Under Your Scars || Sebastian Sallow x MC

Chapter 1 - The Path

The night is pitch black, save for the light of a few streetlamps in the distance. I am running down a cobblestone path, trying not to trip in the darkness.

I cannot remember if I am running toward something or away from something. 

 I feel weak, my eyes can hardly focus as the world spins around me. My legs feel heavy, as if I am wading through mud.

Have I been drinking? I don't remember drinking.

I strain my eyes to make out shapes in the darkness. Stars in the sky, reflected in the water to my left, a forest to my right. The streetlamps get closer and begin to illuminate my path. 

I spot a hooded figure in front of me. By his height and build I assume he is a man. He is running away from me, maybe 20 meters ahead, and I feel compelled to follow.

We run for some time before what appears to be a castle comes into view, though it is difficult to make out. As we approach we reach a stone wall that surrounds the castle, guarded by two winged boars.

We are at Hogwarts.

The castle has gone completely dark, not a single light in the windows. Only the silhouette of the castle is visible against the night sky, beautiful yet unsettling. We pass through the front gate into the courtyard.

On closer inspection, Hogwarts looks nothing like I remember. The castle is dilapidated, bricks and glass strewn about the ground. The windows appear to have all been busted out. The fountain in the courtyard reduced to rubble.

What happened here?

I follow the man through the doors and stumble over something as I cross the threshold. I finally think to use my wand to illuminate my path.

"Lumos"

I look to my feet and find that I did not trip over something, but someone. On the floor and on the steps on either side of me, lay dozens of bodies in Hogwarts uniforms. Students and professors, massacred.

I recognize some of them as I weave my way through the horror.

Mirabel Garlick lay at the bottom of the staircase to my right, her gentle eyes now blank and void of emotion as she gazes toward the ceiling.

Aesop Sharp, wand still in hand, lay motionless in a pool of blood, lacerations across his chest and face.

My stomach turns as I discover a pair of students that could not be older than third-year, holding hands as if to comfort each other in their final moments. They, too, lay in a pool of blood.

Tears start to blur my vision. I think to stop and help them, but part of me knows they are beyond help. I will my legs to keep moving.

I try not to trip over more bodies as I continue to follow my quarry on a familiar path through corridors and secret passages. I realize where he is heading, though I do not want to believe it.

The Map Chamber.

How does he know about the Map Chamber?

Inside the Chamber, I find the Keeper's portraits empty. Large gashes across them as if some beast had slashed them with its claws. The glassy floor that once displayed a map of the Hogwarts valley is now shattered and cracked.

The cloaked man, seemingly unaware or indifferent of my following him, descends the steps to the Keeper's Caverns.

I follow him as we wind through the tunnels and rubble to the center of the cavern, where Isadora's repository once sat. The cavern is illuminated by an orb of light.

Impossible.

A massive sphere of Ancient Magic hovers in the center of the cavern, spinning rapidly and shooting bolts of lightening in all directions.

The magic's distinct white-blue glow looks corrupted, tarnished with swirls of black and green. It is not contained within any type of repository.

It appears unstable, as if it could collapse or explode at any moment.

I raise my wand and channel my Ancient Magic, casting a spell in an attempt to contain it. The spell bounces off with no consequence. I cast another, and another, each one rebounding, weakening me in the process.

I return my attention to the man I have been following, who is still running toward the orb. He stops just in front of it and casts a spell I cannot hear.

A stream of red sparks shoots from his wand. He sustains it, struggling against some invisible barrier until he finally breaks through.

The orb explodes in a blinding flash of white.

Silence.

When my eyes refocus, the orb is gone but the man remains. He runs into the space that the orb once occupied, where a small figure lay, motionless.

A child.

He reaches the child and falls to his knees, scooping the body into his arms. I cautiously approach him, making a wide circle around him so as not to spook him.

I bend down to get a better look at his face beneath the hood and the child he is holding.

This doesn't make any sense...

I find Sebastian Sallow, cradling his twin sister in his arms.

His sister is still a child, while he is clearly a man grown. He is taller, sturdier, his face darkened by a shadow of stubble.

He brushes her hair out of her face then pulls her into his chest as he violently sobs, rocking back and forth. I am startled when he finally meets my gaze, his eyes bloodshot with grief.

His face twisted in agony, he whispers,

"Why couldn't you save her?"

My eyes drift back to the child in his arms. It is no longer Anne Sallow he is holding.

It's me.

Not the me standing in front of him, but another me. Unmoving, drained of color. I bring my hand up touch my own face reflexively, as if to assure myself that I am real and alive.

Sebastian gently lays my lifeless body on the ground in front of him. He takes great care to fix my hair and arrange my hands on my stomach, as if for a funeral.

He keeps his gaze fixated on the ground, his entire body trembling with rage as his breaths become more rapid and heavy.

He screams, but no sound escapes his mouth.

I stumble backwards as my vision starts to blur, his words echo in my mind.

Why couldn't you save her...

Why couldn't you save her...

Why-

____________

I woke with a start, sitting up in bed and absolutely dripping with sweat.

I take in my surroundings. I was still at home, in Edinburgh. My bedroom lit only by the moonlight streaming through the window. My blankets were gone and I was covered in a fine layer of ash.

Not again.

I jumped out of bed and rushed to the mirror to find my eyes glowing blue. I tried to calm myself, breathing slowly and deeply, waiting for them to slowly fade back to their usual amber-brown.

Once I recognized my own reflection, I fumbled for my journal and a quill to start recording my dream. Not that it mattered, I had it memorized by now.

The same dream, nearly every night for the past two weeks.

I must return to Hogwarts.

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How are we feeling about this introduction?