The Serpent Passage

by Todd Allen Pitts

  William picked up the boulder as though it was made of Styrofoam. He waved it around, feeling like he had superpowers. “That’s incredible!”

  “As you can imagine, this would be a useful item for construction purposes,” Priest Quisac said. William set the stone down. “It has another use that I shall demonstrate.” He gripped the handle and pressed a button; the disk pulled him over the top of boulder. Priest Quisac deactivated the device before it launched him over the side. “I suppose that feature could assist in climbing a great mountain.” He glanced at the lagoon. “It can also propel you through the water.” He put the disk back in his pack.

  “This last item is the most powerful,” he said, holding the handles of a metallic object with three crystal spikes jutting out. He pressed some buttons, causing the object to hum as he aimed it at the lagoon. A bolt of lightning shot out from the device, followed by a loud thunderclap that rocked the ground, drawing the attention of the other priests nearby.

  William jumped. “Awesome!” he said, transfixed by the weapon. “It’s like a laser gun. Is this what King Aztuk wanted to steal?”

  “Yes,” the Serpent Priest said. “Imagine the damage such a weapon could inflict if in the wrong hands.”

  “With this weapon, couldn’t we easily defeat Calakmul?” William asked.

  “We will indeed use this sacred weapon against their advancing army. It will kill many with each blast. However, it is only good for two such blasts, and then it must remain in the sun for a full day to regain its power.”

  The Serpent Priest glanced up at the sun. “We must make use of the remaining light to travel to the Sacred Cavern of Jade. I will take you through the tunnels to show you the cavern with the underground cenote so you can determine if it is the same passage that brought you here.”

  Priest Quisac said his farewells to the others. He appeared to be fighting back his emotions, as did the other priests when they parted. “Ensure that the mission of the Solar Cult does not end here in Bacalar, my brothers,” Priest Quisac said, with a bow.

  They all bowed in response.

  The Serpent Priest turned away from the lands that he had known since he was a child, and he did not look back, as he and William began their journey to the Sacred Cavern of Jade.

  Chapter Eleven

  Hiking back the way they had come before, William and Priest Quisac followed the trail south along the shores of Bacalar lagoon, stopping to fill their jugs at the Cenote Azul before continuing on. Rather than veering east into the hills toward Dzibanché, the Serpent Priest maneuvered through a dense section of jungle without any trails to guide them.

  “Isn’t there a better path to the Sacred Cavern?” William asked, after being whipped in the face by a leafy branch.

  “The jungle conceals its location from those outside the Solar Cult.”

  “Then how does King Aztuk know about it?”

  The Serpent Priest retrieved his atlatl and hacked through a thick section of brush that blocked their way, slicing off foliage from a bushy coffee tree. He reached down and picked up a branch, examining the red beans that dangled in tight clusters. “Before becoming the King of Calakmul, Prince Aztuk was once a student of the Solar Cult.” He plucked a bad bean off the branch and tossed it aside. “We banished him due to his behavior—his thirst for power. It is also unfortunate that he met Yax’s uncle then. It is when they began their alliance, and their plans to overthrow the ruling family of Dzibanché.” Priest Quisac stuffed the branch of coffee beans into his pack and continued on.

  They trudged through a muddy section of the jungle for a while. Combined with the advancing darkness, William lost his footing a couple times along the slippery ground. The Serpent Priest stopped and pointed to a rocky knoll covered in vegetation, just beyond a swampy wetland stretch ahead of them. With a grand announcement, he said, “There lies the Sacred Cavern of Jade.”

  William squinted, staring at the small bump in the ground that rose perhaps twenty feet above the steady contour of the land, wondering if he was looking in the right direction. “You mean that hill? That’s it?”

  “Yes, that is it,” the Serpent Priest said, confirming.

  “I thought it would be much bigger.”

  “It is merely the entrance. Come.” Priest Quisac plodded forward through the mucky swamp.

  “Where is the entrance?” William asked, unable to see any visible openings on the hill as he splashed through the wet marsh. Their progress slowed due to the water that rose to their knees at one point. He grimaced at the feeling of the silt squishing through his toes, while keeping an eye out for any creepy critters that might be lurking just under the surface.

  “It is on the other side, near the top.”

  Just as dusk settled in, they broke free from the swamp, back onto solid ground, and arrived at the obscure little hill hidden in the overgrowth of the jungle. Ferns, short shrubs, and flowering vines blanketed the hill. Agave plants grew throughout; their thick pointy leaves formed clusters of bluish balls that looked like ornaments from the distance.

  After following Priest Quisac to the other side of the hill, William watched him climb up the embankment using the vines for support. William tried to follow his lead, but he slipped on the way up, swearing under his breath when he scraped his knees on the rocks. Once situated at the top, he spotted a shadowy area amidst the vegetation. Priest Quisac cut away the brush that he said had grown over the entrance since his last visit there. “Based on the growth, I would guess it has been several years since anyone has been here,” he said.

  Mesmerized by the shape of the opening, William moved in closer to get a better view. “Did your people carve it like that?”

  “Like what?” he asked, hacking off the last few vines with his dagger.

  “The entrance is completely round,” William said. “The edges are so smooth.” He ran his hand along the curve of the five-foot diameter opening. Instead of a rocky texture that he would have expected for the entrance to the cave, it felt more like the slick surface of a Teflon frying pan.

  Priest Quisac shrugged. “It has always been as such.” He retrieved the sacred flashlight from his pack, casting its beam inside, lighting up the green mossy walls of the cavern’s interior. William peeked in. “The initial descent is steep,” the Serpent Priest said. He beamed the light further into the tunnel; it went down at a forty degree angle into the darkness below.

  “Maybe we should wait until the morning,” William said, feeling a little uncomfortable about exploring creepy caves at night.

  “We will make camp in the caverns.”

  “Down there?”

  “It opens up below,” Priest Quisac said. He fished around with his free hand and grabbed a rope just inside the entrance, pulling it up from the moss that had grown over it. A haze of dust and pollen filled the tunnel as though he had just dumped out a vacuum cleaner bag. “Use the rope to steady your descent.” He positioned the flashlight in his belt, aiming it upwards to illuminate the tunnel, and then climbed through the entrance, shuffling his way down.

  William followed the Serpent Priest, descending hand over hand along the guide rope; he assumed the Itzae had put it there decades before, and he hoped it was still sturdy. While maneuvering his way down, the sounds of their footsteps and labored breathing echoed through the tunnel. Although the walls were covered in a thick layer of sediment and plant growth, he could also sense an artificial quality to the tunnel that gave the echoes a metallic tone. “I can’t believe how smooth these walls are. Surely, someone built this tunnel, Priest Quisaahhh!” William slipped and slammed hard onto his side, clinging to the rope with just one hand. His pack slipped off his shoulder and slid down the ramp. The Serpent Priest snatched it up as it passed by him.

  “Be careful. There are some slick spots,” Priest Quisac said, flinging William’s pack over his shoulder and continuing on.

  “Yeah, thanks for the warning.” While pulling himself up, William noticed that he had fallen on
an area free of the dirt and mossy vegetation that covered most of the tunnel. He rubbed his fingers against it, detecting the same metallic texture as with the entrance.

  Upon reaching the bottom, the slope leveled out beneath William’s feet. He dropped the rope and turned. Standing frozen with big eyes and his jaw hanging open, he gazed into the enormous cavern ahead of him. The chamber was the size of a basketball stadium. However, unlike most caverns, there were dozens of triangular green stones embedded in the walls.

  “The Sacred Cavern of Jade,” Priest Quisac said, his arms outstretched; the sacred flashlight cast its beam of light at the ceiling high above, where moss-covered formations hung down, and long black vines dangled throughout.

  Shifting his attention to the cavern wall beside him, William gazed across the long line of triangular jade stones. Each appeared to be the same size, and they were precisely spaced apart, like they had been attached to the wall. “Who built this place?”

  The Serpent Priest smiled. “As our people have built above the land, other civilizations have built below.”

  “Did your people put those jade stones there, and sculpt them like that?”

  “They have always been there, just as they are now,” Priest Quisac said. He aimed the beam of light toward an arched doorway at the other end of the cavern. “That is the entrance to the tunnels that lead to the cavern of the cenote. It is not far. Allow me to show you so that you can determine if it is the same place where you and Bati discovered the Serpent Passage.”

  He followed Priest Quisac down a long corridor—that seemed more like a big tube—and through a maze of other connecting passages. The uneven floor made him feel off balance. Along the way, the path leveled off, and it dawned on William that the passage had taken on a typical rocky appearance. A mild stream trickled beneath their feet.

  “The ground is wet here. You must watch your footing during the remainder of this trail,” Priest Quisac said.

  While continuing along, Priest Quisac bounced the beam of his flashlight off the walls to light the way, and William noticed the same kind of florescent algae that he recalled seeing before on his ride down the underground river, beneath the Cenote Azul. The rugged tunnel opened up into another large chamber before connecting with another stretch of rounded tubes. The tubes joined up with rough passages again, and William began to wonder why some sections of the tunnels were built so much better than others.

  A steady splashing noise grew louder as they neared the end of the tunnel. They stopped along a ledge that overlooked a cavern. The stream ran over the ledge, pouring into the cenote below with the meager velocity of a garden hose filling a swimming pool.

  Priest Quisac pointed the light into the cavern. “Does this resemble the underground cenote from your journey?”

  William borrowed the flashlight and shot the beam all about the cavern; goose bumps surfaced on his arms. “It’s the same,” he muttered. “I never thought I’d see this place again.”

  “The Serpent Passage is beneath the cenote?” Priest Quisac asked, pointing below.

  “I think so,” William said, with a hint of confusion, remembering the waterfall he had gone over before. He looked at water moving beneath his feet, and shifted his gaze below.

  “If you are not sure, we can climb down to investigate.” Priest Quisac pointed at the guide ropes tied along the rocks.

  William tapped his sandal in the water. “A thousand years from now, I think this little stream becomes that underground river I went down. It connects all the way to the Cenote Azul—it’s what pulled me in. In my time, this entrance here becomes the waterfall that I went over.” He aimed the light into the lake below, scanning across the rocky shores; he was relieved to not see all the skeletons that were there in his time.

  Priest Quisac nodded. “Then it is indeed the cavern of the Serpent Passage.”

  William felt confused about the whole thing. “Why would they build a time portal under water? And why does it only work on the solstice days?”

  Priest Quisac gazed at the underground cenote as he considered William’s question. “The solstices are an important time. They mark the beginning and end of our solar cycles. In the Sacred Cavern, the jade stones awake on the days of the solstice—the gems ignite with a fire burning inside. Clearly, the Serpent Passage is set to the same timing.”

  As Priest Quisac spoke, William thought about the timing requirements of playing online games with his friends. “Maybe it has to be turned on at both ends to make the connection… to open a port between the two times. So they set it up on a solar timing system because… well, it’s not like you can just text your buddy, and tell him to turn on his PlayStation.”

  The Serpent Priest stared at William with a confused face for a moment, and then snatched the flashlight from his hands. “In any regard, the passage now sleeps, and so must we.” He turned and headed back up the tunnel.

  While following the Serpent Priest, William thought about what he had just learned, and he contemplated how it could help him to return home. “All I have to do is come back here on the day of the winter solstice and go through the Serpent Passage again… right?”

  “It appears so,” Priest Quisac said. “Yet how would you travel through a passage that is beneath the water?”

  “Oh, right, I forgot about that detail,” William said with a huff. He wondered if there might still be some air remaining in his tank… that’s if he could even find it. Just a few breaths might be enough to get him through. But then William shook his head when he recalled how the crocodiles were chewing on his gear; the air would have surely drizzled out through the broken hoses.

  When they arrived back at the chamber with the strange jade stones, Priest Quisac gathered a handful of branches from a pile and started a campfire by using a striking stone to cast a spark onto some dried moss until it lit. As the fire crackled and popped, he added larger branches until a cozy blaze began to warm the cavern.

  While staring at the sparkling lights that reflected off the jade stones, William moved in closer to get a better view; they looked like the same triangular lights that he saw when he traveled through the Serpent Passage. “I don’t think this is actually jade.” He rubbed his hand against the glassy texture on one of the green rocks, and the bloodstone grew warmer on his chest. The green surface shimmered in a myriad of colors along the spot he touched. He heard a high-pitched squeaky noise, and it felt like his ears popped.

  Mesmerized by the green stone before him, he could not pull away. His hand felt glued to the jade, and he couldn’t break his stare. His heart raced, and his body shook. William sensed his consciousness being sucked away from him, reminding him of the Binding Ritual with the ceiba tree. He heard an explosion, and his vision shifted. Tall lizard creatures rushed about in a panic, amidst a blazing hot fire. A shrill noise—like a jet engine—blasted through his mind. The sensation of falling overwhelmed William. He felt himself being slammed against the ground, sliding and flipping. He saw the strange lizard creatures tumbling all around him.

  William shuttered as he came to, still gazing into the sparkling jade stone; his wrist was held in Priest Quisac’s strong grip away from its surface.

  The Serpent Priest regarded William with a grin, contemplating the vision that he also shared. “It is said that the feathered serpents came in a boat of fire from the heavens, settling on our lands long before Man.”

  William rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the start of a headache. “Priest Quisac, this isn’t a cavern, is it?” he asked, pointing at the green stones with a look of revelation. “This is a crashed spaceship!”

  Priest Quisac let loose a rare smile. “Yes, it is.”

  “You knew this all along?”

  “Many in the Solar Cult have had similar visions here. The power emanating from this chamber allows one to see the images trapped inside the jade. Combined with the properties of the bloodstone, your vision took over and it became difficult to control. I suggest you remove the bl
oodstone and keep it in your pack until we leave.”

  William pulled off his necklace and shoved it deep inside his bag. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth about this place before? And why do you tell everyone that it’s just a cavern of jade?”

  Priest Quisac shrugged. “It would be difficult for most to comprehend. We do not have other words to describe this green stone. It resembles our most precious stone—jade. You had to see for yourself, for this is your journey, and you must make your own conclusions.”

  William studied the ceiling for a moment, realizing that the odd formations were actually stations of the ship, now covered by hardened sediment. The black vines hanging about were likely wires of some sort. He thought back to their hike to the underground cenote—how the metallic tubes were connected to rough passages—and he deduced that sections of the ship had broken off in different areas, and tunnels had been made to connect the remnants of the ship back together. “So the Serpent Passage is actually part of this spaceship. But why would it have a… time travel tunnel?”

  “As I did not know it existed before, I cannot answer your question.”

  William sat beside the fire, enjoying its warmth. The flames provided a welcome relief from the chilly underground caverns, especially after stomping through the wet tunnels earlier. He realized that he may never know for sure why the Serpent Passage was built—or retrofitted from the spaceship—or why it was in sync with the solstices. It had been there for thousands of years, so knowing the purpose didn’t really matter. It was there… and that was that.

  While heating up a piece of leftover boar meat over the fire, a pleasant sleepy sensation drifted over him. He remembered camping trips with his mom and dad, which triggered a twinge of despair as he became aware, again, of the sadness he must have caused his mom for disappearing. But he wondered if his assessment was really true. “If I manage to get back to my own time,” William asked, “do you suppose that any time would have elapsed while I was gone? Or would I arrive at the same moment that I left?”