The Awakener

by Amanda Strong

  “Wait, we’re in the underground temple now?” Willow asked with wide eyes.

  “Yes.” Micah grinned.

  Eden peered around. Doesn’t look like a temple to me. Then again, it’s old. Maybe this was beautiful once.

  Micah continued, “The temple’s a series of vaults, or chambers, stacked on top of each other. There are nine layers. We’re standing on top of one now. There’s something of great worth in the ninth chamber, something we need to take with us.”

  Eden’s curiosity was piqued as Trent suggested, “Micah, why don’t we tell the story as we go?”

  As far as she could tell, there were no doors out of there. It appeared completely enclosed.

  “Ok with everyone?” Micah asked. They agreed. He strolled to the far end of the room and dropped to one knee. “Right about here, I think. All right, Damon, it’s all yours.”

  Damon muttered something under his breath and the dirt split, forming two piles to either side of a large, square stone. Smooth and flat, it appeared to be a hatch.

  Trent tugged at the corner of it.

  “It’s sealed shut, remember?” Micah said.

  Trent glanced up at Damon. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

  Damon mumbled something and the stone lifted, hovered, and then lowered to the ground. She leaned forward to get a better look at the square recess it’d left behind. Cool air made the hair on her arms stand up, and she wrapped her arms around herself. The smell totally reminds me of seventh grade art; there must be dried-out clay or something.

  Micah gestured to Trent. “After you this time.”

  Trent practically threw himself down the hole. After he had disappeared, Micah descended, saying, “The steps are steep. You might want to go down backwards.” Eden noted Micah faced forward, as did Damon, Caitlyn, and Andrew. As Willow bounced on her toes, waiting for her turn, she decided his words of caution were meant for her. She found it interesting that each guardian disappeared as their charge descended, leaving only Willow’s guardian Esther and Gabriel.

  Willow’s voice was giddy. “Isn’t this exciting?”

  Eden grinned and then watched Esther disappear into thin air; Willow on her way down.

  She turned to Gabriel. “Does this mean you’re watching me, making sure I don’t fall?”

  “I think you’ll manage. See you down there.” And he was gone.

  Eden stared at the space he’d left behind. “Haha, very funny,” she muttered. Still, as she stepped through the opening, she secretly hoped he was with her. Since everyone else had gone down normally, she did too, but when her feet slipped down two steps, she flipped around and crawled. Reaching the bottom, she was relieved the only one staring at her was Gabriel. Everyone else stood by the two huge pillars in the middle of the room. The room was made of the same stones they’d seen on the well.

  “Micah, it’s just like we thought! The brick and marble pillars marking the entrance to the temple,” Trent gasped.

  The pillars stood about five feet apart with the ceiling, forming a beautiful stone arch between them. Glancing up, Eden wondered why the ceiling didn’t come crashing down on them; it looked heavy.

  Micah’s arm brushed hers. “Enoch built the arch above us. He was a master of arches.” The light cast by their guardians reflected off Micah’s blue eyes. “He built pretty much the whole temple, his son Methuselah did some too.” He paused. “I still can’t believe we’re actually in here, seeing this.”

  “It’s better than anything we ever imagined as kids.”

  He gave her a crooked grin. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Micah, the columns have inscriptions,” Trent interrupted, poking his head between them.

  “Really?” Micah followed Trent back to the middle of the room. Damon was staring at the pillars, one of his hands resting on the brick column.

  Caitlyn stepped next to Eden. “Why are they made out of different material?”

  Eden shrugged.

  Micah answered, “What we’re seeing today, scholars have speculated over for 5000 years. Like I said, Enoch knew the flood was coming, so he built these vaults, wanting to keep sacred things safe. He knew the temple would have to survive water and fire. These columns symbolize that. They’re the indestructible columns—one made of brick so that it wouldn’t sink in water, and one the other made of marble, so it wouldn’t burn in the fire.”

  “What fire?” Andrew butted in.

  Micah opened his mouth but Trent said, “The brick one talks about the seven sciences of mankind.”

  What’s that? But Trent straightened up and moved to the marble pillar.

  “Ah-ha, here we go. This says a short distance away a priceless treasure will be found in the subterranean vaults!” Trent jumped to his feet. “Let’s go!”

  “Ok.” Micah moved a few feet over, pointed to the ground, and grinned at Damon. “A little harder, it’s stone.”

  Damon snorted back at him.

  The steps were wider this time, and she easily made her way down. Entering the even larger room, made of the same rounds stones, she saw that, again, there were two pillars in the middle of the room—this time they were made of metal.

  Andrew was examining them. “Are they brass?”

  “Too old to be brass, they’re bronze,” Micah answered, his eyes connecting with Eden. She stepped closer to him, passing Damon leaning against the wall, in the shadows. Damon’s lips were pressed together in a tight line. It was either a scowl or a look of concentration. Either way, she knew better than to bother him.

  Happy to be near Micah again, she gazed at the pillars. Where the other ones had no embellishments, these two looked almost like fiery palm trees. The pillars were smooth and round with metal flames coming out the tops, and a band around the base of the flames. Metal palm leaves spread down and away from the flames, almost like the fire was built on leaves instead of logs.

  Micah glanced at Trent. “Do you think these are the original columns Solomon modeled his after?”

  Trent rubbed his hands together. “Maybe.”

  Confused, Eden tugged on Micah’s arm. “What are you talking about?”

  Micah leaned closer. “In King Solomon’s Temple, there were two bronze pillars marking the entrance. And in his temple, the pillars had names written on them.”

  “Holy Toledo,” Trent exclaimed. “It says Boaz and this one says, drumroll please, Jachin.”

  “Is that supposed to mean something to us?” Andrew asked.

  “Boaz and Jachin are from the Old Testament,” Micah explained, “and they’re the same names Solomon put on his temple. So since these were built long before, we can assume that maybe this is what Solomon modeled his after.”

  Trent straightened up. “The word Boaz means strength and Jachin means word establish.”

  “So, in the strength of this temple, the word will be established,” Willow commented more than asked.

  Micah smiled. “I think you may be right.”

  Trent slapped his hands together. “Hot dang, it doesn’t get any cooler than this!”

  “I thought the real treasure was in vault nine,” Caitlyn said evenly.

  Trent pretended to stab his heart. “Such a killjoy.”

  Caitlyn stared at Trent and Micah agreed, “You’re right. This isn’t what we’re after. Let’s keep moving. Ready, Damon?”

  Damon was standing on the next hidden hatch. Wonder if that was a coincidence.

  “Methuselah built this chamber,” Micah said as they passed through the third chamber, which was made of faded, red bricks. When Damon was again on top of where the next hatch was, Eden decided, He knows where the hatches are.

  The fourth chamber was also made of brick, the room larger, the ceiling ten or eleven feet high. There were four brick columns nestled in the corners of the square room. Between each pillar, the ceiling once again formed arches. In the middle of the room sat a square table with a large, golden triangle resting on the top.

 
“It’s an altar,” Micah said, running his hand along the top of the table. “And this,” Micah pointed at the gold triangle, “is the small, golden delta.”

  “Delta?” Andrew asked.

  “A delta’s a triangle made out of pure gold. Enoch had two made, one small and one large. He inscribed on them some of the hidden treasures of Heaven.”

  Trent’s mouth gaped open, speechless, his eyes scanning the delta up and down.

  The triangle didn’t look small to Eden. It was two dimensional, about four feet high and six inches thick. How much is this worth if it’s made of solid gold?

  Caitlyn pointed and asked Trent, “What do all the markings mean?”

  The engravings reminded Eden of a homemade board game with linked square spaces making a swirling path along the delta. She could almost see kids rolling a dice and moving their game pieces along the spaces. She saw there were symbols at the ‘start’ and the ‘end’.

  Trent’s eyebrows gathered together. “Interesting,” he muttered.

  “Care to share?” Andrew asked, folding his arms across his chest.

  “It’s fascinating really—” Trent began.

  Micah cut him off, “Some things aren’t for us right now. Besides, we need to keep moving.”

  Trent sighed heavily. “You’re probably right. But promise me we’ll come back.”

  Micah gestured to Damon. “Ready?”

  Again, Damon stepped to the side and removed the barrier of bricks. This time the stairs were decent sized and made of smooth, gray stone.

  Stepping off the last step, she saw the walls, floor, and ceiling were all that same light gray stone. It felt granular to the touch. There were five bronze columns resting in each corner and, counting the walls, she realized the room was shaped in a pentagon. In the largest corner of the room sat another stone altar.

  The five ornate columns had metal vines running down them, shaped to look like ivy. She saw the leaves ran along the arches between the columns as well. It felt like she’d walked into a Roman temple, the altar also draped in metal ivy.

  “The room’s made from granite. And the vines are copper; that’s why they aged green,” Micah commented next to her.

  “It’s beautiful,” she exhaled.

  “Like you,” he whispered, giving her a wink.

  She smiled, feeling a warmness creep across her face. For a moment, she almost forgot they weren’t the only two in the room.

  Then Trent yelled, “Yo Micah, you ready or what?”

  Snapped back to reality, she stepped to where Damon had already opened the passageway. Chamber six, also made of granite, had six bronze columns and six walls, making it a perfect hexagon. The vines were replaced by engravings in the granite walls and ceiling depicting stars; she counted twelve star constellations. More fascinating to her were the stone tables lining the walls, containing artifacts: gray vases in every shape and size, hand-sculpted pottery, and odd-shaped metal pieces, some long and smooth, and others round and ragged.

  “No touching,” Micah warned Trent, whose fingers were inching toward one of the metal pieces that looked like a spear. She adored this new side to Trent. All guys are still little boys dying for a treasure hunt.

  Damon lifted the square piece of granite to open the hidden hatch. Marching down to the next level, Eden realized the guardians were no longer with them. Entering the seventh chamber, she was saddened to see only Sage. Where’d Gabriel go?

  Still, her warm light was enough to brighten the space. Eden saw the room was made of different stone and, examining it closer, she discovered fossils embedded in it. She could make out seashells and small, ancient sea creatures. She skirted the room, counting columns. When she reached the seventh pillar, she noticed the room was a heptagon now. In front of her was granite altar, with a single bowl on top. It was shallow but wide, made from earthy brown clay. She was curious to know what it had been used for in the past.

  Glancing around, Eden saw Damon leaning against one of the walls, in the shadows.

  Willow stepped in front of him and asked, “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  Damon stared back at her. “No hiding things from you, I guess.”

  “Nope.”

  His eyes dropped to his feet. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just taking it all in.”

  Willow’s lips opened, but Caitlyn said, “Look, there are moons now too.”

  Distracted, Eden gazed up. The star motif now showed all phases of the moon from full to new. She sought out Trent. Surely, the stars and moons meant something. He was examining one of the pillars.

  She squatted by him. “What do you see?”

  Andrew overheard and stepped closer. Eden could feel him lean over her.

  Trent glanced at Eden and then with a, “humph,” stood and strode towards Micah.

  “Maybe it’s time we start telling the rest of the story, Micah,” he announced, grabbing everyone’s attention. Eden stood and nearly knocked Andrew backwards.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, backing up. She stammered, “Its ok…” but he was already retreating, not looking her way. Sighing, she plodded over to Micah and Trent.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. I think we’re far enough into the temple. We should be safe,” Micah agreed.

  Oh great, Eden thought, catching the eyes of the others.

  “Let me rephrase that,” he said quickly, seeing the reaction. “We shouldn’t be overheard now.”

  She stared back at him thinking, Who in the world could overhear us down here? They were farther underground then she cared to think about. She didn’t want to start hyperventilating.