3.57 All The Gold

The Pyramids, glistening bright in the morning sunshine towered with promise of a majestic and mighty New Empire. After the Final Meeting, the gods residing in the Royal Residence bunker made their way up the hill to take cover for the Coming War, now only a few hours away. As they arrived at the gates, the king turned around to take in one last look at the Old Empire.

         "Ahhhhh... " he let out a sigh of relief.

         The entrance to the Royal Residence was dressed with ceremonial banners, a band of drummers stood either side of the red carpet leading up to the door, announcing their arrival. There was a short ceremony and a chance for the staff and friends to wish King Atalon all the very best for his Coming Reign over the New Empire.
         But before the gods could bunker down, Final Inspections had to be made, scrolls had to be combed and tablets authorized. With haste, Atalon and Halios marched across the lot towards the storage bunker, followed by an entourage of aribu, clutching the inventory tablets and scrolls. The storage bunker was packed tight inside, dampening voices which once resonated as if inside a giant empty shell. The ramped turnpike passage was flanked from floor to ceiling with cells of storage, neatly identified with accompanying itemized documentation tablets, boxes and crates, every invention and prototype, all the latest machinery from the Underworld was stacked from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, no room was wasted. One by one the scribes checked off the items on the scrolls as they made their way to the top, every cell of the way, in painstaking diligence. 

         "Come on, let's go!" For Atalon the exercise was torture, he wanted to know that everything was in place as it should be, he didn't want to learn of any more flaws in the Grand Plan, he could barely take the pressure building inside. With disciplined patience, he followed the winding ramp that corkscrewed the building inside. At the top of the pyramid, safe behind an extra set of iron gates, stored at the highest elevation, elevated beyond any possible flood or lava flow was the most important storage of all. Here at the top was all the treasure of the empire, the gold and precious stones, artifacts from ancient Solaria, the books of the New Empire, the Old Empire and the Solarian Empire that most believed to have been burned or lost long ago. 

         "Your Honor!" The guard swung the gate open and stepped back to let them inside. But when the gods stepped inside they beheld an empty room. There was too much space available, something wasn't right.
         "Look!" Atalon pointed to another door on the far wall. "It's in there!" 

         The gods hurried across the room and opened the door, but the inner chamber was also bare. For a moment Atalon suspected a prank, a really bad one.

         "What is this? IS THIS SOME KIND OF JOKE?" The possibility that he had been robbed at the eleventh hour was too much. "NO... Please GOD nooo-o-o…" He began hyperventilating, a sharp pain exploded in his chest, stars darted across his eyes as he fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably now.

         "Mighty Medel…" Halios felt like a noose was cinching his throat, adrenaline raced through his veins making him feel out of balance, this was definitely not part of the plan. Who had betrayed them? 

         "GET UP!" He roared, pulling the king up off the ground. "HELP ME!" He barked at the aribu. Suddenly, memories of lunchtime returned, Torus didn't show for lunch... "TORUS IS GOING TO DIE!"

         "TORUS?" Atalon snapped, now on his feet, dusting himself off, regaining self control, fists clenched. "HOW DO YOU KNOW IT WAS TORUS? TORUS WOULDN'T DARE!"

         "Because the only parasites that could have physically accomplished this are the Nefilim and they're too damn stupid to pull something like that off." Halios had a point. "It's called logic. Did you see the Security involved in the Treasury Transportation? Hmmm? Security for WHO?" 

         Atalon wasn't satisfied with blaming those now sailing away. Angry, and recovering rapidly from his debilitating shock he lunged at the General, grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. 

         "It was YOU! YOU STAGED THIS! THIS IS WHY YOU INSISTED ON YOUR BELL BOYS TO MOVE ALL THE BOXES!!!" 

         Halios could hardly breathe let alone reply as Atalon repeatedly slammed his head into the wall. He gagged and struggled in protest, doing all he could to pull Atalon's hands off his neck. Eventually Atalon let go, just as life began to slip away. Now it was Halios's turn to drop like a sack of potatoes to the floor. 

         "SPIT IT OUT YOU WEASELY LITTLE FISH!"
         Still wheezing and gasping for air, Halios rolled onto his knees, got up and dusted off his uniform, regained his composure and took a deep breath, fists clenched.

         "I... It wasn't my doing" he insisted, voice barely audible. "You have to believe me!"

         "And you expect me to! GUARDS! SEARCH THE RESERVES BUNKER!!!"

         "They won't find anything!" Halios protested. "I told you, I know for a fact; Bell WOULDN'T DARE do such a thing! Besides, he has no support even if he wanted to!" Atalon's eyes were like laser beams burning into his skull but he was so mad he could hardly care. "I'll tell you who it was" Halios had equal reason to be enraged as the king, even more so, realizing the degree to which he had been fooled, the shock was almost enough to bring him to his knees without having been strangled. "It was Nolan!" 

         "Nolan?" Atalon tried to picture it. Nolan was a wild card but he had the intelligence of an inbred Gen. 

         "Think about it. That little fundraiser gag... What exactly was that? Maybe it was a bigger fundraiser than we realized! Maybe the Soloha was just a cover! Nolan's the Serpent among us. Maybe he has Serpent friends in Lemuria! Like, Serpents that came and stole all the aribu! Just watch, he'll magically find the Lost Treasure and be the Hero of Ebar or something!" It wasn’t a coincidence, Atalon could see it too now, in fact it was Crystal clear.

         Before the Old Empire had even been destroyed, the gods emerged from the storage bunker faced with fighting the first crime of the New Empire. 

         "We have to make a plan" Atalon hissed. "I want you to organize an operation, we're going to go after them as soon as the smoke has cleared! It's the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!" He pointed towards the Reserves bunker. "I WANT THEM ARMED AND READY TO GO AFTER THOSE CRIMINALS THE SINGLE SECOND THIS MOUNTAIN IS GONE!" 

         "Yes, Your Honor!" Halios snapped in salute. He didn’t know who took the gold for certain, but he knew this; Celebration or Crisis, it didn’t matter either way what mood the king was in. Either way, Atalon would indulge in the wine with his dinner tonight.