Chapter 8: I Am Water

"The strength of a person is not all measured by the force that they exert, some flows like the raging river or emerges calmly as the sea on a summer afternoon. I am serene, I am mysterious, I am deep. I Am Water.

Chapter 8: I Am Water

Everyone is now on the alert. There is already one of us that exhibited a "superpower". Yesterday, Brian became a superman. As we celebrated his new power, we are now excited who will be next.

What will be the next power to be discovered? Who will be the next super hero? Are we being trained to be like the Justice League or the Avengers? Do our parents secretly know about all these? Are we the super secret , genetically modified superbabies? Have they paid millions just to make us like this? Are we the real super heroes?

We lived ordinary lives until now. We are just ordinary friends. Our parents have been friends since grade school. Their parents had been friends too and the circle of friendships lasted for generations way back in time. It may be because our families had been generations of traders, bankers and Old Money estate heirs, that we had been given this chance in life. But truth is stranger than fiction.

And interestingly enough, we are multiracial. Brian is a British-Canadian but of Asian-descent, Trina and Thomas are of Greek-descent Moroccan. James is an Indian from Punjab. Ellie is a Russian-Romanian from Germany. Helen is a natural born American, but her families trace their roots to Lebanon and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I am, of course a Jewish-descent Italian but my family has been in America ever since world war two. If there is one thing that is common to all of us, it is the long line of friendship that dates back to the time of Solomon, King of Israel. All our families had been part of the builders of the Great temple of Solomon. The older genealogies even trace back to the time of Moses, as our Ancestor is Bezalel, and Helen's ancestor was the great Aholiab.

Countless wars may have scattered our families all over the world, but the Ancient scrolls were secured by our ancestors and passed on to generations and generations by those who preferred to flee rather than fight in those wars. The ancient scrolls were so precious to be guarded and kept at all cost. Our families would rather go and be scattered all over the world than to let the scrolls fall into other hands. That's why even with each family's wealth, for most of the known history, our families were always moving from place to place even after world war two. With the establishment of the United Nations in 1945, our families began to reconnect with each other and start the collection of the scrolls.

From 1945, the Families gathered once every seven years to reconnect with each other and they saw that their numbers were dwindling. Less and less children are being born into each family. Many families have just one or two babies. Thus, they tried to search for the solutions among the scrolls and stories were told about something they called "the Menorah Protocol."

A menorah is a seven stick candle holder that Jewish Families would light on every Sabbath and on special occasions especially the Passover and the Feast of Lights. However, the Original Menorah is a seven branched lampstand. It is the only source of Light inside the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple of Solomon, in the Holy Place before the Most Holy Place. Our families still tend to menorah as lamps, not as candlestick.

It is the Symbol of the Holy Presence of God on the face of the earth. It is the Only light that shines amidst the darkness of the entire world. It shines day and night and should never go out. Several people were tasked to tend to the lamps and they worked all day, all night. So, when the army of Nebuchadnezzar were about to conquer Jerusalem, the Golden table of Shewbread, the Golden Altar of Incense. The Golden Lampstands and the Ark of the Covenant were replaced by gold plated replicas. The Levites made sure that the originals were hidden below the city by the way of the tunnels of king Hezekiah. When the Babylonian army looted the temple, they really thought that they got the real items.

However, the families of the Jews in diaspora, along with their friends, non Jews who accepted Judaism way back during Solomon's time, traders, artisans, bankers and wealthy people, vowed to preserve the items for all time, hide them from the world, focus on the Torah, and hide the truth from the rest of the world so that violent people will no longer seek the power that rests on these items and the immense knowledge that it possess to use them for world domination. 

The nearest attempt had been the massive campaign of Germany's Third Reich. Hitler got many old copies of some of The Ancient Scrolls when he rounded up the Jews of Europe and tried to do many experiments to test the supposed knowledge that the scrolls offer. The Nazi had acquired and developed many technologies way ahead of the present industries but because they lack the originals, they cannot fully explore the science and the power behind. 

That was the time when the modern Nephilims rose again. Humans that were bred with Angelic DNA and that they attempted to create powerful beings for warfare. They succeeded in creating strong, mindless monsters that acted like berserkers and fought without fear, without regard for personal safety or remorse. They also developed weapons and vehicles that resembled the angelic chariots of fire! The Third Reich conquered land faster than any army ever achieved. However, no one ever realized that the Old Families are the ones that really kept the Original Scrolls and the Original temple items, well hidden among ordinary things, away from public view. 

Now, as these things are unfolding, I can only reflect and think if we are on the same path. Although I know that we are not on the path that Hitler went, are we repeating the same mistakes that he had? Or is it that the Time for the establishment of the Seven Judges of the Heavens is at hand! Are we, the very fulfillment of the prophecy? What am I thinking?

However, what would be the effect on history if it will be known to many people that there are people like Brian? Will it stop crime or at least minimize or will it usher the rise of supervillains? Will all of us have specific powers? What will be mine? 

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Meanwhile, we will be trying water aerobics. It is to calm us and dissipate muscular tensions. They are already suspecting stress on our bodies as exhibited by Brian's reaction to stress. They are saying that breaking the momentum might not be so preferred but so is the tendency to be stressed out. Thus, training will be resumed tomorrow.

But when the trainers are already calling the roll, Helen is missing. We searched for her everywhere and the security personnel checked all the security cameras. She was last seen swimming in the pool. There was a slight glitch on one of the cameras, but there was no indication that anybody ever went out of the complex. We rechecked the camera footage again as the whole security team combed the entire area.

Security teams had already spread out the entire manor and the complex but nobody had ever seen Helen for about thirty minutes. Dogs are already on the prowl to seek her scent and they can't pinpoint her scent except for the towel she wore to the pool. 

Then I asked for the frogmen to comb the pool. They are hesitant at first because they can see no one on the pool but when one of the divers reached the deep end of the pool, he caught something he cannot see. And that's where we saw Helen emerging from the pool.

No one dared say anything to her as she walked and took her towel to wrap herself. It only appeared to her that she was normally ushered out of the pool to prepare for the next session.

"Yes, is there anything wrong I did?" She simply asked. Seeing that everyone's eyes were on her. She shyly covered herself with another towel.

"We were looking for you for almost an hour now." one of our aerobics trainers said, with eyes wide and mouth still gaping. "Just to find you at the bottom of the pool, mam, are you okay?"

"What, am I that long underwater?" with wide eyes, Helen asked.

"Yes mam, and I actually did not see you underwater. I bumped into you underwater before I slowly saw your image slowly emerge out in the water."

"What do you mean you can't see me?" 

"You are invisible underwater, mam. Your reflective swimsuit reflected the water and I didn't see you for a moment until you moved and your image emerged out of nothing." The diver explained. "I was searching for you combing the pool for five minutes in my diving gear mam."

"I lasted an hour underwater and you can't see me there?"

"Yes mam, I know what I did and what I saw." The diver replied. "I actually visually surveyed the entire pool before getting in the water. But I never saw you, Mam, that's why I bumped into you at the bottom. I never knew you're there."

" Call Dr. De Guille! ASAP! We have another hit!" One of the Training Admin called out.