INTO THE VOID

CHAPTER 30: UNDER THE SAND

“I have but a few rules. Always stay hydrated, stay close to me; do not do anything I would not do and do not do anything I do. That’s it; let’s go and walk in the sands of history.” Abdulsamad said. “Galahardy old friend; May the sun shine on us for many days to come.”

“Same to you habib...” Galahad said, addressing Abdulsamad as his beloved. Galahad stood by the driver’s seat and watched Petrichor and Xaviere get into Abdulsamad’s buggy truck. He did not get into the car until they had driven off.

They drove for minutes. The city was hot and dusty. The first stop they made was at The Great Mosque of Gaza. They could not enter into the place because they were laws against entry of tourist. They stood far away and looked at the amazing architecture of the building; beautiful patterns were carved into the walls.

“It is so beautiful.” Petrichor said.

“Oh, yes it is…” Abdulsamad concurred. Xaviere quickly took pictures on his phone.

“That’s against the rules.” Abdulsamad reprimanded him. Xaviere put the phone away and they walked around for a few minutes before getting back into the car.

They drove around for almost an hour in the scorching sun. Abdulsamad always reminded them to stay hydrated. He also drank a lot of water during the journey.

“We are here.” Abdulsamad said.

“…where exactly?” Xaviere asked. Abdulsamad had brought them into an empty sand plain. There was nothing here, not a building in sight.

“You don’t see it?” Abdulsamad asked

“No, we don’t. What exactly are we looking at?” Petrichor asked.

“Follow me…” Abdulsamad said, with a hand gesture. Xaviere and Petrichor looked at each other, held and followed him apprehensively.

“Welcome, to The Lost Castle of Imhotep.” Abdulsamad said very dramatically. He was a dramatic man. They looked and saw a big excavation just a few meters from where they stood. Inside this hole, buried in the sand was a whole building. It was massive.

“Oh my God…” Petrichor exclaimed.

“We are one of the first people to behold this glory. On one of my desert explorations, I came across this marvel. Legend has it that Imhotep used his fortune from building the pyramids to create and edifice for himself in the desert. It kept it a secret because he felt the Pharaoh would be mad at him for building and edifice that was more beautiful than anything he was paid for. Archeologists have looked for years and I came across it by mistake.” Abdulsamad said.

“How do you discover an underground castle by mistake?” Xaviere asked.

“Good question.” Abdulsamad said and laughed. “On a particular day, I was in a hurry to go somewhere. I was really late and there was heavy traffic in the city. So, I decided to take a shortcut through this desert. As I passed through the place, I noticed my compass was acting really weird. So, I decided to stop and have a look. I noticed there was a lot of magnetic interference from underground. So, I got to digging.

A few shovels in the ground and voila; there you have it, The Lost Castle of Imhotep.

“That is just amazing.” Petrichor said.

“I cannot believe we are here right now. This is amazing, thanks a lot.” Xaviere said.

“Wait till you see the inside.” Abdulsamad said.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa; we are going underground?” Xaviere asked.

“Yes we are; what purpose is the beauty of a house you cannot see? Abdulsamad responded.

“Excuse us for just a moment.” Petrichor said, smiling at Abdulsamad. He nodded his head and then turned to look at the pit with both hands on his waist and a smile across his face. He was proud of the sight.

“C’mon Xaviere, this is not the time.” Petrichor said

“What do you mean?” Xaviere asked.

“I really want to see what’s in there.” Petrichor answered

“I am cluster phobic.” Xaviere said.

“You have the ability to geographically translocate and you’re scared of a little sand? Do not tell me you are also scared of mummies.” Petrichor asked with a smirk on her face making references to their previous conversation.

Petrichor held his hand and said, “It will be fine, I am here and he knows what he is doing.” After a little deliberation, they agreed to go inside the ruins. There was a lever system constructed by the diggers. They used it to get into the excavation pit.

The entrance into the castle was a giant eye of a hawk. Abdulsamad lit a torch with a lighter and walked in. Xaviere and Petrichor followed behind and then Xaviere said, “Here goes nothing.

The insides of the palace were dusty and old. They walked very slowly and carefully through the halls. The only illumination they had was the light from the flaming torch that Abdulsamad carried in his hand. Just as he had said, the palace was a lot more beautiful in the inside. The amount of art work in this place reflected how much of an art lover Imhotep was.

The walls were plastered with gold and there were a lot of beautiful bronze statues. There were Hieroglyphics all over the walls. There were so many rooms; each room had its own peculiar set of hieroglyphic. Abdulsamad made them understand that what there saw on the walls were stories. Each room had a story to tell and based on the story it told, the purpose of the room could be known.

For instance, the dining sections of the castles had different stories about food on the walls. Inscribed on some walls were the mythologies of the Egyptian gods and their generosity towards man. In a bedroom, they saw on the walls intricate craving about arousing s****l positions. Petrichor made a comment about s****l curiosity being a trait of man irrespective of the era or civilization.

For about thirty minutes, they walked inside this underground marvel. Abdulsamad then said,

“Ok, that’s enough for today. We need to start heading back.

“But we just got here.” Petrichor said.

“We need to be back to Galahad before it gets dark. We don’t want him worrying and trust me when I say, ‘When it comes to his jobs, he does worry a lot.’”

“Just one more room please.” Petrichor said. ”..What is behind that door? …” She asked.

“I… don’t …know.” Abdulsamad said slowly.

“Nobody move, do not touch anything.” Xaviere said.

“What’s wrong?” Abdulsamad asked. They all froze like a deer at headlights. Petrichor stood so still; she was barely breathing.

“Something is not right. All the rooms we entered did not have instructions on the doors; this one does.” Xaviere said.

“Let me have a look.” Abdulsamad said. “It is a warning. It speaks about cursed knowledge. It is an Egyptian version about Pandora’s Box.” Abdulsamad said.

“Isn’t that Greek Mythology? What’s it doing here, inside an ancient Egyptian ruin?” Petrichor asked.

“There is only one way to find out.” Abdulsamad said.

“I feel we should just go.” Xaviere said.

“Come on, this could be a ground breaking discovery.” Petrichor said to Xaviere.

“I am going in.” Abdulsamad declared as he pushed open the door. There was a large creaking noise. The door moved open very easily, a little too easily for something that has been shut for thousands of years. Abdulsamad was excited, Petrichor was curious and Xaviere was apprehensive. They all walked into the room and what there saw was quite remarkable.

Within this mystery maps, they were large shelves that were very tall. The shelves were taller than anything Xaviere had ever seen. He then concluded that this must have been a library. All over the place there were papyruses. There was a table in the middle of the room with a lot of sheets scattered on its surface.

The three of them walked towards the table and looked at what was on its surface. There were drawings; plans of different structures that Imhotep worked on in his lifetime. Everywhere there were these drawings; most of them incomplete. Simple things like cups were also drawn but with intricate designs.

“This isn’t just a library; it is Imhotep’s personal library.” Xaviere said.

“He was such a genius. These are so beautiful.” Petrichor said.

“This would be worth millions of dollars.” Abdulsamad said. This moment showed the fundamental difference between their three personalities. While Xaviere was fascinated with knowledge, Petrichor was wowed by the aesthetics but Abdulsamad was all about the money. They looked around in the library, marveled at the thing they saw. They saw plans of monstrous buildings. There was a particular sheet with a foot drawn on it.

“It seems Imhotep was a kinky man.” Petrichor said smiling.

“Let me see.” Xaviere said as he walked over to Petrichor and looked into the sheet she was holding.

“It is a building. It is like the pyramids but shaped like a foot.” Xaviere said excitedly.

“That’s a really funny project to invest in.” Petrichor said.

“That is The Foot of Rah; the sun god. The say he stands and faces the east. Being a good, the Egyptians believed that his feet must have been huge. Imhotep was going to build a statue in his honor but there was no one to fund the project.” Abdulsamad said.

“Just look at the detail he even designed the toe nails.” Petrichor said. As they looked through the library, they found a chest made of pure gold. The affluence in this castle was mind blowing.

“Just look at this… that is more than a hundred karats of gold.” Abdulsamad said.

“Whatever is inside must have been really valuable to him.” Xaviere said. Abdulsamad proceed to slowly open the chest. He stretched his hand forward and touched the lid. He then lifted it up very slowly as though if he was too quick, it would shatter but in reality, this box was not fragile; Abdulsamad himself testified to this fact. It was made of gold; heavy gold.

As they looked inside the now opened box, they saw stacks of rolled up sheets very neatly arranged. What are these documents were they were of very high importance. You could tell from the carefulness used to keep them and the worth of the chest; even the textures of the sheets were different from the other ones they saw scattered on the table.

“Equipments of war…” Abdulsamad said.

“What?” Petrichor asked.

“That’s what these are; Imhotep was designing weapons.” Abdulsamad said.

“He wasn’t just an architect; he was also a war engineer. He designed their weapons.” Xaviere said as he looked through the blue prints of different Egyptian devices of belligerence; swords, battle axes, bows and arrows of different designs. From these plans, it was evident that this man understood basic aero dynamics and used it to concoct equipments of warfare. There were also pictures of circular shields with sharpened edges. In the plans, these shields could be thrown like Frisbees and can be use for melee close contact assaults. Imhotep was a great thinker; it showed in his designs.

They were all looking at the different drawings of devices. There were many prototypes that did not see the light of day but just the fact that a person could have such wild imaginations at such an era in history; it was simply marvelous.

“This looks familiar, I know this symbols; I have seen this coat of arms before.” Xaviere said passionately as they looked at the drawings of some chariots. The designs were very intricate like all the other drawings before. On the side of the carriage, a hawk was carved into it. Xaviere was convinced that he had seen this carriage before.

“Where exactly have you seen this?” Abdulsamad asked. “I am an archeologist and Egyptian war enthusiast and I can tell you confidently that before today, no man has seen the drawings of this particular carriage except Imhotep himself and the Egyptians warriors who rode the contraption.” Abdulsamad said very confidently.

"No, I am certain about this." Xaviere said, looking intently at the drawings