for The odds were never in my favour3/18 c12 
11Darkscythe Drake
This is an incredible premise and story! I look forward to reading the rest of it. Good luck wordsmith!
11Darkscythe DrakeThis is an incredible premise and story! I look forward to reading the rest of it. Good luck wordsmith!
3/18 c104 1brnicholas
Thanks for the chapter.
Since the thirteen powers appear to have originally been tied to thirteen elements I'm trying to figure out what those are. The list I have so far: Light, Dark, Fire, Earth, Air, Water (the Four European Elements), Ice, Lightening (we have seen elemental spells rooted in them), Metal, Wood (the dragon from the Potions task was rooted in the Chinese Elements these two are there and not already listed). That only gets us to ten though. I wonder what the other three are.
I would also like to state that I don't believe that everything was originally Ra's fault. Osiris has not come across as the type of person who would respect reasonable limits. I also suspect that the repeated images of the Dark establishing sanctuaries of Magic (Slughorns home and Avelon) are not Osiris' vision but instead part of the ritual he used to break Life from the Light. Since the statue Osiris has pushed the Dark to promote Life in its domains, I suspect that was a key part of alienating Life from the Light.
Thanks for all your hard work!
1brnicholasThanks for the chapter.
Since the thirteen powers appear to have originally been tied to thirteen elements I'm trying to figure out what those are. The list I have so far: Light, Dark, Fire, Earth, Air, Water (the Four European Elements), Ice, Lightening (we have seen elemental spells rooted in them), Metal, Wood (the dragon from the Potions task was rooted in the Chinese Elements these two are there and not already listed). That only gets us to ten though. I wonder what the other three are.
I would also like to state that I don't believe that everything was originally Ra's fault. Osiris has not come across as the type of person who would respect reasonable limits. I also suspect that the repeated images of the Dark establishing sanctuaries of Magic (Slughorns home and Avelon) are not Osiris' vision but instead part of the ritual he used to break Life from the Light. Since the statue Osiris has pushed the Dark to promote Life in its domains, I suspect that was a key part of alienating Life from the Light.
Thanks for all your hard work!
3/18 c104 2Jack Inqu
Honestly, it is very impressive that Alexandra survived fighting Ra, even managing to draw blood from him. She's probably the youngest person to do so as well. Actually killing him is going to be a very monumental task though.
...yeah, the Wizarding World isn't going to be able to cover all of that up. The Statute of Secrecy is well and truly dead. And that's not even counting what's going to happen when time resumes. Heck, I don't know WHAT will happen, but I'm sure it's not going to be quiet and inconspicuous.
I can't really blame Alexandra for deciding she's had enough. As Flitwick commented several chapters ago, Alexandra is very good at knowing her limitations and weaknesses; this whole situation is completely overwhelming. And as she said, before she is the Champion of Death, she is Alexandra Potter. Her priorities are her life, her friends, and her allies. The cause of the Dark is far down that list.
Rest in peace, Minister of Magical Italy. You made a deal with the devil; you really shouldn't have been so surprised. And I'm quite sure he won't be the last leader to be killed...
It's nice to see that Avalon has beauty and wonder to it. Although now comes an interesting confrontation...
Dumbledore is finally starting to realize just how deep the hole he climbed in truly is, and how much has been kept from him, by own arrogance and/or by the plots of others.
F*ck...Ra is, impressively and horrifyingly, even worse than I thought. He's not a player who came into an existing game and tried to hoard as much power as he could. No...he created the game via selfishness, power-mongering, and fanaticism, breaking the 'rules' whenever he could to give himself more power. He really is monster.
And hey, Alexandra can add 'killed Merlin' to her resume now. ;)
...oh, damn. Possession...the appearance of Merlin, and his connection to Ra...proclaiming he's the rightful king of Britannia...that was the ghost/spirit/soul of Arthur, wasn't it? Ra put him into Leo Black's body, for who knows what reason. Oh boy...
Yeah, the deaths of millions, if not billions, of innocent souls is a good reason for Alexandra to reconsider stepping back. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to follow the Dark's plan precisely. I also continue to enjoy the friendship(?) she and Lyudmila have forged.
Take care, good luck, stay safe, stay healthy, and I look forward to your next update.
2Jack InquHonestly, it is very impressive that Alexandra survived fighting Ra, even managing to draw blood from him. She's probably the youngest person to do so as well. Actually killing him is going to be a very monumental task though.
...yeah, the Wizarding World isn't going to be able to cover all of that up. The Statute of Secrecy is well and truly dead. And that's not even counting what's going to happen when time resumes. Heck, I don't know WHAT will happen, but I'm sure it's not going to be quiet and inconspicuous.
I can't really blame Alexandra for deciding she's had enough. As Flitwick commented several chapters ago, Alexandra is very good at knowing her limitations and weaknesses; this whole situation is completely overwhelming. And as she said, before she is the Champion of Death, she is Alexandra Potter. Her priorities are her life, her friends, and her allies. The cause of the Dark is far down that list.
Rest in peace, Minister of Magical Italy. You made a deal with the devil; you really shouldn't have been so surprised. And I'm quite sure he won't be the last leader to be killed...
It's nice to see that Avalon has beauty and wonder to it. Although now comes an interesting confrontation...
Dumbledore is finally starting to realize just how deep the hole he climbed in truly is, and how much has been kept from him, by own arrogance and/or by the plots of others.
F*ck...Ra is, impressively and horrifyingly, even worse than I thought. He's not a player who came into an existing game and tried to hoard as much power as he could. No...he created the game via selfishness, power-mongering, and fanaticism, breaking the 'rules' whenever he could to give himself more power. He really is monster.
And hey, Alexandra can add 'killed Merlin' to her resume now. ;)
...oh, damn. Possession...the appearance of Merlin, and his connection to Ra...proclaiming he's the rightful king of Britannia...that was the ghost/spirit/soul of Arthur, wasn't it? Ra put him into Leo Black's body, for who knows what reason. Oh boy...
Yeah, the deaths of millions, if not billions, of innocent souls is a good reason for Alexandra to reconsider stepping back. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to follow the Dark's plan precisely. I also continue to enjoy the friendship(?) she and Lyudmila have forged.
Take care, good luck, stay safe, stay healthy, and I look forward to your next update.
3/18 c104 8Ashen Author
I'm not terribly fond of how everything is the fault of The Light apparently, or how Ra even got started in worshipping The Light this way when Innocence was its only Power (and now Innocence is furious at its misuse and the Champion of Innocence has turned against Ra, yowza), but the world building and revelations are good enough that I don't particularly care.
Are we going to find out what the other Powers were originally affiliated with? Would Death somehow be affiliated with Lightning, given that it's an instantaneous moment and also that death is inevitable while electricity is a fundamental force?
I'm sort of hoping that Alexandra has to team up with Dumbledore, and if Ra is tied to Light powers then maybe Light magic can potentially hurt him? Then again, Osiris was apparently immune to the AK from Nicholas Flamel, or at least could shield against it...
Also, I'm still waiting to find out why Flamel, "one of our more senior members", turned against Osiris and what has come from the Philosopher's Stone finding its way into Dumbledore's hands, what the stone actually does and how it is used... I hope that lingering plot thread fires off at some point soon.
Something that can make Elixir of Life seems like it might be useful here for healing and energizing...
8Ashen AuthorI'm not terribly fond of how everything is the fault of The Light apparently, or how Ra even got started in worshipping The Light this way when Innocence was its only Power (and now Innocence is furious at its misuse and the Champion of Innocence has turned against Ra, yowza), but the world building and revelations are good enough that I don't particularly care.
Are we going to find out what the other Powers were originally affiliated with? Would Death somehow be affiliated with Lightning, given that it's an instantaneous moment and also that death is inevitable while electricity is a fundamental force?
I'm sort of hoping that Alexandra has to team up with Dumbledore, and if Ra is tied to Light powers then maybe Light magic can potentially hurt him? Then again, Osiris was apparently immune to the AK from Nicholas Flamel, or at least could shield against it...
Also, I'm still waiting to find out why Flamel, "one of our more senior members", turned against Osiris and what has come from the Philosopher's Stone finding its way into Dumbledore's hands, what the stone actually does and how it is used... I hope that lingering plot thread fires off at some point soon.
Something that can make Elixir of Life seems like it might be useful here for healing and energizing...
3/18 c104 2CMVreud
If the chapter before is a Bombarda Maxima to the Statue of Secrets then this is a magicalcracker in a magical Giant Hornets nest.
A... more silent chapter, but Escalation is still running high and rising and I have no idea when it will stop.
How long will we have to wait before we'll know WHEN the Black-stard was body snatched? Because him being a b*** is not much of a hint and it certainly could have happened even before this all began. I mean, does Sirius know, knew? Or was Ra, or one of his siccos, being an as***le again? And with what came to light, heh (pun not intended) Sirius could've been befoodled himself, with the visit of a 'dear friend' every week or month or so to fresh up the charms...
Gods above, I HATE wizard Cold Wars.
2CMVreudIf the chapter before is a Bombarda Maxima to the Statue of Secrets then this is a magicalcracker in a magical Giant Hornets nest.
A... more silent chapter, but Escalation is still running high and rising and I have no idea when it will stop.
How long will we have to wait before we'll know WHEN the Black-stard was body snatched? Because him being a b*** is not much of a hint and it certainly could have happened even before this all began. I mean, does Sirius know, knew? Or was Ra, or one of his siccos, being an as***le again? And with what came to light, heh (pun not intended) Sirius could've been befoodled himself, with the visit of a 'dear friend' every week or month or so to fresh up the charms...
Gods above, I HATE wizard Cold Wars.
3/18 c104 2magnoliarossa
What a nice surprise. Your Albus seems less crazy with each chapter, after all with Ra and Merlin as a comparison... I'm curious about Neville, and personally I remember many unresolved things about fraud in the UK...
2magnoliarossaWhat a nice surprise. Your Albus seems less crazy with each chapter, after all with Ra and Merlin as a comparison... I'm curious about Neville, and personally I remember many unresolved things about fraud in the UK...
3/18 c104 17bissek
An early chapter!
Does the Hydra's regeneration rebuild muscle tone? If not, Alexandra likely can't fight for months with that arm.
They have a week to come up with a plan to disarm a magical nuke. No pressure.
A dark sun? Again I am reminded of The Dark Crystal: When single shines the triple sun, the Great Conjunction has begun.
Only this time, it would be better if the united powers divide instead of the divided powers uniting.
Gilderoy's comment about the DFDL reminds me of a crack that at one point, the FBI had the KKK and the American Communist Party so thoroughly infiltrated that the easiest way to find the spies was to see who paid their membership dues on time.
Imagine how the world would react if they learned that the time freezing spell that kept the disaster in Venice from leaving Venice was made possible by research done by Grindelwald - and that he was broken out of prison specifically so that he could finish it?
I thought there was no such thing as Magical Italy, because the various city-states of Magical Italia didn't unite when the Muggle city-states did in the 19th Century?
Sforza deserves a reward for self-control when she didn't laugh about their society being prosperous and stable.
Avalon shows an interesting perspective in what the world was like before Ra broke it.
Dumbledore finally has buyer's remorse for his alliance with Ra. And only now does he see what Ra did to his proteges - after several weeks. He really needs to step down and let someone more competent take over.
So ultimately, everything comes back to the feud between Ra and Osiris. But if all the powers have been drawing from two planes out of thirteen for eons, doesn't that mean that both the Light and Dark planes should be weakening? And how strong are the original planes that haven't been sending power to Champions for all this time?
In fairness to Neville and Leo, it's likely that they weren't really given a choice as to whether or not to sup from the Grail. Henri wasn't.
Now Neville appears to be free, though while he was under he burned most of his few remaining bridges, while I'm not sure if Leo is even still alive in the body that was once his.
If breaking off powers from a plane can weaken Light and Dark, do they have the ability to even do so at the moment? The only Light Champion in Avalon is Innocence, which was always Light, so I'm not sure if it can be broken off. And breaking off Powers from the Dark at this point won't weaken Ra or the Grail, though if switching planes does strengthen the Powers, it could enhance the other Dark Champions.
A blast radius from Venice to Gibraltar? Okay, that's about 1100 miles. Parts of Europe that would NOT be impacted would be Lisbon and all points south and west in Portugal, Turkey east of Ankara, Helsinski and all points north in Finland, the northern two thirds to three quarters of the rest of Scandinavia, far eastern Ukraine, most of Russia, and some islands off the coast of Ireland and Scotland. It would also hit all of Tunisia and parts of Morocco, Libya and Algeria. Basically, the countries least impacted by surface area are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and with the first three, most of the population still lives in the blast area.
17bissekAn early chapter!
Does the Hydra's regeneration rebuild muscle tone? If not, Alexandra likely can't fight for months with that arm.
They have a week to come up with a plan to disarm a magical nuke. No pressure.
A dark sun? Again I am reminded of The Dark Crystal: When single shines the triple sun, the Great Conjunction has begun.
Only this time, it would be better if the united powers divide instead of the divided powers uniting.
Gilderoy's comment about the DFDL reminds me of a crack that at one point, the FBI had the KKK and the American Communist Party so thoroughly infiltrated that the easiest way to find the spies was to see who paid their membership dues on time.
Imagine how the world would react if they learned that the time freezing spell that kept the disaster in Venice from leaving Venice was made possible by research done by Grindelwald - and that he was broken out of prison specifically so that he could finish it?
I thought there was no such thing as Magical Italy, because the various city-states of Magical Italia didn't unite when the Muggle city-states did in the 19th Century?
Sforza deserves a reward for self-control when she didn't laugh about their society being prosperous and stable.
Avalon shows an interesting perspective in what the world was like before Ra broke it.
Dumbledore finally has buyer's remorse for his alliance with Ra. And only now does he see what Ra did to his proteges - after several weeks. He really needs to step down and let someone more competent take over.
So ultimately, everything comes back to the feud between Ra and Osiris. But if all the powers have been drawing from two planes out of thirteen for eons, doesn't that mean that both the Light and Dark planes should be weakening? And how strong are the original planes that haven't been sending power to Champions for all this time?
In fairness to Neville and Leo, it's likely that they weren't really given a choice as to whether or not to sup from the Grail. Henri wasn't.
Now Neville appears to be free, though while he was under he burned most of his few remaining bridges, while I'm not sure if Leo is even still alive in the body that was once his.
If breaking off powers from a plane can weaken Light and Dark, do they have the ability to even do so at the moment? The only Light Champion in Avalon is Innocence, which was always Light, so I'm not sure if it can be broken off. And breaking off Powers from the Dark at this point won't weaken Ra or the Grail, though if switching planes does strengthen the Powers, it could enhance the other Dark Champions.
A blast radius from Venice to Gibraltar? Okay, that's about 1100 miles. Parts of Europe that would NOT be impacted would be Lisbon and all points south and west in Portugal, Turkey east of Ankara, Helsinski and all points north in Finland, the northern two thirds to three quarters of the rest of Scandinavia, far eastern Ukraine, most of Russia, and some islands off the coast of Ireland and Scotland. It would also hit all of Tunisia and parts of Morocco, Libya and Algeria. Basically, the countries least impacted by surface area are Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, and with the first three, most of the population still lives in the blast area.
3/18 c104 2ch0c0add1ct
Well, that happened. Alexandra and 'friends' are in Avalon. Venice is a few days away from unleashing Judgement on Europe. Merlin is dead. King Arthur was possessing Leo Black. Oh, and the SOS is kaput.
What a glorious way to start a new story arc.
2ch0c0add1ctWell, that happened. Alexandra and 'friends' are in Avalon. Venice is a few days away from unleashing Judgement on Europe. Merlin is dead. King Arthur was possessing Leo Black. Oh, and the SOS is kaput.
What a glorious way to start a new story arc.
3/18 c104 Asharzal
I hope Merlin suffers endless torment and agony and at the hands of the Morrigan.
And the rightful King of Britain? The Black line needs to be purged it seems.
Really want to see the "mundane" worlds reaction to all the atrocities and genocides,
amonst other things, that have been committed by the Light.
Tbh., I think most sensible people would side with the Dark and the Exchequer.
I hope Merlin suffers endless torment and agony and at the hands of the Morrigan.
And the rightful King of Britain? The Black line needs to be purged it seems.
Really want to see the "mundane" worlds reaction to all the atrocities and genocides,
amonst other things, that have been committed by the Light.
Tbh., I think most sensible people would side with the Dark and the Exchequer.
3/18 c103 2Jack Inqu
Well...the escalated quickly. Like, damn. I can't even imagine the repercussions from all of this.
I do have a theory about the Exchequer's ultimate goal, besides breaking the Statute of Secrecy: I think they're trying to convert all the Light powers to neutral ones. We saw it in this chapter, with Life getting tied to Fire. That's a heavy blow to the Light side, and if they can do that to more Powers...
Or, going a step further, perhaps Osiris means to convert ALL Powers, Light and Dark, to more neutral ones. Instead of a binary choice, each Power will be able to make enemies and allies as they please. It fits into the theme of choice the Dark side has going for it.
Regardless, this will be very, very interesting.
Take care, good luck, stay safe, stay healthy, and I look forward to your next update.
2Jack InquWell...the escalated quickly. Like, damn. I can't even imagine the repercussions from all of this.
I do have a theory about the Exchequer's ultimate goal, besides breaking the Statute of Secrecy: I think they're trying to convert all the Light powers to neutral ones. We saw it in this chapter, with Life getting tied to Fire. That's a heavy blow to the Light side, and if they can do that to more Powers...
Or, going a step further, perhaps Osiris means to convert ALL Powers, Light and Dark, to more neutral ones. Instead of a binary choice, each Power will be able to make enemies and allies as they please. It fits into the theme of choice the Dark side has going for it.
Regardless, this will be very, very interesting.
Take care, good luck, stay safe, stay healthy, and I look forward to your next update.