THE BUNKER

"There it is", professor Livingstone said as he trailed behind his personal assistant , walking in between beside Emma whose eyes were fixed on the marble casket neatly arranged in the middle of the inner chamber aloof from where the group trekked further inside the broad compartment. The lights in the hall brighten up the entire hall, chasing away the darkness that once enveloped the basement as the group made their way to the small exposed chamber with Robert, armed with a 9mm pistol, protecting them from behind. As they slowly approach the chamber, Emma noticed some sort of shield protecting the exposed section of the chamber which perplexed her profoundly

"What's that blue thing?",

She questioned in sheer curiosity.

"That? That's a force field, Miss",

This time, the answer came from Robert.

"Is there any need for that? I mean, it's not like the emperor will resurrect, right?",

"We don't know if he really gonna get up or not but with what your father told me the last time we met face to face as well as what happened to him, We decided to keep the coffin securely safe twenty five feet below the surface so that it won't cause any problems or inconveniences to us while it remain here away from the eyes of the world",

"What did my father say to you?",

Emma inquired once getting more curious than ever before but Robert intruded unexpectedly which prevented the professor from answering the question.

"We are here now, Sir",

Robert said from behind as himself and the others walking alongside him arrived at the exposed part of the inner nook chamber large enough to contain a small group of four persons in its cubicle.

"Rose, deactivate the force field and let us through",

"I'll do as you say, Sir",

Rose obeyed pressing an electronic button on the right corner of the exposed door and switched off the force field as ordered by the professor.

"It's beautiful",

Emma muttered out as they all stepped into the chamber, one after the other with Rose at the front till all of them had entered the chamber.

The entire interior of the chamber shone brighter than the hall upon the visitors especially the gigantic coffins which was now larger in size than the first time Emma saw it from afar and marveled at the artistic carvings depicted some images of tiny people inscribed on both corners of the coffin which rested on a dazzling bright platform for them to see alongside some legible textual inscription on either side of the coffin while a bronze image of some horid face was carved on top of the marble casket which served as the lid.

"Indeed, Yes it is dear",

The professor replied and walked to the left corner of the casket, fondling the engraved image of the casket with his fingers as though it was its first time seeing the coffin.

"Your father felt the same way about the casket when he first saw it. It bewitched him with its elegance and he was obsessed with it enough not yield to the warning of the local farmer neither did the Russian government listened to the words of the old man either. If he had things would have turned out differently",

"What do you mean?",

Emma questioned once again but Robert, a middle aged man with a rough beard and a flattop haircut, answered instead.

"He means that, apart from the curse, the old man told them something else if they were to take the casket away from the region...",

"Which implies taking the casket out of Tashkent",

Rose commented.

"Jones took the farmer's warning lightly, seeing the old man's warning of the escaped demigod, Asazel haunting anyone who were to steal his master's coffin from the tomb as a clever scheme of preventing us from achieving our aim by instilling fear in the minds of the workers excavating the site even before the project were to make a huge breakthrough and refused to give up the casket even when the Russian government tried to claim it but largely because of the old man's warnings and your father's innocence in court, the Russians released it to him and deemed it fit to allow the corpse to be in your father's possession in order to protect their own interests in public who already knew we were innocent in carrying out the project in Tashkent. It was only after his worse nightmares became real, that he realized how wrong he was for paying heed to the farmer's warning",

The professor said as he traced the engraved carvings on the casket and stopped at a point where Emma deduced to be the place where the huge lid of the coffin is being opened but it was missing something familiar to her which she knew she had it inside the container in her handbag right there with her.

"That looks like a keyhole or something like that, right?",

She asked as soon as she saw the professor's fingers come across the missing spot presumed to be the Keyhole.

"I'm not sure. Over the years, your father never showed me where the keys are and I haven't touched this coffin for sixty-five years till this moment let alone look inside. Jones kept all the items he needed to open it up when he was still eager to transfer the coffin to the museum in Geneva in return for profitable money but failed to convince them of the authentic nature of the coffin and then, he told me that hid it a long time ago where no one else including would worry about opening the casket that he himself never wanted to open after the death of your mother",

The professor answered folding his arms while the others peered at Emma curiously.

"Maybe you don't have to worry about that any longer",

She said getting the others confused and scoured her bag for the container which she brought out in less than a minute. Professor Livingstone and his two sidekicks suddenly became eager to know what the wrapped cylindrical container has to do with the opening of the coffin but they stood there watching her remove the bear fur, unraveling the mysterious items she had with her and drew nearer to her as she took the three items she had found with the note.

"My guts tell me that this thing might be the key to unlock the lid though I'm not sure if it is the missing piece",

She said, showing the trios the coin like objects that she found with the note and the two other items including the strange amulet with a pointed tip at the attic back at her house in Geneva. She handed the object over to the professor who peered at it under the radiant light and himself as well as the others could clearly see the little object in his palm as he deciphered it if it was actually the key or not.

"Your hunch might be correct, Miss Emma. Where did you get this? Did Jones gave to you?",

"No, he didn't... I kinda found it inside this container among his old stuff at the attic back home ",

"It's really fateful for you to see this coincidentally",

"There's only one way to find out if it's the actual key, Sir....",

Robert intruded once again.

"That is to open the casket, right here",

Rose added.

"Hold your horses, fellas. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Emma, give everything you found at the attic to Rose here who'll leave us to keep at my private study upstairs while the three of us will take a look inside",

"Alright, Sir. As you wish",

Rise replied leaving them.

"Here take this with you",

Emma said giving the container to the personal assistant of the professor",

"How silly of me to forget that. Thanks, miss",

The assistant answered in appreciation and walked away from their midst leaving them to open the casket which hadn't been opened for Sixty-five years now since Emma's father had it shipped to France with escorts many years ago. I

The trios felt delighted that the object turned out to be the key which fits right in the missing spot on the casket and there was a creaking noise of bolts inside the casket unlocking itself as soon as the professor placed the device in the keyhole. They waited patiently for it to open only for the lid to shift slightly as soon as the creaking noise ceased. With Robert's help, they were able to lift up the heavy lid and looked at the corroded corpse of the undead emperor bound in a lot of corrosive chains that had gotten rusted as a result of the lengthen of time used in burying the corpse after unlocking the casket. There wasn't any crown on its head and a whole part of the two Jaws they presumed to be mouth was gaped wide open with nothing inside except for extremely dry sinews surrounding the lower jaw region and coarse teeth missing a tongue inside the throat of the corpse. After few minutes of observing the corroded corpse and realizing that he had spent much time in the bunker than he had counted for himself, the professor ordered that the coffin should be closed back, leaving the way it was they met it a while ago. And they all left the chamber, sealing it with the force field and turned off the lights as they trudged back the way they came with the professor in front, to the exit where Robert pressed a button for the elevator to come lift them up to the surface but unknown to them, they left behind the key in its keyhole and ascended upwards to the surface.

It was already nighttime when the trios returned back to the surface and the professor had no choice but to reschedule his meeting for another day though none of the visitors he was expecting showed up in his mansion as planned while Emma was persuaded to spend the night there instead of the hotel and was given a special room in the mansion in one of the upper rooms that was kept separate from the visitors lounge inside the colossal lush mansion after having supper with her father's old friend in his dinner hall downstairs. An hour before midnight, the winds in the sky soon began to brew harshly in the dark clouds above the mansion and four security guards on sentry duty night shift were stationed at the gate to act as nightwatch men over the vicinity. The mild signs of an imment storm soon worsen as harsh whirlwind began brewing violently around the vicinity outside the mansion, sweeping away dust from the floor making it hard for those in night duty to stay near the gates outside the house and to patrol around the nook and cranny of the perimeter but luckily, they were prepared to survive the tempestuous winds rolling in violently having clad themselves in overalls made of nylon whilst searching the vicinity with their torchlight completely cloaked in foggy darkness though none of the persons including Emma who was already fast asleep in her room upstairs were affected by the winds, even the lights in the mansion was still very much dazzling brightly within tand outside the house. As the misty grew thicker and thicker, one of the security guards got lost in the harsh wind and found himself walking at the western section of the broad vicinity completely lost in the darkness.

"Robert! Robert! Do you read me",

He yelled trying to get his voice heard at the other side of his walkie talkie as he struggled to find his way back to his post but then he heard a hollow noise arising from the fence near him. He moved slowly pointing his torch in that direction but a sudden vanishing gush of wind soon flick past him, making the lights flicker harshly before it ceased to beam out light, leaving him trapped in the darkness. He tried his walkie talkie again as he doggedly drew closer to the center of attraction though his vision was obscured by winds, taking one step after the other only to find no response from his comrades. Overcoming his fears, he arrived at the fence only to find a stray cat lurking around the premises and felt relieved about his findings. He was about to turned when a corroded hand came out of the darkness and a horrid face of deadly being bolted out of nowhere in the foggy winds and descended upon devouring him from limbs to limbs leaving behind his flashlight that lay on the ground in the dark. The noise of the flashlight falling from his hands as he was dragged into the outer darkness, woke up Emma sleeping in her room near the west wing of the house. Under the cover of darkness, the intruder shapeshifted itself in the bodily form of the dead man using the stormy winds to concealed itself and took the flashlight lying on the ground with the dead man's head in the other hand. Then he somewhat found his way to the electronic door at the backyard that led to the bunker below the surface. He tried to access the door but it was declined twice. Looking around to check if someone was watching and broke the electronic door with a single punch which burst open in an instant. Then he went inside without anyone knowing but unknown to him, Emma saw him enter through an open window from above in her room.