Teaser Chapter

Death of a God

"Something is telling me that we shouldn't be doing this Miranda." I leaned against the wall of the crypt. Miranda was crouched on the floor, unsuccessfully trying to pick the lock on the largest tomb- one marked Mavromichali Sixsmith. "I mean, is this not grave robbing? It must be at least breaking and entering, and besides, how do you know there isn't a real tomb back there?"
She turned to me and rolled her eyes. "Honestly Cecily. You were raised by Dario Sterling himself and you have more qualms about breaking the law than I do. As for the tomb..." She knocked on the door which resounded with a hollow thud. "There's absolutely nothing behind this door. No dead bodies, no riches, just a tunnel to the Tower. It was in Sixsmith's journal that I found in the University." She went back to picking the lock, but no sooner had she sat down than Nico burst into the room. I shot up.
“Did something happen?” I peeked around the archway, already nervous.
“No, everything’s fine. I just got bored waiting in the church. It’s an awfully dismal place.”
“Like a crypt is any cheerier.” I grumbled. He smirked and cross legged, his back against the tomb Miranda was studying. She had given up on the locks and was staring intently at the carved gears around the doorframe. Her index finger traced the largest gear, and she bolted upright.
“Ink! Does anyone have any ink?”
Nico has also scrambled to his feet, and we looked at each other in confusion. “Ink?” I asked, completely confused.
“Well I’d prefer paper and graphite, but I’d wager none of you have that. Ink will do.”
Nico dug around his pockets and produced a small bottle of blue ink. I wasn’t about to question why he had that. Miranda snatched and dipped her finger in it, lightly smearing it across the gear. Tiny blue words, invisible otherwise, appeared on the marble.

It takes two to begin me, but only one can complete me
Everyone has seen me, but only few can view me
What am I?

Two more gears revealed two more of riddles:

I am above the earth, yet I raze it
And I am Below heaven, yet I do not praise it
What am I?

A poor man has me
A rich man needs me
The dead can see me
And yet none fear me
What am I?

“That last one’s easy.” I remarked, “Its ‘nothing.’”
“The riddles aren’t the problem." Nico completely ignored me. "What do we do with them though?” Nico tapped his foot impatiently. Miranda chewed on her thumbnail, not responding. As she did, she leaned backwards against the door, and her elbow hit one of the engraved words. It slid into the stone with a click. “Hmm” she pressed it again, and it moved back into place. sh traced the letters of the epitaph.
“Nihil potest vincere mortem…” she muttered. She pressed the word nihil and it gave way with an even louder clicking sound. “The answers are here. We need to find them, press the words and then the door should open right?” She looked at us desperately. Obviously this meant a lot to her. Whatever was in that tomb, she wanted- no- needed to know.
“Right?” She asked again, this time more insistent. We hastily agreed. I wracked my brains for the answer.
“Can anyone answer this last one?"?" Miranda was near shouting, frustrated. "I can't be expected to do all the thinking around here can I?”
“Well they have to be words on the front of the tomb right?” I reasoned. “So we could just hit words until they make the right sound.”
"Well that would be faster, but-" Nico cut Miranda off and started pushing buttons one at a time.
Miranda tried again. "Hey you can't just go off and do-" kachunk The word man slid down, and the door creaked open. There were no bones, but instead a long tunnel stretching west before making a sharp turn into darkness. As the door groaned to a halt, glowing red lines trickled down the walls, partialy illuminating the way forward. Erythrine. Something about the tunnel, maybe the red light from the Erythrine, or the cobwebs in the corners, made it seem far more daunting than it should have been. My own fear was reflected on the pale faces of both Nico and Miranda.
Nico gestured to Miranda, "A-a-after you." His voice shook, betraying his own fear. Miranda scurried behind me. For all of her strengths, she wasn't particularly brave. She gave me a nudge towards the door. I jumped backwards, staring at her incredulously.
"Well you have the gun!" she said defensively, "You should go first Cecily." I pulled my pistol out of my coat pocket. As my foot crossed the threshold, other footsteps echoed from the street outside. Heavy boots of the Victoriam police.
"They found us." I grabbed Miranda and pulled her into the passage behind me. Nico followed, pulling on a handle behind the door to close it after us. It shut, leaving us in the dim red light of the Erythrine wires. If this tunnel was real, maybe the legend at the end of the tunnel was true too. Maybe, just maybe... we could save the city. We could save Victoriam.

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• The Epitaph can be found at the Jothan Sixsmith character page.

• This is a teaser chapter. Eventually, there will be a lead-in chapter to these, but not yet.