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Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Marrakesh Meg and the Ring of Forever

This is an audience participation story and open to everyone to contribute.

My job sometimes takes me to exotic locations, even if my work there isn't. My CSE/IT team was sent to Morocco for a week to help our division there integrate software we developed back in Cali. I know, boring! At least we got to stay in a plush hotel in Marrakesh and had evenings free to explore the ancient city. I stayed in the first night due to jet lag but the second... well I was ready for adventure.

I was happy my best bud Diana came along and the two of us set out. We passed an alley and came upon Souks, an old street market with an overwhelming amount of shops that were packed with treasures. Fun! The deeper we went into the market, the more exotic the items became. Clothes and jewelry, artwork and antiquities. We made our way through to the deepest part of Souks and found Khalid. His booth was small and he looked as ancient as the Saharan desert. His penetrating eyes drew us in and he motioned us closer. His accent was thick but he spoke to us in english "I have something for you". That's a typical line to get tourists to buy so I didn't think much of it. He pulled out an ancient scroll and handed it to me. There was faded writing on the outside with an unbroken wax seal. Diana asked him what was written and he said "Megan & Diana"

I swear to God I've never been so weirded out in my life. I grabbed Diana, ran out of Souks and kept going. We stopped by a stone fountain to catch our breath and get a grip on what just happened. How could this be possible? It took a while to get the nerve but we finally removed the seal. I carefully opened the scroll to reveal a map. There was large letters in old arabic sprawled across the top. I punched it into my Iphone (yep, there's an app for that) and the readout came back with the translation The Ring of Forever.

"Well Diana, what should we do?" >>

4 comments:

  1. "Let's catch our breath first, Meg. This stuff is so creepy."
    I sat down next to the fontain and thought about the things that recently happened. That scroll looks so damn old and certanly is. How could our names stand upon it? Meg's translation software on her Iphone proofed that Khalid haven't lied to us.

    "Hey Meg could you search in the net about that ring? It sounds for me like a childish game. Maybe it is known by someone."

    Meg started a quick search on Google. While she searched I took a look on the scroll. Under the title was a drawed map of Marrakesh, with marked points like in a treasure hunt.

    "Diana, there is no hit in any search that I tried. This Ring is totally unknown."

    "Why had I expected something like that? Look at that. That's even more crazy. We ran right to the first checkpoint. That fountain is marked here."

    "What the hell is going on here?"

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  2. I've never been a believer in destiny but am starting to now. We rented a scooter and headed off to the next checkpoint on the map. It led us to the edge of the city and beginning of the desert. A caravan was getting ready to head out at the exact spot.

    3 large Bedouins dressed in crimson ceremonial garb & masks walked up to us. "We need to leave right away" said the leader and motioned us over to a camel drawn cart. A normal reaction for 2 girls in a strange country would be to run, but this night has been anything but normal. We got in and set off across the desert.

    We didn't tell them where to go but they followed the exact path of the map to the final checkpoint. The Bedouin sitting by us took off his mask and it was Khalid from the market. He didn't say a word. He didn't need to and we fell asleep to the rocking caravan.

    We woke up the next morning and saw the most beautiful desert canyon. Khalid and the others helped us out of the cart and walked us to natural stairs leading down. We started walking but the Bedouins stayed at the top, almost keeping watch.

    Diana & I walked through the canyon which seemed to lead us to a cave. It was dark except for a faint glow so we headed towards it. We came upon a crystal clear pool of water that lit up the room. We looked for the source of light and found a shiny object sunken beneath. The ring!

    We waded through the shallow water to the light. I reached down and grabbed the ring from the bottom. It was beautiful.

    "Should I try it on Diana?"

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  3. "Hmm I don't know. This is really freaky. But what should happen?"

    Khalid gave me a sharp view. I could read that he judged me about that what I said. And momentary I was sorry about this. Even that I knew Meg thought the same way like me.

    Meg took a deep breath and said: "I will risk it, Diana."

    She slid the ring over her finger. My view was glued on that beautiful glow that seemed to come out of that ring. As the ring found his place on Meg's finger the glow became even more powerful. In the corner of my eye I could see Khalid make a awestruck bow and leave the pool reverse. As his foots touched the water any more, it started to glow like the ring in an white and blue way. In that moment every disbelief was washed away.

    As Meg touched the ring with her other hand. two blue bolts exploded out of the ring and hit us directly in our hearts. Otherwise as expected it wasn't an electric bolt. It felt warm. But as quick as it came, it was away.
    I haven't to look at Meg to know that she felt the same like me.
    Directly after the two bolts the water started to glow even brighter.
    Slowly I felt a tingle in my feet. It slowly reached up from my feet, up to my lower legs and up to my upper legs. It was the same feeling like the bolt who hit me. As I looked down to my feet, I could see that my legs were surrounded by the same glowing like the water. A quick glace over to Meg showed me that she had the same experience like me. But her eyes where shut. She enjoyed it visibly.
    The glow and with it those warm and powerful feeling extended itself up to my lower body, up to my upper body, trough my arms and finally up to my head. It felt so good. Save. Simply indescribable. But you can compare it, with that feeling when you think back to your childhood. Everything is peaceful, save and nothing bothers you any more. But much more intence.

    The glowing fades slowly away. Like it was pulled back into our bodies. Meg opened her eyes again. We looked at each other an momentarily we knew each other better than sisters could. Yes even better like twins. I could feel what she fels and sence what she sences. I could feel her presence in my body and vice versa.

    The basin which contained the "water" before was now dry like it was never wet. Even our clothes wasn't wet at all.

    After a few moments Khalid stepped forward again. He bowed down again and spoke:
    "Meg, Diana. You are now bound to the Ring of Forever. You are his guardian and his keeper. You now possess the power of the united minds. As long as one of you wears the ring both of you can use his powers. Even when you are apart from each other. But mind this. When you are close together with your bodies and your soul the power is greater as when you apart. I have done what I have been ordered to do. When you ever need me, call me."

    And with those words the ring on Meg's hand released a flash of light and everything went dark....


    The sun crawled up to my face. Tickling me with the warmth. I turned around and slowly opened my eyes. Meg was still asleep. I sat up and looked at me. I looked the same way like before. Was this just a dream?

    "Meg..." I whispered. She turned around. "Not now. Let me sleep please." she mumbled. "Alright." I whispered back.

    I thought about that what happened with us. It felt so real but that wasn't possible. The only proove would be the ring Meg should wear.

    "Damn Diana. Could you please be quiet? I told you I want to sleep."

    "Uhm, I said nothing, Meg."

    "You've gotta kidding me. Do you think I can't hear your loud thoughts about that what happened to us?"

    "But Meg, I haven't said anything. I just thought about it."

    Suddenly Meg was fully awake. She pointed at me in disbelieve. "You had the same dream like me?? That means...."

    She didn't complete the sentence. But liftet her other hand. Our mouths dropped simultaneous. The ring.
    "It wasn't a dream." We thought and heard each other think it.

    "Damn girl. Do you know what this means?"
    Our faces lit up with a grin.


    "What we gonna do now?"

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  4. We could feel a new power running through us, but what was it and what could it do? Our hotel room looked mostly the same with a few minor changes. Looking out the window, we saw a different Marrakesh. What had happened in the dream? Diana turned on the news and we saw changes worldwide. Devastation and wars on a scale never before seen. The ring started to glow and a vision came to us, almost as if history had been re-written. The world was wrong and we have been chosen to make it right.

    We ran back to Souk's to look for Khalid but he nor his stand were anywhere. What about the fountain? It had changed but we looked into it and reminded us of the pool from last nights dream. The ring began to glow and completely surrounded us, transporting us back, thousands of years to the beginning of the problem. We could see time reverse itself like a fast-motion camera, showing the city become smaller and smaller to it's very origin and further. Time began to slow and we found ourselves next to a desert oasis, no city in sight.

    "What happened Meg?" Diana said. "I don't know but I feel different". The energy had infused into our bodies and made us powerful. Diana came up and felt my arm. It was packed with muscle, my whole body was. Diana too. She flexed every inch of her body and the muscles responded, pushing her outfit to extremes. We had the bodies of professional middleweight bodybuilders, the question was why?

    A loud sound came from the desert and we watched as a large tribe came towards us brandishing swords. Another army started coming from the other direction. Hundreds and hundreds of angry desert tribesman. Something about this moment changes history forever but what can two somewhat strong girls do about it. I see the nervous look on Diana and figure its time to go... for now. We need more power, enough to take on two armies. If one trip made us a little stronger, what will a hundred trips or a thousand. I begin to think of a different time and the ring started to glow.

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