CHAPTER ONE
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Dear Readers the following fascinating story of William Braden and his father Jonathan began long ago in the late 18th century when the settlement of Australia was in its infancy. It was then known as Van Die men's Land.
Times were harsh and cruel then and convicted criminals were sent from their homeland of England to serve out their sentences in this newly discovered land. Here they were forced to build the new colony and serve the needs of their jailers, the British officers.
Men and women were treated no differently and both toiled long arduous hours leaving their children to run amok throughout the harsh countryside.
Jonathan Braden, a middle-aged surgeon convicted of murder was forced to serve out his life sentence healing the sick in the colony. Most did not know the heinous nature of his crimes and the cruel experiments that he had inflicted on his victims in the name of science. And over time he became respected for his dedication to serving the sick and dying in this new colony.
Secretly however, he continued his grotesque experimentations on the bodies of the dead and dying, aided by his young son William, who trained by his side. Jonathan Braden's desire in finding the secret of creation consumed him, making him oblivious to the suffering of his victims.
Absurdly after only serving seven years of his sentence he was pardoned and given a grant of a small parcel of land by the sea. Here he settled with his son William and his wife Mary and together, with other pardoned convicts built a small fishing village.
Over the years the tiny village grew as others joined them, married and had families. However they lived a poor existence as fishermen and Jonathan Braden hungered for a better life far away from the colony where he could continue his experiments undisturbed.
Trusted by the villagers, Jonathan Braden easily convinced them to send the strongest of the young men with him to explore this great land. Excited by the prospect of establishing their own territory free of the taxes that took their livelihood, the young men set sail in their humble fishing vessel with Jonathan Braden at the helm.
Disastrously that very same night they were blown off course by a fierce storm into uncharted waters. For days they desperately battled the huge raging seas; fighting for their survival as they were relentlessly driven onto the dangerous rocky coastline. Their small ship pounded by tidal waves was no contest for the unforgiving sea and was shattered into a splintering wreck. Escaping with their lives they were washed ashore by huge tidal currents and found themselves lost in a strange land.
They were never heard of again and the villagers mourned their loss. Then amazingly a year later Jonathan Braden, dressed in strange metallic clothing was found wandering aimlessly through the streets of his village, clutching tattered remains of an ancient map.
Constantly uttering a strange gibberish language he was thought to have gone insane and no one believed the chilling tales that he told of his shipmate's fate, except his son.
Unable to make the villagers understand, Jonathan Braden became a man obsessed, telling anyone who would listen that he had found countless riches, and had become immortal with immense powers. In vain he tried to convince them that in the alien city where he'd lived for the past year, their loved ones now waited. Then one day he disappeared, never to be seen again.
Being religious people they took this as a sign from God and believed Jonathan Braden's son William when he told them of his Holy vision just days later. Overjoyed they listened as William told of how he'd seen their missing loved ones alive in a distant place. Taking only a few precious possessions with them the villagers abandoned their humble homes, and blindly followed him into the unknown.
For many months every man, woman and child suffered the ravages of hunger and thirst. On foot they followed the false directions on the ancient map that William Braden had been given by his father.
Lost and desolate the villagers desperately wanted to believe that they were following Gods divine course. Then one dark stormy night William Braden's father spoke to him in a dream telling him that he had passed the test of the great Sorcerer Sissnaska. He was now to be guided by the powers that lay deep within the bowels of the earth under the ancient city, and the ring of twisted snakes that he would now find on his finger would draw these powers to him.
True to the words of his dream, William Braden woke to see a silver ring of twisted snakes on his finger. Bewildered he drew on the leather gloves that mysteriously lay beside them concealing it from the eyes of the others. At that very moment the powers of the ring spoke to the heavens above sending a fierce windstorm that drove them relentlessly northward. On it drove them until they reached the deep waters of an amazing river that ran endlessly through vast expanses of fertile plains bounded by rugged mountains.
The powers of the ring released the eye of the storm sending the starving settlers a bounty of fish swimming upstream towards the mountains. For three days and nights they feasted on the swarms of fish as they followed their journey up river. Then mysteriously on the morning of the fourth day a flock of seagulls appeared above them. Soon there were more, and all wondered if an ocean lay beyond the sheer cliffs that now surrounded them.
William Braden felt the ring on his finger twist and turn and felt an irrepressible urge to follow the solitary seagull that now flew just ahead of him. Blindly the others did the same and disappeared into the rugged face of the cliff before them.
On the solitary bird flew, leading them through a narrow gorge that had miraculously emerged through the dense bush. They breathed in the headiness of fresh salty air and heard the sounds of an ocean nearby.
Suddenly the gorge was filled with a blinding light and there above them looking out to treacherous seas, stood a great alien city. Overwhelmed by this amazing sight the villagers were reluctant to go any further, and only a few brave men followed William Braden up those steep cliffs to the ancient city.
Incredulously these brave men surveyed the extraordinary splendor of the alien structures before them, overawed by their complexity. Courageously they searched in vain for the missing fishermen amongst the abandoned city. Gone were the riches that Jonathan Braden had spoken of, and ravaged by battle, the city gave up little of its mystery.
Wearily they abandoned their fruitless search and dismayed, the men sought solace in the great cities Holy Temple. There it was said that William Braden prayed to his father and miraculously visions of their loved ones appeared standing before them, telling them of their happiness living in a mysterious far off land.
Overwhelmed, the men listened as the familiar voices beseeched them to take the grain from the stores of the great city and farm the rich fertile land below. Without question these simple people did as they were bid; and led by William Braden took the stone from the great walls of the mysterious city and built cottages directly below where the river met the sea.
Soon fishermen became farmers finding unexpected riches in the fertile earth...a bounty reaped from the seeds taken from an alien land.
At first they questioned the astonishing speed in which these seeds grew and were reluctant to eat the weird and wonderful harvest they produced. However hunger took its toll and they devoured the bizarre fruits and took the grain and made it into bread.
With the plentiful supply of fish and their bountiful crops, the new settlers knew no more sickness or disease and grew incredibly strong. And over time, William Braden began to notice subtle changes in the new born. Secretly he monitored their development using the powers of the ring that he now began to wear openly for all to see.
Rumors spread that he had been seen visiting the great city on the nights when the moon was full, accompanied by the many packs of wild dingoes that inhabited it.
Strange rumblings were heard and all became afraid of what he did there. None could imagine the enormity of what he had discovered deep within the bowels of the ancient city.
Drawn by the powers of the ring, William Braden had discovered a secret passageway in the
Holy Temple that led him to the myriad of tunnels that honeycombed the mountain beneath. Here within the bowels of the earth he discovered the catacombs that held the secret laboratory of the immortal Sissnaska; the most powerful Sorcerer of the alien race of the Aseekiens who'd built the great city hundreds of years before.
One can only imagine what William Braden's thoughts must have been when first he laid eyes on those rows of cloned humanoids that hung suspended in their crystallized cocoons. Here had been what his father had searched for all his life, the secret of creation. And it would be here in this wondrous place that William Braden would begin his journey into the mysteries of the Universe.
There he found Sissnaska's books of Sorcery and the Universe as well as his experimental research data opening the possibilities of creation to him. Other worlds and possibilities now lay open to him, for with the powers of the ring he learnt the language of the immortal 'Ancients' and unraveled the secrets of Sissnaska's experiments.
Here in this secret place William Braden was to learn how to communicate with the one who now sought to destroy mankind, Sissnaska! The once high-ranking Holy Priest of King Abdula, the first king of the great race of Aseekins; whose greed and ambitions had led him to embrace the dark powers of evil.
Here within the bowels of the earth, William Braden learnt of Sissnaska's plot to rule humankind; and of Sissnaska and his follower's timely escape from the wrath of the 'Great Universal Council' to the planet Tisa on Earth's parallel world of the thirteenth dimension.
This evil Sorcerer had now found one of humankind here on Earth that would willingly carry out his wishes. Promised immense powers, William Braden became his eager servant secretly gathering D.N.A samples from the settler's children for the breeding of Sissnaska's super race.
William Braden, now skilled at using the powers of the ring conquered the method of time travel and built a time machine. And with this powerful tool he traveled constantly to Earth's parallel world of the thirteenth dimension delivering his precious cargo of human D N A to Sissnaska.
Now lusting for power, William Braden was a different man and all who knew him said that he'd made a pact with the devil. However they too were changing. Unbeknown to these simple villagers, William Braden was already wielding his powers over them and through their children inflicting the intent of higher evil powers.
It is said that around this time thirteen strange men with amazing knowledge mysteriously appeared among the settlers. How they got there and whom they were, was never known. These were men of incredible knowledge who wielded many changes in the early settlement. It was they who created the great harbor using strange beams of light that cut through the mountains where the river joined the sea.
Over time many sailing ships from other lands filled the harbor and the settlement grew and prospered, as did William Braden's ambitions. Tales spread far and wide about the mysterious ancient city and many came to settle there filled with dreams of discovering its secrets.
All grew prosperous and William Braden had now become a wealthy merchant. However his riches didn't satisfy his thirst for power and determined to achieve the social position he craved, he returned to England. Here he wooed and married the most desired and beautiful daughter of Lord De Witt. Born of English and French nobility of extreme wealth, Isobelle was everything he desired.
With Isobelle De Witt's rich dowry, William Braden returned with his wife to Van Diemen's Land determined to create the Empire that he lusted after. Now the talk of the colony and greatly envied, he had a grand mansion built from the stones of the ancient city Temple. Standing in solitary grandeur overlooking the town, this magnificent mansion became the centre of the colonies social life. And all who aspired to win his favors clambered for invitations to the never-ending illustrious receptions that were held in its grand ballroom.
William Braden learnt that he was to be ordained by the King of England to become the first Governor of this new colony, yet inexplicably this didn't please him. He became withdrawn; shunning his old associates, refusing to see anyone other than his son James.
Estranged now from his wife Isobelle he locked himself away in the basement of his mansion. Rumors spread rapidly that there he experimented in black magic. And on each night of the full moon, it was said that the townspeople heard strange whirring sounds emitting from the bowels of Apogee Mountain. These mysterious sounds were accompanied by a mysterious golden light that shone from the tallest of the mansion's towers; its golden rays spreading far into the darkness of the night over the town below.
It is said that around this time children began to disappear. Only to be found days later, wandering down the steep hill from his mansion having no recollection of time or from whence they came.
Then unexplainably...strange happenings began...
For thirteen days and nights the skies were filled with bats and the river teemed with snakes and dingoes encircled the town. Then for the next three nights, mystifying spheres of immense light hovered over the ancient city.
The townspeople were afraid, and finding no solace in their religion turned to the mysterious thirteen men for guidance. Miraculously that following morning the skies were a clear blue again and all was normal once more.
All rejoiced in their good fortune, for that very day was one of celebration. It was the thirteenth day of the third month of the year 1813. The first day of Moon Harvest, a ritual that lasted thirty nine days and nights, and had been brought to the colony by these thirteen mysterious men.
Strangely it was this day that the townspeople had chosen to honor William Braden by giving his name to the town. By mid-day all were gathered in the town's square awaiting William Braden's arrival for the ceremonial unveiling of his statue.
Happily the band played in the Towns Square and children danced excitedly watching the grand parade marching past. Last minute preparations were in earnest and the flustered Town Official practicing his speech had to compete with the incessant chattering of the women busily decorating his lavish podium.
Finally all was in readiness... when suddenly swarms of seagulls flew over the square, their pristine white bodies silhouetted against the now darkening sky. Their incessant squawking as they heralded the full moon, now turning blood red, silenced the waiting crowd.
Just then the Town Hall clock struck the thirteenth hour, and a chilling wind began to stir the fallen leaves lying idly on the ground. Eerily they rose to its gentle caress swirling mysteriously around the ancient metaphysical statues that lined the town square. Then slowly they descended, coming to rest at the foot of William Braden's statue.
Abruptly the sound of thunder was heard in the black sky. And the sunken eyes of the metaphysical statues eerily sprung to life glowing evilly at those who dared to look upon them.
It was said that at this moment William Braden mysteriously appeared, standing with his arms outstretched before the statue of his likeness, uttering a strange gibberish language.
Suddenly a mighty bolt of lightning, the size none ever seen before, lit up the sky... striking his statue, splitting it in two. Flames burst forth from its midst, engulfing him. Then, he disappeared, never to be seen again.
All became quiet, the sky became blue again...and birds sung once more as they flocked to sit upon the ancient beastlike statues.