Destiny of the Sands

by Rai Aren

  “You sold my artifacts without my permission? You had no right! I and I alone, make those decisions.” His knuckles turned white as he gripped the desk harder.

  “Do not worry father,” Maximilian replied, trying to keep his voice calm and even. “I kept the most important ones. I did it to create Reichmann Enterprises.”

  Wolfgang was taken aback. “What is Reichmann Enterprises?”

  “It’s a conglomerate company whose main purpose is to find, sell and exploit old relics to create greater wealth and power for the Reichmann family.”

  Wolfgang was shocked. He had never known his son to be so disobedient. He had changed. He pulled the chair out and sat down. Age was siphoning his strength. He put his hands over his head. ‘When had this change happened?’ he wondered. He realized he hadn’t been paying attention. “How could you do that? It took me years to collect my artifacts. I treasured each and every one.”

  “They served a greater purpose,” Maximilian replied coolly. He looked down on his father with disdain. He was no longer the strong man he remembered. He was pitiful. Maximilian would resurrect their family name, and bring it the greatest glory it had ever known.

  “I do not understand what has gotten into you,” Wolfgang said, shaking his head, his voice tinged with tiredness. “Your actions are disgraceful. I sent you to the best schools. You have food and shelter and all you’ve wanted for your entire life. This home and all its lands have belonged to our family for decades. It will be yours one day. I have given you everything.”

  “Not everything!” Maximilian yelled as he stepped closer to his father. “The Reichmanns could have been one of the richest and most powerful families in Europe, but instead of focusing on our businesses you’ve wasted years locked up in this house, examining the old relics you collected when you were with the Nazis. There is no profit in archaeology!” He paused, collecting himself. “Unless you sell most of what you find. And there are plenty of buyers on the black market, willing to pay obscene amounts for these useless trinkets. Fools.”

  “Archaeology was my life, son,” Wolfgang said sadly. “I was very successful at it. This home was filled with examples of that success. It was something to be proud of. It is a private museum to history and to our own family history as well.”

  “Once you crossed paths with the Nazis, yes, you were successful,” Maximilian agreed. “But it was only then that you were able to establish yourself as anything more than a sand rat.”

  He saw the shock on his father’s face at the clear derision. Maybe even a trace of shame and embarrassment. He enjoyed it. Maximilian felt emboldened, as his own choices were crystallizing for him.

  “Besides, this old house means nothing to me. When it’s finally mine, I’m going to sell it. I won’t waste my life clinging to useless, dusty old relics in a creaky old house long past its splendor like you have!”

  Wolfgang stood up quickly, and slapped his son full-force across the face. “How dare you speak to me like this? You know nothing! You are the fool!”

  Maximilian’s eyes involuntarily teared up from the stinging slap. He held his face, glaring at his father. In that moment, he felt like that meek little boy again. Humiliated. He felt a deep, dark hatred boiling up within him.

  “This home means everything to me and it should to you as well, you ungrateful wretch!” Wolfgang shouted at him. “Your grandfather was born here. I was born here and so were you. Your mother loved this house so much she chose to die here, rather than in the hospital. That is why I refused to sell this house to the developers, no matter how much they were willing to offer. It is a connection to our roots. You should be proud of this home. You should show me and your heritage the proper respect!”

  “You let your family live in a drafty old house because of sentimental reasons?” Maximilian said as he walked around the room, his arms outstretched. “Look at this place. It’s been falling apart for years and yet you still refused to sell it along with these lands? You could have made a fortune to invest in our businesses, and allowed your family to live a better life. Clinging to the past only makes you a part of it. It eventually makes you irrelevant and stunts growth until you, too, wither and die.” He pointed his finger into his own chest. “I’m finally doing something about it by selling most of the artifacts. That’s giving our family new purpose, new possibilities.”

  “But some of the old artifacts I had collected were not ours. I was wrong to take them. I should not have helped the Nazis.” Wolfgang sighed, sitting down in an old chair.

  “Why? You were a strong German in your youth,” Maximilian said as he moved closer to him, closing his hand into a fist. “As strong Germans, we take from the weak to make us stronger. That is our destiny. It always has been. The weak are nothing but parasites. The Nazis did what was best to make Germany strong.”

  Wolfgang shook his head. “I once thought like you, but I was wrong. Not until you have seen what the Nazis did firsthand would you realize the errors of your ways.”

  “Those were lies and propaganda spread from the Jews and their pathetically gullible friends!” Maximilian replied defiantly.

  Wolfgang slammed his cane down. “Now you sound like one of them! I know you’ve been in contact with former officers of the Stasi. What is going on, Maximilian?”

  Surprised at the revelation, he did not answer.

  “I warn you, stop hanging out with those radical new friends of yours,” Wolfgang shouted, thrusting the cane in Maximilian’s direction.

  Before he could help himself, Maximilian took a step back, eyeing the cane.

  “Is that where all of this new attitude is coming from?” Wolfgang asked. “The Stasi?”

  Still no answer.

  “They have corrupted your mind. Do you know what the Stasi did to their own people? With the aid of the KGB, they oppressed and even killed countless people in East Germany. You have no idea what they are capable of.”

  Maximilian was undaunted. “Now that Germany is unified again, my friends are now also working for politicians and the police,” he said, his voice full of pride. “It’s wise to have connections to these kinds of people. We might need them to get us out of trouble one day.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Wolfgang asked, alarmed.

  “Nothing, father, just a precaution,” Maximilian said dismissively, breaking eye contact.

  In spite of his father’s suspicions to his ties, he decided not to divulge Reichmann Enterprises other business arms - investing in successful, highly profitable companies run by ex-Stasi officers and even a select few with deeply buried, secret Nazi ties. Sourcing parts for weapons had been especially good to his company’s bottom line.

  “Tell me something, father,” he said, walking to the window. He gazed out at the giant old trees, branches swaying in the cruel winds, rains pounding relentlessly down. Lightning lit up the sky, momentarily casting twisted shadows across the grounds. “If you regret what you have done, then why have you not returned the artifacts you helped the Nazis steal?”

  “It is not that simple, son,” Wolfgang said as he sighed. “There is much you do not know.” He thought for a moment about what to do next to try to get through to his son, his only child. “Come with me. I will show you.”

  They walked in silence down to the cellar that Wolfgang had converted to an archaeological examination room. There were desk lamps, papers, stacks of boxes, magnifying glasses, scientific books and archaeology tools scattered across the room.

  Wolfgang walked over to a large ornate cherry-wood cabinet. It was locked. He pulled out the heavy gold chain he wore, which held a pendant and a key. He took the key off of the chain and handed it to Maximilian. “Son, open this for me and take out the artifact within.”

  Curiosity quelling his anger temporarily, Maximilian did as he asked. Inside the cabinet was a single item, a l
arge, round object, covered in a heavy cloth. He lifted it. It was incredibly heavy.

  Wolfgang cleared off an old wooden table covered in chips, dents, and scratches. “Put it here.”

  Maximilian placed it on the table with a heavy thud. He was astonished at how much it weighed for its size.

  Wolfgang pulled back the cloth covering to reveal a burnished bronze slightly gold-hued disk, roughly four feet in diameter.

  Maximilian’s eyes went wide with wonder. He ran his finger around its upper edge. The metal felt…strange somehow. His fingers tingled at the touch, feeling slightly warmer. The outer surface of the disk was inscribed with hieroglyphs. A large ankh was carved into the center of the disk. The detailing was remarkable in its precision.

  “It looks like ancient Egyptian,” Maximilian said, furrowing his brow.

  “That is what I thought at first, too,” Wolfgang said. “I found it after a British artillery attack when I was in Africa.”

  Maximilian was in awe of the disk. There was something different and strange about it. It was unlike any of the other artifacts in his father’s collection. It looked so new, so advanced, but with ancient markings. It was the most captivating relic he had ever seen. He touched it again. The same warm, tingling feeling came to him, but stronger this time. He felt electric and almost…euphoric.

  “Do you notice the effect?” Wolfgang asked, breaking into a smile. He knew that he did, he could see it all over his face.

  “Yes, it feels strange…good…” Maximilian said, his expression full of wonder. “Better than good. Kind of amazing, actually. What is it?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Wolfgang said as he shook his head. “It’s a mystery. I’ve studied this disk for years, but the only conclusion I’ve come to is that whoever created it lived before the ancient Egyptians and that they had to have been an advanced civilization. Incredible, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” Maximilian said. “Incredible, indeed.”

  “What is even more incredible is that those effects become magnified when the disk comes into direct contact with sunlight. When the sunlight is reflected off of this disk onto me, it has this powerful energizing effect,” Wolfgang said. He placed his fingers on his temples. “My mind feels clearer, stronger, and I get almost a high off of it. It’s hard to explain, you must experience it sometime.” Wolfgang’s face lit up at the thought of the disk’s effects on him.

  Maximilian regarded his father for a moment, considering what he was saying. His mind raced at the possibility. “What is it made from?”

  “That’s where it gets even more astonishing. The metal it’s made of is an unknown alloy. It has defied analysis. There has never been anything like it discovered before or since.”

  Maximilian bent down to take a closer look at the glyphs. They appeared laser-carved, their edges were so perfect. “Who were these people that predated the ancient Egyptians?”

  “I haven’t been able to find out anything else about them, I’m afraid.”

  Maximilian looked at him. “I don’t believe this. You’ve had this since the end of World War II and you know nothing about it? Nothing about this metal?” He was appalled at what he was hearing.

  “I wanted to keep this a secret, to keep it for us, son,” Wolfgang said. “If I took it to anyone else I would run the risk of it being taken away from us, of word getting out. I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t bear to lose it.”

  Maximilian was furious.

  “Here, I want to show you something else,” Wolfgang pulled his necklace out again. He took it off, gently fingering a golden pendant, shaped like an Egyptian ankh. He handed it to Maximilian. “This pendant was found at the same time, on a prisoner who was native to the region. I think the alloys may be similar, or share some common elements. There has to be a link between this pendant and the disk. It has a similar, but much milder effect as the disk, as though it emits some kind of energy. Also, look at the markings on the back of it.”

  Maximilian turned it over. Sure enough, there were symbols engraved on the back that looked strikingly similar to the ones on the disk. His mind raced as he ran his fingers over the symbols, cut just as smooth and perfectly as those on the disk.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Wolfgang said as he smiled. “Do you feel it?”

  “Yes.” Maximilian gazed at it a moment longer, then wrapped it in his fist. He could feel a faint energy trace from it. Much fainter than with the disk, but it was unmistakably there. His hand felt slightly warmer. He frowned, his jaw clenched, his face tense.

  “What’s wrong?” Wolfgang asked.

  “So, you’re telling me this is why you’ve kept yourself locked away in this room all these long years? To find out what these things are?” Maximilian’s voice was laced with anger.

  “Of course,” Wolfgang frowned. “I am an archaeologist.”

  “And yet what have you learned? Practically nothing! You’ve wasted your life and squandered our future.” Maximilian seethed. “You’ve had items this valuable all this time, but our family has gained nothing from them. No money, no power. Nothing! You selfishly kept these artifacts all to yourself, reveling in some mysterious power, and not sharing any of it with me.”

  “Boy, you do not understand,” Wolfgang said as he raised his voice. He pointed to the disk and the pendant. “These are only two pieces of a much larger puzzle.” He reverently caressed the surface of the disk. “I believe the disk and pendant will help us answer questions to some of the biggest mysteries of our time, maybe ever. These people were so advanced, and yet we know nothing of them. I believe there have to be other artifacts that are linked to these items. I have searched, but found nothing else.” He looked back up at his son. “Now we can search together. Finding more evidence must be our priority. This can be our shared destiny.”

  “If these things are so valuable to the scientific world, why not hire people to help with these discoveries?” Maximilian asked, gripping the pendant tightly. “You would get help from other scientists, people who are experts in their fields.”

  “No, son. These items are linked to something big, something so grand that it could change history and could cause fear and greed amongst our society. Through my years and my ties with the Nazis, I’ve learned that certain knowledge, certain items should not fall into the wrong hands,” Wolfgang said. “It is far too dangerous to involve others in this. I don’t think there is anyone we could trust with this.” He reached for the chain and pendant.

  Maximilian reluctantly handed them back.

  Wolfgang placed it around his neck again and tucked it back under his shirt. He tapped his chest where the pendant lay. He welcomed its warm touch. It gave him more vigor and vitality.

  Maximilian eyed his father. “Are you so ashamed of your days with the Nazis?” he demanded. “I’ve noticed you still keep your old Nazi uniform in the trunk there.” Maximilian walked to the trunk and opened it. He took out the uniform. Underneath the uniform was a belt with a holstered gun attached. He removed the Walther P38 pistol from the holster and examined it.

  “They made me an officer after I helped the Fuhrer in East Africa. The only reason I’ve kept the uniform and gun was that you used to spend hours looking at them when you were a child,” Wolfgang said, his face full of sadness and regret. “I should have gotten rid of them. Now, put those things away.”

  “You can’t bear the sight of them can you, father?” Maximilian asked as he reached into his pocket and took out a gun clip. He slammed the clip into the Walther P38, cocked the gun back and fired into the wall.

  A loud bang echoed throughout the basement as the bullet punctured the wall.