Sam

How can such a wonderous place be decimated in such a small, time frame? I watched the trucks and tanks flooding the streets. Huge monsters of carnage. Matvey's men gunned down those that opposed him. It was utter chaos. Vehicles smashing into buildings and removing roadblocks constructed out of damaged vehicles in the streets. A military helicopter fell from the sky and landed on a building, causing the residents to run out on to the streets, only to be gunned down. More people were running out of their homes screaming. In fact, chaotic was an understatement.

It was a joint conflict with a neighbouring island. A separatist group known as the Black Isle wanted control over the island. It was a perfect spot for their advances towards the central Philippines and closer to where they could do more harm and recruit for the Following.

"You're kidding right?" I leaned out of the helicopter looking down at the war-torn streets slowly passing by. "Whatever we're looking for it's not going to be here."

BOOM the sound of the left side blew open forcing two of Redd's men to fall out. I held on tight as the chopper circled towards the ground. I ran towards the back of the spiralling death trap being pushed and pulled, holding on to what ever unbreakable object I could grasp.

"Oh shit." I felt parts bashing into me, as I scrambled to hold on tight.

BOOM…

We finally settled in the middle of a field, a few miles away from the wanton destruction on the island. "Christ, what the hell was that?" I pulled off bits of debris, both metal and carbon. The impact killed two more of the ten men and women inside.

The bullets began firing in and around the broken chopper. Taking a gun from one of Redd's men, I fired blindly out of the window.

"Get behind me," A female mercenary, by the name of Lana said holding a devastating weapon. She pulled me around her. Her accuracy was devasting. Each shot fired into a militant opposer. She shot into the oncoming vehicles' engines blowing them to pieces. I watched the militia be catapulted, far-flung into the air.

"You're pretty good with that thing?" I said, she smiled at me and checked to make sure the rest of us were okay.

KKKKKKRRRRRRR – The sound of Redd's comm unit cracked: Matvey was on the other side telling us where he was, on the far side of the island. With no trucks or other vehicles, we were going to have to make it through, putting an end to the Black Isle's decimation.

"Are you joking Lana? Just get him over here." Matvey was causing friction between Lana and Redd. They both knew what Matvey was asking was highly dangerous.

The mercenary was assigned the job of leading us through the wake. The radio went dead, and we knew we were all alone in this one. It was only a matter of time before more militia arrived to clean our clocks. Five of us were left. Me, Redd, Lana, our Guide, and another of Redd's goon squad.

The paper maps were the only thing that worked.

Our electronic equipment was destroyed, signals were poor even when using more sophisticated satellite technology.

"We need to get here, to catch a boat and reach the island." Redd Fisher said pointing at the large cluster of islands. He checked his sidearm to make sure it was loaded.

"The only way to get there is to reach the harbour, through the village, past the commune, round the church and finally at the harbour." Redd sounded exhausted plotting out the most dangerous route we could follow.

"That's forty clicks south of our current position." The mercenary pointed out what she'd seen. Small groups of militias on the road, in schools and in the hospital. "It's suicide."

"No, my dear, stopping to get the artifact from inside is the suicide, you're referring to." Redd pointed at the middle of the small church, which was most likely flattened. "It is here we shall find the compass and the right island."

This must have been what Redd was talking about before.

For many who ventured out this way in search of the maps, they were never going to find them. Fortunately, the Philippines had a small fraction of islands compared to Sweden which had an unbelievable 268,000 islands. Finding the broken city there was going to be impossible.

"What's this artifact?" The mercenary asked.

"On the third day God created the sea, he separated the lands and plotted the home of exiled Man. If they left the garden, he wanted them to know how to find their way back. The truth about man and its creation can be found within the magnetometer." I expertly said, having read more about the compass than our compadre.

"So where is it, Mr Drake?" Redd looked down at the mercenary's sidearm, instilling me with a need to tell them where it could be. I of course had no idea, and he knew this. It was going to be one of those times I needed to think on my feet, using my skills in the adventure I had come to know about over my lifetime. This was going to be a true test of my skills in acquiring an object that a) I had little to no knowledge about and b) where it was going to be. Redd had the lead, and we were just following the confused shepherd. But his intelligence was only as strong as his experience, which I thankfully had a great deal more of. Maybe not as much as Nathan, but I helped in an ancillary way.

We took what we could and began to head towards the warzone.

As we walked though the long blades of grass I thought back to Scotland and how much it reminded me of what Nate, and I did in search of Avery's grave. I hoped that Nathan wasn't going to find out about this. I still hadn't told him about the Tusk that I got wrapped up in with Nadine and Chloe. I could have used them on this one. Chloe was a good sport and Nadine, well Nadine had the badass'ness that I needed.

"You all right back there Mr Drake. Regale us with a story." Redd wanted to know more about my life experiences in the field of adventure. He didn't believe most of what I told him. "Maybe I have the wrong Drake." He said scoffingly.

I needed to prove to him he didn't. This wasn't just about the adventure it was about saving myself. I needed to be alive and hoped to do this one without my brother, Sully, Nadine or Chloe's help. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

I didn't mind the walk. It was certainly more relaxing than jumping through glass and running from bullet spray.

"Get down," we could hear militia chattering a few clicks north of us.

They crept through the long grass as we started to move like a snake hiding from its prey. Circling back round Lana and I each took a solider and broke their neck. They fell into the grass and we stocked up on their weapons.

KKKKKKKRRRRRRR – the radio crackled in the Filipino vernacular. We had a guide who could help us understand the language. Basically, we needed to get the hell outta there. We spotted the old farmhouse and ran toward it, breaking down the wooden door. There didn't appear to be anyone home. We were no match for the five strong well armoured goons who soon appeared outside.

Something tipped us off to our whereabouts. My guess, the dead soldiers in the grass.

We heard them speaking Tagalog, which our guide told us it meant 'check that house' made clear by one of the goons waving his hands to the others to circle the property. Checking our ammo, we knew we weren't gonna last five minutes. We needed to get out of there.

The door to the farmhouse opened. I waited at the side holding my gun. "Drop it pal."

I glanced over and could see a weapon pointing at me from outside. Hurtling myself to the floor, I was soon covered in glass shards.

"Get back," I shouted as Lana, and I began firing into the field. I could see Redd walking around the farmhouse which didn't look like much. He could sense there was a hiding place, in the event the city was raided.

"Help me with this." He shouted, even though he could see we were under fire.

"Little busy pal." I said finally getting a headshot. The other soldier was coming around. We pulled the furniture back and unveiled a trapdoor. Opening the door, we descended into the room below. Leaving the soldiers clueless.

The light was dim, but enough to see the torches along the wall. "Where the hell does this go?" I said turning the corridor. It seemed to be a place built for hiding out. We tried the first door which was locked and had a large 'H' on it. Following around the corridor there were three more, each locked and didn't seem to fit with the aesthetic of the place. They looked medieval. Wooden and bolted to the wall. The corridor ended resulting in nothing but a brick wall.

"Four doors each with a letter on them," the guide said who was an expert in Filipino history. He had the look of a hunter more than a history buff, as though he was tracking down wild beasts. Not very old either, but he knew his stuff. H, T, S, K, he read out the letters, each one a consonant, and not really meaning much of anything.

"What is north in Tagalog or any other Austronesian language?" I had an idea this might be what we were looking for.

"Hilaga," the guide said matching the first letter on the first door, "Sa timog, sa silangan, and kanluran, are south, east and west." He said making the connection. We decided that the doors were the points on a compass.

"Far be it for me to question the mind of one half of the infamous Drake brothers, but there are more points on a compass than North, South, East and West." Redd said trying the doors once again. One of his goons began to get nervous and started beating on the door, he hit the N on the first one we had returned to.

The sound of metal scraping against wood was eerie. The spikes impaled him from the wood as though he triggered a trap. "Jesus," I said watching the spikes retract making the goon fall flat on the floor. "It's obviously not door number one."

The intrepid Lana saw that her colleague had pushed the letter inwards and that what was what killed him. The four of us thought about our next move. "One of these has to be right." I thought about which it could be.

The guide began to get nervous and was starting to annoy Redd. It felt like it was time to pick someone to test each door. We had four people left and deciding which one would try out each door was down to their infallibility and their value.

I thought I was safe. I mean they needed me to find the artifact. The guide was safe, we needed him to help with translation and Lana was safe because we needed her to get to the city. It left Redd, but he was hardly going to choose himself, was he?

"Mr Drake you're up." Redd caustically said pulling out a weapon and pointing at me.

"You've gotta be kiddin' you need me." I was running out of things to say. Redd made a point that he did need me, but I was also the one to get it right. "You better hurry Mr Drake, I can hear uninvited guests."

I wont lie, I did feel the pressure to get this one right. If I died it meant only two left and with the three of them left, my money was on the guide being next in the firing line. Leaving the one correct door which would get them somewhere, where that was? I hadn't a clue.

"Two, three or four," Redd was making me nervous.

This wasn't about probability, it was about elimination, one of these letters was either useless or the most valuable. In the beginning I would have picked North as it is the most significant and well used point to magnetism, but this wasn't about North it was about South.

"What makes you think it's south Mr Drake?" Redd asked knowing it was only a matter of time before the uninvited guests crashed our party.

"Because south isn't used." I said pushing the letter. It slowly went in, and we heard the catch release. The door opened and we walked in. Turning around the door slowly closed making dust particles appear. We knew anyone trying to get in would be unsuccessful, we were safe for now.

"Drop your weapons," a boy said appearing from the shadows, "who are you people?" He emerged with more of his soldiers, who were very young. They couldn't have been any older than ten.

"Kids, what is the world coming to." Redd laughed but cautiously raised his hands up in the air. "We're seeing the compass. To whom am I addressing here?"

The leader of the group, Ton, who was in his teens, dressed in tattered rags and looked like he'd been in a skirmish once or twice. His English was very good. He slowly walked towards gazing up and down, trying to surmise if we were a threat.

"I don't take kindly to uninvited guests," the kid said removing our weapons. "This is a sacred place and only those who are worthy can enter. Which one of you opened the door?"

All eyes looked at me. I told the leader South wasn't used in a typical chronometer making it more likely to be the right choice. South was always the starting point, standing south and looking out to the North, East and West.

"Clever Mr?" Ton had a keen interest in me. "This isn't a place for the rest of you." The leader summoned his soldiers towards the rest of the group putting ropes around their necks and pulling them like violent animals on a leash.

"We've come for the magnetometer; we need to find the gate to Eden." I said wholeheartedly. The children in front of us knew what I was talking about. They told the story of two children who were the keepers of the gate and they too wanted to find them. They wanted to escape this place and go to a place where wonder meets dreamscape.

"I can help you find a home for the brave," I showed them the map of the many islands surrounding this one. "We think the compass is in the city."

Ton walked over to us, eye up the group. "No, my friend, the compass is in our city."

I couldn't believe what I was seeing as the doors opened to a bustling world of other children leading everyday lives. They called themselves the Children of Eden. Ton walked us through the gates and into the rock city below. Pulling the rest of the team on their ropes, the young children watched as more young ones came out of their homes.

"Who's in charge of you all?" I asked knowing behind every child lay a parent. As the saying goes in the land of the blind, the one with one eye is king.

"Elders Izza and Mackia." He walked us towards what could only be described as some sorta acropolis. It had been built on a small hill and fashioned into the wall of the underground. To say it looked out of place was an understatement. A young man walked out and spoke the name of the leader, asking him who we have here.

"Quya Kawayan who do we have here?" his speech was more eloquent and had a hint of a British accent, "more intrepid adventurers, one assumes, in search of the lost kingdom of paradise." Elder Mackia was kind and caring to the children, he seemed to be at one with them. The rumbles above could be heard as he became concerned that the war would be coming through the ceiling.

"The children here are all in line to become the keys to the kingdom. From all walks of life, they are brought to us in their coming of age." Elder Mackia invited me into his home and regaled me with the story about the world and their beliefs. Telling me about two of the flock who would leave and venture into the world. In one point of time known as the Calling, they could be together.

"Only this can point the way." Elder Mackia uncovered this otherworldly compass, I had never seen anything like it before. It was an unprecedented artifact. Fashioned by arcane inspiration and using the planet's resources to make it work.

"How does it work?" I asked quizzically. The elder didn't seem to know exactly. When the threat could be heard above ground, he ordered Elder Izza to take the two children to the island, who had only just been branded with the mark. He wasn't wanting to share where that might be.

"I can make it work. Would you be willing to let me handle it?" I needed to convince Elder Mackia that this was about stopping the man outside getting his hands on it. He wasn't prepared to let me handle it and asked me more about what I knew about the garden. He had his theories as I did mine.

"Like many keys to a lock it was about the shape and the hole the object sat in." The elder spoke about the Stone of Eve, comparable to a key. "The key however broke, yet its powers still remained."

The heliotrope was the key to all of this, the key to the garden, the key to salvation and to my cure. It was a matter of finding it. The elder showed pictures of places around the world, sites known as the broken city. Each one a marker. There were many people who sought after the garden and many who wanted to wield the power of the stone.

I broke the bad news to him about the man outside and his avaricious nature in all of this.

"You speak of the world in a tongue not many wield," the elder had a strange look in his eye, "unfortunately you may never speak of this again."

KABOOOM – the sound of the roof caved in as Matvey and his men stormed the city. I knew this was going to end in bloodshed. I tried to tell the group of how dangerous those people were.

Leaving me in the room with the compass I quickly grabbed it and headed outside. I couldn't bear to think what was happening. We saw the rope dangle down from the helicopter above and ran towards it. Pulling ourselves up and waiting for the winch to do the rest. Lana, Redd and I climbed aboard.

The helicopter was much larger than the one we were on before. It was like a fortress. Bullets ricocheted off the hull of the flying menace and I watched as hundreds of bullets ripped through the city once again. Tearing through the Black Isle militia.

Redd greeted Matvey. He had told him to head towards the harbour in the North. It was a few minutes away from our present position. I thought about us using this huge monstrosity to circle the islands, but it crossed my mind we didn't have the fuel and would be flying aimlessly.

As we approached the harbour there were more boats with vehicles on standby. We were going to take the conflict from one island to another. I looked at the compass and knew Redd was wanting me to find the children.

"Well Mr Drake, where are they?" He said menacingly.

What a question, with the hundreds of islands at the north, south, east and west of this island one could only guess. The compass kept spinning around, it had done from the moment I picked it up as though it wasn't sure where it should point.

If it's not jewels it's a compass, it's always something isn't it – something to stop us getting there quicky, wouldn't you say." Redd laughed knowing how mundane it was to find the treasure on the map. He looked at me once again for answers.

The compass stopped spinning and turned to the east. "Go east I shouted," then it turned west," no go west."

"Which is it?" Redd sounded angry. He was growing tired of not knowing where to go.

"Um, north." The compass was sending us all over. There had to be a way to stop it pointing erratically and get to the point. No pun intended.

I looked at my suit which was covered in blood, the blood of children.

"It's the blood." I said thinking out loud, "the blood of the children."

Matvey and Redd looked at me puzzled as I tried to get some of the fresh blood from my suit into the pocket square. There were just a few drops left. I wasn't sure if this was going to work exactly but I had a feeling it might.

"What are you talking about Mr Drake?"

I wiped the pocket square on the compass, and it immediately pointed North. "Go North I said as we turned the boat towards the north. I could see the other boats turning too, they were listening to my words and following what I was saying.

Planning my escape, I thought about the yacht I was on and the much smaller helicopter on the top deck. The seas began to get a little rough. One of Redd's goons showed him some meteorological anomaly and warned us of a storm and its unpredictability. It came out of the clouds to wreak havoc on the epipelagic zone where we were.

I watched as the storm fought hard to disable the other boats. One got swept up by a dangerous wind wave. We could see a much larger wave in the distance as all hands were putting the yacht out of harms way. "I think God is telling us to stay back," Redd said looking at the huge rogue wave swallowing more of his ships.

The expensive yacht took a hit as we began to turn over. Yet another roll in a barrel as I once again hung on to something. Every chance we had we got closer to the roof. It battered our faces hard as we made it towards the helicopter. More of Redd's men died as we clambered up the side of the ship. We needed to get to the chopper which was hovering precariously over the yacht.

Eventually we made it and headed towards the island in the distance.

"It's just a little further." The pilot said trying to avoid the storm. We could see one of the huge boats survived and had some vehicles bobbing up and down on the ocean's surface. Redd told me to stay on the chopper and go to the back of the island to pick up the children. He was going to drive them out of their hole.

Doing what he said I watched from the skies above as more horror and torment spread throughout another island. We could see the trucks following a jeep at highspeed. The two children were inside with who I believed to be Elder Izza. It was pretty horrifying to see, but I needed these two kids.

The chopper door slid open, and I grabbed the girl carefully putting my arms around her. She looked so sweet and innocent and told me her name. I could see how different she was compared to the rest of the children I'd seen. She was so brave and reminded me of Cassie.

Looking out of the window I could see Redd had captured the other child.

"Are you here to save me?" She said looking at me with worry in her eyes. I wanted to tell her that I was, which I was I could never do what Redd thought I'd do. It was too much. It was unbearable. I told her everything was going to be alright.

Taking my sidearm I threatened the pilot to take us somewhere else away from the island.

I wasn't sure on my next move and told him to head back to the Central Philippines. There I would plan what to do next. All I could think about was how wrong this was. The pilot told me he wasn't sure if the chopper would reach.

Both Alexandra and I weren't sure of our next move. I had given up putting on the fake Russian accent. I told her I wasn't Sergei and wasn't part of the Protectors, I was someone else. The pilot pointed out a haven we could land at and as we landed. I hit the pilot on the back of the head.

We walked down the airfield and saw these huge black unmarked vehicles heading towards us.

I held Alexandra behind me and watched as they circled around. I looked back at the marking of the helicopter it was the Protectors. Stepping out the vehicle a Russian woman walked towards me. She pointed towards Alexandra for her men to take her. I pointed my gun towards her as multiple assault rifles appeared out the windows and pointed directly at me.

I immediately dropped my weapon. The tall Russian blonde woman walked closer and took Alexandra from me. "Mr Romanov is very grateful," she said leaving me standing in the middle of an airfield in a suit of blood, looking down at the blood on my hands.

Thank you for reading this chapter, this concludes the back story, and we'll return to Cassie and Jamal. Continuing the adventure.