Idle Muse's Snippets

[IdleMuse0307]

So, it is the next day afternoon and as I read through this monstrosity that I wrote in the early hours of the morning, I am filled with pity for you all as you now have to read through it. It is not even complete but the one good thing that came out of this is I got the idea of creating another snippet thread where I can post my ideas and you guys can tell me if you want a longer format of that same idea.

So, without any delay, read ahead. At you own risk though, Be warned.

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Good day, ladies and gentlemen and whoever else it may be, this is the first of a new series I have just made up. It is called one-shots or snippets.

In this collection, I will be writing anything that comes to my fancy(as if anything I have ever written before had any sort of structure at all). There will be no word count expectations adhered to here. No canonical accuracy, nothing.

Total Anarchy!

So, this is the first installment in the series.

Bear in mind, it is 5.05 AM where I live, as I have started typing this.

And NO! I have not woken up early and started writing this. I have not slept at all and will probably stay up till sunrise.

The idea for this is courtesy of [OMN1CR0N_GAMING] from Web Novel.

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Disclaimer - I don't stake claim to even any of my OCs in this chapter as I don't think it'll be good for my writing career let alone the authentic intellectual property that Disney owns and earns billions off of.

Snippet 1

Technomancer in MCU

Title - The Mystic Tea of Kamar Taj

In the high up mountainous areas of the Himalayas, lay the vaunted Kamar Taj. Its location seemed ever changing and the only reliable way of getting to it seemed to be through the liberal use of sling rings.

There was a treacherous path with multiple twists and turns reserved as a test for the uninitiated apprentices that wished to visit and learn in the vaunted halls of Kamar Taj.

One such apprentice was trudging through knee length snow towards the mountain peak that he could see but could not reach.

As if he was delirious, he climbed and climbed but did not seem to get any closer to the peak.

He was starting to think that the old man had swindled him.

He chuckled sardonically as he surveyed the state of his clothes. It was not as if he could have fallen any lower.

Unseen to him though, there was a whole cadre of Sorcerers tasked with watching him by the Ancient One.

The old man had fucked off who knows where but he had assigned multiple mid-level sorceres to just observe what this person was doing. "It would help you learn," he had told them.

Sometimes, they wished they could strangle that sorry excuse of a Sorcerer Supreme.

Sure, the man was supremely strong but doing anything beyond being strong was impossible for him. He barely taught three initiates who turned into Masters and then dumped all the responsibility he possibly could on those poor Masters.

And then, he went ahead and gave this person, Mr.Strange, the hardest possible test he could for the initiate.

They had to admit though, he was doing better than most.

Up above them, the Ancient One was doing his best to hide his laughter from the associates below. A suspicious cloud of weed was hovering around him. "Oh, I have got to show this to him later," he said while referring to the struggling form of Strange below. "He dared to call me an old man in the future, he deserves this."

Throughout history, there have been multiple sorcerer supremes but few have come close to attaining the sheer strength that Agamoto wielded and through a combination of luck and hard work, the current Sorcerer Supreme, Yao had come the closest to Agamotto. He had become stronger than all his predecessors.

Let's just say that this allowed him a certain level of leeway when it came to dealing with dimensional entities that possess the strength to swallow the entirety of Earth in a single gulp.

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–Master Wong–

Maintaining the meticulous catalogue of the Library was always a bittersweet chore for him.

On one hand, he loved books and all they represented in Kamar Taj but on the other hand, someone from the long line of Sorcerer Supremes had enchanted the library to be confusing and hard to guide through on purpose and his luck was such that he was blessed with the Ancient One as his Sorcerer Supreme.

The man was supremely talented and could fend off most demon invasions all by himself with both hands tied behind his back but helping him with administrative tasks? He would have better luck asking a Dog to help him glue together the book the Dog had just ripped apart.

Actually, getting a Dog might be good for him. Add some wholesomeness to the monotonous life that was being the Librarian of Kamar Taj.

A Magical Doggy would be even better. If he could find one, though. He had heard from the Ancient One that the fae markets had them but they fetched a pretty penny of the soul. Then again, this was the same man who thought it was funny to visit one of the hell princes and force feed him weed and note down their reactions. "For SCIENCE!" he shouted when asked.

Honestly, the number of people who actually graduated to reach the Masters level had been declining year by year, not because the quality was declining but because there was no need to.

The Ancient One was so overwhelmingly strong that he had connected himself to the Three Sanctums and subsequently, to the Mystic Shield that covered the entirety of the planet.

He was but a wee initiate when that happened but he was sure that the man was going to blow himself up from all the magical feedback from the ley lines but somehow, he took control and now? They barely had to work.

The most action he had seen was when some Werewolf got naked in Central Park and they had to scrub everything off the internet.

Nowadays, even the thought of starting a family was passing through his mind. Something that was unthinkable for someone who held the position of a librarian since the position was historically cursed to die alone.

He completed the tasks for the day and noted that it was still time till his lunch break so he decided to visit the one place that the Ancient One could take credit for, the Mystic Tea plantation.

Using his sling ring, he opened a portal to the London Sanctum where the scent of weed was the strongest.

"Wong! Nice to see you, my friend. Come-come-come, my friend. We were just about to begin a new joint. Join us!" came the rough gravelly voice of Master Daniel.

He smiled and was about to deny when he also smelled the tea and not just any tea, the tea that the Ancient One kept in his personal collection.

His refusal turned into delighted acceptance in an instant, "Well, if you insist."

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Kaecillius

Watching their Lord and Saviour, Lord Dormammu rage at the unfairness of the situation was equally heartbreaking and amusing.

Especially, since he could see three copies of his Lord pacing around his altar, leaving burn marks in it. But that could just be the mystic weed talking.

If he was asked to name the best thing that happened to him ever since his family died, it would be selling his soul to Lord Dormammu.

Not only did it stave off Death completely and even enhanced his mystical prowess, the access he gained to the weed garden alone was worth it to be branded like a cattle.

After being gatekept from the Mystic Tea Plantation of Kamar Taj, he was down on his last knees when his Lord came to his rescue and offered to give him the original version of the weed and not the watered down version that the Ancient One gave to the visitors to calm down their nerves.

Just as he was about to take another puff from the sacred roll, a tearing sound heralded the opening of a tear in the very dimension of the Dark One.

With a furious roar, "Who Dares?", his Lord roared and swiped his hands towards the tear, sending an energy wave that would eviscerate the unfortunate soul that was on the other side of the tear.

"Hey, man. Why the hate?" came a laid back husky voice and then he watched with transfixed awed eyes as a burning bike came into view with none other than Snoop Dogg riding on it, with a cigar in his mouth and another joint in his hand.

Somehow, he was sleeping on the bike as he smoked and the bike rode a path of fire that it laid for itself and after making a few downhill turns, landed in front of his Lord.

Though, objectively speaking, his Lord looked much less cooler than Snoop Dogg.

"Why have you come here, Ghost Smoker?" his Lord growled out.

Snoop raised his hands in mock surrender and said, "just chill, man. I ran out of my supplies a while ago and couldn't find any on the market so thought of going wholesale this time, you know? Those retailers give me mixed bullshit half the time so getting some from the source seemed like a good idea. So, you selling or what?"

His Lord growled out in frustration at Snoop's fearlessness in front of the Dark Overlord but it was understandable as opening a portal in the Dark Realm without his Lord's permission would require immense power, power that would place both of them in the same echelon.

Huh, echelon. What a funny word!

"Begone, thief. I don't need to entertain another one of your kind. If you desire it so much, steal it from the thief who stole multiple seeds from me and has started his very own business, undercutting me by using his organisation's unpaid skilled labour that I just can't seem to get in this accursed place."

"Say no more. I get it. Here, this might help calm you down," Snoop said as he offered his Lord his joint that seemed to leave out starlight instead of smoke.

What he wouldn't give to smoke that joint?
His Lord took the offered joint with visible reluctance.

"Now, don't you worry. When I took this title, I thought I was supposed to do something about justice so I will do that now. I'll make sure they shut down their business so you can thrive yours. I just hope you'll offer me a discount when it matters."

With those words, he literally burst into starlight, blinding me briefly.

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–Ancient One–

He was tending to his babies in his personal tea or should he call it, weed garden.

Ha, he still laughed when he thought about the face Dormmamu made when he offered his very soul for a few seeds of his choice.

That motherfucker didn't know what hit him. Now, he has both the powers and Dormammu's interdimensional business will soon be in his hands as well.

As he was using another one of his spells to maintain the watering ratio, he heard a voice behind him, "So, Yao. I've come to bargain."

His pupils contracted as his hairs stood on end. It had been centuries since someone had managed to sneak up on him.

With a spell ready, he plastered a fake smile on his face and turned around, only to see Snoop Dogg himself sniffing his precious plantation.

He held in the urge to blast him away from his personal garden.

This was a life or death scenario here. He couldn't afford to let his emotions get the better of him.

"What can I do for you, Avatar of the smoke?"

"Oh, nothing. I was wondering how much of a discount I would get on your merchandise if I could provide you evidence of your competitor employing unfair means to target your business? I mean, the interdimensional trade authority would be more than happy to register your case should you have evidence, right?"

His eyes literally had stars in them at that piece of news.

WIth a determined glint in his eyes, he asked Snoop about the evidence.

Oh, Dormammu was so busted.

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Man, I am so so sorry.

If you have read this far, I commend you for your patience and resilience and thank you for your sacrifice.

On a lighter note, I'll see you guys on Thursday.

Toodles!

Extra chapters for my fanfic, not this - Patreon

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to the characters appearing in this story. They belong to their respective owners.


Story 1 : Multiplication Table

Chapter 1 : The Night of the Fog

MC Age - 9 years

Wakanda, Birnin Zana (2007)
–K'Mehne Ambuba–

Loading the last of the produce on the hovercrafts that the Royal Family had sent for their personal produce, she wiped the sweat off her eyebrows and turned towards her husband and asked, "You think they suspect something?"

Her husband, Ndanah Zaso, replied while going through the monthly reports of the production of their farm, "Knowing how the King and his Royal Council functions, Yeah? They would not have sent all of this if they did not suspect something. Besides, what do we have to worry about? We know his talents are all inborn. No amount of research would get them another one like our son, you know that."

She nodded and hugged him, still a bit worried about the Royal Family's actions.

It was not always like this.

They were both born in the Border Tribe, to the lowest class footmen. While no citizen of Wakanda is mistreated, there is a difference in the level of respect a relative of chieftain gets as opposed to someone who was born to the lowest class of the arguably hardest working Tribe of Wakanda.

Over the years, despite her parent's insistence, she had chosen to take the classes to remain in the same Tribe she was born in, rather than take the general route that was available to every Wakandan child that allowed them to later on decide their occupation.

Over the years, she proved time and time again that she was the best warrior that could come from her generation.

Eventually defeating even the vaunted Dora Milaje in one to one combat, she was the first Border Tribe Member to be offered a spot in the Dora Milaje and subsequently, became the first to reject that offer as well.

She could still remember the gaping faces of all the tribe elders when she had publicly rejected their offer and explained how she could do better serving Wakanda in an active frontline capacity by going on missions that were regularly available for the Border Tribe.

You see, while Wakanda itself was the closest thing to Paradise on Earth, at least for natives, warriors often had to venture out of Wakandan borders for clandestine as well as public missions.

For obvious reasons, she was chosen from her generation to go outside for Wardog grade missions.

From what she had heard at the time and later confirmed, it was a very contentious issue among the Royal council since her very ability to perform missions of War Dog level while being a part of the Border Tribe gave her tribe higher standing.

The tribe elders must have tried very hard to stop that from happening since even the King had stayed the order but after relentless badgering from her tribe elder, he gave her permission to do so only with the condition of a year long training with the actual WarDogs.

She agreed with the condition and so began her training. During her training, she had learned many things, some of which she never thought she would need to use in the field but her teacher was right when he told her that anything could happen in the field and it would be very beneficial for her to know the skill and not need it rather than being caught flat footed on foreign land without any backup.

Though the training was brutal and even her tribe elder had fully expected for her to give up halfway through and come back, she persevered, remembering the face of her mother who worked day in and out for her, ultimately succumbing to old age.

Finally, after a year of staying in the mountains and away from her friends and family, she emerged from the mountains behind Birnin Zana, a trained operative of the most dangerous security force in the world.

Happy with the results of her training, she was immediately put to task by her King.

Back then, she was happy that she was finally getting the recognition she deserved. The fact that the Border Tribe's standing was elevated due to her was a welcome bonus as well.

Then came the missions.

Horrible horrible missions.

Missions to make sure that warlords didn't come close to discovering the secret of Wakanda.

Missions to silence the people who knew of Wakanda or had even heard rumours of the Golden City, the paradise where people of the same colour as them lived.

Missions to make sure that no villages settled on the borders of Wakanda.

Missions to destroy supply lines so that the nations turn on each other.

Missions to kill agents, soldiers of different countries and the list went on and on.

At first, she had been appalled beyond belief that this was what Wakanda did throughout the world.

Over the course of a year though, she grew indifferent towards it, justtifying it as protecting her homeland from people who would harm it, same as the soldiers who were fighting from the other side.

Even that was okay for her since she was killing only armed people, allowing herself to somehow be okay with what she was doing.

But then, as if she had been promoted, she was given international assignments.

The things she had done to unarmed scientists, the people she had to silence forever, the families she destroyed, for what?

To maintain the so called technological lead that Wakanda had over the rest of the world.

Seeing all the atrocities that were being committed and all the others that were being ignored by Wakanda in the name of national security had made her disillusioned with the current regime.

So, after nearly a decade of active service, at the age of only 26, she gave up. Her resignation came as a shock to many, including the King, especially since there were rumors of the creation of a special unit with her as its head.
Ofvourse she knew it to be her promotion to becoming the head of an existing albeit extremely secretive unit rather than an entire unit being created for her.

Resigning right on the cusp of a promotion that would have put her on the same level of influence as a tribe elder was downright foolish, some would say.

To her, it was the perfect choice.

She just didn't have it in her to not only continue her current lifestyle but also send other people on missions that she herself detested doing.

No. She had enough of seeing another confused person dying while they were just doing their duty.

So, she resigned, right as she was about to wield a level of influence that would put her just below the King and on par with the tribe elders.

Some would say that she could have used that new found influence to change things from within, the slow way. But those people had not seen the callousness with which the Royal Council sentenced 18 scientists, one of them being a teenager, to their deaths without even knowing their names.

All in the name of national security. All for the crime of being the first people to find the exact frequency with which Vibranium could be molded to make better weaponry or alloys for advanced load bearing structures.

She had thought that her resignation would mean that she would no longer be welcomed by her tribe since she was widely considered the hope of the tribe, next in line to be the tribe chief and increasingly, the only hope for the border tribe to integrate more thoroughly with the rest of the Wakandan population since the Border Tribe was the next most marginalised tribe in Wakanda after the Jabari Tribe.

But when she came to meet the tribe chief, while she was treated to a lot of hostile and wary looks by the members of the tribe, the chief welcomed her with open arms, just like he used to when she was a child.

That was the first time in years she had cried like a baby, since her parents died.

He understood what was wrong with the situation and while he tried his best, he could not understand or empathise with the situation outside. She wanted to go out and help the others on her own but she was aware of the dark reality within Wakanda.

While it was rare, there had been quite a few individuals within Wakanda who were empathetic with the outside situation and had tried to help, even at the cost of losing their Wakandan citizenship.

They never survived for long.

Without the support that Wakanda provided them, the support that they were used to since birth, they died within 5 years, at best. It was due to a variety of reasons but she suspected that her country itself had a hand in their deaths.

And ever since the dreadful attack on her country by Klaue, citizens had been forbidden to go out of Wakanda for security purposes.

So, the tribe chief asked her about what she wanted and after hearing her plea for some peace and quiet, allotted her a land closer to the mountains.

It was farmland, he told her.

Together, with her husband, they had both decided to start a new life as farmers. While they both wanted to start a family, both her and her husband were damaged in more ways than one and needed the time to heal before they could even think of bringing in new life to the world.

Plus, with the connections she still had during her stint as the top operative of Wakanda, their lives were seemingly easy coasting, especially since all the very expensive equipment that was needed for Farming had mysteriously appeared outside their farm one day.

Ofcourse, being someone who had nearly reached the highest echelons of power in Wakanda meant that detaching completely from the administration would have been a fool's errand.

So, she compromised on that by choosing to take an exam every year so she can train someone and impart all of her skills because however distasteful she might have found them, they had saved her life more times than she could count, in the field.

Over the years, there had been numerous people who had catched her eye but none that could meet all of her stringent criteria.

She and her husband were also technically still members of the Border Tribe, reserve members to be precise.

So, while they had no active duty to perform, they could still be called back on duty in emergency situations.

Situations like the anomaly that happened right after the birth of Princess Shuri.

MC Age - (-24 hours)

–Flashback (1998)–

It was a momentous occasion for Wakanda as a whole for a Princess to be born. Especially since there was now only a single branch of the Royal Family alive.

Wakanda, unlike the outside world, cherished the birth of a Princess as much as it did the birth of a Prince, no matter the succession hierarchy.

While the rest of the country celebrated in anticipation of the new member of the Royal Family, the atmosphere inside the Royal Medical Ward that had been built in the most secure chamber of the Royal Palace, the basement, was one of wary alertness.

She had been called back by the King personally to make sure that the birth of the Princess was without any interruptions.

Now, if the interruptions expected were of mundane nature, there would have been no need for her at all.

It was the hidden mystical side that they were worried about.

She had been annoyed at first when she was approached by the King but after being given a direct royal edict from the King to safeguard his wife and his unborn child, she had been given no choice.

She was still confused about the requirement of such severe actions but then the King had told her about the prophecy.

The Birth of the saviour of their world and the person who would go on to integrate Wakanda with the rest of Humanity, leading their species to its golden age.

She had been skeptical of those claims then but even she had to put some stock to the rumours after reading the reports of multiple sniffing attempts by the Wizard's side after the impending Birth of the princess was announced.

Then she realised why she had been called back from voluntary retirement, undoubtedly despite the protests from the council.

In the later years of her service, once her clearance level had reached a level the King deemed sufficient, she had been let on the open secret among the top echelons of power.

The existence of magic and the people that practised them, Wizards.

She had been extremely terrified at first when she learned about their hidden societies, their schools, their alleged "champions" of dark and light that fought among themselves, their ability to alter the very mind of a person but then she was introduced to the hidden unit working directly under the Royal Family in order to make sure that the Royal Family and to an extent, Wakanda was never under the influence of any outsiders, be it Wizards or Mundane people.

She had been entranced at first when they introduced her to all the weapons Wakandan Shamans had built in concert with the early iterations of the Royal Laboratory.

For three whole years, she worked with that nameless, faceless organisation where she never saw another face, never hear an unmodulated voice, never knew their names, not even their gender and it was honestly, the most depressing part of her

career.

Killing people she knew were innocent was gut wrenching enough but doing it with the knowledge that death was the best thing she could for them was like a punch to her face for her. People whose minds had been twisted so far that they could never really go back to their normal life.

Teenagers who had been raised from birth to be literal potion material and the worst part was that with the help of magic, the brainwashing had been so intense that to them, it was if dying and becoming a potion was their life's goal and anybody stopping them from doing their duty was an enemy that needed to be killed at all costs.

The most chilling sight she had witnessed was a wizard literally draining people of their lifeblood and condensing it in a single drop of blood through the use of some ritual circle. She had put a hyperdense bullet in him before he could go any further but she still had nightmares about what he could have done had she allowed him to finish his ritual.

The most heartbreaking part was watching people twisted by mad wizards who are forced to kill their own loved ones and then watch these wizards use normal people with normal lives as their puppets without a care in the world.

She had to admit that her time in the service had jaded her perspective about the world and most definitely clouded her rational judgement when it came to wizards.

That was why she had been the most ardent enforcer of the "No wizard witnesses alive" that the organisation followed to a T.

So, when she realised that freaking Wizards of all people were targeting Wakanda and the Princess of Wakanda at that, she was fucking livid.

She met the new commander and immediately realised that this person was not the same person who mentored her as much as he could and was probably the one who was hurt the most when she quit publicly. Especially since she was the one who was supposed to succeed him and while she never knew him, he had told her that he looked forward to finally retiring to the farms and never looking back.

She hoped that he finally achieved the dream of his but in their profession? That was nothing more than an empty dream that only the lucky few ever got to experience for the brief period of time they have left in their lives before that too is snuffed out like candles in a wind.

Even after all the preparations she had done, she still felt that it was inadequate. To make matters worse, due to some medical complications that she could not understand, the birth was taking longer than expected.

Ofcourse, with all of the medical might of Wakanda, neither the Queen nor the Princess were ever in danger, but the longer the birth took, the more time both of them were in a vulnerable position. Something that she wished to avoid at all costs.

Amidst the heightened tensions and vigilance that the entire country's armed forces were under, it was after midnight that the sentries that had been posted on the borders began to go down one after the other, leading straight to the one entrance that had the least number of guards.

It was cruel, sacrificing the guards but to make sure that any enemy combatant followed the designated trap grounds, it was necessary.

Still, doing that to her own tribe members left her disgusted with herself. The only consolation she could give herself was the fact that almost everybody's vitals were in the green, the only thing that was left was checking whether all of them still retained their minds or not.

The next few minutes were very stressful for her as all the cameras in the vicinity began going dark one by one, but the good thing was that it indicated that the intruders were headed straight towards the trap she had set for them. In her experience of dealing with wizards, they almost always underestimated regular humans, armed or otherwise.
To them, people without magic are either fragile creatures that need to be coddled or literal livestock that they can play around with.

Both mindsets of extremes.

Nevertheless, the fact that almost all unshielded technology on their path was being disabled before they could even come into view indicated that they had taken measures to protect themselves and were considering Wakanda as a threat.

Her palms suddenly felt clammy at that because previous to this day, she had never seen a wizard acting cautious towards another human.

It meant that these wizards had some information regarding the dangers they were about to walk into.

"Send in the Fog," she ordered one of the faceless people that hovered around her.

Even as she ordered them to bring out the one weapon that was never to see the light of day unless the very existence of Wakanda was threatened, the faceless person never uttered a sound and dutifully went on to fulfill the orders given.

The Great Mound was an area that was naturally isolated from the civilian areas of Wakanda, its natural defensive location allowing the forces of the kingdom to help defend it with little to no manpower. It helped that the Great Mound held a mythical presence in the minds of citizens and as such there had been no security incidence near it since its naming.

In the deepest stations of mining in the Great Mound, there existed chambers which once allowed ancient Vibranium Miners to stay and rest. Now, it contained various high security items that the Royal Family wanted hidden and isolated from even the tribe elders.

After K'Mehne gave the order, one such chamber opened up and out of it, a flood of insects landed in the hallway.

In their inert state, the Fog looked like a million insects had been dumped on the ground but as it was activated, the swarm began lighting up the signature blue colour that was reserved for Vibranium alloys.

Soon, the swarm had been activated completely and it took flight, heading towards the border where the wizards were suspected to be.

In the Maternity Ward War room, they could finally see a feed from a camera that had been specifically protected against external mystical interference.

Soon, the fog covered the city, unseen by the celebrating citizens of Wakanda, as it covered the distance and reached the border checkpoint, breaching the holographic barrier that surrounded Birnin Zana.

Due to the darkness cover that was intentionally made for the border entrances, there was nothing they could see until the Fog's cameras switched to infrared.

That was when the wizard magic reared its ugly head as their Disillusionment Charm managed to mask even the thermal signatures, along with any visible radiation being given out.

The only way to do so was.."Switch to M-vision" she ordered one of the people manning the surveillance counters.

As if a flip had been switched, the feed now showed a barren landscape with red concentrations of light shaped in a human form walking around in a group.

The peculiar thing was that their special cameras showed the presence of magic not only in just wizards but also in the land surrounding them.

It had been quite a shock to the researchers when they had first developed the system. Some of them even thought of the sensors being faulty but in the end, after multiple revisions, it was revealed that the land around Wakanda itself is magical.

Now the reason for that is still debatable.

The presence of the Great Mound? The blessings of Bast? Some combination of both?

Who knows?

What was important here was killing the intruders who had dared to try and attack her home. So she gave the order.

"Except subject T-1, disintegrate everyone. Make sure nothing is left."

"Also, prep Subject T-1 for interrogation, I will be handling that personally."

She stood up and went towards the makeshift interrogation room they had in the basement dungeons of the Royal Palace.

The confused and terrified screams of the wizards as they died in droves was a welcome music to her ears.

She would say that she had missed those but now was not the time to indulge in personal proclivities.

Now was the time to bring out some of her skills that earned her the fame of being named the "Wizard killer" in the wizarding community, someone who is being actively hunted down by both the light and dark factions of Wizarding Britain.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to the characters appearing in this story. They belong to their respective owners.


Story 1 : Multiplication Table

Chapter 2 : Little Aeon

Wakanda, Birnin Zana (1998)
Bangam Nudubano

Life had been good for the past few years as they had now finally settled down in their routine.

It has been over 2 years since their marriage but he still hadn't gathered the courage to tell her about his true identity.

In his defence, though, she too hasn't told him about her work that she did for the King. It was understandable as both of them were under oath from their King to not disclose anything.

He had been thinking of broaching the subject but just didn;t have the heart to disturb her now peaceful life as they just did simple manual labour, which was not much since almost all of modern farming in Wakanda was automated.

That was why it was all the more frustrating that the King had summoned her with a royal edict, not giving her any chance of refusing since doing so would mean Treason.

Though, looking at the haphazard way his beloved was getting ready and at the same time checking the structural integrity of the house by stomping her feet everywhere, he was pretty sure that she was about to go to the Royal Council and do something inadvisable, once again.

"Honey?" he called her as he finished frying the last of the pancakes, her favourite breakfast, "Breakfast's done."

The thudding sounds abruptly stopped once he called her and then almost silently she appeared right behind him.

"Boo!"

"Ah!" He had to act shocked since she was his wife and by default, the one who wore the pants in the house. "You scared me! And here I was, making your favourite breakfast since your mood was oh so good today."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Don't act coy. Although, the pancakes look delicious and while I am angry at the situation, I can never stay mad at you for too long."

"Awww!" He voiced out at the adorable situation. These were becoming more and more commonplace as days went by and both of them settled into their respective roles of husband and wife.

"Ugh, I could gag here," came the voice of their resident third wheeler in the house.

"Nobody told you to come here, old man M'Kathu" he said as he kissed his wife.

More gagging noises ensued as the old man hobbled out of the kitchen, the sound of his walking stick fading away as their tribe elder sat himself on the sofa, a traditional newspaper in his hand, showcasing latest World News.

"You know, it feels nice to read from this paper sometimes. Much more interactive." M'Kathu said as he flipped through the newspaper that was 3D printed by one of the fabricators in the house.

Yes, the irony was not lost on him.

He rolled his eyes at their overly protective and inquisitive elder and placed his share of pancakes and tea on the table.

"Here, since you are here anyway, why not have our food as well."

"Bah, youngsters these days have no respect for their elders." Came the grumbling reply from their elder who, nevertheless, took the snacks anyway.

"Oh, come off the high horses, old man. I still haven't forgiven you for not giving me prior warning about the decisions you had taken." K'Mehne said as she leaned on him while eating the pancakes that were made the exact way she loved them.

That was the least he could do after being told that his wife would once again have to go on active duty, even if only for a few days.

M'Kathu sighed and put down the cup of tea after folding away the newspaper.

"*Sigh* Look, it was not my decision. I did the best I could but the King was adamant and once you meet him, you'll realise why. I am the reason you got over twenty four hours to prepare. All the other foggies on the council were ready to drag you out of retirement the second the edict was issued."

He scoffed internally at that impossibility but his wife did not mince her words as she said.

"Huh, they wish. Have they forgotten what I did to the last person they sent to strong arm me into doing what they wanted? Or do I need to do a repeat of that? You know, to send a message since I've heard that people in their old age do forget things sometimes."

He choked on his tea as she just threatened the Royal Council of Wakanda, something that has an automatic treason punishment.

She kept on talking while rubbing his back, as if that could help his exasperation with her steadfast attitude, even when it came to taking orders from her superiors.

All he could do was smile helplessly, something that was mirrored by their tribe elder.

"My love, please, for my sake, promise me you won't cripple people if they talk to you in the wrong way?" he asked, no, pleaded to her.

She just kept eating the pancake while looking away from him. That did not bode well.

"Alright, I'm done and I have done my duties. Now, if you want, I can escort you but when have you ever needed permission to enter the Palace, right?" M'Kathu said as he stood up on his walking stick, newspaper folded under his arms.

"Damn right I don't. Though, wait a minute as he needs the car today. Right, Honey?" she asked me in one of her "sweet" tone of voice.

He could only comply as he nodded hurriedly.

The Old Man openly shook his head at him and hobbled out of the hallway, his lovely wife following behind.

Honestly, the old man should just drop the act of being old and feeble, at least for him and his wife since both of them knew just how strong the old man actually was.

Though, he was not one to speak since he himself had never told his wife about his true strength and position inside the Kingdom.

His face smoothed out into a blank look as he turned around to look at the kneeling person dressed in all black, such that the light of the room was being sucked into the room, giving him complete camouflage in dim lit surroundings.

"What happened? Why did the King contact her now?" He ordered the person kneeling before him as he took the dishes back to the kitchen, put on his apron and began cleaning them.

Under normal circumstances, with the cutthroat nature of the organisation where it was encouraged to take down any unsuspecting superior with cunning and stealth, showing his back to someone would have ended in a fight that he, admittedly would have won, but would have been troublesome nonetheless.

But the person that he tasked with the job was someone who knew what he did to the people who tried to order him around and try and run the organisation as per their say so. They knew what their previous leader did when somebody tried to damage his organisation. His people.

Wakanda found itself short of two tribe elders and an injured Black Panther along with a host of severely to mildly injured Dora Milaje when he found out that the elders were trying to interfere in the workings of his organization and that too by goading the candidates into attacking their allies at the drop of a hat, creating an extremely toxic and hostile atmosphere that he had to spend months changing after coming back from the European Raven situation.

When the person behind him didn't speak at all. "Speak!"

He could feel them flinch and hurriedly take out something from their pockets. Without turning around, he extended his hand behind him and took hold of the scroll they had put in his hands and then waved at him to leave.

They left a moment later and after confirming they were gone, his shoulders slumped as he sighed in resignation.

He looked at the scroll in his hand with a complicated look for it was adorned by the same Royal Seal of the King that K'Mehne received yesterday.

Sighing once more, he sealed the house and sat on the dining table, staring at the scroll for what seemed like an eternity.

Then, slowly, he unfurled the scroll and read the extended version of events that had happened in the Royal Palace.

The meetings, the council meetings, meetings between the King and Queen, their attempts to navigate the outside world to gather intelligence, their utter failure in finding anything in the world of Magic without the help of the organisation and then the credible news of imminent attacks being delivered to them just a few days prior.

That was odd. Thala Zaba should have had this for weeks, if not months. Why give the King this only a few days prior to the birth of the Princess. It reeked of schemes.

He tapped his foot on the ground as he thought of any new angles his replacement had that led him to do something that was tantamount to Treason.

He was sorely tempted to give him a visit and see what he was up to but *sigh* it was not his job anymore.

He had given up that life for a reason. And that very reason was being pulled back in the cesspit that was the Wakandan Politics.

Burning up the scroll in his hands, he leaned back in his chair and said, "You have an awful habit of stalking people, King T'Chaka."

The next moment, there was a sound of chuckles coming from behind him with a distinct lack of sound of footsteps as the King himself had arrived in their humble abode and then took a seat in front of him, all adorned in his Black Panther Suit.

"Weird, I had thought the current Black Panther was T'Challa and from what I had heard, he was above even you in terms of physical stats, so pray tell me, why is the King in my home with his battle suit? Should I be expecting a cabal of Dora Milaje emerging from every corner of my house, ready to give up their lives to capture me?" He asked the King while leaning back even more in his chair, giving off a completely relaxed and laid back appearance.

While he was strong. Extremely so. He had no delusions as to what would happen should the King wish to kill him.

He would die. Plain and simple.

The death count on the other side would be much higher, that much he could promise.

But he was sure that the King was not here to kill him. He knew it was futile. Without him, there would be no one in the Kingdom capable of holding back the likes of Dumbledore from simply waltzing in their Kingdom and taking anything they wanted.

That was his true power. His true strength. His freakish power since birth was to resist the flow of magic. The power to just ignore spells that would affect one's body.

That made him the foremost Wizard hunter in the world, better than even his wife. It was just that she was much more bloodier when it came to hunting them, hence her being called the "Wizard Killer".

His wife was the same. She had her powers manifested in the form of enhanced physical attributes to the same level as him at such a young age. He was sure that once she reached her peak, she would be stronger than even him and the person standing in front of him.

"Don't be ridiculous. I might not like the way you do things, doesn't mean I am blind to the value of an asset such as you to the Kingdom." T'Chaka said as he set his helmet on the desk, in front of him.

"Why are you here then? On second thoughts, mind explaining why my wife was called first and I was not? I am sure you are aware of her mindset when it comes to Wizards, let alone the fact that I am the better of the both of us when it comes to taking command and destroying enemy combatants." He asked while taking the Black Panther helmet in his hand, examining it closely. In his defense, he never had the opportunity to do so before.

The King sighed as if he had aged a decade and said, "Look, it was not my intention to call for your wife. I wanted to call you back temporarily but the council overrode me with the power I had to grant them as concessions when you went ahead and reduced the count of my council by 2."

He then gave me the stink eye, "Thank for that, by the way, they are still afraid of you and have made sure to educate the new members of your evil and bloodthirsty nature. Due to that, I had to call her back, knowing that you would be right behind her anyway."

"Still doesn't explain why the wizarding community members would target the Princess specifically. Also doesn't explain how they got the location of Wakanda, rough location at least." He spoke as one of the robots in the house brought him his black coffee.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Any idea why Thala Zaba would keep this from me until the last moment?" The King asked him, concern clearly etched on his face.

He hummed and drummed his fingers on the table, stretching the moment.

"Frankly, I don't know. I could find out but that would mean me breaking my oath and the cascading consequences of that is not something I or you for that matter, would want to deal with. Me staying in Wakanda was what the deal was when Dumbledore brokered it with the ICW in exchange for Wakandan wizards to come back from all the other international schools."

"Ye, yes, I am aware of the deal I made when Klaue attacked and killed one of our wizards. I am aware of how that might look like an overreaction in hindsight but that is not why I am here. I want you to make sure that the exact location of Wakanda is not leaked. I am in talks with the Shamans to conduct a ritual, further bolstering our mystical defenses. Until then and until my daughter is safely born, I want your word that Wakanda will have no hostile wizards entering." King T'chaka asked him and he was very much aware that it was a request rather than an order.

A request from a father and as much as he didn't agree with his policies, he could understand his position.

So, "Very well. I agree but in return, I want something. I'll tell you when we get through this but until then, stay out of my way. Now, you know your way out."

He could almost imagine the Dora Milaje leaping at him with their spears if they had heard him ordering their King like that.

King T'Chaka rolled his eyes at him exasperatedly and left the house.

As soon as the door closed, he slumped on the table with a groan.

Why did it have to fall into his lap at this time? Just when he was about to ask K'Mehne to come with him to the outside world. He had a whole itinerary planned for an entire month's trip.

The harvest for the season was also done. He had even filed the paperwork for their extended leave and was about to broach that topic to the King's representative next month.

"Dear Bast, why must you test me so much?" he moaned while keeping his head down.

Then as if a switch had been lifted, he lifted his head and left towards the basement. His "man-cave" as it were.

What K'Mehne didn't know was that it also functioned as his weapons depo where he kept all the "souvenirs" he took from the organisation when he left it,

Some Things truly couldn't be trusted with anybody.

As he performed the authentication, he thought of how the night would go.

He has to perform his duty for another couple of days, then they can finally take that vacation she has been dreaming about ever since she started watching those Korean dramas.

Honestly, women and their fantasies from their loved ones.

Opening up the old workstation he hadn't used for two whole years, he was greeted with a veritable storm of notifications. He offhandedly noticed the fact that all information stopped coming after six months of him leaving.

'Thala Zaba must have found the gap and closed it. Took him long enough' he thought while opening and going through all the backdoor chat that was happening in the Royal Military, along with the Border Tribe.

Apparently, all reserve members had been called back by the Border Tribe for the Princess' birth today.

Good, so the King has given this some thought but in the end, in front of a capable wizard, even a hundred Border Tribe members would fall short.

No, they would need the Jabari for that and he was sure that M'Baku would not be allowing any of his tribe members to leave their homes, at least not until the entire tribe finishes their training to fight Wizards, especially wand-waving wizards.

So, with nothing else to do, he sat in the basement, looking at screens throughout the day, monitoring the progress.

His inability to tap his old contacts came from the contract that Wakanda had signed with Dumbledore who had come dangerously close to uncovering the secrets behind Wakanda's strength.

He had been the one who was sent to stop (read: kill) him and while he was aware of how hard that was, orders were orders and at that point, it was not as if he had anything to lose.

But on the way, he was intercepted by the Mystics. He still didn't know who it was but the way Dumbledore had been shaken by her just being present in the meeting, she must have been pretty high up on the command chain.

According to the pact, which he had to accept since the lack of consent needed from him was made absolutely clear at the beginning itself, he was supposed to retire from his Wizard hunting duties and retire within Wakanda itself for as long as he wanted Dumbledore to stay away from Wakanda.

The moment the pact is broken by either side, she would know and inform the other parties. He had not been thrilled about that but a single vision from the Ancient One about a possible future where he could have a family, stopped his hand and he signed the deal, sealing it with blood.

It was Dumbledore's responsibility to make sure that Wakanda's location was not leaked to anyone in the Wizarding World and with how well connected he was in the wand waving community, he had believed that it would be in his power to do so.

Instead, they had credible intel of a bunch of stupid wizards, dangerous ones, from the so called dark faction on their way to Wakanda, its rough location in their hands.

It was only a matter of time before they found out about the right location if somebody didn't put a stop to them and he knew of only one such person in their turf who could do so.

Unfortunately, he could not do that without going out of Wakanda and making some noise.

It was a good thing then, that he had just scheduled a trip with his lovely wife.

Xxxxxx​

It was after midnight.

He had been sitting in front of a screen, unmoving for over 12 hours now.

In the meantime, he had figured out the series of events that propelled Thala Zaba to become his replacement and become the Head of the M-department. It was honestly confusing how that man managed to evade each and every pitfall to become the youngest person to reach his position, without being something "more" than normal.

It was honestly commendable and he would have been happy with his candidature if not for a single thing.

The suspicious fact that the wizards managed to get a pretty accurate location of the entry to Birnin Zana.

Not just any entry, the oldest entry point that was kept active as an ode to the olden times where they still used roads to travel out of Wakanda. The sole entry point which they cannot simply close off or destroy, in the case of an emergency, is because that is located right near one of the oldest holo stations.

The reason for that holo station was the fact that it was said by their ancestors that Bast herself had made that road to reach the rich flat lands inside Wakanda and for that reason, that area had been filled with stuff that was vital, not for Wakanda's survival but for optimal operation.

He was sure that the King would give the order to bomb that place to kingdom come, if the need arose, anyway but Wizards, especially smart Wizards, were an unpredictable bunch.

So, his wife had the brilliant plan to use their tribesmen as bait to lure the wizards to the exact point, fooling them into thinking that they were on the right way without being detected by anyone.

He could not see the feed on the old road since the Wizards were emitting some sort of EMP wave that even their advanced security cameras could not shield from.

They couldn't exactly advertise their anti magic tech to the common populace so Magic shielding tech was not available for consumer tech. Only advanced military assets had the permission to be outfitted with that tech.

Slurping down his noodles, he was looking at the screen when he choked on them when he heard what his wife was doing.

Setting down his bowl, he switched the feeds to the command centre as K'Mehne let loose the Fog on the intruders.

Hijacking the feed from the Fog, he could see the Fog descending on the wizards like ravenous insects, leaving behind nothing, not even ash.

He shuddered when he imagined that weapon being turned against Wakandans.

He shook his head exasperatedly at K'Mehne's direct brutal actions.

Honestly, there was a reason why he had expressly forbidden that weapon's use when he was the Head of the department. It was way too dangerous and easy to turn against the country and its people.

Years ahead of any tech that the outside world could even think of, there was a reason why no one from the tech department could make heads or tails about the Fog. It was found by him during one of their regular incursions to the realm of the Techno-Magics, a ruined civilisation they had found deep in the Arctic.

Back then, it was just another trip they had chosen to undertake after there was a rare lull in any criminal activities on the African continent. It was just him and two of his lieutenants.

He still regretted his actions of then to this day as he lost two of the most skilled agents under him, only because he was careless and ended up activating the Fog, the single most dangerous artifact he had ever encountered in his life and he had seen the Elder Wand in real life and had gone through multiple memories that depicted it being used by its two recent wielders.

After devouring everything in front of him in a ten metre radius, the Fog, made up of millions of microscopic metallic insectoids, receded back into a small sphere that was glowing with purple glyphs.

That sphere had two keys, one of which he still held in his body. To this day, only he knows that there were two keys, indicating two functions of the Fog - Devour and disintegrate, something that the King knows about and now Thala does too, and the next function was what terrified him the most, so much so that he removed the key and chose to permanently fuse that into his body, carved directly into his bones.

The ability to ingest any and all material to increase the mass of the Fog. Essentially, being able to multiply their mass over and over until nothing is left or until someone is able to switch it off using the keys. He had been so traumatised by that event that he had put the idea of his resignation to T'Chaka immediately upon return and destroyed all the pathways that led to Techno-Magics civilisation.

T'Chaka had been suspicious at first and had even sent two teams of his own people to the ruins but after getting the reports of the pathway collapsing and the next stable pathway being decades away, he had relented and agreed to accept my resignation after a period of 5 years, provided that in the meantime, he train his replacement to an acceptable level.

He did, and she was above acceptable but she herself rejected the offer.

And that same woman was now interrogating the sole survivor of the intrusion attempt by the Wizards.

It was smart of her to capture the one who had the highest concentration of magic, as was customary during one of these raids.

"Subject T-1" as he was called was brought in by the agents of the organisation inside the torture chamber that had been under the Royal Palace for generations.

The prisoner, courtesy of special injections of the organisation, could not access the conscious functions of his nervous system and was barely breathing as he was dropped unceremoniously on the chair through which straps automatically came on and latched the prisoner back to the seat, trapping him tightly.

His magic was inaccessible due to the existence of the magic binding bands that were snapped on his wrist. The bands looked ancient because they were. They were made from one of the older crude alloys made from high percentages of Vibranium.

One particular metal that was made was found to be highly compatible with Runic applications that the ancient Wakandan Shamands employed. The alloy was now lost to time but there was plenty for them to create these magic blocking manacles that every military department in the country had access to.

On another one of the screens, he could see his wife gearing up to question (read: interrogate) the prisoner. He was still unconscious, all tied up.

His wife entered the room and the expression on her face made him stand up from his station.

Calling King T'Chaka, he transferred the feed to his Kimoyo beads and started his vehicle. It began floating and soon, he had to take hold of the manual controls because it was denying taking his desired route as the area around the Royal Palace had been declared a no fly zone and since all the vehicles in Wakanda were mandated to be connected, there was no way he would be able to legally get to his wife.
As the speeds kicked in, he could see all the patrolling aircrafts turn towards his vehicle only to resume their usual patrol route once they realised who was in the vehicle.

He had to get to the palace before things went too far. It had been far too long since he had seen that face, that sadistic side of her.

If things truly went too far, he could arrive only to see the broken husk of his wife's mind. He didn't know if he could control himself after that and the kingdom would not be able to handle the loss of both him and his wife for the anti-muggle activities in the Wizarding world were only increasing.

He shook his head to get rid of all the bad thoughts as the Royal Palace came into view. Some of the automated defense features began activating before they too were deactivated using some of the back doors in that system that he knew of.

He floated above the Royal Garden which parted to reveal the hangar underneath it. Slowly landing in the designated area which was now being encircled with a swarm of officers from the Navy and a bunch of Dora Milaje, he took in the amount of people who were swarming the hangar along with the closing amounts of exit he now had access to.

It would seem that some people still had not learnt their lesson and were trying to stop him from reaching his wife, granted they did not know who he was.

"I guess it's time they remembered who I was then," he said while getting out of the flying car, equipping his combat mask and attire.

He landed on the ground with nary a sound, the entire team surrounding him taking a collective step back as his stoic demeanour intimidated them.

"Well, hello boys! I am sorry to interrupt you all but as you can clearly see, I am in a slight hurry and would be grateful if you didn't come in my way," He said as he took a step forward only to stop as a forcefield sprang up around him.

He sighed, "Look, I get that you have your orders but unfortunately, I have somewhere to be and I'm not in the mood for games right now."

He could see everybody gripping their weapons tightly at his words, the Dora Milaje furiously talking with someone over the comms.

With a thought, he gave the command for his suit to recede, exposing his skin to the outside world. He lifted his hand and placed his palm on the forcefield and pushed.

The force field generators that were probably in the ceiling began sparking as pure energy gave way only for more and more to pour into the shield only for it to slide right off his skin like oil on water.

Soon, the entire barrier buckled as its structural integrity was compromised as he emerged out of a shattering barrier. The entire force in front of him took a collective stop back while simultaneously raising their respective weaponry.

Smirking, he looked at the people surrounding him and instead of doing something stupid and reckless like trying to fight about 50 people and hurting his own allies, he instead tapped his watch, initiating a direct link between him and T'Chaka.

After multiple rings, during which the people encircling him kept looking at each other in fear and hesitation and he could even see most of them hesitating to keep going once the person they probably were told was a terrorist, was only standing there and making a call.

"What is it? I'm kind of busy ri-"

"You might want to take a close look at this situation and call them off, King T'Chaka or we might just find ourselves short some soldiers and even some Dora Milaje," He said while cutting him off mid sentence and showing him the scene in front of him.

The face of King T'Chaka, projected through his beads for everyone to see, went through a range of emotions - confusion, realisation, anger and then determination.

"What are you doing? Who gave you the orders? Cease this immediately. Escort him to me now." The King barked at his soldiers who scrambled out of his way, some literally running away from their King's wrath.

The situation would have been funny if not for his wife being on the verge of relapsing again.

Soon, he was escorted by the visibly confused Dora Milaje to King T'Chaka. They must have been new additions to the team since they had zero recollection of him or his deeds. Okoye probably failed to educate them about him.

xxxxx​

Interrogation Chamber, Royal Palace, Wakanda (2 hours after Shuri's birth)

–T'Chaka–

Watching K'Mehne in action, especially against wizards, was always fascinating and he wouldn't admit this to anyone but also disturbing. In his opinion, Bangam did a very good job on training his replacement. The way she expertly manipulated that wizard, breaking him down mentally, even while knowing the way her powers worked, was very impressive.

Sure, the power to influence magic associated neurological zones might not sound impressive on paper, especially since all she could do right now was exacerbate emotional responses, but coupling that with an expertly trained assassin that was deadly even without using an ounce of her powers, you get the wizard killer.

He was getting a bit worried about her though. There was a reason he allowed her to resign despite facing stiff resistance from virtually every single person whose vote mattered. The way her powers worked were a bit wonky, especially since she manifested her secondary power set.

Her primary ability of passive enhancement to all of her physical stats was something that propelled her to become as strong as the Black Panther. Her secondary power, on the other hand, deteriorates her mind's balance as much as she uses them.

That, along with her unhealthy fixation with killing Wizards, was the reason why he allowed her to retire.

Even now, as she was done with her interrogation, he could see the subtle signs of strain her mind was under due to the overapplication of her powers. She tried her best to suppress it but the faint twitches, the frequent movement of her eyes, the way her gaze frequently went towards the door, it all showed the stress of using her powers.

Just as she was done with the prisoner and went into the sterilisation chamber to remove the scent of chemicals that intoxicated the prisoners, he heard his Kimoyo beads ring with a tone that was reserved for an unique collective of individuals.

Only one of whom was not in his sight right now.

Accepting it, he said. "What is it?..."

xxxxx​

Interrogation Chamber, Royal Palace, Wakanda (1 hour after Shuri's birth)

–K'Mehne–

It had been a long time since she had used her powers. Truly used them on the likes of wizards and Vampires.

It was truly bizarre how her trauma and disgust for the wizards operating in Africa helped her manifest her secondary powers.

A phenomenon that has never happened in the history of Wakanda.

The ability to tap into and manipulate special neurological zones that every single being born with Magic possessed. Ever since then, it had become insultingly easy to break any wizard she came across, at least the ones they needed information out of.

The others she disposed of as soon as she got the green signal.

Dear Bast, she sounded like she was just an attack dog waiting to let loose upon an enemy at the sign of their handler.

This was why she hated doing clandestine work for the kingdom.

When one of the people came to inform her that the prisoner had been prepped for interrogation, she sighed and then stood up.

Coming to the door, she steeled her nerves and "activated" her powers, for the lack of a better term because the way her powers worked, they never really turn off.

That was why she can easily sense if someone is a wizard or not, as long as they were not doing anything special to hide themselves.

Sensing the wizard inside the room, a pretty strong one too if the sheer concentration of magic within him was any indication. The disgusting stench of darkness clinging to his very magic was also extremely familiar to her.

The only people who had that level of overpowering darkness within them were practitioners of the Dark Arts who had completely surrendered to the temptation.

There were people who practiced the Dark Arts with restraint and while the stench of darkness did cling on to their magic as well, the rest of it balanced it out, making them a non-issue.

Imagining the vile disgusting things the animal inside must have done to Bast knows how many innocents made what she was about to do slightly easier.

Opening the door, she went inside and sat silently on the chair in front of the wizard.

From a cursory examination, she could see and almost feel the various amalgamation of rituals that the wizard had performed on himself. Dark rituals no doubt.

Flinching minutely at the double deep from her Kimoyo beads that served as a reminder for her to hurry up and go home, she took hold of the Wizard's neurological pathways and lit up the one that was the most pain sensitive.

Immediately, the wizard's eyes shot open as his mouth opened wide in a soundless scream. He began thrashing around in his mangles, doing nothing but injuring himself further.

Seeing the violent reaction, she toned down the pain and he immediately slumped down, taking deep breaths.

"Wh-What have you done to me?" the wizard rasped out.

In response, she twisted his pain pathways and watched him struggle with an impassive face.

"Just in case it is not already clear, I will be the one who is going to be asking the questions. Understood?"

When she didn't receive a reply, she slowly began upping the pain and while the wizard did try to bear with it, at a certain level,he gave up.

"Okay! OKAY! I'll tell you what you want. Just stop with the pain. And who the fuck are you?"

That was the moment she chose to come into the light with her signature mask on.

Seeing her face, the wizard began hyperventilating and tried to back away from her but he was in a bolted chair so iit was futile.

Taking joy in his apparent fear of her, she slowly placed both of her arms on the table and said, "So you do know who I am. That should make things significantly easier, right? I mean, wouldn't want you to get cut up and thrown on the side of the road where your family lives, right? Mr…?"

"Gr-Greengrass, J-Jamison Greengrass," The man replied, stuttering in fear.

"Oh, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight then. Today must be my lucky day. Now, do tell me, Lord Greengrass, what were you doing out in the woods in the middle of nowhere."

The man chuckled bitterly, "Well, we found you so it could not have been that middle of nowhere."

Before she could teach him a lesson, he began speaking rapidly, "We were given a mission,-" Once he realised she was waiting for him to continue, he began spewing out the details of their plans immediately. Coward.

Apparently, Lord Voldemort, the self-proclaimed leader of the Darkness, had gotten credible information from someone about her, not Wakanda. Looking towards the one way mirror, she was sure that King T'Chaka must also be sporting similar looks of confusion.

They were told that the wizards were looking for Wakanda, not her. Something must have happened to the intel mid way then.

In the meanwhile, "Oh, what does your Lord want with little ole me?" she asked him while driving in the point by upping the pain by a single level.

His face grimacing in pain, he replied, "H-He wants to do a ritual. For that, he has need of a certain item that only you can provide."

The words sent alarm bells ringing in her head.

"What," she ground out, "Does he want?"

When the wizard didn't reply, she increased his pain response while simultaneously numbing his senses, making him panic.

She had to admit, the wizard did try admirably but ultimately, against her, unless they were the same level of wizards of Dumbledore or Voldemort or Lily Potter, they would not be able to resist her prowess with magic alone.

"F-Fuck! Alright, I'll tell you. On one condition,"

"Speak, what is it? I do hope, for your sanity's sake, that you are not wishing to get out of this alive?"

"N-No, I know I'm not leaving this place alive. Just, can you do me a favour? For a dying man?"

"....I'm listening."

"My d-daughter, she was born with a generational disease that I have no cure for. Voldemort promised to cure her but as far as I can tell, he can't do it either otherwise he would have done it by now. P-Please, I know you can cure almost all diseases, just, can you help her once you are done with me? That's my last request."

She hummed outside, showing how she was considering his deal when in reality, she had already accepted.

Children were always her soft spot and especially the ones who were suffering through no fault of their own. While she could not go out and help every other child, she could at least save the ones from terminal diseases if she ever came across one. So, that's what she did. Whenever she went out for a mission, she tried to heal the surrounding people.

Somehow, she gained a global reputation of being a healer as well, in the magical community. Wizards who had purchased "broken" stock for ritual purposes found themselves becoming fit and healthy, well, as much as Wakandan science could permit them to be.

She sighed internally and replied, "Very well, after this, I promise to go and take a look at her condition but I can't make any promises."

The wizard sighed in relief, "Thank you so much for that. Now, the reason Voldemort wants you is because for his ritual, a key ingredient is needed. I don't think he wants anyone to know but he is afraid of dying in his current body and wants a new one. The thing is that now that he has a choice, he wont settle for just any vessel for his nasty soul. He wants the best of the best."

He looked at her, gauging her reaction for the news that followed.

"He came across a ritual that allows him to transfer his consciousness to that of a baby, his baby. In doing so, he would kill whatever mind was there in the baby. For the ritual to work, he also has to sacrifice the mother of the child."

He went on but she was barely listening anymore.

She felt sick to the stomach once she realised what Voldemort wanted. He wanted her.

Not for revenge or for some stupid plot to help kill Dumbledore.

No, he wanted to have a child with her and then kill both her and the child.

She felt nauseous at the mere thought of that monster touching her, let alone having a child with him.

Jamison had the audacity to look at her with pity. HER!

Before she could even process it, her hands were wrapped around Jamison's neck and the next thing she knew, she heard a cracking noise as Jamison died with his neck broken.

Immediately, the manacles on the seat opened up once they realised that there was no living person on it and Jamison's body slid forward and his head banged on the table, flopping helplessly.

Immediately she emptied the contents of her stomach in the dustbin of the room. Even after her stomach was emptied, she kept dry retching as the disturbing thoughts kept swimming around in her head, made worse by the recent use of her powers.

She should not have accepted the King's invitation.













–Bangam–

When he made it to the interrogation chamber, he went past King T'Chaka and went directly to the room where the interrogation was going on.

All the people outside the room were rooted for some reason and when he went inside, he realised why.

His wife was dry retching for some reason and the dead body of the wizard was laying on the table with Dark Miasma coming out of his body, presumably due to the Dark mark that Voldemort stamped on every one of his followers.

"Hey, Don't worry, I am here now," he hugged her as she immediately latched on to him.

"We'll be leaving now," he glared at the mirror where he knew T'Chaka was standing.

He then left the room with K'Mehne in his arms and while wrapping her up with his jacket, reached the Hangar which had been emptied beforehand.

'T'Chaka', he realised why the Hangar was empty. T'Chaka could use his brain sometimes then.

Boarding their skycar, he set the destination to the one place he knew would help K'Mehne cope with whatever had happened in the interrogation chamber.

"What happened?" he asked her softly once the only thing in view was a vast expanse of green tinged with the blue of the nearby criss-crossing rivers. This was the place where they trained for the majority of the time once both of them retired. Ofcourse, she doesn't know about his true capabilities but it was a good way to relax and get a good workout in, especially out of range of the round the clock surveillance both of them are under.

"I just…. Don't know what took over me. One second he was telling his plan, the next my hands were wrapped around his. I-I feel awful." She looked so vulnerable as she looked at him for support and comfort. She never looked this fragile in all the years he had known her.

"Hey," he immediately let go of the controls and hugged her, "Don't blame yourself. That wizard was going to die anyway, you and I both know that. Now, let's get you to your favorite place, shall we?"

She sniffed, "Yes."

He would have to find out exactly what that bastard told her to trigger her this much. She was usually much more level headed, at least when it came to professional matters and especially once she was using her powers.

For now, though, all that mattered to him was making sure that his wife regained the peace and calm they had achieved painstakingly after two years of non interference in the lives of the Royal Family.

He would also have to talk to T'Chaka about the entire ordeal and make sure that somebody manned the farm when they were out.

Soon, they reached their designated spot and the skycar stopped and began floating in a single spot. It then began lowering itself down slowly.

After a while, they passed through the hologram and came face to face with a partially carved out mountain along with a huge fenced yard facing endless old growth forests. It was in a word, paradise.

Sensing their entry, the gates opened up and they entered the condo that was built into the side of the mountain.

Once inside, he made sure to give her a warm beverage. She must have been pretty exhausted from the ordeal because within a couple of minutes, she was dead asleep in the bedroom.

After making sure that she was fast asleep, he carefully extricated himself from her arms and got out of the bedroom, the door closing itself after him automatically.

Once outside the house itself, he called T'Chaka.

"Hello? Yes, she is with me and you better explain to me what the fuck just happened there. Why was she even allowed to use her powers? We had a fucking deal, you bastard. What did that wizard even say to her for all of this to happen? What? I want recordings of all of that yesterday and T'Chaka, pray that nothing happens to her due to this fiasco."

Xxxxx​

Deep in the Wakandan Forests, [12 hours after Shuri's birth]

–K'Mehne–

She slowly opened her eyes as she felt something nudging her from the back.

She looked over only to be greeted by a huge congregation of animals surrounding her in a place with a purple sky. Her instincts kicked in immediately as sleep left her in an instant and she assumed a combat stance.

Looking at each and every animal surrounding her, she realized that most of the outlines were blurry along with them covering all routes of escape for her.

'Where would I even escape to?' she asked herself in her mind as she looked at the purple landscape because as far as she knew and she knew a lot, there had been no places with a purple sky on the entirety of Earth.

Last she remembered, Bangam had taken her to her favourtie place in Wakanda and on Earth where she had fallen asleep after the traumatic events of the day had taken their toll on her psyche.

She should be there. Not here, wherever this is.

As she was contemplating charging at one of the animals to see if anything changed, the winds began howling.

The land she was standing on began turning into fine mist and even that began disintegrating and was blown away by the speeding winds.

Soon, all she was standing on was an everflowing green river of fine particles of sand that occasionally glowed with blue streaks of lightning adorned with dark green accents.

"K'Mehne Ambuba", a voice boomed as her gaze was torn away from the riveting flow of the river. Startled, she looked over at one of the animals only to see that out of all the animals, only the outlines of the Elephant was now clear to her.

She still could not see it in its entirety but she was intimidated by the glowing green eyes that felt as if they were gazing directly at her soul, judging and evaluating her worth.

Before she could formulate any kind of response, the voice boomed again, "The council has bestowed upon you the honor of raising the avatar of the sands. Do not disappoint us for it shall spell the end of everything you know."

Then, as if it had been launched from a rocket, a glowing green grain of sand shot out of the flowing river and hit her forehead. She staggered back in shock as she held and inspected her forehead for any injury from the sudden attack.

Finding none, she was about to ask what the hell was going on when her eyes glazed over, glowing a faint green colour.

She was then assaulted with numerous visions of Planetary and galactic battles. Battles that she herself had taken part in.

All led by the same person, born with a green sand shaped marking on his forehead.

In the visions, she was shown the worlds of gods and the worlds of mortals, the world where both gods and mortals mingle, the bloodshed it took for that to happen, the people they had to lose and the allies they gained, everything.

Her mind was too slow to meaningfully capture any of that besides the fact that she knew that the person with the sand tattoo was related to her in some way because of the intense familial love she felt for that person. Even in the visions, she could see herself interacting with that boy as if they were family.

Who was that?

"His name is Aeon and he shall be your salvation," The voice boomed again and the next thing she knew, she woke up with a gasp, all sweaty from that experience.

Taking deep calming breaths, she closed her eyes and tried to think of why she would have a bizarre dream like that.

"Honey?" she called out as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey, why are you up?" Bangam said as he put down his coffee and his tablet quickly before pulling a seat for her.

"I-I just had a bad dream. Anyway, what were you doing? Anything happening on the farm?" she asked him, quickly brushing away the topic of her dream.

He looked at her for a second, knowing that she was being evasive but chose to ignore that.

"Nothing on the farm. I was just going through our quarterly reports, getting some work done. I-I couldnt exactly sleep."

"Should we go back? I miss the farm." she asked him.

He sighed and nodded, "I'll go pack up the stuff. You get ready, there is a change of clothes in the closet."

"I know, honey. We built this place together, remember?"

By the time she was done, the entire house had been prepped for another long term sealing and her husband had packed everything back up in the Skycar.

Hopping in the passenger seat, they began driving off back to their home, the place she loved, the place that gave her the peace and quiet she so desperately wanted right now.

Halfway through, though, the entire sky surrounding Wakanda turned dark and cloudy.

"Uh, why is it dark in the early morning?" she asked as she looked at the weather reports of the country only to see that they had lost all signal to the servers.

How was that even possible? Not even Radio was working.

Before her husband could answer, the entire Skycar swerved to one side as a literal bolt of lightning struck the place they were before, turning the ground under them into a crater and starting a forest fire.

She again braced herself as the car began taking evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit by the lightning bolts as the Skycar was just a giant lightning rod floating in the sky, the easiest target for lightning to hit.

Looking towards Birnin Zana, she could see the entirety of the city being bombarded with lightning, the barriers working overtime to stop it from reaching the citizens.

Even from afar, she could spot the cracks on the blue barrier that were forming after being under a relentless barrage of lightning.

Despite her husband's best efforts, one of the lightning bolts struck the car and even with the vibranium capacitors working overtime to absorb all that energy, the car systems failed and they crash landed near one of the creeks.

Getting out of the car was easy enough, thanks to its sturdy construction, only the electronics were fried. The rest of the car had performed its job admirable, absorbing almost all of the shock from crash landing.

They didn't even have a single scratch on their bodies. It would have been a relief if only they couldn't see Birnin Zana's barriers being struck by lightning over and over, as if the God of Thunder himself was there to smite them.

Exchanging glances, she was about to tell him to call for emergency transport because if there ever was any time their country needed them the most, it was now.

But before he could do something about the frozen networks, she heard something.

It was faint at first but for reasons unknown to her, her feet began moving on their own and soon, she was zooming past the trees towards the source of the sound.

As she came closer to the source, it became clearer and by the time her husband caught up to her, it was clear that it was the sound of a baby crying.

Exchanging a glance, both of them sped up towards the sound, no words required to describe the emergency both ahead of them and back in their Kingdom.

After running past a particularly big weed, both of them came to a frozen standstill as they saw what was in front of them.

A glowing green crater. A crater with a ball of green light in the center of it.

For some reason, at that exact moment, her dream came back to her.

As soon as she took a step forward to the crater, the ball of green light, as if it was an egg, began cracking and moving around.

"K'Mehne!" the words of her husband fell on deaf ears as she began walking towards the green light, as if possessed.

The line around the crater parted as she approached and closed right up as Bangam tried to follow behind her.

It seemed as if that green line was hot lava itself as the very air around it was distorting from the heat, warning Bangam to stay away.

Soon, she reached the ball of light floating in the center of the crater, bathing her in an oddly soothing green glow.

Her eyes were glazed over as she recalled the contents of her dream from last night, over and over again.

The green sands of time.

The words of that elephant whose stare still chilled her to the bone.

The duty she was given.

As these thoughts were running through her head, her hand slowly rose up and pressed against the shaking ball of green light.

As if given a command, the shaking intensified and as if a curtain had been raised from her mind, her mind cleared and she immediately took rapid jumps back.

".....mehne K'Mehne! Come back!" She could hear her husband shouting for her and she wanted nothing more than to go back to him but her feet seemed rooted in the ground for some reason.

So, she had no choice but to watch the ball of light shake ominously until the very first crack appeared that spilled bright green light on the surrounding ground.

Her eyes widened in horror as the area where the light was incident on, withered away in seconds.

No, not withered. Upon taking a second look, she could see the grass dying, the rocks hardening and gaining a metallic tinge. It was as if..

As if time itself was accelerating for that area.

One such crack opened up right in front of her and green light spilled all over her. She braced herself even though she knew that realistically, there was nothing that she could have ever done to avoid the erosion of time but the feeling of death never came.

As she opened her eyes, she saw that the ball of light had disappeared and in its place was a basket floating which slowly lowered itself right in front of her.

Inside, she could see an adorable baby sleeping with green light on his forehead that was still receding.

The light revealed a tattoo shaped identical to the singular grain of sand she had seen in her dream.

She could hear her husband jumping and running towards her once the green light was cleared.

"What was that?" he asked, breathing heavily.

"Aeon," she whispered almost reverently as she held the baby for Bangam to see, "It was Aeon."

Her husband just looked at her, confused so she began telling him about her dreams.

The more he heard, the more his face changed that to one of determination.

"K'Mehne, look, are you sure you want to do this? It seems like such a tall task to do. If you are not up for it, we can always find someone else to do it for us. Most of them would gladly take up on the opportunity to do so."

She scowled furiously at him as she held Aeon close to her chest, "No! I was given the mission and I will see it done."

Bangam sighed and resigned himself to her whims, "Very well. The communications have been restored and the lightning barrage has stopped. Thankfully, aside from minor damage to the shield generators along with a forest fire that will be stopped soon, there wasn't any critical damage to Wakanda as a whole. The King seems to think that it was a ploy from somebody on the wizard's side and a bad omen for Shuri's birthday so he has called for all reserve personnel back for duty, including us."

She looked back at him, stone-faced, "I will not be going anywhere without Aeon. I have decided to adopt him and you don't have a say in that matter. As for the matter with the lightning,-" here, she scoffed, "-if the wizards had that level of firepower at their disposal, why would they bother hiding. Don't worry, not even Dumbledore could have done that without extensive preparation and luck on his side, even with that fancy stick of his."

He looked at her, exasperated, "Ofcourse, I know that ,dear. But the King just had a daughter and he is allowed to have some fears so I'll go and check in just in case and you can go back home. I'll be back soon, I promise."

Soon, the distinct sound of the beacons on the emergency vehicle entered her ears. Bangam's face turned solemn as he held her shoulders and said, "Look, whatever the situation is, we have to hide it until we have it all sorted out. There's no telling what the King or the council might do once they realise who Aeon is. So, I'll commission one of their vehicles and let it drop you home, safe and secure. Once home, activate ALL defensive protocols and don't leave the house until I come back. Understood?"

She found herself nodding as her husband went to the emergency team and brought over a smaller version of their Skycar.

Carefully loading her back in the seat, he told her, "I'll see you soon, alright."

Overlooking the vast green expanse of the forest that was now tinged with the oranges of the fire, she thought of all that happened to her and couldn't help but think all of it was in preparation for something.

As if somebody had orchestrated it all for this very exact moment.

Even then, "Don't worry, Little Aeon," she said as she looked at the sleeping form of Aeon, "I'll protect you with my life."

Even though she meant it at that time, she had no idea how true her words were going to turn out in a short few years.

.

.

.

.

This is the story of Aeon Ambuba, Time Incarnate, the ruler of Wakanda and the saviour of the multiverse.

But if you were ever to ask him his most proud identity, it would be being the son of K'Mehne Ambuba and Bangam Nudubano, of the Border Tribe of Wakanda.






A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to the characters appearing in this story. They belong to their respective owners.


Story 1 : Multiplication Table

Chapter 3 : I have powers? Muahahaha

–Aeon(formerly ??)--

When he had jumped in front of that train with nothing more left to lose, he had been content with what he had achieved.

He had finished the goals he had set out to do the day he tried to kill himself and failed. The only regret he had was not telling that fire fighter that he was the reason he had brought change to his community, however small it may be.

You see, he hailed from a rural community in Somalia and while all the news coverage regarding their country only showcased their misery or their pirates in the sea, they actually lived an okay life.

Their tribe in particular was very much isolated from the rest of the tribes mainly due to the fact that most of the tribe was made solely of elders and children. Nobody was left in their tribe that could work. Could provide labour.

Somehow, almost all capable adults always died in their tribe, no matter the time or efforts taken to protect everyone.

This caused all the other tribes to avoid them out of fear of catching the same imaginary disease that they supposedly had. So, wherever they went, they were given a wide berth and in rural Somalia, where superstitions ran rampant, he could count himself as one of the lucky ones as the rumours spread were about a disease and not a curse, else he would have found himself cut open and hung on a tree somewhere.

Contrary to what the world might believe, they did get food.

At Least once a day.

So, while hungry, they never starved for long periods of time. That was the life he knew since his childhood.

Find things to eat, eat them, play and then move on to the next location. At that time, life was going well for him.

Until one day, they came.

He didn't know who they were at the time but he could recognise the guns they wielded along with the trucks they drove.

On that day, as he was hauling ass back towards the cliffs as he was told to do by Grandpa Marc, as some of the soldiers began hunting him like prey, laughing and chatting as they did so, he swore to kill them all.

Kill the people who killed all his friends and all the grandpas and grandmas that showered him with as much as they could.

But, he was just a little 10 year boy, what else could he have done?

Eventually, he reached the cliff but he didn't know what to do after that. Seeing that he was done running around, one of the soldiers got bored with him and shot him in the arm.

He could still feel the phantom pain flare up when he lifted weight a particular way but in a way, he was grateful for that shot.
For if that terrorist had never fired upon him, he never would have fallen into the cliff and met his family.

The family for which he would have died.

The family that was now dead.

And what use did he have for his life if his family was dead?

So, he jumped in front of the train, making sure to do so at the last moment so there was no chance in hell he could have survived.

Alas, fate had other things in store for him because the last thing he remembered before opening his blurry eyes was being sucked into a glowing green river and being torn apart before he even had a chance to scream.

As far as he could tell, he was either in hell or he was trapped in somebody else's, most likely a baby's, body.

Huh, maybe the isekai trope does come true then.

He would have laughed out loud in the sheer absurdity of the situation had his brain and vocal cords been developed enough.

As it was, he could barely form coherent thoughts for a minute or two before losing all sense and either going to sleep or feeding mindlessly on something.

Honestly, he was glad he did not have to go through breastfeeding again.

He could still remember that one time his mind sort of woke up, right after dirtying his diaper and he could feel his mind being actively traumatized from that experience.

God, he hated it when that happened.

Finding out that both his parents were Black was interesting. He had nothing against them, not that he could do anything about it, but he had always been brown and travelling in the desert did give him a tan but after going back to the States, he had become more white than brown.

But from his experience (which was admittedly short), they were the best parents he had ever had. Not that it was a tough bar to cross.

Somehow, he could feel their love for him. Not in the corny sort of way but in a way that he could sense their emotions.

He could sense his mother(?) being in the adjacent room and talking with someone in a bad mood and after the call had ended, coming into his room and then as if a switch had been flipped, her mood changed to happy.

His father, on the other hand, was not a happy camper with him, at least not at first.

He got a sense that his father was begrudgingly accepting his existence due to his mother but still keeping a close eye on him.

At first, he had no sense of time since there were no visible clocks in the house he was living in. No obvious gadgets to look at either.

It all looked so mundane that he would have believed himself to be born in his home reality again if not for one glaring difference.

The same difference he was trying to summon with his chubby hands right now. The bizarre holographic screens that followed around his parents wherever they went. Sometimes, one popped up right in front of him. He imitated the hand motions that his parents did whenever they opened up their respective holograms.


[At 2 years old] [2000]

A lot had happened since the last time he tried to try and operate the holographic screens he knew his crib had in it. Maybe it had something to do with wireless biometrics of some sort that allowed it to authenticate the person who was trying to operate it and based on that, decide to show the hologram screen or not?
Anyway, his mind and his body had come a long way from only being able to stay awake for a certain period of time.

Now, he could maintain conscious thought for most of his awake hours which admittedly, were not as much as he would like them to be.

He had asked his parents about his birthday and while his dad had immediately clammed up, his mother weaved a story so convincing he would have completely believed her if not for his powers to sense their emotions. Something fishy had happened in regards to his birth. At this point, he shouldn't be surprised since his very existence in this world was weird.

K'Mehne Ambuba's emotions were all over the place so it was not easy to pinpoint a particular emotion and tie it to the story but Bangam's emotions were very easy to recognise.

It was a mixture of guilt, anxiety, love and resignation along with a twinge of sadness.

So, knowing his birthday was coming near, he decided to do something about his abilities because if he continued to hide it from his very observant parents, it was bound to cause some issues. So, after much internal debate, he decided to walk a week before his birthday.

Unfortunately, that didn't elicit much of a response from his family. That made him think if that was common or not. Over the next few days, he made sure to follow the emotional shifts between his parents carefully but after almost a week of observation, he was no closer to finding out the reality of this world than before.

It sucked not having access to the internet. Now would have been one of the few times that having access to the entire world's data at their fingertip, would be a good thing.

So, he decided to take things a step further and began showing his intelligence.

He began talking to his parents in complex structured sentences that no 2 year old back in his previous home could ever do. Finishing all the mental exercises given to him within minutes, doing simple arithmetic exercises, pattern recognition training. Everything, he solved at such a level that he would be considered a genius back home.

To his surprise, that worked. His mother and father were both surprised at that but his father actually had a spike of anxiety at the situation before it was quickly suppressed. He wondered what was that about.

Then, he asked, in a very formal way, access to books.

His mother had smiled and then led him to the basement, one of the places in the house he was never given access to since the house had an auto lock feature that put force fields in front of him if he ever tried to access a place that was locked for him.

But once the basement doors opened up and he saw what was inside, he never wanted to leave that place at all. There was nothing stopping his chubby legs from waddling over to one of the hundreds of shelves that were stocked to the brim with books of all sizes, shapes and genres.

"Sweetie, be careful!" His mother's warning was waved off as he began browsing through the catalogue available to his, apparently, rich family since he was sure that not just anyone could afford a library of this size and calibre, all the while keeping it nice and clean. That was the real challenge.

Maintenance.

If he had learned a thing or two in his admittedly short previous life, it was that building infrastructure of any sort was troublesome enough but maintaining that infrastructure was more trouble than it was worth.

Maybe, they have some sort of technology that allowed everyone to do this for cheap.

Anyway, ignoring his parents as they were sitting on one of the nearby tables with coffee in their hands, he began browsing through the History section of the library, desperate to know something about the world he was thrust into. For some reason, his parents had never taken him out of the house till now. Sure, the backyard but never beyond that.

It was as if they were trying to hide him from something or someone.

As he was going through the list, he froze as he recognised something from the list.

With shaking hands, he clicked on the book titled, "Founding of Wakanda" and ordered it.

Oh, dear God. He was in so much trouble. If what he was reading into was correct, it would seem that he had been transported to the world of Marvel.

Which version of Marvel, he didn't know. He had never seen the movies or read the comics but being in the periphery of nerds did teach him a thing or two about the wondrous world of Marvel and how it overshadows its death world vibes with sunny feeling superheroes.

He had heard that the movie universe was actually tamer compared to the comics version but he had no idea what universe he was actually in, let alone the version of it.

Maybe, the book was fiction and it was just catalogued in the History section by mistake.

Soon, the book was hand-delivered to him by one of the overhead passing robot arms. Yeah, it was confirmed now, his parents were loaded.

Titled, the History of Wakanda, it was a pretty bland looking book but from a cursory look over, it seemed pretty legit since it actually had some sort of stamp that looked authentic along with the Book cover, ID, Author notes, everything pointed to it being a real book.

All that was left was to actually read it. But before that, he began going through the list again and what he saw left him aghast.

There were many books depicting not only the history of Wakanda but also the history of the different tribes of Wakanda, the battles Wakanda had fought.

His eyes shone as he promptly checked out all of those books as well.

Apparently, the robots had the sense to check in with his parents before handing over heavy books to his tiny body because almost immediately after putting in his request, his mom came over and was handed the books.

Her emotions turned to sadness when she realised what books he was trying to read.

Taking the book he had in his hand, she held his other hand and said, "Come on, I'll make you your favorite sandwich and then I'll read it to you. Alright?"

He nodded, his thoughts swirling as his theory of him being in the Marvel universe was becoming more and more plausible as time went by.

Well, at least he was rich or at least his parents were and if there was one thing he had learned in life was that the rich people tend to always get the better spoon at the table.

So, even if it was the Marvel universe, there was a chance that he could coast on life with his parent's money. Not that he would ever do that since it was against his very nature to take money from people who were basically strangers to him but it was nice to know that he had an option.

[Age 3 years old] [2001]

Welp, it was confirmed now. He was in the Marvel universe.

Apparently, the library didn't have censorship restrictions for children because the books he had found and read through definitely should not have been within reach of a 2 year old.

It would seem that Wakanda was the place that provided Dr.Lawson, the renegade Kree scientist, with the vibranium required for him to build his lightspeed engine. The subsequent events were captured very well by Wakandan soldiers and it was all documented in their records, which was accessible for all civilians.

Something to do with transparency of whatever the Kingdom was doing.

Hah, as if he could ever be foolish enough to believe what the government was telling him.

The existence of superhumans along with aliens did give him fancy hopes for some time that he too could become a superhero but as he thought about it, that just felt more and more like drag rather than an exciting opportunity.

He even briefly entertained the notion that he was sent here by some ROB and was gifted some powers along the way but so far, aside from the early intelligence and body coordination, he had not seen his powers in function at all.

Also, even if by some stroke of luck, he did have some powers, how was he supposed to find out?

Ofcourse, if the power was too explosive, he would find out upon application but as things stood, he tried meditation, clenching his buttcheeks, finding his internal energy and all sorts of weird bullshit to find if he had some supposedly passive power that would have gotten him labelled as a quirky kid back where he was from but here, all he got was a smile and a head pat.

A completely wanky place. He thought.

Ofcourse, disappearing from his home and sneaking off to the library despite being expressly told not to, was just one of his quirks that his parents found adorable.

Constantly trying to exert his body beyond the physical limits was one such quirk. Something he had found out through regular parsings of various real life accounts was the fact that humans here, atleast in Wakanda, were a lot hardier than he had expected them to be.

Ofcourse, being born to people who had been in the vicinity of a literal space rock was bound to have some effects but through cursory reading, the effects were neither as pronounced as he had expected nor were they as surprising when he really thought about it.

Due to natural radiation that was emitted by Vibranium to its surrounding, the overall flora and fauna of Wakanda was fundamentally changed anyway. Consuming that flora and fauna was what turned the humans that lived nearby into a slightly better version of humans.

Not so much that they could be called super soldiers by the outside world but definintely punching above the above-average weight class when it came to basic physical stats. There were also a ton of other benefits of being lucky enough to be born near a space rock.

Enhanced Immunity.

Heightened reflexes.

Shorter recovery period.

Higher neural plasticity.

Accelerated growth cycle.

Basically, Vibranium, especially the Vibranium they had, allowed for good radiation to suffuse its surroundings, allowing any living being near it to become stronger or atleast, allow its progeny to become stronger.

The next generation being slightly better than the last. Take that cycle and run it for a few thousand years and voila, you have Wakandans with much better human physiology than the outside world, especially since the quality of food and water in the outside world had deteriorated to a level that most of the stuff they consume would not be called food in Wakanda.

So, with that in mind, he thought of a really genius way of testing if he had some sort of power that correlated to his body and even if he didn't have any, it could count as a physical exercise for his growing body.

In his previous life, he had read somewhere that doing 100 Pushups, 100 Sit Ups, 100 Squats and a 10KM Run everyday would bring out the best power within you.

He… didn't know if it was a hundred percent true but he at this point, he was happy to try anything to stave off the boredom of being confined in a child's body.

Although that was getting more and more tolerable day by day as his parents realised that he needed a hands off approach when it came to parenting and thus, he found himself with more and more free time on his hands where he did whatever he wanted (He mostly went to the library).

So, began his daily workout.

Without fail, for a grand total of 3 months, he continued doing his workout. He didn;t know if it would work or not but by the end of the first month, he could feel the workout becoming bearable so he continued doing it out of sheer boredom.

By the end of the third month, he felt the workout becoming easier to the point that it didn't even hamper his daily energy levels after doing the workout which was astonishing since he was just a three year old.

An abnormal three year old, sure. But still just a three year old.

The fact that his parents thought this was normal was baffling to him but it allowed him to do whatever he wanted so it all worked out for him in the end.

'Though, what did his parents really do?' he thought while dangling off the branches of a tree that was in their backyard.

Though, calling it a backyard would be an insult as it was more like a small forest at the back of their mind. It housed all sorts of small creatures along with rare old growth trees that he had only ever seen in the really old national parks he had visited along with the kids at his apartment building.

Speaking of kids and parents, with the puny powers vested in him by his benefactor, he could sometimes sense his parents' emotions becoming muted, if he had to explain that feeling. Over time, he realised that the muted feeling was due to the fact that his parents were going out of his emotional sensing range.

So, he devised a plan and while he was aware that he was being tracked every time he stepped out of the house, he tried to follow his parents on the little toy shuttle car they had gifted him on his 3rd birthday.

Calling his "doom-mobile" a toy would be an insult to its capabilities since according to the manual, it was capable of traversing across all terrains at speeds exceeding 50 mph. It really was more of a hover car than a regular four wheel car. Though, it was an unspeakable tragedy that he was limited to only ground cruising at speeds not exceeding 10 mph.

Nevertheless, he set out to follow his mother once she gave him his book from a list he had created and had made sure that he had plenty of snacks so that he'll be occupied for a long time. In hindsight, he should not have been distracted by such an obvious ploy but alas, his three year old body did crave sugar (however natural it may be) and his brain always craved new things to learn and enjoy.

He had almost been bamboozled before he was jolted out of that state because he could no longer sense the emotions of his mother. Hurriedly setting the snacks down, carefully so as to not harm the pristine book covers, he set out towards his very own "doom-mobile".

Following his mother through a very narrow pathway that he had never noticed before, he found out about a secret pathway that leads to a hatch that presumably leads to some place underground. His plan to find more about it was foiled by a very amused looking K'Mehne standing in front of the hatch, apparently waiting for him.

The scolding he had received in return was not something he wished to have a repeat of. He was questioned about how he was able to track her but he had gotten away with hastily replying with the excuse of following the dirt path and fleeing the crime scene with his doom-mobile.

That was the last time he tried to actively track his parents since the next time he tried that, he might just get a spanking and he was not into that, thank you very much.

Ever since then, his life had been the same. Eat, exercise, read, exercise, sleep, repeat.

He was glad for the opportunity to build his body at such a young age but it did get monotonous after a while.

Currently, he was swinging through his very own jungle gym as if he were Tarzan and this was his kingdom. While it had been exhilarating at first, now the perception of risk and the thrill that came along with it was gone and as such, he was just absentmindedly swinging from one swing to the next when somehow, his hand slipped.

Now, the problem was not his hand slipping from the swing, the problem was the fact that, with the help of his now upgraded all terrain doom-bot, he had made the jungle gym unnecessarily long, never expecting himself to fail.

Especially since, for the first time since making the gym, he had turned off the safety features his father and mother had built into the systems after allowing him to construct the gym according to his whims and fancy.

He could hear the doombot beeping in distress and the winds rushing by as he fell from a height of more than 100 feet.

God, why did he have to be so obstinate and make this freak show of a jungle gym.

He didn't want to die so pitifully, especially after he went out with such a huge bang in his previous life.


Suddenly, as if somebody was answering his prayers, he felt something slither inside his body. He didn't know how to describe it but the closest one would be having tiny droplets of water flowing up your skin. You could definitely feel it but it being uncomfortable was a bit of a stretch.

Whatever it was, the feeling began travelling throughout his body and then, as if it had reached a crescendo, it gathered around his hand and before he could do anything, burst out of his hands.

As if he was living in a cartoon world, something burst out of his wrist and popped up in front of him. He didn't even have the time to ponder the fact that it was an exact copy of himself that came out of him before his clone(?) pushed him up clumsily with his tiny hands, reducing some of his momentum and then immediately went poof in smoke.

Alas, his clone(?) didn't have the necessary strength to slow down his momentum enough for a safe landing so the last thing he thought before his head hit the ground and darkness took over was 'Holy shit! I have powers!'




A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to the characters appearing in this story. They belong to their respective owners.


Multiplication Table

Interlude 1 : In the Grip of Paranoia

–K'Mehne Ambuba–

Some of the women in the Border Tribe would call recording and watching everything your son does or reads without you around, a bit weird.

Okay, they called it stalking but the point was that they were wrong.

Her son, Aeon, was a literal gift from heaven for her. Someone who came to her in her moment of need and kept her from falling apart, both due to the use of her powers and also due to the realisation that nothing she could do would help the world in any meaningful way. Even the work she did for the Wakandan Royal Family could only be counted as furthering the goals of a small particularly wealthy subset of humans.

So, she had to do everything in her power to protect her son from everyone that could harm him, especially from the people who were closely monitoring her and her husband.

The King and the rest of the higher authorities of Wakanda were understandably surprised when her husband cut off every single avenue of the Wakandan Royal Family from maintaining surveillance over their house. It was mutual understanding between them that the surveillance would be a tolerated trade off for taking time off from active duty.
After all, no "gifted" person had ever been discharged from active service this early in their life, certainly not without a debilitating injury at the very least.

It was only due to her being so far above the strongest of the previous generation and the influence that she wielded, that she was able to safely retire from active duty especially since she knew a lot of stuff that the Royal Family would not want to see the light of day.

She had also been informed by the tribe elder about her husband's true nature. The fact that he too was a gifted person, a rarity amongst the gifted as he was blessed with not one but two extremely strong powers, making him the strongest person that was ever born in Wakanda.

The King was understandably surprised and more than a little inquisitive regarding the secretive birth of their son but they made sure to block every attempt made by anyone to gather any information about their son. Ofcourse, they didn't take her warnings to heart and sent some undercover people, along with tasking the nerds to hack all her belongings but a few dead bodies along with a dozen broken ones made sure that they knew she was serious this time.

Ofcourse, even if she was successful in foiling their plans, that didn't mean that she was not afraid for her baby.

In fact, the incident had raised her paranoia levels to such heights that she refused to let Aeon out of her sight for a few months. It was actually Bangam who convinced her to ease off a little and give Aeon his space, especially since he was showing signs of remarkable intelligence at such a young age, evidenced by his extreme fascination towards books or literature of any sort. It didn't matter to him what genre or how long the books were, if he saw a book, it didn't matter what toy he had in his hand, it would be dropped immediately.

Even stuff that should be boring for him, like current events and history, he devoured with gusto.

She had been worried for a minute there because she thought that her son's gift was being manifested in terms of enhanced mental prowess rather than the bog standard physical enhancement set that everybody in Wakanda had.

But then, after months of watching over him, she realised that he was just naturally inquisitive and while his vocabulary had gotten advanced enough that she could hold a full fledged conversation with him easily, Aeon had yet to display any physical anomalies that would set him apart from a bog standard baby of his age, well, as standard a baby could be while being a child made up of someone literally divine.

Of late, he was also making repeated requests to set out of the small piece of world they had carved out of the Great Forest, for themselves. She had been vehemently against such an idea from the beginning and denied his requests, citing a different reason each time while also giving out a different concession each time, something that the brat was quick to catch on.

His last request, in particular, pushed her to build him a particularly dangerous jungle gym in their backyard, at her husband's behest, no less. His reasoning being that it was good for Aeon to exercise his muscles, especially since his powers could end up manifesting themselves that way as well because Bungam was still not convinced that a little bit of early mental growth was the pinnacle of what someone brought to them by such bizarre means could really do.

So, reluctantly, she watched as Bungam, with the help of the house robots, built the Jungle Gym. Many times she had been tempted to argue with them and lower the heights of it but a quick look at Aeon's excited face had her resolve faltering like a candle flame in the wind.

Ofcourse, once it was built, she had tested the entire thing personally, making sure that nothing would be able to harm her precious son and credit where it was due, Bungam did a really solid job. She literally had nothing to complain about, a fact she detested as it would have very easily allowed her to get some sort of compromise regarding the height of the pillars at the very least.

Alas, Bangum was not a tardy handyman and did the entire job properly so she had to suffer the injustice of watching her son swing around on swings made up of sturdy materials on dangerous heights. Seriously, multiple times, she had to wrestle back control of herself as she found herself at the door, wanting to pull Aeon back in her safe embrace.

..

"Will you please calm down, my dear. Nothing happened to him. He is at the hospital just as a precaution," Bungam said, trying to maintain a calm facade but the beads of sweat on his forehead were doing him no favour.
So, it was no wonder she was very very mad at Bungam for installing that gym in the first place.

"If it really is nothing, why is my baby boy in the Royal Hospital and not at the Border Tribe Hospital and in the hands of Dr.Kefner whom we both know and trust." She said while urging the sky car to go even faster, something that was made impossible for her due to the traffic laws laid by the King recently since there has been an exponential growth in their sales.

"Listen, honey, he is fine. I have sent all the reports of the tests they have done on Aeon, to Dr.Kefner and he said that they all look fine to him. PLus, he is on his way as well. In fact, he should arrive even before you do. Now, will you please stop trying to destroy the accelerate button on the sky ship, you know how expensive they are to repair."

Her only reply to that was the sound of the button being pushed again and then she cut the call, her mind finally beginning to calm down from the sudden shock it was given when Bungam informed her that Aeon was found unresponsive on the floor of the Jungle Gym by Bungam when he got the alert of Aeon's body colliding with something from the sensors installed in Aeon's wristband.

There was a reason they hadn't gotten him the Kimoyo beads even when they would have been very much helpful for them as well as Aeon. It was because all the data that the Kimoyo Beads collect is collected in a central repository that the King can access at his will. Giving Aeon the beads would have only brought him further in the King's eyesight and that was something they were trying to avoid for as long as possible.

Look where that left them.

With Aeon in the same place that they had been trying so hard to avoid. The King will definitely have access to the reports now and might just have ordered specialised tests for him to see if he was born with the sparks of being gifted. That was precisely why they had been consulting Dr.Kerner and only him because as far as the Border Tribe was concerned, the data was never recorded digitally and as soon as the consultation was over, the physical copies were printed out and the machines are cleared of all the data of the patients, ensuring confidentiality.

Most of the country would call it regressive and if it was before Aeon, she would have agreed with them but now?

Now she found herself being glad that such a policy existed for her, allowing her the peace of mind that her son would not be thrown to the wolves, especially since she had heard some disturbing rumours about her former division being run by Thala Zaba of all people.

That sadistic bastard would have destroyed her son's childhood without even losing an ounce of sleep and she, in turn, would have burned down Wakanda in order to get to him.

Just what was the King and the Council thinking when they promoted him to lead the division? It was not as if they did not know Zaba's history with her and his crazy tendency to lose it instantly and pounce on his enemies like a rabid animal only to then regain his clinical thinking and clarity out of nowhere?

She just hoped that he was not present in the same building as her baby boy or else there would be hell to pay.

---

Word Count - 1700





A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Crimson Seals: The Legacy of Uzumaki

Uzu, [Before the Second Shinobi War]

"There, it's all good now, OK?"

"Thank you, Nii-saan,"

"You're Welcome. Now run along. I am sure your mother is waiting for you."

"Bye!"

He waved back at the red-haired waving child whose knee he had just healed. He smiled at the crowd that had gathered around them as even after a decade of witnessing his powers in person, the shock factor among the elderly had never worn off.

When he had awoken as a shinobi in this accursed reality, he had never expected to be able to do anything of note. Most shinobis, even the ones with the famed Uzumaki bloodline failed to achieve something worthwhile in their long lifetimes. Of course, some wishful thoughts did go towards him being brought into this reality for a reason but he was painfully aware of his luck. Luck that was non-existent in his previous life so he knew that he would be lucky to have an average childhood in and itself.

As it turned out, he was blessed with seemingly everything. In his past life, he has bumped around from foster house to foster house with all his life's belongings in garbage bags. He was lucky to have graduated high school and learned the trades. From then on, he wouldn't say that it was a smooth sailing road but it was not as if he didn't enjoy the various ups and downs in the life he had experienced. Mostly downs though. Sure, he made enough that there was always hot food on the table and he was never late on any of his bills but he never made enough to qualify for a loan from any bank to buy his own home.

Something that had been a dream for him ever since he was but a foster child tossed around in the system.

It had been a normal day. He had gotten a gig that paid more than average, provided he finished the work in very little time so he had found himself working on weekends as well. Well, it was not as if he had someone waiting at home for him so he was more than happy to earn more so he could splurge a little bit extra on better booze and a better chick.

Sure, a 38-year-old living just paycheck to paycheck without ever having a girlfriend might sound sad to some people and it probably was sad for him to live like this but it was a hand that life had dealt him and he intended to play to the end.

One fine day, as it was usual for him, he had finished his work for the day and was on his way home with a six-pack of his favourite beer that he intended to finish before sleeping. Somehow, he went home and completely forgot about the beer. Instead, he cooked himself a nice dinner, something that he hadn't done for more than a month. Then, he watched his favourite episode of his favourite series and brushed his teeth, and then went to sleep in his bed.

A routine that he had promised to himself that he would follow but had not followed for as long as he could remember. One moment, he had set the alarm for early morning the next day, and the next moment, he was waking up the night before he was awarded the title of Chunin of Uzu.

He still believed that the night before he was permanently transported to a world he believed to be fiction, there was someone who guided his actions, allowing him to live out a nice evening in his old world without the added mental fog of depression and anxiety that every 38-year-old orphan living all by himself has. He liked to believe that someone would have grieved at least a little bit when he passed but the truth of the matter was that aside from a few work buddies that he had drinks with once in a while, he had nobody he could call his own. He tried to get pets but after finding out that his landlord didn't allow for it in addition to most pets being unsuitable to being enclosed for most of their lives, he gave up.

Why should he add more suffering to some poor animal's life in hopes that it could marginally improve his own?

So, knowing that there was nothing back home waiting for him, he chose to confront this new life head-on.

And that wasn't easy.

Finding out that you were one of the dozen chunins promoted with you being the oldest of the lot was not exactly a good feeling but later on, once he had gotten home and shared the news with his parents, he had felt a lot better about the headband that was adorned on his sleeve.

He liked to think that his relationship with his parents was nice but honestly, things in Uzu worked differently. It was mostly due to the fact that his parents were not shinobis but just seal crafters. Seal crafters were different from Sealmasters in the sense that Seal Masters could weaponise Fuinjutsu in a way few could.

Seal crafters were the people who performed just research. They were the scholars of this accursed world. While that might seem like a profession without danger, it was anything but.

In fact, the casualty rate of being a seal crafter was oftentimes more than being a Seal Master. His mother and father, both of them were seal fanatics from a young age and had always known what field they had to go into when they grew up. Of course, his being born did put a pause on their plans for a little bit but after a few years, they were back to their full workload once again.

When he had violently awoken from his sleep the night before the award ceremony, he had been assaulted by memories of over 17 years. As it turned out, the body he was inhabiting was very special in the sense that it had eidetic memory. He remembered stuff from when he was just a year old and stuff that definitely shouldn't have remained in his memory.

He had been quite a bit disoriented after that but Uzumaki bodies were nothing but tough in every aspect. He was all fine by the morning when he had to rush to the center of the village where every month,

"Hey, Shino!" He was brought out of his thoughts once he felt someone crash on his barriers.

"Hey! That's mean!" His best friend in this world, sniffed as she pouted at him from her position on the ground. Amaya had the weird habit of trying to sneak on him at the most random of times.

It was even more fun for her because he had the widest range when it came to sensing aside from old man Ashina himself. He still struggled to imagine the depth of his powers considering that he could pinpoint the movement of the Nine Tails Jinchuriki by sitting in his chambers.

Of course, she always failed due to his awesome powers. He had the power to create barriers and manipulate them to various effects.

One of those effects was an always-on shield that clung to his body like a second skin, allowing for selective materials to cross it, like air and sometimes, water. It was also intent dependent which meant that if he intended to, he could cut himself off completely from the rest of the world. It was a pretty nifty feature that dropped his chances of being ambushed to very low levels.

Of course, it was still entirely possible that his barriers could be breached but ever since he officially became an Elite Jounin a couple of years ago, he had yet to find anyone who could breach his barriers. Crack them? Yes but not entirely breach it.

The Lightning release Jutsu of Kumogakure was fearsome and he had the personal misfortune of experiencing it directly from the master of it. The fear of it was completely deserved.

"When will your stupid shields recognise that I am your friend and not some foe that needs to have their head bashed in with a stupidly tough chakra construct?" Amaya whined as she stood up and dusted off her uniform. Amaya was someone who continued to speak until stopped and was also a Jounin. He had apparently met her when they were just kids during their first days in the academy. He had no trouble continuing the friendship he had with her because the memories he had of his previous life were deeper than he had first thought them to be.

Emotions, Opinions, Preferences, Desires. Everything was offloaded onto him. He did not just receive the memories of the past as if it were a movie and he was a spectator. He received them as if he was the person who was going through everything and honestly, he was grateful for that. It allowed him to easily assimilate into the growing community and village that was Uzu.

---

Word Count - 1525
A/N -
If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.
I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.
Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Hello Everyone!

This will be a new project of mine, with a twist. The Entire story, with all the chapters, will be written from the POV of all the people except the MC(which will be an OC Uzumaki- you'll see). Now, I WILL be making some changes and it will not be completely in line with Canon Naruto, so keep that in mind before you go on correcting me in the comments.

Now, without further ado, please do read ahead.

______xx_____

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a man of many talents. The GOD of Shinobi, they called him, and yet, as he looked at the scroll that delivered the tragic news of Uzu's fall, he didn't feel like the God of Shinobi.

No, the one who was named as the God of Shinobi before would have made his enemies tremble with the mere thought of attacking Uzu, their bodies not responding to their mind as they imagined the consequences of angering the real God of Shinobi. Shodai Hokage-sama would have marched across the borders of the Land of Fire and demanded answers, Daimyo's concerns be damned and if not, brought back heads of the offending people to appease the dearly departed souls of the Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki were a dear ally of Konoha and losing them was going to deal a huge blow to their regular operations.

"You can go, Sakumo. Destroying any more of my furniture might just bankrupt the remaining fortune of your clan," He tried to make a joke to lighten the oppressive atmosphere that had blanketed his office ever since Sakumo came back from the mission he had assigned him.

He knew something was wrong when no reports about the impending seal shipments and due to the rationing that had been done on both sides due to the suspicious activity on all sides, they had refrained from maintaining active shinobi platoons on both sides, even though it was a regular thing ever since Mito-sama came to Konoha.

"Oh, Mito-sama," He bemoaned the loss of an invaluable ally of Konoha. Mito-sama would be devastated when the news finally reached her. It was a bad decision in hindsight when Mito-sama sealed off her long range sensing techniques on her own, citing emotional fatigue from sensing so much death, despair, and strife all around Konoha.

She could have sensed the impending doom and…..

And What?

"Go and rest, Sakumo. We will not let the sacrifice of Uzumaki go to waste. This will mark the end of the war," He said in his Hokage voice, no longer the kind elder figure to Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang.

Sakumo nodded, his chakra still tinged with the electric rage that could be felt from miles away to any half decent sensor, as he trudged out of his office.

He took the scroll in his one hand and after taking one last look at the portraits of his predecessors, he steeled his heart and left for the Senju Estate, the place where Mito-Sama lived.

Even as he deliberately passed through the streets, waving and greeting everyone he recognised, his mind continued to churn out ways…ways of turning this to Konoha's benefit. He abruptly stopped before a stall that sold the Dango that Mito-sama, Tsunade, and Dan all liked to eat. Thinking nothing of it, he had it packed, paid for the order, and continued his journey to Senju Estate.

It was not far from the Hokage Tower, both being near the heart of the village and yet, his mind was weighed down by the burden of being Hokage. He mourned the loss of his previous innocent self, the one who could simply….grieve.

Simply grieve and not let his mind wander in ways that would have his younger self look at him with disappointment and loathing. What else would the child Hiruzen, the one who embodied the Will of Fire, do when he was told that his elder self was already thinking of ways of taking advantage of such a massive tragedy even before informing Mito-sama about it?

Unknowingly, his footsteps had brought him to the old secret entrance into the Senju compound that he, along with his team would enter and leave the Senju compound unseen by anyone bar the Senju Clan protectors.

He smiled bitterly as he thought of the current situation of their team. Danzo was doing his ANBU duties well and he had recently gotten the go ahead from him to make his Foundation project permanent. Koharu and Homura had not gotten as much frontline action as Danzo and he did but that was simply because both of them were more suited for the administrative tasks, their tactical minds shining brighter than the strength of their bodies.

And that was fine, they had other people for the strength of their bodies, their chakra unmatched. The combined effort of all the different types of people was what was keeping Konoha ahead of every other village in this war.

They were caught in a three way war and with the Uzumaki attack most probably having hollowed out their resources, this was the best time to push for an advantage. Most probably, the moment he is back in his office after meeting Mito-sama, he will have to send out orders to the frontline.

Before that though, he sighed and said out loud, "I know you are here, Nawaki-kun,"

"Awww, I totally thought I had you this time," A youthful, childish voice came from behind him as Senju Nawaki, the last of the male descendants of the line of his sensei hopped from above him and landed in front of him.

The sight of his headband brought along another pang in his chest. Hashirama-sama established this village with the goal of stopping the practice of letting children participate in wars. Not letting children be children, and live their lives a little before they are thrust into the meat grinder that was War.

And yet, he watched, Nawaki Senju, a child, be forced to go to the frontlines. He had managed to hold back his deployment until the last moment but there were starting to be whispers about Nawaki and he had received a personal letter from Mito-sama to let Nawaki prove himself.

"I am just here to meet Mito-sama. I have important information to deliver to her," He said. Then he let his eyes twinkle with mischief as he swiftly made hand signs, "let me show you something interesting,"

"Oh?" Nawaki leaned forward as he finished his seal and planted his chakra into the especially authentication seal at the bottom of the wall, a section of the wall shining briefly before a hole appeared in the ground, showing stairs that led into complete darkness.

"Whoa! What is this?" He smiled as Nawaki jumped headfirst into the stairs, without a care in the world.

He might have to warn Orochimaru to train Nawaki in his trap sensing and paranoia because if this is what his investigative abilities amounted to, he might just fall to something as inane as stray explosive seals or even trap jutsus. Imagine the horror of losing the sole current male heir to the Senju line to something as stupid as inadequate caution.

He passed Nawaki who was busy exploring the many pathways that led to different areas of the Senju areas. Areas that were once bustling with activity but ever since the edict that seemed like the death knell of the Senju name, the Senju had gone all but extinct in Konoha.

As the Hokage, he lauded the decision of the Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama. To let the Senju clan members breed and merge into the civilian as well as the other Clan population of Konoha, just so that the advantages that the Senju generally enjoyed - stronger bodies, higher vitality, higher chakra capacity, and more- could be distributed to the entire Konoha population, was a decision that would be fundamental to the growth of Konoha for all of its existence.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi, though, he could not even imagine letting something as fundamental as his identity as a clan member be diluted, destroyed essentially just so the village can prosper as a whole. Something like that was unthinkable for him to do, even now.

"Now, I hope you are not skipping training just because you got your headband. I know you have to meet your new Sensei in a week's time so why don't you go get ready."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Nawaki said as he sprinted away to the direction of his house once they exited the secret tunnel and right into one of the private training areas of the Senju. Once upon a time, he along with his teammates had practiced their jutsus so many times, many times on each other, with the Senju clan members hollering and cheering them on, and yet.

And yet, it was practically a ghost town at this point, with cobwebs all around with most of the equipment falling into disrepair. He might have to issue a D-Rank to clean and get this place functioning. It would be a shame if this place was forgotten.

"I didn't think you would still be using that old entrance. I wondered if it was some intruder trying to use one of the old tunnels,"

His spine stiffened as he slowly turned around, his hands clenched around the scroll, as if it was some sort of lifeline for him. It was still terrifying how she could somehow evade all his senses and stand in front of him as if she were a ghost and not the current host of the strongest of the Bijuu.

Mito Uzumaki.

The Strongest Seal Mistress of the Old Warring Eras.

Also, as of a few days ago, one of the last living Uzumakis in this world. This accursed world.

He mentally noted to send out a few squads to look for surviving Uzumaki, not that he had much hope in that regard.

"Ah, Mito-sama, How have you been?" He asked, cursing himself for still feeling like an academy student in front of Mito-sama.

---

A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not someone who would easily lose his words in front of someone. No matter the enemy, the combat, the meeting, the paperwork, anything of sorts where intricate wordplay was necessary, he never faltered. Only in front of two people did he ever stutter.

His sensei, Tobirama Senju, Nidaime Hokage, and Mito Uzumaki, currently the strongest shinobi alive. It was a fact, plain and simple, no matter how others might think of her strength being a byproduct of the Kyuubi, he knew that she was plenty strong without it. So much so that he knew for a fact that if she were not a Jinchuriki and as such, a strategic weapon that could not be deployed lightly, none of the other villages would have dared set their sights on the Land of Fire.

"Mito-sama, I had some news I wanted to share with you," He barely stopped the tremor in his voice. He was about to deliver some pretty devastating news and he just hoped that he made it out in one piece.

"Oh? Did something happen to Tsunade?"

Her words were light but somehow, without him sensing an ounce of chakra being used by her, mere words were enough to root him on the spot. Sweat gathered on his forehead as he continuously cycled his chakra through his entire body, as was taught by his sensei when he had first encountered the first Tailed Beast completely manifested.

According to his sensei, power had multiple ways of expressing itself. It need not always be chakra itself. Powerful people hold their weight in the very fabric of reality in the world, such that weaker people can feel the presence of a vastly stronger entity without said entity actively pressuring them to feel something.

He hastily waved his hands, "No–no! Tsunade is doing fine. I was going to award her the elite Jonin title once she came back. No, this is something else. This is about…Uzu,"

He immediately braced for the outpour of pressure that suddenly exploded out of her, "What happened?"

The words were soft spoken but somehow, against all his will, he found himself extending the scroll towards her, the very intent in her words forcing his mind to bend to her will. He didn't want to give such distressing news to her out in the open, with Nawaki nearby. Preferably, he would have done this in a secure Uzumaki sealed room where the chances of the Kyuubi doing something to the seal were miniscule, and yet….

And yet, the scroll was taken out of his hand by near invisible chakra strings and brought to her hand as she proceeded to tear through the security seal of the scroll as if it was non-existent, and read through the entire thing.

He immediately jumped back as the ground they were standing in was cratered by the outpouring of chakra. He looked back as the surrounding buildings began buckling due to the pressure that Mito-sama was putting on her surroundings. He could see her holding the scroll tightly, her eyes shining red as the Kyuubi's chakra began seeping out as well.

Before he could warn her about it, the pressure receded as Mito-sama stopped shining red. He hesitantly took a step forward and if it were not for his senses being enhanced by conscious use of his chakra, he never would have heard the whisper-like voice of Mito-sama.

"Tch! Damn fox," She muttered before she did something that he had never seen her do.

She…..disappeared.

Or more like she teleported, in a flash of bright blood red.

His eyes widened as he stood there, jaw agape as he realised that Mito-sama was using his sensei's Flying Thunder God Jutsu as well.

He straightened his form as he sensed multiple signatures entering the Senju compound, converging on his specific location. Had this been the days during his sensei's reign, the ANBU would have stopped at the gate itself but this was not the height of the Senju clan and due to the sheer power of Mito-sama and her own insistence, he had not stationed any permanent guards in the Senju clan compound.

"Hokage-sama!" He turned around and dispersed most of the ANBU. Only Danzo and his advisors were left behind as he ordered someone to make sure that Nawaki was safe and sound before rushing off to the specially created seal room in the centre of the Senju compound. It was commissioned to perform dangerous Fuinjutsu experiments by his sensei and Mito-sama but it could also be used to temporarily suppress the Kyuubi's chakra so that it doesn't weaken the seal.

He burst through the doors and arrived to see Mito-sama sitting on a chair, going through some…photo albums? Even if the entire room was coated in seals that throbbed as if it were alive, he could feel the pain that radiated through Mito-sama's chakra.

The teardrops on the album made him retreat through the room. As he came out of the house, he ordered Danzo, "Station a single guard here. Have him inform me once Mito-sama calls for him,"

"Danzo, I think we need to have some words about the entire Uzu situation," He said in his serious voice before turning to Koharu, "Convene a meeting with all available battle commanders within an hour,"

Then he headed back to the Hokage Tower, his mind awash with new ways of making sure that this war ended on his terms, Konoha's terms.

No, he had enough of letting people die on his terms. He would not let any more unnecessary casualties happen under his name. War was their bread and butter, but it would not have to be so for forever. No, something had to give and he was not sure if he was the man for that change.

He would see Konoha emerge through this war as the undisputed winner and then search for his successor. Kumo still had both its Jinchurikis active and its Kage active. Kumo was currently the strongest enemy that Konoha had and he had a hunch that the raid on Uzu had relieved Kumo of at least one of its Kage level fighters.

This was the best time to pressure them and make sure that they were deprived of yet another Kage level Shinobi. Killing Kage level shinobi was not easy and yet, Konoha had the best shinobi and they would make it so.

He glanced over the Hokage mountain as he entered his office, his thoughts wandering to what his teacher and his predecessors would think of his actions. He tried his best to do what his sensei would have done but alas, he was just not as strong as them. It started with a single compromise and before he knew it, they were doing the same as the Warring Eras did, sending young children into war, hoping that the ones that survived would grow to become stronger than the ones who perished.

He sat in his chair and then immediately stiffened as he felt…something. He kept calm before he sent a wind chakra infused kunai at a corner of his office, the place where could not feel anything. Not the chakra of the seals, not the ANBU hidden, not the Fuinjutsu traps, nor the pathways in the walls of his office.

The kunai, coated in lethal wind chakra, something he could do as easily as breathing was stopped just short of hitting his heart. He jumped in front of his desk, his Kunai withdrawn, his chakra flaring in specific short bursts to warn the ANBU. He only grew more confused as he could not sense any movements outside his office.

"As expected of the strongest Non-Uzumaki person here, huh?" He heard a boyish voice speak as the form of his subdued ANBU was revealed, as was the form of the intruder in his office.

"Who are you!" He roared as Enma was summoned to his side.

"Who I am doesn't matter. What I am here to do does. Fine, if you must know, my name is Uzumaki Ken, and I am here to meet my cousin. After all, I have so few family members left alive. Might as well meet them before I go ahead with my plans,"

His eyes narrowed as a young man who could not have been older than Nawaki himself and yet, exuded pressure that could match that of Mito-sama's, revealed himself to him. He was not lying about the Uzumaki apart since that could be easily confirmed by the bright red hair. The glowing eyes, some previously unknown Doujutsu?

All the while, he tried to sense the chakra of this Uzumaki in front of him and failed completely. It was supposed to be impossible. Even someone like his sensei could not keep his chakra whidden this well, not without using some other chakra source to hide his own. No, it was as if the person in front of him was a ghost.

He relaxed his stance but still held Enma in hand, "The Uzumaki are sworn allies. That is the only reason I will forgive this intrusion. But until Mito-sama herself confirms it, we cannot let you leave. I will inform her to come meet you. Now, will you lower the barrier that you have imposed over my office?"

He felt a sudden sense of unease as Uzumaki Ken grinned and his left hand twitched a bit. The single change led to a sudden cacophony of chakra hitting his senses, as he could somehow feel Mito-sama's chakra come to a complete halt…before it exploded to his senses.

"Oh?" He looked up to see Uzumaki Ken looking in the same direction as Mito-sama's house before his face gained a look of nostalgia, as if he was reliving some old memories.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Mito Uzumaki was not someone who dwelled on past memories. Ever since she became the wife of Hashirama, she knew that her time was limited. Even being an Uzumaki descended from the direct line of Arashi Uzumaki, she knew when she took on the burden of becoming the very first Jinchuriki, her body would give out long before she could reach the natural end of her lifespan.

The same was for her dearest husband. Hashirama, ever since he was little, knew that he was simple and not in a way that the entire world knew about.

Her husband was perhaps the single strongest being in this accursed world. And that didn't come without a cost. Perhaps, if Hashirama was born a few generations earlier when the Ancestral bloodline was still strong enough to sustain his prodigious abilities, he could have lived for a little bit more.

But as things stood, his body, his very lifeforce gave out as he used his Wood Release abilities over and over again, in hopes that he could see his dream come true. And he did, he established the very first Hidden Village, officially ending the Warring States Era.

And yet…

And yet, "Maybe the dream you saw could never be fulfilled in this accursed world, Hashirama. Maybe you were born in the wrong world. I am sorry my dear, I couldn't see your dream come true," She muttered as she wiped the teardrops that fell on the photo album that she found herself looking at, day in and day out.

The dream that the little Monkey had delivered to her was just another addition to the list of tragedies that had occured ever since her Husband died. Leaf Village children being sent to the frontlines, to a world of kill or get killed.

And now, her clan, her family was gone. Aside from Kushina who had just arrived in the village a few weeks prior, she probably had no other living relatives left. No other pureblood Uzumaki left.

Because of the very way that the Uzumaki lived, most of us never really strayed away from the family we had built in Uzu. As such, she knew that the chances of surviving Uzumaki clan folk was close to nil.

"What would you do, Hashirama?" She asked the smiling Hashirama in the photo, with his brother, his only surviving brother in the frame, ruffling Tobirama's white hair, something that Tobirama hated but only gave his elder brother the privilege to get away with.

Hashirama's brothers, she thought to herself as she wiped off her tears.

At this point, the sealing array had done the work and suppressed the fox's chakra completely. The fox was a very resilient creature, a force of unyielding malice and hatred manifested into a chakra being.

She had built this room with the intention of artificially stopping the fox's chakra from interfering with the seal, if the situation arose where she would be unable to do it on her own, something that would only happen once her emotions started to get the better of her.

For some reason, a conversation she had with Hashirama in the early days of the village resonated in her mind, a story of why only two out of their 7 brothers had made it to adulthood. Hashirama was the strongest of the seven siblings, but he was not the oldest.

His eldest brother was dead long before Hashirama even began walking. By the time Hashirama began making a name for himself on the battlefield, mainly against the Uchiha, only two of his brothers had survived.

Tobirama and Itama Senju.

All the other brothers had died on the battlefield, mainly by the hands of the Uchiha.

The death of Itama Senju was what prompted Hashirama and Tobirama to figure out a better system. They understood that something needed to change or they would all die to the blade of someone who would only end up alone.

"I could have asked for the heads of the people who killed my brother, Madara would have gladly given them up, hell they themselves would have offered me their lives in exchange for their clan's safety…but…. What was the point even?" Hashirama's teary eyes as he said that statement to her, something that resounded in her mind even now, was something that was seared into her mind.

Hashirama was right, the cycle of violence, of killing, of revenge, needed to be stopped, and yet…

And yet, she was nowhere near strong enough to do what Hashirama single handedly did. Not because she did not have the might of chakra, no, even now, half dead as she was, she could best all the strongest fighters of this era and come out on top. No, it was not about might, it was never about the strength of chakra.

No, it was about the strength of mind, and no one, not even Tobirama, had the same mental strength as his brother did.

No one who could have welcomed the killers of his own brother with open arms and a smile on his face, creating an equal partnership with them, creating an entirely new system with them, granting them the honor of becoming the founding members of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

She kept repeating Hashirama's words inside her mind as she struggled to reign in her raging emotions. The overwhelming urge to kill that sprouted in her mind that the fox pounced upon, the wish to raze down entire villages to the ground for daring to hurt her family.

The only thing that was stopping her from marching to the villages and demanding the heads of the Kage involved, was Hashirama's words.

"You were always so stupid, Hashirama," She muttered to him, as she smiled through the pain, the rage, the hate, as the sunny face of Hashirama appeared in her mind, warding off the negative emotions, emotions that the fox thrived upon. She stood up, ready to tell the little monkey that she would not go on rampaging out of the village anytime soon.

Also, this little incident gave her fresh insight on how to better design the next seal. Although it was a grave burden, she had to pass on the fox to someone. Kushina was chosen expressly for this purpose and a pang of sorrow passed her as she thought of the life that lay ahead of the young Uzumaki.

Dismissing the barrier covering the seal room, she sensed the lone ANBU that was stationed outside her house. Chakra chains sprouted from her back, neatly folding up the photo album and sealing it into the vault underneath her house.

Some of the chains wiped off the seals etched into the walls of the chakra sealed room. It was something that she had designed after Tobirama's death. The only way to truly dispel the seal line etched into the room was to use the Uzumaki chakra chains, a fully realised Kekkei Genkai that the fox wouldn't be able to use even if he was able to get past the Seal on her belly.

Making sure that the seals were properly disposed of, something that was of paramount importance considering the level of seals in the room, she took one step out of the room and was about to head to the poor ANBU stationed outside when…

Her chakra exploded, for the second time in the day as she rushed straight to the Hokage Tower, restraint all but forgotten as she blasted past the walls of her house, past the walls of the Senju clan compound, breaking apart the pavement under her bare feet as she jumped through the walls of the Hokage Tower, the Fuinjutsu enhanced walls buckling under her chakra aura as she arrived into the Hokage Office, coming face to face with the Boogeyman of the Uzumaki.

Ken, short for Kenta Uzumaki.

"Hiya Mito! How you doin',"

"Mito-sama! Is everything alright?" Hirzuen's concern could be felt through his aura but her attention was not on him. It was on making sure that the face in front of her matched with the one of the renegade Uzumaki she knew of.

The one who tried to blow up the Ancestral Barrier surrounding Uzu, the one who had to be sealed away by Arashi-sama himself, dying in the process as Kenta was sealed in one of the experimental dimensional prisons. Arashi-sama had deemed Kenta too much of a threat to the current Shinobi World and had summarily disposed of him to the mercy of the space storms.

"Miss me?" The shining red eyes reminded her of the vile Doujutsu that Kenta had apparently made for himself.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

There was a moment of silence in between Kenta saying something and the moment Mito took action.

Her chakra chains burst out of her back as she rushed towards Kenta, intending to skewer him. She didn't know what she was doing, Kenta was way out of her league, and she could admit that much.

Even back when she was still a child, he could effortlessly wipe the floor with all the warriors that the Uzumaki clan could muster up. She didn't know what had happened to him in all the time he had spent in imprisonment but she had to do something.

Otherwise…

The scenes of the village were still imprinted in her mind. When she had grown older and had gotten access to Kenta's vile deeds, she had been very disturbed. The scenes of entire villages being filled with mummified people, their very life forces absorbed away by something, would never fade from her memory.

If she didn't want the same fate to befall Konoha, the Village built by her husband, she would have to fight.

"Whoa!" Kenta said nonchalantly as the chains seemed to curve all around him, never really reaching their intended destination. It was fine, the chains were only meant to serve as a distraction.

With a furious cry that resonated with the Nine Tails chakra, she thrust her palm and slammed it into Kenta's chest, triumph filling her as the Fuinjutsu script spread from the point of contact, Black ink spreading across Kenta's body as he watched on indifferent to what fate awaited him.

The second the ink converged on top of his head, covering his entire body, she activated the seal, the seal that was passed down to her by the Clan head, something that could be used to send someone into the void, the space between realms. Not even the Sage of the Six Paths dared to tread those realms lightly.

She was sure that Kenta would die there, ridding the world of another threat that had unexpectedly appeared.

"Oh, this looks familiar," The casual words brought her entire mind to a standstill as she watched the black ink recede from his body, until it eventually disappeared into thin air, the seal disappearing into thin air.

She couldn't even react before she felt an impact on her back as she felt all her chakra being sealed away, making her feel powerless in front of this monster.

"So, can we talk?" He asked her, looking from above as she lay, sprawled on the ground with Hiruzen trying to help her stand up again.

"Do your worst, you monster. I would rather die than help you do to Konoha what you did to those poor villagers all those years ago!" She spat at him, trying to stand up, not being used to the sudden feeling of weakness without the reassuringly warm Uzumaki chakra flowing through her body. It was as if her chakra was not just sealed but stolen.

The possibility alone was horrifying but she couldn't just let Kenta do whatever he wanted here. As strong as Konoha was, they were just not prepared to deal with someone of Kenta's caliber, not even she was, and if she was right, not even Hashirama could decisively deal with the monster in front of her.

Kenta sighed dramatically, "Look, I know that I did some pretty horrible things all those years ago but I have already been punished for that. Damn, Old Man Arashi, sending me to the multiverse of all places."

"Multiverse?" Hiruzen muttered beside her as he continuously sent out chakra pulses to stop the Shinobi standing outside from pouring in. It was odd, her chakra was completely gone, not even flowing through her body anymore, and yet, her senswing abilities were intact.

How?

She was not given the opportunity to ponder when Kenta suddenly sat down, a plush chair forming out of thin air underneath him.

"Look, the time I spent in the multiverse has changed me. I am not the old bloodthirsty…and insane Kenta you once knew. I have changed and as proof of that, I will let you go, even though the transgression of touching me would have had you killed if you had done that in my city,"

His city?

"What is going on, Mito-sama?" Hiruzen whispered behind her, still sending his chakra in pulses to stop the shinobi outside from rushing into their needless death. Kenta might have some interest in her due to her Uzumaki lineage and into Hiruzen because he was the Hokage but she doubted he would spare anyone who came barging in.

Kenta then snapped his fingers and the next moment, her chakra came roaring back. She closed her eyes, shuddering in ecstasy, as her Chakra returned to her.

Her eyes snapped open as she stood up, towering over the now sitting, amused looking Kenta.

"This is Kenta Uzumaki, the reason Arashi-sama had to come back from their tomb and die in the process of sealing him. The Crimson Scourge, they called him back when I was a little kid in Uzu," She told Hiruzen, warning him of the monster in front of them.

"Oh, you wound me, Mito-chan. Look at how you've grown. Oh, well well well, look at what you have inside of you,"

Her fists clenched as she felt Kenta's doujutsu seeing through her. He probably sensed the Nine Tails sealed inside her.

"Oh, that came out wrong. I was talking about the Nine Tails you have sealed inside of you. So, old man Tetsu was able to finish his Sentient Chakra Sealing Formation, then?" Kenta asked her as the atmosphere in the office lightened.

Kenta looked at the still tense Hiruzen and her, sighed, and said, "Look, I was just out and about on a stroll when I sensed something happening to the gate that sealed the doorway to this cluster of the multiverse. OId Man Arashi was truly a monster, even going so far as to sacrifice his soul to make sure the gate remained closed."

Her mind shook from the revelations and she finally understood why the field of seals that explored the realms outside the Shinobi World was expressly forbidden by the elders and all the knowledge regarding those was purged from the Uzu libraries.

It was only because of Kenta and what he had become.

"The Yin shredder barrier that kept Uzu safe fell, obviously, and with that, the remnant energies of Old Man Arashi disappeared into the void, leaving the gate to his world open. I have great respect for Old Man Arashi, the bastard taught me most of what I know. For that and for that reason alone, I am here."

"Now, who destroyed Uzu and how many do I need to kill before I find them?" Kenta's words reverbed in the Meeting Room, his voice alone bringing pressure capable of pressing her to her knees.

The sheer strength behind those words, this presence, it was horrifying.

"....M-Mito-sama, what is he?" The terrified words of Hiruzen reached her ears as she looked at the warping air in front of them.

Right, she was the elder here, she couldn't really afford to fall down right now. So, with much difficulty, she looked Kenta right in the eye and said, "Kenta, stop this right now. The people here are innocent. We can talk in the Senju Estate," She said as she handed over a Flying Thunder God Kunai to Kenta.

The pressure disappeared as Kenta looked over the seals etched on the Kunai, "Hmm, Short range space linked teleportation. Object resonance required. Huh, good work for someone clearly of Non Uzumaki lineage. This person must be a genius by normal standards. Very well, let's go to the…Senju Estate?

Why would you be living in the Senju Estate? Where is the Uzumaki Estate in this place?

What is this place anyway? Why am I sensing all these different flavors of chakra?"

The barrage of questions was endless but strangely, she felt relaxed because of them. It meant that Kenta was not razor focused on violence and she could use that.

"Let's go," she said and then activated the jutsu, finding herself standing in the Seal Room once again. She had actually carved seals throughout the Senju Estate so she could teleport back to any given area with ease.

As expected, Kenta arrived a moment later, with a flash of blood red, his red eyes boring into her, as if trying to read her mind.

And it was a legitimate possibility. It was only due to the confidence she had in her mind arts, something that Kenta himself had invented in his early days, that gave her the confidence to match Kenta's gaze.

For some reason, he had not immediately ransacked the mind of the nearest person he could find, and took all the information he needed out of them.

Something was different and she would get to the root of it.

It would seem that Mito still had a lot of work left to do before she could pass on the burden to young Kushina and meet Hashirama in the Pure Lands.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Arata's Forge [A month after Third Shinobi War ended]

–Arata Kato–

Akio had always been somewhat of an oddity of a child. Not something that he would say or even think in front of his wife, who would skin him alive if she knew he thought something like that but it was the truth.

He began crawling at 6 months, babbling at 8, walking at a year old and then outright speaking, even if it was somewhat choppy, at 1 year 2 months and then to constructing fluent sentences at 2 years.

No matter where he went, that was abnormal behaviour, and abnormal in a shinobi Village was not a good thing. He might not be a shinobi himself, not anymore but he knew what fate awaited teh so called abnormal, the so called "prodigies" of the village. Stars forced to burn too bright at the start of their lives, only to end up with burnt out husks of what were once promising candidates.

Or, he thought darkly, dead bodies of children.

He didn't want to impose that fate on anyone, let alone his own blood but the thing was, they lived in a shinobi village. Just because he left the Genin Corps and learned a few things from a refugee of the Land of SNow, didn't mean that he was out of the web of shinobis and whatever went on in their lives.

See, very early on, in fact in the first year itself, he knew that if he waited in the GEnin Corps, all that awaited him was a lifetime of injury, risk to life and more likely since he didn't have any fancy jutsu, bloodline or clan backing him, death.

Yup, he knew that all that awaited them was death and thus, when there were rumours that another Shinobi War was about to erupt, he had immediately started frantically searching for ways to survive, and find he did.

A refugee he had helped out on a whim because his father always used to take him to the shelter, asked him one day about the reason he came to the shelter and used his meagre earnings to help them with food and even blankets since the shelter always ran in a budget deficit, and he had answered the first thing that came to his mind, something that his father always used to say.

"With Great Power comes Great Responsibility," He had said, all posing as a superhero, and then had deflated and clarified later on, much to the laughter of the surrounding people, "I have so little power so I can only take on this little responsibility. That is why I do this,"

He had answered and moved on, not knowing that the same refugee would approach him a week later and offer to teach him the art of making weapons.

Weapons of greater quality than anyone in Konoha could make.

And, in the same week, he had not found anything of note that would help someone like him, with meagre and even mediocre chakra control, that might help him survive the upcoming war. The Second Shinobi War had taken his father, the one true support he had in this world and he didn't intend on becoming another nameless casualty in the Third one, another unmarked grave in the mass graves that had become the norm in Konoha.

It always creeped him out how they had to cut Shodaime Hokage-sama's trees around the existing cemetery to make space for more and more graves, as a result of the vast casualties of the war.

It felt like they were not just cutting Hashirama Senju's trees but his dreams, his ideology as well. He knew for a fact that more than half of the casualties in the Third Shinobi War had been teenagers or children and if war erupted anytime soon, they might just have to send in the civilians because the village was pretty much depleted at that point.

Then, he exhaled, and then smiled wearily. At Least this war was over and with how damaged the other villages were, chances of another Shinobi War beginning so soon was all but nil, all thanks to the S class monsters that roamed the walls of Konoha. The Strongest of them being the Sandaime Hokage who was hailed as the God of Shinobi.
Sure, he was old but he had won Konoha two Shinobi Wars. To be frank, he hoped that Sandaime-sama would just retire now and let someone else take over. It was not as if they had any shortage in viable candidates.

Princess of the Senju Clan, the Sannin in the entirety actually, even if Orochimaru-sama gave him the creeps, Wicked Eye Fugaku and then finally, the Yellow Flash, the sole reason why Iwa had to surrender to Konoha.

Ah, that man was way too handsome to be a cold blooded killer, he thought to himself.

"What are you making that face for, Old man?" A squeaky voice interrupted his dreams of continued peace for decades. His face smoothed out as he looked down, to see a chibi, looking at him with a look of concentration which just looked cute on him, holding a small knife in his hand, hilt held in his direction.

"What do you want, Akio? Don't you have homework to do?" He asked as he took the knife from Akio's hands and had to suppress a flinch as the edge drew blood from his finger.

Akio shook his head, "Nope. I completed the homework in school itself. How is the sharpness, and the weight distribution? I had to increase the thickness of the blade to balance it all. Chakra Metal is really hard to work with,"

His grip faltered as he held on to the knife as if it was the most precious thing in the world and it probably was, because he looked at the knife's blade and sure enough, it shone briefly when he poured his chakra into it.

Looking around, he pinged his chakra in a very basic stealth detection technique to see if anyone was nearby and then immediately hid the knife in the locker and pulled Akio in the basement, which was laden with security seals, courtesy of the village.

"What did you do, Akio? I gave you regular scrap ore to practice with." He all but shouted at Akio because it was no small matter.

Chakra Metal was strictly regulated, especially in Konoha since it made very potent weapons and monsters at S class levels were really hard to kill with just jutsu and sometimes needed chakra Metal weapons to kill without sacrificing droves of shinobi to just stall them.

Now, as he said earlier, Akio was a peculiar child and while his wife refused to acknowledge it, he knew for a fact that being able to handle tools of that calibre while just being 10 years old was an anomaly. Thankfully, not a chakra anomaly because his son had one of the rarest chakra diseases in the world.

Chakra Restrictive Syndrome, a disease that seals off the major tenketsu points in a body, effectively disabling them from becoming a shinobi. Sure, he had above average chakra pool but using it was out of the question and due to less use as a child, the chakra network atrophied, rendering them incapable of using more complex jutsus as an adult.

While his wife had been heartbroken, he had quietly sighed in relief because he did not want his son to be thrown into the meat grinder that was the Genin Corps and while his son was a Second generation Shinobi child, his parents were both Genins, who were barely stronger than the average Genin.

"Yeah, you did that but I saw a ball of metal in the scrap as well. Well, it was not a ball but a rock. I broke it down using the tools you gave me and found some silvery liquid inside. It was fascinating so I used some of it to make that knife earlier. It turned out very glowy for a moment before it all dulled down. I thought you could tell me with your chakra," Akio said and he pinched the bridge of his nose at that.

This child was going to the death of him.

"Akio, what you just said sounds too good to be true. Take me to the scrap pile," He ordered Akio, who was taking lessons in the civilian academy, to become an accountant for some reason. He was incapable of molding chakra and thus, barred from attending the Shinobi Academy where Children graduated at 16 to become full fledged killers, but he was allowed in the Civilian Trades school, where he could get training to fill in a number of roles that the Shinobi Killers could not do.

Akio chose to be an accountant and was acing everything so he had no argument against the boy learning the family business.

"There, I broke it right here, and silvery metal came pouring out. I collected that, and then made more and more holes, until the entire thing broke apart, revealing that small vat of silvery liquid. I stored most of it away and used some for my project. It was nice," Akio said and then pointed at a large pile of rocks and then revealed that the large pile of rocks had once been a single rock larger than his entire shop floor.

He once again sighed in resignation, pinched his forehead, and looked at the oblivious face of his son, the star of his life.

"Alright, I'll get that whole thing," he pointed at the vat of silvery metal, "sorted out but Akio, remember this, no more exotic metal use. Come to me before performing any variations in the process. Now, why don't we get started on the standard kunai set? You should be able to make all the shinobi tools by the time you graduate,"
Akio scoffed and then looked up at him, god he was so short for his age, "Please, Old man. I will surpass you in 2 years at best, and then you will sit at home, with nothing to do,"
Having said his part, Akio turned around and went to their shop/house building that he was still paying his loan for.

As he said before, Akio was a peculiar child.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Arata's Forge [A month after the Third Shinobi War ended]

–Arata Kato–

"Yes, just like that," he wiped the sweat off his eyebrows as he watched his son, his 10 year old son, who had begged for him to teach smithing, lift a Hammer two times his size and then strike it on the anvil.

Like he said before, his son, Akio was somewhat of an anomaly. Now, he said that with the highest amount of love he could muster for the little helion, who was not a hellion at all and was actually really sweet and perhaps the most low maintenance baby ever, based on what he had heard from his drinking buddies, obviously from the clanless side since the clans had an army of nannies to look after their precious clan children.

He never cried, unless he needed food or had to change, even when he was little, right up until. And then, as if the dam broke, spilling forth an unending wave of curiosity.

He still remembered the near heart attack he had when his 8 year old son, punched through hardened wood as if it was not even there. He had worked hard ever since to instill a sense of caution in his son. His wife, to this day, never speaks of that incident, as if it never happened. It seemed to disturb Akio as well because he never performed any feats of extraordinary strength in front of his wife again. It never stopped him from showing Akio, his father his super strength.

Despite being a literal dwarf for his age, his son was stronger than him, even when he was using chakra reinforcement, mediocre as it was in its application. It was a small miracle that his son was diagnosed with his disease very early in his life and his file was probably already stamped with the "not suitable to be shinobi" tag so he should be safe, for a while, atleast until his extraordinary abilities were revealed.

He didn't know what he would do then, powerless as he was but his concern for his son had made him train his chakra once again, even though he knew that the chances of him becoming strong enough to matter to the higher ups of the village were negligible.

He just hoped for his son to lead a normal life, without the burden of being thrown in the meat grinder that was any Shinobi World War. Despite Konoha being seen as the morally superior of any Shinobi War, he knew that there could not just be light in Konoha.

Just as Sandaime-sama was the light of Konoha, there must be people who act as the darkness of Konoha and do despicable things, necessary for Konoha to win the war but despicable nonetheless.

He heard rumours but he knew better than to put stock into any one of them.

"Alright son, why don't you go take a breather?" He stopped Akio from speaking as he held a hand in his direction, "I know, I know you are not tired. I am tired of supervising you. Why don't you go, I don't know, do accounting homework or something?"

Akio pouted fiercely and he barely resisted the urge to give in but the upcoming meeting made him hold firm as he took the hammer, which felt heavy in his hand and then watched as Akio stomped up to his room.

Now, stomping in Akio's sense was very different from a regular 10 year old child. Akio stomped on the first step, and his foot simply went through the wooden step. His hand met his face, loudly as he made a shooing gesture at Akio, "Go, Just go. I'll take care of it,"

Akio had the decency to look sheepish before he ran upstairs to his room.

He exhaled loudly and then straightened up. He had an important meeting to attend to.

Chakra metal was not something that could be distributed or even gathered willy nilly. It was a regulated material in all of the Elemental nations and was an object of national importance in Konoha, especially during wartime, due to its ability to act as a force multiplier in weapons, especially in the hands of higher ranking Ninjas.

Sure, the Uzumaki and their art of imbuing any type of chakra attribute and even spells in various weapons were lost to the ravages of war, but even a regular chakra metal weapon, bonded to a shinobi, can be of monumental help in fights with opponents of equal caliber.

He knew for a fact that that White Fang, Sakumo Hatake once destroyed multiple S rank enemies in the Second Shinobi War with the help of his tanto, which was even named.

White Light Chakra Sabre.

A name that sent chills down their enemies' spines. It was unfortunate that Sakumo Hatke himself didn't have a spine because he killed himself.

It might sound derogatory but the timing of his suicide didn't do the village any favours. The village fell into the cesspit of war soon later on and they could have really done with a high S-class shinobi.

Now, he was not supposed to know any of this high class information. Nope, this information was reserved, even among active shinobi, to older Genin or Chunin and above. Fortunately, one of his friends that he made in his Genin Corps days, somehow overcame all odds and became a Jonin.

Not an S-class monster that some of the Jonins were but his friend managed to become a solid Jonin, with a B-class ranking in the Bingo Books of Iwa and Kumo. He managed to make a name for himself in the same war that he avoided by becoming a renowned blacksmith, with skill surpassing all the living blacksmiths in Konoha.

Sure, he had to spend a week in T&I, with the Yamanake going through every nook and cranny of his brain when it was revealed that he learned blacksmithy from a Refugee, who also probably died in custody but later on, once it was revealed that he was not a traitor but a highly skilled weaponsmith, he was given a small home/workshop, enough money to start his business, a fast tracked license, all as an apology from the village for being so invasive in their processes.

Now, he wouldn't say that he did not resent the village for the mind scan but it was war time and he could see that the situation was truly very odd. Also, Sandaime-sama didn't really have to give him anything. They could have just patted him on the back, told him that he was clear and been on their way.

But Sandaime-sama still held some good in his heart, despite slaughtering more people than most would see in their lifetimes. He supposed that was what made the Third Hokage the most dangerous person in Konoha.

He could smile at you like a grandfather and then turn around and slaughter an entire enemy Shinobi unit, without breaking a sweat, all in the same day.

"Alright, enough procrastinating," He shook his head and changed into one of his finer clothing. He was going into a government office, run by the Nara who were sharp enough to figure out what he ate a few days ago just by looking at him.

___xx__

Upstairs

–Akio Kato–

He watched, from the window of his room, as his father left, holding the vat in his hand like it was his most precious treasure.

And in a sense, it was. His father just didn't know that the treasure did not come from the pile of scrap that was given to them. No, it came from below Konoha.

Specifically, about 40 kilometres deep into the Earth. Yup, Konoha held a reserve of this Chakra metal very deep below, where no chakra enhanced drill, no Earth Jutsu would reach.

Thankfully, his powers could.

Also, it would seem that he had put his father in trouble, inadvertently but he was very curious about the odd metal he could sense in his range and then was very curious about what would happen should he try to make a knife out of it.

As it turned out, since he had no chakra, he could not test it but it was very special, if his father's reaction was anything to go by.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 1

Grand Magical Zone [Fire]

–Mereoleona Vermillion–

Whistling a jaunty tone, she waltzed into one of the Fire oriented Grand Magical Zones that surrounded Clover Kingdom. Well, she said surrounded but more like Clover Kingdom owned all these Zones. It was not like her kingdom sent Knights to these places to enforce any rules because, usually, not many would survive in them, save for the Magic Captains and the Wizard King, or royals of the same calibre.

Even having outrageous amounts of magic, like the Fat Pig of a King they had, would not be enough to live here, she thought in the privacy of her mind. Nothing wrong with having thoughts that would have Damnatio Kira just jumping at the chance to imprison her, as long as they were just in her mind.

"Yo!" She waved at the guards who were there to monitor who went in and out of one of the easiest entrances into the Grand Magical Zone. It was not easy to enter from here as well but atleast, if one took this path, they would not be burnt to a crisp immediately. After crossing this area, one had to be really stupid or desperate to still enter the Zone.

She didn't wait for a reaction as she hopped off the cliff, right into one of the smaller active volcanoes, that constantly shot up magical Lava that gave off no smoke or other air polluting particles. She had been to an island once that had a natural Volcano and when it erupted, she had come to know about the various other things that Volcanoes spew out, other than lava and heat.

"Ah! Home Sweet Home!" She sighed in relief as she was submerged in the lava, right up to her neck, Mana Skin protecting her body and more importantly, her clothes from being burned to oblivion. She did not want to go back to civilization just to get more clothing, even if her fire could work in a pinch.

It's not like she was shy or anything, it's just that her damned geezer of a father had made sure to drill in the consequences of her actions ever since she was without a grimoire. She was a hellion back then and she was an even bigger one now.

Swimming around a bit, she grinned slyly as she felt the creature approach. The magic in this zone, even at the edges, was more than enough for magical creatures to sprout out of the norm. Case in point, "Woohooo!" She exclaimed as she was dragged into the lava by a Lava Shark. It seemed to be frustrated at its failure to pierce her Mana Skin and it died confused as her first went through its body and she used her superior control over the element to dismantle the creature, turning it into its base elements.

With a kick, she was out of the volcano and on its edge as she looked at her receding Mana Skin. She had kicked it up a notch when she was under the lava but for casual use, she lowered it down a lot. That was fantastic, another skill she had honed in her long time her, something that little Fuegoleon would never have because he never understood her urge to stay in the Zone for longer and longer periods of time, only going back when her geezers had to fake an injury just so they could meet her face to face. Oh, she knew her father was not really ill or he wasn't that clumsy with his training or he "fell down" all the time but it really warmed her heart to see her old man, once a prim and proper royal, fake injuries to meet his only daughter.

That warmth promptly turned into rage when he inevitably steered the conversation to the topic of her marriage, and then, he had to build a section of the house once again, as it always failed to withstand her magic, even when she was not using anything other than mana Zone.

Her father wore an exasperated face but she knew that he was secretly proud that she was strong, stronger than any Captain, save for maybe Yami himself. She grinned at the thought of meeting the Dark Magic User and having a brawl with him. Ah, she just missed the guy during her last visit to the capital and the Wizard King wanted to have her assurance that she would be back if the Kingdom needed her, normal stuff that he had her sign everytime she came back.

____xx___

Black Bulls Base

–Yami "I have to surpass my limits" Sukehiro—

Whistling, he was reading the newspaper as he "surpassed his limits" so to speak, on a whole other battlefield when suddenly, out of nowhere, he felt the temperature in the bathroom spike to uncomfortable levels.

A phantom sensation of pain racked his entire body as he felt the malevolent gaze of her, the She Devil. He shivered all over as he was immediately on his feet, sword in hand and Grimoire floating, pants all but forgotten as he remained alert for an enemy he knew he would never truly get rid of.

After a moment of him twitching in anticipation of some wall being torn down and a flaming hand latching on to him, he sighed and shakily sat back down on the toilet, Grimoire withdrawn as his will to "surpass his limits" left him.

"Damn Anegoleon" He cursed as he wished to never be in the same room as the damned fighting machine, and he knew Jack.

____xx__

–Mereoleona Vermillion–

Having completed her ritual of beating a fire based monster whenever she entered the Grand magical Zone, she jumped, her Mana Zone allowing her to use the air itself as a platforms but not allowing her to fly freely. It was an ability she was working on but honestly, she felt as if she was going to have to unlearn her ability to create air platforms before she could figure out how to fly.

That was going to take time, time that she could better spend on fighting stronger and stronger opponents and becoming stronger herself.

It was not as if she had a rival to rely on, given that Acier was dead, and Fuegoleon had a long way to go if he wanted to beat her. Her old geezer of a father had long since given up on trying to defeat her. The other captains were wimps who thought of her as a senior and refused to fight her.

The only ones whom she could reasonably wrangle into a fight were Yami and Jack, both of them being the only ones who gave her the thrill of a battle whenever she was forced to spend time in the capital.

She didn't understand why her presence was necessary in the capital because the Wizard King lived there, the strongest person in all of Clover Kingdom lived there, why would she be required to stay just so that nobles could see the strongest that royals could offer?

She rolled her eyes and jumped once again, using Mana both as a platform and also as a way to generate a blast at her feet, propelling her even further. Going a step further, she aimed to, one day, have enough control over Mana that she would reuse the Mana already expended to create that platform to create that boom that would allow her to travel even further with minimal Mana use.

Already, she could somewhat simulate 360 degree mobility by creating platforms of mana and then creating an explosion of Mana around her, tanking the shockwave using her Mana Skin and allowing herself to be ragdolled around the area in a controlled manner.

It was still crude but it was something she had to master before she could attempt entering the deepest zones, the zones that none in her family had ever gone before. The zone where the 16th Wizard King died because he wanted to elevate his Fire Magic to even higher levels by staying in that zone for years at a time. He died an old Geezer, far from his prime, after encountering a particularly strong Fire Dragon but he was still the Wizard King at the time, showcasing the dangers of the Grand Magical Zone.

She never attempted to enter that area because she knew her limits. Especially that Fire Dragon part stopped her because if the opponent could fly and had better control of the environment? Yeah, she would be toast then, and not even the good kind.

So, with an excited gleam in her eyes, she reached the place she had carved out for herself in the Zone, her personal training ground to speak, with her own onsen and an active volcano along with a makeshift house she had built with lava that cooled down, creating a small stone housing for her.

She had actively hunted down and displayed any creature that came into her zone and that had marked this territory as forbidden to all the nearby creatures, allowing her to enjoy this nice little place for herself.

It made sense that was recognised as an Apex predator in the area by her neighbours, allowing her to get some shut eye whenever she needed it, in this area. Medical Help was far away but being surrounded by this much Fire Mana meant that she rarely needed help healing whatever bruises and scratches that would litter her frame whenever she tried to venture deeper into the Zone.

She was still on the edge of the Zone, not even the middle layers because if she fell asleep in the middle layers, she could still be killed. But the critters on the edge were easy prey for her.

Eventually, she wanted to move her lair into the middle zone so she could train on an ability that allowed Acier to be so far ahead of everyone that it wasn't even funny. An ability that made it impossible to either ambush or overwhelm her in her own element.

Active Mana Zone. A Mana Zone that could be kept on at all times, making the user passively stronger over time.

Ah, she couldn't wait!

She smashed her fists together, ready to dump all the supplies she had brought this time, enough for her to last years, when she paused right at the entrance of the door, the door that was somehow open. Flaring her mana, she paused as she could sense nothing in her home.

Although being in an area with such Turbulent Mana reduced her Mana sensory range, it was more than enough to cover the entire area in her sight and beyond. Yet, she could not sense anyone in the dwelling.

Sighing, she lowered her hands, relaxing as she entered the place, and….immediately pulled her fist back, "Fire Magic.." Mana swirled all around her fist, forming a blazing glow that covered her fist as the air itself superheated, "...Calidus Brachium.."

Her vision was immediately covered in fire as she bathed the entire area in her spell, wary of any person who could somehow escape all her senses. She flared her mana in all directions, activating Mana Zone to gain an extra sense to see—

Her eyes widened as she immediately leaped out of her dwelling, her grin faltering a bit as she could not gain control of the Mana in the surrounding. Something was keeping her from activating her Mana Zone and she did not like that feeling, not one bit.

After all, there was only one other person who could forcibly stop others from forming Mana Zone by overlapping hers with others, and she was dead.

"Ah, Man! What's the deal? I was just sleeping," A lazy voice greeted her as she watched the reason for her wariness, a topless man with blazing red hair, addressed her while scratching his chin.

She jolted in surprise and a little bit of fear as the man just waved his hand and the fire…disappeared, dispelled by the mere touch of the man. She couldn't even spot his grimoire while he did so.

A bead of sweat that had nothing to do with the heat surrounding them, gathered on her forehead as she renewed her spell once more, "Fire Magic : Calibd—"

"Oh, none of that now," The stranger said, waving his hand in her direction carelessly and she blinked, staggering as she felt the mana of the spell wink out of existence. No, her eyes narrowed as she realised that the mana was returned to its fire mana base, once again, without the man using his grimoire.

She smiled grimly at that, excited at the challenge, "Bring it on!"

"Uh, no. Bye!" The man had the audacity to wave at her and then flee?

She growled under her breath as she chased after the man who made a hole in the 3 foot stone wall and was running away with not even a single particle of mana being used, according to her senses.

"Interesting!" [Omoshiroi! Would be the word that would perfectly convey her battle lust when she would say that but oh well, English it is!]

---

Ah, the Muse Cometh and the Muse Taketh away.

A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 2

Grand Magical Zone [Fire]

–Mereoleona Vermillion–

This was not the first time she had met interesting people in the Grand Magical Zone but most of them didn't have the Fire flavoured Mana that her family had been refining for generations, not to mention her level of power so most of the people she met in the middle layers were people who were either injured or barely alive.

She helped the ones she could and killed the ones who were actively taking advantage of the bad situation, irrespective of what was displayed on their Grimoire. More than one Noble from the Clover Kingdom had found themselves charred to a crisp when she had found them in the middle of a heinous act. Killing fellow nobles, especially without grounds for retaliation was grounds for treason, if only anyone found out how they died or who killed them. She usually did it in a flash, the target not even feeling any pain. Many times she had to put their victims out of their misery as well, something that grated on her psyche a lot.

It was not a new idea, training in the Grand Magical Zones. No, her family had been sending their most talented Fire Mages to this very zone for generations, with most of them achieving much higher progress in their magics in the edge zone itself. She had actually been the first Vermillion Fire Mage to reach the Middle Zones in a century.

So, while seeing the familiar brand of orange-red hair in the Grand Magical Zone was not new, seeing someone who could just do away with her magic with such ease was rare, downright impossible.

Some would say that chasing people capable of rendering someone helpless with a mere gesture was not wise and they would be right but she was not here to remain helpless, she was here to become strong.

And that was why she was chasing down the impossibly strong person whom she suspected to be of the Vermillion family, even as he continued to gain speed without even using a shred of Mana, while she burned through all of her Mana simply trying to keep up. The man seemed to know the Zone as if it was his home, twisting and turning, burrowing into caves, only to pop up at the oddest of angles, to come up out of the ground.

She continued to follow him through all of it, her sight never leaving him because her Mana senses continued to fail her completely. It was as if she was chasing a ghost. More than once, she allowed her Fire Mana to burn a small part of her body to check if she was caught in an illusion but no. This was reality and for some odd reason, she was chasing a person who might possibly be the strongest Fire Mage she had ever seen, and the man was still running.

"Stop running, you coward!" She shouted with all her might, Mana enhancing her voice as she was sure that everyone within her edge of the Zone heard the rage induced bellow.

The effect was obvious as the man slowed down, her grin widening as he did so. He was still a fair distance away when he stopped but she had no intention of doing so. After all this time, she had finally encountered someone who could defeat her, she was not going to let this chance get out of hand.

She was not stupid though. She had already transmitted the man's image as well as her rough location to the guards who were permanently stationed here because of the amount of time she spent in the Grand Magical Zone. They had no doubt already passed on the image back home to the Old Geezer. It also included a rough message as to what was happening.

They were no doubt already on their way here using one of the Spatial Mages they had on call. One way or another, she was going to get her fight today.

"Fire Magic: Calib–"

Her chants never finished as the man turned around, looking at her with dead eyes. As his gaze slid to her hands, she found her magic winking out of her control, then he looked her right in the eyes, and to her horror, and slight arousal, she could not control her mana anymore, not from her body or from outside her body, causing her to crash into the ground.

Hissing at the fire wounds, something that had never happened before, she stood up and looked up at the man because wow was he tall, and said, "So, who are you?"

Probably not the best look on her because her legs were slightly trembling for reasons she would never admit to anyone.

The man looked her up and down, crossed his arms, "I am Ignis. Who are you?"

She narrowed her eyes as she noticed the man didn't have a last name but his hair was unmistakably the Vermillion colour. His control over Mana might be a whole other ability because she had yet to see him use Fire Magic. His presence in this Zone might indicate his affinity but she couldn't assume anything. She had to make him use his magic, a tall task considering the man had thoroughly subdued her with a mere wave of his hand.

'Something that the Old Geezer would no doubt be thrilled to learn.' Then again, she might not mind it much if it was this fine specimen she was going to marry.

Clearing her throat, she banished those thoughts from her mind, replying, "I am Mereoleona Vermillion, the first Daughter of the House of Vermillion." Usually, she did it with a lot more fire in the background but one, everything was already on fire around her, and two, she did not have control of her mana back yet.

"Royalty, huh? That's troublesome." She caught onto the man's mutterings.

"So, what can I do for you, Miss Royal?" She grinned at the informal way the man greeted her, utterly disregarding her Royal Status, something that would have even foreigners in the Zone falling over themselves to please her because offending Royalty, especially of the Clover Kingdom, was a sure fire way to die.

"Well, you can start by releasing my mana but if that's not possible–Ohhh," That was certainly odd, feeling her mana get back under her control. She experimentally created her signature fire arms behind her but didn't try anything funny, knowing the prowess of the man before her.

"Thank you. Secondly, who are you? Can you tell me if you are from the Vermillion Family?" She asked softly because if he was then it was the greatest news she had heard since Leo was born.

The man's jaw clamped shut as he was about to say something. He then slumped in defeat, sitting cross legg–

Her jaw dropped as the man sat cross legged but not on the ground. No, the man looked lost in thought and yet, was floating mid air, scratching his chin as he contemplated something. Her mind reeled as she thought of the casual feat of mana control in front of her.

Being in such turbulent mana meant that one had to have a much higher level of control over their mana to even use Mana Skin, let alone use Mana to float mid air and this was the first time she was sensing even a slight disturbance of mana in her surroundings.

For every other effort from her yielded no other result. All she could sense was a slight curving of the Mana in the surroundings as the man was kept aloft in the air.

"Haa, what a drag. Fine! I am Ignis, formerly Vermillion. I was once a part of that family but I no longer identify myself as such. There, happy?"

No, she was not happy, not in the slightest.

"But–"

"Why am I no longer Vermillion? Especially since I can do…this"

Her pupils constricted as she fought to keep standing, the entirety of the mana around the man finally being revealed to her, causing the temperature in the surroundings to skyrocket past levels that she could bear, creating smaller burns on her body. Her vision blurry, she saw as the man created a tiny fireball on his fingertips and yet, that fireball gave her the chills because the fire was white.

The only other mage in Vermillion family history to create white fire went on to become the Wizard King.

'So this is what it feels like, to have the temperature of the sun in one's hands' Were the last thoughts in her mind before she blacked out, from the pain of the burns or the mana stress, she didn't know and didn't care.

---

A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

Anyway, I was reading a fic called 'Reborn as Papa Silva' on Webnovel, and therefore something clicked in my mind, I clicked on my mouse and keyboard, and there you go.

Hopefully this clicks in your minds as well.

We'll see if this becomes just snippets or a full fledged story, depending on the interest generated.

Thanks for reading!

Toodles!

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 3

Grand Magical Zone [Fire]

–Ignis formerly Vermillion–

"Ah, what a drag!" He muttered as he floated cross legged, on his way back to the nice cabin he had found on his way out, with the Royal Lady floating behind him. It was true, he was once a part of the Vermillion Family, a distant branch family that is.

He sighed as it brought back bad memories, of his parents being dead for some obscure reason that was never made clear to him, of being mocked by the other kids because he did not have parents, then of being envied because his talent with Fire Magic was simply more than that of the others.

Nothing compared to the main line but still, more than enough for him to be catapulted into an important position in the Magic Knights.

"Well, if I had made it there anyway," he muttered as they finally reached the section of the forest where the Mereleona girl had ambushed him, right in his sleep. Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration because he knew she was approaching even in the semi awake state he called sleep.

He couldn't really sleep anymore, courtesy of his Mana Zone being active at all times. It was sometimes a pain in the ass but most of the time, it was great. The ability to fade into the mana of the world was an ability that had allowed him to escape detection too many times to count.

Ever since that day, he had refused to go back to Clover Kingdom for any reason whatsoever. He had no reason to, despite being strong enough to rub their faces in their loss. He was never really the emotional type anyway and over the years, he had figured out his emotions had been muted, ever since he was a kid.

He didn't feel too happy, too sad, or anything too extreme. Some sort of mental illness because it could not be magical or otherwise the Witch Queen would have been able to sense it when he spent over a year in her forest, simply out of curiosity. The woman was nice enough when she wasn't trying to kill any man for the crime of simply entering his home.

With his Mana Zone, he could sense that no threat to the Royal Girl was present in the Edge of the zone but even then, he could not leave. Despite the Vermillion family being dead to him, this girl did not do anything to him, except try to burn him alive and then chase him through the Zone simply because she wanted a fight of some sort.

Her spell though, it was interesting. Depositing the Royal Girl on the makeshift bed that was hers apparently, he raised his hand as a rather familiar brand of magic appeared on it.

With a flex of his will, the mana bled into his Mana Zone, creating a barrage of punches, on a fixed point in front of him, with not an ounce of heating escaping his Mana Zone because of his impeccable control over it.

"Simple yet powerful," He muttered to himself as he sat down on one of the chairs. He could already feel some powerful mana signatures arrive at the edge of the boundary. The flavour of their mana being space and then that of fire, along with plant?

When did the Vermillion family get the Plant magic attribute? He shrugged his shoulders, not his problem.

He was only here because he went a little overboard in showing off his magic. In his defense, he never had the chance to use his Fire Magic anymore. His control over Mana Zone meant that aside from full Spirit transformation users, he could subdue almost any other Magic Knight with a mere thought. After decades of use of Mana Zone and almost a decade of use of Active Mana Zone, his body has been strengthened tremendously, to the point that he could High tier spells with his body alone, without any issue whatsoever.

Not on the level of this Royal Girl though. Whoever she was, she was the real deal. Just being royal doesn't mean they would grow as strong as she did.

"Mereoleona, huh?" He muttered to himself, scratching his chin as he tried to remember why that name felt familiar. It should not be too hard, his only encounter with Clover Kingdom Magic Knights was in the form of encountering a Dark Magic User on the fringes of the Forsaken Realm. He didn't even speak to the man, just subdued him for a moment and fled the area, as was his signature move when encountering people.

He was not really good with people, he was told.

Man, Lichita would be really angry at me.

"Ah! That's why!" His finger snapping, a light bulb lit up in his head as he finally remembered why that name was familiar. It was the name of the daughter of the Head of the family when that incident happened. He remembered it because the entire castle was lit up with joy at the firstborn of the Vermillion Family.

"Damn, she's really royalty, huh? No wonder this is the response," he said while feeling the Mana signatures close in on their location, with multiple stronger Fire Magic mana flavours, all of them nobles or royals by their mana levels.

Although the amount of Mana does not indicate combat ability, it is still a decent indicator, especially for those who can traverse through a Grand Magical zone.

"Ah! Troublesome," He stood up and went out of the stone cabin, with Fire Arms sprouting behind him, white ones just in case these people decided to be hot headed and try something they regret.

"Though, this would not be the first or the last time he would be burned by nobles or royals," He laughed a bit at his own joke as he stood at the entrance. Might as well greet these people since they had come into his territory. He had never really ventured out of the Grand Magical Zones, only choosing to enter the fringe territories of any kingdom to avoid recognition or more importantly, combat of any kind if he wanted to travel to the next Grand Magical Zone.

Also, he stopped masking his magical signature to an extent, letting them know he was here. Anything to stop them from making any rash moves plus, he wanted to see if the Current Family Head knew anything about his incident. It was not something he would have pursued on his own but since the opportunity came knocking on his door, he would be a fool not to take it.

It was written in one of the many books that Lemiel wrote and was disseminated by the royals as subtle propaganda, obviously after a thorough edit.

With a shake of his hand, Mereloeona's body was covered in fire which then dissipated in an instant, leaving her completely healed and full of her Mana Reserves, wouldn't want these people to have any suspicions about him.

After all, he already had his grimoire when Mereoleona was just born. He was practically ancient compared to her, and yet, he did not look a day over 30 because of a combination of factors.

Active Mana Zone and Overwhelming Magic.

Two things that had gotten him through all his life, after that day.

____xx____

Grand Magical Zone

–Ignatius Vermillion–

"Halt!" He ordered as their part came to a halt, with a formation of Fire Mage users around the Vaude family Spatial Mage they had contracted for this special assignment.

"What is it, father?" Fuegoleon asked him, his gaze surveying the lands in front of them. When he had received an alert from the guards he had stationed at the edge of the Zone because he was worried for his daughter, he almost had a heart attack when she mentioned fighting someone who overpowered her with ease.

Then he saw the magical transmission, the image, and the short video in which the man stopped Mereleona, his pride, and joy, the jewel of the Vermillion family, with startling ease.

"I sense a massive Mana signature, right where her cabin should be," His body tensed as he tried to get a reading on this Mana Signature. One of the Magic Knights they had brought with him took out a Magic Tool and confirmed that Merelona's signature was also in the same place.

He sighed in relief that at least she was unhurt but still, this was not over. Mereoleona suspected this man to be of Vermillion origin but he did not know anyone of that age in their family.

"Let's go, Father," Fugeoleon asked him and he nodded, cautioning the squad. After all, if they could get out of this place without a fight, it would be for the best.

The closer he went to the cabin, the hotter the place became the more turbulent the ambient Mana, making it harder for Mereleona to use Mana Zone.

"No wonder Elder sister comes here to train," Fugeoleon muttered as they finally came to the edge of the land where Mereoleona had built her cabin, and had marked it on a map to the guards stationed here, on the condition that she would not be called home for at least 6 months.

Those were some hard 6 months.

"Ready?" He asked the squad members, especially the Vaude family member who was instructed to grab Mereoleona & Feugoleon and flee from here in case of a fight.

Just as they turned the corner, he saw something that made him freeze in place, along with all the Vermillion family members he had brought with them.

Standing in front of him was the same mage but now surrounded by white fire.

God help them all.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 4

Grand Magical Zone [Fire]

–Ignis formerly Vermillion–

"Yup, that's the Vermillion family alright," He muttered to himself as he saw the squad of 6 people, with 5 of them having the signature Fire Magic and the last one being of silver hair with the space attribute.

Hmm, so they roped in some other noble to get here so quickly. Makes sense.

Wanting to get this over with, he raised his hand towards the people who had momentarily frozen at his appearance, making all of them raise their hands and grimoires in anticipation of an attack and waved at them.

"Hello, I assume you are here to get the Royal Girl?" He asked them, his Mana making sure that his voice was carried to their ears even through the distance no matter how softly he spoke. In his decades of time spent in Grand Magical Zones, he had learned multiple nifty ways pure mana can be used, without tainting it with any elemental mana.

The one in the lead, the oldest one of the lot but not the strongest, that one was the one right beside him, cleared his throat and spoke, "Yes, we received a message from her. Is she alright? Can we see her?"

He raised an eyebrow at the behavior. Wasn't he Royalty? Why was he speaking as if he was the lower part of the conversation? He stepped to the side and gestured for them to go inside, his mind cataloguing their behaviors and stances, just in case he needed to hightail it out of here.

It was not that hard anyway, just fly up and then deeper into the Zone. He was sure that no one would be able to get past the Homura the Fire Dragon, at least not from the group he was seeing.

The one in the lead had a furious discussion with the strongest member of the group before the older one took the lead and entered the cabin.

'How rude.' He thought to himself as none of them had even introduced themselves before barging into the cabin, though it was their daughter's cabin so maybe it was him who was rude?

"Excuse me?" He looked to the side as the strongest member approached him. Shockingly, his grimoire was back in his satchel and his Mana was also calm but not naturally. It was forcefully calmed down as if he was fighting against his body's natural instincts.

"Yes?" He asked while leaning on one of the stone pillars in question that were still red hot because Miss Royal over there had blasted her own cabin with very strong magic. If it was a regular Magic Knight, he would have been toast.

"My Name is Fuegoleon Vermillion, Captain of the Crimson Lion Squad."

Then, the man waited, and he sighed, getting in an upright position, he said, "I am Ignis, traveller of the Grand Magical Zones." Doing that, he went back to his leaning position. This one was too young to know anything. If he wanted any answers regarding that incident, he needed someone older, much older like the Geezer inside, who was coming out now, with Mereoleona in a Fire Magic Hold.

Fuegoleon bristled at the apparent insult but before the young man could do anything hot headed, the old Geezer came out with his daughter who began stirring awake as soon as she entered his vision.

He smirked at that, let's see her reaction to his. It should be fun.

"Hello, I am Ignatius Verm–"

"Ahh! How much Sake did I drin…k?" Mereoleona muttered before she looked up and saw an entire squad of people looking at her, especially her father and brother. Her eyes then widened as she remembered something. "Shit! That bastard!"

"That bastard is right here," He said out loud, amused as he had given the apparent family enough space because he knew that being in his presence, especially once his mana was unleashed, was uncomfortable for the best of them. A deeper scan of their mana flames made him understand that all three of them were directly related.

Mereoleona and Fuegoleon were probably brothers with the Old Geezer being the father. Both of them were decently strong so the Old Geezer must be very proud.

"You!"

"Me?" he smirked, amused at her reactions. Ah, he had not interacted with humans this much for years at this point, ever since Lichita died or disappeared because she was not there in their usual meeting spot that she had frequented for years. He stayed there for years as well, only leaving when he encountered a Magic Knight Captain who was snooping around, looking for a suspicious Fire Mage.

Contrary to the string of curses, expletives, threats, and more that he was expecting, Mereloeona hopped off the Fire platform and took out her grimoire, "Let's fight!"

"Absolutely NOT!" The thunderous voice from the Old Geezer actually managed to drive away the flames of Mereoleona, which was impressive in its own right.

Unfortunately, while this was amusing, it was not the main reason he stayed here. He wanted some answers and the Old Geezer should be able to get them for him, even if he had to do something in exchange for him.

"Why?" Mereoleona seemed to regain her fire after a moment of shock and then roared right back at her father, fire magic flaring behind her.

His sigh drew everyone's attention to him as he used his Mana Zone and pressed on the area all around them. Every single person save for him was now unable to use their magic, no matter how hard they tried.

"H–how? My M-magic?" He heard some of the other members whisper and yet, the three Royalty in front of him didn't do anything except look at him, wary and tense yet not battle ready.

Nodding at that, he released everyone's magic, returning the environment back to its fiery self, "That is why, Miss Royal you can't fight me. I will destroy you, without even moving, as I demonstrated just now. Plus, the only reason I stayed here and even healed you, you're welcome by the way, was because I need some answers."

Mereoleona sobered from her fighting mania, and nodded as she opened her mouth to probably ask him the question but the Old-Ignatius, he reminded himself, put himself first.

"We'll gladly answer any questions you might have. After all, you're family, aren't you?"

Well, wasn't that a loaded question? He was very much tempted to say yes, to get this done quickly but that went against everything that he had lived and breathed for, for the past 3 decades so… "No. I am not your family, I am not a royal. I am just Ignis."

That seemed to be the wrong answer and he expected some sort of push from their side for him to acknowledge their family, especially now that he had become so much more powerful than them. He still didn't have any wish to actually engage in violence or exact revenge. This was more out of curiosity because he didn't remember anything from back then.

All he knew was that he went to sleep in his room, in his empty house one night and the next, he woke up on the ground, burning ground with half of his grimoire with him, torn and broken. Somebody had dumped him in the middle of a Grand Magical Zone with half his grimoire gone at the age of 16. Left to die, he learned to fend for himself and over the years, learned enough by mimicking the mana movement of the magical beasts that he no longer needed to be afraid of anyone.

"Fine. What is it that you want to know?" The old man, after exchanging a silent look with his kids, asked him.

He took a deep breath, "32 years ago, there was a boy named Ignis Vermillion, in the branch family who was decently talented in Fire Magic. He was an orphan but lived alone, for some reason. Also, he disappeared from the Vermillion Family Estate one day, was that ever investigated? Who did–"

His left hand lashed out behind him, a stream of white fire escaping his hands as it slammed into something that stopped his fire completely.

"W-What is happening?" He heard exclamations from behind him but his focus was on the being who had somehow managed to stay hidden from his exceptional senses, something that had never happened before.

His eyes narrowed, and with a mental switch, the fires in his hand turned from white to blue, reaching their highest states without him using his grimoire spells.

He could feel the shock coming from the family of Magic Users behind him. After all, Blue flames were the pinnacle of Fire Magic, capable of burning through even magic itself.

"Whoa, Whoa Whoa! Wow! Was that Blue Fire, heard of only in legends?" He had to lean back a bit as the barrier that was sucking his flames in, disappeared and a man with shiny eyes leaned in way too close to his face. He couldn't even see the man's grimoire as he somehow blocked his fires, which was the first time it had happened in his long lifespan.

He could sense no malice from the man's Mana so he let him be, instead focusing on the barrier that had sucked in his magic. Even now, the trace Mana particles were hard to focus on, as if they were slipping through his mind and senses no matter how long he tried to hold on to that particular brand of Mana.

"Wizard King!" He heard exclamations all around him as everyone suddenly bowed or kneeled on the ground.

The man sighed, as if tired of all of this before looking straight at him, "Nice to meet you, I am Julius Novachrono, the 28th Wizard King of Clover Kingdom. It's nice to meet you, Ignis Vermillion."


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 5

Clover Kingdom

–Julius Novachrono–

He filtered out Marx's nagging voice from his senses as he leaned on the table, more specifically, on the pile of paperwork that the nobility tried to drown him under, just so he wouldn't have the time, resources, or the will to enact the changes he wanted to enact in the Kingdom.

"Wizard King, are you even listening? Your escapades have cost us much. Now, we must complete this pile before you can go home for the day." He looked at Marx with lidded eyes, suddenly way too tired about this whole sham. Both of them knew that practically half of the things he had to look through and sign were things that could be done by a dozen people on his staff, his very talented staff, and yet.,..

He sighed, "Fine, Marx. Let's get this over with," He knew that he had to do it, not because he had to listen to what the Nobles said about his duties but because he needed their help. So far, he had made some progress and even then, that progress was threatened by the nobles every step of the way.

If a little paperwork was the price to pay for continued cooperation, as long as they didn't do anything extreme, he was willing to do it. So far, they hadn't tried anything, not after what he had done to the perpetrators he had found for Conrad's fall.

His fists clenched at the thought, snapping the quill in half as he thought of Conrad and the fate that befell him. Even now, he can feel Conrad fighting against the Time Spell, futile as it was. He dreaded the day Conrad would be set free, the day he would have to face someone he called his senior, someone who genuinely wished for the betterment of the Clover Kingdom, someone with the potential to become the strongest Wizard King in history, even stronger than Lemiel himself.

He hoped that he would be dead by then or would have made the Clover Kingdom worthy of Conrad's vision. Both things that seemed farther and farther away as the days passed by.

"Wizard King?" The haze cleared, he looked at Marx's worried face. Smiling faintly at him, "Why don't you go take the day off, Marx? I got this."

"Are you sure, Wizard King? It is a lot–"

"Marx, I know what I am doing. Go, have fun!"

"O-okay, if you say so," Poor Marx, confused at the sudden behaviour change, left the room. As soon as his office was empty, he snapped his fingers, creating a time seal around the office. He then all but collapsed in his chair, very much tired of this. He hadn't even been out of the Capital in months now, with instability from the Diamond Kingdom borders forcing him to stay in the Capital and make regular appearances to appease the nobles as well as the citizens.

Part of him wished to rush to the border, kill Yaga, make an example out of the entire invading forces, cripple Diamond, and then return.

And yet, what would that accomplish? Nothing of substance, just sowing seeds of revenge in the future generations of Diamond Kingdom. He knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to wipe off the entire Diamond Kingdom off the map so going there to exert his power was meaningless, even if he knew that there was nothing in that Kingdom that could even remotely threaten him.

Hell, if he let Yami and Jack loose on their Magic Knights, they would all be destroyed within a month, less if their forces stopped running for their lives. "As if Yami would ever do something like that," He chuckled at that.

It was something unthinkable for Yami, to hear of orders of Genocide from the Wizard King himself. Yami would most likely revolt and try to fight against him and as strong as that man was, he would die. There were no hard counters against his magic in the entirety of Clover Kingdom, something that made the nobles wary.

Thankfully, unlike Conrad, he had no weaknesses they could exploit. He kept minimal contact with his family, didn't show any of them any favoritism, and made sure that all the nobles knew that his post as the Wizard King didn't, in any way, increase the standing of the Novachrono house, aside from making them permanent nobles, something that they already were.

Sighing, he was about to get up and do his duty, by abusing a little bit of Time Magic, just so he could go have a stroll in the Black Market when he felt someone banging on the Time Seal. He let the spell fizzle away and let them come in.

"Wizard King, report. An emergency has occurred in the Vermillion family castle. A Vaude Family Magic Knight specialising in Long distance teleportation has been called in." The man bowed and left after giving him the report.

An emergency, huh? Maybe he should go and help them with it? After all, he was the Wizard King, responsible for the protection of all of its citizens, let alone the Vermillions who were royalty.

He grinned at that, something to relieve the extreme boredom he was having. Casting the spell once again, he hurriedly finished all his paperwork and then snapped his fingers once more, letting the spell fizzle away and also vanishing from his place, heading straight to the Vermillion Castle.

……

…..

Hmm, so something happened to Mereleona, huh? He thought to himself, his thoughts accelerated by one of his very useful spells, Thought Acceleration.

That was odd, Mereoleona was the strongest Magic Knight of the Vermillion Family, even stronger than Yami himself, one of the premier Magic Knights of the Kingdom. Something happening to her, even in the Grand Magical Zone was something that should be all but impossible, as long as she wasn't foolish and didn't venture deep into the Zone.

Also, she met someone she suspects to be of the Vermillion family and also someone strong enough to defeat her so she informed them to bring backup. His face took on a strange expression as he thought of the warning that Mereoleona gave.

She warned her family to bring backup because she realised the strength of the man and yet, she continued to chase the man who could nullify her magic? That was… actually right on point for the battle maniac that was Mereleona.

He secretly tagged along with the rather impressive party that had been put together to bring back Mereoleona. A former Captain, a current Captain, two High Level Magic Knights along with a Vaude Family Spatial Mage capable of instantaneous emergency transport. Not to mention, the Wizard King.

As they arrived in the Zone, he didn't sense anything, even with his rather enhanced senses. So, he followed them as they headed to the Mereleona's dwelling in this zone. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that it would be very hard on anyone's mentality to live in Grand Magical Zones for over 300 days per year, he would have sent every talented Magic Knight here to train because the results spoke for themselves.

Alas, Merelona was an exception in that regard.

As they reached the cabin, he came upon a very shocking sight.

Was that White Fire Magic? His eyes widened minutely as he thought of the Mage using Fire magic in the same way and ease as Mereloeona only with the Fire being White. He couldn't use his Mana Zone while locked away in the Time bubble but he knew from the reaction of the Vermillion family that they realised the situation here.

White Fire Magic, something that hadn't appeared in the Vermillion family for generations, something that made Baldric Vermillion the Wizard King with no competition in sight.

He felt equal parts excited and wary at this find because the man could become a legitimate threat to him and this Time Magic because White Fire Magic could actually reach the conceptual stage, something considered absurd because even mastering White Flames took Baldric Vermillion most of his life and that allowed him to be strong enough to become Wizard King.

But to affect concepts like Time? That was impossible in Baldric's lifetime and yet, there he was, younger than even Mereoleona and already mastered White Frie magic since he could not see any grimoire being activated.

Engrossed in his thoughts, he barely heard what Ignatius was talking to the man before his eyes widened as the man, without even looking, snapped his hand out in Julius' direction and let loose a stream of white fire. He tried to move his Time Bubble but realised that the man's Mana Zone was active, locking on to the slight hint of Mana that his spell gave off.

Okay, he was officially impressed. To be able to sense–

His eyes widened to saucers as he saw the same white flames turn blue. He actually felt his time bubble give out from the strain before he dispelled it and flashed out of the way of the very dangerous and unexplored blue flames.

With stars in his eyes, he immediately approached the man, badgering him with questions, making sure that the clearly very dangerous man's attention was on him and not the Vermillion family members who could be taken hostage at any point.

This little stroll had clearly turned out to be more dangerous than he had thought it would be.

Marx would be so pissed this time.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 6

Grand Magical Zone

–Ignis Vermillion–

"Nice to meet you, Wizard King," He shook the offered hand, slightly annoyed by the man hiding from him, something he thought to be impossible though considering the man's Time Magic attribute, if anyone could hide from his senses, it would be the man in front of him.

"I am Ignis."

The Wizard King raised an eyebrow at the introduction but ignored that before barrelled by questions from Ignatius Vermillion.

"Wizard King! When did you come here?"

The Wizard King waved their questions off before turning to him, "Say, Ignis? I heard that you were a part of the Vermillion family. Then, would you like to come back? The Clover Kingdom could use a powerhouse of your strength."

He felt uncomfortable at the thought of being used for the Vermillion family and the Clover Kingdom, two things that have given him nothing save for a half torn Grimoire and a whole lot of pain. He sighed, "No. I will have to refuse your request. I just need a couple of answers that Ignatius here might have. If not, then that's fine as well. I will return to my travels from here."

"I see. That is regretful but I can't force you to come with me as well. Though I have to ask, how did you encounter Mereoleona-san here?"

"I found this cabin in the middle of nowhere and decided to take a nap before heading onto my next travels. She found me and I guess she considered me a threat, attacking me in my sleep with her Fire Spells."

"I see, that would do it. Mereoleona has always been a hit first ask later kind of person." Ignatius commented from the side and he nodded at that as well, ignoring the slowly rising temperature all around them as the person in question was now bathed in fire.

"About your earlier question, I don't have an answer for you right now but if you come with us, I am sure I can–"

"No." He sighed as he stood a bit straighter.

"No?"

"No. I will not be coming back to your castle. If you have any answers, I will visit this cabin once every week. You can leave a letter here, that will be enough. Now, this has been enough social interaction for me now so I will be taking my leave."

"What? Wait!"

"Hey, we still haven't fought!"

He ignored all of them and unleashed his white flames, burning away space in one place before exiting another location within his sight, creating a very crude but effective short range teleportation technique. It was yet another thing that he made during his experiments with his magic.

For reasons he could not explain, his magic had stagnated, for lack of a better term, for the past decade or so. He couldn't increase the intensity of his fires, couldn't find any new innovative uses, or create any new spells in his Grimoire though that was something that he had long since given up, considering that he was only working on half a Grimoire.

No, it was something else, he could tell that much. And yet, no matter how much he mediated, no matter how much he tried to peer deep into his magic, his mind for the answers, he could not find any.

So, for the past 10 years, he had set his sights on something else. Mana. Pure Mana manipulation. That gave him an edge on fights since his research into Mana meant that he could just shut down other people's mana, even if they did have a Mana Zone active. He only needed to be stronger than the other people, which he was, most of the time.

It gave him the ability to fly without using Mana Zone, to traverse the space between spatial cracks, to be able to sense subtle Mana fluctuations, something that the most adept sensor wizards wouldn't be able to sense. Just like now….

"What do you want, Wizard King?" He asked, from his floating cross legged position. He was now deep into the Grand Magical zone, only a couple hundred meters away from Homura's lair. Homura was sleeping right now but once he awoke, they would most likely have a spar.

The area in front of him fizzled as if space itself was glitching and then, the form of the Wizard King became clear to him. Gone was the smiling, stars in his eyes magic enthusiast. In his place was the person entrusted to protect all of Clover Kingdom, a Wizard King. The strongest being in clover Kingdom, supposedly.

He didn't hear much about them aside from propaganda. He knew some people who had become informants and who would gladly give him all the information he wanted but so far, he deliberately maintained distance because he knew that once he got involved, his strength itself would invite challenge, would create a never ending cycle of violence, right up until he actually slipped and died.

"You truly can sense everything happening in your Mana Zone." The man said before floating right in front of him, mimicking his position.

He nodded at that, "Yes. Stronger people can cast magic in my Mana zone but any disturbance will still be noted. So, what do you want, Wizard King?" The man was strong, no doubt but if it came down to a fight, the only reason the Wizard King would win is because of his own unfamiliarity with TIme attribute mages. His Fire could burn through space but could it burn through time?

He did not know and he was unsure if he would ever get a chance to test that in a friendly match. For now anyway.

"I thought as much. Your Mana Zone is remarkably advanced for someone so young."

Ah, there's the fishing for information. Oh well, he was going to tell Ignatius everything once he had his answers anyway, which would inevitably reach the ears of the Wizard King so why not do it now? He was waiting for Homura to wake up anyway.

He chuckled and shook his head, "No. I am not young, despite my appearance. I am 6 years younger than Ignatius. I just don't look the part."

The Wizard King leaned in close for a look as his eyes flashed, "Hmm. you are speaking the truth and yet, your body is in its prime, with no sign of any external magic being used to do that. Hmm, how interesting."

He sighed, floating down and standing on the ground, crossing his arms, "So? What do you want?"

"Ignis Verm-"

"I am just Ignis, get it into your heads."

"Alright, Ignis, I would like to ascertain your intentions. Having someone of your strength on the fringes of the Kingdom is a threat that I cannot ignore. So, I would like to ask again, what were you doing in that cabin?"

He could have given the Wizard King the same spiel about him needing a nap but that would be utter falsehood. After all, if he really did need to rest, he had his own place in Homura's lair, an area where nobody had come in almost a century. He would be completely undisturbed there, with only the sleeping form of Homura to keep him company.

And yet, he went to the cabin of his volition, for some reason he still didn't understand. The mind was something he had still not understood, despite all his research so he couldn't say for certain but if he could put it in words, it was some sort of attraction that led him to go there.

"I don't know." He admitted to the person who could admittedly defeat him, even now, which was kind of scary, to be honest. He didn't share in the excitement that Mereoleona had whenever she encountered a strong opponent capable of defeating her.

He clarified further, "I don't know. I am more attuned to mana than most beings in the world and as such, I can actually sense fate around people. I can not see but feel the mana flow of the world as a whole and as such, can sense some things. In return, I think that I can also be influenced by the mana of the world.

I never thought of something like that happening but now that I see my past actions, it is suddenly very clear."

"Hmm. I have no frame of reference for what you are saying but if I am getting it right, it is because Mereoleona is one of those fated individuals that you were compelled to go to that cabin. Even someone as strong as you had to dance to fate's tune, is that what you are saying?"

He chuckled at the healthy skepticism in the man's voice, "It is not like Mereoleona was the fated individual. No, it was the event of me meeting her that was fated, that is what I was saying. Also, no matter how strong you get, the world's mana will always be stronger. If it wants something done, it will happen, period."

"I see. You have given me much to think. I assume you will be here for the foreseeable future? I still need some answers and I think we can be of mutual help to each other." The Wizard King offered and he nodded.

"Sure. I will be in Homura's lair. Just knock on my Mana Zone with yours, I will know."

"Wait, Homura?"

"Oh, I have named him Homura but you guys know him as the Fire Dragon at the end of the Grand Magical Zone. See ya!" He waved his hand and flashed away, using Fire Magic to propel himself beyond the sound barrier in an instant.




A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 7

Grand Magical Zone

–Ignis Vermillion–

He opened his eyes as he felt a gust of hot and humid air hit his face. Seeing the giant lizard face of Homura, lit up on fire, was not something he wished to see when he went into Meditation, trying to see if he could break through the strength barrier.

"Oh, get off," He grumbled as he pushed Homura back with his Mana zone, the overgrown lizard not even budging at the blow that would have most Magic Knights on their asses. Instead, Homura rolled his eyes and turned out, leaving him alone for now but now without getting the last say, by hitting him in the face with the end of his tail.

He looked at Homura who was looking back at him, with an almost smirk on his face. He shook his head and closed his eyes once again, Homura was just checking if he was meditating or sleeping because the Giant Lizard loved to annoy him for some reason.

The swat of the tail was nothing as he went back into meditation, trying to see if he could gain something, even though he was not doing anything different from what he had been doing that past decade or so. The only reason he had been undiscovered until now was because he didn't fight with Humans, period. The majority of his fights had been with magical beasts or at that one time, even a spirit, mostly in the Grand Magical zones.

Each and every Grand Magical Zone seemed to have a beast or a being at the end which was exponentially stronger than anything in the Zone, so much so that for most of the Magic Knights who were unfortunate enough to reach that point would end up dying, such was the strength of the so called Guardians of the Grand Magical Zones.

Some of the Guardians were sentient intelligent beings like the Dryad, who was the guardian spirit of Elysia - the Hidden Elf Sanctuary. They were very wary and hostile at first but Dryad's assurance that he bore no ill will towards them allowed them to soften towards him. He learned pure mana manipulation from them though reaching his Ultimate Magic technique is still far beyond him, according to Dryad since he needed not just magic reserves for that magic.

Something about extreme synergy with self and dominating attributes being necessary requirements to be eligible to cast Ultimate Magics.

That was somewhat of a shocker for him since all Elves were dead, according to what he had been taught in the Clover Kingdom but when he learned the history of the massacre and the tragic reason why the Elves had been reduced to such a pitiful number, he was given a strong reminder as to how Evil Nobles and humanity in general could be.

That was part of the reason why he avoided kingdoms and war fronts especially because while he was strong magically, he didn't think that he had it in him to see extreme suffering, suffering for no reason, and not do anything about it. So whenever he felt like he was coming too close to humans, he dove into the nearest Grand Magical Zone.

That was how he lived for the past three and a half decades, never stopping improving, never stopping learning and exploring, his powers and his origins. Dryad allowed him to hone his Mana Zone and even lent him her powers for a bit so he could see how he could manage the always active Mana Zone since Dryad did something similar as part of her domain. He copied that ability shamelessly from her, allowing him to now know everything happening around him and allowed him to never be ambushed, ever again, in his life.

Seeing that even TIme Magic users were unable to remain undetected in his zone meant for the first time in his long life, he could say that he was unafraid of being ambushed, the first and the last ambush of his life leaving a heavy mark on his mind.

He sighed as he felt the incoming avalanche of fire that was headed his way, courtesy of one overgrown and excited lizard who couldn't wait for TWO MINUTES!

"Alright, let's see you dodge this," He muttered, exasperated as the fire was halted in his Mana Zone and then repelled at twice the intensity. The roars that followed in Homura's Lair were more of excitement and less of pain as all the creatures in the Grand Magical Zone trembled under the amount of magic being thrown around in the relatively small lair, so much so that most of the sand around it had already turned to glass, save for the ground in Homura's lair that had Homura's magic seep into it for decades, strengthening it beyond the pale.

____xx____

Royal Capital, Clover Kingdom

–Ignatius Vermillion–

"He's powerful." Was the first thing that came out of his mouth when the Wizard King asked for his opinion on the mysterious mage that his daughter stumbled onto.

They had all gathered in the Wizard King's office after he had properly thanked the Vaude Family Mage and sent off Mereoleona to be treated and looked at by the Family Healers. While Ignis mentioned that he used healing Magic on his daughter, he still wanted another opinion on her condition, just in case.

"Certainly so. He was able to shut us all down, including my sister who had a Mana Zone not to mention…" Fuegoleon led to the situation where the Wizard King popped up out of nowhere and was summarily attacked by Ignis because of it.

The Wizard King, Julius sighed, "Yes. I heard of an emergency in the Vermillion family so I followed, just in case you needed help, especially since you were headed to the Grand Magical Zone."

"We thank you for that, Wizard King but what are we going to do about Ignis? He is obviously a member of the Vermillion family, as I am sure you can confirm." Fuegoleon asked Julius with the mindset of a Magic Knight Captain instead of a prospective family member, just like his role asked of him.

While Ignatius was retired, focused on helping his family stay strong and out of trouble. In that regard, the prospect of getting Ignis to come back to help his family seemed like something of a god send.

"Yes, I have confirmed that he indeed does possess a Clover Kingdom Grimoire. As for your question, I actually am unsure as to how to deal with Ignis. He is clearly powerful, even I am not as confident in defeating him."

"What?" "How?" Both he and his son exclaimed at that. It was clear knowledge that Julius, aside from his Time Magic, was a Magic knight more than powerful enough to deal with most magic knights. With his Time Magic? He was unstoppable.

'Powerful enough to seal Conrad' A feat that was supposed to be impossible and yet had been done by Julius, increasing his strength in the eyes of all the nobles and royals, who hastily made him the next Wizard King unanimously, lest he turn his sights on the nobles and royals who orchestrated or allowed Conrad's sacrifice to go in vain.

Since then, anything that Julius put up to the Parliament, he made sure that House Vermillion gave its full support to because he knew just what kind of a monster Conrad was and how much of a monster Julius was to be able to put Conrad away.

Julius sighed at that, "Yes. While his feats might seem just strong to both of you, do remember that at no point during our meeting, he used his Grimoire. Whatever you saw was pure Mana manipulation and Mana Zone, that's it. And then there was his fire. His fire was able to burn through one of my spells, that alone should tell you what a disaster it would be if we tried something and failed."

Yes, the fire. White Fire, something already a legend in the Clover Kingdom since only one mage in the Vermillion Family ever possessed it which led Baldric to become the strongest Magic Knight of his era, eventually becoming the Wizard King and not just any Wizard King, the oldest serving Wizard King, his fire allowing him to remain uncontested until he fell to the Fire Dragon at the end of the Grand Magical Zone where he spent the last years of his life after doing a peaceful transfer of power to a younger Wizard King.

A peaceful transfer of power that has only happened twice in the history of the Clover Kingdom. His death was mourned by the Kingdom since he was responsible for burning away most of the invaders of Clover Kingdom, allowing the Kingdom a long respite of peace.

Now, that same white Fire had appeared in yet another mage of the Vermillion Family and yet, that same Mage no longer wished to associate with both Clover Kingdom and House Vermillion.

"Yes, the White Fire. It is the stuff of legends. If records are to be believed, it allowed Wizard King Baldric to burn through most magic itself, allowing him to remain uncontested. It is certainly potent."

He was about to correct his son when the Wizard King himself did it.

"No, Fuegoleon, not just white fire. If it was just that, I would not be so worried. No, Ignis had blue flames, something never seen before. It allowed him to burn through my spell, through time itself which is a cause of immense concern."

Fuegoleons's eyes widened at that, the little colour change somehow slipping his mind.

"Well," He looked as the Wizard King slammed his hands on the table and stood up, "This has certainly been an interesting evening. Now, why don't you all go and find the answers to the question Ignis asked you? I think that should help us get a better idea of who he was, and I have some of my own research to do. Today has been quite enlightening,"

With those fading words, the Wizard King faded from view, his mana signature disappearing as he probably used his magic to transport himself across the Capital in an instant.

"Come on," He said as father and son stood up, "Let's go see who our wayward family member was, and what we did to wrong him. I just hope that I was not involved in it."

He muttered the last part because he was genuinely afraid for House Vermillion if Ignis didn't want anything to do with them because Ignis, Ignis could be the key to……

Marrying Mereoleona!


If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 8

Clover Kingdom

–Ignatius Vermillion–

Yes, one of the biggest priorities for him was to make sure that Mereoleona didn't end up all alone because of her tendencies. At each and every noble party she went to in her teenage years, she loudly proclaimed that only the one who would be able to defeat her in the same age group would have the right to marry her.

Now, Ignis' age was a bit iffy at the moment but his face was young, which was something that he could use in his defense. Though he had to be careful about this, Ignis could turn out to be a threat to the kingdom and he didn't want to do anything that could exacerbate the problem for Julius.

He had to be slow and steady with Ignis. First, he should at least come into the Kingdom. The next step would be integration into the Crimson Lions, then the Vermillion Family, and before he knew it, Ignis should be an official member of his family.

Well, if things went according to plan, that is.

"You go ahead, I will join you in the library. I have a few things to discuss with your mother before we can make any major decisions,"

Fuegoleon looked a bit confused but nodded nonetheless.

He excitedly entered his office where his wife was working on some paperwork, she liked to do that in her downtime sometimes, despite not needing to.

……

….

"Grandbabies!" There was a high pitched squeal in the office after a few minutes as the Vermillion Family Matriarch straight away began imagining grandbabies of all sorts.

_____xx____

–Ignis Vermillion–

"You know, sometimes I think that I've gone crazy," He said to Homura as he laid on Homura's back, the fire and the scales not hurting him since Homura was his buddy, his only buddy, as sad as that was.

He only had a couple of friends in his life and all of them save for Homura here were dead, which was sad, one of the many reasons he thought he had gone insane. Chewing on the meat of a Fire Boar he had hunted and roasted using spices he got from the heart Kingdom, he thought about the encounter and what the world wanted it to lead to.

Homura's only response to his introspection was an eye roll before he dug into his pile of meat, which was just a Fire Wyvern. Homura didn't really need to hunt and eat as much because he was a mana creature and could simply subsist on the surrounding Mana, especially since Homura learned the Mana Zone technique, courtesy of yours truly.

He didn't mind Homura's antics because despite learning advanced Mana techniques and overall being a much more intelligent Mana creature, he was in the end still a mana creature, uncaring and unfeeling of the various social complexities that normal humans had.

All these years later, he still had that spark of curiosity within him, the urge to read, to learn, to grow.

"I guess that's why this whole not progressing thing bothers me so much," He muttered to himself as he finished his meat skewer. He had been perfectly content staying hidden as he advanced his magical prowess in the Grand Magical Zones that he could find. He was fine being alone as well, even as he struggled sometimes to clear the Grand Magical Zones, the water one was particularly hard when he hadn't advanced as much as he did about Pure Mana manipulation.

Seriously, how did the Elves go extinct if they were so powerful would forever be beyond him. Yeah, he knew that their human allies betrayed them but even back then, humans were not as strong as they were now since they had not stolen the Elven Mana and Elves were the most powerful species back then so how did they even lose?

Even if they were caught by surprise, the Elven leader was supposed to have powers rivaling that of Lemiel Silvamillion who was also on the Elves' side, so how exactly did they still lose?

As far as the legend went, Lemiel died fighting the Ancient Demon whose skeleton was still on the fringes of the Clover Kingdom but that didn't add up. If Elves were killed by humans and then Lemiel had to fight the—-

His thoughts were interrupted as his left hand shot out, to catch the huge rock that Homura had dug up and thrown his way. Obviously, holding onto a rock that can fit into Homura's mouth using sheer physical power was straining so he was using his Mana manipulation to reinforce his body. Throwing the rock behind him, he locked eyes with Homura who was actually…pouting?

He rolled his eyes at that, "Alright, you overgrown baby, I will get the ball."

Yes, that was the ball and he was going to play fetch, a game usually played between a dog and its owner, with Homura, the Fire Dragon of the End, the slayer of a Wizard King, a Magical Fire Dragon on par with a Spirit, allegedly.

"Here you go!" He threw the rock as far as he could, which was pretty far as Homura flew after the rock. He had used subtle Fire mana to make it rocket away farther, giving him more time before Homura came back to nag at him for attention.

Sometimes, the Dragon was like a lazy cat, and sometimes like an overexcited puppy. He switched it most of the time, depending on the meal, naptime, and well, him.

Well, he had fought the Earth Spirit back in the Heart Kingdom, well, deep into the Heart Kingdom where the Water Spirit had given refuge to the Earth Spirit. He had stepped into the Heart Kingdom after going through a Water Mana current zone and was very much drenched in cold water, which he absolutely hated.

He then used his powers to create somewhat of an abode for himself since it seemed a good place as any to make his base since he was a nomad, drawing the attention of the then Queen and the Spirits. Long story short, he ended up fighting the Earth Spirit since Earth was pretty weak to fire and he had always wanted to test himself against a Spirit, one of the many ways that he knew of, to advance one's magical prowess.

Well, he did lose but only because of the time limit and the limit to destructive magic he could bring to bear. But the thing that stuck with him the most after that battle was the sheer utility of Gnome's magic. The spirit could restore the landscape which had turned into an area littered with craters that were on fire, into flat fertile land that could be tiled with ease, or to be used to plant forests.

Gnome's magic was incredible and he wanted to learn more about it but he was told, in no uncertain terms by the then king, that he was not welcome in the Kingdom so he packed his bags and left. He left but his mind was on that mana manipulation and how the same element can be used for multiple roles, leading him to Elysia where Dryad taught him many things.

Being one with nature meant that he had delved deeper into his Mana and could cast spells of all calibres. Healing spells, Movement spells, binding spells, and even cooking spells came to him as his half Grimoire filled itself with more utility spells than combat oriented spells, which was honestly fine for him since he liked it that way.

"Oh, already?" He muttered as he felt Homura returning, with the stone no doubt already half molten. The damned dragon could not control its output when it was excited. It didn't affect him but everything around Homura was destroyed whenever he got too excited. Thankfully, he had his always on Mana Zone which protected his meagre belongings, otherwise, he would be walking around naked here and for a man of his age, that was shameful.

It had been a few days of doing the same with Homura here. He meditated, ate, slept, played with Homura, and then meditated some more.

It was…nice because he got to relax a bit.

Ah, speaking of relaxation, he sensed the two people hiding under a spell, the same as the Time Magic from last time, a bit outside the official boundary of Homura's lair. No such thing existed but he made sure that a literal ring of fire existed around the stone lairs that Homura called his home.

He separated the ring of fire right in front of them, giving them the go ahead to enter the lair.

Just in time too, because now Julius made the Time Sphere visible to him, as Homura landed on the ground, holding the now sludge of a rock, glaring down at the intruders in his home.

Homura was probably going to blast them with his fire but that wouldn't work on the Wizard King so he simply waved his hand at the dragon, which created an invisible impact that had Homura jerking back.

"Go inside your cave. I'll call you when I am done," Homura roared defiantly at that, molten rock flying from his mouth since he didn't actually have spit or internal organs anymore. He was pure Mana now.

"Don't make me send you flying," He waved his glowing fist at Homura who got the message and entered the largest cave in the lair, purposefully jostling the walls of the cave as the entire lair shuddered under the impact.

Then, he turned to the Wizard King and the person with the Dark Magic he had knocked out back in Hage Village.

"What can I do for you people?" The backdrop must have been insane as Homura chose that exact moment to blast him and the people in front of him with enough fire to drown the entire area in fires.

He deadpanned at Homura who snorted fire and went back into his lair.

"You will pay for that later, you lizard. I might have to make you grow skin just to turn it into my hide. I am sure Dragonhide will sell for a lot." He grit out.

In the cave, Homura shivered all over as it snuggled deeper into itself, growling at the incoming threat.


If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights, and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 9

Grand Magical Zone

–Yami Sukehiro–

"Oi, Oi! Where are you taking me?" He asked the Wizard King as he smoked his favourite cigar, the cheapest one available. For some ungodly reason, the Wizard King had burst into his base right as he was about to "Surpass his limits" and had pestered him to accompany the Wizard King on a trip. A trip that led them across the Kingdom since his base was on one side, and now they were in the Fire Grand Magical Zone on the other end of the Kingdom.

"TO meet a very special person," Was all the Wizard King would say about that, even as they ventured deep into the zone, even past the middle layer where Mereoleona trained, that beast of a woman always spending most of her time in this zone to train and reach new heights, thankfully.

For some reason, she had returned to the Kingdom and had yet to show her face to him or Fuegoleon, which was odd because the moment she returned, which was always forced by her parent since he had never seen her return to her home of her own volition, she sought out any and all the captains that would entertain her, only to turn to him once all the others rejected her request.

Damn noble, getting advantage of her status, forcing him to fight her. Though he had to admit, she was one hell of a beast, stronger than him and even the other captains, not by a lot, but still stronger. Hell, she had the Mana Zone down by the time she was 20, and he was only just getting strong enough to enter Julius' squad back then. Man, Mereoleona was old.

"There," His attention was drawn to the front of the Time Bubble they were in as they reached what could only be described as a flaming place from hell.

"Oi, what is this?" He asked the Wizard King as they landed on the ground, and the Bubble burst, forcing him to immediately use Mana Skin to ward off the heat, the one second delay gave him burns as the surrounding temperature was very high, high even for a Grand Magical Zone.

The Wizard King just smiled, not even needing Mana Skin to ward off the fire. And sure enough, the ring of fire in front of them parted a bit to reveal another wall, this time of stone with a giant entrance in the middle.

Through the door, he could see a tail, that too of fire? "Shit! Did you bring me here to fight the Fire Dragon of the end?" He couldn't help but hiss at the Wizard King and drew his sword, Darkness element overflowing through the sword in an instant.

He would only be a fool to underestimate something that did in two of their previous Wizard Kings. Though, with Julius here, he had no fear for his life, so he could go all out. With a grin, he was about to step in when Julius put a hand on his shoulder with a feather light touch, but he knew that feather light touch could put him in a crushing position within an instant.

"We are not here to fight, Yami. Let's go," Then the Wizard King floated through the entrance made in the fire ring.

"Must be nice," He grumbled as he had to trudge through half molten sand and rock instead of just flying through the air, as he had struggled to match pace with the Wizard King. He suppressed a yelp as the ring of fire closed behind him at the same moment his leg crossed over.

Soon, they find themselves in a large open clearing, with spikes of stone jutting out towards the sky to ward out the sun, though it must be plenty hot without it. Not only that, he could see the tail end of the Fire Dragon of the End, and it made him tense a bit because that thing was no joke.

Legend was that it had more firepower than the Fire Spirit itself and didn't even need any host to unleash that. Also, it was sentient and had learned advanced Mana Manipulation techniques somehow, but that was probably hogshit just to cover up the fact that the people challenging it were weak. Though, it did kill two Wizard Kings, and they were certainly not weak.

So, who knows?

As soon as he was inside the stone doors, he saw him. The Fire Mage who defeated him with ease all those years ago. For some ungodly reason, he had gone out to the forsaken realm to get some peace and quiet after being challenged by Jack for the last time and had ended up encountering this Fire Mage who was in the process of cooking some bandits who had targeted him.

Not wanting the bandits to die, he tried to use his Magic Captain authority to stop the Mage, only for the Mage to wave his hands and just disable his magic completely. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even lift his sword, let alone use Magic with it. It was very horrifying to know that his life was in the hands of some unknown monster who had chosen to stay in the Forsaken realm.

He'd thought he was a goner since he had stumbled upon someone going to very deep lengths to keep his existence secret, only for the man to finish burning the men and then…disappear. His magic was unlocked after that, and he did end up searching for the man, even writing in a report, but it was never investigated after that.

The man standing in front of him was the exact same person from back then.

"What can I do for you people?" The monster in human skin said, and before he could warn Julius about who the person was, they were drowned in fire. He sighed in relief as the magic was stopped by Julius' barrier, but the entire scenery in front of them was covered by orange and red fire, which was making the floor, which was made up of stone, red hot from heat.

The fire was dispersed a moment back as the man was glaring at the Fire Dragon, who snorted and nuzzled its head deeper into the lair.

The man sighed, "Sorry for that. Homura has not been in a nice mood today. Here, let me clear that out for you," THe man waved his hand, and suddenly red fires were extracted from the stones, returning them to their normal colour while the wizard now held a small ball of fire that he then dispersed with a wave of his hand.

All of that. Without Grimoire.

"No worries. Ignis-san, I would like you to meet one of our esteemed captains, Yami Sukehiro." He gave a weird look to Julius, who pushed him a bit, as if encouraging a child to introduce himself.

"Hello! I am Yami Sukehiro, Captain of the Black Bulls. Nice to meet ya!" In his usual crude fashion, of course. He didn't have the time or the inclination to play the stupidly complex word games that the nobles did.

"I see. You are the user of Dark Magic that I met that day. Nice to meet you, I am Ignis." He gave the man a deep look as he realised that he was unable to feel the man's magic, even now. That was the thing that bugged him the most back then, and even now, there was not even a speck of magic coming from the guy but Ki?

Ki was a whole different thing, and he had to suppress a shiver as the ocean of Ki he could sense from the man told him one thing and one thing only.

The man was a monster, be it from a physical perspective or even from a magical perspective.

"Yeah, you really scared Yami back then. He requested two Captain level people to help track you down, not that it would have helped anyway." He gave the Wizard King a side eye, which was completely ignored.

"Anyway, I am here to continue our talks on fate. You gave me more than enough to research on my own, but no matter how hard I try, I seem unable to understand the mana of the world, as you called it."

Yami groaned at that. Great, why was he called here if they were only here for a magical lecture? Anyone else would have sufficed. Why bring him, he was only just getting started on surpassing his limits in the bathroom.

The man waved his hands, clearing the distance between them as he floated cross legged. His pupils dilated at the unexpected movement, forcing his body to relax as he stared at the man. Just who in the fuck was he?

"Don't bother then. Your attainments in Mana control should have at least given you a hint about something far greater than us, so if the Mana of the World wishes to stay hidden, there is nothing that can be done to force it out."

"I see. I hoped it was something else, but I realise now. Thank you for that."

"No worries. I am still waiting for the answers. Though, the one you have brought here, he has a large role to play, fated by the Mana of the World."

His eyes widened as he released why Julius had brought him here. That sly bastard.

"After all, it is to be expected for the only Dark Magic user in the world to have a role to play in the fate of the world. It is practically destiny."

"Oh, really? Do tell…"

He grumbled as he fumbled with yet another cigar as the two geeks in front of him geeked out about magic, boring the hell out of him. Though it did bother him a bit about the fate part.

Hmm, what was he worried about? Fate? It's only something to be cut with his sword later on.

He chuckled at that thought. He might have to stop spending so much time together with Jack.


If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights, and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 10

Clover Kingdom Royal Capitol

–Fuegoleon Vermillion–

He slammed the door open, barging into his father's office, foregoing all decorum, something that he had not done in all the time he could remember, his magic flaring out.

"Wh- Fuegoleon, what happened to you?" His father, the ex-Patriarch of the Vermillion House asked him, aghast at seeing his current condition.

He gave father a strained smile, and all but collapsed into the nearest chair, father getting up to fret all over him.

"It's Elder Sister. She's gone…crazy," He winced as he felt yet another one of many injuries piled up on his body by his sister. She had been livid because of the order placed on her, forbidding her from even approaching the Grand Magical Fire Zone.

If it was an order from his father, his elder sister was crazy enough and more importantly, strong enough to just ignore his words and waltz back into that Zone but this time, the order was actually reinforced by a similar one, coming straight from the office of Wizard King, stopping any planned expeditions into the Zone by any Clover Kingdom citizen.

"Alfred! Call the Medics!" His father shouted but he sported a helpless look on his face. After all, it was well known that his elder sister had gone around the Clover Kingdom, challenging strong people whenever she came back to the Capitol, being an all around nuisance and that was when she came back willingly, or at least, without being strong armed into it.

This time, she was forbidden by the Wizard King himself from going back so she was livid and had gone around challenging everyone she could find. Sensing her willingness to inflict damage on anyone who was foolish enough to challenge her, all of them resigned.

In the end, he had to step in and spar with his sister, which was more along the lines of a one sided beatdown with him unable to even graze his sister who went all out from the beginning.

Good news was that he was finally beginning to understand what Mana Zone actually was and if things went on, he might be able to actually get his own Mana Zone….if he survived until that point in time, that is.

"...I will go and try to talk some sense into her. Injuring her own brother like this, there has to be a limit." His father murmured, shaking his head as he exited the office but he was already slipping as he felt the family's medics work their magic on his battered body.

_____xx_____

–Ignis Vermillion–

His left eye cracked open as he looked at a corner of Homura's lair, though calling it Homura's lair exclusively would be a little wrong. He was meditating, trying to understand more about himself, as he usually did most of the time since being attuned with the Mana of the World meant that he needed little in the way of food or water, Mana did most of the heavy lifting for him.

He whispered, his voice barely even audible to himself, "Show yourself," as he put increasing amounts of pressure on the spot of flawless spatial magic that had been executed right in the middle of his Active Mana Zone, a feat in and of itself. The only one who replicated something close to that being the Wizard King with his time Magic but even then, the bubble was of time and not space, hence the irregularities in Space.

This one, however, whoever it was, had nearly impeccable control over the space attribute. He knew that there was a family in Clover Kingdom capable of spatial magic but that was nowhere near this absurd. If that family had someone of the Wizard King level, the world would have known about it already.

No, this was someone else.

He had been increasing his pressure steadily and yet, even after a whole minute had passed, he could not feel anything other than the absolutely polished feeling of space. Not even Mana escaped that small block of space.

'Huh,' This was interesting, he thought to himself as he opened both his eyes and glared straight at the spot, unleashing the full pressure he could bring to bear with his Mana Zone. Homura, sensing something, stirred from his slumber, releasing giant gusts of fire in every direction, simply by snoring and snorting.

He snorted as he leaned out of the way, a tiny spatial shard passing through where his forehead was, creating a hole in the Fire Mana strengthened stone behind him.

Well, that was rude.

He stood up, his half torn grimoire unfolding as white blazes of fire appeared all around him, melting the ground below. From experience, he knew that this level of flames was not enough to overwhelm someone of that level, so with a thought, his flames turned blue and he had to suppress a wince as Homura whimpered at the feel of those flames.

Apologizing silently, he Used his Mana Zone to push Homura out of his lair as a stream of blue flames assaulted the same spot where he detected the assailant to be. After all, in his decades of travelling the world, even going to the Hino world after figuring out a way to calm the Mana Storm that existed in between the Four Kingdoms Continent and the Hino Kingdom, he had not instigated any fight and once attacked, he hadn't left anyone alive to tell the tale.

'Except her' The face of Mereleona entered his mind as he thought of why he had left her alive or even why he had even entertained the Vermillion family.

All the work of the Mana of the World. There was no way he would ever let that slight go.

He smirked as the stealth spell unraveled, revealing the form of a man with cold eyes and a sharp face, looking at him emotionlessly, even as his spell struggled to devour the blue flames being sent his way.

He snorted as he put forth his other arm, and let loose another barrage of blue flames, the flames warping the very air as they neared the Royally clothed man. Despite the emotionless facade, he could see the man struggling to contain his flames with little beads of sweat already on his face.

Seeing the futility of his actions, the man finally moved from the spot he was occupying. Seeing that he wasn't taking any overt actions, he snorted and stopped the barrage of flames, returning the overall temperature of the surroundings, though all the internal stones had partially melted from the heat while the land around the blue flames had turned to glass.

"Not running?" He asked the man, amused at his lack of action. He had locked the area down with his Mana Zone. Not even someone of the Wizard King's calibre would be able to break in, at least not before he could finish doing his business.

As far as most people were concerned, Wizard King or not, the entirety of Homura's lair was now under his absolute control.

"No…..Who are you?" The man asked him after taking a pause and hoisting his grimoire back inside, which showed the Spade Kingdom symbol, quite clearly.

"So you are from the Spade Kingdom. Quite far from home though judging by your magic and your strength, the trip must have been quite easy. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The man took another deep look at him and then at his half torn Grimoire, before disappearing from view. He lashed out with his Mana Zone to capture the guy but a strange Mana burst out from that guy, obscuring him from his vision and also shattering his Mana Zone partially before the Space itself was torn apart, likely to forcefully create a portal.

Both of his hands lashed out, as a massive tornado of blue flames surged towards the broken down space. The strange Mana lasted for a lot longer than he expected it to, before the flames, weakened by that strange slimy Mana, slammed into the rapidly closing spatial portal.

Using his Mana Zone, he stabilised the Mana around that spell, and opened his grimoire, finally using a spell for the first time in over 8 years, the last time being when he had to calm the Mana Storm to traverse the Ocean safely.

[ Fire Magic : Mana Zone : Lance of the Fury! ]

The blue flames around his hand swelled to create a titanic wave of magic, with their intensity decreasing back to white flame levels, as a spinning lance of white flames appeared right in front of him.

The edge of the lance flickering between blue and white as he took hold of it and threw it forward like a javelin, at the locked down Spatial Mana residue. The lance instantly crossed the distance and paused mid air, as if striking something invisible.

He smiled as, after a moment of pause, a blue crack appeared in the sky and the lance crossed into it before he loosened his hold over the Mana and let the Portal close, once and for all, knowing that this level of retaliation was enough for a half hearted attack.

Letting his Mana Zone bleed off the Fire oriented Mana particles he had accumulated just in case, he took in the scenery all around him.

The land was glass now, which was not good because Homura's paws were very slippery and the big lizard did not like looking at his own face. Poor creature was scared of how hideously ugly its own face was.

The stone boundary was all but gone, melted into a pile of goo, creating a ring of melted stone around Homura's lair.

Turning around, he winced sheepishly as he saw that the top half of Homura's lair was gone, probably because of that spatial shard, and then the aftermath must have been taken care of by his spell.

"Well, time for renovations?" He looked up at the absolutely furious looking Homura who breathed down an avalanche of flames at him.

From inside those flames, he sighed and deadpanned at the Lizard, "Yeah, dump on the guy who saved your sorry ass."

Alas, Homura was not in a listening mode and it was not possible for Ignis' unenhanced voice to get out of the waterfall of lava he was currently being bathed in.


If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - The rights of the respective characters are with their respective owners. I don't mean to violate their intellectual property rights, and thus, only my original characters are my IP.

The One Who Tamed Mereoleona: Chapter 11

Spade Kingdom Royal Capital

–Zenon Zogratis–

'That was close' Zenon thought to himself as the portal closed behind him, the heat of those flames still singing his skin as he thought of the overwhelming feeling he got from that man, even more so than Dante when he was using 80% of Lucifero's powers.

He might have escaped after using over 60% of Beelzebub's powers, his current limit, but that was only because his powers were best suited for it. He wasn't sure if even his siblings who could access the majority of the powers of their Devil Partners could stand up to that man, not as they were now.

He landed silently in the Throne Room, where Dante sat on the Throne, being fawned over by three beautiful women, all of whom were trembling in fear. His arrival did not go unnoticed as Dante looked up at him but before Dante could speak, he stiffened as he felt something go wrong with his spell.

The heat.

It was still present, even in the Throne room. Turning around, he saw the portal spell was still active, the gate not yet vanquished. He reached out with his magic and tried to forcefully shut it but it didn't even budge. Horns sprouted from his head as he used all the powers he had access to, and tried to collapse the portal forcefully. After what felt like fighting Beelzebub himself, he closed the -portal forcefully, creating a rift in the space in front of him which was healing itself temporarily.

'That was bad. Who was that man, Zenon?' Belzebub demanded through their connection.

He heard cries of women behind him as the heavy impact of Dante standing up and activating his Devil Powers was felt by him. "What is happening, Zenon?"

Before he could speak or explain anything, his eyes widened as he hastily threw himself to the side, a white lance piercing his hand, instantly incinerating the devil flesh before it cut through his arm entirely, tearing toward the Throne.

'Cut off your arm!' He heard his Devil partner shout hastily through their link and he didn't hesitate as he cut off everything from the left part of his body, starting from the shoulder blades.

Even then, he had to hastily raise his hands to create a spatial barrier around himself to stop the onslaught of the white fires that even now continued to burn through his magic. He turned around, as Devil tentacles reached out of his body to regenerate the lost part, looking at the sea of white fires that were spreading rapidly throughout the throne room.

[ Gravity Magic : Singularity ]

He heard the deep dark, dual voices overlapping with each other as the flames began getting sucked into his brother's Black Hole.

'He won't be able to do it alone. Destabilise the space around the singularity even more, only then will the flames get sucked in.'

He did as Beelzebub told him, even as the strain of using over 60% of his powers became more and more evident as he felt his mind slip. Despite being the most talented in Devil Arts, he knew that any mistake, any mishap, any slip in his composure could spell disaster so he cut off the link to Devil Mana as soon as he could feel his hold on the Magic slipping, not wanting to become someone who would rampage around the castle.

Fortunately, that worked because the flames were steadily but surely getting sucked into that black hole, even as Dante's arms burned and regenerated due to the white fire lashing out at him. Growling, Dante's Devil Form buckled as he finally crushed the Gravity Singularity after all the flames were sucked in.

He collapsed on both his knees as he took in the scene in front of him, disregarding the slight sting he felt from his body touching the very hot, partially melted floor of the Throne Room.

Fortunately, the Throne Room, a symbol of wealth and prosperity for the Spade Kingdom had been built over generations using the best mana enhanced materials possible, imported straight from Heart Kingdom so the Throne Room survived and even somewhat contained the white fire.

He looked at the heavy impact as Dante jumped in front of him, his entire body charred before his Body Magic and Devil Mana worked in tandem to restore his body back to what it was before that mage nearly killed both of them.

"WHAT…WAS…*Huff* THAT?" Dante asked him pointedly, huffing and panting as the toll of sealing that single spell proved to be too much for him.

'Yes, what was that?' A dark silhouette manifested behind Dante as Lucifero manifested himself in this realm.

At the same time, another dark silhouette emerged from behind him as well, smaller than Lucifero but no less than suffocating.

When Bulzebub spoke, it was one grim warning, 'That was a spell from a Clover Kingdom Mage. We might have a problem on our hands.'

"What?" Dante snapped at Belzebub, "How could that be possible? No one in that Kingdom is supposed to be this powerful. Even their Wizard King is only strong because of his Time Attribute. They don't have anyone else of note."

"It is true, brother." he tried to maintain his emotionless facade but that was proving harder and harder as time went by, as his mind processed how close he had come to death, true death, before fulfilling his dream of making Spade Kingdom the strongest. "He had a Clover Kingdom Grimoire. It was half torn but it was unmistakably a Clover." Dante growled as his body finally regenerated fully, still smoking from the sheer heat.

"Those flames, I have never felt flames that powerful from a human before. Dante, investigate this. DO NOT fight him. As you are now, even all three of you combined would face defeat, if that spell was any indication." Lucifero commented before his presence receded. Seeing this, Belzebub also left.

He sighed, and as soon as he relaxed, he blacked out, his body and spirit spent as the fire had a spiritual attack component to it as well.

"How did this happen?" Dante mumbled as he looked around the Throne room, which was now completely bare, every extra piece of decoration, furniture, and the history of this place gone, burned by a freak spell, leaving behind only partially melted white marble and stone.

_____xx____

"What the fuck happened here? I was only away for a day." Vanica commented and Zenon had to resist the urge to snap at her, his latest brush with true death still weighing heavily on his mind. Not the death but the fact that he could have died without accomplishing his dream disturbed him greatly.

"Vanica! Shut up! You were not there, you whore!" Dante shouted at her as all three of them gathered in another corner of the Castle because that entire wing had to be condemned because of the Fire Damage.

He took a deep breath and began explaining the circumstances that led to him finding that man in one of the Grand Magical Fire Zones.

A few years ago, one of the Generals who had a contract with A Mid level Devil, was patrolling the Grand Magical Zone with civilians in tow just in case their magic was needed. That man then extended a Lone mage in the middle of the Zone, travelling seemingly by himself.

The General, seeing easy prey, decided to add the mage to the Mana battery collection they carried around with them, just in case.

"The result was…not pretty. The only reason we were even able to get any information was because the Devil Hosts were paired with Twin Devils. They were husband and wife bonded to Twin Devils whose main job was to scout long distances."

"Yeah, get on with it. I know about that one. We went to investigate and found that even the Devil's heart had been burned down without the mage even using any spell. So, it was he who did this? How did you even track him down?" Dante asked him.

"I got information from our spies in the Clover Kingdom that there had been a large-scale movement in one of the Royal Families and they were meeting with a man who matched the description I had of him," he informed his siblings and through them, their Supreme Devil Partners.

"But why did you go in alone? That was not very smart of you, younger brother," Dante smirked at him and he had to resist the urge to point out that said mage immolated almost his entire body before the spell was snuffed out. Hardly a laughing matter this was.

'He was cloaked the entire time. We had to enter Devil Union mode just to stop his flames from burning through our spatial barrier. This is a serious matter. If he came here, he would just kill all of you and destroy any hopes of opening the Gates in this era.' Belzebub came out and told Dante.

'The Land of the Blessed' Lucifero said as he manifested as well. 'The Clover Kingdom is the land of the blessed and a guardian will always emerge from it to defend that pesky holy land. Dante, accelerate the mass Devil Union plan. We might need to destabilise Clover before attempting anything.

"Are you sure, what if the Wizard King finds out about us before we are ready?" He voiced his own concerns. After all, if it was just the Wizard King, they might have been fearless since the man was but a single mage, tasked with both defending his country and slaying his enemies.

He couldn't be everywhere at once. No, they were now rightfully worried about that Fire Mage. He could single handedly destroy their plans completely.

'I don't think it is a wise choice, Lucifero. Doing anything that might draw their attention would be a bad idea. According to what I saw, the man doesn't know who Zenon is, just that he has a Spade Kingdom Grimoire. Even then, he didn't see the Devil Mana or his Devil form, so we should be safe, for now. Even so, we should look into reactivating those two Ancient Demons we have in the basement.' Beelzebub words shocked all three Zogratis siblings.

The twin Ancient Demons, sealed underneath the Royal Castle by the Royal Family magic, were so strong that their mere presence corrupted Spade Kingdom as a whole, creating a land most suitable for Devils to live in.

Those Demons were always meant to be used as a last resort, but if that man were to come here, Zenon was of the opinion that they might be the only way the Devils could continue their plan without living under the threat of immolation at any time.

'Fine. Still, we must prepare and understand the enemy. I still don't understand how a human has access to those flames. Task all our spies to get more information on that man.'

With that, the Devil's manifestations dispelled and the siblings dispersed as well. Though, by common consensus, they had all decided to remain in the Castle for the foreseeable future, just in case they were attacked.


If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.

Anywho, without further ado - read on.

Earth-6161

SHIELD Triskelion [2012]

"Get me Stark on the Line. Have Romanoff bring back Banner. I have unlocked the credentials for his current location." Nick Fury ordered Maria Hill as he paced all but ran towards the roof, where a helicopter was waiting for him, to take him to the Helicarrier.

"Make sure Captain is on his way to meet Subject S1, alone. This-" He reached inside his trench coat and took out a small folder, handed it over to Hill and left the area with Hill looking into the folder with curiosity.

As far as Hill's knowledge went, there were no Subject S1 in the Index, and her access went pretty high up so there was no reason why the Director ordered her to make sure that the Captain met this subject and more importantly, alone.

Still, it was a task assigned to her which meant that she would complete it all the same.

Her eyes only grew wider as she read the lines after lines of data present inside the small manila folder. In the end, her body robotically took her to her office as she immediately began logging into the INDEX platform with the credentials given to her in the folder.

"Get me Agent Hayes. Tell him the Captain needs to dress up, and tell him to dress for tropical weather," SHe added after seeing the current location of Subject S1, and cut off the call from her assistant. Agent Hayes was assigned as the handler to Captain.

There was a single picture, of a lady well into her 50s as the file began loading after taking exhaustive authentications from her, that she dutifully fed through the folder given to her.

Something told Maria Hill that it was one of the most well guarded secrets of SHIELD, considering that the Director was carrying around the information related to this Subject S1 in his pocket.

The file finally finished loading into her computer, only after her computer could confirm that all the doors and windows of her office were closed down and there were no other people that the motion detectors could find. It was, frankly, a level of authentication that she had never seen used before.

Her eyes roamed the text documents, sparse as they were, as everything about Subject S1 and her powers was written inside it.

A naturally occurring Enhanced person.

Level 10 Threat?!

Omega level Hydrokinetic.

Known anger issues with tendency to resort to extreme measures to threats and coercion, with known aversion to law enforcement agencies of any kind.

"Kill count : 20000?" She muttered, aghast at the numbers she was seeing about this woman.

There was more but it was redacted for her access level.

By God, what was this woman?

On her screen was a photo of a African-American woman well into her advanced years, drinking alcohol on a beach.


_____xx____

–Steve Rogers–

"So, where are we headed?" He asked the agent assigned to him as his handler, Agent Hayes, if his enhanced memory served him right.

"We are heading to..the Bahamas, to retrieve someone. I assume you read the debriefing package?" Agent Hayes asked him as they entered the advanced looking jet after suiting up in standard SHIELD gear.

"Yes and I have some strong opinions regarding it that I would like to tell the Director to his face." Agent Hayes did not know how to reply to that, apparently, so he settled on..

"Ok."

It was a short flight, as they touched down on a small private airstrip, and entered a SUV, which was part of a convoy. He was then given a small computer, if he recalled correctly from his lessons, and the face of a female agent appeared on it.

"Captain Rogers, I am Maria Hill, a level 7 agent. I have been tasked to debrief you about the person you are supposed to convince to join us in the fight against Loki."

"..Wait, what do you mean by convince? Does this person not want to work to protect the planet?" He asked her, confused and she only told him to wait a bit and then the screen changed to show a text document.

His face turned blank as his mind whirled at the stuff he was seeing, especially the small video clip about a series of dead agents, with their entire bodies mummified, as if someone had drained their…bodies.

"So, this is a serial killer? A psychopath? Are you kidding me? This is the type of person we have to turn to, for help? This is a mad dog that we put down, Agent Hill, no matter how powerful they may be." He exploded at the screen as his fingers flew over the screen, rapidly scanning the entire document that recorded all her exploits.

"Please, Captain Rogers. Yes, I agree that this woman needs to be locked up and the key needs to be thrown away but you have to realise, this woman is the only known human to have this level of power. Her power might just help us turn the tide against Loki. We don't have any other power house on her level."
"So, we have to beg her?" He grit his teeth as he asked her, his grip tightening on the laptop.

"No, we are not begging her. We are telling her about a threat to the planet where she too resides. The only reason you are being sent is because she has the ability to sense humans and differentiate between trained and untrained humans. She tends to…escalate if she sees a law enforcement officer heading towards her. We are hoping your enhancements can help you survive."
"Doesn't that make her a traitor of the highest order? A traitor to the entire human race?"

Hill's face remained blank as she replied, "Captain Rogers, you have your orders, please follow them. We can't afford to make an enemy out of her, period, let alone at a sensitive time like this."
His face grew stormy but he kept his mouth shut. Hill was right, right now was not the time for this. "Still, isn't there someone else you can send? I fear I am not in the right mindset for this."
Hill took one look at his face and then softly replied, "Captain Rogers, we have credible proof that you are one of the few historical figures that she admires. We cannot send anyone else not only because they might just be sent to their deaths but also because we need to get the message across,"

He exhaled and nodded, "Fine. I'll do it."
"Fine, your transport is ready. You will have a team with you but they are remote support only. She has a substantial range of detection and as stated before, we cannot afford to antagonise this woman."

He took the dismissal for what it was and shut down the laptop.He was then escorted to the jet they were going to take, which was much smaller than the one taken before. Entering the jet with just a single pilot, he then leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. For some reason, he could not fathom the concept of someone responsible for these many deaths not being put down. Even if they were useful in the fight against Loki, he could not possibly trust this woman.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.

Anywho, without further ado - read on.

Earth-6161 [May 2012]

Eric Koenig

When he was roped in by Director Fury to escort the one and only Captain America to the last known sighting of Subject S1, he had not expected….this. The man was practically radiating annoyance and anger.

To be honest, he somewhat understood the Captain's anger, simply because according to the undeniable moral bastion of Good that he was, the person they were about to meet would be the last person the Captain would like to meet.

He hadn't even had a chance to interact with the Captain, busy as he was piloting the Jet, a very experimental Jet to the Caribbean island where Ms.Kill-Everyone-Who-came-after-her resided. He was the person who was coordinating the first raid on her once they had finally tracked down an Enhanced using her powers in the daylight, in front of the public. It was not dangerous to the public but it was clear to the agency that this woman had to be brought in, because not only was she threatening to expose the secrets that SHIELD worked very hard to keep secret but also because she had, more than once, killed people. Now, he was not ashamed to admit that he made a bad call because the usual procedure when dealing with Enhanced people who have obvious criminal records on them, was to use the stick of imprisonment and the carrot of limited freedom to lure them to work for the agency.

As one could imagine, it backfired tremendously when his team tried to do that. He could still picture the mummified husks that he had to retrieve once the woman left the beach she was lounging on.

One thing was clear though, Subject S1-no-Samantha loved beaches, hopping from one tropical zone to another, enjoying the pleasant weather.

Like right now, "We are approaching the island. Subject S1 should have already sensed us by now so make sure to remain as non threatening as possible. Am I clear, Captain? Please do remember that as far as Subject S1 and this mission is concerned, I am the supreme authority. I hope that is clear."

The Captain nodded at him from the back as the Jet landed on the small secluded airstrip that SHIELD had built for this express purpose since Samantha had been seen at this beach for the entirety of last year, only disappearing for at most a week before always returning to Sunbathe, apparently, on this beach.

"Crystal."

"Good, I will drive you to her. She knows me and knows that I drive away everyone who tries to find her so she will tolerate me. For some reason, you are chosen to deliver the message and as such, my job will end once I am done escorting you. After that, it is up to you to persuade her to help us."

"Why couldn't you deliver the message?" The Captain asked him and all he could do was shrug. He had the same doubt but he had the sense not to voice it out. Though, knowing the type of man that Director Fury was, this single move probably had a bunch of angles that neither he nor the clueless Captain could ever figure out.

"Let's go." He gestured to the opened door of the very beat up car, his favourite.

It creaked when he opened anything–the doors, windows, trunk, and even the bonnet, everything creaked as if it was on its last legs and it probably was but this was the one he liked so it was being used. Plus, there was no other new vehicle that would survive being put into storage for months at a time and start on the first try, especially the ones that would be country appropriate.

Soon, they were on a pathway that was obviously used regularly but not maintained at all. He saw three other cars in the way before they finally reached the stretch of empty beach that Samantha usually sunbathed at.

There was no feasible way of tracking her, aside from Satellite footage because she somehow sensed it all and crushed the person who was doing it to her.

He parked at the edge of the beach, drawing a confused look from the Captain. He chuckled, "She doesn't like the noise of the diesel engine. You will have to walk from here."

The Captain, in his combat uniform, looked completely out of place on the hot beach, especially since Eric was dressed in shorts and a loose T-shirt that helped with the heat.

He watched as the Captain trudged through the sand, leaning against his almost rusted car, on his way to meet the single strongest human on the planet. The only other comparable would be the Big Green but the two had never clashed so it was still undecided.

Though, knowing her powerset, she would probably win.

Ah, Samantha Weber, the single strongest person on the INDEX, who was surprisingly forthcoming with her powers once she realised that he was the only reason she would not be targeted anymore.

She began tolerating his presence near her after that. He did try to take advantage of that but after the first heart attack, he abandoned trying to slip tracking nanites into her water and instead maintained a formal distance, only intervening to stop any law enforcement or foreign spy agency from getting close.

When he had first asked about her powers, he had received a one word reply.

"Water."

That was all she said and he didn't ask more, knowing that building a working relationship even though she did kill his brother was more important. His relationship with Bill was complicated, to say the least, but he certainly didn't deserve dying by becoming a mummy.

He did confess that she killed one of his brothers and yet when told that he would not be looking for revenge against her, simply because it was not realistic or feasible, she had gained a look of curiosity on her face.

Reporting that to Director Fury had been the thing that made sure that he was stuck close with Samantha, Subject-S1, an African American Woman of German Descent, possibly from the Rhineland, with an approximate age of 50-60 years, with the ability of Omega level Hydrokinesis.

The ability to manipulate water everywhere. In the human body, in the oceans, lakes, the water vapour in the air, presumably ice as well, and many more that they had no idea about.

The longest observed range was about 17 miles, unclear whether it was in a radius or in a straight line. She has also shown the incredible ability to outright disappear once she is in a body of water.

The radio that was on Captain Rogers' uniform crackled to life.

"Hello, I assume you are Samantha Weber?"

An amused but gravelly voice spoke back, "I am, and I assume you are some sort of super soldier, someone made to replace the boy wonder. Another laboratory experiment? Though, you do look surprisingly well done."

He shook his head at that, she knew that it was not an ordinary human. He took out his notepad and wrote it down.

"Subject can recognise enhanced individuals using her previously suspected Sensory abilities - Further study necessary. Can she use her abilities on enhanced people as well?"

"I am a Super Soldier but I am not a new one. I am the same old Steve Rogers, Ma'm. I am here to formally invite you to join the Avengers. It is–"

"Avengers? Sounds like a team that shows up to take care of the aftermath of the problem, not the problem itself, Captain Rogers, if that is who you really are."

"...Naming scheme aside, we are facing a grave threat. A strategic asset has been stolen and the world might–"

"Oh? Stolen? Did somebody steal Uncle Sam's precious nukes? Wouldn't be the first time, wouldn't be the last…."

"No, it is not a nuclear missile. It is the Tesser–"

He heard his heartbeat inside his chest as he slumped on the side of the car before running forward with all his might, his chest protesting as he ran to Captain Rogers' aide. Running forward, huffing, he saw the sea had gone completely silent. He could also hear the Captain's silent grunts, something that pushed him onward. Samantha could be very ruthless if she thought of someone as a threat.

"Were you about to say, the Tesseract, Captain?"

"...*Coughs* Yes. The Tesseract has been stolen by a God named Loki. We need to retrieve it before—"

That was all he heard from his radio before he saw something approach him from the corner of his vision. Before he could even reach for his gun, he felt something wrap around him before the land became smaller.

He almost screamed, had it not been for his rapidly approaching proximity to Samantha, seeing that it was a water hand that had wrapped around him.

"What did you guys do?" Samantha ground her teeth as she spoke, which made his heart beat even louder inside his chest, his anxiety rising.

He saw the Captain coughing but still standing. Hunched over but still standing.

He was alive, that's good. This could still be salvaged.

He gulped, looking at Samantha's glowing blue eyes and the slight veins that had popped up near her eyes and on her neck, "SHIELD has been conducting experiments on the Tesseract…"


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT
S.H.I.E.L.D. – SPECIAL OPERATIONS DIVISION
SECURITY CLEARANCE: ALPHA
DIRECTOR FURY'S EYES ONLY

---

SUBJECT: [ENHANCED INDIVIDUAL DOSSIER]
DESIGNATION: [CODE NAME: Subject_S1]
REAL NAME: [Samantha Weber]
AFFILIATION: [UNKNOWN]
THREAT LEVEL: LEVEL 10

PHYSICAL PROFILE:

• AGE: Late 50s
• HEIGHT: 5'5"
• WEIGHT: 120 lbs (Approx.)
• EYE COLOR: Blue
• HAIR COLOR: White
• KNOWN PHYSIOLOGICAL ANOMALIES: The ability to turn into water to become immune to damage

ENHANCEMENTS & ABILITIES:

• PRIMARY ABILITY: Omega-level Hydrokinesis – Subject has absolute control over water, capable of large-scale manipulation and extreme destructive potential.
• SECONDARY ABILITIES: Long-range sensory capabilities, allowing detection of movement and biological activity over vast distances.
• LIMITATIONS & WEAKNESSES: Unknown. (Theorized: distance from water bodies may reduce effectiveness.)
• TRAINING & COMBAT PROFICIENCY: Unknown, but the subject's level of proficiency with abilities suggests prior training.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE:

• MENTAL STABILITY: Alert when approached, Hostile when approached by law enforcement of any kind.
• LOYALTY ASSESSMENT: To herself (Allegedly).
• KNOWN ASSOCIATIONS: Unknown.
• THREAT ASSESSMENT REPORT: Subject is a catastrophic-level risk. Any approach results in immediate fatality (unless approached by Eric Keonig).

MISSION HISTORY & ENGAGEMENTS:

• OPERATION: WATER FAIRY – UTTER FAILURE – Death of all team members save for Eric Koenig.
• ENCOUNTERED ADVERSARIES: Local law enforcement, Coast Guard—100% fatality when engaged by law enforcement but shows surprisingly tolerant behavior towards unarmed people, elderly, and children.
• CASUALTY REPORT: 20,000+ [Number derived from old SSR files, later redacted and destroyed by Director Fury himself].

CONTAINMENT PROTOCOLS:

• IN CASE OF COMPROMISE: Do not engage. Call in Eric Koenig immediately.
• IMMEDIATE EXPERT: Eric Koenig.
• NONE TO APPROACH SUBJECT WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION FROM DIRECTOR FURY.
• AUTHORIZED HANDLER: Eric Koenig.
• SECURITY MEASURES: Satellite observation only, as subject can induce remote heart attacks in anyone conducting direct surveillance.

CURRENT STATUS: Dormant unless provoked. Remains far away from civilization unless provided essentials [Food and Clothing].
LAST KNOWN LOCATION: [REDACTED]

DOCUMENT COMPILED BY: Eric Koenig
DATE: August 2010

---

WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO THIS DOCUMENT CONSTITUTES TREASON. IMMEDIATE TERMINATION OF ALL INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE SEEN THIS DOCUMENT IS AUTHORIZED. ACCESS REMAINS RESTRICTED TO LESS THAN FIVE INDIVIDUALS.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.

Anywho, without further ado - read on.

Earth-6161 [May 2012]

Eric Koenig

"Are you fucking kidding me? Stark promised me that Blue Rock was gone, gone for good!" He watched in rising incredulity as Samantha, the never shaken Samantha paced around on the beach, the water rising and falling in waves all around the island as Samantha's pacing left multiple tsunami waves approaching all around them before they were inexplicably neutralised, seemingly subconsciously by Samantha's powers. Another thing to add in her file then.

"*Cough* *Cough* Stark, do you mean Tony Stark?" The Captain asked her, his entire body tense as if he was anticipating an attack. He shook his head as he stood up from his sitting position. If Samantha wanted both of them dead, they would be dead. No force on the planet was capable of stopping Samantha as long as she was near water and as they were on Earth, which had over 70% of its surface made up of water, she was damn near unstoppable almost everywhere.

Samantha stopped pacing, snapping at the Captain, "What? No! I am not talking about that wet behind the ears brat. I am talking about Howard. I know for a fact that he did not lie to me about that. He assured me that the Tesseract was gone, buried somewhere out of reach for anyone."

"He *Cough* was not lying. The Tesseract was gone but Howard later fished it out of the ice. It has been in SHIELD's custody since then." The Captain replied and he didn't have it in him to stop him from disseminating clearly classified information. Now was definitely not the time for a lecture on Information Compartmentalisation and why it was important for SHIELD to function efficiently and safely.

"Fuck!" Samantha swore as she snapped her fingers, releasing a wave of some sort that instantly cleared the air, removing the humidity from the air as well as calming the waters all around them.

She took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and then asked them, "And why is a literal blue box of death not tracked by you guys when Howard Stark could track it in the 40s?"

"It's Loki. He has done…something that has cloaked the Tesseract's energy signature. The Director needs you to come in, just in case."

"Uh-huh and what, pray tell, could I do to get the Tesseract back, aside from acting as muscle? Unless you guys have the guy?" She crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the ground, releasing subtle vibrations that seemed to reverberate throughout the small island.

He gulped at the casual show of power. It was yet another reminder that despite what she looked like and how she tolerated him, she could probably kill him instantly, and everyone else in miles, without even trying.

"I…don't know. Look, we are wasting precious time here. Time that could be spent tracking down the Tesseract. The sooner we are done with that, the sooner you can leave."

Samantha stared down the Captain for a bit before snorting, "Fine. Now, leave, I'll come find you in a bit."

He opened his mouth to interrupt but his words got stuck in his mouth as Samantha just dissolved into a puddle of water. He exchanged awkward looks with the Captain before just shrugging and calling it a day.

"Let's go."

Yet another thing to add to her list of abilities. Apparently, she could teleport and leave behind the water as well. He knew that she could turn into water once she was in a sufficiently large body of water and traverse that way but this was something else entirely.

____xx____

SHIELD Helicarrier

"We have a 60% match. 82%, 87. We have a perfect match!" The junior analyst shouted in excitement as he informed the Director and the team that had assembled on the Carrier sprang into action, heading straight to Stuttgart, Germany.

"Fucking Finally!" The Director pulled out his gun, and so did hundreds of others as Samantha Webers materialised in the center of the deck, forming out of seemingly nowhere.

"How did you get in? We have sensors tracking everything." The Director thundered at Samantha, gun still pointed at her center mass.

Samantha however, completely ignored everyone and turned to the Captain, "Let's get to it."

The Captain nodded, surprised but not letting it get to him, as they followed Maria Hill who took action after getting approval from Director Fury.

_____xx____

Stuttgart, Germany

"Not to men like you."

Loki responds, "There are no men like me."

The elderly man counters, "There are always men like you."

Loki sneered and raised his sceptre, glowing an ominous blue, ready to make an example out of the ant in front of him when he heard the faint whine before a blur of blue tackled him, breaking his nose.

He grunted as he was thrown back violently, his vision blacking out for a bit before he stood up, disoriented from the sudden and very heavy blow before his regenerative abilities kicked in and his vision cleared, allowing him to see who was in front of him.

"Be careful." A woman, floating, spoke to the star spangled man out of time.

Okay, time for the speech, Loki thought, "Ah! The Man out of time himself! And…you…Who…are you?" Loki asked, speaking through the pain as his nose reset itself, the process being remarkably slower simply because he was just so exhausted. He just wanted to go home and sleep–NO– he had to conquer Earth and deliver the Tesseract to his Master—Thanos.

The woman took one look at him before he recoiled as he felt his body being pulled inside out. Dropping to one knee, he looked at his hands, which were shrivelling, like the time he turned into a Frost Giant- NOOO!

His magic burned as he tried to fight off this attack. The last thing he saw was a giant wave of water slamming into him before darkness claimed his vision.

___xx___

In German Airspace, Quinjet

–Natasha Romanoff–

"So, that was….something." She said out loud, hoping to get something off of the old woman who had waved her hand and brought a ton of water from nearby sources and hit Loki with it, after doing something to him that resulted in his skin shriveling up.

"Yes. That was….something, wouldn't you say so, Captain?" The metallic modulated voice of Tony Stark filled the cabin as both of them looked at the Captain who seemed to know something since the woman had been unresponsive, aside from escorting the battered Loki into the Jet with a ring of water flowing all around the unconscious Loki, imprisoning him, with a bubble of air surrounding his face, which too was then covered in water.

All in all, Loki would probably drown before he could get out of that ball, especially without his main weapon, which was sealed into a SHIELD standard issue containment box.

"Her name is Samantha. She was called in by Director Fury to help with–"

"Help? Captain, she did not help, she outright destroyed Loki by herself. How is someone like her, with the ability to manipulate water of all things, unknown?" Tony voiced her concern out, and while she was warned that she might get some unorthodox team mates, she had expected Banner, not someone completely unknown but with the ability to one shot Norse Gods.

"I am right here, you know." The voice of the old man reverbed throughout the cabin.

"Oh, so you can speak. I thought we were dealing with a mute. So, what are you really, Miss Webers?" Tony snarked at the very old and very dangerous woman, in midair.

"Tony, I don't think–" She tried to warn him but then the woman beat him to the punch.

She chuckled, "You know, you remind me of your father. Arrogant. Headstrong. Prideful. Passionate. Impatient and many more things but it would seem, just like your father, you too have the skill to back it all up." The woman said after checking out Tony's suit.

"You knew Dear 'Ol Dad?" Tony spoke in a playful tone but she knew that he was serious underneath all of that. Despite what he may portray to the world, Tony had some very strong feelings about his father, i.e., daddy issues.

"Yes, I knew your father. He was actually the one who found—" Samatha abruptly stopped as she looked up. She tensed up as the woman stood up, the ring of water around Loki abruptly accelerating.

Tony, wary, asked, "What? What's wrong?"

"We have company," Was all the warning they got before a storm appeared all around the Jet, making the entire Jet tremble.

There was a dull thudding noise above the Jet before, the Jet's landing bay was ripped apart by…..Thor?

"Careful! That's Tho-" She tried to warn but realistically, what happened next was inevitable.

Thor took one look at the water bound Loki before he threw his hammer at the bubble. It all happened so fast but she still caught on the traces of water on Thor's hammer as it broke through the containment bubble.

The breaking of the bubble released a shock wave that shook the entire Quinjet, throwing back Tony and the Captain as well. Thor then took Loki with one hand and flew out of the Quinjet, disappearing into the distance.

Tony followed suit immediately, the sound of his rocket fading, as the Captain finally stood up and began buckling himself up with the parachute.

Amidst all of that, she picked up on the whisper-like voice of Samantha, "Hmm. So that was a God."

Before she could question anything, Samantha turned into water and turned into a stream of water that shot itself out of the Jet.

After all of that, the Captain, having finally equipped himself with a parachute, began marching towards the now completely broken Bay.

"I wouldn't go if I were you, Captain. These people, they are out of your league. Even super soldiers can't match up to them. They are literal Gods."

"Where I come from, there's only one God Ma'am and he sure as hell doesn't look like that. At least, I think they don't?" Steve mumbled to himself before he jumped out as well.

Shaking her head, she lowered the altitude, ready to turn around. She might not be able to do that but she could at least provide gunfire support.

Oh, who was she kidding? She stood no chance amidst all these people. She was just a woman with guns.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don't own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Don't sue me.

Anywho, without further ado - read on.

Earth-6161 [May 2012]

Tony Stark

Okay, this was seriously starting to piss him off, Tony thought to himself as he flew through the very dense storm that was concentrated in a very small area, tracking Loki and his brother Thor, who apparently, did not like the due process of law, breaking out his brother mid convoy.

"Target located. Unusually heavy energy signatures located," Jarvis helpfully reminded him even as he snorted at the bit about these so-called aliens being called "Gods" of all things. If he travelled back in time even a thousand years or hell, 500 years, he would be called a God by the ignorant masses if they saw a man in metal flying about, releasing lasers that killed everyone it touched.

"Stay on non lethal measures for now. Escalate if the measures prove ineffective or if the subject is non cooperative."

"Affirmative, sir. A bogey inbound as well, sir, with an unusual energy signature as well." A video feed appeared on his HUD, showing a stream of water headed straight for him, or more likely, straight for the Alien brothers in front of him.

"Yeah, tell me about it." He snorted as he swerved to the side, neatly avoiding the very fast flying stream of water as it crashed into the ground right next to the Wonder Brothers, not even disturbing anything despite the speed with which it crashed into the ground.

He saw both the brothers tensing but he stayed back, curious to see what the old lady would do, in front of the so-called Gods. Despite deriding them as aliens, he knew that Thor packed some serious muscle and with his hyper dense Hammer accompanying him, Thor could not be put down with conventional means and that included his own armour, as much as it pained him to admit that.

"Stark, I am turning around but the turbulence is making it a bit harder. Can you hold on until I get there?" His comms crackled to life as Romanoff spoke to him.

"Agent Romanoff, I don't think these are the little leagues, the ones you are most accustomed to playing." He was proud of that joke for some reason, especially after the many, many wins Romanoff had over him, this one felt special.

The silence on the other end felt all the more delicious to him.

"Greetings, Thor, was it? Great work breaking through my prison but do know that he won't wake up anytime soon." The old woman said after pointing at Loki and he knew that to be the truth.

As far as his (and SHIELD's) understanding of Asgardian genetics went, they were very, very resilient and when hurt, could heal within minutes, as evidenced by Loki's nose setting itself back in the middle of his speech.

How was that possible anyway? Shouldn't the nose be set improperly if it was just the body's natural healing process doing most of the heavy lifting? If a nose was not set properly after being broken, the human body would heal the issue with the nose being in the same broken tilted position. Loki's nose somehow reset itself before the tissue heals itself. That in and of itself was mind numbing, the medical implications ran through his mind but now was not the time for that.

Samantha had done something to Loki that had knocked him out, and according to her, only she could wake him up, which was a rather scary ability to think of. Just put someone in a coma and then simply fuck off, not waking up the person, essentially killing them without even harming a hair on their head. Fucking terrifying!

Apparently, telling Thor the fact that you were the reason for his continued unconsciousness was the wrong thing because a sudden rumbling was felt all over the surrounding area, "You did this to him?! Undo the seidr right this instant, Midgardian Witch!"

At that instant, he knew that Witch! Was an insult both in human as well as Asgardian cultures.

He finally landed right beside Samantha, with his hands raised, repulsors charged and pointed at the Prince, who had discarded his oh so beloved brother to the ground like a sack of potatoes, though keeping his earlier information about Asgardian resiliency in mind, maybe for prince Thor, sand and stone had the same chance of doing any damage to Loki as soft carpet, so it could be fine?

"Whoa! Whoa! Keep that hammer away, lighting boy! Now, I don't know how things work where you came from but where I am from, you respect your–Ack!" He choked on something as he felt his chest hurt.

"Warning! Anomalies found!" The red warning read on his HUD before the pain went away as if it was never there in the first place.

He shivered all over as he felt Samantha's eyes lock onto his face. He swallowed briefly before taking a step back, deciding to stop poking the hornet's nest.

That woman was scary!

Samantha then levelled an unimpressed look at Thor's hammer and then at Thor whose face bore a look of frustration and anger. "Put the Hammer Down, Thor. I am not your enemy here. Loki has taken something that is very dangerous and I will not stop until that item is disposed of once again. We have nothing against Loki. Bring us the Tesseract and you are free to take him wherever you like."

Oh, that was not the deal but whatever, it was not his headache to deal with. It was SHIELD's and oh, he could just imagine the panic they would have dealing with someone of her calibre, because if he was getting the readings from his body correct, the woman had just manipulated his blood. Suddenly, it made sense that this woman was unknown, she could just kill anyone based on sight alone.

Thor took one look at the situation, with the Quinjet hovering behind them and the Captain having finally deposited his parachute somewhere and running up to them, and thought better of fighting, especially with his brother unconscious.

"Fine! I will work with you to retrieve the Tesseract but UNDO the magic on my brother THIS INSTANT!"

"Gladly." Samantha drawled as she snapped her fingers, which caused Loki who was lying face first into the ground to gasp and arch upwards as he took in deep handfuls of breath.

"What did I miss?" He smiled as he heard the Captain ask on the comms.

Not much, Captain. Not much at all.


A/N -

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

MCU AU

December 1, 1991

Long Island

The day Howard and Maria Stark died in what was framed as a fatal car accident, with the incomplete Super Soldier Serums stolen, another future defining moment was happening right across the city, in a private hospital.

Two doctors, a dentist and a physician, were having their first baby, a miracle born from the union of their love. Unfortunately, the union of their love could not make it past the first breath and was about to be declared stillborn when a miracle, a cosmic event that reverbed across the universe occurred as an errant soul was thrust into this world, half burnt by the journey into this universe, all its previous memories, sense of self stripped apart, and was thrust into the body of the stillborn baby with by an Invisible Hand.

Unbeknownst to the happy couple who were crying tears of joy that their baby boy had survived and had arrived in the world healthy, happy, and crying, a cosmic plot for reasons unknown was afoot in the background, for which the continued survival of their baby was a cornerstone.

Who was the Baby?

Who was the soul?

Who were the parents?

What was the cosmic plot?

Read along to find more.



If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.

 

[IdleMuse0307]

Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.

December 1 2011

Manhattan, New York

–Samuel Jones–

He was in the middle of making his eggs, just the way he liked it when he felt something, something coming through the air, metallic in its construction and charged with electricity. Closing his eyes, he honed in on that object, whilst cooking simultaneously, and smiled once he realised that it was Tony Stark.

"Huh, neat. That man still walks around with shrapnel in his chest and a bomb in his chest. Ridiculous," he commented to himself as he plated his eggs, got himself his coffee and sat down on his dining table, to have the delicious and more importantly, nutritious meal, all by himself.

He sighed at that.

Yup, he was a loner. A certified nerd loner who was also a freak of nature because he was Sameul Jones, son of Sam Jones and Martha Jones, genius Programmer and also, controller of one of the four Fundamental forces of the universe.

Control of the entire Electromagnetic spectrum.

Or atleast, that is what he theorised his ability to be. As of now, all he could do was sense metal across the city, lift entire ships, he had tried, and rip apart buildings if he wanted to. There was a lot of scrap metal in New York City, despite its modern appearance and he could practice his abilities all he wanted to, from a distance, so that's what he did.

The smart thing. Ofcourse, the smart thing would have been to tell his parents who loved him so much, tell someone who could help him train but then again, he never claimed to be wise, just smart. A kind of innate smartness that had him dropping out of college to start his own thing and that he did.

RIght up until he was offered an unimaginable amount of money by Stark Industries for the rights to his project, and seeing the debt his parents were under and the number of zeroes on that check, he signed it. A single sign, erasing all the debts his parents had, made them debt free millionaires due to the property not having any loan on it, made him rich, rich enough to not work for his life, if he maintained his current lifestyle, and he died when he was 50.

Because elderly care in America cost more than just an arm and a leg, it demanded a person's newborn. It was fitting, in a way, to help ease someone's life in their later years, they absorb enough money for some family in the Midwest to leave debt free for the rest of their lives, right up until they needed elder care as well.

See, Corporate America had it all figured out. They don't let anyone escape.

He chuckled at his morbid own joke, while reviewing some PR requests, even as he tried to focus on using his -powers as well, not to lift stuff but to use it to create a sensory net all around him.

Oh yeah, he worked for Stark Industries now, completely remote, obviously. The contract that he signed also stipulated a minimum of two years of service just so they have a good idea of what his software could do before they could let him go into the wind. And it was fine, the pay was good, the culture was good, he had no real supervisor, and he could work from anywhere in the Continental United States.

No going outside that because of some Data Protection Laws, which made sense, considering that he was working with a company that produced almost all of the flagship stuff that the US Military used.

Weapons, Missiles, jet Engines, Missile Launchers, and more, as was made aware to him during the company orientation.

"Hmm?" He perked up, looking straight up as the ball of giant energy that Tony Stark carried in his chest at all times suddenly shot up into the air, with the suit still around him.

Must have been bored and gone for a joyride, he thought to himself as he put the plates back into the sink and sat back down to work on some documentation, standard stuff that should not take more than a month if they were dedicated enough but apparently, everything has to be a meeting and not a succinct email so here he was, over a year later, still working on the same piece of software that he made in less than 9 months of dedicated work.

"Aaah," He groaned as he saw yet another stupid request, to attend yet another middle management meeting to explain to them how his code worked and how it would benefit the company. If only he hadn't given the same presentation to three different teams.

"And he was back down," he muttered as he sensed Tony Stark's suit, made up completely of metal, shoot back down into the Tower he was building in Manhattan.

It was a little ugly, in his opinion but then again, the man was a Billionaire, he could have any building he wanted with his name on it.

"Just a year more and then… *Whistles*" he made an airplane gesture as he waved his hand in the air, "To the Bahamas or maybe Thailand, since that's way cheaper."

He muttered to himself as he closed the lid on his laptop and leaned back on his chair. Ah, this was so frustrating to him sometimes. Yeah, he woke up early, yeah he ate good, took really good care of his body, worked out properly, read books, studied really hard, worked hard enough, practised his powers more and more, and what did he get?
A lonely life, at the ripe age of 20. When his peers were out partying, he was working or watching some funny TV show, not because he needed to work but because he simply did not know how to interact with people his age.

Another thing his parents were really worried about. Speaking of his parents, Sam and Martha were going to have yet another Family dinner back in their Long Island house. Now that they didn't have to work so hard to get rid of their student debt, they could work as much as they wanted to, and have dinner with their only son anytime they wanted.

And since they knew that he worked remote, they made sure to mention the word MANDATORY in the RSVP invite.

What's the point of doing that then?

DING DONG!

"Ah!" He got up to get his delivery. The latest Sony Playstation was launched last week and the delivery was scheduled for today. Using his senses, he confirmed someone with a…nipple piercing? Standing outside his door.

Shaking his head at the image of some dude having a ring, he opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see a woman, a redhead, with his parcel.
"Hi!"
"Hello."
"You must be Mr.Jones. This is your PS6. Congratulations on getting one in the first wave itself. I wanted one but apparently, the thing is sold out for weeks now. Anyway, enjoy gaming with it, Mr.Jones." She said after taking his sign.

He took in the package in his hands and the pretty girl who was apparently interested in the PS6 as well and just as he was about to tell her, out of courtesy that she could come inside to help set it up, a mini-him popped up on his shoulder with pitchforks in his hand.

"We have been waiting for this for years now, for a hardware refresh. We also have all the mods and accessories ready for that Sim Game. You have been salivating over this for so long, why ruin it with a momentary thought from your lower half?"

And you know what? That sounded like a pretty reasonable thought. So, he shrugged and waved at the girl who was now in the elevator, and closed the door.

"Finally! Time to call in sick for the rest of the day." He muttered giddily, never noticing the cold look flashing in that delivery girl's eyes, or the fact that she did not have any other package or just the basic fact that delivery girls generally were not as attractive as that one was.

Ofcourse, Samuel noticed none of that because he was a geek and an antisocial loner geek at that.


___xx___
"Primary contact initiated.

Secondary Mission parameters failed. Subject seemed either unaware of the advances or not sexually attracted to women.

Will try again tomorrow. Gym membership secured." Agent Hayes, a level 6 Agent of SHIELD put in her voice report as she boarded the FedEx van she was using as a cover.

"Let's go."
She sat in the co-passenger seat, looking at a file that had a series of pictures along with the life data of one Samuel Jones, a suspected enhanced with a very potent power.

"Magnetic sensory and manipulation powers. Quite potent if used properly." She said to herself as she closed it and worked on her next planned encounter with the subject.

She was authorised for everything to learn more about the subject because bringing him in without any reason would not go over well, especially since said person could become a particularly potent agency asset, if need be.

---

A/N - Another Brainworm. Enjoy!





If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon.

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.