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| Wirtjr | Nov 30 2008, 07:07 PM |
The Train Conductor to Hell
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As the topic description says, this is what I entered for NaNoWriMo. I managed to get 13 chapters into the story by the time I reached 50k. And I've come to like how this story is shaping out, so I'm sticking with it. I'll be posting a chapter each week, or a bit slower. It really depends on how the editing process goes. But anyway, please enjoy the Urban Fantasy: The Last Evolution. ____ The Last Evolution Even Gods can die. But the God of Death is not so easily dealt with. He who rules the Underworld rules the souls of the living. - Excerpt from recently excavated tome discovered in southern Greece. Author unknown. One day man will connect his apparatus to the very wheelwork of the universe and the very forces that motivate the planets in their orbits and cause them to rotate will rotate his own machinery. -Nikola Tesla Chapter One: “Is mist supposed to be black?” Jerry asked. He sounded panicked. So panicked, that it made Caleb laugh raucously. “It’s only black because you’re night-blind you stupid ass!” He turned his flashlight on high. “See? Its just some regular run of the mill mist. Now don’t be such a coward and keep up the pace. I wouldn’t want you to fall behind and smash your head against a wall and die in a heap.” Caleb said with a laugh. He could picture in his mind that his underpaid intern was glaring daggers at him. But Caleb couldn’t grudge him that; with a paycheck that small and pathetic, Jerry had a right to be perpetually angry. But then again, so did the other interns. But they weren’t being as much of a malcontent as Jerry. Maybe it was because Caleb was constantly harassing him about all of his tiny phobias. He had spent an ass-load of money to stuff his tent full of bobble-head dolls. Everyone almost died laughing when he opened the tent, only to be confronted with an army of tiny bobble-heads. He screamed so loudly he was hoarse for the next three days. Caleb just enjoyed harassing his interns. He was infamous for it in his university, and it was why he had very little interns. Hell he had to offer special perks just to get them. The only perk that attracted his interns was the promise of flying around the world and visiting foreign and majestic ruins. It was one of the only, or maybe just the single benefit of being an archeologist. It really wasn’t a career that was high in demand like computer programmers or soldiers. They weren’t paid very well, and relied almost completely on outside funding. But few universities were willing to spend much on trips like this unless they were going somewhere big. And this was big. Something that was so big he was surprised he and his team were actually allowed to go to it. Three weeks ago an excavation team unearthed what appeared to be an underground pyramid in southern Greece. It was actually found underneath the ruins of the Delphi temple. Now both of those things were odd. For one thing, why would there be a pyramid in Greece? And furthermore, did the ancient Greeks know about it before they built the Delphi temple on it? It was what he and his highly underpaid interns, and the few professionals, like Caleb himself, were here to find out. It was a chance of a lifetime, and no matter how much he tortured his interns, they knew it was something they would probably only get to do once, and it could make or break their future. And so they found themselves going down some recently excavated stairs that led down to the pyramid. The fact that this staircase even existed was enough to tell Caleb that the ancient Greeks probably did know about the pyramid under their temple. But who knows? Maybe the ancient Greeks were just really stupid and never even noticed the stairs that led down underground. “How far down does this godforsaken thing go?” Jerry moaned. “We’ve been going down these stairs for hours.” “It’s been twenty six minutes Jerry!” One of the slightly better paid interns shouted. “Now shut up before one of us tosses you down to see how deep this thing goes!” “Bring it on Greg! You’re not smelling what I have cooking!” The malcontent shouted in a shaken voice. Apparently he really believed they would toss him over. Hell, if they decided to do it, he wouldn’t stop them. Caleb didn’t really like Jerry that much anyway. “Jerry shut up before I dock your pay even more,” Caleb sighed. That shut up his malcontent intern. It usually did. Well at first it didn’t to him, mainly because Jerry thought he was bluffing, but then Caleb actually started docking his pay, and it got the point across. And that point was simple, he could do whatever he wanted to them, they were getting college credit and something to pad out their résumé with. They continued down the giant staircase in complete silence. Jerry did have a point though. It felt like this staircase went on forever. Time felt like it had slowed down to an immeasurable crawl. And they weren’t even close to the bottom. Whoever built this must have had a love for exercise. He was pretty sure that whenever they finally reached the bottom, his flat stomach would turn into a six-pack. Some of his interns started coughing and gagging, “Jesus Christ, what’s that smell?” One of his interns moaned. “It smells like rotten eggs.” “Probably just some sulfur deposits. Breath through your mouth instead of your nose.” Caleb said with a dismissing wave. “A little sulfur never hurt anyone.” “Not that we know of!” His intern shouted back. “When we get back home, and I come down with some kind of cancer, I’m going to shove a lawsuit so far up your ass, your grandchildren will get served!” “No-one in their right mind would sue an archeologist,” Caleb snorted, “You won’t make any money that way. Sue the university if nothing else.” The interns laughed at that. It was funny because it was true. They continued on in silence after that last laugh. The less they laughed, the less they would have to breathe in the sulfurous air. Hours passed, and the smell of sulfur continued to increase. And the further down they went, the hotter it got. The smell of sulfur was so thick they actually had to pull out the gas masks they brought. Caleb only told them to bring it just to cover his ass. He didn’t think they would actually need to use them. But it seemed that the tiny paranoid voice in his head paid off this time. “Hey! I can see the bottom!” One of the interns in front shouted back to the rest of them. “Take a look, you won’t believe your eyes!” Caleb walked ahead of the group and then looked down to where they were pointing. He felt his eyes widen, and his jaw drop. He had never seen anything like it before. “Holy mother of god…” He rasped. The pyramid was down there all right, and it was much larger than the pyramids of Giza, or those Mayan pyramids. But that wasn’t the amazing thing. It was that it was floating on an island in the middle of a lake of fiery lava. Pillars of lava periodically shot up in the air like geysers. The pyramid itself looked like what the pyramids of Giza would look like if they were constructed in the ninth circle of Hell, and were improved upon in the other eight before coming to Earth. It was made of blood red obsidian. And unlike the smooth stones of the Mayan or Egyptian pyramids, it was covered in jagged spikes. “Well… That explains the sulfur smell.” Caleb said slowly. He looked down again. The staircase led to the entrance of the pyramid. Which was lucky, because if it led to the lava, they would have to figure out some way to cross it. “We’ve only got a few more stairs to go guys!” Caleb told them. “Then the fun really begins.” Some of his interns groaned. The rest were silent. They were getting too tired to make any sounds. “That’s creepy…” Jerry groaned softly. And once again, Caleb reluctantly agreed with him. It was perhaps one of the most unsettling things he had ever seen. If not the most unsettling thing he’s seen. “Well this will definitely pad out your résumé boys and girls!” Caleb shouted to them. “This will be the most important archeological discovery of the century.” That was an understatement. It would be the most important discovery since the Rosetta Stone. Maybe even more important than the Stone. “Holy shit, it is hotter than hell down here,” an intern named Jessica muttered. “If I knew we were going to be working in this kind of condition, I would have put on more deodorant… I’m going to smell like a skunk for months.” She groaned. “Yeah, yeah,” Caleb said with a dismissing wave. “Less complaining, more unpacking.” He started pulling his tools out of his pack, and also a candy bar. He sighed when he saw that it was more or less melted. But then he shrugged and popped it into his mouth anyways. Candy was candy after all. So he wasn’t picky about it. As long as it was editable, he would be happy. “Alright, before we go into the pyramid, I feel compelled to tell you to watch your step. Because if these people were anything like the Egyptians, then this thing is filled to the brim with nasty little traps.” “Isn’t that just in movies?” Jessica asked. “Could be. But still, stay on your toes.” Caleb said flatly. “You’re getting college credit, and it’s generally more useful to you when you’re alive, then when you’re dead.” Jessica rolled her eyes at him, but she did stop complaining. And that was a good thing, because there was more than enough complaining coming from Jerry. “Who the hell would put a pyramid all the way down here?” Jerry groaned. “And why would they put it on a bed of goddamn lava?” “Jerry, shut the hell up already!” The other interns shouted in near unison. “We’re tired, sore, hot, and we’re sweaty. I don’t think any of us would lose a minute of sleep if you get thrown into the lava.” “Alright guys, calm down.” Caleb said before Jerry could retort. “We would all like to toss Jerry into the lava, but it is unfortunately a felony in the form of first-degree murder.” He looked at Jerry then told him, “They have a point. Stop complaining Jerry. It was amusing at first, but now it’s just getting old. We are all exhausted, sore, and hot. But we aren’t bitching and moaning as loudly as you.” Jerry’s eyes flashed with anger, and he curled his lip in anger. But he closed his mouth as soon as he opened it. He scooped up his pack and stomped away from the others. Caleb made a mental note to dock his pay just a bit more. If this kept up, Jerry would have to start paying him instead of the other way around. And that was all right in Caleb’s book. The more money he had in his pocket put him that much closer to his retirement. He scooped up his flashlight in one hand, and he had the rest of his tools in the other. “All right boys and girls. Let’s crack this pyramid open! This is the part where you all get to unleash all your stress and frustration... Just not on Jerry. So grab your crowbars, chisels and hammers and start cracking away!” His group of interns grabbed their excavating tools and ran to the entrance of the pyramid. Caleb himself didn’t care what happened to the door. All he wanted intact was the things inside of the pyramid. In his expert opinion, it would be more beneficial if he let his workers take out their stress and anger out on a large and strong piece of stone. It was better than letting them smash some priceless artifacts… Or each other. He watched as his interns began smashing their various implements of destruction against the stone. He stood behind them impassively, as he watched them work. He occasionally stepped to one side to dodge some flying rubble. “Careful, you almost smashed my head with that flagstone!” Caleb grumbled. He doubted anyone heard him, because they were smashing their tools against the entrance so hard that it sounded like a construction site. About fifteen minutes passed before the stone blocking the entrance crumbled into little pieces. When the stone began crumbling, his interns nearly fell down in exhaustion. They sat on the ground for a while, breathing heavily and wiping sweat and grime from their eyes. “Okay up and at em!” Caleb told them. “We can rest once we get inside. Who knows, it may be a bit cooler in there then out here!” The idea of a colder area made all but the most exhausted jump to their feet. The exhausted slowly pushed themselves back to their feet, and twinged in pain. It wasn’t surprising. Most of them hadn’t ever had to do that much manual labor right after walking down several hundred flights of stairs. Caleb turned on his flashlight and led the way into the pyramid. He watched his step carefully, and kept moving his light back and forth to check for any kind of tripwire… He would be the first to admit he was paranoid, but Caleb liked being alive. He wasn’t going to die through some mishap. That’d just be embarrassing. If he was going to go to heaven or hell, he wanted to tell about how he died in an epic struggle saving a bus of burning nuns and school children. He didn’t want his story to be the three words “I hate harpoons.” “I’ll say it again! Watch your step!” He shouted. “Oh wow, look at these hieroglyphics…” An intern said softly. “I haven’t seen any hieroglyphics like these before.” “I haven’t seen this kind of masonry before,” another said. “There are no chisel marks or anything. It looks like it was just worn down by the wind over centuries.” “The architecture is different then the Egyptians…” Jessica murmured. “It’s much more flamboyant. Look at all of these different colors… Red, orange, yellow, green, pink, cyan… I didn’t know that many colors of obsidian existed.” “I don’t think they do.” Caleb said quietly. “That’s what I’m finding so odd about all of this.” As far as he knew, obsidian only came in a few colors. And only the red, orange, black, and yellow existed. “Well apparently you’re thinking wrong,” Jerry snapped from behind. “Because I’m seeing evidence to the contrary.” “Jerry, if I wanted your opinion, I would have given you one.” Caleb rumbled. “Don’t talk back to the man who controls your paycheck, and your passing grade for this class.” That shut Jerry up again. And with that, awed silence reigned. The further they went into the pyramid, the cooler it got. The smell of sulfur had also vanished. So they were allowed to take off their gasmasks. And the designs had also become even more elaborate and flamboyant as they went on. Statues shaped from precious gemstones, gold and silver ingrained into the very walls. Soon they entered what must have been the central room of the pyramid. It was strange, but the pyramid seemed to be significantly larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It seemed as if the very room they were standing in now was the width of what the pyramid looked like outside. The room was not just filled with treasures, there were hundreds upon hundreds of bookcases spread out throughout the chamber. It seemed that the room was completely intact. It was like the books and treasures were protected from the ravages of time. “Alright guys, guess we’ve got lucky. There’s not much excavating to be done here. Let’s spread out and see what we’ve got here. If you smart ones want to try your luck and give your brain a work out, open a book and see if you can translate anything in it.” Caleb told them all. His interns talked softly amongst themselves as they spread out through the room and started examining the things in there. Caleb himself went over to a bookcase and pulled out a pair of books. He sat down on the ground and flipped the first book open. He scratched his head as he saw the writing. It was as complicated as he expected…. And even odder than he expected. Strangely enough it was a hybrid of several dozen languages from all over the world… Even though these languages came into existence hundreds, or even thousands of years after the Greeks built the Delphi temple over this place. It didn’t make sense… Even assuming that this pyramid was built after the temple, these books appeared much older than the languages it derived words from. He opened his notebook and began trying to translate it. He had a sinking feeling it was going to take awhile to translate. Sitting in his office chair, a strong and lithely built man calmly examined his glass of scotch before he took a drink from it. He sighed and took another sip. He smiled and looked out the window and examined the city below. It was his city. It was his nation. And it was his world. It had been his for thousands of years. And it would be his for eternity. It was his birthright. There was not a creature alive who could match his power… Reality was his to bend and distort at his will. He crossed his office and went to his liquor cabinet to get another bottle of scotch. He opened, and then walked inside. Like so many other things he could create, it was much larger on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside. He paced through his liquor cabinet and decided on the vodka instead. He looked at the bottle, and shrank it down to the size of a cup. It contained the same amount of vodka the original sized bottle had. But now it was in a much more convenient size. He walked out of the liquor cabinet and sat back down at his desk. He took another drink, and then a wave of sensations washed over him in such a rush, he shattered the vodka bottle in his hand. “Someone’s found it.” He hissed. “Damn it I should have razed that place to the ground a millennia ago.” He looked down at his hand, and saw extremely deep lacerations in his palm from the glass. Blood dripped from his hand onto the ground steadily. He growled in frustration, and the cuts started to disappear as if it had never existed. He snarled and slashed his hand through the air. The liquor cabinet dissolved, and burned to ash at the same time. Then the ash burned into nothingness. The man took a deep breath and decided not to take his rage out on his office… He’d take it out on the people who discovered the tomb. He took another deep breath, and focused his thoughts on the pyramid and his thoughts became murderous. “They’re not leaving that place…” He murmured. “If they were to find the Twelve, then that would start a lot of unwanted questions…” He pressed his mind onto the pyramid and focused it into a death trap of such horrifying power that no one in their right mind would go back to it. But he wasn’t going to take any chances… After they were all dead, he would raze the building to the ground like he should have done eons ago. This language was, as Caleb figured it would be, a very frustrating thing to translate. The language was a mixture of Sanskrit, Aztec, and some obscure Japanese calligraphy. It was also flavored with some Latin, classical Greek, some Scandinavian, and even a tiny bit of Egyptian. He and a group of the smarter interns sat in a circle with books as they began the attempt to decipher some of the tomes. He was starting to make headway with his book. It appeared to some kind of history, or legend at any rate, that documented the actions of some ruling body called, ‘The Twelve.’ What was interesting was the fact that these people shared common stories with the old Greek gods. Or at least their stories had similar themes that were present in the Greek myths. What was even more interesting is that these outdated the Greek culture by at least six centuries. If he was right, then he had just stumbled upon the origins of where those myths had started. But he had to question the authenticity of these documents. From the tiny bit he was able to decipher it claimed that these were real events. But then again, no one could prove or disprove the Bible, and some took those as actual events, while others said they were just legends to provide people with something to believe in. In the end, no one could disprove and call any religion or myth ‘false’ unless they were there to see it for themselves. “Hey, I found another chamber!” Jessica shouted. “I think it’s an extension of this room. There’s probably more artifacts in there” “Alright, well just be careful when you open the passage.” Caleb called back to her. “We’re inside now, so we got to make sure we damage as few things as possible.” “Can do boss,” Jessica told him. The former quietness of the tomb was replaced with the steady staccato of hammers chiseling away at stone. The steady sound was occasionally punctuated with a loud curse from Jerry when he accidentally slammed his hand with his hammer. Caleb was glad for the noise. It had been getting to quiet for his taste. But then again, there was a reason they created the saying ‘Silent as the grave.’ Caleb continued transcribing the book in front of him. The more he managed to translate, the more positive he was that this was the origin of the entire religion the Greeks had created. The similarities between some of the myths, and the records in this book, shared so many common themes and elements it was astounding. There was a loud shattering sound, and cries of triumph. Caleb stood up to see what happened. The group of interns managed to obliterate the stone door that blocked the entrance. Some of them had already entered the room to see what was hidden inside of it. Seconds after entering, Jessica ran out and signaled him to take a look. “I think we’ve found some tombs!” Now that piqued Caleb’s curiosity and excitement. He walked inside of the room, and stopped awestruck. Now while the entire pyramid appeared to be quite flamboyant and flashy…it was nothing like the tomb that it held. This entire room made the entirety of the pyramid look dull and drab by comparison. The burial mounds were made of flawless diamond, with gold and other precious gems worked into it so delicately and professionally that it looked natural. The floors were of the same make. And the walls were covered in decorations and symbols. Caleb walked over to one of the tombs, and read the inscription on it. It was of the same language in the book that he was transcribing, but he recognized the epithets. “Here lies the Father of Lightning, and the Guardian of Man. May he continue to watch over us, even in death.” Caleb read. He was stunned. From the little he was able to translate, the Greeks would later call the man who was entombed in this spot Zeus. He crossed over to another tomb; “Here lies the Watcher of the Water, and the Bane of the Fleet. For as long as the tides come and go, he shall never be gone.” Once again, this man would later be called Poseidon. He looked at the other tombs. Mother of Earth. Maid of the Hearth. Protector of Wisdom. Lord of War. Nurturer of Woman. Father of Crafting. Maiden of Desire. Man of the Sun. Woman of the Moon. The Diviner of Drink. Patron of Thieves… Each of these was an epithet for who would later be considered as the twelve major Olympian gods. “Ladies and gentlemen… We’ve stumbled upon the greatest archeological discovery of all time.” Caleb announced. He was still shocked. But before any of his interns could react, the pyramid began to shake, and the lights from their flashlights all but vanished. An extremely angry voice sounded throughout the pyramid, “You do not belong here!” Caleb and his interns could not only hear the voice, but they felt it. It was so pervasive; it almost felt like they were crushed by it. “Die.” The voice hissed. The voice was cold, and dripped with arrogant contempt. And with that word… Everything began to change. |
 Formerly Wirtjr, Denny Crane, Freddy Krueger, Rodney McKay, Bruce Campbell and Ash Williams
Brawl Code: 2793-4775-6845 | |
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