The Thrones of Eden 3 (Eden) Read Online Free Page B

why build it?” He pointed to the ancient founts. “Are these similar to the ones you discovered inside the temple?”
    She nodded. They were exactly the same.
    “Then perhaps this arterial leads to another place of worship,” he guessed.
    When she turned to him he cocked his head in the direction of the guards. “We also work under the auspices of the Turkish government,” he told her. “The Culture Minister of Turkey and the League of Excavation Contractors has set their claims in collusion with the institute I work for, which accounts for the circus of tents above us. I’ve already notified them that I’ll need a scientific team, cryptanalysts”—He pointed to John and Alyssa to make his point—“and a team of combat experts, just in case.” He then pointed to the immediate area in front of the hole, indicating the bowl-shaped imprints. “If there’s something inside, then we’ll be aptly prepared, I assure you.”
    “That’s what Obsidian Hall said about his team when we first entered Eden nearly a year ago,” said Savage. “Not a single soldier survived.”
    “The weapons, Mr. Savage, will be more powerful and the soldiers more plentiful. So we’ll be fine,” he told them. “We’ll be just . . . fine.”
     
     

 
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    It moved through absolute darkness by depending on its ability to sense its surroundings by inborn perception. When the loose skin around its throat expanded into a frill reminiscent of an Elizabethan collar, it would then vibrate its flesh so that it rattled like maracas, the noise then bouncing off its surroundings and returning as echo radar, its brain then processing the data as to what path to take.
    It was approximately sixteen feet in length with a pewter hide that was slowly fading to the color of fish-belly gray, an indication of its failing health. The points and edges of its pliable bones were beginning to show against its skin, the creature having lost about a third of its weight.
    For months it had sustained itself by living off the black cobras that resided within the tunnels. But it was not enough.
    Months ago its environment collapsed as the temple of Eden folded, destroying an ecosystem that had lasted for several millenniums. And its breed had died away, leaving it to be the last of its kind.
    Yet it continued by the essence of self-preservation, the penchant to explore, to hunt, to thrive. But this was a new world that held a far greater threat than itself, something that was more powerful and more destructive—something that was as much of the darkness as it was.
    Hours ago it had sensed a change in its environment, its delicate sensors picking up a sudden shift in temperature, an immediate cooling, which tempted the creature to follow the source until it came to a breach that led to a world beyond the ruins. It was dark, and the breeze was mild as a canopy of pinprick lights sparkled overhead like a cache of diamonds spread over black velvet, the glittering of countless stars.
    But it was not alone either. Something stood along the edge of the crater looking down at it while holding a great light that was harsh and caustic to its eyes, something the creature deemed to be a possible threat, which ultimately drove it back into the tunnel, back into hiding.
    What had always been a constant had now been disrupted, the sudden change of atmosphere, once as stale as a tomb, was now an atmosphere in motion, the sudden shift in circulation drawing interest from a far deadlier source.
    Like something playing the strings of a spider’s web, the cool air acted as a red-flag alert that a threat was looming because the natural order of things had been upset.
    It was then that this army went into motion. The creatures moving as a collective unit, their masses a moving carpet of oily blackness that could eclipse and consume everything in its path within moments.
    The lizard, the last Megalania Prisca , could sense movement on a massive scale. So it