One Great Year (57 page)

Quinn could not have imagined the scene unfolding outside the Pyramid. The Nile had risen suddenly, and palm trees and wreckage were moving across the Giza compound.

In an effort to escape the surging river, the guards and tourists were clambering up the two-and-a-half-ton limestone blocks. There was room for everyone who was nearby and had the opportunity and ability to climb. Side by side, helping one another, people scrambled up … up … up. Everyone at his or her own pace. Everyone facing different obstacles and inconsistent stone heights. When would it be high enough? Would there be room at the top?

“Remarkably like our life paths,” one pilgrim noted to another, once safely above the waterline.

Eden was oblivious to the overflowing water that was rushing into the lower levels of the Pyramid. Relieved to be out of the cramped Ascending Passage, she had reached the Grand Gallery—a steep, narrow hallway that led to the King's Chamber. There was no sign of Elijah. The Queen's Chamber had been empty when she passed it, but a strange hum had since filled the air. Up ahead she saw a bright glow near the King's Chamber, and as she climbed the hum grew louder. Her only concern was getting Elijah to safety. Would she find her child? Surely the King of Shambhala and Red Elder had been correct.

As Eden neared the luminous room, she contemplated what she would do if Zahn was with Elijah. He had proven himself to be ruthless. She shuddered to think how ill-prepared she was. She had no weapon, no plan. At no time did she consider that Elijah might refuse her help or might be a danger to her.

As Eden climbed higher, she felt the music move over her like water across rocks, washing her clean, smoothing the jagged edges of uncertainty within her. Theron was awake, empowered and conscious, and she steeled herself to face the unknown.

A large granite box stood in the King's Chamber directly between two vents on either wall. Grey Elder had used the anti-gravitational powers of the atlantium crystal Emerald Tablet to easily move it back to its rightful location, after thousands of years of having been displaced and misunderstood.

The coffer had been the subject of extensive lore and conjecture, even compared to the Ark of the Covenant. Eden had once read to Elijah that it had been intended as a casket for the pharaoh, Khufu. Incorrect. She had also read that the students of the Mystery School had reached enlightenment by lying for a night within the six-and-a-half-foot-long, three-foot-wide structure. Correct. But never had any scholar correctly discerned the purpose of the box.

Both Elijah and Eden now knew the truth; their memories were full and clear. She had lain in the casket herself in her lifetime as Pythagoras but had forgotten. The power of the energy had been inspirational, and Pythagoras had gone on to do great work. Imagine what he might have done if Theron had had memory.

Zahn placed the trembling Emerald Tablet on Elijah's chest and the resonating “A” note grew louder. The note was haunting, and every hair on the boy's body stood up with an electric charge. The boy couldn't see much of the room. He could see the flat rose granite ceiling and the upper walls from where he lay on his back inside the coffer. It was longer and wider than his slight young frame and he fit easily inside, hidden from view. Would Eden know where to look?

Elijah's hands and feet were bound by rope. Helghul boiled inside of him, full of rage at having been duped. When he had arrived in the King's Chamber, Grey Elder had asked him the secret phrase from the Halls of Amenti. “As it is below, so it shall be above,” he had answered. Moments later Zahn had easily subdued and restrained him, a confused boy, and had placed him in the coffer.

Helghul remembered the night that he had opened his veins and the dark spirit had attached to him. He had trusted Grey Elder, and he had been intoxicated and thrilled by the idea of power and glory.

“You're going to kill me and release the beast, aren't you?” Elijah said bravely, though the child trembled at the idea of his murder.

“You've lived and died many times, Helghul. Surely you realize that the dark spirit is bound to your
soul
. It doesn't leave you when you die. You are a feed sack … an incubator. It feeds on you as you feed on it. The beast requires your human soul to exist in this world. You have had your time as host. The beast will further the Darkness with me, and you shall reside within it. Your bond eternal,” Grey Elder said coarsely.

“Liar!” Eden yelled, entering the chamber and running to the serapeum where her son lay bound. “The
Source
is eternal, our choices are not! Forgiveness and repentance are
real
. It's a Grid and
all
roads lead back to the Light,” she said, leaning her body into the granite box, pushing the Emerald Tablet off Elijah's chest and hugging her child.

“And all roads lead
away
from the Light,” Grey Elder added slyly. Ignoring the interruption, he continued speaking to Elijah. “Helghul, your soul is unified with the beast and always will be. You would not have had the lives you've had if not for the Darkness! Your cycle would have been
nothing
.”

“I played my role! I played a role I didn't know
how
to deny. Where there is evil, there is goodness; inside
me
there must be goodness,” Elijah yelled, struggling to help his mother untie him while Grey Elder watched unperturbed. It was too late, everything had gone as planned. The vibration shook their bones and the ominous “A” note grew louder.

“I will open your veins and your body will be consumed by the beast. Your soul, which was promised to the dark energy and allowed it to breach the chasm and enter this world, will stay bound to it. Together we will reign over the Earth,” Zahn rejoiced. He walked toward Eden and Elijah, his handsome face calm and serene as if he were taking an afternoon stroll. A curved blade glinted in his hand.

“No!” Eden shouted, stepping between Elijah and the Elder.

“The time has come!” Grey Elder shouted, barely audible over the music. The room had grown bright with starlight, brought in through celestial vents and ricocheted by crystals that had been placed deep inside the walls of the Pyramid when it was built. The Emerald Tablet, despite having been pushed aside, was still in the center of the vents inside the coffer and was drawing the starlight into the Pyramid.

Soon the Tablet would measure the unseen fabric of the world's collective consciousness and would expand it. Grey Elder intended that the darkness of the world's despair would prevail and, through the tablet, would resonate into the Universe. The Dark Age would go on. There would be no ascending Bronze Age.

The light landed where Elijah lay struggling. The chamber shuddered and shook as the ground quaked violently, and the energy was sent down the passageways into the surging waters of the Nile. The waters, which held memory, were read by the machine.

Outside, people clung to the trembling Pyramid. The river continued to flow perilously through Cairo to the sea. The stars illuminated the sky, revealing the destruction unfolding. The debris and bodies of the unfortunate floated in the moat that had formed around the Pyramid.

There were all kinds of prayers, in many languages, and they were not only from the people clinging to the pyramids. All around the globe, despite Grey Elder's best efforts, despite the Nobu virus and the riots and the wars, despite all the fear that had been carefully orchestrated, people were hopeful. Prayer groups gathered and people meditated. Leaders of all religions, mediums, psychics, people on the corner … they all prophesied a better world. Scientists considered intelligent design. All over the world people embraced love and virtue and their energy mattered.

The commander in Torres del Paine felt the threat before he saw it. Facing the tent from five yards away, the soldiers could now feel the strong tremor shaking the ground and air around them. The other guards stood back, waiting for their orders before proceeding. The energy was intense. Had Grey Elder neglected to consider this? How had he allowed
this
?

The mystified commander ordered the heavy trap door unlocked. As it was opened, light and energy billowed from the passageway, and soldiers were thrown back by the force of it.

Just as White Elder had led the other Elders and the people of Atitala on the night of the exodus, someone had led the Emissaries. Had Grey Elder misjudged his former students and underestimated their understanding of the Grid, or had he known it would happen? Had he known that putting the Emissaries together would have such a powerful effect on them and would allow them to remember? Marcus had put it all together. Marcus, with his ancient memory, had reminded them of their purpose and had helped them to unite.

The commander shouted and the guards began frantically descending the steps into the bunker. Their weapons were drawn; they had no idea what to expect.

The Emissaries were joined arm in arm, chanting deep intonations of “om.” Their auras had swelled and grown dramatically so that each one was like a thousand more, and they were no longer separate and distinct from one another. Their ethereal spirits hovered side by side, levitating well above their motionless, barely breathing bodies. The magical shapes of the Unity Grid flowered above them in the air, changing like sand patterns on a drum as the frequency heightened.

“Open fire! Open fire!” the commander shouted in fear and confusion. “Take them down!” he howled from his place on the stone floor, his arms shielding his eyes and mind from the brilliance around him.

Across the globe Giza glowed brightly with a phenomenal charge of energy as the Great Pyramid revved to life. Quinn had barely exited the Descending Passage before it completely filled with water. Hunched over, he was growing frantic as he clambered up the squat Ascending Passage. Ahead there remained a faint glow, lighting his path. When he finally reached the Grand Gallery he was able to stand, but only for a moment, before entering the passage to the Queen's Chamber. The Pyramid was vibrating noticeably, and he knew that if he found the source of the haunting notes that were sending shivers through him, he would likely find Theron.

Quinn scrambled, unable to stand upright and dripping wet, into the arched room of the Queen's Chamber.
Nothing. No one.
Quinn knew he had to get to the King's Chamber before it was too late. He must not lose Theron again. If they were going to die tonight, he was determined they would do so together.

Eden stood protectively between Elijah and Zahn and, despite his inclination to do so, the constrained boy was helpless to protect her. Zahn was bigger, stronger, and armed with a dangerous curved dagger. Eden had no weapon and no magical powers to stop him, but she would not stand by and watch as her child was sacrificed. Elijah, still bound, wriggled violently. Against him the Emerald Tablet shook, and it rattled his bones inside his skin.

Eden lunged at Zahn, attempting to knock the knife away. The Elder anticipated her easily and countered, roughly pushing her backward. She stumbled against the coffer where Elijah lay helpless and struggling. As the Elder lunged again, the mother threw herself protectively across her child.

Quinn burst into the tiny room just as Zahn struck, avoiding Eden and slicing brutally into Elijah's forearm.

“As it is below, so it shall be above!” the Elder shouted. The boy screamed in agony, but it was inaudible over the roar of the resurrected Pyramid. Orion and Draconis illuminated the chamber, drawn in through the celestial vents, their concentrated energy directed into the coffer where Elijah and the Emerald Tablet lay.

Quinn bodychecked the Elder harshly away from the coffer, who was jolted against the nearby wall as the dagger flew out of his hand. A fierce howl was coming from Elijah, adding to the pandemonium. Eden's hands were covered in Elijah's blood, as she wrapped her desperate fingers around her child's gaping injury. The gash drained into the stone coffer. A dark soup, something more than blood and less than human, stirred within the wound.

Zahn watched triumphantly as a ghostly serpent with ten heads and the body of a dragon rose like toxic black smoke from the boy's torn flesh. It slipped through Eden's hands, expanding and becoming material and solid in the emerald glow. It represented a departure from humanity; the evil that lay within every person if they opened themselves to it. It was a horrible reminder of what the soul could become.

The horrific beast filled the air above them. The young boy watched in terror as the creature screeched from ten fanged mouths, swooping and hovering, its barbed tail and vicious talons whipping the air barely above their heads.

Quinn repositioned the trembling Emerald Tablet protectively on Elijah's heaving chest and threw himself across both Eden and Elijah.

Take hold of the Emerald Tablet!
Quinn commanded telepathically to Eden, his voice useless in the noise.

It's too late. The world is dark and humanity is doomed. Helghul, from within the beast you will reign powerfully. You are the King of the Adversaries. You have helped make possible the continuation of this Dark Age
, Grey Elder promised with mind pictures. The beast prepared to devour Helghul's current body and claim his pledged soul.