The following is new Lost Tale set in the world of the Watchers of the Light. This mythos was first revealed in Book 1, Among the Shadows, and continued in Book 2, Awakening. This story takes place some years prior to Among the Shadows when Ethan and Milena met in college. Be wary of what you awaken in dark places…
For once, Ethan was missing the ocean and winds along the Bay of Campeche. He wasn’t much of a beach guy, but Milena would often convince him of making the long drive to the coast in the evenings or on the weekends. Enjoying the colorful Mexican coastal towns, and time by the ocean, were a welcome reprieve to working in the humidity and dirt at Palenque. Milena was a different story. In spite of her love of the beach, the sands and water were quickly pushed aside by her excitement at the dig site. The tiring hours in the heat had no effect on her.
Ethan walked through courtyards in the ruined Mayan city. Lost for centuries, and reclaimed by the Lacandon Jungle, the site had been kept clear in recent decades, after the first serious explorations in the 1800s. Temples and pyramids had survived the ravages of time, outliving the civilization that had built them by generations. Now it was a major tourist destination, but Ethan really wasn’t here for sight-seeing.
Milena didn’t look up as Ethan approached her. On her hands and knees in an excavation pit, she carefully removed dirt from a stone carved with glyphs. Two years into her studies as an archaeology student, it hadn’t been hard for Milena to persuade Ethan to join her for the summer dig. Their college and another university sponsored the work — and it was work. Any ideas Ethan had of spending the entire summer at resorts quickly evaporated into the jungle. He didn’t mind, though. He shared Milena’s fascination of ancient culture. More importantly, he wasn’t about to miss a chance to spend the summer with his girlfriend, in spite of her intention to put him to work.
“I know you are watching me.” Milena sat back on her heels, removed her sunglasses, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her long, black hair was in a ponytail; her skin tanned from weeks of working under the tropical Sun. She turned to Ethan, and smiled. He handed her a bottle of water he had retrieved from the base camp.
“Just enjoying the view.” That earned him another smile as he knelt beside her. “What does it say?”
Milena ran her fingers over the glyphs on the stone panel. “I think it reads, ‘Lost is the divine lady, lost is the king.’ Sounds sad, or ominous, like everything here. I love being here, but this place is haunting. Especially at night.” Which was the main reason she didn’t like spending the nights in the camp. Both her and Ethan knew what existed through the veil and among the shadows. Did anything roam among these ruins other than the jungle animals?
“Who knows how many were sacrificed here?” Ethan looked towards the Temple of the Skull, remembering its namesake, grotesque skull carving. The Mayans had sacrificed thousands to provide nourishment to their deities. No doubt this was one cause of their civilization’s collapse. “Still, I’d like to explore inside one of these pyramids.” Thus far, they hadn’t received permission to do so. The Temple of Inscriptions contained passages to a burial crypt deep inside. It was kept closed to the tourists, and the students working the site.
“I want to, too.” She may be uneasy at times, but she didn’t fear the Darkness. Together with Ethan she had been learning much about themselves and their place in the world. Evil sought to oppress them, but only because it feared them. “How about tonight?”
“Seriously?
Milena had been gifted with abilities few other humans had. On their hikes into the jungle, she had made friends with a spotted jaguar. The female cat guided them along ancient paths. Milena’s gifts weren’t limited to communicating with animals. Power simmered in her body, a power she had learned to suppress. Once, Ethan had seen its full release and the destruction it caused. Ethan showed no fear and didn’t leave her side. Not because of his own gifts of strength, speed, and stealth. No, it was something more. His love for her.
“Yes, seriously. The rest of the team is going to the coast for the weekend. It would be the perfect time.”
Ethan had forgotten it was Friday, but not Milena’s fearlessness.
“Sure, why not?” That earned him a kiss.
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
As the Sun slipped low in the western sky, Ethan and Milena climbed the stairs ascending eight levels of the stepped pyramid. A temple rose on the ninth level, its five doorways open to the northeast. Ethan looked back over the ruined city, bathed by the blood-red sunset.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? In a creepy sort of way.” Milena said, from behind him. “Darkness took hold here.”
“Yes, it did.” Ethan thought for moment, then added, “I wonder what brought it all to an end?”
“That is the question archaeologists have been asking for over a century. The answer may be something our world doesn’t want to hear.” Milena held on to Ethan’s arm. “Let’s go inside.”
The shadows retreated as the ruddy light penetrated half of the temple. Hieroglyphs decorated the walls. Milena shined her flashlight over the carvings. Stylized Mayans. Forgotten deities. Menacing beasts.
“Here it is. It’s locked.” Ethan pulled on a door covering missing flagstones. When the stones had been removed decades earlier, a steep stairway was found plunging into the depths of the pyramid.
“Pakal the Great’s tomb is at the bottom.” Milena had seen a reproduction in the National Museum. Hundreds of feet below them was the real thing. “Think they’ll send us home if we get caught?”
“I never get caught.” Ethan smiled. Then, calling on his strength, he twisted the padlock, snapping off the hasp. He swung the door open and Milena shined her light below. The shadows retreated, but only so far. She hesitated, if for but a moment.
“You go.”
“What about ladies first?”
“Not this time. I’ll be right behind you.”
Two flights of stairs steeply descended to a landing nearly at the base of the pyramid. Another set of stairs, only a few steps, led down into a vaulted chamber. Air reached the chamber through ducts ingeniously placed through the pyramid. Both Milena and Ethan shined their lights into the void, illuminating the tomb of Pakal, the ajaw of the city-state of Palenque.
“There it is.” Minerals sparkled on the sarcophagus lid. Milena got close to the stone, tracing the carvings with her finger. “This is exquisite.” Here was one the most iconic examples of Mayan art. “See how Pakal is positioned on the celestial serpent, underneath a cruciform world tree. Those symbols around the edges are cosmological signs, and on the sides over there and here are noblemen.” She paused and pointed her flashlight at the center of the stone lid.
“Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“Something green. I thought all the jade artifacts were removed from here a long time ago.” Then without warning, Milena climbed onto the sarcophagus.
“Hey, hold on second, should you be on there?”
“Don’t worry, this thing weighs a few tons. It won’t break.” Milena cleared some dust from an object carved in front of Pakal’s right hand. He looked like he was about to grab whatever it was. Flecks of green were embedded in the carving. As she reached for it, she felt energy flowing through her body. At first she thought the emerald glow emanated from her eyes, but once she touched the object, the entire lid shimmered to life. Milena fell backwards into Ethan’s arms. He had climbed up after her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, look at that!”
The carvings around the perimeter began to glow, alternating in shades of green and yellow. Then the room began to shift, rock ground against rock as eons of dust and debris fell from hidden places. Before either of them could move, the shuddering ceased and silence returned to the crypt, and the illuminated carvings faded.
“What was that Ethan? What did I do?”
“I don’t know what happened.” Ethan looked around. The passage was clear. “Over there! That’s new.”
At the top of the stairs, a panel of glyphs had broken lose and shattered on the ground. Behind it, a passage led deep into the pyramid. Ethan looked at Milena. She was smiling.
“Wait, you’re not thinking about going in there?” The emerald sparkles in her eyes gave Ethan his answer before he finished the question.
“A new, undiscovered passage? Are you kidding?”
“I guess not.” Ethan shined his flashlight into the darkness and saw no end to the passage. “Well, let’s see what you’ve gotten us into, Lara Croft.”
The passage went on for many yards, and by Milena’s best estimate, they had gone through the pyramid and into the hillside directly behind it. The passage curiously lacked much in the way of carvings; its walls were unfinished and rough cut. Then it changed abruptly into dressed stone, with Mayan glyphs running in a line half way up the wall, parallel to the floor.
“Some of this script is familiar, some of it isn’t. I still don’t know all of it.” Milena slowed tried to read the ancient writing, but much of it was unknown to her.
“I feel air coming through here,” Ethan said. “I think we are coming to an opening, or hopefully an exit.” There was something else starting to build. At first it was barely noticeable. A shifting in the veil. Milena was saying something. Quiet. Ethan grabbed Milena’s arm. Her eyes communicated she felt it, too.
What is it? she asked. As the thought passed between their minds, their flashlights both failed, but that wasn’t the darkness which concerned them. Ethan looked ahead, his eyes swirling with the blue light, Milena’s brown eyes glowing emerald.
“Something evil is here. Something is about to be released into the world.” He knew what they had to do. “And we happen to be the only ones able to stop it.”
The passage continued for only a hundred or so feet, opening into a vast cenote. High above, a small part of the limestone ceiling had collapsed, flooding the sinkhole with light. Crystal clear water, fifty feet below and likely hundreds of feet deep, still rippled from the falling debris. Unlike the other cenotes Milena and Ethan had seen in Mexico, this one had been modified by the hands of men centuries earlier.
A stone path crossed the chasm, and at its center, a circular platform supported a carved monolith. The pathway disappeared into the distant wall, and another path crossed through the center of the circle. Below them, Ethan noticed stone arches holding the pathways, and stairs descending into the waters. He sensed they were not alone. Something watched from the shadows.
“Do you think it’s safe to cross?” If something was here, it was neither human nor animal. Milena surveyed the cavern for any place something may be hiding. She had confidence in her abilities, but weapons would be a nice find.
“It doesn’t look damaged, but it’s been centuries since anyone has been here.” Ethan looked at Milena. “Human, anyway.” The ground above was too high to reach from below. The darkened doorways at the end of the pathways could lead anywhere. If something had awakened here, it had yet to show itself. Something caught his eye on the monolith. “Let’s take a look at that thing. Keep an eye on those doorways.”
“Okay, let’s see what’s out there.” Milena led the way, walking slowly at first. The suspended pathway was solid beneath their feet. As they approached the monolith, Milena could see the carvings on the perfectly shaped cube. Each panel depicted fearsome, inhuman creatures. She walked slowly around the cube, trying to read the glyphs.
“This is a history of…wait, no, this is something else. We shouldn’t be here. What have we done?”
“What is it? What does it say?” Ethan heard the concern in Milena’s voice.
“This place was a prison. Here the Mayans locked up their gods for eternity. Those gods weren’t myths. They were demonspawn from some hellish dimension.” Milena looked up at the cube, its height only a few inches higher than her head. “Lift me up there.”
Ethan helped Milena reach the edge, and she pulled herself up. “This is what you must have seen.” She held some sort of battle axe in one hand, and two swords in the other. They had lost much of their shine to centuries of dampness and minerals falling from above. Their edges, though, appeared as sharp as the day they were created. “We might need these.”
Shrieks echoed through the sinkhole. A rock landed in front of Ethan. Then another.
“Give me that axe. We have visitors.”
Out of one of the tunnels ran two twisted beings of the underworld. Their emaciated bodies looked human, other than their undersized arms and claw-like hands. Their heads were elongated skulls, more than double the size any normal person’s head.
“The Mayan Death Gods,” Milena breathed. She tossed Ethan the axe, and more demons exited the tunnels as she leapt off the monolith.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
“Wait until you see what I have planned for next weekend.”
“Can’t wait.” Her eyes burned green. She flourished then crossed the swords, their blades shimmering with emerald light. Ethan felt the weight of the axe, its edges now tinged with blue fire matching his eyes. The Light coursed through both of their bodies as they ran to meet the Dark One’s servants.
Ethan made quick work of the first two, their heads falling into the water below. He kicked the bodies over as more of the evils emerged from the tunnels. They had no weapons other than their claws and wicked teeth which would likely bite through bone with ease. Ethan swung the axe through another, ducking as another lunged at him, before it plunged over the side.
Ethan’s speed was unexpected by the demons. They were not used to humans with such skill and power. Only the twin brothers Hunahpú and Xbalanqué had been able to imprison the Lords of the Underworld. These two had the brother’s weapons, but they must not be allowed to live and prevent the reemergence of the gods to reclaim their empire. The humans wouldn’t last long.
Milena’s swords sliced through the air with such fury, the demons never saw the blades before their heads and arms were lost. As she moved around the monolith with Ethan, and onto the pathways to meet more of the monstrosities, no end was in sight. They kept coming, running and jumping over their fallen, screeching in an unintelligible, dark tongue.
“We need a plan!” Milena watched Ethan dispatch another demon, and she turned and sent two more over the side to their death. “There’s too many of them!” She had yet to tire, but the swords would soon become heavy.
“Let’s get back to the pyramid!” As they neared the opening, Ethan turned toward the horde of beasts. He knew he and Milena and killed dozens, yet it didn’t look that way. The creatures hesitated a bit, and didn’t run across the pathway. They were wondering what the humans were planning. Their concern would be short-lived.
“Can you do it? Can you bring the ceiling down?” Ethan asked.
Milena looked above to what was likely thousands of tons of dirt and rock. If she unleashed her energy, she could entomb the evil here for all eternity. She could also lose control and kill herself and Ethan. Once in the forest as a child, and not long ago with Ethan, she had nearly done so. She had done everything to suppress this part of her gifts and didn’t know if she would ever be able to control it fully.
Ethan pushed the demons back with his power. They were momentarily confused, and he didn’t know how many times he could expel that kind of energy. He did know Milena could do it on a much larger scale.
“Milena, now or never!” If this didn’t work, they would have to escape through the pyramid. Maybe they could block the tunnels.
Milena stepped forward, her eyes green supernovas. The Dark One’s horde paused. Even they recognized a manifestation of the Light. Silence filled the chasm for an imperceptible moment before energy expelled from Milena’s body, shattering the earth above.
Milena and Ethan sat on the beach, looking out over a calm ocean. The dig site had been closed for the season after an earthquake had rocked Palenque. The hills behind the temples had collapsed in on themselves. Maybe next year the archaeologists and students would be allowed to return. Maybe.
“Well, we don’t have to be home for another two weeks. I think I can manage to sit here that long. More or less.” Ethan smiled at Milena. She had taken nearly three days to recover after her energy release. He had carried her out of the temple, which thankfully had been largely intact.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Milena turned over in the sand, smiling back at Ethan. “I thought we could go do some more exploring.”
“Really? I don’t think so.” Ethan jumped to his feet, picked up Milena and ran to the water, dropping her in.
Later, as they watched the Sun disappear in the west below the jungles and hills, coloring the sky a fading magenta, both wondered what more hid in the jungle and elsewhere in the world.
Both had the uneasy feeling this would not be the last time they faced schemes and creatures the Darkness was even now quietly preparing to unleash.
© 2024 Darrick Dean
Drawings by Frederick Catherwood
Darrick Dean 