The chamber beneath the castle hummed with restrained power.
Not my private lab—this one was different. Shared. Colder. More… clinical.
Salazar stood across from me, sleeves rolled up, expression sharp and focused as he adjusted the containment runes etched into the stone floor. Between us floated a mass of unstable darkness—shifting, flickering, like smoke that refused to obey the laws of reality.
An Obscurus fragment.
Not bound to a host. Not alive in the traditional sense. Just… hungry.
"Your containment spell is weakening," Salazar noted calmly, not even looking up.
"I know," I replied, eyes glowing faintly as I traced the magical flow. "That's the point."
The darkness pulsed.
I raised my hand slightly, feeding a thin stream of magic into the construct. Immediately, the Obscurus stabilized—its form becoming denser, more defined.
Salazar's eyes narrowed. "So it isn't preservation."
"No," I said, a slow smile forming. "It's feeding."
He finally looked at me, interest flickering. "Explain."
I gestured toward the construct, my enhanced perception mapping every thread of energy. "An Obscurus isn't just a parasite—it's a manifestation of suppressed magic. When bound to a host, it feeds on their magic constantly."
"And without one?"
"It starves," I said simply. "Rapidly."
The fragment flickered violently as I cut off the energy flow for just a moment—its form destabilizing, thinning like mist in the wind. Then I fed it again, and it reformed.
Salazar's expression sharpened into something almost impressed. "So your spell doesn't sustain it."
"No," I said. "It just delays its death by providing minimal sustenance. I'm not anchoring it to reality… I'm keeping it barely alive."
There was a pause.
Then Salazar smiled—thin, calculating. "Efficient."
I crossed my arms, studying the fragment. "But inefficient long-term. It requires constant input. That means we either find a way to stabilize its structure…"
"…or create a better feeding system," Salazar finished.
"Exactly."
The Obscurus pulsed again, reacting to the fluctuations in energy. I tilted my head slightly, watching it like a scientist observing a specimen under glass.
No emotion. No hesitation. Just curiosity.
"I've also noticed something else," I added. "Its behavior changes depending on the type of magic fed into it. Raw magic stabilizes it. Elemental magic agitates it. Dark magic…"
I paused.
Salazar raised an eyebrow. "Enhances it?"
I smirked slightly. "Of course it does."
He chuckled quietly. "Dangerous."
"Everything worth studying is," I replied.
Around us, the chamber remained silent except for the low hum of containment runes and the restless shifting of the Obscurus fragment. No moral debates. No hesitation. Just two minds pushing boundaries because they could.
After everything we'd been through—being hunted, nearly killed, forced to survive—something in me had changed.
I didn't flinch at dangerous magic anymore.
I didn't hesitate.
I studied it. Controlled it. Improved it.
Salazar stepped closer to the containment circle. "You've changed," he said suddenly.
I glanced at him. "So have you."
He smirked. "True."
I looked back at the Obscurus, watching it twist and coil like a starving shadow.
"Good," I said quietly. "Because the kind of magic we're working with…"
The fragment pulsed, stronger this time. Hungrier.
"…doesn't tolerate hesitation."