Chapter 12: Goodies and Revelation
When Cian woke from having jumped down into the depths he gave a groan out of more annoyance from having lost consciousness more than anything else. The small throb of pain around his body from having stood on a platform for hours was dull but still noticeable, though he pushed those feelings back in order to take a gander at his surroundings. The interior was very…simple. Not that it was bad but the room itself had only a small bookshelf fitted into the wall opposite where the chair was placed and a small table next to the cozy chair that Cian never expected to be here.
A confused frown drew on his lips as he thought he would have been going into a vault filled with gold, trinkets, etc. However it seemed that he had thought wrong...that was until the back wall and fireplace shimmered softly before melting away to expose a much more vast room. The hall stretched far with either side of the hall decorated with many things, not only moree books, these ones giving off an ancient feeling. There were trinkets and baubles that he had no idea what purposes they served but would find out in time. His footsteps barely made an echo in this peaceful place that he was tempted to just move into due to the isolation, those thoughts halted before they could be fully thought out for one reason; locked away in an opaque bubble of magic with the podium it rested on having so many different schools of runes carved into it that Cian hadn't a clue where it began. Regardless, that was for later since Cian's heart throbbed and pounded in his chest at the book with an old backward '6' of a red hue one would mistake it for fresh blood.
-Why is this here? There…there is no possible way that this disgusting tome should be here!- Cian's mind was on overdrive as he yanked his gaze away from the book even though he felt no compulsion to grab it, he still wanted to be safe. His slight panic made him growl out softly as his eyes glanced back to the enclosed tome once more.
"Why the fuck is the Book of Sin in their vault?"
The glittering gold piles and safes that littered the end of the hall was not at all important as the implications of this book being here only filled his self preservation instinct to kick into high gear, nearly as high as when he remembered his soul being ripped apart. The Book of Sin, tome of Chthon..The Darkhold. He knew that it couldn't be the original since Wanda– His mind clicked into place as he suddenly slammed his foot into the ground and dashed out to the small room he had first entered, not caring about viewing any of his goodies since panic shot through him. Why was he panicking? We for one simple reason; Wanda, the Scarlet Witch and avatar of Chthon that would have been the holder of the true Darkhold, would not be born for at least five more years. At least that was what he was guessing if he were to go off the MCU's timeline rather than the comics.
After running for his own sanity, mostly just to be safe since Cian was not at all ready yet to try and challenge a god, let alone the top dog of Chaos if he rules out all of the top multiverse level beings. That thought alone made Cian sigh heavily and collapse into the comfy chair that seemed to hug him perfectly. -Fuck me..I thought I would have had at least had an easy going start of my life in the Potterverse that would propel me to then explore others but it seems like Aten had other ideas. Not that I fault them.- Cian spent a couple minutes forcefully using his mana in his body to cycle wildy in order to soothe his worries all while vastly improving every fragile and weak section of his body that he had been doing for a while. With a deep inhale and nod he let out his breath.
"Well, if I am in the MCU's timeline, which I hope to Aten that I am, then I am nearly twenty odd years away until Iron Man comes into his own. That gives me a good gap to prepare myself but I also have to deal with that little annoying snake here before anything since the moment I step into the MCU plot…it will be an uphill battle."
Another sigh left him then a spark of realization kicked in. He was twenty years before the kick off and around ten before any big tech industries came about, that included the massive companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. He needed to take his time? No! Aten told him to live the life he wished and even though working off the main timeline would offer unknown danger down the line, right now he could build a foundation for himself. His eyes glanced down the hall where Darkhold was sitting silently and he shook his head a bit. -Since that book is here then there might be some overlap with the comics which could prove annoying since I do not know too much about them since I never had time in my last life. Whatever, focus on gaining strength first then we can deal with that book.-
He gave a soft nod to himself before leaning into the chair he assumed Merlin or Morgana used as well. He had to work on fully integrating his occlumency into every corner of his mind before allowing it to meld with his soul but as good as Faustus was a teacher, the man did not have any material for what Cian wished to do. A headache from stress started to set in around the same moment a book had made itself known that made Cian snap to with suspicion. He could not understand the cover, well not in the first moment but as he glared at it more the odd text seemed to twist and shift into words he could process. -I need to delve into my powers more since I should, in theory from what Aten said about my soul, not be at all weaker than any present or future mutants.- He would also have to look into him having the X-gene. Shaking thoughts away the cover made him snort when the title was finished translating to words he could understand. 'Souls, the way they work and applications, For Morons'.
After ignoring the title Cian went into reading the book, though that was more like him spending a few seconds on every page to burn it into his memories with the help of occlumency. The process for him burning the information in his head took around twenty minutes, from him rereading it a few times. An exhale of stale breath and him standing was what signaled the book to pop from his grasp into the unknown. He was confused only until he remembered the massive library he had first walked into. -So this place is kind of like the RoR, huh? Neat.- His hand dug into the inside pocket of his jacket to fetch out a pocket watch, enchanted to be more of a timer, in order to see how much time he had left for his potion, which was around four hours but that was going to be a crunch with the platform ride.
He thought of what he needed down here for a few minutes then set into action to dash around the hall and the tangible books to stuff them into his locket. He took as wide of a berth as he could from Darkhold but traveled to the end of the hall so that the stacks of near thousand old magical gold, even some other rare metals like around a pound of vibranium but the others were not that important. He knew the 'super metal' would be useful but he'd rather not be hunted by Wakanda so early on. During the small loot raid Cian had encountered two thick books with the initials for Merlin and Morgana side by side in a small enclave to the right of the gold stash. He swiftly took them into his locket as well due to his time crunch. Cian ran through the hall and room back to where he had fallen in hopes of finding a simple way up but it seemed like his ancestors enjoyed knocking out their future heir since Cian once more lost consciousness where he had fallen only to wake up back on the platform surrounded by tomes and books.
The fruitful venture to these vaults would not stop with this one visit but that was for a later time, now he had to get back, study, and make plans to try and survive the future of this multiverse since Cian had an inkling no great power is going to let him just stroll through life. Those thoughts stuck in his head during the ride back up, Cian ignoring any and all goblins trying to interact as their greed and vicious nature was nothing to him after learning what he now had to deal with in the future. -This…is going to be a pain in the ass, isn't it?- He lamented to himself during his swift exodus from Gringotts to a secluded alley, drinking down another poly-juice potion to change looks entirely. On his way home, in the depths of Gringotts from where Cian had parted; the Darkhold pulsed softly, faintly. Truly, things would not be easy.