Gurgling, gurgling, gurgling --
After a devastating battle that ravaged the earth, the world lay in ruins. Ammosta jumped down from the oak boat and stood on the embankment, wiping the sweat from his brow. He pulled out several bottles of magical potions and guzzled them down rapidly. After swallowing potions worth thousands of gold galleons, Ammosta licked his lips, still appearing unsatisfied.
As soon as he stepped onto the ground, the white bones that were still moving in the swamp instantly went into hiding, as if it was a test. Ammosta passed the test by relying on his strength.
Clank... Huh...
He threw a few bottles away casually and looked at the swamp, which had been plowed almost over, with satisfaction. However, when he discovered the amount of magic power stored in his body and eyes, he couldn't help but frown.
"It's indeed satisfying, but I hope to not run into any more trouble in the future..."
While speaking, Ammosta kicked hard at the ugly one-legged little creature lying by his feet, which was bound by magic ropes. The creature let out a painful howl.
These Hinkpunk, nourished by the dense demonic power on the island, had already grown into concrete bodies. This situation was quite special and rare, so Ammosta casually grabbed one that had not been affected by the previous battle and planned to take it out to study it thoroughly.
Having carefully preserved this peculiar Hinkpunk, Ammosta turned around and saw that, by the time he had delayed, Gryffindor had already walked up a path lined with withered thorns to the top of a gentle slope, where he stood gazing at the temple not far away.
Seeing this, Amostar couldn't delay any longer and ran after him. Although it was just an illusion left by the chaotic timeline and magical records, Amostar always felt a strange sense of comfort following him. Perhaps, that was why Gordred Grffinndor was such a man with a sense of security.
At the center of the island stood a massive and historic monumental temple, silent and imposing, with countless years of history imbued in its very being.
Gazing at the temple, Ammosta's eyelashes trembled, and a hint of confusion appeared on his face.
The rectangular temple stood on the steps, its entire body constructed from pristine white marble. Supporting this massive structure were nearly a hundred giant marble columns. The walls of the temple, the main body of the building, had already become dilapidated and many places had even collapsed to create large holes.
This was a typical ancient Greek-style temple, and the source of Ammosta's confusion was precisely this.
As a sacred place of the ancient Druidic order and the center of the mysterious Isle of Avalon as rumored, how could it be that a Greek temple would appear here out of place, like the castle of Hogwarts Magic School suddenly transforming into a Chinese-style palace? It was absurd and illogical. Ammosta had even thought he would see a wooden palace built on an enormous oak tree here!
"Is that where Clio resides..."
Ammosta looked over Gryffindor's sturdy figure at the temple, faintly feeling the direction of her magical energy. After a brief pause, Ammosta waved his wand to cover his presence and conceal his form. He wanted to explore with Gryffindor before encountering Vinya.
To his surprise, the atmosphere of decay and death surrounding the temple at the center of the island was not as intense as Ammosta had expected. It seemed as if some strange force was suppressing death.
The two walked together again, but Amostar suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression serious as he looked ahead. Suddenly, many figures appeared before him, moving forward in succession, and these figures were familiar to Amostar because they were his own silhouette.
"---The degree of disarray in time here has suddenly increased by several orders of magnitude. Hmm... It should be the result of two powerful magics canceling each other out and interfering with one another. This is a rare and unheard-of phenomenon ---"
Ammosta resumed his steps, but as he moved closer to the temple, the strange phenomenon occurred again.
Gryffindor did not seem to be affected at all, as his path to the temple was a straight line. However, Amostar, who followed behind him, appeared to be using a form of phantom transfiguration. In one second, he was right behind Gryffindor, and in the next instant, he suddenly appeared in front of him. Then, he 'floated' above Gryffindor's head.
He didn't need to think much, Ammosta knew that the space was twisted and out of place. Fortunately, the displacement was still continuous. If there were any spatial discontinuities, Amosta would likely find his feet cut in half when he took a step.
The many strange phenomena caused by the magic here could certainly each be the subject of a few groundbreaking papers in the magical world if studied separately. But after seeing so much, Ammosta's nerves had become toughened, for this was indeed a 'mythical place'.
Gryffindor did not walk towards the steps leading to the temple entrance, but stood in front of a large hole in the temple's side wall, gazing into the space inside the temple.
Amostar also 'duringly' came to his side and looked around the temple. Without being amazed by the grandiose temple supported by one column after another, he frowned at the ragged, sawtooth-like corners of the wall.
He left Gryffindor behind and walked forward alone, squatting on the ground and using his hands to dig up the soft earth. In no time, he had made a small pit.
"So, it seems that this temple was not originally built on Avalon Island, but was transported here wholeheartedly---"
Such a grandiose and expansive building, if it truly belonged to the Isle of Avalon, the builders could not have failed to construct its foundation. Given the broken traces of the walls around the temple that are in contact with the ground, Ammosta was already certain that this temple had been moved from somewhere else.
"Is this still the Harry Potter magical world?"
Amostar shook his head and looked serious.
If Avalon was indeed as Vinya had said, the place where Merlin forever sleeps, then there was no doubt that the temple before them, all the strange phenomena on the island, and even the floating island in the sky, were undoubtedly Merlin's handiwork.
"Has Merlin already ascended to a godly status... What is the limit of a wizard's power in that era?"
Amostar's gaze was filled with an incredible expression. As someone living in the modern magical world, he couldn't even imagine the grandeur of wizards during the ancient times, when they ruled over the land and were worshipped as gods by muggles!
"Magic had appeared a discontinuity, and some extremely important events had also been forgotten by people...or deliberately erased---"
Amosta muttered to himself softly. The reason for his conjecture was not just the sights he had seen along the way, but also the words that Gryffindor had carelessly mentioned -- "The world is still intact, a grand and magnificent magical era!"
Looking at the incredible works of art before him, Amostar suddenly thought of the things that Voldemort had done during his time, and couldn't help feeling a sense of emptiness.
Stubbornly pursuing power; stubbornly seeking others' reverence; stubbornly desiring immortality. It's no wonder that, despite his great strength, Albus Dumbledore has always looked down on him with contempt.
Voldemort did indeed make great efforts to ensure he wouldn't be killed, but those efforts were merely picking up other people's ideas. His path in magic had long been sealed off.
Amostar kept his contempt for Voldemort hidden in his heart and followed Gryffindor into the temple through a large hole in the temple's side wall.
Glancing around, the ruins within his sight were in line with Amostar's expectations. The disarray of time and space within the temple remained as it was outside. However, there was one thing that surprised Amostar - the magic within the temple was very 'pure', devoid of the evil aura outside. It seemed as though it had been purified.
Gryffindor seemed somewhat unusual as he entered. According to reason, anyone exploring this temple for the first time should head towards the great hall where Vinya's magic was located. However, he did not do so; instead, he crossed the ruins with a solemn expression, passed through cracked walls, quickened his pace, and walked purposefully in a certain direction.
Amostar hesitated only for a short while before catching up again. Compared to the woman in the great hall, Amostar, who graduated from Hogwarts, clearly still trusted Gordred Grffinndor more.
The two of them crossed the temple, and along the way, Amostar passed by many rooms. A pile of ashes and wood shavings that had fallen from shelves were probably from a library, scattered bones and decayed equipment that could not be identified were likely from a place where wizards conducted research, and there were also some rooms used for daily life. It seemed that this was once the residence of a wizard.
Gryffindor walked at a very brisk pace, and Amostar, constrained by the chaotic time and space, had to run to keep up. After twenty minutes of overcoming numerous obstacles, they stopped in front of a large stone wall with a dark color.
Gordred Grffinndor was a character from a thousand years ago, and the era in which this temple was built undoubtedly went back even further. Affected by the abnormalities caused by time and magic, almost nothing in the temple, including the main structure, remained unscathed. However, the giant stone wall standing intactly among the ruins, as if untouched by dust or debris, was in front of them.
"That's the battle---"
Gryffindor watched the stone wall with interest, and his unexpected words snapped Amostar back to attention from his confusion about why the wall had not been damaged. He looked up too, focusing his attention on the wide stone wall, which was adorned with crude carvings that were reminiscent of primitive cave paintings.
The first painting at the far right end of the stone wall seems to depict a land with rolling mountains, ancient cities, and lakes. This appears to be a simple landscape painting, but what puzzles Amostar is an irregularly shaped closed figure carved at the top of the wall, filled with chaotic lines that seem to represent 'wind', far away from the land in the painting. It looks like the outline of a water polyp in water.
Amostar furrowed his brow and stared at the pattern that was neither a 'sun' nor a 'cloud', with dark and gnarled marks, puzzled but somehow sensing its great importance.
Piqued by curiosity, he hurriedly walked over to the second painting and stepped back a few steps, looking up. He discovered that at the top of the stone wall, the 'jellyfish' was still depicted, but the landscape on the ground had undergone an earth-shattering change.
On the vast land, a tense standoff was taking place at that moment.
The opposing side was a warrior riding a tall unicorn and wearing a gallant cloak. The warrior held a splendidly crafted sword, coldly gazing at the sky. Even from the simple lines, Amostar could feel the aura of royalty that surrounded this warrior, akin to that of a god of war.
Behind the warrior was an endless, vast army of Muggles, led by twelve knights of the same gallant bearing. The entire army stood silently as if made of steel, exuding an oppressive atmosphere.
On the other side of the standoff, there was only one person. The person was hidden in a wide-brimmed black cloak. What Amostar could see from the stone wall depicted by her was a woman with her wrist exposed, holding a peculiar wand.
About the standoff between the two parties, Amostar, a man of great memory and knowledge, had some faint guesses. However, he did not utter a single word but instead remained silent and moved on to the third painting.
The grand and terrifying war began, the forests were leveled to the ground, everywhere on the land were horrific cracks that could shock eyes, and the vast lakes that were as vast as oceans evaporated. The stone wall that represented the sky was chiseled with many cracks, looking like space was also torn.
The content of the third stone wall was relatively clear, but Amostar furrowed his brow.
"Can the Muggles' warriors and knights match the abilities of such legendary wizards?"
Amostar's mind was filled with confusion, but then he suddenly glanced at Gryffindor, who was hanging a silver sword on his waist and also observing the painting. His doubts were somewhat alleviated.
The fourth mural depicted the outcome of the battle. The witch appeared to have little change; she still floated in the air, coldly gazing at the grim earth covered with blood flowing wildly and littered with Muggle limbs and body parts. On the ground, the twelve knights who followed the warrior were nowhere to be seen; only the warrior stood alone, sword in hand, and his torn but still fluttering cloak was a faint indication of his determination.
Lost in the memories of that war, Amostar unconsciously found himself standing at the center of the stone wall.
In the fifth mural, the warrior's steed had turned into a flying horse. He rode the flying horse with an unyielding resolve and tragic intensity towards the witch. Because the witch, who was holding an ancient and strange wand, summoned a massive island that almost filled the entire stone wall. The direction of her gaze was towards a city far in the distance.
"Avalon Island..."
Amostar squinted his eyes and gave his own judgment. Previously, when he had flown to the island with Gryffindor, he had seen the outline of the island from below, and it was easy for him to recognize it.
In the fifth mural, there was an important detail at the intersection of the fifth and sixth murals. A shaggy old wizard appeared to have similarities in appearance with Dumbledore, rushing to the battlefield at high speed.
"Merlin..." Amostar whispered, pressing his lips together.
In the deep heart of Diagon Alley, there was a small square with an area of about the same size. The statue stood in the square was made of pure white marble, and this statue was also the entrance to the underground world located in London. Amostar often came and went from here, and he was very familiar with the image of Merlin.
Without a doubt, the sixth mural depicted the scene where Merlin and the warrior faced off against the witch.
The earth flipped over, and lava surged from the depths of the earth to the sky. Amostar felt as if he had witnessed a 'divine war' that had been left behind in time!
In this mural, there was a detail that Amostar was very concerned about.
In the previous five murals, the "jellyfish" at the top of the wall remained in the same position, but in the sixth mural, its outline seemed to shake violently, and about one-tenth of its area had already separated from the stone wall and disappeared!
The events recorded in the seventh mural were incredibly astonishing to Amostar, and also made Gryffindor's eyes sharp and piercing.
Under the joint efforts of Merlin and the warrior, the witch had been defeated. She had fallen from the sky onto the Avalon Island that had returned to the ground. However, there was a vague, very similar figure to the one Amostar had seen in his previous visit to the underground world that emerged from her body just before she died!
By the second to last mural, the "jellyfish" that had been continuously separated from the stone wall in the top of the wall had disappeared completely. Similarly, the witch was also gone. Her strange wand was held by the "Death" from the previous mural, and this same defeated Death was making a gesture as if he wanted to throw the wand.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Reading Gallery"
