The Quest of the Empty Tomb

by Elyse Salpeter

  “Afghanistan? What is he doing there?”

  “I have no idea, Kelsey. Some secret project so private he won’t let anyone know about it.”

  Her brother had no idea what awaited him when he finally returned. She knew he didn’t like Desmond, but she had no idea of the depths of his betrayal.

  Julia begged Desmond for forgiveness. She swore at the time she had no idea why Ari had said what he did, and that she’d tried to contact Desmond multiple times to tell him not to use the arrows to attack Ustha. Ari even smacked the phone out of her hands at one point when she’d called, and threw it against a wall, shattering it to pieces. “He went crazy, Desmond. I swear to God, I didn’t know what he was doing.”

  After seeing the numerous messages she had left at the hotel and on his phone, he said he believed her and promised her that he held no ill will. As for Ari, this was far from over between them.

  Kelsey lay on the bed and Desmond sprawled next to her. She reached over and gently played with his fingers. He’d finally come clean about his past. “I can’t believe you kept this secret from me for all these months. Why didn’t you tell me about your childhood?”

  He’d shrugged helplessly and took her hand in his. “Because I didn’t even understand what was happening to me. I thought I was either dreaming or hallucinating or going crazy. With everything you were going through… and us, well, I didn’t want to complicate things further.”

  She grimaced. “I should have realized you were having issues, too. I’m so sorry.”

  Desmond stared at her. “You’re sorry? For what? That a crazy deva was stalking you to give you as a gift to a Decan goddess for the promise of world domination of the deva realms? Fine, I accept your apology for not asking about my feelings.”

  Kelsey scrunched her nose. “You know what I mean.”

  “I do. No more secrets, I promise.”

  She sighed. “So typical I can’t even get a regular boyfriend. No, I have to get one that is from another human plane of existence. Do you have any idea how insane that is?”

  He grinned. “Sure, as insane as my girlfriend being the reincarnated daughter of the Buddhist devil and the physical descendant of an Egyptian Star God?”

  “Touché, Desmond. And to think it all came down to the number thirty-three. Thirty-three Decans in the night sky, thirty-three Trāyastriṃśa devas in the heavens above. Thirty-three planes of existence once you add the two new human realms. Not just one like most doctrines have led us to believe. It makes complete sense. Why would there be realm upon realm in the animal, god and hell realms, but only one human realm? It would stand to reason that the human soul should have more planes of existence on which to travel based on their own karma.”

  Desmond nodded. “It’s just like the Emperor explained.”

  The night before, as Kelsey and Desmond lay in bed, she’d taken them both to Xanadu and they’d sat with the Emperor and Empress in the monastery.

  “The gods,” the Emperor explained, “are always fighting, especially the devas in the Trāyastriṃśa heaven who constantly battle the Asuras in the heaven below them. Both want supremacy of Mount Sumeru. But ages ago the Trāyastriṃśa gods tricked the Asuras, who now reside at the base of the mountain. Because of their nature, they want to rise back up to reclaim what they believe they lost and so they continue to wage war with each other.

  “The human realm closest to the base of Mount Sumeru is Desmond’s homeworld. It is called Aihika, Sanskrit for World. It is a grand land, filled with humans who are complex thinkers and planners. They love anything majestic and beautiful. Architectural masterpieces that seem to stretch into the sky, grand cities of stones and fountains, all redolent of the sumptuous displays of wealth in that world. But, because of their close proximity to the devas above, they often find themselves embroiled in their battles. Unfortunately, the battles over the centuries escalated and so their children were taught to fight. They learned how to use various weapons to protect themselves against the creatures that the devas sent down to their world.”

  “Is that why I had to leave?” Desmond asked.

  The Empress nodded. “Your birth mother sent you and your twin away so you wouldn’t be taken. Most of the children in that land had already been kidnapped by the Garudas. These are the bird-like pets of the Asuras who abducted children and carried them away to the mountain. You would have been made into a slave to help the Asuras fight the Trāyastriṃśa gods above them. You were one of the last children left in that part of the world.”

  “So you knew who I was when I came to Xanadu?”

  The Emperor nodded. “We did. But it was not our place to explain your history. Our job was to keep you safe. You had no memory of your youth and our explanations would only have confused you. Until you were ready to move on and confront your path at the right time, we could do nothing except offer you sanctuary.”

  He glanced at Kelsey. “Did you know I would meet her?”

  The Emperor stared at him pointedly. “We are not seers, Desmond. We are protectors. But we did see a connection between your souls. This is not the first lifetime you two have met each other.”

  Desmond’s eyes widened and he gripped Kelsey’s hand. “You see? We are linked. It’s not my fault I've been so overprotective.”

  She squeezed his hand back. “Yes, I’m sure that’s it,” she joked. She turned to the Emperor. “And what of the world I inhabit?”

  “Your world is the middle world, Earth, and while it is also affected by these wars, it comes through in different ways. You have had drastic fluctuations in your weather over the past hundred years. There have been scorching summers and devastating winters that your people wish to blame on global warming and industrial pollution. Tornadoes and earthquakes have rocked your world. The tsunamis and hurricanes. All caused by the gods fighting above.

  “Your world is a mix of different races and cultures. A melting pot of people who are both capable of good and prone to great evil. Your world has wonderful forests and then cluttered cities filled with slums. Disease still plagues your lands.”

  Kelsey had glanced at Desmond. “Which doorway led to my world?”

  “The one with the sun and sand.”

  Desmond leaned forwards. “My brother chose that door. Kelsey’s world. Could he be there now?” Desmond sat back, considering. “But I stayed in Xanadu for ten years and never aged. Did the same thing happen to my brother?”

  The Emperor glanced at the Empress, hedging. “The portals do not follow the laws of time. What I can tell you is that your sibling did travel to Kelsey’s land and at no point came to Xanadu. So it would seem that your sibling would be on Earth… somewhere.”

  “And what of the third world?” Kelsey asked.

  “Prithvi exists below yours. That is the Sanskrit name for earth. It’s a land where most of the humans have figured out how to exist without the constant crush of earthly desires. It is filled with glittering mica-covered beaches, cities filled with gardens and music and culture, but devoid of faith or religion. Belief systems still exists on the other human realms and are the basis of most of the fighting and wars on those worlds between the people themselves. While there is still much to learn in Prithvi, it is a land as close to utopia that a human soul can find.”

  Desmond asked one final question. “So, can you tell me where my brother is?”

  The Emperor glanced again at the Empress again and she shook her head. “We actually can’t see your twin because they are cloaked.”

  “Cloaked?” Desmond asked.

  “Hidden, within the space of time and protected by the rules of your homeworld. You’ll have to find your twin on your own.”

  Chapter 34

  THE QUEST

  Kelsey and Desmond were sure the Emperor and Empress were hiding something, and after an epiphany, they devised a plan. Everything related to the number thirty-three. It was not lost on them that Desmond was also thirty-three years old now. As was his twin, of course. They
needed to take a huge leap of faith, but if their idea panned out, it would change all the belief systems in the world.

  They could thank Armand for the initial idea. It all went back to his quest of the empty tombs, and Desmond and Kelsey were going to seek the most famous empty tomb in all of religious history. They had a feeling this might be what the Emperor and Empress were hiding from them.

  “My mother said they’d leave me clues.”

  Julia had felt so badly about what had happened that, after spending an enormous amount of money in bribes and travel expenses, she managed to get her hands on a color copy of every known page of the Voynich Manuscript and had them hand delivered to Desmond's hotel the next day. She took great pains with the maps included in the document.

  Kelsey and Desmond had poured over them for hours before they ventured out on their quest. Some maps showed what appeared to be castles, reminiscent of the monastery in Xanadu. Others showed what resembled continents and land masses. But the one that startled them both the most was the star map.

  This map depicted a representation of two great galaxies and the point at which they intersected. In the center was a face, described by others as a Christ-like being, which supposedly indicated “a point of origin.” The map included moons and stars. Kelsey and Desmond researched all the documents related to this particular map, and Desmond knew that everything that had been guessed at by the general populace had been right… but also very wrong.

  Yes, it showed the intersection of two galaxies, and it showed arcs across the nighttime sky. Many theorists believed they were looking at a map of the nighttime sky from somewhere in China, but well after a series of supernovas had rocked the galaxy.

  But Desmond knew in his heart that this map depicted the sky seen from a vantage point on his homeworld of Aihika. A land in a different human dimension and closer to the god realms. It had a different polar altitude than that of Earth which meant that the map’s key and positioning would be different in Kelsey’s world. They spent the evenings studying the nighttime sky and matching them up to the text, and soon they had a point of origin. A place in the desert. On the road towards Jerusalem, but not where others had sought. They did not go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchur, they did not seek the Garden Tomb. Instead of moving through the Christian quarter of the walled old City of Jerusalem to find the ultimate empty tomb in all of religion, Kelsey and Desmond remained in Egypt and followed their star chart to a desolate tract of land on the outskirts of an old town far from the Nile. They pushed through the sparse scrub. The hot, sweltering sun beat upon the sand, and after stopping a few times to rest and drink, they continued to push through the brush.

  “What if we’re wrong, Kelsey? How presumptuous are we to think we found him when no one else in history has?” Desmond’s jaw was set with worry.

  Kelsey touched his arm. “Don’t worry, we’ll find him, whether it’s him, or not. Your brother is somewhere. And it’s not presumptuous. No one knew what the Voynich Manuscript was either, but now you do. It could all be connected.”

  Desmond pulled out the star chart and then looked again to the sky. He opened another sheaf of ancient Egyptian star maps and examined them against each other. “This way.”

  They picked their way up the trail in front of them and came to a dead end. Kelsey kicked aside some dead roots and leaves, and Desmond leaned down and removed stacks of rocks hidden under them, revealing the entrance to an abandoned cave.

  They ducked inside and entered a passageway. Desmond turned on his flashlight and shone it at the walls. He let out his breath. “Look at this, Kelsey.”

  They saw a crude, faint drawing of a naked woman holding onto a small child. She sat in a pool of water, surrounded by little creatures not of this world, but those of the world of Xanadu and Desmond’s paintings.

  Desmond paused and rested his hand on the wall. He took a shaky breath.

  “You okay?” Kelsey gently touched his arm.

  “A memory just came to me. I see a woman. She is removing her clothing and stepping into the pool of water on my world. She is herding a line of children to the portals. The woman is holding a baby.” Desmond opened his eyes. “She looks just like the woman in this painting.”

  Kelsey nodded. “They were all escaping. So there are people from your realm existing all through the different human planes.”

  Desmond nodded. “And in Xanadu, too, apparently.”

  Kelsey remembered all the children she’d met there. She’d never wondered why there were no parents around. Now she knew. All of them were being protected. It was not just a bardos for those seeking their next incarnation, but served as a safe haven between worlds, as well. The Emperor and Empress had known this all along.

  They continued moving down the passageway, which narrowed so much Desmond’s broad shoulders brushed each side of the wall. They moved slowly through the cuts in the rock until the surface of the rock suddenly began to change.

  Kelsey ran her hand on the wall, her eyebrows arched in surprise. “Hey, look at this. It’s limestone, just like in the pyramids.” They moved quickly down the passageway, ducking low as the ceiling dropped until they hunched over so severely their backs grazed the ceiling. Soon they nearly crawled on their hands and knees.

  The passage ended abruptly in a dead end, though the ceiling had raised to Desmond’s height. The wall before them was covered in a strange text of swirls and whirls. The same text of Desmond’s doodles and the same indecipherable text from the Voynich Manuscript.

  “Can you read it yet?” Kelsey asked.

  He shook his head. “No, but it’s familiar.”

  They ran their hands along the surface, but couldn’t find any sort of opening or lock.

  Kelsey placed both her palms on the wall. “The rock is warm.”

  Desmond reached into his backpack and took out an infrared laser thermometer and held it ten inches away from the wall. The number 91.4 degrees Fahrenheit flashed on the digital screen.

  Kelsey sucked in her breath and an amazed expression crossed her features. “Desmond, that’s thirty-three degrees Celsius.”

  His eyes glinted in excitement. “Yes, it is. Did you know thirty-three is considered the highest of the “Master Numbers?”

  Kelsey nodded. “Some theorists also say it symbolizes something called ‘Christ Consciousness’ which is the universal nurturing healer. It’s yet another connection.”

  Desmond’s eyes gleamed. “So you really think we found him? That it’s all connected? The empty tombs, the number thirty-three, the star systems, the Voynich Manuscript, me and my brother being thirty-three?”

  Kelsey nodded. “All times, all worlds and do I daresay, all religions?”

  Desmond pushed against the rock. “I have to get inside. I have to know.” They searched and studied; then Desmond leaned in and ran his fingers across a series of letters on the wall. He stood back and stared at it, finally noticing that the indentations formed the shape of a triangular doorway and that there was a deep cavity in the center of the wall.

  “I don’t believe it, but I bet this entire thing is a portal. Right here in front of me.” A vision came to him and he rocked on his feet. “I see something.” He rested his hand on the wall. “I’m young, maybe seven or eight and in a school, walking down a hallway. I turn and see a sign on the door. It says ‘enter.’” Desmond turned back to the rock, his eyes wide as he pointed to a series of text at the top of the rock. “Kelsey, these words are the same lettering as the sign. It must mean ‘Enter.’”

  “Is the word Aklacha?” Kelsey asked.

  Desmond’s eyes widened. “Yes! Aklacha, I remember now. ”

  “And that’s the word for enter in Tedanaleese, Desmond. They really are the same language.” She stared at the wall. “So how do we get inside? Can you read anything else? Can anything from your paintings help?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Desmond thought about all his dreams and paintings. He thought about his escape from his burni
ng world, and what had been similar in all of them when it came to portals.

  He snapped his fingers. “It’s water.” He quickly reached into his backpack and removed a rubber tube. It looked just like the hoses in his dream that had poured water onto Ustha as she sat in the pool. It also resembled the piping he’d seen in his world which constantly filled the portal’s pools. It resembled the pictures in the obscure texts Julia had acquired, too. “Give me your canteen.” He placed one end of the hose in the deep indentation, and Kelsey held it against the wall while he poured the contents of her canteen into the other end. As the water streamed through the hose and into the wall, it leaked out and collected in a puddle on the floor.

  “You think this will work?” Kelsey arched her eyebrows skeptically.

  “Well, he did walk on water, didn’t he?” He continued to pour slowly.

  “I don’t know, Desmond. It seems like we’re just using up our water supply.”

  “No, I don’t think so.” The water dribbled down the wall. Once the liquid trickled against the bottom of the entire doorway, there was a soft hissing sound. The wall gave way a fraction of an inch and a doorway formed. Kelsey and Desmond stared at each other, nearly giddy with excitement. They pushed against the door, it scraped open, and they moved into yet another stone antechamber.

  The stone chamber lay empty, save for a table and a shallow tub situated against the back wall. From where they stood, they could see someone inside it. “Oh my God, Kelsey. It’s him.”

  Kelsey squeezed his hand reassuringly and smiled. “Go get your brother.”

  They inched up to the tub and stared inside it. Desmond made a startled noise deep in his throat, and stood there, stunned. Inside the tub, resting in just two inches of water, lay not a man, but a naked woman. A tube led from the wall to the tub and dripped a continuous flow of water into it. Another tube was attached to the bottom of the bath, drawing the water into the tube, where it disappeared back into the wall. It appeared to be a continuous loop meant to keep the tub filled. A plug lay under the woman’s floating hand from which the tub water could be drained as well.