I've written a book!

It's called The Dreg of Bellmead, and it's a Dark Fantasy novel!

Here's the description!

Description: Finding out there was a world of magic lurking right under his nose sounded like fun— until he made contact. Instead, Nevan has to fight for his survival in a world of monsters, blood sacrifice and death, as well as maintain his sanity when the voices of the souls he'd consumed begin to speak to him.

I've released it on amazon,com/dp/B07XRVXXPB (replace the comma with a period, obviously)

Link to my discord: discord,gg/Pq5J8dX (replace comma with period)

Thank you so much! Now, on to the story!

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Elemental Trinity
A Harry Potter/Pokémon Crossover
By Zero Rewind
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I ran.

Away from the whispers. Away from the concealed grins of amusement. Away from the hateful and malicious gazes.

Potter the Boy-Who-Lived, the youngest seeker in a century, the glory-hound, the Heir of Slytherin. They had many names for me. Why did my name have to come out of that stupid cup? This was supposed to be a quiet year of self-improvement.

I was going to work on my spell-casting, research ways to get Sirius exonerated, and prepare for my eventual fight against Voldemort.

The damn blighter would not stop coming after me.

I wanted to be left alone.

Did they think I wanted to live like this? I didn't want fame. I could barely handle attention from my own best friends. Why couldn't they understand that I just wanted to be left to my own devices?

My heart was pounding furiously, unable to keep up with my sudden, unexpected bout of exertion. Eventually, I collapsed and sank to my knees. I tried to draw in a breath, but it never seemed to be enough. I tried to keep my lunch in.

I didn't want to vomit, on top of everything else. It was already bad enough, as it was.

It took a while, but I finally composed myself enough to open my eyes, and check my surroundings. Cursing my reckless behavior, but thanking whoever was out there that my collapse had happened here, I shakily got back to my feet.

I stared at the seemingly inconspicuous sink in front of me.

I heard familiar giggling from behind me, and took a breath.

"Hello, Myrtle." I greeted, my mind working furiously. Why had I come here?

"Harry!" I turned to her as she spoke excitedly. "I haven't seen you in so very long!"

I took a moment to compose an answer, breathing in and out steadily to reduce the burning feeling in my legs. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"But you came to visit just like you said." She circled me, looking ecstatic.

Did I promise that? It did sound like something I would say to get someone off my back.

I nodded and made an attempt to chat with the long-dead girl, asking her how she was. Happy to receive such attention, she started talking about anything and everything. I nodded politely and patiently as she talked about how lonely she was in here, and how one of the ghosts made an inappropriate comment about her glasses a few months back— and she still held it against him.

Even dead people wouldn't leave me the fuck alone.

I stifled a sigh, and looked to the sink once again.

"Open." I said on a whim, interrupting her rant about the inconsiderate ghost who had insulted her.

"Harry?" She sounded cautious as a I approached the sink, which had not split off to open the entrance to the Chamber.

I frowned. Why didn't it work?

"I have to be speaking in Parseltongue." I murmured to myself, nodding in realization. In the excitement, I had forgotten that little tidbit.

I turned to Myrtle. "Can you do me a favor, Myrtle?"

"Anything." She said, sounding shy. "I never thanked you for avenging my death."

"Don't tell anyone I came here." I said, before focusing my gaze on the snake engraved tap. I remembered my conversation with the boa constrictor that I'd set on Dudley and spoke.

§Open.§ It still sounded like English to me, but the sinks split apart, showing me the entrance.

"Why would you want to go down there, again?" She asked curiously, staring down the dark hole in trepidation.

'I want to be alone.' I thought to myself, but didn't say out loud.

Inspiration struck. "The only secret down there was the basilisk."

"So?"

"Well, it's the Chamber of Secrets. Not Secret. There must be more to it." I reasoned out, the idea slowly growing on me.

I had never thought to come back to this place, because of its significance. This was Voldemort's legacy, not mine. The very idea of my sharing anything with that monster was repulsive. So, why did I come here, now?

'Because it's the last place anyone would look for you.' Part of me said slyly. I nodded, agreeing.

Why would the Gryffindor Golden Boy be in Slytherin's seat of power?

My mind made up, I nodded to Myrtle and jumped down the hole, feeling the adrenaline rush as I sped through the twists and turns, my anger and resentment lessening as I reached the bottom.

Breathless, I got to my feet and dusted myself off, staring at my surroundings. It looked exactly as I remembered it; the giant pile of stone and rock caused by Lockhart, the small opening which I could possibly still fit through.

I shook my head. I didn't want to think about Ron.

Instead, I drew my wand and tried the latest spell I'd learned.

"Reducto." Blue light flew out of my wand, impacting a large stone and reducing it into a fine mist. I frowned.

This would take a while.

I kept casting the Reductor over and over, until the blockage had completely disappeared. I waited for the dust to settle— it would be foolish to breathe in the rock, after all— before delving deeper into the Chamber, finally reaching the dead basilisk.

Oddly, there was no whiff of decay.

"Perhaps it's so poisonous that nothing can even touch it, even in death." I murmured to myself, staring at the dead rats inside its open mouth. They'd tried to feed on it, only to die from the poisoning.

Interesting, but not what I was looking for. The thrill of discovering something new had overridden my want to just sit around and hide out in here until I calmed down. I stared at the large sculpture of Salazar Slytherin's head and concentrated.

§Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four.§

The grating sound of stone rubbing against stone assaulted my ears as Slytherin's mouth opened up, revealing the dark path inside.

For a long moment, I stared at the hole, ready for anything. Perhaps, there was another basilisk.

When nothing happened after a full minute of tense staring, I plucked up my Gryffindor courage and waded through the water, climbing up into the mouth of the statue. A few flicks of my wand, and I was dry again.

"Lumos." Light collected at the tip of my wand as I carefully made my way in Salazar's mouth. It was minutes of walking, hearing the crunching of bone underneath my feet until I reached the end of the long tunnel.

I sighed. I supposed I should've expected that. This was simply where the basilisk slept, there was nothing special about— wait. I took a step back, feeling a very slight breeze on my face. I frowned and approached the source.

It looked like solid rock. I pressed my hand against it. It felt like solid rock, but I could've sworn I felt something else.

Shrugging, I figured I'd try my luck.

§Open.§ The hiss came out.

Stone grated against stone as it sank down, revealing a small entrance. I stared, wide-eyed for a few moments, before quietly making my way inside. My excitement reached a new level when I saw what seemed to be a study.

I blinked. There was no dust. Not a mote.

Did Riddle also find this place?

I shook my head. The rest of the Chamber was full of dirt, and grime, unlike here. Clearly a spell of preservation was used for this place. I took a closer look, making my way around the room. There were a few book cases, a desk with a few odds and ends, and a few chests full of gold and rubies.

That settled it. If Voldemort had been here, this place would have been ransacked. Everything, however, looked completely untouched. The book cases were full. The chests were overflowing with riches.

Then again, the Chamber could only be accessed by Parselmouths, so he might have felt there was no need to change their location.

I shook my head.

That didn't make sense. It would've been smarter to put the gold, jewelry and books in Gringotts, as coming to Hogwarts every time to research was an exercise in futility.

My eyes flitted to the corner of the study. Set aside on an ornate table, it was a large, rectangular black metal box, with an odd symbol at the very top. It was a circle, split into two. The upper section was red, and the lower section was white. At its center was another circle, with a line going through it.

How strange.

I fiddled with it for a few seconds, before giving up and checking the table. There was a quill, an inkpot, a few broken glass balls, and a journal at the edge.

It had the same symbol as the black box.

Intrigued, I opened the journal, and began to skim through it.

"…I stumbled across an odd relic in a cave near the top of Chomolungma*. The climb was arduous, and challenging, but I conquered the tallest mountain…" I read, frowning. The tallest mountain I knew of was Everest, but I shook my head and kept reading the seemingly self-satisfied journal entries.

"…The box resists any and all attempts to open it, absorbing destructive magicks without issue. Runic attempts to open it have failed in equal measure…" I flipped a page.

"…Extensive research on the symbol's origins lead nowhere. It is meaningless. Perhaps I should focus my attention elsewhere. Not even Rowena was able to understand the box's inner workings…" I had suspected, but this was confirmation that the journal was written by Slytherin.

I turned the page. Nothing. I flipped through the pages, finding nothing again.

Had he given up?

Reaching the final page took my slowly forming grimace off.

"…I finally understand." I read. "After years of study, I was able to somewhat understand the inner workings of this device. It is a container— of what, I will never know. It is set to open for whomever it deems worthy. The symbol on it is ancient, predating our earliest mentions of history. That it was left at the top of the highest mountain indicates an advanced civilization, beyond anything I can imagine. I have found one other such symbol in the world, and that is where I gleaned what little information I have now."

"Descendant," I kept reading, eyes slowly widening as I realized Salazar had addressed this journal to his bloodline. "If you wish to ascertain your worthiness, place your hand on the box and channel your magic into it. Perhaps you may succeed where I failed.

Salazar Slytherin."

I took a deep breath, and pressed my back against the chair, trying to make sense of what I had just read. My eyes trailed towards the box in question.

It was something older than civilization as we knew it, and it judged you to see if you were worthy.

A few seconds later, I found myself in front of it.

I stared down at the inconspicuous box, before placing my hand on it.

Nothing happened.

I frowned, and went back to check the journal.

"Channel your magic into it…" I read slowly before placing it back on the table and moving back to the box.

I placed my hand on it, and closed my eyes in concentration. I tried to remember the warm feeling I had when I got my first wand.

A loud hissing noise interrupted my concentration, and I stared down at the box in shock. Lines of white power began to cover the box, and its top began to open, splitting the symbol through the line in its center, revealing three balls matching the look of the symbol, with an extra addition on each ball.

One had the symbol of fire. Another had the symbol of water, and the last one had the symbol of a leaf.

I stared at them for the longest moment, not daring to touch anything.

Eventually, I grabbed the one with the fire symbol and examined it closely. The metal felt smooth against my hand as I turned it around, before focusing on the protruding circle in its center. It looked like a button.

Swallowing, I pressed it.

The ball crackled with power.

Startled, I let it drop to the floor, where it exploded with white light, blinding me for a second. When the dark spots cleared from my eyes, I stared down in shock at the creature looking up at me.

It was a small, bipedal dinosaur, with orange skin and blue eyes. The tip of its tail was alight with a flame. What the hell was this thing?

It grinned, showing razor sharp teeth, and curiously poked at my leg with its claws. I blinked at its curious behavior. With trepidation, I greeted it.

It looked up at me and waved, attempting to roar. Instead, what came out was a cute little cry.

I grinned and started petting it.

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Thoughts?