Mist of Shadows
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Endbringers Hate Paperwork Part 26
🕑 Added 2023-04-29 04:15:59 +0000 UTCAmy watched Taylor vanish with the last of Peter's clones then looked at Myst. "What are you plotting?"
"What makes you think I'm plotting something?" Myst asked with amusement as he used his summoning power to find the woman he was looking for.
"Because you're smirking," Amy replied with a grin.
"Details," Myst replied with amusement as he summoned Taylor from two seconds after she put the last clone down. "Amy thinks I'm plotting something."
Taylor gave Myst an amused look. "You're like a kid in a candy store, you're always up to something."
Noelle laughed when Myst turned and looked at her. "She's got a point, you're having way too much fun causing chaos."
"No such thing," Myst lied as he summoned a version of Genya Safin, causing an amber eyed woman with long and wavy red hair and shadowy black scars on half of her face to appear.
"What's going on?!" Genya demanded as she looked around, not sure where she was or who the strangers were.
"I'm curious if we can fix your scars," Myst replied as he scanned the witch wearing a red robe with blue trim on the sleeves, picking up patterns for a magical body sculpting talent, a general grisha pattern and a pattern for cursed black scars that reduced the cost of a unit.
Genya scowled at Myst. "What makes you think you can fix them?"
"Arrogance and magic," Myst replied as he gestured and cast Esuna, causing the witch's scars to fade away to nothing, leaving perfectly smooth skin behind.
Genya reached up and felt her face, having felt the changes. "How?!" she blurted, shocked that he'd been able to heal her cursed scars without even touching her.
"Alina isn't the only one with strange gifts," Myst replied with a grin as he summoned David Kostyk from right before the nichevo'ya killed him, causing the olive skinned man with black hair to stumble backwards and fall over on his butt.
"David!" Genya blurted out, shocked to see her lover alive.
"Am I dead?" David asked in confusion as Genya pulled him to his feet and into a hug.
"Not exactly. I summoned you before the shadow demons could rip you apart," Myst explained as he scanned David, picking up a pattern for an item crafting talent. 'This would be a lot easier if I had a way to copy talents.' He scanned David's robes, picking up a pattern for corecloth and a generic magically infused cloth that should come in handy for costumes as the material was bullet resistant.
"Thank you!" David blurted, still not sure what was going on but happy to be alive.
"How many talents do you have?" Genya asked, trying to figure out how he'd healed her and summoned them.
"At least a couple," Myst replied as he summoned Genya's version of Alina from a couple of seconds before she would have resorted to 'forbidden' magic to bring her lover back to life.
Alina Starkov scrambled to her feet and looked around, trying to figure out where she was, how she'd gotten there and where Mal was. "What's going…" she trailed off when she noticed Genya and that her scars were gone. "What happened to your scars?"
"He healed my scars," Genya admitted, trying to calm Alina down before she did something drastic.
"What happened to Mal?" Alina asked as she studied the oddly dressed strangers.
"Nothing, you'll be back in the ruins less than a second after you left," Myst assured her as he scanned the dark haired girl wearing a brown jacket and pants, picking up an expensive pattern for a sun summoner.
"What do you want?" Alina asked warily.
"I wanted a chance to talk you out of using forbidden magic to bring your lover back from the dead, it never ends well," Myst warned her.
"What do you mean?" Alina asked, reminded of what Baghra had said about her sister and her father.
"Magic always comes with a price," Myst warned her. "Sometimes that price is nothing more than the hours spent training and having to eat more to fuel your magic, sometimes that price is the jealousy and stupidity of your neighbors or a knack for getting into trouble and sometimes, you tap into something that twists your soul and corrupts you."
"I'll pay the price if it saves Mal," Alina told him.
Taylor reached out and poked Alina's arm, picking up an unlock for a powerful sunlight talent. "Don't be hasty, I'm sure we can figure something out."
'So much for talking her out of being stupid,' Myst complained as he pulled a phoenix feather out of his spatial ring. "Or you could just use a magic feather and avoid the issue entirely since you wouldn't be using your magic to break the rules."
"Where did you get that?" David asked.
"From a friend," Myst replied, glad that Terra had been willing to part with a couple. "Just tap him on the nose when you get back and he should be right as rain."
"That's it?" Alina asked in surprise.
"Every style of magic has different rules," Myst replied with a grin as he handed her the feather.
"How can I repay you?" Alina asked.
"Don't worry about it, just take care of your people and save your friend," Myst told her with a smile then let her vanish. "That girl is going to get herself in trouble."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Genya admitted. "Now what?"
"Now we break the rules," Myst replied with a grin as he glanced at Jen. "Can you give Genya a temporary strength boost so she can pick her lover up?"
"Sure," Jen replied as she walked over and poked Genya's arm, giving her enhanced strength.
"Why would I need to pick him up?" Genya asked.
Myst gestured at David. "His body was never found and you couldn't sense him, that means I have to cheat unless you want him to die."
Genya picked David up, surprised by how light he felt. "Now what?"
"Now Taylor gives you a blessing of durability, it should last six hours," Myst told them, wanting to make sure they survived and figuring it would be a good excuse for Taylor to touch them.
Taylor reached out and tapped their noses, giving them extra durability and unlocking their talents. "Best of luck."
"Take care of your people," Myst told them and then let Genya vanish.
"What was that about?" Noelle asked once the strangers had vanished.
"Grisha are basically magic users with a limited focus that can live for a few hundred years depending on the strength of their magic," he explained as he used his summoning power to check on Genya, David, Malyen and Alina.
"Limited focus?" Noelle asked.
"Most of them can only manipulate single elements or do a limited amount of chemical manipulation or healing. David is basically a magical tinker, Genya can temporarily mold flesh and Alina can conjure light and fire which is actually more impressive than it sounds. Mostly, I was curious if I could get a scan of the amplifiers that Alina used to see if they'd work for Harry's type of magic," Myst explained as he tapped his summoning ability and summoned a version of the White Stag from another version of Alina's world, causing the impressive creature to appear twenty feet away from them.
Amy stared at the majestic white stag with a seriously impressive rack that was looking at the group. "Please tell me you're not killing it."
"I'm just scanning it," Myst replied as he scanned the stag as it ran and jumped to the next platform, trying to get away from the group. "Once I get enough mana I should be able to create a monster spawner for the stag in a dungeon."
"Would the amplifiers work for other types of magic?" Noelle asked thoughtfully.
"No clue…" Myst trailed off as he picked up an expensive pattern for a magical creature that could amplify a grisha's powers. "We might have to modify the pattern or do some research."
Taylor glanced at Jen. "Or make a wish."
"Let's save that for plan C," Myst replied as he let the stag vanish.
"Speaking of plans, did she manage to save her friend?" Taylor asked, wondering if Myst had a plan or if he'd gotten side tracked again.
"The phoenix down worked like a charm," Myst replied with a grin. "I feel bad for the prince but love is blind."
"The prince?" Noelle asked.
"The prince was the other love interest," Myst replied as he used his summoning ability to check on the prince. 'Yeah, that's not going to end well,' he thought when he saw the prince's fate. "Change of plans, I need to summon a prince from that world so we can fix a curse and heal his shoulder then we can start recruiting."
"What type of magic does the prince have?" Taylor asked.
"None, he's just a decent person and the best chance Ravka has of surviving without one of their insane neighbors taking over." Myst summoned the prince from just after he got stabbed in the shoulder by the nichevo'ya.
"What's going on?" Nikolai asked as he looked around, not sure what was going on.
"My friend is a healer," Myst replied as he scanned the blond haired man, picking up a pattern for a shadow cursed unit. He cast Esuna on the prince and smiled as he felt the magic wash the corruption out of the prince. "Can you fix his shoulder?"
Nikolai shook his head. "I need to go."
"You're not losing any time," Amy assured him. "Just let me fix it."
"Fine," Nikolai agreed. "What's going on?"
"The shadow demon left a curse on your wound, we're dealing with it before you end up insane like the previous king," Myst explained as Amy started working on his shoulder.
"Did Alina manage to kill the Darkling?" Nikolai asked, hoping they knew about the fight.
"Should be," Myst replied, not sure he'd actually stay dead considering his power and bloodline.
Amy pulled her hand back from the prince's shoulder. "That should do it."
"Best of luck saving Ravka," Myst told the prince then let him vanish. "Here's hoping they can keep everything from falling apart."
"Who are you recruiting next?" Taylor asked.
"Not sure." Myst turned to look at Jen. "How badly would my soul explode if I used a gamer token or talked a Gamer into putting me in his party for a bit?"
Jen used her magic to check. "Technically speaking, just being in a group wouldn't cause you any damage but you'd want to push it and you're better off using the school for mana and the Dildo of Doom for strength. Actually using the gamer token, you'd be able to see the fireworks from orbit."
"Libromancy?" Myst asked, figuring he'd probably get the same answer.
Jen winced when she used her power to check the results of him picking up the power or even being part of a group using it. "You'd end up stuck in a book because your soul is unstable. You should stick to learning spells and magic or stealing skills until your soul has had a chance to stabilize unless you want to end up like Riddle."
"Not particularly," Myst complained as he used his summoning ability to look for people with interesting skills that he could steal without feeling guilty. "Huh, that works. I found a version of Harry that's running around a game world. He should have some interesting spells," he mused as he summoned a mutated version of Harry Potter from right before he was hit with a killing curse in Knockturn Alley. "Hey."
"What the…" Harry trailed off when he spotted Taylor. "Nice outfit."
Taylor studied the freakish looking six or seven year old that had weird dark blotches on his wart covered face and a mutated left hand that was at least twice as large as his right. "It gives me a decent boost to my physical stats."
"Cool," Harry replied with a lopsided grin. "Is this a bug in the game or a feature?" he asked, not really expecting a response since no one ever acknowledged the system.
"Outside influence, which means I should be able to summon you back after everything resets and give you a copy of everything you share," Myst replied with a grin.
Harry stared at Myst for a couple of seconds. "Seriously?"
"Yeah," Myst replied with a smirk. "You're going to lose everything when you're sent back and the death curse hits you, you might as well take the deal."
"Point," Harry admitted, well aware that he couldn't keep anything between resets other than his memories. "Let's assume for a second that you're telling the truth, do you know why I got stuck in the game or how I get out?"
"No clue," Myst admitted. "I can sort of skim events in other dimensions with my summoning power but I didn't notice anything weird until you jumped into the Veil of Death."
"Not my best idea," Harry admitted.
"How long have you been stuck in the game?" Noelle asked, wondering how he'd ended up looking like an extra for a zombie movie.
"If you don't count the time skips, about three months," Harry replied as he walked over and sat down on the large flat rock.
"Time skips?" Taylor asked.
"I'm basically stuck replaying significant events of my life starting with the day my parents were murdered, followed by a 'fun' game of Harry Hunting where my cousin tries to beat the shit out of me and I end up on the roof when I'm seven. Depending on the event, you can spend hours or days completing it or just messing around."
"What stops you from just leaving the area?" Taylor asked.
"A combination of force fields, annoying guards and insane relatives showing up with baseball bats and beating you unconscious," Harry complained.
"Is that why you look…" Amy trailed off, not sure how to phrase things politely.
"Like a mutated freak?" Harry asked with amusement.
"Yeah," Amy admitted after a couple of seconds of trying to come up with a better way to say it and failing.
Harry shook his head. "No, I look like a mutated freak because I screwed up a bunch of dark rituals and I tripped a couple of dark curses robbing some of the shops in Knockturn Alley."
"Why were you doing dark rituals?" Noelle asked.
"One of the rituals has a chance to summon a twisted knowledge spirit that occasionally gives you enough information to upgrade one of your skills in exchange for causing a random physical mutation," Harry explained.
Taylor stared at Harry. "That doesn't seem worth it."
"It depends on your luck and your dark ritual skill," Harry replied as he opened his character sheet and unequipped his shoes as they were hurting his feet.
Amy stared in horror at Harry's purple and black feet, surprised that he could even walk on them. "Your feet are rotting…"
"I'm aware," Harry replied dryly. "I don't have enough gold to fix it."
Myst cast Esuna on Harry, curing the various curses he'd been inflicted with and reversing some of the physical changes, leaving him looking like a mutated plague victim since his spell couldn't fix some of the physical changes. 'So much for using the ritual,' he mused, wanting nothing to do with a ritual that could cause permanent changes. "That should help."
Harry sighed in relief as the pain he'd been dealing with for the last couple of hours vanished. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," Myst replied as he narrowed the collection of people down to an alternate version of Hermione that had the ability to conjure spellbooks, figuring having another Hermione couldn't hurt. He skimmed over her life, trying to find a good time to rescue her and frowned when he realized that the demonic assholes that had trapped her in a game world were planning on driving her insane by continually screwing her over for shits and giggles, made worse by the fact death wasn't an escape in the game world. "Incoming, don't shoot."
"Who are you summoning?" Taylor asked.
"A version of Hermione that has a spell to make skill books," Myst explained as he skimmed over her 'fight' with Draco and his goons in the dorm bathroom, less than amused about the invulnerability token the demonic sponsors that ran the game world had handed that version of Draco or the results. 'Congratulations, you've won a fucking Darwin award.' He summoned Hermione from the Gryffindor shower right before a volley of spells hit her.
"Don't shoot!" Harry blurted when a naked, wet and armed teenage Hermione Granger appeared out of thin air.
"Pro…" Hermione trailed off as she realized that she wasn't in the bathroom and that Draco wasn't around. "What's going on?!" she demanded, wanting to know what the hell was going on.
"Some asshole gave Draco an invulnerability token and dropped him in the game so he could rape you," Myst explained.
"Fucking bastard!" Hermione swore when the pieces fell into place and she realized that Draco had mentioned the game when he'd taunted her, something that wouldn't have been possible if he'd been a character. "That explains why my stunner didn't work. I should have let Harry kill the bastard."
"Probably," Myst agreed.
"Do you need a robe?" Jen asked, ready to conjure one if she needed it.
"No, I've got it," Hermione replied as she opened her equipment page and grabbed a robe from her inventory and put it on. "What happens now?"
"That depends, do you want to go back and kill a bunch of people in the wizarding world for revenge or do you want me to steal your friends so you can jump worlds and never have to worry about the wizarding world?" Myst asked.
"I'd rather grab my friends and leave," Hermione admitted, not seeing a point in staying since the Death Eaters had killed her parents when they refused to take a vacation so they'd be safe.
"Cool," Myst replied as he focused on Hermione's version of Harry and summoned him, causing a black haired teenager wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to appear out of thin air.
"Hermione!" Harry blurted as he jumped forward and hugged her, ignoring everything else. "Where have you been? You've been gone for a month."
"Harry," Hermione replied as she hugged him back, happy to see her best friend. "I've been trapped in a video game."
"Huh," Harry replied as he hugged her, not sure where to start.
The younger Harry smiled as he watched his alternate hug Hermione. "This could take a while."
"Probably," Myst agreed as he pulled a spatial ring out of his pocket and tossed it to the younger Harry. "It's a spatial ring."
"A what?" Harry asked as he looked at the gold ring.
"It's like an inventory or a bag of holding," Myst explained. "If you toss everything in your inventory into the spatial ring, I can just hand it to you after you restart."
"Nice," Harry replied as he slipped the ring on and an interface appeared. He quickly selected everything in his inventory and moved it to the spatial ring, glad that he wasn't going to lose everything when things reset.
"What's going on?" the older Harry asked.
Taylor pulled a whiteboard out of her spatial ring and handed it to Harry. "That should explain things."
"Summoning for fun and profit?" Harry asked as he read the top line.
"Basically," Taylor agreed.
"Why did you summon us?" Harry asked as he scanned the board.
Myst gestured towards the younger Harry. "An alternate Harry got trapped in a game world, he has a bunch of skills but he'll lose them between resets and Hermione has the ability to create magic journals that instantly imprint a spell into the user's mind."
"So you're going to trade spells then give them back after he resets?" Hermione asked thoughtfully.
"That's the idea," Myst agreed.
Hermione focused and conjured a copy of her spell book conjuration spell, creating a leather bound notebook in her hand. "I'm going to want a copy."
"Of course," Harry agreed, not seeing a problem with helping a version of his best friend.
Hermione handed the younger looking Harry the journal. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen? Sixteen?" Harry mused. "I ended up in the game world when I fell through the Veil of Death at the end of fifth year and I've spent at least three months running around so I'm probably sixteen."
"That makes me feel better about flashing you," Hermione admitted then turned to look at Myst. "Is there a reason you picked that particular time to summon me?"
"You'd just finished a large quest where you learned a bunch of stuff and Draco's attack was the start of a rather impressive spiral into madness and cruelty," Myst explained as the younger Harry opened the book and it flashed with light before turning to dust and vanishing before the dust hit the sand.
"That's fair," Hermione admitted after a couple of seconds. "I'm going to kill Draco."
"I'm not going to stop you," Myst assured her.
"Is there a reason you can't lock him up?" Taylor asked.
"He's rich and a pureblood, he'd just bribe his way out of things," Hermione complained, wishing the legal system actually worked in the wizarding world.
"Ah," Amy muttered, thinking about her world's issues with villains and how most of them never even made it to jail.
The younger Harry focused on his dark ritual skill and conjured a skill book. "This would be easier if the books didn't turn to dust when you use them, we could just make a library."
"It's a nice security feature," Noelle argued.
"True," Hermione admitted.
"What's the plan?" Harry asked.
"How do you feel about kidnapping all of your friends and spending the rest of your lives in an alternate dimension where you don't have to hide your magic and you get to talk to a version of your parents?" Myst asked as he used his summoning power to look for an alternate version of the magical school that he could steal without causing trouble.
"Sounds better than trying to save the wizarding world," Harry admitted.
"Cool," Myst replied as he summoned an alternate version of Ginny as she grabbed a snowglobe of a tropical beach.
"Ginny?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Different Ginny," Myst replied as he used telekinesis to steal the snowglobe from Ginny's grasp while she was distracted.
"Hey," Ginny complained as she tried and failed to grab it.
"It's cursed," Myst told her as he pulled a bag of silver out of his spatial ring and tossed it to her.
Ginny caught the bag of coins. "What's the silver for?"
"For your trouble," Myst replied with a grin. "Do you want a magic staff or do you want to stick around and have a chance to drastically increase your strength and power by killing monsters?"
Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Is that even a question?"
"Fair enough," Myst replied with a grin then turned to look at Hermione and Ginny. "Can I get a volunteer, I need to drop someone on a tropical island for a minute so I can set the demon's physical form? It's set by the first person that steps into the snowglobe."
"You're going to have to actually explain that," Hermione said, wanting more explanation before she went anywhere.
"Right," Myst replied then launched into an explanation about the snowglobes and the opportunity to jump dimensions with their friends and spend the next couple of years finishing their education in a tropical paradise while Harry worked on conjuring spell books.
“You should make a whiteboard for that,” the younger Harry suggested cheerfully.
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Chichi son
"No, I've got it," Hermione replied as she opened her equipment page and grabbed a robe from her inventory and put it on. What happens now?" missing"
