It was a graveyard.
Under the veil of the cold night, the fog crawled over the grassy land, clinging itself from one tombstone to the next.
Over the tombstones, marvelous sculptures stood like sentries, giving the entire place a queer charisma.
At the very middle of this eerie, silent graveyard, there was a long table with a black, mirror-like finish.
There was only one chair at one end of the table.
A tiny, black-robed figure sat there, letting out broken breaths that almost sounded like the hisses of a dying snake.
This was one of the strongest Mindscapes known to Contestants belonging to a storyline Character.
The Dark Lord — Lord Voldemort!!!
The weakened Dark Lord lifted his bloody, rotting hand and grabbed the edge of the table.
In front of him, hovering three inches above the table, were two yellow crystals.
Even though the Dark Lord had become weaker than his prime, his slitted eyes narrowed under the hood.
"Who are you?" he asked. "Show yourself."
Hahaha…
A demonic laugh echoed over the fog-covered graveyard.
With a bang, the two yellow crystals, bobbing up and down on the table, shattered.
Another chair appeared opposite the weakened Dark Lord, on the other side of the table, the shattered pieces of the yellow crystals converging over it.
Then, in a matter of moments, a yellow-robed figure appeared there.
"We meet finally," Kai said under the hood, his slitted, hazel eyes donning a purple rim around the pupils. "Lord Voldemort."
The Dark Lord stared at the yellow being, his nails rubbing on the mirror-like surface of the table.
"The Yellow Warlock…" he hissed.
The corners of the Kai's lips lifted upon being recognized.
The Yellow Warlock had already become one of the greatest criminals among the various wizarding communities of the world, especially British and American.
It didn't come as a surprise to Kai that the Dark Lord must have already heard of his name… and the tales related to him.
"I have come for an alliance," the Yellow Warlock stated, coming to the moot point immediately.
Hahaha…
This time, the devious chuckle had come from the Dark Lord, his tiny, weakened body jerking within the graveyard. "Alliance?" he hissed.
Kai ignored the sarcastic tone. "Indeed," he commented, grinning. "Or are you confident in regaining a fleshy shell for yourself on your own?"
…
Things went utterly silent within the graveyard.
Suddenly, the entire graveyard rippled as if it was made of paper.
Uncountable snakes boomed out of the tombstones, slithered toward the Yellow Warlock, and coiled around him as if he couldn't move at all.
Boom!
With a resounding boom, the snakes crushed the yellow-robed being, his body getting scattered all over the mind structure.
"Fool…" The Dark Lord commented flatly, secretly worrying over how much the Yellow Warlock knew of his plans.
Did he find it out from my Mindscape in such a short period of time? No! Impossible!!
Lord Voldemort slumped back into the chair, his body quivering over the chair like a dry, rotten leaf.
However, just as the graveyard began regaining the insidious calm, the thousands of yellow shards gathered toward a point, taking the form of Yellow Warlock.
This time, the Dark Lord lifted himself, straightening his back.
Kai slowly walked to the chair and sat down.
There was no mention of the sudden attack. Nor did the Yellow-Warlock complain.
"Stealing the Philosopher's Stone is a desperate method at best," he continued as if nothing at all had happened. "Not a solution."
Voldemort squinted, twisting his lips. "Are you going to stop me?"
The Yellow Warlock shook his head under the hood, chuckling. "Have you perchance forgotten the definition of the word Alliance?"
A cold breeze passed over the gravestone as the Dark Lord trembled over the chair, his weakened body shaking under the might of the backfired curse.
Yet, no matter how confident the Yellow Warlock sounded in what he knew, Voldemort never once lost his cool.
With an incredible chill in his voice, he hissed out the same question. "Who are you?"
Kai laughed, knowing well the Dark Lord wasn't asking about his Yellow Warlock identity but his intentions.
Now, he needed to reintroduce himself.
So he did.
The Yellow Warlock stood up and slowly lifted his hands outward.
"Look at me," he said, smiling. "Don't I remind you of someone?"
For a moment, the Dark Lord stared at the towering height of the Yellow Warlock, not knowing what he was looking at.
Then… his slitted eyes narrowed under the black hood.
He had been looking at the strange wizard at first, simultaneously trying to find ways to reverse hack into the method he had used to come here.
Now, though, his gaze just couldn't move away from the robe itself.
Yellow…
Yes. It did remind the Dark Lord of someone.
Of a great terrible presence…
And that was the reason behind Kai choosing the color yellow for his robe. Just for this moment.
With a boom, the graveyard shook as the tiny figure of the Dark Lord stood up, hovering meters above the ground.
"Impossible!" he uttered, a chill running down his non-existent spine. "You are—one of them?!"
Kai of course couldn't utter the name of the Order of the Immortal Lotus outside Avalon. The magic of those Six who didn't belong to this era was on a different scale altogether.
But he knew Lord Voldemort had been recruited by the Yellow Seat, Abdul Alhazred, once.
With the Dark Lord's astute mind, it was simple for him to connect the dots.
Kai chuckled, sitting down. "No." He shook his head. "I want to—take one of them down…"
Lord Voldemort stared down at the Yellow Warlock as he hovered above the chair.
Anyone else in his place would have burst out with a feat of scornful laughter by now. Not the Dark Lord.
The way Kai had said those words so casually, and the confident tone he had hissed out, Lord Voldemort remembered it.
Once, he too carried this… pride with him.
So, yes.
When they looked at each other this time, they knew both of them took each other very seriously.
Moreover, the Dark Lord hadn't heard a single good thing about the Yellow Warlock.
By that, he already knew such a wizard would have ordinary goals. And it wasn't like he was averse to the matter of an alliance.
In this condition, an alliance with a fellow dark wizard was exactly what he needed before… killing the other party and obtaining all the gains.
"What's in it for me?" the Dark Lord asked, hovering down to his seat, the graveyard returning to its calm, cold state.
"Immortality."
Lord Voldemort, for the first time, smiled.
Anything less would have no meaning to him, anyway.
"Haha! I will help you regain your body…" Kai said, chuckling. "A much better specimen than what's in your mind right now?"
"You know what's in my mind?" the Dark Lord hissed, the world darkening around him.
"A few things here and there," Kai shrugged.
Once again, the two dark beings took a measure of each other.
"You know what I need?" The Dark Lord prodded, trying to figure out if the other party was as smart as he showed it.
"It's not the Philosopher's Stone," Kai said it like the truth. "What you truly need right now is… a Horcrux."
The smile on Lord Voldemort's face vanished, his slitted eyes pulsing with his entire remaining magical might.
"You must ditch this Professor Quirrell," Kai said, ignoring the mountain like Mana. "What you need is a continuous supply of emotions to leech off a temporary Horcrux, regaining a part of your powers. I… know a better candidate."
The Dark Lord allowed himself a few words before taking action. "Who?"
"A student."
Now that… was intriguing.
If possessing a student was that easy, then he would have already done it.
Unless he could pull it off under Dumbledore's nose without getting caught, there was no way he would risk possessing a student. A teacher, in all sense, was a much better alternative.
A student… Lord Voldemort tasted the words at the tip of his tongue, his hunger for power burning bright inside him now. "Continue…"
Kai let out a triumphant smile.
He waved his hand and the scenery to his right blurred, an underground scene appearing out of nowhere.
It reeked of blood, flesh, and hideous experiments.
Mutated corpses were crawling as if they were part of some hell.
Blood oozed out of the earth, becoming puddles. Screams of utter despair filled the grounds like a miasma.
Even the Dark Lord shifted in his seat at the sight.
Before he could ask anything though, the scene changed, showing a glass tube, carrying an ugly, multi-limbed creature with a curved tale.
"What abomination is that?" Lord Voldemort asked, his slitted eyes narrowing even harder.
"That…" Kai stood up, walked to the tube, and stroked the glass. "… is a Royal Facehugger."
**************
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