Speaker 1: This episode may contain content that is not suitable for
Speaker 1: all audiences. Listener discretion is advised, especially for those under
Speaker 1: the age of thirteen. Welcome to Endo the Night. I'm
Speaker 1: Narri your guide on today's excursion down a twisted path.
Speaker 1: Be careful not to get lost. Be it dark or light,
Speaker 1: it's easy to lose your way. Are you ready, then
Speaker 1: let's begin, Magashanna.
Speaker 2: The room fell silent. Considering what happened to the Hasmat team,
Speaker 2: I don't think anyone could have spoken. If it wasn't
Speaker 2: for the twitch in the hand of the dead man,
Speaker 2: it would appear as if nothing had happened at all.
Speaker 2: And yet, one by one they collapsed onto the hewn
Speaker 2: stone floors, writhing there until death finally took them. I
Speaker 2: remember personally cleaning and sealing a few of those suits.
Speaker 2: They were supposedly completely sealed, protective from threats ranging from
Speaker 2: viral agents to ionizing radiation, and we ourselves were locked
Speaker 2: in hermetically sealed by mechanical locks behind keycard access, which
Speaker 2: only made the truth of their debts all the more mystifying.
Speaker 2: What could have both stirred the dead and killed my colleagues?
Speaker 2: How to explain the convulsions, the desperate attempt to escape
Speaker 2: the oozing, deep ruby red blood spilling from a thousand
Speaker 2: microscopic pricks. I am ashamed to admit that when it happened,
Speaker 2: I froze. We both did. But I was supposed to
Speaker 2: be on shift for observations and recordings. I instead traded
Speaker 2: the shift with Oscar, And now Oscar and Henry and
Speaker 2: lew and Garrett were all lying on the floor in
Speaker 2: some god forsaken crypt with a corpse from a different millennium.
Speaker 2: I may as well have joined them, for how paralyzed
Speaker 2: I was. In the observation room, the old CRT monitors
Speaker 2: were deathly silent, still depicting the gruesome scene in that
Speaker 2: coldly sterile manner that only a machine can. Silent enough
Speaker 2: that I could hear my breath quiver at the pounding
Speaker 2: of my heart, Silent enough that I could hear my
Speaker 2: sole companion, doctor Keith, whispering her way through some prayer.
Speaker 2: I couldn't recognize, silent enough that I could swear I
Speaker 2: heard the blood trickling down the step towards the glass
Speaker 2: sarcophagus where the body lay. I always thought they were
Speaker 2: supposed to hum. I was a touch transfixed by the
Speaker 2: flow of blood after a time. I blame it on
Speaker 2: the lack of stimulus at the time of writing, but
Speaker 2: in the moment I cannot be certain. It filled the
Speaker 2: grooves in the floor and trickled and dripped with all
Speaker 2: the urgency of fungal decay, torpidly making its way down
Speaker 2: toward the sarcophagus, which sat in the center of the
Speaker 2: burial chamber at its lowest point. At first I could
Speaker 2: barely even watch, but as time passed, the disgust waned
Speaker 2: and my morbid curiosity waxed. The mummy itself was an
Speaker 2: undeniable oddity. From initial analysis, we were able to find
Speaker 2: preserved blood vessels and organs from the X ray, but
Speaker 2: also blood. Fresh blood. We were able to determine the
Speaker 2: man entombed here had ab positive blood, judging from the
Speaker 2: small sample we had extra from him. His hair was
Speaker 2: still oily, and even his eyelashes and beard hairs were
Speaker 2: still in place. If it weren't for the discoloration of
Speaker 2: his skin from the mummification process, I could swear he
Speaker 2: could get up out of his crypt and tell us
Speaker 2: exactly what we were looking for. Even his pose felt
Speaker 2: too lifelike to be completely sure he was dead. Rather
Speaker 2: than the crossed arms of Egyptian mummies, he was laying
Speaker 2: on his back, hands by his side, as if he
Speaker 2: had simply drifted off to sleep, save the one that
Speaker 2: had inexplicably twitched upward from the wrist. The plaque at
Speaker 2: his feet read in that old Cunei form, behold Lugo Magashana,
Speaker 2: king of Kiag, and devote yourself. The only disruption on
Speaker 2: his form was that hand that had suddenly twitched up.
Speaker 2: Lugo Magashana was an enigmatic figure. There were scant few
Speaker 2: references to him from other Mesopotamian states, and those who
Speaker 2: did refer to him did so in forbidding tones. From
Speaker 2: what we knew within the research team, he was a
Speaker 2: tyrant and superstitious even for his time in the temple
Speaker 2: capital of Kireg, he led his priests in occult rituals,
Speaker 2: though the supposed purpose of these rituals was lost to time.
Speaker 2: We do know, however, that everything he did was in
Speaker 2: service to his patron deity al Wepthis, while other Sumerian
Speaker 2: gods like Marduke or Seamish or Inana were very well documented,
Speaker 2: Al Wepthis seemed to have been struck from any sort
Speaker 2: of record. We dreaded learning what these rituals may have entailed,
Speaker 2: and considering the responses from the neighbors of Kireg, we
Speaker 2: were right to do so. The city of Kireg was
Speaker 2: completely lost to time as well, so attaining first person
Speaker 2: perspectives of the rituals proved to be rather difficult. Other
Speaker 2: cities only ever seemed to mention Kireg suddenly disappearing in
Speaker 2: the middle of the night, spinning tallis about the hand
Speaker 2: of Alwepthi's stretching down and taking Kirag into the heavens.
Speaker 2: If it weren't for a few scant artifacts found where
Speaker 2: Kireg was said to be, it would have been written
Speaker 2: off as a fairy tale. There was one larger tablet recovered,
Speaker 2: but unfortunately it was lost during the Iraqi invasion of
Speaker 2: the Gaza Strip in the early nineties. Our patron, doctor
Speaker 2: Jordan Emerick, had a researcher studying the tablet in secret,
Speaker 2: and unfortunately he passed during the invasion. Whatever secrets he
Speaker 2: learned were lost to time, and the city remained a
Speaker 2: strange reminder of a more superstitious time even stranger, however,
Speaker 2: were the jars kept here with him. Mesopotamian burial traditions
Speaker 2: hardly included mummification. Grave goods would have been expected with
Speaker 2: someone of his kingly status, But the jars were an anomaly.
Speaker 2: Standing there against the wall, spaced out evenly, were large
Speaker 2: jars standing up to about my waist, and each of
Speaker 2: the jars was filled with fresh human blood, also type
Speaker 2: to be ABE positive. It was a true mystery how
Speaker 2: the blood, at the very least hadn't coagulated. Perhaps there
Speaker 2: had been waiting the secrets of preservation that could keep
Speaker 2: this nearly five thousand year old blood so fluid and
Speaker 2: fresh that a new medical breakthrough was merely lying dormant,
Speaker 2: waiting to be discovered under the greenery just off the
Speaker 2: banks of the Euphrates. My mind briefly entertained the thought
Speaker 2: of that blood being freshly taken from some poor, unfortunate
Speaker 2: soul who wandered in before us somehow, but that was
Speaker 2: quickly pushed away in favor of reason. The entrance had
Speaker 2: been sealed when we found it, the doors wrapped tight
Speaker 2: in some kind of animal sinew. Whoever last left this
Speaker 2: tomb had intended it to stay closed, and for nearly
Speaker 2: five thousand years, the world had agreed. While I was
Speaker 2: left to my thought, doctor Key spoke to me. What
Speaker 2: do we do now, Robert? She said, The sudden call
Speaker 2: nearly split me out of my skin. What happened in there?
Speaker 2: We can't go in, I started. We need to make
Speaker 2: a call and get reinforced, resupplied. Her eyes widened incredulously.
Speaker 2: We can't just wait and hear Her voice was vehement,
Speaker 2: but her body was barely able to hold upright between
Speaker 2: the weakness and her knees. I knew she was coming
Speaker 2: down off the shock just as much as I was.
Speaker 2: I couldn't blame her as opposed to what Ruth do
Speaker 2: We just go in there and die too? At least
Speaker 2: we'd be doing something other than just waiting to be saved.
Speaker 2: Doctor Emerick is not going to waste all this funding.
Speaker 2: I'm just going to send him a message and tell
Speaker 2: him what happened. It won't take any time at all.
Speaker 2: Doctor Emerick is in America. What can he possibly do
Speaker 2: to help us? I couldn't answer her. We were alone
Speaker 2: down here, no help, no hope. We sat in silent rumination.
Speaker 2: I looked out to the bodies slowly draining on them.
Speaker 2: We had to get to them somehow. There was still
Speaker 2: a spare hazmat suit, But what good would that do?
Speaker 2: I kept thinking and thinking and thinking, watching the blood
Speaker 2: still inexorably flow down to the center of the chamber.
Speaker 2: I watched it and started considering the ramifications. In most situations,
Speaker 2: the blood surely would have stopped by now, it would
Speaker 2: have found a natural settling point and started pooling. But
Speaker 2: there was something else at work. Clearly, each of the
Speaker 2: three men had a stream of blood pulling away from
Speaker 2: them and towards the glass sarcophagus. I was transfixed, distracted
Speaker 2: for the moment. In consideration of the physics involved. It
Speaker 2: seemed to me that the blood ought to have simply
Speaker 2: pooled around the bodies, or merely filled some grooves and
Speaker 2: likewise settle. And yet here it flowed downward and downward
Speaker 2: on the old corpse. I looked back over the mummy,
Speaker 2: and what I saw chilled my very soul. The hand
Speaker 2: had moved again, where it had simply lifted and remained
Speaker 2: pronate before. The hand was now supine, two fingers raised,
Speaker 2: palmed towards the ceiling. I turned back to doctor Key,
Speaker 2: and my face must have said it all, for she
Speaker 2: simply joined me and observed the hand. We went back
Speaker 2: over the monitors and watched the video back, fast forwarding
Speaker 2: from the time of the killings. What I saw there
Speaker 2: in that recording I simply could not explain. At a
Speaker 2: glacial pace, the hand that had twitched had, over the
Speaker 2: course of an hour, slowly rotated into that position. As
Speaker 2: inexplicable as the initial movement was. My mind boggled further
Speaker 2: at this development. Perhaps the inexplicable preservation of the body
Speaker 2: was to blame. Yes, that had to be it, of
Speaker 2: suspended water via osmosis. Surely the body itself hadn't moved.
Speaker 2: I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
Speaker 2: Doctor Key, however, was even more determined to leave now.
Speaker 2: She started suiting up in another hazmat suit, muttering the
Speaker 2: same prayer from before as she worked. I couldn't blame her.
Speaker 2: There was a rational explanation, surely, but fear was getting
Speaker 2: the better of us. I couldn't let her leave. Of course,
Speaker 2: there was some unknown menace out there still, perhaps some
Speaker 2: kind of trap we simply hadn't seen until now. I
Speaker 2: grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close. Ruth, you can't leave,
Speaker 2: I said. We have no idea what's going on out there.
Speaker 2: You're going to get yourself killed. She tore my hand
Speaker 2: off her. Better I die trying for freedom than curled
Speaker 2: up in here waiting, she continued, donning her suit. You
Speaker 2: can stay down here all you like, but I'm getting
Speaker 2: the hell out of here. You aren't thinking right, I shouted,
Speaker 2: blocking the exit. You've got your whole life ahead of you.
Speaker 2: We're waiting for help to come to us. First. Doctor
Speaker 2: Emeric will save us. Don't throw your life away. Ruth
Speaker 2: was clearly more determined than I was. However, She pulled
Speaker 2: me away from the door, but I held her tight,
Speaker 2: her back against my chest. We struggled and fought with
Speaker 2: each other for a moment before she overpowered me. She
Speaker 2: slammed my head against the wall. My whole world spun
Speaker 2: around me, and my eyes filled with stars. I collapsed
Speaker 2: to the floor, dazed and bewildered. When I was finally
Speaker 2: able to gather myself, she was already outside and on
Speaker 2: the radio. Robert, I promise I'm going to come back
Speaker 2: for you, she said, her breath ragged from the fight,
Speaker 2: but right now. I have to get out of here.
Speaker 2: I tried to get back out there with her, has
Speaker 2: map be damned, but she blocked the door from the outside.
Speaker 2: I slammed my fist on the door and screamed her name.
Speaker 2: I begged and pleaded with her not to go, but
Speaker 2: I could hear her footsteps growing softer. I turned back
Speaker 2: around to the window to watch her progress. She moved
Speaker 2: slow and deliberately, still wary of whatever danger rested here
Speaker 2: in the crypt. Step by step, inch by inch, she
Speaker 2: made her way toward the channel leading upwards and outwards
Speaker 2: to the surface. I listened to her breath grow ever
Speaker 2: louder and fearful as she continued. She was by the
Speaker 2: other bodies at this point, no worse for the experience.
Speaker 2: I thought perhaps the danger had passed, that she had
Speaker 2: a window of opportunity. That was until I caught some
Speaker 2: motion out of the corner of my eye. The Mummy's
Speaker 2: head slowly turned towards me. I watched it turn in
Speaker 2: real time, slowly and methodically. His face was indifferent, his
Speaker 2: eyes now open. We stared at each other for what
Speaker 2: felt like minutes but couldn't have been more than seconds,
Speaker 2: and then the light exploded. Every bulb, every monitor, every
Speaker 2: perceivable source of light all burst in an instant. Sparks
Speaker 2: flew for a few seconds, giving the last moments of
Speaker 2: light in what was assuredly the end of my life.
Speaker 2: I heard Ruth scream through the glass. The radio feed
Speaker 2: was completely silent. I dared not utter a sound, nor
Speaker 2: make a single movement. Doctor Key as well, stopped from
Speaker 2: the sounds of things, complete and total silence. For the
Speaker 2: first time. I could remember, not even the sigh of ventilation.
Speaker 2: I could hear my heart pounding, my hands rubbing, I
Speaker 2: swear even my sweat beating on my forehead. My mind
Speaker 2: raced with possibilities. The phenomenon surely came back, and now
Speaker 2: Ruth was bleeding out on the floor. I had nothing,
Speaker 2: not even the beginnings of a plan. I knew I
Speaker 2: had to get out, But how I could tackle the
Speaker 2: door and hopefully dislodge whatever Doctor Key had put in
Speaker 2: place to lock the door? Would that even be possible?
Speaker 2: Was I simply stuck here for the rest of my days,
Speaker 2: however limited they may be. I could feel the tears
Speaker 2: beginning to well in my eyes, my throat closing, my
Speaker 2: chest hollowing. Eventually However, the silence was broken. Robert said, Ruth,
Speaker 2: I'm still here, Doctor, I responded, The relief nearly pulled
Speaker 2: a laugh out of me. Thank God. Do you have
Speaker 2: any idea what happened? It had to have been whatever
Speaker 2: killed the others. I saw them, and then came a scraping.
Speaker 2: The sound started, and I was unsure of what I
Speaker 2: was hearing until the crash of broken glass destroyed the
Speaker 2: new piece in the tomb. It had to have been
Speaker 2: the sarcophagus. There was nothing else in there that could
Speaker 2: have made such a sound. We both fell completely silent
Speaker 2: as a new sound emerged, a footstep singular. After a
Speaker 2: few moments, another came. I could hear the panic in
Speaker 2: doctor Key's breath over the radio. She was trying her
Speaker 2: best to be silent, but the terror in her heart
Speaker 2: and the anxiety in her head kept her breaths trembling
Speaker 2: and frail.
Speaker 1: The footsteps continued.
Speaker 2: I was having a hard time tracking where they were
Speaker 2: headed until I heard the curious sound of moving fluid. Ruth,
Speaker 2: what the hell is going on out there? I whispered
Speaker 2: as quietly as I could into the receiver. The mummy
Speaker 2: is moving, Doctor.
Speaker 1: Key said, doing her level best to stay calm. The
Speaker 1: fucking mummy is alive and moving.
Speaker 2: Robert, what what do you mean? The mummy is alive?
Speaker 2: I nearly shouted, but I caught my voice before it
Speaker 2: could get too loud.
Speaker 1: The mummy is alive and it's doing something with the blood.
Speaker 2: She was breathless and still. She stood there silently before
Speaker 2: attempting to speak. I'm coming back to you, don't you
Speaker 2: fucking dare? I responded, Stay still and try not to
Speaker 2: make any noise. You are in serious danger. She ignored me.
Speaker 2: I heard her footsteps start up. I tried to find
Speaker 2: some corner to hide in. Slowly she made her way
Speaker 2: over to the door, and slowly I heard whatever she
Speaker 2: had put in front of the door move, calling out
Speaker 2: in a distant stone on stone scrape. Was it one
Speaker 2: of the jars? I could hardly believe.
Speaker 1: What she had done.
Speaker 2: I kept in my little corner, praying for safety. When
Speaker 2: I heard the footsteps start again, I had to act fast.
Speaker 2: I kept quiet, inching to the radio. Before I could
Speaker 2: speak to her. Move Ruth, I shouted in silence, she
Speaker 2: fucking here's you. She didn't respond verbally, She just started
Speaker 2: moving to Her footsteps were as silent as she could
Speaker 2: make them, but the mummies were loud enough.
Speaker 1: To track Ta ta tag tag.
Speaker 2: Slowly and inexorably, making its way to me. I heard
Speaker 2: the crackling of his joints stirring again. After who knows
Speaker 2: how long I hid back in my corner. What else
Speaker 2: could I have done. I kept deathly still, waiting for
Speaker 2: the inevitable end.
Speaker 1: Tag ta tah tab.
Speaker 2: Closer and closer. Still. My eyes flooded with tears, and
Speaker 2: my breath came out in a whimper. I was going
Speaker 2: to die. I knew it. I could see the handle
Speaker 2: till the door start shaking. The clasp came undone, and
Speaker 2: it was slowly opening. It was my fate to die
Speaker 2: along with the others. Ruth, however, had a different idea.
Speaker 2: From across the room, there came a crash. It seemed
Speaker 2: like Ruth had broken one of the jars. The door
Speaker 2: stopped and the footsteps started. She had saved me. I
Speaker 2: had to act fast. I crept out of the corner
Speaker 2: and over to the now open door. Slowly, silently, I
Speaker 2: slinked out and made my way for the exit. I
Speaker 2: had to feel my way out. There was still no
Speaker 2: light and only the sound of the Mummy's footsteps. I
Speaker 2: couldn't tell where Ruth was. I hoped against hope that
Speaker 2: this would be enough of an opportunity for the both
Speaker 2: of us. At last, I found the stairs, but how
Speaker 2: to alert Ruth. I felt around the ground for something,
Speaker 2: some loose stone I could throw. When my hand ran
Speaker 2: against something soft and rubbery, I froze. I was dead.
Speaker 2: I could hear the soft crackle of movement right next
Speaker 2: to me, one hand on my back, another on my head,
Speaker 2: then both beneath my arms, lifting me. At the very
Speaker 2: least my death would buy Ruth some time. Silently sobbed
Speaker 2: as the end came. As I heard a hiss emerge
Speaker 2: next to me.
Speaker 1: Shit.
Speaker 2: Ruth hissed. I could hardly contain my elation that it
Speaker 2: was her salvation. Be client Robert. We have to get
Speaker 2: the door open all at once, I remembered. The door
Speaker 2: kept everything sealed tight. We merely had to swipe a
Speaker 2: key card to get out. I fumbled for mine, grasping
Speaker 2: it in hand, and groped around for the scanner. The
Speaker 2: mummy had stopped moving for the time being. I could
Speaker 2: almost see him watching us, feeling for our presence in
Speaker 2: the inky black tomb. Were we to become the contents
Speaker 2: of even more jars. I couldn't afford to think about that.
Speaker 2: I had to find that goddamn scanner and get us
Speaker 2: out of here. And at last I had found it.
Speaker 2: I scanned my key card, finally free, the door unlocked
Speaker 2: with a beep and a hiss. The door slowly opened.
Speaker 2: My heart sank.
Speaker 1: Ta ta ta ta.
Speaker 2: I nearly screamed. I pushed against the slowly sliding doors.
Speaker 2: Ruth joined me. We fought against the mechanism in desperate
Speaker 2: hopes of opening the door just a little faster.
Speaker 1: Ta ta ta ta.
Speaker 2: The mummy grew closer and closer.
Speaker 1: Tah tah tah tah.
Speaker 2: Finally the door was open enough for me to slide through. Ruth, however,
Speaker 2: could not, her hazmat suit was too bulky to fit through.
Speaker 2: I felt her push me through the opening. I screamed
Speaker 2: and reached for her. I clawed back. There was no
Speaker 2: way I was leaving her behind, but then I felt
Speaker 2: her suddenly leave. She was torn back into the darkness
Speaker 2: by incontrovertible force. I reached and prodded, desperately, trying to
Speaker 2: find any remaining sign of Ruth's presence. The doors continued opening, slowly,
Speaker 2: letting more moonlight into the scene, and there I saw
Speaker 2: the Mummy holding Ruth, his eyes locked with mine. An ancient,
Speaker 2: mystifying terror beset me, like I was looking directly into
Speaker 2: the mouth of some slavery, ravenous beast. I saw his
Speaker 2: mouth torn into her neck. Her blood was oozing out
Speaker 2: from her wounds, Her head twisted impossibly backwards. The visor
Speaker 2: of her hazmat suit had been removed, and I could
Speaker 2: see her lip quivering and her eyes slowly rolling backwards
Speaker 2: into her head. Her body twitched and quaked, like the
Speaker 2: leg of a dying spider, jerking and spasming, while her
Speaker 2: blood spilled on the ground. I scarcely remember what happened next.
Speaker 2: My mind was not my own. All I can remember
Speaker 2: was howling and screaming into the night, tears streaming down
Speaker 2: my face. At some point I must have made my
Speaker 2: way to town and got picked up by the police.
Speaker 2: Some of the more superstitious of the officers claimed I
Speaker 2: had been possessed by a gin, but most of them
Speaker 2: merely accepted that I was having some sort of mental breakdown.
Speaker 2: I attempted to explain what happened to me, but the
Speaker 2: words simply wouldn't come out. Even if they did, I
Speaker 2: don't know that they would be so readily accepted in time.
Speaker 2: I simply gave them a line about being attacked in
Speaker 2: the desert by bandits, that all my friends had died
Speaker 2: and we were due to return to the United States.
Speaker 2: They took some of my contact information and sent me
Speaker 2: on my way to the embassy in Baghdad, where I
Speaker 2: was taken home. I attempted to get back in touch
Speaker 2: with doctor Emmerick. I had figured he'd want to know
Speaker 2: what happened on the expedition and in the tomb, but
Speaker 2: I was never able to reach him. His phone number
Speaker 2: was disconnected and his email address merely bounced everything back.
Speaker 2: I even went so far as to contact his university,
Speaker 2: mar Elias University of Arizona. I was met with a
Speaker 2: most chilling revelation. They had no idea who he was.
Speaker 2: I attempted to find my communicates with him, only to
Speaker 2: find they had all been removed while I was in Iraq.
Speaker 2: My mind folded inward on the revelation. The only conclusion
Speaker 2: that I could come to was that he somehow knew
Speaker 2: this would happen that Lugo Magashana would somehow rise from
Speaker 2: his crypt to taste blood once again. The only question
Speaker 2: I had left then was why go through all the
Speaker 2: effort just to feed him? What was the purpose behind
Speaker 2: this senseless slaughter? I fear I do not know, and
Speaker 2: I fear that this may only be the beginning of
Speaker 2: things to come.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me for this episode of the
Speaker 1: Endo the Night Anthology podcast. Narrated by Nari Quak, theme
Speaker 1: music by Nico Rodriguez, all other original music, sound design
Speaker 1: and editing by Omenhawk Studios. You can find our links
Speaker 1: in the show notes. Into the Night is on your
Speaker 1: favorite podcatcher, so make sure to like, subscribe and leave
Speaker 1: a five star review to help other excursionists to join us.
Speaker 1: I'll see you next time, and remember, whether in the
Speaker 1: shadows or in the daylight, all twisted paths lead you
Speaker 1: into the night. Into the Night Anthology is a creative
Speaker 1: typo entertainment production.