บท 57: Chapter 57 - The Return of the Druids
Approaching the registration desk, Asmodeus instructed Athena to wait in the teleportation hall. Asmodeus and the group awaited the arrival of the other participants in this event.
After a few minutes, Hagrid joined them.
What did you think? Dragons fly faster than motorcycles
Soon after, the Lovegood family joined them.
"Mr. Morningstar, next week Luna will be under your care. Please take care of her," Mr. Lovegood requested.
"Don't worry, Mr. Lovegood. We have many people, numerous powerful wizards to protect her in case of danger," Asmodeus assured.
"Alright..."
Mr. Lovegood didn't linger long; he had other matters to attend to. As Asmodeus inquired about waiting for anyone else, Rose approached with a bug-shaped phone in hand.
"Mr. Morningstar, you have a call."
Asmodeus, realizing he had left his phone in the room, took the call from Nicolas.
"Asmodeus! You forgot to open the teleportation gate?! And why the hell aren't you answering your phone?"
"Hello, Nicolas. I seem to have left my phone at home..."
"Fantastic. Because of you forgetting to open the gate, 20 of us, including Dumbledore and Grindelwald, are now in Serbia! We decided to go directly to the Moonstone Hall. But someone forgot to open the gate!"
"Alright, alright, don't worry. Tell me the number of the teleportation point closest to you."
"38!"
"Okay, the gate will open in five minutes. But I'll only keep it open for 15 minutes. Don't delay if you don't want to end up somewhere even farther."
"Hurry up, it's freezing here!"
"Coming, coming."
Asmodeus took out a wooden plaque, bit his finger, and let a drop of blood fall onto it. Inscriptions appeared on the board: "Gate 1, Gate 2, Gate 3," and so on, until Asmodeus found Gate 38.
"Ah, Gate 38 and Reception Gate 88 connect. Yes, confirm lifting restrictions on teleportation to this reception point. Lift the ban for only 15 minutes. Start now."
Holding the phone again, Asmodeus told Nicolas, "The gate is open, you have 15 minutes. See you at the destination."
"Alright. Don't be late!"
Handing the bug phone to Rose, Asmodeus turned to his group and said, "Turns out we don't need to wait for anyone. We decided to meet at the arrival point. Let's go to the fourth 'private' teleportation room. I'll open the gate now."
They headed towards a small, privately used teleportation room. "Okay, one by one. Athena and I will be the last," Asmodeus said, pushing Cedric into the portal.
Five minutes after Asmodeus sent Hagrid, he and Athena entered. Returning to this beautiful place, Asmodeus saw 30-35 wizards scattered across the valley.
"Hey, Asmodeus. We're ready to begin," Nicolas greeted.
"I know, Nicolas. Let's give them half an hour to enjoy these views," Asmodeus suggested.
But Grindelwald interrupted, "I think we can start the resurrection ceremony first. We'll take turns anyway. There will be time to admire the views."
Asmodeus shrugged, "As you wish."
Ten minutes later, Asmodeus and Nicolas led everyone to the ceremony area. Placing the Moonstone in a special chest, they began explaining the next steps.
"Okay. All potential druids, you are free for now. But if you can, please start organizing a village here. If everything goes well, you'll have the opportunity to visit it frequently.
Now, let's move on to our main forces. All present here are the most powerful wizards we could contact. Each of you is strong enough to defeat 20 aurors on your own. I understand Dumbledore has already told you why you're here. Still, I decided to repeat it. Although these seven druids seem extremely friendly at first glance, we cannot lower our guard. In case of any potential threat from them, we stand united and will eliminate the enemies. Please be ready."
"If there are no questions, I suggest we begin the ceremony."
Seeing everyone nod in agreement, Asmodeus took the Moonstone from the restricting chest and headed towards the formation. Placing the stone in its designated spot and following the instructions on where to engrave the runes, Asmodeus and Nicolas started their work.
After 15-20 minutes, when all the runes were ready and Asmodeus placed an oak acorn on them while Nicolas distributed 37 flasks of life elixir evenly, Asmodeus and everyone present exchanged glances.
"Are you ready?"
They nodded in response.
"Let's begin. Pour simultaneously."
As the life elixir absorbed into the runes, silhouettes appeared in their place. Not ghosts, not humans, more like the very essence of souls. The souls seemed as if they were in a deep slumber, but this sleep didn't last long. Sprouts gradually emerged from the acorns beneath the souls, winding around them. Over the course of a few hours, a cocoon of oak roots formed around the souls. When the cocoons were firmly established, the process—explained by the druids—entered the main stage: attaching the soul to a new body.
Asmodeus and Nicolas explained to the onlookers that even they had to simply wait. Leaving 10 people on guard, Asmodeus and the others moved toward the younger ones.
To be honest, both Nicolas and Asmodeus relaxed a bit, as the resurrection process was going exactly as the druids had described. This led Asmodeus to trust them more, although he wouldn't fully trust them until the ceremony was complete and the druids passed on their knowledge.
Arriving at the spot where Asmodeus envisioned a future village for the druids, they were puzzled. They had expected potential druids, with Hagrid's help, to at least build a hut. Instead, they found three sad logs and a closed suitcase beside them, with Athena playfully looking at them.
"....."
Asmodeus had a suspicion as to why this happened, but he simply didn't want to believe it.
Opening the suitcase, people spilled out.
"Uh, Asmodeus, we don't know how, but the suitcase closed when we were inside..."
"Fine..." Asmodeus said, looking at Athena.
Realizing that her little prank had been exposed, Athena looked away as if she had nothing to do with it. Asmodeus, putting his hand on his face, addressed the group,
"Congratulations, you're the first people I know who've been tricked by a dragon…..."
Silence filled the air as Cedric and the others finally understood the culprit of their embarrassment.
Cedric: "I told you not to bother Athena..."
Rolf: "Oh, come on, you wanted to pet her too!"
"Alright, come with me. I have an idea on how we can quickly organize ourselves a place to live."
Asmodeus said and headed towards a cave. Walking along the cave, Asmodeus touched the walls with his left hand.
"Grays - not suitable. Some strange mixture - not suitable. Oh, here's pure granite - perfect."
Identifying a location where the rock was uniform and susceptible to melting, Asmodeus extended his hand forward and said, "Guys, I suggest you stand behind me. Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety."
Seeing Asmodeus' behavior and hearing his words, the onlookers finally understood what he intended to do. He wanted to melt an artificial cave. He sought a granite area because granite is well-suited to melting. The melting point of granite is 1250 degrees Celsius.
Seeing the crowd move behind him, Asmodeus began melting the cave. Unfortunately, it took a lot of time. For two hours, Asmodeus stood with his outstretched hand forward, taking a step every 5 minutes.
Finally, lowering his tired arm, Asmodeus saw his masterpiece. The cave was 7-10 meters deep and 15 meters wide, completely black because the melted granite turned into obsidian.
Before conducting a more detailed inspection, they had to wait for the cave to cool down a bit. Asmodeus, although he liked warmth, understood that the others were not thrilled to be in a sauna. Luckily, since it was winter outside, and the mountain had internal streams that cooled it down, the cave cooled in half an hour, enough for them to enter.
Entering the cave, everyone present began casting spells to expand the space. The once small cave transformed into a vast underground valley, large enough to build a city.
Seeing that the cave transformation was complete, Hagrid pulled out a bunch of construction materials from his bag—logs, stone slabs, nails, and more. People split into those who would build temporary houses and those waiting for their turn to guard.
Asmodeus found himself in the group tasked with guarding. He wanted to help with construction, but he was denied. Nicolas and Dumbledore inspected the cave and told him, "Asmodeus... we think that, how should we put it gently... it's better for you not to work with flammable materials..."
"....."
Offended, Asmodeus found Athena and, rolling into her, fell asleep. For the next two days, Asmodeus either sat and watched the cocoons or slept. It wasn't until the third day that a change occurred in the cocoons.
The acorns, previously lying on the runes, floated into the air and moved toward the cocoons. Sensing the acorn's approach, the cocoons opened, and the acorn gently immersed itself into the souls of the druids. The cocoons abruptly contracted until humanoid figures were formed. At the moment, they were very small, only 1.5 meters tall, but gradually, they began to grow and enlarge. Asmodeus realized that the final stage of the process had begun—the formation of a new body. This meant that in 10-15 hours, the druids would acquire their tree-like forms, becoming ents.
After another 12 hours, Asmodeus and everyone else gathered in front of the formation. They were tense but awaited the conclusion of the process. After a certain period, the formation lit up with green light—not the one characteristic of Voldemort's favorite spell, but the light of life and plants.
A clap resounded, and In front of the wizards appeared the druids in their new forms—ents. In front of them stood completely unusual creatures, resembling a mix of a human, a troll and a tree, about 5-6 meters tall, with long heads and almost no neck. The smooth brown skin of their hands resembled the rough gray-green bark covering the rest of their bodies. Their large feet had seven toes each. The lower part of their long faces was covered with a wide beard that looked like a bush at the base, resembling thin tendrils, and moss at the ends. Most ents looked similar because all the druids chose oak acorns as the basis for their transformation, explaining that oak is the most durable and life-filled of all trees. However, the wizards didn't notice these details yet; in fact, they noticed nothing but the eyes. These deep eyes now scrutinized them, focused and very insightful. They were brown, with a green flicker occasionally appearing in their depths.
"Allow me to reintroduce ourselves... we are the Council of Druids, though now we are ents... I am Valchar, the leader of this assembly."
"I'm Garthor..."
"I am Zormeros."
"Call me Akxus."
"Address me as Kosthos."
"I am Skarakas."
"And I am Aril, Valchar's younger brother."
They spoke very slowly, about twice as slow as the average human speech, to the point that some of those present had to suppress their urges to yawn.
"We thank you for your assistance, Asmodeus Noren Morningstar, and all those present..."
"Please, come forward to receive our knowledge..."
Asmodeus stepped forward. When he approached Valchar, the leader extended a finger and tapped his forehead. Asmodeus felt an influx of countless pieces of information.
While Asmodeus processed the knowledge from the druids, Aril gestured for Nicolas to come over.
"And you, alchemist, thanks to you, we were able to complete the transformation without incidents. Please come forward; I will pass on my Alchemy to you."
Nicolas, without hesitation, approached the ent, feeling a surge of information. For Nicolas, with a 600-year-old mind, it wasn't as burdensome as it was for Asmodeus.
After half an hour, Asmodeus and Nicolas regained their ability to think, though their heads still ached.
Seeing this, the ents spoke again, "My friends, may we inquire when we can receive our staffs?"
Upon hearing the question, Asmodeus became interested, as he hadn't noticed Ollivander among those present. It wasn't something he paid attention to before, but now he had a question.
Seeing Asmodeus silent, Nicolas answered for him, "Soon, my friends, just one wandmaker was busy, but he will be free and come here shortly."
"That's good; we are not in a hurry, just curious."
"By the way, about curiosity. You can use magic without wands; otherwise, how would you pass on knowledge to us? So why do you need wands?"
"Haha... you're right... but."
The oak began to contract sharply, revealing a tall bearded man in its place.
"But in this form, we can only use magic when we have a suitable tree in our hands. Of course, we can take a piece of bark from any tree, but it's still better to find a suitable one."
"If you could become a human from the beginning, why didn't you do it immediately?"
"Because we can maintain this form for only a few hours a day. There's no point in spending energy just to speak faster," Valchar said, transforming back into an ent.
"Alright, I'll go fetch our wand and staff expert, and you can chat with them," said Asmodeus, gesturing towards the selected potential druid apprentices and the Scamander family.
"Oh... you... approach... want... to become... a druid?"
"Do I have to become a tree?" Luna Lovegood asked somewhat reluctantly.
"Haha... no, of course not. This is just our situation... special... you can remain human."
"Then I agree."
"And I!"
"And I!"
"And me!"
"I too!"
"If it's okay, I'd like to join as well."
"Why... do you think... you're not suitable? Your... aura... of nature is very strong."
"I... I'm a half-giant," Hagrid said hesitantly.
"And what?"
"Well... I don't know if you'd want to take someone like me as a student."
"You... don't... have to worry about that. I had friends who were giants. It doesn't matter what you look like on the outside; what matters is what's inside."
"Then... I'd be happy to be your student!" Hagrid said, very excited. Even though he's treated well in Hogwarts and not mistreated in the Hog's Head Inn, pure-blood families and many other wizards often look down on him. So, seeing that the ents didn't care about his background, he was thrilled.
"Friends druids, I have a question about the future. Where do you plan to live and teach druids? I understand that you want to be close to nature, so I suggest you establish a druid academy here, near the place where it all began."
"You speak true... We don't want to leave the altar... But we need a place to teach the new generation."
"I'm willing to help you with the construction of a wizard village, or rather, a druid village, here. I can also help you find new druids, but on one condition."
"What is... your condition?"
"Once a week, one of you will teach a Herbology course at my magic academy - 'Elysium'!"
"We... will be... pleased. This will also help us... find new... protectors of nature."
"Deal?"
"Deal!"
After making an unbreakable vow and providing each ent with a magical beetle phone, Asmodeus went to sleep. The next day, he headed to Diagon Alley.
The rest, you already know.
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