AN: Hey all this is maticore and I am declairing that I do not own the rights to the characters from the Nasuverse nor the harry potterverse. Due to my love of the character I do not own the rights to sworddancers (though I wish I did )

Return of the guardian

Zelretch. Dead apostle. Wizard marshal. Kelaidoscope. These are some of the first things that come to mind when people see the old man of the clock tower. Or atleast these are the polite thoughts that come to mind as the man, being both a dead apostle and a entity that lives outside the usual dimensional rules has warped his perception of normal decorum.

Old man Zelretch has become notorius for driving almost all of his vic...erm apprentices insane. He does this by pranking them. This normally would not be so bad as its just a prank right? Wrong. As old man zelretchs idea of a prank is to drop someone into a different universe in the body of a magical girl... for the giggles.

It is because of his proclivity to cause chaos that the incarnations. Beings that are similar to the gods that occupy the universes but unlike them they are not the avatars of a concept. Each of these beings are creates directly from a concept to be its incarnation. From there they delegate authority to 'avatars' within pantheons. These incarnations have taken notice of his activities throughout the multiverse.

The incarnations could not allow a being to continue to cause such wanton havok without a counter-ballence. So it was decided and agreed upon with the marshal that to counter his 'adventures' he would solve problems that occur for them as they cannot intervene but he not being a divine being could interact without causing trouble.

It was on one of these travels where he 'corrects' his cosmic karma that he was confronted.

Zelretch was walking down a a quiet street in a small town in Wales. He had been scanning this universe, it was one of the unussual ones being on the border between two different clusters it ended up as a mix of both.

As an example he once traveled to one where magic was in full bloom, but it was like this because the Gods of old where still alive. They where in hiding. This meant that the old mysteries where still in effect including the deities of magic. These deities considered the so called magical people 'their dominion' and generally rarely paid attention to much out side of it.

So using his past experience he came prepared and he studied. He learned that not long after the times of ancient greece the mages had a dispute on how to proceed with using their magic. This dispute was caused by the emergance of a dark Mage called Herpo the foul his inventions in magic and use of combat magiks not in war or defence but with the pure intent of mallice of forethought shocked the community to the core.

In the end this event caused schism. The split was between two factions the first was the groups worst effected by Herpo. They were calling for restraint on the reckless creation and usage of magics. The other faction still wished to create the magics but in a controled manner.

This schism lead to the eventual creation of the wizard community and the mage community. The mages loosing their cores at some point along the way. And the wizard becoming fearful and hiding from the rest of the world. It was also this schism that caused families to be split into two. When some of the clan members would agree with the other side they would often go and create a new family. Following similar ideals under their new banner.

So when Zelretch saw a growing nexus point, a point in time where nothing will change the outcome unless something is changed. He knew what cluster of universes this was as well he was the current grandfather figure for another girl he had save from one of them.

Arriving on the street he proceeded to walk along it. It was a quiant little town he didn't know the name of the place but it was pretty enough. Continuing his walk he picked up the scent of two magic users one male and one female, he also smelled …. fear.

Not unusual as a Dead ancestor he was usually mistaken for a vampire. Well he cant blame them but he is a cut above the abominations so its a bit insulting. He couldn't help but wonder if this is how Arcuid feels about the dead ancestors that go about murdering? Hmm he will probably never know she is a very private girl that one.

He had arrived a a small clearing just out side of town when he heard a voice call out to him. " Stop! What are you doing here Vampire?!" his eyebrow quirked and a grin on his face zelretch turned to face his two confronters.

Before him in the grove of evergreens was a tall man black messy hair with brown eyes and glasses. The man appeared to be holding what appeared to be a stick but Zelretch knew better they where mystic codes that where designed to amplify and channel prana.

A Little bit behind the man with a weary look on her face. Her bright red hair framing her beautiful face and her full body would have made her the attention of many men but thats not what caught zelretchs eye. What caught his eye was her eyes, eyes that he had seen in very few places before one in particular was quite interesting. He couldn't help but wonder.

"Well?"demanded the man It was here that Zelretch just couldn't help himself "well to answer your question I was just out for a midnight stroll in the woods" he replied with a wide grin. This caused an involuntery twitch on the severe fave of the man.

"Give me a proper answer what does You-know-who want in this town!" the man demanded. This caused some confusion as he didn't kn... ohh he is on about that wanna be punk. This universe must be behind the the time stream a bit. So this was still the first blood war. Interesting.

Very interesting.

"I think we have gotten off on the wrong footing let me introduce myself. My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. I am not a Vampire I am a Dead apostle but to keep things simple we shall not be explaining that." Zelretch said to the couple as he could see the confusion.

"Now for the relavant part to your question I am a Wizard marshal and the creator of the second true magic the keliadoscope or in leymans terms the ability to observe and move through parallel universes and dimensions." at this he heard a gasp from the woman "but,but,but that is impossible , James to be able to do what he is saying is just mind boggling." the man on the other hand just looked lost.

"my young lady that is the reason it is called a true magic. As unlike almost every other type of magic out there with enough technology man kind could replicate it from simple potions through to changing an items shape even small jumps in time can all be replicated with technology hence not true magic. True magic however can be equated to miracles, from creating matter with no cost, my own universe jumping, the heavens feel or manifesting the soul, even the blue which is true temporal manipulation all essentially boil down to what equates to miracles." He explained to the teenaged girl who seemed to be getting more and more excited by the second.

"erm lily I know that you are excited at learning something new and all honey but there is the possibility he works for you-know-who?" this caused both Zelretch and the girl to blink and the girl to snap her wand back up at him and him to chuckle .

"hmm lets see if I remember correctly from my travels tom likes to brand his followers. Something called the 'dark mark true?" he asked the man … James who nodded " well if I showed you my arms that I don't have it can we have a discussion ?" he said this with all the air of a ruling monarch doing his best to replicate loreleis attitude so that he could pull it off.

James accepted at this but was still warey as the man had basically admitted to being some kind of vampire and by the looks of his attitude a strong one. So once they had checked for the mark and cleared him they returned to a small cottage that they were living in to talk.

"Okay first I must tell you how I came here. You are aware of concepts such as death or love and so on right?"the couple nodded "good during my travels I was approached by one such being claiming to be the concept of death." this cause a shocked look in the couple. Seeing it caused him to smirk " now you must realise this was while I was in the nothingness between universes, I essentially got yanked aside and accosted by death, not a good day." this caused a chuckle to escape him at the memory. " now death basically said that due to my 'travels' I was interfering with how things were supposed to go in an uncontrolled manner too much and if I don't stop she and the other aspects would deal with me." this provoked a shocked look.

It was lily who replied "hmm I guess it makes a kind of sense if you think about it if these concepts as you call them exist I would guess there would be one for either Fate or Destiny. I would also guess that since they are working on a cosmic scale they only look at the end goal not the journey. Sound about right?" This provoked a smile from the old man "correct you are. The micro management was supposed to be the job of the gods. But most pantheons take a decidedly hands off approach and well you cant even tell if they still exist any more."

This shocked them. The gods were real? Well damn!

"Now after a bit of arguing we basically came to an agreement that I get to travel as long as I mitigate any damage I do by helping them solve their issue spots. Or Nexus an area of importance that needs help." this provoked a nod from the couple.

"Now young lady during this conversation I used one of my spells to check both of your health and I found that you have a curse effecting your womb, am I correct?" at this a sad look came over her face "yes we were in a fight a few years back when a curse aimed for James hit me instead we don't know how it is effecting me as this sterility curse is designed for men but..." she trailed of with tears glistening in her eyes .

Zelretchs face hardened. Well he had found his job if the potter child isn't born there would be major issues. So he decided to help them. "If I may may I lay a hand on your abdomen, this is so that I can use a spell to find out what is happening with the curse." James had tensed at the request but when he heard that it was to possibly help with the curse a small ray of hope flittered in his chest. He detested seeing lily this despondent.

"Okay but please tell me if you cant do anything." lily mumbled quietly. Zelretch just smiled at the girl and used analysis. Closing his eyes to go through the aquired information he learned that the curse had run its course and was no longer there. But he learned something else as well.

"Well you will be please to know you are no longer cursed. Due to the effort of having to work on the wrong gender it burned itself out. However I regret to inform you that I don't think you have many viable eggs left." There was a look of relief on her face as she took in the first bit. " But I still have a chance of having children yes?" she asked with a hope filled voice. "yes you have that chance in fact I would like to say congratulations to you as you are pregnant right now." he said to her with a cheshire smile .

At this she looked about to burst into tears as she saw him nod at which she just hugged the old man and then clung to James. "Now before we get too Excited the child was attacked by the curse just before it dissipated so it is on the knife edge between life and death." he said grimly not liking having to say this.

"The main problem is that the curse attacked her at her core or as you would call it her soul. Now if she had time her core would stabalize but ..." The look of pain on his face said it all he had just told a young mother she had a child on the way and then a minute later that she could possibly lose her. God people must think he is a sadist.

"Is there any way to help her please I don't want to loose our daughter" demanded James with passion and fire in his eyes while holding his wife close. Zelretch looked at the man. " under stand that yes I do know of a possibility but it will be your choice if I do it." at this the man nodded "please tell me what your plan is" "very well" said Zelretch very uncomfortable with this.

As you know the problem is that your daughters core is weak there fore needs reinforcing." this caused a nod "what I propose is that we use a little bit of the third true magic the realisation of the soul. This will allow us to find another version of herself to essentially become the foundation or anchor stone on which she can grow around." At this James almost launched himself at the man "you want to turn my daughter into someone else!" he demanded furiously! "calm yourself firstly she isn't born yet she will have plenty of years to grow and secondly I said foundation. I will explain it like this you have two houses with the same foundations but are built by different people from different specs what happens?" it was lily that caught on with a bright smile "That although there might be some similarities between our daughter and her donor she will still be ours to teach and love?" Zelretch nodded "odds are she will have an odd habit here or there or a skill that she shouldn't you will know where they come from." This caused them both to nod in understanding.

"Now you have a choice you can take the chance and go alone or you can take the chance with me and I will procure the necessary items. What is your choice?" both of the couple looked at each other before lily looked at him and replied " would you be able to procure the items while we discuss the options? We can have an answer for you when you get back?" she asked hopefully.

"Okay I have the information I need anyway I just need to find that old witch. I should be back in a weeks time till then!" with that there was a flash of rainbow light and he was gone.

In the divide between realities zelretch was grumbling about having to intentionally find that irritating witch Yuko Ichihara. But as far as he knew she was the only one who could use the heavens feel on a concious level.

He had to admit though he was not expecting the girl to be a version of Ilya von Einzbern Does that mean that there are two Ilyas in that reality?does it mean that there is a human named Ilya and a humonculous called Ilya? Fuck it it was hurting his head.

He needed to find a version that would work well a version that could work as a foundation for such an important figure. Hmm wasn't there that one Ilya that …..

And with that Zelretch proceeded off to clear his cosmic debt book and hopefully not get wiped from existance... for another month.