“A great deal,” Alexander said. “The tales of rabbis using the ability of words to bring golems to life is simply one of the more modern documented usages of a very ancient power. It is something long forgotten by most of the world and buried in many of our ancient languages. Despite being only a fragment of something much larger, the ability to bring the nonliving to life, it is the most commonly used application of the ancient power and can be easily traced through history.

“In the sixteenth century, Judah Loew ben Bezalel, a rabbi in Prague, is said to have brought a golem to life to protect his community from the Holy Roman Empire, which had decreed that all Jews should be cast out or killed. You know the story, yes?”

King nodded.

“It was a skill either taught to him by his predecessors, but used infrequently, or documented in a text the rabbi found. Either way, the knowledge was passed down to the rabbi through a line of Jewish ancestors going back to ancient Israel, where a well-known Jew could manipulate the elements with his words. But the knowledge is older than Israel. The Jews who had fled Egypt took the knowledge with them, led by a man who seemed to have mastered many elements of this ancient power.”

“You’re talking about Moses?”

Alexander gave a nod.

“And the ‘well-known Jew’ who could manipulate the elements?”

“Jesus. Who could walk on water, turn away storms, and, if you believe it, rise from the dead.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” King said.

Alexander chuckled. “He would have liked you, King. You have a lot in common with Thomas.”

King looked incredulous. “You knew Jesus?”

“I met him.”

“And you heard him speak this language?”

“No, but others did. Some claimed to understand it, hearing his words as simple commands. Others were dumbfounded by it.”

“So, what, Christianity is founded on a magical charlatan?”

“Jesus spent his childhood in Egypt, as did Moses, so it’s possible both men found some ancient source of knowledge and used what they learned to perform amazing miracles. But their mastery of the ancient language and its powers went far beyond the creation of golems. It could just as easily be argued that they had supernatural instruction.”

“Hey!” Pierce shouted from the other side of the gallery, where he stood in front of a lion skin that hung on the wall. He gripped its curly black hair in his hands, close to pulling it out from excitement. “Is … is this?”

“I wore it in Nazca,” Alexander said. “But it was one of many I wore in my early life. When I was still a hunter.”

King cleared his throat. “So the source of this power is in Egypt?” King asked, hoping to keep the conversation on track.