The Ophir
Page 13
As long as Nazim and Joseph remained in battle, many things lost to man would resurface and move man in a different direction.
* * * *
“Lord, this battle will never end. How can there be retribution if it does not end?”
“It is so, and so it shall be. I brought it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.”
“But Lord, you said that I was to set things a-right. Would not the death of this cur end his hold on the populations?”
“And what of your death? Would it not also end this abomination? I gave you leave to come to Earth again and clean that which you soiled with your self-righteousness. I gave you leave to transcend the man that you were. I say unto you, seek retribution and it will be found. But it is mine and not yours that will manifest.”
“I do not understand.”
“You will not understand. You forfeited your existence here and in my heaven when you forgot the reason for descending. You began to gather your flock and did yourself honor. They called you Lord and you allowed it. You rejoiced in the death of another.
I, and I alone am your God and the creator of all before you. I. I alone decide what will happen to man. I forgive you for your transgressions, but you will not be loosed on the world again. I have more respect and greater love of the lamia than I do you!
He did not choose his fate, you did. His madness was his undoing. His madness will give him the strength to hold you in this embrace until the end of times.”
And with that, God removed the curse from Joseph that he not be touched by the killing sea, and so might continue to hold the devil at bay.
Joseph understood that his transgressions were not to be forgiven and acknowledged his sentence with a quick nod. He had no great love of God, nor did he care that his fate was now sealed. He would be glad to end his existence knowing that Nazim would never escape his.
“Why do you free him and not me?”
“Why do you continue to rebel? I sent your enemy against you that he might put a yoke of iron on your neck.”
“Father save me!”
“There is no peace for the wicked, nor those that do not repent.”
Nazim screamed in rage and hurled curses that echoed into the atmosphere. But his curses had no power. God in His wrath caused Nazim’s words to be drowned out by the gargantuan explosion of Krakatau.
Krakatau volcano was located on the island of Rakata near the Java Trench. The eruption was so violent, that ash and debris floated through the atmosphere, which carried it and Nazim’s curses, as far west as Madagascar. It was heard in Australia and felt in France and England.
The tidal waves created by the explosion, combined with the Tsunami already in progress, wiped out villages for miles around and killed greater than 30,000 inhabitants residing in those areas. It was this explosion that would be remembered all over the world, which sank Lemuria far beneath the reaches of the world.
Chapter Nineteen
As Lemuria descended, the displaced volumes of ocean and magma were forced out of the cavity, where Lemuria would once again anchor itself to the heart of the world. As the island settled into its place, the waters were drawn in from the shores, leaving little evidence of the once teaming life that occupied the oceanic valleys. Megaladon sharks, giant squid and many other species were left floundering in the mud. Many unknown species, creatures thought to exist in prehistoric times alone, would be lost forever as they drowned in the oxygen of the surface world.
As the island continued into the depths, the seas rose higher and began to cover the edges of Lemuria and then the highest points, until nothing was left but roiling water and confused seas.
The rising magma cooled in the waters of the seas, causing them to boil. The surface of the ocean, once teaming with life, was now decorated with the dead bodies of sea creatures undiscovered by man.
They would be taken on the tides and currents to be washed ashore at beaches thousands of miles away. Scientists, and the curious, would run to the shores to see the inhabitants of the depths unexplored by man, giving proof that the giants of biblical times still existed. The Mariana’s Trench and other spiritual vortex’ remained intact.
The ocean currents would be reversed and waters that were once warm would cool, and cooler waters would experience a warming that would destroy smaller fish such as anchovies, throwing the food chain into chaos. No part of the world would be left untouched.
Many countries would herald this as the beginning of the end. The ash clouds circulating the globe would instill fear and create depression. Cults would plan and commit suicides in what they believed to be Armageddon.
People flocked to churches to pray for their souls and salvation. Husbands would murder their wives and children to save them the pain of fire and the final destruction of the world, adding their names to the growing list of men, women, and children already taken by the natural disasters that had the world in its grip.
And the word went out. The word of the Lord was spoken in both large and small groups of the faithful.
“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
Chapter Twenty
The Earth shook as the Titans continued their battle, unaware of the changes surrounding them. The very air changed. It became warmer as thermal anomalies developed. Slow, silent vibrations were building up in the Earth, softening the crust’s mantel, weakening its resistance to the enormous pressure building beneath the surface.
The sun, when it peaked through the haze, shown a brilliant red and seemed swollen in its place. But neither Nazim nor Joseph was cognizant of the import of these changes.
* * * *
Nazim was on the ground with Joseph poised above him, a huge stone in his hands. He raised the stone and swung it down to smash Nazim’s head into splinters. Nazim brought his legs up, kicking the stone to the side. It landed beside him, missing his ribs by inches. Muscles ached and breath became short, but they would not stop. They could not stop. Their revenge would never be realized. Their Maker had made the solution clear when His son first came to Earth.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
“Love thy neighbor.”
“Vengeance is mine.”
“You shall not put the Lord thy God to the test.” So many other edicts were given that were as true then as they are now, but neither man heard. Not then, not now. They were bent on revenge, and that belonged only to God.
They were blind to the ways of salvation. And because they were blind, neither would win. They would remain locked in combat even as the island slipped with a roar back into the sea. Their thrashing and heat would forever be felt by the world as it manifested itself in continued vibratile. The fury of the battle affected the island even to its center.
* * * *
Opposite the battle, and at least 1,500 feet below the upper reaches of the island, another change was taking place. As the battle raged on the surface of the island, gates opened onto its side.
Captain Antonio and his crew watched as the curtained rock wall slid open on silent hinges. The confused sea boiled around them, but no sound was made. And then, a soft voice could be heard speaking to the Captain.
“Juanito, my son, you have done well. You will live among the real, and continue to walk in the path of my light, as you carry the great Arc forth to its final resting place. The world will go on for a millennium before we return to gather the faithful.
You and your men have been granted final resolution and will live in my name, here, in peace and abundance until that time. Go forth, and know that you are forgiven.”
Although his knowledge had appreciated, Antonio was incredulous. His fortune was beyond comprehension. After all he and his men had done, how could this be? Yet, in his heart, he knew that he and his men were forgiven all transgressions.
He knew also that the relics aboard his sh
ip would now be transferred into the hands of the citizens of Lemuria, and remain so. He kept his promise to the Knights, and would from that time on, go forward, knowing all that they knew and more.
* * * *
With God’s breath at their backs, the Ophir’s sails billowed open and the ship almost flew toward the giant maw. Fear and awe gripped the crew as they realized that no one was at the helm of the gilded ship. It moved as if an invisible hand was guiding it straight toward the unnatural opening in the side of the island.
As the ship continued to move forward, the men fell to their knees with upraised hands, and gloried in the love and warmth that was raining down on them from the dark sky above.
A light filled with stardust shown on the ship and its crew. An inward calm began to grow within them in their hearts as faces appeared to all sides of them, welcoming them with smiles and nods. The crew of the Ophir, followed by an armada of 32 ships captained by Knights Templar, was coming home.
* * * *
The Knights Templar too would pass into legend and myth. They would become widespread, their order would change names in different countries, but their line would continue, even onto the modern age of man. Proof would be given here and there of their existence, but as was the habit of man, it would be spoken of with a wink and a nod.
World powers would assert themselves in the name of religion and their way of democracy. Everything would change, and nothing would change. Science and metaphysical beliefs would dovetail eventually, but by then it would prove too late to save the entire world.
It would not be until the 23rd century that the world would be shaken to its foundation, when wheels that were started turning centuries before would come to a halt. The surface of the planet would break open with the force of many explosions rolled into one. The face of the Earth would then experience such a forceful change, that its powers would have to be realigned.
Lesser nations would fight bitter, long devastating wars that would annihilate its citizens and blur the reason for human contest. The nation with the greatest power would be cut in half. Its attempts to take a step back in time would be welcomed by some and seen as weakening by others. They would present greater targets to smaller nations. Even so, the day would come when the world would be given a third time to redeem itself. The end would come but not just yet.
* * * *
Biblical tomes tell of an end by fire. But, it will be natural forces and not man that will generate the final annihilation.
In the beginning God created a machine and put the wheels in motion. He created a self- perpetuating world and then left it to its own devices. All changes brought about were through cause and effect. It is the earth’s natural need for balance that will end the current existence and spark a new beginning.
As continents are destroyed, so will new ones emerge. The path of the world will change in orbit, and weather phenomena will increase. Few will survive the rapid changes, but from the ashes a new order will rise.
Epilogue
On the beach at Brighton so long ago, The One and his surviving tribesmen made short work of the inhabitants of the little hamlet by the sea, as the good souls searched for that one piece of treasure that might bring them good fortune.
Few townspeople survived the brutality of the lamia as the surviving vampires rose in anger, fear and confusion. They killed wantonly and left the area almost as quickly as they arrived.
Where once the citizens walked the beach at night in search of romance or good fortune, they now believed it held death, and no one ventured toward the shore at night. As time went by, the younger Brightonians left the shores of Brighton Beach and moved inland. Their hope of flotsam that would change their lives forever ... had come true.
THE END
About the Author
Irene Patino, born in Tampa, Florida graduated from the University of South Florida with a Masters Degree in Education.
Ms. Patino is a retired teacher and an ordained minister in the Universal Spiritualist Church of All Souls, Inc. in West Palm Beach, Florida. She is a Quantum Touch Practitioner, certified in Basic Spiritual Healing, Distance Healing, Beginning Psychic Development, and is available for teaching Basic Runes, non-traditional Card Reading techniques, and several other metaphysical concepts.
Email Irene:
Patino2304@yahoo.com
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