After dinner, Vincent quietly slipped away to the secret chamber without telling anyone.
A faint chill lingered inside the room as well.
Vincent ignored the cold and walked straight toward the stone tank.
He removed the piece of cloth bearing the painting of the snake from inside the tank.
Beneath it were dozens of ancient scrolls.
They were all made from deerskin.
Vincent carefully pulled out all 21 scrolls and laid them together.
Only when he looked at all 21 scrolls as a whole did he realize what they actually were.
The Mayan Calendar.
Cheran had deliberately rearranged the scrolls in different orders to protect the calendar and confuse anyone who might try to find it.
It took Vincent more than twenty minutes just to figure out the correct sequence.
Even for him, arranging the scrolls was a difficult and confusing task.
Down in the lower section of the cave, the rest of Vincent's team remained near their camp.
Amanda had placed her water bottle beside the fire and was still warming the water.
In the tent beside hers, David and Beulah were together.
Bathed in the warm glow of the fire, their tent almost felt like another honeymoon.
David was deeply in love with Beulah.
But Beulah was under the influence of Kukulkan.
That influence would last only as long as she remained inside the cave.
David had no idea that once they left the cave, Beulah would return to normal and start asking him for a divorce again.
Meanwhile, Vincent finally separated the 18 genuine scrolls from the rest.
The remaining three scrolls had been deliberately created by Cheran to mislead potential enemies.
Vincent placed the 18 genuine scrolls on a stone bench and began his research.
The Mayan calendar was based on a year of 365 days divided into 18 months.
Every scroll was filled with pictorial numbers and complex symbols.
The first scroll had the word "Haab" written on it.
It was a separate calendar containing 360 days, while the remaining five days were set aside as special, unlucky days.
Vincent understood that this was the calendar used by ordinary people.
He picked up the next scroll.
It was the Tzolk'in calendar.
Cheran had drawn a separate calendar on each scroll.
The Tzolk'in calendar had been created for religious ceremonies and astronomical observations.
Vincent carefully noted down only the astronomical information contained in it.
The calendar consisted of 20 days and 13 cycles.
According to the Maya system of calculation, the Haab and Tzolk'in calendars would align once every 52 years.
The Maya believed that when the two calendars aligned, great changes would occur in the world.
Because the Tzolk'in calendar was believed to end on December 21, 2012, rumors spread that the world would end on that date.
But the ancient Mayan calendar, whose calculations dated back to 3113 BC, did not actually end there.
Vincent picked up the next series of scrolls.
They were divided into three sections:
"Xoltun," "Xolab," and "Xolguj."
This system was new even to Vincent, so he began researching the notes written at the back of the calendar.
The entire calendar had been written in black ink.
Vincent first began studying the Xoltun calendar, because it had been created based on the overall movements of the solar system.
The next scroll was the Xolab calendar.
It had been developed based on the movement of the Sun around the Earth.
This calendar also contained 365 days in a year, divided into 19 months.
Eighteen of those months contained 20 days each.
The nineteenth month contained only five days.
Cheran had designated those five days as the "Kukulkan Week."
Vincent then began matching the Mayan months with the months of the modern English calendar.
He treated the Maya's first month, Pop, as January and their final month, Wayeb, as December.
The Maya system of counting days began with zero.
10:00 PM
David and Beulah had fallen asleep.
Amanda was the only one sitting outside the tents.
Vincent opened the calculator on his phone.
He began calculating what he believed to be the final day of the world.
First, he memorized the calculation for the month of Wayeb:
First day — 0
Last day — 4
Next, Vincent picked up the Xolaj Guj calendar.
It was drawn as two interlocking wheels.
One wheel contained 13 divisions.
The other contained 18 divisions.
When the two wheels completed their full cycle, the total came to 260 days.
The moment Vincent saw it, he understood that the Maya had calculated their calendar using the movements of the Sun and Moon.
According to the Mayan calendar system, seven days for the Sun corresponded to 25,625 years on Earth.
This enormous cycle was divided into five sections.
Each section represented 5,125 years.
Vincent continued entering the calculations into his phone.
As he completed the calculations from Cheran's first 17 scrolls, four great periods had already come to an end.
Only one period remained.
The final period.
The last era of the world.
Finally, Vincent picked up the 18th scroll.
He decided to calculate the exact year—and eventually the month—in which the world would supposedly end.
As he continued adding the Mayan calendar calculations together, the numbers climbed from 3,000 years to 4,000 years…
Vincent let out a deep breath.
He carefully studied Cheran's 18th scroll.
He separated the years into BC and AD according to the calculations written on the scroll.
The result was—
00/00/0000
The supposed final day of the world.
Vincent had only 30 minutes left to complete the calculations that had brought him to that point.
Meanwhile, Amanda was becoming increasingly confused by the fact that Vincent still hadn't come back to sleep.
The cold inside the cave continued to intensify.
Unable to bear it any longer, Amanda took a cigarette from her bag and lit it.
Vincent examined the final calendar.
The days were listed under the name "Kin."
Twenty days together were called a "Winal."
The year was called a "Tun."
Vincent quickly worked through the calculations.
Every calculation he entered was automatically saved on his phone.
He wrote down the Maya's units exactly as they appeared in the calendar:
18 Winals + 360 days = 1 Tun
7,200 days = 20 Tuns
144,000 days = 20 Katuns (393 years)
2,880,000 days = 20 Baktuns
Vincent continued using the Mayan mathematical system—Tun, Katun, Baktun, and the other units.
The resulting calculations pointed toward a year in the 5000s and beyond.
Just then, Amanda entered the chamber carrying her water bottle.
The moment Vincent saw her, he displayed a happiness he hadn't even shown when he discovered the calendar itself.
Amanda: "What's gotten you so happy, Leader? Did you find something?"
Vincent: "I've found a way to save the world, Amanda."
"What are you talking about, Leader? I don't understand."
"Yes, Amanda. In another half an hour, I'll find the exact final day when the world is supposed to end."
As Vincent said this, Amanda finally noticed the ancient Mayan calendar spread across the stone bench.
Amanda: "Oh… so this is the Mayan Calendar, Leader?"
Vincent nodded.
Yes.
There was an unmistakable confidence in his eyes.
For the first time, Vincent finally told Amanda why he had truly come to this cave.
"Amanda, I didn't come here just to research the Maya.
"I came here to find the Mayan Calendar, discover the final day of the world through its calculations…
"And then do whatever is necessary to save this world."
Amanda stared at him.
For several moments, she couldn't find the words to respond.
She stood silently, thinking.
Then she finally spoke.
Amanda: "Leader… can I ask you something?"
"Why are you asking like that, Amanda? Ask me anything."
"Thank you, Vincent.
"If something has no end… do you really think that's necessarily a good thing?"
"In this case, it is, Amanda.
"Even when the coronavirus appeared, we didn't simply accept it as nature's doing and refuse to search for a cure.
"We fought it.
"This is no different."
"Who told you, Leader, that the coronavirus came from nature?"
"Okay… okay. Let's not get into that topic, Amanda.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting our descendants to live in this world just as we do, is there?"
"No, Leader… there isn't.
"But they should still be human.
"Even now, there are people here who have no humanity left in them.
"If that's what humanity has become, then who exactly do you think this world should exist for?"
"Come on, Amanda. Everything you're saying is true… but—"
"Leader, wait a minute.
"I'm twenty years younger than you.
"But I'm still going to tell you what I know.
"We cannot fight nature.
"What happens next is up to you."
With that, Amanda walked out of the chamber.
Vincent remained where he was.
Her words kept echoing in his mind.
For the next fifteen minutes, he couldn't move.
A single thought had taken hold of him:
What if I'm doing the wrong thing?
Meanwhile, deep inside the Galendria Cave, where Vincent and his team were trapped…
A small war was about to begin the very next day.