Amgyptapan

Chapter 37:A Monster Awakes

Lavonda sighed in exhaustion. Currently, she was in the Library of Congress, the largest library in America. She was searching for any mention of the dreaded Calamity. Not even mere whispers could be found about it.

All Lavonda really knew about the Calamity was that it currently lay in dormancy. She sat at a table stacked high with books about all types of dark creatures. To one side was the books she had already looked through. On the other side were the books she had yet to search.

Finally Lavonda discovered a passage which read thus: The Calamity dwells wherever it may slumber. It is centuries old. The Calamity's last known location lies deep within the jungles of Peru amongst the ruins of an abandoned kingdom therein. Any attempts to raise it from dormancy are ill-advised.

Lavonda smirked in satisfaction. Then, a thought struck her. What abandoned kingdom ruins was it talking about? There were all types of ruins.

Aggravation filled her as she got up and went to look for anything she could on Peru. With her luck, she'd have to ask for help. She would feel like an idiot if she got laughed at and given an answer she should have already known. She soon returned to her table with a huge stack of books and settled in to read.

Lavonda was on a plane to Peru where she would visit the Incan ruins. As she had suspected, she had felt like an idiot once she learned what ancient civilization the ruins belonged to. She had blushed with embarrassment. Turns out that the ruins belonged to an Incan city that had long since died out.

Currently, she was lounging in her seat in first class. Lavonda was not one to pay to travel amongst, in her eyes, rabble. First class was well known to be less crowded than coach. The reason for that is simple: first class costs more.

In her lap was a spell book recovered from the ruins of Thebes in Egypt. It had belonged to her preincarnation, Ankhsetha. As is custom for a traitor's burial, Ankhsetha's belongings had been placed in a vault to be forgotten. Ensuing would be the traitor's bedchambers would be blocked off to prevent entry.

Within the spell book lay all types of spells, recipes for different concoctions, and even a few tidbits of information about dangerous creatures. It was within this tome that Lavonda had learned that the Calamity existed. It had also informed her of the ritual to raise it from its dormancy. According to what she had learned, the Calamity could be controlled only by the one who wakes it.

Lavonda grumbled in complaint as she panted from the humidity of Peru. She hadn't thought it would be hot. She thought that the closer to Antarctica a country was, the colder it was. To make things worse, Lavonda was wearing designer clothes fit only for the cold bitterness that is the season of death to the less capable.

Lavonda could feel that around her, people were laughing at her heavy parka. She considered the fact that maybe she should have done a little more research on Peru. She was going to have to shop for cooler clothes before she went for the Calamity. With that disgruntled thought in mind, she headed for the nearest gift shop.

Two hours later, Lavonda was ready for a trek into the jungle to locate the ruins of an Incan city. She now wore an orange t-shirt with the phrase 'I visited Peru' on it. Her slacks were tan and only came down to her mid-leg. As much as she hated them, they were much cooler than what she had packed.

With an annoyed sigh, Lavonda set off to hike through a humid jungle. She walked for what must have been three hours, narrowly dodging large branches at every turn. Sweat streamed from every part of her body as she walked. Finally, she came upon a structure.

The structure was made of pyrite, otherwise known as 'fool's gold'. It was overgrown with vines. It looked like it might have been a temple or a palace. However, Lavonda wasn't interested in the marvel of the scenery.

Her interest was around the structure itself. The spell book she needed was in a backpack across her back. Lavonda began looking for a barren fissure about one foot in width and six feet in length. Lavonda smiled with glee as she came upon what she was looking for.

Seeing as how she had hiked practically non-stop, Lavonda decided to wait awhile. It wasn't like anyone else wanted to awaken the Calamity. Tossing her backpack aside, she settled on the ground next to the entrance to the lair of the Calamity. The ground was barren of life about three yards from the fissure.

As Lavonda cooled off, she considered how much pain the Calamity would cause to Nothile and his treasured family. She curled her lips in disgust as she thought of them. Despite the evil that her preincarnation had committed, Lavonda resented Nothile and Hessa for killing her when she hadn't laid a finger on them. A cruel smirk rose on her lips as she thought of what the monster she was about to awaken would do to them.

Finally cooled off, Lavonda got up from her seat and set to work with the preparations for the ritual. First, she sprinkled water onto the area immediately surrounding the fissure. Next, she took a jar of ashy soot and patiently spread it into the shape of a pentagram with the fissure at its center. Last, at each of the five points of the pentagram, Lavonda placed a single object that reflects the five nature elements: a bowl of water, a bowl of dirt to represent earth, a bowl of the leftover ash to represent fire, a bowl of wood chips, a bowl of gold chips to represent metal, and an empty bowl to represent the air.

Lavonda took a moment to admire her work. She had to admit, ancient rituals had a sort of...attractive appearance. Modern rituals, Lavonda noticed, were less organized and lacked the allure of their predecessors of ancient times. She wondered how the ceremony left these sorts of rituals.

Lavonda decided that no more preamble was necessary and, walking slowly around the outer circle of her pentagram, began chanting in a tongue older than Egyptian, "Lighter than light, darker than night. Oh, unholy beast, I summon thee, awake from your slumber and come to me. Lighter than light, darker than night. Oh, awaken unholy beast, to enjoy a limitless feast. Lighter than light, darker than night. I call your dreaded name, that which is infame. Lighter than light, darker than night. In the name of painful ache, Calamity awake!"

As she chanted, smoke rose from the fissure at the center of the pentagram. As the chant ended, so did the smoke. In its place, a rumble slowly began. The rumble turned into a fierce shaking.

Accompanying the shaking was a groan from the earth. The fissure slowly began crumbling under the pressure the shaking was creating. Lavonda looked on, anxiously. She could hear the bowels of the earth forcing something out.

At long last, the shaking stopped. The groan, however, continued. All at once, a murky, black hand burst from the fissure soon followed by a second hand. The hands were soon joined by equally murky, black arms.

Lavonda gasped in fear and, for a moment, regretted what she'd done. Even the Calamity's arms emitted a sense of dread. The aura surrounding the Calamity's arms gave off a feeling of nightmarish foreboding. The aura continued through the Calamity's body.

The tendons flexed in the arms as they gripped the edges of the fissure for purchase. Slowly, a head came into view. The head of the Calamity beheld small, beady eyes, sharp teeth protruding from its curled, black lips, open cavities where the nose and eyes should be, and its skin consisted of a tar-like substance. The combined smell of sulfur, smoke, mildew, death, and every intolerable odor emanated from it, the stench strengthening as the Calamity rose from its banishment.

Next to rise was the torso. Lavonda covered her nose and mouth as the smell began to overwhelm her. The waist rose next. Lavonda wasn't surprised to find that the Calamity was anatomically incorrect.

Last was the legs and feet. Overall, the Calamity stood over eight feet tall. Lavonda began to quake as the monster that had risen from the depths of the earth towered over her. The Calamity's eyes regarded her.

To Lavonda's immense surprise and relief, the Calamity lowered itself. The Calamity was kneeling before her! A thought reached Lavonda's mind that maybe, just maybe, the chant she had used had bound this...monster to her. A smirk rose upon her lips as she remembered that she alone would hold control over this fearsome creature.

"I have enemies in another land. I care not what you do as long as you bring them to their knees. I do not care how it's done, just as long as it is done." Lavonda commanded.

"It shall be as you desire, Mistress." The Calamity replied with a voice that would bring chills down the spines that heard it.