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"Look at that!" we suddenly heard Edward exclaim enthusiastically. Only now could we see that the tunnel had ended, and we were standing in a square cave.
The smooth surfaces of the walls showed that this could not be a naturally formed cavity. There was rubble everywhere, indicating destroyed pillars. Rounded, man-sized fragments prevented the rest of the ceiling from collapsing.
Was this a dead end? No passage was found anywhere. Had all our efforts been in vain?
Sam walked along the edge of the cave with the torch, and Edward examined the rocks.
"Come here quickly," Stephan called out, waving to the angel with the torch. "I think there's something here."
Sam and Edward quickly went to Stephan, and the God of the First Light joined them. The four stared at the spot the demon had pointed at, which Sam was now illuminating with the torch.
"There's a passage," muttered Edward. Shortly afterward, the men pushed an elephant-sized boulder to one side—at least the three supernatural creatures did. Edward directed where the remains of the pillars should go.
"We can all fit through there. I'll go first," Sam decided, having already disappeared into the hole with the torch. Our room briefly went dark until the angel reached the other side of the narrow passageway and lit the way for Stephan. As soon as all the men had crawled through, Aspasia and I followed through the opening, and we were amazed when we squeezed our way out of the gap.
We were in a small chamber with a stone table in the middle. Curiously, we approached it. What could this be?
"It looks like an altar," Edward said, assessing the find, sliding his fingers over coin-sized indentations carved into the stone.
Sam held the light closer while Tanael examined the characters.
"It says here: bequeathed by King David to his son to protect the holy ark in these walls erected for God together with his cherubim," he translated the scripture.
The literature student interpreted, "Two golden-winged cherubim were placed on the Ark of the Covenant. So, it could be the location of what we are looking for."
"But it's not here anymore," Sam groaned and looked around with the torch. Suddenly, he paused. "It looks like it really wasn't given away voluntarily."
We all followed his gaze, and I took a step backward as I, too, discovered the many skeletons lying scattered on the floor in front of the half-destroyed side of one of the walls. They stared at me from their empty eye sockets. Almost as if they were still looking accusingly at those who had killed them somewhere in the distant past.
"The only question is, who is lying dead on the ground here, and who took the Ark of the Covenant?" Edward pondered. "Aspasia, can you remember anything from when you were here at that same time? After all, you must have arrived here with the Ark of the Covenant."
"No, unfortunately not. Disguised as one of his slaves, I accompanied King David to Jerusalem, where I went into hiding. I put the documents entrusted to me in this ark, where they remained because I had to flee unexpectedly and could not retrieve them in time. It was more by chance than design that the Ark of the Covenant and I were in Jerusalem simultaneously, but it was then interpreted differently throughout history. As if the Grail and the Ark had always belonged together, although the story of the Grail only really became public knowledge after Jesus' death," said Lilith's daughter.
"What documents are you talking about?" Tanael wanted to know.
"I'm afraid I don't know that. I only know that they belonged to the Queen of Sheba." She sighed. "I was sent to Jerusalem by her. As one of her spies."
"It was obvious she had something to do with it. After all, it's her son who is also suspected of stealing the Ark of the Covenant and taking it to Ethiopia." Sam laughed in frustration. "It's a real shame we weren't here on earth then. It seems we missed a lot," he turned to Tanael.
"I have the same feeling," grumbled the God of the First Light, running his fingers thoughtfully through his hair. "We won't find anything here, that's for sure. Let's go back and discuss how we want to proceed in the underworld."
"You're right. Besides, I need a shower," Sam groaned as he tried to knock the dust off his black jacket.
"I can only open the portal very briefly. Otherwise, it would attract too much attention, so we must go through as quickly as possible," Tanael explained. "I'll count to three. As soon as the gate to the underworld appears, you run!"
Everyone nodded, gathered their hats and jackets, and lined up beside the god. I did the same but stood at the end of the queue to avoid bumping into Tanael.
"One! Two! Three!" At that moment, a portal opened, just big enough for one person. Sam threw the burning torch on the ground, which would continue to give us light, and immediately disappeared through the gate, followed by Edward and Stephan. Aspasia jumped after them. But why hadn't the God of the First Light slipped through yet?
"Come on, Myrina; it's about to close!" he called to me, grabbed my hand, and together, we stumbled through the world gate at the last moment into Tanael's gardens' colorful splendor. It was well past midday, and the light was blinding me. The portal disappeared as soon as we landed in the grass.
"Why did you hesitate?" scolded the angel who had held me like a pillow as I fell, preventing me from hurting myself. Now, I was lying under him, his body on top of mine.
I immediately stiffened. In the distance, I heard the murmuring of the others.
"I'll see you later."
"Let's get out of here quickly."
