CHAPTER 69
Laney spent the rest of the day brushing and shoveling dirt from the megalith with Tom. Her back ached from being hunched over. Her hands were covered in blisters.
A layer of horror blanketed her as she worked. During the day, she’d seen enough brutality and its aftereffects to last a lifetime.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but be amazed by the history in front of her. The megalith she was uncovering depicted what appeared to be a history of man. The pictographs seemed to support Cayce’s explanation of how humans came into existence.
There were depictions of the thought forms that, at first, took residence in animals. Then human bodies were created and they took residence there, followed by a time of peace and harmony.
Later on in humanity’s timeline, others descended from the sky, bringing violence and despair. The fallen angels. Destruction began the moment they set down. With their arrival, the frames shifted from the pictures of peace and harmony to frame after frame of violence. The hieroglyphs depicted murders, wars, human sacrifice. That was where the depictions stopped, unfortunately; the rest remained buried.
Throughout the megalith, there were also depictions of the Belial Stones. At first, they appeared to be revered and worshiped. With the arrival of the fallen angels, though, emissions from the stones were used in violent acts.
There was nothing, though, in the megalith that indicated where the stones might be found. And with the guards constantly looking for the slightest deviation from work, she hadn’t been able to take a long look at any of the other megaliths near her.
Laney rubbed the back of her neck, trying in vain to work out the kinks as the sun began to sink in the sky. They couldn’t work much longer with the light dimming. Her hands had started to cramp severely a few hours ago. Now, they were practically numb, which was actually a blessing because it was less painful.
The trade-off, though, was that she was having difficulty holding onto her tools. And her back was screaming from being hunched over for so long. She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to stand up once they finally allowed her to.
She couldn’t remember ever being so physically exhausted. Tom had seemed to retreat into his own little world, but Laney knew he must be in even more pain than her.
As the sun finally slipped below the horizon, Laney looked up expectantly. She breathed deep. The work would have to end now.
Spotlights glared on across the enclosure, bathing the dig site in high-voltage light. She looked around in stunned disbelief, her hope plummeting.
Lights were strung across the entire enclosure. She hadn't noticed them before. Despair threatened to send her into unending river of tears.
Beyond defeated, she picked up her brush and began removing more dirt from the granite in front of her. When will this day end?