Book Two: Quest for the Holy Grail
With their base established in Fundamenta, the team commit to the mission, searching in earnest for clues to Merlin's weapon.
Chapter Eleven: Upgrades
Wednesday, 1st September 1999.
Luna beamed back into the Lab, her eyes twinkling as she gazed at the now empty space of the cavern. Almost all the trinkets and valuables had been sorted and beamed into the Gringotts vaults that she and Neville had opened and the space once more resembled the state they had found it five months prior. Merlin had assured them that without the Porta Mundas for access, the Lab would be completely secure from ascended interference.
It amused her greatly that they could come and go from the vaults without the goblins being any the wiser, given their rather frosty attitude towards Hermione and Harry since the war. She chuckled to herself as she turned away from the small pile of remaining chests in the corner and faced the large circular platform that had been their previous best way to travel the globe. She was already so used to beaming about that its wildly advanced design seemed almost primitive to her now.
She stepped up to the tent and with a tap of her fingers on the small device on her left wrist, the rings activated and sent the tent away to Fundamenta, possibly for the last time. "Merlin?"
"Yes, Miss Luna?" The image asked, appearing beside her.
"Ready to go."
The hologram nodded and the two turned to face the Porta Mundas. Intense white light surrounded it as the computer beamed the entire platform out of the Lab and away to storage in the southern facility. A second beam of light filled the space and within seconds, the floor was smooth stone once more.
Luna tapped the small interface on her wrist again and moved to turn away when she noticed an odd notice on the device. The sensors of the caverns were detecting a small solid naquadah device in close proximity to where the rings had been. She turned to face the area and saw nothing but the four small chests that were still in place. Natalie had asked if she could have them as they were perfectly sized for some knick-knacks she had picked up on their vacation as they now called it.
Luna carefully opened each one and was even more surprised that the wooden chests were completely empty. She knelt back and looked at them again and was confused for a moment. When she knelt down, the four had been stacked one on top of the other, but now, three of them stood off to the side while the fourth remained in place.
She focused on it carefully and extended her hands, lifting the lid and immediately she felt relief in her mind as though she had been fighting off some distracting influence. Inside the last wooden chest was a small oddly shaped device. It was about a foot and a half long and was shaped like a trio of rectangles joined together to form a boomerang-like shape, or an elongated hexagon that had a bite taken out of one side, she thought to herself with a smile.
It was tiered with each higher tier being slightly smaller than the one beneath it and the closest side to her, the one where the sides bent towards her, had a full set of Alteran symbols along each of the three tiers from one side right across to the other. On top, there was a rectangular blue crystal that stood out from the device slightly.
Luna lifted the device out of the chest and walked over to the plinth, resting it on the surface and the blue crystal almost seemed to glow from the inside, but no actual light was emitted.
"Mantle interface activated." Merlin's voice echoed through the space and the hologram appeared once again.
"Mantle?" Luna asked curiously.
Merlin indicated the device on the plinth. "Yes, this device is Myrddin's Mantle. It is where he kept his technical journals regarding the project. It is a good thing you interfaced it with the plinth, the power source was running quite low."
"Technical journals. You think that it might contain the schematic we need?"
"Unlikely. The device was used more for Merlin's personal notes on the process. A device such as the Sangraal had never been built before. He retained the general idea of how to achieve what he wanted to accomplish, but he still needed to invent and construct the technology on the lower plane."
"Fair enough. Can you download the logs?"
"No. The Mantle was created for the express purpose of preventing direct access from this dimension."
"This dimension? Meaning what exactly?"
"Myrddin was sure the Others would be suspicious once they realized he had reverted to human form. Even more so if they learned exactly what kind of research he was working on. He built this device using the dimensional shifting technology he learned from Ganos Lal while they were both ascended, to contain his research notes, and constructed this laboratory to contain it so that it would be hidden from their eyes."
"Really? Ascended beings can't view between dimensions?"
"Information on that is limited, but it would seem so. The only output I am getting from the device currently is a request for the password. It's in a low power state awaiting interface."
"And you don't know the password?"
"It has been deleted from my systems, at the same time as the finalized schematics, it seems."
"The ascended interloper?"
"It would seem so."
Luna looked at the device, running her fingers gently over the surface. It felt as solid as any of the other artifacts, but the front side yielded under her fingers easily. "These feel like keys."
"They are, it was how a physical being would interface with the Mantle," Merlin replied standing in place and watching her movements.
"That's the full Alteran alphabet too. So it's a keyboard, if we enter the password…"
Luna let her mind wander over the information they had gathered since first finding the cavern. The tests and the treasures. The outpost and the other settlements. Only a few of them related to Myrddin himself, with most predating his return to human form. She considered the scroll, now tucked away in the new vaults, untouched for months as they had fully memorized it.
"Could it be that simple?" She checked the keys over and located the ones she needed, entering the symbols in order.
Immediately the device reacted whirring up, the non-existent light in the blue crystal becoming very real and increasing in intensity until a bright white light filled the space around her. Luna closed her eyes as the whirring increased and even through her closed eyelids she could feel the intense white light seeping into her. It passed as quickly as it started and she blinked her eyes several times to clear the spots.
"That was unpleasant. Of course it would be justitia. What was his obsession with righteousness?" Luna asked, glancing at Merlin.
The image remained still for a moment before speaking. "Given I can no longer detect you on my sensors, I shall assume you have correctly guessed the password. From your side, you should be able to access the Mantle and enable a data connection between it and the laboratory's computer banks."
Luna looked at the hologram for a moment before the crystal in the Mantle flared red and a trapezoidal display spread out from the top, rendering in the air above the crystal. The shimmering orange-red Alteran symbols were arrayed in lines of descending width. She quickly read through the logs, understanding most only due to the Mirror device and the information it had given her, the information being quite advanced, even by their newer standards.
While the technical information was comprehensive, it did not give the actual schematics of the device, appearing to be entirely text-based. The only thing other than Alteran text was an address for the location where he had moved the research after being forced to leave the Earth lab.
"Miss Luna?" Merlin queried, "I cannot interface with the device without your aid. Please run the linking subroutine."
Distracted from her reading, Luna searched the information in her mind and found the knowledge that Merlin was asking of her. She quickly entered the process into the keyboard and the white light once again filled the entire space. Luna felt the shift this time as the light vanished and she opened her eyes once more to find Merlin staring directly at her.
"Well done. I can now download the logs."
"That was a weird experience. The address in the log, Myrddin says he had to move the research off-world, but not a reason as to why. Do you think it had something to do with the ascended beings watching him?"
"I am unsure at present. Once I can analyse the logs, a pattern may become clearer." Merlin replied.
"So then, I guess all we can do for now is wait and see?" Luna sighed.
"Not all we can do. We have made incredible progress, but there is still much to do. Your new friend and Miss Hermione are both hard at work on new magical items back at Fundamenta and Neville has been digging through the database like he's on a mission. Finding the schematic and completing the Sangraal is our immediate goal, but not our only one."
Luna nodded as she considered his words. Before she gathered the four now empty chests and headed off to Antarctica once more.
ϟ
Friday, 3rd September 1999.
Neville looked at his work, or more accurately its absence, with pride. While the original designs for both the device and its manufacturing station were in the depths of the Alteran database, he had successfully modified it to suit their needs perfectly.
He stretched out his hand and felt the hovering orb under his fingers and smiled. He closed his hand around it and felt the resistance of its hover cease as it powered down once more. With a glance at the cylindrical dispenser, he turned back towards the central chamber, following the voices to guide him, soon finding Hermione and Padma in the new magical research department they'd had Merlin create.
"How is it coming in here?" He asked, sitting on one of the many stools along the benches as the two girls turned to face him.
"Very well." Padma grinned, looking like all her Christmases had come at once, a look she had worn for days now since joining their expedition. "We've completed the modifications to the bubblehead charm."
With a wave of her wand, a soft shimmering bubble appeared, barely a millimetre above her body, except over the face where it bulged out slightly. "It provides clean oxygen constantly, and we've tested it against the most common harmful radiation types, but not all. Although our testing was limited to very brief exposure for obvious reasons." Her voice was slightly distorted coming through the thin membrane.
"So you're having fun then?" He asked and the girls looked at each other before nodding profusely.
"These are just about complete too," Hermione explained, directing his eyes to the shoulder bags sitting on the table in the middle of the room. "One for everyone. So Harry can stop stealing my beaded bag."
Neville grinned. "And the chest?"
"We finished that first. It's over in the corner." Padma pointed, dispelling the bubble over her form. "You?"
Neville held up his right hand and he felt the invisible drone lift off his palm, grinning like a loon as the girls looked at him, uncertain. "Everything I'd hoped for and more. Though, to be fair, both forms of technology already existed in the database. I'm calling it a vulta, or vultus for plural. It means 'look'."
Hermione gave him a strange glance. "Ok, can we have a look at it now?"
Neville's smile grew as he tapped two buttons on his wrist device and the air shimmered as the tiny grey ball appeared in the air once more. "Fully able to operate independently. Can dial the Porta and transmit back periodically. Can be remote-controlled from these." He pointed to his wrist device. "And, as you saw, can cloak, becoming completely invisible to both visual detection and sensors."
"Excellent," Padma murmured as she circled the tiny sphere. "Already in the database?"
"Seems they were created shortly before something called the Destiny project. For this exact purpose. All I really did was shrink it a little bit more and incorporate the cloak. I constructed a dispenser outside the conscensa that makes a new one every time someone pulls one out. I also set the computer to create a memory bank specifically for transmissions from them behind the wall the dispenser is built into so that no matter how many we send out, they can communicate back without taxing the main memory system."
"Brilliant. With Luna and Merlin working on the technical logs, we just need Harry and dad to finish their work and we're good to go exploring." Hermione noted loudly.
A loud voice came in through the door from a room Neville knew to be just across and down the hall. "You two had the easy part, give me a break," Harry shouted.
All three in the research lab laughed at the comment. Neville stood and nodded to the girls as he quickly made his way into the other room. This one looked far less magical, with different devices spread all over the many benches as Harry and Richard slaved away over the bench in the centre.
Harry flicked his eyes up to Neville as he entered and gave him a nod. "Nice work, Neville," he added, his eyes flicking to the vulta hovering by his shoulder. "You should send it off to the address Luna found so it can do the recon now. We shouldn't be too much longer."
"Really?" Neville asked, moving over to the table and looking at the items they were building.
"Yes. General designs for the technology as a whole were in the database, but building them has proven a little trickier. We really don't want these blowing up in our faces. They pack quite a punch." Richard explained, holding up the central crystal.
"At least it will give you and Natalie some way to defend yourselves off-world," Harry said.
"I know you lot have magic and all, but you can still use them too."
"Not this one we can't. Crystal?" Harry held out his hand for the thick orange crystal in Richard's hand and the elder man passed it over. "This one will only work for you. That is what has made this so difficult. Each one will be usable only by the one person it's linked to. So no one can disarm us and use them against us."
Harry placed the crystal into the body. It was shaped much like a modern gun, with an ergonomically shaped handle at one end. The main body was a dark grey, almost black, with a long vertically-ovular barrel, into which Harry was fitting the crystal. It sat almost flush with the end once he was finished, only its domed tip extending out, and he held it up to inspect it closely.
The crystal began to give off a dull glow and Harry smiled in triumph. "Done. Give it a try."
He flicked the weapon about and held the handle out to Richard, who took it gingerly. Harry and Neville both watched him excitedly as the man turned and faced the target on the wall a few metres away as the weapon gave a dangerous hum. "Alright, here goes."
He pulled the trigger and the weapon gave off a loud piercing hum as a blue-white bolt shot from the end and hammered into the wall, not only destroying the target but leaving a large charred crater in the wall as well. Richard looked down at the humming weapon in his hand in disbelief.
"Well…" Harry said plainly. "They work. But I think we might need a low power setting too."
Neville stared at the wound in the wall as rushed footsteps sounded, heading for the room. "What on earth was that?" Hermione asked as the girls stepped inside, Natalie joining them as well.
"Er, it works." Harry offered weakly, drawing a raised eyebrow from Natalie.
"Sure looks like it," Padma noted, walking over to inspect the damage. "I hit the wall in the magic lab with a reductor curse yesterday and it barely even scratched this material."
"I'll figure out a power regulator. Give it a stunning setting as well." Harry defended as he took the powerful weapon from Richard. "This design was labelled as being experimental in the database. Hell, the power core is basically a miniature potentia, so it's hardly surprising it can pack a big wallop."
"Any reason you chose the experimental design?" Hermione queried, hovering over the table Harry was working at.
"Well, the other designs seemed rather unfeasible. The easiest were the stun batons, but I don't think we want to be unable to do some real damage if we needed to. The staff design was unwieldy and far too large for scouting purposes. And the other handheld design looked kinda goofy. Plus... I liked this one better."
Hermione rolled her eyes and Neville tried not to laugh at Harry's childish enthusiasm. Harry glanced up at the others gathered about watching him and he frowned. "I'll fix it, relax. Remember, a watched pot never boils."
Harry gave them a cheeky smirk as he began to disassemble the gun and the others shared knowing glances with one another.
Hermione eventually broke the mirthful silence. "Fine, but make it quick. Everything else is just about ready to go."
"Sure, sure," Harry mumbled, once more focused entirely on his task. Hermione shook her head and guided Padma out of the lab, the adult Grangers following suit chatting quietly to one another.
Neville heard a beep and glanced at his remote. There was a flashing message on the screen and when he read it, he smiled. 'Recording complete. Transferred to databank.'
Harry would never live that one down.
ϟ
Tuesday, 14th September 1999.
Harry checked the fit of his belt as the group mulled about in the conscensa, the girls chatting quietly among themselves. He patted the inner pocket of his jacket and confirmed that he had the cloak on him. His wand was tucked into a small pocket inside the edge of his left sleeve that Padma had fitted all their outfits with, allowing him quick access while not taking up the usual amount of physical space required. She had even managed to replicate the nature of a mokeskin pouch so that only the person who placed the wand into the pocket could remove it.
His hand dropped once more to the belt and his fingers brushed over the dark metallic finish of the weapon in his holster, checking that the safety was on after the show several days prior. He'd successfully fitted adjustable power controls and manufactured a unit for each of them.
"You're sure these outfits are necessary?" Richard asked, tugging at his overrobe uncomfortably.
"It's what the vulta showed the residents wearing," Hermione explained, tying her own about her throat. "We want to get in and away unnoticed. Blending in will make that a lot easier than showing up in trainers, jeans and a leather jacket, dad."
The man turned away and grumbled quietly to himself and Harry smiled at his behaviour. It was refreshing that the elder Grangers were as eager to get out there and do something as the rest of them. Rather than sitting back, ignoring their warnings and letting the kids do all the dirty work, as had been his experience in Hogwarts.
"Speaking of," Neville said, dashing to the door and returning before it even had a chance to close, a small grey ball in his hand. "Just in case. Never hurts to have a spare."
Harry noticed that everyone seemed to be fitted and ready and he turned to Luna. "You found this one, dial us up."
Luna smiled at him in return and lifted the remote strapped to the inside of her left wrist. With a few quick presses, the Astria Porta whirred to life, the seven chevrons lighting up once more and with the same white wave of light stretching from the edge of the ring inwards, the wavering blue event horizon formed once more.
"I don't think I'll ever get sick of that," Hermione said and Harry turned and saw Padma standing with her mouth hanging open.
"Right, it's your first time isn't it." The others turned to catch her shaking out of the stunned expression she had been wearing and the Indian girl blushed at being caught out. "Don't worry, it's a walk in the park."
Harry gestured for her to walk through and noticed Richard and Natalie passing through the shimmering surface. He quickly followed suit and the group now found themselves in a meadow that looked like it wouldn't have been out of place back in England. The sun of the planet appeared to be setting in the distance, colouring the sky in a beautiful mix of purples and oranges. Glancing about he noted that even the nearby trees seemed to resemble the native sorts found in their homeland.
"Fascinating," Hermione said, standing by one of the nearest examples.
Harry smiled as he tucked his robe around his waist and wandered close enough to whisper at her as he passed. "Blending in will make things easier."
Hermione spun and gave him a slight glare before she flicked her hood up and followed him as he noted what appeared to be a rarely used path in the grassy meadow, leading away from the Porta. The others soon followed on behind as they kept to the trail for several quiet minutes, though Harry could still hear Hermione's clothes rustling heavily as she swung her gaze back and forth, taking in the familiar yet alien landscape like it was all incredible to her.
As they rounded a small copse of trees, a town surrounded by a thick stone wall became visible in the near distance despite the twilight around them and Harry saw a much more heavily used muddy road leading to the stone bridge that led into the village. The buildings themselves looked medieval in design and Harry took a deep breath as the others bunched up around him. They'd seen the village in the images the vulta had sent back, but seeing it in person was a very different experience.
"That's it. Camelot." Luna explained as they all looked at the structures. Several small fires seemed to spring up as they gazed at the town and Harry glanced at the others.
"Should we head in now?" Natalie asked, softly. "Or wait for night to fall completely?"
"We know the general layout of the village." Padma offered. "And where to find the library. No need to bother the natives."
"That's true. If we go in now, people will see us, but our clothes should help us blend in. We can head for the library and hopefully sneak in while they're all heading in for dinner. Rather than being the odd ones out sneaking past the window after dark." Harry suggested.
The others nodded in agreement and the group began to move forward once more, much more tightly packed than the meandering line they had been in on the way from the Porta. As they crossed the bridge, Harry noticed a few farmers heading for the bridge leading carts drawn by a creature that looked like a cross between a camel and a thestral without the wings. He tried his best not to stare as the group made their way through the large gateway in the exterior wall.
The village bore no resemblance to the Camelot of the stories from Earth, looking a lot more like a walled-in collection of stone and wood buildings than a majestic castle of legend. Two heavy-looking foot-thick wooden doors flanked the opening and there were people in peasant clothing mulling about in the poorly lit muddy courtyard beyond. The wall on the far side of the courtyard supported a few rickety-looking stalls and there were large wooden carts full of varied materials dotted about the area, the nearest full of cabbages. Harry felt the sticky mud of the well-travelled ground squelch beneath his feet as they walked.
It seemed they had timed their arrival well as, while there were quite a few people moving about in the open space, none of them paid the group any serious attention, instead they were heading about their own business in the rapidly darkening evening.
Having seemingly been silently named leader for this portion of their trip, Harry led them to the left, away from the plinth they knew to be to the right that held the village's sword. A part of the protections that Myrddin had placed on his library, that they would prefer not to trigger if they could, given the vicious persistence of this one compared to the Lab's Knight test.
Natalie whispered as they walked towards the alley they knew led to Myrddin's library. "This is like being at a renaissance fair."
Harry couldn't help but grin and he felt Hermione loop her arm into his own as they walked. He turned to her and noticed her eyes flick to his own for a moment before shifting to a pair ahead of them who looked to be dressed in much finer clothes than most they had seen. He understood and pulled her closer, placing his hand over her own and allowing him to put a finger onto his wand in the small groove in his sleeve.
Silently he cast a low powered notice-me-not charm over the group and the two who had been heading for them seemed to redirect, heading instead past them without comment and heading around the corner. Hermione smirked at him softly before snuggling closer, both seemingly content to continue walking in their close proximity rather than separate. Harry was momentarily reminded of their trip through Godric's Hollow on Christmas almost two years before and, despite what happened on that occasion, he couldn't help but smile softly.
They wandered unnoticed through the streets until they finally came upon the corner where they knew the library to be concealed. The shopfronts nearest it were all shuttered and their goods packed away inside for the night. Even fewer people could be seen in the streets around them as firelight flickered from behind several nearby windows. Harry guided Hermione over to the doorway where she pulled her wand and waved it over the door frame as the others gathered up behind.
"Look good?" Padma asked softly.
"Definitely a forcefield on here. To bring it down, we'd need to search the village for the key." Hermione replied, glancing at the others.
"Good thing we don't need to waste time with bringing it down," Harry smirked as he took Natalie's nearby hand and with a slight crack, he apparated them both inside the building.
Several other sharp sounds signalled the others joining them inside as Harry pulled his own wand and lit the tip. Hermione rolled her eyes at him as she wandered past and Natalie patted down her front, seemingly thrown by the sudden transit.
"Sorry, but I promise it's better if you don't see it coming," Harry explained as he walked deeper into the library.
Spiderwebs hung from the many shelves, wall sconces and freestanding candlesticks with aged candles leaning precariously in their sockets, a thick layer of dust coated everything. Most of the tables and shelves were covered in books, though a few mundane trinkets lay here and there as well. Hermione was making her way around the shelves on the right wall while Padma mirrored her actions on the left. Luna had made a beeline straight for the back wall and was quickly vanishing the dust and cobwebs in her way.
"Any ideas where the opening is?" Neville whispered, stepping up beside Harry.
"No, and you don't have to whisper," Harry replied normally. "Madame Pince isn't here to scold us in this library."
"No, but Padma, Luna and Hermione certainly might." The boy whispered again as he smirked and walked deeper into the room.
Harry considered Neville's wisdom for a moment before nodding and moving deeper himself. He cast a bevy of cleaning and vanishing charms over the tables and books, clearing their surfaces as he went. Once they had what they were after they would probably return and scan through the tomes contained here, but tonight they were seeking something very specific.
"Found it," Padma called as she poked her wand into the opening passageway previously hidden behind a set of shelves tucked into what Harry noted was very clearly a doorway, with its obvious arched stone frame.
"I suppose when you lock the door with crazy advanced technology, you don't have to hide your basement quite so carefully." He said as the others quickly moved over to join them by the opening.
The dark tunnel turned immediately to the right and down a flight of stairs that bent further right and out of sight. Hermione immediately stepped within, her wand lighting the way as the others soon followed and found themselves passing under a much larger stone archway into an equally large stone room. As they stepped inside, the lumber in the fireplace on the left-hand wall burst to life, crackling away instantly as if it had been doing so forever.
Several wall sconces placed around the long rectangular room burst to life as well, casting a flickering orange glow over the mostly empty room. The walls were mostly bare except for the torches and a few wall hangings, some in recessed grooves and others hanging openly at the ends of the room. Harry thought the room wouldn't have looked out of place in Hogwarts. The only part that broke the pattern was situated in the exact centre of the space.
On a rectangular stone platform sat a large console, stretching across a large portion of the width of the room. It was made of highly polished red-brown stone with dozens of small square tiles on its outside, covered in Alteran text. The top side was slightly recessed in the centre where a grid of perfectly square, text-covered tiles lay eight wide and three high. In line with the top and bottom row on either end were a pair of raised blocks each with a small patterned button in its centre.
"And that's the moderum," Hermione smirked as she stepped towards it, lighting the upper surface with her wand light.
"It's certainly more impressive in person," Luna said as she circled the platform. "This could be awkward though. We can't step on until we've forced the code in, or the Knight will spawn in the village. But if we're all standing in this open space when the code locks in…"
"Yeah, odds are high there is something in a buffer waiting to come out, just like at Glastonbury. That's why we brought the chest." Hermione noted as she cast her wand over the wall hangings, noting the intricate designs on the fabrics.
"Maybe we should wait upstairs," Neville suggested as Harry approached the moderum.
"Might be a good idea. Do you want to do this, or should I?" Harry asked Hermione.
He knew he would be able to input the code manually, but Hermione had much finer control if they were to do it magically. "I'm not sure."
She sounded slightly nervous and Harry walked over to where she was standing by the large archway leading into the next chamber. "I trust you. But we know the code. If we're quick, we can step on the platform and disable the security system before it shows up. Surely Myrddin didn't have it pop out the moment he used the console."
"You're right. In that case, we'll both do it." She nodded.
"Time to go if you're going," Harry advised as he and Hermione stepped up to the edge of the raised platform.
The five others quickly withdrew to the first archway and waved as they headed back up the stairs. Harry glanced at Hermione before his eyes swept back onto the moderum as Hermione moved to step onto the platform. "Wait, we're backwards here. The code will be wrong."
Hermione stepped back and pointed her wand at the moderum, the light sweeping over the engraved text in the controls. "You're right."
Harry gave her a slight nod as they parted and walked around the platform, careful not to step on it until they were both ready.
Hermione took a deep breath. "Top row; three down, four down, seven halfway. Center row; one down, six halfway, eight down. Bottom row; one halfway, three halfway, five down, eight down."
"I'll take the left, you take the right," Harry said, squeezing her hand for a moment before tucking his wand away in his sleeve, ensuring he had both hands free for the five panels he would need to operate as quickly as he could.
Hermione nodded as she eyed the panels she needed to shift. "Three, two, one."
The pair stepped onto the platform and a bright light began to emit over the moderum from above, illuminating the text on the panels clearly. Harry tried to ignore the change and quickly hit the two panels on the top row, depressing them deeply until they stopped. As he pushed them both in, he noticed other panels rising up above the surface of the interface.
He pushed the thought aside as he moved to the centre row and shoved the first panel all the way down before pulling his hands back towards the closest row and carefully pressing the first and third panels halfway into the interface.
"Done." He and Hermione said in unison, glancing at one another for a moment before Hermione turned and hit the button on the raised block closest to her.
With a bright flash and a whooshing sound, the air around the platform filled for a second before the light vanished and the room was left full of trinkets and artifacts just like the Lab in Glastonbury. Hermione was dumbfounded by the extent of the treasure, but Harry dropped to his knees beside the moderum and tapped seven symbols on the small tiles on the side, ensuring that the security system was disabled while they worked.
A metallic bong sounded through the chamber and the air in front of the second archway shimmered, several footsteps sounding from the stairway behind them as Harry stood once again, seeing a new hologram of Myrddin opposite them. His clothing was quite similar, though of a slightly different colour and design.
Around his neck, there was a large red stone shaped into a perfect sphere. "Greetings, friend. I am Myrddin. The prize you seek, like the pendulum swing, marks the passage of all that is before you."
The message delivered, the hologram faded away as the others stepped fully back into the chamber. "Nice. Another good haul." Luna noted as she joined Harry and Hermione on the platform. She glanced at Hermione expectantly. "Well? Can I have the chest?"
Hermione tore her eyes from the empty space that had held the hologram and nodded, reaching over her shoulder to open the bag resting over it. Luna reached into the expanded space and drew out a trunk at least the size of the ones used for Hogwarts. She smiled at them as she placed it on the floor and flicked open the lid, ready to store all the goodies for their return home.