Beneath the Old City – 6:42 P.M.
The air in the tunnels felt heavier now, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. The inscription of the serpent stared back at them, its warning etched in time.
Nathaniel exhaled, feeling the weight of the scroll against his chest.
"He who unseals the scroll… will open the way."
Those words rang in his head like a bell.
"Lucien," Leah pressed, "what does that mean?"
Lucien ran a hand over his face. "It's a prophecy," he muttered. "Not just any prophecy. It's connected to the Book of Revelation—the Second Woe."
Leah frowned. "The second trumpet?"
Lucien nodded. "The one that releases the four angels bound at the Euphrates."
Nathaniel's throat went dry. He remembered the scripture.
"Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And they were released to kill a third of mankind."
A sudden chill crawled up his spine.
"Tell me you're joking," Leah said, her voice flat.
Lucien gave her a long look.
Nathaniel turned back to the wall, tracing the carved serpent. "So you're telling me that if I unseal this scroll, I could…" He hesitated. "Accidentally start the end of the world?"
Lucien hesitated. "It's… possible."
Leah swore under her breath. "So why exactly are we here?"
Lucien turned to Nathaniel. "Because someone else is looking for this place."
Nathaniel clenched his jaw.
Rahim.
He knew about the scroll.
And if Rahim was working with whoever—or whatever—had changed him, then they weren't the only ones in this race.
Nathaniel looked back at the symbol. The serpent coiled around a key.
The choice was in his hands.
And somehow, deep down—
He already knew what he had to do.
---
The Ruins of Babylon – 7:30 P.M.
Rahim stood at the edge of the excavation site, staring down at the crumbling remnants of a city that had once defied God.
Babylon.
The ruins were older than empires, older than most men could comprehend. And yet—beneath the dust and sand—something still lived.
Something that had waited.
The air was thick with incense and fire. Figures in dark robes knelt before a broken altar. The ancient stone pulsed, a rhythmic hum that sent a ripple through the air.
Rahim stepped forward.
A voice slithered through the darkness. "You are late."
Rahim didn't blink. "The scroll has been found."
A pause. Then, a whisper of laughter.
"Then the time is near."
Rahim tilted his head. "And what of the Second Woe?"
A figure stepped from the shadows—a woman, veiled in crimson. Her presence sent a ripple through reality, as if she wasn't entirely of this world.
"The seals are breaking," she murmured. "And soon, the river will bleed."
Rahim's lips curved slightly.
He turned his gaze toward the horizon, where the Tigris met the Euphrates.
It had begun.
---
Beneath the Old City – 8:15 P.M.
Nathaniel's hands were steady as he unrolled the scroll.
The ancient parchment hummed beneath his fingers. A warmth spread from the letters—alive, shifting, forming words in a language older than time.
Lucien and Leah stood at his sides, watching with bated breath.
Then—
A whisper.
Nathaniel froze.
It wasn't coming from Lucien.
It wasn't coming from Leah.
It was coming from the scroll.
And it was calling his name.