Chapter One

Five year old Harry Potter lay crying in his cupboard, bruised all over from his punishment. Dudley had knocked over one of Aunt Petunia's best vases and blamed it on him. Denying it only made the situation worse, as Uncle Vernon's outrage at him calling Dudley a liar showed. The beating was the worst one he had ever received, and left him lying broken on his worn down mattress. 'I wish I could go somewhere else! Anywhere would be better than here!' He wished with all his might. His magic rushed to respond, attempting to Apparate him to another location, only to be stopped by a barrier that surrounded the house.

Not deterred by this, his magic frantically searched for a solution, growing more and more desperate as each attempt to transport him failed to work. His desperation drove his magic onwards, making attempt after attempt, draining his magic considerably. Even after his magical core was exhausted of all energy, the attempts continued, drawing what little strength they could from his malnourished body. Finally, on the brink of death, something that should have been impossible happened. For a split second, his magic accessed something incredible. A form of magic that was a fundamental force of the universe, responsible for the Operation of Parallel Worlds. The Second True Magic, the Kaleidoscope. That split second was all it took, and Harry Potter was whisked away from his cupboard under the stairs, his future changed forever.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg was bored. There was still over a decade to go until the Fourth Grail War, and not much was happening in the Clock Tower besides politics. With a bored sigh, he turned his attention towards observing the multiverse, hoping to find some entertainment. Hours passed, his boredom increasing as nothing all that interesting happened. After all, he had been observing the multiverse for decades, and seen many things. Nowadays, there wasn't much that was able to interest him, which was why he often resorted to making his own entertainment.

Suddenly, something grabbed his attention. Barely noticeable amid the countless universes he was observing, there was a minor surge of energy. But not just any type of energy, this was a surge of Kaleidoscope energy, energy created by the use of the Second True Magic. Normally, this wouldn't be worth any notice, after all, there were many versions of himself that could use the Kaleidoscope, as well as his apprentices, and sensing one of them use it was completely normal. The problem was, he could tell that this surge of Kaleidoscope energy had not originated from a different version of himself, and it didn't match any of his student's either.

Interest peaked, he narrowed in his focus on the universe the surge had originated from, blocking out all distractions. Finding the source universe, he began investigating. Finding the origin point was easy enough, although the suburban neighborhood was somewhat disappointing. Reading the lingering energy trail, he found that someone had managed to teleport themselves to another location using the Kaleidoscope, which should be impossible, because he had never taken a student from this universe.

Following the energy trail led him to a remote seeming valley, where he found himself genuinely confused for the first time in quite some time. For when he arrived, the first thing he saw was a little boy curled up underneath a small tree. Further observation made him scowl, for the signs of abuse were easy to see in the boy's malnourished and bruised form. Slowly walking towards the boy, he frowned as he realized that his body was giving out. The boy was on the brink of death, and he knew nothing he could do would make a difference. He was somewhat impressed at the boy's will to live, for although it had seemed quick enough to find him, he knew that for the boy, at least 2 hours had probably passed. Unfortunately, he had no healing magecraft, nor access to any mystic codes that would work.

Frowning in thought, he realized that there was one thing he could do. He didn't know if the boy would thank him for it, but the chance to figure out how the boy had used the Kaleidoscope with no training was worth it. Besides, he had been meaning to pick up a new apprentice soon anyway.

Kneeling next to the boy, he paused, hesitating slightly, before sinking his fangs into the boy's neck. As soon as the first drops of blood had been drunk, he pulled back. Bringing his thumb to his mouth, he quickly used his fangs to slice a large gash, before pressing it to the boy's mouth. Rubbing the boy's throat to get him to swallow, he considered his options. Taking him back to the Clock Tower was probably a bad idea, he decided. That was no place for a little boy, especially one that had been abused..

As soon as his blood entered the boy's system, the Turning began, and the boy began thrashing violently. Sensing that the change was Harry's only chance, his somewhat recovered magic quickly began assisting the process, accelerating it and integrating the results into Harry's body, mind, and soul. Exhausted but victorious, his magic went temporarily dormant as the Turning finished.

Zelretch was impressed and relieved at the results from the boy's turning. He could tell that he had skipped the ghoul and vampire stages of the change and went straight to Dead Apostle. The only other instance of that occurring that he knew of was with that Satsuki girl, although it was possible that there were more cases of this happening that he didn't know about. Still, he was glad that he wouldn't need to babysit a mindless ghoul for several years. Picking his new apprentice up, he used the Kaleidoscope to transport them to one of his many homes, this one situated in a dimension mostly populated by mundane humans. He did make sure to leave a marker in the boy's home dimension first, in case he ever wanted or needed to come back.

Zelretch frowned as he attempted to activate the boy's magic circuits, only to find none. Probing the boy's soul, his eyebrows shot up as he found a magical core instead. Did the boy have Dragon blood? Or was it because his universe worked differently? Well, as incredible as that was, the boy would still need magic circuits.

Luckily for the boy, ever since he was crippled, he had been unable to use a large portion of his magic circuits. They were still theoretically functional, but he was no longer able to use them himself, so why not give them to the boy? Grinning maniacally, he got to work. Using the link he had established between them when he Turned the boy, he painstakingly began the process of transplanting his extra circuits into the boy's soul.

Zelretch had been born with an abnormally large amount of high quality circuits, 55, to be exact. With his family's crest, he had a total of 85 magic circuits. After he had defeated Crimson Moon, he had been left crippled, and unable to use most of the circuits he had been born with, left with only 15 natural circuits and the 30 from his crest. That meant that he had 40 high quality magic circuits just sitting around in his soul doing nothing.

After the process was complete, he was left panting and exhausted, with only 15 natural magic circuits left, although he still had the 30 from his Crest. The transplant had gone extremely well, he was surprised at how adaptable the boy's soul was. The boy now had 40 high quality magic circuits in addition to his magical core, giving him great potential.

Harry Potter woke with a pained groan, his entire body aching. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes as he tried to remember where he was. Suddenly, he froze as he remembered suddenly finding himself transported from his cupboard to the middle of nowhere, left to slowly die. Looking around warily, he wondered where he was, and more importantly, how he was still alive. He was in a small room with sparse decorations, just a small nightstand with a light next to the bed he was lying on, a wardrobe in one corner, and a small bookcase in the other corner. Suddenly, there was a knock on the closed door to the room and he tensed. There was a pause, before the door opened and a man stepped into the room.

He was an older man, wearing black pants, a black shirt with a black overcoat, white gloves, and black boots. His hair was a greyish white, and he had a thick beard. His eyes were a deep crimson red, the color of blood. Despite his initial sinister appearance, the man was smiling broadly, a mischievous light in his eyes. Harry eyed him suspiciously, not trusting the jovial seeming nature of the man. "Who are you? How did I get here? Where am I?" He questioned rapidly, before hesitating slightly. "...How am I still alive?" He finished softly.

The man chuckled good naturedly, responding "I'm Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, but everyone calls me Zelretch. I brought you here after I found you. As for how you are still alive….technically, you aren't. Still alive, that is." Harry gaped at him, before scowling. "That's not funny! If I wasn't alive, how could I be talking to you right now?" He said angrily. Zelretch laughed, declaring "You've got spirit boy! And the answer is that even though you aren't alive, you aren't dead either. Sort of an in between state, really. You see, I am a Dead Apostle, a powerful type of vampire. I found you dying in the middle of nowhere, and since I had no way of healing you, I Turned you. Welcome to your new life as a Dead Apostle!" He cheered gleefully.

Harry stared, eyes wide. "What? But...vampires aren't even real!" He denied, shaking his head desperately. 'But how else would you still be alive?' A voice whispered in the back of his mind. Zelretch laughed, and Harry flinched as he spotted his fangs for the first time. "Don't believe me, eh? Well, I suppose that's to be expected. Come with me boy, I've got something to show you." He said, beckoning for Harry to follow him as he turned and left the room. Harry got up as quick as his aching body allowed, following the man warily.

Zelretch led him to a small bathroom, turning to him and smirking as they entered. "Look in the mirror, and see for yourself." He told him. Harry gulped nervously, before turning to the mirror. He froze at the image in the mirror, staring with mounting horror. Where there used to be eyes of a pure emerald green, were now eyes of a deep crimson red, the color of blood, identical to the eyes of the man who claimed to be a vampire. He opened his mouth, fearful anticipation running through his mind. A pair of fangs flashed menacingly, making him flinch. Turning to the man, he stared, desperately hoping that this was a dream, or some kind of mean joke.

His heart sank as he realized that no such thing was true, he really was a vampire now. 'Is that really such a bad thing?' A stray thought wondered in the back of his mind. 'What's so bad about being a vampire? He said that he was a powerful kind of vampire right? Isn't that what you've always wanted? To be powerful? So that no one can treat you badly again, so that you could be free. Free to make your own choices, free to live the way you want to live.' It continued. Harry's despair abated slightly as he considered this new perspective.

'Why does the idea of being a vampire scare me?' He wondered. 'Because that's what I'm supposed to be feeling.' He realized. 'I'm not supposed to want this, just like I'm not supposed to watch the TV, or sleep in, or talk to the neighbors, or ask questions.' As the epiphany roared through his mind, rarely felt defiance rose up along with it. 'Why though? Why shouldn't I do those things? Just because Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said so?' Fury filled him at the thought. 'No! I want to live the way I want, not how others think I should!' Determination filling him, he returned his mind to the present, gazing at the man who had saved him.

"Teach me. Teach me how to be a vampire. Teach me how to be powerful. Teach me how to be free!" He demanded. Surprise flashed across the man's face, before transforming into victorious glee. "You want me to teach you, huh? It won't be easy, you know. In fact, I can guarantee that it will be very difficult, perhaps the hardest thing you'll ever do. Think you can manage it?" He warned. Harry didn't hesitate to reply. "I've never been so sure of anything before in my life!" A wide grin spread across Zelretch's face. "Well then, let's begin…apprentice."

6 year old Harry Potter sighed contentedly as the last of the blood rushed passed his lips, filling him with strength. Lowering the corpse of his meal revealed it to be what was once an average looking human male, now a withered husk drained of all vitality. Wiping blood off his lips, he contemplated how far he had come as he began disposing of the body. For the first few weeks as a Dead Apostle, he had drank animal blood from a goblet, both provided by Zelretch. After he had adjusted some to his new life, Zelretch had stopped providing him with blood, telling him that he needed to learn how to fend for himself and hunt for it.

At first, he had struggled with the idea of hunting some poor animal for its blood. However, as his body degenerated and his thirst for blood grew day by day, he found himself not caring where his blood came from, so long as his thirst was quenched. They lived on the outskirts of a small rural town, and there was plenty of wildlife in the area, so acquiring a live animal was easy enough.

His first deliberate victim was a rabbit that he had stunned by throwing a rock at it. As he held its struggling form, his vampiric instincts kicked in full force, and he sunk his fangs into it and drained its blood with relish. Afterwards, he was surprised to find that he felt no remorse or guilt about it, indeed only feeling satisfaction at his first successful hunt. It did make sense however, as he was no longer a human, but a Dead Apostle, and his mind was built differently than a human's.

A couple months went by, hunting for fresh blood when he needed it. He found that he enjoyed the hunt, and began learning how to use throwing knives to catch more difficult prey, such as deer. Luckily, it made very little difference if he drank blood from a live animal or one that had just been killed, so he could kill an animal with a throwing knife and then drink from its corpse.

Then one day Zelretch dropped him in a crowded city much like London and said that it was time to learn how to hunt humans. Harry had not been as horrified as he would have expected, and indeed the only impact his dying morals made was convincing him to only hunt horrible people who deserved to die anyway, like rapists or drug dealers that targeted kids and the like.

His first victim was a rapist who had been recently released from prison. He stalked him for 2 days, before managing to corner him in an alley the man was looking for victims of his own in. Harry snuck up on him from behind and quickly used his vampiric strength to pin him down and drain him of his blood.

The entire experience of the hunt was the best thing ever, giving him an intense, primal feeling of satisfaction at the conclusion. Zelretch made a quick appearance after every kill, disposing of the body for him. Harry proceeded to stalk and kill a couple dozen more people in the following few months, leading to rumours of a serial killer running rampant in the city. His enjoyment of the hunt only grew as he took on more challenging victims, and he grew very comfortable with his new vampiric abilities.

Most memorable was when he first used his time-reversal to heal from a devastating stab wound from a drug dealer he had been hunting.

Flashback

Harry had been stalking his next victim for 3 days now, waiting for an opportunity to strike. This victim was a drug dealer he had seen supplying some teenagers who appeared high-school aged with cocaine. 'Finally!' He thought, as his prey began walking down a small alley with no other people around. Drawing a knife, he began to sneak up on his next meal, taking care to watch his footing around the multitude of assorted garbage one often found in such alley ways.

Unfortunately, his would-be victim had abruptly decided to turn around and walk the other way. Upon seeing a boy approaching him with a knife drawn, he sneered and drew his own knife. "You decided to mug the wrong dude today, kid!" He snarled, brandishing his knife threateningly. Harry hesitated, all his previous victims had been caught by surprise and subdued quickly.

This was a new situation for him, and he didn't like it. Scowling, he stomped on his weakness, and firmed up his resolve. He was beginning to become blood starved, it having been several days since his last meal, and he couldn't risk going into a blood frenzy. He had gone into a blood frenzy just one time, and that was enough to make him never want to experience it again.

It had happened after Zelretch had stopped supplying him with blood, before he had worked up the resolve to hunt his own. The blood frenzy had reduced him to a crazed animal driven only by his vampiric instincts, leading him to attack any potential meal nearby, no matter who or what it was. He had attacked Zelretch, who had promptly kicked his ass and dropped him in a random field. The blood frenzy had lasted until he had gorged himself on a family of foxes, before fading away and leaving him sitting in the middle of a blood stained clearing. He couldn't risk going into a blood frenzy in the middle of a populated city, who knows who he would drain of all life?

This thought ringing through his mind, Harry didn't back down, instead holding his ground, preparing to dodge at the last moment. As the angry man neared, he lunged with his knife, Harry narrowly dodging. As he dodged, Harry lashed out with his own knife, scoring a shallow cut along the man's side. Roaring in pain and anger, the man turned quickly and aimed a hard kick at Harry. Barely managing to dodge the kick, Harry tried to circle around the man to get a better angle to attack from.

The man was having none of this however, and ran at Harry again. This time, however, he anticipated the dodge, and turned mid lunge, managing to bury his knife in Harry's stomach with a sickening squelch. Harry screamed in pain and shock, falling to his knees as the man smirked in satisfaction and yanked his knife out of the boy. He turned to walk away, not noticing the look of murderous rage in the boy's eyes.

Hatred like he had never felt before roared to life in Harry's mind. 'How DARE this prey harm its betters?! The scum needed to learn its place, namely as Harry's next meal!' Instincts flaring, Harry tapped into the innate ability of all suitably powerful Dead Apostles, and reversed time on his body, bringing it to a point from just before the injury was received. There was a huge drain on his magic, which he ignored as he stood up, glaring at the back of his prey.

Stalking forward, he picked up his knife and padded silently after his prey. Quickly, he drew near and readied his knife, before going for the kill. He exploded into movement, plunging his knife into the man's side, deliberately going for a spot he knew from experience would kill the man fast. The man screamed and fell to his knees, clutching the devastating wound desperately. Turning, he gasped as he saw the boy he thought he had killed a minute ago, yelling "Didn't I stab your ass?!" He demanded fearfully.

Malice gleamed in Harry's crimson eyes, and the man felt terror like he had never felt before as he noticed both the malice, and the color of the boy's eyes. He flinched when Harry flashed his fangs hungrily, frantically backing away as he approached. "What kind of monster are you?!" The man screamed, terrified.

It was the last thing he would ever say, as Harry lunged out with his knife again, slashing the man's throat, and proceeding to greedily drain his corpse of blood.

End Flashback

Now, Zelretch had decided that he had adjusted well enough to come back to their house and begin his lessons on magic. Harry had taken the news that magic was real with ease after learning and adjusting to his new vampire status. If vampires were real, then why couldn't magic be real?

Harry eyed the ritual circle warily, turning to Zelretch and asking "So, this ritual will tell us what magic I'll be good at?"

Zelretch smirked and replied "More precisely, it will tell us what your Origin and Element are, which both have a major influence on what kind of magic you can excel in more easily than others."

Harry frowned and asked "What's the difference?"

"Good question! The answer is that a person's Origin and Element have a huge impact on what kind of magic they are capable of learning easily. For example, an Average One is a mage with all five of the standard elements as their Element, and is able to learn spells relating to those elements much easier than someone who doesn't have those elements. Let's say that there's a mage with fire as their Element.

They would be able to learn spells that are related to fire much easier than spells that are related to say, water. But, if they were determined to learn a water spell that they really like, they could potentially learn it, it would just take much more effort to learn than if it was a fire spell. So, just because they have fire for their Element doesn't necessarily mean that they only know fire spells.

Also, casting a spell which is aligned with either your Origin or your Element costs much less magic than a spell which isn't aligned with you at all. So, to go back to the fire mage example, he might be able to spam fire spells all day long, but if he started casting a lot of water spells, he'll go through his magic much quicker.

So to answer your question, if you put in enough effort, you can be good at any kind of magic you want. Knowing your Origin and Element is more about giving you an idea of where to start, and letting you know where your natural talents lay."

Harry took a second to digest the speech, nodding slowly. "I think I get it. So, we're doing this for you to know what kind of magic to teach me first then?"

Zelretch gave him a pleased grin and exclaimed "Exactly right! Now, quit stalling and step into the ritual circle!"

Harry sighed at being seen through so easily, but turned back to the ritual circle and stepped into it obediently. After the ritual was over, Harry looked curiously at Zelretch who seemed stunned into silence.

"Well, what are the results then?" He asked urgently.

Zelretch shook off his shock and grinned widely. "I knew you would be an interesting apprentice, and this proves it! You're an incarnation!"

Harry frowned and asked "What's an incarnation? That doesn't tell me anything!"

Zelretch grinned and answered "An incarnation is a person with a matching pair of Origin and Element. The only other incarnation I'm aware of for example, has an Origin and Element of Sword. This means that magic involving swords in some way is extremely easy for him to learn, and he can cast sword related magic much easier than anyone else. But on the other hand, he has an extremely hard time learning any spells which aren't related to swords at all, to the point where he doesn't even bother trying most of the time."

Harry frowned and said "So, it basically means I'll be more specialized than other mages? Wait, you still haven't told me what they are!"

Zelretch smirked and replied "You have an extremely rare affinity, to the point that I've never even heard of anyone with it as either an Origin or an Element. You are an Incarnation of Death."

Harry frowned and said "Death? What does that even mean when it comes to magic? Does it mean that any spells which cause death will come easier to me? Or does it mean that I can learn Necromancy, and raise the dead? Or maybe it means that I can learn spells that are meant to stop death, like healing spells? How do we know what it means?"

Zelretch laughed and said "Most likely, it means all of the above. See, when it comes to affinities, it's often a case of what makes sense to the individual mage. If you genuinely think a spell is related to your affinity, then you'll have an easier time with it.

I've seen earth mages able to manipulate metal because they think metal is related to their Element, and other earth mages that can't manipulate metal because they don't really agree. I've even seen an earth mage not being able to manipulate metal, end up being able to because he was convinced that metal actually was related to his Element."

Harry paused, thinking it over, before a smile crept over his face. "So, I've got a really good affinity then! After all, what I want more than anything is to be powerful, so powerful that I can do anything that I want and no one can make me do anything I don't want to do. Being really good at causing death will help me achieve that, right?"

Zelretch smirked and replied "Most certainly. Also, remember that you're my apprentice, and that I'll be teaching you how to use the Kaleidoscope. True Magic is often regarded as the most powerful type of magic there is, for good reason. And since the circuits I gave you used to be mine, I have a hunch that you'll have a leg up on most of my other apprentices when it comes to learning the Kaleidoscope. After all, they've been used to manipulate the Kaleidoscope before, so it stands to reason that they retain some 'muscle memory' if you will."

Harry grinned and exclaimed "Awesome! Let's get started then!"

Let me know what you think!