Progenies Island

South Pacific Ocean, near the international date line.

"Are we rolling, honey?"

"When the red light comes on, dear. That's what I tell you every time."

"Now?"

The red recording light of the video camera blinked on.

"Now. And… action!"

"Hello, explorers! This is Nigel Thornberry, bringing you another exciting episode of Nigel Thornberry's nature planet, and you are all in for a treat today! Today, I am on Progenies Island, a remote tropical island in the South Pacific which, until a few years ago, was untouched by the outside world since the Ice Age. However, within the last fifty years, a tourism boom on nearby Milneas Island has created great interest in this area. About ten years ago, Progenies Island was only known for its indigenous people, a civilization that has lived autonomously from the rest of the world for millennia. Then, just last year, it was discovered that ruins, artifacts, and cities of a long, lost civilization have been nestled on this island, unhampered by human contact. Upon closer examination, local tribal legend has it that fourteen thousand years ago, an extremely powerful and intelligent civilization ruled most of this area, which is amazing considering the first known civilizations in the world arose in the Middle East about 10,000 B.C. Thankfully, the value and knowledge that might be gained through a discovery such as this was not lost on the world. The island has been secured by the Japanese Navy, and only the official United Nations research team and guests are allowed on the island. The research team is led by world-renowned archaeologist and curator of the Antiquities museum of the University of California-Berkeley, Dr. Issac Acari. With him is the local expert on South-East Asian Antiquities, a PhD from Boston College, and a member of the Smithsonian Society board of Directors, Dr. Aus Poponopolis. I bet you all can't wait to meet them! Now, if we head over here…"

"Heads up!" came a voice from off-camera.

Nigel quickly looked to his right and started waving his arms. "Wha?"

Another voice came in over the sound-recorder, this one from behind the camera. This voice was older, and had a motherly tone to it.

"Donnie, no! Don't jump into the shot!"

With a bunch of unintelligible gibberish, a young boy with wild brown hair and a leopard skin loincloth leaped into the shot, grabbing a frisbee in mid-air, while simultaneously knocking Nigel to the ground.

More voices –

"Donnie!"

"That was so Eliza's fault!"

"What! You were part of the game too, Debbie!"

"OO OO ai ai ai oo!"

"CUT!"

Marianne Thornberry turned off her camera and placed it on the ground to sort through another family mess. Five months on the road in Southeast Asia was tough enough. Having to convince the Japanese Navy to let them on Progenies was even more of a pain. And now that they were on the island, all the restrictions and quarantines dictating where and when the Thornberry clan could go, really put a damper on their fun, especially young Eliza, who couldn't go exploring through the jungle. They had been forced to stay near the camper for about a week, while Nigel bartered with the authorities about what he could and couldn't film.

Everyone was getting sick of being jammed together, none more so than Marianne, who was peeved that most of the film she shot had been taken away for "classified" reasons. All she had was film of Nigel standing on the beach and the few shots they could get of the natives without placing the excavation site in the background.

"Eliza, Debbie! I want you both to stay as far away from me and your father while we're filming!"

"But Mom," Eliza started pouting, "there's nowhere else to go!"

"I don't care!" Marianne looked like she was about to pull the hair off her head. "Just go anywhere but here!"

"Come on Darwin." She whispered to her simian friend, Darwin the chimpanzee. She grabbed Donnie's hand and walked towards the outer edge of the excavation site that they were allowed in.

The Thornberry's were considered by some to be nature's first family. They traveled around the world in a camper, exploring the natural world. Nigel's prime occupation is hosting his own nature show, which his wife, Marianne, films. His oldest daughter Debbie was a teen queen with no interest whatsoever in nature, except for hot boys. Her sister Eliza was an intelligent girl, whose prime interests included exploring and animals, not the least of which because she had been given the power to speak to and understand them by a witch doctor years ago. Darwin was her best friend in the world, a chimp who the family had stumbled across at about the same time Eliza gained her powers. Finally, there was Donnie, a wild child who had grown up Tarzan-like in the jungle. One day he just kind of dropped in on the family, and he'd been there ever since.

"This stinks, Darwin. 'Don't go into the jungle, Eliza. Stay away from the dig site, Eliza. Don't talk to any of the soldiers, Eliza.' This place is a dig site, not a military base.

"The natives aren't very hospitable, either." Despite being a chimp, Darwin acted more like a pompous royal than a wild animal.

Eliza watched some of the natives working on the dig site. Suspicious and camera-shy, the natives left a bad taste in her mouth. They kept mostly to themselves, coming in as the sun rose, working quietly on the excavation site, then returning to the jungle once the sun started to set. They weren't Asian, which wasn't too strange, but they didn't resemble any other race in the world. Their bodies were burnt a golden brown from generations living on a tropical island, yet they had blond hair. Even stranger, they tattooed themselves with blue markings and the women dyed their hair blue. Despite being separated from the rest of the world for who knows how long, they had some grasp on both English and Japanese, which made their situation even more mysterious.

One of the archaeologists working on a nearby monument, stood up, walked past the sentries stationed around the dig, and out of the quarantine zone towards the large water tank to get a drink. Eliza recognized him as Dr. Poponopolis.

"Dr. Poponopolis!" The kind doctor turned to wave at Eliza. Eliza ran up to him.

"Hello Eliza. How are you doing today?" Dr. Aus Poponopolis was one of the few people associated with the dig who actually talked to Eliza about what went on at the dig. He was American by birth, Arabian by family, a fourth generation Iraqi-American, and the nicest associate Eliza thought her Dad had ever had.

"I'm bored. Can't you let us into one of the tombs just for a few minutes? I swear we won't cause any trouble."

The good doctor chuckled. "Sorry Eliza, but it's not up to me. There's a lot of history here, some of which may tell us more about ourselves and where we came from."

"But why all the soldiers?" Patrolling the dig site were UN soldiers.

"They are just here to preserve the artifacts. There are a lot of people in the world who would misuse these treasures or sell them for gain. I don't think at all that you're like them, but for the sake of argument, I can't take you into the dig. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Yes, I do." Eliza said, defeated.

The doctor felt sorry for the girl, when an idea popped through his head.

"Ah, there is something I can show you Eliza. Come this way."

They walked through a grove of mango trees to another clearing on the outside of the dig. Here, the workers had set up tents for getting out of the sun during the hot midday. In the center of the grove was a statue of a woman, wearing regal dresses and a crown. She had a powerful look on her face, as if the world itself was hers to do what she wished.

"Wow. She's beautiful. Who is she?" asked Eliza.

"Proof that beauty is only skin deep, Eliza. From what I've learned, she was once a queen of the civilization that existed in the Ice Age. She was very powerful, but also very greedy. She sought to gain enormous power, whatever the ancients considered power back then. Whatever she did, it was the cause of that civilization to collapse. The natives here worship her but revile her at the same time. It's strange… their beliefs are like a split-personality. However, we can't decipher the glyphs on the bottom of the statue. That's why we're searching the tombs – to see if we can find this island's version of the Rosetta stone. If we can find a way to translate them, we might find out what the ancients thought of her. "

They both stared at the statue for a few moments. Eliza could have sworn the look on the queen's face changed from smile to a sneer.

"Can we look around?" she finally asked.

"Sure, and if you're hungry, the mess tent is over there." He pointed to a large nearby tent where several workers were resting. "Just don't wander too far. I have to get back to work. I'll tell you more stories about this island later, okay?"

"Okay!"

Darwin walked up to the base of the statue and poked at the markings on the bottom of the statue.

"This marking looks like a fish. Do you think that's what they meant?"

Eliza chased Donnie a little bit around the statue, catching him before he could climb up it.

"It can't be that easy, Darwin. That symbol probably means a lot more than we know."

Darwin went back to examining the statue's glyphs. He looked again at Eliza, only to realize that in a few seconds, he was now staring at Eliza's waist, rather than seeing her eye to eye like he usually did.

"Eliza, when did you get taller?"

"What do you- Darwin, you're sinking!"

Darwin was horrified when he realized that he was knee-deep in sand and sinking fast.

"Ah, Eliza, help!"

Eliza grabbed his hands, but the suction was too fast and she realized she was going in too.

"AAHHHHH!" She screamed. Darwin had already gone all the way into the sand and Eliza's head was about to go under. Eliza closed her eyes as tight as possible.

Suddenly, two powerful arms grabbed Eliza around the mid-waist, and with one giant tug, pulled the teenage girl and her best friend out of the sinkhole, gasping for air.

Darwin spat sand while Eliza looked up towards her rescuer. He was a very muscular man, with blond hair, tan skin, and a rough look on his face.

"You alright? What were you two doing?" he asked, squatting down to check on the two of them.

Eliza's parents, having heard the scream, ran right over to Eliza. Her mother scooped her up to check on her. Mr. Thornberry walked straight up to the man who rescued her.

"Oh, Eliza, are you all right, honey?"

"I'm fine, Mom, really!"

Nigel stuck out his hand to the rescuer.

"Oh heavens, when we heard that scream, we were so worried. Thank you very much, Mr.?"

The burly man took his hand and shook it. "Samson. Brock Samson. I'm Professor Acari's bodyguard."

Some of the workers had circled the newly created hole at the bottom of the statue. They were chattering amongst themselves excitedly, pointing and pushing to see what was at the bottom.

Brock walked over to the hole, and the workers quickly backed away, but eyed the American suspiciously. Brock peered down the hole, his eyes opening wide.

"What is it, Mr. Samson?" Nigel asked.

"Somebody get Professor Acari. Now."

Sitting in the main tomb, Dr. Issac Acari chewed his lunch slowly, quietly examining the underground amphitheatre that surrounded him. Its design was extremely ornate, hinting at a sophistication of architecture that even by today's standards were exquisite. But it wasn't his surroundings that were eating at him. Just that day, he had found remnants of a broken sword. Judging by the design and materials used, if it wasn't for the fact that no outsider had come to the island in thousands of years, he could have sworn that the sword was a relic from medieval Europe. The workers milling about left him alone, having been told never to bother him when he got in this state.

Dr. Acari was a quiet yet deep man. For some reason, he sounded a lot like Anthony Hopkins, especially when he was lost in thought. His friends even nicknamed him "Hannibal" both for his ability to creep others out with his cryptic thoughts like the character from that movie, and the fact that he had long ago gained fame for discovering and excavating remnants of the razed city of Carthage, whose most famous son crossed the Alps with elephants to attack Rome.

"Dr. Acari!" The shout broke him out of his self-induced trance. "Dr. Acari, come quick!"

"What is it?" the doctor said to the assistant that roused him.

"They've found another chamber, this one at the campsite!"

This bit of information immediately got the doctor off his feet. His adrenaline was already racing.

"Where? Take me, quick!"

Back at the campsite, several of the archaeologists had already started to gather tools and other equipment for entering the sinkhole. They were hammering in anchors and attaching ropes.

Dr. Acari rushed towards the sinkhole at a fast pace. He was quickly matched by Brock, he walked side by side with the doctor.

"What is it, Brock?"

"It seems to be a treasure chamber, Dr. Acari. We can already see some gold and silver stored inside. Dr. Poponopolis has already gone inside."

They both walked to the edge of the hole, careful not to knock any more sand inside. Dr. Acari got down on his stomach and peered inside. Below, he could see a few flashlights swooping around, examining the contents.

"Aus!" he shouted inside. A small echo occurred.

"Dr. Acari!" Dr. Poponopolis' voice was faint, but hearable. "You won't believe what's down here!"

"What?"

Dr. Poponopolis appeared in the sunlight going through the hole. He climbed on top of the sand pile that had formed from the sinkhole.

"There's an enormous amount of artifacts in here! Pottery, books, jewelry, even clothing! It's amazi- woh!"

Dr. Poponopolis stumbled on the sand, almost falling as some of it gave way.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Dr. Acari shouted to his friend.

"Yes, but… my goodness, Issac, there's something under all this sand!"

Dr. Acari and his assistants immediately started moving the sand with their hands to reveal a stone pedestal with a removable top. He ran his hand over the top.

"Issac, there's words written in ancient Sumerian here! This proves your theory that this culture was the precursor of all others!"

Dr. Acari could not contain his excitement. "What does it say, doctor?"

"My word… it says:

Bring forth, the gift of dreams,

Taken in love, brings utopia,

Taken in zeal, brings war,

Taken in hate, brings death.

For the past, taken wrongly,

For the future, leave me sleeping."

Outside, despite the fact that they were on a tropical island, upon reading the last line, a cold wind blew, causing all to shiver nervously.

"Doctor Acari," Brock whispered, "maybe we should just leave that chest alone for now."

"You may be right, Brock. Dr. Acari…"

"I'm opening it now."

"Aus, wait!"

Dr. Acari opened the box to reveal a large red rock inside. The touch of the sun seemed to activate it, as suddenly it started to glow white.

"Issac, it's glowing!"

Dr. Poponopolis and his assistants watched eagerly, but their excitement turned to fear as the rock got so bright, it was seemingly about to burst.

Dr. Acari looked on in horror when two strong hands grabbed him and pulled him away from the hole.

"Everybody get back!" Brock Samson yelled as he threw Dr. Acari to the ground away from the hole and then jumped on top of the doctor to protect him.

The light from the hole was so bright that the day seemed to become night. Suddenly, a burst of light fired out of the hole like a shot from cannon. It flew up into the sky, disappearing into space. Seconds later, another fired out, then another, and still one more, before the light dissipated and returned to normal.

Brock ran over to the hole, grabbing a rope and jumping into the hole. At the bottom, he looked around to see if anyone was still there.

"Is there anyone okay down here?" he shouted. The echo that returned gave him his answer. The chamber was completely empty. Not a single item was left. He turned towards the source of the light, realizing that the chest which contained the rock had closed.

"My god…What is this thing?"

"I don't know." Dr. Acari's voice came from the top of the hole. Brock looked up to see the doctor with a grim look on his face, a small smattering of blood on his forehead.

"But I know who does."

---

The four beams of light traveled through space and time, their paths bringing them to the edge of the universe. Then, like a fireworks display of the gods, they exploded, creating a beautiful display of light in the universe.

Somewhere in the bowels of space and time, one being felt this energy…

---

Tokyo, Japan.

Wind and rain ripped through the city like it was the end of the world itself.

Konizuka Konichi, a young employee of a restaurant near Tokyo tower, was trying desperately to board up the windows of his employer before the worst of the storm hit. Inside, his boss, Mr. Suichi, was watching a battery powered television while storing all of his cooking equipment away so they wouldn't get thrown around if the winds blew in the window. Mr. Suichi's daughter was packing their important belongings in their car so they could get head to the shelter as soon as possible.

"All citizens with homes on the eastern seaboard are advised to take shelter immediately. Do not attempt to board up your windows or save unnecessary possessions. Grab anything important that you can carry easily and get to a shelter immediately! This station will try to remain on the air for as long as possible to get Japan through this storm! We're getting a live report from our expert on this storm!"

Mr. Suichi stopped putting his pans away to see a weatherman at a Doppler radar map pointing at a massive swirling cloud.

"Authorities are baffled at how this class 5 typhoon could have formed so quickly. In only the last half hour, a freakish storm surge sprang up off the coast, pulling up huge amounts of seawater, causing high waves. Citizens on the coast are advised to move inland as quickly as possible before the worst of this storm hits, because it could bring massive waves crashing into the coast…"

"Konichi!" Mr. Suichi yelled, "You've done enough! Get in here so we can head to the shelter!"

Konichi spit out the nails in his mouth. "Alright boss! I'm coming!"

He turned to go inside the store, but for some reason he couldn't enter. A strange feeling entered the pit of his stomach. He felt compelled to turn around and look at Tokyo tower.

"Konichi, what's with you, let's g-"

Mr. Suichi grabbed Konichi's shoulder, when all of sudden a lightning bolt hit the top of Tokyo Tower, traveled straight down through the tower, and impacted with the ground beneath it, creating a fissure which caused a small localized earthquake. Both Mr. Suichi and Konichi were knocked to the ground.

They watched from the ground as another lightning bolt hit the tower, following the same path as the first one, then another, and another, before a massive thunderclap announced that the ordeal was over.

The two men were awe-struck at what they had just seen.

"Did you see…"

"Yeah. Shocking."

---

A mighty army, thousands strong, of loyal and hardened warriors, charges forward towards a mountain where darkness and fire pours out and blackens the land.

Once, I was feared as a god of death.

A dark army of hideous creatures pounces on the warriors. Swords clash with spines and blades, neither side backing down, the dark hordes thirsting for blood, the warriors fighting not for honor, but for survival. Blood, both red and black, flows like water. The leader of the warriors is chained to the darkness.

Any who opposed me; I did more than take their lives. I destroyed their homes, hunted their families, and took their souls.

Castles and countryside, no matter what walk of life, it all burns. Villagers run in fear. Those caught are taken into slavery.

Only one has ever evaded me.

Deep in a fire-filled chamber, a lone man fights to the death with the embodiment of evil. The entire chamber goes black. Two burning eyes appear in the darkness.

Face me, samurai!

"Aku!" Jack bolted upright on his bed-mat, his body drenched in a cold sweat. He wiped a few drops off his forehead, taking a few deep breathes to calm himself down.

His dojo/house was quiet and dark. The dojo was simple: a few tables, a mat for a bed, and the rest dedicated to the hardwood floor that made up the training area.

Jack relaxed, bringing one knee to his chest to support himself in his sitting position. Despite the relief he felt knowing that it was just a dream, the nightmares had become more frequent, and Jack wasn't one to disregard premonitions.

As he collected his thoughts, Jack realized that the phone was ringing.

Picking up the receiver, Jack rubbed the last bits of sleep out of his eyes.

"Hello? Yes, this is him. Hello professor, how are you? Good. What…? That's awful. Yes, I can come right away. Tomorrow at six? I'll be there. Yes, I'll see you soon."

Jack hung up the phone and looked at the clock. 1:30 a.m. He didn't have to be at the airport for another three hours, and he was too far awake now to go back to sleep.

Opening his closet, he pulled out one of his training gis and put it on over his undergarments. Walking over to his sword rack, he gingerly lifted his personal sword off the rack, and then checked its balance. Pulling it out a little, the blade gleamed in the moonlight. He pushed the sword back in and went to his fridge, pulling out an apple before walking out onto the school grounds.

It was a cool summer's night, with no clouds and a slight breeze. Since the kids were all out on summer vacation, there was no need to tell the school he would be leaving for a bit.

I'll probably have to leave a note in case I don't get back in time for the school year, he thought. All right, enough standing around, time to get to work.

Jack took a bite out of the apple, swallowed it, and took a deep breath.

A samurai knows no fear…

He lives everyday as if it was his last…

He tossed the apple straight up into the air and closed his eyes.

Preparing for the step into eternity…

But, most of all he lives for one thing…

As the apple fell in front of him, Jack's eyes opened in a snap. The gentleness once present was gone, replaced by a fierce, merciless glare. With a flash of movement Jack drew his sword and swung it quickly at the apple, before replacing his sword in its sheath as quickly as he pulled it out.

To destroy all his enemies!

The apple fell to the ground seemingly untouched. It sat there for a second before splitting perfectly into two pieces.

To be continued…