Odyssey of a Mage Part III

by mootjeman7

Part III of Odyssey of a Mage. Post Grindelwald era. Atticus Sayre, reincarnated soul has chosen to carry the fate of all Magical-Kind onto his shoulders. A weight that bears heavy on his soul for all that must be done. And it is a weight he intends carry all the way to the very stars. Ruthless, Determined SI-OC. Fem Riddle. Pre-Halo Crossover.

10. Chapter 74

Hello All, please see the next installment.

Without further adieu, please enjoy the post!

Note: If you would like to read ahead, the next three chapters are available on P^A^T^R^E^O^N / Boombox117

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3rd of April 1953 – Britain

Charlus Potter POV

The days after the last of the terrorist organisations had been captured had been hectic for the entirety of the Ministry and the DMLE received universal support and approval for their swift actions.

Despite the hectic atmosphere, things were considerably more peaceful despite Slytherin's speech that roused the public just when it seemed like things were beginning to die down.

From Diagon Alley to Horizon Alley, from Godric's Hollow to Hogsmeade, public assemblies were held in support of her message, of the need for a swift alteration of the government and the institutions that had ruled the Isles for centuries.

The public had more than enough of the constant unrest, death and incompetence, words that were often said at these assemblies, and that it was time for change.

It seemed like Slytherin's message had wormed their way into the hearts of the public sustaining a fire long ago lit that nothing could even begin to douse.

There was nothing he could do – not that he had a right or even wanted to. This was different to the wanton murder committed by terrorists and the rioting by the public.

Thankfully all of the assemblies had been peaceful, all seeking the same goal of elected representatives of the British magical public and he knew it was only a matter time before everything changed as demanded.

Not that they would face much opposition from the nobility and more than a few times Lords of historically prideful Houses such as the Malfoys, the Lestranges and the Parkinsons had gone and spoken to the assemblies and told them of their intent to see the changes put into place.

His brother had made it clear to him that he did not oppose the movement nor was he keen to join this Assembly of Lords that would be instituted as a separate branch of the government when the proposal had been made to him by a coalition of Lords from Ouroboros and the Traditionalist faction.

He had been unable to sway his brother to change his mind, to not let centuries of Potter influence wither on the vine but he had not been able to convince Fleamont.

His brother had always been a force for good within the Wizengamot and now that the public would be able to hold it accountable, he believed his own duty as a Potter to have been completed and would vote just as the commoners would do in the near future.

Fleamont believed that without the noble families filling every position within the Ministry the bigotry and the hatred that was rife within society and had hamstrung their world for centuries – and worse in recent years – would finally be addressed and resolved in a greater capacity than what the nobility would have been willing to.

In a way, he believed that Fleamont was simply fed up and was choosing to 'bow out' in this way instead of taking part of what would prove to be tumultuous at least in the near future whilst their form of government changed.

With Ouroboros – which was popular even more now as they were the first 'party' that went out and spoke directly to those assemblies – refashioning themselves as a political party open to the public, and several other groups beginning form, it was certain that with real power behind the vote of the public, greater rights and opportunities would be open to the public and that was enough for his brother.

Mostly he agreed with his brother, that this was a step towards the right direction that hopefully would address the schisms within the country, the schisms that Dark Lords and extremists had always used and found safe harbour in, yet there was a bitterness to it for him, one that ate away at his own misdoings with how it was coming to be…

That the prospect of a better future for everyone was coming to be despite the blood spilled, despite the hard work he'd put in to avoid such senseless death even to the point of betraying a friend just so that the tilt of unrest and burgeoning anger could be subdued before it escalated into a civil war as it once looked like it promised it would happen…

Still, most of the Progressives had not been of the same opinion as that of his brother and accepted the deal by the coalition and things moving towards the realisation of the first true elected ministry.

They realised enough that the situation was largely out of their control, as much of it had been since the Bombing, and in the wake of her speech amidst the clear shifting of loyalties of the Traditionalists towards the House of Slytherin, with many of its newly made Heads of Houses having been housemates with the woman at Hogwarts, disagreement would only leave them out of the new order that was being crafted.

It was a bitter pill for him to swallow, especially when he felt like she was taking advantage of the tragedy to suit her aims though he did not understand why Slytherin chose not be part of this new Assembly of her and her cohort's making nor why she chose to disappear now, now when her popularity and influence was at its highest.

It was that which that raised his hackles the most…and disturbed him in equal fashion with its similarities to how he had disappeared leaving behind a mess in his wake.

It had been on his mind – it had been on the minds of everyone – 'Where was Slytherin?'… and the only explanation given by Ouroboros was that she was seeing to some personal matters in India where she was invited to visit an obscure tribe of parselmouths.

Which he did not believe for a second.

Neither did Dorea or his brother.

She decided on the same eve of a speech that solidified the creation of a version of government that Atticus wanted to be formed to leave on personal matters to India?

He knew where she had gone…where he had often wondered he'd gone…

Atticus Sayre…

Even thinking that name brought up complicated feelings.

'Charlus...what I do, what I advocate for, all of it is for the better. This is the best option. History is inevitable…' Atticus once told him when Charlus had questioned Atticus' inflammatory actions and words that ultimately led to his exile.

Feelings of dishonour…of guilt…and that of anger.

He had time to consider all that had happened and all he could think was…

Had he Seen what was going to happen that night of the Bombing?

All the deaths that happened, all of the pain and sorrow that ripped through the Isles…through his beautiful Dorea's heart that had been taxed even further with the death of her sister at the hands of the terrorists…could all of this been avoided?

Atticus had seen the bombs that dropped on Japanese cities, bombs that shook the Magical World and made them realise of the threat posed by the muggles and how dire the situation might have turned had Grindelwald succeeded in his plot, Atticus had Seen the rise of the strange ideology gripping Eastern Europe and he'd Seen the rise of a looming Dark Lord that may sprout from the uneasy peace on mainland Europe.

He must have seen this, all of this death and the threat of the muggles.

Did he let this happen?

Hirahito had told him that Atticus warned him of the bombs and it let Hirahito save hundreds if not thousands of Japanese magicals from death.

…Why had he not warned them?

He did not want to believe that Atticus had Seen all of this, the threat of the terrorists and the muggles and the wanton murders, coming and remained silent.

He did not want to believe Atticus had become spiteful enough to allow hundreds of their people to die, many of whom were innocent. It was a hope, a desperate hope more than anything else.

Perhaps he was overthinking this, assigning blame to someone who had been assigned more blame than anyone else over the years especially by the very people who had turned the country into the disaster that it had become and it wasn't good company to keep.

Slytherin herself had still been in the Chamber that day and he did not believe that Atticus would put her at risk, not after the way he had seen how much Atticus loved her and to the extents Atticus had been willing to go to secure her place in Magical Britain in the negotiations…

Dorea reminded him that Atticus was not all-seeing, no one could be and Divination had its limits, that much they knew given what they had learnt over the years about the branch of magic

Charlus didn't know if he believed her entirely, not when he knew Dorea was deeply remorseful for what had led Atticus' exile but it had the sounds of truth when she reminded him that it was telling that what Atticus spoke of had been great events, things that echoed in magic and could be grasped by Seers.

She thought echoes hardly ever could be stopped and she referenced the famous tale of Oedipus or the prophecies of the ancient priestesses of Delphi as examples of such inevitabilities.

'I can't stop History…' those words he'd spoken on that day in France when he confessed about his Seeing abilities rang in his ears, again and again, words that were echoed in different ways in later years whenever they spoke, whenever they argued.

Dorea's words felt weighty and he was beginning to comprehend what Atticus had told him in France a decade ago.

Blood Purism had been on the rise and Britain, especially after the publishing of the origins of muggleborns, had been caught in its fervour. Thousands of muggleborns and half bloods had left since then as a consequence of the draconian ways they were being treated, several times worse than they had treated been in centuries passed.

Instead of creating commonality, it instead divided them even more. Europe had even a worse reaction to the Report and was splintering into worse factions than even before Grindelwald's rise even if much of it was also because of the vacuum of power left behind in the aftermath of the war.

And then there was the rumours of a powerful dark wizard on the continent…

Was all of this what couldn't be stopped as Atticus alluded to?

That conflicts were inevitable and that you were only able to change small details but never the event itself?

Prophecies of History that would always come to pass if only slightly different?

The Bombs had beaten muggle Japan in submission as Atticus predicted after killing hundreds of thousands of them and from what he heard from Hirahito, it seemed like the Russian muggles also had these kinds of bombs as well now.

Atticus' utterings of muggles holding the world hostage was becoming more and more real.

'I can't stop History…'

Those damnable words…

He had asked Atticus to stay and to do exactly that…to stop history…to avoid the future he'd seen that heralded war, chaos and strife.

To remain and build here, in Magical Britain, to bring about his vision of a home where prejudices and hatreds of the past were washed away by a sea of hope…

To remain and build a world that they could be proud of, inspired by the Hero of Britain to be better, a world where fairness and freedom was extended to all peoples without anyone impeding on their rights and their liberties…

The Isonomian Movement, the Order of the Phoenix or the unrest and distrust of the public never would have gotten as bad as it was now or even begun in the first place.

Charlus sighed internally.

…And had that not been what Charlus had stepped in the way of happening, first by trying to make Atticus stop what he was doing and then second by actively working against him, even going so far as betraying his confidence by letting Arcturus know of why Atticus was doing what he was doing before letting it slip that Atticus would rather leave than fight for his ideals when so much blood would be spilt in order to achieve it…

'I can't stop History…'

Those same words rang in his ears.

It had all been for nothing.

With bitterness on the tip of his tongue, he thought that all that he hoped to avoid, so many deaths, had happened anyway without his presence.

'I can't stop History…'

He had believed that Britain had not been ready for such sweeping changes, not when the ICW forced itself onto torn Europe that ripped out much of the nobility's power in a such a way that it frightened many of the nobility here.

Atticus had not recognised that, he had chosen not to heed his words of caution that Charlus believed more time was needed, that five years was not enough to bring about the future that he and Dorea and many others would want to unfold in Britain.

And so opposition had been greater even from the Progressives and Atticus' attitude had been coarse and undiplomatic, utterly certain in the righteousness of his cause and unwilling to compromise even a little which would have swayed enough support for at least some of the changes he was advocating for…

Atticus had used his power and influence irresponsibly and used domination and aggression instead of milk and honey to sway people in power and Charlus hadn't been able to abide the consequences of that.

It would have only ended in conflict and he had no desire to see his country torn as he'd seen so many European countries become just as he didn't wish to see his friend become a tyrant.

'I can't stop History…'

Had…all of this been necessary?

Was this truly unavoidable, this change in their world through blood and death?

In the end, Atticus had chosen to do as he said and left after five years when it became clear that only through war would he see his vision come to be.

A version of which was coming into existence anyway after the shedding of huge amount of blood, despite his efforts of keeping the peace, despite the efforts of Ministry and the Wizengamot and also because of their efforts that led to all this.

"What are you brooding for?" he heard and it broke him out of his thoughts as he looked up and towards the doorway.

Dorea walked in, a frown on her face.

He allowed himself to smile "Just considering all that's happened recently." He said to her.

She walked around the desk and grasped his face and looked him over "When's the last time you've slept?" she asked sharply.

He pulled her in and onto his lap and she let off a squeak as she dropped into his lap. "Why? Have you missed my presence in our bed so much?" he asked with a grin and wiggling eyebrows.

She gave a glare before it melted away and her hand trailed across the contour of his jawline "Not as much as you would like to believe." She teased, her eyes sparkling with mischief "I have liked the absence of cold feet in my bed."

He reared back with faux affront "My feet are never cold!"

She laughed "Not to you perhaps."

His look of affront morphed away into a teasing grin "They do say those with powerful minds tend to suck up blood away from other areas of the body."

She looked at him incredulously "Who says that?!" she asked with a laugh in her incredulity.

"I do" he said with a wink.

"Ah…I see." She said sagely before her lips twitched "Or it could that your blood is often used somewhere else" she said as she wriggled on his lap.

"At the moment, it definitely is." He said with a lustful tone as he captured the bottom of her chin with his hand and he moved his head towards her before kissing her. Her hands went towards the back of his neck and their kiss grew more passionate.

She broke it off minutes afterwards and pressed her forehead against his and he heard her hum contently though it sounded slightly off to him.

He reared his head back and looked at her. She looked up at him and smiled at him but it was completely happy.

"You're in a good mood." He said with a soft tone, not voicing his concerns as he looked at his wife with inspecting eyes. He knew she was still deeply saddened at the loss of her siblings and he knew how raw it had all been for her.

She smiled sadly "Druella's pregnant. I confirmed it today." She said to Charlus.

Charlus looked surprised "Already?" he asked

Dorea nodded "It's early days. Only six weeks along." She paused, hesitation clear on her face.

"What?" he asked softly.

She sighed. "They want to name the child if it's a boy Arcturus and if it is a girl they want to name it Cassiopeia." She smiled at him though there was something more in there, a kind of longing that went beyond simply naming the children after her late siblings "I felt touched that they were willing to name the child after either of them."

Dorea sighed "Life goes on." She whispered and she looked away from him.

"It does." Charlus after a few moments "And I think neither Arcturus or your sister would feel too aggrieved at being named after." He said with a light tone and Dorea huffed and let a small smile bloom on her face which fell away much sooner than he liked to see.

Charlus' finger went under Dorea's chin "Our time will come, Dor." He said to her softly.

"Will it?" she asked quietly. "It's been years now." She said to him, a hurt expression on her face.

How he wished he could give her what she wanted. He was desperate for it. Dorea always wanted to have children. A whole brood of them and he was more than happy to give them to her yet despite all of their efforts – which was plentiful – no child had yet been conceived.

The fact that his brother and his wife had yet to have a child was also something that weighed on him. He often wondered if there was something wrong with them, with the Potter men.

His parents had conceived Fleamont after nearly two decades of trying and Charlus had been a 'happy accident' that was completely unexpected.

"It will." He assured her. "My brother was conceived after decades and I well after that. It takes time but it will happen, I promise." He said to her with all the reassurance he could muster.

She smiled at him as she stroked his cheek. "I hope so." She whispered before she shook her head and looked at him again "You really look tired, Charlus. You won't be any good to your Aurors if you can't keep focus."

She cut him off before he could retort "And no, you know how bad constant use of those potions can be." She said as she stood up and held out her hand bearing an expectant look on her face "I'm a healer…I know these kinds of things." She said in a sage tone.

Charlus snorted before he smiled widely and took her hand. He pulled her in and he picked her up "What I know, dear wife, is that you are right and that I have been spending too much time away from you." His smile bore a teasing quality to it as he walked out of his office with her in his arms

"I think it's time we reacquaint ourselves" he said before he brought his head down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

They broke apart and Dorea's eyes were shining with mischief "I quite agree" she said with a happy smile.

The next day he was at the office and after a few hours it was time.

"Gents" Tiff began, his face stoic, his eyes searching.

Charlus stood by the Acting Director, his arms crossed as he looked at the assembled group of Aurors and Unspeakables.

This was going to be the largest assembly of cross departmental operation in well over a century and a half. It was a momentous occasion that would end the last threat to their world…and it was a threat that was rife with incredible risk.

"You have all been briefed as to what ails Magical Britain and suffice it to say, I cannot understate the threat that faces our people." Tiff said, his eyes hard and his voice as sharp as a blade's edge.

"With the support of the Unspeakables, we have discovered their far reaching insidious intent for our world and much of the problems we have faced in recent months – and perhaps years – has been because of their desire to subjugate us to their will." Tiff paused momentarily, his eyes carrying a flicker of fury that Charlus saw reflected in many of his Aurors.

"My question to you, gentlemen, are you ready to root them out and rid them of everything they have learned of us and magic?!" Tiff barked out.

"YES SIR" the Aurors roared out though the Unspeakable, hidden under their dark cowls of their hoods, remained silent.

"Good." Tiff said with an approving nod. Tiff looked to Charlus and inclined his head and so the meeting began with lining out their initial moves.

As it was, the Unspeakables had interrogated one of the leading spy leaders within the muggle government and uncovered many of their secrets.

He'd hoped Arcturus had been wrong…but it seemed, unfortunately, to be worse than his worst fears.

The muggles had taken inspiration of what Grindelwald had done for the German muggles and taken it even further.

Enchanted guns, bombs like the one detonated in the Wizengamot, omniculars and enchanted listening devices – which they found in several locations across busy streets all around the Alleys – and much much more.

It seemed like the muggles had left no stone untouched and it was the largest breach of the Statute since its founding in Magical Britain – and likely much of Western Europe. To say that they needed to contain this – and quickly – was pointless.

For the next few days, the combined group split into eight forces of thirteen and using intel from the Unspeakables, set about investigating each and every single military and research outpost of which there were several hundred.

They knew the locations of several of the facilities thanks to the interrogation but they needed to be as thorough as possible in finding every enclave before they started the operation in earnest.

With the readings from the magical nets set to high sensitivity, just under the level of War Time ward activation, they were able to senses minor perturbations of magic at several muggle military locations.

A number of these muggles were captured, interrogated with Legillimency and obliviated afterwards. From there they understood that the problem was not contained to the Isles.

The British muggles were using magic to spy on foreign muggles they deemed enemies, namely the Soviet Union, the French and the Germans.

They had to adjust their plans – which largely could be reduced down to obliviating every single muggle about magic and imprisoning the traitors to Magical Britain – so that this problem could be removed entirely.

Two of the teams were assigned in combing through the readings of the magical net of any perturbations of magic within the Isles that was not registered as a known enclave or land owned by magical families. A task force would investigate at a later date.

It was several days later that they had compiled enough information that they began the operation in earnest, aiming to hit each facility at the same time including the information the Unspeakables had gathered about the bases on islands just outside the magical nets.

He did not know how they came into that knowledge but he felt gladdened that they were working them in earnest. He doubted they would have gotten this far without their aid.

And it was in one of those meetings that the Unspeakables came forth and provided their most useful aid in the battles to come

"This" One of the Unspeakables, Sidwell said as he held up a black gauntlet "is the Aegis Gauntlet" He placed it on the table.

Charlus stepped forward and picked it up, his eyes carefully roving over it. He saw faint golden incredibly small runes etched onto the surface "And what is this for?"

"Protection." Sidwell said plainly as he looked over the Aurors who began to crowd around Charlus.

Charlus looked up and met Sidwell's gaze. "Countermeasure against their weaponry?" Charlus asked.

"Yes. The weapons we confiscated from some of the guards" Sidwell let a hint of a smirk pass through his normally expressionless face "and replaced them with defunct replacements that shouldn't raise any bell charms without examination" his expression returned to its default state though it seemed graver

"Have shown that they are very potent towards us."

Charlus looked at the gauntlet before he gave it to one of the senior Aurors and set his gaze back at the Unspeakable. "Explain."

Sidwell continued "Their weapons are enhanced to be shield penetrating. Most of the enchantments are aimed at penetrating standard shields by the Auror department which are effectively the most used shield by any competent magical that is adept at combat magicks."

Charlus lips thinned.

He already knew that the guns of the muggles were going to be highly problematic which was why they were intent on dealing with this in as much a clandestine fashion as possible. But what they discovered so far was that the chances of everything going smooth was going to be unlikely to say the least considering some of the defences around a few outposts.

A sharp sound made him twist around with the tip of his wand crackling.

A shield, a shield that seemed to be physical yet not popped into existence in front of the Auror who put it on.

"Auror Marshall" Charlus barked out in a deadly tone and the Auror unconsciously straightened out even as his eyes were wide in panic.

"S-sir, I-I don't know it would do this" the senior Auror said, trying to defend himself.

"The fact that you put it on without knowing what it does makes me think you are ill-suited to be a Auror candidate, let alone a senior Auror" Charlus said in a cold voice "Never activate or even touch an object that is clearly charmed. This is covered in basic training."

"Sorry, sir. Won't happen again sir." The Auror said in a contrite voice, his face reddening.

"Don't take it off" Sidwell said "May as well use this as a teaching moment." He said as he stepped forward and banged his fist against the shield which gave out a sharp sound. "This shield is just as physical as it is magical. It is capable of withstanding the most devastating dark cutting and slicing magicks and it is capable of withstanding against fast moving objects like bullets, even enhanced bullets."

"It is capable of changing shape" he turned towards Marshall "Think of the shield extending around you like a bubble" he told the Auror and a look of concentration came across the man's face and the shield altered to form around him like a bubble.

"And the shield can measure fast moving objects within a fifty metre radius and is capable of activating in less than a fraction of a fraction of a second independent of the actions of the user." Sidwell turned to Charlus.

"We have made enough for everyone in the taskforce. I highly recommend its use for the duration of the operation." Sidwell said as one of the other Unspeakables came forward with enough for the entire taskforce.

"Unfortunately, they only come in black" the young Unspeakable said, his obscuring black hood falling and Charlus recognised him.

"Rockwood." Charlus said with a hint of surprise in his voice. Not all of the Unspeakables presented themselves outside of the famous cloaks that obscured them. He'd seen a number of Unspeakables without it but most of them had their identities protected.

"Ah you remember me." Rockwood said with a wicked smirk as he waved his wand and created stands for the Gauntlets before he floated them towards it.

Of course Charlus would remember him. A close confidante of Slytherin and someone he'd met more than a few times at Sayre Manor. He had not known him to be an Unspeakable. He had thought Rockwood had worked in his family's IMP paper.

"Now" Sidwell said, recapturing Charlus' attentions. "Shall we plan now with the gauntlets in mind?"

They would be using aerosol potions – the same potions they used in the war – to thin the enemy at the muggle bases. They wanted to limit the deaths of muggle as much as possible. Not out of kindness but out of pragmatism. The quieter this affair was dealt with, the quicker they could move on.

Of course that also meant that the central command buildings in London were the highest value targets and where the aerosol potions would be used to its highest extent by flooding the buildings with the odourless and colourless gas.

They had to take out the leaders of the organisation as quickly and smoothly as possible and the Unspeakables would be primarily leading that mission.

They would scour the entire building top to bottom and interrogate the muggles for every drop of information along with the names and locations of the agents outside of the Isles before removing every bit of information about magic and the magical world from their minds

Only then would they move towards dealing with the muggle Royals who had started all of this.

-Break-

7th of April 1953 – London

Christopher Cameron POV

The tenseness in the room was palpable.

Several of the top brass in Secret Intelligence Service were present as were he, Johnston and a few other members of M-Division just as there were a few of the magicals who worked with the science teams.

"John Smith has been officially declared MIA" One of the brass, Mr Cook, stated with a dead voice as his cool eyes swept the room.

Cameron tensed slightly and Cook continued "With the disappearance of Underhill as of this morning, it is become clear that our operation has been compromised."

"But we have not heard anything from the other side." One of his fellow muggleborns commented. "Nothing has been heard, either in the public or in the Ministry itself where we do have some contacts."

Cook turned towards the man "That only means that they are not as stupid as intel had suggested they were." Cook said with a condescending tone.

Cook's blue eyes swept across the room, his finger pressed deeply into the table "Make no mistake, at present we have moved towards highest readiness rate and we are expecting imminent attacks on our country." Cook's eyes flittered towards their magical side across the table.

"With the likelihood of Underhill having been captured and Smith killed, this means most locations of our supernatural development and research facilities are compromised."

Cook paused for a moment and the tenseness in the room only became more constricting "Operation Haven has begun" Cook declared and just like that, things had moved to dire straits.

It was hours later, with post haste, that things were progressing towards movement of people and equipment out of the bases and towards Isle of Scilly, Shetland and Orkney.

Places where there was no magicals and places where they suspected the magical net would not be able to pick up on their activities if they were employ them. Much of what they knew about the magical net had been from information gained from their contacts in the Order of the Phoenix and from Underhill himself.

He arrived on the Isle of Scilly with most of his compatriots from the M-Division via illegal portkeys along with most of their equipment and research.

"Do you really think Cook is right?" Harris asked him as they walked on the tarmac in windy conditions, one of the muggleborns recruited just eighteen months ago.

"Doesn't matter if he's right or not." Cameron said with a side glance at the young man. Most of the muggleborns that went to Hogwarts in the past six years were far more educated in magical culture and they often were granted opportunities in Hogsmeade or in the town that popped up near it.

Despite the hardships many muggleborns had suffered, these younger generations were protected from such attacks on their rights and with the way it sounded, Hogwarts had become a small lighthouse in a dark sea and wherever it touched its light had become safe from most of the prejudices and the vileness of the wizards.

And it made many of the muggleborns more grateful than they ought to be.

It made their recruitment of young muggleborns difficult which was unfortunate given that the younger generation still had their connections from Hogwarts so they were specifically targeted for recruitment as they would be able to 'coach' these young people on how to maintain these relationships.

It ended up being that most of their recent recruitment had been contained to bitter men in their thirties or forties who were not ideal as they tended to be more apart from Magical British society.

They were not the best of anything and it wouldn't harsh to call them disappointments of limited use to the intelligence game. Most of the folk with potential had long since left for America and the others were not the right profile to approach.

Still, they did manage to recruit a large number of Squibs, managing to recruit several hundred over the years through painstakingly checking through decades old records at orphanages of children suddenly abandoned at age eleven or younger.

Many of whom did not remember but enough did and given that many had served in the war, it was easy enough to recruit them for the army group that worked with them.

"It's happening and that's all we need to know." Cameron glanced at Harris "All you need to know." He said with a pointed look.

Harris looked a bit affronted but said nothing else and they walked the rest of the way in silence. Not everyone knew what Haven really was. Most of his colleagues thought it was a purely defensive posture.

That was not the case.

For years, they worked on how to deal with the illegal government of the magicals – and the people themselves. Ever since Queen Mary, the last of the monarchs that the magicals had sworn personal allegiance to, the opinion towards their non-magical fellows had only turned for the worst.

They saw them as less than human and he knew that many of them considered the non-magicals lesser than even a niffler which still bore the torch of magic.

In truth…he could understand their thinking even if he despised utterly.

They – he included – were born with power.

Power that they could use to alter the world to give them whatever they want. How could power – magic – not be so corrupting?

With this kind of power came with the freedom to act as you pleased, to do what you pleased. Humans could be capricious and they saw the evidence of such unfettered evil by Hitler and the Nazis.

He did not believe that they were all influenced by the Dark wizard Grindelwald and what he learnt from the trials since, he was sure that many of them had done such evils willingly.

Despite being Christians, despite having been taught the teachings of Christ.

Even with such a moral compass, people were fallible to evils and magicals, the vast majority of which did not live by the teachings of Christ whose morals were aspirations to live to, did not have such a compass and this…caricature of a society was proof of it.

And that is why they all knew that these people would always be hostile to non-magicals, people who they looked down upon at best and who would resist any laws and restraints put on them for the betterment for all of Britain.

They could not be reasoned with, not without sufficiently cowing them like they'd done to the Irish once upon a time.

Of course, they had learnt from their lessons and they knew that repressing people who could apparate across the entire length of the country without much difficulty would never work, not truly.

It was why Operation Haven had a more sinister part to it, one that horrified him yet he feared it might be necessary.

Cameron clenched his teeth. He bottled up the feeling of guilt.

There was nothing he could do to change their minds, he knew this.

Mass arrests, detention camps and executions without trials were all on the table in this operation should the conflict escalate.

The first part of the war would be to strike indiscriminately at their base of operation…The Ministry of Magic.

Much of the current magical research had been geared towards developing military technology and espionage equipment partly because of the looming red threat from the East and of course to keep a closer eye on the more rebellious individuals within their country.

And from that military research, a terrifying weapon was created.

Not an atom bomb, no, such weapons could not be detonated on British soil, but instead a weapon that could have its explosion directed in a single direction instead of the omnidirectional pattern of bombs. Expansion of superheated air, materials and chemical reaction would all be turned into a single direction, though a magical field that directed it all into a single direction.

It would be turned directly downward towards the Ministry of Magic above the ground and it would annihilate it all killing everyone there. It was a brutality that he despised but he knew that to avoid this from dragging out for years…it might become a necessity to use.

Even if they had no government to speak of, everything in Magical Britain was controlled, monitored and directed from there. It held every single institution barring education and health.

One strike and it would drastically reduce capabilities of the wizards to strike back.

He also knew that the magicals would respond violently once they figured out what was happening and it was something that he knew bothered many of his bosses as it should.

They had records on what the most powerful of wizards could do and whilst they had a profile on those the public knew to be powerful, there were still many in the Isles that they knew little about.

It was happening too soon. They had hoped for many more years to recruit, to discover where everyone lived and much more.

Cameron shook his head.

He pushed all of it out of his mind. He had more urgent things to do for now.

The rest of the day fell away sooner than he thought possible and soon enough he fell asleep.

He awoke to explosions and gunfire, and his hand went to his gun under his pillow when his eyelids smacked open. He rose from his bed, wielding his gun in one hand and his wand in the other. The door to his barracks smashed open and he very nearly fired but gratefully he didn't.

"Harris." He barked out furiously at the shaking younger man. Another explosion rocked the base whilst the constant gunfire seemed unending in the background.

"Sir, we're under attack." Harris said shakily, his hand clutching his wand feverishly.

Cameron bit back a scathing response and he waved his wand and his clothes untransfigured back into his uniform whilst his socks returned into being boots.

"The wizards?" Cameron asked grimly as he walked towards Harris who quickly vacated the doorway.

"Yes sir!" Harris said as he quickly locked stepped with Cameron. "I haven't seen them yet – I only woke up now but the guards were shouting about it"

Cameron gritted his teeth. How did they manage to find them so soon?!

They arrived at the front of the base and it was chaos. Most of the front section of the base had been destroyed and he saw many of the forces crumpled down.

He saw his compatriots from the M-Division duelling with the strangely attired wizards – stranger than the robes they usually wore – and backed up the soldiers though from what he could see, they were not as effective as they should be.

'The wizards shouldn't be able to last this long' he thought to himself.

He ran towards one of the men crouched behind a burnt out vehicle who seemed to try and use one of the mobile radios. The man looked up and had a frantic look on his face as he pulled out his gun. "Friendly, Friendly!" Cameron shouted angrily and the man halted for a moment and look a good look and recognised him.

The soldier gave a jerky nod before returning his attentions to his radio.

"Have you contacted them yet?" Cameron asked amidst the backdrop of gunfire and spellfire. He stood up a little and looked over the hood of the vehicle and took long moments to really grasp what was happening. He was perplexed when he saw the magicals behaving oddly. They were working in groups with strange shields that he missed the first time with how see through they were yet they were capable of shrugging off the enchanted bullets and curses with ease.

Which should be impossible! The bullets were more powerful and faster than anything before yet in some instances he saw that the shields pop up faster than anything he'd ever seen before.

This wasn't good…this wasn't good at all.

The wizards had come prepared and it felt him with dread.

They also seemed to be throwing grenades that did little but give out a mild flare of light. 'Did they try and replicate explosive grenades and was this the outcome?' he thought with a frown and he didn't understand why they weren't casting lethal spells from what he could observe even against his fellow muggleborns.

"No! There is too much interference" the soldier said frustrated as he frantically tried to work the radio "I don't understand, it was working fine a few hours ago." The soldier looked up at Cameron with a suspicious look on his face "The supernaturals must have done something."

Cameron scowled before he waved his wand over the radio "It should be protected against magic, the cover's made out of lightened lead." They found that mild applications of magic did not short electronics and a lot of their devices were enchanted with this feather-light lead covers that protected it from magic rich environments. At least until they figured out a way to make them work without the covers.

"I don't understa…" Cameron stopped as he began to feel light-headed. The soldier in front of him began to look like two people until the soldier collapsed and Cameron began to realise what was happening.

He stumbled like a newborn calf, his legs feeling more like strings which how much they wobbled and he walked away from the shelter the burnt out vehicle provided.

Everything was hazy, everything seemed to twist and circle around as if he was left unanchored yet he could see enough, he could understand enough how bad everything was turning out.

He only just noticed now as well, the gunfire that had been persistent was almost silent, a few smatterings that died out a few seconds after he noticed and the spell fire was all gone.

"Ah, got a live one here boss!" he heard as he stumbled to the ground desperately fumbling his portkey

"H-h-heaven a-and e-e-earth" he rasped out but the portkey didn't activate.

One of the came up to him and he could barely keep his eyes open.

He saw a wand pointed at him "Night night, traitor." Was the last thing he heard before a red flash was all that he saw before he knew no more.

-Break-

17th of April 1953 – Belva Hallos Terminal, Illos

He waited with his arms behind his back, attired in navy blue with braided silver and purple lines around the circumference of his Rosi – the formal attire version of Losi, the chosen Illosian clothes – sleeves and around the top of his wingtip collar.

The plaza, made of out silver grey polished stone and fitted with tall square pillars that glistened under the soft light of the Orbs which broke through the arched windows that ringed around the domed roof, was still empty, still unused yet its time would come, he thought as he glanced around at the black stoned rings that just waiting to be activated.

Belva Hallos would be the beating centre of international trade and travel, connected to international ports and stations of Ministries within the alliance that would be built.

It was not something new of course, this idea of instant or near instant travel from one place to another across thousands of miles, Floo travel had existed for centuries after all yet it was uncomfortable and expensive. Expensive because of all the regulations that were tied into it and its strict control.

Floo-pow was the only licensed company in the entire magical world that could manufacture it and it was enforced by the ICW under series of treaties practically ensuring long distance travel was a rarity for those who were middle class or below.

Uncomfortable because of the travelling mechanism.

The Powder was, in truth – like much of magical invention, an ingenious way of doing things incompletely. The Floo network was the ingenious part of the entire method of travel, a series of networks that crisscrossed the world along the paths of leylines and used its energy to 'propel' individuals across distance through the floo powder fires which were stable agents that encompassed the individual as they travelled towards their destination like a vessel in a vacuum chute where instead they used the properties of the green fire instead of pressure and suction for motion.

It was a missed opportunity, in truth…the idea that you could wake up in Paris and go to work in Kyoto before making it back in time for a late lunch in London or Barcelona was something he was keen to use as a way to bind many of these Ministries in his alliance.

The Gate Network would start here on Illos and it would connect throughout the Magical World, first here on Earth and then later throughout their domain within the galaxy, hopefully.

They had built enough security measures into the gates that it will prevent tampering and others from finding out this method of travelling independently. He and Emily had figured out the mechanisms of the Fidilius Charm in its entirety and secrets no longer had to be singular to be held in the soul.

Not only that, they found a way to 'dampen' interest in figuring out the roots that connected to the secret and in instance, the roots of the secret were dimensions and how to use them to reduce distance.

They could anchor the secrets in powerful magical mediums instead of souls and Mithril would be those anchors. They anchored the roots to Gate Rings to a Mithril Anchor so they were covered there and he knew they would use it again.

There was some knowledge that should not be allowed to be discovered by those who'd use it against them and their interests.

Soon enough, the guest of honour – and his guards – arrived and Atticus strode slowly towards the man shadowed by several of Illosian Guards.

Atticus met the gaze of the wrinkled old man, ancient eyes that were powerful and old with wisdom gained with the struggles and experiences of life.

He looked at him closer and saw the infinite streams of magic, the strands of magic that permeated the universe, in this plaza, bent slightly around him, around the calm blue and wisteria hued coil of magic that was within the aged man.

There was a peace in the man's magic that he seldom saw, the only one who had surpassed it had been the Monk in India and the ones who mirrored it were the monks in Tibet.

« Shogun Ieyasu-san » Atticus said in Japanese and with a deep nod of respect.

There were few people that deserved such acts.

He was small, an elderly man with grey white hair aged gracefully despite his hundred and ninety-nine years of age, yet his wisdom and dignity was something that Atticus deeply respected, envied and hoped he attained someday.

Knowledge was great but wisdom?

That was priceless and years ago in his time in Japan, however brief it may have been, he had come to appreciate that truth after meeting the man.

Of course, he would not allow it to impede his judgement today. After all…this was a meeting of rulers and there was little mercy in matters between rulers.

The Japanese Emperor may have stripped this man – and his clan – of the right to be the Emperor's voice in Magical Japan, to be the shoguns of Japan, but it was irrelevant when the Japanese magicals had all but viewed this man as their ruler.

The elderly man's chuckle rumbled in his throat "Lord Sayre-san" the aged man said respectfully back in Latin, a kind smile on his face as he bowed his head slightly.

Soon enough, they left, descending down the wide sets of stairs and into the platform out was carved out of the small mountain opposite Mount Celestis ringed by the familiar sight of gleaming silver-grey metal that cradled Illos.

Atticus watched Ieyasu without watching as they travelled across Illos above the hilly rocks and the rich green plans and his lack of reaction was expected.

He'd Seen the man extracting every last bit of information from the delegates that had arrived on Illos, watching it all again and again in a pensieve, learning and gleaming things that might not have been obvious at first.

He returned his focus on the scenery below as they travelled through the luxurious black sky-limo, one reserved for important dignitaries such as Ieyasu, and watched the changing landscape.

He knew what the man would ask, hoped he would ask. He'd seen every possibility he could of this visit, a visit he considered a pivotal point of the ideal future.

Like curves in a river, this was a bend that would lead the magical world towards a path would lead to the least amount of bloodshed and the quickest road to stability.

As his eyes scanned the lush lands of Illos, as they flew past the tall silver grey stoned buildings that were being filled more and more as the seasons passed, he only could only think of what it meant for his people and the rest of Magical-Kind.

He and Emily strove to better the Magical World yet the path they influencing in the world on was one of strife, agitated and pushed along on invisible threads with their blood soaked hands…sometimes quite literally.

Their good was riddled with specks of ruby red blood, like metals made stronger with the introduction of other elements yet at the same time he feared they introduced more impurities as they forged a stronger world, a stronger people…

Knowing that to clean out the impurities, as they planned on their original course, it would require them to be harsher, to hammer it out and to put so many of them in hotter, sweltering fires to make impurities rise to the top out of its inner structures and beaten away was something that he did not wish to do more than necessary.

It was why this could be a way, a better way that didn't leave them with entire broken peoples of the Magical World and instead with core peoples who would stand with Illos as eternal allies whilst they rebuilt the rest and integrated them into the society of the future.

The future was never set he knew that intimately. Like a thrown dice in mid-air, every possible possibility would remain in existence until it no longer did in the now.

And in that vortex of possibilities, their plans were often changing, shifting, finding and closing new routes towards their desired place in the galaxy.

And in that understanding, one thing that was becoming more obvious than not, was the necessity of compassion.

Not mindless compassion, compassion that was blind and given unrestrained…no, a compassion that came from strength and humility and cooperation.

Much of he and Emily did, lacked this type of compassion in their drive to create the greatest civilisation in existence. Compassion for other cultures and peoples who were worth preserving, who knew that it was worth preserving and would fight for its preservation.

Were the Slitharahans not worth preserving?

Did they need to be lost in the sea of Illosian culture entirely?

As they travelled the world, their perspective had changed over the years. It was a shift of understanding that was valuable and set them on their current path.

They had met numerous cultures that were in harmony with their surroundings, who lived without strife and violence with the way their culture had grown and for people such as they, like the Slitharahans who lived in peace and harmony for thousands of years, to murder their culture was a crime that he and Emily did not wish to do.

They were cruel, yes, they were ruthlessness without doubt but they were not malicious nor were they without understanding or appreciation.

Destroying everything was not the only way to achieve their goal of a single great civilisation and such beliefs and actions may even unravel what they sought to build in the first place. It did not need to be homogenous and they would lose much of what made their world so special as they had learned in their travels nor would destruction be necessary for their people to rise to heights he wished them to reach.

Illos would be a beacon to the Magical World, its centre, thecapital of a great civilisation, but no longer would it be all that there was.

A union of people that built towards an empire.

Perhaps it had taken a toll, he mused to himself, wondering if this feeling of introspection was because of the strife they were letting happen to many innocents, present and future, strife that could be excised with simplistic swiftness, like taking shearing scissors to withered branches on the vine to save the plant from succumbing to infection.

Having the ability to traverse through the threads of Time, along the wibbly wobbly possibilities that closed and reopened with each action, reaction and change in people, environment and more, did not make it easier on him, not when he saw possibilities of his own actions that could lead to these broken peoples not existing.

Still, much of what was happening was not of their doing, not entirely.

Like constant momentum in frictionless space, things were already headed towards where it was going now even without their meddling. Plans and plots and ambition and rage and hatred already existed, finding ample nurturing soil to take root in a post-war climate left unresolved and exacerbated by uncomfortable truths.

Like the ebb and flow of the tide, Dark Lords and rhetoric were cyclical in the magical world, humming and thrumming along the music of power and magic sung into the world, a world where heritage and power and entitlement were core identities to magicals.

This was only the most recent rising tide.

And, despite the regret he felt, it would be the last rise once they broke these cultures caught in this cycle of their own designs, this music that ensnared them to live and die only to live again and to die again to the tune of this unchanging wretched song.

And in the wake of these broken cultures, earth would be soiled and wet, ready and eager for new seeds to be planted into its upturned ground for Illosian ideals, beliefs and hope to take hold and spring into new growth that should last into infinity.

Much of their actions revolved around assassination of opposing individuals who were able to provide opposition to the sweeping shadows, who could delay the new conflict longer but would do so at a higher cost causing the conflict to spiral out and merely pave the way for the next cycle which may end up with greater ramifications for the Magical World in the wake of the muggles' march into advancement.

Innocents who were not innocents but more innocent than guilty.

Cassiopeia was one of these opposing individuals whose hatred ran deep and who could have posed a deeper problem in Magical Britain, upending much of their progress there with her adeptness with uncovering secrets and swaying people to her way of thinking, like doubtful Charlus who was a hub of connections who could set about unravelling the threads that would bound Magical Britain to Emily's path.

Their deaths were for a better purpose and he had solace in that truth.

Just as the end result of this visit would result in a better path for that same purpose.

For the next few days, he toured with Ieyasu throughout Illos and let the old man gain an understanding of what they were building on his own. With men like Ieyasu, it was better to show than it was to tell, to let him gleam what he needed to in order to appreciate both positions and what was on offer.

And it was becoming clear what was on offer for Ieyasu…and he was going to press harder to make sure the right outcome was reached.

It was on the fourth day that Atticus took him to the lands below of Illos, to the lands that touched heavily with magic from the anchoring obelisks and warmed to tropical conditions.

Ieyasu's eyes fell on the ginormous underbelly of Illos, the gleaming silver grey metal that was alight by a single orb that hung below in the air, that blotted out the sun and the sky seemingly stretching kilometres high in an endless stretch.

« Where are we? » Ieyasu said, his voice calm but Atticus felt the man's peace dither as the old man began to understand the scale of what Illos was.

« A place distant from civilisations » Atticus said with a smile in his voice as they stood at the base of a hill amidst that obscured their vision forward though it was clear that most of the lands surrounding the few hills was flat and brimming with tall grass.

« I see. » Ieyasu said with a glance at Atticus before his eyes roved around « I had thought you might have found an island far south given how different the stars are. Further perhaps than Australia. »

Ieyasu's eyes looked up again « It seems that I have been wrong. » Ieyasu said and Atticus knew that the man was troubled.

Ieyasu turned towards Atticus, his eyes sharper and his intent changed. « You built this? » he waved his hand towards Illos « With your wife alone? » he asked, scepticism in his voice.

« I did. » Atticus confirmed, their gazes meeting. « It was not easy nor do I expect anyone else to be capable of it, at least any time soon » Atticus said with a gleam in his eyes « But yes, we built an island for our people that can sail the sky just as easily as a boat sails the sea »

Their gaze held for several seconds before Ieyasu nodded and turned his gaze towards the underbelly of Illos.

« I understand » Ieyasu said, his expression relaxed but Atticus knew the paths narrowed now with those two simple words.

Atticus smiled at the elderly man before he waved the man on to follow him.

Atticus' hands were behind his back as they walked up the hill and soon enough they arrived at the top. Before them was vast plains of tall grasslands that seemed to stretch endlessly into the distance.

And in those vast plains of Antarctica, plains were filled with vegetation – and more – that was plucked from tropical regions around the world.

This place, kilometres below the underbelly of Illos was a playing ground, of a sort.

It was not easy to engineer environments, even with magic, and it was here that many of those who built the habitats on Illos practiced their craft.

They would go and learn what made up jungles, plains and forests around the world, see how magic and nature and animal life interacted, and apply what they learnt here before moving on to building the habitats there.

Much of the soil, rocks and even mountains had come from here. The soil on Illos was fairly deep but it was not enough to use to create habitats that were kilometres in diameter.

The experience his people gained would serve well in the future when they were on distant worlds. After all, he did not expect all the worlds to be completely or even slightly habitable in their new home system.

In the distance, by the Great Lake, there were enormous animals that grazed in herds and their incredibly long necks towered over the grasslands.

Ieyasu frowned at the sight of the creatures. « I have not heard of them or read description of these animals. » Ieyasu said.

Atticus' smile grew just a minute amount as he turned his gaze towards the animals.

« That is because they are extinct. Had been extinct for many many years. » Atticus said as he stared at the majestic creatures. Extinct for tens of millions of years.

Out of curiosity, one time, he had looked into what the Ancient Humans had uncovered about the megafauna of Earth. Moira's records had no information prior to the rediscovery of Earth by their people.

The Ancient Humans believed that they had left Erda Tyrene during the infancy of their own civilisation millions of years ago and nearly all that they uncovered about the history of the animal life in that era was long lost to history.

Yet during their rediscovery of Earth, amongst the archaeological findings of ancient Ancient Human civilisation, they also catalogued the biological history of life on Earth. It was through looking DNA of recently extinct animals and existing animals that they discovered the truth that Earth had been likely where Humanity had started.

Of course, they could only go so far in history especially given how fragile DNA was but they had discovered enough human remains and other mammalian animals to determine that Earth was likely the Cradle of humanity.

He stared at the massive creatures that roamed the grasslands, tens of millions of years later when all of other versions of their species had died.

Dinosaurs…dinosaurs had always captured his imagination…and the imagination of countless of other people, adult and child alike. They were beings of near fantasy, beings of incredulity and awe they all wondered about and marvelled at.

Compared to dragons, to phoenixes and to hippogriffs, these dinosaurs were mundane excepting their size yet they had an unmistakably powerful presence.

They had been Kings of Earth in their time and even the few species resurrected had that air about them.

One of them brayed and it was a high pitched sound, an odd sound that was familiar and yet not, like hearing a language that was phonetically English but the words were wrong.

These Brachiosauruses sounded like birds but not. Like Elephants but not.

He shook his head internally. To think that all of this happened because he was merely curious about dinosaurs.

DNA had a half life of five hundred years.

From the Ancient Human records, half life of DNA varied from world to world even if they were carbon based but for the most part, DNA across the human empire at the time had a half life of roughly five hundred to a thousand years and after every thousand or two thousand years, seventy five percent of genetic information is lost.

After six to eight million years, every single base pair is gone.

The Ancient Humans did not entertain notions of resurrecting extinct animals and their technology offered very little assistance in bringing back species that were as un-resurrect-able as dinosaurs.

There was little purpose to it after all.

From what he could understand, there was massive biodiversity anyway in the galaxy, sentient and not, and to expel resources and time to resurrect beings that were while interesting but ultimately nothing quite unique, was not something the Ancient Humans did or approved of.

Especially since their interpretation of the Mantle of Responsibility did not allow for such things.

It was a good thing that he cared not about what they might or might not approve of.

However, they were very, very adept at biological science and though he found nothing that hinted that they cloned people, the technologies were more than capable of it.

Of course it needed DNA to start with…something even the most well preserved bones would lack after millions of years.

An issue that he and Emily had spent half a decade trying to figure out intermittently. Her own talents in flesh crafting had flourished in that time, especially when it came to the more…necromantic elements of things.

Honestly, she was becoming rather brilliant when it came to creating life. The Seelie were a brilliant example of using mostly non-biological material to craft sentient life.

After they managed to obtain full skeletons of three species of dinosaurs, they worked on figuring out how to bring them back to life and it was something that stumped them for nearly a year until he remembered that the Forerunners had devolved humanity.

Whilst the Ancient Humans were not that capable in biological science, they were capable of 'winding back time' genetically speaking and create models.

A few hundred chickens, crocodiles and various other reptiles and birds later, they got enough data for an arithmantic basis to start working on a ritual to at least capture the likeness of dinosaurs.

To truly bring them back was something beyond magic and science but to bring back a version of these magnificent creatures?

Well that was possible, he thought as he stared at the animals.

He didn't think it mattered if they weren't truly the 'real' dinosaurs and were basically cousins to reptiles and chickens instead of their ancestors, not when they looked the part.

For now, they only had Homaphales and Stegosauruses as well but he hoped by the time they left Earth they would be able to bring back more of the megafauna.

Atticus turned to Ieyasu who bore a sharp look in his face and smiled slightly at the older man "We are not only interested in life as it exists now. With great difficulty, we managed to revive some long dead animals." Atticus said in Latin, looking back at the grasslands.

A head with a bulbous armour plate looked up from the several metres long grass.

"Why would you choose to do so?" Ieyasu questioned, his gaze following the smaller creature and its offspring. He turned to Atticus, an inspecting look on his face "Are you not concerned about the sanctity of the cycle of life?" He turned back towards the creatures.

"Even if it regretfully meant permanent disappearance of such curious beings?"

"Our people are growing to understand more and more about the majesty of life just as I am." Atticus replied easily "What is life but life trying to further itself?" Atticus waved towards the beings "We live, we procreate and we die. These beings might have died out completely once but life – us – have brought them back."

Atticus met Ieyasu's gaze "How is that not life simply following what its always done, even if the details are different?" Atticus said with a humorous tone in his voice.

Ieyasu shook his head "That is a strange way to see it."

"It is." Atticus agreed before he grew more serious "Yet I find it a good way to see life. Magic has always flourished when life is plentiful. To use magic to make life flourish is in my opinion one of the greatest application of it."

Ieyasu said nothing to that though from what Atticus could sense, he did not disagree, at least not completely. And Atticus was fine with that.

It was a few days later that they were at his home on Mount Celestis, away from the Main Tower and the city itself, having opting a less formal setting for the final talks to be finally conducted.

All of the trade agreements and terms of Japan's membership in the organisation – which is yet to be named – were already agreed in principle by the delegates and by Ieyasu.

Yet with what he had shown Ieyasu, he knew that the terms would change.

Just as he hoped.

They sat by the back gardens of Sayre Manor, alone without their guards, the view of the cities and the growing nature in the distance a serene setting that fitted the current atmosphere.

"You have built something wonderful Atticus-san." Ieyasu said.

Atticus gave him a hint of smile before he turned his gaze towards Celestis city.

"It was not done alone."

"Nothing truly is." Ieyasu agreed before he looked at Atticus with an introspective expression "Yet most of it was done with yours and your wife's hands, was it not?"

Atticus turned to Ieyasu "That is true. Emily and I built the country alone at first but life was brought with the aid of others."

Ieyasu hummed before he grasped his tea with both of his hands and gently brought it to his lips, a gentle blow exiting his lips before he sipped on the camomile tea.

Ieyasu hummed again as he brought the tea down and met Atticus' gaze "A feat that is unheard of yet not unexpected, not entirely."

"Oh?" Atticus said with a curious glint in his gaze.

They both knew that he was referencing Himiko, the shaman queen of Yamatai just as they both knew that his questioning about whether or not he and Emily built the structure that is Illos was more than just idle curiosity.

Ieyasu chuckled "We may not have discussed this when you first came to Japan but destiny bends around you, child. It is palpable in such a way that it is humbling."

"Humbling?"

Ieyasu hummed as he took a sip of his tea again. "Humbling in the way that magic always has a role for us to play. Some greater than others." Ieyasu turned to him, his ancient eyes sharper than most could ever be capable of being "and others greater still."

Atticus gaze on Ieyasu trailed off and he looked towards the city before them. For now, the city looked relatively 'normal'.

It was beautiful, yes, its glittering silver stoned buildings that resembled the glistening walls of silver mines rich with silver ore ensured that, yet it was still only mildly magical, the magic of the country weaved into its structure.

Not so in the probable future. He'd Seen the magical creatures, winged and not, dot the skies along with the skymobiles and he'd seen trees and flowers and their roots sail the chiming winds that sung with magic and felt like warmth.

"Magic never truly has a specific role for us, Ieyasu-san. Magic merely has opportunities for us to seize and grants us the choice we deserve to mould ourselves into what is needed. Choice is never out of the question." Atticus said after a few moments, remembering what the Monk once said to him that it was never about him and simply the existence of a role that needed filling and one that he was suited for and elected to take.

Ieyasu hummed in a non-committal way as he set the teacup on the table and rose to his aged feet. Atticus watched him slowly stroll forward towards and through the gardens.

After a few moments, he chose to rise and follow him into the gardens.

For ten minutes they silently walked through the gardens his mother once took him through in his infancy, gardens that changed and had new plants, some transplanted from Moira's Gardens, but its shape remained the same throughout the decades.

It connected him to his mother and to his grandmother who'd shaped it before his father had been born.

At the centre, next to the marble sculpture fountain, there was a kind of Persea tree, a magical variety that was native to Egypt. It resembled somewhat a pear tree in leaf, flower and form yet it bore striking evergreen that was lusher and more radiant.

His ancestors had brought seeds over when they moved to Ireland in the first century BC and this tree was a direct descendant from that first tree which had been a descendant of the First Tree.

"I have not seen this kind of tree before." Ieyasu said curiously as he arrived before the tree which had been planted by Henry Sayre when the last tree had withered in the long absence of their family from their home during their greatest crisis.

Family legend claimed that there had been a single seed buried under wilted and starved earth that Henry Sayre nurtured back into health before planting it in restored earth in the presence of his wife and heir.

"It's extinct now." Atticus said calmly as he walked towards the tree and touched the bark of the tree with a lover's touch. "It used to flourish in Lower Egypt and was considered to be a sacred tree." Atticus hand trailed towards the fruit that hung from a branch. "By both the ancient Egyptians and later in their conquerors the Greeks and their successors the Romans."

The family chronicles mentioned of a legend that the tree was planted by Osiris himself, the god of the deceased. Legend claimed that the life that sustained the First Tree, the tree that all of this type of tree descended from, and bore the fruits that breathed life into its consumers, had been the life of an elderly Priest Mage who'd been their – his – ancestors.

"The trees went extinct during the ages and it is not clear who set off the initial chain of events that led to its extinction. Some said it was the Romans after the Tree became a symbol for the Christians and others say it was the Christians themselves who killed them off in their crusade against paganism."

"It is safe to eat, the fruit?" Ieyasu questioned.

"They are. They are magical. They give renewed energy though it fades fast." Atticus told the old man.

Ieyasu hand touched one of the hanging fruits "May I?" he asked and Atticus nodded his assent when he stood next the old man.

Ieyasu plucked the fruit and with a soft wave of the hand, its skin was peeled and he bit into the fruit.

The old man stood a little straighter as he consumed the fruit and he turned towards Atticus, a pleased expression on his face. "It is invigorating." He said to Atticus.

Atticus smiled and inclined his head. It was a sweet and luscious flavour whilst its effects were tangible. It gave energy to its consumer, like caffeine and sugar but several times more effective.

"It is. It used to be my guilty pleasure as a child. My mother forbade my sister and I to eat its fruit as it would always result in us becoming rather hyper-active and difficult for her to deal with." Atticus said with mirth in his eyes.

Ieyasu chuckled with his body "Ah, I can understand. Despite my age, I feel like I can run leagues without losing an ounce of my energy."

"It may feel like that but I assure it will pass sooner than you think." Atticus glanced behind them and waved his hand. A bench shimmered into existence and Atticus gestured towards it.

Ieyasu smiled gratefully and went towards and sat down. Atticus followed soon after.

A few moments passed as they both looked at the sculptured fountain until Ieyasu broke the silence.

"You know why I have not signed the agreement." Ieyasu stated, his gaze still on fountain.

The man knew of his Seeing abilities. Not its scope but enough to know that he Saw much. Most important figures with an interest in him had come to that conclusion.

"You're going to request that which bears a high price." Atticus simply answered.

"A high price? Not at an impossible cost?" Ieyasu said, his tone calmer than the surface of still lakes. Ieyasu understood very clearly all that he had shown the old man had a purpose behind it, this particular purpose.

"Nothing is impossible. Not for beings such as us." Atticus said with a light tone.

"It seems like the short few years have not yet tempered you, Atticus-san" Ieyasu said with hints of searching in his tone.

"I am still youthful enough to dream of impossible things and seek to rise above it, old man." Atticus said with a glance at the old man, hints of a smile adorned on his face.

Ieyasu's expression bore hints of levity though his voice remained calm "Youthful enough yes but wiser than your age despite your words seeming to the contrary."

Atticus said nothing to that for a short few moments as he turned his gaze towards the ancient tree. It had been a symbol of regrowth, when Henry Sayre planted it.

That the craftsmen of Egypt returned with new life and sought to rebuild what was torn down in pain, destruction and death. Not as it had been, no, their time of domination had ended and a new path had grown.

Henry Sayre knew the suffering of their family and what the price of victory had cost them and had set them on a new path, one of focus on a few industries that were vital to the magical world but did not threaten.

A decision that allowed the Sayre family to be rebuilt in relative peace as they build on their brotherhood with the Blacks until they were capable of defending themselves and stand as they once stood albeit without the shadow they once cast.

"I would have thought the offer made to you and your people would have been enough." Atticus spoke up again, his voice calm and devoid of levity.

"It is a great offer." Ieyasu admitted as he turned towards Atticus.

"This organisation is assuredly a boon for Japan. The troubles that may come from when you choose to make yourself public do not compare to what you have offered us not just in trade but magic itself." Ieyasu said with a hum.

It was true.

The offer to join the organisation was generous. It would revitalise Japan and offer crucial access to ingredients, products and boost to their economy which remains flagging at present despite their attempts to rebuild connections with the rest of Asia.

As for magic…well, they were making stride every day and Ieyasu had seen that here. They were making great progress and even surpassing the research output the best minds SIMS had to offer. Of course, many of the researchers were from the Irish school but many were not and had learnt and were learning it here in Illos.

And within the next six months to a year, the charade of shepherding the graduates at SIMS to places like New Zealand, MACUSA or elsewhere would be over.

It was time to no longer bother try and keep the ICW attentions away.

"Yet you wish for more, more than you can ever afford – or wish – to pay." Atticus commented, his tone calm yet it rung of serious questioning as he turned to face the old man.

The old man's ancient eyes bored down on Atticus' own. "Japan's coffers are still filled to the brim. We can pay" the old man paused as his eyes flittered around towards the mountains, towards the sky before resettling them on Atticus

"the price that would be asked." Ieyasu said calmly, their gazes set on one another.

"I am not a man who values wealth in gold or silver, Ieyasu-san." Atticus said, his expression unchanged "What you request of me would come with a greater price that demands loyalty." He said, his tone unchanged but the atmosphere changed.

"What you would ask for would never come to pass." He said calmly but with steel in his tone.

Atticus' eyes darkened, the hue of the violet of his eyes darkening whilst the emerald embers of his eyes glowed in subdued menace. "Are you so certain?" Atticus spoke calmly and his magic was restrained even if his gaze was terrifying.

The old man smiled genially despite the menace in Atticus' gaze.

"I am certain as I can be that you do not wish to rule over a troublesome people with a reputation of preferring to die than to live without honour." Ieyasu said calmly understanding exactly what Atticus meant with his words.

"I am never one to allow for difficult things to remain in my way."

"That is true and true still of your wife." Ieyasu said before he continued "Yet you would not show me all of Illos as you did after already having done enough in enticing my people for a place in this organisation" Ieyasu hinted meaningfully "without careful consideration"

Ieyasu folded his hands in his lap before he continued "I understand what you are, Lord Sayre." He said, his gaze penetrating. "There are men in history who are like the forces of nature who in their sweeping motions alter the path of nations as easily as the sea can swallow lands whole."

Atticus let the man continue.

"Emperor Jimmu was one such man." Ieyasu declared and so the truth was in the open.

"High praise to compare me to such a notable figure in your history" Atticus said calmly, the menace in his gaze dimmed but still ever-present and hidden underneath his glowing emerald embers.

Ieyasu gave a hint of a smile "It is not praise. It is an acknowledgement."

Flatterer, Atticus thought amused though there was more to it just acknowledgement or praise. It was an admittance of what he believed of Atticus.

"I have understood on the day I met you, Lord Sayre-san." Ieyasu said calmly "The touch of destiny that surrounds you made it as clear as the waters of the Sacred Cape of Noto." Ieyasu looked up into the sky, towards the Orbs.

"Great winds of change will be wrought by you, Lord Sayre-san yet it matters how it is achieved." Ieyasu waved his hand towards the Orbs "You understand better than most ever would." Ieyasu turned to him.

"Else Europe would have been under your rule by now instead of this home you have built with people who had none." Ieyasu finished.

'And why you believe that you would not be attacked by me' Atticus mused inwardly.

Atticus turned his gaze towards the tree, silent for a few moments.

There were those who could sense magic like Ieyasu could.

Magic that was beyond most people's perception. The Monks of Tibet were able to grasp this and used it to be at harmony with nature and the energies of the world.

Ieyasu instead used it to understand people and what made them tick.

Like Emily's capabilities of learning about people through her own rare form of magic sensing, he used it to secure him better within Japanese society than previous generations of Geiwa Genio clan members had been capable of.

It was a form of divination but also not. Malhestry, an in between of divination and soul magic that was obscure and even less studied.

Emily's form of sensing was amongst it.

"For all of your wisdom, Ieyasu-san, you have misunderstood." Atticus began after a short while, his head turned towards the old man. "You rely too much on your ability." Atticus said, his magic seeping out of him in a maelstrom of blinding magic, tinged with fury and malice, swirling and twisting around him.

"What do you see now?"

Ieyasu's calm disposition broke for a fleeting moment before he regained it, this time his ancient eyes harder. "Death." Ieyasu said, his voice losing all warmth and his magic no longer at peace, agitated and made uneasy by the dominating presence of Atticus' magic.

Atticus reigned in his magic though still chaotic and in a furious storm underneath his skin. People were never really one thing. People shaped themselves accordingly, fitting and squeezing into different shapes when the occasion called for it.

It was the same with magic. Atticus could alter his mind, even his personality – as he done to gain his Thestral animagus form – and he could overwhelm what people perceived of him and his magic.

Ieyasu's gaze was cold, all geniality and gentleness lost and now the leader of the Japanese magicals gazing upon Atticus.

Good.

"It is true that I have not offered this offer without consideration." Atticus began, his vibrant eyes aglow with a turbulent storm of swirling magic.

"An organisation that seeks cooperation and closer ties with strong nations who will gain just as Illos will gain. And in that, we can proceed with ease."

"To have shown you Illos was to show you who we are and what we are capable of, what kind of scale we work in." Atticus said, his voice calm but his eyes shining with intensity. "And we both know what you now seek is never given freely, never without a price that is paid in full."

"I am not a kind man, Ieyasu-san." Atticus finished, his tone ringing with finality, heavy with implication.

"Neither am I" Ieyasu said with grimness, their gazes affixed on one another.

Ieyasu spoke up after seconds of silence, his gaze flickering around before resettling on Atticus "We are willing to join in a closer alliance with Illos."

And so it begins…

"An alliance of two states that stand together in equal partnership."

"And what of the organisation at large? What of other states?" Atticus questioned.

"They can join the organisation as they are, a place with us but not amongst us. The states that would be able to be enticed away from the ICW cannot offer what we can offer." Ieyasu said dismissively with a gentle sway of his aged hand.

'You'd be surprised' Atticus mused. Ieyasu was ignoring the largest state in the world that would be interested just as Japan was…that would be made interested.

Ieyasu continued "Our population is greater than that of most nations around the world at 40,000 magicals, our knowledge and capabilities equal to that of MACUSA despite our smaller population."

"And yet you're willing to put yourself on equal standing with a nation with less than half your population and is less than a decade old?"

"This offer is not only with Illos; it is also with you."

Ieyasu was playing this very well and he knew Hirahito's words and memories were being used with this offer. It helped that Japan gaining what Ieyasu wanted depended on Atticus personally of course.

Still, to come here and offer this was not something that was done lightly.

Japan was a prideful nation, one with a rich history and a rich people.

Ieyasu was just prideful.

And both Atticus respected.

Yet it was an insulting offer.

"And why would I choose to make you more powerful, to make you equals?" Atticus posed, his gaze unblinking as they fell upon Ieyasu's dark eyes.

"Is that not what you offered with this organisation?" Ieyasu questioned "To be equals in trade and in cooperation?"

"Of course." Atticus said easily "Equals in trade. Equals in cooperation." Atticus turned completely to Ieyasu "Never in power."

"So not equals at all." Ieyasu mused aloud, his gaze searching and struck with intrigue yet it also held a sense of offense felt at Atticus' words.

"Were you ever equals with Vietnamese Ministry or the Laos Commune?" Atticus asked with a thin smile.

Ieyasu remained composed but from the flittering of the man's magic it was clear that his words had an impact.

"With what you ask me to give you with so little given back in return…" Atticus trailed off for a moment until his eyes sharpened and a violet quiet storm of magic began to coil around him, like serpents made out of pure magic, menacing and dark in intent yet biding their time, waiting, watching, the air around them growing to a thick tenseness that would drown weaker men.

"Every kitten grows up to be a cat." Atticus stated, his gaze never breaking with Ieyasu, his magic fluttering with each word spoke.

"Harmless at first, small and quiet, lapping up their bowl of milk, growing and aging, their nails once soft sharpening into claws capable of sinking deep and drawing blood." Atticus said, the corner of his mouth sharpening even as his eyes darkened.

"I never thought you fearful of allies." Ieyasu commented with a hint of curiosity in his gaze though it could not fool either of them with the way he spoke carefully.

"I fear little, least of all allies, enemies or death. Yet allies are perhaps the greatest concern, for you can never know when they place a sword through your back." Atticus said with a hint of a cold smile.

"Japan does not betray its allies." Ieyasu finally spoke out, his voice calm but agitation was clear in his magic.

"Did Japan not betray its alliance with Korea when the Mongols with the aid of their mages burnt down its communities? Did Japan not complete the Mongol work by driving out if not killing the rest of the Korean native magical population?" Atticus ruthlessly pointed out.

Atticus could see the agitation turning to anger before it simmered to shame before it cooled to acceptance – all while Ieyasu's expression remained calm

"A dishonourable mark in our history" Ieyasu admitted. "One that we have paid for." Ieyasu's eyes grew cold "And it is also ancient happenings."

"Yet it is still relevant, lessons of history your people have not learned from, given what happened in Manchuria." Atticus said with a tilt of his head. "Which makes the question as to why I would ally with an unreliable people who would sooner betray me than stand with me as honour and bonds dictate." Atticus' eyes narrowed

"As Hirahito so ably showed when he offered the option to betray me and my people when I sent out the invitation to you." Atticus said with a menace in his voice.

For all of his respect for the Japanese magical culture, he despised its hypocrisy.

It was not unexpected for every culture was hypocritical in one way or another.

It was human.

The road to power was paved with hypocrisy and casualties, at the hands of enemy fire and at the hands of friendly fire.

Ieyasu's eyes flickered with surprise before he schooled his expression, his gaze intense and scrutinising "Your Sight reaches that far?"

Atticus smiled thinly which was answer enough.

To let Ieyasu know of his Sight range was to let him know that betrayal would not be unseen.

Every alliance was fragile.

Alliances only half the time acted on their commitments.

Debts of honour mattered even less. The debt that Japan owed Atticus meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, only gave goodwill for them to build good relations.

"Then you must also know that I rejected it out of hand." Ieyasu said coldly.

"I do." Atticus confirmed "And that is the only reason why I did not rescind the offer when it was made."

Ieyasu hummed and said nothing for a few moments until he broke the silence "So then if you know all of that then you must also know why I want what I want."

"To solidify your separation from muggle Japan in its entirety and to rule in your own right without question." Atticus said calmly.

The Japanese Emperor had bitten the tail of the Geiwa Senio clan for the last time. The opportunity that Atticus offered would allow them to escape the binding ties that were anchored on the lands of Japan after the Emperor had demanded it of his mages when Himiko had shown the threat of magicals to his rule and his dynasty.

Himiko had been a powerful witch whose family had fallen victim to the Emperor's purges during the 180s AD. She had hated the Emperor with a passion and there were more than a few accounts of her battling with mages loyal to the Emperor, never quite victorious despite her winning almost all of the duels and in the end she left the mainland of Japan with her followers when word of Chinese magical warrior monks were being hired to help deal with her.

She ended up settling on Yamatai with loyal followers and peasants from her ancestral lands before they'd been taken from her family, and Yamatai had been rumoured to be an island the size of Shikoku and located off the eastern coast of Honshu. A series of wars for decades had rippled out between the Sun Queen and the Emperor until through unknown magicks she managed to seal off the island from the rest of the world.

It is a tale that was as famous in Japan as the Tale of the Three Brothers was in Britain and it had inspired many expeditions throughout the centuries to find this island. They never managed.

…Mostly because it did not exist…at least in the scale they believed it to exist. Through the use of the Ancient Human Satellites that recorded hundred thousand years of history, he determined that there probably was a Himiko and there was an island that was settled off of the coast of Honshu around that time but it was not through magic that it disappeared…rather it disappeared because of a powerful earthquake that destroyed the settlement and killed many of the people there.

Just as the Three Hallows were overblown in significance and power, so was Himiko and Yamatai. It didn't mean he wouldn't use it to his advantage.

Ieyasu nodded slowly before he peered at Atticus with a glimmer of something in his eyes « Your sight is most troublesome » Ieyasu said with a grimace.

Atticus' eyes glinted, a hint of a smile on his face « It has its advantages »

Silence reigned for a few moments.

"I am not unreasonable." Atticus broke the silence. "The offer of joining together in this organisation still stands." He told Ieyasu. "Without anything more from either side."

Ieyasu shook his head "The benefits are immense, that is true but we can do without if our circumstances do not change."

Atticus lips thinned "You would not reject trade agreements of this value if any other offered."

"We would not." Ieyasu agreed. "But none of the others could offer what you can."

"And what will you do if I cease negotiations completely and we go our separate ways?" Atticus asked, already knowing the answer.

Ieyasu shook his head. "You will not reject" Ieyasu's gaze grew hard "Because you benefit more than this alliance than you're willing to admit. It grants you legitimacy." Ieyasu said meaningfully.

Atticus knew that Ieyasu was referring to legitimacy not only as an alternative to the ICW but also to what he was suspecting of Atticus might do in the future.

Atticus lips twisted into a smile that could bisect a compressed boulder in two with how sharp it was. "I do not need Japan for legitimacy. Not when I can create it in the way you fear I might if I must."

Atticus raised his hand and a sun was sparked into creation. "This…this is all the legitimacy I need, Ieyasu-san."

He waved it out of existence and his eyes fell on Ieyasu. "We are at an end of our discussions." Atticus said curtly as he rose to his feet.

He clicked his fingers and a pop later, Tweenie arrived "Show Shogun Ieyasu-san out towards the skymobile Tweenie." Atticus said as he turned his back on Ieyasu.

"Wait." Ieyasu said, his voice hurried and harsh.

Atticus turned, his expression cold and he gestured to Tweenie to stand by.

"You would end this here, like this?" Ieyasu questioned, his eyes searching.

"Yes." Atticus said simply as he brought his hands behind his back. "I am prepared to deal with the consequences of today's failures. What I am not prepared to do is give you what you want for a flimsy alliance that can be broken at any time."

Ieyasu's nose flared as he stood up "You have questioned the honour of Japan again and again! My honour."

"I have." Atticus simply said, his eyes narrowing. "Not because I wished to but because I am not speaking as Atticus Sayre, Lord of House Sayre but because I am speaking as Lord Sayre of Illos and its people. People who depend on my wisdom, my leadership and my choices." Atticus' gaze turned withering.

"Again and again, your delegates have demanded more of us for little in return. You are receiving prices for goods that you would have purchased at thrice the price had you been on good terms with other Ministries let alone the five times you are paying now. You have changed the terms and even the conditions in which we are to work together for something that you wanted to be granted without giving anything in return." Atticus shook his head.

"What else have you left me with but to reject you?"

Ieyasu's nose flared before he turned his away and gestured angrily with his hand.

"We cannot and will not pay the price you demand for what we need. It asks too much of the integrity and dignity of Japan." Ieyasu said finally as he turned his gaze towards Atticus.

Atticus nodded. "I can understand that. What will you offer me?" Atticus asked curtly.

Ieyasu remained silent for a few moments. "A binding alliance in blood."

Atticus put on a mask of a frown on his face "I have no heirs at present and I am not willing to barter their future."

Ieyasu's expression shifted to one of mild amusement whilst there were hints of intrigue in his gaze.

Good.

"Not marriage, no. A binding alliance written in blood signifying a total alliance."

Atticus narrowed his gaze "You're talking about the ancient form of alliance treaties like those made during the era of the Three Kingdoms."

"I am." Ieyasu confirmed.

The treaties worked on a similar principle as that of goblin made contracts.

He grimaced internally.

"Illos will be the senior member of this alliance." Atticus said firmly. "That is non-negotiable."

Ieyasu narrowed his gaze and his magic flickered irritated. It seemed like Ieyasu hoped Atticus wouldn't 'know about the traditional form reaching agreements in that era. "Japan will not defer to you." He said harshly.

Atticus turned around and raised his hand. The ground shook and in front of the bench, the ground parted and a black ring with golden runes etched on its face rose up.

"What is this?" Ieyasu questioned, a heavy frown adorned on his wrinkled face "The same type of ring as those in your port?"

Atticus twisted his wrist and golden runes began to form in the air.

He could hear the increased heartbeat of Ieyasu at the sight of the runes.

It wasn't surprising.

The only runes that were known that could be etched in the air were Runic Battlemagic…which were primitive and weaker versions of the Atlantean forms of Runic magicks.

This was neither.

The runes were arranged in a circle in three concentric rings and with a wave of the hand, the Runes began to glow and shifted, rotating clockwise whilst seven of the runes glowed black.

The Gate's three concentric diamond rings began to glow, one after the other, and not long after the gate connected with the furthest gate to date.

"What is this?" Ieyasu said, his voice demanding yet Atticus could feel the peace in the man's magic, peace that had wavered and subdued as other emotions dominated, having entirely been reduced into a secondary emotion as uncertainty and caution soared to the forefront.

"The future." Atticus said simply as he stepped towards the Gate.

He stepped forward and in an instant, he was over 600 million kilometres away.

He stood on the creaking sounds of the ice, sounds that were only heard twice before in its billions of years of history. He could see his breath, the cold that remained and had sustained despite the artificial atmospheric bubble around the Gate.

The world was hard, it was devoid of life yet the potential was there, idle and frozen in ice just as it was frozen in time, waiting to be thawed out by the warmth of a sun large enough for its rays to touch its surface so much more than it did now.

Perhaps in several billions of years, when Sol was a red giant, this potential would come to pass. He hoped it would. It would become a mesmerising world.

He raised his head upward and he gazed upon known stars yet seen from a different perspective. He turned his heard around, gazing upon the barren frozen landscape.

The silence was absolute.

And in its silence, it had a kind of song of its own, one of solitary yet never alone, journeying through the galaxy and in the universe in orbits of orbits of orbits.

He closed his eyes and let himself feel the magic of this world, of this moon.

It was miniscule compared to even the most inhospitable places on Earth yet it was stronger than that of Luna, the streams of magic that traversed this world, that traversed through this world through oceans of water below kilometres thick ice.

He reopened his eyes and he saw the currents of magic that ran through the universe and he felt on his skin and on his magic.

His gaze fell on the unmissable, the looming giant that inspired such grand tales of majesty, of divinity and gods, sparking mankind's awe and imagination with its radiance and its fatherly presence in the night sky yet here it stood imperious and greater than any imagination of what the Father of Gods, the Sky Father might have been told or drawn or painted or sung about.

Jupiter…

He saw the vividness with which it shone in magic. A different kind of magic, not the kind of life but the kind that was an anchor to that of life.

An anchor that for tens of thousands of years was used on Earth to divine truths and used in rituals by tapping into the magic of what Jupiter meant symbolically.

Like the moon, it was an anchor that was ascribed meaning in magic, meaning that always existed yet was still given meaning by prehistoric humans at the same time, all of it entangled in a web of infinity that knew no beginning or end.

He felt Ieyasu's magic blink into existence as the man stepped through.

"Incredible, isn't it?" Atticus said softly, his gaze still on the imperious gas giant.

« This… » For the first time ever, Atticus could see disbelief etched on the man's wrinkled face.

« You know it to be real, Ieyasu-san. You know the magic of the Earth as well as I know it. Not even I could falsify its specialness » Atticus said to the old man.

Ieyasu walked passed him, his aged body carefully treading onto the ice that was as hard as rock. He reached the edge of the raised pillar of ice they stood upon and gazed upon Jupiter and on Europa.

Atticus walked with his hands behind his back until he arrived by Ieyasu's side and he observed Ieyasu's expression.

Ancient eyes that had seen much, that knew life and struggles were now new and young, as if they belonged to a new born infant whose eyes were wide and interested in everything and anything it could set its eyes upon.

« On what do we stand? » Ieyasu asked finally after minutes of silence.

« Europa. One of Jupiter's many moons yet quite likely the most beautiful »

« How » Ieyasu only responded, his gaze unable to break away from the looming giant.

« Magic. Science. Creativity. Dreams. » Atticus said and Ieyasu turned Atticus.

"Necessity" Atticus said meaningfully as their gazes met.

Ieyasu's expression was troubled but it fell away as he looked back towards the gas giant. « What could cause this kind of necessity? » Ieyasu asked, his gaze affixed onto Jupiter.

Atticus turned his gaze away from Ieyasu and returned them towards Jupiter.

« The same kind of necessity that has you seek to abandon your homelands so that you can break free from those who'd taken the magicals of Japan for granted. »

Ieyasu said nothing to that for there was little more to be said and instead elected to turn his attentions towards that which deserved to be gazed upon.

Ieyasu's troubled eyes melted away as he stared at the gas giant.

Atticus inwardly smiled contently. It was always pleasing to see new appreciations for that which deserved to be appreciated.

So close to Jupiter, the Great Red Spot was alight with faint lightning, the perpetual storm that raged since time unknown and could engulf the Earth in its entirety with its sheer size.

It was an understanding that would inspire a sense of smallness in many people.

Not for him.

No…

For him, it was a challenge.

"Nothing is impossible. Not for beings such as us." Atticus broke the silence, his words carrying through the artificial air like reeds caught in strong gushes of wind.

Ieyasu chuckled, a chuckle that surged and brought alive from the depths of his stomach.

« It is eerie. Scarily so. » Ieyasu said with a hum in his voice.

Atticus turned to him and Ieyasu looked at him. « There is an ancient saying from our past. That life was like walking from one side of infinite darkness to another, on a bridge of dreams. »

Atticus allowed a smile to form on his face as he looked back at the gas giant.

Ieyasu continued « That we are all crossing the bridge of dreams together. » Ieyasu shook his head « It is prophetic » Ieyasu said as he swivelled around and looked upon the black ring, a look of tiredness seemingly washing over him.

Ieyasu seemed his age.

A kind expression was on Atticus' face as he dipped his head slightly "I see."

"It is apt, that saying." Atticus said as he turned his gaze back at Jupiter.

"I have always been a dreamer, once for myself and now for others."

"A dreamer who believes that nothing is impossible for our people. That our dreams, our hopes for a great future can be brought into reality, that it can be created." Atticus raised his hand and glass ball the size of a ball came into existence.

Earth began to form at the bottom of the glass ball before the top soil turned green. A sapling punctured through the soil, a sapling that grew into a young green tree before its trunk widened and thickened and its leaves grew thick and numerous.

The top branches of the tree pressed against the glass bowl and spidery cracks began to form on the surface of the glass "And with that belief, Ieyasu-san, I intend to take our people, as destiny demands of me…"

The leaves and the branches broke through the top of the glass, strong branches and vivid emerald green leaves continued to rise and outgrow the glass bowl until the top of the tree reached several times what it had been when it had been encased in the glass bowl.

"Towards the stars and amongst the stars, taking our place as the shepherds of magic, of life and that of existence." Atticus intoned, his words settling around them as if they were manipulating reality itself, the truth and the strength that he spoke with affecting the very structures of the immediate reality around them.

Atticus turned his gaze at Ieyasu, who looked at him with new sets of eyes, this time with less understanding yet older than that of an infant, like that of a teenager whose perspective of his world was changing.

"I told you that you misunderstood. You misunderstood the signs of destiny around me as that of a conqueror, that of an Archmage who alters the course of the history with his deeds or misdeeds." Atticus' eyes burnt brightly, hues of greens and purples and whites began to radiate like miniature suns.

"I am more than that. I am less than that. I am a conqueror who will not conquer lands or people." Atticus stepped closer towards Ieyasu, his magic swirling around him like the glowing halos that surrounded Jupiter.

"I will conquer the stars, not for myself, or for Emily but for our people, those of magic and you will join me in this for the touch of destiny surrounds all of us calling us to the stars. Mages, Goblins, Dwarves, Veela, Yokai" Atticus said with a charming twist of the lips before he continued, the charming twist lost and an unyielding determination set on his face.

"Greats winds of change are being wrought and by the grace of Magic I will have our people rise towards our destiny." Atticus said as he drew himself up, his eyes dimming and his magic calmed.

"That is my role, Ieyasu-san and I will see it happen."

"The question is, Ieyasu-san…will you stand with me as eternal allies in this destiny of ours?" Atticus asked of Ieyasu, his gaze penetrating and unblinking.

Seconds passed.

Then minutes.

Until…

Ieyasu stared at Jupiter, a complicated expression breaking through on his face.

He turned to Atticus and Atticus almost felt as if the threads of destiny were pulling into a single indestructible cord.

"Japan will stand with Illos." Ieyasu finally said the words that would alter the path of history.

Ieyasu outstretched his aged hand.

"And Illos will stand with Japan." Atticus shook Ieyasu's hand.

Conquest in the literal form was messy. Bloody and it built towers of resentment.

Instead, he would make them orbit around him just like how Europa orbited Jupiter with the strength of his ideas and his weight of personality to lock them in place in perpetuity.

"It seems that with you, Atticus-san, the coin has fallen on its edge." Ieyasu intoned and his gaze meaningful. "Whether it is to our greatest fortune or not, I am unsure any of us will ever know the answer to that."

Atticus smiled and it was not kind nor was it unkind.

"I know." Atticus said as he looked away from Ieyasu and towards Jupiter.

Before humans even knew the truth of the significance of Jupiter, they had already known before they could have known when they named Jupiter Sky Father and given him his domain.

A God that oversaw all aspects of life and a protector of humanity.

Not only in body but also in morality.

Oaths, treaties and the sense of obligation were ascribed to him and sworn in his name.

A protector in every sense of the word.

Just as Jupiter the gas giant was such a protector with its enormous gravitational field deflecting comets and asteroids that otherwise might have been on a trajectory towards Earth.

A consequence that allowed life to evolve in a long enough stable environment that likely would not have existed without the present of Jupiter, the Sky Father.

Yet, it was fallible and it could be harsh and destructive, just as it had been 65 million years ago when it instead set the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs from existence.

Atticus' gaze sharpened as he stared at the gas giant.

'One more thing he shared with Jupiter' Atticus thought, the image of a coin stood upright on its edge flashing across his mind.

-Break-

24th of April 1953 – England

Sidwell POV

He walked out from the floo and dusted off the ashes from his robes.

"She is waiting in the backyard." The oddly dressed elf said with impeccable English before the elf popped away.

He'd never get used to that, he mused to himself.

He arrived at the backyard and saw her conversing with a large three headed serpent. The hissing was alien to him and it never failed to make his skin prickle at the sensation of the sounds it made.

There was a deeply magical component to this feeling of prickling, one that was a curious mixture of how magic interacted with the vocal cords and air around them.

She turned to him, her black eyes meeting his brown ones. "Sidwell." She greeted calmly.

"Lady Slytherin-Sayre." Sidwell said with an incline of his head.

Her lips curled upward slightly "I'm sure you know that I am no longer of nobility."

"I doubt anyone would see your abdication of titles granted by the muggle royalty as reason to remove your nobility." Sidwell said with a hint of amusement in his tone as he stepped closer. The hydra turned to him and all three heads hissed menacingly.

She began to hiss to them, almost soothingly from what he could tell, and their hissing subsided and the serpent turned and slithered away out towards the forest that was in the distance.

"You know they're class five magical creatures." Sidwell began as he watched the serpent go. His gaze turned to her "Do you have a license for them?"

She quirked her brow "I do. The Indian Ministry was quite kind to grant me exemption under international law to handle class five parsel-speaking creatures." Her eyes suddenly sharpened "Would you like to see my license?"

Sidwell shook his head, almost amused "No my Lady." He turned his gaze back at her "It is not necessary." He paused for a moment and his expression grew serious.

"We have dealt with all of the muggles and traitors." Sidwell spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Even the ones stationed in West Germany?" she questioned, her eyes intense with interest.

"Even them." Sidwell confirmed calmly.

"Excellent." She said with approval in her tone before she grew serious "At last the threat of the muggles – for now – has been dealt with."

"We will monitor them to make sure we have not missed anyone of note." Sidwell hesitated for a moment "Which might well be a possibility. The Statute…was well broken." He said slowly.

To say it was broken was an understatement. Incredibly.

They were very close to being dealt with a devastating blow by the muggles had they not known about their directed bomb several weeks ago. Whilst the Auror department believed that they were leading the investigation, the Unspeakables had long since kept an eye on the muggles.

It had been Rockwood's team who were responsible for it.

"I know." She said and he knew that she meant it completely. He doubted that there wasn't much they didn't know. She continued "But we're reasonably confident we've identified all of the hidden agents that knew. He will let us know otherwise."

He bowed his head. "Of course." He said calmly.

She looked at him with a curious glint in her eyes. "With this over, you have more time available to extend your influence within the DOM. Are you ready to change direction?" she asked.

When he had met the young girl – then named Riddle – he had not imagined being where he was now nor did he expect both of them to surpass so far beyond what he thought they were capable of.

The Sayre-Slytherins had travelled the world on many instances and in their travels they had uncovered more lost history and magic than any other.

Records of ancient histories from long dead civilisations that were mere myths to the wizards of the regions and ancient scrolls detailing priceless magicks – though often pointless as modern incarnations did it better but for the context of history it was priceless to see where some of the roots of modern spells might have come from – had been found and it was through this that he had reconnected with the couple.

Of course, it was something he was assigned to do by Bracker to learn about them and determine if they were conducting research that was a threat to the magical world. In truth, both he and Bracker wanted to recruit them into the Unspeakables.

Suffice it to say…it didn't turn out that way.

At the start, he'd learnt much about their travels and though most of the magicks they had found were uninteresting without the context of history, some of it was incredibly dangerous, even cataclysmic to the world.

It was no surprise that many of these ancient civilisations had died out and passed into myth and legend, not when he'd seen some of the descriptions detailing the kind of environmental altering rituals they conducted, rituals that acted on massive scales against their enemies or done to satiate their Gods.

Rituals of those scales rarely were successful, at least in the way they intended. Even the Great Warming ritual, the ritual that ancient celtic tribes well over ten thousand years ago conducted to alter the climate of Europe, had not been as intended as it altered the tilt of the planet and changed much more than simply warm the continent of Europe.

Magic might be intuitive and responsive to will and desire but there was a structure to it. A structure they were still learning, even to this day.

For primitive albeit powerful civilisations to cast such environment altering magicks without understanding the consequences of such human sacrifices…

Well, it made the plagues of Egypt seem like an annoyance compared to what disaster such rituals could inflict.

It was during this time, after they had shared with them these magicks, that he had learned why they had let him come close in the first place.

The DOM's primary purpose had always been to conduct research in fields and magicks where there was certifiable proof – namely the confiscation of research, experiments and even people themselves if they prove to be too dangerous to allow out into the world – of those said magicks having great potential to do harm to the magical world.

They either released safe versions of these inventions or spells out in the magical world mostly so that alternative wouldn't be sought or created when there was already a spell or invention in existence that did the job.

There was a reason why Fiendfyre and the killing curse never was suppressed. The two spells whilst utterly deadly were still limited to compared to some of the descriptions of spells that once existed. It was an effective controlling element that prevented people from experimenting with things that shouldn't be experimented with.

That meant that many of the senior members of the DOM knew a great deal more about magic and the history of the magical world nearly anyone alive. The DOM attracted a certain type of people and the DOM sought after a type of people.

Both of them were these kinds of people and they both knew it.

It was during this time, after they'd developed a cordial if not friendly relationship discussing and sharing their own experiences and knowledge magical history and obscure magicks, that they had taken to show him the truth of the world. Of their origins.

He'd always been interested in magic from a young age…or more specifically in the history of the magical world. He'd grown up in pureblood family, of middling class and young stature but nonetheless pure and one of the things that always fascinated him was the history of the ancient Celts.

It had always been an open secret that the DOM knew more about magic and he had reasoned at the time they likely knew more about ancient history as well.

Looking back now, he knew that it wasn't an accident that they had shared with him so much of their findings of ancient civilisations. Knowing the scale of Lord Sayre's Sight, it likely was something he had Seen long before then.

Perhaps it was what allowed him to find the wrecked ship that had so much knowledge about their origins.

Throughout history, there's always been speculations about the origins of Magic…of the origins of mages. Gods, Nature, the Universe, all of it at one point or another had been ascribed as the origin of magic and thus the origins of magicals.

Yet what they had shown him, what the recordings had shown him, told him of a different story, a story that spans for much much longer than anyone would have believed, that he would have refused to be believe if not for what he had seen and been sworn to that it did happen.

From those recordings, he'd watched sunrises on different worlds, he'd watched multiple suns, multiple moons come and go in alien night skies, he'd watched ships that sailed the Void as if it were the sea and he'd watched in horrified awe as wars were fought by their Ancient ancestors against creatures that were more numerous, that were more powerful and he'd seen them lose.

It was then that he understood that they were both working towards something that never had been conceived of in history, in their history and it was something that he could not walk away from.

Not when they'd given him the chance to stand on the Moon itself and cast his gaze towards the blue world.

And…

As a lover of history, how could he not choose to be part of history itself?

For assuredly, he was going to be part of history greater than those who lived in the times of Merlin.

He met her gaze. "I will have more time yes. Bracker is expecting to retire within the next decade or so and in that time I will position myself as his successor. Only Croaker is a threat to my succession but with my successes in dealing with the muggles, my estimation amongst my colleagues within the DOM has grown significantly…especially considering what 'I' uncovered about the threat to the Ministry building."

She smiled before she nodded "Good. With the help of the DOM we can work towards raising Britain to what it needs to become." She turned her gaze towards the forest where the Hydra serpent was close to disappearing in.

"It will be a long and slow journey, Renatus."

"It will be, my Lady. But I find that it makes the arrival all the more sweeter. In the end." He said before pausing for a moment "And I look forward getting there."

She turned to him, a gentle smile on her face. "So do I, Renatus. So do I" she said before she returned her gaze towards the forest where there was no more sign of the Hydra.

He glanced at her for a moment. Life was odd, he mused.

He had not thought he would be circumventing his oaths to the DOM in this manner…in any manner. Least of all to two people who were half his age and he once saw himself wanting to mentor.

He returned his gaze back at the forest.

But then…as he was finding out more and more…life always surprised you and the only thing you could do is seize opportunities when it arrived.

And this opportunity, despite its near impossibility, was something he was never going to let go.

After all…in his own way, he was doing exactly what the DOM had always stood for…

To protect the magical world.