Unnatural Selection

Temple of the Sun, Heliopolis, Egypt -- 1976

They had been digging for three days, and still the famed feather eluded them.

Three days underground, away from the sun and the heat of day, away from the darkness and the cool of night, timeless and airless and stuffy with the enclosed scents of history. They followed footprints left in the sand of subterranean passages millennia ago and compared their own feet for size. They drew their fingertips along the walls and sniffed the dust in wonder. Somewhere in each intake of breath was the skin of long-dead men and, perhaps, the sheddings of things other than men. Each time they opened their eyes after a short sleep, they were filled with awe. And every time they closed their eyes, their dreams were of greatness.

If only they could find the feather, these dreams would come true.

Richard Blake sat and consulted the ancient Book of Ways given to him by his father. Its author, Zahid de Lainree -- doubtless a pseudonym designed merely to confuse -- had been a man of mystery and obfuscation, an ... read full excerpt from Hellboy: Unnatural Selection ebook