[P]-[W]-[M]
Jonathan Grey - Soul Space
[P]-[W]-[M]
I met Death's gaze steadily. "I assume you are referring to the individuals whose hearts had already stopped."
Her smile deepened into something more enigmatic as she leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other rather seductively, but the smile was yet to reach her eyes. "Those would be some of the ones, yes. Though I am aware you have the ability to fully resurrect the dead, and appreciate you haven't gone off the rails by visiting graveyards across the world like you are hospitals."
"Technically," I started slowly, letting the word stretch. "I only did things even a normal wizard, or even a Muggle, would have done to restart their hearts. Then I healed them like I would the others." I shrugged, knowing she wouldn't truly be upset with the whole thing by the lack of heat in her look. "It wasn't actually bringing back the dead, as you already know I am capable of doing."
"And the babies?" She raised a brow, now letting the amusement seep into her eyes.
"Hey, their babies," I shrugged, not even caring enough to give a half-baked answer. I held no regrets for reviving recently dead babies, and never would. If a cosmic entity had a problem, then there would be beef to be had. "You have to admit, ending a person's game when they just spawned is just messed up."
The lady of the afterlife tilted her head in confusion at my terminology, but she seemed to understand just fine if the kind, heart-warming smile on her face was anything to go by. "Babies are adorable, aren't they?" she all but whispered. "Perfectly innocent. With no bad deeds to their name. Yet to be tainted by the world."
There seemed to be more to her words than she said, but before I could ask, her lips curled into a bemused smirk as she let out a light chuckle, waving her hand dismissively to summon a modest tea set. An unnecessary action she took to indicate she didn't want to talk about the questions on the tip of my tongue.
An instant later, a porcelain table appeared between us. Delicate and pristine like the hand that summoned it, with golden cracks that indicated the Japanese art of Kintsugi, a technique used to repair broken pottery with gold. There was bound to be some symbolism in there somewhere, but my focus shifted to the Hallows next to the pottery before my brain had enough time to care.
"Tea?" she offered. "It's always more pleasant to discuss things over some tea, I hear."
"Well, some would say it's actually a bear, or coffee," I muttered, almost subconsciously, but gave a nod as I sat back in the armchair. "But then again, I'm technically underage for that. Not that it applies to this…" I trailed off as I gestured to the soul plane we were in, before tuning back to her. "Two sugars and a splash of milk, please."
With another small flick of her fingers, Death conjured a cup that filled itself and floated over to me. I accepted it with quiet thanks, eyes flickering to the Hallows on the table as I gave the objects some thought.
Honestly, I didn't think I needed them now. Not even in the slightest. I can create a Bright Wand of my own, not that I needed a wand to begin with. I can buy a skill to speak with the dead from the system, and I can turn myself invisible while controlling any minute release of magic from my body to stay hidden. There was nothing the objects could give me that I couldn't get myself. So, she could have them.
I took a sip of my delightfully warm tea. Just how I liked it. "You don't seem upset," I said at last, lifting my gaze to meet hers again. "No ominous talk about disrupting the natural order, no warnings about balance or consequences."
Death took a sip of her own tea, black and unsweetened if my enhanced sense of smell still worked as it should in this place, and smiled faintly as she set her cup down. "I'm not a warden, Jonathan. My role is not to dole out punishment for life. I guide souls from one state to the next. That is all. If someone manages to live longer, by choice, by chance, or by miracle, it only delays our meeting. It does not offend me."
I frowned slightly, digesting the answer as I compared the similarities with the comic versions of her, who seemed to be almost the exact same. "Then why did you give the Hallows to the Peverells? Was it not a punishment for Herpo the Foul? A test for the Peverells themselves? Some even say they were a curse for those who sought to escape you."
Death hummed softly, fingers tracing the rim of her teacup before she looked back at me with something more serious behind her literally otherworldly eyes. "It's more complicated than that," she said. "The Hallows were a gift. One born of necessity, not spite."
I leaned forward slightly, almost hoping she would lay a line on me like wanting to give Herpo the gift of death as he had never known it or something.
"Long ago, as you somehow seemed to know even before you asked the dead," Death narrowed her eyes as I smirked but didn't ask. [Observe] for the win. "A man named Herpo the Foul sought immortality."
"Not through dominance of death, but through destruction of life." She continued. "He delved deep into rituals that would end not only humanity, but magic, spirit, even the soul itself. The basilisk was just the start. With only a few notes from the man, Ekrizdis was able to create the abomination known as Dementors. And that was just scratching the surface." She almost sneered, but the action was probably beneath her with such pristine features.
Damn. Herpo was more of a dick than I thought. Or just an idiot of a mad scientist nature. Most likely both.
Her tone grew colder. "He wished to become the last thing in the universe. 'Unopposed, Undying, Untouchable,' his words exactly." My snort went ignored as she continued. "But if he had succeeded, there would have been nothing left for me to do. No souls to guide. No endings to meet. Just emptiness, with souls forced to wander in nothingness."
So she would have been out of a job. And if her job is her literal life, then she would have died too. Well, at least the version of her in this universe that is. Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure how her existence truly worked.
Death gestured delicately to the Hallows. "So, I chose the Peverell's. I gave them the means to inspire, to test, and to teach. One weapon, one tool of knowledge, and one shroud of avoidance. The Hallows were not meant to allow one to become my master, but to save the world from a much worse fate than Death."
My eyes lingered on the Hallows now, thinking about the story of the Hallows and all the theories that came with it.
"They also got the benefits of using said object for themselves afterwards as a bonus," she added almost as an afterthought.
"So they're not cursed to haunt their users in different ways?" I asked, eliciting a delicately raised brow from the attractive lady. "I mean, the Wand has a pretty bloody history, the Stone seemed to turn the user insane, and the user of the cloak was basically paranoid for the rest of his life."
"Your ability to see the true state of things must have informed you already that they are not cursed. Otherwise, you would have tried to find a way to remove the curse before coming into their possession." Death replied, almost completely unbothered by my comments. "If the fool had kept his mouth shut about the Wand, he would have been fine. If the other fool had simply found closure and stuck to using the Stone for information, he would have been fine. If the last fool had simply lived his life like any other Wizard–"
"He would have been fine?" I finished for her with a smirk.
She smirked in return. "Well, actually, if others knew of the Wand, he would have needed it to hide from people hunting him, thinking he had a Wand like his brother and seeking to take his life for its allegiance."
Yeah, I would think there was more where that came from too. Even if they didn't have any idea of the Stone and Cloak, hunting for two more Wands like the Elder Wand and killing the user seemed very much like a medieval adventure for magical plebs with nothing better to do.
"Death comes for all." She tacked on, causing me to laugh as she gave me the line I wasn't sure she knew I was looking for during our conversation.
I leaned back, taking another sip from my tea with a slow exhale. "So, you gave humanity the Hallows not to stop people from living longer, but to stop someone from ending death itself. At most, they would be masters of that death, having the ability to change it, but not Death as a whole."
Death nodded with a smile. "Again… that is definitely one way to see it."
…Yeah, she was just trying to make sure she didn't get fired. Not that anyone would hold it against her, we could have all been souls wandering a void without access to the afterlife. Whatever rules she abides by were also probably restricting her ability to deal with everything herself.
"Wait, does that mean you haven't been able to ferry the souls in Dementors' stomachs off to the afterlife?" I asked with a hum, taking another sip. "I take it that whatever cosmic laws you follow don't allow you to directly interfere in that either."
Death's starlit dark eyes seemed to glint with interest, raising her teacup and shifting its form to a delicate wine glass filled with wine. "Indeed," she said after a sip of the red liquid. "There are rules. Limits. Souls devoured by Dementors don't go to the afterlife, not unless they decide to start defecating or regurgitating them. They simply stay to feed the creature's hunger." She smirked before adding. "I guess you would call it a perversion of the 'natural order'."
She tilted her head in a way that my instincts told me was to initiate some teasing, though it was heavily laced with seductive amusement. "But tell me, Jonathan… what do you know of cosmic rules?" Her smirk morphed into a smile. "Your own rules seem to indicate some cosmic power in exchange for certain deeds. There wouldn't be more to it, would there, darling?"
I didn't rise to the bait. She may not have been able to see my previous life, but I wasn't surprised that she figured out some of how the System worked based on my actions. Instead, I brought my fingers to my chin and started massaging. "Well then, it's confirmed. I'll have to wipe them out. All of them. When I get around to dealing with Azkaban. Not that it wasn't already on my list anyway."
She seemed to appreciate that, if the look of one of genuine appreciation and the glimmer of something deeper in her eyes was anything to go by. "If you did," she said in a low, velvety tone, "I would be most grateful. As will the feed souls, no doubt." Then, she set her glass down with a delicate click and regarded me with a polite but professional expression, indicating she was getting down to business. "For that… and so much more… I would offer you this. The Hallows."
Naturally, I waited for her to finish, expecting some caveats. I wasn't a naïve kid about to accept trinkets I didn't even need from a cosmic entity willy-nilly. That would be madness.
Death raised her hand almost ritualistically, and the Cloak, the Stone, and the Wand floated up from the tea table in a slow, reverent spin. "They will be bound to you now. At all times. They will come when called… and return to me when your time finally comes."
…I wasn't going to be the one to tell her that immortality, as in true immortality, was also possible with my own 'cosmic power' that was the System. "Are you sure? Wouldn't it be better to destroy them? Herpo would undo death and destroy all life with them, and I imagine someone else might try again someday. Maybe they kidnap me or my loved ones and force me to give them the Hallows."
Death gave a quiet laugh as she slowly shook her head. "Oh, haven't you heard?" She asked rhetorically. "Dragons don't take kindly to those who would tamper with their horde… or hoard for that matter. Tying the Hallows to you is safer than leaving them vulnerable to fate or chance. Besides…" she added with a playful smile, "I have faith in your choices. They do seem cosmically ordained after all."
Reflecting on my recent purchase, I found myself rubbing the back of my neck. "Just out of professional courtesy, you should probably know I've got a place. Another dimension. One that gives its people lifespan immortality. People I bring there could, theoretically, never die. It's basically a non-evil version of Herpo's fuckery."
Death only chuckled. "I know. I felt that I had found a new location where I could access the souls of the dead. It's not a problem. I don't mind waiting. I have… patience." She shrugged. "Besides, people can still kill each other there, after all. The nature of mammals will do its work, or you will get bored with the annoying ones and kick them out to live their regular mortal lives."
She wasn't wrong. That was the plan. Well, that and linking the [Essence of Archmage] and [Essence of Home] to allow me to automatically grant those I bring there the ability to use magic, and those who I kick out or who break the rules would lose all their magic completely. It seemed like the best way to keep people in check and alert everyone to who the murderer could be.
As she raised her hand once more, the three Hallows swirled above my head, glowing in pale violet energy before gently descending. Each one pressed lightly against me, the Wand at my back, the Cloak fading into my shadow, and the Stone into my chest, before vanishing entirely. A moment later, a glowing, ethereal Deathly Hallows symbol painlessly burned into the back of my hand before fading into a simple black tattoo.
[Become Master Of Death: +500,000 SP]
[Total SP updated: 1,414,520 SP]
That… was honestly a lot of points for just collecting three objects, especially with a skill like [Observe], it just made things unfair. But a humble dragon like myself would not be one to turn down items worthy enough to be added to the Hoard.
"They are yours now," Death said simply. "Until your… eventual end."
I looked at my palm and smirked. "I can modify the Wand though, right?"
Death's lips curved again. "You may make your glowing wand of destiny however you like, Jonathan. If you make any mistakes, you can always resummon the Wand and start again."
Mistake?
I made a face to show just how ridiculous the very thought of me making a magical mistake truly is, which only served to make her laugh. Before I could ask about making the Cloak like Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation, the world around me shimmered out of view.
And with a blink, I found myself back in the Wand Lab, standing alone, surrounded by the same enchanted tools, cores, and wood I saw before I was yoinked. A quick check on my watch showed no time had passed throughout the entire conversation, which didn't really surprise me. As a cosmic entity that has to ferry all the souls in all existence to the afterlife, stopping time must be child's play.
I wanted to ask her if I would have to look for other trinkets like this in different dimensions, but it was already too late.
He looked at the back of my hand again to see the Hallows tattoo still there. With a thought, the [Elder Wand] snapped into existence in my palm, much like my old one would after being summoned from the Hoard.
[The Elder Wand - Magical Artefact]
[Description - Also known as "The Deathstick" and "The Wand of Destiny". One of the three Deathly Hallows, along with the Resurrection Stone and the Cloak of Invisibility. The Elder Wand, the first Hallow, was created by Death and given to the Peverell brothers after they completed a ritual for magical artefacts to defeat Herpo the Foul. It was then collected along with the other Hallows and given to Johnathan Grey, allowing him to become Master of Death.]
[+Decrease the cost of magic by 90%]
[+Increase magic control by 90%]
[+Bound to Johnathan Grey]
It was definitely eager. Happy even. Unlike the old wand, which wanted to be of the most use now, knowing I would barely even consider using it later, this Elder Wand just wanted to be of use without a care for whether or not I use it ever again. And I could almost swear I hear a seductive feminine giggle, but it might have just been in my head.
Without wasting any more time, I got started with the completely unnecessary upgrade with an almost sinister smile, storing as much magic into it as I possibly could without it going boom. Then it was done.
It maintained its shape, and unlike the Bright wand I held previously, it was stable and wasn't dripping magic. Just a glowing Elder Wand, and not even bright enough to force people to look away, either. That way, they would at least recognise it when they saw it.
Dumbledore was going to be frothing at the mouth when he next laid eyes on it.
[Bright Elder Wand - Magical Artefact]
[Description: An enchanted Deathly Hallow. Enchanted to store large amounts of ambient magic for the use of magic users if their bodies can handle it. Non-magic users who wield the Wand may be subject to combustion due to a lack of innate magic in their bodies. Forever bound to Johnathan Grey.]
[+Magical Storage] [+Decrease the cost of magic by 90%]
[+Increase magic control by 90%] [+Bound to Johnathan Grey]
My precious.
[P]-[W]-[M]
"I don't mean it metaphorically, or rhetorically, or poetically, or theoretically, or any other fancy way. I'm Death. Straight... Up..."
— Death, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
[P]-[W]-[M]
Greetings
Death herself sees the System as a Cosmic power, though she doesn't know it's a System as we would know it. I might change Death's reasoning in the IBS fic, another fic I've been writing with Blaise Zabini as the main character, when I get around to doing more chapters for it.
[P]-[W]-[M]
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing except original characters and ideas. All credit goes to their respective owners.
If you want to support me, join me on Pat reon by searching for Lightest_Reader . Any and all support is appreciated.
Note: All chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.
[P]-[W]-[M]
Thank you for reading.
Special thanks to my Patrons.
As always, stay awesome.
Until next time, Light's out.