Jethro opened the doors of one of the chambers, marked "Jethro’s Library" in Egyptian script and revealed parchments upon parchments stacked high in the air. There were three young priests reading the parchments. They bowed their heads respectfully as Moses and Jethro walked by them. "We are also known as the Priests of KMaS." Jethro said.
"KMaS? I’m not familiar with that word, lord. Is it Egyptian? Or Hebrew perhaps?" Moses asked.
"Neither. It is the priestly word for Gold. You see because of our arcane knowledge into the workings of gold, we are also known as the Patrons of Gold. As you have witnessed, we were able to discover the hidden properties of gold and the different powers produced by gold in different states, inert and otherwise." He said.
Moses looked about the room in a silent state of awe before coming to a conclusion. "What about Egypt? Ramesis is rich beyond compare! He can pay for your projects and research to last a life-time!"
Jethro smiled: "Is he, my young Moses? You are a little naïve about the world around you, just like Pharaoh’s people. The Egyptian Kingdom is collapsing, my dear son. Every Kingdom has a limit to how powerful and rich it can become, if that limit is exceeded, it comes crashing down without warning. We predict that is what will happen to Egypt within mere decades. You see, according to the prophecy, there will be an anointed one from the house of Midian who will found a new Kingdom and that Kingdom will be the next Egypt."
Jethro shrugged: "And as for the value of gold, that had become our bane. When Sobekhotep employed his own apprentices in the Egyptian House of Gold to start producing gold for the Pharaonic estate, the king and his subsequent generations would force them to produce more and more gold each year. Civilizations from across the world would travel to Egypt and buy the gold in the tons. Seven generations and two Pharaonic dynasties, my young pupil, is all that it took for the value of gold to diminish. You see, everyone had it. It wasn’t a rarity anymore. The treasurers kept saying that, but the Pharaohs never listened and always wanted more, some treasurers were even executed for refusing to increase the output. And the current treasurers, who are still devoted to the original House of Gold are awaiting for the time that one of us will save them from the enslavement."
Moses shook his head: "Just like the Hebrews."
Moses looked at him expressionlessly, at least until Jethro once again questioned his behavior. "Why do you act like so, Moses?"
Moses blinked "Like what?"
"Like you know less than what you truly do. I know you, Moses. I know the trials that you have gone through, the knowledge that you have gained throughout your life and the military campaigns that your Egyptian father put you in charge of. I know that you are one above many. I know that God watches over you, and I know that you know that. Why act so ignorant?" Jethro quizzed, though with a soft and empathetic tone.
Moses thought about this question in earnest until the only plausible and honest answer formed within his mind. "I cannot claim knowledge where I don't have any. I am no different from any of the shepherds of Midian, lord."
Jethro shook his head and pat Moses' shoulder. "What a perfect candidate."
"Candidate for what?" Moses heard himself say.
Jethro forced a smile onto his face as he looked Moses directly into his soul. "Like it or not. I am old, and my purpose has been completed. I can feel it. It is time to choose a successor for the Midianite House of Gold and Alchemy."
Moses was about to say something, but realized that he didn’t know what to say.
Jethro walked around the room, probably remembering days of old when the room was bustling with activities. "Today", Jethro explained, "Those people are reduced to a handful as most were forced to either turn themselves to the Pharaoh and serve him or travel to other cities in search for sustenance, and probably even an actual life. The Egyptians knew that the House of Midian existed, but considered it a mirage that would someday disappear."
"Look around you." Jethro said. He pointed towards stone slabs upon slabs stacked in a shelf, "You have all the time in the world to read about the secrets of life known as The Arcanum. But the answer to my question is this."
Moses stared blankly at his father in law. "I am the One who is." Jethro stated. Moses shook his head, a blank expression overtaking his features. "You are the one who is what, lord?"
Jethro smiled, adding quite politely, "Solve what I have said and you will know the answer to the question that will hound people for eternity."
Jethro guided Moses into a chamber marked "Altar Room" in Egyptian script. A pool of water was in the center of the room. And in front of it was an altar for prayer. On the walls, he could see a message in a seemingly Aramaic script but was too vague to read.
"El-lah, el-wa’ed, el-alim. Which means, The God, The One, The Omniscient." Jethro said. "You can’t read it because it’s a new script that was developed by us and derived from Aramaic. That is the language that we write our parchments in, and you need to learn that first in order to understand our secrets."
Jethro took out a small dusty box from the back of one of the shelves and covered its lid with his old wrinkled hand. "As I was saying… In our guild," He said, "We choose apprentices to succeed the master... Or in this case, are chosen to us by an act of fate... But those apprentices must be direct blood relatives, one. And two, must be awakened."
Moses jumped with a start as the stone chamber door behind him slammed shut and four young priests walked into the room.
"Meet Custodian Moab." Jethro pointed at one of the men whose robe was lined with a golden silk thread. Moab bowed in respect to both Jethro and Moses then stood in front of the pool, chanting to himself.
"Seeing how," Jethro continued, "Up until now the laws were that only the eldest boys born unto the messiah, or ‘Anointed One’ can be the next anointed high priest, I was unable to pass down my own rule; as you know, I have no sons. Not until you married my daughter. So it is because of that, that you are given the honor, of becoming one with the House of Midian. Not only that, but if the rumors are true, that your blood mother Jechobed was a direct descendant of Levi and wife of Aye, the son of Joseph, that will mean that not only is the blood being passed is divine and pure, but that you, Moses with the matrimonial bonding of Zippora, will make the two of you the unity of not two, but four holy lines, therefore returning it back to the source."
Moses: "And what is the implication for my own sons?"
Jethro: "It is obvious. Your sons would be the beginning of an entirely new era for the House of Gold and the Priests of Horeb, that era might fulfill the prophecy, that the house will usher a new Kingdom of Justice for the Hebrews and the Midianites, in which they both will live together peacefully under the rule of the One God."
"Come!" Jethro commanded. Moses approached as Jethro pointed towards the edge of the pool and motioned for him to step onto its shallow waters. The water was cool and soothing. Moses looked up and realized that the ceiling was fashioned to block the sun from casting its rays onto the pool, therefore keeping it cool in the hot Sinai desert weather.
The three priests stood on each side of the pool.
From the box, Jethro took out a small metallic chalice with some kind of golden-colored oil in it, the chalice was engraved with writing as well, but this time, it wasn’t Aramaic, Arabic, Egyptian, Hebrew or any other language. They were swirly and peculiar symbols that seemed to glow. Was it just light being reflected onto the cup? In that case, why didn’t the whole cup glow, not just the letters?? "The Cup of the Messiah." Moses seemed to say. It was strange, but Moses realized that you didn’t learn the language of these letters, but you just knew them. As if they were already taught to you, a long time ago.
"I now anoint you with the water of fire. An element more sacred than Mafkuzti." Jethro said as he sprinkled the water on his head.
At first, Moses didn’t feel anything except a soft tingling sensation in the bottom of his spine. The feeling started flowing upwards and seemed to spread quickly throughout his body. He felt as if light was trying to break out from within his body and spray its lights outwards and explode into nothing but a single unit of energy.
As more of the oil splashed on his face, Moses opened his eyes so wide he thought that his lids would rip out of place, but it didn’t, his eyes opened beyond the conventional view of "here" and "life".
Suddenly, he was aware of people looking at him; he looked around and saw beings of light smiling at him with admiration and hope. He could hear people talking, probably thousands of them. Needless to say, he started to panic.
He took one step back.
"He’s coming." One of them said with a smile. He looked at the man and thought that he could see the face of Emmanuel, disguised behind deep blue piercing eyes and flowing blonde hair.
Moses shouted: "Who is coming?!"
He took another step back. Suddenly, he fell onto a dark abyss. In a way, he was thankful that he was leaving that strange point of view, but in another, he was dismayed because the secret of life was in his reach.
There was a distant thud, and what could be thought of as a splash. It was distant, but real enough.
Suddenly he started to calm down as a soft feeling filled his body, it flowed through him and seemed to try to pull him back, away from this strange new world. "You have killed your carnal ego, and you are now one with the universe." Another said, its voice fleeting in the distance, or was it coming closer?
Moses opened his eyes. He was underwater. Moses shook in a mild state of panic as he tried to get up. A hand came into the water and helped pull him up. Apparently he had fallen onto the pool of water that stood in the middle of the sanctuary.
Jethro handed him a soft cotton towel and Moses wiped himself dry. Jethro looked at Moses with a smile, as if telling him that "Yes, don’t worry. I have already seen what you have just seen. Isn’t it wonderful?"
Moses looked around him and noticed that the priests were prostrating on the ground at him, as if worshipping a God.
"You are now reborn as the High Priest of the Omniscient God and cherisher of divine knowledge. Now, you are given permission to learn about our heritage and history. And I shall now give you the keys." Jethro said with a proud smile
Moses shook his head once more, the entirety of this expedition being a little overwhelming for him to take in at once.
Two hours later.
Jethro walked towards one corner of the chamber and took out a long staff. He gave it to Moses. Moses looked at it and noticed that it was a bit heavier than a staff would usually be. There were no special gemstones on it or anything. Except… Those strange markings again! And these ran all through the staff, from top to bottom. The words glowed close to where Moses’ hands touched the staff. He removed one of his hands and shuddered as he felt the letters trying to reach for him, begging and crying with their language of light. He thought that he had felt this feeling before… He felt this when he was staring at the stars.
"These… Markings. Why do I feel that they are speaking to me?" Moses asked.
"They are." Custodian Moab said, standing in one of the corners of the library. He was standing so still that you wouldn’t have noticed him had he continued to be silent. "Those are animate letters that unlike the letters found in books, they live, breath and channel universal energy. They are Holy letters. They are the letters that make up the name of God."
Jethro nodded as Moses looked at him for confirmation.
"And this staff… You made it?" Moses asked.
"No. Not the staff. That was made by Abraham, the first Messiah. With the knowledge passed down to him by the Agent of God, Tetra who anointed him in a plane where time stands still. He was able to use that staff to save himself from the fires of Nimrod and escape Babylon. Perhaps I will tell you the story some other day. But in any case, the words sealed on that staff gives it special powers. Although no one knows all that it is capable of doing."
Moses: "I am surprised that people of power haven’t attempted to steal these tokens."
Jethro immediately replied: "Some have attempted to in generations past. But these tokens are useless in the hands of any one other than the Messiah. You see, the tokens become dormant until one of the anointed ones touches it. According to the instructions of Tetra, only anointed ones are able to wield and awaken the tokens, because they are the only humans who have the ability to channel the powers of the universe. You are blessed, my son, because few people have the gift that you possess."
"I see." Moses nodded.
"What we do know about the Staff of Abraham, though, is that it has the ability to manipulate and channel the energies of shadow, fire and fire beams." Jethro said. Moses was about to ask him something but Jethro raised his hand: "You can learn all about it in the parchments. It is too much information to explain now. But you will be surprised over how much it can do. It can kill, create, suppress and move tons of rocks in the air, write with the fingers of God…"
"Write with the fingers of God? How?!" Moses blurted.
Jethro took the staff for a moment and pointed it to a blank stone slab, a thin red beam shot out of the staff and onto the slab, Jethro moved it intricately and he marked the slab with black letters burnt into place! "…By beams of fire."
Moses stuttered, refusing to touch the forsaken thing. "I insist." Jethro said with a wry grin.
Moses put his guard down as he held the rod again.
Moses thought about this for a few moments before quickly adding, "If you men have discovered all these amazing things, why not show them to the Pharaoh and be given the honor you truly deserve... More than that, all the money you'll ever need to discover newer things! I’m sure that the priests of Re themselves would bow to you in utmost respect."
Jethro sighed with a creeping hint of pity, "Unfortunately, Moses, such is the life of a Priest of God. Secrecy is our prime law. If we gave these secrets to Pharaoh, he will wreak havoc on the earth. As you know, he's already trying to build a so-called ladder to heaven. Who knows what else those priests of Re will incite him to do when they get their hands on the holy tokens."
Moses nodded. He looked at his newfound token and simply didn't know what to do with it. "Come, let's test our experiment." Jethro said as they walked back to where the large stone and gold ark sat.
They walked outside the library and back to the hall. Moses walked towards the big ark that Jethro introduced earlier, looking it over with a scrutinizing eye. "So what is this thing?"
"As I have said, it is the culmination of all the years of research in alchemy. You see we were able to build an ark that harnesses power equal or surpassing that of lightning itself."
Moses shook his head as his eyes affixed themselves to the ark, "In that???"
Jethro nodded his response. "We believe that one day this will serve a very useful purpose. We do know that moderate amounts can serve as light beacons, such as the beacons we’ve built for pyramid tops, however, with unlimited amounts... Think of the possibilities... Think of the power!!!" His eyes were pulsating.
Moses shuddered; this man was probably blessed once upon a time, but is now polluted with false dreams of grandeur. But were they just dreams?
"What is that?" Moses asked as Jethro took out a crystal.
"This. My dear Moses, is going to be the mouth-piece that will allow you to speak with God!" Although he meant it figuratively, Moses couldn't help but wonder how literal that sentence was intended to be.
"Stand back!" He shouted.
Moses stood back, merely expecting this strange spell to fizz and die...
Jethro walked closer to the ark and looked at the two golden wings and the wires that run within them. He was shaking. It was another of those moments were a discovery would either be a total success or an absolute failure and embarrassment. But he had no choice. He had to complete the experiment.
He placed the crystal in between the two "wings".
Moses looked towards his father-in-law and waited.
Jethro stood still, his eyes seemed to have… Died away.
Moses looked around and felt something strange. He noticed that the air was quiet.... The wind wasn't blowing any more down the ceiling. Or was it? Suddenly, Moses' ears shattered with a hollow explosion, he took cover as his father-in-law was flung across the room and crashed right through the walls of the chamber.
There were strange waves of blue light surrounding the room like a fire ball, and Moses was inside it. He heard the sandals of the priests running towards the chamber. As they walked in they screamed as the blue light ran through their bodies and flashed like a lightning bolt! The men fell on the floor unconscious. Moses looked down to the ground and noticed that his feet were still bare as was asked of him. "Holy ground." Moses muttered.
Moses knew he was now alone. But something was drawing him into the apex of this blue vortex. He turned his head towards where the ark was and he could only see it through a sheet of distortion, like a sheet of pulsating water waves.
"So, Jethro. Tell me now what is it that you priests do? Apart from worship this One God that you call, The Omniscient." Moses said as he walked into Jethro’s library, now wearing an official priestly robe, made of silk and pure gold threads.