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The day started just as usual, there was nothing that could signify any changes which were looming just around the corner.
He woke up.
Got dressed.
Had his usual warm up exercises.
Had breakfast and the usual medical potions.
Got back to his desk to check the mail.
Nothing too interesting. Until all of a sudden, there was something... something else present in the room. He felt it even before he saw it, if this word could be applied to him.
- Meson? - the snake man called, looking in the direction of the noise as if he could see more than blurry heat signatures at this point, his hand already clutching the trusted yew, just in case.
It was... not Meson, according to the heat signature. Something big was creeping closer, silently and ominously.
Snarling, he pointed his wand at the being, but before he could curse it or do anything else, more heat signatures appeared out of nowhere. Three... no, four. Big ones, probably adults. But instead of attacking him, they grabbed the first creature, which started making distressed noises and trying to escape.
- Don't ruin the story, you foul beast! - the snake man heard a voice which made shivers run down his spine, for the voice was his.
- I just want to help! - the first being screeched, and by the sounds it was tearing the carpet to shreds as it was trying to get closer to him. - I need to help!!!
There were other voices too, trying to explain the "foul beast" that everything is okay and Voldemort will be just fine, but judging by the sounds the carpet was already gone and the claws were now leaving deep gashes on the floor. Listening to them, he tried to remember if he heard them before, but to no avail. Still clutching his wand, the blind man stood up, facing the mess of heat signatures.
- Who are you and what do you need? - he growled.
- I NEED TO HELP! - the first being, now buried under the moving mass of at least three other ones, yelled in his general direction, still struggling. Seemingly it was strong enough, for even three adult men (?) couldn't subdue it, and the thing just shook them off when addressed.
- Don't you fucking dare... - the snake man heard his own hiss again, as the other Voldemort tried to seemingly pull the beast off by its tail, everyone else joining in. - Do. Not. You. Fucking. Dare.
The struggle on the floor continued, all heat signatures melting into one with many legs and arms and tails as the humanlike beings fell on the beast to press it to the floor, not letting it escape, as if it couldn't just ignore them if it needed to stand up. But wherever those came from, it was time for this circus to stop. Rising his wand, he takes a step closer... and that was a mistake. Before anyone could understand what happened, a swift handpaw stretched from the pile and grabbed the blind man's ankle.
It felt like a jolt of electricity, spreading in milliseconds from his ankle to his whole body, fixing, remaking, reattaching. Losing his sight was worse than that, but this still made the wizard nearly fall back, grabbing onto the table as he tried to keep standing, not even noticing that nothing held his ankle anymore. The first wave, painful enough, had passed, but the aftershocks still shook his body, spreading from the place where the being grabbed him. Trying to catch a breath, the snake man opened his eyes again.
Wait.
Eyes.
Blinking fiercely, he run his fingers over his face, trying to understand what just happened. Heat signatures overlayed with the normal vision, he could still see them, feel the vibrations, the colors were so different and so new and for several moments it was just too much to take in at once, after a few months of living in the darkness dominated by vague shapes of warmth alone. The beast was seemingly arguing with the others right in front of him, but the snake man didn't care at all, the main thing he cared about at this point was just his own sanity, which at that point was slowly slipping away.
Long fingers run over his neck and chest, not finding any more scars or imperfections. At some point the man wanted to part his robe and look for himself, but when he started opening it, another pair of pale hands stretched towards him.
- Please, not right now. - his own voice echoed in the wizard's ears, as he let the other iteration of himself button his robe up. Looking up, he met his own ruby eyes, just immensely tired.
- What... - confused, the man tried to understand what was going on, noticing only now that his wand is on the floor, he must have dropped it when the first wave of pain hit him.
- Creature. - the other snake man said, as if it explained everything.
- Your... Creature... - he almost stuttered, blinking - has a very big heart.
- Where did it get it, by the way? - another voice, this time a hoarse one, joined in.
Everyone turned to the "Creature", which was apparently white and very fluffy-looking, discovering that in the few moments it was free the being got itself an immensely huge and still bleeding heart, which looked rather... human. Having regained his sight, Voldemort now could see where they all came from, as right behind the white beast was what looked like an opening in space-time continuum itself, an oval-shaped hole with a corridor of what he presumed was another dimension visible through it. Before anyone could try to sit on it again, the animal, with the heart still in its jaws, hopped through the hole and scurried away.
- Chub! - the bearded man with the hoarse voice yelled, following the beast and almost slipping on the bloody drops the heart left. The other two men muttered something like "Take care" stepped through the hole as well, leaving Voldemort alone with himself.
With a sigh, the other one cleaned the bloody prints and repaired the floor (the gashes really were deep) and the carpet with a wave of his hand, and there they were once again, mirror images of one another, staring at each other.
Silence stretched to the point of it being uncomfortable.
Neither of the most powerful wizards knew what to say at this point.
At some point Voldemort wondered which one of them would be called the most powerful, if there can't be two most powerful ones... equals?
Lost in thought, he almost missed the moment the other one started digging through his pocket. Suspicious and curious, he tilted his head slightly, narrowing his eyes, but the reason for this was just a little round mirror, which was promptly handed to him.
- Call me if you need me, I guess? - with nobody else to hide his tiredness from, the voice of the other one was very much showing his exhaustion, just as much as the circles under his eyes.
- Yeah. Thanks. - he managed, watching the other wizard step through the portal hole, which instantly started growing smaller and closed up completely in just a couple seconds, leaving the man just standing there, wand on the floor, clutching the mirror tightly in his cold and suddenly clammy hand as if his life depended on it, staring at the place where the portal just was and blinking fiercely, the weight of what just happened finally dawning on him.
Meson appeared in the same place where the portal was just a few moment later, his "Meson is here, Lord Master" was cut short by a scream of surprise when he noticed the ruby orbs staring through him.
