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Each person rushed through life and moved through the motions to their own inner tune. The music that drives everyone, whether they know it or not. Blaring, throbbing, pulsing, whispering, and playing within each individual. Most composed their own music and walked, danced, rocked, cried, laughed, or swayed to their unique tune, often doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes. Few knew the tune written for them by the Creator, and fewer still moved to it’s beat with a purpose. Most people went on following their heart and mind totally ignorant of the world they could never see. A world that would soon turn their lives upside down.
“He doesn’t acknowledge us.” sighed the dejected son.
“The road he’s following splits. He must decide which way to go. Ours or theirs.”
Jared tried to sit up, but quickly fell back against the pillows as pain shot through his arm and head. He sighed as everything about the wreck crashed into his mind and the scenes replayed themselves before his eyes. “Tired but I’ll be fine. Who are you?”
“Sorry we didn’t introduce ourselves,” the woman hastily explained, “I’m Julie Halson and this is my husband Paul. We brought you here after you stumbled into our campsite.”
“Where am I?” Jared inquired.
“We couldn’t find any medical insurance on you and the hospitals won’t admit anyone without it. So we brought you to our house. This is our spare bedroom.” Paul was about six foot, slightly heavy and featured dark hair interspersed with slips of silver. He appeared to be about the same age as his wife.
“Your left forearm is broken and your shoulder has some ligament damage. Your right leg has a deep laceration and you’ve been in a coma for about three days.” She was average height with blonde hair. Her face radiated with concern and kindness.
Jared’s mind raced with the agenda he needed to keep concerning his uncles affairs. He needed to meet with the lawyer. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for me, but I really must be going. I have some business that can’t wait.”
“You will do nothing of the sort. You’re in no condition to be traveling and you will need at least four weeks to rest and heal.” Julie was definitely in charge at this house.
“My uncle just died and his accounts are waiting to be settled. I’m already late to…”
“The affairs can stay waiting. You can stay with us until your fit to leave. Now go back to sleep and get some rest.”
Jared tried to persuade them to let him leave or at least get a hotel room. But his gracious hosts insisted he stay with them. Over the course of the next week, Jared spent his time resting like any invalid would do. He’d managed to settle things with the lawyer over the phone and had agreed to stay with the Halson’s until he was able to get around. His leg was healing, helped along by sixteen stitches. His arm and shoulder were repairing themselves quickly. In the meantime, Jared purchased a new laptop to replace the one he’d lost in the wreck.
Jared always carried a fifty gigabyte flash drive containing his important files and programs in his pocket just in case something were to happen. Fortunately the drive was water proof and he used the new laptop profusely while he was in bed rest. Jared enjoyed designing and inventing things, which is why he’d decided to go into structural engineering. He worked on some of the designs and plans he’d created a few years back simply as a plan in case his worst nightmare came true. The stones, or at least one stone, existed and the little he knew about them was enough to send every world power scrambling to get their hands on it. Unfortunately someone already knew and was after him. His research and designs may become useful; especially if there were more stones.
Jared knew he was in this whether he wanted to or not. He gazed at the file he’d compiled about his father who seemed to be the next logical step in figuring out what this was all about.
His father, Karl, was an archaeologist and often traveled away from home to dig sites in foreign countries. Jared’s father had been constantly looking for one thing during his career. Atlantis. No, that didn’t sound right. It was something else. Oh here it is. Rolashen. Karl believed Atlantis was a mistranslation of an ancient unknown writing. Most people were skeptical and believed Karl was a maniac and mentally unsound.
Rolashen was the mythological city that supposedly disappeared under the sea. However, Jared’s father never believed it was a myth. He spent his life trying to uncover the stones of Rolashen. From a document he found, probably the last one ever written by anyone from that era, Karl discovered that Rolashen was destroyed by and only a few people were left. Why Rolashen was destroyed and virtually disappeared remained a mystery. Those few people locked down the city and its history in order to preserve it. Possibly to prevent their knowledge and civilization from completely disappearing. They left one way to the city which required a key in order to gain access.
Sparse records hinted at the existence of an ancient civilization more technologically advanced than any other. Some believe Rolashen or the Atlantians, were even more advanced than the modern man. The history or origins of many ideas and people groups were unknown and mysterious. Some ideas or tools found among ancient civilizations seemed to pop up out of nowhere. However Karl believed that ‘nowhere’ was actually Rolashen.
The remnant of Rolashen created five small pyramids one of which Jared held in his hand. All were needed to find the city. The heavy pyramids were placed in the hilts of five unique swords. It was these swords and pyramids that Karl, Jared’s father, was looking for. Karl had found four of the five. Jared vaguely remembered a collection of four swords in a special case. Jared now believed it was those swords that held the stones. He had no idea what happened to them after his parents died.
Jared wondered what had become of his parents estate. He pulled up his father’s files. Jared kept them as a way to remember his parents, a memorabilia of sorts. Jared scanned the file names and found one labeled Will. He clicked on it.
The document that popped up on the screen definitely appeared to be his father’s will. Jared began scanning the pages for any mention of the swords or his father’s archaeological finds. There was no mention of anything related to Rolashen, the stones, or even the swords. A quick phone call to the lawyer who administered the will confirmed that everything mentioned in the will had been distributed appropriately. When Jared inquired whether Karl owned anything other than what was mentioned, the man on the other end of the phone line said no. Jared did glean one piece of information from the will though. At the top was the date it was written. August 9, 2029. His parents died on August 16th, exactly five days later. Jared presumed Karl knew someone was after him. Hopefully this also meant Karl took the steps necessary to hold on to the swords.
Leah, eighteen years old, stuck her head into the doorway. “Hey Jared, Mom says you can get up and start walking around again.” Jared closed his the computer and looked up at the blonde in front of him. “Here’s a crutch in case you need it.” Leah was a sweet girl with a brilliant future before her.
Jared pushed himself from the bed and slowly eased his weight onto his feet. Jared could only walk for a short time, but each day, he was able to walk more as the swelling in his leg decreased and the wound healed. Jared spent the time he was up helping around the house and even helped Leah record her first album. She was very talented at playing the guitar and piano. When Jared wasn’t helping the Halson’s with this or that, he was tracking down his fathers friends, anyone who could possibly know what happened to the swords.
About three weeks after the accident, Jared was up and moving normally. His shoulder and leg were healing quickly. Leah let Jared use her car so he could run errands, buy supplies for the remainder of his trip, and find a used car for himself. On this particular day, Jared was going to use the car around 3:00 in the afternoon, after Leah returned from work. But when she got home, her boss at the restaurant called and asked her to come back for another shift because one of the other waitresses didn’t show up.
Leah left and went to the hydrogen station because her car was almost empty. She pulled up and began fueling. Suddenly her car exploded in a ball of flames. Leah was in the little store at the time and turned in disbelieve to see her car vanish amidst flame and smoke. The flames didn’t stop there. Hydrogen only explodes when in contact with oxygen. This was very rare at pumps because the hydrogen was usually in a pure liquid state. Unfortunately, Leah had been filling the car when it exploded. The explosion damaged the pump and introduced oxygen into the line which promptly caught on fire and burst into flames. This second smaller explosion opened the main tank under the fuel station. The third and final explosion was unlike what most people had ever seen before. In a brilliant flash of flames concrete, other vehicles, steel, and other material erupted into the sky. Everything was incinerated before it hit the ground. The smoke cleared slowly and revealed a gaping crater where the station, and the store had been. Leah and five other people in and around the station were killed instantly and without any trace of remains.
Jared was aroused from his typing by the ringing of the phone. He picked it up. “Hello.”
“Yes is Mr. or Mrs. Halson there?” asked the other voice.
“No, their at work.”
“This is the police department. I’m afraid I have some bad news,” the voice faltered, “There was an accident and the hydrogen station Leah was filling her car up at exploded. She died instantly. I’m really sorry.”
Jared’s breath caught in his throat. “Accident?”
“Yes, it seems a faulty fuel line was at fault. Is there anything we can do for you?”
“No, just call her parents at work.” Jared gave him the numbers and hung up. Accident? That was not an accident. I bet it was another attempt to kill me. The last minute change of plans got her killed instead. He plopped into the nearest recliner and put, dropped his head in his hands, and tried to think of a way to explain this to Julie and Paul.
“Your telling me, that my daughter was accidentally murdered instead of you?”
“Yes, sir that’s what I think. You probably won’t find any evidence that supports my car bomb theory, but I know it was intended for me,” explained Jared.
“Why would someone want to kill you? Your just a boy.” Julie still seemed to be in a state of disbelief about this whole incident.
“I am not who you think I am. If I were simply a boy, I wouldn’t be here.” Jared went on to explain about his father’s search, his parents death, a brief autobiography, his uncle’s death, and the murder in his dorm room. He told them about the stones and what he believed they were capable of. I hope they believe me. Because if they don’t, this information could end up in the wrong hands.
“Your telling me, that your looking for Atlantis and that someone is trying to kill you. And you have also said your not an average nineteen year old but have knowledge and power few people have ever had. Who are you?”
“I am a Christian. I follow God and he has given me knowledge and power.”
Julie and Paul’s jaws nearly hit the floor after Jared said those fateful words. Julie was the first to recover. “Where did you get those scars?”
“I was involved in an accident while I was in prison.”
“You were in prison?” stammered Paul. “And you think your some powerful religious person who’s trying to imitate…” Paul lost his words and tried a totally new tactic. “Get out of my house right now. You’ve killed my daughter and hold a forbidden religion.”
Jared looked into Paul’s eyes. He could see into the man’s soul, a soul plagued by pain and suffering. A soul without meaning or direction, drifting through life constantly searching any solid particle of truth to hold onto. Jared slowly turned, picked up his bag and walked out the door.
