by Thomas Craig
“What’s our next move here?” Holliday asked as he removed his cowboy hat and wiped the sweat from his head with his forearm.
Lauren spoke first. “We canvas the area, then we determine if we repel down to further investigate.”
The commando advised them he would return with rope and left quickly. His curiosity had him motivated to know what fell from the sky into this hole.
With his temporary departure, the three caught up on their version of the implausible event and shared a moment of disbelief as they sized up the burning hole in the treetops and the crater likely caused by Lou’s impact.
Chapter 31
Meet Your Maker
So much was going through my mind.
The noise from the air rushing by was picking up as we fell faster. It was dark in every direction, except directly in my face, as the glowing orange figure was still holding me as we fell.
We would likely hit the ground in the next 10 seconds. That did not leave much time left in my life.
I screamed into the being's face as we fell, “Why?!”
It just squinted at me. Not much of a reaction. I don’t think I expected it to actually talk or even answer me in the middle of a free fall.
Strangely, I realized I was not terrified of what might come next, but rather incredibly angry at how this was going. How the end would be for me? I decided to focus my anger and go out being a bit of a nuisance to the Sky Being to let it know I will not go quietly.
My hands quickly turned white-hot and I jammed them in the armpit area of the Sky Being, gripping with all my strength.
It looked at my hands and back at me and then the entire Sky Being erupted into flames.
Oh shit! What have I done? I’m going to be incinerated before even hitting the ground. I would rather die from a free-fall than burn.
A few more seconds passed as we continued to fall, and the Sky Being was glowing white-hot like my hands. I noticed we were quickly approaching treetops.
I tensed up half expecting to burn up, half expecting to be impaled by a massive tree limb.
We cut through the trees like a hot knife through butter and slammed into the soil a second later.
To my surprise, the ground did not stop our descent, and I was not instantly dead. We traveled another 60 feet down through the earth slowing somewhat before smacking into solid rock.
We paused 60 feet under the surface for a moment. It felt like we were the small lit match fizzling out in a pitch-dark cave. I could see nothing but my hands on the Sky Being as its glowing started to fade through the soil between us.
Oh no, we were moving again. It was dragging me through the earth along what seemed to be stone steps, as soil moved around us.
I was 100% present, but I could not feel anything. It was the strangest sensation being dragged as this Sky Being tunneled through the earth. I was thankful to have survived the fall, but I couldn’t help to think though, was I alive? We seemed to have moved through the dirt as if it were water. Am I alive? I’m not even sure I’m breathing now, I thought to myself in the darkness.
We traveled a bit more and emerged into a stone hallway. It was definitely manmade, hand-carved, floor-to-ceiling stone slabs that formed a descending passage. Dirt, roots, and webs littered the path at first, as the Sky Being pulled me along down the hall.
I struggled to get my feet under me.
The air was stale, damp, and earthy. I don’t think anything had taken a breath in here for a few thousand years. The passage was now clear of the mess we encountered at the entrance and we came to a point where we could continue down or take an ascending passage.
The Sky Being chose the descending passage and pulled me along. The only light in this place was coming from the eyes and head of the now glowing Sky Being that had a steely grip on my shoulder. It was the same size as the others I have encountered in the past, easily 7 feet tall, and at the moment had to walk severely hunched over as it navigated the tight passageways.
This Sky Being carried itself differently from the others in its color, eyes, and mannerism, like being less inquisitive and more aggressive. Well, maybe on par with the aggressiveness.
A few hundred steps and a few turns later we found ourselves in a 30-foot by 30-foot chamber. The Sky Being walked across the chamber. Torches on the walls lit up as it passed them, revealing what was shaping up to look like a grand chamber of sorts inside a temple or pyramid.
I could make out a large figure next to one of the torches. It was the Atahsaia. I thought I killed that damn thing. Now I knew why I was here. This would be my tomb.
Close by, was a 5-foot long, 2-feet wide, waist-high stone altar. Grooves were carved from its flat surface, down its side to the floor, and across the floor in a strange pattern. This had to be a sacrifice alter used by ancient tribes of the past.
This seemed like a great deal of theatrics just to kill me.
I coughed as dirt came out of my mouth and nose, “Why have you brought me here?”
Chapter 32
Where Was Here?
Once upon a millennium or two, ‘here’ happened to be the intersecting point of ancient influences, ranging from the mighty Maya Empire from the Mesoamerica lower Yucatan Peninsula to the north of Colombia and the highly sophisticated Chimu Empire from Northern Peru to the south of Colombia.
Here, in heart of Colombia for over ten thousand years, resided the dominant Muisca civilization. The Muisca were many things: farmers, builders, explorers, and craftsmen. In fact, over time they became master craftsmen with the gold they mined from the legendary El Dorado in the Andes near Bogota.
At some point 3,000 years ago, the Central and South American Empires began building pyramids, stone structures, and cities. Their Empires mined, traded, or conquered for rich resources and began refining their craftmanship with gemstones, copper, and gold to make ornaments for the emperors and high priests.
It was not until temple builders from the exploring Chimu Empire from the south were in search of the rich gold veins of El Dorado in the northeastern Andes, that they brought the idea of pyramids deep into the Muisca civilization around 200 BCE.
The Muisca people were efficient hunter-gatherers and farmers at the time, and a scattered society brought together infrequently for religious and ceremonial purposes. They saw value in the idea of building temples to worship the land and their Gods. Doing so, made them stronger and more organized than the nomadic tribe they once were.
They built many pyramids using sun-dried earth bricks, much like their neighbors and even the Egyptians. Most had degraded into piles of earth, then consumed by vegetation growth over the past 1,500 years.
This particular Pyramid was built of beautiful red andesite stone slabs, showing off the advanced masonry and engineering skills the Muisca had developed over a couple of centuries. It exceeded everything written about the Muisca’s engineering and craftsmanship.
The Muisca men had gathered topside boulders and large rocks of andesite in the mountains, unknowing these huge stones were signs of previous volcanic activity in the area. They then chiseled 2-foot by 1 ½ foot stone slabs to send down the mountains.
The size of the andesite stone slabs made it manageable for the men and women to carry to the rivers that traveled down the mountains eventually merging with the great Meta. The people constructed quick and simple wicker crafts that would float the stones downriver. The organized efforts and engineering work propelled the Muisca to quickly become one of the great civilizations and societies of ancient times in the Americas.
Unlike several known remaining ruins of the Muisca era in Colombia, this one dwarfed them all and had not been robbed or disassembled by the conquering Spanish explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries. The interior was perfectly preserved, with gold and copper artifacts in pristine condition.
The chamber walls were made of reddish andesite stone, chiseled writing with gold inlay adorning them. The torches gave the gold writing on the walls a magnificent glowi
ng effect, making it easy to read the words and symbols, if one knew the primordial Muisca language.
The altar and several stone-carved seats behind it were also lined with etched writing and periodic placement of embedded gold or gems.
Gold figurines of bearers carrying their leader or a God on a palanquin were standing on stone-carved shelves above and behind each stone chair, showing off extraordinary craftsmanship and detailed devotion to their religion.
Also on the shelves, and in many miniature alcoves in the walls stood prized animals of the yesteryears, crafted in gold with emeralds for eyes.
Two snakes, six feet in length and made of gold rope, lay at the foot of the altar. Gold and copper birds were everywhere, as well as gold Sun emblems and gold fire emblems.
I couldn’t help but notice the peculiar shaped oversized gold ornament knives that lay on the altar and each chair. Let’s put those away please, I thought.
Tribes and raiders over time would typically strip the interior walls, thrones, altars, and any other chambers and tombs of any valuables when temples and pyramids were abandoned. Only a handful of archeologists have ever come across small bits of gold, copper, or gems still embedded in stone walls in temples and pyramids worldwide.
Archaeologists, anthropologists, treasure hunters, and raiders had apparently never unearthed this significant of a collection before, with such an extensive collection of ornamental stone slabs valuables everywhere.
This pyramid likely had the lion’s share of the mined gold from the El Dorado vein in the Andes, as well as from the surrounding descending mountain riverbeds where Muisca collected freestanding gold. If unearthed, this Muisca temple of the Gods would be the world’s museum on what a 2,000year-old pyramid looked like in its prime days with all the original settings. It would be a wonder of the world.
It was unfortunately, preserved by way of tragedy, though. Two massive volcanoes erupted on the Eastern Cordillera Oriental, northeast of what is known as Bogota today. These simultaneous eruptions almost 1,600 years ago released 48 megatons of thermal energy, blowing an unimaginable 3 cubic miles of mountain tops off the Andes mountain range.
Between the hot earth, lava, and pyroclastic flow that pushed down from the eruption sites, these forces traveled down the mountains and melted another 10 miles of snow and ice. It built up speed and mass as it traveled the 20 miles of river valleys down the mountain and created one of the largest debris and mudslides the continent had experienced. It then connected with the Rio Upia for another 50 miles before it connected with the Meta River. By this time, there was no escaping it as it buried entire villages, farms, forest, temples in an unimaginable 100 feet of dirt and debris, permanently changing the landscape.
It was catastrophic enough that from the mountain tops to the eastern plains, all of this destruction buried approximately 100,000 Muisca people. So catastrophic, miles of landslide also continued to push the river waters ahead of it more and more east down the river to create a 3 mile wide, 1-mile long 30-foot wave of river water and debris that traveled like a tsunami 50 miles across the plains, killing another 70,000 farmers and their families.
No one in the area lived to record the events; to tell generations of the future, except the hieroglyphic writings on these stone walls from men buried alive. The Muisca civilization lost generations of teachers and knowledge during this cataclysmic event.
One horrific day wiped out 300 years of Muisca generations, evolution, goldsmithing, and pyramid engineering, leaving the surrounding Muisca tribes to continue as hunter-gatherers and farmers for another 400 years before evolving again around 1,000 CE.
Chapter 33
The Temple
The orange Sky God released me. I collapsed on the floor, unable to support my weight, and suddenly felt every bit of the 3,000-foot fall and earth burrowing we had done moments ago.
As I lay in my puddle of pain, I watched the giant orange figure walk around the altar and take a seat in one of the three stone thrones. It seemed to be pulsating again and the bright eyes released their squinting stature and became more relaxed.
“It would be best to hold your tongue,” the Atahsaia grumbled at me.
Once the God released me, I’m not sure I had the strength to speak anyway. If my eyes could speak, I had a few choice words for the beast.
The orange Sky Being looked at the beast and the beast quickly removed itself from the area the three other thrones adjacent the God, winding up around to the side of the altar I currently resided beside on the floor.
The hairs on my arms and neck found the strength the rest of my body could not and stood up. Two more Sky People walked through the passage opening into the chamber and proceeded to seat themselves in the thrones next to the orange one.
A fourth one walked in, paused for a moment, and came straight over to me. As it bent down next to me, I could see nothing but kind blue eyes examining my body and a sense of warmth and comfort blanketing me for the brief moment it was near me before walking away to take the last vacant throne.
As it took the last seat, it looked over at the orange God and tilted its head. The orange God stood and walked over to me and touched my shoulder for a split second, instantly healing me of all injuries before it returned to its throne.
Thankful to be whole again and not in pain, I begrudgingly asked the Atahsaia a question.
“Is the orange one Uhepono?” I asked, thinking it must want me here to properly finish me off.
The orange God quickly stood up with fire in its eyes. I must have offended it.
“If you can’t hold your tongue, I will gladly rip it out and hold it for you,” the beast said.
“My sincere apologies your, you…uh,” I paused before asking, “what is it?”
The Atahsaia ignored me, looked at the Gods, and opened its arms up with palms up, saying nothing. The Gods gave the slightest nod of their heads and the beast turned to me.
“It is pitiful how little you know. I have been asked to educate you on a few things before we get started,” it shared between heavy breathes.
I was about to speak. I had questions.
It continued, “Your tongue will only get you into trouble here. We speak to them with our energy. In your case, use your mind, not your mouth.”
As it explained, the words were not coming from the beast’s mouth. I could hear it talking to me in my head, almost like I was thinking about what it was saying.
“You have been touched by the Sun deity Pautiwa, also the ruler of all Zuni Kachina spirits and many other tribal spirits globally,” the Atahsaia advised me. The Sun deity nodded at the beast and sat down glaring at me.
It went on to inform me the two Gods in the middle were the Twin War Gods, Ahayuta Bothers, and the last God was Awitelin Tsita, Mother Earth.
As soon as the Atahsaia was done with mental introductions, I started thinking, why are we here in this temple so far from the Zuni pueblo in North America? Why have the Gods taken so much interest in me? Why is the beast here?
“Stop!” the Atahsaia shouted in my head.
“The Creator gave every God a purpose. Anyone who prays, or thanks the stars, or the Sun, the water, sky, soil, wind, the creature they eat, or fire for heat, is heard by our Gods. The Gods. They may carry different names in different cultures and countries, but they are omniscient and omnipotent in their domain,” the beast echoed in my head.
“I understand,” I accidentally said out loud.
“Do you really?” It mocked me. “I know I am here to finish you off and enjoy devouring you. Uhepono wishes it, so here I am. Yet, they do not allow me,” it explained, as it pointed to the four Gods before us.
“Can’t say I blame them. I am better looking than you and I do good for others,” I thought proudly and honestly, using my inside voice again.
“You think you do good, but I do good as well. I restore balance,” the beast retorted.
“Balance? You kill innocent people.”
“If it we
re left alone, there would be hundreds like you, doing whatever they like, whenever they like. People would be amazed by their gifts and start worshipping them as if they were a God.” As the Atahsaia claimed this, the Gods in the room looked at each other as if conferring on the statement made. “You are not a God,” it added as it looked me over.
“Are we in court? Am I on trial for doing good deeds upon others while trying to keep my gift a secret from the world?” I asked. “You know, I always thought this might happen to me by humans that don’t understand the gift the Gods…” I briefly paused before continuing and made a hand motion to the thrones, “you gave me, but never thought the Gods were unjust and would stop me from doing a little good in a world with so much evil.”
It looked like my words or rather thoughts had put one of the Twin War Gods asleep. His eyes were closed, and his chin seemed to be a little lower. How depressing was this? I stood before the Gods and bored one to sleep. I continued to speak my mind.
“It has taken me a lifetime to believe it, but I know I am not 100% of this world. Although you believe I do not belong here, I have adapted and made this home. The stars and heavens are not my home. Not yet,” I relayed.
Still, nothing from the War God that had his eyes closed. His brother seemed to be paying attention and so were the other two Gods.
“It should be my choice.”
The presumed sleeping War God stood quickly. So did his brother.
“I meant, I would request your blessing to stay and honor you all by learning to worship you respectfully, while continuing to add some balance of good here.”
Not knowing what exactly they wanted to hear from me or what they wanted to do with me, I felt my frustration and confusion mounting. Combine those feelings with being in their presence, was causing a constant burning sensation in my stomach and chest. It felt like I was supercharged, and my hands had a glow to them. The Gods and the Atahsaia could not have cared less.