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Chapter 159: One Cannot Escape Death
🕑 Added 2018-07-05 00:57:22 +0000 UTCThe Forbidden Forest, in the night, was dark and silent.
With the help of the Tracing Agent, Evan could feel that Peter was in front. He was slow, but he kept moving forward.
There were still scattered spots of blood on the winding path.
"Lumos!" There was a crisp, subtle sound, and the tip of Evan’s wand emitted a faint light.
He hurried forward and walked for about ten minutes. There was no other noise besides the sound of branches and the rustling of leaves. Around him, the old trees that have grown over the centuries have become much denser, so that the stars overhead were no longer visible. If it weren’t for the help of the Tracing agent, Evan would have lost his target.
In the old Forbidden Forest, Evan’s wand shone alone in the sea of dark. He saw Peter Pettigrew leaving the path.
After crossing a mossy tree stump, he could hear the murmuring sound of the flowing water.
He realized there was a stream nearby.
Through the faint light at his wand’s tip, Evan saw the figure of Peter Pettigrew disappearing behind a towering oak tree. He clenched his wand and hurriedly chased him up. Although anxious, he couldn’t move very quickly now; there were tree roots and stumps in their way, barely visible in the near blackness.
Evan’s clothes were getting caught by the low branches and thorns nearby, and he noticed that the ground seemed to be sloping downward, though the trees were as thick as ever.
Suddenly, he stopped abruptly and held his wand firmly to his chest.
He could feel that, besides himself and Pettigrew, there was something that was approaching quickly, accompanied by a strange sound of groaning, gliding on the fallen leaves near him.
Evan had to be careful. He heard Hagrid say that there were many dangerous and magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest.
He focused his magical power in his wand and squinted, carefully advancing a few steps.
Peter had stopped and hid behind the oak tree in front of him.
While Evan was approaching the oak tree, under the faint light of the wand, he suddenly saw the shadow of a huge, astonishing monster appearing on the ground. He didn't even have time to turn around; a long, furry thing grabbed his waist and hung him face down in the air.
He was struggling, waving his wand!
He heard the groaning sound, and it was the monster that seized him. It was dragging him back into the dark bush...
While Evan was being attacked, Peter Pettigrew was shivering, hiding behind the humongous oak tree.
He was gasping heavily, his amputated right hand wrapped in his robe. This was a huge injury, making him approach death.
The boundless darkness enveloped him, and he felt that he was dying. His heart was full of fear as never before.
He didn't understand why things had developed to this point. His plot was flawless, but since he met the twelve-year-old boy in Lupin’s office, things started to go south really fast. He even forced him to use the forbidden magic that the Dark Lord taught him.
The last time he used this magic, he paid a finger as a cost.
This time, he paid a palm, and the huge impact brought by the explosion took away even his ability to move.
Clicks, clicks, clicks...
A strange sound approached, and Pettigrew struggled to raise his head.
His frightened little eyes bulged outward as he saw something crawling down the tree.
Clicks, clicks, clicks...
The sound was getting closer and closer, and that thing was just above his head.
The unknown monster seemed to be attracted by the smell of blood on his body.
Peter wanted to run away, but his body was too weak. He fell back down heavily. His face was sweaty showing his utter panic, he was overwhelmed with fear.
He didn't know what was the monster approaching above his head, but he knew that death was coming over to him, which was the price he deserved.
He didn’t remember how many nightmares he has had. He has been waiting for this day since he sold James and Lily out to Voldemort.
Now, death has finally come to him!
He remembered his childhood, the fairy tales from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" that his mother used to read to him before he went to bed every night.
He still remembered the story he was most impressed with, “The Tale of the Three Brothers". Peter has forgotten most of the story, but there was a sentence he would never forget: One cannot escape death, but only delay it.
If he was destined to meet death, he only hoped that the process would not be too painful.
Evan’s head was suspended in the air, and he stretched to his wand.
Its tip glowed red, and the monster behind him was shot and flew away, leaving him to fall heavily on the ground.
He hurriedly scrambled up, only to see the monster that just grabbed him.
It had eight long, bizarre, thick, hairy legs, and a pair of large black fangs on top of its head.
Behind it, there was another one, starring at him with its frightening black eyes.
These two monsters looked like spiders, not tiny spiders like those surging over the leaves below, but the size of carthorses, eight-eyed, eight-legged, black, hairy, gigantic.
They were Acromantulas!!!
They were terrible, and Evan was aware of what he had encountered. Pettigrew fled blindly, bringing them along with him into the territory of the Acromantula.
According to the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", the Acromantula is a giant, ferocious spider with eight eyes, inhabiting dense jungles, covered in thick black hair; with a leg span that can reach up to fifteen feet, if adult.
They also secrete venom, are terrible carnivores, and eat almost everything.
Evan knew that there were Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. They were all descendants of Aragog raised by Hagrid. Hagrid had even found a spouse for his furry friend to breed. He still remembers it being mentioned in the book, that the female can lay up to one hundred soft, wide, beach ball-sized eggs at a time.
Spawning several times a year for 50 whole years, the Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest can reach a terrible number!
Evan clenched his wand, and the two monsters did not immediately come up.
Maybe they were observing for Evan’s weakness, maybe they felt danger, maybe they were waiting for their companions, or maybe...
In short, Evan and the two grotesque Acromantulas had a strange face off.
Just then, Peter's miserable, powerless shout came from behind the oak tree beside Evan. He was attacked as well!
