08/10/2026
📚📝 For the record, this was supposed to be a journalism assignment.
A structured, academically responsible journalism assignment.
Research the subject. Verify the facts. Interview credible sources. Organize the material. Meet the deadline. Submit the story.
Simple.
I had a research folder.
I had color-coded notes.
I had a timeline.
I had backup copies of the timeline.
There was a system.
Then Kai Palakiko found a symbol hidden inside an old cathedral.
And apparently, that was the end of the system. 🙄
Fast-forward through several highly questionable decisions, countless hours of research, historical records that created significantly more questions than answers, one mysterious notebook, a Phoenician ship, hidden clues, ancient symbols, people following us, and a brass compass that—despite every known principle of magnetism—stopped pointing north.
So naturally, someone wrote a book about it.
📖 ZARA-X: Quest of the Flame — Book One: True North° is officially available.
And before anyone asks:
Yes, I have reviewed the book.
No, I am not providing Kai with a list of factual corrections.
Because I already gave him one.
Alphabetized.
Cross-referenced.
With page numbers.
He lost it. 😑
Kai will probably describe everything that happened as “pretty wild.”
That is not an acceptable historical classification.
Here are the facts:
🧭 We found a compass that behaved in a way it shouldn’t.
📓 We uncovered research connected to Kai’s missing father.
🏛️ We discovered clues hidden inside places thousands of people have walked past without noticing.
⛵ We found connections to a Phoenician ship that raised some very uncomfortable historical questions.
🧩 Every answer produced another question.
🔍 And at some point, we realized someone else was following the same trail.
That’s when this stopped being an assignment.
As a journalist, I’ve always believed that facts matter. Evidence matters. Sources matter. And extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
I still believe that.
But I’ve learned something else:
Sometimes the evidence doesn’t fit neatly into the explanation you already have.
When that happens, you don’t change the evidence.
You change the question.
And you keep investigating. 🔎
So yes, I’m continuing.
Not because Kai thinks this is some epic adventure.
Not because Liam thinks nearly getting ourselves killed makes a great story.
And definitely not because Zeke keeps insisting we need a shared digital evidence database with “military-grade encryption.” 🙄
I’m continuing because there is an answer.
Somewhere.
And I intend to find it.
Preferably with a properly organized research methodology this time. 📋
Eight ancient clues.
One lost civilization.
One mystery that is becoming increasingly difficult to dismiss.
📚 ZARA-X: Quest of the Flame
🧭 Book One: True North°
✍️ Brent C. Johns
Now available on Amazon.
Read ZARA-X: Quest of the Flame — True North° on Amazon
And Kai, if you’re reading this:
Please return my blue research binder.
The tabs are numbered for a reason.
— Mila 📚📝🔎
📚🧭🔎
