I first have to say, this post is especially for Amy and Kimberlee (since they've been asking numerous times for pictures)! So, here you are!
Here is my first view of London! Foggy and absolutely beautiful! The temperature was 55 degrees with a 70% chance of rain. Very typical of London, eh? Our rest on the plane was one I'd like to forget. But at least the food was good! We stayed in a Holiday Inn that was set in this large, empty field, out in the middle of nowhere, it was great!
Here are the streets of London! I was afraid the real thing wouldn't be like the books you read about or the movies you watch. But truly, the streets and side-buildings were perfect! Notice how everything is crammed together with unique old-style architecture? As our missionary friend in Rome said, "people in Europe get to drive like men in America only wish they could drive!"
Westminster Abbey was gorgeous! Sadly, we weren't able to enter. I was hoping to take some pictures of some famous gravestones such as, Darwin, Cotton Mather, John Gill, etc. But the outside was inspiring and I was thankful we had a stop there!
The Changing of the guards at Buckingham palace was incredible! To bring in the new guards a large marching band made it's way down the streets. Thousands of spectators crowded the sidewalks and the large fountain we stood on to get a better view. The crowds were so packed that the warning, "watch out for pickpockets," was more than serious! Once the guards changed places the marching band would then accompany the exiting guards back out and the crowd's cameras would go crazy once again.
Big Ben is placed at the North-Eastern end of the palace of Westminster. Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock, and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world. We weren't able to have a stop here so the pictures snapped fast as we passed it in the bus! It was really amazing, and the architecture along the the sides of it were very detailed!
Here I am standing on one of the large walkways of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, or more commonly known as the Tower of London! The Tower (historically called) had more turrets, towers, and rooms than I knew! Here we also saw Her Majesty's Crown Jewels. Though no pictures were allowed I saw a young man standing in the corner of the room snapping pictures pretty obviously (bobbies were standing in the opposite corner conversing, paying the least amount of attention). In the background I am holding my hand out to the London Bridge!
For now the pictures of London will have to suffice, Amy and Kimberlee! Sorry, but maybe later on I'll post more pictures of some of the other countries we visited. (By clicking on the pictures the image will enlarge.)
Mari held her breath. She wished the searing pain from the rope cutting her circulation wasn’t so bad. She wanted to pay complete attention to the scene in front of her. If Lucas succeeded he would be the first living creature ever to go so far as to defy the Holy One. Surely the Holy One wouldn’t allow it. Perhaps Lucas was only faking it, trying to get his people to believe in him. The pain erupted in her wrists once more and shot up her arms and into the back of her neck. Lucas called for silence. Suddenly it was as if the winds had been called into order and the chattering of the birds ceased. Nothing was heard apart from the heavy, fast-paced thumping of the girl’s heart. “I call you all here today for the greatest event since the beginning of time!” The first words out of Lucas’s mouth were not praiseworthy lines to the Holy One, like it always had been done. But here he was, standing at the foot of the Inner Sanctum praising his own name. “What you will witness here today is something we have all waited for, for over seven-thousand years. I do not lower the name of the Holy One, I simply raise mine to the position He has so dutifully granted me. I am to be placed at His right hand.” Mari shook with anger. So dutifully? How could anyone state something so blasphemous and actually intend to get away with it? Her face and hands grew hot and she could feel the blood rush to her cheeks. “Mari,” Markus whispered beside her. “Keep yourself together, we may yet have a chance to thwart his plan, or at least prove to the rest of the Tashins where he truly stands.” Mari shot a glance up at him but quickly averted her eyes back to the ground beside her feet. She could feel the hot tears moistening her face and she didn’t want Markus to see. “My brother,” Mari chocked back a sob. “My father, and now…” She couldn’t say what continued slamming her in the face. How could she have been such a fool as to have entrusted her feelings, much less her heart, to that prideful swine who now stood at the Inner Sanctum preparing to kindle the Fire that was meant solely for the Holy One? She bit her lip until the copper-tasting blood reached her tongue. Lucas’s words brought her back to the real world and she reprimanded herself for not catching all he had been saying. “Through this Holy Flame do I pledge my life, my allegiance, and my all. Though I may come to stand as high as the Holy One Himself may I never put the concerns of my people aside!” Cheers sprang up like wild-fire throughout the crowd. “Blasphemous pig!” Mari hissed. “Holy Flame, Holy Fire,” Lucas continued. “I invoke to you alone, grant me the power that I have trained for. Bless me with those secret and unknown forces that you know I seek. As you now die bequeath in me the Holy Power of the Flames!” Lucas poured the liquid into the Flames and plunged his hands deep into the basin of erupting fire. “All Power is mine!” As he held his hands fast in the Fire colors of black and dark burgundy rippled up his arms and across his face. Suddenly, body transformation swept across him and his face became indistinguishable. Lightning flashed in the heavens and a low growl of thunder rippled through the heavy clouds. He pulled his hands from the Flame and a substance like liquid metal quickly absorbed into his skin. The Flame died down and eventually nothing could be seen in the basin save a small red glow. Lucas turned, facing the crowd, his face now discernible. “Praise your new Saviour!” Exultant cries rang out which eventually turned into dancing and singing. Mari wondered if there wasn’t the slightest bit of hesitancy after the shocking display. Something about Lucas’s face and eyes had changed, quickly. Mari could no longer read what she used to see so easily in those eyes. Even at the foot of the Inner Sanctum she could read timidity and fear in those steel-grey eyes. Now, nothing but empty-black was visible. Something had happened, something more than just a show for his people. A long moment of elated song went by before Lucas brought things under control once more. “Before leaving you to the festivities of the evening I am proud to make an announcement.” He stood tall, his black cape flicking in the light breeze, “I desire for you all to wish me well as I officially announce my engagement to the child-daughter of the Broden family.” Dread, like burning fire, leapt into Mari’s lungs. She could barely breath, she could barely stand. Nothing inside her seemed to function any longer, her lungs, her legs, not even her eyes. She watched Lucas stretch out his arm, holding his hand out to the crowd… to her! Suddenly the world began to fade. “My Lord!” Mari’s eyes shifted to the platform. Something was happening. She wasn’t being called on any longer. The fog cleared and she could see a man in a dark red uniform speaking to Lucas. The man in the uniform had two gold stripes on his shoulders. He was the head of the communication’s centre. That much she had learned from her old teacher back home. “My Lord,” the man bowed his head quickly but returned to the same agitated stance. Annoyance flashed across Lucas’s face, but as quickly as it came it went. The man in the red uniform whispered something in Lucas’s ear. “What?” Lucas grabbed the man by the arm. Suddenly the crowd became silent once more, this time in curiosity. Though whispered, every word could be heard bouncing off the curved walls of the Inner Sanctum. “What do you mean, ‘everything is down?’ ” Lucas asked, clenching the man’s arm tighter. “E-exactly what I said, Sir. Everything, except for the communication’s centre, that is. They said we wouldn’t have any more problems if we cooperated.” The back of the man’s uniform was wet with sweat. “They, who? What are you talking about, man?” “They call themselves the Black Voids, Sir. They reached us through the Space Com. Our radars tracked them coming from below space… from the Black Gate, Sir! That’s when everything shut down.” “Are you speaking mad?” “S-Sir, they want our cooperation.” The man stuttered, “they are in orbit around us now.” “What cooperation?” “The Flames, Sir. They claim that you are not the true Bearer. I’ve been trying to make sense of it, but—“ “Are you trying to tell me that they are here to rob me as Bearer of the Flames?” Lightning flashed and naught but a moment passed before thunder cracked in the heavens. Light pattering sounds dropped here and there until an even shower of rain spread across the expanse of onlookers. “Take me to the Com’s Centre,” Lucas pushed the man ahead of him. “There will be a war before anyone thieves me of my position as Bearer of the Flames!” Anna Michael’s new Science Fiction novel, The Golden Spiral, is in the process of plotting. Her book is what novelists now call speculative fiction. The plot is based around the biblical account of the fall and the struggle for God’s people to continue serving Him in an ever-growing sinful world. (Oct. 3, 2009)
