Chapter 1
Harry Potter, Lone Traveler, also known as Marek Ilumian, was confused.
He had been working on helping one of his alternates with one of the crappy Halloweens that occurred during the Hogwarts years when suddenly he was in a different place.
Being a God, especially a God of Knowledge, even if that was one of his Minor aspects, was inordinately helpful in figuring out what the hell was going on.
Unlike Free Will, where he usually could see where important decisions would eventually lead with almost no effort (Free Will being his Major aspect) Knowledge took a little more effort.
Harry had been a little shocked to find that his own Divine aspect was one reason why infinite universes existed. Just his ability to divine outcomes based on different decisions sometimes split a universe into the two paths so that both could ultimately play out.
He had learned that after that whole ruckus about whether or not he should send that asteroid had split the dimension into both – he really had been divided over that and so the universe had been divided.
If he was uncertain about a decision, or those he helped we uncertain – pop! New Split!
It was a queer feeling to know he was one of the causes of the chaos that was the Multiverse. Not that he should be surprised, knowing that his powers were based on an almost perfect blend of Order and Chaos.
Thankfully, this didn't happen when concentrating on Knowledge. And so, knowing he needed knowledge, he concentrated.
Some things became immediately obvious to him: Sometimes a prank can be taken too far (he already knew that), and something created from Chaos Magic could affect even him (that was news).
He had tried to cancel the spell but his attempt had failed.
After a long moment of thought, Harry started smirking evilly. Certain worlds tended to piss him off – and most of the Buffy worlds were included in that disdain.
He really didn't like to see really manipulative higher powers running roughshod over the good guys more than the bad ones.
If he was stuck here, he might as well act as he decided was proper. Harry started casting.
Cordelia Chase was absolutely terrified and pissed off all at once.
What terrified her was that quite a number of the children who were out and about suddenly changed into the costumes they were wearing. And it was unfortunately true that children liked dressing up as werewolves and monsters and such things.
She was also pissed because she knew that this had something to do with Buffy Summers and her friends. She just knew that her wonderful costume was going to be ruined before the night was over.
Suddenly, however, everything changed.
All of the little monsters disappeared. If anyone had been closer to the school, they would have seen that the area had been turned into a playground for adolescent creatures with far too much energy. Food (real food transfigured into whatever each creature liked) had been made available so that the little monsters wouldn't eat each other. And the worst creatures had been penned in by themselves.
All of the children who were changed into fairies were suddenly around a Christmas tree with little nectar pods for the fairies to drink.
Cordelia decided that she would find out exactly what the hell happened – tomorrow. Tonight she was just going to go home and get away from all the freakage.
All around Sunnydale, everyone who was made vulnerable were returned to their homes – Dru's vision of Buffy being vulnerable suddenly changed and she knew that there was no value in sending Spike out.
She had pouted about the sudden change in what she was seeing – someone was taking all the fun out of whatever was happening out there. She sulked for the rest of the night.
Feeling the red-head who had dressed as a ghost searching for him, Harry knew he had very little time … here … to operate. Therefore, he concentrated and traveled …
Willow was in a panic, searching for Xander. Finally, she saw him down the street and rushed over. "Xander!"
The Traveler turned and waited for the girl to arrive. ""Xander, thank God I found you" yelled eh red-haired girl as she ran up to him. "Listen, there's something very weird going on, and we need to find Buffy!"
"I know. But Buffy is fine where she is: She's at home, even if she doesn't know who she is right now."
Willow looked at her long time friend with confusion. "How do you know?"
"I sent her there."
Willow was even more confused. "How?"
The Traveler smiled. "Because I'm not Xander – I'm just in his body. Hello. My name is Marek Ilumian, God of Free Will."
"God of … Free Will?" she asked confused.
The Traveler nodded even as he started leading her toward Buffy's Watcher. "He thought he was dressing as a 'cooler version of Harry Potter' but he ended up as me."
"How? And where are we going?"
"We're going to see Rupert Giles. And how is hard to explain. Do you understand the concept of the Multiverse?"
Harry and Willow talked as they made their way to find Giles.
"Willow? Xander? What's going on? And what happened to you, Willow?" Giles asked as he saw who was knocking.
Willow replied, "A whole lot of people turned into their costumes – and this isn't Xander. He's a God from another dimension who's wearing Xander right now."
Giles was confused. "Say that again?"
Harry decided to take over. "Long story short: Your old friend Ethan Rayne came into town, set up a costume shop, and then performed a ritual to Janus to change everyone who bought a costume from him into their costume. Xander lucked out and went as me – even if he thought his costume was someone else.
"I've put everyone in town in places where they can't hurt themselves, did a couple of other things, and then came to tell you. Once you go bust of the Statute of Janus which he used as a focus for the ritual things go back to normal, Xander will be free, and life goes on. Capiche?"
Giles looked at the Traveler for a long moment, and then rushed off to take care of the problem.
And, as happened in so many universes, life went back to normal, and life went on.
There were a few holdover effects. Everyone noticed that, over time, Xander seemed to pop up with vital information at the oddest times. And that he also suddenly really liked pie – almost as much as twinkies.
Some changes were more tangible though.
A few days later, Giles was looking through his books for information on a particular demon, he found something odd: A book he didn't remember having. And, after a couple of spells to check for danger, he tried to open it. And couldn't.
He read the cover to see if there were any clues. He realized that what he had thought was decoration on the spine was actually a flowing Latin script. He read the words, "tantum per manibus autem quod electi" and worked to translate them. It took only a moment for him: "only by hands that were chosen."
He huffed. Making a quick call, he found that the Council did have a book such as he described. It was considered useless as no one could open it. He was about to ask if they had ever asked a Slayer to open it, but something caused him to act with more discretion.
Rupert had hung up, thinking furiously. He didn't know why, but continued discussion with the Council regarding this seemed wrong. Finally he bit the bullet and asked Buffy to come in early on a Saturday – she was not happy.
Feeling annoyed, she contacted Willow, who contacted Xander, and all of them arrived.
Rupert rolled his eyes upon seeing the group. "I just asked for you Buffy. Xander and Willow could have stayed home."
The two extras looked at Buffy – who didn't look apologetic at all. "If I had to come in, I'm going to spread the misery." The other two teens saw that Buffy was having fun at their expense and looked at each other. Revenge would come.
Finally Rupert had the attention of the teenagers. "Buffy, in reviewing my books I found one which I did not recall having."
Buffy was nervous. "What? Did it have some unknown prophecy about the end of the world?"
Giles replied, "I don't know."
The teens were confused. "You don't know?"
"I cannot open it."
"What do you mean you can't open it?" she asked.
"It's enchanted not to open for me. I believe only one person can open it."
Halfway between nervous and resigned, she asked, "Don't tell me: It has to be the Slayer."
Giles pulled the tome from the shelf and placed it on the table. He pointed out the text. "All that is written on the cover is a Latin phrase meaning: Only by hands that were chosen. I believe it means that only the Slayer can access it. But I don't know."
Buffy sighed. "Hand it over. I might as well get it over with."
Cautiously, Giles carefully placed the book in front of Buffy. She reached out and put her hand on it – and it flashed blue. She quickly snatched her hands back. "Woah!"
Alarmed, Xander asked, "Are you hurt?"
Buffy shook her head. "Feel the same as ever."
Willow was really curious, "Just push the cover up with your finger."
Buffy stood up and leaning closer, she did as Willow suggested. As the cover rose, Buffy and the others moved back in case something came out. Nothing did. They waited a long moment and finally Xander said, "False alarm?"
Giles nodded thoughtfully. "I believe so." He cautiously moved closer until he could read what was on the first page. "Extra naturalis indicibus."
Willow tried to puzzle it out. "Extranatural … informers?"
However, as soon as Xander heard the title he started thinking deeply. Finally he groaned. "I think it's safe."
Giles asked sharply, "Why?"
"Remember that Wizard-turned-God who possessed me on Halloween?"
Everyone nodded.
"Besides being the God of Free Will, he's a God of Knowledge. He left this for Buffy. As soon as I heard the name – I knew."
Buffy, trusting Xander, moved to start looking through the book. "I've never seen a book like this."
Giles came over and asked, "May I?"
Buffy waved him forward. Giles started looking through the pages, until he finally gasped. "What?" Buffy asked.
"I believe …" he paused, "I believe it is an index of every book which contains information on the Supernatural."
Willow cried, "Of course! Extra naturalis indicibus. Supernatural Indexes."
Giles looked through it some more and saw that there were different systems. Giles finally said, "There are several indexes. Each one is organized using a different method. Title, Subject, Demon Types, Descriptions. It gives the name of the book, author if known, and date of publishing." Giles flipped through the book some more.
Willow asked, "How many pages does it have?"
Giles shrugged. "It looks to have 400 or so."
Buffy, however, noticed something. "Wait."
Reaching out, she grabbed the majority of the pages and she began rushing through them by allowing her finger to control how fast they ran past. Those watching had wide eyes as it continued far beyond a few hundred pages. "There are more pages than should be possible!" Willow said.
Xander took his own turn looking at it. Suddenly he stopped and his eyes widened. "Look!" he cried with a strangled voice.
Everyone did and saw what Xander had seen. The text on one of the pages was moving down. In the new empty space, a new listing appeared as they watched.
Giles read the new entry and said, "I recognize that author! He's an expert on Demonology operating out of Oxford. The new entry is dated … now."
Buffy leaned over and watched, just as fascinated. She reached out and touched the new entry. Suddenly, the entry lit up. "Woah! What happened?"
Xander, who had been watching from a bit further said, "There was a flash at the back of the book too."
Buffy moved to the last separated section and everyone looked. The text that Buffy had pressed her finger against was now shown, in full, at the back of the Index.
"Let me try something!"
Buffy let him. Giles thought for a moment and then quickly rushed through several paged. Finding the entry he was looking for, he said, "Buffy? Tap that title please?"
Doing as asked, she tapped the title. The new one was suddenly lit with a small light. She moved to the section again, after checking the title, and said, "Wow. There it is – just what I selected!"
Giles saw back in shock. He had taken his glasses off and started cleaning them. "I don't believe you understand just what this means."
Buffy said, "I seem to have access to a magical book which will help find the information on the newest big bad much faster!"
Giles nodded. "Yes. But the title I asked you to select has one interesting characteristic."
"What is that?" Xander asked.
He looked at the three and said, "The last copy known to existence was lost over 400 years ago in a fire in London. It was so important a text it is still considered a tragedy even today. And now – with this book – we can access what it contained. Now do you understand?"