You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
The strange phenomenon didn't make the young Saruman hesitate. On the contrary, the stirring presence beneath the lake didn't frighten him at all; if anything, it only made him more curious.
Saruman stood up, determination written across his handsome face. "It looks like the invitation has been issued. Kag, stay here and protect Lina. I'm going down to take a look."
He turned to leave.
"That's too dangerous!" Kag immediately stepped in front of him, blocking his path with a powerful arm. "We have no idea what's down there! This is obviously a trap!"
"Precisely because we don't know... someone has to explore it," Saruman's voice remained firm as he gently pushed Kag's arm aside. "Remember the oath of the Eye of Dawn: 'For the sake of truth, fear no darkness.'"
It was easy to see that he was an idealist.
"Don't!" Lina struggled to her feet and grabbed his sleeve. "Please don't go... My vision... I saw something terrible. You're going to lose something precious..."
Saruman gently pried her fingers loose, then softly kissed her forehead. "Some truths... are worth any price."
He gave his companions one last look, then glanced up at the unnatural stars reflected above the lake. Without another word, he stepped onto the stone staircase leading beneath the water, his figure slowly disappearing into the violet depths until only the ripples spreading across the lake remained.
"Will he really be okay?" Kag and Lina waited anxiously beside the lake for nearly two days.
Naturally, the memory skipped quickly through this period; there was no reason for the hooded figure and the blind wizard to stand there watching two full days pass in real time.
"Teacher... was this when you lost your eyes?" Even now, the hooded figure still hadn't realized that this place was the very site where the Ministry of Magic now stood. After all, a thousand years was enough for the world itself to change beyond recognition.
"Yes," the blind wizard nodded. "And it was during this expedition... that we opened the door to the greatest taboo." His voice was filled with regret, and he seemed to age another few years just from remembering it. He raised a hand, signaling the memory to continue.
The following days sped by. The lake remained eerily calm, and Saruman never resurfaced, as though the violet waters had swallowed him forever.
Worry was written all over Kag's rugged face as he paced back and forth without stopping. His grip on the totem battle axe was so tight that the weapon let out a faint hum.
"We can't wait any longer," finally, Kag stopped. Looking toward the still-pale Lina, he spoke with unwavering determination. "I'm going down to find him."
He was exactly the kind of warrior who valued loyalty above all else. In the wizarding world, that almost seemed to be a requirement for becoming a true warrior or swordsman; King Arthur had been like that, Gryffindor had been the same, and now Kag was no different.
"...All right," Lina bit her lip before nodding firmly. "I'm coming with you."
Women of this era hadn't yet been influenced by the kind of self-centered thinking that would become common much later; they shouldered responsibility just as readily as anyone else. When the people they cared about were in danger, they didn't stand aside claiming it had nothing to do with them.
Seeing Kag about to object, she spoke before he could. "My gift of prophecy is being disrupted here... but it's still better than letting you go alone. And... I do have a way to block out the singing." She paused. "I can temporarily seal my hearing with a sealing spell."
Taking several silver leaves from her pouch, she pressed them against her temples and quietly chanted an incantation. As the spell took effect, the pain gradually faded from her face. She was still weak, but at least she could move again, and the haunting song no longer reached her ears.
"...All right," knowing there was no changing her mind, Kag finally nodded. "Stay close."
He took the lead, stepping onto the stone staircase descending beneath the lake, and Lina followed close behind.
The moment they entered the watery passage, an overwhelming pressure descended upon them from every direction, as though the entire weight of the lake rested on their shoulders. The ancient stone steps were slick with thick algae, forcing them to tread carefully.
Within the towering walls of water on either side, the gigantic shadows swam far more frequently now. Every so often, enormous phosphorescent eyes drifted into view... or a massive tentacle covered in suction cups slipped past before vanishing again. Neither of them could make out the creatures' full forms.
"What are those things?" Kag lowered his voice; his battle axe rested across his chest, ready for any attack.
"I don't know, but they're definitely unlike any magical creature we've ever seen," Lina answered softly, the crystal ball in her hands emitting a gentle glow to light the path ahead. "I can feel it... They're ancient. Unbelievably ancient."
Together, the two continued forward with the utmost caution. They continued descending for another hundred meters before the staircase finally came to an end.
Ahead of them stood the entrance to a vast underwater cavern. Strangely, the cave itself was completely dry. An invisible barrier seemed to hold back the surrounding lake, creating a stark contrast between the waters outside and the cavern within.
Two badly damaged stone statues stood at the entrance. They vaguely resembled humanoid figures, but their heads were covered in octopus-like tentacles, and each carried a twisted trident. Their style was bizarre yet exquisitely crafted, clearly unlike anything from the civilizations they knew.
"Saruman must have gone inside." Kag examined the ground and found a trail of fresh footprints. The two exchanged a glance before stepping into the cavern without hesitation.
The inside was far larger than it had appeared from the outside. Countless tunnels stretched away in every direction like a sprawling maze, their walls covered in a bluish glowing moss that provided the only source of light. A thick fishy odor filled the air, mixed with a strangely sweet scent of decay that made their stomachs churn.
"Watch out!" Lina suddenly shouted.
Although she had sealed away her supernatural perception, her natural danger sense was still far sharper than that of ordinary wizards. That was the gift of a Seer. In this era, before truly overpowered prodigies existed, any wizard born with prophetic talent possessed the potential to become a master; their magical gifts far surpassed those of ordinary people.
And Lina's instincts were right. The moment she spoke, several grotesque creatures burst from the shadows of the tunnels. Their upper bodies resembled humans, and their pale gray-white skin glistened with slime. But below the waist, their bodies became masses of octopus-like tentacles that propelled them across the ground with frightening speed.
Most horrifying of all were their heads. They had no eyes, no nose, and no face, only a circular maw lined with countless tiny, razor-sharp teeth.
"What disgusting creatures!" Saruman's voice rang out from deeper inside the cavern.
The two looked up to see him already surrounded by three of the monsters. Even so, he fought them with ease. With a flick of his wand, roaring flames engulfed one of the creatures, reducing it to charred remains.
"Their weak point is the head!" Since he had entered the cave earlier, Saruman clearly knew more than the other two. But judging by the fact that he was still here, he hadn't actually managed to advance very far.
Watching the memory, the hooded figure frowned. Could time be flowing differently inside this place? He glanced toward the blind wizard, and the old man silently nodded.
"Both time... and space... are in complete disorder here." After giving his brief explanation, the blind wizard turned his attention back to the memory, his expression filled with longing. This was a past he could never return to.
Within the memory, Kag let out a furious roar as his totem battle axe cleaved through the air. The ancient runes engraved upon it blazed with crimson light, and one clean strike split the nearest creature in half, splattering foul-smelling blood across the floor.
"I'll help too!" Lina cast a binding spell. Silver ribbons of light burst from her crystal ball, wrapping tightly around two more of the creatures.
It was obvious she wasn't particularly skilled at offensive magic; she had likely chosen to specialize in support magic to compensate for the team's weaknesses. After all, they already had someone who excelled in direct combat.
Taking advantage of the opening, Saruman fired two perfectly aimed Reductor Curses, and the remaining monsters were destroyed.
"Why did you two come down here?" Saruman hurried over to them. Though his tone carried a hint of reproach, his eyes were filled with gratitude.
"We couldn't just leave you to face this alone," Kag grinned as he shook the filthy blood from his axe. After hesitating for a moment, he finally voiced the question that had been bothering him. "What the hell are those things?" Just looking at them made him physically sick.
"I'm not sure," Saruman frowned as he examined one of the corpses. "They look like some sort of modified life-form. Look here." He pointed toward a grotesque fleshy lump growing from the creature's neck. "That doesn't look natural. It resembles an organ that was implanted artificially."
Saruman's conclusion wasn't entirely correct, but it wasn't entirely wrong either. People of this era, whether wizard or Muggle, had virtually no understanding of genetic mutation or biological corruption.
"I agree," Lina knelt beside the corpse, her expression growing increasingly grim. "Their life force is incredibly unstable, as though they were forcibly stitched together." She closed her eyes to sense them more carefully. "And... they don't seem to eat. They absorb energy directly from the surrounding rock. It completely contradicts everything I know about living creatures."
"Exactly," Kag immediately agreed. "It's not just beyond common sense, it's impossible. Every living thing needs a source of energy. Even elemental beings like ancestral spirits are no exception."
Although Kag was a warrior rather than a wizard, he had spent his life alongside wizards, and his knowledge of the magical world was no less than most of theirs.
"And that's exactly the problem." Saruman stood up, his expression grave. "There's something fundamentally wrong with this cavern. Come with me. I've found something even more disturbing."
He led the other two deeper inside, fighting off several more waves of the stalkers along the way. As they advanced, the tunnels gradually widened, and the glowing moss covering the walls became denser and denser until the cavern was as bright as daylight.
At a fork in the passage, they discovered scattered remnants of an ancient civilization: broken pottery, rusted metal tools, and stone tablets carved with an unknown script. Saruman eagerly picked up one of the tablets and studied its inscriptions.
"I've never seen writing like this before," his brow furrowed tighter and tighter. "But... for some reason... it feels like the characters are... moving. Do either of you see that too?" He genuinely wanted to know whether he was imagining it.
The answer came immediately.
"...Yes," Lina leaned over for a closer look. The instant her eyes landed on the symbols, she swayed with dizziness. "These inscriptions contain powerful mental corruption. Don't stare at them for too long."
The three of them immediately became far more cautious. Continuing onward, they eventually entered an enormous underground cavern, and the sight before them made all three draw in a sharp breath.
At the center lay a vast swamp that reeked of decay. Twisted fungi and bizarre plants glowed with an eerie phosphorescent light, but even more horrifying were the creatures moving slowly through the marsh.
Some possessed the shells of insects yet had the eyes of mammals; others looked like fish but glided across the mud on bird-like wings. Still others appeared to be nothing more than random collections of mismatched organs crudely stitched together, violating every known law of life. None of them looked like anything nature could have produced.
"What kind of cursed ancient alchemy laboratory is this...?" Even now, Saruman still believed they had discovered the hidden research site of some ancient wizard obsessed with forbidden biological alchemy. He still hadn't realized the true danger lurking here.
"By Merlin..." Kag muttered. "What in the world is this place?" Even a hardened warrior felt chills running down his spine.
Lina, meanwhile, barely dared to look. It wasn't simply that the creatures were disgusting; something about them filled her with a deep, instinctive terror.
"Don't panic. They're only alchemical creations," Saruman raised his wand and cast an advanced detection spell. Brilliant, rainbow-colored light spread from its tip, sweeping across the entire swamp. "These creatures... their magical signatures are completely chaotic. It's as though some force twisted the very essence of life itself. What a dreadful line of research," he couldn't help sighing.
At that moment, the crystal ball in Lina's hands began trembling violently.
"I can feel it... a vast consciousness is sleeping somewhere deeper inside," she stared into the distance. "...These creatures may all be extensions of its dream."
Her gift of prophecy had spoken, but the idea itself was simply too far beyond the understanding of the age.
"Extensions... of a dream? That's a little hard to believe." Neither of her companions accepted the explanation. It wasn't because they distrusted Seers, but because Seers often sounded insane, spending most of their lives muttering vague prophecies that made little sense, most of which never came true. That was precisely why Seers like Grindelwald were so exceptionally rare.
"B-But..." Lina wanted to explain further.
Just then, the creatures within the swamp noticed the intruders, and the entire marsh stirred. The first to attack was a grotesque monster resembling a fusion of a crocodile and a spider.
"RAAAAHHH!" Its cry sounded like an animal's roar mixed with the wailing of human voices. Its eight legs carried it forward with terrifying speed as it lunged toward the group, jaws wide open.
"Get back!" Saruman shouted, his wand tracing an intricate pattern. An enormous wall of ice instantly rose before them, blocking the monster's path.
But the next moment, everyone froze in shock. The creature began eating the ice. Its grotesque mouth ground against the magically reinforced ice wall with a screech that made their teeth ache. That wall was harder than steel, yet the monster devoured it as though it were nothing.
For a moment, all three of them were utterly stunned.
Watching the memory unfold, even the hooded figure's expression changed. Only now, after seeing those creatures, did he finally realize something he had failed to understand before.
(End of Chapter)