Rise of the Serpent - 1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Serpent

By Celethiel

Enos Segura fled across an ancient causeway. Blood covered his tanned skin, and his cloths were torn by the wind. The storm around the man mirrored the one in his head. And Enos’s mind could barely comprehend what had happened. It was only the strength of his fear pushed him forward. He saw movement in every shadow, and felt eyes behind every corner.

“We should have never gone into the cellar. We should have never followed the sealed door into the cavern.” The young man’s mind raced back to how it all started.

…

Enos sat on a rocky outcrop overlooking the blue green waters of Lake Petan Itza. He idly tossed a rock down the hillside as he sat with his best friend awaiting the other two members of his crew. “I am so bored; when are they going to get here?”

Jorge frowned, his black eyes narrowed, “I don’t know, man. They said that they’d be here by 11:00.”

Enos frowned looking at his shorter friend, “Well, it’s 11:30.”

Jorge just shrugged and tossed a rock down the hill himself.

Just then there was a rustling in the bushes behind them, as the two others walked up to the boys.

One was Celestino, a dainty little thing, especially next to her younger brother, Alejandro.

Alejandro Luna was 6’7” and built like a great bear, to the point of having a patch of fur-like hair running down his chest.

Jorge walked over to Celestino and leaned down to kiss the girl; his hands sliding along her body down to her hips, “What took you so long?”

Celestino kissed Jorge back, running her hand along the side of his shirt and hips, before pulling away to respond with a flick of a wrist to her giant of a brother, “Him, as usual.”

Enos looked up, “What was it this time? You found a shiny bottle?”

Alejandro glowered, “Hey, I haven’t done a thing like that since I was a little kid.”

Enos ignored Alejandro’s indignation. “Well, what did you find?”

Alejandro grinned, “I found a house.”

Enos arched an eyebrow and gave Al a frown, “Ok… and?”

Alejandro twitched nervously, “Well, it’s abandoned… and I thought we could, you know… explore?”

“I see, well luckily for you I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Alejandro gave Enos a grin then barreled off back down the hill.

Enos frowned, “He could have waited a bit.” The young man ran his hand through his black hair and stood up. “See you two there if you’re not too busy.” Then he took off after Alejandro.

The heat rolling off of the lake played with his form and in seconds sweat flowed down his bronze skin and played along his muscles as he ran down the hill.

Below him he could see Al barreling down the rocky slope like he would start rolling down the hill any second, before the big man disappeared around the corner of a building.

The young man made it to the bottom of the rocky slope with little trouble, and was glad to see Alejandro waiting for him on the corner of a nearby building. “Well, at least you waited for us to catch up.”

Alejandro shrugged, “Well, you said you’d come. What about Celestino and Jorge?”

Enos gave Alejandro a shrug in return, “If they don’t show up in five minutes, we’ll just go without them.” He joined the giant in his vigil on the wall, but the two did not have to wait long for Celestino and Jorge.

The group then made off through the city of Santa Elena and crossed the causeway onto the island of Flores.

The city around them had grown old, the streets were cobblestones, and many of the buildings were made of plaster bricks, and just as many were ramshackle buildings. However, the city was the center of Guatemala’s antiquity trade so there were more than a few high class hotels, and museums.

The group rounded a corner, and then Alejandro pushed open an old gate to an overgrown courtyard, and looked around with a speculative eye.

An ancient fountain sat in the center, water barely trickling down into the star-shaped basin from the three tiers of circular dishes above, one half broken off into the water below. The cobble stones that once made up the yard were now grown over with vines and grass.

The building behind the courtyard looked like a small mansion, especially in comparison of the ramshackle shacks that the group lived in. But it, too, had been tarnished by age. Vines were growing up the walls, while long strands of moss were hanging from the portico and second story balcony. On a whole the place had a feel of being deserted for several years.

But Enos knew better, “Hey Al. Didn’t old-lady Albret live here?”

Alejandro shook his head in response, “I heard she died a few weeks back, something to do with a runaway cat and a cart of tomatoes.”

Enos gasped in realization, “Oh yeah. I remember hearing about that. No one came to her funeral.”

Celestino gave Alejandro a look of horror as she spoke, “So we’re stealing from a dead woman?”

Alejandro shrugged, “No, the council ordered the place cleaned out soon anyway.” With that he pulled open one of the carved doors only to watch it fall over into the courtyard. The boy turned his head back and gave his friends an embarrassed grin.

Enos just shook his head, “You know how to pick them.”

Celestino frowned, “Why did she let this place go like this?”

Jorge shrugged, “Does it matter?”

Celestino shook her head as she followed the boys into the house. “I guess not, but if I lived in such a grand place I would have never let it become like this.”

Enos followed Alejandro into a once grand entrance hall, now filled with decay.

The big man kicked a silver urn, turning the thing over; dust flew out over the floor. The big man picked it up, looking it over before speaking. “How much do you think this will fetch, Enos?”

Enos looked at the urn with an expert eye, “More than we could make in a week working on the farms.” The young man took the urn out of Al’s hand and set it on an old table, “We can pick it up when we leave.” He looked around taking in the desolate scenery before speaking, “Jorge, Celestino, you two go upstairs see what you can find. Alejandro you’re with me.”

The group split up and Enos explored the main floor of the building. They traveled through a sitting room filled with rotting doilies, a dining room filled with cracked ancient china, followed by a kitchen with the moldy remains of Albret’s last meal.

It was then that Enos opened a door and revealed a staircase down into the darkness.

Looking around for a second he spotted a lamp sitting next to the stairs. The dark haired man took hold of it, and turned it on. The lantern’s white light nearly blinded him for a moment. Then the young man slunk down the staircase.

The basement had the musty smell of decay and the sharp tang of metal permeated the air.

The two boys scampered down the stairs into a huge basement, around them old artifacts of a bygone era glittered like treasure. Things that were far older than what should have been there. Spanish swords and armor were placed carefully on shelves only to gather dust and spider webs. The lamplight glittered off of something else, a decadent golden cross built upon a shrine.

Enos looked around the room in awe, “Why did she have this here?” slowly pulling a sword from a shelf, and looking at his reflection on its ancient but perfect edge. The weapon looked very much in contrary to the old house up above.

Alejandro eyed the objects with greed, “I don’t know but we will be rich beyond anything I could have dreamed.” The big man reached out and took hold of the crucifix and he pulled the enshrined icon from the pedestal. There was an audible clicking sound and then a shaking as a wall pushed away and slid to the side.

Enos frowned looking at it, “What is that?”

Al grinned, “I don’t know, let’s find out.” Then the big man strode off towards the passageway hardly waiting for Enos to follow him with the lamp.

Enos slid the Spanish sword into his belt as he followed Al down into a tunnel. The walls cast eerie shadows around him, and the smell of metal grew stronger.

The tunnel soon broadened out into something made long before Flores existed. Ancient Mayan glyphs and strange carvings filled the walls, showing scenes of death, mutilation, blood and snakes.

The tunnel moved down in a steep staircase, to Enos it felt as if they had to have gone down five stories.

The whole place felt wrong, and the young man took hold of Alejandro’s arm just as the two entered a huge cavern. “We should go back.”

Avarice was plainly written on Alejandro’s face even in the dim light of the lamp, “Why? You scared?”

Enos frowned gritting his teeth, then shook his head, “No, of course not.”

Alejandro grabbed the lantern roughly from Enos then moved into the chamber, revealing mummified skeletons, gold and gems scattered all about around the room. All about the cavern were styled statues of serpents standing up as guardians of an altar in the center of the room. Some looked to be brilliant jade, and others to be obsidian. The skeletons looked as if they had fought a battle between each other. Some had swords sticking through them, and wore dried and rotting feathers on their heads, while others were wearing Spanish helms and cuirasses and had arrows and obsidian axes sticking through them.

Upon the altar were the mummified remains of a woman. She wore the remains of a long flowing robe and a feathered headdress, a treasure in ornaments wrapped around her arms and fingers. But upon her neck a single brilliant green gemstone glimmered like the eye of a predator.

Enos walked around the room examining the remains, then picked up one of the obsidian weapons, and ran his hand along the edge of it. Then whimpered as the weapon sliced deep into his hand, “It’s still sharp, hey Al…”

He turned and brought the axe to his friend.

Alejandro was leaning over the woman on the altar, his fingers grasping at the emerald dangling around her neck. “Yeah, what is it?” He said looking up.

Enos showed Al the blade, then his bleeding hand. “Pretty cool, huh? Those Ancient Mayans knew their stuff.”

The blood dripped down from his hand onto the mummy’s face, slowly wetting and running into its mouth.

Alejandro shrugged dismissively, and rolled his eyes. “You can’t manage not to get hurt, can you? Whatever! I want this necklace…” he looked back down at the corpse running his fingers up the chain.

Enos shook his head, and sat down beneath the altar. “This place could be a big deal, you know.” He tore a piece of his shirt off and wrapped it around his wound, a little hurt by Al’s disregard of him. “Why are you so obsessed all of a sudden?”

Then suddenly a spray of blood covered his face and hair as he looked up expecting an answer. “What the…” then he saw the female corpse had ahold of Alejandro and the big man was struggling in her grasp, his arm tore open with a gaping wound that the mummy had its mouth wrapped around.

Enos jumped up and tried to separate his friend from the creature attacking him.

The mummy didn’t even look up at Enos and just passively moved its hand, and without even a touch sent him flying backwards.

Enos landed roughly on a skeleton, and as he picked himself up the female mummy let go of Alejandro and stood herself up.

Al crumpled to the floor like an accordion, all life seemingly pulled from his body.

The creature opened its green eyes for the first time and looked down at Enos, speaking with a still elegant voice filled with a sinister authority. “Ten ol ziil a uchucil a otzil uinic.” Then slowly began moving towards the man.

Enos scrambled backwards tearing his clothing on the clutter, “W…What? Leave me alone!”

The creature twitched as muscles and skin began to grow back on its flesh then it spoke again this time in Spanish. “You do not even know the language of your ancestors, I said that I would give you power, you miserable man.” The creature reached out its hand towards Enos and the boy unsheathed his new sword and stuck the monster through the stomach.

The woman laughed as she began to pull the blade from her body. “You are no Kresnik, no hunter.”

Enos turned stumbling and ran from the room; he could still hear her laughing cruelly as he fled back up the tunnel.

The boy clamored up the stairs into the main house and called out to his other two friends. “Jorge! Celestino! We’re leaving, get out now!”

Upstairs he could hear a dull thudding sound that suddenly stopped. Then Jorge yelled down, “In a minute!”

Enos shook his head, “No. Now, she’s coming!” and without waiting the young man fled the building.

The conditions outside had worsened greatly in the time the group had spent in the building. The skies had blackened with the coming of a tropical storm. It whipped about trees and men like dolls. As Enos made his way through the streets his already torn clothing pulled ragged in the wind.

So busy were people making ready for the storm that none stopped to notice him as he fled across the causeway and made his way to the shack that was his and Jorge’s home. His mind could barely comprehend what had happened. Only the strength of his fear pushed him along.

“Oh god, I should not have let Al bully me into it,” His mind turning the events of the day over and over again, his decisions already tearing at his mind, even as he caught sight of the safety of his house

Enos’s home was ramshackle, more of an aluminum hut than a house, the shutter-like door barely holding onto the wall. He pulled it open and walked across the dirt floor. The inside was made up of only two rooms. The main room had a table with two chairs, a small counter and a barrel they used as a stove. It took only a few quick steps for Enos to reach the sheet that separated him from the room he shared with Jorge. He yanked the sheet open and sat down on his futon. Taking a few deep breaths, he ran his fingers through his hair.

Feeling the sticky mess of Alejandro’s blood in his hair caused him to break down mentally as he curled up into a ball. His eyes were hollow as his mind raced with self-depreciative thoughts.

“I should go back, I shouldn’t have left them. Al could still be alive. Oh god. Jorge, Celestino please have made it out…”

He lay there for several minutes, his eyes closed.

Enos must have fallen asleep because the next thing he heard was the dull thud of rain on the tin roof, and all around the young man the world was cast in darkness.

The tall male pulled himself from the bed, and walked out into the main room, tiredly stumbling along the familiar surroundings.

He pulled on the old light cord above his head then pulled his matted shirt off revealing his bronze chest and abs. He grimaced and tossed the rag onto the dirt floor.

Enos took hold of the metal bowl he used for a sink and walked out into the rain and over to the rain barrel. He quickly scooped water into the bowl and made his way back inside, trying not to slip on the muddy ground.

He placed the bowl down on the counter, then turning; he walked back into the bedroom. Enos unbuckled his pants and let them fall down, leaving him in nothing but his blue boxer-briefs before returning into the living area and continuing his cleaning ritual.

The young man dipped his hands into the water and began washing the blood from his hair. Then bending down, he began to scrub the matting from his silky black hair.

Then Enos looked up sadly at a dirty mirror and into his own reflection, only to see green eyes, shining like glimmering emeralds on an unfamiliar face behind him.

Enos spun around spilling the water from the basin, “Who are you?!”

The slim feminine man in front of him pouted slightly, “You don’t recognize me Enos? I am hurt…” The boy stalked towards Enos seductively, looking up into his eyes. “It’s me, Alejandro.”

Enos backed into the counter, “That’s not possible…”

The feminine male smiled as he reached up and slid his hand along Enos’s chest and down his stomach, then traced the hairs there to the top of Enos’s briefs.

Al took hold of Enos roughly, as he spoke “Oh it is, our mother, Teteoinan, the Queen of Serpents is rising, and she calls you home.”

Enos was in a confused pain as his lips and body responded. “Wha…What?” his hand reaching out and taking hold of the slight man in front of him; feeling a fresh scar on the slim arm, he grasped the truth.

Then the creature, Alejandro, smiled showing elongating fangs, “And I get the pleasure of the first bite.” With that the monster jumped up latching its arms and legs onto Enos and tore at his neck with its teeth.

Enos let out a bloody scream, pushing at Al with his arms and legs to no avail. The two struggled and fell against the table Enos’s foot kicking the light upwards. The light swayed, as the table collapsed beneath the struggling individuals, then hit the ceiling casting the shack into total darkness.