Chapter 62
To read up to 15 chapters ahead: https://www.patréon.com/SlyOW
-------------
Henry took several minutes to analyse the door and the charm on it. Ethan was not sure whether it was because his father was struggling or if he was just pretending.
As far as he knew, Henry had not reached the second layer of magic perception, but not only was it not the only way to analyse a magical enchantment, but someone in the second layer could also make a rudimentary observation of an enchantment by being in contact with it.
It was how Ethan himself had reached the second layer, after all, by repeatedly forcing his magical sense out of his body through an object he touched.
Once he was done, Henry explained what the charm was, clearly interested in it: "It seems to be an ancient version of the Fidelius Charm. It is probably the reason why so many people missed this place."
The Fidelius Charm—this one Ethan was familiar with. He had never witnessed it himself, but he had heard of it. It was one of the most powerful spells in the world, and it allowed to entrust a secret into someone's soul.
That secret would then become magically protected, with only the person to whom the secret was entrusted, called the Secret Keeper, knowing of said secret. The only way for this secret to be spread was for the Secret Keeper to directly divulge it to someone else.
What made this charm so powerful was not only its potency but also the fact that the secret did not have to be intangible. One could turn a place into a secret, which was what had been done for the Potter Household during the First Wizarding War to stop Voldemort from hunting Harry Potter.
At least, it was the way it had been done in the original timeline, and the only reason it failed in the end was because the Secret Keeper ended up being a traitor. Had it not been for that, even Voldemort would have been unable to find them.
Ethan did not know whether the same had happened in this world, but the point was that the Fidelius Charm was incredibly powerful as well as ancient, something Tracey picked up as well.
She asked Henry, "Isn't the Fidelius Charm supposed to be very ancient? Like, thousands of years old? And this is an ancient version of it?"
Henry nodded, tapping onto the door as he explained, "This very well might be the spell from which the Fidelius Charm was derived. It is more tethered to the physical plane, which makes it slightly easier to detect, but it also has an effect on the physical world. Locking the door, in this case,"
Ethan noticed that Snyde did not seem surprised in the slightest by the explanation, as if she knew about it already, which begged the question: how had Gringotts found out about this tomb?
All Snyde asked was, "Can you open it then?"
Henry nodded and asked Bilaal, "What about the other side?"
Bilaal replied quickly, "Your wife said that the doors were twins. Opening one would open the other. She also said you would be capable of opening it."
Henry snorted, before weaving his wand at the door, "Finite Incantatum."
Alight flashed on the door, and it started rotating on itself, forming an opening, while Henry looked back and said, "Sometimes, simple is good enough."
Finite Incantatum was a second-year spell in Hogwarts and was known as the General Counter-Spell. It was usually used for simple spells and had limited effects on stronger enchantments, so Ethan was sure there was something his father was not telling him, but there was no way to know.
As the door opened and the group entered the room hidden behind, Ethan could not help but falter in his step as he saw what was in it.
On the other side of the room, another door had opened, and from this one came the other group, where Ethan's mother was. The room itself was grand, with multiple sets of pillars holding it up. Across the walls were statues of the monsters Ethan had faced earlier, which he had called guardians for convenience sake. There were easily thirty of them.
But what made Ethan pause was located in the middle of the room. It was a golden pyramid, the very one he had seen in his vision.
It stood on a pedestal, and the tip of it was even higher than the heads of the guardians. Ethan estimated it to be four metres tall.
In front of the pyramid was also a small platform, above which a pitch-black orb was floating. It was so dark that it seemed to suck in the light from its surroundings.
Finally, above the pyramid, a grand runic circle had been carved into the ceiling, which glowed with a pure blue light.
Fortunately, no one reacted to Ethan's stumble, too preoccupied by what they were seeing. Well, no one except for Henry, who did not say anything.Although he did not know what had happened to his son when he examined the door, he guessed it had something to do with his reaction.
Although the others had also reacted to the room, and particularly to the big golden pyramid, Henry knew his son well enough to know that he would never react this way, be it because he would be embarrassed to show such vivid shock or simply because it would not be enough to really shock him.
After catching himself, Ethan followed his group as they approached the pyramid and noticed some more details he had not seen in his vision. It had been blurry after all.
Although it looked like a pyramid cast out of pure gold, it was instead made of many little golden triangles, set together so as to form the four sides of the pyramid.
Each of the small triangles had symbols carved into them, glowing with a soft white light. Curiously enough, while Ethan recognised some of them as runes, some of the other symbols he could not recognize. They should be runes of some kind, because Ethan did not see the point of having them if they did not have a magical effect, but he did not think there were any runic alphabets he did not know.
Ethan shared a look with his mother, which only served to confirm his doubts. It was fascinating.
While Ethan wanted to get a closer look at the pyramid, Rakepick had already placed herself in front of it, right next to the floating orb, thus physically blocking it as she said, "I must say, I am impressed. Although I was originally against bringing a group with children to this place, we would have never arrived here without you."
Ethan looked past her shoulder at the pyramid and asked, "So, this is Ramesses II's real resting place? And this orb you are blocking is supposed to be his famed treasure that cost him his son's life?"
Everyone turned to look at him, stunned. What had been a relatively smooth cooperation was just torn to shreds by his words, but he did not care.
Whether the vision he had was one of the immediate future warning him of his impending doom or a trap set by someone, Ethan was not going to be passive about it.
He had already done it once, and it had resulted in the death of a great, innocent man.
On her part, Rakepick looked surprised before she smiled slyly, asking, "Is that it, then? You want the artefact for yourself?"
Ethan shook his head, replying without hesitation, "One that led to a man killing his son? To me, that sounds more like a curse than a treasure."
Rakepick paused, obviously taken aback by his response, before bursting out laughing. Meanwhile, Ethan noticed that his parents were now close to him and Tracey, while Weasley was looking concerned. As for Snyde, her eyes were rapidly shifting around; she was clearly nervous.
"How very wise of you, little man. You are right. About this being his resting place, too. You did get one thing wrong, however."
Rakepick approached Ethan, looking down at him with a satisfied expression. She liked being above others, which was Ethan's first impression.
But while she did this, Bilaal and Zaid, who had been standing at the sides, suddenly leapt at the black orb, reaching out like their lives depended on it… which they did.
Tracey gasped in shock as the two brothers had their attention fully on the orb. Henry would have been fast enough to stop at least one of them. Possibly both. Rakepick might have been able to stop one as well.
Yet they only watched as the two placed their hands on the orb, their greed and desperation fully visible to the group.
As if nothing had happened, Rakepick resumed, "This orb is not Ramesses' famed great treasure."
On cue with her words, the ecstatic pair of brothers, who had thought they had managed to snag the ultimate treasure of an ancient golden civilisation, released a blood-curling scream, as if their very souls were being twisted.
Their bodies started spasming as a faint cloud of darkness started spreading from the orb, swiftly enveloping the two brothers, whose screams grew fainter by the second.
Then, there was silence, and Ethan was forced to close his eyes as there appeared a blinding flash of light, followed by a sensation of having his insides turned inside out.