Of Mind and Magic

Chapter 21

Harry strode across the newly terraformed planet Mars, the sound of a burbling river off to his left singing in his ears.

He stared down at the cube in his hand.

Each side of the cube was now the color of an infinity stone, purple, blue, green, gold, yellow, and red. Energy filled the cube, swirling like a tornado and causing the cube to glow like a rainbow.

He eyed the mountains in the distance, tilting his head up as a breeze swirled around him, carrying the scent of wildflowers.

Eyes still closed, he pushed the cube forward. The square shone with multicolored energy.

Beams of light shot down all across the planet, dropping down Earth's most endangered animals in spots similar to the natural habitat. Focusing on these animals, Harry found blue whales, leopards, and cheetahs, just to name a few.

He focused on the cheetahs, changing their genetic defect.

With a step, Harry ran across the planet at inhuman speeds.

Stopping on a plot of land ringed by two snowcapped mountains, He closed his eyes, reaching within his soul, pulling on his connection to the house of secrets.

Harry stared at the Victorian home, its dark windows staring at him like the multiple eyes of some monster, the shadows in his doorway making the opening look like a mouth gaping in horror at what he was about to do.

Raising his hand, the books in his library floated out the doorway to stack neatly on either side of him. Tables full of equipment appeared behind the books as well as his clothes. Looking around at his things, he made another gesture, the miscellaneous things in the basement left behind by previous owners stacked up around him as well.

Once he was sure he had everything of value from the home, he raised his other hand. The house of secrets floated into the air.

He stared at it for a long moment. This was the last thing he had of his mother's, but he was going to create a haven for mutants, they needed homes and the magical wood that made up the house of secrets could regenerate smaller versions of itself if it was broken down.

He couldn't expect people to come here if they had nowhere to live.

Waving his free hand, the house of secrets broke apart, each individual piece of wood floating in the air. With a wave of his hand, he separated the bits of technology in the home, having them float in another pile. With a flick of his finger, metal armor and other bits from the miscellaneous things around him joined their floating counterparts.

With a flick of his eyes, some of the pieces of wood floated through the air stabbing into the ground in equal distance apart from each other. Once they were in the ground, Harry reached out with his power forcing it through the wood. The rest of the wood shot off into the distance.

The wood around him shuddered, and began to expand. Pieces expanding out of it at a rapid rate, before long, frames of homes were formed.

As the houses began to grow around him, Harry turned his attention to the floating components in the air. This place was going to need power, but he didn't want to use nuclear or coal power after what happened to the earth. He didn't know exactly how many people were coming, but there was a river nearby for hydropower.

Come to think of it, he reached deep beneath the earth, sighing in relief as he found an underground reservoir. He really should've checked on that before placing the houses here. He glanced around him at the small two-story wooden houses that set almost in a complete ring around him, the glass windows reflecting the light of the sun.

Focusing his attention back on the floating piece of metal he closed his eyes finally coming to a decision. Seeing the metal with his expanded senses, he forced some of it to join together. In moments, it glowed a whitish yellow.

Molding it into a hollow sphere, he began carving runes into it.

His merger with the mother box had given him some ideas for unlimited power, but he felt that using dark matter was too dangerous, so for now he would focus on fusion reaction. Once the runes covered the sphere, it looked sort of like the lines on a basketball.

Pulling the heat from the sphere, he stared at his creation.

The runes and the sphere would transmute air into helium and hydrogen while containing the heat as well as the light. It would also combined helium and hydrogen under pressure. Hopefully once it was complete he would be able to create a small sun that would power the homes here for many years.

Turning his attention back to the metal, he formed a square 6' x 6' around the sphere. More metal stretched, transforming into cables that plugged into premade holes in the sphere. Circuits wove together, runes spiraling the way along the outside of the wires that plugged into specific runes on the sphere.

Done with his project, Harry opened his eyes finding himself staring at an upright square with a glass porthole in its center. Stepping forward, he placed his hand on the glass of the porthole. Focusing his will, two circles of concentric runes appeared on either side of the square.

Stopping for a moment, he took a breath preparing himself for the hardest part. Once he was sure he was ready, he placed his hand on the glass again reaching his mind inside the sphere. The first thing was the easiest. With barely a thought, he converted the air in the sphere to hydrogen and helium.

He mixed the two chemicals slowly transmuting more from the air and adding it into the mixture while applying pressure.

Sweat ran down his face as he used his powers in a way he hadn't before. His free hand clenched his other one pressed against the magically enhanced glass. After what felt like hours, something shifted and a bright light flashed even through his closed eyes.

He stumbled backward in surprise, falling onto his butt, a smile spreading across his face as he saw the golden yellow light shining from the porthole. He had done it. He had created a miniature sun.

Raising a shaky hand, he swept it across his brow. He was glad his device worked, and that the runes were able to channel the energy. He would've survived it blowing up, but it wouldn't be pleasant.

With a gesture, the new fusion reactor sank beneath the earth settling into a premade chamber made of compressed and transmuted granite ten miles down.

Stretching out his will, he carved two small square channels into the cube that led up to the surface. This would allow air into the chamber so that the sphere could do the job of transmuting the air into the correct chemicals.

Keeping his attention on his device, Harry probed the runes on the side with his intent.

The runes flared, wires shooting out of the side to snake their way through the granite walls.

He watched the progress until they broke through the earth surface, plugging into the fuse box mounted on the outside of each house.

Lights flickered on in each home. The windows filled with a warm welcoming glow.

Harry looked up at the sky. Birds soared through the air, their colorful plumage accenting the pink background of the setting sun. He had tried not to use the cosmic cube too much after terraforming the planet to match earth's ecosystem and rotation around the sun.

He didn't want to become dependent on its power, plus he had bigger plans for it, but when he had copied the endangered species of earth, he also copied the other animals to provide a balance of nature.

Seeing the sight before him, he was glad he had.

Tearing his gaze away from the sky, he shoved his hands into his grey sweatpants. His bare feet glided across the grass as he made his way to one of the houses. A cool wind swirled around his bare upper body, drying the sweat there.

He wasn't physically tired, but the mental strain this had put on him gave him a desire for rest. Besides, he clenched the cube in his pocket. Tomorrow the real work began.

–XX –

The next day, Harry stood in a small clearing two miles away from another village dressed in a black blazer with black slacks.

A pale button-down shirt was half hidden by the folds of his jacket. His red hair was slicked back. The beginnings of a pencil mustache were highlighted in the morning light.

He had seen a picture of his grandfather, his grandfather had one, and he like the look. Interestingly, it was growing faster than it should, his will making it happen.

He glanced back at the village behind him; he could just make out the shingled roofs.

The house of secrets followed his intent. When he woke up this morning, more villages were grown, their location shining in his mind.

Luckily after doing it the first time, it was easier to make the fusion reactors to power each one, but now it was time for the final step. He took out the cosmic cube sitting it on the ground.

The cube sank beneath the earth.

For a moment nothing happened, then six crystal arches each the color of an infinity stone shot up from the ground surrounding Harry in a circle. Each arch extruded a pillar of crystal forming a ring above the arches once completed.

The ground beneath him became a smooth platform, expanding outwards to connect to the arches. Out of the platform rose a pillar with a slanted top. Etched into the top was a depiction of the infinity stones in a circle. The lines of a runic star connected the stones together.

Despite its new form, Harry could still feel the power of the infinity cube thrumming through his feet. He just hoped the power he sensed was enough. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, placing his hand on the runic star.

His mind expanded outwards, reaching into every multi-verse. He watched as the same multicolored crystal arches rose on any planet where mutants lived.

"My fellow mutants of the multi-verse," Harry began, "My name is Hadrian John Grey of universe six sixteen."

All across the multi-verse, mutant's heads turned skyward.

"In your minds you will find places that will teleport you to the world I have created for us. I have opened myself to you, so that you can feel the pureness of my intentions."

In the minds of the people of the multi-verse, the multicolored crystal structures shone like beacons. Some staggered, as the weight of emotion impacted their bodies.

They felt Hadrian's desire for a place where mutants can be safe. They saw the beauty of the world he had created. These images and emotions were backed up by his words a moment later.

"I want nothing from you; I just want a place where our people can be safe. A place where we can thrive and work together to create a better future," a light pressure settled on their bodies, "but I will warn you, if any mutant comes to this haven trying to destroy it. You will be met with deadly force."

Removing his hand from the slanted top of the pedestal, Harry opened his eyes and stepped back. He could feel his connection to the pedestal. He instinctively knew that he could travel between the worlds, using the crystal arches now spread throughout the multi-verse, but he hoped he wouldn't have to.

His gaze flicked to the arches around him, runes snaked over their surfaces. These should make it where only those with pure intentions could pass. Meaning a human with negative intent could not to hang onto a mutant and hitch a ride, because the gate would since the hostile intent and only pull the mutant. This should also cut down on the amount of mutants who meant his new home harm.

He was brought out of his thoughts as an arch flared, a younger version of Jean grey stepped through the portal followed by Scott summers.

He made his way over to them, a smile stretching across his face, "Welcome to," he paused, he couldn't really call the planet Mars anymore. "Elysium."

The younger Scott summers raised a brown eyebrow, sunlight reflecting off his Ruby visor, "Elysium, really?"

"I tell you what, when people finish arriving will let them decide the name," Harry didn't really want to be in charge of these people, but it looked like he was going to be for a while.

The younger Scott shook his head, one corner of his mouth curling upwards, "I didn't say it was a bad name."

More portals flared to life as more mutants came through.

Harry floated into the air, watching hundreds of people arrive each second. It looked like a new chapter in mutant history had begun.