"The news reached me in whispers first. Tales carried on the wind, too horrible to be true. At first, I refused to believe it.
Villages wiped clean of life.
A ritual unlike any seen before.
A woman named Cassandra at its center.
No.
It could not be her.
It had to be another Cassandra, surely, another soul bearing the same name.
But denial is a fragile thing, and reality has a cruel way of shattering it.
As the pieces of truth fell into place, I knew what had to be done.
I needed to find them.
Cassandra and Jonathan.
And I needed to put an end to this madness." started narrating Dumbledore.
"The trail was not easy to follow.
Jonathan had hidden her well.
Or perhaps, she had hidden herself.
Days bled into nights before I found them. A forgotten ruin, tucked away in the heart of a dead forest. Stone pillars jutted from the earth like broken teeth, their ancient runes long since eroded by time. The air hung heavy, thick with decay and stagnant magic.
And there she was.
Cassandra.
The moment my eyes fell upon her, a deep, unshakable sorrow rooted itself in my chest.
Gone was the radiant woman who once dreamed of a world where all could wield magic. Gone was the fire in her spirit, the light in her eyes.
What remained was a husk.
Her once golden hair was now lifeless and unkempt, tangled and streaked with white. The brilliance of her gaze had dulled into hollow darkness. Her robes hung off her frail frame like the remnants of a forgotten past.
She was unraveling.
Cassandra sat on a crumbling stone, her fingers twitching, her lips moving in an endless whisper of fractured thoughts.
And beside her was Jonathan.
Watching.
Always watching.
His presence was as unnerving as ever. Cloaked in deep blue, hands folded neatly over his lap, his expression unreadable.
The flickering torchlight barely cast a shadow upon his face, as if the darkness itself refused to touch him.
His cold, calculating gaze met mine, and though he said nothing, the amusement in his eyes was unmistakable."
"Cassandra," I called gently, stepping forward.
She flinched.
Her head snapped up, her blackened eyes locking onto mine.
For a moment, she simply stared.
And then, she laughed.
A high, fractured sound, sharp enough to cut through bone.
"Albus," she whispered, her voice thin as silk. "Dear, sweet uncle… Have you come to lecture me?"
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"Cassandra," I said again, softer this time. "You need to stop this."
Her fingers twitched, and her lips curled into something that was meant to be a smile, but wasn't.
"Stop?" she repeated. "Stop what, exactly?"
I stepped closer.
"Stop destroying yourself," I said. "Stop chasing something that…"
"That what?" she cut in, voice sharp. "That I can't have? That I'm not allowed to have?"
Her breathing grew ragged.
"You don't understand, Albus. None of you do."
Her eyes burned with something fierce and desperate.
"I only ever wanted to create a world where magic was a right, not a privilege. A world where no child would be born into silence, where the gift of magic could be granted to all!"
I saw it then.
The glimmer of the woman she once was.
A fleeting ember in the abyss of her madness.
"Cassandra," I murmured. "I know."
But she wasn't listening.
"Do you know how many times I was so close?" she hissed. "Do you know how many times I failed?"
Her hands shot to her temples, fingers digging into her skull as if she could rip the memories free.
"Six."
Her voice was barely a whisper.
"Six lives that never took a breath. Six names that never had a chance to be spoken."
A shudder ran through her.
"And you… You tell me to stop?!"
Her magic flared, the air crackling with wild energy.
The ground beneath us trembled, stone and dust rising as the force of her power threatened to spill over.
She rose to her feet, her eyes dark and wild.
"Why should I stop, Albus?" she demanded. "Why shouldn't I burn this wretched world to the ground and start again?!"
I raised my wand slowly, heart hammering in my chest.
She was unraveling.
And soon, she would snap.
"Cassandra," I pleaded. "This is not you."
"Not me?" she whispered, tilting her head.
For a brief moment, I saw it, the flicker of hesitation.
But then.
Her magic surged, and just as I braced for the inevitable, Jonathan moved.
With the grace of a man who had already seen the outcome, he lifted his wand.
"Obliviate."
The spell struck her squarely in the forehead.
Cassandra's eyes went wide, her body stiffened.
She went completely still.
The madness drained from her face.
Her breathing slowed.
And finally, she collapsed.
I lunged forward, catching her before she hit the stone.
Her body was limp.
Her mind…
Empty.
I looked up at Jonathan, horror clawing at my chest.
"What have you done!?"
Jonathan met my gaze with unnerving calm.
"The curse," he said simply, "was clever. The Dark Lord ensured that as long as she held the knowledge, it would bind her fate. There were only two ways to be free of it."
He gestured to her unconscious form.
"The first was to give him the results of her research."
A bitter smile touched his lips.
"But as you know, she has lost too much to do that."
His wand twirled between his fingers.
"The second… was to make her forget."
I gripped Cassandra's frail body, my chest tight with grief.
Jonathan sighed.
"The curse is on hold for now. But should she ever return to this path… it will awaken once more."
His words were spoken lightly, as if he were discussing the weather.
I swallowed my anger, my sorrow, and forced out the only question that mattered.
"If you knew this solution… why did you not act before?"
Jonathan's expression did not change.
His response was cold.
Detached.
"I was hoping she would succeed for once," he said.
A slow pause.
"That she would surprise me."
And with that, he lifted Cassandra's unconscious body, turned, and vanished into the night.
Leaving me standing there, alone, with nothing but the silence.
And a single tear trailing down my cheek.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone! Just a quick heads-up, I'll be traveling to a different time zone next week, which might shake up my routine a bit. I'll do my best to keep up the pace of one chapter per day, but if things get a little irregular, I appreciate your understanding in advance. Thanks for your continued support!
50 chapters ahead on Patreon (Suiijin): Chapter 140: Baptism by Fire