The Lost Metal Library (An Ancient Quest Mystery Book 2)

by Rai Aren

  Understanding began to dawn on Rick. “I guess Oz didn’t see himself as a potential risk. He must have believed in what he was doing and thought the warning wouldn’t apply to him.”

  “Si, that’s exactly it. He didn’t see himself as a bad guy,” Javier said sadly. “That was his blind spot. He thought he was on the right path.”

  That comment made Rick even more nervous about how close he’d come to death.

  Javier continued, “It was also why I told you we needed him to experience what you did when you hit the symbol. That way he could be put to the test. The library judged him, judged all of them, and we saw the result.”

  Rick tensed. He understood what Javier was saying. He shivered at the thought of how powerful this place was. There was no hiding here. It also made him reflect on his incredibly positive experience. He’d come away with so much, a renewed sense of peace and belonging, and a sense of worth he’d never experienced before. Profound gifts.

  He again glanced over at what was left of Oz.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Javier said.

  He looked surprised. “Oh?”

  “That it could’ve been you lying there.”

  Rick swallowed hard.

  “You’re right, it could’ve been,” Javier continued. “But it wasn’t. You’re a good person. Remember that.”

  Rick smiled. “I think you had some doubts.”

  Javier gave him a quick look. “No más.”

  “I’m honored,” he replied. That meant a lot to him. Rick then looked over at Sofia, huddling with her family, deep in conversation. She’d also passed the library’s test. Now that he knew the stakes of what Oz had made her do, he was even more relieved. “They’re good people, too.”

  “Si, they are,” Javier replied.

  “Bet you didn’t have the same doubts about them,” Rick said, winking at him, only half-joking.

  “Perhaps not.”

  Fair enough, Rick thought to himself. “Library,” he said, letting out a heavy sigh, still trying to grasp the incalculable power and potential of this place. “What a way to describe it.”

  Javier nodded, gazing around the spectacular cavern. “We believe it’s fitting. It seems to reveal the knowledge, history, emotions, memories, experiences, and intent... even obsession of the person who interacts with it.”

  Rick listened, riveted by what Javier was telling him.

  “We’re still learning about it, but we think it’s also a library of what might’ve been, even possibly what is, in another life.”

  Rick was struck by what he said. “That’s what I felt. It was absolutely incredible. Like another life.” He paused. “Or rather an alternate reality of my life.”

  “They are all one.”

  Rick remembered his father saying the same thing in his experience with the metal library. “Tell me more about that if you can, por favor.”

  Javier considered how to explain it better. “We believe the phenomenon is life figuring itself out in all possible ways, that the metal library allows us to peer beyond the veil, so to speak, and recall or learn about other potentialities of our lives.”

  Rick tried to absorb it all. He’d need days to ask all the questions swirling around in his head. But then he considered how the same phenomenon that had given him an incredible, life-changing experience, had also killed three men tonight.

  “Incredible, and yet also deadly,” Rick said, somberly.

  “Si,” Javier replied in a serious tone.

  In that moment, Rick resigned himself to the realization that he could not, in good conscience, reveal this discovery—to anyone. Despite how much he’d wanted it, how it would be the discovery of a lifetime, he would have to let that desire go.

  “I can understand why you don’t want people poking around in here,” Rick said. “It can’t be allowed. It’s far too dangerous.”

  “Si, it is,” Javier said, recalling others who’d lost their lives to this mystical place of transcendence, enlightenment, and reckoning. “And even if it wasn’t, some people might not be able to handle what they experience here. It might be too much to live with.”

  Rick’s eyes went wide, realizing the implications—the myriad ways things could unfold. His mind raced with possibilities. “I can certainly see why.”

  Something else was bothering Rick. “Why did you warn Oz to back off before it was too late? Why not just let him meet his own doom if you thought that’s how it would turn out?”

  Javier looked over at him, surprised at the question. “Because it is my solemn duty to do so. Once a person has been warned, the consequences will fall on them if they do not respect and heed what they’ve been told.”

  Rick let out a long breath as he considered the gravity of Javier’s words. He admired the young man in many ways.

  Rick thought of something else as he watched the others remove the tablets and place them back into the metal boxes. “There are so many symbols...” his voice trailed off. “Do you actually know them all? I know you told Oz most were unknown. Was that true?”

  “Most are known, not all, but...” he stopped.

  “But what?” Rick pressed.

  “But not by any one person.”

  “How many people hold this knowledge?”

  “I cannot say,” Javier replied, staring straight ahead.

  Another thought occurred to Rick. “Do they all do something different? Have different effects on people?”

  “Again, I cannot say.”

  Rick looked around the stunning cavern. Then another thought occurred to him. He decided to push his luck with peppering Javier with questions. “Are there more metal tablets? Other artifacts here that your people use for... enlightenment?”

  Javier turned to him and looked at him directly. “This is a sacred space to my people.”

  Rick waited for him to continue, but Javier turned away to watch the others dismantle the metallic tablets.

  Rick understood what Javier was telling him. He still had so many questions, but it seemed that he was reaching the end of the line with them for now. He shook his head. “And this has remained unknown all this time.”

  “We have done our best to keep it that way,” Javier replied, “but, it hasn’t been easy.” He pointed to Rick. “You coming to our country, seeking this place, along with the men who were defeated here tonight, is proof that we have failed on many fronts.”

  Rick fell silent. He knew Oz and Ares weren’t the only intruders in this space.

  Javier started to leave to go help his friends finish their work.

  Rick had to ask one more question, but he was scared to know the answer. “What I experienced... what I saw of my father... was it real? I mean, it felt so real. I feel like I have memories... real memories from it.”

  Javier gave him a knowing look. “What do you think?”

  Rick paused. “I want to believe it was.”

  “Then do so.”

  Javier walked away.

  * * *

  Before they left the Cathedral cavern, Diego pulled Rick aside. “I wanted to thank you again for everything you’ve done for mi familia.”

  Rick shook his head. “I was only trying to help.”

  “You saved my son’s life... again tonight. You helped save my life. I will be forever grateful to you.”

  “I’m just glad we’re all walking out of here,” Rick replied, smiling shyly. He touched the man’s shoulder. “You should be very proud of them. They’re both brave, strong, really good people. And they love you a lot.”

  “Gracias,” Diego replied. His heart swelled with pride. “I am blessed.”

  Rick was about to walk away when Diego held him back.

  “I can see that you have felt lost. For a long time, if I’m not mistaken.”

  Rick was caught off-guard. He felt his throat constrict. “You could say that.”

  “And you came here to find yourself,” Diego added.

  Rick didn’t answer. Diego’s gaze
was deep, searching. It felt like he could see right into his soul.

  “You know, the rainforest holds many secrets, and many answers, as we have learned here this night,” Diego said. “I hope you have found what you were looking for.”

  Rick looked at the older man’s kind face. He thought of his own father. “I believe I have, and much more.” He took a deep breath. “But it sure wasn’t how I expected it to be.”

  “That was your first mistake,” Diego said with an amused grin, “thinking you could predict how it would all turn out.”

  Rick laughed softly. “You'd think I would’ve learned that lesson before now.” He thought back to the Mato Grosso. If anything should’ve taught him that lesson, it was that experience. And now this place. “The jungle and the hidden worlds they contain sure have a way of humbling a man, don’t they?”

  “Si. They do. And they should.”

  They were silent for a moment.

  Diego touched his arm. “I want you to know, Rick, that you may not be my son by birth, but I consider you my son through deed.”

  Rick’s eyes widened. He could scarcely speak, hearing those words.

  Diego hugged him.

  Rick felt the newly forming bond between the two of them begin to take root deep inside him. Another profound gift this extraordinary experience had given him.

  * * *

  Finally, Javier, Mari, Juan, and Carlos completed their task.

  “It is over,” Javier said. “We must go now. We need to get in contact with our people. There’s still much to do.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Javier had contacted more of his people for help once they left the Cathedral cavern. They had removed the bodies of the Ares men and disposed of them in the jungle. There were many places where a person’s remains would never be seen again. They’d also removed all of the equipment Ares had left behind in their jungle encampment and hidden it away where it wouldn’t be found.

  Afterwards, they’d taken to hiding the large metal boxes containing the metallic tablets deeper within the caves system. Rick and the Torres family had not been allowed to witness where the tablets had ultimately ended up and they had all been sworn to secrecy about what they knew of the metal library.

  After what they’d just endured, and how close they’d come to losing their lives, Rick knew it was the right decision, and he respected the wishes of Javier’s people. No one protested. They all knew why it had to be that way.

  They took a different passageway out of the cathedral cavern to the surface. The journey back to town had been a somber one.

  The compass was taken into the city for safekeeping. Its whereabouts kept strictly confidential and known to only Javier and the other Shuar sworn to protect the secrets of the metal library.

  Javier and his people had kept watch over the remaining Ares operatives in town, until a well-placed word to certain government officials had found them booted from the country. Permanently.

  The Shuar people had decided to pause their research and study of the metallic tablets within the Cathedral cavern for the foreseeable future. All activity in and around the Tayos Caves system was also being further restricted. Once the rumors died down and interest in the area became less intense, they hoped to resume their important work.

  * * *

  Back in town on their first night, Diego had invited Rick over for dinner, along with Sofia and Luis. He called it their first Torres-Braeden family dinner, with Rick now being considered a permanent part of their family. He referred to Rick as his “hijo extra” or bonus son. Rick loved it. He was also grateful not to be alone with his thoughts and memories of what they’d just endured and to have people with whom he could share his personal experience of the metal library with.

  That evening with the Torres family had left Rick reflecting on what he’d just been through. Twice now, he had gone into the jungle seeking a path to an extraordinary life. He’d sought life-changing experiences. He realized he had gotten both wishes, just not in the way he had hoped or envisioned. The jungle had held both untold terrors and incredible wonders. Things that had shocked, thrilled, and horrified him. He’d again peered beyond the veil and had lived to tell about it. His experience with the metal library had brought him to the brink of death, but in doing so had given him a peek into the very nature of existence and granted him a most extraordinary gift, one that he would cherish for the rest of his life.

  Another lingering gift from his recent experiences was that he now realized that as much as he’d struggled and suffered over the years, as much as he’d wished throughout his life that things could be different—a different choice or reaction, a different opportunity or outcome, a different relationship, a mistake avoided, a calamity dodged—he knew with every fiber of his being that he was exactly where he was meant to be. Not only for him, but for everyone in his life. Including Diego, Sofia, and Luis.

  He thought about how far he’d come in such a short period of time. At the outset, all he wanted was to be heralded for bringing a history-changing discovery out into the open. He wanted riches, to have his name in the history books, to be a person of renown. Now, after seeing how destructive Ares was, and how harmful their intent, what he wanted was to protect this secret for the benefit of those it belonged to, so they could shepherd their own futures, without outside interference. Even his.

  Instead of feeling empty and disappointed at not getting to walk away with a magnificent prize that reporters all over the globe would clamor to interview him about, he was feeling content, even accomplished in a way. He’d played a role in history, a very important part, just not one that would make headlines. And he’d come away with something far more enriching and meaningful; new friends, new loyalties, an extended family to belong to, and the knowledge that he had experienced the extraordinary.

  He thought of his father. Thanks, Dad, he thought, for helping me to understand and to see more clearly. I love you.

  Rick knew he was one lucky guy, in a lot of ways. He’d been given a priceless gift. Plus, not many people had faced down death like he had and got to keep drawing breath. Confronting these latest demons, both old ones and new ones, had given him more clarity. He was still startled and shaken by a lot of it, it was going to take a long time to process it, but unlike last time, he felt more confident about himself, not less. He suspected that also had a lot to do with the fact that this time, he’d shared the journey with people he cared about. They’d gone to the mat for each other. He hadn’t been alone. And he wasn’t alone now. That made all the difference in the world.

  Rick and the Torres family had made a pact. Diego had agreed to retire and just enjoy his life and not get into any more scrapes, so as not to worry Sofia and Luis any more than he already had. Rick, Sofia, and Luis would continue to explore ancient sites, gain knowledge and insight, but with the aim of helping to protect hidden treasures where needed and preserving the past. They would only bring discoveries to light with the permission and cooperation of the local people to whom the history belonged.

  Rick would do the research and Luis would help plan future expeditions, while Sofia would use her investigative skills and contacts to reach out to communities in need of help preserving their priceless treasures and history. They promised to send Diego postcards from wherever they ended up, and to come back for family dinners often.

  But first, they were all going to take time to decompress and process their experiences, and to get some much-needed rest.

  As much as Rick cherished the experience he’d been given in the metal library, it had also knocked the proverbial stuffing out of him. It had been a lot to take in. He knew Sofia, Luis, and Diego were feeling the same way. They’d talked about it for hours and hours every time they got together. Now was the time for reflection. Another day would be time for action...

  CHAPTER 24

  Three weeks later, Rick was home one evening when his door buzzer went off. He hadn’t been expecting anyone. He’d gone home after what was n
ow becoming a weekly dinner with the Torres family, and had only been home a little less than an hour.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me, Sofia.”

  He was surprised. Pleasantly surprised, but surprised none-the-less.

  “Come on up,” he answered as he buzzed her in.

  He quickly tidied up some dishes he hadn’t gotten to yet. He’d never been the best housekeeper.

  She knocked.

  Rick opened the door. “Well, hey there,” he said, “come on in.”

  “Gracias,” she said, giving him a friendly smile. She handed him a paper plate wrapped in tin foil. “Papa insisted I bring you leftovers from dinner tonight. He worries about you. The rest of us know how to cook.” She gave him a teasing wink.

  Rick laughed as he took the offering. “Guilty as charged. I live on takeout.”

  “We know,” she replied.

  “Thanks for bringing this,” he said, grateful for the extra home cooked meal.

  “De nada.”

  There was a moment of silence between them.

  Sofia crossed her arms.

  Rick put the dish in his fridge. He turned back and looked at Sofia. “I know you well enough to know that there’s something on your mind.”

  She let out a small laugh, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Yeah.”

  “Well, alrighty then,” he replied, curious about what was on her mind. “Have a seat,” he said, motioning to his sofa. “Would you like some coffee?”

  “Si, that would be bueno,” she replied. She took her jacket off, then set her bag down next to the sofa, and sat down.

  Rick put a pot of coffee on and then joined her in his living room. He plopped down on a chair next to the sofa.

  “So,” he said, his eyebrow raised, “since this unexpected visit isn’t just about kindly bringing me leftovers...”

  She smiled, shaking her head. “I wanted to talk to you about... recent events.”

  “Oh?”

  “I can’t stop thinking about what we experienced with the metal library. It was so, so...”

  “Profound?”