08-18-2016, 01:09 PM
Armande smiled, now. His eyes were cold blue fire, but he felt anticipation to his core. He picked up the package Daniat had given him, opened it, slipped out what was inside, a square piece of copper about the size of his palm, still bright and orange-brown, with none of the green stains and splotches that indicated the vastness of its age. No nicks or scratches marred its surface, aside from the striated shallow brush marks that indicated it had once been tooled by man. It had been dusted of any detritus, carefully, so very carefully. And on its surface, etched as though machined, ancient characters.
Two things had brought this to his attention. The tablet itself had been discovered during an Atharim archaeological expedition in Crete, though far below the old site of Knossos itself. The discoveries made and shared by John Smith had proven fruitful. Smith could not know the full extent of what he had found, for without the context and "rosetta stones" found in the carefully preserved artifacts, writings and prophecies of the Atharim themselves, once stored in the Historical Archives of the Vatican and now concealed here in Bacccarat mansion, they made little sense.
The entrance to the hollowed out lava tube that led to the chamber was far below sea level and had been blocked by stones sealed by by centuries of fossilized algae and bacteria, thriving and growing and dying as they fed on the trapped gasses being released below. Growth that was constant and known. Calculating how many millenia it had taken for the accumulation was a simple thing. Millenia had passed since this tunnel had been exposed to the outside world. Millenia for it and the chamber it led to, almost as if it had been preserved and waiting for now.
And in that hidden alcove were found many relics that could only have come from the ancient Atharii themselves, back when they had first rose up as the champions of humankind. Writings that had numerous scholars within these walls and at the Vatican already hard at work mining them for information. Artifacts whose use was known only to those who'd left them here those many years ago.
But this one, this one had gotten Daniat's attention, along with another copper scroll, this one pocked and green and calcified with age and mineral accumulation. It was the script on both, the second thing aside from their age, that marked them out. The words, in true Proto-IndoEuropean, written in an antecedent of Linear A, demanded attention.
*ml̥s-bhā-mo
To speak evil
The verb form was imperative, a command. "To Curse"
And another.
*'i-dhēs
Hidden One.
The diacritics on the word were nymic, indicating a name, held in high esteem. Or awe. Or fear.
He recognized the path this one had taken, through proto-Greek and into Greek itself.
*'i-dhēs
to Ai-dhēs
Hades
Hades had often been associated with Curse Tablets, in myth. Whether this named him the creator or whether it was in his honor was still being deciphered.
And a third. The most important.
*gweplən
The Destroyer
The most interesting. The nymic diacritic was there. A name feared.
But there was another too, a warding against evil, a way of writing the name without summoning evil's attention.
But the root of it, that was the key. "gwelə-, initially meant "to pierce" as with a spear or arrow. And over time it had come to mean many other things. Its route through proto-Germanic became "kuljan", and then the English "kill". In proto-Greek, though, the original meaning of "gweblən" was retained even as its pronunciation and spelling changed, the "gw" sound falling away. eplən
becoming Apləon
. Finally, "Apollyon". The One who destroys. A cognate to the Hebrew term, Abaddon.
The same name, with the same markers, appeared in the aged and ruined copper scroll, along with the familiar words of Atharim prophecy, though in this case, only fragments remained.
“..and a new god shall rise, an abomination born in the newest of lands, essence of evil divine, he shall be the over thrower and destroyer [*gweplən
] of the human race. — And evil Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth with authority which thou hast not seen before.”
And more. An indication of what the tablet was.
Of course, he shared none of this with Martin. The man's earlier deduction had taxed his interest in this esoterica. Which was a pity, since it was this historical puzzle that would aid them in killing Apollyon.
"The is a curse tablet, once common among many cultures around the Mediterranean. To these ancient peoples, they were a way to call down evil on those they wished, bringing ruin or disease or death to their homes or lives. The petition was always made to Hades, for him to release a cursing from the underworld onto the intended recipient. Nonsense of course." He waved his hand airily as if to dismiss it.
Then he let himself smile holding the tablet up to Martin. "This, however, predates that by more than 10,000 years. Left by our ancient bretheren and forebears, the Atharim who fought and exterminated the gods themselves." He couldn't help the awe that crept into his voice. "Over 10,000 years old. Yet it looks newly-made. A gift to us, at the end of days. A weapon to be used against our enemy." He focused, calling his attention to the writings on it. "With it, my friend, we will be able to summon an ijiraq assassin. We will unleash it on Apollyon."
"In a few days, our little bird is going to lead us to Apollyon. And then, we shall see." An Ijiraq and all the new weapons the Atharim could carry. Apollyon had no idea what was coming for him.
Edited by Regus, Aug 18 2016, 05:47 PM.
Two things had brought this to his attention. The tablet itself had been discovered during an Atharim archaeological expedition in Crete, though far below the old site of Knossos itself. The discoveries made and shared by John Smith had proven fruitful. Smith could not know the full extent of what he had found, for without the context and "rosetta stones" found in the carefully preserved artifacts, writings and prophecies of the Atharim themselves, once stored in the Historical Archives of the Vatican and now concealed here in Bacccarat mansion, they made little sense.
The entrance to the hollowed out lava tube that led to the chamber was far below sea level and had been blocked by stones sealed by by centuries of fossilized algae and bacteria, thriving and growing and dying as they fed on the trapped gasses being released below. Growth that was constant and known. Calculating how many millenia it had taken for the accumulation was a simple thing. Millenia had passed since this tunnel had been exposed to the outside world. Millenia for it and the chamber it led to, almost as if it had been preserved and waiting for now.
And in that hidden alcove were found many relics that could only have come from the ancient Atharii themselves, back when they had first rose up as the champions of humankind. Writings that had numerous scholars within these walls and at the Vatican already hard at work mining them for information. Artifacts whose use was known only to those who'd left them here those many years ago.
But this one, this one had gotten Daniat's attention, along with another copper scroll, this one pocked and green and calcified with age and mineral accumulation. It was the script on both, the second thing aside from their age, that marked them out. The words, in true Proto-IndoEuropean, written in an antecedent of Linear A, demanded attention.
*ml̥s-bhā-mo
To speak evil
The verb form was imperative, a command. "To Curse"
And another.
*'i-dhēs
Hidden One.
The diacritics on the word were nymic, indicating a name, held in high esteem. Or awe. Or fear.
He recognized the path this one had taken, through proto-Greek and into Greek itself.
*'i-dhēs
to Ai-dhēs
Hades
Hades had often been associated with Curse Tablets, in myth. Whether this named him the creator or whether it was in his honor was still being deciphered.
And a third. The most important.
*gweplən
The Destroyer
The most interesting. The nymic diacritic was there. A name feared.
But there was another too, a warding against evil, a way of writing the name without summoning evil's attention.
But the root of it, that was the key. "gwelə-, initially meant "to pierce" as with a spear or arrow. And over time it had come to mean many other things. Its route through proto-Germanic became "kuljan", and then the English "kill". In proto-Greek, though, the original meaning of "gweblən" was retained even as its pronunciation and spelling changed, the "gw" sound falling away. eplən
becoming Apləon
. Finally, "Apollyon". The One who destroys. A cognate to the Hebrew term, Abaddon.
The same name, with the same markers, appeared in the aged and ruined copper scroll, along with the familiar words of Atharim prophecy, though in this case, only fragments remained.
“..and a new god shall rise, an abomination born in the newest of lands, essence of evil divine, he shall be the over thrower and destroyer [*gweplən
] of the human race. — And evil Power will be given him to desolate the whole earth with authority which thou hast not seen before.”
And more. An indication of what the tablet was.
Of course, he shared none of this with Martin. The man's earlier deduction had taxed his interest in this esoterica. Which was a pity, since it was this historical puzzle that would aid them in killing Apollyon.
"The is a curse tablet, once common among many cultures around the Mediterranean. To these ancient peoples, they were a way to call down evil on those they wished, bringing ruin or disease or death to their homes or lives. The petition was always made to Hades, for him to release a cursing from the underworld onto the intended recipient. Nonsense of course." He waved his hand airily as if to dismiss it.
Then he let himself smile holding the tablet up to Martin. "This, however, predates that by more than 10,000 years. Left by our ancient bretheren and forebears, the Atharim who fought and exterminated the gods themselves." He couldn't help the awe that crept into his voice. "Over 10,000 years old. Yet it looks newly-made. A gift to us, at the end of days. A weapon to be used against our enemy." He focused, calling his attention to the writings on it. "With it, my friend, we will be able to summon an ijiraq assassin. We will unleash it on Apollyon."
"In a few days, our little bird is going to lead us to Apollyon. And then, we shall see." An Ijiraq and all the new weapons the Atharim could carry. Apollyon had no idea what was coming for him.
Edited by Regus, Aug 18 2016, 05:47 PM.