Chapter 20
As it turned out, finding his way to Little Hangleton was rather complicated. Lord Mora had been able to glean the general location, as well as a nearby town, but that didn’t account for the fact that Harry had to get there by foot, or by various modes of transport. In the end, it took a train ride, three buses, and an hour-long walk.
“I get that it’s kind of a rural town, but do they have to be thisdisconnected from the rest of society?” Harry grumbled to himself. “The ring is in the woods, right?”
“Indeed. It resides within a small box, underneath the floorboards of a derelict shack.”
“So, another cliché.”
Walking through the town, Harry looked at the villagers who didn’t even realize he was there. Though their faces were distorted by the shadows, he was still glad he was enwreathed within the shadows. They all looked incredibly unpleasant.
As he stepped foot into the woods proper, he also stepped out of the shadows, wary of losing himself to them. Looking around, he was struck by the sheer amount of shifting shadows. Walking forward through the woods, he cupped his hands and held them aloft, breathing into them, causing a spell to pool into them, its effect spreading out, highlighting the other living creatures in his surroundings.
It took just under an hour for the first obstacle to rear its head. Rather predictably, it was a slither of snakes. Moving the active spell to one hand, Harry summoned a runeform on his palm, lengthening it into an ichor-slicked javelin.
With the renewability of the conjured polearm, Harry rather quickly dealt with the snakes, each being skewered to the ground. Continuing on, Harry glanced down at them.
“Huh. A black mamba. Wouldn’t have thought that Tom would have gone for mundane poisons.”
As he continued, he found himself having to step through shadows a few times to avoid rather malignant wards. Eventually, however, he came upon the shack he had been looking for. Derelict was quite a generous description, in Harry’s opinion.
The door looked like it was a strong breeze away from turning into a pile of wood-rot dust, leaving the skeletal snake on top of it. The walls seemed to be buckling in from the weight of the overgrowth on top of the barely together roof. The windows were more akin to gaps in the wall with shards of glass in the frame than anything resembling an actual window.
Standing in front of the snake-adorned door, Harry held a hand to his Tome, causing a ring of runeforms to flicker into existence around his forearm. Dismissing the spell he had been maintaining, he swept the runeforms from the ring into a straight line across his arm, causing ichor-slicked tentacles to sprout forth, weaving together to form a buckler shield.
Summoning another runeform, he positioned it in front of him, giving it a quick flick, shooting a razor-sharp tentacle forward, shattering the door. Walking through the ruined door, Harry also stepped through into the shadows. Looking around, he saw an odd void underneath one of the floorboards.
Reaching his hand back out, Harry sent another tentacle dart at the void, revealing an intricately carved box. Lifting it out and opening it with a tentacle, Harry unveiled his other hand, gently working two paper-thin tentacles to remove the stone from the gold setting.
Afterward, it was as simple as sending the band to Apocrypha.
“Now, back to Hogwarts for a tiny bit.”
∞༺♥༻∞=================================================∞༺♥༻∞
When pitting the vaunted safety and impregnable nature of Hogwarts Castle against someone who was capable of stepping through the shadows half a country away and winding up in the building’s basement, there was a rather obvious winner.
Kneeling in front of the shrine he had spent so long making, Harry clasped his hands together, pinning the Twilight Stone between his hands, chanting as he did so.
With a rippling wave of energy, the air above the shrine distorted, ripping apart and turning in on itself, a toroidal riptide of a vortex formed from the haze of the air, taking on a purple tone as it thrashed in on itself.
When the haze finally dissipated an imposing woman, of ash-blue skin with long dark hair and pointed ears took its place. And most notable of all, she looked quite displeased at her evocation.
“Explain yourself mortal. Now.”
“My good Lady Azura, I have recovered an artifact of yours thought to be lost to the tides of the Void.”
“I care not for lies, you impudent human. My Stone has been lost for eons.”
Unclasping his hands, Harry presented the Stone.
“In truth, it was lost from the Aurbis, my good Twilight Queen.” Harry began. “However, by the machinations of a Nightingale and a member of the Morag Tong, it, along with two other artifacts, found its way to this realm. Due to plans set in motion by my Lord Mora I came to learn of their presence and thought it prudent to return your relic to you.”
“So, you speak true, little acolyte.” Azura replied, levitating the stone to take center stage in the circlet she was wearing. “I suppose you wish a boon?”
“Though not a primary motivation, I would be lying to say that there wasn’t something I wish to request. As I understand, an aspect of your sphere is that of fate and prophecy?”
“Ah, so you are aware of the whisperings of fate clinging to you. I take it you wish to know the prophecy that governs your actions?”
“If at all possible, good Lady.”
“I know not the prophecy, however I shall impart the knowledge of its location to you, in return for one question.”
“Yes?”
“You speak of this being a different realm. Explain.”
“I know precious little of the details, my Lady. As I understand it, the realm in which this world exists is something a parallel existence to that of the Aurbis. The veil between our respective existences was pierced some thirteen years ago on the thirty-first of Frostfall, with that tear being anchored by my being.”
Tilting her head in intrigue, Azura hummed thoughtfully before leaning forward and kissing Harry’s forehead, disappearing as soon as she lifted her lips from his head.
“Wait, it’s in London?”