The legend of cursed temple

When I was young, my father always used to tell me that the best profession on the planet was being an archaeologist. The fact that he was one before his death probably explains his admiration for the job. He was so dedicated to it, that every time he came back home, he always brought with him a piece of his discovery. It can be easily imagined how our house looked like with all the ancient articles and stuff.

But probably, that’s the reason why I became an archaeologist with a degree in Literature. I became fascinated with it too.

He used to say that his work may entail long hours of digging and getting dirty and sweaty in the mud and the sun, but the end results and discoveries take all the tiredness away. We get to discover a new world, a new life or a new object that’s worth our time and effort. Something that the earth had preserved for a long time, unknown to humanity. Something that tells us about the long-lost tracts and tradition of the world.

Another reason why he loved his profession was his theory of a one-in-a-million chance. A change that we get in two places at the same time.

Even though I was small back then, I didn’t believe his words. That was something impossible in my opinion back then. Teleportation and out-of-body experience are just a figment of human imagination. They aren’t real or are they?

I lost my parents in a tragic car accident one summer. Me taking my profession as an archaeologist makes me feel closer to my family in a wider way.

I had experienced unexpected things happening around me since I was small. Weird flashes of memories which were mostly unclear. I had been accustomed to them and grew up with them. I didn’t want to ruin my daily life with it.

Now I am sitting in a cafe near my house as the environment gave me time to ponder more on my upcoming research near a small mountain village in the Eastern Ghats.

My team will depart in two weeks. It would be a week-long expedition. There will also be a local archaeology group waiting for us. They would provide us with all we need. It was a big project for us. We got the information about a very large area, which has remained covered by vegetation for centuries now. The files emailed also informed the presence of a large temple situated there centuries ago. A temple is said to be the heart of all the villages and forests there. The urban legend informs the presence of many supernatural occuring there after the temple was demolished during the british invasion.

I switched my laptop on and started researching for anything I could find regarding this weird temple.I was just as clueless as a newborn baby about this particular area. Ultimately, in the end, it left me feeling unsatisfied with more questions piling up in my head.

The weeks passed fairly quickly and it was finally the day. We reached there and saw a bus ready to take our crew to the excavation point. 

When we neared the bus, my coworkers were the first one to climb up the vehicle, while I lingered in the opening for god knows why. I was procrastinating as usual.

I was pulled out of my daze when the driver beeped the horn and made me enter the vehicle. I immediately nodded feeling slightly embarrassed for delaying our time and speedily climbed up to the three-step stairs.

I found the seat beside my co-worker empty, near the window, so I sat there. She gave me a questioning look which I just smiled assuring her of there being no problem.

It has been an hour or two since we got on the bus. Most of our team was smiling openly and were very excited. The view was beautiful as they all witnessed the untouched beauty of the mountains.

After some time, the bus came to a halt in an underdeveloped road. The driver said that we will have to go by walking from here. No one complained. I most excitedly came out of the bus and quickly surveyed the area as the thrill of the excavation was pushing aside the odd feeling I was getting throughout the journey. 

The tribe compound where we would be spending the night was just located a short walk away from the bus. Once inside there, the tribesmen immediately welcomed our team with drums and their traditional dancing.

Our program kicked off after a short introduction. I was really excited with all the maps laid out in front of me. I was curious to know more about this place.

All the plans were ready. We had marked all the routes and were excited to start our research in the morning.

I sat alone on a wooden bench a couple of feet away from a bonfire set by my co-workers. I just finished my dinner and decided to spend my early evening in the courtyard.

Wrapping myself with a small quilt while holding a mug of milk was the best idea to chase away the cold wind of the night.

We were in the mountain area, so it was expected that the temperature would drop more than usual. I wasn’t bothered by the temperature though. Just seeing the sea of stars and the mystical full moon like this was just pure awesome.

Tomorrow will be another new experience. Tomorrow we are going to the place where the ancient temple was situated centuries ago, and I can not wait for it. 

An elder of the village came and sat beside me. He asked me about what other places I have been to before. It was nice talking to him. He was giving a lot of information about the possible danger we could face in the mountain and which places should be avoided the most due to difficult areas present on the mountain. 

After a long talk when everyone decided to go to bed he told me about a very famous urban legend the people of the village believed. 

The story is about the hidden western wing of the temple which people believe was destroyed during the british invasion but in reality they were even unable to go near it. It is said to be situated in the deepest part of the jungle. The rest of the temple sat on top of the mountain, ruined from the gruesome act of the past. 

This was getting exciting for me so I continued listening to it. I had already thought of searching for this western wing of the temple as it was not marked on the maps we were provided. The location of the other three wings were marked on it but they were destroyed. The only thing that remained was the main building of the temple, which was also in ruins. 

The village elder looked at me as if knowing what my thoughts were. He stopped mid way and I could see it in his eyes. There was something and between fear and certainty he whispered to me "the western wing is cursed… " I gave him a questioning look. 

He elaborated "You are not the first one who thought of searching for this western wing. There  were many who came before you but no one came back from there. There were many groups of paranormal investigators who went there but none returned. The few that did survive had lost their mind and never recovered, hanging themselves at the end as they could no longer bear the secrets of what they saw. " 

I couldn't sleep that night properly. The gut wrenching feeling paired with the urban legend told me to not risk it. But the thrill of it was forcing me to do it. I decided to not let anyone know about it. 

The next morning we all provided as we had planned. Starting from the main building, we focused only on the surrounding area.

After working the whole morning it was finally time for a break. We all sat down, discussing the next place to check. 

It was really exciting. We had many findings. There were copper plates and small statues that got buried during the years. There were even many jewelries that we found near an area where the actual statue of the goddess was supposed to be. 

I was documenting all the findings in my tent when the village elder came to me and said, "It was a good choice." 

He handed me a small camera saying it was one of the adventures who according to him had survived from the western wing. He got out of the forest but unfortunately didn't survive long. Placing the camera in my hand the village elder left. 

I stared at the camera for a long time trying to decide where it was worth it or not but was interrupted by one of my co-worker entering. I decided not to watch it. 

The excavation was going on smoothly as the days passed. On the sixth day I had a nightmare where I found myself in an unknown place. It was a small tunnel and I could hear whispering of someone getting closer. I kept on walking towards the voice only to be woken up by a loud scream. I knew it was some kind of a psychological state which was pushing me into this dark maze of illusion.

After experiencing this for the whole week I finally decided to give it a try. I plugged the camera into my work laptop and to my surprise I found it was a video of four friends who were able to locate this enigmatic place. As I proceeded to watch it I was shocked by what I saw. 

They all were trying to survive an unknown entity trying to catch them. Three of them were killed brutally and the person who survived barely managed to get out. There were wild animals behaving as if they were possessed or following someone's order. 

The video left me speechless. But somewhere I wasn’t ready to believe whatever I saw. Meanwhile, I decided to watch it again. The camera was recording every single thing. It is generally difficult to think about creating memories when your life is at stake.

I also noticed the place again,it was far different from the surroundings of this village. It didn’t even seem to be part of this forest. I mean of course, we have only been here for a few days but this place is now somewhat familiar to me. But, not the one I saw in the camera.

After contemplating for hours, I got to know that it was part of a movie.The villagers have used this to drive away all the people who seem to be promoting modern ideas and beliefs. They wanted to keep all the antique stuff as they thought it belonged to them. 

I thought of confronting the village elder about whatever I got to know from the video. He was perplexed. He suddenly got angry and asked, how did I dare to not believe him.

I took his hand and made him sit on the wooden block which was kept there. "We are not here to change you. We are here to explore the unexplored places as it's part of our job. With our studies and research, people read about history and our culture. We pretty much want the same thing, don’t we?"

He nodded calmly. "I am sorry for trying to drive you away but everyone does not come with the same intention as you, we have already suffered a lot in the past", he said.

We had some chit-chat about his past experiences and then finally he was ready to be our guide and show everything we wanted to see and know about.

The expedition came to an end and for me, it was no less than an adventure.

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