Red Serpent: The Falsifier (5 page)

It was about 2:00 AM when Alex, John and Grandma Howe reached the Estate. Apart from when John spoke occasionally to the driver of the limo, the ride home was a silent one. The limo pulled up into the garage where many other vehicles were parked. When they got out of the car, the silence discomforted Alex even more. He was eager to know everything and say something but, seeing his uncle’s solemn face, he remained quiet. His grandmother looked at Alex and placated him with her kind gray eyes.

Inside the manor, John sighed and sat down on the leather chair. “Okay Alex,” he said. Alex sat down on the sofa facing his uncle. Grandma wandered off into the kitchen to prepare some coffee. “What I’m going to tell you,” continued John, “is just the beginning of what you really need to know.”

Alex remained silent.

“Now, you do know that you were the last human to be born on the Earth. In fact you were born on the day of the last battle. Of course you were too young to remember anything.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “What are you getting at, Uncle John?”

John exhaled, “I’m not the one to tell you this story. Your mother is.”

Alex looked confused. “My mother?” He felt foolish even thinking it. “Is she still alive?” he heard himself ask.

Alex’s grandmother came in with three hot cups of coffee on a tray which she placed on the table. “Well, where have you gotten till?” She asked, sitting down on the sofa next to Alex.

“Uncle John mentioned my mother.”

“What have you told him?”

“I told him about the day of his birth and I was about to tell him its significance.” John turned to Alex. “Your mother wrote you a letter and it’s this letter that reveals the truth.” Uncle John stood up and walked over to the library in the hall. He began to root around the cluttered book shelves. His fingers finally rested on an old tome which he pulled out. Suddenly the library slid open, revealing a silver door. “The letter is in here,” he called out to Alex, gesturing toward the silver door.

Alex got up, more baffled then ever. “What the hell...”

Grandma Howe took Alex by the hand and led him to the library. “Come and see what your mother left for you,” she said.

Alex felt queasy as his palms sweated. He eyed his uncle with apprehension. “Look, I...I...” he stammered.

“We have time. You want this or not?” John’s sharp eyes stuck to Alex’s.

Alex nodded, silent for some time. Then, with more confidence, he said, “I want this.”

“Now, this is a test to see if you are what we think you are,” John said.

“What test?”

“Put your hand here on this knob,” John pointed.

Alex did as he was told and heard a whirring noise from inside the entrance. He felt a tiny shock and let go.

“The first part of the test was a fingerprint scan and a small nanopin pricked your hand to check your blood,” John said.

“Why would it need to check my blood?” Alex asked.

“You’ll see,” said his uncle, smiling. His eyes glimmered with the excitement of a little child.

The door slid open, leading to a long passageway. As he approached it, the ground lit up with a pure bright light, illuminating the walls.

“Now you’ll have to go inside and see for yourself.” John said.

“You mean you’re not going to come with me?” Alex’s voice trembled.

“No,” said Grandma. “We promised your mother that you’d do this alone.”

Alex stared at his guardians, waiting for one of them to say something else.

Grandma Howe smiled. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. When you get to the end, you’ll know just what to do.”

“But how will I know where to go and what to do?”

John put his hand on Alex’s shoulder. “It’s a straight path. You can’t fail.” He gave a gentle push and Alex went beyond the threshold. Instantly the door reappeared behind him, closing him inside. Now there really was no going back.

As he walked on and his eyes adjusted to the bright path, Alex wondered how this place was possible. Did the Council build this secret passage? Did they even know it existed? Maybe Uncle John was keeping secrets from the rest of them.

Fifteen minutes passed and Alex could see another silver door at the end. He quickened his pace, eager to find whatever it was that he was looking for. He checked his watch. 2:35 AM. He wondered whether his guardians were still awake, waiting for him.

He reached the second entrance and saw that it had no handle. Alex touched it to see if anything would happen. Nothing. He tutted in irritation and searched around to find a switch or key to open the door, but there was none. Then he heard the same whirring noise he had heard at the entrance. Out of nowhere, a robotic voice echoed in the corridor. “Please state your name,” it said.

“Alexander Howe III,” he replied.

“Access Denied!”

He tried his mother’s name, “Miriam Howe.”

The voice didn’t say anything. The whirring sound grew louder and faster. Finally, the voice said, “Access Denied! Three attempts left until total lockdown.” His guardians hadn’t told him anything about this. Surely they hadn’t forgotten? He tried his uncle’s name. That didn’t work either and nor did his grandmother’s name.

This was his last chance. He thought of going back to ask his relatives, but he suspected they would not hear him through the closed door. Again, he searched around for some clue. Just then, he noticed a small inscription in Cuneiform on the door. He touched it and immediately a thousand different inscriptions appeared, all in ancient languages. There was Hebrew, four different dialects of Aramaic, Sanskrit, Egyptian, Arabic, Urdu, and many others. Alex realized they all read one thing. A name. Aidan. He read it aloud and the robotic voice said, “Access Granted!” The door slid just like the first one, revealing a room. Once he entered, the door materialized again behind him.

The room was large with hundreds of books crammed on shelves all around. In the center was a small waterfall. Alex gasped. The flowing water was red. His cheeks tingled as he came to the realization that it was in fact blood. The blood flowed down from the fountainhead into a small pool.

His stomach churned. Fear crept up his skin. He turned around, paranoid that there might be some kind of monster behind him. A chill crawled up his spine. What if there were vampires here? He tiptoed cautiously over to the pool to take a closer look. But then he stopped, afraid that if he came any closer, something would jump out and kill him. He waited and looked around once again, keeping his right ear pricked for any sounds. The sound of the cascading blood echoing through the room was the only thing he could hear.

Alex wandered around the rest of the room. There were chairs and a Louis XVI style desk. There was also a coffee table, exquisitely decorated in gold and platinum, and four lounge chairs, a deep red sofa, and two recliners around the coffee table. He walked over to the bookshelf on his left. The literature ranged from science, history, political science, legends, classical, Greco-Roman literature, Shakespeare and ancient literature. There were scrolls from Alexandria, Taxila, Nalanda, Athens, Rome, and many other ancient centers of learning. Alex returned to the desk. On it there was an old book.

It was bound in leather and the cover showed a silver cross with a brass snake wound around it. In plain English, the long title read
The History of the Dynasty and a Plain Translation of the Verse of the Ardemic Prophecies.
Beneath this was the subtitle,
Included: Supplementary Material on the Secret Histories and on the Lineage of King Anaxagoras XXIX by John Benjamin Howe.
Alex opened the book to see strange writing in a language unknown to him. Next to these were the corresponding English translations. He browsed through and read the section on the Ardemic Prophecies, which had been bookmarked:

XXIX. There will come a time when the Earth’s moon shall darken. A large destructive force will strike down upon the armies of the King. Fear not for the Lord of All Bloods shall save them and destroy the impure ones that were cast out of the Earth. The False prophet known as the Falsifier is the Enemy of the King and yet he shall be called the Son of Men and Anisaei alike.

XXX. The Red Serpent, the One from whom all things came shall avenge the deaths of his servants. He shall resurrect them and make his Children immortal.

XXXI. And then I saw the One who is False and he said to me, “I have a power, unlike any other that no being has ever known nor ever shall. Only you, and soon the King shall know.” And he told me the secret, which none but the Holy King and I know. This king shall be known as the direct heir of the Red Serpent, and he shall be called Anaxagoras.

Alex stopped. So many questions rushed through his mind as he flipped through the other texts. He stopped at another bookmarked section and started to read:

A Brief Overview of the Nyrax Dynasty

The Realm of Migra was a place where people dwelt in eternal unity and selflessness. They had knowledge which was handed down by tongue and by written documents. This wisdom consisted of various philosophies, religions, cultures and all other aspects of societies across the Universe. At that time, 150000 BC, they were the most advanced civilization in the Universe. When they came to the Earth about 10000 BC their knowledge spread throughout the planet but was distorted by the inhabitants of the Earth. The lofty ideas, founded by the Migrites, were propagated in the Vedas, the laws of Hammurabi, and other treatises founded in Egypt, India, Arabia, Greece, and Atlantis.

Stories of this race abound in religious and philosophical texts. They are represented as beings from the sky and other worlds. They were given names like Devas and Asuras from the Vedas. Gods like Osiris, Isis, and Horus were actual people who were worshiped for their supernatural abilities. They came from Migra where they developed these abilities. In fact, all Migrites have these “powers.” These special methods were recorded in texts and were later absorbed into the teaching of Yoga, Pranayama, Zen Buddhism, and even the teachings of Christ. That which the great teachers taught was all handed down from the Migrites. Over thousands of years, these powers became a part of evolution, and the Migrites were born with them. The notion of spirits, demons, and other supernatural entities were added later by so called “Avatars” and “Saviors”. In truth these elements were nothing but a figment of their imaginations. There was no scientific evidence for any of it.

Before the reign of Argos, the first king of the Nyrax dynasty, there was complete chaos. The planet had been democratically ruled, but there was widespread corruption among the Senate and Consuls. One man rose to the top and declared himself Emperor. This was Markos, who ruled for a mere one thousand years; at that time, the inhabitants of Migra had an average life expectancy of two thousand years. They also had the ability to survive without food or water. They took their energy in its purest form, directly from the sun. Therefore there were no diseases or sicknesses amongst the population. Only death resulting from old age remained inevitable. In 10000 BC, however, they learned how to cheat death and taught Christ the technique much later. They were able to resurrect themselves but this technique was kept a secret by the Great Teachers. Of course, problems arose when the Kings learned to do the same and so after the reign of Anaxagoras XXV (c. 10000 BC), the kingdom deteriorated. After the reign of Alexandros II, war broke out.

In the Markian Empire, relative peace prevailed. But as an Emperor, Markos wanted more power. He conquered other realms (planets) and in doing so, created a solar empire. Using the other planets’ resources and manpower, he made Migra the center of that system. He even changed the system’s name to the Migra System. After 750 years of rule, the people of the Migra System became distrustful of the Empire. They wanted a better ruler, someone who was democratic and yet strong at the same time. Eventually the “revolutionaries” found a man who fit that ideal. This was Argos, the twin brother of Markos. Argos was a diplomat and a very important member of the Board of Advisers. He never let the personal mix with the professional. He too was dissatisfied with the corrupt reign of Markos. The revolutionaries asked him to speak to Markos. One evening, while having dinner with his brother, he brought up the subject of the people’s unrest. Markos said nothing and tried to change the subject. When Argos persisted, the emperor became furious and yelled at him. He spoke about the people in a way that no leader should. Argos had enough and politely took his leave. In his heart, he had already turned against his brother. He would have to be careful from now on as suspicions were bound to arise about his true loyalties.

The next day, Argos met with a man named Fabian II who was the leader of the revolutionaries. The revolution officially began when Argos joined Fabian. Meetings were held on Jostna, an icy realm at the furthest reach of the system. Argos came to and fro constantly and word got back to the emperor. Markos sent spies to watch him. When he discovered what his brother was up to he had him arrested and taken prisoner for treason and terrorist plots. But this did not stop or even slow down the revolution. The people of Migra, appalled by the arrest of Argos, stormed the prison gates. Bloodshed ensued and the Migrites succeeded in freeing Argos. Soon after, they joined forces with the other planets and waged a full-fledged war against the Markian Empire. General Gregorious III centralized the command of the revolutionary armies and was successful in seventy-two of the one hundred and eight battles that were fought. These included the Battle of Drego Fort, the Battle of Kilas Plains and the Battle of the Foria Desert on Migra. In addition to these famous turning points were other successful campaigns on the planets Jostna, Kolwar, Urwqene and Hildkür. The space force was commanded by Fabian who was then officially known as Admiral Fabian II. However, they had limited ships and space-fighters, which in the latter years of the Migritic Revolution became a major liability. Fabian was finally defeated and killed in the Space Battle of Jostna. There was a major loss of ships and fighters. Admiral Johannes took over and miraculously managed to turn the entire fleet around. One after another, they won many battles, especially after 895 M.E. (Markian Empire) when Argos Nyrax created numerous foolproof strategies.