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Flashback No Jutsu[Two Years Ago, Ministry of Magic]
–Albus Dumbledore–
"What is this?" He found himself asking, as his gaze slid over the entire space, seeing only white and nothing else.
"This, Mr.Dumbledore, is a Dimensional Pensieve, in simplified terms," John replied.
Dimensional? His eyes narrowed as his mind went to some of the findings in the Ancient Ruins, regarding alternate planes of existence. Higher planes of existence. Was this–
"Let me show you something," John said as an illusory screen appeared in front of them, showing–
"What?" He whispered, his mind reeling, barely stopping himself from taking a step back in shock as he saw Tom, but not Tom, even in the hideous form he had crafted for himself towards the end.
No, this was different.
"Like I said, Voldemort is alive, and doing quite well, as you can see."
The words resounded in his mind as he saw Tom, red skinned, entire face warped to appear more demonic, as fire licked at his head, smiling as he waved his hands and a surge of fire blasted through him, burning dozens of creatures who were advancing on him.
He flinched as he felt the smell of burning meat, brimstone, and sulphur reach his nose, as the screen in front of him showed Tom laughing, engulfed in red fire, yet unaffected by the heat, before everything went black.
"I apologize for the smell. It can be quite pungent for first timers."
"What. Was. That?" He found himself asking, the question of that smell being the last thing on his mind.
"That was a recording of something that happened years ago. You see, Voldemort lost his body but not his soul. He drifted for years before somehow managing to find a way into one of the many demon realms around us. From there on, he managed to not just find a body for himself, but decided to stay there, in an effort to gain enough power.
I assume you know what he intends on doing with all that power when he comes back," John said as he felt his mind being overwhelmed with the terrifying thoughts that came one after the other.
Tom, being in some alternate realm, meant he could not be reached, not in the conventional manner anyway. John said this happened years ago, which could mean that Tom was more powerful now than he was then, and knowing Tom, he was certain that Tom was stronger. His hunger for power was one of the things that defined his very being.
"As you can see, Harry will need to be quite the wizard to become capable of defeating Voldemort, who will only grow stronger as time passes by."
"No," He whispered. He could not let that happen. Just that fire alone meant Tom was stronger than him, because even through whatever magic that John had used, he could feel the strength of them, and knew, without a shadow of doubt, that they were just as, if not stronger than Fiendfyre.
To bathe in Fiendfyre, cast it wandlessly without any strain or preparation time, meant Tom was not someone Harry could defeat with just magic. No, he would need more.
"Power the Dark Lord knows not," He whispered as he looked up. Could that power be hidden somewhere in the Ancient Ruins?
—xx–
[Present Time]
–Albus Dumbledore–
That single meeting had changed his mind, upending years of carefully planned decisions, resulting in more than a few uncomfortable questions from long time allies and acquaintances about his abrupt reversal on a controversial question.
A topic he had made controversial by educating the wider public on only the bad parts of the Ancient Ruins.
Nevertheless, that was then and this was now. Now, he was here, hoping that they got out of this without any casualties and something to show for it, because nothing had been found in the past year or so in any of the Ancient Ruins that could be used to defeat Tom, not a version of Tom that was bound to be supremely powerful when he inevitably returned for revenge.
Revenge. Anger. Hate. Core parts of his personality, and Tom was not the type of person who could forget being defeated, not by a mere baby. His mind wouldn't even acknowledge the fact that a muggleborn was the one who cast the spell, to activate the protection on Harry in exchange for her life.
"Stop!" He halted, as John, who was supervising the Unspeakables, spoke up. He looked at them, curious as to what was happening, only to see the instrument used for navigation locking up before going haywire as it began exuding magic in a way that he knew to be dangerous.
Sure enough, after isolating it in a bubble-like shield, John threw it away as it exploded, leaving them with no means of proper navigation to the entrance of the Frozen Citadel.
Thankfully, the bubble held and kept the magic as well as the shrapnel inside, but they were now faced with an important line of questions.
Should they continue? And if yes, how?
—xx–
[Present Time]
–Damian Hawthorne–
After what felt like almost an hour of descending, he finally arrived at what could only be a wall of cosmic ice. Ice that had been sitting here for millennia, seeped with cosmic energy from the Dead Celestial nearby, mutating and hardening it beyond any ice should be.
He tilted his head, trying to get his senses past the wall of ice but aside from the giant ass energy signature he suspected to be the Celestial's dead husk, he got nothing else.
He knocked on the giant wall of ice, finding a slight electric shock slithering up his fingers before his protections kicked in and stopped it. Yup, he had automated, selective protective force fields now.
Quite an advancement in the barrier field, if he ever intended to publish his findings, in Kamar Taj's library. To the wizarding world? It would be practically alien, some of the things he'd built over the months here.
Noting the hardness as well as the slight energy coating it had, he was glad that he came prepared. Still, no need to blow a giant hole in the wall, just in case there was something on the other side that could escape here.
A small hole that was sealed immediately should suffice.
With a flick of his wrist, a small square box appeared in his hands. He threw it in the air as it clicked and exploded into a small cube, as a force field appeared around it, isolating this space completely.
With that taken care of, he retrieved a small knife, barely the size of his palm but he handled it extremely carefully. Mono molecular blades were really a double edged sword. They had to be handled extremely carefully, lest they set off a chain reaction that was either nuclear or magical in nature.
Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and then quickly created a small hole in the wall, the hardened ice parting with little effort under the magically held together edge of the wall. Thankfully, the storm of energy that seemed to be attracted to anything that had even a little magic in it seemed to be limited to the upper areas.
Down below, near this wall, it could not reach it, which meant he could slip into the wall very easily.
Even before entering, he had already activated all the necessary containment measures. There was a small film of energy all around him, isolating him from the surroundings, constantly providing him with ample oxygen, as he found himself looking at….nothing.
He resisted the urge to slap his forehead, as he mentally flicked a switch, and then winced as the light modulator worked its job, allowing his vision to adjust to the sudden flood of light coming out of his suit, as the Thermal battery did its thing and outputted a small sun's worth of light into this space.
What he saw made his eyes widen, as he found himself looking at a vast open space, with a single giant humanoid shape. He had to crane his neck to look at the head portion of the celestial, which was just a head shaped outline with a hole in the middle.
He flew closer, only to stop and flinch as he saw something move. He backed up, activating his defenses as he activated the flashlight mode of the lights in his suit, squirting a bit as the photon modulator took yet another moment to calibrate the lights entering his eyes so he could see properly.
His gaze roved over the absolutely massive Celestial corpse, made up of some unknown metal, still exuding a mental pressure that necessitated the protections he'd built into his suit, allowing him to not just look at it but also get closer.
As he observed, he saw multiple holes in the shell of the Celestial, with a single giant one present near the torso. He pointed at the hole, only to pause as he felt a single blue dot light up near it, only to curse and fly back as dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of such dots lit up and began scurrying out of the hole in the Celestial corpse.
He flew back, right up until his back hit the Ice wall, only to see the blue dots now flying towards him in a wave of blue, their numbers having grown exponentially.
"Shit!"
What were they? Some sort of passive Celestial defensive system? Something that remained active even after all these years? Or just creatures that fed on the Celestial and evolved to survive here?
Celestial blood was actually lifeblood, since they were responsible for the creation of life in many instances. Life somehow does manage to find a way, then. Truly remarkable.
Those were his last thoughts as he quickly escaped the wall, and sealed the hole shut using the ice shavings he had safely contained earlier, as he felt the sea of blue hit the wall of ice like a tsunami.
He heaved a sigh of relief when the blue dots, which were some sort of insects, but he could not see properly through the steel like ice, began disappearing from the walls. None of his senses could find anything coming through the walls, so that meant it was safe for now.
Still, he thought it prudent to leave behind this shield in place, just in case that part of the ice wall was weakened, and also for it to act as an early warning system for him, just in case someone came close.
Wait. The sensors were telling him that someone was close by, which should be—
"That was not very smart of you, Mr.Hawthorne," A dry, unamused voice reached his ears as he turned around, finding himself looking at a very irate Ancient One.
"Shit…"
"Indeed."
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