How the World Ends (A Demon!Stuck Fanfiction)

In Which Aradia Begins It All

Chapter One

Aradia stumbled over a fallen column, cursing herself for not being more careful. She knew that in ruins such as these maintaining a constant state of alertness was the difference between life or death. Fortunately, she didn't fall over the edge of the chasm she was skirting. Hence: life or death.

The young maroon-blood was investigating some ruins Terezi had mentioned to her. They were located in a cave on a mountainside near her friend's hive. Terezi's luscus had told her about them, but warned the teal-blood not to investigate. Terezi had passed on those warnings to Aradia, but of course, the aspiring archaeologist just couldn't help herself.

Now, deep within the cave, she had just found what seemed to be the ruins of an ancient temple. It was located near a startling drop off, the same one Aradia had clumsily tripped next to. She had to be more careful, no one knew she was here. It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance for when she decided to really explore, but the cave was much deeper than Terezi had let on, and Aradia conveniently had all of her supplies in her sylladex.

The temple was still standing for the most part, even after however many years it had been abandoned. By the architecture, which had both Greek and Aztec influence in the design, it was probably thousands of years old. She would have to bring Sollux next time so he could find a good sample of the stone to analyze; that could give them a more accurate date. She decided to contact him now to make sure he wasn't busy when she came back.

*Pesterlog*

apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]

AA: s0l?

TA: what2 up?

AA: im at an0ther site. i g0t s0me samples f0r y0u t0 l00k at.

TA: k, ii'll be around later two piick them up.

AA: cant wait t0 see y0u <3

TA: <2

*End Communication*

Aradia smiled at her matesprit's goofy quirk before putting her phone away and observing her surroundings.

There were several fallen columns in front of the structure. Whether those had lined a walkway, or served some sort of symbolic purpose, Aradia had no clue. A twelve foot arch marked the entrance to the temple. Upon inspecting the frame, Aradia came to two conclusions: 1. She had no idea what kind of stone it was made out of. At first she suspected marble, because of the coloring, but it didn't have the right texture. 2. There were signs of hinges, meaning there used to be double doors sealing the entrance. They had either been stolen, or rotted away long ago. Aradia hoped it was the latter; if the temple was looted it wouldn't be nearly as fun! Aradia really did enjoy finding things at these sites.

As she entered the temple, Aradia became aware of its lack of windows. Not that windows would've done much good in a cave, but she had set up some portable lamps outside to illuminate the ruins. Now all she had was a headlamp to brighten a narrow path in front of her. The beam only allowed for a few yards of dimly lit vision, but it was better than walking around blind.

The front room was enormous; it easily could have encompassed half of the building's space, yet the inside was suspiciously bare. There were no tapestries or statues depicting figures of importance along the walls, and there was no indicated place of worship for the masses. It could be that she was wrong about the building being a place for religion, but the obscure symbols she saw etched up the walls reinforced that image. Any tapestries could have rotted away as the doors had, or possibly been stolen with anything else that held value.

With a sigh, the maroon-blood took out a piece of paper and some charcoal and made some rubbings of the symbols. She didn't recognize the language, and would have to look it up once she got back to her hive.