PROLOGUE

Summer, 1996. Roy Swenson clutched the leather-sheathed steering wheel and let his mind wander.

We are such a great fit, so compatible; she is the one.

Hope she likes the ring.

His fiancée Julie enjoyed the ride as she spoke above rushing wind and purring engine. Roy’s car swept along the forested highway to the coast. Trees flashed past in the mirror.

“Roy, remember when we ran into Murakami at the beach? I have that strange feeling…again. Like we’re about to meet another luminary.”

The woods blurred as the car accelerated on a straightaway.

“You’re having one of your twitchy moments, huh?” Roy answered as he kept his eyes focused on the road and every subtle change in the gray. “You couldn’t stop babbling. The guy reminded you of who? Bulgakov?”

“Yes. The surreal tension. Between magic and reality. And the cats,” Julie smiled as her hair blew in the wind.

Roy, a young college student sporting a dark black shaggy beard, pushed the accelerator to the floor as his passenger closed her eyes in the wind.

Here is that incredible turn. I’ll slide through it, he thought as he lifted his foot from the gas-pedal and shifted to the brake. Time slowed to a crawl as he felt the pedal offer no resistance. His mind raced. Damn. No brakes. Then the world turned as all the force shifted to the passenger side.

He cranked hard to avoid a head-on with the naked steel guardrail.

The image of Julie smiling was frozen in his mind as the classic sports car left the ground, just missing the barrier. After the gravel there was a massive Douglas Fir. The car hit the tree at about 40. Julie’s seatbelt snapped like a paper ribbon.

She was ejected from the car and hit a larger tree before tumbling a surprising distance from the totalled roadster.

His mind was frozen, in survival mode.

The Sword of Agrippa: Antioch Description: Science, shamanism, past and future collide in the search for dark energy. Two heroes struggle thousands of years apart for the betterment of humanity. 18+ recommended (some torture, drug use [DMT], and sex). The Sword of Agrippa: Antioch is about the search for truth, fostered by collisions between east and west, science and mysticism, future and past. At its core is the search for dark energy, a kind of “no holds barred” quest for knowledge that leads through ancient libraries and torture chambers. It is 2020 and a vast wilderness of people (dubbed “certaintists”) live in the shadows of various forms of religious and scientific dogma. The certaintists thrive on specialized social media feeds and misinformation fed as news. Humanity is intellectually and spiritually bankrupt as schools and churches have all become places of worship without thought or inspiration. A scientist banned from the US is in Prague on a quest to discover dark energy. World leaders, in the pockets of the oligarchs, are out to stop him. The Czechs, who have been the victims of countless crimes against humanity committed in the name or religion and progress are his last hope. Unconventional Science Roy chases dark energy with everything from graphene-coated sensors to experiments with pineal glands and DMT. His team of PhDs includes experts across an assortment of fields, from shamanism to advanced sensor technologies. At night Roy’s dreams take him through secret rooms in the Great Library of Alexandria as a young Roman soldier, Marcus Agrippa. Agrippa falls in love with an Egyptian slave priestess. In the secret chambers of the Great Library she guides him through racks of now lost scrolls. Agrippa will grow up to become a pillar of the newly formed Empire, thanks to the knowledge acquired in the Library. Empire of Blood Along the way Agrippa is forced into making painful, personal sacrifices for the glory of Rome. He eventually builds the Pantheon, not as a tribute to war, but as a quiet dedication to the priestess who introduced him to love and enlightenment. Both heroes fight to the end, each in their own way. Their dreams power them through devastating events and sacrifices as they seek the betterment of humanity. ==== “Great read! … a fascinating dual-poled tale, part in the distant Roman-Egyptian past and part in the near-future.” ==== “Dark energy became beautiful. A discussion about energy and sensors? Riveting.” – Undiscovered Tomes ==== FOUR STARS – Movies and Manuscripts: “I believe that Lloyd has a great concept for an excellent series.”