The Mayan Temple

by Preston William Child

  The light left Charles' eyes as he tried to speak. The man who had been so supportive of him through all of his obsessive adventures was gone and his death was going to be used as an engine for the Order of the Black Sun to win. His body was being desecrated and his memory defiled so that Julian Corvus could get everything he wanted. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair.

  Julian was going to get his wish.

  No. Purdue wouldn't let him, not after all of this. That bastard didn't deserve to win. The Order of the Black Sun wouldn't leave victorious. There had to be a way.

  Purdue let out a primal roar and charged Julian, tackling him onto the floor. Julian snarled at him like a beast and smashed his head against Purdue's, throwing him off of him. Purdue wouldn't give up and was pouncing on him seconds later. He couldn't give up. He wouldn't.

  As they grappled on the floor, Julian cackled.

  “It's too late! It's too late you stupid fool! Your butler is dead! The sacrifice is made! I wish--”

  Before the wish could be spoken aloud, Purdue smashed his knuckles against Julian's jaw. Maybe he couldn't voice his desire with a broken jaw. He punched him again and again but Julian just kept laughing through the blood in his mouth and the bruises that were being made instantly faded away. Julian's immortality just added to the futility of Purdue's attempts. There was no way to stop him. Not unless he had the Spear of Destiny.

  Julian threw Purdue off, climbing to his feet and rushed over to the sacred alta. He stood proudly over the slab and Charles' body.

  “Purdue!” Nina called as she and Sam sprinted back into the chamber.

  Purdue was getting up off the floor and even across the room, he saw the terror in his friends' eyes. They were realizing, just as he had, that they had truly lost this time. There wouldn't be any coming back from whatever horrors Julian Corvus had in mind for the future. They would be at the mercy of that sadist's vile imagination.

  Part of Purdue was glad that the three of them were together again, here at the end. If anyone was going to be at his side for this defeat, it would be his two companions. They'd been through so many adventures together, gone all over the world. Through all of it, all of those close encounters with death, they'd always come out on top. Their luck had run out though, and now they would have to get through this together too, in whatever way they could.

  Julian was still spewing out that demented laugh, not being able to contain the glee he was feeling. He must have felt so good, now that he was at the brink of world conquest and undeniable victory.

  “I'm glad you're all here to see this,” Julian said with a giggle. “I'm so, so glad.” Julian turned his attention back to the bloody altar. He looked like a child on Christmas morning, ready to see all of the great things that he would be unwrapping, only he was about to see the world that he always wanted come to fruition. “I wish...”

  Purdue, Nina, and Sam all ran forward but they would never get there in time.

  It was over.

  “I wish to be the god of this world!”

  The three of them all came to a skittering stop.

  The wish was made.

  Purdue half-expected the world to instantly change around them, to see the horrors that no doubt flooded Julian Corvus's mind. With him as a god, the planet would become nothing more than a hellscape with Julian ruling unchallenged over everyone.

  Julian stood, with his arms outstretched, waiting to be bestowed his newfound omnipotence. They all watched, waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did. Nothing about him changed, at least noticeably.

  Sam took a cautious step forward. “So? Do you feel like a god?”

  Julian looked himself over uncertainly. He looked around, also waiting for some kind of sign that he was now a deity but there was no bright flash of light, or lightning bolt coming to wrap around his hands. He wasn't glowing. He was just him, the same as he had always been.

  “I wish to be a god!” He repeated, more loudly and more forcefully, hoping to convince whatever unseen force to give him the wish that he had been promised.

  Again, nothing happened.

  “Oh my god...” Nina said, and she started smiling.

  “It didn't work,” Sam said, also looking elated. “It didn't work!”

  Julian kept examining his hands and then looking back at all of the blood on the altar. He was reeling, probably scrambling to figure out why he hadn't gotten what he wanted. Everything that he had heard and learned told him that his wish would be granted, but something was still preventing him from finally claiming his dreams.

  “I wish to be a god!” He screeched again, far more uneasily this time. He was desperate now, practically begging the alta to give him what he wanted. “That's my wish! Make me a god of this world!”

  Purdue stepped up beside Nina and Sam. The three of them watched Julian struggle and all of them felt a tinge of satisfaction seeing him having so little control over the situation he found himself in. He was a child throwing a temper tantrum now, furious that things weren't going to end up going his way.

  “So that's it?” Purdue asked. “The story about this place was wrong? Just a bunch of bullshit, aye? The sacrifice at the altar didn't work.”

  “Seems so,” Sam said with a sigh of relief.

  “No,” Nina said, shocking both Purdue and Sam. “No, the sacrifice worked. Just not the way that any of us expected it to. Look at Charles.”

  Charles was still motionless and bloody on top of the slab of rock but there was a glass of wine and a book resting beside where his hand hung. Those hadn't been there before, and Purdue looked at the book cover closely. It was Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, which he had known for years was Charles' favorite novel of all time.

  “What the...?”

  Nina gave a little laugh, practically coughing on her own surprise. “Elijah told me something about the temple, an old legend he had heard about it during all of his time curating and studying history. He said that everyone was saying that if you perform a sacrifice at the altar, you get whatever you want, but he had actually heard the opposite.”

  “What do you mean exactly?”

  “I mean that it was never about the person performing the sacrifice. It was about the sacrifice themselves. The one who was given their heart's desire had to give up their own heart. They had to sacrifice themselves to acquire what they were looking for. Julian didn't get what he wanted because he wasn't the sacrifice, Charles was.”

  Julian looked over at them, having overheard her story. He looked dazed, and even a little crazed. “Speak up! What are you talking about?”

  “I'm saying that you didn't get your wish. You were never going to. The sacrifice was the only one who would get what they wanted. You didn't get what you wanted but Charles did.”

  “A book and a drink?” Sam asked.

  “He said it on the way here. He didn't want to come initially. He just wanted to be back home with a good book and a drink. It's what he wanted, but we were able to convince him to come to help you, Purdue.”

  Purdue couldn't help but feel a little guilty but thankfully that was drowned out by the feeling that they hadn't actually lost after all. They won in the end thanks to Julian Corvus not knowing everything about the Mayan temple.

  “You're wrong!” Julian spat venomously.

  “Am I? Then explain Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and his favorite glass of red wine right there.”

  Julian glanced at the two items beside the dead butler's hand. They had been conjured from nowhere, a gift in exchange for the sacrifice that had been made.

  Nina spoke up, relishing having the advantage over Julian. “The only way you could ever get what you want would be to sacrifice yourself on that alta...but seeing as how you're immortal, that doesn't seem possible.”

  But it was possible, at least Julian and Purdue now knew that. Purdue looked at the Spear of Destiny protruding from the butler's corpse and the same idea crossed their minds simultaneously.
All Julian had to do was stab himself with the spear on the alta and could make his wish. It was a risk but if he wished for godhood then perhaps that would counteract his death, bringing him back an omnipotent entity just like he wanted.

  “Don't let him use the spear!” Purdue yelled, already rushing forward.

  Julian grabbed the shaft of the Spear of Destiny and tried to pry it out of Charles' body. It didn't slide out as easily as he hoped, stuck in his torso. Purdue led the charge toward him. Nina and Sam were probably confused but he hoped they believed in him enough to follow. Julian used both hands to heave the Spear of Destiny out of Charles and prepared to turn it on himself.

  Purdue threw himself at Julian, putting his own hands on the shaft of the spear and trying to pull it away from his enemy's grip. Julian wasn't letting go, though. They struggled for the spear until Sam and Nina got to Purdue's side. Sam grabbed onto Julian from behind, trying to pull him away from Purdue and the spear while Nina tried to help Purdue with the tug of war for the weapon.

  They managed to knock the spear away and it skittered across the floor. Before Julian could try and reclaim it, Purdue and Sam grabbed onto both of his arms. Purdue kicked the back of his leg and Julian fell to his knees, completely restrained by the two men. Nina ran after the spear and picked it up. They dragged Julian across the floor, further away from the alta.

  “The spear can take away the immortality that it gave,” Purdue explained as he struggled to keep Julian down. “That's how he killed Charles.”

  “So he was trying to kill himself to perform another sacrifice,” Nina said, looking over the spear in her hands. She looked sickened by the sight of Charles' blood running down it, still fresh. She walked up to Julian and stood over him with the spear. She put the tip of the spear up to Julian's neck, letting the blade poke at his throat. “Do you remember the last time I held this.”

  Julian stopped struggling, completely bound by Purdue and Sam's hold on him. He looked at the spear and then up at Nina. An uncomfortable little smile formed on his face. He was fuming, but he probably thought that there was still a chance.

  “I do,” Julian said coldly. “When you drove it through me in that cave. When I thought I was going to die.”

  “When you should have died,” Nina corrected. “You were just lucky that this spear could help you cheat death...but it seems it can also put you down for good, is that right?”

  “It is,” Julian said expectantly. “So this is your big moment then? You're going to finish what you started all of that time ago, is that it? Go on then, Dr. Gould. You had your chance before. You took your shot. You can take it again. It's only fitting.”

  “Nina,” Purdue said. “Wait.”

  Nina pressed the spear a little harder against Julian's throat. She wanted to run him through with it, just as she had before. This time, he would really be gone. He wouldn't be coming back. She would finally have slain the beast that had been haunting her ever since. All of the horrible things that had come all because that spear hadn't worked the way it should have the first time...all because she hadn't been able to get rid of Julian Corvus for good.

  The attacks on her life and her friends. Her imprisonment and torture in that dark little cell in the Black Sun facility. All of the pain that had come was because she couldn't make sure that the spear put him down permanently. The Order of the Black Sun had only grown far worse since her failed attempt to kill Julian.

  Everything started at that moment, when she ran him through with it. It had seemed like such a triumph at the time. She had beaten the bad guy. But it had all been some cruel joke that fate was playing on her. Julian came back.

  Charles was dead now because of the effects of that moment.

  And now she had that power in her hands once again, and she could put an end to Julian Corvus. She wanted to do it more than anything, to take back the victory that should have been hers but Julian had taken away.

  “Nina...” Purdue said again.

  Why was Purdue telling her to wait? He wanted Julian gone just as much as she did, surely. They needed to wipe this stain off the face of the earth for good. It was their responsibility to ensure that the Order of the Black Sun stopped desecrating history and threatening the future. Getting rid of their most dangerous leader was a great way to start fixing the mistakes they had made—the mistakes she made. This was their chance.

  “You want to,” Julian cooed. “You should.”

  “Nina, we're too close to the altar. Even here.” Purdue pointed at the alta a few yards away. “We don't know for certain that blood being spilled this close won't activate the sacrifice. We can't risk it.”

  “Then let's bring him outside...we can finish this there.” Nina was surprised by her own coldness but that was the effect that this terrible man had on her. He had tormented her for far too long. She hated the idea that he was going to be able to leave this room alive. He deserved to be put down and purged from the world. The planet would be a lot safer of a place without him. “We have to kill him.”

  “No we don't,” Purdue said. Nina glared at Purdue but Purdue just shook his head. “We can't decide that here. We can talk about it later. But listen to me, we can't risk killing anyone in here. You're right about the sacrifice...we have to make sure everyone leaves this place breathing. We can't have anyone else's wishes coming true. They won't be nearly as harmless as Charles's was, aye?”

  Nina considered just doing it. Who was Purdue to try and stop her? He didn't have a clue what she had been through since they parted ways. He didn't know what it was like to be under the Order of the Black Sun's thumb, at Julian's mercy for so long. He didn't know about that darkness.

  Then again, she didn't know what Purdue had been through either...not fully. But she knew enough to realize that Purdue had suffered just as much if not more than she had, just maybe in different ways. But at least she probably still had a home to go back to, and had heirlooms and belongings that hadn't been stripped from a destroyed house. She may have been taken prisoner, but Purdue lost everything thanks to Julian. In the end, maybe he did have a right to decide what happened to their mutual bane.

  “Okay...”

  Nina lowered the Spear of Destiny, pulling the tip away from Julian's throat. As much as she wanted to try and kill him again—and this time succeed—she shouldn't make that choice on her own. They had all been through hell thanks to Julian's rise of power. Ever since he'd come into their lives, things had gotten so much harder. It should be a group decision, not just hers. Part of her still wished she had gotten what she wanted but she knew it was a selfish wish. Julian wasn't just her enemy. He was all of theirs.

  But she couldn't stand looking at him, especially as he now smiled up at her.

  “I'm disappointed, Dr. Gould.”

  “I don't care.”

  There was a sound like cracking earth, and the stone walls of the chamber started to tremble. Purdue recognized those tremors well enough. It was just like it had been standing outside of the temple in Honduras. The Mayan temple was preparing to teleport to a new location. Any second now, they could be anywhere on Earth. It could be hundreds of miles away or even thousands. It could be some place warmer or somewhere even colder. There was no way to tell, but Purdue knew it was coming at any moment.

  “What's going on?” Nina asked, dropped the Spear of Destiny when the floor rattled beneath her. The holy lance slid across the floor. “What's happening?”

  “The temple is moving again, right?” Sam asked beside Purdue, who just nodded back at him in response.

  Julian started laughing in their grip, like he was about to witness the biggest firework show that was ever launched. He kept gazing around at each of the walls around them and then at the floor, hoping to see the first sign that they were being moved.

  “This is interesting, isn't it? It's one thing to hear about the temple moving or to be just outside of it as it vanishes, right, Mr. Purdue? But to actually be inside...to move with it. To be in one p
lace and then instantly in another...that's something special. My apologies, Dr. Gould. I would have hated if you killed me and I had to miss this spectacle. That would have been a terrible waste.”

  Nina ignored his taunts as the chamber around them vibrated loudly. It was hard to stay on her feet with the floor constantly quaking beneath them. It was like they were standing on some invisible rocket that was about to launch and lift off.

  There was an open hole in the wall nearby. Purdue kept his hands firmly placed on Julian to keep him at bay but all he could do was stare out that hole, out at the image of an icy, barren landscape. He was still surprised that he and Sam made across that horrible terrain. He had fully expected to be either shot by the Black Sun or would have just frozen before he ever reached the temple. Hypothermia would have been a terrible way to go.

  The temple kept shaking but Purdue ignored how off-balance it should have been making him. He kept focusing only on that small hole in the wall and the image that it made. Every bone in his body was rattling from the temple but he wouldn't look away from that hole. He wanted to see it. He wanted to.

  There was a loud bang, like a boulder dropping down onto the ground.

  Purdue blinked and suddenly, the hole in the wall showed a very different portrait. The white canvas of ice and snow was nowhere to be found. It was lush and green, an enormous field of grass that stretched out to the horizon. A sprawling meadow that gave off a much brighter feeling than that numb indifference of the Arctic.

  The tremors subsided and Purdue just kept staring at that hole in the wall.

  “We moved...” Sam whispered beside him. He wasn't looking at the wall. He was just staring at the chamber floors. He could just tell based on how the temple was reacting. “We must have.”

  “Aye,” Purdue said beside him, still admiring the greenery of the new place he could see. “We most definitely did.”

  At least they had very obviously ended up in a much more comfortable climate than the Arctic had to offer. The challenge wasn't going to be the weather this time. It was going to be figuring out where the hell they ended up, and it was impossible to determine when they would move again. The temple had been planted firmly in isolation in the Arctic for quite some time, long enough to rob Lucius of his sanity. They might be trapped in the middle of nowhere for a long, long time. They were completely at the mercy of the Mayan temple and it's strange moving schedule.