Chapter 372: Pawn’s Promotion
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20 April 1995, Mount Olympus, Greece
Cedric Diggory ran as fast as he could, trying not to be overwhelmed by the dozens of giant wolves made of shadows trying to overwhelm him. He didn't know how much time he'd been in this cursed Labyrinth, but it had to be at least a few weeks, maybe even months. It was time to really measure time in the Labyrinth. There were no days or nights and even his tempus charm just didn't work for some reason. For a moment, Cedric wondered if his parents assumed that he had died, alone, in this place. Thankfully, that thought faded away over time, prioritized by his possible survival.
He spent most of the time just walking around the place, changing direction as the Labyrinth shifted over time. He was thankful for the small orb that Carmichael gave him. He wasn't sure it worked as advertised, since he was getting a bit freaked out by the loneliness of his adventure, but he would persevere. Something deep inside him reassured him, told him that he would get out of this place and be finally recognized, that his shame would finally be over. It was that thought that pushed him forward.
As he found himself doing more, he channelled a bit of the energy inside him, somehow knowing the exact spell he needed, and sent a shockwave of light, sending the feral beasts away. He ran towards a crossroad, and something urged him to go right. He followed those instincts, as he usually did. He learned to trust that gut feeling, to treasure it. It had saved his life many times, even before he had gotten rid of the dead weight that was the other Hogwarts Champions. It had helped him when he fought the Minotaur when he fought the Hydra, and when it told him to run as he saw that giant fire demon thing, he did while using his teammates as bait.
He didn't want to do it, not really, but a small gut feeling inside him told him that it was the right choice, the right answer. As much as he mourned their deaths, it was inevitable. The Labyrinth wasn't a kind place, and they were as good as him. Carmichael was just a braggart with a few enchanted metal balls, Greengrass was useless without Potter around to save her, and Johnson, while somewhat decent, wasn't really anything really special. They weren't like him. They weren't as important.
He wished they were still alive, but life was rarely that kind.
As proof of that, he heard dozens of monsters coming at him. He conjured some white flames, incinerating the corridor they were coming from, before running the other way towards a familiar symbol, that he activated immediately.
In a flash of light, he was somewhere else, specifically some kind of plane filled with rocks, ash and magma. For the first time in hours, he could finally relax.
That last spell was pretty draining, at least it strained his magic circuits a lot. It was dead useful, but he needed a break. As much as he liked releasing the growing pressure inside him, his body could only handle so much, at least that was what his instincts told him.
Feeling tired, he waved his wand and conjured a small hut that would act as a shelter, before letting out a small pulse that acted as some kind of ward when he rested himself. For some reason, his instincts told him to only sleep and rest outside the Labyrinth, and yet it also pressured him into going there the moment he was better.
He opened the bag he was wearing and from it, took out a day's worth of food. He was starving and it was known that magic just couldn't conjure food. He had gotten this handy thing from a Greek Champion that he ambushed in the Labyrinth. It was such a stroke of luck, to find him. Or well, his instincts pushing him towards it. The moment he saw the blond guy, he hid in the perfect spot and hit him in the back with a spear of light, killing him.
And as they always did, his instincts did not fail him. The boy had provisions to last months which sated his breath. He even had some cooked meals that he kept preserved, as well as hundreds of rations that made Cedric feel full whenever he ate one.
Still, for some reason, the Greek boy's body was swallowed by the Labyrinth's floor though, but his gut feeling told him that it wasn't a constructive avenue of thought, and Cedric was already stressed enough with the Labyrinth as things were.
As if the world was listening to his inner thoughts, a giant reptile attacked his location headfirst, trying to shatter the ward he had just set up. Cedric knew that it could do so eventually, but that it would take a while to happen. Instead of attacking, his instincts suggested staying in place and healing up.
He did just that and waited until his magic circuits stopped burning. To be honest, Cedric had never really had to strain his magic circuits, and them burning was pretty uncommon, but he remembered that it used to take at least a day to be able to cast again, and yet, for some reason, he was fine after a few minutes, and for some reason, he could feel that he could cast better afterwards.
Still, he decided not to think too much about it. He would go to a healer after he was done with this task. For now, he needed to figure out how to get back to the Labyrinth like his instincts told him to. He looked outside his makeshift hut and saw that three lizards were circling the ward, trying to overwhelm it physically.
Well, that wouldn't do.
Cedric connected back to the ward and controlled it to break and release a burst of white energy sending them flying back. With them being overwhelmed, he conjured a few light spears, killing the lizards with a single blow.
Finally, having rested once more, he let his gut feeling guide him once more and somehow knew exactly the path he had to take to get back to the Labyrinth. For a fraction of a second, he thought about just ignoring it. He spent so long doing the exact same thing. Going through the Labyrinth, discovering a gate to some realm, relax for a bit, before returning to the Labyrinth through another entrance. It was so repetitive and for a fraction of a second, he couldn't help but think that it was some kind of weird punishment. He had been alone for so long, with only the faint humming of his instinct giving him company.
Didn't the Greeks have this myth about some guy being forced to roll a boulder up a hill, only for it to roll down the other side, making him have to do it again and again, for an eternity? Was he in the same situation? Was he forced to just go from one realm to another, day after day, without any sign of the Golden Apple?
It was as if his instincts weren't even interested in the Golden Apple at all, because if it was, he would have found it by now. Nevertheless, he was still stuck in the Labyrinth, with his gut feeling as his only ally, and over time, it soothed his nervousness. Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with him? Considering his instincts as a person of their own, how ridiculous.
And yet, he couldn't help but make the parallels. His gut feeling was like a faint whisper in the back of his head, which sounded strangely like his mother's voice, telling him that everything would be fine, that everyone would know his name, and that he wouldn't be some forgotten wizard amongst thousands of others.
That mere thought banished any doubts he could have had. He walked forward towards the entrance to the Labyrinth with renewed purpose. The weather in this realm was hot and dry, the very sky was filled with ash so much that Cedric couldn't see the sun. He supposed that there might not even be a sun and that he was only seeing thanks to a weird quirk of magic.
When he was near the exit, he felt an urgent warning and he rolled to the side. Where he used to be was a giant spike of black glass – obsidian, he recognized – that would have easily killed him. However, his instincts failed him for the first time since he entered the Labyrinth, at least partially. He hadn't died, but a small spike of obsidian was impaled in his gut.
For some reason, he didn't feel in pain, at least not overly so. Instead, his gut feeling guided him to dodge as a few other spikes of obsidian fell towards him. Finally, he was able to see his attacker, some kind of dragon that was covered with obsidian.
Another warning from his instincts told him to conjure a shield. He obeyed and it was proven to be the correct decision as a jet of black fire was conjured from the creature's maw and tried to burn him alive. Cedric then created a beam of light and fired it exactly where his gut feeling guided his hand, and after a small, pained screech, he felt the ground shake. The dragon was dead, and Cedric had survived another day.
He limped his way to the Labyrinth entrance but froze for a second as he remembered that he was injured. Should he truly return to the Labyrinth of all places while he was still injured? He should stay in this realm, behind wards, until he was healed enough to continue his quest.
For some reason, his instincts didn't seem to agree with that. There was a sense of urgency there, one that promised that he would be fine soon. His instincts hadn't steered him wrong so far, and he listened to them once more.
He took out the piece of obsidian that was impaled in his gut and walked towards the Labyrinth entrance, only to notice that something was wrong with the symbol. It looked fractured, for the lack of a better word. Yet, for some reason, his instincts urged him to activate it, and he did so with his bloodied hands, while also channelling some of the energy inside him exactly as it told him to.
This time, he didn't appear in the Labyrinth in a flash of white light, or through some weird gate like a few entrances did. No, the road was far bumpier, and he saw space and time fracturing all around him. It was very hard to describe but he didn't know how long the trip was, or what the distance he took there, just that he stood there frozen, for what seemed to be an eternity of space-time being folded over itself.
Finally, he arrived and instead of the familiar sight of the Labyrinth, he was met with a giant cavern of glowing crystals. No, glowing wasn't exactly the correct term. The crystals gave off a faint, pulsing light like they were breathing, filling the cavern with shades of blue, violet, and green. Shadows shifted and stretched along the walls, making it hard to tell where the crystals ended, and the air began. The place had a strange, electric feeling to it, almost like he could feel the energy prickling on his skin. With each step, he heard a soft echo, and the crystals seemed to react, glowing just a bit brighter like they were watching him somehow. He wasn't sure what this place was, but it definitely felt different from the usual twists and turns of the Labyrinth. This was something older, hidden, far more primal.
His instincts were blaring at him, yelling at him that he was so close to his objective. Was the Golden Apple there? He didn't know.
The faint thrumming beneath his skin, the growing energy inside him, started to vibrate. That was when the pain started, or perhaps, that was when he realized just how much pain he was truly in. He was in pain for a very long time, wasn't he? He just didn't know it at the time.
He fell down, screaming as his very body felt as if it was on fire. He wanted to curl up, to get back home. No glory was worth this pain, this suffering.
And finally, like a mouthful of water in an endless desert, the familiar gut feeling told him that he could get rid of this energy, that he could stop the pain. He only had to hold on and walk forward.
Bleeding, he crawled up the crystal cave, towards where his instincts told him to go. Every breath he took was accompanied by mind-numbing pain. He could barely function, and yet he knew deep down that he had to crawl.
He didn't know how long he did this for. He must have passed out at least a dozen times, but he finally found his destination. Two giant crystals, one growing from the cave's ground, and one from its ceiling. They were barely touching, but he knew that they weren't. Instead, a giant ball of pure light was between the two.
Cedric slowly got up, doing his best to get past the pain, and the voice told him to let it all go, to release the energy inside him and be free of his suffering.
He didn't know why those words came to him. He didn't even know why they felt oddly fitting for this situation, but he couldn't help but mumble, "For the greater good."
Something primal inside Cedric, a voice that reminded him of his father was telling him not to do it, to not listen to his instincts, but the pain was too much. He needed it to stop. He really wished his father, and mother had been there to see him off. He could barely remember what they looked like anymore. The pain was too much to get a clear picture of them in his head.
Finally, he just couldn't do it anymore, he couldn't resist his instincts and let go of the energy inside him. There was a bit of relief, but it was brief, and the pain returned for just a fraction of a second before the cavern erupted in an explosion of white light.
The last thing that came through Cedric's mind was about his parents, and how he wished he could have said goodbye. Soon after, everything went black. Cedric Diggory was dead without even leaving a body to bury.
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AN: I'll be honest, I'm not sure about this chapter. I know I've been saying that a lot since I started the arc, which is kinda repetitive, but I wrote this one in a bit of a rush since I had a lot of urgent things come up at once. I didn't even have time to edit it properly, but I still felt like I had to upload it. Don't worry, things should get a lot smoother moving forward.
Anyway, I guess you now know what happened to Cedric and what was it that distracted the Olympians enough so that Harry could escape. I wanted the chapter to mimic Cedric's thought process in a way, like the way he was confused, before realizing things slowly in the end. I don't know if I pulled it off like I wanted it to, and I don't mind rewriting it when I have more free time available. Don't worry, I'll put a small note in a future chapter if I end up doing that. Anyway, as a small hint, the arc isn't over, not even close. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.