"So… I was right."
Rowan Mercer exhaled slowly.
"When I first arrived in this world, you already knew I existed?"
The violet disc drifted gently from side to side.
"Not at first.
"My soul is bound to this vessel. Maintaining cohesion consumes nearly all of my focus. I had no surplus awareness to observe my own worlds."
A soft pulse rippled across its surface.
"The four universes continued along their predetermined narrative paths. Only when the destiny of your primary world diverged on a massive scale did my Death report the anomaly. That was when I learned of you."
Rowan's gaze sharpened.
"If that's the case, why didn't you eliminate me back then? I was weak. Even if you couldn't act personally, your servant easily could have."
The disc circled him once.
"Because you were almost certainly placed here by Aurelion."
Rowan's eyes narrowed.
"Explain."
"Even in my damaged state, ordinary creators cannot secretly insert a foreign existence into my multiverse. The being capable of doing so without triggering my defenses could erase me and my four worlds effortlessly if they wished."
The disc paused.
"Since my creation, only one such entity has ever visited me. Aurelion. He knows my location in the Void."
Silence stretched.
"I concluded that you were his arrangement."
Rowan absorbed the information.
Aurelion had saved this creator.
Aurelion had seeded Rowan into multiple worlds.
The pattern was impossible to ignore.
"Aurelion enjoys interference," the disc continued. "He once told me that observing how gifted individuals struggle, adapt, and reshape different realities is one of his preferred amusements."
"So that's what I am," Rowan muttered. "Entertainment."
"Perhaps. But also potential."
Rowan let the thought settle.
It matched everything he had experienced.
After a moment, the disc spoke again.
"You will surpass me someday. That much is obvious."
Rowan did not deny it.
"I propose a trade."
Rowan's eyes lifted.
"I will separate one of my universes and gift it to you now."
The disc glowed faintly.
"In exchange, when you reach sufficient power in the future, you will help restore me to my former state."
The explanation followed naturally.
Aurelion had stabilized her soul, but had not rebuilt her existence.
Left alone, recovery would take an unfathomably long time.
Worse, a hostile multiversal entity could pass through at any moment.
She needed an insurance policy.
Rowan considered for less than two seconds.
"Deal."
A free universe.
Guaranteed growth.
A favor owed only if he one day became capable of repaying it.
There was no downside.
The creator did not hide her relief.
Knowledge followed.
Guidance.
Clarifications about multiversal structure.
Rowan chose the universe whose timeline he had already altered.
That world would become the payment.
Assimilation began.
As the merge proceeded, Rowan spoke again.
"I have one more request."
"State it."
Rowan vanished.
He appeared inside the Hogwarts Institute of Magitech.
Severus Snape sat alone in the headmaster's office, reviewing documents.
Rowan did not announce himself.
With a simple gesture, he extracted Snape's soul.
Snape did not resist.
Rowan held the glowing essence carefully.
"This is all I can give you, Professor," Rowan said quietly. "What you do with it… is up to you."
A portal opened.
Rowan stepped into the parallel universe set decades earlier.
He located an unborn child.
Severus Snape.
Rowan guided the soul forward.
Fusion.
A few months from now, Severus Snape would awaken with memories intact.
A second life.
Another chance.
To meet Lily Evans again.
To choose differently.
Rowan watched for a moment, then turned away.
He could not send Snape back through time within the same universe. That would fracture causality and erase countless lives.
Parallel rebirth avoided that cost.
Snape's greatest regret had never been power.
It had been words.
Choices.
Pride.
This time, he would not be a powerless student chasing forbidden magic.
He carried knowledge.
Experience.
And magic refined by Rowan himself.
By adulthood, Snape would surpass even Voldemort at his peak.
He would stand beside Dumbledore.
Or above him.
Rowan felt something close to amusement.
"So this is why Aurelion does it."
Not cruelty.
Not kindness.
Curiosity.
Rowan would protect Snape if disaster came.
Aurelion would not protect Rowan.
That was the difference.
...
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