Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

“Thank you for your concern, Auntie,” Harley said obediently. “I was just kept after class for being naughty.”

She glanced at Dudley beside her; her chubby cousin was giving her a gloating smile.

“Well, that’s good.” Aunt Peggy nodded, her gaze sweeping over Harley’s face, finally settling on her eyes briefly before pausing and saying…

“Harley, you need to understand that we can only support you until you're eighteen. After that, you'll have to fend for yourself. I hope you can behave normally, and not act like…”

Here it starts again, Harry thought with a sense of despair. Her aunt was nagging as usual.

It seems that from a young age, her aunt's biggest requirement for her was to be 'normal'.

Don't go near anything abnormal, but the problem is that Auntie's standards for what's abnormal seem quite strange.

It's best not to talk to Mrs. Figg across the street, not to touch owls casually, and to read The Lord of the Rings as little as possible, and especially, never touch anyone wearing a pointed hat.

Besides, even when she tried to please groups of girls at school, her aunt didn't care.

Anyway, after nagging for a while, she went to the table to eat. Aunt Peggy's cooking was as good as ever; the shepherd's pie was delicious, and Harry was convinced she must have French ancestry.

"Hey, Dad, where are we going tomorrow?" Daddy asked excitedly while munching on the roast meat on his plate.

"I received thirty-nine gifts last year, and I want even more this year!"

"Oh, darling, we made plans to take you to the amusement park tomorrow..." Uncle Vernon, who was as chubby as Dudley, said affectionately, stroking his son's big, round head.

Tomorrow is Dudley's thirteenth birthday, and today is Harley's thirteenth birthday. They went to the zoo the year before last and watched a football game last year. Dudley had a lot of fun. But actually, Dudley should call her his older cousin.

But he would only call himself Harley, or an orphan without parents, a freeloader, or other names.

Ugh, she really is annoying.

“Harley, as for you…” Uncle Vernon’s gaze lingered on her for half a second before he made his decision.

"Stay home tomorrow and don't go out wandering around, understand?"

Harley, engrossed in her food, simply nodded, then, while her aunt and uncle weren't looking, devoured two more cutting boards, three plates of roast meat, and two meat pies, patting her half-full belly.

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The boy obediently slipped upstairs.

The attic room was small and cramped, filled with dust and spiders. But at least it was a room. Harley grabbed a spider from the bed and threw it out, then threw herself onto the bed, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

This is probably how her life will be: not exactly unlucky, but definitely not a good one either.

Just as Harley was drifting off into unconsciousness amidst her wandering thoughts, there was a knock on the door, which was then opened.

Aunt Peggy came in, paused by Harley's bedside, looked at her for a moment with a complicated expression, then kissed her forehead and said in a relieved voice...

"Happy thirteenth birthday to you at home, Lily, just like me..."

Harley fell into a deep sleep

The next day, a drizzly weekend, the Dursleys drove their newly purchased Honda Accord to Guildford. Five people were crammed into the not-so-large Japanese sedan.

Uncle Vernon, Aunt Peggy, Dudley, Harley, and Dudley's best friend, Pilbochis. Dudley's friend always helps him when he's hitting someone, and this one even holds the victim's hands behind their back tightly, making him Dudley's best friend.

"Peggy, why do you insist on bringing her along...?"

“Vernon, Harley isn’t one of those freaks anymore…”

The aunt and uncle in the front row were muttering about their topic, but Harley knew the real focus of their conversation was her.

Harley huddled as deep into the seat as possible. She'd heard that Japanese cars were fragile, and wondered if a car carrying so many people would shatter like a raspberry pie if it crashed into another vehicle.

She suddenly turned her head, feeling a hand reach towards her waist. Turning around, she saw Pilpochs's malicious smile.

The hand on her waist moved lower and lower, and Harley's response was to subtly elbow the person next to her! A fierce look flashed across Harley's face as she watched him wince in pain, only to revert to her innocent expression when Aunt Peggy turned around.

"If you keep doing this, I'll kill you!" Harley said fiercely, looking at Pierports.

She was always bullied, but she never dared to provoke anyone. This had happened before. The year before last, when she had just entered middle school, she was locked in the girls' restroom by a group of girls. She was almost assaulted by the cleaning worker who came in to mop the floor. At that moment, she suddenly burst out with strength and actually managed to seriously injure the burly man.

The matter ended with both sides trying to smooth things over. Harley really wanted to take the school to court, but she didn't have the power to do so. Meanwhile, the school held her hostage, using Dudley to threaten her aunt and uncle, and consequently, her.

However, this incident wasn't entirely without its benefits for her; at least from then on, she fared much better at her aunt's house.

After that incident, especially after news spread that the cleaning lady was killed in a car accident on her way home from the hospital, her limbs crushed, those small groups no longer dared to escalate their bullying to violence. However, this also made her more isolated at school.

Pilpochs looked timid, and a low laugh came from the speakers. Harley couldn't tell if it was static or if the radio had been accidentally turned on. The laugh was deep, yet grand and solemn, as if echoing in an ancient bronze bell.

There was a gentle knock on the car door.

"Who's outside in this heavy rain?" Dudley turned his head curiously and saw a dark shadow cast on the car window, while Harley grabbed his hand.

"This is in the car, on the road!" Harley said.

Someone is knocking on the door of a car traveling at 90 kilometers per hour? That thing doesn't sound very human.

The knocking quickened; it wasn't just one person, but three, five, and more and more figures gathered outside the car. They stared down at Harley's family through the rain-soaked windows. A blinding, silvery light shone in from outside. "Traversing the Realms, Can You Be Smarter Than Me?"

Immediately afterwards, an indescribable chill spread through each of them.

It was an intense, uncontrollable chill that emanated from within, from body to mind.

It was as if happiness was being drained away, as if everything worth being happy was quietly slipping away from the depths of my heart.

Harley felt a sharp pain deep in her brain; chaotic bluish-purple lines writhed like countless snakes, or hieroglyphics on an ancient stone tablet, now alive and dancing like sprites. Images she dared not even imagine in her deepest nightmares flashed before her eyes.

She seemed to see distorted time, shimmering green light, death, and a bucket of water being poured over her!

It was like watching a swarm of snakes dance in the darkness of antiquity, the snakes telling him a lost history in a strange language.

When Harley woke up, the Toyota Accord had already stopped, and the people around her were already unconscious and cold. Only Harley was still conscious.

She got out of the car in a daze. Around her, she was surrounded by a pitch-black ocean. Countless, truly innumerable things, as if draped in black rags, completely enveloped her.

She heard a horse neighing, but she thought it was a hallucination. Although it sounded like a horse neighing, if she really believed it was a horse neighing, then what a huge beast that horse must have been, with a deep and powerful roar, like thunder in its mouth, and lightning shooting from its nostrils.

Then, her worldview collapsed.

Amidst a throng of black 'rags', a magnificent steed, as imposing as a mountain, emerged. It was clad in heavy armor inlaid with metallic patterns, its white coat shimmering like crystal, and its eight powerful legs resembled the supports used by a wheeled crane to stabilize its steed.

It dug its dark gold horseshoes into the ground, tearing open the hard surface with wound after wound. The horse wore a mask, and after each thunderous neigh, fine sparks of electricity shot from the metal nostrils of the mask.

A massive, dark shadow sat atop his horse, clad in heavy, dark gold armor that shimmered faintly in the rain. He held a curved spear, its arc resembling the trajectory of a shooting star. On his iron-masked face, a single golden pupil illuminated the surroundings like a giant lamp.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: I asked the editor, and it turns out we can now write about Dragon Raja.

Even on the path to godhood, there's killing, killing, killing! : 289. [Harry Potter] Dreams and Reality

When Harley was little, she always had strange and wonderful fantasies.

For example, becoming a wizard and flying in the sky on a broomstick—that was her favorite dream.

However, it's also possible that Aunt Peggy didn't like such things, which is why she liked to have such dreams.

But even in Harley's deepest dreams, there would never be such a frenzied scene.

She stared wide-eyed at the figure surrounded by countless rag-like monsters. If the myths she'd read during her days in the library, when she had no friends, were correct, what lay before her was—

Odin, the king of the Aesir gods!

After all, if you saw a figure riding a huge eight-horse steed, holding a long spear made of a curved branch, wearing a full set of dark gold armor and with a single eye, you would hardly associate it with any other deity.

We can't possibly mistake him for Zeus!

He should have only existed in words and murals, but such a thing came to her!

"I......"

Harley opened her mouth slightly. What did she want to say? What could she say?

Beg for mercy? Beg for a chance to live? Or ask why?

"You who bear destiny!" Odin's voice boomed in Harley's ears like thunder.

"I promise you life, join me, surrender to me!"

This was never a problem, but a declaration.

Because the moment he spoke, Odin had already raised his spear!

One

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A deafening clap of thunder tore through the night sky. At the same time, Harley felt a sharp pain in her chest, followed by an intense numbness that spread throughout her body.

"Anyone who has been to this country can return to it; therefore, everyone who comes here must be a servant of God."

As Odin's declaration echoed in her ears, Harley felt her soul and body growing increasingly numb. She looked at the things around her.

Deadpool + Dementors—for some reason, she knew the name of this combination.

Undead, ghosts, the embodiment of pain and depression, and also the hounds of Odin's mad hunt.

Will my fate be to become one of these half-dead, half-alive beings? Perhaps I'll become a little higher, even less human.

Harley wryly remarked on her impending, inexplicable, and absurd fate, and just then—

"Don't want to die? Pick up this card if you don't want to die."

A deep voice sounded in Harley's ear.

A card appeared in front of Harley; the gold card had an intricate pattern drawn on it.

She couldn't see what it was, but instinct compelled Harley to grip it tightly!

The next moment, she held a silver-white iris banner in her hand, and pure white armor adorned her body.

Unable to control herself, Harley watched as that completely different version of herself stood up, planted the flag in front of her, and then—

My Lord is here (Luminosite Eternelle)!

The petite girl's eyes burned with divine light, and the spreading golden light dispelled all the approaching Dementors!

Amidst the screams of these monsters, Harley struggled to her feet, then raised the battle banner. Wherever the light shone, all illusions vanished.

"Fate—no, that's not how it's written!"

Odin roared, or perhaps he had his sights set on something terrible and dangerous, and hastily vanished with the storm!

A strong wave of dizziness washed over Harley, and then her head lolled to the side, and she passed out.

Just before she lost consciousness, she saw a figure approach her with interest, opening its mouth as if to say something.