Hongo had set up a small travel grill and begun roasting meat. As Hunter fiddled with the sandwich bread, he complained.
“I still don’t like this. We are sitting here having a picnic while Malacoda is literally right over that ridge!”
“Relax dear. Stealth, remember, we have to use stealth.” Tiyana paternalistically tried to calm him down. Hunter knew that he should trust Virgil, but he felt his characteristic impulsivity and restlessness getting the better of him.
“I can be stealthy.” Hunter said flippantly. Then, he muttered, “I could do that.”
“I think our guide can do it better.” Hongo said as he locked eyes with Hunter. The grizzled African veteran shot Hunter a look that demanded solemnity.
“Right.” Hunter acquiesced resignedly as he began slicing a tomato.
All of a sudden, Virgil was in their midst.
“Come quick! We must move now!” His eminent voice reverberated throughout the campsite.
Hunter threw his tomatoes into the fire and grabbed his satchel of Damascus blades. Before Hongo and Tiyana could react, Hunter was already running into the woods.
“Hunter!” Tiyana called out, “Wait up! You don’t even know where you are going!”
They heard a rustling in the leaves, and Hunter’s head peeked back into the open campsite.
“Ok, I’m here. Let’s go, move!” He shouted impatiently.
In seconds, the other four were ready. Virgil brushed past Hunter in fluidly and made off quickly through the brush. Hunter followed at a brisk pace. The other three struggled to catch up. They half-walked, half-jogged up the side of the mountain, along ridges and across long-forgotten paths. As they hustled through the brush, Tiyana thought that she could make out a pattern. The path that they were on was mainly overgrown and unused, but not quite wholly unused. She saw weeds and brush trampled on, sticks broken, and branches cut. Someone else, or possibly a large number of people, had been through here recently. A couple of hours went by and Hunter saw Virgil’s open palm rise up in a halting gesture. Hunter froze. The trio of Hongo, Tiyana, and Vito froze behind him.
At that moment, Virgil dropped to the ground and began crawling into a small crevice at the base of the mountain’s ridge. A large boulder jutted out and left only the tiniest crack. Hunter and Tiyana would not have noticed it if Virgil had not pointed it out. Virgil had trouble fitting his long body inside, but, eventually, his ankles vanished underneath the rock. Hunter and the rest of the troupe followed suit. After emerging on the other side, they found themselves in a small enclave. The walls were smooth and the cave was a comfortably-sized room. The roof was of a uniform height. The whole enclave seemed man-made. Tiyana thought that the boulder must have been dropped there to block this secret area from view.At the end of the cave was a small pool of water. The water glowed in a familiar manner.
“Hunter, do you have the stone?” Virgil asked.
“Of course.”
Hunter pulled the stone from his bag and stooped down to the water. The water was icy and cold when he submerged his hand. The cold stung his fingers as he waved the lapis lazui stone through the fluid. A familiar thrum coursed up his arm. The whole room resonated with a sonorous hum. Then, the walls cracked. Boulders separated. A long column of stone rolled aside. A tunnel opened to the travelers.
“That never ceases to amaze me.” Hongo said.
Vito’s jaw dropped.
“Who are you people?” He asked rhetorically.
Tiyana was the last one through the tunnel. For her experiments, she had many hypothesizes to test and she needed more information. Since Shambhala, she had kept a vial ready at all times. As the rest of the group entered the tunnel, she inconspicuously scooped a sample of the luminous fluid into her vial and sealed it shut. She would study the material later.
The travelers walked down the tunnel until they reached a set of ornate metal doors. Carvings of Greek, Vedic, East Asian, and Egyptian deities danced and bustled along the door. Jewels studded the eyes of the iconic forms. Golden outlines gave character to the figures. The center of the door bore a familiar seal. A three-dimensional bust of the three heads of Cerberus sat mounted in the center of the door. The image of the beast sealed the entrance to the lithic cave.
“You’ve been here before haven’t you?” Hunter asked Virgil.
“Indeed, once upon a time, long before the epoch.”
“The epoch?”
“The epoch, yes, the apocalypse, the end of the world of the Aldenduenum. There are many epochs. Often prophesied. Some are violent, cataclysmic events, others are great wars, still others have humble origins. One began with the birth of a carpenter. All of them irrevocably change the world.”
In their midst, a familiar green holographic sphere appeared. The same flat female voice that they had heard back in Egypt spoke up.
“Sallow-shahar.”
“Sallow, met necessus ahoule.” Virgil spoke in a commanding tone.
With that, the sphere vanished. In its place, a new green and orange holograph appeared. It started as a string on the left side of the majestic door. The green and orange holographs entwined around each other as they extended from the left to the right side of the door. In the middle, however, the thread stopped extending and, in a rapid series of jerky movements, it wrapped itself into an intractably complex knot. The knot wound thicker and thicker as it gained complexity. The movements were calculated, but so calculated that they looked almost random. Tiyana concentrated hard on the knot, trying to watch carefully how it formed. Vito just stared in awe. Eventually, the thread shot out to the right and landed on the wall. A holographic twine ran from one end of the door to the other. The knot adorned the center of the door. When the show ended, the travelers simply stared.
“Well, what do we do?” Hunter asked.
He stared at Virgil. Virgil stroked his chin thoughtfully.
After a long pause, Virgil replied, “We solve the puzzle, I suppose.”