Exodus

EXODUS

THE FALL OF GODS BOOK TWO

By R.J. Wolf

Copyright © 2016 by R.J. Wolf

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This book is a work of fiction.  The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.  Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be used reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the expressed written consent of the author.

Professor Carson pulled hard on the heavy cement door, breathing deeply as it slowly began to move.  Sweat cascaded down his sandy face and rolled into his eyes.  Wiping at his brow he looked around and sighed.

A bronze skinned lady stared at him from across the room.  Her face and head were covered in a dusty black cloth, only her brown eyes glimmered in the faint light.  Carson nodded at her then turned back around. 

He pushed the circular door to the side and gazed down the cramped shaft.  A gust of foul wind swirled past him.  It reeked of damp clothes and moth balls.

Swiping at cob webs he slowly crawled through the narrow tunnel and stood up.  Douglas, his faithful assistant, followed close behind him, mindful of every move he made.

The dimly lit cavern was known to be treacherous and many archeologists had paid the ultimate price for their studies.  For decades before him, students and scholars had come only to find that death was lurking in the shadows.

A small tunnel in a clay hut led to the underground palace.  It had been unearthed over fifty years ago, but now Professor Carson was on the brink of an even greater discovery.  A secret chamber, that he believed hadn’t been seen in over ten thousand years.

“Douglas, bring me the reading lamp,” he yelled.

Carson sat down on a rock and took off his hat.  He rubbed is graying beard and dabbed at his face with a dirty hand towel.

“This is really something else,” Douglas said.

He spun around looking at the underground structure in awe.  The spanning columns and looming archways had been preserved in a near perfect state.  The walls still bore the mark of an ancient time, covered with paintings and mystic writings.

The room they were sitting in was enormous.  It was believed to be the last standing remnant of the Kingship of Eridug, a long forgotten civilization that mysteriously vanished overnight.  Some even thought that the secret tomb of Alulim, Sumerian’s first king, was hidden within the underground dome.

Carson took the light and shined it over a decaying piece of parchment.  He sighed and bit his bottom lip.  “It’s that way,” he stood up and suddenly pointed.

Douglas followed Carson as he walked off into the shadows, his torch glowing in the dark.  He moved silently straining his eyes, for it was well known that this place was riddled with booby traps.  Warnings, illegible to most were stamped across every wall.

The ground was probably made of slate, but now more than five inches of sand covered the floor.  Skeletons lay partially covered in the dirt, a warning to all who dared to go further.  Strange runes ran along the brick, fading at some parts like someone had scratched them off.

Professor Carson edged on slowly, compelled by curiosity to uncover the secrets buried in the depths.  He’d studied the Sumerian culture for more than forty years and was considered by many the foremost authority.  It was only right that he had deciphered the message hidden in an ancient artifact, which revealed the location of the secret tomb.

They stopped at a hole in the ground that was surrounded by a small row of bricks with more writing carved into it.  A rope ladder dangled into the depths, disappearing after a few feet into the darkness.  The air there didn’t seem quite as foul.

Professor Carson looked back at Douglas and examined his face.  “You don’t have to go down there.  You can wait for me here.”

Douglas smirked then rolled his eyes.  “Hold the torch overhead so I can see where I’m going.”

Douglas stepped over the row of bricks and carefully placed his foot on the first step of the ladder.  It swung wildly and he almost fell, but Carson reached out and grabbed his arm.

“Careful son, these places are not known to be forgiving.”

Douglas grinned and righted himself.  He grabbed the sides of the ladder and gradually began to make his way down.  The rope twined and whimpered with each step.

Professor Carson held the torch over the hole, a flickering light scattered down the tunnel.  He watched as Douglas went deeper and deeper into the earth.

After five minutes Douglas could no longer see the top or even the torch above him.  A blanket of darkness consumed him from every angle.  He forced his feet to move, reluctantly stepping down the swinging ladder.

“Have you reached the bottom yet?”  Professor Carson called down.

“No, no I still can’t see it.”

Douglas methodically placed each foot, step after step.  He purposefully stared straight ahead, terrified to look down into the abyss beneath him.  The ladder twisted and turned with the slightest movement, making each step harder than the last.

He slid down another level, planting his foot firmly on the wooden plank.  Suddenly, it snapped and he tumbled backwards and lost his grip.  He reached for the rope, but only grasped air.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.  He drifted downward, the ladder getting further and further away.  His legs and arms were sprawling helplessly in a panic.  Plummeting like a falling stone he let out a yelp that echoed up the narrow chamber.  He closed his eyes and then with a bone jarring thud he hit the rocky floor and moaned.

“Douglas, are you okay?” Carson screamed.

“Found the bottom,” Douglas responded in a whimper.

Rubbing his lower back he slowly got to his feet.  He spun in place trying to make out anything.  He could barely see past his nose through the thick blanket of darkness.

“Throw the torch down,” Douglas yelled.

He stared towards the top, but he couldn’t see a thing.  It was as if he was trying to open his eyes while his hands were covering his face.  He stepped to the side just as a flame erupted out of nowhere and fell to the floor.

The torch barely missed him as it smashed to the ground.  He bent over and picked it up. Holding it over his head he swept back and forth. In every direction the ground seemed to disappear into the dark.  The little glow of the torch barely lit the area he stood in.

“Watch out below!” Carson screamed from above him.

The ladder swung about wildly as if someone was trying to shake it apart.  Douglas looked up nervously expecting the professor’s body to come crashing down.

“Be careful professor.  Some of the steps are broken,” Douglas yelled.

A few minutes later Professor Carson stepped off the ladder onto the ground.  He glanced at Douglas and raised an eyebrow as if to say “I know how to climb down a ladder.”  Flicking his fingers he motioned towards Douglas.  “Let me see the torch.”

Douglas quickly handed him the torch and stepped away.  Rolling his eyes Carson lifted the flame towards the roof and examined the rocky surface.  A series of dots were marked on the stone that ran off into the darkness.

“It’s that way,” Carson pointed and began to walk away.

Douglas scurried along trying to keep up.  The torch didn’t provide much light and if the professor was more than five feet ahead of him he’d disappear.

Douglas huffed as they marched across the endless sand.  It was strange that while there was a strong smell of musk in the other room this part of the tunnel was odorless.  He couldn’t recognize any scent at all.

The glow of the fire burned feebly as the sand crunched beneath each step.  The professor would stop from time to time and stare up at the ceiling to make sure they were on track.  The white dots flickered under the fire, like an arrow leading the way.

They walked in silence, the sound of their footsteps the only noise.  Douglas wasn’t sure how far they’d gone and was starting to feel the itch of claustrophobia when the room unexpectedly opened up.  The rocky ceiling had only been a meter above them, but now it rose to more than thirty feet.  The torch grew brighter as the darkness thinned.  It glowed, illuminating the staggering dome structure.

The tap of shoes on a hard surface let Carson know they were no longer on sand.  He looked down taking in the pristine marble floor.  It looked like it had never been walked on, not a speck of sand littered the dark shiny surface.  It gleamed under the torch light, like a black lake.  The flickering flame made the surface appear to ripple.

Slowly they made their way across, half expecting the next step to plunge them into some icy black water.  Douglas imagined this could’ve been some type of ornate dance floor.  He envisioned the shimmering black surface alive with people swaying and gliding across it.

The professor stopped as he neared the end of the floor.  Ahead of him was a long ramp way that slanted even further underground.  It dropped down twenty feet and then disappeared into another room.  Lamps covered in cobwebs hung from the walls and a single wooden chandelier dangled above them.

Carson looked back at Douglas who was still staring up at the expansive ceiling.  He tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow.  Lifting his torch Carson lit the first lamp and an eerie glow trickled down the hallway.   

“Almost there,” Carson mumbled as he stepped down the declining ramp.  “Be careful Douglas, it’s quite slippery.”

Douglas cautiously placed his feet onto the ramp and slid down.  The slope was slicker than he thought and he stumbled then fell to his knees.  He rolled over once then came to rest in the soft sand at the bottom.

Scrambling to his feet he brushed the sand off his legs and took a deep breath.  The ceiling overhead was only about nine feet and sand stretched out in every direction, disappearing into the darkness.

Suddenly there was a loud hiss and the room began to shake.  Douglas turned and looked back just in time to see a boulder slamming shut over the opening they’d just come through.

“So much for their booby traps,” Professor Carson said with a grin as he lifted his torch.

Douglas gave him a weary look and bit his lower lip.  “Don’t worry Douglas, the way out is the way through.”

Carson smiled then walked towards the wall and ran his fingers over it.  Under the glow of the fire the outline of a door could barely be seen, lightly etched into the rock.  He traced over the lines with his fingers, studying the intricacy of the ancient symbols with intense fascination.

“This is it!  This has to be it,” Carson said with excitement.

Douglas slowly inched towards him.  He was cautious, but also intrigued by what could be the discovery of the century.

“How…How do we open it?” Douglas stuttered.

Professor Carson stared at the door, beaming with joy. “The code, the code was hidden in that old shield.  Right there for anyone to see,” he seemed to be talking to himself.

“There was nothing to it really, just a simple mathematical pattern,” he continued and slowly touched different symbols that were drawn along the rock.

Douglas watched him intently.  A hint of skepticism was etched across his face

“And of course it all ends with the sun,” Professor Carson brought his finger to rest on the oblong circle with flames surrounding it.

For a moment nothing happened.  Professor Carson stepped back and looked up and down the wall, rubbing his hands together anxiously.  Douglas bit his lower lip and gave the professor a pessimistic glance.

Then suddenly the ground began to shake.  The rocks raked against each other making a loud shriek.  The lines that shaped the door began to glow a radiant red color that seemed to pierce the rock.  With a rush the door sank and slowly eased open, shuffling sand to the side.  Carson breathed heavily in anticipation, his eyes wide with wonder.

“All my years, I never dreamed,” Carson said in awe as his hands dropped to his sides, his feet moving forward on their own volition. 

Douglas moved to stand beside the professor as the door came to a stop.  They both gazed into the room, bewildered by its vastness.  It was a shapeless mass of darkness.  Pitch black except a luminous blue light that seemed to be floating, suspended in mid-air.

The room wasn’t like anything they’d ever seen before.  It was the embodiment of emptiness.  They stared into the wall of nothing, lost in it like a blank canvas.  There was no floor, no roof, just blackness and the eerie haze of the light in the distance.

Carson and Douglas were mesmerized by the shimmering glow of it.  The rays moved like they were alive, slowly twisting and spiraling like the arms of vine.  A warmth radiated from the room, moving the air in tiny waves.

Minutes passed and neither of them moved.  Their mouths hung open, their eyes fixed on the light that seemed to speak to them.  It drew them in, like a magnet pulling them into the void.

After a long time, Carson took a step forward.  Douglas followed suit.  With his eyes still locked on the blue light Carson took another step and spoke.

“I’m going inside.”

“Yes, we must go inside,” Douglas said in staccato.

They moved in unison as if an invisible rope pulled them along on wheels.  As they crossed the threshold time seemed to stop.  A serene feeling overwhelmed the professor and he suddenly felt connected to everything.

He could feel the blood coursing through Douglas’ veins.  He could sense the irregular rhythm of his heartbeat, the flutter of his eyelashes.

The room was alive with activity.  What he thought was an empty space was now everything and everyone.  He watched as atoms bombarded with one another.  The darkness morphed into his past, present and future all at once.  He finally had a sense of his place in the world; like he’d been looking through a foggy window his whole life and someone had just opened it.  The sensation was cathartic.