My wife informs me she has been inside this place before and tells us to follow her. As a proud husband, I should tell you a little more about my wife. My wife's parents were hippies and she was the last of nine kids. Her given name is Life Gale Moonbeam Archer. If you call her any of that you will probably be sucking your dinner through a straw for a few months. Most folks call her Mrs. Archer or ma'am. I tend to call her Xena. You see, my wife has mad ninja skills. Literally. While I was busy reading Milton, Tacitus and Meng-zu, my wife would pick up a martial art. The martial arts I know she studied included Aikido, Jujitsu, Italian Renaissance Swordsmanship, Tai Chi, Karate and Ninjitsu. One day I was out planting asparagus when my wife showing off her amazingly keen sense of humor, scrambled across the telephone wire squirrel-like, silently leaped down behind me and then asked me what I was doing. I howled like a banshee. Oh, how she enjoys scaring the crap out of me! She told me once that if Obama got re-elected she was going to apply for a position in the government as a spy. My wife is spooky enough without actually being a spook! I have no doubts that under better circumstances she would be deep under cover in Thailand or Bolivia right now.
After walking down a few corridors, my wife stops at a door. Ricardo gives a startled alarm as two soldiers look down the hall in our direction. Satisfied that our corridor is clear of intruders, the soldiers continue walking and leave our vicinity. "They could not see us!!", Ricardo say. "We are ghosts, Ricardo, we are undetectable unless we choose to be seen by the living, get it"? I say. We then pass through the door into what looks like a fairly extensive archive room. I am familiar with most archive storage systems and am able to quickly pick out some volumes for the three of us to scan for information. We sit down at a reading table and begin reading. Ricardo looks at me and asks, "What am I looking for"? "I am not sure Ricardo, anything that might help us plan our next step." I say.
After some time passes, I discover a journal logging activity and interactions with the local citizens. The list indicates that any citizen with a foreign sounding name, dark complexion or sporting an accent was detained, processed and deported to Ohio, later to be transferred to Gitmo. As I continue to scan the pages I see many familiar names and then my eyes fix on one in particular...Xena Warrior Princess. I read the entry: The complex was infiltrated today by a woman dressed in black fatigues. Somehow she got past all of our security and had entered the server room. Several encrypted messages were sent but when we later tried to decode them six of our servers crashed and no data could be recovered from them. We don't know if she was working alone or with a team of commandos. Casualties included six special forces rangers and twenty regulars before she was captured. She had been subjected to harsh interrogation for several weeks and all we could get out of her before she died was the name Xena Warrior Princess. I'm told the name comes from some stupid chick-flick fantasy show from the 90's.
Looking over at my wife, I get up to show her the journal. I am about to ask her some important questions when suddenly my buddy Joe waltzes over with a large leather tome under his arm and says, "Dude, we need to talk". He plops down heavily in my chair, oblivious to our perplexed gazes.
Joe has always been a bit perplexing. I've never been one to seek friendships, but Joe was one of the few people I'd met at work who took the time to get to know me. Joe had once worked for a Senator and so had insights as to how the government worked, who to contact, what to say or not say to get your voice heard. Joe also is an encyclopedia of sports knowledge, conspiracy theories, secret organizations, and barbeque sauces. Just when I thought I knew what he was talking about, he'd change the questions. One day he just stopped coming to work. Some said he went insane. Others thought he hit the lottery. He called me a few times after he disappeared so I knew differently. Joe had joined a secret society.
I look at Joe with furrowed brows and ask him, "Why the hell did you leave me cycling for so long? I know you could have used your insight to help me escape that endless loop, reliving the days just before disaster struck my village".
"Easy dude! If I was to go around shaking every dead guy out of his struggle between sleep and death I wouldn't have any "me" time. Besides, your dreams were kinda wild. I have to admit your imagination is better than anything on cable"!
Before I can convey to my wife the desire for her to put one of those katanas through his eye socket, Joe points to the book he brought over and says, "You need answers, here are your answers". The book has a thick leather cover with gold embossed lettering with the title The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries by Charles William Heckerthorn 1868. An intricate bronze locking mechanism has been opened revealing gold leaf pages with handwritten script in a flowing penmanship.
Joe looks up excitedly and begins to explain, "The 1875 edition you could find using Google. The 1896 revised edition was also widely available, but what we have here is the primary source, handwritten by the guru himself in 1868. Can't say why it is sitting in this backwater dude, but here it is!"
Noticing our impatient looks, Joe clears his throat stating in an authoritarian tone, "There are lots of secret societies. Most of them are crap, filled with self-important nobodies using pseudo-occult, make-believe rituals and tying themselves to various founders or events from history. Some were hoax organizations set up to keep eyes away from the real hidden societies. You've heard of some of them, Free-Masons, The Knights Templar, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn...but actually there are a few that had/have real power. Some of them are religious orders, some political, some were hybrid groups...Anyway, one in particular stood out from the rest. I made it my life's work to find this organization and become a member".
Hurriedly Joe rolls up his sleeve and points to a tattoo on his arm and then to an entry in the book, "The organization I spent my life looking for is known only as "The Society". Nobody knows its true name, but this symbol is how it is often represented. The symbol is a series of odd runes inside a cartouche with a free-floating pyramid encasing the infinity symbol, with each half of the infinity circle filled with an ever-seeing eye".
Joe begins reading a passage from the book, The Society believes that every man has an "Anime" which belongs to him and is not so much within him so to speak, but without him. This obscure Anime is stronger than he is and he cannot rebel against it nor hide from its search. This part of us is intangible, cannot be reduced, terrorized out of us or extinguished. It creates a dualism in us which makes itself felt as remorse or guilt when suppressed. When a man feel virtuous, pure of purpose, and at peace with himself this Anime does not torture him, he is in harmony. When a man does something evil, his Anime rebels. The Society is dedicated to the principle that the Anime of people and politics must work in virtuous symmetry, and when necessary The Society must become a vengeful and purifying remorse, regenerating upon death to bring light to the darkness enforcing the universal laws of brotherhood, equality and truth. In fact the primary oath of The Society is revenge for the evils of nations. Revenge is different from personal rancor, that desires to punish institutions, not individuals, to strike foul ideas with legitimate hatred. For necessary hatred is the salvation of nations, peeling away the poisonous layers of a corrupt form of government. Woe to the people who do not know how to hate, because intolerance, hypocrisy, superstition and slavery are evil! Beyond our oath The Society is ever vigilant for the rise of one Anime who espouses our beliefs as the eternal embodiment of our mission. A figure of dual nature, oath incarnate, death incarnate, cleanser of nations, righteous revenge, he shall be known as revenant.
As Goliath was struck with the stone of David and fell face down in the dust of Earth, so was I struck by this passage from some obscure book. I know what I must do now, and I have a plan.