Aurelian began walking down the dark hallway; every step he took echoed in the gloom. Everything around him was utterly surreal. "The House of Horror"—as he had mentally decided to call the place—had an impossible structure. The entire structure swayed from side to side as if it were a ship in the midst of a storm, and the old wooden planks creaked eerily with every step.
The hallway, lit only by the faint glow of his wand, seemed to go on forever. As he moved forward, he noticed that on both sides there were identical doors made of somewhat rotten wood. Each door had a small metal sign hanging from it with a number engraved on it. He walked and walked, but soon noticed an irritating detail: the numbers on the doors, which ran from one to ten, simply started over. One, two, three… up to ten, and then the next door was number one again. It was a loop that seemed to go on forever.
Aurelian stopped and let out a long sigh; all of this was starting to annoy him.
He looked at the doors around him. He was sure that the creator of this maze expected him to open one of them to face his worst fears—or get lost in some stupid mental illusion.
Aurelian pointed his wand directly at the dark ceiling.
Why? Because he simply felt like it. In his opinion, walking through one of those doors was a narrative device that was far too cliché. If he opened a door to the unknown, he'd feel like he was trapped inside a bad, big-budget horror movie (the low-budget ones were actually good)—his pride simply wouldn't allow it.
"Reducto," he muttered reluctantly.
A violent explosion shattered the wooden ceiling above his head, creating a huge hole from which debris and dust rained down. With a single movement and a levitation spell, Aurelian floated up through the hole.
As he passed through the floor of the upper level, he landed softly and looked around.
He had just arrived in what appeared to be the majestic entrance hall of a Gothic-style mansion. The place stood in stark contrast to the decrepit house of horrors below. There were enormous marble columns, elaborate unlit iron chandeliers, and several antique paintings hanging on the walls, though the canvases were strangely blank or smudged. As he looked toward the back of the room, he noticed a massive, ornate staircase that, defying all architectural logic, did not lead to a second floor but seemed to open directly onto a lush garden illuminated by a strange light from outside.
Curious about the garden and keeping his senses alert for any trace of Hestia and Flora, Aurelian took a step forward to begin climbing the stairs.
Just then, a fiery red stunning spell shot out from the shadows behind him, straight toward the back of his neck.
But the beam of magical light never made contact.
Just a few centimeters from his hair, the spell struck an invisible barrier. The red light simply began to slow down, decelerating exponentially until it was practically frozen in midair, before fading into harmless sparks.
Aurelian spun around, his eyes flashing with obvious anger at the cowardly attack he'd received from behind. He was ready to tear the culprit to pieces.
But when he saw his attacker, his eyes widened slightly, genuinely surprised by what he found.
In front of him, half-hidden behind one of the columns, stood a little girl who couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve years old. She wore an ancient-looking robe and held her wand with both trembling hands, pointing it directly at his chest.
"I-I won't let you hurt me!" the girl shouted, her voice breaking with fear and her eyes wide open, filled with tears she seemed unable to hold back any longer.
Aurelian was completely thrown off balance. He blinked a couple of times, lowering his Elder Wand slightly. A little girl? In the middle of a cursed cemetery in Salem? Now that was truly spine-chilling.
"Hey, little one, calm down… I won't hurt you," Aurelian tried to reassure her, softening his voice and posture so as not to scare her any further.
But the girl was terrified. She closed her eyes and, overcome by panic, cast another spell at him. And then another. And yet another.
Flashes of yellow, red, and blue light flew toward Aurelian. He didn't even bother to dodge them. He stood his ground, his hands relaxed, while each and every spell came to an abrupt halt just inches from his body, disappearing harmlessly thanks to his Infinity.
Aurelian let out a sigh, took a couple of steps, and walked until he was just a few meters away from her.
"Enough already, please," Aurelian said kindly, showing her his empty palms. "Don't worry, I really won't hurt you. I'm just looking for my wives."
Intending to reassure her, Aurelian slowly slipped a hand into the inner pocket of his coat, thinking of pulling out a piece of candy—as he used to do with Hestia and Flora when they were upset with him; that always helped calm them down.
But the gesture was misinterpreted.
Seeing the strange and terrifying man reach into his clothes after fending off all her attacks, the girl let out a heart-wrenching scream. She dropped her wand, quickly knelt on the cold ground, hugged her knees to her chest, and began to cry inconsolably, trembling like a leaf.
Aurelian frowned, suddenly feeling like the cruelest villain in the world for making a little girl cry.
"You wretch! Don't touch her!"
The shout echoed from above. Aurelian turned his head.
Figures began to emerge from the grand staircase and the dark side corridors of the entrance hall. There were about ten girls, all between the ages of thirteen and seventeen, dressed in identical robes. They pointed their wands at him resolutely, surrounding him in a semicircle.
They stared at him with palpable hatred and fear.
"Stay away from her, monster!" shouted the one who appeared to be the oldest of the group, a young woman with ash-blonde hair. "We won't let you hurt Lys!"
Aurelian, realizing they had mistaken him for some kind of demon or witch hunter, gave them a reassuring smile, striking a pose meant to make it clear he wasn't the bad guy.
"Ladies, I assure you this is just a misunderstanding," Aurelian told them in a reasonable, calm tone. "My name is Aurelian. I ended up here by accident. If you lower your wands and give me just a moment to explain, I'm sure we can come to an agreement, and I'll be able to help you get out of…"
The girls paid him no attention whatsoever. The oldest of them shouted a command, and all hell broke loose.
They all began hurling curse after curse at him. Beams of magic in every color—from piercing curses to explosive spells and slicing incantations—rained down on him from all directions. The foyer lit up as if it were a nightclub.
Aurelian simply stood there, at the epicenter of the magical storm. He kept his polite smile and his eyes half-closed.
Spell after spell, curse after curse… they all struck the invisible barrier of the Infinite. The space around him distorted the light and slowed the magic, creating a visual spectacle where the attacks died before they even grazed his clothes. He didn't move a single muscle to defend himself.
The barrage lasted a little longer, until the girls—their chests heaving from the effort and clear exhaustion etched on their faces—stopped firing at him.
In the center of the circle, completely unharmed, without a single scratch and not even a strand of hair out of place, Aurelian tilted his head slightly.
He looked at them all with a bright smile, opened his arms, and in an extremely casual tone, asked them,
"Are you done yet?"
The girls stared at him open-mouthed, their wands still raised, unable to process how a human being had withstood such a barrage without flinching or lifting a finger.
Before any of the young women could formulate a response or launch a new attack, a slight movement caught Aurelian's attention.
The little girl, Lys, slowly got to her feet. With her face streaked with tears, her nose red, and trembling from head to toe, she took a timid step forward.
"P-please…" Lys pleaded between sobs, looking at him in terror. "I beg you, don't hurt us."
Aurelian's cold smile vanished instantly, replaced by a warm expression full of kindness. He couldn't bear to see children suffer.
"I promise you, little one, I won't hurt you," Aurelian told her in a soft voice that stood in stark contrast to his fearsome aura.
Aurelian raised a hand and, with a simple snap of his fingers, produced a colorful bag of gummy candies he'd bought and tucked into his coat during his stroll through New York. He crouched slightly and held it out to her.
Lys looked at him, still fearful. She looked at the plastic bag, then into the eyes of the strange magician, and with her little hands still trembling, she took the bag. She carefully tore open the wrapper and popped the first strawberry gummy into her mouth.
In the blink of an eye, the sugar took effect. The look of terror on the little girl's face vanished completely. Lys smiled broadly, her cheeks still wet with tears, and, unconcerned by the tense situation, she suddenly sat down on the ground to happily enjoy her candy.
Seeing little Lys quietly eating candy at the feet of the supposed monster, the tension in the air evaporated instantly. The other girls slowly lowered their wands, relaxing their shoulders and looking at one another in confusion.
Suddenly, an old, gruff voice—one that made her authority clear—could be heard from the top of the grand staircase.
"Enough! Stop whatever it is you're doing at once!"
Everyone looked up immediately. Leaning heavily on a gnarled, dark wooden staff, a very elderly-looking witch, her face furrowed with deep wrinkles and dressed in somber gray robes, appeared at the top of the staircase.
The old woman fixed her shrewd, piercing eyes on Aurelian for a long moment, calmly assessing him, then gave him a slight nod.
"Follow me, boy," the witch instructed him.
The oldest girl—the young woman with ash-blonde hair who had led the attack—stepped forward, looking alarmed by the order.
"Headmistress!" the young woman exclaimed, gripping her wand tightly once more. "Are you sure about this? It could be dangerous…"
The old witch let out a hoarse, dry laugh.
"Don't be silly, child," the old woman scoffed, shaking her head. "If this boy had really wanted to hurt you, I assure you that all of you would already be dead before you'd even raised your wands."
The headmistress turned her gaze toward Aurelian, and this time, her tone softened slightly, losing some of its harshness.
"Go on up, don't worry," the old woman assured her. "Your wives are here with me—safe and sound."
Upon hearing those words, the last trace of tension left Aurelian's body. He let out a deep sigh of relief. He felt an immense weight lift from his chest; Hestia and Flora were fine, and that was the only thing that really mattered.
Aurelian nodded, now much calmer. He gave Lys—who was still chewing her gummies—a final smile and began climbing the steps of the imposing staircase.
When he reached the old woman's level, he paused, feeling the strange breeze from the garden peeking out behind her.
"I'm very grateful to you, ma'am," Aurelian said politely. "But would you mind telling me exactly where we are? The entrance to this place has been… rather unconventional."
The old witch flashed an enigmatic smile, resting both hands on the handle of her cane as she looked him in the eyes.
"Welcome, Mr. Gaunt… to the Salem Institute of Witches."
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