The Prodigal Sun: A Novel

by S. E. Meyer

  “What the hell was that?” asked John.

  “When a human goes through the burning and their bodies are changed to powder, their soul no longer has a home so it is sent here. It travels here through those blue tubes.”

  “For how long and for what purpose?” John asked with a dumbfounded look on his face.

  “This will be their home for eternity, and as for purpose, it’s how the Masters power everything.

  John suddenly collapsed flat on his back. He had been reaching out with his mind to the souls below and was immediately overcome with grief, sorrow and unimaginable pain. He pulled his thoughts back as quickly as he could and closed it off to the millions below.

  “They’re being tortured!” exclaimed John.

  “Yes, they are kept in a state much like you found me, only worse. The Annunaki found that when a soul is captured, and then tormented, it lets off massive amounts of energy that can be collected and stored. They use it for everything, from powering their elevators to baking their bread.” John felt sick again and this time he couldn’t hold it back. He quickly turned away from Ninti and emptied his stomach onto the dusty floor. He couldn’t remember when he ate last, but he continued to heave bile as he shuddered with the realization of what Ninti was telling him. Burned alive and then tortured for all eternity deep underground. John thought. Unimaginable.

  “You see John, down here, even death will not free you from your bondage,” Ninti continued to explain.

  “How many? How many are down there?” asked John.

  “Now that the evacuations are almost complete I overhead that there are now over three billion.”

  “How is that possible? There wasn’t even that many people on Earth with the billions that were taken,” asked John.

  “The addition of helpers has increased that number over the centuries and from what I understand John, Braedon has been bringing your people down here for the Qamu for thousands of years,” she replied.

  “Even your people are down there?” John exclaimed.

  “Only if we disobey, if we serve in absolute obedience and unwavering loyalty to our Masters while we live, then we can be offered the Shi Wussuru or the 'release of the soul' after the burning.”

  “That’s why you didn’t want me to help you,” replied John.

  “Yes, if I am not able to escape this place, to the world you have shown me above, then I will be sent here as punishment for what I have done. The only recourse for disloyalty is eternal torment.”

  John felt exhausted. He slid over to the nearest wall and put his back against it as he closed his eyes. Ninti followed his lead and sat near him.

  Frank spoke up again. “Will one of you please tell me where we are, what is going on, and what you two are talking about!”

  “I’m sorry Frank,” John replied. “I forgot you’ve been kept unconscious throughout all of this.” John moved over and sat next to Frank. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “You breaking your nose deep underground at the Babylon site,” Frank answered.

  “Okay, this might feel a little weird, but I’m going to give you the entire story over the course of a few minutes,” explained John as he put his hands on Frank’s forehead. Frank closed his eyes and John revealed everything that had happened over the previous month and a half. He included his trip to Eridu as well as everything Braedon had shown him when he first arrived. Once John was finished Frank continued to sit with his eyes closed for several minutes before speaking.

  “This is so hard to believe John, I feel like I’m dreaming. What about God John? With everything Braedon taught you, how does God fit in to all of this? Are you saying there is no God?” asked Frank.

  “Exactly the opposite Frank. After my trip to Eridu I know there is a God, but God isn’t what you and I have been led to believe. I feel that God is everywhere, and in everything, all creation. He’s not found in brick and mortar buildings, or beams and crosses. He isn’t found in rosaries and repentance. God isn’t in offering plates or rituals. Here is what I think Frank, God is love and He is everywhere and is in everything. God is what connects us all.” John finished.

  “Yes there is a God. The helpers and the Masters know this,” Ninti added.

  “What?” John asked. He looked at Ninti intently. “You’re saying that even the Annunaki believe in God?”

  “Of course,” she replied. “God is the creator of the Universe and all life.”

  “And what about hell?” asked Frank.

  “Jesus Frank, look around you. We’re miles underground, deep inside the Earth where people are brought and burned alive, only to have their souls tortured for eternity. Hell Frank? I would say we are in it,” John exclaimed.

  Suddenly John felt Jake’s presence in the distance. He couldn’t tell where it was coming from exactly until Jake’s voice screamed in his head Down here! John got back on all fours and looked down into the depths through the thick glass. He stared into the blue cavern below until Jake’s face suddenly filled the window. “Oh my God, Jake? What are you doing here?” John asked aloud, but Jake answered him in his thoughts. I followed you here, but somehow I got sucked into this place and I can’t get out. Suddenly Jake screamed again directly into John’s mind. This time it was a wailing of pain. It hurts John it hurts so badly. Please get me out of here.” John began to pound on the glass below him. He glanced a Ninti. “Help me. How do I open it?”

  “Open it? You can’t John, the container is sealed. There is no way to open it,” she replied.

  “There has to be a way!” John yelled.

  “Only Braedon can open it, or someone with his strength of mind,” Ninti explained.

  John’s fists began to hurt from pounding the glass. He stopped and hung is head in defeat. “I will find a way,” John whispered aloud and then sent a thought to Jake. Hold on Jake, I will find a way to get you out of there. He leaned back against the wall again. John knew he was too weak to do anything to help Jake right away. He expended most of his energy helping Ninti and reviving Frank. He let out a deep breath and looked at Ninti. “This is so overwhelming and I am exhausted. I need to rest. Are you sure we’ll be safe here?”

  “Yes, we will be safe for now,” answered Ninti.

  “Good, then tomorrow we can find Jenny and get out of here,” replied John.

  “John?” Ninti said quietly with a worried look on her face. John opened his eyes and looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

  “There’s something I should tell you about Jennifer.”

  “Yes, what is it Ninti, is she okay?”

  “Yes, she’s fine John. It’s just that her and Braedon. Well. I’m not sure how to tell you this.

  “Just say it Ninti, whatever it is,” John asked.

  “What I need to tell you is Jennifer is…” she trailed off for a moment.

  “What Ninti? Jenny is what?” John asked again, getting frustrated.

  “John,” she paused again as she looked into his eyes. “Jennifer is pregnant.”

  Whispers from beyond

  Dennis Mathews exited the main lab at the South Pole Observatory and made his way down a white walled corridor under bright lights. His small frame exaggerated the size of the large hallway, while the fluorescent glow from above reflected off his short, dark hair and walnut colored eyes. He was now one of the top scientists at the observatory and in charge of continuing his research on the mysterious white powder that was found at the bottom of the Baghdad excavation site. He had not seen Lucas Goodman or Hosea Lopez for several days now. He had buried himself in his research while Lucas and Hosea continued to work feverishly on deciphering the message that was still being sent to Earth from the oncoming planetary system. He looked outside as he passed a bank of long windows on his left, nervously biting his full lower lip between his perfectly straight front teeth. The alien sun had turned the once beautiful white scenery of the Antarctic into a blanket of blood red shadows. The eerie crimson glow, cast by the partially ecl
ipsed twin suns reflecting off the snow and ice, made his heart rate quicken along with his pace as he hurried to get away from the sight of it. He took a deep breath and felt his nerves calm slightly as he walked around the corner of a long hallway and approached the security guard standing in front of a set of double doors.

  “I need to get some more samples,” Dennis said as he gestured towards the door behind the uniformed man towering above him.

  “Just sign here, you know the drill,” the man answered, pointing to a book sitting open on a small table next to him. Dennis hunched over and signed his name before turning to face the doors and the man standing guard in front of them.

  “Shall we then?” Dennis asked. The guard turned and swiped his ID badge in front of the small panel next to the doors. He heard a faint click as the door unlocked and followed the guard inside a large room that held dozens of shelves in long rows, heaped with artifacts still thick with dust. Everything that had been taken from the underground site in Iraq was brought here. Massive piles of scrolls, clay tablets, and other documents were cataloged and stashed away on the seemingly endless rows of shelving.

  “What happened in here?” Dennis asked with a surprised look on his face as he turned around to face the guard. “Everything has been moved around again. How am I supposed to ever find what I'm looking for in here if everything keeps getting moved around?” Dennis finished in an elevated tone that showed his frustration. “And we really need to get more light in here.”

  “I don't have anything to do with what goes on in here,” the guard replied. “I just sign people in and out.” Dennis waved him off and headed towards the far end of the large room, examining the contents of the shelves as he went. He made it all the way to the back wall before finding what he was looking for. As he reached up to take one of the many samples of white powder in front of him he suddenly heard a voice. A whisper. It was muffled and not in English.

  “Who's there?” Dennis asked.

  The sound of the voice sent chills down his spine and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. It was the guard who answered him from the other end of the room. “Did you say something Dennis?” he hollered through the rows of metal shelving.

  “Um, I thought I heard something. Is anyone else in here?” Dennis yelled back towards the guard as he stared around the room with his head cocked to one side.

  “No, just you. You're the only one who's been in here all day so far,” the guard answered, still yelling so Dennis could hear him.

  Dennis remained silent, holding his breath until he heard the voice again. It was a low murmuring coming from the corner nearest him. He slowly walked towards the sound, carefully placing one foot in front of the other as a small bead of sweat formed on his forehead. His hands were shaking as he took each careful stride towards the guttural murmurs emanating from the dark. His face was screwed up into twisted wrinkles as he concentrated on the sound. Am I hearing things? Dennis asked himself, trying to decide if the whisper was reverberating from the dark corner of the room he was in or rather an even darker recess of his mind. “Hearing things is never a good sign Dennis,” he whispered to himself.

  As he drew nearer, he noticed a large rectangular box sitting on the floor. It was approximately four and a half feet long, by two and half feet tall, and two and half feet deep. He crept closer with his head still cocked to one side, straining to hear. Suddenly, he realized the muffled sounds were coming from the box on the floor. A tingle of energy ran up his arm as his fingers made contact with the cool stone-like surface. He squatted down and examined the cover, looking for a seam. He had a sudden urge to open it. He stood up and tried to lift the cover, but it didn't budge. The whispering voice continued to tingle his spine as he ran back to the entrance of the room where the guard was standing.

  “I need to get a message to Lucas and Hosea and let them know I found something,” Dennis said as he located the communication panel next to the door and pressed a few buttons.

  “Hello?” came the familiar voice of Lucas, after a brief moment of waiting.

  “Lucas. Get Hosea and come down to the artifact storage room. I think I found something,” Dennis explained excitedly.

  “What is it Dennis?” asked Lucas.

  “It's hard to explain, just come down,” answered Dennis. He looked at the guard and gestured with his hand. Can you give me a hand with something?” he asked the man who simply nodded and followed Dennis back to where the rectangular box was sitting.

  “Help me lift the cover off this thing,” ordered Dennis as he tried to lift again. Each of the men stood at one end of the box and strained to slide the cover. It moved slightly. “That's it, it's moving!” Dennis said excitedly. They continued to slide the cover, inching it slowly, until the weight of itself teetered over the edge of the box and crashed to the floor with a deafening racket. Dennis and the guard peered inside.

  “It's beautiful!” said Dennis quietly. The two men stared in amazement. The item inside was another rectangle of similar size, but it was completely covered in gold. On the top of the box, and set to each side, were two angelic gold figures with their wings outstretched in a forward position. The tips of their wings almost touched together above the center of the box and there was a faint blue light emanating from between them.

  “What is that sound?” the guard asked Dennis. The voice was louder now with the cover off, and less muffled.

  “I don't know,” Dennis replied, still staring in amazement at the beautiful gold statuettes. The guard reached in with his hand just as a loud voice yelled out from behind them.

  “No! Don't touch it!” screamed Hosea. It was too late. The guard placed his hand on one of the angel's wings and a blue arc lit up the room, followed by a blinding flash. The voice suddenly stopped. The guard was thrown backwards more than ten feet and almost fell on top of Lucas and Hosea as they ran to where Dennis was standing. Lucas bent over and touched his fingers to the guard’s neck, trying to feel for a pulse.

  “He's dead,” Lucas said quietly with fear in his bright blue eyes. Hosea didn't hear him. He was staring intently at the large gold box, which he had recognized from across the room.

  “Aron Habrit,” Hosea whispered with his gaze still fixed on the angels.

  Lucas stood up and moved next to Hosea so he could get a better look. “Is it possible?” he asked Hosea. “Aron Habrit? The Ark of the Covenant?”

  “This is amazing Lucas! What a monumental discovery! Of course we’ll have to take some detailed measurements to make sure.” His face was beaming with pride as he spoke. “It is said to hold the stone tablets and is mentioned in the Torah or Old Testament, as well as the Koran. But we'll have to be careful, as we just witnessed, it is also written that it will kill anyone who touches it, ” explained Hosea.

  Dennis was still in shock from witnessing what had just happened but slowly came to his senses. “That's not all it does,” he said.

  “Why? What happened Dennis? What do you mean?” Lucas asked.

  “I mean, well, just before you got here-” Dennis trailed off as he stared at the dead guard and then turned his gaze back to the Ark, shaking his head slightly.

  “What Dennis? What happened?” Hosea asked, resting his hand on Dennis' shoulder.

  Dennis turned his gaze from the Ark and looked directly into Hosea's eyes as he answered him. “Just before you got here,”

  Dennis paused and took a deep breath, “it was speaking to me.”

  Queen Of Denial

  Jennifer Mitchell shut down the computer terminal in front of her and leaned back in her chair. Her long blond locks fell behind her as she allowed her bright, emerald green eyes to drift up along the empty canvass walls to the tent ceiling above. Almost done with the evacuations in Asia, she thought. There would be several more days of it, but she didn’t need to stay any longer. She had finished everything she needed to accomplish and the soldiers certainly didn’t need her there to complete the last week of evacuations. Jennifer stood up
and stretched. She was anxious to get back home to the underground Annunaki city, having fallen in love with its beautiful sunsets and robust flora that grew along the streets and around the homes. She was growing quite comfortable there and found she missed it when she was away. The city wasn’t all that she missed though. She was also looking forward to seeing Braedon again. Jennifer smiled at the thought of seeing his smiling face and crisp blue eyes, along with his warm embrace. She felt flushed as she left the tent she had been working in and headed for the nearest elevator. As she walked by the last tent in the row, the two soldiers guarding it snapped to attention. Word had spread of Braedon's affection for her and Traedon put the fear of death into anyone that didn’t show Jenny the proper respect. She was getting used to it. She was starting to like it. Everyone treated her like royalty and did anything she asked, without hesitation. The feeling of power it gave her was intoxicating. Of course, a few of the people who had been treating her well when in her presence, also made fun of her when she wasn’t around. Only last week, she had walked into a tent to overhear two soldiers referring to her as the Queen of the Underworld. She recalled their terrified expressions when they realized she was behind them and her bodyguards escorted them out of the tent. She hadn’t seen the two men since and guessed they had been transferred. Hopefully it wasn’t anything worse than that, she thought, nervously tracing the diamond necklace around her throat with her index finger. She didn’t want to know. She made a left turn and walked along the side of another large tent until she came to a tall structure jutting out of the ground. She looked back over her shoulder through the darkness at the large silhouette of Nibiru. It was now close enough to take up a third of the darkened sky above her. Jenny waved her hand, exposing the doorway to the elevator as she stared at the foreign planet and the bright crimson ring that ran around its circumference. Like a giant, evil, unblinking eye, it stared back at her. She entered the elevator and spent the next two hours trying to shrug off the Nibiru induced anxiety, impatiently waiting to get back to the Annunaki City for a hot shower and a loaf of delicious bread. Maybe a few glasses of wine and just relax for the afternoon, she thought. She knew Braedon would be gone but he would be back by evening and she couldn’t wait to see him again. As soon as she made it home she went straight to her room and turned on the hot water in the shower. She got undressed and then paused a moment next to the small table where she kept her diamond necklace. Jenny removed it from her neck and set it down. She brushed the stones with her index finger, losing herself in its beauty and brilliance. She hated to take it off. She already missed it around her neck. Jenny absentmindedly touched her chest with her left hand, longing for the cold metal between her breasts. She took one last look at the necklace before she got in the shower and stood under its hot, steamy spray. Jenny closed her eyes and felt the droplets of hot water run down her smooth skin. Each one seemed to carry a small piece of stress away and drop it down the drain at her feet to be forgotten. Her thoughts wandered to John. She still missed him and thought of him every day. Jenny felt a lump move into her throat and a sharp pain growing in her chest as she thought of her late husband. The water spraying onto her blond hair and down her face washed away the tears that welled up in her eyes. “I wish things could have turned out differently John,” she whispered into the thick steam that enveloped her body and then she let out a long sigh. Jenny felt an odd sensation and tried to look through the glass door. She wiped a small circle of fog from the glass and jumped when she saw a shadow on the other side. It startled her so much she almost slipped and fell to the tile floor, but caught herself at the last moment by grabbing the ledge.