Chapter 4
Legends
‘I have been studying this book for many, many years now Jack. Within it I have revealed ancient stories, some so extraordinary you would be forgiven for thinking they were mythological fairy tales. Though even so, there is still much to this book which I have yet to uncover. There are still many hidden truths kept secret for thousands of years and protected from the forces of evil. I have dedicated my life to protecting this book and the secrets within but also to understanding what exactly it was that the ancients knew about our world. I believe the ancient people of this world had far more knowledge than modern man and the civilisations of today have forgotten the secrets of yesterday.
To begin with I shall explain part of a story that I have managed to decipher. A series of symbols and sketches form the story of Regulus and Minos. It tells the story of the battle of the gods of the stars against an evil half god on earth. There have always been myths based on the stars and their associated horoscopes but the true story, which I am about to tell you, was forgotten, lost in time many, many moons ago.
For it is the story of the lion in the stars, what we now know as Leo. His true name is Regulus, the little king. As the story goes, Regulus had a great battle against Minos the evil. Minos was the son of a queen and a god. His mother was a queen whose husband was killed in battle. Her subjects were loyal to her as she was fair and just. She worshipped the stars and obeyed the wishes of the gods. Minos father was the powerful god Zeus, who ruled the sky and the thunder. He was the god of the heavens and Regulus was the guardian of the heavens. Minos grew jealous of his mother and fathers love for Regulus. To them Regulus was a trusted and loyal friend. Since birth Minos had always pitied mortal people and believed himself to be their true ruler, for they should obey him. He thought it was his birth right to be a god and rule over the earth and the stars, including Regulus.
Minos mother tried her best to please Minos and dedicated her life to him but he wanted power. Zeus could see this and began to shun Minos in favour of Regulus. His mother tried to convince Zeus he had a good heart and meant well but Zeus could see the truth, Minos was evil.
Knowing the power the stars hold, Minos climbed to the top of a mountain. Minos waited, for days and for months, through the wind, the rain and the snow before finally he saw a star shooting in the sky above him. Then as the star was flying past he reached out and pulled it from the sky, with it still burning brightly in his hands the power began to surge through his body. As he was half god he did not die, but he screamed out in pain as a dramatic transformation took place. Zeus, angered by what his son had done, sent thunder roaring through all the stars in the sky, shaking them to the core. But now the transformation had taken place. Minos had not realised the full power of the star gods and did not understand how each star has a personality. The star he had taken belonged to the star god of the bull, Taurus. He absorbed the spirit from the star and a physical transformation had taken place. His face was now large and covered in hair. He had a long nose and horns on his head. His body had grown to double the height and he developed large muscular arms and legs. He was now half bull, half man with the power of a god.
Minos the evil then proceeded to flatten the villages and wildlife as he marched across the land in fury. Feasting on adults and children, he truly was a beast.
Regulus, watching the horror unfold rushed to protect the people and defend the world the gods had created. An epic battle ensued with Regulus fighting desperately to save the world from such evil. Minos, with the strength of a bull powered back against the might of Regulus resulting in massive destruction.
When the dust finally settled, Regulus lay tired and injured. He had narrowly beaten Minos but there were far reaching consequences caused by the widespread devastation.
The world had changed forever. Regulus had to use all of his control over the stars to beat Minos which culminated in a huge explosion of power. As Regulus awoke he found the world darker and colder than ever before. The beauty and magic of the ancient star worshippers and their land had been locked forever in five small fragments of the star which had exploded.
The heavens had been protected but the world they governed had lost the peace and tranquillity it had always known. Minos had scurried away to the bowels of the earth. Lurking down below, he watched and waited for centuries, waiting and planning for his return to power.’
Jack was looking at the symbols in the book as his Grandad continued to tell his story.
‘Regulus felt guilty and shameful that he had not been able to prevent such devastation from happening and dedicated his life to resurrecting the sanctity of the world. Zeus was powerless to return the earth to its former glory without the power locked within the fragments of the star. He could see that Regulus blamed himself and asked him to return to the heavens and rest with him in the stars, but Regulus felt too ashamed to return. Out of love for his friend, Zeus permitted Regulus to remain on earth, knowing he would never be truly happy until he could find all of the fragments of the star. Each fragment of the star held in it a part of the forgotten world, locked in forever until the star could be made whole again.
Minos knew this and he still wanted the power to himself. Remaining underground he scoured the earth trying to find the fragments of the star which had been lost in the great explosion. As long as the star remained broken, Minos had greater control over the world. Slowly and over thousands of years, he spread evil across the world. As if creating a plague, he grew fear and violence in the hearts of children, corrupting their minds from a young age. Eventually the evil began to conquer the good on earth and wars began erupting, with people killing other people. Something that had never happened in the millennium the star gods ruled the earth.
During this time Regulus travelled the globe, quietly searching for each fragment of the star. Finally after hundreds of years of solitude and loneliness he came across a piece hidden deep in the snow of the arctic. As he held the fragment in his paw, he suddenly disappeared leaving only his paw prints in the snow.’
‘What happened to Regulus Grandad?’
‘I do not know Jack. I think Zeus may have placed him back amongst the stars. Seeing how tired and weak his old friend had grown on earth, I think he may have realised it was time Regulus gave up his quest.’
Grandad reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small chunk of stone. Holding it out in his palm, ‘this is a fragment of the star Jack. It doesn’t look much but if all five pieces are re-formed then I can only imagine what power the star will hold. This is why I have been searching for the remaining four fragments since I was a young man. The funny thing is, I actually had this fragment long before I found the chest and learnt to decipher the story in the book. Maybe it was my destiny, or fate. I really don’t know but I was amazed to realise the star had been in my possession for a long time and saved my life more than once.’
‘It just looks like a broken up old rock!’ Jack said bemused.
‘That’s what I used to think.’
‘If that is part of the star, how did you get it? And what do you mean it saved your life?’ Jack asked.
‘Well you see Jack. During the war I was on a mission to recover stolen treasure from an army general of the enemy. He had been sending his army to collect all manner of mysterious and magical items from around the world. He did not care what he did to acquire the items he wanted and no one could understand the reason behind his desperation to find these items. He would have his men plunder whole villages and kill anyone who stood in his way.
I did not know what treasure he had stolen or the history behind the items, I was simply following orders and that was to recover the items at whatever cost.
One night we had word that the treasure was being held in a vault in a mansion. Myself and five other men were sent to retrieve it, a simple snatch and grab, we were told.
We waited until midnight, it was a fu
ll moon and the stars were shining bright. We decided the best way in would be to go across the roof tops avoiding the guards patrolling them by hiding in the shadows and behind chimney tops. They didn’t suspect a thing. When we reached the mansion roof we tied a rope around a chimney to abseil down the wall. We were silent, climbing down the front of the building, nobody was aware of our presence.
When we entered the window we were careful not to alert the guards patrolling inside. Hiding around corners and in empty rooms we monitored the movement of the guards as they wandered the great halls and corridors of the mansion. One by one we would scurry past as the guards had their backs turned or if they bumped into each other for a conversation.
Based on the intelligence we had been given, we were using our memories to find our way. We each had our own section to memorise, mine being the navigation through the guards mess quarters, down through the main dining hall with a table long enough to seat fifty guests or more. Past the library full of dusty old books and finally through a large entertaining area with a large fireplace at one end of the room and a grand piano in the corner.
We had managed to avoid detection. The vault was supposed to be on the other side of the entertaining area, though when we entered the room we realised there was not another exit. We quietly searched the room, looking for a hidden entrance. Our first thought was to check behind a large cabinet encasing expensive looking glassware but there was nothing there. The fireplace was an obvious option but the logs in the fire were burning strong. We knew we were running out of time, one of our team was keeping watch at the door and he could hear the guards talking at the other end of the corridor. They could return at any moment.
We were becoming desperate in our search and our spirits had dampened, we thought we had failed our mission and that we may even be captured by the enemy, who knew what they would do to us. As I searched around the piano I accidentally knocked a few keys, the sound was loud and we worried the guards would hear. Luckily it appeared that they didn’t but something else did happen. When I had pressed the keys, the flames in the fire began blowing to the left as though a wind was sweeping through the fireplace but there wasn’t. After a couple of seconds the fire returned to normal, gently pressing a key we watched to see if it happened again but it didn’t. So I pressed another key, and then another, with the third key the flames moved. “Maybe there’s a sequence”, I said to the others and began pressing the other keys but nothing happened. “This is taking too long” I said, “It could be I have to press the keys in a certain order but there are hundreds of possible combinations, we will never make it in time!” It was then that I decided to try playing the notes in the music book left open on the piano. I am not a very good pianist but I know the basics from music lessons at school, so slowly I followed the notes. The fire was being blown to the left with every note I played. Each correct key appeared to be blowing the flames out and we could see a small dark passage behind the flames. As it was nearly out I made a mistake and the fire grew strong again, I would have to start from the beginning.
“They’re coming, quick!” our watchman whispered from the door.
“We’re done for!” another said.
I tried to play quicker but I knew if I made another mistake then there would not be enough time to start again. The rest of the guys gathered by the fireplace ready to jump through as soon as the flames were gone. I could now hear the guards in the corridor, they were close but not close enough. Just in the nick of time, I finished the music and the fire went out. Everyone quickly scrambled through with me behind them. As I went through the fireplace, there was a lever on the wall which I decided to pull. Once I did the flames rapidly shot up and engulfed the fireplace. Looking back through the smoke I could see the guards enter the room, we had made it!’
‘What happened Grandad?!’ Jack was eager to learn more and how his Grandad came to find the star.
‘As we crawled through the long dark passage behind the fireplace, weaving and curling through the walls we finally reached a large opening. There in front of us, was a large door, nearly a hundred feet tall and with a thick gold frame and handles. Looking at the door we did not think we would be able to turn the large golden handles, let alone pull the door open. But that is exactly what we did. The door was as light as a feather and as we opened it the whole room lit bright. Oh, the treasures hidden in there were beyond belief. Ancient artefacts, some thousands of years old were sprawled across the room. Gold, diamonds and jewels of all colours lit the room up like a rainbow.
To begin with, we all were quiet, gazing in wonderment at the treasure. Then, once we had realised what exactly it was that we had just achieved we began shouting with joy and running around the room like children at Christmas. We had been told specific items that needed retrieving and so with a couple of large brown sacks we had taken with us, we began to search the room. A couple of the lads got carried away and began filling their pockets with gold coins and ruby necklaces. I however was only tempted by one mysterious item. I was drawn to an area at the back of the room. I cannot explain the feeling it was that I felt, but I had an aching inside my heart, a desperation to dive through the treasure in search of something, but what I did not know. It was as though I knew there was something special hidden there. Like a piece of metal drawn to a magnet there was a force pulling me towards it. As I reached further and further in I felt it under my fingers. I knew for sure this was the item I wanted. As I pulled my hands out with my grasp tight on the item, I found I was holding a small wooden box. It looked tired and old but as I held it in my hands I could feel my fingers shaking. My heart was pounding, I thought it was loud enough to alert the guards: Boom Boom……Boom Boom……Boom Boom. Lifting the lid slowly, sweat was dripping from my brow.
There it was, a fragment of the star. It did not glow and it did not look anything special, more like a worn lump of stone. I still did not know what it was exactly but I did know I had a connection to it, I could feel it. Like the connection a mother has the moment she cradles her new born baby in her arms, I felt as though my whole life had been preparing me for this moment.
I took the fragment of the star out of the box, it felt cold. The others told me it was time to go, we had been in there for long enough and it would be getting light soon. I placed the small piece of stone in to my chest pocket and we made our way back out of the treasure trove.
As we crawled back through the fireplace and into the entertaining area we found ourselves trapped. The guards were waiting for us, there must have been four or five of them all with guns pointed directly at us. We all stood silently, waiting for whatever hand fate was going to deal us.
“You dare to break in to my house and steal my treasure!” We could hear the voice before we could see the person who said it. Then walking in from behind the guards came a tall slender man. He had a long pointy black moustache and a pointy black beard from his chin to match. Wearing a black tuxedo, with a small black bow tie, he also had small round glasses resting on the end of his nose.
“Why is it then that you think you have the right to take my belongings? Items I have worked very hard to acquire over a long period of time.” He said firmly, now standing in front of us with a stern look on his face.
“But they’re not your items to keep, you stole them from others!” Without thought I blurted out exactly what was on my mind. The others kept their heads facing forward but I could feel them looking at me out of the corners of their eyes. They were not impressed at what I had just done, and neither was I.
He came walking straight towards me and stood towering over me, like a teacher would a pupil who has been naughty in class.
“You have no idea what you are talking about, you ignorant fool. If they are not my belongings, then to whom exactly do they belong?!” He was scowling now and I could feel the spit from his mouth hit my face as he shouted down at me.
“Well, I don’t know
who exactly but I have heard you have been ordering your men to steal them. I have no doubt that you probably had to search for many years for some of the items but that does not make them yours.” What was I thinking?! I have no idea what came over me but I was feeling very brave and bitter towards this angry man in front of me.
Puffing my chest and staring him square in the eyes I said, “Sir, we plan on returning these items to their rightful owners, and that certainly is not you!” Wiping the spit from my face, I said “Now stand aside and let us be on our way!”
I put my arm out and pushed him to my left to begin walking forward. The others were still silent and with fair reason, obviously mortified by what I was doing.
“BANG” a puff of smoke raised up out of one of the guards rifles. It was aimed right for me. I felt the pressure as the bullet hit my chest, it all happened so quickly. The lads turned their heads to look at me, the angry man seemed just as surprised as I and turned to look at the guard who had fired the shot. My knees buckled and I fell to the floor before blacking out.
After that all I remember is waking up in an alley amongst a load of trash cans. I looked down at my chest where I had been shot but I could not see any blood.
“He’s awake! Look lads, his eyes are open!”
I raised my head to look around and saw the rest of my team standing around me. They were all there and without a scratch on them from what I could see.
“What happened?” I said, still feeling a bit wheezy from being shot in the chest.
“You were acting crazy, is what happened!” One of the lads said.
“Yeah, what did you think would happen?” Another asked.
“Sorry lads. What happened after I got shot? How are we all still alive?” I couldn’t understand how we were all ok.
“It was a miracle!” One of them declared.
“Aye that it was!” Another agreed.
“When you got shot, we thought we were done for. The guards pointed their guns right at us and the strange fella in the black suit was very angry. He shouted at the guard who shot you and then he turned to us and shouted at us.”
“Yeah, he said that we were going to suffer for your rudeness. He ordered the guards to escort us out of the room. One of them came and began to tie our hands behind our backs whilst the rest remained with their guns pointed at us. Then the man in the suit walked over to your body and lent down over you. With his eyes closed he held his hands out above you with his palms facing down and began to say some kind of chant, it was most strange.”
“That’s when it happened.” Another remarked.
“As he said the chant, your chest began glowing bright yellow, like the gold in the treasure room. Only it began getting brighter and brighter, even the guard stopped tying our hands as he stood watching in amazement. We were not sure if the man performing the chant had known this would happen and he remained with his eyes closed, as though performing some mystical magic. Until the light grew so bright, the entire room was glowing with pure white light.”
Expressing his feelings, one of them said “I thought it was the gate to heaven itself, opening up for you to enter.”
“Then suddenly the man in the suit burst into flames, as did the guards, each one spontaneously combusting one after the other. We were petrified we were next, when all of a sudden the light exploded through the mansion like a solar flare. Destroying the mansion walls, the light burst upwards as though on a mission to space, then it was gone. As the men lay writhing around the floor in pain, with their flesh on fire we made no hesitation in untying our hands and grabbing you, before running out through the crumbling hole where there once was a wall. Once out we carried you as fast and as far as we could until we decided to hide here down this alley, using the rubbish as cover.”
“I….I…..I don’t really know what to say. Thanks lads and I’m sorry I acted the way I did, I don’t know what came over me. But how am I still alive?” I was still very much in shock.
“We were wondering that. I thought he may have been bringing you back to life with some kind of dark magic, but you seem normal to me. You’re not a demon are ya?” The guys began to laugh, which put a smile on my face.
‘No I don’t think so!” I said joining in with the laughter. “But my chest, I felt the bullet hit me.” I then pulled my shirt open by the buttons to look at my chest, there was a small bruise there but that was all. And then I realised. I put my hand in my chest pocket and pulled out the small object I had placed in there earlier.
“What’s that?” The men asked.
“I’m not sure. I found it in the treasure room in a little wooden box and put it in my chest pocket. It looks just like a piece of stone and I figured it was worthless but….”
“But what” They asked.
“Well, I felt like I had a connection to it and I was meant to find it. And…….well it saved my life. The bullet hit was aiming straight for my heart until it hit this chunk of rock. I may not know exactly what it is but I think this small piece of rock kept us all alive.”