Babel Found

by Matthew James

  He thought of Hank. Maybe it could even help with his nightmares?

  He held up his left hand and tried to make a fist. It took some effort, but it closed…barely.

  Or this…

  Ben still looked to be in pain, but the man was walking at least. What if the healing properties only did so much? Would they even do anything for Hank if, and hopefully when, he came out of his current state?

  We’ll just have to find out, he thought, tying the vine around his chest like an ammo belt.

  The vertical beam of light came right on cue. It dimmed some and began to pulse. Not exactly understanding the tech at work here, Kane ordered everyone to fall back, away from the altar. They followed his command without any form of dispute, backing up as they watched the light show.

  “What the hell is that?” Davey yelled, pointing up.

  Kane saw it too. The golden beam of light started to change color. Half of it began turning black and the other half a familiar electric green. Picking up speed, the colors attempted to swirl together like a vanilla/chocolate combo. They resisted, however, each one taking on the persona of a horseshoe magnet’s ends.

  “It’s them,” Ben said. “It’s their essence doing battle.”

  “But what does that mean?” Nicole asked, frustrated at the lack of answers. She wanted a clearer one. She needed to know what was actually happening to Hank.

  “I…” Ben said, his face tired and worn. “I honestly don’t know.”

  40

  Somewhere

  “I can feel you growing weaker, Mr. Boyd. I can see it in your very soul. It grows wearier with every passing second. I only have to wait…”

  “Shut up,” I mumble between grunts of exertion. It feels like he has his cold lifeless hands around my heart, squeezing it. I’m ready to pass out, but get a natural boost of adrenalin. My new found strength within is the only reason I haven’t lost.

  I’m kneeling atop the central altar in Teotihuacán, looking up into the fiendish eyes of Coaxoch, but instead of her voice accosting me, it’s Enki’s. Nicole, Kane, and Olivia lay dead around me, killed by the stone serpents. Again, I know they aren’t really dead, but my body reacts as if they are.

  Coaxoch’s laughter booms across the landscape making the stone around us rattle and shake. Each one is like a punch to the chest, driving the nail home deeper. It’s as if fear itself has me in a stranglehold of some kind.

  I need to control the fear, I think, trying to stand. For every inch I move against Enki, I get bombarded by a new wave of fear and pain. He has weaponized the two principal enemies of man in a conflict. Fear that you’ll lose, and the pain it will cause.

  Get it under control Hank.

  “Yes, Mr. Boyd…” Enki says, smiling. “Please do try and take control. It’ll only weaken you further.”

  “Get out of my head!”

  I know he’s baiting me into burning myself out more, but I don’t really have another choice. While my body heals with the passing time, my mind—my will—doesn’t. Every second I continue my resistance against Enki brings me that much closer to giving in.

  I shove out of my kneeling stance and push…hard. My legs shake and bend, threatening to bring me back down, but I fight against it. I must keep fighting!

  “Just…once,” I say, “I’d like to see you actually…take a swing.” I need to antagonize him more, maybe it’ll give me an opening. “But you won’t, will you? You’ll just stand off to the side and pretend your magic has any hold over me—a true warrior. No wonder you couldn’t control Thoth. He was too strong for you.”

  A growl and an ancient curse gets sent my way as another wave of killings invade my brain. He is trying to use all of the deaths brought upon this planet as his weapon, forcing me to see visions of each. It’s nauseating and terrifying, but I know I need to try and block out the sight. Closing my eyes does nothing, they appear in my head in unison. I’m meant to see these atrocities whether I want to or not.

  “You know nothing of me!” Enki roars. He’s only five feet from me, but it feels like ten times that. “Thoth is the reason you are doomed as a race! He brought down this tower along with any chance of my escape from this wretched planet!”

  Huh?

  “What… What are you talking about?” I ask.

  The scene around us changes once again and we’re in a monstrous room. It’s not a cave, but a beautifully built and elegantly decorated hall of some kind. I’m standing on a wooden catwalk that encompasses the entire circumference of the expanse. It’s about the same size as the Citadel—the size of a sports arena.

  I believe myself to be the only one here until I catch someone speaking in the center of the great hall. He’s knelt over something, but my current position is blocking whatever it is. There’s a staircase down to the center of the room—one of six spaced out around it, attaching from the catwalk to the lower level.

  As I head right, my view of the man and whatever it is he’s knelt over comes into view. It’s a small pyramid of gold and he’s praying over it like it’s a sick child. I can’t understand what he’s saying, but I can hear the pain and hurt in his voice. He’s pleading to it for something.

  “He wanted more,” a voice says in my head.

  “Enki?”

  He doesn’t answer, but I know it was him. His grating voice is unmistakable. He wants me to see this. He thinks it’ll change my perspective of things.

  “Fat chance,” I say, descending the stairs.

  I’m about four floors above the kneeling man and as I continue down and forward his features start to look familiar. I’m not sure how I know him, but I do.

  “Thoth?” I ask, seeing the man flinch. But his movements aren’t because of my oddly timed question. He spins and grabs his head, screaming in that same ancient language. It isn’t Atlantean—I’ve heard that before. It’s something far older.

  Doesn’t matter, I think, watching.

  Thoth is shouting at nothing, but arguing like he is.

  “It’s in his head…”

  “Yes… I am,” Enki says. “After he consumed a part of the Source he became the gifted individual you knew him as. But I guided him to everything he built. It’s only until he grew strong enough to repel me that…” His voice stops. I hear honest to God sadness in it. “That the tower was destroyed.”

  What?

  “Watch…”

  I do and see Thoth shouting in anger, pounding his chest like a caveman going through roid-rage. Soon after, he turns and dives at the stone, placing both hands on it. As soon as he touches it, the room starts to shake and the stone starts to glow.

  “He’s calling on more power from the Source. He knew the consequences. It’s like overloading any other power source.”

  “It overheats…” I look up. “Or explodes.”

  I witness something that no one alive has seen, except Enki himself. The room around me starts to glow in the same way as the stone did, the light quickly working its way up the walls and through the next levels.

  “The tower was my only way of contacting my home,” Enki says. “Thoth destroyed my only chance at reaching someone.”

  “The Tower of Babel was an antenna?” I ask, shocked.

  The non-answer is confirmation enough.

  The room brightens to the point that I have to cover my eyes and all at once, just like that, it goes out. I uncover my face and am looking up into the night sky. The stars are beautiful and as full and as bright as I’ve ever seen.

  No electricity to block them out, I remind myself.

  “What… Where?” I ask, looking around for rubble.

  “It was destroyed at a micro level.”

  “It disintegrated?” I ask.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s why there have never been any ruins found above ground. There weren’t any to find.”

  The scenery starts to warble a little as a large form steps into my line of sight. It’s Enki for sure, but there isn’t enough light to see b
y in the middle of the desert.

  “This was the last time I would help humanity. It’s the last time I would cooperate with your selfish species. Thoth wanted more power and instead, he killed thousands and created a monster.”

  “You,” I say, putting everything together finally. “You crashed on our planet and tried to contact your own, but Thoth compromised your mission. The tower—of which was probably lined with orichalcum I’d assume—was your only way of constructing something powerful enough to send a signal out. Our planet was still millennia away from developing anything remotely close to doing so.”

  “You…” The accusation is meant for all of humanity and not just me, but as of right now…I’m the only one of us around.

  “Damn.”

  “I will finally have what I need to power the Citadel myself, Mr. Boyd.”

  As he finishes his rebuttal, I lunge for him, hoping to surprise him. Instead, I feel a sting in my flesh. I look down and see a Roman Gladius sword buried in my chest. Enki holds the other end, dressed like a gladiator. Blood pours from the fatal wound, giving the standing-room-only crowd something to go nuts about. I look up into the VIP section of stands and see the man overseeing the events standing with his thumb pointed down.

  Bastard, I think, staring at him.

  I look back to Enki as he yanks the blade free, sending another spout of blood into the air. But his eyes go wide as the wound cauterizes and heals, stemming the flow of blood. Grinding my teeth, I stand in defiance of Enki and everyone else here. I was apparently the poor sap condemned to death while Enki was crowned the favored hero.

  “You’re going to need more than mind games,” I say, stepping forward. “Nannot tried the same bullshit on me and look where it got him. He’s dead!” I’m lying of course. Nannot never tried to use my own mind against me, but I have a feeling that comparing Enki to one of his subjects will make him angry.

  It works…

  Enki sends wave after wave of memories. His catalog of war is deeper than any library or website database. Where those gave detailed accounts of battles, I’m living them like I was there.

  But so is Enki.

  Through blinding pain and heartache for those that perish, I watch him carefully. Every so often the tides will turn during a particular confrontation, showing me glimpses of good defeating evil—or at the very least a glimmer of hope surrounding said conflict.

  I watch Japanese kamikaze pilots dive bomb World War Two-era battleships, but as one hits, two more are blown out of the sky. Then, three more.

  Enki flinches with every good deed done.

  “It hurts you,” I say, preparing myself for something I know is going to hurt, “doesn’t it?” The fact that he pushes harder tells me I’m right, and since he’s in my head, I’m curious whether I can hijack his attacks.

  I visualize one of the battles I saw earlier.

  A peasant girl appears in front me. Her name is Jeanne d’Arc, and she’s from Domrémy—a village in northeast France. ‘Joan’ would eventually be burned at the stake for her actions at the age of nineteen, but her feats would live on as some of the most courageous in world history.

  We watch as she rides horseback, shouting in another language I don’t understand. Where’s Olivia when you need her? I may not comprehend French, but the fury in her eyes tells me all I need. She’s passionate about her cause and ready to die for it. Enki protests my showing of her valor, but I push back, focusing on her face.

  “This little girl…” I say, doing my best not to scream in agony. “She faced thousands of enemies and still came out of this battle as the victor. With her death came sainthood. She died a martyr—a hero.” I step forward again. “She’s still idolized around the world six-hundred years later. You’ve been here for five thousand and barely anyone knows your name.”

  I growl, trying to switch us to another time in history when evil produced a worthy result. My growl turns into a groan as Enki fights back, sending us into a dizzying spiral

  But in the end, I prevail…sort of.

  41

  The Citadel

  We’re thrown from our mental combat and back into the real world. I land hard at the feet of some extremely surprised people. One shouts obscenities and the other screams my name and dives into my arms. The third—Ben—just stares and starts to laugh. I think everything that has happened may have shaken something loose in the older man’s head.

  “This isn’t over!”

  I watch Enki stand tall atop the altar. His shoulders bob up-and-down, following his heavy labored breaths each time he inhales. Following each exhale, he growls in frustrated anger, his eyes never leaving me. I stand and meet his gaze, moaning as I do.

  I know I’ll heal quickly, but damn do I feel exhausted.

  “Now…what?” I ask, also breathing heavily.

  But, like I thought, I can already feel myself regaining my lost breath and physical strength. In a matter of seconds, I’ll be back to my old-new-self, and unfortunately, I have a feeling I’ll have to do what I just did all over again. The visions are still fresh in my mind. It was his intention to break my will by showing me all the death in the world. But instead, he actually built up my defensive walls even higher.

  Maybe to the top of the great tower.

  “You know you can’t beat me in here,” I say, tapping my right temple. “You’re just going to have to find another way.”

  His eyes squint and his cheekbones lift.

  “Good one,” Kane says, shouldering his assault rifle. “Why did you insist on pissing off another immortal god?”

  “I have something even better planned for you…” Enki says, jumping down, “and your friends.”

  He closes his large black eyes and tilts his head up. Next his arms open wide, palms up as if he’s calling to someone.

  “Hank,” Nicole whispers, “we need to leave.”

  I shake my head. “I can’t.” I take three steps forward, feeling my fire burning just underneath my skin. I can call upon it whenever and for however long right now. So instead of burying deep, afraid of its draining effects, I just leave it skin deep and ready to go. Her eyes water as I turn and face her. “I have to finish this or Earth—we—are doomed.”

  “We have incoming,” a soldier says. “Main entrance, coming in hot.”

  I look past Nicole and see two men I’ve never met before running at an all-out sprint, away from the tunnel Terra and I entered through earlier. Four humanoid creatures enter the Citadel and keep coming. They meet eight well-placed shots and drop.

  As do the four behind them.

  “How much ammunition do your friends have left, Mr. Boyd?” Enki asks. “I can guarantee I still have more than enough of my mitutu army. Once they have exhausted themselves of their supply, my army will have nothing to stop them.”

  “They’ll have me,” I say. I march past Nicole and Kane, continuing past the newcomers to our group.

  I make eye contact with Kane. “Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere.”

  He nods and faces the center of the room, once again shouldering his weapon. He calls one of the men over and he positions himself next to Kane and Nicole.

  I pick up my pace and start to run, advancing into the latest group of mitutu? I have no idea what it means, and quite frankly I don’t care. I double my speed as I meet the first of them. I simply, punch it with one strong fiery blow. Its head bursts on impact, dropping its body like a sack of potatoes behind me.

  Three more share its fate.

  Then ten more.

  I engulf myself in flames and enter the same tunnel they are trying to exit. As soon as one nears me it burns and flails. Instead of entering the corridor, I stop and hold out my hands.

  Holding back my smile at what I’m about to do, I will my fire to come forth at the hottest I can conjure. It launches forward like a missile, cooking everything in its path. There’s something different with this version of my attack, however. I can feel the fire moving through the tunnel. I
can feel its path.

  It lives through me.

  I tell it to break up and move through each and every one of the corridors, like a snake. It wriggles back and forth, eating every last one of the mitutu. I can feel each one of the creatures touch my flame, feeling its kiss of death.

  If only there was another way. I know full well that these were once human. But I also know that they lost the same humanity eons ago. Now, they’re just kindling.

  One hundred, I think, feeling the kill total.

  One-fifty.

  Two-fifty.

  I push harder, feeling my body burnout, but instantly heal and regain strength. It happens fast, over and over again.

  Five hundred.

  Eight hundred.

  I shove even harder and scream, my fire and voice meshing together in harmony. It’s like a roar from a bear mixed with a fighter jet’s afterburners.

  I stop counting seconds later when I reach 3,476.

  My teeth are clenched and my eyelids peeled back, still lost in my mania. I’ve never gone that far before, and I never want to ever again. I was this close to losing it, becoming what Enki wants me to become. I could feel that craze taking over my mind and settling in for good.

  It would have worked if there any others to kill.

  I turn and walk, exiting the mouth of the tunnel. When I do I see all eyes on me. The attention really doesn’t surprise me. Kane and Nicole have seen me in action before, but still get locked in awestruck wonder at the sight. The other men may have seen me at Camp Arifjan, but I’m not sure.

  I’m halfway between the tunnel and the others when I see Nicole breakdown and start to cry, pointing in my direction. I spin around and ready my fists, about to strike…nothing. There’s nothing behind me.

  But I see my hands. They’re jet black, like Nannot’s, and they show off my electric green pulsating veins. I look down at my body and see the same. My clothes are gone, scorched by my own inferno. I didn’t even realize it. Normally, they stay put. My subconscious generally tells them too.