The Seven Swords of Diya: An Indiana Jones Fan Fiction - Part 2

Chapter 309: Apkallu Ruin, Kamchatka 1960

Apkallu Ruin

Kamchatka Wilderness

Soviet Union

1960

The Same Mountain Lake that Shorty's Plane Crashed in 1944

Edo lit a torch and led his five men into the narrow twisting ruin. The walls were made out of piled sharpened shells, stacked in a vault ceiling which created eerie echoes of their every move. Edo sensed the apkallu shadows surrounding them. Chills moved up the warrior men's spines as they witnessed strange unholy flickers beyond their leader's torch light.

Suddenly the floor lowered into a rounded chamber with smooth stones.

"Be seated!" The leader of the apkallu ordered.

The men looked at each other uneasily.

Edo's torch revealed a lower circle of a fit pit with stacked human bones around it. There were remains of military uniforms and firearms hanging on the skeletons. One was pointing a pistol at something on the wall.

The men turned to look at the niche. They could see within its coffin-like shape a strange shadow. The shadow flickered and hovered.

"Welcome, Edo - and your most trusted servants," the shadow moved forward, dark and yet shimmering like obsidian. "Where are the swords?"

Edo swallowed. "Indiana Jones and his... family! ...have them."

"Family?" The shadowy apkallu roared, raising itself upward.

All the men flinched against their war-steeled wills as the apkallu's strange voice echoed around them, enmeshing them in the room.

"Yes. Dr. Jones has two daughters with him. One is his. The other was adopted," Edo explained. "And a son he adopted as well."

"Lizavet? The shamaness? And Emily Jones? The archaeologist? And the boy who thwarted our plans in the Temple of Doom?" The apkallu leader snarled, towering over Edo. "Why do you not have them as your captives?" Its voice roared around them a second time.

Chiba spoke. "We have seen strange things in this land. You know why we could not sacrifice the Joneses - you witnessed Emily Jones fight. She sliced off her ponytail and injured the back of her neck, nearly sacrificed herself to save her father, and partnered with Lizavet to fight us all. The son - the young man also fought bravely - despite his memories."

"Do wish Emily Jones as your own?" The apkallu asked.

Chiba paused. "It would not bring back my children who died at Hiroshima."

The apkallu leader heard this. "What if I were to give you Emily Jones? To have more children?"

Chiba looked at the apkallu. "I fought her. She is a warrior. She deserves to choose her own husband."

The apkallu leader smiled. "I will possess you first... after you sacrifice yourselves to me."

The five warriors looked at each other.

Chiba spoke for them - against Edo's will. "We are familiar with self-sacrifice - but only for a cause we care to give our warrior spirits to."

"And..." the apkallu turned, fury building, yet trying to make its voice smooth. "This is not that cause?"

"It is not," Chiba stood. "We have fought too long. We have made our loyalty to Edo. We have no wish to join you."

"I have not explained Edo's bargain," the apkallu unfurled its six-fingered hand as an offer. Gemstones lay in its ugly narrow half dead palm. "The treasures of darkness are great."

Edo froze watching. "But... you said I would... get the power. That was our covenant."

"Of course," the apkallu smoothed its tone. "You will have power - but I will have a body to possess. And for that - Chiba is my choice."

Edo gave a nod. "Then it is as we agreed. I hope he will be as loyal to you as he was me."

There was a hideous darkness and a portion of the tunnel rolled shut behind the men. Their only way to escape was barred with a thick darkness and more apkallu joining their leader for fresh blood.

Screaming like a mass of rabid bats the apkallu leader dove into Chiba's stunned slightly open mouth. The man started screaming as his soul was devoured. His body shuddered as the apkallu forced itself into the body of a mortal man. It convulsed and shook, as Chiba the man attempted to fight back. The apkallu overpowered the warrior and sent him screaming -