Divergence

Monday, 23 June 1986

01:00 am

Kai sprang to the bathroom, closed the door, and took out the journal, slumping down on the floor with his back against a wall.

As he waited for Item-S and Item-M to contact him, Kai opened the journal to the blank page, and wrote, taking a deep breath —

Experimental Log - #2

Date: 17 June 1986 to 23 June 1986

…

For the entire time, as he scribbled down his thoughts, comparing Kai Stormborn and Darcie Malfoy, he felt as if someone was poking red, hot iron into his brain. His teeth were grinding, and sweat had drenched his back long ago.

When he was done some half an hour later, Kai threw the journal and the pen back into his MRB (-first putting them into a box-), and let out a relaxing sigh.

Suddenly, his brows furrowed.

'What's taking them so long?' He asked himself. 'Has something happened?'

With their meeting already planned, Kai doubted his Items would indulge themselves in something else. For them to not contact them meant two things. Either they were dead, or they were incapable of reciting Kai's minor-epithets.

Kai's frown deepened as he thought so. He tapped his fingers on the floor, wondering if they were already dead, who might serve him as his next Items. He could perceive there presence through the Soul Drops in his forehead, but he understood the concept behind this Slave Oath no better than he understood the Yellow Sign. For all he cared, this perception of their presence was just a lingering aftereffect of their deaths.

'Good thing I didn't invest too many resources into them, I guess,' Kai reasoned, shaking his head. 'Item-S' Blessing and Item-M's experience are worthy of being missed, though.'

After mourning these two things for another 5 minutes, Kai thought there was only one sure way to confirm their death — Hastur's epithets.

Kai hastily set up the ritual, took his sweet time to draw the Yellow Sign, before forgetting about it, and then penned down two letters asking for the reason for the delay.

-The Dweller in the Depths-

-The Bringer of Madness and Doom-

-The King in Yellow-

The entire bathroom felt like drowning in the hisses as Kai chanted HIS epithets. The candle's flame burgeoned and devoured both letters simultaneously, sending them to their respective recipients.

Not even one minute had passed that Kai felt his Inventory stirring. Kai focused his mind and saw the door at the other end of the tunnel in his Inventory opening by little. Through the parted door, Kai saw a terrified Item-M chanting his epithets repeatedly. In front of her knees, there was a letter along with a mass-produced dagger serving as the sacrifice. As the two things lifted by themselves and neared the door, Kai reached and grabbed them.

The same happened again with Item-S, who seemed to be in a dark place so Kai only saw her two eyes glowing green.

Now utterly confused, Kai opened Item-M's letter and read its contents.

His eyes widened.

With no thought, his hand went to the Item-S' letter and read it with a single wide gaze.

Kai suddenly threw himself up to his feet.

He took out the Tales of Beedle the Bard, and let the Primordial Theater bring out two Characters at once.

Both Petyr Baelish and Rintaro Okabe came out, parting the smoky veil. One was wearing a black doublet, the other a white lab coat, and both had a little stubble on their chin.

Kai threw the letters to Okabe, and asked, "How is this possible?"

The insane scientist went through both letters, raising his eyebrow. Petyr looked at them too, over his shoulder.

"Both letters mention, other than the obvious words of concern, that you have contacted them earlier than the planned time, Mr. Storm," Okabe commented, squinting his eyes. "Quite interesting."

Petyr smiled slyly as if there was some knowledge only he was privy to. "How does this Time Difference between the Primordial Tower and the many Random World Timelines work, my lord?" he asked. "Maybe an answer lies there."

Kai, now looking troubled because of this unexplainable phenomenon, recalled what he had learned from Item-M. "All timelines, where the Systems send the Contestants, remain in a precise synchronization with the Primordial Timeline," he told them. "It means, even though there is a time difference between my random world timeline and Item-M's random world timeline, both timelines have no difference with the Primordial Tower."

Okabe scratched his chin, looking thoughtful. "So, 1 day in the World of Harry Potter and the World of Lord of the Rings is the same as 1 day in the Primordial Tower," he mumbled. "But 1 day in the World of Harry Potter is not the same as the 1 day in the World of Lord of the Rings. Mysterious! It seems to be done to keep the game fair among the Contestants."

"Mysterious or not, something has happened with this world's timeline," Kai added.

"If the letters say that you have contacted them earlier," Petyr chimed in, "then the time in the world of Harry Potter has stretched, right?"

Kai had to nod.

But no matter how much he thought, Kai couldn't figure out what must have happened for it to be so. What was the reason? And if time had diverged, then by how much?

Diverged…

Diverged…

Kai repeated the same word twice, before blurting out, "Is this because of D-Mail?"

Okabe's head snapped towards him. For the first time, he looked dead serious. "It… is possible," he answered. "D-Mail causes divergence in a timeline, Mr. Storm. And if it has caused a divergence, then it is crucial to find which timeline."

"You mean…" Kai whispered, now sensing the problem.

"Yes." Okabe nodded. "From the properties of Time Nodes," he said, folding the letters, "I can tell you were teleported out of this timeline to a central nod, like a web server. And if the location of that web server was the Primordial Tower, then…"

"… then in the history of the Primordial Tower," Kai finished, running his hands through his hair, "we have created a random world whose time-length differs from the Primordial Tower's."

"Only one way to know the divergence, Mr. Storm," Okabe said, putting his hands into his pockets, "and you know it."

Kai did. He must ask for the exact time to Item-M and Item-S, and then use them to calculate the time difference between Harry Potter and the Primordial Tower's timelines.

Under the gazes of the two Characters, Kai set up the ritual again and penned down elaborate details of his circumstances. Keeping the future in mind, Kai also asked Item-M about her Stage 1 results and rewards.

It didn't take long for him to get the answers this time, either.

With the letters on the floor and their heads almost touching each other, Kai calculated the difference in pin drop silence.

"5 days," Kai said after some time. "For every 1 day of the Primordial Tower, 5 days will pass here. Sigh! That will make my Mission's Time Limit only 2.5 years in the Tower's timeline."

"And what does the Status say, my lord?" Petyr asked.

Kai had already checked. "It's still 12 years," he told them.

Petyr looked as baffled as Kai before he had figured out the matter of divergence. "I don't see how it's disadvantageous to you, my lord," he said, smiling. "Surely, if you were to obtain this timeline's Multiverse-Id, then you would have a place where you can train yourself to greater heights in a short time."

It was Okabe who voiced Kai's thoughts, shaking his head. "It's not a matter of advantage or disadvantage," he said, now looking more worried. "The thing to ask ourselves is, what else has diverged along with the Primordial Tower's timeline?"

"We will find it soon enough," Kai said. "Item-S will be done with her mission in a month or so, according to the time difference. Item-M has cleared the 1st Stage of ToW as well, getting 7 Attribute Points and 3 Title Status Points, but no further rewards. She must have barely survived, I guess."

"Now that you mentioned it, my lord," Petyr added, sneering ear to ear. "I think that Arlen Silvas played you for a fool. He didn't have any good intentions when he told you about the Tournament, knowing that you have no organization backing you up. He must have considered you dead already. My lady, Item-M, has the Ability and Skills refined and battle-tested for survival. Otherwise, any other lone Contestants in her place would have died several times from what I have seen of that place and those creatures."

With an expressionless face, Kai regarded Petyr's words and saw the truth in them. His eyes narrowed, bringing with them a profound hazel hue of slaughter and bloodlust.

"Arlen Silvas is dead," Kai proclaimed casually, hammering down the nail on Arlen's fate.

With the matter of divergence settled, Kai had no choice but to wait. "It wouldn't do good to make the girls report to me every week now," he told himself. "Once a month sounds better."

So with one last ritual, Kai sent two more letters to his Items, mentioning the new timing at the end of July, and cleared away all the traces.

Only some 15 minutes were left to his Identity Period, Kai observed.

Plenty of time to take care of a few things.

Kai sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. He had 10 unassigned Attribute Points. He tapped his fingers on the floor, thinking about what to do with them. On his right, Petyr went to the bathroom window and was now looking out in the darkness. Okabe was still mumbling to himself, the time difference calculations in his hand.

Kai came to a decision, and assigned 6 points to his Intelligence, making it an even 20. The High Priest of Byagoona had told him that 20 was a threshold, and it would let him observe the Mana within him. He kept the 4 points, forcing himself to not assign them to any Attribute. So many points were more than enough to catch a Contestant by surprise in a battle. If Intelligence were to demand more points, only then he would add points to it. Otherwise, he would wait for the Side Missions later.

Now only the matter of the Title Status Points left.

And this was something Kai had been waiting for for some time.

Two Titles would upgrade if he were to allot these points into them. Adulterer and…

'Outer One,' Kai thought, his breathing quickening.

Outer One needed only two points to upgrade from its beginning stage, and yet, Kai could tell that it was just too easy.

'No harm in trying, though,' Kai told himself and added two points in the Outer One Title.

The notification seemed to be just waiting for him to try this.

[Title Status Points can not be added to the Title, Outer One]

Sigh! Kai wasn't disappointed. Not too much.

Adulterer would give him a Skill, but Kai decided against assigning points to it. Instead, he assigned the entire 5 points to his Title, Novice Collector, bringing the count to 9. Now, he needed only 1 Artifact to get his sweet Luck points. Not to mention, the sooner he unlocked the next stage of this Title, the better it would be.

Petyr's voice reached his ears then, bringing him out of his reverie. "Now that you have a library, my lord," he said, turning around to face him, "are you planning to visit Professor Elm for equipment?"

Kai didn't answer him outright. He took out the Pokedex and opened its New Data Storage option.

[

Mode: New Data Storage

Slots Available: (8/50)

Latest Magical Creature: Queen Xenomorph

]

"The Pokedex considered all Xenomorph's stages as 6 different magical creatures and the Yautja as a standalone species regardless of the 3 ritualistic stages," Kai mumbled, narrowing his eyes. "What I don't understand is why the Pokedex considered these species on the island T009 as magical creatures, but the Royal Facehugger I got is a non-magical creature?"

After brooding over it for some time, Kai ultimately put the question in the back of his mind. He looked at Petyr then. "A visit to Professor Elm is on my mind, yes," he told him. "But I don't have the Mission Credits to know the Time Difference between our timelines. Nor do I have the place to store the equipment yet. Once I have dealt with these situations, I will hop to World of Pokemon and grab whatever equipment I can before ordering more to his place for the next visit."

"Reasonable," Petyr nodded and then smiled. "I have one more doubt."

"Eureka!"

Kai and Petyr's head snapped toward Okabe suddenly and saw him standing up. In the very next second, the insane scientist sat back, looking at Kai apologetically. "Never mind. I misread…"

Kai frowned, his fingers throbbing to choke the Character's neck.

"As I was saying," Petyr continued, holding back his laugh, "I have one more doubt. Why are you making Darcie a center of attention, my lord? That girl, Daphne, I could understand. But revealing non-verbal magic to family, and then manipulating the minister of magic, of all the witches, makes little sense to me. I know how beneficial it would be for Darcie to have a friendship with an unmarried woman, transcending the age gap. You have played with her feelings of not having children of her own, true enough. But that's a card you can't play every time."

Kai almost laughed. Even Okabe looked interested, losing interest in the pages in his hands.

"Between me and Darcie, one was bound to be a pillar of light," he told them. "Keeping both Darcie and Kai Stormborn in the darkness would be futile. Not to mention, impossible. Let's not forget, my dear Items, that leaving behind a legacy of Death, Destruction, Madness, and Doom is Kai Stormborn's objective, not Darcie's.

"I will let her flame blaze through the entire Magical World of Harry Potter. Darcie will be an unprecedented talent, a figure of admiration, awe, and envy for many. Her name will be mentioned on the same terms as that of the ancient wizards. And when this pillar of light, named Darcie Malfoy, will be at its brightest and its greatest height, she would cast the faintest shadow under it. I will wait for that time, sitting on my throne of shadows, with all preparations done. Under the noses of these supreme wizards and witches, I will sweep through this entire timeline, spreading such hideous things that, for decades to come, they will beg for peace and prosperity. Hahaha! HAHAHA!"

Okabe ran to him and put his hand over his mouth, even though Kai had controlled his voice. With one push, Kai threw him off and spat out the salty taste of sweat that had gone in his mouth.

"And what preparations they might be, my lord?" Petyr asked, behaving as if he saw nothing.

Kai coughed, and then his demonic grin returned, thinking of something. He flicked his both hands, and two objects appeared in his hands.

One was a small vial containing Yautja genes. The other had the Royal Facehugger, suspended in green-yellow solution.

Both objects hovered over his palms, rotating, revolving, looking as menacing as anything could be. Kai's chuckle escaped his throat like the snarl of a beast. He looked at Petyr and barked.

"Oh, I have a plan in my mind."

There was something too ominous about the way Kai had uttered those words.

Yes.

They reeked of blood… of death…

Of demonic savageness.

****************

AN: Kai's Mission time limit is still same, i.e. 12 years. But, now only 2.5 years will pass for the Primordial Timeline during this time limit. (approximately.)

As of now, I have not used any Original Character in Harry Potter Arc, excluding Darcie and the Head of the mind healers, Mr. Jaxson Warris.

Ms. Millicent Bagnold was the minister of magic before Fudge, but her past wasn't mentioned in detail. The name of the manager of Floursih and Blott's bookshop wasn't mentioned, so I improvised there. There will be more characters, who are a part of actual Harry Potter Universe to whom I will give either a name or background because of them not having one.

Considering there would be many such characters, I will only mention my Original Characters in the author's note. So, by default, take all other characters as being present in Harry Potter universe. Thank you. (or, if you can use google, haha!)