The inside of the structure was undeniably more impressive.
"Shit," Caleb muttered in awe under his breath as he scrawled another calculation down. "I'm feeling inadequate."
"Don't worry, Damien. Go slow. Stick with the mannequins, and those nasty dating flashbacks will pass."
"That's what I love about you, Deuce, your natural ability to kick a man when he's down.
His friend smirked from where he sat up against the wall. Taking a sip from his canteen Dean replied, "It's a gift."
Caleb reached out to accept the canteen his friend offered and sat down next to him. "Everything in this place is a near perfect ratio to either Pi or the Phi."
"Pi represents the sacred circle, infinity, God. Phi represents the life spiral, or the five pointed star of protection. Evil may not cross either symbol." Dean shrugged and added, "That's why the ancients used them, and ratios to them, in temples and other sacred sites."
Caleb raised an eyebrow, "My, my, Deana, I am impressed. Does Samantha know you've been sneaking her National Geographics?"
"I get off on proofs of irrationality." Dean retorted sarcastically. Then his jade green eyes lit up with evil mischief. "My whole goal for this trip is to get a picture of a toilet flushing backwards. I want to frame it and send it to Sammy for his birthday. That way he can brag about his big brother the world traveler."
"Coming from you, I'm sure Sam will recognize the picture for the step up in taste it truly represents," Caleb said sweetly. "You're not that far below glow-in-the-dark Elvis commemorative plates now."
"I wanted to send Sammy a picture of the Impala for his apartment," Dean grumbled. "But Jim shot that idea down along with the 'Corporate Zombie Play Set' I picked out. The college student zombie had a hollow head and ate brains."
"Jim has no appreciation for the pride we take in our utter lack of taste and sophistication." Caleb smirked.
"No kidding."
He handed the canteen back Dean. "What's blowing my mind is that the architect damned near perfectly accounted for all structural heave." He looked down once again to check his calculations, "That should be impossible, particularly in an earthquake prone region like this."
"So, you think Merlin actually did design this place?"
"If he did, I understand why people considered Merlin a sorcerer," Caleb muttered. "If this is an example of his work, he's light years ahead of his time. I did manage to uncover something. This place was laid out in a Fibonacci sequence."
"Where each number in the sequence is the sum of the two proceeding numbers," Dean said as he put the cap back on his canteen. "And we're right back to referencing the spiral."
"Exactly. The Egyptians loved using this sequence in floor plans to hide chambers in their tombs. And guess what? We're missing a number in our series."
"Meaning we have a hidden room somewhere?"
"Yup."
Dean rose to his feet in one graceful movement. He then offered Caleb a hand up, grinned cockily, and said, "Lay on, Macduff."
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"The bodies here remind me of pictures of the Anasazi remains that were discovered at Chimney Rock in Colorado." Pastor Jim Murphy murmured thoughtfully as he looked at the skeletons scattered in front of him.
"Interesting how your mind drifted half a world away from where we are." Dr. Mujib Raji said looking up from the body he studied.
Ignoring that last remark, Jim continued, "It's the level of violence inflicted on these men before they died. It's mirrored at Chimney Rock."
"Deprivation is a powerful motivator," Mujib responded. "Deprive human beings of what they think is rightfully theirs. Mix it with fear and ignorance. The results are often brutal, spontaneous combustion."
"You think that's what we're seeing here?" Jim asked.
"Jim, it's your mind that drew the association," Mujib shrugged. "All I can speculate by the remains is that it is highly probable these men died defending this structure. Everything else is conjecture and guesswork."
"That's the problem," Jim snapped. He then ran a tense hand through his silver hair and started carefully pacing the length of the chamber. "I can't say my judgment is impartial or unbiased about anything right now. I thought I'd dealt with what happened in that prison years ago. But being back here..."
"Is bringing it all back?" Mujib asked quietly. "What happened was not your fault. I thought Maxim and Julian tried to kick that in to your dense skull."
"So did the therapist they forced me to see afterward," Jim replied bitterly.
Before Mujib could respond to that statement, Caleb's voice rang out.
"Hey, Doc! Dean and I think we've found the entrance to the hidden chamber."
-------------------------888----------------------------
"The hidden room should be behind this wall," Caleb announced. "You hear that sound, Deuce? That's the sound of me being right yet again. Sometimes I swear my brilliance can become something of a burden."
"I'll let you flounder in the glory of this moment," Dean replied sweetly. "Since you being right happens so rarely."
Before Caleb could fire off a retort Jim added-in, "Caleb's right. The chamber is behind this wall."
"That only leaves the question of the best way to access it," Mujib muttered. "We'll have to go back for the heavy, stone-cutting equipment."
"No need," Jim said mysteriously. Suddenly the Guardian's ring started to softly glow. The stone wall before them suddenly became ice. Then, within seconds, it changed to a wall of blue-green water and formed a large puddle at their feet.
"I really hate it when he does that," Mujib sighed.
"Ah, Jim..." Caleb sputtered.
"Is there something you'd like to tell us?" Dean finished, as both young men stared down at what was once the wall.
"No," was the elder Guardian's only reply.
-------------------------888----------------------------
The first thing Dean noticed when he entered the chamber was the three inlayed, intertwining metal rings that decorated the center of the floor. The liquid metal rings were tinted in the colors red, blue, and yellow. It almost seemed the gold ring glowed and hummed in the dim light of the room.
Almost like the ring called out to him.
Caleb entered the chamber and stepped across the red ring on the floor. It started to quietly hum to him as well.
Greetings young Guardian, voices whispered. We have been waiting for a Triad such as yours.
He heard Jim shout.
But it was too late.
Dean had already stepped across into the blue ring.
A long dormant power flared.
Suddenly he was tumbling, spiraling through the past. A hundred generations of Brotherhood triumphs and tragedies stampeded through his consciousness. Images of handing a staff to a young man and ordering him to flee blasted through his mind. The feel of the cold bite of steel in his chest as a dagger landed a mortal wound. The rings hummed, time turned, and the spiral of life danced. He was part of everything, and yet he, himself, nothing at the same time.
How strange was that?
Find the Scholar, the voices cried out to him.
The darkness crept in and his last conscious awareness was of a cold, dark, void and the touch of death that ran through his veins.
Then Dean knew nothing.