Imogen was right. Her Resurrected Corpse started to crumble only after a couple of hours, but it was still impressive nonetheless. Destiny didn't want an Inferi roaming inside her base, so she told Imogen to get rid of it or store it wherever she wanted. Imogen ended up destroying the Inferi since she didn't have any places to keep the Inferi.
Since it was already late, Destiny invited everyone to stay for dinner. Unfortunately, the Unspeakables had to leave since their working hours were about to be over. To make space for everyone, the table had to be extended and Conjure a few similar styled chairs. With the help of the Unspeakables, Destiny had already prepared the wording for the Magical Contract, but she decided to bring it up after dinner.
During the dinner, nobody brought up any serious topics, but as soon as everyone finished the dessert, Destiny slowly wiped off her mouth and placed her elbows on the table. She intertwined her fingers and then she placed her chin over her hands. She turned towards Imogen with a smile on her face.
"Imogen, I heard that you worked in a toy store?" Destiny asked softly. Imogen simply released a sigh as she stared at the wine glass in her hand.
"I used to. I probably won't be going back there" Imogen answered with a small shake of her head.
"Toy store? Really" It was Cassiopeia who asked in a surprised tone. Imogen was a Black Witch, she simply couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Imogen worked in a toy store.
Imogen felt a little bit offended at the tone, but she decided not to react as Cassiopeia seemed to be close to Destiny. "Yes, after graduating from Hogwarts I couldn't find a job at the Ministry due to Lord Bones' interference, so I found a job in a toy store. I used to Charm the toys, I am pretty good with Charms" Imogen replied in a polite tone.
Cassiopeia nodded her head in understanding and after watching Cassiopeia's reaction, Imogen realized that Cassiopeia wasn't making fun of her, instead, she was genuinely curious. Well, it was a good thing that she wasn't disrespectful to Cassiopeia.
"Ah… then you must have good grades in Charms" It wasn't a question, Cassiopeia stated with a nod of her head.
"Yes, I received an O in Charms in my NEWTS" Imogen replied with a satisfied smile on her face.
"What is the significance of this O?" Quinton asked with a confused look on his face. It was pretty understandable since Quinton never went to any school and Destiny was the one who had taught him everything. Quinton has never been a fan of academics, at least for the theoretical part. Destiny had still forced him to read through books, at least the basic ones and afterwards, she started to teach him everything practically.
Destiny still remembered the time when she first met him…
~~Approximately 4 Years Ago~~ (Zaire River, Congo)
"I never hated summer until now, but now I am starting to hate summer" Destiny grumbled with an irritated look on her face. The heat was way too much for normal Cooling Charms, so she had to use Intent-Based Magic along with Sunscreen Charms. The problem was that she needed to apply the Sunscreen Charm multiple times throughout the day and that was something that was getting on her nerves.
"If I remember correctly, it is your brilliant plan to go treasure hunting" Ambika sniffed from the side. She had her head buried in a book, she didn't even bother to look up when she chastised Destiny. The crimson-haired girl threw Ambika an unimpressed look. Even Ambika wasn't happy with the climate.
"You are barely younger than 18, where is your passion for adventure? Just look at Anna, she isn't a teenager, but she still looks so excited" Destiny pointed out with an amused glint in her eyes. Ambika finally raised her head from her book and stared at Destiny with a blank look on her face. Then she turned towards Anna, who was playing rock paper scissors with her imaginary friend.
"Really?" Ambika questioned Destiny with an incredulous look on her face and Destiny simply inclined her head with a grin. Annabell had been accompanying them since they left Bulgaria.
"Of course, she is there, so she counts too" Destiny answered sharply and Ambika simply shook her head with a tired look on her face. Sometimes, Destiny can be such a child, Ambika had her hands full with the two children on board with her. Destiny acted childishly from time to time, just like she was doing right now and Annabell was a psychotic child inside an adult's body. Ambika had to stop the latter multiple times from mutilating the Muggles.
"Yes, and unlike you, she isn't whining like a child" Ambika pointed out with a mocking grin on her face. Destiny wanted to remind Ambika that Anna was busy with her imaginary friend, or she would have been whining too, but for whatever reason, Destiny decided not to say anything in that regard. All three of them were dressed in Muggle army-type clothes. Those are the perfect type of clothes for some remote exploration, that is why Destiny picked those clothes.
It had taken Destiny nearly four hours to convince Annabell to wear trousers like men, especially when they were going to wear Muggle clothes. Annabell had continuously pouted and then ended up throwing tantrums multiple times, but after a lot of convincing and promises of gifts, she had finally agreed to wear the Muggle army-type clothes. That wasn't the end of the problem, Destiny had shown Annabell how to wear them, step by step.
During the whole process, Ambika had been throwing her annoyed glances. Well… Destiny could see the appeal of a mature woman, and she did like their fullness, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't matter since unlike her, Annabell was completely straight. Additionally, Destiny already has a girlfriend and she had no plans of cheating on Ambika. Technically, staring at a naked woman, who needed help with clothes, couldn't be considered cheating, right?
Afterwards, Ambika apologized to Destiny for being unreasonable… After all, Destiny was simply helping a sexy mature woman with her clothes. Destiny decided to use this chance and tease Ambika, after a few minutes of teasing, Destiny ended up tossing Ambika on the bed and then having her way with her for a few hours. When Destiny finally left the room, Ambika had turned into an orgasmic goo of human flesh.
"Fine! I am being a child, but don't tell me that you have fallen in love with Congo" Destiny snapped with a victorious grin on her face.
Ambika finally released a tired sigh… Destiny had her there. "Yes, don't get me started. I have started to hate Congo" Ambika said with a shake of her head. The heat wasn't the only problem, there were so many mosquitos along with several types of insects. Thankfully, they could prevent both from entering the ferry by using some Wards, but it was still annoying nonetheless.
"Destiny! Destiny!" Annabell exclaimed as she approached Destiny while skipping. "Destiny, can I have one of those cold drinks?" Annabell asked while making puppy dog eyes, She was finally done with playing rock paper, and scissors with her imaginary friend.
"How many bottles do we have left?" Ambika asked after hearing Annabell's question.
"We still have two and a half crates left, so if you want, you can grab a bottle…" Destiny suggested in a dismissive tone and Annabell was already rummaging through the crate to grab a bottle, she didn't even wait for Destiny to finish what she was saying.
"Do you want one too?" Destiny asked Ambika since Annabell had already opened the crate, she wanted to know if Ambika also wanted one or not.
Ambika furrowed her brows in concentration. She was wondering if she should also grab a bottle or not. It was a really hard decision to make for Ambika, she really wanted to grab a bottle right now, but at the same time, if she decided to grab a bottle right now, then she wouldn't be able to get one after lunch. After a few seconds of silent contemplation, Ambika decided to give up for now.
"...I think… I am going to make a pass" Ambika answered slowly with a reluctant look on her face and Destiny simply snorted in amusement. As for Ambika, she decided not to humour Destiny with a reply. "By the way, how long do we need to travel?" Ambika decided to change the topic.
"Phwah!! This feels so good!" Annabell released a huge sigh and plopped into a nearby chair. "Yes, I am also bored being in this small ship, makes me want to go and Curse that filthy Muggle" Annabell took another sip from her Coca-Cola bottle and started to pout. Destiny had bought 5 crates of Coca-Cola from a city in Congo and she still had some stock left. She was sure that the stock will last until they could return to civilization.
Destiny flicked her finger and opened a map of the rainforest surrounding the Zaire River. Obviously, it was a Magical map. "Right now, we are here" Destiny said and a red marker appeared on the representation of the Zaire River. "According to the rumours, the ruins are supposed to be somewhere around here" Destiny added and another circular marker appeared over a part of the forest. "So, I suppose that we will arrive at the closest shore tomorrow morning?" Destiny guessed with an unsure look on her face.
"Maybe, you should ask the Muggle?" Ambika suggested dryly.
"Umu… I was planning to ask him before lunch" Destiny answered with a soft smile on her face. Annabell perked up and started to stare at Destiny with an eager look on her face. "No Anna, you can't Curse the filthy Muggle, we can't lose the only person who can navigate the boat through this river" Destiny deadpanned when she noticed how Annabell was staring at her. Annabell sagged in her chair and continued to pout.
After arriving in one of the bigger towns in Congo, Destiny heard the story of the Mystical Ruins of Zaire River. Of course, Destiny immediately became interested and after rummaging through the minds of a couple of people, she was sure that whatever the Ruins were, it was Magical in nature, which meant that Destiny needed to investigate it. It was her duty.
According to the tales, the Mystical Ruins of Zaire River appeared for three days before disappearing again. The phenomenon only happens every year before a couple of days before Christmas or on the day of Winter Solstice to be exact. Explorers and archaeologists gathered from all over the world in hope of discovering these Mystical Ruins. Some lucky people have been able to find the Ruins, while the others ended up spending the whole month inside the damn forest without finding anything.
There were some other problems too… Nobody has ever been able to enter the Ruins, or at least, nobody knew if anyone had been able to enter the Ruins or not. Then there was the biggest problem, if someone had found the Ruins then they would forget where the Ruins had been. Destiny found that pretty interesting. Ambika wasn't too proud to admit that she had been superstitious in the past, but after spending her time with Destiny, she had been getting better.
At first, Ambika thought that it was a ghost temple or haunted cemetery or something similar like that. Well, She was able to get Annabell with her ghostly tales, but Destiny was pretty quick to set the two of them straight. Destiny was pretty insistent that whatever these Ruins were, they were Magical in nature. Destiny pointed out that due to the passage of Time, the wards protecting the Ruins or whatever it was might have started to malfunction. Winter Solstice is a day of Magical significance, so the Wards probably became weaker during the said day.
That was the most plausible theory Destiny had been able to come up with. So, when the Unplottable Wards were down, some fortunate Muggles had stumbled upon the said Ruins. As soon as the Unplottable Wards were once again up, the Ruins once again disappeared from everyone's sight. Though Destiny wondered why everyone forgot the location of the Ruins after the Ruins disappeared. Unplottable Wards don't work like that. The Ruins were also probably protected by some sort of Muggle Repelling Wards and that must be nobody had been able to enter the Ruins even after accidentally stumbling upon them.
Though, Destiny wasn't quite sure why none of the Wizards or Witches have decided to explore the anomaly. Destiny remembered the Wizarding Population kept their distance from the Muggles, so there was a good chance that they were yet to hear any stories regarding the Mystical Ruins of Zaire River. Additionally, there was no distinctive Magical Community in Congo. There were only Covens and small Magical Communities in Congo.
All of the Covens and Communities had their own traditions and culture, that is why they didn't mingle with each other. There was no Ministry of Magic in Congo to keep them united, The chances of these Covens and communities mingling with Muggles were simply outrageous. They were pretty aggressive to any outsiders even if they were Magical. After travelling around for two months, they were finally able to find a friendly Witches Coven.
The said Coven was only friendly towards Witches and they were extremely violent toward Wizards. Destiny learned quite a few things about Covens from them along with a lot of Witchcraft. True Witchcraft was a lot different than Wizard Magic and slowly it has been falling out of practice due to sheer inconvenience. Wizard Magic is the term used to refer to the Magic cast with the assistance of Magical Focus while Witchcraft is the term used to refer to the Magic which was performed without the help of any Magical Focus.
Destiny wasn't going to lie, Wizard Magic was extremely convenient, but at the same time, she also couldn't deny the sheer usefulness of Witchcraft. Witchcraft was quite a delicate art, that is why it needed a lot of preparation and time to perform, but the results were completely worth it. Ambika wasn't so much interested in Witchcraft since she was still busy with the curriculum of the usual Magical Schools and Destiny was a scholar at heart, so she was going to learn Witchcraft even though she might never ever end up using it.
Annabell also wanted to learn Witchcraft, so she decided to join in with Destiny. All the Coven members knew that Annabell was mentally challenged, but one day, Annabell finally told them how she missed her son. They finally understood why she was like that and as fellow Witches, they couldn't help but feel pity for Annabell, though none of them showed it on their faces. They knew that it wouldn't be right and they didn't want to insult the memory of her child.
The Witches quickly became quite familiar with both Destiny and Annabell. Both of them started to give it their all to learn their craft, tradition, and culture. After staying with them for a couple of weeks, they started to treat the two of them as honorary sisters. The Witches taught them a lot of things. Those Witches mainly crafted protective ornaments or pieces of jewellery along with some basic Magical ornaments, so that taught Destiny how to craft them too. They also knew how to craft Dark Artefacts, so they also taught that to Destiny.
Meanwhile, Annabell was interested in Voodoo and Curses, so they taught her Voodoo and Curse Magic. Destiny was also interested, but she couldn't learn so many things at a time and Annabell promised to teach Destiny after she was done. The two of them delved into studies just like Ambika, who wasn't so close to the Coven members. Even though Annabell was certifiably insane, she learned everything with pretty ease. It was the proof that she was an extremely brilliant Witch and she could have achieved a lot if she wasn't bound to that Ismail bastard by marriage.
Those Witches always plied their craft in the nude, and they didn't find it necessary to change their ways due to the presence of their guests. Any type of foreign material like a fabric from someone's cloth or even the charms on someone's clothes could contaminate the materials. That is why Witchcraft should be performed in the nude. While Destiny didn't have any problems following their example, she knew that it would be kind of unfair to Ambika. Destiny had no idea how relationships are supposed to work, whatever she knew, she had learned from books.
According to the books, if you are in a relationship, then you shouldn't bare yourself in front of someone besides your lover. It is considered cheating. Well, it was written in more words, but that was the gist of it. Since she never had a parent figure to tell her how relationships worked, she had to depend on books. Well… she wasn't blaming Gellert for anything, she was simply pointing it out. After all, Gellert was the best paternal figure she could have ever asked for.
This led to another problem, if Destiny didn't follow their example then she would be insulting their culture, tradition, and craft, so she decided to go with something in the middle ground. She decided to join them while dressed in cotton underwear. Meanwhile, Ambika wouldn't have said anything as she would never hinder Destiny whenever Magic is concerned and she had also learned her lesson the last time. She knew that she was being unreasonable and she knew that it was wrong of her to be jealous of Annabell.
That didn't mean that Ambika wasn't glad that Destiny decided not to bare herself while learning Witchcraft and after leaving the Coven, she didn't mind showing Destiny how much she appreciated Destiny's decision. Meanwhile, Annabell didn't have any qualms over baring herself so that she could learn their craft while following their culture and traditions. From them, Destiny also got to learn a couple of Rituals, which she knew for sure were going to be useful somewhere down the road in the future.
Before leaving the Coven, Destiny told them about her dream and ambition. They were so disconnected from the world that they had no idea who Gellert Grindelwald was and what he was doing for the Magical World. They didn't even know how much the Muggles had developed in the last couple of centuries. They still thought that Muggles fought with swords and spears.
It was an enlightening conversation for them, the Coven leader agreed with Destiny that the Muggles always have been a threat to their kind and the only reason they have decided to live so remotely was due to the threat of Muggles. A lone Witch or Wizard could easily win against a lone Muggle. If they are good, then a lone Witch or Wizard could even take on a dozen Muggles and come out victorious, but what about against a mob of Muggles?? Only a few strong Witches or Wizards who are extremely good with Area of Effect Spells could win against a mob of Muggles.
Witchcraft wasn't normal even by the standards of normal Witches and Wizards, so it didn't need some genius to guess how the Muggles were going to react. So, they completely agreed with Destiny, but they were not fighters, so they agreed that if Destiny ever needed any Witches who practised Witchcraft, then they would be happy to offer their services. The Witches decided to celebrate the night before Destiny and Annabell were supposed to leave, so they decided to hunt a bear. Yep, the bear meat was certainly amazing.
So, it was pretty understandable that the Witches and Wizards in Congo haven't heard about the Mystical Ruins of Zaire River, and at the same time, there were no Gringotts' branches in Congo, that must be why those greedy buggers are yet to find this place. Destiny wondered why Grave Robbing was a crime while Tomb Raiding is something accepted by society. Maybe it has something to do with the riches they have taken along with them to their graves? Destiny was not going to find an answer to that right now, so she decided to stop thinking about it.
"So, what do you think we are going to find in those Ruins?" Ambika asked curiously and Destiny simply shrugged.
"No idea… Maybe we will end up in a haunted house or something" Destiny answered with a grin and both Ambika and Annabell shivered in fright. Even now, they were afraid of ghosts. Destiny wondered why Annabell was afraid of ghosts when she had seen ghosts before. Maybe it has something to do with her insanity.
To be honest, Destiny had no idea what she was going to find in those Ruins, she wasn't even sure if she was going to find anything for that matter. There was a chance that someone might have already raided the Ruins or the Ruins might be completely intact. There might be unimaginable riches and treasures or it might be some simple Ruins. Destiny didn't want to raise her hopes by thinking anything, she was simply intrigued by the whole tale of Mystical Ruins, so she decided to investigate.
"Don't joke about that" Ambika muttered under her breath and Destiny simply grinned lecherously while Annabell simply threw her dirty looks.
"Don't tease me" Annabell muttered while pouting and Destiny simply chuckled as she started to give Annabell a head pat. Annabell's pout turned into a huge grin and after a few minutes, when she was finally satisfied with the head pats, she decided to leave…
Destiny crooked her neck to check if Annabell was really gone or not, but when Destiny was sure that Annabell was gone, she Apparated over Ambika's lap with a soft crack. Before the white-haired girl could protest, she found her lips captured by Destiny.
Destiny snaked one of her arms behind Ambika's head and pulled her closer as she started to run her fingers through Ambika's hair while with her other hand, Destiny started to fondle Ambika's breasts. Ambika wasn't able to hold back her moans and ended up moaning loudly. To return the favour, she also raised her hands and started to fondle Destiny's breasts with both of her hands.
Destiny wasn't worried about being seen by anyone. There were only four people on the ferry. Yes, Destiny had decided to manoeuvre through the Zaire river using a ferry. That is what the other groups of explorers were also doing, but unlike them, Destiny had put the Captain of the ferry under the Imperius Curse and Annabell must have gone around the ship to play or she might have gone to read her storybooks.
So, no one was going to bother them for the time being, but she still decided to move into her room for more comfort. She previously had sex on a chair and on a table. It might have been exciting and interesting, but both of them ended up with more than quite a few bruises due to the hard surface and no matter what anybody said, a bed was the best place to have a romp…
The next morning Destiny, Ambika, and Annabell finally stepped on the shore. They still had some time before the arrival of Winter Solstice, but Destiny wanted to look around the forest in hope of finding any clues. The Ruins might be Unplottable, which might be stopping her from finding the place, but there might be some clues scattered around which she could use to triangulate the location of the Ruins. She also missed the time when she lived with Ambika inside a tent. Well, Annabell was there too, but she was quite nice, so her company wasn't going to bother them. As long as she didn't walk in on them, it was going to be completely fine.
"Don't stay here… Anchor the ship somewhere else, but don't go too far. I will call you when I am done" Destiny ordered the Muggle who had been manning the ferry with an aloof look on her face.
"Of course, my lady" the Muggle answered back with a cheerful smile on her face and went back inside the cockpit. Moments later, he powered up the ferry and started to leave.
"Oh… I couldn't Curse him" Annabell said with a pout as she kept staring at the retreating ship.
"Don't worry, Anna. You can always Curse him after he takes us back to the nearest town" Destiny decided to placate Annabell by patting her head. Annabell purred in satisfaction.
"So… where do we start from?" Ambika asked curiously as she looked towards the dense forest in front of them. The forest was surrounded by fog, so they couldn't see much, but they could hear a lot of birds chirping merrily. Destiny finally stopped patting Annabell, which made the older woman frowned.
"Before anything else, let's find a suitable spot for camping" Destiny said and started to walk towards the treeline, Ambika and Annabell simply shrugged and decided to follow Destiny's lead. Annabell looked extremely excited, she had never experienced a camping trip. It was beneath her family's station. The forest was a lot denser than Destiny had imagined and after trekking for a bit, all three of them were grateful that they had decided to wear Muggle military-grade clothes.
After searching for a couple of hours they finally found a suitable place to mount their tent, which wasn't already occupied by filthy Muggles. Yes, they have found a few more suitable places, but all of them were already occupied by Muggles. Neither Destiny nor Annabell were fans of the Muggles, and both of them wanted to Curse the whole lot, but Destiny's hate wasn't as malignant as Annabell's, so she didn't have any problems holding herself back. Thankfully, Ambika remained level-headed, so she simply reminded Destiny that it would be bothersome to deal with all these Muggles at the moment.
After that, they decided to avoid them. Even though Annabell wanted to go on a killing spree and rid the forest of filthy Muggles, Destiny held her back. It wasn't that hard, Annabell did pout and whine, but she wasn't going to disregard Destiny's order and Destiny promised that she could freely deal with it after they were done.
Destiny decided that the Muggles still had some use. Destiny was a Witch, but she wasn't Omnipresent. She decided to use the Muggles to search for the Ruins or any clues leading to the Ruins. Since all three of them were shrouded with Muggle Repelling Charms, the Muggles never noticed them and Destiny placed tracking and listening Charms on some of the Muggles. Since Destiny didn't want to listen to Muggles rutting around in the wild, she decided to add some activation phrases to the Listening Charms.
Such as if one of the Muggles said 'Found the Mystical Ruins' or 'So, this is the Mystical Ruins' then the Listening Charms would activate and Destiny would know which group of Muggles have located the Ruins, and then she would kill them painlessly as a reward or maybe she will hand them over to Annabell. Destiny was sure that Muggles would be drooling after spending some time in Annabell's tender care.
"And that's done…" Destiny said as she dusted off her hands when she was done erecting the tent. "Bibly" Destiny called out. Moments later, the said house-elf arrived with a pop in front of Destiny. "Bibly, I have already set up the tent, why don't you go and get water from the river and prepare some breakfast for us?" Destiny requested politely.
"Bibly be doing what Mistress Destiny commanded" Bibly chirped in a cheerful tone and popped away. Ambika was still busy placing the Muggle Repelling Wards around their tent and Annabell was simply looking around. Ambika also decided to place a few Alert Wards around their tent in case a Muggle accidentally stepped over the Wards. There was also a chance that a Wizard or Witch might step over… it is better to be safe than sorry.
After Ambika finished setting up the Wards, the three of them decided to look around some more… So, after strolling for an hour inside the forest, they decided to return to their camping spot. Since the forest was quite dense, Destiny decided to leave some Magical markers, which could only be seen by Magical people around the forest, so that all of them could easily manoeuvre through the forest without getting lost or needing to use locating Spells. Destiny was most worried about Annabell, she might decide to take a stroll and get lost.
Just like always, Bibly had prepared a filling breakfast for the three of them. So, after breakfast, the two of them continued the look some more. They finally found a Muggle group who had decided to bring quite a lot of firearms with them. Destiny had stars in her eyes and she decided that she was going to liberate those weapons from the hands of those Muggles. She could have killed them right now and taken those weapons, but once again she decided to spare them so that she could use them to look for the Ruins.
"The Ruins are probably unplottable, so we need to map this forest before Winter Solstice, our best chance would be to wait for the Solstice, but if we do stumble upon the Ruins then lucky us" Destiny explained with a grin. Ambika wordlessly agreed with Destiny and Annabell cheered loudly and clapped her hands. After that, they finally returned to their camp and after lunch, they decided to spend the rest of the day doing their own stuff.
After some time, Annabell successfully dragged Destiny and Ambika into a game of Exploding Snap and later, into a game of Gobstones. Both Destiny and Ambika enjoyed playing around with Annabell from time to time… After all, you can't work all the time, it was not healthy. But before going to sleep, Destiny did finish mapping the area of the forest they had explored today…
They continued the routine for more than two weeks. Only two days were left before the Winter Solstice and they had finished mapping quite a bit of the forest, but they were yet to find any clues leading to the so-called Mystical Ruins. It wondered if the Ruins were truly Mystical in nature. Destiny finally decided to stop looking for the Ruins and enjoy the camping trip with Ambika and Annabell. Two days passed in the blink of an eye and it was finally 22nd December.
"Maybe we are looking in the wrong place…" Ambika suggested with a thoughtful look on her face and Destiny couldn't help but agree. They searched the forest for two weeks, but not only they were unable to locate the Ruins, but they also failed to locate a single clue. Annabell didn't have any problems since she didn't care about the Ruins in the first place and she was simply satisfied with the camping trip, but since Destiny looked quite sad and frustrated, she rummaged through her pocket and handed a chocolate frog to Destiny.
Destiny simply raised her brows and gave Annabell a questioning look. "Whenever I feel sad, I eat one of them. I don't like when Destiny is sad or frustrated, I am sure this will help Destiny too" Annabell said in a cheerful tone. Destiny smiled gratefully and accepted the chocolate frog from the older woman.
"Thank you" Destiny thanked Annabell and tossed the squirming frog inside her mouth. It did help… she finally calmed down and released a sigh… "Hmm… let's keep looking for now". Ambika followed Destiny without any more complaints while Annabell started to giggle as she started to walk beside Ambika. It was almost noon when something finally happened. All of a sudden one of the Listening Charms flared up.
'So, this is the Mystical Ruins of Zaire River?' Destiny heard a man's voice through the Listening Charm.
'Yes, I suppose. This is beautiful. I wonder what types of treasure we are going to find inside there' another man muttered with awe in his voice.
'Sire, there is something stopping us from entering!!' Another man exclaimed in a fearful tone.
'I am telling you, this place is cursed' another man screamed in horror.
'Shut up!! Don't be stupid, there are no such things as Curses!' A female voice snarled in rage. The voice seemed to have a thick African accent.
Destiny immediately turned off the Listening Charm and concentrated on the Tracking Charm. It took her only a moment to locate the said group. It was the same Muggle group with a lot of firearms. Destiny felt like she had killed two birds with one stone… She was going to take the weapons from them and after bidding them farewell in a forever kind of manner, she was going to explore the Ruins with Ambika and Annabell.
"A group of Muggles has located the Ruins, let's go" Destiny gushed out excitedly as she started to head in the direction of the said group. Destiny's eyes started to shine in excitement, not that she noticed. but Ambika also smiled excitedly as she started to follow Destiny.
"Oh! Oh! I am so excited!! I wonder what we are going to find there!!" Annabell cheered loudly and clapped her hands while jumping like a little girl. She quickly caught up to Destiny and Ambika since she didn't want to get lost inside this scary forest.
"It seems that your plan to spare the Muggles worked out…" Ambika grinned and Destiny simply hummed in consent. It took them more than a few minutes to finally arrive in front of the so-called Mystical Ruins of the Zaire River, it wasn't exactly a Ruin, it was more of a temple carved inside a stone hill and Destiny couldn't deny the beauty of the whole structure.
(Image Here)
There was a stone path leading straight to the entrance of the temple and there was a beautiful lake filled with crystal clear water under the pathway. It looked like the pathway was floating on the water's surface. A panther head made out of stone was embedded on the wall, right above the entrance and it was imperiously staring down at the stone pathway. The lake had also been invisible previously or Destiny would have liked to take a bath in it. Destiny was about to step forward when she suddenly realized something weird.
The Muggles were nowhere to be seen, but the Tracking Charms were still active and they were pointing towards the entrance of the temple. It could mean only one thing… The Muggles have somehow gained access to the temple… Destiny frowned and she quickly cast a Detection Charm with her trusty Neptune to locate the Ward Line. The Ward Line was only a few steps ahead, so Destiny simply stepped forward and kneeled down to inspect the Wards.
"What's wrong?" Ambika asked worriedly. She didn't like that frown on Destiny's face. The frown meant a problem. She wasn't worried about the Muggles because she thought that they have left due to the Muggle Repelling Wards.
"The Muggles somehow entered the Ruins" Destiny answered without paying any mind to Ambika as she was busy poking the Wards. After hearing Destiny's words, Annabell's eyes grew wide and her face morphed into a mask of pure hatred and loathing. She wanted to explore the Ruins with Destiny and Ambika, but now the Muggles have ruined the whole place with their filthiness.
'How dare they??!! How dare they ruin my wish?! How dare they?! I will make them pay… Yes… I will flay them alive…' Annabell raged inside her mind as she clenched her fists so tightly that she almost drew blood. She didn't even know that she had started to subconsciously release her Magic, so when Ambika noticed what was happening, she pulled Annabell into a comforting hug. Annabell slowly calmed down as she realized what she was doing.
Destiny quickly realized that there were mainly two types of Ward interwoven into each other. The Unplottable Wards and some sort of memory modification Wards were interwoven together. After a bit of poking and prodding, Destiny concluded that it was some sort of Obliviation Ward. Since it was interwoven with the Unplottable Wards, Destiny concluded that Obliviation Wards probably removed the memory from the location of the temple from anyone who was not keyed to the Wards as soon as they walked away from the Ward Line.
Then there was some sort of Muggle Repelling Wards, but it wasn't run of the mill Muggle Repelling Wards… It felt more like a wall, Destiny decided that she was going to inspect the Wards afterwards. Since she was a Witch, the Ward wasn't going to stop them from entering. Right now, the Obliviation Wards were down along with the Unplottable Wards, so the Wards weren't going to cause any problems and their memories were also intact for the time being.
Destiny could resist the Obliviation Charm to some extent, but she had no idea how she was going to fare against an Ancient Ward. After all, this was the first time she had come across a Ward such as this. Additionally, Destiny wasn't enthusiastic to experiment with it right now. So, before leaving the Ruins, Destiny decided to key themselves to the Wards. That way, the Wards won't cause them any trouble after leaving the structure. There were some other Wards too like the Anti-Apparition and Anti-Portkey Wards, but those Wards have been eroded by the passage of time.
The Unplottable Wards and the Obliviation Wards might be down, but the Muggle Barrier Ward was still up, so how did the Muggles enter the Ruins? Destiny rubbed her chin… There was only one way they could have gained entrance, a Witch or Wizard was among their group. Though Destiny wondered why the Witch or Wizard didn't call her out when she was inspecting their camp or it might be possible that a group of Magicals has joined the group afterwards.
"It seems that there is one of our kind among them" Destiny muttered as she slowly stood up on her feet. She coldly stared at the Ruins with a stoic look on her face.
"Really? But why do you think there is only one? There could be more right?" Ambika fired off her questions hurriedly with a confused look on her face.
"They are going to pay! They are going to pay!" Annabell was muttering like it was a Mantra. After hearing that one of their kind was responsible for leading the Muggles inside the Ruins, she could no longer hold back her anger, but she wasn't going to act since Destiny was yet to give an order.
"You might be right, but I think there is only one. If there were more than one of our kind in their group then I would have noticed them when I had scouted their camp, but nobody called me out. I could have missed a lone Witch or Wizard since I wasn't expecting anyone Magical, but I wouldn't have missed two or three of them, but I think we should remain vigilant… being cautious is better than being taken off-guard" Destiny answered with a serious look on her face.
Then after pondering for a bit, she realized that there might be another possibility even though the chances of this possibility were pretty low. "...Or it might be possible that a group of Wizards and Witches might have joined their group" Destiny added with a thoughtful look on her face. Since she was being cautious, she decided to cover all the bases, not wanting to leave any room for mistakes.
"Okay" Ambika nodded her head with a determined look on her face.
"Good! Let's disillusion ourselves" Destiny said and grabbed Ambika's hand, and Ambika grabbed Annabell's hand. Holding hands wasn't necessary to disillusion themselves, but they didn't want to run into each other while invisible. That is why they decided to hold each other's hands, this way, all of them would know where the others were.
With a jerk of Neptune, Destiny Disillusioned all three of them at the same time. As soon as the three became invisible, they started to head toward the stone path with Destiny in the lead and Annabell at the back. Just before stepping on the stone path, Destiny started to cast Detection Charms to search for any traps. The Muggles might have been lucky, but she wasn't going to leave anything on luck, especially in a place like this. Places like this were filled with traps.
All the Detection Charms came out as negative… The three of them finally stepped inside the temple or whatever it was. They immediately heard some loud noises coming from the inside. Without wasting any more time, Destiny silently cast the Human Revealing Spell and she found that there were exactly 15 humans, besides them inside the structure and one of them was a Wizard. Just as Destiny suspected. Destiny quickly cast a Silencing Charm on themselves, so that she could talk among themselves without alerting the Muggles or the enemy Wizard.
"There are 15 people inside the building and only one of them is a Wizard. There were initially 15 people in the group, so nobody had joined them" Destiny explained as she led Ambika and Annabell down the hall. "For now, take down all of them, but don't kill anyone. Let me handle the Wizard" Destiny added as the three of them finally arrived in front of the inner entrance. The Muggle group was gathered just past the entrance.
"Why?" Annabell whined like a child and started to pout.
Destiny simply grinned. "So that we can torture them after afterwards" Destiny replied, and Annabell's mood did a whole 180 and she started to smile gleefully like all of the holidays have come early. After all, torturing Muggles was her favourite hobby…
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