The sun was already visible on the horizon by the time the cab, which had left the beaten path at least five times—to the point that Masako wondered how often, if ever, did Takuya ever venture back into the village—arrived at a clearing in the dense rainforest that carpeted the region. They were in the heart of the highlands, and the steep inclines had constantly threatened to wreck the already-beaten-down vehicle, but the driver had assured Masako that he knew these parts better than anyone else. And what do you know? He actually did. Their destination was the base of a cliff, in which the Chạ̀w r̂āy Temple had been carved into the rock.
The facade of the temple was a 40-foot sculpture of the head of a Buddha—a particularly angry-looking one—whose gaping mouth served as the entrance into the monks' abode. Gigantic statues set on four large stone pedestals—two on each side of the entrance-served as unmoving, yet frightful sentinels. On the left, one pedastal portrayed a bird man standing triumphant over a fallen Buddha, the latter's entrails hanging from the former's beak. The second showed a headless man, its monkey-like face located in its stomach, standing above a demon, with its lowered left hand holding a sword and its right holding two severed arms. On the opposite side, the first statue was of a Buddha on its hands and knees, while a two-headed cobra burst from his back. The fourth and final statue was of a Buddha sitting in the Lotus position. However, his face was featureless, save a large maw full of long, sharp teeth.
"How horrible," whispered Mr. Tomashi. "What sort of Buddhism is this?"
"Buddhism mixed with folk religions, black magic and other superstitions. As Takuya used to say, the further away from society you get, the greater the influence that primeval and the primordial have on the people, even on religious questions." Masako took a glance at the toothed Buddha statue and shuttered. "This is the sort of think that Takuya was fascinated with. He was always looking for the origins of all this."
"Did he ever find anything?"
Masako shrugged. "We'll find out soon."
Masako and Tomashi approached the entrance. Two withered old men in orange robes sat quietly on each side of the opening, eyes closed and chanting in unison. The elder monks became aware of the visitors' arrival and stopped their mumblings. Masako muttered something in Thai to them. The nodded their heads and responded. After a few moments, one of the monks got up and beckoned for the two to enter.
"Well," Masako said, sighing, "we're at the right place. He's inside."
Tomashi smile and nodded. "Do you think he'll agree to join us."
Unfortunately, "yes," responded Masako, keeping that first worst in her head. "He won't miss this opportunity."
The temple was a huge network of caverns. The largest chamber was located at the opening. It was the center of worship, with a golden statue of a fanged Buddha at one far end. The senior monk sat in front of it, facing other others, who sat in the middle of the chamber. A few monks, most of them older men, were sweeping the chamber with crude brooms made from banana fronds. The followed the sentinel monk, who jabbered to Masako, who then translated to Tomashi.
"He says that the chamber on the far left side of the temple leads to the living quarters, where the monks sleep." She waited for the man to stop speaking. "He says they are three caves, one stacked upon another. They use bamboo ladders to go from one to another."
"And that opening there?" asked Tomashi, pointing to another chamber born of a crevice behind the statue.
Masako translated Tomashi's question and listened to the response. "It's a staircase that leads to the top of the plateau. There's small village at the near the cliff's edge that supplies the monastery with food."
Tomashi nodded impassively.
The three entered a chamber to the right of the statue, which turned out to be a primitive kitchen. At the other end was another exit, which led into an ill-lit cave, which the monk described as a meditation chamber. There were two more meditations, each one darker than the last, if that were possible. At the far end of the meditation chamber was another large opening. The stones that formed an arch around the opening were carved to look like tentacles. A pair of large eyes were sculpted into the wall above the they reached it, the sentinel monk stopped. He pointed inside and started talking.
"He says that at the end of the corridor, there's the library. Takuya has spent most of his time there, translating texts. He says that some texts are written in a language that is not Thai, but far older. Only the Senior Monk has asked Takuya what is written in those texts, and he has refused to share his findings with the others. Most of the monks are now afraid to enter the library."
"Are we allowed to enter?"
Masako nodded. "Apparently Takuya showed them my picture at some point, because the sentinel immediately recognized me. That's why they haven't objected to a woman entering their sanctum."
Tomashi grunted and thanked the monk. The monk smiled and left them alone in the chamber, returning to his post outside the temple. For a moment, Masako and Tomashi stood before the corridor, staring blankly. Whatever light the narrow passage received came from the single torch at the other end of the meditation chamber, and from whatever torches burned in the library at the other end. Masako glanced at her travelling companion and shrugged.
"We've come this far," she said flatly.
Tomashi took a step back and looked at the carvings that surrounded the entrance to the passage. He said nothing, but shook his head half-heartedly.
The corridor was lined with bas-reliefs carved into the stone. Much like the statues that guarded the temple itself, the reliefs depicted scenes of carnage wrought between power entities, be they demi-gods or semi-devils, demons or Buddhas. A demon whose torso and head resembled that of a ferocious wolf bit into the throat of a spear-wielding Vishnu. A naked woman emerged from the entrails of a slain serpent. Two small women, surrounded by twin snake's tails, stood up from the stump that was once the God Hanuman's head. Yet another relief showed the Buddha on a sacrificial table with a three-headed serpent biting its feet.
The horrific imagery sculpted into the wall was occasionally broken up by jade mosaics, mainly of malformed (or deformed) Buddha heads, whose content facial expressions were replaced with cruel smiles and ravenous grins. All sound from the outside ceased within the tunnel—even before entering, Masako could still hear the faint chants of the monks in the main chamber. Here, the only sounds to be heard were of their own footsteps, which echoed as if the tunnel ran on forever. This baffled Masako, since she wore she had seen the end of the tunnel while standing at the entrance, guessing that it was only about a hundred feet long. But ten minutes later, the two were still walking though the enclosed place, surrounded on both sides by reliefs that suggested that Buddha's longevity would have been achieved by eating the hearts out of human-alligator creatures.
Finally, after a small eternity, Masako and Tomashi entered the library. It was a cave, only slightly smaller than the main hall. Wooden shelves adorned the circular wall from one end to the other. The walls were covered with sutras, scrolls, and metal plates. There were so many sutras, in fact, that the ground was littered with them as well. The place was lit by four torches spaced out at regular intervals. A large table had been placed in the middle of the room. A single man, with long black hair and several months' worth of unevenly spaced whiskers sprouting from his face, sat there, surrounded by parchments. So engrossed was he in his work that he didn't notice his visitors.
Masako cleared her throat.
The man immediately dropped his pencil and paper and looked up. His mouth immediately dropped in astonishment. "Masako!"
She took a deep breath and took a step forward. "Takuya. Nice to see you."
"Why…er…how…what are you doing here?" he stammered.
Masako turned to Tomashi and pointed at Takuya. "You wanted him. You talk to him." She folded her arms and took a step back.
Tomashi looked at her, and then back at her bewildered husband, and shook his head. "I'm Security Officer Tomashi. I'm here on behalf of the Japanese Government."
Takuya cocked his head. "Are you here to extradite me or something? Have I broken some Japanese law that I'm not aware of?" He turned to Masako. "Is that why you brought him here?"
"No," she said, not budging. "But you might be breaking a Thai law soon if you don't listen to him."
Takuya glared intensely at his ex-wife for a moment. "Well, if you want your alimony and back payments, then you'd just as well leave me here."
"So you can steal precious artifacts from superstitious monks too scared to monitor what you're doing?"
"Well," he began, reaching for an ancient codex on the table. "I doubt they'll miss this particular volume, since it's not even related to Buddhism."
Masako rolled her eyes, while Tomashi approached Takuya and glanced at the dusty proto-book Takuya held.
"Interesting. What is it?"
"My good man, you are looking at an original copy, or at least a second edition—before there existed editions—of the Zanthu Tablets." He showed a few pages of the work to Tomashi. "Obviously, these aren't the tablets themselves, but it's the first transcription anyone made, and this even before codex became a popular way of keeping records."
"What are the Zanthu Tablets?" asked Tomashi, curious.
"They're an account of the people of the lost continent of Mu."
"And you can read it?"
Masako butted in. "Yes. Takuya is one of the few scholars in the world who has learned Naacal, the language of the Muans." She walked over to Takuya, fiddling in her briefcase for some papers. "That's why we're here." She removed two sheets of paper and placed them on the table before him.
Takuya did a double take when he saw what was written on them.
"What? How? Why, that's written in Naaal, too. How did you get it?"
Tomashi took a seat on another chair at the table, the limited light from the torch hiding a large black spider which had itself at home in order to "sun" itself in the light of the flames. It scittered away, unnoticed by the older man, but not Masako, who started fidgeting wildly. She uneasily lifted her feet at regular intervals, worried that one of her husband's "companions" might crawl across them. She struggled to remain composed as Tomashi spoke of the discovery of the island, Miki Saegusa's dreams, and the upcoming expedition to the island.
"…if you join us, Takuya," said Tomashi at the end of his spiel, "We'll give you exclusivity in studying any archaeological artifacts found on Infant Island. It's a chance of a lifetime, and who knows if you won't become the leading world authority on the subject of Mu, the Plato of modern times."
"…and I'd like to get my alimony from a more honest source," added Masako.
Takuya glanced in her direction, and noticed her rubbing her arms, while frequently lifting one of her feet to rub the other leg. She was obviously uncomfortable with the invertebrate inhabitants of the cave.
"Well, I don't know," he said slowly, shuffling the writings on the table at a deliberate pace. "It is a great opportunity to learn more about Mu, especially if the island just happens to part of the original continent." He walked glacially to the shelf to put some of the parchments—but not all—away. "But the Miskatonic University Library in America was offering me a stipend of a half-million dollars for the Zanthu codex." He glanced at Masako, who was constantly looking around her and glancing at the ground around her feet. He smiled. "And there is evidence that the tablets themselves are not completely lost." He returned to the table and rolled up some of the other scrolls. "I think they might be in the Himalayas, perhaps Bhutan," he paused and opened one of the scrolls to see which one it was. "Or perhaps Nepal. You can never be completely sure. I'll have to sleep—"
"Dammit, Takuya!" snapped Masako. "Just tell us 'yes' or 'no' now so we can leave this horrible place! The cab is waiting for us! If he leaves without me, the next image in the relief that corridor," she pointed to the passage that she and Tomashi had come from, "will be of me relieving you of your head!"
"Okay, you got me." He turned to Tomashi. "Exlusivity, remember."