Findings in Africa (Danger and Sean)

"Where are you going again?" said an annoyed and very curious voice. It was from a young man in his twenties who for some reason found this peculiar. Though he had no clue as to why.

"I swear I have said where I'm going like a dozen times already. Do I really have to say it again?" said another voice, even more agitated. This was Ailill Hale, and he was tired to having to answer that question today. It was really weird hearing it from his cousin, Aaron. Aaron usually cared not for his activities. Ailill was going to Africa to search for some things. This was very routine for him. Going to various places in the world in search of miscellaneous things whenever he felt like it. One would think his family would be used to this by now. Well, they usually were. So this confused him. "I'm going to Africa because well, just because." he told him

Aaron shrugged. "You find something there of interest to you? I could have sworn I was staying ahead of you when it comes to knowing about things of interest. I did beat you to that last artifact by a good measure. Oh well. Have fun with your victory." he said. His curiousity slowly dissapated into nothingness as he turned around to walk away. It would be funny though, if what he said got to his cousin. Right on cue he saw Ailill grimace in displeasure out of the corner of his eye.

Ailill could find himself cursing in his own mind at that comment. Oh he would probably be thinking about that for most of the trip. Damn that cousin of his having to say that. Ailill had to focus though. He looked at the list to see what was left to pack. Just spare clothes. He saved those for last for some odd reason. Ailill went through his closet to see what was available. "Wonderful." he though. "Mostly winter clothes." Living in Chicago made him dress for the local weather. So of course, he did not have much for the common weather patterns in Africa. That and he had no idea what the weather was like there right now. This should be such a fun trip where absolutely nothing goes wrong. Fate was definitely being tempted right about now.

The plane ride to Uganda in east Africa took about thirteen hours. Unfortunately Ailill was unable to use the Hale's private jet so he did not have that easy of a time on the trip. He somehow spent most of it asleep so he would be well rested come his arrival in Uganda despite being surrounded by others. They arrived at an airport in Kampala where Ailill exited the plane. About a half an hour later he checked into a hotel so he would have a place to stay for the trip. He looked at the local clock to see the time. It was early morning, around seven.

According to his research the thing he was looking for was the easiest to find during the night of a full moon. There would be one this very night. He would have plenty of time to reach the intended location before nightfall and would then have all night to search it out. Ailill got himself ready and set out on the next leg of the journey. The harsh desert sky would make things difficult though. This could be a dangerous task to undertake.

Right along the western bank of Lake Victoria stood a rock formation waiting to embrace the sun right between its ridges. While the sun basked along the ridgeline along the border, the turbulent nation kept secrets hidden within the foliage daring any to seek out what was lost to time. According to a mixed message from numerous spirits Elaine deemed credible, the path to the artifact lay somewhere in east of New York City and west of Buffalo. After dismissing the spirit urging her to check New York City as holding a liberal bias, Elaine heard the word 'buffalo' and headed to Africa.

Recent regulations in the spread of anti-American fascism meant Elaine could no longer take guns and live ammunition on planes, because clearly the terrorist have won. Instead of guns, which Elaine simply mailed to a envoy in Dehli because of a simple misunderstanding that 'Not America' is not an actual country in which Dehli happened to be the capitol, Elaine simply used a tool kit to weed out paranormal activities. Her selected kit consisted of a blinding powder capable of incapacitating a bull, a set of ceremonial paints with enough power to hold back evil spirits trying to enter the realm of the living, and a pair of power gloves invoking the gift of the spirit realm to electrocute enemies standing against her; of course, the shampoo in her bag was beyond the carrying capacity and was therefore confiscated.

Slinging the brown bag over her shoulder and adjusting her hat just over the bridge of her eyebrows, the shadows painted her face in the same hue the jungle coated the inhabitants of the jungle. Each sound a microcosm and each ecosystem a collective unconscious. Or at least the little dog claimed something about the oneness of species in a combined effort to survive. Once he hit a three syllable word it all became noise.

Elaine persevered further into the jungle in a pair of brown shorts and a black sleeveless shirt with the back of her ponytail resting just along the upper end of the thoracic curve in her back. This looked jungle enough for her taste. Now she just needed to set out to find things out of the ordinary in an environment echoing the unfamiliar. In a few hours the moon would rise to an apex and shine like a beacon to the locale of power within this secluded heart of darkness.

Now that he was here in Uganda, Ailill remembered that he had actually forgotten some things that would be really helpful right about now. Two of them being sunscreen and bug spray. The damn weather and conditions of the local environment were quickly becoming a nuisance to him. While taking a moment to properly apply the damn stuff, Ailill looked at his map to scout out the best path to take. The area around the jungle actually seemed to be the best route to take. The local wildlife should not be too much of a problem to deal with.

The course was set, and now being traveled. The sweltering heat of the jungle was just not a match for his determination. Now then, according to the map, his destination was about four miles away and to the northwest. Should be an easy trip. Luckily he was stocked up on water. It should be plenty enough. He trekked through the jungle carefully. Except for almost running right into an Elephant herd. He managed to cause enough commotion to make the herd start a stampede. Ailill vaulted himself out of the way and to safety. If it weren't for his magic he'd probably be dead right about now.

After a couple of hours of traveling since he took a few breaks here and there to avoid exhausting himself, Ailill found a mountain, or hill where his research indicated something intriguing was located. Somewhere around here he would find something worth searching for. Ailill wandered around the edge of the mountain until he saw something of interest. It was a rundown temple seemingly built into the mountain. That had to be the place. Ailill ventured forward and walked to it.

Wandering with purpose usually directed market forces, so doing so with spiritual forces would probably be exactly the same thing. Exactly. The same thing. "We must be close to the place. This tree is sticky."

"You're eating caramel like a four year old." The small dog noticed the tree from before and in the before hand no thought was given to it.

"This tree is sticky too. A good sign." The jungle felt odd. Even beyond the stickiness, the jungle altogether lingered in a lull shrouding a quiet rustling. "This is a sticky rock. We must be close." With a gentle thud, the rock rustled the foliage of a bush and rolled onto the distinct sound of flat rock. Elaine turned back and tossed the wrapper of her caramel bar to the ground.

While Elaine looked to see what anomaly lie within the covered lining of the jungle floor, the small dog stayed behind. "Pick that up."

"You don't know that isn't where that wrapper originally came from."

"This hardly looks like a factory without the multitude of underpaid people huddled next to unsuspected machines deemed too dangerous for America."

"Not many people sing the praises of the worker's rights in Uganda. Paper doesn't come from factories, so it probably came from this jungle."

"The odds of that are astronomical."

"Still a one, so you can't prove it didn't happen that way, so it means I'm right. Anyways, I found a spirit toucan, so I'm just going to spend the rest of the time with him."

"I'm perplexed because I don't see a toucan, but also know you don't have the tact to lie to spare someones feelings. So, you are either making progression as a person..."

"The toucan wants you to shut up and leave."

"Well."

Treading strongly with boots pressing against the carved rocks of the stones of the temple ground, Elaine led herself with absolute direction and clarity of thought. A valley opened before her with only the rising elevation proving the existence of a mountain under the dense foliage of trees. While traveling through the jungle she hardly took time to notice the mountain behind her. Everything just looked like a tree to her.

Rummaging out the mixtures of paint moved the blinding powder further away from the optimum positioning she originally had it. Assuming the worst would lay behind her, Elaine started to mark the trees to attempt to neutralize any evil energy teeming in the area. Unfortunately, the design needed to be placed in just the right order less the marking taunt evil forces into a frenzy. Taking the advice of a toucan, Elaine began to mark the trees one by one in seemingly random order.

The cooler air inside the temple was welcoming compared to the heat outside. Ailill was relieved to be out of the sun. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead and took a good look inside before venturing any further. It was pretty dark in here, and seemed cavernous. Foliage grew out of some of the cracks in the walls, though most of it was dead. There was still more in here though. He wanted to see more though. Ailill reached for his bag and opened it to rummage through. The contents were really disorganized. Must have gotten messed up on the flight in or something. This made his search take a moment. A moment longer than one would have hoped. Finally, he found it. Ailill pulled out his flame producing staff and then picked up a stick from off the ground in front of him and made himself a torch to help him see and traverse this temple. He put the staff away and with the torch to help him see, gazed once more upon the now lit temple. It was more than he expected.

He was in a hallway that led to a large room. From here it was visible. Ailill walked forward to enter this room. It looked as if it had been abandoned for centuries. What should be a magnificently designed temple was instead a shadow of its former self. Ailill saw it as a pitiful sight and even had a twinge of regret that this place could not show him its true glory.

Ailill walked around the main room and checked out the other doors with the intent of exploring the temple. As he walked around he found himself admiring the decorum, and how it was still decent looking even though it has been ravaged by time, and perhaps more. There were some claw marks along the walls and floor. Some wildlife must have come in and done a number on the place. The thing is though, to him, it looked recent. There was even some strands of hair present. Perhaps the animal was still here. Ailill looked around for any further signs of life in here, but heard one instead. The sound of footsteps coming from the entrance. It sounded human too. Ailill snuck over to a corner as quietly as he could manage to and hid himself behind some pots. He waited with bated breath for them to come around the corner.

Paint dripped from the outer lying trees. She could feel a disturbance grow with each symbol she painted, but failed to place the exact reasoning behind it. If anything continued to stir outside of the temple, something within the temple would certainly be the culprit, or at least the toucan said something along those lines. Elaine liked this guy and his funny accent. It sounded a lot like hers.

Whatever usage this old temple once held didn't see much observance in the most recent of days, but still some life echoed from the halls. Elaine reached for her pistols only to grasp the emptiness of her hopes. "I bet vampires live here." While she kept about her bag, her conversation continued. "You're right Elaine." Pulling the blinding powder from her bag, Elaine prepared herself to ask questions much later. "Thanks Toucan. You know how to give constructive criticism unlike white and orange thing with hair."

Knowing vampires slept all day, Elaine began to ponder if she should stay quiet to avoid detection or be loud to interrupt their sleep. Thinking about what kind of job a vampire could get in Africa perplexed Elaine as to just how tired he would be at the end of the day. A long train of racist thoughts longer than the Union Pacific left the station of Elaine's mind, traversed the collective unconscious of nineteenth century Mississippi, and then pulled back to the terminal. "I should be loud." It sounded so right when she spoke it to nothing. "You're right Elaine." Elaine gripped the burlap bag and loosened the ties. "Toucan, why don't we hang out more?" Elaine started to move towards the wall. "We do Elaine. I've always been here and will be here til the end." When the last first came out, Elaine darted her eyes to the right to listen to what she said. "That sounded ominous."

With a foreboding tone behind her due to the displacement of her movement etching her three feet forward, Elaine prepared to make a loud amount of noise and use a very hair thin trigger on her deployment of blinding powder by the use of her handy shadow jump to get close to anyone acknowledging her. No one should be in an abandoned temple anyways, so in a way, Elaine delivered karma on these people. Once the pain wore off, Elaine could get to pressing questions such as, "Who are you?" And, "Why are you in a temple?"

But, first karma, then blinding powder, and finally enlightenment. The way of Elaine.

Or, so the Toucan told her.

Keeping himself crouched behind a group of pots huddled together in a corner, the long dead carcass of a snake lying on top of one of them and cobwebs and dust clumped together so thickly it trapped the air and left him with little to breathe over here, Ailill realized his hiding spot was not a very good one. He could probably still be seen behind the pots if one were to look close enough in his direction. Hopefully nobody did. He had nobody in his mind because he was completely sure that those signs of life coming from the entrance belonged to another person. Somebody had the same idea as him of coming in here, but for what reason did they decide to enter it? He would probably find out soon enough. Perhaps he would be able to follow whomever it was if they knew where they were going. Unless of course, they had been following him and they he was in here.

He waited for a few more seconds, until the commotion by the entrance hit a high point. It suddenly got loud out there as sounds of agony and complaint suddenly rang out. If they were aiming for the element of surprise, it was now completely gone. Ailill wondered what could have caused all that noise. He felt the really strong urge to investigate, and would duck out from behind the pots and lean up against the wall. He slowly edged towards the hallway that led back to the door. He could hear them speaking even before he reached the edge. Once he peeked around the corner, they were in sight.

At the entrance stood three individuals. All of which were familiar looking for different reasons. One was a man whose appearance was not he recognized, but was sure was one he should. He had not seen this person before per say, really. Maybe he had offhandedly seen him on the television or something. Or heard somebody talking. Nothing was coming to mind at the moment.

There was also a child who really looked familiar, but it could not be at all. For some really odd reason this kid reminded him of one of Aaron's friends or past lovers or whatever else. He could never remember how his cousin was associated with any of the people he knew. Besides, this child was a child, and thus way too young for it to be him. Maybe they were related or something. After all, the resemblance seemed uncanny to him.

Last, but not least was a woman. This lady was by far the most familiar looking of this bunch gathered at the temple's entrance. He could practically feel her name on the tip of his tongue, and for some reason he felt things might soon get really bad very quickly. Oh no, not something he was interested in. Ailill backed out of sight again and considered his options. Should he try to elude them somehow? What if there was a way to lure them away from the temple. It could be possible. They seem disorientated enough for something to work.

Children don't like to get blinding powder in their eyes. Whatever.

Out of everything in this stupid temple, this would go down as one of the least important aspects of Elaine's growing enlightenment. Why she actually came to this place would be pretty cool for her to find out. Know what that weird coming through the hollow bricks of the temple would be the next.

"I don't remember this blinding powder making that weird noise coming from walls before." Elaine pressed her hand against her hip to propel her posture. "I put up wards to keep evil out." Funny story about that, it didn't work. "Maybe you should recheck the markings Elaine." Momentum shook the relapse out. "The only reason I like you is because you agree with everything I say Toucan." An echoing signal came down the halls, bellowing a warning before fading into silence. "I'm going to kill you in your sleep Elaine." The silence rang out. "The little corgi thing would never say that."

"You would never have to ask." Coming back in focus stalked the dog who probably never left.

"Thank you, now shut up and die in a hole."

"You too, Elaine, you too."

Darkness blanketed the curvature of the snaking corridors leading down into the dismal depths bellowing a silent reprieve. The stillness echoing the resonance of the inhabitant.

"Hey, stop crying and tell me what this place is." Facing the direction the sound came begged a question only another bellow could answer. The noise had reverberated with such baritone force through the bricks it rattled off small segments of brick from the temple structure. "Why'd you make that weird, dumb noise. It couldn't be anything evil, because I have this place warded."

"Then why are you here?"

The layout of the ancillary tunnels carved from the temple sprawled into the catacombs hidden beneath the bottom of the mountain. Trapped within the sacred chambers of the winding caves, a race began to awaken under the command of poorly placed wards calling to them.

There he stood, up against a wall and eavesdropping in on a conversation at the temple's entrance. Ailill Hale continued to listen in on what those three were saying. Something about blinding powder, a toucan, and a name. The name was Elaine, and it was that made him feel like he should be worried. He didn't know why though. Ailill could barely understand why half the things he was hearing were even being said. These people, whomever they were, and no matter how familiar they seemed, were just really strange. The sheer weirdness though was kind of amusing to hear however. Ailill was kind of fighting back the urge to burst out laughing. It was like listening to something that's unintentionally funny and liking it all the more for it.

Ailill had to force himself to not laugh and reclaim his train of thought. No, he needed to think. Not be laughing at such nonsense as this. It was hard not too though. Really hard. Then, he failed. Ailill stupidly let out an audible laugh at the conversation he was overhearing. Oh great. Now they would know he was there listening in on them. This was just fantastic. Maybe, just maybe, none of them heard him. Though he was probably hoping for the impossible. That had been pretty loud, and the temple just made sound echo throughout. Ailill stood there as silently as possible expecting to hear somebody address the inner darkness of the temple because they now knew somebody was there.

Each brick in the temple no longer felt conjoined by the thick mortar calling them together as the booming refocused. Deep within the temple a force struggled in agony from the outside interference pulsating from the markings along the trees. No longer did the force within the temple act as a balance to the evil festering within the temple, now the wards cast out the guardian force from the vicinity of the temple.

Coming from the slumber it found itself entombed within, a localized strand of lycanthropy stirred. A long lost strand finding power within the absence of the moon. From a long forgotten entity existing from beyond the calling of light from the celestial climax of the big bang, dark forces still clung to the times beyond the shimmering of light. These entities still existed and consumed what they could levy to themselves in the form of the hollowed out shells of humans taken by the promise of power and the pull of forces from beyond their comprehension.

Nothing stirred in the minds of the those within the tombs. The emphatic dying roars of the guardian faded- and in that movement of silence, the primordial order restored itself. Black eyes stayed still in the heads of the beings awakening into the silence of the abyssal tomb. Hidden away from the absence of light, the tomb spiraled deep into the darkness of the Earth to avoid the blasphemy befallen the universe. A collection of thoughts invaded the minds of the lower husks reminding them of what they had become. A manifested unconsciousness experiencing itself in a mirrored vivisection. Their skin held no room for the growth of hair. It fell away soon to the canvassing growth of scales wrapping their bodies in immortality.

"This place is dark." Elaine brought out a flashlight to remedy her predicament. Rummaging through her ruck sack knocked out the vial of paints she used to create the warding, seeping deep into the fabrics of the bag with no reprieve to return to the original state- even if Elaine took the time to notice or care. "Now I can see stuff. Why are you twelve?" Before an answer could come Elaine directed her light further down the corridor. "I'm going there."