The Sounds of Thunder

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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17th October 2012, Sayre Manor

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

"They sound somewhat dangerous if they're spread on such a big scale. Why didn't you just destroy it?"

I shrugged, "they had their uses. Even if they're a bunch of arrogant assholes, they do have a stabilizing influence on the magical world. While it didn't work in the last century, there were practically no large-scale wars from the founding of the organization until Grindelwald's rise. Add in that the organization is usually made up of the backbone of the magical economy, getting rid of them would result in a lot of chaos, something that would take my whole attention, and I was too busy to deal with it."

"And now, they're going after you…"

I nodded, "I guess they are."

Now the question was, what was I going to do about it?

Selene seemed to have read my mind, "How are you planning to handle this?"

I looked back and started to think on this. Ideally, I would hope to get Rose to assist me since it will be part of her responsibilities going forward. But I will admit that the girl could be a bit too softhearted to deal with the situation.

I was tempted to just destroy the Court of Shadows entirely, but they were too useful to me to just do that. The truth was that the Court was a stabilizing agent in every magical nation that they had influence in. The fact that they had representatives of every political party and still managed to have neutral meetings, no matter how hostile they are to one another, and make decisions to make sure that things don't escalate too much, was actually impressive.

Sure, the whole weakening of magical Titans was distasteful, but if I was honest, I could see the point of doing something like this. Magical Titans are, compared to the average wizards, on another level of power entirely and thus are agents of chaos, especially if there's something they disagree with, or something they desire, in their societies.

The main truth is that the Court of Shadows kept me from interfering too many times in the magical world which saved me a lot of headaches over the years. Now, they are overreaching by targeting me, not that they know that I was the one allowing the Court to exist in the first place.

I met my wife's eyes and shrugged, "I haven't decided yet. Their existence is somewhat beneficial for me. And since I am planning on passing on my role in the magical world to Rose, they could provide the necessary stabilization needed when she takes over. Doing something drastic could cause chaos, which we do not have the time to mitigate, and in the end, it will be Rose that'll have to deal with it."

Selene shook her head, "Then let her deal with it; it's going to be part of her job."

"That would be like throwing her into the deep end before she even knows how to swim yet. She'll give up immediately. When you train people, you start slow, and then progressively make things harder. Getting straight into the difficult things will almost always lead to resentment and failure, something that I do not want my sister to suffer from."

"She will suffer, Morrigan, as you have when you were fulfilling your duties. Having someone coddle her will hurt her in the long run."

That was one of the biggest differences between Selene and me. She believes that adversity and conflict will make someone thrive the best, and while I do not disagree, I believe that there has to be a limit to that conflict, that they first need help in their first steps before they face their burdens. It was a disagreement we had many times, which really boiled down to Selene's dismissal of human lives should they fail their tribulations while I want every single man or woman that I train to have long and fruitful lives.

Rose was my sister, and she could easily be overwhelmed in the beginning, especially if the entire magical world suddenly fell into chaos as the entire economy falls, and the fragile political stability the court maintains is shattered into pieces. Add in the fact that magical Titans will start to appear, unsupervised, every few years, and will gain their followers, seeking power, for either selfish reasons or idealistic ones, Rose will have a lot on her hands.

Her responsibilities were already daunting enough since she'll be in charge of millions of wizards across many continents. I don't need to overwhelm her even further by destabilizing the entire magical world since they're scared of me because of my display against Ego.

Ugh, what a mess. If there's anything I've learnt, it's to just avoid wizarding establishments all together. Things always spiral out of control every time I go to one, which is a shame since I loved wizarding alcoholic drinks.

I shook my head at my wife, "Seriously, Selene, this is not the time for this debate. What do you suggest we do to deal with the court without causing too much chaos?"

"Just kill them and be done with it…"

I raised an eyebrow, "I don't know if you're joking or not."

Selene snorted, "Look Jasmine, I could understand why you would let them do what they wish, but they're actively targeting you, now. You and I both know that magic can be a very wild force that could even shackle gods and being far more powerful than you and me. You shouldn't hesitate to go to drastic measures just to avoid causing chaos, especially since they could take you off guard."

I chuckled in dismissal, "They're not going to take me off guard, Selene. What you said might have been true in the past, but right now, mages barely even know what they're doing. They don't even know any magics outside of waving their wands. They're not a threat to me…"

I had a point here. The magical world had lost its way, and not just in terms of raw power. Precious knowledge and magical arts have been forbidden and then forgotten later on. The truth is that what remains is barely a fraction of what wizards and witches could do in the past. They had fought gods, angels, and demons alongside the sorcerers, and they were successful, but in the last thousand years, there has barely been any progress in magical research while the magical knowledge kept dripping away.

Even if they were somehow able to summon me by some miracle, then what? They couldn't banish me away, like the old wizards did to the demons who invaded Earth, since I am native to this world. They couldn't bind me, since they simply don't have the raw power to do so, which is exponentially more energy intensive since my partial ascension during the ritual that I performed recently with Ego's seed. I had nothing to worry about.

Selene, though, seemed to know better, "What about Rose? Are they a threat to Rose?"

Damn, she really knows how to go for the kill. I had not considered the fact that the Court could use Rose to gain control of me. I was practically invulnerable to the wizarding world, but my sister simply wasn't. And the worst thing is that the Court knows about my relationship with Rose, meaning that they will seek to control her, to in turn, gain control over me.

And even if I protect Rose, her family still wouldn't be under the same protection. The Court of Shadows could use that to their advantage, to gain influence over Rose, through her parents – they probably won't even have to use any violence to do so – which would in turn get them to gain influence over me and my actions.

I would never allow it, of course, but things could get messy, and the Court wasn't going away on its own. I let out a resigned sigh, "fine, you have a point. We need to get rid of the Court of Shadows somehow, or at least the branch in magical Britain, to get them off our backs. But we'll need to be very careful since the families involved are responsible for most of the economy in the entire country. We'll need replacements, both inside and outside the Court of Shadows, to make sure that things go well enough."

Selene didn't seem satisfied with my choice of dealing with the situation, "So, that's your final decision?"

I shrugged, "I'm flexible, but that's what I'm leaning towards."

She nodded at me, and I sighed in exasperation. It wasn't just at Selene's insistence that I dismantle the entire Court, since she has always had something against them which she wouldn't tell me about for some reason. It was also the fact that I barely had enough time as it is for my own responsibilities. The Alignment is nearing, which means that the Reality Stone is going to be accessible, but it also means that I will need to focus on my deal with Odin to get rid of his minders and slavers.

I need to make sure that nothing goes wrong when we fight Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, and get rid of their influence over the Asgardians, and their cannibalization of the cycle of Ragnarök.

Selene seemingly understood that fact, that I didn't want to continue even further on the issue, and chose to change the subject, "Although, I am quite surprised that the Granger woman tried to dissuade the Court from going against you. You told me that she was very prideful. Did you really frighten her that much?"

I snorted, "It was just a few threats, but I don't honestly think that Granger warned them for my sake, but mostly for hers. Her ambitions of magical equality need stability in Britain, and she knows this. She rightfully assumed that any conflict I have with the Court will cause chaos no matter who wins. Since I did say that I'm not interested in generally involving myself, she probably preferred me to stay away on my terms than to fight her on hers. However, the fact is that she will do her best to get rid of me, or get me under her control as well, as soon as she thinks she has a fraction of a chance in doing so, and will get herself burned when she gets too close to the sun."

Selene nodded, "Ah, yes, the downfalls of prideful fools."

I nodded and we continued to walk out of the boundaries of the manor and used the portal to a small, deserted field in Scotland. Selene took a deep breath and smiled, relaxed, "I always love it here. The magic is pure, and the nature is untainted."

I nodded. I could understand why she loved this place. I did as well. There was something to just being away from civilization, to see nature as it used to be centuries ago before humans started building everywhere they could.

Selene continued, "So, about the Granger girl…"

I looked at her, confused as to why she was bringing her up again, "what about her?"

"What are you going to do about her?"

"Why would I do anything? She's just some mortal with delusions of grandeur, thinking of their foolish ambitions and nothing more. I will admit that in theory, her dream of an equal magical Britain is nice, but to implement it, there will need to be violence where most of the magical nobility will need to die. It's like what happened in magical France a few centuries back, where the masses killed off nobility from old magical lines for her same ambitions. It caused thousands of precious magics to be destroyed in the mess, and it took centuries for things to return to what they used to be. Why would things in Britain be any different?"

Before Selene could say anything, a large beam of light fell on the Earth. It looked like a rainbow, and I immediately recognized it as the Bifrost. Did Odin wish to speak to me, or something? I hoped that there wasn't a crisis in Asgard.

I waited in trepidation until the light faded and the arrival revealed themselves. My shoulders relaxed when I noticed who it was. His long golden hair and hammer were obvious identifying marks.

Thor had come back to Midgard and bellowed out, "Morrigan, there's something that I need to discuss with you."