Part 26

"By the way, what did you and Ominis talk about this morning? - Noah asked, walking and kicking pebbles on the road.

"I wanted to find out where Anna is," Sebastian replied, pursing his lips. Noah felt sorry for Sebastian and Anna; none of them deserved such a fate.

"And Ominis didn't tell you?" - Noah asked, though he knew the answer already. Sebastian simply nodded in response.

"I'm just happy to know that she's healthy and she's not in any danger, but nevertheless, I miss her very much," Sebastian said, pulling out his pocket watch and looking at the photo attached to it. Curious, Noah went up to him to see. There were his family members in the picture – his mother, father, little Sebastian, and Anna.

"How cute you were as a child, - Noah was touched by Sebastian's childhood photo. - How old are you here?

"Five, - Sebastian blushed a bit and put the watch back in his pocket.

"Let me take another look, I need to capture it in my memory! - Noah reached out to Sebastian.

"No, I looked once and that's enough, - Sebastian hesitated, and then cast a protego spell.

"Let's fight. If you win, I'll leave you alone, - Noah took out his wand, anticipating the upcoming battle. Sebastian agreed to the duel with one condition - no use of ancient magic, as it wouldn't be fair.

Sebastian conjured a diffindo, and Noah barely managed to dodge the attack.

"It was close," Noah laughed.

Sebastian remained focused, and Noah realized he had forgotten what a formidable opponent Sebastian could be. Maybe his victory on the first day was just pure luck?

"Don't hold back; I'm not inferior to you in the knowledge of destructive magic now," Noah said, wanting to have a one-on-one duel with Sebastian for a long time.

"Don't worry, the second time, I definitely won't lose to you! - Sebastian easily broke through Noah's protego spell and then used the glacius charm, freezing Noah's legs. Finally, he applied the confringo charm. Noah automatically deflected it with the help of ancient magic, causing the fireball to fly high into the sky. Sebastian covered his eyes with his palm, watching the fireball fly away.

"Merlin's beard, did you see how far it went? By the way, you lost, remember the deal? - before Sebastian could finish his sentence, he looked at Noah. Noah stood with his head down, looking at his shirt. It was stained with something black.

"What is this? - Sebastian thought at first that Noah's clothes were singed.

Noah noticed that it was a black liquid flowing from his nose.

"What's wrong with you?! - Sebastian was seriously worried, as the liquid was now flowing from his mouth as well. Noah started coughing non-stop.

"Hey, what is this?! What's happening to you?! - Sebastian ran up to him and began stroking his back, as he had done for Anna when she had an attack.

Noah realized that he shouldn't have been greedy and absorbed too much pain. He also understood that if he didn't do anything now, it probably wouldn't end well. Noah pointed his wand at his chest to try and release the pain from himself. Sebastian realized what he was going to do, remembering the pool of Isadora's memory and her experiments to pull the pain out of others using ancient magic. But Noah had told him that Isadora's experiments were deplorable.

"I don't understand what's happening to you, but this is clearly not the way out," Sebastian snatched the wand right out of his hands. Noah couldn't stand on his feet anymore, and Sebastian caught him before he fell. Noah vomited the black liquid and seemed to find some relief, but it only lasted for a moment. After that, he started hearing voices, whispers coming from all directions, and they were so overwhelming that he felt deafened. Noah covered his ears with his hands, but it didn't help.

"That's enough! Please stop! - Noah started screaming and banging his head on the ground.

Sebastian's breath caught in horror; he had never seen Noah in such a state. The only thing he could think of was that Noah's condition was related to ancient magic, something about which he knew nothing. Sebastian grabbed Noah's arm in desperation, trying to let him know that he wasn't alone. The voices started fading over time.

"Are you alive? - Sebastian lifted his head, trying to see if the black liquid had stopped flowing. Exhausted from the excitement, he waited, but Noah still didn't come to his senses.

"Can you hear me? Answer me, Noah, open your eyes!