Ariel - Sirius The Jaeger - 1215 Fanfiction

Episode 8

I turned from the stones of the hill to the sky behind me. The boat was now far behind us, as was the city that we had crossed through to get to the village at the top of this mountain. Unfortunately, since no one even knew this place existed anymore, we all had to walk up steep and relatively dangerous hills to get to our destination.
It did seem like there used to be a path leading up to small town, but now it was covered in dirt and covered with debris. Little weeds were forcing their way to the light, and I could only imagine how once upon a time, this place was full of life and happiness. I sighed, paying no attention to my next step, my foot landed on a loose rock and as it rolled under my foot I yelped when my body began to fall forward.
"Whoa-" I gasped lightly, clinging onto the arm that saved me from a possible broken bone as I straightened myself out.
Philip looked at me wearily and I pushed him away from me even though I didn't want him to let go, "You're dozing off again." He commented.
"I'm fine, but thanks anyways."
When we made it to our destination, you could see the ruins of old houses, skeleton bones scattered and some half buried in the ground.
All these people died, and for what? This stupid arc thing?
"Dogville huh?" Philip began, looking around with a hand on his hip, "So this is the village Yuliy and the Sirius were from."
"With a place as beat up as this... it's no wonder nobody could find it." Fallon mumbled, a depressed tone in his voice.
Couldn't find it? I thought, More like didn't want to.
"According to the text, what we are looking for is around here." Willard began, but I payed no mind to what he was saying, making sure I didn't step on any bones or a possession that somehow may have survived the crisis that occurred here all those years ago.
"Well then, should we split up into groups?"
"What for?" Philip asked.
"We have to burry them." She replied, a saddened look on her face as she turned to look back at the skulls staring back at her.
"Alright then. Just leave the heavy lifting to me." Fallon nodded, being the first to take a step forward.
I hate this, I grumbled under my breath as I followed the others, I've always been weakest when facing the dead.

About an hour later, while Fallon and Dorothea were finishing up what was now a graveyard, I held an old dagger that I found under some of the rubble. The handle was like something out of a fantasy book, and even the blade had curved carvings in it to make it look all the more magical. Even though it was dull and covered in rock hard dirt, I wanted to take it back with me.
I looked up from the blade as footsteps crunched on the rocks behind me, "Hey, Dorothea and Fallon are just about done now. We're meeting back up with Willard."
"This is horrible." I began quietly, the sky was still void of crows and even though the sun was out, the ruins of this village were all just different shades of grey.
"Huh?"
"What happened to these people, I mean. All victims of vampires, it's horrible. I've never lost anyone close to me because of them, and I couldn't imagine how painful it would be. Vampires have always been so real to me, that I never really feared them."
"I'd say that's a good thing... but I don't really think it is. But you know, Ariel, just because you haven't lost anyone doesn't mean you can't feel compassion. Now come on, lets head back."
I smiled, surprised Philip hadn't let his short temper shoot out on me yet, I had to have been annoying to him.
"Yeah, lets go."

-

I stood still, staring with a dead expression down at the steep stair case below me, that no doubt led at least a hundred or so feet below us to what was probably a couple century year old catacomb.
This place is really testing me, isn't it? I asked myself, my eyebrow twitching slightly as I tried to push away my fears of getting trapped in the deep underground to die so we could get on with this mission.
"Ariel! You comin' or what?!" Fallon yelled after me, his voice echoed and I flinched.
Groaning, I clenched my fists and began my way down, unconsciously holding my breath as I scurried down the steps to meet up with the others.
"It doesn't look like any ones been down here in ages." Fallon commented as I came out into a slightly lighter part of the cave, it's walls were lined with stone bricks and Philip glanced back at me as I scanned for any creepy crawlies.
"How on earth did the vampires miss this place?"
"Since the arc wasn't placed on an alter out front, they must have thought this was an ordinary grave." Willard answered, stepping forward and placing his hand on an odd looking portion of the wall. "If my interpretation of the ancient text is correct..." The professor trailed off, and I watched as he turned a circular piece in the wall so that the carved lines all connected, before pressing in a bunch of circles.
A secret door?
"Hey guys?" Dorothea asked, and my head whipped around to look at her, a wave of fear of a possible monster blocking the entrance to the arc overcoming me, but she was just calling on Philip and Fallon who had wandered off looking at other things.
Willard had unlocked the door, and it fell into the ground below us to reveal yet another set of stairs going even farther downwards.
Seriously? I sighed, reluctantly going in front of Philip when he gestured for me to go first.

I stayed close to Philip and ignored Willard's explanations about all of the history of this sanctuary and alter of the arc. I looked around, hoping there wasn't any booby traps added in with the already scary enough dark stair cases.
Philip glanced back at me again and I straightened up, trying to pretend like nothing was wrong. The young male rose a brow, but he decided to leave me be, turning back to Willard who pulled the arc out of this weird looking statue thing.
"This orb will break the arcs seal in the true sanctuary. He's going to need this. We have to get this to Yuliy immediately."
"Perfect!" I blurted out, quickly clearing my throat afterwards when everyone turned to give me odd looks, "I uh- I'll lead the way out."

"Are you insane?!" Philip screamed, the wind was wild at the high altitude that Fallon had brought the plane too, and I giggled in response to Philip's obvious worry.
"This is way better than being underground!" I replied, turning to face him, my hair blew all to one side and Philip seemed frozen for a moment.
"Hands and feet inside the plane you lunatic!" He quickly grabbed my arms, pulling my closer to him when he snapped out of his little daze. I sighed, though decided not to make him worry any more, and sat back to rearrange my hair in attempt to make it not look like I just stuck my head out of a plane.
"I can't believe you." Philip grumbled, his arms crossed.
"I was fine, Philip. I wouldn't have fallen out. Besides, you were right there to help if something did happen."
Dorothea chuckled, as Philip's ears turned red, "Now, now, Philip is right. We could all see you were uncomfortable with being underground in the catacombs, but giving Philip a heart attack isn't worth the experience of sticking your head out of a plane."
I pouted, glancing at Philip before swallowing my pride and forcing the words out of my mouth, "Sorry, Phil." I whispered.
His eyes widened and his head snapped over to face me, "I-it's- I... apology accepted!"