Heir of the Immortals Resurrection
Chapter 27
Herald stood in one of the tallest towers of the castle, having claimed the space as his own. He stared out the open window, the morning light reflecting off the glass to shine on his pale blue button-down shirt.
Below him, hundreds of mutants moved about different tasks.
It had been a week since Herald convened with his makeshift counsel, since then a lot changed.
Crush had come to the Cradle. With her earth molding abilities, she helped Lionel Jeffries and Sarah Kinney construct a hospital in one of the mountains that ring the valley.
New mutants emerged from the tree of rebirth daily, they would then be checked over by Lionel and Sarah. After that, they would be sent to Emma Frost and her team of telepaths. College-level information would then be downloaded into their brains.
After a week to re-acclimate, they would then be given the choice of what they wanted to do to help the Cradle. Typically, they decided to do whatever their powers were suited for.
A surprise for everyone was when mutants from centuries past appeared from the tree.
Herald expected only mutants who had died in the last 200 years at most, but apparently, the techno-organic virus had stored DNA from every mutant that had ever lived on its earth, and with those genetic profiles long-dead mutants were able to return.
A pink flash drew Herald's gaze upward, another development was his distant cousin, Clarice Ferguson had taken over mining the asteroid belt.
While the earthmovers were able to shift the earth from around the metal and pull it to the surface, they couldn't refine it on-site, so it was slower than when Herald did it, but the cradle now had a steady income of silver, gold, platinum, and other metals as well as minerals without having to dip into their world's stores.
"What are you doing?"
Turning away from the window, Herald watched Mary approach him, the galaxies in the center of her dark eyes mesmerizing him for a moment. She strode across the empty room, her footsteps silent on the plush red carpet, the hem of her black dress trailing behind her.
Electric lights hung from wood-paneled walls casting odd shapes in a broken circle around the room.
Shaking his head, he closed the distance between them wrapping his arms around her slender waist. Leaning down, he placed a kiss on her lips, "I'm just seeing how our new home is progressing."
"A king looking over his subjects."
"I am no king, if anything, I'm a guardian."
Mary snorted, "An immortal guardian with a direct link to the planet."
"You're stalling."
Drawing back, Mary stared into his eyes, "I still think I should go with you."
Herald shook his head, "I need you here in case I die to guide my soul into the body provided by the tree of rebirth."
Stepping back from him, Mary narrowed her eyes, "Why do I have a suspicion that your reasoning is a misguided attempt to protect me?"
"It might be, but my point still stands. Besides, I'm not going to be alone." Two more Herald's emerged from his body. Looking to his brothers, the original nodded, "You know what to do."
Mary approached him, adjusting the collar of his black blazer and smoothing out the wrinkles, "That still kind of creepy."
"But useful," he cupped her face, staring into her eyes he whispered, "I love you." Leaning down he placed a kiss on her lips before disappearing in a crimson flash.
–XX –
Lily Potter sat in a circular room off from her office, the glass walls giving her a 360° view of the city below. She idly clutched a glass of wine while bouncing a Jean-covered leg.
Slowly, she raised the glass to her lips, her Emerald eyes flashing as a 10-foot-tall shadow moved in the city below black fog sweeping out from it. Her gaze flicked to another shadow, and then another. When she was done, she counted twenty of the creatures moving through the city.
The Board of Directors had released the demented Giants.
Demented Giants are Giants that were merged with the essence of Dementor. They had the strength and resilience of Giants as well as the ability to go intangible and spread misery in their wake.
She lowered the glass, a single drop of red wine falling from her chin onto her red blouse.
Everything was falling apart, since the destruction of Azkaban industries the Board of Directors had panicked and released what was supposed to be a last resort weapon. Now misery was spreading throughout the city.
Her grip tightened on the glass. Everything she'd worked for in the past handful of centuries would be gone. The glass in her hand shattered. Glass fragments rained down onto the tile floor. Wine and blood dripped from her fingers to stain the grout.
Shaking her hand free of the liquid, she raised it to her face, watching the cuts on her skin heal. Maybe this was the punishment for all the pain she caused and the people she killed. She shook her head, her dark red hair whipping behind her.
It didn't matter, her one desire was fulfilled.
Her gaze settled onto the large golden sphere in the center of the room.
Once her son, a smile curled her lips at the thought, something she never thought she would have again after what James did to her. She stood to her feet, the high-back chair creaking with her movement.
In two quick strides, she was before the egg. With a feather touch, she ran her fingers along its smooth cool surface, eyes locked on the small shadow within.
Once her son was stable, she moved him here where she could always be close and keep him safe. Fortuitous, since Azkaban was hit by a meteor.
The meteor itself was stopped by the barrier around the island, its kinetic energy funneled into the land. Unfortunately, the wards around the island were not designed to withstand that kind of impact. They collapsed, and the release of magic destroyed the castle.
With the castle destroyed, the dimensional magic that controlled the expanded space the castle was released. The fate of those that were there was unknown.
Fortunately, she was called away to a meeting here a day before the meteor hit and she brought her son with her. Last she had heard, the hatchery was intact, the cave they had hollowed out withstood the impact.
Pomfrey abandoned the island taking her son with her. Severus used his contacts to place the children in the eggs into foster care, whatever happened magic would continue to thrive.
After placing the children, Severus disappeared into the wind. She couldn't blame him, there was no way that meteor strike was natural. The mutants were out for revenge. They had underestimated them, thought them too divided to do anything, but with the emergence of the cradle that had changed, and now hard decisions had to be made.
A green flash lit the room and another Lily appeared.
Dressed in green robes, her wavy red hair flowed down her back as her Emerald eyes locked onto the egg. She stepped forward revealing a foot covered in open-toed sandals.
This was Lily Evershade Black of earth 1602.
Evershade ran a hand across the egg stopping when the tips of her fingers were millimeters apart from Lily Potter's. Emerald eyes looked into Emerald eyes, "This is our son?" She asked in a quiet voice.
Potter stared at the woman that looks so much like herself. It had taken a lot of work to search for a universe where their DNA was identical, "Yes."
Evershade inclined her head, "Lord Black will be pleased to finally have an heir."
Potter stepped back, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, "Raise him well and be wary of the witch breed."
In universe 1602 mutants were called Witch Breed and magic was in power. By sending her son here, he would grow up strong and her bloodline would continue. By the time this medieval universe reached modern-day a new breed of magical will have entered the world through her descendants.
It was ironic to her that the Magical's of this universe hated mutants so much, while she used them for her own ends, she understood that they each possess a gene that allowed them to access their abilities. That made them distant cousins in a way.
A large part of her wanted to raise the child herself, but an even bigger part of her understood that the things she had done were wrong. She did not want a new species of magical to carry her sins.
"Of course," Evershade agreed running a finger down the egg. In the wake of her finger, it melted, leaving a widening space big enough for her to reach inside. With a delicate touch, she reached inside and lifted the child gently patting his back until he coughed, and a cry rent the air.
Potter's gaze locked onto the child, focusing on the tuft of red hair that sprouted from his scalp. At that moment, she wondered what he would look like as he grew older. Would he take after her or Sirius?
She didn't ask to hold the child. For if she held him, she knew she would never let him go.
With tears flowing down her face, Potter watched Evershade turn and disappear in a flash of green.
–XX –
Herald hovered above London's business sector, watching the 10-foot-tall shadows move through the streets, their blocky faces devoid of emotion, their white eyes staring straight ahead.
A black miasma swirled around their legs sweeping through the streets. Anyone it touched fell to the ground weeping or screaming and clawing at their faces.
Thunder rumbled as dark clouds swept over the city. Red flashes spread through the grey expands as Herald combined his Atmokinesis with teleportation.
Stretching forth his right hand, his red eyes glowed as his gaze locked onto each giant one after another marking their positions.
With a flex of his will, red lightning jutted down from the sky, a vibrant streak of color in the blackness of the night.
The twenty giants rocked backward as the lightning struck them, bolts of crimson energy dancing across their forms. As one they looked up, their gazes locking on Herald. They raised their arms as portals appeared in the center of their chest.
With the force of a vacuum, tendrils of black were sucked into the portal. Groans echoed through the city, making those that heard them think of crumbling mountains as the Giants disappeared one after another in a flash of rose-colored light.
Sweeping his arms in a circle, a wind swept through the city gathering up the miasma and spiraling it into the air. As the miasma burned up in the atmosphere, Herald's gaze drifted upward.
He wished it was daytime so he could see the sun flare as the Giants fell into it.
Suddenly, he spun catching a bone spike in his left hand, his head cocked to the side as he gazed upon his attacker, "Hello Lily."
–XX –
Duplicate Herald number one floated around the Mys. tech building, his body shifted to be invisible. While the original took care of Lily Potter, it was his job to take care of the Board of Directors, but there was a problem. He couldn't find them. This entire building was saturated and dimensional energy.
Floating before a window that peered into what look like a normal office, Herald tapped his chin. There was something he could try, but he doubted it would work. Now, he just needed an anchoring point.
Allowing his eyes to slowly close, he mixed telepathy with Biokinesis, concentrating on what he remembered of Sirius Black's genetic profile. Remembering it the best he could, he looked for anyone in the building that had a similar profile.
A frown slipped onto his features when he got multiple pings, but nothing strong enough to be related to their direct bloodline. Releasing the Biokinesis part of his abilities, he focused on his telepathy.
From what he could remember, there were others on the Board of Directors Malfoy, Greengrass, Bones, Longbottoms. It looked like he was going to have to use his telepathy to search for the patriarch of one of those families on the Board of Directors. It was less precise than locking on to someone with DNA, but at this point, he didn't have a choice.
Wrinkles appeared around his eyes as he concentrated. Finding what he was looking for, he shifted his body to become intangible as well as invisible and took a step on the air, vanishing in a flash of red.
–XX –
Emerging in the wall of a room, he pushed his head all the way through to stare at the occupants on the other side. The room before him was complete darkness. Lights sat before a group of figures, casting them and silhouettes.
A voice reverberated through the dark room feminine and strong, "I still think it was a bad idea to release the Demented. The humans are going to notice."
"Quiet Bones, our protection is paramount to lead our society," a voice dripping with arrogance countered, "it's time we came out of the shadows and took our rightful place at the head of this world."
"If you feel that way," a deep voice said, "leaning to the light Malfoy and show everyone your face."
Silence reverberated through the room.
Withdrawing back into the wall, Herald thought over his options. If he was going to do this, he needed to take out all the occupants at once, but how could he do that. Each one of these people is a leader of their society, so they should have powerful magic.
Reaching out with his senses, he probed the light before each member. He cursed as he discovered they were magical. It would've been so much easier if they would've been technological.
Vibrating his body at superhuman speed he stepped through the wall as the world slowed down before him.
Clenching his hand into a fist, the lights exploded releasing a blast of wild magical energy into the person before them. As the Board of Directors were thrown away from the table in slow motion, Herald moved.
As nothing more than a blur, he stopped briefly before each occupant, he tore the life force from their body while wrapping his telepathic power around their minds and devouring them whole.
As he approached the last figure, they spun, their dark cloak whipping around them, their blue eyes glowing with power. A hand latched on to his wrist and a fist slammed into his chest, sending him flying through the wall.
Dust filled the air slowly drifting to the floor as plaster slammed onto the carpet in his wake.
– XX –
The original Herald lowered himself so that he was floating a few inches above the Mys. tech roof that Lily was standing on. Staring at her, his head cocked to one side, "You're dying."
Lily took a step back, her eyes wide. No one knew of her secret. Of the side effects produced by absorbing James's entire body into her being. Absorbing him whole instead of just a DNA sample had caused tumors to grow throughout her body. Her eyes narrowed as her crimson hair whipped around her face in the wind, "Who are you?"
Touching down on the roof, Herald squeezed the bone spike in his left hand, causing it to shatter and its pieces to rain down on the roof. "I spent fifteen years in your home, and yet I am so easily forgotten?" he shook his head. "I should've expected nothing less."
As he spoke, Herald peeked into her mind with telepathy. She didn't expect to survive, she had sent her son away to universe 1602 with a counterpart that matched her genetic structure.
As long as he did not return, Herald would leave him be, he would not visit the sins of the parent upon the child.
Lily's eyes widened, "Herald?" She breathed.
Herald spread his arms wide and bowed his head.
"It's been you this entire time," her Emerald eyes blazed with an inner fire, "Hermione said you died."
"I did, but I got over it."
"You won't this time," she ground her teeth together," your actions caused me to give up my child."
Herald cocked his head to the right, "I didn't tell you to absorb James, nor did I tell you to attack the mutants. Those were all your choices, and now the price has come due."
With a scream, Lily jabbed her finger in the air.
Herald tensed as golden words began to spiral from her finger. With a wave of his hand, red light flared shattering the narration magic.
Lily's eyes widened.
In a blur of motion, Herald disappeared.
Lily took a step back only to stumble. Looking down she found her feet had sunk into the roof.
Appearing before Lily, Herald launched a fist at her head bone claws covered in diamond emerging from his knuckles.
Allowing herself to fall backward, Lily disappeared into a portal, screaming as her feet were torn from her body.
Herald spun as Lily appeared hovering in the air behind him, blood dripping from the bloody stumps that now tipped her legs.
His gaze settled on the stumps where her feet used to be, "It appears, your tumors are affecting your ability to regenerate." He lifted his head until their eyes met, "We can stop this you know, I'm willing to let you live. A duplicate of mine has already taken care of the Board of Directors."
Lily's chest heaved as she fought against the pain coursing through her body. Hair fell into her face, hiding her Emerald eyes from view as she stretched her hand forward, her fingers slightly curled.
Herald froze the cells of his body moving against his will.
"I will tear you apart," the redhead screamed spittle flying from her mouth.
With a force of will, Herald used self-molecular manipulation to cancel out Lily's flesh manipulation," No, you won't." Flicking his right hand, a whip of fire curled out.
Again, Lily disappeared.
Tapping into his superspeed, Herald spun stabbing his hand into empty air.
A gurgling sound echoed through the night as Lily emerged from a portal right where his hand was, her body appearing around his hand, his hand piercing her skull.
With a push of telekinetic power, Lily's body slid off his arm, crumpling to the ground.
He stood there staring at her body, "I suppose I owe you a thank you for giving me a roof over my head during my formative years and an education. Consider me not letting the birds eat your corpse my thanks." With a wave of his hand, fire consumed her body.
As the rancid smoke filled with the smell of cooked meat wafted into the air, his head snapped to the side, "Seems like you have gotten into some trouble." With a step, he disappeared.
–XX –
Duplicate Herald number one slammed into a roof across from Mys. tech industries. After rolling once, he lay still wincing at the feeling of bones shifting back into place in his chest. When the pain receded to a dull ache, he began to rise to his feet.
A flash of purple in his periphery sent him leaping backward.
Purple Eldridge energy struck the spot where he had been, the space decaying almost instantly.
The cloaked figure from before descended from the sky, their black robes billowing around them.
In the light of the moon, he could make out a single strand of red hair fluttering in the breeze, and luminescent blue eyes shining from beneath their hood.
"Who are you?"
"I think the better question is who are you, and why did you attack us?"
"Do you really have to ask, abducting the mutant race, using them to further your goals? Manipulation of the humans, did you honestly think no one was going to want recompense?"
Grey smoke swirled around the figure before forming into a giant arm. The arm shot forward, the fingers of its hands splayed and clinching in a grabbing motion.
In a blink, Herald's body shifted to become made of diamond. In another, he increased his density, the diamond of his body changing from clear to a very dark blue.
The roof cracked beneath his new weight.
The bone arm shattered against his body, and the cloaked figure drew back in surprise.
Capitalizing on this moment, Herald launched himself into the air. Tapping into his self-molecular manipulation, he shifted his crystalline arm into an angular blade.
Pushing out a layer of telekinesis beneath his feet, he stopped before the woman.
In a flash, the cloaked redhead's left hand shot out, her slender fingers catching the blade.
"You are an interesting specimen, I was originally against capturing your people, but after seeing you in action, I can see why some of my fellow board members feared you and why others thought you could prove useful. However, you are a young species. While we with magic have grown and matured."
A red translucent blade exploded from her throat, spraying blood on Herald's crystalline form. "True, but that maturity has made you arrogant."
The blade in the redhead's throat extended as it was dragged down through her body. As the two halves separated, the original Herald floated behind the woman a Psionic blade in his hand. Slowly, he shook his head, "I need to see a psychologist, I'm so ashamed of myself."
"Shut up."
Grinning, Herald closed the distance between them, "Don't feel too bad, she was a necromancer."
"That explains the bone thing, and how she was so much stronger. She drew strength from the people I killed," duplicate Herald muttered as he and the original clasped hands and merged back together.
Herald swayed slightly as he relived the experiences of his double and absorbed the knowledge he collected from the Board of Directors. When he finally felt normal, he opened his eyes and looked at Mys. tech.
It would be so easy to leave the Magical's to pick up the pieces, but according to Lily's knowledge, a man named Severus had put the egg children into foster care. Those children would need a place to master their abilities when they came of age. That meant there needed to be a magical world here to help them, which meant someone had to lead it.
A portal opened to his left and another duplicate emerged from it.
"I take it since you finished up here, you will talk to Andromeda Strange."
"Unless you want to do it?"
"After what you just did, I don't think so."
Placing a hand on the original shoulder, the duplicate merged with him, its body transforming into streamers of red energy that flowed into him. As its experiences merged with his mind. He shook his head, "I'm going to have to be more careful, some of my duplicates are developing their own personality. At least, he delivered needed items to the cradle, so his time in the world wasn't completely useless."