and a very fond hello to you, Herald," Harry spoke to himself emitting the first unnatural sound in the clearing since his arrival. He was bare and the wind caused his flesh to prickle, the sensation was welcome though as his former form had been somewhat numb and the stimulation was nice on his fake human skin. His feet caused dirt and rock to scrape as he turned to gaze around the clearing, reacquainting himself where his original body, his original self, had been violently murdered. Harry stared at his old body swaying from the tree and felt his lips pull back, his fake humanity warping slightly as his teeth became dexterous and sharp, his rage and the plans his vengeful mind had conjured for his killers returning. You will pay for what you did to me and Rosel-
Harry's head whipped around the realisation striking him that he did not come to this clearing alone. He saw her crumpled form still, laying in the dirt where she had finally fallen after her heroic last stand against her killers. Harry made to run over to her, but his legs still felt new and instead sent him sprawling to the dirt, but this was nothing to him as he crawled rapidly to her collapsed form. He finally reached her and felt his heart, which he had only just reacquired, thud painfully in his chest.
"Oh… oh no, Roselyn… I'm so sorry." Harry apologised his eyes burning irritatingly as his fake humanity struggled to contain his nature again, his skin rippling disturbingly. Harry reached out and pull her head and shoulders into his lap with unnatural strength, her form much lighter to his now inhuman self. He brushed hair matted with dirt and blood out of the way and saw her bruised mutilated visage, he felt his soul writhe and somewhere behind him claw marks appeared violently in the dirt. Her face was covered in open welts that had split from sharp impacts, her right cheek was blackened and heavily broken. The worst part was her right eye which had been crushed messily from her zygomatic bone being cratered into her orbital region. As he held her, he felt other injuries, the section where her ribs felt soft and squishy, parts that came back sticky with blood. His fake form rippled again and for a moment his right eye was replaced with a terrible green blaze that burned angrily. Harry nestled her head in the crook of his small arm with difficulty as her broken neck made her head loll in a nauseating fashion.
With one arm free, he grasped at her hands and saw them covered with blood, her nails broken, and her knuckles split… she did not go down quietly as he well knew. He felt his eyes begin to blur but merely focused on his form again and let that green blaze sear his vision until it returned to normal. His grief was the surface of a very deep, dark ocean and Harry was vividly aware that beneath that tranquil surface was every horrible thing he intended to release upon five very specific individuals. And for Vernon… hellish agony so vile even gods will cringe, but first I need to see to you, dear Roselyn.
Harry lifted his head and inhaled a slow steady breath to calm his rampant emotions, the clearing now scarred with a few more notable claw marks than before. It was as he let his mind calm that he spotted a most peculiar sight… an impossible one in fact but that wasn't so strange to Harry anymore. Sitting on the dirt over by his hanging body with their knees curled into their chest appeared to be a very familiar figure. With trepidation, Harry gently laid Roselyn's body on the ground ensuring her arms stayed crossed over her stomach. Rising to his feet Harry stalked to the sitting figure his eyes glowing ominously as he suppressed a violent growl in his throat, his gaze noticing the shuddering of their shoulders hidden behind their long ethereal hair.
Finally standing behind the sitting figure and disturbingly close to his hanging corpse Harry reached down to prod their shoulder but his hand passed through it confirming his suspicions. The figure still jolted from the contact however and whipped around with fear shimmering in their hollow eyes, that fear turned into a panicked relief as they beheld Harry staring directly at them. Their lip trembled and tears that appeared like condensed mist built in their eyes, just shy of pooling down their spectral cheeks.
"H-harry, is… is that you?" The ghostly woman asked, her voice the last nail in the coffin and with-it Harry's face lost its predatory aspects, his sub-audible growl replaced by a light gasp and his eyes shifted from ominous to hopeful.
"Roselyn," he whispered his voice a prayer, a wish that this wasn't some maddened delusion, that he was seeing the ghost of the only human he ever cared for.
"Yes! yes, Harry, it's me!" She lunged off the ground eager to hug him but was sent sprawling to the dirt when her spectral body phased right through him. "No! Dammit no! You let me hug him, let me have this one bloody thing!" Roselyn raged at the unfairness her tears now coming out hot and heavy her voice a broken and desperate scream. Harry heard her pain, saw her despair and with it his ire peaked, his fake humanity was torn asunder as his wrath would not be contained and he strode to her his body a thing that exists only in the nightmares of reality. Without warning, he scooped her off the ground his bodies dimensions now larger than those of his mere childish form. With a bit of strain, he made his arms akin to those of a human but nowhere as mortal and shaped his head so that it appeared similar to his human one, if a lot more sunken and bonier.
"Harry!"
"Wait! Close your eyes, you can't look… I might hurt you." Harry warned her his arms no longer bound by mere mortal flesh easily able to hold her soul in his grasp. He hugged her from behind burying his face in the back of her head and letting his magic entwine with her very self. It was her, he knew it, this wasn't some shallow echo of life or the remnants of her lifeforce trapped on earth. Harry was holding the real honest soul of his dearest friend and he refused to let her go for even a moment, even if it meant she couldn't look at him.
"But why? I was just looking at you, Harry please don't hide away from me, please I need this." She begged her hands tightly clenching his much longer in human arms as she curled into his grasp.
"… I… I'm not the Harry you remember Roselyn, I'm not the little boy you died for." Harry explained, his voice wavering for a moment. He wasn't expecting this, it wasn't even a dream that he would be able to speak to her again… to be able to hold her and it was ripping him up inside because now he didn't want to scare her off.
"Harry… do you trust me?" Roselyn asked her voice laced with sorrow, but Harry heard the plea in it all the same. She wasn't asking so much as she was begging for him to still trust her which of course he did, how could he not when she threw away her life to try and save him.
"Of course."
"Then please Harry let me look at you… I am already dead Harry, there isn't much more that can happen to me." She snarked mirthfully her hands gently rubbing along his arms and slowly coaxing him to release her so she could turn around.
"…" Harry relented slowly focusing on keeping his form as human as possible without the use of his fake humanity concept. He was walking a thin line here and he knew it, but he was not some paragon of virtue and self-sacrifice, he was still annoyingly a lonely child, and his first friend was asking him for something he also wanted. Eventually, his hold of her loosened to the point that she could turn around and look at him as he was at eye level with her even though they were both kneeling. He felt her reach up and cup his cheek, her ethereal hands as soft as her real ones and Harry let a small whimper slip out. He kept his eyes firmly shut though, sure that the otherworldly fire burning in them would sear her soul even now.
"Harry, open your eyes please." She asked of him, her voice a gentle plea that tugged on his heartstrings. He couldn't resist, so desperate was he to see her face without the horrific injuries she had sustained, that he let his stonelike eyelids slide open to reveal the burning green glow that illuminated her ghostly face allowing him to sear her face into his memory.
"My little which boy." She breathed and Harry let himself lean forward to rest his head on her shoulder, even as he held the warped form of the Herald at bay as not to scare her, he let himself be embraced by this brave woman that gave up everything for him.
"Hi, Roselyn… I'm back."
A.N. Another long chapter to make up for the long break I took before chapter twelve, also a change to the title because I wanted to. So, at the end of this chapter, we are back on Earth and Harry is gassed up for a bit of a revenge binge. From this point forward Harry will not be leaving Earth again for the foreseeable future so no more warped reality, eldritch god stuff for a bit. Harry himself still is a bit of an eldritch abomination but he will be spending the vast majority of his time in a human form. Also heads up for in the very near future Harry will be getting very violent on a few obvious people, I will put a warning at the start of the chapter of course as I believe he deserves a chance to rip and tear.
Furthermore, no one has managed to guess what Lodium is based on yet, but I will wait and see who the connoisseur of good media content is. Finally, a wonderful thankyou to LordVladhe for a lovely review I hope you continue to enjoy it as I intend to keep this fic firmly AU.
As always thank you for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy it, comment if you feel like it.
Until next time.