by Otto Schafer
“Wait, Paul!” Breanne said. “We have! Don’t you see? It’s Hugues from the nightmares.”
“The Templar guy you mentioned earlier?” Pete asked, looking to Breanne.
“Right!” Breanne said.
Paul’s face changed from confusion to comprehension like a switch being thrown. “Right,” he said slowly.
Breanne’s mind spun, trying to fit this newest bit of information into the puzzle. “Wait a minute. This doesn’t make sense. I’ve done my research on Hugues, which wasn’t really all that hard considering he is the founder of the Knights Templar. You said, ‘your dear friend.’ Hugues is dead and must have been dead for hundreds of years. His skeleton was in the first chamber we found, but supposedly he died in Palestine in 1136. Even if he didn’t die until much later, he has been at the bottom of Oak Island a minimum of some five hundred years. How could he be your friend?” Breanne asked.
“Mr. B, I think it’s time you tell us how it is you know so much about the past,” Paul said.
Mr. B folded his hands together and nodded slowly. “Indeed. It is time.” He stood and began to pace before them. “I met Hugues when I was but a young man, maybe around your age, Paul. But this was in a much later time, after the old ones had been put down – long after the battle in Egypt. He had already taken on the persona of Hugues de Payens when I came to know him. Soon he became like a father to me. I learned from him the story of Apep and the God Stones.”
Breanne began to count years off in her head as the impossible revelation was washing through the group like a wave through water.
“Hugues formed the Knights Templar out of a need to protect the stones’ location from Apep after his escape,” Mr. B said. “Despite whatever else history has taught you, the protection of the God Stones was always the driving force behind the Knights. If you know the history of the Templars, you know we were established to protect visitors to the Holy Land and specifically the Temple Mount. You may also know that the Temple Mount was built on top of the Temple of Solomon. This temple was where Hugues had hidden the God Stones in a much earlier time when he was posing as someone else. After he learned of Apep’s escape, Hugues formed and grew the Templars into a powerful army. After his escape, Apep tried numerous attacks against the Templars, but without the God Stones or the old ones, we were able to thwart his attempts easily.”
Mr. B is one of the original Knights Templar! Breanne thought, squeezing Garrett’s hand even tighter.
The heavy man’s feet pressed deep into the mat as he paced, the skin of his bare feet emitting soft squeaks each time he turned to pace in the opposite direction. “After a couple hundred years of failed attacks on the Knights, Apep decided on a new strategy. By bending King Phillip’s ear, he successfully orchestrated the arrest of the Templars. For this part, as it is written in history, so it was. On Friday, the thirteenth of October, 1307, the Templars were arrested. Many of my dear brethren were killed. I escaped along with several others and Hugues, who had faked his own death years before and taken on the persona of yet another—”
“Mr. B, you’re saying you’re over nine hundred years old!” Lenny blurted.
“I am nine hundred and twenty-five-years old, Lenny,” Mr. B proclaimed without a hint of humor.
Breanne observed as everyone stared at the man in the black dobok anew, as if seeing a miracle come to life before them.
Lenny swallowed. “But you said the God Stones were sealed away by order of the King of Egypt and that once they were sealed the world would return to normal. You said the power would fade away or whatever. How can you, Apep, and Hugues all live so long if the stones were sealed?” he asked, any hint of disbelief having fallen away and been replaced by wonder.
Mr. B paused his pacing and smiled. “You have always been very keen at noticing the details.” Then he cocked his head to the side. “I want you to know, Lenny, earlier when I said what I said – it was because I had to. I needed to see if you would come to Garrett’s aid despite my orders. That was your true test, Lenny – and you passed. You are incredibly important to the success of what’s to come.”
Lenny blinked and gave his master a slow nod.
Resuming his pacing, Mr. B clasped his hands behind his back. “Now to answer your question. Once the third eye is open, it does not close simply because the stones are gone. The human mind is capable of great things if only we could really tap into it. If we could use one hundred percent rather than ten percent, the possibilities may be endless. Also, the power to harness the energy of the stones and work the magic was not simply… gone. The stones were sealed, true. Also true, the trees took root and were unable to walk, and other unnatural creatures, once dead and gone, did not rebirth, ultimately ceasing to be. But even sealed in the lead box, the energy found its way through in small amounts and if you were close you would feel it.”
“That’s why you buried it so deep in the ground,” Breanne said in new understanding. “Not just to hide it but to isolate it. The lead box wasn’t enough.” She thought about when she first put her hands on the altar. She remembered the feeling of power coursing through the stone. Her body shivered involuntarily as she recalled the plants and the glowing water.
Mr. B nodded. “I spent many years under Hugues’s teachings and he was able to help me open my mind. But yes, I also spent much time near the stones, even though they were sealed. I helped to transport them and guard them. Their power was around me, flowing through me, for years.”
“So, even without the stones, you can float and live forever?” Garrett asked.
“Not forever, and like it was for the rest of the world, the power of the stones was lost to me while they lay buried on Oak Island. Now, I can feel the stones are close, feel their magic inside me. Just as Breanne and Paul can.”
Breanne nodded in agreement and looked at Paul, remembering the sight of him moving the crane boom.
“The rest of you can also feel it – will feel it – when you’re ready or when the stones become close to you. And for each of you it will be different, but it will happen. This is your destiny.” Mr. B paused for a moment, to let those words hang in the air. “As for the rest of the world and the creatures in it, well, I just can’t say how fast it will change, perhaps very fast. Who and what will be affected is anyone’s guess.”
“You’re not sure?” Pete asked.
“When it comes to effects, Peter, I can only theorize. Unlike Paul and Breanne, I have never seen the God Stones outside the lead-lined box. I can feel them now, though, and I fear they are close.”
A chill crawled up Breanne’s spine, forcing a shiver. If the stones are close, so is Apep.
“I’m sorry. Where was I? Ah yes, the horrible day of October thirteenth. As my Templar brethren were being tortured and burned at the stake, a small few of us escaped with the sealed chest. We made our voyage here – to America – just as I promised Hugues.”
“Wait, Hugues wasn’t with you? But then how did he end up in the pit on Oak Island?” Janis asked.
Mr. B’s face darkened sorrowfully. He knelt down, bringing his eyes level with the sitting group. The room suddenly felt different somehow. Mr. B changed too. He looked much older, as if dark shadows had descended over his face. Finally, he found his voice again and, in not much more than a whisper, he choked out the words. “Hugues was with us but… he didn’t survive the final attack before our escape.”
The words hung there.
Finally, Mr. B’s face hardened with determination. “Hugues told me of the perfect place to hide the stones, even providing me with instructions for how to access the underground chambers. To this day I’ve no idea how he knew the chambers would be there, right where he said they would be. Following a rough map, we found the place he spoke of – the place known now as Oak Island. I personally met with the indigenous people and, once again following Hugues’s direction, I reminded them of the old ones, the stealing of their women by the army of ruthless killers. I told them if they didn’t he
lp us hide the stones, the old ones would return and kill us all. The stories of the old ones were alive and well, and they remembered, through stories passed down, the horrors they had caused. I only needed speak one word – Apkallu – to gain their support. This was the word known to them to signify sages. I told them the Apkallu needed their support. They agreed without question and together we worked to create a place that could never be discovered—”
“And then you killed them!” Breanne said accusingly, as the weight of what Mr. B said dropped on her like a piano. “Killed them and buried them under the swamp! I spent a whole summer sorting the bones of those poor dead people!” She gripped Garret’s hand tighter, balling her other into a fist as her face flushed with fury.
Everyone jolted at her sudden outburst, but she didn’t care.
“Breanne, is that what your heart says? You think I killed all those people?” Mr. B asked, opening his hands to reveal empty palms.
Breanne studied him for a moment. Some of the anger drained from her face. “Well, no… but…”
He lowered his hands to his thighs and narrowed his eyes. His voice shook as he spoke. “Each of them sacrificed their own life to ensure the God Stones were never discovered, to ensure none of them ever spoke of their location. By the time construction was complete on Oak Island, I knew all one hundred seventy-eight natives by name and considered each of them my friend. It was both the most moving and saddest thing I have ever witnessed – to watch each of them enter that swamp and take their own life. But understand this, Breanne, no one made them do it – they chose to. It forever changed my life. I’ll carry the weight of all one hundred seventy-eight of them in my heart forever.”
Breanne suddenly felt strangely guilty. Maybe it was her assumption or maybe it was the reality that she and her family had cracked the mystery and found the stones. She knew she shouldn’t feel guilty. They had no idea what they were digging up. Yet she couldn’t help it.
As if reading her mind, Mr. B spoke softly to her. “Oh no, Breanne, don’t feel as though any of this is your or your family’s fault. Before Hugues was killed, he prophesized that one day the stones would be found and that Apep would try to use them to create another army and open the gate.”
Breanne smiled weakly, thanking him with her eyes, but the knot in her gut didn’t fade.
“Mr. B, please tell me what this has to do with me?” Garrett asked again, his voice devoid of all venom. His anger had drained away over the course of hearing the surreal story.
Once more Mr. B stood and began to nervously pace back and forth in front of the group. He stopped in front of Garrett and turned to face him. “In the later years of Hugues’s life, he married and bore a child. Not only did he prophesize his own death at the hands of Apep, but Hugues assured me that one day his descendant would battle Apep for the stones and for all of humanity. He asked me to promise him I would protect his bloodline until the time came and his descendant was ready. I tried to tell him this was madness and that he would not be killed by Apep. I still remember, as if it were yesterday, the way he looked at me that day. I could see it in his eyes, his sadness at my denial, and so, though I hated the thought with every ounce of my being, I promised him then and there that I would always protect his bloodline – until my dying breath – and that I would ensure the stones were hidden until the time foretold.”
She felt Garrett fidget, flexing his fingers in hers, but he didn’t let go.
The old master’s face became very heavy, and his ancient eyes filled with tears. “Soon after he told me of this prophecy, many of our Templars were arrested while the rest of us made our escape. But Apep was expecting some of us would flee with the stones and he set an ambush. We battled fiercely but with so many arrested our numbers were too low. I was separated from Hugues,” he said, swallowing hard in an attempt to push the emotions down deep into his large chest.
Breanne flashed back to the Hugues of her dreams, his kind voice and caring smile. She pressed her eyes tight, her heart sinking deep into her stomach.
Mr. B's voice came in a whisper. “I tried to get to him, to help him, but I could not. I had to protect his wife and daughter, as I promised I would.” Tears fell down his face as he wiped the cuff of his dobok across his face. “There was a fire – it burned all around us. I could see him through the flames, but I couldn’t get to him without abandoning them. Two other Templars made it to him and stood with him, battling Apep, but neither were powerful enough to stop him. By the end of the battle both were severely wounded and would surely have been killed if it were not for Hugues sacrificing himself. Somehow… to this day I still don’t understand, but I… I know what I saw. I watched it all through the flames. Apep was losing the battle but then, just as Hugues was set to deliver the final strike, Apep cast a spell, a spell that should not have been possible with the God Stones sealed. Yet… he did it. I don’t know, maybe there was enough power leaking through the lead ark or maybe it had something to do with him not being human at all…” He trailed off, then shook the thought away.
“The spell forced Hugues to the ground. He raised his shield, but it was no match for the power of Apep’s spell… and he died. Frozen in that horrible position for all time. Forced to kneel forever.” His voice lowered even further, barely even audible. Then as if looking at each of them and none of them all at once, he lay bare his soul. “My master, my best friend, he died right there. My God, he… he died right before my eyes.”
Breanne thought of the way they had found the Templar Knight crouched on the altar, his shield raised. Everything this man said aligned with what she had seen.
Tears fell onto the blue mat of the dojo as the group tried to fight them back.
Pulling in a shaky breath, Mr. B’s shoulders slumped as he exhaled. Then, picking up his head, he smiled weakly. “After freeing his wife and child from the flames, I arrived only in time to pull the two Templars out before they were killed. One of the Templars had been nearly burned to death and the other was partially crushed by a collapsing beam trying to save Hugues. Next, I managed to pull Hugues’s frozen body out before the fire consumed him… but he was already gone.”
“And Apep?” Lenny managed.
“I… I don’t know. He was gone.”
“And the God Stones?” Pete asked.
“Safe.” Mr. B gave a snort void of humor. “Apep was never even close to getting to them.”
Again, silence.
Mr. B pulled himself back to the present and looked directly down at the young man sitting before him. “You ask what this has to do with you, Garrett, and I will tell you now. But be warned – this will not be easy for you to hear.”
Garrett raised his eyes to meet Mr. B’s.
“Hugues had another name… his true name. That name was Turek.”
Garrett stared up at him, then rubbed a hand over his recently cut hair in confusion. “But I don’t understand – that’s my last name?”
“It is.” Mr. B nodded.
“But I’m adopted… that’s my stepfather’s name,” Garrett said.
The ancient man knelt down before Garrett and placed his hands atop his shoulders. “No, your adopted name is your true name, and what you thought was your real birth name was a fake, given to you to protect you from Apep until the time was right. You see, the bloodline of Turek runs through your mother’s side, not your father. What happened to him, became of him, well, it’s of no matter. You are the one Turek prophesied. It is you who will lead the new sages into battle.”
For a silent moment, no one even dared to breathe as all eyes were on Garrett.
The large man in the worn black dobok stood regarding him with a solemn expression. It was obvious to Breanne he had just unloaded a burden he had carried for so long.
Breanne realized she was still holding Garrett’s hand in hers. She squeezed.
Garrett blinked in disbelief, unable to speak. He felt his hand being squeezed, looked down, and realized Breanne’s hand was in his.
He blinked again and swallowed hard. What did he mean, that it didn’t matter what had happened to his father? He knew what had become of his father. The bastard drank himself to death. His mind reeled with questions, but he couldn’t think about that now. There was too much else to process. Leading sages into… did he say into battle? His emotions spun wildly as he tried to digest the words. For some reason, he felt embarrassment, like he had done something wrong, but as quickly as the embarrassment came it passed – into anger.
That’s when he noticed everyone was looking at him. His face flushed and that made him feel even more pissed. He had to do something. He let go of Breanne’s hand and leapt to his feet, finally finding his words.
“You’re insane!” he shouted and, not knowing what to do next, he abruptly turned to leave. “This isn’t real. None of this is real! How could it be? It doesn’t even make any sense! I’m out.”
His instincts told him to go, run away, get away from this craziness that couldn’t be happening. He needed to go. He spun on his heels and faced Mr. B. “This is some Keepers of the Light trick. Maybe the way you tricked Lincoln before killing him for whatever’s in that temple. Why don’t you admit that’s what this is really all about. You just want to trick us to get the journal and get inside that temple!” Garrett huffed. He knew that didn’t feel… right, but he was committed now. He didn’t want to go, but you can’t get pissed, make a scene, and then just change your mind. He spun again, showing Mr. B his back as he took a reluctant step towards the locker room.
Lenny stood, confused but ready to follow his friend.
“You’re right, Garrett,” Mr. B admitted, spreading his hands open before him. “I’m a Keeper of the Light. You wanted to know what this has to do with you – now you know. No more secrets. Isn’t that what you wanted? To know?”
“Wait,” Lenny said, raising a hand, “you’re saying Garrett is the descendant of this sage guy. The most powerful wizard ever to walk the planet?”
“Sage,” David corrected.