The Earth's End
First of "A Guardian Series"
Description
BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN!
With civilization depleting the earth’s resources mother earth is fighting back!
Storms and earthquakes are reaching epic proportions on earth and human extinction is a real possibility.
A CHANCE DISCOVERY takes Alexander Pierce & his cousin Victoria to an old world that holds the key to earth’s salvation.
In search of each of the FOUR ELEMENTS they are joined by Griffin a grumpy old GNOME and one of the guardians of Initium, Liori a 6inch tall overexcited FAIRY from the great heights of Skytower, Inara a beautiful MERMAID from the depths of the lost city, Atlantis and Shkode a young FIREWALKER from Tartarus itself. Together they must link the elements and awake the Creator.
Will this group of unlikely friends be able to reach the creator in time to save the human race? Can they survive the challenges this old world has in store for them?
A STORY OF MYTHICAL CREATURES, STRANGE LANDS AND A PERILOUS JOURNEY!
Chapter One
It was just another day for the National Park Services ranger as he climbed out of his battered old jeep. He’d been working at Yellowstone Park for almost a decade and had never gotten bored looking at the view.
Cole had been eating lunch when he got the call that some kids were seen setting up camp in a no-go area.
Cole adjusted his belt, making sure everything was secure before bending over to grab his radio. He leaned against the car as he spoke. “Mandy, this is Cole. I found the kids’ vehicle alongside Fountain Flat Drive. I will be going in the rest of the way by foot. I’ll keep you posted. Cole out.”
The radio crackled, and a feminine voice responded, “You better be careful; the bears and wolves have been acting squirrely in those parts the last couple of weeks.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Cole in a low chuckle.
He knew what he was doing. He grabbed his binoculars and locked up the jeep before carefully making his way into the forest.
The old path the kids had taken didn’t get a lot of use so still had quite a bit of bushes and rocks in the way. The kids were not regular hikers or there wouldn’t have been such a blatant path of broken branches and bent grass. He hadn’t gone in very far when he heard a blood curdling scream. His heart raced as he flew into a full out run.
He wasn’t sure what to expect, but he would need to be ready for anything.
What he found was three very scared teenagers huddled in a tent with the fourth one standing just outside, swinging a backpack. A giant black wolf was snarling and trying to grab the bag away from the kid. Two more wolves stood at the other side of the campsite, dancing in anticipation.
The black wolf was the biggest Cole had ever seen. It had to be almost twice the size of an average wolf. His first instinct was to pull his gun and shoot off a couple of warning shots to scare the wolf away. Before he even had time to register movement, the wolf was in front of him. It pulled its head high and looked right into Cole’s eyes. The wolf bared its teeth and gave a low, menacing growl before letting out a deafening roar.
It twisted around and loped towards the trees at the other side of the opening before giving a half turn. The wolf growled, showing some fangs at the kids as it took off into the forest, leaving the other wolves to scramble after it.
Cole placed his gun back in his holster as he let out a slow breath. He stepped forward. “Are any of you hurt?”
The teenagers scrambled out of their tent, shaking their heads. The boy still holding the ripped backpack looked dazed. “We set up camp and had just come back from a dip in the lake when that wolf came out of nowhere.”
“I thought it was going to kill us,” one of the girls said, brushing tears off her face.
Cole shook his head, trying to understand what was going on. Wolves never attacked in daylight unless provoked. That black wolf had looked at him with an almost human intelligence trying to convey a message: “Leave now!”
Clearing his throat, he said, “Pack up your stuff; you’re not supposed to be in this area. I think the faster we get out of here the better.”
Still a bit shaky, the teenagers packed up their stuff as quickly as they could. Cole didn’t think the wolves would be back, but you never could be too careful. The hairs standing up on the back of his neck warned him that something wasn’t quite right.
Once everything was packed up, they made their way back to the vehicles.
Cole yelled over to the kids, “Follow me, and I will take you to a safe camping area.” He unlocked his jeep and was just about to grab his radio when the ground began to shake.
It started out as a small tremor and gathered in strength. It would have taken the ranger down to his knees if he hadn’t already been holding onto the car. One of the girls started to cry again. The noise coming from the earth was deafening as the rocks and trees around them fell and continued to shake. Cole heard it first before he saw the giant crack that seemed to rip open the earth and split the forest in half right before his eyes. The crevasse wasn’t wide, but it was deep with great bellows of steam venting out of it. It had followed the path that they had just left. Cole would have bet his last dollar that that crack passed right through the area where those kids had been camping.
Cole picked up the radio. “Mandy, this is Cole; I am going to need someone to take these kids up to Isa Lake campground. You also need to call and get the Geological Survey Team out to my location ASAP. Over.”
The radio crackled. “They’re already on their way. They called me about 20 minutes ago, freaking out. I’ve never felt a tremor like that before. I’m getting emergency calls from all over the park. It’s not like you to call them in! What’s happened?”
Cole looked over at the steam still venting through the newly formed crack in the earth. “I’ll explain later. Just get Jerry out here.”
One hour later, there were three black SUVs parked alongside of Cole’s jeep. They all sported stickers saying University of Utah. The vehicles had been full of people and equipment. Instead of Cole feeling better about this situation, he was feeling more uneasy than ever. His gut was telling him that something was very wrong.