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.

14. Chapter 78

Without further adieu, please enjoy the post!

Note: If you would like to read ahead, the next chapter is available on discord whilst at least the next three chapters after it are available on P^A^T^R^E^O^N / Boombox117

The discord channel is d^i^s^c^o^r^d^.^g^g^/^v^r^8^8^t^6^4^Y^e^7

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29th of November, 1956 – Japan, Kyoto

Shinji Hirahito POV

The miniature model had a mountain as high as Mount Fuji, snaking rivers that coursed through the even and uneven terrain that were dotted with forests and areas that were clearly marked for settlement and farming, whilst some parts of the uneven terrain resulted in sharp drops and cliffs and in some instances he could see small waterfalls being made.

"Do you like what you see, Shinji-san?" he heard the old familiar voice and he turned around and bowed deeply from the waist.

He'd been asked to come in and talk with the revered man.

"Lord Protector-sama" Hirahito said reverently.

The old man made a disapproving noise "I have told you before, Shinji-san. Do not make an old man repeat his words."

"I-…Very well Ieyasu-sama." Hirahito said as he stood back up straight.

"Better" the old man said as he walked past Hirahito, his gaze firmly fixed on the model "What do you think?" he asked with a short side glance to Hirahito before he returned his eyes to the model.

Hirahito looked back at the model. He could see all of the representations that made Japan, Japan. Its diversity of nature, revered sights and landmarks, all of it bundled in a small package. "It looks like home." Hirahito settled on, his words bearing only honesty.

Ieyasu-sama hummed pleased "Yes…I think so too."

"What is the scale?" Hirahito asked

"It will have a diameter of forty one kilometres."

Hirahito frown a little and Ieyasu-sama caught it "You think it's small?"

Hirahito looked up and met his gaze, nodding slightly as he did. Ieyasu-sama gave him a small smile before he gazed back at the model.

"The majority of our people are not landowners like we are. Very few live beyond their means in their villages. The land is sufficient." Ieyasu-sama declared.

Hirahito looked back at the model. "If that is your wisdom." He said with a bowed head. "Will work on the island commence now?" he asked.

He had been present in Ieyasu-sama's council after he'd met with Atticus-sama.

A meeting that resulted in Ieyasu-sama's confirmation of an alliance struck in return for the Japanese magical world gaining a land of their own with no other peoples present.

There were more than a few clan leaders…unhappy with the decision to move.

It had caused unrest amongst the leading clans that was only recently resolved with concessions and places of honour. Hirahito did not have doubt that if it had been anyone other than Ieyasu-sama that it would have been the start of political…and perhaps even violent struggle amongst the clans.

Ieyasu-sama's reputation and wisdom had won the day and since then, all the clans were profiting from the deals struck with Illos. After all, it was doubtless the trade agreement had such a thing in mind. Atticus-sama's gaze was far-reaching.

Ieyasu-sama turned to him "Work has already begun our future home." Ieyasu-sama paused for a moment. "Island…is not the right term for our future home."

Hirahito looked at Ieyasu-sama questioningly "I don't understand…"

Ieyasu-sama chuckled and Hirahito thought he saw a hint of mischief in the old man's eyes "It will be an island…of a kind. But no, it is not an island as you understand it." He lost most of his levity as he waved at the model and it began to float.

"It will not sit amongst the sea but it will be amongst the clouds. An island of the skies." Ieyasu-sama turned to him. "And our journey will not end there either. No, this new home of our…It is to be our capital, Shinji-san."

"Sadako Sasaki has confirmed it." Ieyasu-sama added to the shock.

"She's made a prophecy?" he asked, shock marring his tone.

Ieyasu-sama made a sound of affirmation "She has. It will come to pass." He said with a tone of acceptance.

Prophecies were not always fulfilled. Many prophecies tended to be self-fulfilling whilst prophecies that did come true that were not self-fulfilling only became understood after the prophecy had come to pass.

Ieyasu-sama eyed him for a moment before he began to speak

'Bridged We Shall Be

To Takamagahara

We shall Live and Claim'

"I don't understand" Hirahito confessed

"It took me some time to decipher as well" Ieyasu-sama agreed.

"Takamagahara is the Plain of High Heaven, the divinely abodes of amutsukami"

"The gods of our ancestors" Hirahito said with a nod.

Ieyasu-sama hummed affirmatively "Though in this instance, there is little divinity in it. Heaven in this instance I believe to mean a reference beyond the sky but still in our natural realm though much further beyond than the eye can see."

Hirahito frowned momentarily before it clicked in his mind, his mind jolted into complete focus as if a sharp breeze of arctic cold air washed over his face.

"The Bridge…Ame-no-ukihashi" he said, his gaze looking upon the flying model before returning his gaze to Ieyasu-sama who bore a pleased expression on his face.

"Yes…Our new home will be the bridge to Takamagahara."

"But how…"

"How do we get there?" the revered man said as he slowly turned around, towards the zabutons.

Hirahito slowly followed the man.

"I have not told any the full truth about the gates." Ieyasu-sama said as he sat down.

Hirahito sat across him and a servant came, bringing cups and teapot, and poured them steaming tea before the servant bowed and left.

Hirahito waited patiently as Ieyasu-sama drank of his tea. Ieyasu-sama set the cup down and met Hirahito's gaze "I have set foot on another world through those gates. A moon orbiting Jupiter itself."

Hirahito stilled and he slowly searched Ieyasu-sama's expression. The man truly believed that he set foot on another world and the only reason he did not dismiss the truth was because he knew the man would not lie nor would he be fooled by such a thing. "…How, Ieyasu-sama?"

"I do not know." Ieyasu-sama said calmly as he took hold of the tea again and drank of it softly. "As you know, none of our people have been able to glean how the gates work through passive study."

The Illosians had placed a gate in a secured building on Japanese soil, manned by Japanese people. There had been plenty of opportunity to study the gate but frustratingly it had been…difficult to observe how it works. They would have to disassemble it if they truly wanted to know how it worked though chances of that being sufficient was…low. He could not imagine Sayre to be so…unwise.

Trade between the two nations was already flourishing and Japan was enjoying, for the first time, levels of comfort and trade like that before the war.

Both nations had elements that both nations needed and from what he was told, many in Illos were fascinated with Japanese culture, so much so that there were several teahouses in the city.

According to the delegates and merchants, the tea was of acceptable quality too.

"However I do believe their fixation on science and melding it with magic is part of their success story." Ieyasu-sama said, sharing his thoughts.

"You think there is a scientific phenomenon they replicated?"

"Or a phenomenon they began to understand through science and expanded on it. It is possible they cracked the runic security measures in Vanishing Cabinets."

Hirahito tipped his head slowly "I can have our people source a pair."

Ieyasu-sama made a disagreeable noise "No. Even if we manage to crack the security measures – which could take years – to come up with a workable alternative may take years on its own. And it would sour our tentative relations with our new ally."

Hirahito bowed his head "I understand, Ieyasu-sama. But I believe it is prudent to figure the mechanism out so that if the knowledge is needed…"

"You're concerned about the monopoly they hold through this of travel once they are reintegrated in the magical world?" Ieyasu-sama posed and Hirahito bowed his head affirmatively.

"It is a concern that you're right to hold concerns however equally it is important that such advancement is held in tight secrecy. These gates have great capacity to destroy. I do not wish to think how dangerous it could should the air of our world escape through gates." Ieyasu-sama said with a disturbed shake of the head.

Before Hirahito could ask Ieyasu-sama continued "I believe the mechanism that allowed me to travel to another world through such a short time shall be the same mechanism that will allow us to travel to Takamagahara with our bridge shepherding us there"

Ieyasu-sama set his cup back on the ground before he eyed Hirahito intently "And Takamagahara shall be our new world."

-Break-

2nd of December 1956 – Sayre Manor

Hypatia Agoralos POV

She felt like she was falling, falling through a hazy of fog of colours and shapes and figures that combined into separate frozen planes of images, islands apart from one another yet still connected, layered behind one another so that they almost seemed like scenes, moments.

Many of the images bombarded her as she fell, barely able to see them for what they were and barely able of registering the moments for that they were but what she saw was beautiful. She saw her class grow in size as Illos grew in size and people and she saw the harmony in which the people and the animals lived.

She saw Atticus through her overwhelming fall through Time, teaching and guiding and leading whilst also felling ruthlessly men who flocked like birds and men carved in symbols.

She hated those parts, those darker images like the images of the Raven and a man in black and red who had pain and Death following them wherever they went.

She didn't hate it enough to stop falling though, for the beauty she saw, like her presently three year old daughter Pandora growing older and older, growing so alike to herself, was more than worth it.

Unfortunately, she was still grasping on the ability this traversing of Living Time as Atticus called it, frozen sequential images growing hazier and hazier as she fell through Time.

She gasped as she pulled herself out of Time, breathing heavily as she did and her gaze, as her chest rose and fell, fell upon Atticus who sat opposite her, watching her intently.

"Better." He only said, a soft nod of the head indicative of his approval.

"I…I still can't see further without it becoming hazier. The frozen images…they…they grow hazier." She told him in a bout of breathlessness.

"Time is not frozen in patterns or images, Hypatia. It is a flow. It curves, it splits, it breathes. Time lives on our choices." He paused as he eyed her intently.

"You still latch on how you've always seen visions and its prohibiting your progress. It is what is distorting the future the further you go"

"Right." Hypatia said, rubbing her forehead. Gods she always had an aching brain afterwards. She looked up and met his gaze, a gaze seemed somewhat contemplative.

"I don't know how else to see." She'd always Seen through still images and through representative imageries. She'd Seen Pandora's coming through imagery of rose coloured tulips, blue eagles and images of herself carrying a child in her arms.

Tulips were a symbol of charity and she had always favoured the name Pandora, meaning 'all-giving', so it had not been hard to put together.

The blue eagles had taken a little longer but she interpreted it to mean that she was destined for Hogwarts though why she wasn't too sure.

It was how she Saw and how she learnt to hone her talents from her mother.

"I can't see the way you do…I can't see frayed river streams of possibilities wrapped in probabilities." Hypatia said with a hint of frustration "It's just…"

Atticus raised his hand and she fell silent.

"Maybe I have gone about this the wrong way." He said with a distracted tone, his eyes gazing passed her and she waited patiently for him to expand.

His gaze, now much sharper, turned to meet hers "How do you view the universe?"

She startled a little and she made to speak but she halted, taking a moment to really think about it. How did she see the universe?

"Magic is connected to the universe, it flows through it like how air flows through the world" she finally said "It is part of it but distinct."

Atticus hummed "You can't help see time as apart from magic and the universe" he said, an obvious question in his words and she frowned for a few seconds before she nodded.

"I do…I can't help it." She said a little helplessly. She knew that it went against all what he was trying to teach her but it's the way she understood things.

"It's alright." Atticus assured before he looked at her contemplatively "I think you need a serious shift in perspective that reaches even your subconscious." He said before he added musingly "Pan Pingge's work might help"

"Pan Ping?" Hypatia parroted, her brows furrowed.

"Pan Pingge" Atticus corrected, dragging the last few letters before he continued.

"He was – is – a prominent mage in the Far East though he's been a bit of a recluse for the past couple of hundreds of years. Was a pain trying to get him to speak with me."

She looked at him a little oddly "A couple of hundreds of years? How old is he?"

Atticus scratched the side of his face "Not entirely sure. We didn't ask. He's at least three hundred and fifty years old. He was fairly well known in both worlds in the mid sixteen hundreds." He said with a contemplative look on his face

"How many people like that did you meet?"

Atticus smiled a little "Pan is quite unique. I doubt there are many like him. I did meet a few other interesting people many thought long dead. Surprisingly – or perhaps unsurprisingly – there are quite a few recluses around." Atticus' smile softened a little

"The muggle idea of wizards secluded away in high towers has a lot more truth in basis than you would expect." Atticus shook his head "Anyway, back to the point."

She really wanted him to tell her more about these other people though the smile slipping from his face made it clear that he probably wouldn't entertain it right now.

She'd have to ask later.

"The little that Pan was willing to share about his own ideas of magic was that he believed that it was only one part of an indivisible whole, that one should not consider nature and magic and existence as separate pieces of a puzzle but one blend that you cannot know where one begins and where another ends."

She considered that. "A little different to the Plotinusian thought we're taught in Greece" she said curiously.

"The layered nature of existence." Atticus nodded in understanding.

Plotinus was one of the most celebrated wizards in Greece who is largely credited for furthering Western magical theory the most during the classical era.

The muggles knew him as the individual who held a systematic theory of consciousness but in the wizarding world, he helped quantify the links between emotions and their effects on magic through arithmancy.

Though it was Asclepius who was the foundation of the healing branch of magic, without Plotinus and his arithmancy, Asclepius may not have been able to find the counters to many of the dark spells of the time.

"The same layered nature you view the world through and it is both reflective in the way you describe it and how you see it." Atticus said to her before raising his hand.

It began to glow slightly with a tinge of orange before Illosian runes began to form in the air. A small window opened and a book flew towards Atticus which began to float in front of him.

It was a good thing she was so used to his casual use of magic that seemed impossible otherwise she would perpetually gawk at him with an open mouth. It would have been quite unseemly, she thought.

"This is Searching for the whole by Pan Pingge" Atticus said as the book floated towards her and she grabbed it from the air. She looked over the book, well it looked more like a binding of scrolls with a blank leather cover, and opened the front page.

Her eyes widened slightly "Your Grace – I mean Atticus…this" she held up the book with both hands "This is in Chinese. I can't read Chinese."

"Cantonese." Atticus corrected with a small smile and she swore she could see mischief in his eyes. "Do not worry, I will provide you with material to aid your learning of the language."

She dropped the book in her lap and she audibly groaned and her mother would have had her chastised for acting like a child if she saw her "Is it absolutely necessary?"

"Yes." He said bluntly. "The Chinese school on Magical Theory – and philosophy – will help you gain the understanding and perspective you need to get to where I am." Atticus told her before his expression softened slightly

"I do not doubt you or the Grecian school. There will be many overlaps but this is key to your development. You'll be happy with it…even if I am adding to your workload as much as I will be."

She didn't at all miss the implication that this was only the very beginning of a hard time. "Why is it so important for me to be able to do this so soon?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

Atticus looked at her with a long inspecting gaze before he answered "We are not the only practitioners or studiers of Living Time."

She blinked before she frowned, a hint of concern on her face from the way he said it so seriously and a little gravely "What do you mean?"

"Have you ever heard of Men of Symbols, known otherwise as MOS?"

Her eyes widened and she immediately understood the implications. "But that's…"

Atticus inclined his head "Quite. They're also very driven in the pursuit of how they believe the world should be and Illos well…we're a threat to the future they have worked for a long time to bring about."

Her shoulders dropped like a bag of sand.

So the mythical MOS did exist.

She remembered her friend from a very influential Grecian family talking about them during school when they talked about modern legends and influences on the world. She kind of thought they were like the Peverell brothers, a tale spun out of proportion. It seems like it was actually true.

Well wasn't that a doozy?

"The reason why I want you to be up to speed is so that there is another pillar able to protect our home. I can do it on my own…" he trailed off for a moment and she met his gaze

"But I want Illos have more than one pillar holding it up. You, Hypatia, can become that second pillar and I could not find a better person to trust and depend on."

Her cheeks flushed a little and she broke eye contact.

"Means a lot." She mumbled a little uneasily before she cleared her throat as she tried to cover up the embarrassed air she had around her – and the warm feeling that his words were bringing up.

"It is the truth." Atticus told her and she turned to him and saw he had a kind smile on his face though there was something haunting in his eyes.

"Your moral compass, your compassion and your ability to understand the necessity of things are perhaps your greatest strengths and it is something that is absolutely vital for what I am teaching you. It is also what I want others with the potential of Sight to have in spades." He said meaningfully to her.

"I-…" She tried before she stopped but before the silence got tense, he thankfully spoke up again.

"And it is entirely what the Men of Symbols lack" he finished.

She rounded back to what he said about their capabilities.

"Wait…they are able to do what you can? The whole…"

Atticus shook his head slightly. "They cannot and it is to our fortune. They can only see their personal timelines. They see where it leads and they proceed to change it if it is not what they desire. Their altered choices lead to a different future which impacts the whole but they cannot see possibilities…not like I can…" he looked at her meaningfully "not like you could."

She frowned for a brief second "How long have they existed?"

"I don't know." Atticus admitted "All I know is the possibilities I have Seen and in them I have learnt they have been working towards this future of theirs for a long time."

"And what is this future?"

Atticus sighed and his gaze went past her. "A perfect world. An unrealistic world. A world where both worlds live in symbiosis." He met her gaze again

"You might think that this is a great thing to see happen – and it would be – but do you see the problem with it?" he asked, his eyes intently focused on her.

She frowned, looking down as she did so, for a few moments. In order for them to be able to see this future…

She looked back up, understanding having gained "They would have had to see that far ahead along with carefully dealing with the eddies that might exist in the multiple rivers of Time. But you said they can only see their personal lifetimes…how could they have worked on it if…" she stopped, her mouth a little open before she recovered

"They haven't been alive for hundreds of years…have they?"

He smiled before he shook his head "No, they haven't. And that is part of the problem. When this idea of the future was established, it was likely done when they were still able to see possibilities and likely far into the future. They made plans for it, plans followed by successive generations. But as time went by, and I have a good suspicion as to why, they lost the ability to see beyond their own timelines but still relied on the plan they worked for generations. Without being able to see more than personal timelines…"

"The plan they worked so hard on becomes unreliable when the course has already been altered." She finished with her brows furrowing deeply.

Like little stones on a calm lake's surface, they were unable to see the consequences of little choices and events that will alter the future in some way, a way that they had not seen or considered because their view of Time was too narrow…too limited.

He continued "And so they are working on a plan towards a perfect future that is obsolete when the conditions of that future no longer exist and in its place all that remains incredible risk of major conflict…especially when most of our people consider muggles are animals in our likeness and they would view us with fear."

"And you're working against them." She stated, already knowing the answer.

"I am." He confirmed before he sighed tiredly "It's…challenging." He said with a weary smile.

She snorted and almost dissolved in a fit of nervous laughter before she managed to recompose herself "I-I'm sorry. I laugh when I'm nervous" 'or scared'

He seemed to understand as his smile turned kinder "I understand" he said.

"OK" she said after a few moments of pause, her eyes flickering towards the book "I will work harder." She promised as she returned her gaze to him.

He inclined his head slightly "Good."

A few moments passed before she couldn't but ask "This future they were working towards…this symbiosis." She began carefully "Have you ever considered…"

It was silly but she wanted to know if he'd ever thought about it. If he ever thought that it was an achievable goal.

"Working with them to bring it about?" he finished for and she nodded slowly.

"I have." He said with a said now gazing passed her. "It is a wonderful dream after all." He said with a quietness about him.

"To know there exists a future where we can live together in peace, each of us connected and working together in synergy to become greater than we would be apart." He returned his gaze towards her, his expression solemn.

"But I also know that it is like trying to fit a thread through the eye of the needle half a mile away from your position without magic assisting you.

So much of the status quo in both worlds would have to change.

In the mundane world…the entire reason why we had to remove ourselves from the world has not been completely erased. Religious doctrine, superstition and ideological structures would have to be continuously challenged and have leaders in those communities, backed by states all over the world legally, speak out against the more militant and zealots.

And then there is the political and militaristic threat our people pose to the mundane world order with all that we can do. Never understate the desire of humanity to deny others of something valuable whilst wanting to utilise it for themselves.

The biggest problem to trust and peace forming would stem from how we enforced our secrecy and they would eventually know what we have done to their people and memories and there would be little trust to build from.

"Even if we revealed ourselves in the most optimum conditions, eventually that truth would severely damage our relations as they might even question if the people they worked with hadn't tampered with their minds or their feeli-"

"But it was how we had to maintain our secrecy! It's standard procedure" she interjected fervently "It is how we protected ourselves against their witch hunts."

"Of course." Atticus agreed before he looked at her intently

"But we still violated their minds, their reality. We took away memories that contributed and would contribute to their personalities. We may all have souls Hypatia but memories are what make us who we are. Each experience adds to their personhood, their existence and what have we done for centuries to these people?" he posed to her, his voice grave and she looked away from his gaze though she said very little.

"We change them each time we obliviate their minds. It might do very little to their current personality but it took away a part of them. We make them live a lie."

Silence reigned for a few moments as what he said sunk into her. It was hard to think of something so normal as something…wrong. It was necessary, they needed to do it! Otherwise there would have been devastating consequences for both worlds!

And it was at that moment the irony settled on her. That in their quest to maintain the secrecy that would protect both worlds they set the path that would make unification much harder. After all…it was a form of rape was it not?

Were they not ripping away a piece of their identity?

And the worst thing about it…

She still believed the violation had been necessary for both worlds even if she understood the wrongness about it. She felt slightly sickened by this realisation of herself.

"And then there is us…" he paused and she looked at him and their gazes met

"We consider them…less. That is an undeniable truth." He said before he looked away from her "Even I, in some way, consider them less. It is an almost universal truth that we all believe, in some form or another in varying degrees of severity." He had a faraway frown on his face as he continued

"Even the biggest pro-mundane magical infantilises them. To fit into the greater world, our worldview would have to change drastically, perhaps even more drastically than the mundanes who are more adept at accepting change than we are.

Especially given that our world is built on magic and to fit in, we would have to change our way of life in some way in accordance to the mundane nations magical societies occupy in. All of this would be a shock to our societies and I can see irrationality and necessity and violent rejections boil into irreconcilability."

"So no." she smiled a little weakly "You don't really see it possible. Even if you worked towards this symbiosis."

"Nothing is impossible. I could see it working." He said after a few moments of silence before he looked her in the eyes again "But I think the road we'd be on would be so much harder and more painful than it needs to be. Most fundamental changes to societal structures happened because the dissolution of the former civilisation or nation." His expression grew grim.

"Often at the cost of massive swathes of deaths through war and then later through famine and disease. Years, possibly decades of infighting and conflicts would take place until one day the conditions arise again for civilisation to flourish. And that may even come at the cost of muggle freedom…of both thought and body."

She swallowed. She didn't want that. No sane person would want that.

"I see." She said slowly and he seemed to understand the silent agreement that she communicated with her expression.

"One last question…" she trailed off and he bid her to continue "Why did they lose the ability to see multiple possibilities? Beyond just their timelines?"

Perhaps they would have understood the impossibility of their plan if they hadn't lost the ability.

"I believe it is because they stopped recruiting Seers into their ranks. They learnt how to navigate Living Time but they did not have the Seer talent to go beyond it."

He paused momentarily before he continued "I think that for those like us, we have magic that specially attuned to glimpsing Living Time and when we open up our proverbial 'Inner Eye'…"

"We tap into 'richer veins' so to speak?" she said and he nodded in confirmation.

She looked at the book.

She breathed out heavily before she steeled herself "I can go again."

Atticus eyed carefully for a few moments and she thought he'd argue against it but he nodded "Very well."

She closed her eyes and reached out once more to Time.

-Break-

13th of December 1956 – Illos

Tirtayasa POV

He walked out the bathroom in a rush, his hands trying to button his formal Rosi clothing as he arrived in his bedroom. He went towards the nightstand where his wand was before he walked back towards the door.

He stopped suddenly and turned around, walking towards the bed which was half occupied. A small smile came across his face as she was sprawled out onto the bed with nary a concern. He walked over to her side and gently kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you Fatimah." He whispered softly before he stood back up straight again.

"Love you too." He heard her mutter and he chuckled softly to himself before he quickly walked out the door, closing the door behind softly, and descended down the stairs.

He walked through the living room, half of the room occupied by her half-finished painting and her utensils, before he made it out the door.

He whipped out his wand and saw that he had less than fifteen minutes to make it to the office and quickly made his way towards the Sub-station on Chiron Street.

He couldn't wait to learn how to apparate.

For the moment he wasn't familiar enough with his magic to be able to do it.

He made his way down the stairs before he made it to the station. The station was seemingly made from a seamless block of white marble with holographic maps on both sides to help travellers get from point A to point B.

He walked through the station and after scanning his ID Band, he made his way towards the platform which was just behind security. He arrived the oval underground chamber, a circular chamber where there were a dozen gates with different addresses titled about the gates and he made his way towards the Mimir Gate where there were a few people already waiting along with a co-worker of his.

"Adam." Tirtayasa acknowledged as he stood next to him.

Adam gave him a nod "Mr Fisbilillah" he said curtly and Tirtayasa fought to stop a grimace from appearing on his face.

Adam Driver hadn't liked him from the moment he met him…only growing worse when he was making better progress than Adam. It didn't help either that he was willing to spend more time at the office than Adam, something that irks him and a few others.

He looked back at the display next to the name of the station and saw the gate would activate in another minute.

No gate at any station was on all the time. There were over twenty stations and another fifteen planned for commission in the next five years. It would be impractical for gates to always be connected to another gate. Plus, this way it was a lot more coordinated. At least that was what he thought.

When the gate activated and completed its sequence, the security film that coated the ring after it was connected, he patiently walked through the Mimir gate and made his way towards the office…without waiting on Adam.

Mimir gate was at the edge of city where the Institute of Energy and Propulsion was located, a large building that had entire complexes spatially expanded for test purposes. He made it to the office a few minutes before he was set to start and so his workday began.

He hadn't expected he'd be doing this when he applied for the Maginaut apprenticeship but after several competency examinations, he'd been accepted to the program but it was deferred for six years.

It was deferred because he was personally requested by Walter Bishop, the Director of Magical Innovation and Technology – his boss' boss' boss! – to take work for this new department within the Office of Technology due to his strengths in physics and mathematics and currently was the junior lead of the Ion Engine Project.

He definitely wouldn't have been able to become with Knowledge Crystals which gave him fundamental knowledge that he otherwise would needed years to learn.

At present they were at a critical function of the project.

They tested – successfully – a miniature electromagnetic ion engine sixteen days ago whereby they successfully managed to create thrust using beams of ions – electrically charged molecules – through the application of Lorentz force using xenon gas as the propellant.

Whilst the test had been successful, the project as a whole was a let-down.

The control system was not performing at the expected efficiencies and it was delaying further progress on the project.

The current control systems were run on third generation Magi-Comp systems but it looks like it wasn't quite able to work with rate of calculations required per second and though it was small, the rounding errors that were happening had a significant impact on the efficiencies of the ionization process.

They were also looking at changing the electrical power supply as the current method was useful for testing but definitely not for long range missions. Electrical power was also one of the easiest way to utilise magic and their current way was an example of this.

Electrical power was supplied in the form of small capacitors of incredible energy density that held electrical energy from converted solar energy.

There were great pylons made out of quasi-organic material that during the summer absorbed solar energy like sponges and this was what ultimately was powered their tests – and other projects in the building.

He liked the unique solutions that were pretty much launching them a hundred of years ahead of the mundane world. Solutions that created a kind of symbiosis between magic and technology.

Some – like his friend Kwame – thought that the focus on technology was a little too much as they already made it to the Moon and to Mars without needing technology but he was missing the point.

If we could do that with magic alone, then where could we go with both?

Soon enough it was time for the morning meeting.

-Break-

3rd of January, 1957 – Magical Britain, London

Rasmussen Lestrange POV

"Congratulations Lord Lestrange. You have a healthy son." The healer said and Rasmussen allowed a rare smile of happiness to form on his face as he got up from the waiting area.

"Lady Lestrange is recovering well. You may see them both now if you wish" the healer said with a bowed head and Rasmussen nodded to the healer before he walked into the private room.

He saw her cradling their son – he had a son now – and she looked up when she heard him come in. She offered him a hesitant smile and he returned a gentle one.

It was not a marriage of love…or affection but he appreciated the woman. She was a Goldstein from a very distant branch but she was also a pureblood unrelated to him by five generations which was all he needed.

After all, as the last male Lestrange heir he had the responsibility of furthering his line, even if he had…different tastes. Marrying a member of a tertiary branch of a lower House ensured that he faced little challenge.

His gaze fell upon his son and saw that he had small tufts of brown hair on his crown. "Your son, my Lord." His wife said as she extended the small fussing babe in her arms towards him.

He carefully picked the babe up and gazed upon him. He had light blue eyes that he could see darken in time and match that of his own. He cooed slightly in his arms and Rasmussen glanced at his wife from the corner from his eyes.

"Have you named him yet?" It wasn't done for the mother to name the heir but it was changing times. Many traditions were still upheld, especially amongst the noble families but matters were…easing.

Amongst it was the matters of the familial…dynamic.

Exerting absolute power of the Head of House was becoming less and less common, especially as they move towards a more liberal take on blood purity – for the commoners and lesser Houses – and it was a trend

Whilst Heads of Houses still had their privileges on how to deal with their family, there was little tolerance for the kind of abuse he and other peers did suffer in their youth.

"I thought I'd leave the honour to you, husband." His wife said and he returned his gaze to his son and heir.

"Rodolphus" Rasmussen said after a while as he stared at the babe.

"His name shall be Rodolphus."

Days later…

"Congratulations" Malfoy said as he handed over a glass of firewhiskey.

Rasmussen grabbed the glass and raised it to Malfoy in silent thanks.

He drank of his glass when Malfoy asked "Will you try for another?". His voice carried genuine hints of curiosity. Not surprising since he was well aware of his different tastes.

"Not for another six months." Rasmussen answered. "If Magic blesses us, we shall have another child." He drank of his glass again before he peered at Malfoy

"I wouldn't mind a daughter this time."

Malfoy gave a thin smile "One of either is ideal." He said with a hum in his voice. "I was fortunate with Lucius and Lucia." Malfoy was speaking of his few month old daughter and son and Rasmussen couldn't help but notice a tang of affection in his voice for his children.

Curious. He'd thought Malfoys couldn't love anything but themselves. Then again old Abraxas was not the usual Malfoy. He was unconventional and smarter.

Despite his rise to greater prominence in pureblood elite society in the past four or five years and taking the Black's crown as the wealthiest family in Britain, Malfoy knew what the limits of his ambitions were.

No matter how many older and more renowned families became indebted to him, became his to influence, he could only rise to where she wanted him to be.

And Malfoy was smart enough to be content with that.

Malfoy's father and their ilk wouldn't have been and doomed their lines.

"I wouldn't have thought a Malfoy keen on more than a son as an heir. Has it not been a few generations since your family had more than one child?" Rasmussen questioned.

"Four generations" Malfoy said, this time pausing to drink from his glass before he spoke again "It was less messy that way." Malfoy simply said.

Rasmussen's expression shifted to amusement.

Yes…fewer siblings or cousins plotting your deaths this way.

How curious as well that Malfoy Heads of Houses rarely reached age ninety…

"Times are changing however." Malfoy continued as he leaned back, his gaze firmly on Rasmussen.

Rasmussen inclined his head. 'And has changed' he mused to himself.

Their vision of ridding muggle influence from their world was succeeding even if it came a cost of losing some of their privileges. Nobility were persecuted to the same laws – as far as anyone else knew and understood – as the commoners were whilst the more…maligned individuals of society were granted the same protections any citizen in Magical Britain had provided they cooperated like taking part of the Wolves' Bane Initiative.

The loss of power and influence, at least publically, had been…difficult for many families to accept especially as the Ministry had often been seen as an entity to serve the old families rather than anything else.

Of course, it had taken a few meetings – before she left – from her to…convince…them to do their part for society and more often than they were willing to bend.

Those that didn't…

Stigmatisation and social exclusion along with unfortunate loss of wealth and business had been enough to make them reconsider their position and thus far nothing further had been needed to be done to get people to work with them.

Of course, the carrots that were handed out did much to dissuade most from working against them but as always there were always a few that wanted to play the game despite not knowing that they had already lost before they even started.

All of that along with massive economic reform and societal programs intended to uplift the poorer parts of society has made for a more united society.

Experiencing in some way the hard times after the war and the presence of fewer muggleborns – squibborns – and half bloods that made this a lot more palatable to the more conservative voters and the success of squibborns integrating well at the primary schools was doing more to drive away a lot of blood purity sentiments.

No doubt change was going to be greater in the next few years, after all…

They've tilled the earth now so it was only a waiting game for the cabbages to grow.

"Have you received word?" Malfoy asked, getting to the point as to why Rasmussen was invited to Malfoy Manor.

"I have." He said, his hand reaching out in his inside breast pocket and he brought out a green coin. Malfoy showed his own coin.

"So it's time then." Malfoy said and Rasmussen hummed in affirmation.

"Yes." Rasmussen said as he raised his glass "To the future." 'To her'

Malfoy raised his glass, a shadow of a smile on his face.

"May magic favour us"

-Break-

12th of January 1957 – Illos

William Bell POV

The doors opened and stood up as the two they were waiting on arrived.

"Please sit down gentlemen." Queen Emily said and he, along with Bishop, Parkinson and Laset sat down after a small bow of the head.

He'd gotten used it quicker than he thought. Referring her, him, them as royalty.

People were quite the creatures of habit. He supposed it helped that Atticus and Emily Sayre had that air of authority from the day he met them.

A fleeting thought passed through his mind that wondered if it wasn't just completely their magic knowing that magical aura can exude certain…effects.

"Alright. Shall we begin then?" King Atticus said as he opened up a stack of parchment and the meeting summarily began.

This fortnightly meeting consisted of Director Walter Bishop of the Offices of Magical Innovation and Technology, Overseer Parelius Parkinson of the Office of Intelligence, Overseer Laset of the Office of Space and himself as the Overseer of the relatively newly made Office of Biology and Chemistry dealing in all things biological and chemical – both magically and scientifically speaking.

Where the High Council meeting and the departmental meetings held with the Chief Representatives glossed over projects in a general informational manner, in this meeting the details were discussed.

With the number of projects that were running concurrently, it was both the meeting he was looking forward to the most and also the meeting he loathed the most.

Bishop went first and began the rundown on the progress of the projects in his department, of which there were many.

Crystal based computer and control systems, automated manufacturing facilities, supersolid and superfluid materials, nuclear reactor design and development, research into ion and plasma propulsion…

And then there were the particle, energy, gravitic, quantum and dimensional physics research projects intended to quantify laws of reality that magic intuitively and casually distorted or bent…

Suffice it to say, his part of the meeting was prolonged though he thankfully kept the more research heavy projects to a few sentences whilst focusing more on the projects that were further along in progress.

One such project that already had a practical element to it was the Torus Project, a project focused towards developing two separate forms of magnetic confinement methods – magical and technological before a succeeding project would be greenlit that would develop a combined method.

Of course all of these projects required significant understanding of several disciplines, most heavily, naturally of course, physics and the application of what often was only theory. Even with being heavily supplemented with knowledge crystals, there were only a few among thousands that had the capabilities of making real significant impact and progress.

That said, even those of…middling potential were extremely useful even if they did not fully grasp the knowledge they absorbed. It provided a minimum average knowledge pool even if they did not have the interest or the capabilities to grasp the higher physics which was important for any civilisation and Illos…

Well, Illos was quite likely the highest educated pool of individuals in both parts of the world and as more knowledge was filtered through from the wrecked ship, he expected that progress to reach an exponential rate.

The wrecked ship…the ancient human ship…

When he'd first been told he had magic not long after he'd been rescued from the camps, he thought he would never be that surprised again.

It was the third time in his life he'd been so wrong.

He'd seen the ship, the alien but familiar design of the three hundred meter long ship, lodged at the far reaches of Illos and he'd set foot within it.

The sheer scientific knowledge – knowledge that was thousands of years ahead of their current understanding – that the ship possessed did not triumph as significantly as he would have thought once he learnt of the history of ancient humans through crew logs and captain logs, their predecessors.

To know that humanity once sailed the stars for millions of years until wars against terrifying and overwhelming enemies had cast them low had honestly shaken him.

And it had felt too familiar.

The universe had a morbid funny bone about humanity and its repeating tragedies.

He had not spent much time with the ship – after all it was mostly technological and data that was more physics in nature – though he knew that Bishop, the Sayres and Yprikushma had spent well over a year with the ship with the Seelie before making it known to the rest of the Illosian leadership.

He was also quite certain that the Sayres had known about the ship many years before Bishop had known, questions he long had but never voiced had been answered.

It was what finally made sense to him, this focus, rather obsession they had with fusing technology and magic into a viable developmental tree.

Both of them were from privileged backgrounds that fitted well in this backward magical world at large, a world that shared as much similarities with the Nazis as it did with the aristocracies of the world, so for them to abandon much of the tenets that would have seen them remain at the absolute top as long as they conformed…

It was cynical, he mused to himself as he watched Bishop speak. But it was also the most realistic reason he could come to with the information he had. No one did anything this drastic without a purpose behind it.

Still, he'd seen enough of Atticus Sayre, their 'King', to know that he did care heavily about the people of Illos and it was a point in favour for the man but it wasn't hard to see that Illos was not meant to simply be a nation…

No, the special focus on space made it clear what the direction they were headed towards was.

He understood it too.

Far too well.

The genocide attempted against hi-…the Jewish people made it clear of how long running hatreds and fear can combine into a deadly soup of nationalism, fascism and dehumanisation

Even before being introduced to magic at the age of twelve after being ferried away from the Ghettos, magic had still a presence in the other side of the world, a distant presence yet nonetheless still a presence in the form of myths and legends…and dislike and apprehension.

Calling someone a witch was considered an insult, an insult that alluded towards unnaturalness and association with the devil, the epitome of evil and such imagery would be conjured should the Statute ever fall.

And given the…prideful nature of many Wizarding communities, he would not be surprised if it came to all out war when the spark was lit.

And with how the communities lived amongst the non-magicals…

It was an interesting conundrum…and he wasn't sure if it wouldn't split his loyalties.

Some of the rescued families had elected to remain in the States, taking the option of having immigration sped through whilst most others, after the war, went to Israel.

Not many remained in MACUSA.

The decision to refuse to rescue their more mundane family members and people had made distrustful people grow resentful and became prejudiced against magicals…against their own children who were all slipping into the world of magic in a way they didn't – couldn't understand.

It had been the most…conflicted he'd felt and it was something that had torn him up for a long time, well into his adulthood.

Especially after his father had grown distant after they argued and it became clear that his father resented him, at least in some small way, for being magical and the reason for their rescue whilst the rest of their family were dead or were dying.

He'd resented the world at one stage especially the magical world and it had taken him to see the world, by way of SIMS, to know the truth.

Very few people cared about something that didn't affect them or people like them.

The German people knew and let the Nazis commit the atrocities because the Jewish and other undesirables weren't like them. They were other.

In his father's eyes…he was other now.

The magical world was not so dissimilar to the muggle world in this regard. Not for skin or race but for ones' blood.

Still. He learnt and came by to the truth. People were tribalistic. The Germans had let their animalistic animosity run rampant and butchered millions.

Differences had been magnified and others reduced to less than human.

Peoples were reduced to tribes and tribes had formed.

The Jewish survivors had done the same and coalesced into Israel and most of the non-magical survivors rescued from the camps and ghettoes left, with MACUSA aid in return for insured silence on magic, to make Israel home…just like his father did.

And in their wake, some of them, like his father, had left behind tribe-less children, a child of both worlds, a child of no people. Jew-ish but not a Jew.

It was not long afterwards that he'd personally met Atticus Sayre at SIMS, a man he'd grown to hate only to come away with grudging respect.

He had not lied and told him – and other Jewish survivors after the horrors of the war and the crimes of the Germans and other collaborators were made clear to the world – that he had to choose.

To choose to save all of the victims of the war and thus endanger his people all whilst there was a Dark Lord shattering Magical Europe or to only save magicals and their immediate family and hope that it goes unnoticed by all.

He chose to save them.

A self-admitted selfish choice for people he saw as part of his tribe. And it was that that led him here, eventually and ironically, to become part of this…tribe he was forming, one that was apparent that meant more than just Illos.

And Illos was showing itself the prime experiment about the greater scope of that notion, that idea that the magical world was a single tribe just how Israel was becoming a single tribe of Jewish people (at least in theory. In practice, well…).

Despite that, he still felt Jewish but it was a thin feeling that grew less and less as the years passed and the few letters between him and his father lessened to nothing, especially now that he'd remarried.

He knew it wasn't a phenomenon unique to himself – or to other Jewish magicals.

The Sayres deserved credit in that regard…that they were able to develop an environment where one such as he did not feel as…disconnected from the magical world as he had felt in MACUSA, in Ireland during his studies at SIMS and similarly from the muggle world when he'd been at Princeton whilst making that lack of disconnect nearly universal regardless of what your heritage once was.

Even more so for being able to move an entire population to embrace two forms of development, magical and technological, as readily as the people of Illos have done.

It wasn't hard to see the logic of why the Sayres wanted it that way either.

It was the right approach. Ground the population in solid scientific understanding whilst at the same time furthering the understanding of the natural world through having that understanding applied magically through spell creation or some other means like runes.

And it was working.

It was equally fascinating and concerning, the way the Sayres were able to move a majority – at least before the recent migrations – technologically ignorant peoples to embrace what they had originally shunned and derided as inferior.

The power of personality, he supposed.

He'd seen it personally before…In Germany.

He'd been eight when Krystal Nacht had happened, the first time he lost a large part of his innocence. It wouldn't long after those few nights that he lost all of it in the Ghettoes.

Charismatic leaders were able to sway entire peoples to their course and the Sayres were amongst the most charismatic he'd ever seen, so much so that Atticus Sayre managed to turn him away from hating him to grudgingly respecting him until he was settled into reluctantly appreciating him now that he knew him.

That combined with their intellect, their magic and the knowledge they possess…

Their motivations and actions thus far were what kept him as loyal as he was.

He could not forget that it was Atticus Sayre that orchestrated the mission to save the Jewish magicals, squibs and their parents from the camps and it was him who fought and defeated Grindelwald who was worse than Hitler had been.

Atticus Sayre deciding to leave Britain instead of pushing the magical world into another war once his ideals were rejected bore the hallmarks of a man unwilling to burn the world for his ambitions instead opting to bring about his vision somewhere new and in peace, creating a state was the most progressive and equal than any other nation he knew of…magical or mundane.

Even if he believed that the peoples of Illos 'electing' the Sayres bordered on abusing the trust of the population, it was far from a position of absolute authority given the checks on power the Sayres imposed on themselves and on the State itself.

And with the clear destination towards space…it was clear that the Sayres were already working on providing a solution for a problem in the not too distant future.

For all of those reasons, William considered them different and worthy to follow.

But never blindly. He knew the consequences of complacency and uncaring.

Never that.

It was towards the last section of Bishop's reporting that he spoke about the research about the nature of the universe, extracted from the data of the wrecked ship.

"So far, we've managed to sort through more of the data." Bishop said, his eyes sweeping across the table. "It's been hard to extract immediately…usable data as the ship's core given that it was damaged and also not reflective of the ancient human's entire knowledge but nevertheless we've managed to develop a clearer understanding of the nature of the universe…including its topography…in normal reality and of this slipspace dimension."

Dimensions weren't new to magicals.

They were playing with dimensions for centuries before the Enlightenment even happened but the data they extracted from the ship hinted towards other permanent dimensions…including the method they used for Faster than Light travel.

Bishop went on to explain that so far they deciphered that the topology of the universe was like a sponge. There was an underlying structure of the universe that caused high density and low density regions of matter and mass to be connected and complementary.

High density regions would form on intersecting and overlapping structures causing high density regions to form in the intersection points whilst in the spaces between the intersection points there would be large areas of low density but still connected to the underlying structure of the universe.

Bishop said that a project had been approved to build a high orbit telescope to verify.

Slipspace had a similar kind of topology as well.

"Slipspace is definitively the dimension the ancient humans used to travel between one point in space to another faster than light…much faster than light" Bishop said.

"The data has confirmed this?" the king questioned.

"Yes." Bishop affirmed

"The Seelie were instrumental in decoding the haze of topographical calculations but it is clear now that it is an alternate dimension that sits on top of our own." Bishop said before pausing for a moment. "From what we're able to understand it is an uneven dimension, its topographical features more akin to mountain and valleys and the duration of travel differs depending on what route you take through this space."

"So in a way it mirrors our own reality." The queen mused and Bishop nodded before he frowned a little

"Yes but it also has different rules. There are calculations that hint that the ship must be massless." At that William leaned in a little interested. How was that managed?

"Massless?" the king questioned, equally surprised before he frowned as he leaned back "They made the ship massless." He said in an appreciative tone.

"It could be that they figured out a generate a bubble of some kind, a field of energy that made the ship pass through slipspace with the field generation the physics of zero mass" William said as he looked to the king and then the queen.

"We'll have to dissemble the ship to find the device." Bishop said

"Most of the knowledge we extracted of the ship has been with the help of the Seelie who cleaned the data into usable information. Most of that information was physics and not technological." Bishop added. 'And engineering and metallurgical' William mused to himself. Nothing about biological or chemical unfortunately.

It hadn't been a scientific ship after all. Likely military.

The king and queen exchanged looks, a silent conversation happening as the room waited on their response. The wrecked ship was a closely guarded secret, one that they were reluctant to let out at present.

"Very well." The queen said as she turned to Bishop. "The Seelie will disassemble the ship. It's time we try to glean into the ship's construction process anyway."

The conversation went on a little before they finally reached the last topic of Bishop's projects "The nuclear fission project" the king called out and a holo of the reactor design showed up.

"So far construction is proceeding well and we expect completion by May." Bishop paused, his eyes settling on Parkinson who took over.

"The security measures will be finished by March." He answered in his hallmark monotonous tone. Whilst the power plant was only a proof of concept to cut the teeth of the engineers and scientists on reactor construction, it would still be a functioning energy supply for six months.

Given the nature of Illos, its closed environment, the danger was quite apparent even if nuclear waste would be magically vanished away.

The plant would otherwise be entirely mundane built.

The security measures would tie in with the Guardian Array which had wards in place to halt the mechanisms that induce chain reactions in fissile isotopes from happening. In this instance, it would halt runaway reactions outside of control.

The fact that the Sayres had already considered adding such a thing to the wards was honestly impressive and left him curious to see what else they protected against.

Not surprising given that Atticus was a transfiguration master highly adept in science

Knowing atomic science as he did, it wouldn't be impossible to create a series of reactions splitting nuclei from atoms into smaller nuclei releasing energy in the form of heat and radiation each time a reaction occurs.

Knowing him…he was capable of it and had created countermeasures against others from being able to do it. It was doubtful that most would be able to however.

He wasn't even sure if he himself could do it despite his own understanding of atomic and nuclear science.

At least not without making himself the epicentre of the explosion.

"Good" the queen said appreciatively.

"The importance of security measures cannot be understated. As we progress in development, more dangerous projects will be undertaken and it is vital we do not allow any crack for disaster to slip through." The queen stated before her eyes fell on him.

"Mr Bell. Onto your reports." And he so began to speak about his research on DNA.

-Break-

14th of January 1957 – Illos

Emily POV

His long tender fingers, fingers that felt like small bottles of lightning each time the tips of his fingers made contact with her bare skin, ran through her hair with a slow harmonic rhythm up and down and up again, repeating without a single misstep and she felt like being played, her hair the strings and her body the harp, the sounds of the hot showering water that pattered and drizzled the percussion to this song of melting companionship.

She leaned a little back, the soft disturbance of the warm pool of water they sat in added to the hum of contentment that escaped her when she felt more of his body, his legs touching her thighs and her back caressing her chest from the way she was nestled in between his legs.

Her fingers began to trace a nondescript pattern on his thigh, simply enjoying touching his body. "Feels nice." He said before he kissed the side of her head.

She smiled softly before tilting her head slightly and he hung his head over her shoulder, their cheeks touching. His arms now held her naked body and she relaxed into him. She closed her eyes, letting the warmth of the water and his presence wash over her and it was akin to a wave of blue fire melting the ice in her veins.

Neither said anything for quite some time, both content in the loving embrace they held each other in. She cherished this, this feeling of completeness. A completeness that felt like the moment entropy had finished reversing and retreating to a singularity, the flickering moment before existence was once more made to be.

She could burrow into this place, this moment, for an age, hours and days could pass and she would not hesitate to let it pass if only to let this remain lasting.

It was a shame then that there was still so much to do, so much to see happen.

None more so than this past year, a year that had been immensely busy for the pair of them.

Bringing down the second asteroid and shaping it for the Japanese whilst also making sure that the zero-mass field generator – the field that would protect the ship during slipstream transition – and the traction control mechanisms were installed without the Japanese ever being the wiser.

Pushing Illosfurther along magically, technologically and culturally whilst also welcoming another few thousand people…

Then there were the plans for dealing with the fallout of their existence…and then there were the ICW…the Men of Symbols…

Suffice it to say, neither of them had ever been as busy as they've been lately.

And she also knew the Men of Symbols were a mental drain on Atticus.

Where before he spent perhaps once a few days meditating, he spent hours every morning and sometimes even in the evenings using her time turner checking if they were still in the optimum possibility.

Again and again, the future changed and twisted, the Men of Symbols doing something, or planned to nothing, altering all of his and hers carefully laid out plans. Sometimes she hated the…lack of inherited talent in Divination, talent that was needed for Living Time.

They knew now that the Men of Symbols were not conventionally talented in Divination – not like Agoralos or Atticus were – and that meant that she could also learn but she didn't see the point of being only able to see her personal current future when others were capable of seeing entire possibilities.

She already had a talent of being able to tell if something significant was going to happen and she had felt it happen several times now but it was nothing amazing or particularly useful. And Atticus needed useful. It was why she hoped his training of Agoralos would yield positive results.

She knew how dangerous it was, for others to have the same kind of abilities that Atticus had. In most instances she would have considered it the height of idiocy. In war and peace knowing what someone was going to do before they were going to do gave an unprecedented advantage to the point that it might even be considered absolute.

Even power disparity would not be able to counter those who could plan generations in advance. The Men of Symbols had shown the dangers of that and had it not been for the Monks…

History had lessons to be learnt and she knew better than to expect or even want Atticus to bear all of that pressure on his own especially knowing he was not infallible nor all-seeing and if another organisation was to appear in their future…

The Office of Far-Sight was necessary. She had accepted that.

Of course it didn't mean that Agoralos or the Office wouldn't be tied heavily in binding loyalty and secrecy oaths. Sandra's legal contracts were only the beginning.

She knew that what she and Atticus were putting in motion was terrible to the common person and the last thing they needed was a 'morally conscientious' individual interfering due to some foolish notions of right and wrong.

With Atticus teaching Agoralos the truth of necessity and later other Seers, that problem should be addressed. For the most part.

In any case, the Men of Symbols were a problem that was proving to be a unique challenge and getting rid of the problem was not the solution, not this time. Not when they were actively planning on catching them committing crimes or murders.

…Even orchestrating scenarios where their deaths would immensely impact their image to the world in a negative light to the point that they would have to war to get their world off-world.

In some instances they even worked to fabricate crimes and they had to deploy some of their people to interfere and stop them from planting evidence.

At times, she debated arguing with Atticus to simply outright declare war with the ICW regardless of consequences, but from what he'd shown her, it could result in nuclear war if things escalate beyond their control…and that of the Men of Symbols.

Parkinson was now fully clued in on the situation and was directly helping with the matter with Amelie Cantona's team capturing, interrogating and obliviating Men of Symbols agents identified by Atticus that were planted in some important nations like Argentina, Australia, Benin, Brazil and Turkey.

The Men of Symbols only knew their personal timelines and as long they kept moving things in a way that blinded them, that didn't involve them or was possible for them to learn…

It did mean that Atticus couldn't act on anything nor could she and Illos.

His fingers traced along the lengths of her arms and it was getting her slightly aroused. She shifted slightly, moving her arse a little closer to his groin.

She felt his throat move on her shoulder, a lustful rumble and he caressed her warm cheek with his stubbled face before his hands moved down the length of her arms and seized her hands with his own, his thumbs circling gently on the back of her hands. She fell deeper into his embrace, her mind running slower, her thoughts at the edges of her mind.

Thoughts on her work with Parkinson to draw closer distant magical communities that were the fringes of the magical world around the final quarter of this century, to learn of their traditions, their cultures and what they might need to do in order for them to be convinced to tie their futures to them willingly.

Profiles were being made and updated on the family structures of these societies, their values, their ideological beliefs and their viewpoints on outsiders…all of it would contribute to their interactions with these people.

Her mind circled towards the magic-centric faith and spirituality that was growing on Illos. A spirituality that grew after each traditional festival or celebration was conducted in one grand communion where all attended.

She thought on the further work she needed to do to set the stage of revealing their ancient past as an advanced species that once sailed the seas amongst the stars…

"I love you…Emily Sayre." His words were soft, softer than the fur of that of a brown-furred bearwolf. She gripped his hands a little tight and she tilted her head towards his face until her lips on the edges of his mouth.

She kissed him gently, tenderly.

"And I you." She returned, her face nestling beneath his chin and onto his collarbone as she turned slightly and laid against his chest. She pulled at her magic, the humid air twisting into more water, the level of the pool rose and they began to be submerged deeper in the water.

His arms, his hands still holding onto her hands, wrapped around her and she let the abyss of sleep take her, content and warm in the arms of her beloved with the last thought on her mind that with each other…with each other they would see all of the desires and dreams realised.

As destiny commanded.

-Break-

15th of February 1957 – Illos, Chimera Arena

Anne POV

The one numbered seven on the blue team – The Nikita Rovers – dove towards the ground, three members of the white team – Odin's Hotspurs – chasing after him.

The man numbered seven had the quaffle, the Q-ball as some had taken to call it to distinguish it from Quidditch, was twisting and turning, moving his body with a deftness at a speed she thought incredible.

She hadn't even seen Atticus move that fast.

He stopped and shot back up and threw the ball towards one of his teammates but it was intercepted by the number four on the white team and the chase ensued. All of it was happening at high speeds in the Ever-Changing Thunder Arena, the arena that could change environment within seconds though in this instance it only had four walls and two goals hanging from the ceiling some three hundred metres off of the ground.

The game, Threepeller, was a game played between two teams of seven, wearing braces and bands on their ankles that allowed them to fly at a maximum speed of sixty miles per hour. It was intense and she winced reflectively more than once when she'd seen someone crash even if she knew that the walls and ground were made of foam-like substances.

"Are you enjoying yourself mother?" Atticus asked and she turned to him.

She'd arrived a month or so ago having decided to remain a little longer than the week here and there she spent in Illos with her son and daughter-in-law. Most of her time since she returned from space she spent it with Sophia and little Marie who she thought needed her a lot more.

They were in a private box in the arena with a few people that worked for Atticus. Emily decided to skip the game and run some errants.

"I am. A lot more violent than Quidditch." She said with a frown as she redirected her attentions towards the game and as if to validate her words, the number two on the white team crashed into the number six on the blue team.

"Yes." Atticus said with a smile in his voice "It's kind of early days so the rules having been set all too concretely yet. I think after the season ends the Games Committee is going to sit down and put a few more rules against crashes and fouling."

She nodded absently before she turned her attentions back on the game.

The game had only been around for about a year from what Atticus told her and from the sounds of it, it was entirely by accident. Apparently there had been some students at the Pandrosion experimenting with a runic project for flight and after they got some working equipment, they decided to play Quidditch without the brooms and snitch.

From there…well, it just kind of snowballed.

She didn't like the validation of the kids' actions though. What they did was dangerous and they could have hurt themselves. She at least hoped the kids were punished by the school and their privileges limited.

The game continued and throughout it, she observed her son interacting with a few of the people who had attended the game with him. It seemed that even in his leisurely time work followed him.

To learn he had become King had shocked her but after thinking about it, it didn't surprise her, not when it clicked that it was effectively his life already.

Still, she hadn't approved.

The political ramifications that this would result in once Illos joined the magical world would be…it would be chaotic, it would have optics that would make many Ministries distrust her son and Illos in general.

The ICW would play up on those fears especially as they could easily draw up imageries of similarities between himself and Dark Lords.

After all, rulers of nations in the magical world were only observed and found in Dark Lords. A Wizard King has not happened, from what she knew, for thousands of years, the most prominent having been Narim Sin of the Akkad Kingdom and that had been before the Greeks had risen to prominence.

There had been self styled kings during the antiquities but they never lasted beyond a few decades and in time they were considered little more than Dark Lords.

She knew that this was different and many others would know of it too.

The last true magical kingdom had been Atlantis and Illos…

Illos, to anyone's critical eye, would be seen as its successor.

And that…that was a kind of threat to many powerful people, a kind of perception they absolutely would not want to be reached for it gives Illos an authority they would be loathed to allow to be granted.

Atlantis had a mystical, almost wondrous, appeal to it. A golden age where freedom had been at its most absolute and they had no cause to fear muggles.

And Atticus had only increased the pressures and scrutiny that he'd have from the magical world. She continued to observe him as the game reached its end.

She hardly saw him not working, if it is not on something in Illos itself, it's somewhere else in the world and if its not within the world then it is out there, like going over planetary reports of the planets and moons in the Phelexes system.

Emily was just as bad as he was and she wondered how they had time for themselves.

She felt a swell of sadness, to see that he'd changed so much. It was hard to recognise the boy who loved magic with all of his being, the boy with wide eyes and that devoured every bit of knowledge he could get his little grubby hands on.

Yet behind that sadness, she was extremely proud of him and she knew that Markus would be too. To see him become this great man Markus had always believed he would become.

She only prayed to mother magic that he wouldn't lose himself to pressures, the weight that were on his shoulders. A weight that was heavier and unfair for anyone, let alone her only son to carry.

Plans and dreams and hopes placed on his shoulders that were hundreds of thousands of years old, made by ancient ancestors whose enemies may not be as defeated as once hoped just as new zealous enemies made their presence known who were only around the figurative corner who could beat down the door at any point…

And then there were the plans of lifting the entire magical world towards worlds whose star would take fifty thousand years to reach Earth…

After the game ended, Atticus took them home, escorted by his ever present guards – she found it rather funny that the man who defeated a dark lord needed guards – and they talked well into the evening.

It had been nice to see him so relaxed and happy.

She didn't see that in him when he was busy with…with it all.

"Are you happy?" she asked him quietly, the corner of her eyes creasing as she looked at her son carefully.

He had been in the process of pouring wine for both of them and he stopped moving and he turned to her, his expression surprised before he seemed to relax into vague resignation which turned into a strange smile as he turned away from her gaze.

"Do I look unhappy?" he asked, his voice calm.

"I don't really know. Sometimes you do look it." She asked tenderly and he turned around, a glass of wine floating towards her. She took it from the air, her eyes still intently on her son.

He sat down back in his seat, his expression turning a hint more genuine as he began to speak "Happiness…" he said with a twist of the lips and there was a strangeness to it. "Happiness isn't something that is sustained. It comes in bouts and fits. It comes with different strengths, in joys or in contentments. It is never always happy or unhappy."

He drank of his wine and she remained silent, letting him speak. He had never strayed the promises he made years ago…that he wouldn't lie to them.

He swirled the drink in his glass before he met her gaze again.

"I am happy when I am with Emily…when I am working with magic or learning something new." He smiled slightly, evidence of fondness creeping out in his expression "I am happy when I am here with you or with Sophia and little Marie. I am happy when I am working for the betterment of my people."

"…But?" she coaxed gently.

"I am subject to moments of unhappiness just as anyone else is." He told her honestly.

"You're not just anyone else." She said as she raised her glass to her lips, her eyes still intently on him. "Tell me." She urged behind her glass.

He sighed inaudibly as he looked at his glass momentarily.

"I have a great many responsibilities. Responsibilities that sometimes seem like they coalesce into something greater than I can handle. I have sacrificed much for my people…our people." He said as his gaze picked up, his usually too bright eyes now resembling more like hard embers of shadowed frozen fire before it went away a look of tiredness crept across his face and a forlorn smile plastering itself on his tired face.

"It comes and goes like the ebb and flow of the tide, this feeling of it all being a little too much." He smiled at her looking a little lighter "It is the nature of my life at present as a consequence of the responsibility and mantle I have taken but thankfully I have people here at Illos helping and learning how to help. I have you, I have Sophia" he smiled fondly "I have Emily." He said before he drank of his wine.

He looked at her with fondness and appreciation colouring his expression as he finished drinking.

"Do not worry yourself too much about me mother. I will be fine." He assured her.

She got up from her seat and made her way towards him, grabbing the glass of wine from his hand as she sat across from him. She grabbed his face with both of her hands "Even if the world hangs on every little decision you make, even if it depends on you entirely" she said with a saddened smile

"It still wouldn't be worth if it is making you unhappy and doubt yourself."

He closed his eyes slightly and he grabbed her hands, gently peeling her hands off of his face before he reopened them "Thank you for your concern mother." He gently squeezed her hand.

"It is an unhappiness that I can bear as I know at the end Illos and the rest of the magical world will stand greater than ever before. That itself has a happiness of its own." He told her before he smiled a little.

"Sight is both a curse and a gift."

After that, their conversation turned away and towards lighter, freer topics like the possibility of Marie coming to Illos for Beltane and it wasn't longer after that Emily arrived and joined the conversation.

She'd watched them carefully and without making it appear as if she wasn't looking and she saw that he loved her dearly and she him. He leaned into her touch and she leaned her body into his, decorum meaning little even in her presence.

They leaned on each other psychologically just as much as they craved each other physically, that was clear to her and it made her heart lighten ever so much knowing that Emily would be there for him when the weight of his decisions become too much for one person to bear.

Soon enough it become only two as Emily remained whilst Atticus went away briefly and she spoke up to Emily "He needs you more than you can know, Emily." Anne said honestly and it was clear that Emily had been taken slightly aback.

She got up and made to leave, imparting one last comment "Do not let him crumble."

And as she left Emily had the last word. "I have no intention of letting that happen"

Anne smiled and the weight in her heart grew lighter knowing that she meant every word of it.

-Break-

22nd of May 1957 – Diagon Alley, Daily Prophet Office

Theodore Pyrites POV

His fingers clacked on the typewriter, inky words materialising from the shoot from the small opening on the back of the device before they splattered across the two by two feet parchment that hung in front of him, a kind of clacking that felt like a monotonous drone much like how he felt writing this story.

A story that was about the crowd Fortescue's created because of their 'Mind meltingly good Sorbonne' collection of ice-cream.

Yes…things were that dull that this was going to be a page two story.

Their competitors, The International Magical Press, otherwise known as IMP, soaked up all of the international news, places were conflicts and interesting and dramatic political events were happening aplenty.

A far cry from the rather stale but stable British Isles where the good times were so good that they were boring. He stopped briefly from writing, his mind a little stuck on that thought process, a thought that was thought carelessly and was without meaning.

He grimaced. He would choose these days over those days quite soundly.

He had nightmares for months after witnessing the bombing and its aftermath.

Still, it wouldn't have been so bad if there was at least something to write about.

The Ministry was a well oiled machine now with the Ouroboros party having made it an efficient circuit of bureaucracy. It hadn't been so in the earlier days.

The days where heart stopping shocks were nearly daily, centuries old laws that protected privileges of the nobility at the cost of the common people were ripped apart and more egalitarian and equal laws were instated and enforced.

No one had been exempt, not even the nobility, from cooperating and living the rules set by Ouroboros for all and it had caused some rumours of discontent amongst the traditionalist though it had seemed those rumours had nothing in them for just the next time it came for the laws to be approved by the Council of Lords, it had passed with easy majority.

He wasn't that surprised, not when there was a looming giant in the form of Atticus' terrifying wife at their backs. A woman who since the bombing had become an institution on its own, one that seemed bridged so many different areas with seamless ease.

And whose departure was still keenly felt even if her works and her endeavours were continued despite her absence.

Orphaned Squibborns were still taken in though this time it was state-funded, the orphanages, and introduction to the magical world was done at age six with the children enrolling with magical-raised children at the primary schools in Godric's Hollow, Hogsmeade, Mould-on-the-Wold, Ottery St. Catchpole, Tinworth and the few other magical-only villages dotted England, Wales and Scotland.

And from the sounds of it, it was a roaring success as the children had taken to the traditions and culture of their world like a hungry babe to a breast and the parents were also brought into the fold slightly more than they would have in the past.

Curriculums at the other secondary schools were well funded to the point that they were almost as good as Hogwarts and schooling for the more magically challenged children was also funded by the Ministry which had a national fund where 'investments' around the world and within Britain.

It allowed the Ministry to run with a positive budget without having to raise taxes beyond a measly twenty percent for the highest earners and fourteen percent for middle income earners. The industries that were hit hard by the Sayres being exiled recovered and prices were cheaper than they were before the Grindelwald war.

Crime was at its lowest point ever and Knockturn Alley had been turned into a 'friendly' zone for normal people to visit as Dark magic was normalised – to a certain degree – with permits and law keeping order along with shopkeepers being all too happy to enforce the law should the more dangerous individuals get too rowdy for fear of upsetting the good thing they had going on.

He sat back in his chair, his hand unconsciously going towards the quill behind his head and placed the end of the quill in his mouth, softly chewing on the mostly destroyed feather stem.

Even the arguments being Light and Dark were…civil now, Houses that were ideological enemies for generations were making overtures to each other in the form of marriages whilst traditions and magic that were banned, like all forms of blood magic, were reviewed and permitted in the same way the Irish Ministry permitted the study of dangerous magic at the Seshet Institute of Magic and Science.

The country was hardly recognisable from the dark times only four years ago and even less than the years prior to Grindelwald's rise…so much so that people were calling this Britain's Golden Era and it was hard to argue against.

And they knew who they had to thank for that.

Ouroboros.

The party that dominated the British political world, a party that had half of the British magical population signed on as 'members' and half of the other half might as well be 'members' given that they would undoubtedly vote for them again.

And if one had to thank Ouroboros, then undoubtedly one had to thank its founder and many did exactly that.

Emily Slytherin-Sayre…

Her absence had made the people of Britain grow fonder of her to the point people were comparing her to Avaliona, the mother of magicals in that play that was still one of the most popular plays any time it played.

Not surprising giving that it was good.

He wasn't going to admit it but he cried the first time he'd seen it, especially at the end when the Celts were broken and were a shadow of themselves, crying and begging for forgiveness for the betrayal they wrought.

He'd denied it fervently when Jessica, his ex he'd gone to see it with claimed she saw him cry. She didn't buy it and after that, the relationship kind of… soured.

He snorted, the quill falling from his mouth and he scrambled to catch it before it fell and he just about managed. Anyway…if she remains away for much longer a few of the crazier lots would actually start praying to her.

He sighed and placed the quill on the table next to the typewriter before he leaned back again, his mind returning back to her…and Atticus.

His old...friend who directly or indirectly had changed so much of the world like he always shown promise of being capable of doing since the very first year of Hogwarts.

Hogwarts…

It seemed like an age...their time at Hogwarts.

The slow thawing of his distance from them until they were close friends, the five of them, the five Ravens. He sighed. It truly felt like an age.

He was still close to Marcus but he was busier than most now that he was a junior official in the Ministry and had his family with his two daughters. The man nabbed himself a great girl in Sarah.

He spoke with Eden even less but they kept somewhat in contact. She was now married to Luther Smith, heir to the Smith title and fortune and had a son of her own, Mordecai, whilst she worked in the Department of Mysteries.

And Nymera…

He hadn't seen her for almost fifteen years.

Her brother had married her off to some nobody, a scandal at the time, before she left to New Zealand of all places though the last he heard the man was now a prominent New Zealand Ministry official, a deputy of some kind.

It had been years since he'd seen a letter from her, let alone speaking to her though he knew she had children of her own as Eden and Nymera still exchanged yearly letters.

And Atticus…

Well no one had seen or heard from him since his exile having left with nearly a third of the British population. The old administration had effectively made his name and that of the Sayres taboo and Emily Slytherin-Sayre was only known as Emily Slytherin and he had no idea why she had accepted it so easily then.

Not when he'd been at the wedding and seen how much the two had loved each other, an unlikely love he had seen blossom as the cold terrifying girl began to love his friend and his friend somehow managing to turn the cold terrifying girl into a more terrifying but at least human.

A human girl who grew to become a human woman capable of getting people devoted to her. Similar but in a different way people had become devoted to Atticus during the war and after it before his exile.

A woman who remained despite the fury that was descended upon his husband and his family and had come out of it in what he could only describe as being loved like Merlin must have been loved when he had lived and built modern Magical Britain.

And now she'd been gone for years and it wasn't hard to guess where she was.

He'd often wondered himself.

The last time he'd seen Atticus had been a year before he left and despite the terrible tensions that seemed to spill into outright civil war, he had seemed calm and told Theo not to worry, that things would work out and that he should do what he felt was right should he be asked to write about him.

He hadn't understood, not then. Not until he started at the Daily Prophet and he was pressured to share information about his friend, something he had done but he kept his private thoughts and the more sensitive discussions to himself, feigning ignorance.

He hadn't been able to betray his old friend nor betray the memory of what he had known to be a special but unlikely friendship of five different people.

He only wished he knew where his friend was. Where Emily Slytherin-Sayre had gone to join him. He wasn't that different than the public in that regard.

The public loved gossiping about where they might be and the Quibbler's usually insane ramblings fed the fuel and had begun to become wildly popular as they supplied the public with fantastical rumours and stories.

He pulled out the drawer and picked up the latest issue of the Quibbler, his eyes falling on the headline

Mountainous Egg-ahoy!

He snorted.

The latest issue talked about how a giant egg crewed by mechanical men were coming to Britain. It was his guilty pleasure and though he wouldn't admit it, he enjoyed the humour of Iphikles Lovegood, the owner and editor of the Quibbler.

Nor would he admit that he used that humour as inspiration in some of his more 'fun' work. He shook his head and returned his fingers to the keys of his typewriter.

He spared a glance at the clock and realised that it was late, seven pm and he straightened out a little before he leaned forward, peering out of the window of his office into the main floor of the office and he saw he was one of only two still here.

Well, he imagined Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief, was still here in his own office. That man practically lived in his office.

He finished his article and sent it across to Cuffe via the Hanging Tubes, shoots that sucked up large parchments and sped them across the office, though he stayed another hour to finished up his next article in the business column before sending it through the Hanging Tubes to Cuffe.

Every office, including the office in Hogsmeade where Rupert was now editor-in-chief, had these.

By the time he made it back to his fairly modest home, he was tired and a little haggard. He made it through his door and instantly made for the kitchen.

He brought out the Sunday roast that was in stasis charms that he was meant to eat tomorrow but he couldn't be bothered to wait. He could always drop in to his mother for another roast dinner.

He piled on the meat and gravy and the filling onto the plate, eating it all the time, before he turned towards the living room. He was eating as he walked and he jerked in panic, the plate falling to the ground.

But no sound of a plate crashing came, no, it felt like the entire world had stilled in the same manner he had been shook still.

"Still clumsy as always, Theo?" Atticus said, his voice smooth and oozing with authority all while wearing an odd patient half smile, his legs crossed in a way that spoke of grace and privilege whilst he sat in a chair – his chair – by the hearth.

The plate floated before his face and that had done the trick, jolting him aware though still incredibly flummoxed, and he plucked the plate and fork from the air.

"H-How, w-w-what, A-attic-"

"Breathe Theo." Atticus said with a low rumbling chuckle and he gestured towards the sofa and Theo flinched a little. He knew that Atticus could do wandless magic in a way most people could never achieve with a wand.

Atticus chuckle died out and a patient expression came across his face, as if he was soothing an upset child that had scraped his knees.

Theo broke himself out of it and he silently made his way towards the other sofa in the apartment "You could have at least taken the sofa." He muttered as he sat down, glaring slightly without any heat towards Atticus who sat unfazed and undeterred.

Atticus' expression shifted to one of mild amusement and it struck Theo that the years had been good to him. His eyes somehow seemed to have only deepened in their magical glow though less obvious, as if it he'd grown to embody more of the ridiculous amount of magic he had access to.

He'd also grown into his handsomeness, no longer the boyish looking Prince that had women swoon over him but instead he looked more like an authoritative lord that many believed they were like and looked like but fell very short off.

Not Atticus though.

Annoyingly, the man probably would even have grandmothers swoon now.

He stuck his fork in a piece of turkey and ate silently, still staring at his old friend.

It was a few moments afterwards, after he'd swallowed the bite of turkey, that he spoked. "What brings you to my humble abode?" he asked evenly, intently watching his old friend. "It's not everyday someone breaks into my home."

'Let alone someone who was meant to be exiled, never to return' he idly thought.

The treaty had been ripped apart after the people complained vigorously about it after Ouroboros had released the entirety of it to the public.

So…technically Theo supposed Atticus was no longer exiled?

Atticus tilted his head, a half smile on his face, his eyebrows raised slightly "I seem to remember you once saying that I could always visit. I interpreted that as a standing invite." The cheeky bastard said and Theo pointed his fork at him.

"That…" he tried to say, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to formulate a response. He'd say that like once and it was just something you say to a friend!

You don't expect said friend to take that to mean he could break into your house in the middle of the late evening! "That is not what I meant!" he finally managed, his anger rising amidst a confusing pot of emotions seeing his friend in the flesh after so many years. "You know it too!"

Atticus' expression changed and it was more apologetic, sincerer "I know Theo."

Theo waited a little while as he looked expectantly, expecting something more but not entirely sure what he actually expected but Atticus remained silent.

Theo sighed and stuck his fork in his cooling potatoes and brought it to his mouth, staring at Atticus whilst he chewed. After he swallowed "So…" he trailed off, trying to initiate conversation from what seemed like the weirdest conversation he's had yet and he'd met and spoken to Iphikles Lovegood.

"So." Atticus finally said with a nod, his finger tapping on the armrest of the chair and Theo liked to think he was at least somewhat as uncomfortable as Theo was. He hoped that was true. "You've done for yourself Theo. I'm glad."

Theo barked out laughed at the absurdity before he looked at Atticus incredulously "Really, that's what you're beginning with?" he asked disbelievingly "Merlin, Atticus, you're terrible at this. Whatever…" he paused, his fork waving erratically towards Atticus and the living room "this is."

Atticus' lips twitched.

"I know. My…apologies for dropping in so unannounced. I wasn't entirely sure how else to go about visiting you without making it sudden and unexpected."

"It's sudden and unexpected alright" Theo muttered as he stabbed another slice of turkey with his fork and he brought it to his mouth before he paused and looked at Atticus "You hungry?"

"No, I'm quite alright. Thank you."

Theo grumbled but said nothing before he ate again.

He was hungry after a skipped lunch and nothing was going to stop him from eating.

"So…what can I do for you?" Theo bluntly asked after he set the plate down. He quickly waved a stasis charm on the meal before he returned his attentions to Atticus.

"I doubt you came to visit an old friend for sentimentalities sake." Theo said knowingly. Atticus had been very purposeful all his life. He had lived and breathed magic and though they were close friends, he knew as time went on he would lose himself to his interests.

He'd been right…in a fashion as he did lose himself to his interests…just not in magic. After the war Atticus had become someone who was a leader, a Lord of people in his own right and that had been part of why the Ministry had felt so threatened. Especially as his ideas had run so contrary how things were done.

Ironically a lot of ideas that were now law and part of British magical life.

In the back of his mind he often thought that though Atticus might not have been here he certainly had affected the British Magical world just as if he was still here years after his exile…despite his exile.

And in the form of his wife, he most certainly was.

Atticus looked seemingly appreciative of Theo's bluntness. "My nation is making itself known to the magical world soon. I would like you to write a paper. Unfiltered and unmonitored. Only as you see it."

Theo slowly sat back down on the sofa. "…Nation?" he asked, his voice showing clearly how surprised he was at that. It was one thing to suspect something like that, after all the way he'd enticed people to leave with him clearly signalled towards that, but it was another to hear from the source.

"Nation." Atticus confirmed. "A nation that has approximately twenty five thousand souls." 'That was about the same as Britain!' Theo thought to himself as Atticus continued

"A nation where equality is the normal and that looks after its citizens. A bit like Magical Britain though a little…different." Theo recognised the glint of mischief, the mischief he'd seen more than a few times in their youth.

"And you want me personally do write about it?" Theo questioned. He wouldn't fail to admit he was intensely curious about this purported nation. Atticus had quite a few faults but it was undeniable that he was brilliant.

He knew that Atticus would have created a Merlin-damned paradise if he had the time and opportunity. Barely even thirteen the guy enchanted the ceiling of his room to show the stars, a feat that ended up being repeated in the Astronomy Tower and that was still in use today and now at thirty three with a decade of time on his hands?

"I do."

Theo leaned forward, his expression determined "I will not lie." He prided himself on never lying or stretching the truth. He'd been made to lie by the Ministry when they still owned the paper and he had felt dirty for ages with the way they blatantly misled the public.

"I know." Atticus acknowledged with a nod. "Your integrity will not be comprised."

Theo snorted as he leaned back in his chair, avidly staring at Atticus in a way that must have seemed like he was trying to decipher him…and he was to an extent.

"Why me?" he asked finally.

Atticus uncrossed his legs as he leaned a little forward "I wasn't lying when I said you've done well for yourself. I've read your work throughout the years. Your early work with Rupert was pretty great though lately you seem to have hit a bit of a rump. I'd like you to reignite yourself and having you write about Illos first feels like a good opportunity."

"Y-you've been reading my work?" Theo asked in startled shock.

Also, did he pretty much say his latest work was dragon dung?!

"I have. We lead different lives now but we were close friends once. To me, reading your work was a way for me to know how you were doing." Atticus said to him.

Theo cleared his throat, unsure what to say about that. "I would have done the same, you know, keep an eye on you whilst you were nation building." He joked before pausing and looking at Atticus with a mild glare.

"My work lately hasn't been bad."

"You could have done better." Atticus returned as he leaned forward a little, an exasperated look on his face "That joke about the Centaurs in your article about the sale of the Hopkins' prized Abraxan show-mare was crude."

"People liked that!" Theo defended "People even write in saying that they never laughed that hard in ages." It was a great joke! Not his usual joke but he'd been in a bad mood for a few weeks after he broke up with his girlfriend Hannah.

Atticus looked at him as if to say 'come on' and Theo crossed his arms, staring defiantly at Atticus and for a moment he was brought back to his memories of similar scenarios back at Hogwarts and an unconscious smile formed on his face.

He uncrossed his arms and sighed.

"So Illos, eh?" Theo said, returning back to the subject at hand. "Strange name."

"It's a name that felt right" Atticus only said and Theo grunted before he nodded.

"Alright. I will write about Illos."

Atticus smiled pleased and nodded "Good. It will be a week long trip starting from the 24th." Theo blinked at that.

"24th as in…as in two days from now?!" Theo exclaimed.

"Yes. It's the earliest we can accommodate for now." He said and Theo nodded slowly before he eyed Atticus carefully.

"I need to my boss know." He stated to Atticus whose expression didn't change as he spoke

"He may know after your trip. I would like discretion to remain until the 15th of June which is when we are planning to let ourselves known. That is the only condition I have."

Theo grimaced internally. "Alright." Theo acquiesced.

"Good." Atticus said with a pleased smile before he sat back in his chair "Now that business is over…" Atticus looked pointedly at him

"You're still unmarried?" And Theo felt like he was experiencing déjà vu, memories of his mother asking that same question disapprovingly each time he came to visit.

Unlike his mother though, a mischievous smile tugged at the corner of his lips and Theo smiled in return, moments before he began to begin his tale of misfortunate relationships and disastrous endings.

-Break-

15h of June 1957 – ICW Headquarters

Ramirez POV

A knock on the door of his office drew him out of his reading, a flash of irritation rising up in him before he called out "Come in."

The door opened and his eyes held a glint of interest as the Russian walked into his office. He hadn't known he'd been back from his investigations in Bulgaria yet.

Ramirez's gaze fell on the paper that he held in his left hand before they returned towards the stoic expression that the Russian wore.

"Dachemov." Ramirez acknowledged.

He threw the paper towards him and only a last moment of conscious thought stopped him from drawing his wand and the paper fell on the table.

He eyed Dachemov with a neutral expression but the man looked uncaring as he took the seat across his desk. "It seems like our white whale has gorged itself into becoming quite the specimen" Dachemov only said and Ramirez's hand went towards the paper and his eyebrows raised in surprise as he began reading.

ILLOS, THE NEW ATLANTIS? MARVEL NATION BUILT BY KING ATTICUS AND QUEEN EMILY

By: Theodore Pyrites

I can picture you reading the title and wonder 'what on Merlin's good Earth is he talking about' and I would understand. However, my dear readers, you have read correctly.

Many have wondered what became of Atticus Sayre of House Sayre and the thousands of people who left with him during one of our more challenging times in modern history and I was no exception. To my surprise, I received an invitation from Atticus Sayre to come visit the nation, Illos, that he and the people of Britain have founded and my dear readers, strap in because it is an absolute riveting tale to last the ages…

Ramirez read the entire article, gazed upon the images, both still and moving, with a hawkish intent, eating, preying on every single detail he could find. The story about how Illos was created from lifeless rock into what it was now, a city and a land that stretched for over a hundred miles, how they formed a government and ruled themselves and how magic could be used in the open without concern or fear of muggles.

He read and watched as children used wandless magic creating balls of light and told how they learnt magic from the age of six but didn't have access to a wand until they were eleven.

He read how the people of Illos, which was now over twenty thousand people strong, had elected the Sayres to be their monarchs and from what it sounded like they were beloved – likely propaganda – and it was after his second time reading the paper from start to finish that he threw the paper back on the desk and looked at Dachemov grimly who looked at Ramirez with a glint of excited amusement.

"I am not sure what you're so excited about." Ramirez said irritated and Dachemov laughed.

"Because this is the challenge of my lifetime." Dachemov said as he leaned back.

"You know that we cannot act against them without a casus belli." 'and if this is their opening move, we'll need to see them breaking the Statute blatantly' he thought grimly.

They had expected that Sayre had created a nation. The MOS had confirmed it.

With this move, it made it almost impossible to move against the Sayres and short of publishing the Prophecy that spelled that they were the end of Magic, outright war with them would be rejected among the ICW representatives even if they were pressured to agree.

No one wanted to be in the crosshairs of two Archmages if they didn't need to be.

For now, they would ostracise he country from the magical world until they made an actionable error.

"True but you'll find one." Dachemov said confidently "And when you do…" Dachemov stood up and leaned over his desk slightly, a vicious grin on his face before he tapped the desk with his fist "It'll be the greatest war of my lifetime."

Ramirez resisted the urge to clench his teeth.

Dachemov had only grown worse of the years, the reigns by which he operated had been let loose and as a result any capture or kill target had ended up dead. Often unrecognisable.

Yet there was little he could do as the MOS was absolutely intent on retaining the most powerful mages they could find. His eyes fell on the picture, towards the city the Sayres and their people built. His eyes returned towards Dachemov who began to turn away.

"And Bulgaria?" he only asked.

Dachemov stopped and turned towards him, his expression losing the grin he wore. "Completely subdued and under the control of the Ravenites." Dachemov paused for a moment before he continued

"They are conforming to the Statute and the unofficial guidelines"

Ramirez clenched his teeth, letting it show this time. "I see."

The ICW was refusing to interfere as long as the Statute was upheld. No one was keen to deal with what many were considering to be an 'internal' problem and the MOS were silent on the issue, saying that the Ravenites were not the focus.

Dachemov looked uncharacteristically serious for once as he spoke "I'd be concerned if I were you Ramirez. The Ravenites are a bigger issue than you think." Dachemov said before he turned around towards the door, intent on leaving but not before finishing with

"Look into it. They might end up our friends like the Norwegians sooner than you think" Dachemov said before he left and closed the door. Ramirez let out a deep sigh of frustration.

He was not happy with the direction of the ICW, nor its blindness to the ineffectiveness of the rules it had imposed onto Europe. They were only paying lip service now and blood purism was rampant, to the point that it was infecting the ICW. The recruited former Grindelwaldites were also a cause for concern given that they were violent peacekeepers and more than a few times ICW Protectorates had submitted formal complaints about their behaviour and their violence.

Nothing was done about it.

His eyes fell on the paper and his lips thinned into a near line.

All because MOS was obsessed about the threat that Sayre posed.

A threat that now was amongst them and he feared that things were only getting worse.