(illustrated book)
It was the year 3000; the earth had changed in many ways. Part of earth was now called Shultucia. The planet was now guided by nine mythological gods. The Shultucia palace was the gods’ official meeting place. Outside this sacred place, there were many different forces both good and evil.
Ticu, a two-headed jaguar, guarded the surroundings of the palace. He was seven feet tall, half-man and half-jaguar. In the middle of his forehead, he had a birthmark that looked like the sun.
Krico lived in the Shultucia palace. He was the planet historian, a very unique and peculiar-looking creature that had special powers.
The gods always met in a sacred room. They sat around a large round table and talked about their concerns. In the center of this table, there was a circle that represented the God of creation. No one knew what the God of creation looked like.
They never made a final decision without first looking at the center of the circle for messages or images from this powerful force that would guide them to make the right choice.
Sitting at this table were: (E) Sulna, the goddess of the universe; (Q) Hommdel, the god of honor; (U) Alna, the goddess of beauty; (I) Aiten, the goddess of wealth; (L) Mater, the god of nature; (O) Nivers, the god of wisdom; (V) Ticu, the god of protection; (U) Ustic, the goddess of justice; and (S) Haros, the goddess of love and hope.
On a very cold night after a meeting, Haros went back to her kingdom to rest, and while she was sleeping, the power of the evil force Luzurus put an evil spell on her. She became ill and was unable to move.
To help remove the spell from Haros, the gods called on Equilovus, the guardian of dreams. He was a golden-winged horse.
Equilovus’s special spell was only supposed to be cast during a full moon. Haros, the goddess of hope, was needed for another special mission. Equilovus decided to take a chance. He got behind Haros, stretched his wings, and said, “Ex sententia tibi cadunt omnia.” All of a sudden, a small golden circle appeared on Haros’s forehead. The circle disappeared. She woke up, and suddenly, Equilovus was turned into stone.
It was always believed by astrologists that the stars formed images and their positions affected and controlled human destiny.
As the evil one Luzurus was blocking the sun, it was affecting everyone’s performance on the planet. On the dark side of the forest, there were three statues that represented the evil force: Skreloo, a large skeleton with powerful strength; Vincing, the evil gargoyle; and Satvicious, the evil monster.
As soon as Equilovus was no longer around, Luzurus’s statues became real and began destroying everything that they came across. The gods were forced to abandon Shultucia. At night, one could hear cries from people all over the planet.
*
The year was 2009.
It was an unusual winter for the Rossi family. A few years ago, they had moved from Washington, DC, to Venice, Italy. Sean and Stephanie Rossi had two children: Andrew, sixteen, and Katie, seven. The family was very close.