3.83 The Golden Egg

         Nepheus stirred as a dim beam of light crept across his eyes, followed with a shot of pain. He tried to open his eyes but they were stuck… Suddenly the images returned, he ripped his eyes open, but the sharp shock of bloody lids coming unstuck was nothing compared to the painful reality he woke to. One glance was enough. Agonized, he covered his eyes with his hand… For a moment his mind went blank again. As he wiped his eyelids free, soft soundtracks drifted into consciousness, bringing him back to reality. Sobbing...

         He was alive… He took a deep breath, now noticing the odour of death was thick in the air. He sat up, forcing himself, but it was too overwhelming again, agonized he rolled back down into a fetal position. The sobbing around him was turning into a chorus. Slowly he pushed himself up off the floor again, summoning the strength to face the scene in the Crystal Temple, now illuminated by a beam of dim morning light.

         "Oh... My... God…" His eyes darted to the crib, overturned. Reality was just too much to bear. "No-o-o-o-o!" He howled collapsing to his knees, sobbing in agony. "DENA… Whyyyyy?"

         Through her own veil of tears Zara watched him wake up and break down, she understood his loss so well. The pain of a child being torn from her heart once again was a cruel, cruel price to pay for having tasted the Forbidden Love. As if she could feel his pain herself, watching Nepheus fall apart only added to the agony she felt inside.

         "DENA!" He searched the room with frantic effort. "NEL!" Neither of them were anywhere to be found. "Oh my god!" He squeaked again, collapsing in front of the altar, naked now, robbed of the ancient divination tools and precious last books that had survived the war. Crippled by emotions, he began hyperventilating as he scanned the room, the tent city was completely demolished, bold fighters struck down in the fight still lay wounded on the floor, there wasn't a single baby or child left behind, all of them had been taken.

         Suddenly he spotted Mina, crumpled on the floor by the table. "MINA!" He rushed to her side, he pulled her hair back from her face but it was saturated in blood. "MINA! WAKE UP!" He shook her shoulder but her body was cold and rigid. "MI-I-I-I-NA!" He shook her again, desperately.

         Even Neter didn't notice the ray of light, piercing through the clouds. He felt like such a huge idiot, he knew in his gut there could have been a nefarious reason he was led away from the temple on the Solstice eve. It wasn't a coincidence. Why had he been such a fool? Tortured, he pushed on harder, dreading of the consequences of his stupidity. Were Bell and Josh taking over the temple? Would he return to find his people enslaved by the very Gens they rescued?

         But alas, as they approached the temple, the sounds of distress could be heard coming from inside the temple, there was barely a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney.

         "Oh… My... God…" He stopped to catch his breath, neither of them wanted to face what lay beyond. "Oh Jasun... Something happened... This is worse than anything…"

         "Come!" Jasun took the lead and pulled him forward. "Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds!"

         But when they hurried into the temple they were met with the most ghastly and wretched scene of carnage and despair, the stench of blood was unbearable.

         "NINA!" Jasun bolted into the room, frantic, but only a dozen or so faces looked back, teary and bloodstained, unable to speak... No Nina. "NINA!" He rushed through the demolished tent city, pulling back sheets, wildly searching for his love.

         As if walking into a deep freezer, Neter knew Mina was gone the moment he stepped inside the temple. It was like walking into a strange place he had never been inside before. He glanced at the altar, Nepheus was sobbing, in front of him lay a red blanket of hair, tousled about his knees...

         "MINA…" He  dropped to his knees beside them and leaned down to hear her heartbeat. "Oh Mina… Oh my god... Mina... What will become of us now? My god... Mina... What have I done…" Like a child, he was reduced to tears, it was all just too much to bear.

         "It wasn't your fault" Nepheus tried his best to comfort him.

         "What happened?"

         Nepheus filled him in as best he could, having missed the first part.

         "We were tricked, the Nefilim showed up, Mina let them in then the gods arrived. Half the refugees had secretly joined their side, they just got up and joined forces once they arrived, kidnapped all the children and clobbered anyone in their way. Mina put up a good fight. We were completely outnumbered."

         "The refugees?" Neter echoed, scanning the carnage again, realizing, this was simply history, repeating. He was feeling faint, lack of sleep was making it really hard to stay composed. "Were any of them Vikkar's Nefilim?"

         "Yes" Nepheus replied. "Ra-Ku seemed to be some sort of ring leader but that Torus freak was the one in charge." Even though he had missed the show in the Grand Courtyard, tales of the terrifying god and his sick assault on Min hadn't gone untold. "There was no sign of Vikkar or Ku. Like you said, he has the sword, it's demonic sword in his hands you know."

         "I know…" Neter let out a heavy sigh, it was just too much. "Where's Min?"

         "They took her."

         It was impossible to make sense of the assault, they had done nothing but help the refugees, had the issues of menu selection really been enough to bring this on?

         "NINA!"

         From where he sat, Neter could see Jasun, still frantically searching for his loved ones. Were there clues he had missed? The Funeral Salon... Was that what was going on inside? They were plotting the plunder of the last Lemurian tribe? That's why Bell was making friends with the boys… Nepheus was right, they had been planning this for a while.

         "Is Aquilla okay?"

         "It was a gag" Neter briefed him on their side of the story. "Like you suggested, this all was a theatrical script, we chased deer blood all night long."

         Relieved at least to hear that Aquilla wasn't injured as reported to be, Nepheus let out a heavy sigh.

         "NINA-A-A-A…" Jasun was falling apart, still desperately searching the room for Nina and Europa. Like a madman, now he was throwing debris and broken tents aside. It was unbearable to behold, it would take a while for his fire to smolder. Neter was still struggling to grasp reality himself.

         "They took all the babies?"

         Nepheus gestured towards Jasun. "He won't find them. We can’t tell him. He has to realize that for himself." Death was one thing, but their loved ones, kidnapped and enslaved by Torus was a burden none of them could bear. Devastated like never before, Neter watched Jasun break down as he finally acknowledged the loss. He walked over to be by his side, knelt close to comfort him as best he could. It was more pain than any of them could carry, a tragedy so devastating it made the last holocaust seem like a mere dress rehearsal. No one here, could ever have imagined this.

        

         So traumatized were the survivors in Anur, so busy were they assessing the damage, taking care of survivors injured in the fight, and recovering themselves, no one noticed the ray of morning light, casting it’s spell inside the Crystal Temple.

        

         Neter noticed Zara sitting in a lump across the hall, damaged beyond belief, still staring at the door… "They took Cane." 

         "Yeah" Nepheus replied, "She's shattered."

         "Nahash?"

         "He's missing. So is Akku."

         Stiffening, Neter summoned whatever strength he could to go on.

         "I can't believe I fell for his act... I feel like such an idiot."

         "So do I" Jasun lamented. "We all fell for it though." But as the words left his lips, the beam of sunlight cast across Neter's face.

         "LOOK!" He jumped up and pointed to the window. "THE SOLSTICE!"

         Everyone looked up to the window. A tiny ray of golden light had finally broken through the smog and was shining into the temple window casting a golden wand across the crown of the ancient egg.

         "Look!" Gasps of wonder awoke the survivors as they beheld a glittery aura, enveloping the egg as the sunlight cast it’s light upon it, almost illuminating the stone egg. Wakened from her zombie state, Zara stood up to see, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing…

         "Wow…" The stone egg seemed to spring to life, like a giant light bulb it illuminated the temple with it's brilliant light! The light shone brighter and brighter until the egg began to explode with a million beams of golden light filling the temple with a warm and loving glow, filling their broken hearts with joy.

         Neter fell to his knees, holding his arms out to the Light. He closed his eyes in prayer, drawing upon the energies channeled inside the hall, calling out to the souls of his lost loved ones, to Mina, to Nulu, to Vikkar, and Nahash... He called upon the energies of his cousins and brothers, siblings and sisters, all who were lost to the machine of the Atlan Empire. He called on the spirits of the tortured lives that were trapped in the temple at Culloom, at the gate to Fina, in the labs, to the souls lost in the depths of the Underworld, the lost souls of Sol and the Unicorns that still roamed in his heart… He ran with them all through the mushroom fields of joy…

         He began singing, a gust of wind whistled through the window, the whistling sound resonated like a musical note the Crystal Temple began to hum. And as the wind blew harder, the draft began to spin around the temple, lifting the dust up from the floor. But as the wind grew stronger and stronger, as the whistling grew louder and louder, as the dust flew higher and higher, a blinding tornado of crystal dust was soon spinning around the room.

         "The Golden Egg... " Zara whispered, filled with wonder as the stone cold artifact sprung to life. Suddenly her mind was filled with images of Orien, filling her heart with joy… They were running together through the mushroom fields, laughing… Nahash! Nahash was there too! Smiling, calling out to her... She could see them!         

         "The Promised Land!" But within only a few moments she had to shield her eyes as blasting particles swept past her face, she could only catch glimpses of the crystal dust storm, charged with energy, growing brighter and brighter, funneling upward in a swirling spiral of energy, into the roof, through the roof of the Crystal Temple!

         "The Light Serpent!" she gasped as she beheld the magical twisting light spiraling up from the egg. She glanced at Neter, it was as if the light was gong right through his heart!!! "Wow…" Now she understood the truth about the Golden Egg. Mina was right, only those who had seen the Golden Egg knew how gold it really was. This magical power, this was what Atalon was so desperate to control. The Light Serpent was Phoenix Power and Phoenix Power was real! The Promised Land was real! The whole Phoenix and the Golden Egg thing was real!