“If we read off that book, we might be able to set him free and he’ll walk out of there on his own,” Rebecca finished simply, ignoring my mother.
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“Where is this book?” Dad questioned, interested, wanting to know more.
“The book is hidden in a temple. Only a guardian can show us the way,” Nathan said. Rebecca and Nathan both turned to my mom. She knew where Satu was all along, and never bothered telling my dad.
Okay, I hated everything about this research now more than ever.
“Let’s get moving!” Rebecca shouted.
We all followed my mom back outside quietly. We were all traumatized from everything that transpired, from the moment we set foot on this island. We walked about 2 miles before we found ourselves in front of a massive mountain. We hiked it no problem.
Yeah right.
Hiking in the middle of the night can get you steaming mad from frustration. Especially when you’re stumbling over rocks every 2 seconds. Oh, and not to mention, when it’s pitch black and you don’t know if you’re stepping in mud, quicksand, or in an endless pit.
What are the odds?
We’d already proven that The Gates of Hell were real. Seconds later, that a dead guy was easy to bring back to life, thanks to some witch book. Not to mention, my mother was a Detarrunian descendant and most importantly, a 100-year-old guardian. I mean, bumping into a prehistoric dinosaur wouldn’t be a problem now, would it?
I kept imagining the impossible while we ascended to the very top of the mountain. The first thing we saw were these staircases that were made out of white stones. They were old, but still intact. Carefully, we made it to the top of the stairs, and to the very top of the mountain this time. There, we saw this astounding monument, which was also made out of white stones. The front of the temple had these enormous white pillars that looked ruined, but they still sustained in place.
“The Temple of Ethasus!” Nathan stated for everyone to hear. “Perhaps now a sacred temple for prayers.”
“Ethasus?” I asked in awe.
“According to ancient mythology, Ethasus was The Chosen One’s name,” Dad said. As my father explained that theory, I got lost in my own thoughts again.
Where had I heard that name before?
It sounded awfully familiar. I probably read about it somewhere. It sure rang a bell. I didn’t realize that the group started walking again, towards the temple, when my thoughts were rudely interrupted by one of Blondie’s goons. He grabbed me by the back of my neck violently. I couldn’t tell which of the two goons had me but he sure had a grip. He then shoved me with such force I tripped over my own foot and fell on my stomach. I almost knocked myself out.
OUCH.
I looked over my shoulder and saw Joseph standing there like a felonious moron, enjoying that.
“Keep moving,” he sneered.
DUMB TWIT.
He was probably still mad at me for kicking him in the face a few hours ago. Oh well.
The group stopped and saw me on the floor. Nathan slowly spoke in this calm, but yet menacing voice.
“I told you not to harm him, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but he wanted to escape,” he answered with a terrible lie.
“Don’t touch him again, or you will pay with your life,” Rebecca said flatly.
I sure hope he understood that. He nodded, lifted me up and dragged me to join the others. This time, we headed towards the temple.
The Temple of Ethasus
Have you ever been to one of the great cathedrals? If you have, then you have a pretty good idea of how beautiful this temple was. It was identical in a way, but this one was way more astounding. It had amazing marble walls and floors. The little moonlight we got from the windows was bright enough to see the interior’s structure in detail. The whole temple was filled with sculptures. There were also five statues in every corner, which represented valiant warriors who fought for the island. They looked like archangels.
In every window, there were colorful drawings in stained glass, showing their cause and history. At the center of the temple, at the end of the open and spacious hallway, there was an altar. On top of it stood another statue. As soon as we got near it, we stopped and gazed. It was the statue of Ethasus. The statue had angel wings and it was holding a book in his right hand, while his other hand held a sword and seemed to be pointing up at something. As my dad studied the statue, I could see his eyes were wide open with curiosity.
“I’ve never been to this part of the island before,” my dad spoke. “You were right about everything, Nathan! The Detarrunians were keeping the truth from us.”
Every time he would turn to my mother, she would stare back at him uncomfortably. I can’t blame her. The guilt of hiding the truth from my dad for all these years must have been killing her inside.
“Look!” Nathan exclaimed facing the statue. “It seems to be pointing up at something.” We all looked up.
High above on the ceiling were six colorful circles. They were purple, orange, red, green, blue, and yellow. Same spectrum of colors that appeared at the gates. I wondered what they meant.
“What is it pointing to?” Nathan asked, looking at my mother.
“Other worlds,” she answered.
“So what now?”
“We have to put them in order. Once we figure out the sequence, a secret passageway will open up. The passage to The Book of Mythos, and The Chosen One’s resting place.”
WOW!
The Detarrunian hero was here all along. I turned to my father and he also looked baffled to hear that. He could not believe The Chosen One’s body was hidden on this island too. Somehow Rebecca and Nathan didn’t seem to care. They were more focused on finding Satu instead.
“Well that’s easy!” Nathan said. “Just like Dante, these circles must represent the underworlds. Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise, Hell, Earth and Heaven.”
“Let her do it, so that we can get to the book already,” Rebecca demanded.
Mom got the message.
She walked to the back of the statue. Behind it, there were some small controls or a mechanism of some sort. She turned one of them, and the red circle moved to the front. She turned another panel, and then the orange circle moved. Then the yellow, then green, blue and purple. As soon as they were all in order, they joined together, and fused into one flamboyant white circle.
We heard a roaring sound, which was coming from the statue. The hand with the sword that was pointing up, was now pointing straight ahead, horizontally. It was pointing at a door that appeared from behind the walls. That must be the secret passage Mom was talking about.
“This is it! The book is inside. Follow me,” Mom asserted.
We all followed.
The passage was inside the walls and it had beautiful drawings and artwork all around. There was a horrible stench, though. It smelled like the dead and it was making me nauseous.
There were a few stairs that led to a lower level that was built underground, similar to the cave in the Detarrunian village. It had torches scattered all around.
We finally came across what looked like a sarcophagus. It was made out of pure gold and there was a torch on the wall illuminating it.
The Chosen One’s resting place.
As we looked around, we noticed that we were surrounded by thousands of mummified bodies in catacombs. It was like an underground cemetery.
This island was definitely a city of the dead. It sure gave me the creeps.
Nathan and my dad walked up to the golden sarcophagus. They both examined it, and together they pushed the top off. As soon as the top came off, a weird mist spewed out of it.
That’s disgusting.
We got closer to peek inside, and saw that the
re was an ancient book that was made out of steel. In the middle of the book there was this strange keyhole, and in every corner, it had circles. Each one had the same colors as the ones in the ceiling back in the temple.
Nathan picked up the book, but he couldn’t open it.
A thought made my skin crawl.
“Guys? Th—the body!” I mumbled.
“Yeah, what about it?” Nathan asked, still examining the book.
“It’s missing.” I visualized The Chosen One’s corpse, ready to feed on my flesh.
Ok, Erick. Snap out of it.
“The Book of Mythos is cursed,” my mom stated, thankfully distracting me from my terrifying imagination. “It’s sealed with dark magic. The only way of opening the book would be with a special key.”
Nathan pulled something out of his left pocket.
It was a golden, antique and rusty skeleton key. It had the Detarrunian markings on it, and a small scary looking skull.
“What is that?” my dad probed him as he stared, perplexed.
Mom stepped back in terror when she realized that Nathan had the key. I think I heard her murmur something.
“You see Jack? While you and Craig were busy trying to track down Satu in Africa, I’ve been searching the island very thoroughly. You wouldn’t believe the things I found out about this place!” Nathan exclaimed.
“How did you find out about Clara?” my father asked, wanting to know how much he knew.
“6 years ago, when I met Rebecca at Glenwood Spring University, she told me all about you and your family.”
“But, how would she know all this information about the island?” He was still puzzled.
“Because I am also a Detarrunian,” Rebecca answered.
Well this was getting better and better.
“A few years ago, I was wrongly accused of being a spy and a traitor, just because I had a different standpoint about the guardian’s ideals. They thought I was a threat, so I was exiled from the island forever. Since that day, I’ve sought vengeance, and rebelled against the guardians by joining The Satunian tribes.” We were all bewildered.
“I remember now. It was you?” my mom recalled. “You were the one trying to steal The Book of Mythos.”
“I wasn’t stealing it. I just wanted to do research on it, in the name of science. Gaining the knowledge that’s contained in this book will make you view the world a different way. It is why I finally understood Satu’s purpose and the reason why he did what he did.”
“You’re just sick in the head!” my mother yelled. “There’s nothing right about that demon, and you know it!”
“Who are these Satunians?” my dad asked.
“We’ve been dealing with an opposing side of the tribe, which believes that Satu’s methods are the way to salvation. They are convinced that bloodshed will satisfy the gods, but they’re wrong. There can never be too much evil or it will bring an instability on Earth. There have been many battles fought between both groups and luckily we’ve succeeded each time,” Mom informed us.
“You guys won’t be so lucky next time. You have no idea what’s coming to you. You wait,” Rebecca said with a hateful grin.
Nathan placed the rusty skeleton key in the lock and then turned it. The colorful circles started glowing. We all heard a click sound, followed by an echo of voices.
“Guys? We should get out of here,” I suggested.
After a few seconds the voices stopped. We were all silent for a moment. At one point, I thought I heard my own heartbeat.
Nathan opened the book and started flipping through the pages that were made out of black steel.
Mom was tense. Something made her very uneasy. She glanced at my dad, who happened to be as troubled as she was.
“I found it!” Nathan exclaimed.
“Let me see” Rebecca said quickly as she examined the page. Her eyes were wide in wonder. She smiled.
“We did it!” she said. “We actually did it!”
“Don’t do this. You don’t know what you’re getting yourselves into,” my mother warned again. “You don’t know this monster. He’s going to destroy us all.”
They ignored her warnings.
I took advantage of this opportunity and walked towards her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whispered. She slowly turned to me with those sad eyes.
“To protect you!”
“Protect me from what? From who?”
My entire life, I’d been on lockdown, and never had a normal life because of her secret identity and this stupid research. Now I wanted answers, no more lies. I wanted the truth, and I wanted to know everything.
“The Satunians threatened to kill you if I didn’t give them what they wanted. It is why I couldn’t let you out of my sight.”
“Bring him here,” Rebecca ordered as she pointed to me. Gregory grabbed my arm and pulled me towards her. Gregory handcuffed me again, but with my hands in front.
“What now?” I asked in dismay. I was already a raw nerve.
When she turned to Nathan to hand him the book back, I took advantage of that opportunity. I pulled away from Rebecca and made a run for it. I ran down the hallway, towards the entrance and heard Mom shouting, “Run, Erick!”
But before I could reach the door, I was tackled to the ground. Joseph picked me up on his shoulders and flung me back down on the floor, hard. I almost suffered a head concussion from that one. He picked me up again by my collar, and was about to deck me in the face with his fist, but I was too quick for this guy. I bent my knees, and got him in the privates.
He screeched in pain.
As I tried to move away from him, Gregory grabbed me from behind in a bear hug. I couldn’t use my hands, since they were handcuffed in front of me, but I kicked backwards.
No luck, he dodged all my kicks. Joseph recovered and came at me too.
It was useless.
Joseph clutched his fist tight and bashed me in the stomach. Dad saw this and ran towards Joseph to save me. Joseph was going to take another swing at me when the unexplainable happened.
Chapter 7
Before my dad could save me, Rebecca grabbed her gun and shot Joseph right in the head with no regrets or remorse. My mom screamed and my dad fell on one knee when he heard the gunshot as a reaction, and covered his head. I just watched in fear as Joseph’s lifeless body dropped to the ground.
Everything felt like slow motion.
My head was spinning and I wanted to puke. Gregory jerked me forward. He didn’t appear to care much that his partner was shot dead.
“Why would you kill him?” I screamed at her with my voice cracking.
“He had it coming,” Rebecca replied. "I warned him not to lay a hand on you, he did anyway.”
“He might have crossed the line, but he did not deserve to die like this,” I said, still disturbed.
Nathan and Rebecca both exchanged looks.
“Clara? You never told him?” Nathan asked, concerned.
“Tell me what?” I asked, lightheaded.
Nathan looked straight into my eyes, placed a hand on my shoulder.
“You are Ethasus, silly!” he said with a chuckle.
HUH?
I turned to my parents, waiting for an explanation.
“Wait, you can’t possibly think that my son is—” My dad didn’t finish the sentence. He glanced at me like if I was a stranger. It was like he didn’t even know who I was anymore.
HECK, I didn’t even know who I was anymore.
My mom didn’t say a word. That only confirmed that it was true.
There’s no way I could be some ancient super hero.
“Nathan? I don’t know where you’re getting this ridiculous information from, but this is absolutely outrageous. You need to stop this madness right now,” my father orde
red, heated.
My dad was right, this was too much for me, and my head was about to explode.
“Why would I lie about this?” Nathan blurted out, sounding annoyed.
My dad turned to my mother, pleading for answers.
“They’re right, Jack,” she finally said.
“How is this even possible? I thought that—Is Erick even our child?”
“It’s complicated,” my mom stammered. “The guardians were afraid you’d find out about Ethasus. So, in order to protect him, we tried bringing him back to life, with The Book of Mythos. Instead, I gave birth to him and he was just strangely reborn again. I had him genetically tested several times and oddly, we are his biological parents.”
Yeah, I’m definitely going to lock myself in a mental institution once I get back to New York.
“What in the world were you thinking, Clara? Why would you keep this from me?” Dad shouted angrily.
“How was I supposed to explain all of this craziness to you and our son, Jack?”
As Mom and Dad argued, we made our way out of the temple.
I was taken again, and I felt hopeless.
The Cave
Nathan and Gregory were still dragging me. I was tired of resisting by now, so I gave up on trying to get free. I wanted to yell my lungs out and alert the Detarrunians, but there was no one around. There was still no sign of them.
Where were they?
We made it back to the cave and down to The Gates of Hell again.
Rebecca opened The Book of Mythos.
“You guys have to stop. I’m begging you,” Mom pleaded. “Once he’s free, do you really think you’ll be able to control this demon? He’ll kill us all.”
Rebecca started reading out loud, ignoring my mom’s warnings. She was shouting Detarrunian words.
We heard a roaring sound and the sound of metal but this time it was coming from the gates.
The spectrum of light came back and it was brighter than ever. This time, it was distorted. It sure looked like we screwed something up. The Gates came to life and opened instantly. There was nothing but pure darkness on the other side. Nathan walked up to the gates with his flashlight. It was like a black hole. Even after shining the light, it was still dark.
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