Fear (Sequel to Love: ADS)

Chapter 20: The Temple Pt. 2

There were skeletons. How much more stereotypically creepy temple could you get?! It would be funny if it weren't so morbid, and if there weren't dead people everywhere.

Well. There were two of them. The floor was raised in this area, so at least their corpses were out of the reach of the goo. The bodies were nearly mummified with age, it seemed, one sitting against the wall, the other positioned with its head in the other's lap. It was sweet in a macabre sort of way. Well, it was until I noticed that part of both of their skulls had seemingly burned away. I assumed that they had managed to get the poisonous goo on themselves. I could see a book of some kind next to one of them. I gingerly picked it up and wiped off the front cover as best I could.

The Ancient Gods of Magick and How to Invoke Them was the lengthy title. Handwritten on the inside were two illegible names. I flipped to the first page and whistled. "This looks familiar." I muttered to myself. It was an excerpt.

Of the temple of sorrows

of the olde god

therein resides a place

with power so greate

even Merlin feared those

who would use it.

The power of the Fonte

yields only to those worthy

and if an unworthy wyzard

or wytch shall stand before the

Fonte and bathe therein

he or she shall surely

be turned to dust.

The Fonte's power is so great

that if one drinks from the graal

of the Fonte

it coulde bring lyfe to those

with death in their veynes."

"Well, looks like that book was more popular than I thought."

I flipped through the rest of the pages, some of which talked about various pagan gods, others gave the history of the surrounding woods, until I landed on one page that looked actually helpful. Rituals of Cleansing.

I scanned the page, my eyes flitting from one page to the next. "Sacred spaces, circle castings..." I muttered. "This isn't magic." I continued reading but not once did the book call for wands or any kind of magic I was familiar with. If anything, it sounded similar to something I had learned in Muggle Studies. What was it... Muggles and witchcraft, there had to be some connection there.

My eyes lit up as I remembered - nonmagical witchcraft. Ancient religious traditions recently revived by pagan groups, most notably Gardner in the 40s, and Crowley even earlier. Almost all of them were nonmagical. "Well," I said to myself, "Let's see if the muggles managed to get something right."

Carrying the book under my arm, I made my way around the corpses, sparing them one last look of pity before tugging on the door handle, which staunchly refused to move. I pulled on it again, harder this time, and a loud, scraping screech made its way from the floor. I jumped back in surprise as the door continued to open, almost of its own accord. From the side wall I could see spikes protruding at the same rate as the door.

"Thank Merlin for water damage." I muttered.

I carefully edged around the spikes. The hallway seemed different than the others, wider and shorter, made of a different type of stone. There was moisture condensing on my skin, an uncomfortable coolness. The goo on the floor seemed to be less viscous, more liquid, moving almost like it was alive up the sides of the walls. It seemed to part around me, move from below my feet as if it didn't want to be stepped on. I continued around the bend, only to stop in surprise as I came into a wide cavern. I managed a low whistle, the noise echoing around the chamber.

"That looks like a fountain to me." I muttered, my eyes landing on a raised pool in the center of the room. The water in it looked clear enough from where I was standing, so hopefully I wasn't too late. I made my way to it, noticing the goo creeping in from the sides. The water didn't look contaminated yet, but it was getting close with the way the goo was creeping in.

'A sickness.' a familiar voice said. 'A drug, a poison to our minds.'

I held a hand to my head as my vision cut out. "What do you mean?" I asked, spots of blue appearing and disappearing in my vision.

'The blight here, the poison has changed us.' the voice whispered. 'Do not blame them, they know not what they do.'

"Who?"

'Your friends, your enemies, myself, yourself.'

My vision returned, the fountain a vibrant, electric blue surrounding by a void of black and green that sucked the color from everything around it.

'He will come soon.' the voice said, any note of humor long since gone.

"Who will come?" I asked, though I knew it to be useless.

'I cannot stay. Go, Draco. Cleanse the temple, and pray he does not find you before you do.'

I swore to myself as I felt the presence withdraw. I opened the book again, leaning it against the edge of the fountain. I read over the first part of the ritual twice, then cracked my knuckles.

"Ateh." I murmured, touching my hand to my forehead. I closed my eyes and envisioned a bright light - blue, I couldn't help it - passing through me. "Malkuth." My hand traveled to my heart, the strand of energy following, growing brighter. I let my hand touch my right shoulder, "Ve Geburah", then my left, "Ve Gedulah." I folded my hands and continued. "Le olahm, amen."

I opened my eyes, closed them, and then opened them again. I turned back to the book, read over the ritual, then looked back toward the fountain and the floating blue energy. Well, it looks like the muggles were right about the rituals at least.

I faced toward right side of the fountain and moved my hand in a very complicated hand movement, while chanting. It was difficult, and time consuming, and I preferred the innate magic much more, but I didn't exactly have a choice. "Eh-hee-eh, ye-ho-vah, eh-hee-eh. El-oh-heem, ah-glah, ell, ah-glah, ad-oh-nye."

The blue energy was growing larger, rising up out of the fountain. All I had to do was repeat the beginning qabalistic cross and I was done.

"Ateh." I touched my forehead. The light began spreading over the cieling, and the goo below seemed to shy away from the brightness. "Malkuth." I breathed. "Ve-"

A stalagmite next to me shattered into a thousand calcite shards. I reflexively ducked.

Peering out from behind the fountain I could see at least ten witches and wizards, all with their wands drawn. "Finish the ritual, Draco!" I heard Harry yell. His hands were tied behind his back, and his face was bruised and bloody. I watched in horror as his captor slammed him into the wall, Harry yelping.

"Ve geburah." I said shakily as another stalagmite exploded. "Ve gedurah." A bolt of green hit a stalactite above me. I rolled out of the way as it fell, shattering on the floor and sending shards of sharpened rock at me. I hissed as the pieces carved into my skin.

The blue became brighter.

"Le olahm." I said, standing shakily. "Le olahm."

I watched as the goo crept towards them, slipping up over robes, surrounding their wands. Their spells only served to feed them.

The world was exploding. Curses were flying, aimed now towards the goo instead of me, but only hitting stone. Rock fell from the ceiling, dust flying. The walls began to shake.

"Le olahm." I said once more, as the ground moved beneath me. The walls began to crack. I reached for the fountain as the cavern around me came crashing down. "Amen."