Run Away ✧ Sebastian Sallow

chapter twenty-nine

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Trigger Warning: This chapter includes sensitive conduct - please see the comment for a full description of conduct. 

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Fifth Year

The fire crackled in front of them after such a long journey. It would have been wiser to try and find a Floo Flame or simply fly back to the castle on their brooms. But Antheia Wytners had burned herself out, literally. It was the only time that he had ever seen the witch seem so powerless. 

The more ancient magic that Antheia had used, the more energy seemed to drain from her. There were too many enemies around to search around mindlessly and she was in no condition to fight, despite her protest. Sebastian Sallow had made the decision for both of them that they needed to rest before heading back to the school. It was a cold spring night, but at least the fire had begun to warm the damp stones of the cave around them.

Antheia's dark eyes studied the fire as she battled against her heavy lid eyes that begged her to sleep. Her whole weight leaned uncomfortably against the stone wall behind her. The past few days were testing her ancient magic and what once seemed like an endless source of magic finally hit its limit. The commotion of the day had been like a dead-end in her path, her hands were stinging with a hot burn like they had been dosed in flames and even her nails reflected a slight hue of black from what he could tell.

Sebastian had been watching her carefully from across the fire. He knew that wasn't normal for her and mostly he was worried.

"Can you please stop staring at me," Antheia finally spoke up, but her eyes were too exhausted to lift up from the fire.

Sebastian didn't care if he was staring at her. It wasn't going to change anything so he didn't look away.

"I'm fine." Antheia pouted.

"You don't look fine," Sebastian pointed out.

None of the potions seemed to do anything to help her exhaustion. This had been the burden of ancient magic that he hadn't seen before and he didn't know how to help besides forcing her to rest.

Antheia rolled her eyes and tucked her hands under her arms. The truth was she was used to the burning sensation of using her magic, but even she was aware that she had overdone herself. 

It was countless days of attempting to solve trials for the Keepers and keep peace in the valley against Rookwood, she had been burning out that morning already. A string of emotionally overwhelming days left her magic running wild through her body. She felt like a walking lightning rod with the energy inside her burning up and nowhere to go. Only she hadn't realized the burnout was literal.

The burnt skin on the tips of her fingers slowly ashed away as she attempted to hide her hands. All she needed to do was rest and let them heal, give her magic a break, but there were too many people who still needed her help before then. 

Antheia attempted to hide her hands away between her arms hoping to keep his eyes off of them, but of course, Sebastian Sallow noticed anyway.

"Has this ever happened before?" Sebastian asked begrudgingly. He was debating with himself on whether the risk of knowing was worth the benefit of being able to help her.

Antheia sighed and shook her head. "Once," She admitted, "My hands always get hot using ancient magic. The first time it happened was after the dragon attack at the beginning of the year. I didn't realize it was my magic though, I was still getting used to it, I thought the dragon's fire had burnt me."