The Nightmare Beneath the Sand

The Nightmare Beneath the Sands 8

Holding up the wrap to his face, Leon ran through the sand filled wind, heading for the entrance of the maze, Alaric following close behind him. Slipping past the cameras, not wanting to tip anyone off until the last possible moment, they slunk through the entrance and down the first hallways until they came to the little side room that they had seen earlier that day with the drones.

Pulling the scarf down, Leon dropped his bag down onto the ground, Alaric doing the same to unwrap his own scarf and shake the dust out of it. "I'm kind of glad that you convinced me to wear these now," Leon said, removing his own and giving it a shake, amused by the amount of sand that feel from it.

"Can you imagine all that sand and dirt getting to our faces?" Alaric asked, rewrapping his scarf in such a way that his head and neck was protected. Leon scowled at the thought and did the same thing with his own, leaving it loose for the moment.

"We'd have been rubbed raw just by getting from jeep to here," he admitted, squatting down to dig around in his bag. He pulled out his headlamp and a flashlight, taking the mask that was offered, tugging his scarf down so that he could tuck the mask out of his way just in case. Alaric did the same with his own mask, hooking one ear loop over one ear and then using his scarf to anchor it to the side of his head.

Both men made sure that their scarves were in place before pulling on their headlamps, turning them on and flooding the room with their light. "I think we found the room that was supposed to be the tablet room," Alaric said after a moment, his light sweeping over several pedestals that looked to be waiting for something. He walked over and carefully brushed off dust from it, finding a little resting back with an engraved line where the tablets would sit.

"Think they wanted to hide them before they simply scattered them?" Leon asked, walking over to his partner and looking at the pedestal himself.

"Most likely." Alaric frowned but moved away from the pedestals, grabbing his bag and pulling out the first part of the map that they had to follow. "From here we need to find the first crossroads," he said. Leon looked at the map, tracing their path from the room with one long finger.

"Then we need to go down the left road, the one that the 'Sun Sets' in," Leon mused, Alaric nodding his head. Folding his map up, he placed it into a side pocket before pulling his bag onto his back again. Leon did the same, both men making sure that it sat correctly, Leon double checking the still wrapped weapon that was hooked onto the side of his bag.

"Let's go," Alaric said, turning on his flashlight. Using their lights, they walked down the hall, stopping themselves from pausing to read the walls each time something caught their attention. They could see the same warnings that they got from the tablets found so far repeated on the walls but in greater detail. They reminded themselves that if they did things right, they would be able to study the temple all they wanted.

If they couldn't do it right, they wouldn't have to worry about studying the walls. They didn't think that the world at large would have to worry about much of anything if the tablets were right.

Stepping up to a four-way cross, Leon looked at the walls before pulling out a small stake with a tip that would glow neon orange under a special light that came with their flashlights. He walked to the side and knelt, stabbing the stake into the ground while Alaric made a note of where the marker was sitting. "This is where we can turn back. We don't have to do this," Leon said, looking at his lover.

Alaric cocked an eyebrow. "I do not bow to others. And neither do you. You would rather kill them then bow," he said, Leon tilting his head with a smirk.

"This is true." Leon sighed as he stood and walked over to Alaric, his lights playing over the walls as he looked. "To the left right?" he asked. Alaric nodded, pointing to the sun that was carved on one wall. "Then we go left. I have a feeling that things are going to get very interesting sooner rather than later," he mused.

Alaric grunted and followed Leon down the path, following the map to the first set of stairs that a human could walk down. Making sure that they hadn't caved in with their flashlights, they started down the path, pulling their masks on to protect themselves against the dirt that they were kicking up with each step.

Pushing open the door carefully, finding that the wood of it was crumbling under how dry it was, they looked out into the hallway. Leon looked down and felt a shiver of fear run up his spine, eyes going wide at the sight that he found.

"Alaric, look," he hissed, jabbing the other man in the ribs before pointing to the floor. There in the dust were footprints that looked as if they had been made not long before they had arrived. A very thin layer of dust compared to the rest of the floor covered them, Alaric frowning heavily.

"Do you think that there were others down here?" he asked, Leon nodding as he looked up the hallway.

"Yeah. They come from the front path that lead from the first floor on the other end of the maze to here," Leon said. "The other door that I didn't tell Kran about. I don't think it's as hidden as the main doorway was."

Alaric shifted on his feet as they stepped out into the hallway. "We were told that sometimes the Gods called on someone to try their luck at defeating the beast," he mused. "But that no one had returned from the fourth level, and only a few had ever returned."

"Most likely because they don't know how to wield the weapon that will, hopefully, help us do this," Leon said, patting the item on the side. "Not that I blame them. Learning how to use this is a bit of a pain if all you're used to are things like lances, axes, and other weaponry. It's on the lighter side of things."

"Which is good that you know how to use it," Alaric teased, getting a smirk from the other man as they started to walk, keeping to the walls. They found the small rooms that were built for those who came through on their quests to rest and take care of themselves. Peeking into one found the skeletal remains of someone, bones in a small pile as if they had died curled up and hiding.

Leon said a prayer before they continued down the path, choosing a small room just before the new set of hidden stairs to go over the map. "We need to get through It's hunting grounds on the third floor and get to the middle of the fourth," he said, tracing the path over the pages that they had laid out.

"It'll be hard. We might need to split up to force it to hunt one while the other goes for the book," Alaric said.

Leon scowled at his lover before sighing and nodding. "Yeah, you're right. Look. There's about five different paths that lead down to the fourth floor, and several little paths that you can take. I'm sure that you've memorized them, right?" he asked.

"I have," Alaric replied, nodding his head as Leon pulled out a headset and the small walkie-talkie.

"Good. Let's connect and make sure that they're fully charged," Leon said, turning on his walkie-talkie. Alaric did the same and they put them on, hiding the wires under clothes and scarves, going over the map one last time. They took a few minutes to eat a bit of jerky and drink some water, feeling as if it was going to be a while before they could do either and left the room.

Heading for the unknown and for a creature older than history could tell them.