30 #2
For ten minutes, the train rattled down narrow corridors and wide halls with languid speed, the deposits on the walls and ceiling stirring her imagination.
In the interplay of light and shadows, Amelia visualised all sorts of human and animal shapes.
At one point, she even thought she spotted the Devil’s carved face, but it was just a trick of her senses.
Finally, the train stopped in a wide hall with three identical archways leading to other halls. Nyavolski hopped out of the wagon, muttering, “Damn it, damn it!”
“Shush!” Helena scolded him with a stern expression, though the whiteness of her knuckles on the handle of her medical kit betrayed her nerves.
“It’ll be your fault if they bury us in this cursed hole!”
“Who’d want to bury you?”
Viktor ran his hand through his dishevelled black hair, which seemed even wilder after the ride. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Shame we can’t walk around.” Alex dug through her bag, pulled out a cell phone and started snapping pictures. “This place is incredible! A whole new world. I’d stay here for hours!”
Amelia had no idea how deep underground they were, but knowing there was no easy access to fresh air and sunlight would have triggered a panic attack in the past. Now, icy waves ran up and down her body, but her chest didn’t tighten in warning. She breathed a small sigh of relief.
“He said the middle hall,” Helena said and headed that way.
Amelia followed, still taking in her surroundings, while the others trailed behind her. Before she even set foot inside the middle hall, she caught the glint of rows of gilded sarcophagi, lined up in symmetry down the hall’s length.
“Now that’s creepy! And so cool!” Alex exclaimed, taking more shots with her phone.
“Are we allowed to take pictures?” Amelia asked.
“Nobody said we aren’t…”
Alex paced down the corridor between the coffins.
Helena started issuing orders. “Nyavolski and Viktor, stand at the other two entrances! Turn up your supernatural senses to a thousand per cent. And don’t let anyone into the hall before I’m done. Even if it means risking your lives!”
Nyavolski crossed his arms. “So, I’d better die before I interrupt your little endeavour?”
“Precisely.” Helena lifted her chin. “Amelia and Zacharia will come with me. And Alex…” The nymph glanced around for the girl, spotting her at the end of the hall, taking a selfie.
“Someone will have to remind me why I agreed to involve her. Come here, girl! We brought you with us to guard the entrance!”
Amelia padded into the space between the first two coffins. Unlike the human sarcophagi, these were more like gilded beds with oval lids. There were no symbols or images, only a golden plate at the base with a name, brief information, and slot numbers.
“There must be about a ton of gold here.” Helena moved to the first sarcophagus, whispering while they searched for their supposed ancestor’s grave. “This one’s labelled twenty-one… I don’t think they’re ordered numerically.”
Amelia read the nearest slab, “Seven.” And below: John Cloe, vampire, 231-2000. The fastest vampire on Earth. “Fastest vampire on Earth? Is there some sort of Guinness World Records in the immortal world?”
“There’s no need for that,” Helena said. “Anyway, most of the record holders are creatures. Incredibly bored creatures.”
Amelia moved to the next sarcophagus, labelled as twenty-two, right next to number seven. It read: Camila Devis, nymph, 903-1211. Creator of the blind alphabet. “What’s the blind alphabet?”
“They say that during the eleventh century, many children were born blind and gained their sight after becoming immortal. Camila created this method so they could read and learn until they could see… Where is that damned number fifteen?”
“Why do you insist on getting DNA specifically from him?”
“I don’t. But imagine if that Vlas person walks in and finds me hovering over Camila Devis’ sarcophagus? How am I going to explain why I’m poking her with random tools if I’ve come for Sergei Davidoff?”
Amelia passed by the grave of a lycanthrope who was famous for slaying the hundred-handed witch. “And how will you explain why you’re poking Sergei?”
“I’ll tell him there’s a legend in my family that Sergei swallowed a magical coin, and finding it will reveal a great family secret. I’m searching for it.”
“Via bone marrow aspiration?”
“Oh, please! You don’t think this Vlas guy with his prehistoric dress has any clue about genetics or medicine, to know exactly what I’m doing?”
Amelia stopped before sarcophagus thirty-seven. Nikolay Korovin, 473-1764. Manticore. Quencher of the greatest war between nymphs and witches in history.
She read the inscription again, and again. Her heart raced. Was this Mikhail’s father?
“I found him. Quick! Help me open it!”
Amelia tore her eyes away from the sarcophagus with reluctance and went to Helena.
“Grab the lid on the other side,” the nymph instructed.
Amelia’s fingers brushed the cold surface of the sarcophagus. I’m about to open a mummy’s coffin, for real…
She hesitated. Did Zacharia have to share all his concerns right before they entered the temple?
“We lift on three. One…”
“Helena…”
“What?”
“Well, what if there’s something in there?”
“Yes, a mummy. That’s what we came for.”
“But what if there’s something… else?”
“What else?”
“A curse…” Amelia whispered. “Or a demon?”
Alex approached them. “You found it! Let me help. I trained for a while in preparation for joining Zacharia’s guards. Lots of weightlifting.”
She grabbed the lid in the middle and lifted it in one swift motion.
Amelia and Helena held the two ends, lowering it to the ground, careful to not make any sound.
The three of them hovered over the open coffin.
Inside it was a brown, withered body. Sergei Davidoff had been laid on his back, with his hands resting on either side of his torso.
“I expected him to be wrapped up in bandages…” Helena studied the corpse.
Amelia had also imagined she’d find more than just a dried corpse that reminded her a lot of the formalin bodies she’d practised on during her anatomy classes. Facing a somewhat familiar image helped her calm her breathing.
Helena opened her suitcase and retrieved the aspiration needle. She plunged it into the mummy’s sternum with the enthusiasm of a scientist who’d stop at nothing to prove their thesis. Then she inserted the syringe and pulled out the bone marrow.
“Done,” she announced a moment later and tucked away the material and her tools into the bag. Together, they replaced the lid, covering the mummy.
Pacing to the exit, Amelia ran a hand over her forehead, releasing a deep breath of relief. They’d done it!
“That’s it?” Nyavolski’s eyes widened when they returned to the entrance.
“I told you it would all be all right.” Helena smiled, eyes on the medical kit.
“What do you think is inside the other two halls?” Alex asked, shifting the bag on her shoulder.
“More mummies. I checked while we waited,” Zacharia said.
“I wanna see!” She dashed to the next hall.
“Alex, we’re leaving!”
“Just a second… Let me just have a peek. Oh, it’s so much more interesting here!”
“Quiet! Do you want to wake up the mummies?” Helena scolded her.
“Let’s go, damn it!”
“The previous Oracle’s sarcophagus is here!” Alex proclaimed.
Amelia drifted towards it as if enchanted. She had to get close to the woman with whom she shared so much but had never met in person – only in dreams.
From the threshold of the hall, she spotted the golden coffin, sculpted in the shape of the previous Oracle.
From what she remembered of the woman’s face, she was surprised to find it looked more like a portrait than a casting.
Green emeralds with tiny black onyxes at their centres formed her eyes.
Starting from the contour of her face, her black hair extended to the bottom of the sarcophagus, clearly rendered by a skilled artist. The deep red on her lips was nothing like the pale apparition from their meeting – a meeting Amelia was still uncertain had taken place anywhere outside her own mind.
The inscription was brief. Gea Zangani. 4062 B.C. – 2021 A.D. Oracle.
Her name was Gea. Amelia had observed the world through her eyes for a brief moment last year.
Gea’s body had been hanging in the air, held up only by the desperate grip of a dark-haired woman’s fingers.
When she’d let go and Gea’s body had begun its descent, the previous Oracle had a smile on her face.
Alex’s voice pulled Amelia back to reality. “Weird. Those aren’t labelled.” She circled a sarcophagus painted with strange symbols. “It has to be a male, because the features are male, but there’s no name or species…”
“Amelia, it’s time to go,” Zacharia said behind her.
“Well, well!” Helena exclaimed at the few sarcophagi in the room. “We’re in the hall of greatness.”
“I wouldn’t say greatness. With the exception of the two oracles and a pharaoh from five thousand-something B.C.,” Alex noted.
Amelia tore her eyes away from Gea’s emeralds. “Did you say two oracles?”
“Yeah. There’s another one in there.”
Amelia ran over to where Alex was pointing. This sarcophagus was painted in a similar style, but the eyes were turquoise and the hair was pure gold, blending into the gilding of the coffin. The inscription underneath was brief: Taliniche , Oracle . No dates.
There were five more sarcophagi, plated in gold, jewels, and intricate artwork. Alex snapped photos with her camera, while Helena’s eyes gleamed, reflecting the gems. Even Nyavolski and Viktor were drawn in by the glitter.
“Now that’s a fucking temple!” Nyavolski exclaimed, resting his palm on one of the nameless coffins.
Amelia skimmed her fingers across Taliniche’s sarcophagus.
As soon as her skin grazed the cold metal, an oppressive dark sensation crept across her body, chilling her to the bones.
It was as if someone had stolen all her living force.
She struggled to keep standing on her wobbly legs and placed a palm on the sarcophagus for support.
Back away , her heart warned her. Back away.
Regaining her stance, Amelia stepped away from the ancient Oracle’s bed.
The power returned to her body, and she glanced around to check if anyone else showed similar reactions.
However, they were all inspecting the golden coffins – except for Zacharia.
He was watching Amelia, a crease forming between his eyebrows.
“I think we have to go,” he barked.
The others snapped out of the spell of the shimmering jewels.
“He’s right.” Viktor grabbed Alex by the arm, forcing her to stop shooting photos.
Helena slapped her forehead. “Does anybody else feel enchanted by those sarcophagi’s gold?”
“Gold all around the world enchants you.” Nyavolski bared his teeth, although he also blinked a few times, as if trying to free himself from a spell. “C’mon!”
He pulled the lever on the wall, and they all climbed back onto the train. The rails carried them up at the same languid speed.
This time, the rhythmic swaying of the wagons made Amelia tap her foot on the floor.
As they exited the depths of the cave, the beautiful symphony of lights, shadows, and stalactites transformed into frozen devils and gargoyle guards.
A heavy weight pressed into her chest and spread through her entire body, and just like a moment before, she failed to decipher if it was her fear calling, or her Oracle powers.
After what felt like aeons, the train brought them back to the hall with the giant opening in the centre.
Vlas Beduin was waiting for them by the console.
When they stepped out of the wagons, he approached them with the same impassive expression.
“I hope your stay in the Temple of the Dead Immortals was a fruitful one, and that you managed to feel the powerful energy of your ancestors.”
“Thank you for accepting me and my family.” Helena smiled, gripping the handle of her medical kit.
The vampire’s eyes narrowed, fixing on the leather surface of the kit.
“May I ask something, sir?” Alex’s curious voice cut through the silence. “How do you decide who gets to be laid to rest in the temple?”
Vlas Beduin focused on her. “Our chieftains decide who is worthy. Only creatures with great contribution to the world are gifted the honour.”
A familiar thud echoed through the hall, and Vlas Beduin pointed towards the exit. “The temple exit is open.”
Walking at a steady pace, Amelia used every ounce of her strength to resist the urge to break into a run. She climbed the murky staircase, Zacharia close behind. After a small squat, she emerged into the night air.
The breath she inhaled was like the first in a lifetime.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad after all,” she said to Zacharia, who came out behind her.
Then the rock vibrated once again.
“What’s going on?!” Alex’s voice echoed from within.
The rock slammed shut, sealing the entrance with a thunderous thud.