Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Tales of a Jungle Terror

The mid-afternoon sun in thetown of Kutacane, Sumatra found Dan Zubriar sitting in bar sipping on a beer.The bar was almost empty with four people scattered around and a barkeepstanding behind the counter. The door slammed open, and an olive-tintedIndonesian man walked in wearing tattered clothes and an ashen expressionfilled with terror. The man walked up to the bar and slapped down theequivalent of fifty US dollars. “Give me a bottle of hard Scotch and keep the change,”he ordered, his voice trembling.

“Yes, sir,” the barkeepreplied, taking the money and handing the man a bottle of fifty-year old Scotchand a glass.

Dan watched the man go to aback table and start downing shots of liquor. “Do you know who he is?” Danasked the barkeep.

“He’s a local prospector thatgoes by the name of Namil,” the barkeep answered. “He’s sort of a regulararound here. But I haven’t seen him in over two weeks. The last time I saw him,he said he was heading into the mountains of the national park just west ofhere with a friend to do some prospecting. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Is that so?” Dan replied,glancing at Namil in the corner as he plowed through shot after shot of scotch.“He was aware of the hostile natives in the jungle of that area, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah,” the barkeep replied.“But he said he had a tip that said there was a major gold vein up in themountains, so he ignored the danger posed by the natives and the government banon prospecting in the park. I tried to talk him out of it but he ignored me.”

“Thanks for the info,” Dansaid, plopping a fifty-dollar bill down on the counter.

“Sure,” the barkeep said,slipping the fifty into his pocket.

Dan picked up his beer walkedover to Namil. After looking down at the man for a moment, Dan asked, “May Ijoin you? I replace it a lot nicer to drink with someone rather than alone.”

Namil downed another shot andglanced up at Dan with a look of genuine terror. “I’m afraid I’m not much goodas a drinking buddy right now,” he mumbled sullenly.

“That’s all right,” Danreplied, smiling amiably. “Sometimes it’s not the drink that helps but afriendly ear. I can see something is really eating at you. Want to talk aboutit?”

“No,” Namil replied bluntly,pouring another shot as Dan sat down.

“That’s a nice year on thescotch,” Dan commented. “You’re Namil, aren’t you?”

Namil nodded, downing anothershot. He grimaced and shuddered from the Scotch burning his throat, slammingthe shot glass down on the table. “What’s it to you?” he snapped, half-drunk.

“Oh nothing,” Dan stated,sipping from his beer. “Word through the grapevine is that you went into themountains just west of here looking for gold. Did you replace any?”

Namil stared blankly at thebottle of Scotch. “There’s only death in those mountains,” he whispered inhorror. “Only a fool would dare to tread that cursed ground.”

“You found something, but itwasn’t gold, was it?” Dan surmised, seeing Namil shaking. “What did you seethat’s scared you this bad?”

“You don’t want to know,” Namilreplied stonily. “No one in their right mind would want to see what I saw.”

“Well, I do,” Dan stated. “I’mconsidering going into those mountains and I’d like to know what I can expect.”

“You’re fucking crazy,” Namilhissed, “stark-raving mad! Do you want to die up there? Because that’s what’sup there; nothing but death!”

“Am I?” Dan asked, ploppingdown a hundred dollar bill on the table. “I’m serious. I need to know what’sout there…if anything.” Namil looked at the bill as Dan sat another hundreddollars on the table. “This is yours if you tell me what I want to know,” Danoffered.

“If you can get me off thisgod-forsaken island, you have a deal,” Namil countered.

“Deal,” Dan said firmly. “Whatdid you see?”

Namil grabbed his bottle ofScotch and turned it up, guzzling roughly five shots worth of whiskey in oneswallow. Slamming the bottle down on the table, he looked at Dan, terrorshining in his eyes. “You have no idea what lies in those cursed mountains,” hebegan. “The devil lives up there.”

“Go on,” Dan urged softly,taking a sip of his beer.

“Carlos and I got wind of amajor gold strike up near Gungun Leuser,” Namil stated, his voice trembling. Hereached into his pocket and pulled out a small gold bar an inch wide by threeinches long by a quarter inch thick. Strange writing lay etched into the goldbar. “My source provided this as proof of his claim,” Namil continued in awhisper, tossing the gold bar on the table.

“May I see it?” Dan asked.

Namil nodded and Dan picked upthe bar, fascinated by the writing on it. “Anyway,” Namil murmured. “After somepersuasion, he told me where he found the gold. Thinking there may be moretreasure like that up there, I convinced Carlos to go with me to replace it,promising to split the replace with him. Little did I realize I was walking into aworld of shit by going up there.”

Dan sat the bar back on thetable and slid it in front of Namil. “Okay, what happened next?” he asked.

“Well, we followed the river towhere my source said to turn and go up the mountain,” Namil stated, his paleface trembling as he went into detail about his encounter with the devil.

Namil and Carlos pushed throughthe dense jungle undergrowth, climbing the ridge. “Are you sure this is theway?” Carlos asked.

“Yeah,” Namil replied. “This isthe way he told me to go. We must be getting close. I can feel it.”

They crossed over the ridge andtook a path parallel to the ridge, slowly descending into the valley belowthem. The jungle chattered with life as they moved on. Suddenly, an outcroppingof rock caught Namil’s eye. A chill raced down his spine. “What is it?” Carlosasked as Namil stopped to examine the rock.

A huge smile crossed Namil’sface as he peeled back the moss, revealing a vein of pure gold seven incheswide running through the outcropping. “We’re fucking rich, Carlos!” he crowed.

Carlos stared at the gold withhis mouth agape. Namil pulled out his knife and dug a golf ball sized chunk ofgold out of the vein. He examined it, even biting down on it to make sure itwas gold. “This is the good stuff too,” Namil chimed. “Not some ore, but puregold. And just think, it’s been sitting here for God knows how long waiting forus to replace it. We’re rich as god damned kings, Carlos!”

Only when Carlos touched thevein of gold did he believe it. His face exploded with delight and hebear-hugged Namil. “You crazy son of a bitch,” Carlos crowed. “You actuallycame through this time! We’re fucking rich!”

“Yeah,” Namil stated. “But thisis not where that guy found the sample. Somewhere on this mountain is anancient treasure horde that needs only to be picked up.”

“So what do we do about thisgold?” Carlos asked. “I’m all for just staying right here and digging it allout.”

“Why settle for this when wecan have a whole mountain of gold?” Namil asked...his greed showing. “Somewherefarther up this mountain is that treasure and I mean to replace it. Are you withme or not?”

“Of course I’m with you,Namil,” Carlos replied. “Do you think we can remember where this vein is?”

“Not a problem,” Namil stated,pulling out a hand-held GPS unit. He punched a couple of buttons and said,“I’ve locked in these coordinates on my GPS so we can replace our way back to it.Come on, Carlos. Let’s replace the rest of that treasure.”

“Okay Namil,” Carlos replied.“I hope we don’t get lost in here or run into that pack of natives everyonetold us about.”

“If we keep a low profile,there shouldn’t be any trouble,” Namil stated. “Come on.” He took up the leadafter pocketing his GPS unit, pressing through the jungle with more fervor withCarlos following close behind.

As they slowly descended intothe small valley below, Carlos became antsy. “Namil,” he murmured. “I’vesuddenly got a bad feeling about going this way.”

“Oh, put a sock in it,” Namilretorted. “We’re the only ones out here in this wilderness.”

“I’m not so sure about that,”Carlos returned. “I could swear someone or something is watching us.”

“You’re just being paranoid,”Namil declared. “Nothing bad is going to happen to us. It can’t because we’rerich now. Nothing bad ever happens to rich people.”

“I don’t think this junglegives a shit whether we’re rich or not,” Carlos retorted. “It could care less.”

“Shut up your whining, Carlos,”Namil ordered. “If I knew you were going to act like this, I’d have left yourass behind.”

“I’m just saying that we shouldbe careful, Namil,” Carlos pleaded. “There’s something very wrong in this partof the jungle. I can feel it. I think we should just turn around and go back tothe outcropping. Some things are best left undisturbed.”

“Oh stop being a pussy,” Namilsnorted with growing irritation. “There’s nothing going on…here.” He suddenlystopped in his tracks as the jungle fell dead silent. Even the insects stoppedmaking noise.

“I knew it!” Carlos breathedwith his fear tripling. “This place really is cursed. We’re in over our headshere. Please Namil, let’s go back, and start digging the gold out of thatoutcropping. There’s enough gold there to make us filthy rich for the rest ofour lives.”

A faint roaring echo driftedthrough the jungle undergrowth as even the wind died, sending chills downNamil’s spine. “You may be right,” Namil said fearfully. “Something about thisplace is all wrong.” He turned to the left and saw a fierce gargoyle statueseven feet tall grimacing at him. It so startled him that Namil squealed infright and took off running in the direction he had been going, leaving Carlosbehind.

“Namil, wait!” Carlos shouted.“Stop…not that way! Damn it!” He took up his pursuit of Namil, his concern forhis friend overpowering his fear of the place. Carlos followed Namil’s paththrough the jungle for ten minutes, calling out to him. The farther heproceeded, the worse the feeling he had about the place got. Making a right atan enormous gum tree, he saw the trees suddenly thin a few yards away. “Namil!”he shouted, running through the brush toward the clear area. “Where the hellare you?” Within a few steps, Carlos stepped out onto a huge stone platformthat was the size of a football field. He saw Namil literally shaking as helooked up the face of the mountain. “Damn it; don’t do that again, Namil,”Carlos wheezed from the run. “I almost lost you.”

Namil stood transfixed interror, looking up. “What’s wrong, Namil?” Carlos asked, feeling aninexplicable icy terror penetrating his mind and heart. Only when he looked upat what Namil was staring at did Carlos understand. His fear blossomed out ofcontrol as he saw an enormous thirteen-headed draken colossus carved from theface of a two-thousand foot cliff. “Oh my god,” Carlos breathed, feeling he’dsuddenly stepped into a nightmare. The heads of the draken colossus seemed tostare down at them as if it were alive. Carlos grabbed Namil by the arm andpleaded, “Namil; snap out of it! We have to get away from here! We’re not supposedto be here. This is a place of demons. We must flee!”

Namil suddenly turned to Carloswith an ashen look of primal terror. Before he could speak, a roar arose,seemingly coming from the colossus. Yellow and blue lightning started arcingover the draken statue as red ball lightning suddenly appeared on the platformaround them, floating up to the heads. In seconds, the ball lightning alignedwith the draken’s eyes and the ground began to shake violently. Both Namil andCarlos stared in primal terror when the statue appeared to move while theground shook, seemingly coming alive before their eyes.

Carlos broke out of theparalyzing effects of his terror first. He grabbed Namil by the arm and draggedhim off the platform. “For god’s sake, Namil,” he cried. “We have to get awayfrom here or that thing is going to kill us!”

Namil abruptly came to hissenses and bolted down through the jungle with Carlos, not going the way theyhad come in. As they fled, Namil said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you,Carlos! If we get away from here, I’ll never doubt you again.”

“It’s okay,” Carlos answered,panting as they plowed through the jungle undergrowth despite the shaking ofthe ground.

Twenty minutes later, Namil andCarlos ran into a small village deep in the jungle. The natives descended uponthe pair instantly, capturing, and separating them. “What’re you doing?” Namilrailed at the natives. “Where are you taking Carlos? We have to get off thismountain or the monster will get us!” He watched the natives take Carlos intoone of the huts as he was taken into the largest hut. In seconds, Namil stoodbefore what he assumed was the leader of the village. “Please, let us go!”Namil begged. “We have to get away from the draken up there!”

The leader spoke to Namil in languagehe didn’t understand. “I don’t understand you,” Namil said, shaking in fearwith his arms bound behind him. “But you have to let me and my friend leavebefore the draken comes after us.”

The leader spoke twice more toNamil, getting the same results as the first time. Finally, the leader realizedNamil didn’t understand his speech so he stood and said in a language Namilcould barely understand, “Don’t be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Where’s Carlos? What did youdo with him?” Namil demanded, terror filling his tone.

One of the burly guards aroundthe leader whispered in the leader’s ear and the leader nodded, motioning tothe guard, who left. “Your friend is safe,” the leader answered coolly. “He’sbeing brought here as I speak. Now, why did you barge into our villageunannounced? Both of you were running like frightened hares.”

“We were up the mountainprospecting for gold and we came across this giant draken carved into a cliff,”Namil replied without thinking. “It came to life and chased us off themountain. Please, you have to let us leave before it comes to kill us.”

The leader’s countenancedarkened significantly and he called out in his native tongue. Seconds later,two burly guards entered the hut brandishing the largest swords Namil had everseen. Namil’s fear quadrupled. “This does not bode well for you, my friend,”the leader stated severely. “You and your companion have transgressed thesacred ground of Tiamat and roused the great Chaos Goddess to wrath by yourdesecration of her sacred temple. There’s only one way to calm her fury andthat’s to sacrifice those who desecrate her holy Temple at her feet. Your bloodwill purify the holy mountain and keep her asleep. Otherwise, she will rise anddestroy the world as she did in ages past. You should have never trampled thesacred mountain under your heathen feet. Now you and your companion must perishto keep her from burning our world to ashes.” The leader spoke to the guardsand they bracketed Namil as Carlos was brought in. Speaking to Namil, theleader declared, “For the good of this village and the world, you will be takento the holy Tiamat’s feet and sacrificed to appease her blood lust. I am trulysorry but there is no other way to avert her wrath. Take them to the colossus.”

“No! No!” Namil shrieked as hewas dragged away. “You can’t do this!”

“We can and we must if humanityis to survive,” the leader declared. “It’s our only hope. The Chaos Goddessmust remain asleep at all costs.”

Two hours later at the feet ofthe draken colossus, Namil watched helplessly as the guards bound Carlos handand foot with vines. “Please,” Carlos begged. “I didn’t want to come here. Ididn’t know this was sacred land.”

“It’s doesn’t matter now,” theleader answered coldly. “You and your friend tread the holy ground under yourheathen feet so it now has to be purified with your blood. If you worship agod, I suggest that you make your peace with him or her now.”

“He’s right!” Namil agreed. “Iforced him to come. He’s innocent! Kill me, not him!”

“Innocent or not,” the leaderstated frigidly, “He still transgressed the sacred ground, so he must die as doyou.”

Carlos cast a hateful glare atNamil. “You killed me, Namil!” he railed. “You and your fucking greed havekilled me. I’ll be waiting in hell for you so I can spend the rest of eternitykicking your ass for this! I’ll never forgive you!”

Carlos’ words pierced Namil’sheart. “I’m so sorry,” Namil replied.

“Sorry doesn’t cut it when I’mabout to be sacrificed, you prick!” Carlos raged. “I hope they kill you slow!”

The guards threw Carlos overone of the toenails of the colossus, using it as a chopping block. “Any lastwords, infidel?” the executioner asked as the other guard held Carlos down.

“Just be quick. I don’t want tolinger,” Carlos replied, tears dripping.

“You have courage, heathen,”the executioner said. “The Goddess respects that and so do we. You have yourwish.” The executioner looked at the leader, who nodded.

Carlos looked down at the stoneplatform and closed his eyes. His life flashed in front of his eyes as he heardthe whistling of the blade coming down. A brief excruciating pain hit his neckas his head fell to the platform. His eyes opened reflexively and he saw hisown decapitated body spewing blood from the severed neck just before thedarkness of death swallowed him a half second later.

“No!” Namil shrieked as he sawthe sacrifice of his best friend.

The leader picked up Carlos’head, placing it carefully on a pile of skulls between the feet of thecolossus. “Let his blood sate your anger, my Goddess, so that you may sleepon,” he prayed. Turning to the guards, he ordered, “Throw the body into the pit.”

The guard holding Carlos downpicked up his body, walked to the edge of the platform, and cast the body intoa deep ravine. As the guard turned to come back, the ground started to rumbleand then roar like an enraged beast. Seconds later the platform began to shakeviolently, so violently the guard who had cast Carlos’ body into the pitstumbled and fell headlong into the same ravine, breaking his neck. BeforeNamil realized it, the entire mountain was shaking. Trees swayed violently andthe ground began to roll and split.

“The Goddess!” the leader criedwith dismay. “She has awakened and is angry! Quickly, kill the other heathen orwe are lost!”

The shaking became so violentthat the guards holding Namil stumbled, letting him go. Namil bolted into thejungle, knowing this was his only chance to survive. “Stop him!” the leadercried out desperately, holding on to the feet of the colossus as the pile ofskulls collapsed.

Namil raced down through thejungle until the tremor violence made him stumble. He fell against a sharp rocknext to a tree that cut his bindings. The roaring and tremor violence continuedto increase as Namil got to his feet, holding on to the tree for dear life. AsNamil looked back to the platform, his blood ran cold as he saw something hecouldn’t explain. The entire platform and colossus glowed in a purple toscarlet hue as lightning suddenly erupted from the colossus, arcing like amassive Van de Graff generator. A massive, multipronged lightning bolt eruptedfrom the largest of the draken heads, striking the leader and the guards,vaporizing them. Next, the colossus heads moved as a dreadful roar rose fromthe statue itself. In seconds, Namil saw the lifeless stone colossus come tolife, pulling off the cliff. It lumbered forward in an unholy rage, apparentlylooking for something. Namil’s whole body became numbed with terror, but hisself-preservation instincts kicked in, sending him fleeing the impossible stonedraken through the jungle without looking back.

Namil paused in his account,finishing the bottle of scotch. When his composure returned, he said to Dan“After that thing came to life, I ran for my life without looking back. Ididn’t stop until I was out of the jungle at the edge of Kutacane. I don’t evenknow how long it took me. I just had to get out of there and I’m not going tofeel safe until I leave this fucking island forever.”

“That’s quite a tale,” Danmurmured, captivated by Namil’s details of the incident.

“It’s no tale,” Namil retorted,slamming his fist on the table. “I saw that demon and I’m not going back.”

“I didn’t mean to say you weremaking it up,” Dan apologized. “I meant it’s such a vivid account that I don’tbelieve you’re making it up. I can see by the look on your face that you’restill scared to death of what’s up there.”

“And so should you,” Namilreturned. “It’s the habitation of monsters and demons. Only a fool would gothere.”

“Then damn me for a fool,” Danstated humorously, trying to lighten Namil’s mood. “Do you still have the pieceof gold you dug out of that outcropping?”

Namil reached into his pocketand pulled out the chunk of gold, slapping it down on the table. “This shouldprove to you that I’m not making this shit up,” he hissed.

“May I?” Dan asked. Namilnodded and Dan examined the lump of gold. “This is exceptionally pure gold,”Dan stated. “That’s very rare. It’s indeed a great strike.” He sat the goldback in front of Namil.

“It makes no difference now,”Namil growled, his ashen face still quivering from the fright. “It could be awhole mountain of gold up there, but I’m not going back for it. What’s thepoint of being rich if you’re dead? I lost my best friend up there because ofmy fucking greed. I’m leaving this cursed island and never coming back.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,”Dan cooed. “I really do feel for you. But you have provided a very valuablepiece of a puzzle my boss has spent eight years looking for. Can you point outon a map exactly where you found the colossus? My boss suspects that place maybe an incredibly important archaeological replace; maybe the greatest one sincethe discovery of King Tut’s tomb.”

“You’re absolutely out of yourmind!” Namil balked. “Didn’t you hear a word of what I said? That’s a place ofmonsters you cannot fathom. Only someone completely insane would even considergoing to such a cursed place.”

“I did hear what you said,” Dananswered, not fazed by Namil’s rebuke. “That’s why it’s of such interest to meand my boss. We’re equipped to handle anything that may be there.”

“Trust me,” Namil retorted. “There’sno way in hell that you can deal with what I saw. That statue came to life andtried to kill me twice. I can’t explain how such a thing could happen, but itdid.”

“Please,” Dan said softly. “Wecan make it worth your while if you share this information with us.”

“And how are you going to dothat?” Namil countered. “I saw the impossible come to life and try to kill me.I was an atheist before I went up there. Now I know there’s something realbeyond my understanding that can get me anytime it wants as long as I’m on thisisland. How is me telling you where that damned cursed place is going to helpme?”

“My boss has the capability tosend you anywhere you want on the planet,” Dan stated. “How’s that forstarters. Plus, when we send you to wherever you want to go, we’ll send youwith enough money so you can make a fresh start. And to prove I’m not justblowing smoke….” Dan reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet; awallet that Namil noticed was crammed with cash. “I will pay you five thousand USdollars for the little gold bar with the writing on it and three thousand forthe gold you dug out of the vein,” he declared, starting to count out the moneyin front of Namil.

Namil’s eyes grew wide as Dancounted out eight grand in US dollars on the table. “You’re serious about this,aren’t you?” Namil asked.

“As serious as a heart attack,”Dan stated as he counted the cash out. “You do this for us and you can leavethis place forever and start over. Do we have a deal?”

Namil saw the cash on the tableand his mouth watered. “Okay,” he finally said. “You have a deal.” Namil pushedthe gold bar and nugget to Dan and Dan pushed to cash to Namil. “Get me a firstclass ticket to the US and help me start over and I’ll tell you what you wantto know,” Namil declared.

Dan smiled at Namil. “You havemy word,” Dan declared, holding out his hand. “We’ll get you off this islandand help you start a new life if you show me where you saw this draken colossuson the map. You can consider that eight grand a down-payment for our deal.”

“Thank you. You don’t know whatit means to me to be able to get away from here,” Namil said with obviousrelief in his voice as he shook Dan’s hand.

“Now how about telling me whereyou found the colossus?” Dan asked. At that, Namil gave Dan the directions.

Hannibal paused in his accountabout Dan’s encounter with Namil for a moment to gather his thoughts. In theinterlude, Harry asked, “How did Dan know this guy Namil was telling thetruth?”

“A good question,” Hannibalreplied. “Dan might have dismissed it as a hoax or hallucination from drugsexcept for three incontestable facts: number one, the gold bar Namil showed Danhad ancient writing on it, the same type of writing that’s on the amulet Ifound. Second, at the time Namil said the ground shook, a particularly powerfulyet highly localized earthquake hit western Sumatra with its epicenter verynear to where he said he saw the draken. Dan said it was felt all over theisland, and was particularly violent on the western end; however, because ofits remoteness, there was little loss of life and the damage was limited. Thequake itself exhibited very strange properties that no one can clearly explain.It seemed to have a moving epicenter, but the epicenter stayed confined in thatgeneral area. And third: Dan has seen many people who were drunk, high, orstoned and knew what to look for in a person who is in that condition. WhenNamil ran into that bar, Dan immediately noticed Namil was not drunk, high orstoned; he was genuinely scared out of his wits. He also said that Namil keptlooking toward the door, as if he were expecting something to come after him.

“Eventually, as I said before,Dan finally managed to convince Namil to provide an approximate location anddirections to the draken. His directions were coarse but close enough. The lastthing Namil said to Dan when he left was this: ‘Go there if you dare. But Iwarn you, the Devil lives there. As for me, I’m leaving this fucking cursedisle and am going to get as far away from that thing as I can.’ I agreed withDan’s deal and provided Namil with airfare and a hefty wad of cash so he couldstart over, which was the last time Dan saw Namil.

“Word came to Dan later thatNamil had been killed under the most unusual of circumstances before he couldleave Sumatra. It’s said that he was found in a motel room down in Banda Acehwhere he was waiting for his flight with the door locked from the inside. Hehad been literally torn to pieces by what was thought to be some kind of wildanimal. On the mirror in Namil’s room was a single word scrawled on the mirrorin his blood: Tiamat. Dan said that police had a hard time stomaching that theyfound. The official report was it was a gangland killing by the Yakuza becausehe owed them money. That’s the official report, even though it’s deliberatemisinformation. If it were a Yakuza killing, the twenty grand we gave him wouldhave been taken and it was still there in his room when he was found. Dan’sfriends in the police department passed on the info about the killing to himand were completely baffled at the gruesome nature of the murder, having noclues as to what happened. The only fingerprints that were found were Namil’salong with huge claw marks on the walls and floor and a bunch of unidentified three-toedfootprints where the killer walked through Namil’s blood. DNA testing foundreptilian DNA at the crime scene associated with the claw marks and footprints.Because of the bizarre nature of the killing, the police covered it up with theYakuza story, according to Dan’s friends in the police department there. But tobe sure, Namil’s murder has the supernatural written all over it.” Hannibalpaused for a moment once again to gather his thoughts before continuing.