Indiana Jones and the Talisman of the Gods
Chapter 6
The Talisman of the Gods
Together they pushed the stone door open, knocking dust that had collected on the top. The room they were now in was nearly empty. There were four windows in the room, two on each wall, and a painted mural on the back wall. They walked through the room, carefully watching for traps. Small bonsai trees grew in little pots that sat in the window sills. Yuki-onna walked ahead of Jones and observed the mural.
"It's in here…" She muttered.
"What? The Talisman?"
"Yes. It's in the mural."
Jones ran his hand across the painting. It was smooth, almost like it had been painted on a large scroll rather than the wall. He looked around on both sides, looking to see if there was a way to move it. He even crouched down to see if it was one with the wall. It seemed to be. He got up and was face to face with an eyeball.
"Hello!"
Jones stepped backwards. The thing was talking to him.
"What are you looking for?" The eye darted back and forth from Jones and Yuki-onna. "Are you the unfortunate ones?"
"Yes." Jones had been called that a number of times recently. "We're looking for the Talisman."
"Oh!" The eye disappeared and reappeared in another hole next to Yuki-onna. "Why does the unfortunate one need the Talisman?"
"Listen, you little mokumokuren!" Yuki-onna swelled up with rage. One should never anger a spirit. "We need to find that Talisman now and if we don't I will bust through this wall and kill you with my bare hands!"
Jones was taken aback, but the mokumokuren—a spirit that lives in torn shoji, or Japanese sliding walls made out of paper—wasn't. "Try it then, Yuki-onna."
Yuki-onna punched at the eye with lightning speed. The eye moved before she hit, but where she did hit there was a hole. "Indy…" Inside the hole there was a large golden disc about a foot and a half in diameter. In the center the character for power, 力, was etched in. Around the edge of the saucer were smaller discs embedded in the surface. There was an empty slot, most likely where the disc General Okidonomi had went. "This is it. This is the Talisman of the Gods."
"Okay, so let's get it and get out."
"I'm afraid that it won't be that simple." Jones and Yuki-onna turned. They were face to face with a young Japanese woman far more beautiful than Yuki-onna. "I guard that Talisman, and if you take it I will have to kill you."
"Izanami," Yuki-onna cried, "Amatsu-Mikaboshi will destroy the world if we don't do this."
The Japanese goddess of creation and death shook her head. "Amatsu-Mikaboshi isn't even a physical being. He's only a force. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Yes, but he's obtained a physical form!"
With careful thinking, Jones grabbed the Talisman and held it out in front of him. Izanami tried to react, but found that she couldn't move. Indiana was using the Talisman to control her.
"Stop it, foolish mortal!"
"Let us go and I promise to give it back."
"I…" She was unsure. "I hereby let you go."
Jones and Yuki-onna ran out of the doors of the temple. The samurais that had come back to life kneeled in the presence of the Talisman. They walked through the petrified forest to find Ryujin waiting for them.
"Come, unfortunate ones. Time is almost up."
They climbed on Ryujin's back and flew across the shadowy land of the dead. Ryujin flew as fast as he could across the barren landscape, flapping his wings at an incredible rate.
"How much farther until we reach the portal?" Jones asked.
"Only minutes." They continued to fly. Ryujin dove to the ground and pulled up. "The doorway is one minute that way." He pointed towards the north. "I will help you. Call me with the Talisman." Jones and Yuki-onna nodded and ran north. The doorway was in sight. It was time for the plan to begin.
Jones stepped through the doorway and held up the Talisman. Before General Okidonomi could move, his gloved hand stuck straight forward and his fist opened up. The Talisman of Ice flew from his hand and reunited with its spot on the Talisman of the Gods. Okidonomi was outraged.
"Dr. Jones, hand me the Talisman now." He was smiling, but this smile was a nervous one.
"No, God of Evil." Jones aimed the Talisman at Okidonomi. The general's body tensed up and became stiff, almost like he was standing in attention. "I control you know."
With those words the soldiers started firing at Jones. When the bullets came within a yard of Jones they stopped and fell to the ground. Ronin Inokuma shot at Jones with a rocket launcher, only to have the missile stop and fall to the ground as well.
"Dr. Jones, you don't know what you're doing!" Okidonomi was fighting the hold of the Talisman, but it was no use. It had complete control over him.
General Hoshika talked into a walkie-talkie and a fleet of zeros flew overhead. Thinking wisely, Jones used the Talisman to call Ryujin. Within an instant the blue dragon flew through the doorway and up into the sky, beginning to attack the zeros with no problem at all.
General Hoshika, fearing the life of his friend, ran at Jones. Yuki-onna stepped in his path. "Not today, Hoshika." She pulled a dagger out of the sleeve of her kimono. Without hesitation she plunged the dagger into Hoshika's gut. He clenched his side as his body became blue. Slowly, a layer of ice covered his body, and then another, and another. Soon Hoshika was inside of a large block of ice, frozen to death.
Ryujin shot a sapphire ball of fire at a zero, causing it to blow up. He grabbed one of the fighter planes and tossed it at another. He even chewed one up and spit it out at a zero. Soon the entire fleet was destroyed. Then he started to burn the camp, destroying all of the equipment and killing soldiers.
Jones held the Talisman up as high as he could. Thunder crackled above and bolts of lightning struck all of those who shot at him, even Ronin Inokuma. Jones used the Talisman to make Okidonomi start walking. The general, as stiff as a board, was walking like a Nazi, keeping his hands flat at his sides, but raising his legs straight and high to walk.
Jones paid careful attention to Okidonomi, making sure that he was walking into the doorway to Yomi. If this worked, he would be able to trap the god in the land of the dead forever. While the general was walking, Jones spoke to the Talisman: "Bring me Izanami."
In a flash of bright light the creation goddess stood in front of Jones. She was out of Yomi. She smiled. "Thank you, Indiana Jones."
As soon as Okidonomi was inside of Yomi, Yuki-onna took her dagger and stabbed at the mirror reflecting the moonlight. The mirror shattered and the doorway disappeared. Okidonomi was gone. They had done it.
Ryujin kept torching the camp until everything was gone. He flew back down to Jones, Izanami, and Yuki-onna. "You had a good plan," he grumbled. "But now we're stuck in the real world."
"Yes, Dr. Jones," Izanami started. "What do we do now? We cannot live with mortals."
Jones smiled. "I have a plan." The three looked at him. "You're going to the Garden of the Gods." They all smiled. Jones raised the Talisman. "I send Izanami and Ryujin to the Garden of the Gods to stay for eternity!" With a flash the dragon and the goddess were gone.
Yuki-onna looked into his eyes. "What about me?"
"I command Yuki-onna to take this Talisman and go to the Garden of the Gods!"
The spirit dropped her dagger and took the Talisman. With a flash she was gone as well. Jones smiled. He had done it. He had stopped Okidonomi from enslaving the world with the power of the Talisman.
He stopped and picked up the dagger. It had a white hilt and a blade made of a never melting ice. This could go in a museum… And with those final words, Indiana Jones walked over to the only zero left. He readjusted his hat, started up the engine, and took off. He needed to get to Shanghai, China, where he had another job waiting for him.