The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell (36 page)

  “Don’t worry about that. Please continue on.”

  “Well if you insist. I learn this part when I got to where he was born at. Apparently, Natas’ double-great grandfather was a high priest who founded that community. Or it could have been his triple-great grandfather who did. He chose that location because of a rare celestial event that would occur on 17th of October of when he hoped Natas would be born. Do you humans believe that ghost come out on Halloween?”

  “A long time ago, perhaps two thousand years ago, we did.”

  “What about on the 17
th
, of October?”

  “No it’s just another day to us. Why? What’s so special about that day?”

“Apollinarian pagans always believe that, on that day curses and…. What is Murphy’s Law? It just popped into my head.”

  “It’s the belief that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

  “That’s it. On the 17
th
, of October curses and Murphy’s Law is born. It is believed that evil hopes that within the two weeks before Halloween, goodness could be stop, or at least slow down by either, a curse or by Murphy’s Law. On that day it is strongly suggested that people do all of their purifications. If not, then  evil will become stronger. And something bad may happen.

  Last night when I found out that Vaistll’s mission on Golden Hyperion will occur on that day, I decided to look at human history to see what it says.”

  “So what did you learn?”

  “First we need to look at the number nine in the sense of numerology. What humans say about it is much different than what we said about it. Both humans and Apollinarians believe that it represents the end of things. But to us it is also represents arrogance since all numbers can be summed up to a nine. It also is believed that under certain conditions the number nine is evil. Especially when it comes in pairs of three.”

“It’s funny that you should mention that because in the Christian belief, six-six-six is an evil number. And if you flip it upside down you get nine-nine-nine.”

  “What I learn about that day is this: on that day in 1962 there was the Cuban missile crisis. Now if you add nine to it you get 1971, or 71. Add a nine to that you get 80. Add another nine, the third nine; you get 89, as in 1989. And on 17
th
, October, 1989, in San Francisco, there was an earthquake that was 7.1 on the Richter scale and caused 8 billion in damages. I read that some reports put the death toll at 62, while others put it at 68. Some put it less than that.”

  “So that earthquake occurred because people wouldn’t do some type of purification?”

  “Perhaps. But it couldn’t hurt could it?”

“No I guess not.”

  “Natas triple-great grandfather had his followers build a temple near that site. The temple was on top of a hill where caves are. Where the altar was, he had them drill a hole down to ground level. He then had them dig a tunnel to where the hole is. And then he had them dig a large round chamber that is under the temple. In the center of the round chamber, he had them dig a circular pit where the hole is. So that the round pit would be directly under the altar. Pure water was put into the round pit and then he blessed it. A special copper cover was put over it to keep things out of it. Religious markings were then put on the copper cover. A copper pipe was then run from it to the hole in the ceiling and then up to the altar. The altar was designed to collect blood and allow it to drain into the pit. The altar resemble an upside down cross. The cross was an iron maiden. But it was design so that the person would die slowly. That way most of their blood would be collected.”

“Sick minded people.”

  “Yeah… I guess hatred would do that to a person. But you don’t know the half of it.”

  “I hate to ask… but…” Parker was afraid of the answer so he didn’t ask. But he was just too curious not to ask. But he didn’t have to ask. She answered his question for him.

  “He kept them in a drug induced stupor and had them… had the…”

  “What? What did he make them do?”

“Had the brothers and sisters practice incest in an effort to create unholy children.”

Parker shook his head in disgust and said nothing.

  “He had them pray around the pit. And then one day… I guess it was sometime between his time and up until Natas’ grandfather took over… um…”

“What? What happen?”

  “They removed the copper cover. You see… the air around that pit was as cold as a meat locker. And there was the smell of death around it. But the most amazing thing about it is… not one fly, or any other insect that is attracted to the smell of death would come near it. There was heaviness in the air. The feeling that you didn’t belong there. It was like, the place was haunted.

  I don’t know the precise details of Natas’ birth, but what I could extrapolate was this: his parents were brother and sister; they were sacrifice at his birth along with the whole tribe. His… um… mother and father was the last to be sacrificed.  He was born on that rare celestial event on 17
th
, of October. I also know that his grandfather took him to this village somewhere on the eastern shore Iraxxan. The people were Mea Kryysti. They were very nice and kind hearted. The type of people who hated war. But they were also deeply religious. If they ever find out about Natas’ past, they probably would have killed him. His grandfather did not stay in the village, but lived close by. Sometime after Natas became a teenager, his grandfather show up and Natas killed him. Shortly after that Natas killed the whole tribe.”

“And you found that jar at that temple. And what you called Liquid Death was the liquid in that pit. So what can it do? I mean, why is it so valuable?”

  “If one drop of this gets inside of a person it would kill them. I know that because while I was at Natas’ birthplace, a tribal group of people started to attack us. The men that I was with quickly learn that if they were to stick anything in that liquid, then poke somebody hard enough to break the skin, it would kill them instantly. If a person is so badly wounded that they are beyond hope; then one drop of this liquid would save their life. It was also rumored that it could bring back the dead. But I don’t know if that is true or not.”

  “So what happened after you left that place?”

  “We went back to Colnynol. I told him everything that I learned. He had no reaction. I don’t know if he believed me, or was too shocked to say anything. I also learned from him that Vaistll went to take a city called Nyuu’a’nostl (new-l a na-stal), and she won’t be back for a couple of weeks. I then decided to go home. Before I left, Okuoyk and Ryyuoxx came and got me. They told me that I was lost at sea. I died because of the bitch of November… it was a storm.”

“Yeah… I kind of figured that.”

  “And that’s how I ended up on Ydxx’od’omaa’s ship.” She then got up to leave. But she was acting like she was forgetting something.

  “Anything else Iakuoyr?”

  “Yes. Just one more thing about that jar.”

  “What?”

  “Hold it in your hands.”

  Parker then did as she asked. He then noticed that it was very cold. It was like holding ice.

  “It’s always been like that. If, and when, you go to sleep try and do one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Lie on your back; hold it in your hands, and then go to sleep. But you won’t sleep long.”

  “Why?”

  “You find out. Oh, by the way.”

  “What?”

“The dream that you will have is a metaphor for your future. You will also understand why I couldn’t tell anybody, or show anyone, that jar.”

With that, Iakuoyr left leaving Commodore Parker intensively curious about what she meant. Yes, he will sleep. But not for long.

(4)

  Commander Taylor finished getting ready for the day. After he finished his breakfast, he watched the news. After a few minutes, he turned off the TV. It was getting too depressing to watch. It was making him deeply concerned about his family. Taylor is close with both his family and his wife’s family. And he is afraid that he might have lost all of them. Torn between his family and his duty, he was confused. After a minute, he got up to try and contact his cousin who is in a near-by quadrant. It would take up to one hour to one day for his cousin to receive the message.

  Taylor hasn’t heard from his cousin in five years. His cousin had some type of a job opportunity. Taylor did, and did not care about the time delay in contacting his cousin. He just wanted to hear from someone in his family. He felt lonely, cut-off, and isolated. Most of the other members of Task Force ZH-3C felt the same way. But he was the only one who had a relative near-by.

  But the sad thing is; after his cousin got that job opportunity, all contact with him was lost. It was not like his cousin to disappear and never call his family. The last message that his cousin sent said that he just arrived and that he is doing okay. But he forgot to give them any contact info. No info on which planet, or star system, or even the name of his employer. They would have hired a private detective but there is nothing to go by.

With the Yellowstone eruption, Taylor is afraid that this might be his last mission. He wants to find out what happened to his cousin before he goes on his mission. He wants to hear from him, before it is too late. After all there is still the chance that he won’t survive his mission.

(5)

  Commodore Parker was standing in the men’s restroom in Project 21 headquarters washing his hands. He turned his head slightly to the right because he thought he heard someone behind him. When he finished washing his hands, he heard it again.

“Is someone there?” He left after he didn’t hear a reply.

After he took a few steps from the men’s restroom, he heard something coming from behind him.

  “Hello. Is someone there?” Yet again, there was no reply.

  Parker started to walk down the hall and he started to feel cold. As he took a couple of steps, it got cold enough for him to see his breath. He then heard something behind him yet again. This time he didn’t say anything he just turned and look. As he did, the room got dark. The lights didn’t go out, they just got dimmer. With fear rising in his blood, it got very cold. To him it felt like it was forty below zero. He then saw something on the floor in front of the men’s restroom.

What he saw was something that was dark, circular and rotating. He couldn’t believe his eyes at what he was seeing. Whatever it was, it started to look like a hole in the floor. And then he heard it. It was a sound that sent a chill down his spine. It was a ghostly, eerie, supernatural sound that sounded like a thousand voices (both people and animal) crying out from the grave.

Parker stood there paralyzed with fear. His fear became a knot in his throat as he saw what came out of that hole. It looked like an upside down, black, elongated teardrop. Then he saw another one and another one. They kept on coming. He saw hundreds of them and then thousands of them. And all the while, he kept on hearing that same eerie ghostly sound.

  Parker stood there in shock and horror. Whatever those black things were, they were spiraling around in a vortex that was eight feet high. He then saw them merge into a humanoid shape. As soon as the humanoid shape was finished forming, both the hole and the vortex disappear. The humanoid shape had no facial features. Whether its eyes were closed, or whether they just formed, Parker saw two red eyes, with no pupils, staring back at him. And they were glowing.

“PA…R…KER!” It said in that same type of ghostly sound that came from the hole. Parker turned and ran for dear life. But he couldn’t hear it chasing him. When he made it to the elevators, he turned and looked at it. He saw that it moved in an unnatural way. It took a step and then Parker saw that it became a blur, and then it moved a couple of feet closer to him; all within a second. Parker stood there frantically pushing the elevator button.

  Parker, scared to the point that he was crying, was leaning into the elevator door. With his eyes widen with fear as it was within reaching distance, the elevator door opened and he fell in. He quickly got up and pushed the button for the lobby. Whatever it was, that was chasing him, Parker could hear that it got into the elevator shaft and was now on top of the elevator. It laughed in a deep guffaw way that sounded like both an echo and like it was played backwards at the same time. Then it said his name.

“Who are you!? What do you want with me!?” Parker screamed out of fear. He looked in disbelief as he saw its hand come through the elevator’s roof. When it did that, it was like a ghost moving through an object. Parker could only shake his head and hold out both of his hands to it in a way that said, ‘No. Please don’t.’

  The elevator door opened and Parker fell out backward. He then quickly got and ran to the exit of the building. He could hear the dark entity laugh at him. It was as if though it was toying with him.

  “Help me! Help! Somebody please help me!” Parker screamed out. But nobody came to his rescue. He then turned and saw it walk through the glass door of the lobby. The door reacted as if someone poured liquid nitrogen on it and then heated up too quickly. With that, Parker ran for his dear life. He ran until his right knee gave out, which was a few blocks. He then rolled over to face it.