Warriors (OH HOLD)

Chapter Fifteen~ The Temple

Jeriah wakes up the night after his encounter with Mianite from a nightmare. A nightmare of shadows and voices, screaming for him to help them. But he couldn't. His feet were encased in stone, and every time a shadow or scream stops, the stone crawls up his legs. He awoke when the stone had almost encased his mouth and nose, suffocating him. He sat up in his bed, looking around his room, adjusting his eyes to the darkness. 

The first thing he sees is moonlight from his window reflecting off of the dagger on his nightstand. The blade of the dagger was pointing west, the way it was pointing yesterday. The curiosity was eating away at him. This dagger could lead him on an adventure, or to a treasure, or even... a way home. But wishful thinking never helped anyone. It was time to figure out where it lead once and for all. 

Jeriah stood up and put on his clothes, minus his red jacket and hat. He grabbed the blade from the nightstand and held the point out in front of him. Quietly, he slipped into his boots and pushed his door open. 

Out in the hallway, it was dark all except for the moonlight shining in from the window at the end of the hall. All of the other doors are shut. Dec was very superstitious, and believed that leaving the door open when you sleep was bad luck. He and Mot always thought it was ridiculous, but humored him by keeping their doors shut. 

The dagger pointed down the hall and out of the house. Jeriah snuck quietly down the hall, wincing whenever a floorboard creaked under his foot. What would he say if someone saw him sneaking out? Would he tell the truth about the dagger, or try and lie his way out of it? He was always a horrible liar, that was more Mot's thing. He stopped walking for second, right in front of the stairwell going down. Jeriah debated in his head whether it was worth it to keep going. Mot had been caught sneaking out once, and he got in all kinds of trouble. And Jeriah prided himself in not being a troublemaker. But he would have no other chance to follow this path. He pushed the consequences of getting caught to the back of his mind, putting a foot out to walk down the stairs. 

Suddenly, Jeriah heard a slight creaking sound behind him. He whipped around, scanning the hall for anyone, or anything. Despite being fifteen years old and taught to be mature from a young age, sounds in the night still terrified him, even if nothing was there. Especially if nothing is there. And there was nothing behind him in the moonlit hall. 

Jeirah cautiously turned back around and crept almost silently down the stairs and to the front door when he heard a voice from behind him. 

"Where ya going?" 

Jeriah jumped slightly and dropped the knife on the ground. The point spun until it pointed west again. Jeriah whipped around to who was talking to him, nervous it was Dec. 

Instead, a little girl in a pink nightgown stood there. Alyssa. She was twirling a strand of her chestnut hair around her tanned skinned finger. Jeriah let out a sigh of relief. Just Alyssa. He tried to calm his racing heart. Like mentioned before, he was easily scared by noises in the night. he rolled his eyes and put his hands on his hips, looking down at Alyssa. 

"Alyssa! What are you doing out of bed this late?!" Jeriah whispered at the girl. "Do you know what kind of trouble you'll get in if Dec were to wake up and see you out of bed!" 

"I could ask the same to you, Jeriah. You'd get in trouble, too," she said. Jeriah hushed her, hearing a creak from upstairs. He heard footsteps across the floor above him. He looked at Alyssa with wide eyes, who returned the look. After a minute, upstairs was quiet again. Jeriah let out the breath he had been holding. Alyssa looked down, and noticed the dagger glinting behind the older boy's foot. "What's that?" she asked. Jeriah looked around, not sure what she meant, when Alyssa crawled forward and grabbed the dagger from behind his boot. Her eyes widened again and a devious smirk spread across her face.