Hidden

Chapter 1 - The Beginning

Turkey, 9022 BCE

High Priest Ishme watched the hot sun set over the plateau on which rested the temple Göbekli Tepe. The final layer was nearing completion, and they estimated it would be finished in the next thirty years. After nearly three millenia of building, their work was finally finished. The thought of finally living without the fear for the lives of his family and friends brought a smile to his aged, wrinkled face.

Ishme and the other priests had been organizing the hundreds of people working to build the sacred place, and they had been handed the responsibility by their fathers, and their fathers before them. No one built it for pay or a sense of accomplishment; everyone did their part because it was their duty. They all knew the legends, and the legends of the living becoming sick and killing those who were well fueled their urgency to protect the horrors far beneath the surface of the desert they stood upon. And they all knew these legends to be true.

Every night, each man who worked to conceal this terrifying past prayed to the gods that no man would ever unleash what had been hidden. They had put their dark secret all the way at the bottom of the great temple they committed their lives to. The lowest level was a series of large circular areas, or temene, ranging from 10 to 30 meters across. Around the edges were benches, like an auditorium, and a pair of pillars, each 6 meters tall and weighing up to 20 tons, stood in the middle of each temeno. On these pillars were engraving of animals and in rare cases, human-like creatures. They had carved these so that anyone who might be so unfortunate as to find this place would know that underneath this structure lay an evil so great that it would consume the world should it ever be brought to light. The top layer was built with rectangular rooms, also containing the large pillars. No ceilings provided a special view of the night sky.

But tonight was a special night. It was the beginning of a new year, and as rituals required, the priests gathered at the top of the man-made hill that resulted from their construction. Their many workers gathered around them in a large circle and bent down to their knees in a mass prayer. They asked the gods for favorable work and progress. Their final prayer, however, was to save the souls of whoever opened the temple, and the sounds of weeping and praise to the gods rose to the stars.

Turkey, 7544 BCE

Dagan opened her eyes and stretched her arms. She had only slept a few hours but she felt well rested; travelling always helped her sleep better. She walked out of her family's tent to see the place she and the other people of Çatalhöyük had traveled for three months to see: Göbekli Tepe. Every five years, their religion demanded the entire city go to the great temple to worship and pray.

This was Dagan's first time. She had been born a few months after they had returned from the previous journey, and she was looking forward to seeing this place she had heard about from her teachers and friends. She'd heard many tales about how deep the sacred land was, but she didn't like the stories they taught about what lay in the darkest depths. Those still gave her nightmares, that was why she slept with her parents every night.

She ran to the temple and looked down into the open-roofed structure. It had barely changed since its construction, the people had made a habit of maintaining it every time they came. The large pillars still showed the carvings that tools had made over two millenia before.

Dagan looked down and saw the dark passages leading to the lower levels and wondered how far down it went. She looked over her shoulder at the sound of her name being called and saw her best friend Shulgi running from the camp toward her. I'll hide from him in there. No one was allowed inside, but her curiosity and giddiness got the better of her.