Dark, oppressive clouds blotted out the sky. Just minutes ago, it had been daylight, but now the world was cloaked in a gloom that felt like night was closing in. A bolt of lightning tore through the heavens, briefly illuminating half the sky and ripping a jagged gash through the heavy clouds.
Rain poured into the churning sea, whipped into a frenzy by howling gales. Waves crashed against black reefs, shattering into white foam.
The storm seemed intent on turning the world upside down. The blurred line between sky and sea left only a cold, piercing darkness.
Yet the woman stood unwavering in the downpour, rain hammering her frail, thin frame. Her heart-wrenching sorrow was sharper than the bitter sea wind.
"Ma'am, who are you waiting for?!"
Adam's shout was torn apart by the storm, drowned out by the roaring waves, sounding small and powerless.
The woman on the reef spun around, her tangled hair plastered to her deathly pale face. A flicker of hope sparked in her hollow eyes.
"Regulus?!"
Her hoarse voice trembled through the rain, each word dripping with bone-deep longing and despair.
Her body shook violently with emotion. As she stepped forward on the slick, rain-soaked reef, her footing gave way, and she pitched forward.
Adam reacted swiftly, brandishing his wand. A soft blue glow of a Levitation Charm caught her struggling form just in time, gently lowering her to the ground.
But she seemed oblivious, scrambling to her feet. When she saw Adam's face clearly, the light of hope in her eyes snuffed out.
She hung her head, muttering "Regulus" over and over, her voice growing fainter.
Turning back toward the reef, she moved as if Adam were no different from the grains of sand beneath her feet.
Adam frowned, the tip of his wand glowing with an eerie light that gathered before him like a living thing.
This wasn't a Levitation Charm—it was Occlumency, a spell he'd learned in the Otherworld.
Since mastering it, he'd kept a faint trickle of magic flowing constantly, making it the spell he was most proficient in on his skill panel.
Occlumency (Level 3): 18/1500
As the experience bar slowly climbed, Adam began to grasp the deeper meaning behind what Irina had once told him.
This spell wasn't just a shield for the mind or a barrier against magical intrusion, nor was it merely about staying calm.
It was like a forge for the soul, refining magic into its purest form, silently strengthening his spirit through relentless tempering.
He'd also started to explore its uses for soul-related magic, akin to Legilimency, though it required a trigger.
After a moment's thought, Adam pulled out a faintly glowing ring. The woman's body jolted, her vacant gaze locking onto the glimmer.
His task now was to try mending her shattered soul.
As his magic flowed steadily, the woman's trembling body gradually stilled. Beneath her matted hair, her contorted, anguished face softened into calm.
After a long while, she slowly raised her head. Her unfocused eyes began to reflect Adam's figure, her hoarse voice tinged with confusion.
"Child, who are you? Why do you have that ring?"
…
Adam stood in the middle of the small cabin, his eyes scanning the cracked wood grain on the walls. Mold spread unchecked in the shadowy corners, and dangling cobwebs swayed gently in the crevices.
Aside from a worn path trodden into the floor, the rest was blanketed in thick dust. Outside, the storm raged, rain pounding the rotting wooden boards with dull thuds.
Living in this damp, frigid place, the woman must have slipped into a haze long before Adam arrived—perhaps even before she was trapped on this prison-like island, her soul already teetering on collapse.
"You still can't remember anything?"
Adam asked cautiously, his wand never leaving his grip.
The woman curled up in a wicker rocking chair slowly looked up. Her name was Annie Abraham—Shirley's birth mother.
If not for her recognizing the ring and her distinctive wine-red hair, it would've been hard to connect her to the vibrant, youthful girl in the faded photograph.
She shook her head blankly, her bony fingers absently tracing the cracked wicker. Her hoarse voice echoed in the cabin.
"I'm sorry, child. I seem to have forgotten a lot…"
"All I know is I've been waiting for someone, but I can't remember why I'm waiting here…"
"Do you know, child?"
She looked up at Adam, her eyes filled with hope.
"I don't know. I ended up here by chance. Maybe this ring can give us some answers. Shirley gave it to me—do you remember her?"
Adam pulled the ring from his pocket. Without his magic sustaining it, the ring went dormant, lifeless as a trinket.
Annie's eyes locked onto the silver-white ring. Suddenly, she clutched her head and collapsed, her fingers digging into her hair as her face twisted in agony.
She stumbled, knocking against the peeling wooden wall. The already crumbling cabin shook, cobwebs trembling and falling from the beams.
Adam stepped back slowly, pocketing the ring. His wand quietly aimed at the writhing woman, ready to slip into the storm behind him in half a step.
"Shirley… is she doing alright?"
Her hoarse voice grew hollower, but mentioning "Shirley" brought a trembling, almost pleading tone.
Adam's fingers tightened imperceptibly. He watched her dust-covered hands claw deep grooves into the floor before she steadied herself against the wall and stood.
"What did you remember?"
Adam leaned against the doorframe, his tone even. Rain dripped from his clothes, the weathered door creaking on rusty hinges in the storm.
Annie didn't notice his movements. Her gaze held a near-reverent expectation as she murmured, repeating her question.
"Shirley's doing well," Adam said slowly, each word clear and deliberate, his eyes studying her face. "She's preparing to attend Hogwarts and is the sole heir to a certain family."
A flicker of subtle relief crossed Annie's blank face, quickly overtaken by deep regret.
She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks, soaking into the rotting floorboards and leaving dark stains.
"She seems to have a reliable friend. She's doing well, truly. I hope she doesn't resent me for not being there to watch her grow…"
Tears filled her eyes, and that inexpressible sorrow filled the cabin, as if amplifying the storm's ferocity outside.
"So, do you remember why you left her behind?"
Adam kept his eyes on her cloudy gaze, asking softly.
"I… I had to leave. Staying with her would…" Her unfocused eyes suddenly sharpened, her gaunt fingers digging into her palms. "Something was chasing me. I couldn't let it reach Shirley…"
As Adam waited patiently for her next words, her pale face twisted in sudden terror, as if glimpsing something horrifying.
She stumbled toward the dust-covered window, her nails screeching against the glass.
Frantically wiping the grimy pane with her sleeve, her wide eyes strained to see something in the rain. When she did, her pupils contracted, and she screamed at Adam in panic.
"Run, child!" Her matted hair fell over her face, veins bulging as she gasped. "A terrible monster is coming!"
Adam felt a tremor cut through the storm. Amid the roaring rain, the thunderous sound of hooves echoed, accompanied by the crystalline shattering of ice.
He turned to see a knight in menacing black armor charging from the horizon on a massive steed, frost spreading from its body, freezing the rain.
The horse's hooves cracked through splintering ice, sending shards and snowflakes swirling like blooming white lotuses, accompanied by booming roars and whinnies.
As the black knight closed within a hundred meters of the cabin, in the woman's terrified screams, Adam finally saw the figure beneath the armor.
It was a towering, withered skeleton, its face a skull with ghostly fire flickering in its eye sockets.
Adam took one deep look, then vanished.
Amy, licking her fur on the nightstand, tilted her head and meowed curiously at the suddenly reappearing, soaking-wet Adam.
"Nothing, just explored a new map."
Adam tossed out the comment, hurried off for a hot shower, then returned to his desk. He pulled out a piece of parchment, sketched the scene he'd just witnessed, and quietly opened a book on charms.
[Reductor Curse Proficiency +1]
[Reductor Curse Proficiency +1]
…