Elvis was an old, overweight man with white hair. He was imprisoned in a stone cell, magically conjured into shape.
The walls around him were bare rock, and the floor was nothing but jagged stones and rough gravel. There wasn't even a blanket for him to sleep on.
He curled up in a corner, his eyes gleaming in the dim shadows as he stared intently at the stone bars—the only path leading to the outside world.
Without his wand, he could do nothing.
**Whoosh—**
A figure outside the stone prison bars lifted their invisibility charm.
Elvis jolted in surprise at the sudden appearance of a child. The lighting was poor, so he couldn't see the boy's face clearly. But then he realized—anyone who had snuck in invisibly had to be here to rescue him!
The boy raised his wand, illuminating his face.
**Hogwarts robes!** This kid was a Hogwarts student!
"You came to save me? Brave kid!"
Seeing hope at last, Elvis scrambled forward, grabbing onto the prison bars and trying to squeeze his head through the gaps. Lowering his voice, he said excitedly:
"The people outside are bloodthirsty lunatics. Kid, quick! Lend me your wand, and we'll escape together! If we don't, those Silver Key fanatics will kill us both!"
He stretched his hand toward the boy as far as he could, but the bars blocked his short, stubby arms from reaching.
The boy didn't move closer. He just stood there, watching him.
"Ah—come on, kid! Now's not the time to act cool! They'll be here any second—hurry—" Elvis urged desperately.
Still, the boy didn't budge.
"You're the old bastard who kept writing nasty articles about my mom, aren't you?"
The boy tilted his head as he spoke.
**…?**
Elvis's brain raced—**What? Wait, what mom? Who—?**
**Oh, Merlin's saggy bra! This kid is Rose Burke's son?!**
"This place is full of lunatics and monsters, and in a few minutes, those cultists are going to set the monsters loose on us. And you're standing here asking me if I wrote bad things about your mom?"
Elvis gawked at him.
"Nobody messes with my mom."
The boy stowed away his wand, making it clear he had no intention of letting Elvis out.
"And thanks to your little smear campaign, my mom had to work overtime cleaning up the mess you left behind. You're evil."
"Getting kidnapped wasn't my choice!" Elvis practically screamed.
"And I didn't make your mom work overtime! I just filed a few complaints—those articles pissed me off! No—wait, kid, stay out of grown-up business—"
Mid-sentence, Elvis realized he was getting sidetracked.
**This is not the time to be arguing about my feud with Rose Burke!**
This was a cave—sounds traveled easily. The Silver Key cultists could hear them any second now…
"For Merlin's sake, just give me the wand! They're coming—if we don't act now, we're all dead!"
Elvis was practically begging at this point.
"Who's there?!"
A voice echoed from the tunnel behind the boy.
Several robed figures holding wands approached quickly.
"Now you've done it…" Elvis whispered in despair. "We're all gonna die."
"Maybe next time," the boy replied casually.
Then, he turned to face the approaching Silver Key cultists.
The glow of their wands lit up the boy's face.
All of them froze as if someone had pressed a pause button.
Their reaction was exactly what the boy had expected—just as planned.
The next second, he transformed.
His form shifted into that of a **Dementor**.
Under his cloak, a concealed box remained hidden. His towering figure filled the entire tunnel.
Elvis, still trapped behind the bars, let out a shrill, strangled scream before collapsing to the ground.
To the cultists who had just arrived, it looked as if the boy had killed Elvis using some unfathomable power.
Unlike Elvis—whose worldview had just been shattered—these fanatical "followers" were **ecstatic**.
Or rather, they were so overwhelmed with excitement that their legs gave out, and they dropped to their knees.
"You… you have awakened!"
The cultist with the strongest presence—a bald young man with a face covered in red ritualistic symbols—immediately knelt, removing his hood.
The others followed, one by one, removing their hoods and swearing their loyalty.
"Oh, Lord! Now that you have awakened, will you finally begin your grand act of destroying this false world?"
The bald leader raised his hands in worship, trembling with religious fervor.
The boy said nothing and simply floated toward the cave's center.
**A god should act like a god. Responding too soon would cheapen the moment.**
Moving at a steady, unhurried pace, he drifted toward the deep pit at the heart of the cave.
The cultists scrambled to their feet and rushed after him, eager not to miss a single moment of his "divine" actions.
**"Descendit Lux Sirius…"** (*Let the light of Sirius descend…*)
**"Descendit Lux Sirius…"**
…
Four hooded figures stood around the pit, casting a spell. Their wands pointed toward the cavern ceiling, where the rock had turned transparent—like the enchanted ceiling of the Hogwarts Great Hall.
But unlike Hogwarts, this sky wasn't filled with twinkling stars. There was only **one** light shining down.
Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, cast its glow into the pit below.
At the bottom sat an **enormous toad**, completely under the control of the Imperius Curse.
And beneath it—was an **egg**.
"This is one of the offerings we have prepared for you…"
The bald cultist squeezed forward, eager to explain.
"A Basilisk—one of the most powerful and evil creatures in existence. Soon, we will combine it with a Thestral and a powerful wizard. Their fusion will create an even **greater** sacrifice, one worthy of… **You.**"
"You will all receive the reward of destruction."
The boy rasped in a deep voice.
"Now, go. Bring everyone here."
**If you want to wipe them all out, it's best to gather them first. Makes it easier for Xisoco to feast.**
The bald cultist rushed off to call the others—not just for a reward, but for a chance to bask in their god's presence.
Soon, the cavern filled with every last Silver Key member.
"Are we all here?" The bald cultist asked his followers. "Stay alert! His Holiness will bestow his gift upon us!"
The ritual had ended, and Sirius's light now shone steadily on the toad and its egg. The egg trembled, cracks forming across its surface—the Basilisk inside was preparing to hatch.
The cultists **knelt in droves**, worshipping the boy with unshaken devotion.
**Honestly, it almost felt like a waste to kill them all now…**
But the boy had made his decision. If they realized he had no intention of actually **destroying the world**, they'd conclude he hadn't truly "awakened."
And when a god doesn't wake up, what do fanatics do?
They try to **force** it awake—by attacking the people closest to him.
**Like Edward. Like Rose.**
**Unacceptable.**
Beneath his cloak, the boy **opened the box and called for Xisoco.**
**"Hisss…"** (*Come out.*)
Every cultist heard the eerie whisper, but none of them understood **Parseltongue**.
**"Hisss… Feast."**
The young cultist at the edge whispered excitedly to his companion, "The prophecy is true! 'When you gaze upon the death-serpent, it shall hiss your fate…' Silver Key was right, Lovegood! It was right all along!"
**Oh, really?**
**You're about to be snake food.**
The boy glanced toward the man's whispering companion—**Xenophilius Lovegood. Luna's father.**
**"Is that right? Is that right?"**
"The Basilisk is coming to eat you all!"
While the new believers were still excitedly marveling at how Cohen's Parseltongue perfectly matched their recorded prayers, the older followers had already resigned themselves to death.
**Wait—Lovegood?**
Cohen spotted the young believer's secret conversation partner—Xenophilius Lovegood, Luna's father.
He looked completely out of place among the cultists. He was the only one not wearing their matching robes and had the tense posture of someone ready to bolt at any moment. He was most likely dragged here against his will, threatened by this group of lunatics.
*"Stupefy!"*
Without warning, Cohen hit Lovegood with a Stunning Spell—better to knock him out now than risk him getting caught in the crossfire with Sisoko.
The cultists were baffled by this move.
But Cohen's next action confused them even more. He suddenly cast *Legilimens* on the unsuspecting mad cult leader. Before killing him, he at least needed to dig into the Silver Key Sect's secrets. There was no way they were operating with just this small group—this handful of people alone couldn't have built the bloodstained warehouse beneath Knockturn Alley 77.
A stream of silvery-white memories was pulled from the madman's mind.
*"My lord, what are you—"*
Someone tried to question Cohen, but they didn't get the chance. Sisoko was already here.
*"Hisssss... Where's the food?"*
The Basilisk slithered forward, flicking its tongue, searching for its next meal. Well, plenty of food was standing right there.
When a giant snake emerged from beneath the Dementor's cloak, it was nearly impossible for anyone not to focus on its massive head.
Cohen wasn't wasting any time either. Before their souls could fully dissipate or turn into ghosts, he needed to absorb what he could—no point in letting them go to waste.
Originally, there had been eleven people. With Lovegood taken out of the equation, that left ten. Their souls contributed a 3% boost to Cohen's overall soul integrity, with most of it coming from the cult leader, who had a soul strength of 31.
Not a single drop was wasted.
Dead cultists are the best kind of cultists.
*(End of Chapter)*