Losers and Legends

Henry Wilkins is the proverbial loser. He grew up in an orphanage in the US, never knowing his parents and never being adopted. As an adult, Henry struggles to gain the respect of his peers. At his boring office job, the office shark, JB torments him and mocks him constantly. When he gets home from work, he plays strategy war games on his pc and pretends he is meeting JB on the battlefield. Day in, day out, so goes the life of Henry Wilkins. But little does Henry know… his life is about to be turned upside down.

One morning that should be no different from any other, Henry sips his coffee and sees a notification on his secondary bank account on his phone. He clicks it to find that someone somewhere in the world has deposited $20,000 in his bank account. At first, he thinks it’s a glitch. So he restarts his phone, still there. So he calls his bank to conduct an investigation. Not even two days later, Henry receives a package via certified mail. He signs for it, goes into his apartment, and opens the package. Inside was a 6”x9” black book. He opens the book to discover pages upon pages of weird drawings, hieroglyphics, cuneiform, and greek writings. It just so happens that Henry is vaguely familiar with ancient languages, enough to make out a few words: daughter, history, society… but he does not understand enough to translate the book. There are pages of writings towards the end in languages Henry doesn’t even recognize. Henry is perplexed and curious.

Over the course of the next week and a half, Henry works day and night to translate the ancient writings in this book, cross referencing and deciphering like a code breaker. He concentrates on the Egyptian section of the mysterious book and is able to decipher a secret message. Apparently, this book and the $20,000 was sent to him to find the authors daughter. After more studying, he is able to translate a name and location, Mira Conolly, New York City. So, with $20,000 at his disposal, Henry quits his job and decides to go find Mira.

Two weeks go by. Henry goes through every Mira Conolly in the phone book. None of them pan out. He continues his search, faithfully working to decipher the book. He is working on the cuneiform section now and has translated more of the message. Apparently, some bad news people are searching for this book, people who want to effect a totalitarian police state of the entire world. This secret society has been doing this since the days of Hammurabi in ancient Sumer. They are some sort of ruling elite seeking to enslave humanity. The book speaks of some sort of mysterious power in a hidden cave in the Sahara desert, something so powerful it could revolutionize humanity, or destroy it. The bad news people want to use it to enslave humanity. Henry knows now that this is all way out of his league but he is driven by overwhelming curiosity. So he continues his search for Mira.

One day, by mere chance, Henry sees a name he must investigate. Its not Mira. Its Maria. For some reason, Henry feels compelled to follow up on this lead. He calls the number listed only to hear the static of a fax machine. So, he goes to the address listed. When he gets there, henry hears loud noises of struggle and calamity. He enters the open door and gets shot at. Henry quickly ducks behind cover. Bullets are flying. A woman is screaming and shooting. The struggle ensues until one hits her over the back of the head with the grip of his gun. She’s there, knelt down, about to be executed at point blank range. Henry thinks quickly and picks up the gun of one of the dead guys and fires five shots center mass into the last guy, saving the woman’s life. She quickly recovers the guys gun and stands aiming at Henry. The two have a tense conversation. Henry tells her he has no idea what is going on and all he has to go on is $20,000 and this stupid riddle book. The woman slowly lowers her aim and looks at Henry intently. She cant believe this loser could be the guy they’ve been looking for. She decides to sit Henry down and explain everything.

For 5000 years, a secret society called the twelve tribes have been trying to unlock a door deep in the earth that contains some kind of extra-terrestrial power that the creators of humanity left here on the earth. The cave was sealed centuries ago using the technology found inside and can only be opened with the code in this book, the spear key of Sargon, and the blood of the thirteenth tribe. Henry is descended from that bloodline and the twelve tribes have been looking for him for centuries. The bloodline was lost in history but Mira’s father, Richard Conolly, traced it and found Henry. Richard is an archaeologist who has been trying to gain access to the secret vault before the twelve tribes do. The $20,000 is to pay for henry’s travel expenses for this epic quest he must embark on. It is made clear to Henry that he can keep the money and disappear and the twelve tribes will never know who he is. Or, he can go on this quest, recover the key, and go to Egypt and find Richard. Henry is overwhelmed but feels responsible and decides to go on the quest. Mira tells Henry their first stop is Cordova, Spain.

Over the next three months, Mira and Henry travel all over the globe, deciphering the book together, uncovering clues, going on a wild goose chase after a key. All they have to go on are the codes in this book, researched and recorded by Richard. After meticulous research and deciphering, Henry and Mira finally uncover the location of Sargon’s key. It should be hidden deep in the Congo. But in Paris, the twelve tribes are hot on Mira’s trail. She tells Henry that he must go to the Congo and recover the key himself. She will lead the tribes away from him and meet him in Egypt. So, the two part ways. It is now that they both realize, they are falling in love with each other. Mira kisses Henry, then runs off down a back alley, getting the henchmen’s attention and leading them away from Henry. He goes the opposite direction and heads to Congo, Africa.

Deep in those jungles, with a guide, henry combs the area looking for this tiny shrine. The guide leads him to a dark area thick with jungle foliage, then tells Henry he will go no further. Now Henry is left in the jungle, far from his apartment, boring office job, and computer games on some epic quest to save humanity. He is a little scared but proceeds in the direction the guide showed him. After a half a day’s hike, Henry finds the shrine, but no spear. He references the book and the notes Mira gave him to help him translate it. The book tells him its buried under the shrine. With his bare hands, Henry begins digging.

It takes a few hours but finally Henry finds wood. He breaks the wood and digs with his hands, and finally, there, preserved through the ages, was a golden rod with a golden spear head. The tip of the spear was shaped oddly and had ancient writings engraved in it, weird drawings that look more like runes. He found it, the Spear of Sargon, the ancient key that could open the seal on that cave in the Sahara. So, with only two day’s rations, Henry makes his way out of the jungle and back to civilization. He boards a plane heading for Cairo, Egypt.

With the book and Mira’s notes, Henry is able to find a hidden cave in the city. He knocks four times four, as deciphered in the code book. Mira knocks back three times two. Henry knocks only once. Mira opens the door and throws her arms around Henry, elated to see him. And there, standing behind her was the man himself, Richard Conolly.

The three sit down and discuss plans. Richard translates the rest of the book for Henry. The other two languages are Aramaic and Akkadian. But there is a fifth and final language that even Richard cannot translate. It is the same kind of drawings on Sargon’s key. Something is hidden out there in the Sahara, and something is going to happen when they find it, but they don’t know what.

Just then alarms are triggered on Richard’s cave hideout. The tribes have found them! Richard has prepared for this and turns on all his traps. They make their escape but at the entrance of the tunnel the henchmen catch up with the three. Richard shoves Mira and Henry through the small opening and tells them to run. Mira cries and pleads with her father. Richard smiles, caresses his daughter’s face, then seals the door and triggers his trap behind it. Mira bangs on the door from the other side, crying hysterically. Henry takes her and pulls her away to make their escape. Then, they hear a loud explosion. Mira knows now her father has died protecting them. The two make their way through the tunnel and exit secretly in the city.

Henry and Mira make their way to the Sahara, buy some camels, and begin their journey. It takes four days but they find the secret cave and enter cautiously. Deep in the cave they come upon the largest vault doors either of them had ever seen. The huge doors have the same markings as on Sargon’s key and in the book. The two reference the book and after a couple hours, and a little of Henry’s blood, they unlock the doors and enter. What they see is a vast underground temple. They make their way through the awe inspiring beauty and come upon what looks like some sort of chair and beside the chair there are two levers. They reference the book again. The chair is a sacrifice altar. With Henry’s blood, the ancient machine can be activated to turn on the artificial intelligence and give humanity ancient technology that could revolutionize space travel, medical science, and the truth of humanity’s origins. Or, it can be used to turn on the artificial intelligence infused in every human being and effectively enslave them. Apparently, the aliens wanted humanity to decide their own fate. And the awful thing is, either way, Henry must die.

Mira argues with Henry in tears. She cries out for him not to. But Henry feels responsible. He tells her this has to happen because the tribes know of this location. And speak of the devil, the tribes’ henchmen enter the vault shooting. Henry and Mira must think quickly. He tells her to pull the lever and turn it on so that humanity can become a better species. Henry sits down in the chair. The henchmen keep shooting. Mira shoots back and makes her way to the good switch, slinging bullets the whole time. With one last look at Henry, she pulls the lever and all throughout henry’s body these cords hook into him and begin draining him of blood. At just that moment, Mira is fatally wounded. She crawls over to the chair, shooting as she crawls. She takes Henry’s hand. The two lay there, dying together.

The henchmen make their way slowly to the chair and switches but they are too late. Henry and Mira turned on the AI so that humanity could be revolutionized, not enslaved. The tribes know now that they’ve lost all power in the world and they are ruined, because of this proverbial loser…