Warning: There is a rape topic in this chapter.
Cassie Drake: Legendary explorer, wife, and mother working as a legit archaeologist.
Angie Vincent: The ex-girlfriend of Cassie's spouse who is now her friend and fellow mother.
Casey Blake: An outcast seeking revenge.
Extended Summary
It's been over a year since her last big adventure and Cassie is working at an institution as its head archaeologist. After finding evidence of a lost continent that had sunk somewhere in the Indian Ocean, Cassie realizes that she could do her company a solid by finding the lost continent that housed the very first civilization on this planet. But it's never easy, no matter how legal or illegal the adventure is.
"The anomalies of the Mammal fauna of Madagascar can best be explained by supposing that anterior to the existence of Africa in its present shape, a large continent occupied parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans stretching out towards (what is now) America to the west, and to India and its islands on the east; that this continent was broken up into islands, of which some have became amalgamated with the present continent of Africa, and some, possibly, with what is now Asia; and that in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands we have existing relics of this great continent, for which as the original focus of the "Stirps Lemurum," I should propose the name Lemuria!"
Philip Sclater, 1864
November 2039
Madagascar
"Just keep digging," Cassie instructed to her teammates as they began digging into the dirt beneath them. "Just keep digging, digging, digging, what do we do, we dig, dig."
Her co-workers chuckled and were prompted to dig deeper into the ground before one of them finally hit the jackpot. He called over Cassie and she moved to his position.
Cassie made sure her wedding ring was sealed tightly in her back pocket before she got her hands dirty and pulled something out of the ground.
Her co-worker who unearthed the object looked at Cassie eagerly. "What is it?"
The object in question was a skeleton, a part of a leg bone. Whether it was a femur or not, Cassie couldn't tell. She decided it wasn't worth obsessing about and handed it to her co-worker.
"Just a fossil."
"A dinosaur, perhaps?"
"Nah. Last time I checked, we're archaeologists, not paleontologists."
"We can be both."
Cassie chuckled. "You're hilarious, Gil."
Gil shrugged. "I know I am."
"Hey, Drake, I found something."
Cassie ran and met up with her colleague, who unearthed more bones and began pulling them out, one by one.
Cassie cringed at the sight. "Disgusting, it's almost like someone was buried here. We came here to excavate for copper and-"
"Look," Marcus urged. He pulled out a skull. "This isn't human."
Cassie took the skull for herself and her eyes went wide. The skull had an elongated snout and a set of eyeholes that were too big to be human. "What the hell kind of creature is this?"
"It's a monkey," Marcus answered, "or, something closely related to that." He takes the skull and opens its mouth. "And-"
He was about to say more when something fell out of the skull's mouth and landed at Cassie's feet. She picked it up and examined it. A small object that could fit in the palm of her hand that was transparent, a crystal.
"Man, look at this," she smiled. "It's a diamond, or a crystal, or some shit."
"Let me see." Marcus took the diamond and played with it in his hands. "How lovely, how very lovely."
"It was found in this skull's mouth," Cassie pointed out. "If this monkey or whatever it was holding a diamond in its mouth when it was buried, then that is an archaeological find." She took the diamond back. "I'll take a look-see at this when I get the chance."
"Artficat hogger," Marcus laughed. "You just want the diamond because you know it's a girl's best friend."
"How right you are, because I'm such a grave robber."
Marcus went back to his colleagues, taking the skull with him, and dropped it into a plastic bag. "I'll get this examined, you know, just in case. Just want to rule out the possibility this might be a dinosaur."
"Why would a dinosaur have a diamond in its mouth?" Gil looked over.
"I don't know. Since when did humans build pyramids without excavation equipment and cranes; how's that for brain food?"
Cassie rolled her eyes and chuckled. I love these guys.
Maui, Hawaii
The best thing Cassie loved about her work is that she got to bring her work home with her. After talking with her supervisor, she got to take the diamond home and examine it, considering that solving archaeological puzzles was something of a specialty of hers. But in doing so, when she was working at her desk, bouncing her seven-month-old son in her lap, she gets a notification on her phone.
She made plans to go out with Angie to have a girl's night and she was barely done finishing her work. She promised herself not to get too caught up in her work and she dropped Evan off at her father's house, who was already told of Cassie going out for a girl's night with Angie, and Evan was babysat by his grandparents.
Cassie and Angie met up at a restaurant, BM Shacks, and Cassie and Angie ordered the steak nuggets and they chit-chatted about what was going on in each other's lives.
"The problem is you need to have not too much fun at work, Cassie," Angie told her before taking a sip of her soda. "After all, if you have too much fun at work, your personal life will be dull and boring."
Cassie nodded. "So I've been told. I've also been told never to mix business with pleasure."
"But they also say that you do what you love, you never work a day in your life."
"True, true." Cassie took a sip of her soda. "How's Tiffany doing?"
"She's great, thanks for asking. And I assume Evan is being too much rambunctious."
"I love him but as expected, babies are hard work. This morning, when I was examining this crystal, Evan tried to reach for it and eat it. I swear to god, I didn't want history to repeat itself."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, that crystal I found came from inside the mouth of a monkey skull of some kind." She raised her glass as she realized something. "And I couldn't help but notice that the skeleton, or fossil, decomposed and detorted over time, but the diamond was still in mint and pristine condition."
Cassie reached into her purse and pulled out a plastic bag that had the diamond.
"What would a monkey be doing with a diamond in its mouth?" Angie wondered as she marveled at the diamond. "And how is that mint still in crystal-clear condition?"
"The paleontologist we contacted said that the monkey is actually a lemur. It's not outside the realm of possibility that it's from an ancient lemur."
"I'm trying to solve the piece of the puzzle."
"Can I keep the diamond?"
Cassie laughed. "Finders, keepers."
"Eh, it was worth a shot. But, you promise to call me when you figure it out?"
"Why, you want to keep the diamond?"
"Yeah."
"Well, assuming that it's any valuable, it'll probably be put in a museum. You could buy it from there, assuming that the museum is having a sale of previous diamonds."
"Duly noted."
They finished dinner and split the bill two ways.
XXXX
Cassie had been working with this archeological institution for over a year now and she's made good money working there but it wasn't money that she was interested in, although it was a lovely bonus. It paid for her current apartment and the other essentials needed to raise a family. Currently, Cassie was bouncing her son on her lap as she surfed through her computer to search for clues as to the origin of this diamond.
When she found nothing, she decided to get creative. She searched for lemur skulls found in Africa, the Middle East, and India that had skulls with diamonds stuck in their mouths. She was astounded by the results.
Madagascar, India, and several African countries all reported having lemur skulls with diamonds in them but there was a pattern she noticed instantly. All of the lemur skulls were found from Madagascar all the way to India but there were no reports of these diamond-inside-skulls found in the Middle East.
Lemurs, Africa, India, sans the Middle East, Cassie immediately thought back to a theory she heard growing up.
"Evan," she looked at her son, "I think I figured it out. I think these lemurs all come from Lemuria?"
Evan looked at her with a tired expression on his face.
"Lemuria is a lost continent proposed by a man named Philip Sclater in 1864. He said that he found lemur fossils in Africa and India but there were no lemur fossils in the Middle East. How is it possible for Lemurs to reach India from Africa without going through the Middle East? The answer is that there was a continent connecting Africa to India directly. Unfortunately, due to global warming and rising sea levels, the continent was lost and Lemuria was sunk into the ocean."
Evan closed his eyes and was tethering on the realm of sleepiness.
"There were also theories that said that Lemuria is home to one of the first civilizations on the planet and there is one thing I noticed: these fossils predate human ages yet there is a diamond in each of these lemur skulls' mouths. That means these lemurs were smart enough to understand diamonds as valuable. Otherwise, why would they have them in their mouths? Diamonds are NOT a source of food and no animal would be tempted to touch them. But these lemurs had the diamonds stuffed in their mouths. Humans couldn't have put it there because these fossils have been undisturbed for a million plus years or so."
Cassie smiled.
"You know what this means, Evan?"
Evan's eyes were nearly closed.
"I think we found proof that Lemuria exists."
Evan was asleep in her arms. Cassie quickly carried him to his crib and laid him down before kissing him goodnight.
Finally, an adventure that doesn't involve anything overtly supernatural.
XXXX
"And that's why I think this would be good for our institution," Cassie explained to her superior.
Grayson Del Ross, the manager of Cassie's workplace, was tethering around the border of forty years old and had graying sideburns to prove it. He looked Cassie up and down as he sat behind his messy desk before nodding.
"Reputation is everything around here, Cassie," Grayson agreed. "Ever since we brought in the legendary daughter of Nathan Drake, we've been getting new hires and recruits here and there. We're on our way to becoming the number one archaeological institution in the state. But recruits aren't enough. We need to prove we're a group of employees who bite as much as we bark."
Cassie narrowed her eyes. "Sir, I'm sure that we'll get a good reputation for finding proof that Lemuria actually exists. I mean, we don't have to find Lemuria but we just have to find proof of its existence."
"Oh, I believe it exists, and that's why we gotta find it. To tell you the truth, Drake, any archaeologist can find proof of some lost city or mythical object existing but actually finding it, that's what counts. I mean, you understand. The Tomb of Cleopatra, Noah's Ark, you understand all too well."
"Yes, I understand," Cassie rolled her eyes. "But, in my experience, I-"
"What, are you afraid of some thugs trying to kill you to get to Lemuria? What is so valuable about Lemuria?"
"Those diamonds?"
"If those diamonds were real and from Lemuria, they would've sunk to the bottom of the sea. Unless there happens to be a tiny part of Lemuria still sticking out of the water as a big island then that's a reason for thugs to show up."
"Mr. Del Ross, I-"
Grayson held his hand up. "Find proof that Lemuria is still standing. If it's buried under the sea, we'll find it. If there's an island sticking out somewhere, we will find it. I want this entire discovery to be kept under wraps. Only then when we find Lemuria itself will we go public with information." He studied Cassie hard. "Speaking of which, who else have you told?"
"No one. Except for my friend, Angie."
"Angie who?"
"Angie Richardson."
Grayon's eyes go wide. "Angie Richardson?"
"Yeah, you know her?"
"I remember hearing a name like that during one of my trips to China. Didn't she get married or something?"
"Yeah, she has a daughter."
Grayson scoffed. "Yeah right."
"No, she does." Cassie took out her phone and scrolled through the images until she found one of Angie and Tiffany. "This is them."
The sight of the person in the picture was enough to arouse Grayson. He kept his libido under control and calmly ordered for Cassie to vacate the premises. However, the images of the people in the picture burned in his mind.
So beautiful.
Dublin, Ireland
Abandoned Castle
"Please," the soldier sobbed, "please don't kill me."
Casey Blake smiled and stared down at the soldier. "What's wrong, dearly disturbed Dino? Afraid of dying?" She stomped on his groin before taking out a knife and stabbing him in the collarbone. She dragged the knife across his collarbone until she reached his shoulder. Then, she lifted her leg and stabbed him in the other shoulder with her high heels.
"Cry, scream, just like I did when Overlord abandoned me." She freed her heel from the shoulder and backed away but left the knife dug into his other shoulder.
"Screw you," Dino shouted. "Burn in hell."
"Dumbass Dino is soon to be Dead Dino."
She took out a gun and shot him in the head.
I hate killing people with guns… feels so messy and not as personal as with the knife.
Casey Blake tucked her gun in the back of her pants and sighed heavily. She took a few droplets of the corpse's blood and placed it in a vial. After retrieving her knife, she wiped it clean on the sleeves of her black jacket before turning around and walking out of the supply closet. She put a lock on the door before walking out of the castle, her high heels making soft clicking noises against the brick ground in a steady and regular rhythm.
Casey stopped, only to look at herself in the mirror, and ran a hand through her hair. She had strawberry blonde hair, freckles, and green eyes that brought out the color of her red lips. She was wearing the standard issue Overlord thermal jacket and she rolled her sleeve up to look at the serial number tattooed on her forearm.
596945 - EX.
She was still bleeding from when the Overlord tattoo artist forcefully scribbled the 'EX' into her arm, a constant reminder that she was no longer welcome into Overlord and she was an outcast. She nearly growled and dug her nails into her flesh to try and erase the mark but she didn't want to cause herself pain, not yet.
She walked into one of the rooms that she knew was occupied and open the door to see her companion sitting in a chair, drinking scotch and watching over the female Overlord soldier tied down to the bed, bleeding from the head.
"You're almost done here?" Casey asked.
Jared Jablonski looked up with a mischievous smirk at Casey. "Three more rounds."
"Of course, because it's not like we're on the run or anything." She notes the soldier on the bed has red hair. "Another redhead, you got a type?"
"Something like that. And if you don't leave me to finish in peace, you're next on my list."
"If you're planning on stealing my virginity, too little too late, mate." She subconsciously clenches her thighs together. "At least put her out of her misery."
"She'll be bleeding out by the time I'm done with her."
Casey closed the door but something compelled her to put an ear to the door and listen to the conversation.
"Please…" the sobbing Overlord female cried from inside. "No more, I can't take it."
"Did I ask you what you want?"
She backed away before she heard the bed springs creaking. She smiled and turned away. You're next, Jared.
Maui
With Cassie
Cassie was back at work, doing her best to try and figure out a way to trace the origin of this diamond. Grayson's direct orders and she had all the resources at her disposal to try and get the job done.
That's when Marcus came into her cubicle and had a second diamond in his hand.
Cassie looked at the diamond. "Aww, is this a late wedding present? How kind of you." She took the diamond and laid it next to the one she was working on.
"Consider it one. It's from India," Marcus shrugged.
"Thank you." Cassie compared the two diamonds and noted how they looked nearly identical. "It's definitely made of quartz of some kind but I'm not entirely sure how to trace its origin. I can't even determine how old is it because it's in such pristine condition."
Marcus looked down at the two diamonds and an idea came to him. "What about using a Geiger counter?"
"Why would these diamonds be radioactive?"
Marcus thought about it for a while and reconsidered his thoughts. "Yeah, you're right, probably not radiation."
"Besides, even if this diamond was radioactive a million years ago, the radiation would've cleared up by now."
"True, true. Sorry."
"But hey, it's good to brainstorm ideas." She looked back at the diamonds. Thinking back to her Philosopher's stone adventure, she held up one diamond and looked through it. Nope, no hidden message inside the diamonds.
"How are we supposed to find Lemuria?" Marcus asked.
"No clue but remember, it's a sunken continent. Yeah, some people believe Lemuria doesn't exist because of plate tectonics and whatnot but I've seen strange things. Like, really strange things."
"I'll say." Marcus picked up the Indian diamond. "When I brought this from India, I couldn't help but notice that it was pristine and crystal clear. And now, it's kinda foggy."
Cassie picked up the Madagascar diamond and looked at it carefully. "Yes, it is indeed foggy. Strange, when we found it in Madagascar, it was crystal clear but now that we brought it here, it's kinda foggy."
"Same for the Indian diamond."
Cassie laughs suddenly. "Oh, I think I found a pattern." She held up both diamonds. "Madagascar diamond, crystal clear in Madagascar, foggy in Hawaii. Indian diamond, crystal clear in India-"
"Almost," Marcus interrupted.
"Almost crystal clear, and now it's foggy in Hawaii. If I can get my hands on a third diamond, then my theory on how to find Lemuria will be complete."
And she would get her wish three days later when another diamond from Botswana would come in. Like before, the Botswana diamond was crystal clear in Botswana but when brought to Hawaii, it had fogged up.
Therefore, Cassie found the common denominator between the diamonds and now, it was time to experiment.
Cassie met with her supervisor to explain her theories. Grayson rocked in his chair patiently and listened to her give her thoughts with a somewhat skeptical look on his face.
"Are you saying the diamonds are some kind of GPS trackers?"
"Yes," Cassie nodded. "People have proposed theories that Lemuria is the source, the cradle of the first civilization on planet Earth. The diamonds prove it because there is no reason for animals to give a shit about diamonds. I think… that the lemurs of Lemuria were a race of highly intelligent beings that were capable of feelings and emotions and rational thinking. The diamonds in their mouths could've been a source of life for them or at the very least, something to keep track of each other.
"The rising sea levels would have sunk Lemuria into the ocean and to keep track of each other, they sent these diamonds out and the diamonds receive a signal. The signal in the diamond is the condition of the diamond. The closer you are to Lemuria, the clearer the diamond is, and the farther away you are, the foggier the diamond."
"Is there any proof of this?"
"No, but this is the scientific method. First, you make an observation, ask why, propose a hypothesis, then experiment. That's why I've made arrangements for a pilot to fly me to Madagascar and back and I will have the diamonds recorded the whole way. If they become crystal clear the closer I get to Madagascar, my theory is correct. And if my hypothesis is correct…"
"Then we'll know how to find Lemuria," Grayson finished. "Excellent." He smiled. "The cradle of the first civilization, simply amazing." He leaned forward on his desk. "If you can prove this diamond hypothesis, then I will see to it that the trip to Lemuria is funded and all expenses are paid. But if you waste my time and resources-"
"If anything, Mr. Del Ross, I'd be wasting my time and resources."
"That's what I like to hear." He smiles before waving her off. "Now get out of my office and make my day with these diamonds."
"Right away, Mr. Del Ross."
Cassie vacated the room and allowed Grayson the privacy to make a phone call.
Dublin, Ireland
"Swallow," Casey ordered to the bound Overlord soldier. "One big gulp." She shoved a grenade in his mouth. He tried to spit it up but with all the numbing drugs she pumped him with, he didn't stand a chance to move his mouth. There was a string connected to the pin and Casey slowly backed away until she was out of the grenade's reach she yanked the string, releasing the pin and blowing the soldier to smithereens.
After the death of the soldier, Casey went to collect a trophy. She took out a cotton swab from her pocket, swabbed up a drop of blood, and put it in a vial with the label, 596934. It was the same kind of trophy she took from that soldier she shot in the head, despite how impersonal it felt.
After finishing off the reaming soldiers in the abandoned castle, she got a call on her phone.
"Del Ross, what's going on?" she demanded.
"Cassie Drake is making her move."
"This better be good because I-"
"She's looking for evidence of Lemuria."
"Lemuria?" she questioned before it dawned on her. "The lost continent? The one connecting India to Africa?"
"Yes. I told her to look for Lemuria and knowing Drake, she's going to find it."
"Perfection. And if she does find it-"
"I'll fly her there personally."
Casey laughed. "Remember, as her manager, you let me know the second she finds out about Lemuria, our plan depends on us catching her off guard before she catches on. And no offense but you're not cut out for field work, Graydon. Chances are, you'll be chewed up and spat out or worse eaten alive."
"I know, stop reminding me." He breathes heavily on the phone. "I just can't wait to stick it to the Overlord leader. They're going to pay for everything they've done to us and Drake is going to help us."
"In the words of Jared, she has no choice."
"Speaking of Jared, tell him that Cassie is friends with Angie Richardson, and get this: she has a daughter."
"Duly noted." Seeing no reason to keep on, Casey ends the conversation before turning around. She met Jared down the hall, who was panting and sweating in half-zipped pants.
"How was your latest whore?"
"She was great," Jared smiled darkly. "She's bleeding out as we speak. Any progress on Drake?"
"I just got off the phone with Grayson. Apparently, Cassie looking for Lemuria."
Jared's eyes open. "Perfect, that is absolutely perfect."
"And guess what, you remember Angie, right?"
"Angie Richardson? I never forget a face, especially if she's the only one who got away. What about her?"
"Drake is friends with her. Oh, and get this: she has a daughter."
Jared's jaw dropped open and he licked the bottom of his lips. "How old is she?"
"I don't know but given how Grayson spoke a little too eagerly about her, she must be around seven or eight."
"She's mine." He smiled. "Wow, looks like Angie didn't get away after all."
"Congratulations, mate, you are the father."
"That bitch is going to pay for escaping me alive."
"What did she do to you that made you hate her so much?"
"Do you know how she escaped me?" Casey shook her head. "She hit me in the groin with a brick."
"So your balls got crushed, could be worse; you could've lost an eyeball," Casey argued. "Doesn't matter. Tell everyone downstairs to get ready because Drake is only days away from finding Lemuria. Lemuria is the perfect place to carry out our plan."
The Overlord leader, you are nothing but a liar and a cheater and you will pay for everything you've done to us. Fair place, my ass, you will suffer and you will pay and it will be slow and painful as ever.
Nothing personal, Cassie Drake, just revenge.
Maui
With Cassie
Cassie did not forget her late-night date with Angie. They met up at the same place as before, ordered the same meal, and Cassie was looking down at her watch and kept a mindful eye on the time. She already made arrangements to go flying at some point this week and she left Evan at home in the arms of his father. Just as they were about halfway done with their food, Angie started the conversation.
"Once again, thank you for taking me out to lunch; it's muchly appreciated."
Cassie wiped her hands with a napkin. "Anything for an amigo."
"How's your archaeology hunt going?"
"Excellente. I'm about halfway closer to finding Lemuria. Lemuria, can you believe it?"
Angie recited Lemuria in her memory. "Wow, think of that: Cassie Drake, finder of mythical objects and lost cities, finds a lost sunken continent. Sounds interesting. I kinda want to go on this little escapade with you."
"You guys have any experience with archaeology?"
"Somewhat."
"Are you familiar with any kind of culture aside from American and Chinese?"
Angie pretended to ponder. "Buddhism. I practice Buddhism."
Cassie furrowed her brows. "Since when?"
"Since Tiffany was born. I'm not too strict about it but I am trying my best to practice everything and whatnot. I'm trying to keep an open mind and make sure I have control over my spirit as much as my body."
Cassie held her glass out in a supportive gesture. "You have my full support. I can't wait for you and the Priest to meet up so you can have a little debate on whether Buddhism is a religion or not."
"It's not a religion," Angie told.
"It's a religion. Afterlife, praying…"
"Meditating. And there aren't any deities to worship."
Cassie decided not to argue any further. "Okay, if you say so. Opinions are opinions." She took a sip of her drink. "But if you're so keen on trying to find a lost continent with me, I see no reason we can't invite an outside party. You know, to capture and record our historical moment."
Angie held her glass up. "Yep. Here's to lying about being cameraman and photographers."
"Lying is underrated nowadays."
The two women laughed before they clinked glasses together and drank away.
After lunch was done, Cassie went home and started rocking little Evan in her arms. With the man of the house gone on an extracurricular activity at the art gallery, Cassie took this time to play with her son.
"Come on, Evan," she urged, standing a few feet away from Evan. "Come on, stand up, stand up, Evan."
Evan was sitting in the middle of the living room floor, staring at his mother with a blank expression. He had his pacifier in his mouth and threw his hands in Cassie's direction.
"You can crawl, Evan, come on, crawl to Mommy."
Evan grunted and started bouncing up and down. Cassie laughed before crawling to him and planting a kiss on the top of his head. "Jeez, you're getting hair already?" She ruffles her fingers through his very thin hair. "Your hair is going to darken when you get older."
She turned over to the blocks she pulled out ahead of time and poured them out for him. "Here, Evan, pick up the block, please."
Evan stared at the block with an uninterested look.
Cassie stifled a laugh. "Yeah, you're right; I shouldn't rush you into doing these things. You'll learn eventually." She got an idea. "Hey, who wants some Goldfish crackers?" She went into the cupboard, retrieved a bag of rainbow Goldfish crackers, and she put a green one in his mouth after removing the pacifier.
Evan ended up throwing up on his bib and started crying.
"Aww," Cassie sighed before she took a napkin to wipe his bib. "It's okay, Evan, we all throw up. I'll let you in on a little secret." She leans close to him. "Your daddy passes out at the sight of me."
She picked Evan up and began rocking him in her arms before she gave him his baby formula. "Guess what, Evan, mommy is going to find a lost continent. Your mother is going to find a lost continent that had been sunken into the ocean. I'm going to make you proud, Evan."
The next day, when Cassie was at work, Marcus burst through holding something in his hands. "Guys, you will not believe this." He marches over to Cassie's cubicle and calls the rest of his co-workers over.
Cassie stood up from her rotating chair and grabbed the object. "What's this?" The object in question was a metal plate of some kind with a triangular design on the front. There were strange symbols on the top and bottom of the plate. Speaking of which, the plate was about the size of a textbook and weighed slightly more and Cassie had put the plate down on her desk. She immediately saw three holes in the plate, one at each end of the triangle.
"What is this, some kind of ancient board game?"
Marcus smiled. "That, my dear, is a scroll or table of some kind recovered from the lemur's dig site. At that dig site in Madagascar, after pulling out the rest of the lemur parts, we pulled this metal plate out as well. And when I called the locations where we found the other two diamonds, they found a plate similar to this as well. And with three holes each."
Cassie's eyes brightened. "So you're saying, these plates are connected to Lemuria?"
"Yes," Marcus nodded vigorously. "Three holes on each plate, big enough to fit a diamond."
Cassie grabbed the three diamonds out of her drawer and took them out. "Of course. And look at the design on the front. Lemuria was a continent connecting Africa to India without going through the Middle East so of course, it looks like a triangle." She squinted her eyes. "Or a volcano of some kind. And what are these markings on the top?"
Gil looked at the piece. "It looks like an ancient language of some kind."
"I have a cousin-in-law who dabbles in ancient languages. I can send these scripts to him and he can decipher them."
"The diamonds were found in the ancient lemur's mouths and these plates right next to their bodies but the openings are big enough for three diamonds to fit in." She grabs one diamond and plants in the three openings. Surprisingly, nothing happened.
"I something supposed to happen?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, in my experience."
One of the co-workers spoke up. "How about putting a diamond in the direction of where they were found."
Cassie pointed to the co-worker. "Good idea."
She rearranged the diamonds until they were placed in the direction of where they were found on the globe.
Unexpectedly, the diamonds suddenly took on a red glow and lit up with a bright red light. The diamonds shot out three red dots from the center and the red dots pointed to the center of the plate.
The workers in the building gaped at the sight and Cassie touches the diamonds. "Did you guys see that?" She waves her hands in front of the diamonds, the one diamond at the top being covered by her hand and the red dot in the center vanishing.
"It's coordinate," Cassie gasped. "Someone get a map."
The cartographer of the group named Delsin pulled out a map from his back pocket and rolled it over the table, which was just barely covered by the paper.
"Line it up," she ordered and Delsin did just that. "Okay, if Madagascar is here and India is right here, and this triangle shape represents Lemuria, then that means, Lemuria must be… right here, off the coast of Sri Lanka."
She follows the dot to the center of the Indian Ocean. She clicked her tongue and made a fish. "Guys, Lemuria may have been sunken but if an ancient table is pointing to this spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, that means…"
"There must be evidence of Lemuria there," Marcus concluded. "Holy shit, I'll let Gradyon know right away."
Cassie took out her pocket-sized journal and made a copy of the map in her journal before putting it back in her pocket.
After making this amazing discovery, Cassie took the metal plate herself and carried it to Graydon's office. She put the map and plate down on Graydon's desk and showed him the exact coordinate on the map.
Graydon looked down at the map, stunned. He gaped and put his elbows on the table before shielding his mouth with his fists. "This is spectacular. An island in the middle of the ocean, completely isolated from humanity."
Cassie nodded. "Yeah, that's usually how it goes. But, if I'm correct, we'll find evidence of Lemuria out there. Who knows, if we're lucky, it's one of the last unsunken spots on the continent."
"You've done well," Graydon smiled. "Cassie Drake, today is your lucky day because I'm going to be making arrangements for you to scout ahead of the destination yourself."
Cassie glared at him. "'Scuse me?"
"You heard me. I'm going to send you to the island to do a quick recon of the place. You're obviously a much more seasoned and experienced explorer than anyone else around here so it makes sense to send you there in case of booby traps."
"Makes sense I guess but-"
"Don't worry, I'll be sure to provide you with a security detail just in case."
"What, but I-"
"Now get out of my office. And leave the map here."
Cassie took the plate and left the map, regretting that she already circled the destination with a permanent marker.
With Cassie out of his hair, Graydon made a few calls and made a few arrangements. Sooner rather than later, Cassie Drake was going to help them get revenge against the one person who failed them."
XXXX
Three Days Later
After arrangements had been made, Cassie Drake boarded a private plane on the runway with several other planes following close behind her plane. Cassie said goodbye to her family, for she would be away for a while but promised to return and she couldn't wait to bring her crew with her. But she had to go first, scout the place out, and make sure it was safe.
Although, the heavily-armed mercenaries made her feel very uneasy.
Cassie was about to settle into the plane when she heard the sounds of footsteps closing in on her seat. She turned to see a familiar face. "Angie? What the hell are you doing here?"
Angie scoffed and rolled her eyes with a snarky smile. "I got invited. Thank you very much for getting me an invite to one of your expeditions. My husband is saying I should get out more and travel so I can get ideas for my fashion and-"
"I didn't invite you," Cassie told.
"I thought one of your friends invited me."
"What, who?"
Cassie realized that the propellers were starting up and the plane was already starting to take off. Cassie panicked and called out for the pilot before the pilot ordered her to sit back.
The plane took off in less than a minute and Cassie couldn't move. Once she was free to move about the cabin, she got up from her seat before she heard the familiar sound that sent chills down her spine.
"Sit. Down. Drake."
Cassie did as she told without looking at her enemy and raised her hands. Angie looked over her shoulder with wide eyes and took a cushy seat as close to Cassie as possible.
The gunman walked around the seats and sat down in the seat beside Angie. "You got the window seat," the woman's voice carried to Cassie which sent more chills down her spine. "You're so lucky, Cassie Drake."
"Am I?" Cassie demanded. "Am I really?"
How could I be so stupid? I should've known it was a trap from the beginning.
"Yes," a familiar voice spoke out from the cockpit. A familiar face stepped out as well. Graydon. "You should consider yourself to be very lucky, Drake."
Cassie narrowed her eyes, glaring at the man who betrayed her. "You invited Angie here?"
"I did," Graydon smiled. "Though it was supposed to be a plus one and I was hoping she would bring her daughter with her."
Angie cringed in disgust. "You pervert."
"Yeah."
Cassie looked back to the gunman. "What's going on, why are you doing this? Please, just leave Angie out of this."
The gunwoman stood up. "You should consider yourself lucky, Drake because you are going to help us get revenge on a mutual enemy."
Cassie spotted the tattoos on the gunwoman's forearm. "Overlord?"
"Ex-Overlord," the gunwoman corrected. "My name is Casey Blake. You've already met Graydon Del Ross and this guy over here is Jared Jablonski, a person Miss Angie here should already be affiliated with."
Angie looked over her shoulder at Jared, her heart clenched in her chest before dropping into the pits of her stomach. She never forgot a face, especially the face of someone who did horrible things to her.
"You look as radiant as ever, Angie," Jared snarled. He petted her on the top of her head. "I've missed your hair so much. And the touch of your skin. Out of all the whores, I've missed you the most." He reaches for her jacket. He pulls her out of her seat and yanks her wallet out.
He pulls a picture out. "And here she is, my beautiful daughter." He kisses the picture of Angie, Simon, and Tiffany. "Absolutely beautiful. This other guy in the picture, I'm going to have to get rid of him but my daughter, she's got all of your beautiful looks."
"Stay away from her," Cassie warned. "Stay away from Angie or I'll-"
Graydon silences Cassie by jamming a gun into her cheek. "I didn't get a toy to play with on this trip, I should at least let Jared play with his toy."
Cassie growled.
A child molester and a rapist. But what's Casey's story?
Casey turned to the pilot and called out. "How long until we reach the coordinates?"
"No more than a day or two," the pilot answered. "But don't worry, we got plenty of fuel for the entire trip there."
Casey smiled. "Good." She looked back to Cassie. "Good indeed."
Angie slapped Jared's hand away. Jared growled in anger before Casey pointed her gun at him. "Don't even think about it."
Jared looked at her with a hint of betrayal on his face. "Why not?"
"This is Cassie Drake; if we're on a plane with her and we let our guard down for a single second then everything is ruined. She might crash our plane before we get to our destination. You can have your way with Angie but only after we touchdown."
Jared sucked in air through his teeth, fury burning in his eyes, but they died out and a hint of sadism reappeared on his face, a wide-eyed, wide-grinned smiling face.
"If I want my second chance with Angie to last, I must be patient."
Lemuria
Off the Coast of Sri Lanka
"Wow," Casey Blake gasped as she got out of the plane, pushing Cassie Drake forward and nearly knocking her down to the ground.
Cassie caught herself and looked back at Angie who was standing beside her and holding onto her shoulder. Cassie grabbed her hand and lead her forward. Cassie was still taken in by the sight before her. After a day of flying with these ex-Overlord soldiers, she finally got a chance to breathe when they touched down on an island, an island that was green with a jungle and forest. There were calls of animals but Cassie immediately identified them as birds there was some chittering that resembled the chitters of monkies but Cassie couldn't place a name to what kind of monkies made those chittering sounds. What immediately caught Cassie's attention was the fact that there was a runway on this deserted island. Why in god's name would there be a runway, a clear path for planes and helicopters to touch down? Overlord either didn't care or didn't notice and they used this opportunity to land down. There were roughly twelve planes that landed on the runway, along with four helicopters. One plane that landed was large enough to carry at least a dozen 4x4 jeeps inside, along with a small battalion of men inside—specifically, more ex-Overlord soldiers.
The Overlord soldiers, or ex-soldiers, were wearing the standard uniform, a black jacket, the Overlord insignia as a path on their arms, and each one armed with an assault rifle. One ex-soldier stood out in particular by having the strength of an elephant, evidenced by his wearing a sleeveless jacket that exposed his heavy muscles that would make a boxer green with envy. To capitalize on his tank-like structure, he carried a heavy machine. Cassie couldn't identify at first, before firing it out that he was carrying an M134 minigun... with his bare hands.
"Hank," Casey Blake called out to the heavy soldier. "Go set up a perimeter, make sure no lions and mutant gazelles attack us. Kill them on sight."
"Yes," Hank said in a raspy voice. "Will do, milady."
"And don't call me 'milady', it's Commander Blake to you, jackass."
"Yes, milady."
Casey sneered at the giant soldier, unintimidated by his figure, but made no further attempt to reprimand him. The giant soldier ran off into the jungle, taking a small unit of about twelve soldiers with him, each one armed with guns, grenades, and combat knives.
What the hell?" Cassie gasped as she saw something in the distance. "Is that a volcano?"
Cassie knew a volcano when she saw one she climbed a few in the past and each one had a different and unique experience, especially the active one that almost melted her but that was a long time ago. After spending more time on this island, Cassie realized something.
If this island really was deserted, why isn't the runway overgrown? And more importantly, what was giving off that signal with the three diamonds? Why would those diamonds point to this location if there was nothing here? The runway being clear, the volcano, the diamonds, if I'm not mistaken...that means...
"This is a clear spot," Casey declared before shoving Cassie and Angie forward. "Edgar, set up the camera, and let's get this done and over with."
The pilot came out of the helicopter, armed with a shotgun. He climbed down and ran into the jungle, clearly eager to shoot something. He vanished into the trees but Cassie took note of how dark the jungle looked, even went the sun was directly above them. The jungles were so thick that no sunlight was coming through.
All we're missing is ominous fog.
"Cassie," Angie cried out, "What are they going to do to us?"
Cassie wrapped her arm around her shoulder. "They won't do anything, not while I'm still alive."
"They said they're going to kill you," Angie corrected. "They've been talking about it nonstop on the plane ride for almost twenty-four hours."
Cassie shook her head. "I'll think of something, I'll get us out of here."
"You're not going anywhere," Graydon declared. "Our goal is simple; Cassie is incidental. Angie, you are a bonus, for Jared at least."
Angie looked at Jared, who was smiling smugly at her. She wanted nothing more than to turn away and escape from his gaze, but a thought occurred to her and it motivated her to keep her gaze.
He wants powers, he wants power and I'll make sure he doesn't get it. Conquer yourself before you conquer Jared, Angie.
A few minutes later, Edgar came out with a camcorder from a helicopter. He checked it a few times before he pressed the record button to make sure everything was working correctly. Cassie would've guessed that he had a background in photography or filming but that seemed irrelevant now. But the more seconds that passed, the more it dawned on her that she was away from Evan and she was surrounded by people who wanted to kill her. If that were to happen, Evan would grow up without a mother just like her father and uncle did. And Derek... he'd be a widower, single father, all because she was stupid and let these ex-Overlord soldiers trick her. Cassie wanted to cry and curl up but that wasn't going to happen.
"Get everything set up," Casey ordered once more.
Edgar started the camcorder up and filmed Casey. Graydon and Jared did the honors of jamming pistols into the back of Cassie and Angie's heads and knocking them to their knees. Casey made sure she was within earshot of Cassie and Angie before speaking.
'To whom it may concern, and by that, I mean our dearly beloved Overlord leader. The person who took us in, and promised us a second chance in life. The person who proposed to make this world a better and fairer place. The person who said that we have redemption within all of us. And most importantly, the person who cast us off excommunicated us, and put bounties on our heads." Casey laughed humorlessly. "Why did you do it, my Leader? Why did you just decide to up and abandon us? Why in God's name... did you throw us out?" Casey's tone changed, her joyful tone gone. 'What have we done? Sure Jared may have had his way with women against their wills and Graydon may have picked up children at the park here and there but you promised to help us. You should've kept your promise. How can you say that you'll make this world a better place when you can't even help out three simple soldiers? Why did you abandon us, Overlord Leader?"
Casey's tone suddenly changed and anger took over as the predominant tone. "We've lost a lot in our lives and you break your promise to help us get back on track. Why did you do that? Why did you give up on us?" He tr tone changed once more, sadism radiating in her voice. "If Cassie Drake is so important to you... then I know exactly what to do with her."
Richard came running out of the jungle, a terrified look on his face, and he ran for the plane. Without saying a word, he climbed inside and locked himself in the plane. Casey looked confused.
"Richard, what the hell are you doing? Get out here and-"
RAAAGH!
Cassie's suspicions were confirmed with that single roar that echoed through the island. Cassie and Angie looked behind them in the direction where the roar came from, all the soldiers surrounding them Casey, Jared, and Graydon included, having fearful expressions on their faces.
"What was that?" a soldier asked.
"A monster!"
"What kind of monster?" Cassie asked that soldier.
AAAAAH!
BAM! BAM! BANG! BANG!
Cassie and Angie stumbled back, crawling away from where the gunshots came from. The soldier surrounding them drew their guns and blindly fired into the forest. They stopped after two seconds and several soldiers came running out of the jungle, terrified out of their lives given that some of them pissed their pants.
"Run away!" the retreating soldiers cried out. "Run!"
The truck of a soldier, Hank, came running out of the jungle, his minigun missing as well as his right arm. Hank groaned in pain and ran as fast as he could to the plane, accompanied by two soldiers behind him that were bleeding from the head and having deep scratches across their cheeks.
RAAAAAGH!
The plane that Richard locked himself in started up and in less than a minute, took off, abandoning everyone on the island.
"Return fire."
The soldiers returned fire with the pilots running to the aerial vehicles but something shot out from the thick and deep jungles that set the planes and helicopters on fire. Some soldiers within the blast radius caught fire and burned to death while others were blown to pieces.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Cassie grabbed Angie and they ran off to one of the vehicles. Cassie picked up a gun from a fallen soldier, who just collapsed in front of her two seconds ago with a spear lodging deep into his chest, jumped into the jeep, and drove off after Angie put on her seatbelt.
She drove off into the jungle, using the most cleared route she could find, one that didn't have too many bumpy roads nor too many trees blocking their way. She looked in the rearview mirror to see one jeep and two dirt bikes chasing after her. But after carefully looking, she realized that the vehicles behind her weren't chasing after her but following in the same direction as her. They were ex-soldiers trying to escape like her but she saw them as another obstacle for her to get rid of.
"Take the wheel," she ordered Angie. Angie complied and Cassie climbed into the backseat, cocked her Ak-47 assault rifle, aimed and-
A spear hit the two dirtbike riders in the back and they both went tumbling down to the ground. Cassie looked up in the trees, trying to find any source of hostility but all she could find were leaves and nests. That is until something caught her eye. Something in the trees, about the size of a human with FOUR arms, was leaping from tree to tree, chucking spears at the escaping vehicles. The tree-dweller chucked its spear at the Overlord driver and hit him like a bullseye dart player. The jeep crashed into a log and Cassie gasped.
Without thinking, pure survival instinct taking over, she fired at the tree-dweller and hit it before it could throw another spear. She hit it in the head and it fell from the tree. She wasted only five bullets and regretted not getting any ammo.
I knew it, this island WASN'T deserted.
At the wheel, Angie saw a figure jump across several trees in front of her, holding a spear in one of its four hands. The creature threw the spear at her. Angie jerked the wheel to the left, almost causing Cassie to fall out in the back but she was able to catch herself. Angie saw Cassie nearly fly off in the rearview mirror and jerked the wheel back on course after having dodged the incoming spear. Unluckily for her, a spear she did not see hit their tire. The jeep jerked out of control and they almost crashed into a tree, had it not been for Angie turning the wheel at the very last second.
Taking her foot off of the accelerator, the jeep came to a complete stop and Angie jumped out. Cassie jumped out too after shooting the figure who destroyed their tire. They ran off deeper into the jungle, a third creature leaping after them but instead of throwing spears, the creature jumped down to the bottom and chased after the two on foot.
Cassie got a good look at the creature now—the size of a man with four arms, two legs, and three eyes. Two eyes were placed where a human's eye should be placed and the third eye was centered on their forehead and was a deep green color that almost looked like slime. The creature's mouth was the size of a volleyball with four large fangs protruding from its lips. The beast was hairy and had a tail that was striped with black and white colors. Overall, the beast was generally dark grey and had hair covering its legs, arms, and neck area.
There was no time to admire this creature and Cassie shot at it, unloading at least seven bullets before the creature dropped. With the threat over, Cassie ran forward and caught up with Angie. After running for a few minutes, they jumped over a log and hid. They stayed behind the log for about two minutes before either person spoke.
"I think we're in the clear," Angie panted, still crying to catch her breath. "What were those things?"
"The natives on this land," Cassie answered. "Lemuria is supposed to be the first civilization on this planet. Those creatures we saw are natives of this island, and descendants of the first creatures to become a civilization. We're in their world now."
"Oh my god," Angie gasped. "Those creatures that were attacking us... they were the first beings on this earth?"
"No, not the first beings but the first beings of a civilization."
Cassie and Angie nearly jumped out of their skin in terror when they heard someone drop behind them. Cassie raised her gun, only to spot a surrendering enemy before her. It was a familiar face, one she hadn't seen in two years during her Philosopher's Stone adventure.
"Eins," Cassie gasped. "Is that you?"
"Alice," the enemy corrected. "My name is Alice but thank you for remembering."
Cassie's finger twitched over the trigger. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you."
"Don't kill her," Angie begged, "she's unarmed."
"I'm also no threat," Alice added. "I'm here to help you on behalf of Overlord. For example, I called in a helicopter being flown by my cousin who is going to pick us up in two hours. All we gotta do is survive."
"Why should I believe you?" Cassie demanded. "Overlord bastard."
"You're an Omega target," Alice smiled. "Overlord's leader wants you alive and I am here to make sure you live."
"Were you part of Overlord during your time with Vita Longa?"
"I was," Alice said proudly. "But if you must know what my role is, I am what you call a 'sideliner'. A 'sideliner' in Overlord jargon means a soldier who watches over a non-Overlord group and makes sure they don't interfere with Overlord operations. Vita Longa interfered with Overlord operations and therefore, my brothers and I were sent in to make sure they were dealt with. We watched from the sidelines but we made sure that they lost. Knowing you and your history of destroying history, you would destroy the Philosopher's Stone and Ys yourself. Thank you... for making us sideliners' jobs easier."
"My pleasure."
"And I'm a mother with two brothers and three cousins. I want to see my son." She looks at something on Cassie. "And I'm sure you want to get home to your husband."
Cassie forgot she still had her wedding ring on. There wasn't any reason to take off because she had no idea she was to be abducted.
"Drake, you and Overlord may be enemies but Casey Blake is far worse than we could ever be. They want to kill you to get back at our leader for failing them. Let's call it a truce. After all, you didn't pick up any ammo off that dead soldier from earlier."
"You saw that?"
"Edgar and Hank and I were hiding. Remember, we are sideline soldiers but this is one of the few operations we had to get involved in. Our Leader anticipated that Blake would do something like this, kidnapping you and all that shit, so our Leader sent us in as sideline soldiers to make sure you were to survive. We were going to attack and then my cousin, 'Hank' as Blake rudely called him, was attacked in the jungle by these native creatures."
Cassie's fingers tighten around the gun but she considered what Alice was saying.
"The point I was trying to make with me noticing you not taking any ammo is this: I have more than enough ammo on me to help you survive. If the three of us head to the highest point on this island, the volcano, then my cousin will be able to drop down in his helicopter and pick us up. All we gotta do... is survive. I will ensure that you survive this adventure and in return, you make sure that I survive."
"You know I can just shoot you and take your ammo," Cassie deadpanned.
"Don't kill her," Angie begged, "don't do it."
Alice pulled out a magazine and tossed it to Cassie. "The first of many magazines." She pulled something else out. "Familiar tools of the trade?"
A grappling hook and climbing piton.
Cassie caught both of these items and pocketed them. Cassie put the gun down and shook Alice's hand.
"Now, let's get to the volcano and wait." Alice leads the way with Cassie and Angie following.
XXXX
On the other side of the island, Edgar managed to pull his cousin, Hank, to safety along with three other Overlord soldiers. Jared followed closely behind them. They climbed up a mountain and stopped when they came to an edge.
"Anyone looking to commit suicide?" Jared asked. "Or if it's against your religion, I can push you off."
Edgar looked at Jared. He was about to retort something until a native snuck up on them from a bush.
Jared heard the result and turned and managed to shoot the native with the shotgun Richard dropped in the jungle earlier. The native was blown to bits and more natives came to help their fallen blood relative. Jared dodged a swing of a spear and jammed the shotgun barrel under the native's jaw and blew its head off. A third native grabbed Jared with all four of its arms and attempted to crush him but it turned out, natives were no stronger than regular humans. Faster, agile, but not stronger. Jared broke free and wrapped his arms around the native and suplex him. The native broke its neck and Jared picked up his shotgun and blasted it in the heart.
Two more natives charged him, each one thrusting their spear at him. He moved out of the way in time but the two soldiers behind him were impaled and killed Jared shot both natives in one go and ran out of ammo. The last native charged Jared and nearly caught him had he not rolled over like a gymnast in time. The native bumped into Edgar and Hank, resulting in Edgar falling over the cliff and Hank barely catching himself with one hand. Edgar didn't fall far. In fact, he landed in a tree before falling the rest of the way down and landing in a great big pile of mud and was covered from head to toe in said mud.
The native's forehead exploded with blood. Casey Blake caught up with her teammate and held a revolver with a smoking barrel up. She was covered in sweat and blood that Jared was hoping was hers.
"Took you long enough," Jared sighed. "You were waiting for me to play damsel-in-distress before saving me, right?"
"You read my mind, what a telepath." She pocketed her gun. "This whole thing went to shit badly. We're separated and Graydon is missing and all our helicopters and planes are gone."
Jared made a fist. "And Richard abandoned us!'
"We're going to get out of here. I heard radio chatter on my walkie-talkie." She pulls out her radio. "Someone named Eins called Vier and a helicopter is coming. If we head to the top of the volcano, we can kill Eins and then escape on the helicopter ourselves."
"What about Drake?"
"Knowing her, she'll most likely be heading to the volcano too. I mean, she's survived dozens of adventures so she must have an idea of what to do." She started heading down. "I managed to secure a jeep. Follow me and we'll race our way to the volcano."
The two of them climbed down the mountain, abandoning Hank and the other soldier as they climbed into their jeep. After starting the car Jared took off driving. They followed a path big and clear enough for them to drive through. He kept a consistent pace moving forward and did not stop, even when he saw a familiar face in his path.
Bleeding and missing an eye, Graydon ran into their path and tried to flag them down. "STOP!" he cried at the top of his lungs. "Don't leave me!" Tears and snot spilled down his face and mouth as he had a hysterical breakdown. Realizing that the jeep wouldn't stop, he jumped up and down, still trying to flag down his former allies. Something caught his attention in the corner of his eye and a native tackle him off the road.
Jared nearly rammed into the native but kept the wheel straight and driving path straight as well. Casey looked over her shoulder rather than looking in the rearview mirror and watched with astonishment as the native tore into Graydon, her only regret being she didn't get a blood sample to add to her collection.
XXXX
Cassie didn't know what to think when they finally reached a cave. After being chased for about half a mile by more natives, the only place for them to go was to a cave. There were risks involved but Cassie figured they had to do something and something was better than nothing.
After killing the last natives chasing them into the cave, they walked deeper into the cave. If memory served them correctly, this cave was connected to the volcano and they would get to the top from the inside. Better inside than outside with those natives roaming the island.
Cassie came to an edge leading into an abyss. It wasn't too deep of an abyss, as she could see the ground, but it was still a fatal flaw. Cassie removed her grappling hook and launched it at a beam above her. She climbed up and then used her piton to dig into the wall. Like clockwork, she climbed the wall, being very careful to grab hold of the handholds before she reached the top. She dropped the end of the grappling hook down so Angie and Alice could climb up and meet her.
Now that they were up a few levels or so in the cave, they continued walking deeper into the cave. They saw daylight at the end of the cave and they headed toward it. They stopped short of sprinting when they reached the end and came upon another edge. But this time instead of there being a bottomless abyss before them, there was... life before them.
"Oh my god," Cassie's words got caught in her throat.
The view before her was like a small New York City, with buildings made out of food, working lights, and carriages being carried by animals on four legs. Cassie looked up into the sky to see clouds above them. They were inside the volcano and the cradle of civilization, Lemuria, was residing and living in the center of the volcano.
Cassie squinted her eyes before Alice pulled out a pair of binoculars for the both of them. Cassie begrudgingly took the binoculars and zoomed her vision in. Before her, she could see more of the native creatures walking in the wooden village. There were adult natives, each with four arms, and infant natives with two arms. Cassie could identify the female by their hairless features but one thing that stood out was that male and female native were walking together with infant natives in their hands.
They're just protecting their home, Cassie realized. They're not malicious; they're just protecting their home.
"Look at that," Alice urged. "You see those diamonds in the center?"
Cassie looked through the binoculars to see a circular area in the center of town that was glowing almost as bright as the sun. Cassie had to squint just to make sure she wouldn't go blind and she opted to remove the binoculars. "What is that?"
Alice chuckled. "Amazing. This volcano should've erupted years, decades, centuries, millennia, millions of years ago, but it hasn't and you know why? Because the natives of Lemuria found a way to stop volcanoes from erupting." She smiled widely. "Can you imagine what people could do with that power? If Overlord had that power, we could prevent volcanoes from erupting. We could save millions of lives."
And in the process, recruits just as many people, Cassie deduced. You could increase numbers in the billions. I must wonder though, is that pit of light used to act as a beacon? Is that what the red dots were pointing at earlier on the map?
Cassie looked at the ground. As much as I love history and archeology, I love Evan more than life itself. And although there's nothing wrong with Lemuria, they are just trying to protect their land, I can't allow Overlord to steal their technology. If their technology is really advanced after all these years then...
She squeezed her eyes shut.
I don't want Evan to live in a world ruled by Overlord; I want him to grow up in this world. It may not be perfect but it's beautiful. I could kill Alice to make sure she doesn't transmit her location back to Overlord headquarters but there's no guarantee that Overlord isn't already aware of this place. If we leave, then Overlord will come back with reinforcements, armed and loaded for native bear and...
She looked ahead. I'm so sorry, natives of Lemuria, but I have to destroy your homeworld to make sure Overlord doesn't win.
She missed the good old days when she didn't have to worry too much about saving the world. Sure, she has saved the world here and there but this meant sacrificing a lost civilization in doing so, a civilization just looking to defend its home.
"Let's climb to the top," Alice suggested. "Once we're at the top we can wait for Devon to arrive. But first, I gotta call Edgar and Frank to meet us up here."
Cassie calculated the distance between their location and the top of the volcano. Just a little over a hundred-foot climb, nothing too major.
Cassie was about to say something when she heard the sound of someone screaming behind her. She turned and saw mud-covered Edgar and Frank 'Hank' running in their direction. They were being chased by natives. Cassie turned her gun on the natives and fired but more came flooding from the cave. Surrounded and almost in need of a magazine change, the natives almost surrounded the five of them and nearly forced them over the edge. When they did go over the edge, Cassie managed to grab Angie and throw her grappling hook out at a beam.
The beam fell and both Cassie and Angie go falling. Cassie manages to find another beam to hook her hook around just in the nick of time as they touch at the bottom of the abyss where the natives were converging on them. Cassie changed magazines and counted the eight mags she still had in her possession. Cassie fired on the natives, on ethics and morals leaving her, only the will to survive takes over. Cassie gunned down about half a dozen natives as she moved to the right, Angie following close behind her. They couldn't go back because the only thing behind them was a rock wall. But there was an opening beside them that they could go through but a jeep rammed through and crashed into the incoming army of natives. The driver and the passenger bailed out in time, revealing themselves to be Casey and Jared.
The recovering ex-soldiers spotted Cassie and Angie and smiled.
"Short time, no see Cassie Drake," Casey laughed. "Nice to see you again. I believe, we have unfinished business."
Jared looked at Angie. "We both do."
Casey took out her phone. Once she clicked record, she drew her gun to fire only for Cassie to shoot the phone out of her hand and hand holding the gun. Casey winced in pain and Jared put his hands up.
"You could've shot me dead," Casey pointed out. "Why not?"
"Don't want to waste bullets. What is your problem with me and why are you trying to record killing me?"
Jared dove for Angie and tackled her to the ground. Cassie turned to shoot him but the quick-footed Casey managed to grapple with Cassie and knock her gun away.
Casey bit Cassie's hand and then her shoulder, drawing blood on both occasions. She dropped Cassie to the ground and almost bit her cheek. The natives from before managed to pick themselves up and charge for the intruders before another Overlord soldier who came through the same opening the jeep came through and sprayed bullets from a light machine gun at the natives to buy his superiors and enemies some time.
"Tell me," Jared growled as he pinned Angie to the wall. "What do you see whenever you look at my daughter? Tiffany was her name, a good name. What do you see when you look at Tiffany? Me and what I did to you? Tell me, we don't have much time right now. If you tell me, I'll spare you from being killed by these natives. I already killed Graydon so you don't have to worry about him molesting our child."
"I forgive you," Angie said, looking him in the eyes. "I forgive you, Jared."
Jared's jaw dropped, the loud sounds of gunfire muting all around him. "What was that?"
"I forgive, Jared Jablonski, for what you have done to me. And to answer your question, I don't see you, I see a miracle. I see the most beautiful girl in the world and I'm happy she has parents who love her, especially a dad. My husband is a great dad."
Jared clenched his teeth. "No, why are you forgiving me?" He laughed suddenly. "You are lying, you are lying to me and to yourself. You don't forgive me, you are just lying."
"Keep telling yourself that, I am content with my decision. I don't have to forgive you... but I choose to. I choose to forgive you for what you've done to me."
"No!" Jared snapped. "How can you forgive me for doing such a vile deed? What is wrong with you?! How could you forgive me?!" A native pulled him off of Angie with all four arms and began crushing him. "How could someone like me ever deserve forgiveness?!" The native's grip around Jared tightened until a loud SNAP! was heard and blood spurted out of Jared's mouth and an eye popped out of his skull. The native tossed Jared's body to the ground before moving to Angie.
Cassie headbutted Casey off of her and grabbed her gun. She wasted the last of her ammo on the native. Cassie sighed in exhaustion and was about to aim to shoot Casey when an explosion went off twenty feet to her left. Cassie recognized the explosion as the same one that took out the helicopters and planes at the runway. She looked up to the tp of the abyss where she came down from and saw natives armed with chains and at the end of the chains were glowing white cubes.
Those white cubes must be explosives. If I can draw their attention and have them swing those cubes at the center where those cubes are preventing the volcano from erupting, then I can cause the place to go up in lava.
Wasting no more time, Cassie throws the empty assault rifle at Casey's head and gives her a concussion before she jumps into the jeep. The natives ignored it, seemingly uninterested in it, and Cassie started it up, but only after thinking of the horn to get the explosive natives' attention. Once she was sure she had their attention, she shifted gears and drove to the center of the volcano.
The natives with the cubes flung the explosives at Cassie just as she made it to the very center of the glowing lights. Cassie drove out of the way in time just as the cubes made contact and made the glowing ground go boom. Cassie barely managed to clear the blast radius and almost crashed into one of the wooden houses. She turned, only to crash into another wooden house. She had her seatbelt on so the damage wasn't too bad but when she looked behind her, the back of the car was on fire, and Casey, who stowaway in the car just before she took off, was set in half-ablaze.
Casey screamed and reached a hand out for Cassie. Cassie cringed and pulled away before she saw the look of despair on her face. She wasn't crying and screaming in pain from the fire but suffering an emotional breakdown of some kind. Cassie figured this must be the case of how animalistic her cries sounded.
"Don't leave me!"
Cassie wanted to get out of the car and leave her to burn but there was another part of her that wanted to help Casey try and put the flames out but the most she could do was reach out and give her hand a gentle hold. And that's exactly what she did and when their hands made contact, Casey's flailing body ceased and her hand embraced warmly around Cassie's hand, like a daughter holding their mother's hand for the first time. Her hand slipped away and Casey fell off the jeep and burned to a crisp.
Cassie jumped out of the vehicle and sprinted as fast as she could to get away from the incoming natives, who were then caught up in a pit of lava and melted into a liquid.
Cassie was almost caught by two natives when they snuck up on her from behind but they were shot dead by two Overlord snipers on the same ravine she fell from earlier. The two snipers were then tackled by natives from behind and fell over the edge, taking the natives with them to their doom.
Though the two natives were dead, some of their blood got on Cassie's face around her eye. She blinked the blood out and
"Up here!" Alice called out. She took out a rope and threw it down to Cassie to allow her and Angie to climb up. After climbing up the ravine, Cassie and Angie followed Alice, Edgar, and Frank as they ran forward alongside the ravine. Cassie looked back to see more lava rising out of the pit and it began to melt away the homes and natives still on the ground. Cassie looked ahead and kept her pace but Alice was a fast runner. Apparently, she had forgotten how Alice and her two younger siblings outsmarted and outran her back in Paris.
Angie looked over her shoulder and saw a small group of natives chasing after them, gunning for them armed to the teeth with spears in all four arms.
The five of them reached the end of the ravine and they found a path for them to climb and get up and closer to the top of the volcano. They managed to climb out of the volcano but after looking down, they realized that the lava was quickly rising. They sprinted away from the volcano's opening as a helicopter suddenly swerved in and stopped just short a few feet from the volcano's opening.
Angie and Frank managed to climb into the helicopter first before a native struck the side of the helicopter with a spear, forcing the helicopter to take off. Alice, Cassie, and Edgar sprinted around the native and sprinted for the ladder Frank kicked down from the helicopter's side door.
The three of them jumped onto the helicopter's ladder and once all three were accounted for, the pilot flew as high as he could into the air and flew as far and fast away from the volcano as mechanically possible. Just as they were about a thousand feet away from the volcano, the volcano suddenly erupted and black smoke flew in every direction. The helicopter got high up in the air fast enough to escape the smoke's radius and the three people dangling from the ladders managed to climb inside the helicopter.
"Oh my god," Cassie gasped at the sigh as the lava began its slow descent down the volcano and made the island completely uninhabitable.
"Add that to the list," Alice said slowly while catching her breath. "Cassie Drake: Destroyer of lost cities, mythical artifacts, and lost continents."
"You would've told your leader what happened then they would've sent soldiers here to steal the natives' technology."
"That is true."
"So what are you going to do to us?"
Alice stood up, her chest slowly rising with each breath. "Nothing. We're going to find the nearest airport to land in and then you're on your own. Remember, we are sideline soldiers; our job is to make sure that rival groups don't succeed. Plus, you are an Omega Target, the leader will have Code: Blacked us if we killed you, especially as sideline soldiers."
"What does Code: Black mean?"
"Its Overlord jargon for the death penalty which often involves making an example of a soldier. Speaking of which, that girl who kidnapped you, Casey Blake, she's the reason Code: Blacks exist in the first place. Our Leader tried to be generous and fired her but she ended up becoming more trouble as an ex-Olverlord soldier, same with Jared and Graydon. The reason Blake was excommunicated in the first place is that she slaughtered our soldiers in their sleep. She was a female serial killer who took pleasure in killing men in gruesome ways and because of abandonment issues, she kept their blood as trophies so that they 'never abandoned her'. And Jared was responsible for doing horrible things to our female soldiers. And Graydon... let's say that he really loved children.
"Their plan was to kill you to get back at our leader for giving up on them. They wanted to kill you but it would've been too risky, seeing that you were often in public places and they couldn't take any chances that Overlord sleeper agents might be in the area so they waited until you were on Lemuria, a completely deserted island with no chances of Overlord interference, to kill you, and then send the footage to our leader."
"But the leader saw right through their plan and sent you guys in as sideline soldiers," Cassie finished. She looked t the pilot and co-pilots and recognized them as beck and Carter, Alice's two younger brothers. The third soldier with them was someone Cassie didn't recognize but noted how gently he was being tended to Frank's amputated arm.
"Devon," Alice looked to the medic, "how is our cousin doing?"
"My brother will be fine," Devon answered. "Be grateful I've treated stubs before."
"I don't think cigar stubs count, man."
Cassie went to sit on the plane with Angie and they both waited patiently as the Overlord soldiers flew them to safety.
Maui, Hawaii
Three Days Later
After their escapade on Lemuria, Cassie, and Angie got together for coffee once more with their children, Evan and Tiffany. They sat in a Starbucks bar and bounced their kids on their laps as they took sips from their coffee.
"Why did you forgive him?" Cassie asked suddenly. "I heard you and Jared talking; why did you forgive him for what he did to you?"
Angie stopped bouncing Tiffany in her lap. The small girl didn't notice as she was too distracted with her hot chocolate.
"I didn't want him to have any power over me," she answered simply. "If there's one thing I learned when practicing Buddhism, it's that revenge is a double-edged sword. Sure, it may feel good getting revenge on the purpose who hurt you, but revenge will poison you and those around you."
"I want to be a good mother to my daughter."
Tiffany looked at Angie with a bored look on her face. "Ma..."
Angie smiled. "I love you, Tiffany."
"Me... too... Ma."
Angie kisses Tiffany on the forehead. I don't care how Tiffany came into this world; I am the luckiest girl to have her.
Cassie looked at Evan. Turning the cheek rather than punching it? Damn, why did this world have to be so complicated? All I want is to give my son a peaceful world to live and the only way to do that would be to destroy lost cities and artifacts. Damn it, I want to learn and study history, not destroy it, and yet... Damn it, I want to be more like Angie.
She clenched her teeth.
I may be a bad person... but I want Evan to be a good person. I am going to be the best mother I can be to Little Evan. She puts her coffee down and twirls Evan in her hands before the infant faces her. Evan, your mother may make bad choices but she'll always love you. And don't worry, whatever bad choices in this world, I'll make them so you don't have to. Overlord will NEVER win and you will be the best kid ever. That is a promise I intend to keep.
A few minutes later, a familiar pair walked up to Cassie and Angie.
"Excuse me, miss..." Derek Lowell began, "this may sound like a cliche but haven't I seen you before?"
Cassie laughed. "Took you long enough. Were you stuck in traffic or abducted by aliens?"
"Eh, I was abducted by aliens but after telling them about E.T., they let me go home." He patted his friend on the back. "Me and Simon here figured that since you two are catching up as friends, there's no reason for us to not be friends."
"Daddy..." Tiffany whispered with half-closed eyes.
"What's up, sweetie." Simon Vincent picked up his daughter. "Yeah. In fact, we're planning a guy's trip this December before Christmas."
"Ooh, a guy's trip," Angie began, "what details entail on this little tale?"
"Camping."
"Camping, in December?"
"We want to see the Mardi Gras."
"The Mardi Gras float already passed in February."
Derek pointed to them. "You and Cassie already saw the Mardi Gras float. And we're taking Niko with us, too. You know, guy-bonding time."
Cassie nodded and smiled. "Well, after taking care of Evan all this time while I was back and from Madagascar and the Indiana Ocean, I think I owe you for a little trip."
"Oh yeah, speaking of which, how was your trip? Did you find Lemuria?"
Cassie and Angie looked at each other awkwardly. Cassie forced an uncomfortable smile on her face. "Well... you see, Derek, it's better if all four of us sat down together to talk about this."
The End of Chapter 12
