Chadwick’s eyes lifted from the otherworldly text only to find himself still trapped within the bizarre. “Sure. Most cultures have a golden age legend.”
“The reign of the gods on earth?” he recalled him saying.
Chadwick nodded. “Egypt’s golden age is known as Zep Tepi, and Central America’s was headed by the gods Quetzalcoatl, Viracocha, and Kukulcan.”
“Are they the same?”
“Yeah, most likely Mayan and Aztec names for the same person, all meaning ‘plumed serpent.’”
“No, I meant the golden age of Egypt and Central America. Were they the same?”
“Oh.” He thought about it. “There are similarities. Why are you asking?”
He pointed at the book in his lap. “One of Ronald’s books claimed that, according to a passage in Ezekiel, Satan once ruled on earth as God’s high priest, directing creation in worshipping Him. But he left out Satan’s subsequent rebellion against God and just referred to the time as a lost golden age.”
“And you think that Zep Tepi was that time?” Chadwick asked.
John shrugged. “That’s what I’m asking you.” He handed him the Bible and pointed to the section he was referring to.
“Interesting,” Chadwick responded after reading it. He handed the Bible back. “Though, I’m not sure First Time is what’s being referred to here. According to some sources, Zep Tepi is said to reoccur at the beginning of every ‘Phoenix’ cycle.”
“What’s that?”
“A cycle that rotates in thirteen thousand-year intervals, always ending with a cataclysm. Which some believe to actually be an evolutionary agent that nature, or order or whatever, uses to propel the planet’s life forms into the next stage of enlightenment. Thus the New Age craze surrounding the dawn of Aquarius.”
John squinted in thought.
Picking up on John’s confusion, Chadwick explained that many ancient civilizations believed the earth went through phases; each one having come to an end with a global cataclysm that humanity barely survived. The present cycle, according to the Aztecs and Mayans — or their much older predecessors, whoever they might be — is the Fifth. And it was the dawn of the Fifth Sun, after the destruction of the Fourth by a great flood, that Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs, had supposedly ruled over in a sort of golden age. The Fifth Sun was believed by them to have its own expiration date on the winter solstice of December 2012 AD, when a special planetary alignment that only occurs once every twenty-six thousand years is to accompany the end of the Great Year. He said that was why the Mayans sacrificed each other, to keep the present Sun alive with the blood of those sacrificed, trying viciously to keep the present age from dying off as the last four had. “A lot of the megalithic ruins may have been built to survive the transition of the ages, acting as an encoded system of wisdom passed from one cycle to the next. There’s a hermetic text of Egyptian origin called the Sacred Sermon that speaks of lordly men who were devoted to the growth of wisdom before their civilization was destroyed by the Flood. ‘And there shall be memorials mighty of their handiworks upon the earth, leaving dim trace behind when cycles are renewed.’”
“You’re losing me. What does this have to do with a golden age?”
“It has to do with First Time, which inadvertently has to do with your golden age. Are you familiar with astronomy?”
“Not really.”
“Precession of the equinoxes?” he probed.
“No.” John shifted in the sand, noticing Hunter peeking at them from beneath the brim of his hat.
“Well, let’s just call it a phenomenon involving the earth’s rotation, supposedly discovered by Hipparchus in 100 BC, although the ancients equated it into their monuments and calendars long before him. There’s also a kind of precessional code that was worked into a lot of the ancient literature.” He could tell from John’s silence that he was going too fast. He sighed impatiently and backed up. “The earth spins on its axis once every twenty-four hours, right? And it orbits the sun every three hundred and sixty-five days, right? Well, precession is the twenty-six thousand-year wobble the earth makes on its axis as it spins. It’s such a slow process that it takes seventy-two years for the stars to shift just a single degree along the ecliptic. Anyway, it keeps the sun rising in a particular constellation on the vernal equinox for two thousand one hundred and sixty years. For example, they say the Age of Leo lasted from 10970 BC to 8810 BC before giving way to the Age of Cancer… which gave way to Gemini and eventually to our own Pisces. The entire rotation, caused by the wobble, takes almost twenty-six thousand years to complete. It’s called a Great Year. You follow?”
“Yeah, sure,” John mumbled.
“It’s something we can very easily calculate with computer programs today but that was somehow figured out and observed in prehistory, too.” He scratched an itch on his back shoulder while gathering his thoughts. “Anyway, Orion’s three belt stars are believed to have reached the lowest point of their precessional slide up and down the meridian around 10500 BC, while its zenith will come around AD 2012, depending on your numbers. So for the stars to go from the top of the meridian all the way down to the bottom takes twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty years, or half of a Great Year.” He was using his hands to help create some kind of visual tutor. “The Sphinx locked into place with the constellation of Leo circa 10500, near the beginning of the Age of Leo. The three pyramids and the Nile River fastened into Orion’s belt stars and the Milky Way at the same time. In other words, around 10500 BC, during the Age of Leo, the Sphinx was aligned with Leo, the pyramids were aligned with Orion’s belt, the Nile reflected the Milky Way, and the belt stars were at the very beginning of their precessional journey about to head back to the top of the meridian and up through the ages.” He let John try and digest what he was saying before continuing. But to his surprise, it was Hunter who responded.
“So you’re saying that the pyramids were built during this First Time, which was around 10500 BC, because they reflected Orion’s belt?” he asked, not trying to conceal his skepticism.
Paul just glanced at them from over his shoulder, shaking his head in disgust. “Five minutes,” he said.
Chadwick ignored him. “Well, isn’t it reasonable to think that First Time would’ve corresponded with the start of this astronomical half-cycle?”
Hunter sat forward. “You’re saying that these cataclysms are actually astronomically calculated?”
“And that First Time was designated as the beginning of our present cycle circa 10500. Which will supposedly expire in 2012. At least that’s the theory.” He looked out to where Chris was walking through the surf and noticed that the curtains of night were beginning to close, the sun starting to descend behind them. “The Mayan First Sun began at the beginning of the precessional cycle, which would certainly seem likely if the existence of the solar system is to be credited to a creator-god; I mean, why wouldn’t God start things orderly and at the very start of a cycle rather than just throwing everything into some random point within one? Why would He create and design the precise, synchronistic order of the cycle and not use it? Anyway, the Fifth Sun began in 3114 BC after a flood destroyed the Fourth — which obviously doesn’t add up with the 9600 BC date, especially when First Time itself was supposed to come after the sinking of Atlantis.”
“After? How could First Time come after anything?” John was growing more confused.
Looking up into the darkening sky, he sifted pink sand through his fingers as he answered. “There’s an ancient text called the Emerald Tablet of Thoth the Atlantean that eludes to Thoth as really being the god, Tehuti, the supposed ruler of Atlantis. Thoth is also known as Hermes and Merlin. Anyway, it’s said that he escaped Atlantis in a pyramid-shaped spaceship at the end of the previous cycle and then returned through a portal once the cataclysm was over. The Zep Tepi gods then re-created life on earth.”
“At the start of the Great Year’s second half?” Hunter asked.
“Y
ou guys are ridiculous,” sneered Nick from behind closed eyes.
Paul smiled in response to the accusation, though his hawkish gaze never unlocked from the swaying trees.
Chadwick nodded to Hunter’s question.
John’s eyes fell to his feet. “But how can the Fifth Sun correspond with Egypt’s First Time if—”
“They don’t,” Chadwick cut him off. “The Fifth Sun began in 3114 BC, which would put it around the time of the Bible’s date for Noah’s Flood — at least according to ‘young earth’ creationism. The sinking of Atlantis and First Time are said to be much older. The First Sun began at the beginning of the Great Year. By calculating backward, using the five thousand one hundred and twenty-six-year length of the Fifth Sun, we get twenty-five thousand six hundred and thirty years for the Great Year. Calculate 10500 BC as the date for the beginning of that cycle and you’re only off by three hundred years. It’s ballpark and close enough to suggest that Egypt’s First Time corresponds with the First Sun and will end with the Fifth at the completion of the precessional cycle in 2012.”
“Okay, so even if 10500 is First Time, how do you know the pyramids were built then?”
“Well, it’d be easier to build them as a reflection of the sky above rather than having to calculate what the sky either would be or had been in the past. But who knows, maybe they were built before hand so that they were already standing when they locked into the stars, or maybe they were built much later on sites already considered sacred by ancient astronomer priests.”
John asked, “You’re referring to the alignment you were talking about?”
Chadwick sighed again and got to his feet. “Yeah. The Giza plateau was constructed to mirror the heavens,” he said impatiently. “According to astronomical calculations, the three pyramids of Giza were perfectly aligned with Orion, Osiris’ counterpart, around 10500 BC. As are most megalithic monuments, temples, and pyramids all the way from Mexico to England. Anyway, the Great Sphinx was also perfectly aligned to its counterpart, Leo. There’s also a temple complex in Angkor that reflects Draco, and though it was built between 802 and 1220 AD, its alignment is perfectly matched to the skies of the 10500 BC spectrum as well.”
“Then couldn’t the pyramids have been built afterward, too?” Nick asked, rolling onto his side. It was clear from his tone that he was barely able to keep from addressing the question with, you idiot.
“Yeah, I just said that.” Chadwick said, stepping backward. “But there’s aquatic erosion on the body of the Sphinx that some believe was caused by a great flood or some rainy climate that preceded it. And if you’re to take 9600 BC to be the general time of the flood, then you’re back to ballpark with 10500.”
“What’s the accepted date?” Hunter asked, getting to his own feet.
“Fourth Dynasty. Though there’s no evidence for it. Old Kingdom texts are silent about it, and it’s pretty clear that it’s not Khafre’s face as the experts so adamantly claim. Like I said before, the Sphinx Temple and the Valley Temple are constructed from blocks that weigh an average of two hundred tons each, a feat that scholars like to pin on the back of slaves. But even if it could’ve been accomplished by mere manpower, it still doesn’t explain where their astronomical knowledge came from, or how they were able to so accurately manifest it on the ground through such large structures.”
After contemplating for a moment, John further inquired, “But if the new era began in the wake of the flood, and the Sphinx predated it, how could it have been built during First Time?”
“Like I said, First Time is believed by some to be the re-creation of life, not necessarily the beginning of all time. The Sphinx could’ve been built before the Flood. There’s a stela that’s still standing between its paws that actually claims it marks the site of First Time, though which First Time isn’t exactly clear. Who knows? In the case of the three pyramids, they align with Orion’s belt at 10500, but the four star shafts of the Great Pyramid line up with their own respected stars in the sky of 2500 BC. So whether it was constructed in 10500 to look forward to 2500 or whether it was constructed in 2500 to look back at 10500, or some explanation in between, is certainly debatable.”
“What star shafts?” This from Hunter.
“There’s four long passageways built into the Great Pyramid. The two to the north point to Beta Ursa Minor and Alpha Draconis in Draco, and the two facing south point at Sirius and Zita Orionis.” He turned and started walking away, saying as he went, “It’s said that the gods ruled over Egypt for more than ten thousand years before the time of the demigods, while other texts credit the demigods for the re-civilizing of the land. Egypt’s own records aren’t consistent with each other and date First Time anywhere from eight thousand to forty thousand years before the First Dynasty. It’s the similarities that are significant. I have to pee.” He dropped Ronald’s book and walked to the edge of the woods.
Paul watched him intently, maneuvering the submachine gun on his lap as if expecting something to burst from the forest and snatch Chadwick away.
John tried to find a place within his mind where Chadwick’s information might comfortably fit; but he wasn’t having any luck in quantifying such material within the library his worldview so diligently maintained. But then, thinking back to what had triggered his question in the first place, he suddenly became enraptured by a sort of relationship between Ronald’s words and the things just learned. He absentmindedly began tracing an image into the sand while trying to mentally decipher the connection.
Chadwick was about to turn away from the tree line when a sparkle caught his eye, something lying five yards away and half concealed by undergrowth. He looked back at the others, saw Paul watching him. Quickly flashing a nervous smile, he laughed to himself, giggling at his frayed nerves… or because of them. “What am I doing?” And then he stepped across the boundary between beach and forest.
It was some kind of metal, the water lying on its exposed edge responsible for creating the glimmer that had captured his attention. As he bent down to brush the dirt off the object, an odd feeling swept at him from behind. He spun around. Nothing. Only the beach off in the distance, Paul standing and looking annoyed. Taking a deep breath, he waved an “it’s alright” gesture to him before forcing his eyes back to the metal. He sensed something watching him, closing in on him. He needed to get out of there. But…
“What the—”
A handle.
Grabbing it with two hands, he pulled, lifting whatever it was connected to up and out of the mud.
A sword.
He stood there for a second, staring at what he had unearthed, not able to fully comprehend it. That it was a sword was strange enough, the fact that it was seven feet long…
Chadwick thought he heard something close by. Probably just the leaves rustling. Or maybe not. He decided to run.
When Chadwick first stepped into the woods, Paul initially thought something was wrong. But when Chadwick turned and waved to him, Paul just assumed that nature was calling for something more time consuming. He began to relax a little. At least until, seconds later, Chadwick came running out of the woods.
“Hey,” Paul said over his shoulder, getting the attention of the others. Once he had it, he nodded in Chadwick’s direction.
Everyone rose to their feet, weapons suddenly in hand.
When Chadwick got closer, they noticed that he was dragging something through the sand, a long thin line following after him from the woods.
They jogged out to meet him.
John asked, “What the heck is that?”
Breathing heavily, Chadwick answered, “What’s it look like?” And then he held it up, struggling to keep its blade balanced in the air above him. “It was buried just inside the tree line.”
After a moment of silence, Hunter could only state, “It’s seven feet long.”
Paul was already scanning the trees again, as if expecting whatever had lost the monstrous weapon to be lurking nearby.
�
��It’s heavy.” And Chadwick let its blade swing down, an audible arc slicing through the air before burying itself in the sand.
“Look at it,” Nick whispered. “That didn’t come from a souvenir shop.”
“Just where in the hell are we?” It was Chris, back from his stroll and now standing behind them, his boots on and laced.
Hunter reached for the sword, touching it. “Look at the handle, the craftsmanship.” The handle itself was about two feet long, the metal construction wrapping around itself in braids. There were little chips along the edge of the blade that indicated use.
“Wouldn’t want to meet the guy who wielded that in battle,” John remarked.
“What battle?” Nick responded.
“Come on,” Paul interrupted. “Let’s get out of here.” And he marched back to collect their stuff.
Reaching down for his backpack, John noticed Chadwick standing beside him, looking strangely down at the ground. “What?” he asked.
Chadwick pointed to the design John had drawn into the sand. “What is that?”
“It was on one of Ronald’s maps,” he said, throwing the bag over his shoulder. “Each corner originating at a point of the Bermuda Triangle. The top of the triangle was capped off like this with…”
Chadwick’s eyes narrowed in scrutiny. “The eye of Horus. It’s a pyramidion, or benben stone. Associated with the cult of the Phoenix. The Egyptian Benu bird of Heliopolis came from the place the gods were born and, when it landed, started creation — or re-creation — giving birth to First Time. The word beben indicates the seeding of a womb, and the capstone represents Osiris’ seed which created Horus from the womb of Isis.”
“Really,” Chris said, now joining him in studying John’s artwork. “And I thought it was on the dollar bill.”
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