Prologue
From the Depths of Despair Is Born
Hope
As The Agony of Defeat Oft Bears the
Fruit of Victory
Egypt
1915 A.D.
WORLD WAR I WAS RAGING throughout
Europe, but it meant nothing to Ed.
His childhood sweetheart had
recently rejected him for another.
Ed, a man of limited means, had only
an undying love to offer; it was
not enough. Edward Leedskalnin fled
Latvia and the life of his humble
beginnings.
The invisible hand of fate guided
him out of Europe and into Egypt.
After sleeping all day, Ed awoke to
the smell of rot and human waste in
a room barely large enough to fit a
man of even his small stature.
Reaching over to the one minor
convenience in the room, a shallow
pan, he violently regurgitated much
of the previous days meager diet.
After writing a few obscure lines in
his old and tattered pocket journal,
he made his way into the heat of the
early evening. The sun had set and
the moon was full, brighter than
ever he remembered. He had spent his
last few coins in readying a camel
with a small amount of provisions.
His brief journey into the desert
sands of Egypt began.
Ed traveled for hours, guided only
by his intuition. Tired and thirsty,
he came upon a stand of rocks about
the size of a small campsite − an
area so nondescript as to go
unnoticed for ages. Visible far off
in the distance, was one of the
largest pyramids of ancient Egypt.
Ed dismounted and made his way into
the center of the outcropping. He
sat, opened his small leather bag of
provisions, ate a few bites of
bread, and sipped a few drops of
precious water. Despair clothed Ed
like a crushing weight. His life
could have ended there, making an
imperceptible ripple in the fullness
of time. The only testament in the
years to follow would be his bones.
Just a simple skeleton considered
ordinary by all but the trained eye,
the right side of the skull slightly
thinner than the left.
It was not to be.
When the moon above seemed
brightest, Ed noticed a faint glow
in one of the rocks nearby.
Inspecting it closer, he could make
out the rough outline of a human
handprint. He placed his hand over
the soft radiance − it was a perfect
fit.
At his touch, the rock shifted
silently to reveal an opening. As
small as he was, he could still
barely fit through. Had Ed not been
so utterly despondent, he might have
had second thoughts before entering
the pitch-black crevasse in the
middle of nowhere. As it was, he
squeezed through with no hint of
hesitation.
With not even enough room to crawl,
Ed slithered down the dark
passageway scraping his forearms and
thighs on the rough rock floor along
the way. He descended deep into the
bowels of the Earth, struggling with
each breath for air. Hours passed.
At each point where the tunnel
split, a glowing circular mark
guided him further into the unknown
depths.
Ed was near his last breath,
physically brutalized and bleeding
from the seemingly interminable trek
through the tunnel. Having descended
nearly a thousand feet beneath the
desert surface and at least a mile
from the entrance, he reached an
impasse. There was no room to turn
around.
He slowly turned his head and looked
over his right shoulder. There on
the tunnel wall was another radiant
handprint, exactly like the one on
the surface. It was a titanic
struggle in his constricted position
to place a hand over the dim outline
−
he did it. The moment he covered
the soft glow, the impasse in front
gave way to an opening, which cast a
pale luminescence into the tunnel.
Ed inched his way through the new
access and collapsed on the floor a
few feet below.
The air is better here,
he thought.
Ed stayed crumpled on the floor for
minutes, an eternity in his weakened
condition. He breathed life back
into his frail and battered form.
The image meeting Eds eyes when he
arose would stay embedded in his
memory for the rest of his life. He
stood on the side of a wall which
towered a full three hundred feet
above him. The wall sloped inward to
meet a circular ceiling, nearly a
thousand feet in diameter. The base
of the room, also circular, must
have measured at least two thousand
feet across. He gazed at the expanse
before him. The room was
inconceivably large.
More than that, everywhere he looked
was opulence and beauty beyond
belief. There were frescos and
paintings to rival the works of
Leonardo da Vinci, sculptures of
marble to bring tears of joy to the
eyes of Michelangelo, and mosaic
tile work whose beauty would evoke
jealousy in the likes of Venus de
Milo. Silver, gold, and jewels of
every color adorned even the
simplest of items.
A soft light invaded every crevice
of the room. The source of the light
was a complete mystery. Ed could
have sat at each of a hundred
different marble benches spending
days absorbing the beauty of his
surroundings, listening to the
calming sounds of the many fountains
of clear spring water. As it was, he
simply bent down and quenched his
thirst from the nearest miniature
waterfall. The moisture was ambrosia
for his body.
From his position on the side of the
room, the floor terraced down
towards the center. The midpoint of
the room acted as a magnet to the
eye, and Ed was not immune to the
allure. He walked as if drawn
towards the center, slowly gaining a
little strength as his body
continued to absorb the fresh air
and feel the benefits of
rehydration.
Ed reached the lowest point of the
vast expanse. Just in front of him,
the floor began a slow ascent in a
series of circular terraces. At the
top was a single platform. It
appeared to be located at the exact
geometric center of the room. Each
terrace had a set of coffins equally
spaced around the perimeter. The
higher the level, the more intricate
were the designs on the coffins.
Unbeknownst to Ed, the markings on
the level just before the top
signified malevolent rulers.
There was a single coffin centered
on the highest platform, which
differed from the rest. Although
magnificent in construction, it was
clearly simpler in design. The foot
of the coffin was adorned with a
single engraving, a solid silver
pyramid with an eye made of gold. Ed
walked directly to the coffin. As if
in a trance, he opened the lid.
Like his first sight of the room,
the image that now met Ed's eyes was
also to become permanent in his
memory. A well-preserved corpse lay
unobtrusively within the coffin. The
left hand of the corpse was resting
on an ancient tome embossed with the
symbol of the pyramid and the eye.
But what the right hand held was
dazzling. The opulence that Ed had
seen since entering the room now
seemed fleeting. It was at the same
time both simple and complex, the
epitome of beauty yet not, emanating
both power and futility.
To the dispassionate eye, it was a
simple translucent scepter barely
ten inches in length and less than
one inch around. Although color and
geometric variations appeared along
its length and circumference, it
appeared to be a single crystal with
neither crack nor crevice marring
any facet of its surface. To the
touch, it was uniformly as smooth as
polished glass.
With a mechanical conviction born of
his deference to destiny, Ed removed
the tome and scepter. The mysterious
scepter seemed to float into his
hand as if from its own volition. It
was as light as a feather and
stronger than stone. The ancient
tome was large with an intricately
decorated leather cover. It was
easily three inches thick, even more
if the heavy binding was included.
Ed carefully closed the lid to the
old sarcophagus.
At the base of the coffin was a
small altar. The altar, a mere speck
in the entire vast space, contained
worldly treasures beyond
imagination. Ed took one of the
jewel-encrusted candelabra. Although
a man of simple means, he was well
aware this single treasure would
make him wealthy. Removing his
bloodstained shirt and carefully
wrapping up the scepter, tome, and
candelabrum, he began the trek back.
His pace quickened in lockstep with
his growing anxiety. Ed was
beginning to sense that he was not
alone in the underground cavern. In
fact, by the time he reached the
point where he had entered the room,
he heard the echo of voices speaking
in a language he did not understand.
With increasing concern, he noticed
that the opening to the tunnel had
vanished. A perfectly smooth wall
had taken its place. He was sure he
had properly retraced his steps.
On the wall to the left and right of
his entrance, Ed saw some subtle
etchings. Almost instinctively, he
reached into his trousers, withdrew
his pocket journal, and read his
morning entries.
Rightful Owner Be
Candelabrum for Life
Tome to See
Scepter for Power
Escape from Strife
Earth, Wind, Fire, and Ice
The etchings were pervasive on the
walls for as far as the eye could
see. There was nothing special in
the placement of the etchings near
Ed's position that revealed their
secret. They were a puzzle key,
which opened a hidden and fateful
escape to the surface.
Spying a single drop of blood from
where he had collapsed into the room
only one hour before, Ed was now
certain he was in the right place.
Quickly scanning the nearest
etchings, he touched in order the
symbols for earth, wind, fire, and
ice. The small access appeared as if
by magic out of the solid marble
wall.
After another quick drink at a
nearby fountain, he made his way
back into the tunnel. He closed the
secret door by placing a hand on the
glowing handprint inside. Pushing
his makeshift bundle in front of
him, the shirt that carried the
seeds of his new life, Ed began
retracing his painful journey to the
surface. Better air had temporarily
flowed into the passageway, easing
his upward trek.
Edward Leedskalnin would soon travel
to the United States of America,
never to see the desert sands of
Egypt again.
Moments after the secret passage
shut, the main door to the cavern
opened. Two figures entered with
their black ceremonial robes
silently brushing against the
polished marble floor. They were
deep in conversation.
