Yo!

Welcome to another chapter of "Road to Power". It finally won a Pat-reon poll so here it is. I hope the wait wasn't too long, but there is not much I can do. You vote, I listen and deliver what you choose. At least this way I keep updating at least one fanfiction per week, not bad if I say so myself, especially when you look at my update speed in the past...

Anyway, I would like to say that this chapter might create some questions about the Universe in which "Road to Power" takes place. I said it a few times, but I will report myself again so everybody will know hopefully realize it. "Road to Power" is my playground that is mainly based on MCU and HP, but I also like to take small parts from comics or other Marvel Universes to create some unique things in my story (Even if I get my knowledge from the wiki as I didn't read a single comic in my life). As such, some of the things you see in this story might not make much sense but please at least give me time to explain them through storytelling. And while I'm not telling you that everything I come up with will work, I will try my best to deliver something you will enjoy.

With that being said, I hope you will enjoy this chapter. See ya in the AN below the chapter, you will find all my important links there.

Chapter 26. Lesson in History

What did I know about Klyntar? To be honest not that much. I was by no means a Marvel fanboy who bought every new comic that appeared on the market. Oh, I definitely enjoyed most of the movies and TV shows in MCU along with the few that were created outside this cinematic universe, but beyond that, I didn't care too much. Well, apart from a few fanfictions and google searches when I had no clue what the fuck was going on when people started spitting theories on social media platforms.

So yeah, my knowledge about the wider Marvel Universe was quite limited. As such, I only knew the bare minimum about Klyntar, or Symbiotes as people tended to call them, from one quick wiki search and a single movie... "Venom" was pretty good, but honestly, it didn't go too deep into the detail of what Venom exactly was. Some snippets here and there across the entire movie definitely didn't explain Klyntar's existence, though I was pretty sure that they were just saving the big reveals for any potential sequels... Too bad I died before they could have come out.

Still, even with the small bit of knowledge I possessed, I wasn't sure what to do with it. Should I just spill everything to Ancient One and be done with it? So far I tried to keep the mask of someone who knew a bit, but not too much at the same time. If I went ahead and just said what I knew, I would be pretty much confirming Ancient One's suspicion that I knew much more than I should. Not that she needed much more confirmation with our arrival here...

Ah to hell with it. We are at her mercy anyway, might as well try to gain a bit more trust...

Sighing, I pinched my nose and tried to bring every bit of information about Symbiotes to the forefront of my mind, "Klyntar, an inorganic alien species that usually bonds with other beings to form a symbiotic relationship. They gain the substance needed for their continued survival, while the host is gifted with a wide variety of enhanced abilities." I shook my head before settling my gaze back on Ancient One, "That's pretty much all I know and quite honestly I don't know how an alien species, that we have no accesses to, could help Laura."

"You still know more than almost any other person on this planet, Mr. Hunt. I'm pleased that you decided to drop the unnecessary farce," she replied, setting down her cup. At this moment, I was ready to open my mouth, to ask if all of this was a test. Instead Ancient One raised her hand, her lips forming a small smile, "No, it wasn't a test and while I admit that I was curious if you knew something, I didn't mention Klyntar without a reason."

I raised an eyebrow and shushed Laura who kept tugging at my sleeve. "Then why?" I asked, ignoring the small girl's scowl. I knew I would need to explain everything to her later, but for now, I wanted to know what the woman in front of me really meant.

"Because Mr. Hunt," And here her infuriating smile got a bit wider, "Even if our problem is magical in nature, Klyntar's ability to bond with hosts goes far beyond just the physical and mental sphere. They are truly wonderful creatures that can do what many can only dream of."

My eyes widened, my interest piqued. "They can destroy the Obscurus?"

Ancient One shook her head lightly. "Not exactly," she stated. "Just like with a normal host, Klyntar can merge with an Obscurus, making them one entity. The difference is that the two will never be able to split up. An Obscurus is a mass of very powerful malevolent dark energy without any true direction and as such, it is not too hard for Klyntar to slowly subdue the dark entity and absorb it completely."

This doesn't seem right, I frowned my mind going a hundred miles per hour. It was hard to believe that a glob of inorganic matter could absorb an embodiment of hate represented by a dark magical entity. Those two things just didn't mix and even if they did, I doubted that a Symbiote could subdue something so powerful... Just what the hell went wrong when MCU and HP were combined into one Universe.

"How?" I finally asked, my head full of questions. "How is that even possible? How do you even know that? The Masters of the Mystic Arts are meant to protect the Earth from mystical threats, not aliens or Obscurials."

"My Order is old, Mr. Hunt, older than you can imagine," the woman waved her hand, a straight line of golden sparkling magic appearing above the table. "We have protected the Earth for thousands of years, dealing with mystical threats that were created on this exact planet, came from other dimensions or lands in the faraway cosmos. You may not understand why, but both Klyntar and Obscurials belong to those threats."

At once multiple stopping points appeared on the line with numbers slowly burning into existence above them. 1452 BC, 30BC, 736 AD... A timeline, I gasped, trying to connect any of those dates to events I knew about, only to come up with nothing. "What do they mean?" I muttered and even Laura leaned forward, waiting for an answer.

Ancient One sighed, the timeline zooming in on the first date before Christ. "A few events where Sorcerer Supreme had to step in and stop disasters from happening. In this particular one, a powerful child was pushed to the brink of death because he was a wizard, just like you. I'm sure that you know what happened next, after all, you two are quite familiar with the boy's situation."

In the corner of my vision, I noticed Laura flinch away from the table, her gaze downcast. I grabbed her hand in mine before narrowing my eyes at the Sorceress, "Again. Why would the Order step in? Wizards and witches aren't a direct threat to the mystical realm, even if they house a dark entity inside them."

"And here you are wrong, child," she stated, voice hard as steel. "Obscurus might be mainly a product of a child's fear and hate of magic that hides in their skin, but their power is by no means natural. Even if they feed and use the magic of the Obscurial, it isn't enough to create a being so powerful, so hateful. No, instead they use the power and hate of the child to form a link with a place far away, a place that should never have any access to Earth."

I frowned, connecting the dots almost right away. "The dark dimension," I whispered, stopping myself from saying more. After all, Ancient One was quite the hypocrite considering that she used the power of the dark world to prolong her life and now she was telling me that it should never have any connection to Earth... Yeah, definitely not gonna mention that, I want her to help us, not kick us out.

"Indeed," she nodded, my eyes scanning her face for any hints of hostility. "Even if wizards and witches somehow are capable of using an energy source that no one else can, the Obscurs instead can connect itself to the dark energy like no other. Some of my predecessors researched this phenomenon and their notes almost always ended with the same conclusion. That the existence of Obscurials is the outcome of the dark dimension's minuscule influence over the Earth. Without it, there would be no Obscurials and instead, any child going through a similar process would die, imploding from within."

I gritted my teeth, both due to what I had just learned and the fact that Laura was almost crushing my hand. Nothing made sense anymore. There was no dark dimension in Harry Potter Universe from what I knew, so how could an Obscurus be dependent on the dark world's energy when it didn't exist. Was it just another difference between the world I once knew or maybe there was more to Obscurials in HP than anybody ever expected?

I don't know anymore... I sighed, trying to gather my thoughts. I needed to know more. "So because any Obscurus is a creation of the dark dimension you just hunt them down, right?"

"Again, not exactly," Ancient once replied, taking a sip of her tea. "A calm and rarely released Obscurus is no risk to the world, they just exist, slowly killing their host but also never growing stronger. They become a problem when the host often frees the Obscurus to destroy everything around them. When that happens, every minute outside lets its power and connection to the dark dimension grow stronger."

Motioning with one hand to the glowing timeline, she continued, "In 1452 BC, the boy I already mentioned finally reached his limit. He was no older than fifteen when the Obscurus took over and was released for the last time. It destroyed everything that stood in its way, leaving tears in reality everywhere it went, tears that lead straight to the dark dimension. That was when one of my predecessors had to step in, stoping the entity before it could cause irreversible damage. Since then our Order has been trying to stop this tragedy from happening ever again. Sometimes we are successful and help those we find or find us, but there are times..."

Without finishing, Ancient One sighed, not even attempting to say another word as a blanket of silence fell upon the room. Both Laura and I were trying to process all the information we just received, even if the young girl didn't understand everything she heard. I couldn't wait for the onslaught of questions once we got out of here. It was going it be a long day...

Though, at least now I understood why Laura's Obscurus was constantly trying to get out and grew stronger ever since we removed the collar. It tasted freedom once and now it didn't want to give it up. Not a true direction, but a primal desire nonetheless. And now Laura is at risk of suffering the same fate as the boy did, especially with her special condition.

"Let's just say that I trust and understand everything you have told us. Now, there is just one thing missing from your explanation, the Klyntar. How are they a threat? Why would they even come to Earth?" I asked, looking straight at the ancient woman. The role of Symbiotes still didn't make too much sense in all of this, though going by the grim expression on Ancient One's face, there was definitely something concerning about the alien race.

"Alone they are far from a threat that Masters of the Mystic Arts should care about. It is because of their creator that we can't allow any of their kind to freely roam the Earth without a good reason," she finally spoke, not that it explained much.

Even more questions... Truly a wonderful day, I grumbled internally, a single word leaving my lips. "Creator?"

"A being beyond anything you can comprehend, Mr. Hunt. Someone who is a threat to every realm that exists, not only the mystical one. The warnings left behind by the founder of my Order are enough to make us wary of this entity and its army, the Klyntar. If this being decided to set its gaze on Earth, nothing would be able to stop it from doing whatever it wants with our planet."

Because that didn't sound ominous at all, I grimaced. No matter how hard I searched, I had no idea who the creator could be. MCU definitely had never mentioned such an entity and I didn't care enough about Symbiotes to research them that deep. But if the Masters of the Mystic Arts were scared, then it couldn't be disregarded.

"But what if not every Klyntar decided to serve their creator? There are good and bad apples everywhere, even beyond the Earth," I asked, the thought crossing my mind a few times.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, we wouldn't know if that's even possible. At least not after a certain rule was created by one of the Sorcerers Supreme when the first Klyntar arrived on Earth. Add to it the warnings from our funder and no one in the Order ever wanted to put the world at risk," When the last word left her mouth the golden timeline sped forward, its light filling the entire room. With a sharp wave of Ancient One's hand, it stopped, coming to rest at a particularly large ending point.

"Year 136," she whispered. "Back then natural magic users were still unorganized. As such it wasn't rare for an Obscurus to form every few years, though most of them died quickly, either killed by other humans or just never surviving the change. Those that did survive and managed to escape, lived in seclusion or took their own life not much later. And an Obscurus was rarely released, if ever..."

"A girl named Diana was one of those Obscurials. She lived in one of the many villages spread across the entire Roman Empire. Unfortunately due to her magic, she was soon banished by her family and other villagers. Alone and scared, she directed her hate at the weird abilities she possessed, and thus soon enough another Obscurus was born," the ancient woman recounted, her gaze sometimes darting to Laura.

Frowning, I cut in before she could continue, "What does it have to do with Klyntar?"

"Patience, Mr. Hunt, everything will be made clear soon," she chided. "Now to continue. Diana released her Obscurus only once, during its creation. Directed by her memories, it attacked Diana's home village, slaughtering everyone in it. Being only a confused and scared host, the young girl could do nothing but watch as everything she ever knew was torn apart by the creature now living inside her."

"Soon enough the Obscurus dissipated and Diana was left standing in the center of the burning village," Ancient One continued, never stopping her story. "Somehow she found enough strength inside her to live and push forward with her life. For years she lived as a simple huntress in the mountains, far away from any civilization, at least until one night a falling star crashed close to her camp."

"Klyntar ship," I murmured, eyes a bit wide.

The woman nodded, "Indeed, and as you can probably guess Diana decided to investigate. After finding a burning wreck and staying there for some time to scout the area, she went back to her camp, never noticing when a red sludge somehow invaded her body. For the next few weeks, she grew weaker with each day, foregoing most of her hunts as sometimes she couldn't even stand on her own two feet. And then, exactly a month later, when she went to sleep, it finally happened."

"The Klyntar contacted her?" I asked, not really believing my own words.

Ancient One shook her head, "No it didn't. The girl had no way to defend herself and so the Klyntar took over completely, transforming into a creature straight of nightmares with the power of its species and the magic of the Obscurus. A very deadly combination."

"W-what happened to it? To Diana?" Laura's quiet stutter suddenly reached my ears.

Ancient One shifted her focus to the small girl, her gaze softening. "It wasn't pretty at first," she replied softly. "For days the creature raged across the lands, leaving only death and destruction in its wake. Only when the Sorcerer Supreme of that time felt a spike of the dark dimension's energy in the area, did he interfere and sealed the creature away."

I frowned, "How do you know all of this? Diana's past that is?"

The woman smiled. "Because even if the Klyntar was sealed away, Diana didn't suffer the same fate. No, the Sorcerer Supreme first slipt the two when he sealed the monster and then gave the young woman a new chance at life. A chance that she took straight away, later becoming known as the next leader of the Master of the Mystic Arts... During her reign, our Order learned the most about Obscurials and how to deal with them. And despite her past, she was also the one who proposed Klyntar as a way to remove an Obscurus."

My brow furrowed as I tried to make sense of everything I just heard. In some twisted kind of way, the entire thing made some sense, but for Diana to propose such a process... Why would she do that after everything she went through. Of course, I saw the potential of this method, but it was too risky.

"I see you don't understand Diana's decision, Mr. Hunt," My gaze snapped to Ancient One and I nodded slowly. "Even though she hated her own past, she recognized the potential of her method if the Obscurial was prepared for it. In Diana's case, she lacked the necessary abilities and knowledge to resist the Klyntar, but what if she did? What if she could stop the Klyntar from taking over after it absorbed the Obscurus?" She listed off before her steely gaze fell on me, "And what if she had someone to take care of her during the entire process?"

I narrowed my eyes, perfectly understanding what she meant. Laura would have both me and Ancient One to help in case something went wrong... Besides, I remembered Klyntar's weaknesses well enough. Still, there was one thing bugging the hell out of me.

"Did she test it?" I asked. "Did Diana test her theory?"

"No," the woman shook her head. "She wanted to, but after her teacher created a rule that forbade any research on Klyntar, she abandoned her idea. Instead, she tried to devise other methods for Obscurials to become normal again. Some of which I hope will work before we even think of using one of the Klyntar that had been sealed for centuries. That is if you agree for me to help you of course."

I almost snorted at the casual manner Ancient One used when she spoke of breaking one of the rules of her Order. Though I probably shouldn't be surprised after her dealings with the energy from the dark dimension. This woman was truly something special, even if I didn't know that much about her.

Shaking my head lightly, I turned to Laura whose entire form was frozen, her gaze glued to her knees. A sigh left my lips as I directed my gaze back to the Ancient One. "Can we continue this conversation tomorrow? We are grateful for the offered help, but we didn't really expect this."

"Naturally," she smiled. "I apologize for dropping so much information on you, but I wanted to give you two the whole picture, especially when we are dealing with something so important. Now please let me lead you to your rooms, you deserve to get some rest without the need to sleep with one eye open."

I nodded, not even thinking of declining this generous offer. Anything would be better than a random rundown building in New York. Now I just had to explain everything to Laura again and find out what Ancient One could want in return for her help. I wasn't stupid enough to believe that she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart, not after our first meeting.

This is gonna be a long week...

And that's it.

So as you all see, I really went quite deep into the subject of both Obscurus and Symbiotes for my story. I wanted them to have a place in this mismatched universe and while I'm sure it could have been done better, I tried my best. Some explanations are still missing, but they will come with the future chapters, just you wait (Though I'm quite sure any Marvel fan here knows who the "creator" of Symbiotes is).

Anyway, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed my twist on this subject. It wasn't easy to write and I questioned myself on almost every step if I should even do this. In the end, I decided to fuck it and just write what I wanted. Like I said this is my playground after all and you can't learn without making mistakes.

With that being said, please don't forget to check out the links below. They lead to various places like my discord server, pat-reon (Where you can support me and vote for the next updates), or to my original story that will be getting a rewrite soon (As such it is probably the last chance to read the old version before the chapters go boom).

Pat-reon (Voting): (standard pat-reon link as you can't type it on FFN)/chaos65 | All links in one (Original here): linktr .ee/Chaos65 | Or just Discord invite: b7JaQcpuc7

Have a good day/night.