The Nightmare Beneath the Sand

The Nightmare Beneath the Sand 5

Part Length: 1312
Total Words as of Part 5: 7373

Staring at the house that they had been sent to, Leon leant forward in the seat and squinted at the rather worn out home. It was well built, having been done with the weather of the lands in mind, but it still looked worn. Old. The shutters were still very obviously strong, made from steel, but some of the walls were worn smooth. There looked to be supplies to reapply the outer layers of the walls near the building but didn't look to be used yet.

"Are we sure this is the place?" Leon asked, looking to Alaric.

"Yes. The nice woman who talked with me came up to me earlier when we were gathering the supplies with the students and gave me the address," he replied. "It is good that Kran went back with the students and allowed us to stay here for more 'research'," he mused.

"Professor Kran doesn't want to listen to us about what is in that damn maze," Leon stated, pushing open the half-door to the Jeep and jumping down. "He can't afford to. The backers are pushing this, and I am not happy about this at all," he admitted. "It feels wrong."

"Do you think that they know something about where we are?" Alaric asked as he got out of the driver's side door, moving to the back to get one of the jugs of water. The woman had suggested they take large jugs of water and some of the canned goods to the man as a thank you gift for talking to them. Leon had made sure to stock up on quite a bit of said canned goods while Alaric had paid for the two five gallon jugs of water.

"I have a feeling that they do," Leon said, grabbing one of the flats of canned goods, hauling it to the front door. A man of about thirty, with darkly tanned skin opened the door as they walked up and raised one thick eyebrow before stepping back, letting them haul the things into the house. Once the last of the canned goods and water jugs were in the house, he closed the door, the two sighing at the instant coolness the moment the door was closed.

The man chuckled. "I may live on the outskirts, but the house was built to draw cool air from the caves far below me to keep the home cool during the hot summer days," he said, nodding to floor vents with wire mesh over them. "I hear that you look to find out about the maze that your team is now digging up."

Leon and Alaric shared a look. "I take it that you knew what was going down the moment that we started researching?" Leon finally asked. The man nodded. "I'm Leon, and this is Alaric."

"I am Dakarai. It is a pleasure to meet you, despite the circumstances that brought you here," Dakarai said, nodding his head. "I am the head of the history of our city."

They both bowed their heads when offered seats and cold glasses of a simple tea, settling at the table with the man. "That was what the woman who sent us here told me," Alaric admitted. "She said you would be able to tell us the missing pieces in our research. That as the Head that you had knowledge that was hidden."

"I hear that you have found five of the tablets that were scattered by the original holders, yes?" he asked, Leon nodding and smacking his head.

"Let me get the file. I left it in the jeep," Leon said, standing and heading out, coming back with the file quickly enough. Sitting down, he spread out the pictures of the five tablets and handed over the print outs of the translated parts of the story. Dakarai stared at the pictures before looking at the print outs.

"This is well done," Dakarai said finally. "How did you translate the tablets so fast?"

"A friend got someone to write a program to translate it based off of the information we have for the language at that time," Leon admitted after looking to Alaric. "We were able to input the information in a couple of days before and I got the rest of the translations from the other holders of the tablets since we're on the site the tablets talk about," he admitted.

Dakarai nodded, tapping his fingers. "I see here that you have most of the history of what happened but there is a lot that wasn't included on the first five tablets," he said. "Our ancestors scattered those tablets long ago to help protect the land, but it seems as if others are trying very hard to get to the creature that is hidden within the maze and it's many levels."

"Levels?" Leon asked, frowning softly. "I only felt one level."

"And you would only feel one level. Even those with a connection will only ever feel one level. Our ancestors were strong in magic and the ability to hide what needed to be hidden," Dakarai admitted.

He stood and moved into a small room, the shuffling of papers filtering out into the main room. Alaric shifted and frowned, worried as he rested his hand on his lover's shoulder as Leon fidgeted. "Here. This is the map of the four levels of the maze," the man said, bringing out a large roll from the room. "Or at least a copy of the original map. We remake it to be an exact copy every year because the original is so delicate."

"I would think so. If it's as old as I think it is," Leon said, gathering up the pictures and helping Dakarai and Alaric to lay out the papers, leaning over the pages. Alaric went out to the jeep to find his sketch pad, sketching out the map, inking it carefully while borrowing a ruler from the guardian. They discussed the various paths that had been built for humans to get through should they ever have to, and the paths that lead to the very bottom where a book stood.

But also, the creature that was still called Nile. It guarded the book because the book held all of it's secrets, including the name that would bind it to the darkness that it came from once more.

Alaric used colored pencils to create various ways of getting through each level to the dozen of paths that would lead up or down for humans and creature alike. "We could spend years exploring this place and only get through one of the levels," he finally said, shaking his head.

"It was meant to contain the creature, not be a find," Dakarai said, frowning heavily at the maps. "I fear that your backers might be the descendants of those who were cast from the village and our lands long ago."

"I think you might be right," Leon sighed, rubbing at his face. "What can we do to protect ourselves?" he asked. "I am not letting this thing get out or be used for whatever they're planning. I will stop it one way or the other. I have students out there thinking that this is just a normal, everyday dig. Not something that will end in their deaths," he hissed.

Dakarai stared at him for a few long moments before nodding. He left the room once more before returning with a wrapped object. "It is not the most useable of weaponry in our eyes but it worked against the creature once before and should work now," he said, laying the wrapped object down. He carefully pulled the wrappings away and laid it out.

Leon and Alaric stared at the object before Leon smirked, eyes gleaming. "It's perfect," he purred, power rolling in his voice as he felt the connection with the object. "Oh so perfect."