The Old World

7

"We walked a day east, I, the shaman, and three hunters. On that fateful morning, my eyes glistened at the sight of a mighty lake positioned in a valley. The lake was the largest I had seen yet, and surrounding it in most locations were sand beaches.

"At first, I thought it only a mere mirage of my vision. But as I got closer to the lake, I nearly trembled at the sight. Before me, positioned at the center of this lake, was a structure of stone, like that of the upper half of an old church, jutting out from the waves.

"The shaman walked first onto the sand very slightly. He gracefully removed his sandals in some sort of tradition and began walking freely to the edge of the beach. I did not waste time removing my sandals, instead, I found myself shuffling through the sand, my eyes locked on the church that was flooded at the center of the lake.

"'Civilization,' I uttered in disbelief. 'I can prove it was here.'

"The church was exceptionally crumbled and ruined, but I could easily see a window hole in the stone. The stone it was crafted from and the design of the building had seemed to me like it was some form of a medieval Christian church, although I can't be certain. But I found out then that the civilization of earth still had its remnants here, and I told myself there was much more where that came from.

"I asked the shaman about the structure and he simply referred to the lake as the spirit lake. The flooded church at the center was the spirit rock, which on it in the night, the embodiment of the lake spirit sits alone, waiting for the moon to fall from the sky.

"He turned to me and pressed his finger to my chest. I was the moon, falling from the sky. This was my destination, the spirit lake where I would meet and converse with the lake spirit. That was tradition.

"My curious mind, more thirsty for discovery than ever, was soon satisfied by yet another church on the beach a mile north. As I followed the shaman north along the beach he told me many stories. He had led me to this place because he wanted for me to see the spirit realm. He brought me to this church, just the same as the one in the lake, yet this was on land and still standing. The church was small but made of some stone, which told its incredible story of resistance as it survived the thousands of years of wear.

"I placed my hand upon the church's stone and felt a tingly cold. The stones were crafted and placed here thousands of years ago by a civilization reduced to dust. I turned to the shaman who smiled. He told me that within this structure you could communicate with spirits.

"It seems the Nepham had kept high regard for the structures of the old world which had lasted the thousands of years.

"If it were true, and this was truly earth, then after my countless days here and the many nights awake dreaming and wondering, I felt it was safe to assume that I was somewhere in the Americas along the west coast. That was, because of the many cacti species I had encountered. It led me to believe that since it was a land of desert and cacti, with mountains rising in the east, I assumed that this had to have been the lands that were once either West Mexico or California.

"Perhaps given these blistering deserts, it could be someplace near the rocky mountains. I checked many locations in my mind. It could be the Mojave perhaps. Perhaps it was the Sonora. Or maybe the climate and geography have changed in the time gap that I was gone. It could possibly be South America, somewhere near what was once Peru or chile.

"In time, I knew the colony would soon figure this out, but I felt accomplished enough that I could safely and scientifically guess the location. My opinion at the time leaned heavily on the location being the Sonora, although I was not sure. But from my gathering of the location information on this new land's geography, such as the fact a dense jungle grew in the south, and that land of open plains and desert existed in the northeast, I felt it a safe assumption.