While Zack worked with the Flamels far beyond Earth, his agents continued their assignments among magical communities worldwide. Two hundred sixteen wizards once dangerous individuals guided by impulse and power hunger now operated with discipline and purpose. Their mission was clear:
Learn. Observe. Gather.
Earth had preserved its mysteries for centuries, but knowledge was beginning to surface.
I. EUROPE THE FORGOTTEN FORTRESS
High in the Carpathian Mountains, snowstorm winds wrapped around broken stone walls and ancient battlements. Deep inside the abandoned fortress known as The Library Without Doors, Arcturus Vale studied patterns etched into frozen stone.
Most believed the place existed only as a rumor whispered among historians.
A Spectre drone hovered beside him, projecting symbols into floating translation grids. Each rune formed part of a layered message left by long-dead wizards.
> Only those who remember who they are may enter.
Arcturus placed his hand on the stone. He focused not with magic, but with intent shaped by strengthened mind and stable soul.
The wall shimmered softly and dissolved into scattering light.
A vast chamber appeared. Shelves carved from petrified wood held scrolls bound in scaled leather, tomes sealed with metal clasps, and preserved relics suspended in transparent stasis.
Knowledge untouched by centuries lay waiting.
Arcturus didn't take anything immediately. He scanned, documented, and transmitted everything to Zack. The fortress would not be lost or forgotten again.
II. NORTH AMERICA TERMS OF VALUE
In the United States, Professor Mirella Crane descended marble stairs beneath a wizarding financial institution controlled by goblins. Braziers lit the stone corridor with steady orange light, reflecting off polished obsidian floors.
The goblins watched her with suspicion sharpened by long memory.
"I need access to sealed historical archives," she said.
The elder goblin scoffed.
"That permission has not been granted to a wizard in generations."
Mirella placed a crystal core on the table. The device displayed a vault design made of adaptive metal self-repairing, impregnable, immune to magical interference.
The elder goblin leaned in with interest.
"That mechanism would change every security system we maintain."
"It can be shared," Mirella replied, "if access is granted."
Moments later the vault doors opened. She copied records of:
extinct magical species,
forbidden rituals,
burial networks beneath major cities,
early wandless magic before formal education existed.
Each file streamed directly to Zack's system.
III. SOUTH AMERICA THE SERPENT TEMPLE
Deep within the Amazon, Cassian Ward approached an overgrown stone temple protected by ancient magic. Moss clung to carved scales where two serpents wrapped around the structure.
Cassian waited patiently until the forest changed leaves shifting as if responding to something unseen.
A guardian appeared: a woman with golden eyes and patterns resembling scales along her jaw.
"You walk on sacred ground," she whispered.
Cassian bowed deeply.
"I seek wisdom."
She circled him with silent steps.
"Your body carries traces of machines and magic. An uncertain balance."
"My purpose is learning. Nothing more."
She raised her hand and touched his forehead.
Images erupted ritual healing, serpent-shaped glyph pathways, magic woven into nature rather than dominating it.
When she finished, she locked eyes with him.
"Tell your creator: magic was never meant to be controlled. It was meant to be understood."
Cassian memorized every detail.
IV. ASIA — THE SCROLL OF BALANCE
In a secluded village hidden by ancient barriers in Japan, Reika Tsukahara sat during a tea ceremony with monks and scholars of old magic. Here, power was subtle. It rested in harmony, not force.
One elder monk studied her silently before finally offering a small scroll wrapped in simple linen.
"This contains the first lesson," he said. "Power grows with restraint. The world does not need stronger wizards. It needs wiser ones."
Reika accepted the scroll with two hands the respectful way.
V. AFRICA — THE HEALERS OF THE DESERT
Under the desert sun, Zahra al-Hadi explored ruins buried under shifting sand. With help from drones and restored magical senses, she uncovered obsidian tablets engraved with healing techniques thought to be myths.
These teachings treated illness as imbalance between soul, memory, and body not a condition to erase, but to realign.
Zahra uploaded the information and whispered:
"This is the missing half of everything we study."
THE RETURNNING STREAMS
Data flowed back to Zack organized, analyzed, and integrated into an expanding model of global magical evolution.
Earth's magical systems were not a single invention.
They were fragments of many ancient civilizations each holding a piece of a larger design.
For the first time, Zack saw the pattern forming.
Magic had never been chaos.
It was a structure.
Incomplete.
Interrupted.
But structure