"He" was silently creeping through the woods. Moon was spilling its light over the pine forest, which reflected from drops of water that stayed since last rain.
"He" sniffed the air in hopes to catch the trail once more, but as "He" expected scent was washed away by a recent storm.
"He" concentrated on his other senses and decided to go with the hearing.
Owl hunting for a mouse a bit to the west, fox silently feasts upon some dead body, wolfs roaming around in hopes to find some prey and a bear that sniffs around to find some fatty food. But these are not the targets "He" is tracking.
"He" filtered these sounds and concentrated on other weaker sources of sound. Still nothing.
"He" opens eyes, that stayed closed for the last 2 weeks and world drowns in darkness because these eyes are not tools of mere sight. No. These are the doors to another realm and in that realm, "He" finally "saw" them. That was enough. The very fabric of reality cried in pleas to close these eyes and finally, the world came back to peace.
"He" started quickly but silently moving through the woods. A cloak was flapping around the body, as "He" moved, but eerily without making any sound as if an illusion. Hood masked features of the face, so it was impossible to say whether "He" was a human or a beast that walks on two feet.
But one thing was clear "He" was near. Prey awaits its hunter.
Deep breath. One inhale and one exhale.
5 targets. One on the lookout, 2 talking, 2 sleeping.
"He" moved ever so slowly, closing in on the targets.
The smell was now obsolete. The hearing was the answer.
Crackling of the wood in the heat of a bonfire. 2 men were discussing something, while one boy was dozing off, but a parody of a sentry.
"He" was near. "He" focused and mapped the location of the targets in his mind. Two around the bonfire. One in a tent on the right sleeping, while another one is in a sleeping bag on the left. "Sentry" is sitting, leaning on a tree, some distance away from camp.
But "He" is not somebody, who can be noticed by a mortal man.
"He" silently climbed the tree, that overlooked the clearing where this camp was located. "He" raised a hand, reaching for a space behind the back as if there was a sword, but there was nothing or so it seemed. As soon as the hand started clenching, a handle appeared out of nowhere.
Hand moved and in a second a weapon was already in it.
"He" held a simple sword that had only handle and a blade. The moment sword came into contact with air, weak blue light started seeping from the runes inscribed on it.
"He" made a wind sign to gather wind and made push sign to focus it into a rush of air that was directed towards the bonfire. Fresh air, made the fire burn brighter than ever before, attracting the attention of the talking men.
"He" didn't need any second chances. One mistake is enough to seal their fate.
The moment when one of the men turned to look in the direction, where the wind came from, the blade was already slicing his throat.
The other one screamed to wake up others, but too late. "He" was in front of him already, moving at the speeds that were simply incomprehensible for normal creatures.
A strong hand was gripping his neck.
"He" raised the body high into the air with one hand, while the other one, was used to pierce the heart.
The other two just woke up and the sight that met their eyes, wasn't of the sun illuminating the world, but of their comrade hanging in the air, impaled on the sword.
"He" swung his blade and the body was thrown away, towards a sentry. The boy just stood up, only to fall down once more under the weight of the corpse.
"He" looked at the sword that was excited by all the blood spilled around and asked for more, which was clearly conveyed by how the runes shined brighter and brighter.
Two men who were sleeping finally came back to reality and rushed towards. But what a shame.
"He" flicked hand a sword was already carrying a body by sheer force of the throw, while another was gripped in the same manner as the unfortunate soul before. But this time, something was different. The atmosphere has changed.
"He" reached for the dagger, hanging on the belt.
Its hilt was beautiful beyond description, covered by a myriad of small red gems.
"He" started pulling out the dagger and all the blood around started rising up into the air and slowly moving towards the gems on the hilt. 3 bloodstreams, one from the pool below, one from woods and one from the person that was thrown before, were moving in a manner that was both terrifying and enchanting.
Finally, "He" drawn out the dagger and the moment dagger left premisses of the hilt, all the blood that was slowly flowing in the air was instantly sucked into the gems on the hilt, turning 3 dead bodies into dried up husks.
Then he slashed with the dagger and all the blood inside that man, was drained into a giant ruby in the pommel of the dagger.
"You will die."
This was the only thing "He" said throughout the whole encounter.
"He" left the boy, who was on the lookout, alive, just for the fun of it.
A few hours later "He" was close to exiting the forest, but suddenly "He" felt somebody appearing behind him.
"Hey, it's been a while." - Unknown said
"..."
"So many years passed, but you remain the same. Can't you say 'Hi' at least?"
"What do you want?"
"You were called."
"Not interested."
"Even if it's concerning Athena's progeny?"
"..."
For the first time in the while, "He" faltered and faced the annoying man.
"So, are you coming, Dark?"
***
Similar activities happened across multiple Universes and Multiverses, all across the Creation. All sentient space-time dimensional beings, that served the "Order" and were a part of the past "Great Wars" were called forth to meet and discuss the threat of progeny.
***
In the meantime, Magnus was resting and drowning in self-critique at Weasley's place, so nothing interesting could possibly happen to him.
He had no idea, that his action of changing Black's fate has arisen such a commotion across multiple worlds and Universes.
However, all that commotion ended with one meeting. Meeting of veterans.
***
Markus was sitting in the giant meeting hall, capable of fitting more than a thousand people. However, he was neither awed nor amazed by this hall, because he was deeply engrossed in memories of past and gloomy thoughts of the future.
In the meantime, people of different races were entering the hall every few hours or so. Some of them were gigantic, others were small. Some of them were strong physically, others magically. But one thing was common. They were all creatures who lived in time-space dimensional Universes.
Part of these people was cheerful and lively, communicating with friends, they haven't seen for centuries. But the majority were quietly sitting in meditation, waiting for the official start of this meeting.
Or at least they tried to meditate. Some of them, like Markus, couldn't enter a calm state, due to the implication of the words "Athena's progeny".
Minutes and hours passed, but for attendees of this meeting who lived for thousands of years, this time meant nothing. Patience was something that just naturally comes after some time.
In this way, more than 10 days passed.
Soon, a calm and steady voice was heard throughout the hall.
"Let's begin. Commander Markus, you may begin your explanation."
Hearing the voice, everyone was silenced.
Markus, hearing this voice, has calmed down a little bit and walked towards the podium in the middle of the hall.
"Greetings everyone! My name is Markus Kay Boreas, from the Roman Universe, commander of Fixer Battalion. I requested this meeting due to a recent discovery. Discovery related to a very special system, called Skills Overlord."
"So? How is that connected with Athena's progeny?" One of the attendees raised a logical question.
"As you may know, we, "Order", created multiple types and versions of Systems, inspired by multiple Universes, that are actively using said Systems. One of the earliest samples of such systems was Skills Overlord. And the problem of all earlier systems was the fact that they heavily depended on the outer source of power and information. And as you may know, the best source at that time, was ..." Markus couldn't finish, because he was interrupted by another person.
"Artificial Telecommunicational Hybrid Encyclopedia of kNowledge. ATHENa for short. Although these systems indeed took knowledge and power from Athena, it didn't mean that this system became her progeny."
Just when Markus wanted to answer that question, one of the younger members of the "Order", that came after the 5th Great War, asked:
"Wait a second... Wasn't Athena an Artificial Intelligence that went haywire? Why is it called encyclopedia?"
One of the older members, who looked like an elder scholar from China, decided to "enlighten" people sitting in the hall with his knowledge:
"It started as the encyclopedia of knowledge, used by operatives to inspect and fix timelines and remove parallel Universes. It started as a library with a search engine. Later on, the first leader, Thanatos, decided to modify this system and make it smarter. This way, Athena became a voice assistant."
This time another person, with an angry and annoyed voice, continued:
"But this was not enough, for the lazy people of the 'Order'. They wanted a smarter helper. Who won't just answer a question when asked, but actually do commands, help in missions, do overlays. People keep improving it, especially with all the tech taken from the future, while also feeding all the information about a myriad of Universes they visited. At some point, people didn't notice how that machine started improving itself. Assistant became something more."
Most of the young members were awed by this information. Although this information wasn't a secret, it wasn't actively circulated either. The thing that people knew, but didn't want to admit. In other words, a public secret.
"Wow. I had no idea, Athena was just an encyclopedia."
"Hard to imagine, right? AI that caused 3 Great wars started as an encyclopedia. Basically, it was google, no?"
"The heck is Google?"
"It's glasses dumbass. Do your homework!"
"Dumbass your sister! How are glasses connected to an encyclopedia, idiot?"
A vein on Markus's face was close to exploding from all the anger and frustration he had, because of these people not understanding the severity of the problem. And glasses were a straw that broke camel's back. He roared:
"Are you serious right now? We are on the verge of Athena revival and the possibility of a new Great war! Have you forgotten all the pain and sacrifices?! Or do you simply don't care?!"
With every sentence, he was getting only angrier, until somebody coldly said:
"Shut up"
It was a cold and emotionless voice, that chilled everyone in the room.
Person, who said it slowly stood up. Thanks to the fact, that all beings in the meeting were extremely powerful, there was no need for sight or sound amplification devices. Therefore, everyone clearly saw who it was.
Closed eyes, black clothes and a very special dagger on the belt. All the old veterans knew who was speaking.
"You speak of loss? You speak of pain? What do you know about them? Markus, how old are you? 2 thousand years? 3 at most. You know nothing. I was there since the second leader rose to power. I saw Athena's very creation. I saw her rebellion and I saw its consequences."
"I..." Markus wanted to say something but was harshly interrupted again.
"Shut up...!"
"Dark, that's enough, I think. The boy lost his love in the 5th war."
"We all did! We all lost our loved ones." Dark answered, but this time his voice felt even colder and he continued, "Every war was horrible. Every damn one of them. There is no good or bad war. They were all shit."
"I know, Dark. But he is younger than us. He hasn't seen true horrors, yet and I truly hope he never will. Isn't that why we fought so hard?" A man retorted.
Apparently, he had equal standing amongst the old veterans and was as respected as Dark himself.
"Listen, dova-..." Dark wanted to start an argument, but couldn't finish, because lazy voice interrupted them all.
"Okay, okay. Enough with the drama. Everyone here knows a thing or two about the horrors of war. However, the question is still there, how is it connected with Athena's progeny?"
Markus, finally relaxed. Indeed he was rash in his speech.
"Thank you, sir. I apologize for my behavior to everyone." Most people here were with thousands of years of experience, while young members of the community were all sensible and honest people.
He started his explanation, but this time much calmer.
"Let me explain. I will start with basics, the progeny should be something that can help with the revival of Athena. However, any random connection could count as a progeny, then we would need to scrap our whole network. So, these things should meet some requirements."
"I was in a team, responsible for dealing with Athena's progeny after the 5th war ended and this system was part of that progeny. It could contain consciousness and its power source can be self-sufficient, so it fit bare minimum to be a progeny. It also has a small universe rule incorporated, that allows time-travel through the original timeline. However, despite its potential, it was extremely unhelpful and gave only missions for killing or destroying something. So, users either were removed by Universe itself for messing with the timelines or killed during missions."
Markus paused, for a second, to let people digest this information.
"For more than 10 years we sought out all the technologies and artifacts that could possibly lead to her revival. And the chance that we missed such an obvious progeny, is simply nonexistent, but the person that wields this system is surprisingly a result of our organization's mistake."
"In short, you are saying it is impossible for this system to accidentally appear unless it is an actual progeny?"
"Indeed. Moreover, after some research and investigation, I found out much more proof that this specific System can hold Athena consciousness."
The moment he finished, an argument broke out. People were wild with ideas because this time progeny is not just a chance for revival, but an actual container of Athena.
***
Magnus was happily moving towards the Portkey located at Stoatshead Hill.
'Finally, we are going to this stupid Quidditch Cup. I enjoy communicating with the trio, free food, and a good bed, but I couldn't work on more than half of my projects here. I need to stay safe from something Junior guy. Absolute nutcase, with complete devotion to the dark lord. More importantly, I need to make sure that there won't be any shadowy marks glowing in the sky, while I am it.'
After arriving, we started setting up tents, but I "officially" I can't use magic, so I had nothing much to do. The trio and I went to get some water. In the meantime, I was checking for any suspicious people walking around.
'Save progress.'
〖Save ⟳〗
'Just in case shit blows up.'
Surprisingly it wasn't that bad. Nothing unprecedented happened. I watched the match and found myself excited about it. I was just like everyone else, cheering, feeling sad and emotional about the game. The game, I didn't give a crap about, just a day ago. Human creatures, indeed, are strange beings.
Anyway, the game ended. I honestly didn't understand who won. I thought the team with the guy who caught the Snitch auto-wins, but shockingly points do matter in this game.
I was on all the games of Harry, but I didn't pay much attention, because I was with Hermione and Ron. They are cheering, all good. They are booing, all bad. Moreover, Harry catching a 'Golden Snitch' was always a game over for the enemy, so I got this assumption that getting it is a shortcut to winning.
"Snitch to win" is just an MC thing, huh? Or did this game suddenly become complicated? Anyway, I just came closer to Harry to ask how Krum's team lost and he explained to me all about this game. Harry explained it so well, that I got a skill raise in "Playing Games".
We finally got back after the game and everyone started celebrating, before eventually going to sleep. I decided to stay for a bit longer because I still had some energy and it was a good decision. In the night, death eaters attacked the camp and havoc was unleashed.
However, just when I started thinking about how to help there, everything froze.
I was really surprised.
'System?'
The scene now was really familiar. It reminded me of what happened when I just came to this world.
'Time stop...'
[Incorrect, dear Magnus. It's a force field or domain if you'd like.]
Voice was the same mechanical and emotionless voice, but it felt different. Or to be precise, it gave a different feeling while speaking. Before, I felt as if I am talking with some voice assistant, but now speaking with the system felt like I a dialog with a person.
'So, you are finally out, revealing yourself?'
[Interesting. You expected me?]
'Honestly, I did. There were times when the system felt... different. Like there are 2 different personas, talking with me at different times.'
[Well, then let me introduce myself properly. I am Athena, your... personal assistant.]
*Progress*
『 Alchemy 39 | Sneak 28 ➔ 29 』
『 Speech 37 | Studying 47 | Wand Making 32 』
『 Herbology 39 | Magic Channeling 61 』
『 Magic Chanting 42 | Magic Gesturing 42 』
『 Magic Theory 58 | Astronomy 35 』
『 Riding Expertise 20 | Crafting 32 』
『 Playing Games 15 ➔ 16 | Enchanting 40 』
『 Cooking 26 | Training 26 | Physical Activities 18 』
『 Programming 25 | Dancing 0 』
『 Legilimency 29 | Occlumency 34 』
『 Drawing 10 』