A Story of a Short Ending | T.R

Chapter 10 - The Potioneers - Part 2

I Can't Go on Without You - KALEO

Emma didn't know how much time had passed, the darkness felt like a bottomless pit that swallowed her whole. She felt like floating and suffocating at the same time, her body bearing no weight. Was she dead? Was this her soul cruising through the worlds after that blackness snuffed the life out of her just like it choked the air out of her lungs? She remembered walking into the house with others before that black smoke twirled around them and beckoned them close into the sweet oblivion that was this state Emma was currently floating in.

She felt something nudging on her side, did she have a side? She fell like everything and nothing, a formless thing floating in the darkness that shimmered around her with something remotely reminding her of stars. The nudge grew strong as if it were growing impatient, no not impatient rather... panicked. The nudges grew stronger and more frequent, her existence started taking form and soon she felt the hard ground under her body, someone's hands on her face nudging her, trying to wake her up from the slumber she was apparently in.

She opened her eyes to see familiar green eyes staring down at her with what looked like panic and fear. She groaned as together with the feeling of her body, came the lashing pain of a headache, she closed her eyes once more to get used to being conscious again.

Alden stared down at her, his hands still on her cheeks, the man sorting out his expression "Are you going to lay here all day or do we have a task to complete?" The warmth of his hands was gone a moment later.

Emma opened her eyes, getting used to the drops of light in the room, she sat up finding herself lying down on the stone floor. Emily sat on the floor next to her, eyeing her with concern as she looked just as dishevelled as Emma probably did now. Did she pass out too? Emma looked back at standing Travers, who had his wand in his hand eyeing them both with concern. What in the Merlin's name happened?

Alden stood up from his crouching position next to Emma and walked further into the house, he checked the bedroom, the small kitchen and even the tiny bathroom next to it. A moment later he showed back into the living room, his expression displeased. Emma stood up from the floor, Emily following her suit not wanting to spend another moment on the cold stone floor that lacked any carpet.

They all turned to the body on the floor.

Alden swore quietly as he saw the dark stain around the dead man on the floor, the blood was all over him, all over the floor. The dark almost black pool around the body still wasn't dry.

"The house is empty," Alden concluded what he saw in the other rooms, before taking in the state of the living room, the trashed furniture, and broken paintings as if someone was thrown into the wall and met the portrait at a high speed.

"That's great, but are we going to talk about that black... cloud or whatever it was just now?!" Emily gestured at the door and around the room. Were they going to ignore the black smoke that almost killed them? Or at least it felt like it almost did.

"What was that?" Emma demanded, Alden and Travers looked unaffected by those as if the clouds attacked only the two girls next to them.

"Wards. Protection. Call it what you prefer, designed to stop any unwanted guests from entering the place. He didn't like going outside and it looks like he didn't like visitors either." Alden concluded, his eyes still on the mess of a living room. The man didn't go down without a fight.

"And why were you and him not on the floor passed out like us?" Emily inquired as she eyed the two men with suspicion.

"We have our wands," Travers told her, raising his in his hand.