Sarah frowned. Amazingly, she could read the inscriptions perfectly. Unlike before, when she’d had to concentrate, the words seemed to fly off the wall and instantly make sense in her mind. If the giant was at work within her, it was growing stronger. Suppressing her terror at the thought, Sarah said, ‘You’re wrong.’
‘About what?’ Dowling said, looking less than pleased at being challenged.
‘That’s not what it says.’ Sarah pointed to the first pictogram. ‘It says they used this place as a gateway to the spirit world, not to communicate with it.’
‘Semantics,’ Dowling said in annoyance.
‘And the second set of inscriptions mentions nothing about a powerful device to stop celestial threats.’ Sarah pointed to the depictions of meteorites falling from the heavens. ‘It says when the stars and planets align and the sky burns with fire, God will manifest on Earth to bring balance to the dark.’
‘The End of Days,’ Avery said, his voice hushed.
Everyone fell silent as Sarah’s words seemed to linger in the air. Another cold draught set the flames of the torches fluttering.
‘So, you can read it now?’ Zinetti said, his scathing tone breaking the silence.
‘She’s wrong,’ Dowling said. ‘It speaks of a device. Who would you rather believe,’ – she looked from Ruben to Avery – ‘a woman who has no control over her actions, or a computer using hard data, with no agenda?’
‘A computer, every time,’ Zinetti said, nodding in smug agreement.
Sarah ignored them both. She moved past Dowling and reached up to run her hands over the Anakim symbols beneath the next oversized pictogram. ‘It says they wanted to find God, so they could converse with him.’
Avery looked at Dowling, his expression torn as his excitement sought to get the better of him.
‘The asteroid,’ Ruben said to Avery, sounding worried, ‘do we still have time?’
Avery looked at his watch and nodded. ‘Barely.’
‘Then we should hear what she has to say,’ Ruben said. ‘Then compare the translations, and quickly.’
‘An excellent idea.’ Avery motioned for Sarah to continue, much to Zinetti’s and Dowling’s disapproval.
Sarah knew they should be sceptical; she was having a hard time trusting herself, let alone expecting others to do so. She looked up at more carvings on the crystal wall. It portrayed an Anakim priestess shielding herself from a monstrous cloud which reared over her, its leading edge filled with a sea of Anakim faces twisted in torment. ‘But instead of finding God,’ Sarah said, ‘they found something else.’
‘It could also mean something else found them,’ Dowling said, trying to regain credibility in front of her employers.
Sarah nodded and continued to read. ‘They called it the Great Darkness, the harvester of souls.’
‘Death itself?’ Ruben said, from close by.
‘Whatever it was,’ Sarah said, ‘it speaks of it corrupting those it came into contact with, driving them to try and manipulate the future for the benefit of their offspring, regardless of the consequences to those they ruled.’ She looked to the next section of Anakim script. ‘The more power they accumulated, the more power they desired, and the more power they desired, the more suffering they inflicted on others.’ She glanced up at images of Anakim killing Anakim with a variety of gruesome methods. ‘When their power became absolute only time defied them and so they sought mastery over death itself. Each generation improved on the science of those that went before, but the longer they lived, the more they lost sight of what made them Anakim, and eventually, after having experimented on untold millions in their desperation to defy God’s will, they conquered death, and with it lost all contact with him.’
Sarah paused in her oratory, her woes forgotten due to the immersion in her craft.
‘For without death,’ Dowling said, reading on with her device. ‘There is no morality.’
‘Without death,’ Sarah said, moving along to the next pictogram, a scene piled high with Anakim skeletons, ‘there is no life.’
‘To deny death is to deny life,’ Ruben said, his deeper voice echoing around the walls. ‘The word of God himself.’
‘And what happened then?’ Avery said.
Sarah moved to the next section, beyond the pyramid’s entrance. ‘I don’t know. This section has been defaced.’
‘Someone didn’t want anyone to know,’ Lanter said. He adjusted his grip on his torch and added more oil to the cloth. The light inside the pyramid’s interior grew brighter.
‘The pictograms are meaningless without the text,’ Dowling said, ‘and some of that has been damaged, too.’
‘Try the next one.’ Avery pointed to where a carving showed a tall figure standing before an altar, and what looked like a large hole surrounding it, with a beam of light bursting forth from within.
Sarah moved to stand in front of it, and touched the Anakim symbols, which had resumed after the damaged area. ‘The area beneath the altar leads into the underworld, where a trial of the spirit awaits. Only the faithful live to see God’s light, while those who resist will be found by evil to die in darkness.’
‘It’s like the ancient Egyptians believed,’ Dowling said. ‘The Twelve Gates of the Underworld, which a Pharaoh had to navigate in order to be reborn as the Sun, the heavenly body they also knew as the God, Ra.’
Sarah ran her hand over the image. ‘The Eye of Horus is thought to have been the precursor to the Eye of Ra.’
‘So, it’s a test, then?’ Avery said, glancing back at the holes.
‘And a way out to the light.’ Ruben pointed to where an Anakim figure emerged from a representation of a pyramid.
‘What happened if the Pharaoh failed?’ Lanter said.
Dowling looked at him. ‘He didn’t become the sun, and day would become night and all would perish in darkness.’
‘An impact winter,’ Sarah said, making the connection.
‘So, we have to pass the test in order to stop the asteroid,’ Ruben said. ‘Only in God’s light is the path unbroken. It means God’s light will lead us to Heaven’s Gate and his word will activate the device.’
‘Perhaps,’ Avery said, lost in thought.
Zinetti looked to Dowling, his torchlight bathing her in a ruddy glow. ‘Is she right? Is that what the inscriptions say?’
The Vatican archaeologist considered him and gave a nod. ‘In this instance, she speaks truly. However, I still disagree with her second translation. This is the device we seek and the other inscriptions confirm it.’
Zinetti’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Sarah. ‘Whatever controls her still wants us to fail and mixes truth with lies to achieve its aim.’
‘I’m not lying, but whatever is in that hole won’t lead to Heaven’s Gate, I know it.’ Sarah looked at Avery. ‘You have to believe me, the mirrors are the gate.’
Avery considered her, then shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Sarah, we’ve wasted too much time. From what the pictograms show us, and what the inscriptions say, Heaven’s Gate is found below. There can be no disputing it. And there are no circle devices on any of the mirrors, either here, or in the chamber outside. They might look interesting, but they’re just distorted reflections. They can’t be controlled.’ He guided her back to the altar. ‘You need to do it now, before it’s too late. Billions of lives are depending on us.’ He grasped her arm, his eyes staring into hers. ‘Even now, the asteroid approaches the United States. Time is running out.’
Chapter Two Hundred Forty-Eight
Sarah remembered her vision of the dying planet. Avery is right, she thought. How can the walls stop an asteroid? The simple answer was: they couldn’t. Knowing she had little option, she turned to the altar and placed her hands on its rune-covered surface, the vision of the sacrificed Anakim woman still fresh in her mind. She died just here, Sarah thought, the surface rough beneath her skin, and no one remembers or cares.
But Sarah realised that wasn’t true, as she cared. Sh
e always cared. The thought of someone suffering such a torturous fate made her feel ill, it also made her want to prevent anything like that from ever happening to anyone else. But in her current state, the idea was ludicrous; she couldn’t save herself, let alone anyone else.
Sarah closed her eyes and concentrated, but as seconds turned into a minute, the pyramid remained unchanged, as did the altar beneath her hands.
‘Nothing’s happening,’ Zinetti said, growing impatient.
‘I don’t know what you want me to do,’ Sarah said, opening her eyes. ‘I have no pendant and this place is completely different from the one in Sanctuary.’
‘Just try,’ Avery said. ‘Try and replicate what happened in Sanctuary.’
Sarah wanted to tell him she couldn’t replicate anything that had happened there, however hard she tried, but instead she tried to will the altar to work.
Again, nothing happened. No tingling sensation. No warming of the stone beneath her skin – nothing. It was like the cave entrance all over again.
Avery lifted Sarah’s head so she looked into his eyes. ‘Sarah, think; what happened when you opened the doorway and the frieze? What were you thinking? What was your intent?’
‘Open my heart,’ she murmured. ‘The giant’s words. Misrak arak.’
‘You wanted to open it, with all your heart?’
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘And at the frieze?’
She looked to the pyramid’s exit and thought of Jason and Trish. ‘I wanted to see my friends.’
‘So, it was your intent?’
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes. I wanted it to happen, but more than that,’ – she looked at Ruben – ‘I believed it would.’
‘Then try again and believe,’ Avery said. ‘You want to save the surface, don’t you?’
Sarah nodded.
‘You want to save everyone, with all your heart?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then believe you can activate this device, not for you, or us, but for everyone.’
Sarah pressed her hands harder onto the stone surface and wished just that. It was all she’d ever wanted, to serve others, to save others. She realised that now. For what else was there, other than the emptiness elicited from serving yourself?
But still nothing happened. ‘It’s no use,’ she said, and hung her head to look at the altar. ‘I can’t do it, I can’t stop it. I’ve failed.’
Avery said something, but she didn’t hear him as Ruben said, ‘Remember what I said, Sarah.’ He touched her arm and held her gaze with his piercing green eyes. ‘You’ve only failed if you think you have.’
Sarah sighed and looked back at the altar. She felt like death warmed up and she was supposed to be able to save billions of lives. I have no energy, she thought. God, I have no energy left. How do they expect me to do anything? I can hardly stand.
She thought of Trish and Jason. She thought of the millions of children and families in the United States, oblivious to the threat that approached them. The image from her vision, of the asteroid impacting, filled her mind and she tried to muster something, anything, from the depths of her body. Meanwhile, Avery argued with Zinetti, who shook his fist under Sarah’s nose, and Ruben pushed him away. Major Lanter grasped the monk’s wrist and the two men squared up, nose-to-nose, as tempers flared. Dowling added her two-penn’orth, and even the Swiss guards started suggesting things. Time was slipping away, nothing was happening, people would die, and Sarah found her eyes drawn to a familiar shape at the altar’s centre: a pentagonal shape, the same size as the pendant that hung in suspended animation in the mirrored wall, not thirty feet away. Unsure why, Sarah reached out and ran her fingers over the shape and then pushed down, and a mechanism within the altar shifted.
Zinetti continued to rage and Dowling rambled on, while Ruben and Lanter were forced apart by the Swiss guards.
‘QUIET!’ Avery said, and turned to Sarah. ‘What did you do?!’
Everyone fell silent and Sarah frowned and wondered if the giant was once more taking over control.
Dowling moved closer, watching Sarah intently.
On instinct, Sarah grasped the altar’s top and twisted. The top half turned on its own and Sarah found herself pressing other sections on the stone, which sank into the surface. She stepped back as the entire pentagonal block rose up two feet and then spiralled halfway down into the floor. Sarah took another step back as a rumble of sound swept through the pyramid and the walls rippled in response. More of the floor’s dust cascaded down through the holes, revealing the entire Anakim eye at the pyramid’s centre.
‘Is that it?’ Zinetti said, as the mirrors brightened to cast a steady glow over the pyramid’s interior. ‘It turns them on. Hadn’t they heard of a switch?’
‘Enough!’ Avery said, losing patience with the Italian cardinal. ‘Nothing else is happening. We need that pendant.’
‘I think I know a way,’ Dowling said. ‘But you need to trust me.’
The Vatican archaeologist approached the mirror and Sarah suddenly got a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The pain increased and she doubled over.
‘Sarah,’ Avery said in concern. ‘What’s wrong?’
Sarah gasped for air. ‘I can get the pendant.’ She stumbled forward. ‘I can go into the mirror. I’ve been in the mirror!’
‘What’s she rambling about?’ Zinetti said, as Dowling reached the wall containing the sarcophagus and pendant.
‘I can get it!’ Sarah pushed Avery away and made for the mirror, but Lanter was there to bar her way. ‘It’s too dangerous,’ Sarah said, her eyes fixed on Dowling. ‘She doesn’t know what she’s doing!’
Sarah saw Dowling touch the wall and she knew she couldn’t allow her to enter it, no matter what. The giant was taking over once more. Sarah shoved Lanter away, and the major flew backwards into the large sphinx with a crash.
Everyone looked at Sarah in shock. The strength she’d just displayed confirmed their worst fears.
Lanter struggled to his feet and Sarah made for the wall, but she was too late – Dowling placed her hand upon it and then, amazingly, eased through the surface, which rippled at her passing.
Sarah rushed forward and rebounded from the mirror. Shocked, she felt for a way inside, while Dowling continued to wade through the interior like a swimmer walking through water.
‘How is she doing that?’ Sarah said, confused. ‘She has to stare into her reflection to get inside.’ Sarah banged on the mirror and Dowling glanced back, and then reached up and plucked the pendant seemingly out of mid-air.
A sudden burst of energy flooded Sarah’s body and she rushed back to the altar and tried to reverse the process she’d just unlocked. She pushed in a protruding section of the stone altar and twisted another.
‘What’s she doing?’ Zinetti said.
‘I have to shut it down!’ Sarah continued her frenzied attempts to do just that.
Dowling saw what Sarah was doing and increased her speed back through the mirror, towards the safety beyond.
‘She’s trying to trap Dowling inside!’ Zinetti said. ‘She’s trying to kill her!’
‘Sarah, stop!’ Avery looked from Sarah to the mirror and then waved in Lanter and a Swiss guard.
They grasped Sarah’s arms and hauled her away, kicking and screaming.
‘Sarah, calm down! What’s wrong with you!’ Ruben tried to intervene, but Sarah kicked out, forcing him back.
‘Hold her legs!’ Lanter shouted, pinning her arms to her body.
The Swiss guard let go and grasped her legs, but as he did so, Sarah thrust herself backwards, smashing Lanter into the half-raised altar.
The major grunted as the air was knocked from his lungs and he released his grip.
Sarah dodged a soldier, as he made a dive for her, and ran at Dowling as she emerged back out of the mirror.
The Vatican archaeologist screamed as Sarah bore down on her, and then Ruben was there, barrelling into Sarah and sending her spraw
ling to the floor.
Sarah glared up at her attacker with baleful eyes. She saw Lanter and all four of his Swiss guards moving in behind her, and then she turned her gaze back onto Dowling and the Anakim pendant grasped in her hand.
‘Sarah, please, stop!’ Avery said. ‘Remember who you are!’
But Sarah wasn’t listening. She had eyes only for the pendant and the woman holding it.
Ruben held out a hand. ‘Sarah, listen to me!’
Sarah let out a guttural growl and bared her teeth.
‘Take her!’ Lanter said, and leapt forward.
Sarah dodged his attack, grasped a Swiss guard’s arm and swung him round into an onrushing Ruben.
The pair collided and collapsed to the floor in a heap.
Sarah dodged two more guards and then launched herself at Dowling, who shrieked in terror.
Sarah bit into her hand and the pendant fell to the floor. Both made a grab for it, but Sarah was dragged back.
‘Hold her!’ someone shouted.
Sarah swatted Ruben away and he slammed into the mirror and slumped to the floor in a daze. Two more Swiss guards rushed in, but Sarah knocked them aside and dashed at Dowling again, who’d retrieved the pendant.
‘Kill her!’ Zinetti said, ‘before it’s too late!’
A gunshot echoed out and a bullet whizzed past Sarah’s head.
Sarah spun round and saw Avery pointing a pistol at her.
‘Don’t make me do this, Sarah!’ Avery backed away from her ferocious expression, his hand shaking. ‘We need you!’
Sarah’s eyes narrowed and she advanced on the black-robed cardinal.
‘Please.’ Avery pulled back the trigger. ‘The next one won’t miss!’
‘SARAH!’
Sarah turned to see Trish standing in the entrance, with Jason by her side.
‘Trish?’ Sarah said, ceasing her advance. Her joy was short-lived as two men in black cloaks emerged from the darkness to hold knives to her friend’s throats. Behind them, Alexander Konstantin appeared, the cowl of his robe casting his face in shadow.
The leader of the Knights of the Apocalypse entered the pyramid, accompanied by seven more of his men.
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 125