[ Location: Earth-991 (Hogwarts) - The Chamber of Secrets ]
[ Date: Subjective Time - Moment of Retrieval ]
The green rift hovered in the air of my living room, smelling like stagnant water, ancient stone, and old bones.
I stepped through.
My boots splashed into the shallow, murky water of the Chamber of Secrets.
It looked exactly as I left it a year ago.
Dark, massive, and entirely too creepy for a middle school basement.
I didn't need to look around as I could feel her.
A massive heat signature uncoiled from the shadows of the Salazar Slytherin statue.
"Master..."
The voice hissed in my mind, vibrating the water at my feet.
Fifty feet of emerald-green scales slithered into the dim light.
The Basilisk. Her yellow eyes were firmly closed, strictly obedient to the command I had given her a year ago.
"Pack your bags, girl," I hissed back in Parseltongue, the guttural syllables scraping the back of my throat. "We're moving."
The massive snake lifted her head, tasting the air with a tongue the size of a surfboard. "New hunting grounds?"
"A whole dimension," I promised. "And you're the new guard."
I walked backward toward the glowing green rift. "Follow my voice and keep those eyes shut until I say so. The locals are squishy."
I raised my hands.
Moving a fifty-foot magical beast across a dimensional tear required serious finesse.
'Telekinesis: Gentle Grip.'
[ Ability Active: Psychokinesis (Divine). ]
I wrapped my mind around her massive bulk and guided her, creating an invisible, frictionless tube for her to slide through.
She slithered into the green light, disappearing inch by inch.
I stepped through after her.
[ Location: The Upside Down - Creel House ]
The Basilisk spilled out onto the rotting grass of my front lawn.
She stopped.
She tasted the toxic, spore-filled air of the Upside Down.
"It smells... great," she hissed, sounding absolutely delighted. "I like it."
SCREEECH.
The local wildlife didn't agree.
A pack of fifty Demodogs swarmed over the crest of the hill, snarling and bearing their petal-teeth at the intruder.
They were my guards, and they didn't recognize the giant snake.
The Basilisk reared up, towering thirty feet into the violet sky, opening her jaws to roar.
'Enough.'
[ Ability Active: Hive Mind Control (Level 8). ]
I slammed my will down on the dimension like a physical weight.
"Stand down," I commanded the dogs telepathically. "Meet your new General."
The Demodogs froze.
They whined, lowering their heads, pressing their bellies into the dirt in total, instant submission to the top of the food chain.
The Basilisk lowered her head, 'looking' at the bowing monsters. She seemed very pleased with her new kingdom.
"Okay," I exhaled, feeling the Aether drain slightly from the transport. "Home sweet hell."
It was time. I had grinded for a year in subjective time.
My stats were level up and my energy pool has expanded a lot.
"System," I commanded. "Reset Time Dilation. 1:1 ratio."
[ Time Dilation Normalized. ]
I closed my eyes and focused on the Shadow Clone currently sitting at a desk in Hawkins High School in the real world .
'Release.'
POOF.
The backlash hit me like a runaway freight train.
"AGH!"
I dropped to my knees, clutching my head.
Months of memories slammed into my brain in a fraction of a second.
The taste of stale cafeteria pizza. The boredom of endless algebra equations. Passing notes with Max. El trying to understand mall fashion. A guy named Eddie Munson screaming about forced conformity on a cafeteria table while playing D&D.
My brain filed the data violently, sorting half a year of mundane teenage existence in a blink.
I gasped, sweating, leaning forward onto the grass.
"Okay," I groaned, rubbing my throbbing temples. "I hate high school. I hate it so much."
Ding!
[ Open Chat Group ]
Wanda Maximoff: The news here is crazy. Aliens literally attacked New York. But that's not even the weirdest part... some guys in suits showed up at our apartment in Sokovia today. They said they're from a 'scientific division' and can help Pietro and me understand our gifts.
Esdeath: If they offering power, take it. Use their resources to grow stronger, then crush them when they outlive their usefulness, Its simple.
Shikamaru Nara: Sounds like a trap to me. A Secret organizations recruiting kids with powers is always a drag. Just look at the Anbu in my village, If you have choice tell them to get lost otherwise wait for the opportunity.
Lelouch vi Britannia: I agree with the Shikamaru. It reeks of exploitation. Those who offer 'help' usually demand absolute obedience in return. Did they give a name organization?
Wanda Maximoff: They called themselves HYDRA.
Shikamaru Nara: By the way, has anyone heard from Aizen? He hasn't logged on in weeks.
Lelouch vi Britannia: The time dilation between our worlds is unpredictable. Many members go dormant for subjective months at a time depending on the systemic sync or he's simply plotting something tedious. Either way, enjoy the quiet.
Vivan Frostwell: Hey guys. Glad to see the group therapy session is going well. I got my pet basilisk a new home Also, Wanda... DO NOT GO WITH HYDRA. They are literal Nazis disguised as scientists.
Lloyd Frontera (Admin): WANDA, DON'T SIGN ANYTHING! I CAN SELL YOU A BETTER CONTRACT! Wait. Vivan. A BASILISK?! Sell me the venom and shed skin again! I can make more armor that deflects curses! I'll give you 500 points right now!
Ryomen Sukuna: It is just a glorified beast. I've crushed beasts ten times its size by stepping on them by mistake. Wake me when someone actually dies.
Vivan Frostwell: Go back to sleep, Sukuna and Lloyd, I'm selling the venom later.
I closed the chat, standing up and dusting off my knees. 'It's weirdly comforting knowing I'm not the only one dealing with a messy life. Gotta keep an eye on Wanda though.'
I pulled out my wand.
I focused on the boys' bathroom on the second floor of Hawkins High—the exact spot my clone had ducked into before I popped him.
'Apparition.'
CRACK.
[ Location: Hawkins High School - Reality ]
I stumbled slightly as I appeared in the middle stall of the bathroom.
I checked myself in the mirror and I was wearing a vintage band tee and a dark denim jacket (Clone Vivan had decent style, I'll admit).
But I looked... different.
The clone was just a fraction of me.
The real me felt like handsome man holding a god-tier Spirit stat, a massive reservoir of Aether, and the psychic weight of a dimensional ruler.
heh heh heh
I took a deep breath, trying to pull my aura in tight.
I pushed the bathroom door open and walked into the cafeteria.
The noise of a hundred teenagers hit me.
As I walked down the aisle toward the Hellfire Club table, something weird happened.
People stopped talking as I passed.
The jocks, the cheerleaders, the band kids—they subconsciously shifted out of my way. They didn't know why, but their primal instincts were screaming that a predator had just walked into the room.
I reached the table.
Mike, Dustin, and Lucas were eating. Sitting at the head of the table was Eddie Munson. He had wild hair, rings on every finger, and a Hellfire shirt that looked like it hadn't been washed in a week.
Eddie stopped mid-rant and looked up at me.
His eyes narrowed.
"Frostwell," Eddie said slowly, tilting his head. "You look... different today, man."
"Different how, Munson?" I asked, sliding into the empty seat next to Dustin.
"Less like a preppy ghost," Eddie pointed a french fry at me, "and more like a mob boss who just buried a body. I dig it. It's very metal."
"I had a good nap," I smirked, stealing a fry off Dustin's plate.
"Hey!" Dustin complained.
"So," Eddie leaned forward, planting both hands on the table and grinning like a maniac. "The campaign concludes tonight. The Cult of Vecna. You in, rich boy? Or are you too busy brooding in corners?"
'The Cult of Vecna. If only you knew, Eddie.'
"I'm in," I said, leaning back. "A little tabletop gaming to relax. What could go wrong?"
RIIIIING.
The lunch bell screamed.
"See you nerds tonight!" Eddie yelled, jumping off his chair and throwing devil horns.
I grabbed my bag and walked out into the hallway.
The memory of the clone told me I had History next.
But as I walked past the counselor's office, I stopped dead in my tracks.
The air pressure dropped.
My Abyss Mark—the black, spiral burn on my right hand from the Yellow Eye a year ago—flared to life.
It burned like a hot iron pressed against my skin.
I winced, grabbing my wrist.
'What the...'
The door to the counselor's office opened.
Chrissy Cunningham, the head cheerleader, walked out.
She looked awful and her perfect blonde hair was a tangled mess. Her skin was the color of spoiled milk.
She was trembling, staring at the floor like she expected it to open up and swallow her.
The hallway lights flickered.
Bzzzt. Bzzzt.
'System. Observe.'
The blue screen flashed over her.
[ Target: Chrissy Cunningham ][ Status: Marked for Liquefaction. ]
[ Source Entity: Hastur (The King in Yellow / The Outer God). ][ Threat Level: APOCALYPTIC. ]
My blood turned to ice.
'One enemy is dead but,' I realized, horror dawning on me. 'Vecna isn't doing the curse this time , So the barrier is really too thin. The real cosmic horrors are reaching through.'
Chrissy stopped walking.
She gasped and her eyes rolled back into her head, showing only the whites.
And right there, in the middle of the crowded hallway with dozens of students walking to class, her feet slowly lifted off the linoleum.
She was levitating.
'Seriously? Now? Out of all the possible times for a cosmic entity to attack, it chooses passing period?!'
"Chrissy?" a passing student asked, stopping in his tracks. "Are you okay?"
Her jaw unhinged with a sickening crack, her bones snapping audibly under the invisible pressure.
I dropped my bag.
"Everybody get back!" I roared, my eyes flashing violet.
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