The End Of All Things (An Arrow: Season 8 Fanfiction)

Chapter 7: A Rather Indiana Jones-like Trip

The inner walls of Nanda Parbat... 

'Wow,' Thea said sarcastically. 'Love what they haven't done with the place.' I laughed. 

'This is some Indiana Jones shit right here,' I quipped. Talia led the way with a torch in hand. 

'Assuming the Karan Shah hasn't been plundered, we're likely to find what we're looking for in "The Chronicles of Al-Fatih". He was the first Ra's al Ghul. According to legend, he was bestowed primordial knowledge by the sky gods. Now my father kept a secret room with his most valued possessions, including information on Al-Fatih.' We stopped in front of a wall and Talia reached forward, pressing a rock into the wall, and the rock slid in, forcing the wall to open. 

'Oh, yep, definitely Indiana Jones,' I said. 'Props to the League, they really know how to hide stuff.' We walked down a corridor and into another room. 

'Looks like we're too late,' Oliver said, looking around the deserted room. 

'Not necessarily,' Talia replied, picking up a seemingly ancient scroll that was sitting on the casket in the middle of the room. Talia unrolled it, letting out a laugh. ' "The Chronicles of Al-Fatih",' she said. 

'So the looters just happened to leave behind the one thing we're looking for?' Thea asked confusedly. 

'Because the thieves did not consider it to be of value,' Talia replied. 

'Right. What's it say?' Oliver asked. Thea leaned down to look at it. 

'The phoenix is reborn in the fire. The path to your destiny follows me.' She looked back up at us, and Oliver and I looked at each other. 

'Speedy, you just read Arabic,' Oliver said. 

'You both speak Russian,' she replied. 

'But what does it mean?' Talia asked. 

'To join the League,' Oliver replied, 'your old self must die so your new one can be reborn.' He picked up the torch. 'Oh. We need to burn the scroll.' Talia frowned at him. 

'The scroll is centuries-old.' 

'Yeah.' Oliver touched the torch to the paper and it burned. When it finished burning, it was nothing more than a lump of black, but as if by magic, a small silver ball appeared next to the scroll. We all looked down at it. 

'Al-Fatih took great pains to hide his secrets,' Talia said, 'lest he is betrayed.' She picked up the ball, examining it. 'I believe this leads to Al-Fatih's tomb. It stands to reason that he would attempt to take his secrets with him beyond the grave.' 

'So it's a scavenger hunt,' I said. 

'So it would appear so, yes,' Talia replied. 

'Why can't everything just be easy?' Thea groaned. 

'Actually, your situation is more difficult than you think,' a voice said, and the owner of the voice marched into the room that we were in with several men in black. 

'Athena,' Talia said. 

'You have always been treacherous, Talia,' Athena hissed, 'but bringing outsiders into our sacred heart is a betrayal of the highest order.' She looked at the ball in Talia's hands. 'I'll take that. Relinquish it or perish.' 

'As you wish,' Talia said and tossed her the ball. 

'Attack them!' Athena cried out, and we launched into the fray with her soldiers in black.