Unchained Melody |Sebastian Sallow|

3. In The Shadow Of Our Past

Amidst the labyrinthine of the catacombs, Avril's heart raced in a frantic rhythm, her anxiety palpable as she and Ominis navigated the shadowed depths. A haunting question gnawed at her thoughts like a relentless specter: where had Sebastian vanished to, leaving them to navigate this perilous path overrun with Inferi? Her faith in him wavered, and the weight of her own complicity pressed upon her.

Regret coursed through her veins like a venomous elixir. She had, after all, allowed herself to be seduced by the the dark arts, a treacherous path that she had walked hand in hand with Sebastian. She couldn't help but chastise herself for her recklessness, for she knew all too well the corrupting influence of darkness, a lesson ingrained in her by her father's teachings.

Blind though he may be, Ominis had always possessed an uncanny intuition, sensing their path through stoney walls. The four of them, bound by years of friendship, had ventured together, their choices casting long shadows of remorse. Anne's illness, Avril's uneasy exploration of ancient magic, Ominis's growing despair... all intertwined with Sebastian's descent into the abyss of forbidden arts. As they treaded deeper into the catacombs, Avril wished that she had heeded the cautionary whispers of the blind man trailing behind her.

Ominis, his sightless gaze heavy with sorrow, abruptly halted her progress, his intent painfully evident in his troubled countenance. She turned to face him, feeling a cold chill creeping into the depths of her being. The unspoken realization hung in the air like a portentous storm... Ominis intended to leave her here, an abandonment that struck her like a dagger through the heart.

A surge of nausea twisted in her throat, the prospect of solitude in this chilling abyss threatening to engulf her. Her trembling form betrayed her inner turmoil, and the cold of the catacombs mirrored the desolation within her soul.

"I must go back. I have to warn Anne. You need to stop him. He will only listen to you."

"Ominis I can't do this alone." Avril's voice trembled and faltered, shattered by the overwhelming storm of emotions that raged within her. The art of legilimency, something she prided herself in her skill level, crumbled in the wake of her heightened turmoil. She could no longer discern the thoughts that swirled in Ominis's mind, for her own conflicted feelings rendered her unable to pierce the veil of his intentions.

In this moment of vulnerability, she confronted the harsh reality that Sebastian, in all likelihood, would not heed her pleas. To intervene now would render her a hypocrite, and the words she wished to speak hung heavy in the charged atmosphere. Ominis's insistence that she could do this alone seemed nothing short of madness, and a daunting sense of isolation washed over her, threatening to engulf her entirely.

"I know you can. It has to be you." His hand gently touches her cheek, his cloudy eyes filled with emotion. Avril's breath hitches in her throat as she chokes down a sob.

Ominis, his touch vanishing as suddenly as a ghost's caress, withdrew from her, leaving Avril standing alone in the dimly lit catacomb passages. In the muted gloom, the blind man began his solitary journey back the way they had come, his wand emitting a faint, blinking red light to guide him through the labyrinthine depths.

As she watched in silence, the dwindling beacon of light gradually faded into obscurity, until every trace of Ominis had dissolved into the inky darkness, leaving her to confront the daunting path ahead of her. One she walked alone.

Avril, her determination unyielding, pressed forward into the labyrinthine, her singular mission to reach Sebastian her only motivation. The very path she tread seemed to echo with an ominous resonance, and in time, she arrived at a chamber teeming with Inferi, their haunted forms rising from the earth like sinister specters.