Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound seemed to come from all directions and from deep beneath the ground, like the beating of an enormous heart. The entire Vault trembled faintly in time with it. Indeed, the sound caused the entire space to quiver; Ian could feel the ground beneath his feet rising and falling with each pulse.
It didn't come from any single direction; it permeated the entire space as if he were inside the chamber of some enormous living being. A bizarre and terrifying thought exploded in Ian's mind: Could this place be the heart of an evil god? Had the entire Vault already been assimilated and turned into a pulsating organ of its body?
He tried to activate his Legendary Wizard's Vision, the extraordinary ability that could pierce mist and see clearly in the dark for hundreds of steps. However, the darkness here seemed almost tangible, a pure, corrupted 'void.' His vision was like a searchlight cast into the deep sea; the beam was instantly swallowed, unable to illuminate even a meter ahead.
This darkness itself was part of the evil god's power.
"Damn it…"
Ian muttered under his breath as he struggled to his feet, enduring the pain wracking his body and the dizziness clouding his mind.
"Thank goodness the Cushioning Charm didn't completely fail," He muttered, checking himself for injuries. Aside from a few scrapes and bruises, he seemed mostly unharmed.
The darkness here was anything but normal and even his enhanced vision as a Legendary Wizard couldn't penetrate it.
The air was filled with an overpowering organic scent, a mixture of blood and musk.
"I need to see."
After a brief moment of thought, Ian raised his wand.
"Lumos."
He cast one of Hogwarts' most basic spells: the Lumos Charm. A soft, steady white light burst forth from the tip of his wand, finally driving back the surrounding darkness.
Like a candle flame cast into an inky pool, the light stubbornly carved out a small sphere of clarity around him. Light born of the mind certainly had an unreasonable, almost metaphysical advantage.
As his vision gradually cleared, Ian sucked in a sharp breath.
Just as he had suspected, this was no longer the original Vault.
It was a gigantic heart chamber.
The walls around him were entirely covered in thick, muscular tissue that contracted and expanded rhythmically, like a living organism. Thick blood vessels snaked across the surfaces, transporting a dark red fluid. The ground beneath his feet was coated with a smooth, pericardium-like layer that was soft yet elastic.
It carried an unsettling warmth, too.
In fact, he wasn't standing on stone at all but on a pulsating, dark red mass of flesh threaded with massive blood vessels and tendons. The platform pulsed like a living thing, each contraction accompanied by a deep, resonant heartbeat.
Looking upwards, the dome above him was a writhing, mucus-coated wall of flesh. Countless thick, root-like purple veins burrowed deep into it, like channels delivering nutrients.
The 'ceiling' was gone.
In its place were layers upon layers of writhing flesh resembling massive myocardial fibers, contracting and swelling with each heartbeat and producing sickening squelching sounds.
"Merlin's beard…" Ian muttered. "Am I actually inside an evil god?"
"No wonder those Ghost Brides and the evil god itself were so wary…" Ian murmured, his voice sounding tiny within the vast, pulsating chamber of flesh. "This isn't just a sealing site; it's one of the core nodes of its power. Any external intrusion is like stabbing directly at its heart. No wonder the resistance was so intense."
But such speculation was clearly only part of the truth.
Ian was certain that there was more to this place. Originally, it had been where the evil god's embryo had been nurtured, and now it had become its heart. But there must be other secrets hidden here, in the birthplace of the evil god. Otherwise, the Ghost Brides wouldn't have been so panicked.
After all... If this were merely a heart, it would be considered a weak point of the evil god. However, given the creature's immortality and adaptability, a weakness like this wouldn't be enough to kill it.
The Underworld King must have known this too.
Therefore, sending Ian into this Vault could not have been just for a sneak attack. Even a legendary wizard would be far from enough to face the power of an evil god.
"There's something else going on here."
What Ian needed to uncover was the secret hidden within this place.
However... The original Vault had been assimilated by the evil god, so the surrounding space was far larger than when Ian had first arrived, before the evil god's embryo had hatched.
"It's even more outrageous than the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts... Finding anything here is like searching for a needle in the ocean," Ian muttered, looking around the unimaginably vast expanse. Complaints aside, the quest couldn't be delayed. He raised his wand, letting the faint light serve as his only guide.
The young wizard began to trudge through this pulsating labyrinth of flesh. He carefully avoided the thickest, most violently throbbing blood vessels, stepping unevenly across the slippery, organic terrain. Suddenly, the entire heart chamber shook violently, and viscous liquid dripped down from above.
"The fight out there is pretty intense."
Ian could sense the battle raging outside with great clarity. Osiris's deadly power was as chilling as an icy current, while Isis's life energy felt as warm as a spring breeze. Meanwhile, the evil god's chaotic force roared like thunder in a storm. These three forces were clashing violently, and even through the barrier of flesh, he could sense their world-destroying might.
"I need to hurry."
Taking a deep breath, Ian pressed forward into the bizarre space. The heart chamber was larger than he had imagined, and his Lumos Charm could only illuminate a small area around him.
As he explored, he soon discovered something unexpected.
The light revealed scattered objects in a corner, forgotten remnants of the past.
In one corner, he found a set of golden alchemical equipment, including a cauldron, a distillation apparatus, and various containers. But now they were covered in a layer of biological membrane, with fine networks of blood vessels spreading across their surfaces. When he tried to touch them, the cauldron contracted slightly as if it were alive and resisting his touch.
These were alchemical tools... alive, twisted, and corrupted.
The copper distillation flask had been crushed out of shape and was covered in grotesque fleshy growths.
Inside the silver cauldron, black, mold-like crystals had spread across the inner walls. The delicate set of scales had long since melted and fused with the flesh beneath, forming a grotesque sculpture, and the weights and balance arm were no more. Once used in the pursuit of knowledge and transformation, these tools had now been completely defiled, reduced to mere appendages of corrupted divine flesh.
There were quite a few other scattered alchemical tools and magical items. They had clearly once been treasures of the Sun God's temple, but now they had all become corrupting and erosive objects.
"What a waste."
Ian shook his head regretfully. "This set was the work of a Master Craftsman, something that would have made my dear Uncle Snape jealous, and now it has turned into this."
Looking at these desecrated holy relics, he felt a mixture of sorrow and anger. But he didn't give up. As a legendary wizard, repairing corrupted magical items was one of his specialties.
"Maybe…" He murmured to himself, a professional glint flashing in his eyes. "When I get back, I can try the 'Stardust Purification Array' combined with ancient Egyptian cleansing spells and maybe even 'Reverse alchemy'. The chances are slim, but it's better than total destruction. It might even help improve my alchemy skills."
Once he had made up his mind, he acted immediately. Ian had always been the type of person who couldn't resist treasures.
Even if they were damaged beyond recognition.
Suppressing his disgust, he carefully used his wand to collect the relatively intact tools and fragments, storing them one by one in a specially prepared magical bag inscribed with isolation runes.
"Take everything, recycle the scraps. Who knows? One of these fragments might be the key."
Ian couldn't help but feel pleased at this thought. It reminded him of his old habit at Hogwarts of picking up 'junk' that others had discarded for research. Who could say that wasn't one of his flaws?
Aside from these complete sets of tools... Ian also found other items:
There was a scarab amulet inlaid with lapis lazuli and carnelian; its gemstones were dull, and its surface was coated in a slick layer of mucus. The beetle's form had been distorted by invasive flesh, as if it might burst open at any moment.
There were also the broken remains of a scepter, its golden shaft snapped, and at its tip the Eye of Horus had been replaced by a bloodshot eyeball that continuously opened and closed.
There was also a golden chalice that had once been used to hold holy water. Now dented, it no longer contained clear liquid but slowly flowing, faintly glowing, dark purple pus.
The sacred aura that once belonged to Ra and the other ancient Egyptian gods had long since been completely overwritten and twisted by the evil god's chaotic, devouring power, reducing them to symbols of pure corruption.
Not only was their power unusable, it could even become a source of contamination.
"Even though these things are corrupted, their base materials and craftsmanship are still extremely valuable," Ian thought, his professional instincts kicking in. As he continued forward, he discovered another gem-inlaid priest's sceptre. It should have radiated sunlight, but it was now wrapped in black veins, and the gem at its tip had turned a murky blood red and was twitching from time to time.
Most horrifying of all were a set of ritual daggers. Once used for sacred ceremonies, they had now taken on a bone-like texture. Tiny teeth had grown along their blades and were opening and closing with faint clicking sounds.
"All mine! All mine. I'm just picking up things that nobody wants," Ian muttered, crafting a temporary spatial storage item on the spot to ensure that his original collection wouldn't become contaminated.
Within the Sun God's temple vault, now more akin to a corrupted treasury, there were still plenty of tainted relics left behind. Ian collected everything without exception. At one point, a set of priestly robes hanging on the wall even began to writhe; the once exquisite golden embroidery had turned into squirming parasites and the gem decorations into blinking eyes.
Before long, he had looted almost everything of value.
A whole pile of defiled relics.
Ian Prince struggled onward through the Vault. The battle outside was becoming increasingly violent, and the entire space was rocking like a small boat in a storm.
The walls of flesh contracted and expanded violently. Thick blood vessels burst due to an energy overload, spraying out a dark red liquid that burned on contact. The combined assault of Osiris and Isis was clearly putting enormous pressure on the evil god. Even deep within the heart chamber, the apocalyptic clash of power could be felt.
Of course...
As the battle dragged on, Ian could sense that the evil god was continuously evolving. It was difficult to predict when the Underworld King and his consort would no longer be able to suppress a being that was constantly evolving.
Infinite adaptation.
Endless evolution.
It was an absurdly powerful divine authority.
"I have to find that key... quickly," Ian muttered. The light from his wand flickered violently in the unstable environment, and his magical power, which was already suppressed and unable to fully recover, was running dangerously low.
Just as he was on the verge of losing hope and beginning to wonder if he had misunderstood the Underworld King's intentions, his gaze was suddenly drawn to a figure in the deepest part of the chamber.
In the darkest corner, a small figure was curled up, completely out of place in this horrifying environment.
It was a boy, aged around seven or eight, dressed in a simple white linen tunic. He was sitting on the ground with his knees hugged to his chest. His hair was a rare pale gold, and his skin was so pale that it was almost translucent.
But it was his eyes that stood out most... Large and clear, yet utterly hollow, like a puppet without a soul.
"Another trick of the evil god?" Ian tightened his grip on his wand and approached cautiously. When he was about ten steps away, he stopped and examined the strange presence carefully.
The boy showed no reaction to Ian arriving. He simply remained curled up, staring blankly ahead. His chest rose and fell slightly in time with his heartbeat, but aside from that, he barely moved.
"Hello?"
Ian said tentatively, his wand ready to cast at any moment.
The boy slowly raised his head. His overly clear eyes turned towards Ian, but there was no focus in them.
"Who are you?"
His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible; it had the gentle tone of a child's voice, yet it was completely devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
"My name is Harry Potter. What about you?" Ian replied cautiously, observing every subtle reaction. He knew that, when travelling, using a classmate's name was a good precaution.
In the world of magic, no one knew what a true name might represent.
Especially in a place as ancient and eerie as this. Even though the evil god might already know Ian's real name, there was no way of knowing whether this was a trap. Saying he was Harry Potter was perfectly safe, after all, the real Harry Potter hadn't even been born yet.
Even if there were curses that required one to acknowledge their true identity, they wouldn't reach thousands of years into the future.
"My name?"
The boy tilted his head as if thinking.
"I don't know," he finally said softly, his eyes still empty. "I don't remember."
Ian frowned. This could be another one of the evil god's schemes, using a harmless appearance to lower his guard. But his instincts told him it wasn't that simple.
"How did you end up here?"
Ian pressed further, secretly casting several detection spells. To his surprise, every magical reading indicated that the boy was a real living being.
Not an illusion or a clone.
The boy shook his head blankly. "I've always been here. Waiting... but I don't know what I am waiting for."
Suddenly, the entire heart chamber shook violently. Blood vessels in the ceiling burst and large amounts of viscous liquid rained down. Ian quickly cast a protective spell, but he noticed something strange.
There seemed to be an invisible barrier around the boy. The filthy liquid evaporated and vanished just inches away from him.
"Interesting..."
Ian narrowed his eyes. Such an automatic defence mechanism was far beyond what an ordinary child could possess. Cautiously stepping closer, he noticed a faint mark on the boy's chest.
It resembled a rising sun, emitting a dim glow.
The mark felt strangely familiar to Ian.
It was as if he had seen it somewhere in an ancient text.
(End of Chapter)
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