Descending downstairs, Asmodeus glimpsed Rovena clad in a delicate nightgown, seated at the table. A variety of dishes adorned the table, mostly crafted from magical creatures. Nicolas and Rowena recently proved that regular consumption of magical creatures could positively impact a wizard's mana reserve. Although Newt opposed widespread consumption of magical species, they assured him that none of the rare species would suffer.
Well, the Uvelsky green dragon isn't very rare...
Completing the feast, Asmodeus looked at Rowena and spoke, "The will of the world has contacted me."
"Who?"
"The consciousness of this planet."
"Our world has consciousness!? How does it exist? In what form? Why did it contact you? What did it say?"
Asmodeus was slightly stunned by the endless stream of questions. "Um, Rowena. Wait. I'll tell you everything tomorrow, at the meeting. Today, I want to rest."
"But..."
Before she could finish, she felt a gentle touch on her lips...
'Alright, we can talk about this tomorrow...' she thought, not resisting.
And so, in a passionate dance, the pair headed to the bedroom.
_______________________________________
On the next day, Asmodeus sits at the familiar round table of the wizards' council.
"When will they arrive?" Rowena impatiently tapped her fingers on the table. Yesterday, she could forget about such a revelation in the heat of passion, but when she woke up, the first thing she asked was, "When will you tell me about the will of the world?"
"Rowena, it's been 15 minutes since the message was sent..." Asmodeus remained silent; he truly didn't understand. Was it so challenging to wait for 15-20 minutes? He had just sent a message about an impromptu meeting to all members of the upper chamber.
Rowena's displeasure didn't last long; soon, with the sound of apparition, council members started appearing in the hall.
"Boom."
"Boom."
Dumbledore and Nicolas arrived first.
"What's the urgency, Asmodeus?"
"It's not urgent, actually. I'm just afraid Rowena will force me to drink the truth serum if I don't tell her as quickly as possible... Ouch!"
Rowena pinched his waist.
"Fine, sit down. We'll start when the others arrive."
"Boom, boom, boom."
Gradually, over the next 5 minutes, everyone else arrived. When everyone took their seats, Asmodeus began to speak.
"The will of this world has contacted me. You can understand it as the consciousness born from civilization."
"..."
"Do you mean our planet is alive?"
"Yes. And not just alive, it also has ambitions."
"Valchar, you mentioned that there used to be 20 continents in this world?"
"Yes, the world was larger, but then..."
"Yes, Primis already explained to me. She said the damage to the world occurred as a result of her detachment from the original universe."
"!"
"So, our planet can just travel through universes like that?"
"Asmodeus, even for our universe, that's almost unheard of. We have planets that can travel through the galaxy, but they certainly can't change universes whenever they please," Odin who was also invited to this meeting spoke up.
"I know, I also believe that this world is somehow special, but I don't know in what way... Additionally, Primis refers to natural mages as Verumis, or the true ones."
"Natural wizards specifically? Not everyone who uses magic?"
"She clearly distinguishes former Muggles from wizards."
"..."
"Okay, even if that's the case, why didn't she communicate with anyone in the world before? And why did she initially decide to contact you?"
"Well, I was told she was asleep. Due to damage during spatial barrier crossings, she lost a significant number of wizards, who are one of the two sources of mana or energy... Only recently, thanks to the sharp increase in mana caused by her spread, she was able to wake up. As for why she contacted me..."
"Well, come on!?"
Rowena was already impatient.
"Primis said she found traces of the other parts!"
"!?"
"You mean she's planning to reclaim the lost parts for herself?"
"How will this change the geography of the planet?"
"How smooth can the reintegration of continents be?"
"What about the creatures living in those parts?"
"Are there enemies on the other side?"
"If our part of the world has consciousness, then others might too!"
"Are there wizards in those parts?"
An endless stream of questions bombarded Asmodeus. Interestingly, about 30% of them came from Rowena!
"You're not helping!"
"Boom, boom, boom."
Asmodeus tapped the table with his little judge's hammer.
"Alright, one at a time. Firstly, yes, Primis intends to absorb the other parts and restore herself to the original state, although I have a feeling that it's still not the peak of her power. Secondly, she assured me that besides a little shake, there shouldn't be any other destruction, but I still advise preparing teams of builders and asking them to reinforce as many buildings as they can. Thirdly, and most importantly, yes, there might be enemies on the other side, we don't know what kind of beings they will be. Maybe humans, or maybe someone else, but we need to be prepared. Even if they are humans, we must subjugate them. Otherwise, we'll leave a potential threat right under our noses; magic is now accessible to everyone, and the Aurors are still insufficient."
Yes, indeed, don't look at cities like Adastra or small wizard villages that have been existing for a long time. Although the council managed to control most territories in the world, it doesn't mean that the world has become safer than before. Quite the opposite, due to the great power brought by magic, many people think they can do whatever they want without consequences. There are now many robbers, thieves, bandits, and so on. They just fear appearing in large wizard cities, especially in Adastra, where the world's strongest police force operates. Besides the regular patrols of Aurors in this city, at least three Archmages regularly convene here; no one has the courage to cause trouble. This is, by the way, one of the reasons why people from all over the world flock to Adastra - safety.
In other places with a large concentration of natural mages, the situation is also in order, but in some areas that originally were not known for safety... the situation has only worsened.
The whole of Mexico, for example, is in a strange state. Although the council has taken control of the local Minister of Magic, there aren't enough extra forces that can be sent there to restore order. Moreover, considering that Asmodeus's and others' initial goal was to eliminate prejudices against wizards, and that goal has been achieved, there is no one in the world who despises or fears wizards simply because they know magic. However, due to the emergence of magic, some drug lords in Mexico have grown ambitious, and they have started trying to seize territories from other gangs. They don't need to come to the council's branch to cause trouble, but they are fighting among themselves more actively than ever.
The same situation is observed even in the city of Barcelona in Spain, or, for example, in Venezuela, where they attempted to oust a council supporter from the position of the local minister. Although, thanks to Asmodeus's squad, everything ended well, it doesn't change the attempts of local gangs to seize power.
Not to mention dark wizards or simply the insane.
In essence, until a person reaches a high level of magic and mental resilience, they will be negatively influenced when using dark magic. And the unknown always captures people's attention. Thus, many newly minted wizards have turned into dark wizards.
By dark wizards, Asmodeus means those corrupted by dark magic, Voldemort being a prominent example, and his counterpart, Grindelwald. Both exclusively use dark magic requiring negative emotions, but Grindelwald hasn't gone mad and never killed his own subordinates.
Indeed, a true dark wizard will undergo physical transformations due to the fall of their soul, and their body will change too. Although not as critically as the body of a noseless terrorist.
Asmodeus's reflections were interrupted by Rowena.
"Okay, okay, I get it all. But why did she specifically contact you?" She looked at Asmodeus suspiciously.
"Hmm, because I am the most handsome, powerful, and generally charismatic person in the world."
"Phew, aren't you ashamed?"
"Not at all."
"....."
"Okay, enough playing around here. Us old folks envy it..." - said Grindelwald.
"Oh, I thought you were preparing to become..."
Before Asmodeus could finish, he heard a voice in his head.
"If you dare to talk about Vinda here, I'll tell Rovena about that suspicious apprentice!"
Ahem, Asmodeus decided not to reveal Grindelwald's secrets in Dumbledore's presence.
Oh well, the old man thinks that Gellert is loyal to him, but the other side regularly cheats on him with a woman...
Asmodeus glanced at Dumbledore, almost pitying him.
Dumbledore: "?"
"Alright, the most important thing is that the merger will start in 29 days."
"So soon?"
"Yes, we have little time to prepare, but I don't think we'll encounter any major problems."
Council members also didn't think there would be any problems. If you look at the magical world today... in the last 1000 years, there haven't been as many Archmages and Grand Wizards born as there are present at the meeting.
Then Dumbledore stood up and asked, "Will we announce the merger to the public? Or inform them after the fact?"
"...."
People pondered.
"I think we can announce the merger of worlds, omitting the part about the will of the world."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Alright, let's decide on that. Gellert, you'll be responsible for strengthening critical infrastructure, Dumbledore will explain to the population, and the others will do whatever they can to reinforce the borders of our continents."
"Ugh, again my saints will have to work overtime..."
"You're unhappy? I'll have to travel the whole world in a month..."
That's how the meeting ended. When everyone dispersed, only Valchar, Asmodeus, and Rovena remained.
"Valchar, do you have any other suggestions?"
"No, I just wanted to suggest something to you today, but it seems I'll have to postpone my idea..."
"First tell, then we'll think. I'm curious now about what you came up with for the druids."
"Okay. You know, although wizards easily accepted us Ents and most other non-human races, it doesn't apply to everyone..."
"Is someone persecuting you or other non-humans?!" Asmodeus asked displeasedly; if Valchar mentioned someone's name now, he would go burn that idiot without hesitation.
"No, it's just that in some places, many non-human races receive unfriendly looks. We understand that they are not necessarily aggressive but rather curious. We were thinking about how to make these people understand that we are not so different from them. So, one of my former Muggle-born students told me about the Olympic Games. I thought that organizing something similar would help finally make people understand that, in fact, we are all the same, enjoy entertainment, etc. Do you get it?"
"Alright. So what's the problem? We can hold the Olympics after the merger of worlds; people will need some distraction. I think your idea is excellent! But first, we need to decide on the competitions and so on."
"Oh? Really? Okay, then I'll make a list of games in which contestants can participate. By the way, what do you think about allocating specific groups? For example, an overall score for shot put, a score for giants, mermaids, etc."
"Excellent. Otherwise, some people would complain and talk about the predisposition of giants to strength, etc. This way, we will simultaneously show that even though we are different, we all share a common goal!"
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First of all, there is 30 more stones left for the second chapter, so I am waiting.
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