Einstein's Compass

Prolog-4

The three men clung to the shadows, silently moving along the temple walls from the main sanctuary, crossing the twelve smaller rooms toward the Mother Sanctuary. The scent of sandalwood greeted them as Moses opened the door to the forbidden room and the three slipped inside. The incense and a single lamp burned to clear the sacred chamber from the rituals of the day. Carefully closing the door behind them, Moses wiped the sweat from his brow on the sleeve of his robe, then paused as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. From across the chamber, he could feel the radiant energy of the precious Shamir Stone contained within the golden chest he had been instructed to construct in a dream. He had no idea what the box would be used for, but the vision was so profound that he did not question it for a moment. For now, keeping his people’s holy relics in it seemed appropriate, though there was plenty more room inside the chest.

Illuminated by the light of his lamp, statues of men with the heads of beasts, each representing an Egyptian deity, lined the walls on either side of the chamber. Starting with the figure on the right, Moses and his companions bowed low, placing the palms of their hands-on top of their feet. They paid their respects to every figure, starting with the wall to the right and moving in order around the temple until they stood before the altar.

As Moses ascended the alabaster steps to the altar, the golden headdress and cloak of the Imperial Guard protected him from the potent and dangerous energies of the God Stone within the chest. Used in the art of healing, the power within the Stone contained all the colors of the spectrum. Only an experienced hierophant of the temple could touch it. An Atlantean priest had inscribed upon the Shamir Stone the whole of the symbolic esoteric teaching throughout the ages of man as well as the force to vanquish any enemy of God.

At one time in his learning, Moses had been in service to the Temple of Isis, where he had learned the ancient Atlantean teachings, language, and hieroglyphics. As he approached the golden chest, he raised the palms of his hands toward it and began to chant the ancient names of God inwardly. With each sacred name, his vibration grew until his wave matched that of the precious God Stone within the chest.

On the altar near the chest was a covering with hieroglyphics meant to keep the stone’s energy safely contained within the box when it was transported. Moses, now in harmony with the relic and still chanting, reverently began dressing the golden Ark. To his right, he noticed a small, round, shiny object. Curious, he picked it up. There were twelve small, brilliant gems in two conjoined loops atop the circular device. He could feel the pulsing energy in harmony with that of the stone within the Ark. With no time to determine how—or if—the round device was connected to it, Moses secured the object alongside the golden chest with the threads attached to the covering.

Jehovah said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel that everyone who wants to may bring me an offering from this list: gold, silver, bronze, blue cloth, purple cloth, scarlet cloth, fine-twined linen, goat’s hair, red-dyed rams’ skins, acacia wood, olive oil for the lamps, spice for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.

For I want the people of Israel to make me a sacred Temple where I can live among them. This home of mine shall be a pavilion–a Tabernacle.”

After Jehovah inspected the building of the temple, He then said to Moses, “Put together the Tabernacle on the first day of the month. In it, place the sacred marble stone, the Ten Commandments; and install the veil to enclose the Ark of the Covenant within the Holy of Holies.”

~Exodus 25

A bead of sweat made its way down his forehead as the tension grew within Moses. He knew the neophytes from the temple would soon be coming to begin their day. Turning from the altar, he motioned for the two men to take their places at either end of the chest. Reverently, they approached and grasped the handles, then made their way carefully down the altar steps.

Though outwardly calm, Moses felt as if every fiber of his being was tense and tuned for the sounds of people approaching. The men’s disguises would do them little good if anyone saw them carrying the chest. Moses paused at the door and carefully peered down the corridor. The false dawn preceding the morning had not yet appeared. Yet. But Moses knew its arrival was imminent.

Taking another calming breath, Moses motioned for the men to follow him and they retraced their steps. Scant steps away from the archway that opened to the desert and their freedom, the men froze at the sound of movement nearby. A heartbeat later, a rat scurried across the corridor and disappeared into a crack in the stone wall.

Moses let out a breath he had not been aware he had been holding and motioned the men forward through the archway. In moments, they had disappeared into the early morning blackness.

* * *

70 AD – Jerusalem

The Temple Mount was enveloped in flames.

Blood covered the floor and poured down the steps. The number of the slain was inconceivable. There were so many grotesquely butchered bodies littered about that the attacking soldiers had to climb over them as they chased the few locals who still desperately tried to flee, their flickering hopes of survival brutally extinguished at the points of Roman swords and pikes. The sickening-sweet smell of burning flesh and acrid smoke filled the air as the hellish fires engulfed the temple. It seemed as if the whole city was ablaze.

Cloaked on the astral plane, Ezekiel stood in the Atlas, his one-man golden craft, as it circled the ruined city of Jerusalem. The messenger of God gazed through the Crystal Lux Portal, a doorway that opened to the inner dimensions of light. While Judea was in a battle for its life against Rome, the Traveler of Light and Wisdom was on a mission to keep the contents of the Ark of the Covenant safe. Resolute, he tightened his grasp on the controls of the Atlas, knowing he must secure the Ark before it was too late.

Ezekiel had drawn the plans for the Temple of Solomon. He knew in which secret tunnels lay the Ark of the Covenant, the chest Moses had been instructed to construct in a dream. The Holy of Holies had been forty cubits square and lined with gorgeous cedar panels. Now the wood had been reduced to char. There were exquisitely carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers overlaid with gold in the chamber, the metal becoming too hot to touch. Chains and bracelets of gold closer to the flames were already melting into puddles of molten metal that leaked through the ruined floor of the Holy of Holies. Beyond the gaping, charred remnants of the olive-wood door sat the Ark of the Covenant. On the alabaster altar, it lay untouched.

Hidden within the gold-plated acacia chest rested the Shamir Stone. Next to the supernatural God Stone lay the tablets with the Ten Commandments Moses had received from God. The blue cloth covering the twin-winged cherubim was somehow still intact as if protected by a benevolent hand.

Before the Ark stood a living Draco Reptoid, a lean, towering Angel of Darkness. Twelve feet tall, his thin, bony wings furled midway up his back. Between his brow and the top of his skull were two chitinous horns. His burning, red eyes were riveted on the Ark, and an ichorous liquid escaped his lips as he salivated in anticipation. In one swift movement, the dark angel grasped and effortlessly lifted the Ark.

Before the creature could escape, Ezekiel uncloaked the Atlas, exposing its Light from the Holy of Holies. The demonic angel of darkness sneered as he turned, cringing from the Light, as Ezekiel uttered his prayer: “I ask for God’s Light of the Holy Spirit to surround, fill, and protect this Ark of the Covenant and all its contents.” As if stung, the angel of darkness dropped the Ark, but a beam of light from the Atlas caught it and held it suspended in midair. Raka raised his clawed fist in anger, spitting fire in contempt. His crimson wings unfurling, the dark angel cursed, “I will have the Ark. What I did with Atlantis will be nothing compared to what I can do once I possess it!”

Ezekiel touched the screen activating the Crystal Lux Portal. The holographic Portal opened, and the illumination beam pulled the Ark through the astral door. Distracted, neither Ezekiel nor the dragon saw a small, round brass object with twelve gems tumble from where it had been fastened to the cloth cover of the Ark.

The golden ship vanished as the tiny brass treasure tumbled below the floor into the dark abyss as the temple burned, then collapsed into itself.