She pointed at the inscriptions on the rough grey surface of the stone pyramid, their strange symbols running around the entire circumference in a single row. ‘According to my translation algorithm,’ – she held the device up to scan the inscriptions – ‘using the new data from the proto-hieroglyphs, this section mentions Heaven’s Gate by name.’ Dowling’s device produced a translation. ‘And it reads thusly: “Only in God’s light is our path unbroken. Only in God’s word is Heaven’s Gate opened.”’ She showed the text to Avery.
‘That’s what some of your team recited in their delirium,’ Avery said, and Dowling nodded.
‘And Chen’s team, as well.’ Zinetti turned to his fellow cardinal. ‘But what does it mean?’
Avery frowned. He had no idea.
♦
Sarah had decided to remain silent when Zinetti and Avery were discussing her time in Sanctuary. It seemed they had people on the inside, which didn’t surprise her, as they’d intimated as much previously. They had known about Sanctuary prior to her interrogation at the Vatican Conclave.
Sarah moved closer to the pyramid. ‘Does it mention anything about a seraph?’
Nicola Dowling stepped back to give her room. Or to keep me at arm’s length, Sarah thought, as she studied the text.
‘I thought you could read it,’ said the expedition leader.
Sarah shook her head. ‘Sometimes I can.’
‘Does it?’ Avery asked Dowling. ‘Does it mention a seraph?’
The expedition leader looked intrigued by the question and then shrugged. ‘It’s unlikely we’ll ever know. The word would be meaningless to the Anakim, and if they did have an equivalent for a celestial being, we wouldn’t know what type of angel they were referring to.’
‘But Sarah saw it written on the frieze,’ Ruben said. ‘And we all heard the dying man’s words spoken in Latin: “Beware seraph’s love. Its opposite is in us.” It was a warning to us all.’
‘A warning from whom, remains the question,’ Avery said.
‘It’s obvious isn’t it?’ Ruben said, looking from Avery to Sarah. ‘It was a message sent by a higher power.’
Avery considered Ruben for a moment and then turned to Nicola Dowling and said, ‘And the gate?’
‘It’s simple,’ Dowling said. ‘This stone pyramid is Heaven’s Gate. We just need to find a way to open it.’
Sarah moved away from the others and thought about trying to speak to Jason, now the effects of the drugs were wearing off, but she knew she first had to do something to change her circumstance and rid herself of the evil that possessed her.
She moved towards the nearest wall of the enormous chamber and noticed she was no longer followed by the guards, who remained with Avery, as they sought to open their precious gate.
‘If lust is evil and evil is in me,’ she said to herself. ‘Then lust is in me, too and Ruben said I must do everything I can to rid myself of lust.’
But Ruben gave into lust himself, didn’t he? She thought back to their sexual encounter. After his initial explosive release from years of repression, she’d never felt such tenderness, his desire to pleasure her without climaxing again was fuelled more by love than lust, or at least, that’s how it had felt, a beautiful moment in a sea of dark.
She shook off the memory. How can I remove something I can’t see? she asked herself again.
The answer was simple.
If the evil is hidden, I must expose it. I must expose the lust.
She looked at the mirrored walls and something hit her like a bolt from the blue. It’s as the Egyptians always thought, the pyramids are a way into the afterlife. She stared at her strange reflection and the light shrouded by dark mists and couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was so obvious. The walls weren’t just any ordinary mirror, they were made to reveal what the normal eye couldn’t perceive, and what the Egyptians had always sought, throughout their reign – a way into the underworld. Or, to put it another way, the walls revealed the spirit world itself!
She recalled what else Ruben had said: the reverse of lust is spelt ‘tsol’, or ‘sol’ with a silent ‘T’ – soul.
The mirrors don’t just show us the spirit world – she looked towards her reflection in amazement, it was literally her image reversed – they show us our soul.
Sarah took a step towards the wall. Can it really be? she thought, looking at the pale light hidden within her reflection. The idea was a compelling one and Sarah’s mind raced with the possibilities it presented. So, if I’m possessed by evil and the mirror shows my reverse: my soul. Then, if I look into the mirror, I show evil to my soul. She’d always heard gazing into another’s eye could induce the freeze response and release powerful emotions and trapped trauma – karmic cleansing, as some liked to call it. The same freeze response also powered the pioneering, but now outdated, EMDR therapy. She also knew such work shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. If the mind’s ego wasn’t properly prepared it could turn on itself with dangerous, even fatal, consequences. But caution was no longer something she had time for.
She walked up to the mirror, as close as she dared without touching it, and stared into her reflection’s eye; her eyes were the only part of her image free from the dark, writhing mists and swirling light beneath. She suddenly realised something else: what they sought was right in front of them all the time.
‘Our eyes are the gateway to the soul,’ she whispered, the well-known phrase taking on a whole new meaning. ‘The mirror is the gate.’ Sarah looked at it in wonder. ‘The mirrored walls are Heaven’s Gate.’
Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Seven
Sarah stared into her reflection and her face distorted and twisted as her brain struggled to process the close-up perspective. Double vision made her eyes merge into four and her face morphed and changed into strange and wonderful forms. But then her image changed again, her expression transformed into gruesome features that made her fear for her sanity. Her eyes grew wide. Something was in there. Something she could feel – something from her past. A flash of images made her gasp and her eyes drooped closed and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
♦
‘Sarah,’ said a voice. ‘Can you hear me?’
Sarah sat up and looked around. She was close to the pyramid, which looked different than before, mainly because it was now lit up with a bright white light.
‘Is that how to open it?’ Avery said. ‘Is that how the gate opens?’
Sarah looked around to see where Avery was, but she could only see shadowy forms.
‘Avery?’ Sarah said.
‘It’s no good. He won’t be able to hear you. None of them will.’
Sarah frowned. She recognised that voice. She looked up into the face of her truest friend.
Trish smiled and held out her hand, which Sarah accepted, allowing herself to be hauled to her feet.
‘Trish? You’re awake! Oh, my God.’ She kissed her hand. ‘I’ve missed you.’
‘I know.’
‘I’ve missed you so much.’ Sarah hugged Trish to her, but the sensation felt strange, as if they were melding together. She held her close, not wanting to let go.
Some moments passed before Trish unlatched herself from her friend’s embrace. She smiled fondly at Sarah and reached out to brush the hair from her eyes. ‘I preferred it longer.’
Sarah touched her hair and then looked around the pyramid’s vast chamber. ‘What’s going on? Why aren’t you running from me?’
‘Because there’s nothing to fear in here. At least, not from you.’
‘In here?’
Trish gestured around them. ‘Inside the wall.’
‘What? What do you mean, inside the wall?’ Sarah looked at the walls of the chamber and then she realised what Trish meant. ‘It can’t be.’ She walked forward and peered into the mirrored wall, but what she was seeing wasn’t her reflection but a view of the chamber from within the wall itself. There were Ruben, Avery and Zinetti, still speaking to Nicola D
owling. And further away, at the edge of the chamber, Jason sat with Trish’s body while a Swiss guard stood nearby with his sword held aloft, the oil-soaked cloth at its tip alight with a fiery glow.
‘I don’t understand,’ Sarah said, looking down at her unconscious self lying on the floor. ‘How can we be in here, if our bodies are out there?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Trish said. ‘But they can’t see or hear us, anymore than we can touch them.’
‘How long have you been in here?’
‘I’m not sure. Time starts to lose meaning, after a while.’
Sarah wondered if the double dose of drugs Avery had given her had finally sent her over the edge. ‘Is this heaven?’
‘I don’t think so.’ Trish gave her a strange look and then smiled. ‘You’re wondering if this is all a dream, aren’t you?’
‘Is it?’
Trish turned to look into the chamber. ‘Maybe, or maybe that’s the dream out there.’ She fell silent, lost in thought before she looked back at Sarah and said, ‘Does it matter?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘I just thought—’ She stopped speaking as she watched herself get to her feet. ‘What’s happening?’ She moved along the wall as her body in the real world walked away towards the pyramid. ‘How am I moving?’ She looked at Trish with anxious eyes. ‘You’re not moving, how am I moving?!’
Trish gave her a sad look. ‘Do I really have to tell you?’
Sarah looked at her friend in horror and then back at her body. ‘Because you’re not possessed.’
Whatever now controlled her body stopped and turned to look back at her and smiled a chilling smile before continuing down the steps to the pyramid below.
Sarah’s blood ran cold and she pounded the wall. ‘No!! Come back! That’s mine!’ But her body didn’t return and she sank to her knees in despair. ‘Come back,’ she said, her futile assault on the wall fading to nothing. ‘That’s mine.’
♦
‘Ah, Sarah!’ Avery said. ‘Come and see. Ms Dowling has figured out a way to open the gate.’
The entity inside Sarah looked at Nicola Dowling.
‘It’s simple really,’ Dowling said. ‘“Only in God’s light is the path unbroken.”’ With her hand, she traced a series of constellations which adorned one side of the pyramid. ‘The word “light” in this phrase means the constellations that relate to the same stars displayed on the ceiling above us.’ She pointed upwards. ‘As you can see, the only stars that match the positions currently seen in the real night sky make up the constellation Virgo.’
‘It’s quite amazing,’ Avery said. ‘She’s right, as well.’
The entity within Sarah remained silent.
‘And the same word is what the second phrase relates to,’ Dowling said, glancing at her translation device. ‘“Only in God’s word is Heaven’s Gate opened.” The word we’re looking for again here is “light”. Or rather, “God’s light”. God doesn’t just speak to us with words, he speaks to us through every medium. He speaks to us through his love, his light. And one such light is starlight.’ She motioned to the starlit ceiling and then to the mirrored walls that surrounded them. ‘The walls are the key. If you look closely, you’ll see the reflection of the stars is not the—’ Nicola Dowling grasped her throat in pain.
‘Nicola,’ Avery said in concern, ‘are you okay?’
Dowling made a choking noise and waved her hand, then swallowed. ‘Yes,’ she said, recovering her breath. ‘Sorry, I’m not sure what came over me.’
‘Just open it, already,’ Zinetti said. ‘Or am I the only one who remembers there’s an asteroid coming?’ He looked back towards the swivel door. ‘Not to mention, we need to find a way out.’
‘Of course.’ Nicola Dowling cleared her throat and pointed to the wall. ‘The walls show the ceiling’s constellations in reverse, all except one. Again, the constellation of Virgo is key, and remains undistorted by the wall’s mirrored properties.’
Avery looked at the stars’ reflections in the wall. ‘They’re not reversed.’
‘No,’ Dowling said. ‘And neither is the reflection on the pyramid itself.’ She moved to the constellation on the stone monument, but before she could touch it Sarah grasped her wrist.
‘Let her go!’ Lanter said, cocking his gun. ‘Now!’
‘No,’ Avery said, waving him down. ‘Leave her be.’
The entity within Sarah hissed, and bared her teeth at Dowling.
‘Sarah?’ Ruben said in concern, and moved forward, but Avery grasped Ruben’s arm, gave him a look and shook his head.
Dowling backed away, allowing Sarah to place her hand on a single star in the Virgo constellation, a star that, like all the others displayed on the pyramid’s facade, was depicted by an indented circle. This circle, however, was the largest of Virgo’s twelve, measuring two feet in diameter.
‘It’s the same star represented by this mountain,’ Avery said. ‘It’s just like you showed us, Sarah.’
The entity inside Sarah didn’t reply as she closed her eyes and concentrated, while back in the mirrored wall the real Sarah cried out in pain.
♦
‘What’s wrong’ Trish said, as her friend grasped her chest.
Sarah screamed. ‘It hurts!’ It felt like her soul was being torn apart. Images of a past she’d never known flashed before her eyes; the pain increased and she screamed and screamed again.
♦
‘Nothing’s happening,’ Zinetti said. ‘Is she going to stand there all day?’
The entity within Sarah continued to stand in silent tribute, her head bowed and hand pressed firmly against the pyramid and the circular representation of the star.
‘Let Dowling try,’ Zinetti said, growing impatient. He waved to Lanter who moved forward and grasped Sarah’s arm, but as he did so the entity controlling her turned to look at him, her ferocious gaze making him step back and reach for his sidearm.
Lanter glanced at Avery, his eyes asking a question.
Avery considered Sarah’s expression and said, ‘Leave her be.’
The entity controlling Sarah turned back to the pyramid and closed her eyes once more. She then removed her hand from the star and reached out to two other circles within the constellation. She pushed down with her right hand and the stone circle sank into the pyramid with the sound of stone grinding on stone. Something clunked inside and then she pushed down and twisted with her left hand and that circle also sank into the pyramid.
‘I think it’s some kind of puzzle,’ Dowling said.
The entity within Sarah climbed up onto the pyramid to depress circles higher up in what seemed to be a specific order until the entire constellation, which spanned twenty feet, consisted of cylindrical depressions connected by carved lines on the surface.
Whatever controlled Sarah then slid back down to the ground and motioned to Lanter, indicating that she wanted him to push at the constellation’s centre.
‘Don’t just stand there,’ Avery said. ‘Help her.’
Lanter passed his sword-torch to Avery, moved to the pyramid and pushed at the stone with his hands. ‘Is something supposed to happen?’ he said, putting his shoulder against it.
The thing that possessed Sarah walked along the pyramid’s length and stopped to put her hand to another representation of a star, one of many assigned to the variety of other constellations adorning the pyramid’s width. However, once depressed, this circle ground outwards until it protruded by fully two feet. She then grasped it and slid it free, before approaching the Virgo constellation and sliding it into a corresponding hole. Something shifted and the stone within the constellation’s centre gave beneath Lanter’s weight.
‘It’s a key,’ Avery said, amazed. ‘A hidden key!’
The major pushed harder and the stone shifted and then slid into the pyramid with a rumble. ‘Stand back!’ Lanter said, stumbling away.
A whoosh of pressurised air escaped into the chamber and everyone moved back, except for Sarah, wh
o just blinked a few times. She gave no sign of discomfort, her attention was firmly fixed on the stone, which disappeared from sight. A moment later an audible boom echoed through the chamber as the stone ceased its movement.
In place of the pyramid’s sloped facade, a dark opening now led into the darkness within, it’s odd-shaped entrance framed by the constellation around it.
Silence fell and Avery approached the twenty-foot high aperture and peered inside. ‘There’s a narrow pathway at its base.’
‘How did she know what to do?’ Zinetti said, looking at Sarah in suspicion. ‘There’s no way she could have known.’
‘Maybe you should take it on faith,’ Ruben said, giving the Italian cardinal a dark look.
Zinetti harrumphed, as if the suggestion was beyond absurd. He then snatched a makeshift torch from the Swiss guard standing next to him, stepped up onto the pathway and shone the flame inside. ‘It smells bad,’ he said, screwing up his face in displeasure. ‘Like something crawled in there and died.’
‘Better let me go first,’ Lanter said. He reclaimed his sword from Avery and lowered the defunct visor on his helmet.
Zinetti didn’t argue; he stood aside as the officer of the Swiss Guard entered the angular opening.
Lanter held his torch higher and its flame fluttered in an unseen breeze. He looked back at Avery, his expression hopeful. ‘If there’s wind, there might be a way out.’
Avery nodded and motioned him forward.
The armoured major moved deeper inside, with two similarly red-clad Swiss guards following.
Zinetti, Dowling, Avery and Ruben came next, while one of the two remaining Swiss guards, who each held a torch, gestured with a drawn pistol for Sarah to enter. The entity that controlled her stared at the soldier for a moment and then moved into the pyramid, the orange glow from the three torches ahead of her receding into the darkness of the tomb within.
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 119
