Buried Demon

Chapter 10

The passage continued on for about five meters before turning left. I turned the corner and there was a light at the end of the passage and the draft we felt got significantly stronger.

I walked faster, wanting to find what was at the end. I soon emerged into a spacious square room. The first thing I saw when I looked in was a staircase on the opposite side of the room. I walked over to it and walked up it. It ended at a slab of rock from which came the wind we had felt. I pushed on it and it slid sideways surprisingly easily, letting in a cascade of sand that had been covering the outside of the slab. Shining my light around the hall I had come out in, I recognized the inside of a pyramid Rachel had insisted we visit when we fisrt got here. I was surprised at how well hidden the trap door was since it had never been found before.

I pulled it closed again and walked back down the stairs. When I reentered the room, Rachel and Charles lantern where near the right wall and on the wall was a pair of beautiful white wings with red markings along the edges and They seemed to be about the same length as Seth's. They were pinned to the wall by four swords, two in each wing and streched out to their full length.

I reached out my hand and brushed my fingers against the silky smooth feathers and to my amazement, they felt extremely soft. My eyes soon came to the end of the wings where they would normally connect with the body and the flesh and bone there looked like they had been broken and ripped off from whatever they where on.

A thought suddenly stuck me and my face paled. Seth had wings and he said that Tyler was like him, could these be his wings? I felt like throwing up as I thought of how bad it must have hurt to have then ripped off like that. I could only imagine that it must feel like having your arms ripped off but then again, I didn't have wings so I had nothing to base myself off of.

"Don't touch anything, I'll be right back." I said.

I ran out of the room, through the passage and back out of the rooms the workers where currently in then out of the hole. I sprinted back to my tent but stopped short of the door, remembering the state I had last seen Tyler in and not wanting to scare him again.

"Seth...?" I said softly, hoping he would hear me.

After a few seconds, the flap opened and Seth appeared.

"What?" He hissed.

"Umm... we found something I think your gonna want to see." I answered.

"I'm kinda busy right now."

"Yeah but this is important, trust me."

"Fine!" He grumbled before stepping out and closing up behind him.

I heard him whisper something before a blue shimmering force field appeared over my tent.

"What's that for?" I questioned.

"To make sure he doesn't run away. He is not in a state to take care of himself right now." He explained.

"Ok... Anyway, let's go."

I turned and started to run back towards the hole and I knew he was easily keeping up with me. We soon reached it and made our way inside. I guided him into the passageway and to the square room Rachel and Charles where still waiting in.

I entered and moved aside, letting Seth enter and see the wings. His eyes locked on them immediately and all color drained from his face. He walked towards them slowly until he could run his hands along the wings much like I had done earlier. He was shaking slightly and cursing under his breath.

He turned around and started passing back and forth before punching the wall violently, causing cracks to spread on the wall. He grabbed hold of one of the wings and yanked the swords out of it, tossing them down and handing the wing to Charles who was standing next to him.

"Be careful with that. I will kill you if you so much as ruffle a single feather." He threatened.

"Yes sir." Charles answered.

Seth removed the second wing from the wall and taking the first one back from Charles, carrying them with care layed across both his arms. He navigated his way out as I followed him but almost lost him when he flew out of the hole where I had to climb out slowly. I ran as fast as I could after him and caught up to him just as he reached my tent. He managed to open it and walked in, as I went to follow, I hit an invisible wall.

"Stay out. This is none of your business." He said before closing the tent.

I stood outside for a while before I turned around and went back to the hole but did not go in, standing on the edge and looking in. Charles and Rachel soon came out and joined me.

"What happened?" Charles asked.

"He told me to stay out. That it was none of my business... and he's right. Tell everyone to stay away from my tent until further notice." I informed them.

"Ok we will... you need a place to stay tonight?" Charles asked.

"Yeah in fact, I do." I answered.

"Ok then your staying with me tonight boss." He said, trying to cheer me up in his own weird way, but it wasn't working.

"Thanks Charles... I'm gonna go get something to eat." I said before leaving them.

I quickly found the food I wanted and sat at the single table that we had set up in case someone wanted to eat outside rather then in their tent. I stated eating and noticed that it was already close to sunset and I knew the workers would be here soon to raid the food table, but I didn't feel like moving. Soon enough, they came and I received multiple curious glances mixed in with the occasional worried one, until Charles and Rachel appeared at the table and glared at them until they walked away.

"You ok? You don't look so good." Rachel asked softly.

"Yeah... I just hope their both ok... I'm worried, that's all." I said, although I knew that that wasn't the only reason why, I didn't know why Seth's rejection hurt so much.

I thought back to the short time I had spent with Seth and couldn't understand why it meant so much to me. Then, a thought came to my mind, those sparks I had felt when touching Seth... what wher they? Was it a normal occurrence amongst his people? Probably. Although I had yet to make skin contact with Tyler as I had always had a gauze between my hand and his skin, I could already imagine that I would probably feel the same sparks with him.

After we ate in silence, I accompanied Charels to him tent and we parted ways with Rachel. It was still rather early, but for some reason I felt completely drained. Since I had been thrown out of my tent so abruptly, I had not been able to grab any of my personal effects and just crashed on one side of Charels's bed, clothes and all, and fell into a fitful sleep.