Me and the Devil: Sebastian Sallow

Chapter ONE FIFTEEN - Memory

A single stone tear dripped in cautious weeping down into the pensieve below. The ancient magic reservoir bubbled just below the surface in tingling anticipation before sparking to life just above the basin. I did as I had done twice before and the memory lapped at the water below us. Sebastian's right hand laced with my left and he nodded once before we dipped our faces to the liquid surface. Disrupting the tranquility to utter chaos.

The frigid liquid pulsed against my cheeks for a moment. Ink began to drip ahead of my eyes, curling, shifting through mist and smoke. It danced over my nose fading skin to memories, consciousness to cognizance.

Niamh and Isidora strolled along a mountain cliff, the Hogwarts castle towering tall through a thin layer of fog. Crickets chirped soundly as the sun touched the roof of the castle, flares of light brushed the peaks and cast the walls in shadow.

"Isidora, what you did for your father was... remarkable."

Isidora smiled widely at the woman, nearly falling over as she let her excitement seep through her words.

"Wasn't it? And Percival needn't worry about the strands of emotion or the traces this magic leaves. I've found a way to contain all of it."

Niamh paused, hands behind her back and eyes tracing quizzically over the girl aside her. As the silence ebbed, her brows pressed together and her jaw tightened.

"You... haven't stopped." It wasn't a question yet her phrasing accused more than a simple statement.

Isidora smile only widened as she continued, rather oblivious or unwavered by the shift in her companion's tone. "Goblin- silver."

"You spoke to a goblin about this?"

"Don't worry, he has no idea what we're containing."

"We don't know what effect any of this may have- the emotions, the Dark traces-"

Isidora rolled her head back, fingers clenched at her sides. "You sound like Percival!" She stared a moment longer before taking a ragged breath inwards. "...and as it happens, I do know. It is a source of strength- of focus. Somehow, it enhances my ability to wield magic."

"I don't follow Isidora..."

"I think we can harness it."

"...Power like this is not to be toyed with. In the wrong hands-"

"You saw what I did for my father."  Isidora's bottom lip trembled. "Oh Niamh. Imagine the good we could do. Everyone is in some kind of pain."

The silence sat across the air, dipping below my chest somewhere in the background. It wound through my vague fingers, clenched tight around something warm.

Isidora raised her wand quickly to Niamh's chest. A bright red and black gurgled below her clothing, seeping and twirling as wisps began to curl out, up and into her wand.

Niamh slapped Isidora's hand away though the slim gasp of relief tainted her resistance. "What are you doing?" She held a hand to the space on her chest the wand had been moments before.

Isidora only lifted the whispering black wisps to her closed eyes, allowing them to slip beneath her nostrils as her smile grew.

"Breath it in. Can you feel it?"

The eldest witch clasped her hands together, eyes wide as she watched with horror stricken features. "Oh Isidora. This must stop. All of it."

The smile slipped from Isidora's lips, replaced with something much deeper.

Much darker.

"You've kept this power to yourselves for so long because you fear it... I choose to embrace it."

Chills crept along my faded skin.

Isidora's figure retreated back down the mountain and Niamh clutched her chest as she watched. 

A dull ache lapped just behind my vision, the warmth at my right retreated and something warm and painful slapped against my left. It scratched and dug deep so suddenly that I was pulled forcefully from the memory. My vision slapped back to color, skin snapping back to bone, feet tumbling out from below me.

I landed with a thud, left side cushioned by something full and warm.

Ominis gasped for air, fingers tugging at my wrist.

"Sebastian- Seb- Sebastian's..." The words seemed to tumble faster than the syllables could right themselves.

I swallowed a bit of my disorientation, nausea racking at my gut. "What is it Ominis? What about Sebastian?"

My eyes tumbled over the space around us. Blue marble-like floors, towering stone walls and archways, torches whispering light to the edges. It reminded me of those aside the map chamber and the stairs that led down to it.

It was aside the map chamber. 

I could just make out the the large room through a rather ornate arch to my left and my mind reeled in attempts to process what had just happened.

Ominis' fingers touched my skin once more and I shivered despite myself.

"Sebastian's gone."