A Summoner in the Wizarding World

Only a few days afterwards, as I woke up, a glaring 'Anomaly Event Notice:' filled up my vision. The message was against a navy background and had golden linings, the result of which seemed quite familiar, though I could not remember where exactly I saw this. It also refused to go away, and so it was another time to return to the mindscape.

Even there, I hadn't much luck. The sign elaborated with only one possible action: 'Confirm Start of Event'. And seeing no need to delay this, I did so and was transferred to a blank space much like the one at the beginning. The voice greeted me once more.

'Welcome to the Event mode. You will soon be transferred to an alternate universe, in close temporal proximity to a world-ending threat. Your mission, which you have willingly chosen, is to find a way to stop these apocalypses.'

I swallowed the various contempts for that supposed willingness and proceeded with the more important question.

'Which of my powers would I have for this event? Since it's world-ending, I'm guessing all of them?'

'You would be partially correct, sir. All summoned objects and specific powers would stay, but since magic behaves differently in every universe, many of the spells might not work the same way.'

'Annoying, but fine I suppose. Well, shouldn't I get on with this?'

'Of course' - and with that, the voice grew silent and I was stuffed into a very familiar body - Harry's, in fact. I tried 'Lumos' with my wand, but could not get it to work - the wooden object truly felt more like a fancy stick than an enabler at that moment. No matter, then.

I closed my eyes and felt the shadow coalesced around me. It was somehow much more solid than it ever was in the Harry Potter worlds, and since the Shadow Arts' runes felt almost alive here, I shifted among the darkness with considerable ease. Since I'm no longer undercover as harmless Harry Potter, I recalled the armor and Whisper, wearing both under the cloak. It's as some said: 'the clothes maketh the man'.

Next, a shuriken and magical bullet was used, probably ill-advised, and only the latter felt a little more 'light' here. The recoil decreased noticeably, and if the crumbled wall was any indication, the bullets were more lethal and dangerous. All in all, quite in order. I finished moving the wizarding elements - robes, wands - into the subspace and stepped out into this alternate world, only to realise I could not.

In front of me were bars made of different materials than the walls of the room - a metallic gleam covered by some layers of dirt and grime. Very much like a prison cell. I looked beyond them and saw yet the same cell, but empty - I was indeed in a prison. However, fortunately none seemed to be in sight, and so I loaded 'Whisper' and blasted them open. The deep 'gong' of magic-reinforced bullets hitting the metal was quite satisfying, and the bars gave out.

Oddly, even as I noisily stumbled around the place, most of the cells were really empty or had unconscious humans in them. No guards in sight after passing two entire rows, even at an elevator that led upstairs. I took it up, obviously, and the ancient machine creaked ominous every part of the way. The upper layer of this prison further cemented the irregular lack of security: only an overweight guard sat at the table, boredly flicking over paperwork and not even bothering to look up as I approached.

'Elevator down behind ya. That way' - the guy signalled ahead - 'to the harbor. Do you have company?'

I humored him with a 'No.'

'Well, jolly and all. Enjoy your freedom, twerp.' the guard returned to the papers and added one line somewhere there, waving me away. I tried to peer over to see the rest of the documents, but the language made very little sense. After listening to variations of grunts from the guy, I decided it would be worth going outside and the world-ending threat could not come from the prison.

First thing I noticed outside the doors was the bright sunlight and clear blue skies. The ocean beneath glittered while waves sloshed against the solid rocks. I could see a few rowing boats, barely big enough to carry the guard from before, that felt too flimsy to row on. I did take one, though, and leisurely padded back towards the land mass in the distance.

The city that I found on the shores had fancy, albeit old-fashioned buildings with a mix of french windows and Neo-classical columns. Smoke stacks in the distance all but confirmed it was at least industrial. That said, even the harbor that I left the boat in was largely devoid of life, at an inconspicuous backyard of yet another massive structure, this one emblazoned with navy and gold. I stepped into the shadows and scaled the walls to get a better vantage point of the city. It was vibrant, meticulously built and clean - too clean for any sort of mass production.

Below, a 'gong' sound seemed to signal something - not my 'escape', I hope. Instead of going to the harbor where clearly a fugitive sneaked in, guards were rushing out of the building to the streets. Houses along the way either opened their doors to gawk at the procession or boarded them up - all hints towards a rebellion.

At this time, the window popped up again.

'Mission 1: The Secret Savior

Conflict is imminent, Blood will shed. Do your best to prevent casualties on both sides.

Saving 10 lives grant special ability: Elementary Darkin Magic'

This time there were two options to choose from, and it was a no-brainer. I clicked 'accept' and the interface was replaced by a countdown .

'Well, it said 'save lives', not how I am to do that...'

I found a few shops that sold necessities and 'borrowed' a few bandages and clear-looking water. No medicine because a robber could not really ask the owner which items they were stealing, right?

Time to follow the guards and see what this 'conflict's going to be about, I suppose...