Chapter Twenty Three:
Tablet

JD Dunne knew he had nothing to prove.

His place as one of the seven had been cemented within weeks of joining the group. Even though the men with whom he worked with could never explain it, there was something about his arrival among their ranks that completed the circle of their brotherhood. Despite their usual reluctance to accept outsiders, they had welcomed him with open arms and JD had never looked back. Even now, the circumstances that brought him to Chris Larabee and his team, no longer angered him as it had when he realized what he'd gained.

In just six months with the team, he'd earned enough to pay for his college tuition for the whole year because even though he was its youngest member, Chris Larabee paid him like an equal. It was to his astonishment, that the others did not offer any objection to that state of affairs. In fact, they'd gone out of their way to teach him what they knew.

He could sort of fly a plane thanks to Buck and what Vin had taught him about fighting hand to hand, made certain if Peter Nichols ever crossed his path again, the snotty bastard would walk away with more than just a bloody nose this time. Ezra taught him how to read people and Chris taught him there was always a way out of a situation. Josiah didn't teach but he listened and Nathan had given him driving lessons.

Now, he would prove to them why he deserved to be on the team. Stepping off the dock, ignoring the cries of everyone behind him, JD closed his eyes and decided whatever happened, would happen. However, in the last few minutes, revelation had come to him on how exactly it was they were seeing the things they had, since entering Eridu's bowels. While he might have accepted the swarm of scorpions as possible, the sudden animation of mummified corpses and the fact they were standing in the middle of an ocean, when two seconds ago they were in an underground passage, made him question everything they had seen so far.

Realizing he could be swallowed up by the depths, his foot landed not on water. but against hard stone. When he opened his eyes, he found himself not immersed in water, although the illusion of it swirled around his ankles like a fine mist. As he took another step forward, the image of the sea around him continued to shudder and beneath it, he could see the hard rock tiles that paved most of the ancient city's floor. In fact, the more he walked, the thinner the veneer of the illusion became until the horizon itself became translucent and the projection began to waver.

"See Chris!" JD said looking over his shoulder at his comrades and their companions. "None of what we've been seeing is real! It never was. It was just a trick!"

"A trick?" Vin questioned immediately because he knew what he had been fighting in the chamber before felt real enough. Those corpses had come alive! He remembered the musty smell of their desiccated limbs, the way flakes of dry skin drifted into the air as he fought them, the sound their blades made upon striking steel and the lifeless vacant holes where their eyes should have been. It was beyond his ability to comprehend all that could have been an illusion. "How can that be. I mean, we fought them. Hell, I barely missed getting run through."

"And if you had, you would have thought you were dying," JD replied, pausing in his steps long enough to explain further. "Whatever made us see those things, it tricked us into believing whatever happened to us would feel real, including dying."

"You mean like a self-induced coma?" Alex asked, trying to wrap her mind around the idea of the mind's power and supposed it might be possible but it usually required help, like some form of narcotic. "Wait a minute..." she turned quickly to Vin and the others, realizing she might have stumbled onto something important. "Do you remember that strange smell just before we saw the scorpions?"

Chris and Vin exchanged quick glances and Vin nodded because his senses had been sharpened thanks to his partial Navajo upbringing. When they first descended the lower levels of the fortress, he detected an odd smell which he attributed to whatever was decaying inside of Eridu.

"Yeah, I remember, kind of sickly sweet."

With all the incense and herbs the Sumerians must have used in their rituals, Chris had not questioned it. However, now that Alex brought it up, he knew the exact moment when the smell had impressed itself upon his senses, it was a few minutes before they first encountered that swarm of scorpions. What if it placed them in some kind of hallucination?

"Like a narcotic?" Chris stared at the woman.

"Yes!" Alex nodded. "Exactly like that. Something that made us susceptible to some kind of mass hysteria. "Possibly some kind of ergot derivative."

"That would explain this," Orin said to Chris who was now watching JD closely.

Even now, Chris could see the kid continuing to walk on water...no, not water. Now Alex planted the suggestion that this could all be in his head, he was observing with greater scrutiny, the young man's steps across the ocean he should be plunging into, not walking on like Jesus Christ. As he made ripples across the water, Chris could see the projection diminishing, as if there was something beneath it all, like a different layer to reality.

"In that case," Chris said finally and stepped to the edge of the platform on which they were taking refuge. Even as he did, a surge of admiration filled his heart for the young scholar, who was with every passing day, proving what a valuable asset he was to the team. Chris suspected JD might still think he didn't deserve it.

"Chris!" Mary cried out as she saw him preparing to step off the platform, her secret affection for him choosing that moment to surface, in spite of herself.

Her outburst made him turn. For a split second, he saw the fear in her eyes for him and more than that, a softer emotion she hadn't intended to reveal. Despite all his reservations about moving on with his life and letting go of Sarah, what was reflected in her blue-grey eyes at that moment affected him more than he believed possible. Chris felt a surge of excitement that was more than just the anticipation of reaching the Tablet but of what might happen between them after.

"I'll be fine Mary," he winked and stepped off the edge.

With his mind more or less deciding Alex was correct in her theory and JD proving it, Chris did not immediately sink to the bottom of this false sea when his foot touched the water. Instead, the ripple caused by the contact revealed the existence of something beneath the water, something that took him a second to identify.

It was a tile.

The square pave bore the faint design of an eight-pointed star, with each point colored in faded red which Chris knew to be a popular design in ancient Mesopotamian architecture. Seeing the other swirling patterns in the stone, told Chris he was standing on marble. As he continued to walk, more and more of the tiles began to appear underfoot and when he looked up, he could see this fake expanse diminishing to reveal what lay beneath.

"Looks like the kid's right," Vin Tanner suddenly spoke and Chris glanced over his shoulder to see the familiar sight of the young man following him, watching his back. For a second, Chris was struck by the memory of that ten-year-old boy, wearing a uniform too big for him because they simply hadn't come that small, his face covered in dirt and long hair barely visible from the helmet that covered his face. Vin had followed him back then too, keeping close because that was what Chris ordered him to do. Now it was because Vin wouldn't let him face any danger alone.

"He almost always is," Chris grinned.

As three of the seven continued to walk, the illusion around them began to swirl and shudder, unable to maintain its hold of them under the assault of their disbelief. As it began to disappear, what was revealed was not the dusty, ancient rooms of cracked stone and too many cobwebs, but something grand and beautiful.

The room they entered appeared as pristine as the day it was built. Four majestic columns, evenly spaced, faced each corner. They were almost two feet wide and carved into the stone, were cuneiform inscriptions from four thousand years in the past. The walls were covered in blue tiles, with the symbol of the lamassus, the most prolific Sumerian protective deity with its body of a lion, human head and bird wings, set in white stone. At the front of the chamber, flanking a set of steps that led to a raised floor, were two tall statues almost twenty-five feet high, holding up the ceiling of the chamber.

"Oh my God," Mary gasped as the illusion more or less collapsed now it was no longer supported by the people present to believe in it.

"I think this is Enki," JD announced to the others as he stood in front of the statue of the figure carrying the scroll.

"I think you are right, Mr Dunne," the Professor agreed. "And this is Marduk, his son."

"Makes sense," Chris remarked as he walked past them towards the steps. "If the lore around the Tablet is correct, Marduk was the one who helped Enki defeat Tiamat back in the day."

Chris had paused at the foot of the staircase, examining the walls flanking it with deep scrutiny to ensure there was no possibility of any last deathtrap waiting to be sprung. Fortunately, the tiled mosaic walls of lapis lazuli, a blue mineral favored in the ancient world, showed no signs of any dangerous mechanism. Once he was satisfied with its safety, Chris turned his attention to the tiled steps giving it a similar examination, searching for evidence of pressure plates that might be triggered if stepped on. Despite seeing nothing, he still remained cautious.

"Let me go first," Chris ordered and started up the stairs, mostly because if he was wrong, he would suffer the consequences alone.

Chris made his way up the steps cautiously, conscious of everything around him with each step he took, until finally reaching the top. In the last four years, Chris had become accustomed to the reality that it was usually the final seconds before claiming their prize which was often the most lethal. Of course, none of the objects he and the rest of the seven had claimed approached the enormity of what the Tablet represented, but he refused to take any chances. Not when it was Mary, Alex, and the Professor's life would be at risk if he underestimated the danger in any way.

Once he reached the top, he was momentarily mesmerized by the flicker of the flames in each cauldron, watching its dance across the wall and giving life to the mother of pearl and lapis lazuli tiles depicting the Enûma Eliš, the Babylonian tablets depicting the creation of the world. Even if he wasn't an archaeologist himself, Chris wished he had time to study the walls in greater detail. However, he was painfully aware of how little time they had to resolve this situation and turned his attention back to the bronzed doors.

LIke the mosaics adorning the walls, the twin doors were held close by a lock whose configuration Chris recognized immediately. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw JD approaching cautiously with the others now that he had made it to doors with his skin intact. Both JD and the Professor were studying the place in wide-eyed fascination, mostly because this was their field of expertise and Tablet or not, this room was one a hell of a find.
As always, Chris noted Vin was the last to reach the doors. Being a sharpshooter, it was his habit to ensure he could keep an eye on his comrades, to provide them a way out in times of trouble. While there was no sweet spot for him to maintain his vigilance at this moment, staying in the back ensured he could help them if anything went wrong. Chris knew it was Alex and Mary Vin was most concerned about, his feelings for Alex notwithstanding. The two women had the least experience in relic hunting and were unaccustomed to the dangers usually encountered on such expeditions.

"JD," Chris said not looking at the young scholar. "Give me the Heart."

JD was about to ask why when a quick glance at the lock holding the twin bronzed doors provided explanation enough. Without further argument, he immediately retrieved the heart, tucked away with the Pillars, inside his satchel. While the artifacts had seemingly served their purpose by giving up the location of the Tablet, Chris had been convinced they were not done with the Heart yet and now it appeared he was right.

The lock holding the door close was grooved with a slot that was a perfect fit for the Heart. Fishing out the relic that had been the start of this entire adventure from the leather satchel he carried everywhere, he handed the Heart to Chris.

"It's a good thing we brought it," JD declared.

"It's been used to open everything else so far," Orin agreed. "It doesn't surprise me it's needed here too."

"Okay," Chris said preparing to put the Heart into place, "everyone, hold back. Considering all the surprises so far, I don't want us to get caught unawares now that we're getting close to this thing."

The unanimous agreement that this was good advice made everyone retreat a step or two backward, all except for Vin who had no intention of abandoning Chris under any circumstances. The leader of the seven looked over his shoulder and saw the sharpshooter's challenge to order him back if he dared and decided against it. Facing the lock again, Chris didn't realize he was holding his breath when he placed the Heart in its groove and turned it.

The soft cracking of fire was suddenly eclipsed by unseen tumblers locking into place, creating the clang of metal reverberating throughout the chamber. Throughout the room, they could hear the mechanism groaning into movement, shaking off centuries of inactivity to carry out its only purpose. In front of them, the doors jolted into motion, shaking lost some dust from their edges and forcing everyone to take another instinctive step back. Then with a low squeak, they swung open inwardly.

The smaller chamber it revealed was nowhere as large as the one they were in. If anything it was no bigger than a modestly sized bedroom. However, there was no doubting its importance. Every inch of wall was plated in gold. Chris thought absurdly if Ezra was here, they never would get him out with his sanity intact. The gold was engraved with ancient cuneiform and images of Enki and Marduk's epic battle to defeat Tiamat. Like the walls outside, Chris could imagine JD and the Professor already studying them with avid interest. Fortunately, JD's eidetic memory would ensure much of what he saw would be retained for closer examination when they left this place.

The center of this room was occupied by a pedestal carved from green soapstone. With the cauldron lamps burning brightly and bouncing light off every surface, the pedestal radiated iridescent colors and appeared utterly breathtaking. However, It was nothing compared to the Tablet itself. It lay flat on its back, carved from heliotrope, or bloodstone, as it was more commonly known, with swirls of red against black. The words inscribed upon it was filled with gold and aesthetically, it did look capable of unmaking the world.

"My God," Orin exclaimed softly. "It's here. It's really here."

Chris supposed for Orin, this was the culmination of a lifetime of worry and secrecy, the final act of a play that began almost forty years ago by four friends who thought they were embarking on an adventure, only to have it rule their lives forever. Chris exchanged a glance at both Vin and JD, reaching a unanimous decision in their silence.

"Orin," Chris stepped back. "Go ahead, take it."

Orin Travis shot Chris a look, one filled with a gamut of bittersweet emotions. He stared at the Tablet and wished more than anything his friends were here to share the moment, especially William. William had understood the Tablet better than all of them and deserved to be here even more than him.

"Thank you, Chris," the older man said, trying to hide the emotion in his voice. Like Chris, he did not express them often and his display of it now revealed how much he was affected.

"Do it for my father Orin," Alex added gently. "He would have wanted you too."

Her eyes glistened with moisture then, thinking as Orin was thinking, how William Styles ought to have been present and felt Mary's fingers in hers, squeezing them tight, offering her a smile of support.

Orin nodded and reached for the Tablet. He picked up the object and marveled at how this place could exist here, seemingly in a vacuum of space, unaffected by time. The stone felt cool to the touch and sent a slight buzz through his fingertips as if it were lightly charged by some unknown power.

Lifting it up from its surface, he had no more than a moment to reflect upon it when suddenly another loud mechanism was heard and the pedestal started to retreat into the floor. As it descended into a shaft beneath its base, a tremor rumbled through the building, not unlike an earthquake. Trails of dust began to drift to the marble floor and the cauldron lamps shook on their clawed legs, spilling oil across the ground. It coincided with the gold-plated panels against the walls falling away and allowing a deluge of white sand to start flowing into the room.

"Oh, I just knew this was too easy..." Alex groaned, wondering if this nightmare would ever end.

"Orin, give JD the Tablet!" Chris ordered. " Everyone else, head for the door!"

The Professor immediately handed the artifact to the younger man, who promptly slid it into his satchel, just in time to hear the cauldrons tipping over, their flame extinguished by the wave of sand quickly swallowing them up in its depths. Vin had grabbed both Mary and Alex by the arm and was leading them to the doors and down the stairs. Chris made sure he did the same for Orin as they fled the rapidly filling chamber, the white grains chasing them down the steps once they passed through the doors.

When they entered the large chamber again, the situation was no better. Sand was beginning to pour through newly formed gaps in the tiles, quickly covering the marble floor. The tremors were growing even more violent, causing the statues standing guard over the Tablet's inner chamber to rock dangerously back and forth. As Vin, Alex and Mary ran through it, the statue of Marduk started to tip giving Chris, JD, and Orin only a precious few seconds to cross over before it collapsed entirely.

Chris saw a piece of the ceiling break free, to shatter a few inches away from Mary and let out of sigh of relief as Vin pulled her safely out of its path. For his part, Chris kept a firm grip on Orin as they raced at top speed down the steps with JD a few paces ahead before the statue crashed onto the steps, barring their way. He could hear the older man's panting and hoped it would not do him permanent harm running this way, but there was really nothing for it.

They crossed over just as the statue smashed against the steps, destroying itself and the staircase it landed on. Large chunks of broken marble chased them across the floor as columns shifted on their bases, threatening to fall. More and more sand was filling up the room and it appeared as if Enki himself had decided once its purpose was done as the receptacle of the Tablet, it should be swallowed up by the desert again. The six adventurers ran towards the small doorway bringing them into this chamber when it had been projecting its illusion of a vast sea.

It didn't take them long to reach the doorway, even though when they passed through it, the quaking stopped. Still, the flow of sand spilled through to the next chamber where the group had battled the mummified corpses. Except this time, the corpses remained against the wall, unmoving and oblivious to them as the day they had been interred there thousands of years ago.

As the deluge filled up the chamber and pushed the adventurers to the surface, Chris could only think that Enki was finally claiming Eridu for himself again.


Chris knew the instant he stepped into the sunlight, something was wrong.

Emerging first, followed by Vin, he had no sooner stepped out of the deepened staircase leading to the top of Eridu when he froze in his tracks. Ezra. Buck, Josiah, and Nathan were just beyond the steps, kneeling on the ground, their arms folded behind their heads, with Erran cultists aimed their guns at them with every intention of shooting them dead if they did not comply. Turning his head, Chris saw they were surrounded by the Erran in the dozens and knew any attempt to resist was going to get them all killed.

Stepping to the front, flanked by the large henchman called Krestos, and the dark-haired siren who nearly killed him at the Museum, Adashir Shah stepped forward.

"Mr Larabee, how nice to finally meet you," the man said with the supreme confidence of his power over them all. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."