devil's at your door | cas

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

March 29, 2026
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

”Just like old times, right?” Rhys asked as he stepped onto the familiar crimson beach. It had been many years since Rhys had worked alongside Cas. While the elder had helped in training Rhys, Renfri, and a few others, it had not been for the entire time. Rhys wanted to comment that only Renfri was missing…but he knew that if given a chance, Renfri would have happily joined Rhys on this return to the island. Though he was glad that she hadn’t seen him in that sorry state he was in back in January. A lot had changed in the last few months, though the anxiety that washed over him as he glanced at the ground again to verify that his boots still touched the ground was expected. Otherwise, the island felt even more familiar than before.

Rhys took out a notebook and opened it. He’d gone through these notes many times since he’d first started taking notes. In here were the runes they had noted on some of the relatively large statues that lined the island's perimeter, notes about the Druid stories that Eeva had told him, and other notes that Bianca had passed along after meeting with the High Druid. Rhys had been a bit surprised to find Cas was part of Ouroboros back in January. Many members from Heliopath and Ouroboros knew one another in some capacity, whether through the old Order of the Phoenix or by even being coworkers or friends. Rhys closed the notebook and held it out for Cas to grab before looking back in front of them.

”I found that dagger past the woods this way.” He motioned to his left, pointing toward thick woods and what was North East. Rhys wasn’t terribly eager to go back in that direction, but the work needed to be done, and even if there were extra Cursebreakers available for such a trek, there was no guarantee their schedules would line up. Still, even he didn’t know where to start. ”Just keep an eye out on the fog…”

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

29 March 2026

March was a tough anniversary for Cas. He had realized last week that it was his seven-year anniversary since retiring from cursebreaking. Seven didn’t seem like a significant number in and of itself, but it was also the number of years he had been active for Gringotts. From this moment onwards…Cas would be out of the field longer than he had been in it. It was a somber thought, and it dampened Cas’s mood even as he received an intriguing letter from Rhys about the island that had been haunting everyone’s thoughts since January. He shook his head, forcing himself to dispel the thought and remove the curious look of regret from his face. Regret was a weak emotion, because it was impossible to change the past and it was dangerous to second-guess yourself. In cursebreaking, it could lead to a serious injury. In the game he played for the Order, it could lead to exposure and death.

“Old times…” Cas repeated, stepping carefully onto the blood-red beach that marked the one entrance into the island. He hadn’t spoken as they’d navigated the Ministry lockdown – the Head of Law Enforcement, another Order member, had pulled some strings to grant them entry passes, but Cas didn’t want to jinx it by opening his mouth. Now, he swept his gaze over the familiar island that he’d already visited twice before. He raised an eyebrow at Rhys as he clarified, “Would that be all those assignments we barely survived for Gringotts, or back in January when you had your head in the clouds?” Cas hadn’t witnessed the spectacle himself, but Claire and Renfri had both described it in great detail, both the particulars of Rhys’s affliction and the Greyback’s stormy attitude towards it.

He listened carefully as Rhys explained where he had found the dagger, and Cas recognized the route. He and Renfri had also gone to explore in that direction during their visit, although they’d only left with pages of notes and more questions than answers. When he and Jasper had returned, they’d traveled in the other direction, and Cas shivered at the memory of the strange creatures they’d come across. It wasn’t right to call them human. Still, as chilling as both trips had been (despite the company, which had shot Cas with a heavy dose of nostalgia)…the mystery of Rhys’s unusual dagger was enough to pull him back. Cas had never seen an artifact like it, although he was more absorbed in the mystery of the runes than the question of how much it could sell for. He instinctively glanced at the Dial Back, although it confirmed what he had noticed last time too – no Dark magic in the vicinity. Just this strange fog.
“Tell me more about that trip,” Cas said vaguely, falling back into the old pattern of mentor and trainee, when he would instruct Rhys to walk him through cursebreaker techniques as he carried them out. After a while, he observed, “I compared your notes to mine, and I’m beginning to see a pattern. Some of the runes we've found seem to belong to an alphabet.” A note of frustration entered his voice. “But it’s nothing like our languages. The closest match is druidic runes, and even then...it's like reading Shakespeare in hieroglyphs.”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

March 29, 2026
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Bianca made it easy for them to enter the Island as she was in charge of the current perimeter. And it was everything Rhys could do to merely say ‘thank you’ without some smart remark. He’d been with Bianca when they’d found the dagger, and he’d been in the sorry state he’d been in. Rhys would like to think it was a memory he could repress for as long as he lived, but hearing the sand crunch beneath his boots—he found that impossible at the moment. Rhys paused and looked at his old mentor, no doubt everybody in the Order knew what had happened to him from his old colleagues in Heliopath. ”Claire tell you that?” Rhys asked, remembering one of the last Heliopath meetings before Harry bringing them all together. ”At least I know which way is up.” Unlike Claire, Rhys had his feet on the ground.

Rhys assumed that since Cas and Claire were instrumental in the reformation of the Order of the Phoenix, they were friends—though he couldn’t see how with both their personalities. Then again, one might be surprised that Claire was friends with Rhys, though they had been since school. ”I’d say the former.” Walking into something unknown and with little information—a summary of the Cursebreaker experience. Rhys thought through that day in his mind, organizing the events and facts so he could accurately retell them. ” I couldn’t see all that well because…well—“ Rhys motioned with his hands to state the obvious. ”But I’d recalled all the crevices the first time I was here New Year’s day with my sister.” They hadn’t stayed long, and Rhys, while curious, had wanted to ensure Dahlia was off the Island safely. ”We checked a few of them by clearing the foliage but there wasn’t anything until we found the crevice with the dagger. It was just…there.”

Maybe his work had accustomed him to artifacts in sealed chests or even hidden cavities in a brick wall. Very rarely did he come across something so ornate in the ground. ”The…magic or whatever is here doesn’t bother me. Like I told Eeva and Bianca, I feel like I know where I’m going, and I had the same feeling when I found the dagger.” That part still confused him, everybody seemed to react differently, and he couldn’t tell if it was one of the more ‘permanent’ side effects or just temporary. Bianca had been unnerved while Eeva had been entirely sick, but Rhys had been just fine. Cas continued by moving on to the topic of the notes. Rhys had come to a similar conclusion about the Runes but had just needed extra eyes and confirmation—though Cas’ analogy was much better.

Druidic runes. It made Rhys think about what Eeva had told him, and perhaps there was something to these druid stories. ”Eeva said that werewolves and vampires would be unbothered by the magic here, at least if the druid stories are to be believed.” Much like the ancient cultures they had been trained to study, they knew that stories always had origins. ”Maybe it is their hieroglyphs?” Rhys suggested. While he was not an expert on languages, the bank did have them, and origins seemed to be the common theme. Rhys wondered if there were more artifacts to be discovered in that foggy field, but he also didn’t want to stay longer than he needed to. ”I only noted the runes on the statues, I hadn’t heard if anyone noted any inland.” Did the Island have runes? Despite all the Order, Ministry, and Gringott’s visits, there wasn’t a map of the Island or an account for every square foot of what may be here.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

Cas bristled with irritation at the mention of Claire, so early on. He knew the pair must be friends from Hogwarts, and that they must have crossed paths in Heliopath more than once before the reunification of the Order. The fact shouldn’t bother him, except that it did…deeply. He and Claire had been awkwardly orbiting each other for months, and Cas didn’t want to admit how often he caught himself thinking about her or wondering when he’d see her again. And he couldn’t forget the offhand comment Ana had made at the Christmas ball – she’s always with that one. He’d tortured himself by turning that statement over in his mind again and again, wondering what ‘always’ meant.

Either way…Rhys was partly correct. Claire had been the first to spill the secret of Rhys’s affliction, no surprise there. Whenever she began to talk, she usually lost control of her mouth – an unfortunate condition that got much worse when she was angry. Harry had also mentioned it, however, but only in the context of observing that some Order members had begun to exhibit strange effects after visiting the island. The pair had discussed Rhys the same way they’d gone over everyone else experiencing an odd change. And naturally Bianca had briefed Cas before this trip, a badly concealed smirk on her face as she gleefully explained Rhys’s condition to Cas. In summary… “There was no shortage of people to hear it from,” Cas concluded, tone even and purposefully omitting any mention of Claire.

Whatever his personal feelings towards his ex-trainee might be, Cas trusted his account of the island. Rhys was a good cursebreaker, and could be counted on to do his job. Cas gave a grunt of acknowledgement as Rhys gestured at all the fog, which continued to curl and settle in unnatural ways. Rhys observed that the dagger had simply…been there, when he had gone searching the crevices in an earlier visit. “It just appeared there, or it was placed there?” Cas suggested, gaze sweeping over the dead landscape. There wasn’t much to look at here – the dry and cracked ground, ashen-looking trees, and no signs of life. Still, he knew that wasn’t quite true, because he knew something inhabited the island. And, of course, there was the fog. It wasn’t innocent, however much it might pretend to be. “I saw something strange on my last visit.” Not that that narrowed it down much. “Strange creatures,” Cas clarified, “Almost human but not quite. They didn’t seem safe to approach.”

“Why couldn’t they be believed?” Cas asked idly after some time as he carefully sidestepped a large gash in the ground. If there was one thing about this island he believed, it was that it had some intrinsic connection with the druids. And Cas had spent enough time around druid settlements to know that their histories went just as far back as mainland wizards, albeit in a different format. But they kept the ancient wisdom alive in a way many societies didn’t bother with anymore. “There were some signs with similar runes to the ones you sent me,” Cas confirmed as Rhys wondered about the ones he had found on the statues around the island. “They seemed to form words, based on the groupings. So it might be an alphabet, which means it can be cracked. I’d like to try and find them again, see if we can’t piece together their purpose.” He wondered what else they might find in the fields Rhys had explored, no doubt a cursebreaker’s paradise, but that wasn’t the purpose of this mission. He didn’t have the full picture as to why Rhys had asked him to visit the island again, only the vague notion that it was one small part of a much bigger plan.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

March 29, 2026
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

There had been a point where they’d gathered in the Heliopath safehouse in Wales, and you could look around the room and see all the affected souls. For some, it wasn’t something physically obvious as it had been for Rhys, but a strange look in their eyes gave it away. When they unified into a single Order, it had become clear that Ouroboros had been affected in the same way. It was not an experience that Rhys cared to go through again, nor did he try to think about it too much. Even if some had found it amusing and liked to bring it up months after.

Rhys hadn’t told Maria about what happened, at least not that part, and he hadn’t told Vasilia either. Still, Ilija had seen him so he could mention it at any time—not that he did. Internally, he’d been hesitant to return. There was that lingering feeling of the awful feeling of not being able to touch the ground, but after that doctor’s appointment with Maria this past week, he’d just felt the stakes were much higher if something worse was to happen to him. Rhys didn’t respond to Cas. He was fairly certain that Claire had said something—though if not her, most definitely Bianca.

”We had to clear some foliage to retrieve it. I assume it had been placed at some point, much like items in the jungle if left there too long.” The passage of time allowed plants to grow and environments to change. This place was old, possibly ancient, yet it differed greatly from the locations they typically worked. The magical presence here was far greater than what they would find anywhere else in the world. ”Creatures?” Rhys asked. He hadn’t seen anything like it himself. ”Did they resemble anything?” People assumed that Cursebreaking was simply treasure hunting, but part of that research was knowing what plants or animals would be around. What was harmless and what could kill you with ease. For Rhys, this island and everything about it leaned toward the latter.

Rhys followed Cas, stepping over the same large gash. ”Because even if stories all have a basis in facts, those facts are twisted over time. Much like the mythology we study.” Explanations for what could not be explained. He’d spoken to Nixie about this since she’d come from a muggle background and muggle imaginations ran wild with explanations for the unknown. At least in the Wizarding World, magic was often an explanation, but there was still so much knowledge out of reach. ”I haven’t spent a lot of time with the Druids, and most of what I know I’ve learned only recently. Which is why I asked for your help.” It wasn’t for lack of trying. Rhys, let alone a Greyback, would hardly be welcome on Hy-Brasil’s shores. With his limited interaction with Fae, she’d always been kind, but he supposed there was his connection to Ava on that front.

They walked further though Rhys kept an eye out for what he could see through the fog, now that he specifically had an eye out for those symbols that were now seared into his brain. He had a sudden appreciation for Egyptian Hieroglyphs, even if he preferred not to work in Egypt anymore—the familiarity was something he missed. But they had a lot more information this time around and a better idea of what to look for.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

There was a limit to how much cursebreaking could prepare them to tackle the island. The inherent nature of cursebreaking was retrieving the lost and valuable artifacts of ancient civilizations, which meant that ultimately cursebreakers only traveled to destinations that had seen human life. You could find yourself anywhere in the world – the blazing deserts of Afghanistan, stormy mountains of northern Greece, even the wild jungles of India – but the focus was narrow to sites where the goblins of Gringotts suspected treasure had been hidden. And this island…Cas hesitated to call the strange creatures he had seen human, but there were very few other ways to describe them. There wasn’t much evidence of their presence either, at least not in the sections of the island that he’d heard rumors of from other members of the Order, and the signposts he had seen were the only familiar aspect of the island that truly reminded him of a cursebreaking expedition. They hadn’t found any ancient dwellings or sacred sites yet, and Cas was tired of fighting his way through the untamed nature of the island without having found any relics or other things worth his time.

He listened to Rhys’s orderly account of how and where he and Bianca Rivera had found the dagger, although there weren’t many clues to glean from it. He supposed the creatures must have placed it there, although this strange fog couldn’t be ruled out of the equation either. But for what purpose? To keep it, and other such artifacts, safe? To be found by other creatures or visitors to the island on purpose? Or had it simply been forgotten, in which case – who had it belonged to originally? There were no other artifacts to compare it to, which was how they usually dated items to a certain time period or civilization. And if the dagger had magical abilities, they hadn’t found any of those either after a lengthy investigation. The most frustrating part? There were no leads to follow. Outside the strange island, there were clues to pursue to discover more about an item. That had been his experience with the magic dampener – matching the etched runes to ones he’d found in books, which had led him to the United States and Scourer artifacts. After some time spent in museums and following witch hunters, he’d found his answers. But this damn dagger, and this damn island? How in Merlin’s beard were they supposed to find answers? There was nothing here. Their previous investigations had led them nowhere. They’d hit a dead end, and Cas couldn’t see how to move forward. He was frustrated beyond words.

Rhys’s question was hard to answer, but Cas paused to consider it as he recalled the dark shapes he’d seen on a previous visit. “I only saw them from a distance, and it was obviously…foggy. I suppose they looked somewhat human. But twisted.” It wasn’t a good description, but he didn’t have anything better to offer. He’d been too wary to approach such an unknown entity, and Cas had only come here to examine the runes and see things from a cursebreaker’s perspective. Not to enter a situation that might require dueling or fighting for his life. He shrugged at Rhys’s observation about stories. “That’s true,” he conceded the good point his trainee had made, “But druids stay faithful to the source material. Their ways of preserving knowledge over the centuries are…remarkable.” It was difficult to admire a civilization that so despised Dark magic, when Cas’s whole living centered around it, but he’d always respected the druids. His work as a cursebreaker had taken him to Hy-Brasil many times, as well as druid communities in the north. Once, as a young wizard, he’d even assisted his mentor in fighting off Dark wizards from one such community in Finland. He still maintained his connection with the druids there, a full decade later.

They walked in silence for a while, both keeping a careful eye on their surroundings for any signs of movement. But the island was as deserted as every time he’d been there before, and Cas sighed slightly as the fog curled around his legs briefly before dissipating. He desperately wished it was Dark magic, if only so the Dial Back could do its job and repel it. But as he’d established with Renfri, the fog wasn’t any sort of magic he could repel with an artifact or his wand. Finally, Cas paused. “I think the runes I saw on the signposts were further north,” he mentioned, eyes fixed on the looming volcano ahead, “But those dark shapes around the island might have a secret or two as well.” He turned to examine what he thought might be a ring of statues placed around the island, although what they were meant to be wasn’t immediately obvious to him. He turned in a slow circle, raising his wand to illuminate the open space as much as he could. He was tempted to find the signs again, because between him and Rhys they had the skillset and knowledge to maybe be able to crack the language. That would give them the ability to discover more about whatever lived on the island, and whatever stories they might have to tell. But the statues…they also might be hiding valuable information about how the island had been hidden so long that could be useful to the druids and Ministry. It wasn’t often that Cas conceded control, but even with his few visits to the island – Rhys was the lead on this mission. He had reached out to Cas in the first place, and was the one in communication with whoever had a bigger purpose in mind for the island. So Cas turned to gaze at his old trainee. “It’s your call.”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

March 29, 2026
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

There were enough Cursebreakers on task to figure out some of these secrets. Rhys knew the basics of many languages, and really it was about patterns. He’d spoken to Maria about it before since she had a knack for these things, not that they could converse for long without arguing at times. And these days, her progressing pregnancy made it even more difficult. In any case, it was all a code that just needed to be cracked. Cas described what little he’d seen of the creatures, and even in Heliopath, there had not been much of a description. But he also hadn’t spoken to everyone or even thought to ask, really.

From what he could gather, they needed to cut through the thick woods full of what looked like dead trees. Rhys had walked through them a few times on his previous visits, but after he’d gained the ability to float, he’d had trouble concentrating on much. Still, he’d added the symbols he’d seen on small and old signs to his notes, along with what he and others had collected from one of the large statues surrounding the island. Rhys had even found a sign within the foliage of the forest floor, it had fallen from somewhere, but he didn’t know what it said.

”There were small signs in this forest, but very few of them.” He added to Cas’ comment, the northern part of the island wasn’t somewhere he’d visited. Minus the clearing during his second trip when the fog appeared. It was something he was wary of now as he kept glancing around him. ”They’re statues.” Rhys corrected him, they were large, but the fog made it hard to see them without taking a boat out. ”We gathered some notes. They have symbols carved into the stone.” And again, they were meaningless without knowing how this language worked. There was a pause where his old trainer looked at him, letting him take the lead. Rhys looked behind them at the coast and then toward the forest. ”Bianca and Ana said there was an area past the forest and a lake that might be of interest to us.” Meaning it looked like something a Cursebreaker would dive right into.

Dead wood, leaves, and small branches broke beneath their boots as they walked. One thing Rhys appreciated about Cas was that he was never one to talk one’s ear off, and Rhys appreciated the quiet so he could think. The furthest that Rhys had traveled was that foggy field near the Volcano where he and Bianca had found that dagger. As the edge of the forest neared, Rhys slowed his walking as he saw what looked like a rather large tree. A really, really big tree, and he stopped when he swore he saw something crawl across one of the higher branches. Was it whatever creatures inhabited this place? ”Erm—lets cut through this way, I’d rather not run into any creatures.” Rhys began walking more North but kept the edge of the forest in view. When he felt he wasn’t near that gigantic tree anymore, he exited the forest, it was foggier here, and he recognized the Volcano. Anymore North, and they’d be in the field where he found the dagger.

Pausing, he looked back at Cas and then back forward. While the fog wasn’t thick, it was still difficult to see. Rhys raised his wand slightly in front of him, wordlessly casting a windy spell as he made the slights swirling motion with his wand. The jet of wind cleared the fog and a path to what was clearly a lake, but the fog quickly began to fill back in. ”That looks like the lake they mentioned.” Rhys began to walk toward it, wand still out in case he needed it. Rhys noted some kind of vapor when he got closer to it as if it was hot water, but he didn’t feel any heat emanating off it. He swallowed. His mouth was dry, and he had a strange metallic taste in his mouth that was familiar. ”You ever see anything like this before?” Rhys asked, glancing back before he could stop himself. He looked back forward, he usually kept his questions to himself, but perhaps his curiosity was just much higher today.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

There were signs that could distinguish cursebreakers from any run-of-the-mill treasure-hunter, and especially one that had trained under Cas or any of his generation that had since given up cursebreaking for other pursuits. As wild and untamed as their appearances could be, there was an order and methodology to how a cursebreaker approached an unknown site and it was taught to every trainee that stuck around longer than a few months. Cas resisted the urge to snort as he and Rhys removed thin notebooks from their robes at almost the same time, and ignored his former trainee as he flipped open his notes to check the runes he’d scrawled quickly the last time he had found a sign. It was a good habit to document everything they found, because you could never be sure what information would became relevant later. Cas had made notes on the design of the runes, but also the way they were grouped together or separated on different signs. He hadn’t yet found a way to crack the language, but there were some unknown sets that must be connector words. It was a start, at least.

He made a vague ‘hm’ sound as confirmation that he’d heard Rhys’s explanation about the statues and the unknown purpose they served. It was disorienting to think that someone might know more than Cas about something, but Rhys had spent a ridiculous amount of time on the island already. He seemed to have a good grasp of its geography, and even where they were going. As someone who had only visited twice, Cas kept his mouth shut and let his former trainee navigate – even as he found it grating on his nerves. He also remembered Ana had said something about a lake, but she’d been more tight-lipped than usual about her trip. Neither of the Karkaroffs could be accused of being a gossip, but they usually provided each other with necessary information when it came to the family or business for the Order. Still, Ana’s time on the island had clearly disturbed her and Cas hadn’t pushed for more detailed descriptions. Now he wished he had.

“We need to call a meeting,” Cas decided as he made a wide berth around a dead tree, “Anyone in the Order who might have noticed the runes. Once we consolidate information, then patterns should begin to emerge.” It was better than continuing to scratch their heads and wonder what sort of hell they’d walked into. Cas’s eyes lingered on the tree until the pair had crossed around it and left it behind. The tree itself wasn’t threatening, but there was thick underbrush growing around the base and several gaping holes in its trunk. Cas didn’t want to guess at what might live there. He had grown quite advanced in developing counter-curses and his instincts were sharp when it came to spellwork. But magical creatures? It was far outside his realm of expertise, and Cas could still grumpily remember the time Claire had needed to save him from a herd of pogrebins. If a group was even called a herd, he had no idea.

He watched sharply as Rhys repelled some of the fog to reveal the shoreline of a lake, only for it to quickly settle around them again. Cas’s eyes narrowed as he studied what was visible – the water looked enchanted and was glowing faintly. There were faint fumes rising from the still water, and he couldn’t see any magical plants rooted in the muddy clay. “No signs of life,” he observed in a murmur, raising his gaze to search for any outlines of huts or nets. His head began to swim and Cas blinked quickly as he tried to clear the sudden pressure behind his eyes. Rhys’s question cleared the fog in his mind, although Cas stared hard at his trainee. He hadn’t asked such a broad and generic question since they’d last gone on a mission together, years ago. “No.” The word was pulled unwillingly out of him, a thought he hadn’t wanted to share with anyone else. He didn’t know what was compelling him to share now.

“This island feels wrong. I…shouldn’t be making decisions.” It was a such a strange departure for Cas to sound so uncertain, and he shook his head in frustration at how true the statement was. Even with how much he didn’t want it to be true. He didn’t know where the impulse to speak was coming from, and it was so unlike his tendency to be reserved and keep his secrets to himself. “My reaction times aren’t what they used to be,” he murmured, “Maybe I can’t be sent into the field anymore.” The admission settled in his gut like a stone, and Cas turned away to walk a few paces and examine the strange moss growing on the side of a tree. He didn’t dare to touch it, because regular mainland moss didn’t move like that. He hated this island, and how nothing seemed to make sense. Logic didn’t apply here, nor did any of his decade of experience in cursebreaking. He didn’t want to linger, so he began to lengthen his stride as the pair began to circle the edge of the lake. Cas was careful not to make eye contact.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

March 29, 2026
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Rhys had forgotten how many of his habits he had picked up from Cas. Their eyes darted to their similar notebooks, but neither said a word. If a third party had been present, they likely would have said something. He could already hear Renfri’s sarcastic comment in the back of his mind. People thought Cursebreaking was about hunting for buried treasure like some pirate hired by Gringotts. But Rhys had always resented that comparison, especially after running into actual pirates years before with Jasper. He always found pirates slightly delusional, as if living in some fantasy world because they couldn’t make it working in the actual black market. But, Rhys was never going to let that incident go.

The idea of traveling inland again sent a slight chill up his spine, and he glanced down at the floor with his eyes to make sure his boots were still touching the ground. It was not an incident he was willing to tell Cas if it was not relevant to their work. In which case, Rhys might spare a detail since, in reality, they were sort of detectives, and the smallest detail could matter. ” A handful of us were here for several days. They most likely would have seen something.” Claire had split them up, and Rhys had opted to stay longer when he was afflicted. He’d learned quite a bit about certain things from Eeva about druid culture while camped out on the beach.

This lake they had approached was new for Rhys, so he couldn’t offer any information to Cas as they both inspected it. There wasn’t any distinct odor to the fumes or even a temperature difference. Though they rarely ran into such phenomena in their realm of work unless it was placed there recently. This occurred in certain places where indigenous people were protecting their ancient structures. In those cases, what few words of the Mayan or other languages Rhys knew came in handy. The fumes were irritating his eyes slightly, and Rhys force blinked several times, placing his fingers on the bridge of his nose to quell the strange feeling in his forehead.

But he opened his eyes again, still blinking far too much as he looked strangely at his former mentor. It was a strange shift in topic to what they had been discussing and far more personal than anything that usually came up in their conversations. Cas walked a few paces in the other direction, and Rhys rubbed his eyes again. But overall, he felt…fidgety. One hand twisted his wand between his fingertips, and his other hand gripped the strap of his bag tightly. It wasn’t what he usually felt on the island. He usually felt calm. ”I’ve worked with a lot of Cursebreakers. You’re still one of the best I’d ever seen.” Rhys found himself responding as he’d focused on a memory that suddenly popped into his head. But he hadn’t intended on commenting on it.

Rhys cleared his throat slightly, trying to shake how antsy he was feeling. ”This island has a way of getting in your head.” He rubbed his eyes again, and he turned to begin walking a few paces away from Cas, but he looked at the lake again—slightly mesmerized by its faint glow. It reminded him of the crystal ball from the Seer he’d visited the previous year. His heart beat faster at the memory and at the reminder of fatherhood. ”I spent too long here. But I…I just remembered what you taught me. I remember all of it.” Rhys blinked again and forced himself to break his stare. ”You were the only one who ever taught me anything.” Or even bothered to take the time. There were things Rhys knew but had never conceptualized into words, and it was strange to hear them coming out of his mouth (though his voice was not very loud) but not because he’d wanted them to.

Why did he feel so…strange, and why in Merlin’s name was he just speaking. As a man of few words, he typically controlled what he said reasonably well unless angry. It was alarming, and Rhys turned to look at Cas, wondering if he had a sense of the same thing.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

When the island had first been discovered, it had caused a flurry of activity as witches and wizards flocked to the study the strange island. The initial wave had been mostly Ministry workers, although the occasional cursebreaker or thrill-seeker could also be found navigating the blood-red sands of the landing beach. At one point, the island had been open to anyone brave (or stupid) enough to travel there. To study the strange creatures here, or search for treasure, or even just to satisfy their curiosity. After an underage witch had been discovered, though, the Ministry had tightened the entry requirements and Aurors had been put on watch ever since. Now, months later, Cas wouldn’t be surprised to hear that he and Rhys were the only ones on the island for now. It certainly felt like it, surrounded by danger and with no possibility of help close by.

He nodded in acknowledgment at Rhys’s assessment of who in the Order might have seen something. The organization was a valuable tool for collecting information – a group of witches and wizards with a wide range of skills and very little backgrounds in all sorts of fields. But there wasn’t much in common except their shared goal. to bind them together – or perhaps that had just been Cas’s experience. Either way, he would leave it to Rhys and the others. Many in the Order were still suspicious of his intentions, and never seemed to share until he demanded it. So he’d developed his own independent routine, and his little plans and heists – well, those were limited to a small collection of people he could trust. And unfortunately most of the Order did not make that cut.

The conversation had taken a strange turn. His voice sounded odd as he admitted his own self-doubt, and the weakness he felt that came with retirement. Cas couldn’t trust himself in the field anymore, couldn’t trust that he would act quickly enough when it really came down to it. But Rhys’s words, well…they didn’t sound much like the cursebreaker at all. Honest, vulnerable, emotional. Not qualities he would have attributed to his former trainee. There was a part of him that was relieved to hear that Rhys had learned something, after all. Cas had been retired for so long that sometimes that part of his life felt like a dream, something he’d imagined to console himself whenever his life became too dark or too lonely. But any sign of intimacy made Cas uncomfortable, so he only cleared his throat and accidentally made awkward eye contact with Rhys.

He looked just as uncomfortable, even though there was that strange sense in Cas’s chest that told him neither one was lying. So he looked away and decided, “We should put some distance between us and this lake.” The water was gently rippling, and besides the strange fumes it looked almost peaceful. But the more they moved away from the lake, Cas’s head began to clear and lose the fuzzy feeling like he had bad static in his brain. He felt his muscles relax slightly, although he still couldn’t find anything to say that wouldn’t just embarrass himself. So he stayed silent for the next few paces, only stopping in his tracks once to raise a hand and warn Rhys to be silent. His eyes tracked a strange shadow that loomed ahead – something walking on multiple legs – but he exhaled slowly as it disappeared into the distance and left them alone.

Eventually they found an open clearing, and Cas did a quick patrol around the perimeter. “This would be a good area for a field station,” he decided, keeping his wand out but loose by his side. He’d been thinking while they walked in silence, about everything they’d said and everything they’d found on previous trips. “There’s just too much to do in one trip.” It wasn’t uncommon for cursebreakers to set up a temporary station when they’d reached a new location and needed to do more research – some jobs took much longer than a simple smash-and-grab. He continued in a contemplative tone, “We know more or less what areas to avoid, and what might be interesting to us. Signs of life in that direction,” and he waved a hand towards the location of the strange beings he and Jasper had come across, “And the lake where we came from. We can set up protections in case we aren’t the only ones here.” Cas had extensive experience in setting up safe houses, but Rhys had been longer in the field at this point. And it would enable them to do their research over a long period of time, instead of relying on sporadic trips to collect sparse pieces of information. That, along with work being done by other members of the Order – well, they might actually be able to solve some problems here.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

January 12, 2027
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

”Yes—memories, but not mine.” Rhys explained. Truthfully he hadn’t wanted to bring it up since he was still trying to understand what had happened to him the previous summer. But Rhys had been standing and surveying the station they had set up months ago. It wasn’t large but enough for the few of them who still regularly traveled to this place. The goosebumps it seemed to give others never went away, or so he was told. The magic here didn’t weigh on him the same, which hadn’t changed. Even a year after this place’s appearance, he still dreaded whatever lingering curse or whatever that was from the previous January.

They avoided that strange lake at all costs. Rhys wasn’t eager to repeat that experience. He didn’t need the world to know what he was thinking. While organizing stacks of notes near a board with more translated and interpreted runes and symbols, a thought occurred to him, and he decided to run it by Cas. The man was logical and steady, which had been precisely what a young, angry, and tactless Rhys needed during his training years. ”I’ve only tried it with photographs and a couple other items… it's different every time.” Rhys had never been one for words, so describing his experiences had been a challenge, but the dagger had come from this place—maybe it was worth trying.

Besides, they had crawled over most of the Island by now. Some ruins had been found, but they never lingered long as creatures began to appear, and they slowly made their way back. So far, nothing had been harmful, but it wasn’t worth the risk. A handful of symbols had yet to be interpreted, and they needed all the help they could get. Rhys turned and crossed his arms, staring at the board he had memorized, but maybe something had changed from when he’d last looked at it eight minutes ago. Now, more than ever, he just wanted to go home. This Island still felt dangerous. At sixteen, Rhys had nothing to lose. At twenty-six, he had brothers and sisters to think about. And now? Well, he had a daughter, and every day he spent here increased the risk of never seeing her again.

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

2 August 2026

“Well, shit.” It was an unusual display of emotion on Cas’s part, but he felt the situation deserved it, in light of everything that had happened. Taking a hasty step back, Cas shifted excitedly where he stood as he watched the bumbling figure try again and again to escape the circle Cas had drawn in the blood-red sand of the landing beach. His face was animated with curiosity as the not-quite-human (but still humanoid enough) figure cautiously tried to touch one of the rocks that Cas had used to mark the four cardinal directions around the circle, but it recoiled and took a step back as the rune flashed silver and then faded into being mere scratches on the stone again. “Shit,” he said again, voice tinged in awe as the full implications of his accidental discovery started to sink in.

Cas had been skeptical when Rhys had shown him the rune, a discovery he’d apparently stumbled on when exploring the statues that ringed the island with a druid partner. Still, Cas’s academic curiosity had dutifully driven him to explore the lead thoroughly, to do his research and decipher what exactly it stood for. It would’ve been impossible otherwise to conclude if it was a solid lead or not. Unfortunately, not much was written when it came to this island…so he’d been forced to accept that some light experimentation would be the only way to get anything done. The Karkaroff had expected nothing to happen. Zero, zilch, nothing at all. But the Wyrd creature couldn’t escape the circle. Cas nudged at one of the stones with his foot until it was out of formation with the others. The rune flashed once and then crumbled, and Cas’s expression changed as the not-human human finally escaped the circle and turned to glare at him.

He beat a hasty retreat before it could think to attack.

12 January 2027

Several months later, Cas was still trying to work out the larger implications. The rune was a game-changer, there was no doubt about that, but there was still too much they didn’t know about it. Like who had placed it on the island the first time, and why it had started to fail after so much time. Or whatever power ruled this island (because that fog was no natural weather pattern) and whether it had learned from the last time it had been defeated.

He stood in the field station he and Rhys had set up months ago, neatly writing notes in his slim little notebook about their latest observations of the island. It was only him and his former trainee in the area – in each of his visits, Cas had never accidentally stumbled across another wizard outside of their little group who’d had the same bright idea to come exploring. No, most people seem to have forgotten about Yrisle and that was likely for the best. Rhys was speaking, and even though he wasn’t in Cas’s direct line of sight, the caution and confusion in his tone was clear. But that had always been his trainee. Full of potential, capable of making great discoveries, finely tuned into his instincts when it came to exploring the unknown…but sometimes he struggled with taking that last step back to look at the bigger picture and put all the puzzle pieces together.

What he described now was quite out of the ordinary, could even be called magically wonderful by someone who didn’t know better. Cas frowned slightly as his quill stopped scratching in his notebook, his mind diverted for the moment by the strange ability Rhys was describing to him. It sounded like a cursebreaker’s dream. After a moment’s thought, Cas began to take notes again and he finished the paragraph without any further delay. “And what did you see when you tried it on the dagger?” Cas murmured, starting the next paragraph as he kept one ear open for Rhys’s report while he speculated in his notebook about what other applications the rune could possibly be used for. But after a few moments Cas registered only silence instead of the low and wondering tone of his former trainee. So Cas put down his quill, turned around to face Rhys, and raised an eyebrow at his lack of response. “You did…try it on the dagger, didn’t you?”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

January 12, 2027
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

Rhys opened his mouth to answer but stopped short. He didn’t have an answer. And why? Well, because he hadn’t tried to see what the dagger would show him. Shifting on his feet, he fidgeted uncomfortably. Even without looking, he could see how his former mentor would react. For a moment, he felt eighteen again—chastised for missing the obvious despite his ability to put puzzles together in his head. ”No…” It wasn’t because he’d forgotten. At least not this time. Knowing his answer would provoke frustration from Cas, he turned to face him, arms crossed as he stood his ground. Why hadn’t he tried using this extraordinary ability on their only artifact from this cursed island?

”We still don’t know what kind of magic this is. How do I know I won’t unlock something when I try? How do I know it won’t…kill me in the process?” Looking back through time taxed all of Rhys’ resources all at once. His magical ability, his stamina, and his strength. The greater his connection to the object, the more likely he’d sleep to recover for a day or two. ”I wasn’t about to try it in my own home.” Merlin forbid something were to happen to him, or he ended up in some kind of coma—his mind trapped in centuries past while his body remained in the present. No, he hadn’t wanted to risk anything like that. He couldn’t imagine one of his siblings, Vasilia or Maria, finding him like that. The benefit of being away from home was that such things could be neatly filed under ‘Cursebreaker Accident’.

He crossed his arms a little tighter. The defensive stance was not uncommon for him. This feeling of frustration and agitation that he hadn’t yet recognized was really fear. ”You always warned against running blindly into the unknown.” Rhys reminded Cas. It was the first lesson as a Cursebreaker trainee. Doing such things was a quick way to one’s death. Puzzles were not trivial things to be rushed, and their predecessors had counted on man’s lack of patience. Rhys’ fears felt trivial and silly. He thought of how his nightmares had worsened since that tablet knocked him square in the head. What would he see when holding that dagger?

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[Casimir Elias Karkaroff]

The awkward silence gave Cas his answer, but he still waited for a petulant Rhys to mutter ‘no’ as he crossed his arms defensively. Rhys might be rash, but he wasn’t stupid. Months had passed and he must have entertained the thought at least once that his new ability might be useful in deciphering the mysteries of the dagger. Might be the only way forward in deciphering it, actually. Cas was mildly surprised that it wasn’t the very first thing Rhys had tried after his brief recovery – because that was much more in character for his ex-trainee than whatever voice of caution had led to this new restraint. Cas set down his notebook on the rickety table as Rhys hastily began to explain why he hadn’t tried it, and he resisted the urge to arch his eyebrow and adopt a skeptical expression.

Because he was skeptical. This caution, this fear, it didn’t sound like his rookie. It was one of the strongest reminders of how many years had truly passed since they’d been in the field together, because both their situations were different now. Rhys was still curse-breaking, but they both had new commitments and obligations. Whatever Rhys's were, they seemed to hold him back in a way they never had before. “Those are all very valid questions,” Cas acknowledged, and he leaned back on the table while he considered his approach. “But, they’re the same questions we grapple with before entering a new tomb or disarming a new curse and you’ve never hesitated before,” Cas pointed out. It was a dangerous profession, and it had one of the highest likelihoods that you wouldn’t come home after a job – or at least, not in the same way you’d left. It took a special kind of recklessness to commit to the career, especially for the veterans that had been around for years. There was a reason it had a high ‘retirement’ rate.

It was a good try, using his own advice against him. Cas gave a wry smile – he was fairly sure Rhys had never listened to a word he’d said, so it was at least gratifying that he could parrot it back to him every once in a while. He continued with his earlier line of logic, unbothered by the interruption or the opposing line of thought Rhys offered. “That’s true, but in the end we always go anyway. You’ve had months to build a methodological approach to studying the dagger, but we’re here and you still haven’t. You never wrote to me about it, either.” Cas stopped to study his trainee, to consider whether or not he’d ask why, but he’d never quite involved himself in his trainees’ personal lives before. Whatever scared Rhys, it was something new in his life. And he’d have to figure it out, undoubtedly. Cas let his fingers ghost over the Dial Back, the insurance policy that kept him safe against the fog and any other unwanted magic. Despite all of the complications of Cas's life, and his own suspicious nature, he'd never let it stop him from pushing forward. From going into the unknown, as Rhys had put it. “Try it now,” he suggested, “I’m here.”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

Don't close your eyes

The beast is out
he hears your cries

January 12, 2027
Casimir Elias Karkaroff

For someone who so publicly used to indulge himself, Rhys wasn't the type to share much first. But it's always been that way, hasn't it? Even beginning with his first good friends at Hogwarts to those—or rather, the one he'd let in completely. Rhys supposed Cas wasn't one to linger in the rumor mill for long. Or even at all. Something about the way he stood tall, eyes narrowed down as if to look down on him. Rhys knew he wasn't, but it didn't stop him from feeling like that trainee on day one. The same trainee Cas had to reel in by the collar of his shirt before his rage got the better of him.

Well, for one thing, Rhys wasn't keen to appear cowardly. But was he afraid? Yes. Charlotte was nearing six months, and while his hesitations were new, they weren't without cause. Cas questioned him, and Rhys remained silent. His jaw tightened slightly, and his eyes darted away a moment. The pieces of this puzzle had been floating in his head for over a year. But he felt as if something glaring was missing. But he was determined to find it, and this dagger was their best lead. And one might say Rhys was lucky to have this ability. Every trip into the past so far had been a haunting experience. A photograph, a book, or even some random item. And Rhys couldn't tell if he was cursed to relive the things that would hurt him the most or maybe he'd simply lived a cursed existence this entire time.

"I have been studying it." Rhys responded defensively. And he paused before opening his mouth again. " But this…" The hesitation was growing in the pit of his stomach, a foreign feeling for someone whose ambition had been partly fueled by having nothing to lose. Again he paused. It was a simple explanation. Fatherhood stood in the way of Rhys blindly jumping into an unknown void for answers. How could he relay that he was determined not to turn into his father or another Greyback who left children behind in his path? "''We fly too close to the sun when we have nothing to ground us.' " Rhys repeated the quote that had lingered in his mind since he turned eighteen. It had taken him years to understand what it meant to have a purpose.

And for a long time, Rhys had an anchor to ground him. Until she wasn't there anymore. And then he didn't. And his wayward ways had almost cost him his life, what? Two? Three times now? "Trying something I don't know how to control on an object I know hardly anything about and without anyone around decreases my odds of making it to my daughter's first birthday." He firmly responded, his arms still crossed. But it wasn't a 'No' to Cas' request. Merely an insight into why Rhys had not tried this on his own. Fatherhood didn't allow for such selfish behavior—the world did not need more tormented souls like the two men on this Island.

There was much that could thankfully be left unsaid. Between the both of them and what information they had chosen to share--one didn't need to be a seer to understand. There were limited paths forward, Rhys knew what he had to do. Slowly he uncrossed his arms and turned to retrieve the dagger from its spot on the table. Holding the object in his hand, Rhys examined it as if it were brand new. As if he hadn't learned where every mark or blemish was on the old metal. Or memorized the way the smoke moved in the glass. But one thing was true, there was a power Rhys felt here that he didn’t feel back in London—or anywhere. Magic felt like an entity swirling through him. He looked at Cas one last time before nodding.

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