“Now, you should find some staircases - ”
“Yeah, up and down”, Jason whispered.
“You have to go left, downstairs.” Gunnar heard only light breathing. Jason moved almost without sound.
“Now, it gets tricky. Down there, when you arrive to the lowest level I see 1, 2…3….4 doors, yes 4 of them. You will be there in a minute or so; I doubt you will see anything there… try the iPhone screen. ”
“Here, I see …which way?” Jason silently pulled out his Tanto*, ready to break the door lock if needed.
“Counting from your left, take the Third door. Looks like the fastest way. Just one thing: soon as you enter that way, you’ll enter a zigzag tunnel. If anyone’s waiting for you, they’d pick that spot for an ambush.” Jason appreciated the warning from his ‘eyes and ears’.
Gunnar waited, knowing Jason couldn’t talk while navigating the zigzags – especially since he’d just warned him about possible danger points. However, patience was not Gunnar’s forte, and all he could hear was breathing.
“If I just had time to set a thermal imaging gear, this would be easier”, Gunnar said to release tension. He was afraid for Jason – even if he hadn’t cared about Jason personally, he would have been nervous. The fact that the future of the world and everything in it depended on his friend just added to the anxiety.
“OK, you’re approaching the ending of that corridor. Dead ahead is a narrow oval-shaped space…take the right wall. You need to find a narrow tiny space…yeah, right there”.
“Nothing but wall here”, Jason whispered back after checking the spot with his fingertips.
“Tiny space, tiny space!” Gunnar repeated, frantically checking three different maps. “Got to be there!”
Checking his perimeter very carefully and listening for the slightest sound, Jason replaced the knife into its holder. Using the bright flashlight on his iPhone, he went over the walls, inch by inch. Nothing, absolutely nothing was there.
“Are you sure we’re on the right spot?” – Jason wanted to raise his voice but kept it at a whisper, hoping that no one else could hear him.
“There has to be that tiny space – there’s no other pathway to use! It leads to a corridor with a spiral staircase at the end of it. Those stairs directly connect to the main Ritual Room that holds the altar.”
Jason’s eyes found nothing. But, searching for an answer urged him to look deeper. Despite the unnatural light and conditions, by iPhone light he discovered that some stones looked just a little bit different than others on one part of the old wall. Using the metal handle of his knife, he carefully tapped the area. Once he found it, Jason whispered a little louder:
“Got it, but it’s been closed for a while. I have to dig up and remove the stone. Send down Michael and two more guys as soon they arrive.”
“I’m on it. They’re on their way”, Gunnar replied.
However, the men also had to be cautious on the zigzag corridor, so when they arrived, Jason was already half-way done. Tanto knives are short and durable, perfect in these situations. However, Jason was grateful for the strong flashlights and full gear that the men carried for this sort of work. The only problem were the echoes.
“Keep your voice and movements down, boys.” Jason whispered. “This would be faster with C4 but we need to keep quiet.”
After twenty minutes, four men were able to remove big pieces of stone, one by one. A tiny passage opened, just enough to pass through.
As they moved closer to the Altar Room, Michael handed Jason a hard black bag. Jason felt almost euphoric – he knew that his chances of defeating Quabil had just grown stronger. He couldn’t help himself; he had to take a look. Michael brought exactly what he wanted him to bring. No shotguns, no Scorpios or Desert Eagles – only a pair of butterfly swords. The laser-sharp swords had blades as long as his forearm. With black-and-red engraving on the handle contrasting with the silver-blue glow of the blades, they gleamed with power even to the inexperienced eye. Anyone experienced in the art of close combat knew that in the hands of a master, these weapons were deadly. They move faster and are more dangerous than Japanese Katana swords, or any other type of edged weapon. One of the greatest living masters of the art of the Butterfly Sword smiled in an underground corridor, pleased to be reunited with his dear friends.
The small group of warriors continued moving towards the Ritual Room following Gunnar’s directions. Just before the entrance, there was a bigger corridor that seemed brighter and more airy. Just when they stepped in, they heard what they had feared - voices! They stopped and took offensive positions, ready to attack the enemy.
Voices and steps were getting closer. Jason signaled the ‘ready 3, 2, 1’ gesture with one hand, holding a Butterfly sword in the other hand. The others had Glocks, Scorpios and Eagle Deserts ready in their hands. All eyes waited for the “Go!” sign, but Jason signaled ‘stand down’. The men were confused, but soon Michael and others could see the reason – a group with a fat priest and three monks passed by, carrying boxes with wine bottles. They couldn’t know that their sure deaths had been seconds away.
As the footsteps faded into the distance, the warriors quickly entered the abandoned room. Everything inside the Ritual Room was covered by dust, mold and heaps of old objects – the Altar was invisible through the mess. After fighting with dust and spider webs they located it, just where it should be – in the south-east corner of the room, directly below the church. The Altar had the unusual shape of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life carved in the middle. They all thought the same thing: “we are just minutes away from finding the Third Key”.
Now, it was only a question of time, a very short time. They were still very careful, but Quabil was obviously not here, and they had to move fast before he got near the Temple of Tyn.
Part 6
St. Peter's-on-the-Wall
XIX.
Moments after the dying man breathed out the location, Quabil was moving. Time was not his only advantage - demons possessed data research technology hundreds of times faster than humans. He knew exactly where to go, shortly after the location was revealed. Quabil had been chosen especially for his extremely ‘action oriented’ nature. These qualities could have been used for good, but with his black and demonic personality and mindset, they could not be much appreciated by humans with a heart.
After he fought Jason the first time, Quabil had been killed; but he was also ‘resurrected’ and electronically enhanced into a near cyborg by topnotch scientists within the Demonic Alliance. They turned him into a living killing machine and empowered him with black magic – to a much higher level than ever before. This time, he didn’t need a team. He could easily kill hundreds of humans. But that was not the plan for now. Quabil was sent to quickly move in and out, opening the Diamond Gate for the army of demons that were ready, waiting to pour in through the gap. Once he had the Third Key, his mission would be over…and so would everyone else’s.
The plane shuddered upon landing at the small private airport. It was eerily still, and everything worked as planned. Just 10 minutes from landing they were packed with two cars were heading towards their goal. Quabil had arranged a second Range Rover filled with equipment and weapons, just in case – that was the name of this game – before the Diamond Gate opened. He still had to keep a low profile - no unnecessary exposure. It was an annoyance, but at the end of the day, all was going well. He was in possession of two Keys and only the Third Key separated him from the ultimate goal.
From the airport, the drive to St. Peter's-on-the-Wall at Bradwell-on-Sea lasted only 40 minutes. The roads in this part of Essex were lovely, and driving was a smooth experience. This St. Peter's-on-the-Wall was one of the oldest churches in this part of the world, but Quabil was only interested in his goal:
“We are near the Third Key, the last that separates us from the utmost success and glory. Let’s keep this clean and simple. The key is below the altar – let’s get it. I will do the rest”.
Both cars parked on the side of the road, in front of the St. Peter’s church parking lot. Taking his two assistants, Quabil headed straight towards the main gate while the third man guarded the Range Rovers. Quabil didn’t need a team to tell him how to get where he wanted to go; his right brain implant easily allowed him to connect to any database, Internet network or device. He sometimes gave a vacant impression of no presence – while in fact he was just searching the screen of whatever data he was analyzing at the moment. He hacked into and set off the alarm system of St. Peter’s complex, and the nearby church and ministry school.
The sirens and lights went off. While panicking people began to clear the area, Quabil and his killers entered the main church hall where the Altar was easy to find. As they began searching, a security guard with a reddish face and grey hair appeared in front of them, trying to clear the church. Without warning, he was killed faster than thought.
All of the tourists, visitors, priests and nuns were out wondering about the sirens and alarms. The sky was dark, and the crowd buzzed about, waiting for police and firefighters to arrive. Some watched out for signs of fire, and some speculated about possible causes of this whole mess. Suddenly, a strong glow of white bright light emanated from inside the church hall. Huge windows of differently colored glass were all illuminated from the inside. The church now looked as if there were huge movie screens on all the walls, glowing with light. The crowd began muttering, not liking that they didn’t understand this new turn of events.
A few security guards were near the main entrance, looking as confused as the other people in the crowd. They had concluded that the strong glow of light illuminating the crowd was definitely not a fire. One of them, a tall man with a very typical English face was nervously trying to reach his friend:
“Raymond do you read…? ….. Ray ..? Where are you, mate….”
When twenty minutes had passed and one of their colleagues did not respond, the guards felt a strong desire to react. The remaining two members of security decided to move in, before the police cars arrived:
“Might take ‘em 20 minutes more to come”, one of them commented in a strong Essex accent. “May be somefin’ we have to solve, at the end of the day.”
“Wait, please. I will go with you.” Rev. John Summers, the head priest of St. Paul, stopped them with kind but loudly spoken words. All three people went inside the church but they would never have suspected that they were just a few minutes away from the ugly face of death. None of them ever returned.
XX.
“Anything suspicious up there?” Jason’s face and voice reflected his worry.
Everything seemed too easy. They were on the right spot and should soon find the Third Key of the Diamond Gate. There was no sign of Quabil but something just didn’t seem right.
“All clear up here. How about down there?” Gunnar replied.
“Same here. We should be out soon. Keep your eyes peeled, they may be planning on an ambush since we’ve done the heavy lifting.”
“Good point! I’m getting the latest scan of surrounding vehicles from the police. If anything looks strange, I’ll…..scream.” Gunnar grinned.
“You do that.” Jason grinned, but he was focused on his team. They went over all the possible hiding placed for the Key without finding anything. They checked all around the altar, and all the spaces below it. They looked under the altar’s large base, moving the huge structure made of stone and metal to peer beneath it. They checked all the edges and every place inside the altar. The newest generation metal detector was no help! Time was running out and they had nothing to show for their work.
“Guys, let’s light up this place. It’s time for those power vacuum cleaners.” The team brought in powerful pumps, normally used to pump out water, to quickly remove the dirt layers from the ground below the altar.
“Let’s check this place all over again. Switch the spots. Check the photos Gunnar shared on your devices – memorize the shape. We need to find this object!”
Four muscular figures made systematic sweeps of the whole area inside the Ritual Room, inch by inch. Powerful flashlights and cleaned floors promised they would now find the hidden object. 20 minutes passed... 40 minutes. Nothing.
“Let’s look below the altar.” Jason tried not to sound desperate. How ‘below’ had the Guardian meant? Jason wondered if it meant ‘below the ground’. They lifted up the heavy stone squares, exactly where the altar made of green copperas was placed. No key.
“It has to be here somewhere – below in a box, hidden somehow.” Jason was starting to repeat himself, but then, he remembered another possibility! That would be much easier to check.
Jason’s voice now sounded openly nervous:
“Gunnar, we’ve found nothing so far. This is my idea: keep the rest of the guys in position but 2 or 3 guys have to go to the main Church. Start a fire alarm or something, just find a way to empty the place so you can go and check the space below the altar, there in the main church.” Jason paused, giving his friend time to react. “We can’t do anything else here but start digging the earth.”
“Of course,” Gunnar replied and added for Jason’s peace of mind, “sometimes the simplest things are the best in life and we miss seeing that.” He spoke while moving toward the main Church entrance.
The fire alarm was the easy part - it took a good 15 minutes for all the tourists to evacuate the area. Gunnar and three ex-military professionals began to hunt for the key.
“This search looks more like summer cleaning than saving the world”, thought Gunnar, when he saw clean space inside the wide and high space of a church hall. When everyone left, they locked all the doors from inside. Just like the team below, they searched for a palm-sized metal piece inside a room. Armed with metal detectors, they were all sure it would be an easy task.
After half an hour of intense searching, it no longer looked easy. The fireman squad had begun banging on the door, which meant that Prague police would arrive soon after. After 45 minutes of searching, their hope of finding the Third Key there became very weak and shaky. Soon after, hope in the hearts of the four men died entirely. Facing the facts killed it.
They left the church hall using the back door exit, and met with the rest of the team. Each man was covered with dirt and sweat. Tired from the intense search and digging in the ground below the altar, they could see defeat on each other’s faces. They were exhausted but the feeling of hopelessness disturbed them the most. All of them - Gunnar, Michael and the others - were hoping to hear a word from Jason that would offer the answer or their next move. Jason was there but he seemed absent; sitting on the stone of the stairs he stared in front of him at a distant spot. Finally, he spoke in a voice of deep exhaustion.
“Go, take some rest.” They were the only words he could utter.
XXI.
Inside St. Peter’s church in Essex, the search after the same missing object was taking place. However, those after Third Key here only looked like humans - those with eyes to see knew the truth. These ‘men’ were demonic creatures, monsters in human form. Moving extremely fast, two of them swept around the altar while their commander stood silently with his hands crossed over his chest, eyes filled with expectation and delight. Moving a few steps towards his assistants made them move faster, nearly at a run. Without words, they knew he wanted results and he wanted them quickly. Ten minutes later, nothing had been found although every single inch had been searched of the ground below and around the altar area. Suddenly both assistants felt immense pressure around their necks. They were forced to turn toward the leader of their special demonic unit.
“I need it, now!” The cold, metallic tones of his voice scared his followers, though his thin lips hardly moved.
“Bring the molecular scanner – that is why we have it with us… tracking data is already loaded. We have no time to waste.”
They nodded while looking down at his feet. Two metal sticks of the size of a folded umbrella were suddenly in their
hands, and screens of about 20 inches wide materialized in front of both men. These techie gizmos were much more sophisticated than anything on Earth. In less than a minute, the bald assistant in a green Armani suit raised his hand. Moving towards Quabil, he humbly presented the object he found hidden in a double layer bottom of an altar basement. Seeming pleased, Quabil silently moved towards the side table. Carefully taking out the remaining two Keys from his pocket, he laid them on the table.
Because of the protective nature and importance of the Diamond Gates for the balance and security of the universe, the joining procedure for the Three Keys was shown only to the Guardians. Even Quabil did not know how to join those three parts together, and no technology could tell him. The procedure was very tricky and risky because there was no ‘reset button’. Once someone began to connect them he had to continue until the end, as shown to the Guardians of the Light. With one wrong move, they would simply disintegrate. That was the ultimate security system applied by the Council of Light.
Quabil felt uneasy despite the emptiness in his heart. One mistake could destroy all chances for achieving his ultimate goal. First of all he had to open the Diamond Gate, the doors of a universe. The Gate existed in this dimension in order to assist Angels, Demigods and other forces of Light. Unfortunately, powerful demonic forces like those behind Quabil, when in possession of the three parts of the Key, could open the Doors and use the Diamond Gate for their own demonic goals.
The dark forces of life-sucking demons - monsters, demonic warriors and twisted fiends - were all lined up on the Planet Rahu, waiting for the gate to open to the lower regions of this universe. Sounding like a continuous rock fall, they ground their sharp teeth in expectation of the upcoming event. A feast of blood, a feast rich with life energy and human souls was just moments away. They grew impatient… the sounds they created there and how they looked would have been enough to make anyone faint out of shock and fear! Just waiting there, clinging to their weapons, breathing heavily while waiting to invade Planet Earth …. even horror film screenwriters could not begin to imagine it. But this was not a movie – it was about to become Earth’s reality.
The Third Key (GUARDING THE LIGHT) Page 6