Like Moths to a Flame // Sebastian Sallow x Male MC [Book One]

Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Fall

Sebastian regained consciousness to the muffled sound of someone in the distance frantically casting spells. He blinked, expecting to find himself sprawled across the cold stone floor, but he was upright. Standing. His limbs rigid.

Two Inferi on either side. Two more hovered just behind him, still as death. And yet, he felt no fear.

The Inferi he'd previously commanded to protect the pillar remained clustered around it, poised to defend against any perceived threat. With a mere flick of his hand, Sebastian released them.

He hadn't spoken. Hadn't even reached for his wand. It had been a thought, and nothing more. They obeyed.

Terrifying, truly. But also... overwhelming. Irresistible. 

Footsteps rang out from the darkness ahead. Sebastian looked up...

And there he was.

Damien.

Emerging through a narrow opening in the wall, robes dusted in soot and cobwebs, his wand drawn. His eyes locked with Sebastian's, wide with some unreadable emotion.

For one disorienting heartbeat, Sebastian swore - swore - he remembered Damien already being here. Soothing him. Holding him. 

Or... had that only been a dream?

He didn't ask. The thought unsettled him too much to name. It was too... vulnerable.

Instead, he spoke, the words tumbling from his mouth before he could stop them. "Isn't this incredible?"

His voice carried a strange, eager energy - too bright, too fast. He gestured toward the Inferi as if presenting some hard-won trophy. Look what I did, Damien. Aren't you proud? 

The shadows deepened around them. And for a long, terrible moment, Damien said nothing.

Finally, he said, "Sebastian," but his tone was hesitant, as if he were confused. 

Sebastian didn't let him continue his thought. Instead he said, "I told you! The relic is the answer! I've been trying to reverse the Dark Magic that injured Anne, but this will allow me to control it, just as I can control the Inferi." 

The words spilled out too fast, too sharp. In all honesty, Sebastian hadn't meant to interrupt. And, to make matters worse, he knew deep down he didn't mean what he had just said. Not really. The words hadn't come from him, not entirely. They had... slipped through him.

But now that they'd been said, something within him shifted.

Yes. Of course. The relic was the answer.

The thought settled into him like stone. Solid. Immovable.

He would cure Anne.

Of course he would.

The relic was the answer!

Damien flinched. "Control? I had to fight Inferi all the way---"

But before he could finish, a sharp crack split the air. A flash of light lanced past Sebastian's field of vision and struck an Inferius guarding him. The creature crumpled to the ground, settling in a heap of ash.

Sebastian spun, his heart hammering in his chest.

There stood Uncle Solomon, face grim and terrible, his wand trained on him like a blade.

"What have the two of you done? Accio relic!" Solomon roared. 

Sebastian's eyes widened as the relic - once seemingly fused to his hand - was abruptly ripped away, wrenched through the air by an invisible force, and landed in Solomon's waiting palm. The sudden loss hit like a physical blow. His fingers twitched, grasping at nothing, and for a breathless moment, he stood stunned, hollowed out by the relic's absence.