Inception: Rise of the Heir
After the murder of Hepzibah Smith, Tom Riddle disappeared for ten long years. He sank deeper into the Dark Arts & pursued knowledge that others could only dream of, consorting with the darkest members of wizarding society. With his eyes set on North America, he has no idea that the magic he so desperately seeks will shape his life & his inevitable future for years to come. TomxOC
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for my o/c's and my own storyline.
With a small, barely inaudible pop, he felt the ground beneath his feet once more and opened his eyes slowly, a smug grin parting his lips.
It had worked.
He had been able to find the cave based on her memory alone, something that had taken much determination, the venture extremely difficult and he felt his insides churn with pleasure at his victory. His excitement was short-lived however, as he quickly looked ahead of where he stood, realizing that the mouth of the cave he so eagerly sought was missing and in its place, all that stood before him was a smooth wall of rock, nestled into the side of a ravine.
"Not surprising." He thought to himself as he walked slowly towards the solid slab, his wand raised out before him. The soil and tumbleweeds cracked under his feet, shrivelled and dry from weeks and months without water, shrinking under the unforgiving heat of the sun. He silently cast the tracking spell once more, watching as the two golden figures he had followed from earlier apparate from the tip of his wand into thin air, one still unconscious, held by the other and he could do nothing but glower as they approached the stone wall, disappearing behind its facade, his dark eyes filling with enmity. There could be no doubt now that his hunch had been correct and that Lyra laid somewhere beyond the layers and piles of rock that separated them.
"For what reason she was brought back here, I don't understand. But it appears that my suspicions about this place were well-founded."
Flicking his wand through the wind before him, he started to mutter a few spells under his breath and grimaced as each of them foundered, rebounding quickly off the dry rock into different directions, leaving him to watch his efforts go unrewarded.
"Not even a mark...I should have expected there to be some sort of magical protection...the question now is what kind..."
Tom cautiously reached out his hand and pressed it against the hard surface, his eyes surveying its exterior for any clue as to how to make it's entryway appear. If there was one thing he was good at, it was unraveling puzzles that other's often could not. He had opened the Chamber of Secrets, which had lay dormant and sealed for hundreds of years until he had discovered it, the undertaking of finding it extremely difficult and time consuming.
" - But part of that task had required my ability to speak a particular language...one I happened to know very well. Of the languages that might open this door, I am uncertain...translating only a few words of the ancient tongue we discovered had taken hours of work and I do not have that sort of time to waste on mere speculation…"
He had found the Room of Requirement, a place overlooked, that no other had discovered in all of Hogwarts, a place in which he could be alone, a place unmarked, unplottable...
"It only appeared to me when I desired somewhere to be alone...a room that only made its presence known when it was thought about and needed…"
It was worth a try.
Tom closed his eyes and tried to picture the mouth of the cave as she had remembered it, piecing together the fragments of her muddled memories before visualizing the vast black hole, the ominous entryway that threatened to swallow anyone whole if they dared venture into its depths. He focused upon the image in his mind, holding his breath as he tried to pour his need and his desire into a feeling, to force it's appearance. After a few moments, his lids slowly fluttered open and he clenched his fists in anger at his sides as the rocky wall before him remained, unchanged and whole.
"Perhaps magic of that kind is too elaborate for a place like this…"
Starting to pace before the gigantic slate of stone he started to lose his composure, his mind inflamed by such a seemingly simplistic problem. He knew time was running out and if he did not figure out how to proceed quickly, all would be lost. As he cursed under his breath, his chest a whirlwind of murderous emotions, he suddenly looked down to the ground before him in fury and paused, noticing something odd, a substance that appeared to be out of place.
A few beads of a strange liquid lay on the dirt, splattered over pieces of gravel before him and he crouched down slowly, pressing his index finger into one of the mysterious red droplets, bringing it up towards his face. As he rubbed the crimson fluid between his fingertips he caught a whiff of something he recognized all too well, the underlying notes of metal and iron stinging his nose.
"Blood."
Of whom it belonged to, he was unsure, but a curious idea sprang through his mind and without any other foreseeable option, he stared at the giant rock before him and grasped his wand firmly, hoping that his instincts were correct.
"This place is old, I should have known that the enchantments protecting it would be more crude, less developed. I should have paid more attention to their shadows earlier, it might have given me the clue I needed. Perhaps a sacrifice must be made in order to gain entry...a gesture meant to weaken whoever would dare venture inside."
He held his hand out and firmly slid the tip of his wand across it, nonverbally casting the spell he needed, grimacing as a deep laceration formed in the center of his palm. Tom curled his hand into a fist, squeezing it tightly as he felt his own blood trickle out from between his fingers, dripping down his palm until a few drops landed on the ground in front of him, staining the earth.
"Is all of this effort worth the reward?"
The lengths that he found himself going through to find her caught him off guard and he watched as the dirt hungrily took what he had given it, seemingly thirsty for anything other than the sun's dry embrace. He questioned himself once more and wondered if it would not make more sense to just continue on without her, to place her in the past along with this forsaken foreign country he was prepared to leave behind.
"You already know the answer to this..."A small voice nagged at him from the back of his mind as he sat there glowering, watching the angry cut continue to leak down his fingers. "How many times has she willingly spilled her blood on your account? You told yourself you would not leave without her, you must hold yourself to that vow."
Uncurling his hand, his mind made up as to what he must do, he carefully whispered the counterspell over and over again, watching as the wound healed, the skin mending over the self-inflicted mark he had been forced to make. After the spell was complete, his flesh repaired and restored, he rubbed the tender area and waited patiently, hoping the mouth to the cave would reveal itself, proving him successful. Tom stood there, the minutes passing by slowly, his heart beginning to pound angrily in frustration.
Nothing had happened.
His eyes narrowed furiously as the wall remained, steadfast and unyielding and the pulse that radiated from his breast had started to beat viciously in his ears, his mind suddenly pummeled by a myriad of unwelcome questions. Turning away from the dry rock in hatred, he tried to riddle his brain for answers when a noise started to rise from behind him, the sound as if the earth were splitting in two.
Looking over his shoulder, a wicked grin started to pull at his lips, watching eagerly as the wall before him had parted, the dust and rubble falling from its stone roof like hard rain. He stood before the large cavity, staring into the dark pit of obsidian before him, walking suspiciously towards it, his footsteps deliberate and cautious. He was unsure of what lay ahead of him in the impending darkness and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge before he said goodbye to the light of day, plunging himself into the void.
The air was eerily silent and still around where he stood, the smell of damp and sulfur stinging his nostrils as he raised his wand to his face, his surroundings so dark that not even a whisper of his shadow could be seen, his breath echoing off the walls around him.
"Alohomora." He thought silently as his wand started to glow, a small dim light emanating from its tip. "It's probably best to not speak aloud for now." Listening to his footsteps multiply in sound around the hollow cavern around him, he frowned and cast another quick spell to muffle his steps, unwilling to alert whoever else might be hiding in the gloom around him.
Shining his light upon the ground, he started to make his descent, following the small pathway down into the depths of the cave, the terrain becoming more treacherous and narrow as it led onwards. Small droplets of water could be heard falling from the ceiling of the cavern onto the damp floor, the noise reverberating off the pockets of stone around him.
Through the convoluted memories that he had seen from Lyras mind, he began to recognize certain areas of the trail before him, sliding down the vertical rubble that led straight downhill, his steps slowing carefully as rocks crumbled underneath his feet, old and decayed from time. Looking upwards, he observed the stalactites that hung ominously above him as he continued on, like rows of sharpened teeth, threatening to mash him to bits if disturbed.
"This place is old...centuries perhaps. Untouched, undisturbed by the outside world."
Faint sounds from off in the distance caught his attention and he hastily walked through the next chamber, following them deeper and deeper into the earth. Each passing step took him further through rows and columns of stone, littered with precious gems and jewels that glittered like starlight and he shook his head in wonder, taking in the scenery despite his precarious situation.
"This cave would be a goblins dream."
He snorted as he thought about the idea, continuing to marvel at his surroundings, wondering if there was any place in the world that came close to what lay around him. "Certainly not if any sort of goblin knew about it. Filthy, greedy little creatures…" Seeing all of the earthly wealth around him reminded him once more of home, his mind drifting to the one place in Diagon Alley where he had never been.
"Gringotts."
Being an orphan he had never inherited a family vault, nor had he ever made enough in his life to be able to actually open an account, the insides of it's great halls remained a mystery to him as well as the dark caves and caverns of gold that lay below. He ignored the stinging, bitter resentment in his chest as he continued down the trail, treading carefully.
A few paces ahead, the path suddenly opened wide without warning or signal, leading him into a dark, dreary expanse with two tunnels that lay before him, both alike in appearance, both leading away from where he stood in seperate directions. Turning his head quietly, he listened for the noises once more, frowning as they sprung forth from both passageways, forcing him to make a blind decision.
"Which one is it?" He thought, holding his wand out before him cautiously. Up to this point he had chosen not to use a tracing spell, the pathway had been singular in fashion, there were no other twists and turns that descended into the cave besides the one he had followed, but now he found himself at a crossroads, unsure of which channel to take. Lyra's memory at this point had not detailed this part of her expedition and he had half anticipated her kidnapper to have apparated to their location once inside, saving them from the rough and extensive descent in the darkness.
His wand illuminating his surroundings, he paced before the two paths looking for any clue as to which one he should take, weighing both options, when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small familiar stain upon the crudely paved floor.
Crouching down and holding the light over it, he frowned at the small red beads on the ground, tilting his wand towards the black depths behind him, his gaze falling on the small droplets that adorned the rubble from where he had just traversed.
"They walked instead of apparating...but why?"
Standing up and shining the wand over the earth before him, he noticed a small trail of crimson leading towards the left tunnel, disappearing into the dark.
"Perhaps the entrance was not the only charm set in place to ward off others…"
The answer seemed simple enough. Apparating inside the cave was not an option, the terrain and journey, coupled along with the extensive depth one had to walk was meant to weaken the body physically.
"But through her memories I saw her disapparate away from this place...how?"
Slowly starting to follow the trail to the left he continued to ponder his theory, running through different scenarios in his head. "The spell could be one-sided…" He dismissed the thought completely and frowned, to make it difficult to enter and easy to leave did not make sense.
Another possibility quickly swam through his mind as a soft scowl spread across his face, unsettled by the thought. "Perhaps one does not leave unless they are allowed." The idea made him increasingly wary of his surroundings as he continued on, grasping his wand tightly. The notion that the cave was either alive or bewitched to only answer a solitary person's whim agitated him, a feeling of unease rising in his stomach to meet his displeasure. Excerpts from some of the books he had studied began to swirl around his mind, uninvited, the folklore from cultures that he still did not quite understand bombarding his thoughts relentlessly and he found himself wondering what lurked in the shadows before him, hidden and out of sight.
"Whatever lays at the end of this channel...odds are it won't be pleasant."
Thinking back to the trail of blood he followed, his chest started to swell with anger, hoping that he wasn't already too late to change her fate. "If she is dead, those responsible for her suffering will wish for death to take them as well. It would be far less painful than what I have in store..."
Of course he hoped to find her alive and intact, but he could not help but plan for the worst, his future plans smashed to pieces, steeling himself for the sight of her broken and lifeless carcass stretched across the cavern floor. He would still continue on, of that there was no doubt, but for his inconvenience those who had stolen from him would pay; each in pounds of flesh and blood.
His murderous sentiments started to drift away as the end of the tunnel approached, a soft glow of light danced across the cave in the distance, his body bracing itself in anticipation at the sight.
Shadows of a tall figure moved around in the warm candlelight as Tom stalked through the darkness quietly, moving behind the stalagmites and piles of stones that shielded his presence from prying eyes. As he grew closer, the voices that he had followed started to grow in strength, one of which set his blood on fire. Before he could have time to reflect on his hatred, the other, whose sound was unfamiliar to him, started to yell, the tone high pitched and raspy, almost feminine, but not quite...human.
"Fool! We've wasted enough time. Your repeated weaknesses have already made this more difficult than necessary!"
Tom crept closer to the poorly lit grotto, crouching behind a pile of rocks as he stared through a gap, the chamber before him somewhat familiar.
"I've seen this place before in her memories...dark and blurred...but there can be no mistaking it." The strange shapes in the darkness were now crystal clear and inscribed across the rocks surrounding them were runes similar to the same language that he recognized from the book, carved crudely along all sides of the cavern. Continuing to inch closer towards the figures, he felt his heart smolder with a silent rage as he noticed Lyra's listless body, strewn across a large stone, lying next to what looked like an empty sarcophagus with another set of characters written across its front. A stone cauldron was set to the far left side of the altar, far larger than any other he had ever seen, without enough room so that a full grown person could sit in. He watched in silence as the cloaked figure stirred it's contents, silver smoke billowing over its rim.
"I've done everything you've asked of me and more." Lyra's assailant spoke, fearful and hesitant. "I've brought her here, just like I said I would. Just like what was agreed upon."
"Yes, but with consequences." The raspy voice replied, as if it gagged on the air around it and Tom watched as a frightening creature started to make its way out from the shadows, its face one that he had seen more times than he had wished to count. "You lost the book! It was not yours to take!"
"It was the only way to get her back to this place."
His eyes widening, Tom placed his hand close to his hip, feeling the gruesome text Lyra had given him pressed up against his body, buried under the folds of fabric inside his coat. It was no longer a doubt in his mind, nor was it any longer a strange coincidence that it had found them; she was meant to have found the book, it had been purposely placed within her grasp for a reason, luring her back to this cursed place.
"And where is it now?"
He narrowed his eyes as the two continued to argue, his mind racing with different scenarios on what would happen if he interrupted them, not willing to place himself or Lyra in any further danger.
"I-I'm not sure. She wasn't alone and I couldn't get close to it, I was barely able to capture her let alone-"
"Excuses!" The ghoulish creature moved menacingly around in the shadows, its breathing laboured. "But...for now it is no matter, it is not needed for what needs to be done. I have memorized its pages well. In time we will be reunited once more."
Tom looked down, his mind starting to churn wildly. Whatever their arrangement had been, his presence had thrown a wrench into the plan, had Lyra never given him the book, had it not been transcribed, it would not have been protected as it was. The reason it was not already returned to its rightful owner was because he himself had taken possession of it once more and had seen fit to hide it away.
"But now what to do with it?"
He frowned as his fingers traced the outline of the book in his pocket, debating on what he should do next. Its contents had proven interesting, the pages that Sani had translated more useful than anything he had ever happened upon in any library or amongst any pile of ordinary books. But he knew he also lacked the knowledge to pursue it any further, the characters upon the page a bunch of indescribable nonsense to his eyes. To give it up would be an annoying sacrifice upon his part, but on the other hand, keeping it would not bring him any more information than it already had.
"If I use it as leverage, I might be able to save her…if she's still alive."
Tom shook his head silently as he thought upon it further. Lyra had been brought here for a purpose and as mentioned, currently, the book was seemingly unneeded, so the chances that an exchange could spare her seemed slim, - that coupled with the fact that he had not seen her move, did not bode well for an even exchange. He would not part with the book for a corpse.
"But perhaps if she lives, it could buy me time."
Time for what, he was unsure, but he knew that if anyone could get themselves out of a tricky situation, it was him. One thing he knew for certain, it would not be him that met death in this cave tonight.
"Quickly now, is it ready?" The shrill voice hissed, it's nightmarish frame making it's way over towards the cauldron. Tom wrinkled his nose in disgust as he watched the withered skin on it's chest rise up and down.
"A-Almost, just a few more minutes."
"You're incompetence has nearly cost me everything."
"As I said before...there were complications, I could hardly -"
"Enough!"
He watched as the bony and decrepit creature approached the large cauldron, whose surface had begun to spark and glow and waited patiently as it's cloaked accomplice walked over towards it. Grabbing it like one would a small child and lifting it up off the ground with a horrified look, the figure helping it crawl inside the basin, edging away from it's rim carefully.
"The rest of the ingredients now! Quickly! Bring them here!"
The hooded figure walked quickly towards the stone grave and bent over, retrieving a small clay pot from within its confines. Bringing it over to the cauldron, Tom watched as it's contents, which appeared to be nothing more than dirt and dust, were emptied into the water as the creature started to chant in a language he did not understand. After a few moments passed, the cave grew silent as it spoke once more, this time it's voice less angry and more eager.
"It's your turn now to finish your end of the arrangement, you know what to do."
Holding a hand over the large coffin, he watched as a flash of silver appeared in the form of a small dagger and he watched as the cloaked figure hesitantly dragged it across its hand, squeezing a few drops of blood into the simmering cauldron.
"There. It's done -"
"It will take more than that." The creature cackled loudly, it's throaty voice dripping with pleasure, as if it were happy to see the shock in its servant's face. "With great ambition, comes a great sacrifice."
"I-I don't understand -"
"Give the blade to me."
Tom watched as a long clawed hand reached out for the knife, taking it hungrily from the trembling figure and grabbed it's bleeding hand carefully, trailing soft flesh with the tip of the knife.
"The spell needs more than just a drop of blood, a hand perhaps - "Raspy laughter echoed through the chamber as it toyed with the frightened figure before it, their arm still grasped firmly by long ragged claws.
"No, I- "
The shrill voice chuckled wickedly, enjoying the fear that rippled off her craven assistant and he listened as the familiar voice pleaded, begging for a lesser penance. The creature stood quiet for a moment until it spoke once more, disdainfully.
"- But as you've kept your word, a smaller debt of flesh will do. There's no need for me to claim more than what's necessary."
Stuttering heavily, the cloaked character before it started to nod its head in gratitude, thankful for its master's mercy. Within seconds, it's whimpers of praise turned into screams of anguish as the blade came down unexpectedly, separating a finger from it's hand, falling into the monster's long outstretched claw. Holding the severed finger up to the light, Tom watched as the beast smiled evilly, it's features warped and twisted, the dried skin that gathered around its mouth making it look more terrifying than it had before.
Clutching the now bloodied hand in a frenzy, the figure before the cauldron sobbed in pain, red beads pouring out from between the rest of it's fingers as it shook back and forth, overwhelmed by what had been taken. Ignoring the cries and moans the wraith continued to chant in it's unknown language, completing the second part of the spell.
"This is familiar to me…" Tom thought to himself silently as he watched the scene unfold before him. "I've read this somewhere before…"
A sudden realization hitting him, he softly pulled out the book from within his coat and pulled the paper out from between it's pages, Sani's handwriting scrawled across the parchment. As he scanned the neat script, his eyes opened wide when he realized what the next ingredient would be, feeling waves of both relief and apprehension hit him at once. She had been kept alive, but not for much longer.
"I need to get to Lyra."
Treading softly, every footstep being him closing to the edge of the cavern, he hid behind the final column of earth that hid him from them, contemplating his next move, unsure of what to do. The creature's high pitched voice broke him suddenly from his thoughts and he turned his attention to them once more.
"Silence!"
Through muffled sobs, he saw her companion nod, trying to stem the bleeding from their hand in agony.
"The girl. Bring her to me. It is time."
Sorry this literally took me SOOOO long to write, but I had literally 0 choice. Between work and constantly having to write and rewrite, it's taking a hot minute. I'm also guilty of going back to earlier chapters and rewriting them because as I had to re-read the story to tie up loose ends...my writing was making me cringe. Eek. My style has definitely evolved and I rewrote some stuff that would reflect it. Although, I will tell you guys that NOTHING important was changed. No plot line has changed, no characters, just the ways things were worded. So hopefully you guys like this chapter and I'll try to get the new one up as soon as I can & *hopefully* not have it take a whole dang month.
As always don't forget to follow, add it to your favorites and review! Reviews motivate me alot. :)