Beneath the jet-black cavern lies a spacious area, and it is imperative not to enter here without proper rope guidance. The renewal is the quickest. Deft Elena gazes below, and Sirius secretly admires her. There are few witches with this skill. Although this fellow lacks intelligence, he is physically competent enough to be an Auror.
With Elena closely twined in the rope, using both legs, Sirius carefully descends. He extends his right hand, holding his wand, and although he increases the magical power output, the surroundings are pitch black, and nothing can be seen. Further downward, the putrid smell in the air becomes increasingly intense. Sirius tries to identify the odor, realizing it's the stench of corpses. These aren't the desiccated kind, but recently deceased, not fully decomposed corpses. It's too strange; why would there be freshly dead bodies in this ancient castle dungeon?
A moment ago, the sound of "Evan" echoed, and it sounded so peculiar that Sirius became increasingly uneasy. That couldn't have been Evan. Going down like this was too hasty; he should have inquired more carefully. Evan would definitely not act like this.
"Wait, Elena, something doesn't feel right!" He urgently shouts downward.
Elena looks up at Sirius, her face showing doubt. "What's wrong? I can't see clearly down there; it's too dark, and there seems to be something moving, a whole bunch of them."
Before she can finish her sentence, a voice from the darkness resonates again, "You've come. You've accompanied me. Haha!"
"You're not Evan. Who are you?" Sirius shouts into the darkness and casts a Shield Charm.
"I am me. You've come, hurry and join me, the living. I can't wait!" The strange voice replies, echoing through the darkness. "Now that you're here, just like the others, don't leave. Stay here with me forever, haha."
"Elena, we should get back up," Sirius says urgently.
"I don't think we should!" the voice elongates, shouting, "Mary, my dear Mary, where are you?"
Before Sirius can react, a sound above his head startles him, and he raises his wand upwards. Under the light, he sees the Owl-man standing at the cave entrance, staring at them with a hateful gaze, his expression both fierce and terrifying.
"These hidden creatures in the dark and the Owl-man are working together!" Sirius' heart sinks.
The next moment, he and Elena are pulled downward by a severed rope, abruptly interrupted by the monster. They plummet downward.
"Ah!" Elena cries out.
Sirius quickly casts a spell to decelerate their fall and grabs Elena, shielding her in his arms. Before they know it, they've landed on something soft.
Because of Sirius' protection, Elena isn't injured, but she can feel Sirius underneath her, in pain.
"Sirius, Sirius Black!" Elena shouts desperately, but there's no response.
She shakily reaches out to touch Sirius's chest, trying to feel for a heartbeat.
"I'm okay, but it hurts quite a bit," Sirius finally says after a while, catching his breath. "I think I might have broken a bone. You should get off me first."
Elena quickly crawls to the side. She hadn't expected Sirius to shield her like that. He must be seriously injured.
Fortunately, they haven't landed on hard rock ground; some cushion beneath them appears to be made of white things. Elena examines them more closely and realizes they're not just white but human skeletons. It's a giant pile of bones.
Looking around, Elena sees a gruesome scene. In a not-so-large room, iron chains crisscross, hanging from the ceiling. Many of the shackles are empty, while others hold the corpses of humans. Some bodies turn with their feet touching the ground, others dangle mid-air, blood slowly trickling down from the points where the shackles pierce their flesh. Some are long dead, their bodies mummified, while others are in the early stages of decomposition.
Elena recalls the strange odor from earlier. It's the scent of death, and it makes her feel nauseated.
Beneath the shackles, a luxurious circular mirror stands at the far end of the room. It's unlike any mirror Elena has ever seen, intricately carved into the room's wall, surrounded by complex magical runes she can't understand. The entire fence seems to be covered in runes. Next to the mirror hangs an ugly skeleton head, which suddenly speaks.
"Welcome to hell, the living!" Its mouth moves up and down, producing eerie, hoarse sounds. Sirius and Elena can barely make out the words. "Two wizards. You're a rare find, much more valuable than lowly Muggles. It will like you and make you suffer, but not let you die easily. Of course, you'll die eventually. Your blood...I crave it. I love its taste."
"Who are you, monster?" Sirius pants, sitting up with Elena's help. He points his wand steadily at the Skeleton Head.
"Don't use such derogatory terms," the Skeleton Head responds. "I'm just like you, a wizard. A noble pure-blood wizard, to be exact. I heard that woman call you 'Black.' I know your family is a minor one in England. But you see, I've spent great effort on the heraldry we must uphold. Your family is small and insignificant, but you're still pure-blood wizards like me. I'll spare you a few details. Since we have all the time in the world, let's reminisce. Besides the blood-tasting, it's my favorite pastime."
"Reminisce?" Sirius can't fathom what this Skeleton Head is talking about.
"Where should we start? There's so much to say, we could go on for days. First, let's talk about my family and some of the female servants within it. Love affairs during my time at Beauxbatons," the Skeleton Head says, trailing off...
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"The first girl was my personal maidservant. She was arranged for me by the family, a highly talented wizard, a year younger than me," the Skeleton Head eagerly continues. "I prepared her myself a month before I left for Beauxbatons."
Sirius takes out a healing potion while listening to the Skeleton Head's story about this woman. From the pitiful young maidservant to the Beauxbatons student, she eventually became a renowned young woman in the pure-blood wizarding families. Even by the standards of aristocratic Muggles hundreds of years ago, she exceeded expectations in many aspects. It seemed he was obsessed with her, and magic had aided him.
This made Sirius uneasy. It seemed that the Skeleton Head had no intention of stopping him from tending to his injuries. It was almost as if the Skeleton Head felt secure and didn't care if Sirius recovered.
Sirius couldn't help but think about Evan. Where had he gone?
"This Skeleton Head was truly despicable in life," Elena says indignantly, her face flushed. Unlike Sirius, she listens attentively, and when she hears about the beginning of the story involving a Muggle girl, she can't take it anymore. Sirius is in the way, but she wants to lash out at the Skeleton Head for his words. She hardly seems to care about the strange environment around them.
"The blood of young girls is rich in magical power, and it allowed me to rapidly grow stronger," the Skeleton Head continues. "But it wasn't enough. I needed something more potent. My family had many secrets, including one involving the raising of demons."
"Demons?" Sirius mutters, thinking back to the gloomy woman in the mirror.
"Yes," the Skeleton Head responds. "My family had a dark magic ritual for raising demons. It's mighty and evil, and no one had succeeded before me because they couldn't find a suitable host in the mortal world."
"But I found one," the Skeleton Head laughs eerily. "I never thought I'd be so lucky. My fiancée, Yaliana, was the perfect host. She fulfilled all the necessary conditions to satisfy the demon and become a suitable vessel."
"Yaliana?" Sirius mutters, recalling the woman from the mirror.
"She was a classmate of mine at Beauxbatons and the mistress of this castle. Her family was a magical protection family in the Burgundy region, a valuable ally to our family," the Skull says as it shakes violently. "But all of this is unimportant. She was merely a vessel for the demon, a source of immense power. Under my guidance, she slowly degenerated, becoming bloodthirsty and cruel, fulfilling the demon's desires."
As the story unfolds, it becomes even more unsettling. "Shortly after I graduated, I went to Egypt on a family assignment. During my travels, I encountered a girl named Schwella. She was a witch doctor from an ancient tribe, unlike wizards, possessing unique magical abilities."
The Skeleton Head stops, letting out a disturbing laugh. "Of course, what really caught my attention was her appearance. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, the perfect candidate for a new demon host."
"Under my charm, she willingly fell in love with me, and I took her and this castle, offering her to the demon. But it didn't go as planned. Her ancient shamanic powers thwarted everything. The demon couldn't possess her, and it even found her repulsive. She didn't know the truth, thinking she was saving me, but she was incredibly naive."
"What did you do to her?" Sirius asks, starting to grasp the key to the story.
The Skeleton Head's words hide the castle's true secret, the root of its evil.
"Before I could act, she secretly used a powerful love potion on me, making me unable to resist her. She wanted to take me back to her tribe, a lonely place," the Skeleton Head retorts, shaking violently. "She didn't know the truth, believing she was rescuing me, which was utterly foolish. Fortunately, Yaliana sent for me and broke the effects of the love potion. We captured and imprisoned her in the dungeon, intending to offer her soul to the demon. But this was a mistake, a fatal one. I never expected that she could create poison. She killed many people in the castle, including me, overnight."
"She killed all those people in the castle?" Elena asks in fear.
"Yes, even me!" the Skeleton Head shouts, producing a shrill, grating sound. "I died like that, a meaningless death. It was that foolish woman. She's the reason. I must have my revenge. My soul attached itself to the demon, and I controlled everyone in Yaliana's family to kill, including her parents, siblings, relatives, and even Yaliana herself. But that wasn't enough. I must find that woman, the one who ruined everything."
The Skeleton Head's screams echo through the room, creating a loud commotion, but it eventually quiets down.
"My dear, what were you arguing about?" This is a woman's voice.
Sirius instantly recognizes it as Yaliana's voice, the witch they encountered earlier.
"You're awake, my treasure!" the Skeleton Head quickly shifts its attention to the mirror. "No matter what, I wasn't talking to these two deceased people. We were reminiscing about the past. You know how much I enjoy doing that."