432 Underneath

As the monstrous building came into view, everyone had to blink twice to make sure they weren't seeing things. They felt like a mystical, ancient beast suddenly appeared before them and they were all dumbstruck. They all stared at the ancient structure in awe.

The Ziggurat was in the shape of pyramid but instead the sides being smooth from the bottom to the top, this was a layered, rectangular building, something akin to lego blocks where a large rectangular piece made up the base and then smaller rectangular pieces placed on top. The stop of the structure wasn't pointed like a pyramid, it had a small dome which sat on top of a small, square building.

On one face of the structure was the entrance with three stairways leading up to it, two stairways hugging the wall and one stairway in front of it.

Alex was standing on top of the structure and in the next moment, Abi saw him jump down to the ground. Once the elite vampires and witches felt that the small quake was over and that the threat of the avalanche was no more, they moved to get closer to Alex and the Ziggurat. Riev went out there first to make sure it was safe before Raven, still holding on to Abigail, and the others followed.

They stopped about fifty meters away from Alex. They could see that Alex's eyes were still emitting its golden shade so they didn't dare get too close to him. The mission was not over yet, it seemed.

The world around them had become quiet again. Nothing could be heard apart from their breathing.

Abigail stepped away from Raven the moment they landed and she drew closer to Alicia. She could tell that Alex was not back to normal yet so she, too, didn't approach him.

"Alicia, did you know that something like this was here?" she asked. She wondered if Alicia had seen this structure before in her crystal ball.

Alicia just shook her head. She couldn't recall seeing it. But then again, she wasn't the witch queen yet so she didn't have access to all the previous witch queens' memories.

The group fell quiet after that and all eyes fell back towards Alex again.

After staring at the structure for a while, Alex finally moved. He glanced at them and looked at Abigail, as if to make sure she was okay, before he began to approach the ancient structure. He walked by the structure's outer wall, his hand dragging on the wall. He looked like he knew exactly where he was going as he carefully walked around its perimeter.

His mind played a few images of this place and he saw this place in its prime. Countless years ago, before he became an immortal, he had somehow stumbled upon this place. He couldn't remember how or why he had come to this place - seeing as how it had been a few thousand years ago - but he recalled some of the details of this structure like its location and its entrance.

He recalled that underneath this structure lay a large cave-like space inside - ideal for anyone to use to create those creatures in secret, hidden from the eyes of the world.

This was why he was so sure that he had the right location and last night's expedition had confirmed it.

The elite vampires and witches saw that there was an entrance atop the stairs which led to a few more flights of stairs heading to the dome at the very top. It looked like an entrance to a temple. But Alex didn't seem to have any intention of heading up there. They looked at each other in bewilderment. What was Alex doing? Was he scoping the perimeter for any sign of trouble?

They kept watching him as he kept walking along the wall. He didn't seem to be watching out for incoming enemies. He seemed to be searching for something because with every step he took, he would brush his hand against the wall and pat the wall at several different places. They didn't know how long they watched him do this for but finally, they saw him halt.

They watched him push the wall and a loud groaning sound echoed as a large part of the wall opened.

Everyone gasped in surprise but they didn't have time to wonder as Alex beckoned the group to come closer. Everyone immediately followed his order and made their way towards the opening.

"Be prepared. We're going in," Alex told everyone. His voice was cold and emotionless.

All the elite vampires nodded, muscles becoming tense, ready to jump into action at any moment. The witches looked at each other and nodded as well, as if they were communicating telepathically.

Without another word, Alex led the way into the dark tunnel. Everyone was alert, tuning in to the slightest movements as they walked further into the tunnel. The door slowly closed behind them, leaving them in darkness.

The vampires had the innate ability to see in the dark so they weren't hindered by the darkness. However, everyone else didn't have that skill. As Abi reached out her hands in front of her to stop banging into someone, she heard Alicia chant a small spell and just like that, Abigail, along with other witches, were able to see in the dark, although, there was really not much to see except for the blank, brown walls that surrounded them.