if i stay, it won't be long | dahlia

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

if i go, I can only hope

that i'll make it to the other side

January 1, 2026
dahlia jade leloup

Rhys stopped. His visibility was low, and he wondered if it was worth chancing moving forward this way. This was unlike any job he had ever taken, but Gringotts had an urgent order that all available Curse Breakers go, even some of the trainees. It wasn't somewhere he wanted anyone in his family near as he didn't know what dangers lay ahead, but he figured if Dahlia was going to be sent, he might as well stick by her and make sure they both made outback to London mostly unscathed. There was a strange feeling about the island--he didn't feel the same fear as he did walking into a brand new tomb and wondering what traps lay in front of him. The only reason he was feeling unsettled was due to his lack of that fear. This was unlike anything that he or his generation or generations before had ever seen. Even though it was their first time there, Rhys felt as though he knew exactly which direction he had come from and which direction to go. The air was thick with fog, but also magic, and the beast inside he spent so much energy controlling constantly felt....calm.

"Stick by me, we'll take it slow for a little bit, but I don't want to get too far if we can't see that far in front of us." Rhys gripped his wand and took a breath. He wondered how the other Curse Breakers were doing and how many would either be teaching at Hogwarts very soon, or he would never speak to again. "Lumos." He spoke and wondered if the light would do anything for them, but he also focused on the ground in front of them. It was mostly stone, his boots crunching over smaller jagged pieces, and despite them being small, it was loud against the eerie conditions. They walked for about 10 minutes, slowly pushing through until he stopped when he had to shift all his weight to his left foot as his right foot hadn't had solid ground to stand on. Rhys recovered quickly, but he looked down and saw that there was a large crack in this rock, and he'd almost stepped in it.

Crouching down, he was able to see better with the light from his wand and saw plants pushing through. There were roots under these slabs of stone, and for whatever reason, they had broken through to the surface. It wasn't completely full, though, but he couldn't see what was there with all the foliage, but he knew better than to just stick his hand inside a random crevice. An Auror might have thought nothing of it, but Rhys knew that things could be found in the unlikeliest of places.

[dahlia jade leloup]

▲

Everything about this island, from how it appeared out of nowhere to what the landscape looked like, told Dahlia that she shouldn’t have liked it. That there was something strange about it, and that she shouldn’t have stepped foot on it. Everyone she had arrived with, aside from Rhys, had reacted in that manner. The two of them hadn’t actually communicated that fact yet, but she could tell from the way he moved and reacted to things that they were both sensing the same thing. Or lack of whatever it was. She didn’t like the calmness, because there was no reason to feel that way in such an odd place full that was full of weird animals and plants. Nothing she had seen so far made her think she should feel at ease enough to let her guard down, and yet there was some instinct in her head telling her that it was all okay.

For the majority of their trek so far, having broken away from the other Curse Breaker groups to search on their own (for what, she didn’t know yet), Dahlia had trailed a few feet behind her brother, watching him react to things and taking in their surroundings. She had no idea how they ended up where they were, but like everything else they had stumbled across so far, it was off from what was normal. Rhys was saying something about staying closer as they walked, the visibility having dropped off significantly since they started their walk, and she followed his lead with casting lumos. The light from the tips of their wands was like a speck of warmth in the swirling, cloudy air, and it really didn’t help much with what they were doing. If either of them stepped further than ten feet from the other, there was no way they would be able to see each other.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, she watched Rhys move to balance himself, and she stopped where she was. “Is there a hole there?” she asked as she watched him kneel down to inspect something. Dahlia crept closer, but tried to give him a wide berth just in case the ground gave way, and lifted her wand overhead to try and cast more light onto whatever it was Rhys was inspecting.

rhys alexander greyback ● 386 ● Tell Me How by Paramore

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[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

if i go, i can only hope

that i'll make it to the other side

January 1, 2026
dahlia jade leloup

There had been a Curse Breaker trainee, one with less than six months under his belt that had been left behind on the ship they had arrived on. For whatever reason, the second his shoes had touched the crimson sand, he'd just about fainted. Just about everybody else had looked rather uncomfortable as they had paired up and begun to spread out across the island with the general instruction of seeing 'what was here that might be of value to Gringotts'. It wasn't a situation that Rhys agreed the trainees should have been brought to, but if the bank didn't get their hands on precious first, then they would sit likely in a Ministry office forever and collecting dust. So, naturally, his brotherly instincts had kicked in, and he and Dahlia were while he tried to focus at the task at hand but also make sure they made it back alive. The light from their wands didn't help much in terms of visibility, but it was comforting nonetheless.

Rhys couldn't see past the thick foliage in the crevice he'd almost stepped in. "I'm not sure--it's full of vines and plants mostly. It might have been at some point." It reminded him of the ruins in the jungles of South America, but even the most cursed Inca ruins ever gave him such an uneasy feeling. The unknown was the largest variable against them here, and he didn't like that--walking into a situation so unprepared. Rhys stood up and decided to leave that alone. For now, something told him to keep pushing forward instead. "Reminds me of Peru...these holes aren't new." He noted out loud, it wasn't uncommon to have found some artifacts hidden under centuries of vines and other brush. He figured the same might be true here. The cracks and openings in the stone looked worn and old. Rhys looked at his younger sister before they walked forward, a bit of concern on his face.

"You alright? Most of the other trainees couldn't get off the boat." The rest had felt the magic, even Rhys, but he was calm when it came to that. He wondered how she felt about it since she'd spent less time around cursed items and ancient magic in general.

[dahlia jade leloup]

▲

Even standing a few feet away, Dahlia could see the faint outlines of the warped vines Rhys was talking about, the light being cast from the tips of their wands causing shadows to dance around in the depths of the hole. It made it look like they were actually moving, and for a few seconds, she could have sworn that they were – her first thought immediately jumping to some large, underground form of Devil’s Snare. She had come across the entangling plant plenty of times during her adventures, as it was a fairly common trap to employ. The unwary always struggled until they died, but it wasn’t exactly a difficult obstacle to escape from. Had they fallen into the hole and the vines ended up being what she assumed they were, she was sure that both she and Rhys would make it out almost unscathed.

At his mention of Peru, she made a noise of acknowledgement. She had just gotten back from Central America, after all, and knew exactly what he was talking about. The tombs there didn’t need Devil’s Snare, since nature did a pretty decent job on its own of making the jungles and overgrown archaeological sites nigh impossible to get through without a guide and an unbelievably sharp machete. She was already wishing she had the blade they had given her during her last trip, because that would have been super useful right about now if they were going down into the hole.

“I feel fine,” she responded. Moving a little closer to the hole so that she could get a better look into it, she could see what her brother meant by how old the hole actually was. She was far from being a geologist, but it wasn’t exactly difficult to date ancient rock. It had a different, unexplainable feeling to it. Backing off from it again, she put her wand away, content that there really wasn’t anything of importance in the hole. “The other trainees aren’t used to this sort of thing yet. It’s too bad too, because we don’t get nearly enough jobs that are outside like this.” Despite her deflection, Dahlia knew what he was talking about. The other trainees weren’t just nervous about going onto the island. Some of them were outright terrified. And yet here the two of them were, acting like they normally did, if not better than usual. She didn’t see how that was anything to be worried about though.

rhys alexander greyback ● 411 ● song by artist

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[rhys alexander greyback]

if i go, i can only hope

that i'll make it to the other side

January 1, 2026
dahlia jade leloup

Rhys was grateful that he and Dahlia both had experience with this type of terrain, minus the fog, of course, and far less humid, but it was incredibly familiar. Although he could confidently say that he’d never encountered a tomb or anything with quite the same eery feeling. And even though he didn’t feel as some of the recruits had, he still felt vigilant. Rhys felt focused but was also concerned for their safety. While in training, he had been less concerned about his sister’s safety if only because he thought she was competent and he’d never taken her into a situation that he had never encountered himself. This island, this place, was entirely new for the both of them, and he could only think of how he’d already lost one sibling—he wasn’t going to risk another if he could help it.

While Dahlia inspected the hole further, Rhys looked at her a bit apprehensively. Rhys was not exaggerating when he said the other trainees that weren’t left behind were literally still on the boat and even a few more experienced Curse Breakers. Rhys hadn’t shared the same effects. While they were all walking around as if a literal weight was on their shoulders, Rhys felt perfectly normal—or as much as he could in this place. Dahlia had seemed the same. He didn’t answer and only nodded, taking a moment to scope his surroundings. In his opinion, they had gone far enough and should head back, let the Ministry take a look, and then they could return to look for treasure. Though by the looks of it, he felt almost certain there wasn’t gold here.

”We should head back. I don’t want to stay here longer than we need to. Let the Ministry deal with this.” Rhys would have been more than happy to never set foot on the blood-red sand ever again, though knowing his luck, he knew that it was hardly the last time he’d see this place again.

[end Rhys]

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