Fascinating.
“What’s with the décor, professor?” Santino asked.
“I have no idea,” I answered truthfully. “There’s something off about this entire building. Besides the exterior and first level, there’s nothing about it that resembles a Roman structure. Maybe whichever Roman ordered its construction hired someone from Asia to do the decorating and they decided to leave their own architectural and mythological mark here.”
“That seems like a bit of a stretch,” Helena mentioned, catching up behind me.
“Any better ideas?” I asked her.
She thought for a second. “No.”
“What about the tail?” Vincent asked. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but rattlesnakes are indigenous to the Americas, yes?”
“Last time I checked,” Santino said unhappily.
I shrugged. “It’s not that complex of a design. I assume it must symbolize something else. Any of you an expert on ancient Asian cultures?”
No one said anything.
“Wang?” I asked, turning to the small man of Chinese descent, who stood beside Santino.
“I’m from Cardiff,” he replied matter of factly.
There was a chorus of nervous chuckles from the group and I smiled beneath my mask. I let it go for a few seconds before motioning for Bravo Team to breach the door. As they did twice already, Santino’s team silently opened the door and streamed into the room in a manner that would make any SWAT team proud. By the time Charlie pulled up the rear, both Alpha and Bravo had fanned out through the large room, covering all the angles.
The room seemed clear, but was so expansive that our NVGs had trouble penetrating the darkness. To remedy the situation, Wang withdrew a number of yellow chemlights from his pack, snapped them, and tossed them throughout the room. Santino did the same, and I followed suit, as did a few of the others. Washed in an almost day colored glow, I twisted my NVGs so that they sat on my head and I could view the room with my regular vision. I didn’t see anything of note.
At least there weren’t any people in the room, people we’d probably have to kill. There was, however, a shit ton of evidence that indicated Agrippina was nearby. Gold, silver, jewels, statues and all sorts of trinkets lay scattered about. Further evidence of her presence was some of her obscene Venus/Agrippina art Santino and I had admired on her pleasure barge. Santino noticed as well and looked at me.
“Can I…”
“No.”
He pouted but continued his sweep of the room.
There were four levels to the room, each about six feet off the ground, with a small stairwell running through the center of each level all the way to the top. Charlie stayed near the door, while Alpha and Bravo slowly made our way up the stairs, clearing each level as we ascended. Each level had piles of treasure that reminded me of Aladdin, specifically the scene when the genie conjured up all that treasure in the cave.
I always liked that part.
Great musical sequence.
As it happened, I was the first person to reach the top. The highest level not only had the highest density of treasure, but also had the most real estate to walk on. Amongst the treasure, at the very back of the room, stood three columns that came up to my chest. The center column had a gold box atop it, the one on the left had what looked like a burlap sack, while the one on the right was shrouded by a piece of fine cloth.
The display seemed too distinct to simply ignore as simply more treasure, so I continued.
I approached the middle column carefully, a sudden reminder of what happened in an Indiana Jones movie during an oddly similar moment creeping into my mind. It did occur to me that the whole scenario seemed a bit off, but having trophies on display didn’t exactly go against the grain. Vespasian had had spoils of war displayed in his praetorium, and if Agrippina was planning to stay, there was no reason she wouldn’t do the same.
Even so, I reoriented myself towards the column with the burlap sack atop it. Gripping a corner tightly, I yanked it away.
Beneath laid a spherical object, lightly radiating a dim blue light.
I grunted, my sudden exposure to what I immediately knew as the orb hitting me like a wall of bricks. I didn’t feel pain or pleasure, compulsion or apathy, only surprise. To see it so innocuously placed and easily accessible was staggering. I half-expected to have to mow through a hundred Praetorians just to reach it.
But then I felt the compulsion set in, an addiction I’d contracted long ago that forced me to reach out with my gloved hand and pick it up. Like on Agrippina’s pleasure barge, time seemed to slow as my hand moved steadily towards it, and my mind could barely even comprehend the fact that my friends were, for some reason, failing to intervene.
I tried to think of something else, anything to focus my attention on anything but the orb. I thought about my future life away from Rome and with Helena in it, trying without hope to keep myself from doing whatever the orb was trying to make me do. When that didn’t work I tried to think of Helena in that skimpy imaginary bikini I’d hoped to see her in back at the outpost a few days ago and all the countless times we’d made love, but even such thoughts as those were unable to take hold in my mind.
My subconscious spirit was broken, left adrift on a mission of its own, one I couldn’t even hope to fight against. Every precaution I’d hoped to take was suddenly left laughably at the door to this villa after I’d stupidly pulled away a piece of cloth that should have stayed where it was. Days and weeks seemed to drift by; time wasted as my soul and body continued their losing resistance against what my mind was trying to make them do.
After what seemed like a lifetime, my bare hand finally touched the orb.
And nothing happened.
In a bout of clarity, my body no longer fought against my mind and I held the orb out in front of my chest and gazed into it like a crazed fortune teller. After months, years really, worrying what would happen should I come into contact with the orb again, my confusion and surprise only grew as I now felt nothing. I waited for something to happen. Anything. But nothing did. I tossed it between my hands for a few seconds, juggling it back and forth.
I was so confused that I couldn’t even formulate a question to ask myself in this situation when, for once, questions were worth asking. Instead I felt my mind start to wander, and a sense of calm flowed over me. I felt almost peaceful as I daydreamed with my eyes closed before I finally caught myself. I forced myself to focus on the situation. With one last look, seeing nothing within, I secured it back in its burlap cloth with one last shrug.
I turned to see Helena and Santino finally join me at the top.
“What was that light, Jacob?” Helena asked.
“Hmm? Oh, I guess it must have been this,” I said, holding up the orb. “It wasn’t very bright though. Good eyes.”
She exchanged an odd glance with Santino, but shook her head and reached out to take it from me. As she placed it in her bag, Santino pushed past me and moved towards the gold box.
“Don’t…” I warned him.
“What? I was just looking at it.”
“Sure you were,” I said, returning my attention back to Helena.
She gave me a thumbs up after securing the orb. I clicked my com.
“All teams report to the top level.”
Really, I only needed Bordeaux up here, but it was best to consolidate all of us on high ground where we could more easily defend ourselves.
“Uh… Jacob?” Santino asked from behind me. “You’d better take a look at this.”
“What is it?” I asked, figuring he’d probably broken the golden box.
Surprisingly, he was at the column with the fine cloth, peeking beneath it at what lay beneath. He brought his head up and tore the cloth away from the column.