The black mist vanished, and the soul bearing Voldemort's face returned to the Diadem.
Cyrus knew his plan had succeeded. He could almost claim to have fooled Voldemort himself. Of course, it had actually been quite easy. After all, everything about his existence indicated that he was a Horcrux.
No matter how cautious Voldemort was, he probably would never imagine that even his own Horcrux could be possessed.
Cyrus could have spared himself all that trouble, but he had no intention of using something as valuable as the Diadem just once. Keeping company with Voldemort demanded caution. At the very least, while the Diadem remained on his head, he had to be "Riddle."
Fortunately, Tom Riddle's Occlumency was exceptionally powerful. Even Dumbledore had failed to see through his thoughts back then. Cyrus had absorbed all of Riddle's magical knowledge, and he certainly had not neglected a spell as useful as Occlumency.
Cyrus went nowhere. He opened The Book of the Jew Abraham right where he stood.
It was a book made of copper, with only twenty-one pages in total. A page number appeared only once every seven pages, and that number was always "seven." In alchemy, three and seven were both highly significant numbers.
Three might represent "thrice-great," meaning greatness repeated three times.
"Perhaps this means a certain element needs to undergo sublimation three times."
Without a doubt, that element was mercury, also known as quicksilver.
But that alone clearly was not enough. Cyrus had previously tried to achieve a perfect world through the three pillars, ten sephiroth, four worlds, and twenty-two paths, but he had still failed in the end.
"What's missing?"
"And something absolutely crucial, at that!"
He studied the images imprinted on the book. Two intertwined snakes, one being devoured by the other, represented the fusion of