Chapter 6. Vendetta. Preparation

Earlier In The Morning, Rockingham Forest — Northamptonshire.

A figure of a little boy was sitting curled up among a forest of larches. He was staring at the ground with fascination and muttering something hissing, looking at a gray rat in a makeshift cage made of sticks.

From the outside, it looked strange, because children definitely should not be alone in the thick of the forest and even more so behave in such an unusual way... but it seems this boy was an exception.

—Sfeffin," Emrys whispered a soporific spell softly.

The magic circle shone in the air, and a thin gray ray of light came out of it, heading towards the rodent. When the spell reached the rat, it quickly quieted down with a short squeak. For a moment it seemed to the boy that she was dead at all, but in fact she only fell asleep for a few hours.

— Phew...Well, finally," the boy exhaled heavily, straightened up and spoke somewhere into the void, "Because of the day before yesterday's experience, I already thought that my entire arsenal of spells would be much easier for me. This is the only spell I was able to activate and use correctly after more than five hundred failures!

Tom stood up, squinting at the sleeping animal.

— How many "volunteers" did you let into your training, - he scratched his chin, frowning, - May their brave souls rest in rat Paradise.

The young magician concluded that the experimental rats mostly died in their sleep due to the fact that he used too much mana, while others, on the contrary, did not fall asleep due to a small amount. The boy had to pick up the golden mean for a long time to make everything work.

In recent days, Raddle often had memories from his past life, especially the boy paid attention to the many magical words that he immediately tried to reproduce. Something turned out right away, and something had to be honed day after day.

It may seem that this is not so many attempts and the magician is lucky, but it is not.. in Merlin's body, he could master all sorts of spells from the first time, so the present Tom confidently hoped that everything would work out for him now. But he did not stop, as he assumed possible difficulties

One day Nagaina told Riddle one small detail - it turns out that when he conjures, his eye color changes to a color similar to molten gold. An unusual phenomenon... for this world.

A few steps away from Tom, under the shade of a tree with a thick crown, there was a string bag with a glass bottle filled with water and a couple of personal notebooks. The boy looked carefully in that direction, focusing on the container and activated another spell that he practiced from time to time.

"Onbregdan," the young magician said confidently. A quick wave of mana instantly came out of the magic circle, covering the entire bottle, which in the blink of an eye jumped into the air and landed in the hands of the little owner.

"Onbregdan" is a spell that makes any object fly directly into the hands of the magician. It is very useful, and it can be considered something like an analogue of the spell "Accio". But if "Accio" randomly attracts objects with any side to the magician, which can even hurt them, then the spell "Onbregdan" always safely and conveniently attracts objects directly into the hand. Even with my eyes closed. "Onbregdan" also does not require a constant verbal prefix - you only need to have the desire and visibility of the desired object.

After all the water was drunk, and the string bag and the cage with the sleeping rodent were in his bosom, Tom got up from the ground again, not forgetting to shake himself off with his free hand, and walked towards his shelter.

The journey was not long - and now Riddle was already standing in front of the porch of a dilapidated house.

Lesan is another spell from the boy's arsenal that can unlock locked doors, locks, and so on.

The massive padlock clicked open, opening the door a crack.

While the boy was practicing, he almost learned to use a sufficient number of spells in a row while maintaining an optimal supply of mana. Such control was not easy for him at all: one day Tom exhausted himself to the point of complete loss of consciousness from lack of internal strength, although it seemed to him that he was channeling less mana than he actually was. Sometimes, due to stupidity and lack of experience, a young magician spends about thirty to forty percent of his magic reserve for only two spells. But, thanks to his meticulousness and pedantry, he records all the results in a notebook, which serves him as his personal guide to the world of magic.

— My Lord! Sit down soon, I have prepared a delicious pie for you," the energetic voice of the elf who met the boy at the threshold sounded.

Tom greeted the magical creature with a pat on the head as usual and hurried to the table.

—Hoz~zyain," Nagaina hissed, crawling onto the boy's lap.

It seems that the pet snake is no longer jealous and does not consider Tom his property. Or so she wants to think. In any case, she gets decent treats from the house elf, which allows her to get a little distracted from the owner.

***

Tom and Altariel, sitting over a cup of fragrant tea, discussed cardinal changes in the appearance of the elf and her psychic aspect. In behavior and mental development, Alatariel resembles a child from eight to ten. According to her, house elves are able to change their appearance during the ritual, unless of course the "owner" wants it and is a strong enough magician to change. She shared that her language abilities, vocabulary, as well as intelligence were tightened due to the magical connection between her and the boy, which is quite natural for elves.

Tom has long since stopped being surprised by everything she does, so he took her words quite calmly.

During the pauses, Riddle also pondered the inner voice or feeling that prompted him to immediately conjure... The young magician seemed to subconsciously understand what he needed to do, how much mana to use for slaughter, and in what order to imagine activation. The most amazing thing is that it happened in an instant. Most likely, such drastic changes were associated with memories from past lives.

Tom did not forget to ask Alatariel in more detail about this phenomenon as "purification". As he understood from her meager explanations, this is quite a common thing for wealthy magicians. The fact is that they have been performing some kind of magical rituals since childhood and taking expensive potions to improve and purify their body, mind and magic.

What happened to the boy some time ago was a kind of discovery for the elf. No one has ever heard of such a purification without any rituals and drugs...maybe it's a lucky chance like in the novels? However, after what he heard, Tom did not begin to speculate in advance. He decided that when he went to the magical world, then he would find the information he needed.

By the way, about traveling to the magical world. The boy came to the conclusion that before going on a kind of mission, it would be much more logical to first prepare and master some necessary spells.

Consciousness was still somewhere in the haze when Tom's eyelids began to open slightly. Focusing his gaze, the boy saw the outline of Nagaina's figure, who was comfortably seated to his right.

Riddle could barely lift his leaden head from the pillow; his body ached as if after a convulsion. At such moments, I didn't want to do absolutely anything. Looking at the snake, Tom felt a certain connection between them; more precisely, it was already there, but now it felt much brighter.

Observation was replaced by irritation: recently, the young magician lost consciousness too often. Every time I woke up like this, with pain in my head and body, it became unbearable. In another case, one of these falls may be fatal — either the body will not stand it, or the boy will break his head elementary.

Nagaina, by the way, seemed to have grown a little, the scales shone brightly, and the drawing looked clearer. The snake in a sense has become... more beautiful. If it can be so expressed in the direction of the reptile.

—Ss~Xos~xia~in, ~I~h~u~vss~t~v~U~u Ss~s~e~b~I, Ss~t~r~a~nn~o," Nagaina's hiss suddenly sounded in Tom's head. The boy rolled his eyes in surprise, staring at the snake.

What happened just now didn't look like legementia. Riddle didn't exactly look her in the eye, but still somehow he just heard her voice in his head.

The elf who broke in distracted me from my thoughts. She looked a little shabby: swollen red eyes from tears, shaking hands and a worried look. Tom felt a little guilty about her condition. Having gathered himself, the boy asked Alatariel what had happened this time.

— I remember something like that ... — the elf began quietly, wiping the remnants of tears and snot with the hem of her dress, — but there is very little information. But judging by your story, master, this phenomenon is most similar to the ritual of the Familiar. Once I heard that after such a ritual, both participants can communicate telepathically at any distance from each other.

Frowning, Tom fell back on the pillow, carefully examining the snake. Of course, such an "ability" is never superfluous, however, why such things happen without his knowledge remains a mystery.