Atlantis: City of Mages

by M. Arcturus

  He turned his attention back to the portal and gazed into the cosmos displayed in its entire splendor. The World Tree was to the right of three galaxies and one enormous pink-purple nebula with a bright tan swirling halo. The planet from which it grew was as blue as a robin’s egg and was barely big enough to house the roots of the gigantic knotted tree. As for the tree itself, it was stark white and canted just a bit to the left.

  Without a moment’s notice, there was an even brighter flash of light, and the vortex was gone. The four Bennu, including Shadow’s brother, were gone. All that remained was Kajaka still floating in the air. He was covered with one large white feather, which reached from under his chin to the tips of his toes. It was definitely one of Mother’s.

  Though half blind from the bright flashes of light, the elves magically lowered Kajaka down to the ground. Practically crawling on all fours, Shadow shuffled through the sand to reach Kajaka’s side. He took Kajaka’s hand in his and kissed it lovingly.

  The white feather disintegrated and was absorbed by Kajaka’s own feathers. His feathers came back to life, emanating their rich green color again, and Kajaka opened his eyes. The torches surrounding the encampment caught the gold flecks in his black hair, making them glow with life. His bright smoky-colored eyes investigated Shadow’s tears as if searching for their hidden meaning of life. Without hesitation, Kajaka sat up and was engulfed by Shadow’s big black wings. The elves had to stand back so as not to be hit by his wings as they stretched out for the largest embrace he ever had to muster. Shock suddenly set in on their faces, for most of the elves didn’t know that Shadow’s cloak had its own little secret. Jarrah and Oberon smiled at each other knowing that the ceremony was a job well done.

  Shadow, Kajaka, and Jarrah sat around a fire in the encampment discussing the experiences down below the Atlantean palace, where cold, white walls breathed a life of confinement, where blood had been exchanged, and death danced for those that were held captive. Campanula’s blood induced screams still echoed in Kajaka’s ears as he clutched on tight to the blanket that encompassed him. He stared into his warm cocoa bean drink as he swished it around with his free hand, watching the particles swim around, hoping to find any sign of comfort. Adjusting the bandage the elves had placed around his knee to help it heal better, Jarrah sat across from them taking big gulps of sweet elfish mead. He had never tasted anything like this before, nor had he experienced such hospitality.

  “Poor Pandora, I bet she’s been without food for more than a day now,” said Shadow gazing into the fire.

  “I bet you’re right. If what you say is true, and Juron is in the custody of those things, then she hasn’t eaten at all,” said Kajaka. He had a confused look on his face as he turned his gaze over to Oberon, who had dismissed another group of purple creatures back into the sea. “What are those things?”

  “Those used to be the cute little, Atlantean mermaids that played in the surrounding reefs,” Shadow replied.

  Jarrah smiled, “You have a strange sense of what is cute and little.”

  He took another swig of his mead as he looked once more upon one of the creatures. For one brief moment, he could have sworn that the creature turned and winked at him. He stared back down into his mug of mead. Without thinking, he yelled over his shoulder, “Hey! What’s in this anyway?” He was not answered, but was met with the nearest elves beaming up at him from their seated spots on the sand.

  Oberon walked majestically on the sand as if he was walking on water. His long dark hair and flowing robes rippled wildly in the wind, which blew across the left side of his body. It was either the dark cloudy night sky or the tall torches lit around the outskirts of camp off to his right, but something about the light and shadows playing across his body made him seem omnipotent. As he neared Shadow’s group, they could make out the smirk of satisfaction, relief, and gratitude dancing across his face. With his stride coming to an end as he neared, he stated, “There’s a rowboat headed for shore. I believe they are coming to collect our friend. It might be best to leave immediately while the waters are still cleared. There are many ships just off in the distance that will be anchored along the shoreline. It won’t take them long to get here.” He turned his gaze on Jarrah, who stood up the best he could under the elfish mead and clasped hands with his new friend.

  “It was fascinating to hear about your beliefs and points of view, my friend,” Oberon said. “We will have to have another meeting sometime, so I can learn more about your Dreamtime and maybe even learn how to walk in it.”

  “It would be my honor.” Jarrah smiled faintly and limped over to the boat that had just found the shore. As he looked over his shoulder, he added, “My captain might join your meeting tomorrow. She will have much on her mind to say.”

  “Then we look forward to her attendance. Make sure she crashes the party in style,” responded Oberon.

  Jarrah gave a nod and stepped inside the boat. As the other crew members started rowing, he drifted mindlessly with the waves as they coaxed him back into the dance he had danced once before. Though it had only been a little more than a day, the rocking of the boat took some time to get used to. The waves took the lead, pushing and pulling at him, showing him how to rejoin its watery masquerade. The Kinnowwa looked ghastly and hollow in the distance and reminded him of the words he needed to share with the new captain. He was anxious to speak with Campanula, but dreaded it all the same. It was about time that she was told how deep her promises were going to take her.

  Deep within the palace, Selené slowly opened her eyes. She couldn’t see him, but Juron’s screams let her know that he was near. For one split moment, she wondered why he was crying out like that. Then again, maybe she didn’t want to know what was happening to him. It just meant fewer nightmares for her to remember later. Juron had made his own choices, and this time he would have to face the consequences alone. On the other hand, his screams were enough to make her feel guilty and wonder why she wasn’t trying to help him.

  She didn’t know how long she had been out, but looking up through the tinted glass of the one-way mirror squares in the floor one story above her, the dark light of early day had started to cast a navy-blue aura around their radiant cell, allowing her to make out shapes in the Council room. Selené picked herself up off the floor and sat up against the wall of light. After pushing her hair back out of her face, she stared down at the green feather in her hand. The sea creatures had done exactly what she wanted them to do. She was no longer in Juron’s chamber. They had taken her to the Council room and placed her in the cell of light with the traveler, and had somehow physically manifested one of Kajaka’s feathers from her magically induced dream. Little did she know that they had used one of Kajaka’s real feathers he had shed just a few hours earlier.

  The girl still did not stir in her chains. Selené stood up and walked over to her. As she looked over the girl’s bonds, she noticed that the chains had started to form bruises on the girl’s wrists.

  “I just thought you should know that you’re not alone.”

  The girl lifted her head just a little and telepathically said, “So I hear.”

  “You know Kajaka. He’s my friend, too. We had a game plan, Shadow, Seth, and I. I was supposed to find you. Seth was to find evidence that would help us understand Juron’s infamous cargo, and Shadow was to meet up with the Lord of Avalon. After all, I’ve been through, I don’t remember why I was to look for you, and I’m very sad to say that I don’t know what happened to Kajaka. I was kind of hoping you could give me a clue as to the plot of this story. The sea creatures put me under this spell, you see. I still don’t have all of my thoughts together yet. The creatures are still in my head.”

  Even through the blindfold, Selené could see the girl’s expression seep through. It was one of pure sympathy and understanding.

  “I spoke with Juron in his chamber before they ambushed us. I told him you needed a frien
d. I think that’s why I’m here. You need me, or at least I think you do. I think you’re just scared and don’t know whom to turn to other than Shadow and Kajaka. I want to be your friend, too. I want to be there for you and take you sightseeing—show you what I see in Atlantis. Maybe even help you understand why it’s so important for Atlantis to exist,” Selené gave a faint smile.

  “Why should the existence of Atlantis matter to me?”

  Selené stepped back as the girl finally spoke to her.

  “You are The Destroyer of Worlds, aren’t you?”

  “In a matter of speaking, yes and no. I don’t go out of my way to eliminate the lives around me. My presence causes change, and some of those changes are met with denial and hostility. However, change is inevitable. Those who fight it destroy themselves.”

  “What’s your name? What should I call you?”

  “Most call me as they see fit. My soul has no name, but the most fitting was given to me just recently.”

  “What is it?”

  “He called me Giséi.” The chains that held her clanged softly. They mimicked the chains from her past on board the Kinnowwa. Memories overtook Giséi, ripping her away from reality, the soft drip that fell from the chains above her head, the eerie rocking of the ship, and the darkness that was only chased away by the moonlight that crept in through the grate above. The captain only lifted the cover of the grate during the night. She knew Resheda didn’t want her to feel or see the light of the sun for fear that it would give her strength, so the moonlight was her only solace.

  Early in the morning hours, she could barely hear him coming. He was always so quiet. Only the soft light of his lantern gave his presence away. Calmly, he took off the tie on the burlap sack and let it fall to her shoulders. He always brought her food and water when he could, which wasn’t very often. The stories he told were repeated at least twice a visit, but that was tolerable due to his age and patience. He was the one who called her Giséi. His accent was thick, but with his heart so sincere, his words were not necessary.

  Due to her thoughts being pulled to the Kinnowwa, her mind’s eye boarded the ship to see Jarrah talking to Campanula in the captain’s quarters. Campanula’s face fell into her hands as Jarrah delivered his message bearing cursed tidings. She stood up slowly and walked over to the window looking out over the sea. Her face went from solemn tears to astonishment as she eyed the clouds that struck with lightning. The dark gray clouds were torn apart by bright yellow flashes of light that could have easily resembled the fingers of God. Jarrah soon stood up and raced to the window beside her as ships from all over time and space filled the skies above, while others sailed the waters around them, all racing to shore. The beating of the oars pounded like war drums, and the roar of the engines on the space age ships brought fire to their ears. After a moment of discord, the commotion collaborated into one pulsating rhythm that sounded like the heartbeat of a thousand ships, maybe even more. Giséi snapped out of her vision as she realized that the sound of the ships overhead was not just from her dream, but also a part of her own reality.

  Without warning, there was a loud, earsplitting crash, which made Selené curl up into a protective ball on the floor. Something had just collided with one of the glass squares in the ceiling, creating a shower of mirror shards, which bounced off their heads as the object crashed down to the ground. Selené tightened her ball-like posture out of surprise when the large mass hit the floor. Selené got up and went over to the edge of the light as close as she could to see the object that had caused her distress. Slowly it moved, and she could tell, much to her surprise, that it was a man! He looked as if he had been tarred, feathered, burned, and—on top of that—dropped through two sets of sky lights: the one from the upstairs ceiling and one of the glass squares on the upstairs floor that created the ceiling of the Council boardroom.

  Selené had barely even noticed that Juron had stopped screaming, for her attention was placed on the stranger lying in a pile of shattered glass. Sweat dripped down Juron’s face as his pasty complexion started to redden. His quick, shallow pants started to slow into deep breaths. The creatures had placed a blindfold on him sometime during his experience and had decided to leave it on him. Delirious, he started to call out, wanting to know what the ruckus was all about.

  With tails flopping and slithering behind them, the creatures approached the newcomer on the floor. Even their delicate, hypnotic singing could not keep the man from panicking. Through the broken glass on the floor, he wiggled away until he was able to get up on his feet, but he was so injured that he didn’t get very far. The language that he spoke was not familiar to Selené’s ears.

  “He’s speaking ancient Greek,” said Giséi in a matter of fact tone.

  “I don’t suppose you know what he’s saying or how to respond to him?”

  “No,” said Giséi almost giving a faint smile.

  Selené didn’t respond to Giséi, but she outstretched her hand in the direction of the stone railing in front of the first row of seats. Her movement caught the attention of one of the sea creatures, “On the other side of that railing is a bunch of tiny metal boxes. They’re used for translating different languages. Please bring one to me.”

  The sea creatures neared the stranger, who out of desperation ran over to the stone railing and clung on for dear life. Closing his eyes, he hoped that it would all be over soon. When nothing happened, he cracked open one of his eyes and saw one of the sea creatures reach over the railing with its scaly hand, and pick up a tiny box from the other side. He looked up, and they were all staring back at him. He didn’t know what to do—such strange exotic appearances, and so many of them! Not once had the gods mentioned to him that they had spawned such hideous purple creatures as these. Then as almost a godsend, he heard his own language. He turned his attention to the woman in the light. She was like an angel! Her beautiful sea-green hair, the light that came from her eyes, and the soft pitch of her voice sent him beyond the height of the stars. Almost forgetting everything, he headed toward the light that held this beautiful angelic being.

  “You have nothing to fear from them. Please, just follow my voice.” As the crowd around him parted, she could tell by the look on his face that she had his attention. Giséi started to chuckle.

  “Hush, you can’t even see him. You’re blindfolded! Be nice,” Selené snapped with humor as she held the box away from her voice.

  “I don’t need to see him with my eyes. I see him mentally, and that’s bad enough. There’s something not right with this one; he seems very obsessive.”

  Selené turned her attention toward the stranger as he started to walk through the broken glass on the floor. The scraping noise it made sent shivers down her spine. Just by the way his arms were limp at his sides and how the pain of the glass did not faze him startled her. It was like the beginning of a horror film. His hair was so frizzy that it stood on end, and his eyes were big and round as they peered at her. Putting his hand up to the light, he had expected that it was solid like a wall but fell through it, landing on the floor. Half-dazed, he shook it off and looked up at his angel. Selené crouched down and held the translator to her throat.

  “Welcome to Atlantis. My name is Selené. What’s yours?”

  In near panic, he rolled over onto his back and sat up. “There’s no way that I could be on Atlantis! I was just with my father fleeing Crete. He’s the one that belongs here, not me!” He sat there for a moment before he spoke again, “My name is Icarus, son of Daedalus. My father fashioned us a pair of wings made of wax and feathers to escape King Minos. I flew too close to Apollo, the sun god, and since the wings were made of wax, they began to melt. When I bumped into him, something fell out of his sun-filled chariot into the sea below. Whatever fell from his chariot must have been important because as I flew away from him, he grabbed the tip of my feathers and threw me across the sky out of anger. The next thing I know I’m fall
ing into this pit of darkness with a probability of no return. There’s no way that this could be Atlantis! My father has always wanted to see the legendary isle. If this is Atlantis, it doesn’t seem to be where Plato had said it would be.”

  “Trust me, we are on Atlantis, and you were just lucky enough to have fallen into the heart of a dormant volcano, which we call Mt. Caspen. This is the parliament of Atlantis. Apollo must have thrown you for quite some ways. We are nowhere near Greece, but Atlantis does move around. I do believe that Atlantis was stationed near Greece, but that was a long time ago—a really long time ago. As far as being an island, there are times when Atlantis is attached to another piece of land kind of like we are now. In fact, being attached to land is the only way that we Atlanteans have the opportunity to experience time.”

  Icarus’s expression was a combination of shock and disbelief. Before he could respond, there was a loud click that echoed along the stone walls as another spotlight appeared to the right of them. Almost like a pair of ghosts, Seth and Pandora floated up through the floor. Since Pandora still lay in his lap, Seth did not stand, but he did look around in bewilderment. Once he caught sight of Selené, he felt much better. Selené looked over her shoulder from talking to Icarus to notice Seth and returned a smile.

  The roar from the ships was reduced to a minimum as some either landed or flew away to the nearest station. Most of the sea creatures had left for home, but five stayed behind to make sure that the prisoners were not disturbed by the Council members, who had started to fill their seats. Selené could not believe her eyes! Never had she seen before so many aliens races! It was like the old days, when more alien races visited Atlantis. Most Council meetings she had been to didn’t have so many strange faces. These were the Council members who had stopped coming well before she had her own seat among them. There was no doubt in her mind that they were ambassadors from the Galactic Council. She knew that this must have been Shadow’s handy work. Due to Juron imprisoning Kajaka and Pandora, as well as herself, Shadow must have used some persuasion to entice other alien races to send a few more representatives than planned. Selené was thankful to have their support in this matter. The more witnesses to Juron’s insanity, the better, but the crowd was so massive she began to have stage fright.