Horus Goes Home

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Saga 2: Masters Quest

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Part 5: Same Old Song, Different Verse

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Chapter 25: Dreams in Descent

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Horus was thinking over what had just happened. He had just appeared in front of an alternate dimensions Number Four Privett Drive. He had thankfully not been detected when he had arrived and was able to watch the conversation unfold. He had watched as Hagrid had arrived with his alternate self. He had watched from the shadows of a tree as Minerva McGonagall sat stiffly on the wall. Sometimes he wondered how a wizard could so misunderstand such a simple procedure as shifting. Sure they were not zoanthropes blessed with alternate forms, but the fact that anyone who shifted into a cat could sit that stiff. The poor dear would be sore in the morning that was for sure.

It was oddly boring watching the wasted effort of this Albus Dumbledore using something that looked like a lighter to put out the lights as he went. It was a waste of magic as well as drawing attention to him. If he had been not shrouded with repelling charms the mundanes would have noticed his approach do to the oddness of his movements and that did not take into account the bizarre dress that he had always worried about that the Wizarding World seemed to have become fixed upon. So he watched the man with the long beard and robes that were billowing a bit as he walked. Once more he questioned why they didn't use cloaks like the vast majority of hidden groups. Even the more traditional magical groups used cloaks and not robes outside of very exacting ceremonies.

Waiting was something that one had to get good at if one was in the Order of Shadows or the Serpent Order as spies infiltrators and assassins had to be patient just like snipers waiting for the shot. So he waited for a time when they would leave. Completely silent he waited for them to finish their discussion and leave the infant on a porch step where if he did not intervene he would be beaten, threatened and worn down while also having a strong sense of what was right and what was wrong. That was not worth the suffering that the boy would go through and if even a slight uncertainty occurred he could easily become something to make his parents murderer look like a kind fluffy puppy. Nature provided the material while nurture shaped how it would grow and even the most potential nature could be destroyed with the wrong type of nurture.

'If I ended up in a universe without mystics I would probably see if their were any of the circles here,' Horus thought as he watched the two blather in still. 'I get that there are things to talk about but doing so in the open like this is almost as dangerous as the people almost flaunting the Statutes of Secrecy in keeping your world hidden. Still it will be nice to see another instance of the Wizarding World get their comeuppance. Still this Dumbledore feels different almost as if instead of making it beyond a wizard he was held at the cusp of Awakening. Similar events can occur with different preceding and following events after all. Perhaps I should have been better informed of the specific circumstances. Odd that his mind is almost open perhaps with all the excitement he is letting his guard down. At least this Harry will not have to deal with a manipulative old man trying to shape him and control him. This Dumbledore actually seems a bit too naive in human nature as he believes that they will put aside their dislike for magic because they are his last family. How quaint that is. Still that is no reason to leave them here as even if they had a moment of clarity or better yet an epiphany they are likely not to provide for him in a way that he needs. Riddle is alive here and seems to be a bit less balanced than my own was. I can feel it from the impression on his scar.'

Finally the two wizards apparated away. It seemed that they had no reason to think that the events around them in a proper light. The fact that none of them reacted to Hagrid's statement that Sirius Black had given him the motorcycle and willingly handed over Harry made any sense to Horus. If he had betrayed the Potters he would have run but he had not.

'Wizards seem unable or at least unwilling to think things through logically even with how logical magic truly is,' Horus thought as he walked the distance from the tree to the front porch silently not even a rustle of leaves as he moved or any other tell tale signs of his passing.

He looked at the house with his head cocked to the side as if seeing something more than those who had watched earlier had seen. He seemed almost to watch something writhing there in that place. He shook his head before looking at the child as the slight almost unnoticeable frown slid off his face to become a grin as he looked down at the child. He knelt down next to the basket and lifted the blanket from the sleeping boy's face.

"Now young one this is no place for you," Horus said to his young sleeping analog. "He may think that they will care for you since you are family but I have looked at them and realized that they will not. They would never welcome or accept anything that is different. How would you like to go somewhere else away from the mean people that will make your life more interesting?"

Little Harry just gurgled in his sleep. This caused Horus to smile when this was all over he might settle down a little bit. Masters did tend to seclude themselves from the mundane world in their domains and throw themselves into their work when they were not jockeying for better positions in the Guild and whichever Orders they could join. Politics of the Mystics were as complicated as any other long lived group and while the Guild had prevented the outbursts of violence escalating to linger in mundane minds as gods fighting there was no reason to think that intrigue was any different. All Sorcerers despite any other personality quirk were ambitious and sought to use their talents and interests to better themselves. That it indirectly or directly benefited the masses was irrelevant to the matter at hand. Even the Hunter Squads had their own agendas as joining one was one of the few ways to rise quickly if riskily in the ranks even if the most scholarly would have to undergo trial by fire as was tradition.

'Oh the things this child would learn,' Horus thought as he disappeared with the babe in the basket. 'I do wonder what name he will get as with my presence Horus is no more usable as Oroborus was so long ago. Lord Occamy will take a bit to get used to although it could have been Coatl. Perhaps there is something in that phrase Cry Harold nay Cry Havoc and let slip the Dogs of War. It would be ironic since we were called that for so long Spell Dogs as it were. Perhaps in this world young one we can change the fate of those I met from what misery they suffered and yet it shaped them so.'

Horus had vanished with a barely disturbed wind swirling the leaves as he left. The Wards that should have snapped up at Number Four did not and yet the potential had remained and snapped around the young Harry. As long as he spent time dwelling in any place where he could call his kin home the house would have strengthened wards. Sadly the wards were already stronger than the ones that Dumbledore had wanted to use.

As it was technically impossible to teleport to where he wanted to go directly he was only able to appear in the second most secure place that he knew about or at least near it. That most forms of teleportation were redirectable was a given and as such there was little surprise when he ended up where he had intended to go even if their would be a walk.

Normally the Sorcerer's Guild had several Chapter Houses in the various major cities that were interconnected with each other so as one could quickly access any other chapter with them that was without concern as their was safety measures that had been incorporated in the event that another attempt at the Inquisition and its predecessors occurred the Chapters could survive independently under their Masters. Not that was something that had actively been thought of in several centuries as unlike the more numerous sensitives and magical races the mystics had been drawn away from mundane affairs unhurriedly and with plenty of time to prepare. The only reason that their was any concern was for those born among mundanes or worse when latents Awakened. It was one of those things that seemed so odd that those raised in the community or in most of the other enclaves of the gifted would normally not have such a traumatic first experience. Those raised among mundanes that had little danger in their life would not surge. Still there was a chance that some of their youthful surges of will would accidentally trigger the wizards underage magic detectors and thus label them as a wand waving wizard or witch.

Sorcerers had a reason that unlike the shinobi that they did not formally begin training until eight when the inner system was sufficiently developed to handle the increased stress that the polygynous energies had compared to the merely blended nature that group harnessed. Coincidental magic allowed even latents to have an unnatural luck when in crisis however if the event was not mundane or even chance could not intervene then they the untrained or even the latent could have a surge that boosted them over the hurdle that prevented such from using mystical energies while they could tap into part of their heritage.

Awakening had a very bad connotation for sorcerers as that tended to have been the incidents with the greatest chances that at the time the hidden communities would have been revealed. These were basically when magic goes wild. Thankfully most cases were still passed off as coincidence or automatically dropped as being tabloid news as most of these were similar to miraculous actions where a lone child normally survived a tragedy with almost none to no injuries.

Each guild house did however have what functioned as a metaphysical net that would catch any that surged to a significant level so that if ones magic tried to teleport them out of the danger they would actually not end up in the middle of nowhere or suffer from the spliching that wizards seemed to have as their method required far more concentration. Wizards were considered lazy as they had added the floo system to provide similarly why the portal system had been invented and that was to allow those who were not ready to teleport to travel between hidden areas. That the pads at the guild houses were one of the more traversed aspects of the network besides the malls there was no doubt and the main reason that the access points that existed in mundane locales was more do to the rise in non sorcerer mystics than otherwise. Although there was a tendency to be unwilling to walk up to the guilds entrances that had faded over the past part of the decade among the younger generation.

One thing that a person arriving here would think of was a more Romanesque version of Gringotts as the room was white with arches and columns and above was a dome that was decorated with scenes depicting the whole known history of the guild. The center of the dome was not capped with a statue as would be the case in normal mundane versions of architecture but a crystal eye that absorbed and redirected the filtered light into the room although the spot directly below was brighter and contained a circle formed on the floor with several advanced wards and enchantments to prevent any coming to destroy the house.

Initiates were the vast majority of the guild and as sad as it was some lacked the power, discipline or devotion to rise in the ranks. That was mostly do to the extremely competitive and personal nature of the Apprentice and Journeyman route. Still those that did not have what it took to rise through the ranks in both academic as well as military prowess tended to become bureaucrats and as it was they were the backbone of the guild.

They scurried about the house busy intent on what they were doing. Initiates were the secretariat of the guild and had collective power with what they knew and they could be gossips at times. There was a lone Initiate of some seniority there.

'Probably on his way through the ranks based on pure guile and intrigue,' Horus thought as he turned to look towards the man.

"Welcome to the London House," the man said without looking at him obvious intent on something. "As you are obviously not a recent Initiate please log in and proceed to your purpose. Things are in enough trouble as it is with the confirmation of a sorcerer and a latent passing this night in our territory."

Horus walked towards the station next to the desk. It contained a simple crystal that would scan his magical signature and compare it to the records. That it was interconnected with all Houses and the Guild in general as well as connecting across the dimensions meant that it would have accurate records even if he had recently arrived.

Horus covered up a sigh before placing his hand on the crystal where it glowed and a soft kind and friendly voice in obvious contrast to the minder melodiously said almost singingly, "Welcome to London Guild House Journeyman Horus."

Horus had an odd smirk on his face as he raised the slumbering infants hand to touch the crystal as well. He noted that the receptionist had not looked up and as such had not noticed the fact that his entire stats were displayed. They were every time after all and as such were soon overlooked.

'It was best to get the kid in the system,' Horus thought. 'Besides this will irritate the receptionist.'

The melodious voice rang out , "Welcome to London Guild House Initiate Havoc. You are now recorded scion of Occamy."

That caused the receptionist to look up and actually pay attention to the smaller source he had dismissed as a familiar earlier. That he had dropped his jaw to look at the man that had entered and took in his Order Cloak. It would be a very bad thing to get any Order members upset and a serpent at that.

"Well we had best be going then," Horus said cheekily before saying quietly but not too quietly so the man could still hear yet not seem to have noticed the eavesdropping. "It would not do to keep Lord Occamy waiting. I wonder how much like Lord Oroborus he will be? I hope he is not that different than Father."

With that Horus proceeded down the halls to the part of the house that led to the offices. That he left a very shocked and confused management minion in his wake was a mere bonus.

'This is not going to be a good day,' the clerk thought. 'Something had been off with the guy but with how everything had been weird lately I just passed it off. I should have known better...'

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The trip down the hallway was relatively short even if the halls were rather wide and seemed to lead to places that were far bigger than the building outside. The houses were more of doors than building propers as when one got far enough into it and down enough doors and passages the halls interconnected with the others.

Horus made his way threw what made most labyrinths seem tame to where the more open office was. As much as he would have preferred to simply transport himself to where Occamy was it would be rude to simply enter unannounced. Besides the fact was that private meetings were rare with how busy one was in his position with all the political and other hats that he had to wear. That was part of the problem with having such a relatively small community compared to the vast number of mundanes that had now populated the world. The mystics had been culled over the millennium and had not truly recovered until the past few centuries. They were in part limited by the mundane population at times do to a subconscious instinct to prevent from overpopulation. That and there would be no time when everyone would become as they were. At least not through the path they took. Mundanes would be less often born and the sensitives would take their place once more.

'Human history is quite odd,' Horus thought as he walked with the baby in his arms. 'We have rose and fell more times than people remember. Our history has been rewritten time and again with more lost with each time passed. We remember more but even we know that we have forgotten things. Humanity at least the majority that exist did not develop on this world. Oh their may have been a parallel evolution or another instance where life was seeded but more of the inactive genes become more active with each passing century. Why so many mundanes were born after the fall or perhaps better termed the second fall is do to selection pressures. Those with a less obvious presence were able to hide among the wastelands. Perhaps some day we will reconnect with our legacies but until then we must continue on the path we have chosen to walk. This galaxy was entrusted to us and we nearly failed in that task even if it had not been for our allies and students betraying us. Greed for our power as an older and more developed race technologically led to them being more willing to abandon us since they believed the menace would simply starve out and they could move in and pick off our peoples legacy by stripping the ruins from us. We survived though and prospered while our betrayers fell to disarray.'

Horus stopped at the doorway. It was a thick door that looked very good aesthetically while also being most assuredly able to withstand physical and most likely some serious magical power as well. He knew better than to look at the door to see what spells were woven there but he got the impression of the equivalent of a Gordian knot of intertwined and reinforcing spells. The door was also alive physically as well as magically in that the door would adapt as well as grow to resist outside effects. One would wonder why the door would be warded so when they would also need to ward the walls and such. The walls were reinforced layered material with a nice appearance of a veneer of some kind.

Horus knocked on the door. He knew that the motion would not carry yet a spell would do the same as a doorbell yet a doorbell would not look appropriate for the decor. He felt how firm the door was and that his knocking would not yield that even his full strength would most likely not even dent let alone break the door let alone strain the hinges.

He did not have long to wait as he heard a simple one word command to enter. The door opened inward without any outside intervention and he walked inside. He noticed that the decor of the office was different than what he was used to but that was a given considering that while most events paralleled there was plenty of minor things that differed between the two.

"Lord Occamy," Horus began formally. "I have been entrusted with a mission by Lord Oroborus. The meddling of others have brought danger to our family. Your descendant was almost killed by a rogue who seeks to disrupt the ways of the compact and return the hunts to us all with his actions. One Albus Dumbledore planned to place him with nulls that would have attempted to stamp out the magic from him as well as reduce him to a weak willed and pliable tool."

"I see," Occamy said with a slow drawl. "This is most disturbing that someone would do this to our family. I was unaware of what had recently passed with Lily's child. She refused to leave the wizards because of love but I had hoped to bring her back to the community. If she had not become so well known it would have been easy to enable her egress from the ignorant savages."

"Her son has the blood true," Horus said with a nod. "He has already shown signs of the familial gifts. I suppose that it falls to me to inform you that Lily's will was violated and that her first choice is about to be set up for the betrayal by the betrayer."

"Then we had best settle things and leave time to prevent such an occurrence," Occamy said with a firm tone. "While I have no love lost for the wizards there are a few among their number that make them worth saving from their won foolishness."

"Is that not the truth for any group?" Horus asked with amusement. "Still he was a good friend of Lily's and allowing him to be left to Dementors while innocent and the true traitor escapes is insulting. Permitting them to allow their sheep like behavior to still cause such problems will leave us with worse ramifications."

"We have time enough as you should know but I expect you to leave quickly and deal with this matter," Occamy said. "It would be nice to have one of my descendants raised with our ways and not outsiders. I did come close to that with Lily, but that matter was less resolved than I had hoped. If this had not happened then Lily had planned to relocate from the place during the Winter Solstice. She was not able to send many messages the past few months. I believe they were using one of the more obscure concealment spells the Fidelious I believe?"

"Yes that is true it is a bit obscure and relies on trust and good faith," Horus said with a cock of his head. "Still there is the matter that they prefer what is easy to that which is right."

"It is our choices that define us," Occamy said with a soft sigh. "Free will is important even if far too many once again resort to the predestined to remove them of the burden of choice as well as consequence."

"Speaking of consequences," Horus said in amusement. "What do you think the consequences of the wizards savior being one of us? Will this effect the plan?"

"We have left them alone and out of control for to long as it is," Occamy said coldly. "They do not feel any accountability outside their community at most and have little to no concepts of dedication and other virtues. The closest to what we would acknowledge is that they keep their oaths although that might be because it is enforced by their magic."

"And the plan?" Horus asked again with some amusement. "If the world discovers them before then things would be bad as they have become so isolated it would be worst than any other of the hidden groups being revealed even the controllers."

"Yes perhaps they are even worse than them because they are so blunt in their efforts," Occamy said with a tug to smile on his lip. "It is depressing that they have descended so much over the past few millennium. Even if those of us that have settled among them were those who could not or would not follow our ways they did manage to redeem themselves for the most part even if their descendants would not heed their lessons."

"Yes it seems that their mistakes repeat themselves over time or worse create justifications that never were given," Horus said with a slow sigh as he shifted to look at something. "They are once more in a situation where their philosophies have already been settled outside their community several decades before."

"And yet they lack the division in someways that the mundanes still have," Occamy said in response. "Religion still greatly divides the mundanes and even the sensitives although in some ways we know better."

"When we met the gods that had abandoned us we showed them the power that they forced us to gain to do what they had chosen not to do," Horus said with a dismissive voice. "What is it that was said when you meet god you should have your affairs in order. Well the gods sure were sent to the Maker earlier than they had thought."

"That is true," Occamy said sadly. "Yet what choice did we have to allow such a precedent that one could abandon ones subordinates to die. No battle is hopeless after all."

"There is always a way to win," Horus said with certainty. "Even if one must faint to regroup and restrategize the only battle that is truly lost is the one that is with doubt."

"I believe that is in part what I did manage to teach to Lily even if we only saw each other rarely these past few years," Occamy said. "That did not mean that I did not care for my descendant even if at most I could only be a godfather. It was nice to see the gifts resurface in the family."

"family is important and yet it is one of the things that can harm us the most," Horus said with a thoughtful look on his face. "Our curse to outlive our more normal kin. They live as passionate flames for a time while we last like long burning forest fires. We are remembered and our influences are great but theirs drew on quick changes. A shame that the magical became even more slow to change than we have."

"That is because we fought more," Occamy said with a shark grin. "The fastest of inventiveness occurs when in the most trying of situations. Look at how the mundanes have so rapidly improved their technology these past few centuries. They had moved from rural handcrafted to mass manufacturing in less than a single of their lifetimes."

"And we remodeled our items to pass in their world," Horus said as he watched the sleeping form of his analogue. "We had technology greater than theirs left from before the second fall and have improved it somewhat but..."

"Without the necessity some items stagnate in their development," Occamy said with a look at his descendant sleeping peacefully. "With the level of computing processing then having reached a point that we could not think of applications that needed the power such a facet has remained the same. Even the storage space then is more massive than most of our current needs perhaps if we needed more storage space than grains of sand on a beach their would be a reason to improve that aspect but it is good enough."

"Considering that our current level of storage is greater than the total that mundanes have available and even their fiction will not match for several hundred years even at the current rate of development that is understandable," Horus said with a vicious grin. "Then again they do tend to think up of problems and solutions that we do not. When they do find out having the ability to have the items of their dreams and imagination will go a good way to help ease tension almost as much as the fact that we have been trying to find ways to make our cures without outright magic."

"Yes we are well on our way to being ready to reveal ourselves and yet I have a feeling that it will happen before we are fully ready," Occamy said with a sigh. "With the current political climate it will be a few more years at least. Perhaps when the Cold War that they are dealing with is settled or at least rendered to a point that direct military action will not be likely at all or better yet where the conflict is utilizing third party factions to indirectly try to gain allies and puppets."

"In the current climate that is a certainty with the way they are currently polarized," Horus said with a nod of agreement. "Still you seem to think things will change quicker than most would..."

"Nations rise and empires fall," Occamy said with a slow repetitious tone as if stating a fact that was heavily burdened. "That does not change as change is the inevitable. Besides with the situation in Afghanistan it is obvious that the signs are their that the USSR is over stretching themselves and with these military and defense buildups from the Regan Administration it is obvious that one will go bankrupt sooner or later. With the bureaucracy in the soviets and the complete lock on early industrial inefficient mass production complex there it is obvious that with the number of agents willing to sell out for so little money there that it is a house of cards and a sufficient wind will blow it down."

"If we are revealed before that happens they would have a new resource and with the fact that alchemical transmutations would solve most material problems," Horus began with some dread. "It is a certainty that they would exploit any enhanced or gifted in their sphere of influence."

"As any other of the current factions would do," Occamy said. "They are barely beginning to lose their phobias xenophobia in particular. Women's liberation as it is quaintly called will be an interesting effect in the long term."

"You don't think it will work as it is do you?" Horus asked with some confusion. "That seems counter intuitive considering that we have had equal rights for so long..."

"Equal rights with equal responsibility," Occamy said with disgust. "We have no problems with equality in regard to color, sex religion or other such matters. That does not mean that everyone is equal in the manner that socialists and communists want. True equality in some things is one thing that is an ideal not a fact. Equality of choice and opportunity is one thing not the systems that currently are being enacted. They will bring nothing but the opposite of what the people asking for it want."

"True there is a repetitive cycle there after all," Horus said. "Perhaps with time balance will be restored. Still the needs of the time are rather devastating to what some would call traditional values."

"Single parent homes are not something I like to see," Occamy said. "I have seen better situations and ways to deal with it over the ages, but this dependency on social programs is a downward pit."

"You always were a firm believer in people standing on their own feet," Horus said. "Time will tell how things will turn out. The economy is rather in turmoil now in some places. Still that does not mean that a return to Luddite fears of overpopulation and starvation will happen."

"Technology has a limit on what it can provide as does magic," Occamy said. "Still there is plenty of recourses that are available more so than is believed. There will be more conflicts over the coming decades and that is without our interference. We could provide solutions but also problems. They are still likely to resent how naturally our longer lives are even if they gain preventatives to lengthen and improve their life spans and styles."

"Still it is a time to start taking a more active role in the worlds affairs," Horus said with certainty. "If we are revealed not in a controlled manner things could spin out of control. Still with each passing year this century more open and level headed minds seem to prevail. At least they have not destroyed themselves or come to close so often this past decade."

"The moment that the secrets of the atom let alone those of the genetic sequences are unraveled should have been a wake up call for most groups," Occamy said sadly. "Most methods of hiding will eventually be discernible to an advanced enough technological base. Still there are ways that things could be worse. The EMP type weapons that remain or worse one of the more control oriented psychics or magic users could have through accident or ramification resulted in a Nuclear War. That is something none of us want to see again. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were far too close to making those of us who remember the destruction of the past. At least our weapons of mass destruction do not leave lingering effects."

"There is a difference between fusion and fission in its results," Horus said sadly. "At least our nuclear reactors didn't leave radioactive wastes. That could have been disastrous if any of those items fell into unprepared hands."

"Why do you think most items are safeguarded to require a sensitive to use and not a mundane?" Occamy asked. "Most would need training even if they were sensitives to utilize the items as the safeties were designed not to respond in most cases to someone that was ignorant in how to turn off the safeties. The items less likely to be used to cause intentional or even unintentional harm were able to be operated by sensitives right away. Control is something that has been and will continue to be stressed to any we find. Something that the chi users at least agree with. Some of the psychics out their believe in control but in what or who they can control."

"The main problem is that controllers tend to become a bit short sited after they form their harems," Horus said as he looked over to see the forms that were in front of Occamy were training schedules for young Harry. "Still they mostly limit themselves from interfering in government or too much illegal trading. Though most end up with supporting their families in the same ways that we do. Thankfully those that would be more likely to degrade attract the more defensive controllers who keep the more rabid ones down. Perhaps there was a time when most controllers were not somewhat constrained. Thankfully they keep their heads down and are involved in their own intrigues that thankfully at most deal with some of the similar minded magic users."

"Mages are nothing but a strange group more so than even us," Occamy said with a sneer. "While they at least deal with any unwanted and rogues that disrupt their communities and prevent the general madness from overflowing they are part of an interlinked network of controllers. The Psi Mages at least are culturally reasonable."

"While I have no problem with the various magical groups that exist I will agree that at least the Psi Mages tend to be civil when dealing with others," Horus said while adding a minor change to the schedule. "The Psi Mages act as a bridge between the Mage Council and the Psionicist Consortium. Their influence in mundane businesses are more than ours but at least there is a simple reason for that as they live among them while we mostly live apart. I did notice that they tend not to enslave or capture those who interest them. They do tend to recruit from the unmissable masses similar to how the Vampire Nation tends to drag people off the streets and provide something better than they were in."

"Thankfully the nature of our gift gives us a natural shield against most psionisist influences," Occamy said with a sigh. "Sadly the mages are at least somewhat able and skilled compared to practitioners. Still there is a balance in things. We get greater power while they got greater subtle control. Most of the mages at least have never done blatant magic though that in part was do to the fact that their influences were subtler. They can unlike some mages in different dimensions use blatant magic without repercussion from the nature of the universe. A thankfully different rule set governs here."

"The odds that we will have to deal with mages is small for the next while," Horus said as he added notes to see about a more diversified training regimen in case there was a reason to travel in the smaller communities. "Still they will eventually be in someway cross-purpose to us. They at least tend to attract practitioners to their midst and are a better choice to be indoctrinated by than the wanders. At least neither group is dependent on focuses although they have specialized amplifiers while ours are designed to be for mystical energy than either of the general types."

"There is that still neither of those interlinked communities is overly aware of any of the other groups," Occamy said as he added in cross training with various sword masters that were alive now and not then. "At least there should be little worry that they do anything overt and I suspect that they will be among the last to reveal themselves more so than any save the focus users. At least they do not so blatantly alter others minds to their won purposes although they have at times made their followers to be little more than human flesh robots."

"It seems odd that we never dabbled in those skills as much," Horus said as the added in a time to train in some of the more secluded communities in Asia. "Perhaps it was because we prefer a challenge though we were never shy to use psionic techniques in our duels. A pity that most outside the rare Psi Mages can not use both with the same finesse or power. Even then their abilities are linked drawing on a shared reserve. At least their duels are more interesting than those duels the wanders do."

"Yes and it would be best if the less aware members retain an ignorance of us," Occamy said. "Though the Psi Mages seem to be overly concentrated in one House. Perhaps their will be a way to lessen the fear the sheep have of the wolves that move among them?"

"Like all things it will fade with enough time," Horus said as he nodded at the compiled list. "At least our familial legacy is in a good shape. Somehow I know that there is a chance that more latents will Awaken do to the coming troubles. Things will differ in minor ways that perhaps will prove how accurate the butterfly is in small situations were the effects snowball."

"Yes there is that," Occamy said. "I take it that young Havoc here will assuredly live in interesting times. Perhaps there will be less risk of those of us either raised or mistaken as wanders falling this time. Two students did I attempt to train these past two centuries and I chose to remove their memories of us when they chose to rejoin the wizards than us. Perhaps this will cause a difference as Oroborus left the two prospects with their memories. One would have been corrupted and led to manipulations while here he seemed to be more naive in his decisions actually believing in the good in people. The other gifted though he was could not stand that his blood did not make him better than others. A shame that a relative would be so close minded."

"If they are the two I think of it is perhaps better that they do not remember as the loss would have affected them greatly," Horus said. "I have seen one of them and it seemed as if he was a latent. It is interesting that he seemed like that than as if he had been sealed."

"It took a bit but it was possible to force one from Awakening," Occamy said. "That it results in the event of the subject ever proving the reason for exile false than they are restored and regain their full lifespan counted from when they were exiled. I believe the method was to prevent insurrection in the event of an exile being returned and realizing they had lost their time in the community."

"How interesting and if they accidentally reach the power to awaken again?" Horus asked somewhat concerned to what it would mean. "What would the ramifications of that be? Would they be like half trained children wielding their power and indiscriminately cause devastation?"

"None of that thankfully," Occamy said. "Still if they found knowledge among other groups that they can use they can but if it cannot be proved to not come from us than they would be accountable to our laws. Not an ideal solution but better than the alternatives could be. Thankfully the so called Pure Bloods of the Wizarding World are unable to use other magic in part do to their inbreeding and in part do to an inability to actually emphasize with other mind sets. If they walked among the mundanes they would be obvious to any psionicist or mage. A shame the mages do not use internal sources for their magic as much but as a focus to draw external energies through though they can use their reserves in time of need."

"Yes I do not think that they would like to be used in a similar matter to the so called creatures they use for wand cores," Horus said with a sadistic chuckle. "Legimency would not protect their minds from a psionicist that wished to scan them although most would be able to slip in undetected. Perhaps that is why we arranged for them to be kept apart. Still the look on their faces at being amid a group that would treat them like they do mundanes and being just as condescending is somewhat humorous."

"Yes there is that," Occamy said . "Now you had best get going as I have to make sure that the young one is settled. Perhaps a slight time warp to allow him to get over his infancy and get ready to train with as much time as is available?"

"It would work Lord Occamy," Horus said. "Still I had best be going although I might wish to join your travels for a time to help him fit more with the youngsters of this age."

"it would be welcomed," Occamy said. "I do not really know what the young of today do for fun outside the community. Although they seem to be gaining a somewhat obsessive compulsion to the arcades. Not at all like back in my day as you know."

"Yes things have changed since before Babylon," Horus said with a grin. "Still perhaps it would be best to find a friend or at least sparring partner for his training as that would have helped me than being among those my senior."

"The true cost of genius," Occamy said. "It is a burden to know that we shorten an already short childhood. Still it is better than it was yet the modern generations seem so coddled."

"It is just a part of the new culture," Horus said as he rose with a slight flourish before giving a slight bow. Perhaps it will change in time but we will see what we will see."

"that we will Journeyman Horus," Occamy said, "I look forward to seeing how your quest goes and perhaps it is time for me to go through one again. Taking an apprentice is something that I have not done in a while. Still do be in touch."

"I will," Horus said simply as he stepped away from the chair he had been sitting on.

With that Horus gave a curt nod and departed. He had things that he needed to get done and the sooner the better. The problem he knew was how to go about this without causing too much fuss.

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

Horus had a lot of things that he could do now that his alternate self had been dropped off. The best thing about being here was that he was not bound by the limitations of the time loop although that meant that the protections of the same was no longer in play while he was here. Still as much as be wanted to go back home instantly while he was here he got the impression that some part of his quest would be here. Thinking over the people he had met and the rather unfortunate events that he had been unable to alter so as to lessen the burdens his family had he thought over all of these things and realized that their were several critical events at this point in the timeline that could be altered with out endangering the general direction that events were unfolding in.

He was bound by traditions to wander a bit now that his business here had been taken care of. He had completed the first part of the mission and he did have to worry about the rest of the quest that he had to accomplish. He in part was lonely with his family and in particular his mates and similarly bonded lovers a dimension away. There were reasons that he had not asked them along with and yet he regretted knowing that he had in part wanted them to stay behind to in some ways keep them innocent. They all had blood on their hands but he wanted to keep them from ever being in a chance of having to cause harm to those who did not deserve that.

'The risk did not out weigh the rewards I thought,' Horus thought as he knelt at a marker in the middle of a solitary field. 'If I had it to do over I would have them with me and yet I did not want to uproot them from home even if I had to do so.'

Still he had time enough as Sirius would not confront Peter until the next day. The problem was how to interfere without being noticed. To be more accurate how to not be noticed by wizards as a not wizard while also not revealing anything to the mundanes. It was the later that would be trickier as eh could walk the walk and talk the talk to pass as a wizard. No the problem was he would need to prevent the focal point of the incident that being Peter's declaration as well as his exploding the street. A silencing charm would work if he had no skill in silent casting, but that was not necessarily a known quantity.

'I need a short vacation after this before seriously going on this quest and that is especially true with all these problems that keep popping up,' Horus thought as he laid a flower in front of the marker. 'Still this will make things here a better place than it would have been. What was it that was said it only takes the inaction for good men to allow evil to spread. Perhaps not evil but indifference allows the status quo to spread its mediocrity and tacit consent of suffering. It is better to try to change things than to allow the same situation to result in the same problem. It is not rational to think that the same action will not lead to the same consequence. It is nice not to have the constraint of a time loop to deal with and yet I will in some ways miss the certainty that is present then. Still it is important knowing when to not act as it is to know when to act as well as how.'

Perhaps the plan would unfurl in a better manner in a different setting. He was not one to be morose while he planned and he did tend to think on his feet so it should come as little surprise that he would take to thinking while moving to better analyze the situation. Plans, plots and scenarios flickered through his minds eyes as he walked about the streets mingling and blending into the crowds. To a sharp eye the wizards would have been normally obvious even without the ability to see the ability to manipulate energies.

As he was not entirely sure where the confrontation would be he decided to shadow Sirius as he made his journey that morning. It was not like it would take him a lot of effort to simply remain inconspicuous as he trailed the supposedly trained fighter. It was a kind of a disappointment than again there was the simple matter that he was good enough to be undetected with Mad Eye's special eye and that was without any abilities being used overtly.

'This is kind of a let down now that I think about it,' Horus thought as he ghosted from shadow to shadow as he watched the frantic form of his alternate's godfather. 'He really is not thinking very clearly as he should have informed the others of the switch and yet Hagrid had done nothing to him. Still he let his obsession with revenge cloud his judgment and if only he had gone to his friends and allies he would have been easily able to avoid this situation especially with a Dumbledore who is far less of a manipulative old man. Here he is having given up his quickest mode of conventional transportation and is trying to find Peter through walking and using a pointing charm. This just shows how addled the training methods he went through are. If I had the time I would put the whole of the Auror corps through proper training if this is the results.'

Hours passed as he stalked his prey as it led him to his real prey. The current plan seemed feasible and the simplest. All he had to do was prevent the traitor from making an accusation and things would work simply as it was the statement of a supposedly dead man that made things concrete.

So it was little worry that his following as Sirius tracked Peter's rather shoddy trail allowed him time to analyze that Peter had not had this planned and actually was ready and able to pull something like what he would have done out of nowhere. It did show that the man had to be more clever than the impressions he had given him including his own encounters with his version of the man.

Finally Peter was confronted by Sirius. This was his moment to act. With a slight thought a silencing spell struck Peter before he could speak.

"Why Peter why did you betray Lily and James," Sirius yelled. "We would have died for you. You should have shown them the same loyalty we showed each other."

"That is quite enough Mr. Black," Horus said as he dropped down to the ground behind him appearing almost as if from a silent apparition. "It would not do to create a scene with all these witnesses. Really Peter did you think you could escape? You may have hidden your skills and abilities but you should have known that betraying James and especially Lily would result in a rather unfortunate end for you."

"Um not to interrupt but I was in the middle of venting here about the betrayal of my friends by another friend," Sirius wined for a moment. "Besides why would it be the betrayal of Lily that would be worse. Sure she had a fierce temper and no one was stupid enough to piss her off even if they had a death wish but really why?"

"Well Mr. Black," Horus said with a rather sinister chuckle. "It is quite simple and that is that Lily had some family that were rather vindictive and while any ties present to your little community were well hidden suffice it to say that Lily's godfather did a rather good job in putting the fear of himself into Pettigrew's master. Still seem kind of surprised that the idiot went after her considering..."

"Considering?" Sirius asked in interest as he watched Peter look almost like he was bout to wet himself. "It had to be something rather interesting if Peter is acting this way."

"Well let's just say that the last time the two fought that Riddle was rather incapacitated," Horus said with a vicious grin. "Shame that the supposed Heir of Slytherin was so pathetic. It is a real shame how far the house both the family and at school has fallen lately. Ambitious and cunning was the virtues of both and now it is been replaced by sadism as a poor substitute for skill and terror attempts for subtle planning."

"You do have a point even if you haven't introduced yourself," Sirius said after a moments thought. "Some of the Blacks didn't seem so bad or at least their portraits were. The current family members I have that are alive are not very bright and seem to be content with snubbing their superiority into others faces though when I was younger I did the same thing."

"Well it is understandable being in the upper class that you were raised to look down on your social inferiors even if your family were sitting on the family fortune and letting it degrade with time," Horus said in an almost jovial tone. "Besides I should have introduced myself. Horatius Stone and I am related to Lily and to her godfather. At times we are a rather strange family but really he was interested in visiting before this mess all started. If it had not been for the Fidelious he would have been there last night and well things would have gone a little better. Shame that most of the Blacks have gotten to be so narrow minded and have helped to contribute to the degradation of the Slytherin legacy. Still they were no where near as bad as the Gaunt family were as the supposed Heirs even though they were the most likely acknowledged Heirs of the only line that had not mostly gone squib or left Europe."

"Well I didn't know most of that," Sirius admitted. "Still you seem to be avoiding telling me why Peter seems to be almost making like his name sake."

"Well to put it short that the personage of Lily's godfather is rather infamous especially among the more powerful magically," Horus said with a grin as the crowd had long since dispersed since it seemed like everything was in hand. "Mostly it was the fact that when the so called Dark Lord started his rise to power he made sure to not annoy those that could crush him easily. Samuel is sort of infamous in those studying the more esoteric and exotic branches of magic. Well he has been around for a while and most would be Dark Lords ended up unable to continue after making nuisances of themselves. The only ones that rose to prominence were Grindelwald and Voldemort and both had pretty much stated that they would leave the family alone. Grindelwald was more or less after one of his lieutenants skulls was sent back with a message carved into it. Tommy boy was aware of that and as such avoided the family with almost all costs being made to not annoy any of us. Let's just say the family is very old and we just keep out of sight and leave it at that."

"So basically someone that would be able to keep his master on a tight leash and Peter here betrayed a member of this family and as a byproduct his master is unable to continue his current actions," Sirius said. "Well I guess I should drop him off with the Ministry before something..."

"Let me guess," Horus said. "You just realized that everyone believes you are the Secret Keeper and if Peter here had escaped you would have taken the fall for it."

"What was I thinking?" Sirius asked in sudden clarity. "Oh Merlin Harry! They were taking him to the Dursley's. Lily's sister will mistreat him."

"Already taken care of," Horus said. "Harry is not with the Dursleys which would have violated their will. Rather odd how Dumbledore arranged for that when you should have been taking care of Harry. Still he will be safer where he is and be ready to deal with the rather high expectations that people will have for him. Besides living with Petunia would have left him unprepared for either the Wizarding World or the dangers he would face. Think what possible interests people would have in him. Future Dark Lords wanting to make names for themselves and the like."

Sirius sits down next to Peter who had seemed to have passed out and was paralyzed some how during their conversation. The seriousness of it had finally hit Sirius. He had left his godson to the care of Hagrid who was going to leave him with the Dursley's. He had known that since it was at Dumbledore's behest that Hagrid would not bend which was why he had in part allowed Harry to be taken. His plan had been to confront Peter and take him in with some wounds to pay for what he had done. He had not realized that he would have taken the fall for Peter's actions.

"Well you had best get Peter to the Ministry," Horus said as he started to walk off.

"Hey wait you never said where Harry is," Sirius said. "He is my godson and while I may have been willing in the heat of the moment to trust Dumbledore to look out for him I don't know where he is."

"He is with family," Horus said. "He will be learning what he needs to live a long and enjoyable life. He will have both a childhood and be ready for the responsibilities that he has to be ready for. He will have friends he can count on and he will be ready to meet you. Sadly there is no way that you are ready to deal with Harry now. The Family has to look after their own. You know of the gifts certain families have so you must understand that ours tends to be harder to control especially in the males. If Lily had been completely untrained than it is far too likely that she would have made Bella look sane. Did you know that her mother made Bella sign a marriage contract? Why don't you claim headship of the Blacks and undo that before she has to do more things that she does not wish to do by her husband."

With that Horus vanished in what appeared to be silent apparition. Sirius would then go take Peter's restrained form to the Ministry where he would be questioned under Verisiterum and Sirius would have time enough to go to Gringott's while he waited for the trial. Oddly his mother had a heart attack while their meeting had gone on.

Without the backing of the potential Black fortune and with the testimony of Bella Black a number of the Death Eaters who would have gone free were sent to Azkaban. The Lestrange brothers ended up their before they could complete their mission to extract information from the Longbottom family. Oddly enough Bella had in the time after become a surrogate godmother for young Neville.

The only hushed up event was not Barty Crouch Junior who was killed accidentally and not much had remained so his father had not been forced to retire. With the vast majority of the aristocracy that had born the Dark Mark sent to Azkaban there was a number of now single women that needed to find a Pure Blooded husband to help both the finances and in raising their Heirs. It would be a far different childhood that would shape those who had been originally destined to be the next generations Death Eaters.

For the most part Sirius Black was able to settle down into a much better fate than had been intended and spent a large part of his time overhauling the more disreputable of the Black Families investments. After a short period of time things were going very well and the distrust that had been built by the war between Remus and Sirius had faded when one day a package arrived for Remus.

Suffice it to say that when young Harry would eventually meet his godfather and his surrogate Uncle they would have far less problems than before. Perhaps they would have a chance meeting on their travels. Until then all of their involved lives looked up.

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

Time passed quickly after the departure from the side of Sirius Black. Horus quickly vanished into the more obscure areas and began his search for the tainted relics that were available without leaving this dimension. It would not do to go wandering off if the items were here. He had managed to acquire a small journeyman's apartment for the time being and quickly altered it to match his own.

Most of his day was taken up with researching tracking techniques as well as possible items that could have been infested. A simple scrying spell would have allowed him to barely get a feel similar to a low level detection spell like point me would do. It had become obvious that whichever items had been effected had been hidden away to prevent the unfortunate including their destruction.

'Why is this so difficult,' Horus thought with irritation. 'I have been here for many months and can barely identify which could be present here. I know that at least two are here as I felt their resonance the moment I arrived but they have hidden their presence and cloaked themselves with the protections that had been placed here. The ring alone should have been accessible but it is on some kind of demi plane that is out of phase with the living including spirits. Almost as if the ghosts began to set up their own realm similar to the netherworld. The sword is not on this plane of that I can be assured. With the others being even less likely being here. I know the chalice will be definitely in a world where the Fae are known and active. The necklace, tomb and dagger could be here but each would likely have reasons for their symbolism. The dagger resonated with pride and that might mean trouble as the only race with pride are the Kateni in that quantity. The tomb would be a warped book or perhaps a scroll of some sort. The necklace is definitely not here that I can tell. This pool shows the ring behind barriers that are time locked as well as specific circumstances. The chalice and the sword lie in tow different dimensions both with heavy magic although the chalice seems to be also amid a world of technology at the same time.'

With each passing day the stress and failure of his quest lays heavy upon him. Finally the realization that the items have to be kept completely obscured from direct detection at his level becomes apparent.

"I guess that I do need to get out," Horus whispers after another days futile efforts. "I guess I need to get even farther away. My normal methods of focusing are not working not that the stress relief was unpleasant."

As he walks by his bedroom on the way to shower he noticed the still pale form on the bed. His last nights diversion is still sleeping off the effects. The girl had been another of the disinterested that seemed to normally be targets for the demon breed vampires and often than not ended up in one of the other vampire breeds lairs as both sex toy and meal. She had been both as he had not eaten often enough so his body had tried to get him to feed to bring his body back to itself.

'What was her name?' Horus thought as he had a hard time remembering it. 'Marissa, Clarissa, something like that. To think the girl had been so willing to do anything to get out of where she had been.'

While he is in the shower the form of Melissa begins to stir. She feels tired but in a good way. She had been practically suicidal because her parents had kicked her out and she had made the mistake in letting her grades drop and she had been suspended for a semester. She had a small interest in the occult and the unusual and it had led her where it had. She had no idea that she had almost lost herself into a secret and underground world. She had thought it might be an illegal sex club or something where she could loose herself and not have to feel for a while.

'To think everything was going great,' she thought. 'My sister is married with a great husband and I go to one lousy party and loose everything. Lost my boyfriend before the part so being drunk I didn't care and practically whored myself to forget at that party. And here I was supposed to be my niece's shining example of woman power and that we can reach the top. There is no way that I can show up like this now. On the plus side this nice guy picked me up and the sex was great. Now that is something that I know I won't be able to tell my little niece for many a year. Ah I was feeling down so I went and got laid. Yeah that would go over well.'

Eventually her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the shower running and realizing that she had a rather strong odor and was definitely sticky in spots decided to shower. Besides she could always see if the guy she had sent the night being driven out of her gourd with orgasms was up and available.

She sneaked into the shower and molded herself against him. While she felt a little bit tender she was still able to move and react enough to want more. Suffice it to say that the shower would have gone cold before they finished and as such it was a good thing that the water in the rooms were heated with magic.

"So about meeting my parents," Melissa said. "I just think that it would be a good thing to meet the current man in my life. I know that we may not last but even for a moment I want to hang on and grasp life you know?"

"Yeah I know," Horus said with a sad sigh. "Let's just say that circumstances are keeping me from my family. Still don't take this the wrong way but I was in an open relationship so you should know that I am not having an affair and if any of my significant others showed up they would most likely not be mad but they are mostly bisexual so might see about having a bit of fun with you."

"You know college girl here and I will admit that I have done some things while drunk that I never have admitted liking sober," Melissa said with a shuddering sigh. "Still I am not the kind of girl to come between those in a committed relationship and I am glad that you are the same way."

"Still I know that I will be traveling again soon and I don't want you to become overly attached if I disappear for a time," Horus said sadly as he tried to sooth the tension his statement brought up. "I tend to travel a lot and go to rather distant and inaccessible places. Most of them are not very safe and I don't want you in danger."

"You know a lady does like to be protected but does not want to be treated like glass," she said sharply.

"Yeah I know that," Horus said. "It is just that most of the other women in my life are a bit more physical in that they would treat SAS training like a good warm up."

"I suspected considering how it was obvious that you were holding back and were used to being with a girl that could take the punishment," she said. "Not that I minded mind you just that I am a bit sore and the way you acted was uncommon for your normal lovers. Now shut up and let me kiss you before we have to get ready."

They would end up in a short term but intense relationship or more accurately tend to not be permanent but hook up whenever Horus was in the country and she was not trying to find another decent man. Horus would spend time even after the break up visiting Melissa's niece a young girl by the name of Hermione. He would give tips and tricks and after having stumbled in on the girl experimenting with a book of transmutation that he had left on a shelf would take up the time to see that his adopted niece was prepared for the world. Oddly she seemed to be on the cusp of greatness but he had urged her parents to allow her to skip a few grades and was well on her way to becoming a prodigy.

Without the self esteem issues that his Hermione went through things seemed to be heading to a better result than he would have hoped for. He was elated to find out that the family were sensitives and complimented them on the way they had balanced their lives. They had been part of the smaller communities yet lacked the raw power as well s the cold will to control that would have allowed them to rise to prominence in their community. That Hermione's father had gotten his college fund by being a medic helped things smooth out there. The only tension was when Hermione did a bit of accidental magic and Horus had to explain what problems this would cause. Without the peer pressure to be normal Hermione flourished and would at the least be a very powerful witch although Horus hoped that she would be more. Havoc would be able to relate better to a sorceress than he would a witch and there was less of a chance that their interaction would be lopsided. Without a complete dependency on the authorities to keep her safe at school there was less of a worship of the system and also there was the happiness in not being completely consumed with her books to becoming too solitary. Horus was looking forward to introducing the two and maybe see about her going with them on the training trip. A few more years would tell and with any luck Hermione would be so far advanced that she would have no risk of falling behind.

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

Japan was a wonderful place to raise a child especially if one was interested in training as their were plenty of places that the modern world had passed by. Occamy was of course taking time off to raise the brat that was his nearest relative that understood him. He recalled when he had been at the boy's mother's baptism. The Evans family had been one that he had kept some interest in even if their had been no signs of any of the family being more than latents for the past centuries. Most of them had some gift or talent that much had bred true, but they had for reasons he could not fathom an inhibition in their systems that prevented their Awakening. Oh they had a fair number of sensitives that dabbled in various facets of the Art, but it was just not the same. They had kept several of the traditions until the past few generations when doing so would have drawn the attention of various factions in the communities but it had not been until the so called World Wars that the family had lost some of their roots. An Evans was an Evans after all despite any changes to the name they share the same blood after all. Pacts had been made and had to be upheld.

That was why he was here. His other distant relation was here and he might as well see to it that both distant cousins trained together. Besides there was the fact that he had a bad feeling about the guy raising him. What his alternate descendant was up to he was not sure but it felt as if he had vanished like so many of the sensitives had into their shrouded communities. The number of those were few and far between but it would probably keep the brat busy anyways. Their was a community in the Pacific but he could not really remember which group had sequestered an island then again their had been so many places that were hidden still from prying eyes and probably would be so centuries from now even if Discovery had allowed for more of the populous to accept the others who walked among them.

Stupid future event had to happen. Ah the problems of temporal discontinuity that he had to deal with. Now if only he could remember what would be occurring when it had been so many millennium ago from his perspective do to his own two time loops. At least it wasn't like they would be revealed during this troubling time that was the Cold War as he would have remembered that. History would unfold as it would and it was unwise to force things to go as one wished. At best Discovery could through the circumstances happen no sooner than several months after the fall of the USSR for if it happened while the Soviets still had enough resources they may succeed in co-opting the enhanced humans more so than had already occurred.

Plots within plots to bring about a better tomorrow had to be balanced with the fact that the path to hell was truly paved with good intentions. He was so glad that he was taking the next few months off at the least if not a decade or so to straighten things out. That he would be dragging the descendant so many generations removed to what had at one time been his personal islands before the natives and Amatsaru had negotiated to let them live in what had been his secluded island home.

So it was that Occamy appeared dressed in what was contemporary dress. A simple pants suit combination that blended well into todays Japan. It would not have done to appear in his historical robes as it was possible that there was still at least a small cult dedicated to what he had done than. At least with the whole modern culture they were becoming a bit less ethnocentric and xenophobic than in the recent past. Having people come back to life after being beheaded to lecture the executioner was not something that he wanted to deal with again.

The last time he had been here was a century or more ago. He had been asked by an associate to train one of the samurai of that period in swordsmanship. There had been two styles of swordsmanship that had developed and he was not pleased with how they had been put to use for a time. His attempt to balance things had worked even if it had taken time for it to do so. It was funny how much that was supposedly fiction had happened that no one would believe nowadays. Besides it would be interesting to see the son of his last descendant even if she had ended up marrying the most pathetic fighter on the planet. Well not in technique but in behavior at least he was a dismal failure and a stain of the hand to hand style he had let these mortals learn. Happosai had so much potential and yet he had created so much grief.

"Saotome Nodoka," Occamy said as he approached the house. "To think I have not seen her since she was a child and her mother invoked one of the less known of my names to guide her trial. Perhaps this Ranma will be like young Havoc here and once more bring the lien back into the community."

One of the things that sorcerers eventually learned was that appearances were deceiving and that notions such as race and ethnicity tended to become relatively trivial when one could change how they looked as if changing ones clothes. Sure Havoc would look somewhat non Japanese but if they called him something foul he could simply state that they were the foreigners and that this child was a true native of these lands even if he had been born off the shores. He had spent too much time along with the more active of the Sorcerers and Sorceresses that had remained active outside of Europe and the Middle East.

He simply knocked on the door after listening to hear if anyone was there. It was obvious that the young child was being trained somewhat already as he could here the man that his descendant had married instructing somewhat harshly some would say. That Occamy paid it no mind as he trained even harsher as he waited to be welcomed to the home.

Now he had to pick which alias he had used to use over the years. Stone had been the last name he had used publicly a few decades back and had tended to use that instead of Smith or its analogues in various languages so Iwa would worn for a last name. Death, shadow and snake were the words he liked to use in his first name or anagrams or derisions of the like. If he was in an English speaking country he probably would use Sameal for one of the names of an angel of death. Hebishin, hebikage or Hebishinkage were options. He did like to use snake names historically since he had risen first among the serpents than the shadow as a whole. Iwa Hebishin didn't sound to bad and kage was used more as a title Iwa Hebishin no Kagen would work at worst most likely simply say Iwa Hebishin instead of perhaps Iwashin no Hebikage? The Death Stone of Shadow Snake did have its appeals. Then their was the fact that clan names had legacies and he could claim whatever name he had used last time he had been here then again it had only been a little while ago or he could say he was named after himself again. The problem of the long lived living in secret were many more so with electronic files.

He would find the Highlander movies and series quite entertaining when he did get around to seeing them. That he had about as much originality as the character of Methos when it came to aliases and pseudonyms as well as having a similarly dark past would most likely result in him being a far of the show.

"Hello is Saotome Nodoka home," Occamy asked when the door opened.

"Yes who should I say is calling?" the voice from the shadows inside said.

"Iwashin Hebikage," Occamy said. "It is a matter that concerns the clan and the way that things have been rather poorly handled. It does in part concern the scion of the clan young Ranma."

"What do you want with my son?" Nodoka asked firmly with a cold as steel voice while her hand starting to reach to her sword.

"Nothing that would require you to unsheathe your sword," Occamy said with a glare. "I never would have expected family to be so rude. Than again it has been a while since I have looked into matters of this branch of the family. Though it is obvious that you look so much like your grandmother, Kaoru."

"You obviously know about me," Nodoka said clearly. "Yet you still have not said your intents to my son."

"Ranma has a certain lineage that he will be held to the standards of," Occamy said simply. "Do you mind if we have some tea while we talk? It is rather rude not to offer a guest let alone family some refreshments."

"Ah yes," Nodoka said with a slight frown. "Sorry about that, being somewhat inconsiderate of a guest but I let the concern for my son override my sensibilities."

"That is quite understandable," Occamy said succulently. "Now let's settle down and take things as they go."

"Yes but perhaps the usual pleasantness could be glossed over," Nodoka said as she returned with some tea and pored it. "If it would not be to impolite?"

"That is understandable," Occamy said as he let out a sigh after sipping some of the tea. "A mother's concern for her son in commendable and yet you also understand that he needs to be trained and have allowed your husband to do so. Yet I see he does not in anyway have any swordsmanship training and is merely training in the fist. He will need both in time. What do you know of the families occupation?"

"We have been samurai for a very long time," Nodoka said. "At times there has been necessary actions done that were quite bloody. Great Grandfather changed that with his ideal of the sword that protects."

"Such a wonderful story that glosses over the truth," Occamy said. "The family has always had one goal first and foremost, To protect. Wither it was from bandits seeking things not theirs or other such dangers it has been the purpose to protect. Kaoru would be disappointed that you seem to miss the key point and focused on the philosophy and not the reasoning behind the philosophy. Kaoru and her father felt it was time for the sword not to be simply about killing and yet it is a fundamental truth that the sword can kill and sometimes to protect one must kill. There are three styles of swordsmanship that the family has allowed to spread. One is your own the other Kaoru's husband chose not to use again. The other has had some interesting effects as it is only passed from mother to daughter for some reason."

"I and Genma want my son to be a Martial Artist," Nodoka said. "We hope that he will never have to be..."

"A warrior," Occamy finished for her. "Yes there have been many in the family that wished to prevent their sons and daughters from doing so but it is a sad certainty that he will someday be a warrior. For good or ill it is best that he is prepared for that someday to happen. There are those that would see his being a mere martial artist as a weakness not just of himself but of his family. Yet you forget that a warrior should not kill merely because they can but because it must be done and should never be done with impunity and without consequence."

"Still I am his mother and Genma is his father," Nodoka said. "We wish for him to never have to make that choice but he will be trained so that if he must make that choice it will be the right one."

"Good," Occamy said with a firm nod. "Now I noticed the style Genma is training him in. how did you ever bump into one of Happosai's students? Last I heard one of your cousins had beaten him almost to an inch of his life with one of her anti-pervert techniques."

"You know Genma's master?" Nodoka asked surprised. "Even more you recognize the style after seeing it for a few moments."

"Happosai had so much potential," Occamy said. "It is a shame that he wasted it so. Sometimes it seems the student must disappoint the teacher."

"You trained him," Nodoka said with an incredulous arch of her brow. "I find that a bit hard to believe as you do not look anywhere near his age."

"I am much older than I look," Occamy said. "Sadly I believe that young Ranma has inherited my longevity."

"You are claiming to be one of our ancestors," Nodoka said sharply. "Yet I have never seen you before in my life."

"That is incorrect I have not seen you since you were an infant this much is true," Occamy said. "You must understand that matters of the family required me to be elsewhere. The continuation and the honor of the family required it. One of your more distant cousins was dealing with things and needed some help. As it was she recently passed away and left me charged to raise her son. I was looking to see if raising him along your son would be mutually beneficial for them. I am concerned with all my descendants and yet some are such disappointments. For the most part I have avoided Nippon this century. I have not been anywhere near as disappointed with people as I have been so recently. I was rather amazed that the kami had not abandoned those here for their actions. The ramifications have been more severe than you know although considering that you are more aware of the oddities afflicting some of the wards in the area that it would be best that your son is prepared for any danger that is out there. From your husband you should be well aware of some of the things that follows my disappointment of a student and the strangeness that seems to stalk your family. We are drawn to conflict and to protect those that cannot protect themselves wither form mundane or supernatural horrors. Do you think I am oblivious to yours as well as your sister in all but bloods actions when you were younger. I was rather proud that you took up the families true business. Since before the Kami graced this island with life we have hunted those that prey on humanity. I was proud when you did what you did but you must understand that some of your enemies remain as do Genma and mine. Ranma must be ready or they could destroy him."

"Fine I had hoped that those matters were in the past but I suspected that Ranma would end up following our paths," Nodoka said sadly. "What plans do you have so our children are ready?"

"Well," Occamy began. "We should start with a well rounded education. Not just focusing on a single discipline but also not neglecting any. Genma would focus on the body and neglect the mind as you well know. Besides you want grand babies and as such he will need some ideas about social niceties."

"Grand babies!" Nodoka said before becoming distracted and starting to behave oddly with dancing about with victory fans.

'She is way to much like some of the more eccentric ladies in the family,' Occamy though. 'Still with crosstraining the kids they will be better able to handle things that come up.'

Eventually Nodoka would calm down and they would begin to plan out the education of the sons. Nodoka was rather happy to know that it was likely that Ranma would provide a lot of grand children when he grew up. She was distracted with the thought of grandmothering her cousins son's children. Suffice it to say that with Occamy around most of Genma's stupidity would be kept in check as the two boys trained. Sadly some accidents would manage to happen whenever Genma was let out of sight and they would be doozies. Thankfully Occamy was well aware of how to counter most of the side effects.

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

While all that had been going on in the other dimension time had passed a good deal slower but it had still passed. Horus or at least one of his instances was coming to in the bedroom. He had in fact been rather remarkably reduced to a sleeping state after the girls had dragged him off to bed. He was rather confused that the portal had spit him back out but he had planned to leave again later when he would be able to form a coherent and lasting thought without the girls overloading his mind with their fun and games. Now that he had a bit of time to think in the aftermath and with a slightly clearer and smoothly running post afterglow mind he started to make the connections for what had happened. He had gone through the portal. No he had gone through the portal only their had been a few exits and as such a few of him were spat out including the one spat out here. He was vaguely aware of where his other selfs had landed. One had landed where they were supposed to do and that was near the Dursley's so as to ensure that their alternate self did not have to deal with them for ten years like their Dumbledore had planned. Thinking over it he realized that it was likely that the infested and influenced relics would have drawn his instances to them. So their were at least five of him total out there with three near wherever their was the items. The soul fragments had most likely not transferred but the psychic impressions would have tainted them. He had noticed the impression he had received of what the artifacts were and it disturbed him. They were items that had gone missing from this reality and were rather significant to this times peace.

'The Dagger of the Kateni Pride,' Horus thought. 'That alone would be a Masters Quest to retrieve that. Now the Ring is actually one of the insects crowns of all things the Ketai Kio-han and with the Sword having to be a crystal blade of all things involving the only race of vampire like beings to rival a mystic. Those were items entrusted into our hands and now they are out there doing who knows what to those realities. So things have been complicated with that occurring and as such there is no way that the girls will let multiple instances of me walk around without supervision. I guess the reason that I was spit back was to keep an eye on things as temporal synchronization is no longer a given. Seras, Kasumi and Nabiki will most likely go after me as well as Nym. The others lack the protection to traipse across the multiverse. Far too many have far to rigid rules of reality and the others would not survive. I get the feeling that the other me's will get in trouble and hopefully not run across any other versions of me. Still there is a chance that might occur. I did get a flash that they might run across a version of me wrongfully thrown in Azkaban and mistake my instance for my alternates and throw him there. I almost pity that particular reality even if it is most likely a divergent where instead of drifting to seclusion the mystics went to wander space again. It has always seemed odd that we became so reclusive when the Demon Wars stretched across the galaxy and the Sorcerer Wars did over most of the remaining human territories while the Mystic Wars were contained to this star system and a few of the neighboring ones. It was almost as if we subconsciously wanted to let the rest of the galaxy recover from the aftermath of our arrogance even if it is mostly deserved.'

So he was left with the rather unpleasant task of telling his mates and other lovers what was going on. Their was no doubt in his mind that he would tell them merely the how that bothered him. Any... mistakes would have... unfortunate consequences and as such he wished to avoid those by pretty much any means necessary. He may be the man of the house but he understood the need for domestic tranquility. He may have submissives and virtual sex slaves but that did not mean that they could not find subtle ways to make his life less than pleasant without causing too much concern.

That however did not mean that they did not care more so that they would try to prevent him from doing anything too detrimental to their view of him. They were in a relationship even if it was not conventional and while he could and did at times tell them what to do their was the simple matter that they had a say in their lives. While Nym was for all intents and purposes both his and Seras's pet there was the fact that one needed to understand the nature of their relationships and that was that all relationships even ones with subs and even slaves were a two way street. That being that while a slave or pet gives up almost all personal decisions their master or mistress accepts complete responsibility for their actions as well as protecting them as well as caring for and training them.

What all this meant was that Horus was trying to find an appropriate way to explain things to his girls and he was well aware that they would wake up soon. In the back of his mind he felt his connections to them and he was well aware that with him being awake that they would soon feel his awakening and soon rouse to be with him. This was something that he was aware of and that he knew those with a deeper bond would notice his stirring along the connection.

Feeling the motion of someone stirring along the bed as well as along his connections caused Horus to grin slightly even if he had some prepetition for the coming conversation as he said quietly, "Morning Trish, how are you doing?"

"Good morning oh Master mine," Trish responded huskily as she lazily raised her head to look at him. "I am doing rather well this morning after all what with having had such a pleasurable night."

"I am glad of that my Avatar," Horus said with an amused tone even if the affection was obvious to even the most thick skulled of people. "It was a shame that life has kept all of us so busy that we have been unable to spend enough time with each of you."

"I understand that dear heart," Trish said as she shifted a bit closer so that she could rest her head against him without disturbing any of the others on the bed. "You were always concerned with your lovers not just with what you got out of with being with one of us unless that was what we wanted."

"There is that," Horus said as he sighed. "The problem most men seem to have is that they think of a harem solely for what they can do to not with the girls involved. Shame that most forget that people are people and that they should remember to think what their actions will do. Not that that means not being spontaneous but aware of what the ramifications of their behavior."

Trish was feeling even if he was good at hiding his feelings even from him self that something was bothering him and as his well being was her primary motivation now she had to ask even if it was probing, "You know that I hate to pry, but there is definitely something bothering you this morning. I cannot imagine what it could be since everything seems to have gone alright yesterday and we were all left rather satisfied with the night."

"There was an unforeseen complication to having used the replication technique right before leaving," Horus admitted with a sigh. "I was rather hoping to tell everyone at once as it is somewhat disconcerting if not distressing."

"That does make some sense considering that mixing magic is dangerous," Trish said. "Now what would a replication technique and a dimensional portal result in? Although there was a lag in what you said as you went in and out of the portal..."

"Yeah turned out since I had used the replication so recently that the portal needing to get me to multiple places resulted in multiple instances of myself going while I remained," Horus said with a sigh. "It is even more understandable because once I do become a Master that I would be able to indefinitely maintain multiple instances which is part of the reason that Avatars were discovered with that being that a Master Sorcerer would eventually become so involved with their work in their domain that they had little to no contact with anyone outside the domain. Now with that it becomes a simple notion that an Avatar resulted in an attempt to create a bond with a perfect companion who would understand what their bond maker needs at all times and is able to interact with others unlike Imps what with how odd to mundanes they looked. It seemed odd that the bond was in a way derived from the same bond as a mate except that it did not have to be mutual in nature. In a different time when we sorcerers had become far too close to arrogant as the gods we despised we had been more than willing to treat those under our protection as less than people. Human experiments had become common for a time and several of the odder forms of sensitives developed. Strange enough mystic zoanthropy and vampirism was developed by accident in an attempt to increase the number of those able to use summoning and necromancy instead of the over reliance on invocation."

"So there is the you here and several others out there and you are aware that your mates will go after you anyways," Trish said drawing what to her had to be the obvious conclusion. "You do realize that we would have followed eventually don't you?"

"Yes I am aware that you would follow and I was expecting that but I had hoped that the synchronization would not leave enough time for worry to set in," Horus admitted with some reservation. "Still I will be stuck here unable to leave my home while several of my girls go gallivanting across the realities looking for me. That is rather disconcerting as I cannot go and follow and thus feel unable to help which in large part is why I wanted to go and come back in case something happened here while I was unable to leave to protect them. I now all of you can take care of your selves in fights but I do worry that somewhere there would be those that could harm or worse kill you."

"More than most I understand that as I have been practically submerged in your mind and as such understand you in ways no one save your mates can hope to understand," Trish said. "We are precious to you and thus you feel a need to protect us similar to how those ninja you met do so. We give you a greater reason than protecting people in general by protecting your precious people you can move beyond the emotions that would drown out and crush those of lesser will."

"That is a true statement if I have ever heard one," came the quite voice of Kasumi which was somewhat throaty do to sleepiness. "We feel the same way about you as you do for us. You gave us something more than being who we had become to rise beyond the station that life and circumstance had led us to become constrained by."

"We needed a reason that we would be able to grasp on to and hold with all our might to pull ourselves out of the box that we had been confined in for too long," Nabiki said as she joined in on the conversation. "However that doe not excuse you thinking you could go off and leave us here to worry even if it was to be just a moment."

"I don't know about the rest of you but where you go we go," Seras said. "We will be talking about this later now we have to get up and get ready as who knows what kind of trouble you will get into with out us there?"

"Besides it is not like you went by yourself before," Nym said as she rubbed closer to him. "You do remember the fact that most missions were team based so what makes you think you should have gone on your quest empty handed?"

"Well there was the fact that even with being my mates and having undergone a change to be essentially mystics there was always some uncertainty that you would be bound by the effects of mundane and sensitives that travel through dimensions that are not conditioned to do so," Horus said with a shudder. "Normal non living matter does not have a detrimental effect on either native or foreign matter but there is something more to people and the like that results in the patterns interfering and leading to mutual annihilation that I wished to avoid."

"Your talking about that catastrophic cascade failure," Hermione pips up. "Isn't that something form SG1?"

"Well you are tight about that but it is not like there are not artifacts similar to Stargates out there even if there is no Goa'uld in this dimension," Horus said to here without voicing the thought, 'Not like there are not worse parasites out there.' "Still there are plenty of living sentient beings out there in the galaxies as well as the dimensions to worry about. The problem is that somehow Riddle's psychic impressions managed to get snagged onto some rather more important artifacts that have now gone missing having been pulled out into several other realities."

"You are worried because whatever these artifacts are there is a political ramification to them having gone missing isn't there?" Trish asked. "So you might as well tell us as at least some of us are going to go and seek out the other instances of you to help them and keep them out of trouble."

"I do seem to get into trouble according to some people although you girls at times would be considered the trouble I was getting into," Horus commented with a chuckle. "Not that I don't mind trouble when it is as good looking and lovely as all of you are."

"Nice save their mister," Trish said with a sigh. "Still this is going to be more complicated than you think it would be and you know that. At the very least we will have to help pack for any contingency that you forgot to do as well as make sure that they are ready for any of the strangeness out there."

"There is that," Horus said with a slow sigh. "Still there is a lot of things that could happen and there are odds that any of those going could run across a wide variety of situations which border on the bizarre and that is without taking into account that I know for a fact that the many worlds theory is true."

"I take it that we need to get up and get ready then," Usagi said with a sigh as she was looking forward to some more fun. "Besides you need toe tell us who should be going?"

"I thought I mentioned that it would be either one of my Mates or Nym that would be resistant enough," Horus said thoughtfully as if wondering how much they had heard. "There is a chance that any of you Senshi could go but it would drastically strain your powers if not leave you trapped there as the bond would sever here and reform there. I don't think any of you want to go with that as if the bond did not form you would feel some what empty."

"Well that makes some sense considering that there should have been invasions of alternate selfs and that we did go to the future to combat something that our alternate future selfs were unable to deal with," Ami said with a slight nod of her head. "Still the chances of us being misdirected to somewhere where there are alternates of us in conflict would be rather high."

"There is that," Setsuna said with a moment of thought. "Also there is the fact that they would be able to back rack us with the Time Gates if they are present in that reality and would lead them here. Far too many would see this time line as an unholy degeneration and destroy it."

"You know it is really nice that you have mellowed out now," Mina said with a sigh from where she was curled around one of the other girls. "The old you was way to constraining and stressed. I did always wonder how come the stress didn't kill you or cause you to go a bit over the edge."

"Well I did get a bit obsessive," Setsuna admitted with a sad sigh. "I thought that with all my experience that I knew best what to do. Besides the conflicting orders did not help at all."

"There is a chance still that anyone going might end in a world where your alternates might be," Horus said with a sigh considering how fighting someone that looks like a friend or worse a lover would be. "Still we had best get the things you will need ready."

With that the group reluctantly removed themselves from the comfort they had been in and prepared the necessary items. It seemed that the rather large number of things that had been gathered into their home would allow them to be prepared for any adventure that they might get into. A shame that the only adventure that most of them wanted nowadays were in either the bedroom or in the playroom with a few encounters happening in every room.

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

It was a necessity that the group use the same portal to reach where he went. That much made sense. The ladies that were going were aware that they would be separated and that they were the only choice in who could go. Trish was in some ways annoyed not to be going but she would act as a beacon to which reality had their Horus at home and not where he was wondering off to fulfill his quest. In part Trish was disappointed as it was likely that those realities they were visiting would not be part of the Concordance that restricted Sorcerers output which meant that the few Horus dwelling in those realities would not have the same constraint and so would His Avatar or His Mates. The flip side was that several of the treaties that had been made when dimensional travel was more frequent might come into play. As it was from what their Horus here was able to discern the dimensions were aside from one not often visited by those in the neighboring dimensions although some had frequent visits from other dimensions.

The drawing of the straws to see which went to which dimension had been simple although there was the complication that they might run into their own alternates thankfully the problems from that were prevented by one of the subtle advantages that being a mystic or tied to a mystic provided. They were unfortunately not sure which Horus would be where so it was a chance that they would run across the one that had gone to the first dimension and not the off shoots.

"So I guess we are ready for this than," Nym said as she tied her boots bending in such a way that her outfit seemed to meld as a second skin even tighter outlining that their was no hair below her neck and that her skin was flawless. "Seems a bit big though going out there..."

"No more than anything else we have done," Nabiki said as she looked over her gear noticing that while it was practical and durable that it was also adaptive in case she or the others ran across to dissimilar of cultures mores. "At least we are better prepared than most that plan on doing something like this and we are not waited down by excessive supplies."

"It was a good thing that we were able to get our hands on a few spare WIS," Kasumi said as she adjusted her slightly functional yet more dismissive dress. "While we are not the typical helpless damsels it may be necessary to act it where we go."

"I don't know about you two but like Nym I was a copper so I don't exactly plan on being too nice if we need to get him out of trouble," Seras said making sure that she had a wide variety of lethalness arranged in easy access around her that was obscured by the coat resembling the one her former master had worn. "I may plan on talking first but I don't plan on letting him sit if he is in some situation."

"Tell me about it," Nym said. "I just know that without one of us near by that most likely he will end up in serious trouble."

"Yeah but he gets out of it well enough," Nabiki said. "He is both book smart and street smart after all."

"Besides he is a rather smooth talker so he should not end up in too much trouble," Kasumi said. "Although if he ends up visiting a dimension where there is an already in trouble double he could be mistaken for him."

"Don't dismiss it like that," Trish said looking over her Master's Mates as they prepared to help him in his quest before dragging him home as he should have taken at least one of them along to watch his back. "Knowing him that could happen though the same may happen to some of you."

"Most likely one of my doubles went Yakuza after so much having to scam to make ends meat," Nabiki said with a sigh of regret. "As it was there was a high chance that my business ventures would have attracted undue attention sooner than later."

"That was actually not likely while you lived in Nerima," Horus said seriously. "Despite ideas to the contrary, Happosai was not as bad as some would think and as long as he was there or they remembered that Soun was one of his students then you would have been left alone. Most likely things would remain the same until college where you would have been considered a small fish in a big pond to those with a more entrenched position."

"It could have been far worse," Seras said as she drew on her families experience as coppers. "While most of the things you did were minimal in impact and severity there was a chance that someone would decide to even the score through their associates and it amazes me that the Kuno boy did not find a more direct method to coerce your family."

"Yes he could have found a way to leverage the dojo against us," Kasumi said with a sad tone. "Father would have been more than likely to accommodate many things to retain the dojo."

"Still as much as it rankles," Horus said with a sigh. "You need to be heading out. Well mostly do to the fact that I am unsure how time will dilate between the dimensions. I know that time will be shorter here than there but not sure what the ratio should be. Worst case is that you would be gone for the time passing here at most of two months but that could be months to years there. It could be decades of subjective time similar in theory to when we were in the dreamscape so often."

"Yes as much as we want to stay we know that we have to go," Seras said with a sigh. "Besides I don't think you mentioned that the instances would be prepared for where they are now. I believe the plan was to go to the alternate timeline and then depart after gearing up a bit after having a decent idea on what would be required in each instance that you would go to."

"And that is why I made sure that you were prepared for most if not all contingencies," Horus said with a firm nod. "It was a good thing that the basics of WIS are no longer as limited as the models in this time are. Otherwise it would be difficult to be adequately prepared. The normal personal storage space techniques and methods would stick out depending on the dimension. Some are high technology while others are high magic and everywhere in between. The main worry is that some of the realities that are visited might have laws banning certain things. I did pick up that one of the realities has the potential and history of high tech but had turned to a high magic and substituting magic for technology for some reason."

"Yes there is that," Nabiki said while thinking over her plans more. "I guess that most of us lobbed this into similar situations considering the odd groups and things we have scene. Is there a possibility that there would be somewhere that we would be completely unprepared for?"

"No not really," Horus said after a moment of thought as he went over what they had with them and what they knew. "If you end up in a preindustrial setting you all know enough how to deal with the situations that arise there. In a magic rich setting you know enough to blend in and enough of the more subtle yet affective tricks if directly overpowering a problem is not advisable. Thankfully the WIS models you have are accessible telepathically so you could use a bit of slight of hand if you end somewhere where stuff space or expanded bags are common in either magical, technological or even psionically advanced societies and cultures comes into play. Each have their norms and values that you should be able to observe and thus avoid any incidents."

"Yeah it wouldn't do to have something like Shampoo's or Ranma's social guffaws happen do to circumstance," Nabiki said with a bit of contrary thought showing. "What about our clothes?"

"Adaptive fabric modeled similar to a chameleon suit although that is an option," Horus said. "Now while it would allow for a full body suit that could mimic the background to provide near invisibility there is the more useful fact that it provides a feature similar to the robes for all occasion that used to be favored by magical aristocracy as ones clothes would adapt to the situation. The closest similarity in that aspect was the symbiotic suits that were popular in comics although it does contain the basics for a technomagical armor that was being refined more."

"Let me guess cutting edge technomagic that would hopefully deal with the problems that Rian and the like cause for the more normal soldiers?" Nym said with a thoughtful pose. "That would make sense but the composition of armor that would work against most magical as well as scientifically based energy as well as kinetic weapons would be complex."

"Well there is a group with an organic armor that would work but it tends to stick out," Horus said matter-of-factly. "Then again they are thankfully not native to this reality or most likely those that you would traverse on this trip. That is do to the fact that as the items were a combination of soul and mental energies they would not seek out a reality that did not have those in a relative object or would become a relative object. Still there is plenty of people that are researching a way to enhance such an armor more so than traditional magical armor with a better result than even the cybernetic armors available. Sadly those would stick out to much short of ending in a scifi oriented timeline."

"Well that sucks," Nabiki said. "I know Kasumi and I would like to try out some anime if not manga inspired armor even if it is not the same..."

"We can role play later," Horus said. "As tempting as it would be blending in was the concern. That however does not mean that your WIS were left bare of any obviously foreign in design and philosophy items. Basic transportation uses the basics of the chameleon design so that the vehicles would approximate what the locals would have. On the plus side it does so without loosing functionality in the case of if you ended up somewhere with preindustrial and mass transportation methods. The bike for instance can resemble anything from a bicycle to a hover to even grav bike. The same goes with the car and in the event that you did end up in a near future level tech environment both can function as near space if not far space transport. Personally I would use the car and let it shape to a long range scout ship if that arises."

"What about weapons?" Kasumi asked. "Do they have a similar design?"

"As for the weapons they do indeed have a similar design," Horus said with a grin. "Although that is mostly external as the guns are designed to deal with both projectile and energy based systems. At worse case possibility they can appear as a bow or crossbow and are more accurate than most would think. The best case would be to mimic the outside of a pistol or shotgun in most cases. As for bladed weapons they are discernible from metal in that they would not set off a metal detector while passing most inspections. If you luck out and are in a higher tech world they do have the option to shift from metal to vibrating to even energy based as well. Vibrating would be the simplest as it would merely allow for an easier time slicing through things while the energy based would work in either high tech or magic."

"You really did go all out in this didn't you?" Seras asked with a look of admiration. "You really want us to be safe out there and did everything you foreseeable could to make us as safe if not safer than your instances."

"I really do care about you as you should know by word and deed," Horus said with a sigh. "Although some would possibly say too much..."

"Horus?" Kasumi asked in a very concerned tone being able to convey what she wanted to know just in the tone of that one word.

"Our relationship isn't that strange in some ways," Horus said with a far look suddenly in his eyes as memories flittered almost visibly for any to look in his eyes or at least the emotions those memories brought there. "What I mean by that is that most mystics tend to spend a part of their life being very physical with those outside the community. Over time we normally would drift away spending more time on our work and typically spending time with our imp and familiar and associates to a lesser degree. To offset that we would go to our bars and to use the colloquialism hook up and relieve some stress. On occasion those less out of touch with the outside world would troll the clubs and pick a person or group to play with..."

"You don't mean all mystics by that though," Nabiki said with a sharp look crossing her face. "Sorcerers are competitive and from what you have said and we can remember the Guild tends to thrive on rivalry and collaboration equally. For some reason I don't think the others would drift as far away..."

"Your right it is mainly sorcerers that had that happen to," Horus admitted. "In part normally one underwent mastery when they were willing to leave behind the mundane world in general. Think about it in the past most people did not live for a century so they had time to see their families grow old and die and perhaps even see their nieces and nephews start to do so. Family does provide a very strong sense of community even nowadays with the single mothers or fathers. Besides there was the fact that short of acquiring things like the Philosophers stone it was not conceivable to have family that were non mystics live contemporary lives and it hurt those involved. While some sensitives such as those with very high level chi manipulations can extend their lives there was far too much jealousy to see a family member stay the same as one grew old infirm and then died."

"What about the others," Seras said. "I cannot foresee them not trying to build some sort of social structure to prevent madness do to the loneliness that would develop."

"Zoanthropes form packs, prides or other such groups," Horus said simply. "Think of them as a clan and with the fact that mystics zoanthropes can no longer accidentally change someone the group with the ability to add members through adoption are the vampires. At most the zoanthropes would perform a blood magic ceremony that would allow the change without the controlling aspects or at least deferral that the so called infection varieties have."

'Thats part of why you want us to go besides the fact that the bond shields us," Kasumi said as if a sudden realization happened. "A somewhat controlled situation where we could get used to our longer lives and come to terms with the fact that while Ranma may do to his growing mastery of his chi eventually extend his life more than Cologne or Happosai it is likely that Akane will not find the ability to do so."

"In part Kasumi," Horus said with a sad almost strained voice. "You know that you will outlive your parents in most cases as you grow up but to gain a relative back only to know that someday you will loose them even if it is for a short time relatively..."

"Reincarnation," Nabiki said in a whispering soft shudder. "Mother will die again someday somehow and so will father. We will meet them again and it would be unfair to force them to stay in the Netherworld than to continue on their path."

"The price of power is the same as freedom constant vigilance," Horus said. "We chose to gladly pay that in the beginning and some still say we chose that before we are born to accept such a burden. Call in Nirvana or call it Heaven fate had the last laugh. We defied prophecy and prevented the death of the Galaxy but the cost was to never truly rest. We go to the Netherworld and most stay for a time before returning to continue their tasks. Still nowadays we can stay for a time and help out. Those that are effectively ascended into kami tend to no longer have that limitation."

"That is the other reason that you didn't want us to go," Ami said with a sad sigh. "We were already accustomed and repetitively made aware that our Senshi abilities would stretch our life span and slow our aging almost to a standstill so we didn't need time to accept this."

"What about me?" Nym asked in concern wondering what this meant for her. "There is something that you are not telling me."

"Metamorphs while not complete Shifters do have one thing in common," Horus said. "Do to their self transformations they don't necessarily have the same physical problems. That being their has almost never been one to die of old age unless they chose to do so. It is not surprising that it is not talked about or most wanting immortality would try to gain such an ability."

"That would have been something useful to know," Nym said as she practically plopped down to think. "I take it that most either never learned or kept it secret and since I am young and hadn't figured it out I would be contacted later. Still at least I don't have to worry about old age taking me away from you all."

"True and as much as it pains me to see you go and as much as I needed to tell you these things it is best if you go sooner than later," Horus said with a sigh. "I had been dreading explaining it for some time. Seras at least had a chance to get used to the idea. Well that and I am certain that the synchronization will be repaired if you leave now. I will miss you but think about ti this way you get a me all to yourselves for a good long while."

"Your incorrigible," Seras said giving him a kiss as she moved closer to where the portal would be opened.

"You love me anyways," Horus said back as he gave her a look.

"Don't think that you are getting us away without a kiss goodbye," Nabiki said

"Wouldn't think of it," Horus said before Nabiki drew close and kissed him.

Kasumi drew close and kissed him first tenderly and then passionately before withdrawing with their fingers lingering to touch each other tracing their hands as Kasumi slowly and reluctantly moved back.

"I'll see you soon," Kasumi said huskily with a slight hint of a tear in her eye.

"I know you will Sumi-chan," Horus said with a rumbling throaty voice.

Nym drew close and molded herself against him drawing him into a full body hug while she rubbed her head against him before raising her head. Horus caressed her face gently before the two drew into a kiss as they tried to pour what they felt into each other expressing their regret at parting with a promise that it would be short as they could make it be.

"Now see if you can keep me out of trouble Nym," Horus said.

"I will my darling Master," Nym said with reverence and honesty as if it was more than a statement almost more than an oath.

"Ladies," Horus said looking over them. "Good luck and swift journeys."

"We will return as soon as we can," the ladies said.

"Well then," Horus said as his voice started to grow deeper almost unnatural reaching into the well of power that he had accumulated. "Gate of Worlds Summoning: Dimensional Portal Open! Align Path Recursion: Reconnect!"

The portal reappeared and the ladies reluctantly stepped through the portal before vanishing. This was harder than when he had gone as he knew that they would be safe here and had a sufficient support in case something happened. Now he was letting them out into the unsuspecting strangeness that was the Universe at large.

"Dimensional Portal: Anchor," Horus said with his voice almost having become completely inhuman in its thunderous nature as it boomed causing the room to vibrate. "Path Connection: Mark & Lock! Gate of Worlds: Seal!"

With that final command the portal closed but not without a secondary reinforcement that would allow them to return in even the worst case scenario. After that Horus slumped to the ground as he had provided and control the action more so than before. The rest of the ladies helped him back to bed where they soon snuggled back up to him. Sleep came quickly to the group. They could only wait for the rest to return.

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

Horus had just been able to relax for a bit and let the little tykes go off with their other trainers when he felt a need to check out somewhere. Perhaps it had been a memory of some half forgotten dream that had dragged him here, but it seemed strangely odd for there to be a place named this with such a sinister presence even if something was preventing him from getting a clear feel as well as an obviously well spun pattern for a notice me not spell woven into the vary town itself.

'What could possibly be up with a town called Sunnydale,' he thought. 'Still there is a scent here almost as if there is a somewhat disproportionate number of demons here.'

Horus was walking down the slowly darkening streets without a care as it was not likely that there would be a demon that could cause him even some concern here. Most demons in the world were like roaches in that they bred and seemed to survive like other vermin. Thankfully most did not live without their heads like roaches could. Behead then incinerate in those cases because if it survives its head being removed it would be disoriented enough to reduce to ash. Not that any of the demons were that stupid to attack someone that was that confident especially when even those with the most blunted of danger senses would feel the fact that their was definitely something more dangerous and predatory about the individual than they were.

It was a simple fact that even with a dormant Hellmouth being obscured by a rather powerful spell by a practitioner of some power. That there were several external sources and backers furthering to make the obscuring effects permeate even the more less than feeble minded people did allow for even the more observant to brush it off. A secondary effect was that his combat honed senses were somewhat muted in their effectiveness in discerning the lesser demonic entities teaming about the town and that their movements were underground did not help as he was not gifted in the subtler abilities of the Earth Element.

Horus was a personification of Lightning and with it fire and air were near equal in abilities with earth and water being a bit less of his forte. Even though sorcerers and the rest of the mystics were able to learn abilities and skills that normal elementalists could specialize in there was the fact that the distribution of attributes remained in effect. Everyone had a natural element that they would be able to do best and with less effort and waste with a secondary being a bit more effort while the others would be less effective and use more energy to accomplish their goal.

It was possible that one could learn to use an element although they would most likely never be able to take it to the same level as a natural. That was in part where the Order of Shadow came in as they were the ones that tried to find those with if not a shadow as primary than as secondary element. Still from time to time they trained those who did not meet that criteria. It was not impossible but difficult especially if the element was cross purpose or nature to their primary.

What that meant was that Horus could not just listen to the earth to find things out but had to actually focus to sense what was there. It was like most in dealing with their elements contrary to have to use an ability actively where those with such alignment could use it passively. Perhaps if it had not been for the fact that demonic energies especially of those descended from one of the Great Beasts ilk did not disrupt the natural order that he would not be here. Still the weaker presence of those that had been dragged along with in either their armies or some of the other various invaders should have been immediately noticed especially with the concentration they were in.

The demons that dwelt in the town did have an advantage as the energy leaking out of even an inactive Hellmouth sustained them even nourished then. That was in part why there were no demons really living past the edges of the solar system in the past as when the gates were sealed the energy that sustained them faded away.

It was the ninety eighties and Horus was walking down a street trying to figure out what had drawn his attention subconsciously as he could not discern a conscious reason to go to this town when LA was far more active. Besides this was a one club town and there was no chance he would run into any of the mystical community in such a quaint town. Well almost no chance as the community seemed to tend to each favor either urban, suburban or rural locations. Vampires tended to the cities where they could safely live among the throngs and were more likely to find willing thralls and vassals ever since the first city had been integrated under the Masters of the Cities so many millennium ago. To the suburban and littler town did the sorcerers flock where they were less likely to have the same scrutiny as in cities and less temptation to lord over their power. In the rural and wilderness was the domain of the Zoanthropes regardless of mystic or not as the part of their nature that was some might call feral while they proffered wild or free.

'There is several of the odder scents to this place,' Horus mussed as he approached what appeared to be the sole club in this town called the Bronze of all things. 'I wonder which of the other races congregate here? Well as long as it is not one of the demon races especially Blood Demons. Aliens, Fae, other magical races even a few misclassified as demons those I have no problem with but those leeches provide nothing while even the other forms of vampires do something either eliminate the undesirables that prey on their own or defend them from other threats even if it is to protect their possessions and herd.'

It was a no cover night so Horus simply went in and walked to the bar. He paid no attention to the way in which the crowd seemed to subconsciously part to let him threw. He was so used to it that he did not notice that they seemed to be slightly more aware of the predator in their midst. If he had noticed he would have suspected predation by one of the more violent types. Still their were plenty of beings that considered human flesh a necessity while some considered it a luxury and delicacy. Somewhat similar to the way that certain cults and cultures considered other less tasteful foods in the common palette.

As was normal for the time of history the music was a mix of punk and metal with a few slow songs to dance real close and slow to. The clothes were pretty normal for the time with yet another fashion trend in one area while the vast majority were in t-shirts and jeans. Horus was in a some what similar dress except that he was in a black jeans with a black t-shirt that was while not ripped was form fitting. That had led to a temporary increase in attention that the slightly more skittish would have in a town with this high of a mortality rate.

Horus was here to put whatever it was that was bothering him to the side. Time for another dalliance while he felt the pang that separated him from his mates. For some reason there was a girl that had seemed to be drawn to him. Perhaps in another time and place she would have been drawn to one of the lesser vampires and left in an alley dead. As it was the young girl who was planning to go to a college far from the small town she had grown up in and been a big fish in was having doubts in being a big fish in a big pond.

"Hello handsome," she said as she saddled up next to him. "The names Candice, Candice Chase. I don't think I have seen you here before and a dish like you would be hard not to notice."

"Horus Stone," he said as he leaned in to the horny seductress. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Chase; are you here to lead me on a chase? It would be fun to see how much like candy you taste."

While the flirting had been rather lousy in its verbal nature the subtle nuances of voice and tone had snared the almost enthralled girl. The fact that she had already sat in his lap and started to nuzzle him as he sat at the bar pretty much explained how the night would go.

After finishing his drink he walked to one of the more secluded and shadowy corners of the club. There was simply the matter that with the time being before another sexual disease would be driven into peoples consciousness it was a time similar to a decade back when the drives of teenager hormones were once more considered natural and not under too much legal scrutiny again.

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

Lemony Scene

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

Necking in the shadows there was plenty of privacy for most activities if not outright sex. Hands worked their ways under skirt and shirt while her hands were cupped inside his pants. There were kisses and rubbing and other delightful teenage mating behaviors.

Candice was rather distracted both by the throbbing in her hand and the stimulating hands that were working her up. The music was pumping fast and her pulse was too. If her mouth had not been occupied with either his mouth giving her a searing toe curling and panties soaking kiss or he was trailing licks sucks and bites down her throat. His hands were teasing and tweaking and driving her insane.

Candice shuddered and moaned into his mouth as he worked her over and over until his hand was soaked. As she was panting trying to catch her breath her flushed face went red in shock as she saw him lick his fingers clean.

"Well you definitely taste good Candy," Horus said as he whispered into her ear before continuing in a teasing and promising husky voice, "but I think I want to see how you taste directly."

She didn't even have time to protest as he ducked under her and started lapping at her soaked pussy. She had already made her panties see through as well as easily movable. The teen socialite had to practically muffle herself with her fist as even the music would have difficulty obscuring her cries of ecstasy. It was a good thing that they were in an unlit portion of the shuddering and convulsions would have given her away. Well before the viewer would notice that instead of the gentle pay of her breasts that she normally preferred she was practically mauling them.

Horus had slithered up as she was catching her breath again. She had left the poor seat under her wet and she was having trouble staying seated. She sunk to the ground in somewhat exhaustion as he leaned against the wall next to her. For a girl that had never given more than a hand job to her long term boyfriend and barely let him touch her bra covered breasts what she was about to do was a radical departure from her previous behavior. She had been unattainable and heavily sought after.

'I cannot believe i am doing this,' came the thought from Candy's climax muddled mind. 'I never thought I would do this even when married. I was going to be a trophy wife that at most spread them for him to pump a few times before falling to sleep.'

She had barely managed to complete the thought as she slipped the cock she had been touching and fondling out into view. If she had been more aware she would have been shocked as it was she began kissing it almost immediately. Soon enough she had already started gagging but she kept trying until she had her nose pressed against him.

Candy was in a trance like state and as such barely noticed the flavor of herself in her mouth from the kisses before. She bobbed her head up and down while trying to remember what she had heard the other girls do while she had scoffed that they had needed to do this to keep their man.

'Relax my mouth and let it slide down,' she thought as she concentrated on her task. 'Keep my tongue moving all about and especially keep the suction up. When letting him out test the suction by seeing if he makes a popping sound as he comes out. Pay attention to the head as it is similar in sensitivity to a clit and can cause a guy to cream as easily.'

The oddest thing was that she felt as if she was going to cum herself with the way that her clit was throbbing and pulsing as it had already pushed itself to stand proudly even with the fact that she had never cum in a row. Candy was already dripping down her thighs and she had never been more than slightly visibly moist in any encounter even when she had masturbated. With every stroke and suction she felt her pussy throb as if in sync with the cock throbbing in her mouth. She was in some way unprepared when he came in her mouth but as he was down her throat there was thankfully not to much shock except that somehow she was moaning in her own climax as his cum flowed down her throat with only a bit of a taste.

Horus helped Candy up from her shacking knees as it was plain bizarre that she had just orgasmed from giving head. It was something that normally did not happen if ever so it was special. She slumped against him with her body obscuring any view of him. That she snuggled against him while catching her breath was a tell, but more so was the fact that she was slowly rubbing against him. She was rather in her own world and as such not much penetrated her consciousness until her rubbing and moving ended up with her impaling herself on him after having slowly worked his still erect member between her still fluttering lips.

Her moan at the sensation was muffled by her head resting against his chest. To most if they could have scene it would have mostly looked like she was giving him a grinding lap dance, but the more experienced would have noticed the subtle differences between fucking with clothes on and fucking while clothed. Still it was a slow screw for the most part and it allowed them to for the most part make out with languid and excruciatingly slow strokes stretching out the coupling. Their long make out session kept them from making more than the unnoticeable moans and groans into each others mouths while they slowly rode the rise back to climax. To be accurate they made several orgasmic plateaus on the way to the top. The timing was perfect as their cries of complete completion occurred at the moment of the screams of the crowd as the music wrapped up.

Reaching between them Horus sadly tucked himself back in while others might think he had just gotten to second with where his hand had been. That would have caused eyebrows to raise as the queen would never permit such an act even considering that things were less worried about venereal diseases than they would be in less than a decade.

The couple kissed as they made their way out with Horus's hand firmly resting on her swaying ass. Her classmates would have been shocked that she would let him fondle her under her skirt but far too many were intoxicated to matter. At most they would think given the way he dressed and talked that she had snagged an older foreign man so her reputation would rise.

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

End Lemon Scene

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

As Horus was dropping her off at her parents house he noticed her younger sister and made a note of the oddity that was influencing her aura. To find a young Zoanthrope coming from a long line of norms was odd. Perhaps one of the Order founders most likely Bast as he could tell that she would be a werecat as soon as she grew up at least.

"That's Cordelia," Candice said. "Isn't she adorable?"

"Quite," Horus said after giving Candice a kiss to distract her he continued, "Seems to take after you quite a bit. Hopefully she grows up to be as lucky as you have been."

"Given how the olds are thinking of raising her maybe not," Candice said sadly. "while I will admit I like being the rich princess I think they may spoil her a bit too much. They seem to be doing so already."

"Sadly I have to go," Horus said after pulling her into a fierce kiss. "Look out for that little sister of yours. She will need a big sister to keep her in line."

With that Horus departed the house leaving a week kneed woman with her skirt soaked after that kiss. He would not make it far before he was interrupted and rather pleasantly.

"There you are," a female voice came up behind him causing a shiver to go up his spine. "Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

"Really there was no reason to worry," Horus said before he was cut off with a body hug glomp and silenced with a searing kiss.

'Now why did I not want any of them along again?' Horus thought as he was being pleasantly distracted.

There was a subtle shift of a person approaching but there was no real scent except a trace of the grave.

'Blood demons,' Horus thought in disgust. 'I hate blood demons and ...'

Hands roamed momentarily distracted him from his irritation.

'I remember why now,' Horus thought as he dropped with her to the ground letting the tackling vampire fly over head.

"As much as I like the position," Horus said with some regret. "We have to deal with the vermin now."

"Then let us deal with the vermin then," she said with a smirk. "So that we can get back to more personal fun later after you tell me what you have been up to."

"But of course and I think you will be surprised by how much I have stayed out of trouble," Horus said with a grin as they both turned to look at each other. "Let's!"

The poor blood demons who called themselves vampires really didn't have a chance against two real vampires. More the pity that they seemed to be so weak after dealing with near Mideon level constructs. The healing rate was pathetic as was the strength and speed. It was rather like watching a seven foot man mountain take lollies from toddlers. The fight was far too short to work off the couples adrenaline rush let alone their blood and other lusts. It was a disappointment that wounds that would have barely slowed their normal targets incapacitated or crippled the pale imitations.

Sadly the only thing of note was when a small part of the group ran off like the hounds of hell were chasing them. They chased the group quickly but they had managed to get to a small backyard where odd as it was there was a boy camped out on Christmas of all nights. What happened next caused the two hunters to pause. The demons had almost dashed past the boy towards the open door where they had just heard what amounted to a clear invitation at large.

Somehow for some reason the boy had skipped back to land in front of the vamps before he practically growled out, "You will not hurt them! They may not be the best but they are all I got!"

Horus seemed to grow a small smile at what he saw in front of him. Seras managed to barely hear the whispered word that he said, "Awakening," in an amused and almost reverent tone.

"Awakening?" Seras asked with a bit of confusion and curiosity wanting to know why he said the word as he had. "Perhaps you should be a bit more specific love..."

"It would appear that the young boy here is a Latent," Horus said as he watched the scene in front of him. "What that means is that while he was not an active sorcerer he had the potential but it was sleeping. There is a number of people that fall in that category and will live their lives relatively normally. Oh they will be a bit more durable and resistant to things but would lack the general abilities and would often be mistaken for a sensitive. To be blunt they are on the cusp of greatness and it only takes a small event to trigger it. It would seem that we are about to witness one of these occurrences. Normally it is in a situation like this when ones life and others are on the line and their seems to be no viable alternative. It is sort of like accidental magic in a way except it would be the case where a near squib triggers enough to cross the threshold once and remain thus."

"So basically while some sorcerers are born in their power a few are triggered?" Seras asks. "That seems kind of strange and unusual as I always thought it was sort of like off or on that being you either were or were not."

"Good analogy," Horus said with a chuckle. "In practice the stress and necessity force the switch to be flipped. In a normal this would cause a momentary rush in adrenaline as the body forces the channels open for a moment to survive. Now lacking something to sustain that moment the channels artificially expanded contract again. However once it has happened those that lived have a slightly easier time re-expanding their channels and that in part is why a large number of sensitives seem to come from life changing events changed."

"He does not seem to be having any trouble with them though," Seras said appraisingly as she analyzed the encounter before her. "Shouldn't he need some training first?"

"Instincts are there somewhat like slayers or even blood memories like some varieties of vampires and other beings share," Horus said offhandedly as he paid more attention to the fight than he did his companion. "One thing I dislike about blood demons like this is that they gain a minor knowledge of fighting along with the physical boosts. Still I don't think it will be too long now..."

Just as Horus trailed off the young boy seemed to snap again. Before he had simply blocked or dodged the minion's actions. His eyes hardened and his fist snapped out. The minion he struck stopped suddenly and stilled. His companions looked behind him only to see the kids clenched fist protruding from his back with a sheen of blood. They glanced closer to see their associates unbeating heart in his hand before the kid crushed it just before the minion dusted.

While the minions were stunned the boy turned and punched one of the minions causing a rib to drive into his heart dusting him. The next minion died when his head was viciously torn off. The second to last minion died when a punch sent him careening to land on a wooden fence rail. The last minion was dusted when a snapped kick ripped his head off.

"See I told you it wouldn't be too long," Horus said as he turned and smirked at the kid. "Pleasure to meet you kid, the names Horus."

"The names Seras," She said with a nod to the kid. "So what's your name?"

As soon as he caught his breath as he had started breathing hard when the last minion he started to say something when Horus motioned for him to stop.

"Kid needs to catch his breath," Horus said as he looked the kid over. "Besides it is not like he is in the best of shape to begin with. I take it that the yelling is why you are out here on Christmas."

"I just can't," he said. "Not on Christmas."

"So why didn't you want to spend time with your friends?" Seras asked. "Let me guess they were busy with family and normally you could crash at their places if it got to bad."

"I would normally," he said. "Still I just can't stay here now..."

"Well you could come with us," Horus said as he knelt down next to him. "Besides we need to explain what happened. It just would not be right to leave you without understanding what has happened to you."

"There is something that you are not telling me that I should remember but for some reason cannot," Seras said as she turned to look at him. "Our bond should allow me to access that information and yet..."

"Some things are secrets that one does not share and the only reason that you don't remember them is do to a simple blood based memory ward," Horus said with a sigh. "This type of event used to be very dangerous especially the past few millennium. Think what would happen to someone who suddenly gained a boost like this and in most instances had it happen in the middle of a crowd. Things were done that I am not proud of but the necessities of survival do at times lend to doing what is necessary instead of what is right because it was easier at the time."

"What are you talking about?" the boy asked. "What is it that you got to tell me?"

"Normally there would be this speech about being different and the like but with society as it is I will make an exception to the long and boring speech," Horus said before saying offhandedly to Seras, "Personally I always thought the speech was way to like the Watcher's Speech about in the beginning," before turning back to continue, "Well as based on your choice of clothes and the items around I take it you are familiar with comics." The kid nodded. "Well then you are at an origin point and like the more important points one has to ask what would you do with this gift this power this curse?"

The kid looked uncertain as he racked his mind before saying of all things, "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."

"Right you are," Seras said before continuing in private, 'Well he seems to have a good head on his shoulder and I believe you don't want to leave him here...'

'Too right I don't want to leave him here any more than you want another adopted kid to mother,' Horus sent back. 'However while we will be here for a good many more years there is no way that we can do what we must while dragging him along and I don't think he will fit in with the others yet...'

"So I take it you want out of here?" Horus asked. "Seras what do you think about another kid to raise? This one at least seems to keep his head on even if he seems a bit fascinated by comics..."

"Spoke the man that has every comic signed especially the classics," Seras teased back. "Still I have to admit that there is something about meeting our heroes from when we were growing up."

"Like Stan Lee?" the young boy asked. "That would be so cool!"

"So you never told us your name still," Seras said as they started to walk away from the house.

"The names Xander," he said. "Xander Harris."

"Well that will never do," Horus said. "Is it by any chance short for Alexander?"

"Yeah," Xander said. "But my bestest friend since kindergarten couldn't say it so she shortened it to Xander."

'I wonder how the kids will get along,' Horus thought as they started walking off. 'He is going to get along considering that they are pranksters. A kitsune, a neko-ken user and a Junior Marauder will get along with him. Still he will want to see his friends and who knows he might make good friends with Candy's little sis if they don't have to deal with the class divide and those issues. Besides there should be a team here and he has that noble knight streak if ever I have seen it. He will not leave his friends out in danger.'

Significant to say it was the beginning of something truly strange. Who knows what this minor alteration would have for this world future? What effects would a real supernatural response team have on the Hellmouth? So much potential that had gone untapped in another time line would in this one have a chance to flourish. Sorcerers seem to be either chaos incarnate to the plans of powers divine and infernal but seem to do the impossible. Even a latent is enough of a wild card to make infallible prophecies fallible. Perhaps with what he learns on his quest he will be able to help the other Xander into a better life as he would this Xander. Family was something both important and mourned for the mystics. Even more so among the sorcerers when they were the only ones with the gift in the family and would have in the past outlived their mortal family short of making life extending potions or elixirs which would make the relatives dependent on them unless they were bound to their longer lived family member.

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