Luke's journey was uneventful until, after his midafternoon respite, a torrential rain erupted. The blinding rain and wind battered Luke's face and tunic. His legs ached from maintaining his balance as the raft tossed and buffeted. The precious army supplies jostled. The river current grew stronger creating whirlpools and dangerous rapids.
A sudden, strong surge of water attacked the wooden raft tossing Luke and the supplies overboard. After letting out a scream, Luke's head smashed onto a rock. He lost consciousness and his limp body rode the current further downstream. The supplies scattered, sank and released their contents into the moving water.
Four hundred years later, Maggie, a climatologist, drove her jeep down the dirt road alongside a shallow river. She shook her head for two reasons. The shoreline told the river's geological history. At one time, the river was five feet higher. The second reason was the pain behind her eyes. It was coming more often.
Maggie parked the jeep at a designated observation point where every ten years a scientist documented the changes in this remote section of the river due to global warming. She grabbed her laptop and set off on foot.
After fifteen minutes, she came across something that made her heart beat a little faster. She checked the previous report. There were no remarks pertaining to what she saw. The river had been high enough to cover it.
Maggie cursed the pain behind her eyes, ignored it and stepped into the water's edge. She took several pictures and sent them on to the university. She knew she shouldn't touch anything. But, the sparkle and color barely perceptible through a thin layer of mud was too curious for her to resist.
Maggie splashed water over the objects and, with a gentle touch, wiped the thin layer of mud off the objects. When she saw the large collection of amethyst, rose quartz and agate and sensed their energy, she thought, "It's a cache of healing crystals!" Then, feeling guilty for having touched them, she stood up. Her head spun and she almost lost her balance. When she recovered, she documented her find and continued on her walk.
A week later, while reviewing her assignment, one of her co-workers asked, "How is the pain behind your eyes? Are you going to a doctor soon?"
"I'm not going to bother with a doctor. I haven't had the pain in a week."
"Hmmm....And, you touched the healing crystals last week?"
"Yes. You don't think?"