Story [Issue 3] Secret of The Lost Temple

[chriswu 25]

Long, long ago, before there were tanks, or buildings or civilization itself, a small group of nomads wandered a desolate landscape. This primitive people group hunted animals and tilled the soil to grow crops. Life was hard, as a devastating drought had parched the landscape, and neither flora or fauna was easily gathered. Disheartened and thirsty, the wretched creatures continually trudged on the barren, cracked earth. A flat, dusty plain stretched for as far as the eye could see merging with the pale-blue sky on the horizon.

A relentless sun beat down upon the swaying, hapless figures. Hope of finding water and food dwindled as the old and sick had fallen and crumpled in the dust.

However, just as the desperate nomads were on the verge of getting crushed in the vise grip of misfortune, a small, indefinable patch of green appeared on the horizon. Overcome with joy, the wanderers let out hoarse cries as they rushed towards their distant destination. As they progressed, the patch of green took form. They beheld a mountainous dune, covered with lush vegetation nourished by glistening water spouting from a well at its peak. When they finally reached the oasis, the savages blissfully splashed in the water and drank deeply. Overcome by thankfulness to whatever cosmic fate had brought them to this serendipitous place, they worshipped their primitive, false gods, building an altar of stones at the mouth of the well. With their dumb, primordial minds, the ancients settled in the area, building shelters and laying the foundations of civilization.

Aeons went by. The lackluster shelters became tents, then clay houses. Eventually as the pool of man’s intelligence began to overflow, houses, factories and buildings replaced the castles and tents of old. Yet through it all, a haunting remnant of primeval civilization remained: the life giving well in which long gone beings had practiced their obscure ways and worshipped their gods; the whole reason for the surrounding landscapes’ industrial, residential and urban attributes. Through the ages, a great temple had been built and rebuilt around the well, proclaiming it as an object of civic pride, as well as a sacred place.

However, as people became more intelligent and empirical in their observations of the world, cynicism and doubt followed. People began to disregard the archaic temple built about the well. As the Earth shifted, the well ran dry, and the ages old object of worship, which had been the savior to those ancient nomads long, long ago, was lost. The memory of the temple was forgotten, until the awakening of some spirit that had laid dormant since the dawn of the world. Resultant of this awakening, an object of great power was be discovered: the secret of the Lost Temple.

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Ralph stared blankly through the rescue plane's small porthole. Before the incident, life had been quite happy in his quiet, sleepy town. Lost in a mirage of mundane, repetitive routines, Ralph had become so accustomed to the cycle of rising, going to school, cleaning glassware in his father's lab, then going home to play with his friends, that he never, ever thought in the darkest corners of his mind that something terrible was slowly encroaching upon his town.
Then the rumblings began. Initially slight tremors, an hour later the quakes increased until the earth shook the foundations of all the structures in Ralph’s little beloved town, pitilessly razing all the towering sources of society’s livelihood to the ground.

The night of the major destruction, Ralph watched intently as huge chunks of concrete and stone hurdled precariously near to his family’s abode. Shockwaves from colossal impacts shattered windows, and the trembling earth filled the air with ceaseless thunder. Yet the cause of this natural disaster was reported unknown, nor was the phenomenon foreseen. Whatever it was, the cause of this disaster was just as mysterious as the quakes were destructive.
Instructed by town officials to flee from standing structures into open areas, Ralph fled with the rest of the town’s civilians to nearby hills surrounding the settlement, and there spent the night.

As dawn finally came, and the first fingers of light pierced the sky, Ralph was met with a terrible sight. Amid dense clouds of gray dust, nothing remained of his once thriving town but scattered heaps of rubble. Sorrowful wails permeated the stuffy air, and Ralph joined the lament. Ralph wept in spite for the terrible reality, and of the end of his blissful childhood. As he boarded one of the many rescue planes dotting the landscape, he silently swore to himself that he would return one day, and see things right again.

Time flew by after the incident. Ralph started a new life, and grew into a man. The traumatic destruction of his old home became nothing more than a fleeting memory from the past. Following in his father's footsteps, he became a physicist, and quite a successful one, at that. Specializing in the study of new forms of energy, Ralph published numerous articles on quantum mechanics, theoretical conjectures on temporal distortions, and other topics which seemed to belong only in the most fanciful science fiction. Engrossed in his work; a breakthrough seemingly just around the corner, Ralph patented a machine which, through very sophisticated mechanisms, detected residual effects of massive energy transfers. In other words, his device detected the locations of titanic sources of energy. If Ralph succeeded, he had the potential to solve the whole world's energy crisis, and ride the crest of the planet's next wave of technological advancement!

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It was the big day. Ralph and his enthusiastic band of scientists powered up that which they had poured the last five years of their lives into. A low hum followed by a short series of whirs indicated the machine was ready for its task. Having meticulously tested each component innumerable times, Ralph had become so familiar with the machine that he could tell exactly which calculations or scans the device was internalizing by simply listening to its working micro-mechanics.

The machine was basically a large satellite dish about 30 feet in diameter, connected to a large control unit, bristling with the newest technology, and glowing an iridescent blue.

The scanning programs engaged, the receiver dish panned and tilted this way and that, while the monitor Ralph and his team viewed flashed with a frenetic influx of data. Ordered by energy potential, sets of coordinates from all over the planet streamed in. Among the top of the list were the locations of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, and other places of nuclear disaster. However, there was also a hauntingly familiar pair of coordinates, though Ralph couldn't grasp where he had seen them from. Then he remembered. He had seen them long, long ago in a brief lesson on cartography. Ralph froze. Memories from many years back, buried in his psyche came flooding back in an unstoppable hurricane. Startled, alarmed, yet suddenly aware, the hairs on the back of Ralph's neck stood straight. The coordinates were those of his childhood home, destroyed by an unknown anomaly! Something phenomenal happened that day, long ago. Something like never before, and Ralph finally had a clue to the answer. Ignorant of what was waiting for him at the site of his old town, Ralph and his team packed their bags and proceeded to the coordinates.

~End of Part I

Edited July 31, 2017 by Hexed

[hogree 4,179]

This is legendary chris - literally :mrgreen: It has lots of potential, a very good leading-up chapter, with loads of original ideas, and I really would like to see the next episode.

[chriswu 25]

Thanks hogree. :-)

[r_galiant0 33]

Very original.

Good job !

[Goldeneagle 9]

Again AWESUM.

[r_chaimk0 1]

great story!

[chriswu 25]

thnx

[raptoraatank 0]

cool n awwwsomme....

[chriswu 25]

I've got a basic outline planned out for the next part. Who can guess what the secret will be? :P

[r_chaimk0 1]

maybe the secret is that there is a lot of crystals buried there?

[josephbuckley1 0]

:twisted: nothing to say nothing to think but still quite impressed

[chriswu 25]

phail :lol:

[SuperNick95 5,312]

Are those articles supposed to be novels? :mrgreen:

[chriswu 25]

That would beg the question: "Are those articles supposed to be actually good compositions?"

[r_chaimk0 1]

give me a hint then :)

[jvpski3 0]

Great "Part I"! :)

[Vysniuz 8]

the secret civilization...

[lylkkm12 0]

хуй

[jazz20 1,181]

Nice :)