6 Chapter 6

As the dust slowly dispersed, Kaiser broke the silence, eager to begin. Gellert, caught up in the excitement, clamored to be the first.

"You're acting like a parrot wanting its wand so badly," Kaiser teased, earning a scowl from his enthusiastic brother. Sensing potential conflict, Yovar intervened. Once they settled down, he approached Kaiser, waving his wand over his hand, transforming the dark blue dust into a bright yellow hue.

Stepping back, Yovar nodded, and the twins reciprocated. Gellert, barely containing his excitement, grabbed the dagger from the shelf, made a small cut on his palm, and tossed the dust upward. It swirled around him before settling on a cluster of wands. Yovar retrieved the Nightdust-covered wand box and handed it to the elated Gellert.

The room crackled with excitement as Gellert inquired, "What's it made of?" His eagerness caught Yovar off guard. "Silver Lime Wood with a Wampus Cat string core. 11 inches, Unyielding. Pretty rare," Yovar explained, surprising both twins with the specifics.

"Silver Lime Wood? Wampus Cat hair?" Kaiser echoed, his curiosity piqued. "I've never heard of silver lime, and Wampus cat hair as a wand core is new to me." He speculated that Wampus Cat Hair might have something to do with mind arts, given its aptitude in legilimency.

"Silver Lime is super rare and favored by wizards skilled in Mind arts, like Legilimency. It's also great for seers. Being twins, chances are high you'd get similar wands after the ritual," Yovar clarified.

Kaiser nodded, accepting the knife from Gellert's hand. As he replicated the gestures, the yellowish dust swirled uncontrollably, enveloping Kaiser in a cloud. Panicked, he looked to Yovar, whose shocked expression mirrored his own. Unexpectedly, the dust surged toward the far wall, cracking it open to reveal a hidden compartment containing a black box and a notebook.

Stunned, Kaiser turned to Yovar. "Was that supposed to happen?" he asked.

"No, not at all," Yovar replied, puzzled. "But there seems to be something meant for you hidden there. It's your decision what to do with it. But, truth be told, I'm curious. Your call," he said, encouraging Kaiser with a smile.

Taking a deep breath, Kaiser opened the box to find a pair of silver rings, a peculiar coin marked with a skull on one side and a tree on the other, and a deck of black cards.

"Haha! No wand for you!" Gellert chuckled. While Gellert found humor in his brother's situation, Kaiser opted to examine the items in his room, picking up the notebook and heading toward the room's exit.

However, Yovar's uneasy expression halted Kaiser. "Wait, Kaiser, Gellert,"

Perplexed, the twins sat down, staring at Yovar. The atmosphere shifted. Whatever Yovar was about to reveal hinted at a significant change.

Yovar sighed deeply, hesitating before admitting, "I... I lied earlier." His uncertainty hung in the air. Kaiser glanced at Gellert, who appeared bewildered. Suddenly, realization struck, shattering the joyful memories shared with his family. There was a reason behind the nagging sense of sorrow he'd felt earlier...

Yovar's struggle to convey the truth was palpable in the room. "Your parents..." He paused, the weight of his words evident in his strained voice. "We were attacked."

The silence that followed was deafening, each syllable hanging heavy in the air. "I was preoccupied defending-" Yovar's voice choked, the next words delivered with a crushing finality, "By the time I realized-"

Kaiser's grip tightened on the table, his breath caught in his throat. "Gellert, they're gone," he declared, the words sounding surreal even to himself. "Mother and Father are dead."

Gellert's shock gave way to a darkening expression, his thoughts racing. As the news settled upon them, an overwhelming surge of emotions rippled between the brothers. In that charged moment, an extraordinary transformation began to unfold.

Gellert felt a prickling sensation rush through him, a searing ache in his right eye that caused it to burn and bleed, crimson droplets staining the chamber floor. Overwhelmed by grief, he shut his eyes, witnessing visions and distant echoes. Unbeknownst to him, his left eye started changing, turning pale as winter snow.

Meanwhile, Kaiser's despair cleared his mind like a tempest parting dark clouds. A radiant light appeared, blinding him as his eyes underwent a startling metamorphosis. One eye turned as pale as Gellert's, while the other shimmered like amber flames. They narrowed, resembling feline pupils. Amidst the radiant glow, he glimpsed fleeting moments of the future and echoes of imminent events. A voice, resonating from all directions but audible only to him, echoed a single word, urging its release. Power surged through his veins, and within the diminishing light, Kaiser noticed a small box on the floor, its contents scattered. His attention fixated on a strange coin pulsating with a deathly green hue. Reaching out, he extended his palm, and the coin surged into it, dissolving into his hand as voices crescendoed within him. Finally, releasing the restraints he'd placed on himself, he thundered:

"Dauðisýn."

The light vanished abruptly, the voices fading into the darkness, leaving Kaiser adrift in a void as slumber claimed him.