Shadow of the Key | Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 34: Provoke

"Whether, whether or not, I can see eye to eye with you, I don't know."

- Laura Brehm & Mr. Bill

Amelia's POV

It was an agonizing sight.

The flames grew bigger as the entire hamlet was swallowed by the raging inferno that continuously spread around it.

As Amelia watched on with wide eyes and pure despair as the screaming residents broke off in a sprint, away from the burning landscape, her surroundings began to slowly morph into the one night that plagued her thoughts and dreams.

The night she burned her own house down. The night she killed her parents.

But she couldn't let it. Not when people were in danger.

Slamming shut on the memories that attempted to take her under, her body gained a mind of its own. She hastily rose to her feet and ran head first into the unfolding chaos without a spare thought.

"Amelia, don't-! Fuck," Sebastian frantically called out.

The sound of his voice and the leaves crunching beneath her feet were drowned out by the crackling of the flames and the screams of torment that rang through the night air.

The heat was so intense that she began to sweat under her maroon coat and black turtleneck sweater, which should've been protecting her from the chilly November breeze instead of the unforgiving embers.

When she approached the burning hamlet, her eyes first landed on the home of Benjamin Burke.

It was completely engulfed. Which could only mean that Benjamin Burke was dead.

How did this happen?

She looked in all directions, making any attempt to locate residents that could be caught in the blaze, but all she saw was smoke that rose so high above her head, she could no longer make out the stars that were usually out.

When it started to seep into her nose and lungs, she let out several dry coughs to repel the gas that threatened to take her oxygen, raising her inner elbow to her nose and mouth to shield herself, while trying to blink away the burning sensation that stung her eyes.

She wouldn't be able to help anyone in this condition. She needed to control the flames before anything else.

She quickly retrieved her wand from her trouser pocket and pointed it to where the houses once stood, but before she can speak the incantation to douse the flames, a shadow of a figure suddenly emerged a few feet away from her.

The cloaked man walked through the blaze with ease as they took slow, meticulous steps towards her.

But the situation only grew worse when she realized that they weren't alone.

Past the flames, she saw two more malevolent figures emerge from behind them, and then another pair after that.

One after the other, more black cloaks continued to step out of the blazing inferno until she was circled by at least a dozen of them.

You can't be serious.

Using her ancient magic wasn't a possibility here, especially when the flames around them were already burning everything in sight.

When they all started to retrieve their wands, she didn't have the opportunity to consider her next course of action when a pair of strong arms were throwing themselves around her waist and thrusting her into the swirling sensation of Apparation.