It felt like the end of the world.
Like Death itself...
Like Death had chosen this very island to be its home. And this ship to be its messenger... A ship of the most haunted kind with rotting wood and slime and overgrowth, tearing through the rough waters off the bay of a ghost island. A city that was once alive and thrived on the labour of many willing hands that built the great castle and ruled these shores that was now, a mere shadow—a forgotten memory shrouded in darkness...
Caedesmort.
This was Caedesmort, now a barren island with a never-ending stretch of dead, unoccupied shoreline, leaving behind a scene of complete and utter desolation. Sloops and other vessels were anchored all along the coastline, some still flying the death's head flag, the same flag that was flapping above her head on this cursed ship. The wind carried the sickening smell of putrefying flesh from across the harbor, as if the carcasses of a thousand animals were rotting somewhere on the shore.
Isabella didn't see one bird, not one tiny movement, not ONE sign of life for as far as the eye could see... Where have they all plunged into? Is this place even real, or is it all in happening her head...?
A sudden whoosh brought her back to her senses. The easterly winds were growing stronger and wilder now, slamming into the ship and making it rock more violently than ever, almost as if an invisible hand had turned up the intensity upon their arrival... Fear gripped her heart as the ship lurched and swung from side to side, almost throwing its inhabitants off the ship whilst tearing through the waters, a terrible wind howling in their ears.
Another rock and this time, Isabella entirely lost all balance.
Falling flat on her back, she felt herself land on something extremely greasy and slimy, almost as if it were made of a giant slice of rotting casserole! Repulsion took over instantly as she slipped and skidded even more trying to get back up to her feet, and just as she found her footing and turned around, horror struck—her face was mere inches away from what looked like a skull that still had bits of decayed flesh sticking all over it!
The scream that emanated from her throat was nothing like ANYTHING she had heard in all her life! Shrieking on top her voice, she found herself fleeing backwards on all fours as quickly as possible, and as far away from it as possible!
"What? WHAT? WHAT IS IT?!" she heard Lily scream from the back, but Isabella didn't (couldn't!) respond and continued to scream and crawl away in utter and complete dread, unable to even see clearly now.
Before she even knew what was happening, several hands caught hold of her and pulled her up to her feet, gripping her firmly as if assuring her that all was well... Except ALL WAS NOT WELL! She opened her eyes and found Peter holding her from either side with Lily crouching behind an equally horror-stricken James, while Sirius was examining the corner that Isabella had been a second ago.
That's when she saw it.
There were dead, and decayed bodies ALL over the ship, at every nook and every corner, woven and melded right into the ship itself! The thick overgrowth she had seen at first really has been the remains of about a hundred or more crewmen (or whoever it is they were), squawking and gawking back them in the most terrible way possible!
"My god, what have we GOT ourselves into!" yelled Peter, having gone all white in the face. "What are we supposed to DO here?!"
"What Dumbledore sent us to do," James spluttered feverishly his glasses now an opaque white in colour as it fogged up against the salty air. "It's hitting me now... This is not just about getting Regulus out of trouble, it's much bigger! And I'm ready to bet on my broom that he does not want these heirlooms getting into the hands of the Ministry and the Dark Lord alike!"
