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JOHNNY REB
In
‘Return to the Lost Valley’ Prologue.
Character Created by Tim Frady / Story by Wayne Clayton
The air was crisp and clear as Johnny Reb soared above the clouds, but his mind was still weighed down by the events on the Bikini Atoll.* And with good reason, he had witnessed the dawn of a new age, one which he was finding hard to come to terms with. With all his strengths and powers even he felt a fear rising within him, a fear of the unknown.
He lifted his head and looked out into the great darkness of space at the edge of the atmosphere and wondered for one brief moment what it would be like if he just kept on going. Wondering what might happen if he pieced the bubble and left the safety of this world, not knowing if he would live or die in the cold empty vacuum of space.
Would anyone even miss him now they had split the atom and basked in its glory? Would they still need a hero and if they did would that hero be him?
Turning he looked down upon the earth, watched the seas shimmering below as he made his way towards the great land mass that was the Americas, but it was not North America that beckoned him, his duty lay south in the heart of the great green jungle forests the one place in this world which knew nothing of the War which had engulfed the planet.
Swooping down he began to glide between the highest branches of the canopy, scattering the creatures which had made it their home. In the distance a ribbon of water snaked its way through the hidden places and forgotten realms where no white man had ever lay claim. It was no different to when he had first come here all those years ago at the end of that other Great War.
Then he had sort to escape all the horrors he had seen in the muddy fields of Europe, to lose himself in the mists of the Jungle far away from the sounds of cannons. Then he had braved the journey on foot in search of adventure and answers to why he had survived while others had not. Ultimately he hoped to find the means to end his curse and be allowed to share the same fate has his comrades.
Before him rising out of the jungle stood the peeks of great rocky canyons which had been cut into the earth by the mighty rivers course, now standing like giant stepping stones in a sea of green. But one stood out above the rest, its top hidden from view by a blanket of cloud which rolled over its plateau. Only one point escaped its cover, and it was to this narrow outcrop that Johnny Reb now descended.
His feet gently met the rock and for a moment he stood on the edge and looked down into the gorge far below remembering how he had been the first one to conquer its perilous crumbling walls of rock. A feat unthinkable by a mere mortal man, but Johnny was no ordinary man. It was for this reason he was surprised to find that the spot where he now stood had been marked out by a corridor of ornate symbols and markings inlaid into the very rock with pure gold. This glittering trail led into the swirling fog and into unknown.
And as back then he felt the sensation of foreboding creep across him as he took his first steps into the mist and back in time to relive the events which had occurred in this the valley of the lost.
(*see Johnny Reb and the Clockwork Atoll)
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