Chapter 39: The Lie That Became True
Harry stood before the maze along with the other champions. Fleur and Cedric stood on either side of him while Krum was positioned beside Cedric. The evening sunlight felt warm and the grass looked more orange than green. Even the parts of the maze sported patches of red-orange.
"See you, Fleur." Harry said to Fleur as his turn for going into the maze came. He was in the first place after all. She nodded and touched her chest where the ouroboros necklace was hidden. He shot her a smile and plunged into the giant maze without another backward glance.
Instead of going through the maze like normal, Harry grabbed onto the hovering camera and teleported to the centre of the maze along with it, where the cup was. He picked up the cup with the other hand and won the tournament.
Just like that.
~~~
All the people in the stands were boo-ing loudly. They were standing and complaining, looking imploringly at the judges. They had expected an entertaining contest but the tournament had ended in short, abrupt and in an utterly boring manner. Even the people watching from the comforts of their homes were massively disappointed at the anticlimactic end of the famous tournament which the whole wizarding world had been paying attention to.
They wanted a rematch where such boring powers were banned.
The three champions stared incredulously at the collapsed maze, they lost even before they could try. Fleur couldn't help but groan unhappily. She wasn't aware that Harry would just go and teleport himself to end the competition. She had thought that he at least would give them a tiny chance to shine.
That was just not fair. Coming all the way to Britain and to lose like this was a cruel farce. She was very annoyed at him. Couldn't he have prolonged the match a little so she could at least feel like she participated and lost fairly?
Looking up at the only screen live, she saw Harry walking through a grim graveyard.
A sudden hush fell around them as everyone stared dubiously at the giant hovering television screen.
Wasn't the tournament over? Why was Harry Potter in a graveyard instead of on the stage?
If anyone had glanced at Dumbledore, they would have seen all the blood draining from his face since he knew of this place. The other organisers were panicking too, understanding that something was grossly wrong, knowing that this wasn't the part of the show.
"Welcome to the Re-Creation of the world." Harry proclaimed calmly as he looked through the camera after stopping a dozen feet before a stone statue.
The audience screamed in distress when they saw a mousy man pointing his wand at the fourth champion. Because Harry was still facing the camera, he didn't see the silent man creeping behind him.
"Look out!"
"Behind you!"
Many yelled stupidly even when they knew that he couldn't hear them.
Harry in answer, as if miraculously hearing them, without even turning his head to look behind him, swatted his hand like he was flicking a fly.
Peter Pettigrew and the baby form of Voldemort instantly fell down unconscious behind him.
There was a stunned silence in the stands at the casual display of power.
"As I was saying, welcome to the Re-Creation of the world. By the end of it, everything will be changed. Let the process begin." Harry said seriously and clapped his hands.
They saw him conjuring a throne in the middle of the grave and sitting on it imperiously. He rested the back of his head on the headrest and closed his eyes after shooting them a narrowed look.
Instantly, there was a flash of golden light, a light so bright that the screen turned white and everyone reflexively covered their eyes.
~~~
Harry finally, for the first time in his life, let loose. His Deus, the unworldly, divine power flooded out from him like a Tsunami that tried to submerge the whole world in it.
Alas, it wasn't enough. His Deus was limited and couldn't cover every single being on the earth. So, he drained the only other source of the Deus known to him.
Jasmine Zinan, his close friend, was sitting on an armchair in the Room of Requirement. She knew the plan and had eagerly waited for her part. That was the reason why she was not down in the stands but was in this room. Her ouroboros necklace began glowing brightly.
"It's happening then. Take it, Harry. Take as much as you want." She gasped as golden energy left her body and merged with the massive wave hovering over the world like a serpent ready to strike.
She screamed hoarsely as her Deus was pulled out of her like a water through sponge. She felt someone was cruelly pulling out her limbs. She yelled and hissed in agony, blood poured out of her mouth freely, her skin turned ashen and all her hair fell down from her scalp.
She stumbled down from the chair and sprawled on the floor, in her own pool of blood, whimpering as her magic was sucked out of her. She lost weight and muscles, she looked like a thin stick, her skin desperately clinging to her bones. She appeared as if she was on the last stage of cancer and was just a breath away from death. Unfortunately or fortunately, she was immortal and the mercy of Death wasn't available to her.
Finally, she lost consciousness and embraced the painless oblivion.
~~~
The entire world was panicking and crying out in fear. Everything had been normal until it wasn't. Somehow the sky had turned a lustrous shade of gold. Even the sun was hidden behind it. But that wasn't the cause of the mass panic. No, it was the gentle thrum of the ground that made everyone fear the worst. The very earth was booming with vibration as if some divine god was hitting the planet like a drum. People ran out of their houses and apartments, fearing a disastrous earthquake, trying to save their lives. They amassed on roads and parks, whispering and screaming for an explanation.
Then it came. The mist. The sparkling golden fog. It rose from the ground like a water vapour and hung in the air. No begging or violent hand swiping could clear the translucent sheen of gold in the atmosphere. And people fell asleep as soon as the mist touched them. It wasn't as if they even got time to fight in vain.
It was not happening in just one place though. It was happening everywhere.
In the highest mountains of Himalayas, in the isolated North and South poles, in the barren Sahara desert, in the deepest oceans. The mist appeared everywhere like a sudden herald of doom, hiding the sun and overtaking the sky. It was as beautiful as it was frightening.
Europe, America, Asia, Australia, Africa, not a single place was spared. It was a worldwide phenomenon. Every inch and every corner of the planet was blanketed by this strange mist that forced people into sleep. Many tried to fight it.
But how could you fight a mist?
A cluster of mist even shot up into space to seek the remaining humans on various spaceships.
In the end, every single human, whether it be an infant fresh into life or an old man on the cusp of death, were enshrouded by the gleaming mist. Even the animals were brought down by the mist. Every type of sentient being was included in this. It didn't matter if it was a mere fly who would die in minutes or if it was an intelligent race who would live a century. The mist touched them all. It touched their souls and pulled them into his dream world.
The world was lastly at peace. Because every single being was sleeping, disregarding if it was day or night, disregarding if it was cold or hot. Every being was enfolded by this mist protectively and possessively, keeping them from harm but imprisoning them too.
Daphne, Astoria, Iris, Fleur, Tracey and Jasmine were the only exceptions among the gazillion of living beings. While Jasmine was still lying unconscious in the Room of Requirement, the other girls were sitting in the stands around the destroyed maze, staring at the silent world in wonder.
"It's one thing to hear his plan and another to see it enacted. I am amazed that he really had this much power all along. The entire world is sleeping, all because of him. It's kinda scary too." Astoria mumbled, looking at the golden misty cocoons that housed different wizards and witches.
"Of course, brother is awesome. I always knew it." Iris chimed in proudly, getting amused looks from her companions.
"I would have been scared if I didn't trust Harry." Fleur said, watching how even her little sister and mother weren't excluded from his plan.
"Don't worry. They will be fine. Harry is not going to hurt them." Tracey smiled reassuringly at her. Fleur nodded gratefully at her.
"Damn! What to do now? I want to watch how Harry will proceed but we can't see it since his mist is ignoring us." Daphne grumbled in dissatisfaction. As if hearing her request, a small screen materialised in front of them.
~~~
A fourteen years old boy was sitting on a throne-like chair in an opulent chamber. His body was covered by the silkiest black robes and his long ebony hair hung in waves on his shoulders. His mischievous green eyes glowed from within and a lazy smile adorned his face.
"I am Harry Potter, to those who don't know me. And I have come to change your ways." Harry began, staring ahead kindly.
Just like that, the throne room vanished and Harry was now standing on a ledge while trillions of living beings stood below the cliff. There were humans, magicals, vampires, werewolves, goblins along with all kinds of beasts and insects and birds. It was an endless sea of beings that spread towards the horizon. Thankfully for everyone, they could see him as if he was just standing before them even when they were hundreds of kilometres away from him.
The sky behind him was clear and calm blue like it was early morning. There was no sun but there was sunlight. There was no wind but there was a comfortable coolness.
People tried to yell or scream. They tried to ask him what the hell was going on but they didn't have the freedom to move or speak here. They couldn't do anything but just stand on the endless green plain and listen to what he said.
"But before we continue, let me tell you my real identity. My real self is Chaos , one of the two primordial beings who created this multiverse. The other being is Order who is slumbering as of now, leaving me in charge. We two are the guardians of the Worlds. We are the Watchers. We are the Creators. It is our duty to keep it safe and balanced so it doesn't cause the fall of the known world." Harry smiled amicably, gazing down at the incredulous faces.
"Yes, I know it is hard to believe but so is that every living sentient organism is pulled here before me, in my grasp. You better believe it. If I wish I can kill you all with a mere thought. Actually, that was the plan because your planet has become corrupt and unredeemable. Magic is dying, Nature is dying, every good thing that makes your planet liveable is dying. It will be far too easy to just erase your whole existence so your advanced future generations don't cause any permanent harm to the multiverse by becoming parasites and trying to invade other planets because you destroyed your current one. Yes, the idea to kill you all is very enticing." Harry explained with the same good natured smile.
The numerous beings before him flinched in fear. Even the less intelligent creatures like animals felt dread well up inside them, they couldn't understand what he was saying but they could comprehend the danger that came from this apex predator.
"Thankfully for you all, we, the Creators, are merciful and the eradication of a gazillion beings will leave a sour taste in our mouths. That's why I, Chaos, decided to see this world through a human's perspective instead of God's and see if there is another way to stop the poison from spreading to other worlds. I was born here as Harry Potter, a son of a wizard and witch. Yes, there is magic in your world for those who don't know. It was a unique experience if nothing else. I got to be human and feel all human emotions. And I also found out how to save this world without annihilating it. As I grew up in your world, I came to a gradual realisation that the biggest cause of misery and corruption in this world is freedom and power. People have freedom to do good and bad. And people have freedom to escape punishment if they have power. There are millions of you here who have committed the vilest crimes and still are living a life of luxury instead of rotting in a cell. All because you have the power, political or economical, to bribe and corrupt the already corrupted system." Harry explained politely and nodded at the mass. Many of them shuffled nervously, knowing their own faults and the ugly truth.
"Worry not, my people. I have decided to be a Messiah instead of the annihilator. I have decided to be kind instead of cruel. I will save your world without bringing you all to extinction. I will give you a gift. A present from a God." Harry announced grandiosely.
The billions of beings who could understand him, looked at him expectantly and fearfully.
"I give you all the symbol of Eternity. My own symbol."
There was a brief tingle in every being's body.
They didn't feel any different and thought that whatever this self-proclaimed God was intending didn't happen. But when they looked at each other, they gasped in astonishment.
There was now a red ouroboros symbol etched in the centre of everyone's forehead. It didn't matter how big or how microscopic you were. Every living being now carried the red tattoo of a snake eating its own tail on their bodies.
"Now let me explain what its purpose is. Listen carefully, people of earth, this symbol is special. A sign that you have all finally been turned equal in regards to power and freedom."
"What you have on your forehead is your judge, jury and executor."
A total silence enveloped the infinite plain.
"Yes, you heard it correctly. You now have a magical power inside you. But instead of giving you special powers, it watches over you and decides whether you are fit to live among the living or not. Oh look, it is already working." Harry chuckled as if he had just made a good joke.
People disappeared in millions and millions. They turned into smoke and imploded silently. If anyone could have screamed they would have. But all were silent and frozen as willed by Chaos.
"When you all will wake up, don't be surprised if you find a huge number of dead bodies. They are just criminals and scum of society. Don't mourn them much. Now that only the good people are alive, congratulations by the way, let's get to the next point. You all are now eligible to live and go back to your lives. Nothing will change for you, my symbol won't interfere in your life. It will turn invisible as soon as you wake up. But when you are about to do something bad and are totally going to do it and it is not some mere passing thought, then the symbol will act before you can even commit the sin. Yes, I have created the perfect world. A world of peace with no crime. All you needed was a God who took away your freedom to do wrong. Now the rules… Well, except there are no rules. Haha. I am not setting some stiff rules in which you can find loopholes. My symbol is adaptable, it will punish you as it sees fit. Enjoy the eternal Paradise. Hope you enjoy it. I, Chaos , shall remove myself from your world since there won't be any chaos anymore. Goodbye, people. Don't be bad and eat your veggies." Chaos smirked and vanished from the cliff.
24 June, 1995. That was the day which in history would go down by the name of New Genesis. That day the world changed irrevocably. It changed for the better. And for those who thought otherwise, they died quietly. The population took a major hit since more than a few millions died.
Everyone would have thought it was a bizarre dream if it hadn't happened to everybody. And also to solidify their belief, there was suddenly a huge fucking marble statue of Harry Potter rising from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It was so big that it could be clearly seen from space. That did it for them. They all readily agreed that they had met divinity. That they had met one of the true Gods.
There was even an attempt to start a religion around him but the people who started it, died in a few days.
The ouroboros symbols on their foreheads had seared right through their brains. Meaning, they were doing something bad. That was the way many people continued on dying and it wasn't too hard to guess that they were trying to do some evil.
All in all, Chaos had been established as a deity in everyone's mind if not consciously then subconsciously. There were few people who still denied his existence and were against the idea of two Primordial Gods but they were just in a desperate denial. They would accept it in a few days.
~~~
As soon as Harry felt the power of belief of trillions of beings seeping into him, he vanished from the cliff and freed everyone from the dream prison.
He was forcefully pulled by some unknown force. He appeared under a black miasmic ocean that tried to drown him. The black inky water entered through his mouth and nose and filled his soul upto brim. Knowing that this was the essence of Chaos, Harry let himself drown in the endless darkness.
When he would drink all of it, he would become true Chaos. Finally, he would be the personification of Chaos. At last he would be turned into a deity. The most powerful immortal being. He lazily drifted down as the infinite water tried to enter inside his soul.
Gradually, he began feeling sick and frightful. The water was without any end. His soul wouldn't be able to fill all that inside him. He started struggling but the dark water held him tightly and flowed into him.
He was trapped in an eternal loop of the infinite water flowing through his soul. And since the water never ended, since it was added every second as new worlds bloomed each instant, Harry never would be able to take it all in and escape.
He gave a wordless cry as the water pushed him deeper and deeper into the endless Chaos.
'I am sorry, Iris. I am sorry to all of you. I apologise that I will never be able to come back.' Harry thought grimly as his consciousness was snuffed out and he entered into the dream world to escape the torment.
He had made a grave mistake. He had underestimated the difficulty and overestimated his power.
~~~
The Chamber of Seven was filled with all important deities. Lord Time sat upon his throne and looked down severely at the whispering gods.
"Fate! You have failed. It was your duty to prevent any human from gaining so much power and influence that they could tip the balance of the world. Harry Potter had done exactly that. He had tricked the world to establish himself as a deity." Lord Time said sharply.
A young black haired girl who appeared as a seven years old child, stepped forward from the crowd of the gods.
"I apologise, my lord. But all the blame can't be heaped onto me. Lady Magic was the one who gave half her divine essence to that child. Lady Death was the one who nurtured the knowledge of the child and gave him resources to plan this vile act. I couldn't have done anything, milord. The only blame I can take is that my chosen one, Luna Lovegood, failed in her duty. Honestly, due to Magic's and Death's interference the fate of Harry Potter had changed drastically and irrevocably. He was never meant to have this much power or influence." Fate complained angrily.
"Lady Magic, what do you have to say for yourself?" Lord Time asked from his throne.
"Oops." She grinned impertinently.
Lord Time sighed wearily and looked on at Death.
"I have no regrets. I just wanted to have my instruments back which Lady Magic and Lady Life had stolen and given away to the mortals. I will be honest, it was also your fault that instead of giving me my instruments, you let it remain in the mortal world to punish and teach lessons to Lady Magic and Lady Life. I had no part in that foolish incident then why did I have to pay for it?" Lady Death answered blankly and stared at Lord Time who turned his gaze away.
"Fortunately for the multiverse, Harry Potter won't be successful. There is a reason why Chaos and Order aren't sentient beings. They have too much power and they are omnipotent. No sentient mind can process or survive this. While Harry Potter successfully turned himself into a God, he won't be able to do anything with it since he will be forever trapped in Chaos' infinite essence. He will have gone mad already. Alas, it is a waste to see such an ambitious young one get lost. He jumped too high and asked for too much." Lord Time mumbled sadly.
Both Lady Death and Lady Magic grimaced. For Magic, Harry Potter was practically her son and for even Death, he was a friend and a companion.
They both were full of sorrow and regret to hear of his sorry state.
~~~
The first plan had been to follow Death's order and give her the hallows and in return attain immortality for himself and his girls. That would have been the easiest and the safest way to achieve his goal. But that would also have made him her servant. And Harry Potter didn't like to bow before anyone.
Then he began acquiring information from Death. About the deities, about their existence, about their birth and about their divinity. What he learned was that Divine beings were created naturally. When a particular domain had enough belief and influence, the natural force automatically created a personification of that domain. This was true only for the elder gods though. There were other gods too in different worlds who were born differently. But they were vastly inferior to the elder gods. One thing Harry hated the most was being inferior. He had gotten used to being the most powerful being and didn't like the thought of being an inferior god. After he learned the lore of the known world, he was flummoxed and didn't know what to do next. Then, an idea formed, slowly and gradually.
He could become the most powerful being. Why try to become an elder god when he could just do better and become a primordial? Conveniently, Chaos and Order didn't even have any personifications. It was an empty throne just waiting for someone to claim it. That was the realisation Harry needed to finally become what he always wanted to be. The strongest and the best. Having freedom to do anything he wanted without any fear of consequences. Either be that good or evil, he didn't care. He just wanted absolute freedom. That's how his master plan began forming. At first he had decided to establish faith in only the magical world since his Deus wasn't enough to cover the whole planet. Fortunately, Jasmine Zinan happened to stumble in his path and gave him a chance to make his ascension on a whole different grand scale. Why stop at just magicals when he could now be worshipped by every sentient being?
The plan was perfect and it was done expertly. Everything went as he had hoped. Well, except that he was now drowning in the waters of Chaos. It was his current predicament that had always been unknown to him. No one had ever tried anything like this before so Harry had no idea what would happen once he became Chaos . He had different theories but nothing concrete. Still, he had gone ahead with his plan confidently, knowing that he was capable enough to face anything and come out as a winner.
That overconfident was his bane as he lay still, floating aimlessly in the black miasmic water.
His body had been destroyed. There was no physical manifestation of Harry Potter on earth. Only his soul remained, drifting in the essence of Chaos.
~~~
Harry was in a small white room. The three walls were stainless white while the fourth side was covered with bars. The floor and the ceiling were inky black, just like the space outside the bars. Only the luminous walls kept the darkness at bay.
Harry lay sprawled on his back, entirely naked. He had tried everything but he couldn't get out of the bars. His Deus wasn't even working here. He didn't know if months had passed or years. The flow of time here was skewed. He lay motionless as his soul was aware of everything in every world. At least that made him know how everything was going on earth. Four years had passed in his original world. Iris had grown up into a beautiful girl. So had his every girl. Jasmine too had recovered soon after her ordeal and now was one of the most powerful beings on earth. His plan had worked wonderfully and earth was a paradise now. His symbol did its work and weeded out the people who didn't deserve living. Even the ones who were born after his ascension had the ouroboros symbol on their heads. Harry had planned it perfectly. The symbol would be passed down to every new generation after the birth so there would always be an utopia on earth. Nothing would change that except some external force. But Harry had a solution for that too. He had hid the solar system under his immense power so no external life force would ever interfere with his work of art.
Harry should be happy but he wasn't. Why? Because he didn't fucking care what happened to the nameless masses. He didn't do it out of his good heart. He never had wanted to make an utopia because it would do everyone good. Fucking no! He just wanted to become a God and Gods usually are merciful and kind. He had acted that part, playing his character nicely. All he ever wanted was to become the strongest and that he had become. Unfortunately, at the cost of his freedom. He couldn't do anything with this power if he couldn't get out of the cell. Someone somewhere must be laughing that he was caged after he took away freedom from the people of earth. How ironic.
A stingy headache attacked whenever a new world was created. And that was the biggest problem. He couldn't concentrate on getting out when every second he was hit by a fucking migraine. Only if he could separate these headaches then he would have easily freed himself. And the cause of those headaches was the creation of new worlds which happened every single damn second.
An idea trickled into his mind between the interval of the headaches, between the fraction of a fraction of fraction of a second. This brief fractional second of rest was enough to bring salvation. It was enough to consider the idea. It was a dangerous idea, it could cause him more than a little harm.
He enacted it instantly.
He tore away his soul in two equal parts. He left the one part as the personification of Chaos and stuffed his consciousness into the other one.
Suddenly he felt free. All the oppressive weight and the headaches disappeared. He looked down at himself. He willed himself into clothes.
He took a deep breath before an explosive laughter escaped his mouth. He cackled loudly, throwing his head back. He did that for a whole two minutes before his laughter turned into sobs and he dropped to his knees. He cried finally, letting out all the pain and the loneliness he had felt in this cage. For earth, only four years had passed but for him it felt like eternity.
He gazed at his other self who was nothing but a mindless machine, taking in all the information and power of the multiverse. Harry was still Chaos but he needed to actively use those powers. He was still omnipotent but he again needed to actively use it. Just like he always wanted. He had the power but the power didn't have him. He had Chaos but Chaos didn't have him.
He knew what was the price for shredding his soul. He had lost the little remaining goodness, the little remaining humanity left in his heart forever. He was evil now. Before his ascension, he still had some morals. He would never have hurt little children or tormented them. He would never have made innocent suffer for his amusement. But now, he could eat children for breakfast and feel nothing. Now, he could see them suffering through vilest tortures and feel nothing. He was blank. He was a true psychopath now. A psychopath who was the strongest being of the multiverse.
The different worlds shook for a second as the strongest being laughed maniacally.
At least he was still able to feel the warm feelings his girls were able to inflame in him. They were the only ones which gave warmth to his cold soul. It was mostly because they were connected to him so deeply and magically.
He took another breath and teleported himself to where Iris was. It was time for reunions.
His other mindless self lay alone in the cell and processed everything that happened and was happening in the multiverse. He was just a husk which connected Chaos to Harry Potter and filtered out all the disadvantages.
~~~
Bonus Scene
Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew were the only exceptions where the evil beings weren't killed directly.
No, their punishment was worse. Far worse. Simple death wouldn't do for the killers of Harry Potter's parents. No, They were punished far more harshly.
"Aghhhhh!" They both yelled as a white wolf tore through their bodies and feasted on them. Only if that was the punishment. No, they were turned immortal and couldn't be killed permanently. They were revived after every death and were given different types of punishment.
Currently they were turned into beautiful female elves while a group of orcs surrounded them with lecherous eyes. They didn't have anywhere to go or flee in the enclosed cave. The orcs descended on them, tearing off their clothes with their dirty hands.
Voldemort who once wished immortality, now deeply wished that he could die and be at peace and escape this pain and humiliation.
How ironic.
Somewhere Harry Potter was laughing as he watched the show.