The Seven Swords of Diya: An Indiana Jones Fan Fiction Part 1

Chapter 86: Kamchatka, Russian Wilderness, 1960

Kamchatka

Russian Wilderness

1960

"Anyway..." Emily continued. "Shorty you were knocked out. I was knocked out in the tomb for awhile... and Dad... you were on drugs. Probably some sort of ancient mystical blend for sacrifice victims."

"Most likely. It tasted horrible. They forced me to drink it." Indy stared into the small fire that they'd built.

"Dad?"

"Still here, Em..."

Emily looked toward him. "Your eyes are still dilated from that drug."

"That's probably why I'm seeing things to the point of shooting them," Indy muttered. "Even though... Drugs or whatever Shorty's grandmother gave me to first see the apkallu at the museum should be out of my system. Never knew something to last this long."

"Its not a drug, Dad. Its an unseen line or territory. And sometimes people cross over."

"You mean, like... dying?" Shorty asked.

"No. Not always," Emily replied. "Territory wars. Holy ground verses cursed areas. Sacred verses profane. Its how almost every ancient people group saw their world. There were good gods and bad gods and they fought. Each had their own territories. Its why when the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines and they put it in their temple - the next morning the idol which represented their god's resting place on earth, was shattered."

Indy looked at Emily in surprise. "You were paying attention when I taught Israeli history to the Holocaust survivor kids."

"I was four, and you taught history holding me because I was scared, Dad." Emily smiled. "That was right after I got the scars."

"Mostly I didn't want to let you go either," Indy returned her smile.

"But that's an idol," Shorty shrugged. "Anyone can knock over a dish and blame it on a ghost who isn't there."

"The idol acted as a representative of the god on earth," Emily explained. "The ancients did special ceremonies to give the idols over to their gods. They were kind of like houses or holding tanks for the gods. It gave them a physical place to call home and be worshiped."

"Kind of like how a genie is in a bottle?" Shorty asked. "And we rub the lamp and ask it for things?"

"Like that only... more powerful," Indy agreed, thinking of all the idols he'd seen, wrecked and stolen through the years. "What does this have to do with territories, Em?"

"So, there are clear lines of territory between holy ground and unholy ground... sacred and profane. And a lot of the cultures shamans would be the one who could safely walk between those lines and cross over the territories. The way the shamans would do that would be through drugs," she looked at Indy, "Like the ones you had. Or unconsciousness... like Shorty."

"How does unconsciousness... put me into that place?" Shorty asked.

Emily swallowed. "Unconsciousness separates us from our bodies. I don't know why and I don't understand it - but when I was in the tomb, I could see what was happening all around me. I was me. But I wasn't in my body. Its like as humans we're built for one realm... but we sometimes end up in the Unseen Realm. And if we end up unconscious or disassociated in the wrong area - I guess, things like these strange monsters can grab us."

"Did you have anything like that when you were in the tomb?" Indy asked.

"I... I don't remember," Emily swallowed. "I had a lot of nightmares afterwards. But you walked me through them, Dad. You were always there to walk me through them... usually with a story."