There had been a movie that she and Katie had watched during the summer before Zee's sixth year at Hogwart's one date night staying over at the Bell family's home; something about star travel. The good guys had walked into a vertical pool of water and then zoomed through a rollercoaster of twists and turns before their arrival on a distant desert planet. It was all very exciting, but the travel had reminded her of flying a broom through a rainstorm.
Walking through the Veil was an utter disappointment in comparison. One moment in the Chamber of Death and the next on looking out over a dark, rocky landscape as far as her eyes could see.
See continued to look around, checking for differences on where she might actually be. Could this be the afterlife? Maybe she had finally found a way to die?
*You are not dead.*
Ah.
Lightning flashed, purple in color, across the sky. Strange constellations of start twinkled down, lending to the idea that Zee definitely wasn't in Kansas any longer. Gathering her wits about her, the displaced Witch decided to find some measure of protection from the elements. Lightning and the sudden appearance of cool wind leant to the possibility of rain. Maybe a storm. In the distance she spotted what initially appeared to be a cave of sorts. Or maybe just an outcropping of stone that might offer some measure of protection. And luckily it seemed not that far a hike.
But Zinnia was a Witch, wasn't she?
After Apparating successfully; something she felt was safe to attempt - she could see the destination with her own eyes, and it would be an easy sort of practice to test her ability to do magic here... wherever here actually was.
"I'm not insane, right?" Zee sighed as she glanced at the mirror she had Transfigured from one of the countless rocks littering the cave's floor. "I mean, you'd tell me if I was nuts, wouldn't you? We're definitely not on Earth anymore, right?"
Her reflection took a moment to ponder the question, giving it the thought it so deserved. Several times, the raven haired not-woman trapped in the silvery glass started to answer, but seemed to think better of whatever she was going to offer. Finally, after several minutes, the not-reflection spoke softly.
*If I say that you are insane, thereby insinuating that you are, in fact, talking to yourself for these many years, then... well, yes, you are alone here on this desolate planet.*
"Okay." Zee hoped the inflection of her voice indicated that she needed more to her question. Luckily, Zo-Kalar was apparently not finished.
*But if I say that you are perfectly lucid, how does that change anything about what is going on here?*
"Continue."
*Ultimately, you have to accept that you are talking to your reflection. Whether I am a figment of your psychosis, or an actual visual representation of a manifestation of a god you don't want to believe in, of which, you are the Priestess of, how does that change anything? We are here. You, my poor little Witch, alone. Or you and I, though separated by the Laws that govern Celestial Beings interacting with mortals or, in your case, nigh immortal living beings.*
Zee nodded as she turned her gaze towards the horizon. "I hate it here."
*We just got here. Or are you meaning you wish you'd stayed back with your reality? It was going so swimmingly for you there.*
Zee ignored her not-refection's tone. "No. They deserve their fate. They'll all be House Elves by the time their end comes."
Knowledge is power. That's the saying, right? Not long after Zee had mistakenly accepted what she had thought was the mantle of 'Mistress of Death', she had realized that something was exactly right with the Wizarding World and its various denizens. Different magical creatures began actively seeking her out, while others began avoiding her altogether. Where her relationship with House Elves had been fairly benevolent, Zee saw how they all made every effort to avoid her… some even going so far as to ignore requests. Unheard of for a House Elf! On the other side of the galleon, the Goblins made every effort to be accommodating. Those little fuckers were downright nice.
She knew something was up… and trying to depend upon Beedle the Bard and his children's tales just wasn't going to cut it. Zee initially raided the Library at Hogwart's, but unfortunately almost all of the books that even seemed to have a passing idea of what she was looking for was missing. In some cases, the very name of the book had been burned from the page that she was reading. That led her to raiding personal libraries.
Auctions from Death Eater estates and others were suddenly at the top of Zee's list to attend. Thousands of galleons later, she had the beginnings of a clue of what was really going on in the Wizarding World… which was all good, except that the rumors began to circulate that Zinnia Potter was going dark, trying to find dark spells for nefarious purposes. The Daily Prophet even began a Dark Potter Watch where they listed all of the places she frequented and, when possible, started listing the dark and strange items she was purchasing.
It was a lucky find that finally put her onto the right path.
In a trunk full of old tomes from an estate sale in northern Italy, Zee found seven non-sequential pages from an ancient spell book called the Book of Eibon. The pages were torn, as if ripped from the bindings that had held them… and the writing was nearly illegible. It took nearly four different restoration charms, plus two semi-legal potions to finally make out what the pages spoke of.
Three of the pages were parts of different spells. Dark spells. Very, very dark spells. If what Zee could put together from the little bit of Arithmancy she remember from school, the spells in the Book of Eibon made the three Unforgivables look positively benign in comparison. Two pages told of how to properly prepare a human skull for demonic summoning without requiring the blood of a virgin male under the age of thirteen to properly temper the bone. Something about the Emanation of Yoth, whatever that was. Zee was happy that the pages didn't explain how to properly get said blood. One page spoke of something called Hyperborea; sort of a history of its customs.
The last page, however, was what truly put Zee towards the first step into madness. It had been possibly the most horrid of truths that she had learned; House Elves were actually Witches and Wizards that had been captured and 'modified' by the Goblins.
She'd spent several minutes retching in the loo after reading that particular fact. It had taken several quick tumblers of fire whiskey to get her hands to stop shaking long enough for her eyes to focus of the tiny script that filled that final piece of a book that Zee prayed was a joke. A really, really poor joke.
The page had been somewhere in the middle of an argument by the author towards the purpose of said transformation, lending forward the cause of lowering the restrictions of when to force the change upon the unsuspecting witch or wizard. Apparently, there was a need to create free magic that could be given purpose towards something. The text ended prior to getting to whatever end goal there was for such monstrous endeavors. For centuries - millennia, Goblins had been the servants of… something. It was an almost unholy devotion, one that Zee was terrified to truly contemplate. Apparently, when magic users reached a certain level of magical aptitude (though how such was determined was not explained in the page she had), the Goblins took the witch or wizard, no matter how young or old, and turned them into a House Elf.
Zee had sat down and contemplated every interaction she'd ever had with Dobby and Kreacher. How they'd been mistreated and abused for so long, and that they could have been friends or relatives to the very masters that treated them so horribly. Which led her to even worse thoughts…
What had happened to Sally Anne Perks? There had been that sweet girl in her first year at Hogwart's, but she had never come to the second year. Had she fallen into the Goblins' snare? How many others of the Wizarding World had vanished? How many had been mistakenly blamed on Voldemort and his followers? Or Grindlewald? Of the dark lords before him?
Now, with an idea of what she was looking for, Zee had pushed harder than ever to find more of what was truly happening in the world. Using the various words that she had never heard of previously, Zee could use the Charm Hermione had created for searching libraries for key words and phrases. It was only a matter of time before she would locate another reference to Hyperborea or Eidon or even Yoth. It would be nearly a year of searching before she found more of what she was looking for.
In the United States of America, in the small Massachusetts town of Arkham, Zee found a private seller of rare and unusual books that had stumbled upon a collection from a former professor at Miskatonic University. When she had silently cast the Seek-Word Charm, nearly every book in the professor's small library had lit up... as well as several other books that were on the shelves of the small store. Zee had bought everything. The shopkeeper retired that day. And Zee left with every book, every scrap of paper. All of it.
Zee holed herself up in a small cottage she bought on the outskirts of Sheffield and dove into the various books that she now owned. Most of them were diaries, actually. Academic journals and case study notes. She began using the Internet to cross-reference the various dates listed with what the text claimed happened, as opposed to what the general public was told happened.
Viral outbreaks and fires matched up with mass experiments performed on entire towns. Attempts at crossbreeding merpeople with townsfolks in rural hamlets and villages. Nothing was considered too terrifying, too horrific, to attempt. And when Zee began checking various magical publications, matching the dates of magical skirmishes with dark lords to what was listed in the Muggle periodicals… everything lined up. No one really knew the truth because the Goblins made sure that everyone was lying to everyone else; the cover ups prevented the truth from getting out.
But what was scarier than the Goblins being the masterminds behind what Zee was finding, was that they weren't in control. Not at all. Even before the Goblins got involved, other races had been created to force the wizard sand witches into a corner, making them both responsible for protecting the very creatures that were slowly forcing the Wizarding World to release more free magic into the ether. Centaurs and fauns, Veela and vampires. And crossbred abominations that were tasked by their progenitors to force the truth away from anyone that could stand against what was coming.
And what was coming?
The Bible was wrong. God wasn't love. The gods were hateful, vicious monsters beyond description that were bent upon inhabiting the Earth. And humanity? Nothing more than an insignificant, momentary pest that was to be swatted away. Less than insects. Less than nothing.
And in the meantime? The various abominations were playing with humans. Using them for sport. And those few of humanity that could access magic? More sporting, but still left to be ignorant of the truth and used as batteries to one day awaken the gods of old. Beings of such immense size and power and awareness that anything lesser would be driven mad at anything more than just the thought of what they truly represented.
But Zee was the Chosen One, right? It was her destiny to bring together the Deathly Hallows and defeat the greatest Dark Lord to ever live. She was to lead the Wizarding World into a new, glorious future of peace and prosperity.
In a fit of hubris, Zinnia Potter wrapped herself up into her father's Cloak, carefully held the Wand of Destiny and called upon the Ring of Resurrection to call Death to her. She was going to lead the charge against the Goblins and other abominations across the world. Zee would not be dissuaded from her righteous cause… and then her world went sideways.
Mistress of Death.
What a joke.
When Zee had gathered the three Hallows together and accepted the title of Mistress of Death, she'd allowed one of the very nightmares she wanted to fight against in. Zee had become the very doorway that she was trying to prevent. No wonder the Goblins were now bending over backwards to serve her. They didn't care about her, but rather the Great One she was now the unwilling slave to. She had lost the war before even knowing it was happening.
But she wasn't going down without a fight. Zee destroyed all the Hallows.
She was free.
Yeah. That would be a great big no.
For the first time, Zo-Kalar made His presence known. He was always there, awake or asleep. Drunk or sober. It didn't matter. She was His now. For weeks, she tried everything to get rid of the monster that had invaded her very brain, her soul. Nothing seemed to work… and then Zee decided to test the boundaries of stupidity a second time.
In a fit of rage, the cause of which she can't even remember, Zee demanded that Zo-Kalar reveal Himself, to prove that He wasn't some inner turmoil that she hadn't created herself. That He wasn't an attack by more mundane sources. And Zo-Kalar appeared to her in the mirror, her not-reflection morphing into His true cosmic visage… and Zee's mind broke completely.
The next day, after weeping all night, Zee decided to destroy the Wizarding World. If she could save even one innocent from the possible yet inevitable fate of becoming a minion to one such as Zo-Kalar, then she would do whatever it took.
Zee's first act was to call as many House Elves to her as she could name. And with each that appeared, she demanded that they go and bring more House Elves to her. Within the hour, hundreds of the former witches and wizards were gathered in the back yard of her cottage. She smiled sadly at them, wondering who they all once were… if she had known them in that previous life, before she ordered them all to not resist or attempt to protect themselves in any way. The signs of relief Zee thought she glimpsed in their eyes was enough to strengthen her resolve as she murdered every House Elf that had answered her call.
Her crusade had begun.
It was too bad that she had failed so spectacularly.
Zee sighed aloud as she pulled the stolen cloak further around her shoulders. Maybe she should start a fire.
"Why did your kind create the abominations?" She asked into the darkness that had crept in all around them, Zinnia and her mirror. "Shouldn't gods be able to do their own dirty work?"
*And do you personally do tasks that others can do for you?*
"I don't need servants."
Her not-reflection laughed. *When you fought Riddle, did you not let others handle the distractions? Those that weren't worth your effort, did you not assign others to deal with the pests? Those that were inconsequential? *
"Well… yeah."
*Same principle here. Why should I concern myself with what I can have others do?*
"And me trying to stop the Others from rising? From waking up?"
Her not-reflection looked Zee over, those green eyes boring into her very being. *If you could have succeeded, no matter how remote a chance, then I would have been the ruler of a world of my own… being the lone god awake while everyone else slept? Why would I not want that?*
"But…"
*Yes, I know.* Zo-Kalar interrupted her. *Your chance of success was laughably pathetic. But the games of gods, they are above what you might understand. Even insane, talking to your own reflection in a mirror you supposedly created with magic… in a desert at the bottom of a mountain you don't recognize under constellations that you cannot identify. You simply don't have the mental capacity to even begin to comprehend what the universe is really like.*
Zee huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. Let the poor, moronic mortal just sit here while you make plans."
*Now you're getting it.* Her not-reflection sighed. *In the most basic of terms… the universe belonged to beings for greater than you. After hundreds of thousands of centuries, they grew tired and slept. Some on your Earth. Others on other planets. Some even in other galaxies and universes. Maybe even different realities. Some chose to go backwards in time. A few chose to go forward.
*Eventually, lower lifeforms evolved around our sleeping forms. Those that showed some minute shred of intelligence chose to worship us, even as we slept. As we dreamt, those that drew close began to exhibit different branches of evolution; the abominations as you call them. They tapped into the out edges of our dreams and eventually discovered how to help wake us up.*
Zee rolled her eyes. "And why would anyone do that?"
Her not-reflection glared back at her. *Why does anyone do anything? They wanted power. They wanted to rule over those different from them. They wanted to win. The Goblins weren't on the same side as the centaurs. And the Veela definitely hated having to interact with Vampires. Everyone was trying to amass as much free magic to feed their focus of worship before another side could do the same.*
"And what about you? How are you awake without needing the free magic?"
*I have you.* The Great One said simply. *There is a hierarchy, for lack of a better explanation. Not all gods are created equal. I needed a lot less to wake up, and once you gathered the vestments of my Temple, it was the perfect match.*
"How did that happen? How did the Deathly Hallows become a tale told to magical children? Why were they forgotten?"
*No idea. They were each created so long ago. I don't even really remember having much in the way of actively participating in their creation. I think a Priest of my Temple had them created, though remember that I was sleeping at the time.*
After all of these years, trapped under Zo-Kalar's control, there was still so much she didn't understand. But worse was the idea that everything she was learning was ultimately useless. No one in the Wizarding World had believed her, no matter what type of proof Zee attempted to convince them with. It was always discarded.
The Wizarding World deserved whatever fate befell them.
*Someone approaches.*
At her not-refection's words, Zee pulled away from her inner musings and glanced around. From higher up the mountain, she watched as cloaked figure drew closer. The stranger's gait was sure, even though the path he took seemed not the safest – not even considering the high winds and lightning that continued to buffet all around. The figure slowly approached – a staff in his hands aiding in his traversing down the mountainside.
Zee twisted around, her natural inclination to take a dueling stance; her hands already drawing energy from the surrounding area. As the figure continued to approach, she could begin to make out that the figure carried a staff to help him navigate through the darkness. Choosing to show that she was not going to be easy prey, Zee windlessly cast a Glow Light Charm, quickly illuminating the area surrounding where Zee and her mirror stood.
The change from one moment darkness and the next brightly lit, the approaching stranger halted its approach. Seemingly unprepared for her, it threw back the hood of its robe… a dark brown in color, Zee could now discern under the sickly white glow of her Charm. But it was what she faced now that had her tensioning up and readying some of the more deadly spells in her repertoire.
He… Zee decided in that moment that the figure was male… appeared to be some type of serpent man hybrid, sort of like Voldemort had appeared after his resurrection, although the person before her was green and scaled.
Unsure of what she should do, Zee increased the light's luminescence. "Hello?"
*Hello? That's your start? Hello?* Zo-Kalar whispered. Upon finally being able to look upon the approaching humanoid's features, He was sounding agitated. *It's a Velusian. One of the Followers of Yig – one of the Great Old Ones. It needs to be destroyed. Now!*
"Now?" Zee asked aloud.
The snake man in front of her jerked at her words, suddenly pulling the staff in front of him. He began hissing and screeching at her. Loudly, his staff waving back and forth. Maybe it was a trick of the light, or perhaps there had been something special about the opponent before her, but suddenly Zee felt that her life was in danger; that the staff he held was glowing dangerously. Whatever it might or might not have been, the Dark Enchantress flung a Bludgeoning Hex towards the figure opposite her.
Her aim was true. The serpent-like man's staff shattered as the spell continued on and struck the figure in the chest. The fight was over before it really had a chance to begin. He was breathing, that much she could tell from where she stood, but it was labored – he wasn't long for this life.
Slowly, she approached the possible Velusian, whatever that might be. As Zee drew closer to the prone figure on the ground, she realized that his wheezing was a type of laughter. Why was he laughing?
*Careful.*
"I am. I know."
Suddenly, Zee felt her mind being assaulted beyond anything Voldemort or Snape had ever tried. Even at her weakest, she had never experienced the sensations that rushed through her head; waves and waves of soundless noise had Zee wishing for anything to make the excruciating pain stop, even just for a moment. She could hear Zo-Kalar screaming out to her… whatever was happening was even preventing their link from offering aid. It was enough that she was ready to pray for oblivion… and then…
It stopped.
Blessed silence.
*You are definitely screwed.*
The body on the ground was dead. Zee had killed an innocent creature, though what being that had truly ever lived was actually or truly innocent? But that was irrelevant. The serpent man had been a guardian. The keeper of a great secret, possibly one of this reality's greatest secrets… and now it was the duty of Zinnia Potter to take up the required position as a Stone Keeper.
Her mind was suddenly flushed with knowledge. Information about where she currently was (the planet Vormir); and what the year was (3577th day of the third moon's rise); and that the stone… the gem she was guarding could only be obtained by sacrificing your greatest love (who writes these things?); as well as her predecessor had been trapped at being a stone keeper for nearly one hundred days.
Well, that sucked.
Zee looked back over her shoulder at the mirror. Her not-reflection nodded. *Far be it from me to say anything negative about you killing, Zinnia, but maybe you should have waited long enough to maybe determine the actual threat level of your surroundings prior to murdering the Stone Keeper.*
"You told me to." She screamed.
*And you listen to me why?*
The once Dark Enchantress of Britain threw her hands up above her head. "Fuck you. I know I screwed up! But who expected a lizard man with a staff to face off against me after having just walked through the Veil? I mean, I thought we were in Hell or someplace equally as bad."
*And is Vormir all that you expected Hell to be like?* her not- reflection snarked back at her. It sucked to realize that everything she now knew, Zo-Kalar now knew, as well.
She decidedly turned her back on the mirror.
Who really could have expected that crossing realities, possibly dimensions, would include traveling to another planet in another galaxy? Boldly going where no witch had gone before?
But here she was.
How was she supposed to have known that the Veil of her world's section of something called a multiverse would deposit them (her AND Zo-Kalar, of course) to this sad excuse of a reality at some crazy mountaintop on a planet nobody ever apparently visited very often that held some wickedly stupid secret treasure hidden so long ago that nobody ever came looking for it, that required a caretaker to watch over it, and said caretaker was unwillingly drafted until either aforementioned super-secret treasure was claimed or until a new unlucky sucker could be forced to stand guard, thereby allowing the escape of duty from the said previous Stone Keeper?
Whew!
It was crazy.
Not her this time, but the situation. A crazy situation.
But maybe Zee was actually crazy, too. She'd work on that later…
So, Zee had stepped out of whatever time slash space vortex the Veil had created to be immediately confronted with a giant lizard man... well, giant compared to her five foot four height, but she faced a red (had she mentioned that he was red?) lizard jabbering away in hisses and snarls and shaking a staff at her... an act of aggression in her world. Her opponent hadn't stood a chance... but at least she had further proof that her magic worked in whatever warped reality she was in now. Mister Scaly had laid there, dying, and instead of offering Zee condemnation for killing him, he had laughed, gasping between each breath. Zee had stood there, watching as the reptilian creature's mirth led him to his death... and upon his passing, and she felt the knowledge of being a Stone Keeper transfer into her.
That really, really sucked.
Hopefully somebody would come by soon.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"How long have we been here?"
Zee glanced back over to her not-reflection in the mirror – her only companion for so, so very long, awaiting an answer. Zo-Kalar seemed to be mentally calculating. Zee really hoped that she wasn't insane, but knew that it was most likely possible that she was.
*I can't really say as to how long the days are, Zinnia. The rotation of the planet versus the time around its sun, plus the pull due to multiple moons that we've witnessed.* the not-reflection in the mirror sighed. *At best guess, child, I'd say approximately forty years or so, give or take a decade.*
The once Bearer of the Deathly Hallows stretched her arms wide. "And yet I still don't look a day over twenty."
Zo-Kalar looked over at her. And for a moment, Zee could almost believe it was her own reflection finally looking back. Almost.
*Seventeen… if you're lucky.*
How sad was it that she was enjoying the back and forth banter with her reflection which might or might not have been either a manifestation of her own insanity or possibly the demonic god, Zo-Kalar… and what was worse, was that she wasn't sure which would be the worse fate. Should she appreciate that she was once feared across a planet Earth as the Dark Enchantress; that it had taken the combined efforts of the ICW and NATO's armed forced to eventually capture her… and even then, that they'd used the Imperius Curse on the girl she'd been sleeping with to drug her food, so that they could take her while unconscious?
So, for forty years or so, Zee had spent her time roughing it on a mountain that either the god, Zo-Kalar, or her insane psychosis has decided was holding a piece of an Outer God… potentially one the first to ever exist. How a stone could entrap an Outer God, she had no idea; and neither did her not-reflection.
Instead of worrying about those things she couldn't control, Zee spent her useless and apparently days carving the pages of the various books and tomes that she had been able to read of her collection into the walls and floor of the cave she'd turned into her home on this useless planet. The Necronomicon. The Book of Eidon. Over half of the Sepher Ha-Razim. Even the Picatrix and The Grand Grimoire writings had been carved into the stone.
It was ultimately a mindless task, but one that gave Zee the time necessary to sort through all of Hsssefid's memories. That had been the snake guy's name: Hsssefid.
From what she could ascertain, they must be way far away from Earth. He'd had no knowledge of any planet that came close to her home's description. There were, however, multiple worlds that were home to various alien races that looked human, so even if there wasn't an Earth to go home to, there might be a new world or two that she could claim as her own.
Now, if she could just find a wat to get away from Zo-Kalar.
*I explained it to you, Zinnia. You are mine. If I was to leave you now, you'd fade to dust. Your name erased from the ledgers of history. For all intents and purposes, you would have nothing. The quicker you accept that together we can do so much… you are, for all intents and purposes, immortal now. Think of all that we could achieve…*
"What about your body back home?" She questioned her not-reflection. If I became dust, what would you do?"
*I am a Great One, Zinnia. I will go on.*
"Even here?"
Her not-reflection turned to look back at the reflected landscape behind her. *Even in this reality, wherever and whatever it is, I know that you are as you were before. Maybe the laws of magic are new here. Different. But, Zinnia… and you are mine. Death will have no hold over you as long as we are together. There may be gods and goddesses here. Avatars and personifications… but that you are of me now, together becoming who you are. We are. Forever. None will stand against us and survive.*
"So, what you're saying is that I could be stuck on this planet for all eternity?" Zee asked.
*Unless the chance to escape comes? Yes, my Priestess.*
"Great."
*Or…* her not-reflection added. *We could take that portal that just opened up behind you and make our escape.*
"What?" See stood abruptly. Turning to glance behind her, she watched as a tunnel made of swirling light and sound had formed at the base of the mountain. Without considering the ramifications of such an event – the chance that she could finally be away from this accursed planet enough of a reason to spur her to wasting not a moment in her attempt to reach the portal before it might vanish… as would any possibility of getting away.
Drawing nearer, a humanoid figure had suddenly appeared, much like Apparition, in front of the swirling vortex.
"What is this?!" A distinctly German accented speaking voice reached her ears. "Where am I? Where is Captain Rogers?"
Zee didn't care much what the strange figure was saying except that it was definitely human (a bit...? Oh, who was she kidding? A really strange looking male. His face was skull like and blood red!), and German most likely meant Earth. And, well, if not Earth, the open portal behind the strange looking skull headed guy was at least somewhere away from here.
"Can we hold the portal open?"
"Where is the Tesseract?" The skull headed guy was looking all around in apparent confusion. Zee would be more than happy to offer him the knowledge of the planet in exchange for a ride on his magic doorway thing (that sounded a lot less dirty before she took the time to think about that).
"Hi." She offered. The crimson headed skull…. Damn, but he reminded her a bit of Voldemort, what with the lack of a nose and the demanding tone upon his sudden arrival to her home for the past four decades or so. Why did everyone now remind her of Tom? "Your job now, wanker-face."
She was so close to the portal.
*We can keep it open for a few minutes. Maybe longer. But I think only one person can travel at a time. Make sure that it's you and not him.*
"Got it."
"Answer me, fraulein." The German guy demanded. "Where am I? And where is Captain Rogers?"
She spoke German, but it was an ugly language. English by birth, she'd see if he at least could understand a different language of Earth. And besides… he was wearing a Nazi Germany uniform. No way was that something she expected.
"I don't know any Captain Rogers." Zee offered as she tried to maneuver around him. Damn, but he was tall. "As for where you are? Welcome to Vormir."
"What is Vormir? And where is the Tesseract?"
"Look… Mr. Skull Head or whoever you are. I don't know what a toss-a-rap is or why you need it so badly. But Vormir is a planet for away from Earth, of which I'm hoping you are from."
"Yes. Earth." He answered. "And I am Johann Schmidt, leader of HYDRA. And, if my plan goes through then I have won the War. The United States will be in a state of ruin. All will know that the Red Skull was victorious over Captain America and the Allied Forces."
Red Skull? Guy with a face like a crimson skeleton honestly called himself the Red Skull? She definitely needed to leave this world quickly. She couldn't even begin to contemplate how much worse eternity might be with him to talk to. It was definitely time to go; exit, stage left.
"How about a little trade? The German soldier glanced at Zee, his eyes open in question. It was all that she needed to make her move. Using Legilimency hard and dirty, she mind raped the self-named Red Skull of as much as she could handle.
Earth was nearing the end of World War Two. March of 1945. He and this Captain Rogers slash America were the result of scientific experimentation to create super soldiers. And while Rogers was all about freedom and the good fight, Schmidt's HYDRA Organization was exactly the type of 'already set up' group of minions and lackeys that a Dark Empress was in the market for.
Magic seemed a foreign concept. Religious paraphernalia and the like being all that she might have to deal with. Street level occult barely outside of the witch doctors and voodoo practitioners that never even made it to the Wizarding World. This Tesseract that Schmidt was raving about, however, might be something worth looking into. As she neared finishing, Zee knew that she needed to find Armin Zola. He would be key for her eventual takeover of HYDRA.
"Wh-what? What have you done?" Schmidt was kneeling on the ground, both hands holding his head at the temples.
"Just getting started, mein fuhrer." Taking a deep breath, Zee pushed all that Hsssefid had given to her, she pushed in Schmidt's head. It was only fair that he should get the pleasure of becoming the next Stone Keeper, allowing for Zee to finally escape. He was a military man. He should understand the requirement and duty of a sentry. He was perfect.
*You really believe that?*
The Red Skull was currently laying in the ground, drool spilling onto the harsh, unforgiving landscape that surrounded the mountain that held the gateway to the magical stone or whatever. Zee had never seen it, not that she had wanted anything to do with it. The whole mountain stank of demonic energy, what Zo-Kalar referred to as Outer God taint. Whatever it was, she wanted nothing to do with it, at all or ever.
*The portal is fighting back. We need to go.*
Since Schmidt had no objection… his lack of attention (or consciousness for that matter) to her movements as the gift that it was, Zee took the tattered cloak that she had been wearing, throwing it over his prone form and covering that ugly red head of his. She summoned the few belongings that she had painstakingly Transfigured over the long, lonely years, Zee took only long enough to mentally remove any memory of her as the previous Stone Keeper into the skull-shaped head of the skeleton looking interloper before Zee jumped headfirst into the quickly dwindling portal.
Anywhere was better than here.