INNOVATOR; Ch 42: And the Sky falls

Author's Note: Hello there, this is chapter 42 of INNOVATOR. I really hope you will like it.

Also, many thanks and congratulations to our seven holders of the Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical, Tyler and PenguGoesVroom! 😇🥰

Now, without any further ado....Let's begin!

Author Out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

"The Damned talking."

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The "end of a world" never is and never can be anything but the end of an illusion.

~Rene Guenon
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INNOVATOR 

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 42: And the Sky falls~~

.

The large grounds around Hogwarts, once a lush green place with lots of flora and fauna that not only survived but also supported its growth, was now a bloody battlefield filled with ripped and torn flesh of humans along with other creatures that were protecting the castle or being protected by it. Pieces of werewolves, dead corpses that couldn't move anymore because their handlers were either dead or incapacitated, rotten flesh of the trolls and humans and upturned corpses of acromantulas were all scattered around. 

There were bodies of trolls, even a few giants and several werewolves and acromantulas who had been killed as the battle slowly progressed from just the Hogwarts grounds to the village of Hogsmeade and the surrounding landscape of Hogwarts, ferociously pulling many other life forms in its sedate race of death and destruction.

The mermen, and even the giant squid from the lake had come to kill any creature who was unfortunate enough to fall into the black waters. Then there were the unicorn herds, the centaurs and the acromantula colonies which had taken residence in the magical forests and attacked any who dared to come harm them. Not to mention Hagrid’s half brother, Grawp, a small giant of only sixteen feet had decided to join in the fray, and was grappling with trolls who he was smacking left and right with his makeshift troll leg club. 

A large herd of hippogriffs had also joined the defenders of Hogwarts, fighting the werewolves alongside the thestrals who were up in the air against the lethifolds and a large cerberus, Fluffy, who was carrying Hagrid on his back as the two broke through multiple rows of rougarous and inferi who were feasting on human meat.

Unfortunately, not all was good for the defenders as the attackers had already killed most of the auror contingents who were protecting the unfortunate public, not to mention that the shops and residents of Hogsmeade had been pulled into the fray which meant that the entire village had been turned into a bloody mess, made from the remains of the hapless residents. 

Professors like Septima Vector, Sybill Trelawney and Rolanda Hooch had already been killed by a pack of werewolves; Emmeline Vance, who had been fighting Bellatrix alongside Nymphadora Tonks, had fallen prey to a random organ liquifier, and had went down, along with Charlie Weasley, who was helping Hagrid against the rougarous. 

Dumbledore was busy fighting the gurg Golgomath and two other giants simultaneously while his brother Aberforth was helping the thestrals in defending everyone against the horde of Lethifolds with his supreme grasp of the Patronus charm that was preventing the soulless creatures from descending down on the battlefield. 

“Bombarda Maxima!” The old mage shot three blasting hexes at Golgomath’s face while simultaneously turning the water beneath the second giant into a thick sheet of ice. “Hamatis Filum-Depulso-Avis-Mutare Mortus!” 

The giant beside the gurg howled in agony as hot burning wires wrapped around its shins and he was pushed down on the ground while a flock of birds with metal claws and beaks were pushed inside his loincloth. 

Golgomath raised his club once more, protecting himself with the large wooden shield in his other hand as he jumped off the ground before slamming his club down at the old Headmaster. 

Dumbledore easily dodged the club like he had done more than a few times before, he raised his wand once more, ready to shoot another volley of hexes at the remaining giants when all of a sudden everything started to darken, and thunder rumbled in the heavens above them. He looked towards his right, the point where the humongous source of golden energy had suddenly appeared between them all.

There was a blinding flash of golden light which turned everyone — the defenders, the raiders and the faultless — blind for a few seconds. It was then that they heard a rumble, distinctively feral in nature, which quickly turned into a monstrous roar as the light slowly dwindled and the creature came to their view in the form of a twenty-feet tall, absolutely colossal being made entirely of lava and molten black rocks, its golden-black eyes glared at everyone beneath it as it gave another gurgling roar that sent shivers down their spines.

“Wha- what is that thing?” Sirius mumbled, as he looked at the monstrosity which raised both of its thick arms in the air. “Who… How… wha- how’s this… what??” 

“I- I didn’t know we had anything like that on our side?” Hestia asked from beside the Lord of the Blacks as the two looked at each other, and then at Dumbledore, who was watching the newest entry with wide eyes. 

The battles all around them had stopped completely as everyone was too dumbfounded by the divine weapon’s entrance, they didn’t know who had summoned a demon like that, and, more importantly, who’s side it was on. The protectors as well as the assailants looked at each other and came to the same conclusion that the demon-like being had actually been sent by someone else entirely, someone who wasn’t on the battlefield, and had a goal which was yet to be known by others. 

“Albus, what are we going to do?” McGonagall asked him, her eyes never leaving Aatank as it roared once more before it turned around and glared at the throng of giants who were fighting groups of defenders all over the battlefield. 

“I don’t think we can do anything till we know who or what was powerful enough to summon a demon like this,” the Headmaster muttered, “I think—”

Just then, the weapon of destruction roared once more, and then spat a burning ball of flames at one of the trolls near it, instantly burning the dumb creature to crisps. 

And with that, the newest entrant of the battle had shown its allegiance, as well as its intentions for those who wanted to try their mettle against the third most powerful weapon that a mortal could ever wield.

⁂

“Guildmaster,” She bowed, “I received your summon from Persephone, is everything alright?”  

“Yes, Drauma, I did summon you.” Achlys nodded, “I wanted to know the status of the other guilds, and their respective Guildmasters. What are they doing right now? How many members do they have at their disposal? What are the security measures undertaken to protect the continents that they are incharge of?” She turned around from the window, her black eyes devoid of all emotions.

“We have been in contact with four of the remaining six, Guildmaster,” said Drauma, the ever loyal assistant of the Enlightened One. “The ones we have trouble locating are Masters Grugger and Beasten who had last sent their messengers about a fortnight ago. Since then, neither of the two Masters nor their Guilds have replied to any of our scrolls.”

“Expected.” Achlys sighed. “Both of them even had problems regarding the team work and the location of their Guilds when Atricia suggested that she could send a team of healers to help each of the Guilds during the coming fight.” She shook her head tiredly. 

“We can always use the Triumvirate’s seal against them, Master. It’s not like the two of them could do anything if the three of you are together regarding certain decisions.” 

“The Triumvirate doesn’t interfere with the functioning of a Guild unless the security of the world is in question, Drauma.” The lady shook her head. “And as much as Grugger is hated by others, everyone knows that all his works are only for the best for everyone involved, the man cannot harm a single innocent being no matter how tough and brutal he shows himself to be.” 

“And Guildmaster Beasten? What do you think about him, my lady?”

“Beasten is young, as we all were at some point of time.” She nodded, “He likes to remain free, work without any burden, and just live a simple life of a hunter.” She smiled. “Sometimes, he reminds me of how our commander used to be, only difference is that our youngest Guildmaster knows when and how to smile, while Anubis was a person who had complete concentration, and a hunger to be as strong as possible so that he could do what was needed and not fall prey to the curses of his past.” 

“He did succeed, did he not?”

“The past is a terrible place to be, my dear, and no one — not even our enemies — deserve a prison of memories, much less the one man who is fighting for us right now.”

“Fighting for us?” Drauma frowned. “But—”

“Indeed, Drauma,” She nodded. “Anubis, and his brother, Alandale Potter, are both currently engaged in fruitless battles against Thomas Riddle.”

“Fruitless battles, my lady? I do not understand.”

“I will help with that, but what are you confused about?” She queried, further surprising her assistant. “The part about battles or how they are fruitless?” 

“Both.”

Achlys smiled at her. “Battles, because the boys aren’t just fighting against Tom Riddle, but also his companion who has joined him from afar.” She sighed. “A support, which he shouldn’t have accepted, because not only is the companion’s presence slowly decaying his relatively new body that he regained from the resurrection ritual but has also hastened the process of crevice formation between the realms of Life and Death.” 

“But… how is that possible?” 

“Unfortunately, neither the Guild, nor I possess such knowledge regarding the precise functioning of the natural order, my dear, regardless of that I have been monitoring the crevice ever since it was first seen on the eternal sphere.” The Enlightened One looked back at the clouded sky. “About a week ago, the speed at which the crevice was forming increased manifold. With the former speed, it was going to take about three more weeks before the army would have descended, but now, that gap has shortened considerably.” 

There was momentous silence in which Drauma took in the words of her Guildmaster, the Enlightened One had never — in the time she had served — had ever lied about anything. Jape? Sometimes, but half-truths and lies were never there in her words. They were cryptic, yes, but thanks to the decades of service under the lady, Drauma had learned to decode her words so that she could understand what they actually mean. 

And the words coming out of her mouth in that moment did not mean good for the rest of humanity.

“How soon do you think the crevice will open, my lady?”   

Achlys tilted her head to one side, her black eyes focused on the rumbling dark clouds that were above the Guild. She said, “This is why I had said that his battles were fruitless, Drauma, because the Crevice is about to open at any moment now.” 

 ⁂

“Terra Catenae-Ardor-Animatio!”

Harry shot up in the sky as the ground around him rumbled and six red hot metal chains were pushed out of the ground, going straight for his head and torso. He pointed his wand towards Alan and casted a quick banishing charm before he cushioned the ground beneath his brother so that the fall is safe, and his brother isn’t hurt.  

“You cannot run away from me, Potter,” Voldemort shouted, pushing more power in his chains as he pointed them towards the flying Innovator. 

“Run away? Sure, Tom… surreee,” he said, sarcastically, and then pointed his wand back at the chain closest to him. “Ferrum Vulnus!” He slashed off the chain from the ground. “Immobulus-Engorgio Maxima!” And with that, he levitated the huge red hot metal chains over Tom before dropping it on him.

The Dark Lord’s eyes widened in surprise before he apparated away, momentarily escaping his death coming his way from the falling piece of metal.

“What are you doing, you fool?! KILL HIM!” Herpo shouted in his mind, “As long as Harry Potter is dead, we can still win!” 

‘If only it was as easy as that. I have been trying to kill this brat for the past thirty minutes, and all I have succeeded in doing is grazing his right arm with a lucky cutting curse, while the boy has severely damaged my leg, and shattered three of my ribs.’ Voldemort thought.

“I should have known that you would be all bark and no bite.” The critter sighed. “After all, you haven’t been able to harm the boy even once, I am ashamed to admit that I had to fall so low as to bind with you just so I could keep you safe, and bring my army to the Realm of Living.” 

“If you think it’s that easy, then why don’t you do it?!” Voldemort spoke out loudly, frustrated that out of the first six, only two chains were left and even they weren’t doing much except attack and dodge Potter’s spells. “Weren’t you supposed to help me kill this boy? What happened to that promise?”

“That was before I learned that not only has he been trained by the eternal commander, Dramox, but he also has the power of Aatank,” Herpo mumbled, “The boy had been hiding his trump card all this time, waiting for you to reveal yours so that he could end our plans, and now, all we can do is kill him or hold him long enough for the army to arrive.”

“Can’t he… ugh…” Voldemort grunted as the last of the chains were blasted off. “Draco Ignem!” The draconian flames were shot out of his wand, pushing their way towards the younger mage who casted the power-consuming spell. “Infinitus Sanctuarum.” 

“Can’t he give a second command to this… weapon of destruction?” Voldemort asked. “It would be impossible to—”

“He can’t,” Herpo denied. “The condition to use the weapons of death is that the user can use them only once, and they will only perform one task. Once the command has been completed, the weapon returns to the realm of Death.” 

“Finally, some good news,” Voldemort finished talking as he cut off the fire spell and apparated away from the incoming barrage of the same fire that had been unleashed by Potter from the infinite storage. 

“You know, Tom,” Harry began, panting a bit from the exertion of using such a power consuming spell. “For a supposed Dark Lord, you aren’t that scary.” 

“It's not me who isn’t scary, Potter,” Tom rebutted. “Anyone else would have died about a hundred times by now. Unfortunately, you and your brother have managed to remain alive for quite some time despite the fact that you have been trying to kill me all this time.”

“I am trying to kill you?” The Innovator asked sarcastically. “What gave it away?” 

Instead of replying, Voldemort shot a barrage of dark curses at the boy who returned the fire with equally dark ones. Multiple spells flew between the agitated wizards changing the very landscape around them as the two titans of magic duelled with everything that they had from killing curses to rotting hexes, hell fires and arcane spells that blast the receiver into a million small pieces. 

Amid the phenomenal spellfire of the mages, half of Herpo’s soul piece residing inside Voldemort’s mindscape finally felt the calling that he had been waiting for almost a millennia. The piece felt a strange form of magic take over him, as if it was slowly filling him with an infinite amount of power that had been waiting for him all this time. It was as if a painful past of his living self was slowly being pulled out of the coffins, and now it was time to reunite with it, to reignite the passion of living once more.

“Thomas! Thomas!!!” The critter screamed with unbridled joy, “I can feel it! I can finally feel it!! It’s here! The time has come, Thomas! Can you not feel it?! Take me to the room, give me my staff! The time has come!”

‘Is it finally here?’ Tom asked, bewildered, as he defended himself from the pack of mutated wolves, and three stone golems that had been launched at him by Harry who was drawing some runes on the ground. “Tell me, is it here?” 

“Yes! YES! I can feel it!” The critter screamed in his mind, “I can feel the other half of my soul now! I can feel myself getting more powerful, don’t you feel it? Are your parts not returning?”

“No, I can’t feel anything.” Voldemort denied. “But if what you are saying is true—”

“IT IS TRUE!” 

“ —then, we shall not wait anymore.” The Dark Lord smiled as he aimed his wand towards Harry. “It was a good fight, Potter, and I, Lord Voldemort, shall always remember your name as the greatest man I fought against,” He announced, “However, everything good needs to end so that new things — better than the previous ones — can take its place. Therefore.” He grinned. “FIENDFYRE!!!!” 

Harry’s eyes widened in shock, it was to be expected that the time would come when Voldemort would lose all hope and end up using the flames of hell. Still, that didn't mean he was anticipating the circumstances for them to arrive so soon. The boy hastily flew up in the air as the current of cursed flames took gargantuan shapes of multiple animals like elephant, basilisk, ashwinder and even a rhinoceros. 

The Innovator looked down and was even more shocked to see that the Dark Lord had disappeared completely. It was something that didn't sit well with all this and he felt as if Tom was planning something big that was going to happen soon. He looked back at Alan, the boy was still behind the shield of flames which meant that Tom hadn’t tried to kill his brother using the Fiendfyre as a deception.

‘What are you doing, Potter?!’ Harry mentally scolded himself. ‘Stop this first, then search for Voldemort. If not, then go back to Hogwarts, and help Dumbledore and the others against that stupid army.’ He watched as the fiery creatures started to rampage around the place, and immediately directed the tip of his wand towards them. “Fiendfyre!” 

Summoning the flames of hell, the young mage felt the cursed energy course through him as it tried to break free from his control, begging him to just let it loose so that it could freely wreck unimaginable havoc on the planes of mortality. Still, it wasn’t enough and soon, the apprentice of Death had not only controlled the flames but was even pouring more magic into them so that he could create humongous monsters that would attack the ones who were destroying everything beneath them.

The Dark Lord, on the other hand, knew that his nemesis would easily be able to battle the flames still even if it wasn’t a good enough attack, the flames were definitely a good enough distraction which would help him do what he had to.

He apparated straight inside his lair where he picked up the special elder wood staff which had been handcrafted — sewn with specific enchantments and runes — for Herpo’s personal use as the millennia old spirit was unable to use wands, saying that the little twigs cannot channel even half of his powerful spells properly. 

“Are you ready, Herpo?” 

“Yes. The time for us to change is here, Thomas,” The ancient Dark Lord announced with pride, “The Rift is opening, and my soul — the other half of my very being — as well as my army is about to descend.”

“Then, what do we have to do?” 

“You? Just switch, and leave the rest to me,” The critter said, and began to exert its control over the rotting body of Voldemort. The Dark Lord, on the other hand, began to retreat to his mindscape so that Herpo could gain control of his body to perform the necessary tasks, and focus the impact of the army on earth. 

It took them a few seconds to switch their mental places, and soon enough the ancient Dark Lord — probably the first true Dark Lord — had taken complete control over Tom Riddle's body while said man was watching everything from his mindscape. 

Herpo picked up his staff, and walked towards the wooden doors that opened towards the stone archway which led them towards the balcony. The man looked down at the two boys who were fighting the gargantuan beasts in the courtyard. He noticed that the apprentice of Death, Harry, was already gaining the upper hand in the attack, and he knew that soon enough the boy would have defeated all of them, only to return to his battle with Tom.

‘But Tom is not the one that you have to fight anymore, young boy,’ Herpo thought, a sinister smile stretching over his lips. 'And the… things… that you have to fight, can never be defeated by a mere mortal like you. You should have killed Thomas when you had the chance, because now…’ He looked up towards the heavens, smiling at the thunderstorm that was brewing in the clouds. ‘…they are here.’

A loud rumble echoed through the skies above them as blinding flashes of white lightning criss-crossed through the skies and the ferocious winds picked up in speed, haphazardly streaming through the lands. Large cracks appeared in the burnt soil beneath them as the very earth split apart and both the Potters jumped away from the branching cracks around them.  

“What is this, Harry?” Alan asked him, “What’s happening?” His eyes were fixed on the chaos around them, the loud crackling of thunder, the splitting of land and the whistle of the winds that were hitting them as if they wanted to carry the young mages away. 

The Innovator, on the other hand, looked towards the balcony, the place where he could clearly see the Dark Lord, with a bone-white staff in his right hand and the yew wand in his left, smiling at the clouds, as if the man was waiting for something to happen. 

“I think I know what's happening, Alan, but I am not sure. This wasn’t supposed to happen for at least a few more weeks,” He told the redhead, then looked back at him. “Stay safe, I am going to get some answers and then, stop that idiot from doing anything.” 

“But what is happening, Harry?” 

“It’s not something I can explain right now.” He shot up in the sky. “Just… stay safe. If it is what I think it is, then I have to do something else before I could come to your aid.” 

“But, Harry-” He began only for said boy to fly away towards their nemesis who stood atop the balcony. “...guess I will ask about it later?” He sighed before ducking as the grounds shook once more.  

⁂

Deep in the planes of anonymity where no life existed and no soul haunted in the proximity. It was a place where there was no concept of space or time, a place that was devoid of any emotion, no matter the nature, and it was devoid of any form of matter or non-matter.

A rift had appeared in the formless boundary, in space and time, which separated the realms of Life and Death. It was the protection which safeguarded the realm of mortality from the immortal souls that were trapped for eternity in the Fields of Punishment. It was a strong one, no doubt, but it was the only protection from the souls that had been damned for eternity.

These souls had been taken to the realm of no returns from the uncountable number of habitable planets that were in the countless galaxies present in the numerous universes which were connected by the presence of the multiversal entity of all ends, also known as, Death. 

The souls had been condemned to be tortured for eternity for all the crimes that they had conducted while they had been alive, and the only way to escape the eternal torment was for those crazy depraved things to step into the land of joy, laughter and life through the crevice that had appeared in the boundary.

The souls of the damned that had been tormented for billions of years, and the ones who knew that they would be tormented in those very lands for another billions of years were quite agitated. They wanted nothing more than to just escape the realm, and cause utter chaos on planet Earth. To shape the very landscape in their vision and mold it just the way they would like to exist on it. 

The skies started to rumble as dark clouds covered the face of planet Earth, loud thunder screamed down from the heavens above as red and white lightning crackled everywhere. Entire mountain ranges, like the Himalayas, the Andes, the Alps and many more, started to shake, where some mountains even started cracking from the top and landslides occurred in them. Dormant volcanoes, like Mauna Kea and Mount Fuji, started to rumble as molten hot lava began to bubble inside their pits. 

The entirety of the human population around the globe started to scream for mercy as bridges started to collapse, islands got submerged in the rising tides of the oceans around the planet and wildfires were spotted in forests everywhere.

News channels, around the globe, tried their level best to show the conditions while the governments were trying their hardest to make heads and tails of what was happening, and who was responsible for the utter chaos that their relatively peaceful nations had been pushed into.

Many started to scream in panic as some left their homes while others closed their doors and windows, trying to protect their loved ones from the apocalypse that had befallen on them. 

Up in the heavens, seven cracks appeared on the skies above the seven continents. The human populace as well as the news reporters that were reporting everything pointed to these large cracks that had magically appeared in a trice above their heads.

Humans and other creatures of Earth looked up as the clouds parted and the skies literally split open in two, revealing disgustingly dark patches behind them. There was complete silence as everyone waited with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. 

All of a sudden, two red orbs started to glow in the darkness of this crevice and then, a single dark soul floated out of it. The soul piece floated a few feet away from the rift before it shrieked loudly and suddenly, it pounced onto an unsuspecting man, who was watching everything like everyone else. 

The man fell to his knees as he screamed loudly, loudest he had ever screamed, as thick black veins appeared all over his skin. His eyes went completely black and dry cracks appeared around his lips. Slowly, the man stopped screaming and instead, he started laughing. Crazy and loud giggles bubbled from deep within his chest as his pupil-less eyes looked up towards the rift and raised his arms before shouting as loud as he could…

“THE TIME TO FEAST IS HERE!!!!” He screamed, “KILL THEM ALL!!!” 

And just like that, multiple red orbs appeared in the black patches all over the world and the demented souls started to rapidly pour through them, descending down and pouncing on any living thing no matter humans or animals. All they could see was their meal that was running away from them, trying to escape their deaths through a futile game of chase. 

Unfortunately, soon they would learn that all of it was pointless as nothing in the world could have stopped the souls of the damned from feasting on them. 

The entire world was flung into the clutches of chaos, about to break into nothingness as the Army of Damnation rapidly poured through the seven crevices that were spread all over the globe, while the one man responsible for this was clutching his staff in his hand and laughing as loudly as he could, as if mocking everyone who had stood in his way, once upon a time.

One thing was certain… the heavens had fallen and if nothing was done, then, soon enough the entire world shall follow its broken path to destruction and apocalypse.

Chaos was spreading and now, it was dancing through the plains of mortality, bringing the flames of ruination from the very pits of hell. One might go as far as to say that if there even was something called ‘Hell’, then, at this point, it would look no different than the current state of Earth.

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Ending note: There you have it fellas, chapter Forty-two of Innovator, hope you liked it.

I am really sorry for the late update but you can see the amount of work I am putting in the chapters to make the ending as deserving of the story as possible. 

Liked it? Loved it? Needs some changes? Please, do tell.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Thank you for reading and your comments,

With regards,
Dev Black