When Worlds and Dreams Collide...

Chapter One--Genesis

Two figures were silhouetted against the windowpane inside the castle. Outside, the storm was raging. Torrents of rain slashed against the windows. The candelabra shined like a small beacon from off the side of the room somewhere, casting an eerie pattern against the wall. The two powerful occupants were unaware of the spectacle they made to the outside world--so wrapped in their own turmoil.

"Ro...I...oh god...We ought to stop this madness..."

They broke apart for a few seconds staring at one another. It was as if they had never truly seen one another before...They hadn't seen this coming. Even she hadn't seen this coming.

"Yes...we...must stop..."

How could they have possibly seen it coming? They had rarely spent time in each other's company. He was normally outside communing with nature and looking for the next great adventure...and she. Well, she was normally found only in the library. They were complete opposites--the only thing they had in common was their love and respect for Lazar and Helly. The few times they had spent in one another's company with no buffer had always been awkward and fraught with tension that neither recognized...

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Outside, the lone figure watched in stunned horror. How could this have happened? When had it happened? It had been a year since he had seen them. He had told them he was going off to investigate the magical phenomenon that had occurred in the far south-eastern reaches of the world. Normally, Gawdy would have been the first to jump ship for the next great adventure...but he was not one to be interested in something he considered "dark."

Lazar was another creature altogether. He had become restless with the pet project they started. The others were proud and happy with what they were doing...and it wasn't that he wasn't as well...but he realized that he still had so much to learn...so much about the rest of the world's magic--and he grew restless. It surprised him that Gawdy wasn't feeling the same. It used to always be Gawdy that yearned for something more.

He tried to stay. He tried to follow through with what they had all planned for. In the end, the dream he had made him realize he had to see it through...

She had begged him not to leave. She had told him that she had a premonition that if he left, things were never going to be the same again. He should have listened. Change would always occur--nothing was permanent. He had thought her premonition meant that he'd be successful in his journey for the truths he sought.

He had wandered through the spice and scent-filled worlds of the strange lands in the southeast. He had learned from all the strange mystics. He had left an arrogant innocent and returned a worldly traveler. He had done things the others would never have approved of all for the sake of knowledge and power. He knew it would be well worth it to see the looks on all their faces.

He had come back thinking he had learned so much. He had so much to teach Ro--whom he knew would appreciate all things knowledge. He had so much to show off to Gawdy about with stories of his adventures and the things he'd seen and done. He had been brimming with excitement with all the gifts he would give to Helly--the medicinals he'd awe her with. He was going to come back not only being one of the four most powerful witches and wizards of their time--but he knew that he was coming back to show them all that he would be the most powerful wizard of all time.

His vision cleared. He saw their abrupt separation and thought to himself that if they stopped it at that--he could forgive them. He could pretend that he never saw his best friend and his fiancée locked in a passionate embrace. He could forgive them nearly anything. He loved them. He could even live with them continuing their liaison if they could still find it in their hearts to love him and include him the way it had always been between them. Suddenly, he saw a flash of brilliant gold light surround them.

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A flash of brilliant gold thread wrapped around the two witches...but both were too far gone to realize the enormity of the situation. All they could sense--was their oneness. It felt right. It felt good. It was fate.

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He could have forgiven them nearly everything...had been prepared to...until he saw the power their love for one another elicited.

He had been so excited to see the people he loved again after being gone a year. Turning away from the images he saw, for the first time in his life, Salazar Slytherin cried at the betrayal of the two people he loved so dearly and for the life he had lost.