The prayers had come from Fleur, Dominic, and Sirius.
Snape hadn't contacted Loki and he understood that he was either talking to Dumbledore directly or interpreting the dream himself trying to figure out why he saw the Error Pathway symbol in the dream along with a strange new symbol (moon pathway).
Spreading his spirituality to Sirius first, since he seemed a little too excited, Loki started to see and hear his pleas.
"My lord! I just had a dream that my subconscious and spirituality used to warn me to grow stronger! I saw the Symbols of the Sleepless Pathway and the Symbol on the door representing your transactions Mr. Error."
'Hmm…?' Loki felt a little confused that Sirius was summarizing everything in such few words but it seemed reasonable since Sirius was a Beyonder of the Darkness Pathway and worked closely with dreams.
'It makes sense that he's able to interpret his dream so quickly…since he was probably awake the entire time.'
'And he's probably seen the symbol of the Darkness pathway in the Black Family heritage before to be able to recognise it so quickly.'
But without giving time for Loki to think much else, Sirius immediately rambled off-
"Is it related to the sudden happenings all around the world my Lord? The explosion of desires? And the escape of demons!?"
'....?'
'Explosion of desires…'
'What's going on?'
'Did something happen…?'
Loki breathing lightened slightly, he left Sirius's pulsating star for a short moment and moved over to Dominic to see if his prayers revealed something deeper.
After covering Dominic's star in a wave of his spirituality, Loki observed carefully.
Dominic seemed to be right inside an office space, 'Inside the Unspeakables?' Loki reasoned.
He seemed to have locked himself in a small room filled with stacks and stacks of papers and documents that seemed to be needing some urgent processing, but at this time Dominic looked was more worried about being jump scared, at least if his tone of voice was anything to go by regardless of his words.
"O' Great Mr. Error, could I receive your guidance about the strange dream I've just gotten? Is it related to the sudden influx of reports that have flooded into the Unspeakables about demons, weak and strong, penetrating the world!?"
Loki instantly became dumbfounded.
Putting aside the wording, Loki almost instantly flicked his Sequence3 Mentor of Deceit Characteristics to peer into Dominic's mind, deceiving all his mental defences to quickly study all the 'reports that had flooded into the Unspeakables' about the situation.
As Loki absorbed each report, he found himself increasingly confused, unable to understand what was truly going on since the situation painted by the reports was as grim as staring down a set of Dragon's teeth.
'....mass murder in subway station…suspected to be a demon based on sacrificial rituals after killings…'
'Unnatural 'shower of blood and entrails'' Loki didn't want to know what a shower of blood and entrails meant, but continued absorbing, "...suspected to be the work of a demon after he murdered an entire farm worth of cows, sheep, humans and other exotic magical animals…'
'People on the streets above the Ministry of Magic have begun wildly shagging each other…suspected to be the work of a demon controlling desires.'
'Sudden increase in rates of muggle suicides under baffling circumstances…suspected to be the work of demons…'
'The Charging Bull of Wall Street has come alive and is rampaging through everything and everyone around….suspected to be the work of a Prisoner pathway Beyonder.'
'Tensions between dissolved USSR and USA rise as several officers have suddenly been incited into launching 'weapons of mass destruction'...officers have been subdued, temporarily, by Beyonders present on scene, but further connection for establishing the situation has been lost…suspected to be the work of demons or assassins.'
'Armies of several countries have reported a sudden rise in insubordination and have launched small scale wars between their countries, most have been avoided with the help of locally stationed wizards, but some have been misreported after the Beyonders working to report such things were found dead…assumed to be work of demons given the corruption in the Beyonder Characteristics of the Beyonders who died.'
'Countries with a significant divide in wealth are seeing sudden uprisings and rebellions…suspected to be the work of several demons working together.'
It had all left him baffled, bamboozled and quite perhaps, feeling betrayed of his Seat as Mr. Error for the first time in a while.
But Loki calmed himself.
Using cogitation to force his breathing back to normal and his mind back to a state of balance, Loki looked through the reports once again before switching to the prayers of Fleur's lit up crimson star.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Fleur's report was on the milder side of things. She only appeared to be worried about being corrupted or cursed in some way and didn't have any other information.
And so, after using his decryption abilities to the fullest-
'Demons are involved…that means Mother Tree of Desire is involved. That is further backed by the fact that right before or rather 'around' the time of this large scale incident, not only did I lose control of my emotions for a second, but Dumbledore was fully manipulated…or he let his emotions be manipulate…for some reason.'
'I haven't yet heard from Farbauti…does that mean he betrayed my offer? No, if he wanted to join hands with 'Her' he'd rather have done it earlier.'
'Then there's Grindelwald or Herpo…'
'Hmmm…..interesting.'
-Loki spoke without any further delays.
…
Dominic who was kneeling with his eyes closed suddenly felt a grey fog cover his eyes as he recognised what appeared to be Mr. World sitting in the distance.
"Mr. Strength, this is a game involving Gods and Angels. All you can do at this point is to sort things out on the ground level and leave other matters to the Gods. The only way you can get involved is if you become stronger, much, much stronger."
Right as Mr. World finished his explanation, the scene switched to Mr. Error sitting on his high back chair, covered in a mysterious dense fog, he sat in a relaxedly, posturing with his elbow on the chair handle and his head leaning on his hand as he spoke-
"This is just the beginning."
With that Dominic was back in his office, his vision clearing up as his mind reeled at the information he was presented with.
'Gods and Angels!? That means corruption…and given that something so large is happening it means that the True Gods will be involved…when was the last time such a thing happened? The Third or the Fourth Epoch?'
'And Mr. Error mentioned it so casually…'
'He truly is an Ancient God.'
Dominic's head hung with weight as he slowly shook his head, "I hope Loki will be alright in all this…'
Sirius similarly was singing Mr. Error's praises, but unlike Dominic who was worried, Sirius was excited.
"Trouble! Trouble means opportunities!!! I will rise and become an Angel by Mr. Error's side!!! 'His' angel from the Darkness Pathway!!! I'm sure under 'His' benevolent guidance, I can observe the change of times and become the Star of each era!!!"
Fleur on the other hand received an additional message from Mr. Error.
"Contact Cheek. Tell her that I have found a way for her to repay our debt."
What debt?
Loki didn't know.
But he had left his words vague on purpose.
After all, a True God terrified of you had to have some sort of debt with you in the past right?
And so all the members of the Tarot Club began to focus on growing stronger.
Dominic immediately got involved in his duties as an Unspeakable-
'This is the best way for me to quickly digest my Guardian potion. I need to grow stronger quickly if I want to help Mr. Error…and if I want to keep dad safe through all that's to come.'
Sirius dove straight in by going to Walburga and informing her that he was going to meet Dumbledore directly. And given that she was terribly busy at this moment with everything since the demons had attacked several Black Family businesses, she failed to stop Sirius in time.
Fleur set up a ritual and began to pray.
"I"
"I pray for the power of calamity."
"I pray for the power of chaos."
"I pray for the Goddess's loving grace."
"I pray for the Goddess to grace me with her presence to listen a message from Mr. Err-"
Fleur was interrupted even before she could finish her final words and by extension the ritual.
Touching her lips Fleur realised that her entire jaw had been petrified.
Although worry filled her heart, Fleur forced herself to remain calm while keeping her head bowed.
While keeping herself calm because of the petrification wasn't an issue as she was a trained assassin with good control over her emotions, being subjected to the sudden emotional upheaval of the raw desire to throw herself at the feet of her goddess and worship it was hard.
Fleur had to work hard to remain calm.
She forced her head down, keeping her eyes shut and even trying to block the seductive fragrance of a temptress floating directly into her mind.
The sound of shallow breaths echoed around Fleur for a few seconds as she felt her Goddess poke and prod her body from various angles using thin strands of spider webs before the petrification slowly receded.
"Speak, but 'His' name must not leave your memories. If I do not like what you have to say, this will be the last time you see anything. Perhaps even bring disaster to your own little sister."
Fleur gulped dryly as the petrification had caused all the water in her mouth to dry up.
Her heart beat rising at the thought of being unable to see Gabrielle ever again and thumping loud enough for her to hear at the thought of her own sister facing the wrath of a True God.
"Yes my lady." She said, nodding softly as she spoke quickly to minimize the number of breaths she took in, "'He' asks me to inform you that 'He' has a way for you to repay your debt."
If Fleur had looked up at this moment, she'd have seen Cheek's face scrunch up in utter confusion.
'Debt!?'
'To 'Him'!?'
'Why don't I know that I owe him a debt!?'
'I already cleared everything in that final battle! I don't owe him anything anymore!'
But then a strange thought occurred in Cheek's mind.
'...is it the debt of not killing me the last time he saw me?'
'...'
Even still, knowing a lot more about the situation currently at hand, and trying to appear 'magnanimous' and no 'less' than Mr. Error, Cheek spoke passively.
"I will think about it."
There was a soft pause before Cheek continued, "There are going to be a lot of opportunities for you to grow in the near future. If you make use of them you could become an angel by my side."
'An angel!?' Fleur was shocked.
There hadn't been a single angel in the Assassin Pathway after the fourth epoch.
Fleur was about to respond to ask more about the situation but before she knew it, the presence was gone, Cheek had vanished.
She looked around for a bit in confusion before proceeding to complete the ritual she started anyway just as a sign of respect to her Goddess before clearing everything up and going to search for Gabrielle in the dormitory.
Soon she fell asleep beside Gabrielle, holding her close and making sure she'd never hurt her sister ever if she turned into a mindless monster.
…
Loki sat back in his chair.
His mind spinning with plans and actions as he thought about all the things going on in the world.
'For such a large-scale aimless action to have been taken, the only reason would be to hide something else or as part of an advancement ritual.'
'But how did whatever's protecting the planet from the Outer Gods fail?'
'Or was it some other trick?'
'A trick that allowed an outer god to interfere so deeply with the real world?'
'And…given the number of conflicts that were stirred up in such a short time…is this a replay of the Third and the Fourth Epochs?'
'A battle in between humans to weaken them before swooping in to take over?'
'After all, even 'Mr. Error' himself is missing this time since I'm only a Sequence 4 while the one from the 'past' seems to have sacrificed himself during the last war.'
'Hmm…'
A faint nervousness crept into Loki's heart but as soon as it did, the warmth of the necklace around his neck calmed him down.
Loki flipped it open and spotted Elane sleeping peacefully which brought a soft smile to his face.
'....it doesn't matter who comes or what happens…I'll make sure I use them against them.'
But then he frowned again.
'The issue remains however…did Dumbledore really manage to control Salazar's actions as a mere Sequence 1 Angel?'
…
In Nurmengard-
"Bella Ciao~! Bella Ciao~! Bella Ciao~! Ciao~! Ciao~!"
The sudden shattering of a mirror broke the flow of the song as the old man singing it turned towards the small flaming letter tossed out from the rift with a slight frown.
The letter burnt fully before it even reached Grindelwald but he didn't mind.
Instead he reached his hand into space, causing his hand to vanish momentarily as he pulled out the exact same flaming letter and looked at it.
The words on it extremely simple.
"'He' has contacted me just like you predicted 'He' would."
"Hehe…hehehe…hehehehahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
But almost as suddenly as the bolt of lightning that struck the spires of the castle, flashing everything in an eerie glow for a moment, the man stopped laughing, as if he never had before.
Then with a flick of his hand the shadows of his chair extended.
Emerging from it was a Black Knight that stood tall, but more like a puppet. Not a single flicker of movement was observed before a sudden sense of heavy oppression engulfed the entire castle filling the puppet like Black Knight with the breath of a maddened life.
Suddenly all shadows lengthened, blood and flesh squirmed regardless of which person in the castle it was attached to.
However before things could progress further, all those people fell limp, collapsing to the floor as the castle itself consumed them.
Then Grindelwald spoke almost casually while cleaning the specks of dust that had gotten on his expensive leather shoes due to the pressure making the castle groan-
"I have information about where your target might appear in the near future."
The oppressive feeling remained over the castle for a while before it vanished.
The Black Knight turned back into the same inanimate puppet before sinking back into the shadows as everyone else in the castle continued working as if nothing had happened.
…
A scramble broke out amongst the professors of Hogwarts as they each rushed towards the Headmaster's office with their own letters delivered urgently via floo.
And as soon as they bumped into each other at the rather glamorous bronze gargoyle they exchanged understanding glances and even before they could repeat the password, the gargoyle turned and revealed the staircase, allowing them to move on without a word.
Entering the headmaster's office, McGonagall was the first to speak, her tone urgent and her hands trembling.
"We've all received the news one way or another, Albus. What are we supposed to do? What are the kids supposed to do?"
Dumbledore, who was writing something with deep interest, suddenly paused.
The shimmering quill in his hand trembled a little, trying to free itself from something, before it fell onto the table with no reprieve.
"I'm aware." Dumbledore said softly, his fingers reaching underneath the desk for his stash of toffees but he found them empty.
Suddenly his already terrible mood turned for the worse.
That was when the professors in the office, including Snape realised that Dumbledore's gaze seemed terribly angered, the world seemed to visibly distort and their minds seemed to be forced to a halt.
But before anything else could happen the look in Dumbledore's eyes vanished, replaced by the all pervasive twinkle that he had when he seemed to be up to something.
It left all the professors confused and baffled.
'What's going on?'
'Is he angry or is he not?'
'A spectator getting angry…?'
'We must have been dreaming because of the stress.'
'Yes. That is a reasonable development.'
Before their thoughts could progress any further, it rewound out of existence, then slowly, Dumbledore's calm voice rolled off the walls, as if the room itself were speaking with his authority.
"Gather all the students. Make sure each one of them is accounted for after today. They will be escorted to and from their classes. Those that are Beyonders among them will be sent to work under the Unspeakables to help them. A suitable excuse such as giving the best students practical work experience should do the trick."
The teachers stood stunned. Their minds still dazed as information was poured into their minds bypassing every defence.
"If any of you are able to get in touch with your previous Beyonder students, see if they'd be willing to join the Order of the Phoenix or the Unspeakables at worst."
"McGonagall, please ask Madam Bones to authorise the help of individual Beyonders that do not wish to take 'sides' in this conflict."
"Madam Sprout, please ask Augusta to keep an eye on Longbottoms. If I'm not wrong, this should be an opportunity to heal them. Oh and supplies for potion ingredients would be very helpful."
"Filius, any items the ravenclaw students can prepare at this point in time will be of immense help, you might want to look into recruiting the Weasley Twins. I get the feeling that they'll be very interested in giving Demons a taste of Dragon dung."
"Severus, Harry is added to your schedule." The statement felt so violently repugnant to Snape that he almost shattered through his daze, but Dumbledore simply continued calmly as if he didn't notice anything, "I don't know what they'd say about you, but I'm sure they'd be happy to see Harry grow. Especially Lily."
The professors nodded dazedly, their eyes still vacant, their minds buzzed as they slowly walked back towards their offices.
Once they left the office, the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes vanished, replaced by the same impulsive anger it had been left with once again.
The Quill of Alzuhod was grabbed and was used to scribble many more lines again.
…
As soon as Severus reached his office, he got into the chair and picked up the letter he'd wanted to show to Dumbledore and then stared off slightly towards his right, feeling lost.
His gaze flickered before they regained the flicker of intensity they always carried.
Snape's gaze lingered for a few seconds before he quickly stood up and rushed towards his bedroom.
He quickly set up an altar and began to pray.
"I"
"I Pray For the Power Of The Mysterious."
"I Pray For the Power Of Truth."
"I Pray For The God's Grace."
"I Pray For The God's Guidance regarding…"
And the prayer was soon answered, except as soon as the crimson fog flooded his vision Snape's mind went into an upheaval as a sudden seal on his memories was lifted.
But before anything could happen, the upheaval vanished, the seal stayed intact as if it had never been touched and the memories behind them vanished for a moment before returning, while Snape continued doing whatever he was just doing, waiting for Mr. Error's response about the situation, seeing if he could gain more information from this supposed great being on the brink of resurrection.
'Perhaps 'He' is behind all this? To create an opportunity to resurrect?'
After all, Mr. Error still hadn't helped him with helping the True Goddess of his Pathway.
The crimson in his vision receded as an illusory projection of Mr. World surfaced who explained certain simple things to Snape that he'd already deduced.
But then his vision filled with crimson once again as he found himself in front of Mr. Error who simply looked at him for a few seconds then said, "I'm aware." before adding a few simple words that nearly caused Snape's mind to fall into turmoil, "If you advance a Sequence you can see the one you long for. You're too weak to know much of anything else."
'Weak!?'
Snape almost reflexively cursed at Mr. Error as 'His' words had triggered the same past he'd struggled so hard to leave behind.
But Snape wasn't even given a chance to retaliate as 'His' other words suddenly sunk into his realisation.
He wanted to ask more questions, but he wasn't even given the chance when the ritual with Mr. Error ended and he found himself back in his office space.
Kneeling.
Utterly dumbfounded while tears slowly streaked down his face.