Scepters of Empyrea

by Vignesh Ravichandran

  Swiftly, one by one they crossed the pit. The crocodile leaped one last time to catch hold off some flesh and it was Samantha who was about to make her way across. It opened its jaw to grab her but missed by a few inches but the action made Samantha nervous and she slipped sliding down the last pillar. Lucky for her Hannah who was on top caught hold of Samantha’s left hand pulled her out before the giant got a taste of her.

  After a long break, the team members resumed moving forward, it took another 5kilometers maze of fragile tunnels and voids for them to see the other four tunnels joining their path one by one.

  The engineer who built this vault is so brilliant, blabbered sick Marsh who was falling behind from the team. He could hear the victorious celebrations of his teammates up front. But all of a sudden the place turned silent, Marsh panicked and ran towards them shouting what happened. But no one replied. Everyone stood like statutes. He went past Hannah in the front and asked what happened but Hannah just stood frozen her eyes alone fixed on something mysterious.

  Is this some kind of joke? asked Marsh and saw the very same thing that got everyone transfixed. His jaw dropped and his face turned white. The team was now standing at the end of the tunnel and there was no way beyond that. All this struggle went in vain. Hannah didn't have the mind to leave the place, heartbroken she merely stared at the empty wall.

  Hannah!! We tried our best, don't take this to heart, let's head back to our camp, said Cummings to convince her.

  No!! There must be something behind this, said Hannah and touched the wall and rightly dry sand dropped off the wall.

  Immediately the team sprang into action, took out their brushes and started cleaning the wall with extreme care. When the team finished cleaning the right side of the wall, it revealed the Egyptian hieroglyphics of a scorpion, a snake, and an ape. The left side of the wall showed them the hieroglyphics of an elephant, a crocodile-like a creature and an animal like a lion.

  Hannah who was cleaning the center part revealed hieroglyphics of an 8feet tall unusual person sitting on a throne wearing a moon like a crown and he held a perplexed blackbird in his left arm. When the wall was fully cleaned, the team members were excited as this was the first they came across this type of hieroglyphics.

  Hannah concentrated, she advanced towards the hieroglyphics and examined it very keenly. Raised her right hand and stretched it towards the person's moon like a crown, touched it and pressed it, the team members eyes grew wider in excitement when the moon in the crown went inside the wall like a button. Hannah before taking her hand looked at her team members and chuckled. She took her hand from it, the team expected something to happen, but nothing happened.

  There was a long sigh of disappointment and everyone sat on the ground heartbroken.

  If there was a button, surely it should have revealed something, but how it remained soundless, forlornly said Jordan.

  Hannah!! What are we going to do now, asked Samantha.

  Shall we order Pizza, said Marsh with a grin on his face.

  Pizza!! Pizzaa!! Pizzaaa!! Piz zaa!! Piece Za!! The word echoed in Hannah’s head, and she looked at Marsh.

  What Hannah! I’m serious as I’m starving, replied Marsh.

  Out of nowhere, Hannah’s face lit up and she shouted, "Marsh!! You are so brilliant".

  The team members didn't know what was happening and how to react to her and Marsh on the other hand just blinked and said, thanks Hannah, but will they deliver the pizza inside here??

  I will get you a large cheese pizza when we get back, now get up we have serious work to do, said Hannah and helped the team to understand why she was behaving this way.

  Team!! Listen, if there is a button in any machinery surely it will start something, if it's not working, there must be a defect, that's science. Likewise, this wall must have a defect, I feel some piece is missing in this wall. Let's search the defective place and the missing piece, said Hannah to the team members and everyone keenly examined the wall. They were intensely examining each and every craft in the wall.

  While examining, Cummings found that the eye of the blackbird seemed to be missing, there was a hole in that place, he told the team and everyone started to look for it nearby. Hannah approached the wall and stared at the blackbird. While other team members were searching for the missing piece she inserted her left hand into her pant pocket and took something and kept it on her left palm. This was the tiny piece of Pyramidion that she had taken from the top of the step pyramid, that tiny black piece looked similar to the blackbird’s eye. Hannah took the tiny piece with her right hand and went near the eye of the blackbird to insert it but before she could do anything like a magnet, the tiny piece launched itself into the hole.

  Hannah zealously pressed the moon in the crown, the moon went inside the wall, and soon the team members heard the machinery sounds and the wall rose up like a shutter. They were all so excited for what they were about to witness.

  It unveiled a vast empty area, Hannah and her team members entered the place filled with dread, it was dark and the surface seemed stony. They heard a sudden noise of water droplets. They realized then that water was present everywhere on the ground and it glittered like silver water in the torchlight.

  Hannah, Cummings, and Jordon went ahead, Marsh and Samantha followed them but were way back. Suddenly Marsh felt the water droplets on him and looked upwards towards the ceiling. His eyes locked on it and a drop of water fell on him, it streamed down his cheeks and before it could roll off his face and hit the ground, he caught it in his hand. For a minute, he couldn’t believe his own eyes and when he closed and reopened his fists, he heard his heart hammering wildly, he blinked again and saw the water droplet as though he wanted to make sure of what he saw and ran shouting.

  Marsh!! Marsh!! What happened, asked Samantha and came running towards him.

  The water droplets!! The water droplets!! Marsh stammered.

  Meanwhile, Hannah’s eyes were feasting on something magnificent. Her eyes glittered and her face lit up. It was an irregular short waterfall 25feet in height, 10feet in breadth and the shiny waterfall seemed like it emitted silver.

  It looks glorious!! said Cummings and Jordon to Hannah.

  Hannah laughed delightedly but something else caught her attention which was her boots, she bent and touched it, surprisingly the running groundwater didn't make her boots wet.

  This is such a mystery!! How come my boots aren't wet, asked Hannah to her team members, soon they checked theirs and theirs weren't wet too.

  When Marsh and Samantha came running shouting water!! Water!!, Hannah stretched her left hand and went near the waterfall, she felt the water in her hand, surprisingly her hands did not get wet, instead, the water floated on her hands. Hannah was thrilled and joined both her hands reveling in that glorious feeling.

  It's not the water!! It's Mercury!! Shouted Marsh with delight.

  Yes!! It is, said Cumming seeing Hannah’s hands.

  Ancient Egyptians believed it weakened the evil spirits, said Hannah.

  Hannah walked slowly towards the fall and stretched her hands once again, but this time she did not feel the mercury in her hands, she stretched her hands full and went even closer with almost half her body into the waterfall almost as though she was about to take a shower.

  Hannah!! It's not the time to take a shower, shouted Jordon.

  But as soon as Hannah got in completely she chanced upon a secret pathway and shouted to everyone, hey guys, this fall has a secret pathway, get in here soon and let’s not delay. Soon the other team members followed her with a disbelieving look on their faces. The secret pathway led them into a secret chamber.

  Hannah entered the secret chamber, it was dark, and nothing could be seen without a torch. Her own boots were echoing in the chamber. She moved the torch here and there to the corners of the chamber. She couldn’t see a thing. It looked like an empty chamber in the dazzling torchlight. But at the north corner, she saw some metal shining. Hannah went and
checked it, it was a lever covered with dust, and she cleaned the dust and started spinning it. It was tight & firm, but Hannah tried harder and with all might, she rotated the lever, soon she heard a machinery sound 10metres away from her, it was from the upper ceiling of the chamber, about a square foot was opened.

  The opened ceiling brought the Sun’s rays into the chamber, displaying 4 feet circular monument type structure. Hannah went to it and found that it was a mirror disc polished with bronze or copper, and it has been attached to a handle. The disc could be rotated to either side. Hannah got rid of the cobwebs and rotated the mirror, and soon the sun rays started to fall on the mirror. Once the sun rays fell on the mirror, it reflected onto the other mirrors in the chamber, and at once the darkened chamber dazzled with brightness.

  Mesmerized by the magnificence of the chamber, Hannah couldn’t believe her own eyes. The chamber had been decorated with limestone blocks, ceramics, granites and contained a five pointed star-filled ceiling and it was designed in such a way that the glasses inside the chamber would reflect when it came in contact with either the sunlight or moonlight. The security arrangements for this chamber was higher compared to the other chambers, but it consisted only of one single box. It almost looked like a treasure box, 2 to 3 feet in length and breadth, the box was decorated and platted as a triangular pyramid filled with gold.

  Samantha went to take the box, but Hannah stopped her abruptly. Her fellow member without rationalizing this got angry, but Hannah stopped her for a reason. As the chamber’s security was high, she guessed there could be many hidden traps inside for safeguarding the box.

  Hannah and her team retreated to the entrance, standing at the entrance of the chamber, they slowly let a long bamboo stick inside to check for any possible mishaps. Hannah touched the box with the bamboo stick, and as soon as the stick touched the box, it broke into pieces. They were shocked and for a second had no clue as to what had happened. However, Hannah felt this strong power, and she let go of the remaining stick of her hands. The team members started blurting out their perceptions. Some said it was a curse, and others said that the stick was not strong enough, while few assumed that there were ghosts inside the chamber.

  This time they let a much stronger stick inside the chamber and touched the box. They were also wise to record everything for their own safety and for revealing the mystery. When Hannah touched the box, once again the stick broke into pieces. Though they couldn’t see what happened with their bare eyes, the camera had captured what they wanted to know. They replayed and saw the stick breaking into pieces and everyone was amazed at what they saw. When the stick touched the box, a force came and attacked it from both sides of the wall. They reduced the video pace and watched it in slow motion. It was not a curse, it was not weak sticks, and definitely not a ghost. It was a trap!! Once the stick touched the box, an automated gigantic axe came from both sides of the wall and broke the stick into pieces. It was frightening to think what could have happened if it had been a person instead of the stick, he would have been sliced right in the middle.

  After what they saw, her peers thanked Hannah for saving their lives. Hannah was focused and said, it’s not the time to thank me but it’s the time for us to think. They began to get into action again. Hannah used another stick now to touch the gaps where the gigantic axe came from. Surprisingly, there was no reaction from the axe, and then Hannah touched the other parts of the chamber, again there was no reaction. So, the team concluded that the trap was only for the box. The physicist quickly calculated the speed and power of that gigantic axe. After they were through with their calculations, the civil engineers were brought to the pyramid and they nailed the gap of the gigantic axe with steel. They were very particular not to touch the box in the process.

  After the nailing was done, Hannah let another stick into the chamber and touched the box, this time the gigantic axe didn’t react and it was finally safe for them to get close. Hannah went inside the chamber first and tried opening the box, but she couldn’t, it was locked. So she lifted the box and took it to her caravan to examine it.

  After she was done, the real beauty of the box came to light. What Hannah saw in front of her was more valuable than just a treasure box. It was an ancient Egyptian trinket box. It had three layers embossed with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Experimenting further, she figured out a way to open the box.

  But, it seemed each layer had a separate key. The locks for the first two layers looked like they needed the diamond shaped keys and the bottom layer lock seemed to need a narrowly shaped key. Hannah had no idea about the keys. She continued exploring ways to open the box. She did not use any external instruments which could damage the box and was more interested to know what was inside.

  The next day morning, the secret to the box was revealed by a hieroglyphic stone found in the same chamber. With the codes on the stone, Hannah was able to decipher it. The stone was crafted with an Egyptian king sitting on his throne and holding this triangular trinket box on his left hand and pointing his right hand’s first finger towards the box, and the box shone in the lights of two different types of crowns with different colors on both sides, there was a red light on the left and a white light on the right.

  Hannah using all her experience started to decipher it. She started from the lightning crowns and finally completed the crafting quest at the king’s hand. Those crowns were the crowns which belonged to the ancient Upper and Lower Egypt. Ancient Egypt was divided into two regions. To the north, was Lower Egypt where the Nile stretched out with its several branches to form the Nile Delta. To the south was Upper Egypt, stretching to Syene. The two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united only in 3000 BC, until that time, each maintained its own regalia, the Hedjet or White Crown for Upper Egypt and the Deshret or Red Crown for Lower Egypt. These two crowns were decorated with a stone respective to its color. Those decorated stones have been removed from the crowns when Upper and Lower Egypt got united and Pschent was made, which is a double crown, each half representing the sovereignty of one of the kingdoms.

  Hannah concluded that those stones were the diamond shaped keys. One was in red and the other in white. Hannah knew that these two keys had to be kept on that diamonded design and needed to be pushed inside. But the narrowly shaped keyhole had to be pressed from inside. She decided that the narrowly shaped key has to have some bend in it, exactly like a hook, by that it could be inserted into the lock and pressed from inside. By deciphering the craft, Hannah found the third key may be the first finger of the king which can be flexible and bent enough to open or press from inside.

  While all this was happening, on the other side of the globe, the main sponsors of the rescue initiative, a Miami based architectural company, was making arrangements for these precious monuments of the Egyptian culture to be displayed in the museum in Miami for the arrival of the New Year and as a fund to the development of Autistic children. So, the plan was that all these precious monuments including the undiscovered trinket box of Egyptian culture would be moved to the Miami special museum.

  But Hannah and her teammates were not quite done with their exploration. The 5kilometre maze which helped them discover the secret chamber revealed many other secrets and additional chambers in that maze. After a few more experiments the real mystery revealed that the chambers found in the maze weren’t ordinary, they were mastabas. Mastabas were ancient Egyptian tombs that consisted of an underground burial chamber with rooms above it. Hannah knew the step pyramid was initially started as mastabas, and then it got expanded into a series of stages that resulted in its present appearance as a pyramid consisting of 6 distinct steps.

  Hannah’s team started to analyze the chambers one by one, as an added benefit they found a library used in the old Egyptian kingdom, they guessed it might be approximately belonging to the 3rd dynasty and that it would be the library of king Djoser, because this step pyramid was built for the purpose of burying king Djoser. Djoser was the first king of the 3rd Dynasty (ca. 26
67 to 2648 BC) of the Old Egyptian Kingdom. Imhotep, the vizier of King Djoser built the step pyramid during 27th century BC.

  While examining the library, Hannah found a tiny antique papyrus scroll letter, which was used as delivery messages or notes to tie on pigeon legs. Hannah unrolled the scroll, the words were written in the ancient Egyptian language. Hannah knew 16 ancient languages including Tamizh, Sanskrit, Sumerian, Hurrian, Akkadian, Arabic, Ebalite, Elamite, Hittite, Luwian, Ugaritic, Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Phoenician, and Hebrew. With her knowledge, she started reading the scroll.

  The message in the papyrus letter was,

  “We are more thankful to your father for saving our Kemet, for sure we will keep the key of Empyrea safe and help you in finding the”

  The papyrus ended with these words. By reading the papyrus, Hannah concluded it was an incomplete reply letter to someone. Hannah knew the Egyptian word Kemet referred to the ancient name of Egypt, but she didn’t know what Empyrea referred to. Her curiosity got the better of her and she became more interested in finding the remaining part of the papyrus and started searching for Empyrea in the library to figure out what it stood for.