Earth's Last Angel (9 page)

The very large thick door silently slides open to expose the lit inner chamber of the vault.

The older Croc catches his breath at the size and magnificence of the vault. The inner walls are covered in the same large curtain, with the royal pyramid symbol at the center of each wall. The floor is covered in a thick, lush carpet of aqua blue. Three large crystal chandeliers hang from the white embossed ceiling, lighting the scene below in the richness it deserves. A broad, sweeping flight of stairs drops down to floor level beneath them.

Large chests are filled to overflowing with beautifully cut gems of all types and sizes. Glass cabinets are filled with gold artifacts, pallet loads of pure gold bullion are stored near the far wall. All very impressive, but the real treasure is the nuclear isotope staronium.

‘Where is she?' excitement mounting in the old Croc's voice.

‘We keep her in this little strong room over here,' Glen says, pointing to the far wall. ‘The walls, roof and floor are lined with pure gold 10cm thick to contain her appetite for non-organic energy,' explains Glen, leading them down the stairway to the far end of the vault.

They peer through the double layer lead crystal window. Soft blue light fills the small room, at its center sits the original staronium isotope found by the ice prospectors Bill and Sheona, mounted on a glass pedestal.

The sapphire blue crystal glows almost pure white at its center, with the energy swirling around the crystal like a fine, misty white smoke.

Queen Judok and the Croc stare at this beautiful wonder, totally immersed in the experience, wrapped tightly in each other's arms. Tears of joy trickle down their cheeks. Finally they manage to tear themselves away from the crystal.

‘Why use gold for the strong room?' Asks the old Croc

‘As you know grandfather, gold and lead are approximately the same mineral density and can both seal off any radiation, we didn't have any available lead so we used gold from our stockpile.'

‘Excellent! A truly worthy home for the staronium isotope.'

‘Now let me see the Prophecy and Mulicator, please Glen.'

‘Of course, grandfather this way,' Glen replies leading the old Croc to a panel on the left side wall. A small hole in the wall large enough to slide a hand into scans for the hand print and DNA identification. Only the sitting Croc can access this chamber. Once verified, the wall panel glides up to reveal the double treasure, Mulicator, and the Croc's Prophecy.

‘She's still as pretty as ever!' smiles the old Croc, carefully lifting down Mulicator from her mounting pegs, and holding the sword by her scabbard, looking up at her golden bejeweled tower pommel.

The Croc is in full attack, bursting out from under the tower forearms, wide, paws and claws extended, forming the quillian. The double edged twin blade protruding from its mouth like a razor sharp tongue.

The old Croc muses ‘I wonder if I remember the combination?' With that, he presses the jewels set into the murder holes of the tower in sequence. Diamond, the Croc, Ruby, the Prince Croc in waiting, Sapphire the Queen, and Emerald the Princess.

Once, twice, then on the third time success, then a squeeze on two of the jewels, and the top of the blades touch allowing Mulicator to slide free of her scabbard, her twin double edge blade as lethal and beautiful as the day the master sword maker finished her. Taken from two straightened back to back blades forged together at the tip for one fourth of the blade length, leaving a small gap for the top three fourths giving it the look of a broad blade but with the strength and power of a twin double edged razor. 'Mulicator, the Croc's Roar' is etched in to one blade, and ‘Taker & Giver of Life' on the other. The First Croc sits on the floor, the now sheathed sword on his lap.

‘Are you OK grandfather?' Glen's face looks concerned as he sits down by the older Croc. Queen Judok kneels behind the older Croc with her hands on his shoulders.

‘He reacted like this when the master sword maker presented Mulicator to him, Glen, he'll be OK,' reassures Judok. Long minutes pass in silence, emotion welling up in them all.

‘Is this all real?' asks the old Croc waving his arm around in disbelief, neck and wrist frills erect and pulsing. ‘Glen and Judok are you real? This is not just some elaborate dream or something is it?' choking back tears looking intently into Glens face.

‘No Great Croc, it's not a dream we are real, you made all of this possible.' Glen hugs the old Mazuban's shoulders.

‘How proud, do you think that this makes me feel?' the old Croc smiles tightly, his eyes filling up again. Glen hugs him tightly, Judok hugging them both. ‘Give it up you two! Is this any way to treat your Sovereign?' trying to wiggle free.

‘Hell Yeah!' they both reply in unison hugging him even tighter, laughing as they release him.

‘Bring me the Prophecy please Glen, tell me more of Lord William and Lady Sheona'.

‘Let's get comfortable over here first,' suggests Glen leading them to a small café style table with four comfortable looking leather chairs, ‘I'll go and get the prophecy.'

‘I'll bring Mulicator with me,' replies the older Croc rising from the floor. ‘It just feels good to hold her again.'

‘It sure does, I'll never forget the first time I was permitted to hold her. It felt like I was holding a lightning bolt! The light weight and massive power of Mulicator is incredible. She still gives me goose bumps!' smiles Glen as he picks up the solid gold slab that has ‘The Croc's Prophecy' carved into it.

‘Geez I'd forgotten how heavy this thing is.' comments Glen, struggling with the 34 kilo solid gold slab.

Glen places the slab on the table, with just a little hanging over the edge so that he can pick it up again.

With grave reverence the old Croc runs his fingers over the carved prophecy, a tight smile breaking out on his face.

‘You know Glen, every nugget of gold in this slab was found by my grandsons, with a little help of course,' smirks the old Croc. ‘It took us near six years to find enough gold to make the slab and we finally did it!'

‘You guy's must have had a ball looking for it.'

‘When we found some color it was great, the kids had a ball, but sometimes we'd go out deep into the western desert amongst the heat, dust, snakes and flies and find squat. The boys would get hot and cranky and swear black and blue they'd never come out again. To their credit, though, next time we planned a trip they'd be the first ones packed ready to go.'

‘I'll bet you've got some great stories to tell about those trips.'

‘Son, you better believe it! Better still, why don't you ask the boy's and let them tell you how they found the gold.'

The Crocs Prophecy

Quarter of a Millennium will pass

Before she is found

Age uncovers her secret hiding place

Released at last from eons of icy darkness

Youth is their reward

She awakens the Croc and his people from the gripping slumber of death

Her beauty is like no other

Luminous sapphire crystal radiating life itself

Time and space are servants in her hands

Her power is gliding silky

Silent

She is the unlocker of secrets

Making the Impossible possible

Her name

Staronium

Watching the old Croc running his fingers over the lettering, Glen asks: ‘How did you come up with this prophecy? How did you know what to write? What inspired you?'

‘First of all I had a little help, literally. His name is Mozaz, he stands about one meter tall with long pure white hair covering his entire body down to his knees. His feet and hands are normal adult size, attached to skinny arms and legs. It is his eyes, however, that hold the key to his power they are lime green in color and appear to glow from inside his skull! He speaks the ancient language of one talk. The single language used by all living creatures before we Mazubans developed our own languages. I came to call him my friend.'

‘Are you for real? You met and spoke to a mythical creature?' More than a little skepticism creeps into Glen's voice ‘What exactly is he? How did you come to meet him?'

‘One thing I thought you would understand by now is that carbon based lifeforms are not the only ones with intelligence. There are a huge variety of energy life forms out there, ranging from very basic right through to lifeforms able to replicate themselves and convert a small portion of their own energy to make independent new energy lifeforms or carbon based lifeforms.' replies the Croc watching Glen's face for his reaction.

‘OK…I'm with you so far, so what do you think your friend is then?' Glen now a little more interested.

‘I believe Mozaz is ancient even for one of his kind, he has developed the ability to pass through time into the future and back again. He can also transform himself from his energy lifeform state to a carbon based lifeform of his choosing, for example, even a Mazuban for that matter.'

‘Well that sort of makes sense…I guess.' Glen acknowledges, not quite convinced yet.

‘It was he who told me I would become the First Croc. It was many years later when pivotal events took place causing me to change our name to make a fresh start. I gave the privilege of choosing a new name for me to my lovely wife, making me the First Croc, or chieftain, of our family. Short years later, I adopted Croc as a title rather than King. That title has now passed down to you.'

‘So how does the Croc's prophecy fit in with all of this?' A now, not so skeptical Glen starts to pay attention.

‘Let me explain my encounter with Mozaz, and you'll see how everything fits in as I relay the story to you.'

‘The story starts at a campsite high up in the tablelands during the winter. Winter is quite mild up there. We had a reasonable fire going with four families camped close by. It must have been about two, maybe three, in the morning, everyone is fast asleep. I felt a hand on my shoulder gently shaking me awake. At first I thought it was my little goddess here,' the older Croc smiles, squeezing his wife's hand.'

‘Then I realized she was in front of me and the hand was shaking me from behind. “Must be one of the kids,” I thought, as I rolled over. I nearly died when I saw Mozaz for the first time. He motioned for me to be still. Almost immediately an inner calm swept over me, maybe it was the realization that he was not there to harm me or my family. He led me away from the camp to the edge of the escarpment cliff face, where we sat for what seemed like hours talking in a language I had never heard before. It turns out to be “‘one talk'” the first original language, and it's still buried deep in our subconscious, people that are in tune with the land frequently use it mixed with their indigenous tongue. The more technically advanced we get, the further away from our original language we get.'

‘So what did you two talk about all night, Grandfather?'

‘Patience, son, he told me things that I would need to achieve. He gave me small pieces of the jigsaw that would become our future. Firstly he told me I would be given a priceless gift from someone dear to me, a new name. Later the name would become the title for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Sobektar.'

‘Secondly he explained how I would be able to travel without barrier of time or space. He then went on to describe the contents of the Croc's prophecy to me in vivid detail. In reality the Croc's prophecy is just a crude verse trying to capture just some of the majesty and splendor of his original description. He also told me that I would have to die a second time. That one freaked me out a bit! After spending a long time discussing my endless questions he then got me to stand up, and taking me by the hand he then led me back to the camp.'

‘Reaching the camp, he pulls me down close to whisper in my ear. “‘All that has happened on this night will instantly disappear until the appointed time. You must first find a key, the key you must seek is a word. This word key is also the key to unlock the memory of your future Kingdom. The word you must seek is staronium only then you will remember tonight and all of your future life.'”

‘I crept back into our camp, not wanting to wake the others camping nearby. Gently I lowered myself back onto the camp mattress. Judok stirred so I gave her a gentle shake to wake her up. My head span a little and I felt totally disoriented, and then I passed out for a moment.'

‘When I came too I found myself sitting up with Judok's head on my shoulder, looking at a strange little creature only a meter in height. This creature was covered from head to knee in snow white hair. But it's the blazing lime green eyes that grabbed our attention. His eyes and mine locked for a moment, and I swear on all that's holy the cheeky little blighter winked at me, then set off for a quick walk around the perimeter of the camp, then he turned his eyes away and in an instant he was gone. I awoke the next morning at first light, not believing what I thought I saw the night before. I found one set of footprints leading out to the edge of the cliff face, the footprints were mine! There were no other foot prints returning to camp, either his or mine!

‘Mozaz was right, it's taken many years as piece by piece I remember my discussion with him, on that cliff top so many years ago. All that I have recalled so far has come true. I hope to see him again someday to thank him,' the Croc concludes.

‘You definitely are something else, Grandfather! I don't know anyone with a friend who is an ELF! (Energy life form). Never mind singling you out for special attention, so I guess that answers how you came to be the First Croc,' a now awestruck Glen says.

‘Father, the official welcome back festivities are scheduled for later this evening. I've taken the liberty of organizing your enhancement for this afternoon after lunch.'