The Phantom Man 2 - The Book of the Dead

XII - The Book of the Dead

17TH Century, Tibet

In the past, the monks were responsible for carrying on the apprentices' initiation rituals. As the new ones had their heads shaved, they listened to the mantras sung during the ceremony. Bells tolled to announce the arrival of the elders in the temple; a monk would strike the gong in order to balance the mind's energies. Their leader, the Dalai Lama, would watch the whole ritual attentively as he concentrated on the next steps.

Among the people, two individuals paid close attention to the developments full of curiosity. One of them was wearing Tibetan clothes, including the typical hat, while the other one could not be seen, for he was invisible. If anyone in the crowd saw that creature, it would cause a great disturb; everyone would get scared and run.

"We couldn't have arrived at a best occasion, Fratello, a ritual of initiation. Let's take advantage of the opportunity to invade the main temple while they're all distracted. The Book of the Dead, my object of desire, is there."

Sneakily, they both walked among the crowd. Klaus passed his hand over his body to produce a spell that transformed him into a monk. He was wearing a yellow mantle, the chogyu worn by the monks, an apparel meant to express wisdom; the donka with a V neck that symbolized the Lord of the Death's jaws that could arrive at any moment; the bald head, like the others, which represented the absence of vanity and the desire to reach a true flow of peace; the zen, a red mantle over the yellow one, a sign that indicated those who had reached concentration.

"I feel like an idiot on these clothes," Klaus protested arrogantly.

Nevertheless, he would do anything to pull the book out of that place. His shadow was a bit darker than the others, once it belonged to two people. It was almost noon and he knew that that was his opportunity.

The temple's doors were closed, but Klaus and Fratello passed across them as if they were a thin wall of water. The main Lama, Yan Jin, noticed the abnormal shadow as well as the evil presence. He looked at the man on his side to show him a dark spirit had just broke into the temple. At once, he gathered a group of monks to protect their sacred relics, in special the literary work. It should not be stolen by someone with obscure intentions.

"Chang, Qon, Jet, gather your best men and follow me. Someone has broken into the sacred temple."

"Yes, master Dalai," they agreed and ran fast.

When the Sun shone onto the stone among the other stones on the wall that hid the Book of the Dead, Klaus looked at the pottery wide-eyed, and then touched it to move it outwards. Behind the artifact lied the so coveted compendium. Klaus took it and felt the soft dark cover illustrated with obscure symbols that seemed to belong to an ancient writing.

The image of a key stood out amongst the other pictures. Maybe the key represented the device meant to open the door to the realm of the dead.

Klaus handed the book to Fratello, who had turned into his horrendous form. It didn't take long for the monks to arrive. They were in an uncountable number, and they were circling the oldest of them, Dalai Yan Jin.

"Leave here what doesn't belong to you, dark creatures! Get back at once to your realm of filthy spirits," Yan Jin ordered.

The beast laughed loudly, as his master smiled sardonically.

"Are you going to obey the orders given by an ordinary Human Being, master?" Fratello asked.

"From now on this book belongs to me," the warlock answered, disdaining the supreme monk.

The Lama went into concentrated flow, and then made the book levitate from Fratello's hands to his. The elders were gathered outside the temple in a circle of prayers which intention was to drain the creatures' spiritual energies and, at the same time, empower the monks inside the temple. They were all in a sitting position in a state of flow while the Lama faced Klaus and Fratello.