From Cambodia to the Amazon, the pieces of
the puzzel begin to come together.
Asia - August 2007 Mela found the number and called, speaking
in Thai once again
and just as she was hanging
up, Del dashed in
and informed us we had
lost Dark Embrace
somewhere between Bangkok
and Singapore. Mela then informed us that the people at
Thai Catwalk had
never heard of us, of Moove
or even Avatars;
and they had not sent a
team of photographers
to the shoot in Bangkok.
"What the hell
is going on", Del
answered. I then decided to tell them both about all
that had happened
since my feeling of being
watched that night
in Bangkok (seeing the
Shawdow Walker and
my talk with the Monk)
and showed them the
note in Tibetan. Mela
was a bit angry at
me at first for not telling
her sooner, but it
quickly passed as she
called the Moove
Body Guards to report the
situation and have
the room scanned for listening
devices. The scan discovered not only a small video
camera hidden in
a smoke alarm and a listening
device in the fresh
flowers, it also discovered
GPS tracking devices
hidden in the hemline
of six of the outfits
we wore for the "fake"
Thai Catwalk photo
shoot. "This is high
tech, professional
equipment", the Moove
body guard informed
us, "somebody is
serious about tracking
your every move -
any idea who?"
Mela and I were stumped.
Who would want to
track two Avatars halfway
across Asia? Why
us? We turned everything over to the Bodyguards
(I kept the note),
and headed off to our
flight for Luang
Prabang. I was uncomfortable
traveling without
a body guard, and although
Mela laughed it off,
I could tell she was
feeling the same
way. The next morning, Mela and I got up and hurried
down to the small
mans office and headed
to the 10th floor. The office had been cleaned out and was totally
empty except for
some writing in red
paint
(?) on the wall.
Mela called the Moove
Embassy
and was informed
that the Driver had
been
gagged, tied up and
dumped at the front
gate
early this morning.
We were told to leave
Yangon immediately
for our own safety.
Mela
and I took a pic
of the empty office
and
left faster than
a moonshiner down
Copperhead
Road. We flew out of Yangon in the morning for
Mandalay where we
were to catch the
Orient
Express boat for
Cambodia. The "Road to Mandalay" was a quite
luxurious and graceful
river cruiser with
cabins that are air-conditioned
and furnished
with beautiful fabrics,
fine linens and soft
towels. It felt good to be back aboard the type
of surroundings Mela
and I were accustomed
to, but I could not erase all I had seen in Yangon. Mela and I had planned to work on the layout
for the Livid Fashion
Shoot on the three
day trip up the Ayeyarwady
River. The Livid
Fashion Shoot was
scheduled to take
place
at Angkor Wat the
day after our arrival. It was difficult to focus on the luxury and
the upcoming Livid
photo op with all
that
had happened on this
trip, so we called
in
Ninja Angie, Del,
Stacia and MysteryMan
for
a conference on what
the Shadow Walker had told us the night before
in Yangon. We laid out our options and wrote down what
we knew"
A Russian Firm wanted
to buy the Crystal
Angel
We beat out a Russian
Fabric Merchant at
the Silk Auction
who knew alot about
us and
Avatars
We had been bugged
and watched by the
fake
Thai Catwalk group.
How much did they
know?
We still had the
Tibetan note with
the writing
from the Monk, which
none of us could
read.
My odd dream which
was so real, I had
gotten
a sunburn.
The small man and
the connection to
the Orphanage
The writing on the
wall of the empty
office.
The abduction of
Dark Embrace. We really had nothing to go on. MysteryMan
suggested we stay
in our Cabin until
we were
to meet the one-eyed
Monk, but both of
us
refused. "This
is a trip of a lifetime",
Mela told him, "I
am not going to sit
in here for the next
five days like a
bump
on a log". "Yeah",
I said,
stamping my foot.
But I really did
not want
to go anywhere. I
was MAJOR scared.
I went to the deck
of the boat and watched
the jungle float
by as a light rain
fell.
From the deck I could
see small teak and
bamboo dwellings,
home to the excited
children
who run along the
riverbank and the
women
going about their
daily chores. I saw
the
ox carts cultivating
fields, and elegant
monasteries rising
above canopied trees. We spent three days onboard the boat, stopping
from time to time
to play with elephants,
visit a temple or
explore some ruins.
Mela and I left the group and wandered off
to find the one-eyed
monk. We entered
the
Ta Prohm temple which
has been left as
it
was found, preserved
as an example of
what
a tropical forest
will do to an architectural
monument when the
protective hands
of humans
are withdrawn. The temple has been left in the stranglehold
of trees. Having
planted themselves
centuries
ago, the tree's serpentine
roots pry apart
the ancient stones
and their immense
trunks
straddle the once
bustling Buddhist
temple.
Built in the later
part of the 12th
century
by Jayavarman VII,
Ta Prohm is the terrestrial
counterpart of the
star Eta Draconis
the
Draco constellation.
The Temple was damp,
dark and cold. Once our eyes adjusted to the dark, we saw
a small creature,
a boy perhaps...WITH
ONE
EYE IN THE MIDDLE
OF HIS FOREHEAD sitting
in the darkness of
a corner. "Welcome
to the place beyond",
he softly said
in purrfect English.
"I have been
waiting
for your visit. Do
you have what I demand?" "What is it you demand", Mela asked
harshly. The boy
Monk hissed. "All you have and more", he hissed
at us, "GIVE
IT TO ME". F**K OFF YOU CYCLOPES FREAK, Mela shouted
at him while she
tried to poke his
one eye
out with a pointed
stick. The boys eye
glowed
red with anger as
he hissed and spoke
a language
I have never heard.
Those are the last
words
I ever heard Mela
speak. As the boys
eye
burned red then green
and back to red,
a
foul stench filled
the temple and a
red mist
swirled in the air.
I lost focus and
passed
out. When I awoke I was in a hospital in Bangkok.
I had been unconscience
for six days and
had the most awful
headache. "Mela"?
"Is she okay"?
The silence told
me she was not. Auntie
Nymph, Craftie Lady,
MysteryMan, SmartestBlond
and others had
the most worried
eyes I have ever
seen.
"She is gone
little one",
MysteryMan
told me. GONE? "What
do mean gone?",
I cried. Auntie Nymph held up the tattered and bloody
clothes that Mela
had been wearing.
I was
told that they never
found a body, but
that
the authorities told
them that wild animals
often attack tourists
and Mela was probably
eaten by a group
of flesh eating Monkeys.
I did not believe
it and I swore I
would
find Mela. I knew
the Shadow Walker,
the
One-Eyed Monk Boy,
the fake Thai Catwalk
was a plan to gain
control of something...something
our new company currently
controlled. They
would not simply
get rid of Mela.
They wanted
it too much. I arrived back in Moove and began to work
on the clues that
would bring Mela and Dark
Embrace back home
safe and sound. I decided
to offer a reward
of $10,000.00 CC's. Click Here to read the complete August 2007
Issue Click here to read the Gorean Rescue in Mongolia
Mela found the number and called, speaking
in Thai once again
and just as she was hanging
up, Del dashed in
and informed us we had
lost Dark Embrace
somewhere between Bangkok
and Singapore. 
could not erase all I had seen in Yangon.
