Eclipse Transit

[Tom Marvolo Riddle]

As the maelstrom burned away to white, the ripples flickering through my vision seemed to intensify for a moment and gave way to a spectrum of prismatic color borne from the Nexus’ inner glow. As quickly as it came in turn was eventually wiped out by the dominating monotone that was this Verse. What was known as the Fountain of Infinity seemed to have reached a consensus on its new form. Distantly, what it had been hour ago was now replaced with appeared to be the ruler of the omniverse making a rather rude gesture with his thumb and forefinger.

His thumb in particular seemed to shine with pearly brilliance that put the rest of the Nexus to shame in its normal bleached nature.

Scoffing, I turned back to my work; I could already see some issues in compressing space and filling it with a large amount of heavy metals. Metals were singularly unpredictable in how they’d respond to enchantments; sometimes they required customized charms that were made to a greater degree of complexity than in normal artifacing. It was also why I was inclined to throw myself back into the study of alchemy if only to better control that aspect alone.

Time seemed to pile on and flow off the back of the vehicle as we took what appeared to be the circular route around. I had several guesses why, the events of my own summoning to this plane were the most suspect. Avoiding such a time sink was imperative to recovering especially given the violent nature of the societies that inhabited to place. There were also other issues at hand; I still needed to procure a written record of the supposed event surrounding one Harry Potter before I could conclude how much of my true nature would impact Public Relations and my own endeavors of claiming a piece of the Omniverse for myself.

Domination was after all a simple affair and a good stepping stone to something greater.

What that greater thing was, I had yet to conclude, though a part of me wanted to supplant everything Voldemort had come to stand for and improve where he had failed. Ginny had been somewhat enlightening in that regard, Harry as well but more was to be had. If anything it would probably lend credence to artistic license of whatever had been printed and how the winning party often wrote history. All of it though felt meager, like retreading the same path.

Again it all came back to Hogwarts, an aspiration I had long held, to forever remain there, gaining further knowledge, teaching and terminating mediocrity wherever I could find it. Given the state of things in the world I had left behind, I had never accomplished that. Here though… here I could have exactly that, and Albus bloody Dumbledore would not be there to stand in my way. And that was another matter that would eventually have to be attended to along with the ramifications of the War I had been party to.

And it was something that perhaps I could use to my advantage.

“Nealaphh,” I began, breaking the silence as gently as I could even as I organized my thoughts on the matter, “is there any overarching law within the multiverse regarding the use of Banishment at least between factions?”

The low tittering I had been treated to earlier did not repeat itself thankfully and though the being that I was addressing didn’t physically react, there was an earnest question in the mental response. Eerily interested. “No there is not. The vestiges of decency are rarely rallied to such a level, why?”

I took a breath before closing my true form and stowing it in my robe’s pocket. “As I’ve gathered, it’s a capital punishment akin to the Death Penalty. We witnessed it twice but no doubted it was meted out more so after our departure.” And more to my annoyance the one who had taken my power had been one of them. If they ever escaped their damnation, I would have to settle my own accounts then. Smoothing over my emotions though I continued on to my point, “The Institute would be the ideal group to parley the factions of the multiverse into a treaty regarding the use of such a weapon, and my own plans would be equally matched to host such an event.”

The fact that we were heading to the place that would be the most suited climate and theme of Hogwarts was as the Headmaster often put it, ‘a happy accident’. If I was going to work with Nealaphh, broaching the topic of a secure holdings would be of the greatest importance and giving the Institute an olive branch. If the patterns of our interactions held true then it would be Nealaphh’s means of gaining a stronger foothold in Verse politics while ensuring my own viability in the world at large. No doubt the entity I had allied however tentatively would be able to assist me should any complications arise.

But the more pertinent issue was that of banishment itself. It seemed like it had a similar status as the as media depicted the ‘Nuclear option’ that muggles had seemed too thorough enjoy using as a plot element in their fiction and history. Only here, the flagrant employment of banishing seemed to be more the norm than the exception. That alone would bring parties to the table if only out of self-interest.

Glancing at the nearing Gate to what I suspected led to Moors, I could only hope Nealaphh saw the issue from a similar perspective.