1925.
All the waiting, all the hope of reaching the seemingly unreachable, had all been worth it.
It was all down to one man's implacable heart. All who heard of his venture cast him away with doubting words and accusations of madness, yet they were nothing to him. No words could veer him from his course. His tenacity was as piercing as the sun, its radiance shining off of the seemingly endless column of gold. With a satisfied heart, Harrison Morris was left in a state of pure bliss as treasures flowed out of the dig like liquid gold.
Relics, precious items of unspeakable value, and tools for purposes that no mortal could comprehend had been excavated. They were the shadow of an ancient kingdom long lost. His desire for discoveries like this had been left unappeased for too long. He thanked his lucky stars that he had met the man that now accompanied him during his long revered moment of glory.
"This, is astounding! Truly! I thought this valley empty, but you have proven otherwise." Harrison said, his voice trembling on the waves of excitement.
His companion looked on with the same sense of elation, an expression that Harrison was very surprised to see. He had been a reserved individual, even during the hardest of negotiations. Their chance meeting had been just that, but now he believed it to be fate. Harrison thought back to how it all began. He found his inner self able to relax in the memories of his past upon the site of his spoils. All the books and scrolls in the world, even all the money he could muster from his family's earnings wouldn't be enough. Dusty texts left nothing but further questions about the ancient world he searched for. It was a trail that only grew with his frustration with every sentence.
It was too much. Dead ends left him with nowhere to go. It was like the past he searched for had been wiped, kept hidden for some reason or another. He knew it was real. It had to be. Luckily for Harrison, he wasn't the only one who believed it. He turned his gaze from the prize to his companion. Not just that, his saviour.
He stood there, barely moving, undaunted by anything around him. Harrison envied the man. He was hardly dressed for the occasion, having donned a white suit, complete with yellow tie with black stripes. Ever the businessman, Harrison thought. His dark hair was always immaculate, and his scowl left most wary of his intent, at first. It was absent on that day, replaced with a rare grin.
The harsh sun was beating down on the two of them and Harrison's sunhat was of little good, but his partner showed no discomfort. He never did. Its rays reflected off of him. The bright white of his suit could be seen from on high for miles.
"You would be surprised what can be found if you dig deep enough," He told Harrison, without making eye contact. "There are many secrets hiding in the belly of our world, Morris. Some are not meant for mortal eyes."
Harrison's laugh was made nervous by his partner's comment. It had been his way since the dig began, but he knew his stuff in a way Harrison only dreamed of.
"I'd almost given up until you came along," Harrison said, near to tears. "After they found Tutankhamen, I thought my bubble was burst. How could I find anything on the same level as that? You though, aha, here is the proof! Egypt still has her secrets."
The last sight Harrison searched had revealed only more questions in the form of broken tablets. The figures they depicted were not human, and yet they had an intrinsic similarity. He had felt so close, like he could touch the broken relics and enter their world. All he got for his efforts was the feeling of cold stone on his fingertips, and the announcement that his funding had been cut.
He begged, he pleaded, he became angry. All of it was fruitless. It wasn't just himself he had failed, but his family and their legacy. He had wasted the money they had left him, what little remained of a family that once held such reverence. It was gone, spent on chasing the very thing that had destroyed the rest of it. A world unseen and a people unlike his own.
He would never forget that well-spoken voice. In just mere moments, those that had tried to ruin Harrison's hopes lost all of their influence. His partnership had been born. The man that had chosen to fund his cause shared the same desire. How could Harrison refuse? He owned this man a great debt. One he could now repay.
Harrison broke out of his self-reflection. It was time.
"I say, why don't we make our way down and see the latest for ourselves?" Harrison asked, unwilling to hold back his eagerness any longer.
Without a word, his companion held out a welcoming hand towards the dig. Harrison took lead, the smartly dressed man following close behind.
"This dig will make us both rich my friend!" Harrison rubbed his hands together at the thought of it.
"Money is of little value to me. There is something I seek far greater than that." He answered, giving little away.
"Really? I suppose a man who could pile thousands into a risky venture like this must be looking for more than gold. Fame is it? We will have plenty of that too!"
Harrison took a look at some of the marvels that were being gathered row by row on the work benches. Scarab amulets and gem encrusted jewellery glimmered in the sunlight. On that table alone were relics that rivaled even those in his dreams.
"To think that civilizations worshiped men who owned these, like living gods before their own eyes."
Harrison's companion let out a smile that none could see. Both Harrison's words, and the relics in front of him made all of the effort he had put into reaching that moment feel real at last. He recognized them. They were close.
"Morris. Your family once had a lot of money invested in a single branch, did it not?"
Harrison suddenly looked sheepish.
"Umm, yes. Why do you bring that up?"
"It must have been a blow for them, after what happened."
Harrison placed the scarab he had picked up back on the bench.
"I don't know much of it. A lot of people's investments went up in flames after all that. It was a long time ago, long before I was born."
His companion flicked a coin into the air and caught it in his palm before squeezing it.
"I bet they did. The shrewd however, were able to keep a hold of it. That's what my great-grandfather did. Lebeau Investments may die, but not my investments. Now it is all around us."
The man licked his lips, almost salivating over the discovery. He did not look on towards the gold, but instead, where it was being excavated.
"I knew it. I just knew that if we kept at it, we would find it. I had to hold on. They thought I was a lunatic to think that they originated here," Harrison took a glance at a bench holding more 'lucrative' items. "It's all thanks to you."
Harrison turned to find his companion entering the dark chambers below the dig.
"Is that safe?" He called after him.
"Are you a coward, Morris? This is our legacy. Let's enjoy it to its fullest."
Harrison was surprised by how stale the air felt as they were drawn into the dark. There was a distinct smell to it that he couldn't quite put his finger on. The lights that had been set up did little to help his footing. As he tripped and stumbled on the old stonework floor, his companion seemed to have none of the same issues.
"You seem right at home." He remarked.
"You could say that."
Their journey ended with Harrison in a paralyzed astonishment. They had entered a chamber surrounded by statues and carvings.
"Extraordinary!"
In the centre was a stone throne, with a single beam of light shining from above.
"Where on earth is that light coming from!? We searched this place dozens of times!"
His companion rested his hand on the throne.
"Your family investment. It did go up in flames. Along with the man they trusted to keep it safe. He let many down that day."
Harrison was becoming estranged with his partner's fascination with the subject.
"It's just a story. Surely?" Harrison ran his hand over the carvings on the walls. "These' don't look… Egyptian. It really is the place isn't it? This is what you were looking for? How on earth did you find the right place!?" Harrison's excitable voice reverberated off of dusty walls.
The light seemed to dim. No one was left in the chamber except for Harrison, and his companion.
"Where do stories come from? Often there is a hint of truth." He told Harrison. "We have our origins, so do they." The man's tired eyes looked over the carvings of an old time.
"Demons and killers, all of them," Harrison said. "This really is the place! Yes! This is astounding!"
The man was impressed with Harrison's child-like response to the event.
"Look at all of these! Their history laid bare for us to see! At last we can find out where they came from, and how we could stop them!"
Harrison's companion looked less impressed by his words.
"Try not to be too hasty my friend. There is plenty to search in these lands."
"But we have it! This was their first stronghold! The war was real! It isn't just a legend."
Most statues that surrounded them had crumbled over the endless years. Five remained intact however, baring down over the inner throne like jailers.
"I wonder who they were." Harrison mused.
"You talk of killers and demons. Feast your eyes. They were hunters."
They appeared humanoid. Their eyes, though made of stone, bore an aura of hate to the man looking up at them.
"They don't look like monsters. Hunters you say? So these men were heroes?"
"Bah!" The chamber was filled with the man's voice, then an awkward silence.
"Bless you?" Harrison replied.
"Bless you, indeed." He whispered back.
Harrison let his companion be as he marveled at their discovery. The history on the walls was still legible to the careful eye. Slaughter, monsters, death. It all looked grim. The last image was very much like a painting of victory, for one side at least.
"They killed the one who made them, didn't they?" Harrison asked without turning round.
"Trapped. You cannot kill the eternal. They live on because of his spirit. If you believe the tales anyhow."
"What tales? You aren't referring to that cult are you? Even Mr Lebeau thought of them as strange before… you know."
His companion laughed a deep chuckle.
"You know more about Lebeau than you lead on. You don't take part in a dig like this without some fascination. I knew it was there from our very first meeting,"
Harrison kept to the shadows in the corner of the room and let his partner's comment be answered with silence.
"You continue to fascinate me, Mr Morris. You talk of destroying a race and yet you cower in dark corners when real ones are discussed."
"Lebeau was not a monster! Not a man so close to us."
Harrison's companion left the subject in the air. The man's denial was amusing to him. Its cause was something he had a desire to discover in the near future. He turned his attention to the wreckage that blocked off the chamber's passage as he thought on the subject. It would have to wait for now. There was much to find behind that fallen stone before his work was done.
"Curious how this chamber remains intact, yet we cannot pass any further."
Harrison's curious eyes looked up before he rushed over to his partner.
"Strange, I hadn't even noticed all that. You think there is even more behind it?" Harrison asked.
"If it isn't all crushed, yes. I do believe secrets hide behind it." His partner said with a smile.
"You seem so certain about all this. First you find the location, now you go on about even more treasure."
"I live to be hopeful. I have a way of reclaiming what was lost, even those things thought beyond anyone's reach."
Harrison wiped the sweat from his head and backed away.
"Well, if you find my lost pocket watch, you let me know. I'll let the workers know that they are clear to start digging further."
"You do that."
The man poured all of his attention into listening to echoes. Harrison left him in the low lit chamber, his footsteps eventually dying in the man's ears as he was left alone. It was surely a sight not seen for thousands of years, and he couldn't be more relieved for it. The secrets left asleep in those dark halls would change everything, and the world would soon find out about its dark past.
"Relics… treasures, ha… it's all meaningless compared to what is to come. Some things live on, waiting for their time."
Feeling the cracked rock against his fingertips, the man thought to the near future. An image of creation was in front of him. The birth of the first vampire…
