Cursed Past (Part 1)

The sky was like a sailboat that had survived a shipwreck—mast collapsed, sails torn, hull caved in and oars splintered.

For a time, the winds and clouds shifted, black clouds bearing down on the city. Above the ruins of Berlin, the phantom of a city made up of densely packed skyscrapers was tracing out its magnificent white outline. No such prosperous city could possibly exist in this world; it was as if two utterly unrelated worlds were slowly overlapping amid the strange phenomena of heaven and earth.

Many people shut their eyes in fear, all thinking this was some destructive magic cast by the other side, but the city pressing down over their heads did not affect so much as a single person. It merely stood there slowly, like a mirage.

Only then did true panic begin to spread.

The wands that had been harvesting lives with Dark Magic not long ago now refused to obey.

"Look, Albus. Most people in this world don't know what evil is."

"Can you feel it? A darkness vast enough to suffocate anyone is growing in the abyss. Even my wand is trembling at his return. Those who seek shortcuts have tasted too much sweetness. He's coming back to collect his debts." Grindelwald lifted his chin, gazing at the modern city gradually solidifying in the distance, and sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Dumbledore ignored Grindelwald's teasing sarcasm. Still immersed in the prophecy, his expression was solemn, his hands clenched tight around the railing before him as he gritted out, "If we had known about this earlier, we could at least have made preparations and warnings in advance, instead of gathering all our effective forces together and letting the disaster to come wipe them out in one sweep!"

"Our... effective forces? What