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

Chapter 351: City of Diya's Temple of Doom, Cave, Kamchatka Wilderness, 1960

City of Diya's Temple of Doom

Cave

Kamchatka Wilderness

Soviet Union

1960

Emily Jones and Shorty knelt at the entryway, staring over the altar from the Temple of Doom. They had an overview of the entire chamber... with the corrupt high priest Mola Ram chanting to the fiery skull grinning from across a deep chasm of flames.

The priest with the horned headdress and wild eyes hadn't seen or sensed them yet... but he held two of the Seven of Swords of Diya, swinging wildly and chanting.

Shorty's future son and Emily's future daughter watched uneasily.

"What's going on here, Shorty?" Emily asked.

Shorty swallowed. "I don't remember much. I was only a kid." He glanced at his future son. "About your age."

"We need to get the swords," Emily's future daughter whispered.

"Workin' on that, hon," Emily replied.

Shorty stared at her. "You sound just like Indy. I mean... a girl... version of Indy."

Emily grinned. "I'll take that as awkward compliment, little older brother. What can we use to distract him?"

"It has to be something that would make him abandon the swords," Shorty thought. "And that was difficult. He's in a trance and doing a ritual. And he's supposed to be dead."

"Mamma," Emily's future daughter whispered. "We can get the swords. He won't see us, we're not born yet. All you gotta do is make him drop the swords."

"I can't let you do that, sweetness," Emily murmured. "There's nothing I want to do more than protect you."

"It's gotta be that way, Aunt Em," Shorty's son insisted.

Emily paused for a moment. "Wait here, both of you. I need to talk to Shorty."

Emily walked past Shorty and pulled him deeper into the cave. The two children continued to watch Mola Ram swing the swords and chant.

"They're not afraid of him," Shorty winced. "Do you think it's an apkallu trap?"

"Mola Ram definitely is," Emily replied. "But the kids aren't afraid because there's no fear in the Unseen Realm with the Treasure Guardian."

"How do you know?" Shorty asked.

"Aunt Zipporah taught me. I spent a lot of time afraid after the tomb cave in," Emily explained. "She was insistent that I could talk to the divine and that he'd listen to me. Dad didn't really believe it, but was thankful that I could get some peace and give him some peace and rest instead of having nightmares. Those kids aren't apkallu."

Emily looked at the cave entryway. "They're gone!"

Shorty looked disgusted. "There's our proof. Only our kids would go confront the most terrifying evil priest in pursuit of an artifact."

"And a child will lead them," Emily whispered, quoting an ancient prophecy. "You said Mola Ram used to sacrifice hearts?"

"Ripped 'em right out of people's chests," Shorty swallowed. "He tried to take Indy's just before Indy killed him."

"I am my father's heart," Emily whispered, her father's gleam in her dark eyes. "So are you, Shorty. He wouldn't have been so welcoming of my sister and I if he hadn't had you to adventure with first."

Shorty trembled for a moment. "And I got him killed."

Emily paused for a moment, remembering her father's words.

"There's a certain legendary symbolism," Indy admitted, hesitantly... his own words against the destroyer echoing back at him and what he'd seen in the mirror. "But in order for a resurrection to happen - there's gotta be a death."

"Shorty - I think Dad knew. He knew and he did it anyway. What was the list?"

Shorty grinned, "Don't die, don't unleash any ancient evils, try not to make anything explode and wake me up when we get there."

Emily paused. "We did everything else on the list."

Short nodded. "All the things we weren't supposed to do. Must be hell being a parent."

"I think we had to meet the kids in order to recognize this... and realize what a parent would do for their child," Emily mused.

"But... Lizavet and I aren't family."

"Yet," Emily replied. "Yet. The apkallu steal things - the Treasure Guardian reunites them. It's a reversal."

"A what?"

"A reversal," Emily whispered. "It's an ancient literary technique and part of being a hero. You overturn the odds against you, face your biggest fears and come out of it victorious. I had to do it with the tomb incident. You're gonna do that Mola Ram. Remember Shorty -"

"It wasn't fun, but you won?" Shorty finished.

"No. The both of us have Dad's heart," Emily replied. "Mola Ram's gonna recognize that and - you're gonna take him down. C'mon, Shorty - I've got an idea."