'It all began when I met Heloise, the Hanta Witch -- queen of the hidden kingdom, Koqania! Though I went there to challenge her, I fell in love with Heloise's irresistable beauty instead!
'We soon married.
'All of Bengali rejoiced! A week later and the party was still in full swing in what remained of the queen's castle.
'One of the distinguished guests at the celebrations was Sultan Abu Mahoud who happened to be a wonderful story teller.
'"Dear sultan, tell us another of your wonderous tales", my wife requested.
'"Another story, eh? Hmmm... aha! This is the one!" exclaimed Abu with the excitement of a young child, as he recalled a tale that was to affect the course of events to come.
'"The story of the Spear of Destiny begins many centuries ago", began Abu. "The sister cities of Atlantis and Lemuria once stood proudly in the ocean's vast expanse... mighty were these sister nations, yet fearful of the other's power. For centuries the fates turned the favour to savage Atlantis but the Lemurians remained undaunted! Employing the mysterious, magical powers of their shaman, they devised a way to defeat their enemies... thus was the fabled Spear of Destiny created with the power of a thousand raging storms streaming through it!
'"According to legend, many armies fell before the Spear of Destiny! For decades it protected the Lemurian people from outsiders! Though some believe the very magic that gave it such power ultimately led to the destruction of that fabled kingdom!"
'"But whatever became of the spear itself?" asked Adric, my brother-in-law.
'"Lost in time, most likely!" I guessed.
'"Imagine it, sister... with such power at our command, Koqania need never fear bandits or brigands again!!"
'"Adric, please! It's just a fairy tale! There's no such thing as the 'Spear of Destiny'!" reasoned Heloise.
'"And if there were, how and where would you ever begin to look for it?!" I added.
'Abu was quick to come up with an answer to that, "By travelling east, actually! According to legend, Lemuria once stood not too far from my own homeland! It may be close by!"
'"That same legend also teaches a valuable lesson, my friend! Power absolute corrupts absolutely!"
'Abu agreed with me, "Yes, they say that 'he who touches the Spear of Destiny stares into the eyes of madness!!!'"
'But we failed to show Adric any sense and he determined to find the Spear of Destiny!
'This concerned my wife. She asked me to travel with Adric in his mad quest for the spear and to make sure that no harm befell him.
'"With or without the spear, your brother will return home as he left!! I swear it!!" said I as I sealed my promise with a reassuring kiss on Heloise's lips.
'At dawn, Adric prepared for his journey into the unknown... a journey he would not be taking alone...
'Adric, who also happened to be a captain in Koqania's army, took offence at my tagging along but I insisted. I knew my brother-in-law was heading for trouble, but my word was my bond... I would keep my promise to Heloise and bring her brother home as he had left... or so I thought.
'For days, we rode on without sustenance, braving the sweltering desert, with no relief in sight... until... we finally found the place! It was a small refreshing oasis, on the corner of which stood a gruesome warrior's statue. The warrior's spear pointed downward into the pool.
'Adric assumed this to be a sign and proceeded to dive into the pool. I was wary and discouraged him.
'"You worry too much! Besides, I'm not doing this for myself... I'm doing it for Koqania!" he shouted as he splashed into the water.
'Adric swam deeper and deeper. What appeared to be a shallow pool, soon proved to be a bottomless pit! With little air left in his burning lungs, Adric realized his quest was at an end... but just as he was about to return to the surface, something caught his eye... the Spear of Destiny!!!
'Above, I was getting impatient waiting for Adric to resurface and prepared to go in myself when suddenly in a great splash that seemed more like an explosion, Adric was flung onto the surface!
'"Adric! Can you hear me? Can you breathe?"
'"I... (cough)... I found it! The power... (cough)... is mine!!"
'Holding the mythical spear in my hands, I felt its awesome power and knew right there and then what mighty power it generated!
'When we returned to Koqania, we were welcomed as heroes!
'"For our people, my Queen... I bring you Koqania's salvation!!" Adric proudly stated, kneeling in front of Heloise.
'"You have our deep gratitude, Adric! As for you, my darling husband", spoke Heloise, turning toward me and rewarding me with a passionate kiss, "mmm... I feared I would never taste those lips again!"
'Later that night, as the people of Koqania celebrated... gunfire! The castle was under attack by brigands! Adric wasted no time in grabing his prized possession, the Spear of Destiny, and rushed out to face the attackers.
'"Hand over all your treasure or we'll kill every last one of you!!!" demanded the leader of the brigands.
'"I'll show you the treasure", Adric retorted furiously as he held up the spear which began to sizzle and flash brilliantly and blindingly!
'I don't know what happened next. Just as suddenly as the noise and light began, a deathly silence fell over the place. There were bodies lying all about. Most of the robbers had fallen dead; the ones that hadn't, fled for their lives.
'Adric also fainted with a weakness that had come over him. It took him some time to regain consciousness and when he did come to, the last thing he remembered was a surge of energy flowing through his mind and body and then nothing! But as a sign of appreciation of her brother's efforts in driving away the brigands, Heloise promoted Adric to Field General in the Koqanian army.
'However, Adric wasn't very excited at this and asked to be left alone.
'I suspected other forces were at work here... I checked the spear and found a familiar inscription on it that I decided needed more attention.
'The following morning, Queen Heloise awoke to find her beloved husband was gone. I had left the castle and was in the Chronicle Room at the Skull Cave seeking information. I found the translation scroll for ancient Lemurian proverbs and it helped me translate the inscription on the spear. It read, "For the hands of the man whose heart power cannot corrupt."
'When I returned to the castle, tragedy had already struck! A maid had been bludgeoned to death. An awful sight!
'"The brigands must have done this in retaliation for their defeat", was Adric's explanation. He proposed hunting them down with no mercy.
'"We will bury and mourn our dead, but that is all! Despite myths about us to the contrary, vengeance is not the Hanta way!", was Heloise's reply to that.
'Feeling insulted, Adric walked off. I followed him. He turned a corner and I lost sight of him momentarily. When I came round the corner myself, I came face to face with not Adric, but a disgusting, monstrous figure resembling a human form but belonging to anything but a human! This hidious creature hissed at me, crashed through a nearby window and disappeared into the moat.
'Not long after, there were more reports of gruesome murders. This time the murderer had left a message for the Phantom at the scene. It said, "The witch is next..."
'I quickly thought up a plan. It involved using my wife to draw the fiend out into the open. That night Heloise was watched by devilish eyes as she bathed, dressed and then lay on her bed. When he thought that Heloise was asleep, the creature that I had encountered before, showed himself and slowly edged toward the bed. However, to his surprise, the creature found me under the bedsheets, not my wife! But the surprise did not last long... as I painfully found out. The creature punched me hard on the jaw and fled. Despite his lumbering frame, the monstrous man was faster than a hurricane but I managed to catch up with him!
'My fight with him lasted quite a while. He was no easy opponent but finally, the fight was over when I ended it by smashing my fist into his jaw. The creature fell to the ground. Now that I could take a closer look at the figure that lay before me, I recognized it to be Adric! He had been transformed by the Spear of Destiny because it was intended for the hands of the man whose heart power could not corrupt. Adric didn't seek its power for his people but for himself. And now his face bore forever his shame! All who looked upon him would know the monster he had become, both inside and out!
'Adric was put into solitary confinement. "You can't resist the power! There is no escaping destiny!... You can't resist the power...", he would keep repeating on and on.
'"There's no hope for him, is there?" Heloise asked me.
'"Unfortunately, I don't believe so."
"No hope... no hope at all?... Then he must be locked up as long as any other murderer... for life!!"
'Heloise continued to speak as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Please, darling, take that terrible spear away from us -- I beg of you..."
'I hastened to remove the cursed spear from Koqania, just as she had asked.
'"For the hands of the man whose heart power cannot corrupt...", I thought to myself as I reached the same oasis where the spear was found. I dove deep into the pool and left the Spear of Destiny exactly where Adric had found it, while still lost in my thoughts...
'"... as if such a man exists anywhere in the world!!!"'