Rise of Prophecy Read online

  The priesthood was invited to set up a temple in Rihzon. They relished the idea for this was a chance to get into the heretic kingdom, to transform them from within. War was a horror of the past. No civilization wanted to repeat or experience the devastation of the Great War. So, the foreigners were welcomed with open arms. The bureaucrats lived contently with the notion of integration rather than face possibilities of invasion.

  A new temple was unknowingly built upon the ruins of a much older one. Forgotten was the predecessor’s name, but as it turns out it was once a place of great congregation. Far into antiquity worshipers would come from throughout the Illyrian kingdoms to pay homage to the priest, and to give praise to the Creator of the universe.

  Mimicking Hyperborian architecture, the old temple was grand in scale, with lots of stone floors, columns, artwork, acoustics. Fires burned all day in a grand hall which was always filled with activity. There were also secret meeting places within, known only to the Anuk princes along with their trusted cousins, like Thoth and Persephone. Today, one of those places has been revealed to Liviana; her pursuit of the ancient texts has paid off.

  This new temple imitates some of the old traditions by keeping blazing Urns on the stairs, accompanying grand statues at the entrance. This is about all that resemble existing temples in other parts of Illyria. The premises are locked up with no one allowed after sunset. The area is quiet, dismal.

  It is dark now, with only a lone street lamp lending its’ brilliance to the bushes by the temple’s side wall. This is not desired by the two figures lurking there, for any passerby could see what they are doing. For the moment they are just making their way along the wall, heading to the rear.

  Mica steps on a twig, causing Liviana to scowl at him. He gives her an apologetic look. The walls are high, but they are not trying to climb it. Instead, they are searching for a metal grate. That should be easy to open; then they can begin their search of the insides. They come upon an unexpected thick metal cover on the wall; about six-feet in diameter, it appears thick.

  “Now what?” Liviana inquires.

  “Give me the cutter,” Mica demands.

  He takes a small device from her then points it at the iron. With the touch of a button a red beam blasts towards the metal, cutting it with ease. Liviana positions herself to prop the weight.

  “Will you hurry up,” she complains as the weight begins to descend on her.

  “Shhhh,” Mica grunts.

  “Fine…I want to see you take this on your back.”

  A complete circle is cut, freeing the barrier from the stone. Liviana is squatting now with the weight on her, but she manages to push it off to the side. She gets no sympathy from Mica.

  With nothing smart to say, he climbs through the hole while tapping a part of his arm-band. A bright light from the device illuminates the darkness within. The walls are of modern design, freshly painted. Liviana bumps into him from behind, quickly pushing her way to the front.

  “We have to go below, to the foundations,” she announces.

  She leads the way with Mica behind her. They hurry down the wide passageway which leads to a lower floor. It doesn’t take them long to reach the weakest part of the temple, where the stone walls are turning into dirt ones.

  Liviana points to the dirt, “Look for a solid piece of wall…it looks like, dirty marble.”

  “What in a mammoth’s ass looks like dirty marble? And there’s nothing solid here, just dirt,” Mica points out.

  “It’s a grey, white color,” Liviana explains, “maybe some mold and shit colors mixed in…All Anuk structures contain dirty marble. Just look, it may be just a small piece jotting out.”

  They frantically search the area, fearing that they came all this way for nothing. A rope protrudes from the floor in a corner. Mica tugs on it, breaking the surrounding ground. A hole appears after he pulls what turns out to be an ancient utility hole cover. He smiles at Liviana, who motions him to jump in.

  “I’m not going first; you go first,” he protests.

  “You’ve got the light,” she informs him.

  There can be no winning with her, Mica thinks to himself. With some hesitation, he jumps into the wide hole. The drop is eight feet down, not severe, he thinks. Liviana soon after jumps in.

  A dirt passage is in front of them, not too narrow but low enough to make them crouch to the ground. Like a pair of hunchbacks, they make their way through, down it seems to go, Where will it end? They both wonder; they soon get their answer. A substantial stone wall stops their advance.

  There is a multitude of symbols on the face — each block containing a mystery, an old forgotten language. They look upon it, trying to guess what they mean.

  “Can you read it?” Mica asks.

  “No,” Liviana replies, “this is unfamiliar to me. It could be ancient Illyrian.” The frustration is evident in her voice.

  Mica drops to the ground with his back on the wall, exhausted from the day; Liviana joins him. They take a moment, closing their eyes in the dark. The light from the armband falls on a piece of rock embedded into the dirt. It has a different texture on the surface when the light hits it. Small golden threads begin to glow briefly, barely visible in the light but lit long enough in the dark to be noticed.

  Mica opens his eyes slowly to see it. “Hey, what’s that?” he announces, then reaches for the out of place rock. He presses it, causing the piece to glow.

  “No don’t!” Liviana shouts, but it is too late. The ground beneath them opens up.

  They quickly fall down a narrow incline, heading deep underground. After thirty feet the dirt ground turns into stone, then into a metal frame. They fall another twenty feet, not knowing where the journey ends. Suddenly, a dark void in the floor appears. They begin to panic as they approach a gaping hole that is about to swallow them.

  They land with a thud on to hard floors; the tiles are each ten-feet square, the room is dark. Only Mica’s artificial light illuminates their surroundings. The room itself is not as big as suspected; there is no echo. Their light falls on hanging torches, which they quickly ignite.

  The flames bring the room to life exposing the fifty-foot square space. The ten-foot walls have Anuk symbols carved in them. A black granite sarcophagus is in the center resting ominously, partially covered with a heavy lid.

  Liviana looks at the box smiling, knowing what it could be. “This is a travel point, a portal.”

  “Nonsense, they don’t exist,” says Mica. “Stories told to wicked little children like you, and me.”

  Liviana hurries to a corner, passing her hands along the inscriptions; she reads them softly, admiring the script. Some of the protruding blocks gain her attention. She stops by them then pushes one half of the way back into the wall, then another all the way. Suddenly, the blocks with the writing glow with a dull gold light. The symbols in them glow a bright blue.

  “What does it say?” Mica asks.

  “It’s a note, stating Thoth was here.” She continues reading down the wall. “It mentions the eye of Persephone.” She freezes, then begins to smile.

  “More stories. Liv, you told me there’s treasure down here.”

  “I lied.”

  “Just great. Why are we here then?”

  “To find a key…well, the location anyway.”

  “And that’s where the treasure is, right?”

  Liviana grunts a false acknowledgment. She did not like deceiving Mica, but his lust for treasure was the only thing she could use to convince him to join her. She knows all too well that it was not so much of the treasure he was interested in, but rather the hunt for it.

  A gust of wind blows through the room, pushing the flames on the torches as if a malevolent spirit had entered. Mica is startled, almost frightened; Liviana ignores his yelps and groans of fright.

  She begins to read a part of the wall, “When the house of ENki fell, Thoth fled Egypt. He…”

  “Wait, I thought Thoth died with Persephone?” Mica
interrupts.

  “That’s what the history books say. Persephone escaped to Lumeria, but Thoth ventured to Atlantis. It was just an isolated continent then. Hyperboria was still a paradise.”

  “The Northern wasteland? Would not have thought it,” Mica chuckles.

  “Legend has it that Thoth dismantled most of the old travel points. After that, he hid the key to Lumeria. To ensure it did not fall into the hands of man, he broke it into three parts. The heart, the eye, and the body.”

  “So, all three must be found? I do not like this,” Mica admits.

  “There’s only one left, and, the gem of Persephone.” She pauses to looks at Mica, knowing this would bring a smile to his face.

  “That’s more like it,” he says with a smile.

  “Thoth put humanity on the path to forget the ancient histories. He corrupted all knowledge so they would forget.”

  “Wine and whores work just as well,” Mica states.

  “Yes, it does…If I am reading this right, this should do it.”

  She pushes a small block inward, then turns a metal dial; nothing happens. She thinks for a moment, trying to remember something her father had once told her.

  “We need blood,” she shouts.

  “You’re not getting any of mine. Why blood?” Mica asks.

  She pulls her dagger from her waist and then slices her palm. She looks at the red liquid, uncertain that she was correct in her assumption. Carefully, she smears the blood on the symbols around the metal dial. A series of blue light streak across the walls.

  “Blood contains the code of life, the genetic blueprint of the ancients,” she explains.

  A buzzing noise emanates from the sarcophagus, startling them both. They make their way to the granite box, waiting for something to happen. A hologram appears on the lid in brilliant blue color. Liviana hits Mica on his arm, signaling him to begin recording everything.

  A landscape appears with the Great Pyramid in the center. The images raise several feet in the air, causing the bottom to fill with an intricate tunnel system. A flashing red dot pulses, showing a sizeable cavity. Symbols appear around the dot.

  Liviana smiles from ear to ear. “This is a map of the Giza tunnels. Look, It’s the location of Thoth’s library, the hall of records.”

  “It’s near the Lion of Leo,” Mica adds.

  A new sound joins the buzzing; like a pulsing alarm, soft then suddenly loud, ending abruptly, quickly repeating. The images begin to fade as the ground starts to shake. The walls rumble with debris falling from the ceiling.

  Liviana looks at Mica; both are beginning to panic now. He nods at her, keeping his arm pointed at the hologram which has almost disappeared. She runs to a corner then along the walls looking for a way out. She looks at the hole they fell through.

  “Done,” Mica announces. “Now how do we get out?” he screams over the noise. He looks at the hole. “You could jump back up.”

  Liviana nods then line herself up to make the ten-foot jump. Suddenly, the area around the hole comes crashing down; she barely manages to leap to safety. She looks at the sarcophagus, and then runs towards Mica, grabbing his hand.

  They stop at the box, staring inside. Mica does not like what she is planning.

  “Get in!” Liviana orders.

  “In there? Are you crazy?” Mica protests.

  “I have a feeling.”

  “Woman, I am not about to die with you in that box!”

  Liviana starts to push the heavy lid, hoping to create more space for them to climb in. Despite his whining Mica helps her, mumbling all the while. Satisfied with a broad enough area, Liviana jumps in. Mica follows, stumbling on top of her; his face lands squarely on her breasts.

  “There are worst ways to go,” Liviana jokes. “Now, wait.”

  Next to her right hand, a small panel drops open. Symbols appear with a blue glow. The hieroglyphs are familiar. Liviana smiles knowing what will happen next. She touches a sequence, causing golden lines to connect the shapes. Suddenly, the lid slams itself shut; Mica panics.

  The noise outside the sarcophagus begins to intensify. It is not the sounds of crashing rock, but a high pitched one, growing louder. Inside the box starts to glow blue, with heat adding to the vibrations. Pulses of light radiate through the pair, then it wraps around their bodies like a cord. In a split second, they disappear.

  -OFF THE COAST OF SPLIT, IN ILLYRIA, UNDERWATER-

  Ancient ruins lay submerged in the waters off the coast of Split, undisturbed for millennia. What was once a temple now serves as a home for an abundance of creatures, swimming happily through the cave of coral formed around a broken statue.

  A bright blue light flashes inside a portion of the cave, frightening a school of fish. A granite lid slides off from a sarcophagus, then plunges towards the seabed. Water quickly floods the box, sending Liviana and Mica into a panic. They frantically begin their swim to the surface.

  Mica illuminates the way with his armband’s powerful light. A glimmer of moonlight is visible through the clear water, giving hope that they were not too far down.

  They surface, breathing deeply, thankful that they made it out. A few seconds pass before they realize land is in front of them, about a quarter of a mile ahead.

  Mica gives Liviana an annoyed look after spitting out water, “You had to say it…It could be worse. That was worse!”

  “Oh shut up, we’re alive, aren’t we? Where are we anyway?”

  Satisfied that he got his complaint out of the way, Mica checks his band. A map appears, he smiles.

  “Dalmatia,” he answers. “How did you know we would end up here?”

  “I didn’t,” she explains. “There was a symbol I recognized from the journal, for the Persephone gem. Arias figured it out. Now, to the fat man.”

  They take a breath, then begin their long swim to the shore. They were headed to Dalmatia, to an ancient temple. They had traveled 2780 miles in seconds. Now, they were one step closer to their prize…again.

  -THE GRAND TEMPLE IN GARTHOS, PROVINCE OF PARTHON, ATLANTIS-

  The town of Garthos serves as the provincial capital in this farming region. Despite it being the food belt for Atlantis, many Illyrian trade interests exist here. As such, the investment into the area has proven to be beneficial, with large buildings catering for lots of shopping. Despite this, the old charm remains, for it was here that the great Anuk Thoth first arrived; so the myth goes anyway.

  ~THE ARRIVAL OF THOTH~

  Thoth faced many hardships in the first years after the fall, testing the resolve of any Anuk. Sickness along with other difficulties descended upon him. Ultimately, the veil of death hovered over this mighty human. It was not until a young boy would rescue him from death’s door, that hope would enter his resolve.

  One of the devastating things unleashed from Lumeria was a bioweapon designed to kill off all Anuk. This was the cause for Thoth’s illness, for his inoculation from the virus had proven formidable, but not absolute. A variety of tribal medicines, however, would outwit the genetic engineering of Anuk scientists.

  An adolescent boy named Badur nursed Thoth back to health while protecting him from the wild lands of Parthon. When Thoth regained his strength, a friendship was fostered between the two, and they roamed the continent for a time. As fate would have it, they returned years later to where they first met.

  The warring tribes in the area were subdued, with Badur assuming the mantle of a leader with Thoth’s help. Together they planned to bring Atlantis out of darkness, to renew the golden age. This did not happen, for shortly after peace was established, the survivors of the house of ENlil arrived.

  It had been a refreshing ten-year period of peace, without the interference of any other survivors from the Anuk Empire; for it was assumed not many were left, least of all any of the great houses.

  This was far from true, as the youngest brother of the usurpers from Hyperboria named Atlas, entered the bay of Atlantis one summer afternoon.

&nbs
p; With his household, this would-be king assumed the title, claiming dominion of all lands of the decimated empire. Atlas created his military, then conducted a bloody campaign to subdue the realms before him.

  Thoth, fearing that his carefully laid plan for the future was in jeopardy, fled Atlantis. His one trusted friend, Badur, now had to finish what the keeper of forbidden knowledge had started.

  Badur was given a choice when the forces of ENlil entered his lands; submit or perish.

  Nobility was bestowed on the local Atlanteans. They all became servants of the house ENlil, and over time, forgot the promises their progenitor had made to his friend; clear the path at the time of the awakening, to bring forth the heir of Persephone.

  -THE GRAND TEMPLE, PRESENT-

  As expected, most of the town is gathered at the temple. Many did not know Alexa personally, but they knew of her. There is a rich devotion to tradition in this region which demands one pay homage to nobility. The seating area is almost full; one thousand seats.

  More seating is provided in the grand courtyard, with large screens mounted on the temple walls. It is dark now. The video feed lights the area. It would be another thirty minutes before the service begins, so many are going into the casket area.

  Inside, the massive chamber is filled with Parishioners. The priest, Etos, is preparing to give his sermon. He is a short chubby fellow, dressed in his priestly garbs. Everyone loves him; he is a cornerstone of the religious community. Several of the temple youths buzz around him carrying chalices of incense. Some are preparing various relics near an altar.

  A family of four sits at the front; Alexius’ brother Remus, his wife Anna, with their two small children, Steven and Chloe. The children are restless; Anna is trying to calm them. She looks at Remus; a bit annoyed that he is more interested in the crowd rather than helping her.