Chapter 339: Centaurs Divided

The dark red moon shone through the layers of dark clouds, exuding magnificence and prestige.

The cloud shadows were sparse, and the moon shone on the ancient and mysterious Temple. This huge temple built by the Centaurs, looked like a shadow among the clouds as it stood there within the mist, looking remarkably silent and solemn, and radiating an invisible pressure.

Ivan was startled and absorbed by the scene before his eyes.

It was almost inconceivable that such amazing architecture and civilization could be hidden in the depths of Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest.

Behind him, Harry, Ron and Hermione followed them out of the forest, and couldn't help but exclaim, amazed by the impressive buildings before them.

Their eyes fell upon the well-proportioned wooden huts of the centaurs, and they finally landed on the huge, dark, impenetrable Temple on the colony's central island.

"I never thought the centaur colony would be like this." Harry said in shock. "I thought it would be just a few huts..."

"It's beyond everyone's imagination!" Ron followed him in awe.

"Centaurs have a unique civilization, even their own cities." Hermione whispered, "Only today do I really understand the meaning of this phrase.

For the colony of centaurs in front of them, it wasn't much to use any kind of praise.

The centaurs with bows and arrows on their backs came out of the Forbidden Forest one by one and looked proudly at the expressions of Ivan, Harry, Ron and Hermione. The children's surprise was very satisfying to them.

"It's much bigger than it was twenty years ago. There weren't that many cabins back then." Sirius smiled and said, "The temple over the central island was built by the ancestors of the Centaurs and is the most sacred place among the Centaur colony. It has been here for centuries, and enshrines many stars and the souls of the centaur ancestors."

"The object left by Gryffindor is kept there?" asked Ivan.

"Yes, this is also the final destination of our journey." Sirius bowed and his smile faded. He lowered his voice and said, "When you enter the temple later, if you see something strange, don't ask; don't touch it. Centaurs have unique customs and unusual magic. There are many evils and dangers in there. We must respect them and keep the necessary vigilance..."

"Unusual customs?" everyone was stunned.

Seeing Sirius's sincere expression, many horrible scenes surfaced in their minds.

"I went to Egypt last summer and saw this sort of thing in those huge pyramids," Ron whispered. "All sorts of curses, and the mummies made by the ancient Egyptian wizards who wrapped the dead Pharaoh's bodies in layered strips of cloth, stuffed with magical objects and strange curses."

Needless to say, this was another attempt by the ancient magicians to obtain eternal life. Ivan didn't know if the pharaohs who were famous in history had finally returned to the world, but the evil black magic that had been born was definitely a headache for everyone.

So would it be the same for the centaurs?

Would they mummify all the corpses of their ancestors and preserve them properly, waiting for the deceased to return from the abyss of the underworld someday in the future?

Looking at the centaurs around him, Ivan could never imagine that they would do such a thing. In his opinion, the centaur civilization, while surprisingly advanced, was still in a relatively primitive clan state, and Ivan was more inclined to have a shrine to one of their ancestors or a certain god.

"Do centaurs make mummies too?" asked Harry.

"Of course they don't. It's not Egypt here - centaurs are native to ancient Greece!" Hermione disagreed. "That was the peak of the ancient sorcerers' power. Their customs may be related to this aspect, but what exactly they are; we'll have to see."

They spoke quietly, but Firenze, standing nearby, heard it.

"Unlike human mages, we do not disrespect the bodies and souls of our ancestors." Firenze stepped closer and said quietly, "Centaurs now believe in the power of the stars, and the planets give us omens, but centuries ago, we were not like that."

"What were they like then?" asked Ivan.

Such a direct inquiry into the history of the Centaurs didn't seem very polite, but Firenze wasn't bothered. He blinked his dark blue eyes.

"I have told you before that the powerful magic item that the Founder of the castle kept in the tribe was incomplete, and it was divided with the split within the Centaurs." Firenze turned to Ivan and said softly, "We have not kept our original vows. For centuries, the elders have blamed each other for this."

"What happened then, and why did they split up?" Ivan said, "I have checked many books on the history of magic and have seen no record."

"The history of the centaurs will not appear in human books. We don't trust humans." Firenze looked up at the dark red moon hanging over the temple and said slowly, "Our ancestors made a great mistake. They believed in a dark evil god."

"Evil Dark God?!" Hearing his words, everyone was stunned.

"Because it had been a long time ago, it's hard for the Centaurs to know if the god came from ancient mythology or was an invention of our ancestors." Firenze leaned forward and said in an almost whispering voice, "No one knows his name, where he comes from. We call him the God of the Forest. He speaks to us in the void, asks us to offer sacrifices and leads us to prosperity."

This sounded familiar, like the eyeball monster asking the Acromantulas to do the same for him, brutal and evil. If it weren't for the weather, Ivan would even suspect that the Forest God that suddenly appeared was a monster from deep underground.

"So-called prosperity, in essence, is destruction. Because of this, there have been endless wars within the centaurs. Finally, under the guidance of the stars, our ancestors won, but the great tribe was divided." Firenze whispered, "Those who believed in the evil god have been exiled from the tribe, most of whom were very high ranking centaurs. They took many things with them when they left, including a part of the powerful magic item that the Founder of the castle had left in the tribe."

No one spoke, and everyone was immersed in what Firenze had said. The centaurs had been abandoned by the wizarding world. The wizards looked at them with disdain. There was little communication between them. People only knew that the centaurs lived somewhere, nothing more.

No one could imagine that this happened to the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest at Hogwarts.

Ivan shook his head, was this the world of Harry Potter he knew?!

What had happened in the last few months was simply beyond imagination.

He had originally been meant to track down clues to the Secret Treasures left behind by the Four Founders, but his findings were becoming more and more shocking. One after another, powerful and ancient dark wizards and evil creatures appeared before him.

The more secrets he learned, the more he felt the true horror of this world.