Chapter 10: The Devil’s Dining Table

Ancient Egypt.

The high priestess walked toward the king who was seated on his majestic chair, which was considered as well as his throne. She bowed to him and she knelt with one knee.

“Your Majesty, I have come to relay to you my vision,” she began.

“Is it the same vision, Nefer?”

“I saw two crowns, my king.”

The king was confused about the vision of his high priestess. But he never doubted her visions as they held true.

“Could it be the end of war?” he suggested after a careful musing.

The high priestess just smiled enigmatically to herself.

****

Present time in Lafayette County.

The two cars, a blue sports car and beige Chevrolet Suburban, stopped at the parking lot. Kent, who drove his sports car, got off and took his mountaineering bag, sleeping bag and a water jug. Eric, on the passenger seat, got off as well and took out his huge backpack.

All the things, the tent, stove, small chairs and a portable table were in Eric’s dad’s suburban car. The girls had their backpacks as well when they got off the car.

They took whatever they could and started heading uphill. They passed by the swings to follow the trails up. It was an ordeal to pass the steep lime kilns because of their belongings. Zoe almost slipped down but good that Eric was there to catch his mom in time in spite of the stove and tent he carried.

Aidan looked behind and was relieved that Zoe was safe. Then he continued to lead the group again up and around the hill. Instead of going to the left, they went to the right where they could find a place to camp. On the left side was going to the top and the tower.

The air was cool and fresh. It was like a balm to their tired bodies.

The men set up the two tents; one for the men and the other for the women. The girls prepared the table, the chairs and the stove. As it was mid-afternoon, they prepared their dinner early.

“This is fun!” Diana giggled as they arranged the plates and mugs on the table.

In the evening, they made a small camp fire and took pictures here and there, exploring the camping area.

“I think we have to call it a day,” Zoe decided as she went to the left tent.

“Don’t stay up too late, kids,” Aidan added and went over to the right tent.

The four teenagers who were left outside were still enjoying the place nonetheless, looking up at the bright moon and the stars.

“I wanna see The Devil’s Dining Table with the moon up high,” Elise mused aloud dreamily.

“You’re creepy!” Diana commented but grinned afterwards.

“Wait, I’ll just get our things in my bag just in case of emergency,” Eric said and smiled widely. He got up to get his backpack.

The group took it as a joke but they saw him go also inside the girls’ tent and did come out with a bag in hand.

“What? Come on. Let’s go check The Devil’s Dining Table.” Eric looked each of them in the eye.

The three exchanged glances but they shrugged in agreement, especially Elise who looked excited for having her brother give in to her request.

After a few moments, they started walking toward “The Devil’s Dining Table” in the north slope of the mound. They had a flashlight in each hand as they were not so familiar of the trail during night time.

It was already past eleven in the evening when they got nearer to the big stone. The top of the table was 40 feet across, which sat on a rock that was like a narrow pedestal. A few feet from it was a chair, which was a smaller shape of the table. It was called “The Devil’s Chair.”

Elise seemed to see that the big stone formation was glowing with colors of white and red. Then she closed her eyes tightly. She saw some images in her mind’s eye again. The desert, the pretty boyish features of a man with cosmetics, a crown of red and white…

She suddenly opened her eyes and was closer and closer to stone before she knew it. Kent followed her as though afraid she was going to get lost. Diana followed suit as well as Eric who carried his bag on his back.

Elise extended her left hand toward the stone to make sure that she had just not imagine the white and red colors glowing out of it. She felt the colors on her fingertips. They were weirdly cool. In a split second, she then felt herself being sucked inside.

She shrieked and Kent caught her other hand.

“Whoa!” He extended his hand to Diana.

Diana in turn saw that Elise was being sucked inside the stone, screamed to help out Kent as she extended her other arm to reach out for Eric’s support. She was only able to grab him by his bag that he was about to drop to help them out of the sucking stone.

All of them were instead sucked inside, and they kept screaming as they traveled through time and space, beyond their knowledge. They had no idea what was happening. They only knew that it was like a wormhole in the movies.

Finally, they dropped hard on a tiled floor in a heap. They fell not far from each other, fortunately. They all groaned in pain and felt sick for quite a few seconds. They were all so dizzy after that sucking episode.

The four teens looked around their surroundings. It was dim. Only torches mounted on the walls were the lights that illuminated the huge room. They all started to get on their feet, one after the other. Eric hoisted his backpack properly this time and got their flashlights as they checked all around them again.

“Where are we?” Diana whispered, still a bit disoriented.

“I have no idea,” Elise answered, shaking her head and looking around her. They all felt the warm humid air. It smelled like wax and lavender.

“I don’t like this feeling…” Eric started to say and realized that Kent said the same thing.

They saw some lotus flowers design on the yellow painted walls. They could clearly tell these things around them were not in their time. They stared at each other with confusion and were apprehensive when they heard some rushing steps coming toward them.

The four tried to find somewhere they can hide out of instinct, but there was only a big chair on a seemingly stage-looking place at the far end of the wall. The chair had a design on its high back. Elise could barely make it out but she was sure and swore it looked like a cobra.

Diana thought it was like they were in a room that had just been robbed, without other furniture to be seen. They stood closer to each other and were ready for whatever that was coming in fast.

There were six guards that appeared before them. They held a mace each and were ready to fight. They wore a black headdress and brown-and-red scanty cloth around their hips. But a woman who was almost naked with a headdress appeared in front of the guards. She motioned them to stand down.

Her hips swayed provocatively as she walked toward the four. She looked at the foreigners who were apparently not from their place. They were obviously not from their land since she never saw such clothes as these four wore.

Elise wore tights, skirt and sweater paired with running shoes, while Diana had jogging pants and a shirt with her tennis shoes on. As for Kent, he wore jeans, blue shirt and matching shoes, and Eric was clothed in a red shirt, jeans and black shoes.

As the woman regarded them all, the two guys hid the girls behind them protectively.

“Who are you?” the priestess demanded in Archaic Egyptian language, dark eyes lingered on each of them.