I glanced around at the others. Christina looked about to run for it. Matt looked beyond tensed and I saw Jim's finger tense on the trigger of the sawed off shotgun he still held in one hand.
I mouthed out, "Play it cool!" And surprisingly masks of calmness fell over all three of their faces, even Christina's. She certainly was a tough girl.
I turned back to the stranger just as he finished from his hearty mirth that chilled rather than warmed me.
I forced a genial looking smile, "It would seem that we've lost our guides to superstition. I don't suppose that you would mind taking over for them would you?" I asked.
The smile never diminished on the other man's face. He was almost as big as Jim. "Nothing would please me more! Come I will show you the wonders of the past."
He turned and started off through the forest and I followed after him. The others hesitated for a moment, but then followed along reluctantly.
The man I followed was unquestionably under the influence of evil as just being near him disquieted my soul. I was confident though that if need be by faith in Jesus I was more than a match to bring him down if it had to be done.
I wanted to see what this forest may still hold of Atlantis and to see if it was going to be a threat to my plans.
Our mysterious guide led us for more than an hour through the forest. Here and there a bit of architecture would poke up through the forest floor, but nothing major. All of a sudden the canopy of the forest opened up and there were a lot of moss covered ruins to be seen.
Matt walked past the whole group as if irresistibly drawn to the antiquity of the past. The rest of us followed him.
There were sections of the ruins that still stood several stories tall. It was easy to see from just this one part of the ruins that the city had to of been vast and quite built up in elevation.
A half hour passed during which Matt hadn't ceased to stop babbling about this or that in terms of archaeological significance. Truly I could care less, but the sight of something so ancient was fascinating.
I walked into an alcove of sorts and was immediately drawn up short by the sight of the stone altar in the middle of the place. I approached it slowly as did Jim and Christina.
"What's the attraction guys? I……" Matt's voice trailed off; as he caught up with us and saw the altar made of stones.