Planeswalker Gothic 3
Part 5
Wilderness. Merlin Verse.
I was planning on taking Daenerys Targaryen and Hermoine Granger to a few places within the multiverse, such as Stormwind so that they could both pick up some cool spells that didn't require a wand to use, as well as some armour that didn't cover up as much as it should. But first I wanted to put both of their minds at ease about the choices they had made, at least as best I could.
To do that I was currently leading them to the crystal cave, which like the dark side cave on dagobah, only it was a source of good magic. The crystals within the cave could restore magic to someone who had lost it, and grant visions of the future. Like all visions they were somewhat lacking in context, and didn't seem to warn about personal danger ver well, but everyone I knew who'd I'd taken to this cave seemed to feel better about their lives afterwards.
I'd decided to come here mostly because Miss Granger had way to many questions, and she was too nervous, while I didn't blame her for worrying about having run off on a whim with someone she thought was a criminal, as someone was bound to have second thoughts about doing something like that, it had rapidly gotten annoying. I hoped that a vision of the future or that at least the pleasant vibes within the cave would calm her down. Also it was one of the wonders of the multiverse and as such it worth showing to people.
Plus this time I was planning to go into the cave. I wanted a little gudience in my own life, and there was always the chance that the cave would make me feel better about things. Not that I had much faith in prophecy and visions as I'd travelled with people who had them, and bad things had still befallen those people.
I'd landed the Puddle Jumper some distance from the cave as the any part of the area that was flat happened to be covered in trees. This didn't prevent people from nearing the cave on foot, but there was no where close by to park my space ship.
"You were a queen" I heard Hermonine Granger say to Daenerys Targaryen "Wow!".
I couldn't help smiling upon hearing that.
"Techinally I'm a prince" I informed the two young women "Not that I do anything about it".
It wasn't really optional since should I ever visit a certain realm once again I'd take the form of an alicorn. Not that I intended to go there, the last time I'd seen Twlight Sparkle she'd tried to drag me back to her world, but I had no intention of settling down anywhere.
Granger was understandably a little overwhemled by this news. Who could blame since she had until recently been a girl working in a book store.
"Now I feel out of place" she complained "More so than ever".
Well to be fair she was hanging around with two people who would in a matter of years become figures of myth and legend in Westeros. Many of the small folk might already think I was a myth, the wizard who'd helped Rob Stark become King in the North.
"These woods seem creepier than I remember" I said to the two young woman "Stick close to me".
Daenerys did just that, she got very close, so close that I got a moment to admire how good her clevage looked thanks to the top she wore. More modern clothing suited her.
Hermonine heard or saw something we didn't see, and moved on a head. She did this despite me having jus told her to stick close to me. Perhaps she needed a firmer hand, if only for her own safety.
"Wait, don't!" I called out.
It was too late, some fog appeared and for a few moments there was visibilty at all. Then as soon as it had appeared it was gone, and while this might seem good it wasn't because now there were about twenty Hermonine Grangers in front of me. To make matters even more interesting, they were looking at me for aid.
The fact that she was also wearing modern clothes, jeans that hugged her curves, and a top that showed that she had a bigger bra size than the actress who played her in the movies (even if in every other way they looked alike) was pretty distracting when there was a crowd of her to admire.
"At this point I'm sure I'm living out the sexual fanasty of many a teenage boy" I muttered to myself.
It was a testament to how strange my life was that this only registered as a three out of ten on my personal weridness scale.
"Would the real Miss Granger please put her hand up" I requested.
They all did as I wished.
"Of course it wouldn't be that simple" I moaned.
I had to do something to figure out which was the real witch. My Planeswalker senses weren't helping, I could only detect three souls in these woods, but Granger's felt like a reflection in a house of mirrors. It was offputting to say the least.
Thinking about it I realised that Hermoine would naturally obey an authority figure, I might not be her teacher anymore, but I had been, as such she would do anything I told her to do, within reason. Perhaps these illusions would take things further.
"Jump up in the air" I ordered.
They all did this to, and when they spoke they all did so at the same time, which was loud. I had make them do something the real witch wouldn't do.
"No talking" I commanded "Now will he real Hermonine strip down to her bra and knickers for me".
I took out my wand, intending to stun the one image of Miss Granger who didn't obey me, however they were all doing as they were told. Which meant either that none of them were real, or that Hermoine was so used to obeying teachers that she would simply do whatever I told her. Something to think on later.
"Screw this" I mutterd.
Then I stunned all of the Hermonies, the illusions shattered leaving only the real witch, who was now half undressed, and lying on the ground.
"Gothic why did you ask her to get undressed" Dany wondered.
I undid the stunner before answering, which caused Granger to slowly wake up.
"Oh well I figured that the real Hermonine would protest the idea of getting undressed in the middle of the woods, were as the illusion would just do as I told them too" I explained to Miss Stormborn "I didn't think the real Hermonie would obey me like that".
Perhaps I underesitmated just how much influence I had on the people around me. Normally I travelled alone, so I'd not given the subject much thought. Was I a good leader? Did people want to obey me? Questions for later.
"Funny thing is that I've been into these woods before, and nothing like that happened last time" I told the two young women as we got moving again "The woods are green mana, and the cave is a source of white mana, but illusions like that are blue".
I saw Hermonine and Dany exchange funny looks with each other.
"That's something I can explain later" I assured them "For now I want to find out who's behind this fog".
It wasn't naturally weather, and it was clouding my magical senses. Only a powerful wizard or witch could do something like that, and while it might be a defence, I couldn't rule out that something sinister was going on.
Thankfully for us all while I was no master of the weather I'd learned enough over the years to easily clear up some magic fog.
"Can I get dressed now" Hermonine enquired as the wind picked up.
I was tempted to say no.
(Line Break)
Wilderness. Merlin Verse
Morgana Pendragon, scorcress and planeswalker, smiled to herself as she sensed a familar presence. She wasn't suprised that she was having this feeling, as she'd been expecting a vistior. She'd even gone to the effort to clean up her home.
The Planeswalker had been within this world for some time now, and while her she'd gathered what scraps of magical lore she could from here, and some other places.
This had involved a lot of travelling, across this land and even to far distant nations, some of which weren't even in this plane. Yet no matter how far she went Morgana always returned to this part of one world.
She was never sure as to why. Sure it was close to Camelot, which had been her home for many years, but she'd little in the way of desire to visit that place. Mostly because being a user of magic made it a death sentence to go there.
Also there was the issue of her happening to be the daughter of Uther Pendragon, which meant she had a claim to the throne, and while getting to be queen of a kingdom sounded like fun, her husband had always advisied against becoming royality.
So for a while now she'd been wondering what to do with herself, until one day she'd dreamed of her husband, who she'd thought was dead, entering the woods she called home. Morgana had decided to wait, and right now it looked like her waiting was about to pay off.
(Line Break)
Wilderness. Merlin Verse
"She's my wife" I informed Daenerys Targaryen and Hermoine Granger "The Lady Morgana Pendragon".
Who until now I'd thought was dead, yet her she was living in a hut in the middle of nowhere, back in her home plane. The hut was much larger and better looking on the inside than on the out. Either a result of space expanding charms worked on the inside, or possibly the outside was an illusion.
"I thought you were dead" I said to Morgana, who was dressed as a simple peasant woman for some reason "There was an explosion, and you were just gone".
The memory was a vivid one. We'd been fighting that evil Planeswalker's army of darkness, trying to keep a town safe, while the rest of the Gatewatch, the full time members, went and shut down the planar gate that bloody dark lord had been using to move his armies to different worlds.
Then someone or something, possibly Morgana herself, had levelled the entire town, taking countless zombies, vampires and other dead things. I'd only survived because I'd been able to protect myself with a white mana shield.
"I entered the Blind Eternies as the town exploded" Morgana explained "I was thrown very far away, it took me a long time to find my way home, and when I did I decided to stay here. I used what magic I've been able to learn to hide my home and myself".
Well that explained why I'd not been able to sense that there was another Planeswalker around even when I was less than a mile away from this house, she was able to hide from even me, and it also explained the spooky fog, she must have picked up the trick from somewhere.
"There was no where else for me to go" Morgana went on to say "and once I was strong enough to travel again I made a few trips to other worlds so I could keep on learning about magic, but I had no real desire to explore. I thought you were dead".
To my shame I'd never thought to go looking for Morgana. I'd just assumed that the explosion had totally destroyed her. Not that I'd been thinking straight at the time, and I'd vented my rage upon the enemy. Also her dying had taken some of the shine out being able to explore the multi-verse so I understood why she'd been hanging out around here.
"So who are these new compainions of yours?" Morgana asked.
Part of me wanted to leap over the table we were sitting at, so I simply hold her in my arms, and then maybe do other things to her, but clearly this wasn't the time or the place.
"This is Daenerys Targaryen and Hermoine Granger" I told the wife while pointing at the two young women "They both have long and complex life stories that they can tell you all about later".
Morgana looked them both up and done.
"So you've gone back to travelling with admirers" she commented "Has he done the apple tree trick yet?. People sometimes start worshipping him because of it".
Even Glory, who'd been a hell-goddess, albiet a depowered one, had been impressed by that little bit of magic. And granted there had been a group of people just before the war who had started thinking I was a deity. The evil planeswalker had killed them all, despite them thinking I looked after them, so clearly I was a crappy person to pray to.
"No one worships me" I insisted "I'm not a god".
Morgana tossed an apple at me.
"For old times sake" she said.
You'd think that after being reunited with her husband after what could have been years, time was hard to keep track of when you travel the multiverse, that she'd want to go to bed with me, or at the very least get a hug, but no she desired that I show off.
That was when I registered that she wasn't surprised to see me, she must have known I was coming. She had prophectic visions, and there was a cave nearby that granted peaks into the future. Not that her Seer abilites were of much use in the past, but perhaps she'd gotten better at seeing the future.
I was also wondering if I'd ever been totally certain she was dead, but I should be a mess right now, had on some level always known that she was still out there somewhere? Was that why I'd never moved on? Why I'd never really greived?.
"Listen I'm taking these two to the cave" I told the wife "Then I'm going home, but not directly. You're welcome to join us".
Morgana actually seemed surprised. I found that satisfying to see.
"You have a home" she said "This I have to see. Now do the trick with the apple seed".
Guess she must have missed seeing me show off.
(Line Break)
Men of Letters Bunker. Supernatural Verse.
I laid the Colt on the table and sighed. I'd found nothing on the building of the weapon and I was pretty sure I'd checked every index, which meant if here was a file on the Colt it hadn't been indexed correctly, and as such could be anywhere. Plus some members of the Men of Letters had their own reserch projects, which also weren't filed away correctly.
"Well this is a waste of time" I said with a slight sigh.
Overall I was in a good mood, after all Morgana was back in my life, and she didn't seem to mind me having other women following me around. It wasn't as if I'd been sleeping with Dany anyway, and Hermonine hadn't been with me that long. Still at some point I'd end up in bed with one of them.
I'd even considered setting up my own harem, but I wasn't sure if any of them would be up for that, and Morgana might kick my ass just for suggesting the idea. On the other hand all the women in my life seemed happy to follow my commands. I'd have to decide on the matter soon.
Perhaps it was time to consider making myself happy. I'd been moving about for so long that I had trouble remembering what a normal romance was like, despite having gotten married twice.
I was very powerful, maybe I should do things for myself, and stop worrying so much about the rest of existence. I still did not desire to be worshipped as a god, but why not at least let myself be admired?
"We saw every wizard, blacksmith and enchanter in Stormwind, and none of them understand how this gun works" I complained.
On the plus side the colt had been copied physically so the Alliance was going to get a serouis upgrade in firepower since they wouldn't be using pistols that had to reload after single shot. Still having a few hundred versions of the Colt in the hands of the Alliance would have totally buggered up the Burning Legion.
"The Latin inscription reads: 'I will fear no evil'" Hermoine Granger supplied "And the pentagram on the handle is just carved in, anyone should be able to replicate that. It must have something to do with the comet".
This could be the case.
"Back in 1835, when Halley's Comet was overhead" I said "Samuel Colt made this gun. Maybe its astromany, the stars are suppose to have an effect on Earthly matters. Comets could too".
At least we knew how to make more bullets. A tincture made up of holy oil, sage and myrrh had to be coated over a silver bullet. The caster then recites the following incantation which mimics the etchings on the original bullets: "Signum est imitandum. Signum est imitandum." Once the spell is performed, the bullets are immediately ready. So we had plenty of ammo.
"Well if the gun was made in a way that requires the comet then we're out of luck" Miss Granger said as she skimmed the Men of Letters file on the Colt "The comet was last seen in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061".
Thankfully I didn't have to wait.
"Not an issue" I told the former Hogwarts student "There's a spell for time travel, so we can go back and ask Samuel Colt how he did it. Come back to now, and then go back to 1986 to make a replica of the Colt. And to 1910 as well".
No one person could empower so much time travel since the spell took energy from the soul. Plus I was sure that there was a limit to how far back a person could go, but with careful planning it should be possible to make a few copies of the Colt.
"Time travel spell?" Hermonine asked "Wouldn't that be dangerous, and I'm pretty sure that no magic can take us back that far".
Oh she had so much to learn.
"I'll show you the spell later" I promised the witch "Right now I'm more concerned about Morgana. Why don't you do some reserch here while I nip out and talk to an old friend".
My intention was to go speak with Jace Beleren, he was an expert mind reader, hopefully he'd be able to tell me if Morgana was herself or not.
(Line Break)
Kansas. Supernatural Verse.
It had taken two tense days of driving, for Sam Winchester to reach his destination. Which was the store owned by the wizard known as Gothic. It had been closed for some time, but now it was open again, with improved stock in the rumours going around the hunter grape vine were anything to go by.
Sam stared at it for a moment unsure how to proceed. He then bit down his nervousness and stepped into the building heading to the front desk.
A petite woman in causal clothing spoke to him with a British accent from behind the stores counter.
"How may I help you?" she asked.
"Er, well…" Sam started hesitantly.
Then he remembered what he had told him in the past. Show a determined front and act like you're supposed to be there and things usually fell into place.
With that in mind he cleared his throat and straightened his shoulders.
"I'm looking for Gothic" the hunter said "Is he here?".
The pretty young women looked Sam in the eyes.
"Wow you're tall" she commented, before getting down to business "and yes he is here. Well some of the time".
Sam took in a deep breath in order to remain calm.
"Is he in?" the younger Winchester questions "I need to talk to him, its important".
The girl took a more professional tone.
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked "Or are you here to buy something special?".
Sam hesitated.
"Er, well…" he started to say.
That was as far as he got.
"Hermonine" a familar male voice called out "Is everything okay?".
The woman who'd been talking to Sam turned to face the wizard known as Gothic.
"This gentlemen wants to see you" she reported.
Gothic looked the hunter up and down.
"So Sam Winchester" he then said "I had a feeling I'd be seeing you soon"
Sam sent him a suspicious glare.
"What do you mean?" he demanded to know.
Gothic shrugged before leading the Winchester into a back room, which had been converted into an office. Once side the spell caster poured some coffee.
"I told you your brother wouldn't escape from his deal. I assume you're here about his soul. You don't seem like the weak willed sort who'd just give up on getting his brother back" the Wizard said.
"Why didn't you help before?" Sam asked, igoring the offered cup of coffee.
The wizard shrugged again.
"I told you then and I'll remind you now. Demon deals are not so easily broken. I could have gotten Dean off, but there would have been consequences" Gothic told Sam "But Dean going to hell was a necessary trigger for some important event. It was something that two very powerful forces wanted and honestly I don't feel like being smited for having stopped it"
Sam tried to work out what it was the magic user had had said but soon gave up, but not before storing the information in his head for later examination.
"Can you get him out?" the Hunter asked sounding a tinge desperate.
Gothic considered the matter.
"Well its possible" the wizard finally said "But I'd have to go down into hell, and then convince Dean, who isn't the most trusting of types to cooperate with me, and then bring his soul back to Earth. Getting him a working meatsuit would be the easy part. Oh and my services don't come for free Sam".
The younger of the two Winchester brothers didn't like hearing that.
"What do you want? My soul?" Sam demanded to know.
The wizard looked offended.
"Do I look like a bloody demon to you?" he asked, sounding mad "No I don't want your soul. I don't make deals for souls either, how would that even work. Its not like I have my own hell to stick them in".
Gothic calmed down a little.
"I trade in magical artefacts, information, spells, and such" Gothic was now saying "Got anything like that?".
Sam took out the demon-killing knife.
"What about this?" he asked.
Yeah that would do it.
(Line Break)
Kansas. Supernatural Verse.
"You know I left home because I wanted a life that involved more than working in a shop" Hermonine commented as Sam Winchester left my store "Yet here I am behind another counter".
I was amused by that.
"The store is just cover for the real business" I explained to the young witch "Our actual purpose here is to gather information, and any cool bits of magic these hunters manage to get their hands on. I only open the store when it seems worth while. For example I knew Sam Winchester was on the way here because another man called Boddy Singer called and asked me not to let Sam do anything stupid. Besides I will be taking you to more worlds".
I then showed her the demon-killing knife
"And it was so worth this meeting" I was now saying "This knife is one of a kind, it can kill demons, and I'm willing to bet some other things too".
The Demon-Killing Knife, was an ancient knife that was created by the Kurds which possesses the power to permanently kill most demons, hellhounds, and perhaps even other demonic entities. Though it somehow came into the possession of Ruby, it eventually passed onto Sam and Dean Winchester, and now it was mine.
At first glance, the knife appeared to be rather ordinary, it was just a curved, serrated-edged blade with a handle. However, upon closer inspection, symbols could be seen engraved along the blade. I had no idea what the symbols meant, however since the rest of the knife seemed so normal they had to be were the magic came from.
If it was just a matter of enchanting a blade then I should be able to make some copies, and if I could I'd be a very happy Planeswalker because I'd been looking for a way to stick it to the Burning Legion for a while now. If I could make demon-killing swords as well as knives the next time the legion invaded Azeroth then they'd be getting a big surprise.
Plus while I could go back in time and question Samul Colt on the matter of the gun he made, the time travel spell placed a strain on a person's soul, so it was best not to do it unless I really had to.
"Let's head back to the Bunker and see what we can find out about this knife" I said to Hermoine.
She didn't follow me.
"Can I ask what all this about?" she request "I overheard you and that Sam guy talking. So please tell me you're not going to hell".
Well I might be. Now that I had the knife and the Colt I could raid hell for a soul. It was risky, but possible.
"Its a long story" I told the young witch "How about I tell you about it over dinner".
To my disapointment she didn't jump at the chance to go out with me.
"You are married" she pointed out "You shouldn't be inviting me on a date while married".
Well she had a point.
"Okay I'll take everyone out for dinner and explain things" I decided.
This was a good idea because I was worried about how well Morgana was already getting along with Dany, which made sense as they had a lot in common, they were both the daughters of an asshole king, both were magic users, and they both had the odd prophetic dream too.
However it was still worrying because Morgana was my wife, and Dany was my ex-girlfriend for lack of a better term. I really feared what they might be discussing right now.
(Line Break)
Men of Letters Bunker. Supernatural Verse.
I looked at the boards, and not for the first time I was tempted to seek out Chuck AKA God so he could help me with the magic/maths required to make a plane of existence. It wasn't actually maths, or at least not totally, it was more of a formula or a code, the buildings blocks of a reality.
The Skasis Paradigm (also known as the God Maker or the Universal Theory) was the mathematical equation behind the way the universe worked. Anyone who cracked the paradigm would be able to control the very building blocks of a universe. However the code was different in every universe, since no two realities were totally alike. And some planes worked more on magic than science.
I had part of the code, the program, whatever you want to call it, enough to make a solar system at least, I'd gotten it from Lord Ao, the creator of the Forgotten Realms. But the problem was that back when Lord Ao had made the realms he'd been an Oldwalker.
Modern Planeswalkers just didn't have the raw power and skill to make use of the Skasis Paradigm, and I had no desire to abuse a school full of children, because doing so would use up their souls, and might not even work any since the Paradigm might only allow to rewrite an existing reality rather than forge a new one.
I had considered travelling back in time to before the Mending, and making my own reality then, but I didn't know if my spark would change or not. Plus even if it did when the Mending happened again I'd lack the power to support my realm just like other Planeswalkers did.
The angelic Planeswalker U'rel, not to be confused with the douchebag angel Uriel, got around the power problem by having the foresight to create a very small realm that only supported a few thosuand people rather than make a world that could support millions or even billions of people.
Which suggested to me that I should create a realm as simple as possible. One world, with a basic biosphere, no stars, one moon, one sun, simple. Yet even that was beyond me due to a lack of proper understanding and power.
"My love" said a voice "What are you working on".
I turned to see Morgana, who was studying a different white board that I'd put up in the library.
"Oh that's a different bit of magic/maths formula thing" I told her "Nothing important, it just proves that Rainbow Dash is twenty percent cooler".
No prises for guessing who taught to me mix science and the mystical like this.
"The rest is the forumla required to make a plane of existence" I was now telling Morgana "I'm hoping to create a world we can be safe on".
Her ladyship moved towards me, and I noticed that how up close her nighgown was somewhat transparent.
"I had visions of such a place" she informed me "We'll live in a strange looking castle, a fortress you could call it, in a world you made, and other versions of yourself will come to visit, some will even stay so they can be safe. They will bring familes, and harems, and you'll give them all a place to live away from dangers. You'll be a great lord, and many will seek a place on your counicl".
That seemed a little silly.
"What like a Citadel of Ricks only for Gothics?" I asked of no one.
Well I'd met a few versions of myself during my travels, and no doubt I'd run into more. Perhaps if we pooled our resources we could make a haven for ourselves. But I would still need the right knowledge and more power.
"I'd still need to find Chuck" I said to myself "But he's protected by an archange. So maybe if I write to him".
Morgana distracted me from my thoughts.
"You did hear me mention the harems, right?" she asked.
I had, my mind had just gone down a different track.
"Daenerys and I want a safe place to raise children" Morgana told me "I don't know how that shop girl feels about you, but she tell me that she had a crush on you when you were her teacher".
Given that her first crush had been Lockhart I wasn't thrilled about hearing that.
"I don't want children" I said to Morgana "The life I led isn't suitable for them".
This didn't upset her.
"Not now perhaps" she said "But I think we'll find a way to tempt you, and you'll provide us with a home suitable for noble ladies carrying your children. You can arrange for servents to aid us, and you'll be able to visit other worlds from the one you make. You'll just always have a place to come back to, like this bunker".
As she let her nightgown drop to the floor I realised that Morgana had turned out evil after all, and her naughty scheme was only now coming into effect.