"They're not dead," Remus observed, cautiously. Crossing the wards hadn't been pleasant for him, but they hadn't blocked him or killed him. As he entered the lich's room, he could see Dumbledore and Dawlish still breathing, faintly, just stunned.
Plus, Harry had been explaining it as quickly as he could.
[Marauders] Harry Potter: And he figured out that I have the Game System too, and says he wants to discuss "the great things we could do together."
Hermione Granger replies: Oh no! We don't even know who we could tell that could help. We'll work on ideas.
She had apparently been elected by the others, still back at Hogwarts, to reply to Harry when necessary, rather than inundating him with a bunch of separate replies. Hopefully the remaining members of the guild could figure out a solution. Their only adult available, Sirius, was Britain's Most Wanted, so that limited their options significantly. Taking out Dumbledore and Dawlish really was most of their firepower. Harry wasn't even sure whether they could contact the rest of the Order to help. Maybe he could send a whisper message to one of the other teachers, and then have to explain how he was speaking to them psychically?
"Just stunned," the lich explained, while Harry caught his friends up, still deftly twirling Dumbledore's wand as if it was the most interesting toy he'd had in centuries. He'd just left Dawlish's wand where it landed near his chair, clearly not even concerned about picking it up. "I doubt I'm going to win any trust by murdering either of them, am I? Even though it would probably be in my best interests in the long run. I doubt I could have wandlessly defeated Albus Dumbledore without a surprise attack. Especially when he had this."
"What is it?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"Inspect it," Ekrizdis offered it for Harry to look at. Remus just crossed his arms, wand already stowed, rather than get himself stunned assuming that might be an opening. The ancient wizard smirked at the good sense, or at least did the closest thing his face was still capable of.
THE ELDER WAND
This wand grants a bonus to all spellcasting, and
an extra bonus to dueling. It is less effective if
not won by its wielder. [Learn more magical
history for more information.] Set Bonus: 0/3
"I need to learn more about magical history," Harry figured. "I didn't even know there were better wands. I thought they were all basically just as good as any others. Nobody's ever said anything was better than the one they got at Ollivander's."
"This one is special, and has changed hands repeatedly because of it being special," Ekrizdis nodded. "You haven't heard the Tale of the Three Brothers?"
"He was raised muggle," Remus explained, since Harry was clearly at a loss. "The story is of three wizards that escaped Death himself and each won a gift: an unbeatable wand, a stone to talk to the dead, and an invisibility cloak that would never fade." He hadn't seen the inspection text, obviously, but if they were talking about Dumbledore's wand like it was extra special and mentioning the Hallows…
"Set bonus," Harry got it. He resolved not to mention his invisibility cloak anywhere near the lich, and thanked his Mental Fortress that the thought would remain hidden.
"Indeed," Ekrizdis nodded. "It's sad that you lack the formative literature. Perhaps you'd like to peruse my introductory library." He waved a hand at one of the bookshelves.
Harry warily moved over to the shelf in question, and immediately recognized a few of the covers. They'd been keeping track of the books that had been of benefit in the Hogwarts library, after all. "Are these all skill books?"
"I'm not surprised you're familiar. How many of them are in Hogwarts, I've always wondered?"
"About one per shelf. I still have to go through all of them to check, though."
The lich nodded. "Fascinating. But, yes, I had set that up as a quick way to bring my people up to snuff once they had the gift. A shame it never saw much use. I've even written a few more over the years, just to see if I have the trick of it."
"I'm going to make sure they don't get a blood clot or something," Remus explained to the lich, then moved Dumbledore and Dawlish so they were laying out on their backs rather than slumped awkwardly. The worn rug between them and the stone floor probably wasn't the ideal sleeping location, but it would have to do for the moment.
While Harry yearned to shove the entirety of the bookshelf into his brain, he had a more pressing question that had only been building as they descended and saw the bodies. "So everyone that died, a dementor came out? And those dementors killed the others and let their dementors out?"
"Yes," Ekrizdis told him. "They did the same to the servants, I would imagine. I've heard tales of 'soul sucking' on the wireless, though I doubt that's actually what they're doing. Imagine my surprise when the ones lurking outside began to talk. They may be draining information from their victims, leaving them empty of any thoughts and very like being soulless. Perhaps I'll capture some when I get out and make certain."
"Will… will we turn into dementors when we die?" Harry asked.
"I don't think so. Obviously, I decided against finding out," the lich gestured at his undying body. "Why do you ask?"
"There are other dementors in Asia, we think. So we thought everyone that gets the game system becomes one when they die?"
"Interesting. That either happened after my time, or word of it hadn't reached here." Frowning, the centuries-old wizard thought on the problem and eventually suggested, "The path I used to impart the gift to my followers was fairly obvious, if difficult. I attempted to use the core arithmantic factors of curse work to essentially treat the gift as a personal attainment that would be passed along a matrix of judgment…" he blinked and realized he was losing the boy, summarizing, "Others may have come to a similar idea to the one I had, and had the same unforeseen consequences." He shrugged and promised, "I've had centuries to reflect on my mistake and come up with a new method that might work."
"How many sailors have to die to test that idea?" Harry couldn't help but rebut, as Remus standing awkwardly away from them, raised an eyebrow at the child sassing the lich.
"Ah, yes, youthful empathy," Ekrizdis sighed, like a night wind blowing through a cemetery. "I should show you the reason why those small lives are meaningless."
As he levered himself back out of his chair and started leading Harry and Remus through a far door, Hermione finally reported back:
Hermione Granger replies: Remember what you told us about how Voldemort is still around? We think maybe Ekrizdis did the same thing. Only his body didn't blow up like Voldemort's did.
Hermione Granger replies: Anyway! You should try to find his horcrux and stab that with the fang that the headmaster gave you. Then maybe he'll just die.
Whisper to Remus Lupin: Hermione says we should look for his horcrux and destroy it, so he'll die.
Remus Lupin replies: Right. No pressure.
It seemed extremely risky. But the lich had knocked out Dumbledore without a fuss. Harry was glad that the old man had given him back the basilisk fang first, and that Harry had told the others about it being an option. Now he just needed to somehow find a piece of jewelry with a soul in it, with no clues as to what it looked like, and which any sane person would have hidden behind a mountain of protections.
At least Ekrizdis didn't seem sane? And there wasn't any jewelry sitting around, so if Harry saw any, that would be a good bet. He probably wouldn't put it in something as non-shiny as a diary like Tom Riddle had?
While they'd been discussing, Ekrizdis had shuffled ahead of them and down a flight of stairs to the final basement level. They exited the stairs onto an area that was almost high-tech, or at least steampunk. The entire floor seemed devoted to various mechanical contraptions that rose floor to ceiling, and featured arcane gearwork. It was all well-lit by magical torches. "Welcome to the control center for our little spaceship," the lich explained.
"This building flies?" Harry boggled, suddenly reconsidering the structure as a rocketship rather than an apartment block. "Children of the Ark! The Noah story! You were going to take your apprentices to another planet?"
"Well, it doesn't fly yet. I did the best I could at the time, but we've all learned so much more since then. Heat-resistant lightweight ceramics, extremely strong metals, and such. But, yes, that was the plan: fill the building with the necessary people to found a new community amongst the stars. Then leave this planet behind, before the muggles could kill us all. The witch hunts were really starting to get going, in my time."
Remus was about to ask why there wasn't space for animals but then figured out the math of it all, "Who needs two of each beast of the earth when you have a personal menagerie?"
"Exactly. A very efficient use of space, when each explorer contains multitudes," the ancient wizard gave a rictus grin. "We might have needed to spare some space in the ship for bigger creatures. I never did find out whether I could add a young dragon to my menagerie… though their eggs, certainly. Supplies and seeds largely in the general inventory. Water is no problem to conjure as needed. Transfiguration to create a settlement wherever we landed. Mages make ideal space explorers!"
Remus wasn't totally sold. "Even with magic, lifting a tower of this size into space would be extremely difficult, you'd need the force of…" He suddenly realized what the dark wizard had meant about small lives being meaningless. "Project Orion."
"Indeed. It only took the muggles five centuries longer than it took me to come up with the idea. Of course, I was stuck on the propulsion material until media gave me the lovely explanation of how nuclear weapons work."
"What is…?" Harry asked, lost.
Remus summed up, "Using nuclear explosions to lift and propel a spacecraft. The muggles investigated it after the second World War. But it might wind up nuking everything below it. Distributing fallout into trade winds. Destroying power grids for hundreds of miles. As far as I know, they weren't totally sure it wouldn't destroy the world in nuclear fire if they tried to move something this big."
"I imagine the risks are less, but they're acceptable regardless. It's a wonder that they haven't already destroyed themselves in nuclear fire," Ekrizdis waved off, as if destroying a huge swath of Earth to escape it was barely worth mentioning. "I was honestly surprised we made it through the last few decades without an armageddon. That would have been ironic: me alone, on a dead world, only the dementors for company and all the nuclear bombs already used up."
They had been moving through the machinery, and reached the center of the building on the map, where a particularly-complicated bit of clockwork seemed like it was the mechanical brain for everything else: several series of gears and chains reached out into the rest of the structure. And, in the center of a panel, an ornate piece of Byzantine jewelry made of gold and diamonds didn't match the surrounding materials. It seemed like someone was using the rest of his soul to automate the spaceship control mechanism…
"But with young Harry's arrival, my course is suddenly much more clear! I'll add you to my guild, and give you permission to deposit into the guild vault where I can also access it. You go out and begin acquiring the necessary materials to finish off the Ark, and I install them here. When the time comes, we start recruiting again. I successfully pass the gift to others. We acquire everything worthy of travel to the stars with us… I think we could be ready to go in only a few years!"
"Wait, you want me to steal a bunch of nuclear bombs?" Harry asked.
"We'll power-level you and shower you with magical equipment and skills," the lich acted like gathering the most restricted weapons on the planet would be simple. "Believe me, convincing other mages to cooperate with one another is the hard part. Your fame may help with that as well, and I'll even let you pick who you want to include. I'm even willing to make you the captain! I'll just be the salty engineer down in the engine room. 'I'm givin' 'er all she's got, cap'n!' I'll yell. Such fun."
THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (MAIN QUEST)
A secret from your past has escaped.
* Get to Hogwarts
* Learn about the crimes of Sirius Black
* Learn about Dementors
* Learn more about Ekrizdis
* Investigate Azkaban for what Ekrizdis left behind
* Defeat the guardians
* Descend to the basement laboratory
* Learn the goals of Ekrizdis
O Make a decision about Ekrizdis
O Get back to Hogwarts
The undead wizard seemed so gleeful at finally living out his Star Trek dreams that Harry felt a little bad explaining, "I don't think I want to risk destroying the whole planet to take a few hundred wizards to space?"
"No? But you'll learn to love it," Ekrizdis shrugged, suddenly every inch the unholy monstrosity that his appearance would suggest, regarding Harry coldly with his red eyes. "This is happening. I'd prefer your honest partnership. But just because I can't manage a patronus, doesn't mean my use of the imperius has faltered… please, say you'll join willingly?"
YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO JOIN
GUILD: CHILDREN OF THE ARK
"I'll join," Harry agreed, but really only to the guild prompt, thinking furiously. He saw the guild invite go through, but was weighing the pros and cons of the devil's deal he'd been offered. He'd probably never get this close again. Maybe they could just leave the ancient mage down here and quit the guild… but with the Elder Wand, what could they do if he decided to seek Harry back out and force him the next time?
Harry never even for a moment entertained the idea of nuking the North Sea to send Azkaban into orbit.
Just sad that he hadn't had more time to pick the mad lich's brain about the game system, Harry waited for the red eyes to flick off in imagination of his next step, or perhaps to just give him more guild permissions. He opened his inventory and tried to reach into it as surreptitiously as possible.
Ekrizdis realized something was up as soon as Harry flicked his dragonhide gloves onto his hands slot and the basilisk fang into his primary weapon slot, his physical hands suddenly armed with one of the only things that could destroy something, no matter how protected. His gasped, "No!" cost him a crucial moment that he could have been casting a spell to stop Harry. It had been so easy to take a 12-year-old for granted.
The tip of the fang made contact with the assumed horcrux before the Elder Wand was even level with the Boy-Who-Lived…