DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters from 'Stargate: Atlantis'. They're not my property.
What they managed to hear were some scratches and a tame growl, something unexpected. As they waited further, they heard no other noises. "Do you think it went away?" Elizabeth asked.
"Whether it did or didn't, we can't really check … not that I'm eager to do that," John replied, rubbing his shoulder.
"It was a Protector," Elizabeth said of the creature. "It had to be."
"If it was, I can't imagine this rock being strong enough to prevent it from breaking though." He searched for the torch but found only a weak and dying flame. When he picked it up, the last spark vanished. "At least it wasn't a fucking hallucination like before," he grumbled.
Elizabeth looked over to him. Somehow she wished it had been.
For the safety of their state of mind, they chose to believe that the rock had been strong enough, while keeping a decent amount of alertness. Being chased by that thing was nightmarish.
They used their time to see where these separated platforms led. The highest one was next to a leaf-shaped, closed entrance, but the closest platform to it had been fifteen meters in distance. On a round platform above the middle place, they saw writings or engravings in the wall with something sparkling next to each. There was no possibility of reaching the closest platform to them unless they had the sprinting capability of a flea… applied to a human, that is. They decided on the next best thing in this gray chamber: cracks in the wall.
To their so-called delight, there appeared to be many – though most were bizarre – so it proved a matter of choosing the right pattern and having the climbing capabilities to go with it. Because of the height, they chose to rest first as well.
When they stood later in front of the chosen pattern, both looked up at its length. "Who's going?" he asked.
"How are you in wall climbing?" she asked instead.
"Good. You?"
"I'd say okay."
"Won't be of much use if I went up there."
"Because of the writings."
"That's right."
Elizabeth looked back at him and huffed. She really counted herself lucky to have had some experience and being without a fear of heights. Putting her hand in the upper crack, she slowly began.
It took her a while, but an hour or so later and many, many feet higher she finally stepped on the high platform. From the ground she heard loud clapping. Walking gingerly over to the edge, he saw him at the bottom and wondered for a second if John was a lucky man standing on the safe ground down there below, or a poor soul who could come face-to-face with that beast from earlier any second if luck changed; while she would be safer here, if only for some minutes longer. She lifted her arms with hands formed into fists high in the air like she had just won a gold medal. She nodded and then walked up to the wall with the engravings. She was taken aback at the big number of separate descriptions with each having a diamond button beneath. "Okay," she breathed out. "Let's begin."
Standing there and waiting, John crossed his arms and looked up again. Suddenly a sharp, thick spike emerged from the left wall and straight at him. Jumping away in time, John saw the spike penetrate the opposite wall easily. Standing up, he looked over at the platform where Elizabeth was. "Hey! What was that about?" he shouted. John saw her head emerge.
"I've just started reading them!"
"Could you double-check what it is you're doing there first?"
"What happened?"
"That!" he pointed at the lodged spike.
"Oh," she whispered. "Sorry!"
John nodded tiredly and as usual, annoyingly to this. The spot where the spike had emerged had been the one where Elizabeth had started her climb earlier, making it now impossible for a second person to follow the same path or for her to climb down.
The summary of the writings, from what Elizabeth could make out, was a set of smaller spikes that needed to be lined up, down, left, right and across between the platforms on which smaller bronze plates would follow, making it easier to reach each platform from the bottom to the top. Of course, it wasn't very encouraging knowing that in order for those spikes to be activated, certain combinations had to be made in a correct order. Otherwise, if they were to be done in an incorrect order, some "unpleasant consequences" would follow, as one of the sentences had mentioned.
"Just so you'd know, I'm stuck down here until you make… whatever it is up there… work!" he reminded her.
"You'll have to bear with me, John! These are not easy instructions here!" she shouted back, whilst trying to translate the writings more accurately.
"Yeah, sure, take your time," John said quietly and exhaled with frustration as he ran his hand through his hair. The drug had made him more restless than he would normally be under such circumstances.
He walked over to the door and carefully brought his ear closer to the surface of the stone. He could hear a faint but noticeable growl. If he hadn't known better, he would have imagined that it had wished to trap them here. It was not plausible for it to not catch them fast enough as John imagined it could have easily done so. He exhaled and tapped the rock, wanting more to hit it with his fist.
He then heard one of the platforms on the eastern wall move. From the crack which it revealed, a sharp, metal disk suddenly burst through and started spinning around the lower parts of the chamber. Being on a higher level, Elizabeth appeared out of its range, but unfortunately the same could not have been said for John. By the time she looked down at the situation, the disk had returned to its original place and Elizabeth's eyes landed on John's displeased face. "Not the right combination then?" she tried to sound cheerful.
John didn't try to reply in that way as he shook his head to this.
"Damn," Elizabeth sighed and returned to the controls. The next two failures had forced John to avoid tiny, poisonous spikes from the floor and then yet another, but bigger spinning disk. He was beginning to feel like an unfortunate laboratory test subject.
"Having fun?" he asked her.
"These controls are too confusing," Elizabeth admitted. "I'm just going by luck here…"
"Well, that makes me feel better!"
Elizabeth's next 'choice' however, appeared to be a successful one when smaller, steel spikes suddenly emerged along the walls, connecting the platforms. She exhaled and smiled in relief. "Step one completed!" she shouted down.
"Good! Now what?"
"Now…um… well, I'll have to get the plates to appear!"
"Try not to kill me while you do that!" he said to her.
Her next try made a crack in the old ceiling. As the crack widened, it revealed an enormous rock being held by two metal chains. The chains broke and the rock plummeted down. John jumped on the first platform as soon as he could at the same time when the rock shook the earth as it made contact with the ground. "Elizabeth!" John shouted furiously at her.
Elizabeth watched the dust settle around the huge rock, her heart racing at what might have happened. At least the size of it had been such that it blocked the entrance entirely, making it impossible for the creature to come in. I suppose this was not meant for just anyone to reach the upper door, she thought. "I'm trying, John!"
"Try harder! You're the damn expert in this!"
She could tell the anger on his face even from this distance. If the drug hadn't made him this edgy, then after what he had tried avoiding in this chamber certainly would have made him this way. "I'm doing that," she whispered and returned to the controls for the hundredth time. Elizabeth studied the controls longer this time, as the traps were becoming more deadly and dangerous with each attempt. It had been the different dialect in these writings which made it much harder for her to get a precise translation out these letters, which to the outsider, would seem like a disoriented and wacky mix of lines, circles, waves, and other strange forms. She then pressed the first four crystals in the second row, the two last ones from the tenth rows and the middle one in each row. She took a step back and waited in silence.
The next sharp sound that flew by her caused her eyes to follow it and see thick bronze plates emerge quickly from the walls, one by one, closing the gap of empty space between the platforms. She closed her eyes and tried to smile as she kneeled down on the floor and covered her face. She had translated correctly, somehow.
Climbing on the steady plates, both kept to the wall.
When they finally reached the now opened upper entrance and then passed through it, they found themselves in a much smaller, more modest chamber. She turned to John; his eyes seemed calmer, his agitation pulling back once more. Elizabeth wished to ask, but didn't.
Only one small torch stood against the rugged wall. Two bronze tables with small engravings of serpents were placed on opposite sides. On the other end was another closed entrance. On the left table they saw an opened blue scroll. Coming closer to the table, they noticed a golden ring and a sword placed upon it, covered by thick cobwebs. Removing them carefully, Elizabeth then picked up the sword – its blade still sharp; she placed the sword on the side and then took the ring with a beautiful engraving of a feline in battle. When her eyes landed on the scroll, she saw small writing. "I will not allow the evil spirit to devour this land like it had devoured her soul. I will not allow the blood of my people to be drained by time and hatred. This sacrifice I have made willingly. May the souls of those who guard us in the heavens forgive me." Elizabeth was puzzled by this. By the artifacts, she imagined this writing to be made by a soldier. Who, though?
On the other table was a bronze bowl covered by dust brought on by centuries of slumber, the inside of which looked burned. Next to the bowl was a broken tablet made of bronze and silver. On the back of the tablet was a barely visible engraving of a face – half feline and half human. Elizabeth couldn't help but picture some kind of ritual being performed here. Her thoughts were again immediately interrupted when the closed door suddenly dropped down, clearing the entrance.
What they found on the other side was a chamber very different from the ones they had previously passed through. Smooth gray walls, with perfectly elliptical tunnel entrances – some higher and some lower – almost unreachable. Before the two visitors was a perfectly chiseled gray stone platform going straight through the chamber to the presumed exit on the other side. What appeared less comforting was the site of the emptiness below that path, so agonizingly similar to the one where they had encountered the winged creature days before. The pathway itself seemed only wide enough for one person to walk on it, with nothing to hold them back in case of an unfortunate fall.
Unable to return, they decided to risk, yet again, moving forward. As usual, John was the first to go. Turning on his flashlight just in case, he moved slowly on the grainy surface. The light barely reached the tunnel entrances but from the stone surfaces' own luminosity he could clearly see them and the shadows which obstructed the inner walls of the tunnels. At one point his observation briefly blurred his orientation and he came off-balance, falling off the platform.
What he had expected to be a long fall turned out to be nonexistent. His back fell on another smooth surface next to the platform; in fact, it appeared connected to it. He quickly turned to the side and touched the surface – it felt like glass, but it was unnoticeable to the eye, because if his body hadn't felt the material, he would insanely believe that he was simply… stuck in thin air.
"Are you alright?" Elizabeth asked him.
"Yeah." John got on his knees and tried to look deeper behind this surface. "Whoa, this is really weird," he said while moving his hand across the glass.
"No kidding," Elizabeth replied. "What is that?" she asked about whatever he had been kneeling on.
"Feels like glass," he told her. John then brought his flashlight closer to it. "You see that?" he asked her.
Curious, Elizabeth very carefully stepped away from the bridge. Her feet felt solid ground but her mind had the impression as if standing on air. "This really does feel weird," she said.
"Aha," John nodded whilst continuing to look beyond the glass and then motioned for her to join him. When Elizabeth got down on her knees, he pointed at the distant moving objects down below – ones which could barely be seen.
"What is that?" she asked.
"Looks like…" John brought his face closer to the surface. "It looks like some steel mechanism or something." Lifting his eyebrow, he took a wild guess. "Control room for the wild contraptions and such around here?"
"By now, it honestly wouldn't surprise me," Elizabeth responded, her face only an inch from the glass like John's.
Then, from one of the higher entrances, they heard that eerily familiar animal growl. Before either could look, two giant felines leaped through the shadowed entrances and onto the floor. Not allowing the 'visitors' to contemplate a quick escape plan, eight more leaped from the other entrances, with this surrounding the humans.
They appeared enormous; their size almost equivalent to the one of the fossils Elizabeth had seen back at the museum. With their large paws, they could easily disembody several people with just one swing; their jaws closed but the thick, white fangs which peaked through the furred mouth gave a good sense of what they were capable; their eyes shimmered with colors ranging from strong green to devouring black. Some of these felines were white and others gray, but all appeared strong and focused on the two 'visitors' or intruders. Glued with their backs to each other, John and Elizabeth were defenseless against these guardians of the city's secrets and neither dared to move. They could see parts of their fur stained by, no doubt human, blood. That same hollow breathing and uneven growl which had caused their skin to crawl from the distance, was now so close like death itself. A white specimen began approaching them, slowly. It let out a snarl to which the others responded.
"Well, one had to wonder when they would find us, eventually," John said about them. Whatever glass material the surface of the floor had been made, it had to have been one hell of a good one to withstand the huge weight of all ten animals.
The feline came so close to Elizabeth that its large head was only four inches away from hers. Its dangerous green eyes watching her, perhaps studying its prey one last time before that giant claw snatched whatever life was left from the victim. She could feel the hot breath as it irritated her sweating skin, the incredible feeling of panic she desperately but unsuccessfully tried to keep under control. She could even smell the remains of blood. Staring at its predatory eyes, Elizabeth now clearly understood why the mere thought of these ancient creatures had such a primitive effect on her before.
The feline revealed its sharp teeth followed by a tamer but dangerous growl, except then something else suddenly overshadowed that frightening noise: a loud roar from somewhere, echoed in this chamber. Following the sound with its ears, the feline suddenly looked away somewhere along with the other nine beasts. The roar repeated itself, and the felines reacted with higher vigilance and began pulling away from the two humans. They then quickly leaped back to the entrances from which they came.
Finally alone, John and Elizabeth continued standing back to back, trying to take in what had just happened. Their wet skin and their furiously beating hearts were not helpful as their eyes looked up at the quiet tunnels. "Are you okay?" he asked as he tried to take her trembling hand.
"No, no…" she replied. The fear was still there. They didn't know and frankly, didn't care what called off these beats. What they knew now was a chance to run to the other side of the chamber and away from them. The door there didn't need to be touched, it somehow pulled down by itself like the previous one, and had they not experienced something so surreal earlier, both would question the cause of this.
When they stepped through the entrance, another magnificent hall awaited them. It resembled the Protector's Hall at first, but it had thick, round pillars painted with red and green, with serpents and sharks, with the Protectors and the sun. Those pillars held a round terrace high up. Behind the pillars were long, white stairs leading down to four entrances: one on the south side, one on the northern, one on the western and one on the eastern side – where John and Elizabeth were. As they climbed on the white stairs, they suddenly heard the doorway through which they came shut itself once more. Exchanging a look, they saw this to not mean good news. Continuing up, they then saw the large, bronze floor with a black, metal tomb in the middle. As they observed what they had come across, something else with primal eyes was observing them from the higher terrace.
Next to the tomb they saw Juliana. John noticed the bruises on her arms and as she turned around, alarmed by the presence of others, he saw the overwhelming vigilance in her eyes and face. "Juliana?" he called her.
"Do not come near!" she warned him and aimed her gun at them. They could only imagine what must have happened to the rest.
Elizabeth meanwhile noticed the bronze plaque on the tomb. She read a warning. When Juliana reached for the lid, perhaps to remove it, Elizabeth yelled, "Don't!" Juliana ignored this as she turned back to the tomb.
Opening the lid of the tomb, a bright, yellow and green light was found on the bottom. There were no bones but that glow. "What is this?" Juliana wondered as she watched the glow and how much brighter it had started to become. Suddenly it caught her throat, nearly choking her, only to seep into her mouth and disappear from view.
Standing on the side, unwilling to approach her, John and Elizabeth only observed this disturbing sight.
Coughing, Juliana held herself against the wall of the tomb. Trying to breathe in, she shook her head and blinked several times as her hunger for air increased. Her eyes suddenly fell on her right arm where a black, slick, thick mass was beginning to overtake the color of human skin. Panicking, she tried to remove it but the mass only spread faster until it engulfed her entire arm before moving onto the other parts of her body. She shouted, even begging for the other two survivors to help her but her calls went unanswered as the uncertainty of the situation held them back. Her shouts ceased and there was silence as her eyes closed and her feet rooted themselves in one place. Her breathing slowly returned to normal.
"How do you explain that?" John asked.
"I don't know anymore," Elizabeth replied.
When Juliana opened her eyes again, they took in the sight of the room for the first time. Then, franticly they began to search for something. Suddenly, she turned her face towards the two. Stretching out her arm before her, she held her palm up and began walking towards John. His need to step away was stopped when she came closer to him. Bringing him to his knees, the invisible force from Juliana's palm paralyzed him. Before Elizabeth could react to this, Juliana suddenly took Elizabeth's face with her hands, holding it firmly. Her grip was far too strong for Elizabeth to break free from it, as her brown eyes, filled with desperation, looked into Elizabeth's without a word. Feeling a sudden, raw rush inside her head, Elizabeth screamed in pain.
The poisoning of her mind seemed to go on forever, and Elizabeth's heart felt unable to survive it for another minute… when a sudden noise of gunshot fire was heard, finally releasing her from Juliana's grasp.
Both fell to the floor. Rushing over to Elizabeth, John put the gun away and then knelt next to her. "You okay?" he asked her.
Holding her head with her hand, Elizabeth shook it slowly. "I… I don't know… mmm… uh…" Slowly she opened her eyes as she was being helped to her feet by him. Swinging her arm over his neck, John turned around to bring her to one of the pillars and far away from this strange woman. As he did so, a large creature suddenly leaped down before him, cutting off his path. "Oh, shit…" he whispered.
The black fur hiding the strong muscles, the sharp claws, and those eyes… those green, but yet familiar eyes. The last time he saw those eyes had been in a much darker, unclear space, and the last time those eyes ignored him. But not this time as the feline creature began walking towards them, growling. It appeared smaller than the Protectors but appeared no less dangerous; and it looked angry… very angry.
The primitive instinct kicked into them both, urging them to run away but all they, and particularly John who was physically more aware, could do was slowly begin walking backwards. Then suddenly, the creature leaped towards them, but instead of a kill, it pushed them aside so violently that both fell to the lowest floor, their bodies rolling over to the wall – immobile.
Recovering from the injury that healed itself too quickly, Juliana returned to her feet, only to come face-to-face with the black creature. "You!"
Approaching her carefully, the beast growled.
"I killed you…" Juliana spoke.
"No, you imagined you did," he replied in his snarl.
Instead of panic, she grew confident. This was no longer the woman from outside; she was different now, a darker being… like him. "You cannot kill me. You will fail again," she told him.
"I was different back then. I am human no more."
Juliana smirked. "You still have the weakness, Gord."
"She is no longer there."
"Oh? Are you that certain?" she dared him.
"Yes!" His growls became louder. "You devoured Destiva's soul long ago! Nothing of her remains there but a festering demon!"
This angered Juliana who screamed and then created a thick, black cloud with her hands before throwing it at him. He leaped and escaped the blow but the thick walls behind it were not as lucky, and a large hole was formed when the cloud reached them. With fierce force, Gord attacked Juliana. "I will not allow you to seed evil in this world again!"
Her arm was caught between his sharp teeth but she pressed her other hand against his chest where heat with unbearable intensity was created, forcing him to release her. "I will finish what I came here to do and you would be wise to allow it!"
"Never! You slaughtered my people! You took her life! You took her humanity!"
"It served only as a burden to me. It had to be removed!" Forming a chain from black mist, Juliana threw it over him, entrapping Gord. "The moment you traded your mortality for eternal life, you knew your soul would suffer!"
The chains didn't hold long. Breaking free from them, he then attacked her again, leaving a deep, bloody wound in her abdomen. "If it meant your demise would be ensured then yes, it was worth it!"
When consciousness returned him to reality, John saw one of the pillars break under the force with which it was damaged as the large body of the black beast had been thrown against it. It was no longer the healthy, mighty creature with which he saw eye-to-eye before. It looked tired, bleeding, deep wounds all over its body. John immediately searched for Elizabeth and found her lying close to him. He tried to wake her but she failed to respond. Feeling for signs of life, he let out a brief sigh of relief. Gathering her up, he stood on his feet and was almost taken aback by the violent battle that had been going on before his eyes between this large creature and a much smaller, but unearthly human being. "What the hell is that?"
The next blow that was thrown by Juliana had destroyed the mechanism that kept the entrances locked. Seeing this, John immediately hurried towards one of the exits whilst trying not to be struck by falling rock.
When the northern exit was reached, he cast one more look at the battle and its unknown reasons to him. A large rock fell too close to him and Elizabeth, forcing John to flee through the exit.
Exhausted, with barely any strength left, Juliana leaned against the pillar, her body wounded, her mind and soul weakened greatly. By the time she looked up again, the black cat had leaped towards her, trapping her neck in his jaw. He didn't leave a second longer for the demon inside her to live. He knew its time had come. With his last strength, he snapped her neck. A faint, unearthly scream echoed in the room, before silence took over. Releasing the bits of lifeless flesh, Gord backed away from it, feeling his strength – and his life – quickly drain away from him.
"Your death will set her innocence free…" He collapsed. "It will set us both free…" the last sign of life before he curled up and gave in to his end.
Before the last parts of those once strong pillars fell, a faint mist… a pale image of a white raven descended above his body. Digging inside the corpse, it pulled out a faint mist – like itself – of a sleeping man, before flying up and disappearing with it.
