Transformation

by Michael Ocheskey

  “Hold on…if your father is the king, then you’re a princess?”

  “Yes. I am the only heir to the throne of Atlantis. My mother died giving birth to me and my father refuses to remarry. He says Mother was the only woman for him. His name is Aquarius. Well, shall we go meet him? It is dinner time and I’m positive you are hungry.”

  Thomas’ stomach growled in assent and he flushed with embarrassment. “Uh, sure.” Thomas gave a feeble laugh. “You’re sure he won’t have me killed?”

  “Don’t be silly.” Alana giggled. “He gave me his word and father never breaks his word.”

  “That’s a relief. Okay, let’s go.” With Alana’s help, Thomas stood. “Oh...that’s strange. My entire body is tingling and sore. It feels like when you sleep crooked and your arm falls asleep, except it’s everywhere and it’s much more intense. Oh well, let’s go. Wait!” Thomas rubbed his head and then realized something was missing. “Where are my glasses? Do you have them?”

  “Glasses?” Alana’s confusion was apparent. “What are those?”

  Thomas explained what glasses are and realized it was hopeless when Alana shrugged weakly. “We don’t have anything like that around here because we don’t have what you call poor vision. You weren’t wearing any of these glasses when I rescued you. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s alright. I just hope I can get by without them. Shall we go?”

  Leaning on Alana for support, Thomas stumbled around as Alana led him from her room. His legs would feel intensely painful for a second, suddenly become numb, and then return to a normal state with the constant tingling feeling while he walked. He made a mental note to make sure he visited this Dr. Algie whom Alana had told him about.

  THE SORCERER RACE

  Once outside her room, Alana adjusted Thomas’ arm around her shoulders for better support and led the way to the dining room.

  Thomas was now noticing that it was not only his legs that were acting up. His entire body was experiencing the sensations of momentary pain and numbness. He thought it likely due to sleeping for two weeks straight. His muscles were probably just tired from not being used.

  When they finally arrived at the doors to the dining room, Thomas looked like he was about to be sick with fear. His face had become ashen and haunted. Regardless of what Alana told him, meeting a king, along with the prospect of a possible execution, was enough to cause him to pass out once more. Guessing what Thomas was thinking, Alana gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand gently. She knocked and opened the door.

  “Alana, my dear.” King Aquarius stood up from the table, his arms held wide as if to hug the air around him. “So he has finally awoken. Thomas, m’ boy, please come and sit.” He gestured toward the seat to the right of his own, the place of honor. “You must be famished after two weeks with nothing but the small amount of soup Alana was able to spoon feed you. Come, come.”

  Thomas removed his arm from around Alana and walked confidently toward the king. After the kind welcoming he had just received, his nerves, which had been stretched to the point of snapping, relaxed. The king didn't seem like a vicious person to Thomas. This was the man who raised Alana to be such a gentle spirit. He couldn't be that much different, could he?

  “King Aquarius,” Thomas stood before the king and extended his arm for a handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meechu.”

  The end of his sentence slurred together as Thomas fell face first onto the dining room floor without warning.

  “Thomas!”

  “Boy!” Both Alana and King Aquarius screamed in unison.

  “I can’t move my body!” Thomas screamed with a quivering voice, the sound slightly muffled by his face pressed to the floor. “What’s going on? I can’t feel anything!”

  “Send for Dr. Algie immediately!” The king barked his order to the guard standing watch outside the dining room door. The guard jumped as if he'd been lashed and rushed off, leaving the three in a frenzy. Alana and King Aquarius picked Thomas up and sat him carefully in one of the soft cushioned chairs.

  Dr. Algie arrived around ten minutes later. He rushed into the room and sprinted to Thomas’ side. “What’s going on here?”

  “I can’t feel my body!” Thomas’ fear had risen to outright hysteria. “What’s happening to me?” Then, just as suddenly as it had left him, feeling returned to his legs. “W-Wait a minute...I…I can feel my legs! I can feel my legs again. They are tingling, but I can’t m-move them.”

  “W-What’s wr-wrong with him, doctor?” Alana was even more hysterical than Thomas. She looked like she was struggling relentlessly to quell the wave of tears that threatened to flood over her eyelids at any moment. “You’ve got to help him!”

  Dr. Algie began a thorough examination of Thomas. After a few minutes he took out a small needle and sterilized it. “Tell me if this hurts,” he exclaimed as he moved the needle toward Thomas and began to poke and prod all over.

  Thomas couldn’t feel his arms, chest, back, or the upper portion of his legs. It wasn’t until Dr. Algie stuck the needle into the tingling part of Thomas’ legs that he felt anything. Dr. Algie focused his attention on the back of Thomas’ head. Although the swelling and bruising around the nape of his neck had receded, there was a slight deformation there. “This isn’t good. It looks as though your central nervous system has been damaged, but not entirely severed.”

  “What do you mean, Doctor?” This time it was King Aquarius who asked. To Thomas’ surprise, even the king’s voice held concern.

  “Well, it looks as though a small piece of bone has lodged itself into his central nervous system. Let me show you what I mean.” Dr. Algie took a string out of his kit as well as some surgical scissors. “Pretend this is the nerve that goes from Thomas’ brain down his spinal cord and into the rest of his body. At the area where the neck meets the spinal cord, Thomas’ nerve has been torn by this shard of bone.” Dr. Algie cut the string, but not all the way through. “His nerve hasn’t been severed all of the way. Like this string, it is being held together by only a few strands.

  “This is affecting the signals sent from his brain to his body. The signals from his brain to his body are not being cut off entirely, but those signals aren’t always reaching their destination. Hence, his temporary paralysis and tingling sensation that comes and goes.”

  “Doctor?” Alana had lost all control now and was sobbing uncontrollably. “Is there anything you can do to help him?”

  “I can’t do anything for him. Anything I tried could do more harm than good. One false move could fully paralyze him or even kill him.” Dr. Algie turned toward King Aquarius with a stern expression. “There is one thing that can be done, Sire, but it is a decision only you have the power to make. If Thomas were allowed to touch the Sapphire of Power, it may be able to completely heal his body.”

  “I cannot make that decision.” King Aquarius turned to Thomas and explained, “The Sapphire of Power may be able to cure you, but it will come with a price. Our law is that only Atlantians may touch the Sapphire of Power. If I let you touch the Sapphire you will be an Atlantian in full. As such, you will not be allowed to leave Atlantis and return home. Atlantis will be your new home and abandoning the city after touching the Sapphire will mean a death sentence as it will be seen as treason. If you are willing to remain in this city and live as an Atlantian, then I am willing to let you touch it. The choice is yours.”

  “Please, do it.” Thomas stared intently into the king’s eyes. “I can’t live like this. I could live with just being paralyzed, but not this. Whenever I can feel my body the tingling and surges of pain get stronger and harder to deal with. The pain is like a slow torture and is enough to drive me mad. Besides, I have no home on the surface world anymore. They all think I’m dead, so it doesn’t matter if I return or not.”

  “If that is your choice, let us go.” King Aquarius and Dr. Algie lifted Thomas up and carried him to the Sapphire Chamber Room located in the center of the palace on the third floor
.

  Alana opened up the large marble doors. Each of the two doors had the same circular design of jewels that were on top of King Aquarius’s crown. Thomas was unable to restrain the gasp that escaped his lips as they carried him into the room.

  The room was enormous, and shaped like a heptagon. The floor was made of elegant gemstone, a mixture of seven gems. The brilliant glare from the floor showed an elegant mixture of red, green, blue, purple, pink, yellow, and white swimming in many different directions all over the floor. The light in the room was dim and emanated from a single point in the center of the room. In each of the seven corners of the room was a life-size gemstone statue, one for each of the seven rulers of the undersea kingdoms. The statue that first caught Thomas’ eye was the one of King Aquarius made entirely of sapphire.

  Thomas marveled at the riches that surrounded him. The merfolk didn't treasure gems like a surface dweller would, but it was obvious to Thomas that this room housed a fortune in jewels far surpassing the riches of even the greatest of royalty above.

  Thomas also found himself questioning his many assumptions about merfolk. None of the rulers’ statues looked alike and some of them didn't resemble his notion of a mermaid at all. The ruby statue looked like a shark from the waist down and the emerald statue resembled an eel.

  Thomas made a mental note to ask the king about this later. It felt rude to ask in a place with such a sacred feel to it. He felt as though he were in a temple, which indeed he was. This was a place of prayer and worship for the merfolk.

  Thomas took in the sights that surrounded him, his eyes coming to rest on the pillar in the middle of the room. The pillar resembled a barren altar. Surely, the Sapphire of Power would have been on that pillar, but where was it? Thomas remembered the azure glow and lifted his eyes upward. An enormous, perfectly formed spherical sapphire was giving off a brilliant light. It was hanging about ten feet above the pillar, suspended in the air without any visible support. This gem was the only source of light in the room. Its glow illuminated the whole room, echoing off the gemstone floor and statues. The light gained intensity with each object it touched.

  Thomas wondered how he would be able to touch it. As if sensing his question, the Sapphire slowly descended. It came to rest gracefully on the pillar.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? This is your last chance to turn back.” The king looked resolutely into Thomas’ eyes.

  “I’m sure.” Thomas tried to touch the Sapphire, but his arms refused to lift. “Could someone help me? I can’t move my arms.”

  Alana hugged Thomas firmly from behind with one arm to keep him steady while her father and Dr. Algie kept him standing upright. She placed her other hand delicately on Thomas’ to guide his touch. With Alana’s guidance, Thomas made contact with the Sapphire. As his fingers came into contact with the Sapphire he felt a burning sensation fill up his entire body. A sensation of imploding seemed to suck his body in.

  The intensity of the pressure nearly caused Thomas to lose consciousness as it threatened to crush his body. It felt like he was being sucked through a hole the size of a pebble. Then, as swiftly as it began, it was over.

  Thomas found himself standing all alone in a strange space. It felt as though Thomas was floating in the middle of a vast nothingness. A hollow void. He was surrounded by a brilliant blue light that reminded him of the fluorescent blue hair of the Atlantians.

  Thomas’ body stood frozen in the center of the blue marvel. Even if he hadn’t been paralyzed he would have found it impossible to move around. He felt trapped in a vault of stone that pressed in on him from all sides. Thomas tried to speak, but his lips wouldn’t move and no sound escaped him. Still, his thoughts echoed throughout the vast space.

  Where did everyone go? Am I dreaming?

  “No, you aren’t dreaming young Thomas.” A loud, low, and resonant voice rumbled in Thomas’ head, shaking the depths of his soul.

  Thomas’ first impression was that this voice sounded harsh and eerie. It was emotionless in tone, yet full of every emotion known to man. It rattled his nerves and sent chills down his spine. It was a sound as deep as the dark of space and as vast as the ages of time.

  As if it could sense the fear and apprehension emanating from Thomas, the tone changed. It became solemn, even fatherly, but it retained its immense presence as if a multitude were combined into one being. “There is nothing to be afraid of. You have entered the realm of magic that I exist in.”

  Who are you?

  “I am not one, but many.” The voice confirmed Thomas’ suspicions. “I am the magic of generations. I am all that remains of the sorcerer’s of old.”

  What do you mean? I don’t understand?

  “I know it is hard. Shall I show you? It may be easier to understand then.”

  How can you show me? I don’t understand.

  “I know you don't, but you will. Now, shall I show you?”

  Yes.

  As Thomas made his decision the brilliant blue of the room began to swirl. It melted away to be replaced by a magnificent scenery of forestry. When the scenery had fully appeared and the swirling had stopped, Thomas gawked in amazement. The luscious trees, marvelous blue sky, and crystal clear water from a nearby stream had locked Thomas’ attention. This couldn’t have been Earth, at least, not the Earth he knew. It was untainted by the touch of humanity and seemed as though it were something from a fairy tale.

  Thomas startled as the voice enveloped him once more.

  “Millions upon millions of years ago, this world was populated by my race. We had the ability to manipulate nature as we saw fit. We could control the eight magical elements; earth, fire, wind, water, ice, energy, light, and dark. Every time a member of our race would die, their magical power would transfer from their bodies into one of eight magical gems which grew in size accordingly. I am one of eight gemstones which serve as a host for the magic that my race possessed. See, here come some of my race now.”

  Walking through the woods were groups of people chatting away merrily. They appeared almost human except for their ears which were pointed and their hair which was colored exotic hues. The crowd in front of Thomas sported a multitude of hair colors ranging from blue hair that looked identical to the Atlantian hair, emerald green hair, fiery red, fluorescent pink, deep purple, pure ivory white, deep onyx black, or sunshine yellow hair. The woman with red hair seemed to be upset. She pretended to seem merry like the others, but an edge of anger colored the corner of her eyes.

  As they walked past, Thomas attempted to duck down but couldn’t get his numb body to move.

  “Hahaha,” the voice laughed. “You don’t need to hide. This is nothing more than a memory. They cannot hear you. See? This is the sorcerer race of old. They lived long before humanity and died in a catastrophic event. They were all masters of magic.

  “Do you see their hair colors? Their hair reflects which element they are most powerful in casting. Shall we follow them? If memory serves correctly, I think they are about to use some magic.”

  Frustration coursed through Thomas’ mind.

  Of course his memory serves him correctly. This is his memory after all.

  “Hahaha. You are right.” The voice answered heartily. “I bet you forgot I could hear your thoughts, huh? This may seem like the outside world and you may seem to be moving around while inside it, but do not forget that we are still inside my realm. In my realm telepathy reigns and I can hear your every thought.”

  As Thomas kept following the group of sorcerers he looked down and realized something was wrong. Only his eyes were able to shift position to look around him. He hadn’t moved once since he touched the Sapphire. He was still standing in the same position and the ground seemed to be gliding underneath him.

  Thomas finally understood what the voice had meant by, ‘seem to be moving around.’ His mind was gliding in a dreamlike state through memory, but his body was still frozen in one place amidst the brilliant blue light.

  When the so
rcerers reached the edge of a river bank their joking and laughter ceased. The group formed a large circle as a man with ivory hair and the woman with flaming red hair stepped into the middle of the circle. They smiled menacingly at one another, bowed, and began to slowly circle one another, bent on destruction.

  Thomas watched the scene unfold anxiously. As the circle of sorcerers all held out their hands, a transparent shield resembling a large crystal orb formed around the two combatants. Once the shield had been erected, the battle began.

  Without warning, the redheaded woman spun abruptly and a circle of flame emanated from her body in every direction. As the flames approached the white-haired man, he flung his arms out in two large circles and a great wall of ice encased his body. The flames consumed him and dissipated instantly. The wall of ice had become nothing more than a puddle at the man’s feet. The man stood firm, unharmed.

  The man counterattacked. He clasped his hands together and while keeping them connected with his thumbs, opened his hands, palms facing the woman. From his hands came a light that seemed almost celestial. It was so bright that Thomas tried to avert his eyes before remembering he couldn't. The fiery woman seamed completely unfazed. She was even smiling triumphantly.

  Her eyes had turned entirely black and looked almost demonic without whites or irises. Her eyes swiftly returned to their normal crimson color as her smile faded. One corner of her lip curled upward to sneer at her opponent. The man screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

  The battle was over.

  The sorcerers who had erected the barrier dropped their arms, the barrier disintegrating into thin air. They surrounded the man, knelt beside him, and laid their hands on him. A white light illuminated the man for a moment and he stood up as if nothing had happened to him.