Page 90 of Obsidian Dream
“An ocean?”Talik repeated.
“It represents an ocean—the differing blues are waves, with the hint of white as foam.”She pointed to a subsection that hinted at yellow.Like sand.“A clue to finding Atlantis?”
“Or a clue to finding the Anki,” Kade said.
“It could be more helpful than just highlighting an ocean,” Talik sighed.He looked straight at Kade.“What do the hunter records reveal?”
“Surprisingly little.They must have been sanitized at some point.There are only a handful of mentions of the Anki and most do not give any detail that are of use.”
“The original council didn’t want us to know of their existence.Adamnatio memoriae—it would not have been difficult to rewrite history after the fall of Atlantis,” she continued.“We still don’t know what the relic is or what is inside the box.”
“I assume forcibly opening it is still not an option,” Talik mused as he took another bite from his bar.The crunch echoed loudly.
“No,” Kade answered before she could.He tilted his head, as if he was listening to something just out of reach.The room was eerily silent.
She glanced at Talik.He shook his head.Whatever Kade was listening to, they couldn’t hear it.
“It just made a high-pitched ticking sound,” Kade stated.After a few seconds of silence, he subtly nodded.“There it is again.”
She still couldn’t hear anything, just their breathing and the sound of their hearts beating.Did a hunter’s hearing work on a sonar level, like bats?She quickly discarded the idea.
The tempo of the flashing lights had increased.Blues and whites had been joined by a dark green and gray.The colors transitioned quickly, barely lasting only a second before they were replaced.On the wall, the colors merged into a twirling kaleidoscope, the pattern enthralling and hypnotizing.
Talik took another step closer to the box.“I can hear it now.”
Tick.
Khalida tilted her head, trying to pinpoint if it sounded familiar.“So can I.”
Tick.Tick.Tick.The sound was getting louder and more insistent, if that was possible.
“No hint of explosives, right?”Talik asked.
Kade walked to the wall opposite them and hit a small, inconspicuous black button.Thick unbreakable glass descended from the ceiling, locking into place, separating them from the box.“A precaution.”
The pace of the ticking was increasing until it reminded her of a countdown.
Click.
The box slowly folded into itself, revealing a small black cube, no bigger than an oversized die, in the center.It must have been where the light was emanating from.
Khalida leaned forward, careful to keep some distance between them as she tried to get a closer look a second before blinding light burst into the room.
“Shit.”She covered her head.Black spots peppered her vision as she sucked in a breath.Blinking a few times, she shielded her eyes against the unbearably bright light.Her cheek was damp.She wiped it away and stared at the red drops on her fingertips.A random shard must have penetrated the glass.Opposite to her, Kade groaned, and she actually felt sorry for him.His eyes were even more sensitive than hers.
“You may want to see this,” Talik said.“The wall.”
She wiped her face as she stood.Within the protected enclosure, the small cube was tilted at an angle and began spinning incessantly fast until it was a blur.On the wall, multiple images flashed in succession, barely long enough for her to register before they suddenly slowed down and it was like watching a time-lapse video of a world that had existed thousands of years earlier.She tried to memorize every single aspect just in case there was a clue.
Bright green hills appeared, so realistic that if she reached out, she swore she could touch the breeze-blown blades of grass.Rapidly, the landscape transitioned.Another time-lapse stream.Now the hills in the distance were covered with snow peaks, but below them, there were the hints of a temple structure; giant columns that touched the skies against the backdrop of a fertile crescent.She blinked, and the temple had been completed.This time, hundreds of people traipsed within the holy site, placing wreaths and votive offerings at the foot of giant sandstone and wooden statues.The landscape changed again.The temple appeared half forgotten.Its once grand statues that had protected the entrance had fallen, moss covering their faces, the temple becoming part of the landscape until it was buried and forgotten.In another heartbeat, the landscape revealed an excavated temple with distinct T-shaped pillars.
“Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey,” Talik said.“Dante funded the archaeological excavation.It was the one Rieka and Chaucer worked on together.”
The scenery switched, moving in a burst of light from ancient Turkey to somewhere else.A prehistoric campsite surrounded by seven hills and a dying sunset.The full moon was mostly hidden by stormy clouds.
“This could be anywhere,” Talik muttered.
Quickly, the campsite grew from a handful of wooden houses and temples into a sprawling ancient town, before transitioning to large stone buildings, palaces, and forums that dominated the landscape.Streets and aqueducts appeared from thin air—and then she suddenly recognized the city.“Rome.”
