Prologue
He was running. He had to find them. He was so close, he could feel it! Sweat pouring down his face, his heart pounding, his feet aching, and with only one thought on his mind, Arnold was running as fast as he could through the jungle. He knew he was running out of time.
Breathing heavily, Arnold could feel danger was at bay. He looked back to make sure no one was following. He wasn't sure how long he'd been running, but he was beginning to feel helpless. He stopped to catch his breath.
"Don't give up!" He said to himself. "I can't let them down. They need me!" After a few more deep breaths, he started running again. The jungle was thick and hot. He roughly shoved tree branches and other brush that was in his way as he ran. The farther he ran, the more he saw the jungle thinning out. With new hope, he ran faster.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. Arnold had come upon a huge, ancient stone building. It was withered and looked abandoned. It had three seperate staircases, with each one going into a chamber.
"This must be it!" He thought to himself. He glanced around and his eyes fell upon a graving. His eyes widened as he realized it was the symbol. The eye. Arnold knew exactly where he was. He frantically ran up the front steps and into the building, hoping he wasn't too late.
"MOM? DAD?" He didn't see anyone in the first room. Desperation creeping on him, he ran back outside and made his way through the walkway. He ran up the second set of stairs, and ran into the second chamber praying they would be in there. Then he saw them.
Two people, a man and a woman, sitting on the hard stone floor with their backs to each other, and their hands and feet tied together in rope. They looked up at him as he entered the building, and their eyes widened in terror.
"Mom! Dad!" Arnold ran to them and started to untie them.
"Arnold!" Stella screamed. "Arnold, what are you doing? Get out of here! It's not safe!"
"NO! I'm not going anywhere without you two!" Arnold argued, his eyes stinging as tears welled up in his eyes. "We're going to fight! We can win! I can't lose you again!"
"Son, listen to us! You have to leave! You're putting yourself in danger! We'll be okay, but you have to go!" Miles yelled. Before Arnold could argue with his father, he heard a strange voice.
"Well, well." Startled and fearing the worst, they all looked up to the source. "One happy family together at last.."