Horus Goes Home

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Chapter 24: Aftermath

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Nothing was going as planned during Horus's visit with his deceased parents. He had been positively giddy while he skipped dragging his parents murderer to processing. Oh he did the dead that much was true but it had not been his original idea. Sure Voldemort was ambitious and wanted immortality, but what glory was there in killing defenseless babies. The whole thing stunk of a set up by the traitorous exile Albus Dumbledore. Still Horus was able to speak with his parents for the first time really as baby talk obviously didn't count. Besides he really wanted to know the prankster known as Prongs as well as his mother who they seemed to want to gloss over except for the whole sacrifice thing.

'Really what were they thinking,' Horus thought as he looked at his parents in disbelief. 'Dumbles so tried to make sure he was the only source of information so I would be dependent. If I didn't know better I think he might have used secrecy charms to prevent people from telling me things.'

"So how have you two been since I last saw you," Horus said as he sat down with his parents. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Well we were waiting at Godrick's Hallow when Voldemort showed up," Lily said as she pulled her son into a hug which was something she had been denied for too long even if she did not recall what happened in between. "James went to delay him while I went to get a portkey away. For some reason it would not work a the time and your dad died. I heard his body fall to the ground and then he came in. i still do not understand why he was so concerned with you. I mean we were a credible threat what with what we had worked on. Let's just say that neither of us was what others thought we were and leave it at that."

Horus just nodded at that as he snuggled into for the first time he could remember his mothers hug. Sure his aunties had hugged him, but there was just something different there that he wanted to enjoy.

"I take it that you want to know what happened after that huh?" Horus asked his mother from where he was in her hug. She just hugged him tighter so he continued, "Well Dumbledore decided to ignore your will and send me post haste to the Dursley's, but fate in its strange manner interfered. Did you by any chance cast a spell to insure that I would go to someone who could keep me safe if you died?"

"He sent you where?" Lily screeched out in shock. "How could he ignore our wishes and put you there. They never would have treated you right..."

"You get it," Horus said in a very sad tone of voice. "I would be worn down and grateful to whoever took me away from that place even if it was just for a little while. That would have been him and then he could mold me into a puppet. He went even so far as to embezzle money from the Potter estate as well as allowing Sirius to go to Azkaban so that I would have no one not under his influence that I would trust. He went so far as to try to set me up with a marriage contract with Ginny Wesley of all people."

"Wait a minute the gold digger Molly Prewitt's kid," Lily said in shock. "She tried to come between me and James as well as Alice and Frank."

"Yeah let's just say that my life has been rather strange," Horus said with a sigh. "By any chance do you remember your godfather?"

"Yeah I always wondered about him though," Lily said with a thoughtful look on her face. "He was always different, but I found no record of him as a wizard and yet there was something always magical about him. Petunia never did like him except that she seemed to have a crush on him then again I did as well, but he was always so..."

"Disinterested?" Horus asked. "It was not that he was gay or anything just that he had long since got used to women hitting on him. Then again considering how old he is and that he most definitely can say that there is no form of male female sex that he has not tried before and mastered, it is no wonder that he was a bit disinterested besides he has a slightly different view on age of consent and the like."

"He never really looked that old and he never looked any older when I saw him last," Lily said in a thoughtful tone of voice. "So how old could he be?"

"Several millennium actually," Horus said with a shrug. "He saw the rise and fall of Babylon and the following civilizations. He walked among the masses as the ages passed. He fought in more wars than one can imagine and knew the greatest known and unknown of their times. He's been a general and a king, a wanderer and a vagabond, a rich man and a poor man, the most revered and the most feared as the ages turned. Is it any wonder that he seems distant at times?"

"I never thought of that," Lily said with a sigh. "Still seems more like he let the world pass around him lately. Why would he do that?"

"Think about having seen the ages pass and reminiscing on the people you met and how even the exceptional ones are forgotten only to remain as anything substantial in your memories as people even remembered become abstractions of who they are," Horus said as he looked at the distance so far away. "Does anyone remember Shakespeare's idiosyncrasies or the anecdotes that Plato told at Symposiums as they really where. What happened to all the humor that is forgotten or lost their meaning let alone the context of such things as are now famous works of art?"

"So much is forgotten and since he has seen so much why not correct people's misconception?" Lily asked in interest. "What is there to gain by being silent?"

"People speak of conspiracies and plots within plots of organizations controlling and manipulating the strings of the world where we are all nothing but scripted actors," Horus said with a dark chuckle. "If that was so why not prevent the atrocities that occur? Why did people let the tragedies happen if it could be prevented? Rome burned and plagues swept the land and nothing was done. Do you think there was nothing that could have prevented our mistakes? Why do wizards not meddle in muggle politics anymore than others? What started a policy of nonintervention so long ago that those with power were commonly deified? Think about it and what happens when wizards truly fight and I don't mean these skirmishes they think of as wars..."

"Your talking about something like World War III with magic are you not?" Lily asked quizzically. "You almost make it sound like it happened before..."

"It did," Horus said as he snuggled back. "History is a fairy tale told to the younger generation of what supposedly happened. It glosses over and forgets a rather disproportionate amount of things. Then again history is just a written recording of those who not necessarily won but survived and is suitably altered to fit the socio-economical and political pressures of the time. Truth will always be stranger than fiction since a thousand editors copy and pasted what is deemed as history. Recorded history is nothing more than a written telling of the times altered to suit the current climate. Was Merlin anything like what people believe? Hardly he was far different as are most other historical figures."

"I take it that there is something that you would talk of him with such loathing," Lily said as even with being his mother she was more intuitive to subtle things than James was as his pranks were never really subtle. "So what is it about him and what he did that would cause such a reaction?"

"Well that is a rather interesting story if all is told," Horus said as he tried to think of an easier way to come out and say it. "Long story short was that Merlin and Morgana were friendly rivals while they were students and eventually drifted over a simple issue that to most that I know is rather funny..."

"What issue is that?" Lily asked in interest as she had always liked to learn even if she had despised some of the things that her now husband had called her. "You must admit that as a child what I learned from myths was most likely not accurate and I still don't believe the tales that I learned at Hogwarts..."

"Well the whole thing started when they were discussing a rather silly point in the nature of magic," Horus said. "Mostly it boiled down to the events that would unfortunately lead to the Light-Dark paradigm that still pervades the wizarding world. Magic is magic and as such it is how it is used that matters. Merlin was supposed to halt the spread of the changing times and the newer burning times. If he had then all the tragedies that followed never would have happened. Morgana was in the terms of the age a Dark Witch that being one that willingly used what was deemed dark magic at the time. That she also wanted to preserve the old ways from extinction with the next wave of invaders to the Isles. Merlin had been biased against a rather large part of the types of magic even if he did eventually learn some of the higher magics. As is tradition they were to settle their grudge first through diplomacy and then if that failed a formal duel would suffice. You must admit that is far more civilized than grabbing all your friends and having violent skirmishes where innocents and other non combatants are slaughtered merely for being at the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"Well you are right about that," Lily replied with a bit of understanding of his position and here agreement to it. "Still dueling should be a last resort and not the first don't you think?"

"Fighting is merely the continuation of conflict resolution through a different form of diplomacy," Horus said simply. "That being that despite some peoples belief that everyone will abide by the rules that were agreed upon sometimes one must unfortunately rely on coercive and subversive force to maintain that agreement. Far too many people are willing to believe in might makes right when they have the might and turn around when they are not in the position of superior force."

"Yes that seems to be a pattern in any situation where the rule makers only follow the rules when it is to their advantage," Lily said while bobbing her head in agreement. So how did things go so out of control?"

"That is where things get interesting," Horus said with a solemn nod. "Neither would accept that the other won as they tied in the first duel and then kept challenging each other with no clear winner after a number of duels. It got bad as they attempted to form factions and that led to problems. Eventually their conflict threatened to go out of control and they were kicked out. They then ran across wizards and as they were already exiled they had no qualms in manipulating factions to form to their cause. Each found sympathetic people and eventually they went to war first with wizards and then common soldiers dying for no reason save to slack their egos. It had gone beyond the original disagreement and had become a self perpetuating problem. Merlin started adding new things to the Dark and thus evil and morally reprehensible list and that allowed for more fanatics to polarize society. Their clash was self perpetuating and even though Merlin won in the end he had corrupted what he had desired leaving a system which would later label anything that was difficult to monitor or reverse as dark instead of the original definitions that had been used."

"So since it created a cyclical conflict it repeated with the rise of Light and Dark Lords who each rose up again the banner that one of th factions had led," Lily said slowly as if mulling over what she was saying. "So the whole conflict that continues to this day is while in some ways a cultural divide where the purebloods believe we are tainting their culture..."

"Where ever did you get the idea that you were tainting their culture when it is the exact opposite," Horus said in indignation. "Right I guess I should start at the beginning with that then. First you were not muggleborn muggle or perhaps sensitive raised at the most as a rather large number of magical beings are the same way. Despite what the Wizarding world sees as their monopoly on magic and other abilities that is rather far from the truth."

"You are implying that there are other communities that exist parallel to the wizarding and yet hide themselves from each other as well," Lily said with a bit of shock coloring her tone. "If that is true why would there not be cross mixing of the various groups similar to what happens as it is?"

"Long story short is that no one likes wizards since they tend to be close minded bigots with a very large inferiority complex," Horus said. "Oh we can't do that it has to be evil and the like. Bloody magical inquisition was all the Ministries fault anyways as they pretty much let the opinion that wizards were safe while letting the hunters to every other group that would not subjugate themselves to the Wizengamot and the like. Face it no one likes tattletales especially ones who are liars."

"That does sound like the Wizarding World," Lily said. "Still no place is perfect."

"True so despite all these non issue discussions," Horus began, "there is something that I want to know?"

"What is it son?" Lily asked.

"Could you tell me more about things?" Horus said. "I just want to know a bit more about what you guys were like and it is better to get it from the horses mouth so to speak. Not to remind you of petunia or anything..."

That was how it started. He had barely gotten the question out when his head went fuzzy. His head felt like it was splitting in two and two contrasting and contradicting memories showed up in his head. The pain was far greater than any he had been before as the two different sets of memories tried to work their way into his head.

'This is most unpleasant,' was the single coherent thought in his head at that time. 'I must remember to severely hurt, torture and maim whoever caused this before making there death most unpleasant.'

The rather distraught parents were forced to be able to do not much to help their son as he writhed almost helplessly if it had not been for the almost palatable aura of power wrapped around him to prevent outside harm as his mind, body, soul and magic fought off the outside influence. This would have been automatic if he had been a Master Sorcerer as they gained an almost godlike immunity to the magic that was causing such distress. Someone was trying to alter reality and as such had to also fill in the blanks for the altered memories. This also prevented the innate dimensional splinters as the main self as well as the off shoots would be aware of alterations in the time stream. For example the current time stream and reality was being rewritten to be one where Horus grew up with the Dursleys and as such was able to be easily bent to the will of the wisher Delores Umbridge, but that also meant that he would have been far easier for Albus Dumbledore to have controlled and as such put through hoops and turned into the perfect puppet or as the public would say a Gryffindor Golden Boy firmly in the Headmasters control. The memories came in flashes of the same time events.

Flash HP

Harry was too little to reach the stove properly and as such was standing on a step stool cooking some of the morning breakfast frying some sausages to go with the eggs when he had just dropped the pan on the floor and been scalded by the heated grease. He knew better than to cry out as that would only result in more pain, but he was unable to stop the grimace of pain that had formed.

The sound of the sizzling pan damaging the floor was heard as Vernon rose up after dropping his paper on the table. The chair had almost flew back as he rose up like a raged bull snorting in rage to look at the smaller cook.

"What do you think you are doing, Boy?" he asked as he stalked forward. "Ruining our food as well as our floors."

Vernon had just grabbed him almost dislocating his arm before being flung into the cupboard under the stairs.

"You're where you belong Freak!" Vernon had snarled loudly as the door slammed shut with a loud crack before the locks were turned.

'Why?' he thought as he silently cried in pain now that Vernon could not see him and beat him more. 'What did I do so wrong? Why does he call me a freak. I am not a freak, am I?'

Flash HS

It was another day of hard training and as he had improved his trainer had held back less. Today the strikes were far less restrained and the damage they caused were more than just bruising in their effect, but it would be worth it if he got the lesson. Not that he would be told the lesson as he would have to figure it out. Nothing is ever handed to anyone as one has to earn it through their actions and not circumstance like birth.

Horus dropped back into his stance as he prepared for the next bit of sparring. He was already sore and he could feel his body being taxed to heal his injuries faster. His usual taps which still left bruises were already fading as his magic went to work to get him back in fighting form.

'It would not do to have a weapon that took to long to repair would it?' he thought as he felt the pain start to lessen.

"Defend yourself," his father told him before he became a blur.

He moved to block and he heard the thuds and felt the shocks as he felt their limbs collide. He slid back from the force of the strikes even as he felt the bruising go beyond the muscle to the bone. This was definitely not what he was ready for. He started to draw as much of his energy as possible to reinforce both his bones and his flesh while also trying to heal as well as strengthen his muscles and increase his reactions.

'It is not enough,' Horus thought as he seemed to be little more than a rag doll being thrown around between the various collisions. 'I can barely manage to dodge and even then he is on me instantly. I had not realized that he was holding back that much. I am going to be seriously overwhelmed soon.'

Despite the fact that he was rather

Horus had just gotten the beating of his life. He was once more attempting to succeed in ripping his fathers still beating heart out during todays training session. He ached everywhere and his bruises were covered with bruises. He was sure that he had bruised if not broken several bones. He could feel the sting as they tried to repair themselves, but his reserves were too low to do much at the moment.

The walls of the training area were scorched but his father showed no signs of being even singed despite the charred appearance of the walls and the black powder craters on the floor.

'I will not fall,' he thought. 'I will prove myself to you father. I will be worthy of your legacy.'

With that Horus dragged himself from the crater and shakily got to his feat before reassuming a combat position and then saying, "I will not give up!"

"Good then let us start again," the towering figure in black and blood red said. "The day is not getting any longer."

Flash HP

Dudley and his gang where chasing him again. They were getting closer. He was focused solely on getting away and he had closed his eyes when he heard them get closer as he hid. The next thing he knew there was light and wind. He opened his eyes and he looked down he was on the roof.

'How did I get here,' young Harry thought.

As he didn't know how to get down the teachers eventually had to get him down from the roof. If he had known better he could have avoided what happened when he got home, but the pain from the beating he got when he got home had driven the budding thoughts from his head as they did anytime he tried to figure out what it was that caused them to call him a freak.

If he had been completely aware and the memory not clouded by pain he would have noticed the quick way that his wounds healed and the slight hovering above his bed that eased his pain. If he had done so he would have had a way to protect himself but he did not.

Flash HS

Horus had just gotten dressed in his dark red almost black outfit. This was the day his first true mission. He was excited as all hi straining would be put to the test. This time it would not be controlled circumstances such as cleaning out a nest of trapped monsters. This time he would be doing something that most would frown on. He was to do a quick SD of an area where there were rumors of strange creatures causing problems. If only he had known what was going to happen next.

Horus was in a small cave as he watched the scene in front of him. A girl barely even half his age was convulsing as a rather disturbing demon breed was being birthed. He recalled that even with magic that she would die after the procedure and that until that point the spawn was draining her energies. That the spawn had already poisoned her and it was only its living presence that kept the poison from killing her. If he removed it she would die and if he did not she would die. The only difference was the pain and degradation that she would go through. He had trained for this but had hoped not to do this so soon.

"Rest in Peace," Horus whispered as he quickly killed her with an instant and painless death before turning to dispatch the rest of those responsible. "Now die!"

Horus moved quickly and determined. As much as he wanted these monsters to suffer he would not risk them doing this again.

Flash HP

Harry was happy he was going with someone away from the Dursleys. Now he wouldn't be a Freak anymore. To think that there was a place where he was normal it was a dream come true.

Flash HS

Horus was happy he was finally going on his first mission for the Serpents. He recalled what he felt after his first mission as a shadow and how his mentor had comforted him. He had wished his father could have been there but he himself was out and doing a serious mission. Little had he known that he would be tracking a rogue spellcaster as he had thought the mark was a demon considering the things in his file.

'I thought it was a demon blooded slinger,' Horus thought in disgust as he watched the man prepare himself for his power augmenting ritual where an even number of young men and women were bound to the table.

"Now my followers we will ascend," the man said as his followers anointed their blades with their own blood.

'Really who does sacrificial magic anymore,' Horus thought as he watched the leader draw closer to the victims. 'Looks like he has to rape and then kill the pairs along with the quick gestated offspring who are to have runes covering their flesh along with the other victims in blood. Shame that his followers will die if it succeeds. Guess I need to kill him now before anything happens.'

Horus dropped down before snapping to look at them for a moment noting their eyes causing his eyes to widen under his mask and a single thought came to cold certainty in his head and that was, 'Shit,' as he noticed and processed what that slight alteration meant. His job just became more complicated as there was a greater risk now.

"Stop," the leader began.

Horus dashed among the followers knocking them out quickly before moving to the leader.

"Him," the leader finished saying.

"Mind controlled followers are just not able to react very fast," Horus said.

"Can't we talk about this," he said. "I can give you..."

"Nothing," Horus cut him off by dashing with his sword drawn.

The man threw a few spells in an attempt to either stop or delay him enough to escape. He never did concern himself if some norms bought it.

Horus dodged a fireball followed up with a lightning burst. Not that he had to but tipping which was his elemental affinities was not something to do in this fight. If he thought that he was weak to those elements he would be able to better accomplish his mission which was why he had not deflected the fireball or the lightning burst.

Horus drew close enough for the final strike and the man sent a bold of fire point blank at him only to be absorbed. Horus swung and the lightning burst struck his blade and it was still surging when it cut into the man as it tore its way up as he spasmed as the blade slit him slowly like a saw before the blade passed up and out of his neck. It had been one of those drawn out moments as the blade had sliced him from entrails to mouth.

Sheathing his sword Horus after cut the man's head off and then incinerated the body. There were plenty of ways to come back even if ones head was cut off and incinerating the rest of the body to ask would delay any kind of regeneration. Horus held himself firmly until he presented the head back at HQ after freeing the victims who had run off and proceeded to repress everything. The cultists that had followed the man ended up living after going through withdrawal from the potions they had been addicted too. It might have been more merciful to kill them since they had been victims who had victimized others. They had merely drawn the mans attentions when he pair sacrificed people and so most ended up disturbed and on a large number of mood altering potions to stay centered.

Flash HP

Harry had to stop him and did the only thing he could he put his hands on him and the man screamed. Afterwards no one really dealt with the fact that his actions killed the man and the same when the following years passed by with his life at risk and Being a mushroom.

'I will not let these memories swallow me,' Horus thought. 'I will get you for this whoever you are.'

With that Horus collapsed as the memories sped up until the present moments and he saw his life compared to what could be and realized that he was happier as he was. That was even with the complication that this brought into his life. He had to finish his quest or he could never truly go home as the reality bending magics would rewrite him to that other template.

'I will make sure if I ever end up in an instance like that to change things,' Horus thought as he started to drift off in his mothers arms.

"Sorry," he managed to say as his eyes closed. "Someone seems to want to change everything for the worse. Just let me sleep."

Lily held her son as he slept in her arms. She could ask what happened later. Right then her son needed her. It didn't really matter that she was dead. Still this was important even if she would see him more often now. It had seemed odd that she had not been reborn already but her bond with James while different than most would compare to was strong enough to keep the two near each other for a time. The two would eventually have a second chance and perhaps next time an insane megalomaniac would not cut it short.

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The ladies had barely made it home to the manor before collapsing. They knew better than to show their breakdown out there and as such quickly turned to themselves for comfort as they snuggled in the bed. They could feel him but it was so faint and that was mostly over the secondary linkage that Trish had a His Avatar. Nabiki, Kasumi and Seras were hit the hardest as while the Mate link did not break it was stretched far greater than it should have been so soon and as such they found themselves spending far more time near relatively speaking with Trish as her Avatar bond was able to reduce the stretching along the link.

All of them seemed to need comfort from the sudden loss that they felt at his disappearance. Is it any wonder that they would seek comfort in each others embrace while they felt such an almost festering would from the raw ache of the separation? For any one wondering no they did not degenerate into a lesbian orgy as while they were not in the mood that did not mean that they were not attempting to get off to feel better. That being that instead of all the interesting ways and methods that they used they were more seeking comfort that self gratification. Any normal person would just see a bed full of naked ladies caressing and rubbing against each other and think that it was just a lot of lesbian sex, but that was not the case as it was more of a huggy feely moment after all.

To be rather cold the scene was a puppy pile of crying girls who were treating everyone around them as if they were their favorite stuff animal to glomp to feel better from. That was what happened as the group fell together to gather strength from each other. If he was truly dead the severing of the bonds would have resulted in the group snapping and immediately finding the one responsible without taking into account who or what was in the way. That was why the mating ceremony was rarely done as often as possible as those so joined would likely go on killing sprees when their mate died. Oroborus himself survived two separate severing of his bonds and his rampage at the time both with and without his surviving mate was legendary only being eclipsed by what Galcuth had done to get his revenge. That they tend to self destruct or simply transubstantiate to the other side normally after completely decimating their target without regard for collateral damage is in part why the ceremony is considered different. The only other Oath that is considered as severe in importance is that of Comradely where the oath binds to protect the group.

'My oath to your oath, my blade to your blade, my blood to your blood this I vow by blood, life and soul, my life for your life, my back to your back to stand beside you in thick and thin through safe harbor and storm for this life and the next,' Horus thought. 'Most people wonder how we can make such oaths and then the mundanes make oaths with impunity. That is the real reason that mundies are not trusted as their word is not their bond.'

The room suddenly shifted from the open room for the forms to add movement in raising and lowering poles and other complications to better push the trainee to their limits. They would have to balance on the moving poles and posts while dodging the less than forgiving traps such as the launchers and pits as well as the poles that shifted to spikes. The launchers of course were timed as was the rest that was not apparent as the pattern was very complex yet simplistic in its method. That was if someone was well versed in non base ten number systems as they pertained to celestial alignments. Higher magics tended to need a very thorough grasp of the motions of the planets and despite that reason they had faded to the pathetic levels at Hogwarts that they had as seven years did not allow enough time and with the lack of preparatory work the students never reached the levels they had in the past.

The various Orders had long since adapted encompassing and multicomponent training to maximize the learning of their pupils. Still no order had as demanding a training regiment as the Shadow and Serpent Orders. They required that the candidates be willing to do what it took to reach the pinnacle of what they could be to go beyond the limits of their mortality and push beyond what was to what could be. Still it was not like it had been for the initial candidates and even during the following wars nothing was as stressful as it had been during the Demon Wars. Still even if those around him were less aware of the soon to be revealed histories even if they were some what non linear.

'They are more aware of things than normals ever will be and yet they are still linear enough to try to find things the hard way than to see what will happen,' Horus thought as he let most of his concentration deal with the events around him while he let his thoughts drift. 'Still it will be a major event when the lost histories are discovered. Perhaps it is to prevent alterations to the timeline that things seem to remind me not to tell him about that. Still knowing some of the future does not allow everything to change as certain events seem to be unavoidable and are set in stone irregardless of all the fluctuations around them.'

If he was aware that what was like a momentary shock akin to a bee sting and that his mates had experienced it differently it would have been rather enraging. As it was Horus was unknowingly sending reassuring thoughts over a longer period of time in the moments that passed for him. Still while that reduced the strain on the bond as the emotions helped to shore up the strain from the separation that did nothing for the current situation that they were in.

Still they were attempting to contact him and even if they would not be able to remember it without outside help they knew that he was worried about them. They were family and that meant something. It was not the sex that they had shared that had bound them together but the fact that they worked together to help each other out that did that. So as they drifted off they dreamed of what was happening even if it would fade away in the morning only leaving them with the feeling that despite the shock that He cared and that He would return.

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Horus sighed as he looked around. There was not a lot that he could do. At least his preventative measures would work that was something at least. Paranoia was a very common idiosyncrasy among mystics as they knew that someone somewhere was out to get them either to advance themselves or for petty payback because they were used to further someone else's goals. The guild had prevented direct conflict from escalating to devastating results and theoretically they were working together for mutual gain but that in no way shape or form prevented jockeying for position and power. Hell the duels that seemed to happen often enough was do in part to the inherent competitive nature that they had even if it was somewhat less primal than the other mystics had.

'It is not as if competition was not removed from the field before,' Horus thought as he used the training room to try to exhaust himself so as not to think about what had happened. 'Sure I was expecting to have to wander on my quest but this is a bit much. To be so near and so far will be quite straining. Damn that woman! To think the complications would be this. I cannot see my family, my mates as the fact that I am not protected from reality altering magics do to being a mono planar being is quite annoying. If I stay inside my domain or any other plane than I ma fine, but to know I cannot visit the mundane or even magical let alone most of the mystical world is annoying. Any other dimensional offshoot is fine, but I cannot go home. I cannot just take Kasumi-chan on a date to a movie. To see them only in my home is something, but what if they are in danger. I cannot leave the house if I go there.'

So Horus walked his way into the training grounds that were available. He did need to work out some stress after all. There was little else that he could do while he was here. He fell into the base stance that allowed maximum flexibility in ones movements to either dodge, attack, leap or defend. So he began as always with the forms. The same as he taught his students as this was the foundation for his fighting and both its strength and flexibility. First the stretching and going through forms which was as part of his life as breathing was. Everyday he spent time doing this even in a shortened form when he has to heal or conserve his energy.

Still there was something off today. It was not much or very noticeable to any but the most skilled in either fighting or the ability to read body language as clearly as words. There was a minute bit of tension that should not have been there. He was moving with that subtle jerking to his motions instead of the smoothness that he had spent years cultivating.

"~You know better,~" Mia said. "~You should remember that exercising that way when stressed is not good!~"

"~While I know better that does not mean that I do not need to do this to center myself,~" Horus hissed back. "~There are problems that I have to face before I can confront them!~"

"~That is not an excuse to do this while both stressed as well as unfocused,~" Mia hissed in a concerned tone. "~Snakeling you know that you must center yourself. Even here the risks of overload exists for all of us.~"

"~Forgive me Honored One,~" Horus hissed back with a bow. "~This unworthy one allowed this ones emotions to rule him for a time.~"

"~That is understandable young one,~" Mia hissed in a comforting spiral. "~Now do you need to talk my child?~"

"~Yes~," Horus said reluctantly with great hesitation.

"~Just let it go young one," Mia said simply. "~Do not think just let the words go.~"

Horus did just that letting all of his concerns out to his mother figure as he sought security and comfort as he returned to his workout. Horus preceded to move smoother than he had before as his mind was occupied with the verbal free form as he let every thing that had been bothering him out for his sudo mother to mull over. There was just so many things occupying his mind that it would take a while for her to properly digest all of the things he had said. He was worried about his family both here and there as well as the friends he had made. His coming trials was not just about his conflicts but the effects that they would have on his extended family. He was more worried about what his influence could cause than what might happen to him. It was a problem that far too many of their kind had where they took that line in the oaths too seriously. My life before... it was a very difficult thing for most to understand what it was to care that deeply in the modern world where so many values have turned to ash and dust.

Finally Horus nestled up to Mia and laid his head down after loosing himself for how long he did not know going through his workouts before saying as he drifted off, "~Thank you.~"

"~You are welcome my child,~" Mia said. "~Sleep well and do not let your thoughts and dreams bother you.~"

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

Albus Dumbledore was lost. He had tried to resist being dragged in, but the hand had been unrelenting and he was yanked through the Veil. He could not go back and as such he had lost all that he had worked for. Now he was lost in this mist. His day was not looking up.

"Really was what I did so bad," he sighed to himself as he mumbled before being struck in the head again by a falling something what he really did not want to know. "Really it almost seems as if the whatever it is, is aiming for me."

'Really is that person so stupid,' the bird flying high above the mist thinks. 'How can he not avoid being hit. It's not like I am aiming for him. Really now it is almost as if he was cursed for doing something incredibly stupid in life.'

"So what is up with the splattering that keeps happening," one of the other birds asks. "Besides I thought we were supposed to eat them so why not this one?"

"Protected or something," the first bird said. "One of the big guys or gals must really want the person to be humbled when they get there. Definitely has a curse of misfortune that makes that Murphey guy seem blessed."

"Anyone notice how he keeps going in circles and that he seems to keep falling on the rocks like he cannot see them?" one of them asks.

"Now that you mention it," one of them says before trailing off and dropping another splat on the man who just landed on his ass with a rock doing its best to slide in. "Yeah he really seems to be unable to see in that light fog down there. Someone must be really angry at th guy wonder what he did?"

"Doesn't matter as we aren't allowed to chase him to processing like normal," the first said. "Is it me or does it look like he is about to fall in that pocket of stink sap?"

"Arrradh," Albus shouted to the sky. "Why me?"

"Yep seems he did," one said as he lazily circled the now rotten smelling man. "He really is starting to smell tempting. Are you sure we cannot have a nibble?"

"Sadly he has a fate to deal with can you not see that he must learn from these trials an tribulations," he said. "How can one do that if we are eating them?"

"What if we just nibble a bit?" one asked. "It's not like he has to be whole and it would be character building."

"While that is true I don't think any of us want to be digested for the rest of time," one of them said. "When I said this came from the top it did. Hopefully the guy is a bit more prepared when we are done."

"I doubt that will happen," a sinister voice said as a shadow appeared above them. "Still they say that one needs a strong arm to forge a sword so let's see about adding some pressure."

With that the misfortunes of Albus Dumbledore Lost and Wandering Soul continued. How he got so easily lost in the mists and had not wandered into the check in was rather amusing for those watching. Recordings of this would be as popular as any reality show where the suffering of others was involved. It would probably be more revenue generating than the short clips of damned souls in their personal hell. It was not like things in the Netherworld were free after all and this new revenue would be sure to be milked like any other.

There was only one other soul that was as reviled as this mans the Pariah himself. Then again no one spoke of Him almost like the wizards seemed to use euphemisms for Riddle. It would seem odd that even his own followers had not used the name that he had made up. Strange how those that were his allies called him the Dark Lord while his opponents made hyphenated abbreviations. Mystics in general and vampires in particular know who one refers to when they say him or more often a complete sneering loathing HIM. The man that had single handedly resulted in Discovery instead of it being a Revelation as had been planned.

Meanwhile why Albus suffered such insults and slights to his ego, Tom was doing far better. He was simply having to suffer in the waiting room and would unlike Albus not have to deal with constantly suffering like a Hibiki wandering between the various Hell like places where the damned and cursed ended up. Riddle was mostly mellow and willing to accept things once he started watching Albus suffering. If he could not bring that man down at least he knew that he went soon after him. That had been one of the main reasons that he wanted immortality to outlive the man who seemed to have ruined his life so much. He suspected at times that the man had made his life hell to remove the Slytherin line and further solidify his own power, but he had never been able to gather the proof.

"Well if I have to suffer at least I know that he will as well," Tom said as he watched Dumbledore stumble upon another misfortune. "Still I wonder how they can top this. On second though I probably don't want to know."

"Oh what can happen to this damned soul next?" the question came out of the TV like object. "Stay tuned after this commercial for Karma Kleaning."

'Maybe I should look into this,' Tom thought. 'Sure I am dead and all but maybe it won't be too bad.'

"Presenting the suffering of the damned soul known as Albus Dumbledore," the announcer said.

"Well Johnny I don't know how his suffering can possibly be increased before registration," his co host said.

"Well Mike it is going to be difficult to top wandering the Mists of Hells," Johnny said, "but I think that there will be a way after all nobody on any side liked this guy."

"Right you are Johnny," Mike said. "Still having to wander the mists stumbling and falling on the rocks especially being common to impale his anus while random birds defecate on his has been a terrific start."

"Well I here that some of the more skilled tortures have come out of retirement just for this Mike," Johnny said. "So as one can tell it is anyones guess what will happen to him next although rumor has it that it will rank up there with what happened to Peter Pettingrew."

"Thats right ladies and gentle beings the one and only Peter Pettingrew who has at last count been hunted down in his rat form to only be eaten and repeatedly digested while being fully aware," Mike said. "Still there are a few beings out there so in need of a good Karma Klensing."

"Really Mike you should stop name dropping sponsors," Johnny said. "that would be like me going on about how good Diaspian's Dominator Disciples are."

"Thats right Johnny they are rather good and several of the more skilled ones are coming out of there semi retirement for a shot at this guy," Mike said. "Still it seems wrong to the more recent souls that this guy suffers more than some of the more fanatical despots of the modern era."

"Just because Hitler and the SS are being condemned to their worst nightmares and are forced to go through what their victims did is no reason for good tortures to get so apathetic in their training," Johnny said. "Speaking of genocidal would be world conquerors here is a shout out to TM Riddle who let himself become exactly what our current subject wanted him to be."

"Thats right Johnny," Mike said. "He actually fell for all the tricks and became what the meddler wanted. A shame too as most of us hoped that he would bring honor back to the Slytherin line."

"I know I did Mike, but what can you do?" Johnny asked.

'This is going to be a long after life,' Tom thought. 'Still with Dumbledore having met his ends I can accept what happens. Really why I went so fanatic is quite confusing. Whatever I regret letting the old man beat me nothing more nothing less. Perhaps should have been more subtle and yet I wanted to bring the name of Slytherin back to the place of Honor it deserved. Ah well at least I can enjoy his misfortune until I am called."

"Mr Riddle," the receptionist said. "Mr. Tom Marvolo Riddle your assessor is here."

'Well that went quick,' Tom thought as he made his way to the assessor.

"Have a seat," the woman said. "I am Mary Firewind. Well looking over this things could have been worse."

"I don't exactly see how that could be," Tom said. "What with what I did and all."

"Well I take it that you were unaware that even as a bound Sorcerer that you fall under that systems pervue," Mary said.

"I was not really in the system long," Tom admitted.

"Yes I see here what you mean," Mary said. "So you are unaware what happens as you are not at a Master Sorcerer's Level. Well then suffice it to say that you will eventually be reincarnated and hopefully this time things will not spin out of control. On the positive side it says here that you will not be reincarnated when there is an incarnation of your chief tormentors around."

"So I never will have to see them again?" Tom asked. "Well that is not that bad as I know that they got what was coming I can accept what I have earned in life."

"Well that is a good attitude as you will be going back before they do after all," Mary said. "Now while we finish processing you can watch his continued toils. While it will be a while there will be some pain afterwards."

"Well at least that means that I can gain some sense of finality about it," Tom said. "Well until later then."

With that Tom returned to the lobby to continue watching Dumbledore's suffering. Still he was able to accept whatever they did to him since Dumbels was caught. That was one of his main goals after all. Well that and the preservation of his life and the Wizarding Culture.

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

Gringotts was a busy place and the ladies would rather not be here as it was an impromptu will reading. He had gone through the Veil and for all the magic that Goblins knew that wizards did not their detection spells were limited to planar locations and as such if the houses were not bridges they would falsely report their deaths every time they entered and their miraculous return every time that they exited. As it was the raw almost tear in the bonds had resulted in the Mates spending most of their time near Trish.

They entered the lobby for the first time in wizarding robes. Not that they looked anything too like the traditional robes as they had been heavily altered. They entered and the less knowledgeable crowd that was milling about had parted without really knowing why. Those that recognized them knew better than to approach with any flat sympathies as that would result in their most assured agonizing death. Women are the more vicious and as these were believed to be widows they were given a wide berth especially after a rather foolish young wizard had approached in a manner he would with a Veela relying on his hormonally driven mind to instruct his body to act which only resulted in a sudden snap as the offensive appendage was nearly ripped off with a casual gesture.

"Ladies," the goblin teller said with a deep and reverent bow that was quite different than the normal false platitudes they gave. "If you would follow me."

With that they followed the Goblin who did not give a name. They followed him through the winding corridors to a rather opulent office. While it was not the president of the banks office it was definitely someone rather senior then again the President or most often called Director of Gringotts rarely if ever met with humans. That was in part do to a simple matter that the Director had neither the time nor the inclinations to meat with Wizards. Short of a Master Sorcerer entering he would not get involved with a human matter as the bank and the Goblin Nation was his priority and to be efficient he delegated tasks.

The office was for the sole purpose of Inheritances and there were two goblins inside one was the Manager and the other the one responsible for the accounts. The wall behind them had a rather disfigured head that showed obvious signs of injury before death and do to the lack of tongue, eyes, ears and nose it was most likely the Goblin foolish enough to have subverted the rules and regs for Dumbledore's benefit either that or something suitably dishonorable. Goblins were not barbarians but quite civilized even if they were from a warriors culture. Then again, so were the mystics as they were born and forged in battle even if the origins are lost to later battles some memories still remain. Some of the goblins remembered but not many and those that did where from long ago and high in the hierarchy of the Goblin Nation. Surprising enough the Goblin Nation had avoided the pitfalls that plagued the Ministries and several others by not having waged too many wars unnecessarily. There were a few exceptions and the sole time the goblins had drawn the ire of any of the mystic races or organizations had almost led to their extinction and as such where far weaker when their wizard conflicts began.

Silverknife was in charge of the inheritance office and as such only rarely had to deal with the wizards compared to the tellers and account managers did. To a goblin that was a very good thing as most wizards where self important and tended to annoy them. The complete desire to dominate and prove their superiority over all other magical life forms was annoying, but something that they had learned to deal with mostly. There were good reasons for most of the so called goblin Rebellions after all. This account however had last seen activity from both Silvertooth and Goldpick and they were rather insistent on arriving as well. It was odd that while Gringotts had a monopoly over European and British Wizarding banking they had to be somewhat more competitive in Asia where some of the other races had an infinitely less bothersome life.

'Why must this place try even the long lived patients,' Silverknife thought as they entered the room. 'I have the feeling that this will be even more complicated.'

"Greetings Silverknife Keeper of Lines," Kasumi said with a slight bow. "I believe we are to be expected?"s

"Of course Keeper of the Hearth," Silverknife said as he returned the bow. "I am sorry for your loss. Two of my associates who you and his Lordship had dealings with will be here in a moment."

"Silvertooth and Goldpick I hope?" Kasumi asked as they were seated.

"Yes I had been shocked to hear that they were involved but after a more thorough inquiry the reasons became apparent Lady Kasumi," Silverknife said. "I hope that the wait won't inconvenience you too long Lady Seras, Lady Nabiki."

Trish looked at the Goblin disinterestedly more so than a Wizard would while Nabiki would have an affinity in their similar honor codes. Seras was rather tolerant unless they tried to kill one of them and then she would simply deal with the matter then.

He turned to Trish before saying humbly, "I mean no disrespect Avatar? Well this is quite confusing then as i was most definitely not expecting you as it should be impossible for you to be here unless..."

"My Master is not dead merely no longer on this plane of existence," Trish said in a cold tone. "If he were truly dead then I would not be here. Most likely He left a way to know what has happened and it would be best to do so now."

Silverknife gulped as he had history as an interest and recalled quite clearly what one Avatar had done to the Goblin Nation of that time and rushed to get things started. It would be best not to have that happen again as more goblins had been lost in that encounter than in any Wizarding conflict.

A small projection of Horus appeared and blinked a few times before getting a far away look for a moment. This was in some ways better than a portrait for retaining a shadow of someone. That was because the shadow would be updated without needing the person to update periodically as a portrait only captured the mind and impressions at the moment and not later.

"Well it looks like something unexpected happened," the small projection of Horus said. "First off I am most definitely not dead as this part of me is aware. I am merely dealing with some matters in the Netherworld and would have been back soon if there had not been a complication. I take it is the complication that rendered the false death signal."

"So what happened?" Seras asked wondering what could have delayed his return enough that he would be considered dead.

"We would like to know that as well," Goldpick said as he entered. "that being as one of our valued clients has vanished and from the Ministry of Magic for Great Britain as well."

"Long and short was a reality altering permutation matrix utilizing quantum level variable manipulations through an artifact level enchanted and enhanced verbal desire phrased spell form to create a cascade divergence to bring about a dimensional alternative to closest approximate the inputed verbal delineations as received by the appropriate agent tasked with that demographic seeking recompense for real or imagined slights to their field instead of a general purpose entity with similar effects," Horus said with a sigh before cocking his said and continuing at the all most sweat drop like behavior, "or was that too vague and technical?"

"What was that supposed to tell us?" Nabiki said with her head tilted as she was going through the words to figure out what he really meant.

Horus's image sighed before saying, "Instead of a jinn a different wish granting party used an artifact to attempt to rewrite history using a butterfly effect to create the given outcome namely one of the so called Vengeance Demons or as they try to claim Justice Demons tried to change things in this case creating the alteration of me being an ignorant meek little puppet for the Ministry although Dumbles would have a far easier grasp by having my psychological, physical and magical as well as my social abilities diminished leaving a child like presence that would view him as a savior for taking me away when he had orchestrated the whole thing. Now as a reality alteration of that kind requires my true presence here and not just an image like this things become complicated if I return outside specially warded areas before the necessary preventative safeguards are in place. Simply until I am immune to the alterations I cannot return outside of my domains. That means the wizarding, muggle and mystical worlds are outside my direct scope and as I am occupying the Netherworld I must by logic of most detection spells be dead. Now if one adds that I went through what they call the Death Veil it is understandable that they think I am dead."

"So you are not dead just currently residing where the dead do," Goldprick said. "Well that would explain it as wizards would consider travel there as having died, but as you are not and yet your will was triggered this leaves us in a complicated place."

"That actually would be irrelevant as proof of my continued life remains as Trish is alive as you well know," Horus said with a slight smirk. "Would you prefer a demonstration?"

They looked at Trish and recalled what one Avatar could do and were rather reluctant for a repeat occurrence. Having to try to stop a truly impossible to kill warrior with almost unlimited stamina wielding a level of magic akin to the Founders capable of tearing through Goblin Wards like tissue paper was most definitely not something that needed to be repeated ever. That the last Avatar had decided to forgo magic and had brutally torn the Goblin leaders of the times heads off and that casts of the skulls had been delivered afterwards left a very bitter aftertaste. Goblins loathed wizards while they respected even fearfully what a sorcerer could do.

"That will not be necessary," Silvertooth had interjected with a look that would have confused a wizard as they never really deferred to them. "So what matter of change does this do to the will in the advent of your death you might ask. Well it really does not do much as you set things up in case you were unavailable as you were far too busy to micromanage the various parts and that you had your mates and Avatar briefed on the specifics of the main parts of your portfolio."

"That is why they were set up that way," Horus said. "Still as I am unable to actively deal with things directly it would be good to deal with the contingents in case something like this occurred. I had a rather large number of contingents and while one specific does not occur for this situation there is a composite that will."

"Not to be rude or anything, but..." Tonks began before the Goblins cut in.

"Why we have been in no way like your previous interactions with our kind?" Goldpick said with a rather subdued smile. "Despite all of the conflicts with wizards there has never been as serious a risk as the lone confrontation with a single sorcerer. We are well aware of what his Avatar here could do and as such we show respect where it is due. We do not bow to wizards as they are not our superiors and they have proven to only through numbers overwhelm us. A lone sorcerer and their Avatar resulted in the destruction of ninety percent of our population of the time. Our levels have never become as great and it was only after that time that wizards dared to attack us."

"You must understand that the Goblin Nation once held a rather large territory and wizards left us alone until in our arrogance attacked a protected village in our quest for expansion," Silvertooth said. "If it had not been for the actions of a young and somewhat naive goblin we would have been long extinct. That is the second reason that we show your group respect. His family saved us from complete annihilation and after seeing the duel between the two realized that he had been playing with us."

"Can you imagine what that was like we who had thought we were so powerful and who had believed ourselves great conquerors had suddenly realized that we were insignificant in regards to the power we wielded?" Griphook asked in a very serious tone. "It was a very disturbing time for us. It did however lead indirectly to this bank as the winner of the duel invested a large amount of precious metals to us from what little had been left of our kingdom."

"So that would be your most important account that you deal with then?" Nabiki managed to ask.

"Yes that is definitely true," Goldpick replied. "Still the numbers in the sub-accounts as well as the splintered accounts are enough that most would be unable to comprehend the numbers involved."

"So we are going to have to keep some tabs on his accounts while he is away and continue the upkeep of hearth and home," Kasumi said. "While we were planning on doing that anyways we also have to ensure our safety from those that might take this temporary matter as a sign of weakness."

"I really don't think I would have a problem with that," Horus's impression said. "Besides my main self should visit before he goes anywhere. I still cannot believe he hasn't contacted you. The only reason I could think of..."

"So there is a reason that seems shocking then?" Nabiki asked realizing that something important had been remembered.

"Yeah I didn't set a linking synchronization before diving through the portal," he said. "That would explain it as the fact time passes differently that being it could have been a few hours to days here or vice versa. Based on the non communication I would say time is dilated so that time here is moving much quicker than there so the rebuilding of the bonds would have been a momentary matter and since I thought going in that there was a dilation the other way that it would have at most been a momentary distraction and not what obviously was a stressful time. The bonds should have synchronized immediately but as they are rather fresh they took time subjective to your experience in similar matters."

"Is there anything else we should discuss today?" Trish asked wanting to get everyone home where he could visit rather than deal with the impression as they could not hug him or anything else.

"Not really," Griphook said. "The necessary matters will proceed forward yet there is something that is important that is left to secure."

"The Legacy and Heir thing right?" Horus's impression asked. "Right as you know I went to some measure to prevent accidental pregnancies. Still in the even that I would be gone permanently or long term enough there was a minor spell that prevented pregnancy by freezing a fertilized egg that could be later released or transfered. This was in part to prevent any retribution in consolidating too many Wizarding lines as the system while able to tolerate dual heirs was not designed for the level of concentrated power that I have. As such an Heir for each family would be deemed necessary with shares of the lesser families if too few progeny were born. It's your choice but the charms will last a good long while for those of you that wish to wait. A minor matter is that while I do not necessarily have a bond to all of you at a level similar to an Avatar or that of Mates the bonds are strong enough to have had a minor complication. That being that instead of having a wizard or witches longevity it will be a good deal longer. While not true immortality I was not really sure how to broach the concept especially for those that were mundane raised or even magically raised."

"Well with those living as long as the Martial Artists in Nerima we suspected that there might be an increased life span of a few centuries but that didn't seem to slow their aging too much," Nabiki said.

"The difference is that Longevity is where one retains the same or relatively same age," he said with a sigh. "Short answer is that martial artists of a decent skill level to be classified as chi adepts do have a life expectancy of about three centuries or so. The first century they don't age that quickly and eventually depending on the technique gradually age. The difference is unlike Cologne who could look a bit younger although the Amazons have the tendency not to use the ability to look young since they perceive age as wisdom."

"Does not age allow greater experience and thus the better understanding which we call wisdom?" Kasumi asked. "For if not then what is Wisdom?"

"Age does not always mean greater experience for if one lives a hundred years in a monastery what do they then know of the outside world if little contact exists," Horus countered with. "Thus wisdom is knowing when to act wither through word or deed to get the intended result. Age merely allows the accumulation of knowledge tempered through experience that may be wisdom in certain instances and yet might not be properly tempered with understanding so one fails to best advise in the given circumstance."

"I have missed our discussions and it has been so short a separation," Kasumi said. "I know the others as well miss the real you no offense intended."

"None taken actually," Horus said with a chuckle. "Still I would rather not be a part of myself but that is what I am. Updated at the moment my main self left this dimension as that is close enough to dead for most detectors save inter-dimensional ones."

"Well we had best be going then," Nabiki said with some hesitation. "Will the main you know what we talked about?"

"Not until he comes back here and we resynch our memories," Horus admitted. "Still I know that I will return as soon as possible. Just try not to accidentally trigger your pregnancies as much as I know most of you want to be mothers that it is still not that safe outside the domain with the main me not here."

"We will see you when we see you," Kasumi said.

"Until then girls," Horus said as the girls left. "So my goblin friends I take it that things are going better than anticipated?"

"Of course they are was there ever any doubt," Goldprick said.

"Not really it is just that I want them to be able to take care of themselves and all," Horus admitted, "but it is much to soon for me to be comfortable with letting them out of my sight. I guess I will just have to trust that my family can watch out for each other. That is all that any of us can do..."

"That it is," Griphook said. "Shame though that Dumbledore died so painlessly."

"I don't think that his afterlife is going that well though," Horus admitted before he started to fade away. "I expect that when I return that there will be plenty of humiliating memories of what he is going through to be most profitable."

"We can only hope," Silverknife said. "Until then Lord Sorcerer."

"Until then Keeper of Lines," Horus's image said before fading away.

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

"So have you thought about what to do?" a voice in the shadow said.

"Yeah it looks like my shortcut had an unforeseen complication," Horus said. "His soul is here, but the fragments had to go somewhere. Still th emission does not sound too bad with this added bit involved. So I have to save my alternate self from being in a position similar to what my memories show would happen if that Bitches Wishes where made true. Any other complications that I should know about?"

"There is one," the voice said causing Horus to grow still.

"What is this complication?" Horus asked wondering what his plan could have complicated.

"That would be where the soul fragments went," he said. "They could not remain there and yet they could not come here."

"That would be a complication," Hours said as he sat down in shock as he had not wondered where they would go and had merely assumed they would be dragged along the connection. "I should have thought of that."

"Yes you should have and things are complicated do to the inherent symbolic and sympathetic natures of the items involved," he said. "As such the fragments found a similar place and placement where they ended up and as such the items must not and should not be destroyed. Do to that you are to remove the fragments from the items and arrange for them to be returned here."

"Why do I think that this is going to be a very unpleasant complication?" Horus asked with a sigh.

"Most likely because it will be messily complicated as there is something that I think you should know about," he said. "It is about Pegasus.."

"What about Pegasus?" Horus asked hiding his concern over one of his idols who had completed his training as quickly and was as famous as he had aspired to be.

"Despite the information that seems contradictory our Pegasus and the alternate are a generation behind," he said as he looked at him. "Our Pegasus is not scheduled to be born for at least another few years while their Pegasus is already born. The difference is that a latent goes active a generation early and I believe you have met. Anyways knowing you will get involved not just with the mission of preventing the exact results of your current dilemma, but also allow two friends of yours to have a better life. From what I can tell there was a subtle alteration that will accelerate certain events while a good number of the correlated events will differ greatly."

"So I guess I am training someone as well huh?" Horus asked in confusion. "Still don't see why this is a big deal thought?"

"One you already started training them here and it will prevent most of the misfortunes in their lives," He said with a sigh. "Still the soul fragments will complicate things and as such they will cause some problems later. The fragments might not even be in that reality or at least will not remain their. Still there is the situation that will develop by the ripples in their timeline. Most likely some of the more influencing events won't happen. Were you aware that two of your ladies are latents here at the least?"

"I was not aware that any of them were latents and the closest would be," Horus began before drawing a sudden conclusion. "Please tell me that you are kidding that would be not that good."

"Sad but true thankfully similarity in conditions resulted in a difference in her mothers actions never sinking as far as this one did," he said. "Wizard born sorcerers are very rare you know if one of the parents is a pureblood and even less if they are both supposedly purebloods. Your alternate self will hopefully prevent most of the complications you had to deal with. Besides Inari and Bast asked that you looked after their interests over their and I am sure that You do not want to disappoint your aunts."

"Let me guess your alternate will be dragging my alternate along to keep an eye on things," Horus said. "Still I wonder what the difference for Tenma Saotome will be if his father does not have those complications. I still cannot believe that I didn't notice it there."

"It was simply one of those things done to prevent undo alteration to a stable and stationary time line," he said with a sigh. "At least the answer of why you were sent forward in time was answered. Simply put as there were multiples of both of us here and there that you would have to go where you were not. I had a similar thing with my time loop as I recall. Still do not worry too much it is not as if you will necessary drag the kid along with you except for the cross training possibilities..."

"You know that is what will probably happen," Horus said. "I take it that the three will learn transmutation and general energy manipulations such as elementalism. Yeah that is what will most likely happen. I guess I better get prepared. I take it that there will be a non linear interaction with the two lines?"

"Yes you won't be gone too long here and yet you know that you cannot go anywhere outside your domains here," he said with a sigh. "It was a similar thing I went through once. Now stay out of trouble and good speed."

"Right away boss," Horus said with a cheeky grin as he left the office. 'This is going to be both fun and frustrating,' he thought. 'At least I should not be gone to long for them to notice and worry too much.'

Horus proceeded out of the room and made his way out back to the Netherworld proper where he would be able to catch a quite ride to say goodbye to his family while he undertook this mission. He had the feeling that the fragments would be the worse part and that perhaps he could set things in motion for his friends alternates as well as his alternate to have a much better life. Even if it made his alternate less likely to have the same mates as he did.

'Who knows perhaps in that time line Dumbles isn't a manipulative self serving bastard,' Horus thought as he made his way to where the junction between the planes would allow easy access from the Netherworld to his domain. 'Yeah like that would happen still it would be interesting almost as much as a Molly that is not a gold digger. Perhaps I will find one out there on this quest. Still with the sympathetic magic the items will search for analogues and he seemed to completely ignore it and yet he knows something that I don't. Sometimes I wonder who the time traveler is here. Then again he has more experience with time travel than I do as he lived through two time loops and then there was the whole wandering the dimensions. Still I cannot believe that he wants to try one near mundane lifetime or at least a part of him to get back in touch with his appreciation of the mundanes so as to not lord over them. Still he thought he was one until that day still that is no excuse to try to remove himself from his responsibilities. With our power came a great burden that mundanes just don't get even if we say much like the West does not understand why reincarnation in the East and Karma is a bad thing. They at least get to rest when they die unlike us. To know that to defend the Human Race from extinction we sacrificed our ability to the karmic wheel and know that unless we become Masters that when we die we will reincarnate as we are save the memories and only those who have attained mastery will remember from life to life. Still unless one reaches Grand Mastery or becomes deified than the cycle is endless always being reborn to the struggle for as long as the threat remains.'

"So I hear that you have been having some complications lately," a sultry womans voice interrupted his current train of thoughts.

"Hey Auntie," Horus said as he came to a stop. "Is there something that you want to talk about?"

"Well nephew there is the fact that you plan on going gallivanting around the multiverse again and are leaving your family and household in a bit of a lurch," she said in a slightly angry and annoyed tone. "I know that you know better than that!"

"I did make arrangements in case something happened," Horus said with a sigh. "It is not like I plan on being gone long and even if the bond is weakened I still feel enough to know that they are getting better and there was only a momentary bit of trouble."

"Did you forget that time passes differently between here and there and that you forgot to synchronize before you left?" she asked him sarcastically with just a hint of the reason that Egypt had named her Protector of Children and Pregnant Women. "No of course you didn't forget you merely forgot that Netherworld Arches unlike summoning the Gates do not allow for time synchronizations to be preexisting and as they were outside your domains they were not automatically resynchronized with your time flows. What was a moment of extreme agony for you was the better part of several days for them as the bond reformed to deal with the stress you caused. Now what do you have to say for yourself?"

"I forgot at the least I thought that I kept the time dilations set for as short of time away subjective toe the family as possible," Horus said in an apologetic tone.

"Well you best do so before you leave or else things will become even more complicated," She said to him in a warning tone.

"Sure I might as well stop in for a bit in my domain as long as I can," Horus said. "Besides who knows how long subjectively it will be before I see them again."

"Well you best be off and I expect that you apologize for not contacting them sooner it has been several days after all," she told him.

"Right away Auntie," Horus said before giving her a quick hug and departing.

'I really worry about you nephew,' Bast thought. 'You have been acting far too careless lately. You may be young but you are not a kid anymore. I just don't want you coming here permanently too soon or worse getting lost reincarnating until you remember and return to us. Far too many of us miss those we have already lost to loose one so young so soon.'

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

With that Horus left the office unknowingly causing his Boss to laugh at the possibilities of what were going to happen.

'Perhaps the fact that this will let me get an entry in I miss the fact that I never did get to enter one with Ranma and yet this might have possibilities and with most of his power dealing with that fiasco of the soul fragments and their transposition into the relics symbolic counterparts,' he thought, 'well then all that is left is to see if this is more interesting than the instance of Naruto, Ranma and Tenchi being raised on a training trip together. Still almost wondered about what Al and Ed would do with an alternate version to create a philosophers stone. Shame that the price for their form of transmutation is so bloody costly... I must be feeling a bit more morbid than normal to find humor like that funny still better than what my instance is doing really now standing in for the lead singer in a vampire rock and roll band after spending the summers traveling with Canadian werewolf roadies just seems a bit off. Still Horus did something similar and it sure beats running off to join a carnival or a circus. A learning experience all around.'

"Sir there is a matter that needs to be addressed," a masked figure said as he appeared.

"What is it now that is so important?" Oroborus asked with an annoyed tone in the edge of his voice.

"Well sir there is a complication that has come up," he said before swallowing his fear to sputter out the rest. "The fragments are in several realities that we don't really deal with sir. They are outside the Covenant and as such it would not be wise to allow any members there as the rules are not necessarily enforced there."

"You think some rivals or enemies would use it similar to a comparative loophole in the Doublet System in one of the neighboring cosmologies," Oroborus said as he let the implications sink in. "So any presence would have to be limited at best so as to avoid more complications yet the cup at least is in a reality that we have observed but not interacted with before. If I recall correctly the fragment most likely is sequestered with the Seelie of that reality. That still leaves the ring, sword, necklace, tome and the dagger to be accounted for. So the complications are not that bad except for any psychic impressions that would alter those realities."

"Still sir there are unfortunate complications if the fragments were not dropped off in linear time and may have become entwined in those realities cosmologies," he said before continuing, "and as such..."

"Become a fundamental influence in those realities destinies," Oroborus finished. "Still there are possibilities that could splinter off and the psychic impressions can easily be removed or allowed to dissipate after the fragments are extracted."

"Yes sir," he said with a slight inclination of his head before continuing, "however there is still the possibilities of it tainting the relics in some way..."

"The relics are somewhat protected and more of the dangerous inclinations should be prevented from having a detrimental effect," Orobrous said. "Still the taint will create a secondary limitation on who can wield the artifacts. However this quest has to be trying or there is no point in it. How did the mundanes feel cheated when most of what they struggled to be able to do was accomplished by us with an ease an flair that they could not compare to. It was demoralizing and as such one of the reasons that we limit our influence even now. With filtering of information as well as technology we avoid destabilizing there economy. Our influence has already caused problems for us. Why else was there no real alternatives to fossil fuels being developed. While we can get glimpses of probable futures we do not see everything and it is important to not forget that. Even if we know something will happen that does not mean that we will know what to do to prevent it. Our abilities along with the sensitives have changed things. Before they had no protection from severe weather but they did not have to worry about created weather turning on them."

"You worry what may come to pass since they out number us," he said sadly.

"Its quantity versus quality again and they have the soldiers to spend compared to us," Oroborus said. "Still short of nuclear weapons and the like we are able to shrug off most of what they have now. What they will have will make their dreams reality far too soon. Technology will catch up with magic and only those well versed in technomagick will be superior to both. Mundanes having access to pocket dimensions and other things. Who knows perhaps they will be able to develop more and yet I see that push causing them to no longer be mundanes but sensitives. Pressure of natural selection is once more rising to the fore. How the mundanes became more populous when they had a smaller population originally is that all of us extraordinary beings have been more often the target to the odd demons than they as they are considered little more than tool and food to most? We made a choice in the longer life spans at the cost of easier progenration. We don't feel the imperative as much until the past few centuries as the number of mundanes and sensitives fell out of harmony. That was offset by how less able they are from their predecessors. Sheep they may have been called but at the current rate they will be nothing but weak willed cattle to the slaughter. Far too many are willing to submit than if many tens of thousands of years and as such are willing to sacrifice far too much freedom for security to continue on."

"Their conflicts will involve us again then?" he asked with an interested yet appalled tone.

"Most likely not as the sensitives can deal with most matters," Oroborus said. "The Hunter Squads however will need to be better prepared. Something is brewing soon. It may not be this week or even year but soon within a century ate the most things will come to a head. Far too many players on the field will see each other as rivals to be eliminated leaving their territories and duties open. Iscariot and Hellsings fights will be trivial compared to what may happen. The discontented will despise us more so as they cannot rival our advantages and feel themselves handicapped because of it. They will not sit idly by as they are surpassed. Xenophobia and other divides will form when we need unity the most."

"Perhaps not sir," the man said hopefully.

"Do you know why the Sorcerer Wars really started?" Oroborus asked him.

"No sir there are a lot of conflicting theories about that and most draw a parallel to the alliances of Mundane Europe during their World War II," he said.

"That is not that bad of a comparison," Oroborus admitted. "The alliances that had formed before the Guild spiraled out of control. The real reason was that we did not distance ourselves and we became far too dependent to the populous we lived with. Especially we lost ties with our families and because of the respect granted to ones elders at the time we rose to be very important and influential. We eventually viewed our shorter lived relatives like children and treated them as such even standing to protect them from other children as well as adults. They lost their independence and slowly became more and more dependent on us to protect and guide them. Our numbers were small and for a time not every village had one of us and eventually the villages fought and annexed others. Eventually they asked us to aid them in their activities it spiraled out when Sorcerers fought. Our Orders barely created cease fires and neutrality between groups. Drunk on the thrall like obedience of our followers we began to believe them that we were their gods and as such had to prove our superiority to the others. We fought as well as sending them to die for us. How far we had fallen to become like those that had so long ago abandoned us?"

"That is not the question to ask sir," he responded. "We let our power go to our heads and still we had let the greater picture influence us. We perhaps let too much of our concern for our cousins induce us to greater influence and thus protect them almost crippling them for a time with how reliant they had become. Still sir, is it any worse than what they did to themselves once we had withdrawn?"

"No," Oroborus admitted. "They did far worse to themselves without us interfering and yet now we are a part of their world once more. At least they do not come beseeching and demanding that we sacrifice our time to fix everything. The modern generations seem less demanding and more likely to work towards something than to demand Dues Ex Machina provide for them without them lifting a finger. They have grown up and even with magic and technomagick they still desire to improve themselves. They are going to go far this time around unlike the past few rises they will do more and have already once more stepped off this world. Perhaps we will see mundanes once more traverse the stars again still there is the fact that even after all these hundred thousand years that no word outside this galaxy has reached us."

"Do you really think whatever it was that separated us from the rest of the Empire is still out there?" he asked.

"Perhaps still I doubt the Empire has fallen," Oroborus said with certainty. "If a galaxy destroyed did not what could?"

"There is that sir still there are the other races that dwell here to consider," he said. "I know that the Demon Wars did not leave them unscathed."

"Far from it actually," Oroborus said. "They may have tried to quarantine the Demon spread it was too late and we were cut off from there space and thus we were unable to help. Still with the portals closed the demons are to far away to survive in this dimension. Demons are contained to Earth and that is a certainty as long as the Portals remain closed. At most they can dwell within the solar system and when humanity prepares to once more expand they will be unable to leave as they would wither and die."

"What about the portal network that still remains sir?" he asked in concern. "Could not the energies necessary for them to survive travel and spread through that once more?"

"No the network while down as a mundane method has been safeguarded to prevent demonic contamination in the case that the rest of the world ever rediscovers the gates," Oroborus said with a sigh. "The variants that we developed seem to be the ones that will replace them anyways. Still it should not be too hard to add filters to prevent demonic energy to transmit through them. It may even be able to purify the tainted and their descendants in the reconstructive part."

"Still sir there are too many uncertain things that are developing at this time for any peace of mind," he said. "There is unrest among the mundanes and there will be those that are jealous of us still."

"True but even mundanes should reach a point where pure technological methods can extend their lives almost as long as ours are naturally," Oroborus said. "Still there is a chance that other places will become interested in this dimension again. With Earth as a Nexus allowing a lower energy expenditure to cross dimensional barriers, it is certain that even if the remaining Great Beasts do not launch an assault someone will. More likely than not mundanes on this side or the other will grow greedy and seek those dimensions with untapped natural resources. Alternate realities, parallel dimensions and divergent planes will eventually bring us to their attention. We can only hope that all parties here are ready for that time."

"Yes wither it is demonic or not others will be lured in to use this dimension as a beach head," he said. "Perhaps we should increase the training regime again. It seems that there are far too many omens and portends of calamity upon us."

"No despite what we wish for they cannot see that and with far more joining the ranks from non mystic families there is still too much focus on peaceful solutions and negotiations for they seem to have forgotten much and learned little despite the problems that have been occurring among them," Orobrous said with a resigned tone as he lamented the odd twists that separated their cultures. "They will not accept that there are far too many people and groups that will take what they want with force than those that will merely coerce what they want. They do not understand that finite resources have the tendency to have violence to gain them easier than those that are not bound by a limited supply. Why should I offer to buy or trade for something when I can simply take it? That is not something that most people seem to understand anymore and those that do are the criminals that seem to think taking such shortcuts are without repercussions."

"Our laws are not their laws, sir," he said as he knew that some differences kept them apart even if they were cohabiting the planet again. "We are an armed society after all and as such we have certain rules of behavior that are unquestionable. We have the concept of personal responsibility driven into our skulls. They may license certain things like guns, drivers licenses and the like but they do not license marriages properly anymore. What is the purpose of not drilling in that they are responsible for their actions as they go about there days?"

"Different culture different mores and norms," Oroborus said. "You should now that as we have to deal not just with integrating members of one community into ours but those across the world. Still even most of the racist, bigoted and misogynistic people tend to come around more than the focus users have. Shame that most don't want to go back to live among the mundanes outside of the more looser countries. Still our rules make sense and have been tried and true for over twenty thousand years. The mundanes just make things up and try to justify it with studies that are biased and unreliable."

"Your still upset about the ages of consent even in the so called liberal west aren't you sir?" he asked. "You always get like this when you think about that and you should know better by now."

"I know that I should still there are so many conflicting rules that we may possibly be considered legally bound to follow," Oroborus said. "I just don't like the fact that we are expected to obey there silly laws that we were not apart of deciding. Considering that those that do not live among the mundane world all the time do not get involved in their political processes should mean we should not deal with their laws in our territories. Besides it is kind of hard to respect any nation, religion or other organization that believes they have the right to impose their rules on us."

"So something else is worrying you since you answered that so blandly," he said. "So what could have you worried since you seemed to have no concern about the mission and his quest?"

"Some of the items are not in dimensions where we have treaties among other things," Oroborus said offhandedly. "Fine several of the dimensions the items are in have a higher reappearance of the Older Races. While he has had some interaction with them the chances for running across beings that are our equals or worse seems to be possible?"

"Which of the Older Races are concerning you?" he asked. "It cannot be any of the mundane or sensitives so that leaves out the Kateni and the Katai."

"Like I would worry about those races any more than the Cephians or the Avians besides which Horus has plenty of experience with demons and other dimensional beings as well as extra terrestrial beings both humanoid and non so there is little worries there even if he ends up in a dimension with a more active space faring races," Oroborus said with a humph. "While both are physical adepts and the like I don't think that the Kateni would be cross purpose so there is no risk from those feline imperialists besides which they respect fighters regardless of species and might even adopt him like some of the more experienced hoppers have been. The Katai while being more likely to delve into psionics and ultra tech would not be too strange to run across with little problem. No the groups I worry about are those that are so few and far between even when the Empire was innocent. So many among us forgot what all dwells amid the stars even while we expanded into the dimensions with the loss of so many habitable worlds with the remnants at preindustrial levels."

"The Desh Tepiq and their precursors then?" he asked with a thoughtful tone in his voice as he considered the rare to run across beings. "I can see why any of the older dragon lines would interest you as much as the refined Fae would. Still the Desh Tepiq while related to the now extinct line of the Crystal Star Dragons..."

"They are in a way more potent than any of the dragon blooded races that walk our world now with only the Greater Dragon Race as a comparison in potential," Oroborus said reminded of his encounters amid the distant dimensions. "That their energy eater nature remained makes most on par with the Circles except that they are almost as difficult to kill as an ancient with suitable reserves. The concern is that some of the dimensions may be counterparts to the ones we deal with. Our Treaty with the Desh Tepiq Prince may make things... complicated. That is if he runs across them. There are just so many uncertainties even more so than on my quest that..."

"You are concerned with parallel worlds that did not go in the the same manner as ours did?" he asked. "There is a possibility that those that you know of have alternates out there and that they could be a real danger to your Heir."

"Of course I am how can I not be when there are so many things that could go wrong now and," Oroborus said in a huff before cutting off suddenly as he realized that even if his friend had noticed the minute slip it would not do to allow his emotions to surface that much in his occupation.

"You are worried like any parent would be," he said simply with understanding that any parent or older sibling would have present in his voice. "So why don't you check up on him?"

"I know that he is most likely saying goodbye to his mates and as much as I am an old man voyeurism was never one of my vices," Oroborus said concisely. "I always preferred to be able to join in. Besides I know that I cannot put off the onerous part of this job although I will look after him before he leaves though."

"Paperwork huh," He said as he shook his head. "Guess you sympathize with that Sarutobi person huh?"

"He only has to worry about his village," Orobrorus said in a mild amount of disdain that his was compared to the ninja. "I have to deal with the Orders and my other duties. Why do you think I have avoided the simple solutions that have come up?"

"So the reason that you keep passing up on rising higher?" he asked seeing the question that had perplexed him as why his leader had plateaued when he could have ascended to the ranks that his mentors had done showing a strange mirroring not with Sarutobi but with his students as they avoided the trap of being in charge while still retaining a significant level of status. "It could not be something like that could it?"

"The reason that Dumbles always claimed," Oroborus said. "I would not have the time to wear all those hats and I hope to put it off for a few more centuries at the least. At least I know Carpathian will live for a while longer. As much as I respect the position I do not want to become the next King of the Vampires. Being a Prince brings enough responsibilities without all the added ones that Being responsible for all Mystic Vampires and that is without the common populous wanting to unify all vampires so that there is a recourse for any incidents."

"Still that does not explain why you are worried since he came from the future he has not said anything," he said. "So either there is nothing to worry about or..."

"Like when I ended up in the distant past there was nothing that could be done to alter it," Oroborus said. "I tried so hard and yet it seemed that anytime I tried to change things it did not work. The most I ended up accomplishing was delaying death, but that is one mostly inevitability is it not?"

"That it is sir," he said while thinking of all the times that people they knew stalled death. "Call me when something important happens?"

"I will now I have all these requests to deal with," Oroborus said in resignation. "Training budgets as well as the more interesting mission requests. That is something that I doubt Sarutobi enjoys doing."

'Still there is too much that I am unable to interfere with this time,' Oroborus thought. 'Before at least there were things to safeguard him. He is like my son despite the number of generations that separates us. I raised him as my own and I guess that it is only natural to worry. Still hopefully his quest will not shatter him like so many others have been. Still there are so many symbolic counterparts that it is uncertain which will have the fragments in them. The only certain one is that the Cup resides with the Fae as a chalice. The sword, dagger and ring bother me though. If it is one of the Desh Tepiq crystal blades the effects could be dangerous. We may be immortal but if our souls are shredded even we may forget who we once were if we are not destroyed. I guess for all immortal beings even those with mortal life spans the death of the soul is so final. I will see you before you leave even if you do not see me my Heir.'

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

Horus was feeling a sense of dread during his discussion with his aunt. Still he knew that he would do his best to set things right now. He had left his mates to suffer and to make matters worse they would be separated for far too long for his comfort. He had to see them and reassure them now! If only the Netherworld was not as secure as it was he would just Shadow walk back to his beloveds. He knew that it might hurt if he tried since he was not a master yet but he had to try.

"Well here goes nothing," Horus said as he started a running dash to the nearest shadow.

With that Horus focused on traveling that far through the shadows and dove in. he knew that it was risky delving that deep into the Shadows especially since he was so young and those that were used to such preferred short trips since it was easy to get lost when one went past the periphery. Besides there was rumors of things having been lost along with beings becoming adrift let alone those that were banished and chained to the deepest depths of the lightless void of the Shadows.

'It is a good thing that I can see without light,' Horus thought as he crossed the rifts across the dimensions where the border between dimensions met in the shadows. 'Well that and I can follow the bond home. If it was not for that I might become adrift and it would be very difficult to find me. Still it seems odd that it resembles an asteroid field with all the rocks floating about this far past the periphery. Normally I rarely had any encounters with rocks same to bounce or sit on them before this trip.'

Horus was aware of the fast moving motions further out along the periphery where normal shadow walkers took short trips and it seemed odd that they moved so fast until he realized why few traversed dimensions by using elemental paths. The time dilation was greater and the fact that he would have to hurry and not dither as he moved struck him. Horus suddenly sped up more as he tried to move as similarly as those on the periphery did in crossing the gulf between the dimensions till he reached the shadow periphery of home.

Focusing on the shadows of his home those that existed in his domain he reached out remembering that distance like other things were largely subjective here. As he moved he noticed that those on the periphery seemed to hang there in the void as he moved. It seemed that where they moved as blurs before to him now they moved as slowly as he had to them.

His vision was filled with multiple angles as he approached his destination. He saw out of all the shadows in his domain and noticed that there was something there that he hadn't noticed spreading out into the shadows from his domain as well as the opposite. There was an overlap that was rather strange to think of. His protective measures seemed to have spread to shield his domain from unwanted interests and arrivals.

To those in his domain he materialized floating out of a shadow on the wall before landing gracefully with a roll stopping on his knees. He looked up and saw his family there and a smile suddenly grew on his face. He moved forward and was soon in the embrace of his loved ones.

"I missed you," he said. "I am sorry if it seems I have been gone both a long time and a short time, but that was not my intent. I forgot that time sometimes does not synch without preparations and the Veil seemed to negate my normal synchronization. I thought I would be gone for a moment and it turned out to be much too long for you. I am sorry."

"Never do that to us again," Seras said as she crushed him to her.

"I promise that I won't ever do that again," Horus said. "Now what have you lovely ladies been up to?"

"Well we were trying to get things ready for your return," Trish said haughtily. "That was after every one else got over the shock that your rushing n like that caused?"

"Hey not my fault the old guy caused me to go through," Horus hedged. "The plan was to kick off but I was going too fast and any method to slow me down would have been bad."

"A complication of the spell that was used," Nabiki mused as she thought things over. "That would make sense as do to the distance that you would reappear where ever at the same speed and that slowing down would have surged somehow..."

"Yeah sorry about that," Horus said sheepishly. "I thought I had every avenue covered and here the Ministry let Dumbles have a wand. On the plus side I watched the newest show in the Netherworld. Seems that people like Dumbles suffering."

"What about Voldemort?" Hermione asked. "What happened to him?"

"Well I asked turned out that really most of his issues came from Dumbles so he is getting another chance," Horus said. "He will be reborn and get another shot at life without all the things being stacked against him. Sure he killed people without a good reason but he had his reasons and flawed as they were he tried to change only to find the system against him. He wanted a revolution as well as a way to regain what he felt Dumbles cheated him out of. Hermione if you had a life span of a few decades would that seem long to a mouse and would the mouse feel bad if you only lived as long as the mouse. That is part of why he feared death well that and the fact that he had a very harsh childhood that made him think he was evil and so since he was damned anyways he might as well go all the way. If things had been just a bit different he would have been heralded as a revolutionary similar to any other who brought wondrous change to the world."

"Despite that you should know better than to leap before you look," Nabiki said as she wrapped herself around him. "Still there are other concerns to talk about..."

"Like?" Horus asked trying to pass everything else that happened with a shrug.

"What do you expect when you vanish and the bond becomes strained for us to simply pass it off with a shrug?" Seras berated her mate. "We worry about you and it physically hurt when the bond was strained so. If Trish had not been here the bond might not have stabilized until we were completely killhappy and went out and made our final acts before fading out to rejoin you!"

"Really what were you thinking?" Kasumi said with a slight non smile almost a frown on her face causing Horus to drop his head at having disappointed her.

"Sorry Sumi-chan," Horus said meekly. "I just wanted him out of our lives. I know that he was planning on something to try to separate all of us and that was something I didn't want."

"Well you almost managed it in your sudden action there," Nabiki said sadly. "Still you were not planning on jumping through yourself and you made the best of it."

"Yeah," Horus admitted. "I did get to see some people and I found out why my birth parents had not been able to make it to the wedding. Mostly we caught up and such. They promise to visit when they get a chance and then things got complicated..."

"Yeah we heard at your will readings Jerk," Trish said acting for a moment letting her worry finally vent. "What were you thinking setting something like that up?"

"Well it beat my first plan which was not something that most of you would agree with," Horus said sheepishly. "I was originally going to have a spell set up that would allow any of you to have an heir in case I really died, but then I realized that if not you girls then the rest of my family would find me and bring me back before laying a smack down for worrying them. As much as you want to hug me and never let me go you also probably want to give me a good smack for worrying you like that. So I guess we should have a free for all to get the stress out of our systems."

"Personally I was voting with the tying you to a bed and keeping you there till you finally pass out," Usagi pipped in. "As much as I like the rest of you girls there is a difference between a trainer and him. Besides there is a difference when you cuddle a girl than when you do so to a guy."

"Fine work out the rage then work out the frustration afterwards," Seras said in a rather dark growl. "Mate or not I hope you weren't slacking while you were gone."

"I most definitely was not slacking," Horus said with his own growl as he rose and the group headed to the dueling arena. "I plan on showing you that!"

The girls went through the stretches that he had taught them while Horus went through a refined routine to make sure that he was limber and ready for this. He loved his girls but sometimes the fact that the seemed to need to jockey for superiority popped up from time to time. It was understandable considering that the bond had increased their competitive natures and Seras as well as Nabiki had already had a need to prove themselves all their lives.

"Let's begin," Horus said as he fell into a ready stance.

"Let's," the girls said.

Action without thought. Response at speeds that seemed impossibly fast as reflexes were tested. At least twenty moves occurred in the first moment of action. A little known fact is that with enough people that are capable of teamwork even the most stringent of foes can be vested. That did not mean that even an en mass attack with good coordination would work in this instance. Seras did have a minor advantage of having been used to the boost in her physical abilities and even Nabiki and Kasumi had learned to work with them. They did however have a minor gap to overcome in their training and it was one that showed about two seconds into the fight even if it did take a few moments longer to have the obvious results.

The girls had gotten used to combined assaults and fell into patterns too easily. That was not to say that the aftereffects of the bond on his bonded played no small part in the matter. While Nabiki and Kasumi had gained access to a larger reserve as well as the innate advantages that the bond caused in altering their energies there was still an increase for Nymphadora and as she had been a trained Auror before she should have had an advantage. While the five Ladies had gained an improved potential and base to their attributes there was a simple fact that experience allowed for a vast difference in the outcome of the fight. The ladies had been trained by him but they were despite the level they had chosen at his level when he acted seriously. They may have had the knowledge and the physical capacity but translating knowledge into skill did take some effort and despite how hard he had trained them and that they had not slacked off the muscle memories were not as developed nor were the reaction times there.

To the average observer there had been blurs that rushed toward another before being repelled that was not the case for the ladies participating as they saw the motion even if they had a hard time keeping up with that sudden burst that the five had put on. Still they saw the moments of impact similar to being under a strobe light as even their enhanced senses were not up to that level. Kasumi, Nabiki and Seras had made text book perfect convergence strikes only to have the blows avoided or redirected just in time for the other two to get caught in a spin catch and throw.

The girls were flung back to the walls where despite what one would think they bounced back after righting themselves. They were not completely unskilled only dealing with their teacher not holding back this time as much. The closest analogy one would have would be Naruto at the point of the fight with Mizuki fighting Neji at a point where he could go against the Head of the family in skill. Raw potential versus more training and sadly despite what one would think for the underdogs they lost rather spectacularly. Minor flaws in their forms had been utilized and Horus made a mental note to see where those flaws had worked their ways in later.

There was a fight to continue after all and as such Horus had to engage the rest of the free for all. It was a good thing that they had not resorted to guns or magic as the room might have become more damaged than it was with the rebounding fighters. While the wounds were being rapidly healed they did accumulate in slowing the girls down. The girls in general were putting up a very good fight and despite previous situations this time Horus was showing some signs of the fight. The girls were showing worse as while their bodies were able to take the increased punishment none of them had dressed in clothing that could take out the level of damage that they were generating.

To be rather blunt the ladies had gone from being dressed to having scraps of cloth covering them with a multitude of tears and wholes leaving not much to imagination. While the fight went on slowly the number of ladies attacking dropped as they had to catch their breath from the continued drain on their stamina. The fight went on with the recovering girls coming back into the fight in waves until all that was left were those that had on some level been enhanced by the bond more so. Thrice the senshi had rose to rejoin the fight each time forcing their transformations higher while the slightly more normal fighters had six times rejoined the fight with only Seras, Nabiki, Kasumi, Trish and surprisingly Nymphadora having not dropped out to regroup after resting.

The final bout was those five in one final concerted strike. Their defenses and movements had become more focused yet slightly slower through the fight. It was a very good thing that none had tapped into the more physical enhancements that they could gain with their transformations. The final strike was a five way surrounding attack that was cumulated in Nabiki, Kasumi, Trish and Nymphadora flying back and striking the walls before sliding down this time breathing very hard. Seras ended up pleasantly pinned beneath Horus.

"Well looks like I win," Horus said with a smile even if he was breathing somewhat hard. "I promise not to make you worry unless I have to."

The remaining girls who had been resting up just nodded and stretched while Seras kissed him soundly before wrapping herself around him and flipping him over.

"Welcome home," Seras said after releasing her kiss. "Now don't you have some husbandly duties to attend to that your absence allowed to be neglected?"

"Of course," Horus said huskily before kissing Seras again before flipping up while maintaining the kiss and carrying her to the bed.

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

Lemon Scene

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

Adrenaline is despite commonly held belief not what other think it is. The rush from the fight had as usual left the group flush with excitement and a thrumming need to work off their battle induced arousal. Blood had been drawn in the fight and Seras was soon the happy participant of having licking each others dried blood off. The two of them soon had moved from the less enticing areas to those that were more sensitive. Tongs were tickling and teasing flesh as moans came out of their mouths. There was the gentle nipping of fangs in addition to the gentle licking and suckling of the blood that was on them.

The two lovers ended up nuzzling each other as they worked their ways down each others bodies. Taste to taste they as tenderly as their passion allowed teased and tasted each other to edge and back. Neither willing to let themselves surrender to either the other or their rising arousal. Moans of pleasure were interspersed with growls of displeasure as each worked the other to the top before teasingly backing off. Hands still moved to stroke the other in a way to convey their pleasure while also trying to flood the others senses in a game of enjoyable dominance.

Finally after much teasing and taunting Seras shuddered as she went over the edge her muffled sounds causing pleasant and pleasurable vibrations to cause Horus to shudder more. The two lovers withdrew after giving the other another teasing lick. Horus was not yet done even though the other girls showed signs of moving towards the bed. If this was going to be the last time for him to be with his lovers for a while in his perspective he would make certain that each and everyone went away satiated and satisfied with the celebratory service.

Horus kissed Seras fully after working his way around having spent time coaxing her back while nuzzling his ways up including spending some time nursing and nipping her erect nipples. While the two had teased and taunted each other with their previous bit of lovemaking their was the surge that caused their more carnal desires to be even more difficult than normal to control. The two were both rather inflamed with their desires and normally Horus would have simply thrown her on the bed before sinking into her and pounding himself into her as she bucked as the two drove each other into a pleasant exhaustion. That neither would have been able to act afterwards and that both would have to wait a while for their well used bodies to recover made such an option less than desirable by the other ladies that were slowly making their way to the bed.

Still the two managed not to act like rutting animals as they started with Horus sliding into Seras while he kissed her before working his way to nuzzle her neck as she did the same. Horus was gripping and massaging her ass as he pulled her toward his thrusts while his head was being moved from breast to breast while Seras played with the other with her body moving around with her legs wrapped around to give an added thrust to his movements. Soon enough Seras was running her legs as well as her hands along his thrusting form. Her hands seemed to move from head to ass spending enough time to hug his head close to her chest while also rubbing against his well formed body.

By the time the two had wrapped themselves as they climaxed while burying their teeth in the others necks, Trish had recovered and she planned on making up for the time apart as she had while having the stronger bond felt more neglected that he had not simply left her shuddering and climaxing all nights with the complete control he had over her body. An Avatar is in essence and extension of their maker and one of the less public facts was that the body and in particular the nervous system was under their owners complete control. To be rather blunt Trish was planning on receiving what would be lethal or at least mind frying levels of pleasure and at least was going to be physically instead of psychically intimate with the one she had promised herself to.

The bond however did have a way to send information and as such the moment that Trish had gotten close to the bed and he had withdrawn from Seras after a few moments of recovery Horus had immediately grabbed Trish and impaled her soaked and eager pussy on his cock. He simply moved her on his cock while she arched and shivered as he both raised her sensory threshold and sensitivity while simultaneously lowering her trek to orgasm. It was cheating in a way altering his lover to make her cum harder faster and more often, but he had forgotten to open the link and leave her in a twitching state of continuous orgasms nightly. An Avatar did function better when positive reinforcement through sexual bliss was used.

So Horus just kept bouncing the mewing cuming and writhing Trish on his lap as she jerked and spasmed in her movements. While he was doing that he was also flooding her mind with the feeling of his and her pleasure increasing her peaks as she kept ascending increasingly high plateaus of ecstasy. If it had not been for the fact that the process of making her an Avatar had prevented brain death through neural stimulation as well as from lack of blood flow, the current level of sensory subsumation would have fried her mind and caused brain death or at the very least reduced her mind to a vegetable state. As that was prevented the increased blood flow was able to over sensitize several areas including her breasts as well as her clit. Soon enough her body stopped making vocal replies above the level of rasping and her mind literally drowned under the waves of pleasure before suddenly stiffening and shuddering in his grasp with her pussy spasming faster than a Sybian would do while her eyes rolled back with her eyelids fluttering as well as her face contorting and then suddenly collapsing like a doll with its strings cut even if she was shuddering still.

Horus placed the still orgasming blissed out Trish on the bed next to Seras before his other two mates pounced on him. The two formerly Tendo sisters were each lovely and beautiful in their own way and as such Horus was going to make up their worry with some cathartic carnally induced climaxes. He was grateful that the rest of the ladies had not made it to the bed and as such spend some focused time with each instead of a mass clone fueled orgy. He simply started off with teasing both of their pussies with hand and tongue taking advantage of the two hugging and rubbing against each other to do so. Horus still managed to tease their backs from time to time as he let his body partially relax to what most zoanthropes considered normal allowing him to trace patterns with his tails as well as his ears in addition to his tongue being a bit more flexible. His tails and such subconsciously let the two access the forms they had gained from the bond. So in addition to his tails caressing them their tails were hugging and flicking across the three lovers. The two ladies hugged each other tightly wrapping their arms and tails around each other as Horus's hands and tongue caused them to shudder.

Soon enough he replaced his tongue with his slicked dick and slid alternating between their pussies and into each one as he worked the two of them back to climax. His tails were not merely being wagged about behind him do to the pleasurable sensations running through his body but were in fact teasing and tickling their tits. The three worked themselves faster and faster until Horus added his third tail from its path to alternate with his cock as it slid inside the moaning sisters. The group worked together until they finally climaxed together.

As Horus was still cuddling the still shuddering and smiling Nabiki, Tonks had recovered enough to get to the bed and had been busy on lapping at her Mistresses recently cum filled cunt. That was until she had cleaned her up and saw that Kasumi was reclining with a recently fucked and filled cunt for her to also slurp empty. Horus watched as the metamorph altered her tongue to better extract her desired drink as well as further stimulate the flow for her to lap up. That she was wagging her ass like an excited cat in heat was not helping as Horus was stroking the recovering Nabiki as she recovered from the sensations that had been enhanced by altered blood flow do to pressure points and other exotic methods.

Horus gave the now sleepy eyed Nabiki a kiss before placing her next to the passed out Seras and Trish before crawling behind Nym and noticing that she was visibly dripping slid into her while she was lapping at Kasumi's pussy while also wagging her ass invitingly. That caused Nym to make a moan of pleasure which caused Kasumi to shudder again. Horus continued to slide inside Nym as the two shifted a bit to increase each others surface area stimulation while Horus also played with the sightly swelling tits that swung so enticingly with his tails while his hands kneaded her firm and supple ass. It was a good thing that the bout had drained all participants to manageable levels in addition to slacking the more intense needs so that they could enjoy the more sensual of sexual acts instead of going for the more sensory shocking stimulations.

Still Nym ended up eating the shuddering Kasumi clean before her own shrieks of orgasm resulted in her mouth being washed with Kasumi's pleasure. Horus stayed inside her as she shuddered and milked him to almost oversensitivity before he finished filling her up as well. Horus spun her around before sliding out with a load pop before he preceded to stretch and shake himself out. It had been more than time enough for a group to recover and as such there was no escape not that he wanted that mind you. Senshi naked and eager made their way to the bed where they ganged up on him and proceeded to have their way with him.

Such a situation left little options and of all the brilliant ideas that Setsuna had she actually decided to try to manipulate time instead of just letting Horus make a few clones or grow additional appendages. With a slight pop there were suddenly six Horus's there far less than the clone method, but they had none of the problems that clones had or the power cut that using multiform had. In addition to that they had the equivalent of a nap and food to recover from the previous bouts. Still there were nine of them and six of him thankfully that Hotaru was somewhere with the other kids and as such had not popped into the room. That would have been creepy and he was grateful that none of the kids had borrowed the time staff. Cats and foxes were very sexually active compared to their mundane counterparts and the females even more so. That was a worry he did not want to have to deal with for a good long while.

Thankfully that Setsuna had grabbed her own before making a yoink sound and disappearing from view. Five to seven was not a bad ratio and Haruka and Mirichu were still more interested in each other. The inners had as such looked at each other before hanging the two after quickly binding them to the headboard so that they would not go getting any ideas. While they may prefer women that had not stopped the two the last time things had started up and claimed time to hog him as to make up for all the missed opportunities. Better that the two were suitably unavailable short of being used as furniture to fuck on until the inners got theres. Still they had mumbled complaints of Setsuna running off with her own personal Horus as they had to worry about the other girls waking up before they passed out.

That was before they realized that they would have their own fully revitalized Horus to play with and they promptly stopped their mumbling to spend as much time as possible with their lover and take the time to indulge. As even though they had been his lovers for quite some time they still were somewhat young and for once they indulged in a more relaxed lovemaking than normal. The only odd thing was that his tails while not acting as additional cocks were acting more as secondary grips and caressing and teasing the girls as they moved over a few of the simpler positions as they alternated who was on top and who was thrusting as well as facing. While the thrusts were less hurried than normal that did not mean that they had not reached their peaks any sooner or later than they desired.

The sole exception was Setsuna who was literally stuffed and shuddering as her personal Horus alternated using his tails and his cock in a triple penetration gangbang with just two people with the spare cock or tail sliding between her tits or giving her a quick lashing. That continued until the two were writhing as the tails and cocks seemed like blurs while he darted from breast to breast to suckle on her swollen tits. The sixth Horus popped back next to a drenched and stretched as well as red and sore snoozing Setsuna.

His timing as always was impeccable as the lovers he had made in the wizarding world made their way to the bed. The remaining females of the House of Black were looking at him with the look of a hungry tiger. As such they pounced and Parvati, Padma, Lavender, Hermione and Ginny made sure to have at least two Horus's between them while the rest of the Horus's darted between the arriving ladies. The advantage of their being multiples was that each could alternate between fucking and tender love making depending on what the partner wanted without the worry of being in the wrong mindset for their next lover. As they were young or youthful ladies they lasted through several combinations of mountings and while Cissa and Bella had ended up sharing and double teaming a Horus that allowed for the noise to have attracted the attention of other members of the household.

As there was a Horus free he turned to the five new comers who soon smothered him in a full body naked hug with plenty of hands and other parts being rubbed, fondled as well as groped. Four full bloody Veela and one quarter blooded went from relaxed and slightly aroused to in heat with having him back. They dismissed the others as clones or perhaps a clone of their own and as such simply got frisky with the available Horus. A cock mouth and three tails proceeded to alternate in bringing the five Veela blooded females to once more drench him in sweat and pussy juice.

The final participants were those who normally worked during the day and as such had gotten used to the sounds of sex in the house when they got home. Planning on letting someone fuck them even if it was with an artificial dick, they were pleasantly surprised when there was another male in the house besides the poor sub that had been passed around until exhaustion. Kaori and her friends were here and while it looked like the festivities were winding down they might as well get into the fun before things ended.

These women had started as the definitions of MILFs and now they had with some of the things around firmed up and gotten in better shape to enjoy the rides they were having even the dom with her husband as her slave. The mothers were rather glad at having some variety back into their sex life in the male side of the equation.

The last to enter and see the aftermath of the orgy that they had missed were those that were least likely to actively seek out trouble. The two slaves of the house Amber and Molly. They had the misfortune of somehow gaining his displeasure even after the mellow state of so much orgasms would have. Three to one soon turned to a painful reminder of their place in this household. They were below even the submissive pets and were treated as lower than slaves as mere fuck toys by the household irregardless of his absence. It had been ever so long since he got to indulge the more dark part of his sexuality and he spent enough time with the two that there was no way that they would forget their place irregardless of how long he ever spent away again. The two were experienced in pleasure, pain and punishments by this point but they got the extreme ends of it this night. By the time he was done their bodies were raw with the flesh looking as if it had been scoured inside and out as their available utilizable holes and crevices showed signs of only having blood save their overused and over watered twats as a lubricant. The two were left hanging with clear instruments tormenting their well abused fuck holes. It would take a while for the patterns drawn on them to fade. A shame that he had not made Molly something useful and turned her into a living canvas for his darker art.

With all of the more cruel impulses drained as well he sunk into the bed and relaxed amid the reclining and recovering female flesh. Barely movable hands did however convey with light caresses how much this time together meant in more than just sating their needs. It was a slight shame that Luna had been out but the odds that the level of arousal felt would have likely led to her pets being drained dry and unable to move for a while afterwards if not needing serious healing to recover. No it was better that Luna indulged her slightly different tastes elsewhere that night. Horus had no interest to see what she did to the two to torment them sexually when she was not having them service and worshiping her body. With that last shudder of things he did not want to ever walk in on again he drifted off to the sleep of the well worn. Or he would have immediately if it was not such troubled that something might happen if he did not leave right away.

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

End Lemon Scene

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As always the group would be hard pressed to part. Besides it was always necessary for cuddle time and if they lucked out they could have a bit more fun before he absolutely had to leave.

'Maybe a quick nap before I go,' Horus thought as he was trapped under the pile of ladies snuggling. 'It would not do to leave while I am not in top form.'

With that Horus slowly started to succumb to slumber along with the ladies that were covering every available inch of him before spreading out to leave no bit of space on the room sized bed. He just sighed in his sleep as the girls snuggled closer as they all treated each other like their personal stuffed snuggle animal.

Perhaps in the morning he could find away out. Still for the time everything was right in that moment. They were all home and together. Leaving could wait till later.

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

Oroborus was watching on his monitor for the final departure of his son from this dimension and the beginning of his quest. He had the sinking feeling that something would go wrong. He hoped that it would be something humorous and not something tragic. Well funny for all those concerned at least. Even if his son had been raised in the future that did not mean he was the only one who had knowledge of what was to come. He had been in the same position for a very long time when he suffered under two time loops and had to live through the time to catch up. He had in the first place become who he was today and let his past self go on his life unaltered too much. The second time he had to send himself away as there was no way that he could live through the rise and falls without interfering. His time in the Demon Wars had been risky enough and he had to come up with a rather substantial alteration so that those from then had not recognized his past self when he came about. Time travel seemed to have set limitations to prevent the supposed outcomes. Either time was fluid like in most points and methods or static and resistant to change when one hit a point that set the timeline in stone.

"So you called me to watch with you as your son in all but blood leaves for his quest and yet you don't go personally?" his aide asked. "That is rather odd don't you think?"

"Perhaps it is a bit odd," Oroborus said. "Still there is reasons that I do what I do. Besides it is not like I was watching while he was being intimate with his lovers."

"No you were just busy with one of the various tribeswomen that still worship you and are willing to do whatever you say," he said rather sarcastically. "Really why did you keep them even after the Conquistadors came while the rest of the peoples scattered."

"Simple really they were loyal and over several centuries they all became sensitives and as such I felt the need to keep them safe to see how they further developed," Oroborus said simply. "They had already been segregated previously so there was no real damage and there was little interaction outside the valley so it was simple to prevent outsiders from finding them. Still a small number have surfaced to see how things have changed over the centuries. Still that is irrelevant to the question you asked. Simply he is making his own life and like any good parent letting him leave the nest as it were. Besides he is making his family more so now than before. You know how most of us drift away from a family for a time?"

"Yes there is the tendency that those who are preparing to become masters often part ways with their mundane acquaintances," he said. "That was mostly do to the tendency of those at the time living no more than fifty and seeing ones grand nephews and nieces dying of old age while barely looking to be their grand children's age was trying."

"Thus why we always have kept the tradition of a new name after completing initiation," Oroborus said. "It was in part to separate us from the emotional agony of watching everyone we knew who was not part of our community die on us. Still we have made a more stable society for ourselves than our mundane counterparts have even come close to have done. Perhaps someday they will move beyond their petty bickering still till then we have enough safety in the sanctity and sanctuary of our world even if they do know about us now."

"You seem to be doing something that will inevitably lead to a conflict within our ranks as we are a society of warriors that have been stable while the society of peace around us is always fighting," he said. "They already are jealous of our gifts and that is without our societies cultural differences."

"While those are worries they are for another time as I think things are just about to get interesting," Oroborus said with just a hint of his plotting ways there. "No be quite while we watch what happens next. I think that it is going to be entirely unexpected."

"Guy saying goodbye for now to his girls how can it be any different than normal?" he asked with a hint of curiosity as he looked closer on the scene.

"Just watch and see," Oroborus said with a smirk. "It would appear that he is making a simple error in understanding what his quest involves. The ladies at least won't be too unhappy with the results though. Still he should have noticed that minor error in his spellform. Such slight errors could be fatal in other circumstances at least in this one it will be interesting."

"I didn't notice any errors in the form," he said. "Still there is a reason that you are the expert."

"Not so much an error as it is a minor miscalculation," Oroborus admitted. "Under normal circumstances there would be no effect but with a minor outside effect things will be very different than the intended idea and still meet the needs that his quest requires."

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

The scene became more in focus and the sound increased to be easily overheard as the two leaned in to watch the scene that was now coming into effect. Horus was dressed loaded up and kitted out for his quest. The girls however were still doing their best in delaying this inevitable event as despite the rather private and intimate time they had shared there was still a sense of loss that he would be gone again too long as they made sure he didn't fudge his trip like the last so that instead of the minutes or hours he had been gone for days and weeks with his jump to the Netherworld. The fact that they had practically ravished him to exhaustion repeatedly in trying to make up for the missed time and the schedules being thrown off did not mean that they were ready to let him run off now.

"Now girls," Horus said as he had to work at disentangling another wandering hand from divesting him and dragging him back to bed or at least the rather cushioned floor. "You know that as much as I would like to stay here and do nothing but ravish and be ravished by you beautiful exquisite delicacies of loveliness that I have to do this. Sure I could stay here and forever be trapped in this domain this almost idyllic paradise, but then I could never get to go out and be with you anywhere else and I know that you do not want that. Besides it is not like I cannot stop back as often as I can and do to this time setting the synch in advance I should be back before you know it."

"You better there is no way that we want to go through that again," Nabiki said.

"At least the bond is stabilized now so that we know when you do something foolhardy now," Kasumi said.

"There is that," Seras said before tilting her head. "Still don't think we are going to let you go without a line on you."

"I hate to agree with your Mates," Trish said, "but you really seem to attract trouble. Who knows what you will get into without us there to keep an eye on you."

"Come on I am a grown man here," Horus said. "I love all of you, but unfortunately you cannot go with me even though I want you to do so. Dimensions do not normally allow multiple instances of the same person in relative proximity for normal people. The point of becoming a Master Sorcerer is that I would not have to worry about the nuisances of dimensional interferences. Just because a reality altering act occurred was not the only reason to do so."

"There was a much more important reason wasn't there." Kasumi said. "It would mean we were safer does it not?"

"You got it Sumi-chan," Horus said with a grin. "One was that the Domain here would become even more secure and that most of my worries about what could go wrong would be no longer concerns. Besides now with this complication in the way there is the chance that our lives could be rewritten and not for the better."

"Let me guess a version of you that never met us and as such we are still in our ruts," Nabiki said as her quick mind found the most likely reaction. "So we have to let you go for a little while to be able to stay with you for longer."

"Well that and prevent another version of ourselves from going through the same mess that would happen," Horus said. "Imagine if you never had to loose your mother or at least a version of you did. A chance to spare a version of us from the less than desirable experiences that haunted us. A version of me that was beaten down and belittled and treated like a mushroom. Even more imagine a version of Ranma and Akane who admitted their feelings at first and not needed as much counseling to handle emotional situations."

"There is something you are not telling us," Seras stated not as a question but as a fact.

"Yes there is," Horus admitted. "The situation with Riddle left the fragments psychic impressions out there scattered across the dimensions. Imagine if you will what a portion of such a tormented personality would leave tainting whoever used the item. Blood lust, paranoia, hatred, and genocidal tendencies are some of the few and to make matters worse they will be in sacred relics which depending on when they arrived there could twist the destinies of countless people. It is my fault for not realizing that would happen. Or to be more accurate what would happen if I followed Riddle through if I had neither situation would have developed."

"So I guess that this is so long for now," Hermione said.

"You best make your way back to us," Luna said.

"Now get out of here so you can get back here," the girls said together before laughing.

"I guess I deserve that," Horus said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Horus triggered the portal and stepped through it. The girls however heard something rather strange before the portal closed.

"What," Horus said in front of a rather strange looking inn.

"The," Horus said in front of a rather strange looking circus.

"Bloody," Horus said in front of a strange tower.

"Is," Horus said in front of the Dursleys.

"Going On," Horus said looking at his girls.

"Well that was strange," Lavender said before they all jumped and grabbed the returned Horus to drag back to their bed.

Elsewhere the various Horus's were wondering what was going on. Well every Horus but the one in front of the Dursleys as that one scooped his alternate self up and vanished to deliver himself to his teacher. They had felt the connection between them and yet it was obvious that they were not clones.

'This has just gotten complicated,' they thought except for the one with the girls who had that thought pleasantly driven out of his head.

Everyone but that instance had to deal with being somewhere unexpected and having to deal with tracking down where their particular fragment was. Six corrupted artifacts of relic proportions had to be found and the twisted taint had to be expunged. This was the beginning of one of the greatest adventures of their life. Horus however had forgotten one key thing about his mates as well as the rest of his family. There was no way that they would let him get into trouble if they could find a way to be with him. Thankfully they would not have to worry about that as they were at first under the impression that he had already came back and as such were more occupied in continuing where they left off. There of course would be hell to pay if they thought he could go off by himself and leave them here alone even if their was an instance of him there that was interactive.

Sorcerers get in trouble and as always their significant others will follow to get them out of trouble even if they are outmatched. Really thinking that he could leave his ladies home while he traipsed across the dimensions was so not going to happen. Besides the odds of being dropped in some random dimension and not getting into trouble with the locals was rather astronomical.

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End Part 4

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Continued in Saga 2: Masters Quest

Part 5: Same Old Song, Different Verse

Chapter 25: Dreams in Descent