Loki stared into the eyes of the Woman, trying not to make any quick movements that would startle either of them.
The woman was the first to break the silence, not by speaking but by turning around and locking the door with the help of her wand.
Loki's eyes widened in horror, but he didn't know what else to do.
'Shall I use magic to knock her out?'
'That's my only option if I don't want to get locked up!'
Before anything else could interrupt them, Loki stretched out his hands and quickly emitted almost all of his spirituality towards the stern woman.
Thanks to his luck, in no time one of his only offensive spells activated and he shot an invisible wave of force using his magic.
The trinkets in the hallway all flew off their hooks on the walls, several paintings collapsed as if pushed off their hooks by the wind and the coat rack blew away taking with it several coats and hats.
But not the stern woman, she didn't even budge.
Instead, she was holding her wand out and maintained a translucent barrier between herself and Loki.
The barrier rippled under the effect of the force, but it stood strong.
The force soon ended and the person who it was meant for was not even affected.
"Good." That was all the woman said before ignoring Loki again and walking past him.
Loki flinched as the woman got closer but he did nothing else.
He could do nothing else, he didn't have any energy after using most of his spirituality on the spell he had just cast.
"What are you going to do with me?" Loki asked with worry and fear as he watched the woman walk past.
"Careful with your tone you filthy mu- boy. I don't bite." The woman snarled and began to walk towards the hall.
Loki didn't want to follow her and he was wary.
'How did I jump from the frying pan into the fire.'
'Why is everything going wrong from the time I've come into this world?'
'Is there no law of Beyonder characteristic convergence in this world?'
'What even is the point of the sefirah castle if I can't become a Beyonder in the first place!?'
Loki was disappointed.
All his frustrations imploded after he was trapped again.
'It's not like I asked for any of this to happen! Why is this happening to me!?'
"Follow me boy!" The woman barked snapping Loki out of his thoughts.
Loki instead walked to the door and checked it for himself and only when he found it was locked magically, in a way he couldn't just turn the locks even by using magic, did he walk towards the woman, stepping over the body of a very very dead man in the process.
"Hmpf. At least you have some brains." The lady commented.
As they entered the hall together Loki found it shocking to the point he forgot to breathe for a second.
'Is the space inside bigger than the space outside?' Loki wondered looking at the large dining hall ornated with multiple chandeliers and gold-plated eating equipment.
They were arranged over a solid dark walnut table that somehow seemed alive since it had bonsai trees growing out of its middle at regular intervals.
'She must be a great witch to have accomplished such a complicated spell.'
Sitting at the head seat of the table, the lady looked at Loki with her arms folded and a stern gaze.
"I am Walburga Black. The current head of the most ancient and noble house of black." She stated.
"Noble enough to commit murder in broad daylight that is." Loki mumbled under his breath but it seemed like the woman heard him.
*ZAP*
"OUCH!!!! THAT HURT! WHAT WAS THAT!?"
"A Stinging hex you filthy mud- Mr. Loki, and if you don't behave yourself I will not hold back with the next one."
"You were holding back!?" Loki asked looking at the red welt forming on his skin.
'How does she know my name!?'
"Now. As you know. Your current companion died at my hands. I used the Avada Kedavra curse on him, so he's not going to come back. At least not if you aren't an angel from the death pathway."
The last sentence immediately shot Loki's blood pressure up as he looked at Walburga with an unprecedented amount of interest.
"Did you just say the death pathway? Did you mean Beyonders when you said Angel?"
Walburga quirked up her eyebrow and looked at Loki with suspicion and interest bringing a silent question for Loki to answer.
"I learnt about Beyonders from the man you killed." Loki evaded skillfully.
But Walburga immediately drew up a scorn.
"I understand you're lying and I will not pry into your secrets. Either way, it makes my work easier."
"Wha-!"
"Oh please! The last thing that filthy mudblood knew was about Beyonders. He thought I was holding a stick to scratch my back."
"..."
"I appreciate your attempt at thinking on your feet and proposing a dead man to be your source of information since he can no longer be revived. But you are out of luck on this one."
"...I- I didn't think that far ahead."
"Guilty as charged. Now onto more important matters Mr. Loki."
"Important matters?"
"Yes. Currently, the most ancient and Noble house of black is under the threat of extinction, a threat you were prophesized to quench."
"What!? There's a prophecy about me? How come I don't know about it!?"
But Walburga ignored his untimely interruption and continued speaking as if he didn't exist while simultaneously looking right at him, a paradox of immeasurable proportions.
"The prophecy also claimed that you would have a partner, but for the love of Salazar Slytherin, I could not stand the man who was your first partner. The curly-haired baboon thought he could take me out, a demigod of the darkness pathway using that black box he calls a gun!"
"There's a partner too!? Again! Why don't I know about this stuff?! And you're a demigod!? Who gave the prophecy by the way? An angel of the Visionary Path–!? I mean did a person hallucinate it or what?"
"Seeing as I am running out of time, I wonder if you can sort out this mess before I am forced to fall asleep." Walburga said completely ignoring him.
"..." Loki was stunned.
'What the hell?'
'What am I supposed to do?'
"With all due respect, please let me go!" Loki said bowing to Walburga with an earnest request.
"....*sigh* I can see that you have no idea about the wizarding world. But that doesn't mean the prophecy is wrong. Perhaps you will gain the ability to help me only after I wake up." Walburga said with some disappointment.
Seeing he had no other option, "What do you mean you're going to sleep? Did you suddenly lose your anchors and are on the verge of losing control?" Loki dropped all pretences and asked a little worried about what was happening.
Walburga's eyebrows immediately shot up as Loki revealed the depth of his knowledge about Beyonders but she didn't question him and spoke with a little bit of respect.
"Not entirely, I did lose my anchors. But it was more like losing my connection to them because of an attack, although yes, I am on the verge of losing control."
Loki nodded and prompted Walburga to continue.
"I can only promise to be awake for a couple more months after which, I will have to use the help of a black family heirloom to enter an eternal slumber until you find a way to stabilise my condition."
"...why do you trust me so much?" Loki asked with a frown.
Matters related to anchors were a complicated and highly personal affair. No Beyonder would willingly expose their greatest weakness to even their closest friends.
So Loki was a little shocked but more excited than anything else. How could he not, since he was getting involved in matters relating to a demigod while he wasn't even a sequence nine low-level Beyonder.
It was as if Christmas had come earlier for a fan of LOTM.
"Because a rather important friend of mine gave out your prophecy. She belongs to the White Tower pathway and is a demigod too."
"...I see." Loki nodded but he was still a bit wary of Walburga since she'd just murdered a man in cold blood and looked completely unaffected by it, a telltale sign of losing control, loss of emotions that kept you humane.
'Is this my opportunity to become a Beyonder?'
'But I can't become a beyonder of the darkness pathway. My sefirot is meant only for the Fool, Door and Error pathways.'
'Can I switch to one of the three pathways later down the line? Or perhaps trade sefirot with the True God of a different pathway if they have the corresponding sefirot?'
Loki was worried and it showed on his face, but Walburga kept silent waiting for Loki to voice his problem.
"I need your help.", Loki said, breaking the silence.