The Ophir (16 page)

His journal writings, although they remained
incomplete, would become sacred to the Kuaians. When discovered
centuries into the future, it would be treated with the same
reverence as had been the Bible. Some would believe it the
ramblings of a madman. Others would know it to be true.

At Longitude 150 degrees West, Latitude 33
degrees North, the Ophir would lay anchor and wait.

* * * *

The Ophir and its crew waited and waited for
many earth years, never aging, desiring little, needing less,
surrounded but untouched by confused seas and air charged with
electrical currents. The charged air particles moved in waves that
opened and closed like the curtain in a Shakespearian play.

On occasion, the curtain would stay open long
enough for Captain and crew to be seen by another ship or boat as
it passed through The Ring of Fire. At those rare moments, the
passengers and crew of the passing ship would hail the Ophir but
get no response.

Occasional rifts would be accompanied by
glowing lights and magnetic anomalies that would affect all
instruments leaving those passing through bewildered and unsure of
their experience.

The face of the earth and the pace at which
it moved, would change as the Captain and his crew watched, but
time seemed frozen to them. The earth would shift and heave as
volcanoes erupted and oceanic landslides opened and closed the
vents that opened onto Lemuria. Earth was changing in preparation
for a clash of Titans.

When the time came, it would put into play a
chain of events that would go down in history as one of the
greatest cataclysmic changes the world would ever experience.
Lemuria would rise again.

Chapter
Sixteen

Far beyond the deserts of Egypt, in a seedy
section of England known as White Chapel, a revolution of fear was
given life. A frenzied death walked the streets, stalking innocent
and guilty alike. He wore a top hat and carried a cane with a
silver-headed wolf as a handle. The wolf head symbolized the
creature that hunted for victims in the darkness of night. It
described Joseph Ben Abin.

Joseph, The One, had become little more than
a sophisticated animal in the years that had passed since Nazim had
placed the curse upon him. The One struggled with his path but
briefly. The rage within him fed fires that would not be
extinguished by wishful thinking.

My master could not enter consecrated ground.
He would not turn to God, for he believed that it must have been
God who, through The Last Prophet, was dictator of his plight. He
would never say it aloud, but he knew God as the greatest leader
and would not question His authority.

His years as a soldier had prepared him for
the deaths he and his tribe would indulge in. It was the ease and
willingness of his victims to play prey that had surprised him so
long ago on Brighton Beach. Beginning with that night, his strength
and hunting prowess had grown, as did the number of tribesmen.

The term tribesmen was used in memory of
those fallen at Brighton. In truth, these Lamia followers were of a
different ilk, but in time, the landlocked vampires forgot their
true selves and became the cold-blooded killers they were now. All
but the leader.

The One had not forgotten what brought them
to this strange land. The hate he felt for Nazim festered deep in
his heart and mind. He waited for Nazim to complete his curse. He
waited for the man to face him in battle to make him pay for his
atrocities. It gave him the will to continue killing, hoping that
the massive number of victims would draw him out. He would find
many races of man that would serve themselves up for his pleasure,
and he took advantage of them all.

The day of the warrior was gone. It seemed
that the more civilization advanced, the meeker they became. This
generation was mere livestock created for his sustenance. He even
tried to keep one or two as pets, but they lost their will to live
and died, not from loss of blood but from loss of hope.

He watched them go about their lives, and
then he would take it from them. But he had to admit, Europeans
were a more interesting lot than his own clansmen. He loved the
lights and different forms of entertainment. Even so, he missed his
homeland. There was a niggling desire to return to see what changes
there might be.

Victims of The One varied from whores to
royalty, and through them he learned of the stories being told at
sea. It would seem that Captain Antonio made quite a reputation for
himself.

He respected the fact that the Captain kept
his word; Antonio never attempted nor entertained the notion of
living on land again. He knew that many of the stories being passed
about were based in truth.

He sometimes thought of trying to make
contact again. He knew, of course, that this was impossible. The
parting was permanent.

The one he wished to face again was Nazim.
The day of reckoning drew near. He could feel the pull of his
homeland getting stronger; retribution was at hand.

Revenge would be his. The obstacle to
overcome was the sea.

* * * *

“Juan Antonio Patino de Cueva Del Drach, you
must journey from here for one final voyage. The balance of the
world hangs in the hands of two combatants. They will travel from
the far reaches of earth and meet on the edge of the Ring of
Fire.

You are at its epicenter now. You are to
sail south so that you and the Covenant might have a safe path to
Lemuria when the time comes.”

The voice in Antonio’s head was clear and
commanding. He knew the voice and obeyed. As the veils sequestering
his ship began to part, Antonio asked, “But Lord, if I am at that
place now, why must I journey?”

And the Lord replied,
“In this area deep,
within its waters, are those doors which will open unto Lemuria. It
awakens. The time is near when it will rise. Its magnitude and
magnificence are greater than anything the world has ever seen, or
will ever see again, for it rises one last time for many
generations to come.

As it rises, the oceans will be in greater
confusion than you have witnessed thus far. The waters will become
a wall of liquid with a density greater than any material
discovered by man. It will build to a height of one thousand cubits
and then fold upon itself. Its weight will carry it forth, and it
will cover the many lands that surround you now.

The wall will move North, East and West but
not South. When Lemuria touches the sky once more, the battle
between The One and Nazim will be anchored unto the surface of that
great land, but not before changing the face of the Earth. It is
their will that will trigger the changes. It is my will that will
hold them.”

“But Lord, how can that be? You are most
powerful; you are most high. How can it be that they can do this?
Can you not stop them?”

“Child, I created the world and all that is
within. I set it in motion and then left it to man. It is naught
but a machine with wheels and pulleys. Change takes place as a
matter of consequence, not my will.

It was man’s misuse of knowledge that
created this situation, and it is man that will end it. It was a
curse that started this, and it is a curse that will bring it to
final resolution. Now set sail; go South to open water away from
land. You will see the mountainous wall as it spreads North, East
and West but not South.

When the center of the ring splits, you will
return to the triangle that holds Lemuria, a beacon shining the way
to the real world, within the world.”

Chapter
Seventeen

The time was near. The One, still fearing the
seas of the world, moved out of England working his way East across
the Straits of Dover by barge, to the Northern tip of France.

He skirted the Russian Continent on the
Northern edge of the Aral Sea, and kept to the borders of Mongolia,
as he headed ever further North toward the Eastern coast of Russia.
He would cross narrow bodies of water with greater ease to exit
near the Sea of Okhotsk.

Nazim followed a parallel trail. Where The
One crossed on the Northern side of the Aral Sea, Nazim travelled
on the Southern side of the same water. He moved in closer and
closer to the Pacific Ocean and the place where the final
confrontation with The One would begin.

The Ring of Fire, which cradled Lemuria,
stretched from New Zealand along the Eastern coast of Asia and
North across the Aleutian Islands. The southern border skirted the
Western edge of the Americas. Lemuria was nestled at the center of
the ring, beneath the sea where several sections of the earth’s
crust met.

As the combatants got closer, the heat
increased as the submerged doors to Lemuria began to vibrate, and
the oceans hummed in harmony as it heralded an ending.

Captain Antonio sailed south, past the
Hawaiian Islands, observing the change in the air surrounding him
above and the water below. The energy being released in the Pacific
Ocean melted rock into magma and created steam as the lava was
released. The solid surface protecting Lemuria from discovery by
man was melting away.

Captain Antonio laid anchor south of the
equator, level with the southern most tip of South America. There
he waited in stormy waters as he felt the air charge with
electricity and watched the sky darken. He wondered what would
become of Ahkmed and Obana.

* * * *

Once among men, Nazim, now residing in the
physical body of Khadhulu, forgot that he was on a mission decreed
by God and acted in his own stead. His ego erased the knowledge
that he was a creation, and only God could exact revenge.

Joseph Ben Abin, The One, felt the nearness
of his maker, Nazim. He could feel the trembling of the Earth in
preparation for their final confrontation. The anticipated revenge
made his heart swell with satisfaction. He forged ahead, leaving a
bloody path of fear and sorrow in his wake.

The Earth’s vibrations continued to increase
in strength, disrupting volcanoes near the surface of Hawaii. The
resonance of the Earth began to travel the perimeter of the Ring of
Fire, and from there it spread to other areas.

The earthquakes started a chain reaction, and
ocean floors dropped beneath the top edge of subducting plates,
causing ripples that would continue to grow as Lemuria began to
ascend.

Ground surface deformations could be seen in
the bulges surfacing like aneurisms, a foretelling of the unfolding
wrath about to be delivered by God’s hand. Little warning would be
given to those that had sinned against God of the cataclysmic
change about to take place.

Even though few had a ‘knowing’ of the
events, throngs were drawn to the area of the Ring. Those led to
survive, they and their progeny, would create a path that would
rebuild the world. The intuitive and God’s faithful were led to
higher ground. The chosen stood facing the sea and waited. And the
Lord spoke to them and said,

“A
ll of you have unity of mind, sympathy,
brotherly love, a tender heart and humble mind. Do not repay evil
for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for
to this you were called. My eyes and ears are open to your prayers
and they will be answered.”
Those that were blessed continued
to climb the mountainside to its highest point. There they took
shelter from the storm among the boulders and ledges to make camp
as best they could.

* * * *

As Lemuria rose, the resulting vertical fault
created by the walls of the island, caused suction to develop at
its base. A hole would be left where the roots of Lemuria once
were. It rushed to fill with water, and swept the shores clean,
leaving the ocean floor exposed for many miles.

First, the island rose then settled back into
the ocean, creating backwash much like dropping a large rock into a
small puddle. The waves crashed into the receding ocean floor and
tumbled forward.

A mountain of water rose and rolled North,
East and West but not South. The most devastating effect of the
tsunami was the waves beneath the surface. It carried the waves
above with greater power to destroy. It pushed the surface waves
forward, and when the storm crashed into the shallower shelves at
shore, it climbed to its highest peak, held in place by the
draining waters from land. It stood like a grizzly bear with its
claws and teeth bared and ready to devour anything in its path.

The wave would scour the ground, leaving
nothing but clean Earth in its place. All buildings would be ground
into pulp. Bodies would disintegrate from the weight of the water
and nothing would be left of them. The oceans would race across
land looking for victims, and it would find them.

Sri Lanka would be reduced to one-third its
size by the tsunami. The waves would roll over the island,
submerging its richest land, giving rise to more myths about the
lost continent of Atlantis and Lemuria.

The waters slammed into Hawaii, but then
parted to the sides leaving the northern cliffs of Kauai untouched.
The beaches and lower coastlines would be wiped out. The
destruction disrupted the food chain, weather patterns and life
styles all over the world. Its domino effect caused volcanic
eruptions as far as Krakatau. The year was 1883.

* * * *

As the Ring of Fire came to life and consumed
all witnesses, Nazim and The One at last faced each other. The
One’s tribe, and the faithful that followed Nazim, stood with eyes
averted as their leaders stared into each other’s eyes. All knew
that this was in the coming, and swayed in emotion.

Joseph’s strength matched that of Nazim. But
no one knew the outcome except God.

Nazim stepped aside as The One lunged
forward. Nazim swung his staff just a second too late for it to
make contact with Joseph’s skull. Joseph spun around but lost his
stance when the heel of his sandal landed on a rock, throwing him
off balance.