September 12th 2012, 3:15 pm, Archaeological dig near Nadschaf, Iraq
The metallic sound of digging tools striking stone reverberated with staccato regularity throughout the dig site, filling the air with a fine dust that coated everything: equipment, animal and human alike.
Two men with Armani suits stood at the lip of the crater which framed the thirty foot deep site; their dress and demeanor standing in stark contrast to the rustic and khakied atmosphere surrounding them.
The first of the two Kings was a middle-aged man, stockily built and swarthy, his dark hair oiled back and in obvious competition with the desert winds. His older companion stood ram-rod straight with a lean and hard frame, his short-cropped, blond hair streaked with gray and a thin hawk-like nose over which he looked down upon the proceedings.
Like their fellow King, currently in America, this assignment was not normal fare for them, thus accounting for the incongruity of their appearance. However, a watershed event was about to take place; a discovery of such importance that neither of the three Kings wanted it to go unwitnessed. Therefore, expedition took precedence over propriety.
Within the wide, man-made crater, archaeologists from the University of Baghdad and their students had discovered an ancient bog of such density that the fossils pulled from it, thus far, had evidenced remarkable preservation. It wasn't, however, the interesting array of human and animal remains thus excavated from the strata that had drawn the Kings two thousand miles away from their current base of operations.
It was the single, intact skeleton of a twenty-four foot long humanoid that the University scientist's ground penetrating radar had discovered, just two days ago.
The information had come, via video conference call, directly from the site foreman himself the moment after the discovery was verified by technicians.
"It is a remarkable specimen!" gushed the Iraqi scientist, his thick accent barely able to contain his excitement.
"Our equipment located the skeletal remains shortly after sunrise. There appears to be no breakage. I have never seen humanoid skeletal remains of this size! The world shall be amazed!"
The Kings on the other end of the data stream had looked at one another, briefly, both knowing that the world would never hear a single word about the monumental find.
Grainy ground penetrating radar images of the colossal skeleton, shown in gray-scale, had been seen by means of the video feed on the Kings' encrypted display, thousands of miles away in Germany. Embedded within layers of ancient silt, clay and fossilized remains that were represented on the screen by various shades of gray, a clearly defined skull could be seen, complete with enormous, gaping eye sockets. The jaw bone was hinged agape but intact, showcasing flawless, pointed teeth. Although it was difficult to visually ascertain the size of the find, relative to a normal sized human being, a computerized grid and graph had been overlaid onto the image in order to demonstrate and accentuate the twenty-four plus feet of the giant's frame.
The conference call had ended with strict warnings to maintain total radio and media silence until the Kings had arrived at the dig site, personally, to oversee the final excavation of the find. As it was the Kings' money that funded the Universities' interests on this site, the archaeologists and their team were only too happy to oblige.
Concealed within their mountain hideaway, the two Kings had turned off the display and looked at one another.
So, another Nephilim has been found," said the swarthy King, thoughtfully. "The existence of such beings comes as no surprise to us, as you well know," replied the other. "We have in our collection similar remains from every corner of ancient Mesopotamia, collected over the past one hundred years, some even larger than the current specimen being exhumed."
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"True. However, the fossilized remains in our possession, though fascinating and worthy of study, are of no value to us as far as our current need is concerned," said the first.
"Which is why, I take it, that you believe this find, being in such a potentially unique state of preservation, is so worthy of our attention?"
"I do."
With that, preparations for their journey to Iraq had commenced, with all due haste.
The Kings knew their history - a history that still was hotly contested amongst anthropologists, archaeologists and theologians, alike. The Nephilim didn't exist, to any scientist or clergyman who valued their credentials. Myths and legends, they were called, and a blind eye was turned to any data, fossil, or scripture that indicated otherwise. The Kings knew better; not because they valued literary historical evidence, such as Genesis chapter 6, the book of Enoch or mythologies surrounding the Greek Titans. Their history was derived from much more personal sources. Their forebears had known of the ancient war. They had known of the fallen ones and their offspring. They had known of the ancient cataclysm that brought the Nephilim to their knees. But, they also had known of their proliferation after the flood that was so quaintly named after the man, Noah.
The Kings traced their lineage back to the and though much of the ancient lore was lost, enough had been passed down through the centuries to warrant an extensive and costly search for the Nephilim's ancient remains.
The Kings had known that science would one day catch up with ambition. What was once intriguing history had now become a priceless, scientific resource. If the right remains could be found, then the Kings knew that the Nephilim would walk the earth again.
They were not ignorant about how these creatures had come into being, nor were they short-sighted about the dual nature of their existence. The
Nephilim had been a supernatural hybrid of flesh and spirit. Science had found a way, popularized by Michael Crichton's , to resurrect creatures that were long extinct. But, as for the spiritual component needed to fully animate such beings, the Kings were positive that their long-standing alliance with certain spiritual powers would produce more than enough willing volunteers.
Breaking the silence that had lasted for the past twenty minutes as they gazed out over the bustling dig, the taller of the two men asked, "How much longer until the full extraction takes place?"
"Difficult to say," murmured the darker of the two. "It is of vital importance that the specimen be unearthed whole, with the least possibility of contamination."
A shout rang out from below and the two Kings shifted their position to the right several yards in order to make eye contact with the pith-helmeted individual below; the site foreman and highly gifted professor and archeologist at the University, who was currently acting as their personal liaison to the dig.
"We have finally made contact!" said the dark skinned, dusty and khakied archaeologist in heavily accented English. "You will want to witness what we have found, firsthand!" he shouted up, excitedly.
Without giving any indication of a response, the two Kings made their way around the bowled perimeter of the dig site to the industrial lift that acted as the site's makeshift elevator. A turbaned worker lowered the two suited men onto the floor of the fifty meter wide crater; where upon their arrival at the bottom, the crowed of anxious workers gathered at the opposite end of the crater parted in order to allow their esteemed guests easy access to the cause of their substantial excitement.
, repeated the thin King to himself.
This was a most apt description, for as they stepped into the middle of the gathered onlookers, directly in front of them and jutting out from the crumbling, clay hillside was an enormous decayed hand, easily dwarfing that of any other man's present. To the great satisfaction of the Kings, the hand - rather than displaying only bleached out bones - was covered in a leathery hide; even displaying the frayed and discolored remnants of muscles and tendons.
The Kings looked on in silence, for the better part of a minute, before the swarthy King spoke to his companion, switching to German to mask the conversation's content.
"It is remarkably well preserved. Viable DNA just possibly might be extracted."
The other replied, "It would mean the end of a decades-long search and the beginning of designs long anticipated."
"What of these?" spoke the first, nodding his head to indicate the crowd surrounding them.
"They will be dealt with as soon as the specimen is crated for transport. Three of our associates stand among them."
____________________
Three days later the remains of the intact Nephilim - having been expertly wrapped in polymer, pressurized and crated - was finally off-loaded from a nondescript cargo truck into the hold of a lavish 727 passenger jet.
Back at the dig site, silence reigned; the only evidence of recent work being, first, a gaping hole at one end of the crater's crumbling wall and, second, the nearly undetectable gray ashes swirling at the bottom of the dig whenever the hot desert wind found its way onto the crater floor.
