Chapter Text
Izuku quickly followed his friends down a large hallway with high walls. The walls were made of ancient stone, and there were vines, moss, and a musty smell due to the humidity in the air. This was not surprising, as this was an ancient and abandoned temple. It was a cursed temple.
The sight gave him chills.
Izuku did not particularly like this place. He did not want to come here at all. He had expected to go on a tour with his friends to an interesting but safe place. However, it was only him who came up with this idea. It turned out that they had already planned everything in advance and hadn't warned him! Midoriya felt hurt that they hadn't warned him, even though they were right. He would never have come here of his own free will.
It seemed that Ochako noticed his dejected expression. His friend placed her hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him. Izuku raised his head from the floor and looked at her.
"Ochako?"
"Izuku, you look pretty... sad. Is everything okay? Do you not like it here?" she asked worriedly, squeezing his shoulder with her hand, but the gesture was comforting.
Midoriya took a shaky breath and scratched the back of his head, "I'm just scared of this place, that's all..."
As Izuku learned from Kirishima and Kaminari, they were in the only abandoned temple in the city. The temple is in the forest, not too far away, but not too close. The locals say there's something terrible there.
But it's better not to think about it right now.
He looked away from the walls and focused on his friends, who were ahead of him and Ochako. Kacchan was leading the team, confidently pointing his flashlight forward. Kirishima and Kaminari were by his side, talking animatedly to him. However, Iida and Shoto were closer to them.
Izuku could clearly see his friend, Iida's, slightly worried face. However, he didn't understand how Iida had agreed to this. Wasn't Tenya as cautious as Izuku? Why hadn't he warned Izuku?
"Hey, Deku! Shut up, your mumbling is creepy!" Kacchan suddenly shouted at him, turning his head and glaring with his red eyes. Midoriya flinched and realized that he was mumbling again. He smiled wryly and shouted back to his childhood friend.
"Sorry, Kacchan!"
The blonde didn't say anything else to him and continued arguing with Kirishima and Kaminari. Midoriya didn't know what they were talking about, but he didn't interfere. It wasn't his business. His childhood best friend also had friends who were better than Izuku himself.
Izuku bit his lip, shook his head, and looked at the walls again. They were interesting, there were vines and moss, but Midoriya saw drawings on the walls. He could compare them to the drawings on the walls of the pyramids. Although they were almost in a pyramid. It was unknown how old this temple was. Even the locals didn't know.
"Izuku, do you like these drawings?" Ochako's voice sounded again. But this time, her voice was filled with curiosity.
Midoriya turned his head towards her. She smiled at him with that beautiful smile that made his heart flutter. He smiled back slightly and tried to calm himself down. In any case, he needed to respond to her.
"Yes, you know..." He briefly looked at the walls and then back at her face, "These walls are very interesting, especially the drawings, see?"
Ochako looked at the walls carefully, her eyes gliding over the erased drawings, but she seemed to quickly become bored and looked back at him.
"Yes, indeed.. quite interesting," her smile slightly faltered, and Yraraka pushed him closer to everyone, away from the walls. She, as they moved away from the drawings, began to bounce and chatter about the place again.
Midoriya sighed and walked with her. Why wasn't he being understood?
After a couple of minutes of walking and listening to Ochako's half-hearted conversation about the temple, their group came to a sudden halt. Midoriya stopped with them and looked around.
They were now in a very large hallway, and he would have said it was a huge room if it weren't for its length. He turned on his flashlight and shined it on the ceiling. The ceiling was also adorned with strange designs.
What were these drawings? He had never seen this style before. His father was a bit of an archaeologist. He often told stories to him and Kacchan. Kacchan loved it, but Izuku didn't like the stories at all. He liked archaeology, but the cursed things, the people buried alive, and more made him feel disgusted and afraid.
CRUNCH
Suddenly, his foot stepped on something. The sound of something crunching under his red shoes. He lowered his flashlight, and there... a shed snake skin? Izuku's eyes widened.
What–
"Hey, guys! Look!"
Midoriya jerked his head up at the sound of Kaminari's excited voice. The yellow-haired boy was pointing his flashlight at one of the walls. They all looked at each other and ran over to him. Izuku took one last look at the snakeskin before running up to them as well.
At first, Izuku didn't understand what it was on the wall, and he narrowed his eyes to try to make it out. But then, when Kacchan and Shoto also turned on their flashlights, he could see it. And oh, it was something.
There was a giant snake painted on the wall. The colors were faded, but the outline was still visible. It was a black outline with large red eyes. The snake opened its mouth, revealing its sharp teeth. The sight was both fascinating and terrifying. However, there were also runes above the drawing.
'त्वं सर्वकालस्य अत्यन्तं भयानकः जीवः अस्ति। भवतः पलायनस्य उपायः नास्ति। अस्माभिः विनाशं मा करोतु, अस्माभिः क्षेत्राणि मा मा मा करोतु, मा करोतु।'¹
"What do you think these runes mean?", Ochako pointed to the inscriptions above the racine and looked at everyone with confusion, waiting for ideas from them. Everyone just shook their heads.
"Most likely something creepy and cursed," Kacchan grinned and looked directly at Izuku. Izuku shuddered, and memories of his father's creepy stories flashed through his mind, but he quickly suppressed them.
Now it's clear who was the organizer of all this - Kacchan. It was unclear why. Was his friend trying to make fun of him?
Shoto coughed, drawing everyone's attention, "Let's keep moving," he said, waving his hand and shining his flashlight ahead.
Midoriya reluctantly followed them. The place was starting to make him feel uneasy. However, things took a turn for the worse when the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He felt someone staring at him. He turned around, but couldn't see anything in the darkness.
"Deku, why did you stop? Did you see a ghost?" Kacchan chuckled again, and Iida scolded him for saying that.
Izuku didn't say anything, he wasn't interested in the blond's sarcasm. He was interested in who was watching him. Or was he being paranoid? Yes, most likely.
But the thought of being paranoid began to fade quickly. Midoriya felt the gaze again and again, although each time he turned around, he saw nothing. But he was certain that someone was watching him! Only once did he notice a flash of red, but he wasn't sure what it was.
Izuku, not noticing how everyone had stopped, ran into Ochako's back. He quickly apologized, which the brunette responded with a smile, and then looked through her at what everyone was looking at. It was a door. A very beautiful-looking stone door. But while Izuku thought it was the patterns on it, it turned out that the door was decorated with stone snakes. More snakes? Oh, Izuku was skeptical about them, even a little afraid...
"Well, who's first?" asked Kaminari enthusiastically. Everyone went silent, and Kaminari's smile faltered.
Midoriya noticed the uncertainty and curiosity on his friends' faces. None of them dared to open the door, let alone be the first. Unlike them, Izuku didn't want to go in at all.
There was a long, tense silence. His childhood friend glared at everyone, and then, unfortunately for Izuku, his gaze settled on him. Not him!
Kacchan abruptly approached him and grabbed his arm, pulling him roughly. Midoriya let out a small scream and tried to pull his arm free from the other's grip. But the grip was too strong, and Izuku was not known for his strength.
"Kacchan, what are you doing?!" he protested, and then he realized with horror what the blond was doing. He wanted Izuku to go in first.
"Deku, shut up. I'm just helping you get over your stupid fear," he said irritably, and pushed him towards the door. Before Izuku could protest, the door suddenly moved.
This door had a strange mechanism, and as soon as Izuku was pushed through it, the door turned on the spot and within a second he was surrounded by darkness. He blinked, trying to adjust to the darkness, but to no avail. It was indeed very dark in here. There was also a strange smell. The smell of grass and something else. Just what?
"Hey Bakugou, what did you do!?" Iida's displeased voice was heard outside the door, and Izuku mentally asked if Iida could have thought of this before?? Well, at least Tenya was worried about his well-being.
"Izuku! Are you okay?" Ochako called from the other side. Izuku went to the door, tried to turn it so that the mechanism would work, but it didn't work.
He gulped, and the thought came to his mind that the door would not work anymore, that he would not get out of here. He would die here. More and more terrible thoughts came to mind and did not go away, but he tried to calm himself.
Breathe, Izuku, do not panic. Maybe Ochako is also at the door, and two people cannot be at the door? Now the mechanism will work, and he will be able to get out.
"O-Ochako, I'm fine! It's very dark in here! And there's a strange smell..."
"A smell?" asked Shoto, his voice tinged with concern.
"Y-Yes! Listen, get away from the door! I don't like it here!", Izuku shouted and tried to push the door open again, but it wouldn't go. His anxiety spiked, and he tried again, but it didn't work.
"Izuku?" came Iida's voice. He sounded worried too. And definitely not for nothing.
Midoriya tried to calm down again, but his heartbeat was racing. He sniffled, holding back tears, and shouted at them to make sure they heard him.
"The door won't open!"
There was silence on the other side at first, and then he felt the door being pushed. He foolishly thought that his friends would be able to get him back, but the door still wouldn't open.
"Midoriya, we can't, the door seems to be stuck!" exclaimed a now very worried Kaminari. Izuku's breathing became ragged with panic.
And then he suddenly heard a sound. A strange sound, like someone or something... was crawling? He turned around quickly, but he couldn't see anything. It was completely dark. And the unknown was terrifying. Izuku felt like a blind kitten in this terrible room. In this terrible temple!
"Guys, there's something moving around in here!" he shouted through the door, and he felt more and stronger pushes on the door.
"Deku, this is not fucking funny!" Kacchan shouted angrily, but it was clear that he was scared.
"Izuku, you have a flashlight!"
Midoriya, upon hearing Ochako's words, almost slapped himself on the forehead. The flashlight! He had completely forgotten about it in his panic! He pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and held it tightly with trembling hands, afraid of dropping it. After all, he had seen movies where there were bugs crawling on the floor and bones in such rooms. Fortunately, there were no sounds of bugs. He finally managed to turn on the flashlight.
He raised it, first looking at the ceiling and walls, and then the light fell on the floor, and he saw...
....an enormous snake nearby. If the python is considered the largest snake in the world, then Izuku can refute that. The snake in front of him was twice as big, if not three times...
Midoriya gasped, pressed himself against the door, and stared at the snake with primal terror. The snake stared back at him with its red eyes. The snake was very long, black with long gray spots near its head.
The sight was terrifying, but the worst part was that the snake was crawling towards him. Slowly, but it was crawling.
Izuku opened his mouth, but no sound came out at first. Then, in a hoarse voice, he began to mutter quickly.
"T-There's a s-snake here, oh my God t-there's a s-snake here..."
“What? Deku, what the hell are you talking about!?", Kacchan asked him irritably. The lump came closer to Midoriya's throat. He pressed himself harder against the wall and continued to mumble, and his friends continued to ask again.
Eventually, the snake opened its mouth, revealing sharp teeth, and Izuku finally had a voice. He screamed.
"A snake! There's a snake here! There's a huge snake here! O-Oh my God, it's crawling towards me! I-It's huge! It's twice the size of a python! Help! Let me out!"
Izuku started banging on the door, trying to move it. He prayed that the mechanism would work! But the door didn't move. It remained stubbornly in place. The banging stopped on the other side as everyone felt Izuku's strong and desperate pushes. It took a few minutes for them to realize the seriousness and horror of the situation when Midoriya screamed again.
"Help me! I-It's true, there's a huge snake! I'm going to die!" the cries of pleading turned into sobs, the pushes became weak, and now he was scratching the stone weakly, his forehead pressed against the cold door.
"I-Izuku! Wait! The boys will try to push the door together!" Ochako shouted at him. Her voice was trembling terribly, and she sounded like she was crying. No wonder, Izuku was already sobbing uncontrollably.
Midoriya went down and sat, leaning against the door. He looked at the snake with teary eyes. The creature crept closer to him, and he whimpered. The snake paused for a moment, then turned its head, or so Izuku thought.
The animal didn't move anymore and just looked at him, and Midoriya looked back. The shoving and shouting from his friends outside the door faded into the background as he focused on the snake. The creature turned its head to the side and looked at the door, then made a strange sound, almost like a chuckle.
Izuku blinked and then clenched his teeth. Snakes can't chuckle. His panic was making him see things. Snakes can't do that. And yet it grinned?
The animal did nothing else. It didn't move towards him, just stared at him with red glowing narrow eyes. It was as if it was studying him. Izuku even began to doubt the danger of the snake. Maybe everything would be all right, and the gods had heard his pleas?
But of course, no one heard his pleas.
"Guys, the snake isn't moving! I think–" Midoriya's speech was abruptly cut off for one reason. The snake abruptly attacked him, its teeth sinking into his right leg. The pain pierced and spread throughout his body. Was it a venomous snake? Would he die?
Izuku screamed in pain, in fear. He continued to scream and didn't hear his friends' frightened words, didn't feel the frantic pounding on the door. All he could focus on was the pain. The excruciating pain that pierced every bone in his body. The pain that could drive him insane if it continued for just a little longer.
It was a pain he had never experienced before.
His scream stopped when his vocal cords became too sore, his strength began to fade rapidly. Most likely, the effect of the poison is to immobilize the victim. Izuku remembered snakes from biology. After being poisoned, these creatures wrapped themselves around their victims, strangled them, and then swallowed them whole.
So no one would find him? Even his body won't be found and his mom won't be able to see her son's body?
Izuku looked down at his foot. There's blood on his right leg, on his shin, and his jeans are ripped. The blood was dripping slowly, and there were two holes in the meat from the snake's fangs. The sight made his stomach turn.
He whimpered more when he saw the black creature slowly wrapping itself around him. The cold scales made him shiver. He's about to be strangled.
Midoriya gathered his last strength into a fist, but not in order to free himself - there is no point in that. He's going to die of poison anyway. No, he shouted to his friends.
"A-A snake bit me! It's poisonous! I-I can't feel my leg anymore! I-I'm dying..."
Izuku's voice grew fainter with each word, and his vision began to blur. The flashlight that he had been clutching in his hand all the time fell out and rolled away from him. He couldn't see the snake, but he could feel it. He didn't want to feel like he was being strangled, so he succumbed to fatigue and lost consciousness.
He did not hear the frightened screams of his friends, nor did he feel the weight of the snake abruptly disappear. And he didn't feel like someone picked him up and carried him.
When the door opened under the boys' force, there was no one in the room. None of them could find Izuku or the door through which he might have been taken. The only sign that their friend had been there was his abandoned flashlight.
And the blood on the floor.