The Seal of Solomon

by Jeffrey Ellis

  “Okay, you know the plan. The fastest way out is the tunnel to the pyramid of Khufu so let’s go,” Sebastian order.

  “That is not correct, Captain Arthur,” said Ra.

  “You showed me these passages yourself Ra, what do you mean that’s not correct?” said Merlin.

  “Merlin, you are not of the Priesthood. There were some secrets I did not share with you. Captain Arthur tells me our lives are in danger and he is not one prone to exaggeration, so situations dictate I reveal a secret of the Necropolis,” Ra told him.

  “Okay new plan. We follow Ra. Assume Neith is still stalking us and be ready,” Sebastian told the group.

  “Mother lives? You are very much in danger then if she no longer stays to the shadows below,” Ra said.

  “Can you speak with her? Can you calm her?” asked Chelsea.

  “Lady Guinevere, you changed your hair and no, I cannot. Her mind is no longer human. She will not attack me or other members of the Priesthood but you she will devour,”

  Ra told them. Ra held out his hands and they glowed a bit but then stopped.

  “Sunlight will drive her away, but it would appear my power is drained from the sleep, so I cannot call it forth to shine upon the darkness,” Ra told them.

  Chelsea held out her own hands and was able to generate a little more light than before but it was just white light, not sunlight.

  “I can’t do it, I’m not strong enough. Sebastian? Merlin?” she asked but both shook their heads no.

  “Wait, I have an idea,” Sebastian said and walked over to her and took her hands. “We are bound to each other. Our souls are intertwined and as we come together in body and spirit, maybe we can do so in magic.”

  They held hands and closed their eyes. A small ball of energy formed and began to glow, the light spreading out throughout the chamber and burned like the bright noonday sun. Looking at it was difficult. Neith was crawling across the ceiling towards them and screamed then dropped into the gap to the chasm. The webs dried and withered to dust under the intense brightness.

  “Merlin you have taught them well,” said Ra.

  “I didn’t teach them that,” said Merlin.

  “I don’t know how long we can maintain this, it’s taking a lot of strength. Let’s move with haste please,” said Chelsea.

  As Ra led them through the corridors, the ball of light followed them.

  “She loved this temple but allowed her lust for power to get the better of her. She challenged me and even with the support of her followers they were no match for my power. I should have killed her and released her from this world, but I could no more kill my own mother than I could kill myself. Instead, I gave her what she wanted. I gave her immortality and power. She was charged as guardian of this temple and I gave her the ability to defend it. She is very strong, and you are lucky to be alive. I would guess she was toying with you, stalking you for fun instead of outright attacking,” said Ra.

  They twisted and turned and went through several hidden passages and eventually emerged through a tunnel hidden in one of the small tombs. The moon was directly over the plateau, giving the plateau an eerie glow. Ra looked around the area, saw the state of the buildings and the decay of his beloved petrified pet Sphinx.

  “How long was I asleep?” he asked.

  “We should talk but not now,” said Merlin.

  They stood in the sand and looked around in the moonlight, the light conjured by Sebastian and Chelsea having faded.

  “The shuttle is just south, about ten minutes’ walk. Let’s get out of here and bring Master Ra up to speed as much as we can on the flight,” said Sebastian as someone screamed.

  He turned and saw Mason hanging from Neith’s fangs. She threw him down and reared up. He didn’t move and just crumpled to the ground. Her body was an abomination. Her arms and legs were gone, two large spider legs about four meters long extended from her sides. Her body formed the thorax and a distended abdomen extended down from her pelvis. Her eyes were replaced with clusters of eyes like a spider and her mouth wider than it should have been with two large fangs gripping in front of her like a pincer.

  Ra turned and faced her. “Mother, do not do this,” but Neith just made a hissing noise. “Mother, I command you return to the chasm and fulfill your duty as guardian of the Necropo…” but Neith hit him with one of her legs, knocking him down then started advancing towards her son with venom dripping from her fangs, smoke rising from the sizzling sand where the venom landed.

  Sebastian was already running towards Neith with his shield and sword out as was Chelsea.

  “Nooooo!” he screamed as he attacked the arachnid monstrosity.

  Swords flashed, and shields parried as the two fought the creature. They moved fast, as fast as Neith if not faster. The remainder of the group took shots of opportunity except for Merlin who was heading to Ra as fast as he could manage, and Bruce went after him to help.

  The pair were in an almost trance as they fought the creature. They moved as two parts of one machine, perfectly in tandem. When one parried the other attacked. Neith could not fight both at once and could not escape. Every time she tried to run, one of the two blocked her path. She was getting desperate in her bid to escape and overextended herself. Chelsea stepped under her and thrust upwards, moving backward and slicing open the monster as she moved. Neith screamed in pain and her legs drooped down as she bled the ichor of an arachnid mixed with her human blood. Sebastian leaped and landed on her back and struck down, slicing her head in half vertically then jumped again as she crashed to the ground.

  He immediately ran over to Mason but there was nothing that could be done. The digestive, acidic venom of the spider had already destroyed much of his body. Chelsea ran over to him as well.

  Ra came over to them.

  “You killed my mother and for this, I will forgive you and I command you to take me to Nefertiti now,” Ra said to him.

  Sebastian didn’t look at him. “You command me? An abomination you created just killed a friend. We have lost over ten billion people due to the actions of the Masters. TEN BILLION. You command me?” He turned to Ra and stared at the large man. “YOU COMMAND ME?”

  “Arthur, I am a Master and you are not. I command all who are beneath us,” said Ra calmly.

  “Beneath you?” said Sebastian as he started walking towards Ra.

  He grabbed Ra by the throat and lifted him off the ground. “You command me?” Ra was choking, and Sebastian was hitting him repeatedly in the face, a punch putting an exclamation on every sentence.

  Ra punched and kicked Sebastian. His command of martial skills was impressive and even in his precarious position, he landed numerous blows on Sebastian. The younger man's nose and lip were bleeding but still, he held Ra aloft by his throat. The large Egyptian was gasping for air.

  “Listen to me, Master. This world isn’t yours anymore. It belongs to everyone. You will show respect for the man whose life your abomination took. The world has changed in the two millennia you slept and you’re not in charge anymore,” he said and threw Ra down beside the body of Mason.

  Chelsea grabbed Sebastian, but he ignored her as he kicked Ra in the ribs repeatedly. The sounds of bones breaking could be heard and Ra was coughing blood.

  “Beg for his forgiveness, Master. Tell the man you’re sorry. That’s right. You can’t. He’s dead because of you. He’s dead because of your arrogance. Everyone to the shuttle. Leave this Master to rot in the desert,” Sebastian ordered and started walking away.

  As he departed he said, “Ra it’s in your best interest if I never see you again.”

  “Sebastian, wait,” said Merlin. “We need him. You yourself said next to Master Socrates he is our best hope for information about the runes. I am on your side, you already know that. I’ve sworn to follow you and I will do so. If your order is to leave then so be it but think of the ramifications. Think of the great evil out there somewhere with power from an unknown origin. We need information and R
a is our best source. I am not asking you to be his friend, but I am asking you as your adviser and your friend to put the people you love so much before your own anger and reconsider.”

  Chelsea went up to Sebastian and he stopped walking.

  “He’s right. I’m sickened by this. I want to gut that egotistical bastard, but we have a greater responsibility. Forget the world. Forget the Masters. Mason came here to save Ra. He, just like every other person in this group, ourselves included, were ready to sacrifice our lives on the slim chance he might have information that we need. We cannot let Mason’s death be fruitless if we can avoid it. You’ve made these kinds of hard choices before and you’ve put aside your own desires for the safety of others. Can you do this one more time?” she said.

  Sebastian turned and walked back to Ra who was still sitting in the sand, blood dripping from his lips and nose and he held his left side where Sebastian had kicked him.

  Ra put his head in his hands. “Ten billion, Captain Arthur? How? There haven’t been that many people who have lived and died,” said Ra.

  “The world is different. Humanity has become so vast we cover most of it now. We have people who live on the moon and Mars. The population of this world was over twenty billion and then an unknown power broke the Seal. The Cataclysm happened again, just like when you formed it but the population this time was far greater and the death toll numbing and it’s still rising. Five billion died the first few days just from the natural disasters. Disease and starvation are rampant now in many areas. Violence and chaos have taken hold in the hearts of many out of fear and since that first night the death toll has doubled,” Sebastian told him.

  “Again? This happened before?” said Ra.

  “Come on old friend, I’ll tell you everything I know,” said Merlin, “But we need to go.”

  “No, not yet,” said Sebastian. “Ra, I’ll be blunt. I need you. You are the oldest living man on this planet and may have knowledge we need to find the one who broke the Seal. However, you’re going to have to play by our rules. The Masters are no longer in power. From what Merlin has told me, you’re an egotistical son of a bitch but you’re a good man at heart. Can you put aside your pride and your status as a Master and join us in making the world a better place? I don’t ask you to swear loyalty to me as these people have. I do ask you to play by our rules though and when this is over, if we all survive, to not try to regain your status regardless of how much power you regain.”

  “You have changed Captain Arthur. I will agree to your terms. Even if the dead did not die directly by my hand, a stain of ten billion deaths is still on my soul because my actions helped create the Seal that caused it. I must atone for that and in a thousand thousand years I could never do that, but I must try. My soul will never balance against the feather. Take me to your chariot and we shall be off,” Ra said.

  “Chariot? You’re in for a shock,” said Bruce.

  #

  Sebastian stared at the letter on the screen and read it again. Chelsea was standing over his shoulder looking at the screen as well.

  Brother Crusader,

  I know it's been a while but I'm not sure who else to turn to. Normally I wouldn't turn to a Warden for a military issue but you're one of us and always will be. I need your help, Brother. I'm stationed at a new shuttle transport depot in Hawaii as a logistics officer. We set it up after the Cataclysm to help with relief efforts. It was mostly quiet but now it's not. Something is killing us. So far, seven people are dead. I've seen two of the bodies and it's nothing we've ever seen before. The bodies are completely dried out. There's not a drop of fluids of any kind left in the bodies. The brass is saying it's a non-transmissible pathogen but it's just a cover-up. It's like no pathogen I've ever heard of. Mummies in museums have more moisture than these bodies. I hate to contact you like this when we haven't spoken for years but you're the only person I could turn to. The commanders have refused to go through official channels. Please, Brother Crusader, we need your help. There's a lot of soldiers and civilians here who are going to be picked off while the higher-ups hide it. I know you joined the Wardens and read online what they say you can do. We need you brother.

  -Brother Stone

  “That's a strange message,” Chelsea said. “Who are Brother Crusader and Brother Stone?”

  “I'm Brother Crusader. Brother Stone is Bobby Mavis, an old friend from when I was in the Elite Corps with GloCom. After our unit was deprecated when GloCom reduced their troop strength we were split up. I haven't seen him since we were decommissioned. He was always a phenom with numbers and joined the logistics division+6947+9+ and I was accepted into officer's training,” Sebastian replied.

  “Do you think this message is legitimate?” she asked.

  “No doubt in my mind,” Sebastian replied.

  “I want details, Brother Crusader,” she said as she put her arms around him and looked at the screen.

  “There's not much to it. When I was in GloCom, I was part of the Elite Corps. Each group had a name. Our CO was a Lieutenant named Mark Willis, or Brother Mason as we called him. We were called Mason's Monks. We had this whole theme going where we each had a code name of Brother. I was called Brother Crusader. The man who sent this is Sgt. Bobby Mavis or Brother Stone as we knew him,” Sebastian replied.

  “How did you end up in his squad?” Chelsea asked. “I've always heard the Elite Corps are invitation only and they don't just recruit anyone.”

  “When I first got out of basic, Brother Stone and I were assigned to the infantry. That was about the time when President Yassim won her first term as president and the ALF activity ramped up significantly in response to her strong anti-terrorism platform. My unit was assigned to the assault on Los Angeles after the ALF invaded. We couldn't use air strikes or heavy equipment inside the city due to the civilian population, so it was a ground attack all the way.”

  “My unit was working in the downtown area when we received a call that a command station was under siege and we were sent to rescue them. They had safeguards like our own Fortress Protocols and were dug in but couldn't hold out forever. The ALF opposition was greatly underestimated, and I lost a lot of friends during the firefight.”

  “We lost our ell tee, the noncoms and enough other people that we had no command structure left. We were in disarray and I took control and started barking orders. I had no authority but with no one else stepping up, people fell into line and we regrouped.”

  “What's an ell tee?” she asked.

  “It's what we called the lieutenant commanding a unit,” he replied then continued his story.

  “We eventually pushed them back and managed to secure the station. Brother Mason was the man in charge of the command station and we got him and his team out and led them to a drop point for evac. Along the way, we came under fire again and were outnumbered and pinned. Brother Stone and I managed to pull us out of it by clearing a path through the enemy.”

  “Brother Mason's second in command took a laser shot to her leg and another to her gut and was bleeding out. After we cleared the path, I staunched the blood flow as best I could then pick her up and carried her the rest of the way to the evac shuttle. Brother Stone kept our six clear and we managed to get the entire command staff out. As we were flying out, Brother Mason told me he was taking command of an elite squadron and offered us both a place on the team on the spot,” Sebastian told her as a tear ran down his cheek.

  Chelsea looked at him and wiped the tear. “That woman you carried out...she died, didn't she?”

  “She did,” he replied, a bit choked up. “I was awarded two medals and promoted but all she got was a grave. I accompanied Brother Mason when he told her family. Her mother cried on my shoulder. I know the Wardens are my family now and we're not officially involved in combating the ALF, but they owe a debt that will be settled.”

  He punched the wall and his fist went through it. He hit it again and again until there was a hole at least a foot in diameter then yelled. It was
half scream, half battle cry and the rage in his voice echoed across the room and shattered anything glass and knocked most of the things on the desk to the floor.

  Chelsea held him a moment until he calmed down.

  “About a year after I was assigned to the Monks, UniGov decided to further downsize GloCom's combat forces with the diminishing need for them as the ALF further shrank under Yassim's aggressive policies. I was accepted to officer's training and Bobby joined the logistics division. The Monks all went our separate ways. I eventually went to the moon and you know the rest,” he continued.

  “Can we trust this Brother Stone?” she asked.

  “Bobby doesn't exaggerate. He's a by the book guy. I'll clear this with Anna. It shouldn't be hard with the LA Facility that handled the area now out of commission. You hold the fort here until I get back. I'll handle this one alone,” he told her.

  “Excuse me?” she said. “You are not leaving me behind. There is something there draining people to death and if you think I'm going to let you face that alone, you've got another thing coming,” she said.

  “No,” was his only reply.

  “No? NO? Who the hell do you think you are to tell me no?” she said as she glared at him.

  “Chelsea, this is my hunt. Bobby is a friend from my past and I can't let you be endangered because of that,” he said calmly. “My past is mine to deal with. You're my present and my future.”

  “Your past is my past. I don't know what macho bullshit you think this is, but you need to stuff it,” she said getting more perturbed.

  “They'll see you as an outsider. It will make things more difficult,” he told her.

  Her own anger was growing. “You think I'm an outsider? Those assholes kicked you out. Do think they're going to welcome you back with open arms?” she said, her voice getting louder.

  “Chelsea...it's just that...” he started to say but she cut him off.

  “Now is not the time for you to talk. Now is the time for you to listen. These people kicked you out. They didn't want you. The Wardens do. You're one of us now. I want you. I accepted you for who you are, who you were and who you will be. This isn't your past coming back to haunt you. I know this brings up all kinds of bad memories and you feel some obligation to your old friend but that's bullshit. You need to accept that your past is just that. Passed. Gone. You were wronged. You moved on. You're a Warden now and we act as Wardens. Whether you've realized this or not, you're mine and I'm yours. We have risked our careers for each other. We have risked our lives for each other. That doesn't stop now or ever. Where you go, I go. I don't give a damn if that's some base in the Pacific or the gates of Hell I'm going to be there with you. You think me being there is going to make things difficult? So the fuck what? They have no authority over us and if they don't like it they can kiss my ass,” she said, now yelling.