The Quest of the Empty Tomb

by Elyse Salpeter

  Kelsey had said that after her attack, she lived in that land for six weeks. Yet, during that time her fedelia had grown from a little pup into a full grown creature. If so, then time in Xanadu truly moved differently. The more he thought about that, the more sense it made.

  He suddenly sat upright in the seat, his mouth ajar. The man next to him glanced at him again, but Desmond ignored him this time.

  Wait a second, did the monks say my destiny was in the “human realms?” Plural? What did they mean by that? There is only one human realm. That’s what doctrine has always taught us. Desmond thought about this, thankful he’d become more versed in Buddhism since he’d met Kelsey. In Buddhism there are thirty-one planes of existence. All of them are either god realms, hell realms, or animal realms, with just one realm dedicated to humans.

  Desmond’s jaw dropped. But what if there were more than one human realm? What if there were… two more?

  The ramifications astounded him.

  In his dream, there had been three doorways. One led to Xanadu. The others had led… where? Did they possibly lead to two more human realms?

  If there are two more human planes of existence, two more realms along with the one he existed in now, then that meant there would be thirty-three planes of existence.

  He was glad he was sitting.

  The number thirty-three.

  Chapter 27

  LEAVE HER ALONE!

  “I order you to let me leave!” Kelsey stormed over to the deva. He dwarfed her small form. She tried again to connect her soul to her body, but she couldn’t. “Why are you keeping me here? Who did you promise that you would go against the order of the Lord Buddha and keep me here against my will?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll meet her soon.”

  “You made a promise to Ustha, didn’t you? Did you promise her my soul? You are a stupid fool, Pancaggala. What did she promise you that will be nothing but a lie?” Kelsey stood defiantly in front of the deva who had now expanded his size to reach the top of the garden walls in his attempt to intimidate her.

  His body pulsed and contracted. “Watch your words, girl. I am anything but a fool. Your soul means nothing any more, Kelsey.” His voice rose in anger as he spoke. “You were the great Tanha from the hell realm of Naraka and could have lived in splendor for a millennia, but instead you chose to go against your father, the great Mara, and forsake that wondrous gift. And then, when you achieved Nirvana by defeating him in Xanadu you declined that gift and chose to live as a pitiful human. A pathetic existence where you survive for a hundred years at most. You are the fool! You made your own bed and I did nothing that in the grand scheme of things will mean anything. What is this pitiful life you are leading actually worth? This one useless existence? It is but a blip in time and you will simply be reborn to make the same mistakes again.”

  Kelsey pointed at him. “You know I won’t be reborn if Ustha has her way. She wants to destroy my soul. So, stop pretending, great deva. Ustha’s entire existence is spent destroying souls all because of her covetous, jealous lover's rage against a human female who lived thousands of years ago. You are following a scorned, vengeful goddess. Her promise to you means nothing.”

  He laughed and a torrent of hot air swirled around her. “You know nothing, human.”

  Kelsey refused to back down. “I know that you’ve made a pact that will ultimately fail. Ustha only promises dreams, not reality. If she comes clean on her promise, it will only seem real in your perception. It won’t ever materialize in your tangible existence.”

  He sneered. “Brave words, but you’re wrong. They will be real, and with Ustha’s help, the devas in my realm will finally conquer the Asuras and we will be free of them. They will forever remain at the bottom of Sumeru, never to bother us again. And then we will finally be released from having to meddle in human affairs. We will finally be able to leave that tedious flight of fancy to the lower gods. You and your kind will no longer be my cross to bear.”

  He glanced down at the ground, as if he could see below. “I must say, it’s fun watching them circle around your prostrate form. You put yourself in grave danger.”

  Kelsey tried to look down, but couldn’t see anything. She tried again to reach out her body, but nothing worked.

  It’s the garden. It’s cloaked. I have to get away. With a mad dash, she ran to the garden entrance, hoping to escape to the temple while Pancaggala entertained himself watching the minions mill around her body. The moment she reached the stone door, the deva threw a force of wind her way and pushed her back.

  She pressed through again and the wind drove her back.

  She whirled on him. “You can’t keep me here.” She spun around, desperate to find a way out. A thought came to her and she shouted to the sky. “Ishu, to me!”

  The deva’s eyes widened in mock surprise. “You think your little fedelia can take you from me?”

  A flap of wings sounded and a streak of cream soared over the garden wall. The creature, a cross between a horse and a flying dragon, flew directly towards Kelsey.

  The deva whipped his hands around and created a whirlwind. It caught the fedelia and threw Ishu into the garden wall and pinned her against it.

  “Leave her alone!” Kelsey screamed, running towards her pet.

  Ishu whinnied helplessly and another fedelia streaked over the garden wall. This one was nearly double the size of Ishu. It stretched out its chocolate mahogany colored wings, and with a ferocious roar flew directly at the deva’s head. Its taloned claws stretched out, ready to rip the deva to shreds.

  “Dorje, no!” Dorje’s bravery to fight the deva terrified Kelsey. The creature was massive, but not a match for the god. The deva threw another whirlwind at Dorje and he plummeted to the ground, but the creature shook it off, rose back up and flew back to the attack.

  The deva released Ishu in his attempt to fight Dorje, and she crumpled to the garden floor. She raised her snout to the sky and neighed shrilly. Kelsey had never heard her cry like that before and the sound shook her to her core.

  She flinched as a series of banshee-like shrieks returned Ishu’s call and soon the garden glen filled with their wails. The deva stopped swirling long enough to glance at the horizon to see where they came from. His eyes widened in surprise and his body rippled and pulsed until he grew so large he nearly blocked the sun. Dorje took that moment to rip his talons into his face and the deva threw a lightning bolt at him. Dorje reared back to dodge the strike, but it hit a small part of his hind leg and he whinnied in pain.

  Meanwhile, Ishu grasped onto Kelsey with her teeth and tossed her onto her back. They took to the sky at the same moment a hoard of strange winged creatures ascended over the garden walls. Kelsey tried to rationalize what she saw. What were these beings? They reminded her of the minions of Mara she had been fighting while battling her father in Xanadu six months before.

  These mammoth-sized bird-like beings were the golden-hued color of the sun, but with a human face, large wings and an eagle’s beak. Each of them was nearly the size of Pancaggala. As Kelsey and Ishu soared away from the garden, Dorje joined them. The last thing Kelsey saw before they all disappeared from view was Pancaggala flailing wildly as the creatures descended upon him. His ferocious howls filled the land.

  #

  Ustha’s minions were in an uproar. One of the worshipers leaned down to Kelsey and grabbed the back of her head. With his other hand, he smacked her cheek hard. Once, twice, but she wouldn’t wake up. He called to the others. “She’s dead. Put the charms back on the others or we might kill them all.” He released Kelsey and she dropped to the stone floor.

  Armand wailed at the news and tried to crawl towards his daughter, but collapsed as another epileptic fit consumed him.

  Crew-Cut man calmly stepped over Armand’s twitching body with hardly a glance at him and bent down to Kelsey. He placed one hand around her shoulders and lifted her. Her head flopped back, exposing her vulnerable neck. With his other hand, he reached ins
ide the front of her tank top and rested it against her chest. He closed his eyes and remained still for several seconds. He opened his eyes and huffed. “She’s not dead, you fool. She’s taken herself away like Ustha said she would. It is all going according to her plan. She knew the girl would do this.” He glanced at the worshipers. “Prepare the sacrifices. The Blue Moon rises within the hour. Our goddess will finally have her redemption. This will be her biggest hoard of souls yet, and we will hurt Kenmut so badly he will never be able to recover. Kenmut’s family’s line will soon be over.”

  Chapter 28

  THE TEMPLE

  Desmond crawled through customs at a snail’s pace, and by the time he left the airport, it was late afternoon.

  He checked into a small hotel in Cairo, unpacked his meager luggage and then made his way to the address he’d been given by Ari.

  A thought had plagued him the entire trip here. Why had Ari agreed to help him so readily? It was unlike him and it didn’t sit well. On the plane’s WiFi he’d researched Blue Moons and Decans and found nothing that claimed to know how to kill a Decan sky god. Of course, that didn’t mean a thing. Information about Decans was so rare there really hadn’t been much to glean. He’d gone to Ari in the first place for that very reason. The man had a way of knowing things that other people didn’t, and Desmond didn’t have the luxury of time to hunt down the information across the farthest reaches of the globe all by himself.

  The address took him to the outskirts of the city and into a local town. Seeing a warren of shops up ahead where the locals traded goods gladdened him. He needed a weapon to fight Ustha and he’d been forced to leave his own gun at home. Desmond wove his way through the market, a maze of slap-dash shops which zig-zagged back and forth through extensive passageways. The further he traveled, the seedier and more dangerous it became. He felt distinctly out of place. It took nearly a half hour, but finally, he found what he searched for. He stopped at one shop which held native weapons for fishing and hunting. A set of bows and arrows hung on the shop's back wall.

  He stared at the weapons and grimaced. Ari had said he was an archer in this world, but he didn’t believe it.

  Desmond asked to handle the weapons, and the local merchant eyeballed him until Desmond handed him a wad of piasters—much more than the weapons' worth. With a shrug, the merchant took them down. Desmond hoped he’d feel a familiar sense of comfort as he held the bow and arrow in his hands, but he didn’t.

  In fact, he had not the slightest idea of how to hold one of these properly. He tossed it between his hands, tried to find a comfortable grip, and tried to remember how he’d held it when he’d been in Xanadu and fighting Mara’s demons. Using this weapon then had seemed as natural as breathing. But now? How he wished he had his gun. Then he’d be able to find Kelsey, help her, and get them the hell out of the country and back home where they could work everything out. He was determined there would be no more secrets between them.

  He paid for the arms, slung the quiver over his shoulder, and wondered if the local police would stop him if they saw him with it.

  The stores thinned out and he eventually walked out into a crowded alleyway that put him between a pair of decrepit stucco apartment buildings. A young, shoeless boy of about eight years old sat next to a pile of garbage and fed scraps to a mongrel dog.

  Desmond inched over to the child and took out a coin. He handed it to the boy and then held out the address, hoping the child could read.

  The child obviously could. His eyes widened and he bit his lip, but not before he snatched the coin and shoved it into his pants pocket.

  “Where?” Desmond asked in Arabic. He knew only the rudimentary words of the language, but he didn’t need to understand it fully to read the kid’s body language and recognize his fear.

  The boy glanced around a few times to see if anyone was watching and then pointed towards the end of the alley. “Almaut.” The boy rubbed his arms, as if he were cold, though it was stiflingly hot in the alley.

  Almaut? That means death, doesn’t it? Desmond stared down the alleyway for a moment, deciding what to do, when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He glanced down and the child peered up at him.

  “Almaut,” he repeated, and then in a voice so soft it was barely more than a whisper he said one word.

  “Ustha.”

  Desmond swallowed and nodded. He gently patted the child’s head and gave him another coin. “Rooh.” Desmond told him to go.

  The child fled.

  Ari had told him the truth. This was Ustha’s meeting place and tonight was the Blue Moon. Ari obviously wanted to help him save his sister. So, if he was a warrior, then he was a warrior. With a determined set of his jaw, Desmond weaved his way through the alleyway until he came to a dead end.

  He saw an opening in the rock. Hieroglyphics and star constellations decorated the entranceway. Something about them seemed familiar and as he stared at them, a preternatural calm descended upon him. So calm that without thinking, he reached for the bow behind his back, took out an arrow and readied it.

  He ducked inside.

  Candle-lit wall sconces illuminated the way. On entering he saw all the ivy and herbs covering the floor. They reminded him of the strewns of flower petals which decorated a wedding path. But here, instead of the delicate scent of roses, he smelled mandrake and the stench of acrid herbs.

  He bent to pick up a spring of rosemary when he heard a woman’s raucous laugh. “Kenmut’s risen and can’t interfere anymore. We have four minutes. Bring me the girl.”

  And then he heard screams.

  Had that been Kelsey? Desmond began to run. Down more passages, weaving in and out until he launched himself into the main cavern. His heart lurched. Ustha and her minions held court on the altar while Jay and three other men screamed and writhed on the floor at her feet.

  And Kelsey lay collapsed in front of them, blood pooling below her and a knife hilt jutting from her side.

  Chapter 29

  THE MONASTERY

  Kelsey and Ishu flew straight to the monastery at the center of Xanadu. The golden stupa dazzled in the glow of the setting sun. Ishu dropped Kelsey onto the top balcony and then she and Dorje returned to the sky. Kelsey raced inside and down the long corridors, directly to her quarters where she’d stayed as a child. She needed to get to the window and look outside it. She felt sure she would find a portal there.

  When she’d stayed in Xanadu as a child, her adopted mother used to call to her through that very window. It served as a doorway between worlds, and she hoped that she would be able to see or feel it again. Maybe it would return her to her body.

  She burst into the room and abruptly halted, stunned. She immediately dropped to her knees and lowered her head. “Empress.”

  The Empress stood in the middle of the room. Her jet black hair was pinned back with diamonds and gems, and she wore the long, flowing amethyst colored robes Kelsey remembered.

  “Kelsey, come here.”

  Kelsey raised her eyes to the arahant, to the woman who gave up nirvana to help humans choose their paths for their next reincarnation.

  Kelsey leapt to her feet. “Do you know what’s happening?”

  The Empress nodded and glanced outside the window. Kelsey peeked over her shoulder. She could see shapes materializing within the clouds.

  “Can you see my body?”

  “Yes, you’re lying on the floor in Ustha’s temple.” The Empress pursed her lips and her eyes narrowed in disgust.

  Kelsey beseeched her. “I need to get back there. Can you send me? Can you help me defeat her?”

  The Empress shook her head. “I can’t send you back. I never could. I have no power over the skies or the devas in other realms. Nor do I have the ability to tell your soul where to go. You took yourself here voluntarily. You have to send yourself back.”

  “Then how do I return?”

  The Empress nodded towards the window. “With the deva cloaking the garden portal, that is the only way
back for you.”

  Kelsey ran to the window and peered over the ledge. She stood on the fourth floor of the monastery and the town spread out below her. She glanced up and stared hard into the clouds. Shapes and shadows solidified beyond them. The fog began to lift and the shapes became more defined, the scene more clear. She gasped because she recognized her friends being herded to the base of Ustha’s throne. The Decan goddess stood above them, holding out her hands.

  They dripped with blood.

  “Empress, I have to help them. What do I do?”

  “You must send yourself back and to do so, you must believe. You must believe so strongly in your abilities that you have no question.”

  Kelsey turned back to the sky. She climbed out the window and stood on the narrow balcony. Suddenly, she flinched and her knees buckled as a horrible ache formed in her side. She righted herself and then swooned again. She fell to the stones and her knees scraped roughly against them. “What’s happening to me, Empress?” She’d never experienced pain while in Xanadu before.

  The Empress’s eyes grew wide with dread. “Kelsey, she’s taking you. Send yourself back right now. You only have four minutes before she rises for the night. You have to catch her now before she destroys you completely, or there will be nothing we can do for you.”

  Kelsey shakily rose to her feet and balanced on the edge of the balcony railing. Her side clenched and she swayed again. Only four minutes? What does she mean?

  Kelsey glanced back at the clouds and a moan escaped her lips.

  Desmond? What was he doing there?

  Desmond stood in the temple with a look of absolute fury on his face. He shot arrows at Ustha, but the Decan swatted them away like plush toys.