The Masks of Nyarlathotep: Egypt part 3

The Private Diary of John Jamil Zwaiter

 

Monday 6th October 2008 – afternoon

We drove back to where Ayesha and her son Ahmed lived. I stayed with Stephanie (Eliza) in the Toyota Landcruiser while Robert Sayle (Sandy) and Syed went to see them. The idea was that they would blend in with the locals. They certainly looked the part better than me in a suit, but in a small place like this everyone is fairly well known to each other. And the car with the rest of us gives a strong hint that strangers are visiting!

 

We hadn't much to say to each other as we waited but after a short time, we had a text; Ayesha had died and they were at her funeral. When they returned later, they said that they'd arranged for Ahmed to guide us at the Collapsed Pyramid that afternoon. It might seem strange from a UK perspective that he'd do this immediately after burying his mother, but for those living on the breadline, and a fatalistic submission to God, money for the living is not to be cast away.

 

We found the best looking restaurant for lunch then picked Ahmed up near the mosque and Stephanie drove us all to the pyramid. He told us the standard history of it, we paid him, took him back to Meidum and then we went back to Cairo.

 

There, Edward Thorn (Adam) told us about his Tarot reading. He and the others were very serious about it, so I took it seriously too. It told us that we had to go into the Bent Pyramid, but had to be mentally prepared for lies and madness. Someone, maybe a demon, was manipulating things in the background causing domestic upheavals (significant looks exchanged among them when he said this) and we should pay attention to a priest. This certainly set our next destination, and the weirdest day of my life so far.

 

Tuesday October 7th

We collected Fatima at the museum, and spoke with Ali Khafour about who to contact if we happened to find the missing sarcophagus. Then we headed for the Bent Pyramid. I'd picked out smart, but not designer, clothes. No point in having to bin another Armani suit today.

 

This time we had an official letter requiring entry even though it was officially closed since 2006, and it got us into the pyramid. We went down a steep slope and then up a ladder past original cedar scaffolding. The idea that the wood was thousands of years old was awesome. We clambered past all sorts of odd spaces in the pyramid, some accessible, others small or filled with rubble. Finally we got to the main chamber, 25 by 10 foot. Edward did one of his new age things and announced that there was nothing hidden here. However, Syed and Stephanie spotted a section of wall that was designed to move on a counterweight and indeed swung open when they pushed it. The air smelt fresh, there was no dust and even a bit of a breeze. Fatima was amazed because she thought she knew all about the pyramid and no-one had mentioned this concealed door in any of the dry academic accounts. She started to take photographs and look closely at everything. Robert then announced that the door was magical. I thought the day was turning into a cross between Indiana Jones and Lara Croft.

 

We walked up a short flight of steps and then a series of ramps and flat sections that spiralled upwards. We kept going up and up. Soon even I realised we should not have been able to do this. Fatima began to look upset and Edward had a quiet word with her but then started looking worried himself.

 

We finally came to a ramp that ended in an irregular arch, deformed as if bent under pressure. Through it we could see a 20 x 30 foot chamber with a black throne at the end. We stared and argued, Edward looked more and more worried, finally Robert walked into it. Nothing alarming happened, although he said the entire room was enchanted, especially the throne. Stephanie looked mutinous, pouted and said that she definitely was not going in. Syed and I exchanged looks, and walked in.

 

The room was big, much too big to be in the pyramid, in the same way as it was too high up. You just had to go with it, and not think about it. The jewelled black obsidian throne looked like it was meant for a man, but would be uncomfortable. There were 3 black pillars on each side, each with a gem on top. The walls had some sort of inscriptions or carvings but they were difficult to see, black shadows on black. I had a close look at one wall, and the bas relief and spaces reminded me of something, but I could not work out exactly what. Edward and Fatima came over to look at the same section of wall, but it made no sense to them either. Then she looked at a different section and immediately recognised it as a carving of the solar system, with the planets aligned in a specific way. She tried to take photos of it, which did not work, so then tried to make a rubbing.

 

A scream dragged my attention back to the throne because Syed, the idiot, had sat on it, and immediately collapsed in some sort of fit, going rigid. Edward noticed that the arch, the only exit from this impossible space, had vanished. For the first time I began to be really worried. Then the flame-shaped jewels on the pillars lit, one after the other until all six were glowing like different coloured dancing flames. One of the others, Stephanie, I think, (who must have changed her mind about entering the room) muttered about this being just like the description in the book 'My Life as a God', that they'd seen in America with Erica Carlisle. Before I could ask about it, our attention was back on the wall, which still made no sense to us. Then Fatima and Stephanie got together and Fatima obviously started to understand the inscriptions. She solemnly declaimed,

 

“Man rules where they once ruled. They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter; after winter is summer. They wait patient and potent as they will reign again.”

 

Fortunately, Syed came round, and he started to talk, telling us very seriously crazy things about this room, including that its owner is Nyarlathotep, and the Black Pharaoh is one of his avatars, the inscriptions on the walls are about an eclipse on 22nd July 2009 and the birth of someone significant, and he then repeated 'He's coming! He's coming! He's coming! He's coming! He's coming! He's coming! He's coming!' until I even looked round for a moment to see if someone really was coming.

 

When I looked back there was a man sitting on the throne. Apart from the fact of his sudden appearance, his most striking features were jet black skin and a golden mask like that of Tutankhamen, and I had a hint that the mask concealed something very disturbing. This went way beyond an on-line game and I had to make a real effort not to panic. Then the man, or whatever he was, spoke,

 

“Greetings, old friends! As predicted we meet again. A shame some are not here. Do introduce your new friends.”

 

I spoke on automatic, as I would at an Embassy event, “I'm John Zwaiter, from the British Embassy in Cairo. Honoured to meet you, Sir.”

 

And he replied directly to me, “As am I.”

 

His voice was, well…I'll always remember it. The others also talked to him and it was obvious that they had met him before.

 

He said, “It is so refreshing that you bear Us no ill will. Why don't you desist from thwarting my endeavours? I bear you no ill will, or you would be dead. The status quo, stagnation, things die. If they'd listened to me in ancient Egypt, things would not be as they are now. My task is to help mankind along to knowledge. Do you think plasma screen TVs were invented by human minds? Who encouraged the development and spread of the internal combustion engine? Curiosity is my favourite human trait.”

 

Stephanie commented that there was danger in too much knowledge. Fatima was bolder with him, asking if the pyramid was a prison for him. He replied that he used it as a home when he visited, and it was comfortable and interesting. He had met others here, before us and since. Then he asked me, pointedly, if there was anything he could do for me. Taken aback, I could think of nothing other than that he let us leave safely, and he said that went without saying, which was reassuring.

 

Then he remarked that the Carlisle Expedition were more proactive in their requests.  Then Eliza asked what had happened to Carlisle Expedition. In reply host gestured and a wall turned in to a 3D HD TV screen showing pictures of a party of white men and one woman accompanied by black porters. It could have been the nineteenth century except that the woman got out a mobile and started to text.

 

The shock was when the woman looked up and screamed! We saw their deaths as winged creatures flew down and shambling furred creatures emerged from the undergrowth and ripped all the people apart. There was a lot more screaming. I've played a lot of on-line games but these pictures were something else. I felt it had to be real, even though the creatures were impossible. It left me feeling very shaken and anxious.

 

Nyarlathotep asked each of us again if there was anything we wanted. He wanted to give me the gift to see things as they really were. I immediately thought that it would be even better to be more skilled in the art of the possible, to bring people together, whether I knew their real motivations or not (Persuade 90%). All the others, apart from Stephanie, also accepted a gift from him.

 

And then the throne was empty except for the symbols of a Pharaoh's authority, the flail and sceptre. Most of us began to look for the way out, but Syed scooped up the flail and Edward the sceptre. I suggested that we leave, and we all made for the archway.

 

As I walked through it I heard his voice in my head, “Ask yourselves why I have let you go? Who wears the thousandth face?”

 

We went down the ramps and steps, out through the door, and when it swung shut behind us, the wall looked as if it had never opened. Without further discussion, we left the pyramid. Although it seemed to me that we must have been in there for hours, it was not quite noon. We quietly headed back to Cairo, the Embassy and lunch.

 

At the Embassy, I escorted them to a secure room and ordered in lunch. I let the staff select what to give us because I, along with the others, had much more important things on our minds. My thoughts were still back in the impossible room with the unbelievable man, and the horrific images he'd shown us.

 

Sometime, Robert had acquired an ancient book, and wanted it to go into a safe. After I'd arranged that to my surprise Stephanie came over to me, led me away from the others and then said that she had to return to London, urgently. I took this sudden need to leave in my stride and took her to one of the secretaries to book her flight and arrange a driver to take her to the airport.

 

By the time I got back something new had happened. Everyone was talking heatedly due to news from London that should mean a return but they had rapidly decided they did not want to be recalled. They tried to contact Stephanie and then decided to go after her to the airport. I decided to stay at the Embassy, in part to catch up with work, but also because I wanted time to myself to think about what I'd become involved with. My parents would have gone mental if I'd told them about today!

 

By close of play they were back again, with Stephanie. They'd decided to get on with the mission, regardless of what they'd been ordered from home.

 

And it was grave digging time again! This time we were in a Muslim cemetery after dark with living inhabitants a distinct possibility. This time the military did the digging (Syed and Robert) while Stephanie, Edward and I kept watch. I wasn't close when Fatima called up the ghost of Faraz Najir, but even so I could not miss his flame-wreathed, screaming ghost. I was relieved when she released him after only a short time and we could all go home, agreeing that I'd meet them for breakfast in the Majestic.

 

Wednesday 8th October 2008

The decision was to go to the Ibn Tulun Mosque, where there had been a terrorist attack on 29th September, explaining the presence of tourist police with AK-47s and shotguns. The men in the prayer hall, teachers and students, were not welcoming when we arrived in late morning. One teacher in particular was openly hostile but another (Samir) came over to talk with us. When Edward spoke with him about the terrorists, he said that they weren't conventional terrorists. They were after the locked up treasures and armed with spiked clubs.

 

When the hostile teacher decided to intervene, saying rapidly in Arabic that Samir should not talk about such things with unknown, soulless people, I tried to persuade him to the contrary that he should take us on a tour. I did not manage to do that, but realised from where his eyes flicked where the treasury was. At the back of my mind I was surprised by his remark about us being soulless; I was sure I had not misunderstood him; he did not mean non-Muslim.