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

Chapter 338: Unseen Realm

Unseen Realm

Edge of Eternity

Indy found himself kneeling, sensing he was in a sacred ancient temple or throne room. His hands touched the strange blue and gold stones of an immaculate tiled floor. "Looks like... the Mirror of Heaven and Marion's wedding ring." He swallowed. His shirt was full of blood. He knew the sword wound had to have been fatal. It didn't make sense.

The noise of the fight in the underworld of Diya had faded away, along with the pain.

He paused, realizing the situation. "The apkallu sent me to get the Seventh Sword of Diya. But this doesn't look like the underworld." He brushed his hands along the stone, continuing to kneel. His fingers traced an unknown writing and came back covered in a gold dust. "I should know this language. But I don't... unless..."

"Don't try to figure it out, son." Her voice had been soft and tinged with laughter.

Indy lifted his head. "Mom?" He swallowed, fighting the tears as he scrambled to his feet to hug her. "Last time I saw you..."

"I faded away," she smiled, touching his cheekbone. "You got handsome."

Indy gave half of a grin. "You're seeing me with two weeks stubble, Mom."

She smiled. "I don't think I care. I won't scold you about being filthy and smelly either."

"Archaeology hazard," Indy replied softly. "I've missed you."

"You shut your eyes to the truth."

"I know. It felt like the best I could do." He stared at her, remembering her features, realizing Annie was less like him and Marion - and more and more like her grandmother.

Indy's mother shook her head. "You and your father - so stubborn. Looking at artifacts of power when you should be looking at the Treasure Guardian, and the Creator's power." Then she took his chin and gently shook it. "You've made me so very proud, Henry."

A dog barked.

Indy turned. "Indiana!" He knelt as the husky launched herself at him, licking his face.

He looked at his mother. "You have no idea how much I missed you - and how much having Indiana as a dog helped."

The husky pranced around mother and son, barking.

"Sit, Indiana," his mother quietly ordered. "Henry doesn't have much time here."

"Mom... am I...?" Indy swallowed, his voice wavering. "Does that mean... I'm going somewhere else? For my... inability to believe?"

She took his face in her hand. "You have things to do, Henry. Wonderful things to do. Your final destination is your decision. But the Commander Treasure Guardian will want to see you."

"The... Commander?" Indy asked, hesitantly.

She gave a nod. "Children - say hello to your grandfather."

Indy was suddenly surrounded by children. He knelt among them - stunned - trying to memorize each of their faces, but finding his daughters' features in each one of them as they scrambled over each other laughing, pulling at his hands, crawling all over him, hugging whatever piece of him they could grip.

One - a tiny green eyed girl - who Indy was certain was from Ethiopia grabbed his hands. She looked like Emily with poofy jet black hair drawn back in pigtails, and gemstone emerald green eyes. This child pulled him forward first. She was the most determined. "You have to meet him! You have to meet him, Gwandpa!"

Her name for him almost made Indy's heart stop. His current granddaughter Laurel called him Gwandpa. She was four and hadn't figured out how to say 'r's. Indy followed her carefully. She seemed to lead the pack of his descendants.

His mother smiled, as the child pulled Indy by the hand into a strange ancient yet timeless throne room. At the far end was the Ark of the Covenant.

Indy dropped to his knees. "I can't go further kids. It's sacred space... not a place where a man like me should be. And we need to not touch the Ark."

"But it's where the Treasure Guardian is, Gwandpa!" She insisted, pulling him forward.

Two grandsons behind him agreed, trying to push Indy at the knees, while other children hung at his elbows and clung to his neck and shoulders. They were moving too fast for Indy to count. He thought he saw the features of Lizavet and Shorty among them too.

The Treasure Guardian laughed and came forward from a throne behind the Ark. "Children - I can meet your grandfather in the middle of the council room."

"Oh." They all seemed to echo various versions of 'Oh.' They they scattered, laughing, slamming the council room's ornate doors behind them.

"I'm sorry," Indy murmured, not looking up. "I just... I know what happens when people get near the Ark of the Covenant."

The Treasure Guardian smiled. "I know. That's where we met the first time."