by Otto Schafer
Garrett and Lenny stood too, craning their necks to see who had come in.
“Ah, welcome,” Mr. B said. “Please, come to the mat, remove your shoes, and sit with us. We’re about to begin.” He motioned Pete, David, and Janis towards the mat as he turned back to the door.
Garrett observed Mr. B as he peered out, as if looking for someone else, and then motioned with a hand signal. He paused there briefly, perhaps even expectantly, but no one came and he closed the door.
Garrett and Lenny shared a sideways glance.
“What are you guys doing here?” Garrett asked, turning his attention to Pete.
Pete’s face was ashen. “I tried to catch you after school but missed you. Then I heard you were fighting Jack behind the arcade around five, so I thought I’d catch you there.”
Great, he had forgotten all about the fight with Jack. It was way after five, and he had failed to show. This was bad.
“I waited along with half the school,” Pete said. “But you guys didn’t show. Then the girl showed up looking for you and—” He paused, glancing nervously at Mr. B, who was seating himself cross-legged in the center of the room. He quickly stepped in close to Garrett, continuing in an urgent whisper. “Look, I transferred the rest of the journal – it’s unbelievable—”
“Wait. What girl?”
“Boys, please sit down,” Mr. B said. “We are almost ready to start.”
“You will have to tell me after,” Garrett said, still holding his ribs as he lowered himself onto the mat with a wince.
Pete’s eyebrows knitted tight as he looked at Garrett holding his ribs. His eyes rose to Garrett’s face and he frowned. Then he glanced around the dojo, taking in the back wall of broken mirrored panels and the flipped tables and busted concrete. “Christ, Garrett. What the hell happened here? Is this all from your test?” he asked in an urgent whisper.
“Tell you later.”
Another knock at the door, but this time softer – less sure.
“Ah, this should be everyone!” Mr. B said as he stood and hurried back to the door.
Garrett noticed two silhouettes step inside. His eyes went wide as he instantly recognized one of the silhouettes. “Breanne!” He jumped to his feet and ran over to her. She was with someone else, an older, muscular black man, maybe in his twenties. When he approached her, he hesitated only for a second before grabbing her and hugging her like a long-lost friend he hadn’t seen in years. But in fact, he had never seen her – not in person anyway.
Breanne hugged him back tightly, as if she had known him forever. “It’s you. It’s really you!”
Ignoring the pain from his ribs, he held her tight, not wanting the embrace to end. “Oh my God, you’re… you’re real! And you remember the dreams?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. Releasing her embrace, she let the canvas backpack drop from her shoulders. “That’s how I found you, but for the record, you could have given me a bit more to go on – a last name, an address, something.”
“Well, the world was sort of on fire,” Garrett said, smiling thinly.
Lenny looked from Breanne to Garrett, back to Breanne, then to the older guy, then back to Garrett again. “What the hell is going on around here?” he asked. His look was accusing, as if to say, You bastard! You’ve been keeping the biggest secret of your life from your best friend! “Do I even know you?” he asked, his face turning from shocked perplexity to betrayal.
Pete, Janis, and David looked at each other in shared confusion.
Breanne pointed to her muscular companion. “This is my brother, Paul.”
“Glad to finally meet you, Garrett,” Paul said with a tight smile and a sharp nod. He pulled off his own pack, stowing it next to his sister’s near the edge of the dojo. “It has been quite the journey trying to find you.”
“Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?” Lenny asked.
“Thank you all,” Mr. B said. “I know this is confusing, but please, everyone sit down, and I will try and clear up as many of your questions as I can.” Then he looked to Lenny and Garrett. “I know you do not understand why the test was so rigorous, but I assure you it was necessary.”
“Test? You call beating the crap out of us a test?” Garrett said.
Paul raised an eyebrow towards Mr. B.
“Yes,” he said, his expression calm, unreadable. “It was in fact a test. I had to help you find your focus, Garrett. I had to ensure you were ready. You are capable of so much you can’t even begin to understand.” Mr. B turned his head slowly, looking at each of them in turn as they fidgeted uncomfortably on the mat, gathered around him in a half circle. Sucking in a deep breath, he let out a long sigh and began. “I want you to imagine everything you ever heard about magic was actually true – well, true enough.”
“But it’s not – and that’s sort of ridiculous,” Pete said. “No disrespect, um, Master B.
“You can just call me Mr. B, Peter.”
“Okay, Mr. B. But come on, magic isn’t real.”
Mr. B smiled. “I am only asking you to imagine it is,” he said carefully. “Now imagine a time long ago when the magic that existed could also move through any creature or object that contained it, effectively altering anything – perhaps everything.”
“I don’t follow,” Lenny said.
“What, like wizards, fairies, and unicorns?” Garrett asked.
“Yes! Sort of like that,” he said, pointing a finger at Garrett. “Maybe not as your modern-day stories go, but yes. Imagine those many things of legend were in fact true. After all, legends start from something. Imagine walking trees, powerful mages, dragons, giants, elves, gnomes, even fairies. Other species you never heard of that do not exist today but that existed in the past.” Mr. B spread his arms wide.
“One word. Awesome!” David said.
Mr. B looked from one to the next as he spoke, giving everyone seated the feeling he was speaking directly to each of them. “These things are not mere myth but are indeed real. Many years ago, in fact thousands and thousands of years ago, magic did exist. It existed because of a very special set of stones. These stones went by many names. For example, when Plato wrote of Atlantis, he called them the Sound Eye. For our purposes, we will call them God Stones.”
Breanne gasped. “I have seen these stones! They are real. There are seven of them, and they have some kind of… of power. We found them and now they are…” She glanced at Paul, unsure.
Garrett caught the look. Whatever she was going to say, she stopped herself.
Everyone’s eyes widened as they turned to stare at her.
“I’ve seen them too,” Paul said, nodding seriously.
“Yes, I believe you have,” Mr. B said. “Even now their energy pulses powerfully through you, Breanne” – he shifted his eyes to Paul – “and you as well.” Then, addressing everyone, he said, “The stones’ energy will soon pulse powerfully inside all of you too.”
They all shifted uncomfortably, glancing at one another with questioning eyes. Except for David, who grinned widely.
Mr. B pressed his lips tight. “Listen carefully now. The freeing of the God Stones from deep within the earth will change the energy in everything – specifically, inside the brains of all of us, as well as those of earth’s animals that possess a gland called the pineal gland. You have heard of this gland?” he asked.
The group nodded simultaneously. Garrett understood the basic components of the brain from health class.
“Good,” Mr. B said. “Many cultures consider the pineal gland the third eye. What you need to know is that this gland can tap into the energy of the God Stones. A person with an awakened third eye can sense and even manipulate the energy around them, allowing them to become a powerful mage or warrior. A rare few even became oracles said to be capable of seeing the future. However, the God Stones’ energy does not give everyone magic ability – the vast majority will become nothing more than what they already are.”
“So, s
ome people don’t get any power from these stones?” David asked in what almost sounded to Garrett like disappointment.
Mr. B nodded. “The stones don’t affect everyone, and those who are affected are never affected the same way. Think of the gland as a muscle that must be exercised. Sometimes a muscle never used atrophies beyond repair. Especially as you get older. This is why I train your focus and your mind,” he said, looking to Garrett and Lenny. “Some humans won’t even survive their first exposure to the God Stones. Their pineal gland won’t be able to handle the exposure and will just burst, resulting in instant death. To my knowledge, no human has survived touching the stones with their bare skin. Do this and the pineal gland will explode, most certainly.”
Garrett hadn’t been able to take his eyes off Breanne since she arrived, and now he saw panic cross her face.
“When my dad opened the chest, he… he passed out. And he never woke up. Is… is that what happened to him? Oh my God, did his pineal gland burst?” Breanne asked shakily.
“Did he touch the stones?” Mr. B asked seriously.
“No. He never touched them – only the Ark,” Paul said. “He is alive, but he is in a coma in the hospital.”
Mr. B shook his head. “I don’t think his gland burst. The good news is he didn’t touch the stones and he didn’t die instantly. However, I’m afraid his gland may have been damaged, or at least overloaded. I just can’t say what this means for him – I am sorry, Breanne.”
Breanne looked away and pressed the collar of her shirt to her eyes.
Garrett wanted to say something to comfort her, but what could he say? He reached for her, putting his hand on her back lightly, unsure.
She turned towards him and buried her face in his dobok, wrapping her arms around him.
Garrett hugged her back.
She pulled back, as if remembering suddenly he was a stranger, and smiled weakly. “Thanks.”
“Now, the God Stones affect other living things besides humans and animals.”
Pete spoke up. “But trees don’t have pineal glands – or brains, for that matter.”
“Being affected by their power and being able to manipulate their power are two different things, Peter,” he said. “Take your example of trees, for instance. Trees don’t have physical brains in the sense that you or I do, but they are alive and they feel – make no mistake about it, they feel. Their life force may be different but they, like all living things, will change as the energy of the God Stones begins to flow through them. To what degree change occurs is anyone’s guess. The easiest way to effect or manipulate the power of the God Stones is to command it with the language of the gods. The first language. Understand?”
Garrett’s brow knitted together, trying to process what the hell he was hearing.
Mr. B paused. “That’s a two-thousand-foot view of what they are, but you might be wondering how they came to be here.”
Garrett looked around and noticed that while Pete and Janis looked skeptical, and Lenny and the others shrugged or gave half nods, Breanne leaned in with intensity.
“A long time ago, some thirteen thousand years, eight beings came through a portal to this planet. The portal was a violent thing that tore open the fabric of space and caused a great cataclysmic event that nearly destroyed our planet. But humans are survivors by nature and though many died, an equal number endured. The God Stones were the key to opening this portal and the catalyst for our near extinction.
“The result was a mini ice age that funneled humans into the Middle East. The ones who brought the God Stones to earth sought out the densest population, presented themselves as gods, and began sharing their knowledge of language, astrology, math, and agriculture. From this the five cities were born. These beings are responsible for our transitioning from hunter gatherers into an agriculture-based society.” Mr. B said.
“Are you saying these beings were responsible for the Neolithic Revolution? And that these cities, they were all located in the Fertile Crescent?” Breanne asked.
Garrett traded a confused glance with Lenny, then they both looked to Pete.
“It’s a stretch of land that runs along Mediterranean Sea with several countries bordering it. It’s where the first societies sprang from,” Pete said.
Mr. B waved a dismissive hand. “Indeed, but what’s important to know is that they didn’t teach us for our benefit. They did it for themselves. All along they only cared about what they wanted.”
“And what was it they wanted?” Paul asked.
“An army.” Mr. B’s forehead furrowed as he said the word. “They thought by bringing dragons here from their world, they could control them and breed them. And worse, they wanted to breed with us to create something else – super soldiers for their army. They needed us to be intelligent enough to work together. It was all part of a sick plan to create an army in secret that they could then take home, to their world, and use to overthrow the ruling powers there.”
“Wait,” Lenny interrupted, “I have sat here with my mouth shut listening to this, Mr. B, but I can’t… I just can’t sit here any longer in silence.” He turned to Garrett and then the others. “Are you hearing this?” He didn’t wait for a response. “I’m sorry, Mr. B, but you want us to believe there is, or was, or whatever, magic that aliens brought here? Let me say that part again. Magic aliens! Oh, and let’s not forget dragons! And magic… creatures! I don’t get it.” He threw his hands up. “I don’t get it, and I don’t know what you are trying to pull. But I know you’re a Keeper of the Light – you said so yourself.”
That comment drew a look from Pete. “He’s a Keeper of the Light?”
Lenny rose to leave. “We have a journal that Abraham Lincoln wrote basically saying he didn’t trust your kind. I don’t know why you think telling us this crazy story is somehow going to justify you kicking the crap out us?”
“Sit, Lenny,” Mr. B said.
“I trusted you, Mr. B, and you told me I failed!” Lenny said, hurt saturating his voice. “You told me I was no longer welcome here. Now you tell me this… this crap.” He looked to Garrett. “Let’s go, man. I’ve heard enough.”
Garrett looked at Breanne, then to Mr. B, and finally back to Lenny. He couldn’t leave. Not now. There was too much he didn’t know, too much he had to know. “Wait, Lenny, just a minute more.” Garrett knew it wasn’t the story that made Lenny want to walk away. It was the betrayal. He felt it, too, but Lenny hadn’t seen what he had – hadn’t felt what he felt. He had to stay.
Lenny shot Garrett a look of disbelief. He paused. Everyone stared at him. He looked to David, then Pete.
Pete shrugged. “I’m not leaving until this guy explains everything, especially the part about the Keepers of the Light!”
Breanne looked at Lenny. “Please stay – this is really important. My dad… his life depends on this.”
“Lenny, please, man, something is going on. I… I don’t know why, but we have to hear this,” Garrett pleaded.
Lenny shook his head and settled back onto the mat. “Fine, I’ll stay, for now,” he said with a sigh.
“Lenny,” Mr. B said, shaking out his hands nervously, “this wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t how I planned it, but things moved quicker than even I expected.” He looked around the circle, pausing to catch Pete’s eye. “I know this is hard for some of you to believe.”
Heads nodded and a small chatter broke out.
Mr. B said something, but Garrett didn’t hear him over the sudden talking. Then Mr. B closed his eyes.
Was Mr. B… meditating? Garrett recognized the technique as Mr. B chanted a soft mantra under his breath. Then he saw something impossible. Very slowly, very evenly, the large body of Mr. B began to lift, featherlight, off the mat, as if he were a flower petal gently elevated by a sudden breeze.
Janis gasped and pointed, drawing all their attention. The group silenced and stared, jaws slack.
Garrett gaped as Mr. B opened his eyes, hovering in a spot several feet
above. The master was still seated cross-legged, with the backs of his hands resting gently on his knees.
Seemingly satisfied he had their attention, he continued, “The old ones, who brought the God Stones here, were ultimately defeated.” He paused and this time no one interrupted. “After that, it was decided that because of the unnatural effects the God Stones have on the world, they were to be sealed inside a lead chest crowned with gold and hidden deep in the earth. With the stones sealed away, their effect on the world faded.”
Garrett watched, bewildered but amused, as Pete bent down and then leaned back, peering below and above the floating man, looking for some logic to explain what he was seeing.
“You won’t find that I am using tricks, Peter.” Mr. B began to move in a circle around them. His body moved up and down slightly as if he were riding an invisible magic carpet or cloud.
No one took their eyes off of him, and no one spoke.
Finding nothing obvious to explain the levitation, Pete retrieved his jaw from the floor, closed his mouth, and gulped.
“Okay,” Garrett said, speaking softly, as if afraid of interrupting the impossibility he was witnessing, “if what you have told us is true, what does any of this have to do with Breanne, with focus, with the Keepers of the Light, with all the weird stuff going on around here?” His voice rose with each question as he struggled to contain his emotion. “Dammit, Mr. B! What does any of this have to do with me?”
Mr. B settled gently down to the floor. He smiled weakly at Garrett, as if he were a doctor about to share bad news about a family member.
“Oh, my dear boy. I’m sorry to say it has everything to do with you.”
42
The Past
Wednesday, April 6th, 5:55 p.m.
Day One
Petersburg, Illinois
The decades-old building housing the dojo drew a draft from its many cracks and crevices. Outside, a cool April wind blew swirls of leaves mixed with cigarette butts and gum wrappers into a miniature cyclone. It was the wrong time of year for a dust devil, but nevertheless it spun and raced across the nearly vacant parking lot, swirling around Bre and Paul’s rental car, before dissipating into the wall of a nearby storefront. There, as if out of nowhere, a figure appeared.
