Exile || Sebastian Sallow

40 | To Begin Is To End

───•~❉᯽❉~•───

"It's like you've known me
through all my past lives."
—NIKI

───•~❉᯽❉~•───

40 | To Begin Is To End

Sebastian's Perspective

It wasn't until I'd left the Repository and stumbled away from the castle, reaching the outskirts of it to the south, that I fully came back through my memory. It was as if I had been in a daze for a month. A month! Tighter and tighter it squeezed at my thoughts until I was mindlessly, and illogically, following a path I had promised Belle I wouldn't follow unless it was with her.

And yet, I did it anyway. I couldn't make sense of it—why I couldn't control myself. The ancient magic had tugged me through a sense of urgency I could not understand, which ended in me going through the Keeper's trials.

Niahm Fitzgerald watched me with curiosity after I asked what I'd need to do to get out of here. She said, "We cannot let you out unless you go through some trials."

"What? Why?" I asked, impatience in my voice.

"There is no power left in that Repository, so why have you come back, child?" Percival Rackham narrowed his gaze at me, ignoring my question.

I huffed a breath, frowning. "If there isn't any left, how is it that I can see ancient magic? And it leads me straight down to that cavern!"

"That is impossible."

I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. "My eyes say otherwise."

"Have you always seen ancient magic?" Niahm asked, keeping that kind tone in her voice unlike Percival.

I swallowed, wondering how much I could trust them. But since time was of the essence, I threw all caution to the wind and answered honestly. "No, I only started seeing it this year. I can't explain it but I need to get down there. The magic, i-it's telling me to go, and I do not know why."

"I do not believe you," Charles Rookwood huffed.

"It is rather suspicious, is it not?" San Baker added.

"Perhaps," Niahm interjected, focusing on me, "there is something you need down there. Ancient magic will not show to just anyone, unless it is helping."

I shifted on my feet, realizing at least one of them believed me. "Helping? And why would it help me? Why now, why not before?"

"There is only one way to find out. But still, we cannot put our complete trust in you just yet. You will undergo some trials. And only then, will we open the Repository back to you," she explained.

"Fine," I drawled, my jaw tensing. "I'll do your goddamned trials tomorrow. For now, I ask that you let me out."

"It is now or never, young one," San Bakar answered.

"Respectfully, please piss off right now. It's my girlfriend's birthday, I can't possibly—"

Niahm interrupted, "It is the only way we can trust you. You do these trials now, prove that you can see the ancient magic and the Repository will open."