Larger Font   Reset Font Size   Smaller Font  

Hell's Canopy

Dominick Marino




  Chapter 1. Dark beginnings

  England 2700 BC

  The placing of the sacred rocks was complete. The large one piece block stones would bring about controversy for centuries to come since their very size and weight made it hard to describe how they placed them without the help of modern tools. The stone circle was finished and their leader was pleased. Although it was a bone chilling wind that whipped about them with light rain their leader gave them warmth on this night. He was pleased with their construction because it would bring him closer to success. The powers he had given them had empowered them and brought them to a state of true freedom. Then he asked them to stand in the circle and commune. He told them to set each other free as he brought their destiny to them. The ground rumbled and the clouds choked the light from the sky and filled it with bolts of lightning. The followers did as they were told because their loyalty melted the fear away. Then the light grabbed all of them and as they sacrificed themselves for their leader their energy combined into one bright light green and blue with vibrant streaks. The lights cascaded around the sky then different colors shot all over the globe and the galaxy leaving stonehenge quiet and blanketed in mystery.

  The age of Pharaohs Cairo 2500 BC

  Two flashes of a brilliant and colorful light lit up the night sky. Ahmet and Kahmen were astounded by and continued to track the lights as streaked across the sky. As high priests for Pharaoh they were sure of the meaning of this sign of confirmation from the Gods. They looked to their scribes and dictated pages worth of orders and explanations. Preparations were made and the prophecy was written and given to the pharaoh in order to pass it on to heirs.One day plagues hit egypt consecutively and the pharaoh consulted the prophecy and its meaning. The next day Pharaoh agreed to the demands of the man who led the slaves after violently disregarding the demands. The jews were freed from their slavers. Yet the pharaoh could not follow the prophecy and disagreed with the priests at the end. So he chased the slaves until him and his men were killed by huge crashing waves of the dead sea that seemed to be lifted and separated Prometheus looked up and smiled as his plan was slowly coming together.

  Mid-18th century American colonies

  Benny was a little tipsy this Christmas night. He enjoyed several flasks of drink and ate a feast with his friends but instead of enjoying a night in the warm with his companions he was playing with his kite at night. All of sudden lightning struck his kite and the ground around him which left the ground was enshrouded in layers of steam. He cleared some away then saw a sliver of metal or light. He couldn’t manage to think as he passed out slowly onto the ground. Couple days after that, Benjamin Franklin and his mysterious friend were on a boat headed to France to ask for help from the French. The French were in negotiations for a while but eventually their help led to the success of the American Revolution at a critical turning point in the war. Right up to the day he died Benjamin Franklin could not explain where he got the idea to go to the French. He also couldn’t explain the advanced memory recall he had either.

  Chap. 2 Two wrongs make a Right

  On the moon of Earth a dark room was set ablaze by the red laser that shot into the terminal setting off a chain reaction in the mechanics of the central control terminal. Then the controllers chair was engulfed in a series of wires and robotic arms. Finally the visiplate came online and a ball of light appeared in the center of the room illuminating the five beings attending the machine and its consoles. The Constructionists was the name their alien race had given itself since they felt as if they were the builders of advanced civilization. Even though it comprised of multiple species from different planets the race of constructionists considered themselves to be apart of the same group. They had peacefully helped many different species join their ranks and end pointless wars and saved countless lives from starvation or resource depletion.

  Each of their unique faces were lined with concern and determination. The ball of light on the display was Earth. The scan they had placed had took them Earth years to finish. Usually the scan took longer but they had done this twice before finding the right person for the mission was a long and arduous task. The controller asked “Find final engineer!” The illuminated globe span for a second then stopped. A bright red dot glowed on the surface. “Search complete” uttered a female computer voice. The dot was focused on and then it zoomed in on it. A picture of a boy came on and filled the room. He was playing with a toy as another boy came. They sat down together and the smaller one offered the toy to the other kid. The bigger kid grabbed the toy violently ripping it from his hands and pushed the smaller kid on the floor and left. The picture blurred and sped up as the smaller boy was older now and he was riding his bike in his neighborhood in the afternoon. The boy stopped when he saw that a girl was crying next to a willow tree. He stopped and tried to find out what was wrong then she asked if she could ride his bike and he shared it with her. He smiled as she saw her smiling and as he waited for her to come back his smile faded. She did not come back he waited there all day all night until the police shown their bright light on his sleeping body on the soft grass. His parents had been looking for him for hours worried sick. As he awoke in the big arms of the policeman he said, “Somebody borrowed my bike and I was waiting for her to come back.” The police looked at each other and frowned as they took him home.

  As the visual ended the controller stepped up rapidly from his chair. He looked at his counterparts with a self-satisfied look of triumph. Then he turned to look above, the stars were shining in the billions. The coldness vast expanse of space seemed to beckon him. He missed the younger days when he could fly about and not have a care in the world but fate did not allow for such luxuries. Your destiny doesn’t follow you it becomes you and you become it. With a curt nod to the others he hit a series of buttons rapidly on the chair and slowly, proudly walked towards the hangar. “Inform the agency of my arrival. It is time to put an end to this.”