Fear (Sequel to Love: ADS)

Chapter 19. The Temple: part 1

"There." I pointed. "That's it."

"The hands of god?" Harry said, a note of a question in his voice.

"Yeah, see, those boulders are the fingers, and the arms go up the mountain? and the path goes right between them."

"Cool. So we found the path to the temple. Let's finally figure out what the hell is going on here."

I strode forward, ignoring the burning in my calves. "Yeah." I agreed. "Let's get this over with."

~

"Draco.... Little Draco... Get up, you're almost there."

My head felt like it was filled with thick syrup.

"Lazybones! Little lazy boy! Get up!"

I forced my eyes open, blinking slowly and heavily. The world around me seemed to shift and move. The voice sounding in my ears was familiar, with a lilting edge that made me uneasy. The voice, but desperate, and deeper.

"There are important things you must do, Draco."

My vision swam. "Why... Why did you do this to me?"

The voice ignored me. "You have to complete the ritual. Your world is in danger. Cleanse the temple, Draco. Save your people."

"What do you mean? What's happening?"

"Stop the poison from spreading." The voice was urgent now. "You must keep the fountain pure. Do not let-" the voice stopped momentarily, then continued in a choked voice. "Do not let the darkness overtake the light."

~

"Draco? Draco?!"

I blinked, my eyes unfocused. "What- what happened?"

Harry's eyes were wide. "We passed underneath the Hands and you fell. Just... fainted? You started talking, asking questions."

"The voice." I said. "It was the same voice I heard when I first lost-" I stopped. "When I first realized I couldn't do magic. It was telling me to do a ritual? To cleanse the temple from some kind of poison, and to not let it touch the fountain."

Harry's mouth pressed into a thin line. "The further we go, the more I dislike this."

I nodded. Harry pulled me to my feet. "Well, once more unto the breach, I suppose." I murmured, starting forward.

~

I didn't recognize the temple at first. The walls were covered with greenery, vines draped over every stone of the walls, making it nearly invisible. My ability to see magic wasn't helping either; whatever was in this temple was leaking out to the forest around it. The walls were saturated with magic, as were the surrounding trees and vines. Whether they were meant to be enchanted or not was a different story.

"I'm not detecting any wards." Harry said. "But then again, Auror training doesn't really cover ancient temple wards, so take that with a grain of salt."

I nodded. "Well, the patch of vines on the wall over there is slightly brighter than everything else, so I'm assuming that's a door."

"Great." Harry began pulling the vines off. "Looks like you were right. It's... I don't know if you can see it through all the magic, but it's really pretty, actually. Looks like we're in some kind of hallway."

"It's dimmer now that there are walls." I said as we stepped in. "I can focus a bit better when there are fewer things glowing."

"Great. Since you're the chosen one this time, I'll let you lead the way."