by S. E. Meyer
“Good morning John!” said Frank from the corner of the room near the front door. He was standing next to James with a large glass in his hand. “Are you guys hungry?” has asked as John and Jenny walked towards them.
“Can you believe this place John?” asked James. He pointed at the window. “I mean look at the view, and this food is amazing!”
John and Jenny each filled a plate with food and sat down on one of the soft couches nearby. “Where is everyone else?” John asked through a mouthful.
“I haven’t seen Ninti yet this morning, but Barb and Aurora are just getting dressed,” replied James. As he spoke, Nathaniel entered the room with bewilderment in his eyes and a smile on his face. He filled a plate and sat across from John and Jenny.
“It seems so surreal, doesn’t it Father?” John asked the priest.
“Yes, almost heavenly,” he replied with a twinkle in his eye.
“Do you think that’s what this place is?” asked Jenny and then took a long drink from her glass.
“I don’t know. Seems to fit doesn’t it?” Nathaniel asked, picking up a large apple and taking a bite.
John gave him an inquisitive look. “I guess I never though of it that way-”
John was interrupted by a loud knock on the door, followed by hearty laughter. James opened it and Lucas, Hosea and Dennis walked in. All of them were smiling from ear to ear.
“Holy shit!” exclaimed John, jumping off the couch and dropping his plate of fruit. “How the hell did you guys get here?” he asked.
“Its good to see you again my friend,” Frank said to Hosea, shaking his hand.
“What the hell happened to you guys?” asked Lucas. “They sent a team back underground at the excavation site to find you and you were gone. Then all hell broke loose and we ended up at the South Pole Observatory!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, I remember seeing you there right before Jenny got shot,” replied John.
Lucas turned to look at Jenny. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.” Lucas turned back around to face John and Frank. “We obviously have a lot of catching up to do. But first, to answer John’s question as to how we got here. It’s a bit of a story. We intercepted a message coming from this place.” Lucas recited the poem for everyone in the room. He had read it so many times that it was committed to memory. “As you can see it was kind of cryptic, but we figured it out together and managed to hitch a ride just in time. Isn’t this planet great?” he asked. “We got here early yesterday and have been exploring ever since.”
Introductions were given all around while Lucas and Hosea sat down next to Nathaniel. They got caught up on what happened after their separation in Iraq over several more plates of food. Barb and Aurora joined them, along with Brandon, from the row of bedrooms on the opposite end of the room.
“So Braedon is dead?” Lucas asked, letting out a whistle. “Wow, it sounds like you guys have been through a lot since we last saw you,” said Lucas. “I still can’t believe we all made it here.” There was a long pause before Lucas turned to face Nathaniel. “So a priest. Hmm, you may be able to shed some light on a few of my ideas,” said Lucas while Dennis took another plate and piled it high.
“This food is just incredible. Have you guys tried the soft, round, purple pear-looking one yet?” asked Dennis.
“Um, no,” replied John. He squinted in thought for a moment.
“Well I highly recommend it, melts in your mouth,” Dennis added, talking with his mouth full, then wiped his chin with his sleeve.
“What do you mean by a few of your ideas? And what exactly are we doing here?” John asked. “I mean, what the hell happened?”
“John, I believe we just experienced what almost every religion on Earth has been waiting thousands of years for, the return of our savior,” replied Lucas.
“What? How do you figure?” asked Frank with a wrinkled brow.
“Well I have to go back to when all of this started,” Lucas replied. “I kept running into references about God’s Son or the Son of God. I was also confused by the reference in the message we deciphered. The line that says ‘The son shall die on the cross for all to see’.”
“That could only be a reference to Jesus,” replied Nathaniel.
Lucas smiled. “That’s what one would think, and it’s also what Hosea said, but I’m pretty sure I have it figured out now. I did some research before we left the South Pole Observatory. I looked up some references to the constellations and where the Annunaki sun would have been in relation to them, before the eclipse started. There’s a constellation called the Cross. It’s more widely known as the Southern Cross. What I found is that the Annunaki’s sun was directly in front of the Southern Cross right before the three-day eclipse started, as viewed from Earth,” explained Lucas. “I believe the message is talking about their sun, that sun,” he explained, pointing out the window next to them. ”As in s-u-n, not s-o-n. Their sun died on the cross when the eclipse started and it fell into darkness.”
“You lost me,” John blurted.
“Hang on, I’ll put it all together for you,” replied Lucas, holding up his index finger. “So, our ancient ancestors referred to the Annunaki as Gods, correct? The very name Annunaki means ‘Gods that came to Earth’. With me so far?”
“Yes, I got that part,” replied John.
“Okay, so I’m going to infer that if they called the Annunaki people, Gods, then I would guess that our ancestors would refer to their sun as, God’s sun, or the sun of the Gods. Still with me?”
“I think so,” replied Frank, holding an expression of deep thought while John nodded.
“Okay, we know that just before their alien sun ‘died’, or was hidden in the eclipse for three days, it was located in the constellation of the Southern Cross. All we have to do is change one little letter from ‘o’ to ‘u’ and it becomes ‘The sun of the Gods died on the Cross’.” Lucas smiled broadly at his revelation, but only received blank stares from everyone in the room.
“I still think you’re reaching a bit,” Frank replied. “The Bible says the Son of God, singular, died on the cross. You keep saying Gods, plural. Why are you so convinced of the connection between the two?” he asked.
“Because Frank, you know as well as I do, the Bible, in its original Aramaic, often used the plural for God, as in Gods.” Lucas paused a moment before continuing. “Oh come on, don’t you see?” Lucas threw his hands in the air. “This is another one of those stories in the ancient texts that has been taken literally, instead of symbolically. The true meaning was simply lost in translation.” Lucas let out a breath in frustration. “Let me try this a different way. Knowing what you know now, with what I’ve just explained, try going back and think about the story of Jesus again. I’ll help you out here. In the old texts it says that the ‘Son of God’ died on the ‘Cross’, right? Then he descended into the depths of the Earth.”
Nathaniel wrinkled his brow in disagreement. “The Bible says the Son of God descended into hell,” he argued.
“No Father, the actual translation in Aramaic is that the Son of God descended into the Earth,” replied Lucas. “Those words were then later interpreted, or maybe misinterpreted, to mean hell. Descended into the Earth,” Lucas slowly repeated. “So picture what the sun appears to be doing at sunset? Think about what it looks like as it’s dropping below the horizon. One could say it was descending into the Earth right? That’s what it looks like it’s doing.” Lucas paused a moment.
“Okay, but you keep using past tense. Christ died on the cross a long time ago. How can you say what happened thousands of years ago has anything at all to do with what just happened now?” asked Nathaniel.
“That’s what makes it fit together so perfectly,” replied Lucas.
“How so?” John asked.
“Because this is not the first time the Annunaki’s solar system has visited ours,” explained Lucas. “What’s to say that what just happened to us, didn’t happen the exact same way the last time they
were here? Now do you see where I’m going with this? On their last visit, the ‘sun’ of God died on the cross, descended into the Earth, rose again three days later and ascended through the clouds, into the heavens. Exactly the way it was written, right?” Lucas asked.
“Ah, okay I see what you’re saying now,” replied Hosea.
“But why would it be happening again?” Nathaniel questioned, raising an eyebrow.
Lucas turned to face the priest. “You’re forgetting a very important piece of the puzzle here, Father. It was said that the Son of God would return to save the world right? That he would come back. That he would descend through the clouds for all to see. It was said that all of Earth’s inhabitants would see His arrival in the sky. Now if the texts are truly referring to a man, Jesus. How would everyone in the world be able to see him? However, if we look at this from a different perspective, we can see how this could be plausible. Everyone saw the Annunaki sun, right? Lucas held Nathaniel in an intense gaze. “Nathaniel, it all fits so perfectly together that it just can’t be coincidence. The Sumerians were right. They wrote about this. We should have known that after proving they were right about so many things, they wouldn’t be wrong about this. A very long time ago when the Annunaki last visited our solar system, the ‘sun’ died on the cross. It descended into the Earth. On the third day it rose again from the dead and then it ascended through the clouds, into the heavens to sit at the right hand of God. Is that not almost word for word, several lines from the Apostles Creed?” Lucas paused again, allowing the information to sink in. “And as promised, the ‘sun’ of God has returned, and everyone did see its arrival in the sky.” Lucas lowered his voice before continuing. “And along with it came our savior, the Annunaki,” he whispered. The room was quiet for several minutes as everyone reflected on Lucas’s explanation.
“But how is that possible?” asked Nathaniel. “It goes against everything I have ever read or learned about Christianity.”
“Does it Father?” asked Lucas. “With what I’ve just explained, I think you’ll find that these ideas go along very well with what you have read and learned. I mean think about it. I just pointed out the Apostles Creed, but what about the other words and phrases you say to your congregation during communion or on Easter Sunday? And the Bible is packed with references to the sun. I can give you a few examples of biblical quotes off the top of my head. ‘The Sun of God said, I am the light of the world; every man who follows me shall not walk in darkness.’ Or ‘I am the light of the world that every eye shall see. And ‘I am the sun of God, the bright and morning star.’ And what do you say to your congregants after every mass or worship service before they leave? Don’t you say ‘May the ‘sun’ of God bless you and keep you, may his face shine down upon you’?” Lucas turned towards the orange rays coming through the window. He waited there a moment, feeling the warm sunshine on his face before returning his gaze to Nathaniel. Lucas smiled. “It all comes back to the sun. He is risen!”
The epiphany struck Frank, making perfect sense to him. He stood up, walked to the window, and looked up at the bright orange sun. “It’s like we’ve known this was going to happen all along, we just didn’t see it,” he said. “We didn’t understand it. We thought the texts were referring to a man, when they actually meant the sun. And it’s not just written in the Bible. Billions of people from over thirty-five religions have been waiting for a savior God to return to Earth from the heavens. For example, the Jews, Christians and Muslims have all been waiting for the return of the Messiah to descend from the sky, just to name a few. It would seem our savior has returned, just that nobody realized we were all waiting for the same Messiah, the Annunaki.” Frank paused for a quiet moment in thought before continuing. “Even the Koran refers to the sun in the Verse of Light. It says ‘Allah is the light of the heavens and the Earth. His light, like a lamp inside a glass, shines like a brilliant, glittering star.’ Frank paused to take a breath. “This is truly an incredible revelation. I can’t believe what was written is actually true. We saw it happen right in front of us. We experienced it for ourselves.” Frank paused again as he turned to face everyone. “Just not in the way we were led to believe it would happen.”
The door swung open and Ninti entered the room with her arms full of packages. Everyone smelled the wonderful aroma of fresh baked bread. “Oh good, you are all awake and out of your beds,” she said with a smile as she stacked the loaves onto the table next to the dwindling pile of fruit.
“Ninti, where have you been?” John asked as he glanced at the loaves with a look of apprehension.
“Oh don’t worry John. These aren’t like those loaves of bread,” Ninti replied, and then broke one of the loaves in half, handing them to John and Jenny. “I have spent the last several hours learning about this place and how everything works here. You’re going to want to get a good breakfast John. You too Jenny, Enlil is coming,” she explained excitedly.
“Enlil? Who is that?” John asked.
“He is the ruler of this place. He’s traveling here to the northern parts of Eridu from the equator; where it is unbearably hot, to visit with us. He thought it would be more comfortable since it is so much cooler up here.”
“He wants to meet with everyone?” asked Lucas.
“No, he can’t meet with everyone. There have been millions of new arrivals on this planet over the last few months; he couldn’t possibly meet with everyone personally. But he does want to meet with all of us. You see, he heard about what we did on Earth, how you all played a part in saving our planet, and theirs,” she explained. “He brought back some Annunaki survivors from Earth, who confessed to everything. Hurry now and finish eating. We need to go down to the Grand Pavilion by the river in half an hour.”
Everyone had eaten their fill, but couldn’t resist the smell of the fresh bread. They tore into several loaves before heading out into the bright orange sunshine. John and Jenny both breathed in deeply. The air felt great in their lungs. It tasted good, filling their senses. They could feel energy everywhere around them as they made their way along the street. They felt the wonder of being a child again as they gazed at flora and fauna they had never seen before under a warm, radiant sun. It felt great to bask in its deep orange rays and absorb its energy as they walked.
Aurora skipped around them, occasionally stopping to smell flowers and then running up behind them to catch up.
Ninti led them through the streets and down into the valley, passing dozens of smiling faces as they went. As they reached the river Jenny noticed John’s body language.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
“Just a little nervous that’s all. If what Braedon said is true and Enlil is his father, then we’re responsible for killing his sons. I’m just not sure how happy he’s going to be about that,” explained John.
They reached the Great Pavilion just as a procession was nearing the river from the opposite direction. John could hear music as rows of people began to file into the pavilion next to where they were standing. Within a few minutes John caught a glimpse of a tall, elderly looking, Annunaki man. He was dressed in white robes and was walking at the center of the procession. He had a look of power and John knew that this must be Enlil. There was a woman walking along next to him and as they got closer, John could see they were both smiling. Enlil moved to the front of the pavilion and sat down in one of two large chairs that were carried over by servants, while the woman that was with him sat in the chair on his left. John studied the Annunaki leader’s face. It seemed to glimmer with an aura that emanated love and peace. He had a light olive complexion that radiated age and wisdom. He was somewhat rounded in the mid-section with a long flowing, powdery white beard. The silky facial hair curled and twisted from his chest up to his crisp, sparkling blue eyes that sat just above his bulging cheeks.
“Look Mommy!” Aurora said, pointing in Enlil’s direction. “It’s Santa Claus!” Barb turned the color of Kris Kringle’s suit from the embarrassment of her da
ughter’s words.
Enlil heard the comment and let out a loud chuckle, his belly shaking as he laughed. He waved John and the group closer. “Come, come. There’s no need to be afraid,” he said. Enlil’s soft, gentle words, rolled from his tongue quietly and eloquently, in a smooth calm manner. “I am Enlil and this is my wife Ninlil. Welcome to our home,” he said and spread his arms wide. “I am sure you have many questions.” Everyone remained silent, watching the Annunaki ruler with wonder and amazement. “Come now, I know you have questions. I can feel them burning a hole in my head.” Enlil smiled broadly. “John, let’s start with you. Is there anything you would like to ask of me?”
John froze, not knowing what to say. “I-I guess I should start by saying thank you,” he stammered. “You saved us. Not just us, but millions of our kind, and you have so generously put us up in beautiful houses, feeding us. Thank you Enlil sir.”
“You are welcome. Are you surprised John? It was written in your old texts ‘In the Lord’s house there are many mansions.’ I go to prepare a place for you,” Enlil replied.
“So this-this is Heaven?” asked John
Enlil smiled again, making his eyes squint as they sparkled. “No John, this is not Heaven. But I can understand how, or why, you might believe it to be so. No, this place is not so different from your planet. Another rock, spinning through space and time around this great universe.”
“I don’t understand,” replied John. “Then-”
“Then where is Heaven?” interrupted Jenny with a sudden feeling of courage.
“Heaven is not so much a place, young daughter, as it is all places.”
“That’s where we go when we die? To all places?” John asked with an eyebrow raised.
