"Girls," Bubbles said uneasily, interrupting their reading, as Blossom and Buttercup looked up at her. She hesitated, then said, "I...I don't know...should we be reading this? I mean..."

"He wanted us to," Blossom pointed out. "That's what it said at the beginning."

Bubbles nodded, "But...but it's just..."

"You're not scared, are you?" Buttercup asked, forcing a smile.

"Knock it off, Buttercup," Blossom snapped. "I saw the look on your face...you feel the same way about this right now."

"No way!" Buttercup said, shaking her head. "Anyway, c'mon, let's keep reading. I wanna find out what happens..." Blossom stared quietly at her for a few moments, then sighed. She gave a glance at Bubbles for a moment to make sure she was okay with it, and Bubbles nodded...taking a deep breath, she returned to where she left off...

* * *

It was bad enough that the vault had poor lighting. I almost wish I had brought a flashlight with me. Making my way down the rows of shelves, I looked at the labels on the boxes, trying to orient myself and figure out where I needed to go. A glance at the labels told me I was in the wrong section, so I went ahead deeper. I couldn't shake the feeling, though, that there was someone else here, even though everything was quiet. It felt like the walls had eyes...that they were watching my every move.

As I turned the corner to head into one of the subsections of the vault, I nearly tripped over something that was lying across the floor. When I saw what it was, I nearly ran out of the vault right then and there...it was another dead body, but this one was even in worse condition than Ruth. It's skin looked like it had decayed away...there was barely anything but twisted bits of muscle attached to the bone underneath. It was almost skeletal, and the putrid stench that arose from it told me that it had been dead for some time. As it was, it was impossible to identify who it may have been.

Biting my lip, I stepped over the corpse and continued, despite all the alarms going off in my head telling me just to run. I had come too far, though...I knew this was the section that held what I was looking for, and told myself that I could just get whatever it was, then I can leave, and never have to come back. Then I could report Ruth's death to the authorities...

I came to the section of the shelf and started looking across the labels, looking for the correct one. My eyes kept being drawn back to the corpse on the floor, but I eventually forced myself to keep focused on the boxes. Finally, I found it...the box with the same index as was on the paper. It was a strong box, with a lock, and I knew instantly that the key would fit it. Pulling the box down from the shelf, I tucked it under one arm...despite it's size, it wasn't that heavy. It almost felt empty, although I felt something slide around inside, so I knew it contained something...hopefully, the answer to all of this.

Turning back to the way out, though, what I saw I could scarcely believe at the time. I remember blinking in shock, then falling back a step as I realized I was seeing the impossible...the corpse on the ground was moving, slowly lifting itself to its feet. The sight of seeing the dead rise...I can't even describe it. It felt like everything I knew about science was caving in around me...

("Z-zombies?" Buttercup asked, then frowned and said, "The professor's just making this up, isn't he? Zombies aren't real..."

I was frozen in place. I couldn't figure out what to do...the corpse stood completely upright, and swiveled slightly to face me. Its cold, dead eyes stared out at me...I can't even describe what I felt when it did. The eyes burned with a green glow; they seemed to pierce right into my soul. It was like, just looking into its eyes, I could see the horrible truth of its existence.

When it started to move towards me, I nearly panicked, backing up against the wall. I looked around feverishly for something to help me, until my eyes fell on the heavy box I was carrying. Since it was my only option, I grabbed the sides of the box and swung it, clubbing the thing on the side of the head. It had done the trick; the corpse fell landing in a heap on the ground...but it was still clawing, trying to get back up. Without further hesitation, I took the box and slammed it down on the corpse's head repeatedly.

By the time I had stopped, it was completely smashed. The corpse wouldn't rise again...or at least, so I thought, but even without its head, it was still moving. I backed out of the room carefully, watching it twitch on the ground, and as soon as I was clear of it, I turned and ran out. The authorities would have to be told about this, but would they even believe it? The dead, rising? There wouldn't be any denying it, though, not with the evidence right here.

But there was no evidence now. As I was exiting the vault, I saw the place where Ruth's body had been lying, and it was no longer there. I hadn't heard a thing...did someone move it? I didn't know then, and I never found out. All I knew at the time was that someone wanted to cover this up. They did a good job, too; if I went to the authorities now, they would never believe my story, not without the evidence...I'd have to find something more concrete, perhaps the contents of the box.

Once I was out of the vault, I hurried back to my own office post-haste. I was curious to see what it was that Ruth had been keeping inside that box...what was worth killing her over. I closed and locked the office door behind me and set it down on my desk. Fishing the key out from my pocket, I unlocked it and carefully lifted the lid.

There was a glass jar inside, not too dissimilar to the one that was on Ruth's desk before, although it was a little bigger. Inside it was a statue, hovering in place, but a different one than I had seen before. It was carved from some blue substance, but the shape didn't conform to anything I had ever seen before. The closest comparison would be that of a jellyfish or some kind of squid, but even then, its shape was alien, consisting of odd angles and proportions.

The curiosity of its suspension in the jar was even greater up-close; I could see that there was absolutely nothing holding it in place, and that the base of the jar was made of wood, so it couldn't have been held aloft by magnetism. It was impossible...but I had already witnessed the impossible earlier, so I had more of an open mind now. It was at that point that I think I first began to question the certainties of the world, the laws of physics and realities that I was so certain of all these years. Anything was possible...I had to realize this fact if I were to be kept from being driven mad by this. I still tell myself that to this day.

I placed one of my hands on the surface of the jar as I examined it, and for a moment, I heard something in my head...a resonating voice that whispered back in the recesses of my mind. It seemed like gibberish, not making any sense whatsoever, but I wasn't imagining it. It was there, I know it was there...it felt as though it was eminating from the object in the jar. And then, when I had almost reached the conclusion that it was nothing but senseless babble, I clearly heard my name...

[...Utonium...]

I was perfectly still, listening in disbelief...the voice grew clearer, and without giving it another thought, I quickly grabbed a pen and scribbled down what I heard on a piece of paper...

[...pargon...tier...pargon...pargon...aretak...pargon...pargon...Ulyaoth...pargon...]

After this, the voices fell silent. I moved my hand across the surface of the jar again, but nothing further came. I glanced down at what I had written...if it was in any language, it wasn't a language I was familiar with. But now that I had it written down, at least to the best of my spelling, I could take it to someone that did know. Surely there had to be someone else at the university that knew.

In the meantime, nothing could find this box. Hopefully, whoever had killed Ruth didn't know that I possessed it. Looking around my office, I found an empty corner of one shelf...replacing the statue into the box and locking it, I slid the box onto the shelf and hid the spot beneath the page of a newspaper which I quickly taped up. It wouldn't look suspicious, since I had similar articles taped up other parts of my office.

Pocketing the piece of paper with the words on it, I headed out for one of the other buildings on campus. I knew just who would be able to help me. Professor Ian Johnson was an expert on linguistics and also obscure languages...if I was lucky, I would be able to find the answers with him.

Ian was in his office when I got there. When he answered the door, he smiled and said, "Hey, good to see you again, Utonium."

"Thanks...you too, Ian," I said. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Ian replied, stepping aside and letting me enter. He added, "I was just grading some papers. What can I do for you?"

I fished the piece of paper out of my pocket and said, "Well, I came across something written in a language I can't identify, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it..." I handed it over to him and let him look it over.

He gave me a puzzled look and said, "Well, it's...odd, I'll grant you that. There are any number of languages that any of the words by themselves might be part of, but together...they don't really have common elements to associate them with any of them. Where did you find this?"

"Just on a manuscript," I quickly said. "So there's no way you can tell me what it means?"

Ian shook his head, "Sorry. It's impossible for me to tell, and if any of these are proper nouns, then I'd be even more lost. I'll tell you what, though...I have an old acquaintance, Christopher Benes, at another university who might know. He's familiar with a lot of archaic languages, including some only used in occult rituals. If anyone would know, it would be him. I could mail him when I get the chance..."

"Can you call him now?" I asked.

Ian seemed surprised. "Why now? Is this something important?"

I nodded, "You could say that, yes...so, can you?"

"I suppose so," he replied, returning to his desk. Thumbing through an address book, he picked up his phone and dialed out, while I found myself glancing nervously towards the door, like I expected someone to enter. I chided myself for being paranoid...but in this situation, it felt necessary.

"Christopher?" he said into the phone. "Yeah, hi, it's Ian...Yes, how are you doing?...Oh, I'm just fine. Look, the reason I called is, I have a collegue here, Professor Utonium, who was wondering if you could identify something for him...Yes, I'll put him on, one moment..."

He handed the phone over to me, and I lifted it to my ear, saying, "Hello?"

The voice on the other end sounded like a man in about his late fifties. He said, "Professor Utonium, yes...what is it you wanted me to listen to?"

"It's some old text," I told him. "I can't make heads or tails of it, and neither could Professor Johnson. Here, let me read it off to you..." Lifting the piece of paper, I started reading, "Pargon, tier, pargon, pargon, aretak, pa--..."

"Where did you hear that?" Christopher interrupted.

Surprised, I asked, "Why? Is it familiar?"

"Yes...yes, it is..." he said, softly.

I waited for a moment, but he was silent. After another second or so, I asked, "Well? What is it?"

"I can't tell you," he said. "Not over the phone anyway. Can I see you in person?"

"Um..." I started to say.

"You can fly right down here immediately," he continued. "Bring whatever it is you found that on with you, all right?"

"Wait!" I protested. "I have my class to worry about...and I can't really afford a trip right now..."

"I'll pay the expense," he said. "And your class can manage without you for a week. Please, this is important. And try not to tell this to anyone else, all right?"

"O...okay..." I said, taken a little by surprise. The rest of the phone call didn't stick in my memory too clearly, because my thoughts kept drifting back to the incident with Ruth, and the object I found. And now I would be taking a trip to see another professor about who knows what. Everything was happening way too fast. I began to wonder if things might have been different if I had never inquired about what I saw on Ruth's desk in the first place, but thinking back, they would have been different...they would have been much worse.

("What does he mean by that?" Buttercup asked. "How could they be worse? If all that really happened to him, then..."

The arrangements were made, and in no time, I found myself on a plane to the university where Professor Benes taught. I packed light, but the box containing the artifact never left my side. All during the trip, I had occasional second thoughts about the whole thing...everyone back home would be wondering where Ruth had disappeared to, and why I coincidentally left at the same time. I was worried about the ramifications of what I was doing, but there was no going back now.

I arrived at my destination, and headed straight for the university. Christopher was waiting for me...he wasn't quite what I expected; his voice, even though it sounded in his late fifties, belied his true age, which looked to be somewhere around his early thirties instead. He bought me into his office quickly, shutting the door behind him. "Professor," he said, "I'm glad to see you made it safely..."

"Thanks," I replied, although I realized he probably meant that more than as a mere courtesy. "Now please, tell me... what's this all about?"

"First, let me see what you found," Christopher insisted.

I nodded, and set the box on the table, unlocking it and opening it up. Reaching inside, I lifted out the artifact inside its jar...Christopher's eyes lit up with awe when he saw it, and I commented, "Yes, I've never seen anything like it. I hope you can tell me where it came from."

"Oh yes," he said. "Most definitely. You see..." He reached over to something on the other side of the table that a black cloth was draped over, and pulled off the cloth to reveal a display case. It was made of glass, and floating in the center of it was...another statue, like the one I had just shown him. But it wasn't the same as mine, or the one I had seen on Ruth's desk earlier...this one was a jade-like green, and was carved in some winged shape, but that's the most I could make of it. And like the other two I had seen, it was hovering on its own accord as well.

This wasn't a coincidence...the pieces obviously had something to do with each other. They were unique, yet so similar. I finally looked up at Christopher and said, "All right, tell me what we have here. Tell me what this is all about. I need to know."

"I will tell you," Christopher explained, "although it is not for you to know, or any of us...we weren't meant to know. It is only by a twist of fate that the essences of the old ones would end up in our presence..."

"Old ones...?" I asked, confused.

He nodded, "Yes...what we have here are the essences of gods, Professor Utonium...ancient beings not meant for our world, ancient beings sealed away for millenia. But it is through them that they can regain their former power, and bring eternal darkness to all of humanity..."