"Professor, are you sure we should be here?" The archaeologist looked back at his intern in disgust.
"Do you fear the dust? Perhaps the killer cobwebs?" She shook her head.
"This place has been undisturbed for thousands of years. You said it yourself. Why would the Persians hide something like this in Babylon? It doesn't make sense." He started to smile.
"Your mind is quick to peer into the questions, but the answers are down here. Not up there, written on a wall for us to discover. The Persians didn't put the information even in their own tongue. It was written in an even older dialect." She frowned.
"It was similar to Egyptian, and other similar scripts, but the only other older language I can think of, with a known written language, was Chaldean. Ur was one of the oldest human cities." He smiled again.
"True, but if you check outside of secular history, the oldest intact set of writings tells us that Babylon was the first human city after the Great Flood. Whether you believe those writers or not, Nimrod first built Babylon in an attempt to make a great name for himself. The ancient tower of Babylon, now just rubble, sits on top of this site. They built on top of something...very ancient." She frowned.
"What did they build upon?" She watched as he turned away from her, but she noticed how the beam of his powerful lantern seemed to waver, as though he could not keep his hands still.
"A prison for the most ancient of horrors. The Destroyer that was to be released at the Apocalypse."
She shivered, though she knew the air was warm. There was a heaviness in the air, almost as if something didn't want them there.
"Sir, shouldn't we camp for the night? Its nearly nine in evening." He shook his head.
"There is no need. The entire area is completely intact, and the ground has not shifted in the many centuries these chambers have existed. Besides...." he smiled again, and turned towards her. "We are at the main chamber." She looked around and moved her own light to see what he did. Her mouth fell open.
"Its an underground pyramid?" He chuckled.
"Ziggurat. Its similar, but was square, and could easily be confused with a temple, or early palace. Look at the solid stone buttresses that extend out from the sides, and the one piece pillars that hold the massive stone slab above our heads." She moved the beam to see what he pointed out, while his own stayed straight ahead, fixed on his goal. A single massive door.
"Holy....do you think its rigged to collapse if its opened?" The professor stopped, and thought for a moment.
"I don't think so. This entire elaborate set up seems to be meant to keep people away from this chamber." He pointed to the door. "If you'll notice, there isn't any kind of lock, or trap near the door. We may need to translate the writing on the door posts, but I think this wasn't to keep something in, but to keep others out." She frowned.
"Why would they want people to stay away from here if it isn't meant to keep the Destroyer in a prison cell?"
"Well, if there was a being who would be responsible for destroying the entire world, could any room made of stone keep it inside? It might not be meant to keep it in, but keep us out." The professor had no idea how correct he was.
"What is it?" Nimrod asked his advisers.
"We are not sure, your Highness. It could be a messenger from God, or a god on its own. We have attempted to kill it, but...." Nimrod turned on them angrily.
"Well? Spit it out!"
"Nothing works, sire! Spears bounce off! Boulders bounce off! Arrows bounce off! We can not move him, and we can not hurt him." Nimrod stomped around his throne room.
"Then what do I do with it! Its in the middle of my city!"
"We could always build around it." Someone suggested. Nimrod turned, then began to smile.
"Dig under it, place a stone slab under its feet, and see if we can lower it, or if its going to be right in that place forever."
It took several days, but when they lowered the slab, the massive being went down with it. Then they all vomited violently. From the greatest, to the smallest, all were violently ill at the exact same time. Then the being spoke.
"Do not disturb the Destroyer or else be destroyed." Nimrod shivered.
"Lower him slower, and build a Great Ziggurat around it. Make sure no one disturbs it. Ever."
"The writing is clearly early Babylonian, and warns those who make it this far to not disturb it." The intern swallowed a lump that suddenly formed in her throat.
"Um....sir?" He turned towards her irritably.
"What is it? Can't you see.....oh shit." The great stone door had a line begin in the middle of the stone, then flow out in a spider's web over the surface. Once it reached the edges, the stone became sand, and flowed out like a river that burst its dam. Both were swept off their feet, pushed to the edge of the path, and half buried by the tumult.
"Professor!" she called out, then grew silent. She watched fearfully as an incredibly large figure slowly stepped out of the stone cell, walked through the darkness and into the light of the lantern. She then heard the professor speak in a hushed, terrified, but excited tone.
"The Destroyer! Its.....real!"
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