HP: Embrace the Darkness

Without waiting for the blonde to speak, Arces continued to explain.

"I didn't do anything to the holy pillar you mentioned. I just borrowed its power."

How to borrow and what to do with it...

No one asked this question.

Because they saw it.

A ray of pure white energy overflowed from their brows and floated towards Athis.

Countless energies gathered into a ball of light in mid-air, fell into the palm of Ases, and were held tightly in his hand.

At the same time, he opened his other hand.

A ball of gray flame emerged from the palm of his hand, crackling and burning, slowly rising into the air, splitting into countless souls with blurred faces and flying in all directions.

White light rushed into everyone's eyebrows.

The departed soul returns, bringing with it boundless weakness and fatigue.

"boom--"

The first person fell to the ground, followed by the second, the third...

They did not die immediately. Asis gave them time. The remaining time was enough for them to take a closer look at this beautiful but boring world.

The law enforcers all fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a while. Ases looked at Helbo, and his tone was more sighing than before.

"Our deal is about to be done."

Hailbo looked deeply at Ases, and for some reason he wanted to explain.

This was the first time he tried to defend himself after being hated by the world and called the evil Herpo.

"I never schemed against you."

"I know."

Athis stood up with a smile, walked to Hailbo and looked at him.

"I wish you a safe journey."

Hailbo, who had committed many evil deeds throughout his life and was hated by countless people, was the only person in this grand chess game who had never calculated against him, and he kept it in mind.

"How much time are you going to give me? Is it enough for me to attend your wedding?"

Haierbo's statement was shocking.

“Ahem…” Ases was startled by his bold statement. He coughed several times in succession, his eyes darting around, and he said vaguely, “I don’t know. Well… the time has not been decided yet.”

"Oh~" Haierbo raised his eyebrows, the sarcasm was self-evident, "Then give me two months, I will go for a tour."

"About a year." Arces said guiltily, as if he felt it was too pale, and added, "I think it should be possible."

If it weren't for his weak tone, Haierbo would have really believed him.

One year is fine.

Hailbo nodded indifferently.

Ases knew from the beginning that he didn't want to live. When he destroyed the holy pillar and took away the power, he deliberately left him extra energy to ensure his life. Now all he needed to do was return his soul.

Athis opened his hands, and a small ball of souls flew straight towards Helbo.

Hailbo couldn't tell what he felt when he saw the soul that belonged to him flying towards him. Nearly a thousand years had worn away half of his spirit, and the remaining half was just enduring like a ghost. Except when he was causing trouble, he couldn't feel like he was still alive.

it's good now.

It was finally time to die.

Hailbo calmly greeted his soul and stood silently behind Arces.

Aces looked at the four founders who were still chatting and asked with a smile: "Everyone, do you want to go back to Hogwarts?"

"Is this an invitation?" Godric's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "Then I will go to Hogwarts for a month. After a month, I will walk into the grave by myself."

"I--"

"I want to see you get married."

Salazar was about to speak when Rowena suddenly spoke up, interrupting him. Salazar was stunned for a moment and then changed his words.

"I want to attend the wedding, and it would be best if I could be the witness. You and Severus are both Slytherin students, which means you are my students. It's not too much for me to be the witness, right?"

Helga's eyes were gentle, and her voice was even gentler: "I hope I can give you my blessing."

Godric felt like he was being backstabbed and quickly changed his words: "Me too."

"Then it'll be one year." Ases glanced to the side, feeling even more uneasy.

The four founders had no objections and accepted the souls one after another. They were not as extreme as Haierbo, but they also felt that this period was difficult. Now that they saw their own souls again, they were filled with emotion.

"I never thought that I would die one day." Godric sighed.

Salazar held his soul tightly, feeling the comfort of the fusion of body and soul, and closed his eyes tightly, "Immortality, huh."

Rowena and Helga were more reserved, just quietly watching the soul merge into their bodies, but their eyes were red, and it was obvious that they had the same feelings as Salazar and Godric.

Finally, only Merlin and the blonde were left.

Aces first looked at Merlin, who was easy to deal with: "I should thank you, at least your calculations did not involve Sif."

Merlin was not in the right mood. He was stunned for a moment before he realized that Athis was talking to him. He smiled reluctantly and said, "I don't deserve it."

After a pause, he continued, "I know what to do. Give me some time to talk to her. You should have one more thing to do. Go ahead and do it. I'll be watching you here."

Athis did not refuse. Merlin was too complicated, but his heart was soft and innocent in some ways that were unrealistic, and his calculations were also uniquely gentle.

Overall, a good guy, but not a good ally.

Fortunately, he never really thought that Merlin would stand firmly on his side.

"Okay, you guys chat, now... that's enough, but I'll have to trouble you to protect their bodies later."

As Asis said this, he looked at the staggering law enforcer and the five people who were still weak.

Merlin nodded in agreement.

Perhaps out of boredom, Hailbo turned back into a giant python, lying lazily on the ground, curling up the law enforcer on the ground with his tail and moving to the edge of the stone wall, and the four founders also came to help.

Ases saw it and thanked them.

His eyes followed them absentmindedly, and he seemed to care a lot.

Actually not.

He didn't need a large space, nor did he need Hailbo and others to clean up the battlefield.

The reason he thanked her was because he wanted to say something to distract himself.

It's funny, he was not afraid when he found out he was a chess piece, he was not afraid when he peeked at the chessboard, he was not afraid when he was imprisoned alone, but only now, he felt uncontrollably afraid.

People...

It is indeed a magical creature.

When you see the dawn of victory, you will feel excited, overjoyed and sad, and endless courage will arise.

However, when they were just one step away from victory, no one could laugh.

At this moment, all the past events turned into heavy hopes, weighing people down and making it hard to breathe.

That's what Asseth is doing now.

After going through so many hardships to reach the brink of victory, a heavy, unknown weight pressed down upon them.

It made him feel anxious, breathless and terrified.

Ases stood silently beside the ice coffin, and suddenly raised his hand to place it on the edge of the coffin.

The wind blew through his shirt, clearly outlining the shape of his shoulder blades. He had lost weight, but his usual strong aura and the coat covering it up made it easy for people to overlook this fact.

Now that only a thin shirt is left, it can no longer be concealed.

"Aces..."

Snape stretched out his hand in a daze, passed his hand across the spine, and touched nothing. He seemed to feel the bone pricking his hand, and suddenly withdrew his hand.

Not only Snape noticed it, but all five of Helmer noticed it.

They stared at the back that suddenly became thin, speechless for a long time.

Ases, with his back to the crowd, had his pale lips trembling slightly, and his fingertips unconsciously searched for the ring, but he repeatedly touched nothing. After finally finding it, he turned around a few times but couldn't go any further.

He raised his head blankly, his dark eyes moving aimlessly as if searching for something. After searching in vain, his eyes drooped again, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "What is this?"

"Sev, you're here, right?"

"Yes, I'm here."

After a pause, Snape held out his hand and added, "Don't be afraid."

At the moment when he was about to touch Athis, Snape didn't dare to look away. He stared at his hands and prayed devoutly that he must touch them, must touch them!

From the beginning of love to mutual affection, the boy who stood in the observatory all night was under too much pressure in a corner he didn't know about. He could no longer watch Ases shoulder their future alone.

The hand fell empty.

It's heartbreaking, that's all.

The soul, whose figure was becoming increasingly faint, was unable to close its eyes, and its tightly furrowed brows inadvertently revealed the suppressed pain of its owner.

A tear of nothingness welled up from my heart and slowly slid down the corner of my eye.

The translucent body seemed to be affected by the emotions as well. It swayed a few times like a flame in the wind. Before it could react, it turned into white light and returned to the body.

Not being able to see Snape's movements or hear his voice did not affect Ases's guess about Snape's reaction - was he trying to comfort him in a roundabout way, or was he anxious and angry, but unable to do anything about him and could only comfort him while spraying venom?

The moment the illusory fantasy was born, it brought great comfort to Athis.

He moved his stiff fingers and grabbed the lid of the ice coffin with unyielding tenacity.

The arms suddenly tensed and exerted force.

The heavy coffin lid rubbed against the coffin body, making an unpleasant sound.

"hoarse--"

The magic power carried the coffin lid open.

Inside the ice coffin, Snape was sleeping with his eyes closed. His brows, which were usually furrowed due to various troubles, were smoothed by the crystal clear frost. The bright light blurred his overly sharp edges. He no longer looked so cold and stern, but rather gentle.

He doesn't look like Headmaster Snape, who dominates Hogwarts and punches Dumbledore, but more like Sevilla, who relaxes at home with his lover.

Sif...

This is his lover.

Soon, they would be together forever.

Aces suddenly chuckled, a smile that was indescribably tender and determined. Dumbledore was right, love is the greatest magic, it makes the cowardly brave and the selfish selfless.

What is he afraid of?

What does he have to be afraid of?

His Sifu was right beside him, and all he had to do now was take him home!

"Sev, we're going home."

After saying that, Athis leaned over and gently kissed Snape on the center of his eyebrows.

The moment the kiss ended, on the edge of a distant cliff, a glass bottle buried alone in the soil suddenly cracked, and a stream of light flashed out from it, rushing towards the dilapidated cave at the speed of a meteor streaking through the night sky, and rushed into Ases' body.

All the memories come back.

The fragments gradually pieced together the life of Arthur Cavendish.

"boom--"

The energy that had been suppressed in the palm of his hand suddenly exploded, and his five fingers were broken by the impact, and the bones could be vaguely seen. The man who lowered his eyes and kissed his lover was unmoved. He straightened up slowly and stared intently at Snape who was floating up from the ice coffin.

A circle of silver flames suddenly ignited around him, and the flames quickly spread, hugging him and Snape tightly.

The crescent pattern on the back of the hand and the rings on the knuckles lit up for the first time in the day, flickering in unison.

Unicorn land.

Cynthia suddenly stopped cursing and looked up at the darkening sky with Zafar.

"Live and die together, and remain together till death." Zafar's old voice was filled with emotion, "They finally did it."

"Boom——"

A dull thunder rumbled through the sky.

The sky suddenly darkened and was covered with dark clouds. Helbo stuck his head out to look. It was as dark as night outside, with a bright moon hanging high in the sky and many stars twinkling, but no sun was visible.

"It's not raining, it's dark!?"

"It's dark!? What time is it now?"

A group of people almost dropped their jaws.

Merlin and the blonde woman also broke away from the confrontation and looked at the changing world outside in astonishment. The two looked at each other, and no one spoke.

It is not difficult for a wizard with a time-turner to go back to the past briefly or even change the past, but it is absolutely impossible for a wizard without even a wand to make the world go back to the past or go to the future.

No wonder, no wonder that except for them, the authority of other immortals was taken away by Athis.

This is clearly using the opponent's spear to attack the opponent's shield, taking the use of the opponent's force to the extreme.

fate?

authority?

No one knows which is stronger, destiny or man-made authority.

Seven pairs of eyes of different colors and shapes all looked at the silver flame that occupied most of the cave.

In the center of the silver flame.

Two figures floated in the air, and the big hole in the cave above their heads was facing them. The endless moonlight covered them with a hazy veil.

Suddenly, Snape opened his eyes.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he was met with a pair of eyes filled with love that was enough to drown him. His heart suddenly skipped a beat, hitting his chest vividly and lively. The heartbeat was like thunder in his ears, and his thoughts that had been hidden for a long time were revealed without a doubt.

With a smile in his eyes, Aces looked at Snape who had just woken up. Before he could give him a hug, his soul flew out from his forehead and slowly disappeared in the farewell of the flames.

Snape's pupils suddenly shrank, and he reached out his hand in panic, trying to grab Athis, but he only pulled Athis's body floating in the air.

The solid and warm touch in my hand temporarily stopped the panic in my heart.

Snape regained his senses and looked around calmly, only then did he notice Athis and the silver flames around him.

With the presence of the silver flame, Ases did not fall down even though he was pulled by him.

Silver flame?

His magic power didn't fade, so these flames...

Snape was heartbroken, let go of Athis, took out the only potion that could heal the soul from the ring, and waited quietly.

In the ten minutes after finding the potion, Athis did not behave abnormally at all, as if he had simply fallen asleep.

But Snape still didn't dare to relax and kept paying attention to Ases' situation without blinking.

Time passed slowly. After about five minutes, Ases' expression became a little unnatural. His brows, which were originally relaxed, were slightly furrowed. His lips turned pale. His hair was wet with cold sweat and stuck to his chin. He unconsciously tucked it into his lips.

Snape reacted instantly, grabbed Aces' hand and pulled open his sleeve.

The sight was horrifying - the wound went from the wrist to the back of the hand, with the flesh and blood exposed and the bone visible.

The familiar wound was like a sharp blade stabbing into his heart, as if it was going to tear the entire heart apart. Snape ignored the severe pain in his heart, but opened the potion bottle with extraordinary calmness and carefully poured the potion in the bottle onto the back of Athis's hand.

The moment the potion came into contact with the wound, a slight "hissing" sound was heard.

Snape stared at the scars, watching them gradually heal under the influence of the potion, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, the moonlight was very bright.

Snape raised his head and looked at the soft but not dazzling moonlight. The almost gorgeous scene before his eyes reminded him of a sentence that Athis once said to him:

"Night is my home ground."

Only after seeing it with his own eyes did Snape understand the true meaning of these words.

In the soft moonlight, endless moonlight voluntarily fell, and danced around Athis in an orderly manner like stars surrounding the moon. Wherever they passed, mysterious patterns gave birth to real branches.

Aces looked particularly dazzling in the sea of ​​flowers formed by the moonlight, like a god, hanging there quietly.

His silver hair is flying and his eyes are smiling.

A pair of silver eyes slowly opened.

"Sev, we're going home."

-----end-----