The Spirit's Edition - Rise of Naomi

A letter was posted in the name of Paula Ray containing a case file and strange symbols in the envelope.

Mr Edward Ray didn’t read the case file yet but was perplexed to see the symbols on it.

He opened the case file and brushed to see if any of these symbols were mentioned in mentioned. Unfortunately, his luck was not on his side and left out with his friends to the club.

It has been almost ten years since Paula Ray passed away in a fierce car crash by the suburbs of Cheshire in West County. As for Mr Edward Ray, he had retired from the fire forces and took over Paula’s job as a criminal investigator in the county. The house was taken care of by his children both Alex and Thomas.

One day, Thomas was lurking on his father's desk and found the envelope on his table. As soon as he picked up;

“I want you to keep that envelope right back to where it belonged” yelled Edward.

Thomas immediately placed it back and left. The very same evening, another letter was posted to Ms Paula Ray containing a letter in which it read;

Dear Paula,

Hope you are in the right hands of the Gods.

I have sent you a case file which is interesting. Whoever has received the ability to solve the case, will seek wisdom and kindness from the family of Cretans.

Behold for whoever has the letter will cherish the realms of Heka and will resolve the mystery

of Naomi.

Edward threw the letter in the trash and left to have an early dinner with his children. Post dinner, both Alex and Thomas left for a party at their family friends’ house. Even though he was invited, he denied to a fact that he wouldn’t attend any party without his wife Paula.

After the children left, Edward took the letter back from the trash and read it all along.

Dear Paula,

Hope you are in the right hands of the Gods.

I have sent you a case file which is interesting. Whoever has received the ability to solve the case, will seek wisdom and kindness from the family of Cretans.

Behold for whoever has the letter will cherish the realms of Heka and will resolve the mystery of Naomi.

You will see your mysterious child in here:

Edward frowned on the letter and kept it away thinking that someone was playing the exact game which he did to his wife, Paula.

It was already late night and Thomas returned alone at home.

“Where is Alex?” he asked Thomas.

“Oh! He will only return the next day! He will be staying with his friend for some project work” replied back to him.

It was four in the morning and Edward couldn’t get his full sleep. He woke up and returned back to his work station and read the case file.

The file read as;

“A girl from the cross tribes of Tanzania and Greece went missing ten years ago dated as on the 12th of October. We have been searching for her over a year and haven’t found yet. To whom the daughter belongs is not the concern, but the girl is. Her ancestors were the family of Cretans and she is the only kind of Cretans in this world. The report of the missing person was filed in Cairo two years ago dated as on the 01st of June. We tried to get a description of the girl. Unfortunately, only a few from Tanzanian tribes had seen her when she was a baby. She is expected to be 22 years old as when the case was filed”.

As usual, Edward blew the envelope to check if anything else were present in it. While blowing into the envelope, a special kind of mystical and glittering dust blew on his face for which he sneezed few times. He then saw a very peculiar kind of transparent paper glittering in the light inside the envelope. He tore open and saw more symbols on it.

Feeling drowsy, he left to bed again. However, at this time, he wasn’t only sleeping but he was infused in the symbols which took him into the wilderness of the signs he had seen before. His mind began hallucinating into a cloud of gold and silver where he could see the Gods getting embalmed into the pharaohs’ coffin. Edward kept running away from the cave under the black mountains brushing through the leaves and crossing the river. He saw the dark motions of the forest whispering his wife’s name repeatedly into his ears.

Suddenly, he woke up and sat beside the bed unknowing to the fact that a part of the day had passed and was midday already. The hallucination kept bothering him until three symbols flashed across his eyes.

Edward went to the bathroom, freshened up and took the stairs down.

He saw Thomas crying profusely and;

“Why are you not at work today?” He asked.

“Alex was kidnapped early this morning from Mark’s house!” Thomas replied.

Edward’s eyebrows rose in alarm.

“Why didn’t you call me?” He asked.

“How many times can I call you? Even the doctor came and checked on you? He slapped gently on your cheeks. Though you opened your eyes, you said something gibberish and went back to sleep”, Thomas replied.

Edward took Thomas along with him in the car and drove off to his friend Mark’s house where the party was held. Reaching his mansion, he saw police officers and K9 present.

“What the hell happened here?” he asked one of the officers.

“Well and you are?” asked the officer. Flashing his badge to him, the officer described that as per witnesses; a black van arrived at six in the morning and started shooting. They were about nine to ten people and barged into taking a boy named Alex. Just before they left they flagged a sign. One of the friends who were still in the mansion recorded the whole scene.

“Can I check the video?” asked Edward.

“Yes sir! But please do not use for your investigation as…” replied the officer.

Before finishing his sentences; Edward stopped him and asked him to get the video again.

While watching the video, he forwarded to a certain point where he saw them taking Alex and showing the sign.

He gave the video back and returned to the house along with Thomas.

Edwards commanded his son sternly to stay somewhere else safe till he returned. Thomas understood that his father knew who those people were.

“I will bring Alex back. I promised” he commented.

It was for the first time in his life that he had seen his father so focused and promising. Thomas nodded, packed his bags and left out of the house.

Edward opened all the letters and the case files. He saw the same sign encrypted on the letter as well. He understood that it was time to react in the name of his wife and set out to save both Alex and Naomi.

Edward started working on the symbols rather than the numbers he saw.

The first symbol resembled the sun and with it were alphabets written next to it. He used his previous skills which he mastered while creating the puzzles for Paula and brushed through his ancient Greek book. A while later he came to a conclusion that “S” meant for South and “R” meant for Right. The next symbol was related to 'Megisti' which is also known as Kastellorizo. However, looking closely at the symbol also gave him thoughts of the touristic spot known as “Stonehenge” in Salisbury. Reaching Salisbury the next day, he walked towards the south right of Stonehenge by rolling his compass which he had with him. He could hear someone screaming. But wasn’t sure if it was his voice inside him or someone else. He turned around to see Alex taped to one of the stones of the Stonehenge. Edward ran towards Alex and both of them escaped unhurt.

While on the flight;

“Dad, you will have to find Naomi. Consider for the sake of mom. That’s what they told me”, said Alex.

He handed over an envelope from his jacket to this father. Edward opened the letter to find two more symbols.

He hugged Alex tightly and closed his eyes with a sigh of relief.

Alex was left outside the airport and asked him to wait till Thomas picked him.

While sipping hot chocolate by a coffee shop in the airport, he opens his file to check the next set of symbols.

Meticulously searching for the symbols in his book, he realized that the symbols were not just figures but were a city or a country. The first symbol resembled the horse of Alexander the Great called “Bucephalus”. Whereas the second symbol known as Kassos or Casos was located in Greek’s southernmost island. But it could also mean the sign on a dolphin located in the coastline of some country close to Greece. And finally the third was the Nisyros volcano also located in the same country. Edward scrambled all the findings and understood that as per Greek mythology, even though Alexander the Great was in Greece, he went to Cyprus holding on to the gold, silver and collecting limestone from the country as great extradition of supplying resources to the places he conquered in the fourth century.

While in flight heading for Cyprus, Edward looked into the brochure which explained the beautiful sights of a volcanic mountain in Cyprus known as Mt. Olympus. Reaching Cyprus early the next day, he went to the nearest agent and hired and guide to help him get to the mountain. The cogwheel train was pretty helpful to get to the mountains easily. He gave some cash to the guide and asked him to get him a coffee from the shop. Edward frantically looked for any signs that pertained to the mysterious rise of Naomi.

Looking at every corner, he could only see the city, other mountainous area and the port of Cyprus. He sat on the bench and opened his diary just under the right time to find the letter to which Alex had handed over to him. He jumped up to his feet and used his binoculars to the direction of the port.

“Yes! I have made it!” he shouted with joy jumping on his feet.

Edward saw a sailing boat far off from a distance and took the next cogwheel train back to the city leaving the guide at the mountains itself. At the port, those symbols which Alex gave, reflected his eyes clearly which meant: “Please leave with the sailing boat”.

He showed the captain the remaining signs which he drew in his diary from his hallucination dream he had the other day.

“Where do you want to go exactly?” asked the confused captain to Edward.

“It’s a place, I think so” replied Edward.

The captain pushed him away and went to do his chores at the boat.

Edward couldn’t explain where exactly was the place supposed to be. He sat on the floor of the docks and picked up his Greek book and starting searching for the symbols.

As per his findings, the first symbol showed as half-moon and the second showed a ‘littus’ also known as staff while the third showed as ‘infans’ also known as a child.

As a father, he knew how impatient a parent could be when he was so close to finding a child. He looked up and prayed for a sign and wept profusely. His mind was overlapping with signs and various explanations as to where the place could be and lay on the floor looking at the sky and thinking about his beloved wife Paula. He woke up and took a deep breath to revive his patience of being an investigator and a firefighter, but not a father.

He read the symbols slowly one by one and wrote in the diary which he had.

And writes:

Half Moon and Staff could be a king or queen of Greece. Casefile says Naomi’s ancestors were Cretans.

He searched for the king and queen of Cretan and minutes later, he hit the first clue. The booked stated that Cretans who were considered as a traveller (Khonsu) were embalmed having a side lock of hair, menat necklace, crook and fail. The same form was portrayed by the queen of Greece called Hera who was the spouse of Zeus.

Edward knew he was getting closer to his victory. Then suddenly the captain tapped on his shoulders and told him that the boat was sailing off in some time. His body started giving him the frisk of panic and anxiety as he had to be on that boat whatsoever.

“Captain!!! Please help with this. I want to go to Hera’s place” asked Edward.

“Who is Hera?” replied the captain.

“The queen of Cretan who was embalmed in Greece and before her death she received a place or island somewhere by the sea not far from here. Please help me! Captain! Please! I have to be on this boat!” cried Edward to the Captain.

Captain saw the man in tears and even though he didn’t know where the place was, he allowed him to embark the boat. The boat was set to sail towards the direction where the captain wanted to go. Two days since the sail was on; while having dinner along with the boys and captain, Edward explained the entire story to them. Later that night, one of the sailors tapped Edward’s shoulder and told him to check the very old map.

“Where did you find this?” asked Edward.

“It was lying in one of the shelves. When our captain purchased this boat, the map and few other remains came along with it” replied the sailor.

Edward woke up and stretched the map next to the kerosene lit light. He also took his book and went through the history of Hera. It didn’t give him any clue. The captain later came to him and asked;

“Are you looking for the island were once a queen of Cretan settled? She was proclaimed as the spouse of Zeus, asked the Captain.

Edward nodded quietly waiting for more responses from the captain.

“Well it was once called “Pankhaia” and now it is called Panara, very close to Indonesia” responded the captain.

Almost a week later, the Edward disembarks to the island in Panara. He also hands him a knife and told him to be careful as the land doesn’t allow strangers to enter the island.

Knowing the fact that it was dangerous, he barged into the island. Somewhere in the middle of Panara, he saw one of the tribal members. All of them started running in different directions while the men ran towards Edward rapidly with their handmade weapons. It wouldn’t be possible to talk and so he ran the opposite direction as fast as he could. He hid below a pit and covered himself with grasses all over him. Night fell deep and now it was time to find Naomi. Each of his steps was very soft and quiet so that the tribes wouldn't be alerted again. Peeping through the high bushes, he saw a girl who was informally wearing a dress code which didn’t belong to the tribe. His fatherly instincts came out and made him believe that she was Naomi. Late at night, when all the tribes went to sleep, Naomi was still sitting beside the born fire under chains with a lock held to it.

Edward had to think fast and act slowly just like a stealth mission. He took a piece of paper and wrote a few words and threw next to her. Naomi looked at the crunchy paper and read:

“Ms Naomi, the queen of Cretan. I hereby offer you the key to your future"

The number read as 731859

She was free from her chains and escaped with Edward with the same captain he came with.

"I present to you the only living soul from the Cretan. Behold the Queen of Cretan, Ms Naomi Zeus"

The sail sets away slowly towards the direction of the sun.